Kramer v. County of Renville
| Decision Date | 21 November 1919 |
| Docket Number | 21,501 |
| Citation | 175 N.W. 101,144 Minn. 195 |
| Parties | THEODORE KRAMER v. COUNTY OF RENVILLE AND ANOTHER |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
After the former appeal reported in 141 Minn. 300, 170 N.W. 216 the case was tried before Daly, J., who made findings and confirmed the action of the county board. From an order denying their motion to amend the findings, conclusions of law and order for judgment, or for a new trial, plaintiffs appealed. Affirmed.
School district -- annexation of territory by county board.
1. The proviso added as an amendment to section 1286, R.L. 1905 authorizes the board of county commissioners to attach the territory of an adjoining school district to a school district having a borough, village or city of not more than 7,000 inhabitants wholly or partly within its boundaries, on the petition of a majority of the legal voters of the letter district, if it deems such annexation "conducive to the good of the inhabitants of the territory affected."
School district -- statute constitutional.
2. School districts are governmental agencies wholly under the control of the legislature, and the statute does not infringe any rights secured by the Constitution.
Murray & Baker and P. W. Morrison, for appellants.
J. M. Freeman, for respondents.
This is the second appeal in this proceeding. On the first appeal the cause was remanded for a new trial. Common School District No. 85 v. County of Renville, 141 Minn. 300, 170 N.W. 216. As a result of the second trial, the order of the board of county commissioners enlarging Independent School District No. 79 of Renville County by attaching thereto the adjoining territory theretofore organized as Common School District No. 85, was affirmed.
It is contended on this appeal that in order to give the board authority to enlarge district No. 79, by incorporating therein the territory of district No. 85, the petition therefor must be signed by a majority of the freeholders of both districts who are qualified to vote at school meetings; and, as the petition in question is signed only by legal voters residing within district No. 79, that the board was without jurisdiction and its action of no force or effect.
Section 1286, R.L. 1905, provided that upon petition of "a majority of the freeholders of each district affected qualified to vote at school meetings, the boundaries of any existing district may be changed, or two or more districts consolidated, or one or more districts annexed to an existing district." This statute clearly required a petition signed by a majority of the qualified petitioners of each district. This statute, however, was subsequently amended by adding a proviso at the end thereof, which, among other things, authorized the board of county commissioners to enlarge any school district which included "within its boundaries part or the whole of any incorporated borough, village or city of seven thousand inhabitants or less" by attaching thereto "lands within and outside of such incorporated borough, city or village, but * * * contiguous to said district" on the petition of "a majority of the legal voters residing within such school district." The amendment, as the latest expression of the legislative will, must be given effect, and is controlling in proceedings brought under it, if the prescribed conditions exist; and, as to such...
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