Lawler v. Castroville Rural High School Dist., 12195

• Decision Date: 20 September 1950
• Docket Number: No. 12195,12195
• Citation: 233 S.W.2d 613
• Parties: LAWLER et al. v. CASTROVILLE RURAL HIGH SCHOOL DIST. et al.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 613

233 S.W.2d 613

LAWLER et al. v. CASTROVILLE RURAL HIGH SCHOOL DIST. et al.

No. 12195.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas, San Antonio.

Sept. 20, 1950.

Rehearing Denied Nov. 15, 1950.

Joe Briscoe, Devine, George A. Wiggin, William E. Remy, San Antonio, for appellants.

Morriss, Morriss, Boatwright & Lewis, San Antonio, for appellees.

NORVELL, Justice.

This lawsuit grew out of a dispute over the location of a high school building of the Castroville Rural High School District. One of the proposed sites is the Jungman-Bader Tract, which lies within the city limits of the City of Castroville and on the west side of the Medina River. The other site is the Karm Tract, located on U. S. Highway No. 90, on the east side of the Medina River, across from the City of Castroville. In the findings and decision of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, hereinafter mentioned, the two proposed locations are referred to as the Castroville site and the Highway 90 site, respectively, and such designations will be followed here.

The sufficiency of appellants' petition to support the injunctive relief prayed for is the matter specifically at issue. Two questions are involved. One relates to the legal effect and bindingness of a decision of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, approved by the State Board of Education, and the other relates to the authority of appellants as taxpayers and school patrons to maintain a suit of this nature.

The trial court dismissed the suit after sustaining a plea in abatement and several special exceptions.

We make the following statement from the allegations of the petition:

By an election held on August 27, 1949, the trustees of the Castroville Rural High School District were authorized to issue $110,000 in bonds 'for the purpose of constructing, repairing and equipping public free school buildings of material other than wood in said District, and for the purchase of the necessary sites therefor.'

Acting in accordance with said authorization, the Board of Trustees purchased the Jungman-Bader tract of land situated within the City of Castroville, Texas, and contracted with an architect for plans, specifications and supervision of the construction of a building upon said site. The trustees also contracted with N. H. Ryland for the construction of a building in accordance with the adopted plans and specifications. Construction of the building was begun and large quantities of building materials were purchased and delivered and a great amount of labor performed in connection with the construction of said building.

Certain residents of the school district, including a minority faction of the Board of Trustees, appealed from the action of said Board in selecting the Castroville site. The County Superintendent of Schools affirmed the decision of the local Board of Trustees, and an appeal was then taken to the County Board of School Trustees of Medina County, which board was vested with the jurisdiction over said Castroville Rural High School District. The County Board reversed the decision of the County School Superintendent and an appeal was then taken to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, who, on the 23d day of February, 1950, reversed the decision and findings of the County Board of Trustees of Medina County and sustained and affirmed the findings, actions and rulings of the Board of Trustees of the Rural High School District and County Superintendent of Medina County. This action was subsequently affirmed and approved by the State Board of Education. No appeal was taken from this order and no suit was filed in a district court to set aside the action of the State Board of Education.

On April 1, 1950, an election was held in said Castroville Rural High School District which resulted in a change of the personnel of the Board of Trustees. The group which favored the location of the new high school building upon the Highway 90 site succeeded in electing a majority of the members of the Board of Trustees. The majority of the said Board as presently constituted stated that they would not complete the school building which had been started in Castroville, and on May 29, 1950, authorized the President of the Board to purchase a tract of land lying outside of Castroville on U. S. Highway No. 90. The President thereupon entered into a contract of purchase with Oscar Karm and wife, Enna Karm. The petition alleged that, 'the said Karm land, which is covered by the above mentioned executory contract signed by the President of said School Board, is a part and parcel of the same tract of land that was heretofore condemned after an inspection by the State Superintendent of Public Schools and the State Board of Education, and in fact said land is within two hundred and fifty yards of the identical land so condemned. The proceeding on the part of the defendants is a direct attempt to violate the rulings of said Board of Education.'

Appellants also pleaded that the proposed purchase of the Highway 90 tract of land and the erection of a building thereon would result in an unlawful expenditure of the taxpayers' money.

The ruling of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, dated February 23, 1950, is set out as an exhibit to the petition. Fourteen findings of fact are included therein, followed by one paragraph in the nature of a conclusion of law which is referred to as the 'Decision.' The parties are in dispute as to the proper construction of this 'decision' and it is therefore necessary to examine it in some detail.

The State Superintendent stated in his findings of fact that the greater number of scholastics lived within the corporate limits of Castroville, on the west side of the Medina River and closer to the Jungman-Bader site, which had been selected and purchased by the Board of Trustees, than they did to the Karm site, located across the river on Highway 90; that the Castroville site was nearer to the geographic center of the district than the Highway 90 site; that while city water was available on the Castroville site,...