People ex rel. Raymond Cmty. High Sch. Dist. No. 158 of Montgomery Cnty. v. Bartlett

• Citation: 304 Ill. 283,136 N.E. 654
• Decision Date: 21 October 1922
• Docket Number: No. 14789.,14789.
• Parties: PEOPLE ex rel. RAYMOND COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL DIST. NO. 158 OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY v. BARTLETT, County Clerk.
• Court: Supreme Court of Illinois

304 Ill. 283

136 N.E. 654

PEOPLE ex rel. RAYMOND COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL DIST. NO. 158 OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY

v.BARTLETT, County Clerk.

No. 14789.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Oct. 21, 1922.

Petition for a writ of mandamus by the People, on the relation of Raymond Community High School District No. 158 of Montgomery County, to be directed to A. H. Bartlett, County Clerk. From a judgment dismissing the petition, petitioner appeals.

Affirmed.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Montgomery County; Thomas M. Jett, judge.

Hill & Bullington, of Hillsboro, for appellant.

J. E. Hogan, of Chicago, and L. W. Reese, of Taylorville, for appellee.

THOMPSON, C. J.

Raymond community high school district No. 158 in Montgomery county was organized December 6, 1919. It then comprised a full township and a number of sections from each of the townships adjoining on the north, east, south, and west. Shortly after the district was organized a petition was filed by the requisite number of voters residing in eight sections lying immediately south of the full township, asking that the territory be detached from the district, and that the same be added to non-high school territory, and a similar petition was filed with respect to 12 sections lying immediately east of the full township. A hearing was had on both petitions, and the ex officio board detached the territory March 8, 1920. On appeal to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction the decision of the ex officio board was reversed, and the territory was ordered to remain as a part of the district. In the meantime an election had been held in the district, which authorized the issuance of $85,000 in bonds for the purpose of purchasing a school site and building a schoolhouse. Between the time when the territory was detached by the ex officio board and the time when this order was reversed and the territory declared to be a part of the district by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction these bonds were sold and delivered to the purchasers. On June 24, 1921, there was enacted by the General Assembly ‘An act to validate changes in the boundaries of township or community high school districts,’ and this law declared that all changes of boundaries of community high school districts whereby territory was detached from a high school district and added to non-high school territory by the ex officio board were legal and valid. Laws 1921, p. 828. August 1, 1921, the board of education of the district in question levied $11,325 for educational purposes and $9,675 for building purposes, of which latter sum $4,675 was to pay interest on the bonded indebtedness and $5,000 was to pay for the school site. This tax levy was duly certified to the county clerk, who refused to extend any portion of the tax against any part of the 20 sections theretofore detached. Thereupon appellant filed its petition in the circuit court of Montgomery county praying for a writ of mandamus directing appellee to extend the tax levied for building purposes against all of the lands in the district at the time the electors of the district authorized the purchase of a school site and the issuance of the bonds. To this petition a general demurrer was filed and sustained, and the petition was dismissed. Appellant prosecutes this appeal to review that judgment.

The sole question presented on this record is whether the county clerk can be compelled by mandamus, at the instance of the present school district, to extend a tax for the payment of the principal of and interest on a bonded indebtedness created for the purpose of purchasing a school site and building a schoolhouse against territory detached from said district after the bonds were issued and sold and before the tax was levied. The purchasers of the bonds are not parties to this litigation, and are not contending that their security has been impaired or that the district as now constituted is unable to meet the obligation imposed upon it by the bond issue.

Counties, cities, school districts, and other municipal corporations created by authority of the Legislature derive all their rights and powers from the source of their creation, except...