Ransom v. Rutherford County

• Decision Date: 02 April 1910
• Parties: RANSOM et al. v. RUTHERFORD COUNTY et al.
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

130 S.W. 1057

123 Tenn. 1

RANSOM et al. v. RUTHERFORD COUNTY et al.

Supreme Court of Tennessee.

April 2, 1910

Appeal from Chancery Court, Rutherford County; Walter S. Bearden Chancellor.

Bill by James A. Ransom and others against Rutherford County and another. From a decree for defendants, plaintiffs appeal. Affirmed.

Thos B. Lytle, E. D. Hancock, and J. T. Jetton, for appellants.

Ridley & Richardson, Jesse W. Sparks, and A. L. Todd, for appellees.

McALISTER J.

The bill was preferred by certain citizens and taxpayers of Rutherford county and the city of Murfreesboro against said city and county to impeach the validity of two acts, passed by the General Assembly of 1909, providing for the establishment of normal schools and the issuance of bonds by said city and county for the purchase of sites and the erection of buildings for said schools.

The first act assailed is chapter 264, Acts of 1909, approved April 27, 1909, and entitled:

"An act to provide for the improvement of the system of public education of the state of Tennessee--that is to say, to establish a general education fund by appropriating thereto annually twenty-five per cent. of the gross revenue of the state; to provide for the apportionment of this fund and specifying what part shall be apportioned to the several counties of the state on the basis of scholastic population; what part shall be used to equalize more nearly the school facilities of the several counties, and the conditions on which this part shall be apportioned; what sum shall be used to assist in paying salaries of county superintendents, and on what conditions; what part shall be used to encourage and assist in the establishment and maintenance of public county high schools, and on what conditions; and providing for the grading and inspecting of high schools; what part shall be used for the establishment and maintenance of school libraries and on what conditions; what part shall be used for the establishment and maintenance of three normal schools for white teachers, one in each grand division of the state, and one agricultural and industrial normal school for negroes, and providing for the location, establishment, and control of said schools; and what part shall be apportioned to the University of Tennessee and its various stations; and to repeal chapter 537 of the Acts of 1907."

Section 1 provides:

"That for the purpose of improving, unifying and extending the system of public education of the state of Tennessee, for the purpose of giving more adequate support to public schools of all grades, and for the purpose of extending the benefits of the school system more equally to all the sections, counties, and districts of the state, a general education fund shall be, and the same is hereby created, and for the year one thousand nine hundred and nine and annually thereafter twenty-five per cent. of the gross revenue of the state shall be paid into this general education fund, to be apportioned as hereinafter provided; and the Comptroller of the Treasury shall pass, and he is hereby directed to pass, on the first day of January and the first day of July of each and every year, to the credit of said general education fund, the amount due thereto according to the provisions of this act, and to distribute the same as hereinafter provided."

Section 2 provides:

"That sixty-one per cent. of the general education fund provided by this act shall be apportioned to the several counties of the state according to scholastic population, as the interest on the permanent school fund is apportioned and for the same purposes."

Section 3 provides:

"That ten per cent. of the general education fund provided by this act shall be, and the same is hereby, set aside as a special fund to be used and expended for the purpose of more nearly equalizing the common schools in the several counties of the state, the same to be apportioned among the several counties of the state by the State Board of Education in accordance with the provisions hereinafter set forth."

Section 7 of said act provides:

"That thirteen per cent. of the general education fund provided by this act may be used for the establishment and maintenance of normal schools solely for the education and professional training of teachers for the elementary schools of the state, as herein provided. One normal school for the education and professional training of white teachers shall be established and maintained in each grand division of the state, and shall be open and free alike to white males and females resident in the state of Tennessee; and one agricultural and industrial normal school for the industrial education of negroes and for preparing negro teachers for common schools shall be established and maintained, and shall be open and free alike to negro males and females resident in the state of Tennessee; but no person shall be admitted to either of these schools who is under sixteen years of age and who has not finished at least the elementary school course prescribed for the public schools of the state; nor shall any person be admitted to either of the normal schools for white teachers who does not first sign a pledge to teach in the public or private schools of the state of Tennessee, within the next six years after leaving the school, at least as long as he or she has attended said school.

"Each school established and maintained under the provisions of this section of this act shall have connected with it one or more practice and observation schools, in which shall be taught at least all the subjects prescribed for the primary schools of the state; and the county boards of education of any county, or the district directors of any school district, or the board of education of any incorporated city or town having a special school system under the provisions of its charter may, and the same is hereby empowered to contract with the State Board of Education to provide for the teaching of children of public school age in such practice and observation schools, and to pay to the said normal school all or any portion of the public school fund belonging to such county, district, or incorporated city or town, as agreed upon by the school authorities of said county, school district, or incorporated city or town, and the State Board of Education, as in the case of consolidated schools under the provisions of the state school law. ***

"The general management and control of all normal schools established and maintained under the provisions of the section of this act shall be vested in the State Board of Education; and the said State Board of Education shall have power to employ a bookkeeper, whose duty it shall be to keep the accounts of the normal school funds as directed by the board, and the salary shall be fixed by the board and paid out of the normal school fund herein provided before the apportionment to the several schools and on the warrant of the Comptroller.

"All schools established under the provisions of this section of this act shall be located by the State Board of Education; and in making such locations, said board shall take into consideration accessibility, centralness of position, healthfulness of location, cheapness of living, opportunities for arranging for suitable practice and observation schools, and the value and usefulness of offers of donations of grounds, buildings, money, etc.

"In addition to any accepted donations of land, money or buildings, the income from the fund provided by this act and this section of this act for the years one thousand nine hundred and nine and one thousand nine hundred and ten or any portion of the same may be used for building and equipment.

"One-seventh of all the funds derived in any year from the provisions of this act and this section of this act shall be apportioned to the agricultural and industrial normal school established for the education and training of negroes, and the remaining six-sevenths shall be apportioned equally among the schools established and maintained for the education and training of white teachers in the three grand divisions of the state; but all moneys received by any one of the normal schools established in and maintained under the provisions of this act from any other source than from the fund herein provided to be paid out of the gross revenue of the state shall, under the direction of the State Board of Education, be accounted for and paid into the treasury of the state, to be placed to the credit of said school. ***

"All disbursements of money under the provisions of this section of this act shall be made on the certificate of the president and secretary of the State Board of Education, by the Comptroller of the Treasury, in the manner prescribed by law for the disbursement of money to charitable institutions."

Section 9 provides:

"That all schools receiving assistance under the provisions of this act shall be recognized as essential parts of the system of public education of the state of Tennessee, and annually, on or before the first day of August, the proper authorities of each shall submit to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction a report in regard to the work, development, and progress of the school during the year ending with the thirtieth day of June next preceding, and a clear and itemized statement of all receipts and expenditures for the same period."

The other act assailed is chapter 580, Acts of 1909, approved May 1, 1909, and may be termed an enabling act to carry out the provisions of chapter 264, providing for the establishment of state normal schools.

Chapter 580 of 1909 is entitled:

"A bill allowing municipalities or counties to issue and sell bonds for the purpose of purchasing sites and...