Richardson v. McReynolds

• Citation: 21 S.W. 901,114 Mo. 641
• Parties: Richardson, Appellant, v. McReynolds et al
• Decision Date: 14 March 1893
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Missouri

21 S.W. 901

114 Mo. 641

Richardson, Appellant, v. McReynolds et al

Supreme Court of Missouri, Second Division

March 14, 1893

Appeal from Saline Circuit Court. -- Hon. Richard Field, Judge.

Reversed.

Leslie Orear and L. W. Corder for appellant.

(1) A school district in this state is a creation of the statutes with its powers explicitly defined by the statutes under certain constitutional restrictions. It follows, therefore that its powers are limited by law to those which are expressly conferred by the statute; and the manner of putting in operation its statutory powers is confined strictly to the mode pointed out in the statutes. Buchanan v. School District, 25 Mo.App. 85. (2) The law requires a school district by its board of directors and the members of the annual meeting to keep a record, and therefore the acts of the board can only be shown by the record which the law requires to be kept. Parol evidence is incompetent to enlarge, vary or contradict the record so made. Revised Statutes, 1889, secs. 7979 and 7990. (3) There was no valid vote taken at the annual meeting in school district 1, 51 23, to change the location of the schoolhouse site; such change can only be made legally, when the proposed change is submitted to the resident taxpayers of said district and a majority shall vote therefor; a quorum or majority of the resident taxpayers of such district must be present at such annual meeting before the proposition to change site can be submitted. Revised Statutes, 1889, sec. 7979, subdiv. 11. (4) There was no authority in the board of directors to call a special school meeting for May 9, 1891, to vote a loan of $ 1,200 to buy a site, erect a schoolhouse and furnish the same in the absence of a petition signed by a majority of the qualified voters of said district. Revised Statutes, 1889, secs. 7979, 8008. (5) The election held in said school district on May 9, 1891, to vote a loan of $ 1,200 to buy a site, erect a schoolhouse and furnish the same, was void, and does not authorize the board of directors of such district to negotiate said loan or issue the bonds of the district therefor. Revised Statutes, 1889, secs. 7979, 7981, 8001; Bank v. Terrell, 78 Tex. 450; Seeger v. Mueller, 132 Ill. 86. (6) The board of directors of said district had no authority to negotiate the loan of $ 1,200, because no provision had theretofore been made, or was then proposed to be made, providing for the payment of the annual interest thereon, and for the payment of the principal within twenty years. Constitution of Missouri, sec. 12, art. 10; Water Co. v. Salem, 5 Ore. 29; Bank v. Terrell, 78 Tex. 450; s. c., 14 S.W. 1003; Lake Co. v. Graham, 130 U.S. 674.

Boyd, Murrell and D. D. Duggins for respondents.

(1) The proposition to change the location of the schoolhouse site to a point nearer the center of the district was properly submitted to the voters thereof at the annual meeting, after regular notice had been given, and was properly voted on, there being fifty-two votes for and twenty-five against the proposition. A majority vote only is required to remove a site nearer the center of the district. Revised Statutes, 1889, eleventh clause, sec. 7979. (2) The proposition for the new site was submitted regularly. The description and plat of the land were submitted, voted upon, carried and announced. Witnesses Edwards, Vaughan and Basking testified to the above effect; this can be shown by parol. Dillon on Municipal Corporations [3 Ed.] secs. 300, 301. (3) The voters, when assembled at the annual meeting, organized the meeting by electing a chairman and secretary. The chairman must preside, and if any votes are challenged it is the duty of the chairman to decide upon the legality of the votes. He thus acts judicially. Sec. 7979, subdiv. 1; State v. Mahaey, 19 Mo.App. 210. (4) The qualified voters, when assembled, have the power to change the location of the schoolhouse site. Revised Statutes, 1889, eleventh clause, sec. 7979. However mistaken the action of the corporate body may be, courts cannot control it in the exercise of the discretionary powers. Buchanan v. School Dist., 25 Mo.App. 89; Vitt v. Owen, 42 Mo. 512. (5) Under the provisions of section 7981 the board of directors can borrow money and issue bonds for the payment thereof for the purpose of erecting schoolhouses and furnishing the same. (6) Section 7981, Revised Statutes, 1889, is independent of all other sections of the statutes on the method of contracting and voting a loan. It is self-enforcing, and since the revision of 1889 enlarges the scope, powers and duties of the directors to a degree far greater than they possessed before this enactment.

OPINION

Burgess, J.

This is a suit by one of the directors of school district 1, township 51, range 23, Saline county, Missouri, against the other directors and the clerk of the county court of said county, to restrain and enjoin the directors from issuing the bonds of the district in the sum of $ 1,200 to build a schoolhouse, furnishing it, buying a schoolhouse site, and to enjoin the said clerk from extending the tax levy upon the assessed valuation of the property in said district, for the purpose of collecting a tax to purchase a site.

The material portion of the petition is as follows, to-wit:

"Plaintiff says that said meeting was illegal and held without any warrant of law, for the following reasons, to-wit: That the petition therefor was not signed by a majority of the resident and qualified voters of said school district, as required by law; and because it had not been theretofore determined by a majority vote of the resident taxpayers, or by any vote of the resident taxpayers of said district to remove the site of the schoolhouse in said district, and because it had not been determined by ballot at the annual meeting of said district the rate to be levied upon the $ 100 of assessed valuation necessary to purchase a site and erect a schoolhouse thereon and furnish the same, as provided for in section 8006 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri, and because no provision had heretofore been made, or was proposed to be made, by said meeting, providing for the collection of an annual tax sufficient to pay the interest on such proposed indebtedness as it falls due, and also to constitute a sinking fund for the payment of the principal thereof within twenty years from the time of contracting the same, and because the vote in favor of a loan of $ 1,200, to buy a schoolhouse site, build a schoolhouse, and to furnish the same were without authority of law, and null and void."

The defendants filed their joint answer to said petition, wherein they admitted that the defendants, McReynolds and Willard, were directors of the school district described in the petition and were so acting at all times stated therein; that the defendant McMahan was the clerk of the county court for said county of Saline; that a petition signed by fifty-one of the qualified voters of said district was presented to said board of directors as stated in the petition; that said board of directors ordered notice of said election to be given, and admitted that a meeting of the voters of said district was had at the time stated in the petition, but said answer denied that said petition was not signed by a majority of the qualified voters of said district and denied all the other allegations of the petition.

The facts are about as follows: At an annual meeting of the voters of the school district in April, 1891, the proposition to change the schoolhouse site in said district from its present location to another nearer the center of the district was voted on by all the assembled voters of the district, and also the proposition authorizing the directors of said district to negotiate a loan of $ 1,200 for the period of three years, for the purpose of purchasing a site and erecting a schoolhouse...