Southside Estates Baptist Church v. Board of Trustees, School Tax Dist. No. 1, In and For Duval County

• Citation: 115 So.2d 697
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Florida
• Decision Date: 18 November 1959
• Parties: SOUTHSIDE ESTATES BAPTIST CHURCH, Dr. Stanley Hahn, Southside Estates Methodist Church, Southside Estates Presbyterian Church, Prince of Peace Lutheran Mission, Carolyn B. Ledbetter, Mrs. John E. Roumillat and Mrs. George W. Turner, Appellants, v. BOARD OF TRUSTEES, SCHOOL TAX DISTRICT NO. I, IN AND FOR DUVAL COUNTY, Florida, Appellee.

Page 697

115 So.2d 697

79 A.L.R.2d 1142

SOUTHSIDE ESTATES BAPTIST CHURCH, Dr. Stanley Hahn, Southside Estates Methodist Church, Southside Estates Presbyterian Church, Prince of Peace Lutheran Mission, Carolyn B. Ledbetter, Mrs. John E. Roumillat and Mrs. George W. Turner, Appellants, v. BOARD OF TRUSTEES, SCHOOL TAX DISTRICT NO. I, IN AND FOR DUVAL COUNTY, Florida, Appellee.

Supreme Court of Florida.

Nov. 18, 1959.

Edward S. Parrish, Jr., Jacksonville, for appellants.

Anderson M. Foote, Jr., McCarthy, Lane & Adams and Daniel A. Naughton, Jacksonville, for appellee.

THORNAL, Justice.

Appellants, who were plaintiffs below, seek reversal of a final decree dismissing their bill of complaint by which they sought an injunction against the temporary use of a public school building for religious meetings.

We must determine whether a Florida public school can be used temporarily as a place of worship during non-school hours.

The appellee, Board of Trustees, permitted several churches to use various school buildings during Sunday non-school hours. The authorization was for the temporary use of the buildings pending completion of construction of church buildings. The record does not show whether the religious groups paid rent nor does it reflect any direct expense to the school trustees. It is clear that the use of the buildings did not interfere with the operation of the school system. The public school system was not in any fashion employed as a medium for the promotion of any religion. The appellants as plaintiff, sought to enjoin the use of the school buildings for religious purporses. The Chancellor granted a motion to dismiss the amended complaint with prejudice. Reversal of this decree is now sought.

Appellants contend that the described use of a school building constitutes an indirect contribution of financial assistance to a church in violation of Section 6 of the Declaration of Rights of the Florida Constitution, F.S.A. It is also contended that such use contravenes the proscription of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States which prohibits any law establishing a religion.

The appellee replies that the record fails to sustain any contention that public funds are being employed for the benefit of the religions. Appellee asserts that the trustees have the power to permit the complained of use of the property under Section 235.02, Florida Statutes, F.S.A.

We find it unnecessary to delve into the question of whether the appellants are within a class entitled to bring this suit. There are no allegations that these appellants have sought and been denied the use of the school buildings. However, the individual appellants are alleged to be taxpayers. In view of this fact we will proceed by assuming that they have brought themselves within a class authorized to institute and pursue this type of proceeding.

Section 6, Declaration of Rights of the Florida Constitution, provides 'No preference shall be given by law to any church, sect or mode of worship and no money shall ever be taken from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution.'

Section 235.02, Florida Statutes, F.S.A. provides:

'Subject to law, the trustees of any district may provide for or permit the use of school buildings and grounds within the district, out of school hours during the school term, or during vacation, for any legal assembly, or as community play centers, or may permit the same to be used as voting places in any primary, regular, or special election. The county board shall adopt rules and regulations necessary to protect school plants when used for such purposes, and shall provide for the use of school property other than that under the supervision of trustees.'

The appellants take the position that by permitting the religious groups to use the school buildings on Sundays the appellee trustees were indirectly taking money from the public treasury in aid of a religious denomination contrary to Section 6, of the Florida Declaration of Rights. It is their position that regardless of how small the amount of money might be, nevertheless, if anything of value can be traced from the public agency to the religious group, the Constitution has been thereby violated.

The appellees, on the other hand, counter with the provision of Section 235.02, supra, which grants to the trustees of a school district the discretion to permit the use of school buildings out of school hours 'for any legal assembly'. They properly point out that the record fails to reveal any direct expenditure of public funds. They then assert that so far as the record is concerned, the religious groups might be paying adequate rental for the use of the building and in all events any indirect expense to the public because of depreciation resulting from use by the churches is of such small consequence that the law should refuse to notice it.

We are not here involved in any problem dealing with the compulsory teaching of the bible or of some religious faith through the medium of the public school system. People v. State of Ill. ex rel. McCollum v. Board of Education, 333 U.S. 203, 68 S.Ct. 461, 92 L.Ed. 648, 2 A.L.R.2d 1338. Neither are we confronted with a situation such as that presented in Tudor v. Board of Education, 14 N.J. 31, 100 A.2d 857, 45 A.L.R.2d 729, where the Supreme Court of New Jersey held that the distribution of Gideon Bibles in the public schools constituted a showing of a preference for Protestantism over Judaism and Catholicism and was, therefore, prohibited by the State and Federal Constitutions.

We resist the inclination to delve into the history of the doctrine of separation of the Church and State. This has been done most thoroughly by Chief Justice Vanderbilt in Tudor v. Board of Public Instruction, supra, and Justice Rutledge in his dissent in Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1, 67 S.Ct. 504, 91 L.Ed. 711. Reference to the cited opinions will produce an interesting and enlightening summary of the historical background of the doctrine.

We think, however, that it is totally unnecessary to become involved in any...