State ex rel. Corder School Dist. No. R-3 v. Oetting

• Decision Date: 07 January 1952
• Docket Number: R-3,No. 21671,21671
• Citation: 245 S.W.2d 157
• Parties: STATE ex rel. CORDER SCHOOL DIST. NO.v. OETTING.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

Page 157

245 S.W.2d 157

STATE ex rel. CORDER SCHOOL DIST. NO. R-3 v. OETTING.

No. 21671.

Kansas City Court of Appeals, Missouri.

Jan. 7, 1952.

Ike Skelton, Lexington, Newton R. Bradley, Lexington, of counsel, for appellant.

H. Townsend Hader, Blackwell & Sherman, all of Lexington, for respondent.

DEW, Judge.

Mandamus was sought by the appellant to compel the respondent, treasurer of Lafayette County, Missouri, to pay certain warrants issued to the appellant on certain school funds in the hands of the respondent. The warrants, three in number, were for sums aggregating $915.50. Such funds were in the hands of the respondent but he had refused payment. Upon the final decree of the court denying the writ, the relator appealed.

The gist of the petition is that there had been a proper annexation of Common School District No. 5, known as the Hitt District, with Corder District No. 32, which latter description became the proper designation until, upon reorganization, it became and now is Corder School District No. R-3 of Lafayette County, Missouri; that upon such annexation the funds in question, having been the property of the former Hitt District No. 5, became, under the law, the property of the relator, the reorganized Corder School District No. R-3. It is alleged that the three warrants were issued October 27, 1949, payable to the order of the Corder Public School District No. 32 on the funds in the respondent's hands for services rendered to or expenses incurred by Hitt District No. 5.

The alternative writ having been issued, the respondent duly filed his return wherein, in substance, he denied that the funds in question are now the property of the relator (appellant) but alleges that pursuant to the statutes, the County Board of Education of Lafayette County had submitted to the voters in several school districts said Board's plan for reorganization of the school districts of that county, the result of which was that the said plan was adopted by a large majority and in which School District No. 5 (Hitt) became and is a part of the new Waverly District R-8, and that the funds in question are, therefore, the property of said new reorganized Waverly District R-8, for which funds the duly elected officers of that reorganized district have made demand upon the respondent.

In reply the relator pleaded a special election in the old Hitt District No. 5 on the proposition of its annexation to the old Corder District No. 32, now Corder School District No. R-3 (appellant), and that the said election resulted in the adoption of said annexation proposal, prior to the election by the County Board of Education alleged in the return.

Most of the pertinent facts of the case are admitted by stipulation. The respondent, in support of his return, is relying on certain provisions in RSMo 1949, Sections 165.657 to 165.707, V.A.M.S. The appellant, on the other hand, relies on certain provisions of RSMo 1949, Section 165.300, V.A.M.S. To clarify the respective theories of the parties, a brief examination of the two sets of statutes in question is advisable. Article 4, Chapter 72, RSMo 1939, was designed to accomplish the enlargement of school districts of convenient size and of contiguous territory in a given county by and through a central County Board required to be established thereunder. Many of the sections of that article were repealed and new sections enacted in lieu thereof in 1945. See Laws of Mo.1945, page 1657. However, radical changes were made in 1947 and the said new sections were repealed and the present new statutes enacted in lieu thereof. RSMo 1949, Secs. 165.657 to 165.707, V.A.M.S., creating a Board of Education in and for each county of the state. Laws of Mo.1947, Vol. II, page 370. This law went into effect July 18, 1948. Under certain provisions of these statutes, it is required that within sixty days after the effective date of such sections each county superintendent shall call a meeting of the members of the boards of education and boards of directors of the various school districts in his county and elect a County Board of Education os six members for such county; that within six months thereafter the Board must make a comprehensive study of each school district in the county and prepare a plan of reorganization as to tax valuation, geographical features, numbers of pupils, etc. Upon the completion of such study and not later than May 1, 1949, such County Board of Education must submit to the said State Board of Education a specific plan for the reorganization of the school districts of the county. If the State Board of Education deems the plan inadequate, it shall so notify the County Board of Education, which shall, within sixty days thereafter, review the rejected plan, make alterations, revisions, and amendments as deemed proper and submit the revised plan to the State Board. If the revised plan is disapproved by the State Board, then the County Board is required to submit its own plan to the voters for a vote for or against it on the first Tuesday of November, 1949. If the plan be adopted as submitted to the voters in such cases, the directors of the enlarged district are thereupon elected. Funds of a district included are to be transferred to the enlarged district.

The salient provisions of RSMo 1949, Section 165.300, V.A.M.S., upon which the appellant relies, relate to annexation by one district to another of certain classifications. Laws of Mo.1947, page 507. It was enacted in lieu of Section 10484, a part of Article 5, Chapter 72, RSMo 1939, and became effective June 23, 1947, under its emergency clause. Provision is made therein for a school district adjoining any city, town, consolidated or village school district, desiring to be annexed thereto for school purposes to hold special elections therefor and if carried, the districts shall be annexed as proposed, and funds of the district, if annexed, shall become the property of the city or town school district.

According to the facts, the County Board of Education of Lafayette County proceeded under the provisions above cited, RSMo 1949, Sections 165.657 to 165.707, V.A.M.S., as related below. It was established August 23, 1948. It promptly made a detailed study of the school districts of the county and filed said report with the State Board of Education. On April 28, 1949, within the statutory time it adopted a plan of reorganization of all the districts of the county, including Hitt District No. 5. On April 30, 1949, it submitted its plan to the State Board of Education. The State Board rejected the plan on June 28, 1949. On August 22, 1949, the County Board adopted a revised plan of reorganization, which included Hitt District No. 5 in a reorganized district called the Waverly District No. R.-8, and again submitted the plan to the State Board on August 31, 1949. Thereafter, on September 14, 1949, the State Board rejected the revised or second plan of reorganization. In its letter of disapproval of the second plan the State Board stated in part--'In the disapproval of a reorganization plan the second time, attention is called to the fact that the law, under Section 7 of Senate Bill No. 307 directs the County Board to propose a plan of reorganization and submit the same to the voters on the first Tuesday in November, 1949.' On September 27, 1949, the County Board voted to submit the second plan to the voters. On October 5, 1949, the County Board called an election on the said second plan of reorganization, giving due notice thereof, to be held November 1, 1949. At that election there were 458 votes in favor, and 69 votes against the proposed reorganization.

In the meantime, however, after the rejection of the County Board's second plan by the State Board on September 14, 1949, a petition of 16 voters was filed...