State ex rel. Independent School Dist. No. 6, Morrison County v. Johnson

• Decision Date: 30 July 1954
• Docket Number: No. 36140,36140
• Citation: 65 N.W.2d 668,242 Minn. 539
• Parties: STATE ex rel. INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DIST. NO. 6, MORRISON COUNTY et al. v. JOHNSON et al.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Page 668

65 N.W.2d 668

242 Minn. 539

STATE ex rel. INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DIST. NO. 6, MORRISON COUNTY et al. v. JOHNSON et al.

No. 36140.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

July 30, 1954.

Syllabus by the Court.

Rules of an administrative agency which are duly filed with the secretary of state as provided by statute have the force and effect of law and bind the agency which adopts them. Even though the adopting of the rule was a discretionary function, once the rule is in force the adopting agency does not have the discretion to disregard it. Held that, although M.S.A.1949, § 128.05, may vest the state board with a substantial amount of discretion in the distribution of the special state aid fund, the board or the commissioner did not have authority to proceed in the manner it did in the instant case.

Gordon Rosenmeier, John E. Simonett, Little Falls, for appellants.

J. A. A. Burnquist, Atty. Gen., Charles E. Houston, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondents.

DELL, Chief Justice.

Appeal from an order of the district court in a matter which came on for hearing before that court on a writ of certiorari. We are here concerned only with that part of the order in which the action of the state board of education in denying aid to Independent School District No. 6 of Morrison county for the school year 1950--1951 was affirmed as to the Pierz school. The state board of education will be referred to herein as the state board; the school board of Independent School District No. 6 as the district board; and the commissioner of education as the commissioner.

There is no controversy as to the 'Statement of Facts,' which is referred to in the record as exhibit 2. We shall refer to the facts here as far as they pertain to the Pierz school.

Independent School District No. 6 of Morrison county was organized December 19, 1949. Early in January 1951, members of the district board sought advice from the state department of education on problems of reorganization and administration. As a result of this request, one Roy H. Larson of the department of education visited the schools of district No. 6 on February 26, 1951. On April 19, 1951, without warning, a letter was sent to the district board by Larson stating that as a result of his investigation state aid for the Pierz school would be withheld. Action by the state board in awarding or withholding an award of state aid to district No. 6 was deferred for further consideration. Later, discussions were held between the commissioner, the attorney general, and the attorney for the district board to determine the actual facts existing at the time of the Larson letter or report, which are not in serious dispute. The 'Statement of Facts' was thereafter prepared in an attempt to present to the state board uncontroverted facts upon which was raised the question whether such facts precluded the award of state aid. While the district operated nine schools during 1950--1951, the report alleged deficiencies as to only two of those schools, one of which was the Pierz school.

According to the 'Statement of Facts,' the Pierz school was in common school district No. 14 before the reorganization. For many years that district had rented schoolrooms in the parochial school building owned by St. Joseph's Church in Pierz. Pending further reorganizational efforts, the new Independent School District No. 6 continued this rental arrangement during its first year of operation. Tow rooms were leased, and grades three through six were taught. The parochial school operated grades one through eight in its part of the building. In the public schoolrooms so leased there were displayed on the walls of the third and fourth grade classroom a crucifix and three religious pictures, and a crucifix and two religious pictures were hung on the walls of the fifth and sixth grade classroom. These crucifixes and pictures had been in the classrooms for many years. They were not placed in the rooms by either public or parochial school authorities during the public school administration. During the years that the rooms were used for public instruction, removal was simply neglected. There was a holy water font at the entrance to each room, but these fonts were rarely used and then only by a few pupils. Like the pictures, their removal was simply neglected.

There is a public school record system known as the 'Flynn-Untne' simplified record system. Form 1 of this system used by the district was a permanent school record. Form 3 was used for report cards. A grade for religion was reported on this form, apparently because of parental interest. Apart from the public school records, the teachers in the Pierz public school had in their possession for each Catholic student attending the public school a form entitled 'Permanent Elementary Grade Record-Diocese of St. Cloud.' This form was devised to furnish information of a religious nature, which was compiled by parochial authorities during attendance in the preceding parochial school grade. It was not a part of the public school record system but was used by the parochial school for its own pupils. The form was in the possession of public school teachers because the grades of pupils transferred from parochial schools were reported thereon and were helpful in gauging prior schoolwork and abilities of pupils. Public school teachers inserted public school grades of a pupil on the form as a matter of comity for information of the parochial school teacher to whom the pupil might be transferred in subsequent grades.

Public school children used the parochial school library but at different times than the parochial school children. The pupils were permitted to select their own books, and there was no urging that library books of a Catholic nature be read. Pupils from each school had their own section of the playgrounds.

Religious instructions in the Catholic faith were given one-half hour each day to public school students whose parents requested it. On oral argument it appeared undisputed that these instructions were given on release time and had been discontinued by December 1950, a few months after school began under the reorganization. While, as a matter of convenience, these instructions were usually given in the public classrooms, public school teachers did not consider it part of their duties to be present at such times because every pupil had requested such instructions. Religious instruction in the public schoolrooms was not authorized by the district board or by the superintendent.

During the year 1950--51 all public school children attending the Pierz public school, with the exception of one student, were Catholic. Non-Catholic students who completed the sixth grade in the public school at Pierz were, at the request of their parents, transported to the Little Falls public school for instructions in the seventh and eighth grades at the expense of the district; there was one such student transported during the 1950--51 school year.

The teachers in the parochial classrooms at Pierz were members of a religious order and wore a religious garb. The teachers in the public schoolrooms were laywomen, qualified public school teachers, and wore no religious garb. The courses of instruction in the public schoolrooms were prescribed by the public school authorities. There was no supervision or interference by church authorities as to the operation of the public school.

It was agreed in the 'Statement of Facts' that all of the asserted wrongful practices would have been corrected promptly if they had been called to the attention of the public authorities. When finally advised by the department of education to make certain corrections, the district board immediately made them. The same schools were operated during the school year 1951--52 and were found by the state department of education to conform satisfactorily to all rules and regulations.

The following are the state board rules to which reference is made in the petition for the writ of certiorari:

'2. Procedure for Withholding Classification and Approval

'a. Advisement

'After a school or a special department has been visited a written report regarding its condition shall be made to the school authorities by the person or persons who made the visit. In that report the school authorities shall be advised of any matters that are in need of correction.

'b. Warning

'If the advisement is not heeded, the school authorities shall be warned that the school will not be recommended for classification or that the special department will not be recommended for approval. The time limit for such correction may be specified, depending upon the nature of the irregularity.

'c. Action to be taken

'If no improvement is made after one or more warnings, the school will not be recommended to the State Board of Education for classification, or the special department will not be recommended for approval.'

More than a year after the practices complained of at Pierz had been corrected, the commissioner recommended to the state board at its meeting on August 4 and 5, 1952, that the claim for state aid by Independent School District No. 6 of Morrison county for the school year 1950--1951 in the amount of $16,924.40 be denied. ¹ That sum included.$7,072.80 basic aid and $9,851.60 transportation aid for consolidated schools. This aid has been held in abeyance since August 3, 1951.

In his recommendation to the state board with reference to the school district's claim to receive state aid for the school year 1950-- 1951 for the Pierz school, the commissioner took the position that the 'Statement of Facts' (exhibit 2) clearly indicated that the conditions set forth therein existed throughout the major part of that school year. He further said that the arguments and elucidation of facts presented by the attorneys before the state board on July 14, 1952, lead to the conclusions that the rules of the state board of education are not a controlling factor in the...