State ex rel. School Dist. of Fulton v. Davis

• Decision Date: 12 February 1951
• Docket Number: No. 42260,42260
• Citation: 236 S.W.2d 301,361 Mo. 730
• Parties: STATE ex rel. SCHOOL DIST. OF FULTON v. DAVIS, County Clerk.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

Page 301

236 S.W.2d 301

361 Mo. 730

STATE ex rel. SCHOOL DIST. OF FULTON v. DAVIS, County Clerk.

No. 42260.

Supreme Court of Missouri, en Banc.

Feb. 12, 1951.

Baker & Baker, by J. R. Baker, Fulton, for relator.

John M. Cave, Fulton, for respondent.

HOLLINGSWORTH, Judge.

This is an original proceeding in mandamus. The relator is School District of Fulton, Missouri. Respondent is the County Clerk of Callaway County.

The case requires determination of the proper method of distribution of township school funds that have been liquidated under the provisions of Section 7, Article IX, of the Constitution of 1945. It reads: 'All real estate, loans and investments now belonging to the various county and township school funds, except those invested as hereinafter provided, shall be liquidated without extension of time, and the proceeds thereof and the money on hand now belonging to said school funds of the several counties and the city of St. Louis, shall be reinvested in registered bonds of the United States, or in bonds of the state or in approved bonds of any city or school district thereof, or in bonds or other securities the payment of which are fully guaranteed by the United States, and sacredly preserved as a county school fund. Any county or the city of St. Louis by a majority vote of the qualified electors voting thereon may elect to distribute annually to its schools the proceeds of the liquidated school fund, at the time and in the manner prescribed by law. All interest accruing from investment of the county school fund, the clear proceeds of all penalties, forfeitures and fines collected hereafter for any breach of the penal laws of the State, the net proceeds from the sale of estrays, and all other moneys coming into said funds shall be distributed annually to the schools of the several counties according to law.'

Prior to the adoption of the Constitution of 1945, the County Court of Callaway County administered and kept separate the county capital school fund and the township capital school funds, and also kept each township fund separate from the other township funds in the county. After the adoption of, and pursuant to, the above provision, the county court liquidated all real estate, loans and investments then belonging to the various county and township school funds and reinvested the proceeds as required by law, carrying them on the books of the county clerk and county treasurer as follows:

County capital school funds $77,780.54

Individually listed township

capital school funds, amounting

in the aggregate to $37,172.77

Total $114,953.31

Thereafter, on February 18, 1950, an election was held in accordance with Sections 171.020 and 171.030, Mo.R.S.1949, to determine whether the capital of the liquidated county and township funds should be annually distributed. A majority voted in favor of annual distribution.

The total school enumeration for 1949 in Callaway County was 4,426, which included the 1,600 in relator school district.

Relator takes the position that the quoted constitutional provision has eliminated the distinction existing between county capital school funds and township capital school funds and that respondent, whose duty it is to apportion and distribute school funds, should divide the total sum of $114,953.31 by the total county enumeration of 4,426, then multiply the resulting quotient by 1,600, and apportion and distribute to relator the sum of $41,555.52 resulting from that method of computation.

Respondent takes the position that the distinction existing between the county capital school fund and the township capital school funds still exists. He, therefore, proposes to apportion and distribute the various township capital school funds, amounting in the aggregate to $37,172.77, to the respective schools in the respective townships according to the enumeration of those schools; then to apportion and distribute the county capital school fund of $77,780.54 by dividing that amount by 4,426, the total enumeration of the county, and multiplying the resulting quotient by the enumeration in each school district, the enumeration of relator being 1,600. By the method of computation proposed by respondent, the relator would receive the sum of $31,290.83, composed of $28.119.17, representing a share of the county capital school fund, and $3,171.66, representing relator's share of the capital school fund of the township of which relator is a part.

By an Act of Congress on March 6, 1820, 3 U.S.Stat. 545, Vol. 28, Mo.R.S.A.Const. p. 215, the people of the Missouri Territory were authorized to from a constitution and state government and to be admitted as such a state into the Union. This Act also submitted five propositions to the people of the Territory, the first of which was that the section of land numbered sixteen in each township would be granted to the State for the use of the inhabitants of such township, for the use of schools. By an Ordinance of Acceptance, the people of the Territory, in convention assembled, on July 19, 1820, Vol. 28, Mo.R.S.A. p. 220, accepted these propositions and proceeded to form a state government.

These Acts are the basis of respondent's contention. He assumes the fact, although it is not shown, that the township school funds involved in this case are the moneys received from the sales of these sections of land and the accumulations thereof. Whether this is true we do not know. However, in conformity with a long series of legislative enactments, the current ones being Sections 171.080 and 171.090, Mo.R.S.1949, township school funds generally were kept separate and distinct from other school funds until the adoption of the Constitution of 1945.

Respondent further contends that a statute enacted in 1945, Laws 1945, p. 1628, Sec. 171.110, Mo.R.S.1949, shows that the Legislature construed the constitutional provision under consideration to mean that township school funds are still to be kept intact and separately administered. This act deals with the liquidation of county and township funds and their reinvestment and the distribution of interest accruing from such reinvestment. It then provides for the distribution of such interest and other accumulations 'as provided in this chapter.' It does not purport to cover the distribution of the principal of such funds if such a distribution has been authorized by an election under the above quoted constitutional provision, nor does it fix any procedure for such an election. The only method of distribution of township school funds that we find in that chapter is a proviso in Section 161.030, Mo.R.S.1949, as amended Laws 1947, Vol. I, p. 497, that all school moneys for the use of schools in any townships or parts of townships and all moneys for the use of schools in any county shall be apportioned upon the last enumeration on file in the office of the county clerk. For reasons hereinafter stated we do not believe this proviso supports respondent's contention.

The pertinent and controlling statute under the facts here involved is an act of 1947, Laws 1947, Vol. I, p. 285, Sec. 171.030, Mo.R.S.1949. It prescribes...