State v. Kingsley

• Decision Date: 20 March 1922
• Citation: 205 P. 892,35 Idaho 262
• Parties: THE STATE OF IDAHO on the Relation of D. W. DAVIS, Individually and as Governor of the State of Idaho; ROY L. BLACK, Individually, and as Attorney General of the State of Idaho; ETHEL E. REDFIELD, Individually, and as State Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State of Idaho; D. W. DAVIS, ROY L. BLACK, ETHEL E. REDFIELD, JOEL JENIFER and ELIZABETH SHOTWELL, as Board of Teachers' Retirement Fund of the State of Idaho; and JOEL JENIFER and ELIZABETH SHOTWELL, Individually, Plaintiffs, v. CHARLES S. KINGSLEY, Clerk of Independent School District No. 1 of Boise City, State of Idaho, and LOTTIE M. GRAVELY, HELEN A. EAGLESON, B. W. OPPENHEIM, CRAIG H. COFFIN, O. O. HAGA and H. J. MCGIRR, Constituting the Board of Trustees of Said School District, Defendants
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

205 P. 892

35 Idaho 262

THE STATE OF IDAHO on the Relation of D. W. DAVIS, Individually and as Governor of the State of Idaho; ROY L. BLACK, Individually, and as Attorney General of the State of Idaho; ETHEL E. REDFIELD, Individually, and as State Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State of Idaho; D. W. DAVIS, ROY L. BLACK, ETHEL E. REDFIELD, JOEL JENIFER and ELIZABETH SHOTWELL, as Board of Teachers' Retirement Fund of the State of Idaho; and JOEL JENIFER and ELIZABETH SHOTWELL, Individually, Plaintiffs, v. CHARLES S. KINGSLEY, Clerk of Independent School District No. 1 of Boise City, State of Idaho, and LOTTIE M. GRAVELY, HELEN A. EAGLESON, B. W. OPPENHEIM, CRAIG H. COFFIN, O. O. HAGA and H. J. MCGIRR, Constituting the Board of Trustees of Said School District, Defendants

Supreme Court of Idaho

March 20, 1922

MANDAMUS-STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION-ACT CREATING TEACHERS' RETIREMENT FUND-METHOD OF ENFORCING COLLECTION FROM TEACHERS.

1. Ineligibility to receive an annuity from the teachers' retirement fund is the sole penalty provided by chapter 197 of the Session Laws of 1921 for failure to pay the annual amount prescribed by the statute, and the collection of such amount from the teachers cannot be enforced, under its provisions.

2. Mandamus will not lie to compel the clerks of the school districts to collect from the teachers the amount prescribed by said statute.

Original proceeding in mandamus. Demurrer to petition sustained, and action dismissed.

Alternative writ quashed and the action dismissed with costs to defendants.

Roy L Black, Attorney General, and Dean Driscoll, Assistant Attorney General, for Plaintiffs.

Henry Z. Johnson, for Defendants.

Counsel cite no authorities on points decided.

MCCARTHY J. Rice, C. J., and Budge, Dunn and Lee, JJ., concur.

OPINION

MCCARTHY, J.

This is a mandamus proceeding. Chapter 197 of the Session Laws of 1921 provides for a teachers' retirement fund. The management of the fund is intrusted to a board of five members, to wit: "The Governor, who shall be president of said board, the Attorney General, State Superintendent of Public Instruction and two active teachers of Idaho appointed by the State Superintendent, said appointments to be confirmed by the other two members of the Board above provided." (Sec. 1.)

Sec. 3 provides: "It is hereby made the duty of each clerk of each school district in the State of Idaho to collect from the teacher or teachers of said district the second Tuesday in November in each and every year one-half of one per cent of the annual salary of said teacher or teachers according to the contract of said teacher or teachers with said district. This money collected by the clerk shall be forwarded to the County Superintendent of the county in which said district lies. The County Superintendent shall transmit said money collected to the Board of the Teachers' Retirement Fund to be placed in the State Treasury. There may be added to this fund all money and properties received by donations, gifts, legacies, bequests, devise, or otherwise, for or on account of the fund, and all interest on the investment."

Sec. 8 provides: "Any teacher who shall have taught for a period of twenty-five years, fifteen years of which time shall have been in the State of Idaho, and five of said fifteen years shall be for a consecutive period, unless said teacher becomes bodily disabled while in service, or one or more years of said five years is spent in a Normal or Teachers' College, provided such teacher shall have attained the age of fifty years in the case of females and fifty-five years in the case of males, may be retired at his or her request from teaching and shall thereafter receive an annuity out of said retirement fund of Seven Hundred Dollars ($ 700.00) per year, which annuity shall be paid in quarterly payments on January 1st, April 1st, July 1st and October 1st of each and every year."

Sec. 12...