Stuart v. Winslow Elementary School Dist. No. 1, Navajo County

• Decision Date: 26 May 1966
• Docket Number: No. 8511,8511
• Citation: 414 P.2d 976,100 Ariz. 375
• Parties: Virgil STUART, Hal Butler and Hubert R. McHood, Members of the Board of Supervisors of Navajo County, Arizona, Appellants, v. WINSLOW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1, NAVAJO COUNTY, Winslow Hich School District, and R. E. Booth, D. H. Simmons, Clyde V. Rhoton, Walter Rhyan, James Armstrong and Lucillic Thompson, as taxpayers within the said school districts, Appellees.
• Court: Arizona Supreme Court

Page 976

414 P.2d 976

100 Ariz. 375

Virgil STUART, Hal Butler and Hubert R. McHood, Members of the Board of Supervisors of Navajo County, Arizona, Appellants, v. WINSLOW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1, NAVAJO COUNTY, Winslow Hich School District, and R. E. Booth, D. H. Simmons, Clyde V. Rhoton, Walter Rhyan, James Armstrong and Lucillic Thompson, as taxpayers within the said school districts, Appellees.

No. 8511.

Supreme Court of Arizona, In Division.

May 26, 1966.

John Taylor, Navajo County Atty., Holbrook, D. L. Greer, St. Johns, Stevenson, Warden & Smith, Flagstaff, for appellants.

Mangum, Christensen & Wall, Flagstaff, Denzil G. Tyler, Winslow, for appellees.

STRUCKMEYER, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment in certiorari of the Superior Court of Navajo County, The Honorable Robert E. McGhee, Judge, in which it was held that an order of the Board of Supervisors of Navajo County, made March 25, 1963, was without authority or jurisdiction and in excess of the jurisdiction of the Board and therefore void and of no force and effect.

The operative facts may be summarized as follows: Manila Elementary School District No. 18 of Navajo County, a sparsely populated area with six miles of Santa Fe Railroad right-of-way located within its borders, was bounded on the west by Winslow Elementary School District No. 1 and on the east by St. Joseph Elementary School District No. 2. Generally to the south lies Snowflake Elementary School District No. 5. During the year 1961, the County Superintendent of Schools, under the authority vested in her by A.R.S. § 15--413, ¹ suspended the Manila School District for lack of attendance. None of the parties to this appeal question the propriety of this action by the superintendent.

As required by the statute, the superintendent reported the suspension and reasons therefore to the Board of Supervisors of Navajo County at their next meeting, that being December 4, 1961. No action was taken on the suspension on that date and it was continued over to the next meeting held on January 2, 1962, and again continued until the meeting of January 12, 1962, at which time the Board of Supervisors declared the district lapsed and divided the territory between the three common school districts; Winslow No. 1, St. Joseph No. 2 and Snowflake No. 5. ² Prior to taking this action, no attempt was made to comply with A.R.S. § 15--402, subsec. C, which provides:

'The boundaries of a district shall not be changed except as provided in this title and then only after the trustees of districts affected Have had written notice of the proposed change from the county superintendent and have had an opportunity to be heard.' (Emphasis supplied.)

On April 1, 1962, the superintendent, in compliance with A.R.S. § 15--402, subsec. A, ³ filed with the board of supervisors and the county assessor a transcript of the boundaries of these school districts. The transcript reflected changes wherein the territory of the former Manila School District was attached to the other three common school districts.

The Manila Common School District had been located within Snowflake Union High School District. No action was taken by the Board of Supervisors regarding the high schools involved and the transcript filed by the superintendent showed that all of the Manila territory was within the Snowflake Union High School District.

The effect of the filing of the transcript on April 1, 1962, was that taxes were levied and assessments made, with respect to elementary schools, in accordance with the Board's order dividing Manila School District between the three elementary districts herein involved. The high school boundaries, however, were left as they had been previously; that is, the entire area of Manila was still included in Snowflake Union High School District. Therefore, although both St. Joseph High School District and Winslow High School District had common school districts within their confines that had been enlarged by this action of the Board, they were not entitled to any of the tax moneys collected for high school purposes, according to the superintendent's transcript. This is contrary to our holding in Boyd v. Bell, 68 Ariz. 166, 203 P.2d 618, wherein we held that the boundaries of a high school district must be coterminus with a common school district or the outer boundaries of two or more common school districts and that there cannot be a high school district embracing only a part of a common school district as the former is superimposed upon the latter.

It was thereafter brought to the attention of the Board of Supervisors that this was in conflict with the ruling of this Court in Boyd v. Bell, supra. On March 18, 1963, the county superintendent sent out written notices to the Boards of Trustees of the three elementary school districts and, in addition, to the Holbrook and Keams Canyon Schools. Such notices indicated that the action of the Board of Supervisors on January 12, 1962, concerning the lapsing of Manila School District No. 18 and the subsequent attaching of this territory to adjoining districts would be reviewed and possibly rescinded or amended. They were notified that a hearing would be held by the Board of Supervisors on March 25, 1963, at which time trustees and taxpayers would have the right to be heard regarding this matter.

At the hearing, the Board took no action concerning the prior lapsing of Manila School District but a motion was passed rescinding its action of January 12, 1962, which attached the former Manila School District to the three elementary school districts. The Board of Supervisors then passed a motion attaching all of Manila School District to Snowflake Elementary School District No. 5. On April 1, 1963, the superintendent of schools filed a new transcript of boundaries in accordance with the March 25, 1963, order.

The Winslow Common School District No. 1 and Winslow High School District filed an application for writ of certiorari in the superior court on March 27, 1963, naming the Board of Supervisors as respondents and asking the superior court to declare the March 25, 1963, order of the Board of Supervisors void on the grounds that the Board was without jurisdiction to change its former order of January 12, 1962.

A hearing was held on April 19, 1963, in the Superior Court of Navajo County before the Honorable Robert McGhee and the matter was taken under advisement. On August 1, 1963, a minute entry by Judge McGhee was entered stating that,

'the order of the Board of Supervisors made on March 25, 1963, wherein said Board ordered the previous order of the Board, dated January 12, 1962, be rescinded, was made without authority or jurisdiction in the premises and in excess of the jurisdiction of the Board and therefore void and of no force and effect, and that said order and resolution of said Board be, and the same is hereby annulled and set aside.'

On the same date a formal written judgment to the same effect was signed and approved by Judge McGhee and filed with the clerk by attorney for the appellees, but Rule 58(d), Rules of Civil Procedure, 16 A.R.S., ⁴ was not complied with in that the proposed judgment had not been served upon opposing counsel.

On August 13, 1963, the Board of Supervisors caused the assessment rolls to show that the territory of the former Manila Elementary School District was divided between Elementary Districts Nos. 1, 2 and 5, and between Winslow High School and Snowflake Union High School Districts.

On August 16, 1963, Snowflake Elementary District No. 5 and Snowflake Union High School District filed as pertioners a complaint for mandamus against the Board of Supervisors of Navajo County, School Districts Nos. 1 and 2 and Winslow High School District. See Cause No. 8123, decided this date, School Dist. No. 1 of Navajo County, etc. v. Snowflake Union High School Dist. of Navajo County, etc., Ariz., 414 P.2d 985. An alternative writ was issued ordering the Board of Supervisors to set tax rates and levies in accordance with their order of March 25, 1963, so that petitioners, Snowflake Common School District No. 5 and Snowflake Union High School District, would receive the entire school tax levy from former Manila School District No. 18, or in the alternative to show cause on August 19, 1963 why they had not done so.

Judge William A. Holohan presided at the hearing of August 19, 1963, at which time respondents appeared and moved for dismissal of the cause under Rule 12(b), Rules of Civil Procedure, alleging lack of jurisdiction of the subject matter. ⁵ This motion was based upon the fact that the mandamus action amounted to a collateral attack on the certiorari action previously heard before Judge McGhee. Appellants in the instant cause allege that petitioners in the mandamus action were in privity with parties to the certiorari proceeding and therefore were bound by the former action.

On August 22, 1963, Judge Holohan ordered that a peremptory writ issue and the writ did issue on August 26, 1963, ordering the Board of Supervisors to set the school tax rates and cause levies to be made in accordance with the boundary lines established by the Board of Supervisors on March 25, 1963, so that petitioners, Snowflake School Districts, would receive the entire school tax levies from former Manila School District No. 18. On October 14, 1963, a notice of appeal was filed, appealing from the peremptory writ of mandamus issued by Judge Holohan. That appeal is Cause No. 8123, referred to supra.

On March 17, 1964, Judge McGhee ordered the previous judgment of July 31, 1963, be construed as an order for judgment for failure to comply with Rule 58(d), Rules of Civil Procedure. Thereafter, and on June 17, Judge McGhee entered an amended judgment upholding the validity of the January 12, 1962, order of the Board of Supervisors and holding that the March 25, 1963, order of the Board of Supervisors be rescinded as the same, 'was made...