Superintendent of Public Instruction v. Auditor of Public Accounts

• Decision Date: 27 March 1895
• Citation: 30 S.W. 404,97 Ky. 180
• Parties: SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION v. AUDITOR OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS.
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

30 S.W. 404

97 Ky. 180

SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION v. AUDITOR OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

March 27, 1895

Appeal from circuit court, Franklin county.

"To be officially reported."

W. J Hendrick, for appellant.

PAYNTER J.

The question arises in this case from a difference of opinion between the auditor of public accounts and the superintendent of public instruction as to the proper interpretation of section 184 of the constitution, which reads as follows "The bond of the commonwealth, issued in favor of the board of education for the sum of one million three hundred and twenty-seven thousand dollars, shall constitute one bond of the commonwealth in favor of the board of education, and this bond and seventy-three thousand five hundred dollars of the stock in the Bank of Kentucky held by the board of education, and its proceeds, shall be held inviolate for the purpose of sustaining the system of common schools. The interest and dividends of said fund, together with any sum which may be produced by taxation or otherwise for purposes of common school education, shall be appropriated to the common school and to no other purpose. No sum shall be raised or collected for education, other than common schools, until the question of taxation is submitted to the legal voters and the majority of the votes cast at said election shall be in favor of such taxation: provided, the tax now imposed for the educational purposes, and for the endowment and maintenance of the Agricultural and Mechanical College, shall remain until changed by law."

It is insisted by the superintendent of public instruction that the fund arising from the sources therein named, for the purposes of common-school education, can only be paid to the teachers of the common schools, and for no other purpose. On the other hand, it is contended by the auditor of public accounts that the expenses of the state department of education, of whatever character or kind, shall be paid out of the resources of the common-school fund. By section 4371, Gen St. Ky. (common-school law), it is provided, in effect, that "the expenses of the department of education of whatever character or kind" should be paid out of that fund. By section 4385 it is provided that the salaries of the superintendent of public instruction and his clerks are "to be paid monthly out of the common school fund." The superintendent is required to make a biennial report, to prepare suitable blanks for...