Thomas v. Foust
| Decision Date | 13 January 1969 |
| Docket Number | No. 5--4773,5--4773 |
| Citation | 245 Ark. 948,435 S.W.2d 793 |
| Parties | Herbert L. THOMAS, Sr., et al., Appellants, v. Otha FOUST, County Clerk, et al., Appellees. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
John D. Eldridge, Augusta, for appellants.
Fitton, Meadows & Adams, Harrison, and Earl Olmstead, Heber Springs, for appellees.
This is an appeal from a judgment holding Act 407 of 1965 (Ark.Stat.Ann. § 80--455 (Supp.1967)) unconstitutional as violative of Amendment No. Fourteen to the Arkansas Constitution. The suit below involved a three-party action with multiple issues; however, we deem it necessary only to consider the question of the constitutionality of Act 407 because our decision makes it determinative of the case. We agree with the trial court that Act 407 is a local or special law and is, therefore, unconstitutional.
Appellants are the owners and developers of a community known as Eden Isle which is located on the shores of Greers Ferry Reservoir in Cleburne County, Arkansas. If developed as planned, Eden Isle will be a high-standard resort and retirement area with a permanent population of some 1,500 to 2,500 people. Prior to the formation of Greers Ferry Reservoir in 1962, the Eden Isle area was located in the West Side School District in Cleburne County. With the formation of the reservoir, Eden Isle became separated from the main body of the district, although it remained contiguous to the Heber Springs School District. In order to reach the West Side School District, a child living in Eden Isle would be required to travel a distance of approximately 75 miles round trip daily. The student making the trip travels completely through another school district in order to get to West Side. Therefore, arrangements were made with the Heber Springs School District for the children of the Eden Isle area to attend there. Subsequently, appellants caused legislation to be introduced in the Legislature which culminated in the passage of Act No. 407 of 1965, the pertinent portions of which are as follows:
'Hereafter, any portion of a school district in this State which is a part of a school district from which such portion is completely separated by a reservoir formed by any flood control, power, or recreational project constructed, operated, developed, or maintained by the United States of America or any other person; and where to attend school in their own district the pupils of said portion are required to travel a distance of more than twenty (20) miles and pass through another school district or districts, and where the pupils living in such segment were not on January 1, 1964, attending school in the district to which they belong but by agreement and arrangement attended school in a school district adjoining such portion of such school district, may be formed into a separate school district or may be annexed to and become a part of said adjoining school district where the pupils have been attending school, upon the filing of a petition * * *.'
Upon passage several residents of Eden Isle petitioned the Cleburne County Board of Education pursuant, to the act, for the formation of a separate school district. The petition was denied, and an appeal was taken to the Circuit Court of Cleburne County. Subsequently, a second petition was filed (during the pendency of the appeal) praying that Eden Isle be annexed to the Heber Springs School District. This petition was accepted by the Heber Springs School Board and filed with the County Board of Education. Thereafter, both the Heber Springs School District and the Eden Isle petitioners filed a petition for a writ of mandamus against the Cleburne County Clerk. The West Side School District intervened, and the cases were consolidated for trial which was held March 14, 1968. Judgment was entered May 20, 1968, holding, among other things, that Act 407 was unconstitutional.
Amendment 14 to the Arkansas Constitution prohibits the passage of any local or special acts. In Laman, Mayor v. Harrill, ...
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Beaumont v. Adkisson
...is not local or special if the classification is not arbitrary and bears a reasonable relation to the purpose of the act. Thomas v. Foust, 245 Ark. 948, 435 S.W.2d 793. The General Assembly may make a classification where it is appropriate, germane to the subject and based upon substantial ......
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Fayetteville School Dist. No. 1 v. Arkansas State Bd. of Educ., 92-1226
...when it implemented the School Finance Act of 1984 in its amendments and it has failed in this regard. The Board cites Thomas v. Foust, 245 Ark. 948, 435 S.W.2d 793 (1969), for the rule that even though a law is limited in effect to only a few classifications, it is not necessarily special ......
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Heber Springs School Dist. v. West Side School Dist., 80-11
...D. Ross, Little Rock, for appellants. Dan Stripling, Clinton, for appellees. HOLT, Justice. This case is a sequel to Thomas v. Foust, 245 Ark. 948, 435 S.W.2d 793 (1969), where we held Act 407 of 1965 was local legislation, being nonprospective, and therefore violative of Amendment 14 to ou......
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