399 Pa. 80 | Pa. | 1960
Opinion by
This is an appeal from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Armstrong County directing the defendant school district to proceed to arbitration pursuant to the terms of the Apollo Area Joint School System agreement of May 18, 1950. The defendant contends that it need not do so because the jointure agreement is invalid for three reasons: (1) that by the terms of the 1950 jointure agreement prior to its amendment, the plaintiff North Apollo School District exceeded its debt limitation, as provided in Article IX, §8 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, by the purchase of an equity in the secondary school buildings in Apollo Borough, making the agreement null, and void ab initio; (2) that the 1950 jointure agreement was initially invalid because the defendant school district improperly entered into the agreement without having .withdrawn from or securing the consent of the Elders Bidge Joint School Board; and (3) that the 1950 jointure agreement is not a legally enforceable contract because the terms of the obligations of the parties are not sufficiently clear, comprehensive or exact, particularly with reference to the distribution of pupils between the two joint school systems, Apollo Area and Elders Bidge. After having carefully studied the relevant agreements in the light of the conduct of the parties,
On May 18, 1950, the School District of Kiskiminetas Township, North Apollo Borough and Apollo Borough executed an agreement creating the Apollo Area Joint School System. The agreement provided that Xiskiminetas Township and North Apollo would purchase an equity in the Apollo Borough secondary school buildings. By virtue of this provision, the indebtedness of the North Apollo School District exceeded the constitutional limitation of two percent of the assessed valuation of its taxable property. However, the fact that the agreement thus contained a provision which in its application might cause the North Apollo School District to incur an unconstitutional obligation does not render an otherwise enforceable contract void. It merely meant that this condition of the agreement could not be enforced against North Apollo. The parties recognized this problem, and Avith the subsequent agreement of all, the jointure Avas properly amended on November 12, 1951, so as to provide that the defendant and North Apollo should pay an annual rental for the buildings rather than purchase an equity. The rental to be paid per the agreement by the defendant and North Apollo was Avell within the current means of each district and could be paid from the current assets of each school district. In Kelley v. Earle, 325 Pa. 337, 190 Atl. 140 (1937), we held that contracts or leases to meet recurrent needs, the obligations of which are to be met from current reserves, are not within the constitutional limitation. Accordingly, the 1950 jointure as amended is a valid contract binding upon the parties.
Nor is it of any moment that the defendant entered into the 1950 jointure agreement without the consent of the Elders Ridge Joint School Board. On August 31, 1914, the defendant along with other school dis
Finally, as to the contention that the jointure agreement is vague and indefinite, we need only point out that the jointure agreement incorporates and is subject to the comprehensive School Code of 1949, has adequate provisions for arbitration to resolve disputes between the parties, and is sufficiently clear so as to have survived nine years of operation without appreciable confusion or disorder between the parties.
Order affirmed.