116 S.W.2d 1025 | Tenn. | 1938
This action was instituted before a justice of the peace by a warrant which recites:
"This debt arises out of the obligation of Hardin County to pay said Benson for operating a school bus in delivering children to and from the school in said county under contract with the Hardin County Board of Education for the scholastic years of 1936-7 and 1937-8."
The magistrate entered a judgment in favor of plaintiff for $490. The county appealed to the circuit court where a demurrer was interposed by the county and sustained, the ground thereof being that plaintiff's cause of action was against the county board of education and not against the county. We think the demurrer was properly sustained. The making of such contracts is expressly conferred upon the board, and no such authority is vested in the county; and, in fact plaintiff did not contract with the county but with the board.
The duties of the county board of education and superintendent are set forth in the Code at sections 2317-2335. One of their duties is to prepare an annual budget for the schools in the county and submit same to the county court at its April session, whose duty it is to levy a tax to take care of the budget. That is about the only duty vested in the county with respect to the schools. The law provides that the county superintendent shall issue all warrants authorized by the county board of education for expenditures for public school funds. Section 2325 of the Code provides that the county board of education shall elect teachers and other employees and fix their salaries; shall make written contracts with all employees; shall manage and control all county public schools; and purchase supplies. Section 2326 authorizes the county board of education to consolidate schools, and "To provide *248 transportation for pupils who reside too far away from the school to attend without such transportation and when the number of pupils justify, and to pay for same out of the public elementary school funds for transporting elementary pupils, and out of the public high school funds for transporting high school pupils."
From the foregoing it will be noted that the Legislature has created a board with exclusive management and control of the county schools; has authorized it to contract and be contracted with, and has provided funds with which to discharge its obligations. Plaintiff claims to have entered into a valid contract with this board; if so, he has a lawful remedy against it. But he has no remedy against the county, since he has no contract with the county directly or by any agency authorized to bind it.
In principle this case is analogous to that of Dietler v.Kincannon,
Morton v. Hancock County,
In State ex rel. Brown v. Polk County,
For the reasons stated herein, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed. *250