Lead Opinion
This сase involves the constitutionality and interpretation óf certain provisions of Act No. 331, Pub. Acts 1947, by which the legislature made appropriations for specified educational purposes. The general object of the act is indicated by its title, which reads as follows:
.“An act to make appropriations from the general fund of the State for the purpose of aiding in the support of the public schools of the State; and for the purpose of reimbursing counties for salaries of county commissioners of schools or county superintendents of schools; to provide for the apportion
In accordanсe with the title, chapter 1, § 1 of the act appropriates for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1948, the sum of “$51,705,633.05 from the general fund of the State to school districts to be distributed in accordance with this act.” Said section further recites that the amount so appropriated is 44.77 per cent, of the State sales tax revenues of the preceding year, and that the appropriation is made in accordance with the provisions of article 10, § 23, of the State Constitution.
'Act No. 331, chap. 3, § 60, provides:
“For the purposes of this act the State shall constitute a single school district. The superintendent of public instruction shall be the executive officer of such State schoоl district, and the State board of education, the State board of control for vocational education, the Michigan public school employees ’ retirement fund board and the retirement commission created under chapter 2 of Act No. 136 of the Public Acts of 1945, shall be the administra^ tive boards of such district. Said State school district shall not supersede, affect or limit any of the powers, constitutional or statutory, in force when this act tabes effect belonging to the superintendent of public instruction or any board listed hereunder, nor shall it supersede, replace or limit’ the statutory
In directing the distribution of the money appropriated by the act, as contemplated by chapter 1, § 1, above mentioned, the legislature in chapter 2, § 23, appropriated $600,000‘to the State school district for vocational education, and directed such appropriation to be administered by the State board of control for vocational education in the manner provided by prior statutes of the State. Likewise, in chapter 2, § 28, there was appropriated to said State school district for the Michigan school for the blind the sum of $278,350, and for the Michigan school for the deaf the further sum of $457,910, said amounts to bе administered and disbursed by the State board of education. The following section then appropriated to the State school district the sum of $5,500,000 to be administered and disbursed by the public school employees’ retirement fund board, and by the retirement commission created under Act No. 136, Chap. 2, Pub. Acts 1945 (Comp. Laws Supp. 1945, § 7763-132 et seq., Stat. Ann. 1946 Cum. Supp. § 15.893 [41] et seq.), said amount to be pro-rated to the two funds indicated on the basis of contributions made thereto by members. Chapter 3, § 61, makes further provision for the disbursement of each of the specified amounts so appropriated, and defines the duties of each board and commission specified as a disbursing agency.
Article 10, § 23, of the State Cоnstitution (1908) referred to in the first section of the act under consideration, was adopted by a vote of the people at the general election held November 5,1946. It reads as follows:
(‘There shall be returned to local governmental units and school districts by the method hereinafter
The interpretation of the amendment was before thik Court in City of Jackson v. Commissioner of Revenue,
The plaintiff, board of education of the city of Detroit, filed suit in the circuit court of Ingham county, asking for a declaration of rights
■ The first question requiring consideration has reference to the basis on which the legislative appropriations were made. The ratio between the total State sales tax revеnues for the fiscal year end-' ing June 30, 1945, and the legislative grants made for the fiscal year 1945-1946, was determined' by the legislature in the manner required by the specific language of the constitutional amendment above quoted. The correctness of the resulting percentage as specified in chapter 1, § 1, of the act, is not questioned. In determining the. aggregate amount to be appropriated such percentage was applied by the legislature to the total sales tax revenues for the fiscal year ending June 30,1946. Plaintiffs claim this method was incorrect and that the percentage should have been applied to the total sales tax rеvenues for the year ending June 30, 1947. It is argued, in substance, that the reference to “preceding year” in the concluding provision of article 10, § 23, of the Constitution, must be construed as having reference to the year immediately preceding that for which the grants are made, and that, in consequence, the appropriations to school,districts made by Act No. 331, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1948, should have been based on the revenues received by the State from the sales tax during the fiscal year 1946-1947. It is conceded that the term in question has reference to the fiscal year of the State.
It must be- presumed that in adopting the amendment to the Constitution in question the people hаd in mind the requirement (Const. 1908, art. 5, §13) that the legislature shall meet in regular session on the first Wednesday in January of each odd year. It is a matter of common knowledge that there have been comparatively few regular legislative sessions since the adoption of the present State Constitution that were not completed prior to June 30th of the years in which the sessions were held. The language of the amendment with reference to grants to school districts clearly imports that the legislature shall make , such grants on a definite basis, necessitating complete and accurate information with reference to the revenues on which the annual appropriations are based. If the construction contended for by plaintiffs is correct, the legislature may not fully comply with the mandate given it by the people except by withholding the making of the appropriations each year until such time, subsequent to July 1st, as the sales tax'revenue figures for the past fiscal year become available. One result of such construction would be that each fiscal year would be well under way prior to the making
The conclusion of the legislature that it should base its appropriations to school districts for the fiscal year 1947-1948 on the sales tax revenues for the year ending June 30, 1946, is not at variance with the language of article 10, § 23, of the Constitution, or with the purpose underlying the submission and adoption of that amendment. It does not bring about any unfair or inequitable result. It may be reasonably anticipated that over a period of years, the aggregate of grants made will be approximately the same under the legislative interpretation of the mandate of the Constitution as it would be under that proposed by the plaintiffs. It may be noted also that the basis accepted by the
This brings us to a consideration of the claims of plaintiffs with reference to the status of the State school district contemplated by the act, an.d the appropriations made thereto for the use and benefit of vocational education, the school for the blind, the school for the deaf, and the school employees’ retirement funds. It is contended that it is not within the power of the legislature to create a school district embracing the entire State. Defendants advance the argument that in practical effect the State has been in the past a school district, as such has maintained various educational institutions, and has participated directly in the advancement of the general program of education. Attention is called to the fact that township and county school districts have been created for specified educational purposes and that the power of the legislature with reference to school districts in general has been uniformly regarded as' embracing the power to create and alter them, regulate the powers and duties of boards of education, provide for the management of the affairs of such districts, direct and control the. system of education of the State, and, in general, exercise with reference thereto the authority of a sovereign State over its governmental agencies. Conceding such measure of authority,
It may be assumed that in the adoption of the amendment to the Constitution the people of the State gave to the term “school district” the common significance attaching to it. In Board of Metropolitan Police of the City of Detroit v. Board of Auditors of Wayne County,
“Our State Constitution has provided for local municipalities, еmbracing" counties, cities, villages, ■townships, and school districts, which it has been held mean such bodies of those names as were of a nature familiar and understood. ’ ’
The school district is commonly regarded as a State agency. Attorney General, ex rel. Kies, v. Lowrey,
“A division of territory; a defined portion of a state, county, country, town, or city, etc., made for administrative, electoral, or other purposes; as, a Congressional, federal, judicial, land, militia, magisterial, or school district.'”
Other dictionaries contain similar definitions, thereby indicating the common understanding of the word. It is, generally speaking, something less than the whole. We think it may fairly be said that the term “school district” is commonly regarded as a legal division of territory, created by the State for educational purposes, to which the State has granted such powers as are deemed necessary to permit the district to function as a State agency. Stuart v. School District No. 1 of the Village of Kalamazoo,
It should be noted also that under Act No. 331 the State school district is not vested with powers and duties of the character commonly delegated to' school districts. It is declared a school district for one purpose only, namely, аs indicated in the title of the act, “to receive, administer and disburse” certain appropriations. Under chapter 3, § 6.1, specific authority with reference thereto is vested in. existing hoards and commissions. In other words,', the State school district as such exercises no pre-. rogatives. Actually, the appropriations in dispute
The conclusion does not follow from the foregoing that the appropriations challenged by plaintiffs are void. It must be borne in mind that we are not dealing in this case with funds appropriated, by the Constitution itself. Rather the matters at issue concern appropriations made by the legislature out of the general fund of the State. The power of the legislature to make approрriations for the support and maintenance of the school for the blind and the school for the deaf is not open to question. In fact, the State Constitution (1908), article 11, § 15, specifically directs that, “Institutions for the benefit of those inhabitants who are deaf, dumb, blind, feeble-minded or insane shall always be fostered and supported.” Likewise, the making of appropriations for vocational education and for the benefit of the retirement funds for school employees is clearly within the scope of the legislative power. As before noted, these appropriations were not made for the support and maintenance of the Stаte school district but rather to the end that the specified beneficiaries named might continue to function. As counsel for defendants say in their brief, “the ap- , propriations are in fact appropriations for the beneficiaries named therein just as much as if they
Sustaining the appropriations as made, for the use and benefit of the beneficiaries designated, does not mean that money appropriated for the support of the plaintiffs and other school districts of the State pursuant to article 10, § 23, of the Constitution, is diverted. The aggregate amount referred to in chapter 1, § 1, of Act No. 331, was expressly required “to be distributed in acсordance with this act.” In interpreting the statute its various provisions must be read together to the end that the legislative intent may be properly determined. When so read it is obvious that of the total amount mentioned in chapter 1, § 1, a total of $6,836,260 was intended to be disbursed for the school for the blind, the school for the deaf, the board, of control for vocational education, the Michigan public school employees’ retirement fund board, and the retirement commission having jurisdiction with reference to employees in school districts of the first class. The provisions of section 61 of the act leave no question in this regard.
Plaintiffs call attention tо the provisions of article 11, § 6, of the State Constitution, with reference to the powers of the State board of education. It is therein provided:
“The State board of education shall have general supervision of the State normal college and the State normal schools, and the duties of said board shall be prescribed by law.”
■ It is argued that under the language quoted it is not within the power of the legislature to prescribe powers and duties for the State board of education, except in connection with .the State normal college and the State normal schools. Such claim is not tenable. It will be noted that the provision abovе
If the appropriations here challenged were held invalid for the reasons urged by рlaintiffs, school districts entitled to grants in accordance with article 10, § 23, of the Constitution, could not claim the light to have the aggregate of such appropriations turned over to them. As before noted, we are concerned here with appropriations made out of the general fund of the State. Payments from such fund cannot be made except in accordance with legislative action. The Constitution (1908), article 10, § 16, provides:
“No money shall' be paid out of the State treasury except in pursuance of appropriations made by law. ’ ’ -
The invalidity of the appropriations for other beneficiaries under the act сould not, therefore,'inure to the benefit of plaintiffs.
As pointed out by defendants, holding invalid the appropriations in question would result in serious consequences to vital State institutions and essential activities. In the final analysis such conclusion would necessarily rest on the premise that the legislature conditioned the appropriations for these pur- , poses on the validity of its attempted action with
The practical situation presented is that the legislature, by Act No. 331, Pub. Acts 1947, did not appropriate to school districts of the State entitled to annuаl grants under the concluding provision of article 10, § 23, of the Constitution, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1948, the full amount required by said provision. The amount of the deficiency is the sum of $6,836,260, the aggregate of the appropriations challenged .by plaintiffs. Actually the legislature appropriated to said school districts the sum of $44,869,373.05. It did not, in other words, comply with the mandatory formula hereinbefore discussed, such failure obviously occurring because of the mistaken belief that the appropriations for the four specific purposes above discussed could be lawfully included as a part.of the appropriations to school districts. However, as pointed out in City of Jackson v. Commissioner of Revenue, supra, the court may not direct or control legislative action. In consequence, whether the deficiency is made up by a further appropriation rests wholly with the legislature.
To summarize briefly, we hold:
First, that the legislature, in making grants to school districts under the provisions of article 10, § 23, of the State Constitution, for the fiscal year 1947-1948, properly applied, the percentage ascertained in the manner required by said section, to the total sales tax revenues received by the State during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1946;
Second, that the so-called State school district, sought to be provided for in. said act, is not a “school district” within the meaning of the said section of the Constitution;
Third, that the appropriations made in said act for the use and benefit of the board of vocational control, the State school for the blind, the State
Fourth, that the legislature in said act failed to appropriate to the school districts of the State, for 'the fiscal year ending June 30, 1948, the full amount required by article 10, § 23, of the Constitution, .the amount of such deficiency being the sum of $6,836,260;
Fifth, that the court is without power to direct or control legislative action with reference to a possible further appropriation to cover the amount of such deficiency;
Sixth, that plaintiffs are not entitled to injunctive relief, but a declaration of rights in accordance with the conclusions herein set forth may properly be made. '
A decreе will enter in this Court in accordance herewith, without costs.
Notes
See 3 Comp. Laws 1929, § 13903 el seq. (Stat. Anri. § 27.501 ei seq.).
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting in part), I an unable to concur in full with the opinion of Chief Justice Carr. Fundamentally I am of a different mind because I cannot agree with his conclusion: “We hold that the State school district sought'to be created by this act (Act No. 331, Pub. Acts 1947) is not a ‘school district’ within the meaning of the term as used in article 10, § 23 of the Constitution (the 1946 constitutional amendment).”
I find no difficulty in concluding that the legislature has' the right to create State agencies which have the power to function state-wide. This has
I cannot conclude that in adopting the' pertinent constitutional provision, the people were motivated by an assumption that the legislature did not have the power, if it saw fit, to thereafter revamp the-school districts of the State if in its wisdom it seemed best for carrying on most efficiently for the State as a whole its educational undertakings. And I do'not find in our Constitution any such limitation on the power of the legislature. It follows that the right to alter the existing _ school districts or to create new districts within the State is vested in the legislative branch of the State government; and that power was not restricted or otherwise altered
In the opinion of the Chief Justice it is said: “It should be noted, also, that under Act No. 331 (Pub. Acts 1947) the State school district is not vested with the powers and duties of the character commonly delegated to school districts.” Even so, clearly the provisions in the cited act for “a State school district” pertain'to the over-all educational activity of the State and to a phase of State education urgently demanded by public welfare. The Constitution provides that institutions for the benefit of the deaf, dumb and blind “shall always be fostered and supported.” See Michigan Constitution 1908, art.' 11,. § 15. The fact that the manner provided in the statute for carrying on.the activities of the State school district may be somewhat of a departure from that heretofore “commonly delegated to school districts,” is not persuasive of invalidity. The function of good government cannot be fully accomplished except progressive provisions are made for varying needs as they arise.
For the reasons above indicated I am constrаined to disagree with the portion of the Chief Justice’s opinion under consideration, and to hold that the so-called State school district created by Act No. 331, Pub. Acts 1947 is a legally-constituted school district. Having so concluded I cannot agree that the legislature failed to appropriate to the school ■districts of the State for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1948, the full amount to which such districts are lawfully entitled.
I am in accord with the holding in the opinion of the Chief Justice as summarized near the close of his opinion in paragraphs designated First and Third, and that plaintiffs are not entitled to injunctive relief, Further a .declaration of rights in ac
A decree should be entered in this Court' in accordance herewith, without costs.