99 Kan. 180 | Kan. | 1916
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Is rural high school district No. 1 of Stafford county within the operation of chapter 397 of the Laws of 1905 and the amendments thereto, known as the Barnes high-school law, and entitled to share in the benefits of that law?
For several years before June 24, 1915, school district No. 40, an ordinary school district, had been in existence and in-
The plaintiff was created in the manner provided by the rural law, is a distinct entity, and not in a class with ordinary school districts. If the electors in a prescribed territory vote to establish a rural high school, a school board is elected for the government of the schools, which has power to secure sites by donation, purchase or condemnation. The annual meeting of such organization is held on the day preceding the day on
There are a number of differences between such districts and ordinary school districts to which the Barnes law is made applicable. After forming an organization of its own, as the rural law prescribes, it is provided that it shall hold annual meetings on a day other than the one on which annual meetings of school districts are held. The rural school board makes a levy - of taxes on a fixed limit, which the county clerk is required to enter on the tax roll, while school districts do no more than to certify the amounts required for school purposes and the duty of making the levy is vested in the county commissioners. The tax is levied on all the property within the high school. district for the maintenance of the schools, while for high schools maintained under the Barnes law it is levied on all the property within the county. If it had been the intention of the legislature to maintain rural high schools from .the funds raised under the Barnes act, a levy on the property of the district for the same purpose was unnecessary. A rural high school district may be constituted of territory from more than one county. In such a case a levy may be made upon all the property within the district and the money derived from it expended for the benefit of the whole district, while under the Barnes law the fund raised is a county fund and can not be expended for the benefit of the people of a district outside of the county in which .the fund is raised. Provision is made for ordinary joint school districts (Laws 1911, ch. 272), but none is made for a rural high school district comprising territory in more than one county, one of which may be or may not be operating under the Barnes law. The tuition is to be free to all pupils resident in the rural high school district comprising the territory in two or more counties, but under the Barnes law a pupil outside of the county raising the. fund could not participate in its benefits. The provisions as to the course of study under the two laws do not coincide. Under the Rural law the course of study shall- be such as the rural high school board shall prescribe, with such modifications as the state board of education may deem to be necessary ■ to, promote the usefulness and efficiency of such schools (Laws 1915, ch. 311, § 9), while under the Barnes law two courses of
“A college preparatory course, which shall fully prepare those who complete it to enter the freshman class of the college of liberal arts and sciences of the University of Kansas, and a general course, designed for those who do not intend to continue school work beyond the high school.” (Gen. Stat. 1909, § 7799.)
The length of the course required under the Rural law is not prescribed. It may be one or more years as the rural board may determine and it is not required that those who take it shall- be up to the standard which will admit them to the freshman class of the University of Kansas. Under the Rural law provisions may be made and money expended for teaching any branch belonging to the course of study in elementary district schools, while under the Barnes law it is provided that “no part of said general high-school fund shall ever be used for other than high-school purposes.” (Gen. Stat. 1909, § 7794.)
School district No. 40, whose territory was included in the rural high school district, abandoned its high school and its rights to share in the benefits of the Barnes law when the people of the district united in forming the new organization under the Rural law. It has no right to participate in the funds provided under the Barnes law unless it maintains a high school. This it has not done, and the fact that some of the pupils formerly attending high school are now in attendance at the rural high school does not change the rights of the latter under the law nor make it subject to the Barnes law. The features mentioned — and there are still others that might be pointed out — show that the legislature did not intend that rural high schools should be brought within the operation of the Barnes law nor participate in the fund provided under it.
The writ of mandamus asked for will therefore be denied.