152 Pa. 575 | Pa. | 1893
Opinion by
The questions raised by the assignments of error in this case arise upon a motion to strike off a mechanic’s lien against the buildings of the Central Normal School Association of the state of Pennsylvania, situate in Lockhaven. The lien was entered 'April 9, 1890, under the act of June 16, 1836, and its supplements, by John McLeod, a subcontractor, against the Normal School Association, as owner, and Charles H. Ferguson, as contractor and builder, for two thousand eight hundred perches of stone furnished, in pursuance of a contract to that effect, in the erection and construction of buildings designed for normal school purposes. . The Central Normal School is the state normal school for the eighth normal school district of Pennsylvania, and has been regularly recognized as such according to the provisions of the act of May 20, 1857, P. L. 581, entitled, “ An act to provide for the due training of teachers for the common schools of the state.”
The contention of the board of trustees is that although the Central Normal School is in form a private corporation acting under a charter from the court of common pleas of Clinton county, yet, as it has been recognized as a state normal school under the act of May 20, 1857, it exercises a certain public function delegated to it by the sovereignty of the state, directly in the public interest under the provisions of that act; that the school is a public auxiliary to the government in the mainte
As the constitution, from the earliest years of our national independence, imposed upon the legislature the duty of providing by law for the establishment and maintenance of schools for the education of children throughout the commonwealth and especially the children of the poor, it was without doubt within the scope of the legislative power, in the maintenance of these schools, to provide a system of public schools for the education of common school teachers. In the constitution of 1776, chap. 2, § 14, it was provided as follows: “A school or schools shall be established in each county, by the legislature, for the convenient instruction of youth, with such salaries to the masters paid by the public as may enable them to instruct the youth at low prices.” The constitution of 1790, article 7, § 1, imposed this duty in the words following: “ The legislature shall, as soon as conveniently may be, provide by law for the establishment of schools throughout the state in such manner that the poor may be taught gratis.” The convention of 1838 adopted and continued this provision without change or modification. In the present constitution, however, article 10, § 1, this obligation- is modified and extended as follows : “ The general assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public schools, wherein all the children of this commonwealth above the age of six years may be educated; and shall appropriate at least one million dollars each year for that purpose.” The maintenance of the public schools under these constitutional provisions imposed an obligation to erect and maintain suitable buildings, to furnish conveniences and equipments reasonably necessary to promote the work of education, to provide and employ competent teachers and to do all the necessary things that the poor may be taught gratuitously, or, in the words of the present constitution, that the people may have a thorough and efficient system of public schools. The want of competent teachers was for many years and perhaps to some extent still is the principal defect in the system. The idea prevailed generally in this as well as in the other states that to make the public school
The policy actually pursued, however, under the provisions of the act of 1857, is somewhat different. The act, as we have said, is entitled, “An act to provide for the due training of teachers for the common schools of the state.” It divides the state into twelve districts, with provision for establishing but one normal school in each; the schools to be established and managed by private companies or corporations, composed of contributors or stockholders; the pecuniary affairs to be man
“ That when the trustees of any school desirous of claiming the privilege of this act shall make application to the state superintendent of common schools, it shall he the duty of the superintendent of common schools, together with four other competent and disinterested persons to be chosen by him with the consent of the governor, and all the superintendents of the counties in the normal school’ district in which such school shall be situate, on receiving due notice from the department of common schools, personally and at the same time to visit and carefully inspect such school; and if after thorough examination thereof and of its by-laws, rules and regulations, and of its general arrangement and facilities for instruction, they or at least two thirds of them shall approve the same and find that they fully come up to the provisions of this act, in that case, and in no other, they shall certify the same to the department of common schools, with their opinions that such school has fully complied with the provisions of this act as far as can be done before going into operation under this act; whereupon the state superintendent shall forthwith recognize such school as a state normal school under this act, and give public notice thereof in two newspapers in each county in the particular normal school district, and thenceforward this act shall go into full operation so far as regards such school without any further proceedings.”
After recognition, the school may receive and hold any be-, quest, gift or endowment not inconsistent with the design of the statute, and the trustees may sue for and recover the same. Graduates of these institutions are entitled to receive from the board of examiners certificates of scholarship and diplomas, which are receivable, throughout the state, as full evidence of practical qualification, and as a permanent license to teach in the common schools.
The act of 1857 has since been amended in several particulars. By the act of April 3, 1872, § 12, it was provided that all examinations of the graduating classes should be conducted by a board, of which the state superintendent or his deputy shall be president, two principals of normal schools, etc., and two county or city superintendents of the district, to be appointed by the state superintendent; and it was afterwards provided (act of April 12,1875, § 9, P. L. 430), that no certificate or diploma could be issued unless by the affirmative vote of four out of the five members of the board. By the same act of
It will be observed that by the provisions of this act of 1857 and the amendments thereto, the state normal schools are distinctly private corporations; their management is placed in the hands of trustees elected by the stockholders or contributors. The state simply defined the aim or purpose of the normal schools and laid down the rules by which, in order to obtain the benefits of the act, their affairs should be regulated. The title to their property, real and personal, is absolutely in the schools ; their management is exclusively in the hands of the trustees, and, subject to the regulations defined by the statute, the affairs of the schools are wholly committed to their care. They were obliged, it is true, to accept certain pupils at certain rates on district account, and in a certain event to give these a preference; they were subject to visitation by the state superintendent, and the regulations for the government of the school and the course of study are subject to his approval. But it was competent for the school at any time either to alien the property and to cease operations, or to establish a school for academic or collegiate purposes in which pedagogics and the training of teachers for the common schools might be entirely disregarded, or indeed they might convert the buildings into a hotel or other profitable enterprise, in which the cause of popular
By the act of June 13,1874, P. L. 307, a conditional appropriation of ten thousand dollars was made to the Central Normal School Association, and it was provided: “ That in case of the transfer or sale of the buildings or property of said association, either by private sale, legal process or otherwise, whereby the same may be diverted from its intended use for normal school purposes, all moneys which may be appropriated, or have been appropriated, by the state to the said association shall be refunded to the state by the person or persons to whom it may be transferred, by the purchaser or purchasers, and the same is hereby made a lien on said property for said purposes.” By the 7th section of the act of April 12, 1875, P. L. 43, it was provided that all state appropriations made directly to the normal schools should be distributed through a commission consisting of the governor, the superintendent of public instruction, and the attorney general, on such conditions as shall protect the interests of the state and do exact and equal justice to the several schools. In the distributions which were subsequently made by the commission, the interests of the state were uniforndy protected by mortgage. The special appropriations of May 24,1889, P. L. 357, and June 16, 1891, P. L. 318, were also by the terms of the several statutes directed to be secured in the same manner.
Thus it will be seen that the state, in all its dealings with the several state normal schools, has treated their property as individual or private property, impressed with no public trust whatever; property that might be aliened, encumbered or otherwise disposed of, so as to be diverted from the purpose of the statute; and the object and aim of all the legislation since 1857 has been to give the state standing as a creditor against them, in order that, in the event of any such attempted diversion, the state might lay its hand upon the property for its own indemnification.
On the other hand, in Girard Point Storage Co. v. South
In Twelfth Street Market Co. v. Philadelphia, etc., R. R. Co., 21 Atl. Rep. 989, it was held that a company authorized to acquire real estate and erect a public market house, to be leased, rented or disposed of on such terms as the managers should determine, is a mere private corporation, bearing no such relation to the state or the public as would exempt its property from the exercise of eminent domain. In the opinion of Judge Thavek — which was adopted by this court — he says: “ The test whether a use is public or not is, whether a public
In the act of 1857 there was no promise of state aid; the prestige of their connection with the state, and with the school system, and the power granted them of licensing teachers were expected to bring them into existence and make them successful. The appropriations since made were made to save the system thereby created from utter failure, and the policy of securing these appropriations by lien was felt to be a necessary precaution, growing out of the peculiar provisions of the act, under which these institutions exist as merely private corporations. Under this policy, the state has at last taken firm hold of these institutions; it has accomplished indirectly what it failed at first to do directly. The liens which had been entered have placed the schools wholly within the control of the state, but the rights secured to the state exist, not because of any public function they perform directly in the public interest, under the law, but by virt'ue of the relation of debtor and creditor which has been established, and by means of which the system is without doubt firmly secured to the aims and objects originally intended. The appointment of six of the eighteen trustees by the state, and the requirement of a three fourths vote upon all motions or resolutions for a sale of the real estate, were intended as a check in the same direction. In a full meeting of the board, this required fourteen affirmative votes, and, assuming that the trustees representing the state would vote in the interest of the state, no such motion or resolution could prevail unless the interests of the state, in their judgment or in the judgment of several of them, would be sustained thereby.
But, apart from the practical control of these schools which the state has thus acquired as a creditor and mortgagee, what public uses or trusts are declared in the act of 1857 or its supplements, or in the private charter of the Central Normal School
It is but just to say, however, that although some of the most successful of these schools have been in operation for more than a third of a century, no dividend has ever yet been declared, nor is there even a probability that there ever will be. The most prosperous of them are largely dependent upon the state for aid in making extensions and additions, providing libraries, apparatus, etc. In order that the particular class of persons to be benefited thereby may freely avail themselves of the advantages offered, the rates of charge are necessarily low: and, notwithstanding the large number of pupils in attendance, and the growing popularity of the schools, there has never yet been any surplus for distribution, and it is extremely improbable there ever will be.
It is no doubt true that normal schools, as aids in the work of popular education, have been greatly favored by the people of Pennsylvania. The 17th section of the 3d article of the constitution gives them an express preference in appropriations from the public funds over all other charitable and educational institutions not under the absolute control of the commonwealth. The appropriations which have been made under this section have been such as to render the system, although peculiar in its plan, most effective in its operation; it now ranks most favorably with the normal school systems of other states. The state also contributes fifty cents per week in aid of students who pursue the course of study required with á view to teach in the common schools, and at the time of graduation extends to them a bounty of fifty dollars. Whilst normal schools are no doubt engaged in a most necessary and useful public work, and have been valuable auxiliaries in the education of the masses of the people, the mere fact that they have been incorporated for this particular purpose, and are actually engaged in this work, will not of itself give them the essential qualities of a public corporation. Their charter is in form and effect that of a private corporation merely; their work is but indirectly for the public use, and they must be answerable for their
The order of the court of common pleas of Clinton county is reversed, and the mechanic’s lien restored, at the costs of the appellee.
February 6, 1893:
This opinion was prepared by our late Brother Clark, and was not filed because we understood the case was under course of settlement. It appears that no settlement was made and the opinion is now filed as the opinion of the court.