136 Ga. 153 | Ga. | 1911
The county of Douglas was laid out into school districts, agreeably to the provisions of the act approved August 21, 1906 (Acts 1906, p. 66). The district in the extreme southeastern corner of the county was called Brownsville district, and the district immediately north of it was known as the Granger district. At the time the county was:laid out into school districts there were two schools in. operation in the territory embraced in the Brownsville district, known respectively as Bethel and Brownsville schools. These schoolhouses were about one and three-quarter miles apart. The county board of education adopted a resolution proposing to 'the patrons of the Brownsville school, if they would, make such repairs and additions to the schoolhouse as would favorably compare with the one at Bethel, that the school for the Brownsville district would be located at the Brownsville schoolhouse. Certain repairs were made by the patrons of the Brownsville schoolhouse. The board of education appointed a committee to examine these improvements, which committee reported to the board that the repairs were not of such character as made it equal to thé accommodations offered by the schoolhouse at Bethel; whereupon the board of education passed a resolution locating the school for the Brownsville district at the Bethel schoolhouse. Certain trustees were elected for the district, and recognized by the board of education as being elected pursuant to-the provisions of the-McMichael act. The school was opened in the Bethel school district, and some fifteen pupils from the Granger district were allowed to attend this school, and the proportionate part of the school'fund to which these children were entitled was allowed to go in support of the Bethel school. Whereupon certain persons, alleging themselves to be the trustees of the Brownsville and Granger districts, and certain patrons of each district, brought their petition against the board of education, the county school commissioner, and certain other patrons of the two districts, praying that the defendants be enjoined from locating the school at Bethel, and from using any part of the fund derivable from the public-school money in support of the school maintained at Bethel. The grounds urged against the location of the school of the Brownsville district
The adoption of the McMichael school law was a forward step in the movement for the development of the common schools of this State. The scheme comprehended two general features; one embraced the location and definition of the school districts, and the administration and government of the schools therein, and the other concerned the method of raising revenue by taxation for the support of the schools. Dolvin v. Lewis, 131 Ga. 29 (61 S. E. 913). It was not the intention of the act of 1906, known as the McMichael act, to repeal the existing laws respecting the administration of thp school system, except when in direct conflict. Indeed the act so expressly declares. Hodges v. Talbert, 135 Ga. 253 (69 S. E. 103). The legislative policy, as declared in these enactments respecting the administration of the school law, was to devolve the responsibility for the proper administration of the school law upon the county board of education, so as to give that board ample power to effectually administer the school laws within their jurisdiction. Pursuant to this policy it was enacted that: “The county board of
It will be borne in mind that neither the Granger nor the Brownsville district has adopted the provisions of the McMiehael law with reference to the support of schools by local taxation. Therefore there can be no complaint that the money of any taxpayer is being diverted to pay for the support of the school. The specific complaint is that the board of education, by allowing the pupils in the Granger district to thus cross the line to attend the Bethel school, is giving to the Bethel school the proportionate part of the school fund to which these children from the Granger district are entitled; and as a result the attendance in the Granger district is reduced, and the amount derivable from the public-school money is to that extent diminished, which requires an increased supplemental support to the common-school fund to run the Granger