15 Kan. 259 | Kan. | 1875
The opinion of the court was delivered by
This was an action brought to restrain the defendant from leasing its school-building for other than school purposes. Two questions are raised. First, does the plaintiff show such a peculiar and personal interest as will enable him to maintain the action ? and second, do the facts alleged disclose grounds for the relief sought?' The plaintiff alleges that “he,is a resident of the school-district, and taxpayer therein, and as such taxpayer has contributed his proportion of taxes for the building of the said school-house; that his children attend school therein, and that by the improper uses of the building complained of, the books of his children are torn, soiled, carried away, lost and misplaced; their copy-books written on, or thrown to the floor; their slates and pens broken; their inkstands upset, and their paper wasted and destroyed.” We think this shows such an iuterest as entitles him to a hearing upon the question of the alleged misuser of the school-house. When he pays his taxes, he passes over so much money into the public fund, and the disposition of it is a public duty intrusted to certain public agents; and the fact that he has contributed by the payment of taxes to the creation of this
As misuser, he alleges that the “school-house is, by the order of the directors, leased and let to divers societies, meetings, and gatherings,” and that thereby large assemblages of persons, both children and adults, gather there, crowding the seats and desks; that these assemblages consume the fuel purchased with the public funds, tear q^g from their fastenings, and cut, scratch and deface them; that some of these meetings are in the night-time, and that at such meetings kerosene or coal oil is used, which is in violation of the terms of the insurance policy on the building, the premium of which has been paid out of the public funds; and that to accommodate one of these societies the building has been altered by erecting platforms, rostrums, closets, boxes, etc. In short, he alleges that this building, erected by public funds for the purpose of a schoolhouse, is, by the order of the directors, used for a variety of purposes and gatherings wholly alien to schools and educational matters. It does not appear that this is done against the wishes or without the consent of a majority of the taxpayers and electors of the district, nor that the building is leased without receiving adequate rent. Indeed, the question as it comes before us, may fairly be thus stated: May the majority of the taxpayers and electors in a school-district, for other than school purposes use or permit the use of the school-house built with funds raised by taxation? The question is one which in view of the times, and the attacks made in so many places, and from so many directions, upon our
The judgment of the district court will be reversed, and the case remanded for further proceedings in accordance with the views herein expressed.