283 N.W. 397 | Minn. | 1939
1. The matter of furnishing free transportation to school children is regulated by statute. Mason Minn. St. 1927 and 1938 Supp. § 2816(4), provides that the school board "may" provide for the free transportation of pupils to and from school at the expense of the *281
school district provided funds for such purposes are available. The statute merely authorizes the school board to furnish such free transportation. The language of the statute is permissive and imports the exercise of discretion. Statutes conferring on school officers power to furnish free transportation of pupils unless in imperative terms are construed to be permissive and as authorizing a use of discretion. Note, 63 A.L.R. 417; see Johnson v. Unorganized School Dist.
2. Plaintiffs contend that the statute should be construed as being mandatory because art. 8 of the constitution provides that it shall be the duty of the legislature to establish a general and uniform system of public schools (§ 1) and that the legislature shall make such provisions as will secure a thorough and efficient system of public schools in each township of the state (§ 3). These provisions of the constitution are a mandate to the legislature. Curryer v. Merrill,
3. The office of mandamus is to compel action but not to control discretion. Here the defendant has acted but not in the manner plaintiffs desire. They seek by mandamus to compel the defendant to exercise its discretion so as to comply with their request to furnish free transportation to Adryan. Mandamus will not be granted to control discretion by directing its exercise in a particular way. State ex rel. Casmey v. Teal,
Affirmed. *283