196 Mo. App. 419 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1917
The plaintiffs, as tax payers of the defendant school district, brought this suit by injunction to restrain the defendants, composing the school board of such district, from building a school house for a high school on what is termed the Kime site, the contention being that another site, known as the Appleby site, had been lawfully selected by the voters of the district and that defendants have no power to build elsewhere. It is conceded that the defendant school district is lawfully organized as a consolidated school district under the Act of 1913, Laws 1913, page 721, relating to consolidated school districts, and has provided the funds necessary to construct the high school building.
The real question at issue is whether in such school districts the power to select the site for the high school is vested in the school board or in the voters
The Acts of 1913 in question, known as the Buford Rural High Schools Law, provides that when a consolidated school district is formed “all the laws applicable to the organization and government of town and city school districts as provided in article IV, chapter 106 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri, 1909, shall be applicable to districts organized under the provisions of this act. ’ ’ At the same session of the Legislature, Acts 1913, page 720, section 10871, being one of the sections of article IV of chapter 106 above referred to, was re-enacted so as to make certain changes not material here and provides: “The board of education of any town, city or consolidated school district shall, except as herein provided, perform the same duties and be subject to the same restrictions and liabilities as the boards of other school districts acting under the general school laws of this State.
The method of selecting sites for new school houses in consolidated school districts is therefore the same as that provided by article IV, chapter 106, Revised Statutes 1909, relating to city and town schools and such
The plaintiffs concede, as we understand, that so far as ward or primary schools are concerned the statute gives the school board and not the voters the power and authority to “select and procure a site” in each ward and erect buildings thereon; but plaintiffs contend that the power there given to “establish schools of a higher grade” does not include the selection of a site for such higher school. In view of the fact that there is no provision made in the article relating to town, city and consolidated schools for the voters to select the site of the schools of a higher grade, we think this construction of section 10869, supra, is too narrow. The Supreme Court, in State ex rel. v. Jones, 155 Mo. 570, 576, 56 S. W. 307, after referring to this section, there mentioned as section 8088, Revised Statutes 1889, and the establishment of high schools thereunder, said: “The statute vests in the qualified voters of the district of country districts, and in the directors of the city districts, full and complete discretion as to the location of the school houses (secs. 7979, 8001 and 8085, R. S. 1889).” The sections there referred- to are now see
The case of Buchanan v. School District, 25 Mo. App. 85, is cited as holding that in city, town or consolidated schools the same as in country schools, “not
We hold, therefore, that the school board of the defendant district was vested with power to select and acquire a site on which to erect the high school provided for; that the designation of the Appleby site by the voters was largely advisory and, since that site was in fact never acquired by the school district, the board of directors did not abuse or exceed its powers in selecting and proceeding to acquire the Kime site and the erection of the high school thereon.
The judgment will, therefore, be affirmed.