Key

Number

KEY CODE I (Cont'd)

Provision

1024 The public secondary schools shall aid in agri

cultural improvement (7)*

1025 The public secondary schools shall foster art (4)* 1026 The public secondary schools shall foster music (1)* 1027 The public secondary schools shall foster jus

tice (3)*

1028 The public secondary schools shall develop patriotism (20)*

1029 The public secondary schools shall develop temperance (31)*

1030 The public secondary schools shall develop generosity (2)

1031 The public secondary schools shall develop good humor (1)*

1032 The public secondary schools shall teach duties and dignity of an American citizen (26)* 1033 The public secondary schools shall promote health (33)*

1034 The public secondary schools shall teach mining, mechanical trades (4)*

1035 The public secondary schools shall teach respect

for law and order (1)*

1036 The public secondary schools shall teach respect

for honest labor (1)*

1037 The public secondary schools shall teach due deference to old age and obedience to parents (1)* 1038 The public secondary schools shall teach good

manners (9)*

1039 The public secondary schools shall train for vo

cations (1)*

1040 The public secondary schools shall train for prevention of accidents. (3)*

NATURE OF THE PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL DISTRICT

1

The public school district, in the language of the New York Supreme Court, is a corporate body. It is separate, distinct, and has corporate identity. It may or may not be identical in territorial extent with other governmental units. Justice Harrison described the public school district as a "public corporation of a quasi-municipal character". 4 Other courts have made similar statements. They have only such powers as have been expressly granted and such others as are reasonably necessary in order to exercise these powers effectively. SECONDARY SCHOOLS-A LEGAL PUBLIC ENTERPRISE

6

One of the powers granted to school districts is to maintain a free public school system. This has been interpreted by the courts as including secondary schools. The court decision which definitely established the legality of the public support of high schools by the school district was the opinion rendered by Justice Cooley in the case of Stuart v School District No. 1, of Kalamazoo." This decision, familiarly known as "The Kalamazoo Case," set a precedent which has continued up to the present, and has extreme significance because of having apparently determined for all time the right of the public to support free secondary schools from public

Herman v Board of Education of Union High School District No. 8, Town of Arcadia, Wayne County, et al (1922) 234 N. Y. 196, 137 Ν. Ε. 24, 25. Also see C. A. Burton Machinery Company v Ruth et al (1916) 194 Mo. App. 194, 186 S. W 73..

People ex rel Simmons, Prosecuting Attorney v Munising Tp. (1921) 213 Mich. 629, 182 N. W. 118, 119. Malaley v City of Marysville (1918) 27 C. A. D. 7, 174 Pac. 367, 370. Cline v Martin et al (1916) 94 Ohio St. 420, 115 N. E. 37-39.

Hughes v Ewing (1892) 93 Cal. 414, 28 Pac. 1067.

Kennedy v Miller (1893) 97 Cal. 429, 32 Pac. 558; In re Wetmore (1893) 99 Cal. 146, 33 Pac. 769; 129 Cal. 599, 62 Pac. 173; 137 Cal. 372, 70 Pac. 180; Hancock v Board of Education (1903) 140 Cal. 554, 74 Pac. 44; Los Angeles City School District v Longden (1905) 148 Cal. 380, 83 Рас. 246; Pass School District v Hollywood City School District (1909) 156 Cal. 416, 105 Pac. 122; Carbon County et al v Carbon County High School District et al (1914) 145 Utah 147, 143 Pac. 220, 222, 223. Board of Education of city of Newport v Scott (1920) 274 Pa. 541, 118 Atl. 432. State v Milquet (1923) 180 Wis. 84, 192 N. W. 392.

Arkansas National Bank v School District No. 99 (1922) 152 Ark. 507, 238 S. W. 630. Olmstead v Carter (1921) 34 Id. 276, 200 Pac. 134-136.

"Charles E. Stuart and others v School District No. 1 of the Village of Kalamazoo and others (1874) 30 Mich. 70, 74, 75, 79, 80, 83

funds. Because of the fundamental importance of this case, the following extract from the opinion of Justice Cooley is quoted:

"The more general question. is, as we understand it, that
there is no authority in this state to make the high schools
free by taxation levied on the people at large. When
this doctrine was broached to us, we must confess to no little
surprise that the legislation and policy of our state were
appealed to against the right of the state to furnish a liberal
education to the youth of the state in schools brought with-
in the reach of all classes. We suppose it had always been
understood in this state that education, not merely in the
rudiments, but in an enlarged sense, was regarded as an
important practical advantage to be supplied at their op-
tion to rich and poor alike, and not as something pertaining
merely to culture and accomplishment to be brought as such
within the reach of those whose accumulated wealth enabled
them to pay for it
Such schools would certainly not
be out of harmony with an territorial policy that as yet has
been developed or indicated. Thus stood the law when the
constitution of 1835 was adopted. The article on educa-
tion in that instrument contained the following provisions:
'2. The legislature shall encourage by all suitable means
the promotion of intellectual, scientifical and agricultural
improvement. The proceeds of all lands that have been,
or hereafter may be, granted by the United States to this
state for the support of schools, which shall hereafter be
sold or disposed of, shall be and remain a perpetual fund,
the interest of which, together with the rents of all such
unsold lands, shall be inviolably appropriated to the sup-
port of schools throughout the state. 3. The legislature
shall provide for a system of common schools, by which a
school shall be kept up and supported in each school dis-
trict at least three months in every year; and any school
district neglecting to keep up and support such a school
may be deprived of its equal proportion of the interest of
the public fund.' The fifth section provided for the support
of the university, 'with such branches as the public con-
venience may hereafter demand for the promotion of lit-
erature, the arts and sciences,' etc. Two things are spe-
cially noticeable in these provisions: first, first, that they
contemplated by for provision
of instruction, beginning with that of the primary school
a complete system
and ending with that of the university; second, that while
the legislature was required to make provision for district
schools for at least three months in each year, no restriction
was imposed upon its power to establish schools intermedi-
ate, the common district school and the university, and we
find nothing to indicate an intent to limit their discretion

as to the class or grade of schools to which the proceeds
of school lands might be devoted, or as to the range of
studies or grade of instruction which might be provided for
in the district schools. It now becomes important to
see whether the constitutional convention and the people,
in 1850, did anything to undo what previously had been ac-
complished towards furnishing high schools as a part of
the primary school system. The convention certainly did
nothing to that end. On the contrary, they demonstrated
in the most unmistakable manner that they cherished no
such desire or purpose."

DEFINITIONS OF PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS In this study the following definitions of the different kinds of public secondary schools are accepted.

A public school is hereby defined to be one that is maintained at the public expense in a public school district, and under the public supervision and control. It may comprise not only the kindergarten and elementary schools, but also secondary schools. 8

The supreme courts of various states have several times interpreted the term "public schools" as inclusive of secondary schools. In a North Carolina case Hoke, J., thus defines the public schools:

"We find nothing in this article of our constitution or
elsewhere which in terms restricts the public schools of
the state to the elementary grades or which establishes
any fixed and universal standard as to form, equipment,
or curriculum. On the contrary, in view of the prominent pr
placing of the subject in our organic law, the large powers
of regulation and control conferred upon our state board,
extending at times even to legislation on the subject, the
inclusive nature of the terms employes, 'to all the children
of the state between the ages of six and twenty-one years
of age,' together with the steadfast adherence to this patri-
otic, beneficent purpose, throughout our entire history, it
is manifest that these constitutional provisions were in-
tended to establish a system of public education adequate
to the needs of a great and progressive people, affording
school facilities of recognized and ever-increasing merit to
all the children of the state and to the full extent that
our means could afford and intelligent direction accom-
plish. Under such interpretation, the legislation of 1907
and subsequent amendatory acts, by which these four

For definitions by various states see Sec. 1053 R. C. 1921 (Montana), Sec. 380
School Law 1923 (Colorado), Sec. 101 School Law 1921 (Nevada)