Montana labor news., 1944-12-21

DONOVAN EXPOSES
SCHOOL TRUSTEES

SCHOOL TRUSTEES
Caustic criticisms of the conduct Of
the Board Of School Trustees Of District
No ! took up most of the time at the
Trades and Labor Council last Tuesday.
The discussion was precipitated by a re-
port of Richard Donovan, labor member
Of the Board OF School Trustees MI.
Donovan recalled to the Council the in
cident Of School District No. ] charging
tuition for a child attending the Greeley
school According to reports brought
to the unions, the child was taken out
of class and before he could return to
school, his parents were compelled to
pay a certain amount OF tuition This
all seemed very strange. Mr.. Donovan
stated that some time ago he made a
motion at a meeting Of the Board of
School Trustees that the money collect
ed from this family be refunded, but
there was ma second to the motion and it
did not appear on the minutes. secre-
tary Vawter was instructed to write a
letter to the Board of School Trustees re-
questing an explanation Of the action Of
the Board Through the efforts Of
Trustee Donovan. the attorney general
of the State of Montana wrote an opin-
ion concerning this peculiar and unusual
case The opinion in part is as follows.
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY
GENERAL
You have submitted for my consid-
Grafton a letter written by the Clerk Of
School District Number One Of Silver
Bow County, and request my opinion
on the following question based upon
the facts as given:
"A child lives in District Number
one. but the County superinten-
dent claims him in District number
Three; therefore, his tax apportion-
ment on the eight mill levy, plus
State apportionment is distributed
to District Number Three Does
Board Number One have power to
collect private tuition for the child
when District Number Three refuses
to make transfer
Upon consideration Of the facts ex-
isting and as outlined in the letter OF
the Clerk Of District Number one it is
apparent that several questions are in-
volved and must be considered.
The facts show that the 1912 cen-
Gus taken by the Clerk Of District Num-
Der one contains the name Of James
Lolek, together with the names Of his
parents and their street address in
Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana
Under the provisions of Section l05ll,
Revised Codes Of Montana, 1885, the
name Of James Molek was stricken
from the census Of District Number
One with notation District Number
Three"
Upon notification of this action by
the County Superintendent, the Clerk
of District Number One made further
inquiry to establish the fact of resi-
dence and learned that the parents were
actually residing at the address shown
in the census and intended as their resi-
dence. The apportionment was made
to District Number Three in
the usual course, and the child attend
ed school in District Number one. all
though District Number Three refused
to make the transfer No tuition was
demanded for the school year l942-43.
The name was again stricken from the
census list Of District Number One for
l949, and evidently the same procedure
followed However District Number
One upon refusal Of District Number
Three to make the transfer Of funds,
demanded and compelled the parents to
pay tuition for the school year 1884.
Section 1861, Revised Codes Of Mon
tana, 1885, requires the Clerk of each
school District between the 18th day
Of September and the 18th day Of Octo-
Der, Of each year, 10 take the census Of
all children between the ages Of six
and twenty-one years residing within
his district The term residence" and
residing as used in the section is
defined therein as follows:
THE term residing as used in this
section shall be defined in such way
as to include,
~. Children residing with their
parents or guardians in such district,
~ Children temporarily residing
outside Of such district for the purpose
Of attending any district school or
county high schools or other public in
gtitution Of learning or any benevolent
or private institution, providing that
parents of resident children Of any dis
trict must be residing In the district on
the first day Of October and provided
further that the resident children them
selves must have been actual residents
Of the district Immediately previous to
such outside residence"
Further defining the word residing
it provides:
'The term residing is further defin-