Opinion ID: 2615891
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 25

Heading: const art. 9

Text: I am convinced that there is no justiciable controversy before the court. Accordingly, I do not think an examination of Const. art. 9 is necessary in this case. However, I will volunteer my own interpretation, the majority having treated the subject at some length. It has not seen fit to set forth the article under consideration, and consequently has ignored the fundamental principle that a constitutional provision must be regarded as a whole, with effect being given to every part subjected to construction ( Sears v. Western Thrift Stores, Inc., 10 Wn.2d 372, 116 P.2d 756 (1941)), and that various provisions must be harmonized if possible. ( State ex rel. Wolfe v. Parmenter, 50 Wash. 164, 96 P. 1047 (1908)). Although it is somewhat lengthy, I will quote the entire article, italicizing those phrases and sentences which refer to the legislature. § 1 PREAMBLE. It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex. § 2 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM. The legislature shall provide for a general and uniform system of public schools. The public school system shall include common schools, and such high schools, normal schools, and technical schools as may hereafter be established. But the entire revenue derived from the common school fund and the state tax for common schools shall be exclusively applied to the support of the common schools. § 3 FUNDS FOR SUPPORT. The principal of the common school fund as the same existed on June 30, 1965, shall remain permanent and irreducible. The said fund shall consist of the principal amount thereof existing on June 30, 1965, and such additions thereto as may be derived after June 30, 1965, from the following named sources, to wit: Appropriations and donations by the state to this fund; donations and bequests by individuals to the state or public for common schools; the proceeds of lands and other property which revert to the state by escheat and forfeiture; the proceeds of all property granted to the state when the purpose of the grant is not specified, or is uncertain; funds accumulated in the treasury of the state for the disbursement of which provision has not been made by law; the proceeds of the sale of stone, minerals, or property other than timber and other crops from school and state lands, other than those granted for specific purposes; all moneys received from persons appropriating stone, minerals or property other than timber and other crops from school and state lands other than those granted for specific purposes, and all moneys other than rental recovered from persons trespassing on said lands; five per centum of the proceeds of the sale of public lands lying within the state, which shall be sold by the United States subsequent to the admission of the state into the Union as approved by section 13 of the act of congress enabling the admission of the state into the Union; the principal of all funds arising from the sale of lands and other property which have been, and hereafter may be granted to the state for the support of common schools. The legislature may make further provisions for enlarging said fund. There is hereby established the common school construction fund to be used exclusively for the purpose of financing the construction of facilities for the common schools. The sources of said fund shall be: (1) Those proceeds derived from the sale or appropriation of timber and other crops from school and state lands subsequent to June 30, 1965, other than those granted for specific purposes; (2) the interest accruing on said permanent common school fund from and after July 1, 1967, together with all rentals and other revenues derived therefrom and from lands and other property devoted to the permanent common school fund from and after July 1, 1967; and (3) such other sources as the legislature may direct. That portion of the common school construction fund derived from interest on the permanent common school fund may be used to retire such bonds as may be authorized by law for the purpose of financing the construction of facilities for the common schools. The interest accruing on the permanent common school fund together with all rentals and other revenues accruing thereto pursuant to subsection (2) of this section during the period after the effective date of this amendment and prior to July 1, 1967, shall be exclusively applied to the current use of the common schools. To the extent that the moneys in the common school construction fund are in excess of the amount necessary to allow fulfillment of the purpose of said fund, the excess shall be available for deposit to the credit of the permanent common school fund or available for the current use of the common schools, as the legislature may direct. § 4 SECTARIAN CONTROL OR INFLUENCE PROHIBITED. All schools maintained or supported wholly or in part by the public funds shall be forever free from sectarian control or influence. § 5 LOSS OF PERMANENT FUND TO BECOME STATE DEBT. All losses to the permanent common school or any other state educational fund, which shall be occasioned by defalcation, mismanagement or fraud of the agents or officers controlling or managing the same, shall be audited by the proper authorities of the state. The amount so audited shall be a permanent funded debt against the state in favor of the particular fund sustaining such loss, upon which not less than six per cent annual interest shall be paid. The amount of liability so created shall not be counted as a part of the indebtedness authorized and limited elsewhere in this Constitution. (Italics mine.) Section 1 states the reason and purpose for the adoption of the provision. The codifier rightly entitled it the preamble. A preamble is a clause at the beginning of a constitution or statute explanatory of the reasons for its enactment and the objects sought to be accomplished. Black's Law Dictionary 1339 (4th ed. rev. 1968). Such statements are not intended to and do not create legal obligations, being but guides to the intentions of the framers. Operating Eng'rs, Local 286 v. Sand Point Country Club, 83 Wn.2d 498, 519 P.2d 985 (1974). The source of the statement that [i]t is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex can be found in the Enabling Act § 4, Fourth and §§ 10-11; and in Const. art. 26, Fourth (Compact with the United States). In these provisions, the people of the state were enjoined and agreed to make provision for the establishment of systems of public schools free from sectarian control, which should be open to all the children of the state, and to protect the lands granted for common school purposes. A reading of the article as a whole will reveal that the primary concern of the people was to provide for a common school fund, the sources of that fund (including the granted land) being enumerated in the article. It was also their purpose to require the legislature to provide a uniform school system, in accordance with their agreement with the United States. This has been done. Newman v. Schlarb, 184 Wash. 147, 50 P.2d 36 (1935). It is evident that when the people spoke of the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, they were speaking of their own duty. If that duty was not fulfilled by the provisions of the article, it is perhaps their duty to make further provision through their legislature. But it is a moral or social duty, and not one which is enforceable by the courts. Throughout the article, the legislature's participation in the funding of schools is spoken of in discretionary, permissive terms. The legislature may make further provisions for enlarging said fund. The sources of said fund shall be: ... (3) such other sources as the legislature may direct. To the extent that the moneys in the common school construction fund are in excess of the amount necessary to allow fulfillment of the purpose of said fund, the excess shall be available for deposit ... or... current use of the common schools, as the legislature may direct. The article does not purport to deal with the raising of tax revenues for the current support of common schools, and it empowers, rather than directs, the legislature to supplement the common school fund. How then can it be construed to impose upon the legislature a mandatory affirmative duty to levy taxes and appropriate money for the support of the schools? The constitution does not impose upon the legislature a duty to support the public schools at any particular level. Nor does it require the legislature to provide the entire support for such schools. To find such a requirement would be to ignore the provisions of Amendments 14 and 27, providing for the levying of excess taxes and the incurring of indebtedness by school districts. That the legislature has a duty to provide support for schools, as well as other state institutions, agencies and departments, I would not question. But the manner in which and the extent to which it will perform that duty is a matter within its discretion, for the exercise of which it is accountable only to the people. It is significant to note that article 9 was amended in 1965, at a time when the system of financing schools was the same as it is now, and yet the people did not see fit to clarify the preamble by expressly requiring the legislature to levy taxes and appropriate funds sufficient to finance the educational program prescribed by state law at the state level or at any other level. One must conclude that it has never been their intent to impose such a duty. For another reason, I cannot believe that the people, in adopting this article, ever conceived that they were creating a legislative duty which would be judicially enforceable. The state was, under the same document (Const. art. 2, § 26), made immune from the suit without its consent, and the immunity to the legislature to this date has not been removed. [26]