Court Opinion

ID: 9531893
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:15:46.007949+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:37.036976
License: Public Domain

White,, C. J.,
dissenting.
I agree with the majority that the sole issue involved in this appeal is whether or not there was a sufficient showing, under section 79-403, R. R. S'. 1943, that the transfer of land would be in the best educative interests of the student. However, I believe that the petitioner *234did not meet his burden of proof by a preponderance of the evidence. The raison d’etre of this petition appears to be the personal convenience of the parents and the grandparents of the student, which is an impermissible justification for a transfer of land under section 79-403, R. R. S. 1943, as clarified in Roy v. Bladen School Dist. No. R-31, 165 Neb. 170, 84 N. W. 2d 119. The petitioner’s legitimate contentions, regarding the better quality of education to be had in the Henderson School District are inconclusive, and are offset by advantages at the McCool Junction public schools. The evidence affirmatively shows that the two school districts are functionally equivalent, and there is no sufficient educational reason why the transfer of land should be granted here. Consequently, I would affirm the District Court’s judgment denying this transfer of land and I dissent from the majority opinion in .this case.
It is abundantly clear, from a reading of the record, that it would serve the personal convenience of the petitioner and his family to have the child attend the Henderson public schools. The petitioner grandfather and other members of his family and friends are all “Henderson oriented.” It would suit their family welfare, enjoyment, and social contacts to have their grandchildren attend school there. Secondly, the son and the wife are not available to greet the child after school for 3 to 5 weeks during fall harvesting. The petitioner grandfather lives near Henderson, and it is urged that the child could wait with his grandparents until his parents could pick him up. No similar situation is available in McCool. This factor is said to justify the transfer of land in this case. The petitioner is really asking us to conclude that the personal convenience of the parents is sufficient to grant a freeholder’s petition. This has never been the position of this court. The Legislature did not intend to enact a statute concerned with schools, distances, and education of pupils for the sole purpose of making convenient allocations of land *235to school districts based upon individual preferences or secular business reasons of owners having nothing to do with educational efficiency. See, Roy v. Bladen School Dist. No. R-31, supra; McDonald v. Rentfrow, 176 Neb. 796, 127 N. W. 2d 480. The petitioner cannot sustain his burden of proof by a mere showing of the personal inconvenience of the parents.
The petitioner also claims that it is in the best educative interests of the prospective student that he be educated in the Henderson School District because it offers a 4-year course in vocational agriculture, whereas the McCool School District offers no such course. I feel that this factor is too speculative to justify equitable relief. We are here dealing with the interests of a child entering kindergarten. It is entirely possible that the child will have no interest in vocational agriculture whatsoever. Additionally, this court has previously announced that the size of a school or minor differences in available extracurricular activities is not an important factor in determining if a freeholder’s petition should be granted. Johnson v. School Dist. of Wakefield, 181 Neb. 372, 148 N. W. 2d 592 (1967).
The petitioner further urges that it is advantageous for the child to attend the Henderson school because the teaching staff there has better credentials than the McCool staff. More specifically, the Henderson School District has a total of 33 staff teachers, 13 of whom have Master’s Degrees or better, while the McCool School District has 18 staff teachers, only one of whom has a Master’s Degree. While a. more highly educated staff is desirable, I believe that such an advantage is offset by the more favorable student-teacher ratio which is to be obtained in the McCool School District. The student-teacher ratio in the elementary classes is 13.3 to 1 in the McCool School District, while in the Henderson School District the same ratio is 22 to 1. The child involved here is a kindergarten student. Individual attention is considered by many to be particularly ini*236portant to children in the lower grades. If a differential is to be made between the two schools with reference to this boy, it would seem to me that this would be in favor of the McCool School District.
This is not a case of a request for a detachment from a poor, fading school district with a substandard program in teaching. Both the child’s father and grandfather testified at trial that they had no objections to the educational program or administration of the McCool School District. Both schools are fully accredited, adequately staffed, and progressive. The only difference is that one is somewhat larger than the other. To permit detachment when both schools are relatively equal and of high grade would be to permit, at the whimsy of a school district resident, a destruction and downgrading of the educational interests and facilities of one school with no comparable improvement in the educational interests of the other.
In summary, I believe the petitioner has not sustained his burden of proof that the transfer of land from the McCool School District to the Henderson School District would be in the best educative interests of the child, and accordingly, I dissent.
Newton and Clinton, JJ., join in this dissent.