Court Opinion

ID: 9525726
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:07:00.126054+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:16:44.359109
License: Public Domain

Mr. Chief Justice Davis, dissenting: I dissent from the court’s conclusion, and its determination that “the record shows no substantial difference in the educational facilities” of the schools under consideration, and that the petitioning legal voters “desire the change because Coulterville is their trading and banking center, and in some cases, is the place where the witness attends church.” The record discloses that the Coulterville School District No. 1 operates grades 1 to 12, inclusive, is State accredited and in good standing with the North Central Accrediting Association. The school has modern facilities of water, toilets and showers, and a small gymnasium which meets regulation requirements for games. It operates a State accredited lunch room, adequately equipped and properly staffed, which serves both the grade and high school children. It has an elementary classroom teacher for each grade, two physical education teachers, one for the elementary grades and one for the high school, and an audiovisual aid department for the entire school system. The high school curricula includes home economics, industrial education, commerce, agriculture, mathematics, English, science and social studies. The testimony of the petitioning legal voters indicates that they desired to detach from their present school districts and annex to the Coulterville district because Coulter-ville is closer and their children could take a more active part in school affairs; Coulterville has a modern school plant and facilities; the Oakdale school is overcrowded; the roads to Coulterville “are all weather roads and are open the year around;” Coulterville has “eight teachers in the elementary school, a teacher for every grade.” One of the petitioning legal voters testified, “I signed the petition to go into the Coulterville District because I want my children to have a better education.” The ex-officio secretary of the defendant County Board of School Trustees submitted maps and a report of the financial and educational conditions of the districts involved, as well as a report of the effect of the proposed change in boundaries. This report related the following facts concerning the Swanwick Community Consolidated School District No. 203, the Oakdale Community Consolidated School District No. 1, the Gravel Hill School District No. 85, the Pinckneyville Community High School District No. 101, and the Okawville Community High School District No. 88, the districts from which the territory was sought to be detached, as well as the Coulterville District No. 1, the district to which the territory was sought to be annexed: . [[Image here]] The record further recites that there are 55 legal voters, 18 elementary school pupils and 9 high school pupils residing in the territory in question, and that 43 of the legal voters signed the petition. The defendant County Board of School Trustees, “having heard evidence as to the school needs and conditions of the territory in the area within and adjacent thereto and as to the ability of the districts affected to meet the standards of recognition as prescribed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction; having considered any possible divisions of funds and assets which will result from the change in boundaries; having considered the best interests of the schools of the area and the educational welfare of the pupils; and being fully advised in the premises” found that “it would be to the best interests of the territory that the prayer of said petition be granted,” and ordered the detachment and annexation of the territory. The circuit court of Randolph County, upon administrative review of the proceedings, affirmed the order of the County Board of School Trustees, and the Appellate Court, upon appeal, affirmed the decision of the circuit court. I concur with the opinion of the Appellate Court (12 Ill. App.2d 260) which states at page 265 that “Under the school law the School Trustees were empowered to change the boundaries of the District to suit the wishes and convenience of the majority of the inhabitants of the territory sought to be annexed to the Coulterville District. (School Dist. No. 79 v. County Board of School Trustees, 4 Ill.2d 533.)” However, I would add that the power of the County Board of School Trustees must be exercised pursuant to the provisions of paragraph 4B — 4 of the School Code. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1955, chap. 122, par. 4B — 4. The County Board of School Trustees saw the witnesses, heard their testimony, and gave consideration to the report outlined in the above table. It noted the niggardly tax rates of the elementary school districts from which detachment was sought; rates which accounted for the fact that these respective elementary school districts operated either grades 1 to 8 inclusive in a single room with one teacher, or two or more grades per room with one teacher for such combined grades. It considered the assessed valuation of the taxable property, the pupil enrollment, the size, and facilities of the respective schools. It heard the protests by the petitioners against outmoded educational practices, which caused the petitioners to seek to detach from such districts and annex to a district offering more acceptable educational procedures, with their attendant advantages, and a higher tax rate to defray the cost of such additional opportunities. Decisions such as this depend upon complicated local factors including the financial, educational and instructional aspects of school programs, as well as problems of transportation and the physical welfare of children. The latter consideration is related to the presence or absence of physical education and health programs, modern facilities, and proper nutrition through a school lunch program. The County Board of School Trustees, local in nature, had a subtle appreciation of these and a myriad of other circumstances that do not yield to understanding from the record on review. This court lacks the judicial antenna for comparably effective analysis of local situations. The interpretation of evidence by this court under existing circumstances may well have been made in vacuo. Such reasons gave rise to legislative enactment and judicial precedent designed to prevent the result reached in the court’s opinion. The judgment of the County Board of School Trustees, which was affirmed by the circuit and Appellate courts, was not against the manifest weight of the evidence. Yet this court, upon a cold record and an inadequate statement of facts, has substituted its judgment for that of the County Board, presumably upon a different factual conclusion than that reached by the County Board or the intermediate reviewing courts. After reviewing the entire record, I conclude that there is ample evidence to sustain the order of the County Board of School Trustees. The Administrative Review Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1955, chap, no, par. 274,) provides: “The findings and conclusions of the administrative agency on questions of fact shall be held to be prima facie true and correct.” The findings of the County Board of School Trustees were not against the manifest weight of the evidence, were substantiated by the record on review and should not be disturbed by this court. (Buchholz v. Cummins, 6 Ill.2d 283; Logan v. Civil Service Commission, 3 Ill.2d 81.) Its conclusion was in conformity with the standards prescribed in section 4B — 4 of the School Code. I would affirm the Appellate Court. Mr. Justice Schaeeer concurs in the foregoing dissenting opinion.