Joint District Nos. 70 & 98 v. School District No. 11
Joint District Nos. 70 & 98 v. School District No. 11
Opinion of the Court
Six resident taxpayers of a joint school district petitioned the county superintendents of Atchison and Jefferson counties to detach a strip of territory from two adjoining districts and attach the same to the joint district. The petition was denied by these officers. One of the petitioners undertook to appeal to the state superintendent of public instruction, and that officer, after a hearing, reversed the decision of the county superintendents and directed them to attach the territory to the joint district. As the county superintendent of Jefferson county was about to carry the decision into effect, and the county
This court is certainly without jurisdiction to determine the matter in controversy, as the amount involved is insufficient. The claim that the rights involved are not susceptible of a valuation in money is not good. It is not the strip of land nor its value that is involved, but it is the taxes to be derived by levy upon the real estate attempted to be transferred. There is no claim that there is a schoolhouse on the strip in question, or that a matter of convenience in reaching a schoolhouse is the right in controversy. Evidently the purpose of adding territory to the joint district is to make it stronger by increasing the taxable property of the district. The other districts are resisting the transfer of the territory because it takes from them a source of revenue and correspondingly weakens them. A monetary valuation may be placed on the rights in controversy, and that is the amount arising from an authorized levy on the real estate for school purposes. It is shown that the aggregate
Whether there is a sufficient amount involved to give the court of appeals jurisdiction may be properly left to that court to decide. The case will be certified to the court of appeals for the northern department.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.