Board of Education v. Best
Board of Education v. Best
Opinion of the Court
As shown by the record, the defendant in error, Miss Jennie Best, some time prior to May 17, 1887, made a proposal by written application to the plaintiff in error, the Board of Education of New Concord Village School District, to teach the intermediate or primary department of the school of that district. At the regular June meeting of the board she was nominated for teacher, and her application, at her request, was considered among others, for appointment as a teacher in the intermediate department. At the meeting , of the board, two weeks later, in July, 1887, her application was rejected and another teacher duly elected. Notwithstanding the rejection of her application, she presented herself at the school house on the 5th day of September, 1887, when the scholastic year began, prepared to take charge of the school and teach it, but was not. permitted to do so.
It is contended in behalf of the defendant in error, that though not elected a teacher at the regular June meeting, she was duly and legally elected at the meeting of May 17, 1887, whereby a right of action accrued to her against the board when she was refused charge of the school.
Among the provisions applying to boards of education, it is provided by section 3985 of the Revised Statutes, that: “The board of each district shall make such rules and regulations as it may deem expedient and necessary for its government,
It is contended in behalf of the plaintiff in error that the election was illegal for' noncompliance with the rules of the board, and for disregard of the statutory mode of election as prescribed by section 3982 of the Revised Statutes.
It is urged, however, on the part of the defendant in error, that the power of the board to make rules and regulations carries with it the power to suspend a rule, and that when, on May 17, the motion to then proceed to elect teachers was carried by unanimous vote, it worked a suspension of the
We deem it unnecessary to consider whether the election of the defendant in error was void by reason of a failure to comply with the rule requiring such nominations to be made at the regular June meeting, and not to he acted on for two weeks. In our judgment, the election was without the sanction of law, because in disregard of the above mentioned section 3982. That section contains the following provision: “Upon a motion to adopt a resolution authorizing the purchase or sale of property, either real or personal, or to employ a superintendent, teacher, janitor, or other employe, or to elect or appoint an officer,-or to pay any debt or claim, or to adopt any text hook, the clerk of the hoard shall call, publicly, the roll of all the members composing the board, and enter on the record required to be kept the names of those voting ‘aye,’ and the names of those voting no.’ ”
The clerk is made the recording officer of the hoard, and it is incumbent upon him to call the roll on taking a vote. The statutory provision that he shall publicly call the roll, and enter on the record the names of those voting aye and the names of those voting no, is tantamount to a provision, that the vote shall be taken by yeas and nays and entered on the journal. It is not claimed, nor is it a fact, that at the election of the defendant in error as teacher, the clerk of the hoard called the roll and entered the ayes and noes as required by the statute.
But, it is urged that such requirement is not mandatory, but directory merely. Mandatory statutes are imperative, and must be strictly pursued, otherwise the proceeding which is taken
By section 1694 of the Revised Statutes, ‘ ‘ ordinances of a general or permanent nature, shall be fully and distinctly read on three different days, unless three-fourths of the members elected dispense with the rule; and the vote on such suspension shall be taken by yeas and nays and entered •on the journal.” In Bloom v. Xenia, 32 Ohio St., 461, it was held that the section is imperative in its injunction that ordinances shall be read on three different days, unless the rule is dispensed with by a three-fourths vote; and the remaining .language of the clause is, we conceive, no less imperative or mandatory, that the vote on such suspension shall be taken by yeas and nays, and •entered on the journal. The principles announced in the last cited case were approved in Campbell v. Cincinnati, 49 Ohio St., 463, and we see no good reason why the most important duties enjoined upon boards of education, should be held less imperative than those of no geater importance that are made mandatory upon municipal councils. The authority of boards of education, like that of municipal councils, is strictly limited. They both have only such power as is expressly granted or clearly implied, and doubtful claims as to the mode of exercising the powers vested in them are
It is said, however, that the primary object of the law in providing that the roll of members of the board shall be called publicly, and the names of those voting aye or no recorded, is to determine whether a teacher has been elected by the requisite majority; and that such object is fully attained when such evidence is produced, as appears in the minute book of the plaintiff in error, which contains the record: ‘ ‘ Board met; members all present. Miss Jennie Best was declared elected by unanimous vote for intermediate department. ” Where there is a viva voce vote, taken in the usual way, which is by a call.for all those who are in favor to say aye, and those opposed to say no, without entering at large on the minutes the names of those voting, the presiding officer judges by his ear which side has the more voices. But, if the vote of a, quorum is in favor of a motion or resolution and no vote is cast against it, the record may still be, that it was adopted unanimously, though some of the members present, in fact, abstained from voting. Steckert v.
Steckert v. The City of East Saginaw, supra, was a bill to restrain the collection of an assessment for paving a street. The first ground of alleged invalidity in the proceedings was, that the several votes in the«common council ordering the improvement made, were not taken by ayes and noes, as required by the city charter. The provision of the charter was : ‘ ‘ Whenever required by two members, the votes of all the members of the common council, in relation to any act, proceeding or proposition, had at any meeting, shall be entered at large on the minutes. ’ ’ The record of the meeting of the council gives the names of all the aldermen present. After stating’ the resolutions ordering the improvement, there was this minute, “adopted unanimously on call.” The argument was that the record shows, first, the names of the several aldermen who were present when the action was had; second, that the roll was called on the vote; and third, that each of them, when the roll was called, voted for the adoption of the resolutions. This being so, the vote, it was contended, was in effect entered at large on the min
It was said by Cooley, J., in pronouncing the opinion of the court: “We have found ourselves unable to take the same view of this record-that is taken by the counsel for defendants. There can be no'doubt that the provision of the statute which requires these votes to be entered at large on the minutes, was designed to accomplish an important public purpose, and that it cannot be regarded as immaterial, nor its observance be dispensed with. The purpose,' among other things, is to make the members of the common council feel the responsibility of their action when these important measures are upon their passage, and to compel. each member to bear his share in the responsibility, by a record of his action which should not afterwards be open to dispute.” See also Spangler v. Jacoby, 14 Ill., 297. The same views are similarly expressed in Judge Cooley’s treatise on Constitutional Limitations, as follows: “It is provided in the constitutions of some of the states that, on the final passage of every bill, the yeas and nays shall be entered on the journal. Such a provision is designed to serve an important purpose in compelling each member present to assume as well as to feel his due share of responsibility in legislation; and also in furnishing definite and conclusive evidence whether the bill has been passed by the requisite majority or not.” (6th ed., 168.)
The same doctrine is unqualifiedly approved by-Judge Dillon in his work on Municipal Corporations., after an examination of the authorities supporting the opposite view. Sec. 291 (229).
In Rich v. City of Chicago, 59 Ill., 286, the street
In Cutler v. Town of Russellville, 40 Ark., 105, it was held, that the weight of authority and the better opinion seems to be, that a requirement that the yeas and- nays shall be called and recorded on the passage by a municipal council of an order or resolution to enter into a contract is designed to accomplish an important public purpose; and hence cannot be reg-arded as immaterial, nor its observance dispensed with. To the same effect are the decisions in Town of Olin v. Meyers, 55 Iowa, 209; Morrison, Administratrix, v. City of Lawrence, 98 Mass., 219, and in numerous other cases involving the same question.
For the aforegoing reasons, the election of the defendant in error by the board of education of the New Concord Village School District, was, in our opinion, illegal and void. And being so, the court of common pleas did not err in taking the case from the jury, and rendering judgment for the defendant below — the board of education.
Judgment accordingly.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.