Norristown Borough School District v. Upper Merion Township School District

Superior Court of Pennsylvania
Norristown Borough School District v. Upper Merion Township School District, 49 Pa. Super. 561 (1912)
1912 Pa. Super. LEXIS 369
Beaver, Head, Henderson, Morrison, Orlady, Porter, Rice

Norristown Borough School District v. Upper Merion Township School District

Opinion of the Court

Per Curiam,

This case arose out of a claim of the- plaintiff district for the cost of tuition and school books of pupils of the defendant district who attended the high school of the plaintiff district. The questions involved in this appeal are whether the construction given by the learned judges of the court from whose judgment the appeal comes, of the words “cost of tuition” in the Act of May 23, 1907, P. L. 202, is correct; second, whether that construction renders the act unconstitutional. The first question is not free from difficulty, and the judges of this court who heard the case are not entirely agreed upon it, especially as to that portion of the judgment which excluded the cost of light, fuel and janitor’s services. But the majority of us conclude, having regard to the context, the ordinary meaning of the word tuition, and the general purpose of the act, that the construction given by the learned judges of the common pleas is more likely to carry out the actual intention of the legislature than the broader construction contended for by appellant’s counsel. The reasoning of the opinion, in which both of the judges concurred, fully sustains, we think, the conclusion reached, and we do not see that we can add anything profitably to what they have said. Upon the question of the constitutionality of the act, under this construction of it, we are all agreed and concur in the conclusion reached by the common pleas, for the reasons given in its opinion.

The judgment is affirmed.

Reference

Cited By
5 cases
Status
Published
Syllabus
School law — High school — Cost of tuition — Act of May 23, 1907‘ P. L. 202. 1. Under the Act of May 23, 1907, P. L. 202, relating to the payment to a school district in which high school pupils resident of another district, are attending, of the pro rata cost of “tuition and school books,” the word “tuition” does not include the cost of fuel, light, janitor’s salary, arid other incidental expenses; nor does it include interest upon bonds of the school district maintaining the high school. Constitutional law — Inequality of taxation — School law. 2. The Act of May 23, 1907, P. L. 202, regulating the payment which a school district, not maintaining a high school, shall make to another school district maintaining a high school, for tuition of pupils of the former district in such high school, is not unconstitutional as creating an inequality in taxation; inasmuch as the district maintaining the high school is not compelled by the act to receive pupils from other districts, and can, therefore, always save itself from loss.