Clipson v. State Board of Education

123 So. 2d 16, 271 Ala. 160, 1960 Ala. LEXIS 456
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedSeptember 8, 1960
Docket4 Div. 36
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 123 So. 2d 16 (Clipson v. State Board of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clipson v. State Board of Education, 123 So. 2d 16, 271 Ala. 160, 1960 Ala. LEXIS 456 (Ala. 1960).

Opinion

SIMPSON, Justice.

This is an appeal from a final decree of the Circuit Court of Pike County in Equity, in an action for declaratory judgment and relief incident thereto. The appellant, com[162]*162plainant in the Circuit Court, is a citizen and taxpayer of the State of Alabama and is an enrolled student of Troy State College at Troy, Pike County, Alabama, an educational institution of college rank of the State of Alabama. The appellees, the respondents in the Circuit Court, are C. B. Smith, President of Troy State College, the State Board of Education of Alabama, and the individual members of that Board.

The appellant on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated, filed a bill of complaint in the Circuit Court of Pike County seeking a declaratory judgment with respect to the following resolutions adopted by the State Board of Education of the State of Alabama at a meeting of said Board held on January 25, 1960:

“a. A resolution providing for the completion of construction of a physical education building with necessary appurtenant facilities, at the campus of Troy State College at Troy, Alabama, for the financing thereof by the issuance of Revenue Bonds in principle amount of $150,000 and for the securing of the payment of the principal of and interest on such bonds.
“b. A resolution fixing a physical education building fee to be charged to all students enrolled at Troy State College, Troy, Alabama, and providing for the use of so much thereof as may be necessary for the purpose of paying the principal of and interest on $150,000 principal amount of bonds of the Board designated ‘Troy State College Revenue Bonds of 1960, Series A, dated March 1, I960’.
“c. A resolution providing for a public sale of $150,000 principal amount of bonds of the Board designated ‘Troy State College Revenue Bonds of 1960, Series A, dated March 1, I960’, approving a notice of sale, and making provisions incident thereto.”

The bill of complaint alleged that the bonds referred to in the foregoing resolution of the State Board of Education and the pledge of the special fee as provided in the bond resolution and the provisions of the bond resolution constituted a debt against the State of Alabama or incurred by the State of Alabama or its authority in contravention of § 213 of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901 and that by reason thereof the bonds are void and the bond resolution is invalid and unenforceable. She prayed for a judgment and decree that the bonds, the bond resolution and the pledge of the special fees were invalid and for an injunction enjoining respondents from levying and collecting the special fees, from offering the bonds for public sale and from issuing and selling and delivering the bonds.

The lower court denied the injunction, upheld the bonds, the bond resolution and the pledge of the special fees and found and determined that the bonds and the bond resolution were authorized by § 37, Title 52, Code of Alabama of 1940 and did not constitute debts of the State in contravention of § 213 of the 1901 Constitution.

There was no dispute as to the facts involved which were: The State Board of Education found and determined and recited in the resolution authorizing the issuance of the bonds, that it was necessary that a physical education building with necessary appurtenant facilities at the campus of the Troy State College at Troy, Alabama be constructed in order to furnish necessary and appropriate facilities for the students at the College and in order for the College to render efficient service to its students. The estimated cost of the project was found to be $377,000, of which $227,000 is to be granted by the Alabama Education Authority, a public corporation organized pursuant to the provisions of Act No. 126, adopted at the Second Special Session of 1959 of the Legislature of the State of Alabama, approved August 24, 1959, from the proceeds of the sale of bonds of such Alabama Education Authority.

The State Board of Education further found that it would be impossible to con[163]*163struct and equip the proj ect with the funds to be contributed therefor by the Alabama Education Authority and, if only the funds so contributed should be available for such construction, the project would be incomplete and incapable of use for the purposes for which it was intended. In order to complete the construction of the project, the State Board of Education found that it was necessary to raise an additional $150,-000 and that the only way in which such additional sum could be raised was by anticipating the revenue which would be derived in future years from a special physical education building fee in an amount not less than $6 for each scholastic quarter of the annual college year, to be paid by each student enrolled at the College, which fee is referred to in the bond resolution as the “Special Fee”.

The special fee was accordingly levied by a resolution of the State Board of Education at the same meeting at which the bond resolution was adopted. The resolution levying the special fee provided that such fee should be in addition to all other athletic, matriculation and other fees and charges to students now established, levied, collected or charged by the College, and that the fee should be payable by each student enrolled in the College, in advance at the beginning of each quarter session, for the privilege of using the physical education building, regardless of whether or not it shall be so used. This resolution further provided that so much of the revenues derived from the special fee as may be necessary for such purpose would be used for the payment of the principal of and interest on the bonds and for the creation of a reserve therefor, all to the extent provided in the bond resolution.

In the bond resolution,'the State Board of Education further found that the revenues which would be derived from the special fee (estimated to be not less than $27,500 per annum) would be sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on the bonds.

The bonds so authorized recite that the principal of and interest thereon are payable solely from and secured pro rata by a first lien upon and pledge of the special fund designated the Troy State College 1960 Revenue Bonds, Series A, Principal and Interest Sinking Fund Account and the gross revenues derived from the special physical education building fee. The fee revenues are to be segregated and paid into the Principal and Interest Sinking Fund Account in an amount sufficient to provide funds in said account to pay the principal of and interest on the bonds and to build up and maintain a debt service reserve of $30,000 therefor. Neither the State Board of Education nor the State of Alabama is obligated to make any payment to the Principal and Interest Sinking Fund Account except from the fee revenues.

The State Board of Education proposes to covenant and agree in the bond resolution not to allow or permit the use of any facilities of the project by any student of the College without payment of the special fee and not to permit the use of the project by any other person (other than members of the staff or faculty of the College) or by any firm, association, agency or instrumentality, without charging a special fee equal to the reasonable value of the use thereof.

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123 So. 2d 16, 271 Ala. 160, 1960 Ala. LEXIS 456, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clipson-v-state-board-of-education-ala-1960.