Flowing Wells School District v. Vail School District

700 P.2d 1378, 145 Ariz. 278, 1985 Ariz. App. LEXIS 520
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedJanuary 14, 1985
DocketNo. 2 CA-CIV 5170
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 700 P.2d 1378 (Flowing Wells School District v. Vail School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Flowing Wells School District v. Vail School District, 700 P.2d 1378, 145 Ariz. 278, 1985 Ariz. App. LEXIS 520 (Ark. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

OPINION

BIRDSALL, Chief Judge.

Appellant Vail School District appeals from denial of its motion for a new trial following an adverse judgment in Pima County Superior Court in a declaratory judgment action brought by appellee Flowing Wells School District. The matter was submitted to this court on, stipulation of facts, as it was to the court below. The stipulated facts are as follows:

1. Both parties are duly organized school districts in the State of Arizona, within Pima County.

2. Vail School District has no high school and its students must attend another district for their secondary education.

3. Vail School District furnishes transportation for its secondary students to Santa Rita High School, which is in Tucson Unified School District, a neighboring dis[280]*280trict, but the Vail district does not provide transportation for secondary students to other districts, such being found by the board not to be in the district’s best interest.

4. A number of high school students living in the Vail School District have chosen to attend high school in the Flowing Wells School District. The Flowing Wells district has furnished transportation to those students and is still doing so. The Flowing Wells district sent a statement for the tuition, plus transportation costs, to the Vail School District, but the Vail School District paid only the tuition charges and not the transportation costs.

The suit brought by Flowing Wells was for a declaratory action seeking to find Vail liable for the transportation costs. The judgment of the trial court is reprinted in large part herein:

“[T]he Court having considered the stipulated facts, the trial brief, the oral argument, and the exhibits submitted in evidence, the Court does find in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendant. Therefore, it is
ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that judgment be entered in favor of the plaintiff, FLOWING WELLS SCHOOL DISTRICT, and against the defendant, VAIL SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 20, declaring that the defendant school district is liable to the plaintiff school district for the cost of transportation actually furnished to students residing in the defendant school district who attended school in the plaintiff school district since the fall term of 1982;
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the defendant school district shall be liable for any future transportation costs incurred by the plaintiff school district for students residing in the defendant school district who attend school in the Flowing Wells School District.”

It is uncontroverted that a student from a common school district not having a high school or teaching high school subjects may select any high school of his or her choosing for attendance ■ purposes. Board of Trustees of Mary E. Dill School District v. Board of Education of Sahuarita High School, 19 Ariz.App. 323, 506 P.2d 1108 (1973), decided by this court. The issue rests in the determination of who is responsible for paying transportation of the student to the chosen school. Appellee Flowing Wells argues that the statutes permit a charge in addition to the normal tuition charge to the “sending” school district for such transportation. Appellant Vail argues that the decision on whether such transportation will be provided at the district’s expense is one to be made by that district and having made the decision not to provide transportation, such charges cannot be imposed upon them by another district.

Some introductory observations are necessary. We recognize the much-repeated requirement that a board or commission which is a creation of a statute created for a special purpose has only limited powers and it can exercise no powers which are not expressly or impliedly granted. Olmsted & Gillelen v. Hesla, 24 Ariz. 546, 211 P. 589 (1922); applied to school district governing boards in Oracle School District No. 2 v. Mammoth High School District No. 88, 130 Ariz. 41, 633 P.2d 450 (App.1981).

We further observe that one statute pertinent to our consideration, A.R.S. § 15-824, is derived in part from former § 15— 449. In Mary E. Dill School District, supra, we stated that § 15-449 was clear and unambiguous and therefore no judicial construction was necessary to interpret its language. We find that § 15-824 has now been changed in significant degree from former § 15-449 so that our earlier declaration need not apply to the statute in its present form.

As noted, A.R.S. § 15-824 makes provision for admission of pupils into one district from another district. The pertinent provisions enable such acceptances and specify the tuition charges to be paid by the district of residence to the district of attendance.

[281]*281“A. The governing board of a school district shall admit pupils from another school district or area as follows:
******
2. To a high school without the presentation of such certificate, if the pupil is a resident of a common school district within this state which has neither a high school nor a school in which high school subjects are taught. The school membership of such pupils is deemed, for the purpose of determining student count and for apportionment of state aid, to be enrollment in the school district of the pupil’s residence.
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D. ... [Tjuition shall be charged for all .pupils attending school in a school district other than that of their residence and shall be determined and paid in the following manner:
1. The tuition for pupils attending school in a school district other than that of their residence, ... shall not exceed the cost per student count of the school district attended, as determined for the current school year. The school district of attendance shall not include in the cost per student count a charge for transportation if no transportation is provided. ******
E. For the purposes of this section, ‘costs per student count’ means the sum of the following for the ... high school portion of the school district attended,
1. The actual school district expenditures for the regular educational program subsection of the maintenance and operation section of the budget divided by the school district’s student count for the ... high school portion of the school district, ...
2. The actual school district expenditures from revenue produced by the school district for the capital outlay portion of the budget ... excluding expenditures for transportation equipment and buildings if no transportation is provided and expenditures for the acquisition of building sites,____
3. The total amount of bond issues or portion of bond issues outstanding, including the total amount of interest____”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
700 P.2d 1378, 145 Ariz. 278, 1985 Ariz. App. LEXIS 520, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/flowing-wells-school-district-v-vail-school-district-arizctapp-1985.