Greathouse v. Board of School Commissioners

151 N.E. 411, 198 Ind. 95, 1926 Ind. LEXIS 98
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 31, 1926
DocketNo. 25,134.
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 151 N.E. 411 (Greathouse v. Board of School Commissioners) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Greathouse v. Board of School Commissioners, 151 N.E. 411, 198 Ind. 95, 1926 Ind. LEXIS 98 (Ind. 1926).

Opinion

Willoughby, J.

This was an action brought by the appellant to enjoin the board of school commissioners of the city of Indianapolis, a school corporation, from erecting and maintaining a separate high school for colored children.

The first paragraph of the complaint alleges, in substance, that the plaintiff is the owner of real estate and personal property located in the city of Indianapolis, county of Marion, and State of Indiana, which is assessed for taxation for school and other purposes in the city of Indianapolis, county of Marion, and State of Indiana, and that he brings this cause of action as a taxpayer, in behalf of himself and in behalf of all other taxpayers in and for said school city of Indianapolis, Indiana. That the defendant is the governing body of the school city of Indianapolis, and has charge and control of the affairs and business of said school city, a municipal corporation located in Marion county, Indiana, and existing under and pursuant to the laws of the State of Indiana. That at a regular meeting of said body, a quorum thereof being present, said board decided to build within the city of Indianapolis one separate consolidated high school for the exclusive use of colored children, to which shall be admitted all colored pupils and only all colored pupils who are sufficiently advanced and otherwise qualified. That pursuant to said action of said board, said school corporation has picked and designated a location for said school, has employed architects to draft plans for the erection of said school and is otherwise planning and threatening to build the said high school for the purpose of sepa *98 rating and segregating all pupils of African descent or Negroes, sufficiently advanced and otherwise duly qualified to matriculate in and attend the high schools of the school city of Indianapolis, and that, unless the said defendant is enjoined from doing so, it will so erect and maintain a separate consolidated high school as aforesaid. That said defendant has no legal right or authority whatsoever to thus expend the taxpayers’ money in so erecting and maintaining a separate high school for the exclusive use of colored pupils; that the high schools of the State of Indiana are open to all pupils sufficiently advanced, and that all pupils who are sufficiently advanced shall be admitted to the high schools of the State of Indiana irrespective of the race to which said pupil or pupils may belong. That the defendant is arbitrarily, and without right or power, planning and intending to build a separate high school for colored children as aforesaid, and in so doing, spending wrongfully and unlawfully money belonging to the school city of Indianapolis, for the purpose of paying the cost of so erecting and maintaining said separate consolidated high school, and that unless restrained, said defendant will build, erect and maintain said high school and will thus proceed unlawfully to expend and disburse the funds and moneys of said school city for the erection and maintenance of said building for said purpose exclusively and that, as a result of said unlawful procedure by said defendant, the school city of the city of Indianapolis, will be and become liable at law for the payment of large sums of money of said school city, and of this plaintiff and other taxpayers for such unlawful purpose. That this plaintiff, as a taxpayer and all other taxpayers in said school city, is wholly without any complete or adequate remedy at law to prevent said unlawful waste of the taxpayers’ money.

Wherefore, Plaintiff prays that a writ of injunction *99 issue temporarily until hearing may be had and perpetual and permanent injunction thereafter may issue restraining the said school corporation from taking any other actions or steps whatsoever to build, erect and maintain a separate consolidated high school for the sole and exclusive use of the colored pupils of the school city of Indianapolis who are sufficiently advanced and otherwise qualified to attend the high schools of said school city, and that the said defendant be likewise enjoined from issuing bonds to raise money or expending any part of the taxpayers’ money of said school city or money which taxpayers will eventually be compelled to pay in executing and carrying out its said unlawful purposes.

The second paragraph is the same as the first except that it contains the additional averments: That the high school facilities of the city of Indianapolis are divided into three separate and distinct classes; that is to say, technical, manual and classical and academic, as evidenced by the Arsenal-Technical high school, the Manual Training high school, and the Shortridge high school; that the school property of the city of Indianapolis, has been purchased, erected and equipped at a cost of many millions of dollars and that the said sum has been thus invested for high school purposes for the school city of the city of Indianapolis, and that every high school pupil sufficiently advanced and otherwise duly qualified, irrespective of race, is entitled to all the rights, privileges and advantages thus afforded by the said high school system of the said school city of the city of Indianapolis, Indiana, together with the right to elect which of said schools he will attend and to receive training and instruction in any of the said schools best fitted by faculty, apparatus and equipment to best fit him for his future usefulness and vocation in life. That the defendant is planning to spend more *100 than one million dollars in the construction of one separate unit of high school for the exclusive use of white pupils, and approximately $150,000 for said separate high school and that the defendant cannot, at any time, under any circumstances, provide a separate high school for the exclusive use of colored children as aforesaid in conformity to law, that is to say, having all of the rights, privileges and equal advantages now installed and maintained in the Technical, Manual and Shortridge high schools, for the common use of pupils, irrespective of race or creed, for the said sum of $150,000, and that this is due to the fact that the law places a limit on the amount of the assessment on property for school purposes and on the amount of bonds which may be issued for such purposes; that if the defendant is permitted to thus proceed to erect said high school for colored pupils exclusively, the said colored pupils will be thus denied their said rights of equal school facilities and advantages now accorded all pupils as hereinbefore set out, and, as a result thereof, there will arise a multiplicity of suits to be defended by said defendant at the expense of this taxpayer and all other taxpayers of the school city of Indianapolis. That to erect separate high schools for the colored pupils of the city of Indianapolis which would provide all of the equal rights, privileges and advantages of the other high schools of the city would require many millions of dollars and thus bankrupt the school city of the city of Indianapolis, and also exceed the legal limit placed upon assessments for school purposes and the legal authority for issuing bonds for the erection of school buildings to the extent of making it impossible for the defendant to provide the colored pupils in said school city, through said $150,000, separate schools or otherwise all of the equal rights, privileges and advantages of all the other high schools *101

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Bluebook (online)
151 N.E. 411, 198 Ind. 95, 1926 Ind. LEXIS 98, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/greathouse-v-board-of-school-commissioners-ind-1926.