Schwartzmiller v. Pittsburgh School District

60 Pa. D. & C.2d 487, 1972 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 95
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Alleghany County
DecidedJune 19, 1972
Docketno. 3862 of 1971
StatusPublished

This text of 60 Pa. D. & C.2d 487 (Schwartzmiller v. Pittsburgh School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Alleghany County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schwartzmiller v. Pittsburgh School District, 60 Pa. D. & C.2d 487, 1972 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 95 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1972).

Opinion

LOUIK, J.,

From the verdict for defendant in this action, tried before a judge without a jury, plaintiff has filed exceptions. This action is brought on behalf of a minor, James Schwartzmiller, by his parents, to recover from the School District of the City of Pittsburgh for tuition for James’ attendance [488]*488at the Carlynton High School during the school year beginning September, 1970. The Schwartzmiller family lives in the East Carnegie area of Pittsburgh, more than two miles from the nearest public high school in the City of Pittsburgh, but less than two miles from the high school in the Carlynton District.

In June of 1970, James finished his elementary education at East Carnegie Elementary School.

For his secondary education, he was assigned to Langley High School in the City of Pittsburgh, a school more than two miles distant from the residence of the child. Prior to 1969, it was the practice of the Pittsburgh School District to send children from this area to the Carnegie School District. In 1969, the Carnegie School District was merged into a new district known as the Carlynton School District. The agreement between Carnegie School District and the Pittsburgh School District with respect to the residence of the East Carnegie area was then terminated. The position of the newly merged school district was that it would agree to take only those students from East Carnegie that were selected by them, but would not enter into any agreement with the Pittsburgh School District to accept all of the students from the East Carnegie area. The Pittsburgh School District refused to enter into such an agreement because it decided that either all or none of the eligible East Carnegie students should attend the Carlynton High School.

In light of the problems it was having with Carlynton, the Pittsburgh School District decided that James, together with all other graduates, would be assigned to the closest Middle School, that is Langley High School. Langley is located more than two miles from the Schwartzmiller home by the most direct public highway. By public transportation on the Port Authority Transit bus, this ride would require one trans[489]*489fer. Dissatisfied with the board’s choice of school for their child, it appears the Schwartzmillers withdrew James from Langley on or about September 3, 1971, a few days before school would start. Meanwhile, defendant, Pittsburgh School District, stood ready to provide a free pass on the Port Authority Transit bus so that James would have transportation between his home and Langley High School. James was sent to Carlynton High School by his parents, and it is they who bring this action, after much correspondence with the board, to recover the tuition that they paid to Carlynton for James’ schooling.

The position of plaintiff is that defendant school district failed to comply with the provisions of the school code by not providing free transportation and that, therefore, since plaintiff’s parents sent their son to another school, the Pittsburgh School District is obligated to reimburse plaintiffs for such tuition. Implicit in this contention is that, assuming that the school board does not comply with the statutory requirements, plaintiff’s parents can decide for themselves where to send their child to school and require the school district to pay such tuition. Defendant School District, on the other hand, contends that it did provide free transportation in accordance with the provisions of the Public School Code and, furthermore, that plaintiffs have no standing to bring this action for reimbursement of tuition. The questions, therefore, before the court are:

1. Has defendant school district complied with the Public School Code requiring the providing of free transportation?

2. May the parents send their child to another school district without the consent of defendant school district?

3. Do plaintiffs have standing to bring this action?

[490]*490In matters dealing with the education of children within the district, the school board has broad discretion. That is, it may exercise judgment incidental to the proper performance of the duty delegated to it: Lamb v. Redding, 234 Pa. 481, 484, 83 Atl. 362 (1912). When the discretion of the school board is challenged, “A court will not review the actions of a governmental body or administrative tribunal involving acts of discretion, in the absence of bad faith, fraud, capricious action or abuse of power; they will not inquire into the wisdom of such actions or into the details of the manner adopted to carry them into execution. It is true that the mere possession of discretionary power . . . does not make it wholly immune from judicial review, but the scope of that review is limited”: Blumenschein v. Pittsburgh Housing Authority, 379 Pa. 566, 109 A.2d 331 (1954), quoted in Edgewood Borough School District Appeal, 445 Pa. 343, 285 A.2d 880 (1971).

“Abuse of discretion does not, as a rule, come from unwise acts or mistaken judgment, but generally springs from improper influences, as disregard of duty, or a violation of law”: Hibbs et al. v. Arensberg et al., 276 Pa. 24, 26, 119 Atl. 747 (1923), quoted in Allen et al. v. Uniontown Area School District, 4 Comm. Ct. 183, 188 (1971). Therefore, even if the court should have a difference of opinion as to the wisdom of the board’s discretion, the court would not be empowered to substitute its opinion to that of the board.

This court is presented with the decision of the board to send James Schwartzmiller to school within the district, rather than to a more convenient school outside the district. A choice was precipitated by a lack of agreement between the two school districts. The Pittsburgh School District’s decision that it did not want to allow the Carlynton School District to pick [491]*491and choose its East Carnegie students, has not been shown to have gone beyond the scope and propriety of the board’s discretion. Plaintiff cites Chester Township School District v. Chester School District, 418 Pa. 294, 210 A.2d 506 (1965), for the proposition that a pupil’s education will not be subject to uncertainty while the districts are resolving their conflict. That cited case can easily be distinguished from the situation which is before the court. In the Chester case, the district in which plaintiff lived had no high school for the child to attend. If the child could not attend high school in defendant school district, he would be unable to attend any high school. But because of disputes between the two districts, the child was refused admission to high school. The court held that the student had to be admitted.

Herein, we are presented with a different problem, one in which there is not the risk that while school districts are resolving their differences, the pupil will have no place to go to school. This court, therefore, finds no abuse of discretion in the decision to send James Schwartzmiller to Langley High School.

Having validly made that decision, the school board then had to follow section 1310 of the Public School Code of March 10, 1949, P. L. 30, as amended, 24 PS §13-1310, which provides:

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Related

Lamb v. Redding
83 A. 362 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1912)
Hibbs v. Arensberg
119 A. 727 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1923)
Blumenschein v. Pittsburgh Housing Authority
109 A.2d 331 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1954)
Chester Township School District v. Chester School District
210 A.2d 501 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1965)
Martin v. Garnet Valley School District
272 A.2d 913 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1971)
Edgewood Borough School District Appeal
285 A.2d 880 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1971)

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Bluebook (online)
60 Pa. D. & C.2d 487, 1972 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 95, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schwartzmiller-v-pittsburgh-school-district-pactcomplallegh-1972.