Notice to Notice to qualified voters. Return, what to show. Proceedings in case of failure to organize district. Fractional districts, how formed. Annual reports, where made. cerns of school districts, on mandamus, except on things of substance.-Sch. Dist. v. Riverside Twp., 67/406. The facts in regard to the notices and proof of posting are sufficiently established if set out in the return of the board, though not appearing in the clerk's minutes of the proceedings. The act of detaching territory from two school districts and forming a new district by one and the same motion, after parties interested have had ample opportunity to be heard on both questions, is valid.-Smelzer v. Inspectors Big Prairie Twp., 125/ 666. (28) § 4647. SEC. 2. Whenever the township board of any township shall form a school district therein, it shall be the duty of the clerk of such board to deliver to a taxable inhabitant of such district a notice in writing of the formation of such district, describing its boundaries and specifying the time and place of the first meeting, which notice, with the fact of such delivery, shall be entered upon record by the clerk. The said notice shall also direct such inhabitant to notify every qualified voter of such district, either personally or by leaving a written notice at his place of residence, of the time and place of said meeting, at least five days before the time appointed therefor; and it shall be the duty of such inhabitant to notify the qualified voters of said district accordingly, and said inhabitant, when he shall have notified the qualified voters as required in such notice, shall endorse thereon a return showing such notification with the date or dates thereof, and deliver such notice and return to the chairman of the meeting, to be by him delivered to the director chosen at such meeting, and by said director recorded at length as a part of the records of such district. Am. 1909, Act 31. NOTICE: The board may, under one notice, at one meeting, by separate action, detach lands from separate school districts and attach them to one district.-Doxey v. School Inspectors, 67/601. Irregularity in notice.Parman v. Inspectors, 49 / 63. See Roeser v. Gartland, 75 / 144. RECORDS: Importance of.-Sch. Dist. v. Snell, 24 / 352. (29) S4648. SEC. 3. In case the inhabitants of any district shall fail to organize the same in pursuance of such notice as aforesaid, the said clerk shall give a new notice in the manner herein before provided, and the same proceedings shall be had thereon as if no previous notice had been delivered. (30) § 4649. SEC. 4. Whenever it shall be necessary or convenient to form a district from two or more adjoining townships, the township boards, or a majority of them, of each of such adjoining townships, may form such district, to be designated as a fractional district, and direct which township clerk shall make and deliver the notice of the formation of the same to a taxable inhabitant thereof, and may regulate and alter such district as circumstances may render necessary in the same manner that other districts are altered. The annual reports of the director of such district shall be made to the clerk of the township in which the schoolhouse may be situated, and the township board of such township shall number said district. Am. 1909, Act 31. Saginaw Twp. v. Sch. Dist., 9/544; Brewer v. Palmer, 13/109. districts (31) § 4650. SEC. 5. Every such school district shall be When deemed duly organized when any two of the officers elected deemed at the first meeting shall have filed their acceptances in writ- duly organized. ing with the director, and the same shall have been recorded in the minutes of such first meeting. Every school district When presumed shall in all cases be presumed to have been legally organized legally when it shall have exercised the franchises and privileges of organized. a district for the term of two years; and such school district and its officers shall be entitled to all the rights, privileges and immunities, and be subject to all the duties and liabili ties conferred upon school districts by law. Any school dis- Organization, trict shall lose its organization as follows: how lost. maintain declaring (a) Whenever there are not three or more persons in such district qualified under the law to hold district offices; (b) Whenever such district shall fail to maintain school Failure to for the time required by law for a period of two successive school. years either within its own boundaries or by providing for the education of the children in other districts. Upon the Resolution happening of either condition, the township board, or joint dissolution. board, if such district be fractional, shall declare by resolution such district dissolved and shall immediately attach the territory thereof, in whole or in part, to other districts already organized and make an equitable distribution of the money, property and other material belonging to such district among the districts to which the territory thereof shall be attached, in accordance with the provisions hereinafter stated. Am. Id. PRESUMPTION OF LEGAL ORGANIZATION: When a district has exercised the franchises and privileges of a school district for over two years, it is too late to question the legality of its organization.-Sch. Dist. v. Sch. Dist., 63/56; Sch. Dist. v. Sch. Dist., 81/343; Bd. of Ed. of Traverse City v. Straub, 182 / 665. The same rule which recognizes the right of officers de facto recognizes corporations de facto.-Clement v. Everest, 29/23. In public affairs, when the people have organized themselves under color of law into the ordinary municipal bodies, and have gone on year after year raising taxes, making improvements and exercising their usual franchises, their rights are properly regarded as depending quite as much on the acquiescence as on the regularity of their origin, and no ex post facto inquiry can be permitted to undo their corporate existence.-People v. Maynard, 15 / 470. As to questioning the regularity of organizations, etc., see note to section 27. record of evidence. (32) § 4651. SEC. 6. The record of the first meeting Directors' made by the director shall be prima facie evidence of the first meeting facts therein set forth and of the legality of all proceedings prima facie in the organization of the district prior to the first district meeting; but nothing in this section contained shall be so construed as to impair the effect of the record kept by the township board as evidence. Am. Id. CORPORATE POWERS OF DISTRICTS. district, (33) § 4652. SEC. 7. Every school district organized in School pursuance of this chapter, or which has been organized and a body continued under any previous law of the state or territory corporate. of Michigan, shall be a body corporate, and shall possess the Name and style. Power of. Alteration of district boundaries by township board. usual powers of a corporation for public purposes, by the name and style of "school district number .... (such number as shall be designated in the formation thereof by the township board), of .. ... (the name of the township or townships in which the district is situated)," and in that name shall be capable of suing and being sued, of contracting and being contracted with, and of holding such real and personal estate as is authorized to be purchased by the provisions of law, and of selling the same. Am. Id. CORPORATE POWERS: The school district, under our statutes, is a corporation, and, as such corporation, is represented by three officers; a moderator, director and assessor. The affairs of the district are managed and controlled by them, under certain restrictions.-Sch. Dist. v. Sch. Dist., 63 / 57. A school district can take and hold bequests of money for the maintenance of a public library for the use and benefit of the residents of the district.Maynard v. Woodward, 36 / 423. School districts, like townships and counties, are subdivisions of the state. This section gives them the capacity to sue and be sued.-Van Wert v. Sch. Dist., 100 333. School districts are municipal corporations.-Seeley v. Board of Ed., 39/486; Sch. Dist. v. Gage, 39/484; Belles v. Burr, 76 / 1. And cannot be garnisheed even by their own consent, unless the debtor also consents.--Id. They preceded the constitution (Stuart v. Sch. Dist., 30/69), and were recognized by that instrument.Belles v. Burr, 76/11. It is familiar doctrine that school districts are state agencies with limited powers, confined, generally, to those expressly enumerated and those necessarily implied.—Attorney General v. Detroit Bd. of Education, 175 / 440. ALTERATION OF DISTRICTS. (34) § 4653. SEC. 8. Whenever the township board shall contemplate an alteration of the boundaries of a district, the township clerk (and for meetings of boards to act in relation to fractional districts, clerks of the several townships interested) shall give at least ten days' notice of the time and place of the meeting of said board and the alteration proposed, by posting such notice in three public places in the township or townships, one of which notices shall be in each of the districts that may be affected by such alteration. Joint boards. Whenever the township boards of more than one township meet, they shall elect one of their number chairman, and another clerk thereof. Posting notice. May detach and attach property. Am. Id. NOTICE: The notice required is jurisdictional and indispensable.-Coulter V. Inspectors, 59/391; Sch. Dist. V. Inspectors, 63/611; Gentle v. Inspectors, 73/40; Graves v. Inspectors, 102/635; Passage v. Inspectors, 19/ 330; Andress v. Inspectors, 19/332. Proof of the posting of such notice should be filed with the clerk of the board, before any action is taken.Coulter v. Inspectors, 59/391; Sch. Dist. v. Inspectors, 63/611; Graves v. Inspectors, 102 / 635. Where notice is not given the filing of the consent of a majority of the resident taxpayers of the districts affected will not validate the action.Gentle v. Inspectors, 73 / 40. Notices must be posted in each township affected by the alteration.- -Sch. Dist. v. Metcalf, 93/499. The object of the notice is to enable parties interested to be heard before any action is taken.-Gentle v. Inspectors, 73/45; Sch. Dist. v. Metcalf, 93/499. As to the provision in the former law, see Sch. Dist. v. Sch. Dist., 63/51. Notice of posting notices in three public places is jurisdictional. Affidavit must show that the notices were so posted. Certiorari will lie to test validity of proceedings where petitioner moves promptly.-Huyser v. Board of School Inspectors, 131 / 568. FRACTIONAL DISTRICTS: The action of the joint boards is required in case of fractional districts.-Sch. Dist. v. Sch. Dist., 81 / 343. (35) § 4654. SEC. 9. The township board may in its discretion detach the property of any person or persons from one district and attach it to another; except that no land which has been taxed for building a schoolhouse shall be set two or more off into another school district for the period of three years thereafter, except by the consent of the owner thereof; and Division into no district shall be divided into two or more districts with- districts. out the consent of a majority of the resident taxpayers of said district, and no two or more districts shall be consolidated without the consent of a majority of the resident taxpayers of each district. Am. Id. People v. Davidson 2 Doug. 121; Brewer v. Palmer, 13 / 104. See Sch. Dist. v. Dean, 17/223; Gentle v. Sch. Inspectors, 73/45. DISSOLVING DISTRICT: The school inspectors (township board) have power to alter boundaries of districts, and attach or detach persons, to or from any district; but no power is anywhere granted to them to disband, dissolve or destroy a district, save as restricted under this section.-Briggs v. Borden, 71/90. As intimated in Doxey v. Inspectors, 67/604, the board have no authority to divide up a district and destroy it without the consent of a majority of the resident taxpayers; nor can they destroy it by cutting it up into pieces and attaching all the territory to other districts without such consent.-Id. The terms "dissolve" and "disband" are of similar import and a vote taken to "disband" is supported by notice of a meeting to vote upon a proposition to "dissolve.”—Id. CONSENT OF OWNER: Lands taxed within three years for building a schoolhouse, not to be set off into another district without the consent of the owner.-Coulter v. Inspectors, 59 / 391. CONSOLIDATION: The right of inspectors to consolidate districts depends upon consent of majority of resident taxpayers. Where a school district de facto formed by consolidation of other districts has been in existence two years or more the court will not set aside action of board.Howell v. Shannon, 130 / 556. POWER OF LEGISLATURE: The legislature may change the boundaries of district.—Att'y Gen. ex rel. Kies v. Lowery, 131 / 639. territory. (36) § 4655. SEC. 10. The township board shall attach Unorganized to a school district contiguous territory in the township and not in any organized district. Am. 1909, Act 31; 1913, Act 234. district (37) § 4656. SEC. 11. In all cases where an alteration Notice to of the boundaries of a school district shall be made, the director of township clerk shall, within ten days, deliver to the director affected by of each district affected by the alteration a notice in writing, setting forth the action of the township board and defining the alterations that have been made. Am. 1909, Act 31. alteration. DIVISION OF PROPERTY. districts houses, etc. (38) § 4657. SEC. 12. When a new district is formed in Division of whole or in part from one or more districts possessed of a possessed schoolhouse or entitled to other property, the township board of school at the time of forming such new district, or as soon thereafter as may be, shall ascertain and determine the amount justly due to such new district from any district out of which it may have been in whole or in part formed, as the proportion of such new district, of the value of the schoolhouse and other property belonging to the former district, at the time of such division; and whenever by the division of When may any district, the schoolhouse or site thereof shall no longer apportion be conveniently located for school purposes and shall not be proceeds. desired for use by the new district in which it may be situ sell and Proportion, how ascertained. Debt deducted. Proviso. Annual school meetings, when held. School year, when to begin. Proviso. Special meetings. ated, the township board of the township in which such schoolhouse and site shall be located may advertise and sell the same, and apportion the proceeds of such sale and also any moneys belonging to the district thus divided among the several districts erected in whole or in part from the divided district. Am. Id. Saginaw Twp. v. Sch. Dist., 9/541; People v. Ryan, 19/203; Ramsey v. Everett Twp. Clerk, 52/344; Sch. Dist. v. Riverside Twp., 67/404. NEW DISTRICT: See Pine Sch. Dist. v. Wilcox, 48/404, and section 117 as to appeals. Bill to prevent the consummation of a void apportionment.Sch. Dist. v. Sch. Dist., 63/58. Bill to restrain the sale of the schoolhouse. Briggs v. Borden, 71/87. Upon the formation of a new district by the union of two or more, the new district succeeds to the credits and property and is liable for the debts of the old ones.-Brewer v. Palmer, 13/104; Halbert v. Districts, 36 / 421. (39) § 4658. SEC. 13. Such proportion shall be ascertained and determined according to the value of the taxable property of the respective parts of such former district at the time of the division, by the best evidence in the power of the township board; and such amount of any debt due from the former district, which would have been a charge upon the new had it remained in the former district, shall be deducted from such proportion: Provided, That no real estate thus set off, and which shall not have been taxed for the purchase or building of such schoolhouse, shall be entitled to any portion thereof nor be taken into account in such division of district property. Am. Id. DEBTS OF OLD DISTRICTS: Where the territory of a school district is absorbed by other districts, the statute contemplates that the township board shall make an equitable adjustment of property and debts, so as to proportion them fairly among the districts which have succeeded to the jurisdiction of that which has been divided.-Halbert v. Sch. Districts, 36/421. Where a school district has been subdivided and other districts set off, the debts of the original district cannot be parceled out among all by a proceeding in the courts, so as to give creditors a remedy against any but the original debtors. Turnbull v. Alpena Sch. Dist., 45/496; Maltz v. Board of Education, 41/547. A debt once existing must remain a debt against the corporation that created it, and its obligation is not destroyed by a change in corporation limits. If contribution is required, it must be obtained by the corporation and not by its creditors, unless otherwise provided by law. -Turnbull v. Alpena Sch. Dist., 45/499. DISTRICT MEETINGS. (40) 4659. SEC. 14. The annual meeting of all school § districts, except where otherwise provided by special enactment, shall be held on the second Monday of July in each year. The school year shall commence on that day, and the trustees and officers of the district shall date their terms of office from said day, and until their successors are elected and qualified: Provided, That any district may vote to hold its annual meeting on the fourth Monday in July. Am. 1905, Act 36. (41) § 4660. SEC. 15. Special meetings may be called by the district board; and it shall be the duty of said board, or any one of them, to call such meetings on the written re |