Stuart v. School District No. 1 of Village of Kalamazoo

At issue in Stuart v. School District No. 1 of Village of Kalamazoo (1874) was whether a local school board had the authority to use its power to levy taxes on the general public in order to support high schools and to apply the funds to provide instruction for children in languages other than English, namely Latin and French. The Supreme Court of Michigan approved the board's decision to operate the high school and offer the language classes even though it lacked the express legislative authority to do so. The Court reasoned that the school board had the power to act, because nothing in the state's constitution, statutes, or policies restricted it from making such decisions in light of the voter approval that its members ...