Chase v. Stephenson

Citations

• 71 Ill. 383

Syllabus

<p>1. Public schools. The free schools of the State are public institutions, and in their management and control the law contemplates that they should be so managed that all children within the district, between the ages of six and twenty-one years, regardless of race or color, shall have equal and the same right to participate in the benefits to be derived therefrom.</p> <p>3. Same—-powers of directors in the management and control. While the directors very properly have large and discretionary powers in regard to the management and control of schools, in order to increase their usefulness, tlie)' have no power to make class distinctions, nor can they discriminate between scholars on account of their color, race, or social position.</p> <p>3. Same—colored children. The directors have no power to keep and maintain a separate school solely to instruct three or four colored children of the district, when they can be accommodated at the school house with the other scholars of the district.</p> <p>4. And if the directors attempt to do so, any tax-payer of the district has a right to interfere to prevent the public funds from being used in such unauthorized manner.</p>