## Facts

- Taxpayers in the Ware County public school system (plaintiffs) sued the Ware County Board of Education (defendant) and sought a **permanent injunction** to stop construction of a school athletic facility.
- The board planned to pay for the project with **unobligated school funds**—money on hand that was not already committed to other specific expenses.
- The taxpayers **conceded** that the Georgia Constitution allows taxes to be levied for public education and that local boards of education are authorized to distribute those funds for school purposes.
- The taxpayers also **conceded** that Georgia legislation permits school districts to spend tax proceeds on **physical-education and athletic facilities**.
- Despite those concessions, the taxpayers argued the board could not lawfully use unobligated school funds for the athletic facility and that the board should have created a specific **budget line item** for “tax-funded athletic buildings” before proceeding.
- The board answered that, because state law authorizes funding athletic facilities as part of public education, it had lawful authority to apply available school funds to the project.
- The trial court ruled for the board and denied injunctive relief; the taxpayers appealed to the Supreme Court of Georgia.

## Issues

1. Whether a county board of education may use unobligated school funds to construct a school athletic facility when the constitution and statutes authorize education taxes and allow spending on physical-education and athletic facilities.
2. Whether the law requires the board to create a specific line-item budget designation for athletic buildings as a condition to using otherwise available school funds for that project.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Georgia **affirmed** the judgment for the board.
- The court upheld the board’s authority to use unobligated school funds to construct a school athletic facility.
- The court rejected the taxpayers’ claim that the expenditure was unlawful because it lacked a separate, specific budget line item for athletic buildings.
- Because the challenged spending fell within lawful school purposes, the taxpayers were not entitled to a permanent injunction.

## Legal Principles

- When the constitution and statutes authorize taxation and spending for public education, and state law permits expenditures for physical-education and athletic facilities, a local school board may fund such facilities from available school funds that are not otherwise legally committed.
- Courts generally will not impose budgeting or accounting formalities (such as a required line-item designation) absent a clear constitutional or statutory command.
- Taxpayer injunctive relief against public expenditures requires a showing that officials acted beyond their legal authority or violated a legal restriction; disagreement with how a board allocates funds among lawful school purposes is not enough.

## Conclusion

Concerned School Patrons and Taxpayers v. Ware County Board of Education held that the Ware County Board of Education could proceed with construction of a school athletic facility using unobligated school funds because Georgia law authorizes education taxes and permits spending on athletic and physical-education facilities, and no law required the board to create a separate line-item budget designation before making the expenditure.


Concerned School Patrons and Taxpayers v. Ware County Board of Education, 263 S.E.2d 925 (1980)