School district brought action against town, seeking declaratory judgment that town’s efforts to withdraw from school district were unlawful, and individual taxpayers intervened.
The Superior Court granted summary judgment to district and entered declaratory judgment. Town and taxpayers appealed.
The Supreme Judicial Court held that:
- Question of town’s ability to withdraw from school district was not purely local and municipal in character, and thus authority to withdraw from district was not granted to town under home rule provision of state constitution;
- Amendment to previously-enacted private and special law, precluding town’s withdrawal from school district without legislative authorization in form of amendment to relevant statutory chapter, was not implicitly repealed by subsequent enactment of statutory process for withdrawal from school district;
- Such amendment did not violate special legislation clause of state constitution;
- Such amendment was rationally related to legitimate interest of financing public education and thus did not violate taxpayers’ equal protection rights.