Berthiaume v. School Committee of City of Woonsocket

• Decision Date: 08 February 1979
• Docket Number: No. 77-116,77-116
• Citation: 121 R.I. 243,397 A.2d 889
• Parties: Henri BERTHIAUME et al. v. SCHOOL COMMITTEE OF the CITY OF WOONSOCKET. M.P.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

Page 889

397 A.2d 889

121 R.I. 243

Henri BERTHIAUME et al. v. SCHOOL COMMITTEE OF the CITY OF WOONSOCKET.

No. 77-116 M.P.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

Feb. 8, 1979.

[121 R.I. 253] Abedon, Stanzler, Biener, Skolnik & Lipsey, Richard A. Skolnik, Lynette J. Labinger, Providence, for petitioners.

Richard R. Ackerman, Inc., Woonsocket, for respondent.

OPINION

DORIS, Justice.

This matter is before us on a petition for certiorari from a decision of the Board of Regents for Education denying the request of the petitioners for additional compensation. Our resolution of this case of first impression depends upon the construction we give to certain statutory provisions.

Each of petitioners was employed as a per diem substitute teacher within the Woonsocket School Department in excess of 135 days in one or more of the 1972-73, 1973-74, and 1974-75 school years. During the years in question each of petitioners was compensated at the prevailing rate of $22 per day for the days on which they were employed. This rate of pay was less than the lowest step level on the regular-teacher salary schedules adopted in the respective school years by the school committee. Although the contract between the Woonsocket School Committee and the Woonsocket Teachers' Guild expressly excludes per diem substitute teachers from its coverage, petitioners claim that by virtue of G.L. 1956 (1969 Reenactment) § 16-7-29, they are nevertheless entitled to compensation according to the prevailing salary schedule as outlined in that contract.

In February 1976, petitioners received a hearing on their request before the school committee. After the committee denied the request for additional compensation, an appeal was taken to the commissioner of education. The commissioner agreed with petitioners' statutorily based argument and ordered the school committee to pay petitioners according to the contract salary schedules. On subsequent appeal to the Board of Regents, however, that body reversed the commissioner's decision by holding that G.L. 1956 (1968 Reenactment) §§ 28-9.3-1 to 16, the School Teachers' Arbitration Act, had by implication repealed § 16-7-29.

The petitioners' argument is primarily predicated upon § 16-7-29 which requires each community to establish "a salary schedule recognizing years of service, experience, and training, beginning at a minimum of not less than four thousand dollars ($4,000) and rising to a maximum of at least six thousand dollars ($6,000) for All certified personnel regularly employed in the public schools and having no more than twelve (12) annual steps, with no annual step providing an increase of more than three hundred dollars ($300)." (Emphasis added.)

They maintain that because they are "certified personnel regularly employed," per diem substitute teachers are entitled to be paid according to the established salary schedule rather than at the separately agreed upon $22 daily rate.

The school committee argues initially that per diem substitutes are not "regularly employed certified personnel" and therefore are not entitled to the benefits of the statute. Section 16-7-16 purports to define for purposes of Inter alia § 16-7-29, the terms "certified personnel" and "regularly employed." That petitioners are "certified personnel" is beyond dispute. See § 16-7-16(g). Whether they are "regularly employed" is, however, a matter not so easily resolved. Section 16-7-16(h) expressly incorporates by reference the definitions of "regularly employed" and "service" found in G.L. 1956, chapter 16 of title 16, a provision concerning retirement benefits for teachers. Unfortunately, that chapter does not directly define "regularly employed." The only use of that term is contained in § 16-16-1(2) which reads:

" 'Teacher ' shall mean a person required to hold a certificate of qualification issued by or under the authority of the board of education and Who is engaged in teaching as his principal occupation and is regularly employed as a teacher in the public schools of any city or town in the state, or any formalized, commissioner approved, cooperative service arrangement. Said term shall include a person employed as a teacher, supervisor, principal, assistant principal, superintendent, or assistant superintendent of schools, director, assistant director, co-ordinator, consultant, dean, assistant dean, educational administrator, nurse teacher and attendance officer or any person who has worked in the field of education or is working in the field of education that holds a teaching or administrative certificate And any substitute teacher who serves during a school year at least three-quarters ( 3/4) of the number of days that the public schools are required by law to be in session during such year.'' (Emphasis added.)

The petitioners urge us to construe this statute to mean that any substitute teacher who has worked at least three-quarters of the number of days that a public school is legally required to be in session is "regularly employed." Because a public school must be in session for at least 180 days under the provisions of § 16-2-2, petitioners contend that any substitute teacher who has taught for more than 135 days during a school year comes within the mandate of § 16-7-29. The school committee counters that while substitutes may be "teachers" by virtue of the above definition, they are not "regularly employed." That term is reserved, they argue, for full-time 180-day teachers.

Our construction of statutory language is guided by the proposition that the intent of the Legislature controls. That intent is discovered from an examination of the language, nature, and object of the statute. Nolan v. Representative Council, 73 R.I. 498, 502, 57 A.2d 730, 732 (1948). Furthermore, we adhere to the canon that statutes should not be construed to achieve meaningless or absurd results. See In re Crepeau-Cross, R.I., 385 A.2d 658, 660 (1978); State v. Sprague, 113 R.I. 351, 355, 322 A.2d 36, 38 (1974). With these principles in mind we believe that a fair reading of the statute leads to the conclusion that the Legislature intended substitute teachers such as petitioners to be considered "regularly employed." Were we to accept the school committee's contention that only full-time teachers are "regularly employed," the Legislature's inclusion of substitute teachers in § 16-16-1(2) and that section's express incorporation into § 16-7- 29 would be rendered a nullity. Under that interpretation substitutes could never be considered "regularly employed." The principle of Noscitur a sociis, that the meaning of one word can become clear by reference to other words associated with it in the statute, lends further support to our construction of "regularly employed." Section 16-16-5 directs that in calculating years of service for purposes of retirement benefits, a substitute teacher who has served for three-quarters of a school year be given credit for a year of service. Because § 16-7-16(h) incorporates both this definition and the aforementioned definition of "regularly employed" into § 16-7-29, we believe the sounder view is that the Legislature must have intended that petitioners be considered regularly employed. Cf. McSherry v. City of St. Paul, 202 Minn. 102, 108-10, 277 N.W. 541, 544-45 (1938).

Although the Board of Regents agreed that petitioners were "regularly employed," they denied petitioners' request for additional compensation on the ground that the School Teachers' Arbitration Act, §§ 28-9.3-1 to 16, had by implication repealed § 16-7-29. It is well settled that repeals by implication are not favored by the law. When the repealing effect of a statute is doubtful, the statute will be strictly construed to effectuate its consistent operation with previous legislation. See, e. g., Providence Electric Co. v. Donatelli Building Co., 116 R.I. 340, 344, 356 A.2d 483, 486 (1976); Sutherland, Statutes and Statutory Construction § 23.10, at 230-31 (C. Sands 4th ed. 1972). Only when the two statutory provisions are irreconcilably repugnant will a repeal be implied and the last-enacted statute be preferred. See Providence Electric Co. v. Donatelli Building Co., supra at 344, 356 A.2d at 486; Surber v. Pearce, 97 R.I. 40, 44, 195 A.2d 541, 543 (1963); Opinion to the Governor, 78 R.I. 144, 149-50, 80 A.2d 165, 168 (1951). We have also stated that if two statutes are found not to be inconsistent with one another and relate to the same subject matter, they are deemed "in Pari materia and should be considered together so that they will harmonize with each other and be consistent with their general object and scope, even though they contain no reference to one another and were passed at different times." Providence Teachers' Union, Local 958 v. School Committee, 108 R.I. 444, 449, 276 A.2d 762, 765 (1971).

Clearly, both of these statutes generally cover the same subject matter. Section 28-9.3-2 grants certified teaching personnel the right to bargain collectively "concerning hours, Salary, working conditions and all other terms and conditions of professional employment." Id. (emphasis added.) Section 16-7-29 mandates the establishment of a minimum salary schedule for all certified personnel regularly employed in the public schools. By enacting the School Teachers' Arbitration Act it is apparent that the Legislature intended to provide one means whereby the statutorily mandated salary schedule could be established. Clearly the Legislature did not intend the $4,000 minimum as the actual floor of the salary schedule adopted by each community. Rather, each community is free to adopt its own schedule as long as the lowest salary level does not fall below the $4,000 minimum. Cf. Board of Education v. Nyquist, 60 Misc.2d 967, 970, 304 N.Y.S.2d 441, 445-46 (Sup.Ct.1969). In fact, as we noted in School Committee v. Westerly Teachers' Association, 111 R.I. 96, 100 n.1, 299 A.2d 441, 443 n.1 (1973), much of the reason why many teachers are...