Brockette v. Westheimer Independent School Dist.
| Decision Date | 26 January 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. 12558,12558 |
| Citation | 546 S.W.2d 832 |
| Parties | M. L. BROCKETTE, Commissioner of Education of Texas, et al., Appellants, v. WESTHEIMER INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT, Appellee. . On Motion for Rehearing |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
John L. Hill, Atty. Gen., M. Lynn Taylor, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Austin, for appellant, M. L. Brockette, Commissioner of Education.
William Key Wilde, Kelly Frels, J. Woodfin Jones, Bracewell & Patterson, Houston, for appellant, Houston Ind. School Dist.
James E. Ross, William A. Harrison, Ross, Griggs & Harrison, Houston, for appellee.
The opinion of this Court filed on December 22, 1976, is withdrawn, and the following opinion replaces it.
This is an appeal from a permanent injunction entered by the district court of Travis County enjoining the Commissioner of Education from conducting a hearing inquiring into the validity of the creation of Westheimer Independent School District. Appellants are M. L. Brockette, Commissioner of Education of the State of Texas, the Board of Trustees of the Houston Independent School District, and the Houston Teachers Association. Appellee is Westheimer Independent School District.
On March 21, 1972, the County School Trustees of Harris County entered their order creating the Westheimer Independent School District, appointing an interim board of trustees, and apportioning the pro rata amount of the bonded indebtedness to the Houston Independent School District to be assumed by Westheimer Independent School District. The new school district was created from territory detached from Houston Independent School District and Spring Branch Independent School District.
Houston Independent School District prosecuted an administrative appeal to the Commissioner of Education. After hearing the Commissioner reversed the order of the Harris County School District Trustees.
Westheimer Independent School District perfected an appeal of the Commissioner's order to the State Board of Education. After hearing and on October 7, 1972, the State Board of Education reversed the Commissioner's order and affirmed the order of the County School Trustees of Harris County. Houston Independent School District Did not perfect an appeal of the order of the State Board of Education to the district court of Travis County.
A desegregation suit against Houston Independent School District was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas before the organization of Westheimer Independent School District. Westheimer was joined as a party to that suit in 1971 and was referred to therein as 'The Proposed Westheimer Independent School District.' After October 7, 1972, and after Houston Independent School District did not appeal the order of the State Board of Education to the district court of Travis County, several parties in the desegregation suit, including Houston Independent School District, sought an injunction against Westheimer Independent School District to prevent it from commencing operations as a school. In order to establish that Westheimer Independent School District was an existing legal entity with the capacity to be sued, both Houston Independent School District and Westheimer Independent School District stipulated in the suit in United States district court as follows:
'. . . the administrative procedures prescribed by the State of Texas for the establishment of the Westheimer Independent School District were exhausted and thereupon, pursuant to the statutory law of Texas, the Westheimer Independent School District became established within the following territory in Harris County, Texas . . .'
Following the entry of the stipulation the United States district court enjoined Westheimer Independent School District from commencing operations for three years. The injunction has now expired and the United States district court has declined to renew or extend the injunction.
On March 29, 1976, the Board of Education of Houston Independent School District adopted the following resolution:
'RESOLVED, That the proponents of the proposed Westheimer Independent School District be placed on notice that the Houston Independent School District Board of Trustees opposes the creation and operation of the proposed Westheimer Independent School District; and be it further
'RESOLVED, That the attorneys for the Houston Independent School District are authorized to take whatever steps necessary to prevent the proposed Westheimer Independent School District from being created and from becoming operational.'
In July and August, 1976, counsel for Houston Independent School District wrote the County School Trustees for Harris County requesting, in effect, that the Trustees reverse their order creating Westheimer Independent School District. Counsel assigned many reasons for reversal of the order entered more than four years previously:
(1) Spring Branch Independent School District had now withdrawn its consent to detachment of the territory from its district.
(2) Testimony offered in the original hearing was not offered under oath and was not subject to cross-examination.
(3) The 1972 order was not supported by findings of fact.
(4) Westheimer Independent School District '. . . has not been established nor has it begun operation,' and that now a majority of persons now residing in the area have not signed a petition asking for the creation of the proposed district.
(5) The Board acted upon erroneous information related to the boundaries of Westheimer Independent School District, and that those lines created isolated islands of territory not contiguous to the balance of the territory of Houston Independent School District.
(6) There was no administrative or educational justification for the creation of Westheimer Independent School District.
(7) That an order of the United States District Court for the Eastern District prohibited the Commissioner of Education and others from approving changes in school boundary lines designed to maintain or encourage a dual school system based upon race.
(8) That Westheimer Independent School District should not be created because its creation would have an adverse effect on the ability of the Houston Independent School District to operate a 'unitary school system.'
(9) That a recent survey revealed that a part of the Katy Independent School District is included within the boundaries of the Westheimer Independent School District.
The County School Trustees of Harris County refused to reverse its position and refused to grant the request for a rehearing. Houston Independent School District then appealed to the Commissioner of Education.
In its administrative pleading filed with the Commissioner, Houston Independent School District asserted many of the same grounds urged upon the County School Trustees of Harris County. The Commissioner set a hearing in the matter for November 4, 1976. By letter to all interested parties the Commissioner stated that evidence pertaining to any issue raised by the pleadings filed by the parties would be received and considered at the November 4 hearing.
In the meantime, the interim Board of Trustees of Westheimer Independent School District passed a resolution fixing the date for the election of permanent trustees and for approval of certain bonded debt questions for January 15, 1977.
On October 18, 1976, Westheimer Independent School District filed its petition in the district court of Travis County seeking injunctive relief against the Commissioner. In its pleading Westheimer Independent School District claimed that unless enjoined, the Commissioner would rehear the matter of its creation. Westheimer Independent School District claimed the Commissioner would pass upon questions concerning its creation in the November 4 hearing and hence was threatening to dissolve its creation resulting in irreparable injury to it and contrary to the laws of the State. Westheimer Independent School District claimed further that the Commissioner was further threatening to reverse an order of the State Board of Education, an action outside the bounds and limits of his authority and powers...
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Westheimer Independent School Dist. v. Brockette, B-6637
...an appeal of the order creating Westheimer I.S.D. in the appropriate district court. As reformed, the trial court judgment was affirmed. 546 S.W.2d 832. We reverse that portion of the judgment of the court of civil appeals which reforms the trial court judgment, and we affirm the judgment o......
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Ross v. Houston Independent School Dist., s. 77-1069
...for a temporary restraining order, the state court injunction was affirmed, Brockette v. Westheimer Independent School District, Texas Court of Civil Appeals, Third Supreme Judicial District, 546 S.W.2d 832 (1977). The Court of Civil Appeals later modified its opinion to allow HISD to attac......