Campbell v. Manchester Bd. of School Directors, 89077
| Decision Date | 14 July 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 89077,89077 |
| Citation | 152 Vt. 643,565 A.2d 1318 |
| Parties | , 57 Ed. Law Rep. 161 Orland CAMPBELL, Jr. v. MANCHESTER BOARD OF SCHOOL DIRECTORS. |
| Court | Vermont Supreme Court |
Before ALLEN, C.J., and PECK, GIBSON, DOOLEY and MORSE, JJ.
Appellee Manchester Board of School Directors, relying on Mason v. Thetford School Board, 142 Vt. 495, 457 A.2d 647 (1983), has moved to dismiss this appeal on the ground that the order of the Board of Education from which the appeal was taken is final under the express terms of 16 V.S.A. § 828 and is therefore not subject to review by this Court.
Mason involved 16 V.S.A. § 827, which provides that a school district not maintaining an approved high school may designate a private school as the district's high school; the district must then pay its students' tuitions to the approved school. § 827(b). In Mason, one student's parents requested the district to pay tuition on their child's behalf to another approved school pursuant to § 827(c). The school board denied that request under § 827(d), which provides that the board may pay such tuition to another approved school if in its judgment the student's interests are best served in so doing. Thus, we stated that "there is no absolute right to appellate review of administrative decisions." Mason, 142 Vt. at 498, 457 A.2d at 649 (emphasis added).
The case before us does not, however, involve an administrative decision. Instead, the issues raised involve constitutional and legal precepts to the extent that the school board, and the Board of Education on review, was apparently acting in a judicial or quasi-judicial function in deciding them.
In Lewis v. Holden, 118 Vt. 59, 61-62, 99 A.2d 758, 760 (1953), and Town School District of Maidstone v. Dempsey, 103 Vt. 481, 485-86, 156 A. 387, 389 (1931), we held that an otherwise final decision may be amenable to review by writ of certiorari in this Court where the decision was made by one acting in a judicial or quasi-judicial position. Since we conclude that the decision of the Board of Education in this case was of a judicial rather than administrative nature, these cases, not Mason, are the governing authorities.
Under Lewis and Dempsey, the proper route for relief by a party aggrieved by such a decision is to file a petition for certiorari. Therefore, appellee's motion to dismiss this appeal, brought under 3 V.S.A. § 815, is granted.
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...to review by writ of certiorari ... where the decision was made by one acting in a judicial or quasi-judicial position.” 152 Vt. 643, 644, 565 A.2d 1318, 1318 (1989) (mem.). The trial court here concluded that the Board's decision was quasi-judicial in nature, subject to review under the tr......
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Campbell v. Manchester Bd. of School Directors
...but concluded that plaintiff could obtain judicial review by certiorari in the superior court. Campbell v. Manchester Bd. of School Directors, 152 Vt. 643, 644, 565 A.2d 1318, 1318 (1989). This appeal is from the adverse decision of the superior The Town of Manchester does not maintain a pu......
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