O'Connors v. Helfgott, 84-125-A

• Decision Date: 24 July 1984
• Docket Number: No. 84-125-A,84-125-A
• Citation: 481 A.2d 388
• Parties: 19 Ed. Law Rep. 1096 Lorraine O'CONNORS v. Judith HELFGOTT et al. ppeal.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

Page 388

481 A.2d 388

19 Ed. Law Rep. 1096

Lorraine O'CONNORS v. Judith HELFGOTT et al.

No. 84-125-Appeal.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

July 24, 1984.

Robert G. Flanders, Jr., Michael DiBiase, Edwards & Angell, Providence, for plaintiff.

Bradford Gorham, Gorham & Gorham, Vincent J. Piccirilli, Providence, for defendants.

OPINION

KELLEHER, Justice.

The plaintiff in this action, Lorraine O'Connors, is a registered voter of Glocester, Rhode Island, and a member of the Glocester School Committee as well as of the Foster-Glocester Regional School Committee. The defendants are the town of Foster, the Foster-Glocester School Committee, and the Foster representatives on the regional school committee. O'Connors brought this action in the Superior Court, claiming that the regional committee, as it is currently composed, does not meet the constitutional requirements of section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (the equal-protection clause). The plaintiff also alleges a violation of G.L. 1956 (1981 Reenactment) § 16-3-7.1, which provides that all regional school committees are to be selected from "voting districts as nearly equal in population as is practicable within each town in the district, and member towns in such districts shall be entitled to representation on such school committee in proportion to their population."

At issue is whether the system of election to the Foster-Glocester Regional School Committee deprives the residents of the town of Glocester of equal protection of the law and violates the constitutional mandate of one-person, one-vote. Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 84 S.Ct. 1362, 12 L.Ed.2d 506 (1964). In order to enforce the mandate of one-person, one-vote, plaintiff brought a civil rights action in Superior Court, seeking a declaratory judgment finding the committee elected unconstitutionally and injunctive relief. Although the trial justice did find the committee unconstitutionally apportioned, he refused to grant plaintiff's injunctive relief. Both parties appeal.

No dispute exists in regard to the basic operative facts. The Foster-Glocester Regional School Committee is composed of six representatives from the towns of Foster and Glocester. The school committees in each town consist of three members. Membership on the committee of the respective town makes one automatically a member of the regional committee. The individual school committees in their respective towns preside over grades kindergarten through six. The regional committee governs grades six through twelve. The 1980 National Census indicated that in 1980 the population of Glocester was 7,485 and that of Foster 3,346.

Since the responsibility for providing for public education in this state is constitutionally allotted to the General Assembly (section 1 of article XII of the Rhode Island Constitution), an act of the Legislature was required to permit the towns of Foster and Glocester to pursue a regional school district. General Laws 1956 (1981 Reenactment) § 16-3-1 to § 16-3-25 provides for the establishment of regional school districts in order "to assist communities within the state to operate schools on a more efficient and economic basis." (Section 16-3-1.)

Both the town council of Foster and that of Glocester approved the creation of a regional school district in 1958, and the voters of each town also accepted the plan. Therefore, P.L. 1958, ch. 109, established a regional school district comprising the towns of Foster and Glocester in accordance with the town councils' actions. This regional council was to be composed of six members, "each of whom shall be a duly elected or appointed member of the school committee of the respective towns." As noted previously, by the terms of the agreement, members of the regional committee are and have been members of the local school committee.

The powers and duties of a regional school committee are codified at § 16-3-11. These powers and duties include the right to issue bonds, to make temporary borrowings on notes, to apply for and receive state or federal funds, and to receive and disburse funds for any school-district purpose. The committee is also empowered to engage a superintendent of the district.

Section 16-3-7.1, pertaining to equalized representation on regional school district committees, was enacted pursuant to the decisions of the United States Supreme Court in Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 82 S.Ct. 691, 7 L.Ed.2d 663 (1962), and subsequent cases that recognized the constitutional mandate of one-person, one-vote. The Legislature, in adopting this act, was also mindful of the same doctrine discussed in Sweeney v. Notte, 95 R.I. 68, 183 A.2d 296 (1962). Public Laws 1970, ch. 225.

Since the population of Foster is approximately one-half that of Glocester yet the representation on the committee remains at three for each town, plaintiff charges that her vote is worth only one-half that of a Foster vote. That is, essentially, the basis for this suit.

Before we address the constitutional merits of this case, we must first consider the questions raised by defendants' cross-appeal. These questions relate to the trial justice's denial of defendants' motions to dismiss and affirmative defenses. The motions to dismiss alleged that the court lacked both personal and subject-matter jurisdiction over defendant Foster and the individual committee members; the affirmative defenses alleged that plaintiff did not first exhaust available political remedies before pursuing action in the courts. ¹

Addressing the latter claim first, defendants note that the agreement between the town of Foster and the town of Glocester also provided for the amendment of that agreement. Two options are available to initiate the amendment procedure. Either 10 percent of the voters of either town or a majority vote of the members of the committee may petition to amend the agreement. The second option was not available since three of the six committee members were originally plaintiffs in this suit. ²

Therefore, the first option was the only procedure available. Ten percent of the electors of either town must sign the amendment petition and then deliver it to the clerk of the regional district committee. The clerk then transmits it to the town councils, which place the amendment on the agenda for a special town meeting. A majority of the voters present at each town meeting must accept the amendment in order for it to take effect.

Although the likelihood of a majority of Foster voters voting to approve an amendment effectively diluting the strength of its representation on the regional school committee is slight, futility is not the reason that plaintiff is not first forced to follow this course of action. This civil rights action raises serious constitutional questions. It alleges a violation of the principles extolling the importance of the goal of one-person, one-vote enunciated in Reynolds v. Sims and Sweeney v. Notte, both supra. ³ If plaintiff was required first to exhaust the political remedy, the effect would be a delay in the protection of a constitutional principle.

The United States Supreme Court has recently had the opportunity to consider the propriety of requiring exhaustion in the face of a deprivation of federal constitutional rights. In Patsy v. Bd. of Regents of the State of Florida, 457 U.S. 496, 102 S.Ct. 2557, 73 L.Ed.2d 172 (1982), the Court initially noted that it was the purpose of the Civil Rights Act to open the doors of the courthouse to individuals who were threatened with, or who had suffered, the deprivation of constitutional rights. 457 U.S. at 504, 102 S.Ct. at 2562, 73 L.Ed.2d at 180. The Court therefore held that a civil rights action does not require exhaustion of administrative remedies prior to proceeding in court.

The right infringed upon here is as precious as any secured by the Constitution. The fact that the election is for a school committee member as opposed to a United States Senator is of little importance. "If there is any way of determining the importance of choosing a particular government official, we think the decision of the State to select that official by popular vote is a strong enough indication that the choice is an important one." Hadley v. Junior College District, 397 U.S. 50, 55, 90 S.Ct. 791, 795, 25 L.Ed.2d 45, 50 (1970).

If the 10-percent vote procedure is required prior to the bringing of legal action the result will be further delay, with further injury to a constitutional right. The mere fact that population disparity has existed in the two towns since the institution of the regional committee is no reason to allow further delay.

This court has also indicated adherence to the position that administrative procedures need not be exhausted. For example, Frank Ansuini, Inc. v. City of Cranston, 107 R.I. 63, 264 A.2d 910 (1970), held that no exhaustion of administrative remedies was necessary when the plaintiff was confronted with an unconstitutional statute. See also Taylor v. Marshall, 119 R.I. 171, 376 A.2d 712 (1977). These cases clearly establish that the trial justice was correct in denying the affirmative defenses raised by defendants.

The remaining significant motions to dismiss were denied by the trial justice for a lack of evidence presented by defendants on the matter. For example, defendants claimed that the Home Rule Charter would be violated if representation on the regional school committee were changed. However, no evidence was presented by defendants about what the charter said. Furthermore, a Home Rule Charter does not supersede the Constitution. Similarly, defendants moved to dismiss owing to a prior action pending on the same facts, yet no evidence of this action was presented. Therefore, it was clearly proper for the trial court to rule against defendants on both motions. ⁴

We may now turn to the substantive questions involved in this case. In response to defendants'...