Florida Teaching Profession-National Educ. Ass'n v. Turlington, PROFESSION--NATIONAL

• Decision Date: 10 June 1986
• Docket Number: No. BG-489,FTP-NEA,PROFESSION--NATIONAL,BG-489
• Citation: 490 So.2d 142,11 Fla. L. Weekly 1306
• Parties: 33 Ed. Law Rep. 931, 11 Fla. L. Weekly 1306 FLORIDA TEACHINGEDUCATION ASSOCIATION, Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association,David Clark, and Marilyn B. Louwerens, Appellants, v. Ralph TURLINGTON, as Commissioner of Education of the State of Florida, the Florida State Board of Education, the Florida Department of Education, and Gerald Lewis, as Comptroller of the State of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 142

490 So.2d 142

33 Ed. Law Rep. 931, 11 Fla. L. Weekly 1306

FLORIDA TEACHING PROFESSION--NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association, FTP-NEA David Clark, and Marilyn B. Louwerens, Appellants, v. Ralph TURLINGTON, as Commissioner of Education of the State of Florida, the Florida State Board of Education, the Florida Department of Education, and Gerald Lewis, as Comptroller of the State of Florida, Appellee.

No. BG-489.

District Court of Appeal of Florida,

First District.

June 10, 1986.

Mark F. Kelly and Robert F. McKee, of Kelly & McKee, P.A., Tampa, for appellants.

Judith A. Brechner, Gen. Counsel, State Bd. of Educ., and Leonard A. Carson and Richard T. Donelan, Jr., of Carson & Linn, P.A., Tallahassee, for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal from a declaratory judgment of the Circuit Court, Leon County, upholding, as against various attacks, the constitutionality of Sections 231.532 and 231.533, Florida Statutes (1984 Supp.). We affirm and adopt the following portions of Judge Miner's opinion as our own:

"Plaintiffs here seek a judicial declaration that Secs. 231.532 and 231.533, F.S. are unconstitutional. The former section relates to what has been called the 'Merit Schools Program' and the latter makes provision for the 'State Master Teacher Program'. Plaintiffs are employee organizations which collectively bargain with school boards on behave [sic] of instructional employees and two classroom teachers, one from Tallahassee and the other from Pensacola. Defendants are various officials of the State of Florida responsible for the administration of public education.

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"Section 231.532, F.S., the so-called 'Merit Schools Program' took effect in July of 1984. This program authorizes state funding for voluntary, locally-negotiated plans designed to increase the performance of students and to provide economic incentives for teachers and other school personnel who meet specified statutory criteria. In order to be eligible for state funding, each school district plan is required to be of no more than one year duration, cover the 1984-85 school year, be voluntary and non-discriminatory, and provide, for the expenditure of no less than 50 percent of the funds allocated to it on the basis of 'employment at a meritorious school.' Sec 231.532(2)(a), (3)(f), F.S. The statute authorizes each district to devise a plan which devotes its remaining allocation of funds to employee incentive awards based on one or more specified optional categories, including outstanding attendance, employment in a critical teachers shortage area or school site, successful completion of in-field graduate course work with a grade of 'B' or better, superior evaluation scores, or other related categories devised at the local level. Each plan is also required to provide for recognition of student progress at 'meritorious schools.' Sec. 231.532(3)(f)(2), F.S.

"The statute requires that all plans be subject to collective bargaining negotiations and specifically provides that implementation and state funding of a plan is contingent upon its ratification by both the District School Board and the public employees involved.

"The statutory section in question also contains detailed criteria which govern the selection process for 'meritorious schools.' It requires that a 'meritorious school' be selected, in part, by being in the upper quartile of District Schools in terms of its relative or expected rate of student gain as measured by standardized tests of verbal and quantitative achievement. Where there are too few district schools to establish a meaningful 'upper quartile', the statute authorizes the determination of a school's 'meritorious' status in part by the degree to which actual aggregate student scores on standardized achievement tests exceed predicted scores.

"In excess of nineteen million dollars was appropriated to this program for disbursement by eligible school districts under plans to be certified by the Department of Education before January 1, 1985, as being in compliance with statutory requirements.

"The Department of Education, the reviewing authority, received proposed plans from thirty-three school districts prior to the October 1, 1984, cutoff date. None of these plans was certified by the Department of Education as originally submitted. However, none was rejected outright by the Department. Each plan was reviewed by separate committees of Department of Education officials responsible for assessing the compliance of each proposed plan with specific aspects of the statutory standards contained in the enactment.

"Representatives of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association (PCTA) and the District School Board of Pinellas County reached agreement on a proposed Pinellas District Merit Schools plan in mid-September of 1984. This plan was ratified by the parties and submitted to the Department of Education for review in late September. Following discussions of the Pinellas plan between state education officials and representatives from Pinellas County, a revised plan was submitted and certified by Commissioner Ralph Turlington prior to January 1, 1985. This certificate of compliance made the Pinellas County School District eligible to receive its pro-rata share of the funds appropriated for this program in October, 1985, when awards are due.

"The State 'Master Teacher Program' created by Sec. 231.533, F.S. also took effect in July of 1984. This program authorizes the payment of a recognitional incentive award of not less than three-thousand dollars directly from the State Comptroller's office to superior teachers who voluntarily document their fulfillment of statutory eligibility criteria. A teacher may participate in the program as an associate master teacher or as a master teacher. Because three years of associate master teacher status is required for master teacher eligibility, and this is the first year of the program, there are no eligible master teacher candidates.

"To qualify as an associate master teacher eligible for an award, a teacher must satisfy three criteria representing experience, a knowledge base, and demonstrated superior performance.

"Under the statutory section in question the State Board of Education is directed to adopt rules for this program. Pursuant to this directive, the State Board of Education adopted Rule 6A-4.46 which sets forth extensive criteria governing the performance evaluations and subject area examinations required by the program. This Rule also prescribes that acceptable subject area examinations for certification as associate master teachers can be either a Specialty Area Test of a National Teacher Examination or a subject area examination constructed by the Institute for Instructional Research and Practice and Student Education Evaluation and Performance. All subject area examinations must be approved by the State Board of Education. Currently there are subject area tests available to at least 80% of the potential candidates for the associate master teacher award, which tests also cover all primary subject areas. More examinations are presently under development. It is noted that there are no subject area examinations in certain instructional areas at this time.

"Approximately 35,000 of Florida's teachers applied to participate in this Program by the application deadline and on or about June 1, 1985, the Office of Teacher Certification is required to notify the Commissioner of Education of the names of individuals who qualify as associate master teachers. The Commissioner will then certify the names of the teachers so designated to the State Comptroller, who will draw a warrant payable directly to each teacher for the first fifteen hundred dollar installment of the $3,000 incentive award. The first installment is required to be paid in June of 1985 and the second in September, 1985.

"Plaintiffs challenge the constitutionality of these statutes on different constitutional theories, four ¹ of which in the Court's view do not represent serious claims and will be summarily dismissed before attention is directed to the more involved claims.

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"... Plaintiffs contend that the Merit Schools statute contravenes teacher collective bargaining rights secured under Article I, Sec. 6 of the Florida Constitution. This Court previously upheld the constitutionality of the State Master Teacher Program against a similar argument. United Teachers of Dade, et al v. Dade...