Fumarolo v. Chicago Bd. of Educ.
| Citation | 566 N.E.2d 1283,153 Ill.Dec. 177,142 Ill.2d 54 |
| Decision Date | 30 November 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 69558,69558 |
| Parties | , 153 Ill.Dec. 177, 65 Ed. Law Rep. 1181 Arthur FUMAROLO et al., Appellants, v. The CHICAGO BOARD OF EDUCATION et al., Appellees. |
| Court | Supreme Court of Illinois |
Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon, Chicago (Louis P. Vitullo, Roderick A. Palmore and Jane Z. Bohrer, of counsel), and Ancel, Glink, Diamond, Murphy & Cope, P.C., Chicago (Ronald S. Cope, David Lincoln Ader and John F. Donahue, of counsel), for appellants.
Schiff, Hardin & Waite, Chicago (C. Richard Johnson, Joseph R. Lundy, Gabriel M. Rodriguez, Mary K. Walter, Kevin D. Evans and Frith C. Crandall, of counsel), and Patricia J. Whitten, Iris E. Sholder, William J. Quinlan and John L. Wren, Chicago, for appellee Chicago Bd. of Educ., et al.
Neil F. Hartigan, Atty. Gen., Springfield , for appellee Comptroller of the State of Illinois, et al.
Kelly R. Welsh, Corp. Counsel, Chicago (Lawrence Rosenthal, Ruth M. Moscovitch and L. Anita Richardson, of counsel), for intervenor-appellee Mayor of the City of Chicago.
David F. Graham, Geraldine M. Alexis, Jonathan K. Baum and James A. Huttenhower, of Sidley & Austin, Chicago, for intervenor-appellee South Side Schoolwatch, et al.
The plaintiffs, individuals serving as principals, an individual serving as a subdistrict superintendent in the Chicago public school system and individuals who are registered voters and property owners-taxpayers in the City of Chicago, filed a complaint in the circuit court of Cook County, challenging the constitutionality of the Chicago School Reform Act (the Act) (). The complaint named as defendants the board of education of the City of Chicago, the board's general superintendent, the Chicago School Finance Authority, and the Attorney General, the Comptroller and the Treasurer of the State of Illinois. Richard M. Daley, the mayor of the City of Chicago, and South Side Schoolwatch, a citizens group interested in school reform, were given leave to intervene as defendants. The plaintiffs appeal from the trial court's order denying their motion to voluntarily dismiss their complaint under section 2-1009 of the Code of Civil Procedure and from an order subsequently entered by the trial court granting summary judgment for the defendants. We granted the plaintiffs' motion for a direct appeal to this court under our Rule 302(b) (107 Ill.2d R. 302(b)).
The record shows that, as in most large cities, Chicago has serious problems in its public school system. The Chicago School Reform Act was enacted in 1988 in an attempt to resolve certain of the problems. The Act makes significant changes in school governance and administration by decentralizing the school system and by imposing primary responsibility for local school governance on parents, community residents, teachers and school principals. The plaintiffs do not dispute the need for change in the Chicago public school system, but they challenge the constitutionality of the Act, arguing that sections of the statute violate the Federal and State constitutional assurances of equal protection and due process. The plaintiffs, who are registered voters and taxpayers in the City of Chicago, allege that the Act's voting scheme for electing members of the local school councils violates the equal protection clauses of the State and Federal Constitutions because it denies an equal vote in local school council elections to large portions of the electorate. The other plaintiffs, the principals and subdistrict superintendent, contend that by eliminating tenure for principals and subdistrict superintendents and substituting therefor four-year contracts, which may or may not be renewed, the legislation unconstitutionally impairs contract rights vested in them. Under preceding statutory law and policy of the Chicago board of education, principals and subdistrict superintendents had "permanent" tenure. They also contend that this new condition of employment deprives them of property without due process of law.
A brief overview of the contested portions of the Act will be necessary. We begin by observing that the parties do not cite any comparable statute and we are not aware of any legislation similarly structuring a public school system. It is also appropriate for us to state that the wisdom or unwisdom of legislative action in determining the means to be adopted to resolve an existing social problem is not for the judiciary to decide. Legislation will be upheld unless it is in violation of some constitutional limitation. Stewart v. Brady (1921), 300 Ill. 425, 435, 133 N.E. 310; see also People v. Valdez (1980), 79 Ill.2d 74, 83-84, 37 Ill.Dec. 297, 402 N.E.2d 187; People v. Farr (1976), 63 Ill.2d 209, 215, 347 N.E.2d 146.
Although the board of education retains many general administrative powers and responsibilities, its powers and responsibilities under the Act have been substantially altered. To place increased authority for individual school decisions at the individual school level, the Act provides for the creation of a local school council for each grammar school and each high school in the Chicago public school system (there are 539 schools in the Chicago public school system). (Ill.Rev.Stat.1989, ch. 122, par. 34-2.1.) The local school council is composed of the school principal and 10 elected members. The elected members are: six parents of currently enrolled students who are elected by parents of currently enrolled students, two residents of the attendance area served by the school who are elected by the residents of that area (except in multiarea districts--districts which draw and admit students from more than a single attendance area--where the community residents to be elected are elected by the parents of currently enrolled students, the principal of the multiarea school and the school staff (see Ill.Rev.Stat.1989, ch. 122, pars. 34-1.1, 34-2.1(b))) and two teachers of the school who are elected by the school staff. Each local school council elects the principal who will serve at the school for a contract period of four years and may retain the principal for another four-year period when the contract expires. Should a principal not be retained, the local school council will select a new principal. The local school council also develops specific performance criteria for its principal and has responsibility for approving the budget plan drawn up and administered by the principal. In addition, the local school council has substantial advisory responsibilities.
The Act creates 11 subdistrict councils. Each local school council elects one of its parent or nonparent resident members to sit on a subdistrict council. Each subdistrict council performs various advisory functions (e.g., promoting and coordinating communication among local school councils, promoting and coordinating training of local school councils), elects and evaluates for retention the subdistrict school superintendent and is responsible for electing one of its members to sit on the school board nominating commission.
The school board nominating commission is composed of 11 members elected from each subdistrict council and five members appointed by the mayor. The nominating commission, in an open public forum, interviews candidates for seats on the board of education and presents the mayor with a slate of three qualified candidates for each vacant seat on the board. The mayor selects one of the candidates for each seat from this list. The Act provides that there are to be 15 members on the board of education. An interim board of education was created by the Act until the mayor should appoint candidates as provided by the Act. A permanent board of education has now been selected under the Reform Act.
The principal of each school is given responsibility for administering and supervising the educational operation of the school and for developing the school's budget and improvement plan. Under the Act, principals are employed under four-year, renewable performance contracts. The local school council is responsible for determining whether a principal's contract will be renewed. Under the Act, the terms of persons currently serving as principals expire on either June 30, 1990, or June 30, 1991 (the date to be determined by lottery), and unless such contract is renewed by the local school council, the employment of such person as a principal terminates.
The plaintiffs filed their complaint on April 17, 1989, seeking a declaratory judgment that the Act was unconstitutional. On May 24, 1989, the defendants served the plaintiffs with notice that they intended to file a motion on May 30 for leave to file a motion for summary judgment and to ask the trial court to set an expedited briefing schedule and a hearing date. On May 26, 1989, the defendants filed their answer to the complaint. The parties appeared before the trial judge on May 30, 1989, and the judge entered an order allowing the defendants to file a motion for summary judgment and supporting briefs by June 28 1989. The judge also ordered the plaintiffs to respond to the motion by July 28, 1989, and the defendants to reply by August 14, 1989.
On June 26, 1989, the plaintiffs filed a motion in the circuit court to voluntarily dismiss their complaint under section 2-1009 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Ill.Rev.Stat.1987, ch. 110, par. 2-1009), stating that they wished to file a complaint in the United States district court. On June 28, 1989, pursuant to the previous order, the defendants filed their summary judgment motions. On June 30, 1989, the trial court denied the plaintiffs' motion to...
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