Hagely v. Board of Educ. of Webster Groves School Dist.

• Decision Date: 24 November 1992
• Docket Number: No. 74726,74726
• Citation: 841 S.W.2d 663
• Parties: 79 Ed. Law Rep. 684 J. Scott HAGELY and Mary Helen Brindell, Appellants, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF the WEBSTER GROVES SCHOOL DISTRICT, Respondent.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

Page 663

841 S.W.2d 663

79 Ed. Law Rep. 684

J. Scott HAGELY and Mary Helen Brindell, Appellants, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF the WEBSTER GROVES SCHOOL DISTRICT, Respondent.

No. 74726.

Supreme Court of Missouri,

En Banc.

Nov. 24, 1992.

Charles A. Werner, St. Louis, for appellants.

Douglas A. Copeland, Stephen C. Hiotis, Clayton, for respondent.

PRICE, Judge.

J. Scott Hagely and Mary Helen Brindell appeal the dismissal of their salary grievance petition against the Board of Education of the Webster Groves School District. The primary issue is whether appellants' grievance hearing was barred by the fifteen-day limitation period in § 168.120.1 of the Teacher Tenure Act, or by the thirty-day limitation period in § 536.110.1 of the Missouri Administrative Procedure Act. ¹ We hold that neither limitation period applies. We reverse the dismissal and remand to the trial court.

I.

When reviewing the dismissal of a petition we allow the pleading its broadest intendment, treat all facts alleged as true, construe the allegations favorably to the plaintiff, and determine whether the averments invoke principles of substantive law. Shapiro v. Columbia Union Nat'l Bank & Trust Co., 576 S.W.2d 310, 312 (Mo. banc 1978), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 831, 100 S.Ct. 60, 62 L.Ed.2d 40 (1979). Viewed in this light, appellants' petition establishes the following facts.

At all times pertinent to this suit, appellants have been employed by the Board as permanent teachers with indefinite contracts within the meaning of § 168.104 of the Missouri Teacher Tenure Act, §§ 168.102 to 168.130. During the term of their employment, the Board established annual salary schedules for each coming school year pursuant to § 168.110, RSMo 1986 & Supp.1991. The salary schedules were divided into five "channels" or tracks corresponding to the teachers' attained educational levels. Each channel was further divided into several steps.

From the 1980-81 school year through the 1985-86 school year, teachers progressed one step within their current channels for each year of employment. Those who completed the requirements of a higher channel during any school year, by earning an advanced degree or accumulating additional credit hours, were moved to the higher channel and also progressed one step within the new channel in the succeeding school year. For example, a teacher who completed a Master's degree while on step 10 of the Bachelor's channel would move up to step 11 of the Master's channel the following school year.

In May 1986 the Board adopted a salary schedule that reduced the number of steps within each channel, and a Salary Step Conversion Table that changed the order of progression among the steps. Under the table, veteran teachers with advanced degrees were either held in place or dropped as many as five steps beginning in the 1986-87 school year, with the drop becoming progressively greater in the higher steps. Thus, a hypothetical teacher who obtained a Master's degree while on step 10 of the Bachelor's channel would now move down to step 7 of the Master's channel the following school year. Similar conversion tables were in effect from the 1986-87 through the 1989-90 school years.

During the 1990-91 school year, the Board abandoned the step conversion approach and returned to the original progression scheme, whereby teachers who attained a higher educational level once again moved to the appropriate channel and advanced one step. The Board did not, however, apply the new policy retroactively. Consequently, those teachers who had moved to a higher channel and lost steps between 1986 and 1989 remained in their lower relative positions, even though newer teachers and those who earned advanced degrees after 1989 continued to progress to higher steps at the pre-1986 rate.

The present action was brought by two teachers who found themselves in that unhappy situation. Hagely was at step 9 in the Bachelor's channel when he received his Master's degree in July 1987. Under the conversion table then in effect, he was dropped to step 6 of the Master's channel for the 1988-89 school year instead of rising to step 10. He now asserts that, because he has remained four steps behind his cohort for the past three years, he has been undercompensated approximately $15,000 in salary and $1,500 in retirement benefits, plus interest. Similarly, Brindell was at step 13 in the Bachelor's channel when she received her Master's degree in August 1989. The conversion table caused her to lose one step during each of the 1989-90 and 1990-91 school years. She claims damages of approximately $7,000 in salary and $700 in retirement benefits, plus interest.

Appellants filed grievances objecting to their loss of wages and benefits, and were given a hearing before the Board on June 5, 1990. The details of that hearing were not introduced into evidence. Appellants' requests to be relocated on the salary schedule were denied on June 28, 1990.

Some six months later, on January 2, 1991, appellants filed their petition in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County. Appellants assert that the Board's adoption of the Salary Step Conversion Tables and corresponding changes in the placement of teachers within higher channels violated the Teacher Tenure Act, and arbitrarily and discriminatorily denied them benefits to which they are entitled under the past practices of the Board. Appellants aver that they have exhausted all administrative procedures and request the issuance of revised contracts for 1990-91, back pay, additional contributions into the retirement system, costs and attorney's fees.

The Board filed a motion to dismiss asserting that it lacks the capacity to be sued, that the action is time barred, and that appellants failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. The Board also filed alternative motions to transfer to equity and for a more definite statement. The circuit court sustained the motion to dismiss on the grounds that the claims were barred by the time limitations set forth in both the Teacher Tenure Act, § 168.120, and the Administrative Procedure Act, § 536.110. ²

II.

In their first point appellants argue that the fifteen-day limitation period found in § 168.120.1 ³ of the Teacher Tenure Act applies exclusively to termination or demotion decisions made after a hearing pursuant to § 168.118, and not to other decisions made by school boards generally or pursuant to internal grievance procedures. They contend that § 168.120.1 should apply only within the context of §§ 168.114 through 168.120. Consequently, appellants assert that the time limitation of § 168.120.1 does not bar their claims because they do not claim to have been terminated or demoted. The Board counters that the plain language of § 168.120 provides no limitation regarding its scope and applicability.

In construing statutes, the Court's primary responsibility is to ascertain the intent of the General Assembly from the language used and to give effect to that intent. Provisions of the entire legislative act must be construed together and, if reasonably possible, all provisions must be harmonized. Community Fed. Sav. & L. Ass'n v. Director of Revenue, 752 S.W.2d 794, 798 (Mo. banc 1988), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 893, 109 S.Ct. 231, 102 L.Ed.2d 221. Related clauses are to be considered when construing a particular portion of a statute. Marre v. Reed, 775 S.W.2d 951, 953 (Mo. banc 1989).

We conclude that § 168.120 cannot be read in isolation from the preceding sections that pertain solely to terminations and demotions. The "decision of the board" mentioned in § 168.120.1 must be read in the context of §§ 168.114 through 168.118, which concern themselves solely with termination or demotion "decisions." Appellants do not aver that they were terminated or demoted by respondent. Accordingly, the fifteen-day limitation period of § 168.120.1 is not applicable to their claims.

III.

In their second point appellants contend that the thirty-day limitation period of § 536.110.1 ⁴ of the Missouri Administrative Procedure Act (MAPA) is inapplicable to their claims because their petition does not seek review of a contested case. ⁵ Since this limitation period is contained within §§ 536.100 to 536.140, ⁶ the statutes governing the judicial review of contested cases, it applies only if the June 5, 1990, grievance hearing was a contested case. State ex rel. Fortney v. Joiner, 797 S.W.2d 848, 851 (Mo.App.1990); Housing Auth. of St. Louis v. Lovejoy, 762 S.W.2d 843, 844 (Mo.App.1988).

The MAPA defines a "contested case" as "a proceeding before an agency in which legal rights, duties or privileges of specific parties are required by law to be determined after hearing." § 536.010(2). This Court has explained that a " 'contested case' within the meaning of the Act does not mean every case in which there may be a contest about 'rights, duties or privileges' but instead one in which the contest is required by law to be decided in a hearing before an administrative agency." State ex rel. Leggett v. Jensen, 318 S.W.2d 353, 356 (Mo. banc 1958). Conversely, the Court defined " 'noncontested' administrative decisions" as "decisions which are not required by law to be determined after hearing." State ex rel. Wilson Chevrolet, Inc., v. Wilson, 332 S.W.2d 867, 870 (Mo.1960).

Appellants contend that a salary grievance hearing is not "required by law." Admittedly, no statute gives affected teachers the right to appeal salary decisions made by the board of education. However, the hearing requirement need not arise from a statute alone. ⁷

In explaining MAPA's "contested case" concept, this Court stated:

We think this means that a "contested case" (to which the Administrative Procedure Act and its judicial review provisions apply) is a case which must be contested before an administrative agency because of a requirement (by constitutional provision, statute, municipal charter provision or ordinance; see Sec. 536.105, subd. 1)...