Lowder v. Minidoka County Joint School Dist. No. 331
| Citation | 132 Idaho 834,979 P.2d 1192 |
| Decision Date | 11 June 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. 24499,24499 |
| Parties | 135 Ed. Law Rep. 1091 Teresa LOWDER, Carlos Roundy and Steven Winks, Plaintiffs-Respondents, v. MINIDOKA COUNTY JOINT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 331, Defendant-Appellant. Boise, February 1999 Term |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Idaho |
Anderson, Julian & Hull, LLP, Boise, for appellant. Brian K. Julian argued.
John E. Rumel, Boise, for respondents.
Minidoka County Joint School District No. 331 (School District) appeals the district court's grant of summary judgment for Teresa Lowder, Carlos Roundy, and Steven Winks (Teachers). The district court ruled that the School District violated the Teachers' statutory and constitutional rights by removing their extra day assignments, and
thus reducing their salaries, without notice and a prior hearing. We affirm.
The Teachers were certificated teachers on renewable contract status with the School District in 1995. In addition to their assignments for the regular 190-day school year, each of the Teachers taught their regular subjects in summer school. Starting in 1992, Winks had taught summer school at the Juvenile Detention Center; since 1993, Lowder and Roundy had taught 40 extra days at the Idaho Youth Ranch. The extra days constituted a substantial portion of each Teacher's salary (17.4% for Lowder and Roundy and 13.6% for Winks in 1994-95).
In 1992 and 1993, the School District issued State of Idaho Teacher's Standard Contracts (standard contracts) to its teachers which incorporated their actual salaries for the upcoming school year. In both years, the School District incorporated extra day assignments and their corresponding salaries into the main text of the agreement. For example, in 1993-94, when Lowder's 190-day base salary was $29,570 and she worked 40 extra days in Special Services for an additional $6,225, Lowder's standard contract read, "The District hereby employs the Teacher for the school term commencing on or about August 23, 1993 and consisting of a period of 230 days and agrees to pay the Teacher ... $35,795...."
For the 1994-95 school year, the School District modified its previous practice. In May, when teachers gave notice that they would renew their contracts for the coming year, the School District issued standard contracts covering only the 190-day minimum school year. For example, Lowder's May 1994 contract read, "The District hereby employs the Teacher for the school term commencing on or about August 23, 1994 and consisting of a period of 190 days and agrees to pay the Teacher ... $29,570...." Rather than being the actual salary which Lowder would receive for 1994-95, the listed salary was her base salary for the previous school year. The listed salary did not reflect mandated salary increases for education and experience.
In September 1994, the School District followed up with "Contract Change Orders" (change orders) for the 1994-95 school year. The change orders updated the base salary to reflect mandated increases for education and experience. In addition, the change orders specified additional salary for extra assignments. For example, Lowder's September 1994 change order listed an updated base salary of $33,005 and 40 extra days under "Special Services" with a corresponding salary of $6,948. All the Teachers followed the two-step process for the 1994-95 year: they signed standard contracts in May, and later signed change orders which reflected mandated salary increases and contained extra day assignments of 30-40 days.
House Bill 1560, enacted in April 1994, changed the manner in which Idaho public schools were funded effective July 1994. 1994 Idaho Sess. Laws ch. 428. As a result of this legislation, the School District changed the manner in which it funded the Idaho Youth Ranch and Juvenile Detention Center. In May 1995, Wayne Bagwell, the School District's Director of Special Services, informally told the Teachers that funding changes made it unlikely that they would serve their full summer school assignments during the summer of 1995. However, all the Teachers worked the full number of extra days in their 1994-95 contract.
In May 1995, like the previous year, the Teachers signed standard contracts for the 1995-96 school year which covered only a 190-day period and listed salary levels from the previous school year. In August 1995, as in the previous year, the School Board met to approve extra assignments for the coming school year. The School Board approved two lists. One listed individuals with extra duty assignments for activities such as coaching sports or advising clubs; the other listed individuals with extra day assignments. The Teachers were not listed as having extra day assignments. The School Board did not discuss the assignments of any individual teacher at this meeting, and the Teachers were After the School Board's meeting, the School District issued change orders for the 1995-96 school year. The Teachers' change orders contained mandated base salary increases, but did not include extra day assignments. The Teachers' extra day assignments were eliminated for budgetary reasons, not because of any problems with their performance as teachers. The Teachers signed the change orders but attached supplements which preserved their right to grieve the elimination of the extra day assignments.
not informed that they would not receive extra day assignments for 1995-96.
Within the required contractual period, the Teachers filed grievances with the School District. After exhausting remedies at the District level, they requested arbitration. The arbitrator issued an advisory opinion denying the Teachers' grievances on March 15, 1996.
The Teachers filed suit in district court on July 13, 1996, alleging five causes of action. The School District filed a motion for summary judgment on November 19, 1996. The Teachers filed a cross-motion for summary judgment on April 15, 1997. The district court granted the Teachers' motion for summary judgment on three claims based on violations of I.C. § 33-515, the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution through 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and Article I, § 13 of the Idaho Constitution. After the parties stipulated to judgment, the district court entered judgment on February 5, 1998. It awarded damages amounting to $22,889.44 to the Teachers, staying execution pending appeal. The district court entered judgment for the School District on the remaining claims, which were not appealed.
On appeal, the School District raises two basic issues. First, it challenges the district court's conclusion that the School District violated I.C. § 33-515 by eliminating the Teachers' extra day assignments. Second, it disputes the district court's conclusion that the School District violated the Teachers' constitutional due process rights by eliminating their extra day assignments without notice and a hearing. As an additional issue, the Teachers seek an award for their attorney fees incurred in responding to the appeal.
When this Court reviews a district court's grant of summary judgment, it uses the same standard as that properly employed by the district court originally ruling on the motion. McKay v. Owens, 130 Idaho 148, 152, 937 P.2d 1222, 1226 (1997). Summary judgment is proper "if the pleadings, depositions, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." I.R.C.P. 56(c). When, as here, both parties file motions for summary judgment relying upon the same facts, issues, and theories, the parties essentially stipulate that there is no genuine issue of material fact that would preclude the court from entering summary judgment. Hunting v. Clark County Sch. Dist. No. 161, 129 Idaho 634, 637, 931 P.2d 628, 631 (1997). On appeal, this Court exercises free review over the entire record that was before the district court in order to determine whether either party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id.; City of Sun Valley v. Sun Valley Co., 128 Idaho 219, 221, 912 P.2d 106, 108 (1996).
The district court held that the School District violated the Teachers' rights by removing their extra day assignments without the notice and hearing required by I.C. § 33-515. The School District contends that the statute's notice and hearing requirements apply only to reductions in the 190-day base salary, and only when teachers are being disciplined.
Certificated teachers who have served three years in the same school district gain renewable contract status under Section § 33-515 of the Idaho Code. This statute specifies procedures and protections applicable to all renewable contract teachers. In pertinent part, it provides: 1
(p 3) Any contract automatically renewed under the provisions of this section shall be for the same length as the term stated in the current contract and at a salary no lower than that specified therein, to which shall be added such increments as may be determined by the statutory or regulatory rights of such employee by reason of training, service, or performance.
(p 4) Nothing herein shall prevent the board of trustees from offering a renewed contract increasing the salary of any certificated person, or from reassigning administrative or supervisory employees to classroom teaching duties or removing an extra duty assignment from a certificated employee with appropriate reduction of salaries from pre-existing salary levels.
(p 5) Before a board of trustees can determine not to renew for reasons of an unsatisfactory report of the performance of any certificated person whose contract would otherwise be automatically renewed, or to renew the contract of any such person at a reduced salary,...
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