McKirdy v. Vielleux, 99-488.
| Decision Date | 29 September 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 99-488.,99-488. |
| Citation | 302 Mont. 18,2000 MT 264,19 P.3d 207 |
| Parties | Brian McKIRDY, Chairperson, and Board of Trustees, Alberton Joint School District No. 2, Mineral County, Petitioners and Appellants, v. Rachel VIELLEUX, Greg Danelz, and Billye Ann Bricker, Superintendents of Missoula, Ravalli and Mineral County Schools, and Certain Missoula County Residents, Respondents. |
| Court | Montana Supreme Court |
Terry L. Wolfe, Sol & Wolfe Law Firm, Missoula, Montana, For Appellants.
Michael W. Sehestedt, Deputy Missoula County Attorney; Darla Keck, Datsopoulos, McDonald and Lind, Missoula, Montana, For Respondents.
¶ 1 The Alberton Joint School District No. 2 Board of Trustees, and its chairperson, Brian McKirdy (hereinafter Alberton Trustees), appeal from an order issued by the Montana Fourth Judicial District Court, Mineral County, granting summary judgment in favor of school superintendents Rachel Vielleux, Greg Danelz and Billye Ann Bricker of, respectively, Missoula, Ravalli, and Mineral counties, and Certain Missoula County Residents (hereinafter County Superintendents). We affirm.
¶ 2 The lone issue presented on appeal is whether the District Court made an incorrect conclusion of law when it ruled that the transfer of territory from one K-12 school district to another K-12 school district under the undisputed facts did not require two separate petitions pursuant to state law, and consequently erred by granting summary judgment in favor of County Superintendents.
¶ 3 This controversy commenced in October of 1997 when residents of the Upper Nine Mile Valley in Missoula County petitioned the Missoula County Superintendent of Schools to have the territory in which they resided transferred from the Alberton K-12 School District No. 2 to the Frenchtown K-12 School District No. 40. The Upper Nine Mile territory is located between Frenchtown and Alberton.
¶ 4 This proposed transfer is related to a failed 1992 petition that sought the same result. During the course of that prior dispute, the Frenchtown School District's board of trustees temporarily permitted affected Upper Nine Mile students to attend Frenchtown schools if they wished. This arrangement would end, however, at the close of the 1997-98 school year. Unless the petition was approved, the Upper Nine Mile students could no longer attend Frenchtown schools.
¶ 5 The 1997 petition apparently affected 24 to 26 students, 11 of whom attended Frenchtown schools. According to their "Petition to Transfer K-12," the petitioners claimed that as residents of Missoula County, most of whom worked in Frenchtown and Missoula, it was impractical for their children to be bused to Alberton schools. The petition stated that "Frenchtown [is] much more accessible for parent participation in school and community activities." The petition also addressed the "community" aspect of the Nine Mile Valley. Currently, Upper Nine Mile residents reside in the Alberton School District, while Lower Nine Mile residents reside in the Frenchtown School District. The transfer would therefore unite the Nine Mile area, as well as enhance the Upper Nine Mile's existing ties with Frenchtown, according to the petition.
¶ 6 The desired transfer met opposition early on from the Alberton School District, which raised the issue of the economic impact that the proposed transfer presented. According to the record, at an estimated taxable value of $358,614, the Upper Nine Mile territory in question represents nearly 14 percent of the total taxable value of the Alberton School District, which according to a Rural Education Center survey is among the poorer school districts in the state. The record indicates that removal of the Upper Nine Mile territory from the Alberton School District property tax base would result in higher taxes for its remaining residents to compensate for the loss, and would lower taxes for those residents of the Upper Nine Mile once they joined the much larger Frenchtown School District. A precise forecast of the economic impact was never determined, and therefore remained in dispute throughout the petition process. Supporters of the transfer, however, adamantly maintained that such economic factors had nothing at all to do with the original purpose of the petition.
¶ 7 Upon receipt of the petition, the Missoula County superintendent determined that it was valid, pursuant to state law, and scheduled a November 12, 1997 hearing.
¶ 8 Prior to the hearing, however, the Alberton Board of Trustees requested that the hearing be canceled "because the single petition was invalid, it did not reference MCA 20-6-320, and the letter from Frenchtown Superintendent Hargrove was not sufficient notification of the intent of the Frenchtown Board of Trustees to accept the territory." This request was denied, and the hearing was conducted as scheduled.
¶ 9 Following the November 12, 1997 hearing, the petition was approved by a panel of three county school superintendents, representing Missoula, Mineral and Ravalli counties, who are the named Respondents in this action. The superintendent from Ravalli County, pursuant to state law, was chosen as a tie-breaker vote on the transfer. On December 17, 1997, each superintendent filed his or her own set of findings and conclusions. The Mineral County superintendent dissented from the Missoula and Ravalli superintendents, and would have denied the petition for the transfer of territory.
¶ 10 The issue of the validity of the petition, however, was not disputed among the three superintendents. Regarding the Alberton Trustees' contentions, the Missoula County superintendent found (and the other superintendents agreed) that:
Only one petition was received although it was clear from the testimony of those in the support of the petition that they were requesting a territory transfer for grades K-12. The filing of a single petition was based on advice from the author of HB 0491, the revised territory transfer bill which passed during the 55th Legislative Session held in 1997.
It is undisputed that as of July 1, 1997, the Alberton School District became a K-12 school district, and that the Frenchtown School District was likewise a K-12 school district. Thus, the panel concluded that:
Both Alberton and Frenchtown School Districts are K-12 school districts, i.e., their elementary districts have been unified with their respective high school districts to form a single legal entity pursuant to Part 7 of Title 20, MCA, and therefore any territory transfer must be for K-12 students.
¶ 11 Nevertheless, the panel concluded that the petition as submitted contained some "minor flaws," but were not sufficient to "render the petition invalid." The panel stated that "[i]f indeed there should have been two sets of petitions, the remedy would be to require that the petitioners begin the process anew, this time asking the resident electors to sign in two places rather than one." This, the panel concluded, was not a reasonable request in light of the "clear intent to include grades K-12 in the transfer."
¶ 12 Alberton Trustees filed for judicial review of the County Superintendents' decision in January of 1998. Alberton Trustees again claimed that the lone petition was deficient pursuant to state law, and that separate petitions were necessary where such a transfer involved both high school and elementary school territory.
¶ 13 Upon motion by both parties, the District Court granted summary judgment in favor of the County Superintendents on July 7, 1999. Specifically, the court stated that although "the original petitions reference only § 20-6-213, MCA, the contents of the petitions satisfy all of the statutory requirements of said section relating to the transfer of territory from one elementary district to another and all of the statutory requirements of § 20-6-320, MCA, relating to the transfer of territory from one high school district to another."
¶ 14 The court then concluded that the "original petitions also clearly reference the transfer of territory to another K-12 District, and it is undisputed that the territory sought therein to be transferred was from one K-12 District (Alberton) to another K-12 District (Frenchtown)." Thus, the court concluded that:
Both the District from which the territory was sought to be transferred and the District to receive said territory having met the statutory definition of a K-12 District as set forth in § 20-6-701(2), MCA, the petitions herein are deemed sufficient, and the decision of the county superintendents is affirmed.
The court apparently referred to the "petition" for territory transfer in the plural form because, as the record shows, numerous copies of the same petition were circulated among residents for the purpose of collecting signatures. Thus, numerous signed "petitions" were submitted to the Missoula County superintendent, and are a matter of record.
¶ 15 Alberton Trustees appealed the court's order granting summary judgment in favor of County Superintendents.
¶ 16 This Court reviews an order granting summary judgment under Rule 56, M.R.Civ.P., by utilizing the same criteria as the district court. See Erker v. Kester, 1999 MT 231, ¶ 16, 296 Mont. 123,
¶ 16, 988 P.2d 1221, ¶ 16. Summary judgment is a remedy which should be granted when there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Rule 56(c), M.R.Civ.P.
¶ 17 In this instance, no material facts remain in dispute. The granting of summary judgment turned on whether the County Superintendents were entitled to judgment as a matter of law, pursuant to the relevant statutes. When we review a district court's conclusions of law, our standard of review is plenary and we must determine whether the court's conclusions are correct as a...
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