Pauley v. Bailey
| Decision Date | 12 December 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 16232,16232 |
| Citation | 174 W.Va. 167,324 S.E.2d 128 |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
| Parties | Janet PAULEY, et als., etc. v. Larrie BAILEY, etc., et als. |
Syllabus by the Court
1. The West Virginia Board of Education and the State Superintendent of Schools, pursuant to their general supervisory powers over education in West Virginia under W.Va. Const. art. XII, § 2, and their specific duties to establish, implement and enforce high quality educational standards for all facets of education under the provisions of Chapter 18 of the West Virginia Code, have a duty to ensure the complete executive delivery and maintenance of a "thorough and efficient system of free schools" in West Virginia as that system is embodied in A Master Plan for Public Education which plan was proposed by agencies of the executive branch and found constitutionally acceptable by the Circuit Court of Kanawha County and that plan will be enforced until such time as it is altered or modified by this Court or the circuit court.
2. Board Policies §§ 2510 and 2321 of the West Virginia Board of Education, standing alone, do not comply with the statutory duty of the West Virginia Board of Education, under W.Va.Code, 18-9A-22 [1981], to establish quality educational standards for the operation of the county school systems in West Virginia, nor will such policies comply with the duty of the West Virginia Board of Education, under the 1984 amended version of that statute, to establish "high quality" educational standards for the operation of the county school systems in West Virginia as such standards are detailed in A Master Plan for Public Education.
Daniel F. Hedges, Charleston, David C. Long, Washington, D.C., for petitioners.
Silas Taylor, Asst. Atty. Gen., Brentz Thompson, W.Va. Dept. of Ed., Charleston, for respondent W.Va. Bd. of Educ.
Joseph R. Goodwin, Goodwin & Goodwin, Charleston, for amicus curiae W.Va. Bankers Associates.
This action is before this Court upon the petition for a writ of certiorari to the Circuit Court of Kanawha County. The petitioners are Janet Pauley, parent of children attending Lincoln County schools, Janet Pauley's children, and all others similarly situated. The respondents are various agencies and officials of the State of West Virginia and Lincoln County that are concerned with the system of education in this State and the financing of that system.
In 1975, a class action was filed in the Circuit Court of Kanawha County by the parents of five children attending school in Lincoln County, West Virginia. The plaintiffs alleged that, as a result of the existing discriminatory mechanism for financing the State's educational system, they were being denied a "thorough and efficient system of free schools" under the provisions of W.Va. Const. art. XII, § 1, 1 and equal protection under our laws in violation of W.Va. Const. art. III, §§ 10 and 17. 2 Although it originally found a disparity in the educational opportunities afforded to the residents of the various counties, the circuit court denied the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment and dismissed the action pursuant to the defendants' motion to dismiss under W.Va.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). The circuit court found that the plaintiffs had not demonstrated the application of equal protection concepts to the controversy.
In Pauley v. Kelly, 162 W.Va. 672, 255 S.E.2d 859 (1979), this Court reversed the dismissal of the action by the circuit court holding that the plaintiffs' complaint was sufficient to withstand attack under W.Va.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6); and, that if the defendants had moved for summary judgment, the action should not have been dismissed because there were many genuine issues of material fact yet to be resolved. This Court remanded the case "for further evidentiary development" and noted that because "there are significant and far-reaching public issues involved, it is advisable that we propose certain guidelines to the Circuit Court." 255 S.E.2d at 863.
In the course of reviewing similar state constitutional provisions across the country that require a "thorough and efficient" system of education, we held in syllabus point 3 of Pauley v. Kelly, supra, that "[t]he mandatory requirements of 'a thorough and efficient system of free schools' found in Article XII, Section 1 of the West Virginia Constitution, made education a fundamental, constitutional right in this State." Furthermore, we held in Pauley v. Kelly, supra, at syllabus point 4: "Because education is a fundamental, constitutional right in this State, under our Equal Protection Clause any discriminatory classification found in the State's educational financing system cannot stand unless the State can demonstrate some compelling State interest to justify the unequal classification." This Court defined the parameters of a "thorough and efficient" educational system and finally held that the legislature has the constitutional duty "to develop a high quality Statewide education system." Pauley v. Kelly, supra, at syl. pt. 5.
The circuit court was specifically directed in Pauley to inquire whether the lack of a high quality educational system is the result of a failure to follow existing statutes and standards or whether it is due to an inadequacy of the existing system; whether the financing of the existing educational system is equitable on the state and local levels, including investigation into the efficacy of state supplemental aid to county school systems and distribution of the State School Building Fund, and the disparity in property values and property assessment among the counties; whether various State agencies and officials are performing their constitutional and statutory duties with respect to education, including the State Board of School Finance, West Virginia Board of Education, State Superintendent of Schools and State Tax Commissioner; and whether local school officials are properly performing their statutory duties. This Court also suggested that the suit be amended to include the Speaker of the House and President of the Senate as defendants. Pauley v. Kelly, supra 255 S.E.2d at 878-83.
As noted above, the action was remanded to the circuit court and, after exhaustive testimony on the various issues, the Circuit Court of Kanawha County issued a 244-page Opinion, Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law and Order, (hereinafter "Opinion" ) entered May 11, 1982, in which the circuit court, pursuant to the directives of this Court in Pauley v. Kelly, supra, found broad and comprehensive constitutional inadequacies in the structure and composition of West Virginia's current educational system, and found the same constitutional infirmities in the financial mechanism that surrounds that system.
In the opinion, the circuit court outlined, based upon the voluminous expert evidence gathered during the lengthy proceedings, the core elements of a "thorough and efficient" educational system. The elements were classified into the broad categories of curriculum, personnel, facilities and materials and equipment. By comparison, the circuit court found the systems now in existence in Lincoln County and other counties across the State to be "woefully inadequate." The circuit court further found that some counties, mostly those with greater property wealth, had educational systems that come close to "thorough and efficient," however, the court determined that all county systems required improvement.
The circuit court reviewed the State standards that exist for classifying and rating schools and found that they are "subminimal" and bear no relationship to a high quality educational system. In 1965, the West Virginia Board of Education adopted, pursuant to W.Va.Code, 18-2-23 [1965], the Comprehensive Educational Program (C.E.P.) in an attempt to establish specific standards for education around the State. The court found, however, that although the C.E.P. contained some elements of a high quality educational program, it was never monitored by the State Board at the county level and, as a result, faded into obsolescence. The State Board adopted other documents such as Standards for Educational Quality, but the court found them to be little more than a general restatement of statutory policies.
The circuit court also found that the mechanism for financing education in West Virginia is discriminatory because it favors counties that are property-wealthy and, in some circumstances, punishes counties that are sparse in population and property-poor. The court found a positive correlation between the quality of a county's educational system and its wealth of real and personal property; and, conversely, found a negative correlation between the lack of quality education in a county and its low property values. 3
In its conclusions of law, the circuit court determined that "[t]he State has a duty to develop legally recognized elements of a thorough and efficient system of education in every child to his or her capacity, by providing high quality programs to children of all abilities." Opinion, Conclusion of Law No. 5. The circuit court interpreted this duty to mean that all direct and indirect costs of educational programs around the State must be fully included in the State financing structure deemphasizing financing on the county level.
The circuit court ruled that West Virginia's current educational system and its financing mechanism are unconstitutional under W.Va. Const. art. XII, § 1, and W.Va. Const. art. III, §§ 10 and 17, and that the State has a duty to eliminate the effects of this unconstitutionality.
Specifically, the court decided that the West Virginia Board of Education has violated its statutory duty to determine educational policies of the State in conformity with constitutional and statutory mandates. See W.Va. Const. art. XII, § 2; W.Va.Code, 18-2-5 [1983]; W.Va.Code, 18-2-23 [1980]; W.Va.Code, 18-9A-22 [1981]. The circuit court held that...
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