Savlesky v. State, Wash. Sch. for the Deaf

• Citation: 139 Wn. App. 245,136 P.3d 152
• Decision Date: 14 June 2006
• Docket Number: No. 32714-7-II.,32714-7-II.
• Parties: Julie SAVLESKY, Janice Stotts, Gary Kazen, Patricia Wilber, Plaintiffs, Cheryl Delyria and Judy Koch, Appellants, v. STATE of Washington, WASHINGTON SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF, Defendant, State of Washington, Washington School for the Blind, Respondent.
• Court: Court of Appeals of Washington

136 P.3d 152

139 Wn. App. 245

Julie SAVLESKY, Janice Stotts, Gary Kazen, Patricia Wilber, Plaintiffs Cheryl Delyria and Judy Koch, Appellants, v. STATE of Washington, WASHINGTON SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF, Defendant State of Washington, Washington School for the Blind, Respondent.

No. 32714-7-II.

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 2.

June 14, 2006.

Thomas K. Doyle, Bennett, Hartman, Morris & Kaplan LLP, Portland, OR, for Appellant.

Warren Howard Jr Fischer, Attorney at Law, Olympia, WA, for Respondent.

HOUGHTON, P.J.

¶ 1 Teachers Cheryl Delyria and Judy Koch¹ appeal the trial court's summary judgment order dismissing their claims against the Washington State School for the Blind (School). They argue that state law requires that the School pay them the same as the Vancouver School District pays its teachers. We agree and reverse and remand for further proceedings.

FACTS

¶ 2 Located in Vancouver, the School educates blind and partially sighted students up to the age of 21. It has approximately 70 campus residential students and serves about 275 students through its off-campus services. There are 18 on-campus teachers, seven outreach teachers who provide off-campus services, and one on-campus speech and language pathologist. The School, as a state agency, relies on legislative funding; it does not have any levy or taxing authority.²

¶ 3 RCW 72.40.028 governs the School's certificated employees' qualifications and salaries. It provides that "[s]alaries of all certificated employees shall be set so as to conform to and be contemporary with salaries paid to other certificated employees of similar background and experience in the school district in which the program or facility is located." RCW 72.40-.028. The School is located in the Vancouver School District (District).

¶ 4 In 1987, the legislature enacted former RCW 28A.58.0951, later recodified as RCW 28A.400.200 (2002). That statute authorizes local school districts to exceed a statewide salary limitation by entering into supplemental contracts for "additional time, additional responsibilities or incentives" (TRI). RCW 28A.400.200(4). The statute also provides that "[s]upplemental contracts shall not cause the state to incur any present or future funding obligation." RCW 28A.400.200(4). Since 1998, the District employees received TRI compensation-an average of $2,710 per year.³

¶ 5 The District's agreement with its certificated employees specifies that TRI duties are those that occur outside the regular 180-day contract year or regular school hours. Local school districts make their TRI payments from maintenance and operations levy funds. The School, however, has no levy authority or geographically limited property tax base.

¶ 6 Currently, the School's employees perform work equivalent to that of the District's employees, but they do not receive any TRI payments.⁴ In 2001, the School and its Teachers' Association signed a collective bargaining agreement, effective August 1, 2001 to July 30, 2003. That agreement allowed School employees to earn exchange time for activities outside their regular workday. The bargaining agreement also limited this exchange or compensatory time to three paid workdays before the school year.

¶ 7 On May 27, 2003, Delyria and Koch filed their class action lawsuit,⁵ seeking: (1) declaratory relief finding that the School violated RCW 72.40.028, (2) an award of all unpaid salaries, (3) a penalty equal to the amount of the unpaid salaries, (4) and costs and fees.

¶ 8 The School moved for summary judgment, and Delyria and Koch moved for partial summary judgment.⁶ After agreeing with the parties' stipulation that a purely legal issue faced the court, it noted:

My interpretation of RCW 72.40.028 in regard to salaries is that at the time that this was enacted in 1980 there was no TRI payment situation, that that came about some five years later, and at the time that the TRI payments were instituted the legislature, if they had intended, could have clearly indicated that the State schools were a part of this. They did not do so.

The term "salaries" is somewhat ambiguous, but my interpretation is that it meant a salary based upon one's similar background and experience, that is, having to do with the education and tenure or time in a particular position by teachers. The TRI payment situation is one that came about with the intent to deal with many of the realities of being a teacher and working long hours beyond what might be characterized as a formal workday or workweek, and I'm certainly not saying that teachers at the School for the Blind don't put in lots of extra time too, but there are other forms of compensation. Whether or not they're adequate, again, is not before this Court.

It's my finding that RCW 28A.400.200 does not apply to the School for the Blind. The TRI payments are a separately administered program or / and involve separate issues, that there might very well be a need for a fix here, but I think it has to be addressed to the legislature rather than the Court.

Report of Proceedings (RP) at 23-24. The trial court granted the School's motion and denied Delyria and Koch's motion for partial summary judgment.

¶ 9 Delyria and Koch appeal.

ANALYSIS

¶ 10 We address whether RCW 72.40.028 and RCW 28A.400.200 entitle School employees to receive the same TRI payments that the District has paid its teachers since 1998. Delyria and Koch argue that the law entitles them to the same pay as District employees and that the trial court erred in denying their motion for partial summary judgment on liability and in granting the School's motion instead.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 11 We review de novo a summary judgment order, engaging in the same inquiry as the trial court, taking the facts and all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Allstate Ins. Co. v. Raynor, 143 Wash.2d 469, 475, 21 P.3d 707 (2001). A court properly grants summary judgment "if the pleadings ... 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." CR 56(c). Summary judgment is proper if reasonable minds could reach only one conclusion. Kalmas v. Wagner, 133 Wash.2d 210, 215, 943 P.2d 1369 (1997).

STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION

¶ 12 We construe statutes de novo as a question of law. Rettkowski v. Dep't of Ecology, 128 Wash.2d 508, 515, 910 P.2d 462 (1996). We give statutory words their plain and ordinary meaning unless we perceive a contrary intent within the statute. Erection Co. v. Dep't of Labor & Indus., 121 Wash.2d 513, 518, 852 P.2d 288 (1993). If the statutory language is clear and unambiguous, we determine the meaning of the statute from its language alone and we do not consider legislative history. Multicare Med. Ctr. v. Dep't of Soc. & Health Servs., 114 Wash.2d 572, 582, 790 P.2d 124 (1990).

¶ 13 In construing a statute, we give effect to all the statutory language so that no provision is rendered meaningless. Whatcom County v. City of Bellingham, 128 Wash.2d 537, 546, 909 P.2d 1303 (1996). And we read statutes relating to the same subject as complementary and not in conflict. Waste Mgmt. of Seattle, Inc. v. Utils. & Transp. Comm'n, 123 Wash.2d 621, 630, 869 P.2d 1034 (1994).

Plain and Unambiguous Language

¶ 14 Delyria and Koch argue that the School's refusal to give them TRI pay cannot be justified because RCW 72.40.028 plainly and unambiguously provides that employees with similar background and experience at the School and the District must receive equivalent salaries. RCW 72.40.028 provides in relevant part:

All teachers at the state school for the deaf and the state school for the blind shall meet all certification requirements.... Salaries of all certificated employees shall be set so as to conform to and be contemporary with salaries paid to other certificated employees of similar background and experience in the school district in which the program or facility is located.

¶ 15 We begin by noting that under the plain language of RCW 72.40.028, the phrase "similar background and experience" modifies "certificated employees." The most natural and grammatically correct reading of the statute leads to the conclusion that the statute applies to those School and District employees who have similar background and experience.⁷ Reading the plain and unambiguous statute alone would lead us to conclude that Delyria and Koch are entitled to salaries comparable to those of District employees.

The School's Counterarguments to the Plain Language

¶ 16 The School raises several arguments contrary to this conclusion, but they do not persuade us. First, it argues that the School cannot give TRI pay to its employees because under RCW 28A.400.200, the State cannot be obligated to make such payments. RCW 28A.400.200 provides in relevant part:

(1) Every school district board of directors shall fix, alter, allow, and order paid salaries and compensation for all district employees in conformance with this section.

. . . .

(3)(a) The actual average salary paid to certificated instructional staff shall not exceed the district's average certificated instructional staff salary used for the state basic education allocations....

....

(4) Salaries and benefits for certificated instructional staff may exceed the limitations in subsection (3) of this section only by separate contract for additional time, additional responsibilities, or incentives. Supplemental contracts shall not cause the state to incur any present or future funding obligation. Supplemental contracts shall be subject to the collective bargaining provisions of chapter 41.59 RCW.... No district may enter into a supplemental contract under this subsection for the provision of services which are a part of the basic education program required by Article IX, section 3 of the state Constitution.

(Emphasis added.)

¶ 17 The School argues that the...