Simons v. Laramie County School Dist. No. One

• Citation: 741 P.2d 1116
• Decision Date: 20 August 1987
• Docket Number: No. 87-46,87-46
• Parties: 41 Ed. Law Rep. 768 Lynn SIMONS, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, in her official capacity, and Barbara Rogers, in her official capacity, Michael A. McName, in his official capacity, Carwin Linford, in his official capacity, John Patton, in his official capacity, Patricia M. Lauber, in her official capacity, Everett Kilmer, in his official capacity, Cynthia Boyhan, in her official capacity, and Glenn Engelking, in his official capacity as Members of the State Board of Education, Appellants (Defendants), v. LARAMIE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT NUMBER ONE, State of Wyoming By and Through its Duly Elected Trustees, Jean Cotton, in her official capacity, Don Herber, in his official capacity, Keith Rounds, in his official capacity, Richard Brown, in his official capacity, Art Mercer, in his official capacity, Al Atkins, in his official capacity, Gladys Frentheway, in her official capacity, Appellees (Plaintiffs).
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Wyoming

Page 1116

741 P.2d 1116

41 Ed. Law Rep. 768

Lynn SIMONS, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, in her official capacity, and Barbara Rogers, in her official capacity, Michael A. McName, in his official capacity, Carwin Linford, in his official capacity, John Patton, in his official capacity, Patricia M. Lauber, in her official capacity, Everett Kilmer, in his official capacity, Cynthia Boyhan, in her official capacity, and Glenn Engelking, in his official capacity as Members of the State Board of Education, Appellants (Defendants), v. LARAMIE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT NUMBER ONE, State of Wyoming By and Through its Duly Elected Trustees, Jean Cotton, in her official capacity, Don Herber, in his official capacity, Keith Rounds, in his official capacity, Richard Brown, in his official capacity, Art Mercer, in his official capacity, Al Atkins, in his official capacity, Gladys Frentheway, in her official capacity, Appellees (Plaintiffs).

No. 87-46.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

Aug. 20, 1987.

Joseph B. Meyer, Atty. Gen., and Rowena L. Heckert, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., Cheyenne, for appellants.

Paul J. Hickey of Rooney, Bagley, Hickey, Evans & Statkus, Cheyenne, for appellees.

Before BROWN, C.J., and THOMAS, CARDINE, URBIGKIT and MACY, JJ.

URBIGKIT, Justice.

The Wyoming State Superintendent of Public Instruction and the members of the State Board of Education appeal a trial-court decision determining that a statute was unconstitutional which reduced state educational funding for a specific school district because the county assessor allegedly under-assessed in that county, consequently reducing local resource contributions within the total funding formulae. In the declaratory judgment proceeding, by holding the offset provision unconstitutional, the trial court awarded a judgment in favor of the school district for the withheld funds, in the amount of $366,345.94.

After considering the four issues raised: mootness; sovereign immunity; untimely filed claim; and constitutionality of the statute, this court affirms.

FACTS

In pursuit of a fundamental constitutional responsibility, and responsive to the litigation in Washakie County School District No. One v. Herschler, Wyo., 606 P.2d 310, cert. denied 449 U.S. 824, 101 S.Ct. 86, 66 L.Ed.2d 28 (1980), the Wyoming legislature has attempted to provide a broad-based state and local resource funding system for public education. An immediate, intrinsic and pervasive difficulty was encountered from unequal and inequitable local tax assessments, which directly affected state contributory responsibility. To address this obvious and well-considered problem, § 21-13-310(c), W.S.1977, effective June 30, 1983, was enacted as complementary to a variety of other legislative reviews and to specific assessment legislation more recently enacted:

"(c) Annually, commencing on July 30, 1984, the state board of equalization, when determinable, shall certify to the department of education whether or not the level of local assessments for any category in each county is in accord with the requirements of the board of equalization and, if not, the percent by which the assessments are below the board's requirements. If the assessment level of locally assessed properties for any category in any school district is more than five percent (5%) below the board's requirements, the department shall increase the amount of revenue to be included in the sum of local district resources under paragraphs (a)(i) and (ii) of this section by the amount of locally assessed value for any category necessary to comply with the board's requirements times the appropriate mill levies under paragraphs (a)(i) and (ii) of this section. This subsection does not apply if the board of equalization has complied with W.S. 39-1-304(a)(ii) and (iii), has ordered the valuations corrected and has certified the new valuations to the state department of education." (Emphasis added.) Chapter 136, S.L. of Wyoming 1983.

The last two sentences of this statute were repealed by the provisions of Ch. 146, S.L. of Wyoming 1985, effective July 1, 1985. It is these two sentences, repealed a year after they were adopted, that caused the controversy now presented in this appeal.

By letter dated October 11, 1984, the chairman of the State Board of Equalization, which agency had the constitutional and statutory responsibility for tax assessment adequacy and equalization, advised the Superintendent of Public Instruction of under-assessment in five counties. Based upon these stated percentages, in application of the state foundation program funding deduction factor, the Superintendent of Public Instruction reduced the allotment for seven separate public school districts of which plaintiff was the largest loser, with total operational funding $322,731.67, and construction allotment funding $43,614.27.

Laramie County School District No. 1 (School District No. 1) filed suit against the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and the membership of the State Board of Education (State) on January 17, 1985. On October 18, 1985, the trial court granted summary judgment to the State on the basis that filing a claim with the State Auditor as the statutory condition precedent to suit was omitted. School District No. 1 immediately filed the notice of claim and moved to amend its existing lawsuit. The motion to amend was granted, and the case continued, in accord with earlier filed stipulations of fact, to summary judgment disposition resulting in award of the encumbered funds to School District No. 1 by determination that § 21-13-310(c) was "unconstitutional as being violative of Article 3, Section 27 of the Wyoming Constitution."

ISSUES

As stated by the State, we find the contended issues to be:

"I. THE SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY OF THE STATE BARS THE MONETARY CLAIM, AND WITHOUT IT THE DECLARATORY JUDGMENT ACTION IS MOOT.

"II. APPELLEE FAILED TO FILE A CLAIM WITH THE STATE AUDITOR

WITHIN ONE YEAR OF ACCRUAL, AS IS REQUIRED BY W.S. 9-1-404.

"III. THE CHALLENGED STATUTE IS NOT A SPECIAL LAW FOR THE ASSESSMENT AND COLLECTION OF TAXES."

Included in the text of arguments, subarguments included as to sovereign immunity, (1) only the declaratory part of this judgment was properly sought; (2) since there is no waiver of immunity in the Act, a declaration of unconstitutionality and an injunction against further enforcement were the only proper remedies to be sought by School District No. 1; and (3) there is no evidence of harm to public education in the district.

In detailing its second issue of belated claim filing, it was contended that both the Constitution and the statute required timely filing and that accrual of the cause of action and not determination of amounts would start the statutory limitation of one year. Finally, as to constitutionality, appellant argued (1) that there is a strong presumption of constitutionality; (2) that the challenged statute is not a law enacted for the assessment of collection of taxes; (3) that the classification made by the statute is reasonable and served an important state objective; and (4) that the statute affected all school districts in the same situation the same way and consequently afforded a rational classification.

Restated by appellee, the issues as affirmatively presented are:

"A. THE DISTRICT COURT PROPERLY FOUND SEC. 21-13-301(c) W.S.1977 TO HAVE BEEN UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

"B. THIS ACTION IS NOT BARRED BY SEC. 9-1-404 W.S.1977 REPUBLISHED.

"C. THIS ACTION IS NOT BARRED BY THE SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY OF THE STATE, AND IT IS NOT MOOT."

This court will address the procedural issues first, then the substantive constitutional issue, and will last consider whether mootness denies recovery of the money claimed.

I

BELATED CLAIM NOTICE FILING

PURSUANT TO § 9-1-404, W.S.1977

It is apparent that the State attempted to avoid serious consideration of the constitutional issue in arguing for procedural disposition. Thus, the first argument includes the contention that under the circumstances School District No. 1 was required to comply with the notice of claim provisions of § 9-1-404, W.S.1977:

"Except as provided by W.S. 1-39-101 through 1-39-119, persons having claims against the state shall document the claim and submit it to the state auditor within one (1) year after the claim accrues, to be audited, settled and acted upon."

The statute does not define persons for the purpose of claim requirement as either including or excluding other state agencies or local governmental instrumentalities. Conversely, the notice provision for claims pursuant to the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act, § 1-39-101 et seq., W.S.1977, is two years, although case law makes clear that governmental agencies are not eligible claimants under that statute. See Carbon County School District No. 2 v. Wyoming State Hospital, Wyo., 680 P.2d 773 (1984); State v. Board of County Commissioners of Johnson County, Wyo., 642 P.2d 456 (1982), which decisions, however, were not premised on any immunity inquiry.

We will not now decide whether § 9-1-404 applies to state government instrumentalities. Initially, the trial court concluded that the notice provision would apply, and we need not review that opinion in approving the present timeliness decision of the trial court in his conclusion:

"The following facts appear from the joint stipulation of the parties:

"1. By letter dated October 11, 1984, the State Board of Equalization notified the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the amounts by which property assessments in this county along with four other counties were below the requirements of the State Board of Equalization. In this letter, it was stated that 'we can now provide a more solid estimate of an amount for those five counties in order that you may adjust school funding as requested by your letter of September 27, 1984.'

"2. By letter dated October 19, 1984, the Director of Fiscal Services notified the Laramie County School District No. 1...