Southeast Warren Community School Dist. v. Department of Public Instruction, 63181

• Decision Date: 14 November 1979
• Docket Number: No. 63181,63181
• Citation: 285 N.W.2d 173
• Parties: SOUTHEAST WARREN COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT, Appellee, v. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 173

285 N.W.2d 173

SOUTHEAST WARREN COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT, Appellee, v. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, Appellant.

No. 63181.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Nov. 14, 1979.

Thomas J. Miller, Atty. Gen. and Howard O. Hagen, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellant.

John R. Phillips and Kathleen A. Reimer, Des Moines, for appellee.

Considered by REYNOLDSON, C. J., and REES, HARRIS, McCORMICK, and McGIVERIN, JJ.

McCORMICK, Justice.

This appeal concerns the right of a school district to expel a special education student. The Southeast Warren Community School District (school district) initiated regular expulsion procedures against Thomas Konrad, a special education student. Upon his mother's appeal, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) ruled that a special education student cannot be expelled under any circumstances. In a judicial review proceeding, the district court held to the contrary, sustaining the position of the school district. We modify and affirm the decision of the district court because we hold that a special education student can be expelled, but only when special procedures are followed.

We must dispose of three preliminary issues before reaching the merits of the controversy. They relate to the ripeness of the mother's appeal to the DPI, the standing of the school district to petition for judicial review, and the mootness of the case.

I. The mother's right to appeal. No expulsion proceedings were actually held in this case. The superintendent of schools notified Thomas Konrad's parents by letter of April 7, 1978, that he recommended to the school board that Thomas be expelled from school for the remainder of the school year for habitual violation of school rules concerning smoking and possession of tobacco. He advised them that an expulsion hearing was scheduled for April 12, 1978, at 8:00 p. m. before a hearing board. He enclosed a copy of the district's expulsion policy which showed regular expulsion procedures would be used in the case.

Thomas's mother, Irma Konrad, commenced an action in district court in an effort to enjoin the expulsion. She obtained a temporary injunction against it. She also appealed to the DPI the district's action in setting the expulsion hearing. The district separately requested a declaratory ruling from the DPI on the issue of its right to expel a special education student. Mrs. Konrad and the school district then entered a stipulation in the district court case in which Mrs. Konrad agreed the temporary injunction could be dissolved and the district agreed it would defer the expulsion hearing until after rulings were obtained in the two proceedings before the DPI. The temporary injunction was dissolved upon joint application of the parties.

Subsequently the school district obtained a declaratory ruling from the DPI, which held the district was precluded by statute from expelling a special education student. The district did not seek judicial review of the ruling, but the DPI makes no issue of that.

Mrs. Konrad's appeal to the DPI was taken under § 281.6, The Code. In material part it provides:

A child, or his parent or guardian, or the school district in which the child resides, may obtain a review of any action or omission of state or local authorities pursuant to the procedures established in chapter 290 on the ground that the child has been or is about to be:

1. Denied entry or continuance in a program of special education appropriate to his condition and needs.

Mrs. Konrad contended Thomas was about to be denied continuance in a program of special education within the meaning of this provision because of the superintendent's recommendation that he be subjected to expulsion under procedures applicable to regular students. She alleged she had been advised by the school district that the expulsion hearing would be held under such procedures.

The school district rather than the superintendent was Mrs. Konrad's adversary in her appeal. However, we understand the school board expresses no view on the merits of the superintendent's recommendation that Thomas be expelled, recognizing its duty of impartiality as potential trier of that issue. See Keith v. Community School District, 262 N.W.2d 249, 260-61 (Iowa 1978).

Although the issue is close, we believe the actions of the superintendent and school board in scheduling an expulsion hearing provided a basis for Mrs. Konrad's appeal under section 281.6(1). She believed the scheduling of the hearing under regular expulsion procedures threatened Thomas's right to continue in the special education program, and this belief was not unreasonable. The statute allows an appeal in anticipation of such an event. It does not require a parent to wait to see if the child is actually removed from the special education program.

We hold that the issue of the right of the school district to expel Thomas through regular procedures was sufficiently ripe to permit Mrs. Konrad's appeal under the authority of section 281.6(1).

II. The school district's standing to seek judicial review. The DPI ruled in Mrs. Konrad's favor on her appeal, adhering to its declaratory ruling that a school district lacks authority to expel a special education student. The district filed a petition for judicial review in district court. The district court entertained the petition and ruled for the school district on the merits.

In this appeal, the DPI for the first time challenges the standing of the school district to obtain judicial review.

The petition for judicial review was filed under § 17A.19(1), The Code, which provides that "(a) person or party who has exhausted all adequate administrative remedies and who is aggrieved or adversely affected by any final agency action is entitled to judicial review thereof under this Chapter." We have said, "The provisions of § 17A.19 are jurisdictional and must be met." Richards v. Iowa State Commerce Commission, 270 N.W.2d 616, 619 (Iowa 1978). Because compliance is jurisdictional, we must decide the standing issue even though it was not previously raised.

The only point in dispute is whether the district was an "aggrieved" or "adversely affected" party within the meaning of section 17A.19(1). In City of Des Moines v. PERB, 275 N.W.2d 753, 759 (Iowa 1979), we approved a two-part test for generally determining when a party is aggrieved or adversely affected: (1) the party must demonstrate a "specific, personal, and legal interest" in the subject matter of the decision, and (2) the party must show this interest has been "specially and injuriously affected by the decision."

The DPI contends the school district cannot demonstrate a "specific, personal, and legal interest" in the subject matter of the decision. It relies on Iowa Department of Revenue v. Iowa State Board of Tax Review, 267 N.W.2d 675 (Iowa 1978). In that case we held the Iowa Department of Revenue lacked standing to petition for judicial review of adjudications of the Iowa State Board of Tax Review. We did so on the principle that a subordinate official or agency is not adversely affected or aggrieved by a decision of a superior official or coordinate board or tribunal in the vertical chain of agency decisionmaking. Id. at 678-80. This principle has been applied in school cases. See County Board of Education v. Parker, 242 Iowa 1, 45 N.W.2d 567 (1951); Independent School District v. State Appeal Board, 230 Iowa 924, 299 N.W. 440 (1941). As explained in the cases, the principle rests on a legislative goal of administrative finality in agency decisions. See § 290.5, The Code ("The decision of the state board shall be final.")

The doctrine of administrative finality has not barred other litigants from obtaining judicial review of agency decisions. Before enactment of the Iowa Administrative Procedure Act, certiorari was available for that purpose, although review was limited to questions of law. See Hohl v. Board of Education, 250 Iowa 502, 507-10, 94 N.W.2d 787, 790-92 (1959). Now section 17A.19 of the Administrative Procedure Act has supplanted certiorari as the means of obtaining review of agency action. Salsbury Laboratories v. Iowa Department of Environmental Quality, 276 N.W.2d 830, 835 (Iowa 1979).

Even though other litigants have had the right to judicial review, subordinate agencies and officers have been denied the right both before and after the enactment of the Administrative Procedure Act. See Iowa Department of Revenue, 267 N.W.2d at 677-79. However, the cases in which they have been denied standing have all involved reversals by a superior administrative authority of quasi-judicial adjudications by a subordinate authority. Id. at 679; 2 F. Cooper, State Administrative Law 545-51 (1965). In those cases the superior authority sits in review of a subordinate's exercise of powers which were entrusted by the legislature to the administrative discretion of the agency. The standing rule keeps disputes between the subordinate and the superior within the agency structure, somewhat like a rule which seeks to keep family fights out of court. In those situations the superior agency is given the final say.

However, a different category of cases exists in which school districts have brought original actions against the Superintendent of Public Instruction, who at the time had superior authority within the state's educational system. See, e. g., Lewis Consolidated School District v. Johnston, 256 Iowa 236, 127 N.W.2d 118 (1964); Silver Lake Consolidated School District v. Parker, 238 Iowa 984, 29 N.W.2d 214 (1947). In this class of cases the school districts have presented questions relating to the statutory authority of school officials. Their standing to do so was not questioned.

This court has long held that other litigants may bypass the administrative process when questioning the jurisdiction and statutory powers of school officials. The leading case is Perkins v. Board of Directors, 56 Iowa 476, 9 N.W. 356 (1881), a case which,...