Summers County Educ. Ass'n v. Summers County Bd. of Educ., 17625
| Decision Date | 17 November 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. 17625,17625 |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
| Parties | , 45 Ed. Law Rep. 384 SUMMERS COUNTY EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, Kayetta Meadows, President, v. SUMMERS COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION; James A. Doyle, et al., Members; and Ametrius E. Tassos, Superintendent. |
Syllabus by the Court
A county board of education may reduce or discontinue local salary supplements to teachers and other personnel when forced to do so by failure of a special levy. W.Va.Code § 18A-4-5 (1984).
William B. McGinley, Charleston, for Summers Cty. Educ. Assoc.
David L. Parmer, Hinton, for Summers Cty. Bd. of Educ.
This is an appeal from a declaratory judgment of the Circuit Court of Summers County. The appellant is a professional association representing employees of the Summers County Board of Education (hereinafter "the association"). The association sued the Board of Education, its individual members, and the superintendent of schools 1 in circuit court for reinstatement of county salary supplements after defeat of special excess levy referenda in February and April, 1982. The circuit court ruled in favor of the Board of Education, and the association appeals. For the reasons set out below, we affirm the judgment of the circuit court.
Prior to the 1982-83 school year, the Summers County Board of Education paid its employees a salary supplement funded by an excess levy that had been in effect for five years. The supplement added $100 per month to each teacher's salary, and $35 per month to the salaries of service personnel. On February 9, 1982, the voters refused a proposed 100% excess levy to be in effect for five years, and on April 12 of the same year they voted down an 85% excess levy to continue for three years. Both excess levies included funds earmarked for salary supplements of $125 per month for teachers, and $60 per month for other personnel. After the April election, the Board of Education implemented a budget which excluded all county salary supplements, and provided only the salaries required by the State minimum salary schedules set out in W.Va.Code §§ 18A-4-2 (1984) and 18A-4-8a (1984). From the 1982 school year to the present, no employee of the Summers County Board of Education has received a county salary supplement, and no excess levy has been proposed since that date.
The association's primary contention is that W.Va.Code § 18A-4-5 must be read together with Code § 18-9B-8 (1984) to create a mandatory prioritization of items that a school board must follow in making budget cuts. The association asserts that if the school board had followed the priorities set out in § 18-9B-8, there would have been money to fund salary supplements in some or all of the years since 1982. The school board disputes both the appellant's interpretation of the statutes and its interpretation of the school's financial information.
Article 4 of chapter 18A governs the salaries, wages and other benefits provided to school personnel. Section 18A-4-2 sets State minimum salaries. Section 18A-4-5 governs the authority of county school boards in fixing the salaries of teachers. It requires county boards of education to use the minimum salaries established in § 18A-4-2, and allows the county boards to establish higher local salary schedules as long as they are uniform. It then says:
Provided, that in establishing such local salary schedules, no county, from the effective date of this act [July 1, 1969], shall reduce local funds allocated for instructional salaries and used in supplementing the state mandated salaries as provided for in this article, unless forced to do so by failure of a special levy, or a loss in assessed values, or state aid, or events over which it has no control. 2
The Legislature in this proviso anticipated the situation in which Summers County finds itself, and expressly allowed school boards to discontinue salary supplements funded by local excess levies when "forced to do so by failure of a special levy."
The other Code section that the appellants seek to insert into this controversy is W.Va.Code § 18-9B-8. This section relates to actions by the State Board of School Finance, and seeks to protect school personnel when a county is considering reducing the number of work days ("the employment term") in order to save money. The preceding section, § 18-9B-7, prohibits the State Board of School Finance from approving a budget which provides for less than the full employment term, unless the county school board files a petition showing that the best interests of the schools will be promoted by using available funds for purposes other than maintenance of the maximum employment term. Section 18-9B-8 provides:
If the board of finance finds that the proposed budget for a county willnot maintain the schools for the employment term, it may require that the budget be revised so as to provide as much of the employment term as possible; but in no case shall permit the reduction of the instructional term. Any required revision in the budget for this purpose may be made in the following order:
(1) Postpone expenditures for permanent improvements and capital outlays except from the permanent improvement fund;
(2) Reduce the amount budgeted for maintenance exclusive of service personnel so as to guarantee the payment of salaries for the employment term;
(3) Reduce the number of noninstructional days;
(4) Reduce the amount of salary paid in excess of that fixed by [§ 18-7-2];
(5) Adjust amounts budgeted in any other way so as to assure the required instructional term of 180 days under the applicable provisions of law.
(emphasis added). This provision addresses a situation in which a school board prepares a budget that contemplates cutting work days from the full school schedule. Specifically, § 18-9B-8 does not apply unless "the Board of Finance finds that the proposed budget for a county will not maintain the schools for the employment term."
The Summers County Board of Education did not submit a budget based on a reduced employment term, and the Board of Finance accordingly did not make the kind of finding that would invoke the provisions of § 18-9B-8. Based on the plain language of the two Code sections cited, we find that a county board of education may discontinue local salary supplements to teachers and other personnel when forced to do so by failure of a special levy. Section 18-9B-8 does not apply to such a situation absent additional facts not present on the record in this case.
The association also...
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