Tennessee Small School Systems v. McWherter

• Decision Date: 22 March 1993
• Citation: 851 S.W.2d 139,82 Ed.LawRep. 991
• Parties: 82 Ed. Law Rep. 991 TENNESSEE SMALL SCHOOL SYSTEMS, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Ned Ray McWHERTER, et al., Defendants-Appellees, Charles O. Frazier, Director of Metropolitan Nashville, Davidson County Public Schools, et al., Defendants-Intervenors-Appellees.
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

Page 139

851 S.W.2d 139

82 Ed. Law Rep. 991

TENNESSEE SMALL SCHOOL SYSTEMS, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Ned Ray McWHERTER, et al., Defendants-Appellees, Charles O. Frazier, Director of Metropolitan Nashville,

Davidson County Public Schools, et al.,

Defendants-Intervenors-Appellees.

Supreme Court of Tennessee,

at Nashville.

March 22, 1993.

Lewis R. Donelson, H. Buckley Cole, Philip S. McSween, Nashville (Heiskell, Donelson, Bearman, Adams, Williams & Kirsch, of counsel), for plaintiffs-appellants.

Charles W. Burson, Atty. Gen. & Reporter, John Knox Walkup, Sol. Gen., Jane W. Young, Asst. Atty. Gen., Rachel L. Steele, Asst. Atty. Gen., Nashville, for defendants-appellees.

Earnest G. Kelly, Jr., Memphis, for defendants-intervenors-appellees.

OPINION

REID, Chief Justice.

This appeal is from the judgment of the Court of Appeals reversing the trial court and dismissing the plaintiffs' complaint that the statutory scheme for funding the kindergarten-through-12th grade public school system violates the education clause and equal protection provisions of the Tennessee Constitution.

The constitutional mandate that the General Assembly shall provide for a system of free public schools guarantees to all children of school age in the state the opportunity to obtain an education. The provisions of the constitution guaranteeing equal protection of the law to all citizens, require that the educational opportunities provided by the system of free public schools be substantially equal. The constitution, therefore, imposes upon the General Assembly the obligation to maintain and support a system of free public schools that affords substantially equal educational opportunities to all students. The means whereby this obligation is accomplished, is a legislative prerogative. The system may include the imposition of funding and management responsibilities upon counties, municipalities, and school districts, within their respective constitutional powers. However, the constitution does not permit the indifference or inability of those state agencies to defeat the constitutional mandate of substantial equality of opportunity.

The record in this case supports the Chancellor's finding that there are constitutionally impermissible disparities in the educational opportunities afforded under the state's public school system. The record also supports the Chancellor's findings that "[t]he statutory funding scheme has produced a great disparity in the revenues available to the different school districts," and that there is a "direct correlation between dollars expended and the quality of education a student receives." However, the record also shows that many factors other than funding affect the quality of education provided and that the costs of operating schools may vary significantly. Consequently, all relevant factors may be considered by the General Assembly in the design, implementation, and maintenance of a public school system that meets constitutional standards.

The case will be remanded to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this Opinion.

I. STATEMENT OF THE CASE

The original complaint in this case was filed on July 7, 1988. The plaintiffs are the Tennessee Small School Systems, an unincorporated association of small school districts; superintendents and board of education members from several of those districts; students; and parents of students. The defendants are the Governor and other officials of the executive and legislative departments of the state in their official capacities. On appeal, no issue is made as to the parties or the plaintiffs' standing to sue.

The complaint, as amended, alleges that Article XI, Section 12 of the Tennessee Constitution, which requires that the General Assembly maintain and support a system of free public schools, establishes a fundamental right to an adequate free education and that the defendants are depriving the students, on whose behalf the suit was filed, of this fundamental right. The complaint further alleges that the funding system violates the equal protection provisions of Article XI, Section 8 and Article I, Section 8 of the Tennessee Constitution because the system results in inequalities in the provision of those educational opportunities guaranteed by Article XI, Section 12. The complaint seeks a declaratory judgment that the funding statutes are unconstitutional, that the defendants be enjoined from acting pursuant to those statutes, and that the state be required to formulate and establish a funding system that meets constitutional standards.

The defendants' response to the complaint, after a motion for summary judgment on the issues now presented was denied, is that Article XI, Section 12 "offers no enforceable qualitative standard" whereby the courts can "assess the quality of education and the sufficiency of the funding" provided by the legislative and executive departments. The defendants assert that the only right guaranteed by the education clause is "one of access to a free public school meeting the minimum standards applied statewide," and that the equal protection provisions "only assure the nondiscriminatory performance of the duty created by the education clause." The defendants' position is that education is the exclusive business of the legislative and executive branches.

Nine urban and suburban school systems, including those in Davidson, Shelby, Knox, and Hamilton Counties, were allowed to intervene as defendants. Their position is that the funding scheme enacted by the General Assembly is not subject to review by the courts, but if the issues presented are justiciable, the remedy for any constitutional violation should recognize "the differentials in costs and needs among the various school systems." Stated perhaps more simply, the larger, more affluent systems do not want the funding scheme which favors their systems disturbed. They argue further that the smaller, less affluent systems should not be heard to complain because those systems have not made their best efforts to raise locally any additional funding needed. The intervenors characterize the evidence on which the Chancellor based his findings as "simplistic" and "anecdotal" and suggest that a "notion of substantial equality" is an "illusion." They express grave concern that the result will be "a redistribution of education funds away from the central cities and the growing suburbs."

The trial began on October 29, 1990, and lasted approximately six weeks. On July 25, 1991, the Chancery Court issued a Memorandum Opinion in which the court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. On August 6, 1991, the trial court entered a declaratory judgment "in favor of the plaintiffs on the basis that the present public education funding system violates the equal protection requirements of the Tennessee Constitution." On September 13, 1991, the court entered a final judgment in which it found that the fashioning of an appropriate remedy was the prerogative of the General Assembly.

The defendants and intervenors appealed. The Court of Appeals reversed the judgment of the trial court and dismissed the case. Judge Todd, writing for the majority, ruled that the plaintiffs had failed to establish that the challenged funding system could not withstand scrutiny under any of the three standards of analysis--the rational basis test, intermediate scrutiny, or strict scrutiny--that are traditionally applied in equal protection cases. Judge Cantrell, concurring in a separate opinion, argued that the fundamental right granted by the constitution extends only to an education that meets the minimum standards set by the legislature or its designee. Judge Lewis dissented and, after an exhaustive review of the evidence, concluded that the facts found by the trial court are supported by the record and that the Chancery Court's judgment should have been affirmed on both the education clause and equal protection provisions of the state constitution.

II. FINDINGS OF FACT

The majority of the Court of Appeals did not address the sufficiency of the evidence or the standard of review. However, by reversing the judgment of the trial court, the majority necessarily, though not explicitly, concluded that the record in this case does not support the trial court's findings of fact. Where there has been no concurrence by the trial court and the Court of Appeals, this Court must conduct a de novo review of the record, "accompanied by a presumption of the correctness of the [trial court's] finding, unless the preponderance of the evidence is otherwise." Tenn.R.App.P. 13(d); T.C.A. § 27-1-113 (1980).

The record consists of more than 4,500 pages of transcript, 18 depositions, and 152 exhibits, and contains the testimony of several state officials, including the Chairman of the State Board of Education, the Executive Director of the State Board of Education, the Commissioner of Education, the Commissioner of Finance and Administration, several county superintendents of education, a performance audit drafted by the Comptroller of the Treasury, and the testimony of several expert witnesses.

After reviewing all of this material, the trial court summarized the organizational structure of the public school system, as follows:

The current statutory scheme concerning education is compiled in Volume 9 Title 49 of the Tennessee Code. There are currently 140 districts providing a Kindergarten through 12th grade for some 860,000 students. Responsibility for administering the system is divided between the state board of education, the commissioner of education, the local board of education, and the local superintendents. The state board has the responsibility of adopting policy statements and guidelines and has promulgated minimum rules and regulations entitled "Rules, Regulations and Minimum Standards for the Governance of Public Schools in Tennessee." These rules comprise four volumes and deal with everything from...