Westheimer Independent School Dist. v. Brockette, B-6637
| Decision Date | 29 March 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. B-6637,B-6637 |
| Citation | 567 S.W.2d 780 |
| Parties | WESTHEIMER INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT, Petitioner, v. M. L. BROCKETTE, Commissioner of Education of Texas, et al., Respondents. |
| Court | Texas Supreme Court |
Ross, Griggs & Harrison, James E. Ross, William A. Harrison and Charles W. Kelly, Houston, for petitioner.
John L. Hill, Atty. Gen., David M. Kendall, First Asst. Atty. Gen., and Lynn Taylor, Asst. Atty. Gen., Austin, Bracewell & Patterson, William Key Wilde, Kelly Frels and J. Woodfin Jones, Houston, Dixie, Wolf & Hall, Robert E. Hall, Houston, for respondents.
The court is not unmindful of the sweeping judgment of December 8, 1977, by the Federal District Court in Houston, which, in effect, wipes out the Westheimer Independent School District. 1 The basis of that injunction order is that the creation and operation of the district interferes with the desegregation orders of the federal courts under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. As will be discussed below, the desegregation questions involving the Westheimer Independent School District have been before the federal courts since 1973, and no such problems are before this court in this case.
What is before this court is the orderly disposition of cases of administrative law. The present suit was instituted by Westheimer Independent School District to obtain an order permanently enjoining the Commissioner of Education, M. L. Brockette, from holding a hearing or taking any other action which would put into question the creation or existence of Westheimer I.S.D. The Houston Independent School District and the Houston Teachers Association intervened and aligned themselves with the Commissioner. After a hearing, the trial court entered a permanent injunction which (1) enjoined the Commissioner from holding any hearing at any time to consider the validity of the creation of Westheimer I.S.D., and (2) prohibited the Commissioner, Houston I.S.D., and the Houston Teachers Association from interfering in any way with the operation of Westheimer I.S.D., except by way of appeal of the court's injunction. The court of civil appeals reformed the trial court judgment so as to permit the parties to file an appeal of the
order creating Westheimer I.S.D. in the appropriate district court. As reformed, the trial court judgment was affirmed. 546 S.W.2d 832. We reverse that portion of the judgment of the court of civil appeals which reforms the trial court judgment, and we affirm the judgment of the district court.
On March 21, 1972, the County School Trustees of Harris County entered their order creating Westheimer I.S.D. from the territory of the Spring Branch Independent School District and the Houston I.S.D. While the Houston I.S.D. objected to the new School District, Spring Branch I.S.D. gave its permission for the use of 0.1 of a square mile of its territory, although it has recently attempted to withdraw its consent.
Houston I.S.D. prosecuted an administrative appeal to the Commissioner. The Commissioner reversed the order of the County School Trustees of Harris County. Westheimer I.S.D. then perfected an appeal of the Commissioner's order to the State Board of Education. After a hearing, the State Board of Education, on October 7, 1972, reversed the Commissioner's order and affirmed the order of the County School Trustees of Harris County. Houston I.S.D. has never perfected an appeal from this order of the State Board of Education to the district court of Travis County.
After the above legal actions, the formation of Westheimer I.S.D. was challenged in the federal courts. In 1973 the plaintiffs in Delores Ross et al. v. Houston Independent School District et al., Civil Action No. 10,444, sought an injunction prohibiting the formation of Westheimer I.S.D. as it impeded the desegregation process in Houston I.S.D. In that action, all parties signed stipulations filed with the court in which the following was represented as undisputed evidence:
"(T)he administrative procedures prescribed by the State of Texas for the establishment of the Westheimer Independent School District were exhausted and thereupon, pursuant to the statutory law of Texas, the Westheimer Independent School District became established within the following territory in Harris County, Texas. . . . "
On April 4, 1973, the United States Court for the Southern District issued an injunction prohibiting the interim board of trustees of Westheimer I.S.D. from taking any further steps toward creation or implementation of the District until after April 4, 1976, or three years later. On September 8, 1977, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the injunction for an indefinite period, holding that such action would not interfere with the state administrative and judicial proceedings involved in the instant case. 2
The federal lawsuit was remanded to the Federal District Court and, as noted above, on December 8, 1977, that court entered a decree which permanently enjoined any further acts relating to the creation and organization of Westheimer Independent School District.
Prior to the renewal of the injunction by the federal courts, further proceedings were being instituted in the state administrative and judicial systems. On March 29, 1976, the board of education of Houston I.S.D. adopted a resolution authorizing the attorneys for Houston I.S.D. to "take whatever steps necessary to prevent the proposed Westheimer Independent School District from being created and from being operational." In July and August 1976, counsel
for Houston I.S.D. petitioned the County School Trustees of Harris County requesting that the Trustees reverse their 1972 order creating the Westheimer I.S.D. Ten points were raised in support of the petition for reversal; namely:
1. Spring Branch I.S.D. had withdrawn its consent to the detachment of its territory.
2. Testimony at the original hearing was not offered under oath and was not subject to cross-examination.
3. The 1972 order was not supported by findings of fact.
4. The Westheimer I.S.D. "has not been established nor has it begun operation," and a majority of persons now residing in the area have not signed a petition asking for the creation of the proposed District.
5. The County School Trustees of Harris County acted upon erroneous information regarding the boundaries of the Westheimer I.S.D. and created isolated islands of territory not contiguous to the balance of the territory of the Houston I.S.D.
6. There was no administrative or educational justification for the creation of the Westheimer I.S.D.
7. An order of the United States District Court for the Eastern District (United States v. Texas, Civil Action No. 5281) prohibited the Commissioner and others from approving changes in school boundary lines designed to maintain or encourage a dual school system based upon race.
8. The creation of the Westheimer I.S.D. would have an adverse effect on the ability of the Houston I.S.D. to operate a "unitary school system."
9. A recent survey revealed that a part of the Katy I.S.D. is included within the boundaries of the Westheimer I.S.D.
10. There existed a conflict of interest because the same counsel represented the Spring Branch I.S.D. and the County School Trustees of Harris County.
The County School Trustees of Harris County not only refused to reverse their position, but also refused to grant the request for a rehearing of the matter. Houston I.S.D. then appealed this decision to the Commissioner.
In its appeal to the Commissioner of the denial of a hearing by the County School Trustees of Harris County, Houston I.S.D. asserted the following seven points:
1. The withdrawal of the Spring Branch I.S.D.'s consent to the attachment of 0.1 of a square mile of its territory for use in the creation of the proposed Westheimer I.S.D. renders the creation of the Westheimer I.S.D. void under Section 19.263 of the Texas Education Code.
2. The creation of the proposed Westheimer I.S.D. is impermissible because such creation would isolate portions of the Houston I.S.D. north of Buffalo Bayou, those portions becoming noncontiguous islands many miles from the boundaries of the remaining Houston I.S.D.
3. The proposed Westheimer I.S.D. cannot be allowed to become operational without establishing administrative and educational justifications for its existence. No findings have been made that the proposed Westheimer I.S.D. will be able to provide an equal or higher quality of educational opportunity than is currently being provided by the Houston I.S.D. to the residents of the Westheimer area.
4. The County School Trustees of Harris County failed to give notice of the proposed creation of the Westheimer I.S.D. to the officials and trustees of the Katy I.S.D. and this voids the creation of the proposed Westheimer I.S.D. under Section 19.263(c) of the Texas Education Code. The County School Trustees of Harris County further failed to give the officials and trustees of the Katy I.S.D. an opportunity to be heard on the proposed creation of the Westheimer I.S.D. A portion of the Katy I.S.D. is included within the boundaries of the proposed Westheimer I.S.D.
5. The use of the Spring Branch I.S.D. territory or the territory of other school districts in the creation of the proposed Westheimer I.S.D. would be in violation of a desegregation order of the United States District Court for the Eastern District (United States v. Texas, supra ) applicable to the Spring Branch I.S.D., the 6. It would be a violation of the order of the United States District Court for the Eastern District (United States v. Texas, supra ) to allow the Spring Branch I.S.D. territory to be used in the creation of the proposed Westheimer I.S.D., which would be a virtually all-white district which was created with the intention to discriminate and has the effect of discrimination against minorities. The creation of the proposed...
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