Title: Clark v. Jefferson County Bd. of Ed.

State: alabama

Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court

Document:

410 So. 2d 23 (1982)
Clara V. CLARK
v.
JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.
80-579.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
February 5, 1982.
Thomas K. Jefferson, Huntsville, for appellant.
Carl E. Johnson, Jr. of Bishop, Colvin & Johnson, Birmingham, for appellee.
MADDOX, Justice.
Does a county board of education have legal authority to operate a child care center? That is the sole question presented by this appeal.
The Jefferson County Board of Education offers child care services as an adjunct to its regular academic program. These services are rendered in response to requests from community members in twelve "Human Resource Zones" in the county. The child care services are offered under the auspices of the Community Education Department of the Board, and while the scope and nature of the child care programs offered by the Board vary somewhat from zone to zone, in accordance with the needs and desires of the local community, the basic child care services include supervision of recreational activities, including physical activity, feeding of a snack, assistance with homework, and, when requested, special tutorial programs coordinated with regular school work.
Participation in these programs is voluntary and on a fee basis. The community education program of the Board and the child care program, in particular, are "self-sufficient" in that all expenses are met by fees generated from the programs. All programs are conducted within existing school facilities.
Appellant Clara Clark owns two day care centers in Jefferson County and one in Shelby County under the name of Happy House Day Care Center, Inc. The Jefferson County facilities owned and operated by Clark are in Irondale and Hoover. Clark identified several facilities which she contends are in competition with her Irondale facility, including at least one child care program operated by the Jefferson County Board of Education.
Clark filed suit against the Board of Education, and sought an injunction to prohibit the continued operation by the Board of Education of the child care programs. Clark, in her suit, claimed that the Board was not empowered to operate the child care centers. The trial judge, after hearing testimony and considering numerous exhibits, refused to grant Clark any relief.
The trial judge held that the operation of a child care center was an activity within the broad powers granted to county boards of education. Clark appealed. As previously noted, the sole issue is: Does a county board of education have authority to operate a child care center?
We first state, in summary form, Clark's argument that the Board has no authority *24 to operate a child care program. She says that county boards of education, creatures of statute, can exercise only those powers which are expressly conferred upon them, that the powers granted to county boards by Code 1975, §§ 16-8-8, and 16-8-9, to administer and supervise is limited to public schools, and that a day care program is not a part of a public school because "public schools" are those established and maintained for persons between the ages of 7 and 21. Basically, Clark argues that if the legislature had intended for county boards of education to have authority to offer educational or other opportunities to pre-schoolers, it would have authorized such activities, by law, as it did with kindergartens (Code 1975, § 16-8-41), elementary, junior and senior high schools, grades 1 through 12 (Code 1975, § 16-8-36), adult education (Code 1975, § 16-34-1, et seq.), rehabilitation of handicapped children and adults (Code 1975, § 16-38-1, et seq.), vocational schools (Code 1975, § 16-37-1, et seq.), and special education (Code 1975, § 16-39-1, et seq.). Clark's position is aptly stated by this quote from her brief: "No statute authorizes the education of children between one day and 5 years old."
The County Board contends that "the curricular and extracurricular offerings of the public school systems within this state, as in all states, are established by local boards of education in the exercise of their broad discretionary authority conferred by statute" and that in Alabama, this grant of authority is manifested throughout Chapter 8 of Title 16 of the Alabama Code.
The Board specifically claims that the following Code sections grant to it the necessary power to operate a day care center:
Code 1975, § 16-8-8.
Code 1975, § 16-8-9.
Code 1975, § 16-8-10.
The Board argues that the establishment of a community education program, of which the child care specifically challenged by plaintiff is a part, constitutes a classic example of the exercise of administrative discretion, adopted in furtherance of what this lawfully constituted board of education deems to be in the best interest of the school system and its patrons.
The Board, therefore, says that where there is a broad grant of statutory authority, no specific grant of authority to operate a child care program is required. The Board, in its brief, argues:
Although the Board takes the position that its child care program is properly established and maintained under the Board's general discretionary authority, it cites other statutes which it says inferentially support its position. It says that the provisions of Code 1975, § 16-8-41, which grants county boards authority to establish and maintain kindergartens and playgrounds is an example. It also cites Code 1975, § 38-7-2(8), which defines a day care center, but which specifically excludes:
The Board contends that the foregoing statute constitutes express legislative acknowledgement and approval of the existence of "other daytime programs" operated by public schools which are similar to private day care centers. "Clearly," says the Board, "knowledge of the existence of such daytime programs as are being challenged in this case must be imputed to the legislature on the basis of this express exclusion from the coverage of the Child Care Act.
The Board also calls our attention to evidence introduced during the trial which shows that the State Board of Education has actively and officially supported the implementation and development of Community Education in local school systems. Illustrative of this evidence is a position statement adopted by the Alabama State Board of Education on March 23, 1977, which reads as follows:
Other exhibits included a publication which showed that the Alabama State Department of Education defines "community education" as follows:
"WHAT IS COMMUNITY EDUCATION?
The publication includes a page which shows that "day care" is one of the activities under the umbrella of "people of all ages together using a community school and community resources."
The concept of community education is probably best expressed in a publication entitled "Community Education: A Position *26 Statement," which was adopted by the Alabama State Board of Education in March, 1977, and which is included in the record. In this publication, the history, rationale and purpose of community education is set forth. Included in the foreword is a statement by Dr. Wayne Teague, State Superintendent of Education, in which he says: "It is my belief that Community Education can be of great value to a school system and a community interested in maximizing public involvement, citizen awareness and use of facilities." The publication states that "the State Board of Education, recognizing the importance of and supporting the concepts involved in Community Education, adopted a resolution in March, 1975, urging all local school systems `to actively pursue the community education concept.'"
In a section entitled "History" is the following:
In the position statement, under a heading "Rationale" is the following:
The purpose of community education is summed up in the publication as follows:
Based on the foregoing facts, and applying the law to those facts, we conclude that the judgment of the trial court is due to be affirmed.
The legislature has made broad grants of authority to the Alabama State Board of Education, the Alabama State Department of Education and to the individual county boards of education to administer and supervise the public schools. It is apparent that the Alabama State Board of Education, pursuant to authority granted it by law, has encouraged the development of "community education," of which "day care" is a part, and has determined that community education is in the best interest of the public schools in Alabama.
This Court has long recognized that the power to administer and supervise the school systems is vested in the various boards of education. The statement of law is contained in Hargett v. Franklin Co. Bd. of Education, 374 So. 2d 1352 (Ala.1979), wherein this Court opined:
We have carefully considered Clark's argument that a public body, without statutory authority, is encroaching upon an area of private enterprise.
Upon consideration of the facts and the law, we hold that while there is no specific statutory grant of authority to local boards of education to operate day care centers, there is authority for such activity under the broad grants of power which we have evaluated and discussed in this opinion. We, therefore, affirm the judgment of the trial court.
AFFIRMED.
TORBERT, C. J., and FAULKNER, JONES, ALMON, SHORES, EMBRY and ADAMS, JJ., concur.
BEATTY, J., concurs in the result.