No. 86-521 

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA 

1987 

MOUNTAIN VIEW EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, 

Plaintiff and Respondent, 

-vsMOUNTAIN VIEW SCHOOL, DEPARTMENT OF 

INSTITUTIONS, STATE OF MONTANA, 

Defendant and Appellant, 

and. 

DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION, 

STATE PERSONNEL DIVISION, 

APPEAL FROM: District Court of First Judicial District, 

In and for the County of Lewis & Clark, 

The Honorable Gordon Bennett, Judge presiding. 

COUNSEL OF RECORD: 

For Appellant: 

Nick Rotering, Dept. of Institutions, Helena, Montana 

Kathleen F. Holden, Dept. of Administration, Helena 

For Respondent: 

Hilley & Loring; Emilie Loring, Great Falls, Montana 

Submitted on Briefs: Feb. 26, 1987 

Decided: June 26, 1987 

Filed: JUN 2 6 1987 
Mr. Justice John C. Sheehy delivered the Opinion of the 

Court. 

Mountain View School and the Departments of 

Administration and Institutions appeal an order issued by the 

District Court of the First Judicial District Court, Lewis 

and Clark County, holding that individuals employed to teach 

at Mountain View School are not "schoolteachers" under § 

2-18-601 (2), MCA, and are therefore entitled to benefits 

provided for other state employees under Title 2, Ch. 18, 

Part 6, MCA. We affirm. 

The single issue raised in this case is whether the 

faculty employed by the State at Mountain View School are 

"schoolteachers" under S 2-18-601 (2) and are therefore 

excluded from the state employee benefit provisions of S 

2-18-600, et seq., MCA. 

Mountain View School is a state correctional facility 

for juveniles established by the Department of Institutions. 

The Mountain View Education Association (MVEA) is the 

bargaining representative for the nonsupervisory teachers 

employed at Mountain View. The teachers at Mountain View do 

not receive the leave time benefits provided state employees 

in § 2-18-601, et seq. because the definition of employee in 

§ 2-18-601(2) specifically excludes "schoolteachers." 

In March, 1985, the MVEA filed a motion for declaratory 

judgment seeking to have the teachers they represent declared 

entitled to the state employee benefits provided in 5 

2-18-601, et seq. The parties stipulated the legal issues 

and the facts necessary to decide it. On August 13, 1986, 

the District Court declared that the teachers were entitled 

to the benefits. The State Departments of Administration and 

Institutions appeal. 
Chapter 18 of Title 2 concerns state employee 

classification, compensation and benefits. Part 6 involves 

leave time. The statute in issue is definitional, stating: 

" 'Employee' means any person employed by an agency 

except elected state, county, and city officials, 

schoolteachers, and persons contracted as 

independent contractors or hired under personal 

services contracts. (Emphasis added.) 

Section 2-18-601 (21, MCA. 

It is the State's position that this language excludes 

Mountain View faculty from the scope of the state employee 

leave plan. The State argues that when the term 

schoolteacher is interpreted in its plain and ordinary 

meaning, as it should be since it is not statutorily defined, 

Mountain View faculty are explicitly excluded because they, 

like other schoolteachers, teach school. The State cites §§ 

1-2-106 and -107 in support of their argument. Section 

1-2-106 states: 

Words and phrases used in the statutes of Montana 

are construed according to the context and the 

approved usage of the language, but technical words 

and phrases and such others as have acquired a 

peculiar and appropriate meaning in law or are 

defined in chapter 1, part 2, as amended, are to be 

construed according to such peculiar and 

appropriate meaning or definition. 

The State's point is that "schoolteacher" is not defined in 

Chapter 1 and it is not a technical term, hence it must be 

construed according to its plain and ordinary meaning. The 

State then cites Webster's New World Dictionary defining 

schoolteacher as "one who teaches in a school" and teacher as 

"one who teaches, especially as a profession." 

While it is true that the word "schoolteacher" itself is 

not defined anywhere in the code, the word "teacher" is, in 

the title on Education, Title 20. Section 20-1-101(20), MCA, 

states: 
"Teacher" means any person, except a district 

superintendent, who holds a valid Montana teacher 

certificate that has been issued by the 

superintendent of public instruction under the 

provisions of this title and the policies adopted 

by the board of public education and who is 

employed b~ - a district as a member of its 

instructional, supervisory, or administrative staff . . . (Emphasis added. ) 

The prefatory sentence to the various definitions, 

including "teacher," found in § 20-1-101 is "as ---- used in this 

title, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the 

following definitions apply:" Although such a preface might 

be considered as limiting the definition of "teacher" only to 

those covered in Title 20, it is clear that if the teachers 

at Mountain View are indeed teachers as defined by this 

statute, then they - are covered in Title 20. They cannot meet 

the definition, however, because they are not employed by a 

school district. In consequence we hold that despite the 

prefatory statement in § 20-1-101, a "teacher" must meet the 

definition in that section for the state laws defining 

teachers to apply to employees of Mountain View. We are 

buttressed in this holding by the language of 1-2-107: 

Whenever the meaning of a word or phrase is defined 

in any part of this code, such definition is 

applicable to the same word or phrase wherever it 

occurs, except where a contrary intention plainly 

appears. 

Both parties rely on Rippey v. Flathead Valley Community 

College (Mont. 1984), 682 P.2d 1363, 41 St.Rep. 1117 to 

support their opposite conclusions. In Rippey, the issue was 

whether community college faculty were schoolteachers, and 

therefore excluded from the state employee's entitlement to 

compensation for accumulated sick leave. This Court examined 

the definition of teacher given in S 20-1-101(20) and held 

that "the plain and ordinary meaning" of schoolteacher did 
not include community college faculty members, because of the 

relationship between the Board of Regents and Montana's 

community colleges. The Court noted that the factor 

distinguishing community college faculty from schoolteachers 

is that the faculty are "ultimately answerable" to the Board 

of Regents. This Court recognizes a similiar distinction in 

the statutory language that "teachers" are "employed by a 

[school] district." The faculty at Mountain View are not 

employed by a school district. Their school is administered 

by the State Departments of Institutions and Administrations. 

The MVEA relied on this distinction to support their 

position. The State relied on the Rippey Court's use of the 

phrase "plain and ordinary meaning" in an out of context 

fashion to support theirs. 

We uphold the District Court's application of the 

distinction drawn in Rippey. The instructors at Mountain 

View are not employed by a school district. Instead, they 

are state employees subject to the direction of the 

Departments of Administration and Institutions. As state 

employees they do not fall within the statutory definition of 

"teachers" under 5 20-1-101(20), MCA. Hence they are 

entitled to leave benefits provided for other state employees 

under Title 2, Chapter 18, Part 6, MCA. 

Affirmed. 

We Concur: ,/ 

ATM / 

' Chief Justice 

e 
Justices 
Mr. Justice L. C. Gulbrandson, dissenting. 

I respectfully dissent. 

In my view, the majority, by interpreting the phrase 

"school teachers" to include only those teachers employed by 

a school district has done violence to the separation of 

powers doctrine. 

The Thirty-first Legislative Assembly added the words 

"or school teachers'' in Section 7, Chapter 131, Laws 1949. 

Chapter 131 is entitled in pertinent part "An Act Relating To 

Annual Vacation Leave for State, County, and City Employees 

. . . ," and Section 7, after amendment, states: "The term 

'employee' as used herein, does not refer to or include 

elected state, county, or city officials, or school 

teachers." 

By its very heading, the act could not be construed as 

providing vacation leave for school teachers employed by a 

school district. It could, however, prior to amendment, be 

construed as providing vacation leave for a school teacher 

employed by the state, county, or city. In my opinion, the 

addition of the words "or school teachers" in the exclusion 

section must be given some effect, whereas the majority 

opinion treats those words as nonexistent. 

Section 53-30-207, MCA, applicable to Mountain View and 

Pine Hills Schools, requires that: 

The academic and vocational curricula in 

facilities containing academic and 

vocational training shall include such 

academic and vocational subjects as are 

taught in the public schools of the state 

and shall conform to the standards set by 

the board of public education. 

The teachers employed at the two state schools are 

required to be certified in the same manner as all teachers 
employed in the public schools of the state, and are 

represented by the Mountain View Education Association, 

affiliated with the Montana Education Association. The 

Collective Bargaining Agreement between the State of Montana 

and the Mountain View Education Association provides for 185 

work days per teacher work year and specifically covers 

employee benefits as follows: Sick leave, family sick leave, 

maternity leave, jury duty, military leave, leave for public 

office, professional staff development, training, leave of 

absence, and paid release time for mediation and fact 

finding. The detailed arbitration provisions declare that no 

arbitrator shall have the power to add to, detract from, or 

modify the terms of the agreement. 

To define the words "school teacher" to exclude any 

certified teacher who is employed by an agency other than a 

school district is, in my opinion, a denigration of the 

collective bargaining process. 

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