Title: Edmonds v. Bronner
Citation: 547 So. 2d 1172
Docket Number: N/A
State: Alabama
Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court
Date: June 30, 1989

547 So. 2d 1172 (1989)
Dr. Charles H. EDMONDS
v.
Dr. David BRONNER, etc.
88-531-CER.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
June 30, 1989.
*1173 Donald B. Sweeney, Jr. and Norma Mungenast Lemley of Rives &amp; Petterson, Birmingham, for appellant.
William T. Stephens, Montgomery, for appellee.
HOUSTON, Justice.
The United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit, pursuant to Rule 18, Ala. R.App.P., has certified questions of law to us, 864 P.2d 752 (1989):
Article IV, section 98, of the Alabama Constitution of 1901 provides:
This Court in Zeigler v. Baker, 344 So. 2d 761, 767 (Ala.1977), held that § 98 prohibited the Legislature "from granting a public officer ... retirement funds." (Emphasis supplied.) Because Governors were involved in Zeigler, this Court did not find it necessary to discuss who was a "public officer." That question was discussed in State ex rel. Gray v. King, 395 So. 2d 6, 7 (Ala.1981):
*1175 This is in accord with Cobbs v. Home Ins. Co. of New York, 18 Ala.App. 206, 209, 91 So. 627, 629 (1921), in which the Court of Appeals held that for a person to be an "officer" under Ala. Const. § 98, "it is necessary that he have and exercise certain independent public duties incident to an office created by law, carrying with it a part of the sovereignty of the state"; and with State ex rel. Hyland v. Baumhauer, 244 Ala. 1, 7, 12 So. 2d 326, 330 (1942), in which this Court held that an "officer," for purposes of Ala. Const. § 98, must be "vested with a part of the sovereignty of the State."
Is a county superintendent of education such an "officer"?
We have held that the state superintendent of education is an officer of the state board of education and not of the State, by the following reasoning:
Britnell v. Alabama State Board of Education, 374 So. 2d 282, 286 (Ala.1979). (Emphasis in the original.)
Section 256, Constitution of Alabama 1901, as amended by Amendment 111, provides:
The Legislature enacted the School Code of 1927, parts of which are now codified as Ala.Code 1975, § 16-8-8, which provides in part:
Amendment 284, Const, of Ala. 1901, provides:
The Legislature clearly intended the county boards of education to have authority over the county educational system comparable to that that the state board of education has over the state educational system.
Amendment 284, Constitution of Alabama 1901, further provides, in pertinent part:
Other parts of the School Code of 1927, as codified, provide in pertinent part as follows:
Ala.Code 1975, § 16-9-1. (Emphasis added.)
*1176 County superintendents of education, whether appointed or elected, have to have certain minimum qualifications (Code 1975, § 16-9-2). As the executive officers of the county boards of education, they must see that "the laws relating to the schools, [and] the rules and regulations of the state and county boards of education are carried into effect" (§ 16-9-13); they must recommend for approval and adoption by the county boards of education the kind, grade, and location of schools to be established and maintained (§ 16-9-14); they must recommend for approval and adoption by the county boards of education educational policies to promote the educational interests of the county and rules and regulations for the conduct of the schools (§ 16-9-15); they must prescribe courses of study for the schools of the county, which must be approved and adopted by the county boards of education (§ 16-9-21). None of the powers and duties given by the Legislature to county superintendents of education are "independent public duties incident to an office created by law, carrying with it a part of the sovereignty of the state." Cobbs v. Home Ins. Co. of New York, supra; see, also, State ex rel. Gray v. King, supra; and State v. Baumhauer, supra.
Examining the numerous local acts that pertain to the superintendent of education for Marshall County[2] (Act No. 35, Alabama Acts 1931, as amended by Act 197, Alabama Acts 1975 (Reg. Session), p. 682, and by Act 81-521, Alabama Acts 1981; and Act No. 81, Alabama Acts 1936 (Ex. Session), p. 43; Act No. 448, Alabama Acts 1951, p. 800; Act No. 14, Alabama Acts 1956, p. 260; Act No. 638, Alabama Acts 1957, p. 964; Act No. 55, Alabama Acts 1963, p. 434; Act No. 122, Alabama Acts 1967, p. 175; Act No. 1338, Alabama Acts 1971, p. 2287; Act No. 988 and Act No. 989, Alabama Acts 1975, pp. 2016-17; and Act No. 606, Alabama Acts 1978, p. 862), we note that none of these attempts to give to the Marshall County superintendent of education any duties or powers different from the duties or powers given to county superintendents of education generally, whether appointed by county boards of education or elected by the electors of a county. Ala.Code 1975, Title 16, Chapter 9 ("County Superintendents of Education"). None of these local acts gives the superintendent of education for Marshall County any independent duties incident to his office carrying with it a part of the sovereignty of the State.
Using the analysis used by Justice Almon in Britnell v. Alabama State Board of Education, supra, we conclude that all authority is vested in the county board of education (subject to the supervision by the State Board of Education) and not in the county superintendent. The county superintendent is controlled by and is an officer of the county board of education and, therefore, is not an officer as contemplated by § 98.
Unless the fact that Dr. Edmonds was elected county superintendent of education rather than appointed to that position by the county board of education in some way makes him an "officer" as that word is used in Ala.Const. § 98, he is not such an officer.
Black's Law Dictionary 465 (5th ed. 1979).
25 Am.Jur.2d Elections § 1 at 691-92 (1966).
Smith v. McQueen, 232 Ala. 90, 93, 166 So. 788, 791 (1936).
Whether an officer is a public officer under Ala. Const. § 98 must be determined by examining the duties of the office, the "being there," rather than the method by which the officer is selected, i.e., appointment or election, the "getting there." Are the duties of the office performed independently or under the control of a superior officer and not simply under the control of the law? If the former, then it is a public office and Ala. Const. § 98 prohibits the retirement on pay or part pay or a grant to such an officer, unless such is specifically authorized under some other provision of the Alabama Constitution of 1901, as amended. If the latter, then it is not a public office and Ala. Const. § 98 does not prohibit the retirement on pay or part pay of the person occupying that office. Britnell v. Alabama State Board of Education, supra. Dr. Edmonds's duties as superintendent of education of Marshall County are performed under the control of the Marshall County board of education, and the method by which he was selected for that position is irrelevant in determining whether he is an officer under Ala. Const. § 98. Dr. Edmonds is not such an officer.
County superintendents of education, either elected or appointed, are not officers within the meaning of article IV, § 98, of the Alabama Constitution of 1901.
We decline to address the question whether other superintendents of public schools or administrators of public colleges within the state of Alabama are such officers. However, the analysis used in this opinion could be used to determine whether they are such officers.
A person, either elected or appointed, is not prohibited from participating in the Teachers' Retirement System of Alabama by virtue of holding the office of county superintendent of education.
CERTIFIED QUESTIONS ANSWERED.
HORNSBY, C.J., and MADDOX, JONES, ALMON, SHORES, ADAMS and KENNEDY, JJ., concur.
STEAGALL, J., recused.
[1]  Britnell involved § 286, Constitution of Alabama 1901: "The salary, fees, or compensation of an officer holding any civil office of profit under this state or any county or municipality thereof, shall not be increased or diminished during the term for which he shall have been elected or appointed." We can find no discernible difference between "officer" in § 98 and § 281 of the Constitution from the Official Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of 1901, which we may look to in construing a provision of the Constitution (City of Montgomery v. Graham, 255 Ala. 685, 53 So. 2d 363 (1951), and Zeigler v. Baker, supra); nor do we find a difference from the constitutional provisions themselves.
[2]  Article IV, § 105, Alabama Constitution of 1901, mandates that:

"[N]o ... local law ... shall be enacted in any case which is provided for by a general law,... nor shall the legislature indirectly enact any ... local law by the partial repeal of a general law."
We do not mean to imply that the local acts listed above could give the Marshall County superintendent of education duties or powers different from those duties and powers given to county superintendents of education under the general law, under the above constitutional prohibitions, but merely that they did not even purport to do so. See, Peddycoart v. City of Birmingham, 354 So. 2d 808 (Ala. 1978).