Opinion ID: 1946901
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: kathleen holmes

Text: In its decision to suspend several teachers for the 1976-77 school year, the Board voted to suspend one of six teachers in its business education department. For the 1975-76 school year, Kathleen Holmes, a business education teacher, had an unweighted efficiency rating of 95, a weighted efficiency rating of 101, and three years of employment in the school district. [7] Another teacher in this department had an unweighted efficiency rating of 106, a weighted efficiency rating of 110, and two years of employment in the school district. The district superintendent determined that an eight point difference in unweighted efficiency ratings was substantial. Since there was an eleven point difference between Holmes' unweighted efficiency rating and the rating of another teacher, the superintendent used the weighted efficiency ratings to determine which teacher to suspend. Accordingly, the superintendent suspended Holmes, who had the lowest weighted efficiency rating. At the hearing de novo, the hearing court made a finding of fact that a sixteen point difference in unweighted efficiency ratings is a substantial difference as opposed to an eight point difference. Consequently, the hearing court determined that Holmes was improperly suspended, since there was no substantial difference in efficiency ratings (eleven points), and Holmes had more years of employment in the district than a teacher who was retained by the Board. The Commonwealth Court determined that the hearing court's finding of fact was erroneous. The Commonwealth Court gave the following reason for this determination: Our review in this case is just like the responsibility of the court below: to determine whether or not there was a violation of constitutional rights, an error of law or manifest abuse of discretion. At the hearing de novo no evidence was introduced to show that the District superintendent's calculation of a substantial difference in rating points was arbitrary or capricious and therefore an abuse of discretion. This Court has previously construed the term substantial difference to mean a real, considerable or important difference. Gabriel v. Trinity Area School District, [22 Pa.Cmwlth. 620, 350 A.2d 203], supra. We have previously concluded that a difference of six points, Smith v. Richland School District, 36 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 150, 387 A.2d 974 (1978), was not an unreal, inconsiderable or unimportant difference. Likewise we here conclude that the superintendent's determination of eight points as a substantial difference was reasonable and neither arbitrary nor capricious, regard 11 points as a substantial difference, and reverse the order of reinstatement of Kathleen Holmes. Holmes asserts that this reasoning of the Commonwealth Court is erroneous. We agree. Since this was a hearing de novo, the hearing court was not required to review the determination of the district superintendent, but was required to make its own findings of fact and determination. Pa.Stat.Ann. tit. 53, § 11308(a). Furthermore, the Commonwealth Court's standard of review is limited to a determination of whether the hearing court's finding of fact was supported by substantial evidence. In applying this standard, this Court has held that a finding of fact will not be reversed on appeal unless it is totally unsupported by the record. Republic Steel Corp. v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board, 492 Pa. 1, 421 A.2d 1060 (1980). Before applying the above standard to the hearing court's finding of fact, it should be noted that there is little useful statutory or common law authority dispositive of what constitutes a substantial difference in efficiency ratings. The term substantial difference has no statutory definition and no practical common law definition. [8] Furthermore, the question of what evidence a fact finder may base a determination of substantial difference on has not been answered by the legislature or the courts. It is, therefore, not surprising that in 1979 the legislature repealed Pa.Stat.Ann. tit. 24, § 11-1125, and replaced it with a statute that bases the order of suspension solely on the basis of seniority. [9] The record of the hearing de novo discloses that Dr. John Rooney, an administrator in the school district, stated that in his opinion a difference of sixteen points in unweighted efficiency ratings out of a possible 160 points would constitute a substantial difference. The record further indicates the following qualifications of Dr. Rooney: that he has been employed for thirteen years in the field of education; that he has been a principal of an elementary school in the school district for nine years; that he has a bachelor of science degree in elementary education, a master's degree in elementary education, and a doctorate degree in administration of education; and that his duties include rating teachers in accordance with Pa.Stat.Ann. tit. 24, § 11-1123. Although there has been no rule established concerning the type of evidence that a fact finder may base a determination of substantial difference on, the opinion of a qualified administrator, such as Dr. Rooney, is as probative as any other type of evidence on this issue. Consequently, the hearing court's finding of fact is supported by substantial evidence.