Opinion ID: 1161742
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: standard for review by this court

Text: In Ryan, we casually considered the standard of review by the judicial tribunal to consider a petition for review from an administrative agency decision. This case in present juncture is somewhat novel for a number of reasons, including initially the uncustomary process provided in Wyoming law of the direct certification from district court to the Supreme Court when a petition for review is presented by an administrative agency under the purview of W.R.A.P. 12.09. [7] Consequently, for present disposition, the decision of this court apprehends unusual characteristics of fact finding and appellate adjudication. Additionally, we are not presented with a typically reviewed decision from an administrative agency. The hearing officer in this case was not professionally trained in educational matters, since designated by application and status as a practicing attorney. His evidentiary decision was not evaluated by the professional agency implicit in the normal administrative proceedings. This would normally put the trial court, and in certification situation, this court in the express posture of re-analyzing the basic evidence used for decision since the technical expertise is not a factor presented. Additionally, we are presented with the peculiarities of the federal statutes which provide concurrent jurisdiction to either the federal or state courts and specifically apply a standard of review which is different from the normal process of federal administrative law or this state. Title 20 U.S.C. § 1415(e)(2) (1982 ed. & Supp. IV 1986) states: Any party aggrieved by the findings and decision made under subsection (b) [hearing process in local or state venue] who does not have the right to an appeal under subsection (c) of this section, [review of local decision by state superintending authority] and any party aggrieved by the findings and decision under subsection (c) of this section, shall have the right to bring a civil action with respect to the complaint presented pursuant to this section, which action may be brought in any State court of competent jurisdiction or in a district court of the United States without regard to the amount in controversy. In any action brought under this paragraph the court shall receive the records of the administrative proceedings, shall hear additional evidence at the request of a party, and, basing its decision on the preponderance of the evidence, shall grant such relief as the court determines is appropriate. [Emphasis added.] This standard of review is simply not compatible with Wyoming administrative review standards of W.R.A.P. 12.09 and W.S. 16-3-114(c), which are comparable to present standards of the federal courts and most states. A fairly detailed consideration of the extensive number of EHA cases demonstrated that the normal administrative review standard is not preclusive. Beasley v. School Bd. of Campbell County, 6 Va. App. 206, 367 S.E.2d 738 (1988). Although this result is largely derived from the text of the federal statute itself as considered in general terms by the United States Supreme Court in Board of Education v. Rowley, 458 U.S. 176, 102 S.Ct. 3034, 73 L.Ed.2d 690, (1982) there has developed a fairly specified set of special EHA review rules as similar in both state and federal courts. First applied is the concept that the review analysis when considering the hearing officer's decision encompasses mixed questions of law and fact with the effective fact finding function finitely transferred to the judiciary by 20 U.S.C. § 1415(e)(2) (1982 ed. & Supp. IV 1986). Rowley, 458 U.S. 176, 102 S.Ct. 3034, 73 L.Ed.2d 690; Doe v. Anrig, 692 F.2d 800 (1982), overruled on other grounds, 722 F.2d 910 (1st Cir.1983). The decisional process requires that a district court must make an independent determination based on a preponderance of the evidence, giving due weight to the state administrative proceedings.  Geis v. Board of Educ. of Parsippany-Troy Hills, Morris County, 774 F.2d 575, 583 (3rd Cir.1985) (emphasis added). In Geis, the appellate court perceived that the district court did exactly that, specifically citing the evidence in its record and the administrative record that supported its conclusion, as well as discussing the conflicting evidence. Id. at 583. See Board of Trustees of Pascagoula Mun. Separate School Dist. v. Doe, 508 So.2d 1081 (Miss. 1987). See also David D. v. Dartmouth School Committee, 775 F.2d 411 (1st Cir.1985), cert. denied 475 U.S. 1140, 106 S.Ct. 1790, 90 L.Ed.2d 336 (1986) and Roncker on Behalf of Roncker v. Walter, 700 F.2d 1058 (6th Cir.), cert. denied 464 U.S. 864, 104 S.Ct. 196, 78 L.Ed.2d 171 (1983). [8] The appellate consideration standard (as in the future to be first applied in this state by the district court) is that review is conducted de novo with issues presented encompassing mixed questions of fact and law, Wexler v. Westfield Bd. of Educ., 784 F.2d 176 (3rd Cir.), cert. denied 479 U.S. 825, 107 S.Ct. 99, 93 L.Ed.2d 49 (1986), from which an independent determination will be made by a preponderance of the evidence with due deference given to professional expertise and decisional appropriateness as documented by the administrative hearing. The burden of proving that the hearing officer erred is on the appealing party. Pascagoula, 508 So.2d 1081. The difficulty in decision is noted as an example in discussion of Martin v. School Bd. of Prince George County, 3 Va. App. 197, 348 S.E.2d 857, 864 (1986): As the circuit court suggested, the School Board is not responsible primarily for treatment of David's emotional disability. Nevertheless, the School Board was required to offer a residential placement in which David would receive both educational instruction and intensive professional attention for his learning disability, if a free appropriate public education could not be provided by a less restrictive placement. This determination is not a simple task for the professional educators who were directly involved in preparing an IEP for David. It is no less difficult for a court presented with the issue of residential placement to separate medical, social and educational problems. Since we establish a preponderance test for the district court and a plainly wrong test for appellate review, the arbitrary and capricious and not supported by substantial evidence standard normally employed for administrative agency review is inapposite. Furthermore, as an appellate tribunal, we will not ignore precedent of the United States Supreme Court decisions in application of federalism principles which are determinative on matters of constitutional application through legislation of the United States Congress. Rowley, 458 U.S. 176, 102 S.Ct. 3034, 73 L.Ed.2d 690, affords us no pause since we had previously held that a Wyoming standard is constitutionally emplaced for equal education and is, at least if not more, demanding than criteria resulting from the EHA. Ryan, 764 P.2d 1019 (Wyo. 1988). The substantive thesis remaining is whether School Committee of Town of Burlington, Mass. v. Department of Educ. of Mass., 471 U.S. 359, 105 S.Ct. 1996, 85 L.Ed.2d 385 (1985) supersedes Wyoming's statutes and constitution in requiring an ongoing educational expenditure for thirty-seven months for a person not otherwise eligible as a replacement for claimed ineffective educational assistance some six to eight years earlier. Cf. Honig v. Doe, ___ U.S. ___, 108 S.Ct. 592, 98 L.Ed.2d 686 (1988).