Opinion ID: 31914
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Answer to Amicus Argument

Text: 18 Contrary to the argument of the LISD's amicus, the Texas Association of School Boards Legal Assistance Fund, this decision in no way subjects a school board to liability for acts other than its own. If the Commissioner does not abide the prescribed scheme, Texas gives an aggrieved school employee the right to appeal to a state district court, thereby providing constitutional due process. 34 If the mandated procedure is followed, an employee will also have been afforded constitutional due process when a school board makes its final termination decision. When a school board disregards the statutory scheme, here depriving the employee of his right to appeal, however, it may subject itself to liability, not for the act of another but for its own act. To the point, had the school board given Coggin the statutorily allotted time to appeal the Commissioner's decision, there would have been no denial of due process. 35