Opinion ID: 3135348
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Compliance with Section 7B2c

Text: The first issue here is whether the Superintendent correctly determined that Ohlhausen=s elementary school petition complied with section 7B2c. The State Superintendent=s decision is subject to review under the Administrative Review Law. 105 ILCS 5/7B2c (West 1998); 735 ILCS 5/3B101 et seq. (West 2002). -9- The Administrative Review Law provides that judicial review of an administrative agency decision Ashall extend to all questions of law and fact presented by the entire record before the court.@ 735 ILCS 5/3B110 (West 2002). The standard of review, A >which determines the degree of deference given to the agency=s decision,= @ turns on whether the issue presented is a question of fact, a question of law, or a mixed question of law and fact. Comprehensive Community Solutions, Inc. v. Rockford School District No. 205, 216 Ill. 2d 455, 471 (2005), quoting AFM Messenger Service, Inc. v. Department of Employment Security, 198 Ill. 2d 380, 390 (2001). An agency=s conclusion on a question of law is reviewed de novo. Comprehensive Community Solutions, Inc., 216 Ill. 2d at 471. A reviewing court is not bound by an agency=s interpretation of a statute, but the agency=s interpretation remains relevant where there is a reasonable debate about the meaning of the statute. Comprehensive Community Solutions, Inc., 216 Ill. 2d at 471. A mixed question of law and fact asks the legal effect of a given set of facts. Comprehensive Community Solutions, Inc., 216 Ill. 2d at 472. That is, in resolving a mixed question of law and fact, a reviewing court must determine whether established facts satisfy applicable legal rules. Comprehensive Community Solutions, Inc., 216 Ill. 2d at 472; AFM Messenger, 198 Ill. 2d at 391, quoting Pullman-Standard v. Swint, 456 U.S. 273, 289 n.19, 72 L. Ed. 2d 66, 80 n.19, 102 S. Ct. 1781, 1790 n.19 (1982). An agency=s conclusion on a mixed question of law and fact is reviewed for clear error. Comprehensive Community Solutions, Inc., 216 Ill. 2d at 472; City of Belvidere v. Illinois State Labor Relations Board, 181 Ill. 2d 191, 205 (1998). Such review is significantly deferential to an agency=s experience in construing and applying the statutes that it administers. Comprehensive Community Solutions, Inc., 216 Ill. 2d at 472; AFM Messenger, 198 Ill. 2d at 393-94. Thus, A >when the decision of an administrative agency presents a mixed question of law and fact, the agency decision will be deemed Aclearly erroneous@ only where the reviewing court, on the entire record, is Aleft with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.@ = @ Comprehensive Community -10- Solutions, Inc., 216 Ill. 2d at 472, quoting AFM Messenger, 198