Court Opinion

ID: 9615646
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:39:15.820808+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:39:00.436182
License: Public Domain

CAMERON, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I believe the Classroom Teachers Association (CTA) is being subsidized by the school district contrary to an article of the Arizona Constitution which reads:
*351Neither the State, nor any county, city, town, municipality, or other subdivision of the State shall ever give or loan its credit in the aid of, or make any donation or grant, of subsidy or otherwise, to any individual, association, or corporation, * * * except as to such ownerships as may accrue to the State by operation or provision of law.
Ariz. Const., art. 9, § 7. The affidavit of Douglas L. Dickerson, Superintendent of Schools of Paradise Valley Unified School District No. 69, agreed upon by the parties as the statement of facts in this case, states:
Under present circumstances, the Association President is released full-time from her teaching duties and has an annual salary of $26,000. Pursuant to the Bargaining Agreement, the Association is paying the District one-half of the BA Step 1 salary to defray the cost of the Association President’s salary. In other words, the Association pays $6,800 of the Association President’s annual salary and the District pays $19,200. Therefore, the District is saving between $5,800 and $15,800 under the current arrangement as compared to what it would have to pay if a full-time Director of Employee Relations were hired.
The contract provides that in return for this payment the president of the CTA shall:
a. Provide communications with campus leaders, teachers, administrators, and community members which will contribute to positive working relationships, and inform teachers, administrators, and Board members of potential problems;
b. Attend school Board meetings as spokesperson for the teachers;
c. Assist teachers in their awareness of procedures and in following these procedures;
d. Appoint teachers to district committees;
e. Assist in the processing of grievances;
f. Confer with district administrators and board members on critical areas of concern to teachers;
g. Seek information from a variety of sources on areas of concern to teachers;
h. Represent members of the bargaining unit in hearings and in areas of concern;
i. Meet with the Assistant Superintendent for Personnel on a monthly basis;
j. Log time equal to 15 hours per week once every two weeks with the Assistant Superintendent for Personnel.
This court held over fifty years ago that “appropriations may only be made by the direct authorization of the people, through the Constitution or an initiated act, or by an act of the legislature, which has plenary power over the expenditures of public money, except as restricted by the terms of the Constitution.” Proctor v. Hunt, 43 Ariz. 198, 201, 29 P.2d 1058, 1059 (1934). In light of Proctor, the majority’s citation to A.R.S. §§ 15-343(A) and -502(A) is misguided. These statutes merely give a broad hiring power for “employing] professional personnel deemed necessary for making surveys and recommendations relating to the curricula, physical plant and other requirements of the district” and for “employpng] and fix[ing] the salaries of teachers, principals, janitors, attendance officers, school physician, school dentist, nurses, and other employees necessary for the succeeding year.” These statutes, however, do not sanction the salary paid under Proposal 98.
Admittedly, we have stated that a private association’s receiving some kind of benefit from a governmental act does not prevent that act from having a public purpose, see Industrial Development Authority of County of Pinal v. Nelson, 109 Ariz. 368, 373, 509 P.2d 705, 710 (1973); Town of Gila Bend v. Walled Lake Door Company, 107 Ariz. 545, 550, 490 P.2d 551, 556 (1971), but we have never stated what kind of balancing test should be utilized when weighing benefits received by the public body against benefits received by the pri*352vate association. The majority in the present case chooses to use a “valuable consideration” test, and states that “the Constitution may still be violated if the value to be received by the public is far exceeded by the consideration being paid by the public,” supra, at 357. Because we are dealing with public funds, I would favor the more restrictive test followed by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court:
Each case must be decided with reference to the object sought to be accomplished and to the degree and manner in which that object affects the public welfare. Frequently an object presents a double aspect in that it may in some respects result in conferring a benefit upon the public and in other respects it may result in conferring a benefit upon or in paying money to private individuals. In such instances the cases tend to distinguish between those results which are primary and those which are secondary or incidental and to classify the object according to its primary consequences and effects. At any rate it is plain that an expenditure is not necessarily barred because individuals as such may profit, nor is it necessarily valid because of incidental benefit to the public.
Allydonn Realty Corporation v. Holyoke Housing Authority, 304 Mass. 288, 292-93, 23 N.E.2d 665, 667 (1939). Accord, Port Authority of City of Saint Paul v. Fisher, 269 Minn. 276, 288, 132 N.W.2d 183, 192 (1964); Wilmington Parking Authority v. Ranken, 34 Del.Ch. 439, 452, 105 A.2d 614, 622 (1954). Under this “primary/incidental” benefit test, a court must determine who receives the “primary” benefit. If it is the government or municipality, the purpose is a public purpose. If it is the private individual or association, the purpose is a private purpose. In this case, I believe that the CTA receives the primary benefit. Out of the ten duties listed above, duties (a), (b), (d), (e), (f), (g), and (h) are, at the very least, heavily skewed in favor of benefiting the CTA as opposed to benefiting the district as an entity. In fact, the president of the CTA could properly perform all these functions as a representative of the CTA without being paid any amount by the school board. For example, under (b) the CTA president will “[ajttend school board meetings as spokesperson for the teachers.” Being a “spokesperson for the teachers” on its face indicates that it is the teachers who will be the primary beneficiaries and that any benefit to the school board will be only incidental. When we consider that there are also non-CTA teachers employed by the district, the direct and “primary” benefit to the CTA becomes more apparent. It is doubtful that the CTA president would represent the views of non-CTA teachers if a conflict in views should arise between these different groups. Another example where the CTA benefits at the expense of the board and the non-CTA member teachers is in the appointment of teachers to district committees. In his affidavit the Superintendent stated:
There are 137 positions for teachers on 18 District committees. District administrators and parents of students attending schools in the District also serve on these committees, which have been formed to review school-related activities such as staff development, professional growth, insurance, course curricula, etc. After conferring with the teachers on the subject of their suitability and willingness to serve, the Association President annually recommends teachers to fill the open committee positions. Given the benefit of this prescreening by the Association President, his or her recommendations are always followed.
(Emphasis added.) Virtual control over the district’s committees is of primary benefit to the CTA and only an incidental benefit to the district, if, in fact, it is a benefit at all.
Even under the majority’s own test, however, I do not believe this expenditure can pass constitutional muster. The district has virtually no control over the CTA president’s execution of her duties. In fact, under the contract, the board has no control over who will be president of the CTA. That is determined by the membership of *353the CTA and the president could be a person totally unsuited for the duties called for in the contract. Under Proposal 98, the president of the CTA is free to act in the best interest of CTA members, even though this may be to the detriment of non-CTA members or contrary to the best interests of the school district. In light of this fact, I do not believe that any assumed financial savings accruing to the district under the proposal can compensate for this loss of control. Thus, the value to be received by the public, financial savings, is outweighed by the consideration to be paid by the public, loss of control. What has happened here is that the board has “bought its peace” by paying the president of the CTA for duties which benefit the CTA at the expense of the board and non-CTA member teachers.
In conclusion, I believe that the value to be received by the school board is exceeded by the consideration to be paid by the board. The contract favors the CTA with very little benefit to the board. In other words, the cost to the public far exceeds the benefits to be received by the public. By whatever test, the “primary/incidental” benefit test, Allydone Realty Corporation, supra, or the “valuable consideration” test of the majority, the contract results in donation of public funds for a private purpose contrary to our Constitution.