Court Opinion

ID: 9713530
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:16:54.423059+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:19.155421
License: Public Domain

FOSHEIM, Justice
(dissenting).
The majority decision steps over the central issues of this case: whether South Dakota’s Administrative Procedures Act, SDCL ch. 1-26 (APA), governs an appeal to the Superintendent and to the circuit court; and whether it is the decision of the school board or of the Superintendent which is before the circuit court. I dissent from the majority because the APA does not apply to this case and because the school board’s decision is before the circuit court.
The inapplicability of the APA surfaces when an attempt is made to harmonize existing statutes and case law with the 1980 amendment to SDCL 13-6-85, which provides for appeal of a school board boundary decision to the Superintendent. As the majority notes, the 1980 amendment allows an aggrieved party the option of appealing a school board boundary decision directly to circuit court, or to the Superintendent and from the Superintendent to circuit court.1 *873The Superintendent correctly decided that the appeal hearing he conducted was not governed by the APA. Such a conclusion is clearly indicated by Dale v. Board of Education, 316 N.W.2d 108 (S.D.1982), wherein we held that school board appeal procedures do not fall within the APA because local governments are not agencies as defined by the APA and the legislature provided a separate procedural scheme for contract nonrenewal cases. The legislature has likewise provided a separate procedural scheme (SDCL 13-6-84 to 89) for changing school district boundaries.
The inapplicability of the APA is further indicated because an appeal before the Superintendent is not a “contested case” as defined by SDCL l-26-l(2).2 In Carlson v. Hudson, 277 N.W.2d 715, 717-18 (S.D.1979) (footnote omitted), we said, “[i]n order for the provisions of SDCL Chapter 1-26 to apply, the matter at hand must be a ‘contested case’ as defined in SDCL 1-26-1(2).” Carlson said a contested case is a proceeding “required by law to be determined by an agency.” Id. Due to the appeal options, a boundary application appeal is not required by law to be determined by the Superintendent (an agency). Consequently, the APA does not apply.
The appeal before the circuit court is likewise not governed by the APA. SDCL 13-6-89, prescribes that an appeal to the circuit court is “under the same limitations and procedures provided by law for appeal for all school board decisions.” An appeal of a school board decision is governed by SDCL ch. 13-46 which, unlike the APA, provides for a trial de novo in the circuit court.3 Dale, supra.
The circuit court reviewed the Superintendent’s decision even though, as stated above, SDCL 13-6-89 provides that such appeals are governed by SDCL ch. 13 — 46. The clear import of SDCL ch. 13-46 is that it is a procedure for appealing school board decisions. Therefore SDCL 13-46-6’s provision for a trial de novo in the circuit court means a de novo review (as limited by Dale, supra) of the school board’s decision, not the Superintendent’s.
Proper resolution of the facts and law in this case necessitate a remand. Although the circuit court apparently believed the appeal before it was governed by the APA, it received new evidence and essentially conducted a trial de novo. Accordingly on remand the circuit court could receive such additional evidence as it deems appropriate to fully hear the issues.

. The 1980 Legislature added this amendment to SDCL 13-6-85:
*873Any petitioner who is aggrieved by a decision of the school board under this section may appeal that decision.
An appeal from the decision of the school board shall be made and perfected within thirty days from the date of the decision of the school board by the filing of a notice with the superintendent of the school board and mailing a copy thereof to the superintendent of the elementary and secondary education. The state superintendent of elementary and secondary education shall thereafter set a time and place for the hearing and give at least ten days written notice of the hearing to the parties involved in the appeal. Nothing in this section shall affect the right of a taxpayer to appeal from the decision of the school board to the circuit court.

. SDCL 1-26-1(2) states: “ ‘Contested case’ means a proceeding ... in which the legal rights, duties, or privileges of a party are required by law to be determined by an agency after an opportunity for hearing[.]”

. SDCL 1-26-35 expressly forbids a trial de novo in the circuit court.