Court Opinion

ID: 9701571
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 22:25:34.750515+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:25.394321
License: Public Domain

SULLIVAN, J.
(dissenting).
In this case, the State Board of Education (State Board) ordered the closing of the Jamesburg High School and the transfer of the students to the neighboring school districts of Monroe Township and Spotswood Borough. It also ordered the transfer of tenured teachers previously employed at the closed high school to the school districts to which the pupils were being sent. The majority opinion does not question the State Board’s power to have ordered the closing of the school and the transfer of the pupils, but holds that the Board lacked the power to reassign the tenured teachers from the closed school to the school districts to which the pupils were transferred. In the main, the majority bases its ruling on an interpretation of N.J.S.A. 18A:28-6.1 which, it says, permits the transfer of teachers in a school closing situation only by agreement with the other school districts.
I agree that the statute so provides but in my opinion this statute has nothing to do with the State Board’s order. The statute deals with a situation where a local school district closes a school. In such case the statute provides that the students *552and teachers in the closed school may be transferred to another school district “by agreement” with that district. The statute makes sense. Obviously, a local school district should not be permitted to close one of its schools and then to transfer the pupils and teachers from the closed school to another school district except with the consent of that district.
The subject matter of this appeal is entirely different. Here, after public hearings on the question, the State Board ordered the closing of Jamesburg High School based on a determination by the Commissioner of Education that the school could not be operated in a thorough and efficient manner. There is no statute specifically providing for such an order. However, the majority notes that the closing was ordered pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:7A-15, which states that when the State Board determines that a local district is not providing a thorough and efficient education, the State Board
shall have the power to issue an administrative order specifying a remedial plan to the local board of education * * *.
I agree that this broad authorization would empower the State Board to order the closing of a particular school if it found it necessary to do so in order to provide for a thorough and efficient education. By the same token, however, the remedial plan authorized would be incomplete unless it made provision for the students and tenured teachers in the closed school.
I do not understand how the majority can, in effect, sanction a State Board order closing a local school and transferring its pupils to neighboring school districts, but hold that the agency lacks the power to do anything about the tenured teachers affected by the closing. In so holding, the majority has failed to give any consideration to the obviously relevant provisions of N.J.S.A. 18A:7A-15.
The majority has also declined to consider whether the broad legislative authority conferred on the State Board to provide for a thorough and efficient education could be used to justify the teacher transfer order, saying that neither the State Board nor the State Commissioner of Education attempted to justify the transfer order on this ground.
*553I disagree. In addition to finding legislative authorization for ordering teacher transfer in N.J.S.A. 18A:7A-15, it is clear to me that the pervasive authority to provide for a thorough and efficient education encompasses all facets of the educational process. The transfer of tenured teachers in a situation such as is here presented is well within the delegated authority. To deny the State Board this power will result in seniority problems and possible “bumpings” in the Jamesburg school district. On the other hand, presumably, the two districts to which the pupils have been transferred will need additional teachers because of the increased enrollment. I would reverse the judgment of the Appellate Division and reinstate the decision of the State Board.
Chief Justice WILENTZ and Justice PASHMAN join in this opinion.