Court Opinion

ID: 9692937
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 16:12:59.288713+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:38.210184
License: Public Domain

LARSEN, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent and in support thereof adopt the Commonwealth Court opinion authored by the Honorable David W. Craig. 93 Pa.Commw. 28, 500 A.2d 922 (1985). In addition, I would note that this Court stated in Commonwealth v. Magwood, 503 Pa. 169, 176-77, 469 A.2d 115, 118-19 (1983), that:
While 1 Pa.C.S. § 1924 does indeed provide that “[t]he title ... of a statute may be considered in the construction thereof”, that section also provides that “[t]he headings prefixed to titles, parts, articles, chapters, sections and other divisions of a statute shall not be considered *451to control ...” Emphasis added. It is also a “well-established rule” that the title “cannot control the plain words of the statute” and that even in the case of ambiguity it may be considered only to “resolve the uncertainty.”
Thus, the majority errs in finding that section 11-1125.-1(c) of the Public School Code, 24 P.S. §§ 1-101 — 26-2607-A, must be applied only in instances of professional employee suspensions due to staff realignment.
Commonwealth Court has been consistently interpreting section 1125.1(e) to include not only those employees suspended because of staff realignment, but also those employees demoted for that reason, since the enactment of this section in 1979. See Appeal of Cowden, 87 Pa.Commw. 165, 486 A.2d 1014 (1984); Fry v. Garnet Valley School District, 86 Pa.Commw. 206, 485 A.2d 508 (1984); Olson v. Board of School Directors Methacton School District, 84 Pa.Commw. 189, 478 A.2d 954 (1984); Shestack v. General Braddock Area School District, 63 Pa.Commw. 204, 437 A.2d 1059 (1981). If the Legislature were aggrieved by this straightforward interpretation of the law, surely it would have acted to correct the same by now.
In fact, the Legislature has already acted to expand Commonwealth Court’s correct reading of the plain and unambiguous language of section 1125.1(c), by amending section 1125.1(d)(2) in 1986, to specifically include, among those who must be reinstated on the basis of seniority, those professional employees who are demoted because of reduced student enrollment and course offerings, consolidation or reorganization. 24 P.S. § ll-1125.1(d)(2), as amended 1986, July 10, P.L. 1270, No. 117, § 4, imm. effective. Clearly, the Legislature added demoted professional employees to its law regarding the reinstatement of suspended professional employees (section 1125.1(d)(2)) because the Legislature recognized that demotions due to staff realignment were already subject to the seniority law set forth in section 1125.1(c), and the legislators were seeking to make clear that all suspensions or demotions for whatever reason *452are to be determined solely on the basis of seniority and certification.
The purpose of section 1125.1 was to put certainty into the law by making seniority and certification the only factors to be considered when staff changes are required due to reduced student enrollment and course offerings, consolidation, reorganization or staff realignment. This issue was debated at length in the Legislature. See Legislative Journal-House at 1117-45, 1191-1200, 1203-16 (June 4 and 6, 1979). A minority of legislators attempted, by amendment, to retain the old rating system, which was subject to the whim and discretion of local administrators, but these attempts were soundly defeated. Id.
Formerly, teachers were at the mercy of the tyranny of local school boards. The majority opinion of Mr. Justice Zappala heralds a return to that era of unbridled, arbitrary discretion, cloaked in the guise of “the educational needs of the district.” Maj. op. at 1089.
Accordingly, I dissent and would affirm the order of the Commonwealth Court which reversed the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Lawrence County.
PAPADAKOS, J., joins in the dissenting opinion.