Court Opinion

ID: 9783604
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 19:50:41.993939+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:35:20.616683
License: Public Domain

*3EDMONDS, P. J.
Plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment that the state, by providing fewer funds to the Region 10 Education Service District (ESD) in which they reside than to other ESDs, violates their right to equal treatment guaranteed by Article I, section 20, of the Oregon Constitution and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. ESDs are geographical entities that provide services for schools such as audits, staff development, and special programs. ORS 334.125; ORS 334.175. After a hearing on cross-motions for summary judgment, the trial court granted defendant’s motion, denied plaintiffs’, and entered judgment for defendant. Plaintiffs appeal. The case presents only two issues: whether there remains a live controversy, in light of the fact that the statute in effect when the case was tried has been superseded by a different statute that imposes a gradual phase-in of funding increases to achieve equity by 2005, and, if the case is not moot, whether the new statute is constitutional. Or Laws 2001, ch 15, §§ 2-8, compiled as a note after ORS 327.019 (2001).
The mootness issue is no different from the one that the Supreme Court decided in Coalition for Equit. School Fund. v. State of Oregon, 311 Or 300, 811 P2d 116 (1991), where a mechanism in place for school district funding at the time of trial was superseded by an initiative, Ballot Measure 5 (1990), while the appeal was pending. The court held that the issue in the case was not the validity of a particular funding scheme but whether unequal funding deprived the plaintiffs of a constitutionally protected right. The new funding scheme “does not moot that issue. It is, rather, a part of the law whose effect on the pleaded facts we must consider in our analysis.” 311 Or at 306. The same is true here.
On the merits, plaintiffs argue that the new statute violates their rights under Article I, section 20, of the Oregon Constitution. That constitutional provision provides, “No law shall be passed granting to any citizen or class of citizens privileges, or immunities, which, upon the same terms, shall not equally belong to all citizens.” Plaintiffs contend that *4they are members of a class of citizens to whom certain privileges, equal funding of ESDs, are not made available. For purposes of this opinion, we will assume that plaintiffs are members of a true class because of their geographical residence. Withers v. State of Oregon, 163 Or App 298, 306-08, 987 P2d 1247 (1999), rev den, 331 Or 284 (2000) (Withers II); see also State v. Clark, 291 Or 231, 241, 630 P2d 810 (1981), cert den, 454 US 1084 (1981) (holding that different treatment of comparable facts at different geographical locations within the state may or may not be a denial of equal privileges or immunities under Article I, section 20, depending on the policy choices involved).
 Whether disparate treatment of true classes is protected by Article I, section 20, may depend on whether the class is a “suspect” class based on antecedent personal or social characteristics such as ethnicity or gender or whether the class falls within the category of other true classes. Tanner v. OSHU, 157 Or App 502, 521, 971 P2d 435 (1998). Here, plaintiffs are not members of a “suspect” class. It follows that the next question is whether the distinctions drawn by the law here have a rational basis. Plaintiffs argue that it was irrational for the legislature to address unequal funding to school districts before turning to the issue regarding ESDs. According to the record before us, school districts receive 95 percent of the state school fund budget. It is certainly a rational approach to address a larger problem before addressing a problem that has fewer financial consequences. See, e.g., San Antonio School District v. Rodriguez, 411 US 1, 39, 93 S Ct 1278, 36 L Ed 2d 16 (1973). Second, plaintiffs argue in effect that it was irrational for the legislature to continue current levels of funding for ESDs while it conducted a study intended to address disparities in those levels. Again, we disagree. The postponement of educational opportunities to students based on concerns about adverse effects on school districts if immediate cuts in funding occurred to certain ESDs is the kind of policy choice that the legislature is constitutionally empowered to make. Withers v. State of Oregon, 133 Or App 377, 387, 891 P2d 675, rev den, 321 Or 284 (1995) (Withers I). It necessarily follows that there is no violation of Article I, section 20, of the Oregon Constitution or the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, even if plaintiffs are members of a true class.
*5Affirmed.