Court Opinion

ID: 9544770
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:01:31.014782+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:13:37.622761
License: Public Domain

CAMERON, Justice,
dissenting.
In 1979, the Civil Rights Division of the Attorney General’s Office brought an employment discrimination action against Amphitheater, alleging that the school district’s discriminatory practices had precluded the hiring of Jillyn Smith to teach high school biology. The Attorney General sought individual relief for Jillyn Smith and an injunction forbidding Amphitheater from coupling academic teaching positions with part-time coaching positions in male dominated sports like football. Smith now has private counsel and her personal suit is not involved in this special action.
I dissent because I believe that the school district is a state agency and because I believe there is a conflict of interest which *236would make it inappropriate for the Attorney General to represent the teacher against the school district.
I
The Civil Rights Division’s sole authority for the bringing of this suit is derived from A.R.S. § 41-1481(D), which reads as follows:
“If within thirty days after the division has made a determination that reasonable cause exists to believe that the charge is true the division has not accepted a conciliation agreement to which the charging party and the respondent are parties, the division may bring a civil action against the respondent, other than the state, named in the charge. * * * ” (Emphasis added)
Amphitheater argues that a school district is part of “the state” as used in A.R.S. § 14-1481 and that the Attorney General therefore may not prosecute this action against it. The Attorney General and the majority of this court hold that, while a school district may be considered a “political subdivision” of the state, it is not a state agency. I disagree.
The Arizona Constitution, in Article XI, imposes numerous requirements pertaining to education in this state. The most basic of these is that the “Legislature shall enact such laws as shall provide for the establishment and maintenance of a general and uniform public school system * * Ariz. Const., Art. XI, § 1. The Constitution mandates that “the general conduct and supervision of the public school system shall be vested in a State Board of Education * * ” and sets forth minimum calendar, access and funding provisions to guide the legislature. Art. XI, supra, §§ 2, 6, 8.
The legislature has fulfilled its constitutionally mandated duty to provide for schools in Arizona by enacting A.R.S. Title 15, entitled EDUCATION. Title 15, by providing for virtually every area of concern in the field, makes clear the fact that the legislature has plenary power over public education in this state. It is the legislature which has ultimate control over the formation, consolidation and dissolving of school districts and their boundaries. A.R.S. §§ 15-402, -409, -413. The legislature is responsible for the very existence of district boards of trustees, and these trustees have only the power which the state allows them. A.R.S. §§ 15-431 through -479.
The State Board of Education is empowered to “[ejxercise general supervision over and regulate the conduct of the public school system,” A.R.S. § 15-102(A)(14); and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction acts as the Board’s Chief Executive Officer. A.R.S. §§ 15-121, -121.01, -122. The State Board is no mere titular authority. It manages the state school fund, prescribes subjects to be taught, establishes which textbooks may be bought and how many must be provided, determines graduation requirements, prescribes uniform systems of record-keeping and accounting, and has developed and implemented a uniform evaluation of pupil achievements in reading, writing, and computation. The Board controls certification of teachers and establishes qualifications for professional non-certificated personnel; it is the ultimate arbiter of teachers’ fitness, and it is empowered to withdraw essential certification from those it deems not suitable to practice in local schools. A.R.S. § 15-102(A). It is at the state level that teachers’ essential duties are established. A.R.S. § 15-201. There is a state-mandated tenure system, with required procedures for teacher evaluation and dismissal. A.R.S. §§ 15-251 through - 265, -268. The state administers a mandatory teacher retirement fund, for purposes of which all teachers are considered state employees. A.R.S. Title 15, Chapter 14.
This brief survey of some of the provisions of Title 15 does not exhaust the measures the legislature has enacted pursuant to its constitutional mandate to provide for education in Arizona. I believe it is sufficient, however, to show that education in this state, as in nearly every state in the country, is a state government function and that school districts are state agencies mandated and organized under state law. As *237has been stated in considering a constitutional provision similar to our own:
“Education is a function or duty not regarded as a local matter. It is a governmental obligation of the state. New of our administrative agencies are creatures of the organic law. But, as to schools, the constitution mandates the legislature to provide by law ‘for the establishment of a uniform, and general system of Common schools.’ Oregon Constitution, Art. VIII, § 3; 47 Am.Jur. 299, Schools § 6. It is a sovereign power and cannot be bartered away. * * *
“A school district, as a legislatively created entity, enjoys closer proximation to the state than to the community it serves. It is a civil division of the state and has been referred to as a corporation having the most limited powers known to the law. It is a quasi-municipal corporation separate and distinct from pure municipal corporations such as cities and towns.” Monaghan v. School District No. 1, 211 Or. 360, 373-74, 315 P.2d 797, 804 (1957). See also City of Bloomfield v. Davis County Community School District, 254 Iowa 900, 119 N.W.2d 909 (1963); Jones v. Grand Ledge Public Schools, 349 Mich. 1, 84 N.W.2d 327 (1957); Edmonds School Dist. No. 15 v. City of Mountlake Terrace, 77 Wash.2d 609, 465 P.2d 177 (1970); 78 C.J.S. Schools, §§ 12, 13, 24, 83; 41 A.L. R.3d 1220.
I agree that A.R.S. § 41-1481(D)’s exception to the Civil Rights Division’s litigation power is meant to apply only to state agencies and is not meant to immunize all political subdivisions against suits by the Division. I do not believe, however, as the Civil Rights Division contends, that school districts belong in the latter category. Despite the influence exerted upon them by residents within their boundaries, school districts are essentially an arm of the state, performing a function required of the state by our Constitution and as such are state agencies.'
I would therefore hold that the Attorney General is precluded by the specific exception contained in A.R.S. § 41-1481(D) from prosecuting a civil rights action against Amphitheater Unified School District No. 10.
II
I also believe that there is a conflict of interest between the Attorney General in prosecuting the Amphitheater Unified School District and in the Attorney General’s responsibility to advise the district. Pursuant to A.R.S. § 41-193(A)(7), the Attorney General renders decisions at the request of officers of the state and county attorneys. A.R.S. § 15-122 provides for opinions of the Attorney General to be distributed to all school districts.
As a practical matter, most opinions advising the school districts and school boards are drafted by the county attorney. These opinions are then submitted to the Attorney General for his approval or disapproval. From the published opinions of the Attorney General, it appears that the Attorney General does one of three things. The Attorney General may decline to review the opinion. For example, in opinion 179-052[R78-309], the Attorney General declined to review a county attorney’s decision relating to what constitutes insubordination by a tenured teacher. In I79-053[R78-331], the Attorney General concurred in the opinion given to the superintendent of the Sunnyside Unified School District which concluded that only superintendents and principals may be granted a contract for up to four years pursuant to statute, and in Attorney General’s opinion I79-055[R78-357], the Attorney General reviewed the advice of the Yuma County Attorney to the Antelope Union High School District and revised portions of the county attorney’s opinion. The Attorney General will also give gratuitous advice in approving opinions of the county attorney. For example, in 179-18[R79-005], the Attorney General concurred in the county attorney’s opinion, but concluded that the ranking system under discussion “could create substantial difficulties for the school district if it were proved that the system results in an adverse impact on protected persons in a discrimina*238tion lawsuit brought against the district under Title 7 of the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964.” The Attorney General then approves, rejects or amends the opinions of the county attorney when they involve advice to school boards, and the Attorney General also makes direct opinions concerning school affairs. See, for example, 179-24[R77-298], made to the Department of Education. A.R.S. § 15-436(B) provides that if the school board relies on the opinion of the Attorney General, the members will be shielded from personal liability.
Pursuant to statute, if there is a conflict between opinions of the county attorneys and the Attorney General, the “opinion of the attorney general shall prevail.” A.R.S. § 15-122(B).
I believe that the Attorney General is somewhat more than a merely passive ad-visor to the school districts. He is, in many respects, their attorney and the last word on their conduct. For this reason, I believe there is a conflict of interest in the Attorney General prosecuting the same school board he advises in his capacity as Attorney General.