891 N.E.2d 352 | Ohio Ct. App. | 2008
{¶ 1} This is a case about state funding to public school districts, including the community schools within each district, under a system referred to as the "school foundation program." For public school districts, school-foundation payments are based in part on the number of district resident students attending, among others, traditional schools and community schools during the first full week of October, as reported by the school district. The question before us is whether the trial court properly determined that the Ohio Department of Education ("the ODE") had utilized the wrong data in calculating the number of students attending community schools in the Cincinnati School District during fiscal year 2005 ("FY 05") and subsequent years, resulting in reduced funding (transitional aid and other guarantees) for Cincinnati Public Schools during fiscal years 2006 and 2007 by millions of dollars.
{¶ 2} After reviewing the statutory scheme for school funding, we agree with the trial court. Ohio law mandates that the data to be used to calculate the number of community-school students in each district for purposes of annual school funding is the data submitted by the superintendent of each school district based on the October count of students, not the data reported monthly by the community schools, which is known as the community-school average daily membership ("CSADM"). Accordingly, we affirm the trial court's entry of summary judgment for plaintiff-appellee Cincinnati City School District Board of Education ("the District") on its fourth and sixth claims that the defendants had unlawfully reduced the District's funding guarantees and had used an improper calculation to determine the District's transitional aid. *159
{¶ 3} The defendants-appellants are the State of Ohio Board of Education, which is the governing body charged with general supervision of public education in the state, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Susan Tave Zelman, and the Ohio Department of Education, which is the administrative unit and organization through which the policies, directives, and powers of the State Board of Education are administered. We refer to these Ohio parties collectively as "the ODE."
{¶ 5} Although a public school district is statutorily required to include in its Formula ADM the number of students residing in the school district who are attending a community school, that number is not used to determine the amount of funding that is provided to community schools.
{¶ 6} Since the inception of community schools, the ODE has maintained two separate reporting and payment systems for the distribution of school-foundation funds to public school districts and to community schools. School-district funding for the entire year is based upon the number of students identified in the October count or the Formula ADM. Then from those school-district funds, the ODE deducts funds that are paid to community schools within that district based upon the number of community-school students reported by each community school in the monthly CSADM report. These web-based CSADM reports are governed by guidelines and regulations developed by the ODE.
{¶ 7} There is an important distinction between the "snapshot" concept that public schools use to count pupils at one time early in the year and the monthly CSADM report. For school districts, once the Formula ADM has been certified, school-district funding is neither increased nor decreased by the enrollment or withdrawal of pupils after the October count. (The sole exception is the *160 enrollment of a district student in a community school after the October count, when such a student has not been included in the Formula ADM.3) In contrast, funding for community schools is adjusted monthly based on the number of students reported in the CSADM report. Thus, funding may increase or decrease with the enrollment or withdrawal of a pupil in a community school. So, unlike public schools, community schools are paid for students upon enrollment, but public schools must absorb new students without commensurate additional funding.
{¶ 9} This had a significant impact on the District. The ODE had reduced the Formula ADM certified by the District by 542.92 full-time equivalent students. This resulted in the ODE seeking to recoup funds from the District in the amount of $2,444,170 for FY 05 and reduced the District's transitional-aid payments by approximately $2,281,740 in FY 2006 and by a similar amount in FY 2007. (Transitional aid for FY 2006 and FY 2007, a separate funding stream that supplements basic state funding, is based on the amount of basic state funding received during FY 2005, which in turn was partially based on the number of community school students.)
{¶ 10} Ultimately, the District sued the ODE after settlement negotiations had failed, seeking a declaratory judgment regarding how the calculation for community-school students reported in the Formula ADM was to be made and an injunction preventing the ODE from reducing funding. Because there were no facts in dispute, both parties moved for summary judgment. The trial court rejected the District's contractual, promissory-estoppel, and constitutional claims, but entered summary judgment for the District on its statutory claims. *161
{¶ 12} We review summary-judgment determinations de novo, without deference to the trial court.4 Summary judgment should be granted only when (1) there is no genuine issue of material fact, (2) the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, and (3) it appears from the evidence that reasonable minds, when viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, can only come to a conclusion adverse to the nonmoving party.5
{¶ 13} The issue is how to calculate Cincinnati's Formula ADM for purposes of the funding formula set forth in R.C.
{¶ 14} In statutory interpretation, the court's primary concern is legislative intent.6 In determining legislative intent, the court must first look to the plain language of a statute itself.7 The General Assembly's construction of a statute as provided by a definitional section controls the application of the statute.8 Finally, statutes that relate to the same subject matter or refer to one another must be construed in pari materia and harmonized to give full effect to the statutes.9 *162
{¶ 16} R.C.
{¶ 17} "The superintendent of each city * * * school district * * * shall * * * certify to the state board of education on or before the fifteenth day of October in each year for the first full school week in October the formula ADM * * *.
{¶ 18} "The formula ADM shall consist of the average daily membership during such week of the sum of the following:
{¶ 19} "(1) On an [full-time equivalency] basis, the number of students in grades kindergarten through twelve receiving any educational services from the district * * *. * * *
{¶ 20} "(2) On an FTE basis, * * * the number of students entitled to attend school in the district * * *, but receiving educational services in grades kindergarten through twelve from one or more of the following entities:
{¶ 21} "(a) A community school pursuant to Chapter
{¶ 22} From a plain reading of R.C.
{¶ 24} R.C.
{¶ 25} We disagree with this interpretation. First, to accept the ODE's interpretation of these two statutes would require this court to ignore R.C.
{¶ 26} Next, we note that changes to the law regarding the counting of community-school students for funding purposes were made in April 2003 pursuant to Am. Sub. H.B. No. 364 ("H.B. 364"). Specifically, subsections (C)(2) and (F)(3) were added to R.C.
{¶ 27} R.C.
{¶ 28} These sections added to the statutory scheme in 2003 were only meant to correct a specific problem. They were not intended to replace the reporting system for state-funding purposes. To read these sections as requiring a change in the way that Formula ADM is calculated is improper and not supported by the text and the legislative history. If the General Assembly had intended that CSADM data be used to assist in calculating the Formula ADM, it would have indicated so in H.B. 364. It did not. Further, the General Assembly has recently amended sections of R.C. Chapters
{¶ 29} Accordingly, because statutory law requires the use of Formula ADM only to calculate state funding for traditional school districts, we overrule the single assignment of error. The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.
SUNDERMANN and HENDON, JJ., concur.