477 N.E.2d 1171 | Ohio Ct. App. | 1984
Plaintiffs bring this appeal from a judgment of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas granting defendants' motion for judgment on the pleadings and dismissing plaintiffs' complaint.
On November 15, 1981, the 114th General Assembly enacted Am. Sub. H.B. No. 694, the Biennial Appropriations Act for fiscal years 1981-1982 and 1982-1983. Section 25 of Am. Sub. H.B. No. 694 appropriated $2,053,880,366 to the Department of Education from the general revenue fund for public education in fiscal year 1981-1982. A subsection of Section 25 of Am. Sub. H.B. No. 694 titled "Reallocation of funds" provides, in pertinent part, as follows:
"(B) If the Superintendent of Public Instruction determines that the amount appropriated to the Department of Education for distribution to school districts under this act and Chapter 3317 of the Revised Code, exclusive of payments to school districts from the Emergency School Advancement Fund, *36
is insufficient to make all of the payments required under such provisions, or if the Governor issues an order under section
On January 15, 1982, the Governor issued Executive Order 82-3, pursuant to his alleged authority under R.C.
"NOW, THEREFORE, I, JAMES A. RHODES, do hereby order the executive department as defined in Article III, Section I [sic] of the Ohio Constitution, the legislative departments, the administrative departments, and all other departments, offices, agencies, institutions, boards and commissions, excepting therefrom the judicial departments, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, and the Ohio Consumer's Counsel, and further excepting therefrom appropriations for debt service, the Sagamore Hills Children's Psychiatric Hospital, Dayton Children's Psychiatric Hospital, Central Ohio Adolescent Center, Millcreek Psychiatric Center for Children, pension benefits, the Local Government Fund, Property Tax Rollback and Homestead Exemption, to reduce their expenses by amounts and in the manner as may be determined necessary by the Director of the Office of Budget and Management from time to time to achieve spending reductions to prevent expenditures and incurred obligations from exceeding available revenue receipts and balances during fiscal year 1982."
As a result of Executive Order 82-3, significant reductions were made in the distribution of funds from the school foundation program to plaintiffs, and to other school districts in the state of Ohio. On November 18, 1982, plaintiffs brought an action for declaratory and injunctive relief against James A. Rhodes, Governor of the state of Ohio, Howard L. Collier, Director of Budget and Management, and Franklin B. Walters, Superintendent of Public Instruction and Executive Officer of the State Board of Education. The complaint was subsequently amended to include a request for a writ of mandamus ordering the defendants to pay out the undistributed portions of the 1981-1982 appropriations for education included in the school foundation program and withheld by the Department of Education pursuant to Executive Order 82-3. In addition, plaintiffs requested that the court certify the case as a class action pursuant to Civ. R. 23(B)(2), with plaintiffs representing all other boards of education within the state whose school foundation revenues had been limited, all taxpayers and citizens of the state of Ohio, and all students enrolled in the public schools of the state of Ohio. Plaintiffs claimed that defendants acted arbitrarily, capriciously and unlawfully when they effectively reduced the funds available through the school foundation program to the plaintiffs and other members of the class for fiscal year 1981-1982.
After filing an answer to the complaint, defendants filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Civ. R. 12(C) and 12(H), which was sustained by the trial court. In its decision, the trial court held that the Governor had been granted the authority by the General Assembly through Am. Sub. H.B. No. 694 to order reductions in payments made to school districts through the school foundation program and R.C. Chapter 3317, and that Executive Order 82-3 was an effective exercise of that authority. Plaintiffs bring *37 this appeal from the trial court's judgment and raise the following two assignments of error:
"I. The trial court erred in upholding the cuts in the school foundation program resulting from the Executive Order 82-3 because R.C.
"II. The trial court erred in determining that the cuts in the school foundation program resulting from Executive Order 82-3 were made pursuant to § 25(B) of Am. Sub. H.B. No. 694, 114th General Assembly and hence lawful."
Since both assignments of error deal with the question of whether Executive Order 82-3 lawfully reduced the amount of funds available for the school foundation program in fiscal year 1981-1982, they shall be considered together. When ruling on a motion for judgment on the pleadings under Civ. R. 12(C), the trial court is required to construe all material allegations in the complaint, with all reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom, in favor of the party against whom the motion was brought. Peterson v. Teodosio (1973),
R.C.
"If the governor ascertains that the available revenue receipts and balances for the current fiscal year will in all probability be less than the appropriations for the year, he shall issue such orders to the respective departments, offices, and institutions as will prevent their expenditures and incurred obligations from exceeding the said revenue receipts and balances."
In Bd. of Ed. v. Gilligan (1973),
However, in the instant case, Section 25 of Am. Sub. H.B. No. 694, as set forth above, specifically allows the Governor to reduce state aid payments under R.C. Chapter 3317 through the issuance of an executive order promulgated under R.C.
It is plaintiffs' contention that Am. Sub. H.B. No. 694 authorizes the Governor to reduce state aid payments to school districts through the issuance of an order pursuant to R.C.
The Department of Education under R.C.
The Governor's order to reduce state spending, issued pursuant to R.C.
Of course, the maxim expressio unius est expressio alterius is not a rule of law but, rather, is a rule of construction and requires caution in its application. As pointed out by the Supreme Court in State, ex rel. Curtis, v. DeCorps (1938),
Judgment affirmed.
REILLY and MOYER, JJ., concur.