Ex Parte Wright
Certain Mobile County public school teachers, who had attained continuing service status under the Alabama Teacher Tenure Act, were presented new contracts for the next school year that reduced by one the number of months they would be employed, with a resulting reduction in pay. Each signed and returned the contract with a letter attached expressing the teachers’ displeasure and advising that the contract was signed “under protest and under duress.” Subsequently, an attorney acting for the teachers sent a letter to the superintendent, again stating the teachers’ displeasure with the contract. The school board maintained the new contracts were valid.
The teachers, contending the new contracts were invalid, appealed to the State Tenure Commission, which found the appeal proper. The Commission found that the school board had improperly cancelled the teachers’ contracts. The board then petitioned for a writ of mandamus to review the order of the Commission. The writ was denied and the board appealed. The Court of Civil Appeals, 443 So.2d 35, reversed the decision of the Commission. The State Tenure Commission (composed of Dorothy L. Wright, et al.) sought review of the Court of Civil Appeals decision by writ of certiorari, which we granted. We reverse.
The part of the Teacher Tenure Act that is central to this litigation is
“The contract of employment of any teacher who shall attain continuing service status shall remain in full force unless superseded by a new contract signed by both parties, or cancelled as provided in
§§ 16-24-9 or16-24-10 ....”
It is uncontroverted that the teachers’ prior contracts were not cancelled under the provisions of
The Court of Civil Appeals concluded that the teachers had consented to the change, and that their signing of a new contract incorporating that change brought the board‘s actions within the terms of
Even under common law contract principles, the return of the proposed new contract with the attached letter was more in the nature of a counter-offer than an acceptance. An acceptance is required to be identical with the offer; otherwise, there is no meeting of the minds and no agreement. Smith v. Chickamauga Cedar Company, 263 Ala. 245, 82 So.2d 200 (Ala.1955). The teachers’ actions with regard to the proposed contract indicate that their “acceptance” was not identical to the offer. Therefore, there was no meeting of the minds and therefore, no new contract.
Even if this Court were to find that the teachers did agree to the new contract, we would apply the principle that an attempted waiver of the protection afforded by teacher tenure laws is ineffectual on public policy grounds. Haas v. Madison County Board of Education, 380 So.2d 873 (Ala.Civ.App.1980). The Teacher Tenure Act creates permanency by providing that cancellation of a teacher‘s contract can be done only on the grounds set forth in
There can be no question that there was a partial cancellation, since the teachers’ old contract, providing that they would work ten months at a certain annual salary, was replaced by a new contract that provided they would work only nine months at a commensurately reduced annual salary. Although
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
SHORES, EMBRY and ADAMS, JJ., concur.
MADDOX, ALMON, and BEATTY, JJ., concur in the result.
FAULKNER and JONES, JJ., dissent.
FAULKNER and JONES, Justices (dissenting).
We would affirm, agreeing with the reasoning in the majority opinion by the Court of Civil Appeals in this case.