527 A.2d 1091 | Pa. Commw. Ct. | 1987
Opinion by
This is an appeal by Valley Education Association (Association)
In a prior proceeding, the District had submitted a plan that had been adopted by the trial court. The Association appealed that order to this Court and challenged the plan, contending that it permitted the existence of non-contiguous boundaries in violation of Section 502 of the Pennsylvania Election Code, Act of June 3, 1937, P.L. 1333, as amended, 25 P.S. §2702 (Election Code). Section 502 pertinently provides that “[w]hen a school district crosses county lines, the regions of the school district shall be composed of contiguous election districts.” The Association further challenged the plan as violative of the one-man one-vote principle as espoused by the United States Supreme Court in Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533 (1964). Section 303(b)(3) of the School Code, speaking to the population requirement, mandates that regional boundaries be established so that “the population of each region shall be as nearly equal as possible and shall be compatible with the boundaries of the election districts.”
This Court held in Appeal of Valley Education Association, 105 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 565, 524 A.2d 1083 (1987) (Valley Education Association I) that the District’s original plan violated the requirement that boundaries be contiguous and remanded the case for adoption of a new plan. We did not reach the population
Thereafter, the District devised another plan and submitted it for court approval.
In its appeal to this Court, the Association now raises three issues for our consideration. First, it asserts
The final contention of the Association is that entry of the trial courts order before giving it the opportunity to counter the Districts evidence or put on its own case was violative of due process. With this argument we must agree. Although the trial court and District seem to believe that permitting the Association to challenge the order after it was entered would cure this defect, we hold that it would not. By entering an order and then permitting an attack, the trial court has in essence shifted the burden to the Association to disprove the validity of the Districts plan. But it is the District which carries the burden to demonstrate the plans total compliance with the relevant statutes. It is, of course, a fundamental concept of due process that all parties to an action be given notice and an opportunity to be heard. See, e.g., Somerset Mental Retardation Unit v. Sanders, 85 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 549, 483 A.2d 1018 (1984). The Association, although legitimately a party to this case, was deprived of that opportunity because the order was entered before it could litigate its position. It is for this reason that we must, reluctantly, vacate the trial court order adopting the plan and remand for additional proceedings.
We will take a moment, however, to clear up some apparent confusion. The District apparently viewed our prior Order as allowing only it to submit a plan. It is true that our Order spoke of a District plan. This was because the District plan was the only one before us at that time and because the District is obligated to submit a plan pursuant to both the federal court order discussed in Valley Education I and Section 303 of the
Based upon the foregoing discussion, the order of the trial court is vacated
Order
Now, June 25, 1987, the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Luzerne County dated May 8, 1987 and filed at 10:19 a.m. on May 11, 1987 is hereby vacated and this case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Jurisdiction relinquished.
Valley Education Association is a citizens group and it has no relationship to a teachers’ education association or union.
This was the second plan submitted on remand. The District first submitted a plan to the Court that, after discovering that this plan also contained a non-contiguous regional boundary, the District withdrew.
The District asserts that the action in question was not subject to the notice provisions of the Sunshine Act because it was an “emergency meeting.” See Sections 3 and 9(a) of the Sunshine Act, 65 P.S. §§273, 279(a). We disagree. The adoption or failure to adopt a plan did not in any way pose a “clear and present danger to life or property,” which is the applicable standard justifying an emergency meeting. Thus, the emergency provision is inapposite here.
The District also argues that a challenge to the Sunshine Act must be by a separate cause of action commenced in the common pleas court. See Section 13 of the Sunshine Act, 65 P.S. §283. While such method is generally the correct way to institute a challenge, we view the challenge in the current case to be appropriate in that it is ancillary to the main proceedings. Bifurcation of the issue would in our view only engender further delay.
We take a moment, additionally, to commend Judge Cappel-LINI on his patient handling of this matter. It is apparent from the record that he afforded both counsel every courtesy in making himself and his court available for the on-going proceedings here. Hopefully, now that the primary election has passed, the parties will be able to proceed in this matter diligently, but without the undue pressure of an impending primary election deadline.