305 So. 2d 744 | La. Ct. App. | 1974
Lead Opinion
Plaintiffs in this action are principals or assistant principals of middle and high schools operated by Jefferson Parish School Board. They filed this suit against the Board for reinstatement to their income level, days worked and accrued vacation time as said benefits existed prior to the Board’s resolution of June 13, 1973 by which their working time and compensation for the 1973-74 school year were reduced.
The Board filed exceptions of no right or cause of action, lis pendens, res judica-ta, and collateral estoppel. The trial court maintained the exception of res judicata but only with respect to the plaintiffs who were also plaintiffs in the case of Mouras v. Jefferson Parish School Board.
This is one of a series of cases involving the same School Board and basically the same issues. In Palone v. Jefferson Parish School Board
Next, in Mouras v. Jefferson Parish School Board
For similar reasons we conclude the Pa-lone case is determinative of the contention that the Board acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner and in bad faith. The Board suffered a deficit of $5 million for the 1972-73 fiscal year, and at the beginning of the 1973-74 fiscal year it had an approximate accumulated deficit of $2.4 million. The savings effected by the action complained of by the plaintiffs amount to more than $37,000.
Plaintiffs argue a savings of more than $37,000, as compared with the total Board budget of more than $45 million, is insignificant and was not a good faith economy measure. They contend that other actions by the Board, increasing its maintenance budget in excess of $240,000, increasing expenditures for instructional materials in excess of $900,000, and taking numerous other actions which cost the Board sums in excess of the $37,000 saving effected by the resolution complained of, negate the Board’s argument that its action with regard to the plaintiffs was a good faith economy measure.
As stated in Mouras, these are not judicial questions, and we are not a legislative body. The court’s function is not to budget funds, but to decide judicial questions presented for our consideration. The budgeting of funds is a matter within the sound discretion of the Board and we find no abuse of that discretion. As we concluded in Palone, we again conclude from the record in this case that the Board was attempting to perform its duty within its discretionary authority.
For the reasons assigned, the judgment appealed from is affirmed.
Affirmed.
MORIAL, J., concurs.
. 300 So.2d 540, La.App.
. 297 So.2d 208, La.App., writ granted, 299 So.2d 798, La.
. Supra, note 1.
. No allegation of bad faith was made in Mouras.
. R.S. 17:441-445.
Concurrence Opinion
(concurring).
This action is distinctly different from Palone v. Jefferson Parish School Board, 297 So.2d 208 (La.App. 4 Cir. 1974), writ granted, 299 So.2d 798, La., in which certain positions of “second assistant principals” were abolished and the former “second assistant principals” were demoted to lower positions from which they previously had been promoted. LSA-R.S. 17:444. The plaintiffs herein have not been “disciplined, removed or demoted” and the Board’s action is not violative of the teacher tenure law’s protection. LSA-R.S.
The action of the Board not having resulted in the abolishment of a position(s), nor the disciplining, removal or demotion of anyone, I deem it unnecessary to engage in a discussion of good or bad faith as was done in Dugas v. Ascension Parish School Board, 288 La. 80, 81 So.2d 817 (1955).