197 A. 344 | Pa. | 1938
The Teachers' Tenure Act, No. 52, of the General Session of 1937, was approved April 6, 1937, P. L. 213, by the Governor; it amended certain important sections of *218 the Act of May 18, 1911, P. L. 309, and its supplements.1 Section 1 of the Tenure Act amended section 1201 by defining *219 "professional employees" of the school district.2 Section 2 provides that all school districts shall, within 30 days after the enactment of the law, tender to all such professional employees, then "employed," new contracts drawn in accordance with a form therein prescribed.3 The new contract differs materially from the *220 previous agreement in several particulars. The old contract provided for renewal from year to year unless terminated by either party at the end of any term, by *221 60 days' written notice. The school board could terminate it without cause. The new Act permits termination of the contract only for certain valid causes.4 It provides for public hearings before the board, and an appeal to the court of common pleas by the employee.5
The Act, in Section 6, further provides that any contract then "in effect" shall not be terminated by the school boards except in accordance with its provisions,6 and it forbids, in Section 3 amending Section 1205-A of the Code, the demotion of any professional employee either in salary or position without his consent or, if that is refused, notice and hearing subject to appeal.7 *222
It will be seen, therefore, that the principal changes made by the Teachers' Tenure Act not only preserve the contractual status of teachers in new contracts but place emphatic limitations on their removal and demotion. The purpose of the Act is to preserve the system of employment in the educational field free from any interference, and by that action it takes away the heretofore discretionary power of school boards to oust employees without cause.
Prior to the adoption of the Teachers' Tenure Act, various of the school boards throughout the State gave to many teachers the sixty days' notice required by the School Code of 1911, as amended, terminating their contracts at the end of the school year 1936-1937. These teachers having been denied contracts under the Tenure Act, instituted mandamus proceedings to compel the school boards to execute the new contracts as provided in Section 2. The courts below held that as the school boards were given no discretion in the execution of these contracts, mandamus was unquestionably the proper proceeding to compel the school directors to perform their statutory duty. This conclusion was correct: Kaine et al., School Directors, v.Commonwealth ex rel. Manaway,
Appellants opposed the issuance of writs of peremptory mandamus chiefly on the ground that the Teachers' Tenure Act is unconstitutional and because appellees, having received notice of termination, were not within its scope. The courts below overruled all objections and in each case ordered the writ of mandamus to issue, to compel appellants to execute new contracts with appellees for the ensuing school year.
In the appeals before us the argument has taken a wide range. The principal constitutional objections urged against the Tenure Act are that it violates Article I, Section 17,8 relating to the impairment of the obligations of contract, and that it abridges the right of future legislatures to enact appropriate laws in the exercise of the governmental function as prescribed by Article X, Section 1.9 These two objections may well be discussed together, but before doing so, it will be necessary to review the position of public education in our form of government.
We had occasion to discuss the origin of our present public school system in Wilson v. School Dist. of Philadelphia,
In considering laws relating to the public school system, courts will not inquire into the reason, wisdom or expediency of the legislative policy with regard to education, but whether the legislation has a reasonable relation to the purpose expressed in Article X, Section 1, and whether the fruits or effects of such legislation impinge the Article by circumscribing it, or abridging its exercise by future legislatures within the field of "a thorough and efficient system of public schools." So implanted is this section of the Constitution in the life of the people as to make it impossible for a legislature to set up an educational policy which future legislatures cannot change. The very essence of this section is to enable successive legislatures to adopt a changing program to keep abreast of educational advances. The people have directed that the cause of public *225 education cannot be fettered, but must evolute or retrograde with succeeding generations as the times prescribe. Therefore all matters, whether they be contracts bearing upon education, or legislative determinations of school policy or the scope of educational activity, everything directly related to the maintenance of a "thorough and efficient system of public schools," must at all times be subject to future legislative control. One legislature cannot bind the hands of a subsequent one; otherwise we will not have a thorough and efficient system of public schools. What greater or more potent influence operates upon the execution of Article X, Section 1, or stands within a more direct line of its exercise than legislation concerning the school teachers, their qualifications, term and compensation? Legislatures must at all times be free to act with respect to these.
Therefore, while the legislature has set up in the new Act a tenure system for teachers and has provided for their qualifications, compensation and contracts, all of these provisions, and the contracts themselves, have written into them by implication from the Constitution a distinct understanding that subsequent legislation may change, modify or abolish the existing features of the school system of the teachers' contracts. This determination flows from the fact that if the Constitution is to be operative at all times, we cannot restrict it so that it becomes stagnant, and expose it to future ruin by so doing. For these reasons, appellants' objection that the Teachers' Tenure Act abridges the power of future legislatures falls, because a subsequent legislature may abolish this Act, in toto, if it deems it necessary to do so under Article X, Section 1. And such future action can, for the same reason, be taken without producing an impairment of the obligations of the contracts for which the new Act provides because the Constitution only permits such contracts to be made subject to the right of change or regulation by future legislatures. *226 This rule also applies to contracts entered into under the prior School Code.
This principle is similar to that applied to other contracts affected with a public interest, which are considered to be made in contemplation of the police power of the State to protect the health, morals and safety of its citizens. SeeLeiper v. Balto. Phila. R. R. Co.,
In the argument it was suggested that contracts did not legally exist between schoolteachers and school boards. In other jurisdictions, various conclusions have been reached upon the question of whether they occupy a contractual status, depending in each case upon the statute involved. See State exrel. O'Neil v. Blied,
But the contract which the school teachers have with the State is a qualified contract. It is subject to delimitation of its operation by subsequent statutory changes. When a state enters into contracts with private individuals for the performance of services as independent contractors, or for the loan of funds incidental to the carrying out of a governmental function, these contracts are protected against impairment by subsequent legislation. Thus city bondholders can object to the impairment of their contracts by the municipality or the legislature: Western Saving Fund Society v. City ofPhiladelphia,
The legislature, in providing by the Act of 1929 the form of contract to be executed by the teacher, expressly recognized its qualified nature by including the proviso that it was to be subject to the provisions of the Act of *229 1911 "and the amendments thereto."11 And the same provision is in the Act of 1937.12 The language of these clauses is broad enough to include future amendments as well as those existing at the time the contracts were entered into, and it indicates the intention of the parties to submit their relationship to legislative change. The Act of 1937 itself is such an amendment.
School boards have no vested or property interests in contracts under the Act of 1929 as continuing or permanent contracts or through the termination notice given. Their interest is limited solely to that prescribed by the Act which may be ended by future legislation.
The Teachers' Tenure Act will work no injury to taxpayers by preventing the dismissal of members of the teaching personnel for purposes of economy, and by preserving intact in the future the present teaching staff of each school district. No citizen has a constitutional right to be protected from increased taxation. If the legislature deems that a more costly system of education is necessary, it may impose an increase in the exercise of its constitutional powers.13 The courts cannot, at the suit of a taxpayer, compel it to alter such policy. The Teachers' Tenure Act does not work an impairment of contract and if a taxpayer has any rights in the enforcement of the old agreements, these rights, like those of the parties themselves, are subject to the express contractual provision that the legislature should be free to change or alter it at will.
Appellants have also contended that the Teachers' Tenure Act violates Article I, Section 24, of the State Constitution,14 relating to the creation of an office for a *230 term longer than good behavior; Article III, Section 13,15 forbidding the extension of the term of any public officer after his election or appointment; and Article VI, Section 4,16 relating to the removal of appointive officers.
These objections are answered by our conclusions on the main questions. The Teachers' Tenure Act does not create a term longer than good behavior, nor does it extend the term of any teacher, and even if it did so there would be no conflict with these sections of the Constitution, because schoolteachers are not public officers. In Commonwealth v. Sulzner,
On the other hand, the duties of the schoolteachers are not defined or created by statute, but arise directly from the contract of hiring entered into by them with the school board.17 *231
Teachers are not officers who may be removed at the pleasure of the school board under Article VI, Section 4, and the legislature has the power to provide for removal of such employees for cause only. Even under Article VI the legislature may attach conditions to the tenure. The Act does not violate the sections of the Constitution referred to.
The Teachers' Tenure Act was designed to secure to the citizens of Pennsylvania a competent and efficient school system by preventing dismissal of capable teachers without just cause. It is clear that the legislature did not intend, as appellants contend, that the Act should confer any special privileges or immunities upon the teachers themselves to retain permanently their positions regardless of merit or the future policy of the legislature as to their employment.
Appellants further argue that the Act of 1937 violates the constitutional inhibition in Article III, Section 7, against the passage of any special law "regulating the management of public schools. . . ." It is alleged that the Act is special in that it relates only to certain designated members of a class and does not apply to others within the same classification. The Act, by Section 1, applies only to "teachers, supervisors, supervising principals, principals, directors of vocational education, dental hygienists, visiting teachers, school secretaries the selection of whom is on the basis of merit as determined by eligibility lists, school nurses who are certified as teachers and any regular full-time employee of a school district who is duly certified as a teacher," who are included in the designation "professional employees." *232
Appellants insist that this classification is arbitrary in that it excludes certain other employees of the school district who perform full-time services, and those who perform professional services on a part-time basis. There is nothing unreasonable in grouping together for the purpose of legislation all the regular employees of the public schools who possess teachers' certificates, and those secretaries who are chosen from the eligibility lists. Each member of this group has, in common, selection for merit and continuity of appointment. Part-time teachers, and employees without teaching or eligibility qualifications, are clearly differentiated from the professional employees referred to by the Act, both from the standpoint of selection and duties. The classification is not arbitrary. The Constitution merely provides that classification be founded on real distinctions (Seabolt v. Commissioners,
The familiar objection is also presented that the title of the Teachers' Tenure Act18 conflicts with the provisions of Article III, Section 3 of the State Constitution. The principal points in which the title is said to be defective are first, it does not expressly indicate that the Act repeals portions of the previous school legislation, and, secondly, it does not indicate that it deals with the termination of teachers' contracts. As to the *233
true purpose of this constitutional provision seeCommonwealth v. Stofchek,
Appellants contend that the Tenure Act in its operation is a retroactive law. They insist that appellees, having been given notice their contracts terminated at the end of the current school year, were no longer employed by the school district, and to give them new contracts, under Section 2, would reinstate them by legislative action after proper dismissal. Appellants urge that the contracts of the Act of 1929 under which appellees were employed were continuing contracts, renewable from year to year unless notice to terminate was given, and when that notice was given they ceased to exist as such continuing contracts.
It is difficult to see how it can be contended that the Act of 1937 operates restrospectively in relation to appellees. It provides that a new contract shall be entered into with all professional employees of the school board within 30 days after its effective date. This is certainly a prospective provision. The teachers named by the Act to receive new contracts are those who were at the time of its enactment "now employed." The Act also prevents the termination of contracts then "in effect" except in accordance with its provisions. It does not compel the school board to restore to employment any teacher whose contract had been terminated prior to its adoption. Appellees were not in that position. They had received notice that their contract would be terminated at the end of the school year, but this did not immediately sever their contractual relationship with the *234
school district. Appellees were performing and did continue to perform, the same services at the same rate of remuneration under the provisions of their contracts until such time as the termination should become effective. They were "employed" within the meaning of the statute. Their contracts were still "in effect" because both parties were continuing to perform their duties under them, and were still legally bound by their terms. "In effect" means effective at the time named:Lehigh N.E. R. R. Co. v. Public Service Commission,
Appellants' contention not only ignores the fact that the future date for termination had not arrived and therefore no change had been made in the contractual status of the parties, but it reads into the statute the word "continuing," which the legislature has omitted. The purpose of the Act was to substitute new contracts for those then existing and it was not meant to apply only to those which would have continued in effect the following year. In view of the broad purpose of the Act which is intended to provide the greatest measure of protection possible against dismissal of employees, it would be violative of that intent to imply this qualification, and superimpose it upon the otherwise perfectly clear meaning of the words used.
This law cannot possibly be termed an ex post facto law within the meaning of Article I, Section 17, of the State Constitution, not only because it has no retrospective effect, but also because that clause refers only to penal legislation. In Statler v. United States Savings Trust Co., supra, it was held that the Sordoni Act, even though retrospective, was not an ex post facto law within the meaning of the Constitution because it was not penal. And, in Myers v. Lohr,
Certain of these appeals present individual questions, although all are governed by the foregoing principles of law. *235
The official contract reads in part: "It is agreed . . . that said professional employee shall . . . teach in the said school district for a term of __________ months for the annual compensation of $__________ payable monthly or semimonthly during the school term or year. . . ." The Philadelphia Board of Education suggests that the blank number of months may be filled in to require employment for twelve months. This would entitle the board to have the services of its teachers during the entire year, regardless of the term that the schools were in session, and such services would be without any compensation for the months that the schools are not in session. This conclusion is contrary to the system of compensation established for school-teachers from the origin of the public schools. School-teachers were always paid a stated sum for the services performed during the school term or school year, which was, in every case, less than twelve months, though in *236 some cases the salary was paid monthly during the calendar year. During the summer the teachers, though under contract to teach in the fall, were entitled to be paid for any other work they did or to additional compensation for any service they performed during this time. The proposed action of the Philadelphia Board of Education would deny this right and in effect reduce the salaries of its teachers by depriving them of the extra pay for services performed beyond the school term, or the right to earn it elsewhere. This invites future legislation to pay all teachers for those months that they are employed without additional compensation. It is not only inconsistent with the scheme or plan heretofore adopted by the legislature for compensation, but is contrary to Section 3 of the Tenure Act which protects teachers from a reduction in salary. Had such a change been intended the number of months of employment would not have been left blank in the contract, but instead the words "one year" or "twelve months" would have been used. Moreover the contract clearly indicates that it refers to the school term, and that the number of months was left blank by the legislature to give the contract sufficient flexibility to be adapted to the use of school districts whose school terms may differ from the standard term. Each school board can thus fill in the number of months which constitute its regular school session. When the legislature states that the provisions of the contract cannot be waived and shall continue in force and effect from year to year, it has reference to the specific terms of the contract as printed in the statute; the uncertain part of it, to wit, the school term, may be changed when necessary each succeeding year to conform to the educational policy. The term cannot, of course, be less than the number of days prescribed by law, except in case of emergency. If the school district increases the length of the regular school term, it would be proper to so provide in the contracts of the teachers. But, the school board cannot insert in the blank provided *237 a period of months longer than the regular session without providing for compensation.
Some of the districts have not tendered contracts to the teachers, in the belief that the thirty-day period is directory and not mandatory. This is unimportant. If directory, it requires action within a reasonable time, and if mandatory, it obviously compels the school boards to execute such contracts as closely in compliance with the prescribed period as is possible under the circumstances. This is the better view to take of the provision. In Dalzell v. Kane, et al.,
In all of the appeals the decrees of the courts below are affirmed; costs to be paid by appellants; separate orders to be sent out in each case.
(Act of May 18, 1911, P. L. 309, Section 1201.)
"Section 1205. In school districts of the second, third, and fourth class, all contracts with teachers shall be in writing, in duplicate and shall be executed on behalf of the board of school directors by the president and secretary and signed by the teacher.
"After the thirtieth day of June, one thousand and nine hundred and twenty-nine, each board of school directors or board of public education in school districts of the second, third, and fourth class in this Commonwealth shall enter into contract, in writing, with all teachers, supervisors, supervising principals, and principals employed by them, and said contract shall contain the following:
" 'IT IS AGREED BY and between __________, Teacher, and the Board of Directors of the school district of __________, Pennsylvania, that said teacher shall, under the authority of the said board and its successors, and subject to the supervision and authority of the properly authorized superintendent of schools, teach in the said school district for a term __________ months, for an annual compensation of $__________, payable monthly, or semimonthly during the school term, less the contribution required by law to be paid to the Teachers' Retirement Fund.
" ' This contract is subject to the provisions of the act, approved the eighteenth day of May, one thousand nine hundred and eleven (Pamphlet Laws, three hundred nine), entitled "An act to establish a public school system in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, together with the provisions by which it shall be administered, and prescribing penalties for the violation thereof; providing revenue to establish and maintain the same, and the method of collecting such revenue; and repealing all laws, general, special or local, or any parts thereof, that are or may be inconsistent therewith," and the amendments thereto, and to such regulations as the Board of School Directors of this district may impose consistent with the said act.
" 'AND IT IS FURTHER AGREED by the parties hereto that this contract shall continue in force year after year, with the right of the Board of Education, or the Board of School Directors to increase the compensation over the compensation herein stated, from time to time, as may be provided under the provisions and proper operation of the established salary schedule, if any, for the school district, or to change said salary subject to the provisions of law without invalidating any other provision of this contract, unless terminated by the teacher at the close of the school term by written resignation presented sixty days before the close of said school term, or by the Board of School Directors by official written notice presented to the teacher sixty days before the close of the school term.' "
(Act of May 18, 1911, P. L. 309, Section 1205, amended by the Act of May 7, 1929, P. L. 1576, Section 1, and amended by the Act of May 29, 1931, P. L. 243, Section 26.)
"Section 1205 A. The salary of any teacher, principal, supervisor, district superintendent, or assistant district superintendent in any of the school districts of the Commonwealth may be increased at any time during the term for which such person is employed, whenever the board of school directors of the district deems it necessary or advisable to do so."
(Act of May 18, 1911, P. L. 309, as amended by Act of May 23, 1919, P. L. 261, section 1; Act of April 5, 1921, P. L. 92, section 1; Act of May 7, 1929, P. L. 1576, section 2.)
"The term 'professional employee,' as used in this act, shallinclude teachers, supervisors, supervising principals,principals, directors of vocational education, dentalhygienists, visiting teachers, school secretaries the selectionof whom is on the basis of merit as determined by eligibilitylists, school nurses who are certified as teachers and anyregular full-time employee of a school district who is dulycertified as a teacher."
"Each Board of School Directors or Board of Public Education in all school districts in this Commonwealth shall, withinthirty days after the effective date of this act, enter into contract, in writing, with all professional employees now employed by them, and thereafter shall in the same manner enterinto contracts, in writing, with each professional employee ator before the time the employee first enters the service of thedistrict. Said contracts shall contain only the following:
" 'IT IS AGREED BY and between . . ., Professional Employee, and the Board of Directors (or Board of Public Education) of the school district of . . ., Pennsylvania, that saidprofessional employee shall, under the authority of the said board and its successors, and subject to the supervision and authority of the properly authorized superintendent of schoolsor supervising principal, teach in the said school district for a term of . . . months, for an annual compensation of $__________, payable monthly or semi-monthly during the school term or year, less the contribution required by law to be paid to the Teachers' Retirement Fund, and less other properdeductions for loss of time.
" 'This contract is subject to the provisions of the act, approved the eighteenth day of May, one thousand nine hundred and eleven (Pamphlet Laws, three hundred nine), entitled "An Act to establish a public school system in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, together with the provisions by which it shall be administered, and prescribing penalties for the violation thereof; providing revenue to establish and maintain the same, and the method of collecting such revenue; and repealing all laws, general, special or local, or any parts thereof, that are or may be inconsistent therewith," and the amendments thereto.
" 'AND IT IS FURTHER AGREED by the parties hereto that noneof the provisions of this act may be waived, either orally orin writing, and that this contract shall continue in force year after year, with the right of the Board of School Directors (orBoard of Public Education) to increase the compensation over the compensation herein stated, from time to time, as may be provided under the provisions and proper operation of the established salary schedule, if any, for the school district, subject to the provisions of law without invalidating any other provision of this contract, unless terminated by theprofessional employee by written resignation presented sixty days before resignation becomes effective, or by the Board of School Directors (or Board of Public Education) by official written notice presented to the professional employee:Provided, That the said notice shall designate the cause forthe termination and shall state that an opportunity to be heardshall be granted if the said professional employee, within tendays after receipt of the termination notice, presents awritten request for such a hearing.' "