Antilles Council of School Officers, Local 68 v. Lehman

550 F. Supp. 1238, 7 Educ. L. Rep. 909, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15792
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedNovember 12, 1982
DocketNo. Civ. 81-0564
StatusPublished

This text of 550 F. Supp. 1238 (Antilles Council of School Officers, Local 68 v. Lehman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Antilles Council of School Officers, Local 68 v. Lehman, 550 F. Supp. 1238, 7 Educ. L. Rep. 909, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15792 (prd 1982).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

CEREZO, District Judge.

This action calls for the determination of whether a 1978 amendment to Section 6 of Public Law 81-874, 64 Stat. 1107, 20 U.S.C. Sec. 241 (Section 6) providing that incidents of employment of Section 6 school personnel be “on the same basis” as those granted to school personnel of the District of Columbia (D.C.) means that the former should, besides receiving the same benefits as the latter, also be entitled to obtain their employment benefits by using the same procedures of negotiation as the latter; ergo, through collective bargaining. Plaintiffs are the principals and assistant principals 1 of the schools which comprise the Antilles Consolidated School System (School System) and the union which they belong to, the Antilles Council of School Officers (Council).2 These schools are all located in military bases or installations and within the scope of Section 6. The complaint seeks a declaratory judgment decreeing that the 1978 amendment to Section 6 grants the right to bargain collectively with the School System and enforcement of said judgment by means of a permanent injunction ordering defendants3 to recognize the union as the exclusive representative of the School System’s principals, designate the official who will represent the School System and commence collective bargaining with this union no later than 30 days after judgment is entered. Plaintiffs also seek judgment declaring that they actually do not enjoy the same terms, conditions and incidents of employment as their D.C. counterparts and pursue mandatory injunctive relief equalizing these conditions on a permanent basis. Defendants have filed a motion to dismiss4 asserting that the 1978 amendment to Section 6 does not grant plaintiffs the right of collective bargaining and that their second request should also be dismissed since they have not specifically alleged which incidents of employment are not the same as those of their D.C. counterparts. They also point out that plaintiffs filed a petition for recognition as a collective representative to the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) which was denied and not appealed.

The 1978 amendment to Section 6 which was prepared by Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner, Baltasar Corrada, incorporated the following language into the statute: “Personnel provided for under this subsection outside of the continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii, shall receive such compensation, tenure, leave, hours of work and other incidents of employment on the same basis as provided for similar positions in the public schools of the District of Columbia....” At the time this amendment was approved, the D.C. school principals had obtained the right to bargain collectively with the D.C. education authorities [1240]*1240through an informal arrangement. This informal arrangement was given statutory authority by Congress on March 3, 1979. Although this Act was passed after the 1978 amendment, plaintiffs contend that Congress was aware of the informal collective bargaining agreement and when they passed the amendment, the phrase “on the same basis,” clearly indicated that the principals of Section 6 schools in Puerto Rico were entitled to request their employment benefits using the same procedure as their D.C. counterparts. Plaintiffs’ interpretation is not in harmony with the policy of the statute, as portrayed by its text and legislative history.

A reading of the entire section reveals that the two sentences right before the 1978 amendment refer to the standard of education to be provided at Section 6 schools. In the case of Section 6 schools which are outside of the continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii the educational standard to be met is that the education should be “comparable to free public education provided for children in the District of Columbia.” The next sentence states that “for the purposes of providing such comparable education” the incidents of employment of Section 6 personnel “may be fixed without regard” to several federal employment and civil service acts.5 The next sentence is the 1978 amendment plaintiffs contend confers upon them the right of collective bargaining. An examination of the legislative record of Section 6 reveals that this statute was part of a legislation which had as its main purpose the compensation of local school communities that provided free education to children of federal employees or military servicemen living in federal property. Congress recognized that the local school authorities might be overburdened by the impact of federal activities and thus, to remedy the situation, federal funds were appropriated for these local school systems. Section 6, however, dealt only with those military installations situated in places where no local educational agency could provide suitable education for the children of certain federal employees and military servicemen. Facilities to provide such suitable education were then built at these bases.6 Also long recognized by Congress was the special situation of Puerto Rico and other territories where the requirement that the standard of education of Section 6 schools be that of comparable communities in the state was not appropriate. In the case of Puerto Rico specifically, the legislative history demonstrates that Congressmen believed that the education provided by the Puerto Rico public school system was inadequate, mainly because English was not the primary language of instruction and the tuition of private schools where classes were conducted in English was too expensive. In Senate Report No. 311 the following is said:

Puerto Rico is the only one of these places where the off-base schools are not suitable for the attendance of children whose families have come from the mainland inasmuch as the off-base schools are overcrowded and their primary language of instruction is Spanish....
Although Section 1 of H.R. 5874 includes all of the territories encompassed in the 1954 amendment to Public Law 81-874, it would apply particularly to Puerto Rico. This is made even more specific in H.R. 5874 by the third condition for eligibility; i.e. that English is not the primary language of instruction in schools in the locality.... 1965 U.S.Code Cong. & Ad. News, at 1911.

The report indicates that these schools also accommodate certain federal employees [1241]*1241who do not reside at a federal facility but who must use the school system because:

Educational opportunities for children of federal employees who come from the mainland are extremely limited in Puerto Rico. As was mentioned, the public schools of the Island are very much overcrowded and are taught in the Spanish language.
Most of the private schools are taught in Spanish, and the tuition for the few schools taught in English is extremely high. Admittance to private schools conducted in English is uncertain because of long waiting lists and inadequate facilities. Thus, about the only practical way for the children of federal employees residing off base to receive an education comparable to what they would receive on the mainland is through attendance in the schools constructed on base for children of military personnel stationed in Puerto Rico.... Idem, at 1911-1912

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Bluebook (online)
550 F. Supp. 1238, 7 Educ. L. Rep. 909, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15792, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/antilles-council-of-school-officers-local-68-v-lehman-prd-1982.