BOARD OF EDUC., CITY OF ST. LOUIS v. State

229 S.W.3d 157, 2007 Mo. App. LEXIS 744, 2007 WL 1412405
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 15, 2007
DocketED 88467
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 229 S.W.3d 157 (BOARD OF EDUC., CITY OF ST. LOUIS v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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BOARD OF EDUC., CITY OF ST. LOUIS v. State, 229 S.W.3d 157, 2007 Mo. App. LEXIS 744, 2007 WL 1412405 (Mo. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

ROBERT G. DOWD, JR., Judge.

The Board of Education of the City of St. Louis, the Individual Members of the Board of Education of the City of St. Louis in their Official Capacity (“the Board”), and the Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corporation (“VICC”)(collectively “Plaintiffs”) appeal from the judgment in favor of the State of Missouri and the Missouri State Board of Education (collectively “Defendants”) on their breach of contract action against Defendants. On appeal, Plaintiffs argue the trial court erred in entering judgment on behalf of Defendants because (1) under the 1999 Desegregation Settlement Agreement (“the Agreement”) signed by the parties, Defendants had contractually agreed to the continued use of the state school foundation formula (“foundation formula”) as originally defined in Senate Bill 781 (1998)(“SB781”), (2) the term “full funding” as contained in the Agreement means the ongoing use of a proration factor of 1.0, and (3)(a) Defendants’ post-contract conduct of paying Plaintiffs at a proration factor of 1.0 in fiscal year 2001, when other districts were not, confirms that “full funding” was not limited only to fiscal year 2000 and (b) Defendants were judicially estopped from arguing at trial that they guaranteed a proration factor of 1.0 only for fiscal year 2000 when their original position was that “full funding” did not mean a proration factor of 1.0. 1 We affirm. 2

This case involves a breach of contract action in which Plaintiffs alleged that Defendants failed to comply with certain financial guarantees contained in the Agreement that arose out of the St. Louis desegregation case. 3 In order to provide funding and a framework for the Agreement, the Missouri General Assembly (“General Assembly”), through SB781, made various changes to the State’s funding statutes. Section 163.031, RSMo Cum.Supp.2006. 4 Some of the changes were to the statutes codifying the foundation formula, which is a complex formula utilizing many factors to determine the amount of state aid a school district will receive. The Missouri Department of *160 Elementary and Secondary Education (“DESE”) employs the foundation formula to distribute the money appropriated by the General Assembly. Id.

In their original three-count petition, Plaintiffs claimed Defendants breached three unambiguous guarantees within the Agreement: (Count I) a guarantee to calculate Defendants’ aid to Plaintiffs using the foundation formula contained in SB781 regardless of any and all subsequent amendments to those calculations or definitions by the Missouri General Assembly, (Count II) a guarantee that Defendants would “fully fund” or use a proration rate of 1.0 for lines 1(a), 1(b), 14(a), and 14(b) 5 of the foundation formula contained in SB781, regardless of whether the aid to the other school districts was being calculated with a lower proration factor, and (Count III) a guarantee that the proration factor for lines 14(a) and 14(b) would always be equal to or higher than the highest proration factor for line 1(a) or line 1(b) of the foundation formula. Plaintiffs also requested a declaratory judgment, in-junctive relief, and specific performance of the Agreement.

Plaintiffs filed a motion for summary judgment which the trial court granted in their favor on all three counts of the petition. Defendants appealed the grant of summary judgment. This court held that the Agreement was ambiguous with respect to Counts I and II and remanded these counts for trial before the trial court. Board of Educ. of City of St. Louis v. State, 134 S.W.3d 689 (Mo.App. E.D.2004)(hereinafter “Board I ”). 6

On remand, Defendants asserted an affirmative defense that Plaintiffs had breached various material terms of the Agreement and had failed therefore to perform all conditions precedent to the contract. Defendants additionally asserted a counterclaim seeking judgment against Plaintiffs regarding improper use of capital funds. The trial court heard evidence on Counts I and II of Plaintiffs’ petition as well as on Defendants’ counterclaim. Thereafter, the trial court entered judgment in favor of Defendants and against Plaintiffs on Counts I and II of Plaintiffs’ petition, entered judgment in favor of Plaintiffs and against Defendants on Defendants’ counterclaim, and denied Defendant’s affirmative defense as well as Plaintiffs’ request for declaratory judgment, injunctive relief, and specific performance. This appeal follows. 7

*161 Our review of this case is governed by Murphy v. Carron, 536 S.W.2d 30 (Mo. banc 1976). We must affirm the trial court’s judgment unless there is no substantial evidence to support it, unless it is against the weight of the evidence, or unless it erroneously declares or applies the law. Murphy, 536 S.W.2d at 32. We will exercise our power to set aside a decree or judgment on the ground that it is “against the weight of the evidence” with caution and with a firm belief that the decree or judgment is wrong. Id. We view the evidence and permissible inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the judgment and disregard all contrary evidence and inferences. In re Tri-County Levee District, 42 S.W.3d 779, 782 (Mo. App. E.D.2001). The credibility of witnesses and the weight to be given their testimony is a matter for the trial court, which is free to believe none, part, or all of any witness’ testimony. Id.

In their first point, Plaintiffs argue the trial court erred in granting judgment in favor of Defendants because under the Agreement, Defendants had contractually agreed to the continued use of the foundation formula as originally defined in SB781. Specifically, Plaintiffs contend Defendants had promised that in calculating the Guaranteed Tax Base (“GTB”) for application of the foundation formula for Plaintiffs’ funding, Defendants would be restricted to the GTB as set forth in SB781. 8 We disagree.

In its findings of fact and conclusions of law, the trial court found there was no promise to guarantee Plaintiffs’ aid using the foundation formula as laid out in SB781 without regard for any subsequent legislative changes. The substantial evidence supports the trial court’s conclusion. Defendants’ lead negotiator, Charles Hatfield, specifically testified Defendants never promised to calculate Plaintiffs’ aid using the text of SB781 and guaranteeing a proration factor of 1.0 while ignoring all subsequent amendments. Mr. Hatfield stated Defendants agreed to disregard only those amendments to the formula that had a “disproportionate impact” on Plaintiffs. Mr. Hatfield testified Plaintiffs told him they accepted this provision. Mr.

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229 S.W.3d 157, 2007 Mo. App. LEXIS 744, 2007 WL 1412405, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/board-of-educ-city-of-st-louis-v-state-moctapp-2007.