Chiles v. Milligan

659 So. 2d 1055, 1995 WL 500385
Supreme Court of Florida·Decided August 24, 1995·No. 85870·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

659 So.2d 1055 (1995)

Lawton CHILES, etc., Petitioner,
v.
Robert MILLIGAN, etc., et al., Respondent.

No. 85870.

Supreme Court of Florida.

August 24, 1995.

*1056 W. Dexter Douglass, General Counsel and Deborah K. Kearney, Deputy General Counsel, Office of the Governor, Tallahassee, for petitioner.

Robert B. Beitler, Chief Counsel and Andrea Moreland, Assistant General Counsel, Office of the Comptroller, Tallahassee, Donald L. Bell, General Counsel, Department of State, Tallahassee, B. Elaine New and Gerald B. Curington, Tallahassee, on behalf of the Florida House of Representatives; Robert L. Shevin and Richard B. Simring of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, Miami, Florida, on behalf of the Florida Legislature; and D. Stephen Kahn of Kahn & Dariotis, P.A., Tallahassee, Florida, on behalf of the Florida Senate, for respondents.

John D. Carlson of Gatlin, Woods & Carlson, Tallahassee, amicus curiae for Florida School Boards Association, Inc., Florida Association of District School Superintendent's, Inc., and Florida Association of School Administrator's, Inc.

Thomas W. Brooks of Meyer and Brooks, P.A., and Sally C. Gertz, Tallahassee, amicus curiae for Florida Teaching Profession-National Education Association and Florida Education Association/United, American Federation of Teachers.

GRIMES, Chief Justice.

Governor Lawton Chiles petitions this Court for a writ of mandamus which would require: (1) the Secretary of State to expunge an allegedly unconstitutional proviso to Specific Appropriation 150 of the 1995-1996 General Appropriations Act from the official records of the State; and (2) the Comptroller to ensure that this expunction is reflected in the financial operations of the State. The Legislature[1] counterpetitions for a writ of mandamus which would require: (1) the Secretary of State to expunge an allegedly unconstitutional gubernatorial veto of the challenged proviso from the official records of the State; and (2) the Comptroller to ensure that this expunction is reflected in the financial operations of the State. We have jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(8) of the Florida Constitution.

Section 236.081, Florida Statutes (Supp. 1994), delineates a formula for determining the annual allocation from the Florida Education Finance Program to each of Florida's sixty-seven school districts for the operation of schools. Specific Appropriation 150 of the 1995-1996 General Appropriations Act allocates funds from the Florida Education Finance Program for the operation of schools including $4,946,606,062 from the General *1057 Revenue Fund and $45,400,000 from the Principal State School Trust Fund.

Specific Appropriation 150 contains a proviso characterized as a "classroom enhancement incentive" which states:

A classroom enhancement incentive shall be included in the calculation of each district's entitlement to funds appropriated in Specific Appropriation 150 and shall be calculated as follows: (Step 1) Each district's 1994-95 total classroom salaries and total staff salaries shall be divided by the district's 1994-95 full-time-equivalent (FTE) weighted student enrollment.
Classroom salaries shall be the total of salaries paid to full time regular or temporary teachers and full time classroom aides. Total staff salaries is the amount paid to all district employees. Non-classroom salaries shall be the difference between total staff salaries and classroom salaries. (Step 2) Classroom salaries per student shall be calculated as a percent of total salaries per student for each district. (Step 3) An amount shall be calculated for each district that is the lesser of (a) five percent (5%) of each district's 1994-95 non-classroom salaries or (b) an amount necessary to achieve the same proportion of classroom to total salaries as the district that has the highest proportion of classroom to total salaries. (Step 4) The amount calculated in Step 3 shall be added to each district's total actual 1994-95 classroom salaries and that sum shall be divided by the district's weighted FTE enrollment and shall be calculated as a percent of total 1994-95 staff salaries per weighted student. (Step 5) In the third calculation of the 1995-96 Florida Education Finance Program, the calculations in Steps 1 and 2 shall be repeated using 1995-96 data. (Step 6) If the district's 1995-96 proportion of actual classroom to total salaries is less than the proportion calculated in Step 4, an amount necessary to achieve the Step 4 proportion shall be calculated and that amount shall be deducted from the district's total FEFP entitlement and shall be reallocated among districts that did achieve the proportion of classroom to total salaries calculated in Step 4. (Step 7) If the amount calculated in Step 6 is greater than the difference between 1994-95 total funds available and the first calculation of 1995-96 total funds available, the Step 6 reallocation amount shall be reduced to the difference between 1994-95 and 1995-96 total funds available, or to zero, whichever is greater. Total funds available are the sum of state formula and categorical funds and local required and discretionary funds. Limited only by the availability of classroom space, the first priority for the use of funds redirected to classroom expenditures shall be to reduce the size of each class in grades Kindergartern [sic] through third to 20 students for each full-time equivalent (FTE) teacher and 10 students for each full-time equivalent teacher aide. The Commissioner of Education shall, by December 1, 1995, report to the Legislature the number of elementary classroom teachers and teachers' aides in each grade in each district and the average number of students in each elementary school classroom in each grade in each district. This report shall be calculated by dividing the number of elementary school classes in each grade in each district by the sum of the number of students in each class in each grade in each district. The report shall also compare the 1995-96 average number of students in each elementary classroom with the 1994-95 average elementary classroom size. The Commissioner shall include in this report a statement from each district describing actions taken by the district to reduce the average number of students in each elementary classroom.

Ch. 95-429, § 2(150), Laws of Fla. In short, this proviso adjusts the amount allocated to a school district under section 236.081 upwards or downwards depending upon whether the school district meets a targeted ratio of classroom salaries to total salaries.[2] The proviso is designed to induce school districts to redirect funding from non-classroom employees *1058 to classroom teachers in order to reduce the size of classes in Florida's schools. The Governor vetoed this proviso without vetoing Specific Appropriation 150 of the 1995-1996 General Appropriations Act in its entirety.

The Governor's petition challenges the constitutionality of the classroom enhancement incentive proviso. He contends that the challenged proviso impermissibly modifies the funding formula set forth in section 236.081 in violation of article III, section 12 of the Florida Constitution. The Legislature counterpetitions contending that the Governor impermissibly vetoed the challenged proviso without vetoing the appropriation to which it relates. In response, the Governor concedes that his veto of the challenged proviso is contrary to the provisions of article III, section 8(a) of the Florida Constitution.[3] Thus, we are onl

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Chiles v. Milligan, 659 So. 2d 1055, 1995 WL 500385 (Fla. 1995).

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