Edgewood Borough School District Appeal

285 A.2d 880, 445 Pa. 343, 1971 Pa. LEXIS 681
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedDecember 20, 1971
DocketAppeal, No. 159
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 285 A.2d 880 (Edgewood Borough School District Appeal) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Edgewood Borough School District Appeal, 285 A.2d 880, 445 Pa. 343, 1971 Pa. LEXIS 681 (Pa. 1971).

Opinion

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Roberts,

The Act of July 8, 1968, P. L. , 24 P.S. §§2400.1 et seq. (Act 150), establishes a comprehensive three step procedure for the formulation and adoption of plans for school district reorganization. Initially, each county board of school directors is directed to prepare and submit such a plan to the State Board of Education. The State Board in turn reviews each plan and either approves or amends it. Finally, any school district which considers itself aggrieved by a plan approved by the State Board may appeal to the court of common pleas of the county where the school district is located.

The present appeal raises two issues: (1) whether there is any right of appeal from an order of the court of common pleas made pursuant to Act 150; and (2) whether the court of common pleas in this particular instance erred in rejecting the plan approved by the State Board. For reasons appearing below, we hold [346]*346that an appeal does lie from a decision of the court of common pleas and that the court of common pleas did err in the instant case.

The present appeal arises as follows: On October 7, 1968, the Allegheny County Board of School Directors adopted a plan of school district reorganization for Allegheny County and submitted it to the State Board of Education pursuant to Act 150. The plan provided, inter alia, for the creation of a Unit 38, comprised of the School Districts of the Boroughs of Swissvale and Braddock Hills, and a Unit 40, consisting of the School District of the Borough of Edgewood alone.

Although it had operated jointly with the Swissvale School District since 1965, the Braddock Hills School District petitioned the State Board of Education, requesting that proposed Units 38 and 40 be merged into one unit. The Edgewood School District was granted leave to intervene, and hearings were conducted by the State Board on February 11 and May 9, 1969. On the latter date, the State Board rendered an adjudication dismissing Braddock Hills’ petition and approving separate Units 38 and 40 as established by the County Board.

On June 9, 1969, Braddock Hills appealed the State Board’s decision to the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, and Edgewood was again permitted to intervene. Upon motion of the State Board, Swissvale was joined as a necessary party but did not file any pleadings or otherwise participate in the proceedings. Instead, its counsel informed the court that Swissvale was neutral with respect to the challenged reorganization plan. Additional evidence was taken at a hearing-held on March 16, 1970, and on June 1, 1970, the court of common pleas entered an order reversing the adjudication of the State Board and directing that all three school districts be merged into one unit.

[347]*347By per curiam order of April 16, 1971, the Superior Court affirmed the decision of the court of common pleas with Judge Montgomery filing a dissenting opinion joined in by Judge Cerconb. See Edgewood Borough School District Appeal, 218 Pa. Superior Ct. 157, 279 A. 2d 343. We thereafter granted allocatur and supersedeas, and this appeal followed.

We are confronted preliminarily in this appeal with appellee Braddock Hills’ contention that there is no right of appeal from an order of the court of common pleas made pursuant to Act 150. In so arguing, appellee refers to the last sentence of Section 5 of the Act, 24 P.S. §2400.5, which declares that the order of the court of common pleas “shall be a final order”. We are unpersuaded that the quoted language in any way precludes further appellate review.

Article Y, Section 9, of the Pennsylvania Constitution provides that “there shall also be a right of appeal from a court of record or from an administrative agency to a court of record or to an appellate court, the selection of such court to be as provided by law. . . .” This new constitutional mandate was implemented in part by the Act of December 2,1968, P. L. , No. 351, 12 P.S. §§1111.1-.2. Section 1 of that Act provides that “[ejxcept as provided in Section 2 [pertaining to orders already appealable by statute] there shall be a right of appeal under this act from a final order, decision, judgment or sentence of a court of record to an appellate court as provided by Section 9 of Article V of the Constitution. The aforesaid appeal shall be taken to the Superior Court unless otherwise provided by statute. . . .” (Emphasis added.) We think it clear that Article V, Section 9 and the Act of December 2, 1968, together establish a right of appeal from a final order of the court of common pleas pursuant to Act 150, and Ave further conclude that such an appeal prior to the effective date of the Appellate Court Jurisdiction [348]*348Act of 1970 was properly taken in the first instance to the Superior Court. See Plains Township School District Appeal, 438 Pa. 294, 265 A. 2d 358 (1970).

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Related

Hoots v. Pennsylvannia
510 F. Supp. 615 (W.D. Pennsylvania, 1981)
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395 F. Supp. 1107 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1975)
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293 A.2d 646 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1972)
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Bluebook (online)
285 A.2d 880, 445 Pa. 343, 1971 Pa. LEXIS 681, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/edgewood-borough-school-district-appeal-pa-1971.