Louisiana Federation of Teachers v. State

171 So. 3d 835, 2014 La. LEXIS 2237, 201 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3694, 2014 WL 5287248
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedOctober 15, 2014
DocketNo. 2014-CA-0691
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 171 So. 3d 835 (Louisiana Federation of Teachers v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Louisiana Federation of Teachers v. State, 171 So. 3d 835, 2014 La. LEXIS 2237, 201 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3694, 2014 WL 5287248 (La. 2014).

Opinion

VICTORY, J.

hThis ease comes to us on direct appeal pursuant to La. Const, art. V, § 5(D)1 upon a finding by the district court that House Bill 974 of the 2012 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature, which was enacted as Act 1 of 2012 (“Act 1”), violates the single object requirement for legislative bills as provided for in La. Const, art. Ill, § 15(A). Upon review, we find that Act 1 does not violate the single object requirement of La. Const, art. Ill, § 15(A).

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

During the 2012 Regular Session, the legislature passed Act 1. The title of Act 1 provides:

To amend and reenact R.S. 17:54(B)(l)(b)(I) and (iii), 81(A) and (P)(l), 81.4, 229, 414.4, 441, 442, 443, and 444(B)(1), to enact R.S. 17:418 and 532(C), and to repeal R.S. 17:44, 45, 81(1), 154,2, 235.1(E), 346.1, 419, 419.1, 420, 421, 421.1, 421.2, 421.3, 421.5, 422, 422.1, 422.2, 422.3, 422.4, 422.5, 431, 444(A) and (B)(2) and (3), 446, 461 through 464, and 1207, relative to elementary and secondary education; to provide with respect to teachers and other school employees; to provide with respect to local school superintendents, their employment, and their duties and responsibilities; to provide relative to local school | gboards and their functions and powers; to provide relative to school personnel decisions; to provide relative to school board reduction in force policies; to provide with respect to salaries and compensation of teachers and other school employees; to provide relative to tenure for school employees and the removal of tenured and nontenured teachers; to provide for effectiveness; and to provide for related matters.

As stated in the title, Act 1 of 2012 amended, reenacted and repealed various statutes in Title 17, which are described below.

Section 1 amended and reenacted multiple provisions in La. R.S. 17:54, 17:81, 17.81.4, 17:229 and 17:414.1. La. R.S. 17:54(B), is entitled “Officers of boards; election; superintendents, qualifications, appointment and removal.” La. R.S. 17:54(B)(l)(b)(i)(aa) requires failing school systems to establish specific performance targets in a superintendent’s contract for student achievement, graduation rates, and the percentage of teachers who are rated “effective” and “ineffective,” and induces [839]*839the time period for notice of non-renewal of these contracts from 90 to 30 days. La. R.S. 17:54(C)(l)(b)(i)(bb) requires boards to submit superintendent’s employment contracts to the state superintendent of education. La. R.S. 17:54(B)(l)(b)(i)(cc) requires boards to notify the state superintendent of education of the termination or non-renewal of a superintendent employment contract. . La. R.S. 17:54(B)(1)(b)(i)(dd) provides that any employment contract between a superintendent and school board that does not meet the above requirements is null and void. La. R.S. 17:54(B)(l)(b)(iii) requires school boards to remove a superintendent who fails to fulfill the terms and performance objectives of his contract.

La. R.S. 17:81, entitled “General powers of local public school boards.,” requires superintendents and principals to make employment related decisions based on performance and effectiveness. La. R.S. 17:81(A)(1) is a new provision requiring school boards to serve in a policy making capacity focused on student achievement, financial efficiency and workforce development. La. R.S. 17:81(A)(2) retains the | c-authority of school boards to determine the number and location of schools, and the number of personnel employed, but changes the law by delegating the authority to make employment decisions, to fix salaries, and to ensure compliance with state laws to local superintendents. La. R.S. 17:81(A)(3) requires school boards to delegate the authority for the hiring and placement of all school personnel to the local superintendent, provides that the superintendent is responsible for ensuring that all personnel are properly certified and qualified, and repeals the authority of school boards to reject choices made by a superintendent. La. R.S. 17:81(A)(4)(a) requires local superintendents to delegate all decisions regarding the hiring and placement of school personnel to the school’s principal. La. R.S. 17:81(A)(6) is a new provision requiring that superintendents and principals make all employment-related decisions based upon “performance, effectiveness, and qualifications as applicable to each specific position,” and requires that effectiveness “shall be used as the primary criterion for making personnel decisions” and prohibits “seniority or tenure” from being used as the primary criterion. La. R.S. 17: 81(P)(1) removes the requirement thaf personnel decisions are to be approved or disapproved by school boards.

La. R.S. 17:81.4, entitled “Reductions in force; dismissal of teachers and other school employees,” requires reduction in force (“RIF”) decisions be based on performance and effectiveness and provides seniority or tenure shall not be included as the primary criterion in a RIF policy. La. R.S. 17:81.4(A) requires school boards to delegate RIF decisions to superintendents. La. R.S. 17:81.4(B) repeals a provision requiring that RIF policies be based on “certification seniority, tenure and academic preparation,” and replaces it with the requirement that RIF policies be based solely upon demand, performance, and effectiveness, as determined by the effectiveness rating in La. R.S. 17:3881-3905. La. R.S. 17:81.(C) requires that RIF policies related l4to dismissal of employees who are not subject to evaluation under La. R.S. 17:3881-3905 must be based upon performance and effectiveness. La. R.S. 17:81.4(D) provides rules for notice to employees of RIF policies, and deletes seniority and tenure from consideration in RIF policies.

La. R.S. 17:229 is entitled “Appointment of visiting teachers, or supervisors of child welfare and attendance.” La. R.S. 17:229 delegates the authority to appoint visiting teachers and supervisors of child welfare and attendance to local superintendents rather than school boards, and removes [840]*840the requirement that visiting teachers and supervisors of child welfare be “qualified electors or residents” of the parish.

La. R.S. 17:414.1 is entitled “Public elementary and secondary school principals; duties,” and amends the prior statute to delegate the authority to appoint and direct principals to superintendents rather than school boards.

Section 2 of Act 1 enacts an entirely new provision of law, La. R.S. 17:418, tying compensation to effectiveness, demand and experience. La. R.S. 17:418(A)(1), entitled “Salaries; teachers and other school employees,” requires the establishment of salary schedules and provides that these salaries shall be considered full compensation for all work performed. La. R.S. 17:418(A)(2) requires that salaries be established by January 1, 2013 and be effective as to all school employees not later than the 2013-2014 school year. La. R.S. 17:418(B)(l)(a)-(e) requires that salary schedules be based on effectiveness as determined by the performance evaluation program, demand, and experience, with no one criteria accounting for more than 50% of the formula. La. R.S. 17:418(B)(2) provides that no teacher or administrator who is rated “ineffective” shall receive a raise or a higher salary in the year following evaluation than he or she received in the prior year. La. R.S. 17:418(0(1) guarantees Isthat an annual salary may not be reduced below the salary received in the preceding year, nor can it be reduced during an academic year. La. R.S.

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171 So. 3d 835, 2014 La. LEXIS 2237, 201 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3694, 2014 WL 5287248, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/louisiana-federation-of-teachers-v-state-la-2014.