Ohio Ass'n of Public School Employees v. Stark County Board of Education

587 N.E.2d 293, 63 Ohio St. 3d 300, 1992 Ohio LEXIS 476
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 25, 1992
DocketNos. 90-1791 and 90-1792
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 587 N.E.2d 293 (Ohio Ass'n of Public School Employees v. Stark County Board of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ohio Ass'n of Public School Employees v. Stark County Board of Education, 587 N.E.2d 293, 63 Ohio St. 3d 300, 1992 Ohio LEXIS 476 (Ohio 1992).

Opinion

Moyer, C.J.

Appellants contend that appellee boards of education lack the authority to adopt a school-bus-driver-certificate policy. Appellants argue that the criteria for issuing a bus-driver certificate are set out by the General Assembly in R.C. 3327.10 and by the Ohio Department of Education in Ohio [303]*303Adm.Code 3301-83-06, and that a county board of education may not alter these criteria for issuance or revocation of a bus-driver certificate. We are unpersuaded by appellants’ argument.

A county board of education may adopt criteria for the issuance or revocation of certificates for bus drivers employed by school districts in its county pursuant to R.C. 3327.10 and 3313.20.

R.C. 3327.10 requires the certification of bus drivers. The statute states:

“(A) No person shall be employed as a driver of a school bus or motor van, owned and operated by any school district or privately owned and operated under contract with any school district in this state, who has not received a certificate from the county board of education of the county in which he is to be employed, in case such person is employed by a school district under the supervision of the county board, or by the superintendent of schools, in case such person is employed by the board of a city or exempted village school district, certifying that such person is at least eighteen years of age and is of good moral character and is qualified physically and otherwise for such position. * * *”

County boards of education have supervisory authority over school districts employing bus drivers. Certificates for bus drivers in those districts must be sought and obtained from the county boards of education. The General Assembly has directed county boards of education to determine whether a person desiring to operate a school bus “is at least eighteen years of age and is of good moral character and is qualified physically and otherwise for such position.” Because a county board of education is required to certify such facts when it issues a certificate to a bus driver, it necessarily and implicitly has the power to determine whether such facts are indeed true. As this court stated in Belden v. Union Central Life Ins. Co. (1944), 143 Ohio St. 329, 28 O.O. 295, 55 N.E.2d 629, at paragraph three of the syllabus: “It is no violation of the constitutional inhibition against the delegation of legislative power for the General Assembly to establish a policy and fix standards for the guidance of administrative agencies of government while leaving to such agencies the making of subordinate rules within those fixed standards and the determination of facts to which the legislative policy applies.”

The rationale for delegating power to bodies such as county boards of education was explained in Panama Refining Co. v. Ryan (1935), 293 U.S. 388, 421, 55 S.Ct. 241, 248-249, 79 L.Ed. 446, 459: “The Congress manifestly is not permitted to abdicate, or to transfer to others, the essential legislative functions with which it is thus vested. Undoubtedly legislation must often be adapted to complex conditions involving a host of details with which the national legislature cannot deal directly. The Constitution has never been [304]*304regarded as denying to the Congress the necessary resources of flexibility and practicality, which will enable it to perform its function in laying down policies and establishing standards, while leaving to selected instrumentalities the making of subordinate rules within prescribed limits and the determination of facts to which the policy as declared by the legislature is to apply. Without capacity to give authorizations of that sort we should have the anomaly of a legislative power which in many circumstances calling for its exertion would be but a futility.”

Under the Ohio Constitution and the implementing statutes adopted by the General Assembly, boards of education, including county boards of education, have broad powers in matters under their control. See Section 3, Article VI of the Ohio Constitution; Minshall v. State, ex rel. Merritt (1931), 124 Ohio St. 61, 176 N.E. 888; Harrison v. Bd. of Edn. (1938), 60 Ohio App. 45, 13 O.O. 182, 19 N.E.2d 522; Holroyd v. Eibling (C.P.1961), 90 Ohio Law Abs. 78, 25 O.O.2d 231, 188 N.E.2d 208, affirmed (1962), 116 Ohio App. 440, 22 O.O.2d 264, 188 N.E.2d 797. A county board of education cannot determine that a bus driver is “of good moral character” and “otherwise qualified” without certain criteria which establish the definition of those terms. The certificate policies of the appellees establish such criteria. It is well within the powers conferred upon the boards of education by statute to adopt policies which fulfill the legislative mandate.

Additional authority under which the boards of education may carry out the mandate of R.C. 3327.10 is found in R.C. 3313.20, which states: “The board of education shall make such rules as are necessary for its government and the government of its employees, pupils of its schools, and all other persons entering upon its school grounds or premises. * * *” The bus-driver policies in question fall into the category of rules necessary for a board of education’s government. The policies adopted by the boards set forth the manner in which they will determine whether an applicant for a bus-driver certificate is eighteen years of age, of good moral character, and is qualified physically and otherwise to be a bus driver. Former G.C. 4842-12 (now R.C. 3319.16), a statute providing similar discretion to school boards, was reviewed in Greco v. Roper (1945), 145 Ohio St. 243, 30 O.O. 473, 61 N.E.2d 307. The statute stated: “ ‘The contract of a teacher may not be terminated [by a board of education] except for gross inefficiency or immorality; for wilful and persistent violations of reasonable regulations of the board of education; or for other good and just cause.’ ” (Emphasis added.) Id. at 248, 30 O.O. at 475-476, 61 N.E.2d at 309.

This court, in interpreting the power of boards of education under such broad grants of authority stated, “[w]here a statute, such as ours, not only [305]*305specifies particular causes for which a board of education may terminate a contract but also contains the separate phrase, ‘or for other good and just cause,’ such phrase must be accorded meaning and force and certainly embraces and was intended to embrace other and different causes than the ones specifically enumerated.” Id. at 249, 30 O.O. at 476, 61 N.E.2d at 309.

The present situation is no different. Boards are charged with ascertaining specific facts about drivers, but they are also directed to determine if the drivers are of good moral character and “otherwise” qualified. R.C. 3327.10. In Greco, the statutory language that allows a board to “make such rules and regulations as it deems necessary for its government and the government of its employees” was applied. See former G.C. 4750 (now R.C. 3313.20). Such authority still exists in the Revised Code and is equally applicable today.

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Bluebook (online)
587 N.E.2d 293, 63 Ohio St. 3d 300, 1992 Ohio LEXIS 476, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ohio-assn-of-public-school-employees-v-stark-county-board-of-education-ohio-1992.