State v. Brewer

444 N.W.2d 923, 1989 N.D. LEXIS 164, 1989 WL 95032
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 21, 1989
DocketCr. 890028, 890029
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 444 N.W.2d 923 (State v. Brewer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering North Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Brewer, 444 N.W.2d 923, 1989 N.D. LEXIS 164, 1989 WL 95032 (N.D. 1989).

Opinions

VANDE WALLE, Justice.

Gary and Nancy Brewer appealed from county court convictions for violating the compulsory-school-attendance law, Chapter 15-34.1, N.D.C.C. We affirm.

Pursuant to Section 15-34.1-03(4), N.D. C.C., the Brewers applied for a “physical or mental condition” exemption from the compulsory-sehool-attendance law for their daughter, Heather. A four-person multidisciplinary team reviewed the Brewers’ request but did not reach a consensus on whether Heather was entitled to that exemption. After reviewing a transcript of the meeting of the multidisciplinary team, the Valley City School Board denied the Brewers’ request. The Brewers appealed to Pat Beil, the Barnes County Superintendent of Schools, who affirmed the School Board’s decision. The Brewers appealed to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Wayne Sanstead, who affirmed Beil’s decision. Pursuant to Section 15-34.1-03(3), N.D.C.C., the Brewers then applied for an “economic hardship” exemption from the compulsory-school-attendance law for Heather. The Valley City School Board denied that request.

The Brewers were then charged with violating the compulsory-school-attendance law during the 1987-1988 school year. The Brewers stipulated that they were Heather’s parents; that they resided in Valley City, North Dakota; and that Heather did not attend a public or state-approved school in the 1987-1988 school year. The Brewers admitted that Nancy was teaching Heather at home and that Nancy was not a State-certified teacher. The county court concluded that the teacher-certification requirement was constitutional and found the Brewers guilty.

The Brewers argue that their due-process rights were violated by Section 15-34.-1-03(3) and (4), N.D.C.C., because

“The Valley City Public Schools are the institutional opponents of home schoolers. They are the body under N.D. C.C. § 15-34.1-04 which is charged with the duty to investigate truancy matters and to refer them for prosecution.
[924]*924“Local public school boards, their employees, agents, the State education officials, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction, are all advocates of public education. The very nature of their position demands a high degree of loyalty to both the form and philosophy of public schooling. Religious home schoolers, like the Brewers reject such education both as to its form as well as its philosophy. Home schoolers desire a more informal atmosphere with individualized instruction and a specifically religious content to the parent-directed education. Public schools are inherently different. They are secular, group oriented, and those deeming themselves educational professionals are in control of the schools.
* * * * * *
“Regardless of the monetary gain or loss that each home schooler represents to a public school, there is a total lack of impartiality with regard to the decisions of disputes between public schools and those who wish to reject their services.”

In First American Bank and Trust Company v. Ellwein, 221 N.W.2d 509 (N.D.1974), cert, denied, 419 U.S. 1026, 95 S.Ct. 505, 42 L.Ed.2d 301 (1974), reh’g denied, 419 U.S. 1117, 95 S.Ct. 798, 42 L.Ed.2d 816 (1975), this court held that a party was not denied due process or a fair administrative hearing because an administrative agency performed the functions of investigation, prosecution, and adjudication. See also, Meadow Fresh Farms, Inc. v. Sandstrom, 333 N.W.2d 780 (N.D.1983). In Ellwein, supra, 221 N.W.2d at 514, 517, we said:

“What constitutes due process within an administrative proceeding? While recognizing that the adjudicative function of the Board is quasi-judicial in nature, we have never held that the minimal due process that must be afforded participants before an administrative board or agency is synonymous with minimal requirements of due process in a court of law. To do so would be to create a second judicial branch without statutory authority and add to time required in the disposition of administrative decisions.
* * * * *
“We earlier stated that the minimal due process that must be afforded participants before an administrative board is not synonymous with the minimal, requirement of due process in a court of law. The fundamental requirement of due process is the opportunity to be heard_ Our trust must be in the integrity of legally constituted boards to act upon the evidence alone. Judicial review of those actions is the ultimate due process protection accorded those aggrieved.” [Citation omitted.]

In Withrow v. Larkin, 421 U.S. 35, 95 S.Ct. 1456, 43 L.Ed.2d 712 (1975), the United States Supreme Court also held that the combination of investigatory and adjudicatory functions in an administrative agency was not, without more, a denial of procedural due process. The court said that various situations exist where the probability of actual bias on the part of the judge or decisionmaker is too high to be constitutionally tolerable; i.e., when the adjudicator has a pecuniary interest in the outcome or has been the target of personal abuse or criticism from the party before him. However, the Court concluded that a combination of the adjudicatory and investigatory function was not a situation where the probability of actual bias on the part of the decisionmaker was too high to be constitutionally tolerable and observed that a bald challenge to the combination of functions “ ‘assumes too much and would bring down too many procedures designed, and working well, for a governmental structure of great and growing complexity.’ ” Withrow v. Larkin, supra, 421 U.S. at 49-50, 95 S.Ct. at 1465-1466, 43 L.Ed.2d at 725, citing Richardson v. Perales, 402 U.S. 389, 410, 91 S.Ct. 1420, 1432, 28 L.Ed.2d 842 (1971).

The rationale of Withrow and Ellwein controls the Brewers’ due-process challenge, and we are not persuaded that State v. Anderson, 427 N.W.2d 316 (N.D.1988), cert, denied, — U.S.-, 109 S.Ct. 491, 102 L.Ed.2d 528 (1988), requires a different [925]*925result. In that case the Andersons contended that Section 16-34.1-03(1), N.D. C.C., violated the Due Process Clause, alleging that a financially interested deci-sionmaker, the local school district, determined whether or not to excuse a student from public school attendance. Relying on Tumey v. Ohio, 273 U.S. 510, 47 S.Ct. 437, 71 L.Ed. 749 (1927), and Ward v. Village of Monroeville, 409 U.S. 57, 93 S.Ct. 80, 34 L.Ed.2d 267 (1972), the Andersons argued that the local school board’s financial interest in not excusing students from the compulsory-school-attendance law violated the Due Process Clause.

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State v. Brewer
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Bluebook (online)
444 N.W.2d 923, 1989 N.D. LEXIS 164, 1989 WL 95032, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-brewer-nd-1989.