418 F. Supp. 845

Joyce BARNES et al. v. BOARD OF DIRECTORS, MOUNT ANTHONY UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT (NO. 14), et al.

Civ. A. No. 74-237.

United States District Court, D. Vermont.

Aug. 13, 1975.

Memorandum and Order of Aug. 13, 1975 as Amended Sept. 8, 1975.

Supplemental Memorandum and Order July 8, 1976.

*846Jeff Taylor, American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, Inc., Montpelier, Vt., for plaintiffs.

A. Luke Crispe, Brattleboro, Vt., J. Bernard Harte, Bennington, Vt., for Lawrence Harrington.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

HOLDEN, Chief Judge.

The plaintiffs are registered voters in the various school districts that combined to constitute the membership of the Mount Anthony Union High School District. By this action they request the Court to order reapportionment of the board of directors of the union school district. Jurisdiction in this Court is founded on 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3). The case is presently submitted on the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment and the defendants’ motion to bring in third-party defendants.

The parties are agreed that the representation of the five member districts on the board of directors of the Mount Anthony Union High School District is apportioned according to the following table:

No. of
Ponulation Board Members People Per
District No. % No. % Board Member
Bennington 13,602 69.0 4 36.4 3,400
Shaftsbury 1,974 10.0 2 18.2 987
Pownal 2,441 12.4 2 18.2 1,221
N. Bennington 1,421 7.2 2 18.2 711
Woodford 286 1.5 _1 9.1 286
Total 19,724 100.0 11 100.0 1,793

From these statistics, it is at once apparent that representation on the present union board is not apportioned according to the population of the member districts. Wood-ford’s single director represents a population of 286; each of Bennington’s four directors on the union board represents 3,400 people. The school districts of Shaftsbury, Pownal and North Bennington have equal representation for respective populations of 987, 1,221 and 711.

*847Thus it is conclusively established that the present representation of the member districts on the union board results in differently weighted individual votes, according to the residence of the particular voter within the member districts. This variance in the voting strength of the several school districts violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 568, 84 S.Ct. 1362, 12 L.Ed.2d 506 (1964). The constitutional guarantee of equal voting strength and its protection against dilution of the right to vote by disproportionate representation extend to the election of local school officials who exercise general governmental powers. Hadley v. Junior College District, 397 U.S. 50, 53, 90 S.Ct. 791, 25 L.Ed.2d 45 (1970).

The defendants contend that these decisions are not applicable to the Mount Anthony Directors, on the premise that the union board does not perform functions sufficiently legislative in nature to come within the rule. On this contention, the defendants urge that the precedent set in Vermont by Leopold v. Young, 340 F.Supp. 1014 (D.Vt.1972), (Champlain Valley Union High School District reapportioned), and Watts v. Harwood Union School Board, No. 6653 (D.Vt. Dec. 10, 1973), (Harwood Union School District reapportioned), is not governing. In support of this argument, the defendants point out that the Mount Anthony Directors do not have the power to levy and collect taxes, issue bonds, annex school districts, or acquire property by condemnation. Since the individual voters of the Union District have the power to approve or reject the budget, the authority to lease and purchase real property and borrow money, the defendants argue that the election of the union school directors is not required to comply with the rule of Hadley. The argument is not persuasive. No facts are present to distinguish or remove this controversy from the Court’s prior decisions in Leopold and Watts.

Since the powers of the electorate and those of the school directors in union school districts are not specifically defined in the enabling legislation authorizing the formation of these governmental units, the provisions of the general school law apply. 16 V.S.A. § 701a. [Added 1967, No. 277 (Adj. Sess.), § 4, eff. July 1, 1968.]1 Under the general school law, by the provisions of 16 V.S.A. § 562, the electorate of Mount Anthony Union at a meeting of the district may exercise all the powers referred to by the defendant. At the annual meeting the electorate is required to elect directors of the district and vote a sum of money necessary to maintain the school. However, the determination of how the voted funds shall be expended is entrusted to the school board. 16 V.S.A. § 562(8).2 For history of *848expansion of powers of school directors see Buttolph v. Osborn, 119 Vt. 116, 121, 119 A.2d 686 (1956).

Beyond the provisions of section 562, the . powers of the school board are more specifically defined and generously delegated by 16 V.S.A. § 563, including the mandate to “(E)xercise the general powers given to a legislative branch of a municipality.” 3 The *849broad power conferred to the local school boards by grant of the Vermont Legislature is sufficiently governmental in nature to require the application of the one person, one vote principle. Leopold, supra; Watts, supra; Baker v. Regional High School District, 520 F.2d 799 (2d Cir., 1975).

Although the U.S. Supreme Court initially determined the application of this rule to local governmental bodies on the basis of whether the functions they performed were administrative as opposed to legislative, see Sailors v. Board of Education, 387 U.S. 105, 110, 87 S.Ct. 1549, 18 L.Ed.2d 650 (1967), it soon recognized that these generic labels served little purpose in actually defining the powers and actions of a governmental body. See Avery v. Midland County, 390 U.S. 474, 88 S.Ct. 1114, 20 L.Ed.2d 45 (1968); LoFrisco v. Schaffer, 341 F.Supp. 743, 747 (D.Conn.1972). The test which the Supreme Court utilized in Hadley, supra, 397 U.S. at 54, 90 S.Ct. at 794, was whether the board performed

“important governmental functions within the districts . (and possessed) powers . . . general enough (with) . . - sufficient impact throughout the district to justify the conclusion that (the one person, one vote rule) . should also be applied here.”

Applying this test to the powers of the defendants and the impact of their exercise of those powers on the people of the Mount Anthony Union School District, we conclude that the defendants’ functions are patently general enough and have a sufficient impact on the residents within the District to justify the application of the one person, one vote rule. The fact that the voters have the authority to approve the budget and authorize various transactions, such as the purchase or lease of land and the borrowing of money, does not require a contrary conclusion. Baker v. Regional High School District, supra, 520 F.2d at 801.4

The second contention advanced by the defendants to distinguish Leopold, Watts and Hadley, is that the present method of apportionment was agreed upon by the voters of the member districts as a condition to their vote to join the Mount Anthony Union District.5 The defendants *850have submitted the affidavits of various members of the electorate who state under oath that they would have voted against the formation of the Mount Anthony Union District had each district not been accorded the present number of representative school directors.

The defendants contend that the vote of the member districts to join the union high school district as approved by the state board of education and the secretary of state, according to the enabling legislation then in effect, constitutes a corporate charter that is inviolate to subsequent legislative or judicial action. The notion is misconceived. Charters granted by the states to subordinate political subdivisions are not contracts within the protection of the Contract Clause. Trenton v. New Jersey, 262 U.S. 182, 187-188, 43 S.Ct. 534, 67 L.Ed. 937 (1923); Hunter v. Pittsburgh, 207 U.S. 161, 178-179, 28 S.Ct. 40, 52 L.Ed. 151 (1907).

The exclusion of municipal charters from federal constitutional protection is in keeping with the express exception of the Constitution of Vermont.

No charter of incorporation shall be granted, extended, changed or amended by special law, except for such municipal, charitable, educational, penal or reformatory corporations as are to be and remain under the patronage and control of the state; . . . . Vt.Const. Ch. II, § 69.6

A similar contention was rejected in the Leopold case on the strength of the concept expressed by Chief Justice Warren in Lucas *851v. Forty-Fourth General Assembly, 377 U.S. 713, 736-737, 84 S.Ct. 1459, 1473, 12 L.Ed.2d 632 (1964):

An individual’s constitutionally protected right to cast an equally weighted vote cannot be denied even by a vote of a majority of a State’s electorate, if the apportionment scheme adopted by the voters fails to measure up to the requirements of the Equal Protection Clause. Manifestly, the fact that an apportionment plan is adopted in a popular referendum is insufficient to sustain its constitutionality or to induce a court of equity to refuse to act. ... A citizen’s constitutional rights can hardly be infringed simply because a majority of the people choose that it be. We hold that the fact that a challenged legislative apportionment plan was approved by the electorate is without federal constitutional significance, if the scheme adopted fails to satisfy the basic requirements of the Equal Protection Clause

That precept is controlling here. Accord, Powers v. Maine School Administrative District, 359 F.Supp. 30, 34-35 (D.Me.1973) (Gignoux, J).

The fact that the member districts voluntarily joined the Union District in reliance upon representation by an agreed number of directors on the Union Board cannot now justify the denial of the plaintiffs’ fundamental right to a fair ballot. Similarly, the agreement of a majority of the voters of the Bennington member district to the dilution of their vote in the election of the union school board cannot constitutionally deprive the minority of the voters in that district of their right to fair and adequate representation on the governing board of the Mount Anthony Union High School District. Leopold and Powers, supra.

Accordingly, it is hereby ORDERED:

1. The plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment is granted;
2. The defendants’ motion to bring in third-party defendants is denied;
3. The defendants shall submit to the Court within 60 days, unless the period is enlarged by further order, a plan to reapportion the Board of Directors of the Mount Anthony Union High School District in accordance with the principles of equal protection stated in the Court’s opinion;7 and
*8524. The Court will retain jurisdiction pending submission of the plan.

SUPPLEMENTAL MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

In keeping with this court’s order of August 13,1975, and following the termination of the stay imposed, pending the appeal to the Circuit Court of Appeals, the defendants have submitted a plan to reapportion the Board of Directors of the Mount Anthony Union High School District No. 14. The plan, in its amended form, was finally presented to the court on June 18, 1976. It provides for the election of the board of directors of the Mount Anthony Union High School District No. 14 by the vote of the qualified voters of the union-wide electorate. The constituency of the several member districts is engaged only for the purpose of establishing the method of nomination. The local member districts function “. . . merely as the basis of residence for candidates, not for voting or representation.” See Dusch v. Davis, 387 U.S. 112, 115, 87 S.Ct. 1554, 1556, 18 L.Ed.2d 656 (1967). Their tenure of office depends on the vote of the electorate of all the combined member districts. Since the entire union is the source of the authority of each and all directors, they are called upon to serve all the people in the union district, not merely the citizenry who reside in the district from which they were nominated. Dallas County, Alabama v. Reese, 421 U.S. 477, 479, 95 S.Ct. 1706, 44 L.Ed.2d 312 (1975). When the proposed plan for reapportionment of the union district becomes effective, its operation will not offend the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and should protect the equal voting strength of all the voters in the union district in compliance with the court’s prior order. Accordingly, the court accepts and approves the plan with variations consistent with the court’s order of reapportionment and the requirements of Title 16, Vermont Statutes Annotated § 706e, as to the method of nomination.

It is ORDERED:

1. The Board of Directors of the Mount Anthony Union High School District No. 14 shall be composed of eleven members, elected at large by Australian ballot by all the qualified voters residing in the union district. The election of the directors for the union school district shall be held within 120 *853days from the date of this order. The board, as presently constituted, shall continue to function until reapportionment has been accomplished as herein provided.

2. The defendants shall take the necessary administrative steps to accomplish the following:

a. Nominations for the office of union school director shall be made by filing with the clerk of the member district a statement of nomination, signed by the voters of the member district, equal in number to at least one percent of the entire vote cast for governor in that member district in the last general election. The statement of nomination shall be accepted in writing by the nominee. The statements of nomination shall be filed with the clerk of the member district within sixty (60) days of the filing of this order.
b. Within ten (10) days after the receipt of statements of nominations by the clerks of the member districts, the clerks shall deliver the statements to the clerk of the Mount Anthony Union High School District No. 14.
c. Within ten (10) days of the receipt of the statements of nominations from the clerks of the member districts, the clerk of Mount Anthony Union High School District shall call a special meeting of the union district to be held no less than thirty (30) nor more than forty (40) days thereafter, for the election of the Mount Anthony Union High School directors from the nominations made by the member districts.

3. The total number of directors to be elected by the voters at large in the union district shall be eleven (11), and will be constituted as follows:

a. Four (4) union school directors shall be elected from the nominations received from the clerk of the member district of Bennington for the following terms of office: one (1) to expire in 1977; two (2) to expire in 1978; one (1) to expire in 1979.
b. Two (2) union school directors shall be elected from the nominations received from the clerk of the member district of Shaftsbury for the following terms of office: one (1) to expire in 1978; one (1) to expire in 1979.
c. Two (2) union school directors shall be elected from the nominations received from the clerk of the member district of Pownal for the following terms of office: one (1) to expire in 1977; one (1) to expire in 1979.
d. Two (2) union school directors shall be elected from the nominations received from the clerk of the member district of North Bennington for the following terms of office: one (1) to expire in 1977; one (1) to expire in 1978.
e. One (1) union school director shall be elected from the nominations received from the clerk of the member district of Woodford for the following term of office: one (1) to expire in 1979.

4. The ballots for election of the union school directors shall plainly designate the number of directors to be elected from the nominations received from the several member districts by providing a separate ballot for the nominations received from each member district or by listing the nominations by separate and discrete groupings according to the source from which the nomination was received.

5. The terms of office for each union director elected at the annual meetings in 1977 and thereafter shall be for a term of three (3) years, in the manner herein provided and until further order of this court.

Barnes v. Board of Directors, Mount Anthony Union High School District (no. 14)
418 F. Supp. 845

Case Details

Name
Barnes v. Board of Directors, Mount Anthony Union High School District (no. 14)
Decision Date
Aug 13, 1975
Citations

418 F. Supp. 845

Jurisdiction
United States

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