California Teachers Assn. v. State

Education Code section 44944, subdivision (e), provides that whenever a teacher exercises his or her constitutional right to request a hearing regarding a threatened suspension or dismissal, but ultimately does not prevail at the hearing, the teacher is required to pay to the state one-half the cost of the administrative law judge. This cost is imposed in every case in which the teacher ultimately is suspended or dismissed, even if the teacher reasonably and in good faith has challenged the district's disciplinary action, and even if the teacher has prevailed on some of the district's charges. A teacher also is liable for this cost where the hearing results in a decision that the teacher should not be suspended or dismissed but where the favorable decision at the administrative hearing ultimately is reversed on judicial review.

We agree with the trial court and Court of Appeal that this cost provision is unconstitutional. The imposition upon such a teacher of the open-ended cost of the adjudicator conflicts with the centuries-old common law tradition that the salaries of judges are to be borne by the state, and not by the litigants. By its terms, the cost provision…

*331 Opinion

Education Code section 44944, subdivision (e), provides that whenever a teacher exercises his or her constitutional right to request a hearing regarding a threatened suspension or dismissal, but ultimately does not prevail at the hearing, the teacher is required to pay to the state one-half the cost of the administrative law judge. This cost is imposed in every case in which the teacher ultimately is suspended or dismissed, even if the teacher reasonably and in good faith has challenged the district’s disciplinary action, and even if the teacher has prevailed on some of the district’s charges. A teacher also is liable for this cost where the hearing results in a decision that the teacher should not be suspended or dismissed but where the favorable decision at the administrative hearing ultimately is reversed on judicial review.

We agree with the trial court and Court of Appeal that this cost provision is unconstitutional. The imposition upon such a teacher of the open-ended cost of the adjudicator conflicts with the centuries-old common law tradition that the salaries of judges are to be borne by the state, and not by the litigants. By its terms, the cost provision…

I respectfully dissent. The state has given permanent teachers substantial protection, both substantive and procedural, against arbitrary dismissal. An unavoidable consequence is that school districts must incur significant costs—financial, in loss of morale, and in disruption of the educational process—in order to terminate incompetent or misbehaving teachers. Education Code section 44944, subdivision (e) is an attempt, albeit an imperfect one, to reduce those costs in the more egregious cases by encouraging teachers who suspect they are likely to lose their challenges to accept the district’s decision or seek a settlement, rather than delay termination through administrative and subsequent judicial appeals. The statute does so not by denying any teacher a full evidentiary hearing, or even by *358 requiring the teacher to pay any prehearing filing fee, but only by charging a losing teacher, after the hearing, with one-half of certain hearing costs. The individual plaintiff in this case received a full and fair hearing before his termination, and plaintiffs have introduced no evidence that any teacher— much less any teacher with a colorable defense to the dismissal charges—has…