Burman

The decision of a school district to dismiss or to suspend a permanent certificated employee, such as a tenured teacher, for disciplinary or performance-related reasons is subject to review at the employee’s request by a local commission on professional competence. The commission is charged by statute with the responsibility of determining whether the employee should or should not be dismissed or suspended, but its powers are circumscribed in part by the employing district’s initial choice of sanction. Under Education Code section 44944, subdivision (c), the commission has no power “to dispose of [a] charge of dismissal by imposing probation or other alternative sanctions” and may impose suspension as a sanction only if the employing district sought that result.

We are called upon in this case to decide whether the statute requires a local commission on professional competence to sustain a school district’s notice of intent to dismiss a tenured elementary school teacher whenever the commission finds that one of the statutorily authorized grounds for dismissal exists, or whether such a commission has discretion to determine that dismissal is not warranted although cause…