Chapter 05. Appeals to the State Board of Education

“Appellant” means the individual or entity appealing a final decision of a local board.

“Contested case” means a proceeding as defined in State Government Article, §10-202(d), Annotated Code of Maryland.

“Days” means calendar days unless otherwise indicated.

“Department” means the State Department of Education.

“File” means:

“Local board” means the board of education of a county including the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners.

“Local superintendent” means the superintendent of a local school system and includes the chief executive officers for the Baltimore City Public School System and for the Prince George's County Public School System.

“Party” means either an appellant, respondent, or any person or entity allowed to intervene or participate as a party.

“Respondent” means the local board or other individual or entity which issued the decision that is on appeal.

“State Board” means the State Board of Education.

Be signed by each party taking the appeal and include the printed name, regular mail address, and email address of each party;

Designate the decision or order for which review is requested;

Contain a statement of the facts necessary to an understanding of the appeal;

Contain the issues or charges for which the appeal is being taken;

Contain reasons in support of the appeal;

Contain a statement of the relief sought;

Include any supporting documents, exhibits, and affidavits;

Include, if possible, a copy of the order and opinion from which the appeal is sought; and

Be no longer than 15 pages, excluding attachments.

Appeals.

The day of the decision may not be included in computing any period of time prescribed by these regulations.

An appeal shall be deemed to have been filed within the 30-day period of time permitted under §B(1) of this regulation if, before the expiration of the time, it has been:

The last day of the period of time prescribed by this chapter shall be included, unless it is a Saturday, Sunday, or a State legal holiday, in which event the period ends on the next day which is not a Saturday, Sunday, or State legal holiday.

A motion to dismiss shall specifically state the facts and reasons upon which the motion is based that may include, but are not limited to, the following:

The State Board may, on its own motion, or on motion filed by any party, dismiss an appeal for one or more of the reasons listed in §B(1) of this regulation.

The respondent may file a memorandum in response to the appeal.

The memorandum shall contain the following:

The appellant may file a response to the memorandum, and the local board may file a reply to the response.

The State Board may decide the appeal on the merits based on the filings.

The local board shall file the record of the local proceedings with the local board's response.

Transcript.

Parties may agree by written stipulation to omit from the record and transcript those parts unnecessary for the determination of the issues presented to the State Board.

Waiver of Transcription Costs.

The State Board upon its own initiative or upon the request of a party may order a party to make a more definite statement of the appeal.

A party may amend an appeal or other pleading upon leave of the State Board or by written consent of the other party.

Upon the written request of a party or on its own initiative, the State Board for good cause shown may shorten or extend the time limitations set forth in this chapter.

The State Board may not extend the time limitations set forth in this chapter before an appeal is filed.

The State Board may not extend the time period for filing an appeal from the decision of the local board or for filing an application for reconsideration of a State Board decision except in the case of fraud, lack of notice of the decision, or other extraordinary circumstances.

Remand the appeal to the local board for the limited purpose of receiving the additional evidence upon conditions the State Board considers proper; or

Receive the additional evidence.

A party may be accompanied, represented, and advised by counsel at all stages of an appeal.

A party, or counsel if a party is represented by counsel, shall be responsible for the:

In cases with multiple parties, the State Board may request the parties to select one or more lead appellants to file responses and documents on behalf of all appellants and to receive responses and documents on behalf of all appellants.

Motions, memoranda, and responses shall be filed with the State Board with a written certification that copies were furnished to all other parties.

Except as provided in §E(3), (4), and (5) of this regulation, responses to any motion or memorandum shall be filed within 15 days of the filing of the motion or memorandum, and any reply to the response shall be filed within 10 days of the date on which the response is filed.

If the motion, memorandum, or response is provided to the opposing party by mail, 3 days shall be added to the prescribed period for filing a response or reply to the response.

The last day of the period of time prescribed by this chapter shall be included, unless it is a Saturday, Sunday, or a State legal holiday, in which event the period ends on the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or a State legal holiday.

The State Board or its designee may modify the time schedule for the filing of motions, memoranda, and responses upon timely notice to all parties.

Motions, memoranda, and responses shall be no longer than 15 pages, excluding attachments.

The State Board may strike any motion, memoranda, response, or other submission that is outside of the briefing process or otherwise fails to comply with the requirements of this regulation.

A party who alleges lack of timely notice in a local board or State Board proceeding must file an affidavit with the State Board affirming under oath that the notice at issue was not timely received, the facts that support that affirmation, and that the party was prejudiced as a result.

Failure to submit an affidavit shall result in the State Board declining to consider the claim of lack of notice.

If a party submits an affidavit under §G(1) of this regulation, the opposing party shall bear the burden of demonstrating by a preponderance of the evidence, in the form of affidavits and documents, that the correspondence was timely sent to the correct recipient at the correct address.

If the State Board concludes that there is a dispute of fact concerning whether a party received timely notice, it may refer the case to the Office of Administrative Hearings for proposed findings of fact, conclusions of law, and a proposed decision on the question.

It is contrary to sound educational policy; or

A reasoning mind could not have reasonably reached the conclusion the local board or local superintendent reached.

Unconstitutional;

Exceeds the statutory authority or jurisdiction of the local board;

Misconstrues the law;

Results from an unlawful procedure;

Is an abuse of discretionary powers; or

Is affected by any other error of law.

The standard of review for certificated employee suspension and dismissal actions shall be de novo as defined in §F(2) of this regulation.

The State Board shall exercise its independent judgment on the record before it in determining whether to sustain the suspension or dismissal of a certificated employee.

The local board has the burden of proof by a preponderance of the evidence.

The State Board, in its discretion, may modify a penalty.

The decision of a local board in a student suspension and expulsion matter shall be final pursuant to Education Article, §7-305(c), Annotated Code of Maryland.

The State Board may not review the merits of a student suspension or expulsion, but shall accept an appeal if there are specific factual and legal allegations of one or more of the following:

The State Board may reverse or modify a student suspension and expulsion if the allegations set forth in §G(2) of this regulation are proven true or if the decision of a local board is otherwise illegal as defined in §C of this regulation.

The appellant shall have the burden of proof by a preponderance of the evidence.

The State Board shall transfer an appeal to the Office of Administrative Hearings for review by an administrative law judge under the following circumstances:

If a motion to dismiss is filed, the State Board may rule on the motion without first transferring the appeal to the Office of Administrative Hearings.

Except as provided in §B(2) of this regulation, in an appeal of a suspension or dismissal of a certificated employee, the entire record of the proceedings before the local board shall be prepared and transcribed at the expense of the local board and shall be made a part of the record of the proceedings.

Both parties may agree by way of written stipulation to omit from the record and transcript portions not relevant for consideration by the State Board.

Additional testimony or documentary evidence may be introduced by either party if the administrative law judge finds that the evidence is relevant and material and there were good reasons for the failure to offer the evidence in the proceedings before the local board, but evidence that is unduly repetitious of that already contained in the record may be excluded by an administrative law judge.

Notwithstanding §C(1) of this regulation, the administrative law judge may permit repetitious testimony if credibility is an issue.

A party objecting to the administrative law judge's proposed decision may file exceptions with the State Board within 15 days of the date of the proposed decision.

A party may respond within 15 days of the date the exceptions were filed.

As appropriate, each party shall append to the party’s exceptions or response to exceptions copies of the pages of the transcript that support the argument set forth in the party’s exceptions or response to exceptions.

If exceptions are filed, all parties shall have an opportunity for oral argument before the State Board before a final decision is rendered.

Oral argument before the State Board shall be limited to 10 minutes per side. The State Board at its sole discretion may shorten or lengthen the time period for oral argument.

The rules set forth in Regulation .04D of this chapter apply to oral arguments on exceptions.

Motions and pleadings;

Documentary evidence;

Exhibits;

Memoranda or materials filed in the proceedings; and

Items required in a contested case as set forth in the Administrative Procedure Act.

An individual appellant who by reason of indigence is unable to pay the cost of transcription may file a request for waiver of the costs with the State Board President.

The request for waiver of costs shall be accompanied by an affidavit verifying the facts set forth in the request and the appellant’s inability to pay.

The State Board President shall review the request for waiver of costs and the accompanying affidavit and may require the appellant to supplement or explain any of the matters set forth in the papers.

If the State Board President is satisfied that the appellant is unable by reason of indigence to pay the cost of transcription, the State Board President may waive the payment of cost, and the cost shall be paid by the State Board.

A waiver of transcription costs shall only be available to an individual appellant and not to a group or other entity.

The waiver process does not extend the deadline for filing exceptions to the administrative law judge’s proposed decision, but an appellant may amend the exceptions once the transcript is issued in order to provide copies of the pages of the transcript that support the argument as required by Regulation .07 of this chapter.

Copies of the opinions of the State Board and an index to the opinions shall be kept electronically at the Department and shall be available for inspection at any reasonable time.

The Department may charge any reasonable fee for making or supervising the making of a copy, printout, or other reproduction of an opinion or an index.

The decision resulted from a mistake or error of law; or

New facts material to the issues have been discovered or have occurred subsequent to the decision.

The request to issue charges shall:

Grounds for removal are those set forth by the statute governing removal of members of that local board and may include:

The request shall be filed with the State Board in the manner prescribed in Regulation .01B(5)(a) of this chapter.

Repetitive, redundant, or duplicative submissions will not be accepted.

The State Board may consolidate multiple requests for removal.

The State Board shall assess the factual and legal sufficiency of the request to issue charges.

In doing so, it shall notify the local board member of the request and may provide the local board member an opportunity to respond to the request to issue charges.

A factually sufficient request shall:

A legally sufficient request shall create a reasonable belief that the actions committed could constitute a ground for removal from office.

The State Board shall dismiss a request that is not factually or legally sufficient, or otherwise fails to meet the requirements of this regulation.

If a local board has requested removal, it shall present the case for removal at the hearing through counsel.

If a resident has requested removal, the resident shall present the case for removal through counsel or pro se.

The local board member shall present the case against removal through counsel or pro se.

A party objecting to the administrative law judge’s proposed decision may file exceptions with the State Board within 15 days of the date of the proposed decision.

A party may respond within 15 days of the date the exceptions were filed.

As appropriate, each party shall append to the party’s exceptions or response to exceptions copies of the pages of the transcript that support the argument set forth in the party’s exceptions or response to exceptions.

If exceptions are filed, each side shall have the opportunity for oral argument before the State Board before the State Board issues a final decision.

Oral argument before the State Board shall be limited to 10 minutes per side. The State Board, upon request or at its sole discretion, may shorten or lengthen the time period for oral argument.