Opinion
No. 141394.
December 17, 2010.
Court of Appeals No. 295830.
Leave to Appeal Denied.
I concur in this Court's decision to deny leave to appeal. The Legislature established the State Tenure Commission and vested with it "such powers as are necessary to carry out and enforce the provisions of [the Teachers' Tenure Act]," including the authority to determine whether a school district has established "reasonable-and just cause" for a tenured teacher's discharge. MCL 38.137; MCL 38.101. A decision of the tenure commission must be upheld if there is "competent, material, and substantial evidence on the whole record" to support the tenure commission's findings. Const 1963, art 6, § 28. Therefore, the job of this Court is not to determine whether, in our own judgment, we believe a teacher should or should not be discharged, but only whether there is "competent, material and substantial evidence" on the record to sustain the decision of the tenure commission. There may well be instances in which individual justices share the school district's concerns regarding the fitness of a teacher, but in which nonetheless we are obligated under the law to uphold the commission. I fully understand the concerns of the school district, and parents, that children not be instructed by a person whom they believe to be mentally unfit. Under the law enacted by their Legislature, however, the district bears the burden of proof of demonstrating this fact.