Karpe v. Teachers' Retirement Board

[870]

Opinion

ELKINGTON, J.

Lucille C. Karpe’s appeal is from a judgment denying her application for a writ of mandate. She had sought by that proceeding to compel respondents to allow her service credits as a public school music teacher for the school years 1926-1927, 1927-1928, 1928-1929, and 1931-1932, 1932-1933, 1933-1934 and 1934-1935.

The question of the appeal is whether appellant held valid teaching credentials and thus had rendered “creditable service” (in computing her retirement benefits) during those years.

Education Code section 13981 states that: “Service performed prior to July 1, 1972, shall be credited according to the provisions of the law in effect at the time service was performed. . . .” Section 5.804 of the 1929 and section 5.890 of the 1935 School Codes, and sections 1772-1775 of the 1923 Political Code, as in effect at the relevant times, provided that only creditable service as a teacher might be used in the computation of retirement benefits. These statutes gave effect to the policy that only teachers of certified competency should ordinarily staff the public schools of this state.

Upon her retirement as a public schoolteacher, appellant was awarded retirement benefits according to her years of creditable service as computed by the respondent board. In the computation the board omitted consideration of the school years 1926-1927 to and including 1934-1935. Upon appellant’s complaint an administrative hearing was held, as a result of which she was allowed creditable service for only one of the disputed school years, i.e., 1931-1932.

In her subsequent mandate proceedings the superior court sustained the administrative action, and entered judgment accordingly. As relevant to the issues presented in the superior court, and here, the facts adduced in the administrative proceedings were undisputed. The question before us is accordingly one of law, and we are not concerned with whether the superior court should have applied the so-called “substantial evidence in light of the whole record,” or the “independent judgment,” adjudicatory criterion. (See

Strumsky

v.