Fumarolo v. Chicago Board of Education (142 Ill. 2d 54, 1990)

JUSTICE WARD

delivered the opinion of the court:

The plaintiffs, individuals serving as principals, an individual serving as a subdistrict superintendent in the Chicago public school system and individuals who are registered voters and property owners-taxpayers in the City of Chicago, filed a complaint in the circuit court of Cook County, challenging the constitutionality of the Chicago School Reform Act (the Act) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 122, par. 34—1.01 et seq.). The complaint named as defendants the board of education of the City of Chicago, the board’s general superintendent, the Chicago School Finance Authority, and the Attorney General, the Comptroller and the Treasurer of the State of Illinois. Richard M. Daley, the mayor of the City of Chicago, and South Side Schoolwatch, a citizens group interested in school reform, were given leave to intervene as defendants. The plaintiffs appeal from the trial court’s order denying their motion to voluntarily dismiss their complaint under section 2 — 1009 of the Code of Civil Procedure and from an order subsequently entered by the trial court granting summary judgment for the defendants. We granted the plaintiffs’ motion for a direct appeal to this court under our Rule 302(b) (107 Ill. 2d R. 302(b)).

The record shows that, as in most large cities, Chicago has serious problems in its public school system. The Chicago School Reform Act was enacted in 1988 in an attempt to resolve certain of the problems. The Act makes significant changes in school governance and administration by decentralizing the school system and by imposing primary responsibility for local school governance on parents, community residents, teachers and school principals. The plaintiffs do not dispute the need for change in the Chicago public school system, but they challenge the constitutionality of the Act, arguing that sections of the statute violate the Federal and State constitutional assurances of equal protection and due process. The plaintiffs, who are registered voters and taxpayers in the City of Chicago, allege that the Act’s voting scheme for electing members of the local school councils violates the equal protection clauses of the State and Federal Constitutions because it denies an equal vote in local school council elections to large portions of the electorate. The other plaintiffs, the principals and subdistrict superintendent, contend that by eliminating tenure for principals and subdistrict superintendents and substituting therefor four-year contracts, which may or may not be renewed, the legislation unconstitutionally impairs contract rights vested {in them. Under preceding statutory law and policy of the Chicago board of education, principals and subdistrict superintendents had “permanent” tenure. They also contend that this new condition of employment deprives them of property without due process of law.

THE REFORM ACT

A brief overview of the contested portions of the Act will be necessary. We begin by observing that the parties do not cite any comparable statute and we are not aware of any legislation similarly structuring a public school system. It is also appropriate for us to state that the wisdom or unwisdom of legislative action in determining the means to be adopted to resolve an existing social problem is not for the judiciary to decide. Legislation will be upheld unless it is in violation of some constitutional limitation. Stewart v. Brady (1921), 300 Ill. 2d 425, 435; see also People v. Valdez (1980), 79 Ill. 2d 74, 83-84; People v. Farr (1976), 63 Ill. 2d 209, 215.

Local School Councils

Although the board of education, retains many general administrative powers and responsibilities, its powers and responsibilities under the Act have been substantially altered. To place increased authority for individual school decisions at the individual school level, the Act provides for the creation of a local school council for each grammar school and each high school in the Chicago public school system (there are 539 schools in the Chicago public school system). (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 122, par. 34—2.1.) The local school council is composed of the school principal and 10 elected members. The elected members are: six parents of currently enrolled students who are elected by parents of currently enrolled students, two residents of the attendance area served by the school who are elected by the residents of that area (except in multiarea districts — districts which draw and admit students from more than a single attendance area — where the community residents to be elected are elected by the parents of currently enrolled students, the principal of the multiarea school and the school staff (see Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 122, pars. 34—1.1, 34—2.1(b))) and two teachers of the school who are elected by the school staff. Each local school council elects the principal who will serve at the school for a contract period of four years and may retain the principal for another four-year period when the contract expires. Should a principal not be retained, the local school council will select a new principal. The local school counoil also develops specific performance criteria for its principal and has responsibility for approving the budget plan drawn up and administered by the principal. In addition, the local school council has substantial advisory responsibilities.

Subdistrict Councils

The Act creates 11 subdistrict councils. Each local school council elects one of its parent or nonparent resident members to sit on a subdistrict council. Each sub-district council performs various advisory functions (e.g., promoting and coordinating communication among local school councils, promoting and coordinating training of local school councils), elects and evaluates for retention the subdistrict school superintendent and is responsible for electing one of its members to sit on the school board nominating commission.

School Board Nominating Commission

The school board nominating commission is composed of 11 members elected from each subdistrict council and five members appointed by the mayor. The nominating commission, in an open public forum, interviews candidates for seats on: the board of education and presents the mayor with a slate of three qualified candidates for each vacant seat on the board. The mayor selects one of the candidates for each seat from this list. The Act provides that there are to be 15 members on the board of education. An interim board of education was created by the Act until the mayor should appoint candidates as provided by the Act. A permanent board of education has now been selected under the Reform Act.

Principals

The principal of each school is given responsibility for administering and supervising the educational operation of the school and for developing the school’s budget and improvement plan. Under the Act, principals are employed under four-year, renewable performance contracts. The local school council is responsible for determining whether a principal’s contract will be renewed. Under the Act, the terms of persons currently serving as principals expire on either June 30, 1990, or June 30, 1991 (the date to be determined by lottery), and unless such contract is renewed by the local school council, the employment of such person as a principal terminates.

The Complaint

The plaintiffs filed their complaint on April 17, 1989, seeking a declaratory judgment that the Act was unconstitutional. On May 24, 1989, the defendants served the plaintiffs with notice that they intended to file a motion on May 30 for leave to file a motion for summary judgment and to ask the trial court to set an expedited briefing schedule and a hearing date. On May 26, 1989, the defendants filed their answer to the complaint. The parties appeared before the trial judge on May 30, 1989, and the judge entered an order allowing the defendants to file a motion for summary judgment and supporting briefs by June 28, 1989. The judge also ordered the plaintiffs to respond to the motion by July 28, 1989, and the defendants to reply by August 14,1989.

On June 26, 1989, the plaintiffs filed a motion in the circuit court to voluntarily dismiss their complaint under section 2 — 1009 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 110, par. 2—1009), stating that they wished to file a complaint in the United States district court. On June 28, 1989, pursuant to the previous order, the defendants filed their summary judgment motions. On June 30, 1989, the trial court denied the plaintiffs’ motion to dismiss their complaint. On August 1, 1989, the defendants requested and were granted leave to amend their answer to include a counterclaim for declaratory judgment upholding the constitutionality of the Act. The trial court, concluding that the Act was constitutional, granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment on August 29,1989.

The foregoing presents two questions for this appeal. First, whether the trial court erred in not granting the plaintiffs’ motion to voluntarily dismiss their complaint, and, second, if the motion for voluntary dismissal was properly denied, whether the Act is constitutional.

Motion for Voluntary Dismissal — The Constitutionality of the Reform Act Is Properly Before the Court

The plaintiffs argue that the issue of the constitutionality of the Act was not properly before the trial court and they urge this court to reverse the judgment. The plaintiffs contend they had an absolute right to voluntarily dismiss their claim and that the trial court should have granted their motion pursuant to section 2 — 1009 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 110, par. 2—1009). Section 2—1009 provides:

“The plaintiff may, at any time before trial or hearing begins, upon notice to each party who has appeared or each such party's attorney and upon payment of costs, dismiss his or her action or any part thereof as to any defendant, without prejudice, by order filed in the cause.”

Under this section, a plaintiff’s right to voluntarily dismiss prior to trial or hearing was held to be absolute. See, e.g., Johnson v. United National Industries, Inc. (1984), 126 Ill. App. 3d 181, 184 (where the court stated, “it is well established that plaintiff has an absolute right to voluntarily dismiss *** prior to trial, and the court has no discretion to deny this motion for dismissal”).

A modification of this rule was announced, however, by this court in Gibellina v. Handley (1989), 127 Ill. 2d 122. In Gibellina, the court held that when there is a motion, potentially dispositive of the case, before the court prior to the filing of the motion to dismiss, the trial court has discretion as to whether or not to grant the motion for voluntary dismissal. The plaintiffs argue that no potentially dispositive motion was pending before the court on June 26 when they made their motion for a voluntary dismissal because the defendants had not yet filed their motion for summary judgment. They argue that the only motion on file on May 30 was a motion for leave to file a summary judgment motion and to set a briefing schedule. Although the defendants asked that the court set a date for the filing of the motion for summary judgment, no such motion was actually on file with the circuit clerk on May 30. The plaintiffs contend, therefore, that Gibellina was inapplicable and that the trial court was required to grant their motion.

The defendants respond that the court had, and properly exercised, discretion under Gibellina in denying the motion to dismiss because their summary judgment motion, a motion potentially dispositive of the case, was before the court as of May 30,1989.

The trial court in concluding it had discretion to deny the motion to voluntarily dismiss stated:

“When [this court] set a briefing schedule and also entertained the oral motions for summary judgment, which were, of course, widely discussed before this court, and the record will so reflect, that therefore, a dispositive motion was, in fact, for all intents and purposes, on file. And, accordingly, in this court’s discretion, your request is denied.”

The plaintiffs’ rejoinder is that under Gibellina the actual filing of a potentially dispositive motion marks the point at which the right to voluntary dismissal is no longer absolute. Because there was no actual filing here until two days after the motion to dismiss was made, the modification in Gibellina, they argue, is inapplicable.

The plaintiffs advance too formalistic and rigid an interpretation of Gibellina. The decisive factor in Gibellina was not that the defendant had actually filed a potentially dispositive motion, but was instead that the defendant had put a potentially dispositive motion before the court prior to the filing of the section 2 — 1009 motion. As this court said in Gibellina, “the trial court may hear and decide a motion which has been filed prior to a section 2 — 1009 motion when that motion, if favorably ruled on by the court, could result in a final disposition of the case.” (Emphasis in original.) (Gibellina, 127 Ill. 2d at 138.) In Gibellina, the court’s expressed concern was to prevent the undue delay and abuse of judicial resources that occur when a plaintiff dismisses a case “in the face of” a potentially dispositive motion which would dispose of the action. (Gibellina, 127 Ill. 2d at 137.) As this court put it, “[i]t has become clear that the allowance of an unrestricted right to dismiss and refile an action in the face of a potentially dispositive motion is not only increasing the burden on the already crowded dockets of our courts, but is also infringing on the authority of the judiciary to discharge its duties fairly and expeditiously.” (Gibellina, 127 Ill. 2d at 137.) See also O’Connell v. St. Francis Hospital, where this court held that a plaintiff could not dismiss under section 2 — 1009 in order to avoid a dismissal for his failure to exercise due diligence in obtaining service of process, as required by Supreme Court Rule 103. The court noted that countenancing such a maneuver would cause justice to be “truly and unnecessarily delayed.” O’Connell v. St. Francis Hospital (1986), 112 Ill. 2d 273.

Although the defendants had not yet actually filed their summary judgment motion, it is clear that a potentially dispositive motion was, as the trial court said, for all intents and purposes, before the court. The motion to voluntarily dismiss was plainly made “in the face of” a potentially dispositive motion and was used to “avoid a potential decision on the merits.” The purpose of the defendants’ appearance on May 30 was to advise the court and the plaintiffs that they were seeking a prompt resolution of the issue by summary judgment. It is clear from the record that the judge and the parties understood that there was to be a motion for summary judgment and that the motion and brief would be filed on June 28. In various proceedings after May 30, the trial court and the parties made references to the summary judgment motion. If the trial court had allowed the motion to dismiss, it certainly would have seriously jeopardized, if not prevented, a prompt resolution of the case on the merits. There was a prompt resolution of the case by the trial court on August 29.

The trial court did not err in holding that a potentially dispositive motion was before the court prior to the filing of the plaintiffs’ motion for a voluntary dismissal and under Gibellina v. Handley the court clearly had discretion to deny the plaintiffs’ motion for a voluntary dismissal.

Plaintiffs’ Constitutional Challenges

The plaintiffs contend that even if the trial court had properly denied their motion to dismiss, it erred in holding the Act constitutional. They argue that the Act violates the United States and Illinois Constitutions in that the voting scheme for electing local school council members (1) violates the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment of the United States Constitution by depriving certain citizens of a vote equal to that of other citizens, (2) abridges free and equal elections as guaranteed by article III, section 3, of the constitution of Illinois, (3) fails to ensure the integrity of the election process, uniformity of elections and facilitation of voting by qualified persons, and (4) violates the Federal Voting Rights Act.

The plaintiffs also contend that the provisions regarding employment of school principals and subdistrict superintendents under contracts for four-year, renewable periods (1) are an unconstitutional impairment of the obligation of contract under article I, section 10, of the Federal Constitution and article I, section 16, of the constitution of Illinois and (2) are a violation of due process because they deprive the plaintiffs of valuable and substantive property rights under the fourteenth amendment to the Federal Constitution and article I, section 2, of the constitution of Illinois. Finally, the plaintiffs argue that the Act violates equal protection because it discriminates in favor of teachers on the question of continued employment.

The Voting Scheme for Electing Local School Councils Violates Equal Protection

The plaintiffs (registered voters and taxpayers) first state that the Act’s voting scheme for electing local school council members as provided in section 34 — 2.1 of the Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 122, par. 34 — 2.1) violates the equal protection guarantees of the United States Constitution under the fourteenth amendment and article I, section 2, and article III, section 3, of the constitution of Illinois because voters who are otherwise qualified to vote, but do not currently have children attending Chicago schools, are denied a vote in local school council elections that is equal to that of voters who do have children in attendance at the public schools.

The fourteenth amendment of the Federal Constitution provides that the State shall not “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” (U.S. Const., amend. XIV, §1.) Article I, section 2, of the constitution of Illinois, like the fourteenth amendment to the Federal Constitution, provides that the State shall not deny any person “equal protection of the laws.” (Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, §2.) Article III, section 3, provides that “[a]ll elections shall be free and equal.” (Ill. Const. 1970, art. III, §3.) Because the equal protection guarantees in article I, section 2, and the “free and equal” requirements of article III, section 3, of the constitution of Illinois are in effect those of the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment, our conclusion as to the claim of a Federal violation will dispose of the claim of a violation of the State Constitution as well. As the court stated in Goldstein v. Mitchell (1986), 144 Ill. App. 3d 474, 485, “[There is] no precedent indicating that the Illinois Constitution calls for more than the Federal Constitution in relation to equal protection safeguards.” See also People v. Francis (1968), 40 Ill. 2d 204.

Section 34 — 2.1(a) of the Act provides:

“Each local school council shall consist of the principal of the attendance center [school] served by the local school council and 10 elected members, 6 of whom shall be parents of students currently enrolled at the attendance center served by the local school council ***, 2 of whom shall be community residents residing within the attendance area established for the attendance center served by the local school council *** and 2 of whom shall be teachers employed at the attendance center served by the local school council elected by the entire school staff.” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 122, par. 34—2.1(a).)

Section 34 — 2.1(b) states the voter eligibility requirement for participation in the local school council elections. Section 34 — 2.1(b) provides:

“Only parents of students enrolled at the attendance center [school] served by the local school council shall be eligible to vote for the parents to be elected to that local school council, only school staff employed at the attendance center served by the local school council shall be eligible to vote for teachers to be elected to that local school council and only community residents residing within the attendance area established for the attendance center served by a local school council shall be eligible to vote for the community residents to be elected to that local school council; provided, however, that with respect to community residents to be elected to the local school council of a multi-area school, only the parents of students enrolled at that multi-area school, the principal of such multi-area school and the school staff employed at such multi-area school shall be eligible to vote for the community residents to be elected to the local school council serving that multi-area school.” Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 122, par. 34—2.1(b).

The plaintiffs argue that the Act’s differentiated allocation of votes among parents, community residents and teachers in local school council elections impermissibly interferes with their fundamental right to have an equal voice in an election involving a governmental matter of general interest, namely, the operation of local schools. Under the Act, community residents who reside in multiarea districts and do not have children in attendance at the public schools are unable to vote for any local school council members. Community residents in single district attendance centers who do not have children in attendance in a public school are entitled to vote for only two members of the council. Parents, however, who have children in the school, are entitled to vote for six members of the council. The defendants, in response, contend that a voting scheme which results in differentiated treatment of voters will not be found to violate constitutional assurances of equal protection if the voters given the weighted vote have a greater interest in and are more greatly benefited by the particular activities of the governmental unit which is the subject of the election.

From an analysis of the Act and from the argument of the plaintiffs, it is clear that the local school councils are elected by citizens who have different voting powers, i.e., with votes of unequal weight. The one person, one vote rule announced by the United States Supreme Court, which we will discuss, means that a person is entitled to have his or her vote regarded as equal to every other voter’s vote. The one person, one vote rule has been held to be applicable in elections of governmental bodies or units which exercise general governmental powers. See, e.g., Avery v. Midland County (1968), 390 U.S. 474, 20 L. Ed. 2d 45, 88 S. Ct. 1114; Hadley v. Junior College District (1970), 397 U.S. 50, 25 L. Ed. 2d 45, 90 S. Ct. 791; Kramer v. Union Free School District No. 15 (1969), 395 U.S. 621, 23 L. Ed. 2d 583, 89 S. Ct. 1886; Board of Estimate v. Morris (1989), 489 U.S. 688, 103 L. Ed. 2d 717, 109 S. Ct. 1433.

When a statute provides for an inequality in voting power, a question arises as to whether there has been a violation of the constitutional guarantee of equal protection of the law. When the means used by a legislature to achieve a legislative goal impinges upon a fundamental right, such as the right to vote, a court will examine a claim that there was a violation of the constitutional right to equal protection under a standard of strict scrutiny. (Kramer v. Union Free School District, 395 U.S. at 626, 23 L. Ed. 2d at 589, 89 S. Ct. at 1889.) Under a standard of strict scrutiny, the court must conclude that the means employed by the legislature to achieve the stated goal were necessary to advance a compelling State interest. Too, the statute must be narrowly tailored, that is, the legislature must use the least restrictive means consistent with the attainment of the legislative goal. Kramer v. Union Free School District, 395 U.S. at 626. 23 L. Ed. 2d at 589. 89 S. Ct. at 1889.

The trial court here did not analyze the legislation under the strict scrutiny test; rather, it applied the rational basis test. Under the rational basis test, the court simply inquires whether the method or means employed in the statute to achieve the stated goal or purpose of the legislation is rationally related to that .goal. (Ball v. James (1981), 451 U.S. 355, 371, 68 L. Ed. 2d 150, 163, 101 S. Ct. 1811, 1821.) The trial court held that local school councils were special limited-purpose bodies that did not exercise general governmental powers and that their elections, therefore, did not have to comply with the one person, one vote rule. The trial court stated that giving parents of children currently attending the public schools a weighted vote was rationally related to the legislative goal of improving the school system because parents-were more greatly affected by and interested in the local school council’s decisions.

The trial court erred in finding that the local school councils did not exercise general governmental powers and in its resulting decision to apply the rational basis test, instead of strict scrutiny. The trial court looked to the absence of a power to tax, issue bonds, and similar considerations, in reaching its conclusion, but did not consider the broad and important powers vested in the local school councils and it mistakenly judged the councils to be but advisory bodies.

In Reynolds v. Sims, the Supreme Court held that each voter is entitled to have his or her vote given weight equal to that of every other voter. (Reynolds v. Sims (1964), 377 U.S. 533, 12 L. Ed. 2d 506, 84 S. Ct. 1362.) The holding in Reynolds has become known as the one person, one vote rule. The right to vote in an election of general interest is a fundamental right and any legislation which operates to impair a person’s right to vote on grounds other than residency, age or citizenship, can only stand if it can survive a strict scrutiny analysis. (Hill v. Stone (1975), 421 U.S. 289, 44 L. Ed. 2d 172, 95 S. Ct. 1637; see also Reynolds v. Sims (1964), 377 U.S. 533, 12 L. Ed. 2d 506, 84 S. Ct. 1362; Kramer v. Union Free School District No. 15 (1969), 395 U.S. 621, 23 L. Ed. 2d 583, 89 S. Ct. 1886.) In Hill v. Stone, the Supreme Court found a statutory election scheme for a local bond election to be in violation of equal protection because it diluted the vote of those citizens who did not own property subject to local taxation. The statute created a dual box system of voting under which all registered voters cast a ballot in one box and citizens who owned property subject to local taxation cast an additional ballot in a second box. In order for the bond issue to pass, it had to receive a majority of the overall vote and a majority of the vote cast by the property owners. The court stated that because this election was one of general interest (that is, the issue was not one of special limited purpose), any restriction on a qualified voter’s ability to cast an equal vote could not stand unless the district or State could demonstrate a compelling State interest for the restriction. Hill v. Stone, 421 U.S. at 297, 44 L. Ed. 2d at 179, 95 S. Ct. at 1643.

The one person, one vote rule established in Reynolds has been held to be applicable to elections of local governmental bodies which exercise “general governmental powers.” (Avery v. Midland County (1968), 390 U.S. 474, 20 L. Ed. 2d 45, 88 S. Ct. 1114.) In Avery, the petitioner, a taxpayer and voter in Midland County, Texas, sued the Midland County commissioners court, alleging that the election of the members of the commissioners court from districts of substantially unequal population violated the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment. The commissioners court, the Court stated, was a general governing body with power to perform various functions in the governance of the county, including setting tax rates, issuing bonds, preparing the budget and appointing county officials, and was, therefore, subject to the one person, one vote rule.

On the local level, the one person, one vote principle has been applied by the Supreme Court to elections for school board members. (Hadley v. Junior College District (1970), 397 U.S. 50, 25 L. Ed. 2d 45, 90 S. Ct. 791; Kramer v. Union Free School District No. 15 (1969), 395 U.S. 621, 23 L. Ed. 2d 583, 89 S. Ct. 1886.) In Hadley, the Court stated:

“If [a] person’s vote is given less weight *** his right to equal voting participation is impaired just as much when he votes for a school board member as when he votes for a state legislator. While there are differences in the powers of different officials, the crucial consideration is the right of each qualified voter to participate on an equal footing in the election process.” (Hadley v. Junior College District, 397 U.S. at 55, 25 L. Ed. 2d at 50, 90 S. Ct. at 794.)

In Hadley, the plaintiffs, residents and taxpayers of the Kansas City school district, challenged the constitutionality of a statutory scheme for electing trustees to sit on the board of the local consolidated junior college district. Under the plan, the Kansas City school district was allowed to elect only 50% of the trustees even though it had 60% of the total number of students in the district. Because the board performed important governmental functions, such as levying and collecting taxes, issuing bonds with certain restrictions and hiring and firing teachers, the Court held that the one person, one vote principle should be applied. Although the powers vested in the board were not as broad as those of the Midland County commissioners in Avery, the Court held that the trustees performed “important governmental functions” within the district and that their powers were “general enough and had sufficient impact throughout the district to justify the conclusion that the principle which we applied in Avery should also be applied.” Hadley v. Junior College District, 397 U.S. at 54, 25 L. Ed. 2d at 49, 90 S. Ct. at 794.

In Kramer v. Union Free School District, the Supreme Court considered a constitutional challenge to a New York statute which allowed residents to vote in school district elections only if they owned or rented property in the district or had children enrolled in the local public schools. A bachelor who lived with his parents challenged the legislation as an unconstitutional violation of equal protection rights. The Court invoked the one person, one vote rule, reviewed the statute under the strict scrutiny standard and held that the statutory scheme could not withstand challenge because exclusion of the appellant and members of his class from the right to vote was not necessary to achieve or promote the State’s interest. The Court held that the statute was unconstitutional because the statute’s classification of those eligible to vote was not “sufficiently tailored to limiting the franchise to those ‘primarily interested’ in school affairs to justify the denial of the franchise to appellant and members of his class.” (Kramer v. Union Free School District, 395 U.S. at 633, 23 L. Ed. 2d at 593, 89 S. Ct. at 1893.) The Court concluded that a strict scrutiny analysis was appropriate because the local school district maintained significant control over the administration of local school district affairs (e.g., decided matters of local taxation for school purposes, elected trustees and other school officials, purchased buildings and sites, employed teachers and maintained discipline) and had basic responsibility for local school operation (e.g., prescribed courses of study, determined textbooks to be used). See also J. Nowak, Constitutional Law, ch. 16, at 636-38 (1984) (for a discussion of the decisions developing and applying the one person, one vote rule).

Citing each of these decisions, the plaintiffs contend the local school councils exercise general governmental powers and that the election scheme contained in the Act must, therefore, conform to the one person, one vote principle. The defendants respond that this case falls into an exception to the one person, one vote rule that was set out in Hadley. In Hadley, the Court left room for an exception to the one person, one vote rule by reserving decision on the applicability of the rule to elections for special purpose units of government assigned performance of functions affecting definable groups of constituents more than other constituents. (Hadley v. Junior College District, 397 U.S. at 59, 25 L. Ed. 2d at 53, 90 S. Ct. at 797.) The Court stated:

“It is of course possible that there might be some case in which a State elects certain functionaries whose duties are so far removed from normal governmental activities and so disproportionately affect different groups that a popular election in compliance with [the one person, one vote rule established in Reynolds] might not be required.” (Hadley v. Junior College District, 397 U.S. at 56, 25 L. Ed. 2d at 51, 90 S. Ct. at 795.)

In elections where the governmental body involved does not exercise “general governmental authority” and where its actions disproportionately benefit those granted the weighted vote, a plaintiff’s equal protection claim will be considered under the rational basis standard instead of under the strict scrutiny standard required under the one person, one vote rule. See Ball v. James (1981), 451 U.S. 355, 371, 68 L. Ed. 2d 150, 163, 101 S. Ct. 1811, 1821.

Examples of local units or bodies which were not found to fall within the one person, one vote rule because they did not exercise “general governmental authority” and because their actions disproportionately benefited those given the weighted vote can be found in Salyer Land Co. v. Tulare Lake Basin Water Storage District (1973), 410 U.S. 719, 35 L. Ed. 2d 659, 93 S. Ct. 1224, and Ball v. James (1981), 451 U.S. 355, 68 L. Ed. 2d 150, 101 S. Ct. 1811. In Salyer, only landowners could vote in elections for members of the community water storage district. Voting power was apportioned according to the assessed valuation of the land that each eligible voter owned. Despite the fact that voting power was denied completely to some and was unequally distributed among the rest, the Court did not apply the one person, one vote rule because it found that both of the conditions suggested by the Court in Hadley as creating an exception to the one person, one vote rule were satisfied. First, the Court found that the district served a special limited purpose (the acquisition, storage and distribution of water for farm irrigation) and performed no general public service. Second, the Court concluded that the district’s activities had a disproportionate effect on those who were given the vote, i.e., costs were assessed against landowners in proportion to the benefit received. Salyer Land Co. v. Tulare Lake Basin Water Storage District, 410 U.S. at 728, 35 L. Ed. 2d at 666, 93 S. Ct. at 1229.

Similarly, in Ball v. James, the Court considered a scheme for electing directors of an agricultural improvement and power district in which only landowners of more than one acre of land were allowed to vote. The Court held, that while the district performed some activities which affected the entire community, i.e., generating and selling electric power to a large portion of the State, distributing water to urban areas and issuing tax-exempt bonds, its powers were exercised as a means of fulfilling the district’s basic purpose of protecting against overflow of water and the disposing of water and sewage and other drainage. The Court concluded that the districts did not exercise “governmental power” and that they instead functioned essentially as business enterprises created by and chiefly benefiting the group of landowners given the right to vote. The fact that the State legislature did create the districts as public entities in order to obtain inexpensive bond financing, the Court held, was not enough to transform them into the type of governmental body for which the fourteenth amendment demands a one person, one vote system of elections. (Ball v. James, 451 U.S. at 368, 68 L. Ed. 2d at 161, 101 S. Ct. at 1819.) The Court, therefore, assessed the plaintiff’s equal protection claim under a rational basis test and concluded that the voting scheme was rationally related to the Act’s intended purpose. See also Goldstein v. Mitchell (1986), 144 Ill. App. 3d 474 (where the court held that the one person, one vote rule did not apply to drainage district elections because the district’s functions were limited and disproportionately benefited those electors given the weighted vote).

Here, the trial court held that the local school councils were similar to the districts in Ball and Salyer. The trial court held that the local school councils were special limited purpose bodies which disproportionately benefited parents of children currently attending the public schools. Applying the rational basis test, the court concluded that the Act was rationally related to the legislature’s stated goal of improving the quality of education in the City of Chicago, and giving parents a weighted vote was, therefore, not a violation of equal protection. The plaintiffs argue on appeal, as stated, that the trial court erred in applying the rational basis standard.

Here, it is cleár that citizens falling into a number of categories are either denied a vote or are denied an equal vote in local school council elections. To ascertain whether the Act violates the constitutional assurance of equal protection, we must first determine whether the local school councils exercise “general governmental powers” and, if they do, whether the Act advances a compelling State interest so that the provisions of the Act can withstand strict scrutiny analysis. Alternatively, if we find that the local school councils are special limited purpose units created by and benefiting a special limited group of citizens, so that they fall within the exception to the one person, one vote rule, we must determine whether, pursuant to the rational basis test, they are rationally related to the legislature’s purpose.

Considering the whole Act, and the local school councils in particular, we hold that the local school councils are essential units of educational governance, empowered to make important budgetary, educational and administrative decisions regarding the Chicago public school system, and that the statutory scheme which denies or dilutes the vote of certain citizens must therefore be necessary to advance a compelling State interest.

The Reform Act creates a unique system in which local school councils play an important role in one of the most critical of governmental functions, the providing of public education. The councils do not have such responsibilities as levying taxes and issuing bonds, but the legislature has given them the primary responsibility for school governance and improvement under the Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 122, par. 34—1.01). Given the broad, important and general nature of the powers conferred on the local school councils, their actions and decisions certainly were intended to have a primary and far-reaching effect on the public education system in the City of Chicago. The powers exercised by the local school councils are broad. They include: (1) selecting the principal to serve under a four-year performance contract (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 122, par. 34—2.3(1)), establishing criteria to be included in the principal’s performance contract (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 122, par. 34—2.3(3)), evaluating the performance of each principal and determining whether because of that performance the principal’s contract shall be renewed or whether the performance was professionally deficient (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 122, par. 34 — 2.3(1)); (2) approving the expenditure plan prepared by the principal in consultation with the local school council with respect to all funds allocated and distributed to the school by the board of education (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 122, par. 34 — 2.3(4)); (3) making recommendations to the principal concerning textbook selection (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 122, par. 34 — 2.3(5)), and attendance and disciplinary policy (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 122, par. 34 — 2.3(6)); (4) approving the school improvement plan (see Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 122, par. 34 — 2.3(4)) developed by the principal in conjunction with the local school council, school staff, parents and community residents; (5) evaluating teaching resources to determine whéther allocation of such resources is consistent with and in furtherance of instructional objectives and school programs, making recommendations to the board, the subdistrict superintendent and the principal concerning any reallocation of resources whenever the council determines that any such reallocation is appropriate (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 122, par. 34 — 2.3(8)); (6) making recommendations to the principal and subdistrict, superintendent concerning appointments of persons to fill vacant, additional or newly created positions for teachers (111. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 122, par. 34 — 2.3(9)); and (7) requesting training and assistance from the board and directing the board to contract with personnel not associated with the school district to train or assist council members (the Act provides that the members of the local school council shall receive training in the areas of school budgets, educational theory and personnel • selection (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 122, par. 34 — 2.3(10)). A simple reading of this statutory authority shows the educationally vital powers given the local school councils and the breadth of those powers. Given the breadth of the local school councils’ powers, controversy regarding their definition and application would be inevitable.

The defendants counter that strict scrutiny analysis should not be applied because the local school councils are subordinate panels of tightly limited authority which do not perform “general governmental functions.” The local school councils cannot levy taxes, appropriate money, enter into contracts, issue bonds, acquire property, or set basic educational policy at the district level. All of these powers, the defendants point out, are retained by the board of education. The local school councils, the defendants argue, simply implement in the particular school, the district-wide policies set by the board. The approval of budgetary proposals submitted by the principal at the local school and the selection of the principal, the most significant of the local school councils’ functions, the defendants contend, are hardly general governmental powers which would necessitate that the voting provisions comply with the one person, one vote rule. Because the local school councils do not “administer” schools in the general sense that was controlling with respect to the school boards at issue in Kramer and in Hadley, the defendants argue, the election scheme should be examined under a rational basis test and not under strict scrutiny. The defendants further argue that the Act satisfies the rational basis test as it is rationally related to the goal of improving the quality of education in the Chicago public schools.

That the powers exercised by the local school councils differ from those in the cases in which the Supreme Court has applied the one person, one vote principle or the exception to it is understandable. As we noted, there does not appear to be a comparable statute in the United States or a comparable public education structure. Because they do not have powers similar to the boards in Hadley and Kramer, such as the authority to tax, to contract or to issue bonds, the local school councils’ powers, upon a superficial viewing, may appear to be of a limited nature. Upon a reading of the whole Act, however, it is clear that the local school councils perform functions which are at the heart of a traditional and vital governmental function: the operation of public education. The legislature has made the local school councils the indispensable foundation of the school system. In a school system as large as Chicago’s, it is obvious that powers such as issuing bonds, contracting with unions and imposing taxes must be centralized and given to one administrative body. Because these powers are lodged with the board of education, however, does not suggest that the legislature intended that sole responsibility for operation of the schools be lodged in the board. The system is structured so that responsibility for operation of the schools is divided between the board and the local school councils, with the local school to be the essential unit for educational governance and improvement. To say that the local school councils do not exercise general governmental functions simply because they do not, like the governmental bodies in Avery, Hadley or Kramer, have the power to tax, issue bonds or contract is to ignore the structure and legislative intention of this seemingly unique Act. The power to tax, issue bonds, contract and the like, as stated, was purposely vested by the legislature in a centralized administrative body, the board of education, because the board could more efficiently perform these functions. Control and supervision over the operation of the local schools was vested in the local school councils. The Act specifically created a system in which both the board and the local school councils play different roles. The record shows that the Act was specifically structured in this way because it was felt that the board of education had not been sufficiently responsive to problems experienced by the local schools.

The Act itself describes the surpassing importance the legislature gave the local school councils. The Act provides:

“[T]he General Assembly intends to make the individual local school the essential unit for educational governance and improvement and to establish a process for placing the primary responsibility for school governance and improvement in furtherance of such goals in the hands of parents, community residents, teachers and the school principal at the school level.

Further, to achieve these priority goals, the General Assembly intends to lodge with the board of education key power in limited areas, so that the board of education supports school-level governance and improvement and carries out functions that can be performed more efficiently through centralized action.” (Emphasis added.) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 122, par. 34-1.01(B).)

The Act accomplishes its intention of making the local school the focus of reform by turning over significant powers to the principal of the individual local school who is to work in association with and be supervised by the local school council. While it is true that the board of education retains general supervision and jurisdiction over the public school system, the intention of the General Assembly, as stated, was to give the board “key powers in limited areas, so that the board of education supports school-level governance and improvement and carries out functions that can be performed more efficiently through centralized action.” Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 122, par. 34 — 1.01(B).

We would observe too that the local school councils serve to determine the membership of the board of education. As stated at the beginning of this opinion, each local school council elects one of its members to sit on a subdistrict council. Each of the 11 subdistrict councils, in addition to other responsibilities we described, elects one of its members to serve on the school board nominating commission. The 11 local school council members on this commission and five of the mayor’s appointees to the commission present a slate to the mayor of three qualified candidates for each vacancy on the board of education. The mayor appoints board members from this list. This may be considered as other evidence that the 539 local school councils constitute a structure vested with general governmental powers.

The defendants argue that the Act makes the local school the focus of reform through increased powers of the principal and not through the local school council, whose role, they argue, is advisory. The defendants’ contention is unconvincing. The local school councils’ role is far from being simply advisory. Under the Act, the local school councils and the principal of the local school work closely with each other on a number of issues, including, but not limited to, budgetary plans, textbook selection and disciplinary policy. Furthermore, the Act provides that the principal is ultimately accountable to the local school council, which is responsible for renewing his or her contract. Also, the Act provides for training of local school council members in the areas of budgetary development, personnel selection and educational theory. (111. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 122, par. 34 — 3.2.) Clearly, the legislature envisioned that the local school councils would play an important role in the reform of the school system.

Further support for the conclusion that the local school councils’ powers are not merely advisory are statements made during legislative debate by sponsors of the bill to the effect that the local school councils exercised significant powers.

“Senator Geo-Karis:

You provided in this Amendment *** for the election of local school councils, that those *** local school councils are advisory. Is that right?

Senator Berman:

No, they have some power of their own as well as being advisory. For example, they submit to the district superintendent the names of principals. They have vested *** discretion as to all of the lists of categorical monies that we have listed in the *** in this bill. They have the power to sit and work out the terms of a contract with the principal. They nominate to the district level and then downtown the nominating process for the board of education, so it’s not advisory *** purely advisory, they have substantial powers given them by this amendment.

Senator Geo-Karis:

*** [In] other words, they have input *** they don’t have the final word, do they?

Senator Berman:

Yes, they have the final word on a number of the issues that I’ve just explained.” (85th 111. Gen. Assem., Senate Proceedings, June 2,1988, at__)

Finally, the board of education, in a pamphlet entitled Guide of the Election of Local School Councils, noted that, “The local school council is a decision making body not an advisory body.”

The defendants also argue that the local school councils’ functions, like the functions of the water districts in Salyer and Ball, are of a limited nature and, therefore, should not be considered general governmental functions necessitating compliance with the one person, one vote rule. It is to be noted, however, that the Supreme Court in both Salyer and Ball cited the operation of schools as an example of a general governmental function. In Sal-yer, the Court reasoned that the water storage districts provided no “general public services such as schools, housing, transportation, utilities, roads, or anything else of the type ordinarily financed by a municipal body.” (Emphasis added.) (Salyer Land Co v. Tulare Lake Ba sin, 410 U.S. at 728-29, 35 L. Ed. 2d at 667, 93 S. Ct. at 1230.) In Ball, the Court stated, “the District simply does not exercise the sort of governmental powers that invoke the strict demands of Reynolds. *** It cannot enact any laws governing the conduct of citizens, nor does it administer such normal functions of government as the maintenance of streets, the operation of schools or sanitation, health, or welfare services.” (Emphasis added.) Ball v. James, 451 U.S. at 366, 68 L. Ed. 2d at 160,101 S. Ct. at 1818.

The local school councils are readily distinguishable from the water districts at issue in Ball and Salyer. The local school councils are the cornerstone, in a real sense, of the operation of the city’s schools and they play a significant role in the Act’s scheme to improve education in the City of Chicago. They have important and multiple powers that affect the whole community.

The administration of education through the operation of our schools is a fundamental governmental activity in which all members of society have an interest. Furthermore, educational activities are financed by and affect virtually every resident. The local school councils perform an indispensable role in administering the board’s educational policy at the local level and in carrying out the legislature’s intent to create a dominant force at that level. We hold, therefore, that the local school councils exercise general governmental functions, as that term has been defined in Hadley and Kramer.

A second consideration in Ball and Salyer was whether the functions of the local water district disproportionately benefited those given the weighted votes. In Ball and Salyer, the functions performed by the water reclamation districts and the costs associated with the districts were directly linked to land ownership and directly and disproportionately benefited the landowners. Here, the cost of operating the community’s schools falls directly or indirectly on virtually all community residents, e.g., property taxes are imposed on all residents regardless of whether they have children attending the schools, and the decisions of the local school council affect virtually every resident of the school’s attendance area. The benefits resulting from the election of competent and efficient local school councils are far from limited to parents with children in the public schools. For example, nonparent residents are directly affected by the individual school’s performance in that the quality of the community’s schools often directly affects the value of their property; parents with children not yet of school age have a proper and direct interest in the quality and operation of the schools their children will soon enter; parents of children who attend private schools also have a direct interest in the school system (improved public schools would allow the parents to re-enroll their children in public school).

Furthermore, it is clear that a community school is not judged solely on the basis of the general district-wide policy set by the board. The school is judged, instead, on its individual performance and on its ability to implement effectively general educational policy. Although a parent's interest in the quality of the school his or her child attends is clearly identifiable, it is not an exclusive interest. It simply cannot be said that the activities and the performance of the local school council have a sufficiently disproportionate effect on those parents with children in current attendance at the public school.

We hold, therefore, that because the local school councils perform a general governmental function which affects the entire community, the trial judge erred in applying the rational basis standard in determining whether the voting scheme of the Act violated equal protection. Absent a showing that an elected body serves a special limited purpose, a restriction which operates to dilute a citizen’s vote must meet a strict scrutiny test of justification. (Hill v. Stone (1975), 421 U.S. 289, 298, 44 L. Ed. 2d 172, 179, 95 S. Ct. 1637, 1643.) The Act creates a classification which dilutes the vote of those citizens who do not have children attending the public schools in the year of the local school council election. A rational basis will not justify the classification of voters created by the Act.

The question now to be addressed is whether the restriction causing unequal powers of voting in the legislative scheme for the election of local school councils can satisfy a strict scrutiny analysis. That is, (1) Does the Act advance a compelling State interest? (2) Are the provisions limiting voter eligibility necessary to attain the Act’s goal of improving the quality of education in the City of Chicago? and (3) Are the provisions in the legislation the least restrictive means available to attain the legislation’s goal? Kramer v. Union Free School District, 395 U.S. at 632, 23 L. Ed. 2d at 592, 89 S. Ct. at 1892.

That education is a compelling State interest is not disputed here. Article X, section 1, of the constitution of Illinois states, “A fundamental goal of the People of the State is the educational development of all persons to the limits of their capacities.” In Plyler v. Doe (1982), 457 U.S. 202, 221, 72 L. Ed. 2d 786, 801-02, 102 S. Ct. 2382, 2397, the Supreme Court observed:

“The ‘American people have always regarded education and [the] acquisition of knowledge as matters of supreme importance.’ [Quoting Meyer v. Nebraska (1923), 262 U.S. 390, 400, 67 L. Ed. 1042, 1045, 43 S. Ct. 625, 627.] We have recognized ‘the public schools as a most vital civic institution for the preservation of a democratic system of government’ [quoting School District of Abington Township v. Schempp (1963), 374 U.S. 203, 230, 10 L. Ed. 2d 844, 863, 83 S. Ct. 1560, 1560 (Brennan, J., concurring)], and as the primary vehicle for transmitting ‘the values on which our society rests’ [quoting Ambach v. Norwick (1979), 441 U.S. 68, 76, 60 L. Ed. 2d 49, 56, 99 S. Ct. 1589, 1594]. *** In addition, education provides the basic tools by which individuals might lead economically productive lives to the benefit of us all. In sum, education has a fundamental role in maintaining the fabric of our society.”

See also Hadley v. Junior College District, 397 U.S. at 56, 25 L. Ed. 2d at 51, 90 S. Ct. at 1795 (where the Court commented, “[Education has traditionally been a vital governmental function, and these trustees, whose election the State has opened to all qualified voters, are governmental officials in every relevant sense of that term”).

The plaintiffs agree that the Chicago school system was in need of reform, that the existing centralized method of administering the system was inadequate and that the General Assembly’s objective of placing greater control at the local school level and of encouraging parental, community and teacher involvement is a desirable means of attempting to make the needed reforms. See Chicago School Watch, Research Report No. 1, The Bottom Line, Chicago’s Failing Schools and How to Save Them (1985); The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, An Imperiled Generation, Saving Urban Schools, ch. 2 (1988).

The plaintiffs contend, however, that denying qualified voters who do not, at the time of election, have children attending Chicago public schools a vote in local school council elections that is of equal weight to that of voters who then have a child attending the Chicago public schools is not narrowly drawn or necessary to achieve the legislature’s goal of improving public education in the City of Chicago.

Indeed, as the plaintiffs say, there may be a rational relationship between giving parents of children currently attending the public school an increased role in local educational governance and improvement in the school, but it is not necessary to give those parents an increased role by granting them greater voting power than all other qualified voters who do not currently have children attending the public school. There is no demonstration that qualified voters who do not currently have children attending the public school, as a class, have less interest in the parents or teachers who are to be elected to serve on the local school council or that parents with children currently attending the public schools possess a special competence or ability to choose local school council members of quality.

In Kramer, the Supreme Court rejected a claim that a voting scheme granting the right to vote in school district elections only to property owners and parents could be justified on the grounds that the legislature could reasona