New York (State). Education Dept. Office of Counsel.

The judicial power to interpret school laws was vested in the Superintendent of Common Schools in 1822, transferred to the Superintendent of Public Instruction upon the creation of that office in 1854, and transferred to the Commissioner of Education upon creation of the State Education Department in 1904. Under the law any person can appeal the official actions of any local school official to the Commissioner, whose decision is a binding interpretation of the laws involved not normally reviewable in any court. (Court review is possible through initiation of a proceeding under Article 78 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules providing for review of judicial, quasi-judicial, or administrative determinations by a body or officer made pursuant to statute.) The Commissioner also establishes rules of practice for the appeals process, which mirror those of an appeals court.

Procedures in appeals cases are established by the Commissioner of Education and published by the Counsel's Office in "Regulations of the Commissioner of Education Relating to Appeals and Other Proceedings Before the Commissioner," Handbook 1. Briefly, the appeals process is as follows: A written appeal or petition must be filed with the Commissioner within thirty days of the action being contested. The respondent must file an answer within ten days. Additional pleadings by either party may be allowed or required by the Commissioner. All pleadings must be served on the opposite party and proof of service filed with the Commissioner. Either party may submit legal briefs and exhibits in support of its case, and other interested parties may submit memoranda of law as amicus curiae. The Commissioner may allow oral argument of a case if requested by either party. Within thirty days of the Commissioner's decision either party may apply for reopening of the decision, and the Commissioner may dismiss an appeal at any stage if the petition is unclear or the issues involved have become academic.

Between ca. 1933 and 1964, appeals for determinations of the Motion Picture Division were made by the Board of Regents. A Regents' committee heard such appeals, and prepared a determination for issuance by the Chancellor. Texts or abstracts of the Regents' decisions are published in the Department Reports of the State of New York and the Judicial Decisions of the Commissioner of Education.

Informally, the files are now known as "Sect. 310 Appeals," referring to the section of the Education Law, as recodified in 1947, which authorizes the Commissioner to hear and determine appeals from decisions of school district officers and boards. That authority dates originally to a statute enacted in the 1820s. Education Law sect. 312 requires that the case files be retained permanently. Appeals to the Board of Regents from decisions of the Motion Picture Division were authorized by Education Law former sect. 124.

From the description of Files of appeals to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Commissioner of Education, and Board of Regents, 1842-1904, 1935-2000. (New York State Archives). WorldCat record id: 123535871