Appellants complained about the Board of Education's decision to terminate six teachers. They alleged that they had been adversely affected by the decision by the reduction in the number of teachers and the negative impact on the quality of education in the district; the procedure by which the terminations were made was faulty and failed to provide an open forum for parental input; and the budgetary reasons for the terminations was simply a "ploy" to influence the arbitration process and constituted an action in violation of the Public Employees Relations Act.

Appellee filed a Motion to Dismiss the appeal on the ground that the State Board of Education lacks subject matter jurisdiction to review a "reduction in force" under the provisions of Iowa Code section 290.1. The Motion was granted.

In this appeal, Appellants' affidavits allege no "special injury" they would sustain as a result of the Board's decision. The decision is specially and specifically injurious only to the six teachers. Those teachers would meet the aggrievement test, but the Appellants do not.

If the Board committed a "prohibited practice" as alleged by Appellants, then the resolution of that issue is committed to the Public Employees Relation Board under the provisions of Iowa Code Chapter 20. Like the subsections of Chapter 279, Chapter 20 provides the statutory road to review that must be followed before the issues raised can be disposed of on their merits. The appeal procedures to the State Board under Chapter 290 would not be available to these Appellants.

Appellee's Motion to Dismiss the matter for lack of subject matter jurisdiction was granted.