Request By:
Mr. Charles E. Harris, Superintendent
Somerset Public Schools
305 College Street
Somerset, Kentucky 42501
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Robert L. Chenoweth, Assistant Attorney General
As Superintendent of the Somerset Public Schools you have asked the Office of the Attorney General to consider an action of the Somerset Board of Education which established an "activity ticket" to be purchased by the Somerset students. You informed us that the activity ticket was established in the Somerset School District many years ago and that it has been a requirement for several years. In your letter you quoted from the Somerset High School Handbook as follows:
"Activity Tickets: Each year, Somerset High School students are obliged to purchase an activity ticket. The activity ticket will cost $10.00. It entitles the holder to admission to all scheduled home athletic events, to a subscription to the school newspaper, to dittoed lesson plans and outlines and to a number of other privileges when the occasion arises.
The activity ticket is purchased through the home room teacher. Students who find it inconvenient to pay for the activity ticket all at one time may purchase single admission tickets for athletic events from their home room teachers, and the amount paid for the ticket will be credited to the activity ticket. When tickets in the amount of $10.00 have been purchased in this manner the price of the activity ticket will have been met, and the ticket will be issued to the student. Tickets purchased at the admission gate will not be credited toward this activity ticket. They must be purchased from the homeroom teacher. "
In addition to the above information, you stated that at the present time the Somerset High School withholds the recording of grades on any student who has not completed all requirements and paid all obligations to the school by the end of the current school year which means that those students who have not paid for their activity ticket will have their grades unreported until the activity ticket cost is paid. In this regard, you have asked the following two questions:
"1. We would like to ask the Attorney General's opinion, if the Board of Education has the authority to set a price and establish an Activity Ticket for the Somerset School District.
2. We would like to ask the Attorney General's opinion, if the Board of Education can withhold the recording of grades, and consequently to withhold recording of grades for a student who has not fulfilled the required obligations that they have in the Somerset School District."
Over the last two years, this office has had the occasion to write two opinions on the subject of student fees, charges, and expenses. In OAG 75-619, copy attached, we concluded "that a local board of education has the authority to charge a reasonable fee for general school supplies." While there is no express authorization in KRS 160.290 (the powers section of school law for local boards of education) for a school system to provide students materials, supplies, etc., for a charge, on either a mandatory or voluntary basis, we are of the continued opinion that a local school board has implied power to purchase supplies and the like for students and to pass on the cost to those parents financially able to buy them. Again, it must be pointed out that Kentucky school law does provide a means by which textbooks and school supplies may be furnished for children whose parents are unable to buy them. See KRS 160.330.
We again looked at student fees and charges in OAG 77-156, copy attached, after the executive budget had been passed by the 1976 General Assembly calling for an appropriation of $4,400,000 for the 1976-77 school year and $4,600,000 for this current school year for the replacement of student fees. In this opinion we discussed, to a limited extent, what is frequently said to constitute "student fees." We noted that fee schedules are frequently of one of two types: (1) curriculum or instructional; or (2) extracurricular or school activities. We went on to state that it appeared the General Assembly's appropriation was for the replacement of the curriculuminstructional type of fee.
With the above in mind, we turn now to your two questions. As a part of your first question, we consider you to be asking not only whether the board of education has the authority to establish a fee for extracurricular activities but also whether the board may compel the purchase of the so-called activity ticket. In this regard we note the language from the high school handbook, supra, that "students are obliged to purchase an activity ticket. " (Emphasis supplied.)
We believe the answer to your first question, at least in part, is discernible from the opinions referred to above. A local board of education, pursuant to its powers under KRS 160.290, has the authority to control and manage the schools in its district and to do what it deems necessary for the promotion of education and the general health and welfare of pupils. Even though social and extracurricular activities pertaining to the school are not necessary elements of a school career, they do play an important part in the overall education of a child. Therefore, we believe the school board has the authority to establish an activity fee. We do not, however, believe the school board may compel the payment of this fee. An activity fee to attend athletic events, receive the school newspaper, etc., is certainly not an incidental fee for prescribed courses of study. We believe the payment of an activity fee by students should be optional.
Foreshadowed by our answer to your first question, we believe the board of education is wholly without authority to withhold the recording of grades of a student who has failed to pay for the activity ticket. The board does not have authority to do this even as regards the curriculum-instructional type of fee if the amount of money received from the 1976 appropriation is inadequate to defray all such related costs. In OAG 60-1017, copy attached, which was relied upon in OAG 75-619, supra, this office stated that "we are aware of no constitutional or statutory authority which would authorize a local board of education or superintendent to withhold a student's grades or credits until such fees are paid."