Request By:
Hon. Edward L. Fossett
Office Head
Legal and Legislative Services
Department of Education
Capital Plaza Tower
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Robert L. Chenoweth, Assistant Attorney General
Upon request of the State Board for Elementary and Secondary Education you have asked the Office of the Attorney General to consider the legality of a school system's request to the State Board for approval of a plan for issuance of diplomas based upon a tri-level academic program. The diploma plan calls for the conferring, upon graduation from the school system, of a diploma certifying that the student has successfully completed one of three levels of academic preparation. Each level progressively calls for completion of credits exceeding the eighteen credits established for graduation by the State Board. A student may select whether to satisfy only the regular program (the eighteen credits requirement), the enrichment program (the eighteen credits plus three credits), or the comprehensive program (the eighteen credits plus four credits).
There seems to be some misunderstanding about the statutory authority of the State Board for Elementary and Secondary Education in this area and we may in part be responsible for this. KRS 156.160(2) in pertinent part is a mandate to the State Board to adopt rules and regulations relating to "the minimum requirements for graduation from the courses offered." This is not a diploma statute. It is a statute placing responsibility on the State Board to establish the minimum academic requirements each child in Kentucky must meet before a local board of education can graduate them. A diploma is tangible evidence that at least these minimum requirements for graduation have been met. As Webster puts it, a diploma is "a document bearing record of graduation from . . . an educational institution." There is no law concerning diplomas. Some diplomas are big, others small, some fancy and some plain. We believe the "type" of diploma received is up to the reasonable discretion of a local board of education. However, before a diploma of graduation of any type may be received, a student must have met the present minimum requirements of the State Board. We believe the exceptional children "diploma problem" needs to be viewed in this light. See OAG 78-169, copy attached.
Thus, the law directs the State Board to prescribe the minimum requirements to be met in order to be graduated from a public common school in Kentucky. Once a child has met these minimum requirements, he or she is entitled to be graduated and to receive a diploma recognizing the satisfying of at least these minimum requirements. Cf. OAG 78-348. The proposal to the State Board under consideration is a request for permission to adopt a plan for diploma "types." The local board had not asked to change the minimum requirements but that it be given permission to recognize the students who choose to do more than is minimumly required of them and thereby maximize their opportunities for a free education in a public common school. These seekers of knowledge select the additional level of academic pursuit over the minimum requirements they desire to undertake. As noted earlier, each level builds upon the minimum credit requirements. The local school system wants to appropriately recognize the students with a diploma signifying the level of academic program completed which exceeds the minimum. In the true sense, then, such a diploma would be a "record of graduation" from a public common school.
Therefore, we do not see the diploma plan as a matter which needs to come before the State Board. The school system's plan for diplomas is in full compliance with the "minimum requirements for graduation" established by the State Board. If the local board desires to give public credit to those children who have exceeded these minimum requirements, far be it from the authority of the State Board to proscribe such a plan.