Request By:
Mr. Don M. Turner
Principal
Danville High School
Danville, Kentucky 40422
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Robert L. Chenoweth, Assistant Attorney General
You have asked the Office of the Attorney General for an opinion on a policy of the Danville High School regarding the admission of out of district tuition students. We apologize for the delay in responding to your request. The ever increasing inquiries relative to school law concerns have made it nearly impossible to be timely in our written responses.
As background you informed this office that Danville High School has had an "open policy on admitting out of district tuition students. You stated that the only criteria for admission was a good behavior record and a good recommendation from the last school attended. You further informed us that when admitting out of district students, each is informed that to continue each year as students at Danville High School their behavior and attitude must be acceptable, otherwise, they would be denied admission the next year, or in extreme cases, their permission to attend would be immediately terminated.
As rationale to support the school policy on this matter you stated a belief that it is not the taxpayers' responsibility in the district to educate out of district students. You stated it is felt in the community that it is not fair to jeopardize the education of in-district students by the need for constant supervision by teachers of unruly, out of district students. You have asked this office to advise you of the legality of the policy you have described.
Our Kentucky school law grants to the discretion of each local board of education whether they will permit nonresident children to attend school in the district. KRS 158.120 and 158.130. These two sections of law and others related to this issue are discussed in detail in OAG 66-550, copy attached. We know you are aware that written agreements between school districts may be effected when a student is to be educated in a school district other than in the school district in which the child resides. KRS 157.350 and 703 KAR 2:050(7). Also see OAG 78-265 and OAG 75-602, copies attached.
In view of the permissive nature of the Kentucky school laws in this area, we do not believe these laws confer any rights to a nonresident child other than to be treated fairly in a reasonable, nonarbitrary and nondiscriminatory manner by the "foreign" school district. If a school district is going to permit nonresident children to attend its schools, all nonresident children must be treated alike, which is to say a board may not exclude children of a particular suspect classification, such as sex, race or religion. It is our advice that a local board of education should adopt a uniform policy by which any nonresident student will be admitted for enrollment.
What you are really concerned about involves the continuation of enrollment once started. We believe a local board of education is obligated to adopt regulations or policies which establish a set of standards to which any nonresident student will be held accountable for continued enrollment. See KRS 160.290 and KRS 161.180, the latter of which requires teachers and administrators to hold students to a strict account for their conduct in accordance with rules and regulations adopted by a local board of education pursuant to KRS 160.290. Once a student is permitted to enroll in a nonresident school for a school year, we believe the law applicable to student conduct and the possibility of suspension and/or expulsion under KRS 158.150 comes into play. Termination of the privilege of attending a nonresident school during the course of a school year is in fact an expulsion and must be so handled and effected only after a hearing before the "foreign" board of education. If an expulsion for the remainder of a school term was levied by the board of education, consideration for enrollment the following year should be taken a reasonable time before starting the school term. For good cause shown we believe a local board may deny readmission of such a nonresident student based upon the student's prior failure to abide by the board-adopted standards of conduct to which he may be lawfully held.