Request By:
Ms. Elizabeth Gray
Rte. 3, Box 81
Corbin, Kentucky 40701
Opinion
Opinion By: Frederic J. Cowan, Attorney General; Anne E. Keating, Assistant Attorney General
In your recent letter you requested an opinion from this office interpreting KRS 160.345(2)(g) which states:
After receiving notification of the funds available for the school from the local board, the school council shall determine, within the parameters of total available funds, the number of persons to be employed in each job classification at the school. The council may make personnel decisions on vacancies occurring after the school council is formed but shall not have authority to recommend transfers or dismissals.
You ask, in particular, for an interpretation of the meaning of "transfer." You ask whether transfer encompasses moving someone already within the school from one position to another or whether it refers to moving an employee from one school to another. If transfer includes movement within a school, you ask whether the council has authority to move a physical education teacher to the position of classroom teacher if there are two physical education teachers and one would suffice, and assuming that both are certified to teach grades K-6. In the same manner, you ask, if a school is overstaffed with two librarians, whether the council may transfer one librarian to another position within the same building so long as the employee is certified for that position.
It is the opinion of this office that "transfer" encompasses both movement from one position to another within a school as well as movement from a position in one school to a position in another school. This is supported by additional language in KRS 160.345(2)(i) which states:
From a list of applicants recommended by the local superintendent, the principal at the participating school shall select personnel to fill vacancies, after consultation with the school council. Requests for transfer shall conform to any employer-employee bargained contract which is in effect.
(Emphasis added.) Clearly, terms of an employer-employee bargained contract would be important whether movement is from one position to another within the same school or from one position to another in a different school.
Based on the facts presented in your letter, this response will address in-house transfers, only. In view of the fact that KRS 160.345(2)(g) expressly prohibits the council from having authority to recommend transfers or dismissals, it is the Opinion of this Office that that responsibility remains part of the principal's duties. According to KRS 160.345(2)(i), those decisions are binding on the superintendent.
Therefore, in the situation that you present, it is the principal (not the council) who has the authority to move a physical education teacher to a classroom teacher position, as needed, assuming that the physical education teacher is certified for the other position. In the same manner, the principal, not the council, may transfer one of two librarians, as needed, to another position within the same school so long as the librarian is certified for that position.