Request By:
Mr. Ronald W. McCormick
Superintendent
Campbell County Schools
101 Orchard Lane
Alexandria, Kentucky 41001
Opinion
Opinion By: Frederic J. Cowan, Attorney General; Anne E. Keating, Assistant Attorney General
In a letter to this office you requested an Attorney General's Opinion on personnel functions relating to the role of the local board of education and of the superintendent as set forth in the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990. In particular, you asked for this office to delineate between the personnel duties of the local board of education and the personnel duties of the superintendent. You also ask for this office to define what duties, if any, site-based councils may have in creating or abolishing positions; setting compensation; and influencing a superintendent's decision to transfer employees or assign employees returning from leave.
In answer to your first two questions regarding the delineation between the duties of the superintendent and the board of education, this office has previously issued an opinion on this topic. On January 22, 1991, this office issued OAG 91-10 interpreting KRS 160.290, as amended by House Bill 940 in 1990. We stated:
A board of education continues to have responsibility for 'general control and management of the public schools in this district.' This includes 'control and management of all school funds,' and includes setting 'compensation of employees.' KRS 160.290. This office has previously taken the position that a local board has the power and authority to create and abolish positions of employment in its school system. OAG 79-78 and OAG 78-41. It is the opinion of this office that the board, alone, continues to have the power to create and abolish positions. It would not be possible to maintain general control and management of the district and to budget school funds without having ultimate control over expenditures. Of course, it remains the responsibility of the superintendent to make decisions on how and when to fill positions.
You also ask whether the board of education may provide a job description for any employee of the board of education, and point out that, while (1) of KRS 160.290, as amended, removes the authority of the board of education to prescribe duties for an employee, (2) gives the board authority to adopt rules and regulations concerning the qualifications and duties of employees. Based on that language it does, indeed, appear that the board may, in general, prescribe qualifications and duties of categories of employees while the superintendent describes, with more specificity, the duties of individual positions.
In answer to your first question regarding the duties of the superintendent, the superintendent has the responsibility to make individual personnel decisions, and to define the duties of particular employment positions. The role and duties of the superintendent are set forth with more particularity in KRS 160.370, 160.380, and 160.390. Due to the complexity of issues covered therein, it is not possible to give a more specific description than is set forth in the statutes. If you have a particular question about interpretation, we will be glad to address it at that time.
In answer to your second question regarding duties of the board of education, the borad, as part of its responsibility for the management of the district public schools as a whole, manages all school funds (which includes setting compensation of employees); creates and abolishes positions of employment in the school system; and has the authority to adopt rules and regulations concerning the qualifications and duties of employees by categories. KRS 160.290.
Third, you ask what personnel powers the site-based council holds in regard to creating or abolishing employment positions, and setting compensation for those positions. It is the opinion of this Office that the school council does not have authority, unilaterally, to create and abolish positions or to set compensation for the school as a whole. See KRS 160.345(2)(g) which states in part:
After receiving notification of the funds available for the school from the local board, the school council shall determine, within the parameters of the total available funds, the number of persons to be employed in each job classification at the school.
In other words, once the school council learns of available funding and the number of positions available for the school from the board, then the council may determine the number of individuals to be employed in each job class. It remains the responsibility of the local board of education, as described above, to establish the overall number of positions and to set the compensation of employees. KRS 160.290. If this were not the case, staffing and salaries from school to school could lack consistency with drastic effects on the district budget.
Fourth, you ask whether the superintendent may transfer an employee from school to school or assign an individual returning from leave without council approval. KRS 160.380(2)(a) states in part:
All appointments, promotions and transfers of principals, supervisors, teachers, and other public school employees shall be made only by the superintendent of schools, who shall notify the board of the action taken.
KRS 160.345(2)(g) states in part:
The council may make personnel decisions on vacancies occurring after the school council is formed but shall not have the authority to recommend transfers or dismissals .
(Emphasis added.)
Assuming that a school council exists, KRS 160.380(2)(a), which gives the authority and responsibility for all appointments and promotions of teachers and other public school employees to the superintendent, is qualified by KRS 160.345(2)(g) and (i) to the extent that the superintendent recommends applicants to a particular school and the principal fills the vacancies after consultation with the school council. KRS 160.345(2)(i). Therefore, when an initial assignment or the filling of a vacancy is involved, the principal and council make personnel decisions upon receiving the list of recommended applicants from the superintendent.
In case of requests for transfers, KRS 160.345(2)(g) clearly specifies that the school council has no authority to make recommendations to either the principal or superintendent in such matters.