Request By:
Mr. Ronald W. McCormick, Superintendent
Campbell County Schools
101 Orchard Lane
Alexandria, Kentucky 41001
Opinion
Opinion By: Chris Gorman, Attorney General; Anne E. Keating, Assistant Attorney General
You have requested an opinion from this office on the following two questions:
1. Can the Superintendent transfer a principal from Site Based School A to Site Based School B upon the retirement of the current principal in School B, without council approval, making a vacancy in Site Based School A?
2. Does the vacancy occur in the district after all transfers are made or prior to the transfers requiring posting of each position?
There are two statutes that address appointment and transfer of principals. KRS 160.380(2)(a) states:
All appointments, promotions and transfers of principals . . . shall be made only by the superintendent of schools, who shall notify the board of the action taken. . . . Supervisors, principals, teachers, and other employees may be appointed by the superintendent for any school year at any time after February 1 preceding the beginning of the school year.
KRS 160.345 addresses the filling of a vacancy in the position of principal in schools where school-based decision making councils exist. KRS 160.345(2)(i) states in part:
If the vacancy to be filled is the position of principal, the school council shall select the new principal from among those persons recommended by the local superintendent. Personnel decisions made at the school level under the authority of this subsection shall be binding on the superintendent who completes the hiring process. The superintendent shall provide additional applicants upon request.
In the situation that you present, a vacancy occurs due to the retirement of the current principal in school B. If schools A and B were not school-based decision making schools, then the superintendent, alone, would have the authority to appoint and transfer a principal to a particular position in the school district. KRS 160.380(2)(a). When schools A and B are school-based decision making schools, the procedure is different. Each of the schools, through the council, has the authority and responsibility to select the principal from among candidates recommended by the superintendent. KRS 160.345(2)(i). Statutes in pari materia, that deal with the same subject, are to be construed, where possible, to harmonize and give effect to the provisions of each act. This is especially true when two acts are passed at the same legislative session, and become effective on the same day.
Economy Optical Co. v. Kentucky Bd. of Optometric Examiners, Ky., 310 S.W.2d 783, 784 (1958). KRS 160.345 and 160.380 are both part of HB 940, the Kentucky Education Reform Act passed by the General Assembly in 1990, effective July 13, 1990. Therefore, in answer to your first question, the superintendent may not transfer a principal from school A to school B without council approval, when both schools are operating under the governance of a council. This is consistent with the provision of school-based decision making governance, to be implemented in all Kentucky schools by July 1, 1996. KRS 160.345(5).
The answer to your second question is based on the answer to question one. Under KRS 160.345, the superintendent makes recommendations to school B when the principal retires. Once that position is filled by the council, and finalized by the superintendent, if another vacancy exists for a principal in school A, then the superintendent repeats the process.