Request By:
Mr. Coleman Tillery, Jr.
Post Office Box 384
McKee, Kentucky 40447-0384
Opinion
Opinion By: Chris Gorman, Attorney General; Anne E. Keating, Assistant Attorney General
You have requested an opinion from this office on your eligibility to run for reelection as member of the Jackson County Board of Education. You explained in your letter that you were first elected to the board in November 1972, and served from January 1973 through December 1984. In November, 1988, you were reelected to the board and have served to present. Your aunt was initially employed by the district in August 1975, and remained employed through June 1979. In August 1981, your aunt was reemployed by the district, and remains an employee of the district.
It is the opinion of this office that, under the requirements of KRS 160.180, you will be ineligible to run for reelection in November 1992, for the reasons set forth below.
Under KRS 160.180(2)(i), a board member is not eligible to serve on a board of education if he has a relative who is employed in the school district, and if the board member runs for election after July 13, 1990. An exception to this rule follows. A board member who was in office on July 13, 1990, and whose relative was not initially hired while the board member was serving on the board remains eligible to run for reelection and to serve. Id .
In the situation that you present, you were on the Jackson Board of Education on July 13, 1990. The question remains as to whether your relative was initially hired during your tenure. Your aunt was initially employed in August 1975, after you began serving on the school board. Your aunt was reemployed in August 1981, again, during your tenure as a board member. Therefore, we conclude, that under the provisions of KRS 160.180(2)(i) you are ineligible to run for reelection to the Jackson County School Board.