Request By:
E. Joy Arnold, attorney for Kentucky Education Association
Opinion
Opinion By: A. B. Chandler III, Attorney General; Ross T. Carter, Manager of the Opinions Branch
Opinion of the Attorney General
In 1996 the General Assembly enacted the following amendment to KRS 158.170(1):
[EDITOR'S NOTE: TEXT WITHIN THESE SYMBOLS [O> <O] IS OVERSTRUCK IN THE SOURCE.]
The minimum school term shall be one hundred eighty-five (185) days, including no less than the equivalent of [[O> at least <O]] one hundred seventy-five (175) six (6) hour instructional days.
Ky Acts 1996, c 20, § 2. Before the amendment, students had to attend school 175 calendar days; after the amendment, students have to attend school the equivalent of 175 days, or 1050 hours. In school districts adopting a schedule that provides for more than six hours of instruction per day, the total number of calendar days students must attend school is less than 175. The question presented to us is whether the number of calendar days teachers must report to work is correspondingly reduced. The answer is no.
The various statutes dealing with public schools contain no reference to "the equivalent of 185 days"; on the contrary, 185 days is expressed as an absolute figure in several statutes, including:
. KRS 157.320(13), which says that "teachers are paid for one hundred eighty-five (185) days";
. KRS 157.350, which refers to school terms of not less than 185 days and the employment of teachers for not less than 185 days;
. KRS 157.360(11)(a), which refers to "the regular one hundred eighty-five (185) day school year for teachers" ;
. KRS 157.420, which contains four references to a 185-day school term;
. KRS 161.500, which grants retirement service credit based on a 185-day employment contract;
. KRS 161.623, which allows sick leave to be added to retirement service credit based on the ratio of unused sick days to 185 days.
Not one word in any of these statutes suggests that 185 days should be read to mean anything other than what it plainly says: 185 days. The statute that allows instructional days to be computed in hours, KRS 158.070(1), itself contains an absolute reference to 185 days and does not state or imply that 185 days can be computed in hours.
We realize that this result may mean that teachers in districts that have adopted a calendar with fewer than 175 instructional days have to work more hours than teachers in districts with a regular schedule, perhaps even remaining at school for a few days after students have recessed for the summer. If that is a problem, it could be addressed by shortening the school day for teachers who must report to work after the students' instructional days have been completed. KRS 160.345(2)(i)4. This might require a change to the employment contracts.