Request By:
Virginia W. Gregg, general counsel to Board of Education of Fayette County
Opinion
Opinion By: A. B. Chandler III, Attorney General; Ross T. Carter, Manager of the Opinions Branch
Opinion of the Attorney General
In OAG 81-73 we said that mothers caring for a young child need not attend school. We have been asked whether that exemption applies to fathers as well. We conclude that there is no exemption for either mothers or fathers and both must attend school after the birth of a child.
KRS 159.030 lists exemptions from compulsory school attendance. In OAG 81-73 we created two exemptions that did not appear in the statute: for married students and for mothers.
In OAG 93-37 we overruled OAG 81-73. Unfortunately that opinion was incorrectly referenced as OAG 81-79, leaving some doubt whether OAG 81-73 continued to represent the views of this office.
In this opinion we say what we meant to say in OAG 93-37: that OAG 81-73 is overruled and does not in any respect represent the views of this office. There are no exemptions in KRS 159.030 for married students or for mothers; if such exemptions are desirable it is for the General Assembly, and not the Attorney General, to create them.