OAG 78-819 | KOGC

Request By:

Hon. Johnnie L. Turner
Forester & Forester
First Street
Harlan, Kentucky 40831

Opinion

Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Robert L. Chenoweth, Assistant Attorney General

You have asked the Office of the Attorney General for an advisory opinion on two school law matters. Your questions are as follows:

1. Are the majority (quorum) requirements applicable to KRS 160.190 in filling vacancies, or if a tie vote should result when the remaining four members are appointing a qualified individual, what procedures are necessary in breaking a deadlock, or if a majority cannot agree, will the office remain vacant until the ninety (90) days expire, thereby allowing the State Board of Education to fill the office?

2. If a superintendent of school has four years remaining on a contract at a fixed salary and after an election in which two board members of five are defeated and a third board member resigns on the date following a regular board meeting, may these defeated and resigning board members, along with the other board members, increase the superintendent's salary from $22,500 to $30,000 for the remaining four years, and if it is valid, may it be rescinded or changed when the new board members take office in January, or at any time before the expiration of the four years?

In answer to your first question, we are of the opinion a majority vote of the board is required to fill a vacancy on the board. KRS 160.270(1) says in pertinent part:

"A majority of the board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business."

Also, see the provisions in KRS 160.190(1). Attached for your perusal are several prior opinions of this office relating to this matter, OAG 75-635, 75-540 and 72-747. Note that OAG 72-747 addresses the "lame duck members" issue which is at least implicitly involved in your question.

As regards your second question, it must first be understood that once a superintendent's contract term is established, be it for one, two, three or four years, and that contract term has commenced running, no board of education may change the contract durational term. See

LLM Summary

In OAG 78-819, the Attorney General provides an advisory opinion on two school law matters. The first matter concerns the majority vote requirements for filling vacancies on a school board, referencing KRS 160.270(1) and prior opinions including OAG 75-635 and OAG 72-747. The second matter addresses whether outgoing board members can increase a superintendent's salary and if such an increase can be rescinded by incoming board members. The opinion clarifies that only the board in office at the commencement of the superintendent's contract term has the authority to set or modify the contract terms.

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