Request By:
Mr. James B. Cole, Chairman
Vocational Student Organization Task Force
Department of Education
Bureau of Vocational Education
Capital Plaza Tower
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Robert L. Chenoweth, Assistant Attorney General
As the Chairman of the Vocational Student Organization Task Force you have asked the Office of the Attorney General to consider two statutes which codified bills passed by the 1978 regular session of the General Assembly. The first statute is 158.107 and the second is 158.290, which read respectively as follows:
"(1) No public common school shall charge a fee, or rental, or require a student to purchase instructional materials for enrollment, full participation or completion in any regular school program, grades kindergarten through twelve (12). Fees do not include items of personal attire, purchase or rental of musical instruments, or materials, other than instructional materials, which become the property of the pupil.
(2) Each public school district shall make an annual report to the department of education no later than August 1 for the preceding school year on a form provided by the department which specifies the amount of funds expended for consumable classroom supplemental instructional materials. The total of such expenditures shall be an amount at least equal to five dollars ($5.00) per child in average daily attendance. A copy of this report shall be maintained in the local superintendent's office for public inspection."
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"(1) No student shall be compelled to solicit or meet any kind of quota in a fund raising activity. Solicitations by students shall be on a completely voluntary basis and no grade changes or any other sanctions shall be imposed for refusal or failure of a student to engage in any solicitations or other fund raising activity. No public school shall promote or engage in a school wide fund raising project without the prior approval of the local board of education.
(2) Nothing in this Act shall prohibit student participation in classes in which salesmanship is an integral part of the prescribed curriculum."
You have asked for us to advise you on the manner in which these two statutes will affect vocational student organizations.
This office reviewed KRS 158.107 carefully in OAG 78-835, copy attached. We believe the key to understanding this new school law is the connection between the "regular school program" language of KRS 158.107 and the fact that KRS 158.060 requires six hours of actual school work which is when you are involved with the regular school program with possibly some limited exception. Thus, it was our conclusion in OAG 78-835 "that KRS 158.107 prohibits the charging of a fee for any activity, program, or trip which is tied in with or connected to the student's enrollment or full participation in any regular school program."
We recognize that your concerns with vocational student organizations put a different dimension to the basic issue heretofore considered by us. However, we are persuaded that the answer to your concerns is simply a reasonable extension of our previous conclusion regarding KRS 158.107. That is, if membership in the vocational student organization is required as an integral part of a "regular school program" (course offering) then we believe fees, including those for membership dues, would be prohibited. This is our position, irrespective of when the organization has its meetings. Even though an organization meeting is held outside the minimum six-hour school day, for example, in the evening, if belonging to the organization and attendance at the meeting is expected and considered a part of the course offering activities it is most nearly associated with, the prohibitions of KRS 158.107 would be applicable.
On the other hand, we know of the many vocational student organizations which are clearly voluntary and are really extra-curricular in nature. The mere fact that the organization may be reasonably aligned with a course in the regular school program will not bring the proscriptions of KRS 158.107 on to the organization so long as membership and involvement in the organization is not required for "enrollment, full participation or completion" of a course in the regular school program.
As for KRS 158.290, our maiden consideration of this new school law was expressed in OAG 78-508, copy attached. We believe that opinion is broad enough in its discussion to be adapted to concerns you might have regarding vocational student organizations.
If we may be of further assistance with respect to either of these statutes, please contact us at your convenience.