Request By:
John E. Floyd
Superintendent
Hickman County Schools
Clinton, Kentucky 42031
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of August 4 in which you seek an opinion as to whether or not the county court clerk can be hired as a substitute teacher by the Hickman County Board of Education.
The position of county court clerk is of course a county office under the Constitution, particularly § 99, and at the same time a school teacher, part-time or otherwise, is a state employee as held in a number of court decisions, among them being
Board of Trustees of Fairview School District v. Renfroe, 259 Ky. 654, 83 S.W.2d 17 (1937). Section 165 of the Constitution and § 61.080 prohibit a state officer from holding a county office at the same time; however, there is no prohibition against a state employee holding a county office except where such person is under the state merit system and cannot run for such office which would not be applicable with respect to school teachers since they do not come under the state system. As a consequence, there is no constitutional nor statutory prohibition which would inhibit a local board from hiring a county clerk as a substitute teacher.
There could, however, be a strong possibility of the existence of a common law conflict where the county clerk in question cannot perform the duties required of him as clerk and at the same time, serve even part-time as a teacher which may involve employment during regular office hours of the clerk. See