Request By:
Honorable Rick J. Thomas
Page, Clay & Thomas
Attorneys at Law
McEldowney Building
Winchester, Kentucky 40391
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Robert L. Chenoweth, Assistant Attorney General
As a member of the Clark County Board of Education you have asked the Office of the Attorney General to consider a question pertaining to KRS 160.180(4). As background to your question you stated that the present superintendent of schools has tendered his resignation which was accepted by the board on January 16, 1979. You stated that your father-in-law who has been an employee in the school system for some time is potentially a candidate for the superintendent position. Your question is whether you would be eligible to vote to employ your father-in-law in this position. It is our opinion that you would be eligible to vote on this matter.
The applicable statutory provision to your question is KRS 160.180(4) as you noted. This school law statute reads at subsection (4) as follows:
"No member of a board of education shall vote regarding the appointment or employment in any capacity of any person related to him as father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife, son, daughter, nephew, niece, aunt, uncle, son-in-law, daughter-in-law or first cousin and the majority vote of the remainder of the board is required in case of appointment or employment of such person."
Conspicuous by absence are the relationships of father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law and sister-in-law. As a matter of keeping familial peace and harmony, one could be just as easily predisposed to vote for individuals because of the "in-law" relationship noted above rather than based upon the qualifications and abilities of an individual. This kind of prejudice is what an anti-nepotism provision is all about. Nevertheless, it is a legislative prerogative as to which relationship a board member will be disqualified from voting on as to the appointment or employment by a local board of education. Since KRS 160.180(4) does not list "father-in-law, " it is our opinion a board member may vote on a motion to employ or appoint his or her father-in-law in the school system. KRS 160.350; and see 1955 OAG 37,733, copy attached.