Request By:
Mr. Fred E. Madden
Superintendent
Raceland-Worthington Schools
Raceland, Kentucky 41169
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Carl Miller, Assistant Attorney General
As superintendent of the Raceland-Worthington Independent School District, you have requested an opinion of the Attorney General as to whether the school district may make a contract for paramedic emergency ambulance service for the Campbell Elementary School and the Raceland High School. You state that the third school in the district, Worthington Elementary, is provided the ambulance service by virtue of being located in the the city of Worthington which last November passed a referendum approving a property tax to support the paramedic emergency ambulance service while the same referendum was voted down in the city of Raceland. The Board of Directors of the Paramedic Ambulance Service has offered private industry located in Raceland an opportunity to participate in the service by signing a contract and paying a fee equal to 8 mills of the assessed value of their property. The Board has offered the same deal to the Raceland-Worthington School Board based on the value placed on school property located in Raceland for insurance purposes, less allowance for not being in session all year long and not requiring 24 hours coverage.
We believe that emergency ambulance service for school children and personnel is a school purpose and may legally be provided by a contract made by the Board of Education.
It has been recognized by regulation that schools shall be required to provide such service. 704 KAR 4:020 § 2 (2) reads as follows:
"Each school shall have emergency care procedures. The emergency care procedures shall include first aid facilities, personnel with first aid training, parents telephone number, name of family physician, and means of transportation. "
There is no requirement that every school have emergency ambulance service, but the term "means of transportation" would cover ambulance service. Whether ambulance service is necessary in a particular location and under particular circumstances is a matter for the sound business discretion of the school board, considering past experience and practical alternatives.
In giving this opinion we are not unmindful of Kentucky Constitution § 184 which forbids the use of school funds for other than school purposes. In Board of Education of Spencer County v. Spencer County, 313 Ky. 8, 230 S.W.2d 81 (1950), it was held that, although a school may benefit from the building of a flood wall, school funds could not be contributed to the flood wall project because it was too remote from school purposes. In OAG 79-107 we advised that school funds could not be used to pay for the employment of school crossing guards and traffic control devices. On the other hand, in Bronaugh v. Murray, 294 Ky. 715, 172 S.W.2d 591 (1943), it was held that Section 184 was not violated by a statute requiring school boards to take out liability insurance in connection with the transportation of school children. Even more in point is the case of Board of Education of Bowling Green v. Simmons, 245 Ky. 493, 53 S.W.2d 940 (1932), which held that school funds could be used to employ a nurse-teacher to look after the health of the pupils of the schools of the city.
In summary, it is our opinion that a contract for emergency ambulance service for schools is legally permissible under the circumstances you have described.