Request By:
Honorable Nelson R. Allen
State Senator
507 Bellefonte-Princess Road
Ashland, Kentucky 41101
Opinion
Opinion By: David L. Armstrong, Attorney General; By: Robert L. Chenoweth, Assistant Deputy Attorney General and Chief Counsel
You have asked the Office of the Attorney General to address a very basic matter relating to the subject of education in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Your question is simply how many "local public school districts we have in Kentucky."
At the present there are 180 "public common school" districts in the Commonwealth. While there are other public schools in Kentucky, these must legally be differentiated from the schools in a public common school district.
The term "common school" or a variation thereof has a special legal significance with respect to education in the Commonwealth. The term "common schools" is found in Kentucky Constitution § 59, where the General Assembly is directed not to pass local or special acts concerning a number of listed subjects, number 25 of which is "to provide for the management of common schools." Section 155 of the Kentucky Constitution provides that the sections of our state constitution dealing with suffrage and elections are not to apply to "common school district elections. "
In the "Education" portion of the Kentucky Constitution we find repeated references to "common school. " Section 183 importantly reads:
"The general assembly shall, by appropriate legislation, provide for an efficient system of common schools throughout the state."
Sections 184, 185 and 186 detail the origin, handling of and required use of the funds set apart for the common schools.
The General Assembly has, pursuant to Kentucky Constitution § 183, supra, enacted considerable legislation in an effort to provide for an efficient system of "common schools." KRS 156.010(5) provides that the Department of Education shall exercise all of the administrative functions of the state with regard to the "management and control of the public common schools." The State Board of Education is to have the "management and control of the common schools, and all programs operated in such schools, including interscholastic athletics." KRS 156.070(1) and (2). The funding of education in the public common schools is taken up in KRS 157.010, 157,030, 157.315, 157.545 and in other sections connected with these provisions.
In KRS Chapter 158 the General Assembly has legislated that "A uniform system of common schools shall be maintained in Kentucky." KRS 158.010(1). In KRS 158.030(1) the term "common school" is legislatively defined as follows:
"A 'common school' is an elementary or secondary school of the state supported in whole or in part by public taxation. No school shall be deemed a 'common school' or receive support from public taxation unless the school is taught by a qualified teacher for a term of eight (8) or more months during the school year and every child residing in the district who satisfies the age requirements of this section has had the privilege of attending it."
KRS 158.100 mandates that each school district is to provide at least an approved twelve (12) grade school service; the first eight (8) grades by actually maintaining the schools and the high school grades either by maintaining the schools or by contract with another district. As of July 1, 1985, this requirement is changed to include a kindergarten program.
KRS 160.010 describes what will constitute a school district in this way:
"Each county in this state constitutes a county school district, except that in counties in which there are independent school districts the county school district consists of the remainder of the county outside of the boundaries of the independent school districts."
The above references to Kentucky's Constitution and various school laws, as well as other pertinent provisions which may have been omitted, leads one to a conclusion that in order for there to be a common school there must be a common school district. We believe a "common school" is a school taught in a district laid out by authority of school laws. When the matter is considered in this light, we have only the 120 county plus the 60 independent common school districts. We believe it is presently only these 180 public common school districts that may receive allotments of the public common school funds. By like token, the general educatonal management and control of only these 180 public common school districts are subject to the authority of the State Board of Education and State Department of Education which statutorily includes the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
It may be noted that there are references to "public schools" in our Kentucky school laws. The Kentucky schools for the deaf and blind are important primary examples of such schools. These schools are also under the broad general control and management of the State Department of Education and State Board of Education, but they are not "public common schools." Note KRS 156.010(5).
Your question to this office was prompted by a concern that for purposes of ranking and comparing schools, school systems other than common school districts were being included, particularly the schools at the federal enclaves of Fort Knox and Fort Campbell and additionally Madison Model which is operated by Eastern Kentucky University. In view of our discussion of "common schools" above, it is evident the Fort Knox, Fort Campbell and Madison Model Schools are not common schools. Although these schools may be a classification of a public school, they are not public common schools. These referenced school systems may not directly receive public common school funds. See OAG 76-261, copy attached. KRS 156.230 requires the superintendent of public instruction to annually prepare and have approved by the State Board of Education "a list of all public and private high schools or other secondary schools in the state, showing the classification of each." Consistent with this responsibility there have been listed 180 public common county and independent school districts and a host of other classifications of schools. This information appears in Volume LII, Number 13, "Kentucky School Directory 1984-85."
In connection with your concern, we lastly will point out that for educational improvement purposes and the testing required with respect thereto, KRS 158.650 et seq., it appears to us that the results of the appropriate tests are to be variously analyzed only with respect to the local public common school districts. For example, KRS 158.690(3) provides that the results of the appropriate tests called for shall be "compiled on a statewide, district and school basis" by the Department of Education. This subsection further provides that local boards of education are to annually publish the performance report on district accomplishments, etc., in regard to student performance on basic and essential skills tests. We do not see the scope of the requirements of these provisions going beyond the 180 public common school districts in existence in the Commonwealth.