Request By:
Carol K. Alvey
2925 Maybert Street
Owensboro, Kentucky 42301
Opinion
Opinion By: David L. Armstrong, Attorney General; Martin Glazer, Assistant Attorney General
You raise a question as to whether speech teachers in the public school system must also obtain licensure from the Kentucky Board of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology.
In advising you, we must consider two apparently inconsistent statutes.
KRS 161.030(1) provides:
The certification of all teachers and other school personnel is vested in the state board of education. When so certified, teachers and other school personnel shall not be required to have licensure, certification, or other forms of approval from any other state agency for the performance of their respective assignments within the common schools. (Emphasis supplied.)
While KRS 161.030 was amended by the 1986 General Assembly in Chapter 119, Kentucky Acts, the quoted and underlined section was not touched. It remains as it was written prior to 1986.
However, KRS 334A.040 dealing with licensure requirements for speech language pathologists and audiologists was amended in 1986. Prior to 1986, KRS 334A.040(3)(a) provided:
Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as restricting or preventing activities of a speech pathology or audiology nature or the use of the official title of the position for which they were employed on the part of the following persons:
(a) Persons who hold a valid and current credential as a speech and hearing specialist issued by the Kentucky state department of education.
Thus, prior to 1986, KRS 161.030 and KRS 334A.040(3)(a) were consistent with each other. Speech therapists needed licenses, except those who were teachers certified by the Kentucky State Department of Education. But, in 1986, in Chapter 483, Section 4, Kentucky Acts, KRS 334A.040(3)(a) was amended to read as follows (with new language underscored):
Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as restricting or preventing activities of a speech- language pathology or audiology nature or the use of the official title of the position for which they were employed on the part of the following persons:
(a) Persons who on August 1, 1986, hold a valid and current credential as a speech and hearing specialist issued by the Kentucky state department of education who have not obtained a master's degree in speech-language pathology or audiology or substantive equivalent and who render speech-language pathology or audiology services exclusively in the public schools.
Further, subsection (b) of KRS 334A.040(3) was also amended to delete the following (deletions in brackets):
(b) Speech- language pathologists or audiologists employed by the [local, state or] federal government [agencies]; providing . . . .
It would have made legislative intent clearer had the 1986 Kentucky General Assembly also amended KRS 161.030(1) to reflect the changes made in KRS 334A.040(3)(a) and (b). But, reading the amended statutes in para materia with KRS 161.030(1) (as not amended) and comparing them with their prior-to-1986 language, it seems clear that the 1986 General Assembly intended to require licensing by the Kentucky Board of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology of those certified speech language pathologists and audiologists who began teaching or had a certificate issued after August 1, 1986, or who had a master's degree in such subjects. Those persons who were certified by the Kentucky State Department of Education on and prior to August 1, 1986, and who had not obtained a master's degree in speech language pathology or audiology or the substantive equivalent and who render speech language pathology or audiology services exclusively in the public schools were not required to obtain a license from the Kentucky Board of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology.
If that interpretation does not reflect the legislative intent of the 1986 General Assembly, then the 1986 General Assembly was doing a useless thing because the prior law already exempted all speech therapists in the public schools from obtaining a license from the State Board of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology. The amendment only excluded those with less than master's degrees in speech language pathology and audiology or the equivalent who were certified on and prior to August 1, 1986. Those certified after August 1, 1986, had to be also licensed by KRS Chapter 334A. Therefore, the 1986 amendments to KRS 334A intended to narrow or reduce the classes of persons excluded from the requirements of licensure.