Request By:
Patricia Todd Thomas
General Council to the Board of Education
Fayette County Public Schools
101 East Main Street
Lexington, Kentucky 40502-1699
Opinion
Opinion By: Frederic J. Cowan, Attorney General; Anne E. Keating, Assistant Attorney General
This is in response to your inquiry regarding the application of House Bill 443. Your question is whether the Board of Education may restrict 7th and 8th grade students from participating in high school sports in light of House Bill 443, Section 1(2), which states in pertinent part:
The state board or any agency designated by the state board to manage interscholastic athletics shall not promulgate rules, administrative regulations or bylaws which prohibit pupils in grades seven (7) to eight (8) from participating in high school sports or from participating in more than one (1) school sponsored team at the same time in the same sport.
[Act approved March 30, 1990, Chapter 182, Section 1(2), 1990 Ky. Acts 388, amending KRS 156.070.] In particular you ask whether this Act would prohibit the Board of Education from limiting certain participation of students in high school sports if, in the determination of the Board's experts, it is not in the best interest of the general health and welfare of pupils of a particular weight and height to participate in high-contact sports.
The prohibition in the Act is directed to the state board or any agency designated by the state board to manage interscholastic athletics. The state board has designated the Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) as the agency to manage interscholastic athletics. 702 KAR 7:065. Thus, the prohibition in the Act applies to both the state board and the KHSAA.
The prohibition in the Act also applies to local school boards. Pursuant to KRS 160.290, rules made by local school boards must be consistent with the general school laws of the state. Because House Bill 443 amends KRS 566.070, which may be considered a "general school law," local school boards have no authority to make rules that would be inconsistent with House Bill 443. Accordingly, local school boards may not prohibit 7th and 8th grade students from participating in high school sports or from participating in more than one (1) school sponsored team at the same time in the same sport.
Nothing in this Act, however, prohibits the state board, the KHSAA, or local school boards from making rules that limit a student's participation in sports activities based on the student's health, safety and academic standing. "[A] student has neither a property interest nor any fundamental right to participate in extracurricular activities in Kentucky."
Thompson v. Fayette County Public Schools, Ky. App., 786 S.W.2d 879 (1990). As long as such rules do not prohibit a student's participation in the sports activity based on the student's grade in school, but rather prohibit such participation based on other criteria, they will not violate the terms of House Bill 443.
In conclusion, it is our opinion that if the Board determines that it is not in the best interest of the general health and welfare of pupils of a particular weight and height to participate in high-contact sports, the Board may limit participation in such sports activities by students who fail to meet the weight and height requirements without violating the terms of House Bill 443.