Kentucky Advisory Opinions November 19, 2018: OAG 18-018 (November 19, 2018)

Advisory Opinion Text

Subject: What may a potential candidate for election to a local school board file in lieu of a high school transcript or equivalency test results to satisfy the requirements of KRS 160.180(2)(e)?

Requested by: Donald W. Blevins, Jr., Fayette County Clerk

Written by: Taylor Payne, Assistant Attorney General

Syllabus: KRS 160.180(2)(e) requires a potential candidate for election to a local school board to provide a high school transcript evidencing completion of courses through the twelfth grade.

Statutes construed: KRS 160.180

OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Donald W. Blevins, Jr., Fayette County Clerk, has requested an opinion of this office regarding what may be filed by a potential candidate to a local school board in lieu of a high school transcript or equivalency test results to satisfy the requirements of KRS 160.180(2)(e). We advise that KRS 160.180(2)(e) requires a potential candidate for election to a local school board to provide a high school transcript demonstrating completion of courses through the twelfth grade.

A potential candidate for election to a local school board is required to have "completed at least the twelfth grade or . .. been issued a High School Equivalency Diploma[.]" KRS 160.180(2)(c). During the 2018 Regular Session, the legislature amended KRS 160.180, in part, adding a subsection requiring that the candidate file with the nominating petition "a transcript evidencing completion of the twelfth grade or results of a twelfth grade equivalency examination . .. ." S.B. 101, Ch. 105, Gen. Assembly, 2018 Reg. Sess. (Ky. 2018). See also KRS 160.180(2)(e).

As a result of this change to the requirements for filing for election to a local school board, Blevins raises the issue in the context of a situation in which a potential candidate completed the twelfth grade, but no longer has a high school transcript and is unable to locate the transcript. He asks whether a potential candidate could submit a college transcript in lieu of the high school transcript "as it can be assumed that completion of the twelfth grade is required for admission to college." Blevins raises an issue of statutory interpretation.

The goal of statutory construction is to give effect to the intent of the legislature. Jefferson Cty. Bd. of Educ. v. Fell, 391 S.W.3d 713, 718 (Ky. 2012) (citation omitted). Courts accomplish this by assigning words used by the legislature their literal meaning, unless doing so would lead to an absurd result. Univ. of Louisville v. Rothstein, 532 S.W.3d 644, 648 (Ky. 2017) (citation omitted). In other words, courts "look first to the plain language of a statute[.]" Id. (citation omitted). If the legislature's intent can be ascertained by the plain language, the court's inquiry ends without resort to any other method or source. Id. (citation omitted).

Here, the plain language of KRS 160.180(2)(e) directs a potential candidate who has completed the twelfth grade to file a "transcript evidencing completion of the twelfth grade." This means that the document filed by the potential candidate must be a "transcript." It also means that the transcript must prove the candidate completed the twelfth grade. In our view, the legislature intended to require a potential candidate to submit a high school transcript demonstrating completion of a course of study through the twelfth grade.

A college transcript would not suffice. First, it cannot be "assumed that completion of the twelfth grade is required for admission to college[,]" as Blevins posits. Thus, a college transcript alone could not evidence completion of the twelfth grade. Second, KRS 160.180(2)(e) contemplates the transcript itself evidencing "completion of the twelfth grade." It does not contemplate the second step of evidentiary proof needed with submission of a college transcript: namely, proof that the college only enrolled students whom completed. Thus, where the legislature indicates the transcript must evidence completion of the twelfth grade, it means the transcript alone, without reliance on assumptions about the transcript or extrinsic evidence outside of the transcript. See Barnard v. Stone, 933 S.W.2d 394, 395 (Ky. 1996) (recognizing that precedent of Kentucky courts requires strict compliance with election statutes). Accordingly, we advise that KRS 160.180(2)(e) requires a potential candidate for election to a local school board to provide a high school transcript demonstrating completion of courses through the twelfth grade.

ANDY BESHEAR, ATTORNEY GENERAL

Taylor Payne, Assistant Attorney General.