Salary reports to newspapers

Reporting school employee salary information to newspapers

As many superintendents will recall, earlier this year, the Kentucky Press Association and some of its members raised questions about public school systems complying with KRS 424.220, a statute that for the most part addresses the required publishing of financial statements by most local governments, including school districts. KSBA is beginning to get similar questions from districts as the new school year begins.

The primary point of the questions dealt with Section 4 of this statute, the section that reads as follows: "The local board of education and the fiscal court shall have accessible a factual list of individual salaries for public scrutiny and the local board and the fiscal court shall furnish by mail a factual list of individual salaries of its individual employees to a newspaper qualified under KRS 424.120 to publish advertisements for the district, which newspaper may then publish as a news item the individual salaries of school or county employees."

KSBA Legal Services staff have reviewed the statute and make these points:

We read the statute to require the furnishing of the salary information at the same time the financial statement information is required to be published (60 days after the close of the fiscal year), in other words, on or before Aug. 30.
We believe that the statute will not be interpreted to require a request as a prerequisite to furnishing of the salary information. The statute says the local board "shall" furnish the list; it makes no reference to the Open Records law nor any act on behalf of the newspaper, just that the board must provide the salary list.

Finally, please note that the financial notice statute was amended by the 2006 General Assembly and you should find a link to the amended version below. You must scroll pretty far into the language but, in short, the published financial statements no longer have to state the purpose for disbursements. In addition, there is now a minimum threshold in that the list of disbursements "shall include only aggregate amounts to vendors exceeding one thousand dollars..."

Shortcut to: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/RECORD/06RS/HB171/bill.doc

Additional questions may be directed to your board attorney or you may consult KSBA attorneys J. Stephen Kirby or John Fogle at 800-372-2962.

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Kentucky School Boards Association

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