New transcript requirement creates confusion
Kentucky School Advocate
September 2018
By Madelynn Coldiron
Staff writer
This year’s filing period for school board members added a new complication: a state law that requires prospective candidates to file with their other papers a transcript “evidencing completion of the 12th grade” or passing results from a high school equivalency test.
In practice, however, the law is not black and white.
Some candidates faced difficulties with the transcript requirement on two fronts, said KSBA staff attorney Amy Peabody: getting the transcript itself and then getting it accepted by their county clerk.
Peabody and other attorneys at KSBA fielded calls from frustrated candidates and confused county clerks. To help them sort through the issue, KSBA produced online guidance and videos, and the state education department tried to help with a chart showing the graduation requirements over the years, so that clerks could check transcripts against that.
The law was enacted by the 2018 General Assembly and took effect April 4; it did not apply to anyone who filed before that date. The timing was part of the problem, Peabody said: It was too fast and didn’t allow “for guidance and time for these questions to bubble up and maybe get an official answer from the state Board of Elections or the attorney general’s office, someone who might help steer everybody.”
The bottom line, she added, is that “Many board members felt attacked as frauds because, primarily, two people in Kentucky had misrepresented their qualifications out of nearly a thousand board members. And some felt like it was another attack on public education.”
County clerks also were left searching for guidance and definition of their roles and responsibilities in accepting this documentation. Among the incidents KSBA staff learned about:
• A county clerk was unsure whether to accept a transcript because it was titled “Student Academic Record,” and not “Transcript.”
• Several county clerks asked for additional requirements not outlined in the new law, such as a transcript with an official seal, the original document, or even the high school diploma instead of a transcript. Clerks were unclear what responsibility they had to verify the authenticity of the documentation.
• Because of concern over liability as to authenticity, some clerks assumed the role of “gatekeeper,” and tried to determine the validity of a transcript, which appears to go beyond their role in the statute. Transcripts, Peabody said, “vary greatly by school and district as to what they look like, and how ‘official’ they look. County clerks were afraid they were accepting things that weren’t authentic or were not sufficient.”
• Since the law requires a transcript showing evidence that the would-be candidate completed the 12th grade, some clerks accepted college transcripts that included a notation as to the high school the student had graduated from – which KSBA believes meets the standard – but some did not.
Some board candidates also ran into problems getting a copy of their transcript and getting it in time for the Aug. 14 filing deadline, given that district offices are more lightly staffed during the summer. Older transcripts are often archived off-site, sometimes with private vendors who have to track down the records, Peabody said. And some board members were educated in foreign counties, presenting another hurdle.
Some candidates also were concerned about privacy issues – not everyone wants to publicly advertise the grades they earned in high school. KSBA issued guidance on how to redact legally protected personal information in a transcript, but Peabody noted, “It’s really disincentivizing running for the board for members who had concerns from the privacy interest standpoint.”
Peabody said it would help if the legislature would revise the language in the law to state explicitly what type of transcript documentation is sufficient, and to make it clear that county clerks are not responsible for determining the authenticity of that documentation, as long as it is the type of documentation required by law.
Related article: