The Honorable Joseph A. Flautt
AGO 2017-3
Opinion No. 2017-003
Ohio Attorney General Opinions
Ohio Attorney General
January 23, 2017
The
Honorable Joseph A. Flautt
Perry
County Prosecuting Attorney
111
North High Street
P.O.
Box 569
New
Lexington, Ohio 43764
SYLLABUS:
A board
of education of a local or exempted village school district
may expend public moneys of the school district to establish
and operate an early reading program that provides one book
each month to participating children from birth to age five
years who reside in the school district but who are not
enrolled in a school of the district so long as the board of
education, in accordance with R.C. 3313.646(A), determines
that the program provides a service to preschool-age children
residing in the school district and the board demonstrates a
need for the program.
Dear
Prosecutor Flautt:
You
have requested an opinion about a school district board of
education’s authority to expend public moneys of the
school district on an early reading program.
[1] You have
explained that the early reading program provides one book to
each child residing in the district who participates in the
program every month from the child’s birth for sixty
months. At the time that the children receive the books, they
are not enrolled in any of the schools of the district. The
cost to the school district is approximately $25 per
participating child. Your letter further explains that the
school district board of education would like to support the
reading program to enhance children’s literacy and
readiness for kindergarten. You ask whether the early reading
program constitutes a public purpose for which public moneys
of a school district may be expended when the ages of the
children participating in the program are birth to five years
and the children are not enrolled in a school in the
district.
The
board of education of a local or exempted village school
district is a creature of statute and has only those powers
expressly provided by statute or necessarily implied therein.
Hall v. Lakeview Local Sch. Dist. Bd. of Ed., 63
Ohio St. 3d 380, 383, 588 N.E.2d 785 (1992); 2012 Op.
Att’y Gen. No. 2012-037, at 2-326. Thus, we begin our
analysis by examining the statutes that may authorize a board
of education to expend moneys for an early reading program.
R.C.
3313.646(A) provides, in pertinent part:
The board of education of a school district, except a
cooperative education district established pursuant to [R.C.
3311.521], may establish and operate a program to provide
services to preschool-age children, provided the board has
demonstrated a need for the program. A board may use school
funds in support of preschool programs. The board shall
maintain, operate, and admit children to any such program
pursuant to rules adopted by such board and the rules of the
state board of education adopted under [R.C. 3301.52-.57].
To
ascertain the nature and scope of authority provided by R.C.
3313.646(A), it is necessary to construe the meaning of the
phrase “a program to provide services to preschool-age
children” in the first sentence and the meaning of
“preschool programs” in the second sentence.
Words
and phrases in a statute that have not acquired a particular
or technical meaning shall be construed in context and in
accordance with their ordinary meaning. R.C. 1.42. Neither
“preschool-age children” nor “preschool
programs” is defined in the Revised Code for the
purpose of R.C. 3313.646(A). However, R.C. 3301.52(B) defines
“preschool child” for the purpose of R.C.
3301.52-.59 as “a child who has not entered
kindergarten and is not of compulsory school
age.”
[2] This statutory definition is
consistent with the common meaning of
“preschool,” which is “designating, of, or
for a child between infancy and school age, typically a child
three to five years of age[.]” Webster’s New
World College Dictionary 1151 (5th ed. 2014).
“Preschool program” is defined for the purpose of
R.C. 3301.52-.59 as either:
(1) A child care program for preschool children that is
operated by a school district board of education or an
eligible nonpublic school.
(2) A child care program for
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