When must a school employee and parish councilman leave those roles after winning a school board seat?

Plain-English summary

In 2005, the Louisiana Attorney General gave two different departure dates to a St. Mary Parish councilman who worked for the parish school board and wanted to win a seat on that board. He did not have to quit the school job merely to qualify or campaign, but R.S. 17:428 required him to resign from the employing board's staff immediately upon election. The AG said he could keep his parish council seat until the school-board term began on January 1 following that election.

The conclusion concerned eligibility and timing for these specific positions. The source describes a dual-elected-office prohibition and the parish charter's restriction, but the R.S. 42:63(E) passage printed alongside that description discusses full-time appointive office and employment, rather than two elected offices. This page reports the AG's stated departure dates without treating that quoted passage as an independent explanation for the elected-office rule.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2005. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Did the school employee have to resign before qualifying as a candidate? A: No. The AG said R.S. 17:428 did not require resignation to qualify or campaign for the school board seat.

When did the employee have to leave the school job? A: The opinion said immediately upon election to the school board that employed him, rather than when he later took the oath.

When could he no longer keep his parish council seat? A: The AG said he could retain that elected seat until the school-board term began on January 1 after the election.

Background and statutory framework

Kenneth Alfred held a parish council seat and a school-board job. He asked when he would need to leave each if elected to the school board. The AG quoted R.S. 17:428: an employee elected to the employing school board “shall immediately submit his resignation.” It also quoted R.S. 17:52's then-applicable rule that school-board terms began January 1 following election. The opinion applied those different triggers to his job and council seat respectively.

Citations

• R.S. 17:428 (school-employee resignation on election, quoted in the opinion).
• R.S. 17:52 (school-board term commencement, quoted in the opinion).
• St. Mary Home Rule Charter § 2-06 (concurrent elected office restriction quoted in the opinion).

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/05-0008

Original opinion text

April 29, 2005
OPINION 05-0008

78 Dual Officeholding
Mr. Kenneth E. Alfred
R.S. 17:428; R.S. 42:63(E); R.S. 17:52
State law prohibits one from simultaneously holding two elected St. Mary Parish School board offices.
1210 Canal Road
Morgan City, LA 70380

Dear Mr. Alfred:

In recent correspondence to this office you advise that you currently hold an elected position as councilman for St. Mary Parish and that you are also an employee of the parish school board. You further state that you would like to run for school board, and ask this office to the following questions, as restated:

My first question is: when does my employment with the school board need to end so that I can run for school board – before qualifying, before the primary, or can I be employed until I get sworn into office? My second question is: since my parish councilman position is not officially up until December 31, 2007, when do I have to give up the councilman position to be able to become a school board member – before school board qualifying, before the primary, or before I am sworn in as a school board member?

R.S. 17:428 governs our response to your first question and provides:

§428. Supervisors, principals, teachers and other employees prohibited from serving on employing school board; service on neighboring or other school board

A. After July 27, 1960 no supervisor, principal or teacher or any other school employee of any school board in this state shall be eligible to serve as a member of the board employing such person; however, such person shall be eligible to serve on any other parish or city school board if duly elected or appointed thereto. Whenever any supervisor, principal, teacher or other school employee is elected as a member of any parish or city school board or accepts any appointment to fill an unexpired term thereon and such board is his employer, he shall immediately submit his resignation to his employing board of which he is now a member. Should

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Mr. Kenneth E. Alfred
OPINION 05-0008
Page 2
any such person fail to submit his resignation, the position he holds under such employing board shall be declared vacated by the taking of the oath of office as a member of the employing board. No resignation shall be required of any supervisor, principal, teacher, or other school employee because of his election or appointment to a parish or city school board of which he is not an employee.

B. The provisions of this Section shall not apply to any person holding office on July 27, 1960 until the end of the terms of such persons nor to any person who takes office on or before February 1, 1961. (Emphasis added).

There is nothing in R.S. 17:428 requiring you to resign from your employment in order to qualify and campaign for the office of school board member. However, R.S. 17:428 dictates that upon election “he shall immediately submit his resignation to his employing board of which he is now a member.” Thus, you must immediately resign from your employment upon your election; you may not continue in your employment pending your taking the oath of office. In accord is Attorney General Opinion 90-577, copy attached.

In response to your second question, note that both R.S. 42:63(E) of our state dual officeholding and dual employments law and Section 2-06 of the St. Mary Home Rule Charter prevent you from holding two elective offices simultaneously. These provisions provide, respectively:

E. No person holding a full-time appointive office or full-time employment in the government of this state or of a political subdivision thereof shall at the same time hold another full-time appointive office or full-time employment in the government of the state of Louisiana, in the government of a political subdivision thereof, or in a combination of these.

A. A council member shall hold no other elected public office, nor be a compensated official or employee of the Parish government or any of its political subdivisions during the term for which elected to the council.
Nothing in this section shall prohibit a council member from serving as a member of a charter commission, constitutional convention or political part committee.

If you are elected school board member, you officially hold office when your term begins, as R.S. 17:52 provides:

§52. Election and qualification of members; term of office

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Mr. Kenneth E. Alfred
OPINION 05-0008
Page 3

A. There shall be elected by the qualified voters of each parish police jury ward, or the equivalent thereof, of each parish of the state a member of the school board of the parish for each police juror in said ward, or the members of a parish school board shall be elected by the qualified voters in accordance with the school board reapportionment plan then in effect as authorized by law, or the members of a parish school board shall be elected in accordance with any special law applicable to the board, as the case may be. Members of Parish school boards shall be elected at the congressional elections. Members elected in 1986 and thereafter shall serve four-year concurrent terms beginning January 1 following their election. In order to implement the concurrent terms provided for herein, those members of the parish school boards who are elected in 1980 shall serve six-year terms beginning January first following their election, those members of the parish school boards who are elected in 1982 shall serve four-year terms beginning January first following their election, and those members of the parish school boards who are elected in 1984 shall serve two-year terms beginning January first following their election.

Thus, you may hold the office of police juror until your term as elected school board member begins, which is on the first day of January following your election as school board member.

We hope the foregoing is helpful to you. Should you have other questions in which we may provide assistance, please contact this office.

Very truly yours,

CHARLES C. FOTI, JR.
ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY: _______ KERRY L. KILPATRICK
ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL

KLK:ams

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Mr. Kenneth E. Alfred
OPINION 05-0008
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OPINION 05-0008

78 Dual Officeholding

R.S. 17:428; R.S. 42:63(E); R.S. 17:52

State law prohibits one from simultaneously holding two elected offices.

Mr. Kenneth E. Alfred
St. Mary Parish School board
1210 Canal Road
Morgan City, LA 70380

Date Received:
Date Released: April 29, 2005

KERRY L. KILPATRICK
ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL