Could a South Carolina school district use the state elementary-nurse grant to hire a pediatrician instead of a licensed nurse?

Plain-English summary

Spartanburg School District 7 wanted to hire a licensed pediatrician to fill an elementary-school nursing position using state Department of Education grant funds. The Attorney General read § 59-10-210 as limiting that grant to licensed nurses. It agreed with the department's interpretation that a physician, even one qualified to provide medical care, could not be paid from money earmarked for the nurse grant.

The opinion distinguished the funding restriction from the district's general hiring authority. The provision in § 59-19-270 permitted school boards to employ physicians and other medical personnel. The AG said the district could hire the pediatrician for elementary-school services using other available funds.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2013. 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

Q: Could the district pay the pediatrician with the elementary-nurse grant? A: The AG said no. The grant statute specified licensed nurses.

Q: Did the opinion bar the district from employing a pediatrician at the school? A: No. It said a school board could hire a physician using other funds available to the district.

Q: Why did the education department's interpretation matter? A: The AG found it consistent with the grant statute's plain language and deferred to the agency administering the program.

Background and statutory framework

The letter contrasted the grant restriction in § 59-10-210 with the school board's broader medical-personnel hiring authority in § 59-19-270. Its answer concerned the source of payment for the proposed job.

Citations and references

The opinion discusses § 59-10-210 and § 59-19-270.

Official title

Concerning whether Spartanburg School District 7 may hire a licensed pediatrician to fill a nursing position at an elementary school using funds made available by the State Department of Education.

Requester

Russell W. Booker, Ph.D., Superintendent, Spartanburg School District 7

Source

• Landing page: https://www.scag.gov/opinions/opinions-archive/july-25-2013/
• Original PDF: https://www.scag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Booker-Opinion.pdf

Original opinion text

ALAN WILSON
ATTORNEY GENERAL

July 25 , 2013

Russell W. Booker, Ph.D.
Superintendent, Spartanburg School District 7
P.O. Box 970
Spartanburg, South Carolina 29304
Dear Dr. Booker,
You seek an opinion of this Office as to whether Spartanburg School District 7 (the "District") may hire a licensed pediatrician to fill a nursing position at an elementary school using funds made available by the State Department of Education (the "DOE"). By way of background, you provide the fo llowing information: Spa11anburg School District 7 has the unique opportunity to hire a Licensed Pediatrician, Dr. Richard Pennebaker, to fill our nursing position at the Cleveland Academy of Leadership. Unfortunately, per the S.C. State Depa11ment of Education, our ability to capitalize on this opportunity is limited by:

SECTION 59-10-210. Funding/or licensed nurses for elementary schools. Beginning with the 2007-08 school year, the General Assembly, annually in the General Appropriations Act. shall appropriate funds to the Department of Education to provide licensed nurses for elementary public schools. The State Department of Education shall make these funds available through a grant program and shall distribute the funds to the local school districts on a per school basis. My purpose in writing is to seek an opinion as it relates to our ability to hire and pay using Depa11ment of Education Funds, Dr. Pennebaker, as a School Nurse, to provide nursing services. Over the past five years, the Cleveland Academy of Leadership has been transformed from a failing e lementary school to a Leadership Academy using Stephen R. Covery's "Leader in Me" model and was recently chosen as the only public school supported by Purpose Built Communities as a flagship school for Spartanburg's federally funded Choice Neighborhoods' Northside Initiative. Our ability to hire Dr. Pennebaker as the Academy's nurse complements the neighborhood transformation and our goal to provide community wellness services in our most challenged schools. Regenesis Healthcare manages a Wellness Clinic at our Park Hills Early Learning Center partially funded by a

REMBERT

c. DENNIS B UILDING • POST OFFJCE Box 11549 • COLUMBIA, SC 29211-1549
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TELEPHONE 803-734-3970

•

FACSIMILE 803-253-6281

Dr. Booker
Page 2
July 25, 2013
U.S. Depa1tment of Education Full Service Community Schools Grant and the Mary Black Foundation. Dr. Pennebaker, an American Board of Pediatrics Diplomat and member of our Student Health Advisory Committee, is singularly qualified to serve based on his experience and understanding of the Early Childhood Education challenges faced by children and their families. Our ability to hire him in this position benefits not only the students that he would serve as a nurse, but also potentially yields additional funding to suppmt long-term community health goals. Representatives from the DOE have confirmed to us that they interpret § 59-10-210 as requiring a person to be licensed as a nurse to qualify for the grant funds.

Law/Analysis
Several rules of statutory construction are relevant in responding to your question. "The cardinal rule of statutory construction is to asce11ain and effectuate the intent of the legislature.' ' Hodges v. Rainey, 341 S.C. 79, 86, 533 S.E.2d 578, 581 (2000). " [Courts] will give words their plain and ordinary meaning, and will not resort to a subtle or forced construction that would limit or expand the statute's operation." Harris v. Anderson County Sheriffs Office, 38 1 S.C. 357, 362, 673 S.E.2d 423, 425 (2009). ''If a statute's language is plain, unambiguous, and conveys a clear meaning, then the rules of statutory interpretation are not needed and a court has no right to impose another meaning." Strickland v . Strickland, 375 S.C. 76, 85, 650 S.E.2d 465 , 472 (2007). "A well-established rule of statutory construction is 'expressio unius est exclusio alterius,' which means that the enumeration of pa11icular things excludes the idea of something else not mentioned." Pennsylvania Nat. Mut. Cas. Ins . Co. v. Parker, 282 S.C. 546, 554, 320 S.E.2d 458, 463 (Ct. App. 1984). Fu11hennore, comts generally give deference to an administrative agency's interpretation of an applicable statute or its own regulation, and will only reject the agency's interpretation when it is contrary to the plain language of the statute. Brown v. Bi-Lo, Inc., 354 S.C. 436, 440, 581 S.E.2d 836, 838 (2003). Here, the plain language of § 59-10-210 allows the DOE to make funds available to school districts through a grant program for the purpose of providing "licensed nurses for elementary public schools." § 59-10-210 (emphasis added). The Legislature's decision to use language limiting the use of such funds to providing "licensed nurses," as opposed to broader language indicating such funds could be used to hire any doctor, physician, or other person who may be otherwise qualified to provide medical services to children, indicates the Legislature intended to exclude such other medical providers from receiving funds under the statute. As the agency responsible for administering the grant program under§ 59-10-210, the DOE has interpreted that statute as permitting such funds to be used only for the employment of a licensed nurse. Because the DO E's interpretation conforms with the plain language of§ 59-10-210, we must defer to their interpretation on the matter. This conclusion does not, however, prevent a school district from using funds other than that provided by § 59-10-210 to employ a person to provide medical services in an elementary school who is not a licensed nurse. S.C. Code § 59-19-270 states that "[e]very district board of trustees may employ physicians, dentists, podiatrists, ophthalmologists, other medical specialists, optometrists, nurses, dental

Dr. Booker
Page 3
July 25, 20 I3
hygienists, and other technical and clerical personnel as may be needed." Accordingly, a school district may use funds otherwise available to it to employ a licensed pediatrician to provide medical services at an elementary school if it so desires.

arrison D. Brant
Assistant Attorney General
REVIEWED AND APPROVED BY:

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