KRS § 161.740 — KY Code / Title XIII / Chapter 161 / Section 161.740
161.740 Eligibility for continuing service status -- Limited status employee on approved military leave -- Transfer of teachers -- Reinstatement after service in Armed Forces -- District-level administrative position in county with consolidated local government
Status: in_force

161.740 Eligibility for continuing service status -- Limited status employee on

approved military leave -- Transfer of teachers -- Reinstatement after service

in Armed Forces -- District-level administrative position in county with

consolidated local government.

(1) Teachers eligible for continuing service status in any school district shall be those

teachers who meet qualifications listed in this section:

(a) Hold a standard or college certificate as defined in KRS 161.720 or meet the

certification standards for vocational education teachers established by the

Education Professional Standards Board.

(b) When a currently employed teacher is reemployed by the superintendent after

teaching four (4) consecutive years in the same district, or after teaching four

(4) years which shall fall within a period not to exceed six (6) years in the

same district, the year of present employment included, the superintendent

shall issue a written continuing contract if the teacher assumes his or her

duties, except as provided in subsection (4) of this section, and the

superintendent shall notify the board of the action taken. A limited status

employee on approved military leave shall be awarded service credit for each

year of military service or each year of combined military and school service

within a school year toward continuing contract status. If the leave time will

qualify the teacher for continuing contract status, the local district may require

the teacher to complete a one (1) year probationary period upon return. If

required, the local district shall notify the teacher in writing within fourteen

(14) days following receipt of the military leave request. Each day served in

the General Assembly by a board of education employee during a regular or

extraordinary session shall be included in the computation of a year as defined

in KRS 161.720(2).

(c) When a teacher has attained continuing contract status in one (1) district and

becomes employed in another district, the teacher shall retain that status,

except as provided in subsection (4) of this section. However, a district may

require a one (1) year probationary period of service in that district before

granting that status. For purposes of this subsection, the continuing contract of

a teacher shall not be terminated when the teacher leaves employment, all

provisions of KRS 161.720 to 161.810 to the contrary notwithstanding, and

the continuing service contract shall be transferred to the next school district,

under conditions set forth in this section, for a period of up to seven (7)

months from the time employment in the first school district has terminated.

Nothing contained herein shall be construed to give a teacher a right to

reemployment in the first school district during the seven (7) month period

following termination.

(d) Service credit toward a continuing contract shall begin only when a teacher is

properly certified as defined in KRS 161.720(6) or, in the case of a vocational

education teacher, when the required certification standards established by the

Education Professional Standards Board have been met.

(2) Vocational education teachers fulfilling the requirements in subsection (1) of this

section as of July 15, 1982, shall be eligible for continuing service status.

(3) Whether employed under a limited contract or continuing service contract status,

any teacher or superintendent who has been or may be hereafter inducted into the

Armed Forces of this country, shall at the expiration of service be reemployed or

reinstated in a comparable position as of the beginning of the next school year,

provided application is made at least thirty (30) days before the opening of school,

unless physically or mentally incapacitated according to medical notations on

official discharge papers. Vacancies created by military leaves shall be filled by

teachers or superintendents employed by the board of education under a limited

contract of one (1) year or less.

(4) Beginning July 1, 2019, a teacher employed in a district-level administrative

position in a county school district in a county with a consolidated local government

adopted under KRS Chapter 67C shall not be issued a written continuing contract.

However, if a teacher had a written continuing contract prior to becoming employed

in a district-level administrative position and transfers to another position in the

district that is not a district-level administrative position, then the teacher shall

revert to continuing service contract status. If the teacher becomes employed in

another district, the teacher shall revert to continuing service contract status subject

to the provisions of subsection (2)(c) of this section regarding probation and the

time period for transferring a continuing service contract to another school district.