| The history of the attorney general dates from 1807. There are enumerated duties of the office, such as giving opinions on questions of law connected with interests of the state to certain local, county, and municipal officials and bodies. Local boards of education fall under this description.; There were three purposes of this study. The first purpose was to examine the past and present legal opinions of the Alabama attorneys general regarding education from January 1993 to December 2004. The second purpose of this study was to determine which issues were most frequently presented to the attorney general. The third purpose of this study was to determine what use was made of the attorney general's office by educators from 1993 to 2004.; This historical study design was descriptive and used qualitative methodology. The opinions represented in this study were presented in a modified case briefing; that is, meaning each opinion was briefed with (a) a citation or case number; (b) the presenting issue; and (c) the disposition, or answer. The opinions were treated as historical interviews.; Thirteen themes emerged from analyzing the 280 issues. These themes were categorized as follows: employment, conflicts of interests, use of funds, election and residency issues of board members and superintendents, right to funds, miscellaneous issues, real estate, competitive-bid law, authority over employees, authority over students, apportionment, budget and board meetings.; Often, school boards or personnel are charged with making legal decisions that they are ill equipped and do not have the expertise to handle. Educational statutes are broadly stated and are often ambiguous.; There are 132 school boards in the State of Alabama. During the past 11 years, there have been 280 educational issues presented to the attorney general from 165 opinions. These findings would indicate that the process of asking for a legal opinion from the Alabama attorney general is being underused. School boards are not taking advantage of legal protections afforded them by having legal opinions reviewed by the Alabama attorney general's office; therefore, school boards are capable of answering legal questions without assistance from the attorney general's office. |
