Opinion letter to the Honorable Maurice Schechter

Honorable Maurice Scnechter State Senator, District 13 41 Country Fair Lane May 20, 1974 Creve Coeur, Missouri 63141 Dear Senator Schechter : OPI NI ON LETTER NO. 35 Answer by 1etter- Klaffenbach F\ LED ~5 This letter is in response to your question asking: "Should t he contributions made by the school districts to t he teacher s r etirement system be char ged to the 'incidental fund' or t he 'teacher s fund'?" In our Opinion No. 78 dated May 31, 1946, to Scantlin, t his office held t hat the employer's contribution to the public school retirement system is to be paid from the school district's inci- dental fund and not f rom t he teacher s ' fund. You have that opin- ion and have questioned its present validit y . While some of t he reasoning employed in t hat opinion may now be somewhat questionable, it r emains our view that such employer contributions are to be charged to t he incidental fund and not to t he teachers ' fund. It is our view that there is a statutory duty placed upon school districts to contribute to the school teachers' retirmuent system and ~1at t his can be enforced by t he retirement system it- self because of such s tatutory obligation, Section 169 .030 (2) , RS!-lo 1973 Supp., but t hat s uch employer contributions are not "teachers' wages" or "contracted obligations to teacher s " within the meaning of Section 165. 011, RSMo. -- Honorabl e Maurice Schechter We further note that the Scantlin opinion has been followed for almost thirty years during which time there have been no stat- utory changes which would require a different conclusion and that such administrative inter pretations are dea~ed persuasive by the courts. In view of the fact that the Supreme Court has held the re- quirements that such funds not be intermingled is mandatory and may not be violated by school board memher s , an authorization to charge such contributions against t he teachers' fund s hould, in our view, come from the legislature. Yours very truly, JOHN C. DANFORTH Attorney General - 2-