We have received a few questions on whether board members can help out their school district by filling in for certain positions, be it bus driver, lunch server, or substitute teacher. Although you would think it would be ok to pinch hit in these situations, board members are precluded from stepping into these positions by the Incompatible Public Offices Act, MCL 15.181 et seq. (IPO).

The IPO prohibits, for the most part, a public officer or public employee from holding two or more incompatible offices at the same time. The act defines “incompatible office” as public offices held by a public official which, when the official is performing the duties of any of the public offices held by the official, results in any of the following:

(i) The subordination of one public office to another.

(ii) The supervision of one public office by another.

(iii) A breach of duty of public office.

Interpretations of this law from the Attorney General have made it clear that every public employee is considered to be holding a public office within the public entity they serve. Thus, the supervisory authority of school boards means that the positions of “school board trustee” and “school district employee” are, in fact, incompatible. This even includes employees working through a third-party vendor because the contract is still overseen by the board.  

There is an exemption to this law for a member of a school board to serve as a volunteer coach or supervisor of an extracurricular activity. In these instances, a board member may fill the position if the board member receives no compensation for the service, does not vote on issues before the board concerning the program they are volunteering for, and there are no qualified applicants available to fill the position in question. Additionally, board members would be required to submit to a criminal history and records check.