Opinion No. (2002)

BILL LOCKYER Attorney General THOMAS S. LAZAR Deputy Attorney General

THE HONORABLE DICK MONTEITH, MEMBER OF THE STATE SENATE, has requested an opinion on the following question:

May a county board of education grant scholarships or monetary awards to county students?

First, with respect to scholarship grants, the Legislature has created a comprehensive statutory scheme (§§ 35310 - 35319 ) authorizing a school district's governing board to maintain a scholarship and loan fund (§ 35310 ) for the purpose of "making interest-free loans for educational advancement, for scholarship, or for grants-in-aid to eligible persons" (§ 35315 ). A committee composed of members of the school district's governing board, the school district superintendent and other community, faculty, administrative and student representatives is responsible for administering the fund. (§ 35310 .) The committee is authorized to "accept on behalf of, and in the name of, the fund, such gifts, donations, bequests, and devises as are made for the purposes of the fund." (§ 35313 .) Finally, the school district superintendent, as the chief executive officer of the fund, is required to make periodic reports to the…