The name of the school was officially changed to the Captain General Gerardo Barrios Military School, after the President of El Salvador from 1859 to 1863, on 28 January 1927 by a presidential decree ordered by President Pío Romero Bosque. The name was again solidified by another presidential decree on 25 August 1965 by President General Julio Adalberto Rivera Carballo.A commemorative plaque was installed in 1982 that commemorated the Class of 1936 which helped President General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez put down a indigenous and communist revolt in 1932. During the military dictatorship of 1931 to 1979, the school was referred to as the "School of the Presidents" since many Presidents attended the military academy.