Grover Sellers 

A¶-r"YNIIY .iXiNrnRA,. 

AunmN.il.Trc-rJ 

Hon. M. PI. Wilshire : Opinion Ro. Ok5944 ” 

County Auditor R.e: Can the :Commissioners’ Court of 

Kaufman County Haufman County ::sall part :of the bonds 

Kaufman, Texa,s @, question, which ‘are held~ by the 

Permane& School Fu@d, to the. City of 

Kemp at 85% of par value, which wer~e 

Dear Sir: purchased at, 62% :of~ spar value? 

You&~ lette]r of .%arch 21, is! .in part as f.olloWs: 

“The Permanent, school fund of Kaufman County 

owns $l5 000 of ‘City of Kemp Refunding Bonds 

date of issue 1934 which were purchased at 828% 

of par value. Thig, bond,s are. due in 1974 and carry 

an interest rate ;-~of ',3&L 

Y@e City ~of K&p has,..on hand -#,5 000 in ‘their 

Interest & ~Sinking fund ,.and have ,a~ske A. the, comlissioners’ Court to allow them to. take ,up part of 

these bonds at 8,5$ of .,par va$ue,, ,even~, though they 

are not due,. ., : I :: 

,:,.... :;i. 

“Please advises, whether :or,not the Commissioners’ 

Court can sell p’art of these bonds which are held 

by the Permanent Sohool fund to the~,Cityr of Kern 

at 85% of par value, which were purchased at 62!# 

of ,par value.“~ :, ‘,,: 

Under, Article 2824 of the Revised Civil Statutes, 

the Conrniss~iopers’ Court of the county,is authorized and empowered to invest the Permanent School Fund of the county in 

the type of securities listed in the statute. Boydstun et al. 

vs. Rockwall County, 24 S.W. 272. 

Your inquiry, in effect raises the question of whether 

the power to invest carries with it the power to dispose of investments held by the Permanent School F’und through sale thereof 

at a price equal to or exceeding the amount paid for the investment securities proposed to be sold. As an original matter, 

the question would not be free from doubt, although our Supreme 

Court in the case of South American Mortgage Company v. Massie, 

94 Texas, 339, 60 S.W.544, indicated that the power to substitute 

investments is inherent in the continuing power to invest. 
Hon. M. M. Wilshire, page 2 

In substantially its present form and verbiage, 

however, the provisions of Article 2824 of the 1925 revision 

of our statutes has long been in effect. We are aware of the 

long continued construction which has been placed upon the 

provisions by the several Commissioners' Courts of this State 

in their handling of the School Funds of the Counties. The 

Commissioners' Courts generally have assumed to exercise the 

power to sell investment seourities held for their County 

Permanent School Funds where it was possible in their judgment 

to obtain securities offering terms which were more favorable 

to the investment trust fund committed to their management. 

It is a well settled rule of statutory construction placed 

upon it by the officers charged with its enforcement, while 

not binding, is entitled to weight in the determining of the 

meaning of the statute; and that where this construction has 

been continued over a long period of time it will not be overturned except for strong reasons of public policy, unless the 

construction given the statute is clearlv erroneous. Moorman 

vs. Terre11 165 Tex. 173 

110 Tex. 369 221 S.W. 886. 

202 S.W. 727, Kay vs. Schneider, 

In view of the long continued construction placed 

upon this statute by the several Commissionerst Courts of this 

State, and of the rights and liabilities which have attached by 

reason of their actions based upon the construction of the statute, that the power to sell investment securities held by the 

Permanent School Fund of the county at a price equal to or exceeding the amount paid for the same was inherent in the power 

vested in the Commissioners' Court to invest the Fund, we feel 

constrained to follow that construction of the statute. For 

that reason your question is answered in the affirmative. 

,APPROVED APR 11, 1944 

/s/ Geo. C. Blackburn 

(Acting) ATTORNEY GENERAL 

OF TEXAS 

APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEG 

~BY: BWB, CHAIRMAN 

Yours very truly 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

By /s/ Gaynor Kendall 

Gaynor Kendall, Assistant 

CK?ned:wb