Santa Fe daily New Mexican., 1897-12-30
OPINION ON SCHOOL LAW.
Disposition OF school Funds Clearly
Set Forth by the solicitor
General.

| Hon. Placido Sandoyal, Superintendent o
Public Instruction. Santa Fe n M
Santa Fe, N. NJ, Dec. 28, 1897.-Deal
Sir: / am in receipt of your letter datec
December 81, enclosing letter from Treas
urer Bergere, of Valencia county, and il
which you request my official opinion al
to whether any part of the school fund In
| the hands of the county treasurer to tht
lawfully be used in erecting or repairing
school houses.
Replying thereto, beg to say that
find from the records OF my office thai
this precise question was in 1892 submit
ted to the then solicitor general, Hon. Il
L. Bartlett, and that in his two opinions
addressed to your predecessor in Office
and dated respectively May 4, 1892, and
August 3, 1892, the matter was fully con
sidered. assume that copies OF these
opinions are among the files of your of
fee and for that reason they are not
more fully set forth herein. It seems
sufficient for me TO say that upon care
full re-examination of the subject, see
no reason to doubt the soundness of tht
conclusions reached by General Bartlett
in those opinions, and the following Ian
guege taken from his letter to your of
fee, dated May 4, 1892, is reiterated as the
law in my opinion:
From all which ii. Q. the law quoted
it appears that the only Limitation upor
the use of school funds for legitimate
school purposes, including the purchast
of sites and erection of buildings, ls il
the expenditure of the proceeds of the
general territorial levy (sectlon "a, chap
ter 25, laws of 1917 which can only bt
used for paying expenses, of necessary
forms and blank reports and school laws
the salary of the county superintendent
of public instruction and the ex penses o.
his Office, and paying school teachers
(See law just cited) and that all Other
funds from whatever source derived may
properly be applied to building schoo
houses or purchasing school house Sites
80 far therefore as the warrant issued
upon Treasurer Bergere and mentioned IL
his letter to you, dated December 6, is de-
signed to sub ject to its payment the pro
ceeds of the general tax levy for schoo
| purposes, the same is illegal and it is the
duty of Mr.. Bergere to refuse payment
The proceeds of the general tax levy are
as above pointed out, dedicated to ths
purposes above mentioned, among then
the payment of teachers, and such funds
cannot be lawfully diverted to another
use, such as the erection or repairing o.
school houses. Funds derived from
sources other than the general schoo
levy may, however, be used by the dis
trict directors, as above pointed out, fol
any legitimate school expense, such al
the repair or erection of school houses.
Irrespective of the consideration
above advanced it would not be proper
for the school directors to utilize all th,
funds of their district in paying psrtiel
for repairs to the exclusion of othel
creditors such as school teachers. Unde
section II of chapter AZ of the laws o
1897, generally known as the Batemsr
act, where the funds on hand are insult
cient to pay all creditors, the prope
course for the directors to pursue is tt
pay such creditors pro rata quarterly
The payment of anyone creditor to tn
exclusion of others, as has been attem pit
ed iu the case instanced by Mr.. Bergere
is contrary to the law just cited.
In communicating to Mr.. Bergere 81
much of the contents of this letter as 20,
think proper, it would not be amiss to cal
his attention to the fact that under tn
laws of 1889, chapter 56, section s, 1t j
his privilege to call upon the DISTRICT at
torney for the counties of Bernalillo AM
Valencia for any legal advise he may de
sire in the performance of his oficia
duties. Very truly yours,
ALBERT B. FALL,
Solicitor General for New Mexico