The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1899-04-05
Cannot Collect for the Charts.
II They We're Sold Upon Annual
instruments.

School Trustees Cannot Expend
Funds of One Year for Debts Pre-
viously Contracted.
Assistant Attorney General U. X
Gunter has filed an opinion in re-
gard to the school law which may
have great effect upon stopping the
further purchase of charts, reads as
follows:
Dear Sir: In response to your
first inquiry, May trustees of the
public schools issue warrants for
more than the amounts due them for
the year in which such warrants are
issuedg" 7 deem it sufficient to refer
you to Sec. So Of the school law Of
1896, which provides That all con-
tracts which boards of trustees may
make in excess of the funds appor-
toned to their district shall be void"
And to Sec. 524 of the revised stat
utes of 1893. 1T shall be unlawful
for any public officer, State or county,
authorized by law to SO contract, to
enter into or so contract for any pur-
pose whatsoever any sum in excess
of the tax levied or the amount ap-
p~ortioned for the accomplishment of
of such purpose" From these &C.
tons it seems clear that it is illegal
for school authorities to issue war
rants or contract debts 10 excess of
the tax levied and the amount ap-
portioned for their respective dis
~tricts, and that any such debt or
contract is void. This Question, as
I understand it, and the law cited as
applicable thereto, has reference only
to contracts to take effect during the
year in which the contract was en-
tered into, but which is in Excess Of
the funds apportioned to the district.
Your second question is, "Chalt
agents take warrants payable July
18th, 1899, while the school year
closes June 3Otb, 1890. The appor-
tionment for school year '99-190O,
being made in July, 1899, would
such warrants be legal, and would
the county superintendent of educa-
tion be justi6able in approving the
same?" This involves a different
proposition, and resolves itself into
this: can a board Of trustees during
the year issue a warrant payable
next year, out of funds to be appor-
toned for their district for the next
yea,?
A board of trustees is an official
body, created by the general assem-
bly,, in pursuance of the constitu
ton. Their powers, duties, compen-
sation and term of Office are fixed by
the general assembly. Nopower not
vested by that body can be exercised
by the board. No such authority
has been given the boards of trustees,
either expressly or by implication.
That the board has much power is
evident, for Sec. % of the school law
OF 1896, among other things, pro-
vides, "The school fund of each
school district shall be distributed
and expended by the board of trus-
tees, for the best interests of the
school district, according to the
Judgment of the board of trustees, on
thei. warrant, approved by the
county superintendent of education"
But this provision does not allow the
finds appropriated and apportioned
for this year to have been contracted
for last year. Through the whole of
the school law it appears as a mani
fest intention Of the general assem-
bly, that the funds apportioned each
year for each district should be paid
out on warrants issued during that
year, on that years funds. The
whole arrangement and theory Of the
school Jaw is that each years work
must stand for itself. The annual
levy and collection of taxes, the basis
of apportionment, the requirements
of the annual report Of the county
superintendent of education, Of all
claims filed, audited and allowed and
ordered by him to be paid for each
fiscal year, and the necessity for
raising'suficient funds each year to
run the school for the fixed period,
show that there must be no con
founding Of the school year, but that
each must stand on its own bottom.
To contend otherwise would be to
say that a board in Office for 1898
could, during that year, contract
debts and issue warrants therefor,
payable each succeeding year to the
full extent Of the apportionment,
thereby absorbing the school funds
for an unlimited period, and the
operation of the school stopped al
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