2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE EIGHTEEN - Education (§§ 1 — 3510-3520) › PART III - Educational Activities Generally (§§ 861-866 — 1597b) › Chapter 76 - Development of Arts and Culture (§§ 1159-1159q — 1166g) › Subchapter V - Conservatory of Music (§§ 1163 — 1163i) › § 1163d - Conservatory of Music; Corporation—Powers

The Conservatory shall have following powers, without being construed as a limitation:
(a) To subsist in perpetuity, to sue and be sued as a juridical person.
(b) To hold and use a corporate seal which it may alter at will, and of which judicial notice shall be taken.
(c) To acquire goods and properties, both personal and real, by donation, legacy, purchase or other legal means; to hold and dispose of them according to law and in the manner established in its own regulations, provided it is necessary and convenient to fulfill its corporate goals, and in the best interests of the Conservatory.
(d) To establish the standards and regulations needed for its internal operation and functioning, and to govern the programs and activities of the Conservatory.
(e) To have absolute control of its properties and activities, including its funds, and to adopt its own accounting system. The Conservatory shall keep its accounts in such a way that each activity may be segregated. The Comptroller of Puerto Rico or his/her representative shall examine the accounts and books of the Conservatory from time to time.
(f) To accept gifts or loans and to enter into contracts, agreements and other transactions with federal agencies and with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, its agencies, instrumentalities and municipalities, and to invest the proceeds of any such gifts or loans for any legal corporate purposes.
(g) To award contracts and formalize any kind of documents that are necessary or convenient to exercise any of its powers.
(h) To adopt and administer its own personnel system and to appoint and contract all its officials, agents and employees, who shall be both classified and teaching public employees entitled to become members of the Puerto Rico Commonwealth Employees Association and avail themselves of the benefits of the Retirement System of the Government of Puerto Rico. It shall likewise vest them with the powers and assign to them the duties it deems pertinent, and [set] their remuneration through the established classification and compensation plans and the regulations thus adopted. The Conservatory shall be exempted from the provisions of Act No. 5 of October 14, 1975, known as the “Puerto Rico Public Service Personnel Act” and from the personnel regulations adopted by virtue thereof. The Conservatory shall adopt a personnel system, compensation and classification plans and the rules and regulations needed to comply with said plans and systems.
With the prior authorization of the Board of Directors of the Conservatory, the Rector may contract the services of employees and officials of any other agency, public instrumentality or political subdivision of the Government of Puerto Rico, and he/she shall pay them due compensation for the additional services they render to the Corporation outside of their regular working hours without being subject to the provisions of § 551 of Title 3 or to the provisions of any other applicable law.
(i) To lease and dispose of any of its properties or any interest thereon, in the way, manner and extent determined by the Conservatory.
(j) To perform all acts necessary or convenient to exercise the powers and achieve the objectives conferred [on] it by §§ 1163c—1163i of this title or by any other law.
(k) To receive funds from public and private sources and use said funds for purposes consistent with the objectives of the Conservatory.
(l) To coordinate, supervise and promote the Children’s Strings Program, as well as other programs akin to the purposes for which the Conservatory was created.
(m) To adopt, amend and repeal through its Board of Directors the rules that govern its operations and the discharge of the powers imposed thereto by law.
(n) To be the legal owner in fee simple, and to administer and coordinate the most efficient use of physical facilities related to its purposes which are currently in use or [at] a stage of construction, or those constructed or acquired in the future.
(o) The Conservatory may, also, acquire any kind of equipment, supplies and services needed for the discharge of its functions without being subject to the provisions of §§ 931 et seq. of Title 3.
(p) To grant and confer academic degrees to its students according to the standards established in similar institutions or by the accredited entities of educational institutions and to, likewise, provide for the validation of studies, credits and degrees, and to grant academic distinctions in the field of music and musical education.
History —May 30, 1980, No. 77, p. 212, § 2; July 31, 1985, No. 2, p. 778, § 3; Aug. 9, 1995, No. 141, § 3.