Montana Attorney General Opinion 15-247

Opinion No. 247 Srhools--Trustees--Transportation -Bus, Purchase of. HELD: There is a "fair and reasoll- a hIe douht" thnt the legisla ture intend- pd by implication to empower school bOIll'ds to purchase a bus al'< u means of transporting pupils when onlr tran;;- portation br contract is expressly au- thorizefl. allll the power mu;;t be <lenie(l. ,Tune 21, U):33. Yon request fin opinion from this of- fice as to whether or not the statutes authGrizing" boards of school trustees to pro\"ide for the transportation of pupils to and from schools empowers such boards to purchase school buses for use ill suc-h tra nsporta tioll. Rection 1010, H. C. ~L 1921. flS amended hy Chapter 102, Laws of 1!J2lJ, I)I'ovides tilat the trustees may. under gh'en ci rcumstances, pro"ide for the tl'llnsportation of pupils hy contract. Sections 18 and 44 of Chapter 148, Laws of H)31, provides tha t the trustees Illay pay part of all the cost of transporta- tioll of high school pupils. Section 44, aho"e, was amended and broadcned by 172 OPI~IONS OF THE ATTORKEY GE;\'ERAL Chapter 156, Laws of 1933. Chapter 156 has this proviso: "But all moneys pxpemled in accordance with this see- tion for rent of quarters or transpor- tation shall be paid out only acconling to the schedule therefor promulgated hy the State Board of Education. and not otherwise." The Board of Education has met but once since Chapter 156 became a law and has promulgated no schedule in this matter. ~one of the statutes on the subject refers to any means of fur- nishing transportation except hy con- tract. Boards of school trustees are polit- ical subdivisions of the state and may exercise only such powers as are ex- pressly conferred upon them by statute and as are necessaril~' implied in the exercise of those eX]lressl~' conferred. (McNair v. S'chool District ~o. 1. Cas- cade Count~', 87 Mont. 42.'3.) School hoards, in the matter of the powers they may exercise as subdivisions of the state, are much in the same class as boards of county commissionerH. In Sullivan v. Big HtH"n Count~'. 66 Mont. 45, the Court said: "Aside from the powers granted to eounties by statute and those necessarily implied from the powers expressed, they have none, and when there is a fair and reasonable doubt as to the existence of a particn- lar power, it must be resolved against them and the power denied." It is our opinion that there is "a fair and reasonable doubt" ahout the legislature intending by implication to empower school boards to purchase automobiles as a means of transport- ing ,pupils when only transportation by contract is expressly authorb~(~(l. an(l the power must be denied.