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it because, as Dr. Pullen pointed out, not in recent

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times, but in times past the State school funds in other

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states where they didn't have this constitutional pro-

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tection have been diverted to other uses. It's easy to

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get money for public schools and appropriations. You get

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a big appropriation and then if you proceed to divert it

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or amend the budget to transfer it, and the legislature

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can do this, this is not good; and you may say, well,

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why protect the public schools?

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Well, I think that the point here is if the

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legislature appropriates funds for the operation and

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maintenance of public schools, we should make sure that

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those funds are used for that purpose and, if there is

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a surplus, it ought to revert to the State. It ought

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not to be diverted.

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We do have surpluses each year because, as

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Dr. Pullen pointed out, we cannot estimate accurately

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What it is going to cost to operate the public schools

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throughout the State, as far as State aid is concerned.

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Sometimes we have a million dollars surplus, sometimes

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two, but that goes back to the State. We only spend for