Fiscal reforms and community cash schools. The school of the Chucándiro sub-delegation of the Valladolid of Michoacán municipality, 1790-1802

Abstract

The present study is one more of this author, on the installation and operation of the community cashier schools of the Municipality of Valladolid de Michoacán, a new testimony of the educational reform of the Bourbon regime at the end of the 18th century; example of how the application of Enlightenment thought was manifested in the educational field. The work focuses on the finances and the school of the sub-delegation of Chucándiro, head of the sub-delegation of the same name. It is located very close to the ancient city of Valladolid, today Morelia, just 5 leagues from it (Cedeño, 1990, p. 19) —between 22.5 and 25 kilometers—. The settlement already existed in pre-Hispanic times, and although it is not the only one, the towns that surround it are not indigenous, so it is the only one reported in the jurisdiction, and in the list of community cashier schools of Indian towns. Because when the Bourbon regime applied its reforms to the indigenous communities in the second half of the 18th century; the one exercised on its finances, began with the regulation of the community funds of these towns, which established a public financing that covered; precisely, the resources of these localities. This is an analysis of what happened with the Chucandiro school, in direct relation to the resources generated by the organization of the natives through their own resources, as well as the expenses that they had to incur, according to the regulations that were imposed on them. The located documentation allows us to analyze and reflect on the 13-year period from 1790 to 1802.