Chap. 143.—An ACT to provide for the establishment of a high school at Bed-
ford City, and to take the sense of the qualified voters of the Municipal and
Liberty districts of Bedford county thereon.

Approved January 23, 1896.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
county superintendent of schools of Bedford county and the clerks
of the Municipal and Liberty school districts of Bedford county, and
their successors in office, be, and are hereby, constituted a board of
managers, of which the county superintendent shall be president,
with power to establish a public high school at or near Bedford City,
in which shall be taught a complete academic course of study, free
of tuition charges to advanced white pupils of Bedford county and
to such advanced white pupils of other counties as may be designated
by said board of managers, and upon the terms hereinafter desig-
nated.

2. The board of managers provided for in section one shall be,
and are hereby made, a body corporate, with the corporate name of
the Bedford City high school, with such powers and duties as are
conferred by law on district school boards, and shall have power to
prescribe the course of study in such school, and to make such regu-
lations as are necessary to promote its efficiency, subject to the ap-
proval of the superintendent of public instruction.

3. The board of managers shall have power to establish a boarding
department in connection with said school, and provide for the man-
agement thereof; provided that no part of the current expenses of
such boarding department shall be defrayed out of public funds.

4. The board of managers shall, on or before the first day of July
in each year, file with the county superintendent an estimate show-
ing the amount of money needed for the pay of teachers in said high
school for the next school year, and also an estimate for the amount
necessary to provide buildings, furniture, apparatus, fuel and other
necessary expenses of said high school; and it shall be the duty of
the board of supervisors of Bedford county to make such levy on
the property of the Municipal and Liberty school districts, including
Bedford city, and on railroads, telegraphs and telephones lying with-
in said districts and Bedford City, as may be necessary to provide
for the amount called for in said estimate to provide buildings, fur-
niture, apparatus, fuel and other necessary expenses; provided that
such levy shall not exceed fifteen cents on the hundred dollars of
value of such property.

5. To provide funds for the pay of teachers in said high school,
in apportioning county school funds as provided for in subsection
two of section fourteen hundred and thirty-nine of the code, the
county superintendent of schools of Bedford county shall set apart
so much of the county school fund as shall have been realized from
the county school tax on the property of the Municipal and Liberty
school districts, including Bedford City, and railroads, telegraphs
and telephones lying within said districts and Bedford City, for the
the separate use of those districts and for the pay of teachers in said
high school, and, after apportioning to those districts the same
amount per capita of school population as shall have been appor-
tioned to the other school districts of the county, shall set apart the
remainder for the pay of teachers in said high school.

6. The board of managers may make a charge against the Munici-
pal and Liberty school districts for pupils received from those dis-
tricts, not to exceed one and one-half dollars per month for each
pupil so received, and from pupils received from other school dis-
tricts of the state may make a charge not exceeding two dollars and
fifty cents per month for each pupil so received, which tuition fees
shall be paid, upon notification of the amount, by warrant drawn by
district school boards, payable to Bedford City high school, which
warrants, as in the case of district school boards, shall be deposited
with the county treasurer and his receipt taken therefor.

7. All funds received in accordance with sections four, five, and
six shall be paid out by the county treasurer on warrants signed by
the president of the board of managers and attested by its clerk.

8. The board of managers shall make such reports to and settle-
ments with the county school board as are required by law of district
school boards.

9. The judge of the county court of Bedford county shall, on or
before the fifteenth day of May, eighteen hundred and ninety-six,
issue his order directing an election to be held, at the usual voting
places of the Municipal and Liberty school districts of Bedford
county, on the fourth Thursday in May, eighteen hundred and
ninety-six, to take the sense of the qualified voters of those districts
on the question whether the high school provided for in this act
shall be established, and the ballots used in such election shall be
written or printed “For high school” and “ Against high school,”
and if upon a count of the votes cast in such election a majority be
“For high school,” which majority shall also include a majority of
the freeholders voting in such election, then this act shall become
valid and in force, otherwise to be null and void. The votes in such
election shall be counted and returns made, and the result declared,
in accordance with the general provisions of section twelve hundred
and forty-four of the code.

10. This act shall be in force from its passage.