Chap. 101.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 1433, 1437, 1445, 1449, 1450,
1454, 1459, 1466, 1484, and 1515 of the Code of Virginia, as amended by an act
entitled “an act to amend and re-enact chapter 66 of the Code of Virginia, re-
lating to public free schools for counties and to the literary fund,” approved
December 28, 1903.

Approved March 11, 1904.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
fourteen hundred and thirtv-three, fourteen hundred and thirty-seven,
fourteen hundred and forty-five, fourteen hundred and forty-nine, four-
teen hundred and fiftv. fourteen hundred and fifty-four, fourteen hun-
dred and fifty-nine, fourteen hundred and sixty-six, fourteen hundred.
and eighty-four, and fifteen hundred and fifteen of the Code of Vir-
ginia, a8 amended and re-enacted by an act entitled “an act to amend
and re-enact chapter sixty-six of the Code of Virginia, relating to pub-
lic free schools for counties and to the literary fund,” approved De-
cember twenty-eighth, nineteen hundred and three, be amended and
re-enacted so as to read as follows:

§ 1433. Duties of State board of education—The powers and duties
of the board shall be as follows:

First. To divide the State into appropriate school divisions, in the
discretion of said board, comprising not less than one county or city
each; but no county or city shall be divided in the formation of such
divisions. It shall, subject to the confirmation of the Senate, appoint
for each of such divisions one superintendent of schools, who shall hold
office for four years. The board shall also prescribe the duties of such
division superintendent, and may remove him for cause and upon
notice. When a vacancy occurs during the recess of the general assem-
bly, it shall be filled by appointment of the board for the unexpired
term, and the appointee shall continue in office until the expiration of
thirty days after the first meeting of the general assembly; but it shall
not be lawful when. the general assembly is not in session for the said
board to appoint as division superintendent any person whose nomina-
tion has been previously rejected by the Senate.
Second. To prescribe the duties of the superintendent of public in-
struction.

Third. To approve the appointment of a first and second clerk, and
such other employees as may be necessary for the office of the super-
intendent of public instruction, upon the nomination of that officer,
and to fix their salaries. The first clerk, who is hereby required to
serve also as secretary of the board of education, may be allowed for
these extra services such reasonable compensation as the board may
deem just and proper.

Fourth. To adopt by-laws for its own government, and to make all
needful rules and regulations for the management and conduct of the
schools. Such rules “and regulations, when published and distributed,
shall have the force and effect of law until revised, amended, or re-
pealed by the general assembly.

Fifth. To provide for the examination of teachers by a State board of
examiners, and the inspection of schools by inspectors to be chosen by
the board of education, or by the adoption of such other plans as the
board may, in its discretion, deem wise and expedient. The duties,
compensation, and expenses of such examiners and inspectors shall be
fixed by the board of education and paid as other expenses of said board
are paid. |

Sixth. To select text-books and educational appliances for use in the
public schools of the State, exercising such discretion as it may see fit
in the selectiqgn of books suitable for the schools in the cities and coun-
ties, respectively.

Seventh. To guard by regulation against so great a multiplication
of schools in proportion to the funds provided as will tend to cause a
low grade of instruction in the schools, or in any other way impair their
efficiency.

Kighth. To approve or amend the plans of the superintendent_of
public instruction for the organization and conduct of the summer nor-
mal schools, to audit the accounts for the expenses of such schools, and
issue warrants for the payment thereof as other warrants are issued by
the said: board.

Ninth. To decide appeals from decisions of the superintendent of
public instruction: provided, that all the facts and arguments in each
case shall be presented in writing and in such form as the board may
prescribe.

Tenth. To order the sense of voters to be taken in counties or dis-
tricts on all matters which may be properly so referred under the
provisions of the school law whenever deemed proper by the board.

Eleventh. To invest the capital and unappropriated income of the
literary fund in bonds of this State or of the United States, or in bonds
of railroad companies secured by first mortgage whose market value
for six months preceding the investment has not been less than ninety
cents on the dollar. The said board may call in any such investment,
or any heretofore made, and reinvest the same as aforesaid whenever
deemed proper for the preservation, security, or improvement of the
said fund. Whenever, in accordance with this section, the board shall
invest as aforesaid in bonds of this State, no premium shall be required
or paid on such investment. All securities for money belonging to the
literary fund shall be deposited with the second auditor for safe-keep-
ing, who shall return with his annual report a list thereof, with a
statement of their value.

Twelfth. To audit all claims which are to be paid out of the literary
fund, and to allow so much thereof as shall appear to be due: provided,
that not more than ten years shall have elapsed when by law such claim
might have been presented for payment. For any claims so allowed,
certified by the secretary and the presiding officer of the board, the
second auditor shall issue his warrant on the treasurer, signed by the
second auditor and attested by one of his clerks. All money belonging
to the literary fund shall also be received into the treasury on the
warrant of the second auditor, who shall also be the accountant of the
said fund.

Thirteenth. To approve or amend the schemes prepared by the super-
intendent of public instruction for apportioning the money appropriated
by the State for public free school purposes among the several counties
and cities of the State.

Fourteenth. To determine the necessary contingent expenses of the
office of the superintendent of public instruction, including stationery,
postage, printing, furniture, and other charges; to examine the accounts
thereof; and, when approved, to issue warrants on the second auditor
for the payment of the same, said warrants to be signed by the secre-
tary.and the presiding officer of the board.

Fifteenth. To punish division superintendents of schools for neglect
of duty, or for any official misconduct, by reasonable fines, to be de-
ducted from their pay, by suspension from office and pay for a limited
period, or by removal from office.

Sixteenth. To appoint a board of directors, consisting of five mem-
bers, to serve without compensation, which shal] have the management
of the State library (except the law library), and the appointment of
a librarian and other employees thereof, subject to such rules-and regu-
lations as the general assembly shall prescribe.

Seventeenth. To observe the operations of the public free school sye-
tem, to regulate such matters as may arise in the practical administra-
tion thereof not otherwise provided for, and to suggest to the general
assembly any improvements deemed advisable therein and for which the
said board has no power to provide.

Kighteenth. To make a report to the general assembly at each regu-
lar session, covering the annual report of the superintendent of public
instruction, giving an account of the operations of the board for the
two school years immediately preceding the session of the general as-
sembly.

Nineteenth. To perform such other duties as may be prescribed by
law.
Twentieth. Such reasonable expenses as the members of the board,
except the governor, the attorney-general, and the superintendent of
public instruction, may incur in attending the meetings of the board,
or any committee thereof, shall be paid from the funds at the command
of the board by warrant on the second auditor as other expenses of the
board are paid.

Division Superintendent of Schools.

§ 1437. Division superintendent; appointment; term of office; va-
cancies; his qualification. Within sixty days before July first, nineteen
hundred and five, and every four years thereafter, the State board of
education shall, subject to the confirmation of the’ Senate, appoint one
division superintendent of schools for each school division that the said
Loard may, in its discretion, establish according to law: provided, that
no federal officer, except a fourth-class postmaster, and no supervisor
or county or State officer, except a notary public, or any deputy of said
officers, shall be chosen or allowed to act as division superintendent of
schools. .

The term of office of the said division superintendent shall be four
years from the first day of July following his appointment: provided,
that the superintendents for counties and cities now in office, or their
successors, shall continue in office until July first, nineteen hundred and

ve

The office of any division superintendent shall be deemed vacant
upon the refusal of the Senate to confirm his nomination, his removal
from the division for which he was appointed, his resignation, or his
removal from office by the State board of education. Every division
superintendent, before entering upon the discharge of the duties of his
office, shall take and subscribe the oath prescribed for all officers of the
State, which oath shall be made and subscribed before a circuit or cor-
poration court having jurisdiction in his division, or before the judge
or clerk thereof in vacation. As soon as the oaths shall have been taken,
subscribed, and certified, a minute of the fact shall be entered in the
records of the said court, and a certificate.of the clerk, setting forth the
qualification and its record, shall be furnished the superintendent of
public instruction for record in his office.

§ 1445. Annual meetings—The board shall hold a regular annual
meeting between the first and the fifteenth day of August, the exact
date to be fixed by the board itself, or, in default thereof, by oe presi-
dent. nae

§ 1449. Duties of county treasurer as to school funds; his pay_The
county treasurer shall, in all cases, collect and disburse or invest the
funds, placed under the control of the county school board by the pro-
visions of this chapter, in accordance with the direction of said board.
and shall receive such compensation as the board may determine: pro-
vided, that the same shall not be more than one per centum upon thie
amount received. For the proper application of all such funds he and
his sureties upon his official bond shall be liable.
8 1450. School trustee electoral board; composition; duties; compen-
sation.—In each county there shall be a board, to be known as the school
trustee electoral board, which shall, until February first, nineteen hun-
dred and four, be composed of the county judge, the attorney for the
Commonwealth, and the division superintendent of schools; but after
the first day of February, nineteen hundred and four, the said board
shall be composed of the attornev for the Commonwealth, the division
superintendent of schools, and a resident qualified voter who is not a
county or State officer, to be anvointed by the judge of the circuit court
on or within thirty days after the first day of February, nineteen hun-
dred and four, and every four years thereafter, who shall receive a per
diem of two dollars for each day actually employed, to be paid out of
the county school fund. When acting as a member of a board of refer-
ence, according to the provisions of section fourteen hundred and eighty-
four, two dollars per day, to be paid out of the district fund of the
district in which the service was rendered. The said appointees shall
qualify before the clerk of the said circuit court, and shall serve for a
term of four years from the first day of March, nineteen hundred and
four. Any vacancy occurring within the term of the said appointee
shall be filled by the said circuit judge within thirty days thereafter.

§ 1454. Terms of office; mode of filling vacancies, et cetera; qualifi-
cations of trustees.—The school trustee electoral boards appoint school
trustees for the several school districts in their respective counties not
more than thirty daavs before May the first, nineteen hundred and four.
The terms of office of school trustees in office on the tenth day of July,
nineteen hundred and tno, and of their successors now in office, shall end
on the first day of May. nineteen hundred and four, upon which day the
regular terms of the trustees chosen in April, nineteen hundred and
four, shall begin. The regular terms of such trustees shall thereafter
be three vears; and their successors shall be chosen by the several school
trustee electoral boards not more than thirty days nor less than ten days
before the expiration of their regular terms: provided, that the first ap-
pointments made under this section shall be for one, two, and three
years, respectively, and thereafter one trustee shall be appointed an-
nually in each district. Said boards shal] fill vacancies occurring within
a regular term for the unexpired part thereof. No person who is un-
able to read and write shall be appointed a trustee.

§ 1459. Who cannot be trustee.—No federal officer, except a fourth-
class postmaster, and no supervisor, or county or State officer, except a
notary public and commissioner in chancery, or any deputy of said offi-
cers. shall he chosen or allowed to act as district school trustee.

§ 1466. Powers and duties of district boards of school trustecs.—
The duties of district boards of school trustees shall be, in general, as
follows: ,

First. To explain, enforce. and observe the school laws, and to makc
rules for the government of the schools and for regulating the conduct
of pupils going to and returning from school. .

Second. To employ teachers, and to dismiss them when delinquent
inefficient, or in any wise unworthy of the position: provided, however
that the authority hereby given shall be subject to review by the board
of appeal provided by section fourteen hundred and fifty-five of this
chapter: provided, also, that no district school board shall employ or pay
any teacher from the public funds unless the teacher shall hold a certi-
ficate in full force issued or approved by the division superintendent
for the division within which such teacher is to be employed: and pro-
vided further, that no district school board shall employ or pay any
teacher from the public funds if said teacher is the brother, sister, wife,
son, or daughter of any member of said board. Any member of any
district board who shall violate any of these provisions shall be person-
ally responsible to such teacher for his salary.

Third. Tio suspend or expel pupils when the prosperity and efficiency
of the school make it necessary.

Fourth. To decide what children wishing to enter the schools of the
district should by reason of the poverty of their parents or guardians
receive text-books free of charge, and to provide for supplying them
accordingly.

Fifth. To see that the census of children required by section fourteen
hundred and sixty-two of this chapter is taken in the proper time and
in proper manner.

Sixth. To hold regular meetings at fixed periods, to be prescribed by
the State board of education, and special meetings when called by the
chairman or by two members.

Seventh. To call meetings of the people of the district for consulta-
tion in regard to the school imterests thereof, at which meetings the
chairman or some other member of the board shall preside, if present.

Eighth. On or before the fifteenth day of May, in each year, to pre-
pare and return to the president of the county school board, to be by
him laid before the board at its earliest meeting, an estimate of the
amount of money which will be needed in the district during the next
school year for providing school-houses, text-books for indigent chil-
dren, and other school appliances, and necessary expenses.

Ninth. To provide suitable school-houses with proper furniture and
appliances, and care for, manage, and control the school property of the
district. For these purposes, it may lease, purchase, or build such
houses, according to the exigencies of the district and the means at ue
disposal.

Tenth. To visit the public free schools within the district from time
to time, and to take care that they are conducted according to law, and
with the utmost efficiency.

Eleventh. To provide for the pay of teachers and of the clerk of the
board, the cost of providing school-houses and the appurtenances thereto
and the repairs thereof, school furniture, and appliances, necessary text-
books for indigent children attending the public free schools, and any
other expense attending the administration of the public free school sys-
tem so far as the same is under the control or at the charge of the school
district of its officers.

_. ae ‘ iad
Twelfth. To examine all claims against the school district, and, when
approved, to pay the same: provided, that a record of such approval shall
be made in the proceedings of the board; and a warrant on the county
treasurer shall be drawn, signed by the chairman of the board and coun-
tersigned by the clerk thereof, payable to the person entitled to receive
such money, and stating on its face the purpose or service for which it
is to be paid, and that such warrant is drawn in pursuance of an order
entered by the board on the day of

Thirteenth. To perform such other duties as shall be prescribed by
the State board of education or are imposed by other parts of this chap-.
ter.

Fourteenth. To report on any matter when required by the division
superintendent of schools, and on or before the fifteenth day of August
of each year to make a report for the school year closing July thirty-
first preceding on all subjects embraced in the blank forms supplied by
the superintendent of public instruction.

Fifteenth. County, city, or district school boards and counties, cities,
towns, and districts may make appropriations to non-sectarian schools of
manual, industrial, or technical training, or to any school or institution
of learning owned or exclusively controlled by such county, city, town,
or school district, or by such county, city, or district school boards.
Said boards may also provide for the introduction of manual or indus-
trial training and other special branches into any public school.

§ 1484. Annual reports of treasurers and clerks of district boards to
county board; records and papers.—it shall be the duty of the county
treasurer to furnish, for the use of the county school board at its annual
meeting in August, a report for the school year closing next preceding
said meeting, showing in detail all transactions pertaining to the receipt
and disbursement of school funds for said school year, together with
his books, vouchers, or other official papers which contain accounts or
evidences of receipts or disbursements; and likewise it shall be the duty
of the clerks of the district boards to lay before the county school board,
at the annual meeting, their official record and account books, contracts,
deeds, and all other official books and papers pertaining to the school
business of the year just closed. Upon examination of these records,
accounts, or papers, should there appear to have been any delinquency
or irregularity i in the acts of the treasurer, or clerk of the county or dis-
trict boards, or of any district board, or any member thereof, it shall be
the duty of the county school board to cause a minute of the facts to be
made in its records, and to take such other action as the case mav
require. It shall also be the duty of the county school board to cause
all warrants which have been presented and paid by the county treasurer
at this settlement to be camcelled by some efficient cancelling device,
after which the said warrants shall be delivered to the division super-
intendent, who shall keep the same on file at least twelve months before
destroying them.

§ 1515. County treasurers to receive and disburse school moneys; to
collect school levies and keep separate accounts; their compensation. —

All school moneys to be disbursed in any county shall be received, kept,
and disbursed by the county treasurer thereof, subject to similar re-
sponsibility as in case of other funds by law committed to him. It shall
be his duty also to receive and collect all taxes levied or ordered by the
board of supervisors of his county for public free school purposes
therein, at the same time and in the same manner, and subject to the
same provisions, regulations, restrictions, and penalties as are or may
be prescribed by law for the receipt and collection of county levies for
other and ordinary purposes. He shall keep the district funds in sepa-
rabe accounts from those of the State and county; but his books shall
show whence and on what accounts the moneys were severally derived,
and by what order, on what account, and to whom the disbursements
were made. He shall make disbursements only in pursuance of a war-
rant, in writing, from the proper authority, in manner and form as
prescribed in this chapter. For receiving, collecting, and disbursing
levies imposed for and by counties or school districts he shall be entitled
to the same compensation allowed him by law for receiving, collecting,
and disbursing county levies, and for other ordinary purposes. In com-
puting commissions for collecting and disbursing all sums levied for
county, school, and district purposes, the amounts shall be treated as
one sum, and shall not be divided for the purpose of calculating the
treasurers’ commissions. His compensation for disbursing moneys ap-
portioned to the county from the State funds, for public free school
purposes, shall be a commission of not exceeding one per centum on the
amount thereof, to be fixed by the county school board.

2. The duties imposed upon the division superintendents of schools
shall be performed by the county superintendents until such time as
said county superintendents shall be superseded by division superin-
tendents.

3. Whereas an emergency exists for the immediate operation of this
act because many of its provisions would be inoperative otherwise, this
act shall be in force from its passage.