Chap. 456.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 683 of the Code of Vir-
ginia, relating to the compulsory education of children. [S B 200]

Approved March 27, 1930

I. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
six hundred and eighty-three of the Code of Virginia, be amended and
re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 683. Every parent, guardian, or other person in the Com-
monwealth, having control or charge of any child, or children, who
have reached the seventh birthday and have not passed the fifteenth
birthday, shall send such child, or children, to a public school, or to
a private, denominational or parochial school, or have such child or
children taught by a tutor or teacher of qualification prescribed by
the State board of education and approved by the division superin-
tendent in a home, and such child, or children, shall regularly attend
such school during the period of each year the public schools are in
session and for the same number of days and hours per day as in the
public schools. The period of compulsory attendance shall commence
at the opening of the first term of the school which the pupil attends
and shall continue until the close of such school for the school year.
The provisions of this section shall not apply to children physically
or mentally incapacitated for school work, nor to those children suf-
fering from contagious or infectious diseases during the existence of
such disease; nor shall it apply to children between the ages aforesaid
who have completed the elementary course of study prescribed by the
State board of education, or the elementary course of study of such
grade, provided by the school he attends, and who is actually, regularly
and lawfully employed; nor to children who live more than two miles
by the nearest traveled road from a public school, unless public trans-
portation is provided within one mile of the place where such children
live. Physical incapacity or disease shall be established by the certifi-
cate of a reputable practicing physician, made in accordance with the
rules and regulations adopted by the State board of education, and
mental incapacity is to be determined by such mental test or tests as
may be prescribed by the State board of education.

Every blind or partially blind child, and every deaf child between
six and eighteen years of age, shall attend some school for the blind,
or the public schools, or some school for the deaf, for eight months,
or during the scholastic year, unless it can be shown that the child is
elsewhere receiving regularly thorough instruction during the said
period in studies usually taught in said public schools to children of
the same age, provided that the superintendent or principal of any
school for the blind, or the public schools, or the schools for the deaf,
or person or persons duly authorized by such superintendents or prin-
cipals, may excuse cases of necessary absence among its enrolled pu-
pils, and provided, further, that the provisions of this section shall not
apply to a child whose physical or mental condition is such as to render
its instruction as above described inexpedient or impracticable. Every:
person having under his or her control a child between six and eighteen
years of age, shall cause such child to attend school or receive instruc-
tions as required by this section.

Provided, however, that in the several counties and cities the local
board may, in its discretion, after public hearing thereon, at a meet-
ing held not less than thirty days after public notice shall have been
given in some newspaper having general circulation in the county or
city affected, fix the age for compulsory attendance in such county or
city as applicable to children who have reached the eighth birthday and
have not passed the sixteenth birthday in lieu of the requirements of
this section as to age.