Chap. 290.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 656 of the Code of Vir-
ginia, as amended, in relation to authority and duty of school boards, so

as to require drinking water to be provided at all public school houses.
| [H B 220]

Approved March 28, 1938

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tion six hundred and fifty-six of the Code of Virginia, as amended,
be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 656. The school board shall have authority, and it shall
be the duty of the school board to secure, by visitation or otherwise,
as full information as possible about the conduct of the schools; to take
care that they are conducted according to law and with the utmost
efficiency; to provide for the payment of teachers and other. officers
on the first of each month, or as soon thereafter as possible; to pro-
vide, for the erecting, furnishing, and equipping of necessary school
buildings and appurtenances and the maintenance thereof; to provide
for all public schools an adequate and safe supply of drinking water
and see that the same is periodically tested and approved by or under
the direction of the State Board of Health, either on the premises or
from specimens sent to said board; to provide such text-books as
may be necessary for indigent children attending public schools; in
general, to incur such costs and expenses, but only such costs and
expenses as are provided for in its budget without the consent of the
tax levying body; to provide for the consolidation of schools and for
the transportation of pupils whenever such procedure will contribute
to the efficiency of the school system; to receive and audit all claims
arising from commitments made pursuant to the provisions of this
section and, by resolution or recorded vote, to approve and issue war-
rants on the county treasurer in settlement of those of such claims
that are found to be valid. Every warrant issued pursuant to the
provisions of this section shall bear the date on which the school board
orders it to be issued and shall be made payable on demand, signed
by the chairman or acting chairman of the school board, counter-
signed by the clerk or acting clerk of the school board, and recorded
in the form and manner prescribed by the State Board of Education.
The acts prohibited by section twenty-seven hundred and twenty-four-a
of the Code of Virginia with respect to the ordering of the issuance of
warrants by a board of supervisors and the signing and countersigning
of such warrants by the clerk, deputy clerk, chairman, and acting
chairman of such board shall apply to the ordering of the issuance of
warrants by a county school board and to the signing and counter-
signing thereof by the chairman, acting chairman, clerk and acting
clerk of such board, and any clerk, acting clerk, or member of any
county school board who violates or becomes a party to the violations
of this provision shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and in addition
thereto shall be guilty of malfeasance in office.

The school board shall encourage meetings of teachers to be held
from time to time in the county under such regulations as the division
superintendent of schools may prescribe. ,

It shall be the duty of the school board to perform such other
duties as shall be prescribed by the State Board of Education or are
imposed by any other section of the Code.