Chap. 518.—An ACT to amend and reenact Section 653-a 1 of the Code of
Virginia, relating to School Trustee Electoral Boards, County School Boards,
and compensation of members. [H 300]

Approved April 5, 1948

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That section six hundred fifty-three-a one of the Code of Vir-
ginia be amended and reenacted as follows:

Section 653-a 1. In each county there shall be a board, to be known
as the school trustee electoral board, which shall be composed of three
resident qualified voters, who are not county or State officers, to be
appointed by the circuit court of each county, or the judge in vacation,
within thirty days after the first day of July, nineteen hundred thirty,
and every four years thereafter, The members of the trustee electoral
board shall each receive a per diem of two dollars for each day actually
employed, to be paid out of the county school fund. Any vacancy oc-
curring within the term of the appointees shall be filled by the circuit
court, or by the judge in vacation, within thirty days thereafter. The
county school board shall consist of one member appointed from each
school district in the county by the school trustee electoral board, pro-
1042 ACTS OF ASSEMBLY [va., 1948

vided that in towns constituting separate school districts and operated by
a school board of three members, one of the members shall be designated
annually by the town board as a member of the county school board.
The members of the county school board from the several districts shall
have no organization and duties except such as may be assigned to them
by the school board as a whole. Before any appointment is made by the
electoral board it shall give notice, by publication for two successive
weeks, in a newspaper having general circulation in such county of the
time and place of any meeting for the purpose of appointing members of
the county school board.

The members so appointed shall constitute the county school board,
and every such board is hereby declared a body corporate, under the
style of the county school board of county, and may, in its corporate
capacity, sue or be sued, contract or be contracted with and, in general,
is vested with all the powers and charged with all the duties, obligations
and responsibilities imposed upon such a board as such by law. The
members of the county school board shall be appointed within sixty
days prior to July first nineteen hundred forty-four, such appointments
shall be for terms as follows: if there be three members, one shall be
appointed for a term of two years, one for a term of three years and one
for a term of. four years; if there be four members, one shall be appointed
for a term of one year, one for a term of two years, one for a term of
three years, and one for a term of four years; if there be more than four
members, one shall be appoinnted for a term of one year, one for a term
of two years, one for a term of three years and one for a term of four
years, and the remaining members shall be appointed for the longest
terms possible, not exceeding four years, which will result in having the
terms of the least possible number of members expire in any one year.
Within sixty days prior to the first day of July in each year and everv
year thereafter, the school trustee electoral board of each county, shall
appoint for terms of four years beginning the first day of July next
following their appointment, successors to the members of the county
school boards of their respective counties, whose terms of office expire
on the thirtieth day of June in each such year. Vacancies occurring in
the membership of the county school board of any county shall be filled
for the unexpired term, by the school trustee electoral board of such
county. The present trustee electoral boards and county school boards
now in office shall continue to hold office until their successors have
been appointed and qualified. All of such school trustees shall qualify
before the county clerk by taking the oath prescribed for State officers.
The county school board may in its discretion pay each of its members an
annual salary not exceeding one hundred eighty dollars, payable in
equal monthly installments, and mileage to’ each member for each day
he is in attendance upon meetings of the board, not to exceed five cents
per mile for each mile of travel by the most direct route in going to and
returning from the place of meeting. Such salary and mileage shall be
paid as other school expenses are paid.
Provided that in counties adjacent to cities having, according to the
last preceding United States census, a population of one hundred thou-
sand or more, and in counties having a density of population of more
that five hundred per square mile, the county school board may pay each
of its members an annual salary of three hundred dollars, payable in
equal monthly installments, and in each county having a population in
excess of forty thousand and having eight or more magisterial districts,
the county school board may pay each of its members a maximum annual
salary of three hundred dollars in equal monthly installments, and in
each county adjoining a city lying wholly within this State with a popu-
lation in excess of one hundred seventy-five thousand, according to the
last preceding United States census, the county school board may pay
each of its members a maximum annual salary of six hundred dollars,
payable in equal monthly installments, and provided further, that in
cities having a population of not less than eighteen thousand nor more
than twenty-three thousand, and in cities having a population of not
less than thirty thousand nor more than thirty-five thousand, in each
case according to the United States census latest preceding, the school
board may provide and pay a per diem not exceeding ten dollars to
each member for each day he is in attendance upon meetings of the
board, not to exceed twenty-four days in any one year.