Chap. 137.—an ACT to constitute the town of Covington in Alleghany county
and certain territory adjacent thereto, a separate school district, and to au-
thorize the council of said town to appoint a board of school trustees for
the said district and to levy and collect certain taxes for the benefit of said
district.

Approvea February 14, 1901.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That so much
of the territory of the present Covington school district of Alleghany
county as is embraced within the limits hereinafter set out in section
two of this act be, and the same is, hereby constituted a separate school
district, to be known as Town of Covington school district, by which
name it may sue and be sued, contract and be contracted with, and to
be governed by the provisions of the general school law, except in so far
as said general school law may be modified by the provisions of this act.

2. The said Town of Covington school district shall embrace, in
addition to the territory included within the corporate limits of the
said town, so much of the outlying territory adjacent thereto as is,
together with the territory embraced within the said town, included
within the following boundaries—to-wit: Beginning at the north end
of McAllister and Bell’s mill-dam across Jacksons river, at the present
corporation line of the town of Covington; thence along the top of said
mill-daim to low-water mark, on the west side of the said imill-dain;
thence up Jacksons river, with low-water mark, to the intersection of
the northwesterly line of the lands of the West Virginia pulp and paper
company, with said low-water mark; thence with the said line of said
company’s lands in a westerly direction to the condemnation line of the
main line of the Chesapeake and Ohio railway company: thence cross-
ing said railway on a direct line to the northerly corner of William
Luke's hill residence property at the bottom of a cliff and near the
west bank of Dunlops creek, where a stake is called for; thence with the
northwesterly line of said William Luke's property and a prolongation
of the same to the west side of the ‘county road leading from Covington
to Callaghans; thence with the west side of said road toward Cov-
ington, to the westerly line of block ( of A. A. MeAllister’s addition to
the town of Covington; thence with the said line of said block C and
the outside line of the said A. A. McAllister addition, as shown on the
at of said addition, in a southerly direction to Rosedale avenue of said
addition, south of the residence of A. TI. Noel: thence in a direct line,
crossing Jacksons river at right angles, to.low-water mark: thence
down Jacksons river at low-water mark to a point at which an exten-
sion of the south line of lot number twenty-five of block number one
hundred and forty-three of the Covington improvement company’s
addition to the said town would intersect said low-water mark; thence
with said line so extended, in an easterly direction to the county road,
near Cedar Hill cemetery, at the corner of said lot number twenty-five
of said block number one hundred and forty-three; thence with saic
road, in a northerly direction, to the forks of the road on the top of
Cemetery hill: thence with the Clifton Forge fork of the said
county road in a northeasterly direction to the point where
said road turns to the right and descends a long, steep hill: thence, in
a direct line to the north corner of lot number one in block number
sixty-three of the said improvement company’s said addition: thence
ina direct line, to the intersection of Beverly and Cedar streets. at the
corner of lot number one of block number ninety-five of the said im-
provement company’s said addition, on Reservoir hill: thence with the
corporation line of the town of Covington in a westerly direction to the
hesinning.

3. The council of the said town of Covington shall have authority
10 appoint three school trustees from any part of the aforesaid) schoo!
district, to serve one, two and three years, respectively, and annually
thereafter it shall appoint one trustee for the said distriet, to serve for
three vears. The said trustees shall have the power to regulate) and
manage the schools in said district, to appoint teachers, fix their salaries.
provide school buildings, and all necessary expenses, and perform all
the duties and be clothed with all the powers now vested in the trustees
of school districts.

4. Tt shall be the duty of the council of the town of Covington to
provide for the support of the public schools in the said school district,
upon estimates furnished by the aforesaid board of school trustees, and
for this purpose the said council shall have the power, from time to time.
beginning with the current tax year of nineteen hundred and one, to
levy and collect from the property holders of the said school district a
tax upon all the real and personal property therein, not exceeding four
mills on the dollar. The said tax shall be collected and accounted for
as taxes due the town of Covington are now collected and accounted for,
and the fund so collected shall be disbursed only upon orders drawn by
the aforesaid board of school trustees. The said school district shall be
exempt from the payment of county school tax, and it shall not have the
right to share with the other school districts of Alleghany county in the
distribution of the county school fund.

5. The said board of school trustees, as soon after their appointment
and organization as practicable, shall cause a census to be taken of the
school population of the said district, in legal form, and report the same
to the superintendent of public instruction and to the county superin-
tendent of public schools; and thereafter all state school funds to which
said district shall be entitled shall be apportioned accordingly.

6. The board of school trustees of the Covington school district of
Alleghany county having, pursuant to the provisions of chapter three
hundred and eighty-eight of the acts of the general assembly of eighteen
hundred and ninety-three-eighteen hundred and ninety-four, borrowed
the sum of three thousand five hundred dollars, which sum was, by the
said board, expended in the erection of a public school building, situated
in the town of Covington, and the bonds of the said school district for
the amount of three thousand dollars, part of the aforesaid sum of
three thousand five hundred dollars, being still outstanding and unpaid,
power and authority is hereby given to the council of the said town of
Covington, for the purpose of providing for the payment of the said
outstanding and unpaid bonds, to borrow not exceeding the sum of
three thousand dollars; and for the payment of the same it shall have
the power to execute and issue bonds of the said town, to be called public
school building bonds, either coupon or registered, and in such denomi-
nations as said council may determine, and bearing a rate of interest not
exceeding five per centum per annum, payable semi-annually, which
bonds shall be payable in twenty years from their date, or, at the option
of said council, at any time after the expiration of five years from their
date.

7%. When, pursuant to the provisions of section six of this act, the
council of the said town of Covington shall have borrowed the said sum
of three thousand dollars, it shall pay the said sum, or such part thereof
as shall be necessary to pay off and discharge said outstanding bonds
issued as aforesaid by the Covington school district of Alleghany county,
to the county treasurer of Alleghany county to the credit of Covington
school distriet of Alleghany county: and thereupon the said town of
Covington school district shall be entitled to have conveyed to and vested
in it the title to all school property, real and personal, situated within
the limits of the said town of Covington school district.

8. The taxes provided for by this act shall not be considered as con-
stituting any part of the taxes authorized by the charter of the town of
Covington to be levied for corporation purposes.

9. This act shall be in force from the first day of August, nineteen
hundred and one.