Chap. 117.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 653 of the Code of Virginia as
enacted into law by chapter 471 of the Acts of the General Assembly of 1928,
approved March 26, 1928, which act revised, consolidated, amended and codi-
fied the school laws of Virginia relating to the public school system, as
amended. [H B 158]

Approved March 8, 1932

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tion six hundred and fifty-three of the Code of Virginia as enacted
into law by chapter four hundred and seventy-one of the Acts of the
General Assembly of nineteen hundred and twenty-eight, approved
March twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and twenty-eight, which act,
revised, consolidated amended and codified the school laws of Virginia
relating to the public school system, as amended, be amended and
re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 653. 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
thereof in vacation, within thirty days after the frst day of July, nine-
teen hundred_and_thirty, and every four years thereafter. The said
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 occurring within the term of the
said appointees shall be filled by the circuit court, or the judge thereof
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, provided in towns
constituting separate school districts and operated by a school board
of three members, one of said members shall be designated by the
town board as a member of the county school board. Before any ap-
pointment 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 the 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, un-
der 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
board as such by law. The members of the county school board shall
be appointed on or before July first, nineteen hundred and twenty-
eight, and on or before July first of every four years thereafter, and
shall hold office for a term of four years, and thereafter until their suc-
cessors have been appointed and have qualified. Any vacancy in the
county school board shall be filled by appointment by the trustee elec-
toral board. The present trustee electoral board 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 provide for a
per diem not exceeding five dollars per day for each member for
each day he is in attendance upon meetings of the board, not to ex-
ceed twenty days in any one year, such per diem to be paid as other
school expenses are paid. Provided that in counties adjacent to cities
having, according to the last United States census, a population of
one hundred thousand or more, and in counties having a density of
population of more than 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.

For the purpose of representation each magisterial district shall,
except where otherwise provided by law, constitute a separate school
district, but for all other school purposes, taxation, management, con-
trol, and operation, the county shall be a unit, and the school affairs
of such county managed as if the county constituted but one school
district, provided, however, nothing in this section shall be construed
to prohibit the levying of a district tax to provide interest and sink-
ing fund for a district bond issue as provided in section six hun-
dred and seventy-three, or for the levying of a district tax on rec-
ommendation of the county school board to pay existing district in-
debtedness. All special school districts and special town school dis-
tricts except the special school district for the town of Leesburg, of
Loudoun county and of Lexington of Rockbridge county which are
hereby preserved, are hereby expressly abolished, except special town
school districts which are located in more than one county, which last
mentioned districts are hereby expressly retained as they exist at
the present time; provided, however, that the town of Herndon, of
Fairfax county, and the town of Colonial Beach, of Westmoreland
county, and incorporated towns having a population of not less than
one thousand inhabitants, according to the last United State census,
may, by ordinance of the town council and by and with the approval
of the State board of education, be constituted separate school districts
either for the purpose of representation on the county school board,
or for the purpose of being operated as a separate school district
under a town school board of three members, appointed by the town
council. In the event that such a town district be set up, to be oper-
ated by a board of three members, the members of such board shall
be appointed in accordance with section seven hundred and eighty
of the Code, providing for the appointment of trustees in cities and of
such members, one shall be designated by the town school board as a
member of the county school board and entitled to serve as a member
of said county board.

To such town district operated by a school board of three mem-
bers the county school board shall pay over to the town treasurer 1f
and when properly bonded the amount derived from the county levy
or appropriation for school purposes a sum equal to the prorata
amount from such levy or appropriation derived from such town.

The State board of education is authorized to make loans from
the literary fund to the school board of a town constituting a separate
school district in the same manner as such loans are made to county
and city school boards as provided in section six hundred and thirty-
S1X. .

Nothing in this section however, shall be construed to prohibit
the board of supervisors in the counties of Sussex and Henrico from
continuing to levy a district tax for the operation of ‘the schools.

2. An emergency existing this act shall be in force from its
passage.