Chap. 314.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 611, 612, 613, 614, 615, 638,
641, 642, 643, 649, 653, 655, 656, 657, 660, 667, 669, 673, 674, 683, 684, 688,
695, 700, 707, 708, and 716 of the Code of Virginia, Sections 611, 612, 638,
642, 649, 653, 655, 656, 660, 673, 683, 684, 688 and 695 of which have heretofore
been amended, all of which sections relate to the State Board of Education,
the Superintendent of Public Instruction, division superintendents, county and
city school boards, the literary fund, and to the establishment, maintenance
and administration of the public school system, so as, among other things, to
make certain of said sections applicable to cities, to validate county bond
elections, to prescribe qualifications of certain teachers for purposes of com-
pulsory education; to provide for settlements of treasurers with school boards,
and to prohibit school boards from employing their members for certain pur-
poses; to amend the Code of Virginia by adding thereto a new section
numbered six hundred and ninety-eight, providing for the levying of taxes and
the appropriation of moneys in counties, cities and towns for public school
purposes, and to repeal section six hundred and ninety-eight-a of the Code of
Virginia relating to the same matter, and to further amend the Code of Vir-
ginia by adding thereto a new section numbered seven hundred and forty-
one, relating to the qualifications of drivers of school buses and the methods
by which their fitness shall be determined; and to prohibit the school board

from employing certain persons related to the Division Superintendent. 601
[S B 6

Approved March 26, 1936

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That sections
six hundred and eleven, six hundred and twelve, six hundred and thir-
teen, six hundred and fourteen, six hundred and fifteen, six hundred
and thirty-eight, six hundred and forty-one, six hundred and forty-
two, six hundred and forty-three, six hundred and forty-nine, six hun-
dred and fifty-three, six hundred and fifty-five, six hundred and fifty-
six, six hundred and fifty-seven, six hundred and sixty, six hundred
and sixty-seven, six hundred and sixty-nine, six hundred and seventy-
three, six hundred and seventy-four, six hundred and eighty-three, six
hundred and eighty-four, six hundred and eighty-eight, six hundred
and ninety-five, seven hundred, seven hundred and seven, seven hun-
dred and eight, and seven hundred and sixteen of the Code of Virginia,
sections six hundred and eleven, six hundred and twelve, six hundred
and thirty-eight, six hundred and forty-two, six hundred and forty-
nine, six hundred and fifty-three, six hundred and fifty-five, six hun-
dred and fifty-six, six hundred and sixty, six hundred and seventy-
three, six hundred and eighty-three, six hundred and eighty-four, six
hundred and eighty-eight and six hundred and ninety-five of which
have heretofore been amended, be amended and re-enacted, and that
the Code of Virginia be further amended by adding thereto a new
section numbered six hundred and ninety-eight, and that the Code of
Virginia be further amended by adding thereto a new section numbered
seven hundred and forty-one, which said sections as so amended, and
said new sections, shall read as follows:

Section 611. An efficient system of public schools of a minimum
school term of one hundred and sixty school days, shall be established
and maintained in all of the cities and counties of the State. The public
school system shall be administered by the following authorities, to-wit:
* A State board of education, a superintendent of public instruction, divi-
sion superintendent of schools and county and city school boards.

Section 612. The general supervision of the school system shall be
vested in a State board of education, to be appointed by the Governor,
subject to the confirmation by the General Assembly, and to consist of
seven members. The first appointment under this section shall be one
member for one year, two members for two years, two members for
three years and two members for four years and thereafter all appoint-
ments shall be made for a term of four years, except appointments to
fill vacancies, which shall be for the unexpired terms. At the first
meeting after the board has been constituted, it shall elect some person
not a member of the board its secretary, and shall from its membership
elect a president for a term of two years. The State Board of Educa-
tion shall prescribe the duties of the secretary and of the superintend-
ent of public instruction, except so far as otherwise provided by law.

A majority of the members of the State Board of Education shall
constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

Before entering upon their duties, the members of the State Board
of Education shall take and subscribe the oaths prescribed by the Con-
stitution before any officer authorized to administer oaths, and said
officer shall certify the same; a minute of their qualification shall be
entered in the proceedings of the board, and the oaths shall be returned
as required by law as to the oaths of other State officers.

Section 613. The Superintendent of Public Instruction, ex officio,
shall be a member of all the governing boards of all of the educational
institutions receiving appropriations from the State, of whatever kind or
class.

Section 614. The State Board of Education, in conjunction with
the director of the budget and the comptroller, shall establish and
require of each locality a modern system of accounting for all school
funds, State and local, and the local treasurers are hereby required to
render each month to the county school board or the city school board,
as the case may be, a statement of the funds in their hands available
for school purposes. The clerk of the county school board or city
school board shall keep in a bound volume a record of the proceedings
of the board, and in another book a receipt and disbursement record
as prescribed by the State Board of Education, showing a record of his
own Official acts, and shall keep on file vouchers, contracts and other
official papers, all of which shall be open to the inspection of the divi-
sion superintendent of schools and of every citizen of the county or
city, and shall be subject to such periodical examinations as shall be
prescribed or approved by the State Board of Education. He shall
discharge, under the general direction of the division superintendent
such other duties in connection with the school business of the county
or city as may be required of him by the school board, or the State
Board of Education.

Section 615. The State Board of Education shall divide the State
into appropriate school divisions, in the discretion of said board, com-
prising not less than one county or city each, but no county or city
shall be divided in the formation of such division. The division super-
intendent shall receive a minimum salary of sixteen hundred dollars
per year, provided he is employed for his full time in a school division
with a school population of not less than three thousand. In each divi-
sion with a school population of less than three thousand, however,
the minimum salary shall be one thousand dollars per year or, in the
discretion of the State Board of Education, for part time employment,
seven hundred and fifty dollars. The superintendent may, by permis-
sion of the State Board of Education, act as school principal or under-
take other related school work, in which case his salary as superintend-
ent shall not exceed one-half of the established minimum of sixteen
hundred dollars per year. In school divisions with a school popula-
tion of over three thousand the division superintendent shall receive,
in addition to the minimum of sixteen hundred dollars, ten dollars
per hundred for each hundred of school population above three thou-
sand, allowing in each computation numbers in excess of fifty to count
as the next higher even hundred. One-half of the salary thus deter-
mined shall be paid by the State Treasurer in monthly installments out
of the available funds on the warrants of the Comptroller upon the
approved voucher or vouchers required by the Comptroller and the
other half shall be paid by the city council or county board of super-
visors out of the general fund of the city or county. The local school
board may, out of the local fund, supplement the salary above pre-
scribed and provide for the traveling and office expenses of the super-
intendents ; provided, the specific amounts and the purposes for which
such amounts are designated be reported to and approved by the State
Board of Education, provided that school boards of those divisions in
which the salary of the division superintendent may be reduced by
the scale herein provided, shall, out of the local school funds, pay such
supplement as is necessary to provide for the year beginning July
first, nineteen hundred and twenty-eight, a salary at least equal to the
salary paid for the year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and
twenty-seven. The State Board of Education shall, in accordance
with the provisions of this section, fix the salaries of the division super-
intendents for the year beginning July first, nineteen hundred and
twenty-five, and for each year thereafter based upon the school pop-
ulation as shown in the census of nineteen hundred and twenty-five
and in the census of each succeeding five year period.

Section 638. The:school boards of the several counties and cities
in this State are hereby authorized to borrow money belonging to the
said literary fund, and the school board of the county or city desiring
to borrow a part of said funds shall make written application to the
State Board of Education for such loan on a form to be prescribed
by the State Board of Education.

Section 641. Whenever application is made by a county or city
school board for a loan from the literary fund, the title to the real
estate, on which the building has been, or is to be erected, shall be
examined and approved by the Commonwealth’s attorney of the county,
or the city attorney of a city, or by other competent attorney for which
such attorney shall be entitled to the usual compensation for examining
a title, to be paid by the locality. The abstract shall be filed in the
clerk’s office of the county or city in which deeds are admitted to rec-
ord, and a certificate from the attorney making the abstract, showing
the school board has a fee simple unencumbered title to said lot or
parcel of ground shall accompany the application.

Section 642. The State Board of Education may, in its discretion,
make such loan, but no such loan shall exceed two-thirds of the cost
of the schoolhouse, addition thereto, and site, on account of which such
loan is made, nor shall it exceed fifty thousand dollars. No loan shall
be made to aid in the erection of a building or addition to cost less than
five hundred dollars. Whenever such loan is made for the purpose of
enlarging a schoolhouse, any part of the proceeds of such loan may, in
the discretion of the State board, be used to retire any previous loan,
or loans, on such schoolhouse, although not matured at the time of such
additional loan. No loan shall be made in any case in which the pay-
ment of the same with interest would, in the judgment of the State
Board of Education, entail too heavy a charge upon the revenues of the
county or city to which such loan is granted. Nor in the discretion of
the State Board of Education shall any loan from the literary fund be
made to any school board which is in default in the payment of any
part of the principal of any previous loan from the literary fund made
to said board or its predecessors in office, nor to any board which for
the two years next preceding said loan has been more than six months
in default in the payment of interest due on any such loan.

Section 643. All loans shall bear interest at the rate of four per
centum per annum, payable semi-annually. The principal thereof shall
be payable in annual installments from five to thirty years with right of
anticipation to be extended in the discretion of the State Board of Edu-
cation, and shall be evidenced by bonds or notes payable to the Com-
monwealth of Virginia, for the benefit of the literary fund, executed, or
signed, by the chairman of the county or city school board and attested
by the clerk thereof.

Payments of interest and principal shall be made to the State
treasurer, and evidence of debt taken for such loans shall be deposited
with the State Treasurer and kept by him.

Section 649. No one shall be eligible for appointment as division
superintendent unless he meets the minimum qualifications set up by
the State Board of Education, and in order that an applicant for the
position of division superintendent may know what qualifications are
required of him, the State Board of Education is hereby required to
publish on the first of February of the year in which such election is
to take place, a statement showing the minimum qualifications for the
position of division superintendent of schools, which statement shall
be furnished to all applicants. The superintendents at present in office
shall continue therein until their present terms expire.

Within sixty days before May first, nineteen hundred and thirty-
three and every four years thereafter there shall be appointed by the
school board or boards of each school division, one division superintend-
ent of schools who shall be selected from a list of eligibles certified by
the State Board of Education and shall hold office for four years. The
salary and conditions of appointment shall conform to section six hun-
dred and fifteen. Any vacancy in the office of division superintendent
shall be filled by the school board or boards of the division. In the
event that the local school board fails to elect a division superintendent
within the time prescribe by this section, the State Board of Educa-
tion shall appoint such division superintendent.

Where a school division is composed of a city and one or more
counties, or two or more counties, the school boards composing the
division must meet jointly and a majority vote of the members present
shall be required to elect a superintendent. ;

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 first day of July, nineteen hun-
dred and thirty, and every four years thereafter. The said members
of the trustee electoral board shall each receive a per diem of two dol-
lars 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 by 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 sep-
arate school districts and operated by a school board of three members,
one of the said members shall be designated 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 news-
paper 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, 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 board as such
by law. The members of the county school board shall be appointed
within sixty days prior to July first, nineteen hundred and twenty-eight,
and within sixty days prior to July first every four years thereafter.
They shall take office on July first following their appointment, and
shall hold office for a term of four years, and thereafter until their
successors have been appointed and have qualified. Any vacancy in
the county school board shall be filled by appointment by the trustee
electoral board. 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 trus-
tees shall qualify before the county clerk, by taking the oath prescribed
for State officers. The county school board may in its discretion pro-
vide for a per diem not exceeding five dollars per day and mileage not
to exceed five cents per mile for each mile of travel on each day of
such attendance by most direct route in going to and returning from
the place of meeting for each member for each day he is in attendance
upon meetings of the board, not to exceed thirty 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 install-
ments. ;

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 the 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 sinking
fund for a district bond issue as provided in section six hundred and
seventy-three, or for the levying of a district tax on recommendation
of the county school board to pay existing district indebtedness. All
special school districts and special town school districts except the special
school district for the town of Leesburg of Loudoun county and of
Lexington of Rockbridge county and the town of Bedford of Bedford
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 West-
moreland county, and incorporated towns having a population of not
less than one thousand inhabitants, according to the last United States
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
operated 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 the said county board.

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

To such town school district operated by a school board of three
members the county school board shall require the county treasurer to
pay into the town treasurer if and when property bonded from the
amount derived from the county levy or any appropriation for school
purposes a sum equal to the pro rata amount from such levy or appro-
priation derived from such town; and the county treasurer shall also
pay into the town treasurer a proportionate amount of all school funds
determined by the ratio of the average daily attendance for the preced-
ing school year in the town district and in the county.
The provisions of this section shall not be construed to amend or
repeal the provisions of section twenty-seven hundred and _ seventy-
three-n fifteen and twenty-seven hundred and seventy-three-n-forty-
one of the Code of Virginia.

Section 655. The school board shall meet annually on the first
Tuesday in July at which time the board shall fix the time for holding
regular meetings for the ensuing year, and may adjourn from day to
day, or time to time; not before the time fixed for the regular meeting
until the business before it is completed. It may also hold special meet-
ings when necessary, at such time and places as they may find conven-
ient, and shall have power to adjourn from time to time, as they may
deem necessary; and at any meeting a majority of the school board
shall constitute a quorum.

Special meetings of the school board shall be held when called by the
chairman or requested by two or more members thereof. Each school
board shall fix its own procedure for calling and holding of any spe-
cial meeting. Complete and accurate minutes of all meetings shall be
kept and signed by the chairman and clerk.

The business relating to school matters shall be transacted by the
school board at its meetings held as provided by law. At the first
annual meeting of the school board of any county, city or town, as
herein before provided for, it shall elect one of its members chairman
and on recommendation of the division superintendent, elect or appoint
a competent person as clerk of the school board, and shall fix his com-
pensation. The chairman and clerk shall be selected annually. The
division superintendent shall be present at all meetings of the school
board, except on affirmative vote of a majority of members of the
board, his attendance may be dispensed with at a special meeting of the
board; except when matters pertaining to the division superintendent
personally are under discussion, at which time he shall remain subject
to the call of the board. In any case in which there shall be a tie vote
of the board upon any question, or if such tie vote occur at a meeting
when all the members are not present, the proceedings thereon shall
be in conformity with the proceedings prescribed by section twenty-
seven hundred and seventeen in case of a tie vote of the board of
supervisors, and the commissioner in chancery appointed under the
provisions of section twenty-seven hundred and eighteen to cast the
deciding vote in case of a tie vote of the board of supervisors, shall be
deemed to have been also appointed for the purpose of casting the
deciding vote in case of a tie vote of the school board, and shall be
called in by the school board for that purpose.

Nothing in this section shall apply to the election of the division
superintendent of schools of any division in said county or counties,
city or town.

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
such textbooks 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 pro-
visions of this section and, by resolution or recorded vote, to approve
and issue warrants 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, coun-
tersigned by the clerk or acting clerk of the school board, and recorded
in the form and manner perscribed 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 countersign-
ing 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.

Section 657. It shall be the duty of the division superintendent of
schools, on or before the first day of April of each year, to prepare,
with the advice of the school board, an estimate of the amount of
money which will be needed during the next scholastic years, for the
support of the public schools of the county or city. These estimates
shall be prepared on forms furnished by the State Board of Education,
approved by the Director of the Budget and the Comptroller, and shall
set up the amount of money necessary for overhead charges, for in-
struction, for operation, for maintenance, for auxiliary agencies, for
miscellaneous, and for permanent capitalization and such other head-
ings or items as may be necessary. The estimate so made shall clearly
show all necessary details in order that the board of supervisors and
the taxpayers of the county or the council and taxpayers of the city,
may be well informed as to every item of the estimate. On a basis of
this estimate, the division superintendent of schools shall request the
board of supervisors of the county or council of the city to fix such
school levy as will net an amount of money necessary for the opera-
tion of the schools; or in lieu of such levy to make a cash appropriation
from the general county or city levy for operation of the schools.
Neither the supervisors of the county nor the council for the city can
decrease at any time in a school term the amount appropriated by such
supervisors of the county or such council of the city for schools for
said term, except by the same percentage of reduction as all other
appropriations are reduced, but this provision shall not apply to fixed
obligations, and the interest thereon, created by bond issues or by writ-
ten contracts calling for regular or installment payments. If the board
of supervisors or council refuse to lay such a levy or make such cash
appropriation as is recommended and requested by the division super-
intendent, then, on a petition of not less than twenty per centum of the
qualified voters of the county or city qualified to vote, requesting the
same, the circuit court of the county or corporation court of the city
or the judge thereof in vacation may, in its or his discretion, order
an election by the people of the people of the county or city to be held
during the month of June, to determine whether such levy or cash
appropriation in lieu of such levy shall or shall not be fixed, provided,
however, that in those counties and cities in which a school levy is
made the election shall be limited to the question as to whether or
not such levy shall be increased.

Section 660. It shall be the duty of the school board to see that
the school laws are properly explained, enforced and observed; to
make local regulations for the conduct of the schools and for the
proper discipline of the student, which shall include their conduct going
to and returning from school, but such local rules and regulations shall
be in harmony with the general rules of the State Board of Education
and the statutes of this State. The school board shall employ teachers
and place them in appropriate schools on recommendation of the divi-
sion superintendent, and shall dismiss teachers when delinquent, ineff-
cient, or otherwise unworthy. The division superintendent shall have
authority to assign to their respective positions all teachers and prin-
cipals employed by the board, and reassign them, provided no change
or reassignment shall affect the salary of such teachers; and provided,
further, that he shall make appropriate reports and explanations on
the request of the board. No teacher shall be employed or paid from
the public funds unless such teacher holds a certificate in full force in
accordance with the rules of certification laid down by the State Board
of Education; and, provided, further, that it shall not be lawful for
the school board of any county, city or of any town constituting a
separate school district to employ or pay any teacher or other school
board employee, from the public funds if said teacher or other em-
ployee is the father, mother, brother, sister, wife, son, daughter, son-
in-law, or daughter-in-law, sister-in-law or brother-in-law of the super-
intendent, provided, however, that this provision shall not become effec-
tive as to such persons now employed until July first, nineteen hundred
and thirty-eight. If the school board violates these provisions, the
individual members thereof shall be personally liable to refund to the
local treasury any amounts paid in violation of this law, and such funds
shall be recovered from members by action or suit in the name of the
Commonwealth at the relation of the attorney for the Commonwealth ;
such funds when recovered, to be paid into the local treasury for the
use of the public schools.

Section 667. Any five interested heads of families, residents of the
county, or city, who may feel themselves aggrieved by the action of
the county or city school board, may, within thirty days after such
action, state their complaint, in writing, to the division superintendent
of schools who, if he cannot within ten days after the receipt of the
said complaint, satisfactorily adjust the same, shall, within five days
thereafter, at the request of any party in interest, grant an appeal to
the circuit court of the county or corporation court of the city or the
judge thereof in vacation who shall decide finally all questions at issue
but the action of the school board on questions of discretion shall be
final unless the board has exceeded its authority or has acted corruptly.
The proceedings on such an appeal shall be informal, and no pleading
shall be required, other than the complaint hereinabove provided for.
A copy of the order shall also be entered by the clerk of the board
in the minute book of the county or city board.

When a school is owned or operated jointly by two or more coun-
ties, all questions arising with reference to said school, shall be voted
on by the county school boards of said counties jointly, and the ma-
jority vote of the combined boards shall be final, unless appealed from
as provided in this section. In the event of an appeal from the joint
action of such boards, the complaint shall be made to the division super-
intendent of both counties affected, and, if they cannot adjust the same
as provided in this section, an appeal shall be allowed to the circuit
court of the county or the corporation court of the city or the judge
thereof in vacation. ;

Section 669. If, in the judgment of the board, the public interest
demands that a schoolhouse be located on a particular spot, or when a
schoolhouse is already located upon land purchased or acquired for
such purposes and more land is needed for school purposes, and no
equitable arrangement proves to be practicable, the board shall be
authorized and it shall be its duty to cause the desired parcel of land
to be surveyed by the county surveyor, city engineer, or other compe-
tent surveyor and a plat of the same be filed, together with a general
statement of the case, with the clerk of the circuit court for the county
or corporation court for the city, and thereupon, on application of the
board, the same proceedings shall be had as are prescribed by the laws
relating to the exercise of the right of eminent domain, but no parcel
of land thus condemned shall exceed five acres for any one school.

Section 673. Whenever it shall be necessary for a county to erect
a schoolhouse, it shall be lawful for the school board of such county to
contract a loan for said purpose, on the credit of the county, in the
manner other loans are authorized to be contracted by sections twenty-
seven hundred and thirty-eight, twenty-seven hundred and thirty-nine,
twenty-seven hundred and forty and twenty-seven hundred and forty-
one of the Code of Virginia; provided, that when such schoolhouse
is erected at the expense of the school district or of two or more school
districts, the election provided for by the Code section referred to in
this section shall be held only in the district or districts against which
such buildings will be a charge; and, provided, further, that in such
case the tax sufficient to pay the interest on said bonds, and the sinking
fund to redeem the same, shall be levied in such school district or dis-
tricts only. In all other respects the procedure shall be as required by
said Code sections.

Section 674. All elections heretofore held in any county and/or
school district of the State to provide for the issuance of bonds, for
the purpose of building, rebuilding or otherwise permanently improv-
ing the school buildings of said county or district, or for original equip-
ment therefor, be, and the same are hereby validated, ratified, approved
and confirmed, notwithstanding any defect or irregularity in the calling
or holding of such elections, or in the petitions presented to the circuit
court for the holding of such elections, or said proceedings, or in the
order of the court ordering or confirming same, be, and the same are
hereby validated, approved and confirmed, and said bonds are hereby
declared to be the valid and binding obligations of the county or school
district authorizing the issuance of such bonds.

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 superintendent
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 pro-
visions of this section shall not apply to children physically or mentally
incapacitated for school work, nor to those children suffering from con-
tagious 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 Educa-
tion, and who is actually, regularly and lawfully employed; nor to
children who live more than one and one-half (114) miles by the nearest
traveled road or other usable route from a public school, unless public
transportation is provided within one mile of the place where such chil-
dren live. Physical incapacity or disease shall be established by the certi-
ficate 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
seven and fifteen 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 pupils,
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 seven and
fifteen years of age, shall cause such child to attend school or receive
instructions 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 meeting
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 requirement of
this section as to age.

Section 684. Within fifteen days after the opening of the school,
each principal teacher shall report to the division superintendent the
names of the pupils enrolled in the school, giving age, grade and the
name and address of parent or guardian.

Within fifteen days of the opening of the school, each principal
teacher shall submit another list giving to the best of the principal
teacher’s information the names of all children within the limits of the
compulsory education requirements with regard to age and distance,
pursuant to the provisions of section six hundred and eighty-three of
the Code.

The division superintendent shall check these lists with the last
school census and with reports from the Bureau of Vital Statistics.
From these reports and from any other reliable source the superintend-
ent shall within fifteen days make a list of the names of children who
are not enrolled in any school, and who are not exempt from school
attendance. It shall be the duty of the division superintendent, or the
attendance officer, if one be employed, to investigate all cases of non-
enrollment and, when no valid reason is found therefor, to notify the
parent, guardian or other person having control of the child, to require
the attendance of such child at the school within five days from the
date of such notice. A list of persons so notified shall be sent by the
superintendent of schools, or the attendance officer, if there is one, to
the principal teacher of the school. If the parent, guardian or other
person having control of the child or children fails, within the specified
time, to comply with the law, it shall be the duty of the division super-
intendent or the chief attendance officer, if there be one, to make com-
plaint in the name of the Commonwealth before the juvenile and domes-
tic relations court of his city or county, if there be one. If there be no
such juvenile and domestic relations court in his city or county, then
the prosecution shall be instituted against such person in the circuit or
corporation court of the county or city in which the offense occurred,
and, in addition thereto, such child or children may be proceeded
against as a neglected child or children in the manner provided by chap-
ter seventy-eight of the Code, as amended.

Any person who induces, or attempts to induce, any blind or par-
tially blind child or a deaf child to absent himself or herself unlaw-
fully from school or employs or harbors any such child absent unlaw-
fully from school, while said school is in session, shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction thereof before a
juvenile and domestic relations court, be fined a sum not exceeding
ten dollars for each offence.

The principal teacher of every public school in the counties and
towns and the truant officers of the cities shall, within sixty days from
the beginning of the school year, furnish the division superintendent
and the county or city school board with the names of all children who
are blind or partially blind or deaf between the ages of seven and
fifteen years, inclusive, living within the boundaries of his or her
school district, who do not attend school. It shall be the duty of the
school board to certify forthwith the names of all such blind or par-
tially blind children to the Virginia Commission for the Blind and all
deaf children to the respective superintendents of the State schools for
the deaf.

For the practical interpretation of this section a definition of a
blind or partially blind child is as follows: A blind child is a child
who does not have useful vision or who cannot see large objects at
close range. A partially blind child is a child who has twenty/seventy
vision, or less in best eye, or one who has some progressive eye trouble
which in the opinion of a competent ophthalmologist makes it necessary
for the child to attend a special school or a special class in the public
schools.

Section 688. In the elementary grades of every public school the
following subjects shall be taught; spelling, reading, writing, arith-
metic, grammar, geography, physiology, and hygiene, drawing, civil
government, history of the United States and history of Virginia.

In preparing the course of study in civics and history in both the
elementary and high school grades, the State Board of Education shall
give careful directions for and shall require, the teaching of the Declara-
tion of American Independence, the Virginia statute of religious free-
dom, the Virginia bill of rights and section fifty-eight of the Constitu-
tion of Virginia, which subjects shall be carefully read and studied,
thoroughly explained and taught by teachers to all pupils in accord-
ance with the State course of study, which course of study shall re-
quire written examinations as to each of the last four mentioned great
documents of Virginia’s history at the end of the term in which the
course is given. An outline shall likewise be given of the Constitution
of the United States and the general principles of the Constitution shall
be carefully explained.

In connection with some one or more other courses in the elemen-
tary grades of every public school, and in connection with some one
or more other courses in the high-school grades of every public school,
elementary training in accident prevention, in proper conduct on streets
and highways, and in the operation of motor vehicles as required by
traffic laws of this State, and the reasons underlying such laws shall
be given and required of every pupil before completing the required
course of study in any such school. Instruction should also be given in
ways and means of preventing loss of lives and damage to property
through preventable fires.

In physiology and hygiene the textbook and course of study shall
treat the evil effects of alcohol and other narcotics on the human sys-
tem.

Physical and health education shall be emphasized throughout the
course by proper lessons, drills and physical exercises set up by the
State Board of Education.

The entire scheme of training shall emphasize moral education
through lessons given by teachers and imparted by appropriate reading
selections.

Section 695. At a time to be designated by the superintendent of
public instruction, prior to July first, nineteen hundred and thirty, and
every five years thereafter, a census of all persons between the ages
of seven and twenty years, residing within each county and city, shall
be taken on forms furnished by the superintendent of public instruc-
tion. Persons of school age domiciled in orphanages or eleemosynary
institutions and attending the public schools of the county or city in
which such institution is located, shall be included in the census for
the county or city where the institution is located. Persons of school
age confined in insane asylums, State industrial schools, or prisons
and/or employed on United States Government reservations and naval
bases, shall be included in the census for the county or city that is the
legal residence of the parents or guardians of such child or children.
Said census shall be taken by agents appointed by the county school
boards in counties and the school boards in cities, on the recommenda-
tion of the division superintendent, and each agent shall receive as
compensation for his services, to be paid out of the county or city
school funds, an amount to be fixed by the board appointing him, not
to exceed six dollars per hundred of the children listed by him, sub-
ject to abatement, on the discovery before, or after the settlement of
the account, of errors or omissions in the list; provided that in the
discretion of the local board a reasonable travel allowance may be
allowed such agents. The agents mentioned in this section shall also,
at the time of taking the census aforesaid, gather statistics relating to
the interests of education in their respective districts, according to
forms furnished by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The list
required by this section shall be submitted for careful revision to the
county school board or the city school board as soon as may be after
their completion, and shall, at all times be open to the inspection of
any citizen. When so revised, they shall be submitted with any other
information required or deemed necessary, to the division superintend-
ent, who shall forthwith transmit same to the State Board of Educa-
tion. The State Board of Education is authorized to require a special
census at any time it deems such census necessary for the equitable
distribution of State school funds.

Section 698. Each county and each city is authorized to raise
sums by a tax on all property, subject to local taxation, of not less
than fifty cents nor more than one dollar on the one hundred dollars
of the assessed value of the property in any one year to be expended
by the local school authorities in such counties and cities in establish-
ing, maintaining and operating such schools as in their judgment the
public welfare may require. In lieu of making such school levy, the
board of supervisors in the counties and the councils in the cities may,
in their discretion, make a cash appropriation from the general county
or general city levy of an amount not less than the sum required by the
county or city school budget provided by section six hundred and
fifty-seven, approved by the board of supervisors of the county or
council of the city in no event to be less than the amount which would
result from the laying of the minimum school levy authorized by this
section for the establishment, maintenance and operation of the schools
of such county or city without the express permission of the State
Board of Education. In addition to this, the board of supervisors of
any county, or the council of any city, may appropriate from any funds
available such sums as in the judgment of such board of supervisors
of such county or council of such city may be necessary or expedient
for the establishment, maintenance, and operation of the public schools
in such county or city. For capital expenditures and for the payment
of indebtedness, the board of supervisors of counties and the council
of cities, may levy a special county tax, and for existing district indebt-
edness created prior to September first, nineteen hundred and thirty-
six a special district tax and a special city tax, not exceeding twenty-
five cents each on the one hundred dollars taxable values; to be spent
in the county, district, or city where raised; except in North River
district of Augusta county where it shall not exceed thirty-five cents,
and except in Rich Valley and Marion magisterial districts in Smyth
county, and in Gainesville, Brentsville, Manassas, Coles, Occoquan and
Dumfries magisterial districts in Prince William county, where it shall
not exceed fifty cents, on the one hundred dollars of the assessed value
of the property in the magisterial district in any one year, to be ex-
pended for the purpose for which the tax is laid, but no other district
tax for schools for any purpose other than herein expressly authorized
shall be laid.

Provided in the counties of Southampton, Russell, Page and War-
ren the boards of supervisors may levy such district school taxes in the
several districts of the counties for capital outlay expenditures within
the counties and for payment of past district school indebtedness as
may be necessary.

Provided, further, that in Bland county the board may, in addition
to the twenty-five cents above provided for, levy an additional tax not
to exceed fifty-five cents on the one hundred dollars, in Seddon magis-
terial district for the enlargement and improvement of the high school
building at Bland courthouse, in said district, which additional levy may
be made for the year nineteen hundred and thirty-six and for so many
years thereafter as the board may deem necessary. Councils in the
incorporated towns in any county in the State are authorized to levy an
additional tax of not more than one dollar on the one hundred dollars
taxable values of property in said town subject to taxation by the local
town authorities, for the support and maintenance of the public schools
in said town or, in lieu of said levy, the council may make a cash appro-
priation out of the general town levy; provided, however, that in the
counties of Alleghany, Buchanan, Elizabeth City, Nottoway, Princess
Anne, Prince Edward, Giles, Fluvanna and Botetourt, such county
school tax shall not be less than fifty cents nor more than one dollar
and fifty cents; in the counties of Amherst, Lee, Southampton, Craig,
Isle of Wight, such tax shall not be less than fifty cents nor more
than one dollar and seventy-five cents; in the counties of Floyd and
Scott such tax shall not be less than fifty cents nor more than two dol-
lars, and in the counties of Westmoreland and Dickenson such tax
shall not be less than fifty cents nor more than two dollars and twenty-
five cents on the one hundred dollars of the assessed value of property
in such counties, subject to local taxation; and provided, further, that
nothing herein contained shall otherwise repeal any part of any special
act applicable solely to Dickenson county, or any special act or acts pre-
viously passed and now in force relating to other counties, and provided,
further, that in the county of Wise and in the county of Arlington,
the board of supervisors may levy such county and district school taxes
as they may deem necessary and expedient, notwithstanding the gen-
eral limitations placed on such levies by this section. And, in the
county of Hanover, the board of supervisors, by a resolution approved
by a majority of all the members thereof by a recorded yea and nay
vote, may lay a district school levy for the purposes aforementioned,
in any district or districts of said county, in excess of twenty-five
cents on the one hundred dollars of the assessed value of the property
in such district, subject to such levy, provided, however, that the total
of all school levies, county and district, for the purposes hereinbefore
set forth shall not, in any district, exceed one dollar and twenty-five
cents on the one hundred dollars of the assessed value of the property
in such district subject to such levies.

Section 700. All funds for school purposes in the counties, both
State and local, shall be handled by the county treasurer and paid out
in the same manner as other county funds are paid out by him under
the provisions of section three hundred and fifty of the Tax Code of
Virginia.

Section 707. The county and city treasurers shall settle with the
county and city school boards for the school funds as of June thirtieth
of each year not later than August fifteenth of each year.

Section 708. It shall be unlawful for any member of the State
Board of Education, division superintendent of schools, member of the
school board or any other school officer, principal or teacher in a public
school, except by permission of the State Board of Education evidenced
by resolution spread on the minutes of said board, to have any pecu-
niary interest, directly or indirectly, in any contract for building a
public school house, or in furnishing material to a contractor for
building such schoolhouse, or in supplying books, maps, school furni-
ture or apparatus, or to sell or write or solicit insurance on any school
building; to the public schools of this State, or act as agent for any
other publisher, book seller, or dealer in any such school furniture or
apparatus, or directly or indirectly to receive any gift, emolument,
reward, or promise of reward, for his influence in recommendating,
or procuring, the use of any book, map, school furniture, or apparatus
of any kind in any public school of this State, nor shall the board or
the division superintendent employ any of its members in any capacity.
Any such officer, principal or teacher who shall violate this provision,
besides being removed from his office or post, shall be deemed guilty
of a misdemeanor. It shall also be unlawful for any firm or corpora-
tion, in which any member of the board or other officer, principal or
teacher, mentioned in this section, is interested, or for any agent of
such officers or persons, except by permission of the State Board of
Education evidenced by resolution spread on the minutes of said
board, to be interested or concerned in any contract or matter men-
tioned in this section. Any contract of sale made in violation of this
section shall be void, and if the claim or bill arising out of such a
transaction be paid, the amount paid, with interest, shall be recovered
by action or suit instituted by the Commonwealth’s attorney of the
county, in the circuit court of said county, or by the Commonwealth’s
attorney of the city in the corporation court of said city. But the
prohibitions of this section shall not apply to a merchant who, in the
regular course of trade and without employing agents to solicit such
business, sell either books selected and adopted by the State Board of
Education, or supplies used in the schools and by the pupils, nor shall
they apply to the writing of standard or mutual insurance policies at
the regular rate on any school building, or other school property; pro-
vided, such mutual insurance carries no assessment liability.

Section 716. The school board or the division superintendent,
subject to the approval of the board, may provide for, or permit, the
use of school building and grounds out of school hours during the
school term, or in vacation, for any legal assembly, or may permit the
same to be used as voting places in any primary, regular or special
election. The board shall adopt rules and regulations necessary to pro-
tect school property when used for such purposes.

Section 741. On and after the first day of July, nineteen hundred
and thirty-six, no person shall drive any school bus upon a highway in
this State unless such person has had a reasonable amount of experience
lta I | Saws ANSON EE AR VE OS et ico pinata

in driving motor vehicles, and shall have satisfactorily passed a rigid
examination pertaining to the ability of such person to operate a school
bus with safety to the school children thereon and to other persons
using the said highways. The division of motor vehicles of this State
shall adopt such rules and regulations as may be necessary and proper
to provide for the examination of persons desiring to drive such buses
in this State, and for the granting of permits to qualified applicants.

2. Be it further enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That
section six hundred and ninety-eight-a of the Code of Virginia be, and
the same is hereby, repealed.