Chap. 91.—An ACT to amend the Code of Virginia by adding to Chapter 33
thereof a new section numbered 698, providing for the levying of taxes and
appropriating money in counties, cities and towns for public school purposes,
and to repeal Section 698-a of the Code of Virginia, relating to the same mat-
ters. [S B 140]

Approved February 29, 1936

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That the
Code of Virginia be amended by adding to chapter thirty-three thereof
a new section numbered six hundred and ninety-eight, which new sec-
tion shall read as follows

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 as-
sessed value of the property in any one year to be expended by the
local school authorities in such counties and cities in establishing, main-
taining and operating such schools as in their judgment the public wel-
fare 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 county or 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 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 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 existing district in-
debtedness, the board may levy a district tax in the magisterial district
in which the money is to be spent, or the debts exist, not exceeding
twenty-five cents, except in Rich Valley and Marion magisterial dis-
tricts in Smyth 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 expended 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; and 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 magisterial district for the enlargement and improve-
ment of the high school building at Bland courthouse, in said district.

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 mainte-
nance of the public schools in said town or, in lieu of said levy, the
council may make a cash appropriation out of the general town levy;
provided, however, that in the counties of Alleghany, Buchanan, Eliza-
beth City, Nottoway, Princess Anne, Prince Edward, Giles and Bote-
tourt, 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, Rus-
sell, 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 dollars, and in the counties of Warwick and Dicken-
son 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 previously 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 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 general limitations placed on such levies
by this section. And, in the county of Hanover, the board of super-
visors, 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 districts of said county, in ex-
cess 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.

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.

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