Chap. 225.——-An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 672 of the Code of Vir-
ginia, as heretofore amended, in relation to high schools; establishment and
maintenance; standards; appropriations; tuition; fees; teaching of high
school subjects, so as to prohibit the charging, levying and collection of
certain fees and charges in primary, grade and high schools. [S B 76]

Approved March 26, 1938

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tion six hundred and seventy-two of the Code of Virginia, as here-
tofore amended, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 672. It shall be lawful for any county school board, or
any county school boards of two or more adjoining counties, to estab-
lish and maintain a public high school at such place as may be both
most convenient for the pupils to attend, the most conducive for the
purposes of such school, provided the establishment of such high school
or the teaching of such high school branches shall not be allowed to
interfere with the regular and efficient instruction in the elementary
branches. A high school may be conducted either in a separate build-
ing or in the same building in which elementary grades are taught.
The State Board of Education shall prescribe rules and regulations gov-
erning the conduct of high schools, and shall also prescribe require-
ments for admission, and the conditions on which properly prepared
pupils may attend such schools. Any county not actually conducting
a high school, but paying tuition for its high school pupils in high
schools in other counties or cities out of the public funds, shall be
permitted to share in the State high school fund. The State Board
of Education shall provide for the inspection of high schools by a
competent person, or persons, and shall see to it that the high schools
conform to the standards prescribed by such board. The State Board
of Education, under proper regulations, shall encourage the establish-
ment and maintenance of high schools in the counties and cities of the
State by the use of such State appropriation as may be made for high
school purposes provided the elementary grades of the county or city
schools have been maintained for an average term of at least one
hundred and sixty school days or a term satisfactory to said board
of education, based upon good and sufficient reasons.

No money shall be paid to any locality from State funds for the
maintenance of high schools, however unless the county school board
or the city school board shall appropriate from local funds for the
maintenance of such high schools an amount equal at least to fifty per
centum of the amount allowed from the State appropriation. No
teacher shall be employed in high school instruction whose qualifi-
cations do not meet the standards set up by the State Board of Edu-
cation. The State board shall appropriate, out of the high school fund,
to the standard four-year high school, an amount not to exceed one
thousand dollars and to the two-year high school, organized according
to plans prepared by the State Board of Education for junior high
school an amount not to exceed eight hundred dollars, unless other
provision is made therefor by the general appropriation or budget bill.
The State board shall have power to make such rules and regulations
as may be necessary for the proper distribution of the funds appro-
priated for high schools, which shall be paid out in the same manner
other funds are paid out of the State treasury.

No tuition shall be charged for pupils attending high school; pro-
vided that county and city school boards may charge, under regulations
prescribed by the State Board of Education, tuition for pupils trom
one county, or city, attending high school in some other county, or
city, and that the school boards of the cities of Newport News, Hamp-
ton, and Portsmouth, Norfolk and Buena Vista, and the town of
Lexington, may charge under regulations prescribed by the State Board
of Education, tuition for pupils attending high schools therein, and
that the school board of a town constituting a separate school dis-
trict and operated by a school board may charge, under regulations
prescribed by the State Board of Education, tuition for pupils from
any district of the county or from another county attending high school
in said town, provided such charge shall, in no case, exceed the actual
per capita cost for instruction and maintenance in the high school
department. Except in the special town school districts preserved under
the provisions of section six hundred and fifty-three, no laboratory
or other special fees, or charges of any kind, for school supplies or
materials, other than library fees and examination paper, pens, pencils
and ink, shall be levied or collected from resident pupils entitled to
attend either primary, grade or high school of the public school sys-
tem, by any city, county or town school board, city or town council
or board of supervisors, or the State Board of Education or any per-
son employed in such school, nor shall any such fees be charged for
entrance, admission or attendance upon the class of any subject taught
in such schools; provided, however, nothing herein shall be construed
to prevent the collection of class dues or assessments charged for
voluntary student activities, tuition and fees incident to attendance on
night schools, post-graduate classes, classes in vocational or manual
training, summer schools, or to any city or county having a system of
the rental of school books to pupils of such schools, or, any class or
course outside of, or additional to, the regular course of study required
for a high school certificate, but no pupil’s scholastic report card or
diploma shall be withheld because of non-payment of any such volun-
tary dues or assessments, or any fee or charge herein permitted; and,
provided further, however, that these provisions as to special fees and
charges shall not apply to any city or county furnishing free text-books
to other than indigent pupils; provided, however, nothing in this sec-
tion shall be construed to prohibit the school board of any county,
city or town from renting books, supplies and materials to the pupils
of any school within the jurisdiction of said board, and provided,
further, that nothing herein shall be construed to prevent school boards
from purchasing text-books; bookkeeping, art, manual training, and
other consumable supplies at wholesale rates and selling such books
and supplies to pupils at cost; and provided further that each pupil
shall be required to re-imburse the school for any actual breakage or
destruction of property done by such pupil in pursuit of his studies;
and provided further, that a deposit of such sum of money as may be
reasonably necessary for such purpose may be required of any pupil
using laboratory or library material, equipment or supplies, which de-
posit, after deducting therefrom any loss of or damage to such material,
equipment or supplies, caused by such pupil or pupils, shall be re-
turned to the pupils at the completion of the year or term as the case
may be.

With the consent and approval of the State Board of Education
and the division superintendent, in the discretion of the county school
board, high school subjects may be taught in schools having three or
more rooms, when such schools are not less than two miles distant
from a high school operated in said county.