Chap. 29.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 708 of the Code of Virginia,
as heretofore amended, relating to the public schools and officers and teachers
thereof. , : [H B 50]

Approved February 26, 1938

- |. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tion seven hundred and eight of the Code of Virginia, as heretofore
amended, be: amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

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 pecuni-
ary 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 furniture or apparatus
to the public schools of this State, or to sell or write or solicit insurance
on any school building; 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 recommending, 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 super-
intendent employ any of its members in any capacity. Any such ofh-
cer, principal or teacher who shall violate this provision, besides being
removed from his office or post, shall be deemed guilty of a misde-
meanor. It shall also be unlawful for any firm or corporation, in which
any member of the board or other officer, principal or teacher, men-
tioned in this section, is interested, or for any agent of such officers
or persons, except by permission of the State Board of Education evi-
denced by resolution spread on the minutes of said board, to be inter-
ested or concerned in any contract or matter mentioned 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 instt-
tuted 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 sec-
tion 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.