Chap. 32.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 653-a 1 of the Code of Virginia,
relating to school trustee electoral boards, county school boards, and compen-
sation of members. [H 46]

Approved February 19, 1944

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That section six hundred fifty-three-a one of the Code of Virginia
be amended and re-enacted, as follows:

Section 653-a 1. 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 ap-
pointed by the circuit court of each county, or the judge in vacation, with-
in thirty days after the first day of July, nineteen hundred thirty, and
every four years thereafter. The members of the trustee electoral board
shall each receive a per diem of two dollars for each day actually em-
ployed, to be paid out of the county school fund. Any vacancy occurring
within the term of the appointees shall be filled by the circuit court, or
by the judge 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 that
in towns constituting separate school districts and operated by a school
board of three members, one of the members shall be designated annually
by the town board as a member of the county school board. The mem-
bers 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
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, 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 re-
sponsibilities 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 forty-four, such appointments shall be for
terms as follows: if there be three members, one shall be appointed for a
term of two years, one for a term of three years, and one for a term of
four years; if there be four members, one shall be appointed for a term
of one year, one for a term of two years, one for a term of three years,
and one for a term of four years; if there be more than four members, one
shall be appointed for a term of one year, one for a term of two years, one
for a term of three years, and one for a term of four years, and the re-
maining members shall be appointed for the longest terms possible, not
exceeding four years, which will result in having the terms of the least
possible number of members expire in any one year. Within sixty days
prior to the first day of July in each and every year thereafter, the school
trustee electoral board of each county, shall appoint for terms of four
years beginning the first day of July next following their appointment,
successors to the members of the county school boards of their respective
counties, whose terms of office expire on the thirtieth day of June in each
such year. Vacancies occurring in the membership of the county school
board of any county shall be filled for the unexpired term, by the school
trustee electoral board of such county. 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 trustees shall qualify before the county clerk, by taking the
oath prescribed for State officers. The county school board may in its
discretion pay each of its members an annual salary not exceeding one
hundred eighty dollars, payable in equal monthly installments, and mile-
age to each member for each day he is in attendance upon meetings of
the board, not to exceed five cents per mile for each mile of travel by
the most direct route in going to and returning from the place of meeting.
Such salary and mileage shall be paid as other school expenses are paid.

Provided that in counties adjacent to cities having, according to the
last preceding United States census, a population of one hundred thou-
sand 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, and in each county having a population in excess
of forty thousand and having eight or more magisterial districts, the
county school board may pay each of its members a maximum annual
salary of three hundred dollars in equal monthly installments; and pro-
vided further, that in cities having a population of not less than eighteen
thousand nor more than twenty-three thousand, and in cities having a
population of not less than thirty thousand nor more than thirty-five thou-
sand, in each case according to the United States census latest preceding,
the school board may provide and pay a per diem not exceeding ten dol-
lars to each member for each day he is in attendance upon meetings of
the board, not to exceed twenty-four days in any one year.