SECTIONAL BOARDS OF DIRECTORS.

In addition to the board of education for the whole city, there is in each ward or school section a board of school directors of 13 members, 12 of whom are elected by the people for a term of three years, onethird being elected each year. The thirteenth member is the member of the board of education representing that ward, who is ex officio a member of the sectional board and is entitled to all the privileges of such membership. School directors must reside in the ward for which they are elected, and removal therefrom vacates the office. Vacancies are filled by the remaining members till the next municipal election. Any board may declare vacant the seat of any of its members who neglects or refuses to perform the duties of membership.

The sectional boards have the power to erect and establish as many schools in their respective sections as may be determined upon by the board of education; must appoint principals and teachers, provide all things necessary for conducting the schools, and superintend and direct the said schools. The several boards must meet at least once a month, must keep minutes of their proceedings, and must divide themselves into as many committees as there are schools in the ward, so that each committee shall have the management of one school only. The committees also keep minutes, and report to the directors whenever required by the directors. The directors must report to the board of education every six months. The sectional boards elect their own presidents and secretaries, the latter being paid $100 each per year.

The board of education may assign to the several sectional boards such proportion of the whole appropriation as is represented by the amounts asked for as "general items" to be expended by them, subject to the approval of the bills by the board of education.

No section may contract any bill exceeding $100.

The sectional directors serve without compensation, but are exempt from militia, jury, and similar duties. Service on these boards does not prevent one from holding any other office at the same time.

The board of education must establish a system of examination of all persons desiring to become teachers, and no person may be appointed as teacher who does not hold a certificate of qualification issued by the board of education. The exclusive right to appoint teachers in the ward schools belongs to the sectional boards. The normal, high, and manual training schools are wholly within the control of the board of education.

The sectional boards must certify to the board of education from time to time the ames and grades of all qualified persons employed as teachers, and the list must be certified by the board of education to the city controller.

BROOKLYN, N. Y.1

The board of education consists of 45 members, who serve without compensation and whose term of office is three years, 15 being appointed by the mayor of the city each year. Vacancies caused by death, resignation, or otherwise are also filled by the mayor.

The board elect a secretary, a superintendent of public instruction, and one or two assistant superintendents for a term of three years each. The treasurer of the city is ex officio treasurer of the board, and receives to the credit of the board all school moneys received from the State appropriation, the county board of supervisors, and from the city tax collector. The money so received and credited is disbursed only upon the order of the board of education.

The board have entire charge of all the public schools of the city and of the school moneys raised for the support of the same. They determine the number and location of the schools, but no expenditures for the purchase of ground or the erection of schoolhouses may be made. without the approval of the city council. The title of all property acquired for school purposes is vested in the board of education. The board, with the mayor of the city, may sell any real property which may be declared by resolution to be not needed for school purposes.

The board of education have power to acquire by condemnation land needed for school purposes when the owners of such land do not consent to sell the same or when the price can not be agreed upon.

The funds for building purposes and for the support of the schools are kept separate, and transfers of moneys from one fund to the other are not lawful.

The board of education must make returns annually to the common council of its receipts and expenditures, specifying those on account of the general and special funds, respectively, with such other details as the common council may require. The amount to be raised by taxation is determined by the common council and is levied and collected in the same manner and at the same time as the taxes for other city purposes. The collector pays the determined amount to the city treasurer, to the credit of the board of education, out of the first moneys collected.

The whole city is a school district for all purposes of taxation, for the purchase of school sites, the building and repair of schoolhouses, and for the support of schools, but may be divided by the board of education into as many districts as there are schools, for the purpose of determining the limits within which children may attend such schools.

The board have power to establish and maintain schools for colored children, evening schools, normal schools, kindergartens, and manual

1 Compiled from the special and general school laws relating to the city of Brooklyn, in the Report of the City Superintendent of Public Instruction for 1895, pages 205 et seq.

training schools or shops, and to employ a physician to vaccinate school children; they have full control of the public school teachers' retirement fund; they must provide free instruction in industrial or free-hand drawing in at least one department of the schools; they prescribe what text-books shall be used in all schools, but a text-book once adopted may not be superseded within five years; they must provide United States flags for every school building and must cause them to be displayed during school hours.

The control of the Truant Home of the city is vested in the board of education, and they are also charged with the enforcement of the compulsory-attendance law.

The orphan asylum societies of the city participate in the distribution of school moneys, and the board of education exercises a general supervision over the schools of said societies.

ST. LOUIS, Mo.'

All free white persons residing in the limits of the city of St. Louis are constituted a body politic and corporate, under the name of "The Board of President and Directors of the St. Louis Public Schools,” and by that name may sue and be sued; purchase, receive, and hold property, real and personal; may sell or lease the same, and may have a common seal.

The powers of the corporation are vested in a president and directors, who must be free white males, at least 21 years of age, and residents and taxpayers in the city for the two years preceding their election. No person holding any other position under the city of St. Louis, elective or appointive, and no person interested in any lease from the board, may be a member of the board of school directors.

The number of members of the board of directors is 21, 7 of whom are elected on general ticket at large by the qualified voters of the city, and 14 are elected by districts by the qualified voters of those districts, and must be residents of the districts which they severally represent.

The 14 districts are defined by the city circuit court, and must be composed of contiguous wards and of as nearly equal population as practicable.

The term of office is four years, and the election biennial. Four of the members at large are elected at one clection and three at the next, and seven of the district representatives on the board are elected at each biennial election.

If a vacancy occurs among the district representatives by reason of death, resignation, expulsion, or removal from the city, the vacancy is filled for the unexpired term by an election by the voters of that district, to be held in such manner as may be provided by the board; but

1 Compiled from city charter of 1876, Revised Statutes of Missouri, 189, pages 2170 et seq., the acts of May 13, 1887, and of March 20, 1893.

if the vacancy is among the members at large, it is filled by an election held by the school board itself till the next general school election, when the remainder of the unexpired term, if there be any, is filled by election in the city at large. Whenever any election for school directors has failed to be held by reason of the neglect of the board of directors, the circuit court must, upon petition of five citizens, order the said election, appoint judges of election, and issue certificates of election to the persons elected.

The board of directors must elect one of their number to be president, and must appoint a secretary, a treasurer, and such other officers as they deem necessary, and prescribe their duties and compensation. No director may receive any compensation for his services.

There must be four stated meetings of the board every year, the times and places to be prescribed by the board, and the president or any three members may call special meetings. A majority of all the members elected constitute a quorum. Members of the board, the secretary, and the treasurer must, before entering upon the discharge of their duties, take an oath to well and faithfully perform the same. There must be levied and collected annually on all taxable real and personal property of the city a tax of not more than one half of 1 per cent, which tax must be paid to the corporation and used and applied by the corporation to the purposes of its creation.

The officers of the city of St. Louis charged with duties in connection with the assessment and collection of taxes perform the same duties in regard to taxes levied by the board of president and directors of St. Louis public schools. The collector of the city must collect all taxes levied by the board, must give bond to them for the faithful performance of said duty, and must account for and pay over to the board all school taxes collected by him. His compensation for his duties in this connection is at the same rate as for similar service in behalf of the general city taxes. If he fail to make the bond required the board must proceed to elect his successor in the same manner as if he had resigned. The board determines the rate of taxation for each year by resolution, a copy of which, duly certified, is delivered to the collector and to the register of the city on or before August 1 each year.

The title to all school lands and public school property in the city is vested in the board of president and directors. It is their duty to control and manage all lands granted by the Congress of the United States to the inhabitants of St. Louis for school purposes, or the funds arising from the same. They may lend money arising from the sale or lease of such lands upon good security, either real or personal, until it becomes proper, in their opinion, to invest such money otherwise for the purpose of education. No director may borrow money or purchase or lease land from the board.

The board of president and directors have power to judge of the qualifications and elections of members; to prescribe the time, place,

and manner of conducting such elections; to compel the attendance of absent members; to punish disorderly conduct at the board; to expel a member by a two-thirds vote; to make rules for their own government; to have charge and control of the public schools and all property appropriated to the public schools of the city; to make rules, ordinances, and statutes for the management of such schools and property, and to do all lawful acts which may be proper and convenient to carry into effect the objects of the corporation.

They must cause a record to be kept of their proceedings, and must lay the same before the general assembly of the State whenever required, and before a general meeting of the inhabitants of the city whenever 100 qualified electors make written application for the same. At least once a year they must cause to be published a detailed report of the operations and condition of the schools.

The board of president and directors must make suitable provision for the education of colored children, and may maintain a high school and a normal department for them.

No director may be interested in any contract with the board, under penalty of dismissal.

BOSTON, MASS.'

The school committee is composed of 24 members, 8 of whom are elected each year by the qualified voters of the city to serve three years. It is the duty of the clerks of the several wards to make returns to the city clerk of the votes cast for members of the school committee, and after the entry by the city clerk of said returns in an official book kept for the purpose it is the duty of the board of aldermen to examine and compare them and to cause certificates of election to be issued to such members of the school committee as appear to have been chosen; but the school committee is the final judge of the qualifications and elections of its own members.

The school committee must meet and organize on the second Monday in January in each year. A majority of all the members chosen constitute a quorum. They must choose a secretary, not of their number, an auditing clerk, and such other subordinate officers as may be expedient, define their duties, fix their compensation, and may remove them at pleasure. Vacancies in the school committee caused by refusal of a member elect to accept, by resignation, change of residence, or otherwise, are filled by the board of aldermen and the remaining members of the school committee in convention assembled. A majority of the ballots of persons entitled to vote are necessary to election. The term of office of a member so elected is only for the remainder of the municipal year, and the remainder of the unexpired term, if such there be, is then filled by election of the people.

1

1 Compiled from the special acts relating to the Boston school committee, in Boston School Document No. 1, 1895, from The Public Statutes of Massachusetts relating to Public Instruction, 1892, and from Massachusetts School Legislation, 1893, 1894, 1895.