Quorum. thereafter, and the ballots and returns shall be designated as follows: "To fill unexpired term." SEC. 14. That a majority of all the members of each board of education shall constitute a quorum, but a less number in attendance at any regular meeting shall have, and a quorum at any special meeting may have, power to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each board shall see fit to prescribe, Absence from and the absence of any member from four consecutive regular meetings of the board, unless on account of sickness or by consent of the board, shall vacate his position on the board, which facts shall be passed upon by the board of education and spread upon their records. meetings. Expenditures. SEC. 15. That all accounts shall be audited by the secretary, approved by a committee to be styled the committee on claims, and no expenditure greater than two hundred ($200) dollars shall be voted by the board except in accordance with the provisions of a written contract, nor shall any money be appropriated out of the school fund except on a recorded affirmative vote of a majority of all the members of the board, and said account and the records of said board in all metropolitan cities shall at all times be subject to the inspection and examination of the comptroller of such city, whose comptroller. duty it shall be each month to examine said records and check said accounts, and, from time to time, as may be required by ordinance or resolution of the city council, report to said council the nature and state of said accounts, and any facts that may be required concerning said records. Duties of city Census. SEC. 16. That the boards of education shall annually cause to be taken an enumeration of all persons between the ages of five and twenty-one years residing in the district, and shall report the same, together with such other information as required by sections twelve and seventeen of subdivision four of the General School Laws of Nebraska, to the county superintendent of public instruction at the time specified by law for like returns in other districts. Teachers' cer SEC. 17. That all persons making applications cates. to boards of education as teachers in graded and high schools therein shall be required to produce a legal certificate given by some authority authorized to grant teachers' certificates, or from an examining committee appointed by the board. And for such purpose the board of education is authorized to appoint three competent persons at such time as may be deemed expedient, who shall be styled the examining committee of the board of education, and whose duty it shall be to examine all persons who may apply to them as teachers, and teachers receiving such certificates, setting forth that such person is competent to teach in the public schools of the city and is a person of good moral character, shall be entitled to all the benefits arising from a certificate issued to any teacher under the laws of this state. board not to be interested in Any certificate granted by such committee may Members of be revoked by the board of education for any contracts. reason which would have justified the withholding thereof when the same was granted, or for gross negligence of duty, incompetency, or immorality. SEC. 18. That it shall be unlawful for any member of the board of education to have any Sale of school property. Debts existing when district is pecuniary interest, either directly or indirectly, in any contract for the erection of school houses, or for warming, ventilating, furnishing, or repairing the same, or be in any manner connected with the furnishing of supplies for the maintenance of the schools. SEC. 19. That no school property of any kind shall be sold by the board of education, except at a regular meeting of the same, and not then without an affirmative recorded vote of at least two-thirds of the members of the board. SEC. 20. That each of the school districts proorganized. vided for in section one of this act shall have the power, and it shall be the duty of the board of education, to provide for the payment of debts created by school districts or other school organizations superseded by the districts herein provided for, when such debts shall have been incurred in the erection of school houses or for other school purposes. If any portion of such debt shall be in the form of bonds, if issued for a valuable consideration, the holder or holders thereof, on surrendering the same to the said board, shall have the right to demand, and it shall be the duty of said board, in the name of the district created by this act, to cause to be issued, other bonds of like amount of tenor and effect as to payment of principal and interest as the bonds surrendered. This provision shall also apply to cases where only a part of the district embraced within the district created by this act, whenever said fractional part shall become a part of said district, as provided for in section one of this act; Provided, The latter assume and pay only such proportion of the debt assets when divided. of the divided district as the assessed valuation of the part taken therefrom shall bear to the assessed valuation of the part remaining. In case of a Debts and division of one or more school districts within the district is limits of a metropolitan city, it shall be the duty of the county superintendent of public instruction, the president of the board of education, and the director of the school district to appraise and adjust all claims or assets in such manner that each district shall bear its proportion of the indebtedness as heretofore provided and have its proportion of said assets of said district. penses; tax for. SEC. 21. That the board of education shall, Estimate of exannually, during the month of January, report to the city council an estimate of the amounts of funds required for the support of the schools, for the purchase of school sites, the erection and furnishing of school buildings, the payment of interest upon all bonds issued for school purposes, and the creation of a sinking fund for the payment of such indebtedness, and the city council is hereby authorized and required to levy and collect said amount the same as other taxes; Provided, however, That Sites and buildin case the purchase of school sites and the erection more than of buildings shall require an expenditure exceeding twenty-five thousand ($25,000) dollars for any one calendar year, the question shall be submitted to a vote of the electors of the district. ings costing $25,000. school tax. SEC. 22. That the aggregate school tax shall in Aggregate no one year exceed two per cent upon all the taxable property of the district. SEC. 23. That all taxes collected for the benefit How paid; subject to order of board. of the public schools shall be paid in money, and shall be subject to the order of the board of educa Bonds. Vote on. Issuance of bonds. SEC. 24. That the board of education may borrow money upon the bonds which they are hereby authorized and empowered to issue, bearing a rate of interest not exceeding six per centum (6%) per annum, payable annually or semi-annually, at such place as may be mentioned upon the face of such bonds; which loan shall be paid and reimbursed in a period not exceeding thirty (30) years from the date of said bonds; Provided, That no bonds shall be issued, nor question of issue be submitted to the electors, without the consent of two-thirds (†) the members of the board of education, and be offered in open market and sold to the highest bidder for not less than par value on each dollar; And provided further, That no bonds shall be issued by the board of education without first submitting the proposition of issuing said bonds at an election called for that purpose, or at any regular election, notice whereof shall be given, for at least ten (10) days in one or more daily papers published within the district, to the qualified voters of the district, and if a majority of all the ballots cast upon said bond proposition at such an election shall be for issuing bonds, said board may issue bonds in such an amount as shall be named in their election notice. SEC. 25. That in case the electors shall sanction the issuing of said bonds, in manner herein provided for,. then the said board of education may cause to be prepared and issue the same under the provisions of this act, and the said bonds shall express on their face that they are issued in pursuance of this act, and shall be signed by the president and secretary of the board of education, shall |
