[General note.-This article is substantially a codification of existing law on the subject of school commissioners. The principal change in the article is in the term of commissioners. Under the present law the term of a school commissioner is three years. This we have changed to four. The other changes in the article are indicated in the foot notes which are appended to the various sections.]

§ 460. School commissioner; election and term of office.-The office of school commissioner is continued. The full term of office is four years, commencing on the first day of January next after an election. A school commissioner for each district shall be elected by the electors thereof at the general election in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-nine and quadrennially thereafter. No person shall be deemed ineligible to such office by reason of sex. A school commissioner is a county officer. If a vacancy occurs, a successor shall be appointed by the county judge for a term ending on the last day of December of the calendar year in which the vacancy can be filled by election. Such appointment must be filed in the office of the county clerk. The county clerk immediately on notice of the election or appointment of a school commissioner in his county shall transmit to the superintendent a duplicate certificate of such election or appointment, attested by his signature with

the seal of the county.

[Con. School Law, tit. V, §§ 1, 3, 4, 6, rewritten and condensed without change, except as to the term of office, which is made. four years, and by the insertion of the provision declaring that a school commissioner is a county officer.]

(Page 22, §§ 1, 3, 4, 6.)

§ 461. Vacating office of school commissioner.-A school commissioner who accepts the office of supervisor, town clerk, or trus

tee of a school district, thereby vacates his office.

[Con. School Law, tit. V, part of § 5, rewritten without intended change. The remainder of § 5 is omitted as unnecessary, being sufficiently covered by Public Officers' Law, § 21.]

§ 462. Existing districts continued.-The school commissioner districts existing when this chapter takes effect shall continue as then formed until altered by the legislature. A city shall not be included in or form a part of any school commissioner district hereafter formed.

[Con. School Law, tit. V, first two sentences of § 2 rewritten without intended change. The remainder of § 2, relating to the division of commissioner's district by the board of supervisors, is omitted, being now sufficiently covered by County Law, § 12, sub. 9.1

§ 463. General powers and duties of commissioner.-Every commissioner shall have power, and it shall be his duty:

1. From time to time to inquire into and ascertain whether the boundaries of the school districts within his district are definitely and plainly described in the records of the proper town clerks; and in case the record of the boundaries of any school district shall be found defective or indefinite, or if the same shall be in dispute, then to cause the same to be amended, or an amended record of the boundaries to be made. All necessary expenses incurred in establishing such amended records shall be a charge on the district or districts affected, to be audited and allowed by the trustee thereof, on the certificate of the school commissioner.

2. To visit and examine all the schools within his district as often in each year as shall be practicable; to inquire into all matters relating to the management, the course of study and mode of instruction, and the text-books and discipline of such schools, and the condition of the schoolhouses, sites, outbuildings and appendages, and of the district generally.

3. To examine the school libraries.

4. To advise with and counsel the trustee and other officers of the district in relation to their duties, and particularly in respect to the construction, heating, ventilating and lighting of schoolhouses, and improving and adorning the school grounds connected therewith.

5. To recommend to the trustee and teachers the proper studies, discipline and management of the schools, and the course of instruction to be pursued.

6. To direct the trustee to make any alterations or repairs on the schoolhouse or outbuildings which shall, in his opinion, be necessary for the health or comfort of the pupils.

7. To direct the trustee to make any alterations or repairs to school furniture, or when in his opinion any furniture is unfit for use and not worth repairing, or when sufficient furniture is not provided, he may direct that new furniture shall be provided as he may deem necessary.

8. To direct the trustee to abate any nuisance in or on the

school premises.

9. To condemn a schoolhouse, as provided in this chapter, if he deems it unfit for use and not worth repairing. He may also

condemn a schoolhouse site, and require its abandonment by the district.

10. To examine, under rules prescribed by the superintendent of public instruction, persons proposing to teach common schools within his district, and not possessing the superintendent's certificate of qualification or a diploma of a state normal school; to inquire into their moral fitness and capacity, and if he find them qualified, to grant them certificates of qualification, in the forms prescribed by the superintendent.

11. To deliver to the clerk of the board of supervisors of his county, on or before the first day of November in each year, a written statement of the amount, rate of interest, class, number, date of issue, pursuant to what law and date of maturity of each bond issued by any school district which is a part of his district.

[Con. School Law, tit. V, § 13, subs. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, rewritten and condensed without intended change, except that part of sub. 4 is found in § 137 of revision and sub. 11 is new.]

(Page 24, § 13.)

§ 464. Commissioner may act in other districts.-A commissioner may exercise any of the powers and perform any of the duties of another commissioner on his written request, and he must exercise such powers and perform such duties whenever required by the superintendent. When so acting under the direc tion of the superintendent, he is entitled to his necessary expenses

to be audited by the superintendent and paid by him from the

contingent fund.

[Con. School Law, tit. V, § 11, rewritten without intended change. The last sentence is new.]

(Page 23, § 11.)

§ 465. Supervision of commissioner by superintendent.- The commissioner is subject to such rules concerning the conduct of his office as may be prescribed by the superintendent, and shall, whenever required, report to him concerning any particular mat

ter or act.

[Con. School Law, tit. V, § 15, rewritten and condensed without intended change.]

(Page 27, § 15.)

§ 466. Commissioner may take testimony; issue subpoenas.The commissioner under the direction of the superintendent may take and report to him testimony in a case on appeal. In such a case or in any matter to be heard or determined by the commissioner, he may issue a subpoena to compel the attendance of a witness. Such a subpoena must be served in the same manner, and the witness is entitled to the same fees, as in an action in a court of record. Disobedience to such subpoena shall subject the delinquent to a penalty of twenty-five dollars, which may be recovered by the county treasurer in his name of office, for the benefit of the schools of the county.

[Con. School Law, tit. V, part of § 14, rewritten and changed, by providing that the penalty for disobedience of a subpoena shall be collected by the county treasurer. Such penalty, when recovered, to be for the benefit of the schools in his county, instead of for the benefit of the poor as by present law.]

(Page 26, § 14.)