same at a reasonable price, the selectmen, upon petition of the school board or three or more voters, shall appraise the damages occasioned the landowner. In cities (except Concord and Keene) the school board has sole power to select schoolhouse lots and to purchase same with moneys specifically appropriated by the city council; no schoolhouse shall be erected or altered except upon plans approved by the school board; all new schoolhouses shall be constructed under direction of a joint special committee chosen in equal numbers by the city council and the school board. Upon the completion of a new schoolhouse the city council shall transfer it to the school board, and whenever a schoolhouse is no longer required for school purposes the board shall retransfer it to the council. Districts shall keep schools in their own houses if suitable; otherwise suitable accommodations shall be provided at the expense of the district. A district or school board may grant the use of any schoolhouse for a writing or singing school, or for religious or other meetings, whenever such will not conflict with regular school exercises. Shade trees presented to any town may be set out and protected at public expense in schoolhouse yards, highways, cemeteries, commons, and other public places as indicated by the donor.

High schools.-Any school district may, by vote or by law, establish and maintain a high school, in which the higher English branches and Latin, Greek, and modern languages may be taught. Two or more districts may maintain a high school jointly. Where a high school is not maintained, the town shall pay the tuition of scholars resident therein who attend a high school or academy elsewhere in the State; the parent or guardian shall notify his school board what high school or academy he has determined to patronize; if the town fails to pay such tuition, it is liable for the same to said parent or guardian, or the school attended, in an action for debt; a State appropriation of $5,000 a year for payment of such tuition is distributed in the ratio of the several rates of taxation of the towns interested.

Evening schools.-Upon petition of 5 per cent of the voters of any town exceeding 5,000 population per last United States census, said town shall establish and maintain, in addition to other schools, evening schools for the instruction of persons over 14 in such branches of learning or art as the school board may determine. The board also may determine length of term, hours per evening, and make such regulations as to attendance as they deem expedient; but the establishment of evening schools shall not exempt anyone from the requirements of laws relating to compulsory attendance and the employment of children. (See Attendance.)

Normal schools.-The New Hampshire State normal school shall confine its instruction to normal school branches and be in session at least twenty weeks each year. Its management is vested in a board of seven trustees, composed of the governor, State superintendent, and five other persons appointed by the governor and cofirmed by the council, who hold office two years. They meet once a year; receive no compensation beyond reasonable expenses; appoint a principal, who, with their advice and consent, selects assistants and provides for the discipline of the school. The trustees and principal arrange courses of study, prescribe and control examinations for admission and graduation, and grant certificates. Tuition and graduation are free to those who agree to teach in the public schools of the State for a period equal to the length of the course taken. The principal and teachers assist at teachers' institutes without additional compensation other than necessary expenses, so far as their normal duties will permit. On the cover of each school register must be printed the salient facts about the State normal school. (See State superintendent.)

4. FINANCES.

Taxation-Literary fund-Dog tax-State aid.

Taxation.-Towns or districts may raise money to maintain public schools; to build, purchase, rent, repair, or remove schoolhouses or outbuildings; to procure insurance; to provide suitable furniture, fuel, books, maps, charts, apparatus, and conveniences for schools; to plant and care for shade and ornamental trees upon schoolhouse lots; to convey scholars to and from school, and to pay debts. They may hire money for building schoolhouses, not exceeding four-fifths of the cost thereof, which shall be assessed as tax, collected and paid within five years with the interest.

Literary fund.-All taxes collected by the State upon banking, trust, building, loan, and other similar corporations resident outside the State, shall be

known as the "literary fund," and be distributed (in November) among the towns in proportion to the number of children not less than 5 years old who attended the public schools in such towns not less than two weeks during the year preceding. Such fund shall be applied to the maintenance of the schools during the current year. The school board may use one-fifth thereof in the purchase of blackboards, dictionaries, maps, charts, and school apparatus.

Dog tax.-Money accruing from the taxation of dogs, after payment of loss or damage to domestic animals occasioned by dogs, shall be applied to the support of the public schools.

State aid. (See also Organization-Superintendents-Teachers-Institutes— Schools, high.)

NEW JERSEY.

1. ORGANIZATION OF THE SYSTEM.

State board of education-State superintendent of public instruction-County superintendents-Boards of examiners-School districts.

State board of education.-The general supervision and control of public instruction shall be vested in a State board of education, which shall consist of two members from each Congressional district, who shall not be members of the same political party and who shall not reside in the same county, except where a Congressional district shall lie wholly within one county. Said members shall be appointed by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, each for the term of five years; and in the place of any member whose term shall expire a successor shall be appointed in like manner for the term of five years, so that there shall be always two members from each Congressional district.

The State board of education shall have the control and management of the State normal schools, the New Jersey School for the Deaf, the Farnum Preparatory School, and the Manual Training and Industrial School for Colored Youth. [It shall have power]

To frame and modify by-laws for its own government; to elect its president and other officers, and to prescribe and enforce rules and regulations necessary to carry into effect the school laws of this State; to appoint county superintendents of schools and for cause to remove them; to prescribe rules and regulations for holding teachers' institutes; to decide appeals from the decisions of the State superintendent of public instruction; to make and enforce rules and regulations for the examination of teachers and the granting of certificates or licenses to teach.

The members of the State board of education shall receive no compensation for their services, but the State treasurer shall, upon the warrant of the State comptroller, pay their necessary expenses.

The State board of education shall report annually to the legislature in regard to all matters committed to its care.

State superintendent of public instruction.-The State superintendent of public instruction shall be appointed by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, for the term of five years and until his successor shall be appointed and confirmed. He shall receive a salary of $5,000 a year, payable in equal monthly installments.

[He] may appoint an assistant State superintendent of public instruction and fix his salary, [who] shall perform all the duties of the State superintendent of public instruction during his absence. [He may also employ clerks.]

The State superintendent of public instruction shall be the secretary of the State board of education, and a member ex officio of all boards of examiners. He shall enforce all rules and regulations prescribed by the State board of education. He shall have supervision of all the schools of the State receiving any part of the State appropriation. He shall, from time to time, instruct county and city superintendents as to their duties and as to the best manner of conducting schools, constructing schoolhouses and furnishing the same.

[He] shall decide, subject to appeal to the State board of education and without cost to the parties, all controversies and disputes that shall arise under the school laws or under the rules and regulations of the State board of education.

[He shall fill vacancies in the office of county superintendent of schools, withhold his salary from any county superintendent who fails to perform his duty, authorize the withholding of school funds placed to the credit of any school district from such district for nonperformance of the school duties required by the rules and regulations of the State board of education, and shall also withhold teachers' salaries for nonperformance of duty. He shall apportion to the several counties the amounts of the school fund appropriated to them by the State.] Reports of private schools.-The superintendent or manager of each educational institution receiving support or aid from the State, and the president, manager, or principal of each seminary, academy, or private school shall report to the State superintendent of public instruction annually, on or before the 1st day of August, such statistics relating to such institution, seminary, academy, or school, as said State superintendent of public instruction may require, and in the manner and form prescribed by him: Provided, That no report concerning the expenses or finances of such seminary, academy, or private school shall be required: And provided further, That no report of any seminary, academy, or private school shall be published or made public by the State superintendent of public instruction. [The State superintendent of public instruction is required to make an annual report.]

County superintendents.--The State board of education shall appoint for each county a suitable person to be the county superintendent of schools of that county, who shall hold office for the term of three years from the date of his appointment and until his successor shall have been appointed as aforesaid, unless sooner removed for cause by said board. No person shall be appointed as county superintendent of schools unless he shall hold a State teacher's certificate.

The yearly salary of a county superintendent of schools shall be a sum which shall be equal to $8 for each teacher employed in the public schools in his county as ascertained from the last published report of the State superintendent of public instruction, but such salary shall in no case be less than $1,300 nor more than $2,000. [His actual expenses incurred in the performance of duty shall also be paid, provided they do not exceed $350.]

A county superintendent of schools shall have power to administer, without charge, oaths or affirmations to teachers and school officers; to issue orders on the county collector in favor of the custodian of the school moneys of the several school districts in said county for that portion of the State school tax, the State appropriation, and the interest of the surplus revenue to which each of said school districts shall be entitled to exercise general supervision over the public schools of the county under his charge in accordance with the rules and regulations prescribed from time to time by the State board of education; to visit and examine all the schools under his care; to inquire into the management, methods of instruction, and discipline in such schools; to note the condition of the schoolhouses, sites, buildings, and appurtenances; to examine the courses of study, text-books, and school libraries; to advise with and counsel boards of education in relation to their duties, particularly in respect to the construction, heating, ventilating, and lighting of schoolhouses, and to recommend to boards of education and teachers proper studies, methods, discipline, and management for the schools; to appoint members of the board of education for a new township, incorporated town or borough school district, and for any school district under his supervision which shall fail to elect members at the regular time. Such appointees shall serve only until the next election in the district for members of the board of education.

Each county superintendent of schools shall make an annual report, as shall also] the superintendents, district clerks, and the, custodians of school moneys of the several school districts. Whenever a superintendent of schools shall be appointed in any city school district, the supervision of the schools of such district shall devolve upon such superintendent and not upon the county superintendent of schools.

Board of examiners, State eraminers.-There shall be a State board of examiners, consisting of the State superintendent of public instruction, the principals of the State normal schools, and one person to be appointed by the State board of education, [who] shall hold office for one year from date of his appointment as aforesaid. This member shall hold a first-grade State certificate, or shall be a graduate of a college or university. He shall receive for his services, in addition to traveling expenses, such compensation as may be fixed by the State board of education, not to exceed $10 for each meeting of said board of examiners. Said board shall hold examinations of teachers, grant State certificates

to teach, and revoke the same under rules and regulations prescribed by the State board of education.

County examiners.-There may be in each county a county board of examiners consisting of the county superintendent of schools, who shall be its chairman, and a number of teachers not to exceed three to be appointed by him, who shall hold office for one year from the date of their respective appointments. No person shall be appointed as a county examiner unless he or she shall hold either a State or a first-grade county certificate. Said county board of examiners shall conduct examinations and grant certificates to teach at such times and under such rules and regulations as the State board of education may prescribe. It shall meet at such places as may be designated by the chairman. Each member of said board of examiners, except the county superintendent of schools, shall receive for his or her services, in addition to traveling expenses, such compensation as may be fixed by the State board of education not to exceed $10 for each regular examination.

City examiners.-[In each city school district there may be a board of examiners, consisting of the superintendent of schools of such district, if there be one, and such persons as the board of education of the school district shall appoint. No person can be appointed an examiner without a proper certificate. The board shall grant certificates which shall be valid in the district.]

School district.-Each township, city, incorporated town, and borough shall be a separate school district, but each incorporated village shall remain and be a part of the school district in which said incorporated village shall be situate at the time of its incorporation. The State appropriation and the State school tax shall not be apportioned in any year to any district which shall not have maintained a public school for at least nine months during the preceding school year: Provided, That the State superintendent of public instruction may, for good cause shown, remit said penalty,

City school districts, appointive board.-In each city the mayor or other chief executive officer of such city shall, during the month of December next after the acceptance of the provisions of this section, as is hereinafter provided [i. e., by referendum], appoint nine persons to be members of the board of education of such city school district, who shall severally possess the qualifications for said membership prescribed in this article, [viz, he must have been a citizen and resident of the school district for three years before becoming a member of the board, and must be able to read and write. He shall not be interested in any claim against or contract with the board]. Three of such persons shall be appointed to serve for one year, three for two years, and three for three years, and annually thereafter, during the month of December, the said mayor or other chief executive officer of such city shall appoint three members of said board of education to serve for the term of three years, to take the place of those members whose terms shall expire with such year.

Elective board.-In each city there shall be elected at the first municipal election held in such city next after the acceptance of the provisions of this section, as is hereinafter provided [i. e., by referendum], nine persons to be members of the board of education of such city school district, who shall severally possess the qualifications for said membership [described above]. Three of such persons shall be elected to serve for one year, three for two years, and three for three years, and thereafter, at the regular municipal election in such city in each year, there shall be elected three members of said board of education to serve for the term of three years, to take the place of those members whose terms shall expire with such year.

Referendum.-The acceptance of the [foregoing] provisions shall be submitted to the qualified voters of any city at a general or municipal election to be held therein. [After the acceptance has been once submitted, the question shall not be submitted again for five years.] Said board of education or other body shall be hereafter deemed to be incorporated under the provisions of this act and shall have all the powers and be charged with all the duties conferred or imposed upon a board of education, as provided in this article. Such board shall, in and by its corporate name, sue and be sued, purchase, lease, receive, hold, and sell property, real and personal, take and condemn land and other property for school purposes in the manner provided by law regulating the ascertainment and payment of compensation for property condemned or taken for public use. [It] shall succeed to and be vested with all the property of every kind and all the rights and privileges, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, theretofore vested in or possessed by any board of education, school commissioners, or other body theretofore having charge and control of the public schools or public

school property of the school district or of the city in which said district shall be situate.

Every such board shall have the supervision, control, and management of the public schools and public school property in its district, and shall keep such property insured. It shall appoint a person to be its secretary, and may appoint a superintendent of schools, a business manager and other officers, agents, and employees as may be needed, and may fix their compensation and terms of employment, but no such appointee, officer, agent, or employee other than the secretary shall be a member of said board. [The board shall make an annual report of the condition of the schools under its charge, of the property under its control, and a statement of the finances.]

Township, incorporated town and borough school districts.-In each township, incorporated town and borough school district, there shall be a board of education consisting of 9 members, [except that the number may be reduced to 3 when deemed best], 3 members of such board shall be chosen by ballot at the polls at each annual school meeting and shall hold office for the term of three years. In case there shall be a vacancy in a board of education, such vacancy shall be filled at the next annual meeting after such vacancy occurs, and the person elected to fill such vacancy shall be elected for the unexpired term only.

The board of education shall have power to employ and dismiss principals, teachers, janitors, mechanics, and laborers, and to fix, alter, and order paid their salaries and compensation; to make, amend, and repeal rules, regulations, and by-laws for its own government, for the transaction of business, and for the government and management of the public schools and the public school property in said district, and also for the employment and discharge of principals and teachers; to purchase, sell, and improve school grounds; to erect, lease, enlarge, improve, insure, repair, or furnish school buildings and to borrow money therefor with or without mortgage: Provided, That for any such act it shall have the previous authority of a vote of the legal voters of the district; to take and condemn land and other property for school purposes in the manner provided by law regulating the ascertainment and payment of compensation for property condemned and taken for public use; to enforce the rules and regulations prescribed by the State board of education, select the text-books, and, in connection with the county superintendent of schools, to prescribe the course of study to be pursued in the school or schools under its charge; to suspend or expel pupils from school; to provide text-books and other necessary school supplies; to call a special meeting of the legal voters of the district at any time when, in its judgment, the interests of the school require it, or whenever 50 of such legal voters shall request it by petition so to do.

2. TEACHERS.

Appointment, qualifications, and duties-Preliminary training-Meetings. Appointment.--A board of education may make rules and regulations governing the engagement and employment of teachers and principals, the terms and tenure of such employment, and the promotion and dismissal of such teachers and principals, the salaries, and the time and mode of payment thereof, and may from time to time change, amend, or repeal such rules and regulations. The employment of any teacher by such board, and the rights and duties of such teacher with respect to such employment, shall be dependent upon and shall be governed by the rules and regulations in force with reference thereto. If a board of education shall not have made rules and regulations as aforesaid, then no contract between such board of education and a teacher shall be valid unless the same be in writing, or partly written and partly printed, in triplicate, signed by the president and district clerk or secretary of the board of education and by the teacher. One copy thereof shall be filed with the board of education, one copy with the teacher, and one copy with the county or city superintendent. Such contract shall specify the date when such teacher shall begin teaching, the kind and grade of certificate held by said teacher and the date when said certificate will expire, the salary, and such other matter as may be necessary to a full and complete understanding of the same. In every such contract, unless otherwise specified, a month shall be construed and taken to be twenty school days, or four weeks of five school days each. The salary specified in every such contract