not be dissolved within the period of one year from the first Tuesday of August next after such meeting.

§ 43. Meeting to determine regarding reorganization as common school district. In any union free school district established under the laws of this state, and which shall have been established for the period of one year or more, it shall be the duty of the board of education, upon the application of fifteen resident taxpayers of such district, to call a special meeting in the manner prescribed by law, for the purpose of determining whether application shall be made in the manner hereinafter provided, for the dissolution of such union free school district, and for its reorganization as one or more common school districts.

§ 44. Result of vote for or against reorganization. 1. Whenever, at any such meeting called and held as aforesaid, it shall be determined by a majority vote of the legal voters present and voting, to be ascertained by taking and recording the ayes and noes, not to dissolve such union free school district, no other meeting for a similar purpose shall be held in said district within three years from the time the first meeting was held.

2. Whenever at any such meeting called and held as aforesaid it shall be determined by a two-thirds vote of the legal voters present and voting, to be ascertained by taking and recording the ayes and noes, to dissolve such union free school district, it shall be the duty of the board of education to present to the school commissioner of the commissioner district in which said union free school is situated, a certified copy of the call, notice and proceedings. If such school commissioner shall approve the proceedings of said meeting, he shall certify the same to the board of education. Such approval shall not take effect until the day preceding the first Tuesday of August next succeeding; but after that date such district shall cease to be a union free school district.

§ 45. Reversion to form of original school districts. If any union free school district dissolved under the foregoing provisions shall have been established by the consolidation of two or more districts, it shall be lawful for such school commissioner to order that its territory be divided into two or more districts, to correspond, so far as practicable, with the districts theretofore consolidated.

§ 46. School commissioner may require equality of partition. Such school commissioner may make his approval of the proceedings of any such meeting held as afore

f

said conditional upon the payment, by the district which has been most greatly benefited by the consolidation in the way of buildings and other improvements to the other districts into which the said union free school district is divided, of such sum of money as he may deem equitable.

§ 47. Effect of veto by school commissioner regarding subsequent meeting. If such school commissioner shall not approve the proceedings of any such meeting, held as aforesaid, for the purpose of dissolving a union free school district, no other meeting shall be held in such district, for a similar purpose, within three years from the time the first meeting was held.

§ 48. Report of proceedings to commissioner of education. Whenever the proceedings of a meeting, held as aforesaid, for the purpose of dissolving a union free school district, shall have been approved by such school commissioner and shall have been certified by him to the board of education, it shall be the duty of the board of education of the district affected forthwith to notify the commissioner of education, and to furnish him copies of the call, notice, proceedings of the meeting, and the action taken by such school commissioner thereon.

§ 49. Distribution of moneys on dissolution. All moneys remaining in the hands of the treasurer of the union free school district when the order of dissolution shall take effect shall be apportioned equitably among the several districts into which such union free school district is divided, and shall be paid ever to the collectors or treasurers of such districts when they shall have been elected and have qualified according to law.

ARTICLE 3

School Neighborhoods

Section 60. Setting off school neighborhoods. 61. Neighborhood meetings.

62. Duties of neighborhood clerk and trustee.

§ 60. Setting off school neighborhoods. Each school commissioner in respect to the territory within his district shall have power, with the approval of the commissioner of education, to set off by itself any neighborhood adjoining any other state of the union, where it shall be found most convenient for the inhabitants to send their children to a school in such adjoining state, and to deliver to the town clerk of the town in which it lies, in whole or in part, a description of each such separate neighborhood. He shall

also prepare a notice, describing such neighborhood, and appointing a time and place for the first neighborhood meeting, and deliver such notice to a taxable inhabitant of such neighborhood. It shall be the duty of such inhabitant to notify every other inhabitant of the neighborhood, qualified to vote at the meeting, by reading the notice in his hearing, or, in case of his absence from home, by leaving a copy thereof, or so much thereof as relates to the time, place and object of the meeting, at the place of his abode, at least six days before the time of the meeting. In case such meeting shall not be held, and in the opinion of the school commissioner it shall be necessary to hold such meeting before the time herein fixed for the first annual meeting, he shall deliver another such notice to a taxable inhabitant of the neighborhood, who shall serve it as hereinbefore provided.

§ 61. Neighborhood meetings. The annual meeting of each neighborhood shall be held on the first Tuesday of August in each year, at the hour and place fixed by the last previous neighborhood meeting; or, if such hour and place has not been so fixed, then at the hour and place of such last meeting; or, if such place be no longer accessible, then at such other place as the trustee, or, if there be no trustee, the clerk, shall in the notices designate. The proceedings of no neighborhood meeting, annual or special, shall be held illegal for want of a due notice to all the persons qualified to vote thereat, unless it shall appear that the omission to give such notice was wilful and fraudulent. The inhabitants of any neighborhood, entitled to vote, when assembled in any annual meeting or any special meeting called by the commissioner as above provided, shall have power, by a majority vote of those present, to appoint a chairman for the time being, and to choose a neighborhood clerk and one trustee, and to fill vacancies in office. The provisions of sections ninetyone to ninety-four, inclusive, of this chapter, shall apply to and govern such meeting, so far as the same can in substance be applied to the proceedings; and the provisions of sections one hundred and forty to one hundred and forty-three inclusive, one hundred and forty-six, one hundred and forty-seven and one hundred and fifty to one hundred and fifty-two inclusive, of this chapter shall apply to and govern the officers of such neighborhood, so far as the same can in substance be applied thereto.

§ 62. Duties of neighborhood clerk and trustee. The neighborhood clerk shall keep a record of the proceedings of his neighborhood, and of the reports of the trustees, and deliver the same to his successor. In case such neighborhood shall be annexed to a district within this state its records shall be filed

in the office of the clerk of such district. The trustee shall, between the twenty-fifth day of July and the first day of August in every year, make his annual report to the school commissioner, and file it in the office of the clerk of the town of which the neighborhood is a part. Such report shall specify the whole amount of public moneys received during the year and from what public officer, and the manner in which it was expended; the whole number of such children as can be included in the district trustees' report residing in the neighborhood on the thirtieth day of June prior to the making of such report; and any other matters which the commissioner of education may require.

ARTICLE 4

District Meetings

Section 80. Notice of first meeting of district.

81. Service of notice of first meeting of district.

82. Second notice of first meeting of district.

83. Notice of annual meeting.

84. Time and place of annual meeting.

85. Special meeting to transact business of annual meeting.

86. Special meetings in common school districts.

87. Annual meetings of districts re-formed after dissolution.

88. Special meetings in union free school district.

89. Call by school commissioner of special district

meeting.

90. Effect of want of due notice of district meetings.

91. Penalty for failure to serve notice.

92. Duty to attend district meetings.

93. Qualifications of voters at district meetings.

94. Declaration in case of challenge of voter.

95. Penalty for false declaration or unauthorized vote.

96. Powers of voters.

97. Vote to be by ballot on proposition to expend money. § 80. Notice of first meeting of district. Whenever any school district shall be formed, the school commissioner or any one or more of such commissioners, within whose districts it may be, shall prepare a notice describing such district, and appointing a time and place for the first district meeting, and deliver such notice to a taxable inhabitant of the district.

§ 81. Service of notice of first meeting of district. It shall be the duty of such inhabitant to notify every

other inhabitant of the district qualified to vote at the meeting, by reading the notice in his hearing, or in case of his absence from home, by leaving a copy thereof, or so much thereof as relates to the time, place and object of the meeting, at the place of his abode, at least six days before the time of the meeting.

§ 82. Second notice of first meeting of district. In case such meeting shall not be held, and in the opinion of the school commissioner it shall be necessary to hold such meeting, before the time herein fixed for the first annual meeting, he shall deliver another such notice to a taxable inhabitant of the district, who shall serve it as provided in section eighty-one.

§ 83. Notice of annual meeting. 1. The district clerk of each common school district shall give notice of the time and place of the annual meeting by posting five notices of such meeting in five conspicuous places in the district five days previous to the date of such meeting. One of such notices must be posted on the front door of the school house.

2. The clerk of each union free school district shall give notice of the time and place of the annual meeting in the manner provided by subdivision three of section one hundred and twenty-six of this chapter.

§ 84. Time and place of annual meeting. The annual meeting of each school district shall be held on the first Tuesday of August in each year, and, unless the hour and place thereof shall have been fixed by a vote of a previous district meeting, the same shall be held in the school-house at seven-thirty o'clock in the evening. If a district possesses more than one school-house, it shall be held in the one usually employed for that purpose, unless the trustees designate another. If the district possesses no school-house, or if the school-house shall be no longer accessible, then the annual meeting shall be held at such place as the trustees, or, if there be no trustee, the clerk, shall designate in the notice.

§ 85. Special meeting to transact business of annual meeting. Whenever the time for holding the annual meeting in school districts shall pass without such meeting being held in any district, a special meeting shall thereafter be called by the trustees or by the clerk of such district for the purpose of transacting the business of the annual meeting; and if no such meeting be called by the trustees or the clerk within twenty days after such time shall have passed, the school commissioner of the commissioner district in which said school district is situated or the commissioner of education may order any inhabitant of such