19. Be it, &c., That any town in this Commonwealth which shall refuse or neglect, at their annual meeting for the choice of town officers, to vote and raise money for the support of schools, as provided for in this act, and to choose a school committee to superintend said schools, or if said town is divided into school districts, prudential committees in the several districts in said town, for the purpose herein before mentioned, every such town shall forfeit and pay for refusing or neglecting to vote and raise money as aforesaid, upon conviction thereof, a sum equal to twice the highest sum which such town had ever voted to raise for the support of schools therein; and for refusing or neglecting to choose either of the committees aforesaid, on conviction thereof, a sum of not more than two hundred dollars, nor less than one hundred dollars, to be recovered by informtion or indictment, in the Supreme Judicial Court, or Court of Common Pleas, when holden in and for the county within which such town is situated; and the money so recovered shall be paid into the treasury of said county, onefourth thereof for the use of said county, and three-fourths thereof shall be paid by the said treasurer to the school committee of such town, if any such committee exist, if not, to the selectmen of such town, for the support of schools therein; and every such school committee or board of selectmen, who shall receive notice from the treasurer of the county in which they reside, of any money being holden by him for the purpose aforesaid, shall forthwith receive, apportion, and appropriate the same to the support of schools in such town, in the same way and manner it should have been appropriated, if it had been raised by such town, pursuant to the provisions of this act.

20. Be it, &c., That the Secretary of this Commonwealth be instructed to transmit to the town clerk of each and every towu in the Commonwealth, as soon as conveniently may be, a sufficient number of printed copies of this act to supply each school district with one copy; and it shall be the duty of said town clerks to deliver to the prudential committee of each district one copy for the use and benefit of the district. Approved March 10, 1827.

CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION RESPECTING EDUCATION.

REVISIONS OF 1867-'68.

ALABAMA.

The constitution of the State of Alabama, as revised and amended by the constitutional convention assembled at Montgomery on the 5th day of November, 1867, contains the following provision:

ARTICLE XI.—EDUCATION.

SECTION 1. The common schools, and other educational institutions of the State, shall be under the management of a board of education. consisting of a superintendent of public instruction and two members from each congressional district.

The governor of the State shall be ex officio a member of the board, but shall have no vote in its proceedings.

SEC. 2. The superintendent of public instruction shall be president of the board of education, and have the casting vote in case of a tie; he shall have the supervision of the public schools of the State, and perform such other duties as may be imposed upon him by the board and the laws of the State. He shall be elected in the same manner and for the same term as the governor of the State, and receive such salary as may be fixed by law. An office shall be assigned him in the capitol of the State.

SEC. 3. The members of the board shall hold office for a term of four years, and until their successors shall be elected and qualified. After the first election under the constitution the board shall be divided into two equal classes, so that each class shall consist of one member from each district. The seats of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of two years from the day of election, so that one-half may be chosen biennially.

SEC. 4. The members of the board of education, except the superintendent, shall be elected by the qualified electors of the congressional districts in which they are chosen, at the same time and in the same manner as the members of Congress.

SEC. 5. The board of education shall exercise full legislative powers in reference to the public educational institutions of the State, and its acts, when approved by the governor, or when re-enacted by two-thirds of the board, in case of his disapproval, shall have the force and effect of law, unless repealed by the general assembly.

SEC. 6. It shall be the duty of the board to establish, throughout the State, in each township, or other school district which it may have created, one or more schools, at which all the children of the State, between the ages of five and twenty-one years, may attend free of charge.

SEC. 7. No rule or law affecting the general interest of education shall be made by the board without a concurrence of a majority of its members. The style of all acts of the board shall be, "Be it enacted by the board of education of the State of Alabama."

SEC. 8. The board of education shall be a body politic and corporate, by the name and style of the Board of Education of the State of Alabama. Said board shall also be a board of regents of the State University, and, when sitting as a board of regents of the university, shall have power to appoint the president and the faculties thereof.

The president of the university shall be ex officio a member of the board of regents, but shall have no vote in its proceedings.

SEC. 9. The board of education shall meet annually at the seat of government at the same time as the general assembly, but no session shall continue longer than twenty days, nor shall more than one session be held in the same year, unless authorized by the governor. The members shall receive the same mileage and daily pay as the members of the general-assembly.

SEC. 10. The proceeds of all lands that have been or may be granted by the United States to the State for educational purposes; of the swamp lands, and of all lands or other property given by individuals or appropriated by the State for like purposes; and of all estates of deceased persons who have died without leaving a will or heir; and all moneys which may be paid as an equivalent for exemption from military duty, shall be and remain a perpetual fund, which may be increased but not diminished, and the interest and income of which, together with the rents of all such lands as may remain unsold, and such other means as the general assembly may provide, shall be inviolably appropriated to educational purposes, and to no other purpose whatever.

SEC. 11. In addition to the amount accruing from the above sources, one-fifth of the aggregate annual revenue of the State shall be devoted exclusively to the maintenance of public schools.

SEC. 12. The general assembly may give power to the authorities of the school districts to levy a poll tax on the inhabitants of the district in aid of the general school fund, and for no other purpose.

SEC. 13. The general assembly shall levy a specific annual tax upon all railroad, navigation, banking, and insurance corporations, and upon all insurance and foreign bank and exchange agencies, and upon the profits of foreign bank bills issued in this State by any corporation, partnership, or persons, which shall be exclusively devoted to the maintenance of public schools.

SEC. 14. The general assembly shall, as soon as practicable, provide for the establishment of an agricultural college, and shall appropriate the two hundred and forty thousand acres of land donated to this State, for the support of such a college, by the act of Congress passed July 2, 1862, or the money or scrip, as the case may be, arising from the sale of said land or any lands which may hereafter be granted or appropriated for such purpose, for the support and maintenance of such college or schools, and may make the same a branch of the University of Alabama for instruction in agriculture, in the mechanic arts, and the natural sciences connected therewith, and place the same under the supervision of the regents of the university.

ARKANSAS.

The new constitution of Arkansas, adopted by the people of the State at an election held March 13, 1868, thus provides for public education in Article IX :

ARTICLE TX.--EDUCATION

-SECTION 1. A general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence among all classes being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, the general assembly shall establish and maintain a system of free schools for the gratuitous instruction of all persons in this State between the ages of five and twenty-one years; and the funds appropriated for the support of common schools shall be distributed to the several counties in proportion to the number of children and youths therein between the ages of five and twenty-one years, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law; but no religious or other sect or sects shall ever have any exclusive right to, or control of, any part of the school funds of this State.

SEC. 2. The supervision of public schools shall be vested in a superintendent of public instruction, and such other officers as the general assembly shall provide. The superintendent of public instruction shall receive such salary, and perform such duties, as shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. 3. The general assembly shall establish and maintain a State university, with departments for instruction in teaching, in agriculture, and the natural sciences, as soon as the public school fund will permit.

SEC. 4. The proceeds of all lands that have been or hereafter may be granted by the United States to this State, and not otherwise appropriated by the United States or this State; also, all mines, stocks, bonds, lands, and other property, now belonging to any fund for purposes of education; also, the net proceeds of all sales of land and other property and effects that may accrue to this State by escheat, or from sales of estrays, or from unclaimed dividends or distributive shares of the estates of deceased persons, or from fines, penalties, or forfeitures; also, any proceeds of the sales of public lands which may have been or may be hereafter paid over to this State, (Congress consenting;) also, all the grants, gifts, or devises that have been or hereafter may be made to this State, and not otherwise appropriated by the terms of the grant, gift, or devise, shall be securely invested and sacredly preserved as a public school fund, which shall be the common property of the State; the annual income of which fund, together with one dollar per capita, to be annually assessed on every male inhabitant of this State over the age of twenty-one years, and so much of the ordinary annual revenue of the State as may be necessary, shall be faithfully appropriated for establishing and maintaining the free schools and the university in this article provided for, and for no other uses or purposes whatever.

SEC. 5. No part of the public school fund shall be invested in the stocks or bonds or other obligations of any State, or any county, city, town, or corporation. The stocks belonging to any school fund or university fund shall be sold in such manner and at such times as the general assembly shall prescribe, and the proceeds thereof, and the proceeds of the sales of any lands or other property which now belongs or may hereafter belong to said school fund, may be invested in the bonds of the United States.

SEC. 6. No township or school district shall receive any portion of the school fund unless a free school shall have been kept therein for not less than three months during the year for which distribution thereof is made. The general assembly shall require by law that every child of sufficient mental and physical ability shall attend the public schools during the period between the ages of five and eighteen years for a term equivalent to three years, unless educated by other

means.

SEC. 7. In case the public school fund shall be insufficient to sustain a free school at least three months in every year, in each school district in this State, the general assembly shall provide by law for raising such deficiency, by levying such tax upon all taxable property in each county, township, or school district as may be deemed proper.

SEC 8. The general assembly shall, as far as it can be done without infring ing upon vested rights, reduce all lands, moneys, or other property used or held for school purposes in the various counties of this State into the public school fund herein provided for.

SEC. 9. Provision shall also be made, by general laws, for raising such sum or sums of money, by taxation or otherwise, in each school district, as may be necessary for the building and furnishing of a sufficient number of suitable schoolhouses for the accommodation of all the pupils within the limits of the several school districts.

FLORIDA.

In the new constitution of Florida, adopted by the constitutional convention February 25, 1868, is the following article on education:

ARTICLE VIII.-EDUCATION.

SECTION 1. It is the paramount duty of the State to make ample provision for the education of all the children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference.

SEC. 2. The legislature shall provide a uniform system of common schools and a university, and shall provide for the liberal maintenance of the same. Instruction in them shall be free.

SEC. 3. There shall be a superintendent of public instruction, whose term of office shall be four years, and until the appointment and qualification of his successor. He shall have general supervision of the educational interests of the State. His duties shall bo prescribed by law

SEC. 4. The common school fund, the interest of which shall be exclusively applied to the support and maintenance of common schools and purchase of suitable libraries and apparatus therefor, shall be derived from the following

Sources:

The proceeds of all lands that have been or may hereafter be granted to the State by the United States for educational purposes. Donations by individuals for educational purposes. Appropriations by the State. The proceeds of lands or other property which may accrue to the State by escheat or forfeiture. The proceeds of all property granted to the State, when the purpose of such grant shall not be specified. All moneys which may be paid as an exemption from military duty. All fines collected under the penal laws of this State. Such portion of the per cupita tax as may be prescribed by law for educational purposes. Twenty-five per centum of the sales of public lands which are now or which hereafter may be owned by the State.

SEC. 5. A special tax of not less than one mill on the dollar of all taxable property in the State, in addition to the other means provided, shall be levied and apportioned annually for the support and maintenance of common schools. SEC. 6. The principal of the common school fund shall remain sacred and inviolate.

SEC. 7. Provision shall be made by law for the distribution of the common school fund among the several counties of the State in proportion to the number of children residing therein between the ages of four and twenty-one years.

SEC. 8. Each county shall be required to raise annually by tax, for the support of common schools therein, a sum not less than one-half of the amount apportioned to each county for that year from the income of the common school fund. Any school district neglecting to establish and maintain for at least three months in each year such school or schools as may be provided by law for such district shall forfeit its portion of the common school fund during such neglect.

SEC. 9. The superintendent of public instruction, secretary of state, and attorney general, shall constitute a body corporate to be known as the Board of Education of Florida. The superintendent of public instruction shall be president thereof. The duties of the board of education shall be prescribed by the legislature.

GEORGIA.

On the 11th day of March, 1868, the constitutional convention of Georgia adopted a new constitution, which provides for education in Article VI:

ARTICLE VI.-EDUCATION.

SECTION 1. The general assembly, at its first session after the adoption of this constitution, shall provide a thorough system of general education, to be forever free to all children of the State, the expense of which shall be provided for by taxation or otherwise.

SEC. 2. The office of State school commissioner is hereby created. He shall be appointed by the governor with the consent of the senate, and shall hold his office for the same term as the governor. The general assembly shall provide for the said commissioner a competent salary and necessary clerks. He shall keep his office at the seat of government.

SEC. 3. The poll-tax allowed by this constitution, any educational fund now belonging to this State, except the endowment of and debt due to the State Uni