PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

All moneys raised by taxation in the towns and cities for the support of public schools, and all moneys which may be appropriated by the State for the support of common schools, shall be applied to, and expended in, no other schools than those which are conducted according to law, under the order and superintendence of the authorities of the town or city in which the money is to be expended; and such moneys shall never be appropriated to any religious sect for the maintenance, exclusively, of its own school. Article XVIII., Amendments to Constitution.

The phrases "public schools" and "common schools" have acquired under the legislation and practice of this State a well-settled signification. They are never applied to the higher seminaries of learning such as incorporated academies and colleges. Merrick v. Amherst, 12 Allen, 500; Jenkins v. Andover, 103 Mass. 94.

The obligations imposed on towns by the statute are to provide schools of certain grades for certain prescribed lengths of time; and beyond these periods the law imposes no obligation. The law prescribes no amount of money which shall be raised, and fixes no limit to the amount which it may be necessary to raise. Towns are obliged to maintain schools for certain periods during the year, and the committee have the

power to select and contract with the teachers. For the time during which the towns are obliged by law to keep the schools, they must pay such salaries as may be contracted for by the committee. The salaries can be fixed by law in no other way than by the committee. Taking this power away from the committee would break up the whole system established by law in regard to the public schools.

Whether there shall be any schools kept beyond the time required by the statute, is a matter depending wholly on the will and pleasure of the inhabitants of the towns. If the schools are continued, there is no one authorized by law to select and contract with the teachers but the committee. If the salaries contracted for by the committee are thought to be onerous, the town can stop the schools after the expiration of the time required by law. The only way left open by the statute for the town to reduce the expenses is not to continue the schools beyond the time required by the statute. There is no provision for the town to reduce the salaries, or to interfere with the contract made by the committee with the teachers.

But it is in the power of towns to resolve not to continue their schools beyond the limited period during which the law expressly requires that they should be continued. Beyond these required periods, the towns have the power of

controlling and limiting the times of keeping their schools, and in this way of controlling and limiting the amount of money to be raised for schools; though the towns have the right of raising as much money for this object as they may think proper, beyond what is positively required by law. The law fixes the smallest amount of instruction to be provided by towns, leaving with towns the right to provide such further amount as they may think proper. Batchelder v. Salem, 4 Cush. 599 (1849) ; Charlestown v. Gardner, et al., 98 Mass. 587 (1868).

It is provided by St. 1886, c. 313, that the school committee of any city or town may elect any duly qualified person to serve as a teacher in the public schools of such city or town during the pleasure of such committee; provided, such person has served as a teacher in the public schools of such city or town for a period of not less than one year.

In every public school having an average of fifty scholars, the town to which such school belongs shall employ one or more female assistants, unless such town votes to dispense with such assistant. Pub. Sts., c. 44, § 14.

Towns may hold real and personal estate in trust for the support of schools, and for the promotion of education within the limits of the town. Pub. Sts., c. 27, § 9.

Sewers. THE mayor and aldermen of a city, and the selectmen or road commissioners of a town, may lay, make, and maintain all such main drains or common sewers as they adjudge to be necessary for the public convenience or the public health, through the lands of any persons or corporations, and may repair the same whenever it is necessary; main drains and common sewers so laid shall be the property of the city or town. Cities and towns may, with the approval of the State board of health, obtained after a public hearing by said board of all parties interested, purchase or take land within their respective limits for the purification and disposal of sewage. Said board shall give notice of such hearing by publication in such newspapers and at such times as it may deem proper. Pub. Sts., c. 50, Pub. Sts., c. 50, § 1, amended by St. 1890, c. 124.

When land is taken by virtue of the preceding section, the proceedings in a city shall be the

same as in the laying out of highways or streets therein; and in towns, the same as in the laying out of town-ways. Pub. Sts., c. 50, § 2.

Damages occasioned by the laying, making, or maintaining of main drains or common sewers shall be ascertained and recovered in a city, as in the laying out of highways or streets therein; and in towns, as in laying out of town-ways. Pub. Sts., c. 50, § 3.

Every person who enters his particular drain into such main drain or common sewer, or who, by more remote means, receives benefit thereby for draining his cellar or land, shall pay to the city or town a proportional part of the charge of making and repairing the same, and of the charge, not already assessed, of making and repairing other main drains and common sewers through which the same discharges, to be ascertained, assessed, and certified, by the mayor and aldermen or selectmen; and notice thereof shall be given to the party to be charged, or to his tenant or lessee. Pub. Sts., c. 50, § 4.

The city council of a city or the legal voters of a town may adopt a system of sewerage for a part or the whole of its territory, and may provide that assessments made under section 4 shall be made upon owners of estates within such territory by a fixed uniform rate, based upon the estimated average cost of all the sewers therein, according to the frontage of such estates on any