Lewiston School Fund.

[Laws of 1826, p. 239. 1 Rev. Stat. 614.]

§ 1. The property now belonging to the Lewiston School Fund shall remain a continual fund, the interest of which shall be inviolably appropriated to the support of common schools in the village of Lewiston, under the direction of the commissioners of the Lewiston school fund for the time being.

§ 2. The commissioners of the Lewiston school fund shall not exceed three in number, and shall hold their offices for two years, and until others shall be appointed. In case of vacancies in the office of such commissioners, the vacancies shall be filled and all appointments hereafter be made by the governor and senate, in the same manner that other appointments are made.

§ 3. All such commissioners hereafter to be appointed, shall continue in office for two years and until others shall be appointed, unless in cases of appointment to fill vacancies, where the term shall expire with that of the other commissioners.

§ 4. Every person hereafter appointed a commissioner of the Lewiston school fund shall, before he enters on the duties of his office, give to the trustees of the corporation of the village of Lew. iston, a bond in the penalty of fifteen thousand dollars, with two or more sureties, conditioned that he shall faithfully execute the duties of his office-which bond shall be deposited with the clerk of the said corporation.

§ 5. The commissioners of the Lewiston school fund shall have power and it shall be their duty,

1. To sell or lease the lots of land in the village of Lewiston, belonging to the said fund, on such terms as they may judge most conducive to the interests of the fund:

2. To certify to the commissioners of the Land office, on receiving payment for such sales, a description of the land sold, the price, the time when sold, the name of the purchasers, and that the consideration money and interest has been fully paid:

3. To loan all moneys which may come to their hands, belonging to the fund:

4. To take a bond on making such loans to themselves as such commissioners, secured by a mortgage on unincumbered real property, of at least double the value of the sum loaned, exclusive of buildings:

5. To collect all bonds and mortgages or other debts due to the fund:

6. To pay over to the trustees of common schools in the said village, all moneys received by the commissioners for interest on loans or rents of lands belonging to said fund:

7. To keep suitable books and accounts of all matters relating to the management of said fund, which shall be open to the inspection of the inhabitants of the village at all reasonable times: and

8. To deliver, at the expiration of their several offices, to the remaining commissioners or their successors in office, all the books and papers relating to said fund.

§ 6. Before the trustees of common schools in said village shall be entitled to receive such moneys from the commissioners, the trustees shall execute a bond to the supervisors of the town of Lewiston, in such penalty and with such sureties as the supervisor shall approve, conditioned that the trustees shall faithfully apply such moneys towards the support of schools in the village of Lewiston, for the benefit of such of its inhabitants as shall have resided in the village at least six months; and shall render a just aud true account of the expenditure of such moneys to the supervisor, when required.

§ 7. It shall be the duty of the trustees of the corporation of the village of Lewiston, in case of any breach of the conditions of the bond given by such commissioners, and of the supervisor of the town of Lewiston, in case of any breach of the conditions of the bond given by the trustees of common schools for the village of Lewiston, to sue for and receive on said bonds all damages which may have accrued by such breaches for the use of said schools.

PART III.

INSTRUCTIONS, DIGEST & EXPOSITION

OF THE

GENERAL LAWS

RELATING TO

COMMON SCHOOLS.

WITH FORMS, &c., FOR THE USE OF SCHOOL OFFICERS.

CHAPTER I.

OF THE SCHOOL FUND AND STATE TAX, AND THEIR APPORTIONMENT AND DISTRIBUTION AMONG THE SEVERAL

COUNTIES, CITIES AND TOWNS.

COMMON SCHOOLS in the several school districts of this state are FREE to all persons residing in the district, over four and under twenty-one years of age; and all children enumerated in the annual reports of the trustees of the several districts are legally ENTITLED to attend the schools of such district. Children whose parents or guardians are non-residents of the district in which they may desire to attend school, may be admitted into such school, with the approbation in writing of the trustees thereof, or of a majority of them. If any terms of admission are intended to be imposed, other than those common to resident children of the district, such terms must be distinctly specified at the time of such admission : otherwise it will be presumed that the non-resident children so admitted are to share in all the privileges of the school with resident ehildren of the district.

The capital of the common school fund, consisting of the proeeeds of the sales of all lands belonging to the state, is, by the constitution, to be "preserved inviolate," and its revenues to be applied to the support of common schools. This fund amounted on the 30th of September last, to $2,243,563.36; consisting of bonds for lands sold, and for loans, bank stock, state stock, &c., yielding an

annual revenue of about $135,000 for distribution among the several school districts.

By chapter 237 of the Laws of 1838, the sum of $110,000 was annually appropriated from the revenue of the United States Deposite Fund, together with an additional amount of $55,000 for the purchase of district libraries. The aggregate amount therefore to be annually apportioned and distributed from the common school fund is $300,000. The constitution also provides that "the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars of the revenues of the United States Deposite Fund shall each year be appropriated to and made a part of the capital of the said common school fund ;" and by § 13 of chapter 382 of the laws of 1849, "whenever any money is paid into the treasury of the state for or on account of the common school fund, it shall be the duty of the comptroller to credit the common school fund with interest on the sum so paid in, at the rate of six per cent. per annum, for the time the same shall remain in the treasury."

By the "Act to establish Free Schools throughout the State," it is provided that there shall hereafter be raised by tax, in each and every year, upon the real and personal estate within this state, the sum of eight hundred thousand dollars, to be levied, assessed and collected in the mode prescribed by the revised statutes, relating to the assessment and collection of taxes, and when collected be paid over to the respective county treasurers, subject to the order of the state superintendent of common schools, who is required to ascertain the portion of said sum to be assessed and collected in each of the several counties of this state, by dividing the said sum among the several counties, according to the valuation of real and personal estate therein, as it shall appear by the assessment of the year next preceding the one in which said sum is to be raised, and to certify to the clerk of each county, before the tenth day of July in each year, the amount to be raised by tax in such county; and it is made the duty of the several county clerks to deliver to the board of supervisors of their respective counties, a copy of such certificate, on the first day of their annual session, and of the board of supervisors to assess such amount upon the real and personal estate of such county, in the manner provided by law for the assessment and collection of taxes.

The state superintendent of common schools is required on or before the first day of January in every year, to apportion and divide, one-third of the sum so raised by general tax, and onethird of all other moneys appropriated to the 'support of common schools, among the several school districts, parts of districts, and separate neighborhoods in this state, from which reports shall have been received in accordance with law, in the following manner, yiz: to each separate neighborhood belonging to a school district in some adjoining state, a sum of money equal to thirty-three cents for each child in such neighborhood (between the ages of four and twenty-one); but the sum so to be apportioned and paid to any

such neighborhood, is in no case, to exceed the sum of twenty-four dollars, and the remainder of such one-third is to be apportioned and divided equally among the several districts; and the state superintendent of common schools is, by proper regulations and instructions to be prescribed by him, is to provide for the payment of such moneys to the trustees of such separate neighborhoods and school districts. It is also the duty of the state superintendent of common schools, on or before the first day of January, in every year, to apportion and divide the remaining two-thirds of the said amount of eight hundred thousand dollars, together with the remaining two-thirds of all other moneys appropriated by the state for the support of common schools among the several counties, cities and towns of the state, in the mode now prescribed by law for the division and apportionment of the income of the common school fund; and the share of the several towns and wards so apportioned and divided, is to be paid over, on and after the first Tuesday in February, in each year, to the several town superintendents of common schools, and ward or city officers, entitled by law to receive the same.

When the census, or returns, upon which an apportionment is to be made, shall be so far defective, in respect to any county, city, or town, as to render it impracticable for the superintendent to ascertain the share of school moneys, which ought then to be apportioned to such county, city, or town, he is required to ascertain, by the best evidence in his power, the facts upon which the ratio of such apportionment shall depend, and to make the apportionment accordingly; and whenever, in consequence of the division of a town, or the erection of a new town, in any county, the apportionment then in force shall become unjust, as between two or more of the towns of such county, he is required to make a new apportionment of the school moneys next to be distributed amongst such towns, ascertaining by the best evidence in his power, the facts upon which the ratio of apportionment as to such towns, shall depend. He is also to certify each apportionment made by him, to the comptroller.

Under these provisions the sum of $1,100,000 is annually to be apportioned by the state superintendent among the several counties, cities and towns, for the support of common schools; of which the sum of $55,000 is to be applied to library purposes, and the residue exclusively to the payment of the wages of duly qualified teachers, in the mode prescribed by law.

Treasurers of counties have no right to deduct from the amount of the school moneys apportioned to each town a commission of one per cent. They are unquestionably entitled to such a commission under § 26, 1 R. S. 370 on the moneys received and paid by them for the use of the common schools; but they have no right to diminish the amount of the moneys placed in their hands for distribution, under an apportionment by the superintendent. Their commission is a charge upon the county, and not upon the common school fund.-Com. School Dec. 279.