tion may remove a member of such board for cause, after service upon him of written charges and an opportunity to be heard in defense thereof.

§ 1104. Officers of board; salaries and expenses; meetings. There shall be a president, vice-president and secretary of such board, to be elected by a majority vote of the members of the board. The president and vice-president shall be elected for terms of one year. The term of office of the secretary shall be fixed by the board. The secretary need not be a member of the board. His salary or compensation shall be prescribed by the board, not exceeding two thousand dollars a year, subject to the approval of the commissioner of education. The members of the board shall serve without compensation, but they shall be entitled to their expenses actually incurred in attending the meetings of the board and in performing services as members thereof.

The board shall meet annually in the education building at Albany, on the second Wednesday in January, and shall have stated meetings at the same place, at least once in each three months, as determined by the regulations of the board. If a member of the board be absent from two consecutive stated meetings without a reasonable excuse for such absence, accepted by the board, his office shall be declared vacant by the commissioner of education, upon notice being received by him of such unexcused absences, and such vacancy shall be filled as herein before provided.

§ 1105. State treasurer ex-officio treasurer of fund; investments. The state treasurer shall be ex-officio treasurer of the retirement fund and shall be the custodian thereof. The moueys belonging thereto shall be deposited by him in banks or trust companies and the law relating to the deposit of state funds in such banks and trust companies shall apply so far as may be to the deposit of moneys belonging to the said retirement fund. The state teachers' retirement fund board shall determine from time to time as to what portion of the retirement fund shall be permanently invested. Such fund shall only be invested in those securities in which the trustees of a savings bank may invest the moneys deposited therein, as provided by section one hundred and forty-six of the banking law. When such board shall determine that any portion of said fund should be so invested, it shall by resolution, duly adopted by a majority vote of the members of the board, direct the treasurer to invest such portion of the fund in any of said securities.

1106. Powers of board. The state teachers' retirement fund.

board, subject to the provisions of this article and of any other statute, shall have power:

1. To appoint and employ such officers and employees as may be necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this article, and fix their compensation.

2. To prescribe the duties of its secretary and other officers and employees.

3. To conduct investigations into all matters relating to the operation of this article, and subpoena witnesses and compel their attendance to testify before it in respect to such matters, and any member of the board may administer oaths or affirmations to such witnesses.

4. To require boards of education, trustees, and other school authorities, and all officers, having duties to perform in respect to contributions by teachers to the retirement fund, to report to the board from time to time, as to such matters pertaining to the payment of such contributions, as it shall deem advisable, and may prescribe the form of such reports.

5. To draw its warrants upon the state treasurer for the payment of annuities to teachers who have been retired as provided in this article, and for the purchase of such securities as the board shall have decided to purchase as provided in this article. No payments shall be made from the teachers' retirement fund except by warrant signed by the president of the board, drawn after resolution duly adopted at a meeting of the board by a majority of its members, which adoption shall be attested by the secretary of the board.

1107. Rules of board. The state teachers' retirement fund board shall make rules not inconsistent with the provisions of this article which, when approved by the commissioner of education, shall have the force and effect of law. Such rules shall

1. Provide for the conduct and regulation of the meetings of the board and the transaction of the business thereof.

2. Provide for the enforcement and carrying into effect of the provisions of this article.

3. Prescribe the manner of payment of contributions by teachers to the retirement fund, and the payment of annuities therefrom.

4. Establish a system of accounts showing the condition of such fund, and receipts and expenditures.

5. Prescribe the method of making payments from such fund to annuitants and giving receipts for such payments.

6. Prescribe the forms of warrants, vouchers, receipts, reports and accounts to be used by annuitants and officers having duties to perform in respect to such fund.

7. Regulate the duties of boards of education, trustees, and other officers imposed upon them by this article, in respect to the contributions by teachers to the retirement fund, and the deduction of such contributions from teachers' salaries.

§ 1108. Contributions by teachers; deductions from salaries. All teachers employed in the public schools in this state except in those counties, districts or cities in which provision is already made by statute for the retirement of public school teachers and the payment of annuities or pensions to such teachers, who enter into contracts for such employment after the date on which this act takes effect, shall contribute to the teachers' retirement fund one per centum of the salaries to be paid to such teachers annually according to the terms of such contracts. On and after such date all such contracts shall be deemed to have been made subject to the provisions of this article, and the requirement as to such contribution shall become a part of and enter into all such contracts. Any teacher employed under a contract entered into prior to the taking effect of this act may elect to contribute one per centum annually of the salary paid pursuant to such contract and shall thereupon become entitled to all the privileges conferred by this article.

Boards of education, trustees and other school authorities having duties to perform in respect to the payment of salaries to public school teachers in their districts or cities, shall cause to be deducted from each warrant or order issued to any of such teachers for the payment of the salary of such teachers, the amount due by such teacher to the teachers' retirement fund.

§ 1108-a. Method of payment into state treasury. 1. The school commissioner of each school commissioner district shall include in his annual report to the commissioner of education, a statement showing the amount required to be deducted from the salaries of teachers in each school district under his supervision, under section eleven hundred and eight of this act.

2. The superintendent of schools of each city shall also include in his annual report to the commissioner of education, a statement showing the amount required to be deducted under the provisions of section eleven hundred and eight of this act from the salaries of teachers employed in such city.

3. The school commissioner of each school commissioner district and the superintendent of each city shall file with the treas

urer of the county in which such school commissioner district or city is located, a statement showing the amount respectively reported by them to the commissioner of education as provided in subdivisions one and two of this section as being the amount required to be deducted from the salaries of teachers in their respective school commissioner districts and cities under the provisions of section eleven hundred and eight of this act. Such statements to the county treasurer shall also respectively show the aggregate amount required to be so deducted from the salaries of teachers employed in each school commissioner district, in each town in such school commissioner district and from the salaries of teachers employed in each city.

4. The school commissioner of each school commissioner district shall file with the supervisor of each town within such school commissioner district at the time he files his certificate of apportionment of public school moneys, a statement showing the amount required to be deducted from the salaries of the teachers employed in each school district in such town. The superintendent of each city shall file with the chamberlain or treasurer of such city a duplicate of the certificate which he is required to file with the county treasurer under subdivision three of this section.

5. When the commissioner of education apportions the money appropriated by the legislature for the support of common schools to the several counties of the state, he shall cause to be determined from the official reports of school commissioners and city superintendents the amount required to be deducted from the salaries of the teachers employed in each county who come under the provisions of this act as required by section eleven hundred and eight.

6. The commissioner of education shall include in the certificate which he files with the comptroller showing the amount of state funds apportioned for the support of common schools to each county, a statement showing the amount required to be deducted from the salaries of teachers in each of such counties, as required under section eleven hundred and eight of this act.

7. The comptroller shall issue his warrant to the state treasurer directing such treasurer to credit to the retirement fund created herein from the appropriation for the support of common schools an amount equal to the aggregate amount required to be deducted from the salaries of teachers in the several counties of the state as shown by the certificate of the commissioner of edu cation filed with him as directed in subdivision six of this section.

8. The comptroller, in issuing his warrant to the state treasurer for the payment to each county of that portion of the moneys appropriated for the support of common schools and payable on or before March first of each year, shall deduct therefrom an amount equal to the amount required to be deducted from the salaries of teachers as shown by the certificate of the commissioner of education filed with the comptroller as required by subdivision six of this section.

9. The county treasurer of each county when paying to the supervisors of the towns of such county and to the chamberlain or treasurer of a city in such county the first half of the money. apportioned annually for the support of common schools shall deduct from the amount apportioned to each town and city an amount equal to the amount to be deducted from the salaries of the teachers in such town or city as shown by the certificate of the school commissioners and city superintendents filed with such treasurer as directed by subdivision three of this section.

10. The supervisor of each town shall pay to the collector or treasurer of each school district in such town or to the teachers employed in such districts toward their salaries on the order of the trustees of such districts the amount apportioned to such districts respectively less the amount required to be deducted from the salaries of the teachers in such districts as shown by the certificate of the school commissioner filed with such supervisors as directed by subdivision four of this section.

1109. Retirement of teachers. 1. A teacher who has taught in public schools for a period of twenty-five years, at least the last fifteen years of which period shall have been taught in the public schools in those districts or cities in this state which are subject to the provisions of this article shall, upon his retirement from actual service as such teacher, on and after August first, nineteen hundred and thirteen, be entitled to an annuity of a sum equal to onehalf of the annual salary paid to such teacher at the time of such retirement, provided that no annuity shall exceed the sum of six hundred dollars.

2. A teacher who has taught in public schools for a period of fifteen years, at least the last nine of which were taught in the public schools in those districts or cities which are subject to this article, who is either physically or mentally incapable of teaching may be retired, and shall, upon his retirement, be en