$ 20.

The present directors of said districts one (1) and five (5) shall be the directors of this contemplated district from the taking effect of this act until the proper organization of said board is effected thereunder.

§ 21. All prior acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed.

§ 22. This act is hereby declared to be a public act, and shall take effect and be in force from and after the first (1) day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven. APPROVED March 1, 1867.

CORDOVA SCHOOL DISTRICT.

AN ACT for the establishment of a system of graded schools in the town of Cordova.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly: That all the territory within the limits of township twenty (20) North, range one (1) East of the fourth (4) principal meridian, and all within the limits of section thirty-one (31), thirty-two (32), and west half of thirty-three (w 33), fractional south half of thirty (frl. s. 30), south half of twentynine (s. 29), and southwest quarter of twenty-eight (s. w. 28), in township twenty (20) north, range two (2) east of the fourth (4) principal meridian, Rock Island county, Illinois, is hereby erected into a common school district, to be known as Cordova School District.

§ 2. All school lands, school funds, or other real or personal estate, notes, bonds or obligations belonging to township twenty (20) north, range two (2) east of the fourth (4) principal meridian, Rock Island county, Illinois, held or owned for school purposes, shall be divided between the Cordova School District and the portion of the township without the same, in the proportion and manner following: The school trustees of said township shall, within thirty days after the first election contemplated by this act, appoint one commissioner, and the board of education hereinafter named shall appoint one commissioner, who are freeholders, one a resident of said Cordova School District, the other of said township without the school district, who, after being sworn well and truly to discharge their duties, shall ascertain the whole number of persons under the age of 21 years residing in the whole of said township; then ascertain the whole number under 21 years of age residing in said Cordova School District, within said. township, which will show the number of persons within the limits of that part of the school district within the township, and the number in the township outside of said district; and thereupon said trustees shall divide and apportion said funds, real and personal estate, bonds, notes and obligations of said township, between the Cordova School District and the township without the district, according to the above named enumeration of persons under the age of 21 years residing in said township. Said trustees and board of education shall have power to supply any vacancy occurring among said commissioners.

§ 3. Said trustees, or other person or persons having custody or control of said funds or lands, shall pay over and deliver to the board of education of Cordova School District, the portion of the funds and other personal estate, notes, bonds and obligations, to which the school district may be entitled, and execute and deliver to the board of education the necessary deeds and other conveyances for the share of real estate due said district under said division.

§ 4. The public schools of said district shall be under the exclusive management and control of a board of education, to consist of six (6) persons. The board shall at their first meeting elect one of their number president, one secretary, and one who is not a member of the board treasurer, who shall give bonds with approved security, for all moneys put in his custody, and pay the same upon the properly authenticated orders of the board of education. Thus organized, they shall be known as "the board of education of the Cordova School District."

§ 5. Said board shall have exclusive control over the school lands, funds and other means of said district for school purposes, and shall have full power to do all acts and things in relation thereto to promote the end herein designed; may sell or lease said lands, and other lands or property which may have been or may hereafter be donated, purchased or designed for school purposes in said district, on such terms, for cash or credit, and at such times as they may see proper. They shall have full power to receive conveyances or donations, and to make the necessary deeds or leases for lands; and all conveyances by the board shall be signed and acknowledged before some competent officer by the president and secretary of said board: Provided, however, that no sale or lease of land for more than one year shall be made without the concurrence of tive members of the board. A majority of the board, with or without the president, shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, and in the absence of the president they may appoint one of their own number president pro tempore. The president shall only vote in case of a tie, when he shall have a casting vote.

§ 6. Said board shall have full power to purchase or lease sites for school houses, with the necessary grounds therefor; to erect, hire or purchase buildings for school houses, and keep them in repair; to furnish schools with necessary books, fixtures, furniture, apparatus, and library or libraries; to establish, conduct and maintain a system of public graded schools, to be kept in one or more buildings in said district; to supply the insufficiency of school funds for the payment of teachers and other school purposes and expenses, by school taxes to be levied and collected as hereinafter provided; to determine the number and qualifications of teachers; to give to the same certificate of grade, upon a satisfactory examination; to make the appointment and fix the amount of compensation of teachers within said district, and of all other agents and servants: Provided, that the board of education shall in no case receive any compensation for their ordinary services as officers over the schools in said district; to prescribe the studies to be taught and books to be used in said schools, including

maps, charts, globes, etc. To pass by-laws, rules and regulations to carry these powers into complete execution, and for the government of their own body, their officers, agents or servants; and providing for their meetings and adjournments, and generally to have and possess all rights, powers and authority necessary for the proper establishment and control of an effective system of graded schools within said district, and they shall visit and inspect each and all the schools therein as often as may be necessary.

§ 7. It shall be the duty of the board of education to determine the amount of money needed and to be raised for school purposes, over and above the amount from the school funds hereinbefore mentioned, or from other sources: Provided, said board shall not for any one year require to be raised more than 2 per centum for the benefit of said schools on the assessed value of the real and personal property of said district for such year, without a majority of the inhabitants of said district authorize them to do so at an election to be held for that purpose, at such time, and conducted in such manner as the board may direct; nor shall said board make any loan whatsoever for school purposes, or for purchasing or leasing grounds, or leasing or erecting buildings for school purposes, without a previous authority by such vote; but with the concurrence of a majority of such voters it shall be lawful to raise such sum, either by taxation or loan, as may not exceed in any one year, as a tax, 2 per centum, or as a loan, 8 per centum of all the real or personal property of said district; and before the first day of September each year they shall determine the amount required to be collected by taxation for expenditure for one year from the first day of October then next ensuing, for school purposes generally, and certify the amount to the county clerk of Rock Island county.

§ 8. It shall thereupon be the duty of the county clerk to levy said sum on all the real estate and personal property of said district according to the assessment and valuation thereof for the current year, equally, by a certain rate per centum, and collect the same as other taxes are collected; and when said taxes are collected they shall be used and applied for school purposes only, and shall be paid only on the order of said board.

§ 9. It shall be the duty of the board to cause an abstract of the whole number of children under the age of 21 years within said district to be made and furnish the same, with such other information as is required in sections 36 and 79 of the act to establish and maintain a system of free schools, approved Feb. 16, 1857, to the school commissioner of Rock Island county, Illinois, within ten days after the same shall have been ascertained; and the school commissioner shall pay annually to the said board, for the exclusive use of said district, the amount the district is entitled to receive from the funds that are or may be in his hands subject to distribution for the support and benefit of the schools in said county, in accordance with the provisions of the free school law now in force, the same as if no special charter had been conferred upon the schools of Cordova School District.

§ 10. No person shall be a member of the board of education unless he be a householder and freeholder, and a resident of said district; said board to be elected annually, on the first Monday of August, as hereinafter provided. The first election shall be advertised by the directors by posting six or more written notices in the most public places of said district, at least ten days prior to said first Monday in August. Said notices shall state where the election is to be held, the object of holding the same, and the hour of opening and closing the polls; at which election the directors, or a majority of them, shall act as judges. There shall be at said election six persons chosen, qualified as before mentioned, as members of the board of education, two of whom shall serve for one year, two for two years, and two for three years, which shall be decided at the first meeting of the board by drawing lots, and at every annual election thereafter there shall two members be chosen to serve for three years from the date of their election. It is provided that in case of death or removal of a member of the board from the limits of said district, their office shall be vacant, and said vacancy shall be filled for the said unexpired term by appointment by the board of education. All officers under this act shall hold their offices until the election and qualification of their

successors.

§ 11. Said board shall cause all funds not needed for immediate use to be loaned at the rate of ten per cent per annum, payable semiannually, in advance. No loan shall be for a longer period than five years, and if exceeding one hundred dollars shall be secured by unincumbered real estate of at least double the value of the loan, without estimating perishable improvements. For any sum of one hundred dollars or under, good and satisfactory personal security may be taken.

§ 12. All notes and securities shall be to the board of education, for school purposes, and the borrower shall be at all expenses of examining titles, preparing and recording papers, etc.

§ 13. In settling the estates of deceased persons, debts for school purposes shall be preferred to all others except those attending the last illness of the deceased and his funeral expenses, excluding the physician's bill.

§ 14. If default be made in the payment of interest or of principal, when due, interest at the rate of twelve per cent per annum on the amount due shall be charged from the default, and may be recovered by suit, Suit may be for the interest only, whether the principal be due or not; and if the interest be not paid within ten days after the same becomes due, the principal, at the option of the holder of the notes, shall thereby become due and may be recovered by suit if

necessary.

§ 15. All judgments for principal or interest, or both, shall draw interest at the rate of twelve per cent from the rendition of judgment, and said board may purchase in property, sold on execution or decree, in their own favor, as other persons, with right of redemption as in other cases. No judgment for costs shall be rendered against said board to be paid out of the school funds.

§ 16. If the security for any loan or other debt due the school district, in the judgment of the board, becomes doubtful or insecure, they shall cause the debtor to be notified thereof, and if he do not immediately secure the same to the satisfaction of the board, the principal and interest shall thereby become due immediately and suit may be brought against all the makers of the note, although such conditions or stipulations be not inserted in the note.

§ 17. The board of education shall publish annually a statement of the number of pupils instructed the preceeding year, the several branches of education pursued, the receipts and expenditures of each department of the school, specifying the resources of such receipts and the object of such expenditures.

§ 18. Said board shall have full power to admit persons who do not reside within said district into said schools, upon such terms as they may think proper.

§ 19. All persons over the age of five years and under the age of twenty-one years, residing within said district, shall be admitted to said schools free, or upon the payment of such rates of tuition as the the board shall prescribe, but nothing herein contained shall prevent persons being suspended, expelled, or kept out of said schools altogether, for improper conduct, at the option of the said board.

§ 20. The board of education of the Cordova School District shall be considered, and they are, so far as loans, contracts, purchases and assessment of taxes are concerned, the legal successors of the former board of directors of said territory comprised in said Cordova school district, and all the acts of said prior directors bearing upon and connected with and preliminary to this act, shall be and are hereby made legal.

§ 21. This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

APPROVED February 16, 1865.

DECATUR SCHOOL DISTRICT.

AN ACT to create a school district in the town of Decatur, Illinois, to be known as the Decatur School District.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly: That all of sections one, two, three. eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and the north half of sections twenty-two, twenty-three and twenty-four, and also the north half of the south half of said sections twenty-two, twenty-three and twenty-four, all in township number sixteen north, of range number two east of the third principal meridian, is hereby constituted a school district, to be known as Decatur School District.

§ 2. The government of said district for school purposes shall be vested in a board of three persons, to be styled the board of education of Decatur School District, and to be elected, qualified and organized as hereinafter provided.

§ 3. There shall be elected by the qualified voters of said district, on the first Tuesday of April next, three persons, who shall constitute