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take effect, the comptroller of the city shall be notified thereof by the said board, and the said school-house and site may thereupon be used or disposed of, as a part of the general property of the city.

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.

28. The common council of the city of New York are hereby authorized and directed to raise by loan, in anticipation of the taxes, when necessary, all moneys required for erecting, purchasing or leasing school-houses, and procuring sites therefor, and the fitting up and furnishing thereof, and for alterations in or additions to the present school-buildings, or required for any other of the purposes authorized by this act.

§ 29. All expenses incurred for the support of common schools in the respective wards, shall be certified by the trustees of common schools in such ward, or a majority of them, and delivered to the inspectors of said ward; and it shall be the duty of said inspectors to examine and audit the same, and upon said inspectors being satisfied of their correctness, to certify the same to the board of education. All bills audited and paid shall be filed with

the board of education.

§ 30. No compensation shall be allowed to the commissioners, inspectors or trustees of common schools for any services performed by them, but the commissioners and inspectors shall receive their actual and reasonable expenses while attending to the duties of their office, to be audited and allowed by the board of education.

§ 31. Every school officer who shall refuse or neglect to render an account, or to pay over any balance in his hands, at the expiration of his term of office, shall for each offence forfeit the sum of fifty dollars, which sum, together with said unpaid balance, shall be sued for and collected by the board of supervisors, who shall prosecute without delay for the recovery of such forfeiture, together with the unpaid balance; and in case of the death of such school officer, suit may be brought against his representatives, and all monies recovered, after deducting expenses, shall be placed at the disposal of the board of education.

§ 32. Every school officer or teacher of a school or society, who shall wilfully sign a false report to the board of education, shall for each offence forfeit the sum of twenty-five dollars, and shall also be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.

§ 33. The following shall be, substantially, the form of oath or affirmation to be made by the teacher:

“A. B., of the city of New-York, teacher of No. department, being duly sworn or affirmed, declares and says, that to the best of (his or her) knowledge and belief, the average number of children, actual residents of the city and county of New York, at the time of attending said school, between the ages of four and twenty-one years, who attended said school or department, each school-time or half day, from day of to the first day of January, Said average having been obtained by adding together the number of scholars present each school-time, or half day and dividing the total by four hundred and sixty, agreeably to the fifteenth section of this act."

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§ 34. In any suit which shall hereafter be commenced against the commissioners or trustees of common schools, for any act performed by virtue of or under color of their offices, or for any refusal or omission to perform any duty enjoined by law, and which might have been the subject of an appeal to the superintendent, no costs shall be allowed to the plaintiff in cases where the court shall certify it appeared, on the trial of the cause, that the defendant acted in good faith. But this provision shall not extend to suits for penalties, nor to suits or proceedings to enforce the decisions of the superintend ent of common schools.

§ 35. All children between the ages of four and twenty-one, residing in the city and county, shall be entitled to attend any of the common schools therein; and the parents, guardians or other persons having the custody or care of such children, shall not be liable to any tax, assessment or imposition for the tuition of any children, other than is herein before provided.

$ 36. The free academy in the city of New-York shall be entitled to participate in the distribution of the income of the literature and other funds, in the same manner and upon the same conditions as the other academies of the state, and the regents of the university of the state of New-York shall pay annually to the board of education of the city and county of New-York, the distributive share of the said funds to which the said free academy shall by law be entitled,and which shall be applied and expended for library books for the said free academy.

§ 37. The clerk of the board of education is hereby authorized to administer oaths and take affidavits in all matters appertaining to the schools in the city and county of New-York, and for that purpose shall possess all the powers of a commissioner of deeds, but shall not be entitled to any of the fees or emoluments thereof.

§ 38. No school officer shall be interested in any contract, payments under which are to be made, in whole or in part, out of moneys derived from the school fund or raised by taxation for the support of common schools. No teacher employed in any of the schools entitled to participate in the appor tionment of the school moneys, shall hereafter be eligible to the office of commissioner, inspector or trustee of common schools.

§ 39. The common council shall provide and furnish suitable rooms, for the meeting of the board of education, and for the transaction of its busi

ness.

§ 40. The act entitled, "An act to extend to the city and county of New York the provisions of the general act in relation to common schools," passed April 11th, 1842, and an act amending the same, passed April 18th, 1843; and the act entitled, "An act more effectually to provide for common school education in the city and county of New-York," passed May 7th, 1844, and the several acts amending the same, passed respectively on May 11th, 1847; March 27th, 1848; April 11th, 1849; and the act authorizing the board of education of the city of New-York to establish evening schools for the education of apprentices, and others, passed March 25th, 1848; and an act authorizing the board of education of the city and county of New-York to establish a free academy in caid city, passed May 7th, 1847, and all other acts and parts of acts inconsistent with or repugnant to the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed.

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OSWEGO.

By chapter 116, laws of 1848, a city superintendent of common schools is authorized to be elected, who "shall have all the powers and perform all the duties, and be subject to all the liabilities and obligations of town superintendents of common schools in any town of the county of Oswego; and he shall also commence his term of office at the same time, and hold it for the same period as town superintendent." § 20.

By § 10 of the same act, as amended by the first section of chap. 182, laws of 1849, it is provided that "in case a vacancy, from any cause, shall happen in the office of superintendent of common schools, the common council may appoint, by ballot, a qualified person to fill such vacancy."

POUGHKEEPSIE.

[Laws of 1843. Chap. 211.]

AN ACT to establish Free Schools in the village of Poughkeepsie.

Passed April 18, 1843, by a two-third vote.

The People of the State of New-York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

§ 1. The village of Poughkeepsie shall form a permanent school district, not subject to alteration by the commissioners of common schools for the town in which the said village is situated.

§ 2. There shall be elected in said district the first year, twelve commis. sioners of common schools, as soon after the passage of this act as the trustees of the village of Poughkeepsie can order an election, for the choice of said commissioners, after giving one week's notice in all the papers of the village, of the time and place of holding said election; the twelve commissioners then elected shall constitute, and are hereby denominated, the Board of Education for the village of Poughkeepsie. Four of the said board shall go out of office at the expiration of the first year, four at the expiration of the second year, four at the expiration of the third year-four persons being annually elected to supply their places,who shall hold their office in said board for three years. The annual election shall be held on the first Tuesday in June of each year.

83. The trustees of the village of Poughkeepsie shall appoint inspectors of the said elections, and of all other elections to be held under this act, within thirty days next preceding the time of holding the same; and notice thereof shall be given in the same manner, and the same shall be held and conducted, the votes shall be canvassed, and the result of the election determined in the same manner as in the case of the annual election of other officers of the said village.

4. In case of vacancy in the office of any such commissioners, or in case no person shall be elected thereto, by reason of two or more persons having an equal number of votes, the trustees shall appoint an inhabitant of the village to fill the same, and the person appointed shall hold his office until the next election of commissioners of common schools.

§ 5. Immediately after the election of the said board of education, they shall proceed, under the provisions of this law, to build and furnish one good and substantial school-house, containing two rooms, of sufficient capacity to accommodate not less than one hundred and twenty-five pupils each, and to rent five other rooms for primary schools; said primary schools to be opened for the reception of pupils by the first of May next ensuing, or as soon thereafter as practicable, and the other schools on or before the first of November next ensuing. Whenever the board may deem necessary, they shall have authority to establish other primary schools; and for the purpose of defraying the expenses of the five primary schools, and the schools to be kept in the building provided for in this section, for the first year after the passage of this act, the trustees of the corporation of the village of Poughkeepsie shall levy and raise the sum of fifteen hundred dollars.

6. The trustees of the village of Poughkeepsie are hereby authorized and required to borrow on the bond of the corporation, at a rate of interest not exceeding seven per cent. per annum, for such a term of years as they may deem proper, the sum of three thousand dollars, for the purchase of a site and erection of a school-house, as is provided for in the preceding section; the money loaned to be payable in equal annual instalments of five hundred dollars per annum, after the expiration of the term of years for which it may be borrowed.

§ 7. It shall be the duty of the board of education to make to the trustees of the village of Poughkeepsie, who shall cause it to be published in at least two papers of the said village, an annual report, on or before the first Tuesday in February of each year, setting forth the number and condition of each school under their charge, and a detail of all the expenses during the past year, and all other particulars relating to the schools.

§ 8. In their annual report, the said board of education shall fix and determine, and certify the amount of money which, when added to the money annually apportioned to the said corporation, out of the funds belonging to the state, shall be necessary to support all the schools under their superintendence. The said amount shall in no case exceed four times the amount which shall have been apportioned out of the funds belonging to the state as aforesaid, for the year next preceding.

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§ 9. On the day of the annual charter election of said village, the trustees shall state to the citizens the amount recommended by the board of education to be raised for the support of schools for the ensuing year, and the electors may vote the sum reported by said board, or any other amount they shall deem proper, not inconsistent with the preceding section.

§ 10. The trustees of said village shall annually levy and raise the amount of money so voted, at the same time and in the same manner as the other general taxes of the said village are levied and raised; and a separate column shall be provided in the general assessment rolls of the said village, in which shall be inserted by the village trustees the amount of tax assessed for the support of common schools.

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§ 11. All moneys levied and raised for the support of common schools, together with the public moneys received from the state, shall be paid to the treasurer of the village of Poughkeepsie, and shall be kept by him in the same manner as other moneys of said village are kept, and shall be paid out by said treasurer from time to time, upon the resolution of the board of education, duly certified by the clerk thereof, and not otherwise.

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§ 12. Whenever the said board of education shall deem an additional school-house necessary, they shall mention the same in their annual report, together with the location they propose for it, the cost of a lot for the building, a plan of the building and an estimate of the cost of it. And the electors of the village, at the annual election on the first Tuesday of June for four members of the board of education, as is herein before provided for, shall vote by ballot for or against the erection of said school-house, under such regulations for conducting the election as the trustees of the village shall prescribe; and it shall not be lawful to erect said school-house until a majority of electors voting at such election shall decide in favor of it; and the cost of building and furnishing of said school-house shall in no case exceed the sum of three thousand dollars.

§ 13. Whenever the electors shall decide in favor of the erection of an additional school-house, it shall be the duty of the trustees of the village of Poughkeepsie to borrow on the bond of the village, at a rate of interest not exceeding seven per cent. per annum, the sum of three thousand dollars, for the erection of said school-house; but no part of said loan shall be payable in a less term than twelve years and then to be payable in equal annual instalments of five hundred dollars each. And all the loans authorized by this act, for the purchase of sites and erection of school-houses, shall not exceed the sum of twelve thousand dollars.

§ 14. The trustees of said village are hereby authorized to raise by tax upon the real and personal property of said village, in the same manner as the general taxes of said village are levied and collected, the annual interest of the above mentioned loan or loans, and to pay over the same in discharge of such interest; and also in each year in which an instalment of the above loan or loans shall become due, to raise,, levy and collect, in the same manner, a sum equal to that instalment, and to pay over the same in discharge thereof.

§ 15. The said board of education, in addition to the powers and duties prescribed by this act, shall perform all the duties, and shall have and possess all the rights, powers and authority of commissioners of common schools in the several towns of this state, which shall not conflict with the provisions of this law.

§ 16. ` The said board of education shall have power to establish and cause to be kept, a school or schools in said village for the instruction of colored children,

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§ 17. The said board of education, in addition to performing all the duties of commissioners of common schools, shall require three of their number to visit each school once a week, and render such assistance to the teacher and advice to the pupils as may be expedient.

§ 18. The said board of education shall make by-laws to regulate their proceedings, and shall have the entire control and management of all the common schools of the village, and the property connected therewith.

§ 19. The said board of education shall annually report to the commissioners of the town of Poughkeepsie, the number of children over the ages of five and under sixteen years, in said district.

$ 20. The commissioners of common schools of the town of Poughkeepsie shall pay over to the treasurer of said village the amount of the public money that said village is entitled to receive from the State.

§ 21. The said board of education shall have control of the district library, shall employ a librarian, and shall, from time to time, make such regulations respecting it as they shall deem necessary.

§ 22. The services of the board of education, designated by this act, shall be gratuitous, and any person elected a member of said board who shall refuse to serve, shall be liable to a penalty of twenty-five dollars, to be sued for and recovered by the trustees of the village, and the money to be applied to the purposes of education.

§ 23. The presént Lancaster school may, with the consent of the trustees thereof and not otherwise, constitute one of the common schools in said village, and shall be conducted and supported as other schools under this act.

§ 24. All previous acts relating to common schools in the village of Poughkeepsie, conflicting with this act, shall be, and are, hereby repeal

ed.

S25. This act shall not take effect unless approved by a majority of the legal voters of the village of Poughkeepsie, at a special election to be called for that purpose by the trustees of the village, within thirty days after the passage of this act, public notice of which shall be given in all the village papers, and by hand-bills, for at least one week before holding the election. The electors shall vote by ballot, the ballots having written or printed upon them the words "for free schools," or "against free schools;', and the election shall be conducted as the trustees of said village may prescribe, and they shall certify the result thereof; and if a majority of the said ballots shall be "for free schools," then this act shall take effect immediately.

ROCHESTER.

[Chap. 262, laws of 1850, as amended by chap. 389, laws of 1851.]

By § 9 of Title II, two Commissioners of Common Schools are required to be annually elected in each ward, on the first Tuesday in March.

"For the election of commissioners of common schools the electors of each ward shall deposit their ballots, containing the name of one person designated for the office; the two persons having the highest number of votes shall be declared to be elected; no ballot. which contains more than one name shall be counted" § 17. By § 30. in case a vacancy shall occur in the office, "the Common Council may, in their discretion, fill such vacancy, by the ap

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