WILLIAMSBURGH.

[Laws of 1851, Chap. 171.]

AN ACT in relation to common schools in the city of Williamsburgh. Passed April 14, 1851, "three-fifths being present."

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

§ 1. The trustees of common schools in the city of Williamsburgh, holding office at the passage of this act, whose term, under the provisions of chapter one hundred and eighty-one, laws of eighteen hundred and forty-four, would expire in May, eighteen hundred and fifty-two, shall hold office until the first Monday in January, eighteen hundred and fify-two, and no longer. The trustees so holding office, whose term would expire in May, eighteen hundred and fifty-three, shall hold office until the first Monday in January, eighteen hundred and fifty-three, and no longer. And the trustees who shall be elected at the annual district meetings in May, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, shall hold office until the first Monday in January, eighteen hundred and fifty-four, and no longer.

§ 2. At each annual election for charter officers hereafter to be held in said city, there shall be chosen in each ward, one trustee of common schools, whose term of office shall commence on the first Monday in January next succeeding his election, and continue three years. All persons qualified to vote for members of the common council in said city, shall be entitled to vote for school trustees, and the election shall be conducted in the manner prescribed by law for other elections; provided, that a separate box shall be provided in each election district, to receive the votes of electors for said trustees, and that the ballots used in such election, shall be endorsed "school." Vacancies in the office of school trustee shall be filled at the election next succeeding their occurrence; but persons chosen to fill the same, shall hold office only for the residue of the term broken by the occurrence of such vacancy. All persons shall be eligible to the said office, who may be eligible by law to the common council.

3. The three school trustees of each ward, in office at the same time, shall manage and control the common schools of such ward, in conformity to the provisions of this act, and the laws of this state.

§4. The trustees of common schools of the several wards of said city, shall in joint meeting, form a board of education. The said board shall have the general supervision of the schools of said city, and shall have power to make such rules for determining the qualifications of teachers in said schools, and ensuring uniformity of books and school discipline, as they may deem best for the interests of education. The said board shall maintain schools for colored children, and shall have power to establish, manage, and control evening schools, using for such purpose, such school house or schoolhouses as they may elect; and when the same may appear to be demanded by the wants of the people, they may establish, manage and control an academy or high school. The board of education shall make its own bylaws, not inconsistent with the laws of this state; and shall choose from their own number, annually, a president, and also a clerk, who shall keep a faithful record of the proceedings of the board.

§ 5. The several boards of school trustees shall by or before the first Monday of March in each year, prepare and file with the city clerk, a detailed estimate of the necessary expenses of conduc ing the schools in their wards respectively for the year commencing on the first day of May following, specifying in such estimate, the amount necessary for teachers' wages, for books, for maps, and other school apparatus, for fuel, for ordinary repairs of school houses, for contingent expenses, for salary of librarian, for the maintenance and moderate increase of the libraries, for furniture, for deficiencies

of previous appropriations. The board of education shall in like manner, file with the city clerk, an estimate of the amounts necessary for their contingent expenses, and for conducting the schools for colored children, evening schools, and academy maintained by them, specifying the branches of appropriations and the amounts necessary for each as in the case of the ward schools.

§ 6. The city clerk shall within ten days after the period named in the preceding section issue notice to the members of the school board of finance to meet at an appointed time and place within ten days after the date of his notice. The school board of finance shall accordingly meet and consider the estimates submitted to them as hereinafter provided, adjouming from time to time as they may see fit; provided, that they shall make a final decision respecting said estimates previous to the first Monday of May. The said school board of finance shall have power to reduce, reject, or increase the sums named in the said estimates as they may think reasonable and expedient; and having determined upon the amount necessary, in their opinion for the proper management and support of the schools in each ward, they shall file a statement under the hands of their president and clerk, with the trustees thereof, setting forth in detail said necessary amount, and the particular purposes for which said money shall be used. Having determined upon the amount necessary for the proper management and support of the schools for colored children, the evening schools, and the academy maintained by the board of education, and for the contingent expenses of said board, they shall file a statement thereof, similarly detailed, with the president of the board of education. They shall also file duplicates of said statements with the city comptroller and city treasurer.

$7. The gross amount of money which the said school board of finance shall so certify to be necessary for school purposes, less any balance of previous appropriations for such purposes remaining unexpended in the treasury and the amount of the distributive share of state school money to which the said city shall be entitled, and including a sufficient amount to entitle the city to such distributive share, shall be added by the common council of the said city to the amount of taxes to be levied by them for the year, upon the real and personal property of the city; and shall be paid with other monies raised by tax, to the city treasurer. The treasurer shall disburse the same only by the order and on the warrant of the school trustees of the several wards, or of the board of education by its president and clerk, as the case may be, drawn in favor of the person entitled to payment, and specifiying the particular purpose to which the money is to be applied. The treasurer shall honor such drafts only so far as the specific appropriations by the school board of finance shall allow.

§ 8. The school board of finance shall consist of the mayor of the city the members of the city board of finance, who are not members of the common council and the trustees of common schools. The board shall choose a president from its own number. The city clerk shall be the clerk of said board, and shall keep a faithful record of its proceedings, entering the yeas and nays on every vote upon an appropriation. A majority of the school trustees, with a majority of the members of the board, shall be a quorum for the transaction of business, but a less number may adjourn from time to time.

89. When the purchase of real estate, or the erection of an edifice for school or academy purposes may be decided by the board of education to be necessary, they shall file the vote by which such decision shall have been made, including an estimate of the extreme amount of money necessary for such purchase or erection, with the city clerk who shall lay the same at its next meeting before the common council of the said city. If said common council after due deliberation, shall also determine the same to be expedient, the said common council shall lay before the people, at the next election, the question whether they approve of the proposed erection or purchase; and if a majority of the ballots cast for and against such proposition shall prove to be in favor thereof, the said common council shall take measures to carry the

same into effect. And for this purpose the said common council shall have power to add the necessary amount to the annual taxes, provided that they may at their discretion, divide such amount into yearly instalments, and make temporary loans in anticipation thereof.

$10. The title of the property now held by the several school districts of the town of Williamsburgh, and of all real estate and buildings purchased and erected under this act, shall vest in the city of Williamsburgh; and no such property shall be sold or otherwise diverted from use for educational purposes, without the recommendation or consent of the board of education. In case of such sale or diversion, the value of such property shall be applied to the purchase or erection of other property for educational purposes, or to the reduction of taxes for school purposes, as may be recommended by the board of education.

$11. If by any unforseen casualty, damage shall occur to the buildings held by the city for educational purposes, beyond the amount properly ap propriated for repairs of such buildings, the common council shall cause such damage to be repaired, and make special appropriations therefor. If such damage occur by fire, and is covered by insurance, the treasurer shall collect the insurance; and the amount appropriated by the common council to pay for repairs of damage to buildings, less the amount, if any, received on account of insurance in case said damage occur by fire, shall be added by the common council to the annual taxes next to be levied by them.

§ 12. The city comptroller shall cause to be and keep insured, all buildings held by the city for school purposes, for a sufficient amount, in a company or companies of good standing; and the expense of such insurance, if upon a ward school house, shall be paid by the warrant on account of contingent expenses of the school trustees of the ward in which such school house is situated; and if upon a building used for a school for colored children, or for an academy, by the warrant on same account of the board of education.

§ 13. The office of superintendent of common schools for the town of Williamsburgh, is hereby abolished. The sums to which the schools of said city shall be entitled by the laws of this state, and which would be paid to such superintendent for distribution, shall be paid to the treasurer of the city of Williamsburgh.

§ 14. The president of the board of education, shall make frequent visitations of the schools and academy, if such there be, of said city, reporting from time to time to the board their condition, and the measures.necessary in his opinion, to improve their efficiency and usefulness.

$15. The common schools of the city of Williamsburgh, shall be free to all children of said city, between the ages of five and sixteen years inclusive; provided, that a separate school or schools for colored children shall be maintained by the board of education. The said board shall prescribe the terms of admission to the evening schools and to the city academy, if any shall be established under this act; but they shall not make the payment of any money for entrance or tuition necessary to such admission.

§ 16. The office of district clerk is hereby abolished. The books and papers in the hands of the clerks of the several school districts of said city at the expiration of the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, shall be placed in the hands of the school trustees of the corresponding wards. The said trustees shall keep correct records of their proceedings, and have the custody of all the papers and records relating to their several wards, except the deeds and muniments of title to the real estate held for school purposes, which shall be deposited with the city comptroller.

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$17. The term of office of the librarians of the several school districts of the town of Williamsburgh, shall expire on the first Monday in January, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two; and the school trustees of each ward shall annually thereafter appoint a librarian. The said trustees shall continue to maintain a public library, which shall be free to all inhabitants of the ward exercising the same powers in regard to them with which they

are now by law invested. The public money designated as "library money," shall with other public money as provided by section thirteen of this act be paid to the city treasurer; but so much only of such library money shall be appropriated to the purchase of library books or school apparatus as may be required by the trustees of the several wards and authorized by the school board of finance as provided in section five and section six of this act.

$ 18. The monies paid or payable under chapter 181, laws of eighteen hundred and forty-four, to the trustees of the several school districts of the said city before the first day of May, eighteen hundred and fifty-two, shall continue to be held and disbursed by them until that time. The said trustees shall then render to the city comptroller a full and correct account of their receipts and disbursments for the previous year, and shall pay over to the city treasurer any school monies remaining in their hands.

§ 19. The common council of the city of Williamsburgh shall provide for the payment of loans lawfully made by the several school districts, so far as the same shall not be paid by appropriations made previous to the first day of May, eighteen hundred and fifty-two. And for this purpose they shall have power to add the necessary amount to the annual taxes of said city. $ 20. The said common council shall have power to borrow money temporarily in anticipation of taxes for school purposes as for other purposes. § 21. The board of assessors for said city for the year eighteen hundred and fifty-two shall estimate the value of the real estate of said city held for school purposes in each ward, deducting therefrom the amount of indebtedness due or chargeable upon such property on the first day of May, eighteen hundred and fifty-two, and shall determine the ratio which said value bears to the whole assessed valuation of the real and personal property in such ward. They shall file with the city comptroller à statement of such value and ratio; and if such ratio shall vary in the several wards, the common council of said city shall gradually, at their discretion, so discriminate in levying the taxes upon the several wards, that each shall as near as may be, bear a just proportion according to its assessed valuation of the expenses of the property already purchased and erected for school purposes.

$22. The board of education shall provide for taking an annual census of all the children of the on the thirty-first day of December in each year, between the ages of five and sixteen years inclusive, which enumeration with all other information now required by law of school trustees and town superintendents, they shall cause to be forwarded to the state superintendent of common schools. The expense of such enumeration shall be paid by their warrant out of monies appropriated to their use for contingent expenses.

§ 23. For the purposes of all acts which have been or may be passed by the legislature of this state, providing for an equal division of public money among the school districts of this state, the city of Williamsburgh shall be deemed to contain as many school districts as school houses.

$ 24. No officer elected or appointed under this act shall receive any compensation for his services, except the librarian.

§ 25. Chapter 181, laws of eighteen hundred and forty-four, and all other acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed.

§ 26. This act shall take effect on the first Monday in January, eighteen 'hundred and fifty-two, except as herein otherwise provided.

WILLIAMSVILLE.

[Laws of 1846, Chap. 119.]

§ 1. The trustees of the school district at the village of Williamsville, in the town of Amherst and county of Erie, are hereby authorized, if the inhab itants of said district shall at any regular school district meeting so direct to make thereafter, and until the said inhabitants shall in like manner other

wise direct, separate and distinct rate bills, for the payment of the wages of the teachers in the primary and higher department of the schools kept in the said district, in such manner to collect on account of scholars attending each department, such balance as may be justly due for the wages of the teacher or teachers in that department, after the application to that purpose of such share of the public moneys as shall be apportioned to each department by such trustees, by giving to each such proportion of the whole sum applicable to the payment of teachers' wages in both departments, as the number of schollars who shall have attended such department during the time for which such rate bill is to be made, shall bear to the whole number of scholars attending both of such departments during the same period.

INDIAN SCHOOLS.

Laws of 1846, Chap. 114; Laws of 1847, Chap. 238.

AN ACT to provide for the education of children of the Onondaga Indians in the county of Onondaga, and the children of the other Indians residing in this state.

Passed April 30, 1846.

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

§ 1. The agent of the Onondaga Indians in the county of Onondaga, appointed under the authority of this state, is hereby authorised, with the con-sent of the chiefs of the said tribe of Onondaga Indians, to cause to be built and furnished a good and sufficient school house on the Onondaga reservation, at an expense not exceeding three hundred dollars, for the accommodation of the Indian children residing on such reservation; and to organize a school therein, and the sum of three hundred dollars is hereby appropriated for the payment of the expense of erecting and furnishing said school-house. § 2. The sum of two hundred and fifty dollars annually is hereby appropriated for the term of five years, for the payment of the wages of a teacher or teachers, and of the other expenses of maintaining such school.

§ 5. The sums appropriated by the first and second sections of this act shall be paid from time to time to the said agent of the Onondaga Indians on his giving to the people of this state and filing with the state superintendent of common schools, a bond with satisfactory sureties, to be approved by such superintendent conditioned for the proper and faithful expenditure of all moneys paid to him, or which shall come into his hands by virtue of this act, and for the rendering to such superintendent annually in the month of October, a just and true account of all his receipts and expenditures, under the provisions of this act.

§ 7. The sum of two hundred and fifty dollars is also hereby appropri ated for the building and furnishing a school house on the lands of the St. Regis Indians, in this state; and the further sum of two hundred dollars per year, for the term of five years, is hereby appropriated for the payment of wages of a teacher of the school, to be kept in said school house, and for the payment of the other expenses of said school. The moneys appropriated by this section shall be paid from time to time to the agent of the said St. Regis Indians, on his giving to the people of this state, and filing with the state superintendent of common schools, a bond with satisfactory sureties, to be approved by such superintendent, conditioned for the proper and faithful expenditure within this state, of all moneys paid to him, and which shall come into his hands by virtue of this act, and for rendering to the said superintendent annually, in the month of October, a just and true account of all his receipts and expenditures by virtue of this act.

§ 8. The sums hereby appropriated shall be paid out of the income of the United States deposit fund; and the last two of the several annual payments herein provided for, shall not be paid for the Indians residing on either