day for actual service, prepare an estimate of the amount of money needed for the public schools and, after careful revision of the estimates of the district boards, separately prepare estimates of the expenses of schools in each school district, hold a regular annual meeting, manage or examine into the management of all property belonging to the county schools, and report annually to the State superintendent.

County superintendent of school-County superintendents shall be appointed by the State board for four years, at a compensation of $30 for every 1,000 of population for the first 10,000, $20 for every 1,000 in excess of 10,000 up to and including 30,000, and $10 for every 1,000 in excess of 30,000, rejecting in each case fractions less than 500; provided the compensation shall not be less than $200 a year, to be paid out of the bulk of the State school funds as distinguished from the appropriations from the same to the several counties. His duties shall be as follows: To explain the school system upon all suitable occasions and promote a desire for education, to prepare a scheme for apportioning the State and school funds among the school districts, to examine persons desiring to teach and to issue licenses and to promote the efficiency of the teaching force, to assist in the organization of the district school trustees at their sessions (without the right to vote), to examine all the schools as to their management, course of study, methods, discipline, and text-books, the condition of the schoolhouses, and the records and official papers of the school districts, to decide finally all complaints or appeals concerning the acts of persons connected with the school system, to administer oaths and take testimony whenever required in cases coming before himself or the State superintendent, to keep a record of his official acts, to make special reports to the State superintendent when required to do so, and to obey his instructions and make an annual report to him, on penalty of forfeiting the last quarter of his annual pay.

District boards of school trustees.-School districts shall correspond with the magisterial districts except that towns of 500 or more may elect to form a separate district. Subdistricts may also be formed or, if injurious, abolished.

The judge, commonwealth's attorney, and school superintendent of each county shall be a board to be known as the school trustee electoral board, which shall have power (except in case of municipal councils who appoint their own boards) to appoint district boards of school trustees of three each for the term of three years, one retiring annually, each of whom shall be a resident of the school district and shall continue so during his term or relinquish his place, and no supervisor or county treasurer is qualified. The duties of the board of trustees are as follows: To explain and enforce the school laws, to employ and to dismiss teachers, to suspend or dismiss pupils, to decide what children shall, by reason of poverty, be furnished text-books free, to see that the school census is taken properly every five years of persons 5 to 21 years, to call meetings of the people of the district, to prepare and present to the county school board an estimate of the money needed for maintaining the public schools, including buildings and text-books for the children of indigent persons, to care for, add to, and manage the school property of the district, and to permit the use of an unoccupied public schoolhouse (vacant from lack of funds to maintain it) by a person not employed by the board but who desires to teach, to report annually to the county superintendent, to visit the schools within the district, and to see that they are carried on in accordance with the law.

The clerk of the district school board shall every five years take a census of the persons (5 to 21 years) residing in the district, receiving compensation at the rate of $3 for every 100 persons enumerated, and perform other duties as may be required by the board, for which he shall be paid $2 per diem of actual service.

City school boards.-All the school trustees in a city shall constitute a single corporation, which shall have the same officers, powers, and duties as ordinary boards of district school trustees except as otherwise provided. This board shall have power, subject to the common council, to prescribe the number and boundaries of school districts and the number of trustees (not exceeding three from each district); but until such arrangement is made every city not divided into wards shall be one school district, and cities divided into wards shall have as many districts as there are wards. Each trustee is appointed for three years, one retiring annually. The school board shall select text-books, though for the primary schools it must choose from a list furnished by the State board. It may also establish high and normal schools.

City superintendents.-In every city of 10,000 or more inhabitants there shall be a superintendent of schools, appointed by the board of education of the city and paid by the State, though the amount thus paid may be increased by municipal action. Whenever the population of a county in which a city of fewer than 10,000

inhabitants is located contains 15,000, exclusive of the population of the city, that city may have a superintendent separate from the county, under the conditions obtaining in the case of cities of 10,000 or more. The city superintendent may teach ex officio when requested by the board, may suspend or dismiss pupils, with appeal to city school board, and shall participate in the sessions of the board, but shall have no vote.

2. TEACHERS.

Appointment, qualifications, and duties.—Preliminary training.—Meetings. Appointment, qualifications, and duiy.-No teacher of a free public school shall be employed or paid from public funds unless holding a certificate of qualification in full force from the county superintendent. If payment is made for the services of a person unqualified, the payment shall be disallowed, and the officer who sanctioned it shall be fined not fewer than $5 nor more than $50. Written contracts must be made in duplicate before instaliment.

The county superintendent shall examine persons applying for license to teach in the free public schools, and, if satisfied as to their capacity, acquirements, morals, and general fitness, he shall grant them certificates of limited duration subject to revocation, all under the supervision of the State superintendent. He shall also hold examinations for those desiring to teach in his county for the school year at such time and place as may be required by a district board. Examinations will be held in orthography, reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, geography, physiology and hygiene, and, for a first or second grade certificate, in the theory and practice of teaching. Applicants to teach schools in which the higher branches have been introduced must be examined upon those branches also. The first-grade certificate entitles to teach three years, and may be renewed for two years or shorter period; the second grade is good for two years, and the third grade for one. The State superintendent shall issue two grades of State certificates, one valid for seven years (the "professional certificate") and the other for life (the "life diploma"). To obtain either of these the applicant must pass in the subjects required for a first-class county certificate and such other subjects as the State superintendent may demand, and have taught school two years or more, and satisfy the superintendent of his ability to teach and manage a school.

Every teacher shall keep a daily register of facts pertaining to his school and be responsible for it until delivered to the clerk of the school district, may suspend pupils until the case is decided by the board, is exempted from working on roads, nor shall the salary received be governed by the daily average attendance unless it be 10 or fewer.

Preliminary training.-There are four normal schools-one for white men, one for white women, and two for colored persons. The object of the Hampton Normal School, as set forth in the charter, is to "instruct youth in the various commonschool, academic, and collegiate branches, the best methods of teaching the same, and the best mode of practical industry in its application to agriculture and the mechanic arts." The other school for colored persons is known as the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute, having for its organization a normal departinent and a collegiate department and such professional departments as may be deemed expedient.

The State Female Normal School is expressly for the training and education of white women for teachers in the public schools. It is under a board of trustees, of whom the State superintendent is one. The trustees may grant diplomas and certificates of proficiency to its graduates and pupils. Each city and county is entitled to send one pupil and one additional for each representative in the house of delegates above one. Each pupil is required to give satisfactory evidence of an intention to teach in the schools of the State for at least two years. The College of William and Mary is authorized to establish, in connection with its collegiate course, a system of normal instruction and training for the purpose of educating and training white men for teaching for the public schools. It is governed by a board of visitors of 21 persons, 10 of whom are appointed by the governor with the State superintendent an ex officio member, which prescribes rules for the examination applying for normal instruction, and requires satisfactory assurance from each pupil that it is his intention to teach at least two years in the public schools, and each pupil shall have the privilege of the college course without charge. Each county and city in the State shall be entitled to one pupil, who shall be nominated by the county superintendent, and one additional pupil for each additional representative in the house of delegates.

For the purpose of establishing an intermediate grade of instruction between that of the common school and that of the college, any district or school board,

with the consent of the county school board, may admit branches necessary to qualify pupils to become teachers.

Meetings.-The State board of education shall have power at its discretion to invite and encourage meetings of teachers at convenient places and to procure addresses to be made touching the processes of school organization, discipline, and instruction; provided that no public money shall be expended for the purpose, and that no meeting shall be held during the time the schools should be open nor shall any teacher be paid for attendance or be compelled to attend.

3. SCHOOLS.

Attendance.-Character of instruction.-Text-books.—Buildings.

Attendance.-White and colored children must be taught in different schools. The school age is 5 to 21, but persons 21 to 25 may be admitted on payment of tuition fees. Pupils must be vaccinated. An enrollment of at least 20 pupils, with a reasonable assurance of an average attendance of that number, shall be required to constitute a free public school, but in cases where this would work hardship the county superintendent may allow 15, and in case of a factious spirit on the part of one or a few persons which tends to reduce the attendance below the minimum the school may be kept open.

Character of instruction.—In every public free school shall be taught orthography, reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, geography, history of the United States and of Virginia, physiology and hygiene, and drawing, and none other, except as allowed by the State board. [But see below in regard to intermediary instruction.] In schools having not fewer than 40 pupils, with an average attendance of 30, at least two teachers shall be employed the whole time, one of whom shall be devoted to instruction in elementary branches, and in all localities where the number of children is sufficient preference shall be given to graded schoolsthat is to say, schools in which the pupils are taught in different rooms by different teachers, according to advancement in the studies of the one-teacher school. To encourage an intermediate grade of instruction, school boards of districts, when the county board has consented, may admit instruction in any branches necessary to qualify pupils for teaching in the public schools or to enter any of the colleges or higher institutions of the State, but a fee may be required, not exceeding $2.50 a month, for each pupil, and schools having but one teacher and a daily session of five hours shall be confined to the elementary branches.

Text-books.-The State board shall, on some gradual system, bring about uniformity, and to that end they shall be selected from a list furnished by the State board. In cities the text-books may be provided by the city school board, except for primary schools. District boards shall decide what pupils shall be entitled to receive text-books free of charge owing to the poverty of their parents.

Buildings.-The board of school trustees shall provide suitable schoolhouses, with proper furniture and appliances, in every district, and may hire, erect, or purchase such houses, observing the utmost economy consistent with health and decency, after consultation with the county or city superintendent as to the style of architecture and the arrangements of the buildings and grounds. Unsanitary buildings may be condemned by the county superintendents. An unused building may be occupied by a person who desires to open a school, except when school funds are at hand to keep it open as a public school. To disturb any exercise of a school is a misdemeanor, subject to fine of not less than $10, or more than $50, and, in the discretion of the court, confinement in the jail for not more than thirty days.

4. FINANCES.

Funds (permanent or special).—Taxation.

The funds applicable annually to the establishment, support, and maintenance of free public schools shall be as follows:

State funds, embracing the annual interest on the literary funds (arising from the sale of public lands, forfeited property, and fines for offenses against the State), a capitation tax not exceeding $1 per annum on every male citizen of age, and such tax on property, not less than 1 mill nor more than 5 mills on the dollar, as the general assembly shall order.

County funds, embracing such tax as shall be levied by the board of supervisors, fines imposed upon school officers, and donations.

District funds, embracing such tax as shall be levied by the board of supervisors of the county, not to exceed 10 cents on the hundred dollars, for the purposes of the school district, and donations.

WEST VIRGINIA.

1. ORGANIZATION OF THE SYSTEM.

State superintendent.—State board of examiners.—Board of the school fund.— County superintendents.—District board of education.—Subdistrict trustees. State superintendent of free schools.-There shall be elected a State superintendent of free schools, whose term of office shall be the same as that of the governor. He shall be a person of good moral character, temperate habits, of literary acquirements and skill and experience in the art of teaching, and shall be paid $1,500 annually and necessary expenses, not to exceed $500 in the year. He shall have his office and residence at the capital, have an official seal, sign all requisitions on the auditor for the payment of State money for school purposes, supervise all county superintendents and free schools of the State, see that the law is executed, prepare and forward all blanks required, correspond with educators and school officers abroad, collate the result of his investigations, make himself acquainted with peculiar wants of each section of the State, and annually report to the governor. He shall also contract with publishers for text-books.

State board of examiners.-There shall be a State board of examiners, consisting of four competent persons, one from each Congressional district, to be appointed by the State superintendent, to serve for four years. (See Teachers, appointment and qualifications.) Each member receives a per diem of $5 for time actually spent in discharge of duty, and 5 cents a mile for distance traveled over. State board of the school fund. See Finances.

County superintendents.-A county superintendent of free schools shall be elected every four years by the county electors. He shall visit each school within his county at least once during the school year and note its scholastic character and physical surroundings, and shall labor steadily to procure uniformity of instruction throughout the county and promote the efficiency of the teaching force, reporting concerning these facts annually to the State superintendent. He shall make up a report to the State superintendent from the district reports to him concerning the condition of schoolhouses, the value of apparatus, and the volumes in and value of school libraries; and further, to report the districts failing to make a return of the youth within it and those that have failed to make the annual district levy for support of primary schools.

County board of examiners.-There shall be in every county a board of examiners, composed of the county superintendent and two experienced teachers (each of whom shall have a State certificate or a No. 1 county certificate or be a graduate of some reputable school), who shall be nominated by the county superintendent and appointed by the presidents of the district boards of education, for a period of two years, one retiring annually. They shall each receive pay at the rate of $3 a day of actual service, to be paid out of the fees exacted from applicants for a position.

District board of education.-The district board of education shall be composed of a president and two commissioners, elected by the voters of each school district (coextensive with each magisterial district of the county) for terms of four years, the two commissioners to retire at biennial intervals, who shall appoint for each subdistrict three intelligent trustees, each to hold for three years and one to retire annually. The board of education shall fix the salary of the teachers and elect a secretary, who shall not be a member. The board shall have general control and supervision of the schools and school interests, determining the number and location of its schools, provided that every village of fifty or more inhabitants shall be included in one subdistrict. The board shall cause a sufficient number of primary schools to be kept, require every teacher to enumerate the youth (6 to 21), and report the following facts: Youth 6 to 16 years of age, youth 16 to 21 years of age, distinguishing sex and race; determine the rate of taxation necessary for teachers' and building funds; to purchase and sell text-books and furnish record books and blanks to teachers. The members receive $1.50 per diem, not exceeding $9 a year.

Subdistrict trustees.-The trustees of the subdistricts are three in number, appointed for three years by the board of education, one retiring annually. They shall have charge of the schools in their district and appoint teachers, making a written contract; visit every school under their charge once within two weeks after the opening and again within two weeks before its close, thoroughly inspecting the premises, the character of instruction, and the proficiency of the pupils; may purchase fuel, brooms, and other things incidental to schoolroom use, and make repairs, rendering an account to the secretary of the board of education thereof.

2. TEACHERS.

Appointment, qualifications, and duties.-Preliminary training.-Meetings. Appointment, qualifications, and duties.-No teacher shall be employed unless having a certificate of qualification to teach the grade for which applying. The county board of examiners shall examine each candidate in the prescribed studies, and if satisfied on actual examination as to the competency and moral character of the applicant they shall give a certificate in duplicate, valid for one year. Two examinations shall be held annually. No college diploma or certificate of recommendation shall supersede the necessity of an examination. The certificates shall be graded as follows: The first grade shall be issued for four years to all applicants who obtain an average of 90 (not less than 75 in any subject) on examination in all the branches required to be taught in the primary schools and the theory and art of teaching, general history, civil government, and bookkeeping; this grade certificate may be renewed once, provided its holder has taught under it for two years. The second grade county certificate shall be issued to all applicants who obtain an average of 80 per cent (not lower than 70 in any branch) on the studies of the primary schools and the theory and art of teaching; this certificate is good for two years. The third grade certificate shall be issued to those who obtain an average of 70 per cent (not lower than 60 per cent in any one branch) in the studies of the primary schools, and is valid for one year, and may not be reissued more than twice to the same applicant. Failure to attend a county institute without good excuse annuls the certificate. The State board of examiners issue two grades of certificates-first class, valid for twelve years; second class, for six years. The first class are issued to persons who possess the requisite scholarship and professional experience; the second class are issued to applicants who, in addition to the branches required for the county certificate, pass in four other branches. Second-class certificates are granted to the State normal schools and its branches and of the State university when such graduates have taught successfully the three years immediately preceding in the State under a No. 1 county certificate. Teachers teaching successfully four years under a secondclass certificate shall be entitled to a first-class certificate at the expiration of the second class. Each applicant shall pay a fee of $5.

Every teacher shall keep a register, in which he shall enter the date of the beginning and close of the term, the name, sex, age, and studies of each pupil, and other particulars specified by authority. Failure to properly keep and deposit the register forfeits the balance due to the teacher. Teachers are required to take the school census.

Preliminary training.—The West Virginia normal school (Marshall College), with its five branches, is under the control of a board of regents of the State normal school, appointed by the governor. For educating colored persons for teaching, the State superintendent is authorized to arrange with institutions for that race within the State.

Meetings.-Teachers' institutes shall be held annually throughout the State, one or more in each county, and shall continue five days, and be instructed by skilled persons appointed by the State superintendent, at not more than $25 for each institute, but the aggregate amount for the whole State shall not exceed $500. At the close of the institute the county board of examiners shall hold one of their two annual examinations.

3. SCHOOLS.

Attendance.-Character of instruction.-Text-books.-Buildings.

Attendance.-White and colored children are to be taught apart. Every youth between the age of 6 and 21 years shall have a right to receive instruction at the free primary schools. Subdistrict trustees shall provide, one or more primary schools for the colored children when they number more than 15, or the board of education of the district shall furnish educational facilities in any way it may deem best.

Schools must be kept at least four months.

Character of instruction.—In the primary schools there shall be taught orthography, reading, penmanship, arithmetic, English grammar, physiology, general history, history of the United States and of West Virginia, geography (including State geography especially), single-entry bookkeeping, civil government, and the theory and art of teaching. It shall be the duty of the State superintendent to prescribe a manual and graded course of primary instruction to be followed in the country and village schools, and for the graduation of those completing the course.