parochial school is incorrigible, vicious, or immoral in conduct, or who habitually wanders about the streets and public places during school hours, having no business or lawful occupation, shall be deemed a juvenile disorderly person and be subject to the provisions of this act for enforced attendance.

To aid in the enforcement of the law in regard to attendance, truant officers shall be appointed and employed as follows: In city districts the board of education shall appoint and employ one or more truant officers; in special, village, and township districts the boards of education shall appoint a constable or other person as truant officer. The compensation of the truant officer shall be fixed by the board appointing him. The truant officer shall be vested with police powers and shall have authority to enter workshops, factories, stores, and all other places where children may be employed and do whatever may be necessary in the way of investigation or otherwise to enforce this act. The truant officer shall institute proceedings against any officer, parent, guardian, person, or corporation violating the law regarding attendance at school, and shall otherwise discharge the duties prescribed in this act and perform such other services as the superintendent of schools or the board of education may deem necessary to preserve the morals and secure the good conduct of school children and to enforce the law. The truant officer shall keep a record of his transactions for the inspection and information of the superintendent of schools and the board of education, and shall make daily reports to the superintendent of schools during the school term in cities and to the clerk of the board of education as often as required by him in special, village, and township districts, suitable blanks being furnished him.

It shall be the duty of all principals and teachers of all schools, public, private, and parochial, to report to the clerk of the board of education of the city, special, village, or township district in which the schools are situated, the name, age, and residence of every pupil in attendance, together with such other facts as the clerk may require in order to facilitate the execution of the law regarding attendance, and the clerk shall furnish blanks for such purpose, and such report shall be made in the last week of September, December, February, and April of each year. It shall be the further duty of such principals and teachers to report to the truant officer, the superintendent of public schools, or the clerk of the board of education all cases of truancy or incorrigibility in their respective schools as soon as practicable after the offense has been committed.

On the request of the superintendent of schools or the board of education, or when it otherwise comes to his notice, the truant officer shall examine into any case of truancy within his district and warn the truant and its parents, guardian, or other person in charge, in writing, of the final consequences of truancy if persisted in. When any child between the ages of 8 and 14 years or 14 and 16 years who can not read and write the English language or is not engaged in some regular employment, or any child between the ages of 14 and 16 who has been discharged from employment to obtain instruction at school is not attending school, without lawful excuse and in violation of the law, the truant officer shall notify the parent, guardian, or other person in charge of such child of that fact, and require such parent, guardian, or other person in charge to cause the child to attend some recognized school within five days from the date of the notice; and it shall be the duty of the parent, guardian, or other person in charge of the child so to cause its attendance at some recognized school. Upon failure to do so the truant officer shall make complaint against the parent, guardian, or other person in charge of the child in any court of competent jurisdiction in the city, special, village, or township district in which the offense occurs. For such failure and upon conviction the parent, guardian, or other person in charge shall be fined not fewer than $5 nor more than $20, or the court may in its discretion require the person so convicted to give a bond in the penal sum of $100, with sureties, to the approval of the court, conditioned that he or she will cause the child under his or her charge to attend some recognized school within five days thereafter, and to remain at such school during the term prescribed by law; and upon the failure or refusal of any such parent, guardian, or other person to pay said fine or furnish said bond according to the order of the court, then said parent, guardian, or other person shall be imprisoned in the county jail not fewer than ten nor more than thirty days.

If the parent, guardian, or other person in charge of any child shall, upon the complaint under the provision immediately preceding, for failure to cause the child to attend a recognized school, prove inability to do so, then he or she shall be discharged, and thereupon the truant officer shall make complaint that the child is a juvenile disorderly person. If such complaint be made before any mayor or justice of the peace it shall be certified by such magistrate to the probate judge. The probate judge shall hear such complaint, and if he determine that the child is a juvenile disorderly person within the meaning of the provision regarding habitual

truants or incorrigible, vicious, and immoral children 8 to 16 years of age, he shall commit the child if under 10 years of age and if eligible for admission to a children's home, or if not eligible then to a house of refuge, if there be one in the county, or the boys' industrial school or the girls' industrial home, or some other juvenile reformatory. No child over 10 years of age shall be committed to a county children's home, and any child committed to a children's home may on the request of trustees of such home, and on its being shown that it is vicious and incorrigible, be transferred by the probate judge to the boys` industrial school or the girls' industrial home. A child committed to any juvenile reformatory under the law requiring attendance shall not be retained there beyond the age of 16 years, and may not be discharged sooner by the trustees under the restrictions applicable to other inmates. Any order of commitment to a juvenile reformatory may be suspended in the discretion of the probate judge for such time as the child may regularly attend school and properly conduct itself. The expense incurred in the transportation of a child to a juvenile reformatory and the costs in the case in which the order of commitment is made shall be paid by the county from which the child is committed after the manner provided in section 759 of the revised statutes: Provided further, That if for any cause the parent, guardian, or other person in charge of any juvenile disorderly person shall fail to cause such person to attend school. then complaint against such juvenile disorderly person shall be made, heard, and determined in like manner as provided in each case the parent proves inability to cause such juvenile disorderly person to attend school.

When any truant officer is satisfied that any child compelled to attend school is unable to because absolutely required to work at home or elsewhere in order to support itself or help support or care for others legally entitled to its services who are unable to support or care for themselves, the truant officer shall report the case to the authorities charged with the relief of the poor, who shall thereupon, if the case be a meritorious one, afford such relief as will enable the child to attend school the time each year required under this act. Such child shall not be considered or declared a pauper by reason of the acceptance of the relief herein provided for. In case the child or its parents or guardian refuse or neglect to take advantage of provisions thus made for its instruction, such child may be committed to a children's home or juvenile reformatory. Boards of education, in urgent and deserving cases where no other relief is available and where neither parents nor child are at fault, may make suitable temporary arrangements for the instruction of the child described in this section either at home or at school, and for such purpose may incur necessary expense, to be paid out of the school funds of the district.

The provisions of this act shall apply to children entitled, under existing statutes, to attend school at the institution for the deaf and for the blind.

Any officer, principal, teacher, or person mentioned in the act for enforced attendance neglecting to perform any duty imposed upon him shall be fined not fewer than $25 nor more than $50 for each offense. Any officer or agent of any corporation violating any provision of this act, who participates or acquiesces in or is cognizant of such violation, shall be fined not fewer than $25 nor more than $50. Any person who violates any provision of the act for enforced attendance, for which a penalty is not elsewhere provided, shall be fined not more than $50. Mayors, justices of the peace, and probate judges shall have jurisdiction to try the offenses described in this act, and their judgment shall be final. When complaint is made, information filed, or indictment found against any corporation for violating any provision of the law for enforced attendance, summons shall be served, appearance made, or plea entered, as provided in section 7231, Revised Statutes, except that in complaints before magistrates service shall be made by the constable. În every case of complaint against a child involving commitment to any children's home or juvenile reformatory, the board of county visitors shall be notified and must attend and protect the interests of the child on the hearing, as provided in the act of March 29, 1892, and the order of the commitment of the child to a State reformatory must show that the county visitors were so notified and attended the hearing.

Every person who after being once convicted for violating any of the provisions of the law for enforced attendance shall be convicted of again violating them or any of them may, in addition to the punishment by way of a fine elsewhere provided for, be imprisoned not fewer than ten days nor more than thirty days. On complaint before a mayor or justice of the peace of a second violation of this act, involving the punishment of imprisonment, if a trial by jury be not waived, a jury shall be chosen and the case tried after the manner provided in section 3718a, revised statutes.

This law shall not be operative in any school district where there are not sufficient accommodations in the public schools to seat children compelled to attend

the public schools under the provisions of this act. It is hereby made the duty of every board of education to provide sufficient accommodations in the public schools for all children in their district compelled to attend the public schools under the provisions of this act. Authority to levy the tax and raise the money necessary for such purpose is hereby given the proper officers charged with such duty under the law.

It shall be the duty of the State commissioner within sixty days after the passage of the enforced-attendance law, and from time to time thereafter whenever he may deem it advisable, to formulate and forward to the boards of education throughout the State regulations and suggestions for the instruction and guidance of all boards, officers, superintendents, principals, teachers, and persons charged with the enforcement of the law.

Each board of education shall establish a sufficient number of schools to provide for the free education of the youth of school age within the district under its control, at such places as will be most convenient for the attendance of the largest number, and shall continue each and every day the school so established not fewer than twenty-four nor more than forty-four weeks in each school year.

No pupil shall be suspended from school by a superintendent or teacher except for such time as may be necessary to convene the board of education, and no pupil shall be expelled except by a vote of two-thirds of such board, and not until the parent or guardian has been notified and has been given opportunity to be heard. But no pupils shall be expelled or suspended from any school beyond the current term thereof.

Character of instruction.-Each township board of education shall establish at least one primary school in each subdistrict under its control, and any board of education may establish one or more schools of higher grade than the primary schools whenever it deems the establishment of such school or schools proper or necessary for the convenience or progress of the pupils attending the same, or for the conduct and welfare of the educational interests of the district; and such school or schools shall not be discontinued under three years from the time of the establishment thereof, except by a vote of three-fourths of the members of the board of education of each township. For the purpose of providing schools of higher grade, any township, district, village, and special district, situate within the boundaries of such township, may be united and organized as a special district for high school purposes, by a vote of the electors of the township at any general election, 10 or more qualified electors giving ten days' notice thereof. In any township, special, village, or city district, or part thereof, parents or guardians of youth of school age may petition the board of education to organize an evening school. The petition shall contain the names of not fewer than 25 persons of school age who will attend such school, and who, for reasons satisfactory to the board, are prevented from attending day school. The board may discontinue the school when the average attendance falls below 12. The board of any city, special, or village school district may establish a public kindergarten in connection with the public schools for children 4 to 6 years of age. But no part of the State fund shall be appropriated therefor.

Text-books.-The State commissioner of common schools shall procure by June 4, 1891, as near as he can, one copy of the latest and best edition of each of the school books now in use, so far as he can learn, in the public schools of this State, and thereupon the governor and secretary of state, constituting a board to be known as the State school-book board, shall secure all such information as may be necessary to fully advise them, and by July 4, 1891, fix the price not to exceed which each of said text-books may be sold to and purchased by boards of education, but the price so fixed on any book shall not in the aggregate, as near as can be ascertained, exceed 75 per cent of the present wholesale list prices. The governor shall be president of said board, and the State commissioner of common schools shall be secretary thereof, and the secretary shall keep a record of all the proceedings and write in each book procured by him the price so fixed and preserve the book in his office, and as revisions of the books may be made or new school textbooks may be placed on the market from time to time deserving, in the opinion of the board, to be considered, the commissioner shall in like manner obtain copies and the board shall fix the maximum price thereof at which they may be sold and purchased.

Whenever the maximum price of the books now in use has been so fixed by the board, the State commissioner shall forthwith notify the publishers of the books of the action of the board and invite written proposals as to what books-which shall in all respects be exact duplicates of those so on file with the commissionerthey will furnish to the State at a price not exceeding that fixed for the period of five years, in such quantities and at such times as they may be ordered, the board of education making the order to pay all costs of transportation. At the date of

July 4, 1895, the text-book board shall meet and consider the proposals submitted; and if the board is of the opinion that from the proposals thus received the public schools can be well supplied with good school books equal to the necessities and best interests thereof, the board shall accept, record, and preserve them, and each publisher shall be bound by his proposals for five years from the date of such acceptance; and any accepted publisher failing or refusing to promptly fill any order or ship any books ordered shall forfeit and pay to the State $500 for each failure for the benefit of the common-school fund.

The commissioner shall forthwith make out a complete list of the books named in the accepted proposals, fully describing each and giving the price so fixed thereon, the price named in the proposal, and the name and address of the publisher of the book, and the same shall contain such further information as the commissioner may deem necessary or as may be ordered by the board, and he shall at once transmit by mail to each board of education a copy of the statement, which the board shall preserve and enter on its record. From time to time the commissioner shall in like manner make additional statements concerning the action of the board. Each board on receiving the statements first above mentioned shall, on the last Monday in August, meet and shall within two weeks determine, by a majority vote of all the members elected, the studies to be pursued and which of the text-books contained in the list shall be used in their schools, and after the books have been selected they shall not be changed or modified in any way without the consent of three-fourths of all the members elected, given at a regular meeting; and each board of education shall cause it to be ascertained, and at regular meetings in April and August shall determine which and the number of each of said books the schools under its charge will require until the next regular meetings in April and August, and shall cause an order to be drawn for the amount in favor of the clerk of the board of education, payable out of the contingent fund; and the clerk shall at once order the books so agreed upon by the board of the publisher, who shall, upon the receipt of the order, ship the books to the clerk without delay, and if the clerk shall find the shipment correct, he shall pay for them and their transportation. If the boards of education can, at any time, secure of the publisher the books so adopted by the board at a price less than said maximum' price, it shall be its duty so to do, and may, without unnecessary delay, make effort to secure such lower price before adopting any particular text-books. Each board shall have power to and shall make all necessary provisions and arrangements to place the books so purchased within easy reach of and accessible to all the scholars in their district, and for that purpose may make such contracts and take such security as they may deem necessary for the custody, care, and sale of such books and accounting for the proceeds, but not to exceed 10 per cent of the cost price shall be paid therefor, and said books shall be sold to the pupils of school age in the district at the price paid the publisher and not to exceed 10 per cent thereof added, and the proceeds of such sale shall be paid into the contingent fund of the district; and whoever receives such books from the board of education for sale to the pupils and fails to account fully and honestly for them or the proceeds arising from their sale shall be guilty of embezzlement and be punished accordingly. But the boards of education may contract with local dealers to furnish the books at prices above specified, such dealers becoming responsible to the publishers for all books purchased by them.

When pupils remove from any district and have text-books of the kind adopted in such district, and not being of the kind adopted in the district to which they remove, and wish to dispose of the same, the board of the district from which they remove, when requested, shall purchase the same at a fair valuation, to be resold. Each board of education may furnish the necessary school books free of charge to enable the parent or guardian, without expense therefor, to comply with the requirements of this chapter, the same to be paid for out of the contingent fund; but such pupils as are already wholly or in part supplied with necessary school books shall be supplied free of charge only as other or new books are needed, and all school books furnished as herein provided shall be considered and be the property of the district and loaned to the pupils on such terms and conditions as each board may prescribe.

Buildings.-The board of education of any district is empowered to build, enlarge, repair, and furnish the necessary schoolhouses, purchase or lease sites therefor or rights of way thereto. When in the judgment of any board of education it will be for the advantage of the children to have meetings of literary societies, school exhibitions, singing schools, religious exercises, select or normal schools, the board of education shall authorize the opening of such schoolhouses for such purpose, and it may authorize their use for any other lawful purpose, but not to

1 That reported by the State Commissioner.

interfere with the public school work. When the board of education determines to build, repair, enlarge, or furnish a schoolhouse, the cost of which will exceed, in city districts of the first and second class, $1,500, and in other districts $500, except in cases of urgent necessity, or for the security and protection of school property, it shall proceed as follows:

The board shall advertise for bids for four weeks in two newspapers of general circulation in the district, or, if there be no newspaper of general circulation, then by posting such advertisements in three public places. The bids, duly sealed, shall be filed with the clerk and shall be opened at the meeting of the board immediately succeeding the last day for filing them, and they shall then be publicly read by the clerk and entered on the records of the board. Each bid shall contain the name of every person interested in the same, and shall be accompanied by a sufficient guaranty from some distinguished person that if the bid be accepted a contract will be entered into and the performance of it properly secured. When both labor and materials are embraced in the work bid for, each must be separately stated in the bid, with the price thereof. None but the lowest responsible bid shall be accepted, but the board may in its discretion reject all the bids, or accept any bid for both labor and material which is the lowest in the aggregate. Any part of a bid which is lower than the same part of any other bid shall be accepted whether the residue of the bid is higher or not, but in case the lowest bid is made by two bidders the work shall not be divided between them.

Whoever maliciously injures or defaces any schoolhouse, its fixtures or appurtenances, or commits any nuisance therein, or maliciously trespasses its inclosed grounds or fixtures, shall be fined not more than $100. Whoever maliciously burns or attempts to burn any schoolhouse shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary for not more than twenty years. Whoever in the night maliciously and forcibly breaks and enters any schoolhouse with intent to commit felony or to steal shall be imprisoned not more than ten nor less than one year. Whoever maliciously in the daytime breaks and enters any schoolhouse with intent to steal shall be fined not more than $300 and imprisoned not fewer than sixty days. Whoever willfully interrupts or disturbs any assembly of persons met for a lawful purpose, or any person while he is at or about the place where such assembly is to be held or is and has been held, shall be fined not more than $50 or imprisoned not more than ten days, or both. A member of the board of education is liable as other persons, his liability being limited to the extent that mere errors of judgment with good intent exonerate him.

4. FINANCES.

Funds (permanent and special).—Taxation.

Funds (permanent and special).-The money which has been and may hereafter be paid into the State treasury on account of sales of lands granted by Congress for the support of public schools in any original survey township or other district of country shall constitute the "common-school fund," of which the auditor of State shall be superintendent, and the income of which shall be applied exclusively to the support of common schools. This common-school fund shall constitute an irreducible debt of the State, on which the State shall pay interest annually at the rate of 6 per cent per annum. When any grant or devise of land or any donation or bequest of money or other personal property is made to the State of Ohio, or to any person, or otherwise, in trust for the common-school fund the same shall become vested in that fund, and when the money arising therefrom is paid into the State treasury proper accounts thereof shall be kept by the auditor of the State, and the interest accruing therefrom shall be applied according to the intent of the grantor, donor, or devisor. The auditor shall keep an account of the fund and the interest which accrues thereon, crediting each county with its share and the amonnt disbursed to each.

The State shall pay interest semiannually at the rate of 6 per cent per annum upon all money which has been paid into the State treasury on account of sales of lands commonly called salt lands, and upon all money hitherto paid, or which may be hereafter paid, into the State treasury on account of sales of swamp lands granted to the State by Congress. The money received from such sales shall constitute an irreducible debt of the State, and the interest shall be apportioned annually on the same basis as the State common-school fund. [The manner of distributing the interest arising from the salt-lands fund is the same as for the State common-school fund.]

Taxation. For the purpose of affording the advantages of a free education to all the youth of the State there shall be levied annually a tax on the grand list of taxable property of the State, which shall be collected in the same manner as other State taxes, and the proceeds of which shall constitute the State common