2. TEACHERS.

Appointment, qualifications, and duties.-Meetings.

Appointment, qualifications, and duties.-The State superintendent shall have power to grant certificates of qualification to teachers of proper learning and ability to teach in any public school of the State and to regulate the grade of county certificates. The county superintendent shall examine every person offering himself or herself as teacher of public schools, and if in his opinion such person is qualified to teach a public school he shall grant a certificate authorizing the holder to teach a public school in that county for one year. Whenever practicable the examination shall be competitive and the certificate shall be granted according to the qualifications of the applicant. The district board shall employ all teachers necessary for the schools of the district. But no certificate shall be granted to any person who shall not have passed a satisfactory examination in physiology and hygiene, with special reference to alcoholic stimulants and narcotics.

Meetings.-The county superintendent of public schools shall hold annually a county teachers' institute for the instruction and advancement of teachers. Said institute shall continue not less than four days nor more than five days. The county superintendent shall preside at all meetings and determine the time and place for holding such institute. It shall be the duty of all teachers actually engaged in teaching in such county to attend such institute unless they shall have a written excuse, signed by the county superintendent. It shall be the duty of each district board to pay all teachers who attend such institute the same salary per day they would have received had the same amount of time been spent in teaching. It shall be the duty of the county board of commissioners, in each county, to appropriate annually the sum of $100 for the payment of such instructors or lecturers as the county superintendent may employ to assist him in holding the county institute.

3. SCHOOLS.

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

Attendance.-The district schools established under the provisions of this title shall at all times be equally free and accessible to all children resident therein over 6 and under the age of 21 years, subject to such regulations as the district board in each district may prescribe. But where there are 15 or more colored children within any school district the board of directors and the county superintendent may provide a separate school for them. And it shall be the duty of all parents and guardians, or other persons having the control of children between the ages above mentioned, to send such children to some school at least three months in each and every year, except in case of invalids and others to whom the schoolroom would be injurious. [Cf. under Finances, subhead Taxation.] In such cases the district board shall, upon receipt of a physician's certificate, excuse such children; and the district board may, in its discretion, excuse children from attendance when a compliance with this title would work great hardship. In all such cases the clerk of the board shall state the reason for excuse and the name of the child or person excused, and the length of time for which excused, at large in the minutes of the proceedings of the board: Provided, That in all cases the applicant may appeal from the decision of the board to the county superintendent, whose decision shall be final.

Any parent or guardian, or other person having children in their charge between the ages of 7 and 16 years, who shall neglect or refuse to comply with the provisions of this chapter shall, on conviction, be punished by a fine not exceeding $25 for each and every offense, and it shall be the duty of all sheriffs, constables, or police officers, at all times, whenever it comes to their knowledge that any child is living idly and loitering about the streets or thoroughfares and spending its time in an idle and dissolute manner, to notify some member of the school board of the district in which such child is living, whose duty it shall be to immediately make all the proper inquiries to ascertain the reasons for the nonattendance of said child in some school of the county in which such child may be found by said board; if any such child or ward is willfully violating the conditions of this law, it shall become the duty of the county superintendent of schools, on written notice from the board, to make a complaint before some justice of the peace against the parent or guardian of said child or ward, or to make complaint against such child or ward, as provided in cases of vagrancy, under the laws of this Territory.

The district meeting determines the length of time schools shall be taught. Character of instruction.-The legislature shall provide for the establishment and maintenance of a complete and uniform system of public instruction, embrac ing free elementary schools of every needed kind and grade, a university with such technical and professional departments as the public good may require and the means of the State allow, and such other institutions as may be necessary. The county superintendent and district board of directors may determine whether a school of a higher grade shall be established in the district, the number of teachers to be employed, and the course of instruction to be pursued therein, until the meeting of the teachers' institute, provided for by law, at which time the institute shall determine the studies to be pursued in all schools of like grade in the State; and the superintendent of public instruction shall have the same power to carry into effect the determination of the institute as is provided in other cases; and the board may erect for the purpose one or more permanent schoolhouses, and shall cause such classification of the pupils as they may deem necessary, but in selecting the site for such schoolhouse or schoolhouses the permanent interest and future welfare of the people of the entire district shall be consulted.

Physiology and hygiene, which shall include in each division of the subject special reference to the effects of alcohol and narcotics upon the human system, shall be included in the branches taught in the common schools.

Text-books.-Neither the legislature nor the superintendent of public instruction shall have power to prescribe text-books to be used in the schools. At the expiration of the period of five years, for which the books now in use are adopted, the county superintendents and city superintendents of schools in the State shall meet at a call of the State superintendent of public instruction to adopt a series of text-books, and the books thus adopted shall be the only legal text-books to be used in the public schools for the ensuing five years.

Buildings.-The school property is controlled by the district board of directors. Any person who shall willfully break, cut, deface, despoil, injure, damage, or destroy any school property, or who shall cut, mark, write, or otherwise place or put on, or cause to be placed or put upon, any school property any language or pictures or figures or signs of an obscene character, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall pay a fine of not less than $5 nor more than $100. The said fines shall be paid into the treasury of the school district in which the offense was committed.

Any person who shall use insulting and abusive language to and toward any teacher in or about any public schoolhouse, or who shall willfully disturb any public school or district meeting, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be fined in any sum not less than $5 and not exceeding $100. [See also under Organization, District board of directors, and Character of instruction, above.]

4. FINANCES.

Funds (permanent or special).-Taxation.

Funds (permanent or special).-The following are declared to be perpetual funds for school purposes, of which the annual income only can be appropriated, to wit: Such per cent as has been or may hereafter be granted by Congress on the sale of lands in this State; all moneys arising from the sale or lease of sections Nos. 16 and 36 in each township in the State and the lands selected or that may be selected in lieu thereof; the proceeds of all lands that have been or may hereafter be granted to this State where, by the terms and conditions of the grant, the same are not to be otherwise appropriated; the net proceeds of lands and other property and effects that may come to the State by escheat or forfeiture or from unclaimed dividends or distributive shares of the estates of deceased persons; all moneys, stocks, bonds, lands, and other property now belonging to the commonschool fund.

To the sources of revenue above mentioned shall be added all other grants, gifts, and devises that have been or may hereafter be made to this State and not otherwise appropriated by the terms of the grant, gift, or devise.

All fines and penalties under general laws of the State shall belong to the publicschool fund of the respective counties and be paid over to the custodians of such funds for the current support of the public schools therein.

All funds belonging to the State for public-school purposes, the interest and income of which only are to be used, shall be deemed trust funds in the care of the State, which shall keep them for the exclusive benefit of the public schools, and shall make good any losses that may in any manner occur, so that the same shall remain forever inviolate and undiminished. None of such funds shall ever

be invested or loaned except on the bonds issued by school districts, or registered county bonds of the State, or State securities of this State, or of the United States. The income arising from the funds mentioned in the preceding section, together with all the rents of the unsold school lands and such other means as the legislature may provide, shall be exclusively applied to the support of free schools in every county in the State.

Provision shall be made by general law for the equitable distribution of such income among the several counties according to the number of children of school age in each; which several counties shall in like manner distribute the proportion of said fund by them received, respectively, to the several school districts embraced therein. But no appropriation shall be made from said fund to any district for the year in which a school has not been maintained for at least three months; nor shall any portion of any public-school fund ever be used to support or assist any private school, or any school, academy, seminary, college, or other institution of learning controlled by any church or sectarian organization or religious denomination whatsoever.

All moneys, stocks, bonds, lands, and other property belonging to a county school fund, except such moneys and property as may be provided by law for current use in aid of public schools, shall belong to and be securely invested and sacredly preserved in the several counties as a county public-school fund, the income of which shall be appropriated exclusively to the use and support of free public schools in the several counties of the State.

Taxation.-The legislature shall make such provision, by taxation or otherwise, as with the income arising from the general school fund will create and maintain a thorough and efficient system of public schools, adequate to the proper instruction of all the youth of the State, between the ages of 6 and 21 years, free of charge; and in view of such provision so made, the legislature shall require that every child of sufficient physical and mental ability shall attend a public school during the period between 6 and 18 years for a time equivalent to three years, unless educated by other means.

The county commissioners shall, at the time of levying tax for county purposes, cause to be levied a tax for the support of schools within the county, as provided by law, which shall be collected by the county collector at the same time and in the same manner as Territorial and county taxes are collected, with the exception that it shall be receivable in cash or warrants of the school. The county treasurer shall at all times hold, subject to the draft of the proper officers, all moneys belonging to teachers or schoolhouse fund.

Whenever a sum of money has been voted by a district, the clerk shall, under the supervision of the director, make out and certify, over his official signature, the amount of money voted in his district, and on or before the fourth Monday in May in each year cause the same to be filed in the office of the clerk of the board of county commissioners. The clerk shall also, at the same time, notify the county assessor in writing of the action of the district meeting. The county assessor shall, at the time of making the county assessment, also assess the property of each district from which he has received notification as aforesaid, and return to the county clerk at the time of returning the county assessment roll a separate roll of each district by him assessed, for which services he shall receive $5 per day for the time actually employed in making such separate assessment roll, which sum shall be paid out of the treasury of each district so assessed.

The amount collected by the county collector shall be paid over to the county treasurer like other taxes, but collector shall pay the money collected on the district tax rolls directly to the treasurer of the proper district.

The board of school trustees of any school district may, whenever a majority thereof so decide, submit to the electors of the district the question whether the board shall be authorized to issue the coupon bonds of the district to a certain amount, not to exceed 3 per cent of the taxable property in said district, and bearing a certain rate of interest, not exceeding 8 per cent per annum, and payable and redeemable at a certain time, not exceeding fifteen years, for the purpose of building one or more schoolhouses in said district and providing the sanie with necessary furniture.

COLORADO.

1. ORGANIZATION OF THE SYSTEM.

State board of education.-State board of examiners.-State superintendent of public instruction.—County superintendent of public schools.—District board of

school directors.

State board of education and State board of examiners.-The superintendent of public instruction, the secretary of state and the attorney-general shall constitute à State board of education, of which the superintendent of public instruction shall be president. The board shall have power to adopt any rules and regulations not inconsistent with law for its own government and for the government of public schools. It may grant State diplomas under conditions specifically set forth under the head "Teachers," in connection with the State board of examiners.

State board of examiners.-See under Teachers, Appointment, qualifications, and duties.

Superintendent of public instruction.-There shall be elected every two years a State superintendent of public instruction, who shall give bond in the sum of $5,000, with sureties. He shall have an office at the seat of government, where he shall keep the records of his office. He shall decide all points touching the construction of the school law; shall prepare lists of questions for the use of county superintendents at examinations of teachers; shall have general supervision of all the county superintendents, and of the public schools of the State; shall prepare and distribute all necessary blanks and blank books, to be charged to the counties at cost; shall report to the governor concerning the condition of the public schools, the amount of the State school fund apportioned and sources from which derived, with such suggestions and recommendations relating to the affairs of his office as he may think proper to communicate. He shall visit annually such counties as most need his personal attendance, and all counties, if practicable, and he shall open a correspondence to enable him to obtain all necessary information relating to the system of public schools in other States. For traveling expenses he shall receive not more than $500, and the incidental expenses of his office shall be paid in the same manner as are those of other State officers. He shall apportion the school fund and may employ an assistant librarian, who shall have charge of the State library.

County superintendent of schools.-There shall be elected in each county biennially a county superintendent of public schools, who shall execute a bond in the sum of $2,000 (to be increased at discretion) with two sureties. He shall examine teachers, shall apportion the general school fund among the districts, supervise the schools of his county, visit each school at least once during the quarter to examine the accounts of district officers, and make a report to the State superintendent containing the abstracts of the reports made to him by the district secretaries, and also such other matters as the State superintendent may direct. The county superintendent may appoint a deputy who shall receive no compensation from public funds. He also shall appoint directors in districts failing to elect them. He shall record the boundaries of districts. His compensation shall be $5 per diem and 15 cents for each mile necessarily traveled one way; but his compensation shall in no case exceed $100 for each regularly organized public school in the county. He shall be provided with a suitable office at the county seat as also with all the office incidentals.

District board of school directors.-All school districts which shall continue to exercise undisputedly the prerogatives and enjoy the privileges of a district for the period of one year next succeeding the election of its officers shall be deemed to be a legally formed district. For the purpose of organizing a new district out of a portion of one or more old districts the parents of at least 10 children of school age, residing within the limits of the proposed district, shall petition the county superintendent in writing, who may call an election to determine the question. There shall be elected in each school district annually a board of directors. The number of persons that shall constitute each board of directors shall be determined as follows: Districts containing a population of more than 1,000 shall be denominated districts of the first class; districts containing a population of from 350 to 1,000 shall be denominated districts of the second class, and districts containing a population of fewer than 350 shall be denominated districts of the third class; and districts of the first class shall annually elect one director for five years, while districts of the second and third classes shall annually elect one person to serve for three years as a member of the board; one member of the board of dis

tricts of the second and third classes shall be elected as president, one as secretary, and one as treasurer. District boards in first-class districts shall fill vacancies until the next annual election.

Each school board shall have power to employ or discharge teachers, mechanics, or laborers, and to fix their salaries; to fix the compensation to be allowed the secretary; to enforce the general regulations of the State superintendent; to fix the course of study, the exercises, and the kind of text-books to be used; to provide for school furniture and for everything needed in the schoolhouses or for its own use; to rent, repair, and insure schoolhouses, and, when directed by the district, to build or remove schoolhouses, or to purchase or sell school lots. The board shall suspend or expel pupils from school; shall determine the number of teachers to be employed and the length of time over and above three months that the schools shall be taught; to provide books for indigent children on the written statement of the teachers that the parents of such children are not able to purchase them; to make an annual report to the county superintendent upon the forms furnished by the superintendent; to make a report to the State superintendent when instructed to do so. They shall purchase and display upon the schools the national flag.

The district board of any district of the third class may call a special meeting of the electors, who shall decide as to the location of a schoolhouse, lay a tax to pay teachers; purchase or lease suitable grounds and buildings for school purposes and furnish and repair the same and provide incidentals, procure libraries, books, and stationery for the board, etc., and direct the sale or other disposition of school property.

The secretary of the board shall give bond with sureties, and shall annually cause to be taken a census of all persons over 6 and under 21, and shall cause reasonable effort to be made respecting the number of blind and deaf persons 4 to 22. He shall make a report to the county superintendent containing the following facts: The number of persons, male and female, in his district between the ages of 6 and 21; the number of schools and the branches taught in each; the number of pupils in each school; the number of teachers employed and the compensation of each per month; the number of days the school was taught during the year; the number of pupils enrolled during the year and the average daily attendance; the average cost of each school a month for each pupil based upon the total enrollment and also the average cost based upon the average daily attendance (in estimating these averages the secretary shall take account of the teachers wages, all current expenses, and 6 per cent interest upon a fair valuation of all property belonging to the district); the kind of text-books used; the number of volumes in the library of each school; the aggregate amount paid teachers during the year and the average monthly pay; the number of public schoolhouses and their value; the amount raised by tax in the district during the year for school library; the amount raised by subscription or by other means than tax; the amount of special tax levied for the support of schools and for buildings, sites, and furniture; the amount of money on hand at the beginning of the year last past, and the amount received from all other sources. Should the secretary fail to make this report he shall forfeit the sum of $100, and be responsible for the loss occasioned by his negligence. In districts of the first class the secretary may, and the treasurer shall not, be a member of the board. In districts of the second and third classes both are elected as members of the board.

2. TEACHERS.

Appointment, qualifications, and duties.-Preliminary training.-Meetings. Appointment, qualifications, and duties.-No district board shall employ any person to teach in any of the public schools unless such person shall have a license to teach, in full force at the time of employment.

The State board of education is hereby authorized to grant State diplomas to such teachers as may be found to possess the requisite scholarship and culture, and who may exhibit satisfactory evidence of a moral character, and whose eminent professional ability has been established by not less than two years' successful teaching in the public schools of the State. Such diplomas shall supersede the necessity of any and all other examinations by persons holding the same whether county, city, or local, and shall be valid anywhere in the State. They shall be granted upon public examination upon such branches and terms and by such examiners as the State superintendent, the president of the State university, the president of the State agricultural college, and the president of the State school of mines may prescribe, provided that the State board of education may, upon the recommendation of the State board of examiners, grant State diplomas without