deficien

lary of the clerk of said board, and to meet any cy which shall occur in the payment of the wages of teachers of the said schools, after applying to the payment thereof the school moneys apportioned and provided in said city, and the tuition fees which shall be collected as hereinafter provided," provided such tax be not laid oftener than once in each year, and that the whole amount to be raised shall not in any one year exceed three thousand dollars. All moneys to be raised and all school moneys appropriated by law for the city are to be paid over to the city treasurer, and disbursed by him, on the order of the board of commissioners, duly certified by their chairman and clerk.

The board of commissioners are authorized and required.

"1. To establish and organize such and so many common schools in said city (including the common and free schools now existing therein) as they shall deem requisite and expedient, and to alter and discontinue the same:

"2. To purchase or hire school-houses, and to fence and improve them as they deem proper:

"3. Upon such lots or sites, and upon any sites now owned by said city, to build, enlarge, alter, improve and repair school-houses, out-houses and appurtenances, as they may deem advisable :

"4. To purchase, exchange, improve and repair school apparatus, books, furniture and appendages, and to provide fuel for the schools, and defray their contingent expenses and the expenses of the district library :

"5. To have the custody and safe keeping of the schoolhouses, out-houses, apparatus, books, furniture and appendages, and to see that the ordinances of the common council in relation thereto be observed:

"6. To contract with and employ all teachers in the common schools, and at their pleasure to remove them: "7. To pay the wages of such teachers out of the school moneys which shall be appropriated and provided in the said city, so far as the same shall be sufficient, and the residue thereof from the tuition fees they shall be authorized to collect and receive as herein provided. And in case the said school moneys and tuition fees shall be insufficient to pay such wages, then to pay the deficiency

out of the moneys to be raised by the common council of said city, as above mentioned.

"8. To fix the rate of tuition fees in said schools, at a sum not exceeding two dollars per term, which shall be a period not less than eleven weeks, and to designate a person or persons, to whom the same may be paid, previous to the issuing a warrant for the collection thereof; and to exempt from the payment of the whole or any part of the tuition fees, such persons as they may deem entitled to such exemption, for indigence, or any other sufficient cause, and cause a list of the persons so exempted, with the extent of their exemption, to be kept by the clerk of the board:

"9. To defray the necessary contingencies of the board, including an annual salary to the clerk, which shall not exceed one hundred dollars, provided that the account of such expenses shall first be audited and allowed by the common council:

"10. After the end of each school term to make out a rate-bill, containing the name of each person liable to pay tuition fees, who shall not have paid them prior to the making out of such rate-bill, to the person or persons designated by the board for that purpose, and the amount for which such person is liable, adding thereto a sum not exceeding five cents on each dollar of the sum due for collectors' fees, and to annex to such rate-bill a warrant for the collection thereof.

"11. To deliver such rate-bill, with the warrant annexed, to one of the collectors of taxes of said city, who shall execute the same, in like manner, and with like effect with the other warrants for the collection of taxes placed in his hands, or in their discretion to deliver the same to a collector, to be appointed by said board of commissioners, who shall, if required by said board, execute to said commissioners, in their corporate capacity, a bond, with one or more sureties, to be approved by said commissioners, or a majority of them, which bond, as to its penalty and conditions, shall be the same as is by law required to be executed by the collectors of school districts; and the said board of commissioners shall have the same power and authority in regard to said bond and the collection thereof, as the trustees of school districts have

by law in regard to the bonds given by collectors of school districts; and the said collector shall have the same power in the execution of said warrant, that the collectors of taxes of said city have by virtue of this act."

"12. To have in all respects the superintendence, supervision and management of the common schools in said city; and from time to time to adopt, alter, modify and repeal, as they may deem expedient, rules and regulations for their organization, government and instruction, for the reception of pupils, and their transfer from one school to another, and generally, for the promotion of their good order, prosperity and public utility:

"13. Whenever in the opinion of the board it may be advisable to sell any of the school-houses, lots or sites, or any of the school property now or hereafter belonging to the city, to report the same to the common council:

"14. To prepare and report to the common council such ordinances and regulations as may be necessary or proper for the protection, safe-keeping, care and preservation of school-houses, lots, sites and appurtenances, and all the property belonging to the city, connected with, or appertaining to the schools, and to suggest proper penalties for the violation of such ordinances and regulations; and annually to determine and certify to the said common council, the sums in their opinion necessary or proper to be raised for the purchase, lease or improvement of sites for school-houses; the building, purchase, lease, enlargement, alteration, improvement and repair of school-houses and their out-houses and appurtenances; the purchase, exchange, improvement and repair of school apparatus, books, furniture and appendages; the procurement of fuel, the contingent expenses of the common schools and the expenses of the district library of the city, specifying the sums required for each:

"15. To unite with the commissioners [Town Superintendents] of any adjoining town, and form, regulate and alter any district out of any portion of the said city and such town, whenever they shall deem it necessary and proper to do so: in which case so far as such district or districts are concerned, said board shall, during the existence of such districts, have the same power and du

ties which the commissioners [Town Superintendents] of towns have:

"16. Between the first day of July and the first day of August in each year to make and transmit to the county clerk a report in writing, setting forth the number of districts in the city separately set off, an account and description of all the common schools kept in the said city during the preceding year, and the time they have severally been taught, the number of children taught in the said schools respectively, and the number between 5 and 16 residing in the city on the first day of January preceding, the amount of school moneys received by the treasurer of said city during the preceding year, distinguishing the amount received from the county treasurer, from the town collector, and from any other and what source; the manner in which such moneys have been expended, and whether any and what part remains unexpended, and for what cause, the amount of money received for tuition fees during the year, and the amount paid for teachers' wages in addition to the public moneys, with such other information as the Superintendent of Common Schools may from time to time require."

For the purpose of making out rate-bills, and collecting the amounts not collectable on the warrants delivered to the collector, the board of commissioners are vested with the powers conferred by the general law on trustees of school districts. In all their expenditures and contracts they are to have reference to the funds subject to their order during the current year, for the particular expenditure in question. They are also to perform all the duties, and are subject to all the liabilities of trustees of the district library in said city; to provide a room, and all necessary furniture for such library, appoint a librarian, purchase books, exchange or cause to be repaired damaged books; sell any books they may deem useless or of improper character, and apply the proceeds to the purchase of other books for the said library.

Fifteen days before the annual election for city officers in each year, the board are required to report to the common council, the amount of moneys received and expended by them, for each and every object of expenditure, which

statement is to be published by the common council ten days prior to such election.

The board are subject to the rules and regulations from time to time prescribed by the Superintendent of Common Schools, so far as the same are applicable under the special provisions of the act by which they are constituted.

The common council are authorized and required to pass such ordinances and regulations as the board of commissioners may report as necessary and proper for the protection, safe keeping, care and preservation of the schoolhouses, lots, sites and appurtenances, and all the necessary property belonging to or connected with the schools. They are also to sell upon such terms as they may deem advisable, such of the school-houses, lots or sites, or any of the school property belonging to the city, as the board of commissioners shall report to them for that purpose; and the proceeds of such sale are to be paid over to the treasurer of the city, subject to the order of the board, and to be expended by the latter in the purchase, leasing, repairs or improvements of other school-houses, lots, school furniture, apparatus or appurtenances.

The title to the school-houses, sites, lots, furniture, books, apparatus and appurtenances, and all the other school property, is declared to be vested in the city; and while used or appropriated for school purposes is not liable to levy or sale under any warrant or execution, nor to taxation or assessment for any purpose; and the city in its corporate capacity is authorized to take, hold and dispose of any real or personal estate, transferred to it by gift, grant, bequest or devise, for the use of the common schools, either directly or to any other person in trust for said schools.

TOWN AND VILLAGE OF WILLIAMSBURGH.

[Chap. 182, Laws of 1843.]

There are three permanent school districts in this town, established by law, corresponding in extent and boundaries, with the three assessment districts; the annual meetings in each of which are required to be held on the second Monday of May in each year. The trustees of each district are required annually, at least three weeks before such annual meeting, to "prepare an estimate of the