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 SCHOOL LAW. 
 
 AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER NINETY, LAWS OF 
 SEVENTY-TWO AND SEVENTY-THREE 
 
 Section 1. 77ie General Assembly of North Carolina do 
 enact : That all acts unless new regulation heretofore 
 adopted by the State Board of Education in relation to free 
 public schools be, and the same are hereby repealed. 
 
 Sec. 2. That sections thirty of chapter ninety of the laws 
 of 1872-3, be amended by adding after the words "of each 
 county," in line sixteen, the words, "and furnish the County 
 Treasurer with the amounts thus apportioned among the 
 several school districts, and the amount that each district 
 is entitled to." 
 
 Sec. 3. That the words "July" in section thirty-eight, of" 
 chapter ninety, public laws of 1872-3, be stricken out, and 
 "October" inserted therefor. 
 
 Sec. 4. This act shall be in force from and after its 
 ratification. In General Assembly read three times, and 
 ratified the 12th day of February, A. D. 1874. 
 
 The rules and regulations which were repealed by this . 
 act, provide substantially as follows : 
 
 That each school district shall contain an area equal to 
 from four to seven miles square. 
 
 That the school districts shall be as nearly square in form 
 as the convenience of neighborhoods and the situation of the 
 several localities will permit. 
 
 That the school house shall be as near the centre of the^ 
 school population of the district as practicable. 
 
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 That the people of each district shall elect three suitable 
 persons district trustees, each race electing its own trustees. 
 
 That the District Trustees shall solicit contributions to 
 pay half the cost of building, repairing and furnishing the 
 school house, and to supplement the school money due the 
 District; determine the time at which the public school 
 shall begin ; recommend a Teacher who will be acceptable to 
 the people of the District, and assist the school committee 
 in all matters relating to the district school. 
 
 These rules and regulations having been repealed by the 
 General Assembly cannot be r-e-enacted by the State Board 
 of Education. As they relate, however, to the practical 
 workings of the school system, they are published as a gen- 
 ■eral guide to school committees and county school officers 
 ;so far as they may see fit to adopt and apply them. They 
 •ai-e not, however, of any binding obligation. 
 
 The rule which is excepted by the words, " unless new 
 regulation " in the repealing act, and which therefore re- 
 mains in force, was adopted Jan. 15th, 1874, and is as 
 
 follows : 
 
 " The law intends that the highest prices, to wit : $20, $30 
 and |40, a month according to the grade of the teacher, 
 shall be paid only for schools in which twenty or more pu- 
 pils are taught. If the number of pupils is less than twenty, 
 the highest prices which may be paid out of the Public 
 School Funds are : To a teacher who holds a third grade 
 certificate one dollar a month for each pupil ; to a teacher 
 who holds a second grade certificate one dollar and a half a 
 month for each pupil ; to a teacher who holds a first grade 
 certificate two dollars a month for each pupil, counting th^ 
 number of pupils in all cases by their average attendance. 
 
 THE COUNTY BOAED OF EDUCATION. 
 
 By the Constitution of the State the County Commission- 
 ers who constitute the tlounty Boards of Education, have 
 
supervision and control of the public schools in their respec- 
 tive counties. 
 
 SCHOOL FUNDS. 
 
 The law appropriates^ annually seventy -five per cent, of 
 the entire State and county capitation taxes, a property tax 
 of eight and one-third cents on the hundred dollars worth 
 of all the property and credits, in the State, all taxes on 
 auctioneers and licenses to retail spirituous liquors and the 
 income from the permanent school fund for the support and 
 maintenance of free public schools. 
 
 If this money is properly and economically applied, it 
 will be sufficient to maintain a free public school from two 
 to three months each year in every school district in the 
 State. If along with any balance which may remain in the 
 hands of the County Treasurer, it shall be insufficient to 
 maintain schools four months, the law makes it the duty of 
 the County Commissioners to levy annually a special tax to 
 suppl}^ the deficiency. The question of the levy and collec- 
 tion of such additional school tax, however, must be sub- 
 mitted to the vote of the electors of the county. If in any 
 county the vote shall be against the additional tax, the only 
 school fund in such county will be that whjeh the law has 
 absolutely provided as above mentioned. 
 
 GUARD THE SCHOOL MONEY. 
 
 In the administration of three hundred thousand dollars 
 
 annually in four thousand school districts, it will be neces- 
 
 arv to guard the money. The County Board of Education 
 
 may dopt and carry out any one or all of the following 
 
 rules, or o ^ers which may occur to them : 
 
 That no or., ^' for school money shall be paid, until it is 
 approved and sign ' by the Chairman and Secretary of the 
 County Board of Educj>Icn. 
 
That the school money shall in no case be apportioned to 
 any township, or paid upon the order of any school com- 
 mittee until the school census of the township is taken and 
 reported as required by law. 
 
 That the public schools shall not be taught at a season of 
 the year when laboring children cannot be spared from the 
 farm. 
 
 The County Board of Education may recommend the 
 school committees to pay |15, |20, $25 or $30, a month, or 
 any other price or prices within the limits prescribed by 
 law, for the public schools in their county. If in any in- 
 stance the rule adopted by the State Board of Education, 
 January 15th, 1874, regulating the pay of the teacher in 
 part by the average attendance of pupils is found to work a 
 hardship, or to interfere with the success of the school, the 
 County Board of Education may modify the rule, to some 
 extent, so as to meet the full justice and equity of such case. 
 
 COUNTY EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 The County Board of Education and the Board of Exami- 
 ners of each county are respectfully, but earnestly recom- 
 mended to call an educational convention in their county 
 and organi?€ a'permanent educational association. 
 
 The State Educational Association which was permanently 
 organized in July, 1873, adopted a resolution recommending 
 that County Educational Associations be organized. The 
 educational interests of the State should be fully represented 
 and fostered by appropriate county and State associations. 
 
 SCHOOL COMMITTEES. 
 
 The following sections of the school law now ^\. force, are 
 published for the information of school .ommittees and 
 others. For convenience the section: are rearranged and 
 
numbered in order from the beginning. The corresponding 
 sections may be found in the law. 
 
 Sec. 1. In each township there shall be biennially elected 
 by the qualified voters thereof a school committee of three 
 persons, whose duties shall be as prescribed in this act. If 
 there should at any time be a failure to elect school com- 
 mitteemen in any township, or if a vacancy should at any 
 time occur, it shall be the duty of the County Board of 
 Education to appoint suitable residents of the townships to 
 fill the vacancy, and the persons thus appointed shall exer- 
 cise all the powers and duties of a school committee until 
 their successors are elected and qualified. 
 
 Sec. 2. The school committee of each township shall be 
 a body corporate by the name and style of "The School 
 
 Committee of Township , in the county of ," 
 
 as the case may be, and in that name shall be capable of 
 purchasing and holding real and personal estate, and of 
 selling and transferring the same for school purposes, and 
 of prosecuting and defending suits for and against the cor- 
 poration. All conveyances to school committees shall be to 
 them and their successors in office. 
 
 Sec. 3. The school committee of each township, within 
 fifteen days after their election or appointment, shall meet 
 at some convenient point within the township, and organize 
 by electing one of their number chairman, and another of 
 their number clerk of the school committee. 
 
 Sec. 4. The school committee shall be exempt from mili- 
 tary duty, from working the public roads, and from serving 
 on juries, and shall receive no other compensation for their 
 services. Before entering upon the duties of their office 
 they shall take an oath before a Justice of the Peace for the 
 faithful discharge of the duties of that office. 
 
 Sec. 5. The form of oath to be taken by every school 
 committeeman before entering upon the duties of the office 
 shall be in the following words : "I, A. B., do swear (or 
 affirm) that I will well and truly execute the office of school 
 
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 committeeman according to the best of my skill and ability- 
 according to law : so help me God." 
 
 Sec. 6. It shall be the duty of the school committee of 
 each township to take and return to the County Board of 
 Education on or before the first day of August in every year 
 a full and accurate census of the children between the ages 
 of six and twenty-one years, giving the nurhber in public 
 schools, and the number who attend no school, designating 
 the race and sex in all cases. They shall also report the 
 number of public school houses and the number of private 
 school houses, and the number of academies and colleges in 
 each township. 
 
 Sec. 7. The school committee of the several townships 
 sh^ll lay off their respective townships into convenient 
 school districts, consulting, as far as practicable, the conve- 
 nience of the neighborhood, and the wishes of persons in- 
 terested, and disregarding the township boundaries where 
 convenience require it. They shall designate the districts 
 by number, as school district No. 1, school district No. 2, 
 
 &c., of township , as the case may be : Provided, 
 
 That where a district lies in two or more townships 
 
 it shall be designated as a school district No. 
 
 of the township in which the school house is situated ; and 
 the commissioners of adjoining counties 'shall have power 
 in case of great inconvenience to arrange for the sending of 
 pupils to school across the lines of such counties and pro- 
 vide for their payment from the fund of their school district. 
 If the pupils of any public school reside in different town- 
 ships, the school committes of each shall give an order to 
 the teacher for such part of the amount due him as is pro- 
 portionate to the number of pupils attending his school from 
 their township. 
 
 Sec. 8. The school committee shall consult the conveni- 
 ence of the white residents in settling the boundaries of 
 districts for white schools, and of colored residents in settling 
 the boundaries for colored schools. The schools of the two 
 
races shall be separate ; thfe districts the same or not, accord- 
 ing to the convenience of the parties concerned. In cases 
 where there are two sets of districts in a township they shall 
 be designated as school districts numbers one, two, three, 
 etc., for white schools, or school districts, numbers one, two, 
 three, etc., for colored schools, as the case may be, of town- 
 ship of etc., as before stated. 
 
 Sec. 9. The school committee may receive any gift, grant, 
 donation or devise made for the use of any school or schools 
 within their jurisdiction, and in their corporate capacity 
 they shall be and are hereby entrusted with the care and 
 custody of all school houses, school house sites, grounds, 
 books, apparatus, or other public school property belonging 
 to their respective jurisdiction, with full power to control 
 the same as they may deem best for the interest of the pub- 
 lic schools, and the cause of education. When, in the opin- 
 ion of the committee, any school house, school house sites, 
 or other public school property has become unnecessary for 
 public school purposes, they shall return the land to the 
 original owner, his heirs or assigns, if he or they so desire 
 on the payment of first cost, and remove or sell the building 
 after advertisement for twenty days at three public places 
 in the townships. The deed for the property thus sold shall 
 be executed by the chairman and clerk of the committee, 
 and proceeds of the sale shall be paid to the township Treas- 
 urer for the school expenses in the township. 
 
 Sec. 10. The school committee may receive suitable sites 
 for school houses by donation or purchase. In the latter 
 case they shall report the price to the Chairman and Secre- 
 tary of the County Board of Education. If the latter are 
 satisfied that the price is not excessive they shall approve 
 the order of the committee on the County Treasurer, which 
 said committee are hereby authorized to give for the pur- 
 chase money in favor of the grantor of the land, and upon 
 payment of the order the title to said site shall vest in the 
 committee and their successors in office. Whenever the 
 
committee are unable to obtain a suitable site for a school 
 by gift or purchase, they shall report to the County Com- 
 missioners, and the latter shall thereupon appoint three 
 disinterested citizens, who shall lay off not more than one 
 acre, and assess the cash value thereof, and report their 
 proceedings to the County Commissioners. If said report 
 is confirmed by the commissioners, the Chairman and 
 Secretary of the Board of Education for the county shall 
 approve the order which the township school committee 
 shall give on the County Treasurer in favor of the owner of 
 the land thus laid oflF, and upon payment or offer of pay- 
 ment of this order, the title to said land shall vest in the 
 school committee and their successors in office : Provided, 
 Thaj; improved land shall not be condemned under the 
 provisions of this section; and provided further, That any 
 person aggrieved by the action of said commissioners, may 
 appeal to the Superior Court of the county in which said 
 land is situate, upon giving bond to secure said commis- 
 sioners against such costs as they maj^ incur on account of 
 said appeal not being prosecuted with effect. 
 
 Sec. 11. Every school to which aid shall be given under 
 the provisions of this act shall be a public school, to which 
 children between the ages of six and twenty-one years shall 
 be admitted free of any charge, subject to the restrictions 
 contained in section twenty. 
 
 Sec. 12. The school committee shall have the authority 
 to employ and dismiss teachers of the schools within their 
 townships, and shall determine the pay per month to be 
 paid the same: Provided, however. That teachers of the first 
 grade shall not receive out of the school fund more than 
 two dollars per day; of the second grade not more than 
 one dollar and fifty cents per day; and of the third grade 
 not more than one dollar per day, but no teacher shall 
 receive any compensation for a less term than one month. 
 No committeeman shall be a teacher. Nor shall any com- 
 
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 mitteeman in any way be interested by contract or otherwise 
 in the erection or repairing of any school house in his 
 district. 
 
 TEACHERS. 
 
 Sec. 13. It shall be the duty of all teachers of free public 
 schools to maintain good order and discipline in their 
 respective schools, to encourage morality, industry and 
 neatness in all their pupils, and to teach thoroughly all 
 branches which they profess to teach. If anj pupil should 
 wilfully and persistently violate the rules of school, such 
 pupil may be dismissed by the teacher for the current term . 
 
 Sec. 14. That the State board of education may recom- 
 mend the course of study to be pursued, the text books and 
 other means of instruction to be used in the public schools : 
 Provided, That no sectarian or political text books or influ- 
 ences shall be used in any public school. 
 
 Note. — Teachers should hold frequent educational meet- 
 ings in the district school house ; interest the people of the 
 district in the education of their children and the support 
 and maintenance of public schools ; acquaint themselves 
 fully with the school law and explain it to the people, and 
 hold teachers' institutes for their own improvement in 
 teaching. 
 
 Sec. 15. Every teacher or principal of a school to which 
 aid shall be given under the provisions of this act, shall 
 keep a daily record of all absences of pupils and of the grade 
 in scholarship and department of each. The grade in schol- 
 arship shall be indicated by the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5; 1 
 representing the highest or first grade, and 5 the lowest, and 
 the three intermediate numbers the three intermediate 
 grades. The grades in deportment shall be represented by 
 the same numbers and in the same order. At the end of 
 every term every teacher of a public school shall deliver to 
 the county Treasurer a statement of the length of the term 
 
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 of the school, of the race, number, sex and average atten- 
 dance of pupils, and the name of the district and township 
 in which the school was taught. 
 
 Sec. 16. At the middle and end of every four months' 
 term of a public school, the teacher or principal of the school 
 shall exhibit to the school committee of the township a 
 statement of ihe number of pupils, their average attendance, 
 the length of the term and the time taught. He shall also 
 exhibit a teacher's certificate, dated within one year of the 
 time. If the committee are satisfied that the provisions Qf 
 this act are complied with, they shall give an order on the 
 County Treasurer, payable to the teacher for the sum due 
 his school for the time taught. But they shall in no case 
 give such an order unless the teacher produce a certificate of 
 merital and moral qualifications from the board of exami- 
 ners, dated within one year of the time. 
 
 Sec. 17. The County Board of Education of every county 
 shall, on the first Mondaj^ of February of each year, or as 
 soon thereafter as practicable, apportion among the several 
 townships in the county, according to the number of chil- 
 dren in each between the ages of six and twenty-one years, 
 (which number shall be ascertained by a census to be taken 
 by the school committee and reported to the County Board 
 of Education,) all school funds which may then be in the 
 possession of or due to the County Treasurer, specifying how 
 much thereof is apportioned to the children of each race, 
 and give notice thereof to the school committees of the 
 several townships of the county. And the school committees 
 in the several townships shall apportion the same in like 
 manner among the several school districts, and publish the 
 same by an advertisement posted on the court house door of 
 each county and furnish the County Treasurer with the 
 amounts thus apportioned among the several school districts, 
 and the amount that each district is entitled to. The sums 
 thus apportioned to the several townships shall be subject to 
 the orders of the school committees thereof for payment of 
 
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 the school expenses mentioned in the next section of this 
 act: Provided, however, That in no case shall the school 
 fund thus apportioned to either race be expended for the 
 education of the otlier race : And provided further, That so 
 much of said school fund as shall not be expended in any 
 school district for the education of the race for which it was 
 apportioned in any year, shall be added to the final appor- 
 tionment to said race in said school districts for the succeed- 
 ing year. 
 
 Sec. 18. All orders upon the County Treasurer for school 
 money for the payment of teachers, for the purchase of sites 
 for school houses, and for half the cost of building, repairing 
 and furnishing school houses, shall be signed by the school 
 committee of the township in which the school is taught or 
 in which the site or school house is situated, which orders, 
 duly indorsed by the persons to whom the same are payable, 
 shall be the only valid vouchers in the hands of County 
 Treasurers for disbursements of school money. 
 
 Sec. 19. Every person who shall wilfully interrupt or 
 disturb any public or private school, or any meeting lawfully 
 and peaceably held for the purpose of literary or scientific 
 improvement, either within or without the place where such 
 school or meeting is held, or injure an}'' school building, or 
 deface any school furniture, apparatus or other school 
 property, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on convic- 
 tion thereof, shall be fined not exceeding one hundred 
 dollars, at the discretion of the court. 
 
 Sec. 20. The school year shall begin July first, and end 
 June thirtieth. 
 
 SCHOOL DISTRICTS. 
 
 The law requires that "the school committees shall lay 
 ofi" their respective townships into convenient school districts, 
 consulting as far as practicable, the convenience of the 
 neighborhood and disregarding township boundaries where 
 
 LofC. 
 
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 convenience requires it." The school districts should be 
 made as large as practicable. Where they are very small, 
 two or more should be thrown together, to make one good 
 district. The- school house should be as near the centre of 
 the school population of the district as practicable. The 
 money apportioned to each district should be paid for the 
 school taught in that district and no other. The children 
 of each district are entitled by law to attend only the school 
 of their own district free of charge. Where the township is 
 not too large it should be adopted as the school district, 
 with only one school for each race. In districts which 
 contain a large number of children, two or more teachers 
 may be employed in the same school, and graded schools 
 may t^e established for the support of which assistance may 
 be obtained from the Peabod}^ Education Fund. If a school 
 district is to include parts of two or more townships, the 
 school committees of the several townships interested shall 
 agree upon the boundary, or if they fail to agree, they shall 
 report the facts to the County Board of Education, and the 
 latter shall establish the district. All matters of controversy 
 relating to the public schools must be referred to the County 
 Board of Education. 
 
 SCHOOL CENSUS. 
 
 The County Board of Education cannot apportion the 
 school money till the census of school children is taken and 
 reported to them. The school committees should therefore 
 be prompt and accurate in taking and reporting the census. 
 The law requires the school committees to "report the 
 amounts of money apportioned among the several school 
 districts." This requirement of the law will be substantially 
 complied with, if the school committee will report an accurate 
 census of each school district of the township. The County 
 Board of Education may then apportion the school money 
 directly among the several districts in the county. This 
 
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 would be in compliance with the law. When a district lies 
 partly in two or more townships, it should be called district 
 
 No. , of the township in which the school house is 
 
 situated. The census of such district should be given by 
 the school committee of the township in which the school 
 house is situated, and should state the number of children 
 within the district who reside in the different townships. 
 
 The clerk of, the school committee should register in the 
 book of school records of the township, an accurate census 
 of each school district of the township as follows : Under the 
 head of "school district No. , for white, or colored chil- 
 dren," as the case may be, write the names of each head of a 
 family, resident in the school district, in a column on the 
 left hand side of the page. On the same horizontal line 
 with each name thus written, enter the number of children 
 between the ages of six and twenty-one years in two columns; 
 in the first column enter the number of males ; in the second 
 the number of females. This record of the census of each 
 school district should at all times be open to inspection by 
 all residents of the township, so that any error it may con- 
 tain may be corrected. 
 
 DISTRICT SCHOOL MONEY. 
 
 The school money which is apportioned to each district 
 belongs to the people of the district for the support and 
 maintenance of a free public school for the education of their 
 children. The State does not go into the school district and 
 establish a school without any effort on the part of the peo- 
 ple of the district. It rather aids the people to establish 
 their own school. Free public schools will not rise up and 
 grow of themselves without any effort on the part of the 
 people. If the people of a district want a public school, they 
 must exert themselves, and establish, maintain and support 
 it. Otherwise the district school money will be virtually 
 wasted. 
 
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 If in any school district the people prefer that the district 
 trustees shall continue to aid the school committee in 
 matters pertaining to the district school, there will be no 
 impropriety in their doing so, and the school committee in 
 every such case should respect the district trustees as the 
 representatives of the people of the district. If the people 
 of any district should prefer not to have district trustees, of 
 course those heretofore appointed will cease to act, and no 
 others will be appointed in their place. 
 
 THE PAY OF THE TEACHERS. 
 f 
 
 Thelaw fixes the highest limits of prices and leaves it 
 with the school committee to determine the pay of the 
 teacher within those limits. The school committee should 
 respect any recommendation which the County Board of 
 Education may make; and each school committee for itself 
 may determine that they will pay $15, $20, $25 or $30 a 
 month, or any other price within the limits prescribed by 
 law as the price or prices of teaching within the township. 
 The school committee should in no case permit the public 
 schools to be taught at seasons of the year when laboring 
 children cannot be spared from the farm. 
 
 ALEX. McIVER, 
 Superintendent of Public Instruction. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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