The school committee is a legal corporation for the purpose of holding and administering certain trust funds, but not for other purposes. The duty is imposed by law upon the city to raise such sums of money as may be necessary for the support of the schools, which sums are assessed and collected in the same manner as other taxes.

The school committee present annually to the city council, through the mayor, an estimate in detail of the amount of money needed by the schools for the ensuing year, and the council make such appropriations as they see fit.

The title to school property is vested in the city, and lawsuits concerning the same are brought in its name.

The school committee have the supervision and direction of the public schools. They may elect or discharge teachers and janitors, fix their compensation and define their duties, but the salaries established at the commencement of the year may not be increased during the year.

The school committee have full power to repair school buildings, to provide temporary accommodations for schools, to select, bond, and purchase school sites, and to determine the plans for new buildings, but they may not expend or contract to expend any more money for these purposes than the city council has appropriated therefor.

The school committee must elect a superintendent of schools and a board of supervisors, consisting of not more than 6 members, define their duties, and fix their compensation. The superintendent and supervisors hold office for two years, but may be removed for cause by the school committee at any time.

The superintendent is a member of the board of supervisors and, when present, presides at their meetings.

No member of either branch of the city council may hold the office of superintendent or of supervisor or be a member of the school committee. The votes of the majority of the whole number of members of the school committee are necessary to elect the superintendent, the supervisors, the head masters of the Latin, normal, and high schools, masters of the grammar schools, or directors of special studies.

The school committee direct what books shall be used in the public schools and prescribe the course of studies and exercises to be pursued. It is their duty to purchase at the expense of the city the text-books and other supplies used in the schools; to cause a school census to be taken annually; to cause school registers to be kept; to make annual reports to the secretary of the State board of education, and to enforce the compulsory attendance laws.

BALTIMORE, MD.1

Statutory provisions.-The statutes of the State give full power to establish, conduct, and regulate a system of free public schools to the

1 Compiled from extracts from the Baltimore City Code in the Report of the Board of School Commissioners, Baltimore, Md., 1894, page 170 et seq.

mayor and city council, who may delegate supervisory powers and control to a board of public school commissioners.

To the board of commissioners power is given by law to examine, appoint, and remove teachers, prescribe their qualifications, fix their salaries, subject to the approval of the mayor and council, and to select text-books. They must report annually to the State board of education. The mayor and council are authorized to levy and collect taxes to defray all the expenses incurred for educational purposes by them. The State treasurer pays to the city council that proportion of the free school fund to which the city is entitled; funds from intestates' estates which remain undistributed for want of legal representatives are paid to the board of commissioners.

No teacher may admit a pupil who has not been vaccinated, under penalty of fine.

Physiology and hygiene, with special reference to stimulants and narcotics, must be taught to all pupils of sufficient capacity.

This is the extent to which the State has prescribed the school system for Baltimore. All the rest has been done by the city government.

City ordinances.-The mayor and council have provided by ordinance that the board of commissioners shall consist of 22 persons, one selected from each ward for a term of four years, one-fourth the whole number being elected every year. They are elected by the first and second branches of the city council in convention assembled. Removal from the ward from which he was elected vacates the office of any commissioner. The mayor is ex officio a member of the board of commissioners. The city council may expel a member for neglect of duty or for conduct unbecoming a school commissioner.

Vacancies in the board are filled by the city council; but if a vacancy occur during the recess of the council it is the duty of the board to fill the same as soon as convenient, the person elected serving until the next meeting of the council.

The school commissioners must organize annually and elect a president and a secretary. The secretary serves for one year, performs the duties fixed by the board, and receives $2,000 a year, payable monthly.

In all cases a majority of the commissioners constitute a quorum. The board must appoint a suitable person, who must be a resident of Baltimore, as superintendent of public instruction. His term of office is four years, unless sooner removed by the board, and his compensation is fixed by the board subject to the approval of the city council.

The superintendent, in conjunction with a committee of three members of the school board, must examine applicants for teacherships and if necessary reexamine teachers already employed.

The board must also appoint an assistant superintendent of public schools, at a salary of $2,000, whose term of office is concurrent with that of the superintendent, and whose duty it must be to aid the superendent in the supervision of the schools, paying especial attention

to the primary schools. The board must appoint also a suitable person, a citizen of Baltimore, as superintendent of supplies. It is his duty, under instructions of the board of school commissioners, to have control of all repairs, furniture, heating apparatus, fuel, and incidental supplies of the schools, and to perform such other duties as the board may require. His salary is $1,800 per annum.

The city register is custodian of the funds of the school board and disburses the same on the order of the president, countersigned by the secretary.

The board of commissioners of public schools have charge of all public schools in operation in the city, and it is their duty to employ teachers and fix their salaries, subject to the approval of the mayor or council, to prescribe the course of study and text-books, make by-laws for their own government, and rules and regulations for the schools, and to report regularly to the mayor and council. The board are given charge of school buildings and may make necessary repairs not to exceed $300 in cost.

No member of the board may be employed by the board or be interested in any contract for the schools. Important contracts for supplies must be let after proper advertisement for bids, and are awarded by a board consisting of the city comptroller, the city register, and a committee of the school board, the committee of the school board having but one vote and the two city officers one vote each.

The school board may not exceed in their expenditures the amounts appropriated therefor by the city council. Lawsuits on behalf of the schools are instituted in the name of the city and only by direction of the mayor.

The city council has given authority to the school commissioners to grant certificates of graduation from the Baltimore City College and from the high schools.

The school commissioners must organize and maintain separate schools for colored pupils, the teachers to be of the colored race if they be shown by examination to posses the necessary moral and intellectual qualifications. But in no case may white teachers be employed in the same school with colored teachers.

Libraries for the free use of pupils must be maintained at the Baltimore City College and at each of the female high schools.

The school commissioners must maintain a manual training school for white pupils and one for colored pupils.

Parents of any child suffering from a contagious disease must notify the principal of the school which said child has attended, and the principal must exclude that child from school until the attending physician certifies that all danger of contagion has passed.

The board must purchase American flags for all buildings and cause the same to be displayed during all sessions of the schools except on inclement days.

The board must introduce physical training as a regular course of study in the schools, and must employ a suitable male teacher for the same at a salary to be fixed by the board, subject to the approval of the city council. Ten minutes each day must be given to calisthenics. The board must issue the necessary directions to the teachers of the grammar schools to read to their pupils on the Friday preceding all public holidays the Declaration of Independence of the United States.

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, CAL.1

The city and the county of San Francisco are coterminous and are under the same government.

The board of education consists of 12 members, called school directors, elected by the people from the city at large. Their term is two years, but they organize annually by the election of a president from their own number.

The superintendent, who is elected by the people, is ex officio a member of the board, but may not vote.

Vacancies in the board of education are filled by the superintendent, with the consent of the majority of the directors then in office. Such appointees hold office till the next following municipal elections. Vacancies in the office of superintendent are filled by the board of education till the next regular election.

The board of education annually reports to the city and county board. of supervisors an estimate of the amount of money required for all purposes in the conduct of the schools during the coming year; but the aggregate amount must not exceed $35 per pupil in average daily attendance. The board of supervisors are authorized and empowered to levy and collect the amount of the tax determined by the board of education. But the whole amount of tax that may be levied for all municipal purposes is limited to $2.35 on each $100 of assessed valuation, and the estimate of the board of education therefore appears to be subject to reduction by the supervisors.

If the money received and collected in any year be insufficient for the necessary current expenditures of the schools, the board of education must certify the fact of such deficiency to the board of supervisors of the city and county, and the latter must supply the necessary funds, being authorized to raise the money by loan or otherwise in anticipation of the annual tax. Money for building or repairing schoolhouses may not be so raised except in case of fire or other unforeseen calamity. All moneys received or collected on account of public education in the city and county of San Francisco are deposited in the city treasury, and payments are made upon drafts signed by the president of the board of education and the superintendent, and countersigned by the auditor of the city and county.

Compiled from "Acts relating to the government of the city and county of San Francisco, 1887," and later acts specified.

The board of education may sue or be sued, may receive, purchase, and hold in fee, in trust for the city and county of San Francisco, any property, real or personal, that may be acquired for the use of the schools. They may sell such personal property as may not be required, but can not sell real estate. If they decide to abandon for any reason a school site or building, they withdraw entirely from control of the property, which is then treated as a part of the general property of the city, and sold as such, the proceeds, however, going to the school fund.

School bonds, when required for school purposes, and not to exceed $100,000, may be issued by and over the signatures of the mayor, auditor, and treasurer of the city and county.

The board of education are empowered to maintain public schools; to employ and dismiss teachers, janitors, and census marshals, and to fix their salaries; to regulate the grade of schools, determine the course of study, and make necessary rules and regulations; to require the attendance of witnesses in case of investigation of charges against any employee of the board; to provide fuel, light, water, and all necessary supplies; to provide and furnish school buildings and control the use of the same; to establish a special school for depraved children. They must purchase supplies by contract made after due advertisement and bid; make reports to the State superintendent of public instruction, and to the board of supervisors of the city and county; provide evening and normal schools; require records and reports by principals of schools; provide for uniform classification of studies, pupils, and salaries.

In all schools having more than two teachers beginners must be taught by teachers who have had at least two years' experience or by normal-school graduates. Such teachers must rank in point of salary with those of the assistant teachers in the highest grade in the grammar schools.1

There is a city board of examiners, consisting of the city superintendent and four other members, residents of the city, who must be experienced teachers, and who are elected by the city board of educa tion and hold office for two years.

The board of examiners must meet and hold examinations for the granting of teachers' certificates semiannually, and may hold monthly and special meetings if they so determine. All meetings must be public, and a record of their proceedings must be kept in the office of the superintendent.

For cause the board of examiners may recommend to the board of education the revocation of any certificate previously granted.'

The superintendent, the county treasurer, and the chairman of the board of supervisors constitute the board of trustees of the teachers' annuity and retirement fund, and provide for the disbursement of the same and designate the beneficiaries thereof.2

Act of March 23, 1893.

2 Act of March 26, 1895.