[E]

REVISED SCHOOL LAW.

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR A SYSTEM OF COMMON SCHOOLS.

Approved March 24th, 1866.

The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.

SECTION 1. There shall be a State Board of Education, which shall consist of the Governor, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Principal of the State Normal School, the Superintendent of Public Schools of the City and County of San Francisco, the Superintendents of Common Schools of the respective Counties of Sacramento, Santa Clara, and San Joaquin, and of two professional teachers, who shall be nominated by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and elected by and with the advice and consent of said Board; provided, that no teacher shall be eligible to such election unless he is the holder of a State educational diploma. For the purpose of the primary organization of the Board, any five members may meet at the call of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and elect the members to be elected. The elective members shall hold office for the term of four years, dating from the first day of July next succeeding their respective elections. The Governor shall be the President, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction the Secretary of the Board, and five members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business; provided, that a majority of the votes of the whole Board shall be necessary for the passage of any measure. The Board shall meet at the call of the Secretary, and shall hold at least two meetings in each year; and its proceedings shall be kept in a record book, which shall be a part of the archives of the Department of Instruction. No member of said Board shall receive any compensation for his

services; but any stationery required for the Board shall be furnished from the office of the Secretary of State, and any printing required by it under the provisions of this Act shall be done by the State Printer.

SEC. 2. The State Board of Education shall have power to adopt a course of study, and rules and regulations for all public schools in the State; provided, that such rules shall not be enforced in conflict with special rules and regulations adopted by the Board of Education of any city, or any city and county; to adopt and prescribe regulations and a list of books suitable for district school libraries; to grant teachers' life diplomas, and prescribe regulations for the examination of teachers by State, City, or County Boards of Examination; to adopt a uniform State series of text books to be used in all public schools; to have and use a common seal; and to authorize the printing by the State Printer of all regulations and circulars necessary to carry their provisions into effect.

OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.

SEC. 3. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall, at the special election for judicial officers to be held in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, and every four years thereafter at such special elections, be elected by the qualified voters of the State, and shall enter upon the duties of his office on the first day of December next after his election. He shall be paid a salary of three thousand dollars per annum, and shall have power to appoint a Clerk, who shall be paid a salary of eighteen hundred dollars per annum, and who shall be authorized to act as Deputy Superintendent.

SEC. 4. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall report to the Governor biennially on the first of November of the years in which the regular session of the Legislature is held. The Governor shall transmit said report to the Legislature, and whenever it is ordered published, the State Printer shall bind two hundred and forty copies and deliver them to the Superintendent, who shall deposit twenty copies in the State Library, furnish one copy to each County Superintendent, to be held by him as public property and delivered to his successor in office; the remaining copies shall be distributed-one to the State Library of each State and Territory, and the others to such cities, institutions of learning, and persons, as he may deem proper. The Legislature shall furnish at least two thousand pamphlet copies to the Superintendent, who shall furnish one copy to each district library, and shall distribute the remainder as he may deem advisable to school officers or other persons. Said report shall contain a statement of the condition of public schools in the State; full statistical tables, by counties, showing, among other statistics, the number of school children in the State, the number attending public schools, and the average attendance; the number attending private schools, and the number not attending school; the amount of State School Fund apportioned, and the sources from which derived; the amount raised by county and district taxes, by rate bills, or from other sources of revenue for school purposes; the amount expended for salaries of teachers, and for building schoolhouses; a statement of plans for the management and improvement of schools; a statement of the condition of the State Normal School, of the State Agricultural College, of all incorporated literary institutions required to report to him; of the educational departments of the State Reform School, the Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb and Blind, and the several Orphan Asylums, and other educational institutions to which State appropriations may be made.

SEC. 5. The Superintendent of Public Instruction, immediately after the State Controller reports to him, as required in this Act, shall apportion to the several school districts, counties, and cities, the school moneys. to which each may be entitled, and shall furnish to the State Controller, the State Board of Examiners, to each County Treasurer and Superintendent, an abstract of such apportionment, and shall draw his order on the State Controller in favor of each County Treasurer for the amount of State School Fund to which such county is entitled, and shall take each Treasurer's receipt for the same.

SEC 6. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall prepare and cause to be printed suitable forms for making all reports, and conducting all necessary proceedings under this Act, and shall transmit them to the local school officers and teachers, who shall be governed in accordance therewith. He shall furnish the State Board of Education, the State Board of Examination, and each County Board of Examination with suitable diplomas and certificates, and shall prepare a State school register, which shall be furnished to each school and school district in the State. He shall cause all school laws to be printed in a pamphlet form, and shall annex thereto forms for making reports and conducting school business; the course of study rules and regulations, and list of text books and library books adopted and prescribed by the State Board of Education; and such suggestions on school architecture as he may deem useful, with such woodcuts and plans of schoolhouses as he may be able to obtain, or which may be provided by State appropriation. He shall order printed a number of copies sufficient to supply each school officer and teacher, and each school library with at least one copy thereof, and to furnish with one copy each Superintendent of Public Instruction, and each State Library of each State and Territory in the United States, and shall so distribute them.

SEC. 7. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall file, arrange, and cause to be bound in a substantial form all valuable printed and manuscript reports in his office relating to the early educational history of this State, and shall cause to be bound all valuable school reports, school journals, and school documents of this and other States which may be sent to his office, and shall retain them as part of the archives of his office; and such sum as may be necessary, not to exceed two hundred and fifty dollars, is hereby annually appropriated and set apart out of the State School Fund, before apportionment, and the Controller is hereby authorized and directed to draw his warrant for such sums as may be allowed and audited by the State Board of Examiners for the objects of this section.

SEC. 8. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be ex officio. one of the Trustees of the Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb and Blind, and of the State Reform School; and shall visit those institutions from time to time to inquire into their management and the systems of instruction pursued therein, and shall make a biennial report thereof. He shall visit the several Orphan Asylums to which State appropriations are made, and report concerning the instruction given to the children therein; and shall also visit, as far as may be practicable, the several incorporated literary institutions in the State, and make such report thereof as he may deem proper.

SEC. 9. It shall be the duty of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to travel in the different counties of the State, so far as is possible without neglecting his other official duties, during at least four months. of each year, for the purpose of visiting schools, of consulting with

County Superintendents, of lecturing before County Institutes, and of addressing public assemblies on subjects pertaining to public schools; and the actual travelling expenses incurred by the Superintendent in the discharge of this duty shall be allowed, audited, and paid out of the General Fund in the same manner as claims upon said fund are now allowed, audited, and paid; provided, that the sum so expended in any one year shall not exceed one thousand dollars; and the sum of two thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby biennially appropriated for payment of the same.

SEC. 10. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall, at the expiration of his term of office, deliver over, on demand, to his successor, all property, books, documents, maps, records, reports, and other papers belonging to his office, or which may have been received by him for the use of his office.

OF THE STATE CONTROLLER.

SEC. 11. The State Controller shall keep a separate and distinct account of the School Fund, and of the interest and income thereof, together with such moneys as may be raised by special State tax, State poll tax, or otherwise, for school purpose He shall, on or before the first day of February of each year, report to the Superintendent of Public Instruction a statement of the securities belonging to the School Fund, of the moneys in the Treasury subject to apportionment, and the several sources from which they accrued, which reports shall be included in the biennial report of the State Superintendent. He shall draw his warrant on the State Treasurer in favor of any County Treasurer whenever such County Treasurer shall present the order drawn by the Superintendent of Public Instruction in favor of such county, duly indorsed by said County Treasurer.

OF THE STATE TREASURER.

SEC. 12. It shall be the duty of the State Treasurer to receive and hold as a special deposit all school moneys paid into the Treasury, and pay them over whenever applied for, only on the warrant of the State Controller, issued on the order of the State Superintendent, attested by the seal of the State Board of Education, in favor of each County Treasurer, which orders, duly indorsed by the County Treasurer, shall be the only valid vouchers in the hands of the State Controller for the disbursement of the school moneys; provided, that for the payment of subscriptions for a State educational journal, and for binding documents. in the office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, as elsewhere provided in this Act, the bills audited by the State Board of Examiners for such purposes shall be valid vouchers, for which the Controller shall draw his warrant the same as for the orders of County Treasurers. No mileage or allowance of any kind shall be made to any County Treasurer for receiving said school moneys and transporting them to his county.

COUNTY TREASURER.

SEC. 13. It shall be the duty of the County Treasurer of each county: First-To receive and hold all school moneys as a special deposit, and to keep a separate account of their disbursement to the several school districts which shall be entitled to receive them, according to the appor

tionment of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the County Superintendent of Common Schools;

Second-To notify the County Superintendent of Common Schools of the amount of State School Fund in the County Treasury subject to apportionment, and whenever required, to inform said Superintendent of the amount of school moneys subject to apportionment;

Third-To pay all warrants drawn on State or county school moneys, in accordance with the provisions of this Act, whenever such warrants are countersigned by the County Auditor and properly indorsed by the holders;

Fourth-To make annually, on or before the first day of August, a financial report for the last preceding school and fiscal year, to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, in such form as may be required by him.

COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT.

SEC. 14. A County Superintendent of Common Schools shall be elected in each county, at the general election in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, and every two years thereafter, who shall take office on the first Monday in March next succeeding his election, and hold for two years, and until his successor is elected and qualified. He shall take the oath or affirmation of office, and shall give an official bond to the county, in a sum to be fixed by the Board of Supervisors of said county.

SEC. 15. The County Superintendent shall apportion all school moneys to the school districts in accordance with the provisions of this Act, as soon as practicable after the State apportionment has been made, and shall make quarterly apportionments thereafter; and he may make apportionments at such other times as may be required by special laws, or deemed necessary for the convenience of school officers. He shall draw his warrant on the County Treasurer in favor of persons entitled to receive the same; provided, that no such warrant shall be drawn against the School Fund of any city, town, or district, without an order of the Board of Trustees, or Board of Education, showing for what purpose the money is required; and, provided, further, that no such warrant shall be drawn unless there is cash in the Treasury to the credit of said city, town or district.

SEC. 16. The County Superintendent shall have power and it shall be his duty:

First To visit each school in his county at least once a year;

Second-To distribute promptly all reports, forms, laws, circulars, and instructions which he may receive for the use of school officers from the Department of Instruction or the State Board of Education;

Third-To report to the Superintendent of Public Instruction annually, on or before the twentieth of August, for the school year ending on the last day of June next preceding, such statistics as may be required by him or by the State Board of Education;

Fourth-To preside over County Teachers' Institutes.

Fifth-To enforce the course of study and the use of text books adopted by the State Board of Education;

Sixth-To enforce the rules and regulations required in the examination of teachers;

Seventh-To keep on file and preserve in his office the biennial reports of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and a file of the State educational journal adopted in pursuance of law;