Bond to be required of Assessor.

Where bond

and when

shall be appropriated to any other use than the payment of teachers' wages, and no part thereof shall be paid to any teacher who shall not have received a certificate as required in this chapter, before the commencement of his school.

Sec. 61. The moderator and director shall require of the assessor, and the assessor shall execute to the district, a bond in double the amount of money to come into his hands as such assessor during the year, as near as the same can be ascertained, with two sufficient sureties, to be approved by the moderator and director, conditioned for the faithful application of all moneys that shall come into his hands by virtue of his office.

Sec. 62. Such bond shall be lodged with the moderator, and to be lodg'd, in case of any breach of the condition thereof, the director sued, etc. shall cause a suit to be commenced thereon in the name of the district, and the money, when collected, shall be paid into the township treasury, for the use of the district, subject to the order of the proper district officers.

Report of

disburse

mments.

Sec. 63. Said board shall present to the district, at each anreceipts and nual meeting, a report in writing, containing an accurate statement of all moneys of the district received by them, or any of them, during the preceding year, and of the disbursements made by them, with the items of such receipts and disbursements.

made and signed, as though no school had been previously taught by him in the district.

3. By the provisions of an act passed March, 1863, any surplus of the two mill tax, after eight months of school have been maintained, may be used for other school or library purposes. (See section 172.)

(Section 61.) 1. The moderator and director must require this bond of the assessor before giving him any order on the township treasurer for school or library moneys, and before giving him any rate-bill to collect. If he fails or refuses to give bonds when demanded he vacates his office; but he is not required under any penalty, to offer his bonds till demanded.

2. If the moderator and director shall give the assessor the custody of moneys belonging to the district without first requiring bonds of him, they commit a gross violation of official duty, and are liable not only to pay the penalty prescribed, but in case any loss results to the district from their neglect, they are liable to the district for the loss occasioned thereby.

of taxes,

Sec. 64. Such report shall also contain a statement of all Statement taxes assessed upon the taxable property of the district during etc. the preceding year, the purposes for which such taxes were assessed, and the amount assessed for each particular purpose, and said report shall be recorded by the director in a book to be provided and kept for that purpose.

have cnsto

Sec. 65. The said district board shall have the care and cus- Board to tady of the school-house and other property of the district, ay of school except so far as the same shall be specially confided to the house, etc. custody of the director, including all books purchased for the use of pupils admitted to the school free of charge.

Sec. 66. The said board shall have power to fill, by appoint- Vacancies. ment, any vacancy that shall occur in their own number, and

(Section 65.) It is an almost universal custom to allow the use of the school-house for religious meetings, Sunday-schools, lectures, lyceums, debating societies, and all other meetings connected with mental, moral and religious improvement of the people, and such use has uniformly been approved by my predecessors in this Department. These uses of the schoolhouse are certainly not foreign to the purpose of its erection. The board should, however, consult the general wishes of the people in granting this use of the public property.

(Section 66.) 1. The vacancy, in primary districts, whether filled by the district board or by the special meeting, is filled for the unexpired term. If a vacancy exists at the time of the annual meeting it may be filled by an election, but the election will be only for the unexpired part of the term. But neither a special nor an annual meeting has power to fill a vacancy till the ten days are expired, during which the district board are required to fill it.

2. In case two of the district offices shall be vacant at once, the remaining member cannot fill the vacancies, as he does not constitute a majority of the board, and cannot exercise the powers thereof. On the written request of five legal voters, he may call a special meeting to fill vacancies.

3. Should all the offices be vacant at once, no special meeting can be called, and the inspectors should appoint officers to fill the vacancies, as provided by section 146.

Proviso.

When board

Assessor

pro tem.

it shall be their duty to fill such vacancy within ten days after its occurrence: Provided, That in case said board shall, from any cause, fail to fill such vacancy within the time specified, the same may be filled by election at a special school district meeting called for that purpose, by the qualified voters present, which meeting shall be called in the same manner, and be subject to the same regulations, as other special school district meetings.

Sec. 67. If the assessor shall fail to give bond as is required may app'int in this chapter, or from sickness or any other cause shall be unable to attend to the duty of collecting any district rate-bill, the said board shall appoint an acting assessor to collect the same, who shall possess all the powers of the district assessor for that purpose, and shall, before proceeding to the collection thereof, give bond to the district in double the amount of money to be collected, in the same manner, and with the same effect as the district assessor is required to give such bond. Every school district office shall become vacant upon the incumbent ceasing to be a resident of the district for which he shall have been

(Section 67.) 1. If the assessor neglects or refuses to give bonds when required, his office becomes vacant, and should be filled by the district board. The case provided for by this section, must be one where neither neglect or refusal is chargeable on the assessor.

2. The occurrence of any of the following events will create a vacancy in a school district office:

First. The death of the incumbent;

Second. His resignation;

Third. His removal from office;

Fourth. His removal from the district;

Fifth. His conviction of any infamous crime;

Sixth. His election or appointment being declared void by a competent tribunal;

Seventh. His neglect to file his acceptance of office, or to give or renew any official bond, according to law. (Compiled laws, chap. 11, sec. 3, p. 219.)

3. The resignation of a district officer must be made to the other members of the district board, or to one of them, and should be in writing. (Compiled laws, chap. 11, sec. 1.)

trict offices

elected, or upon the happening of either of the events specified When disin section three, of chapter fifteen, of the revised statutes become va of 1846.

TOWNSHIP BOARD OF SCHOOL INSPECTORS.

cant.

spectors.

Sec. 68. The inspectors elected at the annual township meet- Board of ings, together with the township clerk, shall constitute the School Intownship board of school inspectors; and the inspector elected at the annual township meeting, having the shortest time to serve, shall be chairman of said board, and the said township clerk shall be the clerk thereof.

treasurer

Sec. 69. The chairman of said board shall be the treasurer Chairman of thereof, and shall give bond to the township in double the board to be amount of library moneys to come into his hands during his and give term of office, as near as the same can be ascertained, with two sufficient sureties, to be approved by the township clerk, con

(Section 68.) The office of school inspectors was not created by that chapter of the statutes known as "The Primary School Law." It will be found as follows:

*

"There shall be elected annually, on the first Monday of April, in each organized township, * * * one township clerk, who shall be ex officio school inspector," * and one school inspector. (Article 11, sec. 1 of the constitution.) "The annual meeting of each township shall be held on the first Monday of April, in each year; and at such meeting there shall be an election (by ballot) for * * * one school inspector." (Compiled laws, chap. 12, sec. 8.)

"Each school inspector elected as aforesaid, shall hold his office for two years, and until his successor shall be elected and qualified, except when elected to fill a vacancy; in which case he shall hold during the unexpired portion of the regular term: Provided, That where there shall have been no previous election for school inspectors in any township, there shall be two such inspectors elected, one for one year, and one for two years, who shall severally hold their office accordingly." (Compiled laws, chap. 12, sec. 13.)

Sec. 95, chap. 12, of the compiled laws, establishes the compensation of inspectors at one dollar per day.

bond.

In case of breach,

sued,

ditioned for the faithful appropriation of all moneys that may come into his hands by virtue of his office.

Sec. 70. Said bond shall be filed with the township clerk, and bond to be in case of the non-fulfillment thereof, said clerk shall cause a suit to be commenced thereon, and the moneys collected in such suit shall be paid into the township treasury for the benefit of the township library.

Formation

of districts.

Sec. 71. The inspectors shall divide the township into such number of school districts as may from time to time be necessary, which districts they shall number, and they may regu2 Donglass, late and alter the boundaries of the same as circumstances shall render proper; but no district shall contain more than

Mich. 127.

(Section 71.) 1. This power to establish and change the boundaries of school districts is a most important one, and on its wise and careful exercise the success and well being of the school system often depends. It is coming to be more and more seen that it would have been better if the townships had never been divided into independent districts, but that each township had remained a general district, with a township school board, which should have established and maintained a sufficient number of schools to accommodate the various parts of the township, and with perhaps a single local director to aid in the care of each school.

The main errors committed in the division of the townships have been the multiplication of small districts too feeble to maintain a good school, and the unnecessary increase of fractional districts, which have always proved a fruitful source of error and trouble.

2. "Whenever a school district is divided, each of the districts formed from it has a right, in making its annual report, to embrace the time a school was taught between the commencement of the school year, and the time the division was made, and to add thereto the time a school has been taught in said district subsequently to the division. If each district, reckoning time thus, is enabled to report a school taught three months or more, by qualified teachers, each is entitled to draw public money.

3. "In the distribution of school moneys to said districts