THE CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK, AS AMENDED NOVEMBER, 1846.

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ART. IX, SEC. 1. The capital of the common-school fund, the capital of the literature-fund, and the capital of the United States deposit-fund shall be respectively preserved inviolate. The revenues of the said common-school-fund shall be applied to the support of common schools; the revenues of the said literature-fund shall be applied to the support of academies, and the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars of the revenues of the United States deposit-fund shall each year be appropriated to and made a part of the capital of the said common-school-fund.

THE CONSTITUTION OF IOWA, DECEMBER 28, 1846.

ARTICLE IX.-Education and schools.

FIRST EDUCATION.

SEC. 1. The educational interest of the State, to include common schools and other educational institutions, shall be under the management of a board of education, which shall consist of the lieutenant-governor, who shall be the presiding officer of the board, and have the casting vote in case of a tie, and one member to be elected from each judicial district in the State.

SEC. 2. No person shall be eligible as a member of said board who shall not have attained the age of twenty-five years, and been one year a citizen of the State.

SEC. 3. One member of said board shall be chosen by the qualified electors of each district, and shall hold the office for the term of four years, and until his successor is elected and qualified. After the first election under this constitution, the board

The school fund of the State of New York was created by an act passed April 5, 1805, which gave the net proceeds of 500,000 acres of vacant lands, to be sold by the surveyor-general (Simeon De Witt), and invested as a permanent fund. It was to be loaned to persons or bodies corporate for literary purposes, safely secured, until the income reached $50,000 annually, when the income was to be annually applied to school purposes. It reached this point in 1813, and from this date the school system of New York has a continuous history. No distribution was actually made until 1815. By subsequent donations from various sources the school fund had been increased to $1,155,827.40 on the day when the constitution of 1821 went into full effect, and there were, besides this, 991,660 acres of unsold lands then belonging to it. In many of the early sales of lands under State authority, and in the lands in central New York given as bounties to officers and soldiers of the Revolution, there was a reservation of a mile square in each township for gospel and schools, and a like amount for literature. There were also large donations of land, or of the proceeds of land sales, to colleges, libraries, and other literary objects. The annual report of the superintendent of public instruction gives the amount of capital and mode of investment of the common-school fund for cach year from the beginning. Its amount at intervals of ten years was as follows:

Its investment in 1874 was $50,000 in bank stock, $1,165,057.24 in State stocks, $36,000 in comptroller's bonds, and $1,310,866.28 money in the treasury.-H.

The literature fund originated with the granting of certain lands for literary purposes, and was largely increased by four lotteries granted in 1801, by which the sum of $100,000 was raised for the joint benefit of academies and common schools, but chiefly by the ceeds of sales of lands, arrears of quit-rents, profits on the sale of State stocks, and other appropriations which have been added from time to time. The capital of the literature fund on the 30th of September, 1874, was $271,980.76, and the revenue $50,157.13. The investment was chiefly in State stocks ($242,347), and it is managed by the comptroller. The expenditure is under the direction of the regents of the university.-H.

The United States deposit fund is a part of the sum of $37,468,859.97 distributed among the States June 23, 1836, of which $5,352,694.38 came to the State of New York. It was distributed among the counties on the basis of population and loaned on securities of real estate. Of its income the sum of $25,000 is added annually to the capital of the school fund, and the remainder applied to the schools and academics of the State, under the direction of the superintendent of public instruction and the regents of the university. At the close of the fiscal year, September 30, 1874, the capital of this fund amounted to $4,014,520.71, and the revenue for the preceding year was $251.148.05.-H.

shall be divided, as nearly as practicable, into two equal classes, and the seats of the first class shall be vacated after the expiration of two years; and one-half of the board shall be chosen every two years thereafter.

SEC. 4. The first session of the board of education shall be held at the seat of government, on the first Monday of December, after their election; after which the general assembly may fix the time and place of meeting.

SEC. 5. The session of the board shall be limited to twenty days, and but one session shall be held in any one year, except on extraordinary occasions, when, upon the recommendation of two-thirds of the board, the governor may order a special session.

SEC. 6. The board of education shall appoint a secretary, who shall be the executive officer of the board, and perform such duties as may be imposed upon him by the board and the laws of the State. They shall keep a journal of their proceedings, which shall be published and distributed in the same manner as the journals of the general assembly.

SEC. 7. All rules and regulations made by the board shall be published and distributed to the several counties, townships, and school-districts, as may be provided for by the board, and when so passed, published, and distributed, they shall have the force and effect of law.

SEC. 8. The board of education shall have full power and authority to legislate and make all needful rules and regulations in relation to common schools, and other educational institutions, that are instituted, to receive aid from the school, or university-fund of this State; but all acts, rules, and regulations of said board may be altered, amended, or repealed by the general assembly; and when so altered, amended, or repealed, they shall not be re-enacted by the board of education.

SEC. 9. The governor of the State shall be, ex officio, a member of said board. SEC. 10. The board shall have power to levy taxes, or make appropriations of money. Their contingent expenses shall be provided for by the general assembly. SEC. 11. The State-university shall be established at one place without branches at any other place, and the university-fund shall be applied to that institution, and no other.

SEC. 12. The board of education shall provide for the education of all the youths of the State, through a system of common schools. And such schools shall be organized and kept in each school district at least three months in each year. Any district failing, for two consecutive years, to organize and keep up a school, may be deprived of their portion of the school fund.

SEC. 13. The members of the board of education shall receive the same per diem during the time of their session, and mileage going to and returning therefrom, as members of the general assembly.

SEC. 14. A majority of the board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business; but no rule, regulation, or law for the regulation and government of common schools or other educational institutions shall pass without the concurrence of a majority of all the members of the board, which shall be expressed by the yeas and nays on the final passage. The style of all acts of the board shall be, "Be it enacted by the Board of Education of the State of Iowa."

SEC. 15. At any time aer the year 1863, the general assembly shall have power to abolish or reorganize said board of education, and provide for the educational interests of the State in any other manner that to them shall seem best and proper.

SECOND.-SCHOOL FUNDS AND SCHOOL LANDS.

SEC. 1. The educational and school-funds and lands shall be under the control and management of the general assembly of this State.

SEC. 2. The university lands, and the proceeds thereof, and all moneys belonging to said fund shall be a permanent fund for the sole use of the State university. The interest arising from the same shall be annually appropriated for the support and benefit of said university.

SEC. 3. The general assembly shall encourage, by all suitable means, the promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral, and agricultural improvement. The proceeds of all lands that have been, or hereafter may be, granted by the United States to this State for the support of schools, which shall hereafter be sold or disposed of, and the five hundred thousand acres of land granted to the new States, under an act of Congress, distributing the proceeds of the public lands among the several States of the Union, approved in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fortyone, and all estates of deceased persons who may have died without leaving a will or heir, and also such per cent. as may have been granted by Congress, on the sale of lands in this State, shall be and remain a perpetual fund, the interest of which, together with all rents of the unsold lands, and such other means as the general assembly may provide, shall be inviolably appropriated to the support of common schools throughout the State.

SEC. 4. The money which may have been or shall be paid by persons as an equiva lent for exemption from military duty, and the clear proceeds of all fines collected in the several counties for any breach of the penal laws, shall be exclusively applied, in the several counties in which such money is paid, or fine collected, among the several school-districts of said counties, in proportion to the number of youths subject to enumeration in such districts, to the support of common schools, or the establishment of libraries, as the board of education shall from time to time provide.

SEC. 5. The general assembly shall take measures for the protection, improvement, or other disposition of such lands as have been, or may hereafter be, reserved or granted by the United States, or any person or persons, to this State, for the use of the university, and the funds accruing from the rents or sale of such lands, or from any other source for the purpose aforesaid, shall be and remain a permanent fund, the interest of which shall be applied to the support of the university, for the promotion of literature, the arts and sciences, as may be authorized by the terms of such grant. And it shall be the duty of the general assembly, as soon as may be, to provide effectual means for the improvement and permanent security of the funds of said university.

SEC. 6. The financial agents of school-funds shall be the same that by law receive and control the State- and county-revenue for other civil purposes, under such regulations as may be provided by law.

SEC. 7. The money subject to the support and maintenance of common schools shall be distributed to the districts in proportion to the number of youths, between the ages of five and twenty-one years, in such manner as may be provided by the general assembly.

The educational provisions of the constitution of Iowa adopted and ratified in 1857 are the same as the foregoing, except that the verbiage is in a few instances slightly changed without materially changing the

sense.

It will be seen that the State board of education of Iowa was made practically a legislature for school purposes subject to the constitution and the law.

THE CONSTITUTION OF WISCONSIN, MAY 29, 1848.

ARTICLE X.-Education.

SEC. 1. The supervision of public instruction shall be vested in a State-superintendent and such other officers as the legislature shall direct. The State-superintendent shall be chosen by the qualified electors of the State, in such manner as the legislature shall provide; his powers, duties, and compensation shall be prescribed by law: Provided, That his compensation shall not exceed the sum of $1,200 annually.

SEC. 2. The proceeds of all lands that have been, or hereafter may be, granted by the United States to this State, for educational purposes, (except the lands hereto

fore granted for the purposes of a university,) and all moneys and the clear proceeds of all property that may accrue to the State by forfeiture or escheat, and all moneys which may be paid as an equivalent for exemption from military duty, and the clear proceeds of all fines collected in the several counties for any breach of the penal laws, and all moneys arising from any grant to the State, where the purposes of such grant are not specified, and the five hundred thousand acres of land to which the State is entitled by the provisions of an act of Congress entitled "An act to appropriate the proceeds of the sales of the public lands, and to grant pre-emption rights," approved the 4th day of September, 1841, and also 5 per centum of the net proceeds of the public lands to which the State shall become entitled on her admission into the Union, (if Congress shall consent to such appropriation of the two grants last mentioned,) shall be set apart as a separate fund, to be called the school-fund, the interest of which, and all other revenues derived from the school-lands, shall be exclusively applied to the following objects, to wit: (1) To the support and maintenance of common schools in each school-district, and the purchase of suitable libraries and apparatus therefor. (2) The residue shall be appropriated to the support and maintenance of academies and normal schools, and suitable libraries and apparatus therefor.

SEC. 3. The legislature shall provide by law for the establishment of districtschools, which shall be as nearly uniform as practicable, and such schools shall be free and without charge for tuition to all children between the ages of four and twenty years, and no sectarian instruction shall be allowed therein.

SEC. 4. Each town and city shall be required to raise by tax, annually, for the support of common schools therein, a sum not less than one-half the amount received by such town or city respectively for school-purposes from the income of the schoolfund.

SEC. 5. Provision shall be made by law for the distribution of the income of the school-fund among the several towns and cities of the State, for the support of common schools therein, in some just proportion to the number of children and youth resident therein between the ages of four and twenty years, and no appropriation shall be made from the school-fund to any city or town, for the year in which said city or town shall fail to raise such tax, nor to any school-district for the year in which a school shall not be maintained at least three months.

SEC. 6. Provision shall be made by law for the establishment of a State-university, at or near the seat of the State-government, and for connecting with the same from time to time such colleges in different parts of the State as the interests of education may require. The proceeds of all lands that have been or may hereafter be granted by the United States to the State for the support of a university shall be and remain a perpetual fund, to be called the "university-fund," the interest of which shall be appropriated to the support of the State-university, and no sectarian instruction shall be allowed in such university.

SEC. 7. The secretary of state, treasurer, and attorney-general shall constitute a board of commissioners for the sale of the school- and university-lands, and for the investment of the funds arising therefrom. Any two of said commissioners shall be a quorum for the transaction of all business pertaining to the duties of their office. SEC. 8. Provision shall be made by law for the sale of all school- and universitylands, after they shall have been appraised, and when any portion of such lands shall be sold, and the purchase-money shall not be paid at the time of the sale, the commissioners shall take security by mortgage upon the land sold for the sum remaining unpaid, with 7 per cent. interest thereon, payable annually at the office of the treasurer. The commissioners shall be authorized to execute a good and sufficient conveyance to all purchasers of such lands, and to discharge any mortgages taken as security, when the sum due thereon shall have been paid. The commissioners shall have power to withhold from sale any portion of such lands when they shali deem it expedient, and shall invest all moneys arising from the sale of such lands, as well

as all other university- and school-funds, in such manner as the legislature shall provide, and shail give such security for the faithful performance of their duties as may be required by law.

THE CONSTITUTION OF ILLINOIS, 1848.

ART. IX, SEC. 3. The property of the State and counties, both real and personal, and such other property as the general assembly may deem necessary for school, religious, and charitable purposes, may be exempted from taxation.

SEC. 5. The corporate authorities of counties, townships, school-districts, cities, towns, and villages may be vested with power to assess and collect taxes for corporate purposes, such taxes to be uniform with respect to persons and property within the jurisdiction of the body imposing the same. And the general assembly shall require that all the property within the limits of municipal corporations belonging to individuals shall be taxed for the payment of debts contracted under authority of law.

THE CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY, 1850,

ARTICLE XI.-Concerning education.

SEC. 1. The capital of the fund called and known as the "common-school-fund,” consisting of $1,225,768.42, for which bonds have been executed by the State to the board of education, and $73,500 of stock in the Bank of Kentucky; also, the sum of $51,223.29, balance of interest on the school-fund for the year 1848, unexpended, together with any sum which may be hereafter raised in the State by taxation, or otherwise, for purposes of education, shall be held inviolate, for the purpose of sustaining a system of common schools. The interest and dividends of said funds, together with any sum which may be produced for that purpose by taxation or otherwise, may be appropriated in aid of common schools, but for no other purpose. The general assembly shall invest said $51,223.29 in some safe and profitable manner; and any portion of the interest and dividends of said school-fund, or other money or property raised for school-purposes, which may not be needed in sustaining common schools, shall be invested in like manner. The general assembly shall make provision, by law, for the payment of the interest of said school-fund: Provided, That each county shall be entitled to its proportion of the income of said fund, and, if not called for for common-school-purposes, it shall be re-invested from time to time for the benefit of such county.

SEC. 2. A superintendent of public instruction shall be elected by the qualified voters of this commonwealth at the same time the governor is elected, who shall hold his office for four years, and his duties and salary shall be prescribed and fixed by law.

THE CONSTITUTION OF MICHIGAN, 1850.

ART. IV, SEC. 40. No money shall be appropriated or drawn from the Treasury for the benefit of any religious sect or society, theological or religious seminary, nor shall property belonging to the State be appropriated for any such purposes. ART. VIII, SEC. 1. There shall be elected at each general biennial election

a superintendent of public instruction

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for the term of two years. They shall keep their offices at the seat of government, and shall perform such duties as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 2. Their office shall commence on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, and of every second year thereafter.

SEC. 3. Whenever a vacancy shall occur in any of the State offices, the Governor shall fill the same by appointment, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, if in session.

ART. IX, SEC. 1.

The superintendent of public instruction shall receive

an annual salary of one thousand dollars.