ville School District v. District No. 3 of Marion, 131 / 272. A school district which had provided by resolution for the seating of a schoolhouse is estopped to question the validity of a contract signed by the director only, where other officers paid the freight bills and the seats had been in use fifteen months.-Jones v. Sch. Dist. No. 3 of Iosco, 110 / 363. District board bought furniture. At following annual meeting voters made no objection. Held a ratification of the contract though act of board was not authorized. -Haney Sch. Fur. Co. v. Sch. District No. 1 Crystal Lake Twp., 133/ 241. School district cannot appropriate surplus one mill tax to general purpose before end of year.-Bonhagel v. Sch. Bd. of Dist. No. 1, Bronson & Bethel Twps., 134 / 455. Election of district officers. Term of office. When school district office deemed vacant. CHAPTER III. DISTRICT BOARD AND OFFICERS. (47) § 4666. SECTION 1. At the first meeting in each school district there shall be elected by ballot a moderator for the term of three years, a director for two years, and a treasurer for one year; and on the expiration of their respective terms of office, and regularly thereafter at the annual meetings, their several successors shall be elected in like manner for a term of three years each. The time intervening between the first meeting in any school district and the first annual meeting thereafter shall be reckoned as one year. NOTE. -Act 165, P. A. 1901, changes the word assessor to treasurer. section 52. See re OFFICERS: The officers of a primary school district consist of a moderator, director and assessor. These officers are created by statute and have attached to them certain limited powers and particular duties. They have, therefore, neither common law power, nor rights, but are strictly confined to such as are conferred upon them by statute; and as no compensation for their official services has been provided [as the law stood prior to 1859] or in any manner authorized by statute, none can be legally claimed or covered.-Hinman v. Sch. Dist., 4/168. The provisions relative to the election of school district officers by ballot are mandatory; but where they were unanimously chosen by viva voce vote at a regular meeting, and qualified and acted and no one else claimed the offices, a writ of quo warranto was dismissed. People v. Gartland, 75 / 143. Parol evidence is admissible to show who are the district officers.-Crane v. Sch. Dist., 61 / 290. BALLOT: All ballots cast under statutory requirements are formal and final, if there is an election, and cannot be repeated. There can be no "informal" ballot.-People v. Stone, 78/635; Sch. Dist. v. Root, 61 / 373. (48) § 4667. SEC. 2. A school district office shall become vacant immediately upon any of the following events: 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; Eighth, His ceasing to be a taxpayer in the school district; Ninth, Upon the expiration of twenty days after failure of the district to elect a successor at the annual meeting, at the expiration of which period the board of school inspectors shall appoint such successor. Am. 1903, Act 21; 1907, Act 91. (49) § 4668. SEC. 3. In case any one of the district vacancies, offices becomes vacant, the two remaining officers shall imme- how filled. diately fill such vacancy; or in case two of the offices become vacant, the remaining officer shall immediately call a special meeting of the district to fill such vacancies; in case any vacancy is not filled as herein provided within twenty days after it shall have occurred, or in case all the offices in a district shall become vacant, the township board of the township to which the annual reports of such district are made shall fill such vacancies. Any person elected or appointed Term of to fill a vacancy in a district office shall hold such office until the next succeeding annual meeting, at which time the voters of the district shall fill such office for the unexpired portion of the term. Am. 1909, Act 83. Johnston v. Mitchell, 120 / 589. office. eligible. husband and agent. (50) § 4669. SEC. 4. Any qualified voter in a school dis- Officers, who trict whose name appears on the assessment roll and who is the owner in his own right of the property so assessed, shall be eligible to election or appointment to office in such school district: Provided, That where a husband and wife own Proviso, property jointly, regardless of the name which appears on wife. the assessment roll, if otherwise qualified, each shall be eligible to election or appointment to school office. It shall Publisher's be illegal for any member of the district board to act as agent for any author, publisher or seller of school books or school apparatus, or to receive any gift or reward for his influence in recommending the purchase or use of any school book or apparatus in the state of Michigan. It shall be Labor or illegal for any member of the district board to perform any labor, except as provided in this act, or furnish any material or supplies for the school district in which he is an officer, and he shall not be personally interested in any way whatever directly or indirectly in any contract with the district in which he holds office. Any act herein prohibited, if per- Penalty. formed by any such school officer, shall be deemed a misdemeanor, and he shall be liable to the punishment provided for such offense in accordance with the statute in such case made and provided. Am. 1899, Act 184; 1909, Act 83; 1911, Act 57. material. (51) § 4670. SEC. 5. Within ten days after their election Acceptance or appointment, the several officers of each school district of office. shall file with the director written acceptances of the office to which they have been respectively elected or appointed, accompanied by an affidavit, properly acknowledged, that they are qualified voters, that their name appears on the assessment roll, and that they are the owners in their own right of the property so assessed, and such acceptances and affidavits shall be entered in the records of the district by Affidavit, by whom executed. District board, when meetings of, may be called. Quorum of board. Board to purchase record books, etc. Board to purchase, etc., Necessity of title or lease to site before building schoolhouse. said director. The affidavit herein required may be executed before any officer authorized under the laws of the state to take acknowledgments or before the senior officer of the district board in that particular district. Am. 1903, Act 21; 1913, Act 229. (52) § 4671. SEC. 6. The moderator, director, and treasurer shall constitute the district board. Meetings of the board may be called by any member thereof by serving on the other members a written notice of the time and place of such meeting at least twenty-four hours before such meeting is to take place; and no act authorized to be done by the district board shall be valid unless voted at a meeting of the board. A majority of the members of the board at a meeting thereof shall be necessary for the transaction of business. Am. 1901, Act 165. A teacher cannot be hired by two members of the board without the concurrence of the third and without convening any meeting of the board.Hazen v. Lerche, 47/626. A school teacher can be employed only by the action of a district board at a meeting of the board. Parol evidence is not admissible to show that the record of the meeting made by the director is not true.-Cowley v. Sch. Dist. No. 3, Harrisville, 130 / 634. (53) § 4672. SEC. 7. The said district board shall purchase a record book and such other books, blanks and stationery as may be necessary to keep a record of the proceedings of the district meetings and of the meetings of the board, the accounts of the treasurer, and for doing the business of the district in an orderly manner. Am. 1903, Act 49. Officers having charge of school records are required to furnish proper facilities for the examination or copying of the same. See Act No. 76, P. A. 1903. See School Dist. v. Snell, 24 / 353. (54) § 4673. SEC. 8. The district board shall purchase or lease, in the corporate name of the district, such sites for schoolhouses as shall have been lawfully designated, and shall build, hire, or purchase such schoolhouses as may be necessary out of the fund provided for that purpose, and make sale of any site or other property of the district when lawfully directed by the qualified voters; but no district in any case shall build a stone or brick schoolhouse upon any site without having first obtained a title in fee to the same, or a lease for ninety-nine years; nor shall any district build a frame schoolhouse on any site for which they have not a title in fee or a lease for fifty years, without securing the privilege of removing the said schoolhouse when lawfully directed so to do by the qualified voters of the district at any annual or special meeting, when lawfully convened. TITLE IN FEE: A lease to a school district "during the time it is used for school purposes" is a lease in perpetuity at the will of the lessee. Since the lessee is a corporation and words of inheritance are not required, the lease, if a present consideration is paid, operates as a bargain and sale and conveys a base or determinable fee. This is sufficient to satisfy the provi sions of the school law.-Sch. Dist. v. Everett, 52 / 314. LEASES: Schoolhouse on leased land belongs to district and may be removed within reasonable period. Hayward v. Sch. Dist., 139 / 539. Without due notice of proposed action at an annual meeting, the school board could not change a site and place a schoolhouse on property which had not been leased or conveyed to the board.-Calkins v. Rice, 170 / 234. expenses, for. (55) § 4674. SEC. 9. The district board shall have Running authority to vote such taxes as may be necessary for the taxes voted regular running expenses of the school, which shall include school furnishings and all appurtenances, the care of school property, teachers' wages, water supply, premium upon indemnity bond for the treasurer of the district, transportation of the pupils, record books and blanks, and all apparatus and material which may be necessary in order that the schools may be properly managed and maintained, and for deficiencies in such funds for the preceding year, if any, and for the services of district officers. All such taxes when col- Accounting. lected and received shall be accounted for under the title of "general fund;" all primary money shall be accounted for under the title of "primary fund:" Provided, That the tax Proviso. for the services of district officers herein provided for in districts having less than fifty children shall not exceed twentyfive dollars, and in districts having between fifty and one hundred children the tax shall not exceed fifty dollars, the amounts to be allowed for such services to be determined by the electors at the annual meeting. When the taxes herein Assessment, provided for have been estimated and voted by the district board, they shall be reported for assessment and collection the same as other district taxes. When any tax has been estimated and voted by the district board or by the district under the provisions of law, and the money is needed before it can be collected, the district board may borrow on the strength of such tax a sum not exceeding the total of such tax. Am. 1907, Act 91; 1909, Act 83; 1911, Act 57; 1913, Act 402. etc. when to re port taxes voted. (56) 4675. § SEC. 10. The district board, or board of School board, education, shall, between the second Monday in July and the first Monday in August in each year, make out and deliver to the township clerk of each township in which any part of the district is situated, a report in writing under their hands of all taxes voted by the district during the preceding year, and of all taxes which said board is authorized to impose, to be levied on the taxable property of the district. Am. 1905, Act 36. (57) 4676. SEC. 11. The district board shall apply School money, and pay over all school moneys belonging to the district in accounting of. accordance with the provisions of the law regulating same, and no moneys received from the primary school fund shall be appropriated to any other use than the payment of teachers' wages, tuition and transportation of children as pro schools. vided by law, and no part thereof shall be paid to any teacher who shall not have received a certificate of qualification from proper legal authority before the commencement of his Sectarian school. No school district shall apply any of the moneys received by it from the primary school interest fund or from any and all other sources for the support and maintenance of any school of a sectarian character, whether the same be under the control of any religious society or made sectarian by the school district board. Board to make annual reports. Contents of. Board to hire teachers. Contracts. to be kept. Record of attendance. Am. 1911, Act 57. Proof of qualification.-Sch. Dist. v. Cook, 47/112. (58) § 4677. SEC. 12. Said board shall present to the district, at each annual 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. Such report shall also contain a statement of all taxes assessed upon the taxable property of the district during the preceding year, the purposes for which such taxes were assessed, and the amount assessed for each particular purpose, and said report shall be entered by the director in the records of the district. (59) § 4678. SEC. 13. The district board shall hire and contract with such duly qualified teachers as may be required; and all contracts shall be in writing and signed by a School register majority of the board in behalf of the district. Said contracts shall specify the wages agreed upon and shall require the teacher to keep a correct list of the pupils, grading and the age of each, attending the school, and the number of days. each pupil is present, the aggregate attendance, average daily attendance and percentage of attendance, and to furnish the director with a correct copy of the same at the close of school. Said contract shall be filed with the director and a duplicate copy of the contract shall be furnished to the Teacher must teacher. No contract with any person not holding a legal certificate of qualification then authorizing such person to teach shall be valid, and all such contracts shall terminate if the certificate shall expire by limitation and shall not immediately be renewed, or if it shall be suspended or revoked School month by proper legal authority. A school month within the meaning of the school laws shall consist of four weeks of five days in each week, unless otherwise specified in the teacher's contract. Contract to be filed. have legal certificate. defined. Am. 1901, Acts 62 and 146. HIRE AND CONTRACT: The district in its corporate capacity is a necessary party to the contract.-Wall v. Eastman, 1/270. A teacher can be lawfully employed only by convening the board.-Hazen v. Lerche, 47/626. Contracts may be made before beginning of the school year.-Sch. Dist. v. Cook, 47/112; Tappan v. Sch. Dist., 44/500; Cleveland v. Amy. 88/ 376; Farrell v. Sch. Dist., 98 / 45. The power to employ teachers conferred upon district boards of primary schools by this section is co-extensive with that conferred upon the boards of trustees of graded schools by section 122. -Id. 376. Where a contract was signed by the director and the teacher, the moderator wrote "approved" upon it and subscribed it as moderator, such |