other time as may be required by the State superintendent or himself, a statement from the board of trustees of each township, giving such statistics and information as may be called for. He shall have power to require the township board of trustees to report the condition of the schools under it, to recommend the remission of the penalty for failure to report; to renew teachers' certificates at their expiration by his indorsement; to revoke the certificate of any teacher for immorality, or other cause; to direct in what manner township treasurers shall keep their books and accounts; to bring suit against the county collector for failure to pay State auditor's warrant, to remove any school director from office for willful failure to perform the duties of his office; to pay from the State school fund for the support of regularly organized classes for the deaf or for crippled children, and to lease and sell school lands.

Trustees of schools. Each township is a township for school purposes. Frac tional townships containing less than 200 inhabitants may be consolidated with adjacent townships. The school business of the township shall be done by three trustees, one elected by the township annually, to serve three years. The trustees constitute a body politic and corporate, having perpetual existence. No person shall be eligible to the office of trustee of schools unless 21 years of age and a resident of the township, and no two trustees shall reside, when elected, in the same school district nor be eligible to the office of trustee of schools and school director at the same time. In case of vacancy, it shall be filled by popular election. Within ten days after the annual election of trustees the board shall organize by appointing one of their number president, and a person who, though a resident, is neither a director nor a trustee, as treasurer, if there be a vacancy in that office, who shall act as clerk. The board shall hold regular semiannual meetings, and special meetings may be held on the call of the president or two members. At the regular meetings the trustees shall examine all books, moneys, and securities of the corporation; shall ascertain the amount of State, county, and township funds on hand and subject to distribution, and shall apportion the same as follows: Whatever sum may be due for the compensation and the books of the treasurer, and such sum as may be deemed reasonable and necessary for dividing school lands, making plats, etc., and the remainder of such funds shall be divided among the districts or fractions of districts in which schools have been established in accordance with the provisions of the law and the instructions of the State and county superintendents during the preceding year ending June 30, in proportion to the number of children under 21 years in each. The funds thus apportioned shall be placed on the books of the treasurer to the credit of the respective districts, and the same shall be paid out by the treasurer on the order of the directors. The board of trustees of each township shall cause the treasurer, the clerk of the board, the directors of the several districts, or other person, to prepare and forward to the county superintendent a statement exhibiting the condition of the schools for the preceding biennial period, given separately each year, commencing on the 1st of July, which statement shall be as follows:

The whole number of schools which have been taught in each year; what part have been taught by men exclusively, by women exclusively, by men and women at the same time, and what part by men and women at different periods; the whole number of scholars in attendance at all the schools, by sex; the number of teachers, by sex; the highest, lowest, and average monthly compensation given to men and women teachers, giving each item separately; the number of persons under 21 years of age, making a separate enumeration of those above the age of 12 years who are unable to read and write, and the cause of the neglect to educate them; the amount of the principal of the township fund; the amount of interest of the township fund paid into the township treasury; the amount raised by ad valorem tax, and the amount of such tax received into the township treasury; the amount of all other funds received into the township treasury; amount paid for teachers' wages, for schoolhouse lots, for building, repairing, purchasing, renting, and furnishing schoolhouses, for school apparatus, books, and other incidental expenses for the use of school libraries, and as compensation to township officers and others; the whole amount of the receipts and expenditures for school purposes, together with such other statistics and information in regard to schools as the State or county superintendent may require. Any township from which such report is not received in the manner and by the time required by law shall forfeit its portion of the public fund for the next ensuing year, subject to explanation and remission. The township treasurer is made the custodian of all township and district funds, but is subject to removal by the trustees. The board may sell or lease school property, make settlements

with debtors to them in their official capacity, establish a high school if directed to do so by a majority of the electors, lay off the township into one or more school districts, change districts when petitioned for by a majority of each of the districts affected by the change and by two-thirds of the voters in the territory transferred. In case any school district shall for two consecutive years fail to maintain a public school as required by law to do, the trustees of schools of the township or townships in which such district lies shall attach it to one or more adjoining districts. Trustees may not be interested in the profits on any book or apparatus, etc., to be used in any school with which they may be connected, and are personally liable for loss through their neglect of duty.

District board of directors.In all school districts having a population of fewer than 1,000 inhabitants and not governed by any special act in relation to free schools now in force, there shall be elected a board of 3 directors, elected for three years, one retiring annually. Any person of either sex, married or single, 21 years of age, able to read and write in the English language, shall be eligible, as long as he resides in the district, to the office of school director, if not a member of the board of school trustees; vacancies are filled by a new election. The directors, within ten days after every election, shall meet and organize by appointing one of their number president and another clerk. They shall hold regular meetings at such times as they may designate, and special meetings as occasion may require. No director shall be pecuniarily interested in school affairs. It shall be the duty of the board to make a detailed report of their receipts and expenditures to the voters, and transmit a copy to the township treasurer within five days; to report to the county superintendent within ten days after employment the full names of all persons employed as teachers, the date of the beginning and the end of their contract; to provide for the necessary revenue to maintain free schools in their district in the manner provided; to maintain free schools for at least one hundred and ten days; to adopt and enforce all necessary regulations for the management and government of schools and to inspect them; to appoint teachers, fix and pay their salaries; to direct what branches of study shall be taught, what text-books and apparatus shall be used; to purchase text-books for children of indigent parents; to furnish proper blanks to teachers. In addition, they shall be clothed with the following powers: To use any funds belonging to their district for their records, to pay their clerk if the amount of his services justify it, to dismiss teachers, to assign pupils to the several schools in the district, fix rates of tuition and collect the same; to suspend or expel pupils who may be guilty of gross disobedience or misconduct, and no action shall lie against them for such expulsion or suspension; to appropriate for the purchase of libraries and apparatus any funds remaining after all necessary school expenses are paid; to sell personal property belonging to district when not needed; to grant special holidays; to control and supervise all school buildings; to borrow money and issue bonds therefor to build schoolhouses, purchase sites, and improve and repair buildings; but it shall not be lawful for a board of directors to purchase or locate a schoolhouse site, or to purchase, build, or move a schoolhouse, or to levy a tax to extend schools beyond nine months, without a vote of the people.

Board of education.-Incorporated cities and villages, except such as now have charge and control of free schools by special acts, shall be and remain parts of the school townships in which they are respectively situated and be subject to the general provisions of the school law, except as follows: In all school districts having a population of not fewer than 1,000 and not over 100,000 and not governed in educational matters by any special act, there shall be elected, instead of the directors provided by law in other districts, a board of education, consisting of a president of the board, 6 members, and 3 additional members for every additional 10,000 inhabitants, but in no case to consist of more than 15 members. One-third the members shall retire annually, but the president shall be elected annually. The powers of the board shall be all the] powers of school directors and to establish and levy tax to support free schools not fewer than six nor more than ten months in each year, except upon petition of the majority of the voters of the district; to repair and improve schoolhouses and furnish them with the necessary fixtures, furniture, apparatus, libraries, and fuel, and have charge of the same; to examine teachers as supplemental to other examination; to employ teachers and to fix the amount of their salaries; to establish schools of different grades and make regulations for the admission of pupils into the same and their government; to buy or lease sites for schoolhouses, with the necessary grounds, if authorized by the voters at an election called in pursuance of a petition signed by at least 500, or one

fifth of the voters; to employ a competent and discreet person or persons to superintend the schools and to fix the salary of such persons (each superintendent may be required to act as principal or teacher in the schools); to lay off and divide the district into subdistricts, to alter and consolidate the same; to visit all the public schools as often as once a month, to inquire into the progress of scholars and the government of the schools to prescribe the method and course of discipline and instruction; to expel grossly disobedient or misbehaving pupils, and no action shall lie against them for such expulsion; to dismiss unqualified teachers; to provide fuel and other like necessities as may be required; to appoint a secretary; to annually prepare and publish in some newspaper or in pamphlet form a report of the number of pupils instructed in the year preceding and the several branches of study pursued by them, of the number of persons between the ages of 12 and 21 unable to read and write, and of the receipts and expenditures of each school, specifying the source of such receipts and the objects of such expenditures. They shall appoint truant officers to enforce compulsory-attendance act. They shall see that a national flag is provided for the school, to be used upon appropriate occasions. They may establish kindergartens upon the vote of the district, and classes for deaf and crippled children upon permission of the State superintendent.

In cities having a population exceeding 100,000 inhabitants the board of education shall consist of 21 members, to be appointed by the mayor, by and with the advice and consent of the common council, one-third to retire annually. Any person having resided in a city more than five years next preceding his appointment shall be eligible to membership of such board. The board shall have charge and control of the public schools, and with the concurrence of the city council may erect or purchase buildings, buy or lease sites, issue bonds for providing sites or buildings or to pay bonds, and to borrow money. The board has power to establish, maintain, and support schools, examine, license, employ, pay, and dismiss teachers; may establish parental schools; may form classes for deaf and for crippled children on permission of State superintendent; may create teachers' and employees' pension and retirement funds; has entire superintendence and control of all schools in such cities, with power to enact and enforce all necessary rules for the government and maintenance of the schools.

2. TEACHERS.

Appointment, qualifications, and duties-Preliminary training-Meetings.

Appointment, qualifications, and duties.-No teacher shall be authorized to teach a public school who is not of good moral character, at least 18 years of age if a man, or 17 years if a woman, and who does not possess a certificate of qualifications. The district board of directors or city or village board of education shall employ teachers and fix their pay.

The State superintendent is authorized to grant State certificates which shall be of two grades, the higher of which shall be for life and the lower for five years. Both grades shall only be given after public examination (of which due notice shall be given) in such branches and upon such terms and by such examiners as the State superintendent and the principals of the State Inormal] universities may prescribe. Such certificates are revocable for cause.

It shall be the duty of the county superintendent to grant certificates to such persons as may upon due examination be found qualified. They shall be of two grades; those of the first grade shall be valid in the county for two years, and shall certify that the holder is of good moral character, and is qualified to teach orthography, reading (in English), penmanship, arithmetic, English grammar, modern geography, the history of the United States, and effects of alcohol and narcotics. The county superintendent may renew such certificates at their expiration, and may at any time revoke them for cause. For the purpose of examining teachers, the county superintendent shall hold meetings at least quarterly, and oftener if necessary. He shall require a fee of $1 from every applicant, and for each certificate renewed he shall also charge $1, which fees shall go to the institute fund.

It shall be the duty of every public school teacher to see that the school property of the district is not unnecessarily damaged or destroyed, and no teacher shall be paid any part of the school funds unless he shall have kept and furnished the schedules or statements required by law, and shall have satisfactorily accounted for all books, apparatus, and other property belonging to the district. Each teacher shall keep correctly daily registers, which shall exhibit the name,

age, and attendance of each pupil, the day of the month and the year, which register shall be handed to the clerk of the board under penalty of loss of pay.

Preliminary training.-There shall be established the Illinois Normal University, the Southern Illinois Normal University, the Eastern Illinois Normal School, the Northern Illinois Normal School, and the Western Illinois Normal School, with the object of qualifying teachers for the common schools of the State by imparting instruction in the art of teaching and all branches of study which pertain to a common school education, in the elements of the natural sciences, including agricultural chemistry, animal and vegetable physiology, in the fundamental laws of the United States and of the State in regard to the rights and duties of citizens, and such other studies as the governing body of each institution may prescribe. Each county shall be entitled to have two pupils instructed gratuitously in each school, and each representative district shall be entitled in each school to a number of pupils equal to the number of representatives in the district, the pupils to be selected from applicants passing the best examination. The Illinois State Normal University is managed and controlled by the "State board of education;" the Southern Illinois Normal University, the Eastern Normal School, the Northern Normal School, and the Western Normal School by boards of trustees not exceeding five each in number. No member of the State board of education or of the board of trustees shall receive any compensation other than his necessary traveling expenses.

In each county adopting township organization the board of supervisors, and in other counties the county court (if authorized by vote of the people), may establish a county normal school for the purpose of fitting teachers for the common schools, which shall be under the county board of education. Two or more counties may unite in establishing a normal school.

Meetings. The county superintendent shall hold annually a teachers' institute, continuing in session not fewer than five days, for the instruction of teachers and those who may desire to teach, and with the concurrence of the State superintendent procure such assistance as may be necessary to conduct the instìtute at such time as the schools of the county are generally closed. Two or more counties may hold a joint institute. Instruction shall be free to those who hold certificates good in the county. The time, not exceeding three days in any one term or five days in any one school year, during term time, actually spent by a teacher of any public school in this State in attendance upon a teachers' institute held under the direction of the county superintendent of schools shall be considered time lawfully expended by such teacher, and no deduction of wages shall be made in the teacher's pay.

3. SCHOOLS.

Attendance-Character of instruction-Text-books-Buildings. Attendance.--Every person having control of any child between the ages of 7 and 14 years shall annually cause such child to attend for the entire time during which the school attended is in session, which period shall not be less than one hundred and ten days of actual teaching, some public or private day school: Provided, That this act shall not apply to any child that has been or is being otherwise instructed for a like period of time in the elementary branches of education or whose physical or mental condition renders its attendance impracticable, or who is excused for good reasons for temporary absence by the principal or teacher in charge of the school which said child attends. For every willful neglect of such duty as prescribed above the offender shall be fined from $5 to $20 and costs of suit.

The board of education in cities, towns, villages, and school districts and the board of school directors in school districts shall, at the time of the appointment or election of teachers, appoint one or more truant officers, whose duty it shall be to report all violations of this act to such board of education or board of directors and to enter complaint against and prosecute all persons who shall appear guilty of such violation.

Truant officers so appointed shall be entitled to such compensation as may be fixed by the board and shall be paid out of the distributable school fund. Any fine or penalty mentioned above may be sued for and recovered before any court of record or justice of the peace of the proper county. Any person having control of a child who, with intent to evade the provisions of this law regarding compulsory attendance, shall make a willfully false statement concerning the

ED 1904 M-20

age of such child or the time such child has attended school shall forfeit from $3 to $20 for the use of the public schools.

It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation to employ or hire any child under 14 years of age during any portion of any month when the pub lic schools are in session, or before the hour of 7 o'clock in the morning or after 6 o'clock in the evening or for more than eight hours a day. Every person, firm, or corporation employing minors under 16 and over 14 years of age shall keep register, wall lists, age and school certificates of said minors, open to inspection; said minors must be able to read at sight and to write legibly simple sentences, or be in regular attendance at a public evening school. Age and school certificates shall be certified to by the superintendent or principal of the school. Any person, firm, or corporation violating the provisions of this act shall be fined not less than $5 nor more than $100 and shall stand committed until fine and costs are paid, and any father, guardian, or person having control of any child under the age of 16 years who permits such child to be employed in violation of this act shall, for each offense, be fined not less than $5 nor more than $25, and shall stand committed until fine and costs are paid. The district directors shall have power to assign pupils to the several schools in the district, to admit nonresidents, to fix rates of tuition, to provide that children under 12 years of age shall not be confined in school more than four hours daily, to establish and keep in operation for at least one hundred and ten days of actual teaching in each year, without reduction by reason of closing schools on legal holidays or for any other cause and longer if praeticable, a sufficient number of free schools for the accommodation of all children in the district 6 to 21 years of age, and shall secure for all such children the right and opportunity to an equal education in such free schools. It shall be the duty of boards of education in cities and villages to support free schools not fewer than six nor more than ten months.

Character of instruction.-Every public school established shall be for instruction in the branches of education prescribed in the qualifications for teachers and in such other branches, including vocal music and drawing, as the directors, or the voters of the district at the annual election of directors, may prescribe. If the majority of the voters in a township shall vote to establish a township high school, a township board (high school) shall be elected, consisting of five members, which shall enjoy the powers and discharge the duties of directors for such district.

Text-books. The directors shall direct what branches of study shall be taught and what text-books shall be used in the public schools, and shall strictly enforce uniformity of text-books therein, but shall not permit text-books to be changed oftener than once in four years. The directors shall have power to purchase at the expense of the district a sufficient number of the text-books used to supply children whose parents are not able to buy them. The text-books bought for such purpose shall be loaned only, and the directors shall require the teacher to see that they are properly cared for and returned at the end of each school term.

Buildings.-District directors shall have the control and supervision of all schoolhouses in their district, and may grant the temporary use of them, when not occupied by schools, for religious meetings and Sunday schools, for evening schools and literary societies, and for such other meetings as the directors may deem proper; but they shall not purchase or locate a schoolhouse site, or purchase, build, or move a schoolhouse unless directed by vote of the people.

4. FINANCES.

Funds (permanent or special)—Taxation.

Funds (permanent and special).—The common school fund of this State shall consist of the proceeds of a 2-mill tax, to be levied upon each dollar's valuation of the property of the State annually until otherwise provided by law. the interest on what is known as the school fund proper being 3 per cent upon the proceeds of the sales of the public lands in the State, one-sixth part excepted, and the interest on what is known as the surplus revenue distributed by act of Congress and made a part of the common school fund by the legislature March 4, 1837.

The State shall pay the interest mentioned in the preceding paragraph at the rate of 6 per cent per annum, to be paid into and become a part of the school fund,