CHAPTER 485. Passed May 21, AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE CREATION AND DISBURSE1897. MENT OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS' RETIREMENT FUND School com mittee of Prov ized to estab lish a Public IN THE CITY OF PROVIDENCE. It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: SECTION 1. The school committee of the city of Proviidence author- dence shall have power to establish what shall be known as the Public School Teachers' Retirement Fund, which fund shall be administered by the board of trustees hereinafter provided for. Said fund shall consist of: School Teach ers' Retirement Fund. Fund to be administered by whom. First. All moneys received from donations, legacies, gifts, bequests, or otherwise, for or on account of said fund. Second. On and after October first eighteen hundred ninety-seven, the school committee shall reserve and turn over to said fund one per cent. of the salaries paid to teachers who shall prior to that date elect to come under the provisions of this act; and one per cent. of the salaries paid to all teachers appointed after said date: Provided, that no teacher shall be assessed for more than one per cent. of twelve hundred dollars per annum. Third. All interest or income derived from the above moneys. SEC. 2. The president or chairman of the school committee together with three members chosen by said committee, the superintendent of schools, the city treasurer of the city of Providence who shall be ex-officio the treasurer of said fund, and three representatives to be elected annually by those teachers of the public schools who contribute to the support of this fund in accordance with section 1 of this act, shall form a board of trustees who shall have charge of and administer said fund, and said board of trustees shall have power to invest and re-invest the same as shall be deemed by them most beneficial to said fund, and shall make payment from said fund of annuities granted in pursuance of this act; and shall from time to time make and establish such rules and regulations for the administration of said fund as they shall deem best. SEC. 3. Whenever a teachers' pay roll shall be certified to the city auditor for payment, it shall contain a statement of the amount to be deducted from the salary of each teacher who contributes to the support of said fund in accordance with the provisions of this act, which amounts shall be added by said city treasurer to said retirement fund; and all amounts received by said treasurer for said fund, in accordance with the provisions of this act, shall be subject to the order of said board of trustees signed by the president and secretary of said board. SEC. 4. Every teacher who has annually contributed to said fund in accordance with the provisions of this act for at least five years, and shall have taught in public schools, if a man, not less than thirty-five years, or if a woman, not less than thirty years, twenty years of which service in both cases shall have been in the public schools of said city next preceding the time of retirement, may be retired and shall have the right voluntarily to retire from such service and become a beneficiary under this act; and every such teacher so retired or retiring shall be entitled to an annuity for the remainder of his or her life, to be paid by said board of trustees out of said fund, equal to one half of the salary of such teacher at the time of such retirement, at the same times and in the same proportions as the salaries of teachers are paid: Provided, that the annuity so paid shall in no case exceed six hundred dollars in any one year. SEC. 5. Every teacher in the public schools of said city, Same subject. who shall have taught continuously therein not less than ten years and for not less than five years annually contributed to said fund in the manner provided in this act and has become, without the fault of such teacher, mentally or physically incapacitated for such service, may retire or be retired therefrom and become a beneficiary of said fund in the same manner and to the same extent as provided in section 4 of this act: Provided, that such annuity shall cease when such incapacity ceases. SEC. 6. In case the fund should be insufficient to pay the annuities provided for in section 4 of this act, the board of trustees shall make a ratable distribution among the teachers who may be entitled to annuities under the provisions of this act. SEC. 7. This act shall take effect from and after its passage. Passed April 29, 1898. Appropriation for reference trative appa CHAPTER 540. AN ACT IN AMENDMENT OF CHAPTER 53 OF THE GENERAL It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: SECTION 1. Section 7 of chapter 53 of the General Laws is hereby amended so as to read as follows: "SEC. 7. The sum of four thousand dollars shall be annubooks and illus ally appropriated for the purchase of dictionaries, encyclopedias and other works of reference, maps, globes, and other apparatus, for the use of the public schools of the state." ratus. Apportionment of said SEC. 2. Section 8 of chapter 53 of the General Laws is hereby amended so as to read as follows: "SEC. 8. Said sum of four thousand dollars shall be apporappropriation. tioned among the several towns and districts as follows: Every town or district desiring to avail itself of this appropriation shall make application therefor to the commissioner of public schools, with vouchers for the amount actually expended. Upon receipt of said application and vouchers the commissioner of public schools may draw his order on the general treasurer in behalf of said applicant, for half the amount of said vouchers, to an amount not exceeding twenty dollars in any one year in favor of any one district, or at the rate of ten dollars for each school, to an amount not exceeding two hundred dollars in any one year for any town: Provided, that the gross amount in any one year shall not exceed four thousand dollars." SEC. 3. This act shall take effect on and after its passage, and all acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed. CHAPTER 544. AN ACT TO SECURE A MORE UNIFORM HIGH STANDARD IN Passed May 4, THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF THIS STATE. It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: SECTION 1. In case any town shall consolidate three or more ungraded schools, and instead thereof shall establish and maintain a graded school of two or more departments with an "average number belonging" of not less than twenty pupils for each department, the state shall pay to such town one hundred dollars annually for each department of said schools towards the support thereof. Two or more towns may unite in the establishment and maintenance of such graded school, and in such cases the money paid by the state towards the support thereof shall be divided between the towns thus maintaining said school according to the number of pupils contributed by each town to the whole “average number belonging." 1898. Any town may three or more consolidate ungraded schools. Any district with ungraded school may consolidate with district school. SEC. 2. In case of the consolidation of any district maintaining an ungraded school with another district mainhaving graded taining a graded school there shall be paid by the state to the town in which the districts are situated, on account of the latter district, the sum of one hundred dollars annually for each district so consolidated, the same to be used for the support of the aforesaid graded school, or for the transportation of pupils as provided for by section 8 of this chapter. State aid provided for high school education. Applications to whom made. Provisions against forfeiture. SEC. 3. Any town maintaining a high school having a course of study approved by the state board of education, and in the town of New Shoreham any consolidated district provided for in section 1 of Chapter 57 of the General Laws, shall be entitled to receive annually from the state twenty dollars for each pupil in average attendance for the first twenty-five pupils, and ten dollars for each pupil in average attendance for the second twenty-five pupils. Any town not maintaining a high school, which shall make provision for the free attendance of its children at some high school or academy approved by the state board of education, shall be entitled to receive aid from the state for each pupil in such attendance upon the same basis and to the same extent as if it maintained a high school by itself. SEC. 4. All applications for aid under this act shall be made to the commissioner of public schools by the school committee of the town; and said application must be accompanied by the certificate of the principal teacher of the school on account of which the application is made, setting forth the facts relating to the attendance which is made the basis of the application. SEC. 5. After any school, such as is provided for in section 1 of this chapter, has been established it shall not forfeit its claim to its share of the state aid for a failure to maintain the required "average number belonging" unless said "av |