4. FINANCES.

Funds (permanent and special).-Taxation.

Funds (permanent and special).-Any person found intoxicated in a public thoroughfare or place shall be fined $2, to be paid to the school district. This fund is distributed to the districts on the basis of resident taxables.

Taxation.-There are three kinds of tax for school purposes according to their subjects, each separate and distinct, but all may be due from one person. They are: The rate tax on real and personal property; the rate tax on such trades, occupations, professions, and salaries and emoluments of office as will yield over $1 by the rate on its valuation; a minimum occupation tax of $1 on all resident males' taxables over 21 years of age whose assessed occupation at the rate levied for school purposes will not produce $1. The districts may tax themselves for support of schools in general, up to 13 mills, and may raise a sum for establishing schoolhouses not greater than the sum raised for support of schools in the same year.

DELAWARE.

1. ORGANIZATION OF THE SYSTEM.

State board of education.-County superintendent of free schools.-District school commissioners.

State board of education.-The governor, secretary of state, and the three county superintendents shall constitute a State board of education, which shall meet annually, with the governor as president and the secretary of state as secretary. The board shall hear appeals concerning school matters, shall determine what textbooks are to be used, and shall issue a uniform series of blanks and other records, which it shall distribute. The members of the State board shall receive no compensation. The president shall biennially report to the governor concerning the condition of the public schools and make such suggestions and recommendations in regard thereto as he shall deem proper and advisable, and for his labor in preparing such report he shall be allowed $25 or less.

County superintendent of free schools.-The governor shall annually appoint and commission a suitable person to be superintendent for each county of the State. The person so appointed shall be of good moral character and well qualified, both intellectually and morally, for the office, as well as residents of the county at the time of their appointment and incumbency. The superintendent shall give bond in the sum of $5,000 with sureties.

The county superintendent shall have the entire management, control, and supervision of the colored schools, shall decide as to the location of the schools, appoint teachers for them, and pay the expenses of maintaining them.

The superintendent shall visit each school within the county at least twice a year, each visit to be not less than two hours in duration, provided the school is kept open at least eight months each year. He shall note the number of scholars and their conduct and standing, the condition of the buildings and grounds, the method of instruction, and the discipline and government of the school. He shall advise with the teacher and shall have power to suspend or withdraw the certificate of one refusing to comply with the reasonable directions of the superintendent. He shall devote his entire time to his duties. He shall examine teachers, shall report annually to the president of the State board concerning the condition of the public schools, together with such recommendations and suggestions as may seem proper. His compensation shall be $1,000 per annum, from the State treasury.

District school commissioners.—All alterations in districts must be made by the levy court, two-thirds concurring, upon application; but two or more school districts in any county may unite for establishing and supplying a free school for their common benefit.

The district meeting shall decide what sum shall be raised for a schoolhouse or a free school.

Each district shall annually elect a school commissioner to serve for three years. The duties of the commissioners are

1. To determine the site, lease or purchase the necessary ground, and build or procure a suitable house for the district, as near the center of the district as possible. When built or procured, it shall not be removed nor another procured without the direction of the school voters at a stated meeting.

2. To keep the schoolhouse in good repair, supply it with necessary furniture and fuel, and bring actions, if necessary, for any injury to it.

3. To provide a school for the district when and as long as their funds will enable them, and to employ teachers. They may make regulations for the government of the school, and by these provide for the expulsion of a scholar for obstinate misbehavior.

4. To receive and collect all money belonging to, appropriated, or resolved to be raised for the district, and to apply the same justly.

5. To appoint collectors for the district, and take security by bond.

6. To do all acts requisite for effecting the premises-the acts of a majority to be as effectual in all cases as if done by them all.

The school committee must also annually, at the stated meeting, exhibit a just account of their receipts and expenditures, and a report of all their proceedingsmay then appoint persons to settle such account-and must pay to their successors in office all money due from them. If for ten days they neglect to do this they forfeit and must pay, additionally, at the rate of 5 per cent on the sum due.

For these duties the committee may receive no emolument; but for attendance before the auditor they may, on the settlement of their account, be allowed each $1 per day and 3 cents per mile of necessary traveling.

2. TEACHERS.

Appointment, qualifications, and duties.-Institutes.

Appointment, qualifications, and duties.-It shall be unlawful to employ any person to teach in the publc schools unless the person employed holds a certificate good in the county where employed.

The county superintendent shall examine, either orally or by printed or written questions, or both, all persons who apply, at such times and places as he may appoint. Every applicant of good character found qualified to teach orthography, reading, writing, mental arithmetic, written arithmetic, geography, history of the United States, English grammar, physiology and hygiene, with special reference to the effects of alcoholic drinks and narcotics upon the human system, elements of rhetoric, algebra, geometry, and natural philosophy shall be recommended to the State board for a first-grade certificate, good for three years, if issued. A second-grade certificate shall be issued by the superintendent to an applicant who shall have answered 90 per cent of the questions in all the above up to and including temperance physiology, which shall be good for two years. To an applicant attaining an average of at least 60 per cent on the subjects required for a second-grade certificate a third-grade certificate shall be given by the superintendent, good for one year. Parties refused certificates may appeal to the State board.

Every free-school teacher shall report to the commissioners at the end of each quarter the number of pupils attending school during the quarter, designating whether male or female, the number of days each has attended, the books used, and branches taught. Failure to make these reports shall cause the salary of the teacher to be withheld. The reports shall be forwarded to the county superintendent.

Meetings.-Each superintendent shall hold a teachers' institute during each year of three days' session. Every teacher of the county must attend. At these institutes each superintendent shall give all the information in his power, such other instructions as he may deem advisable, and shall cause a general interchange of views among teachers as to the wants of the schools.

One hundred dollars shall annually be set apart from the school fund distributed among the counties for the purpose of paying the expenses of the teachers' institutes.

3. SCHOOLS.

Attendance.-Character of instruction.—Text-books.

Attendance. [There are separate schools for colored persons.]

Character of instruction.-[The studies required in the public schools may be inferred to be those in which teachers are examined for a second-grade certificate.] All public schools receiving aid from the State shall give instruction in physiology and hygiene, with special reference to the effects of alcoholic drinks, stimulants. and narcotics, instruction to be orally when the pupils can not read. Text-books.-That on and after the first Saturday in April, A. D. 1891, the school commissioners or trustees of each school aistrict or districts in the State shall furnish the necessary text-books free for the use of all the pupils enrolled in the free schools of the State in the manner hereinafter provided.

The school commissioners or trustees shall order from the publisher or publishers the books which have been adopted by the State board of education for use in the free schools of the State, at the net contract prices at which the publishers have agreed to supply the same, as follows: There shall be a blank order book prepared by the State treasurer for the use of the school commissioners, which shall contain duplicate order blanks, with a printed list of the books which have been adopted by the State board of education, and the net contract prices at which the publishers agree to furnish the same.

Duplicate orders shall be filled out and signed by at least two of the school com missioners, or in case of united or incorporated districts by the president and secretary of the school board; one of these orders shall be forwarded to the State treasurer, to be forwarded to the publisher or publishers, and the other shall be kept as a stub in the order book, as a voucher.

The State treasurer, on receipt of an order or orders from school commissioners, shall make an entry of the amount of the order or orders against the district or districts in a book kept for that purpose, and shall forward the order or orders at once to the publisher or publishers, requesting them on receipt of the order or orders to ship the books as directed, at the contract prices named, and send duplicate invoices or bills for the same, one to the State treasurer and the other to the district clerk of the school district to which the books are consigned.

The State treasurer shall pay the publisher or publishers out of the school fund of the State for books thus supplied, and charge the amounts so paid to the respective districts ordering said books and deduct the same from the amount to which such district or districts may be entitled under the school laws of the State: Provided, however, That the State treasurer shall pay no bill for at least thirty days from the time it is rendered, in order that he may be notified by the school commissioners of any error or failure on the part of the publisher or publishers to supply the books as ordered and directed, or as billed.

It shall be the duty of the clerk of each school district or districts to distribute the books received, as aforesaid, to the scholars of the district or districts, or their parents, guardians, or other person, as they may desire, upon receipt for the same. The clerk of each district or districts shall be responsible for the safe-keeping of the books furnished him, as aforesaid; and also for prices of books sold, as hereinafter provided, to parents, guardians, scholars, or other persons. Any money or the value of the books which such clerks shall fail to account for according to law may be recovered in the name of the State by the county superintendent before a justice of the peace, as other accounts, when the amount does not exceed the sum of $200. Such clerk shall, at the expiration of his term of office, turn over to his successor in office all books on hand and take a receipt for the same, which shall be his voucher in settlement.

SEC. 4. It shall be the duty of the school commissioners to provide for the safekeeping and care of the books which shall be returned by the pupils at the close of the annual school term to the clerk of the district, or to such other person as the school commissioners shall designate. They shall also keep a separate account of the amount expended for books, and shall report it under a separate item in the annual settlement required by law. The school commissioners may furnish books at cost to pupils who wish to replace books lost or wilfully destroyed, or who may wish to own their books, and shall turn the proceeds of all such sales into the school fund of the district and report the amount at the time of the annual settlement to State auditor.

That the text-books for the colored schools of the State shall be ordered by the county superintendents of the respective counties through the county treasurer of each county. It shall be the duty of the county treasurer, upon the order of the county superintendent, to purchase and furnish text-books to such colored school or schools as the county superintendent shall designate, and the county treasurer shall charge the same to the said school or schools, and deduct the amount thereof from the State appropriation due such school or schools.

The county treasurer shall receive $50 from the State appropriation for colored schools for his services in purchasing text-books for that class of schools.

4. FINANCES.

Funds (permanent or special).—Taxation.

Funds (permanent or special).—The clear income of the school fund of this State is apportioned among the school districts as follows:

1. The dividends on an investment in 5,000 shares of Farmers' Bank stock, made under act of February 21, 1837; the interest on $131,750 of a bond of the State of Delaware to the school fund of the said State, at 6 per cent interest, and the

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interest on the sum of $5,000 advanced to the county of Sussex under act of February 17, 1837, must be divided, as they fall due, among the counties equally, except that Sussex County is to have, for its schools, the interest on the $5,000 above mentioned in addition to its one-third part of the dividend from the general school fund.

2. All the clear dividends or profits from any other bank stock, securities, or property belonging to said fund, together with the clear sum from fees for marriage and tavern licenses, one-fourth of all money arising from licenses for auctioneering, foreign life insurance agency, vending of goods by samples, keeping of traveling jacks or stallions, keeping eating house, taking photographs, acting as brokers, real-estate agency, exhibiting circuses, practicing jugglery, selling vinous, spirituous, or malt liquors; also one-fourth of the fees on commissions issued to prothonotaries, clerks of the peace, recorders of deeds, clerks of the orphans' court, and sheriffs, and any other income of said fund, or money directed by law to be paid to the trustee of said fund for distribution, must be apportioned among the several counties according to their white population, as ascertained by the census. The trustee of the school fund, in apportioning annually the share of its income to each county in the State, must distribute it equally among all the districts in the respective counties, without regard to the question whether the said districts are original or subdivided, and so that each district in the same county shall receive the same sum or share, except that in apportioning the share of Newcastle County among the districts thereof the said trustee shall distribute oneseventh part of this among the districts in the city of Wilmington, the residue among the remaining districts equally.

Taxation.-The school commissioners in each school district must annually assess and levy, without regard to any vote thereon, in each school district of Newcastle County the sum of $150, in each school district of Kent County the sum of $125, and in each of the school districts in Sussex County the sum of $75.

Whenever the school voters in a school district raise in any year, by subscription or tax, $25, the school committee may draw an order on the trustee of the school fund for such district's share of the proceeds thereof. Such order, accompanied by a certificate that the committee did actually receive that amount, shall be accepted and paid by the said trustee to the extent of any sum that may stand to the credit of the district when the order is presented, and any money that shall be placed to its credit during that year of the account shall be applicable to the balance.

MARYLAND.

1. ORGANIZATION OF THE SYSTEM.

State board of education.—Board of county school commissioners.—County examiner.-District school trustees.

State board of education.—The governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint at every regular session of the general assembly four persons, who, together with the governor and the principal of the normal school, shall constitute the State board of education. The board shall meet quarterly at its office in the State normal school, and shall receive no compensation other than for the expenses incurred in attending meetings and for necessary clerical assistance, all to be met by $1,000 per annum. The duties of the board are to enforce the law regarding the public schools, to suspend or remove any unfit examiner or teacher, examine candidates for county examiner and give a certificate of qualification, and grant professional certificates to teachers of long experience and established reputation, which shall be valid until revoked for cause. They shall cause all institutions of whatever grade receiving public money to report annually, such reports or an abstract to be printed in the annual school report of the president of the board. In general, they shall have the care and supervision of the public school interests of the State, including the State normal school.

County board of school commissioners.-Educational matters affecting a county shall be under the control of a county board of school commissioners, to be appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the senate, of six or three persons, according to the county, for terms of six years, one-third the members retiring biennially. The board shall meet at least once during each school term, and its members shall receive a per diem for actual service of $4, not to exceed the average of $100 for each commissioner. It shall elect a person, not members of itself to be secretary, treasurer, and examiner, and in counties having more than 85 schools an assistant examiner may be appointed and his salary fixed.

It has charge of all the property, estate, effects, money, funds, claims, and State donations, shall build, repair, and furnish schoolhouses, fix the salaries of teachers, purchase and distribute text-books, and in general has the supervision and control of all schools in the county and the duty to advance its educational interests. It shall annually report to the State board, and in addition make a financial statement. Vacancies are filled by the governor. No person teaching may also be county

commissioner.

County examiner.-It shall be the duty of the county examiner, when elected by the county board, as stated above, to examine candidates for teaching schools in the presence of one or more district trustees. It is his duty to visit the schools of the county twice a year when it contains more than 50 schools and three times if it contains fewer, to examine pupils and to inquire into and regulate all matters relating to the management, the course of study, and the instruction and discipline of the schools. He must devote all his time to the schools.

District school trustees.-Educational matters affecting a school district shall be under the supervision of a board of district school trustees, and in all cases where the county has not been properly divided into school districts and full records of the boundaries thereof have not been made and recorded, the board of county school commissioners shall appoint a committee, if they deem it necessary, consisting of three persons, who shall divide the county into suitable districts, none to have a greater area than 4 square miles, unless a part of it be located in a thinly settled region, and in the formation of the district the committee shall take into consideration the most suitable site for the schoolhouse and the general features of the country. The board of school trustees of each district into which the county may have been divided shall be composed of three persons, who shall be appointed by the county school commissioners. The board shall have the care of the houses, lands, furniture, apparatus, and other school property, and except when repairs are paid by a county school tax they shall be determined by the county commissioners. It employs teachers, subject to confirmation by the board of county school commissioners, from among qualified applicants, and exercise a general supervision over their respective schools, and provide suitable outhouses. Vacancies may be created for cause and filled by the board of county commissioners. For colored schools there is a special board of school trustees to be appointed by the board of county school commissioners.

2. TEACHERS.

Appointment, qualifications, and duties.—Preliminary training.—Meetings. Appointment, qualifications, and duties. No person shall be employed by the board of district trustees as a teacher unless holding a certificate issued by the examiner of the county in which the person proposes to teach or by the principal of the State normal school, or a diploma from that school, or a certificate from the State board, or, if a man, who is under 19, or, if a woman, under 17 years of age. Teachers shall record and render in their quarterly reports to county school commissioners the statistics of attendance, the text-books used, and branches taught, and other matters of a statistical nature as may be required, on penalty of forfeiture of pay. Salaries are fixed by board of county school commissioners. Any person holding a first-grade teacher's certificate or the diploma of a respectable college or of a State normal school, who has been a teacher seven years, five of which have been in Maryland, may apply to the State board for a life certificate, which is, however, annullable for cause. The certificates issued by each county examiner shall be denominated as of first or second grade. Certificates of the first grade shall embrace orthography, reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, history, English grammar, bookkeeping, algebra, natural philosophy, physiology, plane geometry, and theory and practice of teaching. Those of the second grade shall embrace all the above except bookkeeping and natural philosophy; but the State board may add to the list of subjects required in either grade. Such a certificate shall not remain in force for more than six months unless the holder satisfy the examiner that he has ability to govern and to instruct the pupils of a school. When so satisfied the examiner may issue a revocable certificate for five years. No fees are charged for issuing certificates. In schools having more than 40 pupils in average attendance an assistant may be employed, and for every additional 40 children one teacher may be appointed and the school shall be graded. Preliminary training of teachers.-There shall be located in the city of Baltimore a State normal school for the instruction and practice of teachers in the science of education, the art of teaching, and the mode of governing schools, whose princiFal shall be appointed by the State board, at a salary of $2,500 per annum and