ex officio members of the board, and are entitled to participate in its deliberations, but may not vote. No school director may receive compensation for his services as director.

The board must organize within ten days after its appointment, with the election of a president and a vice-president, chosen from its members, and a secretary, who may not be a member. The treasurer of the city is ex officio treasurer of the board, and the city attorney acts as its attorney. The board of directors is a body corporate, with power to sue and be sued. Eleven members constitute a quorum.

The secretary may receive a salary to be fixed by the board. In addition to the duties of his office which the board may prescribe, he must make quarterly reports to the State superintendent, keep the accounts of the board, and report to the board at each monthly meeting the current expenses for that month.

The treasurer of the board holds office for four years, or during his He may be removed after due trial before the term as city treasurer. board for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, and in case of removal by the board they must elect a treasurer, who may not be a member of the board.

All public schools of the city, and the property and appurtenances thereof, are under the direction and control of the board of directors. They fix the salaries of the teachers, porters, and porteresses, of the secretary and employees, and of such assistant superintendents as they may deem necessary.

They must limit their annual expenses to their annual revenue. They must prescribe rules for the examination of candidates for teacherships, and no teacher may be employed who has not a certificate of qualification; must elect teachers in order of their merit as shown by examination; hold regular monthly meetings; declare vacant the seat of any member guilty of neglect or of conduct unbecoming a member, and must report each vacancy to the authority by which the expelled member was appointed.

They may establish normal and evening schools. They may appoint a competent and experienced educator as superintendent, at a salary of $2,500 a year, and for a term of four years, unless removed for cause after an impartial hearing.

It is the duty of the superintendent to aid the directors in organizing the schools and improving the methods of instruction therein, in examining candidates for teacherships, in conducting periodical examinations of pupils for promotion, and in maintaining general uniformity and discipline in the management of all the schools. He must make reports to the board of directors and to the State board of education, and whenever notified to be present he must attend the meetings of the State board of education.

The board of directors must present to the common council of the city each year a full report of the condition and operations of the schools

and a detailed exhibit of their receipts and expenditures, and their report must be accompanied by a certified statement of the average daily attendance of pupils during the year, and of the average expense per capita of their instruction. It is the duty of the common council in making up the budget of their annual expenses to include therein the amount necessary to meet the expenses of the schools, as shown by the statement of the board of actual attendance and cost of instruction, with such additional allowance for probable increased attendance and contingent expenses as may seem just and reasonable to the city council, and a sum sufficient to keep in repair all schoolhouses and school grounds belonging to the city. But the aggregate amount appropriated must not exceed the estimate of the board of directors, nor may the amount appropriated by the city be less than $250,000 per annum.

A tax of 1 per cent has been imposed by State authority on all taxable property in the city for the purpose of liquidating the debt of the city. By an act passed in 1894 the board of liquidation, in charge of this matter, were directed to pay to the board of school directors from this tax each year such a sum as will, with the amounts appropriated by the city council, reach a total of $337,500.

PITTSBURG, PA.1

CENTRAL BOARD OF EDUCATION.

2

The city of Pittsburg constitutes an independent school district. Whenever it becomes necessary under the law, each of the school boards of the respective subdistricts of the city elect one person to servo as a member of the central board of education of the city, which person so clected must be at the time of his election a citizen of the subdistrict for which he is chosen, but he is not disqualified by reason of membership in the local board.

Annually, within twenty days of February 1, the members of the central board meet and organize by choosing a president, a secretary, and a treasurer. The first named must be of their own number, but the other two officers may or may not be, at the discretion of the members thereof. Members of the central board hold their offices for the term of three years, and the terms are so arranged that one-third expire annually. Vacancies caused by death, resignation, removal from the subdistrict, or otherwise are filled for the unexpired term by election by the proper local board of directors. Seats of members who neglect or refuse to perform their duties may be declared vacant by the board.

The president presides at the meetings of the board, authorizes the secretary to call special meetings whenever he deems them necessary,

1 Compiled from Digest of the Acts of the Assembly relating to Pittsburg, 18041886, page 198 et seq., and from subsequent acts specified.

2 There are 37 subdistricts and consequently 37 members of the central board of education.

issues the duplicates and warrants for the collection of school taxes, takes the bond of the treasurer, signs all warrants on the treasurer, as well as the reports of the State superintendent, and does all other acts lawfully pertaining to his office.

The secretary keeps minutes of the meetings of the board, prepares duplicates of school taxes, keeps account of all abatements and exonerations, prepares reports, prepares and attests all warrants on the treasurer, and performs all other duties pertaining to the office. He receives a salary fixed by the board.

The treasurer gives bond for the faithful performance of his duties, receives all State appropriations, district taxes, and other school funds of the district, and pays therefrom all warrants drawn on him by the board, signed by the president and attested by the secretary. He is allowed to retain for his services a sum not over 1 per cent on the money received and paid out by him.

In the absence or refusal to serve of the president or secretary, the board may appoint a president or secretary pro tempore. The board must hold at least one stated meeting per month, and a majority of the members elected constitute a quorum.

The central board of education must ascertain the amount necessary for conducting the schools and certify the same to the councils on or before the second Monday in January in each year, and the councils must add the amount so certified to the aggregate of taxes required for the city, and they must appropriate the same for the schools.

All warrants drawn upon the city treasurer upon such appropriation must be signed by the president and the secretary of the central board of education, and must be submitted to the city comptroller, whose only duty in connection therewith is to countersign the warrant and to enter it in the proper account.

The central board are entitled to reseive that part of the State common-school fund which is annually apportioned to the city of Pittsburg. They may borrow money, not to exceed $50,000, to erect schoolhouses or purchase sites, and may borrow an additional $50,000 and issue bonds for the same.

If the central board neglect or refuse to levy the proper taxes or fail to perform their legal duties, the court of quarter sessions of the county, upon complaint of six taxable citizens and upon due proof, may declare vacant the seats of the delinquent members or member, and may appoint others in their stead to serve till the next annual election of the central board of education.

The board as a body corporate have power to sue and be sued; to pur chase and hold such real and personal property as may be necessary for the establishment and support of the mechanical art schools, high school, and schools for colored pupils, and may sell and dispose of the same when no longer necessary; to have a common seal; to make bylaws, rules, and regulations.

The central board have power to purchase ground, erect or repair buildings, to purchase furniture, apparatus, books, and other personal property for the high school and schools for colored pupils; to deter mine the number of teachers in all schools, and to fix and pay their salaries; to determine the books used, and the course of study pursued in all schools. Text-books may not be changed oftener than once in six years. Physiology and hygiene, with special reference to the effects of stimulants and narcotics, must be taught.

The central board must purchase text-books and loan the same free to all pupils. They must continue and maintain one high school for pupils of both sexes, and one or more separate schools for colored pupils; no distinction may be made on account of the race or color of any pupil. They may maintain a normal department in connection with the high school, and may establish and maintain one or more schools for instruction in mechanic arts and kindred subjects, and instruction may be given in the evening as well as in the day.

The central board must exercise a general supervision over the high school, the mechanical art schools, and the schools for colored pupils, and must, by one or more of the members, visit said schools at least once a week. They may at any time examine, or cause to be examined, any or all of the teachers in the high school and the schools for colored pupils, and may issue certificates setting forth the branches which said teachers are qualified to teach. They have the appointment of all teachers in the high school and schools for colored pupils and of teachers of all special branches in the ward schools, and may dismiss them for cause at any time.

The central board must make an annual report through the city superintendent to the State superintendent.

BOARDS OF DIRECTORS OF SUBDISTRICTS.

Each of the wards of the city constitutes a subschool district, but a subdistrict may be subdivided, or two of them may be consolidated by the central board of education, upon the petition of the proper boards of directors, provided the city councils by an ordinance declare the subdistrict so made to be a separate election district.

In each subdistrict there is a board of directors of six members, elected by the people of the several subdistricts. The term of office is three years, and two directors are clected each year.

The several subdistrict boards have power to fill any vacancy caused in their number by removal, death, resignation, or otherwise until the next organization of the board. They may declare vacant the seat of any member who neglects or refuses to attend to his duties as member. If all or a majority of the members of any board of directors refuse or neglect to perform their lawful duties, the county court of quarter sessions, upon complaint of six taxpayers, and upon due proof, may declare their seats vacant and appoint others in their stead, to serve until the next annual organization of the board.

Each board of directors must organize annually by the election of a president and a secretary, who must be members of the board, and a treasurer, who may or may not be a member. The duties of these officers are those usually performed by such officers. The treasurer must give sufficient bond, and is allowed to retain for his services a sum not over 2 per cent of all money received and paid out by him.

Each board of subdistrict directors must hold at least one stated meeting a month; a majority of the members constitute a quorum.

The several boards of the subdistricts may levy annually a special tax upon the assessed property of their respective wards not exceeding the amount of the regular annual school tax for the year, to be applied to the purchase of ground, the erection or repair of buildings, furniture, apparatus, books, stationery, fuel, and janitors. The central board of education must be notified of the amount of tax so levied, and the said amount is levied and collected in the same manner as the regular school tax.

Any one of the subdistrict boards may borrow money to the amount of $50,000.

The several boards of directors of subdistricts have the power to purchase ground, to erect, enlarge, and repair school buildings, to purchase furniture, apparatus, books, stationery, and fuel, to pay janitors in their respective districts, to borrow money and to provide for the payment thereof with its interest, and to levy taxes for such purposes. The title of all real and personal property of the subdistrict schools is vested in the several boards of directors, and they may sell or dispose of the same whenever they deem advisable.

The boards of directors may obtain by condemnation land required for school purposes when the same can not be secured by agreement with the owners. They appoint the teachers and exercise a general supervision over the schools of their respective subdistricts, and must by one or more of their members visit cach of said schools at least once a month.

In order to enable the central board of education to make the required reports to the State superintendent, the subdistrict boards of directors must make annual reports to the central board.

Free evening schools must be maintained by the subdistrict boards for not less than four months a year when requested to do so by 20 or more pupils.

No member of any school board may hold any office of emolument under said board.1

The city superintendent is elected for a term of three years by a convention of all the school directors in the city, called for the purpose by the president of the board of education.

The president and the secretary certify to the State superintendent the name and address of the person elected city superintendent,

Act of May 10, 1893.