664 



NORTH CAROLINA. 



acts are those relating to public schools and 

 prohibition. The chief provisions of the school 

 act are as follows : 



1. The act provides that the State Board of 

 Education shall recommend a series of text- 

 books, which shall be used in all the public 

 schools of the State for a period of three years, 

 and until otherwise ordered, the State Board 

 to regulate the prices. 



2. It provides for traveling expenses of the 

 State Superintendent, not to exceed $500, and 

 for a clerkship to his office at $600. 



8. It abolishes the office of county examiner, 

 to take effect from and after the first Monday 

 in June, 1881, and substitutes therefor the of- 

 fice of county superintendent of public instruc- 

 tion, who is to be elected on the said first Mon- 

 day in Juno by the county board of education 

 and the board of county justices jointly. The 

 county superintendent is required to examine 

 candidates who desire to teach, and pass upon 

 their qualifications; to visit and inspect the 

 public schools in the county ; to advise with 

 teachers as to the best methods of instruction ; 

 to suspend teachers for want of qualification, 

 neglect of duty, or improper conduct, and no- 

 tify the school committee of such suspension, 

 stating the cause ; to distribute blanks to school 

 committeemen and teachers; collect school 

 statistics, and receive reports from teachers 

 heretofore made to county treasurer ; to coun- 

 tersign all orders on county treasurer for school 

 moneys in payment of teachers' salaries ; to 

 hold and conduct teachers' institutes, and to 

 exercise general supervision over the public 

 schools of his county, and to report the school 

 statistics of his county annually on the first 

 Monday of December to the State Superin- 

 tendent of Public Instruction. For these duties 

 he is to receive a compensation of three dollars 

 per day for each day engaged, to be paid out of 

 the unapportioned school fund of the county. 

 Provided, that he shall not receive in any one 

 year more than five per centum of the entire 

 amount of the school fund of the county. 



4. It requires that the school funds of the 

 county shall be apportioned on the first Mon- 

 day iu January in each year, and shall be based 

 on the actual amount of money in the hands 

 of the county treasurer, and not on the amount 

 levied on the tax-list as under the old law. 



5. The county board of education may an- 

 nually apportion $100 out of the public-school 

 moneys to defray the expenses of teachers' in- 

 stitutes, and, where it is deemed practicable or 

 advisable, a number of counties may unite in 

 one institute. 



6. The school year is changed so as to cor- 

 respond with the county fiscal year, and will 

 therefore end November 30th in each year. 



7. Twelve and a half cents is levied on each 

 $100 valuation of property for school purposes, 

 and if this, with the capitation-tax, fines, etc., 

 shall be insufficient to maintain one or more 

 schools in each district of the county for four 

 months in the year, then the county board of 



education is required to levy a special tax to 

 meet the deficiency. Said special tax is to bo 

 distributed by the county board under such 

 rules as in the judgment of said board will se- 

 cure a four-months school in each district, as 

 required by Article IX, section 3, of the Con- 

 stitution. 



8. Additional safeguards are thrown around 

 the collection, handling, and disbursement of 

 school moneys, and school committeemen are 

 required to take deeds for all school-house sites 

 acquired by them, which must be regularly 

 probated, recorded, and deposited with the 

 county treasurer for safe-keeping. Blanks for 

 said deeds are to be furnished to the said com- 

 mitteemen by the county school authorities. 



9. School committeemen are authorized to 

 pay full cost of building, repairing, and fur- 

 nishing school-houses, instead of half the cost, 

 as provided in the old law, this cost to be paid 

 out of the school fund of the district for which 

 the house is built. 



10. Certificates from county superintendents 

 will be valid in the county where issued, for 

 one year from date, and no teacher can be em- 

 ployed who does not produce a certificate, of 

 proper date, from the county superintendent. 



11. First-grade teachers may receive three 

 dollars per day, second-grade two dollars per 

 day, aud third-grade fifteen dollars per month 

 for services. No teacher can be paid for a less 

 school term than one month. 



12. The State Board of Education is re- 

 quired to apportion, on the first Monday in 

 August, all the school moneys in the State 

 Treasury. 



There was also a special act passed by the 

 General Assembly requiring the State Board of 

 Education to sell during this year the United 

 States bonds belonging to the school fund, and 

 to distribute the proceeds, together with the 

 distribution school fund in the hands of the 

 State Treasurer, to the several counties of the 

 State, on the basis of school population. This 

 fund was expected to amount to about $130,- 

 000. The entire school fund for the year was 

 . estimated at $500,000. 



In addition to the appropriations made in 

 1877 for normal schools at Chapel Hill and 

 Fayetteville, section 5 of the act passed at this 

 session of the General Assembly making an 

 appropriation to the university appropriates 

 $4,000 for other normal schools, $2,000 for 

 white teachers, and $2,000 for colored teachers, 

 providing that not less than four schools for 

 each color shall be established. The location, 

 organization, and management of these schools 

 are under the supervision and control of the 

 State Board of Education. 



Acts were also passed creating two new 

 counties (Durham and Vance), punishing cru- 

 elty to animals, allowing defendants and their 

 wives to testify in criminal actions, providing 

 for a codification of the laws, and levying a 

 tax to pay the interest on the public debt. 

 Legislation respecting prohibition was demand- 



