78 ERUCATIORN., 
THE COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT, 
is elected by the people of his county for a term of two years. 
Under the direction of the State Superintendent, he supervises the 
school interests of the county in which he is elected. 
He examines all teachers employed in the public schools of the 
. county; visits the schools, holds institutes twice in each year, 
delivers lectures, gathers the annual reports of the township clerks, 
and makes an annual report to the State Superintendent. 
His work is merely supplemented by the Clerk of the County 
Court in one particular, viz: the financial condition of school 
interests of the county. 
THE TOWNSHIP BOARD, 
is composed of the clerks of the several sub-district boards in a 
congressional township or fractional township. It is a body cor- 
porate, and its officers are a President and a Clerk, who also acts as 
Treasurer, and gives a bond for this purpose. The duties of the 
Township Board are— 
To fix and alter sub-district boundaries ; 
To hold the property of the sub-districts as their trustees ; 
To prescribe rules and regulations and text books for the guid- 
ance of the schools under their care. — 
The Clerk of this Board is required to make an annual examina- 
tion of the school population of his township, together with a list 
of taxable property, by sub-districts, and report the same to the 
County Clerk. He also receives and disburses all school moneys 
belonging to the various sub-districts in his township, except such as 
have failed to keepa three months’ school during the year for which 
the distribution is made. 
It is his duty to examine twice in each year the records of School . 
Directors, and to deliver once in each year a report of the condi- 
tion of the schools with which he is connected, to the County 
Superintendent. 
LOCAL DIRECTORS. 
Each sub-district elects in April of each year at a meeting of the 
qualified voters of the sub-district, a board of three directors who 
hold their office for one year or until their successors are elected. 
These directors elect one of their number clerk, who becomes, 
ex-officio, a member of the township board. 
It is the duty of the local directors to have immediate care of 
the school and schoal-house ; 
To employ teachers; _ 
To keep an abstract of teacher’s registers 5 
To enumerate the children in the sub-district ; 
To erect a school house when necessary, returning an estimate 
therefor not exceeding two per cent. of the taxable property of the 
sub-district ; 
To make and return to the Township Clerk an annual estimate 
for the current expenses of the school not exceeding one per cent. 
of the taxable property of the sub-district ; 
To report annually to the Township Clerk. 
TEACHERS 
are required to hold a certificate from the State Superintendent, or 
from the County Superintendent of the county in which they are 
engaged. 
The State certificate is given only upon personal written exami- 
nation of the applicant in the common branches, together with the 
higher branches and natural sciences, and entitles the holder to 
teach in any public school in the State. 
The certificates given by County Superintendents are of two 
grades as to the qualifications they represent, and of two grades in 
~ respect to the length of time they cover. 
The second grade certificate requires a knowledge of the com- 
mon school branches, and runs either six months or one year. 
The first grade certificate, in addition to a knowledge of the 
common branches, requires proficiency in the higher branches, and 
may run for eighteen months or two years. 
The legal school day in this State is six hours. The school 
month consists of four weeks of five days each, and the financial 
school year begins with the third Saturday in April. 
III.—PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNDS. 
The means for the support of the public schools are derived from 
permanent State funds, from permanent county and township 
investments, and from direct taxation. 
The Public School Fund of the State has accumulated from the 
proceeds of the sale of public lands granted by the United States 
to this State, and from stocks, bonds, and other moneys transferred 
from time to time to the school endowment. ‘The investment of 
these contributions has been made by the State Board of Educa- 
tion in bonds of the United States, the income of which, together 
with twenty-five per cent. of the State revenue, constitutes a yearly 
emolument, which is distributed to the schools by counties, upon 
the enumeration of the school children. 
The school fund of the counties arises chiefly from the sale of 
‘¢ swamp and over-flowed lands ’’ donated by the General Govern- 
ment to the State, amounting originally to 4,300,000 acres, and 
patented to the counties for school purposes. 
The sum realized from the sale of these lands and saved from 
waste, is something over four millions of dollars. This money has 
been, invested in real estate securities by the County Courts, and 
yields a yearly income, which is apportioned by the Clerk of the 
County Court with the other school moneys. 
The township school fund has its source in a grant of land for 
school purposes by the General Government, amounting to about 
1,200,000 acres of land, consisting of section sixteen in each con- 
gressional township. The larger portion of these lands has been 
sold, and the proceeds have been invested by the County Courts, 
in trust, for the townships to which they belong. The annual 
income of the township fund is appropriated to the various town- 
ships according to their respective proprietary claims. 
The support accruing from these funds is supplemented by direct 
taxation. In the spring of each year the local directors make an 
estimate covering the amount that will be needed to maintain their 
school during the year ensuing, including past indebtedness, and 
this estimate is forwarded, with a list of the taxable property, | 
through the Township Clerk to the County Clerk, who extends the 
assessment upon the tax-books. 
The maximum limit of taxation allowed is one per cent. Taxes 
are gathered and placed in the county treasury by the County Col- 
lector. 
