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VIRGINIA.

The constitution of Virginia, framed by the convention which met in Richmond, December 3, 1867, has the following:

ARTICLE VIII.-EDUCATION.

SECTION 1. The general assembly shall elect, on joint ballot, within thirty days after its organization under this constitution, and every fourth year thereafter, a superintendent of public instruction. He shall have the general supervision of the public free-school interest of the State, and shall report to the general assembly for its consideration, within thirty days after his election, a uniform system of public free schools.

SEC. 2. There shall be a board of education, composed of the governor, superintendent of public instruction, and attorney gennral, which shall appoint, and have power to remove for cause and upon notice to the incumbents, subject to confirmation by the Senate, all county superintendents of free schools. This board shall have regulated by law the management and investment of all the school funds, and such supervision of schools of higher grade as the law shall provide.

SEC. 3. The general assembly shall provide by law, at its first session under this constitution, a uniform system of public free schools, and for its gradual, equal, and full introduction into all the counties of the State by the year 1876, or as much earlier as practicable.

SEC. 4. The general assembly shall have power, after a full introduction of the public free-school system, to make such laws as shall not permit parents and guardians to allow their children to grow up in ignorance and vagrancy.

SEC. 5. The general assembly shall establish, as soon as practicable, normal schools, and may establish agricultural schools and such grades of schools as shall be for the public good.

SEC. 6. The board of education shall provide for uniformity of text-books and the furnishing of school-houses with such apparatus and library as may be necessary, under such regulations as may be provided by law.

SEC. 7. The general assembly shall set apart, as a permanent and perpetual literary fund, the present literary funds of the State, the proceeds of all public lands donated by Congress for public school purposes, of all escheated property, of all waste and appropriated lands, of all property accruing to the State by forfeiture, and all fines collected for offences committed against the State, and such other sums as the general assembly may appropriate.

SEC. 8. The general assembly shall apply the anual interest on the literary fund, any capitation or other special tax provided for by this constitution for public free-school purposes, and an annual tax upon the property of the State of not less than one mill nor more than five mills on the dollar, for the equal benefit of all the people of the State, the number of children between the ages of five and twenty-one years in each public free school district being the basis of such division. Provision shall be made to supply children attending the public free schools with necessary text-books in cases where the parent or guardian is unable, by reason of poverty, to furnish them. Each county and public free-school district may raise additional sums by a tax on property for the support of public free schools. All unexpended sums of any one year in any public free-school district shall go into the general school fund for redivision the next year: Provided, That any tax authorized by this section to be raised by counties or school districts shall not exceed five mills on a dollar in any one year, and shall not be subject to a redivision as hereinbefore provided in this section.

SEC. 9. The general assembly shall have power to foster all higher grades of schools under its supervision, and to provide for such purposes a permanent educational fund.

SEC. 10. All grants and donations received by the general assembly for educational purposes shall be applied according to the terms prescribed by the donors.

SEC. 11. Each city and county shall be held accountable for the destruction of school property that may take place within its limits by incendiaries or open vio

lence.

SEC. 12. The general assembly shall fix the salaries and prescribe the duties of all school officers, and shali make all needful laws and regulations to carry into effect the public free-school system provided for by this article.

Article VII, on county organizations, contains the following section respecting

SCHOOL DISTRICTS.

SEC. 3. Each township shall be divided into so many compactly-located school districts as may be deemed necessary: Provided, That no school districts shall be formed containing less than one hundred inhabitants. In each school district there

shall be elected or appointed annually one school trustee, who shall hold his office three years: Provided, That at the first election held under this provision there shall be three trustees elected, whose terms shall be one, two, and three years, respectively.

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CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION RESPECTING EDUCATION.

The following propositions, slightly modified since their first publication in Special Circular No. 4, contain the main features of a system of public instruction which the people of every State, speaking through their constitutional convention, should, in the opinion of the Commissioner of Education, make obligatory on the legislature to provide:

1. The authority and duty of the legislature to establish, aid, support, and supervise schools of every grade, and all institutions and agencies of education, science, and the arts.

2. The security against diminution or diversion of all educational funds and benefactions.

3. The certainty of a minimum rate of taxation, increasing with the popula tion, sufficient every year to secure the elementary instruction of all children within the State who shall apply, by teachers professionally trained, and in schools legally inspected and approved.

4. The distribution of all State appropriations derived from taxation or funds, on such conditions and in modes as will secure local taxation or individual contributions for the same purpose, a lively municipal or public interest in the expenditure of both sums, the constant co-operation of parents at home in realizing the work of the school, and the regular attendance of pupils.

5. A State board of education, having supervision of all educational institutions incorporated or aided by the State, and constituted in such way as to secure literary, scientific, and professional attainment and experience, freedom from denominational or party preponderance, sympathy with the wants of different sections and occupations, and independence of local or special influence.

6. A system of inspection, administered by the State board, intelligent, professional, frequent, and independent of local or institutional control, with the widest and fullest publicity of results.

7. State scholarships, securing free instruction in any higher institution incorporated or aided by the State, conditioned on fitness to enter and profit by the same, ascertained by open competitive examination.

8. A retiring fund, for teachers of public schools, made up of an annual allowance by the State, and an equal payment by those who register to secure its benefits, conditioned on prolonged service in the business of teaching.

9. An obligation on parents and guardians not to allow children to grow up in barbarism, ignorance, and vagrancy; and the exercise of the elective franchise, or of any public office, conditioned on the ability of the applicant to read understandingly the Constitution and the laws, and forfeited by any parent or guardian of children who neglects to secure the formal instruction of such children between the ages of 6 and 14 years, for at least eight months in the year, or to pay for their maintenance, if sent to a prison or reformatory, while minors.

NATIONAL LAND GRANTS,

FOR

EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES.

STATE COLLEGES OF AGRICULTURE AND THE MECHANIC ARTS.

PRELIMINARY REPORT.

THE following pages contain the Act of Congress approved July 2, 1862, by which ten million acres of Public Lands were donated to the several States for the benefit of Colleges of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts; the Legislation of such States as have accepted the conditions of the grant and provided for the establishment of such Colleges; and an account of such Institutions as have thus far been established on the basis of the National Land Grants, and the Legislation of the States respecting the same.

NATIONAL LAND GRANTS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES.

COLLEGES OF AGRICULTURE AND THE MECHANIC ARTS.

PRELIMINARY REPORT.

Circular of Commissioner of Education,..........

National Grant of Lands for State Colleges of Agriculture,

Schools of Science applied to the Industrial Arts,...

1. NATIONAL LEGISLATION,...

Acts of Congress, July 2, 1862-July 23, 1866-Feb. 28, 1867,

2. LEGISLATION OF THE SEVERAL STATES...

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3. STATE COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS OF SCIENCE APPLIED TO AGRICULTURE AND THE

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State College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, Hanover, . VERMONT,..

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