QUESTIONS 1. What are the powers of the railroad commission with respect to fares and freight rates; discrimination; through routes; delay in furnishing cars and in unloading cars? 2. Why should a railroad company be forbidden to grant passes except to its employees? 3. Exactly why is the management of a bank, an insurance company, or a building and loan association a matter of public interest? How do the three kinds of banks recognized by the state law differ from one another? How does a building and loan association differ from a savings bank? 4. How does the bank commissioner, the insurance commissioner, or the building and loan commissioner proceed in case an institution under his jurisdiction should become insolvent? How does the fact of the insolvency of the institution become known to him? How do these commissioners keep informed about the institutions under their charge? 5. If a building is to be erected for a state institution, what are the duties of its board of trustees and the state engineering department respectively in the matter? 6. Why does the national government assist in the improvement of rivers and harbors in California? 7. If a tract of forest-covered land is privately owned, ought the owner to have the right to destroy the forest in case the land cannot by this means be rendered suitable for cultivation? (NOTE. A law in Maine regulates the cutting of trees on privately owned land.) 8. How does the fish and game commission enforce the laws for the protection of fish and game? 9. In what respect is the state system for protecting trees, vines, and other plants against pests and diseases superior to the system for protecting live stock against diseases? 10. What officers constitute the state system for the protection of the public health? II. What are the relations between the state dairy bureau and the local health officers? Between this bureau and the office of the state veterinarian? NOTE. The best way to obtain a thorough understanding of the work of any board or commission is to read the law defining its powers and duties, and its latest printed report. If it issues bulletins, they are also helpful. The California Blue Book, issued by the secretary of state every two years, is invaluable as a reference book. It contains the names of all state officers; tells where in the codes and statutes the powers and duties of the various officers, boards, and commissions may be found; and gives the addresses of the secre taries of the various departments. It may be found in any public library, or in any lawyer's library. Every high school is entitled to a copy free of charge. Reports of the various officers and boards may be obtained free of charge through the mail. CHAPTER XIV THE STATE SCHOOL SYSTEM1 179. Introductory. - One of the most important things that government undertakes to do is to educate growing citizens. So important is this duty that the state, counties, cities, and school districts — a special kind of public corporation created for this one purpose - are all engaged in discharging it. The magnitude of the task may be appreciated by reflecting that it now (1913) requires over $20,000,000 each year to support our elementary and high schools in California. Every public school in the state is a part of our state educational system; and the maintenance and government of the schools in any locality can be understood only in their relation to the state system as a whole. 180. School Districts.2 The entire state is divided into school districts. There were 3357 grammar school districts in the state in 1912. We have learned that each county is divided into such districts by the board of supervisors. New districts may be formed, or the boundaries of old districts changed, by the supervisors, on petition of the people affected, according to certain regulations imposed by law. A district may be formed lying partly in one county and partly in another by the consent of the two boards of supervisors and the two county superintendents. Every incorporated city is a separate Political Code, § 1575 seq 1 See article IX, state constitution. school district,' but the county supervisors have power to add to it for school purposes any adjoining territory. In such a case the district consists of the city and the territory which has been added. We have learned (§ 22, 2) that every school district is a public corporation, having the power to tax itself for school purposes. It receives financial aid from the state and the county. This state and county money must be used to pay the ordinary running expenses of the school and is often sufficient for this purpose. Any deficiency is provided for by a district tax. The district must provide a building or buildings in which to hold school, and for this purpose may vote bonds, or a special tax not to exceed seventy cents on the hundred dollars. School must be maintained in each district at least six months during the year. If in any district there has been for a school year an average daily attendance of less than six pupils, the district lapses, and the supervisors must annex it to one or more adjoining districts. 181. Union Districts.2 The law provides a method whereby any number of adjoining districts may unite to form one large district. Where this is done the district provides a method of transporting the children from their homes to the school. By this means country children are given the advantage of a strong, vigorous, well-equipped school. This system is used quite extensively in some states and to a certain extent in California, and has so far given eminent satisfaction. 1 According to a law passed in 1911 a community will not in the future become a separate school district on its incorporation as a city or town of the sixth class. The incorporation will have no effect on the former arrangements for school purposes. 2 Political Code, § 1674 seq. 182. School Boards.1 Rural school districts and those consisting of incorporated towns using sixth class and special charters are governed by boards of school trustees.2 Each board consists of three members, one elected each year for a term of three years. Union district boards consist in each case of one member elected from each of the districts comprising the union, except when the union consists of two districts, in which case each one elects three members. The larger cities those using the fifth class, and most of those using freeholders' charters-have boards of education. The board consists of five members in a city of the fifth class. In cities governed by freeholders' charters, the number of members, their term of office, the manner in which they are chosen, are matters determined in each case by the city charter. Their number ranges from five to eleven, and their term of office from two to five years. In most cases they are elected, but in three cities San Francisco, San José, and Alameda -- they are appointed by the mayors. 3 Boards of school trustees and city boards of education have practically the same powers and duties,1 the most important of which are as follows: 1. They have in charge the general business management of the schools. That is, they construct school buildings and keep them in repair, purchase supplies, and have general control of school property and school finances. 1 Political Code, § 1611 seq. 2 Except Santa Clara, whose special charter provides for a board of education. The school election in these towns is held on the first Friday in April. The municipal election is held at a different time. 3 A few freeholders' charters - for example, those of Monterey, Napa, Santa Rosa, and Woodland- make no provision for the selection of school directors. They are, therefore, elected in these cities, or in the school districts in which they are located, according to state law. City boards of education have greater powers in certain particulars. See § 81. |