SEC. 9. The board of education shall meet annually at the seat of government at the same time as the general assembly, but no session shall continue longer than twenty days, nor shall more than one session be held in the same year, unless authorized by the governor. The members shall receive the same mileage and daily pay as the members of the general assembly. SEC. 10. The proceeds of all lands that have been or may be granted by the United States to the State for educational purposes; of the swamp lands, and of all lands or other property given by individuals or appropriated by the State for like purposes; and of all estates of deceased persons who have died without leav ing a will or heir; and all moneys which may be paid as an equivalent for exemption from military duty, shall be and remain a perpetual fund, which may be increased but not diminished, and the interest and income of which, together with the rents of all such lands as may remain unsold, and such other means as the general assembly may provide, shall be inviolably appropriated to educational purposes, and to no other purpose whatever. SEC. 11. In addition to the amount accruing from the above sources, one-fifth of the aggregate annual revenue of the State shall be devoted exclusively to the maintenance of public schools. SEC. 12. The general assembly may give power to the authorities of the school districts to levy a poll tax on the inhabitants of the district in aid of the general school fund and for no other purpose. SEC. 13. The general assembly shall levy a specific annual tax upon all railroad, navigation, banking, and insurance corporations, and upon all insurance and foreign bank and exchange agencies, and upon the profits of foreign bank bills issued in this State by any corporation, partnership, or persons, which shall be exclusively devoted to the maintenance of public schools. SEC. 14. The general assembly shall, as soon as practicable, provide for the establishment of an agricultural college, and shall appropriate the 240,000 acres of land donated to this State, for the support of such a college, by the act of Congress passed July 2, 1862, or the money or scrip, as the case may be, arising from the sale of said land or any lands which may hereafter be granted or appropriated for such purpose, for the support and maintenance of such college or schools, and may make the same a branch of the University of Alabama for instruction in agriculture, in the mechanic arts, and the natural sciences connected therewith, and place the same under the supervision of the regents of the university. ARKANSAS. The new constitution of Arkansas, adopted by the people of the State at an election held March 13, 1868, thus provides for public education in Article IX: ARTICLE IX.-EDUCATION. SECTION 1. A general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence among all classes being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, the general assembly shall establish and maintain a system of free schools for the gratuitous instruction of all persons in this State between the ages of five and twenty-one years; and the funds appropriated for the support of common schools sball be distributed to the several counties in proportion to the number of children and youths therein between the ages of five and twenty-one years, in such manner as shall be prescribed by law; but no religious or other sect or sects shall ever have any exclusive right to, or control of, any part of the school funds of this State. SEC. 2. The supervision of public schools shall be vested in a superintendent of public instruction, and such other officers as the general assembly shall provide. The superintendent of public instruction shall receive such salary, and perform such duties, as shall be prescribed by law. SEC. 3. The general assembly shall establish and maintain a State university, with departments for instruction in teaching, in agriculture, and the natural sciences, as soon as the public school fund will permit. SEC. 4. The proceeds of all lands that have been or hereafter may be granted by the United States to this State, and not otherwise appropriated by the United States or this State; also, all mines, stocks, bonds, lands, and other property, now belonging to any fund for purposes of education; also, the net proceeds of all sales of land and other property and effects that may accrue to this State by escheat, or from sales of estrays, or from unclaimed dividends or distributive shares of the estates of deceased persons, or from fines, penalties, or forfeitures; also, any proceeds of the sales of public lands which may have been or may be hereafter paid over to this State, (Congress consenting;) also, all the grants, gifts, or devises that have been or hereafter may be made to this State, and not otherwise appropriated by the terms of the grant, gift, or devise, shall be securely invested and sacredly preserved as a public school fund, which shall be the common property of the State; the annual income of which fund, together with one dollar per capita, to be annually assessed on every male inhabitaut of this State over the age of twenty-one years, and so much of the ordinary annual revenue of the State as may be necessary, shall be faithfully appropriated for establishing and maintaining the free schools and the university in this article provided for, and for no other uses or purposes whatever. SEC. 5. No part of the public school fund shall be invested in the stocks or bonds or other obligations of any State, or any county, city, town, or corporation. The stocks belonging to any school fund or university fund shall be sold in such manner and at such times as the general assembly shall prescribe, and the proceeds thereof, and the proceeds of the sales of any lands or other property which now belongs or may hereafter belong to said school fund may be invested in the bonds of the United States. SEC. 6. No township or school district shall receive any portion of the school fund unless a free school shall have been kept therein for not less than three months during the year for which distribution thereof is made. The general assembly shall require by law that every child of sufficient mental and physical ability shall attend the public schools during the period between the ages of five and eighteen years for a term equivalent to three years, unless educated by other means. SEC. 7. In case the public school fund shall be insufficient to sustain a free school at least three months in every year, in each school district in this State, the general assembly shall provide by law for raising such deficiency, by levying such tax upon all taxable property in each county, township, or school district as may be deemed proper. SEC. 8. The general assembly shall, as far as it can be done without infringing upon vested rights, reduce all lands, moneys, or other property used or held for school purposes in the various counties of this State into the public school fund herein provided for. SEC. 9. Provision shall also be made, by general laws, for raising such sum or sums of money, by taxation or otherwise, in each school district, as may be necessary for the building and furnishing of a sufficient number of suitable schoolhouses for the accommodation of all the pupils within the limits of the several school districs. FLORIDA. In the new constitution of Florida, adopted by the constitutional convention February 25, 1868, is the following article on education: ARTICLE VIII.-EDUCATION. SECTION 1. It is the paramount duty of the State to make ample provision for the education of all the children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference. SEC. 2. The legislature shall provide a uniform system of common schools and a university, and shall provide for the liberal maintenance of the same. Instruction in them shall be free. SEC. 3. There shall be a superintendent of public instruction, whose term of office shall be four years, and until the appointment and qualification of his successor. He shall have general supervision of the educational interests of the State. His duties shall be prescribed by law. SEC. 4. The common school fund, the interest of which shall be exclusively applied to the support and maintenance of common schools and purchase of suitable libraries and apparatus therefor, shall be derived from the following sources: The proceeds of all lands that have been or may hereafter be granted to the State by the United States for educational purposes. Donations by individuals for educational purposes. Appropriations by the State. The proceeds of lands or other property which may accrue to the State by escheat or forfeiture. The proceeds of all property granted to the State, when the purpose of such grant shall not be specified. All moneys which may be paid as an exemption from military duty. All fines collected under the penal laws of this State. Such portion of the per capita tax as may be prescribed by law for educational purposes. Twenty-five per centum of the sales of public lands which are now or which hereafter may be owned by the State. SEC. 5. A special tax of not less than one mill on the dollar of all taxable property in the State, in addition to the other means provided, shall be levied and apportioned annually for the support and maintenance of common schools. SEC. 6. The principal of the common school fund shall remain sacred and inviolate. SEC. 7. Provision shall be made by law for the distribution of the common school fund among the several counties of the State in proportion to the number of children residing therein between the ages of four and twenty-one years. SEC. 8. Each county shall be required to raise annually by tax, for the support of common schools therein, a sum not less than one-half of the amount apportioned to each county for that year from the income of the common school fund. Any school district neglecting to establish and maintain for at least three months in each year such school or schools as may be provided by law for such district shall forfeit its portion of the common school fund during such neglect. SEC. 9. The superintendent of public instruction, secretary of state, and attorney general, shall constitute a body corporate to be known as the Board of Education of Florida. The superintendent of public instruction shall be president thereof. The duties of the board of education shall be prescribed by the legisla ture. GEORGIA. On the 11th day of March, 1868, the constitutional convention of Georgia adopted a new constitution, which provides for education in Article VI: ARTICLE VI.-EDUCATION. SECTION 1. The general assembly, at its first session after the adoption of this constitution, shall provide a thorough system of general education, to be forever free to all children of the State, the expense of which shall be provided for by taxation or otherwise. SEC. 2. The office of State school commissioner is hereby created. He shall be appointed by the governor with the consent of the senate, and shall hold his office for the same term as the governor. The general assembly shall provide for the said commissioner a competent salary and necessary clerks. He shall keep his office at the seat of government. SEC. 3. The poll-tax allowed by this constitution, any educational fund now belonging to this State, except the endowment of and debt due to the State University, or that may hereafter be obtained in any way, a special tax on shows and exhibitions, and on the sale of spiritous and malt liquors, which the general assembly is hereby authorized to assess, and the proceeds from the commutation for militia service, are hereby set apart and devoted to the support of common schools. And if the provisions herein made shall at any time prove insufficient, the general assembly shall have power to levy such general tax upon the property of the State as may be necessary for the support of said school system. And there shall be established, as soon as practicable, one or more common schools in each school district in this State. LOUISIANA. The constitutional convention adopted a new constitution for the State of Louisiana on March 9, 1868. This contains TITLE VII.-PUBLIC EDUCATION. ARTICLE 135. The general assembly shall establish at least one free public school in each parish throughout the State, and shall provide for its support by taxation or otherwise. All children of this State between the years of six (6) and twenty-one (21) shall be admitted to the public schools or other institutions of learning sustained or established by the State in common, without distinction of race, color, or previous condition. There shall be no separate schools or institutions of learning established exclusively for any race by the State of Louisiana. ART. 136. No municipal corporation shall make any rules or regulations contrary to the spirit and intention of article one hundred and thirty-five, (135.) ART. 137. There shall be elected by the qualified voters of this State a superintendent of public education, who shall hold his office for four years. His duties shall be prescribed by law, and he shall have the supervision and the general control of all public schools throughout the State. He shall receive a salary of five thousand dollars per annum, payable quarterly on his own warrant. ART. 138. The general exercises in the public schools shall be conducted in the English language. ART. 139. The proceeds of all lands heretofore granted by the United States for the use and support of public schools, and of all lands or other property which may hereafter be bequeathed for that purpose, and of all lands which may be granted or bequeathed to the State, and not granted or bequeathed expressly for any other purpose which may hereafter be disposed of by the State, and the proceeds of all estates of deceased persons to which the State may be entitled by law, shall be held by the State as a loan, and shall be and remain a perpetual fund on which the State shall pay an annual interest of six per cent., which interest, with the interest of the trust fund deposited with this State by the United States, under the act of Congress approved June the twenty-third, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, and the rent of the unsold land, shall be appropriated to the support of such schools; and this appropriation shall remain inviolable. ART. 140. No appropriation shall be made by the general assembly for the support of any private school or any private institution of learning whatever. ART. 141. One-half of the funds derived from the poll-tax herein provided for shall be appropriated exclusively to the support of the free public schools throughout the State and the university of New Orleans. ART. 142. A university shall be established and maintained in the city of New Orleans. It shall be composed of a law, a medical, and a collegiate department, each with appropriate faculties. The general assembly shall provide by law for its organization and maintenance: Provided, That all departments of this institution of learning shall be open in common to all students capable of matriculating. No rules or regulations shall be made by the trustees, faculties, or other officers of said institution of learning, nor shall any laws be made by the general assembly violating the letter or spirit of the articles under this title. ART. 143. Institutions for the support of the insane, the education and support of the blind and the deaf and dumb shall always be fostered by the State, and be subject to such regulations as may be prescribed by the general assembly. MISSISSIPPI. The constitution framed by the convention which met at Jackson, January 7, 1868, has the following article: EDUCATION. SECTION 1. The stability of republican form of government depending mainly upon the intelligence and virtue of its people, it shall be the duty of the legislature to encourage by all suitable means the promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral and agricultural improvements, by establishing a uniform system of free public schools, by taxation or otherwise, for all children between the ages of five (5) and twenty-one (21) years, and shall, as soon as practicable, establish schools of higher grade. SEC. 2. There shall be a superintendent of public education elected by the people, at the same time and manner as the governor, who shall have the qualification of the secretary of state, and hold his office for four years and until his successor shall be elected and qualified, whose duties shall be the general supervision of the common schools and the educational interests of the State, and shall perform such other duties pertaining to his office, and receive such compensation as shall be prescribed by law; he shall report to the legislature for its adoption, within twenty days after its first session under this constitution, a uniform system of free public schools. SEC. 3. There shall be a board of education, consisting of the secretary of state, the attorney general, and the superintendent of public education, for the manage ment and investment of the school funds, under the general direction of the legislature, and perform such other duties as are prescribed by law. The superintendent and one other of said board shall be a quorum. SEC. 4. There shall be a superintendent of public education in each county, who shall be appointed by the board of education, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, whose term of office shall be two years, and whose compensation and duties shall be prescribed by law: Provided, That the legislature shall have power to make said office of county school superintendent of the several counties elective as other county officers are. SEC. 5. A public school or schools shall be maintained in each school district at least four months in each year. Any school district neglecting to maintain such school or schools shall be deprived for that year of its proportion of the income of the free school fund and of all funds arising from taxes for the support of schools. 66 SEC. 6. There shall be established a common school fund, which shall consist of the proceeds of the lands now belonging to the State, heretofore granted by the United States, and the lands known as swamp lands," except the swamp lands lying and situated on Pearl river, in the counties of Hancock, Marion, Lawrence, Simpson, and Copiah, and of all lands now or hereafter vested in the State by escheat or purchase or forfeiture for taxes, and the clear proceeds of all fines collected in the several counties for any breach of penal laws, and all moneys received for licenses granted under the general laws of the State for the sale of intoxicating liquor, or keeping of dram-shops, all moneys paid as an equivalent for persons exempt from military duty, and the funds arising from the consolidation of the congressional township funds, and the lands belonging thereto, together with all moneys donated to the State for school purposes, shall be securely invested in United States bonds and remain a perpetual fund, which may be increased, but not diminished, the interest of which shall be inviolably appropriated for the support of free schools. SEC. 7. The legislature may levy a poll-tax not to exceed two dollars per capita in aid of the school fund, and for no other purpose. SEC. 8. The legislature shall, as soon as practicable, provide for the establishment of an agricultural college or colleges, and shall appropriate the two hundred and ten thousand acres of land donated to the State for the support of such a college by the act of Congress passed July 2, 1865, or the money or scrip, as the |