The school laws of Vermont in force April 1, A.D. 1893.

Front matter

i;;>ir,JiVai r if I

SCHOOL LAWS

OF

Chapter I. Superintendent Of Education

1. Superintendent of education; election;

general duties ; vacancy.

2. Salary and expenses.

3. Office in state house; clerk.

4. Stationery; disbursements.

5. Teachers' Institutes.

6. May require assistance of examiner.

7. Training in methods; may employ as-

sistants.

8. Expenses of Institutes.

9. To visit each county, lecture, advise

etc.

10. His report.

11. Printing and distribution of report.

12. Settlement v?ith auditor.

Section 1. The General Assembly shall elect, at each biennial session, a superintendent of education, who shall have general supervision of the pubhc schools of the State, and devote his whole time to the duties of his ofi&ce. A vacancy in said oflEice shall be JGilled by the governor.

Sec. 2. The superintendent of education shaU receive an annual salary of two thousand dollars, and his necessary expenses when traveling on official business, to an amount not exceeding six hundred dollars.

Sec. 3. He shall have an office in the state house, and may employ a clerk to assist in statistical and other office work at an annual compensation not exceeding four hundred dollars.

Sec. 4. He shall be supplied with stationery for official use, and his payments for postage and for freight and express charges necessarily made in connection with his official duties, shall be allowed him in the settlement of his account.

Sec. 5. The superintendent of education shall hold a teachers' institute in each county during each biennial term, and may hold additional institutes if in his judgment advisable; but not more than two institutes shall be held in any county during a biennial term. An institute shall not continue more than four days.

Sec. 6. If the superintendent of education is unable to be present at a teachers' institute, he may direct the supervisor of schools [examiner of teachers] of any [the] county to conduct such institute.

ISSS, No. 9, sec. 6, amendedby 1890, No. 5, see. 8.

Sec. 7. In every teachers' institute especial attention shall be given to the training of teachers in methods of instruction; and the superintendent of education may employ persons specially skilled in such work to aid in an institute when he deems it advisable so to do.

Sec. 8. The entire expense of a teachers' institute shall not exceed thirty dollars for each day such institute is in session, and the same shall be paid by the superintendent of education, and be received by him from the state.

Sec. 9. The superintendent of education shall, on occasions other than the holding of institutes, visit each county annually, and as many towns in each county as practicable, deliver lectures upon educational subjects, confer with and advise school oflficers. and teachers, and investigate the condition of schools.

Sec. 10. The superintendent of education shall present to the General Assembly, on the first day of each biennial session, a report for the preceding two years, which shall contain an account of his official doings, a statement of the condition of the schools and of the expenditure of the school money, and such suggestions for the improvement of schools as he deems proper.

Sec. 11. Not more than four thousand copies of such report shall be printed. Each supervisor of the schools [examiner of teachers] shall receive twenty copies. Members of the General Assembly, town clerks, district clerks, and principals of graded, union and high schools shall each receive one copy. The superintendent of education shall make such distribution and shall send the copies, except those for supervisors of schools

COMPILATION OF THE SCHOOL LAWS.

[examiners of teachers] and members of the General Assembly, to the town clerks, who shall deliver them to the persons entitled thereto. 1888, No. 9, see. 11.

Sec. 12. The superintendent of education shall, at the end of every three months, file with the auditor an itemized account of his expenses verified by his oath; and as soon as the same can be examined, he shall receive an order on the treasurer for the amount found due him on such account, and for one-fourth of his annual salary. 1888, No. 9, sec. 12.

Chapter II. Examiner Of Teachers And Town Superintendent

Section j

13. Examiner of teachers; appointment;

vacancy.

14. Examiner to make arrangements for

institutes, to furnish statistics.

15. Compensation.

16. How removed.

17. Examiner's report to superintendent

of education .

18. Town superintendent ; appointment; duties; compensation.

19. His term of office.

30, Visit schools, note progress, advise teachers.

21. Duties, continued.

~2. May dismiss teachers.

23. Committee of graded school district

may unite witli directors to choose superintendent.

24. Towns may unite to employ superin-

tendent. 35. Joint committees ; duties ; compensation.

Graded schools with special charters may have privilege of section 25.

Superintendent of two or more towns how paid.

Examiner of Teachers.

Section 13. At each biennial session of the Legislature, or as soon thereafter as may be, the State superintendent of education and the governor shaU appoint one man in each county, who shall be a resident of the same, and who shall be styled examiner of teachers. A vacancy in the office of examiner shall be filled by the State superintendent and the governor.

Sec. 14. Said examiner shall, under the direction of the State superintendent of education, make all necessary arrangements for holding teachers' institutes in his county as required by law; take measures to secure the attendance of teachers at the same; give assistance at such institute; and fur- .nish such statistical information as may be required.

Sec. 15. The examiner shall receive four dollars per day for time actually spent in the discharge of the duties of his office, and his necessary expenses, which shall not exceed two dollars a day, and expenditures for postage and stationery for official use; and such examiner shall, at the end of every six months, file with the State auditor an itemized account of his expenses, verified by his oath, and as soon as the same can be examined and approved, the State auditor shall transmit to him an order on the State treasurer for the amount due him on such account.

Sec. 16. Whenever the examiner shall, in the judgment of the State superintendent, prove himself unfit for the duties required of him, or his services become unprofitable, he may be removed by the State superintendent and governor, and a successor appointed in his place.

Sec. 17. The examiner shall, in the month of June next preceding each biennial session of the General Assembly, send to the superintendent of education a report of his work as examiner, with such suggestions as he may desire to make.

Town Superintendent.

Sec. 18. The board of school directors shall, on or before the first day of April in each year appoint a town superintendent of schools whose duties shall be the same as now required of town superintendents, but whose compensation shall be fixed by said directors.

Sec. 19. The term of office of a town superintendent shall begin on the first day of April next after his appointment and continue for one year and untU a successor is chosen.

jR. L. sec. 458, amended by 1892, No. 20, sec. 12. Sec. 20. It shall be the duty of the town superintendent of schools to visit the schools of the town for which he shall have been appointed, at least once each term, and oftener as the school board may direct. He shall note the methods of instruction and government, inform himself of the progress of the pupils, and give such advice to the teachers as may be needed.

Sec. 21. He shall, when visiting a school, observe the condition of the school house, outbuildings and grounds, see if the school is properly supplied with maps, reference books and apparatus, and ascertain if all the pupils are provided with necessary text books, and make such recommendations to the school directors as to the conditions and needs of the schools as he deems best and necessary.

Sec. 22. The town superintendent of each town shall have power to dismiss any teacher who, in his judgment, has proved himself incompetent; such dismissal shall be given to such teacher in writing, and such teacher shall receive pay j3ro rata to the time of dismissal.

Sec. 23. In towns having a graded school district chartered by a special act of the Legislature, the directors or committee of the graded school district, and those of the town district, may unite in the election of a town superintendent; said directors or committee shaU together fix the compensation of such superintendent, determine the proportion that the graded school district and the town district respectively shall pay of the sum so fixed, such proportion to be paid out of the treasury of their respective districts.

Superintendents of Two or More Towns.

Sec. 24. Any two or more towns, the aggregate number of schools in aU of which is not more than sixty nor less than thirty, may, by vote of the school directors of the several towns, unite for the pui-pose of employing a superintendent of schools, under the provisions of this act.

Sec. 25. When such a union has been effected as provided in this act, the directors whose duty it is to elect a superintendent of schools, shaU form a joint committee, and for the purposes of this act, said joint committee shaU be held to be the agents of the several towns forming the union. Said committee shall meet annually,in the month of March, on the second Tuesday after the annual town meeting, at some convenient place agreed upon, at 10 o'clock in the forenoon, and shall organize by choosing from their number a chairman and secretary. Said committee, w^hen oi'ganized, shall choose by ballot a superintendent of schools ; determine the relative amount of service to be performed by him in each of the towns, fix upon his salary and apportion the amount thereof to be paid by each town. But said salary shall not exceed in dollars a greater number than one-third the total number of weeks of school of all the schools of the town forming the union.

Sec. 26. Graded schools acting under special charter may avail themselves of the privilege of section twenty-nine of this act, [section twenty-five of this compilation], if its directors or committee so elect, and said school shall be considered a town for that purpose, and each department of said graded schools shall be counted a school for the provisions of said section.

Sec. 27. When a superintendent shall have been chosen as provided in section twenty-eight of this act, [section twenty-four of this compilation], and the several towns shall have paid the apportionment as therein provided, the school directors or committee of the several towns shall present a bill to the auditor of accounts for a sum equal to twenty per cent of the town apportionment of the salary of such superinteudent and the auditor of accounts shall draw his order on the State treasurer in favor of such town for

said sum.

Section i Sectiok

28. Normal schools continued till 1900.

29. Appointment and removal of teachers.

30. Courses of study.

31. State aid withheld when provisions of

section 30 not complied with.

32. Examinations.

33. Towns entitled to scholarships.

34 and 35. Town superintendent may appoint or recommend for scholarship; qualifications of appointee.

36. Vacant scholarships, assignment of.

37. Amount of scholarships; conditions of

payment.

38. State appropriation payable semi-an-

nually in June and December.

39. Additional appropriation payable an-

nually in December.

40. Conditional appropriation.

41. Training school department of graded

schools.

Section 28. The normal schools at Randolph, Johnson and Castleton are continued until August, A. D. 1900.

R. L. sec. 462, amended by 1888, No. 10, sec. 1.

Sec. 29. The State superintendent of education shall nominate and approve a principal teacher and a first assistant teacher for each normal school, and shall withdraw such approval when the interests of the school demand; and no person not so nominated, or the approval of whom is withdrawn, shall be employed as such principal or first assistant; but the principal may select his other assistants and provide for the disciphne of the school.

Sec. 30. There shall be two courses of study in a normal school and no more. Each course shall contain such branches as the trustees of the school and the Srate superintendent shall agree upon; but no foreign language, ancient or modern, shall be included therein. No study or subject not included in the established courses shall be taught in a normal school,

COMPILATION OF THE SCHOOL LA^VS. 15

Sec. 31. The State superintendent shall ascertain each term of half year whether the provisions of the preceding section have been complied with, and in case of non-compliance on the part of the school, or of the trustees or teachers thereof, shall withhold the certificates upon which the auditor of accounts is authorized to draw his order for the payment of moneys to such school.

Sec. 32. The examination for admission to a normal school shall be controlled by the trustees of such school and the State superintendent. The examination for graduation shall be conducted by a board consisting of the State superintendent, the principal of the normal school, and a practical teacher who shall be annually appointed by the governor from the congressional district in which such school is located, and who shall receive four dollars a day and his traveUng expenses wliile in the discharge of such duties. Such board shall attend and assist at such examination ; and shall grant certificates of graduation to all who pass the required examination in the first course or both courses, but may revoke said certificate upon cause shown.

Sec. 33. Each town shall be entitled to one scholarship in a normal school, and a person appointed to a scholarship may attend either of the normal schools in this State at his election. And each State normal school shall be entitled to twenty scholarships in addition to the scholarships it may have by reason of such town scholarships.

R. L. sec. 467, amended by 1892, No. 24, sec. 1.

Sec. 34. The town superintendent may appoint to a scholarship, for the period required to complete a course of study in the school, any person who is an inhabitant of the town, of good character, fifteen years of age or more, who declares it to be Ms purpose to complete at least one of the coiirses of study in the normal school, and to teach in the common schools of the State for two years after graduation; and upon passing the examination for admission to the school, such person shall be entitled to the privileges thereof. The town superintendent shall notify the trustees of the school of such appointment before the first day of the term in which the appointment is to take effect.

Sec. 35. If the scholarship of the town is akeady filled through appointment by himself or by his predecessor, he may recommend for scholarship to the trustees of either of the normal schools, any person whom he could appoint to the scholarship of his town.

Sec. 36. A scholarship vacant by the failure of the town superintendent to appoint a suitable person, or by the unexcused absence of the holder of the scholarship, may be assigned, by the trustees, for one term only, to any person recommended by a town superintendent and who passes the required examination. But no town shall have more than ten scholarships in one term.

Sec. 37. A scholarship shall be reckoned at twelve dollars a half year; and the trustees of each normal school may present their claim to the auditor of accounts in the months of June and December for such sum as will be produced by the number of scholarships filled in their school for the half year then current. The State superintendent, during each half year, shall examine the records of each normal school, and if he finds that the scholarships have been granted according to law and only in such numbers as the law allows, and that the provisions of law respecting courses of study have been complied with, shall give his certificate to that efiiect; and the auditor shall draw his order on the treasurer of the State for the amount of the claim presented by the trustees only when the claim is accompanied by such a certificate from the State superintendent.

Sec. 38. Five hundred dollars a year is appropriated to each normal school, to be expended by the trustees thereof under the direction of the State superintendent, in aiding such schools ; and the auditor of accounts shall draw his order on the treasurer of the State, for one-half of the above named sum in each of the months of June and December, on the presentation by the trustees of such school of their claim therefor, with a certificate of the State superintendent that the school has complied with the provisions of law respecting normal schools.

Sec. 39. The additional sum of one thousand five hundred dollars a year is hereby appropriated to each of the normal schools in the State, to be expended by the trustees thereof, under the direction of the State superintendent, in aiding such school; and the auditor of accounts shall draw his order on the treasurer of the State, in the month of December, on the presentation by the trustees of such school of their claim, therefor, with a certificate of the State superintendent that the school has complied with the law respecting normal schools.

Sec. 40. If , in addition to all sums received from the State by direct appropriation, from State scholarships, from tuition and from the rent of

COMPILATION OF THE SCHOOL LAWS.

county grammar school lands, the trustees of a normal school shall, in any year, furnish and use, under the direction of the State superintendent, for the current expenses of the school, the sum of five hundred dollars, they shall receive from the State an equal sum which shall be used in paying for instruction in such school. The auditor of accounts shall draw his order for the payment of such sum in half yearly installments, in June and December, upon the receipt of the claim of the trustees therefor accompanied by a certificate from the State superintendent that the condition upon which such sum is appropriated has been complied with.

Sec. 41. A graded school organized in accordance with a special act of the General Assembly, and situated in a county in which there is no normal school, may establish, in connection with such graded school, a training school department for the instruction and training of teachers. The State superintendent shall establish two courses of study in such training scliool similar to those of normal schools. The examining board for such training school shall be composed of the State superintendent, the principal of the school and the examiner appointed for the normal school in the same congressional district. Such board shall have the same powers and be liable to the same duties as the examining board of a normal school.

Chapter IV. Teachers' Certificates

42. Certificate necessary; age of candi-

date.

43. Normal school certificate.

44. Graduate of lower course may have

further examination and certificate.

Unlimited certificate.

Certificate to normal school graduate of another state.

State superintendent to prepare questions and fix standard of examination.

Examination papers to be preserved; teacher must exhibit certificate or permit before employed.

Time and place of examinations, how determined.

How and by whom conducted.

45. 46.

49. 50.

Sbction

51. Examiners to issue certificates of three grades; limitations.

53. Private examinations; records and reports; certificates void, when.

53. Certificate of teacher in graded or

union school continued in force, when.

54. Graded school defined.

55. College graduate entitled to certificate

of first grade, when.

56. Unlimited certificate.

57. Holder of State certificate to notify

town superintendent.

58. Town superintendent may issue per-

mits; number that may be granted during single term; number of renewals.

59. Expenses of examinations, how paid.

Section 42. No person shall teach a public school without having a certificate or a permit as hereinafter provided, and a contract for teaching shall be void if the teacher does not obtain said cei'tificate or permit before opening school; but this provision shall not apply to the principal teacher of the highest department of a graded school. No certificate shall be granted to a person! not seventeen years of age.

Sec. 43. A certificate of graduation from the lower course of a normal school in this State, shall be a license to teach in the pubhc schools of the State for five years from the date thereof; and a certificate of graduation from the higher course of such normal school shall be a license to teach in the public schools of the State for ten years from the date thereof.

Sec. 44. A graduate from the lower course of the normal school, at the fifth annual examination after his graduation, on presenting to the examining board of such school satisfactory evidence that he has taught successfully in the pubhc schools of the State one hundred weeks since his graduation, may be admitted to an examination in the higher course of study in said school, and on passing a satisfactory examination therein, shall receive a certificate thereof from the board of trustees of said school, which shall be a Ucense to teach for ten years in the pubhc schools of the State.

Sec. 45. A graduate of such normal school holding a ten years' certificate, who has taught two hundred weeks under such certificate, may, at the expiration thereof, be granted by the concurrent action of the superintendent of education and the examiner of schools of the county where such person last taught, without examination, a certificate authorizing such person to teach in the pubhc schools of the State until such certificate is revoked by like concurrent action.

Sec. 46. An examiner of schools may grant to graduates from the highest course of a normal school in another state, certificates of qualification, which shall in his own county confer the same authority to teach, and be subject to the same provisions, as certificates of graduation from the same course of a normal school of this State.

Sec. 47. The superintendent of education shall- prepare printed questions for examinations and blanks for teachers' certificates, and shall transmit the same to the examiners; he shall also fix the standard which shall be reached in the examinations.

Sec. 48. All examination papers shall be preserved at the office of the examiner, at least one year, and be subject to the inspection of the superintendent of education. No person shall be employed or paid for services as teacher unless he shall exhibit to the prudential committee [or school directors] a State certificate from the examiner, or a permit from the town superintendent, that he is qualified to teach the school for which he may

apply.

See sees. 43 and 44-

Sec. 49. The Csaid) examiner, after consultation with the town superintendents of the county, shall, in the spring and autumn of each year,make arrangements for a public examination of applicants for teachers' cei'tificates, at such places and times as shall best accommodate the teachers of the county, at as many places as may be agreed upon by the examiner and superintendents; and candidates for examination may choose which of said examinations they will attend.

Sec. 50. Such examination shall be both oral and written, and shall be conducted by the examiner, but if he be prevented by sickness or other cause, he may employ some competent person to conduct such examination; and the examiner may afterward grant certificates, upon the examination papers and the report of the person who conducted the examination; and should such examiner be unable to issue seasonable certificates, then the State superintendent shall issue such certificates, and said certificates shaU be of the same validity as if issued by the examiner.

Sec. 51. The examiner shall issue certificates of three grades, viz: A certificate of the first grade shall be given only to one who has taught forty weeks successfully, and whose examination papers shaU have shown the applicant to have reached the standard required by the State superintendent, shall have passed a satisfactory oral examination, and shall have given evidence of good moral character and ability to govern; such certificate shall be a license to teach for five years fj-om its date, in any town in the State. A certificate of the second grade shall be granted only to one who has taught successfully twelve weeks, and shall have passed a satisfactory examination in all branches required by law to be taught in common schools, and whose examination papers shall have shown the applicant to have reached the standard required by the State superintendent of education, and shall have given evidence of good moral character and ability to govern; such certificate shall be a hcense to teach for two years from its date, in any town in the State. A certificate of the third grade shall be a license to teach for a specified time, not to exceed one year, and may, at the discretion of the examiner, be limited to the teaching of a particular school. A person who has twice taken a certificate of the third grade, and who has taught at least twenty-four weeks, shall not afterwards be given a certificate of that grade.

Sec. 52. Said examiner may also give an applicant a private examination, when in his judgment the exigencies of the case may require the same. Said examiner shall furnish to each person examined by him a certified statement of the percentage attained by such person in the different branches in which he has been examined at any given examination, and shall keep a record of the name, age and residence of each person examined by him, and tlie date and grade of each certificate issued; no applicant who shall fail to pass the required examination shall have another examination within three months thereafter; and should any person obtain a certificate contrary to the provisions of this act, such certificate shall be void.

Sec. 53. Certificates held by teachers employed continuously in graded and union schools, shall remain in force for such length of time as the holders of such certificates continue in the employ of such graded or union school.

Sec. 54. A school maintained by a town or district not less than thirty weeks each year, and consisting of three or more departments, taught by four or more teachers, having an established course of study, and having all the departments under control of one principal teacher, shall be a graded school.

Sec. 55. A graduate of any college whose course of study is approved by the superintendent of education, who has taught in the public schools of the State twenty -four weeks, may receive from the supervisor [examiner} of schools of the county where such person last taught, without examination, a ertificate of the first grade, if in the judgment of the supervisor [examiner], such person has fully proved his ability to instruct and govern.

Sec. 56. A person who has held examiners' certificates of the first grade for ten successive years, and has during that time taught two hundred weeks in the public schools of the State, maj', at the end of such time, be granted the certificate provided for in section forty-three [section forty-five of this compilation] in the same manner and with the same effect.

ISSS, No. 9, sec. 59, amended by 1890, No. 5. sec. 2.

COMPILATION OF THE SCHOOL LAWS.

Sec. 57. A teacher holding a State certificate shall notify the town superintendent of the county [town] in which he is to teach before commencing his school that he holds such certificate, and shall submit the same to the inspection of the town superintendent on request. 1888, No. 9, sec. 60, amended by 1890, No. 5, sec. 2.

Sec. 58. The town superintendent may issue permits to teachers to teach particular schools for a single term ; but such permits shall not be renewed more than three times to any one person, nor shaU more than three such permits be granted in one town during the same school term. 1890, No. 5, sec. U.

Sec. 59. The superintendent of education shall procure the printing of the questions prepared for written examinations, and the cost of such priuting shall be allowed as a part of his expenses. The advertising and other necessary expenses of a public examination of teachers shall be paid by the supervisor [examiner] and be repaid him upon the settlement of his accoiint.

Chapter V. Maintenance Of Schools.— Town System

60. Abolishment of district system; dis-

tricts liaving special charters and districts in unorganized towns and gores excepted.

61. Rights of voters in graded school dis-

tricts.

62. Towns to have charge of school prop-

erty; indebtedness of districts, how liquidated.

63. Appraisal of school property by select-

men.

64. Town to provide and maintain school

houses.

65. Apportionment of school property in

fractional districts.

66. Fractional districts; appraisal, where

recorded.

67. School directors; election; vacancies;

term of of&ce. 67a, Chairman of board, how chosen.

68. School of&cers to be voted for upon

separate ballot ; rights of women to vote and hold office.

69. School directors; their duties.

70. Powers of directors respecting school

houses and sites.

71. Schools; number of weeks required;

studies; directors to determine places and times of holding schools; may convey pupils to and from schools .

Instruction of advanced pupils ; town central schools.

Directors may receive pupils from other towns; restrictions.

Instruction of pupils in schools of an adjoining town.

Education of advanced pupils provided in graded schools and academies.

Annual report of directors.

Compensation of directors.

Clerk of board; appointment; duties; compensation.

72. 73. 74.

77. 78.

Section 60. After the date on which this act shall take effect, [April 1st, 1893]-, each town ia this State shall constitute a single district for school purposes, and the divisions of the town into school districts heretofore existing, shall no longer exist, except for the settlement of their pecuniary affairs.