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counties, having in charge the interests of common schools; and the books and apparatus, so furnished, shall be deemed the property of said several boards, or local school officers, to whom the same may have been delivered, and shall notbe subject to execution, sale or alienation, for any cause whatever.

SEC. 61. The local boards of education, or other school officers having charge of common schools, shall be held accountable for the preservation of said libraries and apparatus; and they shall have power to prescribe the time of taking and the periods of returning the books belonging to the libraries, and also to assess and collect the damages which may be done to the books by persons entitled to their use; and also to provide for the safe keeping of the school apparatus.

SEC. 62. It shall be the duty of the local school boards, or other school officers having charge of schools, to appoint the librarians and determine the places where the libraries shall be deposited, selecting such central points as will best accommodate the schools and families of the districts or sub-districts, as hereinbefore provided; and every family in each district or sub-district shall be entitled to the use of one volume at a time from the school library, although no member of such family attends any of the schools of the township; and the library shall be open, under the inspection of the librarian, at stated periods throughout the year, to be prescribed by the board of education, or other proper school officers, without regard to the session of the schools.

Fund.

SEC. 63. For the purpose of affording the advantages of a free education to all the youth of this state, the state common school fund shall hereafter consist State School of such sum as will be produced by the annual levy and assessment of two mills upon the dollar valuation, on the grand list of the taxable property of the state; and there is hereby levied and assessed annually, in addition to the revenues required for general purposes, the said two mills upon the dollar valuation, as aforesaid; and the amount so levied and assessed, shall be collected in the same manner as other state taxes, and, when collected, shall be annually distributed to the several counties of the state, in proportion to the enumeration of scholars, and be applied exclusively to the support of common schools.

Miscellaneous
Provisions.

SEC. 64. The debts which have heretofore been contracted by any school district for school purposes, shall be provided for by the estimates of the proper school boards created under the provisions of this act. SEC. 65. The process in all suits against any township board of education, or other local officers having charge of any of the public schools under the provisions of this act, shall be by summons, and shall be executed by leaving a copy thereof with the clerk or secretary of such board, or other school officers, at least ten days before the return day thereof. And any suit either in favor of or against any such board, or other school officers, shall be prosecuted or defended, as the case may be, by the prosecuting attorney of the proper county, as a part of his official duties.

SEC. 66. The local board of education, or other local officers having charge of schools in any city, township or village, in which common schools have been organized under the act for the better regulation of public schools in cities, towns, &c., or under any special act, shall be, and are hereby authorized, whenever they may deem it expedient, to call a meeting of the qualified voters of any such city, township or village, on giving thirty days' public notice thereof, to determine by vote whether the common schools of such city, township or village, shall be conducted and managed in accordance with the provisions of this act; and if a majority of the voters are found to be in favor of the change, then said local

board, or other local school officers, shall thereafter proceed, in accordance with the provisions of this act, until their successors shall be elected and qualified; and such city or village may provide by ordinance for the election or appointment of a board of education, prescribing their number and terms of office; and such board, when so elected or appointed and qualified, shall, together with the clerk or recorder of such city or village, possess the same powers and discharge the same duties, within the limits of their jurisdiction, as local directors and boards of education in townships.

SEC. 67. This act shall not be so construed as to repeal, change, or modify in any respect, the several provisions of the Act for the support and better regulation of common schools in the town of Akron, passed February eighth, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, and the acts amendatory thereto; or the Act for the better regulation of public schools in cities, towns, &c., passed February twenty-one, one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, and the acts amendatory thereto, nor the several acts creating special school districts, or any other special acts in relation to schools, except that it is hereby made the duty of the several boards of education, or other school officers acting under the provisions of any of the acts to which reference has been made in this section, to make similar reports of school statistics annually, as required of school officers by this act; nor shall it be lawful for any county treasurer to pay over any portion of the school fund to any local treasurer, board of education, or other school officers of any city, township or village organized as to schools either under a general or special law, except on the order of the auditor of the proper county; and no such order shall be drawn by the county auditor, unless the local treasurer, clerk, recorder or secretary of such board, or other school officers shall first deposit with said auditor annually, an abstract of the enumeration of scholars and other statistics relative to the schools under their charge, as required by this act, of teachers, local directors, and boards of education in townships.

SEC. 68. The respective township boards of education, and their successors in office, shall have power to take and hold in trust, for the use and benefit of any central or high school, or sub-district school in the township, any grant or devise of land, and any donation or bequest of money or other personal property, to be applied by the board to the maintenance and support of any such school or schools, according to the intention of the grant or donation.

SEC. 69. That An act for the support and better regulation of common schools, and to create permanently the office of superintendent, passed March Acts Repealed. seventh, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight; An act to amend an act entitled an act for the support and better regulation of common schools, and to create permanently the office of superintendent, passed March sixteenth, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine; An act to abolish the office of superintendent of common schools, passed March twenty-third, one thousand eight hundred and forty; An act to amend the act entitled an act for the support and better regulation of common schools, and to create permanently the office of superintendent, of March seventh, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, and the acts amendatory thereto, passed March twentyninth, one thousand eight hundred and forty-one; An act to amend the act entitled an act for the support and better regulation of common schools, and to create permanently the office of superintendent, passed March seventh, one thousand eight hundred and forty-two; An act further to amend the act entitled an act for the support and better regulation of common schools, and to create permanently the office of superintendent, passed March eleventh, one thousand eight hundred and forty-three; An act to amend the act entitled an act for the

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support and better regulation of common schools, and to create permanently the office of superintendent, passed March twelfth, one thousand eight hundred and forty-four; An act to amend the sixth section of an act for the support and better regulation of common schools, and to create permanently the office of superintendent, passed March twelfth, one thousand eight hundred and fortyfive; An act to amend the act entitled an act to amend an act for the support and better regulation of common schools, and to create permanently the office of superintendent, passed March twelfth, one thousand eight hundred and fortyfive; An act authorizing school directors to establish libraries for the use of common schools, passed February twenty-eighth, one thousand eight hundred and forty-six; An act to amend an act, passed March eleventh, one thousand eight hundred and forty-three, entitled an act further to amend the act entitled an act for the support and better regulation of common schools, and to create perma nently the office of superintendent, passed March second, one thousand eight hundred and forty-six; An act to provide for the appointment of county superintendents of common schools, and defining their duties in certain counties therein named, passed February eighth, one thousand eight hundred and fortyseven; An act further to amend the act entitled an act to amend an act entitled an act for the support and better regulation of common schools, and to create permanently the office of superintendent, passed February eighth, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven; An act to amend an act entitled an act for the support and better regulation of common schools, and to create permanently the office of superintendent, passed March seventh, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, and the acts amendatory thereto, passed February twenty-fourth, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight; An act to secure the returns of the statistics of common schools, passed January twenty-first, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight; An act to provide for the establishment of common schools for the education of the children of black and mulatto persons, and to amend the act entitled an act for the support and better regulation of common schools, and to create permanently the office of superintendent, passed March seventh, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, and the acts amendatory thereto, passed February twenty-fourth, one thousand eight hundred and fortyeight; An act to amend the act entitled an act for the support and better regulation of common schools, and to create permanently the office of superintendent, passed March seventh, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, and the acts amendatory thereto, passed February twenty-fourth, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight; An act to amend the eighteenth section of the school law of March seventh, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, passed February fourteenth, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight; An act to authorize the establishment of separate schools for the education of colored children, and for other purposes, passed February tenth, one thousand eight hundred and fortynine; An act to amend an act, passed February twenty-fourth, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, entitled an act to amend the act entitled an act for the support and better regulation of common schools, and to create permanently the office of superintendent, passed March seventh, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, and the acts amendatory thereto, passed March sixth, one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine; An act to amend an act entitled an act for the support and better regulation of common schools, and to create permanently the office of superintendent, passed March twelfth, one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine; An act to amend an act entitled an act for the support and better regulation of common schools, and to create permanently the office of superintendent, passed March seventh, one thousand eight hundred

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and thirty-eight, and the acts amendatory thereto, passed March twenty-fourth, one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine; An act in relation to school district tax, providing for the annual school district meetings, and requiring maps of school districts, passed March seventh, one thousand eight hundred and fifty; An act for the appointment of a state board of public instruction, passed March twenty-second, one thousand eight hundred and fifty; An act supplementary to the act for the appointment of a state board of public instruction, passed March twenty-third, one thousand eight hundred and fifty; An act providing for school districts, and school district meetings, prescribing the duties of district officers and clerks and treasurers of townships, and increasing the state and county common school funds, passed March twenty-fourth, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one,-be and the same are hereby repealed; provided that the obligations or liabilities incurred, and rights acquired under the provisions of any of the acts hereby repealed, shall remain, and be in no wise altered or affected, but may be enforced as if this act had not been passed: and the school officers in the several school districts of the State, as now organized, shall hold their respective offices, and perform their respective duties, until the local directors herein provi ded for, shall have been elected and qualified.

March 14th, 1853.

JAMES C. JOHNSON,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.
GEORGE REX,

Speaker of the Senate, pro tempore.

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE,

Columbus, Ohio, March 14, 1853.

I, William Trevitt, Secretary of State of the State aforesaid, do hereby certify that the foregoing law is truly copied from the original rolls remaining in this office. WILLIAM TREVITT, Secretary of State.