for the purpose of purchasing and enlarging school sites, or for building or repairing school houses, or for purchasing books for library, globes, maps, and other school apparatus, or for any incidental expenses of the school (5052). District Taxes. These are moneys which are voted by the qualified voters of the district for general school purposes. The student is referred to that part of this book which relates to the powers of voters at district meetings for information concerning the raising of money by vote of the district. HOW COL- After a tax has been voted, it is the duty of the supervisor to assess the taxes chargeable against each district, upon the taxable property of the district, and to place the same on the township assessment roll in the column for school taxes; and the same is collected and returned by the township treasurer in the same manner as township taxes. If any taxes provided for by law for school purposes are not assessed at the proper time, the same are assessed in the succeeding year (4665). Surplus Dog Tax. The statutes provide for an annual tax of one dollar upon every male dog and of three dollars upon every female dog. The money thus obtained constitutes a fund for the payment of damages sustained by owners of sheep, by reason of having sheep killed or injured by dogs. APPORTION- If money remains of such fund (after satisfactory payment of all claims aforesaid in any one year) over and above the sum of one hundred dollars, it is apportioned among the several school districts of such township or city, in proportion to the number of children therein of school age. The apportionment must be based upon the whole number of children of school age residing in the township and must include all districts, whether lying wholly or partly in such township. In case of a fractional district in which the school-house is situated in a different township, the money belonging to such district must be paid over to the treasurer of the township in which the school-house is situated, and by that treasurer paid to the district in the same way as in the case of the one-mill and other taxes (5601). RESIDENT Tuition. All persons above five years of age who are residents of any school district have an equal right to attend any public school in the district. No separate school can be maintained at public expense for any person on account of race and color (4683). Persons who are more than twenty years of age are not barred from the privileges of school, and no tuition should be charged to such persons. Resident pupils should have an equal right to all the benefits of the school, and should be allowed to study any branch in any grade to which they belong, without paying tuition (Att'y Gen'l, November 17, 1891). The board of education has authority to determine the gradation and classification of pupils, and may prescribe the particular department or building where certain pupils shall attend. CLASSIFI- PUPILS. The district board may admit non-resident pupils, and shall determine the rate of tuition of the same, NON-RESIDENT Which tuition shall not exceed fifteen per cent more than the average cost per capita for resident pupils (4684). It is sometimes supposed that the voters of the district meeting have power to exclude non-resident pupils, but this power rests entirely with the school board. Non-residents who pay a school tax in a district are entitled to have the amount of such tax credited NON-RESIDENT on their tuition and are required to pay tuition only when the amount of such tuition exceeds TAX-PAYERS. RATE OF the school tax. The rate of tuition to be charged foreign pupils must be fixed by a resolution of the board, which must be duly entered in the record of the district. Charges for tuition can not be collected in the absence of any resolution fixing the rate (25 Mich., 483). Where a party resides in one district and rents a farm in another, he is not entitled to send his children RENTERS to the district school in which he rents the farm (Att'y Gen'l, Sept. 16, 1893). Children in alms houses at county expense must be admitted to the schools of the district, the county paying the tuition (4686). NDIGENT CHILDREN. LIMITATIONS Under the various provisions of the school law, the authority of a district to vote a tax upon its inhabitants is carefully limited; and there is no law authorizing a district to assess a tax to educate its Children outside of the district (Att'y Gen'l, Oct. 16, 1891). OF AUTHORITY. CHAPTER X. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. Introduction of the Kindergarten. lu addition to the duties imposed by law upon district boards in this State, they are also empowered to provide suitable rooms or apartments for kindergarten work, and to supply their districts with the necessary apparatus and appliances for the instruction of children in what is known as the kindergarten method. COMPETENT In the employment of teachers it is competent for district boards to require qualifications for instruction of children in kindergarten methods. They may provide by contract with teachers for such instruction, specifying the hours and times therefor under such rules as the district board may prescribe. WHO ARE EN All children residing within the district between the ages of four and seven are entitled to instruction in TITLED TO ITS the kindergarten department. This act is apPRIVILEGES. plicable to every public school organized by special act or by charter (4792 to 4796). AUTHORITY OF DIRECTOR. Necessary Appendages. The director of the district is authorized by law to provide necessary appendages for the school house and to keep the same in good condition and repair during the time of school (4686). In this duty the director is independent of the vote of the district meeting, yet there has been much controversy as to where the authority of the director ends, or what he may purchase without the consent of the district. WHAT ARE To settle this question so far as a few of the more needful pieces of apparatus are concerned, the legislature of 1895 made an amendment to the section above referred to. It reads as follows: Necessary appendages, within the meaning of the law, shall consist of the following articles, to wit: A set of wall maps (the grand divisions, the United States, and Michigan) not exceeding twelve dollars in price; a globe not exceeding eight dollars; a dictionary not exceeding ten dollars; a reading chart not exceeding five dollars, and a case for library books not exceeding ten dollars; also looking-glass, comb, towel, water-pail, cup, ash-pail, poker, stove, shovel, broom, dustpan, duster, wash-basin and soap (4686). It must not be supposed that only the articles mentioned in the law should be considered as necessary apparatus such as the director has the right to purchase. Numerous decisions have been filed which show that directors have power to provide other useful appliances without obtaining authority from the district meeting. *The word "appendage" as used in our school statutes, does not mean simply the school apparatus used inside the building, nor is it limited to such articles as brooms, pails cups, etc.; but it must be construed in a broader sense, to include fuel, fences, and necessary out-houses (62 Mich., 101). Desks are necessary appliances (48 Mich., 404; Attorney General, July 31, 1877). United States Flag. While a flag for a school house may be considered as a necessary appendage" within the meaning of the school law, we give under separate heading the whole of Act No.56 *NOTE. For decisions relative to the purchase of charts by the director, see 36 Mich., 404, and 94 Mich., 262. |