206. Power of directors and controllers to establish grades of schools 78 207. Regulation of grade and transfer...... 78 209. Expenses paid out of school district funds......... 208. Deaf mute children. School board to open and maintain a special school for their education......... 79 210. Homes for friendless children. managers. May petition court.. 211. 212. 214. 213. Contents of petition to court of common pleas.......... Order of court and duty of county commissioners..... 215. Court to appoint one-third of trustees and managers.. 216. Duties of treasurer.... Indigent blind children. Expenses paid out of school funds... 79 79 Powers of trustees and 80 80 81 81 81 Acceptance of act and employment of teachers...... Admission of orphan and friendless children to the public schools. Tuition......... 223. Children not to be employed under certain age.... 224. Employers' register and contents...... 225. Affidavit by parent or guardian... 226. When affidavit by child......................... 227. 228. Qualifications of minors under sixteen. Exceptions.................... 229. Teacher's certificate.......... Establish schools. 195. The board of directors of every district, and controllers in cities and boroughs, shall possess and exercise the following powers and perform the following duties, together with the other powers and duties given and enjoined by this act. 82 83 83 84 84 84 84 84 84 85 They shall establish a sufficient number of common schools for the education of every individual between the ages of six and twenty-one years, in their respective districts, who may apply for admission and instruction, either in person or by parent, guardian or next friend.' Discretionary power of directors. 196. Justice Williams said :-" In the performance of this statutory duty, the school directors must decide, in the exercise of their discretion, when a new school house becomes necessary, and where it should be located. This discretion is not an arbitrary one, to be exercised without regard to the public convenience; but a reasonable one, to be exercised in accordance with the judgment of the school directors. Mistakes in judgment are not always to be avoided, nor are they to be punished by a summary dismissal of the directors from office. The courts do not supervise the discretion of the directors as to the manner in which their duties should be performed, but they take notice of their refusal or neglect to perform them. Heard vs. School District, 45 Pa. 93." Right of children to attend school. 197. The right of the children of a citizen of Pennsylvania to attend the public school is not complete until they have complied with the conditions which the legislature of the state has seen fit to impose.3 No race distinction. 198. It shall be unlawful for any school director, superintendent or teacher to make any distinction whatever, on account of, or by reason of the race or color of any pupil or scholar who may be in attendance upon, or seeking admission to, any public or common school, maintained wholly or in part under the school laws of this Commonwealth.4 School directors cannot deny a colored child admission on account of his color, to a common school established by I. 2. 3. 4. Act May 8, 1854, Sec. 23, P. L. 621. Nicklas's Petition, 146 Pa. 212, 1892. Nisley vs. Hummelstown Borough School District, 5 D. R. 732, 1896. Act June 8, 1881, Sec. 1, P. L. 76 them for the separate instruction of white children, and assign him to a branch of said school established by them, in a neighboring building for the separate instruction of colored children.5 Children of charitable institutions. 199. Children from other districts who become inmates of a charitable institution do not thereby require the right to free admission to the public schools of the township in which the institution is situated." Residence of pupils. 200. The residents of one school district are not entitled to free admisson to and education in schools of an adjoining district. The taxes levied by a school district are for the education of the children of that district, and are not applicable to the education of the children of another district. Mere physical presence of a child in the district is not sufficient to give it the right to attend the common schools of that district: Commonwealth vs. Upper Swatara Township School District, 164 Pa. 603; Commonwealth vs. Directors Brookville Boro. School District, 164 Pa. 607. When the question of residence and right to admission is therefore raised it is for the determination of the board of directors of the particular district. The decision of the board, after hearing and investigation, is quasi judicial. That a judge or jury might reach a different conclusion upon the evidence presented is of no concern. As was said by Mr. Justice Clark, in McCrea vs. Pine Township School District, 145 Pa. 550:-"The board, by the statute, is empowered both to employ teachers, and for any one of these causes to dismiss them. So, in the case at the bar, being required by the statute to establish a sufficient number of public schools for the education of every individual between the ages of six and twenty-one years, in their respective districts, they are equally required to protect those schools from the encroachments of those who are not entitled to admission therein. It would greatly impair 5. Kaine vs. Commonwealth, 101 Pa. 490, 1882. 6. Commonwealth vs. Upper Swatara Twp. School Dist. 164 Pa. 602, 1894. the government and efficiency of the common schools if the honest judgment and the discretion of the board, exercised in good faith, could be reviewed and reversed by a jury.” Mechanic arts. Athletics. 201. In every city of the second class the central board of education, and in every city of the third class the board of school controllers, and in every borough and township of the first class the board of school directors, shall have power to establish and maintain one or more schools for the instruction of pupils in the useful branches of the mechanic arts, athletics and kindred subjects, to provide the necessary buildings, machinery, apparatus and materials, and to employ teachers and instructors therefor. Free kindergartens. 202. The school directors or controllers of the several school districts of this Commonwealth may establish and maintain, out of the public school treasury, free kindergartens for children between the ages of three and six years, residing in their districts, and may co-operate with and assist kindergartens that have been or may hereafter be established by other non-sectarian agencies: Provided, however, That the provisions of this act shall not apply to school districts in which kindergartens have been, are now, or hereafter may be, established and maintained by said school district." Duty of school directors to visit schools. 203. School directors shall exercise a general supervision over the schools of their respective districts, and shall, by one or more of their number, visit every school in the district at least once in each month, and shall cause the result of such visit to be entered on the minutes of the board. 10 Annual report to county superintendent. 204. Each board of directors and controllers shall, annually, on or before the first Monday in June, make a report to the county superintendent, setting forth the number and situation of the schools in their district; the character of the teachers, designating whether male or female; the number and sex of the scholars admitted during the year; the number of months in the year during which each school shall have been open; the amount of school tax levied and collected; the cost of school houses, either for building, renting or repairing; and all other expenses which may have been incurred in maintaining the schools in their districts; together with such other information as may be beneficial in forming a just estimate of the operation of the school system." State appropriation forfeited. 205. A district failing altogether to forward its annual report for any school year will forfeit its share of the annual state appropriation for that school year.' 12 Power of directors and controllers to establish grades of schools. 206. The directors and controllers of the respective districts shall have power to establish schools of different grades, and to determine into which school each pupil shall be admitted.'3 Regulation of grade and transfers. 207. The regulation of the grade of schools and the transfer of a school from one grade to another, are within the discretion of the board of public education, and this discretion will not be reviewed by the courts, except in cases of manifest abuse. 14 II.. Act May 8th, 1854. Sec. 23, P. L. 621. 12. School Laws and Decisions, P. L. 195, 1903. 13. Act May 8, 1854, Sec. 20, P. L. 622. 14. Commonwealth vs. Jenks, 154 Pa. 368, 1893. |