ARTICLE IX.
EDUCATION AND PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.
SEC. 129. The General Assembly shall establish and maintain an efficient system of public free schools throughout the State.
SEC. 130. The general supervision of the school system shall be vested in a State Board of Education, composed of the Governor, Attorney-General, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and three experienced educators to be elected quadrennially by the Senate, from a list of eligibles, consisting of one from each of the faculties, and nominated by the respective boards of visitors or trustees, of the University of Virginia, the Virginia Military Institute, the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, the State Female Normal School at Farmville, the School for the Deaf and Blind, and also of the College of William and Mary, so long as the State continue its annual appropriation to the last named institution.
The board thus constituted shall select and associate with itself two division superintendents of schools, one from a county and the other from a city, who shall hold office for two years, and whose powers and duties shall be identical with those of other members, except that they shall not participate in the appointment of any public school official.
Any vacancy occurring during the term of any member of the board shall be filled for the unexpired term by said board.
SEC. 131. The Superintendent of Public Instruction, who shall be an experienced educator, shall be elected by the qualified voters of the State at the same time and for the same term as the Governor. Any vacancy in said office shall be filled for the unexpired term by the said board.
His duties shall be prescribed by the State Board of Education, of which he shall be ex-officio president; and his compensation shall be fixed by law.
SEC. 132. The duties and powers of the State Board of Education shall be as follows:
First. It may, in its discretion, divide the State into appropriate school divisions, comprising not less than one county or city each, but no county or city shall be divided in the formation of such divisions. It shall, subject to the confirmation of the Senate, appoint, for each of such divisions, one superintendent of schools, who shall hold office for four years, and shall prescribe his duties, and may remove him for cause and upon notice.
Second. It shall have, regulated by law, the management and investment of the school fund.
Third. It shall have authority to make all needful rules and regulations for the management and conduct of the schools, which, when published and distributed, shall have the force and effect of law, subject to the authority of the General Assembly to revise, amend, or repeal the same.
Fourth. It shall select text books and educational appliances for vise in the schools of the State, exercising such discretion as it may see fit in the selection of books suitable for the schools in the cities and counties respectively.
Fifth. It shall appoint a board of directors, consisting of five members, to serve without compensation, which shall have the management of the State Library, and the appointment of a librarian and other employees thereof, subject to such rules and regulations as the General Assembly snail prescribe; but the Supreme Court of Appeals shall have the management of the law library and the appointment of the librarian and other employees thereof.
SEC. 133. Each magisterial district shall constitute a separate school district, unless otherwise provided by law. In each school district there shall be three trustees selected, in the manner and for the term of office prescribed by law.
SEC. 134. The General Assembly shall set apart as a permanent and perpetual literary fund, the present literary fund of the State; the proceeds of all public lands donated by Congress for public free school purposes; of all escheated property; of all waste and unappropriated lands; of all property accruing to the State by forfeiture, and all fines collected for offences committed against the State, and such other sums as the General Assembly may apppropriate.
SEC. 135. The General Assembly shall apply the annual interest on the literary fund; that portion of the capitation tax provided for in the Constitution to be paid into the state treasury, and not returnable to the counties and cities; and an annual tax on property of not less than one nor more than five mills on the dollar to the schools of the primary and grammar grades, for the equal benefit of all of the people of the State, to be apportioned on a basis of school population; the number of children between the ages of seven and twenty years in each school district to be the basis of such apportionment: but if at any time the several kinds or classes of property shall be segregated for the purposes of taxation, so as to specify and determine upon what subjects state taxes and upon what subjects local taxes may be levied, then the General Assembly may otherwise provide for a fixed appropriation of state revenue to the support of the schools not less than that provided in this section.
SEC. 136. Each county, city, town if the same be a separate school district, and school district is authorized to raise additional sums by a tax on property, not to exceed in the aggregate five mills on the dollar in any one year, to be apportioned and expended by the local school authorities of said counties, cities, towns and district in establishing and maintaining such schools as in their judgment the public welfare may require: provided, that such primary schools as may be established in any school year, shall be maintained at least four months of that school year, before any part of the fund assessed and collected may be devoted to the establishment of schools of higher grade. The boards of supervisors of the several counties, and the councils of the several cities, and towns if the same be separate schools districts, shall provide for the levy and collection of such local school taxes.
SEC. 137. The General Assembly may establish agricultural, normal, manual training and technical schools, and such grades of schools as shall be for the public good.
SEC. 138. The General Assembly may, in its discretion, provide for the compulsory education of children between the ages of eight and twelve years, except such as are weak in body or mind, or can read and write, or are attending private schools, or are excused for cause by the district school trustees.
SEC. 139. Provision shall be made to supply children attending the public schools with necessary text-books in cases where the parent or guardian is unable, by reason of poverty, to furnish them.
SEC. 140. White and colored children shall not be taught in the same school.
SEC. 141. No appropriation of public funds shall be made to any school or institution of learning not owned or exclusively controlled by the State or some political subdivision thereof: provided, first, that the General Assembly may, in its discretion, continue the appropriations to the College of William and Mary; second, that this section shall not be construed as requiring or prohibiting the continuance or discontinuance by the General Assembly of the payment of interest on certain bonds held by certain schools and colleges as provided by an act of the General Assembly, approved February twenty-third, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, relating to bonds held by schools and colleges; third, that counties, cities, towns, and districts may make appropriations to non-sectarian schools of manual, industrial, or technical training, and also to any school or institution of learning owned or exclusively controlled by such county, city, town, or school district.
SEC. 142. Members of the boards of visitors or trustees of educational institutions shall be appointed as may be provided by law, and shall hold for the term of four years: provided, that at the first appointment, if the board be of an even number, one-half of them, or, if of an odd number, the least majority of them, shall be appointed for two years.