The initial expenses of making the change have increased school taxes in some places for the first year, but the change will undoubtedly work to the great benefit of the children of the State, and is along the lines adopted some years ago by most of the other States. Villages of over 1,500 people are outside the provision of the new town law. If the people of two or more school districts wish to combine, they may vote to consolidate and establish a central school.[D]
The Town Board of Education consists of from three to five members who are elected for a term of three years each and who appoint their own clerk and treasurer.
They have larger power than was given to the former school trustee. They have charge of all school property; they determine the kind of schools that are needed; they may establish high schools, vocational, industrial, agricultural, and night schools; they determine the number of teachers to be employed, and their salaries; they may employ medical inspectors and nurses, and may provide transportation for children attending school.
The Annual School Meeting to elect the Board of Education is held the first Tuesday in May.
Qualifications for Voters: At this meeting any one living in the district can vote who is a citizen twenty-one years old, a resident in the district for thirty days, who owns or rents or has under contract of purchase taxable property in the district; or has had a child, either his own or residing with him, in school for at least eight weeks during the year preceding; or who owns personal property exceeding $50 which was assessed on the last assessment roll.
Candidates for the board of education may be nominated on petition of twenty-five voters. Men and women who are duly qualified electors are eligible to the board.
Annual School Budget: The board of education must prepare an itemized budget of the amount necessary to be raised for school purposes, and must publish it in July for public consideration. Additional money may only be raised by a vote of the school district indorsed by the district superintendent. The building of a school, or repairs costing over $5,000, must be submitted to a vote of the school electors.
A board of school directors is elected in each town, consisting of two men, each with a term of five years, but elected in different years.
The Supervisory District: Each county, except those in Greater New York, is divided into from one to eight supervisory districts. (Villages and cities of over 5,000 people are not included, as they make their own provisions. Each of these has a board of education.)
The District Superintendent is the director of a supervisory district. He is chosen by the board of school directors and is engaged for a term of five years and paid $1,200 a year by the State, with an additional allowance of $300 for traveling expenses. The supervisors of the towns in his district may vote to increase his salary, the increase to come out of the taxes raised in the towns in the district.