Page:The Federal and state constitutions vol1.djvu/191

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Alabama—1867
149

its acts, when approved by the governor, or when re-enacted by two-thirds of the Board, in case of his disapproval, shall have the force and effect of law, unless repealed by the General Assembly

Sec. 6. It shall be the duty of the Board to establish, throughout the State, in each township or other school-district which it may have created, one or more schools, at which all the children of the State between the ages of five and twenty-one years may attend free of charge.

Sec. 7. No rule or law affecting the general interest of education shall be made by the board without the concurrence of a majority of its members. The style of all acts of the Board shall be, “Be it enacted by the Board of Education of the State of Alabama.”

Sec. 8. The Board of education shall be a body politic and corporate, by the name and style of “The Board of Education of the State of Alabama.” Said Board shall also be a Board of Regents of the State University, and when sitting as a Board of Regents of the University shall have power to appoint the president and the faculties thereof. The President of the University shall be, ex officio, a member of the board of regents, but shall have no vote in its proceedings.

Sec. 9. The Board of Education shall meet annually at the seat of government at the same time as the General Assembly, but no session shall continue longer than twenty days, nor shall more than one session be held in the same year, unless authorized by the Governor. The members shall receive the same mileage and daily pay as the members of the General Assembly.

Sec. 10. The proceeds of all lands that have been or may be granted by the United States to the State for educational purposes; of the swamp-lands; and of all lands or other property given by individuals or appropriated by the State for like purposes; and of all estates of deceased persons who have died without leaving a will or heir; and all moneys which may be paid as an equivalent for exemption from military duty, shall be and remain a perpetual fund, which may be increased but not diminished, and the interest and income of which, together with the rents of all such lands as may remain unsold, and such other means as the General Assembly may provide, shall be inviolably appropriated to educational purposes, and to no other purpose whatever.

Sec. 11. In addition to the amount accruing from the above sources, one-fifth of the aggregate annual revenue of the State shall be devoted exclusively to the maintenance of public schools.

Sec. 12. The general assembly may give power to the authorities of the school-districts to levy a poll-tax on the inhabitants of the district in aid of the general school-fund, and for no other purpose.

Sec. 13. The General Assembly shall levy a specific annual tax upon all railroad, navigation, banking, and insurance corporations, and upon all insurance and foreign bank and exchange agencies, and upon the profits of foreign bank bills issued in this State by any corporation, partnership or persons, which shall be exclusively devoted to the maintenance of public schools.

Sec. 14. The General Assembly shall, as soon as practicable, provide for the establishment of an agricultural college, and shall appropriate the two hundred and forty thousand acres of land donated to