their election. In each school district of the third class, the school board consists of seven directors, chosen at large for a term of six years, at the time of the election of other local officers. At every third municipal election (1917, 1920), three directors are chosen, and at all other municipal elections two directors are chosen, thus keeping the number constantly at seven. Their terms of office begin on the first Monday of December following their election. In every school district of the fourth class there are five school directors chosen at large at the municipal elections for terms of six years. At every third municipal election (1917, 1920), but one director is chosen, and at all other municipal elections two directors are chosen, thus keeping the number constantly at five. Their terms of office begin on the first Monday of December following their election.

The school directors appointed for all districts of the first class meet and organize annually on the second Monday of November of each year, and in all school districts of the second, third, and fourth class the directors meet and organize annually on the first Monday of December in each year. The school year and the fiscal year in all school districts of the first class begin on the first Monday in January, while in all school districts of the second, third, and fourth class the school year and the fiscal year begin on the first Monday in July of each year.

The officers of a school board of the first class are a president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer. The first two of these officers must be members of the board, but the others are not. The board elects the treasurer of the city constituting the district of the first class as the school treasurer. The officers of each district of the second, third, or fourth class shall be a president and vice

president, who must be members of the board, a secretary, and a treasurer. In districts of the second class, the secretary and treasurer must not be members of the board; but in districts of the third and fourth class they may be members of the board. The same person cannot be secretary and treasurer of any board of school directors.

There are over sixteen thousand school directors in the State. Directors have the power to purchase grounds, to erect schoolhouses, to levy and collect taxes for the regular support of the schools and for building purposes, to regulate the course of study except as to studies prescribed by law, to expel all incorrigible children, to purchase text-books, to employ teachers, to establish additional schools or departments, to fix the length of the school term under certain limitations, and to determine salaries. A school board is a body corporate, and can make contracts, acquire, hold, and dispose of property. It exercises general supervision over the schools of its entire district. Directors must hold at least one regular meeting every three months, and must have every school visited by one or more of their number at least once a month. The result of such visit must be entered upon the minutes of the board. They are required to make an annual report concerning the school affairs of the district. A township board acts as a board of health, and may appoint a sanitary agent under the approval of the

court.

Election of the County Superintendent.-The school directors meet in convention at the county seat and elect a county superintendent, who must have superior qualifications of moral character, scholarship, and professional skill. His salary is fifteen dollars for each of the first one hundred schools within his jurisdiction at the time of his election,

and five dollars for each additional school; but in no case can the salary of a county superintendent be less than fifteen hundred ($1,500), nor more than two thousand ($2,000) dollars. The school directors may, however, increase the salary out of the school fund of the county over which the superintendent has supervision. The superintendent of the county cannot teach in the public schools unless he does so without compensation for such service.

Number of Schools: Terms.-There are in the State about thirty-five thousand schools, with over one and one quarter million children in attendance, and over thirty-five thousand teachers. The law makes the provision of a sufficient number of schools compulsory. In all districts of the first and second class the schools must be kept in session at least nine months in the year, but not more than ten months. School districts of the third class must maintain schools at least eight months, and districts of the fourth class must keep schools open at least seven months. It is the manifest intention of the law to give to every individual in the State, above the age of six and under twenty-one years, an opportunity of attending school at least seven months in each year. If the directors refuse or neglect to provide such an opportunity, they may be removed from office. Twenty days of actual teaching constitute a school month. School must not be kept open on any Saturday for the purpose of ordinary instruction, except when Monday is fixed by the board of directors as the weekly holiday. Nor must the school be kept open on Sunday, Fourth of July, or Christmas, nor during the regular teachers' institute of the county or district under the supervision of the superintendent who has called the institute.

State Expenditures.-The money expended in the support

of the public schools is derived from two sources: direct local taxation in the school districts, and the State appropriation (164). The latter amounts to five and one half million dollars annually. The amount raised by local taxation is very large, so that the total annual expenditures for public school purposes are about forty million dollars. The State has no invested school funds, but the total value of public school property is one hundred million dollars. Steps are to be taken toward the creation of a permanent State school fund, based upon the receipts derived from the forest reservations of the Commonwealth and controlled by the State board of education.

Under the plan for the distribution of the common school fund, after the deduction of certain specified and appropriated amounts, one half of the money is distributed on the basis of the number of paid teachers regularly employed; and one half on the basis of the number of children of school age, between six and sixteen years, residing in the respective school districts of the several counties of the Commonwealth. This law works to the advantage and efficiency of the country schools.

The public schools educate the great mass of the children of the State, and are constantly growing more efficient and popular.

Free Text-book System.-In order to bring the advantages of free schools fully home to all, the State has an excellent plan for furnishing free schoolbooks. School directors are authorized and required to purchase, at the expense of their respective school districts, all the necessary schoolbooks and supplies for the use of children in attendance upon the schools. Books and school supplies are furnished free of cost to all children in attendance. Each district determines

for itself all questions which may arise as to the adoption, purchase, and introduction of schoolbooks, without any interference by county or State authorities. The progress of education is not allowed to be retarded by State or county uniformity in the matter of text-books. Efforts have at times been made to enact laws providing for uniformity in the school districts throughout the Commonwealth. The intention was that the State should undertake to prepare and publish all text-books used in the schools. It has been thought best, however, to leave the selection of schoolbooks, as well as the building of schoolhouses and the employment of teachers, in the hands of the immediate neighbors and representatives of the people they serve. Local control is a basic principle in the public school system of Pennsylvania.

Certain Studies Required. Certain studies are required to be taught in every elementary public school. These branches are: spelling, reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, English grammar, history of the United States and of Pennsylvania, including the elements of civil government, physiology and hygiene. A system of humane education is added, which shall include kind treatment of horses, birds, and other animals, together with such other branches-including vocal music, public speaking, drawing, physical training, elementary manual training, elementary domestic science, and elementary agriculture— as the board of school directors with the approval of the proper school superintendent may prescribe. In school districts of the first class physical training must be a part of the regular course. The directors may provide for instruction in other studies, and the law concerning the required qualifications of teachers in the Commonwealth names the