TITLE XVI.

AN ACT CONCERNING EDUCATION.

CHAPTER I.

OF COLLEGES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Assembly convened:

SECTION 1. That whereas, the corporation of Yale College, in consideration of a grant made to them by the general assembly, in the Preamble. year 1792, agreed, that the governor, lieutenant governor, and six senior assistants, should be trustees or fellows of said college, and whereas, by the eighth article of the constitution of this state, the charter, so modified, was confirmed, and the said corporation have since agreed, consented, and requested, that the governor, lieutenant governor, and six senior senators, should be members of said corpora- who shall be tion; therefore the governor, lieutenant governor, and six senior sen- members of said ators, for the time being, shall ever hereafter, by virtue of their said corporation. offices, be trustees or fellows of said college, and shall, together with the president and fellows of said college, and their successors, constitute one corporation, by the name and style mentioned in the charter of said college, and shall have and enjoy the same powers, privileges, and authority, in as full and ample a manner as though they had been expressly named and included in said charter; and in case of vacancy, by the death, or resignation, or in any other way, of any of the other fellows of said college, and their successors, such vacancy shall forever hereafter be supplied by them, and their successors, by election, in the same manner as though this act had not been passed. SECT. 2. And the president and fellows shall, annually, render to Annual account the general assembly an account of the receipts and expenditures of to be rendered. the money belonging to said college.

SECT. 3. Whenever there shall be present, at any meeting of the corporation of Yale College, a majority of the fellows thereof, such majority shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, provided there be present a majority of those who are, by election, successors of the original trustees thereof, and provided due notice of such meeting shall have been given to all the members of said corporation.

Vacancies, how supplied.

1838. Quorum.

clause.

SECT. 4. The proceedings of all meetings of the president and Confirming fellows of said corporation, duly notified as aforesaid, at which a majority shall have been present, as provided in the preceding section of this act, shall be valid, in the same manner and to the same

1880.

Seniority of sen

how ascertained.

extent as they would have been had a quorum been present, as required before the passage of this act.

SECT. 5. Whereas, by an agreement with the corporation of Yale ators in relation College, made in the year 1792, the six senior assistants were to be to Yale College, trustees or fellows of said corporation, and by a further agreement, made in the year 1821, the six senior senators, instead of said assistants, were to be trustees or fellows of said corportion, as aforesaid, and whereas, by reason of the change in the mode of electing senators, prescribed in the amendment of the constitution, adopted in November, 1828, there may not be the required number of senior senators at one time in the senate, according to the long established method of determining the seniority of assistants and senators; therefore, for the purposes of fulfilling said agreement, according to the original meaning and intention of the parties thereto, the seniority of the senators shall hereafter be ascertained and determined as follows, to wit: such senators, as shall have been previously members of the senate, shall be considered senior senators, for the purpose aforesaid, and shall be arranged in the order of their official seniority, as previously ascertained; and those senators, who, for the first time, are, or shall be, elected senators, shall take their seniority for said purpose by lot, to be ascertained by the senate.

1834.

Funds of Yale from taxation,

College exempt

&c.

1865.

lege fund to be

bonds.

SECT. 6. The funds which have been, or may be, granted, provided by the state of Connecticut, or given by any person, or persons, to the corporation of " the President and Fellows of Yale College, in New Haven," and by them invested and held for the use of that institution, shall, with the income thereof, remain exempt from taxation; but the said corporation shall never hold, in this state, real estate, free from taxation, affording an annual income of more than six thousand dollars; nor shall the private property of the officers of the institution be exempt from taxation.

SECT. 7. The commissioner of the school fund may exchange the Agricultural col- United States ten-forty bonds, composing the capital of the agricul invested in state tural college fund, with the treasurer of the state, receiving, in lieu thereof, a like amount of the six per cent. bonds of the state, which bonds, when received, shall be indorsed “agricultural college bonds," and shall not be transferable, except by special act of the general assembly.

1863.

The interest of

SECT. 8. Said commissioner shall, semi-annually, receive and pay the bonds to be over the interest of said bonds to the president and fellows of Yale paid, semi-annu- College, for the special purposes and upon the special conditions hereinafter set forth.

ally, to Yale Col

lege.

the maintenance

To be devoted to SECT. 9. Said corporation shall devote said interest, wholly and of the Sheffield exclusively, to the maintenance, in that department of Yale College Scientific School. known as the "Sheffield Scientific School," of such courses of instruc

How one-half the

plied.

tion, as (including the courses of instruction already instituted in said school,) shall carry out the intent of the act of Congress, entitled "an act donating public lands to the several states and territories, for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts," approved on the second day of July, 1862, in the manner specially prescribed by the fourth section of said act.

SECT. 10. Said corporation shall furnish gratuitous education, in interest to be ap- said courses of instruction, to pupils who shall be annually nominated to be pupils of said school, in such manner as the general assembly shall prescribe. The number of pupils, to be so received gratuitously into said school, shall be, in each year, such a number as would expend a sum equal to one-half of the said interest, for the

same year, in paying for their instruction in said school, if they were required to pay for it at the regular rates, charged to other pupils of said school for the same year. Said pupils, so nominated and received, shall be citizens of this state, and shall be admitted into said school upon the same terms, and subject to the same rules and discipline, which shall apply to all other pupils of said school, with the single exception that they shall not be required to pay anything for their instruction.

be made by the

SECT. 11. Said corporation shall annually make up and distribute Annual reports to the reports, required by the fourth paragraph of the fifth section of corporation. said act of congress.

SECT. 12. No portion of said interest shall be paid over to said When the intercorporation, until said corporation shall contract with this state, in est to be paid. writing, in such form as the governor shall approve, to fulfill and perform all the duties and obligations imposed upon it by this act.

SECT. 13. The governor, lieutenant governor, the three senior Board of visitors senators, and the secretary of the board of education, shall constitute a board of visitors, who shall visit said school in each year, and report annually thereon to the general assembly.

1864.

SECT. 14. Said visitors, with the secretary of the Sheffield Scien- Visitors and sectific School, shall constitute an appointing board, who shall select retary of Sheffrom such candidates, as shall offer themselves, those who shall be School, to select entitled to receive the gratuitous instruction in said school. pupils for gratuitous instruction,

field Scientific

applica

SECT. 15. In case there are more applications for the bounty of when there are the state, than there are vacancies to be filled on the part of the state, more a vacan said board shall give the preference to such young men, as are fit- cies, the preferting themselves for agricultural, and mechanical, or manufacturing ence to whom to occupations in life, who are or shall become orphans through the death of a parent in the naval or military service of the United States, and, next to them, to such as are most in need of pecuniary assistance; and shall provide that the appointments shall be distributed, as far as practicable, among the several counties of the state, in proportion to their population.

time and manner

making appli

SECT. 16. The secretary of said school shall also be the secretary Secretary of the of said appointing board, and shall keep a record of their transac-board; his duties. tions; and he shall, at least one month before the close of each aca- To publish annudemic in said school, cause to be published in at least one news- al notice, of the year paper in every county in this state, in which a newspaper may then of be published, an advertisement, specifying the number of pupils, who, by virtue of this act, are entitled to be admitted into said school for gratuitous instruction, during the ensuing academic year, and designating the time and manner in which applications may be made, to said appointing board, for admission to said school.

cations, &c.

given to minor

SECT. 17. No person shall give credit to any student of Yale Col- No credit to be lege, or Trinity College, being a minor, without the consent, in writ-students without ing, of his parent, or guardian, or of such other officer or officers of consent of pathe college, as may be authorized by the government thereof to act in such cases, except for washing or medical aid.

rent, &c.

ing credit.

SECT. 18. If any person shall give credit to any minor, as afore- Penalty for givsaid, contrary to the provisions of this act, he shall forfeit to the treasurer of this state a sum not less than twenty nor more than three hundred dollars, according to the nature of the offense, at the discretion of the court, which may be recovered in any proper action, before any court having jurisdiction thereof.*

*For necessary allegations in an information under this section, see Stiles v. Moore, 6

C. R. 9.

Who to prose

cute.

SECT. 19. The attorneys for the state for the counties in which said colleges are respectively located, on the complaint of any of the officers aforesaid, shall prosecute for all violations of the two preceding sections of this act.

CHAPTER II.

OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL.

1849. 1865. Objects of the

SECT. 20. The normal school, established at New Britain, in this normal school state, shall remain a seminary for the training of teachers in the art of instructing and governing the common schools of this state, and shall receive such applicants, as are found competent, in the manner hereinafter provided, and shall train them in the best methods of teaching and conducting common schools.

Number of pu

lected.

SECT. 21. The number of pupils shall not exceed two hundred pils, and how se- and twenty. The secretary of the board of education shall request the board of school visitors, in each town, to forward to him, annually, the names of four persons, two of each sex, for admission to said school, whom said board, after examination, can recommend as suitable persons, by their age, character, talents, and attainments, to be received as pupils in said school. Said board shall forward to said secretary the names of such applicants, as they shall find possessed of the qualifications, required of teachers of common schools, and such as they shall recommend for admission to said normal school, after first having received from said applicants a written declaration, signed with their own hands, that their object in seeking admission to the school is, to become qualified to teach in common schools, and that it is their intention to engage in that employment in this state.

1849.

1865. Same subject.

School to be un

SECT. 22. Said board shall select, by lot, from the whole number of applicants from each county, the proportion of pupils to which such county is entitled by its population, of each sex an equal number; but not more than one pupil shall be admitted from any town, until each town, from which an application is made, shall have a pupil in the school. Said board may make all needful regulations for the examination of all candidates for admission to said school, and may approve, or reject, such persons, as may have been recommended by the school visitors in their respective towns. The secretary of the board shall forward to each pupil, appointed by the board, a certificate of such appointment, and shall return a list of the pupils, so appointed, to the principal of the school. If there shall not be a sufficient number of applicants, from a county, to fill the number of appointments allowed to such county, said board shall fill the vacancy, by lot, from the whole number of remaining applicants. To all pupils so admitted to the school, the tuition, and all the privileges of the school, shall be gratuitous.

SECT. 23. The board of education shall have the application of der the charge of the funds for the support of the normal school; the appointment of teachers, and the power of removing the same; the power to pre

the board of edu

cation.

scribe the studies and exercises of the school, rules for its management, and granting diplomas; they shall report annually to the legislature their own doings, and the progress and condition of the school; and the said board of education is hereby authorized to change the location of said normal school, from time to time, as it may deem best for the interests of said school, and for the accommodation of the pupils in the different parts of the state, provided suitable buildings and fixtures are furnished, without expense to the

state.

A model primary school, how es

SECT. 24. The board of education is authorized to make provisions for a model primary school, under a permanent teacher approved tablished. by such board, in which the pupils of the normal school shall have opportunity to practice the modes of instruction, and discipline, inculcated in the normal school, and may limit the number composing said model primary school, and, at their discretion, may discontinue said school.

CHAPTER III

OF COMMON SCHOOLS.

1.-BOARD OF EDUCATION.

Board of educa

tuted.

SECT. 25. There shall be appointed, by the general assembly, 1865. four persons, to be selected one from each congressional district in tion, how constithe state, who, together with the governor and lieutenant governor, shall constitute and be denominated the "Board of Education," and the persons so appointed shall hold their offices for the term of four Tenure of office. years; but the first person named in said board shall go out of office at the end of one year, the next named at the end of two years, and so of the remaining members, one retiring each year in the order in which they are named, till the whole board be changed, and the governor and lieutenant governor may fill, till the next session of Vacancies, how the general assembly, all vacancies in said board which may occur supplied. from death, resignation or otherwise.

and du

SECT. 26. The board of education shall have general supervision Power board. and control of the educational interests of the state; it shall have power to direct what books shall be used in all the schools of the state; shall prescribe the form of registers to be kept in the schools, and the form of blanks and inquiries for the returns to be made by the school committees; shall annually, on or before the third Wednesday in May, lay before the general assembly a report, containing a printed abstract of said returns, and a detailed report of all the doings of the board, with such observations upon the condition and efficiency of the system of popular education, and such suggestions, as to the best means of improving it, as the experience and reflection of the board may dictate.

SECT. 27. The board may appoint its own secretary, who, under its direction, shall make the abstracts required by the preceding