Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Iowa) 1861-1864, 1862-04-03

Monday in April, under the old law.
Now, if the Board of Education have fixed
the second Monday in April for the meeting,
the Legislature the second Saturday in May,
the Secretary of the Board of Education the
first Monday in April, (all of which proceed:
from our legal authorities,) the question is
When shall we meetl
We arc in quandary, and If you will hell
us out of it you will confer favor
Yours respectfully,
The above letter was received day
or two since from citizen and proba
bly, school officer Of a ncighborine
town in this county. We think we
need not hesitate to reply, that the
law now in force, (the act of Dcccm
Der, 1852 is the one to be obeyed
rather than any prospective law or
any newspaper statement.
Tho Board Of Education, at their
session in December, 1861, provided
that the laws then passed by them
should take effect on the first of April,
1862. The General Assembly have
since passed law that the Acts of
the Board of Education, passed in De.
cembcr, 1861, shall not take effect till
the 10th of May, 1862.
The Constitution requires that the
Acts passed by the Board, shall be
published and distributed to the scve,
raj counties, townships and school
districts, and when so published and
distributed, they shall have the force
"and effect of law" The Constitu-
tion also provides that the Acts of the
Board "may be altered, amended or
repealed by the General Assembly"
We suppose the object of postpon-
ing still further the time for the TAX
ing effect of the new School Laws,
was to give the General Assembly ad.
ditional time for making alterations
(should they desire to do so, and still
enable the Secretary of the Board d
Education to print and distribute the
Laws before the time of their taking
effect. 1t is evident that school off
GERS must be governed by the Laws
passed by the Board Of Education il
Dec. 1859, and those passed as amen
datory by the General Assembly il
ls60-until the taking effect of the
new Laws on the 10th of May, 1862
That is, the present proceedings, 1.-THE
organization of the District Boards
&c, must be in the same manner as
last year. We regret the postpone.
mcnt Of the new Laws, and trust the
General Assembly will pass some act
that shall heal the cinbarrassments il
causes.
As to the Instructions of the Sec
rotary of the Board of Education t.
school officers, published in the Du
buque Tines, directing them TO meet
on the first Modday in April, as here.
toforc," we reply that we have not the
original document, but presume the
Times has committed an error, in omit.
ting the words "on the first Saturday
after the" which should preccdc the
words, i" first Monday in April" BE
that as it may, it must be conceded
that the language of the statute is of
authority paramount to any mans
say SO.
Having disposed of the interroga-
tories of our friend in his letter above,
we take occasion, in this connection,
to allude to another subject connect
ed with school matters
We have understood that, in some
localities. school directors have hereto
fore voted themselves pay for their
services as directors, and then coolly
taken the amount thus voted, in some
cases from the contingent fund, which
is in fact the "school house fund.-" and
in other cases from the teachers
fund.-" and placed the Same in thci,
pockets This is wrong, aud totally
without any legal authority. We have
no doubt that money thus taken by
directors can be recovered from them
in a suit at law.
1t ought to be understood thai
school moneys are sacred, and cannot
legally be diverted from the purposes
for which the funds were respectively
created. School moneys cannot be
applied to the payment of salaries o.
school officers. Not the County Su.
perintendents, nor even the Secreta
ry Of the Board of Education, can be
paid out Of the school funds, but must
be paid as other County and State
Officers are, out of funds raised by
County and State taxes levied upon
the property of the people. If the
people desire to pay salary to their
school directors, let them levy tax
upon themselves for this specific pur-
pose and no one will complain.
The question Of compensating di.
rcctors for their services was raised
in the Board of Education at their re-
cent session. No one denied the pro-
priety or justice of doing so, but ow-
ing to the extraordinary expenditures
OF the Government, and CONSEQUENT