The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1873-06-07
THE SCHOOL LAW.


The.Fairmont West Nrginian is &C.
cusing the Legislature of having Grip
pied the school system OF the State by
requiring vote to be taken, at the
time Of electing the county and district
school officers, for or against the power
of the school board to make a levy for
local school tax. This is scarcely
lust, as the editor of the West-H Hirginian
will see when he gives more careful
examination to the subject.
1t is true that the school law does
contain a section providing for q posu-
lar vote in each school district as to
whether levy shall be made, and it is
probable that in some few districts au-
thority to levy may be refused, but in
this matter the Legislature has done
merely what it was compelled to do.
The second section of the tenth Article
of the old Constitution OF West Vir-
ginia, contained this clause: "They
shall also provide for raising
in each township. BY the authority Of the
people thereof, such a proportion OF the
amount required for the support OF free
schools therein as shall be prescribed by
general laws" The school law in the
Code, page sos, provided that "The
Board OF Education shall annually, os
soon as possible after the apportion'
meut OF the State fund, ,oith the assent
Of the roters of the to,-nship, levy such
tax = n to keep such schools
in operation for at least four months in
the year."
No provision was made in the law
as to how "the authority OF the people"
might be expressed in relation to the
school levy or how "the assent of the
voters" might be obtained. In some
districts vote was had, but in most
cases it was disregarded and no formal
authorization OF or assent to the levy
was obtained. The legality OF the levy
made in this way in Mineral county was
contested and the Supreme Court OF
Appeals decided more than year ago
that a local levy for school purposes
made without having been formally
authorized by the people OF the district
WAS illegal. This knocked the bottom
out OF the old system, or rather out OF
the prevalent mode of its administra-
ton.
In the Constitutional Convention, the
Article in relation to education was one
OF the most difficult to frame, the views
of the delegates from the several Sec
lions of the State being almost irrecon-
cilably antagonislic. An effort was
made to strike out the words "by the
authority of the people thereof" from
the section conferring power to provide
for local levy, but, after fierce de-
bate, it was abandoned and this clause
Of the new Constitution is preserved in
the precise words Of the former organic
law.
In view of these facts, how could the
legislature at its last session have done
otherwise than it has in regard to this
matter? The Supreme Court OF APP
peals had decided that no local levy
would be in accordance with the Con-
stitution (the old as we'll as the new,)
unless made "by the authority OF the
people of the district, and that that
authority must be not merely implied
but conferred by express terms. In
remodellipg the school law the legisla-
ture was compelled to give effect to this
decision and provide for a popular vote
in each district as to whether the school
officers should have authority to levy
local tax. We admit that the require
ment is cumbrous and Objectionable, but
it was fastened upon the State By the
old Constitution, and could not be re-
iected from the new.
We do not join with the Vest |irgtH-
ian IN anticipating serious detriment to
the school system from this feature OF
the new law. We do not think that
it has thoroughly crippled the free
school law nor that it will have the
efFec: of rendering that law ''inopera-
tive and voii,T as our Fairmont friend
seems to fear. The vote for authority
to levy will be almost universally re-
sarded as a mere fortnality, and the
cases in which that authority will be
refused will doubtless be extremely
rare. The new school law is, taken al
together, the best law in relation TO that
subject we have ever had in the State,
and whatever blemishes it has are those
that were necessary to bring it into
conformity with the Constitution as in-
terpreted by the Supreme Cour: Of
Anneals