The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1905-04-07
BILL PROVIDING COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD
Measure Designed to Advance the Educational Inter-
ests; An Act Which Should Receive Sup
port of Friends of Country Schools.
From Saturdays Daily.

From Saturdays Daily
In view of the interest that has been
aroused relative to the measure intro
duced by Representative Bjorge, pro-
viding for the election of county
school board, whose duty it will be to
select county superintendent and to
transact other business connected with
the county schools, The Free Press
herewith presents the bill in full:
Section l. Every county in the state
of Minnesota having population not
exceeding seventyfive thousand, shall
have a board of school commissioners,
which shall be known as "The County
School Board of (name of county,
County" Said board shall consist of
one member from each commissioner
district who shall be qualified cleo
tor of that district and shall reside
therein during his term of office.
Section 2. A county school district,
within the meaning of this act, shall
consist of all the territory of all the
school districts having their school
houses situated in county commits
sioner district, and in case of any
school district, lying partly in one
county commissioner district and part
ly in another, has two school houses,
one in one county commissioner district
and one in another, it shall be a part
of the district in which large part of
its territory lies; and such county
school board district shall bear the same
number as the corresponding county
commissioner district.
Section 3. In eacn of said county
school districts, one member of said
county school board shall be elected by
the qualified electors thereof at the an
nual school meeting held in the sew
eraI districts therein in the year 1906.
Members so elected from odd num-
bered school board districts shall be
elected for the term of two years from
the first day of August, 1906; and mem
bers so elected from even numbered
county school board districts shall be
elected for the term of four years from
the first day of August, 1906; and
thereafter each member shall be elected
for the term of four years from the first
day of August next ensuing after his
election.
Section A. Nominations for members
of such county boards shall be made by
petition, signed by not less than fifty
duly qualified electors residing in such
district, verified by the oath of the
petitioners, which petition shall be fill
ed in the office of the county auditor
of such county at least twenty days be-
fore the day fixed by law for the cleo
ton of such member, and which shall
state the number of the county school
board districts and the name of the can
didate proposed for such office; and
such candidate shall pay to tn auditor
at the time of filing his petition the
sum of five dollars.
Section 5. 1t shall he the duty of the
county auditor to file said petitions and
to give such applicants receipt for the
amounts paid, and to forthwith pay the
same into the county treasury. He shall
prepare and have printed an official bal
lot for each such district which shall
contain the name of the county, the
number of the district for which it is
intended and the words "for member of
the county school board" and the names
of all of the candidates in such dis
trict, which ballots shall be made up in
like manner as far as possible as ballots
at the general election, except that polit-
ical party affiliations shall not be stat
ed AT least ten days before the cleo
ton is to be held, the auditor shall
transmit by mail, postage prepaid, a
sufficient number of such ballots for use
at such election to the clerks of the
school boards of the several school dis
tricts in each of the county school board
districts of his county.
Section 6. the first election of mem
bers of county school boards under this
act shall be held in the several school
districts of the county at the time and
place of the holding of the annual meet
ing in the year 1906; and thereafter
such elections shall be held in the sew
eral school districts at the time and
place for the holding of annual school
meetings as fixed by law. Members of
the school board of each district shall
constitute the judges of election; and in
case of the absence of any such trus-
tee or member of the school board, the
electors present snail select one of their
number to fill such vacancy. The bal
lots as received from the county audi
tor shall be delivered by the clerk to
the Judges, and poll list shall be kept
by the clerk on which snail be entered
the name of each elector whose vote is