In force Feb.[February] 6, 1835.
AN ACT relating to Schools in Township thirty-nine North, Range fourteen East.
1School inspectors to be elected.
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the legal voters in township thirty-nine north, range fourteen east, in Cook county, shall assemble at the usual place of holding elections in the said township, on
the first Monday in June next, and annually thereafter, and elect either five or seven
persons to be school inspectors, who shall continue in office one year and until others
are elected.2
Township to be divided into school districts.
Sec. 2. The school inspectors shall recommend to the county commissioners of Cook county, to lay off and divide the said township into school districts, number, and from time
to time, alter the same, and create new ones, as circumstances may require; and the
said county commissioners are hereby required to lay off, number, alter and create such districts as the said
school inspectors may from time to time recommend.
Inspectors shall visit schools, &c.[etc]
Sec. 3. The said school inspectors, or some of them, shall visit all of the public schools
within the township, at least once a month; inquire into the progress of the scholars
and the government of the schools; examine all persons offering themselves as candidates
for teaching, and when found well qualified, give them certificates thereof gratuitously,
and attend at the quarterly examinations of the scholars. They may advise and direct
as to the books to be used, and the course of study to be pursued in the schools;
may remove teachers for any just cause; make by-laws for the regulations of the schools: Provided, That a majority of the voters, at any legal meeting of the township called for that
purpose, may repeal such by-laws; may divide the schools into male and female departments, if they think it expedient;
and a majority of the legal voters of the township shall require it, they may establish
one or more high schools, under such regulations as a majority of such legal voters
may prescribe; and they may do such other things in relation to schools, not inconsistent
with this act, as a majority of the legal voters of the township may direct.
Trustees of common schools how elected.
Their duties.
May levy and collect taxes.
Sec. 4. The legal voters in each school district, shall annually elect three persons to be
trustees of common schools, whose duty it shall be to employ qualified and suitable
teachers; to see that the schools are free, and that all the white children in the district have an opportunity of attending
them, under such regulations as the inspectors may make; to take charge of the school
houses, and all of the school property belonging to the district, and to manage the
whole financial concerns thereof. The said trustees shall annually levy and collect a tax sufficient to defray the necessa-
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ry expense of fuel, rent of school room, and furniture for the same; and they shall
levy and collect such additional taxes as a majority of the legal voters of the district,
at a meeting called for that purpose, shall direct: Provided, That such additional taxes shall never exceed one-half of one per cent. per annum upon all the taxable property in the district; all of which taxes the said trustees
shall have full power to assess and collect.
Corporate powers conferred on each school district.
Sec. 5. Each school district shall have full corporate powers for all school purposes: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall prevent two or more districts from uniting together
for the purpose of erecting school houses whenever a majority of the legal voters
in such districts shall agree to do so.
Trustees to make report to inspectors.
Sec. 6. The trustees of each district shall, at the end of every quarter, make report to the
school inspectors in writing, which report shall set forth the number of schools within
the district; the time that each has been taught during the previous quarter, and
whether by male or female teachers; the number of scholars, and the time of their
attendance during the quarter, to be ascertained by the teachers’ keeping an exact list or roll of the scholars’ names; the number present every school-time
or half day, which roll or list shall be sworn to or affirmed by the teacher, and
shall accompany the trustees’ report.
Sec. 7. The people of the said township may, at their annual meeting in June, determine
upon what amount of the interest of their school fund, shall be appropriated for the
support of schools during the next year; but if the people shall refuse or neglect
to make such appropriation, then it shall be left discretionary with the school inspectors.
Inspectors shall apportion the school money in proportion to the number of scholars
in each district.
Sec. 8. The school inspectors shall quarterly apportion the said school moneys among the
several districts in the said township according to the number of scholars in school
therein, between the ages of five and twenty-one years; and also, according to the
time that each scholar has actually attended such school during the previous quarter,
to be ascertained by the report of the said trustees and teachers.
Shall make schedule.
Duty of school commissioner.
Sec. 9. Whenever the said apportionment shall have been made, the school inspectors shall
make out a schedule thereof, setting forth the amount due to each district, the person
or persons entitled to receive the same, and shall deliver the said schedule, together
with the reports of the trustees, and the lists or rolls of the teachers, to the commissioner
of school lands, and thereupon the said commissioner shall pay over such parts of
the interest of the school moneys belonging to the said township, as the said inspectors,
in said schedule, may direct. It shall be the duty of the com-
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missioner of school lands, in Cook county, to preserve all of the schedules, reports and teachers’ rolls, that may be delivered
to him as aforesaid, and to make a record thereof in a book to be by him kept for
that purpose, and he shall annually make and transmit to the Auditor of the State, a report, which shall set forth the various items contained in the trustees’ reports
and teachers’ rolls, and such other information concerning the schools in the said
township, as he may have in his possession, together with a particular account of
all of the school moneys by him paid out, and such other matters as he may see fit
to add.
Further duties of inspectors.
Sec. 10. It shall be the duty of the inspectors, semi-annually, to make a report, setting forth
the state and condition of the schools in the said township, and cause the same to
be published in one or more of the newspapers printed in the township: Provided, nothing in this act shall be so construed as to authorize the school commissioner
of Cook county to pay to said trustees any part of the principal belonging to said township.
This act to be in force from and after its passage.
3Approved, Feb. 6, 1835.
1John Hamlin from a select committee, to which the House of Representatives referred a petition of sundry citizens of township thirty-nine north, range fourteen
east, in Cook County, introduced HB 155 in the House on January 26, 1835. The House referred the bill to the Committee on
Education. The Committee on Education reported back the bill on January 27 without
amendment, and the House referred it to a select committee. The select committee
reported back the bill on January 28 without amendment. The House passed the bill
on January 29. On January 30, the Senate referred the bill to the Committee on Seminary, School Lands, and Education. The
Committee on Seminary, School Lands, and Education reported back the bill on January
31 without amendment, and the Senate passed the bill. On February 6, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Journal of the House of Representatives of the Ninth General Assembly of the State
of Illinois, at their First Session, Begun and Held in the Town of Vandalia, December
1, 1834 (Vandalia, IL: J. Y. Sawyer, 1835), 379, 393, 408, 434, 465; Journal of the Senate, of the Ninth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at
their First Session, Begun and Held in the Town of Vandalia, December 1, 1834 (Vandalia, IL: J. W. Sawyer, 1835), 378, 379, 394, 445, 448, 454; Journal of the House of Representatives of the Ninth General Assembly of the State
of Illinois, at their Second Session, Begun and Held in Pursuance of the Proclamation
of the Governor, in the Town of Vandalia, December 7, 1835 (Vandalia, IL: J. Y. Sawyer, 1835), 398, 401.
2Township thirty-nine, range fourteen east was in the northeast part of Cook County abutting Lake Michigan.
3The Illinois General Assembly made provision for the establishment of public schools in the Illinois Free School Act of 1825.
Printed Document, 3 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at their First Session (Vandalia, IL:
J. Y. Sawyer, 1835), 161-63, GA Session: 9-1,