Term of office.
Term extended.

Recorder elected. shall be elected a recorder of the recorder's court of New Hanover County, who shall be inducted into office on the first Monday in December, one thousand nine hundred and twentysix, and who shall hold office for a term of four years, or until his successor shall be elected and qualified; and the term of office of the present recorder of the recorder's court of said New Hanover County, George Harriss, shall be extended to and not expire until the said first Monday in December, in the year one thousand nine hundred and twenty-six, or until his successor shall have been elected and qualified.

Repealing clause.

SEC. 2. That all laws and clauses of laws in conflict with the provisions of this act be and the same are hereby repealed. SEC. 3.

That this act shall be in force and effect from and after its ratification.

Ratified this the 2d day of March, A. D. 1923.

Guard chains or gates.

Directions for

use.

CHAPTER 133

AN ACT TO SAFEGUARD TRANSPORTATION OF LIFE BY

FERRIES.

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

SECTION 1. That each and every person, firm or corporation, owning or operating a public ferry upon any sound, bay, river, creek or other stream shall have securely affixed and attached thereto, at each end of the same, a detachable steel or iron chain, or in lieu thereof a steel or iron gate, and so affixed and arranged that the same shall be closed or fastened across the opposite end from the approach, whenever any motor vehicle, buggy, cart, wagon, or other conveyance shall be driven upon or shall enter upon the same; and shall be securely fastened or closed at each end of the ferry after such motor vehicle, buggy, cart, wagon, or other conveyance shall have been driven or shall

To be closed dur- have entered upon the same. And the said gates or chains ing passage. shall remain closed or fastened, at each end, until the voyage across the stream upon which said ferry is operated shall have been completed.

Weight and type to be fixed.

Misdemeanor.

When act effective.

SEC. 2. The board of county commissioners of every county in which any ferry is operated shall fix and determine a standard weight or size of chain, and a standard size, type, or character of gate, for use by said ferry, leaving it optional with the said owner or operator the use of chains or gates.

SEC. 3. Any person, firm or corporation violating any of the provisions of this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

SEC. 4. This act shall be in force and effect from and after the first day of May, 1923.

Ratified this the 2d day of March, A. D. 1923.

CHAPTER 134

AN ACT TO ERECT BUILDINGS AT THE STATE PRISON
FARMS AND FOR NECESSARY REPAIRS AT THE STATE
PRISON.

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

for erection of

SECTION 1. That the sum of forty thousand dollars ($40,000.00) Appropriation is hereby appropriated for the erection of sanitary, safe and buildings. suitable buildings for quarters at the Camp Polk State Prison Farm near Raleigh for prisoners and employees.

SEC. 2. That the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars Appropriation for repairs. ($25,000.00) is hereby appropriated for the necessary repair and overhauling of the heating, lighting and water system at the Penitentiary or Central Prison and for the purchase and installation of additional necessary equipment.

SEC. 3. That all laws and clauses of laws in conflict with the Repealing clause. provisions of this act are hereby repealed.

SEC. 4. That this act shall be in force from and after its ratification.

Ratified this the 2d day of March, A. D. 1923.

CHAPTER 135

AN ACT VALIDATING THE ORGANIZATION OF SPECIAL
SCHOOL DISTRICTS.

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

SECTION 1. In all cases where, in accordance with the require- Elections hereto

fore had

ments of section seven of article seven of the Constitution of legalized. North Carolina, a majority of the qualified voters of any school district or of any proposed school district, or of any portion of a school district, have heretofore voted in favor of the levying of a special annual tax for school purposes in said school district, or proposed school district, or portion of a school district, as the case may be, to supplement the public school funds which may be apportioned to said district by the county board of education, and a tax has heretofore been levied and collected pursuant to said Levy and collection validated. vote, and no court of competent jurisdiction has held said vote or said annual tax or the establishment or organization of said district to be invalid, the said vote and all acts and proceedings done or taken in or about the calling, holding or conducting of the election at which said vote was cast or in or about the registration of voters for said election are hereby legalized and validated.

SEC. 2. In all cases referred to in section one of this act the Incorporation. inhabitants of such proposed school district are hereby constituted

Corporate seals. Consolidation or abolition of

districts.

Proviso: pend

ing litigation not affected.

Repealing clause.

a body politic and corporate by the name and style by which such school district is known, and said body politic is hereby authorized to adopt a corporate seal, unless such school district has, since the vote aforesaid, been consolidated with or annexed to another school district, or unless the voters of such district have voted to revoke the said tax or abolish such district.

SEC. 3. Provided, that this act shall not apply to any litigation pending in any of the courts within the State.

SEC. 4. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act are hereby repealed.

SEC. 5. This act shall be in force from and after its ratification.
Ratified this 2d day of March, A. D. 1923.

Preamble: purpose of acts

CHAPTER 136

AN ACT TO AMEND THE CONSOLIDATED STATUTES AND
TO CODIFY THE LAWS RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

Whereas the acts of the General Assembly relating to public

relating to educa- education are for the purpose of aiding all the people, and espe

tion.

Preamble:
need for codify-
ing laws.

Interpretations.

cially school officials, in maintaining and conducting a system of public schools and in providing revenue for the same; and

Whereas a great need is apparent for collecting all the laws relating to public education and codifying them in such a way as to set forth as clearly as possible the legal duties, powers, and responsibilities of the several school officials, in order to give them and all other friends of public education a clearer conception of their duties in maintaining and conducting public schools in accordance with the needs of the people and the provisions of the Constitution: Now, therefore,

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

PART I

ARTICLE I. INTERPRETATIONS

SECTION 1. A general and uniform system of schools.

A general and uniform system of public schools shall be provided throughout the State, wherein tuition shall be free of charge to all children of the State between the ages of six and twentyone years. The length of term of each school shall not be less than six months or one hundred and twenty days, and every man or woman twenty-one years of age or over who has not completed a standard high school course of study, or who desires to study the vocational subjects taught in said school, shall be given equal privileges with every other student in school.

races.

The children of the white race and the children of the colored Segregation of race shall be taught in separate public schools, but there shall No race discrimbe no discrimination in favor of or to the prejudice of either ination.

race. All white children shall be taught in the public schools Schools for white children. provided for the white race, and all colored children shall be Schools for colortaught in the public schools provided for the colored race; but ed children. no child with negro blood, or what is generally known as Croatan Children with negro or Indian Indian blood, in his veins, shall attend a school for the white blood barred. race, and no such child shall be considered a white child. The Separate schools descendants of the Croatan Indians, now living in Robeson, Samp- of Croatan son, and Richmond counties, shall have separate schools for their Indians. children. (C. S. 5538.)

for descendants

When the school officials are providing schools for one race it Schools provided for both races. shall be a misdemeanor for the officials to fail to provide schools for the other races, and it shall be illegal to levy taxes on the Taxes to apply property and polls of one race for schools in a district without equally. levying it on all property and polls of all races within said district.

SEC. 2. The school system defined.

defined.

Elementary

The school system of each county shall consist of eleven years School systems or grades, and shall be graded on the basis of a school year of Graded. not less than one hundred and sixty days. The first seven years Basis of grades. or grades shall be styled the elementary school, and the last four school. years or grades shall be styled the high school: Provided, the High school. system, for convenience in administration, may be divided into parts. three parts, the elementary school, consisting of the first five or Elementary six grades, and a junior and a senior high school, embracing Junior and senior the last six or five grades, if better educational advantages may high schools. be supplied.

SEC. 3. The term "district" defined.

Proviso: three

schools.

The term "district" as used in law is hereby defined to mean District defined. any convenient territorial division or subdivision of a county, created for the purpose of maintaining within its boundaries one or more public schools. It may include an incorporated town or city, or a township, or a part of a township. There shall be five Five types of different types or kinds of districts: (1) The non-local tax 1. Non-local tax district, that is, one territorial unit of the county system under district. the control of the county board of education, but having no special local tax funds for supplementing the general county funds; (2) 2. Local-tax The local tax district, that is, one territorial unit of the county system under the control of the county board of education, but having in addition to the general county funds a special local tax fund voted by the people, for supplementing the general county fund; (3) The special charter district, that is, a district 3. Special charter chartered by the General Assembly, the control of which is placed

4. Special school taxing district.

5. Special high school district.

Schools classified
and defined.
1. City school
lys.em.

2. Union school.

3. Elementary school.

County board of education. District committee.

Superintendent.

Principal

duties are defined by the General Assembly, or a territorial unit whose boundary lines may be coterminous with the boundary lines of an incorporated town or city, but without a special charter, the city charter having authorized the city to maintain a system of schools, and the government of the schools having been delegated to a special board; (4) Special school taxing district, that is, a territorial division of a county embracing more than one school district in which special taxes for schools may be voted; and (5) Special high school district, that is, a special district, embracing two or more school districts and created for the purpose of giving high school advantages to the children completing the elementary schools in the several districts which compose the special high school district.

SEC. 4. Schools classified and defined.

The different types of public schools are classified and defined as follows: (1) A city school system, that is, a system maintained for one hundred and eighty days and employing not less than thirty teachers, and one whole-time superintendent. It shall contain a school system of eleven years, including a standard four-year high school, employing not less than five teachers; (2) A union school, that is, a system maintained for at least one hundred and sixty days, and embracing an elementary school of seven grades, and a high school department containing not less than twenty pupils in average daily attendance; and (3) An elementary school, that is, a district school that embraces a part or all of the seven elementary grades, but without sufficient high school pupils or length of term to become a union school.

SEC. 5. Officials defined.

The governing board of the county school system shall be styled "The County Board of Education." The governing board of a local-tax district and also of a non-local tax district shall be styled "The District Committee." The name, "The Board of Trustees," as it appears in law, refers to all other governing bodies of special charter districts. And wherever any other name is used in a statute to designate the governing body of a special charter district, the name, "The Board of Trustees," is hereby declared to be its equivalent.

The executive officer of a county system elected by the county board of education, the executive officer of a city school system elected by a board of trustees, and the executive officer of a union school in a special charter district employing as many as twenty teachers, shall be styled "Superintendent." The executive head of all other union schools and of all elementary schools having four or more teachers shall be styled "Principal."