CHAPTER IX.
SCHOOL REVENUES.
The moneys used for the support of the common schools are:
1. The interest from the primary interest fund.
3. The one-mill tax.
3. District school taxes.
4. Unappropriated dog tax.
5. Library moneys.[1]
6. Tuition of non-resident pupils.
Primary School Fund.
The establishment of this fund has been referred to in the first chapter of this book, and we give in this chapter a few facts concerning its distribution.
HOW DIVIDED. The fund is divided among the school districts of the state in proportion to the number of school children in each. Statements showing the number of school children in each county, township, and district of the state are sent by the Superintendent of Public Instruction to the several county clerks, between the first and tenth days of May and November of each year.
HOW TRANSFERRED. The money is transferred by the state treasurer to the county treasurer, by him to the township or city treasurer, who, in turn, transmits it to the assessor of the district (5039, 5030).
HOW USED. Primary money can be used for no other purpose than the payment of the wages of legally qualified teachers (5063), and only by districts in which five months of school were maintained during the school year ending the first of September just preceding (Act 15, 1895).
One-Mill Tax.
HOW RAISED. The supervisor assesses upon the taxable property of his township one mill upon each dollar of valuation, reports the aggregate valuation of each district to the township clerk, who reports said amount to the director of each school district in his township, or to the director of any fractional school district a portion of which may be located in the township, before the first day of September of each year; and all moneys so raised are apportioned by the township clerk to the district in which it was raised.
PROPERTY IN UNORGANIZED DISTRICTS. All money collected by virtue of this law during the year on any property not included in any organized district, or in districts not having, during the previous school year, three months’ school in districts of less than thirty children, or five months’ school in districts of thirty and less than eight hundred children, or nine months’ school in districts of eight hundred or more children, as shown by the last school census, is apportioned to the several other school districts of said township, in the same manner as the primary school interest fund. All moneys accruing from the the one-mill tax in any township, before any district shall have a legal school therein, belongs to the districts in which it was raised, when they shall severally have had a three months’ school by a qualified teacher (5091).
SURPLUS MONEYS. The voters of the district have authority to appropriate any surplus moneys arising from the one-mill tax, after having maintained a school in the district at least eight months in the school year, for the purpose of purchasing and enlarging school sites, or for building or repairing school houses, or for purchasing books for library, globes, maps, and other school apparatus, or for any incidental expenses of the school (5052).
District Taxes.
These are moneys which are voted by the qualified voters of the district for general school purposes. The student is referred to that part of this book which relates to the powers of voters at district meetings for information concerning the raising of money by vote of the district.
HOW COLLECTED. After a tax has been voted, it is the duty of the supervisor to assess the taxes chargeable against each district, upon the taxable property of the district, and to place the same on the township assessment roll in the column for school taxes; and the same is collected and returned by the township treasurer in the same manner as township taxes. If any taxes provided for by law for school purposes are not assessed at the proper time, the same are assessed in the succeeding year (5090).
Surplus Dog Tax.
The statutes provide for an annual tax of one dollar upon every male dog and of three dollars upon every female dog. The money thus obtained constitutes a fund for the payment of damages sustained by owners of sheep, by reason of having sheep killed or injured by dogs.
APPORTIONMENT. If money remains of such fund (after satisfactory payment of all claims aforesaid in any one year) over and above the sum of one hundred dollars, it is apportioned among the several school districts of such township or city, in proportion to the number of children therein of school age. The apportionment must be based upon the whole number of children of school age residing in the township and must include all districts whether lying wholly or partly in such township. In case of a fractional district in which the school-house is situated in a different township, the money belonging to such district must be paid over to the treasurer of the township in which the school house is situated, and by that treasurer paid to the district in the same way as in the case of the one-mill and other taxes (2128).
Tuition.
RESIDENT PUPILS. All persons above five years of age who are residents of any school district, have an equal right to attend any pupils public school in the district. No separate school can be maintained at public expense for any person on account of race and color (5070). Persons who are more than twenty years of age are not barred from the privileges of school,and no tuition should be charged to such persons. Resident pupils should have an equal right to all the benefits of the school, and should be allowed to study any branch in any grade to which they belong, without paying tuition (Att’y Gen’l, November 17, 1891).
CLASSIFICATION OF PUPILS. The board of education has authority to determine the gradation and classification of pupils, and may prescribe the particular department or building where certain pupils shall attend.
NON-RESIDENT PUPILS. The district board may admit non-resident pupils, and shall determine the rate of tuition of the same, which tuition shall not exceed fifteen per cent, more than the average cost per capita for resident pupils. (Act 131, 1895). It is sometimes supposed that the voters of the district meeting have power to exclude non-resident pupils, but this power rests entirely with the school board.
NON-RESIDENT TAX-PAYERS. Non-residents who pay a school tax in a district, are entitled to have the amount of such tax credited on their tuition and are required to pay tuition only when the amount of such tuition exceeds the school tax. (Act 21, 1891).
RATE OF TUITION.
The rate of tuition to be charged foreign pupils, must be fixed by a resolution of the board, which must be duly entered in the record of the district. Charges for tuition can not be collected in the absence of any resolution fixing the rate (35 Mich., 483).
RENTERS OF FARMS.
Where a party resides in one district and rents a farm in another, he is not entitled to send his children to the district school in which he rents the farm (Att’y Gen’l, Sept. 16, 1893).
INDIGENT CHILDREN.
Children in alms houses at county expense must be admitted to the schools of the district, the county paying the tuition (Act 131, 1895).
LIMITATIONS OF AUTHORITY.
Under the various provisions of the school law, the authority of a district to vote a tax upon its inhabitants is carefully limited; and there is no law authorizing a district to assess a tax to educate its children outside of the district (Att’y Gen’l, Oct. 16, 1891).
- ↑ Note.—This fund has been fully discussed in Chapter VIII.