serve until the time of the next regular election for directors, at which time a board shall be elected in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 55, Laws of 1901; Provided, That the territory of a school district shall not be so reduced as to make its bonded indebtedness exceed four (4%) per cent. of its assessed valuation.

After paying all indebtedness of the old district that is chargeable to the common school fund, if any balance remains the county superintendent shall divide the said balance between the old district and the new in proportion to the number of children of school age in each. All other resources such as school houses, proceeds from sale of bonds; also all similar indebtedness shall be divided between the old district and the new in proportion to the taxable property, according to the assessed value, in each. In making such adjustment, the superintendent, in co-operation with the board of county commissioners, of the county in which such districts are situated, is hereby authorized to use such plans, or means, as will best subserve the mutual interests of the two districts, and their decision shall be final, subject to the right of appeal to the courts.

The county superintendent shall consolidate school districts on the presentation of separate petitions signed by the majority of electors residing in the respective districts affected; he shall also attach a territory to a district by change of boundary lines on the presentation of separate petitions signed by the majority of the electors residing in the respective territories affected; which petitions shall be prepared and submitted as herein before described.

Whenever the number of persons of school age within a school district has been reduced below 15 from causes over which the county superintendent does not have control and these conditions seem likely to remain permanent, said superintendent is empowered to disorganize such district and attach the territory to the school district or districts adjacent thereto. Provided, If said district at the time of disorganization is liable for bond issue or interest thereon, the board of county commissioners is hereby authorized and required to make levy and order collections thereof on the property of said disorganized district for the purpose of meeting the payment of said bonds and interest in a manner as provided for such purpose in the case of a regular school district.

Appeal may be made from the decision of the county superintendent concerning the organization, disorganization, or change of boundary lines of a school district, to the board of county commissioners of the county in which the school

district is located, and the decision of said board shall be final.

Sec. 23. Location of School District-Boundary Lines.The boundary lines and corners of all school districts shall be accurately located by the county surveyor of each county at the request of the superintendent, who shall prepare a map showing the districts as contemplated in Section 1545, Compiled Laws of 1897. The expense of such proceedings shall be charged to the county wherein the school district is situated and be allowed by the board of county commissioners at the discretion of said board not to exceed fifty ($50.00) dollars a school district.

Sec. 24. Statistical Reports.-The scholastic year for all schools and educational institutions of whatever nature in the Territory of New Mexico shall end June fifteen of each year. Within ten days after such date, the school directors of school districts, and the secretaries or clerks of the boards of education of town, village and city schools, located within each county shall file statistical reports with the county superintendent, containing such items of information as are required by law. On or before July fifteen of each year the county superintendents and the heads of the various educational institutions shall make their annual statistical reports to the superintendent of public instruction, and thirty days thereafter the superintendent of public instruction shall make his annual report to the Governor of the Territory.

Sec. 25. Levy for School Purposes.-The school directors of each school district, and boards of education of cities, towns and villages, shall have power and are hereby required to provide, by purchase or lease, suitable school houses, to keep in repair and provide said school houses with necessary furniture and fuel, to pay teacher's wages and interest on school bonds, and for the redemption thereof, and to defray all other contingent expenses connected with the proper conduct of the schools of the district. To provide the necessary funds for such purposes, it shall be their duty to make an estimate for a tax levy on the taxable property of the district, on or before the first Monday of May of each year, and for the purposes herein before named, they are empowered to levy a tax not to exceed five (5) mills on the dollar in any one year on the taxable property of their respective school districts, which levy shall be certified to the board of county commissioners and shall then be collected by due process of law as other taxes are collected and accounted for. For the purposes herein before mentioned, the school directors of each district, and boards of education in cities, towns, and villages, are further empowered to levy a tax of more than five (5) mills and not to exceed fifteen (15) mills: Provided, That

the tax required above five (5) mills shall be voted upon by the qualified voters of said district, except in cities, at a regularly called election for that purpose, and if concurred in by a majority of the votes cast at said election the levy shall be certified to the board of county commissioners, and if such commissioners decide the election legal this tax shall then be collected and accounted for the same as other taxes. To further provide the necessary funds for the conduct of the public schools of the Territory, the territorial auditor shall annually, on or before the first day of May of each year, levy a tax of three (3) mills on the dollar upon all taxable property of the Territory and certify the same to the county collectors of the several counties, who shall collect the same as other taxes are collected. The school fund derived from the general levy of three (3) mills shall be paid directly by the several collectors to the treasurers of their respective counties to the credit of the County School Fund, and shall be apportioned as required by Section 20 of this act, together with all County School Funds, by the county superintendent of schools; Provided, That no portion of the money derived from said three (3) mills levy as herein before mentioned shall be apportioned by any county school superintendent to any school district which does not levy a special tax annually of not less than three (3) mills on each dollar of the taxable property of that district for its district school purposes as herein before provided.

Any surplus in the sinking fund of any school district may be applied by the directors of said district to the building of additional school houses or to the enlargement of their present school buildings.

All property personal and real situated in each school district, not otherwise exempt by law, shall be subject to the general three (3) mills levy and also the sinking fund bond levy and also the levy authorized by the school directors or boards of education of each district for the purpose of this act and no further. When a special tax is levied by the qualified voters of a school district for school purposes, the same shall remain in full force and effect until the district votes to discontinue said levy.

Sec. 26 Teachers' Wages. From and after September 1, 1907, the maximum salary that shall be paid to any teacher employed to teach in the public schools in this Territory holding a certificate not higher than a third grade shall be fifty ($50.00) dollars per month; the maximum salary that shall be paid to a holder of a certificate not higher than a second grade shall be seventy-five ($75.00) dollars per month; Provided, That permits shall in no case be classed as higher

than a third grade certificate, but if a holder of a permit shall secure a regular teachers' certificate during the term for which he is engaged, the salary for the entire term may be fixed in accordance with the grade of said certificate; Provided, further, That a teacher employed in any of the public schools of this Territory shall be entitled to full pay for a period not to exceed one month during which the school may be closed by the board of school directors, board of education, or board of health, on account of loss by fire, danger from contagious disease, or other similar cause; and that every teacher employed in the public schools of this Territory shall be entitled to full pay for every legal holiday that may occur during the school term on any regular school day, and for the entire period of the Christmas holiday vacation not to exceed fifteen days when such vacation shall occur during the school term covered by the contract. These provisions shall apply to the public schools in cities, towns, and villages as well as in rural districts. Any school director, member of board of education, or other person violating the terms of this Section shall, upon conviction in a court of competent jurisdiction, be fined in the sum not less than ten ($10.00) dollars nor more than one hundred ($100.00) dollars, or imprisoned for a term not less than ten days nor more than ninety days, and may be removed from office by proper procedure.

Sec. 27. Property Presented to Educational Institutions or Common Schools. In case any person or persons shall will, bequeath, or in any other way donate money or other property for the benefit of any kind of public educational institution, school district, or other educational interest, it shall become the duty of the district court of the district in which the beneficiary of such benefaction is located to see to it that said benefaction is sacredly conserved and administered in accordance with the terms and wishes of the donor or donors; Provided, That if said donor or donors have not provided for or named the executors of their wishes, the judge of said district court shall apppoint three proper persons, under sufficient bond, to administer the same.

Sec. 28. Schools Lands to be Leased.-All land already granted, or that shall hereafter be granted, to the Territory, or State of New Mexico, for the support of the common schools or of any educational institution shall be withdrawn from the market and shall not be sold, except such lands as are actually needed for the location of schools, churches, cemeteries, right-of-way for railroads, public roads, telegraph and telephone lines, irrigation ditches and reservoirs, and such public necessities; Provided, That this shall not prevent

the completion of any contract already entered into for the sale of any of the aforesaid lands.

Sec. 29. Tuition.-A board of school directors or board of education may admit non-resident pupils to the school or schools under its charge, provided school accommodations are sufficient to justify the same, and may determine the rate of tuition for such pupils and collect the same, which tuition shall not be greater than twenty (20%) per cent. more than the average cost per capita for education based on the average number of pupils belonging to the school throughout the previous school term. When non-resident pupils, their parents or guardians, pay a school tax in any district, such pupils shall be admitted to the school of such district, and the amount of such school tax shall be credited on their tuition in a sum not to exceed the amount of such tuition, and they shall be required to pay tuition only for the difference therein.

Sec. 30. Laws Repealed.-The following Sections of the Revised Statutes of New Mexico of 1897 are hereby repealed, 1514, 1515, 1520, 1526, 1559, 1593, 1594, 1595, 1596, 1612, 1613, 1614, 1615, 1616, 1625, 3659, 1537, 1534, 1544, 1558, 1516, 1518, 1519, 1521, 1522, 1523, 1527, 1598, 1599, 1531, 1554, 1524, 1525, 1543, 1546.

That portion of Section 1535 of Compiled Laws of 1897 from the beginning to and including the word "provided" in the sixteenth (16) line, and the clause beginning "and they shall" in line twenty-two (22) to and including "Section one thousand five hundred and forty-three" in the line twenty six (26); and Sections 1, 2, 4 and 6, Chapter 27, Session Laws of 1901, are hereby repealed. Section 3 of Chapter 27 Session Laws of 1901 is also amended by taking out the words "or towns" in the fourth (4) line and substituting "ten (10) mills" for "seven and one-half (73) mills" in the ninth (9) line thereof. Section 4, Chapter 98, Session Laws of 1901 is hereby repealed.

Session laws of 1903, Chapter 23, an act providing for the writing and publishing of the history of New Mexico; Section 1, 3, 4, 5, and 14, Chapter 119, "An Act to harmonize and strengthen the existing school laws and for other purposes" and Chapter 120, "An Act to regulate county institutes" are hereby repealed.

Section 18, Chapter 80, Sessions Laws of 1899; Section 1, Chapter 21, and Section 12, Chapter 90, Session Laws of 1901; Section 10, Chapter 108, and Section 1, Chapter 74, Chapter 23, Chapter 100, Laws of 1903; Section 4, Chapter 48 Section 5, Chapter 60 Laws of 1905 are hereby repealed.

Section 1532 (as amended), of the Revised Statutes 1897 is hereby amended by substituting "March" for "May" in line