The election of the members to said board of trustees by the teaching force of such city shall be by ballot at an election held by the board of education, which shall conform as near as may be to the provisions of the law in relation to school elections, and each person being a member of the teaching force of such city, and a contributor to said pension and retirement fund shall be entitled to cast, at such election, one vote for each trustee to be elected. Elections to fill vacancies may be held and called by the board of education at the annual election: Provided, that the board of education may fill vacancies occurring in the membership of said board of trustees elected from said board of education at any regular meeting of the board of education.

3. Said board of trustees shall have charge of and administration of the public school teachers' pension and retirement fund of such city, and shall have power to invest the same in such manner as it shall deem most beneficial to said fund, but in the same manner and subject to the same terms and conditions as township trustees are permitted to invest school funds under the laws now in force or such as shall hereafter be enacted and shall have power to make payments from said fund of pensions or annuities granted in pursuance of this Act; and shall from time to time make and establish such by-laws, rules and regulations for the administration of said fund, as they shall deem advisable and shall have power to employ such assistance and service as may, in their judgment, be necessary for the proper enforcement of the provisions of this Act and carrying into effect valid bylaws, rules and regulations enacted by them, and they shall have power to fill any vacancies occurring in said board of trustees of members elected from the teaching force of said city, until the next annual election, when said vacancies shall be filled as provided by this Act.

§ 4. The public school teachers' pension and retirement fund of such city shall consist of moneys paid into said fund by persons desiring the benefits thereof, under the provisions of this Act; of moneys received from donations, legacies, gifts, bequests or otherwise on account of said fund and of moneys paid into said fund in pursuance of any law now in force or hereafter to be enacted.

5. Any person who shall be employed to teach in the public school of any such city, after this Act shall take effect, shall be entitled to the benefits of said fund upon complying with the provisions of this Act, and for the purposes of this Act such persons shall be divided into the following classes:

1. Those who have taught five years or less.

2. Those who have taught more than five years and not more than

ten years.

3. Those who have taught more than ten years and not more than fifteen years.

4. Those who have taught more than fifteen years.

And after this Act shall take effect, there shall be set apart from the salaries of all persons hereafter entering for the first time the employ of the board of education of such cities $5.00 per annum, while they remain in the first class; $10.00 per annum while they remain in the

second class; $15.00 per annum while they remain in the third class, and $30.00 per annum while they remain in the fourth class, which amounts shall be deducted by the board of education in equal installments from their respective salaries at the regular times for the payment thereof, and be paid into and constitute a part of the public school teachers' pension and retirement fund of such city.

§ 6. All persons who have heretofore been contributors to a public school teachers' pension and retirement fund of cities having a population exceeding 100,000 inhabitants, under any law now in force but who have withdrawn from such participation, may, if the [they] shall exercise the option within six months from the time this Act shall become effective renew their right to participation in a fund to be created in said city under the provisions of this Act, by paying into said fund the full amount of any moneys they may have withdrawn from such previous fund and the full amount they would have contributed had they not withdrawn therefrom together with interest thereon at the rate of 4 per cent per annum from the time such moneys were withdrawn and from the time such payments would have become due to the date of their acceptance of the provisions of this section; and thereafter such persons shall contribute to said fund upon the same terms as teachers who shall hereafter be employed and become contributors to and beneficiaries of said fund.

§ 7. All teachers who are now in the service of the board of education of any such city, other than those described in the previous section, may, if they shall exercise the option within six months from the time this Act becomes effective become contributors to and beneficiaries of the public school teachers' pension and retirement fund created under the provisions of this Act, upon the same terms as teachers who shall hereafter be employed and become contributors to and beneficiaries of said fund under section 6 of this Act.

§ 8. Those teachers in the employ or hereafter to be employed by the board of education of any such city, who shall become contributors to and beneficiaries of a public school teachers' pension and retirement fund, under any provisions of this Act, may count past service as a part of the period of twenty-five years hereinafter specified, by paying into said fund a sum equal to that which he or she would have contributed under the provisions of this Act, had he or she been a regular contributor to said fund, during said period of past service, together with interest thereon at the rate of 4 per centum per annum from the time such payments would have been made to the time such person shall by making such payment become entitled to the benefit of such past service.

§ 9. Such board of trustees shall have the power and it shall be its duty to pass a resolution declaring the maturity of service and right to the immediate benefits of said fund in favor of persons entitled to the benefits thereof in the following cases:

When any such persons shall have taught in the public schools or rendered service therein for a period of twenty-five years within the meaning of this Act.

2.

When any contributor to the said fund shall have taught fifteen years in the public schools within the meaning of this Act and shall by three competent physicians, who have made a physical examination of the teacher, at the request of a majority of such board of trustees, have been declared to be suffering from a permanent disability: Provided, that neither said board of trustees nor said board of education shall declare any contributor entitled to the immediate benefits of said fund until he or she shall have taught in the public schools of such city three-fifths of the term of service of twenty-five or fifteen years as the case may be; and no person shall be entitled to the benefits of said fund until he or she shall have retired from service as a teacher in said city.

§ 10. Each teacher so retired or retiring after twenty-five years of service shall thereafter be entitled to receive an annuity of $400.00 and each teacher so retired because of permanent disability after fifteen years of service shall receive as an annual pension such proportion of the full annuity of $400.00 as the sum contributed by such teacher so retired bears to the total contribution required for a full annuity. Said pensions and annuities shall be paid monthly during the school year by said board of trustees out of the fund created in accordance with the provisions of this Act in the manner provided by law for the payment of teachers' salaries.

§ II. The board of trustees in any such city, created by the provisions of this Act, shall succeed to the administration of any like fund established under any law now in force in this State and such board is hereby given the power to use both the principal and income of all funds for the payment of the pensions or annuities in this Act provided for, and shall have the power to reduce from time to time all pensions and annuities, provided such reduction shall be at the same rate on all classes and be rendered necessary by the condition of said fund. Any public school teacher who has heretofore retired from service and is entitled to a pension or annuity from a like fund created under any law now in force to the administration of which such board of trustees has succeeded, or is a recipient of a pension or annuity thereunder, shall henceforth be entitled to participate in right of the present law on the same basis as members of the teaching force contributing to said pension and retirement fund, and to receive a graduating pension ranging from four-fifths to five-fifths of pensions paid under the provisions of this Act, dependent upon time of service, and $30.00 per annum shall be withheld from such pensioner or annuitant as his or her additional contribution to said pension and retirement fund until he or she shall have paid the aggregate contribution of $450.00, provided this clause shall not be operative until pensions shall be payable under the provisions of this Act.

§ 12. The president and the secretary of said board of education shall certify monthly to the city treasurer all amounts deducted from the salaries of teachers, special teachers, principals and superintendents of the board of education in accordance with the provisions of this Act, which amounts, as well as all other moneys contributed to said

fund, shall be set apart and held by said treasurer as a special fund for the purposes hereinbefore specified, subject to the order of said board of trustees herein created, and shall be paid out upon warrants signed by the president and secretary of said board of education, and countersigned by the president of the said board of trustees.

§ 13. The city treasurer ex officio shall be the custodian of said pension fund, and shall secure and safely keep the same, subject to the control and direction of said board of trustees and shall keep his books and accounts concerning such fund in such manner as may be prescribed by said board, and said books and accounts shall always be subject to the inspection of said board or any member thereof. Said city treasurer shall be liable on his official bond for the proper performance of his duties and the conservation of the fund created by this Act. Any legal proceedings which may be necessary for the enforcement of the provisions of this Act, shall be brought by and in the name of the board of education for the use of the board of trustees of the public school teachers' pension fund.

14. No teacher who has been, or who shall have been, elected by said board of education, shall be removed or discharged, except for cause, upon written charges, which shall upon said teacher's written request, be investigated and determined by said board of education, whose action and decision in the matter shall be final. If at any time a teacher who is willing to continue is not re-employed or is discharged before the time when he or she would, under the provisions of this Act, be entitled to a pension, then such teacher shall be paid back at once the money he or she may have contributed under this law. Any teacher who shall retire voluntarily from the service, prior to entering the aforesaid fourth class, shall receive a refund of one-half of the money he or she shall have contributed under this law.

§ 15. All persons who shall hereafter be employed for the first time as teachers by the board of education of any such city shall by such employment accept the provisions of this Act and thereupon become contributors to said pension fund in accordance with the terms hereof. And the provisions of this Act shall become a part of and enter into any such contract of employment.

§ 16. The money and property now in any such pension fund in any such city, under any law now in force in this State, shall be subject to the control of a board of trustees to be elected under the provisions of this Act.

§ 17. All pensions or annuities granted under the provisions of this Act and every portion thereof shall be exempt from attachment or garnishment process and shall not be seized, taken, subjected to, detained or levied upon by virtue of any execution, or any process or proceedings whatsoever issued out of or by any court of this State for the payment or satisfaction in whole or in part of any debt, claim, damage, demand or judgment against any pensioner hereunder, and no annuitant or pensioner shall have the right to transfer or assign his or her pension or annuity or any part thereof either by way or mortgage or otherwise.

§ 18. This Act is intended to succeed and take the place of all previous Acts on the subject of public school teachers' pension and retirement fund in cities having a population exceeding 100,000 inhabitants. And all Acts and parts of Acts in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.

(HOUSE BILL No. 285.

Emergency.

APPROVED APRIL 22, 1907.)

AN ACT to provide for the annexation for township high school purposes, of any school township, or part of such township, not having an established township high school, to any adjacent school township having an established township high school.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly: That upon petition of not less than five per cent of the voters of any school township not having an established township high school, which township adjoins any other school township having an established township high school, or upon petition of not less than five per cent of the voters of any specified territory within such school township not having such high school, filed with the township treasurer of schools at least fifteen days preceding the regular election of trustees of schools in said township, and upon petition of five per cent of the legal voters of the township having an established township high school, filed with the township treasurer of schools of such township, at least fifteen days preceding the regular election of trustees in such township, it shall be the duty of the treasurer of the township not having a township high school to notify the voters of such townships, or, where the petition is for the annexation of a part of said township, to notify the voters of said part of said township that an election "For" or "Against" annexing said school township, or part of the township, as the case may be, will be held at the next regular election of trustees of schools of said township, by posting notices of such election in at least ten of the most public places throughout such township, or part of the township, as the case may be, at least ten days before the date of such regular election, which notices may be in the following form:

HIGH SCHOOL ANNEXATION ELECTION.

Notice is hereby given that on Saturday, the.. an election will be held at.... "For" or "Against" the proposition to annex for

.day of April, A. D...

for the purpose of voting township high school purposes