CONSTITUTION OF 1868

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ARTICLE XI.

Section 1. The common schools, and other educational institutions of the State, shall be under the management of a Board of Education, consisting of a Superintendent of Public Instruction and two members from each Congressional District.

The Governor of the State shall be ex officio a member of the Board, but shall have no vote in its proceedings.

Section 2. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be President of the Board of Education, and have the casting vote in case of a tie; he shall have the supervision of the public schools of the State, and perform such other duties as may be imposed upon him by the Board and the laws of the State. He shall be elected in the same manner and for the same term as the Governor of the State, and receive such salary as may be fixed by law. An office shall be assigned him in the capitol of the State.

Section 3. The members of the Board shall hold office for a term of four years, and until their successors shall be elected and qualified. After the first election under the Constitution, the Board shall be divided into two equal classes, so that each class shall consist of one member from each District. The seats of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of two years from the day of election, so that one-half may be chosen biennially.

Section 4. The members of the Board of Education, except the Superintendent, shall be elected by the qualified electors of the Congressional Districts in which they are chosen, at the same time and in the same manner as the members of Congress.

Section 5. The Board of Education shall exercise full legislative powers in reference to the public educational institutions of the State, and its acts, when approved by the Governor, or when re enacted by two-thirds of the Board, in case of his disapproval, shall have the force and effect of law, unless repealed by the General Assembly.

Section 6. It shall be the duty of the Board to establish, throughout the State, in each township, or other school district which it may created, one or more schools at which all the children of the State, between the ages of five and twenty-one years, may attend free of charge.

Section 7. No rule or law affecting the general interest of education shall be made by the Board without the concurrence of a majority of its members. The style of all acts of the Board shall be, "Be it enacted by the Board of Education of the State of Alabama."

Section 8. The Board of Education shall be a body politic and corporate, by the name and style of the Board of Education of the State of Alabama. Said Board shall also be a Board of Regents of the State University, and when sitting as a Board of Regents of the University, shall have power to appoint the President and the Faculties thereof.

The President of the University shall be ex officio a member of the board of Regents, but shall have no vote in its proceedings.

Section 9. The Board of Education shall meet annually at the seat of government at the same time as the General Assembly, but no session shall continue longer than twenty days, nor shall more than one session be held in the same year, unless authorized by the Governor. The members shall receive the same mileage and daily pay as the members of the General Assembly.

Section 10. The proceeds of all lands that have been or may be granted by the United States to the State for educational purposes; of the swamp lands; and of all lands or other property given by individuals or appropriated by the state for like purposes; and of all estates of deceased persons who have died without leaving a will or heir; and all moneys which may be paid as an equivalent for exemption from military duty, shall be and remain a perpetual fund, which may be increased but not diminished, and the interest and income of which, together with the rents of all such lands as may remain unsold, and such other means, as the General Assembly may provide, shall be inviolably appropriated to educational purposes, and to no other purpose whatever.

Section 11. In addition to the amount accruing from the above sources, one-fifth of the aggregate annual revenue of the State shall be devoted exclusively to the maintenance of public schools.

Section 12. The General Assembly may give power to the authorities of the school districts to levy a poll tax on the inhabitants of the district in aid of the general school fund, and for no other purpose.

Section 13. The General Assembly shall levy a specific annual tax upon all Rail Road, Navigation, Banking, and Insurance corporations, and upon all Insurance and Foreign Bank and Exchange Agencies, and upon the profits of foreign bank bills issued in this State by any corporation, partnership or persons, which shall be exclusively devoted to the maintenance of public schools.

Section 14. The General Assembly shall, as soon as practicable, provide for the establishment of an Agricultural College, and shall appropriate the two hundred and forty thousand acres of land donated to this State for the support of such a college, by the act of Congress, passed July 2, 1862, or the money or scrip, as the case may be, arising from the sale of said land or any lands which may hereafter be granted, or appropriated for such purpose, for the support and maintenance of such college or schools, and may make the same a branch of the University of Alabama for instruction in agriculture, in the mechanic arts, and the natural sciences connected therewith, and place the same under the supervision of the Regents of the University.