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Section 1. The general assembly shall establish, organize, and maintain a system of public schools throughout the state, for the equal benefit of the children thereof between the ages of seven and twenty-one years; but separate schools shall be provided for the children of citizens of African descent.
Sec. 2. The principal of all funds arising from the sale or other
disposition of lands or other property, which has been or may hereafter
be granted or intrusted to this state, or given by the United States, for
educational purposes, shall be preserved inviolate and undiminished; and
the income arising therefrom shall be faithfully applied to the specific
objects of the original grants or appropriations.
Sec. 3. All lands or other property given by individuals, or appropriated
by the state for educational purposes, and all estates of deceased persons
who die without leaving a will or heir, shall be faithfully applied to the
maintenance of the public schools.
Sec. 4. The general assembly shall also provide for the levying and
collection of an annual poll tax, not to exceed one dollar and fifty cents
on each poll, which shall be applied to the support of the public schools
in the counties in which it is levied and collected.
Sec. 5. The income arising from the sixteenth section trust fund,
the surplus revenue fund, until it is called for by the United States government,
and the funds enumerated in sections three and four of this article, with
such other moneys, to be not less than one hundred thousand dollars per
annum, as the general assembly shall provide by taxation or otherwise, shall
be applied to the support and maintenance of the public schools; and it
shall be the duty of the general assembly to increase, from time to time,
the public school fund, as the condition of the treasury and the resources
of the state will admit.
Sec. 6. Not more than four per cent of all moneys raised, or which
may hereafter be appropriated for the support of public schools, shall be
used or expended otherwise than for the payment of teachers employed in
such schools; provided, that the general assembly may, by a vote of two-thirds
of each house, suspend the operation of this section.
Sec. 7. The supervision of the public schools shall be vested in a superintendent
of education, whose powers, duties, term of office, and compensation shall
be fixed by law. The superintendent of education shall be elected by the
qualified voters of the state in such manner, and at such time, as shall
be provided by law.
Sec. 8. No money raised for the support of the public schools of
the state shall be appropriated to, or used for, the support of any sectarian
or denominational school.
Sec. 9. The State University and the Agricultural and Mechanical
College shall each be under the management and control of a board of trustees.
The board for the university shall consist of two members from the congressional
district in which the university is located, and one from each of the other
congressional districts in the state. The board for the Agricultural and
Mechanical College shall consist of two members from the congressional district
in which the college is located, and one from each of the other congressional
districts in the state. Said trustees shall be appointed by the governor,
by and with the advice and consent of the senate, and shall hold office
for a term of six years, and until their successors shall be appointed and
qualified. After the first appointment each board shall be divided into
three classes, as nearly equal as may be. The seats of the first class shall
be vacated at the expiration of two years, and those of the second class
in four years, and those of the third class at the end of six years, from
the date of appointment, so that one-third may be chosen biennially. No
trustee shall receive any pay or emolument, other than his actual expenses
incurred in the discharge of his duties as such. The governor shall be ex
officio president, and the superintendent of education ex officio a member
of each of said boards of trustees.
Sec. 10. The general assembly shall have no power to change the location
of the State University, or the Agricultural and Mechanical College, as
now established by law, except upon a vote of two-thirds of the members
of the general assembly, taken by yeas and nays, and entered upon the journals.
Sec. 11. The provisions of this article, and of any act of the general
assembly, passed in pursuance thereof, to establish, organize, and maintain
a system of public schools throughout the state, shall apply to Mobile county
only so far as to authorize and require the authorities designated by law
to draw the portion of the funds to which said county will be entitled for
school purposes, and to make reports to the superintendent of education,
as may be prescribed by law. And all special incomes and powers of taxation,
as now authorized by law for the benefit of public schools in said county,
shall remain undisturbed until otherwise provided by the general assembly;
provided, that separate schools for each race shall always be maintained
by said school authorities.