board of education shall neglect or refuse to furnish such books when
ordered by said board in accordance with the provisions of this chap-
ter, at the very lowest price, either contract or wholesale, that such
books are furnished any other district or state board, then said board
of directors or county board of education may and it is hereby made
their duty to bring suit upon the bond given them by the contracting
publisher. [25 G. A., ch. 35; 23 G. A., ch. 24, § 4.]
Sec. 2828. Bids. Before purchasing text-books under the provi-
sions of this chapter, it shall be the duty of the board of directors, or
county board of education, to advertise, by publishing a notice once
each week for three consecutive weeks in one or more newspapers
published in the county; said notice shall state the time up to which
all bids will be received; the classes and grades for which text-books
and other necessary supplies are to be bought, and the approximate
quantity needed; and said board shall award the contract for said
text-books and supplies to any responsible bidder or bidders offering
suitable text-books and supplies at the lowest prices, taking into con-
sideration the quality of material used, illustrations, binding, and all
other things that go to make up a desirable text-book; and may, to
the end that they may be fully advised, consult the county superinten-
dent, or, in case of city independent districts, with city superintendent
or other competent person, with reference to the selection of text-
., ... 10
146 SCHOOL LAWS OF IOWA
books: Provided, that the board may reject any and all bids, or any
part thereof, and readvertise therefor as above provided. [31 G. A.,
eh. 9, § 4; 25 G. A., eh. 35; 23 G. A., eh. 24, § 5.]
Note: Must advertise. A board may not secure the advantages of pur-
chasing text-books without first advertising for bids and letting the contract
in the manner required. And this is equally true even if it is expected that
a new^ contract will be made for the books in present use. 133 Iowa, 120.
Sec. 2829. Change — question submitted. It shall be unlawful for
any board of directors or county board of education, except as pro-
vided in section twenty-eight hundred and twenty-seven of this chap-
ter, to displace or change any text-book that has been regularly
adopted or re-adopted under the provisions of this chapter, before the
expiration of five years from the date of such adoption or re-adoption,
unless authorized to do so by a majority of the electors present and
voting at their regular annual meeting in March, due notice of said
proposition to change or displace said text-books having been included
in the notice for the said regular meeting. [25 G. A., ch. 35 ; 23 G. A.,
ch. 24, § 6.]
Note: Notice — secretary must be directed. Where notice that the ques-
tion, of a change of text-books would be voted on was included in the notice
of election by the clerk (secretary) without the action of the board, the vote
thereon was invalid, though a petition of ten voters had been filed, and though
the members of the board individually had authorized the action of the clerk
(secretary). McNees v. School Tow'nsMp of East River, Page County, 133
Iowa, 120.
Sec. 2830. Samples — ^lists — bonds. Any person or firm desiring to
furnish books or supplies under this chapter in any county shall, at
or before the time of filing his bid hereunder, deposit in the office of
the county superintendent samples of all text-books included in his
bid, accompanied with lists giving the lowest wholesale and contract
prices for the same. And said samples and lists shall remain in the
county superintendent's office, and shall be delivered by him to his
successor in office, and shall be kept by him in such safe and con-
venient manner as to be open at all times to the inspection of such
school officers, school patrons and school teachers as may desire to
examine the same and compare them with others, for the purpose of
use in the public schools. The board of directors and the county board
of education mentioned shall require of any person or persons with
whom they contract for furnishing any books or supplies to enter into
a good and sufficient bond, in such sum and with such conditions and
sureties as may be required by such board of directors or county
board of education, for the faithful performance of any such contract.
But bonds of surety companies duly authorized under the laws of Iowa
shall be accepted. [25 G. A., ch. 35; 23 G. A., ch. 24, § 7.]
Sec. 2831. County board of education — question as to county uni-
formity. The county superintendent, the county auditor and the mem-
bers of the board of supervisors shall constitute a county board of edu-
cation. When petitions shall have been signed by one-third the school
SCHOOL LAWS OP IOWA 147
directors in any county, other tlian those in cities and towns, and filed
in the office of the county superintendent of such county at least
thirty days before the annual school elections, asking: for a uniform
series of text-books in the county, then such county superintendent
shall immediately notify the other members of the county board of
education in writing, and within fifteen days after the filing of the
petitions said board of education shall meet and provide for submit-
ting to the electors at the next annual meeting the question of county
uniformity of school text-books. [28 G. A., -ch. Ill ; 25 G. A., ch. 35 ;
23 G. A., eh. 24, §§ 8, 9.]
Notes: 1. Petition. It is intended that at least one-third of the individ-
uals composing all boards, except those of city and town districts, shall sign
the petition referred to.
2. County board of education. By the provisions of this section every
county in the state has a county board of education composed of the county
superintendent, county auditor, and members of the board of supervisors.
3. Notice. In order that every voter may be fully advised of the sub-
mission of the question of county uniformity, the county board of education
should publish the proposition to be voted upon in the official papers of the
county at least ten days before the annual school election, and they should
also transmit to the secretaries of the several boards of directors copies of
said proposition, and direct said secretaries to give notice thereof and provide
for the taking of a vote thereon at the annual meeting.
Sec. 2832. Selection of books — depositories. Should a majority of
the electors voting at such elections favor a uniform series of text-
books for use in said county, then the county board of education shall
meet and select the school text-books for the entire county, and con-
tract for the same under such rules and regulations as the said board
of education may adopt. When a list of text-books has been so
selected, they shall be used by all the public schools of said county,
except as hereinafter provided, and the board of education may ar-
range for such depositories as it may deem best, and may pay for said
school books out of the county funds, and sell them to the school dis-
tricts at the same price as provided for in section twenty-eight hun-
dred and twenty-four of this chapter, and the money received from
said sales shall be returned to the county funds by said board of edu-
cation monthly. The boards of school officers, who are hereby made
the judges of the school meetings, shall certify to the board of super-
visors the full returns of the votes cast at said meetings the next day
after the holding of said meetings, who shall, at their next regular
meeting, proceed to canvass said votes and declare the result. Unless
otherswise ordered by the board of education, the county superinten-
dent shall have charge of such text-books and of the distribution there-
of among the depositories selected by the board ; he shall render to the
board at each meeting thereof itemized accounts of his doings, and
shall be liable on his official bond therefor. [28 G. A., ch. 112; 25 G.
A., ch. 35; 23 G. A., ch. 24, § 9.]
Notes: 1. A continuous body. The county board of education Is a con-
tinuous body. I
148 SCHOOL LAWS OP IOWA
2. Rules. County boards of education should from time to time make
such rules and regulations as seem necessary to carry out the purpose and
spirit of the law.
3. May not be purchased. Purchases of records, dictionaries, apparatus
and similar supplies for the use of the district may not be made by contract
under this law, but such articles should be bought with contingent fund, as
provided by section 2783. Note 4 to section 2824.
4. Sold direct. The county board of education must cause the books
to be sold to the people direct, under such regulations as the board may adopt.
5. Must be used. When a list of text-books has been selected as pro-
vided in this section, they must be used by all the public schools of said county,
except as provided in section 2835, notwithstanding the fact that contracts
made by boards of school corporations may not have expired.
6. Bonds. Security by bond made payable to the county may be re-
quired from depositories. But the fact that the money from sales must be
returned to the county funds monthly will lessen the need for as much security
as would be necessary if a large sum of money could be held by a depository
for a long time.
7. Depositories. The county board of education should arrange for a
sufficient number of depositories to accommodate fully the people of every
district in the county.
8. Contingent expense. It will promote an equality of price for the
same book in the several counties, if any slight extra expense connected with
securing or handling the books be not added to the contract price, but paid
for from the county funds, by the board of supervisors. In this way, the books
and supplies may be sold to the people at cost, the same as provided under
section 2824, when purchase is made by a district. Note 4 to section 2825.
9. May not render opinions. It is apparent that there will be many
questions arising upon which we cannot venture an opinion. Any matter in
which the binding force or validity of a contract is involved, can be deter-
mined only by the courts of law.
10. Legal adviser. The county attorney is the legal adviser of the county
board of education, and he should be freely consulted on questions upon which
the board may be in doubt. Code, section 302.
11. By ballot. The vote upon county uniformity must be by ballot. The
result of such vote should be duly certified by the judges of election to the
board of supervisors the next day after the annual meeting.
12. Directors not agents. The statute prohibits any school director from
engaging on his own account in the sale of schoolbooks and supplies to pupils,
and the prohibition is not limited to directors acting as agents of the board
under code § 2824. State v. Wick. 130 Iowa, 31; 106 N. W., 268.
13. Judges. "The boards of school officers" who are made the judges
of election by this section consist of the president, the secretary, and one of
the directors as provided for in section 2746.
14. Printing ballots. In order to facilitate matters in holding this elec-
tion, the board of education might very properly provide for the printing and
distribution of ballots, and make such other arrangements as may be necessary.
15. Board may not contract with book sellers. A school board has no
authority to contract with a book seller and pay him out of the contingent
fund for handling school books. 127 Iowa, 408.
Sec. 2833. Proceeding's of county board. The county superintendent
shall in all cases be chairman of the county board of education, and
the county auditor shall be the secretary, and a full and complete
record shall be kept of their proceedings in a book kept for that pur-
pose in the office of the countj^ superintendent. A list of text-books so
selected, with their contract prices, shall be reported to the state
SCHOOL LAWS OF IOWA 149
superintendent with the regular annual report of the county superin-
tendent. [25 G. A., ch. 35; 23 G. A., ch. 24, § 10.]
Note: Who report. The county superintendent will report only the list
of hooks adopted by the county board of education. The superintendents of
counties that have not adopted county uniformity as provided in sections 2831
and 2832 will not make this report.
Sec. 2834. Officers not to be agents. It shall be unlawful for any
school director, teacher, or member of the county board of education
to act as agent for any school text-books or school supplies during such
term of office or employment, and any school director, officer, teacher
or member of the county board of education who shall act as agent or
dealer in school text-books or school supplies, during the term of such
office or employment, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and
shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not less than ten dollars nor
more than one hundred dollars, and pay the costs of prosecution. [25
G. A., ch. 35; 23 G. A., ch. 24, § 11.]
Notes: 1. Purpose of the law. The intention of this section is to pro-
hibit any of the persons named from engaging in any business in connection
with school text-books or supplies, by which his pecuniary interests might be
brought in conflict with his official duties.
2. Violation — effect. The fact that a person is subject to the penalties
named, for violating the provisions of this section, will not operate to deprive
him of his office or position.
3. Wlio prohibited. School directors, teachers, and members of the
county board of education are by this section absolutely prohibited from acting
as agents for, or dealers in, school text-books or school supplies.
4. Director as dealer. Code, section 283 4, applies to and prohibits a
school director from engaging on his own account in the sale of school books
and supplies to the pupils, and is not limited to directors acting as agents of
the board under code, section 2824. 130 Iowa, 31.
5. Sale of books — use of contingent fund. A school board has no
authority to contract with a bookseller and pay him out of the contingent fund
for handling books, where the district does not buy the books for re-sale, but
simply arranges with the publishers to place the same with the dealer to be
sold by him at a stated price. 127 Iowa, 408.
Sec. 2835. City schools. The provisions of sections twenty-eight
hundred and thirty-one, twenty-eight hundred and thirty-two and
twenty-eight hundred and thirty-three of this chapter shall not apply
to schools located within cities or towns, nor shall the electors of said
cities or towns vote upon the question of county uniformity ; but noth-
ing herein shall be so construed as to prevent such schools in said
cities and towns from adopting and buying the books adopted by the
county board of education at the prices fixed by them, if by a vote of
the electors they shall so decide. [25 G. A., ch. 35 ; 23 G. A., ch. 24,
§ 12.]
Notes: 1. Apply to whom. All except sections 2831, 2832 and 2 833 ap-
ply to city and town independent school districts, and such districts may pur-
chase books and supplies in the same manner as other districts, under sections
2824 to 2830.
150 SCHOOL LAWS OP IOWA
2. How adopt. City and town independent districts may by a vote of
the electors, at a regular meeting or at a special meeting called for that pur-
pose, decide to adopt and use the books adopted by the county board of
education.
Sec. 2836. Free text-books — question submitted. Whenever a pe-
tition signed by one-third or more of the legal voters, to be determined
by the school board of any school corporation, shall be filed with the
secretary thirty days or more before the annual meeting of the elec-
tors, asking that the question of providing free text-books for the use
of pupils in the public schools thereof be submitted to the voters at
the next annual meeting, he shall cause notice of such proposition to
be given in the call for such meeting. [26 G. A., eh. 37, § 1.]
Notes: 1. Purpose — benefits. These provisions afford all school cor-
porations the opportunity to supply free books, so that every child may con-
tinuously enjoy the privileges of school. It is believed that if districts will
take action in accordance with the spirit of the law, the percentage of attend-
ance at school can be materially increased, and the usefulness of our schools
to all the children greatly enhanced.
2. Rules — importance of. Much of the success of free text-books will
depend upon the rules and regulations adopted by the board to govern the
use and care of such books. The board should take more than the usual
pains to adopt plain, comprehensive, and effective rules for the guidance of all
concerned. t
Sec. 2837. Loaning' — discontinuance. If, at such meeting, a ma-
jority of the legal voters present and voting by ballot thereon shall
authorize the board of directors of said school corporation to loan
textbooks to the pupils free of charge, then the board shall procure
such books as shall be needed, in the manner provided by law for the
purchase of text-books, and loan them to the pupils. The board shall
hold pupils responsible for any damage to, loss of, or failure to return
any such books, and shall adopt such rules and regulations as may be
reasonable and necessary for the keeping and preservation thereof.
Any pupil shall be allowed to purchase any text-book used in the
school at cost. No pupil already supplied with text-books shall be
supplied with others without charge until needed. The electors may,
at any election called as provided in the last section, direct the board
to discontinue the loaning of text-books to pupils. [26 G. A., ch. 37,
§§ 2-6.]
Notes: 1. Success of. As much of the success of free text-books will
depend upon the rules and regulations adopted by the board to govern the
care and use of the books, a board should take more than the usual pains to
adopt plain, comprehensive, and effective rules for the guidance of all concerned.
2. Anticipate tax. While the district may contract no debt for the pur-
chase of books, the board may anticipate the levy and collection of taxes cer-
tified under section 2825, so as to carry out the instructions of the electors
without unnecessary delay.
Sec. 5028-s. What prohibited. That no bills, posters or other mat-
ters used to advertise the sales of intoxicating liquors and tobacco
shall be distributed, posted, painted or maintained within four hun-
dred feet of premises occupied by a public school or used for school
SCHOOL LAWS OF IOWA IBl
purposes, provided, however, that nothing in this act contained shall
apply to advertisements in newspapers of regular publications dis-
tributed to subscribers or purchasers thereof. [30 G. A., ch. 137, § 1.]
Sec. 5028-t. Penalty. Any person violating any of the provisions
of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon convic-
tion thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred
dollars or imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding thirty days.
[30 G. A., ch. 137, § 2.]
REQUESTS — CORPORATIONS MAY RECEIVE.
Sec. 740. Power to take property by gift or bequest — how admin-
istered. Counties, cities, towns and school corporations, are authorized
to take and hold property, real and personal, derived by gifts and be-
quests ; and to administer the same through their proper officers in
pursuance of the terms of the gift or bequest ; and when made for the
establishment of institutions of learning or benevolence, and there is
no provisions made in the gift or bequest for the execution of the
trust, the court having charge of the probate proceedings in the
county shall appoint three trustees, residents of said county, who shall
have charge and control the same, and who shall continue to act until
removed by the court. And they shall give bond as required in case
of executors, to be approved in the same manner as in case of exec-
utors' bonds, and said trustees shall be subject to the orders of said
court. [28 G. A., ch. 23, § 1; 26 G. A., ch. 20.]
See. 1306-b. Amount of indebtedness limited. That section thir-
teen hundred and six-b of the supplement to the code (1902) and chap-
ter forty-three of the acts of the thirtieth general assembly be and
the same are hereby repealed, and the following enacted in lieu thereof :
''No county or other political or municipal corporation shall be
allowed to become indebted in any manner or for any purpose to an
amount exceedng in the aggregate the amount of one and one-fourth
per centum of the actual value of the taxable property within such
county or corporation, except that cities and incorporated towns may
for the purpose of purchasing, erecting, extending or maintaining and
operating waterworks, electric light and power plants, gasworks and
heating plants or of building and constructing sewers, incur an. in-
debtedness, not exceeding in the aggregate, added to all other in-
debtedness, five per centum of the actual value of the taxable property
within such city or incorporated town. The amount of such taxable
property shall be ascertained by the last state and county tax list
previous to the incurring of such indebtedness.'' [33 G. A., ch. 82, § 1 ;
31 G. A., ch. 49, § 1; 30 G. A., ch. 43; 28 G. A., ch. 41, § 2.]
Notes: 1. For additional Indebtedness. See sections 2820-a to 2820-d,
below.
2. Warrants in excess of limit — action on. Either a school district or
intervening tax-payers may, where the officers refuse to act, defend an action
to recover on warrants of the district on the ground that the same are in
excess of the constitutional limitation, although the officers of the district
acted in good faith in creating the debt for which the warrants were issued,
and still recognize their validity. 122 Iowa, 99.
152 SCHOOL LAWS OF IOWA
OF COUNTY HIGH SCHOOLS.
Sec. 2728. How established. Any county may establish a high
school in the following manner: When the board of supervisors shall
be presented with a petition signed by one-third of the electors of the
county as shown by the returns of the last preceding election, request-
ing the establishment of a county high school at a place in the county
named therein, it shall submit the question together with the amount
of tax to be levied to erect the necessary buildings, at the next gen-
eral election to be held in the county, or at a special one called for
that purpose, first giving twenty days' notice thereof in one or more
newspapers published in the county, if any be published therein, and
by posting such notice, written or printed, in each township of the
county, at which election the vote shall be by ballot, for or against
establishing the high school, and for or against the levying of the
tax, the vote to be canvassed in the same manner as that for county
officers. Should a majority of all the votes cast upon the question
be in favor of establishing such school, and the levying of such tax,
the board of supervisors shall at once appoint six trustees, residents
of the county, not more than two from the same township, who, with
the county superintendent of common schools as president, shall con-
stitute a board of trustees for said high school. [27 G. A., ch. 84, § 1 ;
C. '73, §§ 1697-9, 1701.]
The provisions of code § 2803 relating to tuition for pupils attending school
in another district than that in which they reside, have no application to
county high schools organized under this section. Boggs v. School Township,
128-15, 102 N. W. 796.
Sec. 2729. Trustees — officers. The trustees, within ten days after
appointment, shall qualify by taking the oath of civil officers, and
giving bond in such sum as the board of supervisors may require,
with sureties to be approved by it, and shall hold office until their
successors are elected and qualified, who shall be elected at the gen-
eral election following. The trustees then elected shall be divided
into two classes of three each and hold their office two and four years
respectively, their several terms to be decided by lot; and in all
county high schools heretofore established the terms of all trustees
therefor shall expire on the first day of January, nineteen hundred
and seven, and at the general election in nineteen hundred and six
there shall be six trustees elected for each of said county high schools,
three of whom shall be elected for two years, and three of whom
for four years, and at each general election thereafter three trustees
shall be elected for the term of four years, the trustees so elected
to qualify in the same manner and at the same time as other county