1879 private laws – Ch. 67 Sec. 33

The commissioners of the town shall provide for the establishment and support of a system of graded schools under the following conditions, to-wit: 1 No interest-bearing debt of the corporation shall be , created for this purpose. ; 2 The schools shall be open to all bona fide residents of the town, of all races, between the ages of six and twenty-one, but the white and colored schools shall be in distinct and separate buildings and departments, and the schools shall have separate apartments for the higher classes of males and females. 3 The fund raised by taxation shall be used only for the payment of the salaries of teachers. 4 No fee or tuition shall be exacted from or on behalf of any one entitled to the benefits of the schools of more ~ than fifty cents per annum, and at the same ratio for a session of less time. 5 Persons living beyond the limits of the corporation may attend the school from their homes, or as boarders, on the payment of tuition fees to be fixed by the school commissioners. 6 Suitable buildings, furniture and apparatus for the schools shall be provided by voluntary effort. 7 The tax for school purposes shall not exceed twenty s_ feents on the hundred dollars of assessed property and polls; and twenty-five per cent. of the revenues raised ) ander sections fifteen, seventeen and eighteen, and by fines and forfeitures shall be paid to the graded school fund. _ 9 The schools shall not be established until the subject, with the conditions above, has been submitted to the qualified voters of the town on thirty days notice in the town papers and at the court house doors, and ratified by a majority of said voters at an election to be held as other town elections. : _ 10 The said proposition when voted down may be sub- mitted at other elections, but not oftener than once in peach year.