1891 private laws – Ch. 307 Sec. 86

The aldermen of the city shall provide for the establishment and support of a system of graded schools under the following conditions, to-wit: First, no interest-bearing debt of the corporation shall be created for this purpose ; second, the school shall be open to all bona fide residents of the city of all races between the ages of six and twenty-one, but the. white and colored schools shall be distinct and separate buildings and departments, and the schools shall have separate apartments for the higher classes of males and females; third, the fun&raised by ad valorem taxation shall be used only for the payment of the salaries of teachers; fourth, 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; fifth, the tax for school purposes shall not exceed twenty cents on the hundred dollars of assessed property and sixty cents on the poll, and the license and privilege taxes as hereinbefore provided, and also not less than twenty-five per centum of the fines and forfeitures shall be paid to the graded school fund.