transferred. districts provided for by this act, in such proportion and in such manner as the school districts establishing the same have agreed, or may mutually agree upon. Section 121. Where any school property, real, per- School property sonal, or mixed, which is subject to the assumption of payment of any indebtedness, is by the provisions of this act transferred from any municipality holding the same for school purposes to any school district established by this act, and where any indebtedness is herein provided to be assumed and paid by any school district, and the municipality from which such school property is transferred, or whose indebtedness is herein provided to be assumed and paid, and the school district to which the same has been or is to be transferred, cannot agree upon the amount of the indebtedness incurred as school indebtedness, herein directed to be assumed and paid by such school district, or upon the amount of any sinking-fund applicable to such indebtedness, then, in any such case, the said municipality, or any such school district, may, at any time within one year after the approval of this act, present its petition to the court of common pleas of the county in which such municipality or school district is located, which petition shall state the facts regarding such transfer of property, indebtedness, and sinking-fund; whereupon the said court, after hearing and taking such testimony as it may deem necessary, shall determine and adjudicate the amount of indebtedness, if any, that shall be assumed and paid by such district, and the amount of such sinking-fund in existence applicable to its payment. In every case in which it is herein directed that any indebtedness shall be assumed and paid by any school district created hereunder, it shall be lawful for such school district and the municipality or district whose indebtedness, incurred for school purposes, is herein and hereby directed to be assumed and paid, to agree at any time hereafter that the amount of indebtedness, as aforesaid directed to be assumed and paid by such school district, may in whole or in part be paid over by the school district to the municipality or other district whose indebtedness is thus agreed to be assumed and paid, with allowance for the amount of the sinking-fund in existence at the time of the assumption of such indebtedness applicable thereto. In case of such agreement, upon such payment of said net amount of indebtedness, the obligation by the school district to assume and pay such indebtedness shall cease, such payment operating as a discharge of all duty hereunder in connection therewith. Section 122. Any deed for school property, properly Title to property. executed and delivered in the name of any school dis trict as established by this act, shall convey to the grantee the entire interest of the grantor in such prop School districts may sue and be sued. Corporate seal. Taxpayer may testify. May hold be quest, gift, etc. erty, irrespective of the manner or name in which such property was conveyed to or acquired by, or is held by, the school district conveying the same. Section 123. Each school district in this Commonwealth shall have the right to sue and be sued in its corporate name. Any legal process against any school district shall be served on the president or secretary of its board of school directors. Section 124. Each school district in this Commonwealth may, by a majority vote of the members of the board of school directors of such district, adopt a corporate seal for the use of said district; the said seal to have engraved thereon the following: "School District of... ., Pennsylvania," and such other inscription or design as the board of school directors may direct. Section 125. No person, on account of being a taxpayer or resident in any school district in this Commonwealth, shall, by reason therof, be incompetent to testify in any suit or action in which such school district is a party. Section 126. It shall be lawful for any school district in this Commonwealth to receive and hold any devise, bequest, grant, endowment, gift, or donation of any property, real, personal, or mixed, which shall be made to said school district or for any of the purposes of this act, which devise, bequest, grant, endowment, gift, or donation shall be administered by or under the direction of the board of directors of the district to which it is made, subject to all the conditions thereto annexed: Provided, however, That the board of school directors in any district shall not be obliged to accept any such devise, bequest, grant, endowment, gift, or donation unless it sees proper so to do. The said board of school directors in such district shall promptly invest, and keep invested as constantly as possible and to the best advantage, such devise, bequest, grant, endowment, gift, or donation if accepted, and the proceeds thereof; and such investment or investments may be made only in bonds legally and properly issued by a school district in this Commonwealth, or in municipal bonds in which savings banks of Pennsylvania are authorized by law to invest their deposits; and all such investments must be first approved by the president judge of the court of common pleas of the judicial district in which such school district is situated. And it shall be the duty of the board of school directors in such district to keep an accurate account of all such devises, bequests, grants, endowments, gifts, and donations, the income arising therefrom, the proceeds thereof, and the expenses of administering the same; and at the end of each fiscal year to render a detailed statement of such devises, bequests, grants, endowments, gifts, and donations, held and possessed by such school district, the proceeds thereof, the investments which have been made therewith, the income arising therefrom, the expenses of administration, and the purposes to which the income arising therefrom have been applied; and such statement shall be audited as hereinafter provided for the auditing of school finances. ARTICLE II. SCHOOL DIRECTORS. Section 201. The public school system established by this act shall be administered by a board of school directors in each school district, to be elected or appointed as follows: School directors. Districts of first Section 202. In each school district of the first class, the judges of the courts of common pleas of the class. county in which such school district is situated, shall, in October, one thousand nine hundred and eleven (1911), appoint a board of fifteen (15) school directors as follows: Five for two years, five for four years, and five for six years; and in October of every second year thereafter shall appoint five members for six years. Their term of office shall begin on the second Monday of November next following their appointment. Section 203. In each school district of the second class, there shall be nine (9) school directors elected at large, at the municipal election held in November, one thousand nine hundred and eleven (1911), three for two years, three for four years, and three for six years; and biennially thereafter, at each municipal election, three school directors shall be elected at large, for terms of six (6) years. Their terms of office shall begin on the first Monday of December following their election. Second class. Section 204. In each school district of the third class, there shall be seven (7) school directors elected Third class. at large, at the municipal election held in November, one thousand nine hundred and eleven (1911), two for two years, two for four years, and three for six years; and thereafter they shall be elected as follows: At each of the first two municipal elections, two school didirectors shall be elected; at the third municipal election, three shall be elected; and thereafter two school directors shall be elected at each of the two succeeding municipal elections, and three at each third municipal election; all to be elected at large, for terms of six years. Their terms of office shall begin on the first Monday of December following their election. Section 205. In each school district of the fourth class, there shall be five (5) school directors elected at Fourth class. large, at the municipal election held in November, one thousand nine hundred and eleven (1911), two for Independent districts. Eligibility of directors. Proviso. Who is not eligible. Present directors to continue in office until successors are or ganized. two years, two for four years, and one for six years; and thereafter they shall be elected as follows: At each of the first two muncipal elections, two school directors shall be elected; at the third municipal election, one shall be elected; and thereafter two school directors shall be elected at each of the two succeeding municipal elections, and one at each third municipal election; all shall be elected at large, for terms of six (6) years. Their terms of office shall begin on the first Monday of December following their election. Section 206. Every independent school district, established as herein provided, shall have its affairs— except as to the election of school directors, who shall be appointed, as hereinafter provided-administered by a board of school directors, subject to all the provisions of this act relating to the class of school districts to which such independent district belongs. And the court establishing such independent school district shall, at the time of so doing, appoint a board of properly qualified residents of the district, of like number and for the same terms as is herein provided for such class of districts; and, in November of every odd year, such court shall appoint the proper number of directors for the full term of six years, whose terms shall begin on the first Monday of December following their appointment, and any vacancy in such board shall be filled by the court for the unexpired term. Section 207. Any citizen of this Commonwealth, having a good moral character, being twenty-one (21) years of age or upwards, and having been a resident of the district for at least one (1) year prior to the date of his election or appointment, shall be eligible to the office of school director therein: Provided, That any person holding the office of mayor, chief burgess, county commissioner, district attorney; city, borough, or township treasurer; city councilman, township commissioner, road supervisor, tax collector, comptroller, auditor, or constable,-shall not be eligible as a school director in this Commonwealth. Section 208. Any person who has held any office of trust or profit under the laws of the United States or of this Commonwealth, or in any county, city, borough, or township therein, and has been removed therefrom for any malfeasance in office, shall not be eligible to the office of school director. Section 209. All school directors, school comptrollers, or members of boards of education, who are holding office in any school district at the time this act goes into effect, shall continue to act in their respective districts until the directors provided for in this act have duly qualified and organized as herein provided. After the boards of school directors herein provided have organized as herein required, such organizations shall administer the affairs of their respective school districts. new district Section 210. When a new school district is hereafter On creation of formed by the creation of a new city, borough, or town court to appoint. ship, the court of common pleas having jurisdiction shall determine and enter in its decree the class of school districts to which such new district shall belong, and shall appoint a board of school directors for such new school district, which shall serve until the first Monday of December next following the first municipal election occurring more than thirty (30) days after the formation of such new school district. Election in new Section 211. At the first municipal election occurring more than thirty (30) days subsequent to the for- districts. mation of such new school district, a board of school directors for such district shall be elected or appointed, in the same manner as the school directors of districts of the same class were first elected or appointed after this act went into effect: Provided, That such school Proviso. directors shall be elected or appointed for such terms that the number and terms of those whose places are to be filled at each succeeding municipal election shall be the same as the number and terms of those whose places are filled at the corresponding election in other school districts of the same class. Section 212. When any school district in this Commonwealth hereafter, for any cause, becomes a school district of another class, as herein provided, a new board of school directors shall be appointed or elected therein, in the same manner as the school directors of districts of the same class are elected or appointed when new districts are created: Provided, That such school directors shall be so elected that the number and terms of those whose places are to be filled at each succeeding municipal election shall be the same as the number and terms of those whose places are filled at the corresponding elections in other school districts of the same class. When a district enters a new class. Proviso. In case of the vote Section 213. In case it should occur at any election that two (2) or more candidates for school director receive the same number of votes for the same office, for director. the said persons shall in such manner as they see fit decide which of them shall be entitled to the office for which they received an equal number of votes, and in case they fail so to do and to file with the president or secretary of the board of school directors in said district, within twenty (20) days after the election, a paper signed by all the candidates receiving the same number of votes, stating which of said persons shall hold said office, then, in that case, the office for which they were candidates shall be vacant, and the board of school directors organizing in December following such election shall during the month of December fill such vacancy by the appointment of an eligible person, but |