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THE
SCHOOL LAWS
OF
PORTO RICO
Secretary of^lne Department of Education
COMPI
CARE^rT KLE,
PUBLISHED BY THE
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
AUGUST, 1914
SAN JUAN, P. R.
Bureau of Supplies, Printinq. „and Transportation.
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4 •-- l -V
UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
SCHOOL OF LAW
LIBRARY
R 379.14 P977
1914
?iu ffe Rico. L * w» , st>tui*s , etc .
THE
SCHOOL LAWS
OF
PORTO RICO
COMPILED BY
CAREY HICKLE,
Secretary of the Department of Education
PUBLISHED BY THE
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
AUGUST, 1914
SAN JUAN. I'. R.
Bureau of Supplies. Printing, and Transportation.
Si
PREFACE
r riiis edition of the School Laws of Porto Rico includes the ('edi-
fied School Law enacted by the Legislative Assi mbly in 1903, with
amendments and repealing clauses indicated, togethi r with all sub-
sequent independent acts and amendments in force at the time of
compilation.
For convenience in reference the laws are paragraphed consecu-
tively regardless of the sections of the original school law, although
the original section numbers are retained in all paragraphs forming
a part of the Codified School Law of 1908, in conformity with sec-
tion 7 of the Political Code.
The rules and regulations of the Department, authorized in sec-
tion 66 of the original school law, are included in this volume imme-
diately following the last paragraph of the laws.
The index is topical and refers to the paragraphs in which Hie
subjects are treated. The English text is official and must be followed
if the English and Spanish texts appear to differ in meaning.
Edward M. Painter,
Commissioner of Education.
San Juan, P. R., August 1, 1911.
j47«7
THE SCHOOL LAWS OF PORTO RICO
AN ACT
TO REVISE, AMEND AND CODIFY THE GENERAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS
RELATING TO PUBLIC EDUCATION IN PORTO RICO, TO AMEND THE CODES,
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of Porto Rico:
TITLE OP LAW.
(1) Section 1. — This act shall be referred to as the Codified School
Law of Porto Rico.
GENERAL PROVISIONS.
(2) Section 2.- — The Commissioner of Education is hereby author-
ized and directed to establish and maintain a system of free public
schools in Porto Rico for the purpose of providing a liberal education
to the children of school age, i. e., between the ages of five and eighteen
years; to establish higher institutions of learning, including colleges,
universities, normal, industrial, mechanical and high schools, together
with such other educational agencies as said Commissioner may find
necessary and expedient in order to promote the educational devel-
opment of the Island. In addition to the rural and graded schools
which shall constitute the regular common-school system, said Com-
missioner is hereby authorized and directed to establish, maintain
and direct so far as the resources placed at his command will per-
mit, such special schools as in his judgment are necessary to meet
special educational needs, such as kindergarten schools, night schools,
agricultural schools, professional and commercial schools, and schools
in penal and charitable institutions, either under private or public
management, where the same can be maintained in general harmony
witli the public-school system and in harmony with its general stand-
ards; Provided, That the pupils in said special schools may include
others than those of school age. The Commissioner of Education,
the Assistant Commissioner, the secretary of the department and
the general superintendents of schools shall have power to adminis
ter oaths and take sworn testimonies on school matters.
ELECTION OF SCHOOL DIRECTORS.
(3) Section 3. 1 — The qualified voters of each municipality shall
elect at each regular municipal election, three (3) persons with the
requirements specified in section 4 of this act as directors of the pub-
lic schools of said municipality, who shall serve without compensa-
tion, and who shall he elected in the same manner as other municipal
officers, and whose election shall he certified in the same manner as
that of other officers elected at the same time. The three directors
thus elected shall be known as the school board and shall hold office
for four years from and after the first day of January next ensuing
after their election and until their successors have been elected and
qualified.
qualifications of school directors.
(4) Section 4. — Section 4 of "An act to provide for municipal
elections in Porto Rico," approved February 11, 1902, is hereby
amended in its application to persons who may be candidates for
school directors. No one shall be eligible to election as school direc-
tor unless he is a citizen of Porto Rico or of the United States ; unless
he has been a resident within said municipal district or school dis-
trict for six months next preceding the date of said election, and unless
he knows how to read and write. All persons duly elected at any regu-
lar municipal election shall take office on the first Monday after the
first Sunday in January next succeeding such election and shall
qualify as other municipal officers by taking the prescribed oath of
office. Refusal or neglect of a school director to file his official oath
of office within fifteen (15) days after the commencement of the term
of office for which he was chosen, renders said office vacant and the
Commissioner of Education is hereby authorized and directed to fill
said vacancy by the appointment of a person possessing the necessary
qualifications of a school director and of the same political party
as that of the person who was duly elected by the people to fill the
position thus made vacant.
ORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL BOARD.
(5) Section 5.- — On the first Monday after the first Sunday in
January, following a municipal election, the school board shall meet
in ordinary session and proceed to the election from their own num-
ber of a president and a secretary, certifying said organization and
officers to the Commissioner of Education. They shall in like man-
1 \s amended March 14, 1907.
- As amended March 8, 1906, and March 10, 1910.
ner proceed to the election of a treasurer who may be the treasu: \
secretary-comptroller or comptroller of the municipality or any other
person, but who shall not be ;i member of the school board and who
must be a duly qualified voter of the municipality; Provided, That
when a school board deems it necessary, it may appoint any teacher
as treasurer, although lie is not a legal resident of the district. The
election of said treasurer shall he certified to the Commissioner of
Education in like manner as thai of the president and secretary. The
treasurer of the school board must conform in every condition and
respect to the regulations provided by law for the regulation of duties
of treasurers of municipalities. He shall pay only such amounts as
are authorized by warrants signed by the president and the secretary
of the school board and no account shall be allowed unless previously
ordered at a regular or duly called meeting of the said school board,
and the date of said meeting shall be stated in the warrant. The
treasurer shall receive a salary of five per cent of all funds actually
disbursed by him. in all municipalities wherein the annual income
of the school board thereof does not exceed ten thousand dollars
($10,000) ; four per cent of all funds actually disbursed by him in
all municipalities wherein the annual income of the school board
thereof shall be over ten thousand and less than twenty thousand
dollars; three per cent of all funds actually disbursed by him in all
municipalities wherein the annual income of the school board thereof
shall be over twenty thousand and less than thirty thousand dollars;
and two and one-half per cent of all funds actually disbursed by him
in all municipalities wherein the annual income of the school board
thereof shall exceed thirty thousand dollars; Pr<>viil< <l , That no
percentage shall be allowed tin 1 treasurer of the school board on the
salary drawn for himself: And, Provided, further, That the treas-
urer shall receive the maximum amount of one per cent of the funds
disbursed by the school boards from advances made for the build-
ing of school houses or other additional receipts. The president and
secretary shall perform such duties as usually appertain to such
officers and shall make such report to the Commissioner of Education
as he may require from time to time.
(6) ^Section 6. 1 — Immediately upon its organization, the school
board shall fix a regular date upon which to meet each month. Spe-
cial meetings may be called upon twenty-four hours' notice being
given and signed by the president of the board or by any two (2)
of the members of the board or by the supervising principal of the
district. The board shall meet monthly or oftener as required and
1 As amended March 12, 1908.
7
all meetings shall be held in the alcaldia or other public place and
two members shall constitute a quorum. The supervising principal
of the district is ex officio a member of the school board and entitled
to participate in its discussions, to receive notice of its meetings, to
examine its minutes, records and accounts in like manner as a duly
elected member of the board, but he is not entitled to a vote.
GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OF SCHOOL BOARDS.
(7) Section 7. 1 — School boards shall have charge of all school
buildings in their respective districts; they shall have the power to
erect, repair, remodel and improve school property, rent buildings
for school purposes, provide suitable furniture and equipment for
the same, employ janitors for school buildings, repair and keep in
order all school buildings in their respective districts, and in gen-
eral they shall perform such duties as the Commissioner of Educa-
tion may require in accordance with the School Law.
(8) Section 8. 2 — The school board of each municipality may hold
in its corporate name the title to lands and other property which
may be acquired for school purposes in the district and no property
so held by the school directors for school purposes shall be subject
to taxation.
(9) Wherever a school board now holds lands or other property
which has been acquired by deed or otherwise for school purposes,
the title to such land or other property is hereby ratified and con-
firmed, in so far as the said property has been acquired directly by
the school board or by the expenditure of the revenues of said board.
(10) Any municipal council so desiring to do is hereby authorized
to cede to the school board of its municipality for school purposes
the title to lands and other property belonging to the municipality
subject to the provisions of section 22 of "An act to establish a sys-
tem of local government, and for other purposes," approved March
8, 1906, and the provisions of said section with respect to the cession
of municipal property to The People of Porto Rico for public pur-
poses, are hereby extended and made applicable to the cession of
lands and other property to the school boards for school purposes.
(11) No land or improvements on landed property held by the
school board for school purposes shall be alienated except by public
sale in accordance with an ordinance of the school board duly ap-
proved by the Commissioner of Education.
1 As amended March 14, 1907, and March 13, 1913.
- As amended March 13, 1907.
(12) The title to all buildings en end by the Departmenl of Edu-
cation for school purposes and the land upon which such buildings
arc situated is hereby transferred to the school boards of the district
in which such buildings are located: Provided, Thai when such build-
ings cease to bo used for school purposes, they shall revert to The
People of Porto Rico ; And, pr<>vid< d, further, Thai it is hereby made
the duty and obligation of the school hoards to maintain said build-
ings and other property in good repair and that in the evenl of fail-
ure to comply with its obligation, after three months' notice by the
Commissioner of Education, it shall be the duty of the Commissioner
of Education to make all repairs which are absolutely necessary for
the preservation of said buildings and property at the expense of the
Insular Government, charging the same to the respective school
boards ; and it shall be the duty of the Treasurer of Porto Rico to
retain from any moneys due the said school boards the cost of such
repairs during the fiscal year in which such repairs were made unless
the school board shall, by appropriate ordinance approved by the
Commissioner of Education, request that the repay im nt of such cost
be distributed over two fiscal years: Provided, further, That the
transfers which The People of Porto Rico may make to the school
boards as herein provided shall be inscribed in the registry of prop-
erty wherever this is to be done, by means of a certificate issued and
authorized by the Commissioner of Education and in compliance with
the requirements of the Mortgage Law.
(13) 1 The school boards of the respective municipalities of Porto
Rico are hereby authorized and empowered to acquire by purchase,
or otherwise, lands held by possessory titles in the rural districts of
Porto Rico, for the construction thereon of rural school buildings ;
Provided, however, That such land is free from all encumbrances and
is recorded in the registry of property in the name of the vendor
or grantor. All conveyances hereby authorized shall be in writing
and shall he recorded in the registry of property, and are hereby
exempted from the payment of all internal-revenue taxes, and the
recording thereof shall be made free of charge.
CONTRACTING OF INDEBTEDNESS. BORROWING OF MONEY AND ISSUING
BONDS. "
(14) That no municipal corporation in the Island of Porto Rico
shall become indebted in any manni r or for any purpose, including
1 Act of March 13. 1913.
-Act of Fetrurai 19, I'M: 1 ., as amended March 12, 1914.
!,)
all existing municipal and school-board indebtedness, in excess of
seven per centum of the aggregate tax valuation of its property, to
be ascertained by the last assessment for insular purposes previous to
the incurring of such indebtedness; Provided, That no municipal
corporation shall become indebted, including all existing indebtedness
for all purposes other than school-board indebtedness, in excess of
six per centum of the aggregate tax valuation of its property, and
that no school board shall become indebted, including all existing
indebtedness, in excess of one per centum ,of the assessed tax valuations?
of the municipality in which such school board is situated.
(15) That all municipal corporations and school boards in Porto
Rico are hereby empowered to borrow money, to contract indebted-
ness and to issue bonds, for the purposes and in the manner prescribed
in this law.
(16) That any municipal corporation may contract indebtedness,,
borrow money and issue bonds on its own credit to an amount not
exceeding six per centum of the aggregate tax valuation of its prop-
erty, to be ascertained by the last assessment for insular purposes
previous to the incurring of such indebtedness, for any or all of the
following purposes : taking up or making payments on its floating
indebtedness and liabilities ; refunding its existing bonded indebted-
ness ; constructing or purchasing waterworks, sewers, public buildings
or bridges; grading and opening streets and roads or for other nec-
essary public improvements; Provided, That any part of such indebt-
edness may be incurred by any municipality to assist the school
board in the purposes specified in section 4 (par. 17) of this act.
(17) That any school board may contract indebtedness, borrow
money and issue bonds on its own credit to an amount not exceeding
one per centum of the aggregate tax valuation of the property of the
municipality in which such school board is located, to be ascertained
by the last assessment for insular purposes previous to the incurring
of such indebtedness, for any or all of the following purposes: taking
up or making payments on its floating indebtedness and liabilities ;
refunding its existing bonded indebtedness; building school buildings,
or making additions or necessary repairs to its property.
(18) That in addition to the purposes specified in the preceding
sections for which municipal corporations and school boards may con-
tract indebtedness, borrow money and issue bonds, any municipal
corporation or school board may, in case of emergency, request a
temporary loan from the insular funds, for increasing existing or
providing new budgetary appropriations for other than administrative-
expenses.
10
(19) That any municipal corporation or school hoard desiring to
incur indebtedness, horrow money or issue bonds on its own credit,
shall submit to the Executive Council of Porto Rico an ordinance
duly passed by the said municipal council or school board and ap-
proved, in the case of municipal corporations, by the mayor, or, in
the case of school boards, by the Commissioner of Education, which
ordinance shall recite the circumstances rendering desirable the in-
debtedness or loan to he incurred, the amount of the same, the purpose
or purposes to which it is to lie devoted and shall provide for 'he
discharge or repayment of the same with such interest and on su< h
terms as the municipal council or school board may determine.
(20) That if bonds are to be issued, the said ordinance shall also
state their denomination and whether in registered or coupon form.
(21) That if the ordinary receipts of a municipal corporation in
which it is desired, either by the municipal corporation itself or by
the school board co-terminous therewith, to contract indebtedness,
borrow money or issue bonds, for either municipal or school-board
purposes, as provided in sections 3 and 4 (pp. 16 and 17) of this
law, are not sufficient to provide for both the interest and principal
of the same as they shall become due, then the president of the munici-
pal council may convene the municipal council and the property
taxpayers of the district and, in joint assembly, by individual vote,
they shall decide whether or not a special tax, not to exceed twenty-
five one-hundredths of one per centum of the last assessed valuation
of the real and personal property of the said municipality, shall be
levied, and if the said assembly, by a vote representing- a majority
of the property taxpayers present, does decide that a special tax shall
be levied and fixes the rate of the same, then the municipal council
shall pass an ordinance providing for the same, to become effective at
the beginning of such future fiscal year as the municipal council with
the approval of the Executive Council of Porto Rico may determine.
(22) The joint assembly of the municipal council and the prop-
erty tax payers shall be held at the place most adequate for holding
the number of tax payers that should be cited for said assembly,
which shall he convened in the following manner: During six conse-
cutive weeks immediately prior to the date for holding the assembly,
notices of the same shall be posted in the offices of the mayor and
of his commissioners in the barrios of the municipality and in the
local post offices. Such notices shall bear at the top. the word "Notice !'
in letters measuring not less (than) three (3) inches in height in
heavy-face type, and the body of the notices shall be of a size of type
plainly legible. A notice of the assembly shall be published twice
n
each, week for six consecutive weeks immediately preceding the date
of the same, in a local newspaper, if there be any, having a general
circulation, also in two newspapers of general circulation throughout
the Island.
(23) In addition, the secretary of the municipal council shall
mail or cause to be mailed at least) thirty (30) days prior to the date
for holding the assembly, a printed notice thereof to each of the
property tax payers of record on the tax rolls of the bureau of prop-
erty taxes of the office of the Treasurer of Porto Rico.
(24) The president and secretary of the municipal council shall
be president and secretary respectively of the assembly.
(25) The voting shall be by ballots, which ballots shall state
the purpose or purposes for which the tax is to be levied, and the
rate of 4he same, and shall bear the words 'yes' and 'no' with
appropriate spaces opposite each in which the voter may indicate
his will by a check mark. Each ballot shall be signed by the person
casting the same, or, in the event that the voter is unable to sign his
name, he shall make his mark, which shall be witnessed by one other
voter. All ballots, when properly endorsed, shall be deposited by the
respective voters in a ballot-box which shall have been obtained for
the particular purpose from the Committee on Elections of the Execu-
tive Council, said ballot-box, when sent to the municipality in which
the assembly is 1 to be held, shall be locked and all keys to the same
retained by the said Committee on Elections. Immediately after the
close of the assembly for voting, the ballot-box shall be returned to
the Committee on Elections of the Executive Council, and opened by
the said committee, and the votes counted, and the result reported to
the respective municipality and the Treasurer of Porto Rico.
(26) Only those persons shall be entitled to vote at said joint
assembly whose names appear on the records of the Treasurer of
Porto Rico as property taxpayers for the current or preceding fis-
cal year, and such property taxpayers shall be allowed to vote only
upon presentation, to the secretary of the joint assembly, of the
notice of the assembly mailed to the said property taxpayers as spe-
cified above, which notice, when presented to the secretary of the
assembly by the individual to whom addressed, shall serve as suffi-
cient credentials to entitle the holder thereof to vote; Provided, how-
ever, That in case of the inability of the property taxpayer to appear
in person at said joint assembly, he may delegate the authority for
voting to another individual, who shall be entitled to vote in the place
and instead of said property taxpayer upon presentation to the secre-
tary of the joint assembly, of the notice of the assembly mailed to said
12
property taxpayer and properly endorsed by him, indicating his desire
to be represented by proxy; And, provided, further, That in case
any property taxpayer shall have lost his notice of the assembly, he
shall be permitted to east his ballot upon making affidavit thai lie is
the person properly entitled to cast said ballot.
(27) Should the day on which the joint assembly is convened,
prove insufficient, in point of time, to enable all such property tax-
payers to cast their votes, the time for voting shall be extended to
the day immediately following. Announcemenl of the adjournment
until the following day shall be made by the presiding officer prior
to the closing hour for voting on the first day, and such announce-
ment shall be made either at the volition of the presiding officer or
upon presentation to him before the closing hour of the first day of
a written petition signed by not less than ten (10) property taxpayers
present at said joint assembly who shall not themselves have voted
en said first day of the assembly. The announcement of the adjourn-
ment until the following day shall also include the announcement of
the hour and place of meeting.
(28) Prior to the beginning of the voting, the secretary of the
assembly shall read to the assembly the copy of the ordinance pre-
pared for submission to the Executive Council of Porto Rico requesting
said loan. A copy of said ordinance shall have been previously
forwarded to 'the Executive Council and the Treasurer of Porto Rico.
(29) In case a loan shall be requested for a project or projects,
the direct benefits of which shall be almost entirely to the advantage
of the urban residents, then a special tax may be levied on the urban
property at a higher rate than that to be levied on the rural property.
(30) That all municipal bonds and the coupons attached, if any,
shall be signed by the mayor and the municipal secretary, and the
date of each shall be recorded by the municipal secretary.
(31) That all school-board bonds and the coupons attached, if any,
shall be signed by the president and the secretary of the school board,
and the date of each shall be recorded by the secretary of the school
board.
(32) That the bonds must draw interest at a rate not to exceed
six per centum per annum, the interest to be payable in lawful money
of'the United States and semi-annually on the first day of each Janu-
ary and July.
(33) That if any municipal corporation or school board shall in
due form request a loan from the funds of the Insular Government,
and if in the judgment of the Executive Council the loan be advisable
and the finances of the Insular Government will safely permit of its.
13
being made, the Executive Council may approve the same, and upon
Midi approval and the approval of the Governor of Porto Rico, the
Treasurer of Porto Rico shall be authorized to make such advance
to the municipal corporation or school board. In the case of school
boards, such ordinance shall specify that the interest and principal
shall It.' payable by the Treasurer of Porto Rico and shall be a first
lien upon the revenues of the school board to be deducted therefrom
by the Treasurer of Porto Rico.
(34) That any municipal corporation or school board requesting
a. loan from the Insular Government, to be covered by a bond issue,
shall in each case provide in the ordinance requesting such loan, for
the refunding of all outstanding unbonded indebtedness to The People
of Porto Rico which may exist al the time such ordinance is passed,
and the bond issue shall cover the total of such indebtedness plus the
amount of the new loan to be contracted, and such bonds shall be
countersigned by the Treasurer and Auditor of Porto Rico ; Pro-
vided, however, That such countersignatures shall not be required on
the coupons of the bonds, if any.
(35) That in addition to the authorization given in this act to
municipal corporations and school boards to borrow money from the
Insular treasury, a municipal corporation or school board may, with
the approval of the Executive Council, borrow money directly from
banks, other financial institutions or individuals. Any such loan shall
be made only upon an ordinance duly passed by the municipal council
or school board and approved by the mayor or Commissioner of
Education, by the Executive Council and by the Governor of Porto
Rico, as provided in section 26 (par. 47) of this act. Such ordinance
shall specify that interest and principal shall be payable by the
Treasurer of Porto Rico and shall be a first lien upon the revenues of
the municipal corporation or school board, to be deducted therefrom
by the Treasurer of Porto Rico.
(36) That in case the holder of any municipal or school-board
bonds shall give notice in writing to the person authorized in the bond
to pay interest and principal of the same, that he wishes such bonds
so held by him and the interest thereon to be paid in the United
States, then such bonds and the interest on the same shall be so paid
either in Washington, D. C, or New York City, and all bonds and
coupons so paid must be returned to, and canceled by the person
authorized in the bond to pay the same.
(37) That in order to facilitate the sale or hypothecation of any
bonds or other evidences of indebtedness authorized by this act, the
good faith of The People of Porto Rico is hereby irrevocably pledged
14
for the paymenl of the interest as it falls due and the repayment of
the principal thereof at maturity.
(38) That all money loaned or covered by bond issue shall be
paid into the municipal or school 7 board treasury and applied only to
the purposes specified in the ordinance authorizing the loan : Providt d,
That the eost of engraving or preparing the bond certificates shall
be borne by the municipal corporation or school hoard receiving the
loan for which they are issued. Such certificates may be obtained
through the Insular treasury, and the Treasurer of Porto Rico is
hereby authorized, with the approval of the Executive Council, to
prepare such certificates for use by the municipal corporations and
school boards.
(39) That the treasurer of a municipal corporation or school
board, obtaining an advance or loan of money from the Insular (iov-
( rnment, or from any hank, financial institution or individual, under
the conditions set forth in this act, prior to receiving any of the money
of the said advance or loan, shall furnish to the municipal corporation
or to The People of Porto Rico an additional bond which shall not
be less than twenty per centum of the loan made or the money to be
received. The bond shall conform to the requirements specified for
the bond of a municipal treasurer in section 40 of the Municipal Law
as subsequently amended.
(40) That all municipal corporations or school boards are author-
ized, when mutually agreeable to both contracting parties, to substi-
tute new contracts for existing contracts evidencing indebtedness of
such municipal corporations or school boards upon such terms and
conditions as may he approved by the Executive Council of Porto
Rico.
(41) That authority is hereby given to the Executive Council of
Porto Rico to sell, transfer, assign, pledge or hypothecate, unless other-
wise prohibited by law, all evidences of indebtedness representing
funds owing to The People of Porto Rico from the municipal cor-
porations or school hoards of Porto Rico.
(42) That the Treasurer of Porto Rico is hereby authorized to
accept, 'at his discretion, at par, any of the bonds or other evidences
of indebtedness described in this law. as collateral security in any
case where such security is recpiired.
(43) That the Treasurer of Porto Rico, subject to the approval
of the Executive Council of Porto Rico, may sell, transfer, assign.
pledge, or hypothecate, for the benefit of The People of Porto Rico,
any bonds or other evidences of indebtedness which may have he-
come the property of The People of Porto Rico by forfeiture, and
15
he may, as betwe< n himself, as Treasurer of Porto Rico, and The
People of Porto Rico, treat any bonds or other evidence of indebted-
ness of any municipal corporation or school board in Porto Rico, as
cash, in which event he shall be entitled to a credit amounting to
the par value thereof, provided the same were accepted by him at par.
(44) That all bonds and other evidence of indebtedness, hereto-
fore or hereafter issued according to law, by municipal corporations
or school boards, in favor of The People of Porto Rico, are hereby
exempt from the payment of all insular and municipal taxation.
(45) That any municipal corporation or school board now exist-
ing or which may hereafter be created shall be and the same is hereby
authorized and empowered to contract and provide in any ordinance
as incident to the obtaining of advances or loans from The People of
Porto Rico, or to the refunding or reissuing of existing evidences of
indebtedness to The People of Porto Rico, or to the issuing of any
bonds authorized by law, or to the incurring of any public indebt-
edness, that any public work or improvement included within the
purposes of said ordinance, or the cost of which in whole or in part
is to be made from the proceeds of such advance or loan, or of the
sale, transfer, assignment, pledge or hypothecation of any bonds or
other evidences of indebtedness, shall be construed in accordance
with plans and specifications approved by the Commissioner of the
Interior and the municipal corporation. Every contract for the con-
struction of such public works or improvement shall be entered into
by the mayor in representation of the municipal corporation or by
the president of the school board in representation of the school board,
with the approval of the municipal council in the former case or in
the latter case of the Commissioner of Education, and with the ap-
proval of the Commissioner of the Interior, and in compliance with
the laws governing the constructing of municipal public works or
improvements.
(46) That all money borrowed or indebtedness incurred on behalf
of any municipal corporation or school board must be used only for
the purpose or purposes specified in the ordinance or ordinances au-
thorizing the same, and the Executive Council of Porto Rico shall
have full power to require such accounting of the expenditure of
such money as in its opinion is advisable. The residue from any loan
to a municipal corporation or school board which may remain after
the projects specified in the ordinance authorizing the same shall have
been completed, shall be applied as the Executive Council of Porto
Rico may approve.
(47) That no municipal corporation or school board shall have the
16
power to borrow money, contrael indebtedness or issue bonds for
any of. the purposes herein provided, and no such loan, contract or
bond issue shall be valid until the Executive Council of Porto Rico
shall have first approved of the purpose or purposes of the loan or
indebtedness to be contracted, the form of the bonds if any are to be
issued, the terms of payment, the rate of interest and of all other
details connected with the same and of the action of the municipal
corporation or school board preceding h< reunder. But immediately
upon the final approval of the ordinance by both the Executive Coun-
cil and the Governor of Porto Rico, such ordinance shall become a
contract absolute and binding upon such municipal corporation or
school board and upon all successors in office of the municipal cor-
poration or school board enacting the same until such indebtedness
shall have been entirely discharged, and shall be revocable only with
the mutual consent of both the contracting parties and the approval
of the Executive Council.
(48) That for the purposes of this act, school boards as now organ-
ized or as may be hereafter duly organized, in Porto Rico, the territo-
ries of which are co-terminous with the municipalities in which they
are organized, are by this act ratified, confirmed, and declared to be
valid bodies corporate.
METHOD OF REFUNDING. 3
(49) That for the purpose of providing a method of refunding to
the Insular Treasury the amounts loaned from time to time by The
People of Porto Rico to the Municipal Corporations and School Boards
of Porto Rico and secured by the bonds of the said municipal cor-
porations and school boards, issued in accordance with an act entitled
1 " An act to provide for the contracting of indebtedness, the borrow-
ing of money and the issuing of bonds by Municipal Corporations
and School Boards of Porto Rico; and for other purposes, " approved
February 19, 1913, the Treasurer of Porto Rico is hereby authorized
and empowered to issue bonds of The People of Porto Rico in accord-
ance with the conditions herein specified.
(50) That said bonds shall be issued at such times and in such
amounts as the Executive Council of Porto Rico shall determine;
Provided, however, That at no time shall the aggregate amount of
such bonds outstanding and unpaid exceed the aggregate amount
of unpaid municipal-corporation and school-board bonds held and
owned by The People of Porto Rico. Except that for the purpose
1 A.CI of July 26, 1913.
17
of this section, bonds to be isued by any municipal corporation or
school board to The People of Porto Rico and to be held by The Peo-
ple of Porto Rico, the ordinance or ordinances, providing for which
shall have been duly passed by the municipal council or school board,
approved by the Mayor, in case of municipal bonds, by the Commis-
sioner of Education, in case of school-board bonds, and by the Execu-
tive i 'oiincil and Governor of Porto Rico, may be considered as held
and owned by The People of Porto Rico from the date of such final
approval of the ordinance by the Governor of Porto Rico even though
the bonds shall not have been actually issu< d and delivered by the
municipal corporation or school board to The People of Porto Rico.
(51) That said bonds shall be in registered or coupon form or both
and in any or all of the following denominations: One thousand
(1,000) dollars; five thousand (5,000) dollars; ten thousand (10,000)
dollars; and any coupon bonds issued shall be made exchangeable
tor registered bonds.
(52) Said bonds shall bear interest at a rate not to exceed four
and one-half (4 J -) per cent per annum, which interest shall be pay-
able semi-annually on the first day of each January and July. They
shall be divided into series for payment, the series shall be indicated
by a serial letter on each bond and the separate series shall be redeem-
able and payable on such dates and in such amounts as shall be deter-
mined by the Executive Council within such limits as snail be neces-
sary in order to insure full compliance with section 2 (par. 50) hereof.
Both principal and interest shall be payable either at the Treasury
of the United States or in Porto Rico at the office of the Treasurer
of Porto Rico, or at the office of the fiscal agent of the Government
of Porto Rico appointed therefor in the United States, as the Execu-
tive Council may determine, in gold coin of the United States of the
present standard of weight and fineness.
(53) That said bonds shall be sold by the Secretary of War of the
United States or by the Treasurer of Porto Rico or by any fiscal agent
duly appointed for that purpose by the Treasurer of Porto Rico, with
the approval of the Executive Council of Porto Rico, upon such terms
as are most favorable to The People of Porto Rico, and as near to the
dates of their issuance as is practicable. The proceeds from their
sale shall be deposited with an authorized depository of the Govern-
ment of Porto Rico to be designated by the Treasurer of Porto Rico
and shall become a part of the general funds of the Insular Treasury.
(54) That, to the payment of the interest and principal of said
bonds shall be devoted the proceeds, or so much thereof as may be
necessary, to be derived from the payments of interest and principal
18
of the municipal e< ; oration and scho< I board bonds held and own§d
by The People of Porto Rico, and in addition any necessary portion
of the general funds of The People of Porto Etico not otherwise appro-
priated.
(55) That the foregoing provisions in regard to the payment of
interest on said bonds, and the repayment of the principal, shall be
deemed to he in the nature of a continuous appropriation, and In-
sufficient authorization to the Treasure]- of Porto Rico to make such
payments, and no further appropriation for such purpose shall be
required. Such payments, however, shall be made upon the war-
rants of the Auditor of Porto Rieo, countersigned by the Governor
of Porto Rico, in accordance with the general provisions of the law
relative to the transfer and disbursement of public moneys.
(56) That said bonds are hereby declared to be exempt from the
payment of taxes of any kirn! whatsoever, of the Govt rnment of Porto
Rico, or any local sub-division or authority thereof.
(57) That for the payment of the interest on said bonds, as it falls
due, and the repayment of the principal, the good faith of The Peo-
ple of Porto Rieo is hereby irrevocably pledged.
(58) That the Treasurer of Porto Rieo shall acc< p1 any of the bonds
of The People of Porto Rico at par, as collateral security in any case
where such security is required.
(59) That the Treasurer of Porto Rieo, subject to the approval
of the Executive Council of Porto Rico, may sell, transfer, assign,
pledgi . or hypothecate, for the benefit of The People of Porto Rico
any bonds or other evidences of indebtedness which may have become
the property of The People of Porto Rieo by forfeiture or otherwise,
and he may, as between himself, as Treasurer of Porto Rico, and The
People of Porto Rico, treat any such bonds or other evidences of in-
debtedness as cash, in which event he shall be entitled to a credit in
bis accounts amounting to the par value thereof, provided the same
were accepted by him at par.
(60) That the bonds issued under the authority of this act, and
the obligations created thereby, shall not be impaired by any act
or r< solution which the Legislative Assembly of Porto Rico may sub-
sequently enact, or by any interpretation thereof, or by any inter-
pretation of any act or i resolution heretofore approved; but said
bonds, when duly issued and sold, shall constitute a legal and bind-
ing obligation on the Government of Porto Rico until properly re-
deemed and paid.
(61) That to defray all expenses that may be incurred in carrying
out the purposes of this act, there is hereby appropriated in the form
19
of a continuous appropriation the sum of ten thousand (10,000)
dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary for each issue of said
bonds, to be expended under the authority and with the approval of
the Governor of Porto Rico.
(62) That the Executive Council of Porto Rico shall have entire
charge and authority within the limitations prescribed, in respect
to all matters relating to said bonds, and shall take all action neces-
sary for the complete carrying out of the provisions of this act, and
may provide for the issue of interim bonds or interim certificates
therefor pending the preparation of definitive bonds.
SCHOOL-BUILDING FUND. 1 2 3
(63) That the sum of eighty thousand (80,000) dollars is hereby
set aside from any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated
as a special trust fund to be called the "school-building fund" to be
expended in accordance with the terms of this act without limitation
of fiscal year for the construction of school buildings.
(64) The school-building fund shall be subject to increase and
i eplenishment by subsequent appropriations from the Insular Treas-
ury, by repayments from the local boards and by the payment of
interest upon advances as hereinafter provided.
(65) All buildings erected under the provisions of this act shall
be from plans approved by the Commissioner of Education and the
Commissioner of the Interior. All contracts for the construction of
buildings shall be made for the Department of Education by the
Commissioner of the Interior and under his responsibility, and all
payments on account of such contracts shall be approved by the Com-
missioner of the Interior. The entire cost of erecting all school build-
ings under the provisions of this act shall be paid in the first instance
by the Insular Treasury from the school-building fund; Provided,
howt ver, That one-half of the cost of constructing such building shall
be reimbursed to the school-building fund in the manner hereinafter
set forth.
(66) Any school hoard desiring to avail itself of the benefits of
this act shall make application therefor to the Executive Council by
proper ordinance which ordinance shall specify the number of school-
houses and the number of rooms in each which it is proposed to con-
struct, the material to be used in such construction and the maximum
of March 14, 1907.
- Fund increased by forty thousand (40,000) dollars, March 9, 1908.
' Fund increased by forty thousand (40,000) dollars, March 9, 1911.
20
cost thereof. Such ordinance shall pledge the school board to acquire
a suitable site approved by the Commissioner of Education, with title
of dominion. The said ordinance shall pledge the school board to
the repayment of one-half the cost of constructing the buildings, and
shall authorize the Treasurer of Porto Rico to deduct the sum so
pledged in equal annual installments from any moneys collected by
the Insular Government and due the school board, such deduction to
begin in the fiscal year following the passage of the ordinance. The
number of years during which such repayment is to be made shall
not exceed ten. The ordinance shall also provide for the payment
of interest at the rate of three per centum per annum on all sums
advanced upon the construction of the building and which by the
terms of the ordinance are to be repaid to the Insular Treasury, and
for the retention of such interest by the Treasury of Porto Rico. Said
interest shall be computed on the entire sum to be repaid to the Insu-
lar Treasury from the date of the draft representing the first pay-
ment on account of the work undertaken and all interest paid by the
school board shall accrue to the school-building fund; Provided, That
on making such reimbursements by the school boards, the Treasurer
of Porto Rico shall compute only the interest on the sums pending
payment. Upon receipt of the ordinance, the Executive Council
shall examine whether the same is in accordance with the terms of
the law, and if found defective or unsatisfactory in form shall return
the same to the school board for revision and correction.
(67) The Executive Council shall consider the applications as they
are received, and shall allot the funds available for the purpose
among the applicants as far as possible to do so. In case any school
board whose application has been approved shall fail to provide, within
five months, a suitable site for the erection of the building, the Com-
missioner of Education shall report the fact to the Executive Coun-
cil and the allotment to said school board shall be declared null and
void, provided that the cancellation of any allotment for failure to
provide a site shall not operate as a bar to any subsequent applica-
tion of the same school board by appropriate ordinance duly enacted.
All applications which may not be acted upon for lack of funds shall
he considered in force until the close of each fiscal year when all such
applications shall lapse. In such cases renewal of the application
may be made by a new ordinance.
RURAL SCHOOL BUILDING FUND. 1
(68) That the sum of forty thousand (40,000) dollars he appro-
1 Act of March 10, 1908.
21
p iated from any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated,
to be expended under the direction of the Commissioner as herein-
provided.
(69) The Commissioner of Education is hereby authorized to pur-
chase or construct in the rural regions of the Island, inexpensive
school houses: Provided, That the cost to the Department of Educa-
tion of any one building shall not exceed two hundred aud fifty (250)
dollars, and further provided that any school board may increase
the maximum amount mentioned, by such further sum as may be
within their power.
(70) The Commissioner of Education is authorized to purchase or
erect the buildings authorized in this act upon land ceded or donated,
provided such land shall be free of all incumbrances and shall appear
to be recorded in the registry of property, in the name of the grantor.
The conveyance shall he in writing in a public instrument which shall
be recorded at the registry of property, such instrument to be ex-
empted from the payment of all internal-revenue stamps and the
recording thereof in the registry to be made free of charge. In the
ution of such instrument the Commissioner of Education shall
appear in behalf of The People of Porto Rico, or he may delegate for
that purpose the president of the school board of the respective muni-
cipality.
(71) Section 9. — Whenever the purpose of a meeting of the school
board or of a municipal election is to authorize taxation or indebt-
edness for school purposes, such meeting or election shall not be legal
for such purposes unless its object be advertised, together with the
time and place of such meeting or election for at least thirty (30)
days previous.
(72) Section 10. — Whenever the school board provides but one
school building in any urban center of a municipality even though
said building contain more than one class, each and every class thus
maintained shall be open to both sexes, and likewise all rural schools.
When, however, in any urban center there is more than one school
building provided and said buildings are no more than one kilometer
distant from each other, one building may be devoted to classes for
boys and the other to classes for girls, if the school board so desires.
All sehoolhouses and class rooms shall be entirely separate and upon
different premises from the residence of the teacher or any other
family, or from any place of business.
(73) Section 11. — Whenever it shall become necessary for a school
board to acquire a site for a school building or for an addition to a
schoolhouse site and the same cannot be acquired by agreement of sale
22
with the owners thereof, the board is hereby given the right of emi-
nent -domain to proceed to condemn said property for school uses.
The method employed in said condemnation proceedings shall be in
accordance with the law of eminenl domain then [n force.
(74) Section 12.— A school board in a municipality in its corporate
capacity and organized in accordance with this acl may sue and be
sued in the name of the board.
(75) Section 13. — The school board shall see thai all public schools
supported by public taxation either local or Insular, are known as
public schools and that admission to them shall be free of all charge.
It is furthermore the duty of the school board to see thai oo teacher
accepts fees for instruction given in the public schools during school
hour:-.
(76) Section 14. — Whenever proper school quarters are not pro-
vided by the school board within ten (10) days from the receipt of
notice from the Commissioner of Education that such quarters shall
be provided, the Commissioner through the supervising principal of
the district, may contract for the use of a suitable building or rooms
for the public school in question, and such contract shall be recognized
as valid against the school board in whose jurisdiction the school is
located, and suit for the amount of said rent may be brought against
tlie school board by the owner of the property thus rented in any court
of competent jurisdiction and if judgment be in favor of the claim-
ant, such judgment shall lie recognized as a legal claim against said
school board.
(77) Section 15.— [Repealed March 13. 1913.]
(78) Section 16. — The school directors shall have the light to visit
their schools as frequently as possible, and to report to the supervis-
ing principal on the work of any teacher. They shall supply the nec-
essary school equipment in accordance with the recommendations of
the supervising principal, co-operating with the latter to remedy all
defects noted. If the school board does not remedy the defects in
school equipment, the supervising principal may tiring the matter
officially to the attention of the Commissioner of Education and the
board shall co-operate with the Department of Education in promptly
removing' any unsatisfactory conditions in the schools.
(79) Section 17. — The school boards shall supply desks, school fur-
niture, bookcases, chairs and desks for teachers, clocks, proper recep-
tacles for drinking water, supplies for janitors, and all other necessary
equipment for the schoolroom, excepl textbooks and such stationery
supplies as the IV; artment of Education may furnish, for the schools
of their respective districts and they shall provide suitable storerooms
23
iu such towns as the district supervising principal may indicate for
the safe custody of schoolbooks and supplies, and shall pay the cost
of transportation of said books and supplies to and from said store-
rooms to their schools whenever it may be necessary or whenever
directed to do so by the Commissioner.
(80) Section 18. 1 — The location or assignment to a particular
school of a teacher within the jurisdiction of a school board shall be
determined by said board and the supervising principal of the district.
In cases where the school board and the supervising principal fail to
agree, the matter shall be referred to the Commissioner of Education,
whose decision, after due and proper investigation of the facts in the
case, shall be final.
SCHOOL FUNDS AND THEIR ADMINISTRATION.
(81) Section 19.— [Repealed March 10, 1904.]
(82) Section 20. — The accounts of the school board and of the
treasurer of the school board shall be audited and in every way treated
as the accounts of all other municipal officers.
(83) Section 21. 2 — School boards shall pay all their obligations
promptly and under no circumstances shall incur debts or obligations
in excess of their receipts or not provided for in their budget. They
shall, before the first day of August of each year, make a statistical
report of their transactions, financial and otherwise, and submit the
same to the Commissioner of Education. Said report shall contain an
exact statement of the receipts and expenses of the school board. The
accounts of the school board and of the treasurer of the school board
shall be audited and otherwise treated as all accounts of the munici-
pal offices. These accounts shall be kept in the account books pre-
pared and furnished by the Commissioner of Education, and no money
shall be expended until after the appropriate record of the transac-
tion has been made in these books. These account books shall be sent
to the Commissioner of Education for his examination and approval
on or before the twentieth day of July, October, January and April
of each year, and shall be returned by the Commissioner of Education,
through the supervising principal of the district, within ten days
after their receipt.
(84) Section 22. — The treasurer of each school board shall keep
such books open at all times to the inspection of any member of the
board, of the auditing officers of the Insular Treasury or the Commis-
1 As amended March 13, 1913.
2 As ami nded March 10, 190 1.
24
sioner of Education or his delegates or of any resident of the
municipality, in which he shall enter all receipts on accounts,
the sources from which they wen- received and the objects to which
they were made applicable. All disbursements so recorded shall show
for what purpose the money was paid, and he shall keep [all books,
receipts and vouchers] on file ifhtil authorized by the Commissioner
of Education or the Auditor of Porto Rico to destroy them. He shall
likewise keep on file receipts and vouchers for all moneys paid out
showing to whom the money was paid and all orders upon which
money has been paid out. The treasurer shall present and file with
the secretary of the school board time (3) days before his successor
may qualify, a report in writing- signed by him and containing a
statement of all moneys received by him within the year preceding
and of all his disbursements, exhibiting vouchers therefor; also the
amount received by him of taxes assessed upon the taxable property
of the district within the year, purpose for which they were assessed,
the amounts assessed for each purpose, which report shall be recorded
by the secretary, and if it appears that there is any balance in the
hands of the treasurer, he shall pay such balance into the hands of
his successor as soon as he executes the bond required as a condition
of holding the office of treasurer, and his sureties justify on such
bond. The president and secretary shall examine said report, and
if correct they shall endorse the same and file a duplicate copy with
the Department of Education. The treasurer of the school board of
each district shall refuse absolutely to pay any warrant where the
date of the meeting at which the disbursement was ordered is not
specifically stated. In such cases it shall be the duty of such treas-
urer to notify the Commissioner of Education.
(85) Section 23. x — The treasurer of each school board shall give
a bond in favor of The People of Porto Rico, equal to ten (10) per
cent of the total receipts of the school board for the preceding fiscal
year; Provided, That in no instance shall such bond be for a sum less
than five hundred (500) dollars: And, Provided, further. That when
the school board of any municipality shall incur indebtedness, through
the Insular Treasury of Porto Rico, a supplementary bond shall be
given by the treasurer of that school board to an amount equivalent
to twenty (20) per cent of the loan. These bonds shall be approved
by the president and secretary, and shall be subject to annual inspec-
tion in reference to their amounts. Such bond shall be filed with the
secretary of the board, and a dupli< ate copy with the signed approval
of the president and secretary shall be filed with the Department
'As amended March 8, 1906, and March 10, 1910.
25
of Education. In ease of breach of any condition of said bond the
president shall cause an action to be commenced thereon, and shall
prosecute in the name of the board, and the money when collected
shall be applied to the use of the board for school purposes. If the
treasurer fails to give bond, as provided herein, or for any cause is
unable to attend to his duty, the boa"rd shall proceed to appoint an-
other treasurer, who shall give bond as required herein.
(86) Section 24. — The Treasurer of Porto Rico may at -any time
prescribe for the treasurers of the school boards a method of keep-
ing their accounts and auditing the same which shall then become,
upon thirty (30) days' notice having been given of such rules and
regulations as the Treasurer may prescribe, obligatory [upon] such
treasurers; Provided, That all the rules and regulations prescribed
by the Treasurer of Porto Rico shall relate solely to the method of
keeping the accounts of the school board and shall be transmitted to
the school board through the Commissioner of Education and with
his approval.
DUTIES OF SECRETARIES OF SCHOOL BOARDS.
(87) Section 25. — The secretary shall record the proceedings of
the school board in a book provided for that purpose; he shall enter
therein copies of his report made to the supervising principal or to
the Department of Education, and keep and preserve carefully all
records, books and papers belonging to his office, and deliver the same
to his successor in office; he shall act as secretary of the district in
all its meetings, or. if absent, record the minutes of the secretary pro
Inn pore: his minutes shall show all disbursements authorized by the
school board and he shall keep an account of all expenses of the schools
and schoolhouses and record the cost of , outbuildings, fences and all
the conveniences of the schoolroom, such as charts, maps, blackboards
and school libraries provided by the board. He shall issue vouchers
for all amounts owned by the board as shown by the disbursements
authorized in the minutes, when they become due, which vouchers
when countersigned by the president shall become orders upon the
treasurer of the board for their face value. Each voucher shall be
dated and numbered, and shall state the service or consideration for
which it was drawn and the names of the parties rendering such serv-
ice or consideration and sball be recorded by the secretary in a book
kept by him for that purpose.
26
RESIGNATION'S, REMOVAL OF SCI OOL DIRECTORS AND VACANCIES IN' SCHOOL
BOARDS.
(88) Section 26.— Section 207 of the Political Code is hereby
amended in so far as it applies to school directors who desire to r< sign
from office, and said school directors are hi reby required to send their
resignation in writing to the Commissioner of Education, who must
act upon the same within ten days after its receipt.
(89) Section 27. — When a school director is accused of any felony
or crime under the laws of Porto Rico he shall be suspended from
the position he holds by the Commissioner of Education, and if he
is convicted of any crime or felony he shall be permanently dismissed
from his position and the Commissioner shall appoint a substitute.
(90) Section 28.— The Commissioner of Education shall also sus-
pend or dismiss from his position a school director for offenses com-
mitted in the performance of his duty as such director after having
preferred charges of the offenses in writing, copies of which charges
shall be sent to the person against whom said charges are brought,
to the members of the school board of the district, to the mayor of
the municipality and to the supervising principal of schools of the
district; Provided, That a reasonable length of time shall be given
in which the interested person may present to the Commissioner of
Education a written answer to the charges; And provided, further,
That at the expiration of said time the action of the Commissioner
shall be stated in writing, and same shall be sent to the same parties
who were entitled to receive copies of the charges preferred. A cer-
tied copy of the action taken by the Commissioner of Education, to-
gether with a copy of the charges preferred and any answer which
may have been filed shall be placed together on file in the records of
the Department of Education.
(91) Section 20. — Vacancies in the school board whether caused
by death, resignation, removal from the district, failure to attend
stated oi- railed meetings for two consecutive months or removal by
the Commissioner of Education, shall be filled by appointment for
the unexpired term, to be made by the Commissioner of Education
within one month of the date when said vacancy occurred: Provided,
That no one shall be thus appointed who is not a qualified voter of
the school district and who is not certified as a member of the same
political party as the immediate previous incumbent of the position
which it is desired to fill. A written statement of the president of
the party or any two members of the executive committee of the party
shall be considered sufficient evidence thai the appointee is a member
27
of the party as stated; Provided, further, In eases where no member
of the party of the previous incumbent who possesses the qualifications
required by law for the office of school director, can be found who
is willing to serve in said position, then the said Commissioner of Edu-
cation may appoint any one qualified to fill the position without ref-
erence to his political status..
(92) Section 30. ] — School boards shall annually, as soon as noti-
fied by the Commissioner of Education of the date of the beginning of
the school year, report to him the number of schools they desire to
open in their respective municipalities for the next ensuing school
year. Said school boards shall specify the number of rural, graded,
principal, and English teachers required, and also the number of spe-
cial teachers, or teachers of special schools, such as agricultural, kin-
d( rgarU n, and night schools, which they desire to open. And the
Commissioner of Education shall at once proceed to consider such
report, informing the respective school boards not later than three
months prior to the beginning of said school year of the exact number
of schools and teachers of different grades that may have been assigned
to their respective municipalities; Provided, That the school course
shall necesarily commence in the month of September or October,
and shall last not less than nine and not more than ten months ; Pro-
vided, further, That nothing herein shall prevent any school board
from requesting at any time an additional allotment of teachers, sala-
ries to be paid either from the fund designated in the annual appro-
priation as "salaries, common schools," or in the case of rural teachers
from any surplus funds at the disposal of the school board; Provided,
however, That no school board shall pay the salaries of any teachers
included in the additional allotment herein provided for any surplus
funds at the disposal of the school board until said school board has
adequately housed its graded school system in buildings which are
the property of said school board ; Provided, however, That this pro-
viso shall not apply to rural teachers.
(93) Section 31. — -The school year shall in no case exceed ten
months and shall be as much less as the Commissioner of Education
shall direct; Provided, That the school year shall in no case be less
than eight months; And provided, further, That the school board in
the school district may extend the school year beyond the limit fixed
by the Commissioner of Education, but not to exceed the maximum
limit herein provided for. In all cases where such extension of the
school year is made, it shall be wholly at the expense of the district
authorizing it.
1 As amended March 10, 1904, and February 25, 1911.
28
(94) Section 32. — The length of the school day. its division into
sections, the length of vacations, school holidays and their observance
shall be fixed and determined by the Commissioner of Education,
subject only to the provisions of law regard iny general holidays, but
in all these matters, the school boards arc authorized to make recom-
mendations to the said Commissioner and so far as possible the regu-
lations for these topics shall be uniform throughoul every school
district.
(95) Section 33. — The school month shall consist of twenty days
of actual teaching — legal holidays excepted — but no school shall be
open on a Saturday or a Sunday. Legal holidays within the mean-
ing of this section are those described in section 387 of the Political
Code, as follows: Every Sunday. New Year's Day, Washington's
Birthday, March Twenty-second, Good Friday, May Thirtieth,
known as Memorial Day. the Fourth of July, the Twenty-fifth day
of July, the First .Monday in September, to be known as Labor Day.
Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, every day on which a general
election is held throughout the Island and every day appointed by
the President of the United States, or by the Governor of Porto Rico,
or by the Legislative Assembly for a public fast or thanksgiving or
holiday. When any such day falls upon a Sunday, the Monday fol-
lowing is to be a holiday. Unless otherwise directed by the Commis-
sioner of Education, the school. board and the supervising principal
of the district may make provision for the proper celebration of tie -
holidays, when the same fall on school days, by special exercises in
the schools of the afternoon session or during the last hour of the
school session of the school day next preceding said legal holiday;
Provided, That no special school celebration of Christmas and New
Year's Day shall be deemed necessary in districts where the school
board makes arrangements for the celebration of a school festival on
a day falling between the twentieth day of December and the sixth
d iy of January inclusive, to be known as a school festival of Christ-
mas and Three King's Day.
Note. — By Joint Resolution of August 18. 191?.. October 12 of each year is declared a
holiday.
SCHOOL DISTRICTS.
(96) Section 34. — The school district shall be coterminous with
the municipality and the school boards shall have jurisdiction over
all schools within their respective districts.
29
QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHERS.
(97) Section 35. — Teachi rs of schools in Porto Rico shall be desig-
nated as rural, graded, teachers of English, principal teachers and
special teachers, the latter class comprising kindergarten teachers,
music and drawing teachers, teachers of sloyd, teachers of trades
and special subjects in industrial schools, teachers in the normal and
high schools and special schools, teachers of stenography and type-
writing and all other teachers not otherwise classified who may at
any time be employed in school work under the direction of the Com-
missioner of Education. They shall all be persons of good moral char-
acter and possessed of the necessary requirements for their several
positions as may be prescribed by law and certified to by a certificate
or license to teach issued by the Department of Education over its
own seal and the signature of the Commissioner.
(98) Section 38. J — Candidates for license to teach in the rural
schools of Porto Rico after July 1, 1904, shall pass an examination
in(l) English language, (2) Spanish language, (3) arithmetic, (4)
geography, (5) history of the United States and history of Porto Rico,
(6) methods of teaching, (7) nature study, (8) elementary physi-
ology and hygiene.
(99) Section 37. 1 — Candidates who apply for licenses to teach in
the graded schools of Porto Rico after July 1, 1904, shall pass an
examination in (1) English language, (2) Spanish language, (3) arith-
metic, (4) geography, (5) history of the United States and history
of Porto Rico, (6) pedagogy, (7) nature study, (8) elementary phy-
siology and hygiene, (9) civil government of the United States and
of Porto Rico.
(100) Section 38. : — Candidates to teach as principal teachers after
July 1, 1904, shall pass an examination in all of the subjects for license
to teach in the graded schools, and in addition thereto in (10) elemen-
tary physics, (11) Spanish literature, (12) English literature, (13)
algebra, (14) geometry, and such additional studies as the Commis-
sioner of Education may require; Provided, however, That no addi-
tional studies shall be required without giving at least six months'
notice of such additional studies. And provided, further, That the
maximum requirement for examination in each of the studies pre-
scribed for rural, graded, and principal teachers shall correspond to
1 As amended March 10, 1904.
30
t lie* courses given in said subjects in the normal departmenl of the
University of Porto Rico.
(101) Licenses to teach as rural, graded, principal, or special teach-
ers shall lie granted only to persons of sound physical health and may
In- granted without examination to persons possessing the legal
and experience requirements on the basis of certificates of gradua-
tion from the uormal department of the University of Porto Rico
or from any other accredited uormal school, college or university in
the United Stales, or upon a first-class teacher's license from any State
or county in the United States; Provided, Thai in all such cases the
candidate possesses an elementary knowledge of tl e Spanish language,
which shall be tested by examination.
(102) Section 39. — No person shall be granted a license to teach
in a rural school who has not attained the age of seventeen 17 years.
No person shall be granted a license to teach in the graded schools
who has qo1 attained the age of nineteen (19) years, and who has
not had at least one year's experience as a teacher. No person shall
be granted a license to teach as a principal teacher who has not at-
tained the age of twenty-one (21) years and who has not had at least
two years' experience as a teacher; Provided, how< ver, That any per-
son who has finished satisfactorily a two-years'- course in the Insular
Normal School of Porto Rico (exclusive of the preparatory year)
may he granted a license to teach if he possesses the other qualifica-
tions without having any other experience as a teacher: And pro-
vided, also. That any person who has completed the full three-years'
course in the Insular Normal School of Porto Rico and has received
a diploma from said normal school, shall be entitled to receive a license
to teach as a principal teacher without further examination or fur-
ther requirements upon reaching the age of twenty-one (21) years
and having had one year's experience as a teacher in the schools of
Porto Rico.
(103) Section 40. — Teachers of English shall he graduates of a
first-class high school, normal school, college or university, or teachers
of extended experience holding high-grade certificates from some State
of the United States, or they shall pass an examination in the English
language, including writing, spelling, reading, and grammar, arith-
metic, geography, history of the United States, physiology, and meth-
ods of teaching. In every village and city maintaining a graded sys-
tem of schools there shall lie at least one teacher' of English, and as
many more as the Commissioner of Education may appoint. All
teachers of English shall be selected and appointed by the Commis-
sioner of Education, and shall perform the duties he may assign to
31
them. But in all other respects they shall be subject to the same con-
ditions and regulations governing graded teachers.
(104) Section 41. a — No license to teach in the rural or graded
schools of Porto Rico shall be issued to any person over sixty-five (65)
years of age.
(105) - All certificates shall be issued in the first instance for one
year. They may be n aewed at the close of each year by the Com-
missioner of Education. 3 Before the end of each school year, and
upon satisfactory evidence of competence, the certificates held by
teachers shall be renewed for longer periods of respectively two, three
and five years ; Provided, That no renewals can be made for a longer
period unless the teacher has already had renewals for each of the pre-
ceding shorter periods.
(106) ' That any rural, graded or principal teacher who shall have
practiced satisfactorily his profession as such for five consecutive
years, shall receive from the Department of Education a life certifi-
cate of the corresponding grade; Provided, That no period of teach-
ing prior to July 1, 1009. shall be reckoned in computing the length
of service.
(107) 4 That the Commissioner of Education shall not cancel the
life certificate of any teacher except for cruelty, immorality, incom-
petency, insubordination or negligence in the performance of duty.
(108)"' Whenever the Board of Trustees of the University of Porto
Rico shall have been established an elementary course of study of
two years in the normal department of said university, comprising
instruction in at least all subjects required by law for both rural and
graded teachers' licenses; and whenever said board shall have made
arrangements for granting an elementary certificate to students com-
pleting all the subjects prescribed for said elementary course, the
Commissioner of Education is authorized to countersign such ele-
mentary certificate, and it shall then entitle the holder thereof to
teach in all public schools of Porto Rico below the grade of principal
of a graded school, for a period of two years, unless sooner revoked
for cause ; Provided, That the holder of such certificate shall meet
the requirements of law as regards the minimum age and experience
qualifications for teachers; and whenever the Board of Trustees of
the University of Porto Rico shall have established four years' study
in the normal department of said university, comprising instruction
1
1 As amended March 10, 1904.
2 Act of March 9, 1905, as amended March 10, 1910.
3 See "Rules and Regulations."
*Act of March 13, 1914.
B Act of March 10, 1904, as amended May 28, 1904.
32
in a1 least all the subjects required by law for a principal's License;
and whenever said board shall have made arrangements for granting
diplomas to students who successfully complete such lour years'
courses, in accordance with such conditions as said hoard may pre-
senile for granting such diplomas, the holders thereof shall be enti-
tled to receive from the Commissioner of Education certificates of
grade to which they may be entitled by reason of their minimum
age and experience qualifications; Provided, That such certificates
shall be valid only for three years from the dale when they were first
issued; And provided, That the grade of such certificates may he
advanced in accordance with the age and experience qualifications
of the !• »lder; and the Commissioner of Education is hereby author-
ize' to countersign diplomas granted upon completion of a four-year
cours< of the normal department of the University of Porto Rico (or
to issue certificates to the holders of diplomas granted upon the com-
pletion of a four-year course of the normal department of the Uni-
vi rsity of Porto Rico) and such diploma when so countersigned (or
such certificate when so issued) shall quality the holder thereof to
teach in any public school of Porto Pico without further examina-
tion until the same is annulled for cause: Provided, That no diploma
shall be countersigned, or no such certificate shall be issued unless
the holder thereof (or of such diploma) shall present evidence satis-
factory to the Commissioner of Education of good moral character
and two years' successful experience in teaching a public school after
the date that said diploma was conferred by the Board of Trustees
of the University of Porto Rico.
PREPARATORY TEACHERS. 1
(109) The Commissioner of Education may issue to not more than
one hundred unmarried young men and women who are desirous of
becoming regular teachers in the public schools of Porto Rico, special
licenses, valid for the school year, as preparatory teachers, which
licensi s shall entitle the holders to teach in the rural schools herein-
after described.
(110) (Candidates for a special preparatory license shall be not
less than sixteen nor more than twenty-two years of age and shall
pass an elementary examination in the English language, the Span-
ish language, arithmetic, geography, history of the United States and
of Porto Rico. No license shall be issued to any person who fails to
pass a satisfactory examination in any of these subjects and if more
1 Act of March 8, 1906.
than one hundred candidates pass in all subjects licenses may be
issued only to the one hundred whose average standing is highest,
or who are otherwise best qualified for work as teachers.
(111) Special preparatory teachers may be appointed by the Com-
missioner of Education to teach in rural schools so located that they
may be under the immediate supervision of a supervising principal
or a principal of schools; Provided, That the number of rural schools
now established shall not be reduced, and that no school opened as
a rural school in the year 1905-6 shall be assigned to a preparatory
teacher: And provided, further, That the enrollment in schools as-
signed to preparatory teachers shall not exceed thirty pupils.
(112) The Commissioner of Education shall prescribe a course of
study for preparatory teachers, including all the subjects required
for a rural license and shall appoint as instructor of preparatory
teachers in each school district or municipality some qualified per-
son, either a supervising principal of schools, or a principal or graded
teacher, who shall meet all the preparatory teachers assgned to his
care at least once every week for the purpose of instructing them
in the course of study prescribed by the Department. Any principal
or graded teacher who may be appointed as instructor under the
provisions of this section may receive for his services a payment of ten
dollars per school month in addition to his salary as a teacher.
(113) No person shall be employed as a preparatory teacher for
more than three years beginning from the date of the passage of
this act, and no preparatory licenses shall be renewed or extended
beyond the school year for which they are issued, and all applicants
for a second or third examination for such a license must present evi-
dence of having performed in a satisfactory manner the work out-
lined in the department course of study.
(114) Service as a preparatory teacher shall not be considered
as a qualification for examination for a license as graded or principal
teacher.
(115) Preparatory teachers shall be paid a salary of not more
than sixteen dollars per school month from the appropriation, "sal-
aries, common schools," but shall receive no house rent from school
boards.
PERMANENT DIPLOMAS. 1
(116) The Commissioner of Education shall hold in the month
of July, 1906, and annually thereafter, examinations for permanent
diplomas for principals, graded and rural teachers. These exami-
1 Act of March 9, 1905.
34
nations shall include for each grade the subjects prescribed for cer-
fcicates in the respective grades and such other subjects included in
the course of study of the Insular Normal School as the Commissioner
of Education may direct.
(117) No person shall be admitted to the examination for a per-
manent diploma as principal unless he holds a principal's certificate
and has had in all five years of experience as a teacher in the schools
of Porto Rieo. No person shall be admitted to the examination for
a permanent graded diploma unless he possesses a certificate as prin-
cipal or graded teacher and has had in all five years' experience in
the schools of Porto Rieo. No person shall be admitted to the exami-
nation for a permanent rural diploma unless he possesses a certificate
as principal, graded or rural teacher and has had in all five years'
experience in the schools of Porto Rieo.
(118) Any person who has heretofore possessed a permanent di-
ploma of Spanish or American origin, giving him the right to teach in
the schools of Porto Rico, shall be permitted upon application to take
the examination above referred to in the month of September, 1905.
(119) The diplomas granted to those who have successfully passed
the examinations above referred to shall entitle the holders to a cer-
tificate for life, and such diplomas and certificates may be canceled
only in case of negligence in the performance of duty or demonstrated
incompetency on the part of a teacher.
SUSPENSION AND REMOVAL OF TEACHERS.
(120) Section 42. — Teachers shall be suspended from their posi-
tions by the Commissioner of Education or by the school board for
cruelty, immorality, incompetency, insubornation or negligence in
the performance of their duties, and said Commissioner may reinstate
them or dismiss them and cancel their licenses after an investigation
which shall be held and in which the school board may file a state-
ment, and said teachers shall be heard in their own defense either
verbally or in writing; Provided, That no suspension by a school
board shall be valid for more than five days: and the teacher thus
suspended shall not be again suspended for the same cause by said
board during the school year in which the first suspension took place.
(121) r No complaint against a teacher unless it is made by a local
board or by an officer of the Department of Education, shall be enter-
tained by the department unless the said complaint shall be duly
sworn to by the party filing the same In all cases of complaint
*Act of March 9, 1905.
35
againsl teachers, which if proven would lead to the cancellation of
certificates or diplomas, the Commissioner of Education shall request
a statemenl of the facts from the local school hoard, the principal
of the school and from the supervising principal, and may obtain
sworn statements from other persons who may be capable of giving
testimony. All evidence relating to such investigation should be
in writing and when charges are preferred, the teacher shall be al-
lowed a period of not less than eight days wherein to make a written
reply to such charges.
(122) ' When a teacher is charged with an offense before the civil
or criminal courts, final action shall not be taken by the Commissioner
of Education until the decision of the courts has been rendered; Pro-
vided, however. That the Commissioner of Education may in his dis-
cretion, when the circumstances of the case warrant, suspend the
teacher from the exercise of his functions pending the decision of
the court.
SALARIES OF TEACHERS.
(123) Section 43. - — The salaries of all teachers shall be those fixed
by law. Said salaries shall be exempt from execution and attachment.
Up to a maximum of fifteen days during any school year, teachers'
salaries shall continue during their absence from school work, pro-
vided that after investigation it is proven that the absence was nec-
essary and justifiable.
(124) Section 44. 3 — For the purpose of compensation and pay-
ment, teachers shall be assigned by the Commissioner of Education
to one of three salaried classes. All rural teachers shall be divided
into three classes beginning on and after July 1, 1913. Those of the
firsl class shall receive fifty dollars ($50) per school month for each
month of actual service. Those of the second class shall receive forty-
five dollars ($45) per school month for each month of actual service.
Those of the third class shall receive forty dollars ($40) per school
month for each month of actual service.
__(125) Section 45. 5 — Graded teachers shall be divided into three
classes on and after July 1, 1013, as follows: Those of the first class
shall receive seventy dollars ($70) per school month for each month
of actual service. Those of the second class shall receive sixty-five
dollars ($65) per school month for each month of actual service.
1 Act of March 9, 1905.
- As amended March 10, 1910.
3 As amended March 13, 1913.
36
Those of the third class shall receive sixty dollars ($00) per school
month for each month of actual service.
(126) Section -1»>.' -Principal teachers shall he divided into three
classes on and after duly 1. 1913. Those of the lirst class shall receive
ninety dollars I 1 ?!" 1 per school month for each month of adnal serv-
ice. Those of the second class shall receive eighty-five dollars - v -~'
per school month for each month of actual service. Those of the
third class shall receive eighty dollars ($80) per school month for
each month of actual service.
(127) Section 47.' — Teachers, whether rural, graded, principal or
English, who shall receive their licenses to teach under the Depart-
ment of Education after the passage of this act shall he placed in
the third-salary class and may not he advanced to the second-salary
class until they have taught three years in their respective classes
or higher classes of licenses in the puhlic schools of Porto Rico. No
teacher shall ho advanced to the first-salary class from the second,
unless they have taught in all five years in their respective classes
or higher classes of licenses in the puhlic schools of Porto Pico and
unless they shall he the possessors of life certificates. No period of
teaching in the public schools of Porto Pico prior to -Inly 1. 1903,
shall he counted in calculating the length of service; Provided, how-
< Vi r, That all persons who hold a diploma or elementary certificate
from the Insular Normal School or from an accredited normal school.
college oi- university in the United states or a first-class state certifi-
cate by reason of the superior advantages which they have enjoyed.
shall he admitted, when given a license to teach by tin- Department
of Education, to the second-salary class immediately upon beginning
their work in the public schools.
(128) Section 4S. 1 Teachers of English shall he divided into three
classes on and after duly 1. 1913. Those of the lirst class shall receive
ninety dollars ($90) per school month for each month o\' actual serv-
ice. Those (4' the second class shad receive eighty-five dollars $85
pi ;■ school month for each month of actual service. Those o\' the third
class shall receive eighty dollars ($80) per school month for each
month of actual service.
(129)- Persons holding licensi s as teachers of English, special teach-
ers, principal or English-graded teachers, and graded teachers em-
ployed in the oighl schools shall receive a salary of ^1"> for each
1 As amended March 18, 1913.
! \ct of M:m )i ii. L913
47
school month of active service in addition to their regular salaries.
Persons holding licenses as rural teachers, employed in the night
schools shall receive a salary of $10 for each school month of active
service in addition to their regular salaries. Persons holding licenses
as speeial teachers and employed in industrial night schools shall
receive a salary of $20 for each school month of active service in
addition to their regular salaries.
(130) Section 49. — Salaries of special teachers shall be fixed by
the Commissioner of Education by and with the consent of the Execu-
tive Council in the absence of specific provision of law fixing the sal-
aries of said special teachers. Salaries of rural, graded and principal
teachers, and of any other teacher duly appointed by law shall be
paid from the fund designated in the annual appropriation act as
"salaries, common schools" unless provision is made by the Legis-
lature for the payment of said salaries under some other item of the
Annual Appropriation Act or other act of the Legislature.
(131) : The classified service shall comprise all positions not in-
cluded in the unclassified service; Providing, however, That the ap-
pointment and removal of the * * * teachers in the public
schools, shall continue to be governed by the special laws in force
concerning them, and provided that the teachers in the public schools
shall be considered as members of the classified civil service for the
purposes of promotion within the Department of Education.
DUTIES OP TEACHERS.
(132) Section 50.— Teachers shall instruct the pupils in the pub-
lic schools in all subjects prescribed in the course of study according
to their various grades and the provisions of this act. Teachers shall
not teach any subjects not authorized in the said course of study dur-
ing the legal school hours.
(133) Section 51. 2 - -When a teacher on account of illness, or for
any other reason of equal moment, is prevented from attending to
his duties, or is compelled to absent himself from the school room
during the legal school hours, he shall at once notify the supervising
principal of his district and the principal of his school, in towns
where a principal is employed, explaining fully the cause of his deten-
tion from school. On receipt of such a notice the supervising princi-
pal of the district shall notify the Commissioner of Education of the
circumstances and the Commissioner may appoint a legally qualified
' Act to regulate and improve the Civil Service of Porto Rico, approved March 14, 19c;
'-' As amended March 10, 190 I.
38
substitute to serve until the regular teacher can resume his duties
or a successor is legally appointed.
(134) Section 52. — All teachers in actual service or holding a
license to teach, during the period for which said license is valid, are
considered as officials or employees of the Insular Government, and
shall not take an active pari in any election or canvass or attempl to
canvass or to control any vote or voters (other than their own indi-
vidual vote) for or against any candidate or candidates for office at
any political convention or to permit their names to he used as mem-
bers of political committees of sub-committees without first resigning.
their positions and asking to have their licenses canceled. Any viola-
tion of tins section shall be considered good cause for the cancellation
of a teacher's license.
(135) Section 53. a — Corporal punishment is absolutely prohibited
in the schools of Porto Rico, except in accordance with regulations
issued by the Commissioner of Education in pursuance of Seel ions
53, 66 and 89 of the Compiled School Law, the Organic Act. and other
legislative sanction and upon the sanction of the parent or guardian.
SELECTION OP TEACHERS.
(136) Section 54. 2 — Teach* rs other than teachers of English and
special teachers, as defined in section 35 of the Codified School Law.
in the public schools of Porto Rico shall be selected in the following
manner: The school board of each municipality by a majority vote
shall c< rtify to the Commissioner of Education at least three months
before the date fixed by the Commissioner of Education as the begin-
ning of the school year, the names of any teachers legally qualified
whom they desire as teachers for the next ensuing school year. After
twelve o'clock noon of the ninetieth day prior to the opening of the
school year of each and every year, there shall be made up as speedily
as possible, in the office of the Commissioner of Education, a list for
each municipality of all the legally qualified teachers whose names
have been sent to the Commissioner of Education by the respective
school boards and received at the office of the said Commissioner of
Education prior to the hour of noon of the ninetieth day prior to
the date fixed by the Commissioner of Education for the opening of
the school year, and whose names have been previously certified to
by the respective school boards of each municipality. Said list shall
be signed by the Commissioner of Education and his seal affixed
' As amended March 10, 1910.
- As amended March 13, 1913.
39
thereto and become a part of the official records of the Department
of Education and henceforth to be known as the official list of the
said respective municipalities for the ensuing school year. The Com-
missioner of Education shall return the list to the school board of
each municipality on or before the sixtieth day prior to the opening
of the school year and shall indicate his approval or disapproval of
each teacher nominated in said list. All teachers approved on said
list shall be considered as appointed to teach in such municipalities
for the next ensuing school year and a contract shall be entered into
by the school board and the teacher, such contract to be in triplicate,
one copy for the files of the Department of Education, one copy for
the school board and one copy for the teacher. No names shall be
added to such official list unless the number of teachers approved by
the Commissioner is not sufficient to fill all the places for which the
school board is authorized to make provision. The names of the addi-
tional teachers required shall then be submitted to the Commissioner
of Education. In case the number of teachers approved by the Com-
missioner of Education is not sufficient to fill all schools allotted to
any municipality and the school board fails to submit the names of
the additional teachers required within ten days after notice from
the Commissioner of Education that such names should be submitted.
The Commissioner of Education shall appoint the teachers and such
appointments shall be valid for the remainder of the school year.
No applicant for a school shall be certified to the Commissioner of
Education by any school board unless said applicant possesses a valid
license to teach, bearing the signature of the Commissioner of Educa-
tion and the seal of the Department. No teacher shall be nominated
by any school board without the unanimous vote of those present if
he is a relative within tile third degree of consanguinity or second
degree of affinity of a member of the school board.
(137) Section 55. — Teachers of English and all special teachers
shall be appointed directly by the Commissioner of Education and
shall perform such duties as he may assign to them ; Provided, That
teachers of English shall have the qualifications specified in section
40 of this act, and all special teachers shall have the qualifications
usually appertaining to teachers of their respective branches and
shall have first been granted a license as such special teacher by the
Department of Education. The Commissioner of Education may
appoint not more than five rural, graded or principal teachers in each
school district as teachers at large for the purpose of substituting in
the place of teachers regularly chosen in the schools of said district,
whom said Commissioner is hereby authorized to remove from their
40
schools £or a period not exceeding three months in any one school
year and to assign to study in the Insular Normal School, allowing
the teachers thus temporarily absent from their schools full pay and
paying said substitute teachers the salary pursuant to law appi Nam-
ing to their respective grades; Provided, Thai the salaries thus paid
to teachers pursuing their studies in the Insular Normal School for
entire period for which they are absent from their schools shall be
paid from moneys specially appropriated for "salaries, teachers'
institutes ami summer normal schools."
(138) In any town having four or more graded schools in one build-
ing for which no principal teacher is provided, the Commissioner of
Education may designate one of the graded teachers of said town as
acting principal with the usual duties and responsibilities of a prin-
cipal teacher, and said acting principal shall receive for said services
in addition to his regular salary as fixed by law, the further sum of
ten (10) dollars per month during the period of such actual service
and to be paid from the funds appropriated for "salaries, common
schools."
(139) Section 56.— [Repealed March 13, 1913.]
(139«) Section 57.— [Repealed March 13, 1913.]
(140) Section 58. a — Municipalities shall provide rooms or build-
ings for schools, and necessary offices for school boards wherever pub-
lic buildings in the control of said municipality are available for such
purposes. Whenever possible, the municipality shall construct public-
school buildings erected and furnished according to plans author-
ized by the Commissioner of Education and suitable for graded
schools. Where the municipality provides such building, additional
teachers, sufficient for six grades, will be furnished as needed.
(141) Section 59.— [Repealed March 13, 1913.]
COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE. 2
(142) Section 60. — Pupils enrolled in the public schools of Porto
Rico shall continue members of the public schools of Porto Rico until
thej" shall have completed the work of each grade of the course of
study prescribed at the time of such enrollment for the system of
schools to which their respective schools belong, except when the
parents or guardians show good and sufficient cause for withdrawal
in the .judgment of the supervising principal of schools of the muni-
cipality; Provided, Such pupils n ; y be dismissed for cause by the
1 \ - amended March 12, 1908.
; Qdi '1 i >:■ 30, 190 I. and March 12. 1 908
41
supervising principal of the municipality or by the school board
with the approval of the Commissioner of Education; Provided fur-
tin r. Thai parents or guardians shall always have power to transfer
their children or wards to other schools of recognized standing.
(143) The attendance of pupils enrolled in the public schools of
Porto Rico shall be prompt and regular, and their conduct in accord-
ance with what is commonly accepted as good behavior and with the
rules and regulations to which their respective schools are subject.
Prompt attendance is understood to mean that the pupils shall be pres-
ent at the time of opening school as prescribed by the teacher of the
school or by the supervising principal ; and regular attendance is
understood to mean attendance every day unless the pupils be pre-
vented from attending by sickness or other good and sufficient cause
acceptable to the teacher and subject to the approval of the super-
vising principal.
(144) Children between eight and fourteen years of age shall be
enrolled in any public school that may be located within reasonable
distance of their homes, and their attendance at that school shall be
enforced as herein provided in the case of any pupil enrolled in the
public schools ; Provided, There be a school within reasonable dis-
tance as hereinbefore mentioned where accommodation can be fur-
nished; And provided, Such children may not already have com-
pleted each grade of the course of study prescribed for the particu-
lar school which meets the conditions outlined.
(145) In each and every graded school an enrollment of not less
, than thirty-five nor more than fifty pupils, and in each and every rural
school an enrollment of not less than twenty-five nor more than fifty
pupils shall be maintained.
(146) Failure on the part of the local authorities to maintain a
minimum enrollment as hereinbefore provided, or failure to secure
such minimum enrollment within thirty days after the receipt of
official notification from the Commissioner of Education, shall be
sufficient cause for the removal of a school to a more suitable locality
within the same municipal district, the school board to furnish suit-
able quarters for said school, or sufficient cause for the removal of
the school to some other municipality in the discretion of the Com-
missioner of Education.
(147) Municipal authorities upon notification from the teacher or
from the supervising principal of the municipality shall enforce the
attendance of children between the ages of eight and fourteen years
who reside within a reasonable distance of a public school and who>
arc; otherwise eligible for admission to the "public schools of Porto
Rico.
42
(148) Any parent or guardian wilfully responsible for the viola-
tion of any of the provisions of this section after notification by the
teacher of the school or by the supervising principal for the munici-
pality in which he or she resides shall be deemed guilty of a misde-
meanor and upon conviction in any court shall for the first offense,
be publicly reprimanded by the judicial officer before whom they
are tried, and for the second offense shall be fined in an amount not
to exceed five dollars, and for a third offense shall be fined in an
amount not to exceed ten dollars: said fines to be imposed and col-
lected ii. accordance with the usual provisions of law applicable to
judicial fines. All the processes of the municipal courts of Porto
Rico shall be and are hereby made available for the prosecution and
conviction of persons accused under the provisions of this Act.
(149) 1 That no child under the age of fourteen (14) years who
years who has not received from the Department of Education a cer-
tificate stating that he has done the work necessary for admission
to the fourth grade of the public rural schools of the Island, or show-
ing that he has passed the sixth grade of the public graded schools
of Porto Rico, according to whether the child lives in the country or
in town, or that he has completed the equivalent of such school work,
shall be employed in any lucrative occupation during the hourse that
such schools are open ; Provided, That this section shall not comprise
any child who resides in a community in which there are no schools
within a reasonable distance wherein accommodation can be furnished,
nor any orphan child or any child who for any other reason depends
on his own efforts for support, nor any child whose parents are in-
valids and depend exclusively upon the work of the child for their
maintenance. In such cases a certificate shall be obtained from the
alcalde of the municipality wherein said child resides, which certifi-
cate shall state the fact that such condition or necessity exists, and
authorize the employment of said child. A copy of this authoriza-
tion shall be forwarded to the Bureau of Labor within the ten days
following the issuance thereof: Provided, further, That if said child
resides at a distance of one kilometer from a night school under the
direction of the Department of Education of Porto Rico, said cer-
tificate shall be effective only during the time that the attendance of
said child at the aforesaid night school shall be certified to monthly
by the teacher of the school, unless a just cause should exist for the
nonattendanee of the child at said school.
1 Part of U-t of March 13, 1913, as amended August 19. 1913.
4.3
(150) ' That all employers of children from whom certificates are
required under the provisions of this act, shall file these certificates,
subjed to tlif inspection of the officers of the Department of Educa-
tion and of the inspectors of the Bureau of Labor. When such em-
ployment shall cease the certificates shall be returned to the children
in whose names they may have been issued.
(151) : That no child under the age of sixteen years- shall be em-
ployed unless the employer shall obtain and preserve, subject to the
inspection of the officers of the Department of Education and the
agents of the Bureau of Labor, a certificate of his age issued by the
municipal secretaiy of the town where the child was born or resides.
In case then- is no entry of the birth of the said child in the civil
registry of the town where the child was born or resides, the muni-
cipal secretary shall issue a certificate setting forth the age of the
child based upon an affidavit or sworn declaration of one of the par-
ents of the said child, or of his legal guardian or relative next of
"kin, or in default of these upon the affidavit or sworn declaration of
two reputable persons who have knowledge of and can depose to the
age of the said child. No fees shall be charged for issuing the cer-
tificate.
(152) : That no boy under the age of twelve years and no girl under
the age of sixteen years shall sell newspapers, candies or other mer-
chandise on any of the streets or public squares, nor work as boot-
blacks in said places during school hours in the public schools of
Porto Rico.
(153) 1 That the said act. approved March 13, 1913, entitled "An
act regulating the work of women and children, and protecting them
against dangerous occupations," shall not apply to children under
sixteen and over ten years of age who are employed in picking or
gathering coffee or in planting, picking or tending in the field any
agricultural or horticultural products in company with or under the
direct personal supervision of their parents, guardians, or relatives
over sixteen years of age.
NIGHT SCHOOLS.
(154) Section 61.— The Commissioner of Education upon appli-
cation of twenty young persons unable to attend day school for justi-
fied reasons, may establish a night school and may close the same
'Pari <>i' .\<t of March L3, 191:;, as amended August 19, 1913.
44
when the average attendance in any one month does uo1 reach twelvi
students. Adults may be admitted to night schools when in the judg-
ment of the local school authorities they are able to profit by the in-
struction offered, and their presence in the said night school will qo1
operate to the exclusion of eligible young persons who desire ad-
mission.
(155) ' The Commissioner of Education may establish in ins dis-
cretion a night school in each municipality and may establish more
than one school in any city where in his opinion the di mand Eor such
schools may warrant it.
SUPERVISING PRINCIPALS.
(156) Section 62. 2 — Supervising principals of schools shall be at
all times under the immediate control and guidance of the Commis-
sioner of Education, who shall prescribe their duties. Tiny shall in
every respect consistent with the welfare of the schools, cooperate
with and assist their respective school boards in the performance of
their duties under the law. They shall make an annual report to
the Commissioner of Education on the condition of the schools in
their district. Said report shall be presented dune first of each and
every year. They shall make such additional reports, statistical or
otherwise, as the said Commissioner of Education may direct. No
person shall lie eligible for appointment to the position of supervis-
ing principal who his not had at least one year's experience as a
teacher in the public schools of Porto Rico and who shall not. in the
judgment of the Commissioner of Education, possess a practical
knowledge, leading, writing and speaking, of the Spanish and Eng-
lish languages; Provided, That after June 30, 1909, no person shall
occupy the position of supervising principal who shall not hold a
principal's license issued by the Department of Education of Porto
Rico, in pursuance of the provisions of Section 38 of an act entitled
"The Codified School Law of Porto Rico," approved March 12, 1903.
(157) ; The Commissioner of Education may in his discretion au-
thorize principal teachers to act as assistants to supervising princi-
pals in any district. During the period of such authorization the
Department of Education may appoint graded teachers as substitutes-
for the said principals and such substitutes shall be paid by the De-
partment of Education. When any principal is assigned as assistant
1 Act of March 9, 1905.
2 As amended March 12, 1908.
8 Act of March 9, 1905.
45
to a supervising principal lie shall be allowed an additional compen-
sation at the rate of ten dollars per month during the period of such
services.
SCHOOL TAXATION.
(158) 1 That for and during the fiscal year beginning the first day
of July, nineteen hundred and eight, and ending the thirtieth day
of June, nineteen hundred nine, and in every succeeding fiscal year,
unh ss otherwise provided by the Legislative Assembly of Porto Rico,
there shall be levied and collected, for the purpose of providing insu-
lin- and municipal revenue, by the Insular Government, a tax of ten
one-hundredth s of one per cent, and by the municipalities a tax of
not exceeding ninety one-hundredths of one per cent upon "the value
of all real and personal property in Porto Rico, and of all personal
property of persons residing in Porto Rico, to be ascertained as herein-
after provided, not hereinafter exempted from taxation. The pro-
ceeds of this tax and the taxes upon property heretofore levied for
insular and general municipal purposes for the fiscal years ending
June thirtieth, nineteen hundred two, nineteen hundred three, nine-
ty, 'n hundred four, nineteen hundred five, nineteen hundred six, nine-
teen hundred seven and nineteen hundred eight, including all sur-
charges, shall be covered into the Insular Treasury. The Treasurer
shall pay monthly, pursuant to law, upon the warrant of the Auditor,
countersigned by the Governor of Porto Rico, of each dollar collected
on account of each municipality, to the treasurer of each local school
board I he sum of twenty-five cents, to the treasurer of each munici-
pality, to be covered into the "road fund," the sum of eight cents, and
the balance to the treasurer of the municipality ; Provided, That the
proportionate amount to be covered into the road fund by the muni-
cipality of San Juan shall be five cents instead of eight cents and
shall be used for construction and repair of municipal roads and
streets in Santurce ; Provided, however, That nothing herein con-
tained shall prevent the Treasurer of Porto Rico from retaining from
moneys due municipalities, local school boards, or other local corpo-
rations, any sums required, or that may be hereafter required by
law, or by ordinance duly enacted by any municipality, school board,
or other local corporation, to be retained by him for the purpose of
meeting obligations incurred by them.
(159) Section 63. 2 — That for the fiscal year beginning July 1,
1904, and ending June 30, 1905, and for every succeeding fiscal year,
1 Art of March 10. 1904, as amended March 13, 1908.
2 As amended March 10, 1904, and February 17, 1905.
46
iu order to increase the revenues of the respective school hoards, the
municipalities may levy a property tax to be known as ••school tax,"
and not to exceed one-tenth of one per centum of the assessed value
of all real and personal property within the respective municipali-
ties in accordance with assessment made by the Treasurer of Porto
Rico to levy and collect the insular property tax.
(160) Section 64. 1 — The municipal council of each municipality
.shall decide on or before the twentieth day of February of each and
every year whether such additional tax shall be levied and shall fix
the rate within the limit allowed hy the foregoing section, basing such
action upon reports of the respective school boards situated in cadi
municipality and upon the needs for school funds in whatsoevi r
manner determined; Provided That in cases where the school board
is about to contract a loan for the construction of one or more school
buildings, the municipal council may levy the school tax at a given
rate, not to exceed the maximum of one-tenth of 1 per cent, for such
term of years as will be covered by the payments on account of prin-
cipal and interest of the loan to be contracted. The municipal coun-
cil shall notify the Treasurer of Porto Rico immediately upon the
adoption of all resolutions fixing the rate of the school tax and the
Treasurer of Porto Rico shall collect the said tax in the same form
and subject to the rules provided for hy the act entitled "An act to
provide revenue for Tbe People of Porto Rico, and for other pur-
poses,"' approved January 31, 1901. The Treasurer of Porto Rico
shall pay monthly, pursuant to law, upon the warrant of the Auditor,
countersigned by the Governor, to the Treasurer of each school board
the amounts collected on account of said school tax; Provided, That
nothing herein contained shall prevent the Treasurer of Porto Rico
from retaining from moneys due school hoards any sums required,
or that may be hereafter required by law, or by ordinance duly en-
acted by any school board, to be retained by him for the purpose of
meeting obligations contracted by them.
(161) Section 65. — The amount accruing to the treasury of each
municipality on account of school taxes hereby established shall be
devoted solely to school purposes.
SPECIAL DUTIES AND POWERS OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION.
(162) Section 66. 2 — The Commissioner of Education being re-
quired by Act of Congress of April twelfth, nineteen hundred, to
1 As amended February 17, 1911.
- As amended March 12, 1908.
47
supervise education in Porto Rico, he shall, to comply with said act,
approve all disbursements made on account thereof ; he shall appoint,
as occasion may require an officer for each municipality, to be known
as supervising principal, and these supervising principals shall be
subject to the Commissioner of Education in all respects; the power
to appoint such officers shall reside fully in the Commissioner of
Education, who shall consult and, as far as possible, shall attend the
recommendations of the respective school boards interested regard-
ing' candidates, but temporary appointments may be made by the
Commissioner without such consultation and for a maximum term of
two months ; until the time that a supervising principal shall be pro-
vided for each municipality, the Commissioner shall have power to
group two or more municipalities into a district, the schools of which
are to be under the supervision of one supervising principal; with the
understanding that the number of schools in each district shall not
b over fifty nor less than twenty-five on the basis of the allotment
for the pn ceding year ; for the purpose of salary for supervising
principals, the municipalities shall be divided into three classes :
First class, those containing more than one hundred schools: second
class, those containing from fifty to one hundred schools; third class,
those containing less than fifty schools; until otherwise provided by
law the salary of supervising principals in municipalities of the first
class shall be fifteen hundred (1,500) dollars per annum, payable
from the approp ration known as "salaries, common schools;" the
salary of supervising principals in municipalities of the second class,
shall be thirteen hundred (1,300) dollars per annum, payable from
the appropriation known as '"salaries, common schools;" the salary
nl' supi rvising principals in municipalities of the third class, shall be
twelve hundred (1,200) dollars per annum, payable from the appro-
priation known as "salaries, common schools;" in addition to the
salary the school board of each municipality in which the supervis-
ing principal is resident, shall provide house and office rent of not
less than twenty (20) dollars per month, for the supervising prin-
cipal in districts in which the supervising principal is in charge of
the schools of more than one municipality, the school board, or school
boards, of the municipality or municipalities, in which the supervis-
ing principal is not resident, conjointly, in instances where more
than one municipality are so contained, or singly, in instances of a
single municipality, shall pay to the supervising principal not less than
twenty (20) dollars per month for traveling expenses; school boards
may add as they see tit to the salaries of supervising principals, but
'■vi rv such addition shall be subject to the approval of the Commis-
48
sioner: the Commissioner of Education shall appoint three (3) offi-
cers who shall be known as general superintendents and who shall
be subject in all respects to the Commissioner who shall prescribe
their duties; the salary of each general superintendent of schools
shall be eighteen hundred (1,800) dollars per annum, payable from
the appropriation known as "salaries, office of Ihe Commissioner of
Education;" the Commissioner shall prepare and publish all courses
of study for the schools; he shall conduct all examinations for teach-
ers' certificates and issue licenses or certificates to teachers; he shall
fix the salaries of teachers, Provided always the amounts so desig-
nated shall not be in conflict with law; he shall select and purchase
all school books, supplies, and equipments necessary for the proper
conduct of education, except as otherwise provided by law ; he shall
approve all projects and plans for public school buildings to be erected
in Porto Rico, where the same are to be at the cost of The People of
Porto Rico ; but where the same are to be at the cost of the school
boards, or at the cost of the latter and of The People of Porto Rico,
then there shall be such participation by the school boards that no
project or plan shall be approved without the consent of the respec-
tive school boards; he shall require and collect such statistics and
reports from school boards, supervising principals and teachers, as
he may from time to time deem necessary to the welfare of the school
system, and he shall formulate such rules and regulations as he may
deem neci ssary for the effective administration of his office.
(163) 1 The Commissioner of Education shall provide whatever may
be necessary for placing in each rural school of the Island of Porto
Rico and in such graded schools as in his opinion is desirable, bul-
letins in the English and Spanish Languages which bulletins are to
be prepared under the direction of the director of the anemia dis-
pensary service, briefly and clearly explaining:
(a) What is uncinariasis.
(b) Its causes and effects.
(c) How it may be prevented.
(164) The Commissioner of Education shall provide whatever may
be necessary for placing in graded schools of the island and in such
rural schools as in his opinion is desirable, bulletins in the language
which is the basis of instruction in each particular school, said bul-
letins to be prepared under the direction of the Director of the ane-
mia dispensary service, briefly and clearly explaining:
1 Acts of March 12. 1909, and March 9, 1911.
49
(a) What is tuberculosis.
(&) Its causes and effects
(c) How it may be prevented.
(165) The Commissioner of Education shall take such steps as may
be necessary to see that the attention of the pupils is called to the
contents of said bulletins.
(166) T It shall be the duty of all courts of justice, fiscais, depart-
ments of the Insular Government, municipal officers and any other
insular or municipal officials, to forward such information (crimi-
nal statistics) as may be required of them by the Attorney General
and also to fill out the blanks sent to them for that purpose.
(167) Section 67. — The Commissioner of Education shall, on or
before the first day of October of each year, transmit to the Governor
a full report of the operations of his department, of all expenditures
made therein, together with such statements, facts and explanations
concerning the educational system of the island, and such suggestions
and recommendations as he may deem appropriate.
(168)- The Commissioner of Education shall issue annually to the
teachers, school boards and municipalities of the island his annual
report to the Governor of Porto Rico concerning public education.
(169) ; The public schools of the municipality of Culebra shall
be a charge against the Insular Government, and the Commissioner
of Education shall appoint such teachers as may be necessary and
shall have complete control over the schools and school property and
buildings of the island.
BOOKS. 4
(170) The Department of Education shall supply all books to be
used in the public schools of Porto Rico to the supervising principals
who shall distribute them to the principals and to rural teachers.
The books so distributed shall be classed as old or new books.
,(171) Each teacher and each principal shall give a receipt for
all the books delivered to him, specifying the number of new and the
number of old books, and shall be held accountable for the invoice
price of new books, and for half the invoice price of old books, in
case such books be lost or torn.
(172) The department shall procure for the use of the public schools
in Porto Rico a reading book which shall contain the best passages of
1 Section 9 of Art approved March 11, 1909.
- Act of March 9, 1905.
:: Let of March 8, 1905.
4 Act of March 9, 1905.
50
local literature in prose or verse, by leading Porto Rican writers, with
brief biographical notices of each author.
(173) * The Commissioner of Education shall provide each school
board and public library in the island with two copies of "Mujeres
Puertorriquehas. ' '
STUDENTS TO BE SENT TO THE UNITED STATES. 2
(174) Section 68. 3 — There shall be selected annually as herein-
after provided, a number of young men of sound constitution and
good character who could not otherwise, because of existing circum-
stances, enjoy the educational advantages hereinafter mentioned who
shall be sent to the United States and there maintained at the expense
of The People of Porto Rico for a period not to exceed four years
devoted to the study of such subjects as the commission hereinafter
provided may determine, preference being given to agriculture, archi-
tecture and forestry, and chemical, hydraulic, electrical and sanitary
engineering; Provided, That the commission may extend said term
for one year in case of illness or any other justifiable cause.
The number of young men upon whom this privilege shall be be-
stowed shall at no time be in excess of twenty-five (25) and the total
ex [tenses in each case shall not exceed the sum of five hundred dollars
($500) per annum.
The young men thus selected shall be sent to the United States
as soon as provisions have been made for them in accordance with
this act.
(175) Section 69. 4 — The President of the Executive Council and
the Speaker of the House of Delegates, together with the Commissioner
1 Joint Resolution of March 10, 1910.
2 AN ACT TO TO EXTKXD Tilt: BENEFITS OF SECTION 68 OF THE CODIFIED SCHOOL LAW.
Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of Porto Rico:
Sei 1 i -V 1. — That the commission charged with the supervision of the Porto Rican young
men studying in the United Slates pursuant to the provisions of section 68 of the Codified
o,l Law is hereby authorized to extend the benefits of said act for the time that may
be necessary to conclude their studies within a period not to exceed three years to those
young men 'Who are now studying under the provisions thereof and who have observed good
conduct and made progress in their studies, but who have failed to finish them for just cause.
i TION 2. — All laws or orders or parts thereof in conflict with this act be and are
hereby repealed.
TION 3. — This act shall take effect on and after July 1, 1906.
Approved March S, 1006.
-■■ As amended March 12, 1908.
4 As amended March 10, 1901.
51
of Education, shall form a commission which shall prepare the rules
under which these young men shall be selected, and shall have charge
of them during the time they are engaged in study under the same;
Provided, That the young men selected shall be graduates of the
eighth grade of a public school in Porto Rico.
(176) Section 70. — The commission shall keep regularly informed
of the conduct and progress of each beneficiary and secure all other
data that they may consider necessary. They may also withdraw
support from any beneficiary upon proper proofs being presented of
misconduct or bad faith of any beneficiary under this act.
(177) Section 71. — By and with the recommendation of the Com-
cissioner of Education for the Island of Porto Rico, there shall be
maintained each year twenty good and worthy young men and women
from Porto Rico in the United States to be educated in the various
arts and trades that may best qualify them to assist in the improve-
ment of conditions of Porto Rico.
(178) Section 72. — Each person receiving said appointment shall
receive from the general Government of Porto Rico a sum not to ex-
ceed two hundred and fifty (250) dollars per annum and shall pur-
sue the studies or trades as agreed upon by the said Commissioner
of Education and the applicant, before finally receiving said appoint-
ment.
(179) Section 73. — The colleges or institutions designated which
the said students shall attend are Hampton Institute, Hampton, Vir-
ginia, Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama, and such other similar
educational institutions as the Commissioner of Education may from
time to time specify.
(180) Section 74. — The Commissioner of Education shall have the
right to cancel or withdraw support at any time upon proper proofs
being presented of misconduct or bad faith of any of the beneficiaries
included under this act, subject to the approval of the Executive
Council.
(181) Section 75.— There shall be sent to the Commissioner of
Education from the authorities of the college or institution at which
the said students are in attendance, a quarterly report of the con-
duct and advancement of each student so attending.
(182) Section 76. — The students who may receive the appoint-
ments shall at no time exceed twenty (20) in number, ten (10) young
men and ten (10) young women, and no one shall receive the benefits
of this act for a longer term than four years.
(183) Section 77.— The twenty (20) beneficiaries referred to in
section 71 shall in no case be sent from the same district or county,
52
and the Commissioner of Education shall therefore confer this favor
with the greatest equity among all the young persons of the island.
A necessary qualification shall be that the parents of the beneficiaries
shall be poor.
(184) l Subject to the conditions hereinafter provided a number
of young women shall be selected every four years or before in cases
of vacancies to be sent to the United States and maintained there
at the expense of The People of Porto Rico, for a period not exceeding
four years.
(185) The number of young women upon whom this privilege shall
be bestowed shall at no time exceed fourteen, and the total expense
for each young woman shall be precisely five hundred dollars per
annum.
(186) The fourteen beneficiaries of this act must be graduates of
some high school or the normal school in Porto Rico, and they shall
be selected from among those young women who, on being graduated,
have obtained the highest qualifications, provided that whenever
there be equality of conditions the poorest young woman shall be
given preference and that no more than two young women resident
in the same district shall be benefitted at the same time by this act;
in such a case the commission hereinafter provided shall determine
what they deem more convenient.
(187) The young women benefitted by this act must necessarily
be of sound health and good character.
(188) Every young woman candidate to the benefits of this act,
shall, upon her selection, and obtaining the necessary diploma be
obliged to return to the island and enter into the public-school serv-
ice of Porto Rico for a period of four years, for a just compensation.
(189) The fourteen young women so selected shall be sent to uni-
versities or colleges of good standing in the United States for the
sole purpose of taking the necessary courses until they are gradu-
ated and placed on a fit condition for appointment as teachers for
the high schools of Porto Rico, on their return to the island. As
far as possible, said students shall be sent to universities and col-
leges maintaining a strong pedagogical department, and the selec-
tion of such institutions shall be agreed upon by the commission
hereinafter provided.
(190) The President of the Executive Council, the Speaker to
the House of Delegates, or a delegate appointed by the latter and
the Commissioner of Education shall form the commission to deter-
*Act of March 12, 1908.
53
mine the qualifications provided in section 3 herein, and said com-
mission shall select the fourteen beneficiaries, their decision to be
final.
(191) Any young woman who is a graduate with high qualifica-
time from a high school, and who is taking a course in the Normal
School of Porto Rico or college or university in the United States,
with the purpose of entering in the school service, and whose pres-
ent studies are satisfactory shall be eligible under this act, pursuant
to the provisions of section 5 herein.
(192) The sum of seven thousand dollars, or so much thereof as
may be necessary is hereby appropriated for the fiscal year ending
June 30, 1909, out of any money in the Insular Treasury not other-
wise appropriated; and every beneficiary upon leaving Porto Rico,
for the United States, shall be given the sum of one hundred dol-
lars, which shall be proportionally discounted from her monthly
instalments of her first year, and every instalment shall be paid
monthly in advance. The Treasurer of Porto Rico and the Com-
missioner of Education shall agree upon the manner of complying
with the provisions of this section in order that there should be no
delay in the monthly instalments being received by the beneficiaries.
(193) The Commissioner of Education of Porto Rico shall request
that he be furnished with the monthly report as to the behavior and
progress of each young woman, and should the report be unsatisfac-
tory for two continuous months the commission herein before pro-
vided shall decide, upon examination of the report, as to the advisa-
bility of withdrawing the privilege ; if the decision shall be that such
privilege shall be withdrawn, the action taken shall be reported to
the interested young woman, to whom the sum of one hundred dol-
lars shall be sent for her return to the Island.
HIGH-SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIPS. 1
(194) For the purpose of assisting worthy young persons, gradu-
ates of the eighth grade of the public schools of Porto Rico, to con-
tinue their studies in a public high school, there are hereby estab-
lished forty scholarships in the Central High School of Porto Rico
at San Juan, and thirty scholarships in the High School of Ponce,
and thirty scholarships in the High School of Mayagiiez, to be filled
annually in accordance with the rules hereinafter provided.
(195) The Commissioner of Education shall annually select after
listening to information from school boards among the graduates
1 Act of March 14, 1907, as amended February 15, 1908.
54
of the eighth grade of the public schools of Porto Rico a number
of young persons of good health and good character and who can-
not otherwise because of existing circumstances in them enjoy the
educational advantages hereinbefore mentioned to be given the
scholarships hereby established ; Provided, That these young per-
sons shall be selected so far as practicable in equal numbers from
the different electoral districts of Porto Rico and that the total num-
ber shall not exceed one hundred.
(196) The said scholarships shall be regarded as a reward for
diligence and excellence in the work of the common schools. In
making his selection the Commissioner of Education shall take into
consideration the monthly reports of the pupils during the year
preceding the eighth-grade examination, as well as the results of
such examination. Giving equal weight to the average of monthly
reports and that of the eighth-grade examination the Commissioner
of Education shall establish a minimum combined average for ap-
pointment. No person who fails to attain such average shall be
appointed to such a scholarship, and in case of various qualified
applicants from a given electoral district, preference shall always
be given to those having the highest combined average.
(197) All appointments to these scholarships shall be for one
school year, but students whose record is in every way satisfactory
may be reappointed from year to year until they shall have received
four appointments, thus enabling them to complete one of the regu-
lar courses of study offered in the school which they may attend.
(198) The sum of one hundred eight dollars in nine instalments
of twelve dollars each shall be paid annually to each of the young
men wiio are appointed to these scholarships, or to their parents or
legal guardians.
(199) For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act
during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1908, the sum of five thousand
four hundred dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is
hereby appropriated from any moneys in the Treasury not other-
wise appropriated.
NORMAL SIIOLARSHIPS. 1
(200) Seventy-five (75) young men and young women seventy of
which shall be in so far as possible ten from each electoral district.
of not less than sixteen years of age nor more than twenty years of
age, of good health, honest, intelligent, and who otherwise would be
1 Act of March 12, 1903, as amended March 1, 1906, and March 12, 1908.
55
unable to continue their education beyond the common schools, shall
be awarded by the committee hereinafter established, scholarships
in recognition of diligence and excellence in the work of the com-
mon schools each of the value of one hundred eighty (180) dollars
payable in nine equal monthly instalments of twenty (20) dollars
for each school month, for the purpose of studying in the Insular
Normal School with the end in view of obtaining the diploma of
said Insular Normal School.
(201) A committee to be known as the Normal School Scholar-
ship Committee herein referred to as the "Committee" composed of
the Speaker of the House of Delegates, or a delegate appointed by him,
the president of the board of trustees of the University of Porto
Rico, and the President of the Executive Council, shall examine and
consider all applications for the scholarships and make known on
or before August 10 of each year through the secretary of the com-
mittee the names of the young men and young women awarded
scholarships. The chairman of this committee shall be the Speaker
of the House of Delegates, or in his absence the President of the
Executive Council. The secretary for the committee shall be the
principal of the Insular Normal School, whose duty it shall be to
conduct all correspondence for the committee, receive and keep in
his custody all applications for normal-school scholarships to be
presented to the committee upon request of its chairman, and keep
a complete record of the proceedings of the committee and of the
work and conduct of each holder of a scholarship.
(202) Candidates for scholarships shall have successfully and
creditably passed the examination conducted by the Department of
Education for the eighth-grade diploma of the common schools;
if awarded scholarships they shall enter the first-year class of the
Insular Normal School and before entering they shall be required
to promise in writing that wdien their studies are conducted they
will devote themselves to teaching in the public schools of Porto
Rico beginning as soon as they shall have been able to secure posi-
tions as teachers and continuing for a period of at least three years.
(203) The committee constitutes a permanent commission charged
with the supervision of the deportment, work, and the personal wel-
fare and comfort of scholarship students in the Insular Normal
School, who may for indolence or misconduct be deprived by the
committee of the privileges of scholarships. Vacancies in the hold-
ers of scholarships that may at any time occur may be filled by
the committee.
(204) When all or a part of said scholarship students shall have
56
passed the necessary examination and obtained the elementary cer-
tificate of the Insular Normal School, the Commissioner of Educa-
tion may select not more than forty (40) young men and young
women to continue their studies through the advanced course of
the Insular Normal School; Provided, That the Commissioner of
Education, may in his discretion, include among the said forty (40)
young men and young women hereinbefore mentioned, not more than
fifteen (15) young men and young women who hold a diploma
showing a completion of the four-year course in a high school in
Porto Rico during the year immediately preceding the selection.
(205) The Commissioner of Education, may in his discretion, pro-
mulgate and enforce rules and regulations not in conflict with the
spirit or letter of this act for its proper execution.
(206) To provide funds for the fulfilment of the purpose of this
act, the sum of fifteen thousand (15,000) dollars is hereby appropri-
ated from any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated
for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1909, and to be expended under
the direction of the board of trustees of the University of Porto Rico
and by the approval of the president of the board of trustees of
the University of Porto Rico.
COMMON-SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIPS. 1
(207) For the purpose of enabling worthy pupils lacking finan-
cial resources, in the rural schools of Porto Rico, who have completed
the work prescribed by the official course of study for these schools,
to continue their studies in the graded schools of any town, the school
boards are hereby empowered to establish scholarships which shall
be awarded in accordance with the rules hereinafter formulated.
(208) School boards shall award these scholarships only to those
pupils who reside in the rural districts of their respective munici-
palities, and who have attended the rural schools under their juris-
diction and obtained the highest averages in their studies during the
year immediately preceding, as shown by their monthly report cards.
(209) 'The maximum value of these scholarships shall be ten (10)
dollars per school month for each beneficiary, payable from the funds
of the school boards awarding the same, and the total annual value
of the scholarships awarded by any school board shall not exceed
the sum corresponding to five (5) per cent of the board's total
income.
l Act of February 19, 1908.
57
(210) The award of such scholarships and the number of same
that may be awarded in every municipality, shall rest with the re-
spective school boards.'
TEACHERS ' PENSION FUND.
(211) Section 78.— [Repealed by following Act of March 9,
1905.]
(212) All municipalities of the Island of Porto Eico, indebted to
the teachers' pension fund for moneys collected on account of said
fund, which have not issued certificates of indebtedness in favor
thereof, shall, upon the passage of this act, immediately avail them-
selves of the benefits of an act entitled "An act authorizing munici-
palities to issue certificates of indebtedness in payment of their obli-
gations incurred prior to July first, nineteen hundred two, outstand-
ing and unpaid," approved March 1, 1902, and proceed to issue
certificates covering their indebtedness in favor of the teachers'
pension fund.
(213) The administration of this fund shall be vested in a board
of trustees, which shall be known as the "board of trustees of the
teachers' pension fund" and the members of which shall be ap-
pointed by the Governor of Porto Rico for a period of five years.
(214) Said board shall consist of a president, a secretary and
a treasurer, who shall be beneficiaries of the fund, and two other
members who shall be principals in the public schools of Porto Rico
and shall not be beneficiaries of the fund.
(215) Said board shall meet at the call of the president, and four
members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business,
except, that in all cases where the disbursement of funds is ordered,
two of the members present must be nonbeneficiaries of the fund.
(216) The board of trustees shall receive and examine all appli-
cations for pensions in accordance with the provisions required by
the "derechos pasivos del magisterio de primera ensenanza de Puerto
Rico" actually in force, and upon determining the right of an appli-
cant to receive pension from the fund, shall approve the payment
of same at a meeting of the board and state an account in favor of
the claimant, which shall bear the signature of the president, secre-
tary and two nonbeneficiary members of the board and shall serve
as a warrant upon the treasurer of the board for the payment of
the pension as long as sufficient funds exist; And provided, That no
new accounts shall be stated until all claims in arrears shall have
been paid in full, after which time new claims shall take their respec-
tive places in order of the priority of approval.
58
(217) The treasurer of the board shall give bond in such amount
as the Governor of Porto Rico shall direct ; he shall deposit all funds
belonging to the board in one of the Government depositories and
shall make no disbursements except as authorized by the duly signed
warrants of the board; he shall make all disbursements by checks
which shall be countersigned by the president of the board; he shall
render monthly accounts to the board which shall be audited and
passed upon by the board and which, if found correct and in proper
form, shall be approved by same; he shall receive as salary two
per centum (2%) on all money disbursed to pensioners, provided
that nothing in this act shall be construed as allowing the treasurer
a percentage on his own salary; he shall be bonded by some surety
company which is accepted by the Treasurer of Porto Rico, the ex-
pense of obtaining said bond shall be borne by the fund.
(218) Vacancies occurring in the board of trustees by reason of
death, resignation, removal of one or more of its members by the
Governor, or from any other cause, shall be filled by appointment,
which shall be made by the Governor.
(219) Upon the passage of this act, and the appointment of the
board of trustees, the Department of Education shall deliver to
the secretary, all records, papers, and documents of whatever char-
acter pertaining to the subject, which it may have in its possession;
the disbursing officer of the Department of Education will immedi-
ately close all accounts of the teachers' pensions-trust fund and ren-
der same to the Auditor.
(220) The Treasurer of Porto Rico is hereby authorized and di-
rected to pay over to the treasurer of the board of trustees of the
teachers' pension fund, on the usual form of warrant issued by the
Auditor and signed by the Governor, as soon as said treasurer shall
have been appointed and qualified, the balance to the credit of the
teachers' pensions-trust fund as shown on the books of the Auditor.
(221) Section 78 of the Codified School Law, all laws, decrees,
military orders or parts of any thereof in conflict with this act be
and the same are hereby repealed.
SCHOOL FOR TRAINED NURSES.
(222) Section 79.— [Repealed March 10, 1904.]
(223) Section 80.— [Repealed March 10, 1904.]
(224) Section 81.— [Repealed March 10, 1904.]
(225) Section 82.— [Repealed March 10, 1904.]
59
INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS.
(226) Section 83. x — The Commissioner of Education is hereby
authorized to establish, equip, and maintain, with any funds allot-
ted or appropriated therefor, at least three industrial or manual
training schools for the education of the youth of Porto Rico. Said
schools shall be designed and equipped to afford a practical educa-
tion for pupils, both male and female, who shall be received therein,
in some occupation or trade of a mechanical or industrial character.
Competent teachers, who shall be practical mechanics, artisans, or
persons thoroughly equipped by education to instruct pupils of said
schools in such mechanical or industrial branches as shall be taught
therein, shall be from time to time employed by the Commissioner
of Education, as the needs and necessities of said schools, and the
means at his disposal for said purposes, shall require and permit.
(227) Section 84. The first three of said schools to be established
by the Commissioner of Education, under the authority hereby
granted, shall be located in the cities of San Juan, Ponce and Maya-
giiez, respectively, in the order herein named. In the city of San
Juan, the Commissioner of Education shall be authorized to take
possession of any public building which the Commissioner of the
Interior may be able to provide in place of the building partially
destroyed by fire some time since, situated in said city of San Juan,
and which contained a partial equipment of machinery and appli-
ances for the use of a school of the character herein designated, and
to repair and fix up such a building and to have the use of same
together with the partial equipment heretofore mentioned. For the
construction and equipment of such other manual training schools
as may be established under the terms of this act, the said Commis-
sioner of Education is authorized to receive and accept donations
or assistance in the way of lands, machinery, equipments or build-
ings which may be offered for the purpose by the community where
said school is to be located, or from any person who shall offer such
donation.
(228) Section 85 r — The courses of instruction in industrial
schools shall be such as may be prescribed by the Commissioner of
Education, and said schools, when so established, shall become and
be maintained as a part of the general educational system of Porto
Rico under the supervision and direction of the Commissioner of
Education. Said Commissioner of Education is authorized to equip
1 As amended February 6, 1904.
- As amended March 10, 1904.
60
fully said schools with all the necessary machinery, apparatus, and
accessories requisite to the teaching and instructing of the pupils
therein in such of the mechanical or industrial branches as may be
designated to be taught in said schools, and to hire all the necessary
assistants and teachers, providing for the organization of such schools
as a portion and branch of the Department of Education, under the
control of the Commissioner of Education of Porto Rico, and after
the construction and equipment of such schools the same shall be
maintained out of appropriations for the support and maintenance
of said department. All products or articles made in the industrial
schools or in the agricultural schools, when made from materials fur-
nished by the school authorities, shall become the property of The
People of Porto Rico, and as such may be retained ;is a part of the
permanent equipment of the school or of the Department of Educa-
cation to be used for instruction or exhibition purposes. When in
the judgment of the -Commissioner of Education they are not so re-
quired they may be sold in accordance with such rides and regula-
tions as he may adopt, at cost price, to the pupils, teachers, or other
persons in the schools or in the Department of Education, and all
products or works so offered for sale and not sold after a period of
three months from the date when they were first offered, may be sold
to the general public at a fair market price, and all receipts from
the sale of products or articles made in industrial schools, or agricul-
tural rural schools shall he paid into a special trust fund with no-
fiscal year and shall he available for the establishment and main-
tenance of industrial schools.
(229) Section 86. — The Commissioner of Education shall provide
such rules and regulations as may be proper for the admission of
boys and girls of Porto Rico as pupils in schools as may be estab-
lished under the terms of this act, the courses of study and training
to be pursued therein, the discipline thereof, and he shall be author-
ized to make such other regulations as may be necessary in order
that the most impartial distribution of the benefits to be derived
from the practical education to be given at said schools shall be
afforded to the most worthy applicants for the privilege of becoming
pupils iri said schools.
(230) 1 That such part of the outfits and implements of every kind
which existed in the late Industrial School at Mayagiiez, as shall be
determined by the Commissioner of Education to be capable of advan-
tageous use by the Reform School for Juvenile Delinquents, shall be
from time to time transferred temporarily to the Reform School for
1 Joint Resolution of March 4, 1908.
61
Juvenile Delinquents, in Mayagiiez; Provided, That said outfits and
implements shall still remain under the jurisdiction of the Depart-
ment of Education and that in the event of the reestablishment of
public industrial schools upon the island, the Commissioner of Edu-
cation is empowered at any time to recall said outfits and implements.
ARBOR DAY.
(231) Section 87. x — The Friday immediately following the last
Thursday in November in each year shall be known throughout the
Island as Arbor Day and shall be a holiday in all of the public schools
in charge of the Commissioner of Education. It shall be the duty
of said Commissioner to cause the scholars in every public school in
the island to be assembled in the school building, or elsewhere, as
he may deem proper, and to provide for and to conduct, under the
general supervision of the local school board, or other chief officers
having the general oversight of the public schools in each munici-
pality or district, such exercises as shall tend to encourage the plant-
ing, protection, and preservation of trees and shrubs and an acquaint-
ance with the best methods to be adopted to accomplish such results.
(232) Section 88. — The Commissioner of Education shall have
power to prescribe from time to time a course of exercises and instruc-
tion in the subjects hereinbefore mentioned, which shall be adopted
and observed by the public school authorities on Arbor Day, and
upon receipt of copies of such course, sufficient in number to supply
all the schools under their supervision, the supervising principals
shall promptly provide each of the schools under their charge with
a copy and shall cause it to be observed.
PUBLICATION OF THE SCHOOL LAW.
(233) Section 89. — Immediately upon the approval of this act, the
Commissioner of Education shall compile and publish in pamphlet
form in the English and Spanish languages, the laws and regulations
in force relating to public education in Porto Rico. Said pamphlet
shall contain any additional rules and regulations necessary to carry
out the provisions of this act, which the Commissioner of Education
may deem necessary for the guidance and information of the school
authorities and teachers of Porto Rico.
1 As amended March 10, 1910.
62
REPEALING CLAUSE.
(234) Section 90. — All laws, decrees, military orders, or parts of
the same in conflict with this act, he and the same are hereby re-
pealed. This act shall he known as the Codified School Law and
shall constitute section 7 of the Political Code.
(235) Section 91. — This act shall take effect sixty days after its
approval, except section 21 thereof which shall take effed July first,
nineteen hundred three.
Approved March 12, 1903.
(236) ' That the San Juan High School shall hereafter be known
as the Central High School of Porto Rico, and there shall be organ-
ized therein studies to correspond to the four high-school grades,
as also such commercial studies as the Commissioner of Education
may deem proper.
(237) x The high schools of Mayagiiez, Ponce, Arecibo and Fajardo
may give commercial as well as such other instruction as is given in
normal schools; Provided, That the Commissioner of Education
may at any time, for reasons of economy and betterment, order that
in all towns where industrial high schools exist both branches of
instruction be taught in the same building, the same teachers being
emplo3 r ed as far as possible for the common studies.
(238) 1 That all the high schools of the island shall be authorized
to admit for examination in the months of June and September, all
students who have privately taken up the studies corresponding to
said courses, and private students shall submit to the same entrance
examinations as students from the public schools.
(239) V That the Commissioner of Education shall at any time dur-
ing the coming fiscal year draw up a plan of commercial studies to
embrace commercial arithmetic, commercial geography, bookkeeping,
political economy, typewriting, English, Spanish, French and any
other studies in harmony with the needs of the country, and shall
present the same in his next annual report..
1 Act of March 10, 1904, as amended March 11, 1909, and March 9, 1911.
G3
(240) x That the Commissioner of Education shall proceed to ac-
quire the necessary instruments and materials for establishing a
night class of mechanical drawing in the Ponce High School, for
mechanics.
(241) x That the Commissioner of Education shall proceed to ap-
point a competent person to act as teacher in said class of drawing,
with the monthly salary of seventy-five (75) dollars.
(242)- That all moneys paid by municipalities or school boards
to the Commissioner of Education for desks or other school appli-
ances furnished to said school boards or to said municipalities, shall
be credited to an appropriation to be known as an appropriation for
"common-school equipment, no-fiscal year." The payments so cred-
ited shall be available for the purchase of additional desks, textbooks
and school supplies.
(243)- All moneys paid to the Commissioner of Education in the
settlement of property accounts of supervising principals, princi-
cipals, teachers, or other employes having in their custody and being
charged with the responsibility for the proper care of school prop-
erty, and all moneys paid for the reimbursement for property lost
or stolen while in their possession, and all moneys paid by any other
persons as reimbursement for school property in their possession
which may be lost or stolen during the time for which they are
charged with the responsibility for the same, shall be credited to
the aforesaid appropriation to be known as the appropriation for
"common-school equipment, no fiscal year," and when so credited
shall be available for the purchase of additional desks, text-books
and supplies.
(244)- The Commissioner of Education shall not sell school fur-
niture or supplies to private persons or to any other parties than
the municipalities or the school boards of the several municipalities
in Porto Rico; Provided, That nothing in this act shall prohibit the
Commissioner of Education from selling at duly advertised public
sale school property that may be duly and properly condemned as
unfit for use and properly canceled, so as to prohibit its further use
in the public schools.
1 Act of March 10, 1910.
= Act of March 10, 1904.
64
AX ACT
TO ESTABLISH THE UNIVERSITY OF PORTO RICO, TO AMEND SECTION 923 OF
THE CIVIL CODE OF PORTO RICO, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
Be it enacted by (he Legislative Assembly of Porto Rico:
(245) Section 1. — That an institution of higher learning is hereby
established to he known as the University of Porto Rico.
(246) Section 2. — That the university thus established shall pro-
vide the inhabitants of Porto Rico as soon as possible with the means
of acquiring a thorough knowledge of the various branches of litera-
ture, science, and useful arts, including agriculture and mechanical
trades and with professional and technical courses in medicine, law,
engineering, pharmacy and in the science and art of teaching.
(247) Section '■k' 1 — That the Government, of the University of
Porto Rico shall be vested in a board of trustees composed of the
Commissioner of Education, as a member and its president, the
Speaker of the House of Delegates or Representatives and the Treas-
urer of Porto Rico, as ex officio members, and four other persons to
be appointed by the Governor of Porto Rico, who shall hold office
until their successors are appointed and qualified.
(248) Section 4. 1 — That the board of trustees shall constitute' a
body corporate under the name of •' ' The University of Porto Rico, ' '
with the right as such of suing and being sued, of making contracts,
el' having and using a common seal and altering the same, of hold-
ing and transferring property both real and personal, for the uni-
versity. The said board shall hold regular quarterly meetings on
the first Monday of the months of January, April, July and October
of each ^ear, but special meeting may be called at any time by the
president on the written request of two members, or whenever in
his judgment the affairs of the university require such a meeting.
At any meeting of the board four members shall constitute a quorum.
No person connected with the university as professor, tutor, teacher
or other employe receiving salary in the said university, may at the
1 As amended February 18, 1905, and March 8, 1910.
65
same time be a trustee of the university and no trustee shall be enti-
tled to or be paid any compensation for his services as such trustee;
Provided, That by special action of the board, in each and every
case voted upon separately, trustees may be allowed their necessary
traveling expenses while engaged on business of the university.
(249) Section 5. — The board of trustees shall elect from their
number a vice president who shall perform all the duties of the presi-
dent of the board in his absence and when both are absent the board
may elect from their own number a president pro tern who for the
time being may act as president and do and perform all acts required
of the president. It shall be the duty of the president to sign all
contracts, orders and every paper obligating the university for a
valuable consideration, and such contract, order or paper shall be
attested by the secretary with the seal of the trustees thereto attached.
(250) Section 6. — The trustees shall elect a secretary and treas-
urer who shall be one and the same person, whose duty it shall be to
receive and receipt for all moneys of the university; keep all accounts
which may be directed to be kept by the board; keep inventories of
all property of the university as minutely as may be directed by the
board; keep all records of their transactions as they may require,
and otherwise do such clerical and executive work as may from time
to time be directed by the board, and who shall at all times be under
the immediate direction and authority of the president of the board
except as otherwise explicitly directed by the laws of Porto Rico or
the requirements of the board.
(251) Section 7. — The president of the board of trustees shall be
the chancellor of the university and as such shall perform the duties
usually appertaining to such office. The board shall have power to
enact ordinances, by-laws and regulations for the government of the
university ; to fix, increase and reduce the number of professors,
teaehers and other employes of the university, appoint or remove
the same, determine the amount of their salaries and to prescribe
their duties; Provided, That no course of study, no subject of instruc-
tion and no course of lectures or recitations may be inaugurated or
put in force without the written approval of the Commissioner oC
Education for Porto Rico having been first obtained by the board.
(252) Section 8. — The university shall consist of the following
departments to be organized in the order of their importance as soon
as the necessary funds may be available, and it shall be the duty
of the board of trustees to appeal to the philanthropy of public-spir-
ited citizens of Porto Rico and of the several States of the United
States for gifts and bequests of money, books, buildings and equip-
•36
ment for this purpose, in addition to such financial assistance as the
Government of Porto Rico may have given or may give the univer-
sity For its endowment:
(1) A normal deparl at to be known as the [nsular Normal School
for the training of teachers in the subjects taughl in the public schools
of Porto Rico, and to be supported by animal appropriations by the
Legislative Assembly.
(2) An agricultural and mechanical department for I raining of
teachers and for the promotion of agriculture and the mechanic arts,
to be maintained in conformity with the requirements of an Act of
Congress approved August 30, 1890, being an act entitled "An act
to apply a portion of the proceeds of the public lands to the more
complete endowment and support of the colleges for the benefit of
agriculture and the mechanic arts, established under the provisions
of an Act of Congress approved July 2, 1862," and the legislative
assent required by section 2 of the Act of Congress approved August
30, 1890, is hereby given and the conditions imposed by that act as
well as those imposed by the Act of Congress approved July 2, 1862,
are hereby accepted and imposed by this act upon the University of
Porto Rico, and all moneys accruing thereunder are accepted under
the conditions and terms in said acts named.
(3) A department of the natural sciences and engineering.
1 1 A department of liberal arts.
(5) A department of medicine.
(6) A department of laws.
7 A department of pharmacy.
(8) A department of architecture.
(9.) A university hospital.
(10) And such other departments germane to a well-equipped
university as the board of trustees may from time to time be able
to establish.
The Treasurer of Porto Rico is hereby designated as the offic< r
to receive the grants of moneys to be paid to the State or Territorial
treasurer or to such official as shall be designated by law of such
State or Territory to receive same, as provided in an Act of Con-
gress of the United; States, approved August 30, 1890, and entitled,
"An act to apply a portion of the proceeds of the public lands to
the more complete endowment and support of the colleges for the
benefit of agricultural and mechanical arts, established under pro-
vision of an Act of Congress approved July 2, 1862," and the assent
of the Legislative Assembly of Porto Rico is hereby given to the pur-
pose of said grants and to all the terms and conditions thereof as
67
specified in said Act of Congress. The Treasurer of Porto Rico
shall keep an account of the moneys hereafter received by him in
pursuance of such Act of Congress in a separate fund to be known
as the "university agricultural fund," to the credit of the Univer-
sity of Porto Rico and shall pay such moneys immediately upon re-
ceipt thereof by him, to the treasurer of the University of Porto Rico
upon the warrant of the Auditor of Porto Rico, countersigned by
the Governor of Porto Rico and issued upon the order of the trustees
of the University of Porto Rico in pursuance of said Act of Congress.
(253) Section 9. — The immediate government of the several de-
partments shall be intrusted to the chancellor and the respective fac-
ulties. The chancellor shall be the presiding officer of the various
faculties and the executive head of the university in all its depart-
ments, and as such shall have authority — subject to the power of
the board of trustees — to give general directions respecting the in-
struction and scientific investigations of the several departments.
The board of trustees shall, with the chancellor and with the recom-
mendation of the several faculties, confer such degrees as in their
judgment they shall deem best, and issue certificates or diplomas
of proficiency in special subjects, or courses of study, but no strictly
honorary degree without corresponding literary or scientific attain-
ments shall be granted by the university.
(254) Section 10. — The university shall be open to students of
both sexes under such restrictions and regulations as the board of
trustees may deem proper, and all able-bodied male students of the
university may receive instruction and discipline in military tactics;
Provided, That instruction in the normal department for the train-
ing of teachers for public schools shall at all times be free to the citi-
zens and residents of Porto Rico of both sexes within the age limits
and subject to the conditions of admission which the board of trustees
may impose.
(255) Section 11. — The board of trustees shall make an exhibit
of the affairs of the university in each year to the Commissioner of
Education, setting forth the condition of the university in all its de-
partments, the amount of receipts and disbursements, the number of
professors, teachers and other officers and the compensation of each,
number of students in the several departments and in the different
classes, the books of instruction used and an estimate of the expenses
for the ensuing year, together with such information and suggestions
as they may deem important or the Commissioner of Education may
require to embody in his report. Such report of the board of trustees
shall be delivered to the Commissioner of Education on or before
68
August 15, in each and every year, and shall contain statistical and
other data as of the close of the fiscal and academic year ending
June 30 previous. II shall be the duty of the Commissioner of Edu-
cation to lay such report of the board of trustees of the University
of Porto Rico before the Legislature in each and every year.
(256) Section 12. — The Secretary of Porto Rico shall deliver to
the university ten copies of each volume of the General and Special
Laws of Porto Rico and of the reports of the decisions of the courts
and of any other public documents distributed through his office or
which may hereafter be published for use in the way of exchange
or otherwise, in the establishment and maintenance of the university
library, and said library shall be entitled to receive copies of the
official reports when printed, of the several officials of the insular and
municipal Government of Porto Rico.
(257) Section 13. x — To provide funds for the current expenses
of the University, for the repairs of buildings, purchase of books,
for all purposes of operation of the university, including the main-
tenance of scholarship students in the college of agriculture and for
the purpose of any scientific work which may be conducted under
the auspices of the university for the benefit of science or the State,
there shall be established by the Treasurer of Porto Rico a fund to
be known as the university fund, into which he shall pay, pursuant
to law, the following-named receipts, which are hereby appropriated
for the said purpose :
(1) Escheated inheritance. Section 923 of the Civil Code of Porto
Rico is hereby amended to read: "In default of persons who have
the right to inherit in accordance with the preceding articles, The
People of Porto Rico shall take the inheritance and devote the prop-
erty to the benefit of the university fund."
(2) Fifty per cent of all fines imposed by the courts of Porto Rico,
and which are paid into the Insular Treasury, except those imposed
under the provisions of the act entitled "An act to prevent cruelty
to animals," approved March 1, 1902.
(3) Royalties from all franchises or public rights which may be
granted by the Executive Council, and the proceeds of which the
Executive Council may designate to be paid into the university
fund. The Treasurer of Porto Rico shall submit to the trustees
of the University of Porto Rico semi-annually, or oftener, if re-
quested by said board, a statement showing the balance available
to the credit of said board on account of the aforesaid university
fund, and shall pay quarterly to the treasurer of the University of
1 As amended March 3, 1904, and March 7, 1912
69
Porto Rico, upon the warrant of the Auditor of Porto Rico, counter-
signed by the Governor of Porto Rico, and issued upon the order of
the trustees of the University of Porto Rico, all unexpended moneys
that may accrue in said university fund.
(258) Section 14. — Twenty-five (25) per cent of the proceeds
from the sales of all public lands in Porto Rico are hereby appro-
priated and shall be set aside by the Treasurer of Porto Rico to the
credit of a special fund to be known as the "permanent university
fund" and so much more than twenty-five (25) per cent of the pro-
ceeds from the sale of such public lands as the Legislative Assem-
bly may direct to be set aside for the special benefit of the Uni-
versity of Porto Rico. The Treasurer of Porto Rico shall pay to
the treasurer of the University of Porto Rico upon the warrant
of the Auditor of Porto Rico countersigned by the Governor and
issued upon the order of the trustees of the University of Porto
Rico annually upon a date to be fixed by said Treasurer of Porto
Rico, all moneys accruing to the credit of said University of Porto
Rico, on account of the ' ' permanent university fund, ' ' and all such
moneys thus paid by the Treasurer of Porto Rico on account of the
''permanent university fund" shall be invested by the trustees of
the University of Porto Rico in interest-bearing securities, and only
seventy-five (75) per cent of the income from such investments may
be used by said trustees in the payment of current expenses or for
the construction of buildings or to purchase permanent equipment.
The remaining twenty-five (25) per cent of the income from such
investments shall be added to the principal of the same and be rein-
vested in a like manner and subject to the same conditions as the
original investment of all moneys received for the "permanent uni-
versity fund." No investment of moneys received for the "perma-
nent university fund" shall be made by the board of trustees in
securities without first obtaining the written approval of the Treas-
urer of' Porto Rico, certifying that in his judgment the securities
selected for such investment are satisfactory.
(259) Section 15. — For the further endowment of the University
of Porto Rico the Governor of Porto Rico is hereby authorized to
execute a quit-claim deed to the trustees of the University of Porto
Rico for the tract of land comprising about fifty acres, together with
the buildings thereon erected, situate in the town of Rio Piedras
and known as the Insular Normal School property, upon which shall
be located the normal department of such university and the agri-
cultural and mechanical department, together with such other depart-
ments as the board of trustees may decide to locate on this land;
70
Provided, That nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit
the trustees of the University of Porlo Rico Erom establishing other
departments of the university or departments supplementary to the
two departments herein mentioned at other places in the Island of
Porto Rico j And provided further, That nothing in this ad shall
be construed to prohibil the trustees of the University of Porto Rico
from disposing of any part of this land which may not be needed
for the benefit of the university.
(260) Section 16. — Immediately upon the transfer of said [nsular
Normal School property to the University of Porto Rico, the Com-
missioner of Education is hereby authorized to transfer to said
trustees of the University of Porto Rico all the equipment, includ-
ing books, desks and apparatus and other school materials now or
then appertaining to the Insular Normal School and its various de-
partments and the Treasurer of Porto Rico is hereby authorized and
directed 1o pay to the treasurer of the University of Porto Rico upon
warrant of the Auditor of Porto Rico countersigned by the Governor
and issued upon orders of the trustees of the University of Porto
Rico, all moneys appropriated for the Insular Normal School in the
budget of the Department of Education and unexpended at the time
of said transfer of property and equipment of the Insular Normal
School; Provided, That the Treasurer have the written approval for
such transfer from the Commissioner of Education and a certified
copy of a resolution of the board of trustees of the University of
Porto Rico setting forth that the university agrees to continue in
operation said normal school as a department of the university with-
out interruption to its course of study or of the privileges now ex-
tended to the regularly matriculated students of said school: And
provided further, That said board of trustees assume all obligations
and outstanding contracts appertaining to the administration of said
normal school which may have lawfully been made by the Commis-
sioner of Education previous to the date of said transfer.
(261) Section 17. — All laws, or part thereof, decrees, or military
orders in conflict with this act are hereby repealed.
(262) Section 18. — This act shall take effect from and after its
approval.
Approved March 12, 1903.
71
RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT
OF EDUCATION
APPROVED BY THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION UNDER AUTHORITY OF
LAW IN PURSUANCE OF SECTIONS 53, 66 AND 89 OF THE COMPILED
SCHOOL LAW, THE ORGANIC ACT, AND OTHER LEGISLATIVE SANCTION.
RENEWAL OF TEACHERS' LICENSES.
(263) A license to teach is merely a permit granted for a limited
time. It is not a diploma setting forth the results of a course, of
study or of work done. A diploma is a permanent record of some-
thing completed. A license to teach indicates an estimate or a judg-
ment of the temporary or present value placed on a diploma, exami-
nations, or other evidence of past achievements and is, therefore,
subject to change. The burden of proof always rests upon the appli-
cant for renewal of a license to show that he has kept his own effi-
ciency up to the standard demanded of new candidates for teachers'
licenses.
All licenses issued by the Department of Education are for a cer-
tain specified period as provided in the School Laws.
Any person holding a license issued by the Department of Edu-
cation and who fails to teach during the life of the license for a rea-
sonable length of time, which ordinarily shall be construed as mean-
ing a period approximating one-half the life of the license, in a
school under the regular inspection of officers of the department,
not including night schools, will not be entitled to a renewal of his
license, except by reexamination; Provided, hoivever, That teachers
of any grade who receive licenses in the first instance for one year,
and who fail to teach, may be granted one renewal for the same
period. Applicants for renewals from such persons, or from any
others who have not been engaged in public-school work at any time
during the school year in which application is made, but who have
taught previously in the public schools for a reasonable length of
time since the last issue of their licenses, shall be made in writing and
state definitely what educational work the applicant has done during
72
the year, or what studies he has pursued and under whose direction.
If lie has taught in private schools or has been engaged in other kinds
of educational work, or has continued his own reading and study in
subjects in which he originally passed his examination for the teach-
er s license, the department will investigate his record and renew or
refuse to renew his license upon evidence of his success, or his endeavor
to maintain and improve his intellectual attainments. Applications
must not be made until after May 1 and not later than June 30 of
each year.
CLASSIFICATION OF TEACHERS.
Each year all rural, graded and principal teachers holding cer-
tificates issued by the Department of Education and who have taught
during the school year, shall be classified during the last term, with
respect to their proficiency and success as teachers, as follows :
Class "E." Teachers whose work is "Excellent" in every respect.
Class "G." Teachers whose work is "Good" in general, although
not of as high grade as that of class "E."
Class "F." Teachers whose work is "Fair."
Class "P." Teachers whose work is "Unsatisfactory."
Certificates of teachers who are definitely classified as "P" will
be considered as canceled and will not be renewed except by re-
examination. Upon passing an examination for a renewal, or for
any other grade of license, they will remain unclassified until fur-
ther experience has been obtained upon which to base a reclassifica-
tion.
Persons entering the corps of teachers for the first time will remain
unclassified until they have had experience as teachers upon which
to base a classification. Persons already holding licenses, upon pass-
ing an examination for a higher grade of license, will remain un-
classified in the higher grade until they have had experience as teach-
ers in that grade upon which to base a classification.
Any classification given to a teacher in any grade will remain un-
changed if the teacher fails to teach for any period and a reclassifi-
cation will be made only upon the basis of further experience.
Nothing in this paragraph is to be construed as affecting the life
certificate of teachers, secured either by examination or by reason
of having had five consecutive years' experience in a given class.
except that any person holding a life certificate and receiving a defi-
nite classification as "P" must necessarily have his license canceled
by reason of his manifest incompetency. In all cases the definite
official notification to a teacher of his classification as "P" will be
73
considered as a notification of the cancellation of his license, what-
ever the grade or class.
Nothing in this paragraph is to be construed as preventing or
interfering with the right of appeal on the part of a teacher who
may consider himself unjustly classified as a " P " teacher. However,
no appeal can be entertained which is not accompanied by reason-
able evidence that the classification was unjustly made through pre-
judice, malice, unfavorable bias, lack of full and thorough examina-
tion of the work of the teacher or that the classification was based
upon a judgment reached by any means other than a fair and im-
partial observance of the work and conduct of the teacher.
VACATION LEAVE FOR SUPERVISING PRINCIPAL OP SCHOOLS.
(264) Supervising principals are subject to the same rules respect-
ing leave of absence that apply to employes in the office force of
the Department of Education. In the discretion of the Commissioner
of Education, they may be granted leave of absence with full pay,
whenever the needs of the public service will permit, for a period
not exceeding a total of thirty days in any one calendar year: with
an additional allowance of six days for travel each way in case their
leave of absence includes permission to go to the States. They may
accumulate this leave and be given sixty days with travel allowance,
provided that period covers all leave of absence granted in a period
of two years, in accordance with the provisions of law regulating
leave of absence for Government employes.
DUTIES OF SUPERVISING PRINCIPALS.
(265) Whenever a supervising principal, for any reason whatever,
is unable to perform the duties which naturally devolve upon such
an official, immediate notice shall be sent to the department.
An adequate sign shall be displayed at the office of the supervis-
ing principal. In connection with such sign, or at least in some
conspicuous place open to the public, there shall also be displayed
a statement of office hours which shall be observed punctually.
DUTIES OF PRINCIPALS AND TEACHERS.
(266) The principals and teachers together wdth the officers of
the department are responsible for the maintenance of good schools
in Porto Rico. They are supposed to know the school law and to
familiarize themselves as far as possible with the course of study
and all reports of the Department of Education, so that they may
74
understand its aims and its plans. They are expected to work sym-
pathetically and harmoniously with the department, to give H their
full confidence and to look to it as their best friend and helper in
all that makes for success in their work. A teacher who does not
have confidence in the department, in its intentions and purposes,
should sever, his connection with the teaching - force. He should
always appeal first to the department, and not write articles to the
newspapers or engage in discussion or gossip with his neighbors about
things which concern primarily his relations with the Department
of Educaton. He is expected to take the initiative in doing every-
thing he can for the good of the school. So long as his acts are not
inconsistent with the School Law or general policy of the department,
every teacher and principal will be sustained by the department.
A few of the more general duties pertaining to principals and teach-
ers may be enumerated as follows:
DUTIES OF PRINCIPALS.
i
(267) (1) Principals of public schools shall keep a register in
which shall be noted the name, age, sex, color, date of entry, date
of promotion from one grade to another and the attendance of each
pupil; also the name, residence and occupation of the parents or
guardians of the pupils. This register shall always be at the dispo-
sition of the Commissioner of Education or his representatives and
of the members of the school boards.
(2) Principals shall be in their respective buildings at least twenty
minutes before the opening of each session.
(3) Principals shall beep a register of the daily attendance of the
teachers who are under their direction, requiring them to sign their
names in this book at the opening of school and to note the exact
time of their arrival.
(4) Principals are responsible to the Commissioner of Education
or his representatives for the organization, discipline and distribu-
tion of work in their schools, and they are responsible to the school
board for the care of the building and public property.
(5) Principals shall assist the supervising principals in the distri-
bution of the books and materials provided by the department.
(6) Principals shall see that the school buildings are kept clean
and in good order.
(7) Principals shall matriculate and classify pupils of the school
placed under their care, subject to the general direction and guidance
of the supervising principals.
75
(8) Principals shall keep all written suggestions or criticisms re-
ceived from the supervising principal during the year, as well as
all the hooks in which they have written out their daily preparation
of work, at their respective schoolrooms until the close of each school
year.
(9) Principals shall see that the schools under their charge are
open at the hour fixed for the opening of schools and that the teachers
devote themselves exclusively to the instruction of their pupils dur-
ing school hours, maintaining good discipline, and that they conduct
themselves with propriety and follow faithfully the course .of study
laid down by the Commissioner of Education.
(10) Principals shall not permit any person to visit their schools
with the object of selling merchandise or advertising books, publi-
cations, concerts l exhibitions or any other business enterprise, with-
out the written permission of the Commissioner of Education.
(11) Principals are required to have the correct time and to see
that the clocks in their schoolrooms are regulated to keep the correct
time.
(12) Principals shall see that all of the reports for the schools
under their direction are promptly filled out in the form required
and placed at the disposition of the supervising principal.
(13) Principals are responsible for the faithful execution and per-
formance of all the rules and regulations laid down for their respec-
tive schools.
(14) Principals are responsible for the maintenance of discipline
in all the schools under their direction.
(15) Principals shall report upon the work, conduct, etc., of all
the teachers under their direction so far as it is possible to observe
the same in addition to attending to their duties in their own classes,
whenever requested by supervising principals or school boards.
(16) Principals shall send a report on the condition of the school
property to the school boards when requested to do so.
(17) Principals shall hold themselves in readiness for such addi-
tional work as may be required by the Commissioner of Education
or his representatives.
(18) Principals shall immediately notify the supervising principal
of any permission given by them to a teacher to dismiss his pupils
during school hours.
(19) Wherever in these rules and regulations the word "princi-
pal" occurs, it is intended to include "acting principal" and "teacher
in charge."
76
DUTIES OF TEACHERS.
(268) (1) Teachers shall always resped the authority of princi-
pals and shall not interfere with nor usurp their rights or duties.
(2) Teachers in rural schools shall be in their respective schools
at least twenty minutes before the hour set for lii'.ui lining classi -
(3) Teachers in school buildings in charge of principals or acting
principals shall be in their respective schools at least ten minutes
before the time for beginning classes.
(4) Teachers sliall keep a register provided by the departmenl in
accordance with the instructions given therein.
(5) Teachers shall be responsible for the proper care and pro-
tection of textbooks and the economic use of school materials supplied
to them by the department.
(6) Teachers are prohibited from dismissing their pupils during
school hours unless obliged to do so for some absolutely necessary
cause, in which case graded teachers shall have previously secured
permission of their principals, but in no case shall a teacher appoint
a substitute.
(7) Teachers should study the characteristics of the pupils of their
respective classes and by means of kindness and persuasive discipli-
nary measures they should endeavor to win their affection and co-
operation. Teachers should alwaj's be examples of dignity, courtesy
and kindly spirit.
(8) Teachers are charged with the duty of overseeing the conduct
of their pupils not only in the class room, but also during the recess,
and they are jointly responsible with the parents or guardians for
their conduct from the time they leave home for school until they
return to their homes.
(9) Teachers shall fill out in proper form all required reports and
give same to their supervising principals.
(10) Teachers shall follow at all times the directions or orders of
the Commissioner of Education or his representatives, and shall fa-
miliarize themselves with the School Laws and the rules and regu-
lations of the department.
(11) Teachers shall closely observe and follow the methods of
instruction outlined in the course of study issued by the department.
(12) Teachers shall preserve for inspection by general superin-
tendents or other officials of the department, all written suggestions
or criticisms received from their supervising principals during the
school year, as well as all books in which they have written their daily
preparaton of work, at their respective schoolrooms until the close
of the school year.
77
(15) Teachers shall, when requested by their supervising princi-
pal, be with their pupils on the playgrounds during recess to preserve
order and to direct their games.
RIGHTS OF TEACHERS.
(269) Teachers shall have the right to appeal from the orders
which may be given them by their principal to the supervising prin-
cipal and from the latter to the Commissioner of Education.
Supervising principals should give all their instructions to teachers
privately and not in the presence of their classes.
Teachers enjoy the complete right to criticise or discuss either in
pedagogical meetings or in newspaper articles the School Laws and
Regulations, but in all such discussion they shall avoid the use of
words and phrases which could in any manner be deemed as showing
a lack of respect for any department of the Insular Government.
SUSPENSION.
(270) This method of punishment is approved by the Department
of Education when necessary to maintain the dignity and proper
discipline of the school. Suspensions shall not exceed five days unless
further extension is granted by the Commissioner of Education.
For the guidance of teachers the following instructions are given:
(1) In rural schools a child may be suspended by the teacher.
The child shall be sent home at once and the parent or guardian
notified in writing of the reasons for suspension and informed that
the consent of the supervising principal must be secured before the
child may return. The teacher will also notify the supervising prin-
cipal of his action enclosing a copy of the letter sent to the parents
or guardian.
(2) In school buildings in charge of principals or acting princi-
pals, pupils may be suspended by these officers only. The teacher
shall send the pupil to the principal or acting principal who, after
investigation, may suspend him. The child shall, in such cases, be
sent home immediately, and the parent or guardian notified in writ-
ing that the child is suspended, with the reasons therefor, and that
the written consent of the supervising principal is necessary before
the child may return.
(3) Tlic supervising principal shall, after investigation, notify the
parent or guardian in writing of the conditions under which the child
may return.
78
(4) Copies of all papers relating to suspension shall be kepi on
file in the supervising- principal's office.
OORFOB LL PUNISHMENT.
(271) The use of corporal punishmenl in the schools of Porto liico
is not approved by the Department of Education, and is absolutely
prohibited excepl in accordance with the following regulations:
(1) Whenever a grave misdemeanor has been committed by a pupil
for which il seems corporal punishment would be the besl remedy,
written or oral permission (if oral, it should be given in the presence
of a reliable witness) must be secured from the parenl or guardian
for the infliction of that form of punishment.
(2) In schools where there are principals or acting principals,
corporal punishment, when administered, shall be inflicted only by
those officers and in the presence of two other teachers, and not in
the presence of other pupils.
(3) In rural schools, corporal punishment may be administered
by the teacher, but must be in the presence of two patrons of the
school called in as witnesses. In this case also, punismment shall
not be administered in the presence of other pupils.
(4) Teachers shall not strike pupils on the head, or any other
part of the body in such a way as to produce severe or permanent
injury.
(5) When corporal punishment is administered it shall be by the
use of the hand or a light rule, switch or strap without a buckle or
other piece of metal.
(6) Teachers who disregard section 53 of the Compiled School
Laws of Porto Rico or the rules of the department relative to cor-
poral punishment will be summarily dealt with.
MEDICAL CERTIFICATES.
(272) Before being admitted to any examination for a teacher's
license, or before a teacher's license is issued on the basis of any cer-
tificate or diploma, a certificate of sound physical health will be re-
quired from all candidates. Proper blanks may be secured from the
supervising principal, who will forward the certificate, when filled out
by the examining physician, to the Commissioner of Education. Any
casi s of doubt as to the physical fitness of an applicant to perform the
duties of a teacher shall be referred to the Director of Sanitation for
further opinion. Whenever it is deemed advisable the Commissioner
of Education may require any teacher to furnish a medical certificate
before renewing his license or before approving him as a teacher.
79
INDEX
Paragraph.
Absences of teachers 123
Acting principals, appointment of l^ s
Administration of school funds ff82
Alienation of property 11
Annual report 111(17
Arbor Day ff231
Assignment of teachers 80
Assistant supervising principals 157
Attorney General, information to be furnished to 16(5
Bonds:
Exempt from taxation 44,56
Issuance of ft'14
Treasurer of school board to furnish 39, 85
Books:
Classified as old or new ffl70
Cost of transportation 7!)
To be supplied by Department , 79, ffl70
Borrowing of money ffl4
Bulletins :
Tuberculosis 164
Uncinariasis UV.\
Central High School, name designated 236
Certificates, teachers'. (See Licenses.)
Civil service status of teachers 131
Commercial instruction ff236
Commissioner of education, duties and powers - 2. 162
Common school equipment, no fiscal year account ff242
Compulsory attendance ff 142
Contracting of indebtedness ff 14. 66, 71, 83
Corporal punishment. (See also Rules and "Regulations') .„__. 135
Culebra, schools of _„ „_, _. „„ 169
Diplomas, permanent , _. 108, 116
Disbursements, to be approved by Commissioner-, „ .. 162
Districts, school „ , 96, 162
Dismissal of pupils , „ „_ 142
Note. — Numbers refer to paragraphs, not sections. °f \]\t School I,aw, "ff" read
'and following paragraphs,"
81
Paragraph.
Eminent domain, right of 73
Enrollment :
Maximum and minimum ffl45
Night schools 154
Equipment, school board to furnish f£78
Examinations:
High school 238
Teachers' #98
General provisions of school law 2
General superintendents 162
Holidays 95
Industrial schools ff226
Licenses, teachers':
Age limits 102, 104
Classes of 101
Granted without examination 101,108
Life - ffl06,ffll6
Preparatory ffl09
Renewal of. (See also Bides and Regulations) ffl05
Subjects for graded 99
Subjects for principal 100
Subjects for rural 98
Mechanical drawing, Ponce High School ff240
Medical certificates # 272
"Mujeres puertorriqueiias, " to be supplied by Department 173
Night schools ff!54
Nurses, school for ff222
Oaths :
Of school directors 4
Who may administer 2
Pension fund, teachers' ff211
Permanent diplomas 108, 116
Political activity forbidden 134
Possessory title, rural property 13
Publication of school law 233
Qualifications of teachers ff97, 137
Refunding, method of ff49
Removal of school directors ff88
Report, annual ff!67
Resignation of school directors ff88
Rules and Regulations of Department . ff236
82
Salaries: Paragraph.
Acting principals l-'' s
Assistant supervising principals 157
General superintendents 162
School boards may pay 92
Supervising principals 162
Teachers ffl23
Treasurer of school hoard 5
Scholarships :
Common school ff207
High school ffl94
Normal school #200
United States ffl74
School age 2, ffl It
School hoards:
Approval of plans 162
Appointment of supervising principal 162
Assignment of teachers 80
Contracting of indebtedness, etc ffl 4, 66, 71, 83
Dates of meetings 6
Duties of #7
Duties of secretary 87
Election of members 3
Election of treasurer 5
House and office rent for supervising principal 162
Jurisdiction over schools 96
May dismiss pupils 142
May pay salaries of teachers 92
May sue and be sued 74
Must provide quarters 76
Not to exceed budget 83
Organization of 5
Qualifications of members 4
Bequests for schools 92
Resignations and removals ffSS
Right of eminent domain 73
Selection of teachers 136
Supervising principal member of 6
Term of office 3, 4
To make report 83
To pay cost of transportation of books 79
To provide storerooms 79
To supply equipment ff78
To visit schools 7S
Vacancies, how filled 91
School buildings:
Funds for construction of ff63
School boards in charge of 7
Separate from residences 72
Title to 12
To be provided by municipalities 140
83
Paragraph.
School building fund ff63
School day, length of 94
School districts 96, 162
School month, length of 95
Schools open to both sexes, when 72
School property:
Free from taxation 8
Possessory title to 13
Shall not be alienated 11
School tax fT159
School taxation ff 158
Schools to be free 75
School year, length of ft'92
Secretary of school board, duties 87
Special duties and powers of Commissioner of Education 2, 162
Substitute teachers 133, 137
Superintendents, general 162
Supervising principals:
Appointment of 162
Assignment of teachers 80
Assistants to 157
Unties of. (See also Utiles and Regulations) 156
Eligibility 156
House and office rent 162
May contract for school quarters 76
May dismiss pupils 142
Member of school board, ex-officio __ 6
Must hold principal's license 156
Salaries of 162
Traveling expenses 162
Vacation leave 264
Suspension and removal of teachers ffl20
Suspension of pupils, rules governing 270
Tax, school ffl59
Taxation, school ffl58
Teachers :
Absences 123
Age limits* 102, 104
Appointment by Commissioner 137
Assignment of , 80
Civil service status of 131
Classes of 97
Classification of 263
Duties of. (See also Rules and Regulations) ff 132
English 103
Licenses ff98, ffl09, ff 1 1 6, 263
May be treasurers of school boards 5
Medical certificates 272
Pension fund for ff211
84
Paragraph.
Political activity forbidden 134
Preparatory ffl09
Qualifications of ff97, 137
Renewal of licenses. (See also Rules and Regulations) ffl05
Salaries of ffl23
Selection of ffl36
Special ]37
Substitute 133,137
Suspension and removal of ffl20
Title of law 1
Treasurer of school board :
Bond of 39, 85
Election of 5
General duties 84
May be a teacher 5
Methods may be prescribed by Treasurer of Porto Rico 86
Salary of 5
Tuberculosis bulletins 164
Uncinariasis bulletins 163
University of Torto Rico, act establishing ff245
Vacancies in school board, how filled 91
85
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