[Chapter 39.]

Approved December 28, 1805.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court convened, That the several Towns and places within this State, be, and they hereby are respectively empowered at any legal meeting for that purpose, to divide into School Districts, and to define the limits thereof, and the same, from time to time to alter in such manner as shall be thought fit and convenient--And a record of such division and alteration shall be made in the Clerks Office of such town or place within three months after any such division or alteration shall have taken place--And no person shall have a right to send to, or receive any benefit from any School in a district where he is not a resident without the consent of such district--

And be it further enacted, That the inhabitants of the several School-districts whose limits are, or shall be defined as aforesaid, qualified to vote in town affairs, be, and they hereby are empowered, at any meeting called in the manner hereinafter prescribed, to raise money for the purposes of erecting, repairing or purchasing, a School house, in their respective districts, and of necessary utensils for the same; to determine in what part of the district to erect said School-house; to choose a Committee to superintend the building and repairing of Said School house or for purchasing the same, and to choose a clerk, who shall be sworn to a faithful discharge of the duties of his office; whose duty it shall be to make a fair record of all votes passed at any meeting of the district, and to certify the same when required; & the money raised as aforesaid shall be assessed and collected in the manner as is herein after provided--

And be it further enacted, That for the purposes aforesaid, every person shall be taxed in the district in which he lives for all the estate he holds in the town, being under his own actual improvement, and all other of his real estate in the same town, shall be taxed in the district in which it is included; and lands when the owner thereof lives without the town, shall be taxed in such district as the Selectmen, having regard to the local situation thereof, shall appoint; and it shall be the duty of the Selectmen before they assess a tax for any district, to determine in which district such lands respectively shall be taxed, and to certify in writing their determination to the Clerk of the town, who shall record the same and such land while owned by any person residing without the limits of the town, shall be taxed in such districts untill the town shall be districted anew, Provided however, that all the lands within any town owned by the same person not living therein, shall be taxed in one and th same district, And the Select men shall assess in the same manner as town taxes are assessed on the polls and estates of the inhabitants composing any School-district, defined as aforesaid, and on lands in said town, belonging to persons living out of the same which the Select men shall have directed to be taxed in such district, all monies voted to be raised by the inhabitants of such district for the purposes aforesaid, in thirty days after the Clerk of the district shall certify to said Selectmen the sum voted by the district to be raised as aforesaid. And it shall be the duty of said Selectmen to make a warrant directed to one of the collectors of the town to which such district belongs, empowering and requiring said Collector to levy and collect the tax so assessed, and to pay the same within a time limited in said warrant, to th Treasurer or Selectmen of the town, to whom a certificate of the assessment shall be made by the town, to whom a certificate of the assessment shall be made by the assessors. And the money so collected and paid shall be at the disposal of the committee of the district, to be by them applied for the building, repairing, or purchasing, of a school house in the district to which they belong-- And such collector in collecting such tax, shall have th same powers and be holden to proceed in the same manner as is by law provided in collecting town taxes--

And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Selectmen of the several towns and places divided in school districts as aforesaid, upon application made to them, in writing, by three or more freeholders resident within any School district in their respective towns to issue their warrant directed to one of the persons making such application, requiring him to warn the inhabitants of such district, qualified to vote in town affairs, to meet at such time and place in the same district, as the Select men shall in their warrant appoint; and the warning aforesaid shall be by notifying personally every person in the district qualified to vote in town affairs, or by leaving at their usual places of abode, a notification in writing, expressing therein the time, place and purpose of the meeting, ten days, at least, before the time appointed for holding the same; and any vote to raise money passed by a majority of the inhabitants of any School district present at any district meeting holden pursuant to this act shall be obligatory on the inhabitants of said district to be assessed, levied an d collected as prescribed in this Act--

And be it further enacted, That if the inhabitants of any School district cannot agree where to erect a School house for the accommodation of the same, the Selectmen of the town to which such district belongs, upon application made to them by the Committee of the district are hereby authorized and empowered to determine on the place where a School house, for the use and Accommodation of the district, shall be erected--

[Note: Authorizing the towns divide into school districts and the taxes to be levied upon the inhabitants therein.]

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