and incidental expenses as the General
Assembly may by law allow; shall report
to the General Assembly within thirty
days after the commencement of its first
session under this Constitution, a
uniform system of Free Public Schools,
and shall perform such other duties
pertaining to his office as may from time
to time be prescribed by law.
Sec. 2. There shall be a State Board
of Education, consisting of the Governor,
the Lieutenant-Governor, the Speaker
of the House of Delegates, and the State
Superintendent of Public Instruction,
which Board shall perform such duties
as the General Assembly may direct.
Sec. 3. There shall be in each county
such number of School Commissioners
as the State Superintendent of Public
Instruction shall deem necessary, who
shall be appointed by the State Board
of Education; shall hold office for four
years, and shall perform such duties and
receive such compensation as the General
Assembly or State Superintendent may
direct; the School Commissioners of
Baltimore city shall remain as at present
constituted, and shall be appointed, as
at present, by the Mayor and City
Council, subject to such alterations and
amendments as may be made from time
to time by the General Assembly, or the
said Mayor and City Council.
Sec. 4. The General Assembly, at its
first session after the adoption of this
Constitution, shall provide a uniform
system of Free Public Schools, by which
a school shall be kept open and sup-
ported free of expense for tuition in each
school district, for at least six months in
each year; and in case of a failure on
the part of the General Assembly so
to provide, the system reported to it by
the State Superintendent of Public In-
struction, shall become the system of
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Free Public Schools of the State; Pro-
vided, That the report of the State
Superintendent shall be in conformity
with the provisions of this Constitution,
and such system shall be subject to such
alterations, conformable to this Article,
as the General Assembly may from time
to time enact.
Sec, 5. The General Assembly shall
levy at each regular session after the
adoption of this Constitution an annual
tax of not less than ten cents on each
one hundred dollars of taxable property
throughout the State, for the support of
the Free Public Schools, which tax shall
be collected at the same time and by
the same agents as the general State
levy; and shall be paid into the Treasury
of the State, and shall be distributed
under such regulations as may be pre-
scribed by law, among the counties and
the city of Baltimore, in proportion to
their respective population between the
ages of five and twenty years: Provided,
That the General Assembly shall not
levy any additional school tax upon
particular counties, unless such county
express by popular vote its desire for
such tax; the city of Baltimore shall
provide for its additional school tax as
at present, or as may hereafter be pro-
vided by the General Assembly, or by
the Mayor and City Council of Balti-
more.
Sec. 6. The General Assembly shall
further provide by law, at its first session
after the adoption of this Constitution,
a fund for the support of the Free
Public Schools of the State, by the
imposition of an annual tax of not less
than five cents on each one hundred
dollars of taxable property throughout
the State, the proceeds of which tax
shall be known as the Public School
Fund, and shall be invested by the
Treasurer, together with its annual
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