1034 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [CH. 506

several grades in the public schools; thereafter supplementary
readers, materials of instruction, stationery and school sup-
plies shall be furnished in adequate quantities to the several
grades in the public schools, provided that parents or pupils
may purchase their text-books, stationery and school supplies,
if they desire to do so. The said respective boards shall adopt
means for the purchase of text-books, supplementary readers,
materials of instruction, stationery and school supplies by
competitive bidding, and at the lowest possible price con-
sistent with quality, and each of said boards shall furnish
annually to the state superintendents of schools the title, the
name of the publisher, and the net price of each text book and
supplementary reader purchased under the provisions of this
article.

69. The said several boards shall authorize the delivery,
subject to the provisions of this article, of text-books, supple-
mentary readers, materials of instruction, stationery and school
supplies, and shall provide for the issuing, safekeeping and
care of the same under such rules and regulations as they may
severally adopt.

70. The said several boards shall keep a separate account
of all money received from the State for the purchase of text
books, supplementary readers, materials of instruction, sta-
tionery and school supplies and of all money expended for
such purposes. They shall report the same annually to the
state superintendent of schools and in their annual report
addressed to the people required by law. No money received
from the State for the purchase of text books, supplementary
readers, materials of instruction, stationery and school sup-
plies shall ever be used for any other purpose or spent in any
other way than provided for in the two preceding sections.

71. The entire sum appropriated by the General Assembly
for the purchase of text books, supplementary readers, material
of instruction, stationery and school supplies, shall be annu-
ally apportioned on or before the last day of September by the
Comptroller to the board of public school commissioners of
the City of Baltimore and to the county boards of education
of each of the several counties according to and on the basis of
the average enrollment in the public schools of the City of
Baltimore, and of each of the several counties during the pre-
ceding school year as certified to by the state superintendent of
schools, and the Comptroller shall on or before the first day