Mattern v. Eastman Kodak Company Petition for a Writ of Certiorari

    United States Court of Appeals
For the F ifth  Circuit

No. 13215

G ladys N oel B ates and R ichard  J ess B ro w n , Individually 
and on Behalf of the Negro Teachers and Principals in 
the Jackson Separate School District,

Appellants,
v.

J o h n  C. B a tte , President; R. M . H ederm an , J r ., Secretary; 
R. W. N a ef , W. R. N ew m a n , J r ., and W. D. M cCa in , 
Constituting the Board of Trustees of Jackson Separate 
School District and K. P. W alker , Superintendent of 
Jackson Separate Schools,

Appellees.

a p p e a l  p r o m  t h e  u n i t e d  s t a t e s  d i s t r i c t  c o u r t , s o u t h e r n

D ISTR IC T OP M IS S IS S IP P I, JA C K S O N  D IV ISIO N

BRIEF FOR APPELLANTS.

J ames A. B u r n s ,
2513 Fifth Street,

Meridian, Mississippi,
T hubgood M arshall ,
C onstance B aker  M otley , 
R obert L. Carter,

20 West 40th Street,
New York 18, New York,

Attorneys for Appellants.



TA BLE OF C O NTENTS

PAGE

Statement of the Case_________________________  1
Statement of F acts____________________________  4
Questions Presented___________________________  5
Specification of Errors ________________________  6
A rg u m en t  :

I. Neither the County Superintendent nor the State 
Board of Education has statutory authority to 
grant appellants the relief herein sought ____  6
The State Board of Education _____________ 7
The County Superintendent of Education ____  9
The Administrative Appeals Provided Under 

the Statutes __________________________ 10
This Is Not a Controversy Arising Under Mis­

sissippi School Laws __________________  12
II. Administrative remedies need not be exhausted 

unless pursuit of remedy is found to be man­
datory ________________________________  13

III. Appeal to the County Superintendent and to the
State Board of Education would he a futile 
gesture ___________________    16

IV. The administrative remedies provided under
Mississippi statutes are not adequate to protect 
appellants’ rights and therefore need not be 
pursued prior to resort to the federal courts___  19

V. The decision of this Court in the Cook case did 
not justify the trial court in dismissing appel­
lants’ complaint_________________________  23

VI. This case is not moot as to the original plaintiff 26
Conclusion __________________________________  29
Certificate of Service__________________________  30
Appendix ___________________________________  31



11

T ab le  o f C ases
PAGE

Aircraft & Diesel Equipment Corp. v. Hirsch, 331 IT. S.
752 ______________________________________  21

Alton v. School Board of Norfolk, 112 F. 2d 992 (C.
C. A. 4th 1940) cert, denied 311 U. S. 693 _______  17

Ashley, et al. v. School Board of Gloucester Co., 82 F. 
Supp. 167 (E. D. Va. 1948) __________________  17

Bacon v. Rutland R . R. Co., 232 U. S. 134__________  15
Banton v. Belt Line R. R., 268 U. S. 413____________  15
Brown v. Owen, 75 Miss. 319, 23 So. 35____________  14

City of Louisville v. Greer, 166 Miss. 554,148 So. 356 .... 14
Clark, et al. v. Board of Trustees of Loper Line Con­

solidated School District, 117 Miss. 234, 78 So. 145.... 14
Cook v. Davis, 178 F. 2d 595 ________ 3, 5,11, 23, 24, 25, 26

Davis v. Cook, 80 F. Supp. 443 (N. D. Ga. 1948)_____ 17

Euclid v. Amber Realty, 272 IT. S. 365 ____________13,16

Federal Trade Comm. v. Goodyear, 304 IT. S. 257 ____  28
Freeman v. County School Board of Chesterfield 

County, 82 F. Supp. 167 (E. D. Va, 1948) _______  17

Hobbs v. Germany, 94 Miss. 469, 49 So. 515________  14
Hollis v. Kutz, 255 H. S. 452 _____________________ 15

Lander v. Tolbert, 121 Miss. 592, 83 So. 748 _______  10

McDaniel v. Board of Public Instruction, 39 F. Supp.
638 (N. D. Fla. 1941) ______________________  17

Mills v. Board of Education of Anne Arundel Countv,
30 F. Supp. 245 (D. Md. 1939) _______________  17



Ill
PAGE

Mills v. Lowndes, 26 F. Supp. 792 (D. Md. 1939) ____  17
Montana National Bank v. Yellowstone County, 276 

U. S. 499_________________________________ 16,18
Moore v. Illinois Central Railway Co., 312 U. S. 630 __  15
Moreau v. Grandich, 114 Miss. 560, 75 So. 434 ______ 14
Morgan v. United States, 304 U. S. 1 ______________ 22
Morgan v. United States, 289 U. S. 468_____________ 22
Morris v. Williams, 149 F. 2d 703 (C. C. A. 8th 1945)_ 17

National Labor Relations Board v. Penn (1. Lines, 303 
U. S. 261 _________________________________ 28

Oklahoma Natural Gas Co. v. Russell, 261 U. S. 290___  21

Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co. v. Kuykendall, 265 
U. S. 196 _________________________________  21

Peterson Baking Co. v. Bryan, 290 U. S. 570 _______  16
Porter v. Investors Syndicate, 286 U. S. 461________  21

Rice v. Gong Lum, 139 Miss. 760, 104 So. 107_______  14

St. Joseph Stockyard Co. v. United States, 298 U. S. 38„ 22
Slocum v. Delaware Lackawanna Western Railway 

Company, October Term 1949, dec. April 10, 1950_ 15
Smith v. Illinois Bell Telephone Co., 270 U. S. 587____  19
Smith v. Cahoon, 283 U. S. 553„_________________ 13,16
Smith, et al. v. School Board of King George County,

82 F. Supp. 167 (E. D. Va. 1948)_______________ 17
Smithmeyer v. United States, 147 U. S. 342_________  15
State, ex rel. Baria v. Alexander, 158 Miss. 557, 130 So.

754 _____________________________________  14
State, ex rel. Cowan v. Morgan, 141 Miss. 585, 106 So.

820 14



iv
PAGE

State, ex rel. Plunkett, et al. v. Miller, 162 Miss. 149,137 
So. 737 ___________________________________  14

Steele v. Louisville & N. R. Co., 323 U. S. 192_______13,16

Taylor v. State, 83 So. 810______________________  14
Tunstall v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen & En- 

ginemen, 323 U. S. 210.______________________  13
Turner v. Keefe, 50 F. Supp. 647 (S. D. Fla. 1943)___  17

United States v. Abilene, 265 U. S. 274_____________ 21
United States v. Aluminum Co. of America, 148 Fed.

2d 416 (C. C. A. 2d 1945)......___________________  27
United States v. Knox, 128 U. S. 230:_____________  15
United States v. Masonite Corp., 316 U. S. 265_______ 28
United States v. Trans Missouri Freight Association,

106 U. S. 290_______________ ....______________  28
United States v. Vehicular Parking, 52 F. Supp. 749 

(D. Del. 1943)______________________________ 28

Vandalia R. Co. v. Public Service Commission, 242 U. S.
255 ---------------------------------------------------------  22

Vanzandt v. Braxton, 194 Miss. 863, 14 So. 2d 222____  10

Walling v. Helmerich, 323 U. S. 37, 42______________ 28
Waite v. Macy, 246 U. S. 606________________ ...___  16
Whitman v. Owen, 76 Miss. 783, 25 So. 669__________  14
Yakus v. United States, 321 U. S. 414______________ 22



Statutory A u thorities
PAGE

Mississippi Code, 1942 and 1948 Supplement
Section 6217______________ 31
Section 6218 31
Section 6219 32
Section 6232.11 ___________ ________________  33
Section 6232.12 ___________ _______ ________  34
Section 6232.13 ________________  35
Section 6232.14 ________________  35
Section 6232.15 36
Section 6234 ___________________10,11,12,13, 21, 36
Section 6235 ________________ 36
Section 6236 37
Section 6237 ________________  37
Section 6238 ______________________________  37
Section 6245.01 ________________  38
Section 6245.02 ______________ 38
Section 6245.03 _______ ____  39
Section 6245.04 ______________ 39
Section 6245.05 39
Section 6245.07 ___________ _______ 10,11,12,18, 40
Section 6245.08 ______________  43
Section 6258 _______________  45
Section 6259 9.45
Section 6260 ________  50
Section 6261 ________ ______ _______ 11,12,13, 21, 50
Section 6262 ______________ 51



VI

PAGE

Section 6263 ______________________________  51
Section 6264.5______________ _______________10,51
Section 6281 ______________________________  52
Section 6282 ______________________________  53
Section 6283 _______________________________ 53
Section 6284 ______________________________ g? 55
Section 6290 ______________________________  55
Section 6295 ______________________________ 7  ̂55
Section 6411_____________________________  j ,  57
Section 6416____________________________ 7 57
Section 6418_________________    7
Section 6422 ______________________________ 59
Section 6423 ________________________ _____ g 9
Section 6527 __________________________ 65
Section 6528 _______________________  66
Section 6541 ______________________  67
Section 6542 ______________________________  68
Section 6543 _____________________________  68
Section 6558 _______________________  69
Section 6569 _______________________  71
Section 6570 ______________________  72
Section 6571 _____________________  72
Section 6572 _______________________  25 73
Section 6574 ___________________ ____ 74

Georgia Code Annotated
Section 32-613 ____ _________________  24



U n i t e d  S ta t e s  C o u r t  of A p p e a ls
For th e  F ifth  Circuit

N o. 13215

G ladys N oel B ates and R ichard  J ess B row n , Individually 
and on Behalf of the Negro Teachers and Principals in 
the Jackson Separate School District,

Appellants,
v.

J o h n  C. B atte , President; R . M . H ederm an , J r., Secretary; 
R. W. N aee, W. R. N ew m a n , J r., and W. D. M cCa in , 
Constituting the Board of Trustees of Jackson Separate 
School District and K. P. W a lk er , Superintendent of 
Jackson Separate Schools,

Appellants.

BRIEF FOR APPELLANTS.

Statem ent of the Case.

On February 7, 1948, appellant, Gladys Noel Bates, the 
original plaintiff in this action, filed a petition with appel­
lees on behalf of herself and other Negro teachers and prin­
cipals in the public school system of Jackson, Mississippi, 
requesting appellees to cease discriminating against Negro 
teachers and principals in the payment of salaries (R. 66- 
67). Appellees, in reply, advised appellant that they had 
no knowledge that any such discrimination existed (R. 89).

On March 4, 1948, appellant filed a complaint in the 
court below on behalf of herself and other Negro teachers 
and principals alleging that they were receiving less salary



2

than was paid to white teachers and principals, possessing 
the same qualifications, certificates and experience and per­
forming substantially the same duties—all in violation of 
the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth A mea (1 itien! 
to the Constitution of the United States (E. 3-15).

On Mamr5, 1948, appellees moved to dismiss, the prin­
cipal basis of which was that appellant had failed to ex­
haust administrative remedies provided under state stat­
utes, and that, therefore, court action was premature (R. 
16-17). This motion was denied on December 20, 1948 (E. 
18). On February 15, 1949, appellees filed their answer 
(R. 19-38) and moved for summary judgment (R. 19), which 
motion was denied on July 15,1949 (E. 61).

In the meantime, appellees failed to renew their contract 
with Mrs. Bates because of her participation in this suit 
(R. 163, 244). On May 9, 1949, appellant, Richard Jess 
Brown, filed a motion to intervene as a party-plaintiff to 
remove the possibility of this suit being declared moot in 
view of Mrs. Bates’ non-teacher status (R. 44). This mo­
tion was granted on December 12, 1949 (R. 66).

The cause came to trial on December 12, 1949. Before 
proceeding with the taking of testimony, the trial court 
again ruled out as a defense the allegation by appellees that 
appellants had failed to exhaust administrative remedies. 
The court ruled that the administrative remedies provided 
were inadequate and had reference to controversies arising 
under the school laws of the State of Mississippi; that this 
controversy arose not under school laws of Mississippi but 
under the Constitution of the United States and that, there­
fore, the statutory provisions which appellees contended 
should have been pursued were not applicable. Hence, it 
held that appellants were not barred from seeking immedi­
ate relief in the federal courts (R. 63-64).



3

After trial, but before judgment, this Court decided 
Cook v. Davis, 178 F. 2d 595. On February 22, 1950, the 
court below entered final judgment dismissing the complaint 
without prejudice on the grounds that the decision of this 
Court in that case was conclusive (R. 257); and that even 
though it was still of the opinion that the remedies provided 
under Mississippi statutes were inadequate, in view of the 
decision in the Cook case, it was forced to rule that the 
failure of appellants to appeal to the County Superinten­
dent and State Board of Education prior to bringing the 
instant action made the cause unripe for judicial determina­
tion (R. 253, 256).

The trial court entered findings of fact and conclusions 
of law in order that this Court might have the whole case 
before it on appeal (R. 253). It found that the wide differ­
ential between the salaries paid to Negro teachers and prin­
cipals and those paid to white teachers and principals in the 
Jackson public schools could only have resulted from racial 
discrimination in violation of the equal protection clause of 
the Fourteenth Amendment (R. 248). It further found that 
as to appellants, Gladys Noel Bates and Richard Jess 
Brown, that they were being paid less salary than white 
teachers of equal qualifications and experience and perform­
ing substantially the same functions (R. 247). The Court 
further held that the failure of appellees to renew the con­
tract of Mrs. Bates was not illegal (R. 256-257), in spite of 
the fact that evidence was produced at the trial to show that 
Mrs. Bates had not been reemployed solely because of her 
participation in the action (R. 136, 137, 159, 162, 163, 164).

~ V \/V ^ A -cA ~ '—

Notice of appeal was filed on February 20,1950 (R. 258), 
and notice that the record was in final form was received on 
May 5, 1950.



4

Statem ent of Facts.

We do not believe it necessary to go into a detailed 
statement of the factual evidence which appellants pre­
sented to show the existence of discrimination in the pay­
ment of teachers’ salaries, in that the court below found 
that the differential which existed could have resulted only 
from racial discrimination and that question is not before 
this Court. We will, however, briefly touch upon some of 
the evidentiary facts presented in order to give this Court 
a fuller picture of the case.

Appellees freely admitted that Negro teachers were paid 
less salary than white teachers (E. 69, 79,106, 208, 210, 212), 
and that as to character, professional qualifications and 
academic training there was no difference between Negro 
and white teachers (E. 113-114). It is a fair appraisal of 
the testimony to state that appellees attempted to justify 
the higher pay to white teachers on the grounds that they 
were better able to use their training and organize their 
work and were further advanced culturally than were Negro 
teachers and principals. The Superintendent of Schools 
was unable to name one Negro teacher or principal who 
compared favorably with white teachers (E. 154).

Appellants had a highly qualified statistician make a 
detailed analysis of all available records of the entire 
teacher population of the public schools of Jackson. These 
findings are contained in Exhibit #9, which was transmitted 
to this Court in its original form as a part of this record 
(E. 261). This study reveals that although Negro teachers 
compared favorably with white teachers in experience, 
training and types of certificates held, their rate of compen­
sation was far below that of the white teacher in every 
category and at every level in the public school system. 
For example, as between white principals and Negro prin-



5

cipals at the senior high school level, there was a salary 
differential of 110 percent (R. 187); at the junior high 
school level, 111.54 percent (R. 187); at the elementary 
school level, 81.32 percent (E. 187). As between white and 
Negro teachers at the senior high school level, the differen­
tial was 57.65 percent (E. 187); at the junior high school 
level, 46.40 percent (E. 187); and at the elementary school 
level, 53.30 percent (R. 187V These facts were not dis­
puted by appellees. The trial court fuuuu that appeHarrts1 
and other Negro teachers and principals were being dis­
criminated against in the payment of salaries and, except 
for the decision .ofAhis ©onrt in Cook v. Davis, would have 
entered judgment for appellants. f  < A-'. ! - ,

Questions Presented.

I.

W hether appellants were required to first appeal to 
the County Superintendent and State Board of Educa­
tion as a condition precedent to invoking federal equity  
jurisdiction.

II.

W hether having found that appellants were entitled  
to judgm ent on the merits, the trial court was correct 
in holding on authority of Cook v. Davis that appellants 
could not obtain federal relief until an appeal had been  
taken to the County Superintendent and State Board 
of Education.

III.

W hether this case is moot as to the original plaintiff, 
Gladys Noel Bates.



6

Specification o f Errors.

1. The trial court erred in dism issing the com ­
plaint on the grounds that appellants should have first 
appealed to the County Superintendent and State 
Board of Education of M ississippi.

2. The trial court erred in holding that appellees 
had the authority to dismiss appellant Gladys Noel 
Bates w ithout cause and that her dism issal even though  
resulting from her participation in this action was 
therefore not illegal and rendered the case moot as 
to her.

3. The trial court erred in refusing to follow  its 
original decision denying the motion to dismiss and the 
motion for summary judgm ent on the ground that the 
adm inistrative rem edies provided were inadequate to 
grant com plete relief and inapplicable to appellants’ 
cause of action.

A R G U M E N T .

I.

Neither the County Superintendent nor the State  
Board of Education has statutory authority to grant 
appellants the relief herein sought.

A reading of the statutes defining the powers and duties 
of the State Board of Education, State Superintendent of 
Education, County Superintendents of Education and Boards 
of Trustees of Separate School Districts compels the con­
clusion, we submit, that appellees have exclusive authority 
to fix and determine the salaries of teachers employed by 
them and that no other state agency has any power to order



7

appellees to adopt a salary schedule different from that 
which is presently being* enforced. [All statutes referred 
to herein are set forth in Appendix.]

Except for Kirby Walker, Superintendent of Schools, 
appellees herein constitute the Board of Trustees of a Sepa­
rate School District as defined by the laws of the State of 
Mississippi. Miss. Code, 1942, Section 6295(4) and Section 
6411. They have been granted exclusive power to fix the 
salaries of teachers elected by them to teach in the public 
schools of Jackson, Mississippi. Miss. Code, 942, Section 
6423. The funds with which to pay salaries and maintain 
the public school system of Jackson are provided by vari­
ous tax levies of the municipality and/or a territory of 
which a separate school district may be composed, in addi­
tion to the state common school fund which the state main­
tains to support public schools. Miss. Code, 1942, Sections 
6416, 6418, 6219.

The trial court found that the appellees had exclusive 
authority to determine teachers’ salaries (R. 249, 250), and 
that they could refuse to reelect a teacher without any rea­
son whatsoever (R. 256). These findings alone, we submit, 
properly compel the conclusion that neither the County 
Superintendent nor the State Board of Education has the 
power to order appellees to cease the practices upon which 
the instant complaint is based.

T h e S ta te  Board o f E ducation .

A reading of the Mississippi statutes indicates clearly 
an intent on the part of the legislature to retain control of 
public schools systems in the hands of local officials. Final 
authority is vested not in the State Board of Education but 
in County Superintendents and Boards of Trustees of Sepa­
rate School Districts. The main function of the State Board



8

of Education is to insure a uniform public school system 
throughout the state.

The Trustees of Separate School Districts have exclu­
sive power with respect to all school matters concerning 
the schools of their district except (1) the making and 
enforcing of rules for the government of schools which are 
inconsistent with law or those prescribed by the State Board 
of Education; (2) contracting with unlicensed teachers; 
(3) paying teachers when school is closed without the ap­
proval of the State Board of Education; and (4) enforcing 
a course of study and use of textbooks other than those 
adopted by proper authority. Miss. Code, 1942, Section 
6423. Nowhere is the State Board of Education given any 
authority with respect to teachers’ salaries except under 
Section 6572 of the Miss. Code of 1942 which authorizes the 
State Board of Education to prescribe reasonable rules and 
regulations for the fixing of teachers’ salaries in those 
counties or districts whose schools are maintained in part 
out of the state equalization funds. These are state appro­
priations for the specific purpose of equalizing “ educational 
advantages of the different counties by maintaining public 
high schools, and for the extension of common free schools 
beyond the four-month term”. Appellees have not alleged 
at any point in this case that they participate in this fund, 
and such participation is highly unlikely in view of the fact 
that the purpose of this fund is to bring the educational 
advantages of children in poorer counties up to those of 
the wealthier counties. Jackson is the capital, the largest 
and wealthiest municipality in the state. Its school system 
ranks among the best in Mississippi. The State Board of 
Education has no statutory authority, therefore, to control 
or to review the action of appellees in determining the sal­
aries of teachers employed in the public schools of Jackson 
Separate School District.



9

T h e C ounty Superin ten d en t o f Education .

The County Superintendent is granted authority to em­
ploy teachers recommended by local trustees and to contract 
with them and fix their salaries except “ as otherwise 
authorized by law”. Miss. Code, 1942, Section 6259. Sec­
tion 6423, as we have shown, however, vests such authority 
with respect to separate school districts in the Board of 
Trustees. These two provisions are not in conflict but are 
mutually exclusive and can only be interpreted to mean that 
the legislature intended separate school districts to operate 
independently of the authority of the County Superinten­
dent. Pursuant to Miss. Code, 1942, Section 6284, the 
County Superintendent, and pursuant to Miss. Code, 1942, 
Section 6423, the Board of Trustees of Separate School 
Districts, are required to “ take into consideration the 
character, academic and professional training, executive 
ability and teaching capacity of the teacher” in fixing the 
salaries of teachers within their respective jurisdictions. 
The only connection between the County Superintendent 
and a Board of Trustees of a Separate School District with 
respect to salaries provided by statute is that the latter 
may write orders to the City Clerk or the County Superin­
tendent to issue warrants or to pay certificates on any 
available school funds for the use of the separate school 
district. Miss. Code, 1942, Section 6423. In addition, sepa­
rate school districts are required to make a report to the 
County Superintendent of all expenses in the district for 
educational purposes to conform to the financial report re­
quired by the State Board of Education. Miss. Code, 1942, 
Section 6423.

It seems clear, therefore, that it was the intent of the 
legislature that Separate School Districts should operate 
independently of the County Superintendent and the Su-



10

preme Court of Mississippi has so held.1 See Lander v. 
Tolbert, 121 Miss. 592, 83 So. 748; Vanzamdt v. Braxton, 194 
Miss. 863, 14 So. 2d 222.

T h e A d m in istrative A p p ea ls  Provided  
U nder th e  Statutes.

The following statutory provisions relate to appeals to 
County Superintendents, State Superintendent and State 
Board of Education and it is upon these provisions that 
appellees rely:

Miss. Code, 1942
“ Section 6234—To Decide Appeals. The Board 

of Education shall decide all appeals from the de­
cisions of the county superintendent or from the de­
cisions of the state superintendent ; but all matters 
relating to appeals shall be presented in writing; 
and the decision of the board shall be final.

“ Section 6245-07— (Laws, 1946, Chapter 297). 
(9) To advise the county superintendents upon all 
matters involving the welfare of the schools, and at 
the request of any county superintendent to give his 
opinion upon a written statement of facts on all ques­
tions and controversies arising out of the interpre­
tation and construction of the school laws, in regard 
to rights, powers and duties of school officers and 
county superintendents, and to keep a record of all 
such decisions. Before giving any opinion, the super­
intendent may submit the statement of facts to the

1 Section 6264.5 requires the County Superintendent and the 
Superintendent of Schools of Separate School Districts to file reports 
with the State Board of Education showing for each school in the 
county oy separate school district the name of the school, the name, 
sex, training, experience, salary and any other information deemed 
necessary by the state board of education, of each teacher in the 
school. This provision is another indicia of the coequal status of 
the Board of 1 rustees of Separate School Districts and the County 
Superintendents of Education.



11

attorney general for his advice thereon, and it shall 
be the duty of the attorney general forthwith to ex­
amine such statement, and suggest the proper deci­
sion to be made upon such facts.

“ Section 6261—To Settle Disputes in Schools. 
In all controversies arising under the school law the 
opinion and advice of the county superintendent shall 
first be sought. From his decision an appeal may be 
taken to the state board of education upon a written 
statement of facts, certified by the county superin­
tendent or by the secretary of the board of trustees. ’ ’

Section 6245-07 is not pertinent in that it may be in­
voked by the County Superintendent only and is not avail­
able to a teacher unless the County Superintendent decides 
to act under its provisions. Hence in considering the ques­
tion of exhaustion of administrative remedies, this section 
is not pertinent. See Cook v. Davis„ supra.

Section 6261 provides that the opinion and advice of the 
County Superintendent must first be sought in all contro­
versies arising under the school law, but that provision can 
not be read out of context. It must necessarily relate to con­
troversies over which the County Superintendent has au­
thority to act, that is, controversies in schools and districts 
under his control and supervision.

An appeal to the State Board of Education is provided 
under Section 6234 from the decision of the County Super­
intendent and the State Superintendent of Education. This 
provision does not provide for an appeal from the decision 
of the Board of Trustees of Separate School Districts and 
must, therefore, relate to -such matters that are properly 
handled under Section 6245-07 and Section 6261. We submit 
that these two sections relate to controversies between 
a County Superintendent and Trustees of School Dis­
tricts within his jurisdiction and controversies among the



12

school districts over which the County Superintendent has 
supervisory control. The statutes specifically permit and 
empower separate school districts to operate as independent 
and autonomous units outside of the control and jurisdic­
tion of the County Superintendent.

The omission of reference to the Board of Trustees of 
Separate School Districts from Section 6234 is, we submit, 
fatal to appellees ’ contentions. It is clear that the legisla­
ture of the State of Mississippi intended to vest full control 
of the public school system within local school agencies. 
Sections 6234, 6245-07 and 6261 were intended to provide for 
an orderly disposition of disputes among various local 
school districts over which the County Superintendent has 
control and to enable such local boards to contest the deci­
sion of the County Superintendent without the necessity of 
a law suit. And these provisions relate solely to contro­
versies arising in local school boards under the control and 
jurisdiction of the County Superintendent. No such appeal 
is provided from decisions of Boards of Trustees of Sep­
arate School Districts, and their action is final.

In our view, therefore, these provisions have no relation 
whatsoever to the Board of Trustees of Separate School 
Districts, and the court below was in error in applying them 
to appellants’ case. Thus we contend the County Superin­
tendent and the State Board of Education have no statu­
tory authority or jurisdiction to grant the relief herein 
sought, and that no appeal from the decision of appellees is 
provided under Mississippi statutes.

T his Is N ot a C ontroversy A risin g  
U nder M ississippi School Laws.

These statutes have no relation to this cause of action 
for an additional reason. Appellants allege merely that ap­
pellees have discriminated against them in fixing salaries



13

solely because of race and color and have thereby violated 
rights guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment to the 
Federal Constitution. This case involves no controversy 
or dispute under school laws since these laws could not em­
power appellees to do the acts herein complained of. The 
only way in which this could be considered a controversy 
arising under the school laws would be (1) if the statutes 
were construed as granting the appellees power to do the 
acts herein complained of, or (2) if there was question as to 
whether the statute attempted to empower appellees to dis­
criminate because of race. In either case appellants by so 
asserting would be directly attacking the constitutionality 
of the statute under which appellees were operating and 
therefore would not be required to pursue any administra­
tive remedy provided thereunder. Cf. Smith v. Cahoon, 
283 U. S. 553; Euclid v. Amber Realty, 272 U. S. 365; Steele 
v. L. ■& N. R. R., 323 U. S. 192; Tunstall v. Brotherhood, of 
Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, 323 U. S. 210. Inter­
pretation of the Constitution of the United States rather 
than of the school laws of Mississippi is in issue in this case. 
Therefore, we submit, the court below was in error in hold­
ing that appellants were required to pursue administrative 
remedies provided under the statutes.

II.
Adm inistrative rem edies need not be exhausted  

unless pursuit of remedy is found to be mandatory.
Even if we are incorrect in our interpretation of the 

import of Sections 6234 and 6261, and these provisions may 
properly be construed as affording an administrative 
remedy which is applicable here, still the trial court was 
incorrect in holding that pursuit of the remedy provided 
was a condition precedent to court action. This remedy is, 
at most, a remedy which may be used as an alternative to



14

filing suit and has been so construed by the highest court 
of the state. Moreau v. Grandich, 114 Miss. 560, 75 So. 434; 
Hobbs v. Germany, 94 Miss. 469, 49 So. 515; Clark, et al. v. 
Board of Trustees of Loper Line Consolidated School Dist., 
117 Miss. 234, 78 So. 145; State, ex rel. Plunkett, et al. v. 
Miller, 162 Miss. 149, 137 So. 737; Brown v. Owen, 75 Miss. 
319, 23 So. 35; State, ex rel. Cowan v. Morgan, 141 Miss. 
585,106 So. 820; State, ex rel. Baria v. Alexander, 158 Miss. 
557,130 So. 754; Whitman v. Owen, 76 Miss. 783, 25 So. 669; 
Taylor v. State, 83 So. 810; Rice v. Gong Lum, 139 Miss. 760, 
104 So. 107; City of Louisville v. Greer, 166 Miss. 554, 148 
So. 356.

Thus the highest court of the state has held that the 
remedy provided by the Mississippi Code for appeal to the 
County Superintendent and then to the State Board of 
Education with respect to all school matters is not an exclu­
sive remedy and need not in any case be exhausted before 
resort to the courts. In addition, the Supreme Court of 
Mississippi has made clear that a claimant raising a sub­
stantial question has a constitutionally protected right to 
have his claim determined by a court of law rather than by 
an administrative agency. The Mississippi Supreme Court 
said in the Clark case, supra:

“ The courts are not closed to anyone aggrieved 
because there may perchance be other tribunals or 
other constituted authority, legislative or executive, 
to which or to whom recourse may first be had. If 
a man be wronged, if he be deprived of any right 
conferred by law, however slight the wrong or dep­
rivation may seem, he has his right of action in the 
courts. Whether he has been the prey of unscrupu­
lous private individuals, or the victim of misguided 
public officials, there is no distinction or difference. 
He may seek redress in a court of justice in either 
event. In the latter case he is not compelled to ex-



15

haust Ms remedies by appeal to administrative au­
thority before bringing his cause into court. He may 
bring it in the first instance and there submit the 
matter for adjudication. This is a right proceeding 
from constitutional guarantees, and all efforts that 
have ever been unwisely put forth to impair or cur­
tail those guaranties have unfailingly shot their 
mark before the formidable walls raised by that great 
foundational instrument that preserves them for a 
free people.”

One is not required under Mississippi law to follow statu­
tory procedures providing for appeal to the County Super­
intendent of Education and to the State Board of Educa­
tion prior to seeking judicial intervention.

In Moore v. Illinois Central Railway Company, 312 U. S. 
630, the Supreme Court of the United States held that use 
of the administrative machinery was not a necessary pre­
requisite to court action where the administrative remedy 
provided was not mandatory but permissive. To the same 
effect see Smithmeyer v. United States, 147 U. S. 342; Bacon 
v. Rutland R. R. Co., 232 U. S. 134; United States v. Knox, 
128 U. S. 230; Hollis v. Kutg, 255 U. S. 452; Ban-ton v. Belt 
Line R. R., 268 U. S. 413. But see Slocum v. Delaware 
Lackawanna Western Railway Company, October Term, 
1949, decided April 10, 1950. Under Mississippi law the 
statutory provisions providing for appeal to the County 
Superintendent and the State Board of Education have 
been similarly construed. Even if the trial court is correct 
therefore in concluding that administrative machinery is 
available to redress the wrongs of which appellants com­
plain, since utilization of this machinery is not a necessary 
prerequisite to court action, appellants were entitled to 
federal relief without being first required to exhaust ad­
ministrative remedies. We submit, therefore, that the judg­
ment of the trial court was incorrect in dismissing this



16

complaint on the grounds that appellants had failed to ex­
haust state administrative remedies since these remedies 
were not mandatory in nature.

III.

A ppeal to the County Superintendent and to the 
State Board o f Education would be a futile gesture.

Where utilization of the administrative process would 
be futile or useless, one is not required to exhaust admin­
istrative remedies prior to being entitled to seek relief in 
the federal courts. Cf. Montana National Bank v. Yellow­
stone County, 276 U. S. 499; Waite v. Macy, 246 U. S. 606; 
Smith v. Cahoon, 283 U. S. 553; Euclid v. Amber Realty Co., 
272 U. S. 365; Steele v. Louisville & N. R. Co., 323 U. S. 192; 
see also Peterson Baking Co. v. Bryan, 290 U. S. 570. Even 
assuming arguendo, that the statutes providing an appeal 
to the County Superintendent and State Board of Educa­
tion govern this case, appellants would not be required to 
pursue such remedies in that to do so would have been use­
less and futile for the following reasons:

1. As we have stated, supra, under the statutory appeal 
provisions upon which appellees rely, the jurisdiction of the 
County Superintendent and State Board of Education is 
confined to questions arising under the school laws of the 
State of Mississippi. No such question is raised in this 
case. Appellants do not contest the authority of appellees 
to fix teachers’ salaries. Nor do they bring in issue the 
validity of any provision of the school laws of Mississippi 
or any question concerning their construction or interpreta­
tion. They seek to correct a violation of their constitutional 
rights which appellees have committed in paying to them 
and the class they represent less salary than is paid to



17

white teachers solely because of race and color. The issues 
here raised involve the interpretation and construction of 
the Constitution of the United States. Mills v. Lowndes, 26 
F. Supp. 792 (D. Md. 1939); Mills v. Board of Education of 
Anne Arundel County, 30 F. Supp. 245 (D. Md. 1939); 
Alton v. School Board of Norfolk, 112 F. 2d 992 (C. C. A. 
4th 1940), cert, denied 311 U. S. 693; McDaniel v. Board of 
Public Instruction, 39 F. Supp. 638 (N. D. Fla. 1941); 
Turner v. Keefe, 50 F. Supp. 647 (S. D. Fla. 1943); Morris 
v. Williams, 149 F. 2d 703 (C. C. A. 8th 1945); Davis v. 
Cook, 80 F. Supp. 443 (N. D. G-a. 1948); Freeman v. County 
School Board of Chesterfield County, 82 F. Supp. 167 (E. D. 
Va. 1948); Cf. Smith, et al. v. School Board of King George 
County, 82 F. Supp. 167 (E. D. Ya. 1948); Ashley, et al. v. 
School Board of Gloucester County, 82 F. Supp. 167 (E. D. 
Va. 1948).

As to these questions neither the County Superintendent 
nor the State Board of Education has been granted any jur­
isdiction or authority. For this reason an appeal to either 
or both agencies would have been useless and futile in this 
case.

2. As pointed out above, exclusive power to fix salaries 
of teachers employed in the public schools of Jackson has 
been delegated to appellees, the Board of Trustees of Jack- 
son Separate School District. Neither the County Super­
intendent nor the State Board of Education has any au­
thority to tell appellees what rate of compensation it may 
set for teachers employed in the public schools of Jackson. 
Nor has the legislature granted to either agency authority 
to review or correct the action of appellees in deciding what 
salary a teacher may receive. The County Superintendent 
and State Board of Education further have no enforce­
ment power with respect to any action taken by appellees.



18

Therefore, as to the questions herein raised the agencies 
to which appellees urge an appeal should have been first 
made are without authority and wholly incompetent to act, 
and an appeal to them would serve no useful purpose.

3. Appeal to these agencies would have been futile for 
an additional reason. The State of Mississippi, by its At­
torney General, without being named as a defendant in this 
ease appeared specially and alleged by way of special an­
swer (E. 39-41), among other things, that the appellees in 
fixing appellants’ salaries “ did not fix their salary on race 
and color, and such consideration did not affect the con­
tracts” (E. 40). Such an allegation could have been made 
only after investigation by state officials with respect to ap­
pellants ’ complaint and obviously represents the legal opin­
ion of the state since made by the Attorney General. The 
State Superintendent of Schools is authorized to consult the 
Attorney General on any question arising under the school 
laws on which his opinion and advice is sought. Miss. Code, 
1942, Section 6245-07, Laws, 1946. The opinion of the state’s 
Attorney General in this case is now clear and on the record, 
and is certainly binding upon the State Board of Education 
and the County Superintendent. On appeal they must hold 
that no discrimination has been practiced. Of. Montana 
National Bank v. Yellowstone County, supra.

It would be futile, therefore, to now require appellants 
to appeal to county or state officials before being entitled 
to seek redress in the federal courts. The trial court, we 
submit, was in error in refusing to grant appellants relief 
to which he found them entitled because of their failure to 
appeal to the County Superintendent and State Board of 
Education.



19

IV.

The adm inistrative rem edies provided under Mis­
sissippi statutes are not adequate to protect appellants’ 
rights and therefore need not be pursued prior to resort 
to the federal courts.

The administrative remedies which the court below held 
appellants had to pursue prior to instituting action in the 
federal courts are patently inadequate to protect their 
rights.

1. The provisions relied on do not provide any time 
limit within which a decision must be rendered by the vari­
ous administrative agencies. The injury to appellants is 
immediate and continuing and has existed for a long period 
of time. Neither the State Board of Education, nor the 
County Superintendent is required to render a decision on 
a matter appealed to them within any specified period, and 
there is no protection against an unconscionable delay in 
reaching decision. Almost two years elapsed between the 
filing of this complaint in March, 1948 and judgment of the 
court below in February, 1950. If appellants are now re­
quired to appeal to the County Superintendent and then to 
the State Board of Education many more years must be 
consumed in an attempt to secure equal treatment to which 
they are clearly entitled under the Constitution of the 
United States. This is particularly true in view of the fact 
that neither of the appellate agencies is required to render 
a speedy decision. We believe that fact alone would entitle 
appellants to by-pass the administrative process. See 
Smith v. Illinois Bell Telephone Company, 270 U. S. 587.

2. The original plaintiff in this case filed her complaint 
in March, 1948. Appellees failed and refused to renew her



20

contract for the ensuing 1948-1949 school year because of 
her participation in this action. It thus became necessary 
for another member of the class to intervene as party- 
plaintiff. The trial court has ruled that appellees had au­
thority to refuse to reelect appellant, Gladys Bates, without 
cause and that because of their failure to renew her contract 
her cause of action was moot. If appellees have this au­
thority, it is to be expected that the contract of appellant, 
Bichard Brown, who intervened as party-plaintiff will not 
be renewed and that it will then be necessary for a third 
member of the class to intervene to prevent the action from 
being declared moot, and so on ad infinitum. Only a court 
of equity could restrain the appellees from thus defeating 
its jurisdiction. We submit, therefore, that the trial court 
was in error in refusing to grant appellants relief sought 
in this action.

3. Appellants are suffering irreparable injury. Until 
appellees are required to cease discriminating against 
Negro teachers in the payment of salaries, appellants and 
the class they represent will continue to sustain serious 
financial loss.

The total annual differential between the salaries paid 
to Negro and white teachers based on the arithmetic mean 
of all salaries is $106,905.46 at the present time (B. 185). 
If this is multiplied by the number of years it may take 
appellants to obtain relief, it is clear that the injury to 
them and the class they represent, in monetary terms, 
would be well over half a million dollars. If multiplied 
further by the number of years appellants and the members 
of their class have been suffering this injury, that is, the 
total number of years of employment in the public schools 
of Jackson, it is clear that their monetary damages will 
exceed several millions of dollars. Such a sum, obviously 
could not be recovered without serious financial dislocation,



21

if not complete financial ruin, to the public school system in 
Jackson. Appellants are obliged therefore to forego any 
such recovery and are constrained to seek the most expe­
ditious means of redress, injunctive relief. Such relief will 
not remedy past injury but will operate only to restrain 
future conduct. Thus the longer the delay in obtaining 
injunctive relief, the greater becomes appellants irrepara­
ble damages.

The United States Supreme Court has consistently held 
that the requirement that administrative remedies be ex­
hausted prior to resort to federal courts would be dispensed 
with where there was present a constitutional question, a 
showing of the inadequacy of the prescribed administrative 
remedy and a threat of irreparable injury flowing from the 
delay incident to pursuit of the administrative process. 
Aircraft & Diesel Equipment Corp. v. Hirsch, 331 U. S. 752; 
Oklahoma Natural Gas Company v. Russell, 261 U. S. 290; 
United States v. Abilene, 265 U. S. 274; Pacific Telephone & 
Telegraph Company v. Kuykendall, 265 U. S. 196; Porter v. 
Investors Syndicate, 286 U. S. 461. This rule has been most 
frequently applied with respect to state administrative ac­
tion, Aircraft & Diesel Equipment Corp. v. Hirsch, supra, 
note 38 at page 773, and is properly applicable to this case.

4. If the County Superintendent and State Board of 
Education were to review the action of the appellee board, 
all the former could do is give “ opinion and advice”, and 
all the latter can do is to decide appeals from decisions of 
the former. Miss. Code, 1942, Sections 6234 and 6261. 
Neither is expressly nor impliedly empowered to order ap­
pellees to desist their discriminatory practices. Neither can 
compel adherence to its decision by threat of withholding 
funds, because no such authority has been granted and be­
cause of the independence and autonomy of separate school



22

districts. Neither can remove recalcitrant school officials 
from office.2 In short, no enforcement powers have been 
delegated to either the County Superintendent or the State 
Board. They could act simply in an advisory capacity with 
respect to the questions here presented. An appeal to them, 
therefore, could not possibly be an effective means for ap­
pellants to obtain redress.

5. The guarantees of due process are completely lacking 
in these sections. There is no provision for a hearing be­
fore any person or body. No provision is made for the 
calling of witnesses, cross examination, representation by 
counsel, presentation of evidence or filing of objections to 
findings made by any officer. There is lacking in the ad­
ministrative remedies provided any guarantee of the mini­
mum requirements of due process. This is fatal and clearly 
entitles appellants to forego pursuing the administrative 
remedy and seek immediate relief in the federal courts. 
Cf. Morgan v. United States, 289 U. S. 468; Morgan v. 
United States, 304 U. S. 1; Yakus v. United States, 321 U. 8 . 
414; St. Joseph Stockyard v. United States, 298 U. 8 . 38; 
Vandalia R. Co. v. Public Service Commission, 242 U. S. 255.

For these reasons, we submit the administrative rem­
edies provided under Mississippi statutes, even assuming 
the court below was correct in construing them as appli­
cable to appellants ’ cause of action, are inadequate to grant 
the relief herein sought. Appellants, therefore, are entitled 
to seek the intervention of the federal courts without first 
appealing to the County Superintendent and State Board 
of Education.

2 Under Section 306, for example, of the Education Law of New 
York (McKinney’s) the Commisioner of Education has power to 
remove school officers and withhold state funds when his orders on 
appeal are not followed. The Mississippi State Board of Education 
has no such authority.



23

V.

The decision of this Court in the Cook case did not 
justify the trial court in dism issing appellants’ com­
plaint.

We believe the court below was in error in basing the 
dismissal of this action on Cook v. Davis, supra. That de­
cision did not extend or expand the situations in which ex­
haustion of administrative remedies are required. This 
Court merely held there that administrative remedies were 
available under Georgia law which, if invoked, might have 
afforded complete relief. That is not true in this case. We 
do not have here any problem as to whether appellant 
should have appealed to the local Board of Education as 
was true in the Cook case.

In that case after the institution of the action in the 
federal courts, the Atlanta Board of Education adopted a 
new salary schedule and instituted a procedure whereby a 
dissatisfied teacher could appeal her placement on the 
schedule and her salary to the Atlanta Board of Educa­
tion. This Court felt that under this procedure the Super­
intendent of Schools made the initial placement on the 
schedule independently of the Atlanta Board of Trustees, 
and that any mistake which the Superintendent initially 
made could be corrected by the Atlanta Board of Education. 
There is no such procedure in this case. Here there is no 
question but that the Board of Trustees of Jackson Sepa­
rate School District has exclusive and final authority to 
fix salaries. Prior to the institution of this action, appellant 
petitioned the Superintendent of Schools and the Board of 
Trustees of the Jackson Separate System to cease dis­
criminating against Negro teachers in the payment of sal­
aries. Appellees met, discussed the petition and denied 
that any such discrimination existed. Therefore, insofar



24

as the Board of Trustees is concerned, the plaintiff has 
done all that she could possibly do to get the Board to cor­
rect the wrong herein complained of prior to the institution 
of court action. Thus, the only question is whether appel­
lants should have appealed to the County Superintendent 
and State Board of Education as this Court felt should 
have been done in Cook v. Davis, supra, prior to bringing 
the action in the federal courts.

In Cook v. Davis, the State Board of Education not only 
has general supervisory power over the public school sys­
tem of the State of Georgia as the State Board of Educa­
tion has in Mississippi, but it also has additional authority 
with respect to the payment of teachers ’ salaries which, we 
submit, is far different from the authority wdiich the State 
Board of Education holds in Mississippi. Under Section 
32-613 of the Georgia Code Ann., the State Board of Edu­
cation is authorized to fix a schedule of minimum salaries 
to be paid to teachers out of public school funds of the 
state, and although local boards may supplement this salary, 
they are bound to pay every teacher employed at least the 
minimum salary which the State Board establishes. Further, 
the State Board of Education is authorized to pay out to 
every appropriate School Board state funds for the pay­
ment of teachers’ salaries based upon the various classifi­
cations which it establishes. Thus, in Georgia the State 
Board of Education must decide the minimum number of 
teachers which each local Board may employ, and the mini­
mum salary rates which it must pay to each teacher. It 
disburses public funds to the various local Boards on the 
basis of this minimum standard, and in so doing it has 
established dual minimum salary schedules for the payment 
of Negro and white teachers with Negro teachers receiving 
less salary than paid to whites.



25

This Court found that the Atlanta Board of Education, 
which previously had paid salaries under a dual schedule 
with a lower salary schedule for Negroes of equal qualifica­
tions and experience, had abandoned this dual system and 
had adopted a single salary schedule under which the sala­
ries of the Negro teachers were raised approximately $10 per 
month and that of the white teachers approximately $2 per 
month. These raises had, apparently, remedied the initial 
discrimination resulting from the salary schedule of the 
State Board of Education. The Atlanta Board of Educa­
tion contended that any differential which existed was the 
fault of the State Board of Education. This Court felt that 
the Atlanta Board was required to pay out the state funds 
on the basis of the discriminatory state salary schedule, and 
that, therefore, the discrimination complained of was not 
totally the result of the action of the local Board but was due 
to the State Board of Education. It was felt, therefore, that 
a request should have been made of the State Board of Edu­
cation that it cease setting discriminatory salary schedules 
in the disbursement of state funds before federal action was 
commenced. If this had been done the wrong complained 
of might have been corrected and resort to federal courts 
might have been rendered unnecessary. Cook v. Davis, 
supra, pages 600, 601.

There is no such problem in this case. The State Board 
of Education of Mississippi has no power to determine 
teachers’ salaries.3 It distributes the state common school 
fund on a per capita basis and has no authority to tell a 
school board using this fund what rate of pay it must pay its 
teachers. Unlike Georgia’s State Board of Education, it may 
not even determine, under the statute, what part of these

8 It is empowered under Section 6572 to make reasonable rules 
and regulations for the fixing of teachers’ salaries in those areas where 
the schools are supported out of the state’s equalization fund. As we 
had stated previously this is not applicable to appellees.



26

funds may be used for teachers’ salaries and what part may 
be used for the maintenance of various other school activi­
ties and school facilities. Nor has it adopted a discrimina­
tory salary schedule, since it has no power to adopt any 
schedule whatsoever.

We do not, therefore, have the problem of the State 
Board of Education in Mississippi being guilty of causing 
discrimination in payment of salaries by distributing state 
funds for payment of salaries under a salary schedule estab­
lishing a lower rate of pay for Negro than for white teach­
ers. Here there is no question but that state funds which 
are received pass into the exclusive control of the local 
board. No limitations or restrictions are placed on the use 
of these funds except that they must be used for main­
tenance of public schools.

We submit, therefore, that this case is vastly different 
from the Cook case. The State Board of Education here is 
not the root of the trouble, which this Court found to be true 
of the State Board of Education in the Cook case, in that it 
has no power with respect to teachers’ salaries. Hence, the 
reasons for requiring an appeal to the State Board of Edu­
cation in the Cook case are not now present, and the court 
below was in error in not entering judgment in appellants ’ 
favor.

VI.

This case is not m oot as to the original plaintiff.

The original plaintiff in this case brought this action on 
behalf of a class as well as on behalf of herself. This class 
is composed of qualified Negro public school teachers and 
principals in Jackson, Mississippi who are being paid less 
salary than is paid to white teachers of equal qualifications



27

and experience and performing substantially the same func­
tions, solely because of race and color. All of the members 
of the class were and still are subject to the discriminatory 
policy, custom and usage of appellees in paying Negro 
teachers less salary than is paid white teachers. Appellant 
had a valid cause of action when she filed this complaint. 
Appellees sought to defeat her cause of action and the jur­
isdiction of the courts by refusing and failing to renew her 
contract for the 1948-49 school year. Jurisdiction of federal 
courts cannot be deliberately flouted in this manner by a 
party to the action, and the court below was in error in de­
claring that appellees refusal to reelect Mrs. Bates to teach 
in the public schools was not wrongful and that their failure 
to rehire her rendered her cause of action moot. As a re­
sult of the decision of the court below, appellees may at­
tempt to defeat the appeal by refusing to reelect Richard 
Brown, the intervening plaintiff in the court below. This, 
we submit, appellees should not be permitted to do.

This case is not moot as to the original plaintiff for the 
further reason that the controversy had not been resolved 
before judgment. In order to render a case moot, it is neces­
sary that the controversy be resolved before judgment, or 
as in cases where an injunction is sought, the act sought to 
be enjoined must have been completely abandoned and its 
likelihood of renewal completely precluded. In United 
States v. Aluminum Co. of America, 148 Fed. 2d 416 at 
448 (C. C. A. 2d 1945), the court said: “ To disarm the 
court it must appear that there is no reasonable expecta­
tion that the wrong will be repeated. ’ ’

The alleged mootness of the controversy as to the orig­
inal plaintiff results from the wilful, malicious and delib­
erate attempt on the part of appellees to render it so by 
failing and refusing to renew appellant’s contract without 
cause. It does not result from any resolution of the con-



28

troversy or any abandonment of the act sought to be en­
joined. It is possible, of course, for the defendants in any 
action to render the same moot by action on their part which 
results in a resolution of the controversy. See United States 
v. Trans Missouri Freight Association, 106 U. S. 290. See 
also United States v. Vehicular Parking, 52 F. Supp. 749 
(D. Del. 1943). But the actions of appellees in this case 
in refusing to renew appellants’ contract did not resolve 
this controversy. Discrimination against the original plain­
tiff and the class which she represents is still a fact which 
was established at the trial of this case.

There was conclusive evidence adduced at the trial not 
only to establish that the controversy has not been resolved, 
but that the discriminatory acts of appellees continue and 
will continue in the future as to appellants and the class 
they represent unless enjoined by the court. Such a situa­
tion is sufficient to give a federal equity court jurisdiction 
although the original plaintiff' is not presently employed 
by the appellees. Walling v. Helmerich, 323 IT. S. 37, 42; 
United States v. Masonite Corp., 316 U. S. 265, 282; Fed­
eral Trade Comm. v. Goodyear, 304 U. S. 257, 260; National 
Labor Relations Board v. Penn G. Lines, 303 U. S. 261, 271; 
United States v. Trans Missouri Freight, supra, at page 
308.

Therefore, since the wilful and malicious action on the 
part of the appellees in failing and refusing to renew the 
original plaintiff’s contract is not an attempt to resolve the 
controversy in the case but is rather an attempt to defeat 
the action and to oust the court of jurisdiction, the case 
should not be declared moot as to her. Appellant is en­
titled to seek redress in courts without being penalized by 
appellees for so doing. We submit that the court below was 
wrong in declaring the case moot as to Mrs. Bates. Rather 
the court should have enjoined appellees from refusing to



29

reelect appellant to teach in Jackson public schools because 
she sought relief in the courts from the discriminatory- 
treatment of appellees.

Conclusion.

W h er efo r e , f o r  th e  re a s o n s  h e re in  ab o v e  s ta te d , i t  is  
r e s p e c tfu lly  su b m itte d  th a t  th e  ju d g m e n t o f  th e  c o u r t  be low  
sh o u ld  be re v e rs e d .

J am es A. B u r n s ,
2513 Fifth Street,

Meridian, Mississippi,

T hurgood M arshall,
C onstance B aker  M otley , 
B obert L. Carter,

20 West 40th Street,
New York 18, New York,

Attorneys for Appellants.

Dated: June 1, 1950.



30

Certificate of Service.

It is hereby certified that a copy of this brief has been 
mailed to Rufus Creekmore, 821 Standard Life Building, 
Jackson, Mississippi, attorney for Appellees.

R obert L. Carter, 
Attorney for Appellants.

Dated: June 1, 1950.



31

APPENDIX

M ississippi C ode, 1942  

and

1948  Supplem ent

§ 6217. Curriculum.—(a) The common free schools shall 
consist of a grammar school of eight grades, viz: First to 
eighth grades inclusive. The curriculum of the common free 
school shall consist of: Spelling, reading, arithmetic, 
geography, English grammar, composition, literature, 
United States history, history of Mississippi, elements of 
agriculture, civil government with special reference to local 
and State government, physiology and hygiene with special 
reference to the effect of alcohol and narcotics on the human 
system, home and community sanitation, general science and 
elementary algebra, and such other subjects as may be 
added by the State Board of Education.

(b) The public high school shall consist of a high school 
of four grades, viz: Ninth to twelfth grades, inclusive. The 
curriculum of the public high schools shall consist of: Math­
ematics, English, history and social science, pure and ap­
plied science, including agriculture, home economics and 
manual arts, safety on the highways, and such other sub­
jects as may be added by the State Board of Education.

S o u r c es : Laws, 1930, ch. 278; 1936, 2nd Ex. ch. 2; 1938, 
eh. 238.

§ 6218. Scholastic year.—The scholastic year shall be the 
same as the State fiscal year as is fixed by the amendment 
to Section 115 of the Constitution of 1890, and shall begin 
on the first day of July and end on the thirtieth day of June 
of each year.



32

Appendix

S o u r c es : Laws, 1930, eh. 278; 1936, 2nd Ex. eh. 2; 
1938, ch. 238.

§ 6219. Common school fund.—(a) It shall be the im­
perative duty of the legislature to appropriate a State com­
mon school fund to be taken from the general fund in the 
State Treasury, which, together with the poll tax collected 
by and retained in each county, and an ad valorem tax levied 
by each county or separate school district, shall be sufficient 
to maintain the common free schools as defined herein for 
a term of not less than four months in each scholastic year. 
The common school fund so appropriated shall be dis­
tributed among the several counties and separate school dis­
tricts in proportion to the number of educable children in 
each, to be determined as is now or may hereafter be pro­
vided by law.

(b) The legislature shall appropriate from the general 
funds in the State Treasury additional funds to be known 
as “ an equalizing fund,” and such fund shall be used for 
equalizing the educational advantages of the different coun­
ties by maintaining public high schools, and for the exten­
sion of common free schools beyond the four months’ term 
hereinbefore provided for, said funds to be distributed to 
the various counties and school districts as is now or may 
hereafter be provided for by law.

(c) The counties outside the separate school district, the 
separate school districts, and other school districts, may 
levy a tax as is now or may hereafter be provided for by 
law, for the purpose of maintaining the public high schools, 
for extending the term of the common free schools beyond 
the four months herein provided for, and for other school 
expenses not provided for by State appropriations.



33

Appendix

§ 6232-11. State aid for construction of school buildings 
—application to state building commission.—Any county 
consolidated school district, special consolidated school dis­
trict, municipal separate school district, rural separate 
school district, or other school districts, desiring to obtain 
state aid for the construction of school buildings out of 
funds appropriated therefor by the legislature, shall file 
written application with the state building commission for 
an allocation of grant of state funds to be used in helping to 
defray the cost of constructing such school buildings. Such 
application shall be made upon forms approved by the state 
building commission, and shall contain accurate information 
concerning the needs for such additional buildings or facili­
ties, the type of building or buildings to be constructed, the 
school area to be served by such new buildings, the location 
of the school house or school houses in the area to be served, 
and adjoining areas, the uses to be made of the buildings to 
be erected and the total cost of the buildings to be erected, 
and the amount of local funds to be provided for the con­
struction of such building or buildings. Upon the filing of 
such application, it shall be the duty of the state building 
commission to refer the same to the state department of 
education for examination and investigation of the need for 
the construction of such building or buildings. The state 
department of education shall thereupon cause a survey to 
be made of the school building facilities in the area to be 
served by such new building or buildings, for the purpose 
of determining whether such building program should be 
carried out. Such survey shall include a careful study of 
the school district organization in the area to be served, the 
location of the school house or school houses, the need for 
the additional building facilities, and the utilitarian value 
of such additional building facilities in reducing the cost



34

Appendix

and improving the efficiency of the public school system in 
the area to be affected. And the state department of educa­
tion shall file its written report with the state building com­
mission, with recommendations as to the need for the con­
struction of such new building or buildings, the type of 
building or buildings which should be provided and the esti­
mated cost of same. [Amends Laws 1946, cli. 250, § 1.]

S oitbces : Laws, 1946, ch. 250, § 1; 1948, ch. 301, § 1.
§ 6232-12. Grant of funds.—The state building commis­

sion, after receiving the report from the state department 
of education as to the need for the construction of such 
school building or buildings, may require such additional 
information as the commission may desire as to the long­
term need for such additional school buildings and facilities, 
and as to the manner in which the county’s or district’s 
part of the construction funds is to be provided. If it shall 
then appear to the state building commission that the pro­
posed new buildings are needed, and that said buildings will 
be useful in serving the long-term needs of the county, or 
school district, as the case may be, the state building com­
mission shall be authorized to grant funds to such county 
or district, to aid in the construction of such school building 
or buildings. The amount of such state aid shall in no case 
exceed the sum of two thousand dollars for each class room 
to be provided in such new building or buildings; and in no 
event shall the amount of such state aid exceed fifty per­
cent of the total cost of such school building or buildings.

The state building commission shall be authorized to 
grant funds under the provisions of this act to aid in the 
construction of new buildings or for the construction of ad­
ditions to buildings which have already been constructed.

S oitbces : Laws, 1946, eh. 250, § 2.



35

Appendix

§ 6232-13. Allocation and disbursement of funds.—The
funds thus allocated by the state building commission to 
any county or school district shall be paid in to the county 
depository, and shall he used and expended by the county 
school board of the county, in case such funds are allocated 
to the county, or by the board of trustees of the school dis­
trict, in case such funds are allocated to a school district, 
and shall be paid out upon certificates issued by the county 
superintendent of education, upon orders of the county 
school board, or the board of trustees of such school district, 
as the case may be. In case such grant be made to a munic­
ipal separate school district such fund shall be paid into the 
municipal separate school district depository, and shall be 
paid out upon the order of the board of trustees of such 
municipal separate school district.

Sources : Laws, 1946, ch. 250, § 3.

§ 6232-14. Regulation of expenditures—approval of 
plans and specifications.—The state building commission 
is hereby authorized to prescribe such reasonable rules and 
regulations as the state building commission may deem 
proper to safeguard the expenditure of funds granted to 
counties and school districts for the construction of school 
buildings under the provisions of this act. The state build­
ing commission shall be authorized, if the commission shall 
deem the same necessary, to require that the county’s part 
or the district’s part of the construction funds required to 
complete the construction of such school buildings be made 
actually available before ordering the payment of the state’s 
part of such funds into the county or district depository. 
And the state building commission shall be authorized to 
require that plans and specifications for the construction 
of any such school building shall be submitted to and ap-



36

Appendix

proved by the state building commission before contracts 
are let for the construction of same.

S ources : Laws, 1946, ch. 250, § 4.
§ 6232-15. Purpose of Act.—It is hereby declared to be 

the purpose and intention of this act to provide a program 
of state aid for the construction of school buildings in areas 
where the existing school facilities are inadequate to meet 
the needs of the school children, and to promote the con­
solidation of high school facilities, so that better educa­
tional opportunities may be provided for high school chil­
dren at reasonable expense.

S ources : Laws, 1946, ch. 250, § 5.
§ 6234. To decide appeals.—The board of education 

shall decide all appeals from the decisions of the county 
superintendents, or from the decisions of the state superin­
tendent; but all matters relating to appeals shall be pre­
sented in writing, and the decision of the board shall be 
final.

S ources : Codes, 1930, § 6549; Laws, 1924, eh. 283; 1930, 
ch. 278.

§ 6235. To remove county superintendents in certain 
cases.—For continued neglect of duty, drunkenness, incom­
petency or official misconduct, the state board of education 
may remove a county superintendent; but before the re­
moval, the officer shall have ten days’ notice of the charge, 
and be allowed opportunity to make defense. The members 
of the board are authorized to administer oaths and to take 
or cause depositions to be taken, and have the powers of a 
court to compel witnesses to attend and testify in all mat­
ters of investigation by the board.

S ources : Codes, 1930, § 6550; Laws, 1924, ch. 283; 1930, 
ch. 278.



37

Appendix

§6236. Disburse equalizing fund.—In addition to the 
regular per capita appropriation for common schools the 
legislature shall provide an equalizing fund, which shall be 
disbursed by the state board of education in such manner 
as may be provided by the legislature of the state of Missis­
sippi.

S ources : Codes, 1930, § 6551; Laws, 1924, ch. 283; 1930, 
ch. 278.

§ 6237. To audit claims.—The board of education shall 
audit all claims against the common school fund, and allow 
so much as may be justly due, not to exceed the amount al­
lowed by law. The board shall have authority, and it shall 
be their duty, to hear and pass upon all appeals by trustees 
of public schools from the decision of the county superin­
tendent of education, as to the amount of money that shall 
be allowed for the payment of teachers’ salaries and other 
expenses allowed by law to any county public school, not a 
separate school district, from the funds received by the 
county from the county school fund, from the state common 
school fund and from county levies for the public schools. 
All appeals shall be made in writing and the decision of the 
board shall be final.

S o u r c es : Codes, 1930, § 6552; Laws, 1924, ch. 283; 1930, 
ch. 278.

§ 6238. Course of study—administration.—The Board of 
Education shall adopts a course of study to be used in the 
public schools of the state and shall regulate all matters 
arising in the practical administration of the school system, 
not otherwise provided for.

S ources : Codes, 1930, § 6553; Laws, 1924, ch. 283; 1930, 
ch. 278.



Appendix

ARTICLE 3
[New] S tate D epa r tm en t  oe E ducation

§§ 6245-6248. Repealed.—Laws 1946, cli. 297, infra, § 8245- 
14.

§ 6245-01. State department of education—organizat­
ion-—There shall be a state department of education, which 
shall consist of a state superintendent of education, an as­
sistant state superintendent of education, a director of the 
division of finance and administration, a director of the di­
vision of instruction, a director of the division of school 
building and transportation services, a director of the di­
vision of vocational education, a director of the division of 
vocational rehabilitation, a director of the division of crip­
pled children, and such supervisors, assistants, or employees 
as may be necessary for the proper functioning of the above- 
named divisions.

S ources : Laws, 1946, ch. 297, § 1.
§6245-02. Administration.—The state department of 

education is hereby charged with the execution of all laws 
relating to the administrative, supervisory and consultative 
services to the public schools, agricultural high schools, and 
junior colleges of the state of Mississippi. The office of the 
state department of education shall be in the city of Jackson, 
Mississippi, and the secretary of state shall provide suitable 
quarters therefor. Subject to the direction of the state 
board of education as provided by law, the administration, 
management and control of the department is hereby vested 
in the superintendent of public education, who shall be 
directly responsible for the rightful functioning thereof.

S ources : Laws, 1946, eh. 297, § 2.



39

Appendix

§ 6245-03. State superintendent—term of office—bond.—
The state superintendent of public education shall be elected 
for a term of four (4) years at the same time and in the 
same manner as the governor is elected. He shall remain 
in office until his successor shall be elected and qualified, 
and shall be responsible for the general supervision of the 
common schools and educational interests of the state, and 
he shall perform such other duties as shall be prescribed by 
law. He shall give bond in the penalty of twenty-five thou­
sand dollars ($25,000.00), with sureties to be approved by 
the governor, conditioned according to law; and said bond 
when approved shall be filed and recorded in the office of 
the secretary of state. [Supersedes §6245, Code of 1942.]

S ources : Code, 1942, § 6245; Laws, 1946, eh. 297, § 3.
§ 6245-04. Assistant superintendent, directors and em­

ployees.—The assistant state superintendent of public edu­
cation, the directors, supervisors, clerical assistants, and 
employees shall be selected by, and hold office subject to, 
the will of the state superintendent, except as provided in 
section 6 [§ 6245-06] of this act. The assistant state super­
intendent may be authorized to act in the absence or dis­
ability of the state superintendent and shall perform such 
other duties as may be assigned to him by the state superin­
tendent. The state superintendent shall have the power to 
assign to any division such clerical help as he may deem 
necessary and to discharge such clerical help among the di­
visions at any time necessity requires, except as provided 
in section 6 [§ 6245-06] of this act.

S ources : Laws, 1946, ch. 297, § 4.
§ 6245-05. Salaries and expenses.—The state superin- 

intendent, assistant state superintendent, and the director



40

Appendix

of each division, except the directors provided for in section 
6 [§ 6245-06] of this act, shall receive such salary as shall 
be fixed by the legislature. The state superintendent shall 
fix the amount of compensation of all supervisors, clerical 
assistants, or employees of the state department of educa­
tion and the traveling expenses or other expenses of any of 
the personnel of the department, except as provided for in 
section 6 [§6245-06] of this act. All such salaries, compen­
sation or expenses shall be paid upon the requisition of the 
state superintendent of public education and warrant issued 
thereunder by the state auditor out of funds appropriated 
by the legislature in a lump sum upon the basis of budge­
tary requirements submitted by the superintendent of edu­
cation or out of funds otherwise made available. The entire 
expense of administering the department shall never exceed 
the amount appropriated therefor plus funds received from 
sources other than state appropriations and for a violation 
of this provision, the superintendent shall be liable and he 
and the sureties on his bond shall be required to restore any 
such excess.

S ources : Laws, 1946, ch. 297, § 5.
§6245-07. Duties of superintendent.—-The superinten­

dent of public education shall have the power and it shall be 
his duty:

1. To supervise in the manner herein provided the pub­
lic free schools, agricultural high schools, and junior col­
leges of the state and to prescribe such rules and regula­
tions for the efficient organization and conduct of same, as 
he may deem necessary.

2. To preside over all meetings of the state board of 
education.



41

Appendix

3. To collect data for determining the proper distribu­
tion of the state common school funds.

4. To have bound and preserved in his office, as the 
property of the state, all such school documents from other 
states and governments, books, or pamphlets on educational 
subjects, school books, apparatus, maps, charts, and the 
like, as shall be or have been purchased or donated for the 
use of his office.

5. To keep a complete record of all his official acts and 
the acts of the state board of education.

6. To prepare, have printed, and furnish all officers 
charged with the administration of the laws pertaining to 
the public schools, such blank forms and books as may be 
necessary to the proper discharge of their duties, and all 
of this printing shall be paid for out of funds provided by 
the legislature.

7. To have printed in pamphlet form the lawTs pertain­
ing to the public schools and publish therein forms for con­
ducting school business, the rules and regulations for the 
government of schools, that he, or the board of education 
may recommend, and such other matters as may be deemed 
worthy of public interest pertaining to the public schools, 
and all of this printing shall be paid for out of funds pro­
vided by the legislature.

8. To meet the county superintendents annually at such 
time and place as he shall appoint, for the purpose of ac­
cumulating facts relative to schools, to review the educa­
tional progress made in the various sections of the state, to 
compare views, discuss problems, hear discussions and sug­
gestions relative to examinations and qualifications of



42

Appendix

teachers, methods of instruction, text books, summer schools 
for teachers, visitation of schools, consolidation of schools, 
health work in the schools, vocational education, and other 
matters pertaining to the public school system.

9. To advise the county superintendents upon all mat­
ters involving the welfare of the schools, and at the request 
of any county superintendent to give his opinion upon a 
written statement of facts on all questions and contro­
versies arising out of the interpretation and construction 
of the school laws, in regard to rights, powers and duties 
of school officers and county superintendents, and to keep a 
record of all such decisions. Before giving any opinion, 
the superintendent may submit the statement of facts to 
the attorney general for his advice thereon, and it shall be 
the duty of the attorney general forthwith to examine such 
statement, and suggest the proper decision to be made upon 
such facts.

10. To require annually, and as often as he may deem 
proper, of county superintendents, detailed reports on the 
educational business of the various counties.

11. To make reports concerning agricultural high 
schools and serve on various committees and boards as 
provided by law.

12. On or before the tenth day of January in each year 
in which the legislature meets in regular session, to pre­
pare, and have printed a biennial report to the legislature 
showing:

(a) The receipts and disbursements of all school funds 
officially handled by him;



43

Appendix

(b) The number of school districts, school teachers em­
ployed, the number of pupils taught therein, and the at­
tendance of pupils.

(c) County and district levies for common schools, high 
schools, agricultural high schools, consolidated schools, and 
junior colleges;

(d) The conditions of vocational education in the state 
of Mississippi, a list of schools to which federal and state 
aid has been given, and a detailed statement of the expendi­
tures of federal funds and the state funds that may be 
provided.

(e) Such general matters, information, and recommen­
dations as relate in his opinion, to the educational interests 
of the state.

13. To perform such other duties in the administration 
of the public schools as may be required by law. [Super­
sedes § 6247, Code of 1942.]

Sources : Code, 1942, § 6247; Laws, 1946, ch. 297, § 7.

§ 6245-08. Duties of division directors.—(a) The direc­
tor of the division of administration and finance shall have 
charge of and be responsible for, (1) the apportionment of 
state funds as directed by the state board of education; (2) 
budgetary control; (3) educational and financial records, 
reports and research; (4) fiscal and business management; 
and (5) departmental bookkeeping.

(b) The director of the division of instruction shall have 
charge of and be responsible for the supervision of, (1) 
teacher training, certification and placement; (2) elemen­
tary education; (3) secondary education; (4) junior colleges 
and agricultural high schools; (5) health education, inelud-



44

Appendix

ing instruction concerning the effects of intoxicating alco­
holic beverages on the physical well-being and moral char­
acter of the people; (6) audio-visual education; (7) music 
education; (8) negro education and teacher training place­
ment; and (9) curriculum services.

The director of the division of instruction shall take the 
place of the director and executive secretary of teacher cer­
tification provided for in chapter 157, laws of Mississippi, 
1944 [§§6249-6251], and shall have charge of and be re­
sponsible for the program of teacher certification provided 
for in said act, and shall be responsible for the proper ad­
ministration of said act, including collection of fees for 
certification provided for in said act; and any provisions of 
said act to the contrary are hereby repealed.

The director of the division of instruction shall take the 
place of the supervisor of alcohol and narcotics teaching 
provided for in chapter 166, laws of Mississippi, 1938 
[§§ 6685-6688, Code of 1942], and shall have charge of and 
be responsible for the supervision of the program of alco­
hol and narcotics teaching provided for in said act, and 
shall be responsible for the proper administration of said 
act; and any provisions of said act to the contrary are 
hereby repealed.

(c) The director of the division of school building and 
transportation services shall have charge of and be respon­
sible for, (1) school plant planning and construction; (2) 
school building inspection services, and (3) school trans­
portation services.

(d) The director of the division of vocational education 
shall have charge of and be responsible for vocational edu­
cation training in (1) agriculture; (2) home economics;



45

Appendix

(3) trades and industry; (4) distributive education; (5) 
adult education; and (6) teacher training and supervision.

(e) The director of the division of vocational rehabili­
tation shall have charge of and be responsible for the voca­
tional rehabilitation of crippled adults.

(f) The director of the division of crippled children’s 
services shall have charge of and be responsible for the 
physical restoration of crippled children. [Amends Laws 
1946, ch. 297, §8.]

S ources : Laws, 1946, ch. 297, § 8; 1948, ch. 294, § 1.

§ 6258. Shall keep records.—-The county superintendent 
shall keep a record of all his official acts, in the manner and 
form prescribed by law, and conform the manner of its 
keeping to the recommendations and directions of the state 
superintendent of education.

S ources : Codes, 1930, § 6569; Laws, 1924, ch. 283; 1930, 
ch. 278.

§ 6259. Duties generally—It shall be the duty of the 
county superintendents:

(1) To employ for each school under his supervision, such 
teacher or teachers, as may be recommended by the local 
trustees, provided such teacher or teachers shall be recom­
mended on or before June 15th of each year; but the teacher 
shall hold his certificate of proper date and grade, to exe­
cute the required contract.

(2) To allow assistant teachers as specified by law.

(3) To fix salaries of teachers and to make contracts with 
them, except as otherwise specified by law.



46

Appendix

(4) To enforce the course of study adopted by the board of 
education, and the uniform textbooks adopted for the 
county.
(5) To enforce the law and rules and regulations in refer­
ence to the examination of teachers.
(6) To administer oaths in all cases of teachers, trustees, 
and others relating to the schools, and to take testimony in 
appeal cases under the school law.
(7) To examine the monthly reports of teachers and require 
the signatures of a majority of the trustees certifying to 
the accuracy of the report, and upon the report thus cer­
tified, to issue a pay certificate showing the amount of sal­
ary due, and the scholastic month for which it is issued. 
The pay certificate must be in the form prescribed by the 
board of education, and a stub duplicate made out and pre­
served in his office.
(8) To carefully preserve all reports of school officers and 
teachers, and when he resigns, vacates, is removed, or goes 
out of office, within ten days thereafter, to deliver to his 
successor or to the clerk of the chancery court for him, all 
money, property, books, effects, or papers remaining in his 
hands.
(9) To make annually, on or before the first day of August, 
a written report to the board of supervisors and mayor 
and board of aldermen of the municipality constituting a 
separate school district, showing names, sex and color of 
the teachers employed during the preceding scholastic year, 
the number of months taught by each, and the aggregate 
amounts of pay certificates issued to each and all. The re­
port shall be filed in the office of the chancery clerk or the



47

Appendix

municipal clerk, as the case may be, and be compared by 
said officer with the pay certificates of the county superin­
tendent for the period embraced in the report.
(10) To file with the chancery and municipal clerk, before 
issuing any pay certificates for the current term, lists of 
the teachers employed, and the monthly salary of each, as 
shown by the contract, and to add to the list any teachers 
subsequently employed.
(11) To keep in his office and carefully preserve the public 
school record provided; to enter therein the proceedings of 
the county school board, the decisions of appeal cases, and 
other official acts; a list of the teachers examined, licensed 
and employed; and within ten days after they are rendered, 
to record the data required from the monthly and term 
reports of teachers, and the annual reports of the county 
and separate school district treasurers; and from the sum­
maries of records thus kept to render on or before the first 
of September, an annual report to the state superintendent 
in the form and containing the particulars required. If a 
county superintendent fails to make report to the state 
superintendent by the fifteenth day of September, he shall 
forfeit fifty dollars out of his salary; and the board of 
supervisors, upon receiving from the state superintendent 
of education notice of such failure, must deduct the amount 
forfeited from his salary.
(12) To prepare on township blanks, an outline map, show­
ing the number of the sections embraced in each school 
district, and to paste the same in the school register for the 
district before delivering it to the teacher thereof.
(13) To make a record of the names of trustees, showing 
the districts in which they were elected, and the post office



48

Appendix

of each. He shall in due time deliver to the trustees or 
teachers of each district, such blanks as they will need for 
the coming scchool year; and give them such information 
with regard to their duties as may be required. He shall 
address all official correspondence to the trustees. Notice 
to them shall be regarded as notice to the people of the dis­
trict, and it shall be the duty of the trustees to notify the 
people.
(14) To make to the board of supervisors and mayor and 
board of aldermen or other governing body of a municipal­
ity constituting a separate school district, reports for each 
scholastic month, which shall show the amount of pay cer­
tificates issued for that month, together with statement 
showing the schools visited, date of visitation, and time he 
spent in each school during his visit. It shall be unlawful 
to allow the salary of the superintendent until said report 
be on file.

(15) To distribute promptly all reports, laws, forms, cir­
culars, and instructions which he may receive for the use 
of school officers and teachers, from the state superintendent 
of public education.
(16) To keep on file and preserve in his office the biennial 
report of the state superintendent of public education, and 
all circular letters sent out by him and a copy of the school 
law.

(17) To visit the schools and require teachers to perform 
all their duties. On his first visit, he shall, in the county 
schools, correct any deficiencies which may exist in the 
classification of the pupils or the government of the schools ; 
and in the separate school districts he shall call the atten­
tion of the trustees to such deficiencies for correction by



49

Appendix

them. He shall note down the condition and value of the 
buildings and lot and of the furniture, the methods of in­
struction, the branches taught, and his estimate of the abil­
ity of the teacher to conduct the school. He shall give such 
direction and make such recommendation as he deems ex­
pedient and needful to secure the best results in the instruc­
tion of the pupils, and shall examine the classes to see that 
thorough work is done. He shall urge patrons to provide 
their children with comfortable and well furnished school- 
houses. For every school not so visited, the board of super­
visors, must, on proof thereof, deduct ten dollars from his 
salary unless the superintendent be excused for cause.
(18) To call meetings of the county school board as pre­
scribed by law.
(19) To call annually on the first Friday in May a meet­
ing of the trustees of the county for the election of the 
county school board and for the purpose of discussing with 
them ways and means of conducting the schools of the 
county.
(20) To observe such instructions and regulations as the 
state board of education may, from time to time, prescribe, 
and to make special reports to these officials, whenever re­
quired.
(21) To be at the county seat on Saturdays of each scho­
lastic month of the term to receive monthly reports, issue 
pay certificates, and attend to other official duties. If absent, 
without leave previously granted by the board of super­
visors, the board shall deduct from his salary ten dollars 
for each day’s absence, unless prevented by illness or other 
unavoidable cause. And when there are two judicial dis­
tricts in his county, the superintendent shall alternate, go­
ing to the courthouse of the districts alternately.



50

Appendix

(22) To make an enumeration of the edueable children in 
his county every two years as prescribed by law.
(23) To perform such other duties as may be required of 
him by law or by rules and regulations of the state board of 
education. In no case shall he receipt for a teacher’s war­
rant or collect money on the same.
(24) At the end of each scholastic year make a report to the 
department of education of all moneys spent in the county 
for public education, including the expenses in municipali­
ties, so as to ascertain the amount spent on each school 
child in the state.

S o u r c es : Codes, 1930, § 6570; Laws, 1924, ch. 283; 1930, 
ch. 278.

§ 6260. Monthly salaries to be proportionate to the 
whole school fund.—Superintendents shall fix the salaries 
of teachers so that the amount to be paid in salaries and 
other expenses for maintaining all the schools for one month 
shall not exceed that fractional part of the whole school fund 
which one month is of the whole number of months the 
schools are taught.

S ources : Codes, 1930, § 6571; Laws, 1924, ch. 283; 1930, 
ch. 278.

§6261. To settle disputes in schools —In all contro­
versies arising under the school law, the opinion and ad­
vice of the county superintendent shall first be sought. 
From his decision an appeal may be taken to the state board 
of education upon a written statement of the facts, certified 
by the county superintendent or by the secretary of the 
board of trustees.

S o u r c es : Codes, 1930, § 6572; Laws, 1924, ch. 283; 1930, 
ch. 278.



51

Appendix

§ 6262. May suspend or remove teacher or trustee and 
fill vacancies.—For incompetency, neglect of duty, immoral 
conduct, or other disqualifications, the county superinten­
dent may suspend or remove any teacher or trustee from 
office in any school district. For the purpose of conducting 
inquiries and trials, the superintendent has the same power 
as a justice of the peace to issue subpoenas for witnesses and 
to compel their attendance and the giving of evidence by 
them. Appeals may be had as provided in the following 
section on revoking teachers’ license. When from such 
cause, or from death, resignation, or other cause, a vacancy 
in either of the above named offices occurs, it shall be the 
duty of the county superintendent, within ten days after the 
vacancy occurs, or as soon thereafter as is practicable, to 
supply the same by appointment.

S ources : Codes, 1930, § 6573; Laws, 1924, ch. 283; 1930, 
eh. 278.

§6263. May revoke teacher’s license.—For intemper­
ance, immoral conduct, brutal treatment of a pupil, or other 
good cause, the county superintendent may revoke the li­
cense, state or county, of a teacher; but the teacher or those 
opposed to the teacher shall be allowed an appeal to the 
state board of education, to whom statements, under oath, 
of the acts may be made by the county superintendent and 
other interested parties. The teachers must be notified of 
the charges ten days before the trial, by the county super­
intendent.

S o u r c es : Codes, 1930, § 6574; Laws, 1924, ch. 283; 1930, 
ch. 278.

§ 6264.5. Special report as to teachers.—Within fifteen 
(15) days after the close of the first month of school each



52

Appendix

year, each county school superintendent and each separate 
district school superintendent shall file with the director of 
administration and finance in the department of education 
a special report, showing for each school in the county or 
separate district the name of the school, the name, sex, 
training, experience, salary and any other information 
deemed necessary by the state board of education, of each 
teacher in the school. These special reports shall be sub­
mitted on forms prepared and furnished by the state board 
of education. [Effective from and after July 1, 1948.]

S ources : Laws, 1948, ch. 292, § 1.
§ 6281. Rules, etc.—The State Board of Education is 

hereby authorized and empowered to set up rules and regu­
lations for the issuance of the certificates provided for in 
this Act and such other certificates as may be required, and 
to administer said rules and regulations through the State 
Board of Examiners, which latter Board shall perform such 
duties in connection therewith as the State Board of Educa­
tion may require, but said rules and regulations shall not be 
changed without giving a minimum notice of one year.

The State Board of Education is hereby authorized and 
empowered to arrange for the examination of applicants to 
teach in any county when so requested by the county super­
intendent of education, said examination to include all of 
the subjects in the common school curriculum. The examina­
tion questions shall be properly adjusted to the kind and 
grade of certificate applied for. One teacher, but not more 
than two teachers, shall conduct said examination, each to 
receive five ($5.00) dollars for each day of actual service 
in holding the examination and twenty-five cents additional 
for grading the papers of each applicant, to be paid out of



53

Appendix

the county school fund in the same manner as teachers’ 
salaries are paid.

The State Board of Examiners is authorized to grant 
teachers’ professional certificate of the highest grade to 
graduates of the University of Mississippi, Mississippi 
State College, the Mississippi State College for Women, the 
State Teachers’ College, the Delta State Teachers’ College, 
the Alcorn A. & M. College, and such other institutions of 
higher learning in this State as may maintain a standard 
four-year college course, approved by the State Board of 
Education; provided, that certificate shall be issued only to 
such graduates of the different institutions as have success­
fully passed nine session hours of college work in education 
designated and approved by the State Board of Education.

S o u r c es : Laws, 1938, Ex. ch. 44.
§ 6282. Outstanding licenses.—No license or certificate 

to teach in the public schools of the State which is valid at 
the time this Act takes effect shall be invalidated by the 
passage of this Act, but all such licenses and certificates 
shall remain valid and in effect during the time and for the 
purpose for which they were originally issued.

S ources : Laws, 1938, Ex. ch. 44.

T e a c h e r s’ S alaries

§ 6283. Contracts with teachers.—It shall be the duty 
of the superintendent to make a contract in the form pre­
scribed by the board of education with every licensed 
teacher who has been selected by the trustees according to 
law, or appointed by himself. The contract shall be signed 
in duplicate by the superintendent and by the teacher, each 
retaining one copy. The contract shall show the name of



54

Appendix

the school, the position of the teacher, whether a principal 
or assistant, and the monthly salary. In addition to the 
fixed salary, there shall be stated in the contract two suc­
cessively smaller amounts which shall be the salary in case 
the attendance decreases to a number for which the con­
ditional amounts would be the fixed salary. Contracts shall 
be valid for the number of months the school is to be taught 
during the scholastic year, and the following scholastic year, 
in the discretion of the board of trustees at the time of the 
making of the contract, it being the purpose hereof to au­
thorize the board of trustees to elect a teacher, if it so de­
sires, for two scholastic years, and authorize contracts there­
for, and it shall be unlawful to issue a certificate for ser­
vices rendered before the contract is made and signed; 
provided, that in years when the state appropriation is 
made after the beginning of the fall school term, that it 
shall be lawful for the county superintendent of education 
to cause the schools to be taught without contract until he 
shall have officially ascertained the amount of the common 
school fund that will be distributed to his county for that 
scholastic year; provided, further, that where contracts 
have been made before the amount of the school fund to be 
distributed to his county is known, the same may be changed 
when he ascertains the amount his county will receive, the 
teachers agreeing thereto; but the county superintendent 
shall have the right after the expiration of the four months 
required by the constitution, to make new contracts with 
teachers in counties making a special levy to carry on the 
schools for a longer term than four months, and all such 
contracts shall be made as the law provides, so that the 
amounts to be paid in salaries for maintaining all the 
schools one month shall not exceed that fractional part of 
the whole school fund, as provided by such special levy,



55

Appendix

which one month is of the whole number of months the 
schools are to be taught.

S ources : Codes, 1930, § 6610; Laws, 1924, ch. 283; 1930, 
ch. 278; 1940, ch. 174.

§ 6284. County superintendents authorized to contract 
with teachers.—County superintendents of education are 
hereby authorized to contract with teachers in the public 
schools in accordance with the following limitations in ref­
erence to salaries:

(a) Third grade teachers between twenty dollars and 
forty dollars a month inclusive.

(b) Second grade teachers between thirty dollars and 
fifty dollars a month inclusive.

(c) First grade teachers between thirty dollars and two 
hundred dollars a month inclusive.

The salaries of principal and assistant teachers of sepa­
rate school districts shall be fixed by the trustees, and the 
salaries of principals and assistant teachers of consolidated 
districts having a local levy, by the trustees and county 
superintendents of education.

§ 6290. General rules for teachers.—Every teacher in a 
public school must, before taking charge of a school and 
one week before closing a term, notify the county superin­
tendent of the fact, naming the day of opening or closing, 
must enforce the course of study, the use of text books, and 
the rules and regulations prescribed for schools; and must 
hold pupils to a strict account for disorderly conduct on 
the way to and from school, on the playgrounds, or during 
recess, suspend for good cause any pupil from the school, 
and report such suspension to the board of trustees for re-



56

Appendix

view. If his action be not sustained by the board, the 
teacher may appeal to the county superintendent, whose de­
cision shall be final.

S o u rces: Codes, 1930, §6617; Laws, 1924, ch. 283; 1930, 
ch. 278.

T rustees

§6295. School districts classified and defined.—There 
may be five kinds of school districts as follows:

1. Common school district; an ordinary rural district 
organized by the county school board.

2. Consolidated district; one that is formed by consoli­
dating two or more districts or parts of districts or one 
district and one or more parts of districts and contains an 
area of not less than ten square miles and in which authority 
to transport pupils is granted.

3. Special consolidated district ; a consolidated district 
in which more than one school has been granted and located 
by the county school board for operation by the trustees of 
the district and which shall contain not less than twenty- 
five square miles of territory and not fewer than two hun­
dred and fifty pupils.

4. Municipal separate district; one composed of the 
corporate limits of a municipality or the corporate limits 
of the municipality and added territory.

5. Rural separate district; any unincorporated district 
with an assessed valuation of not less than $200,000 or any 
unincorporated district of not less than sixteen square miles 
organized by the county school board in which a free public 
school is maintained for at least seven months with an 
average of not less than twenty-five children.

S ources : Codes, 1930, § 6622; Laws, 1930, ch. 278.



57

Appendix

S eparate S chool D istricts

§ 8411. Separate school districts.—Any municipality, by 
an ordinance of the mayor and board of aldermen or other 
governing body thereof, may be declared a municipal sepa­
rate school district. Any school district, not being a mu­
nicipal school district, with an assessed tax valuation of 
not less than two hundred thousand ($200,000) dollars or 
any such district of not less than sixteen square miles may 
be declared a separate school district by the county school 
board, or boards, on a petition of a majority of the qualified 
electors therein or as provided by Section 6584 [Code of 
1930; §6274, Code of 1942], but shall not be entitled to the 
rights and privileges of a separate school district unless a 
free public school shall be maintained therein for a term of 
at least seven months in each scholastic year; and provided 
that there shall be at least an average attendance of as 
many as twenty-five pupils. Before the county school 
board, or boards, can declare any school district a separate 
school district as provided herein it must have abolished the 
said school district as provided in Section 6584, Section 
6585 [Code of 1930; §§6274, 6275, Code of 1942], providing 
for outstanding obligations of dissolved districts, shall ap­
ply to such dissolved districts.

S ources : Codes, 1930, § 6657; Laws, 1924, ch. 283; 1930, 
ch. 278; 1934, ch. 263.

§ 6416. Municipal separate districts—tax levy—bond 
issues.—The mayor and board of aldermen or other govern­
ing body of a municipality constituting a separate school 
district, whether such district is composed of the corporate 
limits or the corporate limits and added territory, shall an­
nually levy a tax on the entire separate district sufficient to



58

Appendix

pay for fuel and other necessities for the public schools of 
the district, also for maintaining the school after the four 
months term provided by the State, or to supplement during 
said four months, said items being included in the annual 
budget submitted by the board of trustees, and if said items 
are included in the annual budget submitted by the board 
of trustees, the mayor and board of aldermen shall make 
a levy sufficient to cover the budget, or in lieu thereof, must 
call an election to determine the question of the levy; said 
election to be called upon a petition of twenty per cent, of 
the qualified electors of the district. The mayor and board 
of aldermen or commissioner of such municipality may also 
levy a tax on the entire school district, including added 
territory, to erect, repair and equip school buildings in­
cluding teachers ’ homes, and may issue bonds of the sepa­
rate district for that purpose in the manner provided by 
law. The taxable property of such added territory to such 
municipality shall be assessed and the tax collected for all 
school purposes, including bond issues for schools (whether 
issued in the name of the municipality or of such school 
district), in the same manner as on the property within the 
corporate limits, unless the governing body of such munici­
pality shall by resolution spread upon its minutes and a 
certified copy thereof transmitted to the tax collector of the 
county in which such municipality is located, directing the 
tax collector of the county to collect the school tax upon the 
property added to such school district and lying outside the 
corporate limits of such municipality, stating to such tax 
collector the amount of the levy on such property of such 
district, and such tax collector shall receive as compen­
sation for collecting such tax the same amount he may be 
entitled to receive for the collection of county taxes, and 
shall report to the governing body of such municipality his



59

Appendix

collection of such school tax at the same time as he is re­
quired to report the collection of county taxes; on the ques­
tion of levy for school and of issuance of school bonds 
provided for in this section the qualified electors and the 
taxpayers have the same rights and benefits as those within 
the corporate limits of such municipality. For the pur­
pose of an election on a question pertaining to schools, such 
municipality shall cause the qualified electors in such added 
territory to be registered in like manner as those within the 
corporate limits, and governed by the same laws as far as 
applicable. And every municipality being a separate school 
district, may in like manner, levy and collect poll taxes for 
the maintenance of schools.

S oukces : Codes, 1930, § 6662; Laws, 1924, ch. 283; 1930, 
ch. 278; 1934, ch. 260.

§ 6422. Trustees of separate school districts.—Separate 
school districts are of three classes, municipal, rural and 
line. The schools of a separate district shall be under the 
control of five trustees, each to be chosen for a term of five 
years, but so chosen that one will be elected each year. All 
terms shall date from date of election on the first Saturday 
of March, except municipal trustees whose terms shall date 
from January 1st.

To be eligible to the office of trustee of a separate dis­
trict, a person must possess the following qualifications:

1. Must be a bona fide resident of the district.
2. Must be a qualified elector.
A member of the board of aldermen, county school 

board, trustees of a private or sectarian school or college 
in the same separate school district shall not be eligible to 
the office of trustee.



Appendix

a. Municipal.
The trustees of a municipal district shall be elected by 

the mayor and board of aldermen or other governing body 
at the first regular meeting in January. All vacancies for 
the unexpired part of a term shall be filled by selection of 
the mayor and board of aldermen.

b. Eural.
The trustees of a rural separate district shall be elected. 

On the first Saturday of March of each year the qualified 
electors of each rural separate school district shall meet at 
the schoolhouse in said district at 2 o’clock p. m., organize 
by electing a chairman and a secretary of said meeting; 
then elect by ballot one trustee who shall assume the duties 
of his office as soon as elected for a term of five years. At 
each such meeting the trustees, whose terms do not expire 
in that year, shall have prepared and present a list of names 
of the qualified electors of such district who are entitled to 
vote for trustees. It shall be the duty of the county super­
intendent of education to obtain said list of qualified electors 
from the circuit clerk’s office and furnish same to each 
school district trustees in advance of the election. No 
proxies shall be allowed. The chairman and secretary shall 
forthwith certify the result of the election to the county 
superintendent, if he shall not have been present at said 
election, and cause the certificate thereof to be delivered 
to him within five days following said election. The county 
superintendent of education shall cause a notice of said 
election to be posted in three public places in the school 
district, one of which places shall be the front door of the 
school building, one week prior to said election and the 
principal teacher shall, in addition thereto, announce the



61

Appendix

date and purpose of the election to the pupils three times 
during said week.

c. Line.
For line rural separate school district, the same manner 

of procedure shall govern the selection of trustees in all 
line school districts as is outlined in subsection (b), for 
rural separate schools except the five trustees shall be ap­
portioned amongst the counties as follows:

The territory in the county in which the school building 
is located shall never have less than three (3) trustees on 
the board, and where only two counties are involved, the 
territory in the county in which the school building is not 
located shall have two (2) trustees on the board, provided 
said territory furnishes as many as one hundred pupils and 
where it furnishes less than one hundred pupils it shall 
have one trustee on the board and the county in which the 
school building is located, shall, in that case, have four
(4) trustees.

Where three (3) counties are involved then in that case 
the territory in each one of the counties in which the school 
building is not located shall have one trustee on the board, 
and in all cases the trustee shall be selected by the qualified 
electors of the territory which he or she will represent on 
the board, and notice of said selection shall be given to the 
county superintendent of the county in which the school 
building is located in case he be not present at the election.

The powers and duties of trustees under the general law 
shall apply to the trustees of separate school districts and 
they shall be subject to the same penalties. The board of 
trustees shall notify the mayor and board of aldermen in a 
municipal district of a vacancy from any cause and shall



62

Appendix

notify the county superintendent of any vacancy in a rural 
separate district.

§ 6423. Trustees of separate school districts—powers— 
duties.—The powers and duties of separate school district 
trustees are as follows:

(1) To prescribe and enforce rules, not inconsistent with 
law or those prescribed by the state board of education, for 
their own government and government of schools, and to 
transact their business at regular and special meetings 
called for such purpose, notice of which shall be given each 
member.

(2) To designate a custodian or custodians of the school 
building, grounds, and property of the school district, ancl 
to make all needful rules and regulations concerning the 
duties and powers of such custodian or custodians; to au­
thorize the use of the school buildings and grounds for the 
holding of public meetings or gatherings of the people, 
under such rules and regulations as said board of trustees 
may prescribe; to have full charge of the erection, repair­
ing, or equipping of school buildings; and to employ 
janitors.

(3) To appoint librarians, and to enforce the rules pre­
scribed for the government of school libraries.

(4) To exclude from the schools and school libraries all 
books or papers of a sectarian, partisan, denominational, 
or immoral character.

(5) To visit every school in their district at least once 
in each month, and examine carefully into its management, 
condition and wants.



63

Appendix

(6) To maintain all the schools under their control for 
an equal length of time during the year; and to provide 
schools for Indian children living within the district in the 
manner and under the same regulations as schools are pro­
vided for the children of other races.

(7) To furnish blackboards and other necessary fur­
niture, books, equipment, and apparatus for the use of the 
schools; to provide transportation when necessary for the 
children in their respective districts who live two miles or 
more from the schoolhouse, and pay for same out of the 
school funds of the district, as teachers’ salaries are paid.

(8) To elect a superintendent, if one be required, and 
a principal for each of the schools, and prescribe their 
powers and duties.

(9) To elect teachers, fix salaries, terms of service, con­
tract with them and impose fines, penalties for neglect of 
duty, but they cannot contract with a principal or a teacher 
who does not hold a license or certificate from the county 
superintendent or state board of examiners. In fixing sal­
aries, boards of trustees shall take into consideration the 
character, academic and professional training, executive 
ability, and teaching capacity of the teacher.

(10) To contract with superintendents, principals and 
teachers, for a term of years not exceeding three years, 
said salaries at the option of the board to be made pay­
able monthly, twelve months in the year; to pay teachers for 
the time lost on account of closing of schools by county or 
state health officers, or by boards of trustees in emergency 
cases; provided, such action is approved by the state board 
of education. The amount to be paid shall be determined by 
the board of trustees.



64

Appendix

(11) To require the principal of each school to keep the 
records thereof in such a manner as to show, by age, race, 
grade, and sex, the educable children who attend the school, 
the enrollment and the average attendance, and at the end 
of the term to make complete term report to the trustees, 
showing the above statistics and such others as may be re­
quired of the county superintendent for his annual report 
to the state board of education. The secretary of the trus­
tees shall, within ten days after the close of the term, trans­
mit their report to the county superintendent; and it shall 
be unlawful for the superintendent to issue pay certificates 
for the last month’s attendance of county pupils until said 
report is filed with him.

(12) To enforce in schools the course of study and the 
use of textbooks prescribed and adopted by the proper 
authorities; to add the high school department; to charge 
tuition in said department, at their discretion; and, in co­
operation with the principal of the school, to prescribe the 
course of study for the high school department.

(13) To determine annually the amount of money re­
quired for the support of the public schools and for carry­
ing into effect all the provisions of the law in reference 
thereto; and in pursuance of this provision the trustees 
shall, on or before the fifteenth of July, of each year, sub­
mit in writing to the mayor and board of aldermen or other 
governing body an itemized estimate of the expenditures 
for the next scholastic fiscal year and of the whole amount 
of money to be received from the state and county and the 
amount required from the municipality for the above pur­
poses ; to be responsible for all expenditures for school pur­
poses; and to write orders to the clerk of the municipality



65

Appendix

or to the comity superintendent to issue warrants or pay 
certificates on any available school funds of such districts.

(14) To make report to the county superintendent of all 
expenses in the district for educational purposes for the 
year, to conform to the financial report required of the 
county superintendent by the state board of education.

(15) To have authority, and it shall be their duty, to 
suspend or dismiss pupils, when the best interests of the 
schools make it necessary.

(16) To employ physical instructors and visiting nurses, 
and to provide for medical inspection of school children, 
acting either separately or jointly with other boards of 
trustees.

(17) In districts containing a municipality with a pop­
ulation of not less than ten thousand according to the most 
recent federal census, to employ one or more truant officers 
for the enforcement of the state compulsory school law; to 
fix the duties and salary of such officer and to exact of him 
such reports as they may deem necessary. Said officer, 
when appointed, shall be the executive agent under the 
board of the compulsory law in lieu of the county super­
intendent. The compensation of such truant officer shall 
be paid out of the school fund.

S ources : Codes, 1930, § 6665; Laws, 1924, ch. 283; 1930, 
ch. 278.

§ 6527. How common school fund to be distributed in 
counties.—The county common school fund (poll tax) shall 
be divided between the separate school districts of the 
county and that portion of the county not included in the 
separate school districts. Within thirty days after every



66

Appendix

legal enrollment of the educable children of the state, and 
within thirty days after the organization of the separate 
school district, or a change has been made in the limits of 
one already organized in the connty, the county superin­
tendent of education shall certify to the clerk of the board 
of supervisors the number of educable children, to be deter­
mined from the official roll of the educable children on file 
in the chancery clerk’s office, in each separate school dis­
trict in the county, and the number of educable children out­
side the limits of the separate school districts. At each 
regular meeting of the board of supervisors it shall be the 
duty of the clerk of the board of supervisors to apportion 
the amount of undivided county school fund (poll tax) in 
the county treasury among the separate school districts of 
the county and schools of the county outside of the separate 
school districts, on the basis of the number of educable chil­
dren in each, as furnished by the county superintendent of 
education and to certify the said apportionment to the board 
of supervisors, who, if the apportionment is found to be 
correct, shall order that a warrant be issued in favor of the 
treasurer of each separate school district for the amount due 
each district.

S ources : Codes, 1930, § 6733; Laws, 1924, ch. 283; 1930, 
ch. 278.

§ 6528. Balances—how and. when used—funds not 
loaned.—If there shall remain a balance in the treasury to 
the credit of the school fund of the several counties and 
separate school districts, on the thirtieth day of June in any 
year, the board of supervisors and trustees of separate 
school districts, respectively, during the month of July fol­
lowing may apply such balance to the building, repairing or 
furnishing with school furniture or apparatus such school-



67

Appendix

houses which belong to the county or separate school dis­
tricts, not appropriating to any school located in the county 
or separate school district an amount greater than one hun­
dred and fifty dollars, unless an amount equal to any excess 
of this sum, to be appropriated by the county, be contri­
buted and paid into the county treasury by the patrons of 
the public schools making such application and receiving 
such appropriation. All balances not so appropriated shall 
be carried forward to the school fund for the next scholastic 
year; and this shall apply to any fund that may have been 
levied by the county to carry on the schools for a longer 
term than four months. It shall be unlawful to loan any 
portion of the school fund.

S o u r c es : Codes, 1930, § 6734; Laws, 1930, ch. 278.

§ 6541. Municipal separate districts—budgets.—It shall 
likewise be the duty of the board of trustees of each munic­
ipal separate school district, on or before the fifteenth day 
of July of each year, to prepare and file with the State 
Superintendent of Education a budget of expenditures for 
the support, maintenance and operation of the public schools 
of such separate school district during the fiscal year com­
mencing on the first day of such July. Such budget shall 
contain a detailed statement of the estimated amounts to be 
expended for teachers’ salaries, transportation, if any, and 
other expenses to be incurred in the operation of the sepa­
rate school district school, or schools, during the year. Such 
budget shall also show the number of months for which 
funds will be available for the operation of the separate 
school district school, or schools, during the school session, 
and the estimated cost of operation for each month.

S ources : Laws, 1936, ch. 255.



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Appendix

§ 6542. Same—revenues.—It shall also be the duty of 
the board of trustees of each municipal separate school dis­
trict at the same time to prepare and file with the State 
Superintendent of Education a detailed statement of the 
revenues which will be available for the support and main­
tenance of the separate school district school, or schools, 
during the fiscal year. Such statement shall show in sepa­
rate items the amounts to be received from the State com­
mon school fund and the State equalizing school fund, if any, 
and the estimated amounts to be received from the separate 
school district tax levy, or levies, or any other sources which 
may be available for the support and maintenance of the 
separate school district school, or schools, during the fiscal 
year, and also the balance of money on hand to the credit 
of the separate school district on the first day of July, and 
the total amount of funds which will be available for the 
support and maintenance of the separate school district 
school, or schools, during the fiscal year.

S o u r c es : Laws, 1936, ch. 255.
§ 6543. Approval of budgets—-disapproval.—The State 

Superintendent of Education shall carefully examine the 
county school budgets and the separate school district bud­
gets filed under the provisions of Sections 4 and 5 of this 
Act [§§ 6537-6542, supra] for the purpose of determining 
whether or not the revenues to be made available during 
the fiscal year will be sufficient to meet the expenditures 
provided for in such budgets. If the State Superintendent 
of Education shall find that the budget of expenditures will 
not exceed the amount of revenues to be made available for 
the support and maintenance of the public schools during 
the fiscal year, he shall approve the same in writing, and 
shall certify his approval of such budget to the county sup-



69

Appendix

erintendent of education, or the board of trustees of such 
separate school district, as the case may be. If, in the opin­
ion of the State Superintendent of Education, the revenues 
to be made available for the support and maintenance of the 
public schools of the county, or separate school district, as 
the case may be, during the fiscal year will be insufficient to 
meet the expenditures provided for in such budget, the State 
Superintendent of Education shall return such budget to 
the county superintendent, or the board of trustees of such 
separate school district, as the case may be, for revision 
and shall require the county superintendent, or the board of 
trustees of such separate school district, to revise such 
budget by reducing the estimated expenditures in such 
amount as may be necessary to balance the expenditures 
against the estimated receipts.

S o u r c e s : Laws, 1936, ch. 255.
§ 6558. Same—municipal separate districts.—The mayor 

and board of aldermen, or other governing authority, of any 
municipality constituting a municipal separate school dis­
trict, whether such municipal separate school district be 
restricted to such municipality or include added territory, 
which on the date of the approval of this Act may have any 
valid and undisputed school tax anticipation notes, teachers’ 
pay certificates, or other obligations outstanding, for the 
payment of which there are insufficient funds on hand and 
which cannot be paid out of the school funds made available 
for the current fiscal year ending* June 30, 1936, is hereby 
authorized and empowered to borrow money in an amount 
sufficient to pay such valid and undisputed obligations, and 
to issue interest bearing negotiable notes or certificates of 
indebtedness therefor. The proceeds derived from the sale 
of such notes or certificates of indebtedness shall be applied



70

Appendix

to the payment of such valid and undisputed obligations 
outstanding.

Such notes or certificates of indebtedness shall bear in­
terest at a rate not to exceed six (6%) per cent, per annum, 
interest payable annually, and shall mature serially within 
three years from the date of their issuance, and not less 
than one-third part of the principal thereof shall mature 
each year until all of said notes or certificates are paid. 
Such notes or certificates of indebtedness shall be signed by 
the mayor and shall be countersigned by the municipal clerk, 
who shall impress the seal of his office upon each such note 
or certificate of indebtedness as it is issued; and each such 
note or certificate of indebtedness shall be registered by the 
clerk in a book kept by him in his office. Such notes or certifi­
cates of indebtedness shall constitute the valid obligations of 
such municipal separate school district and shall be payable 
out of a special tax to be levied by the mayor and board of 
aldermen, or other governing authority of such munici­
pality, upon all the taxable property of such municipal 
separate school district. It shall be the duty of the mayor 
and board of aldermen, or other governing authority of such 
municipality, to levy annually, at the time other municipal 
and separate school district taxes are levied, a special tax 
upon all the taxable property of such municipal separate 
school district sufficient in amount to pay the principal and 
interest of such notes or certificates of indebtedness when 
and as the same shall become due. Such notes or certi­
ficates of indebtedness may be issued with interest coupons 
attached and such interest coupons shall bear the facsimile 
signatures of the mayor and clerk. If, however, no interest 
coupons are attached, the interest payments on each such 
note or certificate of indebtedness shall be properly credited



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on the back of such note or certificate of indebtedness at the 
time such interest payments are made.

In the event the mayor and board of aldermen, or other 
governing authority of such municipality, shall be unable 
to borrow money for the payment of such valid and undis­
puted obligations of such separate school district outstand­
ing on the date of the approval of this Act, the mayor and 
board of aldermen, or other governing authority of such 
municipality, is hereby authorized and empowered, in their 
discretion, to levy a special tax upon all the taxable prop­
erty of such separate school district sufficient in amount 
to pay such outstanding obligations, such tax to be levied 
at the time other municipal and separate school district 
taxes are levied. If the amount of the tax levy required to 
retire such obligations shall exceed two mills on the dollar 
on all the taxable property of such separate school district, 
the mayor and board of aldermen, or other governing au­
thority of such municipality, may levy such tax at a rate 
not to exceed two mills annually over a period of years until 
all such valid and undisputed obligations shall have been 
paid.

The funds derived from the special tax, levied under the 
provisions of this section, shall be kept separate from all 
other funds of such municipal separate school district and 
shall be used for the purposes herein stated and for no 
other purpose.

S o u r c es : Laws, 1936, ch. 255.
§ 6569. Separate school districts.—In the event a sepa­

rate school district shall levy a ten-mill tax for the support 
and maintenance of the separate school district schools to 
be used in the payment of teachers’ salaries, transporta­
tion and necessary expenses of administration, and the



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school fund of such district, including its share of the State 
per capita distribution, its share of the county poll tax and 
transfer tuition, shall be insufficient to pay teachers sal­
aries, transportation, and transfer tuition charges of such 
separate school district for a term of eight months in each 
scholastic year under the terms and conditions imposed in 
this Act, such separate school district shall be eligible to 
participate in the distribution of the State equalizing fund 
upon the terms and conditions provided in Section 3 hereof 
[§ 6566, supra] for the county; and the amount of funds to 
be allotted to such separate school district shall be deter­
mined on the same basis as is provided in said Section 3 
[§ 6566, supra] for the county.

S ources : Laws, 1936, 2nd Ex. ch. 1.
§ 6570. Emergency expense fund.—The State Board of 

Education shall be authorized to reserve the sum of 
$25,000.00 out of the State equalizing fund each year for 
the purpose of meeting special conditions and emergency 
situations in any counties or school districts in the State, 
which cannot be provided for otherwise under the provi­
sions of this Act, and said funds may be allotted by the 
State Board of Education in such manner as it may deem 
best having in mind the purposes for which the State equal­
izing fund is appropriated. The State Board of Education 
shall be required to furnish an itemized account of any 
expenditures from this fund, and report same to the next 
regular session of the legislature.

S o u r c es : Laws, 1936, 2nd Ex. ch. 1.
§6571. Regulation of expenditures.—It shall be the 

duty of the State Board of Education to prescribe rules 
and regulations governing the expenditure of the public



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school funds of the comity by the county superintendents 
of education and the expenditure of the separate school 
district funds by the trustees of the separate school dis­
tricts for administration and office expenses in those 
counties and separate school districts whose schools are 
maintained in part by appropriations out of the State 
equalizing fund. The State Board of Education shall be 
authorized to impose limitations, in addition to the limi­
tations already imposed by law, upon the amounts expended 
by the county superintendents for office help and supplies. 
But in no event shall such expenditures exceed the amounts 
authorized by law.

Sotjbces: Laws, 1936, 2nd Ex. ch. 1.

§ 6572. Regulation of salaries—violations.—The State 
Board of Education is hereby authorized, and it shall be its 
duty, to prescribe reasonable rules and regulations for the 
fixing of salaries of teachers in those counties, separate 
school districts, consolidated school districts, and other 
school districts, whose schools are maintained in part by 
appropriation out of the State equalizing fund. The average 
monthly salaries to be paid to teachers in counties, separate 
school districts, and other school districts, which levy a tax 
of ten mills for maintenance purposes shall be so limited in 
amount as to permit the operation of the public schools in 
the county, or separate school district, or other school dis­
trict, as the case may be, for a term of eight months in each 
scholastic year.

And no county, or separate school district, or other 
school district, participating in the benefits of the State 
equalizing fund, which levies a tax of ten mills, shall be per­
mitted to pay to teachers monthly salaries in excess of ap­
proximately one-eighth of the amount fixed in the county



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or school district budget for the payment of teachers’ sala­
ries during the school year. The average monthly salaries 
to be paid to teachers in counties and school districts par­
ticipating in the benefits of the State equalizing fund, which 
levy a tax of less than ten mills for maintenance purposes 
and in which the public school term is less than eight months 
in any scholastic year shall not exceed the average monthly 
salaries paid to teachers in counties which maintain an 
eight months’ term: Provided, however, that in counties 
having a ten-mill tax levy for the maintenance of the public 
schools of the county any school district having a separate 
tax levy may supplement the salaries of teachers out of the 
funds derived from such district tax levy; and provided, 
further, that in counties which are eligible to participate in 
the benefits of the State equalizing fund, but which have a 
county-wide tax levy for school maintenance which is less 
than ten mills on the dollar, any school district, which has a 
special district tax levy for maintenance purposes in excess 
of the amount required to maintain an eight months’ term 
may supplement the salaries of teachers out of the funds 
from such excess district tax levy.

S ources : Laws, 1936, 2nd Ex. ch. 1.
§6574. Teachers.—The State Board of Education is 

hereby authorized to prescribe rules and regulations impos­
ing additional restrictions upon the number of teachers who 
may be employed in counties which participate in the bene­
fits of the State equalizing fund, wdiose salaries are to be 
paid out of the public school fund of the county, and the 
number of teachers who may be employed in school districts 
whose public school funds are made up in part by appropria­
tions out of the State equalizing fund, and may make special 
allowance for additional teachers who may



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G eorg ia  C ode A n notated .

32-613. Schedules of minimum salaries—The State 
Board of Education shall annually fix a schedule of the 
minimum salaries which shall be paid to the teachers of 
the various classes prescribed by them out of the public 
school funds of the State, which salary schedule shall be 
uniform for each of the classes of teachers fixed by the 
State Board of Education: Provided, however, that the 
State Board of Education, in its discretion, may authorize 
or provide for variations from such schedules whenever, 
in its discretion, such variations may be necessary. (Acts 
1937, pp. 882, 886.)



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