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Show required class mentioned in the constitution. Otherwise the Legislature, the State Board of Education, and local school boards decide what classes are required. The revision eliminates this section. public elementary and secondary schools are free, but permits the Legislature to allow fees to be charged in the secondary schools. The present constitution S. Prohibition of Direct Support prohibits state and local governments fhom making any appropriation to aid in the support of schools controlled, even in part, by a religious organisation. The meaning of this provision is not completely clear. It may prevent governments from paying a school controlled by a religious organization for a service of benefit to the state. The revision states that state and local governments may not make any appropriation for the direct support of a school or educational institution controlled by a religious organization. This clarifies and probably expands the power of state and local governments to offer certain kinds of indirect support e. Article VII, Section 17: Section 17 states that the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall perform duties as provided by law. The revision eliminates this section, but the office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction is still mentioned in Article X, Section 3. f. Article XIII, Section 7: Section 7 currently places a 2 and 410 mill levy limit on the state property tax for general state purposes, and allows the Legislature to make an additional levy for education. The state property tax has not been imposed since the early 1970s. Therefore, the limit has not been used. (The present property tax is a local tax.) Section 7 also states that the Legislature may determine the method of allocating state hinds to the school districts. The revision eliminates this section. The revision makes a number of other changes. 4. Other Changes Six sections are either eliminated from the constitution or moved into other sections, as follows: a. Article X, Section 7: Section 7 guarantees the school trust funds against loss or diversion. Similar language has been included in Article X, Sections 5 and 7 of the revision. In addition, there are changes that modernize language in the constitution. Some sections have also been renumbered. b. Article X, Section 9: Section 9 states that neither the Legislature Effective Date nor the State Board of Education may prescribe the textbooks to be used in the common schools. Since 1909, the State Textbook Commission has been prescribing the textbooks to be used in the schools. The revision eliminates this section to comply with actual practice. c. Article X, Section 10: Section 10 establishes institutions for the deaf, dumb, and blind, and requires that proceeds from lands given by the United States Government to the state to support those institutions be placed in a trust hind. Although the revision eliminates this section, these institutions will continue to exist by statute and the state's Enabling Act 1 1 requires that the metric system be taught in the public schools of the state. This is the only d. Article X, Section 11: Section If approved by the voters, the revision would become effective July 1, 1987. Fiscal Impact The proposed constitutional amendment provides that the public schools be free, but allows the Legislature to authorise fees in Fees are already allowed in grades secondary schools (grades by statute. The fiscal impact of the fees cannot be estimated, since it will depend on hiture legislative action and state and local school board implementation. Additionally, school land administrative costs, which are now fended with school land revenues, may require clarification by the Legislature as to the feture source of fends for these costs. 2 Page 17 |