Chapter XV: Section 1: The general supervision of the public schools of the State

shall be vested in a Board of Education, whose powers and duties shall be prescribed by law; the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Secretary of State, and Attorney General, shall constitute the Board, of which the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be President.

SEC. 2. The General Assembly shall, as soon as practicable, provide for the establishment and maintenance of a thorough and uniform system of free public schools throughout the State, wherein all residents of the State between the ages of six and twenty-one years may be educated gratuitously. One or more public schools shall be maintained in each school district within the State, at least three months in each year; any school district failing to have such school shall not be entitled to receive any portion of the school fund for that year.

SEC. 3. The public school fund of the State shall forever remain inviolate and intact; the interest thereon, only, shall be expended in the maintenance of the schools of the State, and shall be distributed amongst the several counties and school districts of the State, in such manner as may be prescribed by law. No part of this fund, principal or interest, shall ever be transferred to any other fund, or used or appropriated except as herein provided. The State Treasurer shall be the custodian of this fund, and the same shall be securely and profitably invested as may be by law directed. The State shall supply all losses thereof that may in any manner occur.

SEC. 4. Each County Treasurer shall collect all school funds belonging to his county, and the several school districts therein, and disburse the same to the proper districts upon warrants drawn by the County Superintendent, or by the proper district authorities, as may be provided by law.

SEC. 5. The public school fund of the State shall consist of the proceeds of such lands as have heretofore been, or may hereafter be, granted to the State by the General Government for educational purposes; all estates that may escheat to the State; also all other grants, gifts, or devises that may be made to this State for educational purpose.

SEC. 6. There shall be a County Superintendent of Schools in each county, whose term of office shall be two years, and whose duties, qualifications and compensation shall be prescribed by law. He shall be _ex officio_ Commissioner of Lands within his county, and shall discharge the duties of said office under the direction of the State Board of Land Commissioners, as directed by law.

SEC. 7. Neither the General Assembly, nor any county, city, town, township, school district or other public corporation, shall ever make any appropriation, or pay from any public fund or moneys whatever, anything in aid of any church or sectarian society, or for any sectarian purpose, or to help support or sustain any school, academy, seminary, college, university, or other literary or scientific institution, controlled by any church or sectarian denomination whatsoever; nor shall any grant or donation of land, money, or other personal property, ever be made by the State, or any such public corporation, to any church or for any sectarian purpose.

SEC. 8. No religious test or qualification shall ever be required of any person as a condition of admission into any public educational institution of the State, either as teacher or student; and no teacher or student of any such institution shall ever be required to attend, or participate in, any religious service whatever. No sectarian tenets or doctrines shall ever be taught in the public schools, nor shall any distinction or classification of pupils be made on account of race or color.

SEC. 9. The Governor, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Secretary of State and Attorney General shall constitute the State Board of Land Commissioners, who shall have the direction, control, and disposition of the public lands of the State, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 10. It shall be the duty of the State Board of Land Commissioners to provide for the location, protection, sale or other disposition of all the lands heretofore, or which may hereafter be, granted to the State by the general government, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law; and in such manner as will secure the maximum possible amount therefor. No law shall ever be passed by the General Assembly granting any privileges to persons who may have settled upon any such public lands subsequent to the survey thereof by the general government, by which the amount to be derived by the sale, or other disposition of such lands, shall be diminished, directly or indirectly. The General Assembly shall, at the earliest practicable period, provide by law that the several grants of land made by Congress to the State shall be judiciously located and carefully preserved and held in trust, subject to disposal, for the use and benefit of the respective objects for which said grants of land were made, and the General Assembly shall provide for the sale of said lands from time to time; and for the faithful application of the proceeds thereof in accordance with the terms of said grants.

SEC. 11. The General Assembly may require, by law, that every child of sufficient mental and physical ability, shall attend the public school during the period between the ages of six and eighteen years, for a time equivalent to three years, unless educated by other means.

SEC. 12. There shall be elected by the qualified electors of the State, at the first general election under this Constitution, six Regents of the University, who shall immediately after their election be so classified, by lot, that two shall hold their office for the term of two years, two for four years, and two for six years; and every two years after the first election there shall be elected two Regents of the University, whose term of office shall be six years. The Regents thus elected, and their successors, shall constitute a body corporate, to be known by the name and style of “The Regents of the University of Colorado.”

SEC. 13. The Regents of the University shall, at their first meeting, or as soon thereafter as practicable, elect a President of the University, who shall hold his office until removed by the Board of Regents for cause; he shall be _ex officio_ a member of the Board, with the privilege of speaking, but not voting, except in cases of a tie; he shall preside at the meetings of the Board, and be the principal executive officer of the University, and a member of the faculty thereof.

SEC. 14. The Board of Regents shall have the general supervision of the University, and the exclusive control and direction of all funds of, and appropriations to, the University.

SEC. 15. The General Assembly shall, by law, provide for organization of school districts of convenient size, in each of which shall be established a Board of Education, to consist of three or more directors, to be elected by the qualified electors of the district. Said directors shall have control of instruction in the public schools of their respective districts.

SEC. 16. Neither the General Assembly nor the State Board of Education shall have power to prescribe text books to be used in the public schools.

ARTICLE X.

REVENUE.