§ 2021 — Powers of voters

§ 2021. Powers of voters. The inhabitants entitled to vote, when duly\nassembled in any district meeting, shall have power, by a majority of\nthe votes of those present and voting:\n 1. In common school districts, to appoint a chairman.\n 2. To appoint a clerk for the time if the district clerk is absent.\n 3. To adjourn from time to time as occasion may require, except that\nwhere a special district meeting shall have been called by a board of\neducation for the purpose of voting upon an appropriation and the hours\nof voting shall have been fixed by the board as provided in subdivision\nthree of section four hundred sixteen of this chapter, the meeting shall\nnot be adjourned until after the vote shall have been taken and\ncanvassed upon the proposition submitted.\n 4. To elect one or three trustees as provided in section sixteen\nhundred two and a district collector, and in any district which shall so\ndetermine, as hereinafter provided, to elect a treasurer, at their first\nmeeting, and so often as such offices or any of them become vacated,\nexcept as hereinafter provided.\n 5. To adopt by a vote of a majority of such voters present and voting\nat the first meeting, or at any subsequent annual meeting, or at any\nspecial meeting duly called for that purpose, such vote to be\nascertained by taking and recording the ayes and noes, a resolution to\nelect a treasurer of said district. If such resolution shall be adopted,\nsuch voters shall thereupon elect by ballot a treasurer for said\ndistrict. Any person elected treasurer at any meeting other than an\nannual meeting, shall hold office until the next annual meeting after\nsuch election, and until his successor shall be elected or appointed,\nand thereafter a treasurer shall be elected at each annual meeting for\nthe term of one year.\n 6. To fix the amount in which the collector and treasurer shall give\nbonds for the due and faithful performance of the duties of their\noffices.\n 7. To designate a site for a schoolhouse, or for grounds to be used\nfor playgrounds, or for agricultural, athletic center and social center\npurposes, or, with the consent of the district superintendent of schools\nwithin whose district the school district lies, to designate sites for\ntwo or more schoolhouses for the district. Such designation of a site\nfor a schoolhouse, or for such grounds, can be made only at a special\nmeeting of the district, duly called for such purpose by a written\nresolution in which the proposed site shall be described by metes and\nbounds, and which resolution must receive the assent of a majority of\nthe qualified voters present and voting, to be ascertained by taking and\nrecording the ayes and noes, or by ballot.\n 8. To vote a tax upon the taxable property of the district, to\npurchase, lease and improve such sites or an addition to such sites and\ngrounds for the purposes specified in the preceding subdivision, to hire\nor purchase rooms or buildings for school rooms or schoolhouses, or to\nbuild schoolhouses; to keep in repair and furnish the same with\nnecessary fuel, furniture and appurtenances, and to purchase such\nimplements, apparatus and supplies as may be necessary to provide\ninstruction in agriculture and other subjects, and for the organization\nand conduct of athletic, playground and other social center work.\n 9. To designate any former schoolhouse and appurtenances, or any part\nthereof, the title to which is vested in the board, as a public library\nbuilding, and to vote a tax on the taxable property of the district,\npursuant to section two hundred fifty-five of this chapter, to pay the\ncost of necessary alterations and equipment to convert such schoolhouse\nor part thereof to library use.\n 10. To vote a tax, not exceeding twenty-five dollars in any one year,\nfor the purchase of maps, globes, reproductions of standard works of\nart, blackboards and other school apparatus, and for the purchase of\ntext-books and other school necessaries for the use of needy pupils of\nthe district.\n 11. To vote a tax for the establishment of a school library and the\nmaintenance thereof, or for the support of any school library already\nowned by said district, and for the purchase of books therefor, and such\nsum as they may deem necessary for the purchase of a bookcase or\nbookcases.\n 12. To vote a tax to supply a deficiency in any former tax arising\nfrom such tax being, in whole or in part, uncollectible.\n 13. To authorize the trustees to cause the schoolhouses, and their\nfurniture, appurtenances and school apparatus to be insured by any\ninsurance company created by or under the laws of this state, or any\nother insurance company authorized by law to transact business in this\nstate.\n 14. To alter, repeal and modify their proceedings, from time to time,\nas occasion may require.\n 15. To vote a tax for the purchase of a book for the purpose of\nrecording their proceedings.\n 16. To vote a tax to replace moneys of the district, lost or embezzled\nby district officers; and to pay the reasonable expenses incurred by\ndistrict officers in defending suits or appeals brought against them for\ntheir official acts, or in prosecuting suits or appeals by direction of\nthe district against other parties.\n 17. To vote a tax to pay whatever deficiency there may be in teachers'\nsalaries after the public money apportioned to the district shall have\nbeen applied thereto.\n 18. To vote a tax to pay and satisfy of record any judgments of a\ncompetent court which may have been or shall hereafter be obtained in an\naction against the trustees of the district for unpaid teachers'\nsalaries, where the time to appeal from said judgments shall have\nlapsed, or there shall be no intent to appeal on the part of such\ndistrict, or the said judgments are or shall be of the court of last\nresort.\n 19. To provide, by tax or otherwise, for the conveyance of pupils\nresiding in a school district, (a) to the elementary or high schools, or\nboth, maintained in such district and/or (b) to the elementary or high\nschools, or both, in any city or district with which an education\ncontract shall have been made, and/or (c) to the elementary or high\nschools, or both, other than public, situated within the district or an\nadjacent district or city, whenever such district shall have contracted\nwith the school authorities of any city, or with another school\ndistrict, for the education therein of the pupils residing in such\nschool district, or whenever in any school district pupils of school age\nshall reside so remote from the schoolhouse therein or the elementary or\nhigh school they legally attend, within or without the district, that\nthey are practically deprived of school advantages during any portion of\nthe school year.\n 20. To authorize the trustees or board of education, with the consent\nof the commissioner of transportation, to furnish lighting facilities\nand janitorial care for any highway underpass located within their\ndistrct and supervision thereof during the time the same is used by\npupils in arriving at or leaving the school premises, whenever such\nhighway underpass has been constructed by the state and the use thereof\nis essential for the safety of pupils.\n 21. To vote a tax to provide funds which may be utilized to meet\nexpenses during the first one hundred twenty days of the fiscal year\nfollowing the fiscal year in which such tax is collected.\n