Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of South Carolina, now met and sitting in General Assembly, and by the authority of the same, That for the purpose of establishing and maintaining graded or other public schools in any city, incorporated town, or village in this State, such city, incorporated town, or village desiring to establish and maintain the same, and to receive the benefits of this Act, are hereby constituted and declared to be separate school districts.

Sec. 2. That the voters of said school districts, who return real or personal property of the value of one hundred dollars for taxation, are authorized to levy and collect an annual tax to supplement any constitutional or other tax for like purposes, and for said purposes the trustees of said school districts, upon the written request of a majority of resident freeholders of the age of twenty-one years and over, shall call a public meeting of said tax-payers at any time before the first day of June of each year, which meeting must be advertised in a newspaper published in such city, incorporated town, or village, once a week for two weeks, or posted in three conspicuous places in such school district for said length of time. And when assembled, said meeting shall have the power to elect a Chairman and Secretary, to adjourn from time to time, to levy such special tax, not exeeeding two mills, and to appropriate the same to such school purposes as a majority present shall sec fit; that no tax so levied shall be repealed at any subsequent meeting; that within ten days after said meetinig the Chairman thereof shall furnish the Board of Trustees of such school district and the County Auditor with the amount so levied, and the Auditor shall enter the same in his tax duplicates, and the County Treasurer shall collect the same as other County and State taxes. Such levy shall be a lien on the property in such school district, which shall be subject thereto in case of default of payment; that said tax, so collected, shall be paid out by the County Treasurer upon warrants drawn by the Board of Trustees, countersigned by the County School Commissioner: Provided, That any surplus of such levy remaining in the hands of the County Treasurer, at the expiration of any fiscal year, shall be paid out as herein provided and to be used for like purposes.

Sec. 3. That the voters of any school district, now formed, or hereafter to he formed outside of cities, incorporated towns, or villages in this State, who return real or personal property for taxation of the value of one hundred dollars, desiring to levy a tax not exceeding two mills, for the uses and purposes herein before mentioned in this Act, are hereby authorized and empowered to levy, collect, and disburse such tax in the same manner and upon the same conditions prescribed in Section 2 of this Act for the levy, collection, and disbursement of taxes for separate school districts in cities, incorporated towns, or villages in this State: Provided, That this Act shall not interfere with any school district which has heretofore been created by special Act.

Sec. 4. Each taxpayer when he pays any tax for school purposes voted under the provisions of this Act shall have the right to designate to which school in his district he wishes the money paid by him to go, and the Treasurer shall keep a note of such designations and the money shall be applied as thus designated. Where no designation is made by the taxpayer at the time of such payment the money shall be expended as other school funds in such district.

Sec. 5. That it shall be the duty of the County Board of Examiners, as soon as the written request provided for in Section 2 shall have been made, to appoint three freeholders in said school district or districts to act as trustees thereof.

Sec. 6. That all Acts or parts of Acts inconsistent with any of the provisions of this Act be, and the same are hereby, repealed.

Approved December 24th, A.D. 1888.

John P. Richardson, Governor.
William L. Mauldin, President of the Senate and Lt. Governor.
James Simons, Jr., Speaker of the House of Representatives.