it implies the right to do all that may come fairly and strictly within the term "repair." They are to "keep" the school-house, and to keep it in good order and repair. If a pane of glass be broken, they may employ a glazier to put in a new one. If the door be off the hinges, they may employ a carpenter to fix it. If some miscreant has defiled the walls with obscene writing, they may employ one to remove the writing or repaint the wall. And in this they are but performing the duty cast upon them of the "care and keeping" of the school-house, and are creating a liability against the district, and not upon themselves personally. We do not think that the board can be considered as simply a special committee to expend certain moneys placed in their hands, and with no power beyond. The district is a corporation (Laws 1876, p. 245, sec. 2) with the "usual powers of a corporation. for public purposes," and the board is its managing authority. True, its powers are few and limited; but still reasonable construction must be given to the powers which are granted. And where a duty is imposed, especially one so vital as this to the well-being of the district, it will be understood that it is to be performed in the ordinary manner, and by the ordinary means. It will be noticed by section 21, p. 253, that, when the board builds, hires, or purchases a school-house, it is expressly stated that it shall be done "out of the funds provided for that purpose;" but no such limitation is expressed when the duty is cast of the care and keeping of the school-house. The reason is obvious. In mere matter of repairs and preservation, there is little room for expenditure; in building, hiring, or purchasing there may be great extravagance. Again, it is in the very nature of repairs that they cannot be foreseen, and the necessary amount determined in advance. Who can tell when and to what extent just such injuries as appear in this case will occur? Discretion as to these matters must be vested somewhere, and nowhere more appropriately than in the district board. And so we understand the legislature has provided.

The judgment will be reversed, and the case remanded for a new trial.

(All the justices concurring.)

The school plant is one of the last of the fundamental factors of public education to be brought, in an increasing degree, under the direct control of the state. In whatever other direction the state has imposed its authority upon local school communities the marked tendency hitherto has been to regard

the control of material structure and environment of the public school as belonging to the local administrative area. State control, when exercised, was chiefly over funds and expenditures. Within a decade, however, there has been a distinct movement on the part of the state to assume a direct oversight of the school and to regulate in detail its location, construction, arrangement, sanitation and use. This centering of control has been the natural result of local incapacity to respond to evident needs for the conservation of funds, for the protection of health and for the securing of a higher degree of educational adaptability and social usefulness.

The following sections from the state building Code of Ohio (1913) are typical of the contemporaneous tendency to exercise, through the police power of the state, a control over public school buildings. The provisions of this Code are symptomatic of the increasing social importance of the hygienic features of educational buildings.

II. THE OHIO STATE BUILDING CODE

[Session Laws, 1911, pp. 586 ff.]

PART 1

ADMINISTRATION

An Act Establishing a building code, regulating the construction of, repair of, alteration on, and additions to public and other buildings and parts thereof; regulating the sanitary condition of public and other buildings, providing for fire protection and fire prevention; and providing for the construction and erection of elevators, stairways, and fire escapes in and upon public buildings. (Approved, June 14, 1911; amended by act approved May 9, 1913.)

1 See also the Indiana Sanitary School House Law (1911). This law, together with the rules and regulations of the State Board of Health governing the construction and sanitation of school buildings and school sites, has been published by the United States Bureau of Education (Bulletin No. 52, 1913).

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio: SECTION 1. It shall be the duty of the State fire marshal or fire chief of municipalities having fire departments to enforce all the provisions herein contained relating to fire prevention.

It shall be the duty of the chief inspector of workshops and factories or building inspector or commissioner of buildings in municipalities having building departments to enforce all the provisions herein contained for the construction, arrangement, and erection of all public buildings or parts thereof, including the sanitary condition of the same, in relation to the heating and ventilation thereof.

It shall be the duty of the State board of health or building inspector or commissioner, or health departments of municipalities having building or health departments to enforce all the provisions in this act contained, in relation and pertaining to sanitary plumbing. But nothing herein contained shall be construed to exempt any other officer or department from the obligation of enforcing all existing laws in reference to this act.

SEC. 2. It shall be unlawful for any owner or owners, officers, board, committee, or other person to construct, erect, build, equip, or cause to be constructed, erected, built, or equipped any opera house, hall, theater, church, schoolhouse, college, academy, seminary, infirmary, sanatorium, children's home, hospital, medical institute, asylum, memorial building, armory, assembly hall, or other building used for the assemblage or betterment of people in any municipal corporation, county, or township in this State, or to make any addition thereto or alteration thereof, except in case of repairs for maintenance without affecting the construction, sanitation, safety, or other vital feature of said building or structure, without complying with the requirements and provisions relating thereto contained in this act.

SEC. 3. It shall be unlawful for any architect, builder, civil engineer, plumber, carpenter, mason, contractor, subcontractor, foreman, or employee to violate or assist in violating any of the provisions contained in this act.

SEC. 5. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to limit the council of municipalities from making further and additional regulations, not in conflict with any of the provisions of this act contained nor shall the provisions of this act be construed to modify or repeal any portions of any building code adopted by a municipal corporation and now in force which are not in direct conflict with the provisions of this act.

SEC. 6. The provisions of this act shall not apply to the construction or erection of any public building or to any addition thereto or alteration thereof, the plans and specifications of which have been heretofore submitted to and approved by the chief inspector of workshops and factories..

SEC. 7. A justice of the peace, mayor, or police judge shall have final jurisdiction within his county in a prosecution for a violation of any provision of the foregoing act.

PART 2

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

Title 3. School Buildings

SECTION 1. [Classification.] Under the classification of school buildings are included all public, parochial, and private schools, colleges, academies, seminaries, libraries, museums, and art galleries, including all buildings or structures containing one or more rooms used for the assembling of persons for the purpose of acquiring knowledge or for mental training.

Grade A.- Under this grade are included all rooms or buildings appropriated to the use of primary, grammar, or high schools, including all rooms or buildings used for school purposes by pupils or students 18 years old or less.

Grade B. - Under this grade are included all rooms or buildings appropriated to the use of schools, colleges, academies, seminaries, libraries, museums, and art galleries, including all rooms or buildings not included under grade "A."

SEC. 2. [Class of construction.] Grade A. Where the main first floor line is 8 feet or more above the grade line at any entrance to or exit from any story above the basement, the basement shall be rated as the first story. Stories over 15 feet high, measuring from the floor to the ceiling line shall be rated as two stories. All buildings more than two stories high shall be of fireproof construction.

All buildings two stories high and less shall be of fireproof or composite construction.

No school building of grade A shall be built more than three stories high. Grade B. Where any floor level is more than 26 feet above the grade line at any entrance to or exit from the building, the building shall be of fireproof construction.

Where floor levels are less than 26 feet above the grade line at any entrance to or exit from the building, the building shall be of composite or fireproof construction.

No school building of grade B shall be built more than five stories high nor shall the topmost floor level be more than 50 feet above the grade line at any entrance to or exit from the building.

Grades A and B.-Exceptions.-All buildings one story high, without basement and with the floor line not more than 4 feet above the grade line shall be of fireproof, composite, or frame construction, providing when built of frame construction the same is erected 30 feet away from any other building structure or lot line and 200 feet beyond the city fire limits.

SEC. 3. [Exposure and courts.] Exposure. No building of grade B shall occupy more than 95 per cent of a corner lot nor more than 90 per cent of an interior lot or site.

The

No building of grade A shall occupy more than 75 per cent of a corner lot nor more than 70 per cent of an interior lot or site. measurements being taken at the lowest tier of floor joists.

No wall of any building coming under this classification containing windows used for lighting school or classrooms shall be placed nearer any opposite building, structure, or property line than 30 feet.

Courts. By inner court is meant an open shaft or court, surrounded on all sides by walls.

By recess court is meant an open air shaft or court, having one side or end opened, and when such opening is on a lot line, it is an inner court.

Recess or inner light courts may be used, providing the least distance between any two opposite walls containing windows for lighting class and schoolrooms is equal to the height from the lowest window sill to the top of the highest cornice or fire wall. All walls to inner or recess courts shall be of masonry or other fireproof construction (except for buildings of frame construction). No inner or recess court shall be covered by a roof, skylight, or other obstruction.

If area ways are used for lighting basements, the width of the area shall be not less than equal to the height from the lowest window sill to the top of the adjoining grade line.

SEC. 4. [Subdivisions and fire stops.] Buildings of this classi