Page:North Dakota Reports (vol. 48).pdf/752

 the powers and duties conferred upon them by this act, to be styled 'the board of education of the city of Fargo,' and, as such, shall have power to sue and be sued, to contract and be contracted with, and shall possess all the powers usual and incident to bodies corporate, as shall herein be given, and shall procure and use a common seal. A majority of the members of said board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business."

Now, if the board of education has the power to sue and be sued, with reference to any matter pertaining, affecting, or arising out of the carrying on or the government, of the schools of Fargo, then it must he evident that the city of Fargo does not have such right. Likewise, if the board has the right to contract and be contracted with, with reference to any matters affecting the schools or school property, then it is clear that such right does not exist in the city of Fargo. This reasoning will appear the more clear on examination of the language of § 11, which in substance provides that:

The board has the power to purchase, exchange, lease or improve sites for schoolhouses; to build, purchase, lease, enlarge, alter, improve and repair schoolhouses and their out houses and appurtenances; to procure, exchange, improve, and repair school apparatus, books, furniture and appendages, but the powers herein granted shall not be deemed to authorize the furnishing of class or text books to any scholar whose parents or guardian is able to furnish the same; to provide fuel and defray the contingent expenses of the board, including the compensation of the secretary to pay teachers' wages, after the application of public money which may by law be appropriated for that purpose. It also has the power to levy a tax in such sums as may be determined by them to he necessary and proper to accomplish any of the foregoing purposes

Under § 14, as amended by chap. 125 of Session Laws 1915, the board is authorized, and it is made its duty, whenever it deems it necessary to the efficient organization, establishment, and maintenance of the schools of the city, and when the taxes authorized by the act are not sufficient or not deemed burdensome upon the taxpayers, to issue the bonds of the city in the manner and under the conditions specified in the act.

Under § 18, the board is authorized to establish and maintain as many schools in the city as they deem requisite and expedient. In that