The board of school trustee of Bloomington is entitled to that portion of the school fund which is represented by the school children enumerated within the annexed territory, and the enumeration must be based upon the school age children who were resident within the territory at the time when the en

258 SCHOOL FUND-REVENUE FROM ANNEXED TERRITORY. ETC. July 20, 1907. Hon. Fassett A. Cotton, Superintendent of Public Instruction: Dear Sir-In answer to your inquiry of July 3rd, as to whether upon the facts stated in said letter, it was the duty of the county superintendent to certify the number of children of school age within the annexed territory therein referred to to the county auditor, and in case such superintendent declines, in what way the city will get its portion of the school revenues of the town- ship from which the territory was annexed, I beg to advise: Section 5958 Burns' Annotated Indiana Statutes, Revision 1901, provides, among other things, that the school trustees of the several townships, towns and cities shall take, or cause to be taken, between the 10th day of April and the 30th day of the month, each year, an enumeration of unmarried persons between the ages of six and twenty-one years, resident within the respect- ive townships, towns or cities. Section 5961 id. provides that such enumeration shall, on or before the first day of May, annually, be reported to and filed with the county superintendent of the proper county, for school pur- poses. Section 5908 id. provides that the county superintendent shall make out from such lists of enumerations the basis of apportion- ment of school revenues to the several townships, towns and cities of their respective counties, etc., and report the same to the proper county auditor by the first day of June annually, so as to enable county auditors to accurately apportion the school revenues for tuition. Section 5907, supra, also provides that if the county superin- tendent, from an examination of such enumeration iketurns of such trustee, finds any evidence that the enumeration is excessive in number, or in any other way incorrect, he may require the same to be returned and retaken, etc. In your letter of inquiry you say that on the 4th day of June, 1907, the common council of the city of Bloomington, Indiana, annexed contiguous territory, by whichi parts of two townships were annexed to the city. It therefore appears that the annexa- tion occurred in this instance long after the enumerations had been taken and reported to the county superintendent and by him certified to the auditor and state superintendent. It is also apparent, however, that no part of the school fund 259 has yet been expended for the school year for which it was appor- tioned. In my letter to you bearing date March 4, 1907, I discussed at length the principles controlling the division of school funds. If you will refer to that letter you will observe that the basis of distribution is shown by the authorities there cited to rest en- tirely upon the children of school age residing in the school ter- ritory, and that the school fund belongs to the child and is held by the trustee as trustee only for the child, and that wherever the child goes there the money goes, so long as the child does not re- move from the territory in which he resides at the time he was enumerated. It is therefore my opinion that the board of school trustees of the city of Bloomington is entitled to that portion of the school fund which is represented by the school children enumerated within the annexed territory, and that this enumeration must be based upon the children of school age who were resident within that territory at the time when the enumeration should have been regularly taken, and that it does not matter about how that enumeration is ascertained, but that it is a question of fact as to what school children were residents of that territory at enumera- ting time. The county superintendent having discharged his duty, under the statute, perhaps could not be required to certify the enumeration, though it is entirely proper for him to do so if he finds it to be a correct enumeration for the annexed territory, as of the, date when the enumeration should have been taken. If the apportionment has not yet been made by the county auditor, and he is satisfied that the enumeration is correct for the annexed territory, it will be entirely proper for the county auditor to deduct the number of school children enumerated in the an- nexed territory from the enumeration of the respective town- ships, as originally certified to him, from which the annexed ter- ritory was taken, and add the number of school children enumer- ated in such annexed territory to the enumeration of the city. If the apportionment has been made by the auditor and the money paid over to the township trustee, then the school board of the city of Bloomington should demand that portion of the school fund belonging to the school city of Bloomington as above indi- cated from the proper township trustees, and proceed with the collection of the same as in the cases of Johnson v. Smith, 64 Ind. 275; Hon v. State, 89 Ind. 249.