| Description | The Elementary Education Act of 1870 provided for the founding of local school boards with the authority to raise funds for schools and to charge fees to parents. A second Act in 1876 allowed local authorities to enforce compulsory education and, where no school boards existed, directed that the Guardians should appoint in their unions School Attendance Committees for this purpose. The clerks to the Guardians became ex-officio clerks to such committees, and school attendance officers were to be appointed. The Guardians were further empowered to pay school fees in certain cases, even though the parents might not be paupers, such payments continuing until 1891 when the fees were abolished. |