The Constitution provided the following features in its legislation to establish a public education system:  By this time, the state was dominated by Protestant European Americans. The Constitution also states that public schools or their funds were not to be controlled by any religious group. It forbade conversion of public schools into Catholic parochial schools. Before the American Civil War, both enslaved and free African Americans had been prohibited by state law from receiving education. After the war, missionary groups in northern Mississippi helped establish schools to educate African-American youth. Some white supremacists tried to take control of the educational system, hoping to quell efforts to educate African Americans. The Constitution of 1868 did not direct integration of the new public school system, in part to gain support to establish it at all. The legislature determined that each individual school district could choose whether to have an integrated or segregated system. Superintendents of each county were told to divide the funds equally between white and black schools in the district, but black schools were historically underfunded. White schools were better constructed and were able to better serve the students academically. During the 1870s, education for blacks was further endangered as violence erupted in protest of the education of African Americans. At the same time, the government greatly decreased funding for public schools and the effectiveness of schools diminished. In 1886, state Superintendent J. R. Preston created a revised education code that slowly raised standards in the classroom. Teachers were paid more in salaries and were required to take teacher licensing exams. The Mississippi Board of Education, which currently has nine members, oversees education policy in the state. The Board appoint the State Superintendent of Education, sets public education policy and oversees the Mississippi Department of Education. Section 201 of the Mississippi Constitution states that the Mississippi Governor shall appoint one member from Mississippi’s Northern Supreme Court district, one member from Mississippi’s Central Supreme Court district, one member from Mississippi’s Southern Supreme Court district, one member who is employed as a school administrator, and one member who is employed as a public school teacher. Additionally, the Lieutenant Governor shall appoint two members-at-large, and the Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives shall appoint two members-at-large.