OREGON. Information furnished by educators in this State gives an encouraging picture of the progress of educational sentiment, the building of school-houses, and establishing schools in most of the local settlements of the State. Much regret is expressed that the legislature has, as yet, established no State board of education, or provided for the election of a State superintendent. Such being the case, no statistics can be furnished to show the condition of education. FEATURES OF THE SCHOOL LAW. The constitution of the State provides that the governor shall act as superintendent of public instruction, unless the legislature shall order otherwise. No powers seem to be given to him except that of appeal, in certain cases, from the county superintendents. The county superintendent to be elected for a term of two years, and to receive a salary of not less than $50 nor more than $500, as the county court shall order, his duties including a general supervision of school affairs in the county. Districts are organized by the meeting of six or more electors, who shall elect three directors and a clerk, under whose management the schools are placed. They must have a school taught for at least three months of the year, which shall be free to all residents of the district. School must be kept six hours and a half daily. The proceeds of all lands and bequests which shall be granted to the State for educational purposes, shall be forever kept for that purpose, in addition to all money accruing to the State from escheat or forfeiture. The 500,000 acres which were granted to this State by Congress are devoted to school uses, and 5 per cent. of the net proceeds of the sales of public lands. These sources to make a consolidated fund, irreducible and separate, for the use of common schools. In addition, the county court shall levy a school tax of two mills on the dollar yearly, to be collected at the same time and in the same manner as other taxes. PENNSYLVANIA. The annual report of the superintendent of common schools, Hon. J. P. Wickersham, presents the following facts for 1869: Increase for the year. Notwithstanding the school law of Pennsylvania was made general in 1848, at the beginning of the year 1867 there were twenty-four districts, in twelve different counties, that stubbornly refused to put schools in operation under the system, and, as a consequence, were losing their annual State appropriations, and, in a great measure, depriving about 6,000 children of the advantages of an education. Since that time, however, under the operation of the law of 1867, and urged by the superintendents of the counties, nearly all have adopted the system, according to law. Harmony district, in Beaver County, under the control of a society known as "Economites," still refuses to adopt the system, but a good school is supported by the society. The school system may, therefore, be regarded as substantially universal, made so by the voluntary consent of the people. The political divisions of Pennsylvania are counties and townships. Following this division the school law, as it now stands, contemplates a supervision of the schools, by three classes of superintendents, corresponding to these political divisions; first, for the State, second for the counties, and third for the townships. The present law, however, is regarded as objectionable with reference to the mode prescribed for the payment of the salaries of the county superintendents, as a consequence of which great inequality in the salaries results, and great injustice to several counties, the salary of the superintendent in each county being fixed by the convention of directors for the county. For example, the county of Cameron, with a small territory and twenty-five schools, pays the superintendent as large a salary as the county of Bradford, with a territory three times as large and with nearly fifteen times as many schools. This defect in the law leads the State superintendent to call the attention of the legislature to it. THE STATE SUPERINTENDENT is now appointed by the governor, with the consent of the senate. It is recommended that he be elected by a popular vote, and for a longer term than three years. COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS have been appointed during the last sixteen years-since 1854—and, wherever persons well qualified have filled the office, it has done great good and is popular. The work thus done cannot, it is believed, be so well accomplished by any other agency. The law of 1867 prescribes certain conditions of eligibility for this office, and if these were made a little more stringent, it is thought some benefit might result. DIRECTORS. The present school system has always required the election in every school district (township) of the Commonwealth of a board of six directors, to whom are intrusted the establishment and regulation of the schools. They are to locate and build schoolhouses, levy and collect taxes, employ and dismiss teachers, grade the schools, fix the length of the term, prescribe text-books, and see that the system is faithfully carried out. Whatever is now done, therefore, to promote the interest of schools in a district is an exact measure of the advance made by public opinion in respect to education; and it is thought that the policy is a good one, as a little done by the people themselves is better than more done by some extraneous agency. It is this very power of local self-government that has made us the nation we are. A board of directors can appoint its secretary district superintendent, and pay him a stated salary. Wherever this has been done it has proved so beneficial that it is thought the plan should be generally adopted, as no means are more likely to strengthen the directory or district board. CITY AND BOROUGH SUPERINTENDENTS. The law of 1867 provides for the election of superintendents of schools in cities and boroughs containing over 10,000 inhabitants. This would make a fourth class of superintendents, and it is proposed now to make this law imperative. Twelve cities and boroughs have already adopted it voluntarily. TEACHERS. There are four grades of certificates now granted; and this is deemed necessary, as the profession of teaching is in a state of growth, and the several certificates simply mark the successive stages of that growth. Of the 15,504 teachers in the schools of the State, outside of the city of Philadelphia, in 1863-'69, 2,938 had never taught before, 2,723 had taught less than a year, and only 2,938 had taught more than five years. The certificate of the lowest grade is a mere license to begin to teach, and is limited to one year. The next higher grade is a certificate giving a license to teach in the county where it is issued during the term of the superintendent granting it and for one year thereafter. This is granted to any good teacher who can pass an examination in orthography, reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, grammar, history of the United States, and the theory of teaching. About 1,267 teachers hold professional certificates. The permanent certificate now granted is simply the professional certificate indorsed by boards of directors and a committee of teachers. It is permanently good in the county where the holder resides, and for one year in any other county. Five hundred and twelve now hold this certificate, and they are undoubtedly the best teachers in the State. But this certificate is regarded as too narrow in its requirements, and it is not granted according to any standard approaching uniformity. The normal school board of examiners have power to grant State certificates, good everywhere in the State and unlimited as to time, to graduates of normal schools of two years' standing who come before them fully recommended as good teachers by the proper officers. A similar certificate is given to practical teachers who pass the prescribed examination. ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SCHOOL STUDIES. The branches now required in every district are spelling, reading, writing, grammar, arithmetic, geography, and history of the United States. These are believed to bo the basis of all knowledge. TEXT-BOOKS. The law now leaves the matter of selecting text-books in the hands of the boards of directors of the several districts. It is believed that the attempt to create State uniformity would fail, and that, if secured, it would be a kind of school machinery that would not work smoothly, but would be liable to get out of order. The experiment of securing county uniformity was tried, and it failed. District uniformity has been in a good degree secured. Little remains to be desired respecting text-books, except to prevent those frequent changes that are so expensive to parents, annoying to teachers, and profitless to pupils. ATTENDANCE AT SCHOOL. The whole number of children attending school during the past year, as reported by the district school officers, was 815,753, and the average number was 548,675. The county superintendents of thirty-one counties estimate the number of pupils in private schools of all kinds, in their respective counties, at 30,267. The whole number of such pupils in the State, between the ages of six and twenty-one, cannot be less than 85,000, although some of them may attend public schools a part of the time. Philadelphia had, in 1868, 20,534 children, between the ages of six and eighteen, that attended neither public nor private schools, and of whom nearly 11,000 were between the ages of six and twelve. From a recent school census of the city of Pittsburg, taken under the direction of the board of control, it appears that there are 20,617 persons in that city between the ages of six and twenty-one; and of these, 8,478 attend public schools and 4,877 attend private schools. Of children over six years of age and under fifteen, it was found that 3,781, nearly one-fourth of the whole number of that age, attended no school whatever. From these facts, and from estimates made with some care in other cities and towns and in the coal regions, the number of children in the State that do not attend any kind of school, and are generally growing up in ignorance, cannot be less than the number given last year, 75,000. The most of these neglected children are the children of foreigners, though there is a large number of the children of colored people scattered over the. State, who, for some reason, remain away from the schools. Aggregating the whole, we have Attending public schools Not attending school Whole number.. 815, 753 85,000 75,000 975, 753 If the facts now stated even approximate the truth, our educational interests as a State are suffering from irregular attendance, truancy, and non-attendance. Almost every teacher and every school officer throughout the whole Commonwealth complains of these evils. If children have no parents or natural protectors able or willing to care for them, they should be placed in "homes," and properly cared for at the public expense; but if they become vagrants through the neglect of persons who ought to care for them, those responsible should be punished, if necessary, to the extent of fine, imprisonment, or disfranchisement. The State cannot afford to wink at such a crime. The structure of our Government is such that to tolerate it would be in the end to sauction national suicide. SCHOOL REVENUES. The public schools cost the State the past year $6,986,148 92. Pennsylvania, unlike many of her sister States, has no general school fund, and the money to defray this great expense is derived almost wholly from taxation. The State appropriation last year, for all school purposes, amounted to $534,017, and the balance was raised by taxes levied and collected in the several districts. These taxes are complained of, in many localities, as exceedingly heavy, and such is the fact. Twenty-six mills on every dollar of valuation is not an unusual school tax in certain localities, and it is easy to understand that the effect of such onerous taxation must be to cause the erection of poor school-houses, to shorten school terms, and lessen the salaries of teachers. The tax is, of course, much heavier in poor than in wealthy counties; as, for example, the average school tax in Potter County is 22.68 mills on the dollar, and in Berks 8.23 mills; in Cambria 18.39 mills, and in Delaware 4.50 mills. |
