CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION RELATION OF PERMANENT SCHOOL FUNDS TO THE RISE OF FREE SCHOOLS-PRESENT CONDITION AND IMPORTANCE OF PERMANENT FUNDS Early Opposition to Principles of Free Schools The existence of free schools in the United States is so universally accepted to-day that the period of indifference, struggle, and hardship through which they passed and out of which they arose is well-nigh forgotten. Schools were free in some states, such as Maine,1 Wisconsin,2 Kansas, and West Virginia, from the time of their admission into the Union. In others, such as Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Ohio, and Indiana, a large part of the support for public schools was drawn from pupils' tuition fees, known as rate bills. 4 That the responsibility of educating the child rests upon the state and not alone upon the parent or guardian, that the state or community has a right to tax the property of all its members, whether or not they have children attending the schools, are principles of education which have won acceptance among us gradually and in the face of bitter opposition. In many instances the only right recognized as belonging to the state was the right to grant the townships permission to tax themselves. And only after permissive taxation had existed for some time was it possible to enact compulsory taxation for schools. For example, in Massachusetts permissive taxation had existed from 1647,5 but it was not until 1 Constitution of Maine, 1820, Art. VIII. * Constitution of Wisconsin, 1848, Art. X, Secs. 3, 4. 3 Letter, Apr. 18, 1868, from P. McVicar, Kansas Supt. Public Instruction, in Report of Connecticut Board of Education, 1868, p. 54. ♦ Constitution of West Virginia, 1863, Art. X, Sec. 2. 5 Mass. Coll. Records, Vol. II, p. 203. 1827 that it became compulsory. In that year towns were authorized and empowered as before, but now for the first time directed to raise by town tax the money necessary to maintain such schools as the law required." The indifference existing in certain states during the first half of the nineteenth century toward establishing free schools for the masses may be seen in the failure of such states as Florida and Georgia to use lands or funds available for such purpose. Upon her admission into the Union, 1845, Florida received from the United States Government section numbered sixteen in each township, amounting to over one million (1,053,653) acres. At first these lands were regarded as belonging to the township in which they lay, but as far as can be learned only one township ever attempted to make use of its school lands, so that three years later the state passed an act directing the lands to be sold and the proceeds merged in a permanent state school fund.o 8 Article fifty-four of the constitution of Georgia, 1777, provided that "Schools supported at the general expense of the State should be established in each county," and in 1783 the governor was empowered to grant one thousand acres of land for the establishment of such free schools.10 Subsequent provisions and appropriations were made, so that by 1836 an annual revenue of about forty thousand dollars was available for free schools. But in 1845 only fifty-three out of ninety-three counties applied for their share.11 Up to 1860 the income was often diverted from its lawful use, and often rejected with contempt owing to the stigma of the badge of pauperism attached to receiving it.12 An attitude similar to this prevailed to a greater or less extent throughout the United States. 6 Laws of Mass., 1827, Chap. 143, Sec. 4. 7 Table of Land Grants, Report U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1892-93, II, p. 1283. 8 U. S. Bureau of Education, Circular of Information, No. 7, 1888, p. 20, note 2. 9 Laws of Florida, Fourth Session, 1848-49, Chaps. 230-231. 10 Constitution of Georgia, 1777, Art. 54; Hinsdale, B. A., Documents Illustrative of American Educational History, p. 1314. 11 U. S. Bureau of Education, Circular of Information, No. 4, 1888, p. 27. 12 Ibid., p. 26. Private schools and academies increased in number and were attended by the well-to-do; the free public school being regarded as a charity or pauper school. It is said that in 1834 Massachusetts alone contained nine hundred and fifty private schools and academies.13 Free School. Despite these early harassing conditions, by the year 1870 a system of free schools had become established in practically every Existence of State state in the Union. In almost every state these systems had been begotten and nurtured by one or more general public permanent common school funds; by which term is meant a fund the principal of which the state constitution or laws provide shall be kept permanently invested, and whose income alone, therefore, can be used for the support of common schools. The principal of the fund may be held by the state, as in Connecticut and Minnesota, or divided among and intrusted to the counties, towns, cities, and villages, as in Indiana and Missouri. These general permanent public funds differ from the permanent local funds in that they owe their origin to an act or grant which made provision for the entire state or territory or for the component units of the same, townships or counties, and did not originate in some act, grant, bequest, or gift affecting one or only a limited number of communities within the state. Many townships and cities do possess funds of this strictly local type, but the present work does not attempt to include such, except in so far as is necessary in showing the evolution of general permanent state or public funds. It is difficult to ascertain the true condition of the permanent funds of many states. In some it would appear that officers Real Condition of immediately related to these funds are ignorant, Permanent School not only of their history, but also of their present condition. The data given in both state and federal reports are sometimes incorrect, frequently misleading. Thus the federal reports for 1905 and 1906 both indicate that 13 Massachusetts and Its Early History, Lowell Institute Lectures, pp. 486-487, published by the society, 1869; Boston, Mass., U. S. Commissioner of Education, Report, 1892-93, Vol. II, 1237. |