The money received on the first basis is called the district quota. I. "To each district having an assessed valuation of twenty thousand dollars or less, as appears by the report of the trustees upon which such apportionment is based, two hundred dollars. II. "To each district having an assessed valuation of forty thousand dollars or less, but exceeding twenty thousand dollars, one hundred and seventy-five dollars; III. to each district having an assessed valuation of sixty thousand dollars or less, but exceeding forty thousand dollars, one hundred and fifty dollars; to each Indian reservation for each teacher employed therein for a period of thirty-two weeks or more, one hundred and fifty dollars; and to each of the remaining districts, and to each of the cities in the state, one hundred and twenty-five dollars." The amount apportioned to a district on the second basis is known as the teachers' quota. For every additional teacher duly licensed, the district, city or Indian reservation receives $100. The remainder of the state school moneys left after the apportionment of the district and teachers' quotas, and the library moneys, is divided by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction among the counties of the state in proportion to their population. In counties in which there are cities, each city receives its share, and the remainder of the county the portion to which such part of the county shall be entitled. New York City is considered one county. All moneys apportioned from the income of the United States Deposit Fund, from the income of the Common School Fund, or from school funds, except the library moneys, Objects shall be applied exclusively to teachers' wages, 437 but in view of the fact that "the legislature since 1897 has placed the appropriation from the income of the Common School Fund and the income from the United States Deposit Fund with the free school fund, school taxes, and made them all one "The valuation of the several districts in this state as affected by this apportionment shall be determined by the commissioner of education from the abstracts of the reports of the trustees as filed in his office by the several school commissioners of the state." Laws of New York, 1906, Chap. 698, Sec. 1. 437 Consolidated School Laws of New York, amended 1903, Title II, Art. I, Sec. 4. fund, it is impossible to say for just what purposes the income of the Common School Fund is now used." 438 In order to receive an apportionment from state school moneys, (1) counties must have furnished the controller with evidence "that all moneys required by law to be raised by taxes Conditions of 440 439 upon such county for the support of schools throughout the state have been collected and paid, or accounted for to the state treasurer; (2) no district shall be entitled to any portion of school moneys unless a common school was supported in the district and taught by a qualified teacher for at least 160 days; (3) "The Commissioner of Education may withhold one-half of all public school moneys from any city or district which wilfully omits and refuses to enforce the provisions," relative to compulsory education; 441 (4) "The State Superintendent of Public Instruction may withhold its share of public school moneys from any city or district which uses school library moneys for any other purpose than that for which they are provided; 442 (5) the public school moneys may be withheld from any district or city which fails to comply with the legal requirements concerning the teaching of physiology; 443 or which (6) wilfully disobeys any decision, order or regulation pertaining to common schools." 444 438 Extract from letter from Hiram C. Case, Chief of N. Y. Ed. Dept. of Statistics, dated Sept. 6, 1904. 439 N. Y. Consolidated School Law, 1905, Title II, Art. I, Sec. 3. 440 Ibid., Art. II, p. 13, Sec. 6, and p. 17, Sec. 15. 441 Ibid., p. 126, Title XVI, Sec. 10. 442 Ibid., p. 101, Title XIII, Sec. 8. 443 Ibid., p. 109, Title XV, Sec. 20. 444 Ibid., p. 11, Title 1, Sec. 13. 4 Present Title and Status CHAPTER XLI NORTH CAROLINA LITERARY FUND * The permanent school fund of North Carolina, officially known as the State Literary Fund,445 now (December, 1906) has a principal of about $300,000.446 This fund has been derived chiefly from the sale of swamp lands, together with a small amount, less than $50,000, saved from the ruins of the Civil War and Reconstruction days. In 1906 it was estimated that 700,000 acres 447 of swamp lands remained unsold valued at about $250,000. These were considered the only important available source of increase among those enumerated in section 4, article IX, of the constitution of 1868, but subsequent decisions of the Supreme Court deprived the Literary Fund of more than 600,000 acres which had been claimed for it. The following letter from the present State Forester, Mr. W. W. Ashe, presents the matter concisely: "PROF. F. H. SWIFT, "RALEIGH, N. C., November 12, 1908. "Dear Sir: In further reply to your letter of October 5th to Mr. Charles L. Coon. "The lands of the State Board of Education at present do not amount to more than 110,000 acres. Other holdings which the board claimed have been alienated through decisions of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, which invalidated tax sales which took place more than eighty years ago. Through these decisions the title to the land was held to be still vested in the heirs or assigns of the original owners. Since the State Board's claim to most of this * For this account I am greatly indebted to data furnished Dec. 18, 1906, by Charles L. Coon, Supt. Colored State Normal Schools. Foot-notes 446-447 are copied from his statement. 445 Public School Laws of N. Car., 1905, Sec. 4093 (p. 13). 446 Records, Office State Supt. 447 Ibid. land was based on such tax sales, this decision affects more than 600,000 acres which the State Board claimed. "The lands which the State Board at present claims consist of one large tract of 40,000 acres, which is now held at $4.00 per acre. It can be drained and made valuable for farming purposes, there being required an expenditure of about $4.00 per acre for main drains and probably $5.00 per acre for minor drains and tiling. "In addition to this large tract, there are many small tracts, some of which will probably be found to be of very little value, while others can probably be readily sold at from $3.00 to $5.00 an acre. "The Board's holdings have proven so far to be of small value as sources of revenue, and since the larger portion of the timbered land was included in lands the title to which was invalidated by imperfect tax sales, the future income of the Board from its remaining lands will be gotten largely by their sales for farming. “This, I think, covers pretty thoroughly all the questions contained in your letter. If there are any others that you wish to ask, I will be very glad to try to answer them. "Very truly yours, The Literary Fund by an act of the General Assembly, January, 1903, is now used exclusively for the purpose of building public school-houses, under rules and regulations prescribed by the State Board of Education. The fund can never be decreased. By the Act of 1903, school districts may borrow from the fund an amount equal to one-half the cost of a new school building, the amount borrowed to be repaid in ten equal annual instalments, together with four per cent interest. North Carolina first established a permanent common school fund known as the Literary Fund in 1825 by Act of General Assembly.448 This fund as originally provided for Origin was to consist of: (1) dividends from state bank and other state stock; (2) taxes on liquor licenses; (3) auction taxes; (4) unexpended balance on agricultural fund; (5) all moneys 448 No. Car. Rev. Stats., 1836-37, Chap. 66, pp. 378, 379, quotes this law; see also Report State Supt. of Public Instruction, 1887–88, p. xxxiii; U. S. Bureau of Education, Circular of Information, 1888, No. 2, pp. 166-168. paid to the state for entries of vacant lands; (6) all the vacant and unappropriated swamp lands in the state. In 1827, this permanent fund amounted to $12,725. It was increased from time to time from the sources indicated above. In 1837 North Carolina received from the federal Government $1,433,727 449 as her share of the surplus revenue distributed that year. Of this vast sum $300,000 was at once added to the Literary Fund 450 and it would appear that eventually all of it except $100,000 devoted to state expenses, became a part of the school fund.451 This large increase in the permanent fund enabled the legislature of 1838-39 to undertake the establishment of public schools, the whole permanent fund then amounting to $1,732,485. In 1860 the Literary Fund amounted to over $2,000,000. The failure of banks in whose stock part of the capital was invested reduced the fund to less than $1,000,000 in 1869. This diminished fund consisted in depreciated rail Loss road and navigation stock which was sold at from ten to thirty-seven cents on the dollar. The money thus realized was invested in the fraudulent North Carolina special tax bonds bought at a discount, which were repudiated by the state in 1870. The whole school fund was then lost except a few thousand dollars. The total loss sustained by the Literary Fund from the time of its establishment until the present (1905) may be considered to be about $2,525,000 besides interest losses caused by troubles of the Civil War and reconstruction periods 1861-70. From 1870 to 1903 the sources for increasing the Literary Fund have been only those provided by the constitution,452 and are as follows: (1) the proceeds of all sales of federal land grants not otherwise appropriated by the state or the United States: (2) proceeds of all sales of swamp lands; (3) grants; (4) gifts, or (5) devises made to the state and not otherwise Sources of 449 E. G. Bourne, History of the Surplus Revenue of 1837, p. 91. 450 Ibid., p. 92. 451 Ibid., p. 93. 452 Constitution of No. Car., 1868, Art. IX, Sec. 4; Ibid., 1876, Art. IX, Sec. 4; Report U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1892-93, Vol. II, p. 1364. |