an improvement in school-houses. The records of the district and county school boards were properly kept in sixty-six counties, and not properly kept in thirty-six counties. The Superintendent of Instruction says the general financial condition is now more satisfactory than it has ever been. The State tax on property for school purposes is as large as it ought to be at any time. The prosperity of our higher institutions during the past year has exceeded that of any previous year in the history of the State, and now we have the satisfaction of seeing Virginia leading not only her Southern sisters in the work of higher education, but leading the whole thirty-seven States of the Union. EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS. There are no school statistics of Virginia for 1864 to contrast with the latest returns, thus showing the relative progress made during ten years. The following figures, however, indicate the rapid educational progress of Virginia during the three years since the inauguration of her new school system: for 1860 are of interest: Pupils in colleges, schools, and academies.... 67,024 9.69 5,50 48,915 208,00 21 WEST VIRGINIA. HON. B. W. BYRNE, Superintendent of Free Schools, was born in Lewis County, Virginia, May 16, 1820. He received a limited education at Rector College, in Harrison County, Virginia. He is a lawyer by profession, served two sessions in the Virginia Legislature in 1848 and 1849, also two sessions in 1857 and 1858. He was a member of the Seceding Convention of Virginia, in 1861, also, of the Constitutional Convention of West Virginia, in 1871-2. He was elected State Superintendent of Free Schools in 1872, for four years from March 4, 1873. EDUCATION IN THE PAST. WEST VIRGINIA, after seceding from Virginia proper, was admitted into the Union as a State in December, 1862. The Constitution, as amended during the following year, created a school fund out of the State's proportion of the "Literary Fund" of Virginia, and from other sources, for the support of schools, and enjoined upon the Legislature to provide for a thorough system of free schools, for the election of a State Superintendent, for township taxation, for free schools, for the proper care of the blind, deaf mutes, and insane, and the organization of such institutions of learning as the best interests of the State demanded. In 1865 the free school system was established, embracing a State Superintendent, County Superintendents, Township Commissioners, and District Trustees. This system underwent some modifications at the hands of the Legislature until April, 1873, when it was materially changed and amended. PRESENT SCHOOL SYSTEM. The following are the main features of the new system. All the County Superintendents are under the control of State Superintendent. Each county is under the control of a County Superintendent, each district is under the control of a Board of Education, and each sub-district under the control of one Trustee. The State Superintendent of education is elected for four years, receives an annual salary of $1,500, and is charged with the supervision of all County Superintendents and free schools of the State. He is allowed $500 for incidental expenses, and is required to reside at the seat of government, and to report annually to the State Legislature. County Superintendents, numbering fifty-four, are elected for two years, receive an annual compensation, not to exceed $300, and give bonds in the sum of $500 each. They perform the duties usually incumbent upon County Superintendents, and must at all times conform to the instructions of the State Superintendent. District Boards of Education consist of a president and two commissioners-the three being elected by the people for two years. They determine the number of months school shall be held in the district, the number of teachers that may be employed in the several sub-districts, and fix the salaries that shall be paid to the teachers. They have general control and supervision of the schools and school interests of their district, and they must in every case require bonds of all contractors in double the amount of the contracts for building or repairing school-houses. No member of the board or trustee of any subdistrict can have a personal interest in any control under a penalty of $100. Trustees, elected for two years, are under the supervision and control of the Board of Education. The Trustee of every subdistrict appoints the teachers for the schools under his charge, and may dismiss them at any time for incompetency. He may expel or suspend any scholar found guilty of disorderly, refractory, indecent, or immoral conduct, but his action shall be subject to the revision of the Board of Education. He is required to make an annual report to the board of the condition of affairs in his district. County Boards of Examiners for examining and certifying teachers, consist of the County Superintendent and two experienced teachers, to be appointed by the Presidents of the District Boards of Education. The Board of Examiners receive $3 each for every day's work performed, which compensation is paid out of the fees received from the teachers examined. White and colored persons are not to be taught in the same school; but, whenever the number of colored persons of school age in a district exceeds twenty-five, schools shall be established for them. When no school is established, the fund applicable to the support of free schools in the district, whether from the State or local taxation, shall be divided in the proportion which the number of colored children bears to the white, and the share of the former set apart for their education and applied for that purpose in such way as the Board of Education of the district may deem best. Provision is made for furnishing more correct and complete reports by County Superintendents and District Trustees than have been hitherto received. High schools may be established in a district by agreement of three-fifths of the voters who voted on the question, and for their support a tax may be levied, not to exceed thirty cents on every $100 of taxable property. Graded schools may be established by the Board of Education as they shall deem necessary; but in every such case involving additional taxation, the matter shall be first submitted to a vote of the people, and no levy for a graded school shall exceed, in any one year, fifteen cents on every $100 valuation. No diploma or certificate shall be taken to supersede the necessity of examination by the Board of Examiners. No certificate issued by a County Board shall be of force except in the county in which it was issued, nor for a longer period than one year, and the examiners may, for just cause, revoke a certificate. Certificates of five grades are granted. A number-five certificate shall never be granted to a teacher more than once. If, upon a second examination, the applicant is not found entitled to a higher grade, no certificate shall be granted in any county of the State. A number-four certificate shall not be granted more than twice to the same applicant. Institute-certificates may be granted by the professors who have conducted the institute, only to the pupils of the institute. They shall be valid for one, two, or three years, as may be designated, in any part of the senatorial district in which they are granted. Diplomas from the Normal Schools of the State shall be accepted as a certificate of qualification to teach throughout the State. These may, for suitable cause, be annulled by the State Superintendent. Professional certificates, admitting the holder to the profession of teacher throughout the State during his life, may be granted by the State Board of Examiners; but the State Super intendent shall have power to revoke such certificate for causes specified and clearly proved. A FRENCH Count, who boasted of his perfection in the English language, wrote: "Be not surpriz'd i write so perfectly well in English, but since i am here i speak and hear speaking all the day English, and during the nights, if some rats or mouses trouble me, i tell them 'Go-lon,' and they obey, understanding perfectly my English. Believe the faithful friendship that i feel for you, since that you were so much high as my finger." FIVE colored men have been graduated from the different schools of Yale. The first was Richard Henry Green of the class of 1857, who became a physician, graduating in the Medical School at Dartmouth. |
