The Mississippi Creole. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1841-1851, 1846-08-22

Inc provisions for public school education
y massachusetts are substantially as follows:
The whole supericies of the commonwealth
Is laid of into 'tOwns,' (or townships, as we
should designate :hemO each Of which is a
oodysPolitic and corporate, with power to elect
officers and levy taxes. There are three hun
bred and seven of these 'tOwns' in the State.
which are subdivided anto two thousand FIVE
hundred school 'districts.' The revised statues
title x, chapter 20, under the head Of sPublic
Instruction. contain an act which prescribes
the number of schools that shall be maintained
BY THE 'tOwns.' Towns containing ffy fami-
lies are requiredto maintain school orschools
for Of time whichdshall together be equi-
valent to sT months in each year, in which
Fchlldren shall be instructed in ortHography,
reading, writing, English grammar, geography,
arithmetic, and good behavior, by teachers Of
competent ability and good morals.
In towns of one hundred and tfy families, or
householders, The same kinds of schools, and
not less than two, are to be kept for terms not
less than nine months each, or three or more
schools for terms together equivalent to eighteen
months.
IN towns Of fVe hundred families, similar
schools, not less than two, are to be kept for
tWelue months each, or three or more such
schools for terms together equivalent to t,Oentv
four months; and, in addition to the above,
they are required to maintain a school forthe
benefit OF all the inhabitants Of the town, ten
months, at least, exclusive of vacations, in
each year; in which the history of the United
States, bookkeeping, surveying, geometry, and
algebra, shall be taught by a master Of compe-
tent ability and good morals. And if the town
contain four thousand inhabitants, the teacher
shall, in addition to all the branches above emu
merated, be competent 70 instruct in the Latin
and Creek languages, general history, rhetoric,
and logic.
The act authorizes the inhabitants to raise
money by taxing themselves, for supporting
the schools, 'and ordains them to appoint COM
mittees annually for managing them. 1t con-
fers on the school committees ample powers
over the teachers, scholars, school-books, and
subjects to be taught, and imposes on them the
duty Of visiting the schools. II the parents
; neglect to supply the children with the school
books prescribed, the committee are empower
ed to provide them, and to levy the price by a
i ~ XXX -T
; tax on the parents. If they wero unable to
! pay, the tax on them may be partially or total
ly RENTED, and the expense charged to the
town. Section god enacts that 'The school
committee shall never direct to be- purchased
or used, in any Of the town schools, any school
books which are calculated to favor the tenets
of ANY particular sect of Christians.'
The statute prescribes rules for forming
school DISTRICTS each Of which is authorized
to appoint a prudential committee,' with a
clerk. The prudential committees are empow-
cred to fix the site Of school-hOuses, to raise
money for their erection, and for other purpo-
ses.
Regulations are prescribed as to the mode of
levying the school taxes; and it is declared
that if the inhabitants of a district neglect to
establish schools, the committee may do 500
and that the town may order the necessary
sums to be levied on that district.
1t provides also, that where two or more con-
tiguous school districts, in adjoining towns, are
too small to maintain schools advantageously
in each, they may unite themselves into one,
and become corporations for the purpose Of
maintaining schools, raising money, and APP
pointing committees, as before described,
BY section Goth, it is declared, THAT if any
town shall neglect to raise money for the sup
port OF schools, it shall forfeit double the high
est sum which had ever before been voted for
schools therein; and if it refuse to choose
school and prudential committees, it shall for
felt not less than one hundred, nor more than
two hundred dollars, to the treasurer of the
county.
The school committees are ordained to make
returns annually to the Secretary OF State set
ting forth certain prescribed partieulars, re-
L~garding the condition and management Of the
schools; sufficient to enable the legislature to
Judge whether the provisions Of the law have
been duly attended to. If they fail to make
returns, the district receives no share in the
distribution Of the public school fund.
This machinery, more or less modified, has
been in operation during two centuries in Mas
sachusetts; but il will be observed, that alIho'
the schools have been supported by taxes levi
ed on property, and managed by committees
chosen. by the people, no central, directing or
Supervising power has existed. Every district
has been permitted, to- great extent, to follow
it's " perceptions q, utility in the manage
ment Of its schools. 1t wasassumed BY the
Legislature, that the dictates Of selfip'erest
would prompt the inhabitants to nominate the
best qualified individuals as membets Of Tie
school and prudential committees; and that