The weekly Butte record., 1858-10-16
BUTTE RECORD.
Department of Instruction.
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct- ON lcoo.
A E,o SUPERINTENDENT

To III. A. CASTOR, Esq, Superintendent OF
of Butte County:
DEAR SIR-After az absence Of some weeks
I find your letter of the 18th ult-, requesting
nv views upon the proper disposal, under GER
tain circumstances, of the School Moneys be-
longing to your county. The question is,
shave the Trustees holding Office during CIV
en- year, the right to anticipate the revenues OF
years to come, to satisfy present necessities T!
In repeated circulars issued to County Su-
perintendents during the past year and ha.i
(copies of which enclose to you,) and ID my
commentaries ON the School Law, issued ai,er
full reflection and close observation Oh tne
the working Of our School system, nave uea-
teJ tba Question at length, and decided it enl-
phatically in the negative. 1t IS only hecessa-
rv IN nursue the proposition to It's ultimate re-
onIts to ifs utter absurdty-its utter lrreconcl-
1ab;I;ty with the successful working of the ben
e6cent nrovisons made for the support OF our
Pnhlc Schools If it be admitted that the
Trustees of 1858 can contract such debts as to
absorb the revenues of 1859, they can with
equal reason and propriety dispose in advance,
of the revenues of IS60-of generation ahead
Once concede to them this power and where
will they stop? The practical effect would be
TO close every public school in the State IN less
than three years, for if the Trustees OF 1859
find that every dollar likely to come into the
Treasury during their term, and perhaps fo-
terms ahead, has already charged with the pay
ment of expenses incurred in former years they
have no funds to justify the opening OF their
schools at all-they have not even the means
TO maintain it the three months In the year re-
auired by the law TO give the District share
Of the State and County School Fund at the
next apportionment This would deprive the
L.
navment of the debt supposed, and as long as
the debt remained which, under the circum
stances, would be forever, the District would
be efectually excluded from participation in
the distribution OF the public funds, and its
share would, year after year, revert to other
Districts not guilty Of the same folly. The
proposition therefore is not tenabe, and cannot
be for moment, entertained by the officers of
the School Department. This is the conclu-
sion to which reason and common sense would
bring us, even were the statute silent upon the
question But the statute has express refer
ence to it. when ii declares in Section 81 (Which
see) that 'any balance required for the pay
ment of Teachers Salaries shall be raised by
rate-bill" The Inference from this is irresisti-
BILE. that the trainers of that law did not intend
this "ballance" or debt to be charge upon
Teachers Fund of the next year. 1t provides
a specific means for the payment OF such bal
lances and contemplates no other. have ar
gued the proposition at greater length than the
little ditfiucty it presents, perhaps requires, but
its application recurs so often-lt works at
times through the folly of thoughtless Trustees
such hardships upon individual creditors OF the
School Fund-it strikes so completely at the
very foundation of our School System, that a
thorough exposition of its working may be
ont Of Mo
cess of our Schools requires an inexorable ad-
herence to the policy here indicated-that the
schools of given year shall be sef-sustaining,
and not cripple those OF subsequent year. | 1
am aware that it must operate harshly in nd-
vidua cases, where teachers and Others have |
performed services for the payment OF which,
they have been led by Trustees to believe they |
could rely upon the revenues of coming years
1t is true that more than year ago L instruct /
ed the County Superintendenis as you will see 1
from the circulars enclosed "to inform the l
Trustees ard Teachers whenever the fund be- /
longing TO tbel- District is exhausted and
thereafter 70 draw DO more warrants in their
favor. They zlll then know what 10 expect, (
and the very serious evil Of unpaid floating
School Warrants will cease to exist. The Dis |
trict must then raise by rate-bli whatever ad-
ditiona fund may be needed for the mainten- |
ance of its school," BY following this course,
/ stated in the same circular, "pa' ties lperfor-
ming service for the schools would have no
tice and could no longer claim an equity"
These were the Instructions from the head Of
the School Department, and the presumption is
they were complied with. From this it would
follow that many of the creditors of the School
Fund, were, or ought to have been, aware that
the revenues of subsequent years could not be
charged with the payment of their claims. The
hardshps oil their condition is, in a measure,
therefore, attributable TO themselves. They
took their chances of payment. But even,
under this view Of the case, they have claims
which should not be repudiated. There is one
way, and only one that | can see, by which
they can obtain relief and that is by the pas
sage of special law, which the representa-
tives from your county can doubtless secure,
authorizing the funding Of outstanding claims
against the School Fund, or, if preferred, and
acceptable to the people. authorizing the Board
of Supervisors TO order them paid out of "the |
General Fund" of the County. The first
course will probably be most satisfactory to
the people. 1t will effect all that the creditors
have any right to expect.
Hoping that you will endeavor to infuse new
energy into the administration of school affairs,
and rouse the Trustees and citizens generally
TO deeper sense of their responsibilities to the
rising generation am, in the fellowship Of the
great cause in which we are engaged.
Very truly yours,
ANDREW j. M0ULDER.
Superintendent Public Instruction.