Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1869-05-19
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF OHIO.
Animal Report Of the State School
Commissioner.
Important Questions for the Consideration Of
Parents.


From the Fifteenth Annual Report of
the State Commissioner of Common
Schools, for the school year ending Aug
ust 81, 1858, which was delivered to the
General Assembly to-day, we make the
following ATTRACT. This is the last re-
port of Commissioner Norris, as he is
about to resign his office, and forsake
the school work in which he has been
engaged for the past three years, for the
purpose of accepting the more lucrative
Office of Pension Agent at Columbus:
The Commissioner says that at the be-
ginning of the school year september l,
1857 there were in the State I,OI9, 1872
youth legally entitled TO admission to
the public schools, being an increase of
q, ,942 during the year, 672, ,053 of whom
were residents of the sub-districtS, and
the remaining number, 81, ,l39, were res
idents of the seperate districts (cities,
towns and villages.)
AT the same date there were in the
State Il, 1853 school houses, the value of
which, together with the grounds and
out-buildings, as estimated by local
school authorities,r was S9,072, 443. Of
these 1860 were in the sub-districts,
valued at 81, So, ,607, and classed accord
ing to the material of which they were
buAll. luuS. Il CflC1F lsu-OT
stone, So; log, 7S5. The remaining num-
Der, 663, valued at S4,219, ,S36, were in the
separate districts, and classed according
to the material of which they were built,
thus; Framed, 257; brick, 406. 1t thus
appears that in the subdistricts there was
one school house to every siXty-three
resident youth of school age. 1t may
also be shown, that there was one school
house to every three and one-half
square miles of territory included
within the sub-distriets, and that the
school houses in the separate districts af-
ford ample accommodation for all the
resident youth asking admission thereto.
For the schooling of the l,0I9, 1872 youth
to be provided for, ,7S3 schools, loca-
ted, as has been shown, within easy reach
of the homes of the pupils, affording ac-
cOmmo odatiOns for all, and requiring con-
stantly II, ,O70 teachers, were opened and
sustained, on an average, 27.Sl weeks, or
l39 days. The number of persons actu-
ally employed in the schools in the capac-
ity of teachers was p ,592. The number
of youth whose names were entered on
the school registers was 80, ,772, the aver
age daily attendance being 4l0, ,72l. From
these facts it appears that of the school
opportunities offered, considerable less
than one-half was accepted, the average
attendance to each youth of legal school
age being only eleven weeks and two
days, or fifty-seven days.
To provide school revenues, in addition
to those arising from the 'irreducible
school funds of the State the maximum
rates of levy authorized by law were as
follows; 'On each dellar of taxable prop
erty in the State, as valued and entered
on the grand list for the year, one mill
and three-tenthS; on the dollar valuation of
the property of each township, five mills
and on the dollar valuation of the prop
erty of each separate district, seven mills.
The rates of levy actually assessed for
school and school-house purposes were
as follows; By the State authorities on
the grand list, one mill and three-tenths;
by the local authorities, in townships,
three mills and twenty-eighthu hundredths,
and in the separate districts, six mills
and fifty-seven hundredths. The total
receipts from these sources, including
balances from the year preceding,
amounted TO 81 1896, ,23l. OF this amount
q, ,O6O, $50 were expended in payment of
teachers wages, and in defraying the
contingent expenses of the schools, and
81, ,6l4, l76 in the purchase ofschool-house
sites, the erection of new buildings and
the repair of old ones, leaving net bal
ance in the treasures, at the beginning
of the current year, of 81, ,69O, us.
Exclusive of State officials the whole
number of school officers required by
law in the general administration and
local management of the schools, was
IS, sos.
The appropriations for the purchase of
sites and the erection of new school
buildings have been liberal beyond pre-
cedent, and the work of providing sub
stantial and commOdious buildings has
been prosecuted with uneXampled vigor
and intelligence. The whole number of
school houses erected or completed with
in the wear was 635. OF the number l574l
erected in the sub-districts, AT are franz
ed and 1f7 are brick buildings. The av-
erage cost of these buildings was S931,
the aggregate cost being 1854, ,577. The
remaining number, siXty-One, were
erected in the separate districts; at an
average cost of $40, ,556, the aggregate cost
being S643, ,934. OF these, nine are framed
and fifty-two brick buildings. They
are. almost without exception, large
substantially built and pleasantly loca-
ted, many of them being models of arch
itectural beauty, well lighted, and pro-
yided with the most approved methods
of heating and ventilation. One notice
able and most commendable feature in
providing new school buildings in the
separate districts is, the increased atten-
ton given to the selection of suitable
sites. As rule, the new buildings are
not located near the business eenters of
the towns and villages, but may be found
in the most healthy, slightly and quiet
localities within the limits of the dis
tricts. The school grounds adjacen:
to these buildings rarely, except in
the cities, consist of less than one and
one-half acres of land often consist of
from three to five, and in some instances
five to eight acres. Increased attention
is also given to the establishment of these
grounds, with view, of course, to the
cultivation of taste, and the promotion
of good order, habits of cleanliness, and
social refinement among the pupils.