The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1872-11-27

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cation, and a secretary, making 1900 ad
ditional school officers, then add the
fifty-four county superintendents, and
you have the sum total Of school
officers in the State, besides the state
superintendent, making nearly one
ninth of the voting population. When
the duties and responsibilities of exc
cutting the law are divided up among SC
many persons, it is easy to see the prob
ability Of many failures in this respect
Take any Of the old reports, and you
will find that the state superintendent
complained Of the failure Of the county
superintendent, the county superintend
ents made similar complaints against
the secretaries OF the board of education
while they i'll turn lodged their COM
plants against their subordinates-the
trustees. / have been thus specific, moi
for the purpose OF excusiug an apparent
neglect upon the part OF the intelligent
state superintent for know that be
has made unusual efforts this year to
obtain reports from the several countses,
but to illustrate what l conceive to be
the chief defect in the present law-its
completely. | have selected the light
est and perhaps the least important OF
the duties imposed upon the various
school officers-that OF making reports.
If they neglected the least OF their
duties, what is to be expected in the
more important ones Of levying and dis.
bursting taxes, establishing schools,
building school houses employing COM
petent teachers and fixing their SAL
aries? Ifyou can devise system by
which to concentrate the powers and
duties necessary to be exercised in any
system of free schools upon much
smaller num Der OF officers, the chances
of neglect and malfeasance are not only
greatly diminished, but the machinery
Of the whole system becomes much
more simple, and if errors or defects are
fonnd to exist, they can be more readily
detected and corrected. A large sum OF
money is annually raised for the sup
port Of free schools. The State fund
tributed this year alone amounts to
S237,2l5 90; add to this the amount
raised by township levies, which must
be at least double this sum, and we
have abont 100000, OF which about
100000 belong to the fund for building
school houses; consequently the balance
left for the support OF free schools will
be about $4,000, or an average Of
500 for each district in the State. It's
to be regretted that exact figures cannot
be given, but owing to the want o. COM
plete reports from all the counties, this
cannot be done. The number of youths
enrolled tor 1872 was lI0O3l, about
half OF whom attend school. The fore
going statements show that sufficient
means have been provided for
the education OF the children OF the
State. And yet it is known that
there are many districts in which no
schools were held last year. During
the past summer | took some pains to
inquire at different points as to the
operation of the school system. Some
times the reply would be, 1--WE have
had school, but the teacher was Inc
competent" Sometimes, ave have
had no school this year." and again,
ave have had no school for two years. y
Occasionally the replies would be
favorable, but in no case did hear 1t
said that the taxes were no: high enough
NV purpose is not to bring the system
of public instruction into dlsrepute, nor
TO censure officers entrusted with It's
management; but it is to point out
some existing evils, with the hope that
sufficient remedies may be provided
against them in the future.
The new Constitution requires that
"the Legislature shall provide by gem
eral law for thorough and efficient
system of free schools
The fact does not seem to be gener-
ally realized that the school system Is
not only our greatest public interest,
but that it also requires an expenditure
OF money nearly equal to the amount
raised for State and county purposes
combined. / will not attempt to sug-
gest in detail any plans for putting into
execution this important provision OF
the Constitution. But earnestly re-
commend that you will consider SIM
plicity, efficiency and economy as OF
primary importance in any plan that
YOU may be pleased to adopt.
The 5th section of article l. of the
Constitution is as follows:
"The Legislature shall provide for
the support Of free schools by appro'
priating hereto the interest OF the In
vested "school fund.-" the net proceeds
of all forfeitures and fines accrulng to
this State under the laws thereof; the
State capitation tax; and by general
taxation, on persons or property or
otherwise. it shall also provide for
raising in each county or district, by
the authority OF the people thereof,
such proportion OF the amount re-
quired for the support Of free schools
therein az shall be prescribed by general
laws"
1t is clearly the duty of the Legisla-
ture hereafter, as heretofore, to provide
for raising means for the support OF
schools, partly by State taxation and
partly BY local taxation. Thequesilons
that seem to be lett open are the rate
of State taxes and the mode OF levying
the local taxes. The present law i'm
posing a tax OF one mill on the part OF
the State appears to have given general
satisfaction, and it would seem to he the
part OF wisdom not to disturb it. Under
its operation, the weslthier counties
contribute something to aid their less
fortunate sisters, or in other words, the
weather. counties pay more taxes than
they receive in the annual distribution
from the school iund, while other coun,
ties receive more from this fund than
they contribute ,oit in the way of taxes,
Therefore, any increase in this tax
would necessarily increase this disparity