The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-03-17
Condition of the Public School Fund
DEFICIT OF OVER 100000.
DA.GER OF A COLLAPSE OF THE
PUuL.C SCHOOL SYSTEM.

The following communication from DR..
Rutincr, Superintendent Of Public lnStruc.
| ton. gives a gloomy account Of the financial
condition Of the public free-School system OF
Virginia:
OFFICE SUP'T PURLrC INSTRUCTION.,
March Ia, 1873.
To the Honorable Senate Of Virginia:
have received the following resolution
passed bv your body Yesterday:
"Resoiccd, That the superintendent Of
| Public Instruction be requested TO inform
the Senate what is the present financial con-
| dition of the public freC-school system OF the
State, and whether any necessity exists for
special action by this General Assembly,"
In reply, beg leave to say that tue hnan-
cial condition Of the public school system Is
no. satisfactory-far from it. The alarm
sounded in my last annual report concerning
the serious diuinution in the proceeds CT the
State schoo-tax of 1871 as compared with
! that of 1870 must he repeated with increased
emphasis concerning the tax Of 1872. The
tax of 1870 Welded 1896, lS2; the tax of 1871
Yielded S3l5,42S-an cmineus falling OH.
| But the tax Of 1872. from which the schools
| are now supported, up to this day, including
| balances received into the Treasury on &C
count Of taxes CT former years, has Yielded
ONLY SiS4.G72-a falling off Of $3.50, 756 from
| that of last year, and of $3.50, 5lO a. compared
with the year previous. Moreover there
| was for Use during the last school year an I'M
expended balance from the previous year of
S32 900, and upwards of SCI 600 from the
| literary fund, which, added 10 the S3l5,42S,
gave ihc schools ESQ, 1923 Of State money
against $lS4,GI2 for the current year. Plac-
ticlIy, the diminulion is greater than these
| figures indicate, because more OF the funds
| pertaining to this year had TO be used III DIS
| charge CT unpaid liabilities from last year III
consequence Of The fact that the aggregate OF
| uncNpcndcd t,alinces in the districts returned
to the state Treasury WAS much smaller than
| il was the previous year; III tact, not SUM-
cient to pay these liabilities, according to the
| he>i information have.
THIS falling Oil in tie state revenue Is all
the more disastrous TO the school interest on
account Oft lie severe restrictions placed upon
counties and districts in regard TO raising
sunpemcntarv funds. In consequence Of
tia act passed year ago there has been q
curtaiIlren, of ut least S20o,Gu0 i'll the local
revenues for the current year.
Altogether, as matters now stand, we have
before us tie frigh!ful deficit i'll our total
school revenues Of 2400,T3G as compared with
last vcar-a difference Of more than one-iiail
| of tie total amount received from public
funds.
! 1t IS, Of course, seen at glance that the
result must he corresponding cllrtailment
of the means Of education among the people
unless something hc done immediately to
avert the dire calamity. Besides the actual
loss Of educational privileges, there must
occur poignant sense of disappointment TO
parents and tile friends Of education gene
rally, ant! shock TO the public sentiment of
the State, which is wholly unprepared for
this sudden collapse Of our school system.
At the beginning Of the present schoo!
year (ScWembcr y ii became the duty of
school officers 10 provide is many schools
for The people AZ, upon reasonable calcu-
laton, could be supported They had
right to expect from the State not less than
WAS received last year. Indeed, they might
reasonably have anticipated some increase
of revenue in consequence Of the large
amount Of delinquent or deferred taxes from
the previous years. They were abundantly
cautioned, however, TO avoid running III.
licvc that they nave been imprudent in this
regard. Still. believe that, except in the
cities and larger towns, which have enjoyed
more liberty of local taxation, the entire ill.,
come from all sources has been expended.
aud that the schools in the large majority Of
the counties are now, and have been for
weeks, carried on in anticipation of funds
vet TO be received. Two months ago made
second upportionment, which, together
with the first, distributed almost the exact
amount which is herein reported as the total
| income from the State This was done partly
| in expectation Of what has occurrcd-viz.,
! that before all the drafts would reach the
Treasury sufficient funds would be on hand
to meet them.
! have hitherto withheld from the school
officers the information herein contained,
earnestly hoping that by some means the
schools might be kept in operation. Had
the bill ordering the payment of 0,000 in
tercst on tue literary fund been passed, the
schools might have been allowed to continue
until there were further developments with
regard to the proceeds from the State tax.
1t is paUfully evident that immediate action
of some sort is necessary III order to aYerta
catastrophe to our educational interest.
With regard TO the taxes yet to come in, it
is highly important that some action should
| lie taken which will insure the payment i'll
money-Hot coGpons--of the portion set
apart by the Constitution for the support of
the public frec-school system. On this
point, relief might be afforded by authoriz.
ing the Auditor Immediately to place to the
credit Of the school fund such amount Us iii
his opinion would accord with the share of
taxes yet to come in for school purposes.
In conclusion would take the liberty of
saying that the only possible method for
avoiding perturbalions like this in the future
is TO allow larger liberty to counties and
districts III providing themselves with the
means Of education for their own children.
Respectfully submitted.
W. Ii. RUFFNER,
Superintendent Public Instruction.