The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1875-12-17
YoN corrrr SCHOOLS.
C,o.Ing OF Tho Fan Term

C3prtDE Tho All
The superintendent Of Lyon County
makes the following exhibit FOR 1s..".
ThCre are seventy six school di Iriets,
no Increase over last year Total mum
Der Of .chO0lable youth, 3, 400 an Increase
Ortwo per cent Nuinher enrolled, ISL
an increase q II per cent. Number in
! average daily stsendsnre. I,Oi7, an in
creas.. Of IL per ut. Number If teach
ers, IS males and It females, an ineEe..s,
OF eight per eeat. Average wages OF
IN iles, So 81. a decrease of twenty three
per cent; 0r females, S32.0l,a decrease OF
Eve per cent. Value of school houses
| built th~ year, $1,000. Total value Of
school houses in tie county, SGT .93S.
Total amount Of school bonds Is JIed.
a. shown by District clerks report, - =
415; shown by County CLERKS books
SO, 49,. Present Indebtedness, - shown
by District Clerks rrparts, Sl22 POS; -
shown hy County Clerks books, $50 800.
Average number OF week. Of public
school, 25hz. an increase of nine per ceHt.
The number Of school houses in the cnan-
ty is eighty, ranging in valne (outside
OF EmpOrla) from S2J To Sj.000-there
being one log, ifty-two frame, four brick
AID twenty three stone buildings. The
one solitary log house will give way next
season 10 the mar,h OF improvement.
1876 acres, Gone half) of the school
land in the county remain unsold. The
school moneys were as follows: In hands
Of district trelsurers, NJ close of last year,
t11 954; IN same hands at close OF this
year, $3.50, difference OF 1884. To-
tai receipts reported last year, u,G2G;
total receipts reported this year, $36, I9I,
an increase OF S6,l7l. Pad to teachers
la t. year, SIS, 737; this year, SlSS26; de-
crease this year, S9lI, wherein the de-
crease OF teachers salaries figures. To-
tai expenses last year, S32 ,52G; shis Year,
$3O,347.
There Is some fine book keeping in the
cash account OF last years report; as for
instance, in the items already enumerat-
cd, total receipts last year. including
amount on haul at tho commencement OF
the year, $5O,635; paid out the same year,
So, 526, and the clerks report $ll ,9ji,
still on hand.
The average cost Of tuition for each
schOoIable youth enrolled in the schools
Of the county for 251s weeks Is S6.67, or
about one dollar per month. The cost
per pupil in average attendance for %
weeks is ell 43. Adding per cent. in
terest OH the $67,029 invested in school
houses, and 81, 600 more in furniture, APP
paratus, ETC., 10 the $5a,347 paid for
school purposes this year, and we find the
cost Tor each scholar Ia average attend
ance for 25X weeks to be $23. The
amount paid the teacher is only Sill -, a
fraction less than half the expense of the
school, 20 IL can readily be seen that there
may be some other place to reduce ex-
penses, as well rs cutting down teachers
| wages. Some districts are so heavily
| bonded that they can scarcely raise any
surplus above the interest and sinkiSs
fund. They hire 81 class and inexpcri-
enced teachers, get just such services a
they pay for, are dissatisfied, and grIIm-
BILE generally about the wages of teachers
and the poor returns they get for their
money. The fact il, their school house
debt is like an elephant on their hands,
for the purchase of which they have cX-
pended all their money and have no
means left with which to feed 1t. When
eur school houses are paid for our people
can pay their teachers salaries equal TO
that rec eived In other employ ment.
Our public schools sadly need 4 more
thorough aud sJ stematic graduation. The
course of study and the set of topics which
embrace what should be taught of each
subject, and especially the studies that
should be preserved at the same time by
each grade of pupils, is but partially I'M
dcrstoOd by the mass Of our teachers. A
serious draw back in the way OF thorough
ly grading our county schools is lack of
text books. hope to see law definite
ly authorizing district boards to purchase
all the text books for the school.
There is n need Of more thorough Wis
itation than the law now provides for;
$500 year for man or a woman who
has the business and educational qualiii-
cation necessary to superintend the
schools OF u county, Is beggarIy allow.
ance. There should be pay enough to
have the work done well.
The grade of scholarship has been adj
vanced again for teachers certidcats.
The low wages and short term of EN-
plOym ent have driven some OF our better
teachers to other employments, so that
this season some difficulty has been eN-
perienced in finding drst-class teachers
for the wages offered.
Making out the district clek's report Is
a difficult job sometimes, The clerk
should be paid 50 to 50 for making the re-
port, to be allowed when a complete re-
| p 1T has been filed with the County SUI
perintendent. We can thus secure ac-
curacy and promptness. Not One-feurth
OF the blanks sent from this office were
filed rs required by law.
Here are few extracts from the re-
ports filed in this office: "Tbe man who
got up thisfOrm is q fool or 4 snob.'' Gle
evidently had no idea that the blank
came from the state superintendent. }
ayes, sir, district owns the text books;
bought 'em, you bct," '.Our school Il
graded, 81 grades from Il b c to Algebra
you must explain whal tuition means
''YOu must get somebody else to answer
these questions"
Sometimes n report comes in without
the clerks name or the No. of the district
being given To tell where it came from.
A. d. CHAMBERS,
| Superintendent of Lyon County.
|
"Vote for clerk of cOurts-O. Y. Tart
800; II. W. MeCune, 567; +. G. Hunt, $50. p
l-EMPoRIA NEwS. Nov. *, 1870, Ii. w