The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1876-04-24
The 4utlaMd 4ailu @lobe.
MONDAY, APRIL "a, 1875.
Consolidation of School Districts In
Grafton.

| E0it0r Ifuttdn6 Gt00e AT a town meet
ing held on the 10th inst, school districts
| No. 3 and were. annexed to district No.
2, which is the village district. Some of
the inhabitants OF the first named districts
are dissatisfied with this arrangement and
town meeting is called for the purpose Of
restoring the districts. To present few
reasons showing why this should not be
done is the object of this article.
| The school house in district No. 8, is sit-
| uated upon the main Travelled road nearly
| 81 miles from the school house at Grafton
village. The district consisted of IA fam
lilies, six of these families live between the
two school houses. Three near the school
house and the remaining five from one
fourth to three fourths of mile beyond
making part Of the families about three
miles from the village.
The objections urged against consolida-
ton are these First, the breaking up Of
No. 3, involving the necessity of the child
rem of the district going 10 the village to
school will cause q depreciation in the value
of real estate in the vicinity of the school
house and in the more remote portions of
the district so that it will be next to i'm
possible to dispose of a farm in that locali-
ty at any price.
Second, great injustice it is claimed will
be done the small scholars in No. 3, for
they it is said will be deprived Of nearly
all their school privileges on account of the
inconvenience of getting them to school.
These objections constitute as far as
know the only arguments against allowing
the districts to remain United as at present.
Those who urge the first objection labor
under misconception. The value of real
estate as far as it is influenced by common
schools must depend upon the efficiency of
those schools, more than upon their local
ity Many of our citizens have not the
means of educating their children except
at the common schools. Then it follows that
the privileges provided at these schools
should be the very best possible; that no
pains should be spared to render each
school effective, and to give each child
the full benefit thereof. How have these
conditions been filled in district No. 8?
What privileges have the children, large
or small, enjoyed in that district I? And
what we're the prospects for the future
For the past four years the district has
sustained but 90 weeks school during the
year. The regular standard prices paid
for teaching, from which there could be no
variation, were two dollars per week for
the summer terms, and three dollars per
week for the winter terms. Thus provid-
ing the very shortest terms which the law
will allow, and engaging the cheapest
teachers possible. The question has not
been, how can the best schools be provided,
uus A-.L~. I~-- ~-- 80 Got twerty .-"nbs
school taught at the very cheapest rate, so
that there will be the least tax to pay at the
end of the ear. The public. opinion of the
district has required this and no prudential
committee for the past fouryears has dared
to run counter to that opinion.
The only committee man who ever did
depart from the rule lost his official head
and died a yearlng. Consequently the
schools, especially the winter terms, have
been cheap, very cheap in every sense no
qualified teacher of experience could be en-
gagged at the prices paid, or to use the Ian
guage of the most efficient opponent ofcon-
solidation, uttered at the last school meet
ing. ''No decent teacher will come into
the school," Yet to support these schools
the taxes have been burdensome, averaging
nearly 40 per cent of the grand list. The
grand list of 1875 being $2l7. As regards
the prospects for the future there are but
four scholars in the district who will at
tend school during the coming summer and
but ten and probably but eight who will
attend the winter school should the dis
trict be restored, and the indications are
not bright that the number of scholars will
be materially increased in the near future.
On the other hand at the village there is
graded school of two grades open during
thirty weeks of the year, wages sufficient
to secure good teachers are paid, and the
school for the past few years has been q
success. Several children from district
No. 3 have attended the high school during
portion of the past year. The grand list
of the village district for 1878, was 1869
or more than seven times that Of No.
8, SO that district No. might assess a tax
of 500, with the rate per cent. less than
it would be in No. 8 with the tax of 500
and with the addition of the grand list of
the newly annexed districts the rate per
cent Of tax will be still less, so that the con-
solidation of the districts will lessen the
burden of taxation as well as increase the
benefits of the school.
A judicious parent who wishes to give
his children good education but who from
want of pecuniary means is barred from
sending them away from home would pay
a much higher price for any farm in dis
trict No. 3, with the districts consolidated
than he would with them separate, and he
could we'll afford to do so, for with school
in No. he must pay heavy tax yearly
for the support OF the cheapest kind Of
schools and then either let his children re-
main in comparative Ignorance or educate
them elsewhere at heavy expense; while
with the districts consolidated his children
could have the advantages of a graded
school at no higher cost than those of the
inferior schools Of No. g.; thus instead of
real estate being worth less there 10 every
reason to believe that it would be worth
more. Indeed every thinking man must
concur, when 1t is affirmed that while We
have groaned under the highest OF taxes
and suffered under the cheapest Of schools