The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1879-12-05
ESTABLISHED go.
Educational Deparlme'f
IN. SAUNDERS, EDrror-
How 40 Raise ihe PRO t.aaa


dollar and twenty five cents 10 each
child in the State. a few years ago
the Der capita was two dollars, bn1At
has grown less every year The Nice
of property has constantly diminished,
and the number Of children has st%di
lly increased. Now, that the busidass
boom has begun, the price Of properly
ought to increase, and thus increase
the dividend. Now if we can diminish
the divisor we have increased the qut
tient or raised the pro rata. But hos
can we diminish the divisor2 I hInk
the task is easy enough, and that the
effort will pay in more ways than eae
Who can give the boundary llpes 81
school districts? Who can te.r.S
issyely whas clriilsfen ~ tssus<ssssuA -;
ed in one district, and what should be
enrolled iu the adjoining one? While
we think the great majority of trustees
are honest, and do not intend to report
children who are reported in another
district, still we feel confident that
there are hundreds of children in the
State who are reported more than once.
But our ex State. Superintendent ought
to know a great deal about these things
as he has watched these figures very
closely for the last eight years. Per-
NIT US to quote from his last report:
Acting under authority of the Law
requiring the Commissioners to regard
all reasonable requirements imposed by
the Superintendent, and desiring to
test the accuracy Of these Cthe trus-
tees) reports, that we might make sug.
gestions to the legislature upon the
necessity of establishing permanent
boundaries to the districts, we request
ed the commissioners of those counties
and cities reporting aa increase to send
US the trustees census reports for crit
zeal comparison. 3
We did not believe that there was any
willful fraud in these matters; but we
did, aud do believe, that there is much
duplicating and tripling, the result Of
partial information as to the territory
and patrons included in districts. Ex
perience has also taught US that some
Of the commissioners are very faulty
10 additions; aud, as a result of these
innocent mistakes, errors IN the census
we're common. 10 one instance we
discovered that the commissioner had
made a mistake Of hundreds too many.
and another of scores too few; and iu.
both these instances We received NJ
hearty thanks of the honest, but mis-
calculating commissioners, for correct
ing their errors In other instances.
we discovered Che same children re
ported by uame in several districts
and that, too, in the report submitted
by officers, who reluctantly yielded to
our request, and who animadyerted
in severe terms, upon the motives We
were presumed TO have in the require
meut. The demand for detailed cen
sus was made upon the cities, and the
result showed. in several cases, that
the census was being reported too large
Enough was revealed to show that the
census could be largely reduced by
permanent boundaries, accurately de
scribed and the description furnished
the trustees"
We might quote further from Dr.
Henderson, but this is sufficient to
show that there are too many children
in the State; that the divisor
can be diminished, and the per capita
thus increased. But this is not the
only benefit TO be derived from per-
manent district lines. As the law now
is, the districts may be changed every
year In this respect, we are far be-
hind our near neighbor, Tennessee
There the county court must appoint
three men to visit the district, examine
its geography and lay off the district
But our district lines are so often chan
ged that the trustees scarcely know
where they are Besides, this is often
an excuse for not bull ding a good
school house. Many fear. or claim to
fear, that the boundary will be chang
ed in year or two, and, therefore, it
is useless to build a new house. Let
our county court appoint three men in
each county to take time and redistrict
the counties Let these lines remain
unchanged for at least ten years, and
be changed then only by a similar COM
mittee appointed on the recommenda-
ton of the commissioner. Under Our
present law the commissioners can not
take the time to district the counties
properly, but if all the counties could
be re--districted this year there would
be less trouble in taking the census,
the per capita would be increased, the
people would build better school
houses, and our school system would
take new start to prosperity. Once
more let me quote DR.. Henderson:
"As one of the net products of off,
cial experience, and as an expression
of fearless honesty, we write it down
that the first essential to progress is
the establishment of permanent boun
daries of districts and the immediate
erection of good and sufficient school
houses in each district iu which none