The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1880-01-16
SCHOOL DISTRICT CONSOLE
DATI0N.


OF the proceedings Of the Education
Association of this city, that the sc
ton which provided for the cohso
dation of the mutifarious districts
incorporated towns into one diBtri
had been stricken out of the propose
Ie new law. I have attended a fe'
meetings Of the above association
!. and heard several persons VII
= have made addresses speak pointed
on the fact that in Salt Lska City tn
< districts we're too numerous and to
small, and I thought I could see tn
point.
1 am not acquainted with the Gil
cumstanoes Of the people in country
places, yet, may presume that The
election of three trustees every two o.
three years, who do not not know g
a great deal about educational mat
3 ters, and, perhaps, have not much
time to devote to EOthering about
such things, may suffice to satisfy the
people, because 1t may be the best
that can be done under the ciraum-
stances which surround the isolated
districts Of the agricultural portion o.
the community. But there do ap-
pear to me to be several res
cons why such a system can
be improved in the more pOpu-
lated towns. 1t is illustrated
very forcibly in Salt Lake City. Every
nine blocks are squared of to form a
ward or district. In one district the
amount of appOrtionment for the
children In the district suffices to pay
for the services Of a tutor to those WHO
attend the school, 90 that the parents
who patronize that district school !
have no tuition fees to pay. Parents
who live Just across the road from the
outer edge of that ward, but in
another district, cannot pstronize
that school and receive the benefits of
the apportionment, and if they send
their children to the school in their
own district have to pay the old
fashioned tuition fees with only
small reduction by the aid of said
appoTtionment, because the trustees
have a higher priced teacher, or more
children attending school, or a smaller
district, or something else, which
causes the difference. Again, there
are districts contiguous; in one q
good school is maintained and in the
adjoining one is a poor school, yet the
proportion OF the tax has to be paid 8
by all alike; in one district a good
sohOOlroom with many newly invented T
are available for the bene- I
fit of the student, in an adjoining one \
everything is crude and primeval.
Then, in relation to the persons
chosen to fill the office OF trus- i
ees: there is so little honor, 7
md so little room for pride in .
he scope OF the Office that persons =
qualified for the petition do not take =
much interest in 1t, and the Hobson's =
,hOice falls upon one or two of the =
cry few VINO take any public interest h
u the meter. Again, the trustees y
ire not so closely scrutinized in their
Dfiioial acts By superior officers as to 81
Emulate them to greater efforts in Y
he cause of progress that many of e
he situations demand. -
In San Francisco, in New York, i
md in other cities, school boards are a
appointed or elected, as the charter A
nay direct, and there being some h
lonor and emolument attached to the ~
flee, the men selected study the q
ubject matter, and aim to give all v
hildren the same opportunities of =,
blaming knowledge of the ordinary 81
ldiments Of education. l obtained :,
le impression from the discussion of "
be matter at the Educational Asso- VI
lation that this was 10 be attempted ~
l this and other cities in Utah, and ~
am surprised at its abandonment. :;
ne reasons for such abandonment -
ave not been made public, hence l :;
an form no opinion as to their -
otency. II it should have been the -
trouble OF inaqguTating :,
lch a system, that should not have ~
ed weight, for it will be done some de
ay, and it is practicable to-day; if it -
l0uld have been the creation of >,
.laried Offices, that sh0uld haYa been -
eigbed down by the good to be &C. -,
and the consequent ard "
DpaTent saving to the citizens CT the
ties; ii it should have been the de-
re to leave the work to some other D
ersOns, that would cause & change TO
] the ideas many OF US had formed nc
several OF our present educators. Al
The system Of having sixty-three
ustees IN this one city is a little to
the discrimination
.sinst different children 10 different al
arts OF this city is a little unjust; the Ft
genty-one different styles OF teaching w
I'd almost the came number Of COM w
arative advantages and disadyan;- re
yes Of those systems of government Va
improbable and unnecessary. The
me schoolhouses could be utilized
lie same humber, or even & less
lumber, of teachers could do the nj
ork better under the direction Of one
card OF trustees; our schools could
e partially graded; cd average graded
ste Of tuition could be charged; aud
! a given number OF years the
upils would make farther compar- ul
i've progress than the msj0ritY Of 81
lem can do sOT. -,
The item of assessing and collecting II
,ecial taxes taxes for furnishing and w
nproving tchO0lhouses and school
ropeity could, also, be much better hl
tended to in q municipal capacity de
AN can now he done in the small To
I'd poor isolated districts. It has DC
appened in some places where the hl
* was not paid by few, that a nj
Irge portion Of the revenue from the OF
would have been nece4- d
AIRY for attorneys fees to prosecute al
be delinquents; while the fact that a
be city was organized into one dis o.
-ict would give it a degree OF dignity Ia
nat would ensure respect, and if a o.
lit had to be commenced it could II
g prosecuted to a definite issue, "
-ithout any very material loss, "a
ould not be in the cases above cited.
TAXPAYER. I