The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-12-19
Aggregate for public education


durlhg year. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. VI, 74S, 562 99
The report will decidedly favor and defend
the township system as opposed to the district
plan: The experience of twenty months justi-
fles this The practice under no law is perfect
but the condition is far better in counties
where this system has been in operation than
it was in the same under the district plan It
has handled public money and made report of
It responsibly, point never before reached in
Dakota school affairs 1t has improved the
character of the schools; promoted economy;
given longer terms and better schools with
out increased taxation; has greatly increased
the credit OF school corporations; put the
management Of schools into more capable
hands; relieved the counties Of local quarrels
over district boundaries; given to all the people
more equal and uniform school advantages,
the great object of any law, and enabled the
people to plan permanently and CO. operate in
one community without need of future divis-
ions; distributes school houses more equitably
having never too many, and generally applies
the public money and directs the public enter
prise in educational matters in a more fair,
equal aud satisfactory manner for the whole
people. The exceptions to this in few To-
calities rest on neglect and violation of the law
A few Inconvenience amendments will meet
Section So Of the law which places money
received from saloon licenses and fines in the
county school fund met opposition in Cass,
Grand Forks, Lawrence, Pennington and few
other counties, while a great majority of the
counties seem to favor it The inconvenience to
some suggests the necessity of adding pro-
vlso to that section that will turn all such mon
eys IN those counties into the county general
fund, as the best solution of the question
The law will have most careful revision
Indeed, extraordinary care will be taken.
Last spring committee of the ablest county
superintendcnts was appointed to cooperate
In this work Several meetings and much cor
respondence have been devoted to the subject
The labor is not completed The main feat
ure OF the system, the undivided township
school corporations and their boards, will re-
main, but various details will be better ad-
| jnsted to practical needs and experience
| Great effort will be made to give all the SUD
| jects Of the law the most easy and systematic
| order and arrangement, while the whole will
! be made more blief Some provision will be
| made for pay of school township officers.
| The law is recommended to apply to all the
! counties, and to this end it is suggested that
| provision permit, in some old counties, differ
| ent boundaries for school townships and civil
| townships. This will enable the accommoda-
| tion of school township boundaries more easily
| to existing boundaries and school houses The
report urges that in the old counties all pres
| ent districts must be modified and divided in
few years, especially with the growth following
statehood, and that no law and no officers can
do this with equal justice to all In counties
the size of Cass or Brown and Sphinx we would
need in u few years about 800 school districts
each, with 900 officers, rendering it necessary
to keep account with and receive reports from
600 of them This is much worse than useless,
and it will require 800 different changes of
boundaries to reach this result in each coun-
| ty, and in nearly every change would be a
wrong to considerable part
! II the legislature decide to preserve district
organizations where they now are it is recon-
mended that the complete law governing them
be separately printed for their use.
Many have recommended that county super
intendents be elected at the June elections, and
that all school elections for boards of education
as well as in townships and districts occur on
the same day
The territory is so large that one man can
not look after it Several suggestions are made
to meet this. One is that the Assistant Super
intendent have exclusive jurisdiction over
north Dakota, with separate appropriations
for institutes and other purposes This would
be better for both. The pressure of duty has
prevented visit to the Black Hills This re-
quires month which could not be given to it
The subject OF the school lands Is discussed
fully, and the ground taken that the ands
should not be sold for less than from $50 to $50
an acre, but meanwhile leased and the rents
used to support schools or that the lands be
sold only for period of thirty years at the enc
Of which tins the title should revert to the
state for school purposes. The point is made
that no reliable and permanent policy can b.
adopted except in the constitution. States tina
have trusted all to statutes and executive Off
GERS have lost the large part of the fund Eacl
Dakota should have fifty million dollars per
manent school fund
A recommendation is made that general an,
uniform law be passed for all boards of educa
ton and that all slch corporations report as
class separately These are soma of the lead
ing features of the report