The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1885-05-01
new rna nav seHaeI Law WORKS.

apportionment OF school, funds srising
from the four mill tax levied each year.
Under the old Law this county school
fund vas distributed among the several
districts Of the, county in proportion to
the number Of pupils In each district
over the age Of 1 and under 20 years.
Under the new Law the county school
superintendent Is required TO FIRST ap'
portion $50 to each district in his
county without regard to the number
of pupils, after which he Ii TO apportion
the remainder Of the fund among the
several districts Of his county in pro-
portion to the number OF pupils in each
between the ages Of and 20. The
object OF this change in the law was to
help tho weak districts at the expense
Of the strong,-we mean weak and
strong financially, but IL quite often
fails to secure the object. There are
districts whose people are far less able
to support and maintain schools tAsn
others of equal numbers Of pupils, and
yss uxs0auOu unuor -a.ss law II
the same in both cases. Under this
law the following districts will lose in
the amounts of funds they reCsive un-
der the Apportoipmenta as made by Super
intendent Reid which apportionnent We
publish in another column
No. l loses $40. No. 1 loses els.
No. 8 (Albany,) loses s509. No. 7
loses $i9. No. loses SCI. No. IL
loses 81. Ne. Is loses sls. No. 10
loses So. No. 16 loses $l5s. No. II
loses e35. No. 90 loses $25. No. 25
loses So. No. &c loses s24. No. 81
loses e.. No. SO loses GA. No. SO
loses 81. No. 81 loses s47. No. SO
loses sl2. No. IL loses s72. No. ~
loses $1ls. No. SO loses s6l. No SIS
loses %. No. IS loses sS. No. "a
loses $45. No. 95 loses s3.
It will be seen from this that twenty-
Ave districts ia the county lose under
che new Law while the others all gain.
We think il safe TO say that there are
districts which lose, that even under
che old Law were less able to maintain
. nix months school in each year than
other districts which gain under this
new Law. Last year District No. 5,
IAlbany,) was assessed of the four mill
tax $500 and drew $23o0, thus pay
ing in $500 more than it drew out.
This $500 was distributed among the
other districts of the county. Under
the new law Albany viii pay into the
county school fund at least $1,000 more
than she will get back.
The cause Of 30 many weak districts
in the county 10 not 20 much sttIibut-
able to the poverty Of the people as to
the smallnsss Of the districts. Il would
appear to the intelligent abserver Of the
workings Of our school system that
ordinarily no school district should be
organized with less than forty persons
between the ages of four and twenty
years, which would enable such dis
tricts to place about 2T pspils in their
schools. OF course there might be cir
cumstances under which is would be
best for individuals, and the public as
vel, that smaller districts should be or
gsnizsd bat the cases are rare. Now
what are the facts az TO this county.
We have 81 organized districts in the
county, ~ of which have less than 40
persons bstween the ages Of 4 and 20.
Thirty-thrse have less than thirty-fve
Twsnty-ons have less than thirty.
EleYen have 25 and less. About seven.
elsvenths of these bstween the ages of
four and twenty enroll themselves in
the schools, hence district that has 3S
will enroll 90. A district that has 25
will enroll Is.
The daily average attendance Of dis
trict schools is about five-sevenths of
the number enrolled. Hence . dis
triet of forty persons between the ages
Of and 20 will have an average daily
attendance Of Is. A district of 80 will
have an average daily attendance Of IA.
It will therefore be seen that one third
Of the districts Of the county will have
an average daily attendance of less than
l5 pupils. Bat q teacher can teach SO
pupils about as we'll as 90. Il will be
seen from this thai large number Of
districts are toe small. If made larger,
the expense to each patton would be
less, and there would be no call for the
passage of law that will give some
districtsionly S2.64 per scholar while it
gives to others IS and Sc per scholar.
Corneliua Sehenck has haAn annoink