The Opelousas courier. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1852-1910, 1890-04-05
The Free School System
Times Democrat, March 10.

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That the public school system OF
Louisiana is inadequate is not q mat
ter for discussion it is q self-eyldent
of the State. This is especially true in
all the interior parishes where the
school fund derived from State taxa
ton is not supplemented by local ap-
preparations from municipal councils
or police juries. And with striking
emphasis does it make itself felt where
the population is sparse or widely scat
tered in the rural districts, SO that the
meagre found is soon exhausted in the
pay of teachers who are compelled by
the necessities of the case to give their
time and attention to limited number
of pupils for few months in the year,
or worse still, in those communities,
remote from centres of population,
which are entirely deprived of all bene-
fits of free education.
These thoughts are suggested by data
kindly furnished by Hon. Jos. A.
Beaux, State Superintendent of Public
Education, which give in detail the
school statistics for the year 1899, en-
bracing all the parishes except Tensas.
| This report shows total of about $780,
900 pupils enrolled, with an average at
tendance of only little over 10000, or
more than 80 per cent who receive no
benefits from the free school fund.
With this large percentage OF absence,
which in some degree tended to
lengthen the terms, the schools were
kept open only five months in the year,
and even this brief period would have
been considerably shortened if the pay
of teachers had not been reinforced by
| local funds. Another feature of the
report is the scanty compensation of
the teachers, who constitute not only
an honorable corps of workers but q
more numerous class than most people
suppose, there being in all 1884 on the
rolls for the year, of whom 1909 were
white and 725 colored. The average
pay of these teachers was slightly in
excess of $50 per month, and this for
only five months in the year.
This exhibit will not surprise the
people of the State; in fact, it is, per-
| haps, better than the most of them
expect. ,.for the total fund for the edu-
cation of the 10000 children within
| the scholastic ages derived from State
revenues is only $329,000 a year, or
So 6S for each pupil if all attended the
schools, and only few cents over So
each for the 10000 children who did
attend.
With 10000 educable children absent
| from the public schools it is fair to as
sume that they represent approximate
! ly the number of illiterates of their
generation who will in few years
grow to manhood and wOmanhood, and
be merged into the general citizenship
of the State.
| There are two ether statements
made in Superintendent BreauX's re-
| port which are more startling than the
| Syrok pracnnfa1 thnuOh foirlu
deducible from them. The first is that
it will require twice as many schools
as are now provided by the State to
| educate the illiterates; and second,
| that the sum necessary to maintain
the schools we now have for eight
months in the year is $S0O,000, or more
than double the fund now available.
| In the above computation no cODsid-
Grafton is given to the fact that the
total enrolment of colored children in
the State falls about $4,000 short of
the total enrolment Of white children,
whereas the two races are nearly equal
in numbers in the State, and the dis
crepancy in the scholastic census ought
hardly to be apparent.
| It is a grave question, not readily
answered, what betterment II its school
system the State, ,afF louisiana, by the
proposegh be,l.faEe. It is the settled
polin fectsfll liberal and enlightened
Sand gsf provide free education for
6und ityouth, and Louisiana cannot af-
dford to ignore its duty in this respect.
| Education is the very basis of republi-
can liberty and the great motor of
| human progress, without which nations
| retrograde and lapse into primitive
civilization. At this juncture, on the
| threshold of perhaps new era OF her
development, it would be almost suici-
daI for Louisiana to neglect her public
school system, not only on account of
the growing illiteracy of her own chill
dren. but because the new population
| from other States lately settled here,
notably in the Southwestern parishes,
and Others who will soon seek homes
among us, are so accustomed to the
benefits Of ample free school facilities,
that they will not be satisfied with
limited advantages under which their
children may grow up in ignorance.
To parents, pupils and teachers this
| is q question of grave Importance, and
| hardly less so to the publcist and
philanthropist, who look with disfavor
/ on whatever tends to retard the pro-
gress of education and enlightenment.
| The system we now have is in good
hands, and Superintendent Breaux can
be relied on to develop it to the high
est efficiency possible under the cir
cumstances. What the schools need is
more money and plenty of money, but
how to provide it is problem not
easily solved. This duty devoives on
the Legislature, and at its coming ses-
sion it is hoped that plans will at least
be inaugurated to put the educational
system Of the State on a solid, progress
sive and permanent basis.