The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1890-10-04


readiustment OF the division of public school
moneys be made so that small districts shall
get larger share than they now receive.
Mr.. Hall of Windham county thinks the
discouraging features to contend with are
the frequent changes of teachers, the lack
of apparatus, the short length of terms, the
low average of attendance, and the dsre-
gard of punctualty on the part of both
teachers and pupils. There are too many
small schools in the county, and the town
system is the remedy for this defect Com
mittees and citizens should visit schools
oftener and Judge for themselves what is
being done and If there is any ground for
the complaints preferred. Several teachers
have attended the summer school at Glens
Falls, and many attended other educational
gatherings, from which much good must
arise. The results have come up to expecta-
tions, and the outlook is promising. He
believes that supervisors should be em-
powered to appoint members OF the county
board to conduct examinations, and that
those who apply for special examinations
should pay for it,
Mr. Dunbar of Windsor county has with
his assistant Mr.. Reyes held teachers
meetings in nearly every town in the
county, which have been productive of much
good, A substantial gain has been made
in the condition of the schools. This is due
to more searching examinations which
have thinned out the poorer material to
better wages which have called out better
class of teachers, and an inspiration which
ought to be forthcoming wherever needed.
Furniture and appurtenances of the most
rudimentary kind are too often the rule.
The standard of public opinion in regard
to what constitutes good school should
be raised.
Under the subject of Small schools " the
superintendent ives a table in which the
following otals occur: Number of districts
of not more than p weeks of school, ,1T5
number of districts of 80 or more weeks of
Nh m ar ,f sol in sol nla pf
24 weeks, $500; number of scholars n
schools of 80 or more weeks, 36 ,246 average
rate per cent of district taxes, $40; average
rate per cent in districts of a weeks of
school, 80; average rate per cent in districts
of 80 or more weeks of school, $50; number
of districts having charts, reference books,
etc, 1,20S. Referring to some of the figures
contained in these tables, the superintendent
says: "View the situation from any point,
compare district with district, town with
town, or county with county, the same gross
inequality runs through the entire system.
| No one in particular is at fault because of
this state of things. During the last thirty
| or forty years it has gradually grown upon
us. Both wealth and population, through
various causes, have been steadily increas-
ing in the villages, while both to sou ex-
| tent have been growing less in the rural
| communities. This has produced a great
change in the relative amount of the grand
| lists of localities in the same town, and in
the towns of the state, and consequently
necessitates a change in the law relating to
school taxation. And, after studying, or at
| least attempting in good faith to study, this
question in all its bearings, / recommend the
following: First, state tax to equalize tax
alton among the towns second, the town
system to equalize taxation among the dis
tricts; and third, a combination of several
hundred of the smaller districts"
The matter OF state tax to equalze tax
alton among the towns is first discussed at
length. The first point made under this
head is that the school system is a state sys-
tenn " The state has supervision over it.
No one, except the principals of graded
schools, can teach unless authorized by an
officer paid by the state. The state compels
the attendance OF the child in school for
| twenty W eks each year from eight to four
teen years of age. The state also, through
its agents, prescrbes courses of study and
regulations for the schools. And this is
clearly right. 1t is a great mistake to con-
slider education as merely affecting localities.
All of our statesmen and scholars have ever
regarded it as indispensable to the existence
of the republic" The superintendent here
quotes Washington, General Ora t, Horace
Mann, Lord Bacon and John Stuart Mill
in support of this position, adding: Nothing
is clearer than this the only way of shap
ing the future of our country by perpetu-
ating her institutions, is by shaping the
moral, political and religious opinions of
our children. This can be done only through
education, which, with us, is substitute
for the armed force of Europe. Hence
every child must be trained, at least until
he is intensely loyal to his country willingly
bbedient to her laws, ever respectful of
the rights of Others and is capable of elf
education and self-support. This is not only
cheaper, but infinitely better than prisons
or poorhouses or armed forces. Therefore,
education must be conducted with sys-
tematc steadiness with an ever-increasing
persistence in the best light of the age, con-
Quoted along plainly detned lines, with the
interest not only of the child, but also the
interest of the state clearly and constantly
in view"
The second point is that " the history Of
our state is proof that education has ever
been regarded affecting the entire COM
monwealth." The statute passed by the
legislature at Norwich in 1885, giving $1,000
acres TO Dartmouth College, referred TO the
importance of the institution to the COM
monwealth in particular" Section IS of
the revised statutes of the state, passed in
1899, makes provision for the use of moneys
from the property of the state banks from
the six per cent tax on the net profits of the
banks chartered by the state banks, and
from licenses to peddlers, for the support
of the common schools of the town.
have not examined the records to learn how
much money was raised under this statute,
or, if any, how it was distributed. 1t is
quoted merely to show that the Legislature
in 1899 thought that state aid should be
granted to the common schools. 1t was an
appropriation of state funds for public
school purposes; and hence, to a certain eX-
tent, it was equalizing taxation among the
towns. The reservation of lands in nearly
all the towns for school purposes had the
same effect" The superintendent notes
the fact that the state at this time is paying
money to aid the University of Vermont,
the State Agricultural College, Mddlebury
College and Norwich University, aud that
congress has recently appropriated immense
sums of money for the benefit of the agri-
cultural colleges. Provision it is added, is
also made for the education and support of
the unfortunate. Under Nos. IL and Is
of the Public Acts of 1884, many thousand
dollars have been drawn from the state
treasury to assist towns excessively bur-
dened in building and repairing highways
and bridges. The highways are a conven-
ience hnt the Nh hlic schnnl is a nacessiLY.M