The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1890-10-01
Reports OF State Officers.
SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUoATIo

/
| length The first point made under this |
| head Is that the school system Is state sys- |
| TEN. 60 The state has supervision over 1t. |
No one. except the principals Of graded 7,
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 great mistake to con-
slider education az 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 Graz 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 a substitute
for the armed force of Europe. Hence
every child must he trained, at least until
he is intensely loyal to his country, willingly
obedent 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-
tematic steadiness, with an ever-inCreasng
persistence, in the best light of the age con-
Quoted along plainly-detined 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 as affecting the entire com
monwealth." The statute passed by the
legislature at Norwich in 1855, giving $4,000
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
1889, 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 1889 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, Middlebury
r College and Norwich University, and that
congress has recently appropriated immense
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
fence, but the public school is necessity"
p The report of Hon. Edward Conant, state
superintendent of education to the legisla-
t,ra Of 10, cd in of Gta ia
school tax The superintendent then says:
r " 1t is true that every citizen is deeply in
= terested in the education of all the children.
AS surely as a crime against one is a crime
against all-against the state-so surely is
g the right education of every child, III many
| WAYS, a benefit to all. 1t will add to the
, wealth, strength and glory of the state.
But if education is the defence of the re-
public, it should ever be borne in mind that
$ an old ruined school-house is not merely a
e blot on the landscape where it stands, but
3 a wide breach in the walls through which
will come generations of thieves and drunk
ards and paupers, disturbing the peace of
those living in wealth and refinement. a
: mans property is of value to him so long,
: and only so long, as he can hold it and en-
-, Joy it: a mans house is his castle so long,
and only so long. as he can occupy it in
, peace, and that is no longer than the mighty
e potency of law is unimpaired. All history
a proves that law has not the slightest force
i, unless approved by an educated people.
The courts punish crime, but the schools
prevent it, Indeed the courts and the
S orderly administration of justice are posi-
BILE only through the ennoblug influences
of the school. No fair reason can be given
/ why the one should he supported by equal
1 taxation, and not the other"
I The third point made by the superintend-
f ent is that :" the common schools are aided
/, by state taxation in nearly all the states of
u the American Union" Hon. n. II, h.
e Dawson, United States commissioner of
= education in lSS7-S, is quoted as saying
8 " Both the elementary and the higher edu-
J. cation We're provided for by many OF the
early colonies, especially by those of New
: England. And from the time of the first
. land grant for common school purposes 10y
d the congress of l7S5, state aid to education
n has been an acknowledged principle of the
- American people, even those of the most CON
servative individualism conceding in some
S measure the right and duty of the state to
q educate" a table prepared by MIR. Dawson
. giving the revenue per capita OF population
from state taxes devoted to the support OF
i schools is appended to this quotation. By
y this table it appears that Maine raised So
i per capita; New Hampshire, S9.03; Rhode
Island, 1928 Connecticut, S2.l9; New
- York, 1891; Virginia, 81 10; Kentucky
u SOS; Texas S3.47; Ohio, 500; Indiana
81 40; Colorado, SLIP; California. Sll39
f Last year in New York, S3,469 l99W
Is was raised by state taxation for the
q support of the public schools. This wa'
more than one-titth OF their entire eX
II pense. Massachusetts has school fund o
e s., 700, 1852. From this every town whose
s. grand list does not exceed one-half million
= dollars receives annually 500. again
# the Massachusetts mortgage law, if | un
u derstand it, by which the mortgage pay'
taxes where the land is situated, must tenC
n to adjust the burdens of taxation" Yet
with all the state aid given to the smalle
towns, the Massachusetts board of educa
Is ton in their report in 1888 said that " it il
T. the clear duty of the commonwealth to fur
or nish greater peGuniary aid to the poor coun
az try towns" In addition TO the larg
10 amount received by the small towns from
70 the state school fund, the Massachusetts
~ legislature last year granted 200 more Il
rs provide superintendent for them.
ID The fourth point under this head is tina
in of equal taxation, constitutonally consid
~ cred. II our school system is a state sys
- tenn If education is for the public good, on
as constitution, article o, demands equal tax
ly alton" The superintendent makes thi
he interesting resume of the statistics bearing
Al. ~. \.