Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1893-06-09
The Free Text Bill.


izing School Directors to purchase school
books out of the district fund, approved
June twenty-fifth, one thousand eight
hundred and eighty-fve, by requiring
School Directors or Controllers to furnish
school books and other school supplies
free of cost.
Section l. Be it enacted by the Senate
and House of Representatives of the Com,
monwealth of Pennsylvania in General
Assembly met and it is hereby enacted by
the authority of the same that section
first of said act that reads as follows:
0Thst School Directors or Controllers may
purchase text books for use in the public
schools of their respective school districts
ont Of the school funds Of the district, and,
when 30 procured, the necessary books
shall be supplied free of cost to each pupil
for use in the schools of said district, sub
ject to the orders of the Directors thereof,
whose duty it shall be to provide for the
safe keeping and care of the books, which
shall be returned at the close OF the annual
school term in each year, or as the Board
NAV direct" be and the same is hereby
amended so as to read as follows:
Section l. That School Directors or Con
trolors shall purchase text books and other
necessary scientific and mechanical sup
plies for use in the public schools OF their
respectiye school districts out OF the school
finds of the district, and that at least one
third of all books be provided each year
until all of the books required are furnish
ed. and, when so procured, the necessary
books and school supplies shall be furnish
ed free of cost to each pupil for use IN the
schools of said district, subject to the or
ders of the Directors thereof, whose duty II
shall be to provide for the safe keeping and
care of the books which shall be returned:
Section 2. That no school district shall
receive its portion of the State approprla-
ton to which it may be entitled until the
provisions of this act shall have been COM
piled with.
Thus it will be seen that before any
school districts in the State shall have re-
ceiyed its portion of the State appropria-
ton for the year ending May IL, 1874, SO
much of the provisions OF this Dill snaii
have been complied with as to cause them
to have secured at least the one-third OF all
the books required for the use OF the pupiis
in their respective districts. AS there is
nothing in the bill debarring them, they
may if they desire, secure all at the oe-
ginning, that is to say, commence the
School term this Fall, With a supply suf-
ficent to furnish free text books to all OF
the pupils. The bill is not clear as to the
boundeu duty of Board Of Directors, OF
what thew shall or shall not do before the
full amount of books necessary to furnish
all pupils with books and supplies shall
have been procured, but it is reasonable To
suppose that they will not let them lie
dormant, but that they will furnish books
as needed to the extent of their supply;
and it is scarcely probable that in any dis
trict the supply of one-third Will not be
sufficient to obliviate the necessity OF any
further purchase of school books on the
part of the pupil, as large proportion OF
the books owned by them will be ut foI
service, and with the spirit of cooperation
properly exercised, they can be made to
bridge over the partial supply. The care
that the Directors should take Of the books
which should be returned is little am
bipuously stated, but it certainly cannot
be- reasonably construed to mean other
than that they shall provide for the safe
keeping and care of the books returned at
the close of an annual term, or when a
pupil shall withdraw from the school or Tor
any cause cease to need them. Whilst the
bill may be subject to some criticism; and
which it undoubtedly is, yet 1t Is an ad-
vance step and will undoubtedly prove a
great blessing to many. We would nave
liked that it lad gone further ana provio,
ed for the publication of the books by the
State and the furnishing OF them at cost 70
the various School Boards. THIS wouid
have necessitated uniform series of text
books in each principal method of school
work but we can see no objection to this,
can rather see many advantages; the bar
tering and dickering Of every ambitious
author for the introduction of his books
would have been avoided, and the best
thought would have been brought to bear
in selecting series that would have been
open to the least criticism, and pupils who
might by any exigency be transferred to
another school would only be continuing
the same line of education under different
instructors, and thus time not only be
saved. but better results secured But a
-stfff moro important result would have
been attained, the middle man would have
been avoided, and with the very large num-
Der to be printed, every safeguard having
been thrown around their publication, the
minimum cost would have been reached,
thus making material saving to every
School Board. The objection that the di-
versiied books now in use would nave
made the adoption Of a uniform series i'm
practionable could have been overcome by
not having the law operated in districts
where the books in use were not the same
as the adopted series till the Directors
were ready to suppy each pupil with
books, which as now provided for, cannot
exceed three years, but which might have
been reduced to meet this objection to two
years without timpoverishment to the State.
But the fact remains, we are to have free
text books in our schools, and as We said
at the beginning, we believe the step a
wise one-one that will do much to ad-
vance the cause of education, and Lift a
burden from many who have found it not
only onerous, but who in many cases have
been forced not only to abandon studies
they should have taken, but school itself,
because Of their inability to provide the
necessary text books.-Nep Castle Guard
ian.