The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1897-10-07
The Use Of School Money.
What the state Superintendent Of Schools Says
Of II

What the state Superintendent Of Schools Says
OF 1t.
The State Superintendent of public
schools has issued circular to the sew
eral municipalities in the State in regard
to the local school funds. 1t was an old
Massachusetts regulation thata thousand
acres of land in every township should be
reserved as school lands. At that time
Maine had three counties, York, Cumber-
land and Lincoln, and the unsettled por-
lions of the State were called the ''East-
ern Lands" In 1888, a new law was
passed to encourage the settlement of the
eastern Lands.' 1t provided that in
the disposition of all towns thereafter
four lots of 800 acres each should be re-
served. OF the reservations thus made
and their uses the Superintendent says:
The first was ''for the first settled min
ister' in the township and was known as
the minister lott The second was for
the ''use of the ministry and known as
the ministerial lot. The third was for
the support of the common schools in
that township and became known as the
''school lot" while the fourth was re-
served 'for the future disposition of the
State" and was known as the estate
lot" By the articles of separation of
1920, when we became an independent
State, it was provided that Maine should
carry out all the regulations regarding the
sale and settlement of the wild lands, en-
braced in the plan originally adopted by
Massachusetts, unless the consent of the
| Sflfn oh n1, ,11
policy. Consequently for several years
after Maine became State, in the sale or
grants of all Maine towns for whatever
purpose, these several lots were reserved
in accordance with the plan adopted in
17SS. In 1882 Maine changed the law pro-
viding for the disposition Of these lots for
various purposes, to take effect when
Massachusetts consented to the arrange
ment BY the new law the minister's
claim was ignored except in cases where
| the title had become vested; for by the
new provision all the land reserved in each
new township (the acreage having been
previously changed TO l 900 for each full
township), was to be for the support of
| schools in that township.
| The fund created by the sale of grass
and timber from these lots, together with
the money receiv ed for the land itself,
was to be a perma nent fund for the bene-
fit Of the schools The selectmen treas
urer and clerk of the several towns were
constituted a board of trustees to care for
this fund, using the interest only for the
purpose Indicated. In several towns of
the State this fund is still kept intact and
the interest is added each year to the
funds derived from other sources for the
support of schools. In other towns, in
/ 70 CT,
loaned to the town and these towns raise,
in addition to the amounts required by
| law, a sum equivalent to the interest on
| this fund. In still other cases the fund
h; S been used for general town purposes
and all record of it has been either lost or
overlooked. At least they tail to raise
any money for school purposes in addition
to the amount required by law. No town
has ever had the right to appropriate it's
perm 3nent school fund to any use except
to that for which it was originally intend
ed. The law provides that this fund shall
be permanent forever, and every town ac-
cepted this obligation, and towns that
have failed to meet these oblig atons
should restore the funds that have been
misapplied 1t may be well to state in
connection with this subject that in all
unincorporated townships the State is the
trustee and has kept good faith in every
| instance.
These funds belong to the public schools
of the several towns, and if any towns
have Intentionally or ca-elessly allowed
them to be lost or misapplied, the loss
must be made good and the fund restored
to its original amount.
School superintendent will be called
upon to report the amounts of the school
funds in their several towns, how these
funds are invested, the amount of income
derived from them and such other details
as will give complete inventory Of the
original funds and disclose their present
amount and condition.
It is a good thing to call the attention
of the towns to such matters as this. The
local responsibility for schools and the use
of school money is not what it should be
in many parts of Maine. The State does
well by our school system, SO far at least
as the furnishing of money is concerned.
But the towns do not always use to the
best advantage what they have.