The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-08-25
EDUCATIONAL BILLS
 PASSED BY LEGISLATURE
Summary of Work Done at This Session to Improve
 School System of State
Will Be Two Trades Schools


 When the commission on education
 had finished their work of investiga- tton and had come to substantial agreements as to the needs Of the Con
 nectlcut school system. at least two courses were open to them. They might present to the general assembly of 1909 an elaborate code. designed to sweep away all existing legislation. and to substitute therefor a new. con
 sistent body of school laws embodying
 the opinions of the commission: or they might introduce several bills aimed at specific evils or intended to introduce specific reforms. The for
 mer course was alluring but the com missioners had lived in Connecticut for a long time and concluded that the sweeping measure which they would sibly be enacted. Changes and inn provements are not brought about in that manner in our older and more conservative states. So separate bills
 was expected, have met with various fortunes in the two houses of the as sembly.
 It appears now, at the close of the session. that seven important bills have been passed. each of which will modify the school system materially. 1. The state board of education has been reorganized. 2. The scope of territorial supervi- sion has been enlarged. though not in the manner proposed by the commis- sion. It is believed that this will help the smaller schools. and. in particular, that it will bring men into closer con- tact with schools in which the teach ing is done exclusively by women. | 3. A definite scholastic standard has been established which all children finder sixteen must attain before they can be released to undertake regular labor.
 4 The number of towns eligible for the pecuniary assistance of the aver age attendance grant" has been in creased and provision has been made for distributing this money on plan which seems fairer than the old one 5. An act. with accompanying ap- |propriation. has been passed, intended to provide trained teachers for the
 small towns. This Is effected through the establishment of prize scholarships in the normal schools. the benef1ciaries
 to be selected by the state board from the small towns. and to be trained un- der an agreement that they shall teach not less than three years in the small towns.
 6. Two public trade schools are to be established forthwith by the state board in 'localities selected by that
 board This undertaking is under Ob-
 servation by the whole country Its success will mark a most imports mt step in public education.
 2. By the adoption of the town
 pcanagemenr bill the school districts fn the world are now reduced to those found in cities and boroughs in Con-
 nectfcut. In most of, the municipali-
 ties tho educational questions are so
 interlocked with financial questions that the abolition of districts is likely to proceed slowly. and it would be hardly fair to force consolidation by
 legislative enactment. The adoption
 of town management in some of our cities would at once reveal the real amount of city debt-a thing not con-
 tenplated with eouanimity by hnan- ciers
 The bill whose failure is most re- gretted by the commission and by the legislative committees on education is that providing for state certificates as a condition of eligibility for all teach CTS.
 Probably this bill was not wisely drawn At all events. 1t has been op- posed bv those who are jealous of state control. and also by those who resent the necessity of recognizing the eligibility of all teachers now em-
 passed unanimously in the Senate, failed in the House. It has been tabled for reconsideration. but at this writ
 ing it's prospects are said not to be encouraging
 Perhaps the town management sys- tenn may help to remove some of the more glaring abuses of a method un- der which incompetent and uneducat- ed teachers have been able to secure
 Other bills. less important that
 have failed. are those providing for the pensioning of teachers. for closing schools of less than twelve pupils and for state inspection of schoolhouses.
 Altogether the educational campaign
 has been an active one. Good ought
 to come of it.