Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1920-12-03
SCHOOL CODE BOARD
PRESENTS REPORT
Continued from PAGE One.

Continued from Page One.
inefficient schools lacking equipment,
enrolment, and the assessed valua-
ton necessary to maintain a goui
school In one county last year there
were thirty-seven rural schools III
which the average daily attendance
was from one to six pupils. CD The
district system is wasteful in effect
Numerous school systems employing
one hundred or more teachers are
managed by single boards of from fire
to seven members. In fifteen hundred
districts in this state in 1918-1919 il
required the services of over four
thousand directors to employ if.
teen hundred teachers. At the same
time one board of five members, in
the city of Seattle, was capable Of
employing over fifteen hundred teacl.-
ers. g. The district system is waste
full in money. The per capita cost
Of educating pupils in rural schools.
in spite of lower salaries, poorer
equipment and inadequate super
vision, is greater than in the cities
CD A small unit, such as the distric.
Is unable to pay for professional
supervision. At the present time
successful business enterprises arc
operated on the basis of expert super
vision. (1O) The rural school, organ
lied under the district system, fails
to hold the pupils who enroll and who
might be expected to find the instruc-
ton interesting and profitable. Be
cause of it's many defects it is largely
responsible for the vast army of boys
and girls who attend city schools. Be-
cause of the glazing inequalities that
exist between urban and rural schools
the district system tends to rob the
rural community of the leadership of
/ the brightest boys and girls
These and other criticisms have had
three results:
First: In practically all the states
the powers of the district meeting
and trustees have been curta:led and
limited. The district meeting has
been deprived of the right to desig.
nate the teacher, to select the tex.
books and to determine the subjects
to be taught; the trustees have been
deprived of the right to examine and
certificate teachers.
Second: Every city in the United
States has abandoned the district
system and has organized for educa-
ton as a single unit under one board.
To this fact more than to all others
may be attributed the great progress
made in urban education.
Third: Almost half of the states
(22) have entirely abandoned the
district system. as follows:
Pennsylvania. 1884; Indiana, 1852:
Iowa, 1883; louisiana. 1879; Mass
achusetts. 1882; North Dakota, 1888.
New Hampshire, 1885; North Carol.
ina, 1885: Georgia, 1887; Florida,
1889; Maine. 1892; Ohio. 1899;
Vermont, 1898; New Jersey, 189<:
Alabama, 1908; Rhode Island, 1904;
Tennessee. 1906; Connecticut, 1909;
Utah. 1915; Kentucky, 1918; vir-
ginia, 1919.
In the primative community and
under effective leadership the district
system is a fundamental institution
for initiating and promoting rural
improvements and progress. 1t is
evidently inadequate to present day
needs and conditions. A plan that
will retain the local interest and
spirit and at the same time provide
for maximum educational opportunity
at an equitable cost is an urgent need.
II
The County SUPPLEMENTARY.
The Office of county superintendent
of schools, as 1t exists today, repre-
sents an evolution. Originally some
one was needed by the state to look
after the school lands granted by the
Federal Government. In time this
official acquired other duties. He was
required to keep a record of district
boundary lines; to apportion the In.
come from state school funds; to
collect statistics as to attendance,
expenditures. levies and length OF
school term; to certificate teachers
and, finally, to visit the schools. advise
with teachers and trustees and in
every way to encourage public edu-
cation.
At first the duties of the office
were simple, required no professional
training and little in the way Of edu-
cation, and was filled the same as
other offices, by popular election.
When Washington became State in
1889 this plan of choosing the Chief
County School Officer was borrowed
from the older states and incorporated
/ in our State Laws
During the last few decades marked
changes have taken place in the de-
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