The Republican., 1924-11-06
AN EDUCATIONAL LETTER
From the County Superinten-
dent In Which the Public
Will Be Interested.

bun, of Oakland, recently mailed to
each of the principals and assistant
teachers in the public schools of this
county letter of instruction concern
, ing certain duties they are bound to
perform. The Republican thinks this
letter is of sufficient public interest
that it is published herewith in full:
Maryland School Law Concerning
Census.
''The county board of education
shall, subject to the direction of the
State Superintendent of Schools and
to the rules and regulations of the
State Board of Education, cause to be
taken, under the direction of the coun-
ty superintendent, a biennial school
census of the children of the county
between the ages of six and eighteen
years, inclusive, and the county su-
perintendent shall cause, upon the di-
rection at any time, of the State Su-
any part of any school census of his
county to be retaken.' Estate School
Law, Section 25-M).
"The principal teacher of every
public school in the counties and the
truant officers of the City of Balti-
more shall, within thirty days from
the beginning of the school year, fur
nish the board of county school COM
missioners, or the Board of Education
of Baltimore City, as the case may be,
with the names Of all children who
are deaf, blind OF feeble-minded, be-
tween the ages of six and eighteen
years. inclusive, living within the
boundaries of his or her school dis
trict who do not attend school. And
the Board Of County School Commits
sioners, or Board of Education of Bal
timore City, shall certify forthwith
the names of all such deaf, blind or
feeble-minded children to the respec-
tive principals of the state schools for
such children" (Section 1927.
"Under the direction of the county
superintendent, the attendance officer
shall keep a record OF each child in
the county between the ages of six
and eighteen years, and submit to the
board for the biennial census the
number of such children bylaw
21).
Purposes of School Census.
"The basis Of any complete child
accounting system is the school CEN
sus, taken originally solely for the
purpose of securing revenue from the
State education funds. In recent
years, however, the school authori-
ties have been realizing to a greater
degree its value as a means of en-
fn,ns,,o, oOro,,,,1cC1,I- 1ayzrc
and checking the amount of service,
in terms Of attendance, given by the
community's educational institutions. !"
Adapted from A. B. Moehlman's
Child Accounting, PIP. S1-84.
"The functions OF the school census
are % an index Of the possible
amount of educational service a COM
munity must be prepared to give; (2)
a check on the effectiveness of school
service to the children whom the
State law requires to be in school; 90
a head count as q basis for State
financial aid; (4) basic aid in the
development of building programs;
and (5) a means Of ascertaining the
probable needs for school facilities in
the first grade, by study and consid-
Grafton of age-groups below five
years.
''In order to be of value, the school
census must be continuous. BY con-
tinuous school census is meant an un
interrupted and constant record of
every child under 19 years made orig
inally from head count and checked
constantly against the number be-
longing to and attending the schools
of the county.
''The school census should be taken
of children of ages five to eighteen
years, inclusive, to comply with the
State law, and in addition, should also
include age-groups below five"
The number of children is used in
determining the amount of money to
I allotted to each county from the
State public school budget. A COM
plete census means more money for
the county.
"The remainder of the general pub
lie school fund shall be apportioned
as follows: Two-thirds shall be ap-
portioned on the basis of the popula-
tion between the ages of six and four
teen as given by the Federal census
of 1920, which shall be the basis until
1924, after which time by biennial
school census, etc." (Section 1873,
State School Law
Enclosed you will find instructions
and supplies for taking the census of
enumeration of residents of your par
ticular school district, concerning
which have written you under dates
of October and II, 1924. If you
are principal of school of more than
one teacher, or if you have made
your plans in such way as to have
divided the school district surround
ing your school along with your as
sistant teachers or along with your
high school teachers, then you are to
re-distribuate these instructions and
forms to each teacher in charge of
the section to be enumerated as des-
ignated by you. We are depending
upon this census or enumeration be-
ing complete with your final tabula-
tion of your particular school district
and in this office by November Is,
1924. Enclosed find the following:
l. The Family Blank.
The first form (or field sheet) is
used by the teacher or person who
acts as the enumerator in collecting
necessary information regarding each
family. 1t contains the p1 esent ad-
dress and names of parents, the