The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1927-05-27
SCHOOL SYSTEM
ONE OF GREATEST
Education of Minnesota Children
Has Been Well Provided for
Schools Are Excellent
BY J. M. MCCONNELL
Commissioner of Education

Minnesota's public school system
is administered under the direction of
State Board of Education of five
members, who are appointed by the
Governor, and whom the law pro-
vides shall be representative citizens
of the state, holding no other state
office and not employed in any state
institution. The Board elects the
Commissioner of Education, who is
its secretary and executive officer.
He is likewise an ex-officio member
of the Board of University Regents
and Of the State Teachers College
Board, of which he is also secretary.
The other members Of the Department
are elected by the Board on the
recommendation of the Commissioner.
Locally, the schools are administer
ed under district school boards, elect.
ed by the people, except that in a
few Of the larger counties. county
boards of education have charge of
education in what is known as unor-
ganized territory.
Enrolment Is Large
The public schools enroll approx
mately $4,000 pupils and employ
around $4,000 teachers. The ratio of
teachers to pupils Is higher, due to
the large number Of small one-room
schools. There are, in round num-
bers, 1900 one-room schools, of which
about 5000 enroll fewer than twenty
pupils each, and perhaps 500 of these,
fewer than ten.
There are two methods provided in
law by which this situation can be
relieved. The first is by the usual
process of consolidating several dis
tricts (not less than twelve sections)
into one, with central school, to
which pupils who live beyond walking
distance are transported. The second
is when the school board closes its
own school and pays for the instruc-
tion of its children in the neighbor
ing school, transporting them when
they live beyond walking distance. In
this plan, the district retains its
identity and draws the usual aids
from the state. The process of con.
solidation by the first method has
been slow, due, in part, to economic
depression, and, in larger measure,
to the widespread misapprehension
that consolidated schools are neces-
sarily more expensive. This impress
sion has come about because q few
communities have made the mistake
of building beyond their needs, or
because of economic reverses and
loss In valuation after their obliga.
lions were incurred. AS matter of
fact, in the state as whole, tax
rates in consolidated schools are not
higher than in other schools which
do the same grades of work. The
second method, obviously temporary
in its nature, saves in money and is
growing in use.
Many Fine High Schools
During the last school year there
were in the state 258 fully accredited
state high schools, and 1874 high
school departments likewise giving
high school courses. There were en-.
rolled a total, in round numbers, of
$4,000 high school students, of whom
1850, or II per cent graduated.
In 1915, there were enrolled 42,400,
and $500, or Is per cent, graduated.
The increase in high school enroll.
ment, over this period of eleven years,
has been SO per cent, and in gradua-
tion, 131 per cent. It is evident that
the tendency is growing, in all classes
of schools, to remain in school and
complete the prescribed courses, go
ing on to the next higher institution
On school maintenance, in the ag-
gregate, about Is per cent is paid by
the state, the balance being local
levy fixed by each district in the
form of direct property tax. The
amount paid by the state, under it's
various laws, and distributed under
the direction of the State Department
of Education, aggregates around $10,-
100000. annually.
The states contribution comes from
three funds. The first is the Endow-
ment Fund, which consists of the in.
come from the Permanent School
Fund, producing annually almost ST.
10000. The second is the Current
School Fund, which comes from a
statewide one-mill tax, producing not
far from s2,000,000. annually. The
third is the Special State Aid Fund,
which is appropriated biennially by
the Legislature. It Is paid from the
General Revenue Fund of the state
which Is made up, on the average, of
about one-fourth direct tax and three
fourths from other sources of income,
such as gross earnings taxes on rail.
roads, insurance companies, telephone
and telegraph companies, etc., also
inheritance taxes and taxes on iron
ore.
This fund varies in amount from