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REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATION

The requirements for participation in a fund show the direction in which it influences the schools to develop. If the requirements are up to or slightly above the average conditions found in the schools, the fund may serve as an incentive for improvement of the poorer schools. There seems to have been no time when the requirements for participation in the Endowment Fund were much in advance of the average educational conditions. It has, however, been made a means for securing reports from local officials and for maintaining closer relations between the schools and the state department. The requirements for participation are of three kinds: (1) length of school term, (2) qualification of the teacher, (3) reports from teachers and officials.

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For participation in the Endowment Fund, the act of 1861 required a school term of three months taught by a properly licensed teacher." In 1887 the requirement was increased to five months.103 In 1915 the required term was made six months.104 This still stands, although the average length of term for the state in 1914 was eight months.

The Statutes of 1861 provided that the number of scholars should be determined from an annual local report, thus making reports to state officials an implied condition of participation.105 It is to be observed, however, that in 1862106 and again in 1863107 the legislature passed acts extending the time for filing reports of district clerks for participation in the apportionment. In 1862 more specific requirements for reports were added. These provide for a report of school population and apportionment of funds to be made by the county auditor to the superintendent of public instruction.108 A fine of $50 for failure to report is also provided.109 The county superintendent was required to report to the superintendent of public instruction:110 (1) number

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of districts in his county; (2) districts which have made reports to him; (3) length of time a school has been taught in each district by an authorized teacher; (4) amount of money received from each source for use of schools; (5) amount disbursed to each district and amount on hand; (6) number of persons in each district between ages of five and twenty-one, distinguishing between males and females, and numbers that have attended school during one year, and number between fifteen and twentyone years of age; (7) amount of money raised in district and paid for teachers' wages in addition to public money paid therefore; amount of money raised for purchasing school sites, for buildings, hiring, purchasing, repairing, insuring, and ornamenting schoolhouses and grounds since date of his report; (8) number of private schools, high schools, colleges, and universities in his county, their condition and resources and the number of teachers and pupils therein.

In 1887 a further enactment required the teacher to make a term report to the county superintendent.111 The teacher's wages were to be withheld until all reports due had been filed. 112

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LAWFUL OBJECTS

The Current School Fund has always been used primarily for the payment of teachers' wages. Until 1878, the law of 1856 remained in effect. This permitted the use of the fund "for necessary repairs of the schoolhouse and for defraying the actual expenses needed for holding schools therein, provided that enough money [was] reserved to pay the teachers' wages." Naturally, this encouraged many districts to pay as low wages as possible. In 1877, the law provided that money in the county treasury from the Current School Fund should be used only in payment of teachers' wages, including board. The present law forbids the use of the Current School Fund for any other purpose than the payment of teachers' wages and further makes any treasurer personally liable for the amount of the teachers' wages if he has used such moneys for any other purpose.115

No changes have been made in the forbidden uses or the penalties for misuse of the funds. Present provisions governing these points are discussed in Chapter II.

111 Laws of Minn. Relating to Public Schools, 1881 p. 18.

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CHAPTER V

HISTORY OF SPECIAL STATE APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE SUPPORT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS

IN MINNESOTA

Since 1878 the State of Minnesota has made special appropriations for state aid to certain types of schools, departments, and districts. These have been either special or annual appropriations; and the money has sometimes been distributed on a sliding scale according to enrollment, number of teachers, or some other basis, but more often has been awarded in flat sums. These appropriations have grown in number, size, and importance. No title was provided for them until 1915. The laws of that year contain the following provision:

For the purpose of aid to public schools there shall be established the following state funds: . . The Annual Fund, which shall consist of the sums appropriated by the legislature for special aid to public schools or departments in the schools.1

The moneys of the Annual Fund have always been paid to school districts as such. The district first complies with certain requirements and then receives the special aid. The law has never made any requirements as to the use of the money apportioned. It can not be used for the purchase of buildings or sites, but aside from that, no direction is given as to its expenditure. It is added to the moneys available for school use and is not treated as a separate fund.

The Annual Fund has attracted much attention and discussion. Beginning with the high school as the only object. benefited by it, it has been extended until it now reaches no less than twenty-one types of schools, districts, and instruction. Its appropriation and administration have been changed very little if any; its benefits have been extended further and further as will be seen by reference to Table XVII, page 57.

There are three reasons which probably contributed to the growth of this form of aid. It has usually been so administered as to contribute to the direct and conspicuous improvement of the schools. The amounts were sufficient to be a distinct and

1 Gen. Laws of Minn., 1915 chap. 296 sec. 1 p. 416.

appreciable aid to the districts receiving them, which resulted in enlisting the enthusiastic support of the districts and consequently favored the development of this general policy. It was possible to make these appropriations from year to year without increasing the amount of school taxes levied, that is, it was not necessary for the legislature to make a separate levy to raise these moneys, since they, like other appropriations, were drawn from the ever-increasing general revenues. Educators were pleased with the improvement in the schools; districts receiving or desiring to receive apportionments were satisfied by the financial help; and the taxpayer was not alarmed by a proposal to double or triple the state school tax. For all of these reasons, no very keen analysis of the extension of the system seems to have been made.

It is of significance, also, that the legislature has put practically only one check upon the State High School Board in the disbursement of the Annual Fund. In 1911 it forbade the use of the total days of attendance as a basis for apportionment. This basis is one which Cubberley recognizes as valuable,3 and is one of the two bases recommended in 1914 by the Public School Commission. This provision does not appear in the school laws for 1915.

The number of new schools qualifying for aid each year has been so great that there have been large deficits in the Annual Fund. The $150,000 set aside from the proceeds of the state 1-mill school tax is not sufficient to cover these deficits. It has been customary to apportion the available money pro rata among the schools qualifying, and to ask the next session of the legislature to appropriate money to cover the deficits. The increase in the amount of this deficit has been a source of inconvenience and alarm and is one of the evident defects of the present system.

In 1914 the Public School Commission appointed by the legislature reported that the system of rural-school aid should be revised. The legislature ignored the recommendations of

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2 Ibid., 1911 chap. 61 sec. 1 p. 79.

3 E. P. Cubberley, School Funds and Their Apportionment p. 252. Public Education Commission, Report to the Governor, 1914 p. 24.

5 Ibid. p. 25.

this commission. In 1917 the governor vetoed a bill appropriating $1,070,000 to pay the deficit in state aid for 1916-17. In explanation of this, he wrote, "It is generally admitted that the state-aid plan should be changed. The need of a change is one reason why I vetoed the school-aid item referred to." He then appointed a committee to make recommendations for changes in the school laws. It is expected that the report of this committee will be presented to the next session of the legislature. The welfare of the schools is at stake in this matter, and the action of the legislature is of vital importance.

The administration of special state aid to public schools in Minnesota has always been in the hands of the State High School Board. A brief account of this board and its work is necessary to any discussion of state aid.

The State High School Board was created in 1878,7 the same year in which special aid was first granted. This board, as provided by law, consisted of the superintendent of public instruction, the president of the University, and one member appointed by the governor. Its function was "to establish any necessary and suitable rules and regulations relating to examinations, reports and other proceedings under this act."s

Three years later, in 1881, the powers of the board were extended by an act providing that "The High School Board shall have full discretionary power to consider and act upon applications of schools for state aid, and to prescribe the conditions upon which said aid shall be granted, and it shall be its duty to accept and aid such schools only as will, in its opinion, if aided, efficiently perform the service contemplated by law."9

In 1895, when special aid was granted to normal-training departments in high schools, the president of the Board of Normal Schools was made a member of the State High School Board.10

6 Gov. J. A. A. Burnquist, Statement by Governor Relative to State Aid to Schools and a Veto of a Portion Thereof p. 3.

7 Gen. Laws of Minn., 1887 chap. 92 sec. 1 p. 154.

8 Ibid.

9 Ibid., 1881 chap. 61 sec. 1 p. 62.

10 Ibid., 1895 chap. 186 p. 453.

The State Board of Education mentioned in the statutes has never been organized. Its duties are performed by the State High School Board and the State Superintendent. (See Laws Relating to Public Schools in Minn., 1915 sec. 209 p. 65.)

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