LB Class J::]32&^^ Book r^k ^6 \S^.2. ^tat^ of iSI|oti? 3slanJi mxh ^tamhnut piantaltottB REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMISSION ON Public Scliool Finance d AJministration APPOINTED BY RESOLUTION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY APPROVED APRIL 23. 1920 PRESENTED TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY FEBRUARY 28, 1922 PROVIDENCE: E. L. FREEMAN COMPANY, PRTNTEUS 1922 BtuU of Sll?0h? JIalanli nnh l^vamhmct piantattottH REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMISSION ON PoMic School Finance and Aioiinistration APPOINTED BY RESOLUTION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY APPROVED APRIL 23. 1920 PRESENTED TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY FEBRUARY 28, 1922 PROVIDENCE: E. L. FREEMAN COMPANY, PRINTERS 1922 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAR 21 1922 i>tat? of W^l^oht SHlanJi Letter of Transmittal. To the Honorable the General Assembly: In compliance with the requirements of a resolution providing for a survey of public school finance and administration, adopted by the General Assembly at its annual session of 1920, the Commission thereby appointed respectfully submits herewith its report to your honorable body. Howard W. Farnum, Chairman of the Committee on Finance of the Senate. Frederick S. Peck, Chairman of the Committee on Finance of the House of Representatives. Zenas W. Bliss, Chairman of the Board of Tax Commissioners. William C. Bliss, Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission. Walter E. Ranger, Commissioner of Education. Summary of Recommendations. 1. Increase in appropriation for teachers' salaries. 2. Conformity of law and practice in school year and change in time of reports. 3. Uniform system and preservation of school records with pro- visions for complete record of attendance. 4. Statutory provisions governing construction and use of school buildings. 5. Uniform accounting of school revenues and expenditures and annual budget for school expenditures. 6. Fixing responsibility more definitely and adjusting powers to responsibility. 7. Investment of state school fund and use of annual income therefrom. 8. Increase of minimum salary of teachers and provision in case towns are unable to maintain schools of proper standard. 9. Uniformity in approval of attendance of pupils in private schools and required records of attendance therein as in public schools. 10. Protection of schools from interference with school work. STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS. Resolution of the General Assembly (No. 11) Providing for a Survey of Public School Finance and Administration. (Approved April 23, 1920.) Resolved, That in view of the financial and administrative needs of our public schools and the inability of existing law to produce sufficient revenues, the chairman of the committee on finance of the senate, the chairman of the com- mittee on finance of the house of representatives, the chairman of the board of tax commissioners, the chairman of the public utilities commission and the commissioner of public schools are hereby created a special commission and are hereby authorized and directed to make a comprehensive study of school finance and management, both state and municipal, and to suggest practicable improve- ments in law and practice for securing adequate economic support and efficient administration of public education in Rhode Island, and to report thereon to the General Assembly in January, 1921, with its recommendation for legislative action. Resolution of the General Assembly (No. 1) Continuing the Commission on Survey of School Finance and Administration. . (Approved February 1, 1921.) Resolved, That the special commission on survey of school finance and admin- istration created by a resolution entitled "Resolution providing for a survey of public school finance and administration," passed at the January session, 1920, is hereby continued in office and directed to report to the general assembly not later than January 31, 1922. Resolution of the General Assembly Extending the Time op the Com- mission ON Survey of School Finance and Administration to Make its Report. (Approved February 6, 1922.) Resolved, That the special commission created by virtue of resolution number eleven of the General Assembly, passed at the January session, A. D. 1920, for the purpose of making a survey of public school finance and administration, be and the same is hereby continued and directed to report to the general assembly not later than February .28, 1922, with all the authority conferred upon said commission. REPORT OF THE COMMISSION I. Duties of the Commission. Object of the Survey. The Commission assumed the duties assigned it by the General Assembly with the knowledge that it was to examine the operations of a long-established and highly developed system of public educa- tion, not with the object of finding reasons for radical changes in the system or the establishment of a new system but with the aim to ascertain remediable defects in school law and practice and to seek ways and means of improvement in our educational organization with conservation of its integrity. A real crisis in education has been recognized throughout the country as evidenced by a shortage of teachers, of school accommodations and of school funds. While our state has suffered less than some other states from such impair- ment of provisions for school education, critical conditions have obtained and grave questions have arisen, as was clearly shown by the State Board of Education in its report for 1919. In its annual survey the Board of Education had found that "our public schools exhibit a more prosperous condition than might have been expected amid the exigencies of war and its aftermath," that "we have met an emer- gency successfully, for a time, but with impaired resources," that "we have suffered checks on former progress, loss of gains we should have made, influences against future advance, difficulties in the maintenance of past standards and that public school education is facing a threatening deterioration unless more adequate provisions than existing conditions promise be made for school accommodations and instruction." Urged by such conditions and issues, the Board of Education appealed to the General Assembly for larger state support of public education and requested the appointment of a commission "to study school finance and to suggest possible im- provements in law and practice for a true economic support of public education, both state and municipal." The solution of such prob- lems was assigned to this Commission as the object of its study. Meetings of the Commission. The Commission met in September, 1920, and organized with the Commissioner of Education as chairman and the Chairman of the Board of Tax Commissioners as secretary. Plans were formed for a comprehensive study of the economic and administrative aspects of our school system; and arrangements made for obtaining facts pertinent to the inquiry and printed material bearing on questions at issue and their presentation to members of the Commission. Subsequently the time available was found to be too limited to allow the Commission to make its report in January, 1921, and the General Assembly passed a resolution continuing the Commission in office for another year. For a time, because of other official duties of its members, the Commission had held meetings infrequently and its work was chiefly investigations by individual members with the collection of facts by the chairman and secretary, but in the autumn of 1921 regular meetings were held for several weeks, until its work was near completion. Character of its Work. The Commission has made a comprehensive study of both law and practice relating to school revenues and expenditures and also of the official organization, both state and municipal, for the administration of our educational enterprise. It has recognized the state's supreme duty under the constitution to insure proper school education for all its children and youth, and the function of the General Assembly to determine and maintain by law a competent school organization both general and local. It further recognizes the obligation of the General Assembly to determine what part jn the support of schools the state and the town or city shall each bear and what responsibility in the administration of schools shall be assigned to state and what to municipal officials, mindful of both the principle of local control and the constitutional obligations of the state. The existing school system being fundamentally sound in principle and law, attention has been given to the workings of certain laws that have failed to function properly or have been outgrown, to the need of new legis- lation to meet new or changing conditions, and to legislative means to remedy defects in the law and to secure more consistent and effective statutory provisions. Questions at issue have been thor- oughly discussed and conclusions reached after searching inquiry and deliberation. School finance has been investigated in its different aspects. The practice of towns in raising school revenues and accounts of expenditures have been sul^jected to critical exami- nation. State appropriations and their distribution, together with questions of their effectiveness and increase, have been carefully considered. Where the present impracticability of certain desirable solutions to existing problems has presented itself, the Commission has turned its attention to such things as offered an opportunity for immediate improvement. Its work has been performed with the single purpose of directing its results toward practicable suggestions to provide more adequate school revenues and better management of schools. It has not sought to expand its recommendations, but to limit them to pressing need and obvious improvement. II. Conditions of School Finance and Administration. State-Town System of Schools. It should be remembered in considering the question of public education that our laws provide for a distributed responsibility in the support and control of public schools. Ours is a state-town system. It was created and is governed by laws enacted by the General Assembly; all its various offices have been established and the duties and powers of all its officers, state ofBcials, school com- mittees, superintendents and teachers, are defined by these laws. Local school officers and teachers, though appointed by municipalities as provided by law, execute a trust for the State and administer schools in the interests not only of their communities but also of all the people of the state. As a fruition of our civic experience, our law-makers have learned to assign to state administration those functions that may best be performed for the several communities alike and to local control the direct management of schools, uniting the public interest of education in a single state-town system with distributed responsibilities. The General Assembly is responsible for a wise assignment of powers and duties in our school system and for its integrity and effectiveness so far as they may be promoted by law. The General Assembly determines the amounts the state shall expend for support of public schools and places the respon- sibility of the remaining support upon towns and cities. State support of public schools might range from nothing to one hundred per cent. In practice among states it varies from 3 to 70 10 per cent. To determine the proper relation between state and municipal expenditures for public education is a vital question of school finance. School Finance. State Support of Public Schools. x\t the beginning of the existing system of public schools, instituted by the act of 1845, the state appropriation provided for one-half the expenditures for teachers' salaries, and the requirement of existing law that a town must raise for the support of schools a sum equal to the amount received from the State indicates public opinion of that time on relative state support of schools. The annual state appro- priation for teachers' salaries was $25,000 from 1844 to 1854. It was gradually increased to $120,000 in 1886 and has remained the same for thirty-five years. Other state appropriations, however, have been available for teachers' salaries in recent years, namely: the annual appropriation for high school instruction, $34,500 in 1921; for increase of teachers' salaries in certain to^Tis, $8,500 in 1921; for evening schools, $18,000 in 1921; and for special support of public schools, $5,000. To these sums may be added $60,000 for teachers' pensions. While the State has not. increased its annual appropria- tion for ''teachers' money," it has, however, made many special appropriations annually in support of public education, as may be seen from the following list for 1921 : Public Schools, "teachers' money" $120,000 00 Increase of teachers' salaries 8,500 00 Supervision of public schools 30,000 00 School apparatus 4,500 00 High and graded schools 34,500 00 Medical inspection 6,500 00 Industrial and vocational education 15,000 00 Public schools, special aid 5,000 00 Evening schools 18,000 00 Promotion of Americanization 3,000 00 Education of injured 5,000 00 Teachers' institutes 500 00 Educational publications 1,500 00 Examination of teachers 3,500 00 Teachers' pensions 60,000 00 Education of bUnd children 10,500 00 Instruction of adult bhnd 3,800 00 11 Free public libraries $13,500 00 Traveling libraries and library visitor 3,000 00 Graduate courses in Brown University 5,000 00 Phj'sical examination of children for employment 8,000 00 Emplojment badges 100 00 Rhode Island College of Education 90,000 00 Summer session of Rhode Island CoUege of Education 5,000 00 Mileage for pupils of Rhode Island College of Education 6,000 00 Rhode Island School of Design 25,000 00 Rhode Island College of Pharmacy, scholarships 2,000 00 Rhode Island State College 115,294 06 Rhode Island State College, building 32,024 00 Rhode Island Institute for the Deaf 55,700 00 State Home and School 163,000 00 Exeter School 110,500 00 Sockanosset School 100,500 00 Oaklawn School 18,500 00 Historical societies 2,500 00 Humane societies 8,500 00 Total Sl,093,918 06 State School Revenues. The state school fund now amounts to $256,847.40, from which the income in 1921 was $11,301.25. This small income is mei'ged in the appropriation for "teachers' money." Expenditures for pur- poses of education are paid on appropriations from general funds. Except the income from the school fund the State has no definite school revenues. Rhode Island has never levied a state school tax as many states have successfully done in providing school revenues. Municipal Support of Public Schools. Towns and cities are required by mandatory provisions of law to maintain public schools for thirty-six weeks in each year. It follows that with the limited apportionments of state appropriations towns and cities must find means to maintain schools. With the constant increase in school population and the rapid increase in cost of school maintenance, together with a moderate increase in state appropria- tions, under existing law from year to year a greater relative burden has been laid upon towns and cities until with few exceptions tliey support the state's public schools with hardly more than nominal financial aid from the State. For example, in 1844 the State paid 12 51.72 per cent of teachers' salaries; in 1886, 24.89 per cent; in 1900, 14.13 per cent; and in 1920, 5.24 per cent. Local taxation for schools has risen rapidly in recent years and an increasing share of municipal revenues has been devoted to educational purposes. In the past twenty-five years the school population has increased 60 per cent and school expenditures 240 per cent. Inequality of Taxation in Towns and Cities. Since taxes are the chief source of school revenues and schools must be maintained whether the town's assessed valuation is large or small, great inequality of taxation and a wide variation in the per capita cost of school education have obtained among towns and cities. This inequality among towns is in some degree modified by the distribution of state money and obviously would be lessened by larger state support. An accompanying table shows a comparison of the municipal tax rates for schools, the costs per capita on average membership of pupils in public schools, and the average salaries of teachers in the several towns and cities. The first column of the table, Comparative Cost of Instruction, shows the average appro- priations of towns and cities for three years on their assessed valua-- tion, which may be regarded as a school tax rate; and the second column gives the rank of each municipality in the same. The third and fourth columns give the per capita current costs on average membership, or the number of pupils belonging, for three years and the rating of towns and cities according to amounts. The fifth and sixth columns give the average salaries of teachers for 1920 in the several towns and cities and the rank of each. Because of different standards in fixing assessed valuations and varied methods of ac- counting, the table does not give an accurate comparison of costs; but the wide disparity appearing from the facts (1) that a citizen in one town pays four times the tax a citizen of another town pays, (2) that the per capita cost in one town is twice that in another, and (3) that the average salary of teachers in one municipality is more than three times that in another can be explained only in part by diversity in accounting. The threefold comparison of the table gives approxi- mate results and shows striking contrasts in taxation, per capita cost and the economic recognition of the teacher. 13 Comparative Cost of Instruction. TOWN. Average appropria- tion for 3 years on each $100 of assessed valuation. Rank. Per capita cost on average member- ship for 3 years. Rank. Average salary of teachers. Rank. Barrington Bristol Burrillville Central Falls Charlestown Coventry Cranston Cumberland East Greenwich . . East Providence. . Exeter Foster Glocester Hopkinton Jamestown Johnston Lincobi Little Compton . . , Middle town Narragansett . . . . Newport New Shoreham . . . North Kingstown . North Providence . North Smithfield . Pawtucket Portsmouth Providence Richmond Scituate Smithfield South Kingstown. Tiverton Warren Warwack Westerly West Greenwich . , West Warwick . . . Woonsocket Totals . S.44 .78% .99% .56H .30% .393^ .61 .41% .62% .46% .48% • 48% .52% .33% .78% .58H .28% .263^ .24H .27% .29^ .42 .6Qy2 .49% .611^ .27% .41 .28% .31% .35% .42H .47% .70% .57% .61% .35^ .62% .51 $.46 22 2 1 14 32 27 6 10 25 5 21 19 18 15 30 3 12 34 38 39 •36 33 24 11 17 8 37 26 34 31 29 23 20 4 13 9 28 7 16 $47. 37. 37. 52. 42. 33. 36. 49. 35. 32. 57. 58. 46. 51. 44. 29. 41. 37. 36. 59. 52. 42. 48. 27. 40. 50. 26, 45 40 34 33 43 30 46 46 41 44 42 47 05 58 98 61 42 05 39 18 13 10 14 46 37 02 13 67 29 85 39 80 12 .09 .55 .45 .06 .52 .80 .78 .07 .88 .57 .26 .06 .54 .79 .47 79 25 08 $44.00 11 28 26 4 19 34 29 8 31 35 3 2 14 6 17 37 23 27 30 1 5 21 9 38 25 7 39 15 24 32 33 18 36 13 12 22 16 20 10 $1,023 917 939. 1,191. 516. 680. 931. 1,029. 748. 939. 366. 501. 528. 547. 800. 754. 904. 593. 916. 783. 1,234 490 895 722 732 1,056 710 1,220 516 600 640 766 622 1,063 1,135 1,064 362 1,148 1,104 .59 .60 44 85 14 89 24 70 13 44 66 79 20 22 57 26 18 25 75 37 .68 .58 .51 .28 .91 .01 .30 .24 .52 .00 .97 .59 .44 ,00 .66 .56 .50 .49 .79 11 15 12 3 35 27 14 10 23 12 38 36 33 32 19 22 17 31 16 20 1 37 18 25 24 9 26 2 34 30 28 21 29 8 5 7 39 4 6 $1,068.67 14 School Revenues in Cities. While in towns the amount of funds for the support of pubHc education to be expended by the school committee is determined by popular vote in the town meeting, in cities the amount available for expenditure by the school committee is fixed by a coordinate branch of the city government. In law the school organization is separate from other branches of municipal government and the school com- mittee is not subordinate to other officers. In cities the school com- mittee's dependence on another branch of government for means lessens their responsibility and freedom of action. Many cities in other ' states have provided other methods of determining school revenues and of conserving the freedom of the schools with assurance of adequate support. State and Local Expenditures for Education. A comparison of state and municipal expenditures for pubhc education for the past twenty-five years is submitted in the following table. Following that is a table showing the decrease of the State's relative contribution to teachers' salaries and total current expendi- tures for day public schools. From these two tables it may be seen that the- State has materially increased its annual appropriations for many purposes, but that its relative contribution to teachers' salaries has shrunk to a nominal sum. Attention is directed to this deficiency because the cost of instruction is the chief expense in school education and many towns are dependent on "teachers' money" to provide a minimum standard of instruction. A liberal increase of the state appropriation for teachers' salaries is the most direct way of im- proving schools, especially in rural communities. Expenditures for Education. YEAR. Number pupils. *State. Towns and cities. Total. Per cent of State on total expendi- tures. 1895 57,971 $470,945.36 $1,236,516.26 $1,707,461.62 27.6— 1900 67,231 347,731 09 1,385,757 10 1,733,488.19 25.1— 1905 71,425 385,287 38 1,887,612 90 2,272,900.28 17. — 1910 80,061 513,062 37 2,317,051 35 2,830,113.72 18.1+ 1915 87,064 797,112 27 3,138,472 21 3,935,584.48 20.3— 1920 93,501 1,030,043 91 4,569,726 29 5,620,497.90 18.3+ 15 ♦Items for State in the preceding table include support of state edu- cational institutions and all expenditures for educational purposes. Current Expenditures for Day Schools Excluding Land and Buildings. State appropriation for teachers' salaries. Total expenditures for teachers' salaries. Per cent of teachers' salaries paid by- State. Total State apportion- ment. Total expenditures Per cent of current expenses by State. 1920. . 1915. . 1910. . 1905. . 1900. . 1895. . 1890. . 1886. . 1885. . 1880. . 1874. . 1869. . 1865. . 1859. . 1854. . 1849. . 1844. . $156,391 . 66 155,637.56 144,620.00 136,170.00 132,150.00 120,000.00 120,000.00 120,000.00 90,000.00 90,000.00 90,000.00 70,000.00 50,000.00 50,000.00 35,000.00 25,000.00 25,000.00 i;2,984,793.30 1,759,493,00 1,396,036.07 1,096,604.86 935,109.69 773,503.03 549,367.38 482,146.65 453,687.25 390,558.34 355,525.90 240,176.46 149,110.99 135,695 . 52 92,049.59 77,500.00 48,335.76 5.24 8.35 10.36 12.41 14.13 15.52 21.85 24.89 19.84 23.07 25.31 29.14 33.53 36.85 38.02 32.26 51.72 ,171.89 184,897.22 156,597.73 146,336.21 134,799.30 122,939.47 121,596.65 120,869.39 90,579.95 90,748.34 90,000.00 70,000.00 50,000.00 50,000.00 35,000.00 25,000.00 25,000.00 14,118,763.72 2,454,455.17 1.916,715.71 1,541,970.26 1,283,595.98 1,049,027.78 681,886.60 585,343.94 551,538.25 469,542.17 431,542.70 267,176.46 166,610.99 151,695.52 103,049.59 86,554.12 55,053.15 4.81 7.53 8.17 9.42 10.50 11.72 17.83 20.66 16.42 19.34 20.83 26.22 30.01 32.89 33.96 28.90 45.40 The foregoing table reveals a condition calling for earnest con- sideration. A Suggestive Condition. While the development of school finance and administration in the past seventy-five years and present needs may not require the state to restore its former proportional support to public schools, existing conditions do demand a new adjustment of the state's relative support of the vital service of teachers. To equal the state's relative support in 1844 would require $1,500,000, or in 1900, $450,000. An increase of $200,000 in the appropriation for "teachers' money" would double the state's relative support of instruction as now ren- dered. In the condition here revealed the Commission finds urgent reasons for its most important recommendation, which is given in the following pages. 16 School Administration. The Commission finds that the laws governing the management of public schools are sound in principle and that under them a system of public education has been developed which is unexcelled among state systems in its constituent organization, adaptation to civic needs and efficient operation. It is impressed by the wide recogni- tion of the high rank of our pubhc schools among the schools of the country. It finds much to commend in the service of school officers and in provisions made for school education by towns and cities. It finds in some places, however, defects in management as well as lack of financial support. In some cases legislation is needed to remedy the defects, while in others laws are already sufficient and a better performance of duty on the part of school officials is needed. The law assigns to the State Board of Education ''the general supervision and control of the pubhc schools of the state" and makes it responsible for enforcing the laws relating to public schools. The Commission is of the opinion that the Board of Education has not exercised its full powers for the conservation of the State's educa- tional interests in directing the local administration of public schools. The lack of definite provisions in law to enable the Board to enforce a proper observance of law' and its rules in all cases has doubtless lessened the Board's sense of responsibility and has allowed an evasion of law and neglect of official duty to obtain here and there. Legislation to remedy this defect is essential to insure the proper execution of the schools laws. The law requires towns and cities to build and equip school build- ings and to maintain schools for the instruction of all its children and youth. Before 1917 there had been a remarkable period of new construction. The annual expenditure for new school buildings had increased to $931,718.31 in 1917, but fell to $761,034.08 in 1918 and to $291,876.53 in 1919, and rose only to $388,416.97 in 1920. The result is that more than a third of our schools have been overcrowded, scores of classes or schools have been meeting for part time instruc- tion, and doubtless public education has suffered more from a shortage of school accommodations than from that of teachers. The Com- mission does not believe that any town or city would refuse to supply sufficient school accommodations were it fully informed of conditions and needs. A way should be found to acquaint taxpayers with the actual needs of schools, and school officers cannot escape respon- sibility in the matter. 17 School committees are charged with the direct management of schools and on selection of their memberships depends efficient school administration. The Commission finds that school com- mittees in general perform their functions as well as other public officers, but it does find examples of failure to meet full responsibility and to exercise full power, and cases of serious neglect of duty. Among the defects of municipal administration of schools are non- enforcement of attendance laws, neglect of school sanitation, delay in engaging teachers, want of proper school supplies, raising teachers' salaries without provisions for securing better teaching, lack of comity between towns or cities for interchange of instruction and tuitions, competition between committees in engaging teachers, neglect in providing adequate supervision and want of true economy in expenditures. Some of these defects may in some degree be remedied by legislation and in its recommendations the Commission has suggested ways of improvement. Other improvement must come about in practice through a higher sense of duty and greater com- petency of public officials. Definite recommendations for improve- ment by the Commission appear in the following pages. III. Conclusions and Recommendations. From a consideration of conditions as found by the Commission and set forth in the preceding part of this report and from a study of the various complex problems presented, the main questions at issue are how may adequate school funds be provided where they are lacking and how may our public schools be operated to insure to every child in the State fair opportunity of school education. It has already been shown that there is a wide disparity among munici- palities in expenditures for schools, in taxation for school purposes and, as a natural result, in school advantages. This condition of inequality of taxation and educational advantages among towns and cities and the repeated efforts to lessen such inequality are as old as state systems of schools. Every progressive state for many years has again and again enacted legislation, often with good effect but never with complete success, to bring about a reasonable equality of school education among its children and youth and a fair distribution of the burden of taxation for the support of schools among its citizens. Obviously, so long as the financial support of schools is laid chiefly upon towns and cities, with their differences in wealth, their diversities 18 of responsibility and disposition to maintain schools and their varied advantages of location and population, glaring inequalities will con- tinue. Seemingly the only solution of the general problem, which has never been tried, is a reversal .of the principle and practice now followed, namely, that the state furnish a part of the financial support and require municipalities to determine and supply the balance of the funds necessary to maintain schools. Such a policy would provide that municipalities alike supply a part of school revenues by taxation at a fixed uniform rate, and the state furnish the necessary balance and distribute it as needed, leaving local school management much as at present. If such a plan were adopted, many perplexing problems would be solvable. Among the anticipated results and advantages would doubtless be a readjustment of school finance, economy through uniform accounting, uniform standards of expenditures, uniform schedule of teachers' salaries, elimination of competition and better comity between towns and cities, emulation in educational standards rather than in economic prestige, estab- Hshment of standards and school practice on merit rather than- on getting money from the State, and all contributing to an equalization of taxation and school advantages, so far as practicable. While the Commission has pointed out this ideal solution to in- dicate the magnitude and difficulty of the state's educational prob- lem, it realizes that the time is not ripe for its adoption. Such a radical change would involve a change in our tax system, with uniformity of assessment, and a readjustment of state finances for which we are not prepared. The Commission, therefore, has regard for the restrictions and limitations of its service, and offers in the following conclusions and recommendations only what it believes to be eminently practical and urgent for the improvement of pubhc education. School Finance, The direct and collateral questions relating to the financing of our public schools are perhaps the most perplexing of any with which the Commission had to deal. The great differences between the various municipalities in population, wealth, transportation facilities, supply of teachers, school buildings and the like, together with the fact that there is wide divergence of practice in, as well as of opinion regarding, the management of school finances, makes the formulation of a com- prehensive plan or system extremely difficult ; and if it is to result in 19 a real and permanent improvement necessitates, first of all, more or less substantial changes and modifications in the present loose and decentralized fiscal control. Municipal A ccounting . The lack of uniformity in municipal accounting caused difficulty in the collection of data for comparative purposes, and the experience of the Commission in this regard has been similar to that of all those who have attempted to study fiscal operations comparatively in the various municipalities. The need of uniformity in accounting and auditing is strikingly apparent not only in school financing but in that of all governmental activities. Uniform Sy stein of Accounting Recommended. It appears to the Commission that this defect, at least so far as school finances are concerned, should be remedied positively and at once. The Commission therefore recommends that the Commis- sioner of Education shall prescribe a uniform system of accounting for school committees and town treasurers, and also uniform systems for keeping other school records and reports and records of the com- mittee, and that he shall furnish blanks, cards, forms and books for such records and reports to the proper authorities; and that the Commissioner be also authorized and directed to examine from time to time, or cause to be examined by some competent person author- ized by him, the accounts and other records of school committees. Need of Exact Information. — Proposed Remedy. In many localities it is not only practically impossible for the taxpayer to ascertain what amount will be required for the mainte- nance of the schools for the ensuing year, but also to determine what the expense has been for the preceding year. This uncertainty, caused by unscientific accounting and the lack of any definite fiscal policy, results necessarily in dissatisfaction and suspicion on the part of the taxpayer, precipitates lengthy and acrimonious discussions in town meeting with resultant discouragement of the school com- mittee and teachers, and a general demoralization of such little 20 system as there is. The remedy for this state of affairs appears to be found in the presentation of a report prepared by the school com- mittee, in such detail and in such form as the Commissioner of Education shall prescribe, to the annual town meeting. In the report, which is in fact a budget, will be found estimates of the amounts necessary to be appropriated and recommendations for the support of the public schools for the ensuing fiscal year. The Com- missioner of Education shall furnish blanks for this report, and the report must be filed with the Commissioner not less than thirty days before the date of the annual town meeting. This report in con- nection with the accounts of the town treasurer under the proposed system will furnish sufficiently complete information for the year past and ensuing to enable the town meeting to pass intelligently upon the matters before it, and to formulate and maintain a con- sistent fiscal policy in regard to the public schools. Inadequate State Support. After most careful consideration the Commission is of the opinion that the amount, $120,000, annually appropriated by the state for the support of public schools in the several towns is inadequate, and that the method of apportionment is unsatisfactory. This appro- priation was first made in 1886 and it has not been increased, or the method of apportionment changed, up to the present time. The most casual consideration of the great increases in school population, taxable property, the cost of material and service, the increase in amount and improvement in the quality of training demanded is sufficient to indicate the inadequacy of this sum to meet present requirements. The present method of apportionment is unsatis- factory, and the simple expedient of increasing the amount of funds distributed will not cure, but tend to aggravate, the difficulty. Therefore a change in the method of apportionment appears not only desirable but necessary if the aid afforded by the State is to be most effective. The Commission estimates that the amount necessary to be appropriated annually to assist properly the several towns in the support of public schools is $320,000, this sum to be apportioned according to the following plan: 1st, on the basis of the number of schools, three hundred dollors for each school from one to five in- clusive, two hundred and fifty dollars for each school from six to ten inclusive, two hundred dollars for each school from eleven to fifteen 21 inclusive, one hundred and fifty dollars for each school from sixteen to twenty inclusive, and one hundred dollars for each school from twenty-one to twenty-five inclusive. 2nd, the remainder on the basis of average attendance in the preceding school year. Provided that the apportionment to any town shall not be less than one thousand dollars on the per capita basis. The commission is advised, however, that so large a sum is not available at present, and it there- fore recommends that an annual appropriation sufficient to carry into effect the following plan, be made : — First, on the basis of the num])er of schools, $300 for each school from one to five inclusive, $250 for each school from six to ten in- clusive, $200 for each school fi'om eleven to fifteen inclusive and $150 for each school from sixteen to twenty inclusive. Second, on the basis of average attendance in the preceding school year, $1.50 per capita, provided that the apportionment on the per capita basis shall not be less than $1,000 per town, and provided, further, that no town shall receive on the per capita basis less than it so received in the year 1921. The following table gives the amoimts received by the several cities and towns under the present system and the amounts that will be received under the proposed system in 1922. The amount necessary to be appropriated for carrying this plan into effect during 1922 is shown to be $270,315,55. 22 Apportionment of Appropriation as Recommended. TOWNS. No. of schools. Amount on schools. Amount per capita. Total. Apportion- ment for 1921. Barrington Bristol Burrillville Central Falls Charlestown Coventry Cranston Cumberland East Greenwich. . , East Providence . Exeter Foster Glocester IJopkinton Jamestown Johnston Lincoln Little Compton. . Middletown Narragansett. . . . , Newport New Shoreham . . , North Kingstown North Providence North Smithfield. Pawtucket Portsmouth Providence Richmond Scituate Smithfield South Kingstown Tiverton Warren Warwick Westerly. West Greenwich . West Warwick Woonsocket Total 20 48 33 54 6 25 130 37 17 90 8 9 9 16 8 31 33 9 9 5 94 6 19 32 14 233 12 886 9 15 17 26 23 36 69 40 4 59 115 $4,500.00 4,500.00 4,500.00 4,500.00 1,750.00 4,500.00 4,500.00 4,500.00 4,050.00 4,500.00 2,250.00 2,500.00 2,500 . 00 3,900.00 2,250.00 4,500.00 4,500.00 - 2,500.00 2,500.00 1,500.00 4,500.00 1,750.00 4,350.00 4,500.00 3,550.00 4,500.00 3,150.00 4,500.00 2,500.00 3,750.00 4,050.00 4,500.00 4,500.00 4,500.00 4,500.00 4,500.00 1,200.00 4,500.00 4,500.00 $1,000.00 2,386.50 1,569.00 2,897 . 05 1,000.00 1,050.00 6,312.00 1,575,00 1,000.00 4,938.00 1,000.00 1,000.00 1,000.00 1,000.00 1,000.00 1,780.50 1,456.50 1,000.00 1,000.00 1,000.00 5,268.00 1,000.00 1,000.00 1,870.50 1,000.00 10,522.50 1,000.00 46,960.50 1,000.00 1,000.00 1,000.00 1,592.00 1,000.00 1,618.50 3,394.50 2,335.50 1,000.00 2,602.50 5,686.50 $5,500.00 6,886.50 6,069.00 7,397.05 2,750.00 5,550.00 10,812.00 6,075.00 5,050.00 9,438.00 3,250.00 3,500.00 3,500.00 4,900.00 3,250.00 6,280.50 5,956.50 3,500.00 3,500.00 2,500.00 9,768.00 2,750.00 5,350.00 6,370.50 4,550.00 15,022.50 4,150.00 51,460.50 2,500.00 4,750.00 5,050.00 6,092.00 5,500.00 6,118.50 7,894.50 6,835.50 2,200.00 7,102.50 10,186.50 $2,010.33 2,906.36 2,423.43 4,397.05 785.95 2,175.78 4,586.14 2,704.91 1,815.33 4,090.86 1,255.33 1,483.80 1,541.82 1,679.42 1,067.60 2,509.91 2,654.42 1,051 . 49 1,165.37 800.99 4,289.08 678.43 1,831.98 2,676,98 1,885.16 7,668.53 1,544.87 27,976.38 1,381.03 1,807.27 1,884.63 2,007.64 2,031.28 2,479.83 3,357.59 2,690.41 531.16 3,710.53 6,460.93 2,306 $144,500.00 $125,815.55 $270,315.55 $120,000.00 23 Municipal Appropriations, It is also recommended that the several cities and towns shall appropriate a sum not less than the average amount raised by taxation and expended for the maintenance of the pubUc schools for the school years 1919-20-21, provided, however, that if this average amount shall be less than 30 cents on each $100 of assessed valuation, then an amount shall be appropriated at least equal to an assessment of 30 cents on each $100 of assessed valuation. If any town neglects or refuses to comply with this provision of law the state funds are to be withheld by the General Treasurer in trust for the towm until the first day of July in the year next following. If, in the meantime, the town has not complied -vNdth the requirements of law the sum held in trust becomes forfeited and the General Treasurer shall add it to the permanent school fund. It is recommended that if the school committee of any town neglects or refuses to file with the Commissioner of Education the estimates of appropriations required for the maintenance of the public schools the Commissioner may withhold the money in the state treasury apportioned to such town. The Commission also recommends that the Board of Education shall prescribe and cause to be enforced all rules and regulations for carrying into effect the laws in relation to public schools. This is substantially the present law, except that the Board of Education is substituted for the Commissioner of Education. In addition it is recommended that the Board have authority to withhold the pay- ment of the whole, or such portion as may be due, of the apportion- ment to any town for the violation or neglect of any law, or for the violation or neglect of rules and regulations in pursuance of law, by any to^vn or town officer or school committee, and that the Board of Education shall report annually to the General Assembly all in- fractions of school laws by towns or school officers brought to its attention, with a record of the action taken by the Board. The report shall also contain a summary of its findings upon surveys of schools made by it in accordance with law. The following change in the method of disposition of the income from the permanent school fund is recommended. The income arising from this fund shall be annually appropriated as an emergency fund for the support of public schools in the several towns and may be expended by the Board of Education upon recommendation of the 24 Commissioner of Education, and if, however, there is any balance of the fund remaining unexpended in any year it shall become a part of the permanent fund. Minimum Salary of Teachers Recommended. In connection with other matters relating to fiscal management and policies as affecting public education considerable time and attention was devoted to the question of minimum salaries for teachers, and the Commission recommends in this regard that the annual salary of a teacher regularly employed in any public school, except as authorized by the State Board of Education, shall be not less than six hundred and fifty dollars. This advance it is antici- pated will tend to increase efficiency in the teaching staff, reduce to some extent at least the discrepancy in salaries in different towns, and because of the increased apportionments to the several towns will not cause any additional strain upon their available funds. School Property Exempt from Taxation. The investigations of the Commission developed the fact that considerable amounts of property were not being taxed on the ground that it was school property, but no means were provided by law to determine accurately whether the property was justly entitled to exemption or not. It was also ascertained that many of these schools did not make returns to the Board of Education or the school com- mittees; it is therefore recommended by the Commission that schools which do not make the proper returns, or refuse to permit visitations by the proper authority as provided by law, shall not be entitled to exemption from taxation, and that the Board of Education or the superintendent of schools, as the case may be, shall notify the assessors of taxes in the town in which the school is located of such refusal or neglect. School Administration. The people of the State have every reason to be proud of the educational system that has been built up under the present school administration whereby the schools are controlled and governed by locally chosen school committees which have rendered a generally disinterested and unselfish service in every town and city. 25 Such a system creates a local responsibility and pride, stimulates initiative and interest, and has in practice always proved far superior to a system of centralized control by the state. We should not, however, be blind to the fact that, in the actual practice of our present system, many defects are apparent, which for the most part, the Commission believes, can be remedied by the changes in existing laws and practices which are recommended in this report. Any system, however excellent in theoiy, will fail unless the same is administered with intelligence and ability. In fact, intelligence and ability will operate to produce excellent results in the absence of any system promulgated by law or otherwise. It has always proved difficult to find in any one person a knowledge of the educational requirements necessary to a proper administration of the schools combined with a sound business judgment as to general school and municipal finance. Too frequently the school budgets are made up without proper regard for the financial ability of the municipality, and its other essential requirements, such as highways, police and fire protection, and sanitation, are forced to give way to the desire of a school committee to excel in the matter of school buildings, teachers' salaries, and new courses of study. The protection of local school committees and superintendents, which our laws afford, should not be permitted to operate to conceal or prolong extravagance and inefficiency. The reform of the local municipal school administration in most of the towns and cities can only be effected after two biennial elections, which requires four years, and during this entire period the work of the schools is nec- essarily disrupted to the manifest injury of the schools, the very thing that the honest advocate of reform in administration desires to avoid. The local system of construction of school buildings has resulted in a lack of uniformity in school buildings, particularly in the matter of heating, lighting, ventilation and sanitary conditions, which a centralized system of approval of plans would almost entirely remove. There should also be a reasonable uniformity in the courses of study in the several towns and cities in order that children who have com- pleted the same courses or periods of school instruction in different towns and cities may meet on an equal basis. In many, if not most, of our towns and cities there is lack of a proper budget or classification of school expenditures. This makes 26 impossible a comparison of the several items of school costs in the different towns. The failure to include bond interest and sinking fund requirements on account of schoolhouse construction as a part of town expense allocated to support of schools often conceals a substantial part of the expense of school maintenance in the financial statistics now reported to the towns and to the State Board of Education. There is also lacking a proper system of audit of school expendi- tures. The remedy for the above defects is to be found partly in practice and -partly in legislation. The problem is neither insur- mountable nor difficult. In practice, school committees should condition their recommendations as to schools upon the financial ability of the town, having a due regard for other municipal require- ments. The latter consideration is rarely given weight by school committees. School committees and school superintendents, and they alone, can and must check the tendency to expand the school system with costly non-essentials beyond the financial ability of the town to support. They must "sit on the hd," and like the prudent indi- vidyal, curb their desires until such time as the pocketbook will permit the satisfaction thereof. The necessary remedies through legislation are as follows : "a. Require a uniform accounting method or budget of school expenditure, including bond interest and sinking fund payments on school bonds. b. Require school committees to present their financial needs to the town meeting in the same form of a budget. c. Provide a method whereby an audit of school expenditures through a state agency may be possible when occasion so requires. d. Provide a method whereby a survey of the school ad- ministration may be made through the State Board of Education, for the purpose of determining whether such administration is proper and efficient, and thus remove the necessity of making such question a local political issue to the manifest injury of the schools." The following are some of the essential obligations of the state in the matter of education: 27 "a. To provide a reasonably equal opportunity to secure an education to all of its children. b. To provide such educational facilities through its own agency, where the town cannot or does not properly perform such duty. c. To encourage local endeavor by proper support, financial and otherwise. d. When the towns and cities reach the point where the local expense of support of schools and the other lines of municipal activity has reached the limit of the revenue that may be secured from the direct taxation of real and personal property, then to provide reasonable assistance to the towns from the revenues derived from the general state taxes. Such assistance should be automatically increased to meet the increased number of the school population. e. It is the first duty of the state to preserve its own ex- istence, and its principal enemy is ignorance, against which education is its only insurance." IV. Summary of Recommendations. 1. Increase in appropriation for teachers' salaries. 2. Conformity of law and practice in school year and change in time of reports. 3. Uniform system and preservation of school records, with pro- visions for complete record of attendance. 4. Statutory provisions governing construction and use of school buildings. 5. Uniform accounting of school revenues and expenditures and annual budget for school expenditures. 6. Fixing responsibility more definitely and adjusting powers to responsibilitv. 7. Investment of state school fund and use of annual income therefrom. 8. Increase of minimum salary of teachers and provisions m case towns are unable to maintain schools of proper standard. 9 Uniformity in approval of attendance of pupils in private schools, and required records of attendance therein as m public schools. 10. Protection of schools from interference with school work. 28 V. Legislation Proposed and Recommended by the Com- mission. The following amendments to existing school law are recommended by the Commission for the improvement of school management and an increase in school revenues. It is not expected that they will solve all our educational problems at once, but they are designed to pro- vide for immediate needs, to promote a progressive development of school organization and to conserve the integrity of our educational enterprise. Sections to which amendments are proposed are given in full and all changes are indicated in italics. Chapter 65, General Laws. Section 1 and Sec. 2. The general assembly shall appropriate annually for the support of public schools in the several towns a sum sufficient to carry out the provisions of this section, and the commis- sioner of education shall apportion such appropriation among the several towns: first, oh the basis of the number of schools, three hundred dollars for each school up to five schools, two hundred fifty dollars for each school from six to ten schools, two hundred dollars for each school from eleven to fifteen schools, one hundred fifty dollars for each school from' sixteen to twenty schools; second, on the basis of one dollar and fifty cents per capita of average attendance in the preceding school year, provided that the apportionment to any town shall not be less than one thousand dollars on the per capita basis, and provided, further, that no town shall receive on the per capita basis less than it so received in the year 1921. Sec. 4. No town shall receive any part of such state appropria- tion, unless it has raised by tax, for the support of public schools, a sum equal to not less than thirty cents on each one hundred dollars of the assessed valuation of the town, and not less than the average amount raised by tax and expended by the town for the current ynaintenance of public schools for the school years enditig in the years 1919, 1920 and 1921. Sec. 5. If any town shall neglect or refuse to raise or appropriate the sum required in the preceding section on or before the first day of July in any year, its proportion of the public money shall be withheld, and the general treasurer, on being informed thereof in writing by the commissioner of education, shall hold any public money otherwise due the town in trust for the town until such time, not later than the first day 29 of July in the year next following, as the commissioner of education shall notify the general treasurer in writing that the town has complied with the provisions of the preceding section and has taken such other action in the premises as the commissioner ivith the approval of the state hoard of education shall order, and thereafter said proportion of the public money, in the absence of such latter notification, shall be forfeited, and the general treasurer shall add it to the permanent school fund. Chapter 66, General Laws. "Sec. 12. The town treasurer shall, before the tenth day of July in each year, submit to the school committee a statement of all moneys applicable to the support of public schools for the current school year, specifying the sources of the same." "Sec. 13. The town treasurer shall, on or before the first day of August, annually, transmit to the commissioner of education a certifi- cate of the amount which the town has voted to raise by tax for the support of public schools for the current year ; and also a statement of the amount paid out to the order of the school committee, and from what sources it was derived, for the year ending the thirtieth day of June next preceding; and until such return is made to the commis- sioner, he may, in his discretion, withhold the order for the money in the state treasury apportioned to such town." "Sec. 14. The clerk of the school committee, when required by the state board of education, shall distribute such school documents and blanks as shall be sent to him to the persons for whom they are intended." Chapter 66, General Laws. Sec. 18. The superintendent of schools shall record on cards to be provided by the commissioner of education the names of all persons between the ages of 4 and 21 years, inclusive, ascertained in the manner provided by section 16 of this chapter, and shall also record the attend- ance of such persons at public schools or on private instruction approved as required by law; and shall promptly report to the truant officer the names of all persons required to attend school under the provisions of Chapter 72 of the General Laws who are not actually enrolled and attend- ing school as shown by the records required by this section. 30 Sec. 19. The annual school census returns shall be preserved by the school committee for the period of five years after the taking thereof, and said school committee shall also provide for the suitable custody and preservation of school registers and other records of public and private schools as required by law. Chapter 67, General Laws. Chapter 1521, Public Laws (1917). Sec. 3. The school committee shall locate all schoolhouses and shall not abandon or change the location of any without good cause; and said school committee shall have the care and control of all public school buildings and other public school property, including the purchase of furniture and other school equipment, and repairs of school buildings, unless otherwise provided by special law or charter. The school committee, subject to such rules and regulations as it may prescribe under the direction of the commissioner of education, may permit the use of school buildings only out of school hours and under conditions that shall not interfere with the regular sessions of the schools, and only for purposes directly connected with public education. The school committee shall include in its annual report a list of all permits for such use of public school buildings granted during the period covered by said report. Sec. 10. The school committee shall prepare and submit annually to the commissioner of education, on or before the first day of August, a report in manner and form by him prescribed. They shall also prepare and submit annually, to the commissioner of education, not less than thirty days before the date of the annual town meeting, in such detail and form as may by him be prescribed, their estimates and rec- ommendations of the amounts necessary to be appropriated for the support of public schools for the fiscal year then ensuing; and until such report is made, and if such estimates and recommendations are not presented to the commissioner, he may refuse to draw his order for the money in the state treasury apportioned to such town: provided, that the necessary blank for such report has been furnished by the commis- sioner on or before the first day of June, next preceding; and the nec- essary form for such estimates and recommendations shall have been furnished by the commissioner not less than sixty days before the date of the annual town yneeting; they shall also prepare and submit annually to the commissioner of education and at the annual town meeting, a 31 report to the town, setting forth their doings, the state and condition of the schools and plans for their improvements, which report, unless printed, shall be read in open meeting; and if printed, at least three copies shall be transmitted to the commissioner on or before the day . of the annual town meeting in each year. Chapter 68, General Laws. Sec. 6. Every teacher in any public or private school shall keep a register of the names of all the scholars attending said school, their sex, age, names of parents or guardians, the time when each scholar enters and leaves the school, the daily attendance, together with the days of the month on which the school is visited by any officer con- nected wdth public schools, and shall prepare any report required by the school committee or commissioner of education. Chapter 63, General Laws. Sec. 5. The board of education shall hold quarterly meetings in the first week of March, June, September and December of each year at the office of the commissioner of education, and may hold special meetings at the call of the president or secretary. The hoard of education shall prescribe and cause to be enforced all rules and regulations necessary for carrying into effect the laws in relation to public schools. The hoard may for violation or neglect of law or for violation or neglect of rules and regulations in pursuance of law by any town or town officer or school committee order the general treasurer to withhold the payment of any portion of the public 7noney that has been or may be apportioned to any such town; and the general treasurer upon the receipt in writing of such order shall hold the public inoney due any such town in trust until such time as the board of education shall notify him that the town has complied with such order as the board shall make in the premises, in which case payment shall he made to the town forth- with. The board of education shall report to the general assembly annually cdl infractions of school law which shall be brought to its attention, with a record of such action as the board shall have taken in each instance. Sec. 2L The state hoard of education may from lime to time make or cause to be made a survey of the schools of any town, and shall make such survey upon the request of the school committee of any town. The state board of education shall include in its annual report to the general 32 assembly a summary of its finding upon such surveys with such rec- ommendations as shall seem advisable. Chapter 725, Public Laws, (1911). Sec. 3. The state board of education from time to time shall approve proper standards of lighting, heating, ventilating, seating, and other sanitary arrangements of school buildings, and proper regulations concerning the same as it may deem necessary for the safety and health of persons who may attend school, and shall com- municate the same to the school committee of each town and city and to any committee of any body having charge of the erection, alteral^ions, equipment or furnishing of any school building. The school committee or such other committee as may have charge of the con- struction or alteration of schoolhouses shall not proceed with the con- struction or alteration thereof until the plans for such buildings or alterations shall have been submitted to and approved by the board of education. Chapter 64, General Laws. Sec. 13. The commissioner of education shall prescribe a uniform system for keeping school records, including the records of school com- mittees, and for making such reports as may be required by law, and shall furnish such cards, forms, blank books and record books as shall be required for such purposes. The commissioner of education shall also prescribe a uniform system of accounting for school committees and- town treasurers with reference to public money appropriated for public schools, and he is hereby authorized and directed to examine from time to time, or cause to be examined by some competent person duly appointed by said commissioner, the accounts and other records of school committees. Chapter 40, General Laws. Section 1, The general treasurer, with the advice of the gov- ernor, shall have full power to regulate the custody and safe keeping of the fund now constituting the permanent fund for the support of pubHc schools, and shall keep the same securely invested in bonds or notes of the United States, or in bonds of towns or cities within this state : Provided, that the securites in which said fund is invested at the time of the passage of this act may remain a part of said fund until exchanged for other securities. 33 Sec. 4. The general treasurer, with the advice of the governor, shall from time to time securely invest all sums of money hereby directed to be added to said fund in bonds or notes of the United States or in bonds of any town or city within this state. Sec. 5. The income arising from said fund so invested shall annually he appropriated as an emergency fund for the support of the public schools in the several towns, which income or any part thereof may from time to time be apportioned or expended by the state board of education, upon the reco^nmendation of the commissioner of education, for the support of public schools. Any balance of said emergency fund remain- ing unexpended in any year shall become a part of the permanent school fund. Chapter 458, Public Laws (1909). Chapter 1794, Public Laws (1919). Section 1. The annual salary of a teacher regularly employed in any public school, except as authorized by the state board of education, shall be not less than six hundred fifty dollars. Chapter 74, General Laws. Sec. 5. There shall be an annual appropriation for the purposes of this chapter; and the state auditor is hereby authorized and directed to draw his orders on the general treasurer in favor of such towns for such sums as shall be certified to him by the commissioner of education as due to said towns under the provisions of this chapter. Sec. 6. In the apportionment of the annual appropriation for the support of public schools, no town shall forfeit any portion thereof hereafter on account of any reduction in the number of its schools by reason of the consolidation thereof in accordance with the pro- visions of this chapter, but each town shall continue to be entitled to its proportional amount from said annual appropriation upon the basis of the number of schools prior to such consolidation. Chapter 947, Public Laws (1913). Section 1. The school committee of any town in which the taxable property is not adequate at the average rate of taxation for public school support throughout the state to provide, with the 34 moneys that may be apportioned from the general treasury, an amount sufficient to provide and maintain pubhc schools of a high standard, may at a regular meeting held before the first day of July in any year request the state hoard of education to assume the supervision, control and management of the public schools of the town for the ensuing year, provided that the town has appropriated for the support of public schools for said year a sum equivalent to thirty cents on each one hundred dollars of the assessed valuation of the town. Upon receiving such request the state board of education, if it shall be satisfied that the request is warranted and that the best interests of the public schools will be served thereby, may assume such supervision, control and manage- ment. For the purposes of this chapter the state board of education shall be subrogated to all the powers and functions of the town school committee, including the right to draw orders upon the town treasurer for the payment for the support of the public schools of the town of any money in the town treasury required by law to be accredited to the public school account. The state board of education may also apportion to or expend for the support of the public schools of the town any part of the annual appropriation for public schools provided by section one of chapter 65 of the general laws as amended as shall not be apportioned or appropriated for other purposes. Chapters 63, 72, 73, General Laws. Chapter 63, General Laws. Sec. 11. All private schools or institutions of learning in this state shall be registered at the office of the state board of education, said registry showing location, name, officers or persons in charge, grade of instruction, and common language used in teaching. They shall also make a report annually in the month of July to the state board of education, showing the number of different pupils enrolled, the average attendance, the number of teachers employed and such other facts of age, attendance and instruction as said hoard may require. (Chapter 72, Sec. 2.) The state hoard of education shall provide ■for an annual inspection of all private schools in the state and approve a private school only when it appears that the period of attendance of the pupils in such school is substantially equal to that required by law in public schools, that the instruction in such school in all studies except foreign languages and any studies not taught in the 35 public schools is in the English language, that such instruction is thorough and efficient, that reports are made as required by law, and that registers are kept and returns to the superintendent of schools and truant officer in relation to attendance of pupils are made the same as by public schools. Chapter 72, General Laws. Chapter 1492, Public Laws. Section L Every child who has completed seven years of life and has not completed sixteen years of life, unless he has completed in the public schools the elementary studies taught in the first eight years of school attendance, exclusive of kindergarten instruction, provided for in the course of study adopted by the school committee of the city or town wherein such child resides, or unless he shall have completed fourteen years of life and shall be lawfully employed at labor or at service or engaged in business, shall regularly attend some public day school during all the days and hours that the pubhc schools are in session in the city or town wherein he resides; and every person having under his control a child as above described in this section shall cause such child to attend school as required by the above stated provisions of this section, and for every neglect of such duty the person having control of such child shall be fined not ex- ceeding twenty dollars : Provided, that if the person so charged shall prove or shall present a certificate made by or under the direction of the school committee of the city or town wherein he resides, setting forth that the child has already completed the elementary studies above mentioned; or that the child has been excused in writing hy the superintendent of public schools in the town or city in which the child resides and has attended for the required period of time a private day school, or received private instmction, approved by the state board of education; or that the physical or mental condition of the child was such as to render his attendance at school inexpedient or imprac- ticable; or that the child was destitute of clothing suitable for attending school and that the person having control of said child was unable to provide suitable clothing; or that the child was excluded from school by virtue of some general law or regulation — then such attendance shall not be obligatory nor shall such penalty be in- curred; but nothing in this section shall be construed to allow the absence or irregular attendance of any child who is enrolled as a 36 member of any school, or of any child sent to school by the person having control of such child." Sec. 2. For the purposes of this chapter the superintendent of schools shall excuse a child from attendance in a public day school only to attend a private school or to receive private instruction approved by the state board of education; and the superintendent may revoke such excuse for non-attendance, irregular attendance or other reasonable cause. Chapter 73, General Laws. Sec. 4. Whenever such school shall refuse to permit such visita- tions, when requested, or shall refuse or neglect to keep the school register and to make returns as required by law, its exemption from taxation shall thereafter cease and be determined; and the state board of education or the superintendent of -schools as the case may be shall notify the assessors of taxes in the town or city wherein such school may be located of such refusal or neglect. Chapter 73, General Laws. Sec. 13. Excepting under rules and regulations promulgated from time to time by the state board of education, no teacher employed in any public school shall, for any purpose whatsoever, solicit, exact or receive from any pupil in any public school any contribution or gift of money or any article of value, or any pledge to contribute any money or article of value; nor shall any article be sold or, offered for sale to public school pupils or teachers on any public school premises, nor shall any article be sold through the agency of pupils in the public schools excepting the sale of school lunches under rules and regulations prescribed by the school committee; nor shall any teacher in any public school solicit or receive from pupils subscriptions for any newspaper, periodical or magazine, or act as agent directly or indirectly for the distribution of such publica- tions in the public schools; nor shall any teacher in any public school, at any time other than during the regular summer vacation of the public schools, accept any fee or gijt for the tutoring of any child regularly under the instruction of such teacher; nor shall any person distribute through or in the public schools or to children on their way to or from school any circular, sample, package, coupon, ticket or other similar advertising matter. Sec. 14. No society, secret or otherwise, no fraternity or sorority, and no club to membership in which less than the entire student body shall be 37 eligible shall he formed in any public school or among the pupils of the public schools, provided: That this section not apply to class or school organizations formed and conducted exclusively for the purpose of pro- moting approved school activities, and subject to supervision and direc- tion by teachers under rules and regidations prescribed by school com- mittees. Sec. 15. Whoever shall violate any provision of the precedinx) two sections shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and for each such offence shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars. The repeal of the following sections is recommended: Section 13 of Chapter 63, Section 6 of Chapter 65, Section 9 of Chapter 73, Section 9 of Chapter 101, and Section 2 of Chapter 458 of the General Laws; and Chapter 1794 of the Public Laws.