REPORT of The State Si School Code Commission of KANSAS ;SfTV 1922 PRINTED BY KANSAS STATE PRINTING PLANT B. P WALKER, STATE PBINTfR TOPEKA 1922 •p I This book is DUE on the last date stamped below ***»9l9to Hs LB £5£9 Kansas. "X13K1 ScfiooI~coae "nmrni ctqi nn Southern Branch of the University of California Los Angeles Form L 1 £5£9 X 'jj 'asnaBJiCg REPORT OF THE STATE SCHOOL CODE COMMISSION NCR ORNIA LIBRARY LOS ANGELES. CALIF. KANSAS 1922 PRINTED BY KANSAS STATE PRINTING PLANT B. P. WALKER. STATE PRINTER TOPEKA 1922 9-4558 77536 L V-O3V0 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. To His Excellency, the Governor of Kansas, and to the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Kansas: Sirs — The State School Code Commission was established by you under House Joint Resolution No. 2, passed by the last regular session of the legislature. The text of the resolution follows : HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION No. 2. A Resolution providing for the appointment of a State School Code Commission. pv W hereas, Owing to the rapid growth of the state and its effort to keep ^ abreast of the times in the matter of the education of its youth, the school laws of Kansas are in hopeless confusion, with many overlapping activities, A. resulting in a loss of efficiency and a failure to derive the most benefit from a. the moneys expended; and Whereas, To get order out of confusion and to provide an efficient system which will render the most service for the money expended, is an undertaking which requires a comprehensive knowledge of all of the school laws of Kansas, and also of the profession of education; and Whereas, This matter has been drawn to the attention of the legislature by the governor in his message, and the legislature, owing to the demand upon its time during the short session, is not able to cope efficiently with the problem : Now therefore, Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring therein: Section 1. That a School Code Commission be and the same is hereby ^ appointed, whose duty it shall be to make a study of the school laws of ^ Kansas, the school system of Kansas and other states, and the needs of Kansas in educational matters; and to present to the next legislature a report con- taining recommendations as to amendments and changes in the Kansas law> which will eliminate the overlapping in activities, which will render more efficient the school system of Kansas, and to recommend changes therein which will promote the cause of education in the public schools of Kansas. Sec. 2. The School Code Commission shall consist of seven members, two of whom shall be members of the Senate who shall be appointed by the president of the Senate, two of whom shall be members of the House of Representatives who shall be appointed by the speaker thereof, two of whor- shall be appointed by the governor, and one of whom shall be named by th state superintendent of public instruction. Sec. 3. On the 3rd day of May, 1921, or on the next day thereafter, at 10 o'clock a. m., the School Code Commission shall meet in the office of the governor for the purpose of effecting an organization. The School Code Com- mission shall have authority to make its own rules and regulations and to (3) 4 State School Code Commission. determine the method of its procedure. Each member of the School Code Commission who shall at the time of service thereon be receiving a stated salary from the state, or from any county, or from any school district, shall not be allowed per diem, but the other members shall receive as full compen- sation the sum of $10 per day for each day's actual service in attending meet- ings of the commission. Each member shall in addition thereto receive all actual and necessary traveling expenses. Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect and be in force from and after its publication in the official state paper. Approved March 2, 1921. Published in official state paper March 5, 1921. In conformity to this resolution there were appointed by the respective appointive powers the following members of this Com- mission: Senator J. M. Johnson, Hiawatha; Senator Paul H. Kim- ball, Parsons; Representative Ida M. Walker, Norton; Representa- tive Minnie J. Grinstead, Liberal ; Honorable Sheffield Ingalls, Atchi- son; Professor C. E. Rarick, Hays; Senator M. V. B. Van De Mark, Concordia. We herewith submit the following report. Respectfully, The State School Code Commission. Sheffield Ingalls, Chairman. J. M. Johnson, Secretary. Paul H. Kimball. Ida M. Walker. Minnie J. Grinstead. M. V. B. Van De Mark. C. E. Rarick. September 25, 1922. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAOB Letter of Transmittal 3 Introduction 7 Summary of Recommendations 8 PART I. Detailed Recommendations to the Legislature 9-23 Districting — Three Types of Districts — How These New Districts Should Be Formed (The Common School District, The Community School District, The City School District) — Property and Obligations — Officers — Provisions for Schools in Session — The Financial Support of Schools — A County Unit of Taxation (outside of cities) — Support of City Schools Districts — -Constitutional Amendment Revising Our System of Taxation — The County Board of Education — The State Depart- ment of Education — The State Superintendent of Public Instruction — The State Board of Education — Officers and Assistants — School Buildings — Certification of Teachers — Vocational Education — Lengthening the School Term — Transportation for School Children. PART II. Arguments in Support of the Recommendations 24-51 Districting — Financing Education — County Boards of Education — State Depart- ment of Education — School Building and Sites — Certification of Teachers — Voca- tional Education — Lengthening of the School Term — Transportation for School Children. PART III. Data Bearing Upon the Recommendations 52-76 Number and Size of Schools of Various Types — Comparative Cost of Schools- Comparative Taxation Rates and Property Valuations — Achievement of Pupils in Schools of Various Types — County Organization and Administration — State Or- ganization and Administration — School Building Regulations — Certification of Teachers — Training, Experience, Salaries and Tenure of Teachers — Standing of Kansas, Educationally. LIST OF PLATES AND CHARTS. PAGB Plate 1 — Rural school districts, Lyon county 27 Plate 2 — Rural district No. 91, Marion county 28 Plate 3 — Rural and small-town districts, Crawford county 29 Plate 4 — Joint rural district No. 27, Gray county 30 Plate 5 — Allen rural high-school district, Lyon county. . . .• 31 I Plate 6 — Ingalls rural high-school district, Gray county 32 •Plate 7 — Cost graph based on enrollment 35 i Plate 8 — Comparisons of mill-tax levies and valuations 37 Chart 1 — Teachers employed, Kansas, 1919-'20 54 Chart 2 — Number pupils, Kansas census, 1919-'20 54 Chart 3 — Average length school term, Kansas, 1919-'20 54 Chart 4 — Cost per month per pupil enrolled, Kansas, 1919-'20, elementary schools and high schools 55 Chart 5 — Annual cost per pupil enrolled in one-room rural schools, Kan- sas, 1919-'20 56 Chart 6 — Average cost per pupil enrolled in Kansas high schools 56 Chart 7 — Taxable property per pupil in average daily attendance, Kan- sas, 1920-'21 ; 58 (5) 6 State School Code Commission. Chart 8 — School tax levy in mills, Kansas, 1920-'21 58 Chart. 9 — Valuation per pupil in high schools 58 Chart 10 — Pupil achievement, Spelling 60 Chart 11 — Pupil achievement, Silent Reading 61 Chart 12 — Pupil achievement, Addition 62 Subtraction 63 Multiplication 64 Division 65 Chart 13 — Pupil achievement, Written Composition 66 Chart 14 — Pupil achievement, Handwriting 67 Chart 15 — Comparison of Costs of State Departments of Education 71 Chart 16 — Training of Teachers in Elementary Schools 75 Chart 17 — Salary of Women Elementary Teachers 75 INTRODUCTION. At the appointed time and place the Commission met and thereaftel organized by electing Hon. Sheffield Ingalls, of Atchison, chairman, and Senator J. M. Johnson, of Hiawatha, secretary. Since date of organization the Commission has held numerous meetings and hearings in Topeka. Members of the Commission have attended educational gatherings both within and without the state for the purpose of careful study of educational problems as they affect Kansas. They avail themselves of this opportunity of thanking the many friends of education throughout the country who have contributed much towards the preparation and completion of this report. We are especially indebted to the State Department of Education for access to important records and to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction for much valuable aid. We are also under obligations to the research com- mittee of the Kansas State Teacher's Association composed of Dr. F. J. Kelly, dean of university administration, Lawrence, Prof. W. H. Carothers, head of department of educational administration, State Normal School, Emporia, and Supt. L. W. Mayberry, of the Wichita city schools. This committee has ren- dered invaluable aid to the state of Kansas. Its members have shown a mar- velous grasp of educational needs and methods and have given the Commis- sion splendid cooperation. A large part of the data upon which this report is based was produced by them and many facts and figures concerning educa- tional conditions in Kansas heretofore unknown have been secured through their labors. To this committee and to all friends of education who have assisted us we take this means of expressing our sincere appreciation. It has been the policy of the Commission from the beginning to follow the rule of unit action, hence the recommendations herein offered are made with unanimous approval. We recognize that many of the specific suggestions, from practical necessity, will need to be adjusted. However, it is our opinion that the principles upon which this report are founded should be recognized and accepted as a guide to whatever legislation may be enacted by the legislature toward the im- provement of the public-school system of Kansas. We submit them for con- sideration by the legislature, with the confident hope and expectation that they will be given careful thought and attention and that suitable laws will be enacted to make them effective. (7) SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS. I. A new districting plan whereby the rural districts shall have the benefits of more efficient teaching and supervision, and high schools shall be guaran- teed adequate support. II. The financial support of schools, including a county unit of taxation (outside of cities) for a considerable part of the support of education in order to avoid the gross inequalities of burden now imposed. III. A constitutional amendment making possible a more equitable system of taxation. IV. A county board of education for laying out district boundaries, for de- termining boundaries of districts already formed and for levying a county school tax. V. Setting high qualifications for state superintendent of public instruction, increasing the salary of that office, and substituting a lay board of education for the present professional board. VI. Providing for approval of school building plans. VII. Raising the requirements of teachers' certificates. VIII. Extending the scope of vocational education. IX. Lengthening the school term. X. Transportation for school children. (S) Part I. DETAILED RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE LEGISLATURE. I. DISTRICTING. After an extended study of school conditions in Kansas the Commission has decided to recommend first of all a new districting plan for the state. It recommends that the community become, in general, the unit of school organization. In some instances where the topography of the country, the sparsity of settlement, or some other cause may require it, the one-teacher type of school district must continue; wherever possible, however, it is the unani- mous opinion of the Commission that the community should be the basis of organization. Community interests, together with community support, should remove in a large measure the artificial relations now existing in practically all of the present school-district organizations in the state. In this connection it might be well to emphasize that the plan suggested does not contemplate the abandonment of any school, either elementary or high; it does mean in most instances the enlargement of the unit of school organization. An increase in the size of a school district, or a change in school organization, is not to be confused at all with the abandonment of any school. A large school district may have a number of schools in operation within its territory. This is the case in practically every large city in the state. The city is the unit of taxation and the unit of school administration, but it does not limit its school operations to a single building. Many rural communities might well consider some of their conditions parallel to those of the city. An enlarged unit of school organization for rural communities would, in the judgment of the Commission, make school support and school administra- tion far more satisfactory. The operation of any particular school, or schools, within the boundaries of any district would remain, as now, subject to the de- termination of the people themselves. The size of the state and the varied conditions found therein make it some- what difficult to formulate a districting plan that will meet all its needs, yet it is hoped that the following will be elastic enough to meet the present emer- gency in the educational progress of our state. THREE TYPES OF DISTRICTS. It is recommended that all school-district organizations of every character now existing in the state be succeeded by one of three types of districts, viz.: The Common-School District, the Community School District, or the City School District. The Common-School District should be any school district that offers only elementary-school instruction. The Community School District should be any school district which offers (9) 10 State School Code Commission. both elementary and high-school instruction, but which does not contain a city of the first or second class. The City School District should be any school district containing a city of the first or second class. "Elementary-school instruction" and "high-school instruction" in this con- nection should be defined by a State Board of Education, whose appointment and duties, as planned by this Commission, will be explained later. HOW THESE NEW DISTRICTS SHOULD BE FORMED. 1. The Common-school District. The common-school district should consist of: (a) one-teacher school dis- tricts of all types, or (b) all other school districts that offer elementary-school instruction only. The foregoing districts should become common-school districts and remain common-school districts with their boundaries as they now exist, subject to change by action of a County Board of Education, whose origin and authority will be explained later in this report. 2. The Community School District. The community school district should consist of any school district within the state which offers both elementary and high-school instruction, but which does not contain a city of the first or second class. It would hardly seem necessary in this connection to discuss the relationship of the community school district to elementary education. The conditions, however, of secondary education make it necessary for the Commission to discuss this phase of school work, since the community school district, under this new districting plan, would replace all kinds of high schools outside of cities of the first and second classes. The high-school situation in Kansas, both as to organization and support, is complicated and generally unsatisfactory. The various types of high schools, with their overlapping organizations, the growing costs of maintenance and the increasing demands of the people for secondary school opportunities have made and are making the high-school problem a difficult one. There are twenty-seven counties in Kansas that are now operating under the county-high-school law. These counties support a single high school by a county-wide tax and children from the entire county are eligible to en- rollment therein. Statutory provision has recently been made for returning to other accredited high schools within these counties the portion of the county high-school tax raised by these local districts. There are forty counties in the state operating under what is known as the Barnes high-school law. This law provides also for a county-wide tax for high- school purposes and authorizes its distribution among the accredited high schools of the county. In the remaining thirty-eight counties of the state the county-tuition law provides a county fund raised from that portion of the county outside of dis- tricts maintaining a high school, for the payment of tuition for children not living in a high-school district, but enrolled in a high school. Another type of high school that is quite common now in the state is the rural high school. This type of high school is organized along community Recommendations to the Legislature. 11 lines in some instances, but in others that principle has been disregarded. There are probably not less than three hundred rural high schools distributed throughout the state and, of course, found within the counties having the various forms of county-wide taxation for high-school purposes. There are also two other types of high schools legally possible in Kansas. They are the district high school and the city high school. The district high school is found in villages or small towns, third-class cities, and in union or consolidated school districts. The city high school, as its name implies, is found in cities of the first and second classes and is supported usually by the city school district, although there are quite a number of these schools that receive support from Barnes high-school county funds or from county high- school tuition funds or are assisted by the fact that the county high school is located within it, and a city high school is therefore not necessary. Out of this complicated situation the Commission has sought to find a few principles that might assist in clarifying matters and in guiding to a practical solution. It feels that the following statements can hardly be questioned: 1. The territory of any local taxing district shoidd not lie wholly within, or even partly within, the taxing area of any other local district. 2. No territory should lie in a local taxing district when it is too remote from the school building of the district to receive service from that school. 3. In general, any financial support received by a local district outside of its local school tax should come from a county-wide tax, and every local district within the county should have an equitable share therein. The Commission believes that the solution of the high-school problem lies in the community school. In order that no misunderstanding may arise, the district organizations that would be succeeded by the community school dis- trict are definitely stated. The community school district should consist of: (a) Consolidated or union school districts offering high-school instruction. (b) Other school districts offering high-school instruction, including open- country, village, and third-class city schools which offer high-school instruc- tion. (c) Rural high-school districts, with the following modifications: 1. The one-teacher school districts lying wholly within, or the greater part of whose area lies within, the boundaries of a rural high- school district should become a part of the community school district. (However, all the schools lying within this territory should continue to operate unless abandoned by vote of the qualified electors.) 2. If one-half, or more, of the area of any one-teacher school district lies outside the boundaries of a rural high-school district, then that district, as a whole, should remain a common-school district, and no part of it should become a part of the newly-formed com- munity school district without due process of law. 3. When any one-teacher school district lies partly within the boun- daries of more than one rural high-school district, that portion of the boundaries of the new community school districts lying within the district should be determined by action of the county board of education or by a joint action of the county boards of educa- tion if more than one county is affected. Said board or boards, after advisement with the people of the district, and in accordance with their desires as far as possible, should determine that portion of the boundary lines of the newly-formed community school dis- tricts crossing the one-teacher school district in question. If the school is continued, it should be supervised b} T the community 12 State School Code Commission. school district in which the building is located and its financial support should come from each district in such proportion as may be agreed upon, subject to approval by the county board of edu- cation. 4. Authority also should be granted two or more community school districts or city school districts to maintain jointly such neces- sary one-teacher schools as may be approved by the county board of education, the division of cost to be approved by the county board also. (d) County high schools. County high schools should become either community school districts, or city school districts, in accordance with the type of district in which is located the county high-school buildings. If the buildings are located in a district that would, under this plan, become a community district, then the county high school should be succeeded by that community school district, and its boundaries should be determined by law and so adjusted as to serve constructively the interests of all concerned, rather than to destroy or cir- cumscribe the service that any school has been rendering. If the county high- school building is located in a city school district, then the county high school should be succeeded by that city school district. But the boundaries of that city school district should also be determined by law and should be adjusted in such manner as to serve constructively the best interests of all concerned. 3. The City School District. The city school district should be composed of any school district contain- ing a city of the first or second class, and any additional territory that might be attached to it for school purposes. PROVISIONS COMMON TO ALL SCHOOL DISTRICTS. Property and Obligations. Since all school districts now existing in the state would be succeeded by some one of these types of districts, it becomes necessary to offer some suggestions as to the disposition of the property and the obligations of existing school districts. In general, all property belonging to any school district should become the property of the district which succeeds it. In all cases it is understood that any bonded indebtedness against any territory automatically follows that territory. It is suggested, however, that succeeding districts should be permitted to assume any such bonded indebted- ness. All other obligations against any school district should be assumed by the district that succeeds it. If more than one district has any part of the original territory, this indebtedness should be assumed in proportion to the taxable valuation received by each succeeding district. Officers. Common-school districts should have the same officers, with the same duties as now required by law, unless these are changed to conform to the general plan of reorganization that may be adopted. The community school board should consist of six members, elected by the people. Their terms of office should expire in pairs in three, two, and one years respectively, each serving for a term of three years. It should have the power to elect its own officers and to have such general authority over school Recommendations to the Legislature. 13 affairs as is now given to school boards. It should also have such addi- tional authority and limitations as may be necessary in conforming to the general plan of reorganization. The boards of education of all cities of the first and second classes should become the school boards of their respective city school districts, including such additional territory as may be attached for school purposes. School boards of city school districts should have the same terms of office, duties, and qualifications as now existing for city boards of education. Provision for Schools in Session. It is recommended that all schools that might be in session at the time the legislature adopted any new districting plan should continue uninterruptedly in operation to the close of that school year. It should be the duty of all newly designated or selected school boards of all school districts to respect inviolate all obligations and fulfill all contracts relating to and essentially a part of the school organization actually in operation, in order to accomplish this. 14 State School Code Commission. II. THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF SCHOOLS. A COUNTY UNIT OF TAXATION 1 (OUTSIDE OF CITIES) . In general the financial support of all schools outside of city school dis- tricts should be derived from two sources, viz.: (a) Local school district tax, and (b) a county tax (outside of cities). The authority to levy the local school-district tax should rest in the quali- fied electors of any common-school district, or of any community school district, at their annual meeting or at any special meeting legally called for the purpose of levying a school tax. The amount of this tax should probably be limited by statute, with provisions- for a larger tax to be levied by com- munity school districts maintaining a fully accredited high school. Provision also should be made whereby an increased levy above the maximum provided by law may be made in cases of emergency. The second means of support should lie in the authority of a county board of education to provide. The county board of education should be authorized to levy a uniform county-wide school tax (outside of city school districts lying in the county). The levy thus made should be sufficient to raise an amount of money necessary to cover the following items, as determined by the county board of education : (a) To paj r one-half of the regular salary of all teachers in the common schools and in the community schools of the county up to fifty dollars per month for each teacher, as a maximum from the county fund. (b) To pay to the community school districts of the county four dollars per month per pupil in average daily attendance residing within the district and receiving exclusively high-school instruction. (c) To pay to the community school districts of the county eight dollars per month per pupil in average daily attendance residing outside of the district and receiving exclusively high-school instruction, providing permission to attend the community district high school has been authorized by the regulations of the county board of education. (d) To pay to any city school district eight dollars per month per pupil in average daily attendance in the city school district high school, providing the child whose schooling is thus paid resides in some common-school district of the county or in some community school district of the county and that per- mission to attend the city school district high school has been authorized by the regulations of the county board of education. SUPPORT OF -CITY SCHOOL DISTRICTS. For the financial support of c'ty school districts the school boards of these districts should be authorized to levy the necessary amounts as now provided by statute. There are emergency condition* existing in Kansas at this moment, partic- ularly among second-class cities, that would seem to demand recognition. These cities have less taxable property per pupil than any other type of school district in the state. This may be due partly to the fact that approxi- mately one-fifth of the children of the one-teacher school districts of the state are found enrolled in its larger graded schools. Evidently their parents are not content with the schools offered in their home districts and migrate to the larger centers, thereby placing an extra burden upon these schools. The in- vestigations show that with a single exception the cost per month per pupil Recommendations to the Legislature. 15 in these second-class city schools is less than that of any other type of dis- trict, while the average levy in mills is nearly fifteen per cent above the levy oi the next highest type of district. While the Commission recognizes the need, it must frankly admit that a satisfactory remedy has not yet been discovered. In view of this emergency in second-class cities the Commission recom- mends: (1) An enlargement of the local taxing area. (2) State aid for highly specialized courses in these schools. In this connection the Commission wishes to emphasize the principle that educational costs should be distributed equally among the productive agencies of society and over a territory sufficiently large so that the burden may be neither too heavy upon nor too directly felt by any taxpayer. The boundaries of any city school district should be determined by law in the most equitable manner possible, and should be adjusted in such a manner as to serve constructively the interests of all concerned, including both the children of the city and the children of the territory adjacent thereto which might be attached to the city school district. It is not the policy of the Com- mission to suggest in minute detail the manner in which this should be ac- complished. It has the feeling that this can better be done by the legislature, and that the Commission should content itself with a statement of needs and the principles involved in their solution. 16 State School Code Commission. III. CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT REVISING OUR SYSTEM OF TAXATION. The chief source of financial support for our schools at the present time is a direct property tax. This is often very inequitably levied. Not only should inequalities be adjusted, but productive agencies other than real estate must be discovered against which levies may be made. The legislature should be permitted to classify property for purposes of taxation so that intangibles may be reached and various other forms of taxation indulged in, which are now barred by the constitution. Gross production taxes on minerals and oils, in- come taxes, franchise taxes, and various other forms of taxation would then be lawful. The demands for better educational opportunities make imperative the need that all agencies of society contribute in just proportion to the com- mon welfare. The Commission desires to face the issue squarely. The increasing emer- gency arising from growing educational costs has outdistanced our present sources of revenue. The Commission recommends that an amendment to the constitution of the state be submitted in due form which will meet this situation. Recommendations to the Legislature. 17 IV. THE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION. The Commission recommends that a board of education be created for every county in the state. This board should be elected in each county from the territory thereof outside of city school districts, and should consist of three electors, no two of whom should be chosen from any one municipal township. Their nomination and election should be accomplished in the same manner as prescribed by statute for the nomination and election of other county officers. Since Kansas operates under a biennial election law and the operation of this plan would be delayed, statutory provision should be made by which the several boards of county commissioners of the state, on nomination of the county superintendent of public instruction, should appoint a county board of education who should have the authority and duties of the regularly elected county board of education until such time as their successors could be elected and qualified. The county board of education should hold regular meetings, and should meet at such other times as designated by its chairman. The place of meet- ing should be in the office of the county superintendent of public instruction. Each member of the county board of education should be allowed actual traveling and hotel expenses while engaged in the work of the board, and a per diem for the time actually used in the work of the board. The term of office for the members of the county board of education should be six years and should be so arranged that one member should be elected at each biennial election. Vacancies on the board should be filled by the board of county commissioners until the next general election when the unexpired term would be filled. In general the function of the county board of education should be : (a) The county board of education should have the authority to provide for its own organization and work and to prepare and publish reports showing in detail the transactions of the board. (b) It should also have the authority to provide regulations for determining the amount of money to be raised for school purposes by a county tax to be levied on the common-school districts and the community school districts in the county. (c) The county board of education should have authority to levy a uniform tax over the territory of the county from which it was elected sufficient to raise an amount of money necessary for the items designated under a "county unit of taxation," found on page 14 of this report. (d) The county board of education should have authority to change the boundaiy lines of any common-school district or of any community school district in a manner to be prescribed by statute, with the condition always that the opportunity to appeal from its decisions shall be given to all persons directly interested. (e) The county board of education should be required to divide that part of the county (outside of city school districts) which is not already organized into community school districts into proposed community school districts, ex- cept such common-school districts as in the judgment of the count y board of education are for physical reasons inaccessible to a community school center. In laying out the boundaries of any proposed community school district it should be the duty of the county board of education to include such modifica- 2 — Sch. Code— 4558 18 State School Code Commission. tions in boundaries of all school districts as it deems to be in the best in- terests of education for the entire county. The community school districts thus proposed should follow, as nearly as possible the boundary lines of the school districts composing them and should have a valuation and a school census sufficiently large to maintain a good community school. After such proposed community school district has been laid out the county board of education should notify the people affected in due form and, in accordance with statutory provision, an election should be called for the purpose of voting on a proposition to organize the proposed community school district into a community school district. If a majority of those voting in such an election should vote favorably, the community school district should be organized, otherwise the organization fails. (It should be understood in all cases in- volving a change in school district boundaries or in laying out boundaries for new school districts that the right of interested parties to appeal from the de- cision of the county board of education should not be abridged.) (/) The county board of education and the school board of any city school district jointly should have the authority to change the boundary lines of any city school district, providing that opportunity for appeal lies with any interested person or board. School districts whose boundaries lie in more than one county should be called joint common-school districts or joint-community school districts, and they should be formed or their boundaries changed on the affirmative action of each of the county boards of education whose territory is affected, with the customary rights to appeal. The administra- tion, jurisdiction and control of any joint common-school district or of any joint community school district whose territory lies partly within the bounda- ries of more than one county, should rest in the county superintendent and the county board of education of that county in which the school building is lo- cated, and the high-school building should determine in case of two buildings in the same district but located in different counties. Recommendations to the Legislature. 19 V. THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. The State Department of Education has received closer attention from the Commission than any other subject. In its consideration the Commission has undertaken to view the entire field of public education in perspective. It seems that the ideal towards which we have been progressing is that of a single sys- tem of education "from the kindergarten through the university." This ideal is a goal highly worthy of any democratic state. In attempting to achieve it there may be experienced friction in certain parts, yet the goal remains — the ideal should not be lost. In considering the function of the State Department of Education it might be well to divide, for purposes of analysis only, the entire public educational system of the state into two rather distinct parts, the institutions of higher learning, so called, being one of these, and the elementary schools and high schools the other. Our statutes designate as the chief administrative head of the former a single board of three members, called the State Board of Ad- ■ ministration, while the elementary schools and high schools have for their chief source of administration the State Department of Education. The close relationship of these parts is so evident that to mention them only emphasizes the essential unity of the entire s.vstem. The higher institutions are required by statute to accept the product of the elementary schools and high schools of the state. On the other hand, practically the entire teaching force of the high schools and a large per cent of the teachers of the ele- mentary schools are trained in these institutions of higher learning. Not only in practice but in theory the relationship is so close and so vital that it must not be disrupted. It is very necessary that no confusion exist on this point. Issues must be clearly understood. Slight friction does not warrant the conclusion that everything is wrong. The essential unity of purpose and coordination of function must be maintained. If by statute there have been placed upon the heads of the institutions of higher learning certain duties that have thrown these men open to the charge of dominating the elementary schools and the high schools of the state, the fault rests not with the heads of the institutions; neither does the mere supposition prove the charge. The fact is that the Commission, after careful investigation, is convinced that there are no grounds for such a question. There have been no attempts by any one, or any group, to dominate or influence the elementary schools and high schools in the manner implied. The Commission recognizes, however, that there is a growing sentiment in the state for a more democratic form of control and administration of the elementary- and high-school part of our state educational system. To con- form to this sentiment and at the same time and under the constitutional limi- tations imposed, to provide for the selection of the right type of administrator has been a real task. The solution that the Commission offers will no doubt be questioned by many, but they are willing to test it in the crucible of experience. 20 State School Code Commission. The State Department of Education should consist of a state superintendent of public instruction, a State Board of Education and such officers and assist- ants as are necessary in executing the functions of the State Department of Education. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction. In order to secure by elec- tion a person of the broadest training and widest experience possible, it is recommended that all candidates for the office of state superintendent of public instruction at either primary election or the general election should have the following qualifications: (a) Graduation from a four-year course of a college, normal school, uni- versity, or other institution of similar rank. (b) Graduation with a master's degree with a major study in education from an approved graduate school, or graduate study equivalent thereto. (c) Forty months' experience in teaching, at least eighteen months of which shall have been in positions requiring the supervision of other teachers. The Commission recommends as to salary and duties for this office the following : (a) The salary of the state superintendent of public instruction should be in keeping with the duties and responsibilities of that office and more nearly in harmony than at present with amounts paid for similar services elsewhere. The salary should be not less than four thousand dollars per annum. (b) In general the duties of the state superintendent of public instruction should be administrative in character, with the type of supervisory authority necessary to properly administer the educational policies which may have been determined by the State Board of Education for that department. The State Board of Education. It is recommended that a state board of education be created to replace the present board. The following suggestions are made concerning the State Board of Education: (a) It should be composed of six electors who should not be in the employ of any school, either public or private, and the state superintendent of public instruction. The members should be appointed by the governor, with the approval of the senate. These appointments should be made on or about the first day of March of odd-numbered years. Two should be appointed each biennium and for a term of six years, and no two should reside in the same congressional district. Any vacancies which might occur should be filled by the governor. (6) The State Board of Education should be required to hold regular meet- ings and should be authorized to hold such special meetings as may be desig- nated. The place of these meetings should be in the office of the state super- intendent of public instruction. The board should have authority to perfect its own organization and to select a secretary, whose qualifications should be fixed by statute and whose salary should be not less than thirty-six hundred dollars per year. (c) The board members should be allowed actual traveling and hotel ex- penses in connection with all their meetings and a per diem for the time actually engaged in the work of the board. (d) The State Board of Education should have the following duties: 1. Approving and standardizing schools. 2. Certification of teachers. 3. Making courses of study. 4. Joining with the State Superintendent of Public Instruction in gather- ing and interpreting statistical data. Recommendations to the Legislature. 21 5. The State Board of Education should have exclusive and sole au- thority in defining elementary instruction and high-school in- struction and in fixing official standards of excellence in all matters relating to the administration, course of study, and instruction in the common schools, the community schools and the city schools of the state and in accrediting those schools of the state in which the specified standards are maintained. Completion of the course of study of any accredited high school should entitle a person to admission in the freshman class of the State University, State Agricultural College, or any of the state normal schools. 6. The State Board of Education should have full authority to provide regulations for accrediting colleges and universities and for in- specting these institutions in matters relating to state teachers' certificates. Officers and Assistants. The state superintendent of public instruction should be authorized to appoint an assistant superintendent at a salary of not less than thirty-six hundred dollars per year. He should be allowed also the necessary clerks and stenographers for carrying on in a satisfactory manner the duties of this office. He should also have authority to appoint, subject to the approval of the State Board of Education, the supervisors necessary to carry on in an efficient manner its supervisory functions. 22 State School Code Commission. VI. SCHOOL BUILDINGS. There seems to be need for the approval of school building plans by some centralized state authority. The Commission therefore recommends that the State Board of Education, in conjunction with the state architect, adopt rules and regulations by which this may be accomplished. It further suggests that the statutes should provide that before public money could be expended for the erection of a new schoolhouse or before a sum in excess of one thousand dollars could be expended in the alteration of a school building the plans for such school building or for such alterations should be approved in accordance with this recommendation. VII. CERTIFICATION OF TEACHERS. The Commission recommends the following in relation to the issuance of teachers' certificates in the state of Kansas: (a) That all certificates should be issued by the State Board of Education except those issued by the state normal schools. (b) That the State Board of Education should be given authority also to provide for the issuance of any city or county certificates that may be neces- sary in putting into operation the new plan. (c) That standards both of age and professional training should be raised as rapidly as conditions in the state will permit. It is suggested that we ought soon to have reached the place where a minimum age of twenty years and a training of at least one year in an approved normal school or college beyond a four-year accredited high-school course may be required of all teachers. (d) That all certificates should bear upon their faces the designation of subjects or types of schools for which the holder of the certificate is qualified to teach and that the certificate should be legal authority for the holder to teach only the subjects or in the types of schools designated on the face of the certificate. (e) That for the purpose of meeting the possible emergency created under this change in the law governing the certification of teachers and in order that a larger supply of better-trained teachers may be available, the State Board of Education should be given authority to accredit normal-training de- partments in certain high schools within the state and under regulations which they might adopt. It is further recommended that the state at large should assist these high schools in the maintenance of such teacher-training courses through legislative appropriation in an amount proportionate to the service rendered the state. Recommendations to the Legislature. 23 VIII. VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. The State Board of Education should serve as a state board for vocational education. As such, the State Board of Education should administer the funds set aside for vocational training under the Smith-Hughes law and any other funds appropriated by the state for the advancement of vocational education. The State Board of Education should approve courses of study for training in various vocations, such as agriculture, home economics, automobile me- chanics, carpentry, plumbing, electric wiring, merchandising, office practice, and the like, and should approve high schools to offer work in one or more of these vocational lines. When such high schools have been approved by the State Board of Edu- cation, they should be reimbursed from the Smith-Hughes fund or from other funds appropriated by the state for the maintenance of vocational education in such an amount as to cover the excess cost of these vocational educational courses over the approximate average cost of nonvocational educational courses in the state. It is understood that all rules and regulations made by the State Board of Education should be in harmony with federal rules. IX. LENGTHENING THE SCHOOL TERM. The Commission has studied carefully the question of school opportunities offered the children of Kansas. Approximately thirty per cent of the children of elementary-school age in this state have school opportunities for only 140 days each year. Again they wish to face an issue squarely. The Commission unanimously recommends that school boards and school officials whose duty it is to provide educational opportunities for the children of the state should be required to offer to each child a school term of not less than 160 days in any school year. X. TRANSPORTATION FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN. Distance from school is an important consideration in rural communities. The established custom of the home bearing alone and unaided this burden may well be challenged. It is recommended, therefore, that it should be the duty of school boards of community school districts and of common-school districts to provide, under regulations established by the State Board of Education, transportation facili- ties for all children living two miles or more from school. This should apply both to elementary- and high-school children. Part II. ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS. I. DISTRICTING. One object of any districting plan is to leave the largest possible chance of local initiative for the improvement of the schools of the district. Certain aspects of administration must be controlled on a state-wide basis. For ex- ample, courses of study, textbooks, certificates of teachers, and the standards for approval of schools must be fixed by the larger area. However, in a demo- cratic society it is of the utmost importance that a keen interest in education be maintained by all the citizens. Therefore, local control should cover as many features of school administration as can be handled properly by the smaller district. How large this district ought to be depends upon a number of factors. It- must be large enough that no district will be excessively taxed because of low valuation of property within the district. Neither must it be so small that the number of children in the school is so limited that interesting work is im- possible. Furthermore, it must be large enough to maintain school throughout all the grades which any very considerable number of children wish to attend. Formerly the completion of the eighth grade was thought to be all that was necessary for the great mass of our population. It is coming now to be as widely recognized that all children should have opportunity to complete the high school, no matter whether they are going to spend their lives on the farm, in business, or in the professions. Therefore the district now must be large enough to incorporate a high school wherever that is possible. The essential recommendations on districting made by the School Code Commission are in the direction of making easy the establishment of districts large enough to maintain a school system from the first grade through the high school. That does not mean that all the children within the district will be expected to go to a central school for their elementary work, but it does mean that the elementary and high-school work within a given district must, for purposes of efficiency and economy, be under the control of one board of education. To meet this situation the community school district is advocated to take the place of individual small units. This will not be done, however, until the people within a proposed community district are convinced that it is sound policy and are ready to vote for its establishment. At present the weakest place in our school system is the rural school. Even though there are more than two hundred thousand children in one-room rural schools they had an average term during 1919-'20 of only 29.3 weeks. The average daily attend- ance was only 104 days per year. The teacher in more than three-fourths of these schools was new to the school that year and one-third of the teachers had never taught before. They were without supervision except such as could (24) Arguments Supporting Recommendations. 25 be given by a county superintendent who, because of large number of schools and the distances to travel, could visit the teachers but once or twice a year. It is no wonder under the circumstances that children in the fifth grade in the city school can read better than children in the sixth grade in the country; that children in the sixth grade in the village can spell as well as the children in the seventh grade in the country; that children in the fifth grade in the village can add and subtract and multiply as well as or better than the sixth- grade children in the country ; and that the handwriting of village school chil- dren of the fifth grade is superior to the handwriting of the sixth-grade chil- dren of the country. These conditions are lamentable and must not be allowed to continue. The country school needs superior teachers where children of all classes and all ages are taught by a single teacher; surely the best of schools and training are demanded. Furthermore, if superivision is needed anywhere it is surely needed in this complex situation of the country school. The proposition therefore is that the rural-school district, surrounding some center as mapped out by the county board of education, should be allowed to vote on the establishment of a community school. If such community school is established there will be employed in that community school a real educa- tional leader who will supervise the work of all the teachers, both elementary and high-school teachers; who will place the teachers in the various schools over the district according to the qualifications needed in those schools; who will prevent a succession of new teachers coming into these complex situations in the country schools; who will pay out of the common treasury of the com- munity school district whatever salaries are necessary to secure competent teachers who have a rural school point of view and who care to give their energies to the development of the rural school and rural community. By this means a definite educational policy could be formulated and developed through a series of years. Whenever the best interest of the schools demand it, children may be transported from outlying districts to a school center where better grading is possible and more adequate instruction can be given. How- ever, the adoption of a community school does not involve having the children from all the districts attend school in a common center. It cannot be denied that the district school is still a necessity in some locali- ties. Differences in geographical, topographical, and economic conditions are so pronounced in Kansas that no one type of district will meet all conditions. The School Code Commission is proposing a plan whereby a reasonable meas- ure of intelligence and foresight will be exercised in determining the nature, size and boundaries of districts instead of the haphazard, aimless plan which now exists. At the present time there are seven recognized districts or units of organi- zation for school purposes; namely, common-school district, consolidated dis- trict, rural high-school district, the county high-school district, city of the third class, city of the second class, and city of the first class. Each of these various districts has its own board and legal rights and privileges. The fact that one district often lies within the confines of another and pays its own tax and a tax to support another similar institution, and the fact that petty jealousies and trivialities have determined, in many instances, the boundary lines which have given districts monstrous shapes and sizes, has been borne in comparative silence by the public. 26 State School Code Commission. The plan which the School Code Commission proposes is to put all of the territory of the state under one of three districts : the common-school district, the community school district and the city school district. In general the com- mon-school district and city school district will be the same as now exists. The community school district will take the place of school districts of cities of the third class, rural high-school districts, and county high schools. Under the present plan of organizing rural high schools independently of other district organizations we have the anomalous situation of two boards of education operating schools in the same town. One is in charge of the high school, the other of the elementary school. Such a method violates the funda- mental principle of education in a democracy; namely, a system reaching from the kindergarten to the university. Two boards of education working independently of each other are working at a task which can only be per- formed efficiently when there is complete unity both of purpose and of effort There can be nothing worthy of the name of system in a scheme of education in which there are two boards of education trying to do the work of one, building two buildings where there are scarcely enough children both of elementary- and high-school age to fill one, hiring a superintendent of the elementary school and a principal of the high school who are wholly inde- pendent of each other. The absurdity of such a plan is evident to all, and the more especially so to those who send their children to schools operated under this plan. In changing the rural high-school district into a community school district the rural schools lying within the area now comprising the rural high-school district would be placed under a single board managing all schools within the district. This will unite the town and the contributory open country edu- cationally as they should be united; it will take the first step towards the supervision of the rural schools by a superintendent located in a town within reach of rural schools and competent to perform this very important and difficult task; it will tend to restore the original unit of administration in American democracy, namely, the township which observers tell us has brought forth more favorable comment than any other single aspect of our government. It does not require the abandonment of the one-teacher schools in that district; their operation is guaranteed unless the people by vote de- termine otherwise. The county high school will disappear under the plan proposed. The build- ings will automatically become the property of the community or city school district in which they are located. The county high school in almost all counties has outlived its period of usefulness as such. Secondary education has become local in its character. Parents are no longer willing to send their children to another town when they can build and support their own high school. The anomaly of a county high-school board of education which main- tains a single high school for all the children of the county and six or seven other boards of education in charge of high schools of equal rank and sup- ported locally, which enroll a majority of the pupils, is strikingly evident. When the problem of districting is considered in its larger aspects, it is seen that Kansas has acted largely on impulse or from temporary pressure in enacting school laws. There has been a lack of policy and program which is manifest in the patchwork of laws which has in some instances permitted one Arguments Supporting Recommendations. 27 Rural School Districts, Lton County. fiango IX yv JSajryg IS it a IS 3b 6 5 IS 17 19 3.0 Zl 14 13 2 2 1 14 30 29 Z7.ll. $ XI Ma 31 32 33 34 SS a © k> » 29 28 Plate 4. J 3 J 4 iS 3fc TWp.24 Twp.25 This district lias two schoolhouses. The population of the district is scattered, a few near the north schoolhouse, one family near the county line on the river, but most of the children live in sections 26, 27, 34, 35, township 24, in the east central part of the district. Local contention prevents moving the old schoolhouses, building a new one in a more accessible location, or any other adjustment which will bring education to the children. No school has been held in the south schoolhouse for several years. Arguments Supporting Recommendations. 31 Allen Rural High-school District, Lyon County. 19 2a 31 22 23 24 19 20 2/ « 03 24 JO 29 2e 27 26 2. P 4 if) 3 , I •3 3 ro J 1 / is T ill? 9 JO Jt 12 7 ^#-N *5 JO T«f>. Ob 19 ^1111111111 iS " " 16 21 IS J4 iy ie ■17 < ^ .20 • 2/ 22 23 24 10 20 22 23 24 j-j **. 3* 2* ;&? 27 ■24, ZS JO 29 28 27 26. E3 2S 3c *, >S 27 34. 31 32 33 34 3S 3b 32 32 33 3< "'■' 6 i v 4 3 2 Z < } 4 3 2 1 zMMzMM *■ 3 7 4 9 ve> 11 12 ? fH\ 9 JO ■* 12 llllllllilp 9 JC Tnp-27 18 r /6 /i" 14 J? wMIMM& 1 J6, B-6 is- J=>Zj4T. 19 20 Plate 6. Arguments Supporting Recommendations. 33 EXPLANATION OF PLATE 6. The law does not limit the size of a rural high -school district. In this one it is 24 miles from the schoolhouse to the far corner of the district. Territory is often the only factor in organization of such a district. To derive the benefits of the school most of the children must be boarded in town. In consequence, only a small per cent of the children eligible for the high school attend. A consolidated school has been organized within the boundaries of the rural high school. This high -school district is so large it will not be possible for Ingalls to accommodate all the districts under a consolidated plan. There are 24 board members managing the one-room schools; 3 board members the con- solidated school with practically the same amount of territory as in the one-room districts ; 3 board members over the high school, making a tcial of 30 board members to manage the school affairs of the territory contained in one rural high-school district. Since it is necessary by present law for the rural districts to vote individually to consoli- date we have many irregularly-shaped consolidated districts. By law the rural high-school boundaries need not conform with the boundaries of the rural districts which form a part of the rural high-school districts. Again because the rural high-school boundaries need not conform with rural -district bound- aries and because the rural district must vote as a unit for consolidation, we have many places in Kansas where triple taxation for high-school support is possible. This condition exists in sections 19, 30, 31, township 26, range 28, which are included in the Ingalls rural high school and Cimarron consolidated school, and must also pay their part of the Barnes tax. If districts 32 and 38 vote into Cimarron consolidated school the same condition will exist. There is an endless succession of needless lawsuits arising from the inadequate pro- visions of these laws. When districts joint 27 and 36 vote to consolidate with Pierceville, it will be necessary to set them out of Ingalls rural high school, thereby causing more litigation. These conditions will be remedied by a county board of education which will supervise districting. 3— Sch. Code— 4558 34 Stmte School Code Commission. II and III. FINANCING EDUCATION. The keystone in the arch of our democracy is equality of opportunity. Men are not born equal— they vary widely in size, weight and intellect. Nature abhors equality and forbids identity. Equality springs from our ethical sense; from the ideal that the merciless law of nature can be mitigated and improved. To this end, instead of assuming that men are equal by birth we assume that their environment can be equalized. Hence, all that constitutes real equality is in the form of certain external factors commonly spoken of as equality of opportunity. Examples of equality of opportunity are one vote for one person, 160 acres of land to a settler, equality before the law, and a free school system whose doors are open to the son of the day laborer and the son of the banker alike. It is the glory of our republic that it has taken the latter step more com- pletely than any other nation, past or present. But we are only beginning to get a faint concept of the true implications of the term equality of oppor- tunity. As far back as history records the events of mankind the rural dwellers have lacked educational advantages in comparison with the city folk. It is beside the point to argue that it is the countryman's fault, for we are con- cerned only with the boy and the girl who are to be our American citizens to- morrow. Our present system of school organization produces both inefficiency and inequality. For example, in some school districts it costs less than one dollar per month per pupil enrolled to maintain the school, while in other districts the cost amounts up to $50 or more per month per pupil enrolled. It has been found that the average cost of one-room rural schools in six counties in Kan- sas is less than $2 per month per pupil, whereas the average cost per pupil en- rolled in six other counties is $10 per month. For the state as a whole the average cost of one-teacher schools is $8.50 per month for each child in average daily attendance, while in cities of the second class the average cost per child in average daily attendance is $5.74. This is neither equality nor efficiency. Throughout the various communities of the state school taxes vary from one-third to two-thirds of all the money raised by taxation. This is indis- putable evidence of the importance which attaches to education in the mind of the taxpayer. It is probable, however, that the rising costs of education have reached the limit which agricultural and business enterprise can bear. The first and most important step in financing education at the present moment is not more money, but a more equitable system of collecting taxes and distributing the funds so obtained. The second and more remote consid- eration is the suggestion that an amendment to our state constitution be sub- mitted which will meet our constantly growing educational costs, that we may find some means of discovering productive agencies other than real estate from which revenues may be derived. While it is not in proper order to do so, we shall discuss the latter of these first ; someone has put this situation in the following way : "It is quite true that the ability to pay is limited. Taxes as now usually collected are from real property. They cannot safely go beyond the difference between the rental value of money in property and the interest value of this same money in period loans. To this limit property is certainly coming to be Arguments Supporting Recommendations. 35 Cost GrapK Based oil Ernr oil me xvt Plate 7. 36 State School Code Commission. taxed. Were the school tax the only tax to be borne the funds would prove quite adequate, but state, county and municipal taxes add a greater burden than do the school taxes in many instances. And yet these taxes are quite necessary and fully justifiable in the eyes of the American citizen. It would seem evident then that new sources of taxation should be found. More and more, also, is coming the conviction that the adjustment of taxes is not fair. At one time wealth rested primarily in land and land values. To-day land and real property represent only about one-eighteenth of the actual wealth of the world. In other words, less than one-ninth of all property or wealth is being taxed effectively for general purposes. Take an illustration: A young man goes through grade school, high school, and state university, all supplied at public expense. He also prepares himself for the law, or medicine, or teaching, or engineering, or a dozen other professional or semi-professional careers. The cost of producing this finished man has represented to the state from $2,000 to $10,000 actual value. He sets up in business and draws an in- come of from $1,000 to $20,000 a year that he practically consumes in one way or the other. Allowing deposit rate at 4 per cent on time deposits, his capital value to himself ranges from $25,000 to $500,000 exclusive of cost of upkeep which would rep*esent in net amounts of life vitals as much in a street cleaner as a bank president. On this huge capital sum actually earning returns he may not pay the state any more income than a truck farmer tilling one acre of $500 land, if as much. This man is a product of the educational system produced and conducted by property tax, and yet he is not contributing one cent to the furtherance of the same system he is consuming the wealth of. In other words, if schools are to be conducted correctly as to modern demand they must have more money. This money should not all come from property tax, but should be based on incomes, such as it will aid in creating." Furthermore, under the present system of taxation the taxes derived from railroads, oil wells and refineries and immense corporate holdings which are either public utilities or natural resources which never properly belong to a single locality, are used for the support of the local district. In such cases we find district A, which contains a line of oil tanks or a railroad, paying almost nothing to support its school, while the adjacent district B, which has a very small valuation, struggles under a levy which it cannot afford to pay. Such is the case in Butler county where district No. 4 pays .0008 mills and district No. 121 pays 9.5 mills, or 11,975 times as much for their school, and in other counties they pay as high as 16 mills, or 20,000 times as much as district No. 4. The gross inequality of the system of school taxation lies in the facts, first, that district A can afford a nine months' school, an experienced teacher, an adequate equipment, and pay almost no millage at all; second, district B can barely afford a seven months' school and perhaps then only through state aid, and an inexperienced eighteen-year-old girl, who will practice without super- vision or direction upon the helpless children. Perhaps the most equitable system of taxation would be a combination of (a) a tax on incomes as measures of ability to pay; (6) a tax on nonneces- sities; and (c) a tax on all the taxable property of the nation. The funds thus raised should be spent to educate all the children of all the people as nearly as possible up to the maximum of their ability to profit by such education. It is for the whole people that government exists. This method is at the present not practical. The next most equitable sys- tem would be to make the state the unit for the support of education. This is possible and to a limited extent should be in force in Kansas. Unfortu- nately the organic law of the state provides that all money in the state school fund must be distributed on the basis of the number of children between the Arguments Supporting Recommendations. 37 BUTIXR- CO. TORX> CO. MILL TAX BUTLER, CO. TORI) CO. GRAY v — ' VALUATION Plate 8. Showing relative school levies and valuations in certain counties. 38 State School Code Commission. ages of five and twenty-one years. Statistical investigations show that this method of distribution draws heavily on the sparsely-settled areas of the state and pays large sums into the treasuries of the larger cities, especially those having large foreign elements. Any equitable system of distributing funds derived from taxes for education must consider the teacher as the basis. Every school must receive a certain amount of funds for each teacher in its employ, because there must be a teacher whether the number of pupils is five or twenty-five. Every community must have at least one school and one teacher, whether it can afford it or not and regardless of whether the num- ber of children is small or large. That is why the distribution of a tax on a per-pupil basis alone is almost sure to be wrong, and that is why a state tax for education distributed according to the provisions of the constitution would be wrong. The School Code Commission recommends only a first step in enlarging the unit of taxation. It proposes a method of easily combining a number of small districts into a community district, and a taxation district composed of all the areas within the county lying outside the city districts. It proposes to levy a tax on the property of this county district in an amount sufficient to distribute to every teacher in the district one-half of the teacher's salary up to a sum of $50 per month. A school district which paid its teacher $100 per month would receive $50 per month from the common fund; one which paid $75 would receive $37.50. The same rule applies to all high-school teachers in all accredited high schools in the community school districts in the county. All teachers in such high schools would receive one-half of their salary up to $50 per month. This provision of the plan proposed seems valid for the two following rea- sons: First, there is a sense of justice in human nature which suggests that all should share equally, both in the burden of taxation and in the educational opportunities offered. Second, the logical outgrowth of this is that the poor district will not be obliged year after year to select the poorest, least experi- enced and least qualified teacher, because one-half of the funds for the teacher's salary, which is the chief expense in maintaining a rural school and the chief item of expense in maintaining any school, will be guaranteed. Another recommendation provides for the payment from the general fund of the county four dollars ($4) per month per pupil resident in any com- munity school district in the county in average daily attendance upon the high school of that district. Community high schools and city high schools shall receive eight dollars ($8) per month per child in average daily at- tendance of nonresident pupils, provided that permission to attend the com- munity high school or the city high school has been obtained from the county board of education. The county board has the authority to grant permission to attend high school in other counties. The essence of the proposed change is a larger taxing unit which should lead gradually but surely to a larger administrative unit. The most ex- pensive elementary schools in the state are the one-room rural schools. The most expensive high schools are those in cities of the third class. The obvious need of the situation in each of the above cases is a larger unit. Arguments Supporting Recommendations. 39 Some idea of the effect which the new method of taxation will have on community and common-school districts may be had from the following table : Amount of Taxable Property Per Pupil in Average Daily Attendance, 1920-'21. Lowest 14 Highest *4 Median. of schools. of schools. 1. Cities of first class $13,520 $8,650 or less $19,005 or more 2. Cities of second class 10,250 7,883 or less 11,712 or more 3. Cities of third class 13,833 9,016 or less 18,850 or more 4. Rural districts 33,570 22,520 or less 48,740 or more The rural district has by far the greatest wealth per pupil, and the city of the second class has the least. Where the typical second-class city has $100 of property to tax for its schools, the typical rural district has over $327. Of course these figures for rural districts do not take into account the children attending high school in town from the rural district. The fourth of the rural districts having least valuation have more taxable property per child than the most wealthy fourth of the cities of the first, sec- ond or third class. The table which follows is significant with reference to the amounts which people are paying to support local schools: Cost per Month Per Pupil Enrolled in Elementary Schools, 1920-'21. Median. Lowest %. Highest y±. 1. Cities of the first class $4.56 $3.67 $6.12 2. Cities of the second class 4.68 3.60 5.64 3. Cities of the third class 4.47 3.76 5.81 4. Two or more teachers 5.50 .... .... 5. One-teacher schools 6.67 .... .... The tables indicate that the country is amply able to pay for good schools and that it is paying an exorbitant rate per pupil enrolled for the quality of service it is receiving. The community school district will bring under one board of education schools lying within its confines. In all matters pertaining to taxation and administration the community school district will be a unit. It will widen the area of taxation and centralize and focus the educational effort. The county board of education, which will have general supervision of the levying and distributing of taxes, will be in a position to see the needs of the various dis- tricts in some perspective and adjust boundaries in the light of financial as well as geographical conditions. The School Code Commission through the proposed law hopes to increase the efficiency of all educational institutions in the small towns and the open country, and at the same time to distribute the cost in a way that it will not be burdensome and excessive. Kansas has the money to educate her children. Tax] layers are willing to pay the necessary amount provided there is a dollar's worth of educational service in return for a dollar spent. It will be noted also that the Commission has faced squarely the issue of rec- ommending a tax amendment to the constitution. As stated before, the need is so imperative, particularly because of continually increasing school costs if for no other reason, that they emphasize it again. New sources of revenue must be found and these should come from the producing agencies of society that have been heretofore contributing but little, if anything, to society's welfare. Just what proportion of our country's annual income is actually devoted to public education, it seems impossible accurately to state, although it is esti- 40 State School Code Commission. mated that not more than $1.35 out of every $100 is used for that purpose. If this estimate is even approximately correct, we can readily see that there are vast resources of untouched wealth yet available. An amendment to the state constitution will be the first step in bringing these resources to our relief. Kansas people, from the first, have been largely of a pioneering type and for this reason the Commission has no hesitation in recommending to their consideration a change in the fundamental law of the commonwealth. A care- ful study of this entire problem will reveal this to be the most important single asset that could come to the schools of the state. Arguments Supporting Recommendations. 41 IV. COUNTY BOARDS OF EDUCATION. The public-school system of America is administered by boards of educa- tion. The quality of service rendered by boards of education in towns, coun- ties and cities is perhaps superior to that of any other body of public servants in the state and nation. The fact that a candidate seeking the office of school board member is to govern the schools which come into the most intimate contact with the lives of boys and girls has evidently quickened the mind of the elector. A long record of efficient and honorable service has made mem- bership on the school board a badge of distinction. It should be said that a board of education is designed to be a small body of governors directing the general policy of a much larger number of em- ployees. This is always the case in business, and in our towns and cities the board performs that function. When one examines the administration of the rural schools, one finds the anomalous situation of three members of a board of education directing the affairs of one teacher and one school. For the 7,500 rural teachers in Kansas there are approximately 22,000 school-board members. Such members preclude the possibility of any unity of effort or continuity of policy within an area which geographically and politi- cally constitutes a unit. The county is broken up into an almost incredible number of small and feeble independent districts which find difficulty in secur- ing candidates for the members of the school board and in which the boards frequently have no chance to obtain adequate information on the problems of education. They want a good school, but have little means of determining what constitutes a good school. The districting of the county in such a way as to secure educational efficiency and economy is the job of a board with jurisdiction not of a single one-room school, but of all the county outside of city districts. For this important function there should be a board of education for the county. The School Code Commission does not propose to change the method of local control of schools, however. Local boards of education will still perform in general the important functions they now do. Furthermore, no change is recommended in the plan of district meeting. The town meeting or local gathering from earliest history has been the training school for democratic citizenship. The Commission is compelled to recognize the fact, however, that regardless of what has been the case, our horizon has expended, distance has been overcome, and the boy who would now become an efficient citizen must begin early to think in terms of state, nation and family of nations. Something must be done for rural education which will increase its effective- ness. The first step in this direction is taken in the proposal to establish a county board of education which shall have jurisdiction in matters of financial support and district boundaries. A recent law enacted by the legislature of the state of Nebraska reads as follows: "Article 1, Section 1. — All the territory in any county of the state, shall be distributed into districts for high school and consolidated school purposes ac- cording to and under the provisions of this act. "Sec. 2. — Within twenty (20) days after this act becomes a law, the county board in each county of the state shall meet and appoint two school electors from said county and the county clerk shall certify the same to the county and 6tate superintendents within five (5) days; and such two persons together with 42 State School Code Commission. the county superintendent, shall constitute a committee of three to make such surveys and investigations as will determine an equitable adjustment of the boundaries of districts for high and consolidated schools of all such territory of said county." The county board of education which the Commission proposes would es- tablish order in the chaos which now exists in district boundaries and by a comprehensive and intelligent survey of the entire county lay out the bound- aries of future districts on a rational basis. It is a notorious fact which a glance at the plates on pages 31 and 32 will show that the boundaries of rural high-school districts have been determined by considerations quite foreign to sound principles of educational administration. Sharp angles and ludicrous irregularities in district boundary lines are often times evidence of an intrigue to eliminate an elector and include his property for taxation. It is also true that petty animosities and trivialities have affected the outline of school districts and reduced the accessibility of the school to the children to whom it rightly belongs. The proposal of the Commission is to establish a board of education who shall lay out the entire county into proposed com- munity school districts excepting those parts which for physical reasons are manifestly inaccessible. Although the decision of the county board of educa- tion with respect to the boundaries of any district will be subject to appeal to higher authority, the electors will still have a vote on the question before the larger district is established, and will have the benefit of a comprehensive and careful survey of the county that will be far more likely to organize its schools in the interest of the educational welfare generally than under present conditions. There is further need of a board of education for levying the tax, as well as for some one to administer the funds derived from taxing the areas outside of city districts. It will be noted also that the county Board of Education is given authority to provide regulations for determining the amount of county tax that is to be levied for each district of the county. It would seem but fair that the tax payers of the county should be thus protected in the large investment, which, as a county, they are making to the educational system of the state. The policy that has been practiced in the past of levying a tax upon a people and not permitting the same group to have a voice in the expenditure of that fund is entirely undemocratic. This recommendation means that the county as a unit will have a direct influence, at least, upon the schools which it assists in supporting. The county board of education is not an experiment. The affairs of the county are at the present administered by a board of county commissioners. County high-school boards have served the educational interests of the entire county efficiently. Seventeen states of the Union have the county unit of school administra- tion. Among these states are: Ohio, California, Washington, Wisconsin and Virginia. The provision for a county board for the purpose of districting the area outside of city districts and levying a tax which shall equalize the burden of taxation is a timely and logical step in the development of our state system of public education which is designed to fulfill the injunction of Huxley, "A system of education extending from the kindergarten to the university." Arguments Supporting Recommendations. 43 V. STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. In considering the reorganization of the State Department of Education, the Commission has been confronted with one of two alternatives: First, a change in the constitution of the state; or, second, a reorganization of the de- partment without a change in the constitution. The first would have per- mitted the .choosing of a state superintendent by appointment; the second would retain the right of the people to elect. Having adopted the policy of being a unit in all recommendations, the Commission concluded that it was impractical to ask for a constitutional amendment. It was recognized that the theoretically sound and modern method of choosing a highly technical or professional official is by appointment, yet the Commission could hardly consider a change in the constitution a practical recommendation at this time. It was therefore decided that the Com- mission's recommendation should be to leave this an elective office as other state offices are. When they considered, however, the wide influence that can be exerted by the office and its possibilities for sendee to the state, they were forced to the conclusion that only those of the broadest training and the widest experience should be permitted to occupy it. Now, under our statutes anyone, however ignorant he may be concerning public education, may be elected on a partisan ballot to supervise and lead the educational interests of this great state. Since, under our constitution, this office must be filled by election, only two safeguards can be established by law. The first is to fix the qualifications necessary to hold this office and the second is to place the salary high enough to secure eminently qualified candidates. It is quite possible that well-qualified persons may be induced to become candidates provided the office pays an attractive salary. Kansas should profit by progressive steps that have been taken in other states where the commissioner of education is appointed by the governor or by a board of education and paid a salary of eight or ten thousand dollars a year. This Commission recommends that the qualifications necessary for holding the office of state superintendent of public instruction be forty months of actual teaching experience, eighteen months of which shall be in a position where he is called upon to supervise the work of other teachers, and a master's degree with a major study in education granted by an approved graduate school or graduate study equivalent thereto. It further recommends that the legislature fix the salary at four thousand dollars a year. But little argument should be necessary to support these two proposals. It would appear absurd to have as the educational leader of Kansas a person altogether out of touch with public school work. It would be almost as absurd to place in the office a person who has had experience as a teacher only. The duties of the office are largely administrative and executive. Among the duties to be performed by the state superintendent of public in- struction and the state board of education are the following: (a) Administering of vocational education. (b) Certification of teachers. (c) Making courses of study. id) Approving and standardizing schools, (e) Supervising teachers' institutes. 44 State School Code Commission. The most pressing educational problem in the state is the improvement of the rural schools. The success that all hope for along this line will depend upon the wisdom and professional training of the educational leader who is placed at the head of the state school system. Unless a course of study is made which is carefully adjusted to this type of school; unless the certifica- tion of teachers will provide for these school teachers especially trained for this type of service; and unless these schools are accredited on the basis of sound educational and financial principles there will be little use to plan for such new schools. The proposal that the legislature raise the salary of the state superintendent of public instruction from three thousand dollars a year to four thousand dollars a year seems to be a very conservative proposal when we find the heads of twenty city school systems in Kansas receiving higher salaries than is now paid to the head of the public school system of the state. Doubtless the chief reason why the city schools rank higher than the rural schools is that for several years the cities of the state and nation have invested more for efficient supervision. The salary proposed for the state superintendent of public instruction would be considerably less than is now paid in many cities of this state and to many superintendents or commissioners* of education in other states. This Commission strongly endorses the following statements concerning the State Board of Education found in the study of Supt. W. S. Heusner, of Salina : "The law of the state of Kansas provides: That the State Board of Edu- cation shall be composed of the state superintendent of public instruction, who shall be ex officio chairman; the chancellor of the State University; the president of the State Agricultural College; the president of the State Normal School at Emporia; the president of the State Manual Training Normal School at Pittsburg; the president of the Fort Hays Normal School at Hays; and two county or city superintendents of public instruction; and a county superintendent of public instruction to be appointed by the governor from any county in which none of the foregoing institutions may be located. "It will be noted that the State Board of Education thus constituted is es- sentially an ex officio and professional organization, since the majority of the members are holding positions thereon by virtue of other positions to which they have been elected. According to accepted standards and present ad- ministrative practice the method at present employed in selecting the State Board of Education is open to the following objections: (1) As at present organized, the members of the State Board of Education are chosen in three different ways, most of whom have no responsibility for their professional acts, either to the people themselves or to any single branch of the state govern- ment. Of the ex officio members the state superintendent alone is responsible to the people, but his responsibility relates primarily to other duties than those the state board is given power to exercise. The ex officio members of the board other than the state superintendent, owe direct responsibility to the State Board of Administraion from whom they receive their appointments. The appointive members owe their direct responsibility to the governor of the state. It would be difficult to conceive a plan which more effectively annuls direct responsibility, either to the people themselves, or to any single branch or department of state government. (2) Five of the ex officio members of the Board are chief executive officers of state educational institutions. Permitting institutional representatives to serve as members of a board which determines state educational policies is contrary to sound administrative practice, since such members must necessarily pass upon important measures which may easily affect their own institutions. (3) But three of the members of the board are concerned, primarily, with elementary and secondary education. But one Arguments Supporting Recommendations. 45 member, the county superintendent, is concerned primarily with the rural elementary school. It would seem that the elementary and rural schools, be- cause of their supreme importance, would deserve greater representation on a board composed exclusively of experts in public-school education." In view of these facts the Commission recommends that the State Board of Education be composed of the state superintendent of public instruction and six members appointed by the governor. This means that the state super- intendent of public instruction would bear about the same relation to the State Board of Education that the city superintendent of schools bears to the city board of education. It also means that the state superintendent of public instruction would initiate most of the plans and business of the Board not prescribed by law. In order that the members of the State Board of Education may not labor under the impression that they must do something to earn their salaries the Commission recommends that the members be paid legitimate expenses for travel and a per diem allowance. It should be clearly understood that the chief duties of the board are to carry out the provisions of the statute and to pass upon the recommendations and policies of the state superintendent of public instruction. In order that the board may have more or less permanency and continuity it is recommended that the term of office be six years and that two members retire each biennium. A short term of two years would not be satisfactory for the reason that it would take that much time for the members of the board to become acquainted with their duties and the policies of the depart- ment with which they work. 46 State School Code Commission. VI. SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND SITES. Kansas several years ago entered the second generation of schoolhouse construction. The plain, box schoolhouse with four windows in each of the opposite walls will soon be a thing of the past. The same may be said of the ornate style of architecture which has characterized some of the more expensive buildings built more recently. All public buildings should possess three qualities: utility, durability and beauty. Very few city school buildings possess these qualities, to say nothing of rural buildings. Very frequently school boards are satisfied if they can secure, at a low cost, enough floor space on which to seat the school population. Little attention is given to the volume of stationary air for each pupil; to the relative amount of window space as compared to floor space; to the quantity and kind of radiation; to unilateral lighting; to acoustical treatment of ceilings; to the quantity, temperature and humidity of the air supply; to the adaptability of floors and furniture; to the relative amount of corridor space; to the lo- cation, ventilation and number of toilets and drinking fountains; to the capacity and adaptability of auditoriums; to the system of cleaning and jani- torial service; to stairs, fire escapes and fire hazards; and to the proper loca- tion of gymnasium, shops and music rooms. Every one who has built a home or a business house realizes how im- portant it is to consider costs as well as needs. Many communities have spent almost as much on nonessentials in school houses as they have spent on essentials. A satisfactory heating plant may prove less expensive than one which costs half the money. Occasionally a high-priced ventilating system is installed where a more efficient system might have been secured for much less money. Many cases could be cited where expert advice would have saved the community thousands of dollars while securing the most serviceable and efficient building. It is possible to avoid the plain factory type on the one hand and the ultra ornate and extravagant building on the other. This expert service in school building construction must come from two classes: those who have had wide experience in building school houses and from those who have had wide experience in using them. School boards come and go and teachers average but few years in actual teaching experience. These condi- tions make it necessary for those clothed with temporary authority to seek the best advice attainable. Probably in no way have school boards offended more than in disregarding the elements of beauty in school buildings. In some cases the offense has consisted in extreme simplicity and disregard of the artistic, while in other cases real beauty has been sacrificed for the ornate. Here again expert service is necessary. No school board should be allowed to erect a building until the plans have been approved by the state architect, under regulations pre- scribed by the State Board of Education. The following states have a school-building commission: Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. In some of these states a school building code setting forth in detail the re- Arguments Supporting Recommendations. 47 quirements of different types of school buildings has been provided. Authority should be vested in some official or commission to see that proposed school buildings meet all such requirements. In other states a school-building com- mission is provided for, and this commission is given power to formulate defi- nite rules and regulations governing the building of schoolhouses and the in- spection of the same while under construction. Such a commission also pro- vides definite regulations relative to the size and location of school sites. The Commission, therefore, recommends that all school-building plans and alterations amounting to $1,000 or more shall be approved by the state archi- tect under regulations established by the State Board of Education. 48 State School Code Commission. VII. CERTIFICATION OF TEACHERS. One of the chief reasons why rural schools are so far below town schools in the fundamental things in education is because the teachers are so poorly pre- pared for their work and in addition thereto have so many subjects and grades to teach. This is no reflection against them, because in most cases they do re- markably well when the type of training which has been available for them and the type of supervision which they have had are taken into account. It cannot be denied, however, that better teaching must somehow be obtained for rural schools. In Kansas, up to date, the same sort of preparation is taken by those who intend to teach in the rural schools as by those who intend to teach in any other elementary school. The certificate which qualifies to teach in one place qualifies to teach in the other also. What we need to guarantee improvement in teaching, is a course of training which is designed to prepare teachers for a specific type of teaching job. Then when the prospective teacher has finished that course of training, the certificate to teach should entitle the holder to teach in the kind of school for which the training was designed to prepare him. We are, therefore, recommending that all certificates be limited in their scope to the kinds of jobs which the holder is really prepared to do effectively. How limited these certificates are to be is left to the discretion of the State Board of Education. It would be manifestly unfair to make the certificates so much limited as to prevent the schools from obtaining teachers. On the other hand, it is the business of the State Board of Education to so modify the standards of teachers' certificates as to secure as quickly as possible the best trained teacher for each particular type of teaching situation. To the above end, all teachers' certificates are to be issued by the authority cf the State Board of Education or the state institutions which are created and supported to train the teachers of the state. To be sure, the State Board of Education may use such county boards as at present exist or may use any other divices which are necessary to help them determine what persons are qualified to teach. Responsibility, however, will rest with the State Board of Education, and only as they delegate this responsibility to other authorities will there be any other agency for the issuance of certificates to teachers than that of the State Board of Education. The same purpose holds true in connection with high-school certificates. At present a person graduating from college, having a minimum number of hours in education courses, is certified to teach any subjects in the high school. California, 86 per cent of teachers have at least two years of work above high On this account, it happens that a great many high-school teachers in Kansas are now teaching subjects for which they have had almost no preparation. If limited certificates are issued, then prospective teachers will select in college combinations of courses most commonly called for in high-school teaching. Superintendents and boards of education will be careful in the selection of teachers to find those who have had preparation in teaching the subjects to which they must be assigned. To be sure the state will have to move cau- tiously in these directions and not make the standards of requirement so high as to make it impossible for the schools to find teachers. There is little dan- Arguments Supporting Recommendations. 49 ger, however, of embarrassment in this direction if discretion is left with the State Board of Education. State institutions for the training of teachers are quite inadequate to se- cure a sufficient list of properly trained teachers as standards of requirements continue to be raised. Under present conditions, the plan of normal training in high schools is not proving wholly effective as a supplement to the state- supported institutions. It is proposed, therefore, that the State Board of Education may accredit normal training departments in highly efficient high schools. That the board shall have at its disposal a state appropriation for reimbursing these schools in proportion to the service rendered the state. It is thus hoped that these well-equipped and approved high schools may become not only teacher-train- ing institutions but will encourage the establishment of a post-graduate course of one year, thus meeting the suggested requirement of one year of work be- yond the regular high-school course as the minimum preparation soon to be required for all teachers. For this advanced work, it would seem that the state should in some way subsidize these schools and it is believed that the state fund now appropriated for normal training work in high schools would be much more wisely expended by this arrangement. Another change which the School Code Commission is suggesting is an in- crease soon to twenty years as the minimum age of teachers. At present the typical beginning teacher in the country schools is a girl eighteen years of age. One of the most responsible aspects of education is thus put in the hands of persons too immature to be able to assume that responsibility. Maturity is one of the essentials for successfully handled problems of childhood, and it is thought to make the minimum age for teachers at least twenty. Finally, with this increase of minimum age, it is recommended to make soon the minimum professional requirement, at least one year of training beyond high school. No one can now pass an examination for admission to the bar as lawyer in Kansas who has not had at least five years' work beyond the high school. No one can be admitted to the examinations for a license to practice medicine who has not had six years of training beyond high school. Surely it is time for the state of Kansas to begin to regard the responsibilities of the teacher in the successful development of the state as comparable in some slight degree with the responsibilities of the lawyer and the doctor. It is to be hoped that before another decade we can at least have reached the requirement of two years of training above high school as a minimum for entrance into the profession of teaching. To-day only 42 per cent of the teachers in Kansas hold certificates requiring two years or more of work above high school; while in California 86 per cent of teachers have at least two years of work above high school; in Arizona, 89 per cent; in Connecticut, 90 per cent; in Massachusetts, 86 per cent; in New York, 82 per cent; in Oregon, 79 per cent; and in Pennsyl- vania, 67 per cent. Kansas must step up among these states in respect to the qualifications of teachers. 4 — Sch. Code— 4558 50 State School Code Commission. VIII. VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. Public schools have long been criticized for not offering the same oppor- tunity for a man who wishes to make his living at automobile mechanics as it does for the man who wishes to make his living at practicing law. The state supports education through grades and high school and through five years of work beyond high school for a man who is to become a lawyer. If a man wishes to become an automobile mechanic, he must go to some private tech- nical school and pay a very high rate of tuition. It will be agreed, however, that the welfare of the state demands that the same opportunity be given to hand workers as to brain workers to get the preparation for their callings at state expense. It is proposed, therefore, that a system of vocational schools be developed under the direction of the State Board of Education among the high schools of the state and that adequate state subsidy be afforded these schools in order to take care of the very costly nature of the vocational train- ing. The Smith-Hughes fund as provided by the federal government con- stitutes a beginning step in this direction, but that will probably not be ade- quate for a proper system of vocational education; and it is deemed wise to make provision for the State Board of Education to accredit enough high schools to provide opportunity to the young people of the state to get them- selves ready for vocational efficiency. When it is remembered that shop ap- prentices, in addition to paying a very costly price for their education are estimated by Mr. James M. Dodge, a prominent American manufacturer, to have an earning capacity equal to an investment of $15,000, while a trade- school graduate has an earning capacity equal to an investment of $25,000, it is certainly evident that the state cannot afford to continue this very costly and inefficient system of vocational training. Some of the best vocational work now done in the state of Kansas is being done in the county high schools where, because of the very low levy necessary, they have been able to maintain a much more expensive type of education than has been possible in the city high schools. However, counties are now withdrawing their support from these high schools as other high schools are de- veloping in the county and it is becoming increasingly difficult for these county high schools to maintain the excellent standards in the vocational work which have been built up in some of them. It is believed that the State Board of Ed- ucation would find it advisable to designate certain of these strongest county high schools, with particular regard to location, attendance, and potential possi- bilities, when they have been made community district schools or city district high schools, as institutions for vocational training. This would make possi- ble the continuation of the excellent vocational work now being done and the expansion of it to certain other centers which have facilities to do vocational work. This would save the equipment of these high schools and capitalize the splendid contribution which many of them have already made. Arguments Supporting Recommendations. 51 IX. LENGTH OF THE SCHOOL TERM. A minimum school term of not less than 160 days in any school year seems to have become a necessity. We note that the average school term in the one-teacher schools in the state is 147 days; in all other schools it is 174 days. The Commission recognizes the charges that have been made, and are made in this report, of the backwardness of the child in the country school. It is our firm conviction that no single cause contributes more directly to this condition than does this disparity in the length of the school year. If an equal educa- tional opportunity for all children of the state is to be offered, we cannot rec- ommend less than 160 days as the minimum school term. Careful study of the changes recommended in this report will reveal that this requirement can be accomplished without working a hardship upon any district. X. TRANSPORTATION FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN. The difficulties, state wide in their scope, that any specific law might seek to overcome in providing transportation facilities to school, are so numerous and varied that the Commission refrains from any specific recommendations other than that the State Board of Education shall prescribe these regulations. By doing this there is given flexibility enough to the authority of the local boards and the state board that any particular situation may be satisfactorily adjusted. There can be no question of the obligation of the state to assist the home in overcoming the obstacle of distance to school. The adjustment of that obligation to the variety of conditions that may prevail is one that must be accomplished only through a definite knowledge of the particular situation and a just application of the principle that an equal educational opportunity shall be given all children. Part III. DATA BEARING UPON THE RECOMMENDATIONS. Out of the great amount of data collected by the subcommittees of the research committee of the Kansas State Teachers' Association, space in this volume will permit of publishing but a small amount. On the following pages will be found data on these points : PAGES. I. Number and size of schools of various types 53-54 II. Comparative costs of: (a) elementary schools of various types; and {b) high schools of various types 55-56 III. Comparative property valuation and taxation rates of districts of various types 57-58 IV. Achievement of pupils in schools of various types as measured by standardized tests 59-67 V. County organization and administration 68 VI. State organization and administration 69-71 VII. School building regulations 72 VIII. Certification of teachers * 73 IX. Training, experience, salaries and tenure of teachers in various types of schools 74-75 X. The standing of Kansas, educationally 76 (52) Data Bearing Upon Recommendations. 53 I. NUMBER AND SIZE OF SCHOOLS. Recommendations of the School Code Commission affect particularly rural schools, both one-room elementary schools and rural high schools. The follow- ing data are provided to show particularly comparisons between one-room schools and other types in several particulars : General Statistics for 1919- '20. a. Number of Schools. One-teacher schools 7,639 Two- or more-teacher schools outside cities of first and second classes 884 Cities of the second class 77 Cities of the first class 10 County high schools 27 b. Teachers Employed. One-teacher schools 7,624 Two- or more-teacher schools outside cities of first and second classes, elementary 2,996 high school 1,827 4,823 Cities of the second class, elementary 1,715 high school 851 2,566 Cities of the first class, elementary 1,369 high school 396 1,765 County high school 211 c. School Census. One-teacher schools , 207,241 Two- or more-teacher schools outside cities of first and second classes 124,555 Cities of the second class 99,959 Cities of the first class 90,702 d. Average Length of School Term. Weekt. One-teacher schools 29.3 Two- or more-teacher schools outside of cities of first and second classes 34.6 Cities of the second class 35.8 Cities of the first class "86.8 County high schools 36.0 e. Average daily attendance per teacher. While the average daily attend- ance per teacher in city schools is 315 pupils, the average daily attendance of the one-teacher rural schools averages 13.0 pupils. One-fourth of the one- teacher rural schools have an average daily attendance of 9.5 pupils or less. /. High-school enrollments in small high schools. There were in 1920-'21 163 high schools in Kansas with enrollments from 25 to 49, and 109 high schools in Kansas with enrollments less than 25. g. Enrollments in various classes of high schools, 1920-21: All rural high schools '. 12,809 All county high schools 4,074 All first-class cities 10,102 All second-class cities 20,871 All third-class cities 20,151 Total for state 68,007 * This low average is due to the interruption of school caused by the influenza epidemic in two cities. All cities of the first class have a regular term of 36 weeks. 54 State School Code Commission. Chart 1. Teachers employed, Kansas, 1919- i. Illllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllipillllllllllll 7,634 One-teacher schools. Elem. H. S. Illlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllli Village schools. Elem. H. S. iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii minimi 2.566 Cities second class. Elem. H. S. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII L765 Cities first class. II! 211 County high schools. 4.823 Chart 2. Number pupils, Kansas census 1919-i 207,241 One-teacher schools. I Village schools. 124.555 99,959 Cities second class. 90,702 Cities first class. Chart 3. Average length school term, Kansas, 1919-SO. Illlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllimilllllllll County high schools. Cities first class. Cities second class. Village schools. illllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll One-teacher schools. 36.0 35.3 35.8 34.6 29.3 Data Bearing Upon Recommendations. 55 II. COMPARATIVE COSTS. The recommendations of the Commission are intended to make it easy to combine small schools into larger districts, primarily on account of their pres- ent inefficiency and their excessive cost. Figures are here given to show the comparative costs of small schools and large schools. A Monthly cost per pupil enrolled for year 1920-'21 : In elementary schools: (a) In cities of the first class $4 . 56 (6) In cities of the second class 4.68 , (c) In two- or more-teacher schools 4 . 47 (d) In one-teacher rural schools 6 . 67 In high schools: (a) In cities of the first class 9.10 (fc>) In cities of the second class 9.79 (c) In cities of the third class 12.00 B. Annual cost per pupil enrolled in one-room rural schools. (a) With enrollments above 20 $42.33 (6) With enrollments of 16-20 49 . 18 (c) With enrollments of 11-15 75.38 (d) With enrollments of 6-10 93.34 (e) With enrollments of 1- 5 181.79 C. Average annual cost per pupil enrolled in high schools of various sizes. (a) These enrolling from 500-1,000 $94 . 35 (6) Those enrolling from 200- 500 108.80 (c) Those enrolling from 100- 200 109 . 20 (d) Those enrolling from 75- 100 114.15 (e) Those enrolling from 50- 75 139.60 (/) Those enrolling from 25- 50 163.25 (g) Those enrolling fewer than 25 211.75 (h) Average for all rural high schools 115.15 (i) Average for state, all schools 119.35 Chart 4. Cost per month per pupil enrolled, Kansas, 1919-20. ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 4.56 Cities first class. 4.68 Cities second class. 4.47 Village schools. 6.67 One-teacher schools. HIGH SCHOOLS. Illl Cities first class Cities second class. Cities third class. 56 State School Code Commission. Chart 5. Annual cost per pupil enrolled in one-room rural schools, Kansas, 1919-20. Illlllllllllllllllllllllllll 48.38 With enrollments above 20. Illlllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 49.18 With enrollments of 16 to 20. Illlllllllllllinilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 75.38 With enrollments of 11 to 15. Illlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 93.34 With enrollments of 6 to 10. With enrollments of 1 to 5. Chart 6. Average cost per pupil enrolled in Kansas high schools, 1919-20. 94.35 High schools enrolling: 500 to 1000. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHII 108.80 High schools enrolling- 200 to 500. [Illlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 109.20 High schools enrolling 100 to 200. Illllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll. U4.15 High schools enrolling 75 to 100. Illllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 139-60 High schools enrolling 50 to 75. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 163.25 High schools enrolling 25 to 50. iiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 3ii-75 High schools enrolling fewer than 25. iiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 113-15 All rural high schools. Illlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll H9-35 All high schools of state. Data Bearing Upon Recommendations. 57 III. COMPARATIVE PROPERTY VALUATION AND TAX- ATION RATES. A. Taxable property per pupil in average daily attendance, 1920-'21. Average. (a) Cities of first class $13,520 (o) Cities of second class 10,250 (c) Cities of third class 13,833 (d) Rural districts 33,570 B. School tax levy in mills, 1920-'21. Average mill tax. (a) Cities of first class $12.30 (6) Cities of second class 14 . 38 (c) Cities of third class 9-93 (d) Rural districts 3.44 (e) Rural high schools (average of 15 high schools chosen at random) 6.70 C. Valuation per pupil in high school in various types of high-school dis- tricts, 1920- '21. (a) All rural high schools $50,540 (b) All county high schools (net) 105,055 (c) All first-class cities 44,655 (d) All second-class cities 18,560 (e) All third-class cities, excluding rural high schools 19,155 D. Variations in taxation rates. Four typical counties reveal the following variations in tax rates in 1920 for the support of one-teacher schools : In Brown County: 14 districts levied less than 2 mills 8 districts levied more than 4 mills In Chautauqua County: 4 districts levied less than 3 mills 7 districts levied more than 10 mills In Marshall County: 11 districts levied less than 2 mills 13 districts levied more than 4 mills In Montgomery County: 7 districts levied less than 2.5 mills 26 districts levied more than 5 mills Of the 105 counties, the average of the levies made in all the one-teacher districts of the state in 1920 shows that 13 counties levied less than 3 mills and 9 counties levied more than 6 mills. These variations show the great need for a larger unit of taxation. 58 State School Code Commission. Chart 7. Taxable property per pupil in average daily attendance, Kansas, 1920-21. Illlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 13.520 Cities first class. Illlllillllllllllllllllll 10,250 Cities second class. Illlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 13.833 Cities third class. Rural districts. Chart 8. School tax levy in mills, Kansas, 1920-21. Illllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 12.30 Cities first class. Cities second class. 9.93 Cities third class. Illlllillllllllllllllllll! 3.44 Rural districts. Chart 9. Valuation per pupil in high school in various types of high school districts, Kansas, 1920-21. Illllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 50.540 All rural high schools. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN 105.055 All county high schools. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 44.655 All first-class cities. 18,560 411 second-class cities. 19.155 All third-class cities (excluding rural high schools). Data Bearing Upon Recommendations. 59 IV. ACHIEVEMENT OF PUPILS. The most significant data tending to show that the rural schools must have better teachers and more adequate supervision is that submitted below on the achievements of children. With the use of thoroughly standardized tests which were given under identical conditions to children in one-room rural schools and to children in village schools, and the papers marked by specialists chosen for the purpose, we make up the following comparative tables showing these average achievements. (a) Spelling. Average number of words correctly spelled out of 20 words found in Ayres Scale, List "W." i Grades ^ 6. 7. 8. One-teacher schools 3 5 9 Third-class cities 5 8 12 (b) Silent Reading. Burgess Scale. Av erage erage m 3. . . . 1.9 , , . 2.9 number 3. imber of 4- 3.7 5.3 of examp l.i 1.5 1.5 2.1 .8 1.6 4. .6 .6 paragraphs read correctly in (c) Arithmetic. Av dard Tests. Addition : 5. " 6. 5.2 6.4 6.8 7.3 es correct from Grades 5. 6. 1.6 2.4 2.4 2.8 2.3 3.3 3.6 5.5 1.7 2.8 2.9 3.5 Grades 5. 6. .7 1.1 .8 2.5 7. 7.4 8.8 Courtis 7. 3.0 4.0 5.1 6.2 3.7 5.1 7. 1.9 3.5 8. 8.7 8.9 Stan- 8. 3 7 .7 4 7 Subtraction : .6 6 7 Third-class cities .... Multiplication: One-teacher schools Division. One-teacher schools .8 • 7.2 5.0 5.9 8. 3.9 4.7 (d) Written Composition. Average score made in written composition test, Willing scale. , ■■ Grades N 3. 4- 5. 6. 7. 8. One-teacher schools 16.5 21.0 27.4 29.0 34.1 36.5 Third-class cities 17.2 24.8 28.5 32.6 35.3 37.3 (e) Handwriting. Average score made in Ayres Scale, Handwriting test. , Grades , 3. 4- 5. 6. 7. 8. One-teacher schools 23.5 26.4 29.2 31.6 36.1 39.4 Third-class cities 28.13 31.6 33.1 36.5 41.8 39.7 60 State School Code Commission. Chart 10. Pupil achievement, Kansas, 1921-22. Spelling: Average number of words correctly spelled out of 20 words, Ayres Scale, List "W." Ill 3 One-teacher schools. 5 Third-class cities. Grade 7 IIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 5 One-teacher schools. Third-class cities. Grade 8 One-teacher schools. Illlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll! 13 Third-class cities. Data Bearing Upon Recommendations. 61 Chart 11. Pupil achievement, Kansas, 1921-22. Silent Reading: Average number of paragraphs read correctly, Burgess scale. Grade 3 lllllllllllllllllllllllll !•» One-teacher schools. Ill!lll!lllllllllllllllllllllllll!l 2-» Third-class cities. Grade 4 llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 3.7 One-teacher schools. Third-class cities. Grade 5 One-teacher schools. 6.8 Third-class cities. Grade 6 6.4 One-teacher schools. 7.3 Third-class cities. Grade 7 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 7-4 One-teacher schools. 8.8 Third-class cities. Grade 8 8.7 One-teacher schools. 8.B Third-class cities. 62 State School Code Commission. Chart 12. Pupil achievement, Kansas, 1921-22. Arithmetic: Average number of examples correct from Courtis Standard Tests. ADDITION. Grade 3 llllllllll •' One-teacher schools. 7 Third-class cities. Grade 4 lllllillllllHIIIIIillHIII i-i One-teacher schools. illllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllil 1-5 Third-class cities. Grade 5 lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllillillll " ; One-teacher schools. Third-class cities. Grade 6 llllllllllllilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllillllllllll 2-4 One-teacher schools. Tliird-class cities. Grade 7 lllllllllllllllll One-teacher schools. Third-class cities. Grade 8 One-teacher schools. Illlllllllllll Third-class cities. Data Bearing Upon Recommendations. 63 Chart 12 — Continued. SUBTRACTION. Grade 3 .6 One-teachef schools. Third-class cities. Grade 4 lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 1 •"•' One-teacher schools. 2.1 Third-class cities. Grade 5 One-teacher schools. Third-class cities. Grade 6 One-teacher schools Third-class cities. Grade 7 One-teacher schools. Third-class cities. Grade 8 One-teacher schools. Third-class cities. | 3.6 6.7 64 State School Code Commission. Grade 4 .8 One-teacher schools. 1.6 Third-class cities. Grade 5 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE i-? One-teacher schools. Third-class cities. Grade 6 One-teacher schools. I Third-class cities. Grade 7 One-teacher schools. Third-class cities. Grade 8 One-teacher schools. Illlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllillll Third-class cities. Chart 12 — Continued. MUI/HPLIC ATIO N . 2.9 2.8 3.5 S.7 5.1 llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 5.0 llllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 5.9 Data Bearing Upon Recommendations. 65 Grade 4 III -6 One-teacher schools. nun -e Third-class cities. Chart 12 — Concluded. DIVISION. One-teacher schools. .8 Tliird-class cities. Grade 6 II 1.1 One-teacher schools. Third-class cities. Grade 7 lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll !■» One-teacher schools. Third-class cities. Grade 8 One-teacher schools. r ->• Third-class cities. 5— Sch. Code— 4558 66 State School Code Commission. Chart 13. Pupil achievement, Kansas, 1921-22. Written Composition: Average score made in written composition test, Willing scale. Grade 3 16.5 17.2 21.0 One-teacher schools. Third-class cities. Grade 4 One-teacher schools. Third-class cities. Grade 5 iiiiiiii:iiiiiii[iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!iiiiiii:iiiiiiiiiiiniii:i via One-teacher schools. Third-class cities. Grade 6 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIH One-teacher schools. Third-class cities. Grade ' One-teacher schools. Third-class cities. Grade 8 One-teacher schools. 32.6 36.3 Third-class cities. Data Bearing Upon Recommendations. 67 Chart 14. Pupil achievement, Kansas, 1921-22. Handwriting: Average score made in Ayres scale, Handwriting test. Grade 3 llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 23.5 One-teacher schools. || 28.13 Third-class cities. Grade 4 One-teacher schools. iranmsKmtnunmtflTtiiiBiflmiBiaiuiHuumiHuimiJHniiiiniiiiiiiHunfflitinniiiiiiniiinn 31.6 Third-class cities. Grade 5 IIIIIIIHIIIIII One-teacher schools Third-class cities. Grade 6 One-teacher schools. Third-class cities. Grade 7 IIIIIU On e-teacher schools. Third-class cities. Grade 8 One-teacher schools 36.5 36.1 39.4 Third-class cities. 68 State School Code Commission. V. COUNTY ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. Data based on facts and opinions furnished by state superintendents of 48 states: States. District unit of administration 18 County unit of administration 17 Township unit of administration 6 Town unit of administration 3 County and district unit of administration 3 Township and district unit of administration 1 County superintendent chosen by the people in 22 County superintendent chosen by county board in 10 County superintendent chosen by other methods in 16 Superintendents favor election of county supts. by people in 5 Superintendents favor appointment of county supts. by county board in 25 Superintendents favor appointment of county supts. by other methods in 4 States making no report 14 Superintendents favor a county board in 29 States making no report 19 Superintendents favor choice of county supts. from county in 4 Superintendents favor choice of county supts. from anywhere in 30 States making no report 14 Superintendents favor rural or community high schools in 35 States making no report 13 Data Bearing Upon Recommendations. 69 VI. STATE ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. A. State Superintendent of Public Instruction. (a) Length of term of office: States. 1 year in 2 2 years in 14 3 years in 1 4 years in 24 5 years in 2 6 years in 1 Indefinite in 4 2 years in Kansas. (6) How chosen: States. Elected by people in 34 Appointed by governor in 6 Appointed by state board of education 8 (c) Salary: States. $1,600-2,000 ' 1 2,100- 2,500 5 2,600-3,000 7 3,100-3,500 « 1 3,600- 4,000 11 4,100-4,500 4 4,600- 5,000 10 5,100-6,000 2 6,100- 7,500 9 7,600- 8,000 1 8,600- 9,000 1 9,600-10,000 2 1 1 .600-12,000 1 Average, $4,671.50. Kansas, $3,000.00. 70 State School Code Commission. B. State Board of Education. Composition of State Boards of Education. Table from Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1920, No. 46, p. 10. Ex-officio members. Appointed or elected members. H X f 0' 1 1 o-g. 3 EL f to — : °' • c ; : 0. : 5 : I t » States. O o < 3 o o c — : ^ 5' ■a » - - if 5".= ; o 5) < -. ■< 5- o : » '. c . 3_ 3? — E-' 3 | 3-0 SO ~" = .£-' O M EL-- sLI* - — 3* : o : U : 3 "O a. So o' 3 O 35 3 C- c o' 3 E. s- o 2J o 5" — c B> 5' 3 O 7T 1° I'i ^"< 5 3 • cr Appointed or elected by — H 3 5' ■< 3 c 3 3 c- to 3. 1 1 1 1 1 6 Governor do 12 7 4 2 5 1 3 2 5 2 1 7 6 3 1 1 1 3 4 3 3 1 2 7 2 1 3 1 2 2 1 3 3 3 4 1 2 1 6 3 7 7 9 5 4 5 6 3 5 7 6 3 5 8 5 8 5 12 3 6 6 6 7 9 6 5 5 3 6 8 6 8 1 2 3 8 7 do 8 7 do 7 2 1 1 3 1 9 5 Governor do 6 5 11 5 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 5 3 "5 2 1 .... Governor do 4 5 4 2 4 5 7 3 6 5 fi fi 1 1 1 1 1 3 3 3 3 do .. 13 do .. 9 2 3 5 7 5 3 5 Governor do fi 7 1 1 1 do .. 7 Popular vote Governor 4 5 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 4 4 4 8 Governor 11 1 3 5 8 2 Governor do 5 8 4 12 fi 8 1 1 3 12' do 7 State legislature. 12 1 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 3 4 Governor do 6 6 S 2 7 1 1 3 3 3 6 7 9 State legislature, do 6 6 4 6 7 1 1 1 l 1 8 1 9 10 Texas . 2 3 Utah 1 1 1 6 5 Governor do 6 5 8 2 6 J5 6 9 S 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 5 3 3 [■State senate, 3 . . \State board, 2... Governor do 8 7 1 1 1 3 8 6 7 1 t 10 State superin- tendent**. . . . 7 'Indefinite. inaennite. tGovernor appoints 5 members, university board of regents 1, normal school regents 1, vocational educa- tion board 1. {Governor's appointees. "With approval of governor. Data Bearing Upon Recommendations. 71 C. Annual Salaries to Members of Staff of State Departments of Education. Total budget for salaries: States. $10,000- 19,000 in 3 20,000- 29,000 in 10 30,000- 39,000 in 10 40,000- 49,000 in 6 50,000- 59,000 in 6 60,000- 69,000 in 2 70,000- 79,000 in 1 80,000- 89,000 in 4 100,000-109,000 in 1 113,590- in 1 173,410- in 1 233,350- in 1 254,350- in 1 822,900- in 1 Total, $3,488,606. Kansas, $27,350. Average per capita in United States $0 . 0330 Average per capita in Kansas 0.0154 Thus Kansas is found to be spending less than half as much per capita as the average of all states. Chart 15. Average amount paid for salaries to members of staff of state departments of education, 1919-20. 72.67S Average per state. Illlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 37.350 Kansas. Illlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll! -0330 Average per capita, United States. 0154 Average per capita, Kansas. 72 State School Code Commission. VII. SCHOOL BUILDING REGULATIONS. (a) Kansas spends about $3,000,000 annually for school buildings and sites. (b) Types of state control, summarized: States. State officials, as state superintendent, commissioner of buildings, or state board of education 23 County superintendent 7 Other local officials 3 Board of health for certain features 7 No control other than that exercised by officials erecting buildings, 9 States not reporting 6 States duplicating certain above items 7 The tendency of the state to exercise more and more control is very marked at the present time. A tabulation of the rules and regulations in force now as compared with those in force in 1915, made by Frank Cooper, of Boston, and published in a recent number of School Life showed the following: 1915 Regulations in force 442 Regulations passed since 1915 705 1921 Regulations in force 1,147 This shows an increase of 705 regulations in six years! Data Bearing Upon Recommendations. 73 VIII. CERTIFICATION OF TEACHERS. A. Of the 11,545 teachers whose certificates are accounted for in the re- port of the State Superintendent for 1920, the numbers of each kind are as follows : First-grade county certificates 1,554 Second-grade county certificates 2,285 Third-grade county certificates 1,088 Nornial-training certificates 3,154 State certificates 3,464 Total 11,545 B. Distribution of teachers in various states according to educational train- ing. In the next table the numbers in columns opposite the name of the state indicate the following: Column One — The percentage of teachers who hold licenses which require less than a high-school education. Column Two — The percentage of teachers who hold licenses which require a high-school educa- tion or more. Column Three — The percentage of teachers who hold licenses which require two years of collegiate or normal-school education beyond a high-school course. Column 1. Column 2. Column 3. Arizona 100 89 Arkansas 87 13 12 California 100 86 Connecticut 100 90 Florida 94 6 1 Iowa 100 30 Idaho 100 42 Kansas 26 74 42 Louisiana 15 85 67 Massachusetts 1 99 86 Mississippi 76 24 4 Missouri 30 70 34 Montana 23 77 34 Nebraska 39 61 4 New Mexico 73 27 1'8 New York 100 82 North Carolina 51 49 23 Ohio 8 92 42 Oklahoma 73 27 22 Oregon 100 79 Pennsylvania 23 77 67 South Carolina 40 60 35 South Dakota 39 61 34 Utah 100 69 Vermont 6 94 29 Washington 100 50 West Virginia 67 33 18 Note. — The figures were not obtainable for all the states but these are typical of the entire country. 74 State School Code Commission. IX. TRAINING, EXPERIENCE, SALARY AND TENURE OF TEACHERS. A. Training. In 1920 the number and percentage of teachers with either less than high-school training, or with no training beyond high school, teaching in elementary grades were: For one-teacher schools, 6,106 out of 7,624, or 80% For two-or-more-teacher schools, 1,556 out of 2,996, or 52% For schools in cities of second class, 608 out of 1,715, or 31% For schools in cities of first class, 298 out of 1,369, or 22% B. Experience. In 1920, 2,294 out of 7,624 one-room rural-school teachers, or 30 per cent, had no previous teaching experience. In 15 typical counties the per cent of teachers in 1921-'22 who had had no previous teaching experi- ence was: For one-teacher schools 35% For graded schools 5 % C. Tenure. In a limited but representative study of tenure of teachers it was found that 76 per cent of teachers in one-room schools remain in the same school one year or less; 18 per cent of teachers in one-room schools re- main two years; 6 per cent of teachers in one-room schools remain more than two years. D. Salary. The average monthly salary for teachers in elementary schools in 1920-'21 was : (a) Salaries for men per month: One-teacher schools $100 . 00 Two-or-more-teacher schools 125.00 Second-class cities 142 . 50 First-class cities 155 . 00 (6) Salaries jor women per month : One-teacher schools $94 . 16 Two-or-more-teacher schools 102 . 40 Second-class cities 115.00 First-class cities 122.18 (c) Salaries for women per year: One-teacher schools $687 . 36 Two-or-more-teacher schools 885 . 76 Second-class cities 1,035.00 First-class cities 1,099 . 62 Data Bearing Upon Recommendations. 15 Chart 16. Percentage of teachers with less than high-school training or with no training beyond high school, in elementary grades, Kansas, 1920-21. 80% One-teacher schools. Village schools. 31% Cities second class. 52% 22% Cities first class. Chart 17. Average yc One-teacher schools. Village schools. Ill Second-class cities. Illllllllllllllllllllllllll First-class cities arly salary for women, Kansas elementary schools', 1920-'21 76 State School Code Corn-mission. X. NATIONAL STANDING OF THE KANSAS SCHOOL SYSTEM. A. According to the Russell Sage Foundation study, which compared the school systems of the several states in ten essential items, Kansas was found to rank as follows among the forty-eight states and territories and the District of Columbia : In 1890 Kansas stood as the 21st. In 1900 Kansas stood as the 31st. In 1910 Kansas stood as the 24th. In 1918 Kansas stood as the 26th. In 1918 Kansas ranked in the ten items as follows: Kansat rank. 1. Per cent of school population attending school daily 20 2. Average days attended by each child of school age , 18 3. Average number of days schools were kept open 15 4. Per cent that high-school attendance was of total attendance 3 5. Per cent of boys attending high school compared with girls 36 6. Average expenditure per child attending 22 7. Average expenditure per child of school age 22 8. Average expenditure per teacher employed 28 9. Expenditure per pupil for purposes other than teachers' salaries 19 10. Expenditure per teacher for salaries 31 It will be observed that Kansas ranks very high in high-school attendance, but low in other points having to do more with elementary schools. □ olTY of CALIFORNIA Gaylord Bros P >.¥ ^ FVV J [ \ J 'Jt: iv