STATE OF MICHIGAN.

No. 6.

LEGISLATURE, 1853.

ANNUAL REPORT of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction begs leave respectfully to report:

That the system of Public Instruction, as established by the framers of the first constitution, and in existence in Michigan, since the year 1836, provided for the appointment of a Superintendent of Public Instruction, whose duties were defined by law; for "a system of common schools, by which a school should be kept up and supported in each school district, at least three months in every year;" for the establishment of libraries, one, at least, in each township; and for a University, with such branches for its support as the public convenience might require for the promotion of literature, the arts and sciences, and as might be authorized by the terms of the grant. Under these constitutional provisions, the first law defined the duties of the Superintendent, created a Board of Regents, and established a system of Primary Schools, under the direction of officers of the townships, denominated a Board of School Inspectors, and officers of the district, designated Moderator, Director, and Assessor. The system, as thus established, underwent, from time to time, various modifications and amendments, both as relates to taxation for he support of schools, and in various details pertaining to it, until after a few years of change, it settled down upon the basis upon which

it now rests. Within the past ten years the system has been gradually approaching a state of perfection, satisfactory to the people, so that now no general complaints reach this office in relation to it A few complaints, it is true, are made as yet, relating to some of these details, appertaining more generally to the provisions requiring the furnishing of fuel to the district schools; to the disposition of the libraries and drawing of the books, and, per aps, in the more sparsely settled townships, to the appropriation of twentyfive dollars, out of the mill tax assessed by the Supervisor, for the purpose of purchasing books for the libraries. In these respects, it may be desirable to amend the laws. But it is, nevertheless, a question worthy of consideration, whether stability will not ensure greater progress than constant change, especially as the evils complained of are of minor consequence, when considered in connection with the general operation of the laws, which, taken as a whole, are doing for the rising generation of our youth, what the laws of no other State of the Union have succeeded in accomplishing.

It has been the aim of this department to elucidate and explain the various conflicting questions which arise under the operation of the laws, until it is believed there are but few questions which may not be settled with uniformity and without material difficulty. No difficulty has been found to arise in the districts of the State generally, within the official knowledge of the Superintendent, relating to the methods of taxation by which our schools have for so many years been sustained and supported. The uniform and constant support given by our people to the system and the laws, and their steady adherence to its requirements in all respects, evince the reliance which the great body of the people repose on both, as the means of securing to the rising generation of their children, those fundamental principles of instruction, on which are based the security of property, the preservation of morals, the progress of society, and the perpetuity of our institutions. No state the Union, indeed, can boast of a better system of public instruction, arried out in practice and detail, and no where, in the Union, is taxation or the support of schools based upon a more equal footing as regards all classes of our citizens. The state of New York, to whose example many of our citizens are accustomed to look with filial regard, after resorting to state, county,

township, and district modes of taxation, in making provision for a system of free schools, has recently discarded all other methods of taxation, and settled down upon the same basis and principle as that upon which our own schools have been supported, and have flourished.

The system of taxation for the support of the primary schools is three-fold. It consists of a tax of one (now two) mills on each dollar of the valuation thereof, assessed by the supervisor upon the taxable property of the township; twenty-five dollars of which is appropriated to the purchase of books for the libraries, and the remainder is apportioned to the several school districts of the township for the support of the schools therein, and collected and returned in the same manner as State and county taxes; of a tax raised by vote at the annual school district meeting, not to exceed one dollar for every scholar in the district, between the ages of our and eighteen years, which tax is also returned to the supervisor, and levied,collected, and returned in the same manner as the township taxes are levied, collected and returned; thirdly, a rate bill made out by the director of the school district, against the person or persons sending children to the school, for the amount of tuition and fuel for which be is liable, collected by the assessor, if necessary, by distress and sale of goods and chattels, to make up any deficiency which may arise after the income of the primary school fund, and the funds arising from the sources of taxation above mentioned are exhausted, for the support of the schools.

The active machinery of the school system otherwise is based upon the municipal principle, power and authority being retained by the legal voters to control and govern the local affairs of the schools according to their own judgment, limited only by restrictions of a general nature, to make the action of the people uniform. The boards of inspectors have power to divide township into as many districts as from time to time may be necessary; to regulate the township libraries and purchase the books ere for; to visit the schools and inquire into their condition, an give advice to both teachers and scholars; to examine teachers, and grant certificates reference being had to no other test than in regard to moral character, learning. Cu te: el hools; to organize the elass of

union schools provided for by law. The powers of these officers are defined and limited to these or similar purposes, leaving to the legal voters of the school districts which they organize, the right of controlling matters more immediately connected with the management and regulation of the schools. The district boards, elected by the qualified voters, consist of officers, entitled moderator, director and assessor, who are the executive officers of the district, with special and limited powers and duties, while to the legal voters themselves, assembled together in district meeting upon due notice, is again reserved the right of establishing sites for the school houses, to purchase or lease sites, to build school houses, and to impose taxes for that purpose, to keep school houses in repair, to provide append. ages, to pay the debts of the district legally contracted, to purchase apparatus, to determine the length of time the schools shall be taught, (not less than three months,) and to apply the moneys raised to summer and winter schools, and to control in general the action of the officers selected to carry out their wishes.

Under the system thus established, and with which the people have grown familiar, the alien and the citizen are placed upon an equal footing, each having a voice and vote at school district meetings, in controling and managing the schools, upon the common condition of being a free white male inhabitant, of the age of 21 years, residing in the district, and having property assessed to him, or subject to assessment in the district. Into the schools as thus regulated, all the children of the district are admitted, without test and without distinction, the law humanely providing still further, that the children of the indigent shall be admitted into the schools, exempt, alike from payment of teachers' wages, or for fuel; their needful books being also furnished to them free of cost. No system more truly liberal in its spirit and requirements can be devised;-a system based upon the great fundamental principle of a tax upon the property of all, by the majority, for the education of all.

Such is an outline of the system of Frimary Schools in force up to the time of the convention to revise the constitution, and in existence at the present time.

The Revised Constitution provides that the Legislature shall, within five years after its adoption, provide for and establish a system of

Primary schools, whereby a school shall be kept with out charge for tuition, at least three months in each year in every school district in the State. In the Convention to revise the Constitution, much discussion was had in relation to the mode by which this purpose should be accomplished; and the Legislature is respectfully referred to the debates in convention upon this important point. A general desire was manifested, however, that in whatever manner the tax was raised it should be uniform and equal; and it seems to have been the pre-' vailing sentiment of that body, that the object could be best accomplished by means mainly of the tax, assessed by the supervisors upon the taxable property of the townships, and collected and returned as other taxes by the township treasurer. The question being left by the convention to the Legislature, Governor Barry, in his annual message of 1851, and this department, in its annual report for the same year, called attention to the subject. It was suggested at the first session of the Legislature, convened after the adoption of the revised constitution. that the most desirable and practicable mode of adapting the law to the provisions required by the revised constitution, would be by increasing the one mill tax to two mills, thereby doubling the revenue from this source for the purposes of tuition; and leaving the inhabitants of the districts subject to the exercise of their own discretion in relation to the provisions of section 140, which requires that the qualified voters may, at their annual meeting, raise by tax upon the taxable property of the district, a sum not exceeding one dollar per scholar in the district between the ages of four and eighteen years for the support of schools therein, and also leaving them subject to rate bill. Having the experience of other States in view,and realizing the difficulties encountered in fixing upon other modes of taxation, and with a view to avoid change and confusion by any general alteration of the laws, the Legislature passed an act providing for an increase of the mill tax, from one to two mills. This tax was or should have been assessed by the supervisors during the last fall, but the returns under this head show that the amount raised was only $30,000; while a two mill tax should raise $60,000. It is doubtless the case, although the attention of the supervisors throughout the State was specially directed to the change by the Auditor General and by this department, that in many instances, they neglected to do their