No. 6. IN ASSEMBLY, January 6, 1836. ANNUAL REPORT Of the Superintendent of Common Schools. STATE OF NEW-YORK, TO THE SPEAKER OF THE ASSEMBLY, } Albany, Jan. 6, 1836. Sir-I have the honor to transmit herewith the annual report required of the Secretary of State as Superintendent of Common Schools. I am, very respectfully, Sir, [Assem. No. 6.] 1 Your most ob't serv't, JOHN A. DIX. REPORT, &c. SECRETARY'S OFFICE, } Albany 6th January, 1836. TO THE LEGISLATURE. The Secretary of state, in pursuance of the requirements of the second Title of the fifteenth Chapter of Part First of the Revised Statutes, has the honor to submit, in his capacity of Superintendent of Common Schools, the following REPORT: I. THE CONDITION OF THE COMMON SCHOOLS. The whole number of organized counties in the State is fiftyfive, and the number of towns and wards eight hundred and fortytwo. The annual reports of the commissioners of common schools of all the towns, and the reports of the clerks of all the counties, have been made as required by law. The table hereto annexed, marked A, exhibits an abstract of these reports, and the table marked B contains the same matter in a condensed shape. It will appear by the letter that there were, on the last day of December, 1834, ten thousand one hundred and thirty-two organized school districts in the State, from nine thousand six hundred and seventy-six of which annual reports have been made to the commissioners of common schools. In the counties of Richmond, Seneca and Yates, every school district has reported; in Columbia and Schenectady, all but one; in Albany, Kings, Otsego and Rockland, all but two; in Cayuga, Cortland, Madison and Schoharie, all but three; and in Greene, Lewis, Livingston, Montgo mery, Orleans, Putnam and Wayne, all but four. In all the districts from which reports have been received, schools have been kept during the year 1834 an average period of eight months. The whole number of children over five and under sixteen years of age, residing, on the last day of December, 1834, in the school districts, from which reports have been received, was five hundred and forty-three thousand and eighty-five, and the whole number of children who had attended school during the year 1834 in the same districts, was five hundred and forty-one thousand four hundred and one. It is proper to state that the reports from the school districts do not show the whole length of time during which each child has attended school. They show only how long the schools have been kept open, and how many children have received more or less instruction. During the year 1834, two hundred and sixty-seven new districts were formed. In 1831, there were six hundred and fiftynine districts which made no reports; in 1832, five hundred and eighty-three; in 1833, four hundred and seventy-three; and in 1834, only four hundred and fifty-six. The number of children who were instructed during a portion of the year 1834, in the districts from which reports have been received, is ten thousand one hundred and sixty-one more than in 1833; and the increase in the number of children over five and under sixteen years of age, enumerated as residing in the same districts, is nine thousand and eighty-three. The following table, which has been presented in the three last annual reports of the Superintendent, shows the proportion which the number of children receiving instruction bears to the whole number enumerated as residing in the several school districts. In consequence of a change in the provision of law on that subject, the number of children over five and under sixteen years of age. has been enumerated since the year 1830; whereas before that time the enumeration included only those over five and under fifteen years of age. Excess of children taught over those between Excess of children between 5 and 16 years of 5 and 15 years of age. age over those taught. In this table, neither the city of Albany nor the city of NewYork is included. In the latter, the children between five and sixteen years of age are not required to be enumerated, and as the former was not included in the table during the first five years, it has been excluded since. In the three last annual reports of the Superintendent, the variation in the proportion which the number of children receiving instruction bears to the number enumerated during the two periods exhibited in opposite columns in the above table, was fully explained. As was stated in the last annual report, it is believed that the reports from the school districts are as nearly accurate as they can be made. The number of children receiving instruction in different years must be expected to vary; but, as will be perceived by the above table, the excess of children between the ages of five and sixteen years, over the number receiving instruction, has not, during the last five years, much exceeded fifteen or fallen below seven thousand, in any one year. It should be borne in mind that the number of children attending the common schools in some counties is much less than the whole number between five and sixteen years of age. In these counties there are usually a large number of academies and private schools, in which a very considerable portion of the children are instructed. These cases occur almost exclusively in sections of the State which have been long settled, and in which property is more unequally distributed than in other sections where fewer private schools are supported. To illustrate this position by an example: the two counties of Cortland and Queens are, according to the recent enumeration, nearly equal in population. In the former county, the number of children attending the common schools in 1834, in the districts from which reports were received, was eight thousand five hundred and sixty-two, and the number between five and sixteen years of age, was seven thousand three hundred and fifteen, making an excess of twelve hundred and forty seven children receiving instruction in the common schools over the whole number between the ages referred to residing in the same districts. In Queens county, on the other hand, the number of children between the ages of five and sixteen years, in 1834, enumerated as residing in the districts from which reports were received, was six thousand one hundred and two, and the number receiving instruction was but three thousand two hun |