Full text of "Consolidated rural schools and organization of a county system"
Cornell University Library
LB 1567.K72
Consolidated rural schools and organization of a County system
Issued October 1, 1910.
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS— BULLETIN 233.
A. C. TRUE, Director.
CONSOLIDATED RURAL SCHOOLS
AND
ORGANIZATION OF A
COUNTY SYSTEM.
BY
GEORGE W. KNORR,
special Field Agent, Bureau of Statistics.
ISSUED BY THE OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS IN COOPERATION .
WITH THE BUREAU OF STATISTICS.
WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1910.
U. S. DEPARTMENT QF AQRICULTURE.
Soientific Bureaus.
Weather Bureau — Willis L. Moore, Chief.
BuREAtj OF Animal Industry — A, D. Melvln, Chief.
BtTKEAtroF Blast Industry — B. T. Galloway, Chief.
Forest Service— H. S. Graves,. Forester.
Bureau of Soils— :Miltoii Whitney, Chief.
Bureau of Chemistry — H. W. Wiley, CAewi**.
Bureau of Statistics — V. H. OhnsteA,' Staiisticidn.
Bureau of Entomology — L. O. Howard, EjitomologiH.
Bureau of BiologicaE SorVey — H. W. Henshaw," CSicf.
O.FFidE of Public Roads — L. tV. Page, Director:
THE OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS.
A. C. True, Ph. D., Se. D,, Director.
E. W. Allen, Ph. D., Assistatit Director and Editor of Experiment Station
Record. _ ,
W. H. Beal, a. B,. M. E., Chief of Editorial Division.
DioK J. Crosby, M. S., Specialist in AgricnlturaTEducaiion.'
F. W. Howe, A. B., M.S., Assistant in, Agricultural Education.
No. 232
'2M Issued October 1, 1910.
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS— BULLETIN 233.
A. C. TRUE, Director.
CONSOLIDATED RURAL SCHOOLS
AND
ORGANIZATION OF A
COUNTY SYSTEM.
GEOKGE W. gNOEE,
Special Field Agent, Bureau of Statistics.
ISSUED BY THE OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS IN COOPEEATION
WITH THE BUREAU OF STATISTICS.
WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1910.
LB \5(o7 LE^iTER OF TRANSMITTAL
K71
V. S. Department of Agricultuee,
Ori'icE OF Experiment Stations,
Washington, D. C, July 18, 1910.
Sir : I have the honor to transmit herewith a bulletin on Consoli-
dated Rural Schools, by George W. Knorr, special field agent of tho
Bureau of Statistics. ' This bulletin was prepared under the Chief of
the Bureau of Statistics and by him transmitted to this Office for
publication in the series of agricultural education publications.
The statistical investigation upon which this bulletin is based ex-
tended over more than three years, and was made by Mr. Knorr
under the direction of Assistant Secretary of Agriculture W. M.
Hays. In the course of the investigation Mr. Knorr visited several
hundred district schools and a large proportion of the typical con-
solidated rural schools recently established in this country. His
statement that 95 per cent of the farmers who have thoroughly tried
the consolidated rural school give it their indorsement and support,
should command universal attention.
These consolidated schools are gradually supplanting the one-room
rural schools; they at once supply excellent graded eight-year ele-
mentary courses and one or more years of high-school work; and
provide conditions under which trained teachers may instruct in
agriculture and home economics. Many are now teaching these sub-
jects in a thorough manner and thus lead in the long desired de-
velopment of our belated system of schools for rural communities.
Through these schools opportunities are afforded the Department
of Agriculture and the state experiment stations for disseminating the
results of their researches; new facilities are also afforded for the
distribution of new varieties of plants and seeds which are being
created by breeding.
The information contained in this bulletin will be valuable to the
scientists of this Department in enabling them to establish vital re-
lations with country-life schools and aid in the movement to carry
to every farm boy and girl the rich stores of knowledge now being
rapidlj' accumulated through agricultural research. It will also be
of great value to educators throughout the country who are interested
in bringing about a better organization of country-life schools. I
therefore recommend its publication as Bulletin 232 of. this Office.
Respectfully,
A. C. True,
Dirextor.
Hon. W. M. Hays,
Acting Secretary of Agriculture.
No, 232
(2)
CONTENTS.
Page.
Introduction 7
Advantages, extent, and progress of rural-school consolidation 7
Object, scope, and method of investigation 16
Description of the consolidated rural school 23
The typical consolidated school 28- '
Consolidated graded school 30
Union school 30
The consolidated school in country-life education 31
The consolidated school a democrati c i nstitution 32
Coat of maintenance of consolidated schools and district schools 33
Financing and cost of rural schools 33
Necessity of supplementing state and county school funds by local
funds 33
State aid to consolidated schools 35
Cost of schooling in rural district schools 35
In rural district schools in Delaware 37
In Hardin County (Iowa) rural schools with low attendance 38
In Olmsted County (Minn.) rural schools 39
Under specified conditions 39
Comparison of cost of maintenance of consolidated schools and district
schools in the same county and under similar conditions 45
School attendance at consolidated and rural district schools 50^"
School patronage increased by public conveyance of pupils 5 V
Distribution of school attendance by grades 53*
Educational efficiency of consolidated and district schools 56
Economic utilization of the time available for school work : 56
Effective division of the school time 57
Division of school time in consolidated schools rational and advantageous
to pupils 58
Division of the school time at the disposal of the teachers 59
Supervision of schools and qualifications of teachers 61
Organization of a county system of consolidated schools and practicability of
such a system 63
The consolidated school as the logical center of country life activities 63'
The consolidated school not influenced by change of population 63
Consolidation in States where the one-room school district is the unit 65
Projected consolidation in Ada County, Idaho 68
Projected consolidation in Canyon County, Idaho 69
Projected consolidation in Olmsted County, Minn 71
Consolidation in States where the county or township is the unit 74
Consolidation in Duval County, Fla 75
Consolidation in Delaware County, Ind 77
Consolidation in Union Township, Montgomery County, Ind 79
No. 232
(3)
Organization of a county system of consolidated schools and practicability of
such a system — Continued. Page.
Factors in the redistricting of counties into consolidated school districts. . 80
Population ^ 80
Land values, tax unit areas 81
Survey of land values of States for purposes of determining areas
of possible consolidation 82
Faulty district formation 82
Consolidated schools in Mecca Township, Trumbull County, Ohio. 83
Consolidated school at Lewiaton, Winona County, Minn 83
John Swaney Consolidated School, McNabb, Putnam County, 111. — 'S6
Consolidated school at Kinsman, Trumbull County, Ohio 87
Topography 88
Projected consolidation in Douglas County, Minn 89
Tentative plan for consolidation of District No. XIV, Douglas
County, Minn 91
Eoads 91
Projected consolidation in Fairfax County, Va 94
Conclusion 97
Acknowledgments _ 99
No. 232
TABLES.
Page.
Table 1. Expenditure for conveyance of pupils to consolidated schools
In Massachusetts 9
2. Expenditure for conveyance of pupils to consolidated schools
in Vermont 10
3. Expenfliture for conveyance of pupils to consolidated schools
in Virginia 10
4. Expenditure for conveyance of pupils to consolidated schools
in Indiana 10
5. Average annual high-school attendance during a three-year
period in three consolidated school townships and three dis-
trict school townships in Ohio 29
6. Average annual cost of schooling per pupil in attendance in
1906 in the rural district schools of Delaware 37
7. Average cost of schooling per pupil in Hardin County (Iowa)
rural schools, with average attendance of less than 9 pupils 38
8. Average cost of schooling per pupil in Olmsted County (Minn.)
rural schools, with average attendance of less than 9 pupils__ 39
9. Expenditure per school of the first grade and cost of schooling
per pupil in Olmsted County, Minn 41
10. Expenditure per school of the second grade and cost of school-
ing per pupil in Olmsted County, Minn 41
11. Expenditure per school and cost of schooling per pupil in 4.5
consolidated schools 4?,
12. Average area, valuation, tax rate, and tax levy of three con-
solidated-school townships and three district-school town-
ships in Ohio 4.5
13. School funds of three consolidated and three district school
townships in Ohio 46
14. Average annual school expenditure and expenditure per pupil
of three district-school townships in Ohio 47
15. Average annual school expenditure and expenditure per pupil
in the 12 grades of three consolidated-school townships in
Ohio 47
16. School population, enrolment, and average daily attendance in
three consolidated and three district school townshiiDS in
Ohio .52
17. Average number of schools, school population, enrolment, and
daily attendance of three townships in Ohio, for three years
before and three years after consolidation 53
18. Average daily attendance, by grades, of three consolidated and
three district school townships in Ohio, and number of possi-
ble students of agriculture 54
19. Average age of pupils, by grades, in three district and three
consolidated school townships in Ohio .57
20. Total recitation and study hours available to each pupil during
the entire eight-year elementary course in a consolidated and
in a district school 5.8
21. Average number of teachers, number and size of classes, and
length of recitations in the elementary grades of three con-
solidated and three district school townships in Ohio 60
22. Size and number of classes daily in three district-school town-
ships in Ohio 60
23. Enrolment for sixteen years in seven rural district schools in
Minnesota 74
No. 232
(5)
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Page.
Fig. 1. Map showing extent of school consolidation in Massachusetts, 1906. . 9
2. Map showing extent of school consolidation in Indiana, 1908 11
3. Map showing extent of school consolidation in Florida, 1908 14
4. One-room district school in Cham pion township, Ohio 15
5. Map showing six northeastern Ohio counties _ 18
6. Consolidated school building at Kinsman, Trumbull County, Ohio.. 19
7. Consolidated school building at Johnston Center, Ohio 20
8. Consolidated school building at Greene Center, Ohio 21
9. Consolidated graded school at Southington, Trumbull County, Ohio. 22
10. High-school pupils entering school wagons, Southington, Ohio 22
11. School wagons from Southington returning pupils to their homes 23
12. A one-pupil class 24
13. Consolidated school building in Twin Falls, Idaho, 1908 25
14. School wagon arriving in town at 8.30 a. m. at Twin Falls 26
15. Wagon shed and wagons belonging to Twin Falls consolidated school. 27
16. Map of Ada County, Idaho, showing boundaries of school districts
and the location of district and high schools, 1S08 66
■ 17. Map of Ada County, illustrating a tentative plan of consolidation 67
18. Map of Canyon County, Idaho, showing boundaries of school dis-
tricts and location of district and high schools 69
19. Map of Canyon County, Idaho, illustrating a tentative plan of con-
solidation 70
20. Map of Olmsted County, Minn., illustrating a tentative plan of con-
solidation 72
21. Map showing consolidated districts and location of consolidated
schoolhouses in Duval County, Fla. , 1908 76
22. Map showing extent of school consolidation in Delaware County,
Ind., 1908 78
23. Map of Union Township, Montgomery County, Ind. , 1908 79
24. Map of Mecca Township, Trumbull County, Ohio, 1907 84
25. Map of consolidated school district at Lewiston, Minn 85
26. Map of Magnolia Township, Putnam County, 111., showing the loca-
tion of the John Swaney consolidated school district, 1908 86
27. John Swaney consolidated school, McNabb, Putnam County, 111 87 '
28. Map of Kinsman Township, Trumbull County, Ohio 88
29. Map of Douglas County, Minn., illustrating a tentative plan of rural
school consolidation and demonstrating that in lake sections of the
country school wagon routes can be planned successfully 90
30. Tentative plan of consolidation district No. XIV, Douglas Comity,
Minn., in detail 92
31. Map of Fairfax County, Va., illustrating a tentative plan of rural-
school consolidation in a county with irregular roads 94
No. 232
(6)
CONSOLIDATED RURAL SCHOOLS AND ORGANIZA-
TION OF A COUNTY SYSTEM.
INTRODUCTION.
ADVANTAGES, EXTENT, AND PROGRESS OE RURAL-SCHOOL CON-
SOLIDATION.
From a realization that the old district-school system no longer
conformed to modern educational and economic conditions, the plan
was evolved some years ago of transporting at public expense pupils
of neighboring school districts to large central schools. The plan
has proved exceedingly popular, and a large proportion of the one-
and-two-room district schools in the entire country seems destined
to be supplanted by an educational system under which groups of
these primitive institutions of learning will be merged into com-
modious consolidated schools, equipped with modern conveniences,
and provided with school wagons for the regular, safe, and prompt
transportation of children from and to their homes. The advan-
tages of the new system are obvious : The fusion of a number of small
districts into a larger administrative unit furnishes a stable and
extensive basis for financing the school and thereby makes for higher
efficiency. The school, no longer seriously affected by fluctuations
in school population, becomes an institution with fixed location and
belongings. An incentive is given to make permanent improvements,
to beautify the school grounds, secure modern sanitation, and pro-
vide ample schoolroom equipment. The large number of children
assembled at a centrally located school makes possible graded classes
and a better division of the school day. Studies can be introduced
which require special equipment and specially trained teachers, such
as agriculture, home economics, manual training, music — advan-
tages almost unattainable in small district schools. These centrally
located country-life schools, too, form convenient social centers for
communities; local interests and activities affiliate with the schools,
so that public use is frequently made of their commodious class rooms
or auditoriums. Encouragement is given to the growth of literary
and debating societies, social and agricultural clubs, grange meetings,
reading circles, athletic and other competitions among pupils, and
entertainments of various kinds.
No. 232
(7)
It has occasionally been asserted that rural-school consolidation,
because it has not made more extensive progress since its origin in
1869, does not promise soon to become an influential factor in our
educational system. Eecent events have made this opinion no longer
tenable. During the past five years more consolidated school build-
ings have been constructed in the United States than during the
twenty-five years preceding. Perhaps it is fortunate that during
the early period of its growth consolidation did not spread with
greater rapidity. It was assimilated into the rural-school system
as a result of observation and careful experiment, and fortunately
lacked every element of a fad. It gains a foothold chiefly where
civic ambition and high educational ideals establish high standards
and determine to attain them. There is an impressive sul^stan-
tialness about these schools and their belongings which indicates
that the people who built have unbounded faith in them. Con-
solidation of rural schools has won a permanent place among the
distinctly American institutions.
Consolidation, with its attendant function of public conveyance
of pupils, is now a part of the rural-school system of thirty-two
States. Eighteen hundred completely, and not less than two thou-
sand partially, consolidated schools attest the remarkable adaptabil-
ity of the system to the peculiar needs of agricultural communities.
Although in most States consolidation is still limited to scattered
localities, it has in several assumed noteworthy proportions, indica-
tive of a well-defined educational movement. Graphic illustrations
are introduced herewith to show its extent in a few educationally
progressive States differing widely in geographical position, agricul-
ture, and population. Expenditure for transportation in a State or
county reflects in a general way the extent of this educational move-
ment, and has been made the basis of figures 1, 2, and 3. The black
circles represent expenditure for conveyance, the largest indicating
the largest expenditure, the smallest the least. The circles in each
map are drawn to a different scale, and hence those on one are not
comparable with those on the others.
The territory over which consolidation will eventually extend in
the United States is probably considerably greater than popularly
supposed.
Taking the increase of expenditure for conveyance as an index of
the growth of consolidation, several States show phenomenal increases
and indicate that farmers are putting forth unprecedented efforts
along educational lines. Massachusetts, the oldest State in consolida-
tion experience, furnishes the longest record. The annual expenditure
for conveyance since 1889 is shown in Table 1.
No. 232
Table 1.-
-Expenditure for conveyance of pupils to consolidated schools
Massachusetts.'^
Year.
Amount
expended.
Year.
Amount
expended.
1889, 1/
$22,118.38
24, 145. 12
80,648.68
33,726.07
50,590.41
63,617.68
76,608.29
91,136.11
105,317.13
123,032.41
1899
8127,409.22
141, 753. 84
151, 773. 47
1890 ....
1900 . .
1891
1901
1892
1902
165, 596. 91
178, 297. 64
1893
1903
1894 . .
1904
194,967.35
213, 220. 93
236, 415. 40
1895
1905
1896
1906
1897
1907
252.4.51.11
1898
1908 i,,- 292,213.33
" Annual Reports of the Board of Education, Massachusetts.
During the first twelve years the growth of consolidation in Massa-
chusetts was very rapid and doubled practically every four years.
Later development, although slow, was continuous.
T"
^\i!fmLEsex
X FRANKUN \
rr-, HAMPSHIRE I
I HAMPDEN
LEGEND:
THE CIRCLES IN ORDER OF SIZE SYWBOOZE AN EX-
PENDITURE OF 41,000 m /IND$ 5^000^ FOR
CONVEyANCE OF PUPILS.
s^msr/iffiE
OUKES
'^^^
NANTUCKET
FtG. 1. Map showing graphically the extent of rural-school consolidation and expenditure
for conveyance of pupils to consolidated schools in Massachusetts counties, 1908.
Area of State, 8,040 square miles ; number of counties, 14 ; consolidation in all.
In each county consolidation is indicated by " black circle, whose size is proportioned
to the expenditure for transportation.
Vermont, where it would be supposed topographical conditions
give but slight encouragement to school-wagon transportation, has
expended the sums shown in Table 2. The greatest increases in ex-
penditure were made within the last two years.
No. 232
10
Table 2. — Expenditure for conveyance of pupils to consolidated schools vn
Vermont."
Year.
Amount
expended.
Year.
Amount
expended.
1895 ^
S12, 941. 34
18,428.85
18,520.65
18, 306. 11
20,880.77
26,492.24
32,034.39
1902
836,562.89
1886
1903
37, 358. 05
1897
1904
43,687.37
1898
1905
45,361.20
1906
47,132.68
1907
54,012.24
1901
1908 ■'---
73,465.24
" Reports of the state superintendent of schools, 1895—1908.
Statistics for four years of consolidation in Virginia are presented
in Table 3. The increase of expenditures, twelvefold in four years,
discloses a remarkable spread of consolidation sentiment among the
farmers of that State.
Table 3.-
-Eatpenditure for conveyance of pupils to consolidated schools in
Virginia."
V Amount
Year. 1 expended.
Year.
Amount
expended.
1905 $2,101.22
1906 6,953.67
1907
S16,0O0.00
1908
25,858.00
» Virginia School Report.
The rapidity and extent of consolidation in Indiana give that State
at present the leading position in rural school development. As prac-
tically all of the quarter million dollars and more expended for trans-
portation of school children in 1907-8 was raised by local taxation, it
is evident that the farmers of that State regard consolidation as the
school system par excellence for rural communities. The organization
and methods of a transportation system upon which the large sums
exhibited in Table 4 are expended have been developed to a point of
high efficiency.
Table 4.-
-Expenditure for conveyance of pupils to consolidated schools
Indiana."
Year.
Amount
expended.
1904
?^S,600
175,886
290,073
1906
1908
» statistics furnished by superintendent of public instruction of Indiana.
Since 1904 the expenditures for conveyance in Indiana have more
than trebled.
No. 232
11
The superintendent of public instruction of North Dakota reports
that " the number of schools [in that State] which have been consoli-
dated completely or in part have doubled within the last two years."
LECEND--
THE CIRCLES IN ORDER OF SIZE SYMBOLIZE AN CX-
PEHOmjRE OF $1,000% AND $5,000^^ FOR
CONVETANCE OF PUPILS. ^^
Fig. 2. — Map showing graphically the extent of rural-school consolidation and expenditure
for conveyance of pupils to consolidated schools in Indiana counties, 1908.
Area of State, 35,910 square miles ; number of counties, 92 ; consolidation in 82 ; num-
ber of typical consolidated schools, 309 ; number of consolidated graded schools, 135 ;
number of union schools, 784 ; total pupils transported daily, 19,109 ; total expenditure for
transportation of pupils, $290,073 ; number of one-room school districts not consolidated
whence pupils are transported to town or city schools, 598 ; total number of district
schools abandoned, 1,611.
In each county consolidation is indicated by a black circle, whose size is proportioned
to the amount expended for transportation of pupils.
Successful operation in 32 States furnishes ample evidence that
geographically — which, in connection with this subject, relates chiefly
to climate — there are no serious obstacles in the way of a much
greater extension of the system. Consolidation is as successful in
Idaho and North Dakota as in Florida, and serves the needs of the
rural population of Louisiana as efficiently as that of Indiana and
No. 232
12
of Maine. The success of consolidation in sparsely settled sections
of North Dakota and Florida tends to dispel the popular misconcep-
tion that it is practicable only in densely inhabited territory.
It is significant that, in the course of this investigation, not one
case of the abandonment of a completely consolidated school was
found. Two cases were observed where partially consolidated schools
were abandoned after trial and a return made to the old system.
/Investigation disclosed that in both cases dissatisfaction was due to
incompetent management of the transportation service. It may be
laid down as a law that the success of a consolidated school depends
largely upon the thoroughness and care with which the conveyance
department is managed. Free conveyance remedies very largely the
dropping out of pupils before completing the eight primary grades,
so common and so deplorable a condition in the district schools. The
fact that under consolidation twice as many children in a community
complete the eight grades as under the district-school plan is of
immense educational and economic importance to State and nation.
There results a direct contribution to national thrift through added
industrial efficiency, greater intelligence, wider information, and
higher citizenship.
The consolidated school, further, by retaining attendance in the
grammar grades, facilitates and encourages the entrance into high
school of those who can not hope to go to college. Through consoli-
dation of rural schools, secondary education may be brought to an
additional million of rural children. Of the approximately 6,000,000
country boys and girls in the United States, two-thirds should eventu-
ally receive their schooling and a part of their vocational education
in consolidated schools, leaving 2,000,000 who would, as heretofore,
be educated in district schools in sections where physical conditions
make consolidation impracticable. It is apparent that in their respec-
tive spheres both forms of school will always occupy an important
place in our educational system. Communities not favorably situated
as regards practicability of consolidation will see the necessity of
building up their district school system on the most modern plans.
Singularly, the evolution of the consolidated school and the complete
change of inherited and time-honored academic ideas concerning
methods and purposes of education have fallen simultaneously within
recent decades. That vocational studies possess cultural as well as
informatory value is at last recognized, and a beginning has been
made in placing vocational studies in high schools and the upper
grades of elementary schools. The idea of an education specificallv
designed for the country boy and girl who is to remain on the farm
has begun to take form ; a new American institution is in process of
creation which will provide for them primary and secondary educa-
tion in a consolidated school, owned and conducted by the commuuitv
No. 232
13
in which the farm home is situated, so that the pupil may remain
under parental care and guidance until at least a part of the high-
school course is completed.
The high-school graduate, equipped with vocational knowledge,
will be well fitted either to return to the farm or to continue more
thorough preparation for his chosen vocation in an agricultural high
school or short course in the state college. Those who wish to take
professional or technical courses may, on leaving the high-school
grades of the consolidated school, enter either agricultural, engineer-
ing, scientific, classical, or other courses in colleges or universities;
for such students the vocational studies pursued in the consolidated
school are a decided advantage, giving them a broadened outlook, a
skillful hand, and an observant eye. It will be seen that a system of
consolidated rural schools, agricultural high schools, and agricultural
colleges articulates throughout, each school fitting into the next above
it. At the same time, each division is complete in itself, preparing the
boy and girl for a place in life. With the advent of the consolidated
school, the high school, very properly named " the people's college," is
placed within easy reach of the country child. In many States the
sum expended privately for tuition and board of rural children at-
tending high schools in towns or cities would nearly defray the cost
of wagon transportation to the consolidated schools if in existence.
If, as economists assert, we are approaching the point where the
industrial position of a nation will be determined by the length of
the instructional period of its children, the taking of good high
schools to the country and the eventual addition of from two to four
years to the school life of each of several million country boys and
girls has a profound meaning.
Considerable prominence will be given in this bulletin to the idea
of large administrative school units. The educational subdivision
of a State need not necessarily be made to correspond with the civic
or political divisions. The conditions and interests involved in each
differ so widely that the most systematic and thorough course to pur-
sue in subdividing a county, or even a State, for educational purposes
is to ignore the smaller civic and political subdivisions. Experience
suggests that, if possible, the unit should not be smaller than the
county. Consolidation by townships, while proved convenient in the
Xew England States and in Ohio, Indiana, and Dakota, is feasible
only under certain conditions and can not be carried out in all
States with equal chances of success; even in the States mentioned
diiRcult situations have occasionally arisen which could have been
avoided by county districting. The county, once adopted as a unit,
may be all or nearly all subdivided into consolidated school districts,
leaving small district schools only at points where consolidation
appears impracticable.
No. 232
14
The county unit works to advantage also in that it makes possible
the selection of more efficient school boards; a larger population
affords a wider field for the selection of men and women qualified
LEGEND:
THE CIRCLES IN ORDER OF SIZE SVMBOUZE /IN EX-
PENDITURE OF $500.^AND$lft00jt^ FOR
CON\^EWNCE OF PUPILS.
30
Fig. 3— Map showing graphically the extent of rural-school consolidation and expenditure
for conveyance of pupils to consolidated rural schools in Florida counties in 1908.
Area of State, 54,240 square miles; number of counties, 46; school consolidation in
I counties ; total expenditure for transportation, .$25,243.72.
In each county consolidation is indicated by a black circle whose size is proportioned to
the expenditure for transportation.
The present agricultural area of the State is about 6,818 square miles or one eiehth
of the entire area. Viewed in this light, the distribution of consolidated schools over that
area, as well as the amount expended for conveyance, places this State in an advanced
position in rural school progress.
for this important office. Much as farmers may be wedded to the
]Dlan for local boards, experience in many States proves that the
county unit is better.
No. 232
15
The underlying ideas of the county-unit plan are better adminis-
trative control of school affairs, equitable distribution of school
funds, and advantageous subdivision of the county into school
districts.
Small districts, averaging about four square miles, each separate
and independent, often lack the cooperative sentiment necessary for
extensive consolidation. Their voluntary association into one school
unit is either accomplished with difficulty or succeeds only in
part. In the latter case, in the formation of consolidated districts
Fig. 4. — One-room district school in Champlain Township, Trumbull County, Ohio.
This is the type of one-room schoolhouse in northeastern Ohio as found in the three
district-school townships, Williamsfleld, Champion, and Southington. As a rule they are
in good repair, nearly all slate roofed and well painted. Statistics collected in 24 of these
schools furnish the data for comparisons with consolidated schools on succeeding pages.
Nearly all these schools have small libraries,
uaistakes are liable to be made both as to size of district and location
of schoolhouse, and by leaving isolated districts so located that their
ultimate consolidation is impracticable. The cost, permanence, and
local influence of the consolidated school demand a careful planning
of the new district, as a mistake in the location of the building is less
easily corrected than in the case of a one-room school. One State,
Minnesota, recognizing the importance of this, has placed upon its
statute books an optional county consolidation law, which embodies
this feature of districting and formulates a comprehensive county
plan before consolidating.
No. 232
16
As a part of the study of consolidated schools, the practicability
of this feature of the Minnesota law was theoretically tested in
several States under a variety of geographical and topographical
conditions by tentatively districting entire counties into districts
suitable for consolidation. The experiment has in each case resulted
satisfactorily and suggests the means of introducing into a county a
compact, economical rural school system, in which all children have
equal opportunities and in which there is no duplication of expendi-
tures nor of school work.
OBJECT, SCOPE, AND METHOD OP INVESTIGATION.
The research movement which began during the latter half of the
nineteenth century has accumulated vast stores of agricultural knowl-
edge which is being organized into useful sciences that daily find
application in the field, orchard, barn, and home. Research into
every possible phase of agriculture is being made with constantly in-
creasing interest. And it is becoming an economic necessity that this
large body of practical l^nowledge be utilized and that avenues be
provided through which it may reach all people in the open country.
Changed economic conditions which have given a new direction to
urban life and institutions, are also gradually extending their in-
fluence to the rural districts. Already a different trend foreshadows
a basic reorganization of our country life affairs and institutions.
Farming is rapidly becoming more specialized, more difficult, and
calls for more refined methods than formerly.. Each successive year
places a higher premiixm on intelligence, on the better understanding
of the details of farm engineering and farm management, of crop
production, of the rearing of livestock, and of the use and adjustment
of expensive and often complex machinery.
The existing agencies for the distribution of the accumulations of
valuable ncAv knowledge are admittedly unequal to the task of reach-
ing all people in the country. Universities and colleges which teach
agriculture and home economics reach less than one per cent of the
country people. Many of those who are educated in agriculture and
home economics enter into research work or teaching along these lines.
By means of farmers' institutes, traveling lecturers, bulletins,
demonstration farms, and other forms of extension work, large num-
bers of adult country folks are given a taste of the accumulated
knowledge of agriculture and receive something of its inspiration.
But the vital point in the vocational education of the productive
workers and home makers of the next generation assembled in the
rural schools has not heretofore been touched.
The forms of national and racial vitality centered in the farm
homes are just beginning to be appreciated. The vitalizing forces
No. 232
17
which may be liberated by eificiently teaching vocational subjects in
the rural schools are just being discovered. Leaders in statecraft
and education are building up a philosophy of rural education and
rural organization in which the rural schools are essential parts.
It is worthy of note that agricultural studies have gained such a
status as educational subjects that they are being introduced as cul-
ture studies in some city schools. The States of Alabama, Arkansas,
Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North- Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon,
South 'Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and
Wisconsin have provided by law that agriculture shall be one of the
studies in the rural schools. Most other States are putting this sub-
ject forward in the common schools, and many normal schools as well
as state colleges of agriculture are beginning to prepare teachers to
give instruction in agriculture.
Agriculture in rural schools, though not required by law, is en-
couraged in Arizona, Maryland, Missouri, Illinois, and Virginia.
The time of its general adoption as part of the course of study of
rural schools is probably not far distant. And it is certain that money
will be expended by school boards for equipment and illustrative
material to be used in teaching vocational studies. The question of
how and under what conditions agriculture can be most efficiently
taught is beginning to receive serious attention, and the object of
the investigation reported in this bulletin was to ascertain which
kind of rural school will most easily allow the addition of agriculture
to its course of study; through which school this knowledge can be
communicated to the largest numbers; and whether the present sys-
tem of rural district schools is adequate to a task of such immense
importance.
The consolidation of rural schools is not only of educational inter-
est to farming communities, but it also establishes a new imit of area
for country social and business organization. The investigations
herein recorded show that the importance of this system as a country-
life institution can scarcely be overestimated, and from this broad
point of view it has commanded the interest of the United States De-
partment of Agriculture.
The general method of investigation was personal study on the
ground. However, no source of information regarding school consoli-
dation was neglected, and the current literature of the agricultural
and educational press, consisting of contributions by teachers, educa-
tors, and tax-paying school patrons, was freely consulted. The annual
reports of the state superintendents of schools of several States,
notably Indiana and Massachusetts, have, for a number of years past,
contributed information of great interest and value. Numerous bulle-
tins and special reports have also been published on the subject by a
number of state and county superintendents of schools and by the
54634°— Bull. 232—10 2
18
extension departments of several state colleges. All this information,
mainly local in character, demanded study and coordination, and was
useful in outlining the course to be pursued in this investigation.
i'lG. 5. — Diagrammatic map of six nortlieastern Ohio counties, sliowing status o£ con-
solidation in 190S.
The counties are divided into townships, which as a rule are ahout 5 miles square, or 25
square milrs in arra, and fairly regular. The schools shown are all of the typical consolida-
dated kind, except the union schools, which are in various stages of partial consolidation.
The blank townships have district schools. The townships of Williamsfleld and South-
Ington were at the time of investigation district school townships, but have consolidated
their schools since then as indicated.
In the spring of 1906 the United States Department of Agricul-
ture, through the medium of the Bureau of Statistics, began a study
of rural consolidated schools. This work was planned to proceed
at first along statistical, and later along constructive, lines.
No. 232
19
In pursuance of this plan data were collected in a group of strictly
rural townships maintaining district schools and in a group of town-
ships in the same county maintaining consolidated schools. In this
manner all phases of both kinds of schools were comparable under
similar conditions. Statistical methods of investigation were resorted
to whenever the phase of the subject under consideration would
permit, and figures were always preferred to individual views or
opinions.
Fig. 6. — Consolidated school building at Kinsman, Kinsman Township, Trumbull County,
Ohio. Cost, complete, $9,144.
. A. modern, steam-heated brick building of moderate cost, with stone foundation and slate
roof, containing four large and one small class rooms and a basement. The small class
room is used as a laboratory and principal's office ; in the cement-floored basement are the
play rooms, a well-selected library, a furnace room and water-closets. The school is
equipped with apparatus for teaching phi'sics and geography. Well water is pumped into
the building by a gasoline engine. The valuation of the township for taxation is $486,095 ;
the total school enrollment 09, of which 69 are in the elementary course and 30 in the
high school.
After the conclusion of this detailed investigation other district
and consolidated schools, numbering several hundred, were visited in
all parts of the United States where consolidation is in successful
operation and where it is supplanting the small district school.
Cases of extensive consolidated school systems, embracing almost
entire counties, ivere noted in several States, and instances of these
are cited in the bulletin. The constructive part of the bulletin deals
with some of the principles and methods of school consolidation, and
these are illustrated by showing how certain counties might be dis-
tricted into consolidated school districts and how their present dis-
No. :ia2
20
trict schools might be consolidated and transformed into efficient
country-life schools.
The locality chosen for the detailed local study was in northeastern
Ohio, popularly known as the " Western Eeserve."' Of the three
townships maintaining district schools, hereinafter designated as
district school townships, two (Champion and Southington) are in
Trumbull County and one (Williamsfield) in Ashtabula County.
Fig. 7. — Consolidated school building at Jolinston Center, Jolinston Township, Trumbull
County, Ohio. Cost, Including furniture, equipment, etc., Jo, 367.
A moderate-cost, steam-heated frame building (stone foundation and slate roof) contain-
ing four large and three small class rooms, with a basement under the entire building.
The upper story consists of two rooms separated by a sliding partition and capable of being
converted into a single room for lectures or entertainments. The school is provided with
a library, apparatus for instruction in physics, and an organ. In the basement one room
is reserved for use of the school board and for the preservation of school records. The
grounds contain 2J acres. Valuation of township, ?548,577 ; total enrollment, 181 ; in
elementary courses, l.jl ; high school, 30.
The three townships (Kinsman, Johnston, and Greene) maintain-
ing consolidated schools, hereinafter called consolidated school town-
shij)s, are in Trumbull County (see fig. 5). The facts collected in
this investigation have furnished material for two bulletins : the pres-
ent one outlines the general scheme, and a second will deal chiefly
with the cost, organization, and effectiveness of public conveyance by
school wagons and other means.
No. 232
21
This portion of northeastern Ohio is gently undulating and, where
underdrained, fertile and productive. The price of farm land ranges
between $35 and $75 an acre. Dairying is the leading form of agri-
cultural industry, chiefly the production of cheese and commercial
milk. Attention is also paid to potato, onion, and egg production.
The dairy stock is well graded up and there are a number of pure-
bred dairy herds, Holstein-Friesian blood greatly predominating.
Fig. 8. — Consolidated school building at Greene Center, Greene Township, Trumbull
County, Ohio. Cost of building, complete, $9,859.
A substantial, steam-heated, brick building with stone foundation and slate roof. It con-
tains eight rooms, viz : Four class rooms, a principal's office, n liindergarten or play room
for small children, and two large rooms, one used for high-school instruction and as a
chemical and physical laboratory, the other designed for use as a public reading room, .\
basement extends under the entire building. The grounds occupy 4 acres.
This large building, situated 5 miles from one railway and G from another, is the most
conspicuous landmark within an area of '2~< square miles. It is gradually becoming the
center of the intellectual activities of the community as is indicated by an annual lecture
course, the well-attended graduation exercises, and various other entertainments held
there. Valuation of township is $,''.69,094 ; total enrollment, 151 ; 129 in elementary
course ; and 22 in the high school.
The school records of each of the six townships were examined and
data covering a period of three years compiled therefrom. Hence
all data given concerning the schools in those townships (Tables 5,
and 13 to 22) are three-year averages. This group of townships was
selected for purposes of study, because as farming communities they
stand somewhat above the average, and their consolidated and district
No. 232
22
Fig. 9. — Consolidated graded scliool at Southington, Trumbull County, Ohio. Cost, .$7,000.
A neat brick structure with slate roof. Contains tour rooms, basement under entire
building, and is furnace heated.
Southington Center is a village of about 80 population, and is the only village in the
township. It is one of the three town,ships whose district schools were selected for ana-
lytical and statistical study ; a year after the investigation the schools were consolidated.
The high-school grades are accommodated in a separate specially erected building.
Fig. 10. — High-school pupils entering school wagons, Southington, Trumbull County, Ohio.
No. 232
schools are good examples of their respective types, fully warranting
the use of the data obtained there in comparison with rural schools
elsewhere in the United States.
The three consolidated-school townships and the three district-
school townships were selected for comparison because they represent
similar conditions of agriculture, population, soil, topography, roads,
general wealth, and culture.
Fig. 11. — School wagons from Soutliington, Ohio, consolidated school, returning pupils to
their homes.
The township owns 10 school wagons, all ot uniform make and size. Expenditure for
conveyance in 1908, $2,524.80, or at an annual cost of $10.30 per pupil using public con-
veyance, or 6.4 cents per pupil daily.
DESCRIPTION or THE CONSOLIDATED RURAL SCHOOL.
In this bulletin the term " consolidation " has been given preference
over "' centralization." The former is probably the word more exten-
sively used and has a wider meaning; the latter is a localism used
mainly in Ohio. Its use is correct where all the pupils in one town-
ship are conveyed to one centrally located school, or where all former
district schools "centralize" in one school, but these conditions do
not always obtain. In sections where the civic or school units are
irregular in form or are very large in size, and where a township or
district perhaps requires several consolidated schools to serve its
needs, centralization can not take place in the exact sense of that word,
and in such cases the term consolidation applies rather than centrali-
zation. "Complete consolidation" is used to indicate a merger of
No. 232
24
all the rural schools of a township, or larger civic or school unit, into
one; "partial consolidation," on the other hand, signifies that only
part of the schools of a township or arbitrary area have been merged,
still leaving part of the original district or common schools detached
or unconsolidated. The ideal consolidated school district is 4 to 7
miles across each way, its size being determined by the practical limits
of the team haul. In time, as the consolidated schools become solidly
cemented into rural life affairs, some new name will no doubt be
Fig. 1-. — A ouc-iHipil class.
In eight disti'ict schools in Champion Township, Trumbull County, Ohio, were held 46
daily classes of one pupil each. Small classes lack in enthusiasm, and the pupil loses the
immense advantage of one in a large class who listens to the recitations of others, the
repetition ot questions and answers being a drill which is most helpful.
devised truly expressive of their function in, or relation to, the rural
community life. The names "■ farm-school "' and " country-life school "
have been suggested for the consolidated school located on a small
school farm among farms in the open country.
Many of the consolidated schools, especially those located within
villages, are cramped for room. Five acres should be the least, while
10 or 12 acres is about the right size for school grounds. If
there is no immediate prospect for using this land as a school farm
for purposes of instruction, part of it may be sown to grass and set
No. 232
25
apart for athletics and other uses; another part may be planted in
shade trees and part in forest trees and shelter belts. Therefore, in
the selection of a site for the school building, regard should always
be had to securing ample ground for a school farm and the uses to
which that farm is eventually to be put.
The term " consolidated district " is used in this bulletin to desig-
nate a permanent union of one-room, or common-school, districts.
Fig. 13. — Consolidated school building in Twin Palls, Twin Falls County, Idabo, 1008.
Area of district, .36 square miles ; population in 1908, 4,000. .V modern, steam-heated,
brick building with slate roof. Basement is bicli and spacious and contains several cl^ss
rooms ; running water throughout building.
The total enrolment is 726 and the high school enrolment is 100, or over 13 per cent
of the total. Eight school wagons convey about 200 of the children to school, all living
outside city limits being entitled to public transportation. Not all, however, make use of
the privilege. The school has 2 acres of playtiround and a school farm of 4 acres. The
high school offers a strong commercial course, and agriculture, having a bearing on local
farming conditions, is taught. Four years ago the ground where this building now stands
was a solid growth of sagebrush -nad the country for miles around was arid and unin-
habited. Attention is called to the carefully planted and staked young trees and the
closely clipped lawn on three sides of the building.
This union may comprise an entire township or part of a large town-
ship, or a magisterial district, an election district, a tax district or a
"town," as used in the New England States. A large variety of
names is given in different parts of the country to the same civil unit
or subdivision of the county. Consolidation may also take place in
special or independent school districts especially organized for the
purpose. In every case the consolidated district represents (1) a tax
district, the resources from which go to the support of one or more
No. 232
26
consolidated schools, and (2) a unit of farm territory in which the
pupils living beyond reasonable walking distance from schools are
transported thither at public expense in wagons owned by the school
or hired from private parties. The service of railroad and inter-
urban or electric cars and even of launches is often used very ad-
vantageously, and in some cases private convej^ance provided by
patrons themselves is utilized. The consolidated schoolhouses should
Fig. 14. — Scliool wagon arriving in town at ^..io a. m. at Twin Falls. Idalio, 190s.
The topograptiy of tlie Twin Falls consolidated district is level ; roads run mostly on
section lines, and owing to slight rainfall are good and solid the year around. At times
dust is disagreeable.
The landscape shows a considerable dearth of houses ; homes as yet are far apart.
That some of the farm population live in tents is seen to the left.
The simplicity of this picture is quite in contrast to the impress! veness of the .'-tory
which it tells. In these newly settled western lands, to which civilization has suddenly
been transplanted, progressive educational ideas seem to find sustenance and quickly bear
results. These new communities with their commodious schoolhouses, neat, well-planted
and carefully tended school grounds, and well-organized systems of school transportation,
assembling pupils from even remote homes, some located in what is practically " desert,"
imply a firm faith in education. It is safe to say that educationally such districts as this
are half a century in advance of some of the older sections of country.
/be located preferaljly at or near the geographical center of the dis-
trict. Convenience in travel and justice to all the patrons make this
almost imperative. Cases are not rare where, in order to build the
school in the exact geographical center of the township or district,
it has come to be located at some distance from the village or town
which constitutes the business center. On the other hand, where ex-
isting town or village schools were turned over to and accepted by the
No. 232
school board to be converted into consolidated schools, the matter of
geographical location was, as a matter of course, largely disregarded.
As each community models its schools in conformity to its own
needs and financial conditions, the organization and work of con-
solidated schools naturally varies. Some communities convey only the
pupils from the sixth grade up, continuing those in lower grades in
the original district schools; others transport only the younger chil-
dren, while the high-school pupils are required to furnish their own
transportation. But most schools furnish conveyance to all children,
irrespective of age or grade.
When new buildings are erected they usually represent the best
efforts of the community, and are objects of local pride. The size,
equipment, and architecture are decided largely by the wealth of the
Fig. 15. — Wagon shed and wagons belonging to Twin Falls consolidated school, Twin B'alls,
Idaho, 1908.
Housing of the school wagons, which are public properly, is provided for. This shed
stands on one corner of the 4-acre school farm.
community. In wealthy agricultural sections it is not uncommon to
find school buildings costing $20,000 and more. A serviceable, sub-
stantial, and modern four or five room building can be erected for
from $8,000 to $12,000, and the majority of buildings are of this kind.
There are a number of firms of architects who have made the peculiar
requirements of these schools a special study, and who have wide
experience in planning suitable buildings. The services of such spe-
cialists should be engaged when the erection of a new building is
contemplated.
Three general forms of consolidated schools may be distinguished :
Typical consolidated schools, consolidated graded schools, and union
schools. The first two, in the majority of cases, represent complete
consolidation of district schools, and the last, partial consolidation,
No. 232
28
though there are some successful typical consolidated schools under
partial consolidation. Complete and partial consolidation are merely
relative terms.
THE TYPICAL CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL.
The distinctive feature of this form of consolidated school is, in
addition to the usual elementary course, a two, three or four year
high-school course. This type is gaining marked favor with farmers,
especially in Ohio, Indiana, and Massachusetts.
Reversing the custom of letting the country boy and girl reach the
high school as best they can, in effect bringing the high school to the
farm, and then adding to ease of access by hauling the children to
it at public expense, is certainly revolutionary. The common and
popular idea is that the country child must obtain an education under
difficulties and even hardships, and the lives of successful and eminent
men are frequently cited in support of that contention. The persist-
ence of this idea, which has advocates in the city as well as in the
country, has no doubt checked school growth in many rural districts.
Simple justice, if there were no other recason, should compel the
admission that to attend high school is as much the right of the
country child as of the city child. The only place where this right is
freely accorded is in the typical consolidated school district.
It is common to judge the educational opportunities of all the chil-
dren of a rural community by those which a few of the most for-
tunate enjoy, either by accident of birth or by chance of living near
a high school. That is a gross injustice. The educational solicitude
which is extended to each individual child is the true index of the
value which a community places upon its children.
High-school attendance for rural pupils not resident in city or
town is provided for in different ways in different States. In some
States liberal " state high-school aid laws " allow attendance in any
high school free to any pupil in the State ; in others, free attendance
at county or township high schools is confined to pupils resident in
that particular county or township. In other States no aid laws
provide for defraying cost of high-school tuition from state or
county funds, and country children attending high school are re-
quired to pay their own tuition. Upon statistical analysis it is
found that the privilege accorded to the country child of attending
a city or town high school free of tuition has at best a very limited
value and in the end places high-school attendance within the reach
of only a select few, usually those living near towns. This is best
shown in the extraordinary increase in high-school attendance, where
consolidation places a high school within the reach of children of the
community and provides free public transportation.
No. 232
29
The data obtained in the educationally progressive northeastern
Ohio counties of Trumbull and Ashtabula illustrate the increase of
high-school attendance with especial force. There the state law
provides certain conditions under which the home township of
the rural or nonresident pupil shall pay the tuition at whichever
public high school he or she may choose to attend. lience, attendance
at high school there is practically free to rural children, being condi-
tioned only upon their means and ability to reach the town or city
high school.
While this encouragement to rural youth to attend near-by city
or town high schools does benefit a goodly number, it is far less
effective than the establishment of locally owned and conducted
high schools within easy reach of the farm home, as shown by Table 5 ;
Table 5. — Average annual high-school attendance during a three-year (1903-
1905) period in three consolidated-school townships and three district-school
townships in Trumbull and Ashtabula counties, Ohio.
Item.
Consoli-
dated'-
Bchool
township.
District-
school
township.
204
192
4.2
School enrolment attendinf^ high school per cent..
School population attending high school do
18.6
12.4
2.6
2.2
The per cent of the school population attending high school in the
unconsolidated townships was only 2.2, as compared with 12.4 per cent
in the consolidated townships, illustrating how much more effective
the consolidated school is in leading rural youths to high school. Of
the total school enrolment in the consolidated-school townships, one
pupil in every six attended high school, while in the district-school
township the proportion of high school students was 1 in 36.
The annual report of the commissioner of common schools for
Ohio, 1904, gives the total number of district-school graduates for
whom tuition is paid as 0.97 of 1 per cent of the rural school popula-
tion. Hence the 2.2 per cent in the above table indicates an unusu-
ally strong high-school attendance from the townships represented in
the table.
Since the consolidated school can also much more effectively sup-
ply instruction in agriculture and home making, as will be shown
further on, it is clear that funds raised by state, county, or local
taxes for purposes of education are much more effective when ex-
pended through the consolidated school than in the county high
school in the distant town or city.
No. 232
30
COITSOLIDATED GRADED SCHOOL.
Schools of two, three, or four rooms, with a regular seven or eight
year primary or elementary course and no high school, are herein
called consolidated graded schools.
This type of school is exceedingly serviceable in communities
where limited funds or lack of pupils do not permit the establish-
ment also of a high-school course ; they possess all the advantages of
a graded school, with social, cooperative, and other advantages of
consolidation. In the less thickly peopled sections of the country,
schools of this type are rapidly overcoming many of the adverse con-
ditions of district schools. They are found in greatest numbers in
the Western and Southern States. There is an interesting group of
these schools in the thinly settled portions of North Dakota, a State
which is taking the lead of States in the Northwest in systematically
adopting rural school consolidation. Florida and Georgia are also
reconstructing their rural schools on the consolidation plan. Most
of them are of the consolidated graded type, and not a few are avail-
ing themselves of the opportunity which state aid affords of placing
high-school courses in their curriculums.
Southern farmers as a whole favor the system; the chief obstacle
to its more rapid progress is lack of means for financing it on an
extensive scale.
UNION SCHOOL.
The organization of the union school is simple. It consists of
the combination of two, three, or even four common-school districts,
placing the schoolhouse at some strategic point, with or without
public conveyance. In a community where the idea of conveying
children to school in wagons is new, the first trials are necessarily
more or less experimental. Much of the success of the undertaking
depends upon the business qualities of the official in charge, whose
most important qualifications must be managerial ability, tact, and
good judgment, and a clear realization of the importance of obtain-
ing capable drivers for the school wagons. Where any of these
qualifications are lacking, dissatisfaction and complaints are likely
to result.
Not infrequently, the union school develops signs of considerable
strength and absorbs several district schools within driving distance,
until it has evolved into a typical or graded consolidated school.
The union of one-room schools by transportation of pupils offers a
solution for many perplexing defects of organization in the district
schools. For instance, cases are not infrequent where neighborhood
quarrels, extending to the school, make teaching in the district so
distasteful that it is difficult to get teachers; oftentimes, too, teach-
ers can not find a suitable boarding place, or taking board with one
No. 232
31
family may arouse the jealousy of another family. The ensuing
disagreement may eventually disrupt the school and bring the teach-
er's work to naught. There are districts where family feuds have
been handed down as a heritage from one generation of school
children to the next. For all such difficulties transportation to a
centrally located school affords permanent settlement.
Indiana is undoubtedly taking the lead in abolishing its small
and imsatisfactory district schools by legislation, and thus indirectly
forcing consolidation. In that State the law makes mandatory the
discontinuance of all schools having an average daily attendance
of twelve or less, and leaves optional with the township trustee
the closing of those with an average daily attendance of fifteen or
less. Under this law, 1,200 district schools were closed in 1907 and
1908, some under the plan of uniting a few schools, others under
the plan of at once effecting complete consolidation of the schools
of the township. Other States have similar laws, but exemptions
make the laws virtually inoperative ; as no legal provisions are made
for funds for the transportation of the pupils of a discontinued school
to some other, the small schools are generally continued under the ex-
emption clauses. "Where complete consolidation can be at once effected
there is no loss from changes of temporary plans carried out under the
partial consolidation by the union of a few schools.
Frequently the union of schools can be effected without transporta-
tion and without greatly increasing the distance which some pupils
have to walk. In many localities where district division has been
carried to extremes and where schoolhouses are less than a mile
apart, this is being done very advantageously. Georgia, North Caro-
lina, and South Carolina have in the last few years abolished scores
of district schools by this method.
As to the cost of operating union schools, no data have been col-
lected. Where the wages of the teachers of discontinued schools are
sufficient to pay for the transportation of pupils to the union school,
the proposition is simple. Or, where pupils living within 1-J- miles
of the school are required to walk and those beyond that limit are
hauled, a very large number may be assembled at comparatively
small expense.
THE CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL IN COUNTRY-LIFE EDUCATION.
It would be inopportune to discuss here the causes— industrial,
economic, and social — which have contributed to the decline and even
dissolution of many of the district schools. Historical fact and sta-
tistical evidence lead to the conclusion that consolidation is a natural
and logical step in the evolution of the American rural school system.
It was not inaugurated in imitation of the city school system; but
No, 232
32
the idea of consolidation and its necessary complement, transporta-
tion of pupils, was conceived because the resourceful American
farmer found that it would serve the peculiar needs of his own rural
community. Consolidation was created by necessity to meet new con-
ditions in the open country.
The first consolidation of rural schools in the United States was
effected by Supt. William L. Eaton at Concord, Mass. A state
law enacted in 1869 authorized transportation of children to school
at public expense. Under this act Superintendent Eaton immedi-
ately began the task of consolidating the schools of Concord
" town," and the magnificent school building now named " Emerson
School " stands a monument to his ability and success. Superintend-
ent Eaton's first school was really a union school, and the " difficulties
under which consolidation labored at that time can be realized from
the fact that a period of ten years intervened between the closing of
the first and the last district school in the township " (called " town "
in New England).
Kingsville, Gustavus, Kinsman, and several other Ohio town-
ships are frequently cited as pioneers in consolidation because there
for the first time consolidation by entire townships was successfully
undertaken. All precedents in school-district organization were
overthrown. Each township by vote transformed its several dis-
trict schools into a single consolidated school. Special legislation
was necessary to enable the townships to proceed. At Concord ab-
sorption was the process resorted to, while the radical and aggressive
Ohio farmers used what may be called constructive consolidation.
THE CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL A DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTION.
In the consolidated rural school all children from the entire town-
ship or district meet, mingle, compete, strive, make friendships, and
learn how to work together. The school is free and accessible to all
children within its jurisdiction. All the boys and girls, including
those attending high school, return home daily, and, doing their
allotted work or chores mornings and evenings, keep in touch with
the home, the farm, and all its affairs, and remain within the shelter
of home during the most impressionable period of their lives. There
is no longer so much occasion for part of the children to attend
distant boarding schools or to pay board in the near-by villages to
attend high school. Class distinctions, which the old district school
unconsciously fostered, are broken down and removed. The begin-
ning of the consolidated-school movement fortunately occurs at a
time when popular ideas of the purpose and aims of an education are
undergoing an almost revolutionary change. The receptive attitude
of school officials and educators and the aggressive spirit with which
boards of consolidated schools support ideas tending to advance edu-
No, 232
33
cational interests promise a career for consolidated schools the results
of which will leave a lasting impress upon American agriculture and
rural citizenship. Already the high-school courses are being en-
riched by the introduction of new studies which have both an in-
formatory and a vocational value, as distinguished from the classical
studies which have chiefly culture value. Some use special text-
books on farming, supplemented by bulletins from extension depart-
ments of the state college and the United States Department of
Agriculture.
The consolidated schools are shaping their courses of study more
and more to meet the needs of the boy and girl whose school days
end at the expiration of the eight elementary years or in the early
years of high school. Those who are desirous of taking up the study
of agriculture as a profession can easily go from the consolidated
school into the state agricultural college. Where the local school
affords only a part of a high-school course, the student can complete
high-school work in an agricultural high school or other school of
secondary grade. The farm boy or girl who desires to enter some
nonagricultural vocation can easily transfer to the general or special
school of whatever kind he or she may desire. The broader train-
ing provided by the consolidated school is much superior to that pro-
vided in the average district school. There will thus be finally real-
ized for the country boy and girl, no matter what his or her station,
the opportunity for a vocational education in every school up to the
highest in the land.
The consolidated school is an institution which not only affords
instruction in the various common branches of knowledge, but also
reaches out and touches the communal life and the home life and
enriches and enlarges the individual life of the youth as the district
school never did and never can do, even under the most favorable
conditions.
COST OF MAINTENANCE OF CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS AND
DISTRICT SCHOOLS.
FINANCING AND COST OF RUEAL SCHOOLS.
NECESSITY OF SUPPLEMENTING STATE AND COUNTY SCHOOL FUNDS BY
LOCAL FUNDS.
Education is a component part of the standard of living and its
tendency is to vary with soil productivity and with the material
wealth and resources of the community. The standard of living in
a community is reflected not only in the school buildings and other
public belongings, but also in the efficiency of teachers, in the breadth
of courses of study, in the care of buildings, in cleanliness and sani-
tation, and in the thoroughness with which all undertakings are
54634°— Bull. 232—10 3
34
carried out. Of course there are exceptions, and some rural com-
munities of lesser wealth are known to maintain highly commendable
district schools, while in some of the wealthiest agricultural sections
the district schools are in every respect inferior to even average rural
schools.
Incorporated towns and cities have long recognized the necessity
of supplementing state funds with local school tax levies. Country
districts have been slower to adopt that policy, and in some States
they still depend chiefly upon state and county taxes for their school
funds. In certain States, in fact, the law until quite recently forbade
the levying of local school taxes, and their rural schools were in a de-
plorable condition. The idea that the rural school can make its
greatest progress through local initiative is gaining ground, and the
necessity and value of local taxation for the support of schools is con-
stanth' receiving wider recognition.
At the same time, however, there is need of placing present methods
of taxation and financing of public school systems upon a rational
basis. This applies especially to methods of apportionment of state
and county school funds. The prevailing method of basing the ap-
portionment of state and county funds upon the census enumeration
of children is probably the most open to criticism. Several States
have improved upon this by apportioning funds upon the basis of
enrolment or attendance, or still better, days of attendance. But
these methods work hardships upon small districts, and a better plan,
now in use in a few States, is to make the state apportionment accord-
ing to the number of teachers employed in the county, and the coimty
funds according to the number of teachers in the township or dis-
trict. A combination of all these methods, each properly weighted
in order of importance, would be the ideal system of apportionment
of school funds, and one that would give full justice to all districts.
It is safe to say that with an absoluteh^ just and scientific system
of taxation and school financing, every State in the Union will even-
tually have ample funds for building, equipping, and conducting, in
every community, public primary and secondary- schools of the highest
efiiciency.
The fate of various tax reforms depends upon ^tate legislation ; and
in many States constitutional amendments must first be voted before
revision of tax and assessment laws can be undertaken. All such
movements are slow and require time for maturing. Self-help is the
best help immediately in view ; the largest part of school funds must
be derived from local taxation, supplemented by state and county
funds; and this principle should be applied vigorously and exten-
sively. Fortunately, the tendency everywhere is in that direction.
After a community has once succeeded in building up a good school,
its cost generally ceases to be a matter of greater concern than the
Xo. 232
35
results. In the writer's opinion, rural communities do not arrive at
a conviction which leads to consolidation, by fine weighing of the
financial aspect of the proposition. Many, who on general principles
are opposed to consolidation, admit that the educational advantages
to be gained considerably outweigh the cost.
Consolidation justifies itself by superiority over the old system and
needs no financial arguments as proof. In fact, in all farm communi-
ties where it has been signally successful the imputation that the
object in consolidating was cheaper rather than better schools would
be indignantly resented by the farmers.
STATE Am TO CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS.
Stale aid to certain kinds and grades of public schools, for specific
purposes, has accomplished great good ; and, under the present imper-
fect system of financing schools, it is wise to utilize and even to extend
that practice. Few fields promise the State larger returns than does
aid to consolidated schools, whether for transportation, for high-
school courses, or for the teaching of agriculture and home economics.
Vermont was the first State to extend financial aid specifically for
transportation to communities furnishing conveyance for children to
consolidated schools.
Eventually, by means of state aid, the more expensive vocational
and industrial subjects will be taught in consolidated schools. The
lawmakers of the State of Minnesota, having had exceptional oppor-
tunities to observe in the school of agriculture in that State the bene-
ficial results of vocational training for farm boys and girls, were
probably the first in the United States to provide for agriculture
and home economics in consolidated schools, and to set apart funds
for that purpose in the form of liberal state aid. This law, enacted
in 1907, provides for an appropriation from the state treasury to be
distributed to the first 50 consolidated rural schools established,
equipped, and conducted so as to meet given requirements. Among
these are the following: That the area of the district shall be not
less than 16 nor more than 36 square miles in area; that a con-
tinuous tract of 10 acres of land be provided upon which the school
building must be erected and that the land shall be managed to serve
as a means of instruction for the pupils; that a principal teacher
shall be employed to teach agriculture and an assistant principal to
teach home economics ; that the conveyance for pupils shall be pro-
vided and that the schoolhouse shall be outside of any incorporated
city or village. (Chap. 304, sec. 3, 1907.)
COST OF SCHOOLING IN RURAL DISTRICT SCHOOLS.
Before comparing the fiscal affairs of the two systems of schools,
attention is directed to some peculiarities of the cost of schooling in
No. 232
36
district schools, arising chiefly from irregularities of attendance and
other conditions which vary greatly in different districts. Lack of
uniformity and pronounced difference in organization and service
make comparison between district and consolidated schools often
unsatisfactory.
In a civic unit so small as the rural school district there is no flexi-
bility. Its enrolment is determined by the school population. If
the latter be large, the enrolment and attendance will be large and
cost of schooling per pupil moderate ; if small, enrolment and attend-
ance will be proportionately small and cost of schooling per pupil
high. Under such circumstances, a uniform administration of dis-
trict-school finances is extremely difiicult, and the amount expended
per pupil is what chance makes it. In thousands of rural districts,
without exception as to geographical location, the ineffectiveness with
which taxes are expended for school purposes passes unnoticed, be-
cause the necessity of maintaining a school is paramount and obscures
all other considerations. It is always taken for granted that the
money accomplishes the purpose for which it is expended."
If it be discovered that in any one school the average cost of school-
ing' per child exceeds that in other schools, it is perfectly logical to
devise means for reducing it to a reasonable level, so that other chil-
dren may benefit from the money saved. If, on the other hand, the
average cost in any one school falls greatly below that of efficiently
conducted schools, it is logical to expend more money in such school
with the view of raising its standard. Divergent conditions, such
as these, generally escape attention because published reports of
averages of school statistics of counties or even of townships tend to
level or equalize the extremes. The correct way of approaching this
question of cost is through a study of individual schools, and then
it will be seen that a rather large number of the school' districts of a
county are at one or the other extreme, and that almost without ex-
ception cost is. highest in schools with small attendance. Those op-
posed to consolidation urge increased cost as an objection, yet knowl-
edge of the true financial and educational status bf their own district
school would often show an expenditure of more money per child
per day in school attendance than is expended in many consolidated
" Tbrougtiout this bulletin the annual and dally expenditure (or cost) per
pupil is used as a basis of comparison between schools. The annual expend-
iture per pupil is obtained by dividing the total yearly expenditures of a school,
exclusive of bonds, interest, and permanent improvements and buildings, by the
average daily attendance; and the daily cost per pupil, by dividing the annual
cost per pupil by the number of days of school. No good reason exists for the
prevailing practice of basing cost of schooling upon teachers' wages, to the neg-
lect of all other expendituios. nor for basing the cost of schooling per pupil upOB
the total or monthly enrolment.
37
schools. The importance of this subject demands that it be presented
somewhat in detail from statistics collected from widely separated
localities.
IN RTTRAL DISTKICT SCHOOLS IN DELAWARE.
The State of Delaware, 57.3 per cent of whose school population
attends rural schools, supplies a good illustration for an entire State
(Table 6) :
Table 6.-
-Average annual cost of schooling per pupil in attendance in 1906" in
the rural district schools of the State of Delaware.
Number
of
schools
(State).
Annual cost of schooling per pupil.
Schools, attendance-
State of
Delaware.
County.
New-
castle.
Kent.
Sussex.
Less than 10 .
29
139
71
18
841.44
22.70
13.74
10.63
$48.99
26.15
17.79
17.72
$37.30
21.24
14.31
9.93
834.01
11 to 20
22.36
21 to 30
12.69
7.88
18.98
25.46
18.92
16.54
" Based on figures taken from Report of Delaware Board of Education, 1906.
Extraordinary variation is noticeable in expenditures for service
which is supposed to be, and in justice should be, of equal standard
and efficiency in all schools. Within the respective counties the ex-
penditures vary between wide extremes. The cost of schooling in
Sussex County varies from $7.88 to nearly five times that sum. In
Kent County the highest cost is over three times that of the lowest,
and in Newcastle County the highest cost exceeds the lowest nearly
three times. The small schools are in all cases the most expensive.
Every county in every State seems to have its quota of small and
-poorly attended rural sclaools. Kansas " has 1,629 district schools with
attendance of 10 and less ; New Hampshire ^ reports 117 schools with
6 pupils and less, and 383 schools with 12 and less. Out of a total of
2,398 one-room schools, Maine" continues 206, having an average
attendance of less than 8; Minnesota school statistics "^ show 335
schools with attendance of less than 10 ; Michigan ^ has 1,500 ; and
Nebraska f 1,200 of these small schools of 10 and fewer.
« Bulletin of Information. State Superintendent of Instruction, Topeka, Kans.,
1908, p. 8.
6 Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1908.
e Maine School Report, 1908.
^Reported by Office of State Department of Public Instruction, 1909.
« Reported by Department of Public Instruction, Michigan, 1909.
f Reported by Department of Public Instruction, Nebraska, 1910.
No 2.'?2
5»
Thus it is seen that the number of small and expensive schools is
larger than commonly supposed. They check the progress of the
rural-school system and constitute a serious problem for superintend-
ents and other educators. A resume of the expenditures and cost of
schooling of pupils in small schools in several strong agricultural
counties will illustrate.
Data obtained from a number of such schools in Hardin County,
Iowa, are given in Table 7.
IN HARDIN COUNTY (lOWA) BUBAL SCHOOLS WITH LOW ATTENDANCE.
Table 7. — Average cost of schooling per pupil in J908 in Hardin County (Iowa)
rural district schools, whose average daily attendance was less than 9 pupils.
Township.
District.
Average
daily
attend-
ance.
Lengtli
of school
term.
Total
yearly ex-
penditure.
Cost per pupil.
Per year.
Per day.
Etna
Milliken
7
7
8
5
7
6
7
6
6
6
6
6
7
6
3
Days.
140
160
160
140
140
160
140
160
160
360
160
160
160
160
160
S196.00
239.68
272.00
172. 40
286.67
274.08
260. 19
237.60
213. 12
222.40
245.76
288.00
303.24
294.96
246.48
828.00
34.24
34.00
34.48
40.81
45.68
37.17
39.60
35.52
44.48
40.96
48.00
43.32
49.16
82.16
Cents.
20
21 4
Jackson
District No. 8
21 2
24.6
Pleasant Valley
29.2
28.6
Clay
26.6
Eldora
24.8
District No. 2
22.2
27.8
Midland
25.6
Alden
District No. 11
30.0
District No. 2
District No. 6
27.1
30.7
61.4
Total
92
2,320
3, 751. .58
637.38
6.1
155
250.11
40.78
27.5
This is a large, fertile, and prosperous county. The land is prac-
tically all tillable and approximates in value $100 per acre. The
rural schools with low attendance are typical of like schools in hun-
dreds of counties in the Mississippi and Ohio valleys in which the
cost of schooling is excessive.
In 15 districts in this county school facilities were provided for
92 children at an average annual cost of 27.5 cents per day. This is
10.1 cents higher per day than the cost of schooling in elementary,
grades of the consolidated schools investigated in northeastern Ohio
(see Table 15). Even the district whose school expenditure was the
lowest shows a higher daily cost by 2.1 cents than the average of 45
typical consolidated schools (see Table 11). Moreover, the highest
cost per pupil (30 cents, .30.7 cents, and 51.4 cents per day, respec-
tively) exceeds greatly that in the average typical consolidated
school.
No. 232
39
IN OLMSTED COUNTY (MINN.) RUEAL SCHOOLS.
The high average expenditure per pupil in small schools of Hardin
County and the number of schools making such expenditures are both
exceeded by the same class of schools in Olmsted County, Minn. All
the rural district schools in the last-named county, with an average
daily attendance of less than 9 in 1907, are tabulated in Table 8 ; they
were 17 in number, or 12 per cent of the total number of rural schools
of the county, and the expenditure per pupil reached the extraor-
dinary average of $56.49 per year, or 40 cents per day.
Table 8. — Average cost of schooling per pupil in Olmsted County (Minn.) rural
district schools, average daihj attendance of which in lOOS teas less than 'J
pupils.
Number
of
district.
Average
daily
attend-
ance.
Length
of school
term.
Total
yearly ex-
penditure.
Cost per pupil.
Per year.
Perda; .
101
32
62
110
11
45
119
39
9
132
141
142
83
113
18
63
121
7
\
3
6
4
5
6
2
7
5
4
6
6
5
7
8
Day?.
140
140
160
140
120
160
140
160
140
160
120
120
120
120
140
160
160
$208.20
371. 34
149.33
264.62
203. 97
481.63
345. 07
363. 59
379.34
406. 90
202. 21
224.00
364. 11
186.04
233.25
273. 57
504.61
829.74
61.89
37.33
84.87
34.00
120.41
69.01
60.60
189.67
67.99
40.44
56.00
.59.02
31.01
46.65
39.08
63.08
Cents.
21.2
44.2
23.31
Eyota
60.6
28.3
76.8
49.2
43.2
135.0
Rook Dell
46.6
40.4
46.6
36.0
25.84
33.3
24.4
39.4
Total
91
2,400
5,140.78
6.3
141
302. 40
66.49
40.0
In many of these small schools the cost of schooling per pupil
equals that in consolidated schools which have high-school courses,
and the highest cost per pupil would go far toward maintaining him
in college.
UNDER SPECIFIED CONDITIONS.
Fortunately, there are at hand data of cost of schooling in district
schools under certain specified conditions of teachers' qualifications
and equipment ; these data are furnished by that high type of rural
district school which has developed in Minnesota under a liberal state
aid law. Under this law schools applying for state aid are classified
into schools of the first and second grade, responding to certain quali-
fications at the time of application.
No. 232
40
The following are the rules governing the application for state aid :
To be entitled to special state aid at $125 as a first-grade rural school the
law and regulations of this department require :
First. The school must have been maintained for the full period of eight
months during the year.
Second. The teacher shall hold a first-grade common-school state certificate,
or one of higher rank, during the entire school year of eight months. (Note
that a state certificate is required.)
Third. The district shall have suitable school buildings, outhouses, library,
and apparatus necessary for doing efficient work.
Fourth. The school building and each room must be clean and vrell kept, and
proper jirovision must Be made for heating and ventilating.
Fifth. The school must be provided with suflicient blackboard, a large dic-
tionary, one complete set of supplementary readers, in addition to the regular
readers used, and a library, to which must yearly be made additions to the
amount of at least $10.
Sixth. The application of each school must show that it has maintained its
standard of efficiency, both in the work and in the equipment, and that some
improvement has been made during the year. The school grounds must be
kept neat, clean, orderly, and attractive.
Seventh. Aid will not be granted to rural schools in which the average
daily attendance is less than 12.
To be entitled to special state aid of $75 as a second grade rural
school, the requirements are the same, excepting that the teacher
shall hold a certificate of at least second grade.
This law amply fulfills the intention of its enactment. The state ex-
penditures incurred under it are met from regular annual appropria-
tions. These schools, meeting definite standards and answering to
stated requirements, are at present the best type of district schools.
For this reason the averages of cost of schooling at these schools not
only set standards of cost for rural district schools of equal attend-
ance everywhere, but also afford a trustworthy basis of comparison
of district with consolidated schools.
The Olmsted County district schools of the first and second
grade are representative of this type of schools. Statistics of cost of
schooling are given in Tables 9 and 10, respectively.
No. 232
41
Table ^—Expenditure per school of the first grade and cost of schooling per
pupil in 1901 in Olmsted County, Minn.
Township.
Elmyra .
Orion
Higli Forest.
Salem
Rocliester . . .
Marion.
Evota . .
Quincv.
Viola...
Haverhill .
Cascade . . .
Kalmar
New Haven .
Orinoco .
Farmington.
Total.
Average.
Number
of
district.
57
121
17
36
63
49
64
132
67
3
33
105
74
44
93
94
100
67
29
35
37
52
25
112
37
86
32
124
6
89
120
81
114
Average
daily
attend-
14
OS
16
20
25
17
20
n7
15
20
14
25
12
22
17
19
28
15
12
14
12
20
13
16
12
12
o6
17
17
19
16
14
22
Length
school
term.
Days.
180
160
160
160
160
160
160
160
160
180
180
180
160
160
170
160
160
160
180
180
160
180
160
170
160
160
140
160
180
170
160
180
160
6,490
166.4
Tolal
yearly ex-
penditure.
8685. 74
504. 61
647. 42
511. 69
534. 50
463. 69
507. 39
405. 90
477. 39
748. 78
678. 05
624. 02
474.26
475. 88
491. 40
610. 00
549. 83
477. 39
596. 76
556. 60
440. 78
633. 05
462. 68
490. 11
440.78
500. 52
371. 37
441. 31
483. 79
696. 40
532. 30
569.86
725. 50
17, 408. 63
527. 63
Average cost per
pupil.
Per year. Per day
811.84
63.08
40.46
25.68
21.38
27.27
26.37
57.99
31.83
37.44
41.29
24. 96
39.52
21.63
28.91
26.84
23.91
31.83
49.73
39.69
36.73
31.65
36.59
30.63
36.73
41.71
61.90
26.96
28.46
31.39
35. 49
40.70
32.98
32.85
Cents.
23.2
39.4
25.3
14.2
13.4
17.0
15.9
36.2
19.9
20.6
22.9
13.9
24.7
13.5
17.0
16.8
14.9
19.9
27.6
22.0
23.0
17.6
22,2
18.0
23.0
26.1
44.2
]6.2
15.8
18.5
22.2
22.6
20.6
" School continued by special permission.
Table 10-
-Expenditure per school of the second grade and cost of schooling
per pupil in 1907 in Olmsted County, Minn.
Township.
Number
of
district.
Average
daily
attend-
ance.
Length
school
term.
Tntal
yearly ex-
penditure.
Average cost per
pupil.
Per year.
Per day.
High Forest
83
59
39
127
40
42
27
30
a6
11
18
20
11
11
21
17
Days.
160
140
160
160
160
160
180
180
8354.11
244. 46
494.37
338.60
422.24
431. 02
387.96
608.26
$69.02
22. 22
27.46
16.93
38.39
39.18
18.47
29.90
Cents.
36.9
16.9
17.2
10.6
24.0
24.5
10.3
16.6
Total
115
1,300
3,181.00
251.57
14.4
162.5
397. 62
27.66
19.5
» School continued by special permission.
No. 232
42
The data (Tables 9 and 10) indicate a definite relation between
cost of schooling and equipment. Higher priced teachers and better
equipment in the "first-grade" schools make their average cost per
pupil higher than that in schools of the " second grade," the differ-
ence being 2 cents per pupil daily.
The wide variation in cost of schooling in the individual district
schools of low attendance enumerated in Tables 6, 7, and 8 is not so
apparent in the schools enumerated in Tables 9 and 10. In the latter
type of schools the average daily attendance is larger, the average
school term longer, and conditions are obviously more uniform.
The data (Tables 9 and 10) are therefore of special value for pur-
poses of comparison with other district schools. The average daily
cost of schooling per xjupil in these first and second grade schools —
21.3 cents and 19.4 cents, respectively — suggests what a fair average
cost of education per pupil should be under favorable conditions,
such as every country child should enjoy, and such as it is to the
credit of State and community to provide.
A comparison of the cost of education in Minnesota district schools
of the first and second grades with that of 45 typical consolidated
schools in different parts of the United States shows surprisingly
small differences.
In Table 11 is shown the annual cost of schooling per pupil in 45
typical consolidated schools. Taking into account the fact that the
schools contributing these data are widely separated geographically
and represent a great variety of local peculiarities and conditions,
there is a noticeable uniformity of expenditure per pupil per year
and per day; this fact lends some value to these averages as a basis
for comparisons with other schools.
Xo. 232
43
—Expenditure per school and cost of schooling per pupil in 1907 in J,5
ii/incal consolidated schools in various States."
State.
Florida .
Illinois . .
Indiana .
Iowa .
Massachusetts .
Minnesota
North Dakota
Ohio.
Total....
Average .
County.
Duval .
Hillsboro . . .
Putnam
Wabash
Tippecanoe.
Wabash
Sullivan
Elkhart ....
Fountaine . .
Montgomery
Delaware
Clay
Buena Vista .
Dickinson . . .
Middlesex . . .
Worcester . . .
Winona
Nelson
Rolette
Nelson
Clark
Clinton
Trumbull .
Ashtabula.
Summit ...
Geauga
Name of school.
Six Mile Creek.,
Huttos Chapel.
Turkey Creek .
Swaney
Qlen Lawn
Romney
Lauramie
Township.
Wea
Somerset
Graysville
Bristol
Newton
Melotte
Sterling
Stone Blufl
Linden ,
Smartsburg
New Market
Breaks
Youngs Chapel .
Whitesville
Royerton
Lake
Marathon
Tirrell
Ashland
Petersham
Lewiston
Cleveland
MountPleasant.
St. John
Cleveland
Selma
Lees Creek
Vernon
Southington
Fowler
Mecca
Gustavus
Johnston
Kinsman
Williamsfield...
Copley
Auburn
Parkman
Average
daily
attend-
ance.
52
37
124
88
120
122
354
109
142
175
184
150
165
102
106
196
105
187
112
106
115
203
72
254
117
285
102
125
51
178
69
77
114
228
132
122
126
133
158
140
142
160
194
109
117
6,259
Length
of school
term.
Bays.
120
120
160
160
120
160
140
126
140
127
160
120
124
150
160
160
180
160
140
140
125
140
140
180
160
190
190
180
190
180
140
180
175
120
160
160
160
160
160
160
160
160
150
160
160
6,897
153.3
Total
yearly ex
penditure.
81,203.43
843. 36
3,093.35
2, 390. 00
3, 857. 60
6, 015. 60
10, 962. 81
3, 960. 00
2, 480. 00
2,852,05
- 5,785.84
4,580.00
4, 018. 00
2, 447. 00
1,812.66
6,350.50
3, 750. 00
5,651.00
4,982.00
3, .500. 00
3, 469. CO
6, 882. 90
2,714.80
5, 025. 79
4,055.00
9, 167. 47
5, 770. 24
3,868.68
2,851.13
7, 103. 47
3, 626. 87
2, 333. 53
4, 800. CO
10, 739. 75
5, 764. 04
4, 611. 30
5, 382. 78
6,473.40
6,011.59
5, 130. 64
6, 714. 35
6,110.30
6,568.62
4,436.24
3, 736. 00
211, 762. 1
4,706.84
Cost per pupil.
Per year. Per day.
823. 14
22.79
24.96
27.16
32.15
41.11
30.94
36.33
17.46
16.30
31.44
30.63
24.35
23.99
17.10
32.40
36.71
30.22
44.48
33.02
30.17
33.91
37.71
19.79
34.66
32.13
66.57
30.95
55.90
39.91
51.11
30.31
42. 11
47.10
43.67
37.80
42.72
48.67
31.72
36.65
47.28
38.20
33.86
40.70
31.93
1, 661. 10
Cents.
19.3
19.0
15.6
17.0
26.9
25.7
22.1
28.8
12,5
12,8
19.6
25.4
19.6
16,0
11,4
20,2
19,8
18,9
31,8
23.6
24.1
24.2
26.9
11.0
21.7
16.9
29.8
17.2
29.4
22,2
36,6
16.8
24.1
33.6
27.3
23.6
26.7
30.4
19.8
22.9
29.6
23.9
22.6
25,4
20,0
° Data gathered locally from reports of county auditors, county superintendents of
schools, treasurers of school boards, and principals of schools.
Average area of consolidated districts square miles 29
Average number of school wagons employed per school 4S
Average number of pupils per school :
Enrolled in elementary course 151
Enrolled in high-school course 27
Total 178
Conveyed at public expense 107
At 20 of these consolidated schools music is taught, at 8 manual training, and at 7
agriculture.
The Olmsted County district school boys and girls may attend any
of four high schools free of tuition, but are dependent upon their own
resources to reach them, which, in a county 660 square miles in area is,
in the case of many pupils, attended with some difficulty and no little
No. 232
44
expense. On the other hand, the consolidated schools enumerated in
Table 11 convey the pupils to and from school at public expense.
Assuming 4 square miles to be the size of the average small school
district, approximately 7 were united to form the average consoli-
dated school ^n the table — about 29 square miles. The total con-
solidated school expenditures apportioned to each original school
district would therefore amount to one-seventh of the consolidated
district or $672.26, which is more than the expenditure of the ordi-
nary one-teacher district school, and doubtless more than the original
schools expended before consolidation. The communities have
learned to tax themselves for school purposes and do it cheerfully,
and now that they see results, would not under any circumstances
return to the former system of many small schools.
The average cost of schooling per pupil per day in district schools
of the first and second grade in Olmsted County is 21.3 and 19.5 cents
respectively, in typical consolidated schools it is 22.5 cents; a differ-
ence of 1.1 cents per pupil per day in the first case and of 3.0 cents
per pupil per day in the second case. The district schools offer an
eight-year elementary course, the consolidated schools the same course
plus two to four years in high school and furnish public conveyance.
Hence the 1.1 cents and 3.0 cents daily per child represent the sum, by
the expenditure of which the communities with consolidated school
secure the additional advantages. Communities in the richer farm-
ing sections should have little difficulty to raise that additional com-
paratively small sum per child, and with some state aid the possibility
of consolidated schools could be brought to many communities in even
the less wealthy sections of the country.
As the average cost of schooling pupils per day and year at these
typical consolidated schools may safely be taken as a figure repre-
senting a fair general average, any community knowing accurately
the cost of schooling in each of its rural schools can make its own com-
parisons and draw its own inferences as to what additional expend-
iture per child in township or county would secure the more ex-
tended courses of typical consolidated schools.
In explanation of the fact that the total expenditures for school
purposes in a given rural community is higher when maintaining
consolidated than when maintaining district schools, it is submitted
that children attend more years of school, extending the attendance
into the upper grammar grades and the high school. Under the
stimulus of public conveyance more children attend and do so more
regularly, and that adds to the cost of conveyance.
The cost of teaching in rural district schools is slowly but steadily
rising, and may eventually raise the cost of schooling in district
schools generally near to or even in excess of that in consolidated
schools. Such conditions are neither impossible nor improbable.
No. 232
45
Even now there are entire counties where high wages prevail, either
because of legal enactment or of scarcity of teachers, and where the
cost ot teaching in district schools equals, or even exceeds that in
consolidated schools. A case in point is Ada County, Idaho, which
pays teachers in one-room rural schools an average monthly wage of
!o J ^^ average annual cost of schooling per pupil ranges from
$26.47 to $89.20, and averages for all the one-room schools of the
entire county $44.46, or $10.63 in excess of that of the 45 consolidated
schools (Table 11), which include high schools and provide conditions
under which the rural vocational subjects may be taught.
COMPARISON OP COST OF MAINTENANCE OF CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS AND
DISTRICT SCHOOLS IN THE SAME COUNTY AND UNDER SIMILAR CON-
DITIONS.
Statistics collected in the northeastern Ohio townships (p. 20)
make possible a comparison of the school expenditures of district
and consolidated school townships under identical local conditions
of population, agriculture, roads, and general wealth. It will also
be observed that those townships, while prosperous, are not wealthy.
Communities in better financial circumstances might put in operation
consolidated schools with considerably greater ease. Table 12 illus-
trates the financial and other conditions in these townships.
Table 12. — Average area, valuation, tax rate, and tax levy of three consoli-
dated-school townships and three district-school townships in Ashtabula and
Trumhull counties, Ohio.
Consoli-
dated-school
townships.
District-
school
townships.
Area acres.
Assessed value of lands dollars.
Assessed value of personal property do...
Total valuation taxable property do...
Kate of taxation:
School purposes .mills.
All purposes do. .'.
Tax levied:
School purposes dollars.
All purposes do. . .
16,238
271,081
187, 282
468, 363
11.25
18.82
5,171.12
8,657.95
16,290
282,077
225,088
607, 165
5.05
14.13
2, 465. 30
7, 211. 97
The figures in Table 12 represent the three years' (1903-1905) average of the consoli-
dated-school townships Kinsman, Johnston, and Greene, and of the district-school town-
ships Williamsfield, Champion, and Southington.
Table 12 shows the taxable wealth of these townships and the
taxes levied therein for the support of the township, county, and
state government. While the rate of taxation for school purposes
in the consolidated is larger than in the district-school townships,
in part because of payments on a school building, there is no such
great difference in the rates for all purposes nor in the " taxes levied
for all purposes." At the time of collecting the statistics, the dis-
trict-school townships were carrying on various public improve-
No. 232
46
ments — ditching, bridge and road building — necessitating a special
tax levy, which caused their total tax levy nearly to approach that
of the consolidated townships.
In Ohio funds for school purposes are derived from several
sources. The state apportionment consists of the income from the
state school fund and the income from the sale of school lands. In
addition are the local school taxes and the reverting funds from the
dog tax, cigarette tax, and other forms of minor taxes.
Table 13. — School funds of three consolidated and three district-school town-
ships in Ashtabula and Trumbull counties, Ohio.<^
Source of funds.
Consolidar
ted-school
townships.
District-
school
townships.
$330.86
12.36
5,067.92
8306 98
11.93
Local taxes for school purposes
2,001.22
12 18
592.33
134.26
Total funds .
6,003.47
2,466.67
"Average 1903, 1904, and 1905.
Table 13 shows that in these Ohio townships the state apportion-
ment amounts to only a very small fraction of the total school rev-
enue for either consolidated or district schools. The bulk of the
school funds is raised by local taxation. In the townships with
consolidation, 84.4 per cent of the school revenues is raised by local
taxation and only 5.7 per cent is derived from state apportionments.
In the townships with district schools, 81.1 per cent of the entire
school receipts is derived from local taxation and 12.9 per cent
from the state fund.
Included in the $5,067.92 of local taxes for school purposes in the
consolidated-school townships is a levy for bond redemption and
interest ($703.21), which makes their taxes appear unduly large.
After the redemption of building bonds, the lev;\' for school pur-
poses is likely to drop to about 9 mills, and a steadily increasing tax
valuation may also be instrumental in causing the tax rate to go to
a lower figure.
Turning next to the disbursements of these two groups of town-
ships, the one with district and the other with consolidated schools,
it was desirable to obtain a cost statement by which the eight grades
of the elementary course of the former might be comparable with the
same grades of the latter. Accordingly, the cost of elementary and
high-school education was computed separately, as appears in Tables
14 and 15; in this form a number of comparisons are facilitated,
extending to details in the cost of teaching, supervision, supplies,
fuel, and other particulars.
No. 232
47
iur'c nrr ^"]'"''® annual current school expenditure and itemized expendi-
r. I'lll'tl of three dintrint-snh.nnl tninnshimsi in. /ishfnhiiln. n.nij. Trwynhilll
counties, Ohio.''
of three district- school townships in Ashtaiula and Trumbull
Item,
Teachers' wages
Tuition for high-school pupils paid by township
Fuel
Repairs
Contingent expenses
Supplies
Total
Elementary grades
1 to8.
Average
annual
<'Urrent ex-
penditures.
81,951.70
60.00
127. 63
45.64
318. 98
27.78
2, 632. 65
Average
annual
cost per
pupil.
$18. 24
1.19
.43
2.98
.26
23.77
"Average 1903, 1904, and 1905 ; data taken from the books of treasurers of school
boards of respective townships.
The district schools entering Into this three years' average are 24 in number ; 7 located
in Williamsfleld, 9 in Champion, and 8 in Southington townships, or an average of 8
per township.
Average daily attendance in grades 1 to 8, 104 ; per cent of enrolled pupils attending,
67.9 ; average length of school term, 166 days ; average cost of schooling per pupil per
day in elementary grades, 14.6 cents ; average number of pupils attending high school,
4.2. Without data on the additional private expense to students attending distant high
schools, the cost per day of high-school attendance can not be given.
Table 15. — Average annual current school expenditure and itcmi::rd expenditure
per pupil in the 12 grades (elementary and high school) of three consolidated-
school townships in TrumhuH County, Ohio."
Item.
Average annual current expendi-
ture.
Grades 1-8
(elemen-
tary).
Grades 9-12
(high
school).
Total.
Average annual cost
per pupil.
Grades 1-8
(elemen-
tary).
Grades 9-12
(high
school).
Teachers' wages
Superintendence
Transportation
Fuel
Repairs
Janitor
Contingent expenses
Supplies
Total
8782.
80.
1, 809.
102,
266,
45.
S683. 76
396. 30
20.48
.90
22.50
66.48
10.01
$1,466.53
80.00
2, 205. 36
113. 85
6.17
126.11
313. 04
55.65
$6.87
.70
15.87
.82
.04
.90
2.26
.40
$27. 35
15. 85
.82
.04
.90
2.26
.40
1,190.43
4, 364. 71
27.84
47.62
"Average for three townships for 190.3, 1904. and 19015. Data taken from the books
of the treasurer of school boards of the respective townships. Average daily attendance
grades 1 to 8 (elementary), 114; average daily attendance grades 9 to 12 (high school),
25 ; average length of school term, 160 days ; per cent of enrolled pupils attending, 87.5 ;
average cost of schooling per pupil per day elementary, 17.4 cents ; average cost of school-
ing per pupil per day high school, 29.8 cents ; average cost of schooling per pupil in the
entire school, elementary and high, per year, $31.40 ; per day, 19.6 cents.
As all pupils in the townships have common use of the buildings,
school wagons, heat, janitors' service, etc., the cost per pupil for these
items of running expenses has been prorated per pupil, based on the
total attendance at school, irrespective of grade or age of pupil. The
wages, however, of the teachers in the elementary and high school
grades, were charged against the respective grades in which they
taught.
No. 232
48
Deductions from the foregoing cost statistics brought forward in
this chapter can be stated only in general terms, because of individual
peculiarities of the school affairs of different communities, which
differ in their attitude toward education exactly as do persons. The
consolidated-school townships in Trumbull and Ashtabula counties,
northeastern Ohio, which were made the subject of special study, had
in 1906 a taxable valuation, per child of school age, of $2,247, and the
district-school townships a valuation of $2,641. Many communities,
however, undertake consolidation of their schools on a much smaller
financial basis. One township in Clay County, Iowa, has a successful
consolidated graded school, and the taxable wealth supporting it is
about $1,414 per child; nine townships with consolidated schools in
Roulette County, N. Dak., have an average of $956 of taxable prop-
erty per child ; and two large districts in Orange County, Fla., have
$916 and $740, respectively, per child. School improvement through
consolidation is a cultural movement, and is shown by statistics to be
a privilege of not only the wealthy districts of the country, but to be
participated in by many temporarily less favored.
The financial aspect of rural-school consolidation has at times been
given undue prominence by persons endeavoring to demonstrate that
consolidation greatly lessens the cost of schools to a community, this
in order to pacify taxpayers who object to expenditures for school
purposes larger than their communities have been in the habit of
making in the past. But the danger is of losing sight of the cen-
tral idea — the consolidated school as a country-life institution. Com-
parisons of cost between district and consolidated schools should be
made cautiously. In such comparisons, made solely on the face of
the figures, due weight can not be given to differences of supervision,
equipment, teachers' qualifications, conveniences, and general effi-
ciency. Nor is it possible to assign to these many factors definite
comparable values; they should, however, be carried in mind con-
stantly. Comparisons that do not take into account these differences
are apt to be misleading.
Attention has been directed to district schools in which the cost
of schooling was extremely low and to others where it was excep-
tionally high. Statistics have also been introduced to show that the
total number of district schools with low attendance and consequent
high cost of schooling maintained in farming regions is very large.
The district schools with an attendance of 10 and less, typifying these
conditions, in representative Iowa and Minnesota counties, were
found to exceed consolidated schools in cost of schooling per pupil
per day. The cost of schooling in the district schools of the first and
second grade in Olmsted County, Minn. — representatives of the best
of this class of schools — was shown to be within 1.1 and 3.0 cents,
respectively, per pupil per day of that in typical consolidated schools.
In fact, statistics of schools of the first and second grades in Min-
No. 232
49
o a indicate that whenever district schools endeavor to meet
higher requirements or permanently to raise their standards to those
V '^°^^^^'^^^^'^ schools, the cost immediately rises and differs but
slightly from that of typical consolidated schools. A comparison of
the cost of elementary schooling was made between a group of town-
ships with district schools and an adjacent group (of about the same
number of square miles, population, and wealth) of townships with
consolidated schools, and the difference was shown to be only 2.8 cents
per pupil per day.
It was also shown that on an average the total expenditure for
teachers' wages in the district school townships was nearly twice that
in the consolidated school townships, namely, $1,951.70 as against
$862.77, which latter included supervision by the high-school prin-
cipal in one building. The great difference in cost of teachers' wages,
$18.24 per pupil per year, in the district schools and only $6.80 per
pupil per year in the consolidated school, was explained by the larger
rate of attendance and graded classes in the latter.
The community or township with only district schools, in place
of maintaining a local high school, secures for the education of the
more favored of its children the services of a high school in some
distant city, township, or village. The payment of tuition in high
school is generally a matter of contract directly between the high
school and the patrons or the high school and the State, county, or
township, as the law in the case may be. The community or district
with a consolidated school, on the other hand, insists on administer-
ing its own school and high-school affairs, and on bringing equal
educational advantages to every child in the community, the chief
object being efficiency of service.
The largest item of cost of consolidated schools is for transporta-
tion. This, in case of the Trumbull County schools cited, amounts
to a daily average of 11.3 cents per pupil, and is justifiable on the
ground that it secures numerous advantages unobtainable in the dis-
trict schools. The expenditure for transportation adds to the total
cost of conducting the school without greatly adding to the cost of
schooling per individual pupil as compared -with district schools.
This is explained by the larger attendance which public conveyance
secures. A community which expends on schooling $30 and upward
annually per pupil, and opposes consolidation, can not consistently do
so on the score of increased cost.
The publication annually in the local papers of an analytical
statement of the affairs of the district schools of the county or of
the townships or of groups of townships would materially help the
patrons and taxpayers to understand the local school situation and
might possibly in many cases lead to betterments, though not neces-
sarily to consolidation.
54634°— Bull. 232—10 4
50
For example, it would be possible to assemble data making com-
parisons between arbitrarily defined districts, or groups of districts,
or portions of counties, etc., having reference to certain local condi-
tions or to definite plans proposed. Or data from district schools
could be grouped and coordinated with the definite purpose in view
of showing or explaining one certain condition and conveying one
particular line of information relating to school affairs or plans,
or affairs of individual schools or of projected plans in the county.
Such data would relate to matters of daily attendance, rate of at-
tendance, size of schools, classes, current expenses per school, cost of
schooling per pupil ; it might extend to the rate of high school attend-
ance and cost thereof, circumstances under which rural children
attend high school, the distribution of the high school attendance
relative to the location of the high school, amounts of money ex-
pended by parents in paying transportation, board, and incidental
expenses of children attending high school, boarding schools, acad-
emies, and seminaries.
Much of this information can be shown graphically by being
placed upon an outline map of the county, showing the boundaries
of the school districts and location of schools. In this manner com-
parisons and groupings are made possible and can be shown in a
much more vivid manner than by a formal statistical table. The
need in every rural community is for fuller information on local
facts relating to matters educational and for local leaders who, with
the help of school officials, will interpret these facts and formulate
them into constructive policies.
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE AT CONSOLIDATED AND RURAL DISTRICT
SCHOOLS.
That the small and irregular attendance at district schools is one
of the most serious problems with which educators have to deal
scarcely calls for proof. The greatest obstacles to regular attendance
are inclement weather, poor condition of roads and fields, scant
clothing, cold floors in schoolhouses, colds, coughs, bronchitis, and a
long list of disabilities and ailments. County superintendents in
a few localities have succeeded in bettering attendance by annually
granting dijolomas or prizes for perfect attendance. But this method
appe.ils to only a few individuals and will probably never become
extensive enough to induce the mass of the school population of town-
ships, counties, and States to maintain a general good attendance.
Furthermore, a system of rewards, to be effective, must be constantly
renewed and varied, while the beneficial influence of public convey-
ance of pupils acts automatically and uniformly year after year.
The plan of patrons furnishing transportation for their own chil-
dren is not to be compared in effectiveness with public transportation.
Mo. 233
51
f^lv.^^Tu'^^* exemplified in the wealthy agricultural counties of some
ot the Middle Western States. In one county in Iowa, where many
parents provide their children with suitable vehicles, the average
attendance is only 61.4 per cent of the enrolment, and in individual
schools it IS as low as 30 per cent, -/arregular attendance is, in gen-
eral, characteristic of rural district schools everywhere without dis-
tinction of State or county^The average rural attendance of en-
rolled pupils in the United States is about 60 per cent, suggesting
that there are entire States where it is very low. One State, whose
average per cent of attendance of pupils enrolled in rural schools
is 43.3, has eight schools with an attendance of less than 30 per cent
of the enrolment. It has been found that where consolidated schools
depend solely upon a conveyance provided privately — that is by the
children's parents — attendance is but little better than in district
schools where children walk. The plan is seldom satisfactory.
PUBLIC CONVEYANCE INCREASES RURAL SCHOOL PATRONAGE.
The facility and regularity with which pupils are brought to the
consolidated school has the same effect as shortening the distance
between the farm home and the school. The child in its most impor-
tant task — attending school — is assisted by an agency which leaves
nothing to chance and little to choice. The wagon service does away
with the " hit-and-miss " method of going to school on foot, and es-
tablishes a system differing in no essential respect from that illus-
trated by the nicely timed schedules of railroad trains. Free public
conveyance and other features peculiar to consolidation are conducive
to greatly improved school patronage.
The stream of children which the school wagon starts schoolward
is so strong and steady that the educational affairs of the community
assume a totally different complexion. This is shown by a compari-
son of the attendance in the Ohio townships investigated, which well
represent conditions at average district and consolidated schools in
the United States. The figures are given for each township sepa-
rately and may aid interested readers in making comparisons between
these and their home schools (Table 16)^
The leading facts of Table 16 are that the consolidated schools en-
rolled a larger percentage of the school population of the consolidated
townships than did the district schools of the district townships ; that
the daily school attendance at the former was better than at the
latter, and that nearly 27 per cent more of the total school popula-
tion attended school in the communities having consolidated than in
those having. district schools. Broadly speaking, under similar con-
ditions, the former had an attendance larger by one-fourth than the
latter. A compulsory school-attendance law is rigidly enforced in
No. 232
52
that section of Ohio; hence the larger proportion of school popula-
tion which the consolidated schools attracted represents voluntary
attendance of pupils of over the legal school age. In view of this
fact, the remarkable enrolment and attendance at the Greene consoli-
dated school deserves notice, 95 per cent of the school population of
the township being enrolled, and 76.5 per cent thereof being in actual
daily attendance.
Table 16. — School populatio-n, enrolment, and average daily attendance in three
consnlifhitcd and three district ncliool townships in Ashtabula and Trnmhull
counties, Ohio.'^
Township.
Consolidated:
Kinsman
Johnston
Greene
District:
Williamsfield
Champion
Southington
Average:
Consolidated township
District township
Per cent of increase in favor of con-
solidation
School popu-
lation.
Total.
192
224
196
1K7
209
181
204
192
square
mile.
7.6
H.9
7.8
7.5
8.0
7.2
8.0
7.6
Enrolment.
Total.
189
186
156
155
148
177
153
Per cent
of school
popula-
tion.
81. S
■ 84.4
94.9
82.9
74.2
81.7
86.8
79.6
Attendance.
121
148
150
100
109
102
l;i9
104
Per cent
of enrol-
ment.
77.1
78.3
80.6
CI. 6
70.3
68.9
78.5
68.0
16.4
Per cent
of school
popula-
tion.
63.0
66.1
76.6
63.5
52.1
66.4
68.1
64.2
26.5
" -Vverage 190.3, 1004, and 1905.
If consolidation had no other advantage, increased patronage
should gain it the favor of the taxpayer, because of the assurance
that the taxes are expended upon an institution which offers educa-
tional advantages to every child in the community. Where the
school population per square mile is low — 6 or 7 per square mile —
and the attempt is made to locate the district schoolhouse with a
view to ease of access, the one-room school district must necessarily
be small and the enrolment very low. On the other hand, if large
and strong schools are desired, districts must be made so extensive
that walking distances for some children are considerable, and to
that patrons naturally object. For example, take the Trumbull
County (Ohio) consolidated townships. Kinsman, Johnston, and
Greene. Before consolidation they averaged nine district schools each
(Table 17), or approximately one school for every 3 square miles.
There was an average school population of 7.6 pupils per square mile,
of which 78 per cent were enrolled, and 74 per cent of the enrolment
was in attendance; this made the average school with. an average
attendance of only about 12 pupils. The alternative of abandoning
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53
^ or the schools and compelling some of the children to walk
•^ . ^^ ^*^^ ^^ far as before was not to be supported, therefore con-
solidation was the only logical step and was, in fact, adopted as the
only solution of the problem. It is safe to say that thousands of
rural school districts are at this moment in much the same situation.
The statistics show that in the communities where children walked
to school, only 54 per cent of the school population attended regu-
larly; whereas in communities where the school wagons regularly
called at the farm homes, 68 per cent attended.
The profound changes which consolidation works in the school
patronage in communities is shown by what it has accomplished in
the Kinsman, Johnston, and Greene townships of Trumbull County.
Here comparative attendance statistics were compiled for the same
townships for a period of three years previous to consolidation, and
for a three-year period after consolidation. These may be seen in
Table 17.
Table 17. — Average numhcr of schools, srliool population, enrolment, und
EFFECTIVE DIVISION OF THE SCHOOL TIME.
Visits were made to each of the twenty- four district schools in the
three townships and minute notes taken of one or more days' school
work in each. This, supplemented by explanations by the teacher,
furnished the basis for calculating a year's work in all of the grades
at each particular school. The averages of the data from all schools
represent fairly the work done in the average district school in the
United States. Identical notes were taken and calculations made
concerning the class work in the graded and high school courses of the
consolidated schools, and in this manner statistics were obtained which
made possible comparisons of the work and efficiency of the two types
of schools and even to extend those comparisons to smaller details.
Teachers in one-room district schools, with pupils in five, six, seven,
or eight grades, can not apportion the school time so advantageously
No. 232
58
as teachers in consolidated schools with one, two, or at most three
grades, even though the latter may ha\e many more pupils.
In one-room schools, owing to smallness of classes, frequency of
recitations, and variety of studies, the absence of even one or two
pupils may for that day necessitate a complete change of programme,
classes, and subjects. Combination of classes and alternation of
studies are often resorted to in order to economize time and Iceep up
with the assigned term's work. Frequently, pupils in the higher
grades are called upon to assist in teaching.
DIVISION OF SCHOOL TIME IN CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS RATIONAL
AND ADVANTAGEOUS TO PUPILS.
The teacher's work relative to individual pupils is most effective
and direct during the recitation period ; that is, during the time when
the relation of pupil and teacher is close, individual, and reciprocal.
This period should occupy the largest possible part in the pupil's
school day. There is a limit to which the study period may be util-
ized, and the time should not be too extended with children begin-
ning to form the habit of study ; the attention soon flags and is easily
drawn from the work by slight incidents. Through the teacher's
skillful use of the recitation period the pupil is taught how to study.
Each room of the consolidated school having 2, or at most 3 grades,
it is much easier to divide a pupil's time into recitation and study
periods in a manner most advantageous to him. There are few
irregularities in attendance, and that also makes it possible to con-
tinue class work without repetition or time-wasting interruptions.
That there is a marked difference in the division of time of consoli-
dated and district schools is shown in Table 20.
Table 20. — Total recitation and study hours arailaWe to each pupil during the
entire eight-year elementary course in a consolidated and in a district
school.'^
Consolidated school.
District school.
Distribution of time.
Hours.
Per cent of
total school
hours.
Hours.
Per cent of
total school
hours.
2,872 1 49.5
2,928 1 50.5
1,061
6,573
1.5.9
Study
84.1
Total school hours .
5,800
100.0
6,634
100.0
" These greatly condensed data were obtained from the three consolidated schools in
Kinsman. Johnston, and Grei'nc, and the twenty-four district schools in Williamsfield,
Champion, and Southington townships, 1906.
Each pupil during the eight elementary years in the district school
had at his disposal a total of G.dSi hours ; that is, this amount of time
was made available to each pupil by the teacher. In the consolidated
No. 232
59
would h ^-^^ ^'^-^^ hours. The pupil attending the district school
834 ho *^ ^^iring his school life — assuming regular attendance —
The (\'^P ^^^'^ °* school work than one in the consolidated school,
amererice is explained in part bv the fact that the school day of
me conooliclated school ^vas shorter than that of the district schools.
io enawe the school wagons to rdurn the children home at an earlv
hour the consolidated dismissed half an hour earlier than the district
schools.
But these are minor details ; the chief interest centers in the division
of the school time into recitation and study hours. The manner in
which a child may utilize the time allotted to him in the space of
eight years of school attendance determines, in a large measure, the
extent to which he is to be benefited. In the consolidated school the
average pupil, according to the statistics tabulated above, had the
benefit of 1,811 more hours of recitation than the district-school pupil,
and this fact distinguishes the two types of school as fundamentally
and radically different. These 1,811 hours additional class work and
instruction, an increase of 171 per cent, not only enables the consoli-
dated school to teach the common branches with greater thorough-
ness, but to add agriculture and home economics and other studies
not directly learned from books.
The number of study hours each consolidated-school pupil had was
2,928, while the district-school pupils had 5,573 — or 2,645 hours more,
an excess which very few would be able to turn to beneficial use except
under the direct guidance of the teacher. This disparity in the nature
of the school work becomes more apparent exjDressed in percentages.
The district pupil recited during 16 per cent of his time and spent
84 per cent in study; the consolidated-school pupil's time was almost
evenly divided — 49.5 per cent recitation and ^0.5 per cent study. The
last-named pupils had more individual instr\iction, drill, and oppor-
tunity to do work with thoroughness. The course of study of the
district schools was admittedly crowded to the limit, the real reason,
as shown, being not too great a variety of studies, but lack of time
for instruction.
DIVISION OF THE SCHOOL TIME AT THE DISPOSAL OF THE
TEACHERS.
The large aggregation of pupils in the consolidated school makes
possible a certain degree of concentration and centralization of school
work, and provides, as a general rule, more favorable conditions than
are found in the district school. In the former there are fewer teach-
ers ; an immense amount of duplication of work and effort is avoided
by reducing the number of daily classes. Classes are more uniform
in membership, and the numerous classes with only one pupil are
done away with. The length of the recitations is much longer.
No. 232
60
nearly double ; and. as a result, fewer classes are heard during the day.
All these features of school and class organization of consolidated and
district schools are grouped in comparative form in Table 21.
Tabi.k 21. — Average number of teachers, uiimher and size of classes, and length
of reeitations in the elementary grades of the schools of three consolidated
and three district school toicnsltips in Ashtabula and Trumbull counties, Ohio,
in 1906.
Item.
] Ctonsolida- Distriet-
ted-school school
I townships, townships.
Teachers, elementary number. .
Classes, daily do
Pupils in largest class do
Pupils in smallest class do
Pupils in average cla«s do
Length of average recitation minutes, .
Largest number classes daily single teacher. .
Smallest number classes daily do
S.O
230,0
15.0
1,0
3,3
10,9
36,6
23,0
In Table 21 is also found an explanation of the large amount of
time allotted for study in the district schools (Table 20). The larg-
est number of classes heard daily in any one school in the district-
school townships was nearly double that in the consolidated schools.
These numerous classes of few pupils engage the teacher so con-
stantly, that it is necessary to busy the rest of the pupils by assigning
them study work. The large number of daily classes is a problem
which every district-school teacher is struggling to overcome, but it
is inseparably a part of the system and can not be altered except by
consolidation.
Table il-J summarizes the size and number of daily classes, from one
pupil up, of each of three district-school townships. The totals are
the number of recitations or classes called daily in each during the
entire school year.
Table 22,-
-Sizc and number of classes daily in three district-school townships
of Ashtabula and Trumbull counties, Ohio, 1906.
1 pupil
2 pupils
3 pupils
4 pupils
5 pupils
6 pupils
7 pupils
8 pupils
9 pupils
10 pupils —
11 pupils
12 pupils —
15 pupils —
Total ,
Size of classes.
Number ol classes daily.
Williams-
field,
Champion.! ^"'""S"
40
63
50
32
23
18
1
5
6 :
3
2
2
1
Average.
89
52
48
39
23
12
5
5
4
2
1
No. 2:^2
61
The existence of the conditions in district schools, such as are
shown in Tables 22 and 23, have, of course, long been known to
teachers and educators, but the presentation of totals for all the dis-
trict schools of a township as a unit in comparison with the consoli-
dated school of another township, is new. In no way can the benefit
of the concentration derived from consolidation and the disadvan-
tage of the scattering of forces into many one-room schools, dis-
tributed over a territory of 25 or more square miles, be more forcibly
illustrated.
STJPEKVISION OP SCHOOLS AND QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHERS.
The consolidated school encourages permanency of residence of
principal and teachers ; it attaches them to the school, begets loyalty
and enthusiasm, and makes possible the formulation of long-time
plans. The resident principal and teachers often take the leadership
in social and literary activities, and, having become a part of the
community, set an example in citizenship for all the children.
Through contact with parents, as well as with children, they learn the
character and home life of the latter quite as intimately as the teachers
in the district schools, and much better than those in town or city
schools, being enabled thereby to take cognizance of each pupil's per-
sonal peculiarities and to make use of that knowledge in teaching.
Frequent change of teachers reacts unfavorably upon pupils, owing
to changes of methods of instruction and changes in discipline. The
different personal influence of the new teachers is likely also to affect
the pupil's progress and interest in school work.
It is seldom that a community, once it has a consolidated school,
rests content, making no further betterments. The same broad edu-
cational policy which originally led to consolidation generally con-
tinues to dominate school affairs and results in a progressive raising
of standards in all departments. Hence, it is an almost invariable
rule that consolidated schools demand of teachers higher qualifica-
tions and professional ability than do district schools. Consolidated
schools attract the capable rural teachers; the positions are sought
after and many teachers make special efforts to prepare for them.
In cases even where in a newly consolidated school some of the same
teachers are engaged who taught in the original district schools, a
perceptible improvement of the professional standard should be
demonstrable, because in reducing the number of schools and
teachers all the better teachers would naturally be retained.
The investigations in the northeastern Ohio townships, in Trum-
bull and Ashtabula counties, demonstrate clearly the changed condi-
tions of supervision and teachers' qualifications in consolidated as
compared with district school townships. It is true that in wealthier
No. 232
62
sections of the country there are consolidated schools which in point
of equipment and teachers surpass the Ohio consolidated schools
cited ; on the other hand, in other less favored sections of the country,
district schools could probably be found which would fall greatly
below the Ohio district schools. However, the data from these Ohio
schools represent fair averages and reflect general conditions quite
accurately. Of the 24 teachers employed in the three district-school
townships, 1 was a graduate of a normal school, 17 bf high schools,
2 of academies, 1 of a district school, and 3 were professional teachers,
of twelve, twenty, and thirty-four years' experience — previous train-
ing not stated.
The three consolidated-school townships employed 3 principals,
3 high school assistants, and 9 elementary school teachers, a total
of 15. The principals were graduates from colleges and normal
schools; one had specially prepared to teach general science. Of
the assistants and teachers, 5 were either college graduates or had
two or three years of college work to their credit ; 2 were graduates
from normal schools, 2 from academies, and 2 from high schools;
9 of the 15 had normal school training.
Six teachers, out of the 24 in the three district-school townships,
Avere teaching either their first or second year. Two years' experience
was the least any teacher in the consolidated schools had to her credit.
The three principals had respectively two, three, and five years'
experience in school supervision.
The daily visits of the principal to the class rooms are vastly more
effective and helpful to the teacher than the one or two brief visits
a year which the district school teacher receives from the county
superintendent. The maintenance of discipline largely devolves upon
the principal, relieving the teacher of much responsibility and vexa-
tion. The county superintendent can make his work more effective
by dividing his time among 16 to 25 consolidated schools in the
county instead of 100 or 150 district schools. It is impossible to
visit more than casually so large a number during the eight or nine
months of the school year.
The desire to attain higher standards and better preparation of
teachers for rural schools has caused many States to enact teachers'
minimum-wage laws. Despite these efforts, the general average of
district-school teachers' qualifications has • not been appreciably
raised, for the reason that there is a constant influx of new and un-
tried teachers, who almost invariably obtain their first experience
in the one-room district schools. Teaching in district schools is com-
monly regarded as a temporary employment, and teachers are con-
stantly leaving it for city schools and for business and industrinl
employment and home making. The consolidated school makes pos-
sible the professional male teacher for the country school.
No. 232
63
ORGANIZATION OF A COUNTY SYSTEM OF CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS
AND PRACTICABILITY OF SUCH A SYSTEM.
THE CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL AS THE LOGICAL CENTER OF
COUNTRY LIEE ACTIVITIES.
That most rural communities are at present lacking in central
rallying points is common knowledge. On the other hand, there is
abundant evidence that consolidated schools are beginning to fill
that need in country life.
The consolidated school provides in a community a permanent
educational and intellectual center and, incidentally, may determine
the future location of permanent social and, possibly, ecomonic cen-
ters. Hence a county system of such schools, properly directed, tends
to conserve and unify country life as does no other agency.
THE CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL NOT INFLUENCED BY CHANGES OF
POPULATION.
The district schoolhouse follows the flow of population, hence
in part its failure to serve as a permanent social or educational cen-
ter of a rural community. This fact deserves earnest consideration,
as under present conditions about 35 per cent of the farms of the
country are operated by tenants. These represent largely a shifting
population which lacks the opportunity to identify itself closely
with local institutions and usages. In some States where the rules
of the state school board, or of the boards of health, do not prescribe
the exact form and cost of buildings, it is not unusual to abandon a
one-room school and, by a majority vote, move the house bodily to
a more convenient place, or rent a conveniently located farmhouse,
or erect a new schoolhouse.
The shifting of population to new centers seriously affects the
attendance of district schools, and necessitates in some cases not only
the abandonment of good and almost new school buildings, but may
enforce subdivision of present districts and the erection of new
schoolhouses in new centers of population. The process of subdivi-
sion of districts is still steadily going on in many States. That this
in some instances must lead to small, weak, poorly attended district
schools scarcely requires demonstration.
The conditions which lead to the decline of the district school fore-
shadow consolidation in many sections of the country, however much
local sentiment may at present oppose it. The economic and social
causes which are still active in the readjustment of the proportion of
rural to urban population, and the size of the average family are
problems which enter the rural school question and make consolida-
tion a live issue.
No. 232
64
As the average consolidated school gathers its attendance from
upward of 100 families, rarely less, inhabiting an area of 20 or more
square miles, the ordinary changes of residence of the school patrons
within that territory do not greatly affect the total attendance at the
school.
Even a decrease of population in the community will result only
in a proportionate decrease in school attendance, but change nothing
in the identity of the school. Attendance reaches stable conditions.
By reason of its remarkable flexibility this type of school is successful
under the adverse conditions of sparsity of population; as, for in-
stance, in the newly settled and thinly populated sections of North
Dakota, where the school population averages as low as 1.7 per square
mile, or in the older but also thinly settled sections in Florida, where
the school population is as low as 1.9 per square mile; and it is
equally a success in the densely populated sections of Vermont, Maine,
and Massachusetts, where in rural districts the school population is
sometimes 2.5 or more per square mile.
In order to work out methods of investigating rural-school prob-
lems, study the physical and financial adjustments of district forma-
tion, and determine to what extent the county system of consolidated
schools may be practicable under the great variety of conditions
existing in the different sections of this extensive country, a plan
of tentatively redistricting several agricultural counties in different
States suggested itself. In the selection of these counties care was
taken to choose a diversity of topographical, soil, agricultural, and
financial conditions. In each case extended and minute inspection
of all the conditions was made directly on the ground, and many of
the projected school-wagon routes were driven over; hence the plans
may be accepted as representing definite and practicable working
plans.
With the cooperation of the school officials of Ada and Canyon
counties, Idaho, Douglas and Olmsted counties, Minnesota, and Fair-
fax county, Virginia, tentative working plans were prepared for re-
districting the respective counties and theoretically converting their
present district school system into a county system of consolidated
schools. As the work progressed, the conditions which the tentative
system is devised to remedy or displace also received attention and
the extent was noted to which consolidated schools would offer im-
provements. For, clearly, in bidding for public favor the consoli-
dated schools must be prepared to assume that position. Such a
scheme of districting a county. State, or part of a State into con-
solidated school districts provides the educational authorities with
a definite working plan. After the consolidation centers have once
been decided upon, the building up of the system may be gradual
until the structure of a county or state system shall have been corn-
No. 232
65
pleted. Wliere circumstances do not favor consolidation at one
stroke, the formation of union schools will serve well as a prelim-
inary step to the larger undertaking.
In some States the established administrative unit is the district;
in others the township or county. These cases will be treated sepa-
rately at some length, and the counties mentioned used for illustra-
tions. Instances will also be introduced of several counties where
county systems of consolidation have been partially or almost wholly
completed and are in actual operation.
CONSOLIDATION IN STATES WHERE THE ONE-EOOM SCHOOL DIS-
TRICT IS THE ADMINISTRATIVE SCHOOL UNIT.
In States where the one-room school district is the administrative
school unit, lack of coordination and cooperation between districts is
one of the greatest hindrances to consolidation. Each school district
is administered by a body of local officials, who have no organic
connection or point of contact with the officials of the 50 to 150
other school units or districts in the county. Moreover, a proposi-
tion to consolidate must be submitted to a separate vote in each of
the 50 to 150 unrelated school districts. Consolidation in those
States, therefore, depends not merely upon the attitude of the pa-
trons of each individual district toward the new system, but also
upon the temper and attitude of the districts toward one another.
Under such circumstances, consolidation can be accomplished only
with great difficulty, and frequently results only in the union of the
favorably inclined districts, formed less with a view to permanent
future needs than to serve and satisfy present demands. As a rule, the
few consolidated districts formed on this plan are too small ; the Lew-
iston and John Swaney schools may be cited as examples (see pages 85
and 86) . A further disadvantage of this manner of district merging
is that it may lead to the organization of more consolidated schools
in a county than are actually required— a danger to be guarded
against with greater care than in the case of district schools. Since
the former draw upon a more extensive area, enroll more pupils,
and represent a larger outlay for building and equipment than do the
latter, a consolidated school unwisely located may easily encroach
upon the field of neighboring ones and thereby become a source of
permanent irritation or annoyance in county school affairs.
Some of the States west, northwest, and southwest have counties,
parts of which have but recently been organized or are soon to be
organized into school districts. These afford excellent opportunities
for establishing consolidated schools on the county-system plan from
the beginning. In many of these progressive western communities,
consolidation is meeting with marked success and enthusiastic popu-
lar support, in particular in several communities in Idaho which at
54634°:^JB}jll, 232—10 5
66
the time of settlement have organized large consolidated districts of
30 to 36 square miles. It seems certain that those irrigated,
prospectively densely populated, and intensively cultivated sec-
tions, will soon support a system of schools adapted to country life of
very high standard.
I LEGEND
DISTRICT SCHOOL B
HIGH SCHOOL D
DISTRICT BOUNDARY
ELECTRIC ROAD ■ . ■ , ■
STEAM ROAD n.M rn
TOWN i^^m
Fig. 10. -Slap of .\da County, Idaho, showing boundarips of the school districts and the
location of rural district schools and hi.^h schools, UIO.S.
Number of one-room rural schools (ungraded) i;4
Xumbor of two-room rural schools ."►
Number of three-room rural schools 1
Number of pupils enrolled in 1907, one, two, and three room rural schools 4, OOJ
The consolidated school in Twin Falls, Idaho (page 25) gives a
very fair idea of the results of the educational efforts of one of those
newly settled communities. There are five other schools of like
character in the State.
No. S-i-Z
67
As before mentioned, Ada and Canyon counties, Idaho, were se-
lected for the purpose of studying to what extent the county system
ot consohdation is adapted to the local conditions peculiar to irri-
gated lands. The older and irrigated portions of both counties are
at present organized into school districts averaging about 7 square
LEGEND
HIGH SCHOOL
PROPOSED CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL
CONSOLIDATED DISTRICT BOUNOARK
ELECTRIC ROAD
STEAM ROAD
TOWN.
Fig, 17. — Map of Ada County, Idaho, illustrating a tentative plan of consolidation. Num-
bers before " G." and " H. S." indicate probable enrolment of pupils in elementary and
higli school courses, respectively. Roman numerals are used to designate the proposed
consolidated school districts,
miles in area and are maintaining an excellent system of rural schools
and several high schools ; other portions, practically " desert " land,
are as yet unorganized. Considerable tracts of irrigable agricultural
lands in both counties have been thrown open for settlement by the
United States Reclamation Service and by n number of private cor-
porations. Eedistricting plans were made for both counties provid-
No. 232
68
ing them with a tentative plan of consolidation — a plan which, if
adopted, may hereafter be modified in minor details, but whose gen-
eral adaptability to the local conditons is attested by collaborating
residents and county officials.
The agricultural and inhabited sections of these counties are topo-
graphically a series of levels at different altitudes — the extensive and
level bottom lands, and at some distance above them plateaus called
bench lands, from which the surface again rises gently to high un-
irrigable lands above the level of the water supply. The bluffs bor-
dering the bench lands and the canyon-like banks of the river con-
stitute to some extent natural divisions and boundaries of the present
school districts, and in the larger consolidated districts would be a
yet more important factor.
These high-priced, irrigated lands are by nature only suited to,
and by human design intended for, intensive, specialized agriculture.
A system of consolidated schools once established here would natur-
ally evolve into consolidated farm schools, with vocational high-
school courses for rural children. On the map showing the tentative
plans of consolidation of these counties (fig. 17), several consolidated
schools have been suggested for districts not at present settled. This
anticipation of settlement was necessary in order to render the idea of
county consolidation complete.
PROJECTED CONSOLIDATION IN ADA COUNTY, IDAHO.
Location, agricultural section of State ; area of county, 1,179 square
miles. Population in 1900, 10,049 — composed of natives from nearly
all States of the Union and a small proportion of foreign-born immi-
grants. Agriculture, confined to high-priced irrigated land, is inten-
sive and diversified. Fruit, of which a great variety is produced, is
the leading industry. Alfalfa, three and often four crops being cut
annually, is extensively cultivated. Cereals, mostly oats, cover con-
siderable areas. Sugar beets are a leading money crop. The live-
stock interests on the irrigated lands are increasing, many pure-breed
herds being owned. Dairj'ing is beginning to receive attention.
This project contemplates thirteen consolidated schools, one of
which is a joint school with Canyon County. In six of the districts,
namely, III, IV, V. VI, IX. and XXII. immediate consolidation
would be practicable, and one of the first results would be that a large
number of eighth-grade graduates would continue in the high-school
courses of the consolidated schools, and the number of rural pupils
attending high schools would probably rise to 180. At present the
city high schools, on which the rural population is dependent for
secondary education, enroll 56 rural pupils, or only 1 per cent of the
rural school population. The electric road could be advantageously
used for the conveyance of numbers of pupils to school.
No. 232
m
A district with its center at Kuna was organized in the fall of 1908
and is almost identical with the consolidated district outlined on the
map. At present school is being conducted in a tent ; later it will be
transferred to a rented building, to remain there until increase of
population and taxable wealth will make possible the erection of a
consolidated school building.
LaEVff
OtStmCT SCHOOL
HIM SI
oisTRicrBavHaA/rr.-
tLCCTBICHOa
sreAHMV)
Fig. 18. — Map of Canyon County, Idaho, showing the boundaries of the common-school
districts and location of district and high schools.
Number of one-room schoolhouses (ungraded) 34
Number of two-room schoolhouses 9
PROJECTED CONSOLIDATION IN CANYON COUNTY, IDAHO.
Area of county, 1,379 square miles. Population in 1907, 6,851.
Canyon County joins Ada County on the west, and conditions of
topography, agriculture, and population are similar. The rural
schools, nearly all housed in neat and substantial buildings, are good.
There are 8 high schools in the county, which is indicative of a
stron"- educational sentiment. In this project most of these have
No. 232
70
been retained as consolidation centers, and several additional centers
suggested. The 43 district schools are supplanted by 22 consolidated
schools, including 1 joint consolidated school. The independent dis-
tricts of the towns of Nampa, Caldwell, Payette, and Emniet have
been left intact.
t£6EHD
'T HIM SCHOOL mil~~~~0
PPOPaSLD COtlSOuDATCO SCilOOl H
coMSOLtoATCo oiSTUicT BOtmuurr
llECTBIOOAO.
STtAM HOAO- .
Fig. 10. — Map of Canyon County, Idalio, Illustrating a tentative plan ot consolidation.
Numbers before " G." and " M. S." give probable enrolment in elementary and high-
school courses, respectively. Roman numerals are used to designate the co.nsolidated-
school districts.
With the completion of the extensive irrigation projects, the oc-
cupancy of the lands, formation of new school districts, and erec-
tion of new schoolhouses will probably proceed very rapidly. The
tentative plans submitted in figure 19 suggest educational possibil-
itias, which the rapidly increasing population may readily turn to
a reality.
The probable enrolment in elementary and high-school courses of
the projected consolidated schools is indicated by numbers before
'■ G," and " H. S.," respectively. The.se numbers are estimates and are
Xn. 2.12
Yl
based on the present district-school enrolment. Where the present
number of pupils is too small to justify a high-school course, only an
elementary-grade enrolment is given, but increase of population may
at some later time make possible a high-school course.
Ihere seem always to be diificulties in the way of bringing
together for voluntary action from six to nine districts necessary
to form a large consolidated school district. Imagined diversity of
interests, difference of opinions, and a certain degree of local pride
stand mnch in the way of extensive consolidation. The first State to
recognize this difficulty was Minnesota, which by enactment of an
option law has opened the way for the idea of a county system of con-
solidated rural schools. The law is simple in its provisions and makes
possible in any county a gradual change from the district-school
system to a county pystem of consolidated schools. The law has the
advantage that option laws generally have in that it affords other
counties in the State the opportunity to observe the workings of the
plan. This law can be found in the " General laws of the State of
Minnesota " and is entitled "An act to provide for an optional plan
for counties to consolidate rural schools, to provide for the organiza-
tion and government of consolidated rural schools, and to provide for
the transportation of rural pupils at public expense."
This law provides that the board of county commissioners may,
and upon petition of 125 per cent of the resident freeholders li\'ing
on farms shall, organize a commission consisting of 7 members, called
a consolidation commission. This commission is empowered to redis-
trict the county into consolidated school districts, and to publish a
map showing proposed boundaries of the districts and location of
schoolhouses." This plan is submitted for acceptance or rejection
by vote. In case of acceptance, the electors of the county, after due
advertisement, meet for the election of a board of school trustees.
This board has power to dispose of old school property, acciuire new
property, erect needed buildings, etc. Each consolidated district is
given a name and number. For purposes of maintenance and support
consolidated rural schools are classed as state graded schools.
Olmsted County, Minn., was selected by the writer for tentative
redistricting into consolidated districts in such manner as might be
done under the county-option law, and the suggested plan is shown in
figure 20.
PROJECTED CONSOLIDATION IN OLMSTED COUNTY, MINN.
Area, 644 square miles; population in 1905, 22,409; number of rural
district schools, 139 ; graded schools, 3.
Olmsted County is situated in probably the most fertile section of
southeastern Minnesota. Farming is diversified. Grain is the prin-
"The law seems to need amendment, so that each designated district may
choose its own time foi- consolidation.
No. 232
cipal crop. The barley crop is in the lead as to acreage ; oat3 is second
in importance. Much attention is paid to sheep feeding, and dairy-
ing is developing. Price of farm land (1908) ranges between $35
and $75, averaging about $45 per acre.
The county is rolling, but hilly or broken along water courses. The
roads are chiefly dirt roads, well graded and ditched. With state
Pig. 20. — Map of Olmsted County, Minn., illustrating a tentative plan ot consolidation.
The heavy lines are the boundaries of the proposed consolidated districts. The light
lines are township lines. The location of the proposed consolidated school buildings Is
shown by the conventional symbol, and to assist in comparisons the locations of the pres-
ent district, graded, and high scliools are also Indicated. The numbers before " G." and
*' H. S." denote probable enrolment in grades and high school, respectively, in the pro-
posed consolidated schools.
Under this project, the present 142 graded and district schools would be replaced by 21
strong, well-attended consolidated schools. It will be noted that for Districts XII and XX,
Rochester and Stewartsville, respectively, consolidated schools at a distance from town are
suggested tor the rural pupils. With the exception of these two schools all others in the
county arc replaced by consolidated schools. The Roman numerals apply to the number
of the proposed districts.
aid portions have been macadamized. Conveyance of pupils in school
wagons would be entirely practicable in all parts of the county. A
union school has been in operation for several years at Pleasant
Grove: it is, without question, an excellent school. Hence, consoli-
dation under the county-option law would be simply a matter of
extending a plan which has already proved practicable.
Consolidation, as a county system, would prove more advantageous
than the district system in Olmsted County for reasons briefly stated
as follows :
1. Under this project all the schools in the county would be con-
solidated and upward of 3,500 pupils, including town, village, and
rural pupils, would have access to them. Approximately 700 pupils,
nearly all rural, would be enrolled in high-school classes, and would
eventually have the advantage of several years of vocational train-
ing, that is, work in agriculture, horticulture, dairying, and home
economics.
2. Sixty-six per cent of the pupils enrolled in the rural common
schools attend, compared with a probable attendance in the projected
consolidated schools of 78.5 per cent (predicated on attendance at the
consolidated schools in Trumbull County, Ohio).
3. The enrolment for a number of years in the rural common
schools of the county shows a decided increase in three districts only.
In all others the enrolment was characterized by the fluctuations
common to this type of school.
4. In each of 18 districts— 13.5 per cent of the total districts in the
county — the enrolment in 1907 was 10 pupils or less ; the existence of
several of these is threatened and dissolution seems only a question of
time. Low enrolment is a general characteristic of the Olmsted
County rural schools. The average enrolment in one-third of the
schools is 13.8 pupils or less, and in one-fifth of them 12 pupils or
less. In 1907 the average for the rural schools of the entire county
was 20.2 pupils.
5. Low enrolment is suggestive of an unnecessary number of school
houses. In Olmsted County each rural school has on an average a
contributory area of 4.7 square miles, and the tendency is to build ad-
ditional ones. A new district was organized in 1907 and others are
contemplated. The enrolment for a period of sixteen consecutive
years in seven of the schools with an enrolment in 1907 of 10 pupils
and less is shown in Table 23. To those who read between the line.-?
this table epitomizes the history of the respective districts.
Olmsted County is credited with being the first county in Minne-
sota to take up and develop industrial contest work and corn clubs
for boys and girls. Under the leadership of Superintendent George
B. Howard the county has attained an advanced position in this form
of educational work. There is scarcely any doubt that thrcmgh the
agency of a county system of consolidated schools this work could be
rendered much more inspirational and educational and could be
brought to a larger number of children.
No. 232
74
Table 23. — Enrolment for sixteen years in seven rural district schools in Olmsted
County, ilinn.
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1898
1899
1900
1901
1902,
1903
1904,
1905
1906
1907
Pup."..sin dKtrift-
No. 9.
15
14
18
17
14
20
19
20
15
14
11
9
4
4
3
Xo. 11.
Xu. 18.
5
8
4
9
9
13
11
15
26
10
11
7
9
11
(M
C)
6
13
9
15
13
14
13
10
6
11
29
4
7
6
10
8
No. 32.
No. 45.
No.lOl.
18
6
5
17
10
10
20
7
/
16
(•)
8
18
5
8
1«
8
6
36
19
8
{»)
{<■)
<"'.
43
C)
6
32
w
6
2.S
(»)
8
26
8
9
30
(1)
4
18
6
T)
13
6
.-)
9
'
9
No. 123.
7
10
9
W
11
11
10
C)
(<■)
10
5
■ No school.
'' Record lost.
Of the 18 district schools with enrolment of 10 or less, statistics from 7 were tabulated
to Illustrate decline and fluctuations in enrolment. As the average daily attendance at
district schools ranges between 65 and 70 per cent of the enrolment, the actual daily
attendance at these schools must have fallen very low.
District school No. 9 shows steady decline since 1900, although current expenses con-
tinued the same ; in 1908 the cost of schooling per pupil was ?1S1).C7. (See Table 8, p. .19.)
In district school No. 11 there Is an increase of enrolment through five years, then a
fluctuating decline.
In district schools Nos. 18 and 12.3 the enrolment was low throughout the entire period
of sixteen years.
District school No. 32 maintained a good enrolment from 1892 to 1904, then fell off
very rapidly.
District school No. 4.5, which could not possibly possess either merit or influence, was
maintained by the patrons with heroic persistence. During sixteen years the patrons of
the district discontinued the school five times and as many times resumed the hopeless
task of keeping school with few children.
One fact is clearly apparent : The continuance of such small districts during sixteen
years was educationally and financially unsatisfactory and represents a. continued outlay
without adequate educational returns, in a very well-to-do community living on produc-
tive lands.
CONSOLIDATION IN STATES WHEBE THE COUNTY OR TOWNSHIP
IS THE ADMINISTRATIVE SCHOOL UNIT.
Consolidation is more easily effected and the method of procedure
greatly simplified in States where school affairs are administered by
county boards, or even by townshiiD boards or township trustees.
The initiative in the movement for consolidating districts may be
taken by such a governing body, which submits the proposition to the
the electorate of a township or larger district for acceptance or re-
jection by vote. This mode of procedure is much more direct than
that in which the individual districts are relied upon for action, as is
evidenced by the fact that consolidation has made most progress in
States where the schools are under either county or township admin-
i.stration. In States where the "town '" or township is the adminis-
trative .school unit, consolidation is taken up by each town.ship inde-
No. 'l'i'2.
pendently until it embraces the entire county. Frequently there are
in portions of States certain geographical and topographical ob-
stacles which make a comprehensive county system of consolidation
by townships impracticable. In such cases it is advisable and advan-
tageous to provide a plan based upon the county as a unit, even where
there is no immediate prospect of carrying out the plan in its entirety.
The map, figure 5, page 18, illustrates the progress of consolidation
by townships in Ashtabula and Trumbull counties, Ohio. The con-
solidated schools are, with some exceptions, 5 miles apart and, as may
be seen, are rapidly approaching a complete county system. It is
needless to state that the consolidated school is the only school in each
township, the district or one-room schools being abolished.
In these counties, where the township is the administrative, civic,
and school unit, and where there is no county superintendent of schools
or similar functionary, the consolidated school districts are contermi-
nous with the townships.
Each square on the map represents a township about 5 miles square,
or about 25 square miles, and symbols denote the schools and kinds
of schools; blank spaces represent townships still maintaining dis-
trict schools. Consolidation has been effected in 41 per cent of the
townships of these counties. Special legislation was enacted to per-
mit the organization of the first schools, and all but four have been
organized and built since 1901.
Each of the consolidated schools, in 1908, had a two, three, or four
years' high-school course, and in Trumbull County 282 farm boys
and girls attended these courses. The district-school townships paid
tuition for 234 rural pupils at consolidated and other high schools.
Briefly, the high-school attendance from consolidated school town-
ships in Trumbull County averaged 31 pupils per township and from
district-school townships, 14.6 pupils per township.
As examples of fairly complete county consolidation of schools are
found in several States, much valuable information as to the funda-
mental principles of district formation may be gleaned from a study
of the counties where such extensive progress has been made. Nu-
merous counties are demonstrating that district schools may be com-
pletely supplanted by consolidated schools without the slightest inter-
ruption in education— after eight years all that remains of the district
school is a memory.
CONSOLIDATION IN DUVAL COUNTY, FLA.
Supt. George P. Glenn, Jacksonville, Fla., who, in the capacity of
county superintendent or secretary of the board of education, has
been at the head of Duval County school affairs during the past
No. 232
76
eighteen years, has succeeded in consolidating all the district schools
of that county, with the exception of those of one district. Of the
consolidated schools in operation, 10 are graded and 2 typical con-
solidated schools. (See map, fig. 21.)
Some of the consolidated districts are quite large, a number of the
children walk some distance to meet the school wagon; in this way
children from considerable areas can be brought together in this mild
climate.
LESENO
tfftlOM SCMOL A
COttSOUOMTB) SCHOOL R
BotiMBMr OF eofSouamiD BismicT.. __
LAUNCH ItQUTZ. _^_
STCdff i!a*o. ""i
Fl<;.
21.— Map showing consolidated districts and location of consolidated schoolhouses in
Duval County, Fla., 1908.
Area of county, 884 square miles. The consolidated schools are indicated by the con-
rentional symbol, location of future consolidated school by a circle. Two launches convey
children to a school at New Britain. ^"uvcj
The generally level conformation of the land is favorable to trans-
portation. Soil sandy, loose in places, drains well, and is solid where
there is an admixture of clay.
Improved farm land (in 1908) ranged, according to location, etc.,
from $30 to $100 and upward per acre ; the average is probably near
$40, as there is considerable low and undrained land.
The rural schools of 72 per cent of the entire area of the county are
consolidated. Twenty-nine school wagons, owned by the county, con-
vey the rural pupils to school daily.
No. 232
77
The intended location of the consolidated schoolhouse in the only
Ciistrict in the county whose schools remain to be consolidated (St.
Joseph's) , is indicated on the map by a circle.
superintendent Glenn spends much time in personal work among
his teachers, and has also instituted a regime of visits to parents very
beneficial to the school interests of the county.
CONSOLIDATION IN DELAWARE COUNTY, IND.
In Indiana, as in Ohio, the township is the school unit. Map,
figure 25, shows the extent and progress, by townships, of consolida-
tion in Delaware County. Incidentally, the map shows the unusual
facilities enjoyed by some communities for transportation by electric
interurban roads.
In only four townships are the consolidated school buildings
located at the geographical center. In the three northeastern town-
ships the river and rough contour along the river interfered with
the formation of properly balanced districts and necessitated the
location of two consolidated schoolhouses in one township, only 3J
miles apart.
The nearly equal pro23ortion of district and consolidated school
area in Delaware County affords an excellent opportunity for com-
paring the attendance at the two types of schools. Comparisons on
this larger scale are more striking than those by townships or by
individual schools and reveal more truly the magnitude of the
problems involved. In this county, under uniform conditions of soil,
agriculture, roads, and po^Dulation, it was found that, exclusive of
the city of Muncie, the total enrolment in the district-school area
(unshaded in fig. 22) was 3,775 pupils; the average daily attendance
2,769, or 73 per cent of the enrolment. The number enrolled in the
consolidated-school area was 1.427; average daily attendance 1,226,
or 85.9 per cent of enrolment.
If the district-school part of the county had the rate of attendance
maintained by the consolidated-school part — 85.9 per cent — 478 more
children would be attending school in that county than at present.
Applying the rate of school attendance in the district-school part of
the county to the schools of the entire county, and, furthermore,
applying the rate of attendance in the consolidated-school part of the
county to the schools of the entire county, it/ will be found that 670
more pupils would attend school with the county all consolidated than
with the county all subdistricted.
The influence of the consolidated school in a community certainly
is profound, reaching many more homes and prospective home-
makers and fitting many more workers for their life work on the
farm. Even of those who follow the call cityward, a larger number
go thither better prepared to take up their life work there.
No. 232
78
These figures, enlarged to a state system — such as Indiana seems
to be intent upon perfecting — suggest wonderful possibilities in
country-life education.
LEGEND
Om ROOM DISTRICT SCHOOL
CONSOUDATED SCHOOL
BOUNDARY OF CONSOUDATED DISTRICT..
STEAM ROAD.
ELECTRIC ROAD
TO»»N
Fig. 22. — Map showing extent of school consolidation in Delaware County, Ind., 1908.
Area o£ county, 399 square miles. The ane lines are section lines ; from which it may
be seen that the area of some townships is 30 and of others 35 or 36 square miles. Rural
school consolidation extends over 47.6 per cent of the area of the county. Fifty-three
district schools have been abandoned in this county. Sixty-seven school wagons and
several interurban lines daily transport about 1,300 pupils to consolidated schools. The
county expended for conveyance $18,244 in 1907-8. After belonging to the consolidated
school one year, one district in Salem Township withdrew and reopened its district school.
But after one year's retrial of the old plan, the patrons, convinced that the consolidated
school was the better, abandoned the district school permanently, sold the schoolhouse, and
returned to the consolidated school.
No. 232
79
f f IXSOLIDATION IN UNION TOWNSHIP, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, IND.
Ihis township is as large as three or four ordinary ones but too
small to be organized as a county. The map, figure 23, shows the
Bff£AKS SCH
- youNcs CHAPCL sen
J^/^//. — I ■'■■^■^^fj,7fy ^
N€)l/MAIiKCr SCH,
OISTIUCT SCHOOL
eONSOUOXTCO SCHOOL
eOUNDARV or ONE POOM SCHOOL DISmiCT__
BOONWayOFGWBOUOATED SCHOOL {HSTSICT...
ELCcrmc aoAD
STEAM ROAO
Fig. 2;;. — Map of Union Township, Montgomery County, Ind., 1908.
Area of township, 110 square miles. Valuation, $4,405,070. Number of pupils enrolled
in public schools, 1,547. Location, the fertile section of west central Indiana. Craw-
fordsville, the county seat. Land gently rolling, somewhat broken along the water
courses; soil black and productive; average value of farming land (1908), $100 per acre.
Agriculture is diversified ; products chiefly grain, hogs, and draft horses. The roads,
nearly all graveled, are well taken care of. Seventy-four per cent of the area is consoli-
dated. Five hundred and thirty-one children are conveyed to school daily in 31 school
wagons. Eleven subdistrict schools remain unconsolidated. These are housed in excel-
lent buildings ; their eventual abandonment and consolidation .seems to bo a matter of time
and opportunity. The district schools, it will be noted, are located mostly along the water
courses, where difficult roads interpose obstacles to convenient school-wagon routes.
No. 232
80
progress of consolidation under two successive township trustees, the
officials in charge of the administration of rural school affairs in that
State. Here purpose and business sagacity have entered school affairs
and the result is a unified plan, neither weighted down with dupli-
cation of school expenditures nor lacking in the essentials of service
and of convenience of access.
FACTOKS IN EEDISTEICTING COUNTIES INTO CONSOLIDATED
SCHOOL DISTKICTS.
In the foregoing pages two points have been strongly emphasized —
the county as the rural school unit and systematic redistricting of the
county for purposes of consolidation and location of country-life cen-
ters. In practice, systematic redistricting usually has been ignored,
and consolidation, though markedly successful, has in most States
proceeded without a county plan.
As a fundamental necessity to the success of redistricting counties,
the various factors entering into it will next receive attention. It is
neither desirable nor possible to assign to those factors a relative order
of importance, as they will vary in different communities or districts ;
each county is a distinct individual problem, requiring to be dealt with
separately as local conditions prescribe.
The factors recognized as influential are: (1) Population, (2) land
values and tax-unit areas, (3) topography, (4) roads. These will be
discussed under their respective headings.
POPULATION.
The consolidated school has demonstrated its effectiveness as an
educational institution ; it is now, with every prospect of success, as-
suming the additional task of unifying rural educational and social
features and thereby establishing its place in America as a country-
life institution, capable of restoring the interrupted social and neigh-
borhood activities of the days before the glory of the district school,
as our fathers knew it, had departed.
School laws ordinarily do not recognize these sociological factors,
yet they are inseparably a part of the country school. A rural school
system which does not embrace in its scope the farm, home, and
family, falls far short of filling its proper place in the nation.
Viewed in this light, the subject of consolidated district formation
is of deep significance.
The population area should include the largest practicable number
of families or patrons, so that all cooperative, social, or other enter-
prises which exist or will eventually grow up may have the support
of ample numbers. Hence, the boundaries of the consolidated dis-
(ricts should embrace the largest areas in which transportation will be
No. 232
81
practicable. Where the area exceeds 25 square miles it is important
to equalize the length of the school-wagon routes as much as possible,
ihis can best be accomplished by placing the schoolhouse at or near
the geographical center of the district or township. If this center
be a large town or city it is not usually advisable to consolidate
with the urban schools. It is preferable to locate the consolidated
school building a sufficient distance out of town to give it a proper
rural setting, both for country children and for city pupils who
desire to enter country life. Comparative isolation, freedom, and
wholesome surroundings have largely contributed to the success and
popularity of the district school, and it is certainly desirable to pre-
serve those invaluable features intact, wherever possible, and to
maintain the integrity of the consolidated school as a rural school in
the open country.
On the other hand, the location of the school in, or better, near a
small town or village, if this happens to be the center of the district,
always proves socially and commercially advantageous to the village
and convenient for the farming community.
In States where the township is the school unit, as in Ohio, the
existence of a " special " or " independent school district " in a town
or village within the township frequently interferes with and pre-
cludes the possibility of consolidation of the schools in the remainder
of the township ; whereas, a district including an entire township, and
having a small rural village in the center, would support a strong
consolidated school and have ample funds for conducting a better
school than either the '' special district " or the outside district alone.
LAND VALUES, TAX-UNIT AREAS.
It is essential that the districts, after combining to form a consoli-
dated district, should have a revenue sufficient to conduct their school
properly. Hence, fully as important to the success of consolidation as
either roads or topography is the wealth of the community. The area
which forms the tax-producing unit should be sufficiently extensive
to produce ample revenue for properly conducting the school without
placing a burden upon the community, or checking the growth of
other public improvements depending upon taxation for their support.
The general tendency is to form districts too small. The result is
that, unless the district be densely populated, school population and
enrolment will be low. In these smaller schools the full advantage
of complete grading can not be obtained. High-school classes are
likely to be small and lack interest. The cost of conveyance is rela-
tively higher where the number conveyed is small, especially where
the pupils live widely separated on the roads.
The disadvantages of small consolidated districts are especially
felt in the finances of the school. In States where the apportionment
546.34°— Bull. 232—10 6
82
of the state funds is based upon school population or enrolment or
attendance, the larger district, other things being equal, will receive
the greater apportionment, thus relieving local taxation. A district
of from 25 to 36 square miles, with taxable property of $500,000 and
upward, can safely undertake consolidation without fear of finding
it burdensome. In other words, consolidation is feasible in practi-
cally all sections where farm land is worth $40 and over per acre,
excepting where physical or topographical conditions interpose ob-
stacles. But generally in sections where farm land has that value
topographical and road conditions also favor consolidation and con-
veyance of pupils.
SURVEY OF LAND VALUES OF STATES FOE PURPOSES OF DETERMINING AREAS OF POSSIBLE
CONSOLIDATION.
In some States or sections thereof, values of farm land are fairly
uniform ; in others, owing to a variety of conditions, they vary widely.
Hence there may be parts of States where, financially, rural-school
consolidation is feasible and even advisable, Avhile in others it is in-
advisable if not impossible. Wherever such varied conditions exist,
knowledge of the area of possible consolidation may be useful for de-
termining the feasibility of the consolidated school system on a state
or county plan, and for centering systematic campaigns for consoli-
dation in certain localities. Knowledge of values of farm lands
would be of assistance also in redistricting counties and parts of
States into consolidated school districts, should conditions arise which
would make possible the extension of consolidation into such sections.
FAULTY DISTRICT FORMATION.
A peculiar and economically injurious practice which obstructs
consolidated as well as district school development in many States
is undervaluation, or assessment of property for taxation at much
less than its real value, a valuation of one-half, one-third, and in
some States one-fourth of the actual worth being not unusual. Such
a custom necessitates a tax rate which, though it always appears high,
is not so.
The writer has knowledge of a consolidated school which combines
four one-room schools and has only 14 square miles of contributory
territory. The levy for school taxes under the present custom of
assessing land and property at a fourth of its value is 19 mills
on the dollar, and the experience of this school has brought consoli-
dation sentiment in all the neighboring townships and counties to
a temporary standstill. The same amount of school taxes in this dis-
trict, if property were assessed at three-fourths of its real value, would
require a tax rate of only 6.3 mills, which is low compared with rates
No. 232
in other sections of the country. If the boundaries of this district
had been extended as far as was consistent with a practicable convey-
ance service, the tax area would have been more than doubled and
the tax rate reduced one-half. The argument which this discussion
of land values and tax rates is intended to emphasize is that social
and financial reasons strongly urge the formation of large districts,
and that, as a rule, a small district can not give so strong financial
support to the school as a large one.
On level or rolling lands the districts may advantageously be 30
to 36 square miles in extent; in hilly sections, where steep grades
exist, from 20 to 30 square miles. In districts sparsely settled and
likely to remain so, and in mild climates where the pupils can walk
to meet the wagons, the districts may be 30 to 60 square miles or
even larger. In illustration of the foregoing discussion, attention is
called to cases of faulty district formation where larger districts
would be a decided advantage.
CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS IN MECCA TOWNSHIP, TKUMBULL COUNTY, OHIO.
This township is traversed by Mosquito Creek, which divides it
into two nearly equal parts and has for years formed a social divid-
ing line. After several adjoining townships had consolidated and
the voters in Mecca township had begun to consider the step seri-
ously, that imaginary dividing line began to assert itself. Opinion
as to where the school should be located was divided and the result
was that each half of the township organized its own consolidated
school, though the bridge across the stream made the transfer of
all pupils to a single school entirely practicable. This division
was unfortunate, socially, because the present arrangement tends
to perpetuate the divisions of the township; financially, because of
duplication of teachers, buildings, and equipment; and education-
ally, because in the same county townships with one consolidated
school have stronger schools with more pupils in high school and
longer high-school courses. (See fig. 24.)
East Mecca school enrolls 74, West Mecca school 86 pupils; the
school population of neither community is large enough for a strong
high school, and only one year of high school is taught. One five-
room building would serve in the place of the present two build-
ings of three rooms each, and five teachers could easily do the work
which is at present done by six.
CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL AT LEWISTON, WINONA COUNTY, MINN.
The district, as at present constituted (fig. 25), is indicated by
heavy lines, the consolidated schoolhouse and the former one-room
district schools by symbols. The location of the consolidated school
in the northeast corner of the district suggests that it could easily be
No. 232
84
made the center of a much larger district. The boundaries of adjoin-
ing districts which could, because of convenient roads and other rea-
sons, be added to the consolidated district and thereby place the con-
solidated school building in the center of a well proportioned district,
are indicated by broken lines.
LEGEND
C0N50UDATED SCHOOL H
STARTING POIKT OF SCHOOL WA60H..-q.^
ROAD "-
TOWN ^
Fig. 24. — Map of Mecca township, Trumbull County, Ohio, 1907.
Area of township, 25 square miles. Valuation, $408,372. Children of educable age, 222.
Land level, sandy loam and clayey loam, not well drained; price (1906), from ?30 to $50
per acre. Location of present consolidated schools shown by symbol. The logical location
of the consolidated school, if the township had but one, is indicated by the consolidated-
school symbol In light lines. It is near the geographical center of the township.
At present the school is laboring under the disadvantage of too
small a contributory area.
There are three school-wagon routes, the longest 3^ miles in length.
The same wagons could serve routes 5 miles in length and convey
No. 232
85
more children. A larger district would distribute the tax burden
more equitably, contribute to greatly increased attendance, and draw
a larger apportionment from the state funds.
lesenO
discontinued district school x
DISTRICT SCHOOL Kl
CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL A
BOUNDARY OF PRESENT CONSOLIDATED DISTRICT^ — -__
BOUNDARY OF CONSOUDATED DISTRICT ENLARSED AS PROPOSED
ROAD- -^
STEAM ROAD
TOWN ^
Fig. 25. — Map of Lewiston consolidated school district, Winona County, Minn., 1908.
Valuation, .f.307,527. Area, 13J square miles. The district was formed by the consoli-
dation of the one-room schools Nos. 23, 24, and 93 with No. 22, the original village school
at Lewiston village. In the form suggested by the dotted boundary lines, the consolidated
district would have an area of 29J square miles instead of 13J, and the valuation of
property, taxed to support this school, would be $689,000.
No. 232
86
JOHN SWANEY CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL, M'NABB, PUTNAM COUNTY, ILL.
Three one-room district schools are consolidated in this school (see
fig. 26). The building, though located near the geographical center
of the township, serves less than one-half its population, and the
services of this highly successful school are too valuable to be re-
stricted to so limited an area. It would be cheaper to convey children
MSmBB
18
■• ^"" ' Building and grounds,
John Swaney Consolidated School.
M.
A G
20
N O L. I
\22
T
W
P
23
24,
29
28
27
26
25
32
33
34
MASNOUA
35
36
LEGEND
CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 11
STARTING POINT OF SCHOOL WAGON. q ^
ROAD. ^^^
TOWN. ___ mm
Fig. 26.— Map ol Magnolia Township, Putnam County, Ul., showing the location of the
John Swaney consolidated school district, 1908.
Area of district, 14J square miles; valuation, $160,000. Starting point of school
wagons indicated by arrows with circle at base. The two school wagons convey 24 and
30 pupils, respectively.
4 and 5 miles to this school than to duplicate it on another 15 square
mile tract adjoining.
Land in this section of Illinois is level and productive and worth
from $75 to $175 per acre, the average being about $135. Real prop-
erty is assessed at one- fourth its value.
No. 232
87
CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL AT KINSMAN, TRUMBULL COUNTY, OHIO.
This township illustrates a case of lack of cooperation. A "Special
school district," indicated on map (fig. 28), existed for several years
previous to consolidation. When consolidation of the district schools
of the township outside the special district was planned, a proposal
to join with it and have one school for the entire township failed of
support and resulted in the organization of a consolidated district.
Fig. 1'7. — Jolnn Swaney consolidated school, McNabb, Putnam County, 111.
Building erected in 1906 at a cost of .fl.-i.OOO. Total enrolment 90, Tli of whom are
enrolled in the grades and 18 in the high-school course. Per cent of enrolled pupils in
daily attendance, 87. Number of school wagons, 2.
This building stands in a 24-acre park, donated by Mr. John Swaney, one of Illinois'
most substantial, generous, and liberal-minded farmers. Upon the grounds are o, shed for
teams and wagons and a dwelling for the janitor. In 1908 a school garden was planted
and a small orchard set out by the pupils. Adjoining the school grounds is a substation
of the Illinois E.xperiment Station, consisting of a 10-acre farm planted in a crop-rotation
scheme, and trial fields of alfalfa.
In the four-year high-school course agriculture is taught for thiee and one-half years
by a principal who is a college graduate and practical farmer. Manual training and use
and handlirig of tools is also taught, and facilities for teaching home economics to girls are
ample and complete.
By vote, the farmers of the townships showed a preference for locat-
ing the school in the village and the consolidated school building was
erected within 200 yards of the special district school.
By cooperation a very substantial saving to the entire township
could have been effected, not only in the initial cost of school build-
ings but in the cost of maintenance.
No, 232
88
The valuation of the special school district is $426,947 ; that of the
consolidated school district $486,095, a total of $913,092. With these
valuations combined, one single school could be maintained at a tax
of at most 8 mills.
LEGEND
BOUNDARY OF CONSOUMTED DISTRICT. KOAD
DISCONTINUED DISTWICT SCHOOL X STEAM ROAD
PRESENT HIGH SCHOOL D SECTION UNE
PRESENT CONSOUDATED SCHOOL 11 TOWN
Fig. 28. — Map of Kinsman Township, Trumbull County, Oliio, 1908.
Area of townstiip 25 square miles ; area of consolidated district 19i square miles. Area
of special school district 5J square miles. Population of township 1,200 (village 400,
rural 800). The consolidated school unites what were originally seven district schools,
shown on map. Roads are somewhat irregular.
TOPOGRAPHY.
The movement of remodeling the country school system by means
of consolidation has not followed the lines of least physical resistance.
It certainly is not the outcome of easy financial, geographical, or
No. 232
89
topographical conditions. Its occasional existence in widely sepa-
rated communities suggests that it is essentially a culture movement.
Consolidation with its attendant service of public conveyance may
eventually extend over practically two-thirds of the agricultural
area of continental United States. Conformation of surface will
make impracticable consolidation over the remaining one-third. But
even there, except in the most rugged and inaccessible mountain
districts, unions of two or more schools may be possible. Many of
the isolated mountain valleys, generally closely cultivated and thickly
settled, afford excellent opportunities for school consolidation by
means of roads of convenient grades. Elvers iind lakes offer obstacles
in the way of district making, but such difficulties should not be
overestimated. The mistake is commonly made of deciding upon
the location of the schoolhouse fir^t and attempting to conform the
district to that location, while the reverse is the more logical, or at
least more practical, method, i. e., to first lay off a district of ample
proportions conformable to natural obstacles, financial and other con-
ditions, and afterward locate the schoolhouse.
PKOJECTED CONSOLIDATION IN DOUGLAS COUNTY, MINN.
In regions where varied topographical conditions exist a pre-
liminary redistricting of the county should always precede consolida-
tion of districts on an extensive scale ; consolidation of groups of the
more easily united districts might create conditions which would
make consolidation of the remaining districts in the county difficult,
if not impossible.
This idea is illuminated by the conditions, for instance, in the
lake regions of Minnesota, and accordingly a county plan of school
consolidation has been worked out in that State for Douglas County,
whose 250 or more lakes of various sizes occupy one-fifth of its area.
In planning consolidated schools for the rural children in this
county the financial difficulties interpose more serious obstacles than
the geographical, peculiar as they are.
The general contour of the county is gently rolling, and in the
northwest portion hilly. Koads are well graded, many graveled,
and all being rapidly improved, the lake bottoms affording unlimited
supplies of good road gravel.
Douglas is an agricultural county. Grain is the principal crop
and dairying is beginning to get a foothold. The population is to
a large extent of foreign extraction, and nationalities are segregated
by localities. A few private schools are conducted in foreign lan-
guages. Although some of the farms are large, the average will
probably not exceed 120 acres. The tendency is toward small hold-
ings. The value of the land varies largely with ownership and im-
No. 232
90
provement, but $40 per acre (1908) represents a fair average market
value.
Exclusive of the " independent district " of Alexandria, the rural
school population (5-20 years) of the county, according to the Census
of 1900, was 6,958, or an average of 9.7 per square mile.
OlfTfflCT J
p/fcsc»r eXAo^e scfiooL
fifi£S£NT HISH SCHOOL
f/fOPOS£B CONSOUMrCD SCHOOi....
CONSOLIDATED OlSTl
roiVNSM/f Lf/VE.
flML/fOAD.
Fig. 29. — Map of Douglas County, Minn., illustrating a tentative plan of rural school
consolidation and demonstrating that in lake sections of the country convenient school
wagon routes can be planned successfully.
Area, 720 square miles ; population in 1005, 18,780. The county seat is Alexandria
(population of 3,051). It is organized as an Independent school district and has a
graded and high school. Osakis also has an independent district with a high school.
Bvansville maintains a graded school with two years of high school. Rural pupils desir-
ing high-school advantages may arrange to attend at one of these three schools. The
location of the proposed consolidated schools is shown by the usual symbol. The probable
attendance in the grades and high school is indicated by the numbers before " G." and
" H. S.," respectively, near the symbol.
The total enrolment is 3,433; there are 98 district schools, with
an average daily attendance of 20.7 pupils per school, or 2,029 in daily
attendance, and the attendance is therefore 58- per cent of the enrol-
ment. The project of consolidation here outlined, if adopted, would
reduce the number of schools from 98 to 24 and increase the enrol-
No. 232
91
ment from 3,433 to close to 4,000. There are, in the entire county,
65 rural pupils in attendance at high school (1908) ; this number
would be increased by consolidation to approximately 275. Two of
the consolidated districts would be organized as consolidated graded
schools. Owing to their smallness and lack of pupils they would
hardly support high school courses. The remaining schools would
be typical consolidated schools with high-school courses of two
years or more.
The geographical obstacles which the 250 and more lakes seem to
place in the way of planning school wagon routes have been overcome
with less difficulty than was anticipated at the outset.
TENTATIVE PLAN FOR CONSOLIDATION OF DISTBICT XIV, DOUGLAS COUNTY, MINN.
Consolidation district No. XIV possesses numerous advantages
which place it in position to take the initiative in the consolidation
movement in Douglas County.
In order to put this proposition into more concrete form the details
of a plan of consolidation have been worked out for that district, and
the results appear in a map (fig. 30) which shows the boundaries of
the district, the roads, the location of the homes of the pupils, number
of pupils attending school from each home, and the school wagon
routes.
Nelson, a village of several houses, being the business center of a
considerable scope of surrounding country, was decided upon as the
logical location for a consolidated school. The total enrolment at
this school would be about 240, of which 45 would be in high school.
The number of pupils conveyed, as based upon the enrolment during
1907, would be 136, which includes high-school pupils.
After the redemption of bonds and the cessation of interest, the tax
rate for school purposes Mould be 9.7 mills, which is not an excess-
ively high rate.
ROADS.
While good roads cheapen transportation of pupils and insure
regularity and promptness of service, they were not originally instru-
mental in suggesting school consolidation. In fact, consolidation pro-
ceeds quite independently of road conditions.
The first school consolidation in Massachusetts in 1869 antedated
road improvements on any extensive scale. Since then public im-
provements in that State have been placed on a permanent basis and
good roads abound. Yet a part of the 17,000 pupils hauled daily to
consolidated schools, for which service that State spends annually
over $292,000, are hauled over dirt roads.
No. 232
92
In Ohio, consolidation had its inception in the northeastern part
of the State. The soil in that section is, with the exception of some
sandy areas, generally a heavy clay loam, inclined when wet to puddle
and to become heavy, deeply rutted, and tenacious. Nearly all the
LEGEND
FARM HOME FROM WHICH CHILDREN ATTEND SCHOOL .
SMALL FIGURES.NUMBER OF CHILDREN ATTENDING SCHOOL OR HIGH SCHOOL
FROM THAT HOME
PROPOSED CONSOUDATED SCHOOL tl
DISTRICT SCHOOL El
STARTING POINT OF SCHOOL WAGON. ►-(>-*
STEAM ROAD.— _ _____ - m
ROAD. ^^-_
Fig. 30. — Tentative plan at consolidation district No. XIV, Douglas County, Minn., in
detail.
Area, 29 square miles ; valuation (estimated), .$109,984. The arrows point in the direc-
tion of the routes leading to school.
roads are dirt roads. In the townships of Gustavus, Kinsman,
Greene, Kingsville, etc., now famous for their consolidated schools and
in recent years visited by hundreds of educators and school officials,
the roads are practically all dirt roads. Macadamization of roads,
encouraged by state aid, is just being begun. In contradistinction to
No. 232
93
this is northwestern Ohio, which has excellent macadamized roads and
yet consolidation has there made very little progress. In the blue-
grass region of Kentucky, where farm land ranges from $50 to $260
per acre and which has 10,000 miles of solid, macadamized, limestone
roads, consolidation has not yet been adopted. This almost ideal com-
bination of wealth, sufficient to support the highest type of consoli-
dated schools, and superb roads, which would make transportation
of pupils very cheap and easy, has never tempted the rural popu-
lation to take up consolidation, and as late as 1909 there was not one
consolidated rural school in Kentucky.
In Indiana, where consolidation is most extensive, and where state
laws aid consolidation as in' no other State, road improvement and
rural school consolidation are moving ahead together. Good gravel
roads cover a large part of the consolidated area, yet probably one-
third of the hauling is over dirt roads, which become excessively
muddy in the early spring months.
With all these facts in mind, it is clear that in the formation of
consolidated districts the roads or road conditions play only an inci-
dental part, and bad roads form no greater obstacle to school con-
solidation than they do to local, social, and business communication ;
in fact, consolidation will assist in directing public attention to the
needs of permanent road improvement.
The length of school wagon routes is an important factor in de-
termining the size and form of school districts; their size should be
limited by the distances from which the school wagons can convey
pupils with safety, within reasonable time, and at moderate cost.
Of the diverse objections to school consolidation, the one that the
pupils living near the extremities of the longer wagon routes spend
considerable time in the school wagons, is probably the most valid.
Though this objection concerns only a small proportion of the pupils,
it demands careful consideration in planning a wagon route or a con-
solidation district. Still, where necessity compels, wagon routes may
be planned rather long. Five or six miles, or one hour's travel on
ordinary roads, may be considered a fair limit. Ordinarily there will
be only a few routes of so great length, as those of most schools average
about 4 miles.
In sections with irregular roads certain misconceptions prevail re-
garding the supposed advantages of straight and section-line roads,
in fact, not a few farmers believe that section-line roads possess all
the advantages and that it is almost impossible to plan school wagon
routes for an entire consolidation district where there are only ir-
regular roads. To show the error of that opinion, it is only necessary
to cite the fact that of the existing consolidated schools about as
many are located in counties which have irregular or meandering
roads as there are in counties which have regular or section-line roads.
No. 232
94
A large number of examples illustrating this could be introduced
applying mostly to individual consolidated districts or at best to
parts of counties. But as it is particularly desirable to show that
irregular roads or hilly and rolling land do not necessarily interfere
with the success of a county system of school consolidation, a tenta-
tive scheme of consolidation was planned for a county possessing such
characteristics.
LCGEND
PJfOPOSCO CONSOUDATED SCHOOL
BOUNDAOr OF CONSauDArEO BISTff/er...,
POAD. .
/fOAO COVERED ffy WAGON IfOUTE
STAffTmS POINT OP SCHOOL WAGON.
ELEcm/c Po/ao.
STEAM POAO. _
Torm.
Fio. 31.— Map of Fairfax County, Va„ illustrating a tentative plan of rural school consoli-
dation in a county witii irregular roads.
Area, 44.3 square miles. The location of the proposed consolidated schools is indicated
l^^L T7J\ I- ^""^ °"'°''"'' '"'^"'■'^ "«■" ^-^^ "H- S." give the enrolment in the
grades and high school classes of the proposed schools. Arrows point in the direction of
the wagon route to schools.
PKOJECTED CONSOLIDATION IN FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA.
School population in 1905, white, 4,681 : colored, 2,015.
This agricultural county is at present divided into six school dis-
tricts, which are subdivided into 63 subdistricts, the affairs of which
No. 232
95
are administered by six district boards. The county has four incor-
porated towns with special school districts — Falls Church, Vienna,
Fairfax Court Ilouse, and Herndon — and in planning the consoli-
dated districts the special districts have been left intact to serve the
constituencies for which they were created.
As the smaller towns and villages of the county are rural, and as
there are no industrial villages or settlements, the proposed consoli-
dated schools Avould be rural to the same extent as are the schools
which they would displace.
Six districts, containing 11 consolidated schools, are planned. This
would necessitate the conveyance of about 1,350 school children, re-
quiring about 65 school wagons.
The school wagon routes were traced after actually driving over
them and locating the home of each pupil. The map shows accurately
the proposed wagon routes and demonstrates that they can be planned
advantageously under existing conditions in this section of Virginia,
as they without doubt could be in all Southern States.
The general contour of the county is hilly and rolling. In the
southern half the soil is sandy; on the northern half clayey. The
roads in the Mount Vernon and Falls Church districts are in very
fair condition, some of them graveled. Two main turnpikes, the
" Georgetown and Leesburg " and the "Alexandria and Eichmond,"
traverse the county east and west. Although the length of the pro-
jected wagon routes was kept within a 5-mile limit wherever pos-
sible, a few exceeded that limit. Wherever a road is the dividing
line between two districts, the children on both sides of the road would
be conveyed to the nearest school, thus avoiding running two wagons
over the same route. In consequence of this arrangement an exchange
of tuition might become necessary between the districts. In one district
the electric road affords a very convenient means of transportation.
All the advantages which would be secured to the respective dis-
tricts by the larger outlay for educational purposes can not be stated
in terms of money nor demonstrated by means of statistical tables.
The following observations, however, may be made on some of the
advantages to be gained in Fairfax County by consolidation, and
suggest that funds, if wisely expended upon a consolidated school,
would probably accomplish more actual work and secure more real
results than if spent upon district schools :
(1) The number of schoolhouses would be reduced from 63 to 11.
(2) The present average annual school term of 6.9 months would
be lengthened to 8 months.
(3) Since the consolidated schools, as planned, would afford 8
years of elementary and 2 to 4 years of high-school work, the in-
creased expenditure would add 2, 3, or 4 years to the present edu-
cational period of every white child in the county.
No. 232
96
(4) At present only 5G per cent of the total number of pupils
enrolled attend school. With consolidation an average attendance
of 75 per cent or over can easily be maintained.
(5) In some of the thinly populated portions of Fairfax County
it has been impossible so to locate district schoolhouses as to make
them easily accessible to all school children.
(6) Under consolidation higher teaching standards could be re-
quired; liberal compensation would attract experienced and skilled
teachers and induce resident teachers to prepare more thoroughly
for their profession. Of the ptesent teaching force 2 teachers hold
collegiate certificates, 9 hold life diplomas, 18 teachers' certificates
of the first grade, 24 of the second grade, 9 of the third grade, and
1 a special certificate.
(7) There being 138 school days in the year and, inclusive of
colored schools, 81 district schoolhouses in Fairfax County, the county
school superintendent can, by exercising the greatest diligence, de-
vote to each subdistrict school only 1.7 days, including the time spent
in travel from school to school. With 11 consolidated schools, the
superintendent would be able to spend 14 days annually at each
school. In other words, he would be enabled to superintend thor-
oughly, to direct the work of the teachers, and probably to teach some
agriculture and other of the more difficult studies, to give lectures, to
visit patrons, and to inspire interest in the school.
(8) The exact number of Fairfax County children attending the
graded and high schools in Washington, D. C, and in Alexandria —
the nearest accessible city schools — could not be ascertained. After
exhaustive inquiries among parents who send their children to schools
in the District of Columbia and elsewhere the writer concludes that
$15,000 is a very conservative estimate of the annual expenditure for
railroad fare, car fare, board, and tuition for children attending
schools outside the county. This sum alone, averaging about $1,360
for each of the proposed 11 consolidated schools, would very nearly
defray the cost of a first-class conveyance system, and being expended
within the county would redound to its material benefit.
(9) The number of rural school districts is needlessly large. At
present the average territory contributory to each rural schoolhouse
for whites is 7.1 square miles. Although there is in localities a de-
mand for additional schoolhouses, 9 schools in the county have barely
enough pupils in attendance to continue legal existence, the legal
minimum of attendance being 10.
(10) Consolidation with transportation would probably, as sta-
tistics collected at hundreds of consolidated schools in many States
indicate, immediately increase the average daily attendance in the
schools of Fairfax County from 1,289, the present number, to at least
1,650, and would add a high-school attendance of 280.
No. 2:!2
97
(11) As consolidation makes graded schools possible, all pupils
would be graded in uniform classes. Change of residence from one
district to another would not affect the class work or grade of pupils
or retard their progress.
CONCLUSION.
Consolidated rural schools promise to supplant the scattered one-
and two-room rural schools over a large part of the United States
and to change the present trend, methods, and results of rural educa-
tion. The rate of progress of school consolidation during the past
five years, if sustained during the next few decades, should see a
well-coordinated rural school system nearing its completion. "What
has been accomplished up to the present is a distinct gain to American
education. The movement has grown quietly and few are aware of
its real extent. In fact, many educators have not yet grasped the full
significance of rural school consolidation.
The numerous advantages of the consolidated as compared with
the district school are secured through free conveyance of pupils, and
are impossible of attainment except by that means. Although this
unique but indispensable feature is, when consolidation is first
broached in a community, responsible for most of the opposition,
adverse opinion usually ceases as soon as the advantages of trans-
portation are understood. In communities where consolidation has
had a fair trial, fully 95 per cent of the school patrons give it their
indorsement and hearty support.
During the first twenty years after its inception consolidation was
characterized by slow growth. The natural conservatism of school
patrons was largely responsible for this. A second disadvantage was
the lack of a scientific system of assessment, taxation, and school
financing, which would encourage or permit consolidation on an
extensive or state scale. Although both still exist, modern condi-
tions are breaking down the traditions of the old school system, and
the district schoolhouse itself is in many places disappearing. School
financing is receiving attention from economists and statesmen and is
being put upon a scientific basis. In States not largely endowed
with permanent school funds, many sources of revenue are at present
overlooked which, if properly exploited, would yield ample funds for
state aid of graded and high schools, transportation of pupils, and
the teaching of vocational subjects— legitimate uses of public money.
The idea of a county system of consolidation has been emphasized
in this bulletin. An obstacle to extensive consolidation is lack of
that cooperation which is necessary to the consolidrtion of many
small, independent, one-room school districts. The temporary ob-
literation of all district boundary lines and the redistricting of the
54634°— Bull. 232—10 7
county into large districts, responding to the needs and organization
of consolidated schools, affords a logical and convenient avenue of
approach to the solution of the problem of rural school reconstruction.
In some newly-settled portions of the country consolidation has
met with marked favor among farmers, and the usual historical se-
quence of district school, graded school, and high school has not been
followed, the typical consolidated school being organized and built at
the outset. Those communities were no doubt cognizant of the fact
that by systematically planning their school system and following a
definite educational programme along lines of consolidation they were
gaining many years in educational progress.
In financing, supervision, teaching, and attendance the consolidated
possesses some advantages over the district school. Money expended
through the consolidated school yields larger results. The chief
defects of the district school system — low attendance and lack of
articulation with other schools — are entirely corrected by the con-
solidation system. About 1,800 typical and graded consolidated and
2,000 union schools in all parts of the country are demonstrating by
their successful operation how educational opportunities may be
brought to an additional million country boys and girls. The in-
creases in elementary and high school attendance at consolidated
schools have been remarkably large. At a conservative estimate
15,000 more country children are attending schools at this moment
than would be if the old system had continued in their districts.
Consolidation keeps the pupils longer in school at a time when a
day's schooling is the most valuable.
The introduction of agriculture and home economics into the upper
grades of the elementary and high-school courses of the existing con-
solidated schools is progressing as rapidly as competent teachers of
these studies can be obtained. These schools lead into the agricultural
high school, state college, or state normal school, and educational
forces are becoming closely linked with the farm home and farm
affairs. That a large proportion of the well-prepared consolidated
school pupils would enter agricultural high schools or colleges can
scarcely be more a matter of doubt than that in consolidated schools
more elementary graduates pass into the high school. The evolution
of the rural school into the consolidated school in part bridges the
gap between the rural school and the college of agriculture. The
rapidly multiplying large secondary agricultural high schools and
agricultural courses in local high schools are completing that bridge.
The large separate agricultural high schools, with courses of study
suitable for pupils who have had the advantage of one, two, or three
high-school years in the consolidated school, seem especially adapted
to supplement the abbreviated high-school course of the consolidated
school.
No. 232
99
The ultimate success of the agricultural high school is largely
dependent upon that of the consolidated school. The present expen-
diture of over $1,000,000 annually for public conveyance of country
school children, suggests that the American farmer is now prepar-
ing, on a stupendous scale, patiently to build up a truly American
farm life. And the consolidated school organized as a country life
school is to be a substantial part of its foundation.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.
The work of collecting statistics can not be successful without the
assistance and cooperation of individuals who possess basic facts.
Those collected in this investigation were contributed by state and
county officials, county school superintendents, and teachers of rural
schools. It is impossible to give personal credit to each, and the
writer is obliged to express to all collectively his sincere thanks.
The writer is especially indebted to Mr. C. M. Daugherty, of the
Bureau of Statistics, for helpful suggestions and much assistance
in the arrangement of tables and other work connected with this
publication.
In a number of localities study of details demanded extended work
and frequent consultations, and especial thanks are clue the following :
Hon. Fassett A. Cotton, state superintendent of public instruction,
Indianapolis, Ind. ; Mr. Ernest C. Gray, principal of the " Kinsman
Centralized School," Kinsman, Ohio; Mr. C. E. Benedict, of the
"Greene Central School," Greensburg, Ohio; Mr. H. A. Diehl, of
the " Johnston Central School," Farmdale, Ohio ; Mr. Samuel D.
Symmes, trustee of T'nion Township, Crawf ordsville, Ind. ; Mr. W. A.
La Mater, superintendent of Delaware County schools, Muncie, Ind. ;
Mr. George P. Glenn, superintendent of schools of Duval County,
Jacksonville, Fla. ; Mr. Thomas Erickson, superintendent of Douglas
County schools, Alexandria, Minn.; Mr. George Howard, superin-
tendent of Olmsted County schools, Eochester, Minn.; Mr. W. D.
Hall, superintendent of schools of Fairfax County, Burke, Va. ; Miss
Ivy Wilson, superintendent of schools of Ada County, Boise, Idaho ;
and Miss Cora Bean, superintendent of Canyon County schools, Cald-
well, Idaho.
No. 232
Syracuse, N. Y.
PAT. JAH. 21. 1908
