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replaced by consolidated schools. Probably more consolidation has been effected there during the past two years than in any other State. Lafayette Parish has few one-teacher schools left, and they will soon be abandoned, for no child in the county lives now at a greater distance than 5 miles from a consolidated school. St. John the Baptist Parish reports that now it has no schools with less than three teachers. Tennessee, also on the county basis, reports that 150 small schools were closed during the year and grouped into approximately 50 larger units; in but few cases are the children transported at public expense. In several other counties, however, consolidated schools have been established with public transportation.

Mississippi has organized 75 consolidated schools during the year, whose children are transported in 100 wagons. The average area of the 75 consolidated districts is 30 square miles; the 75 buildings erected cost approximately $140,000. In three years there have been organized in the State 175 consolidated schools, in connection with which 240 school wagons are used. In the past year Pearl River County replaced 31 schools with 6 consolidated schools, to which children are transported in 21 school wagons; Harrison County, one of the largest in the State, has 15 consolidated schools, and only 30 one-teacher schools are left.

The county board of education of Box Elder County, Utah, has during the past year erected 11 new school buildings, at a total cost of $205,000, which take the place of over 30 old buildings. Twenty wagons have been put into operation to carry the children from the abandoned schools. The high-school work is all concentrated in one large school at Brigham City. Transportation to a maximum of $2 a week is allowed students outside of Brigham City, thus equalizing in part the cost of high-school education throughout the county. West Virginia, which is organized on the magisterial district basis, corresponding very closely to the township basis, reports over 100 schools abandoned and replaced by consolidated schools.

Progress in consolidation in States organized on the single district plan has been necessarily slow. In Colorado, as an example, although great effort has been made to consolidate schools, only six consolidations have been effected during the year. Minnesota, however, has made considerable progress, in spite of the district organization. This has been due largely to special State aid for consolidated schools provided by an act of the legislature, known as the Holmberg Act, which became effective April 18, 1911.

Some of the provisions of this act are the following:

(a) It requires on the petition for election the signatures of only 25 per cent of the resident freeholders in each district to be included in the consolidation.

(b) Consolidation shall be effected by a majority vote of all districts involved to be cast at one central meeting, whereas the former law left the districts to vote sepa

rately on the question.

(c) The standard for teachers in consolidated schools is as high as for those of any school in the State.

d) The principals must have the special indorsement of the State superintendent of public instruction.

e) The State superintendent has the authority to set standards for school buildings and for equipment, as a condition for State aid.

J. The State superintendent may make regulations for the transportation of children. g) Finally, generous State aid is provided for the consolidated schools which meet the approval of the State department of education.

Schools in consolidated districts are classified as A, B, and C. Each must maintain a session at least eight months in the year, must be well organized, and suitable buildings and equipment must be furnished. Class A schools must have at least four departments; that is, four teachers; class B schools, three departments, and class C schools, two departments. The principal of a class A school must hold a diploma from an advanced course of a State normal school and be qualified to teach the elements of agriculture as determined by such directions as are made by the superintendent of public instruction. A school of this class must have room and equipment for industrial work. The principal of a class B or a class C school must hold at least a State first-grade certificate and possess such qualifications as are required for teachers in the State graded schools. Class A schools receive annually from the State $1,500, class B schools $1,000, class C schools $750; and in addition to such annual aid a school in any of the above classes may receive, to aid in the construction of a building, 25 per cent of the cost of the building up to $1,500. The efficacy of the law may be judged by the number of consolidations effected. From 1900 to 1911, before the Holmberg Act was in effect, only 9 consolidations were effected in the State. In the first year after the passage of the act 60 communities organized under its provisions; 30 of these met the requirements in time to secure State aid for the school year 1911-12; the remaining 30 received aid for the school year 1912-13. These 60 districts were formed by the consolidation of 141 old districts. Twenty-one of the new districts, however, became consolidated school districts under the provisions of the Holmberg Act without increasing in any way the size of the school district. They already contained more than the 12 sections of land required for consolidated schools of class C and were employing two or more teachers. This means, therefore, that 39 districts now replace 120.

The Missouri Legislature in 1913 passed a measure intended to promote consolidation, following the Minnesota plan. The Missouri 17726°-ED 1913-VOL 1 -12

law provides that the consolidated district must contain at least 12 square miles of territory and 200 children of school age. Consolidation is effected on the majority vote of the qualified voters of the proposed consolidated district at one central meeting. This meeting may decide also whether or not public transportation will be furnished. However, if transportation is not provided, a school must be maintained within 24 miles by road from the home of every child of school age. The consolidated school must have a site of at least 5 acres of land and a school building with a general assembly room, which may be used for public meetings of the citizens of the district. The State will pay one-fourth of the cost of the building up to $2,000 and also will pay annually toward the maintenance of the school $25 for each square mile in the consolidated district. This is with the provision, however, that the consolidated school maintain at least a third-grade high school giving one year's work in agriculture.

The 1913 Legislature of Iowa, to encourage the consolidation of rural schools, voted to give $250 for equipment and $200 annually for each consolidated school of two rooms teaching agriculture, home economics, or other industrial or vocational subjects and approved by the State superintendent of public instruction. Consolidated schools of three rooms will receive from the State $350 for equipment and $500 annually; those with four or more rooms, $500 for equipment and $500 annually.

The Tennessee Legislature of 1913 gave each county board of education full power and authority to consolidate schools and to provide public transportation. Ten per cent of the general educational fund of the State may be used to aid industrial work in country schools and to assist the establishment of consolidated schools with three or more teachers.

LIMITING THE NUMBER OF GRADES IN RURAL SCHOOLS.

The movement for consolidated schools goes hand in hand with the movement to limit the number of grades in accordance with the number of teachers. This is largely because the principal argument for consolidation is to obtain more efficient schools than is possible in the one-teacher school system. The one-teacher school is inefficient in comparison with the consolidated school, other things being equal, because the teacher has pupils in too many grades and is required to conduct more classes during the day than there is sufficient time for. When the number of grades is limited to four or five, the one-teacher school, if in a suitable building with a qualified teacher, may be efficient. When the number of grades is limited, the school authorities must make provision for the children after they have completed the grades given. The question of limiting the number of grades has been considered very seriously in several parts of the country during

the past year or two, but particularly in Louisiana. Several parish boards of education have taken up the question and have passed suitable regulations. The usual limit for the one-teacher school in Louisiana, wherever a limit is set, is five grades, and for the twoteacher schools seven or eight grades. St. Johns Parish, with no schools with less than three teachers, limits the three-teacher schools to seven grades. Other parishes which have already adopted grade limits are St. Martin, West Baton Rouge, Iberville, Ascension, St. James, Winn, West Feliciana, Lafayette, Terrebonne, and Union. In all of these parishes provisions have been made for accommodating advanced pupils at some central point in the parish.

The State of North Carolina, while not limiting the number of grades in the one-teacher schools, provides that high-school branches may not be taught in one-teacher schools, and that they may be taught in schools having more than one teacher only after adequate provision has been made for the thorough teaching of the elementary branches. This, in effect, prohibits any one-teacher school from maintaining more than seven grades of work.

Franklin County, Ky., in practice limits the number of grades in the rural schools to six. The county is divided into four educational divisions, each division containing from 9 to 14 subdistrict schools. In each division there has been established a central school for all the children in the division in the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth grades. For the last two years of high-school work the children go to the high school at Frankfort.

In Lavaca County, Tex., the rural schools have been classified by a board of five members, of which the county superintendent is secretary. No teacher is permitted to teach more than six grades. Schools with seven or eight grades are required to employ two teachers. If the attendance is above 100 pupils, three teachers must be employed. Districts with a large census enrollment, employing but one teacher, are limited to five grades. Children above the fifth grade are transferred at public expense to some other district with higher grades.

THE CLASSIFICATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS.

The Legislature of North Dakota in the 1913 session made provision for classifying rural schools into three classes by providing special State aid for those who have reached the requirements of what are designated as "Class one" and "Class two." The schools not meeting the requirements of class one or class two constitute a third class. A first-class rural school is one maintained nine months during the school year, taught by an experienced teacher holding a first-grade certificate; the school building must be suitable and the State course of study, which includes agriculture, must be used. These

schools receive annual State aid of $150. A second-class rural school must meet the same requirements as far as the building and course of study are concerned, but it may employ a teacher holding a second-grade certificate and school may be maintained only eight months. Such schools receive $100 annually from the State.

This plan is similar to that adopted in Minnesota by act of the legislature in 1905 and amended in 1909 and 1911. The Minnesota schools are classed as A, B, or C, as follows:

Class A.-Districts employing a teacher holding at least a first-grade certificate and maintaining school not less than eight months in the school year.

Class B.-Districts employing a teacher holding at least a secondgrade certificate and maintaining school not less than eight months in the school year.

Class C.-Districts employing a teacher holding at least a secondgrade certificate and maintaining school not less than seven months in the school year.

Provided the schools have suitable buildings, libraries, and other apparatus and conveniences, and comply with such rules as may be fixed by the State superintendent of public instruction for maintaining an efficient school, those in class A receive annually from the State $150, class B, $100, and class C, $75. The plan has worked well, and school trustees are providing better buildings and equipment, better teachers, and a longer term in order that their schools may be rated as high as possible and receive the greater State aid coming with the higher classification. The tendency is shown by the following table, giving the number of schools in 1911 and in 1912, in class A and class B, and in 1912 in class C.

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The movement for the establishment of high schools in the smaller villages or in the open country is making rapid progress. Utah reports that over 40 rural and town high schools were organized during the year. Previously most of the high-school work outside of the larger cities has been done by church academies. The activity in establishing high schools in that State is the result largely of a special legislative grant passed in the 1911 session of the legislature. A high-school inspector has been appointed who is also a member of the faculty of the State university.

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