IJBRABY BUREAU OP EDUCATION • fin 1 n n r, ,- .'. '. i r r C / The University of the State of New York The State Department of Education THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM A Documentary History of the Endeavor to Establish a Township School System in the State of New York from the Early Periods through the Repeal of the Township Law in 191 8 BY THOMAS E. FINEGAN Deputy Commissioner of Education and Assistant Commissioner for Elementary Education Volume I of the fourteenth annual report of the State Education Department ALBANY THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 1921 f". 1 ERSITY OF THE STATE OF ] Regents of the University With years when terms expire /far 1926 Pliny T. Sexton LL.B. LL.D. Chancellor - - Palmyra 1927 Albert Vander Veer M.D. M.A. Ph.D. LL.D. Vice Chancellor --------- Albany 1922 Chester S. Lord M.A. LL.D. - - - - -Brooklyn 1930 William Nottingham M.A. Ph.D. LL.D. - - Syracuse 192 1 Francis M. Carpenter ------- Mount Kisco 1923 Abram I. Elkus LL.B. D.C.L. LL.D. - - - New York 1924 Adelbert Moot LL.D. ------- Buffalo 1925 Charles B. Alexander M.A. LL.B. LL.D. Litt.D. ---------- -Tuxedo 1919 John Moore LL.D. -------- Elmira 1928 Walter Guest Kellogg B.A. LL.D. - - - Ogdensburg 1920 James Byrne B.A. LL.B. LL.D. - - - - New York 1929 Herbert L. Bridgman M.A. ------ Brooklyn President of the University and Commissioner of Education John H. Finley M.A. LL.D. L.H.D. Deputy Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner for Elementary Education Thomas E. Finegan M.A. Pd.D. LL.D. Assistant ^Commissioner and Director of Professional Education Augustus S. Downing M.A. L.H.D. LL.D. Assistant Commissioner for Secondary Education Charles F. Wheelock B.S. LL.D. Director^of State Library James I. Wyer, Jr, M.L.S. Director of Science and State Museum John M. Clarke D.Sc. LL.D. Chiefs and Directors of Divisions Administration, Hiram C. Case Agricultural and Industrial Education, Lewis A. Wilson Archives and History, James Sullivan M.A. Ph.D. Attendance, James D. Sullivan Educational Extension, William R. Watson B.S. Examinations and Inspections, George M. Wiley M.A. Law, Frank B. Gilbert B.A., Counsel Library School, Frank K. Walter M.A. M.L.S. School Buildings and Grounds, Frank H. Wood M.A. School Libraries, Sherman Williams Pd.D. Visual Instruction, Alfred W. Abrams Ph.B. State of New York No. 45 IN ASSEMBLY April 2, 1918 FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT Volume I THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Albany, April 2, 191 8 Honorable Thaddens C. Sweet Speaker of the Assembly, Assembly Chamber, Albany, N. Y. Sir: Pursuant to law, the annual report of the Education Depart- ment is herewith submitted to the Legislature. Very respectfully yours Pliny T. Sexton Chancellor of the University John H. Finley President of the University and Commissioner of Education THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM INTRODUCTION It is essential that those living contemporaneously with the great educational and social movements should collect and preserve in fullest detail, for future generations, the historical facts relative to these movements. This is essential for three reasons : first, that the labors of those involved in the movement should not be lost to future generations; second, only in this way can the minor details that give real life to history be preserved; and third, that the burden of those who are to take up the work for the future shall not be made heavier by the neglect of the past. It is for this purpose that I have attempted to gather between two covers the history of the township movement, both its successes and its fail- ures, in as complete a history as is humanly possible. No effort was saved in gathering all the information possible to make this volume complete. We have endeavored to preserve the facts in their true light, by reproducing many letters, newspaper clippings, etc. so that in as far as possible the actual life of the movement might be reproduced fairly and without prejudice. It was our endeavor to reproduce and preserve the efforts of all who took part in the great movement, both of those in opposition and those who endeavored to preserve the best in the system. This, however, was impossible, for it would have added too much to an already large volume. It is hoped that the material presented will give new interest and inspiration to those interested in the educational progress of this great State and that those who take up the burden for the future, by being saved the great labor of compilation, may find this volume a source book of information. I wish to express my appreciation to Mr Fred Engelhardt, one of my associates, for valuable assistance in the preparation of this report. T. E. F. [7] THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Opinions of State Superintendents 1 The present school district system has been condemned by every State Superintendent and Commissioner of Education from 1844 to the present time. Hon. Samuel Young, one of New York's noted State Superintendents, spoke as follows upon the subject in his annual report to the Legislature of 1844: There were in the State on the first day of October last, as appears from the returns, 10,875 districts ; showing a considerable diminution from the number reported last year. This diminution has been caused by the union or consolidation of small districts, and by the refusal on the part of the town superintendents generally to increase the number of existing districts by the formation of new ones, excepting under peculiar circumstances ; and it is earnestly hoped that the same policy will be steadily pursued in future, in every practicable case, throughout the State. Small and consequently inefficient districts have, heretofore for a long period, been the source of many formidable evils. Miserable schoolhouses, poor and cheap teachers, interrupted and temporary instruction, and heavy rate bills, are among the permanent calamities incident to small school districts. The ordinary pre- text for the division and subdivision of districts, is the greater proximity to be afforded to a portion of the inhabitants to the schoolhouse. To this single fancied benefit, considerations of much greater importance are often sacrificed. The idea seems to be entertained by many that it is a great hardship for children to travel a mile, or even half a mile, to school ; and that those individuals are the most favored who find the schoolhouse nearest to their homes. It is true that there are a few stormy days in the year, when the nearness of the schoolhouse may be deemed a convenience. But all children of 10 or 12 years of age must, in order to maintain health and secure the due development of their physical functions, exercise daily to a much greater extent than is produced by one or even two miles of travel. Unrestrained exercise in the open air is indispensable to the health of the young. It is one of the laws which has been strongly impressed by the Creator upon the animal organization; and obedience to this law is enforced by a powerful instinct which impels the young of all animals, while in a state of growth, to daily muscular exertion. The human race is as subject to this law as any other part of animated nature ; and it is a fact established by all experience, that those children are the most healthful in body and vigorous in mind whose corporeal motions are least constrained, and whose lungs are most in contact with the pure and open air. The most aged and experienced teachers will testify that, as a general rule, those children who live farthest from the schoolhouse are the most punctual in their daily attendance and make the greatest progress in their studies. 1 Reprinted from the annual report of 1914. [9] IO THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Hon. M. S. Benton, State Superintendent of Common Schools, spoke as follows in his annual report of 1847: A larger and more extended acquaintance with school operations has induced many persons to believe that, by adopting the plan of union schools, uniting two or more districts, where the population is tolerably compact, and organizing the schools with two or more departments, and employing teachers of suitable qualifications to take charge of each, and at different rates of compensation, all the advantages of a school of the highest grade are enjoyed by these districts, and that these schools may be rendered less expensive than to employ teachers of the first class or highest grade, in each district before such consolidation. In numerous instances, for two years past, these union schools have been formed in different parts of the State, under the most favorable auspices, with every reasonable prospect of being highly advantageous in promoting the objects of their establishment; and hence, we may justly anticipate a gradual reduction in the aggregate of the whole number of districts in the State, so long as this process shall continue. H. H. Van Dyck, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, said in his report of 1860: It is obvious that the pupils in the purely country districts are already reduced on an average to a point below the requirements of an efficient and healthy organization. In my estimation, educational progress will be subserved by the consolidation, rather than the subdivision, of the existing districts. As a matter of mere convenience, proximity to the schoolhouse may be desirable. But it needs no extended argument to prove that a district feeble in property, deficient in scholars, and scanty in its receipt of public money, is not likely to maintain a vigorous and efficient school. On the contrary, a combination of these elements to an appropriate extent will enable those interested to secure teachers of competent qualifications, will permit the scholars to be so classified as to separate the more advanced from those in the primary branches ; and to give all that degree of atten- tion which can not be secured in a promiscuous assemblage, presided over by a teacher selected with the reference to the means of the district, rather than with a view to the proper education of its children. Hon. Neil Gilmour, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, was a persistent advocate of the elimination of the school district system and the adoption of the township system. In each of his annual reports he gave strong reasons for the adoption of the township system. In his report of 1877 he indorsed the township system in the following language: Since the passage of the law by the Legislature of 1867, known as the free school act, whereby the old system of rate bills was abolished, the question whether the school districts as they now exist should not undergo a change has been agitated. In times past, when the balance of teachers' wages remaining due, after the application of the public money thereto, was raised by rate bills, it seemed well that the districts as defined should THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM II exist; but now, since any balance of teachers' wages remaining unpaid is raised by a tax on the district property, I am of the opinion that the necessity of the present system of school districts has ceased, and that the schools can be materially benefited, the quality of the instruction improved, the attendance increased and supervision made more thorough by adopting the township system. The district boundaries as they exist, are in many cases very indefinite, and much of the time of school commissioners is occupied in adjusting differences and difficulties in regard thereto, in setting off property first to one district and afterward to another; frequently these changes are the cause of bitter quarrels, and from this cause alone many appeals are brought to the Department. I believe that the existence of the present district system is detrimental to the interests of education. I recommend that the Legislature abolish the present system of school districts and in its place establish the township system. Let all the schools of the town be under the care and direction of a board of education to be elected at the annual town meeting; the amount of tax necessary to be raised for the support thereof, after the application of the public money thereto, be levied as a town tax ; the powers now vested in the trustees of school districts given to town boards of education, with such additions as wisdom and necessity may dictate, and that the powers now vested in the inhabitants at district meetings be transferred to the voters at town meet- ings, with such modifications and extensions as may be deemed expedient. With such a system properly organized and in thorough working order, I predict that the cause of education in the State of New York will be greatly advanced. Hon. William B. Ruggles, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, spoke as follows in his report of 1884: The formation of union free school districts, under the general law, in centers of population where more faculties and greater ability to maintain good schools are afforded than exist in the more sparsely populated districts, deserves to be encouraged. These schools are, as a general rule, a very decided improvement upon the ordinary school districts. With rare excep- tions, they pay better wages and employ a better class of teachers ; their attendance is much larger so as to admit of systematic grading and classification ; they afford a wider range of studies and better methods of instruction. Dr Andrew S. Draper, State Superintendent of Public Instruc- tion, said in his report of 1892 : I can not admit that children in a poor or sparsely settled district are not entitled to as well-ordered schools and as skillful teachers as pupils in districts more fortunately situated. We are not to abandon the poor dis- trict to its fate. We must find some practical means of helping it. We must make small districts of small assessable valuation and with but few children, which ordinarily results in poor schools, or we must make larger districts with better schools. As between these alternatives the latter seems to be preferable. If it is adopted then we are confronted with the fact 12 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK that children would be frequently compelled to go farther to school than is practicable. The difficulties involved in this question have been partially solved else- where by providing facilities for the transportation of children to the schools. The reports from Massachusetts where this plan has been put in operation show that, in addition to the financial gain, profitless schools have been abolished, and the children are now instructed for a longer term under teachers of more experience and skill For many years there has been a continued effort to bring the subject of the township system of schools to the attention of the people of the State, and experience has shown that the warmest friends of the measure are those who most thoroughly understand its provisions. In the report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for 1877, Mr Gilmour expressed his belief that the district system of schools was detri- mental to the interests of education, and recommended that the Legislature establish at once the township system. It is well known that then as now there was strong opposition to the proposed change in many sections of the State. In the report of 18S0 Superintendent Gilmour suggested that if the Legis- lature deemed it unwise to make at once so radical a change, the result might be brought about gradually by an act conferring upon the legal voters in towns the right to change from the school district system to the township system. Increased interest has been manifested in the township system during the past three years, which is due in a great degree to the thorough dis- cussion and unanimous action of the New York State Association of School Commissioners and Superintendents. A bill was introduced in i89o and was referred to the committee on public education where it was allowed to remain rather than incur defeat through a misunderstanding of its provisions. The following points in favor of the township system of schools were submitted at the meeting of the association referred to above, held at Batavia, January 14, i89i : 1 The affairs of all school districts would be managed with business sys- tem, an advantage which now attaches to union free school districts, where a school board has charge of the district, holding regular meetings and hav- ing an oversight over school interests. 2 Equalization of school taxes in towns. The inequality now prevalent would be removed, where one district pays ten dollars to twenty dollars per capita for school privileges — no better than given in an adjoining district for five dollars per capita. 3 A more efficient, intelligent and progressive class of school officers. Parsimony and extravagance would alike be controlled. As a rule boards of education are composed of the leading men of the community. 4 All the inhabitants of a town would receive equal educational advan- tages at equal rates. 5 It would guarantee to all communities the school privileges now en- joyed by residents of union free school districts. 6 Fewer and larger schools, better wages, better teachers. Weak dis- tricts would be annexed to others. 7 More and better supervision by school commissioners and boards of directors. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 13 8 It would add dignity and usefulness to the office of school commis- sioner, giving him less anxiety over petty details and enabling him to super- vise schools more systematically and intelligently. 9 Better facilities for grading the country schools and establishing a uniform and satisfactory course of study, having in view the entire school population of a town. Advanced or high schools could be established at convenient points which every pupil of the town of requisite educational advancement would have the right to attend. The small schools would become a part of a perfected, harmonious and efficient system, instead of straggling and struggling nonentities. 10 Cheaper and better schools, lower taxes, longer terms for less money. The Michigan report for 1888, page vi, refers to a town organized under the township system where the average length of term was nine months, at an expense of $13.71 per capita, in comparison with a town retaining the district system where the average length of term was four and a half months at an expense of $14.80 per capita. 11 Uniformity of textbooks would certainly be secured in every town. This would be very likely to extend to all the towns composing a commis- sioner district or a county. 12 A more systematic and satisfactory method of making reports would be possible, guaranteeing more reliable school statistics, thus closing the avenues now open in a hundred ways for imperfect and unreliable data. 13 Greater dignity would attach to public education in the common schools of the State ; public opinion would have greater respect for it, and public pride would be aroused. 14 All troubles now encountered by trustees in making out or correcting tax lists would be abolished; the efforts of the collector to elude the taxpayer when fees are 1 per cent, and the hunt of the collector for the taxpayer when fees are 5 per cent, would entirely disappear. 15 The question of district boundaries would no longer vex school com- missioners, or take their time. The matter would be entirely under the con- trol of the school directors. 16 Cheaper textbooks would be possible. They could be purchased for all the schools of a town at greatly reduced rates. This would solve the vexed question of state publication of textbooks by allowing each town to purchase its own books where they could be obtained to the best advantage. 17 The present law in reference to compulsory education would be more generally and more easily enforced. 18 It is the only system which will save the small country districts from extinction. 19 More permanency in the teaching force of the State; a firm step toward making the teachers' profession permanent. 20 As a result of the last point, a better and higher grade of teachers. 21 Better facilities for instruction would be afforded in the way of apparatus, books of reference, etc., and more intelligent action would be taken in reference to the equipment, maintenance and preservation of school district libraries. 22 A general uplifting of educational sentiment throughout the State. With the township system, and enforceable compulsory education law, and provision tor the professional training of teachers, our educational system would be placed 25 years in advance at one bound. At the 37th annual meeting of the New York Association of School Com- missioners and Superintendents held at Cobleskill in December 1891, the following preamble and resolution were unanimously adopted : Whereas, It is the sentiment of this association that the enactment of a law embodying the practical feaures of the township system would greatly advance the cause of education, equalize the burden of taxation, and remove many of the difficulties met in our work of superintendence, therefor, 14 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Resolved, That we hereby pledge ourselves to make diligent, persistent and immediate effort with our legislators to secure the passage of such a bill, which we urge our committee on legislation to perfect at as early a day as practicable. I have no hesitation in saying that it is my belief that if the township system of schools were once in operation, it would greatly promote the efficiency as it would more equitably distribute the cost of our rural schools. Whether the change would overthrow existing relations and conditions, in other respects, to an extent which will render it impracticable of attainment is open to doubt. It is a subject of much importance which is earnestly advocated by the best friends of the school system and I bespeak for it the most thoughtful consideration of the Legislature. Hon. James F. Crooker, State Superintendent of Public Instruc- tion, favored the township system in the following language in his report of 1893 : For a quarter of a century our principal educators have been dissatisfied with the school district system in vogue in this State, and during this period they have been advocating the adoption of the township system. The leading educators of the State, irrespective of their political views, stand as a unit in the support of this system. Its principal features have long been under consideration by the various educational associations of the State, and at the last annual meeting of the State Association of School Commissioners, held at Watertown in September, that body instructed its legislative committee by a unanimous vote to direct its efforts toward securing the passage of a bill for its establishment. Any measure affecting the public school system, which has the hearty support of the entire educational army of the State, is one which should receive most respectful consideration from our law-making power. This measure is not a scheme which some man has sprung into existence, but represents a system that has been tried in other states and to the entire satisfaction of those directly interested in the success of the school system of such states. By its adoption we would surrender none of the vital features of our school system, but would strengthen its weak points, and place the local affairs of rural schools on such a basis that they would be managed in a strictly businesslike manner. The bill proposed does not apply to city schools or to the union free schools, and is on the permissive plan, allowing each town to vote upon its adoption. Therefore, no effort is being put forth to force the measure upon people who are unwilling to receive it. If the Legislature should pass such a bill there is no doubt but that many towns throughout the State would adopt it, and the friends of the system be given an opportunity to show what results could be obtained under its workings. In my opinion it is a measure that would eliminate many obstacles that are now a source of great weakness to our school system and a barrier to its progress. It is not possible to enumerate all the advantages claimed for the system, but there are a few arguments in its behalf to which I desire to call especial attention, namely, the increasing of the efficiency of the teaching service. There is no part of our school system which needs greater care and THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 15 stronger support than our rural districts. Many of them are too weak numerically and financially to support a school. Districts with an assessed valuation ranging from $2000 to $25,000 and containing from 2 to 8 pupils of school age within their borders find the support of a school to be extremely burdensome. Relief of some character must be given such districts. These school districts were formed years ago when the families in them were large and the expense of maintaining a school small. It costs as much to support a poor school in a weak district as it does to sustain a good school in a strong district. To continue schools in these districts under the present conditions is unwise and extravagant. Weak districts should be abolished and their territory annexed in a fair and judicious manner to other dis- tricts. The benefits which the school system of the State would derive from such a policy are twofold. There would be fewer schools to sup- port, which would decrease the expense of maintaining the schools of the State, while the districts to which the territory of the dissolved districts is attached would be strengthened by an increase in their assessed valuation and in the number of pupils attending school, which would increase the amount of the public money for such districts. A proposition to abolish school boards in cities and create in their stead a school district trustee for each district, and clothe such trustee with the authority to manage all of the affairs of his district would be pronounced at once as unsound and even foolish. Yet this is the very plan which exists in the rural part of the State under the present school district system. By the adoption of the proposed township law, the office of district trustee would be abolished and there would be created a town board of school directors consisting of nine members, who are elected by ballot at an annual town meeting and who serve without pay. This would place all schools of a town (except union free schools and others^ created by special acts) under the direct management of a town board, who are to hire teachers and provide for schools as trustees now do ; and the expense incurred in maintaining the schools would be a charge upon the town, levied and assessed in the same manner as other town taxes are. One of the strongest arguments against the district system is the great injustice that exists under the present system of taxation. To show this inequality of taxation that exists, I have constructed a table comparing the rate of tax and the cost per capita of educating the children in two districts in the same town in every county in the State. This table is submitted for careful study and may be found at the end of this chapter. It is strong proof of the injustice which a large number of districts suffer. To illustrate : In district 8 of the town of Hunter, countv of Greene, the rate of tax for the year ending July 25, 1892, was 2.3 mills, and the cost per capita of educating the children of that district was $8.37, while in district 1 in the same town and county the rate was 15.8 mills, or nearly seven times as great as in district 8, and the cost per capita of educating the children in district 1 was $59.95, or more than seven times as much as in district 8. In district 7, town of Broome, county of Schoharie, the rate of tax for the same year as above was 3.9 mills, and the cost per capita of educating the children of that district was $6.18, while in district 13 in the same town 1 6 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK and county the rate of tax was 33.5 mills, or more than eight times as great as in district 7, and the cost per capita of educating the children in district 13 was $54.37, or nearly nine times as much as in district 7. These are not rare and extreme illustrations, but similar cases exist in nearly every town in the State. This great difference in the cost of educating the future citizens of our State is not in harmony with the spirit on which our free school system was founded. The township has always been the unit of taxation for all local purposes, except for the support of schools. If bridges are to be repaired or built, new roads to be laid out, or poor to support, the expense is borne by the county or town, and not by that portion of the town in which the expense is incurred and which is benefited thereby. Railroads and other corporations pay their share of all the taxes of a town. These corporations are subject to taxation for other purposes, not only in that portion of the town in which they are located, but for the whole town. Now, if it is fair to compel these corporations to pay their share of the taxes of a town and not limit them to that portion of the town in which they are located, why should they be restricted for taxation for school purposes to just that part of a town in which they are located? Under this system all children of a town would receive equal educational advantages at equal rates, and all property of a town would pay its pro- portionate share of the expense of maintaining the schools of that town. One of the most important factors in our school work is the teaching force. Any measure "that will elevate the standard of teaching is worthy of consideration. That the position of a teacher is not permanent is a weak point in our school system. A thorough, efficient teacher should be retained in a school as long as her work is satisfactory and her school progressive. But the frequent changes of trustees almost invariably result in a change of teachers to the great disadvantage of the school. A board of directors would not be likely to change teachers without sufficient cause. Teachers not qualified for their work would be removed and their places supplied with those who are qualified. In time the unqualified teachers would be removed from the field of service and find employment in posi- tions of honor and usefulness, and to which they are adapted. After giving the measure careful study I am led to believe that under its workings we would have better schools at less expense and administered in a fairer and more economical manner. I therefore recommend the adoption of the " township system." Hon. Charles R. Skinner, State Superintendent of Public Instruc- tion, also favored the township system in his report of 1897 in the following language : Notwithstanding the apparent advance in the general school work of the State, thoughtful educators view with apprehension the failure of the rural schools to keep in touch with the onward movement of those more fortunately located in our cities and villages. Students of educational problems thoroughly appreciate that in view of the constant tendency of our population and wealth toward the cities and villages, the rural school problem has become the one most worthy of attention and most perplexing in its solution. A careful study of this problem has led to a conviction that THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM \*J the chief difficulty with the rural schools is the lack of systematic and busi- nesslike management of their affairs, consequent upon the district system, that the remedy most likely to correct existing conditions lies along admin- istrative lines, and that the larger unit of the township is much better adapted to good administration than is the present district system. Massachusetts experienced the same evil results from the district system, and as early as 1839, that distinguished educator, Horace Mann, in his annual report as secretary of the state board of education, said : " I con- sider the law of 1789, authorizing towns (in Massachusetts) to divide them- selves into school districts, the most unfortunate law on the subject of common schools ever enacted in the state." In the southern states the county is generally the unit in local administration, and in most of them it has wisely been made the unit of local school administration as well. In the states of the north and largely in those in the west, the township is the unit in local administration, and for that reason has been chosen as a unit for school organization. Indiana was the first state to change from the district to the township system, and one after another the states have followed until but few retain the antiquated district system with its inferior administration, its wasteful expenditure, its unequal taxation, and, above all, its unequal school advantages. That the experience of those states which have abandoned the district system has been satisfactory, is best demonstrated by the fact that none have returned to it. To anyone at all conversant with existing condi- tions in the rural sections of the State, it is evident that hundreds of school districts have outlived their usefulness and the conditions under which they were created, and have become a public burden instead of a public benefit. In 1870 there were no fewer than 1500 school districts with an average daily attendance of less than 10 pupils each, while the reports for 1896 show more than 3500 such districts, and it is safe to estimate that the average daily attendance for all strictly country schools in the State does not exceed 10 pupils for each school. In hundreds of districts the number of school district officers exceeds the number of pupils of average attend- ance. Under such conditions it is practically impossible to maintain inter- est in the school work, either in the community or among the pupils and patrons ; the school is conducted in a perfunctory manner, and school spirit is at a minimum. An instance recently came to my attention of a teacher who asked to be released from an unexpired contract to teach in a school of two pupils, giving as her reason that the hopeless task of endeavoring to arouse interest in study under such conditions would drive her insane. It may be argued that the law now provides for the annulling and con- solidating of weak districts, but local sentiment stands in the way and clings to the old organization more from love of what it has been than from respect for what it is, until the results from such provisions of the law are meager and barren. From an economic point of view, the waste of the state school money under the district system is both startling and ludicrous. One of the officials of this Department reports visiting a country school in company with the school commissioner of the district, and finding there a teacher at work on a piece of embroidery, but with no pupils in attendance. Inquiry elicited the information that the school had been in session three weeks without any pupils, and that there were only two l8 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK children of school age in the entire district, both of whom were expected to attend the school later on. It is certainly unfortunate that such a condi- tion should be even possible in a State that stands first among the states in population, wealth and natural resources. The clear, unbiased judgment of Horace Mann, in regard to Massa- chusetts, pronounced over 50 years ago, still remains applicable to our own State, not only unchallenged, but affirmed again and again by the highest educational authorities throughout the United States and the world. The advisability of a change in our system has passed beyond the realm of discussion. Everywhere it has come to be recognized as the most important educational question before the people of our State. All others can afford to wait until it is solved. Better schools in our cities and villages but aggravate the evil by still further draining the rural schools and thus reducing the school advantages of those residing in rural communities. I respectfully submit this question to your honorable body as one of paramount importance, demanding immediate attention. The following is an extract from the report of the committee on the township bill to the New York State Asociation of State School Commissioners and Superintendents at its annual meeting held in November 1889, at Cortland, N. Y. For the paper in regular order at this point was substituted the report of the committee on the township bill. Dr E. A. Sheldon presented the fol- lowing report: The committee appointed at the last meeting of this body to prepare a bill with a view of consolidating the school districts of the State into a township system have to report that such a bill was prepared and introduced into the last Legislature, and printed copies of the same were widely dis- tributed throughout the State. Your committee found it impracticable to prepare a bill in time to secure its passage through the last Legislature, and so decided that it would be better to secure its introduction and in this way call the attention of the Legislature and the citizens of the State gen- erally to the bill, with the view of calling out suggestions and criticisms in regard to it. With this view copies of the bill were sent to leading educational and political men and to the papers of the State. Very little criticism or suggestions seems to have been called out, and we submit it now to the consideration of this meeting with very little change from the original draft. It is just to say that the bill in its present form was prepared by Hon. Charles R. Skinner, our Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction, at the urgent request of the committee. He had previously prepared a similar bill and seemed to your committee better qualified to do this work than any other man. The bill fully justifies the wisdom of our judgment. E. A. Sheldon M. C. Finley John J. Kenny W. J. Barr Jared Sanford Committee THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM IO, Printed copies of the bill were distributed and some time was spent in suggestions and in questions. On motion of Commissioner Lusk the report of the committee was adopted. Commissioner Maxson thought that the committee should be authorized to receive such suggestions as may be offered, make such changes as may seem advisable, and to take charge of the future interests of the measure. Dr J. M. Milne said the association should give some expression of its wishes, whether it was in favor of urging the measure or of taking no further action. For himself, he was in favor of pushing the measure. Commissioner Kenney offered the following: Resolved, That the association approve the idea of the township system, and of the necessary changes in the laws of the State so as to establish that system. After discussion, Commissioner Maxson offered the following as a substitute : Resolved, That we approve the general features of the township system, and that the committee appointed at our last meeting be continued, and instructed to invite suggestions, criticisms and amendments to the bill pre- sented, with a view to perfecting and securing the passage of said measure. The substitute was adopted, ayes 44; noes 12. Dr E. A. Sheldon moved that Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruc- tion Charles R. Skinner be added to the committee. Carried. On motion the committee was instructed to appoint a time when objections and suggestions could be offered. Full Text of Proposed Bill The following is the full text of the bill in reference to the town- ship system, as introduced by Hon. D. E. Ainsworth, in the Assembly, May 9, 1889, with such amendments as were agreed upon by the special committee at a meeting held Thursday noon, during the recess of the association: AN ACT to provide for the election of school directors in the several towns of this State, and to prescribe their powers and duties. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly do enact as follows: Section 1 On the first Tuesday of June, following the passage of this act, there shall be held in every town in this State, a meeting of persons duly qualified to vote by section 3 of this act, at which there shall be elected by ballot nine school directors, whose terms of office and whose powers and duties shall be as hereinafter provided. The penalty for noncompliance with the requirements of this section shall be the withholding of public school moneys to which the town failing to comply would otherwise be entitled. The terms of office of all school directors elected under this section shall begin on the day of the organization of the board of directors as hereinafter provided. § 2 This election shall be held at the place or places at which the last preceding meeting or meetings for the election of town officers were held. 20 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK If, for any reason, an election can not be held at the place or places where the last meeting or meetings for the election of town officers were held, the inspectors of election hereinafter provided for shall designate a suitable place therefor and give written notice thereof to the town clerk at least twenty days prior to the date fixed for the holding of such election. The polls shall he opened from nine o'clock in the forenoon to five o'clock in the afternoon, and no votes shall be received except between the hours thus designated. The ballots to be used at such elections shall contain the names of the persons to be voted for, and may be either written or printed or partly written and partly printed. The town clerk shall, at the expense of the town provide a suitable box in which the ballots shall ibe deposited as they are received, and a book to be used as a poll list. § 3 Every person of full age who shall have resided one year in the State, four months in the county and thirty days in the town, preceding the date of the meeting for the election of school directors, and who is entitled to hold lands in this State, and who owns or hires real property in such town liable to taxation, and every resident of such town who is a citizen of the United States above the age of twenty-one years, and' who is a parent of a child or children of school age, some one or more of whom shall have attended a district school in such town for a period of at least eight weeks within one year preceding, and every such person not being the parent who shall have permanently residing with him or her such child or children, and every such resident and citizen aforesaid, who owns any personal property assessed on the last preceding assessment-roll of the town, exceeding fifty dollars in value, exclusive of such as is exempt from execu- tion, and no others, shall be entitled to vote at any town meeting held in such town for the election of school directors. Any person qualified to vote for school directors under this section shall be eligible to the office of school directors provided always, that any person holding the office of supervisor shall not be eligible to the office of school director. § 4 If any person offering to vote at any such election shall be challenged as unqualified by any legal voter, the inspectors, or one of them, shall require the person so offering to vote to make the following declaration: " I do declare and affirm that I am an actual resident of this town, and that I am legally qualified to vote at this election." And every person making such declaration shall be permitted to vote; but if any person shall refuse to make such declaration his ballot shall not be received by the inspectors. Any person who upon being so challenged shall wilfully make a false declaration of his right to vote at such election, shall be deemed guilty of misdemeanor, and punished by imprisonment in the county jail for not less than six months nor more than one year. Any person who shall vote at such election, not being duly qualified, shall, though not challenged, forfeit the sum of ten dollars, to be sued for by the supervisor of the town for the benefit of the schools of the town. § 5 The officers of the town duly qualified to act for the town and receive the ballots of the electors at town meetings, shall constitute the board of inspectors of said election, and shall receive and deposit in the ballot-box the votes cast at said election. In case of a vacancy in the board of inspectors at the time of opening the polls, the remaining inspector or THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 21 inspectors shall appoint persons to fill the vacancies. If, at the time for opening the polls, there is no inspector of election present, the legal voters present shall organize and select three persons who are qualified voters, to act as inspectors of election, and the persons so selected shall possess all the powers and be subject to all the responsibilities that the regular inspectors provided for by this act would be. They shall appoint one of their number chairman of the board, who shall administer to the other inspectors the oath of office as prescribed by the constitution, and the same oath shall then be administered to the chairman by one of the other inspectors. The inspectors, or one of them, shall record in a book to be provided for that purpose, the name of each elector as he deposits his ballot. Any inspector who shall refuse or neglect to record the name of a person whose ballot is received by the inspectors shall be liable to a fine of twenty-five dollars to be sued for by the supervisors of the town for the benefit of the schools of the town. Inspectors shall be entitled to receive the same compensation for their services, and payable in the same manner, as now provided by law for the payment of inspectors of election, except that at all meetings for the election of school directors, the work shall be completed in one day, and they shall receive compensation for one day's service. § 6 When the polls shall have been closed, the inspectors shall proceed to canvass the votes cast. They shall first count the ballots without open- ing them to determine if they tally with the number of names on the poll list. If they exceed that number, enough unopened ballots shall be with- drawn to make them correspond. They shall then ascertain the number of votes cast for each person voted for for the office of school director, and in towns having but one polling place, shall declare the persons receiving the highest number of votes, elected, and certify the same in writing to the town clerk, who shall file the same in his office. In case two persons shall have an equal number of votes for the same office, the inspectors of election shall immediately choose one of such persons. If the inspectors of election can not agree, the supervisor of the town shall, by his certificate in writing to be filed with the town clerk decide the matter. In towns having more than one polling place, the inspectors shall certify the number of votes cast for each candidate. Inspectors shall, within twenty-four hours from the closing of the polls, file with the town clerk the certificates above pro- vided for and the poll lists kept at such election. In towns having more than one polling place, the town board of canvassers shall meet at the town clerk's office two days after election, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, and proceed to canvass and ascertain from the certificates filed as aforesaid, the result of the election and by a certificate to be signed by them, declare the persons who were elected by reason of having received the highest number respectively for said offices, and file said certificate with the town clerk. § 7 An appeal from such election or from any of the acts of the inspectors may be taken to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, whose decision in the matter shall be final. Such Superintendent may, in his discretion, order a new election in any town. § 8 Within ten days from the passage of this act the State Superintendent 22 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK of Public Instruction shall notify the several school commissioners of the State of the passage of such act by mailing to each commissioner a printed copy of the act. He shall also supply said commissioners with printed copies of the act sufficient to furnish one copy to each supervisor and town clerk in the State. Upon the receipt of such printed copies of this act, the several school commissioners shall immediately notify the supervisors and town clerks of the towns with their several districts of the passage of the act by transmitting a printed copy of the same. At least twenty days before the date of the first meeting, provided for by this act, each town clerk shall give notice of such meeting by posting a printed notice on the door of each schoolhouse within the town, except in such districts as are exempted from the operations of this act, and in ten other public places in said town. He shall also cause such notice to be inserted in every news- paper regularly published in said town, once a week for two weeks prior to the meeting. Such publication shall be paid for at the regular legal rates, and shall be a charge upon the town in which said newspaper is published, to be paid as other town charges are paid. Such printed and published notice shall be properly displayed, and shall read in part as follows : " Election of school directors, town of Pursuant to the provisions of chapter of the Laws of 18 , entitled 'An act to provide for the election of school directors in the several towns of this State and to prescribe their powers and duties ', notice is hereby given to all persons duly qualified to vote by section 3 of said act (herewith given in full) that a meeting of such persons residing in the town of (excepting residents in union free school districts organized under the general law relating to union free school districts, and school districts organized under special laws) will be held on Tuesday, June , 18 , between the hours of nine o'clock in the morning and five o'clock in the afternoon, for the purpose of electing nine school directors for said town, at the following place or places :" The notice shall then distinctly name the place or places at which said meeting or meetings will be held for said town, and shall also contain, in full, section three of this act, specifying who are legally qualified voters at such meeting. § 9 Within two days after the filing of the certificate of the inspectors of election setting forth the election of school directors, with the town clerk, the town clerk shall transmit to each person so elected a notice of election to said office, and such person, shall within ten days after receiv- ing said notice, file with the town clerk a written acceptance of the office, and shall also take and subscribe to the constitutional oath of office before the town clerk or other officer authorized to administer oaths. For the purpose of this act, the town clerk is hereby authorized to administer the oath of office. The oath of office shall be filed and recorded in the office of the town clerk. In case an}' person shall decline the office to which he has been elected, or shall fail to accept the same and take the required oath within the stated time, the office shall be vacant, and the town clerk shall immediately notify the school commissioner of the district, and that officer shall, within ten days, appoint a suitable and qualified person to fill the vacancy, and notify the town clerk of such appointment. Such THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 23 person shall file his acceptance and take the required oath within ten days from the date of appointment. Such person shall hold the office, for the unexpired term of the person who was elected to the office, and in whose place the appointment was made. § 10 Within twenty days after the first election of school directors under this act, the directors so chosen shall meet at the offices of the town clerks of the various towns and classify themselves by lot, three to serve one year, three to serve two years, three to serve three years. At such meeting of the school directors held for the purpose of classification as aforesaid, the directors shall organize as a Iboard, and shall choose one of their number as chairman of such board and one of their number as secretary, whose term of office shall be until the first annual meeting of the board. The secretary shall be entitled to a compensation at a rate to be fixed by the said board of school directors not to exceed two hundred dollars per annum. The supervisor of the town shall act as treasurer of the board and he shall serve without additional compensation. He shall assume the duties of the office immediately upon the organization of the board and hold office until his successor shall have qualified. The treasurer shall not be entitled to vote upon any question at any meeting of the board of directors. § 11 After the first election of school directors held under this act, there shall be elected in every town in this State in each year thereafter, three school directors. They shall be elected in the manner hereinbefore pre- scribed by this act, and shall hold office for three years. The annual meeting for the election of school directors shall be held on the first Tuesday of May in each year. Notice of such annual meeting for the election of school directors, shall be given by the board of school directors. Said notice shall be issued by the chairman and secretary of the board, acting for said board, and shall be given in all respects according to the provisions of section eight of this act, at least twenty days before the date of the annual meeting. Within five days after the holding of the annual meeting for the election of school directors, the town clerk shall notify the persons elected and shall also notify the secretary of the board of directors of the result of the election, giving the names of persons elected. The persons declared elected, shall notify the town clerk of their acceptance of the office within ten days after receiving such notice and take the oath prescribed by section 9 of this act. The terms of office of all school directors elected under this section shall begin on the first Tuesday of June following the election. § 12 It shall be the duty of the chairman of the town board of school directors, First. To prescribe, when present, at all meetings of the board. Second. To countersign all orders legally drawn by the secretary of the board upon the treasurer for the moneys to be disbursed for school purposes, when such orders have been authorized by the board. Third. To appear for and on behalf of the board of directors in all suits brought by or against the same, when no other directions shall be given by the qualified voters at an annual meeting. Fourth. To perform such other duties as are or shall be by law required of such chairman. 24 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK § 13 It shall be the duty of the secretary of the town board of school directors, First. To act as clerk when present, at all meetings of the board. Second. To record the proceedings of all meetings of the board orders, resolutions, in proper record books. Third. To give written notice of all special meetings of the board. Fourth. To draw and sign warrants upon the treasurer for all moneys to be disbursed by the town for school purposes, and present them to the chairman to Ibe countersigned by that officer. Each order shall specify the object for which, and the fund upon which it is drawn. Fifth. To draw and sign all contracts with teachers when directed by the board, and present them to the chairman for his signature. Sixth. To receive and properly file in his office all books and papers belonging to the directors and all reports to the board from the trustees of the several subdistricts of the town. Seventh. To prepare, under the direction of the board of directors, all reports required by law, and to forward the same to the proper officers. Eighth. To receive all such communications, blanks and documents as may be transmitted to him iby the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the school commissioners, or other officers having official connection with the board, and dispose of the same in the manner directed by said officers. Ninth. Immediately after the organization of the board of school directors, the secretary shall transmit to the school commissioner having jurisdiction of the town, and to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, a certified statement of the names and post-office addresses of the members and officers of said board, and in case there shall be a change in the membership, or in the officers during the year, he shall immediately notify the school commissioner and State Superintendents of such change. Tenth. On or before the first day of November of each year to make and deliver to the supervisor of the town a certified copy of all state- ments on file in his office, of moneys voted to Ibe raised in the town for school purposes. Eleventh. To notify the school commissioner of the district of the time when each school in the town begins, and the length of term. Twelfth. To preserve and keep all books, papers and other docu- ments belonging to his office or to the town, when not otherwise pro- vided for, and to deliver the same to his successor in office. Thirteenth. To perform such duties as are or shall be required by law or by the board of school directors. § 14 It shall be the duty of the treasurer of the board, First. To receive, and hold subject to proper orders, all school and library moneys belonging to the town, and to keep such moneys separate and distinct from all other funds that may come into his hands. Second. To pay all orders of the secretary, when lawfully drawn and THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 25 countersigned by the chairman of the board, out of any money in his hands belonging to the fund upon which such orders may be drawn. Third. To keep a book in which all the moneys received and dis- bursed shall be entered, the sources from which the same have been received and the persons to whom and the objects for which the same have been paid. Fourth. To present to the board of school directors, at the close of the school year, a report in writing, containing a statement of all moneys received during the preceding year, and each item of disbursements made, and exhibit the vouchers therefor. He shall also furnish to the board, whenever requested by said board, a statement showing the exact con- dition of all funds under his charge. Fifth. To apply, at the proper time, to the county treasurer for all school and library moneys belonging to the town; also to the treasurer of any other township from which any money may be due. On receipt of any moneys belonging to the town, he shall notify the secretary of the same, who shall report the fact to the board. Sixth. To give bonds with satisfactory sureties to the board when required by the board in such amount as may be required. § 15 The said board of school directors of every town shall severally have power, and it shall be their duty: First. To pass such by-laws as they may deem proper for regulation and exercise of their lawful business and powers. Second. In connection with the school commissioner to establish such rules and regulations concerning the order and discipline of the schools, in the several departments thereof as they may deem necessary to secure the best educational results. Third. In connection with the school commissioner, to grade and classify the schools of the town, and to regulate the admission of pupils and their transfer from one class or department or school to another, as their scholarship shall warrant. Fourth. To prescribe the textbooks to be used in the schools, and to compel a uniformity in the use of the same, and to furnish the same to pupils out of any moneys provided for that purpose. Fifth. To take charge and possession of the schoolhouses, sites, lots, furniture, books, apparatus, and all school property within their respec- tive towns ; and the title of the same shall be vested respectively in said board of directors, and the same shall not be subject to taxation for any purpose. Sixth. To take and hold for the use of the schools of the town or of any department of the same, any real estate transferred to it by gift, grant, bequest or devise, or any gift, legacy or annuity, of whatever kind, given or bequeathed to the said board, and apply the same, or the interest or proceeds thereof, according to the instructions of the donor testator. Seventh. To have, in all respects, the superintendence, management and control of said schools, and to establish in the same an academical department or high school, whenever, in their judgment the same is warranted by the demand for such instruction ; to receive into said 26 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK schools and pupils residing out of said towns, and to regulate and estab- lish the tuition fees of such nonresident pupils in the several depart- ments of said schools to provide fuel, furniture, apparatus and other necessaries for the use of said schools, and to appoint such librarians as they may, from time to time, deem necessary. Eighth. To contract with and employ qualified teachers in the several departments of instruction, in all not less than one for every fifty pupils attending any school ; to remove them at any time for neglect of duty or for immoral conduct, and to pay the wages of such teachers out of the moneys appropriated for that purpose. Ninth. To remove any member of their board for official misconduct. But a written copy of all charges made of such misconduct shall be served upon him at least ten days before the time appointed for a hearing of the same; and he shall be allowed a full and fair oppor- tunity to refute such charges before removal. Tenth. To purchase on lease sites, or to build, hire or purchase schoolhouses. Eleventh. To authorize and direct the sale of any school property when the same shall no longer be needed for use of a subdistrict. Twelfth. To authorize the borrowing of money as hereinafter provided. Thirteenth. To make expenditures for the support of a township library. Fourteenth. To determine the number of months, in addition to the minimum required by law, that the schools of the town shall be maintained. Fifteenth. When directed by an annual township meeting, to pro- vide textbooks for use in the schools of the town, the same to be loaned to the pupils without charge. Sixteenth. To give such directions and make such provisions as they shall deem necessary in relation to the prosecution or defense of any suit or proceeding in which the board may be a party or interested. § 16 The board of school directors shall hold stated meetings as often as once each month, at such fixed time and place as the board shall deter- mine. The annual meeting of the board shall be held on the first Tuesday of June in each year at three o'clock in the afternoon, at which officers for the ensuing year shall be chosen as provided in section 10 of this act. Special meetings of the board may be called by the chairman upon the request of two members of the board by serving a written notice of the time and place of such meeting upon every member of the board at least forty-eight hours before such meeting is to take place. No act authorized to be done by the board shall be valid unless voted at a meeting of the board. § 17 The office of school director shall become vacant upon the occur- rence of any of the following events : First. The death of the incumbent; Second. His resignation ; Third. His removal from office; Fourth. His removal from town ; Fifth. His conviction of any infamous crime; THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 2*] Sixth. Neglect to attend two stated consecutive meetings of the board, without satisfactory excuse; Seventh. His election or appointment being declared void by a competent tribunal ; Eighth. His neglect to file his acceptance of office, or his oath of office, or to give or renew any official bond according to law. Any vacancy in the board of school directors, occurring through refusal to serve, removal, resignation, or other legal cause, shall be filled within twenty days from the occurrence of such vacancy, by the school commissioner of the district in which the town is located, and the person so appointed shall serve for the unexpired term of the director whose place the appointment shall be made. Any person qualified by law to vote for school directors shall be eligible to appoint- ment as director to fill the vacancy. § 18 Each township district organized under the provisions of this act shall be a body corporate for public purposes under the name and style of "The school district of the town of " (give name of town), and in that name may purchase, hold and sell property, become party to suits and contracts, and perform other corporative acts. § io The board of school directors shall have power to secure and estab- lish a room or an office for the use of the board at some central and convenient point in the town, and to supply the necessary fuel and fur- niture therefor, and shall provide such janitor service as may be required. Such room shall be under the care of the secretary, and proper arrange- ment shall be made for preserving books and papers belonging to the board, and for such opening of the room for the convenience of the public, as may be compatible with duties of the board. § 20 When the board of school directors shall have completed their first organization under this act and according to its provisions, the said board shall have, in connection with the school commissioner of the district and the trustees of the various school districts, a general supervision of the schools of the town, exclusive of such districts as are excepted from the operation of this act. All trustees holding office at the time of the passage of this act shall hold office until the expiration of the current school year, and shall make their reports according to law. At the expiration of the school year following the passage of this act, all school districts not herein excepted shall cease to exist and school district offices shall become vacant, except that all districts shall continue to exist in law until all the just debts of said districts are fully paid and satisfied, and to that end the trustees and other officers shall continue in office, and the inhabitants may hold special meetings, elect officers to supply vacancies and vote taxes, and all other acts necessary to raise money and pay such debts shall be done by the inhabitants and officers of the district. § 21 At the expiration of the school year next succeeding the passage of this act, the trustees of all school districts not excepted from the pro- visions thereof, shall turn over to the town board of school directors, all books and papers belonging to the district, and shall make a statement under oath of the exact financial condition of the district, and the collector of such district shall turn over to the treasurer of such board all moneys 28 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK in his possession, provided said school district shall be entirely free from debts and obligations. In all cases where school districts are not free from debts, all moneys in the hands of the district shall be withheld until a final statement shall be made. Such districts shall report through the trustees thereof to the board of directors once in three months, until said directors are free from debt, the exact financial condition of the district. § 22 Within three months after the passage of this act, the assessors of each town shall appraise all the school property, belonging to the several districts of the town, excepting union free school districts and school dis- tricts organized under special laws, deducting therefrom the amount of debts and liabilities of each school district, and shall make a detailed report of such appraisal to the board of school directors, and to the board of supervisors at the next annual meeting of said supervisors. Such report of appraisal shall be under oath, and shall be signed by a majority of the assessors of the town. Said board of supervisors shall levy the amount of such appraisal upon the entire property of the town (excepting such districts as are exempt from the provisions of this act) which sum shall be collected with the next town tax, and paid into the hands of the treasurer of the board of school directors. Within thirty days from the receipt of such money by the said treasurer, he shall remit proportionately to the tax- payers of each district upon the last assessment-roll of such district the said appraised value of the school property as previously determined. Whenever the treasurer of the board of school directors shall have remitted to each taxpayer the amount due, the schoolhouses and sites shall be con- sidered as wholly belonging to and under the control of said board of school directors. In case of the refusal of any to accept the amount so remitted the tender shall be deemed equivalent to payment, and the amount shall be placed to the credit of said taxpayer upon the books of the treasurer. § 23 The town board of school directors shall divide the township into such number of subdistricts as they may deem necessary, distinctly describ- ing the boundaries thereof, which subdistricts they shall properly number. Such divisions into subdistricts, shall be filed with a description of bound- aries, with the secretary of the township board of school directors, after it shall have been approved by the school commissioner having jurisdiction. The board of school directors shall have power, with the consent of the school commissioner, to change any subdistrict boundary as may be found necessary, such change to be properly described and filed with the secretary of the board of directors. § 24. The board of school directors of any town shall have the power, and it shall be their duty to appoint or employ some person in each sub- district, who shall act as the representative of said board, and under its instructions to have such care of the schoolhouse and grounds in such sub- district as the said board shall direct, and to require such representative to report to the board at such times as may be fixed by the board. § 25 All persons who are not less than six and not more than eighteen years of age shall have an equal right to attend school in the subdistrict in which they reside, and in case any pupil can be better accommodated at a school in an adjoining subdistrict, within the same township, the board of school directors, shall, upon application, grant permission to such pupil THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 20. to attend such school; or in case any pupil can be better accommodated at a school taught in the subdistrict of an adjoining township, he may be transferred for educational purposes to such adjoining township hereinafter provided. § 26 When, in the judgment of the board of school directors any pupil can be better accommodated at a school in an adjoining township at the request of the parent or legal guardian the board of school directors of the township in which said pupil resides may transfer such pupil for educational purposes to such adjoining township, and shall at the same time send notice of such transfer to the board of school directors of the town- ship to which such pupil is transferred, and also to the director of the sub- district in which said pupil shall attend school. Whenever pupils have been transferred for educational purposes, the board of school directors of the township to which the transfer is made, shall, through its chairman and clerk make out and present to board of school directors of the township making the transfer a sworn statement of the amount due for the tuition of such transferred pupils, and the board of school directors receiving such statement shall immediately order the township treasurer of their township to pay such amount to the treasurer of the township whose board furnishes such statement, which amount shall be paid on demand from the school funds of the township. The amount of tuition of transferred pupils shall be determined by dividing the total current expenses of the schools of the township in which such transferred pupils attend school, by the average number of pupils belonging to such schools, as the same shall be shown by the records for the school year last closed, or may be determined by agreement between the boards of education of the several towns before such transfer is made. § 2.7 By a two-third vote of the board of directors a special town meeting may be ordered for the consideration of matters relating to the interests of the schools of the town. Whenever such a vote shall be taken, and a special town meeting ordered, the secretary shall publish a notice of the time of such meeting in the newspapers published in said town at least ten days before the time of such meeting, and if there are no newspapers published in said town, then he shall post printed notices of such meeting on the door of each schoolhouse in the town and in ten other prominent places in the town. Such notice shall distinctly state the object for which said special meeting has been called, and shall be signed by the chairman and secretary of the board. Such notice shall include section three of this act, specifying who are legally qualified voters for school directors. § 28 The board of school directors of every town shall provide that each school in every town shall be visited at least once in each month by at least one of the members of the board, and a verbal or written report of such visits shall be made at the regular meetings of the board of directors. § 29 The said board of school directors shall take charge of all school libraries in the various school districts, and they shall be under their con- trol. It shall have power to appoint a librarian, who shall be under the direction of the board, and who will under the direction of the board collect all the books in the various libraries in the school districts in the town into one town school library. The said board may in its discretion 30 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK provide a separate library for each of the schools in the town and may appoint a librarian for each school, and prescribe his powers and duties. § 30 All union free school districts organized under the provisions of the .general law relating to union free school districts, and all school districts organized under special laws, shall be excepted from the operations of this act, and the affairs of such school districts shall be conducted without ref- erence thereto, and the residents of such districts shall not be entitled to vote for school directors at any town election for such officers except as provided in this section. Whenever at any meeting of the voters of any union free school district organized under the general law relating to union free school districts, or of any school district organized under a special act, duly called, a majority of the voters present and voting shall determine to transfer such district to the control of the board of school directors of the town, the clerk of such district shall notify the secretary of the board of directors within ten days, and at the expiration of the school year within which such action was taken, said school district shall cease to exist except for the purpose of closing up matters in said district, and the district shall thereafter be under the control of the board of school directors, who shall give the subdistrict a number, specify its boundaries and provide for the election of trustees in said subdistrict, and take such action in all respects as shall place the said subdistrict under its control the same as other sub- districts. The secretary of the board of school directors shall notify the assessors of the town of such action, and the assessors shall proceed to appraise the school property of said district in the manner prescribed by section 22 of this act. The board of supervisors shall levy the appraised value of school property in such district upon the property of the town, not otherwise excepted from the operations of this act, and remittances shall be made to the taxpayers of such subdistrict as in said section provided. § 31 With the advice of the school commissioner, the board of school directors shall specify the studies to be pursued in the schools of the district, and shall prescribe the textbooks to be used, which shall be uniform in each subject that may be taught; but the textbooks once adopted under the pro- visions of this act shall not be changed within five years, except by the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members of the board of directors present at any regular meeting of the board. Each board making a selec- tion of textbooks under this act shall make a record thereof in their proceedings. § 32 The board of school directors shall employ all legally qualified teachers necessary for the schools of the township. Every contract shall be authorized by said board, and shall be in writing and signed by the chair- man and clerk of said board on behalf of the district and by the teacher. Said contract shall specify the wages agreed upon, the times at which pay- ments shall be made, which shall be as often as once in each calendar month, and shall require the teacher to keep a complete and correct register of the school in accordance with the form approved by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and to furnish the secretary of the board with a cor- rect summary of the same at the close of each term of school. Said con- tract shall be filed with the secretary of the board and a duplicate thereof shall be furnished the teacher. No contract with any person not holding a legal certificate of qualification authorizing such person to teach shall be THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 31 valid, and all such contracts shall terminate if the certificate shall expire by limitation and shall not immediately be renewed, or if it shall be sus- pended or revoked by proper legal authority. § 33 It shall be the duty of the town board of school directors to pro- vide for the taking of the annual school census of the township. Said census shall be taken between the first and tenth day of June in each year. The person or persons taking such census shall make a list in writing of the names and ages of all the children between the ages of six and eighteen years, actually residing in the township, specifying also the number of males and the number of females; and a copy of said list shall be verified by the oath or affirmation of the person or persons taking such census by affidavit appended thereto, or indorsed thereon, setting forth that it is a correct list of the names of all the children between the ages aforesaid residing in the district, which affidavit may be made before the secretary of the board of school directors; and said list shall be filed with the said secretary. Chil- dren in alms-houses, prisons, or asylums, not otherwise residents of the township and not attending the school shall not be included in said census, nor shall Indian children be so included unless they attend the school, or their parents are liable to pay taxes therein. § 34 It shall be the duty of the board of school directors to act promptly upon such recommendations of school commissioners as said officers are authorized to make to the board in reference to matters pertaining to the school interests of the town. Nothing in this act shall be construed to affect the powers and duties now conferred by law upon the school commissioners relating to supervision of schools, except when the same may be inconsistent, with this act. § 35, The board of school directors shall purchase, at the expense of the district, such textbooks as may be necessary for the use of the children whose parents or guardians are not able to furnish the same; and said board shall also purchase when authorized by the voters at any annual meet- ing for the election of directors, all necessary textbooks for the use of all pupils in the several schools in the district. Any textbook purchased as provided herein, shall be the property of the district, and shall be loaned to pupils free of charge, under such rules and regulations for their careful use and return as said board may establish. The amount of funds required to make such purchase of textbooks as herein provided, shall be included in the report to the board of supervisors and the same shall be levied in like manner as other taxes. § 36 The town board of school trustees shall provide and maintain one or more schools, as may be necessary, in each subdistrict of the township, for at least thirty-two weeks in each school year, under penalty of the forfeiture of the township's share of the apportionment of the public school moneys. All schools in the township shall be maintained an equal length of time. The school year shall begin on the twenty-sixth day of July, and a school month shall consist of four weeks of five days each, including all legal holidays that may occur during the progress of the schools. § 37 The board of school directors shall cause all pupils attending the schools of the township to be classified according to their intellectual pro- gress and to cause them to be taught in such schools or departments as they may deem expedient; but no separate school or department shall be kept for any persons on account of race or color. 32 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK § 38 It shall not be lawful for any board of school directors to direct the payment of state moneys for any purpose except the payment of teachers' wages, or for the payment of library moneys for any other than library purposes. A violation of this section shall be deemed a misdemeanor, and punishable as such, and members of the board shall be held personally liable for any moneys diverted contrary to the provisions of this section. § 39 The board of school directors having supervision over the schools of any town of this state, shall provide suitable and convenient water- closets or privies for each of the schools under their charge, at least two in number, which shall be entirely separate each from the other, and having separate means of access, and the approaches thereto shall be separated by a substantial close fence not less than seven feet in height. It shall be the duty of the officers aforesaid to see that the same are kept at all times in a clean and wholesome condition, and a failure to comply with the pro- visions of this section on the part of the board of directors shall be sufficient grounds for removal from office, and for withholding from the town, such share of the public school moneys of the state as the State Superintendent of Public Instruction may determine. § 40 Between the twenty-fifth day of July and the first day of August of each the town board of school directors shall make a report, in dupli- cate, one copy of which shall be filed with the secretary of the board and one copy shall be filed with the school commissioner. Said report shall set forth the following: First. The whole number of children, male and female, in the town between the ages of six and eighteen according to the census taken as provided by section 35. Second.. The whole number of pupils enrolled in the schools of the town during the year. Third. The average number of pupils belonging to the schools for the year. Fourth. The average daily attendance of pupils in the schools for the year. Fifth. The length of time in days that the schools have been maintained. Sixth. The number of schools in the district and the number of teachers employed. Seventh. The number of schoolhouses and the valuation of school property. Eighth. The number of volumes in the school libraries and the num- ber of volumes purchased during the year. Ninth. The amount of school revenue received by the board and the source from which derived. Tenth. The amount of expenditures by the town board and the purposes for which expended. Eleventh. The amount of the indebtedness of the town board, the amount due and the amount remaining on hand at the close of the year. Twelfth. The subjects taught in the schools and the textbooks used. Thirteenth. Such other facts and statistics in regard to the schools and the subjects of education as the State Superintendent of Public Instruction shall direct. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 33 § 41 On or before the first day of November following the passage of this act, the board of school directors in each town shall transmit to the board of supervisors of the county a full statement of the amounts esti- mated to be necessary for the proper maintenance and management of the schools of the town for the year beginning on the first day of March next succeeding, together with a verified statement of moneys expended and necessary to be expended from the date of organization of the board of directors to the first of March following for which the board of directors has given its obligations, and the said board of supervisors shall levy such amount in the next succeeding tax levy of the town, to be collected in the same manner as other town taxes are collected. The amounts thus collected in each town shall be paid to the treasurer of the county and by him paid to the treasurer of the board of school directors. § 42 On or before the first day of November in each year, the board of school directors in each town shall transmit to the board of supervisors of the county, a full statement of the amounts estimated to be necessary for the maintenance of the schools of the town and such other estimates as may be considered necessary by the board of directors for the proper man- agement of the schools of the town for the year beginning March first, next succeeding the annual meeting of the board of supervisors, and the said board of supervisors shall levy such amount in the next tax levy of the town to be collected in the same manner as other taxes are collected. The amounts thus collected in each town shall be paid to the treasurer of the county and by him to the treasurer of the board of school directors. In case the board of supervisors shall fail to levy the tax or any part of the same, according to the estimate of the board of school directors said board of school directors shall report the fact to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, giving in full the estimate furnished to the said board of supervisors. Whenever such estimate shall be approved by the State Super- intendent of Public Instruction by notice to the chairman of the board of school directors, the board shall issue a warrant and tax list to the collector of the town who shall collect the same, and pay over to the treasurer of the county, to be paid to the treasurer of the board of school directors within thirty days from receipt thereof. The collector shall be paid the same rate per cent for collection as is now allowed by law for collection of moneys and have the same powers and be subject to the same liabilities. In all cases the tax levy is to be laid only upon such portions of the town as are not excepted from the provisions of this act. § 43 All estimates of the board of school directors to the board of supervisors shall be signed by the chairman and secretary of the board of directors and shall distinctly state in detail the items making up such esti- mate, which shall include estimates of teachers' wages, repairs, buildings and textbooks, and other items fully making up the sum required. § 44 In case of delay in the receipt of moneys collected for the use of the board of school directors, or in case of emergency requiring immediate expenditure of more money than can be made available through regular course of procedure, the board of school directors are hereby authorized to borrow such sums for not exceeding one year, as may be deemed necessary by a vote of the board, at the rate of interest not to exceed five per cent per annum. 34 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK § 45 In all cases where a town charge is provided by this act and not otherwise specified, it shall be understood to mean a charge upon such portion of the town as is not excepted from the operations of this act. § 46 All acts or parts of acts which are applicable to school districts as constituted at the passage of this act, and not inconsistent with the pro- visions of this act, shall apply to the government and management of schools by town boards of school directors and all acts or parts of acts inconsistent or in conflict with this act are hereby repealed. The first statement since 1897 in regard to the township system, appearing in the annual reports of the Commissioner of Education, appeared in the Annual Report of 1914. From this time until the passage of the bill considerable time and effort were spent to secure the necessary legislation to improve the rural schools. It is evident from the reports that every effort was made to secure the coopera- tion and suggestive help of those who would be most vitally effected by a change. In this report of 1914 (pages 96-101) the following statement appeared : Township System The present school district system had its origin in the law enacted in 1795. The changes in the condition of the country and the advancement in our civilization have been tremendous since that date. When schools were organized under this law, it was on the plan of associated effort. The in- habitants in settled portions of the State banded together for the purpose of maintaining a school. As the settlement and development of the country extended, new associations were organized and, under the law of 1812, school districts were formed, the entire territory of the State being organ- ized into such districts. The simplicity of the course of study, the number of children to receive instruction and the relatively small expenditure for the maintenance of a school enabled the people of the State in these early days to maintain satisfactory schools in the plan of the school district organization. Such plan does not meet the conditions of 1914. In this State there are 1400 school districts having an assessed valuation of $20,000 or less. There are 4000 districts having an assessed valuation of $40,000 or less. This means that each of these 4000 districts must depend for its financial support on ten farms with an average value of $4000. In about one-half of these districts the average daily attendance is less than ten. It is not possible to maintain a successful school with so few children and with so little property for its support, and accomplish the results demanded of rural schools in this age. The two most essential elements in the maintenance of a school are a sufficient number of children to grade it properly and a sufficient amount of taxable property to support it without such taxation being burdensome. These two elements of school organization are being recognized throughout the entire country and for several years there has been a movement favorable to the consolidation of weak country school districts so that a greater number of children, a larger amount of THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 35 taxable property, and more public funds may 'be brought to the support of a single school. There has been no movement in recent years looking to the improvement of the educational facilities in the agricultural sections of the State, which is of more importance than the one intended to bring about the consolidation of the weak school districts throughout the State. The law should be amended by providing that when a superintendent consoli- dates two or more districts the one district shall receive the same amount of State funds that it would receive if consolidated by vote of the districts. One great injustice in the present plan is the inequality of taxation. An inequality in taxation for school purposes means an inequality in educational opportunity. School districts have been formed without reference in any way to assessed valuations. One district may have an assessed valuation of $148,000 and an adjoining district a valuation of only $16,000. The latter district may have as many children to educate as the former but the inequal- ity of taxation is apparent. Then, too, some of the children residing in the weaker districts may live one mile nearer the school in the other district. Why should not such children attend the school which is most accessible to them? The following information relative to the rate of taxation and the cost per pupil of maintaining schools in several towns located in differ- ent parts of the State was taken from the last annual reports of district superintendents : COUNTY DISTRICT Albany 13 Berne Allegany 8 Burns S " Cattaraugus 13 Franklinville . " 3 " Clinton 10 Saranac " S " Cortland 11 Preble 8 " Delaware 17 Andes Dutchess 10 East Fishkill . " 13 " " Erie 1 Wales Franklin 18 Malone " 13 " Fulton 1 Northampton . TAX RATE .0096 .OO42 COST PER PUPIL $36 20 16 36 .0074 .0045 Si 29 17 85 .0085 .OO34 22 20 IS 41 .035 .010 30 83 10 00 .0123 .0054 67 44 19 74 .02 .0081 32 36 IS SI .007 .0023 39 68 13 37 .0075 .0014 38 15 14 47 .0053 .003 27 27 6 97 .011 .0037 23 28 13 01 Similar illustrations from other counties of the State could be taken from the official records to show that the same condition of inequality of taxation for school purposes exists in every town of the State. For twenty-five years I have carefully studied the administration of our rural schools and have had very much to do with their management and, in the light of this experience, the best judgment which I now possess leads to the irresistible conclusion that the great improvements which should be made in our rural schools can not be accomplished until the township is made the administrative unit for the management of these schools. Until 36 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK the township unit may be substituted for the school district unit, our great hope is in the consolidation of weak school districts, as authorized by the law of 1913. Within the next few years district superintendents should reduce the number of these districts from 10,500 to less than 5000. When this result is accomplished the rural schools will be able to maintain the curriculum adapted to the present needs of the sections of the State in which such schools are located and to pay salaries which will command the teachers who have the preparation and training to direct properly the work of these schools. When these things are accomplished imagine the five thousand or less rural schools in this State, giving instruction to -the boys and girls from every farm and performing the kind of service which such schools should render for a period of ten years, and then imagine what the effect would be upon our agricultural interests and upon the life of the State. Thousands of dollars are wasted every year under the present system of collecting taxes in country school districts. Very often large sums of taxes remain uncollected; in many cases proper returns are not made; quite frequently taxes do not find their way into the treasury through the negligence of officers or for other reasons. You can appreciate the impos- sibility of organizing any effective kind of audit over our 10,500 school dis- tricts. The task is too stupendous to undertake. If the schools were on the basis of the township organization instead of the district organization, the town collector would collect all funds for school purposes at the same time that he collects all other taxes levied upon town property and this tax would be paid into the treasury of the school board for the town. The whole question of taxation, so far as schools are concerned, would be simpli- fied and the inequality which now exists throughout the several towns of the State would be eliminated. Unbusinesslike methods prevail under the present system of school admin- istration. A town may have eleven school districts and many have more. In that town are eleven boards of trustees, each of which gives but little attention to school conditions and necessities. Each does what is absolutely necessary in order to organize the school and maintain it, and does but little more. If there could be substituted in such town one board of five or seven members, serving without pay and selected at a special town school meeting where no questions other than school matters are considered, and this one board performed the work which is now performed by eleven separate boards, the result would be the adoption of business methods, an economy of expenditure, and an increased efficiency in the management of the schools in every particular. By the substitution of this administrative unit, the compulsory attendance law could be made more effective, the chief difficulties in connection with medical inspection would be solved, the ability of superintendents to inaugurate plans for the advancement of the schools and the improvement of school property would be greatly increased by an agreement with only one board where an understanding is now required with ten or fifteen boards. An expert in agricultural work could be employed for each town, a practical and valuable system of school libraries could be operated, the transfer of teachers from one school district to another in the same town, when local conditions made such transfer advis- able, would be possible, and the adoption of textbooks could be placed THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 37 upon an improved and satisfactory basis. Increased authority could safely be given to district superintendents under such a scheme of organization. Whole towns could be united and interested in the great rural problems which now confront the people in the agricultural sections. The school- house would become the meeting place for social, recreational and agri- cultural purposes and special functions along all these lines would be pro- vided to meet the educational necessities of the community. There has been widespread opposition to what is generally known as the township system of schools. This is due partially to a misunderstanding on the part of the people in the rural districts as to what that system is. Many of the people believe that the adoption of the township system means that some of the powers and rights of the localities are to be taken from them and centralized in the State. No such change is contemplated under this system. All the functions now exercised by local boards in the several districts of the State would continue to be exercised by local authorities. Under the proposed plan, larger powers would be given to local authorities, but the local authority would be a larger unit. Such authority would be the town instead of a fragment of a town. When the schools of an entire town are under the business administration of a single board and that board is chosen directly by the voters of the town at a meeting called especially for that purpose, it is evident that larger powers and more authority may be placed in the hands of such a responsible body of men. We should enter upon a campaign of education on this question but we should not enter upon an aggressive campaign for the adoption of this system until the organized and intelligent farmers of the State express approval of the plan and are willing to cooperate in such a movement. If the State Grange, the State Agricultural Society, the State Conference on Taxation and the Association of District Superintendents would come to the support of this movement and would jointly cooperate with the Education Department, it is my judgment that we should be willing to undertake the labor which such a plan would involve. I have no hesitancy in saying that, after an experi- ence of twenty-five years in rural school work, the adoption of the town- ship system would prove to be, next to the rural supervision plan recently adopted, one of the greatest uplifting forces in the improvement of our country schools and of rural life generally that has been put into oper- ation since the organization of our public school system. The following editorial in regard to the rural school problem appeared in the New York Times of November 30, 1914: The Little Red Schoolhouse A generation ago, in 1880, the pupils in the schools of the State numbered a little over 1,000,000. Of these, 42 per cent were in the cities and 58 per cent were in the country. Last year the school population had increased to over one million and a half, of whom 67 per cent were in the cities, and less than 33 per cent were in the country. Though the proportion in the country was somewhat larger relatively to the total, the actual school resources were, and are, in the country, shamefully inferior. The above facts, and many others equally significant, are brought out in the report on elementary education made by Thomas E. Finegan, Assistant 38 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Commissioner. Something has been done in recent years to better existing conditions, and it is in the right direction, but it is really but a beginning and not much of a beginning. The most promising measure is the consoli- dation of groups of poor schools, badly housed, badly taught, backward in the amount and kind of schooling, into single schools, better equipped, organized,- and taught. Another good measure — radically good in principle and capable of fertile extension — is the introduction of practical training in farming. So far this has taken the form of competition among pupils in actual production of specified products on home land. In Ulster county one experiment of this sort has been, on a small scale, strikingly successful, and it points to rich possibilities for the gradual adoption of a compre- hensive system. The essential virtue of the plan is that it provides for instruction in the science and art of farming, and the practical application of that instruction in a way which deeply interests the pupils in farm life while fitting them for its profitable pursuit. One very serious difficulty in the rural schools is the system of district organization, which it is proposed to replace by township organization, at the same time replacing supervision through local school commissioners by competent superintendents. The former plan is terribly wasteful not merely in money, but even more and worse in the matter of instruction, while the grossest inequalities are found in expenditure and in utility. By making the township the unit of organization the expenditure can be fairly equalized and far better and more varied schooling can be provided at the same cost. Better still, at a more liberal cost the benefits of schooling can be improved and multiplied in a ratio far exceeding the increase in cost. There are now in this State 10.500 school districts. The cost of schooling per pupil ranges all the way from $6.97 in district 13, in Malone, Franklin county, to $67.44 in district 8, in Preble, Cortland county. "A town may have 11 school districts, and may have more. In that town are 11 boards of trus- tees, each of which gives but little attention to school conditions and neces- sities." Commissioner Finegan says : If there could be substituted in such town one board of five or seven members, serving without pay and selected at a special town school meeting where no questions other than school matters are considered, and this one board performed the work which is now performed by eleven separate boards, the result would be the adoption of business methods, an economy of expenditure, and an increased efficiency in the management of the schools in every particular. By the substitution of this administrative unit, the compulsory attendance law could be made more effective, the chief difficul- ties in connection with medical inspection would be solved, the ability of Superintendents to inaugurate plans for the advancement of the schools and the improvement of school property would be greatly increased by an agree- ment with only one board where an understanding is now required with ten or fifteen boards. An expert in agricultural work could be employed for each town, a practical and valuable system of school libraries could be operated. . . . Whole towns could be united and interested in the great rural problems which now confront the people in the agricultural sections. Here is a work of the utmost importance for the State. A generation ago one-half only of the people of New York lived in cities; now 8,000,000 out of our 10,000,000 live away from the country. A very large part of the migration from the country to the town is due to the wretched condition of the rural schools. Not only are our farm lands neglected, badly tilled, THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 39 exhausted in some districts, but the culture of human beings, the raising of citizens, preparation for the national life, the most vital process of modern civilization, is stupidly and wastefully conducted. The Department of Education is working earnestly to remedy this evil. It should receive cordial support. The annual report of the Commissioner of Education in 1915 contains the following statement and a proposed law: Township Bill In order that the township bill may have proper consideration throughout the State, it will be introduced into the Legislature. It provides in sub- stance for the reorganization of rural schools to be administered on the basis of the town instead of on the basis of the school district. It is not intended to press this bill for legislative action until it has been thoroughly discussed throughout the State and until sentiment in the agricultural regions is crystalized and in favor of a reorganization of the rural schools. The bill submitted herewith is therefore presented as a tentative measure. It is subject to modification after it has been carefully studied by those interested in the rural school problem. Every individual and organization interested in rural life questions is requested to study the problems involved in the administration of our rural schools, to examine this tentative bill with care, to suggest how it may be improved, and to offer any assistance which may be rendered in the solution of this problem. The bill will be modified to meet any suggestions which will improve it and which will provide a better plan for administering the rural schools of the State. The proposed bill is as follows: AN ACT 1 To amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: Section I. Chapter 21 of the Laws of 1909, entitled "An act relating to education, constituting chapter 16 of the Consolidated Laws," as amended by chapter 140 of the Laws of 1910, is hereby amended by inserting therein a new article, to be known as article 11-a, and to read as follows: ARTICLE XI-A TOWN BOARDS OF EDUCATION Sec. 330 Town board of education 331 Qualification of members of board of education 332 Appointment of qfficers by board 333 Bond of treasurer 334 Vacancies in school offices 335 Board to constitute a body corporate 336 Meetings of board 337 Duties of clerk 338 Duties of treasurer 339 Powers of board of education 1 This bill in substance was introduced in the assembly of 1914 and again in 191 5 by Hon. Morrell E. Tallett of Madison county, chairman of the committee on public education. 40 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Sec 340 Schools to be free to children of town 341 Transfer of pupils 342 Schoolhouse sites 343 Erection, repair and improvement of school buildings 344 Annual school budget 345 Borrowing money in anticipation of collection of taxes 34b Tax on property in districts in two or more towns 347 Submission of certain questions to a vote of the town 348 Issue and sale of school bonds 349 State funds to be used for schools of town 350 Certain union free school districts not subject to provisions of article 351 School district officers abolished; terms continued to collect funds, pay claims, etc, 352 Outstanding bonds; existing school property 353 First school election 354 Time and place of annual meeting 355 Notice of annual school meeting 356 Special school meeting in towns 357 Qualifications of voters at school meetings 358 Preparation of list of qualified electors 359 Inspectors of election 360 Nomination and ballots 361 Conduct of school meetings; challenges 362 Canvass of votes; declaration of result 363 Successful candidates to be notified of election 364 Appeals to the Commissioner of Education Sec. 330 Town board of education. 1 A town board of education in each town of the State, having jurisdiction over all the schools in the town as hereinafter provided, except in union free school districts having a popula- tion of fifteen hundred or more, is hereby established to begin on the first day of August 1917. Such board shall consist of seven members. The term of office of each member shall be three years except that, of the members first elected hereunder, two shall hold office until August I, iot8, three until August 1, 1919, and two until August 1, 1920. The terms of office of such members shall begin on the first day of August following their election. 2 Where there are two or more union free school districts having a population of less than fifteen hundred, situated wholly or partly in a town it shall be the duty of the district superintendent to execute an order or orders altering the boundaries of such union free school districts so that they shall include the remainder of the territory in such town. The district superintendent in so altering the boundaries of such district shall divide the territory in the town in such a way as to conveniently provide for the education of the children of the town and to equitably apportion the appor- tionment of school moneys. The said districts as so altered shall be subject to the provisions of this article and the boards of education of such districts shall be elected in the same manner and shall possess the same power.,_ and exercise the same duties as boards of education in towns as herein provided. 3 In a town in which there is, wholly or in part, a union free school district having a population of fifteen hundred or more, the principal school- house of which is situated in such town, such district may by resolution, duly submitted and, adopted as provided by law at a district meeting, deter- mine to become subject to the provisions of this article. The board of education shall, upon the petition signed by not less than fifteen per cent of the qualified electors of such district, give notice of the submission of such resolution to an annual or special meeting, in the manner provided by law If such resolution be adopted at such meeting, the board of education of the town in which such district is wholly or partly situated, shall, upon petition signed by fifteen per cent of the qualified electors of such town, residing outside of such district, submit a resolution to an annual or special Hon. Morrell E. Tallett Chairman of the Assembly committee on public education THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 41 meeting of such town as provided in this article, for the purpose of determin- ing whether such union free school district shall become subject to the provisions of this article. If such resolution be adopted by such town, the schools of such district shall become subject to the jurisdiction of the board of education of such town and the provisions of this article shall apply to such district and the schools thereof, notwithstanding the exception contained in subdivision one of this section, and thereupon the terms of office of the officers of such district shall terminate. Sec. 331 Qualifications of members of board of education. A member of a board of education must be a qualified elector at the school meetings of the town for which he is chosen. A district superintendent of schools, a school director or a supervisor shall not be eligible to the office of member of a board of education. Not more than one member of a family shall be a member of the same board of education in a town. A person who is removed from his office as a member of a board of education shall be ineligible to appointment or election to any school office in the town for a period of five years from the date of such removal. Sec. 332 Appointment of officers by board. The board of education of each town shall elect one of its members chairman who shall serve until the next annual meeting of the board, and shall also appoint a clerk of the board and a town school treasurer to serve during the pleasure of such board. Any person who is qualified to vote at a school meeting in the town may be appointed as clerk or treasurer. A member of the board is ineligible to hold office of clerk or treasurer. A teacher employed in any of the public schools of the town shall not be appointed as clerk or treasurer. The board shall determine the duties and fix the compensation of such clerk and treasurer. Sec. 333 Bond of treasurer. The treasurer, within ten days after the receipt of notice in writing of his appointment, duly served upon him, and before entering upon the duties of his office, shall execute and deliver to the board of education a bond, with such sufficient penalty and sureties as the board may desire, conditioned for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office. Sec. 334 Vacancies in school offices. 1 A school office becomes vacant by death, resignation, refusal to serve, incapacity, removal from the town or from office. 2 A member of a board of education who publicly declares that he will not accept or serve in the office of member of the board of education, or refuses or neglects to attend three successive meetings of the board of which he is duly notified, without rendering a good and valid reason therefor to the board of education, vacates his office by refusal to serve. 3 A member of a board of education vacates his office by the acceptance of either the office of district superintendent of schools or of supervisor. 4 A treasurer vacates his office by failure to execute a bond to the board of education as herein required. 5 A vacancy in the office of member of a board of education may be filled by the board. A person appointed to fill such vacancy shall hold office until the next annual school meeting of the town, when such vacancy shall be filled by election for the balance of the unexpired term. 6 When a vacancy has existed in the office of a member of a board of education for thirty days, the district superintendent of schools shall appoint a qualified elector of the town to fill such vacancy and the person so appointed shall hold office until the next annual school meeting of the town, when the vacancy shall be filled for the balance of the unexpired term. Sec. 335 Board to constitute a body corporate. The board of education of each town shall be a corporation. All property which is now vested in, or shall be hereafter transferred to, the board of education of a town for the use of schools therein shall be held by such board as a corporation. Sec. 336 Meetings of board. The annual meeting of a board of educa- tion of a town shall be held on the first Tuesday in August of each year. A regular meeting of the board shall be held at least once in each quarter. 42 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The board may adopt by-laws prescribing the time and place where regular meetings shall be held, and regulate the conduct of such meetings. Such board shall also prescribe a method of calling special meetings. The meet- ings of the board shall be open to the public but the board may hold execu- tive sessions at which business may be transacted which should not, in its judgment, be transacted in an open session, at which sessions only members of the board or persons invited shall be present. Sec. 337 Duties of clerk. The clerk of the board of education of each town shall have the powers and perform the duties of the clerk of a school district as provided in this chapter. In addition to such powers and duties, such clerk shall 1 Act as clerk at all meetings of the board and record the proceedings of such meetings, and the orders and resolutions adopted thereat, in proper books. 2 Draw and sign warrants upon the treasurer for all moneys to be dis- bursed by the town for school purposes and present them to the chairman to be countersigned by that officer. Each warrant shall specify the object for which, and tne fund from which, it is drawn and the name of the indi- vidual or corporation to whom the amount thereof is payable. 3 When directed by the board of education, prepare all reports required by law and forward the same to the proper officers. 4 Perform such other duties as are or shall be required by law or by the board of education. Sec. 338 Duties of treasurer. The treasurer shall have the powers and perform the duties of a district treasurer as provided in this chapter, and in addition thereto shall 1 Be the custodian of all school moneys of the town and be responsible for the safekeeping and accurate account thereof. 2 Pay all orders or warrants lawfully drawn upon him out of the moneys in his hands belonging to the funds upon which such orders or warrants are drawn. 3 Keep accurate accounts of all moneys received and disbursed by him, the sources from which they are received and the persons to whom, and the objects for which, they are disbursed. 4 Prepare and submit as required by law annual reports of receipts and disbursements, and render at such times as may be required by law or directed by the board of education, a report or statement relative to the school funds of the town. Sec. 339 Powers of board of education. The board of education of each town shall, in respect to the public schools and school officers of the town, 1 Exercise the powers and perform the duties conferred or imposed by law upon boards of education or trustees of school districts, so far as they may be applicable to the schools or other educational affairs of the town and not inconsistent with the provisions of this article. Any power, duty, liability or obligation which is conferred or imposed by this chapter, or any other statute, upon the board of education of a union free school district or the trustees of a school district, shall be exercised or performed by the board of education of a town, and such board shall be subject to such liability or obligation, in respect to the schools in the town, in the same manner and to the same extent as in the case of boards of education in union free school districts or trustees of school districts. 2 Determine in what school districts of the town school shall be main- tained and the number of teachers to be employed therein, and to con- tract with principals and teachers for the maintenance and operation of such schools pursuant to the provisions of the Education Law; employ or appoint medical inspectors, nurses, attendance officers, janitors and other employees required for the proper and efficient management of the schools and other educational affairs under their direction and control. 3 Determine in what schools the children of school age residing in the town shall attend and when necessary, under its regulations, to furnish transportation for such children. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 43 4 Have the care, custody, control and safekeeping of all school property or other property of the town used for educational, social or recreational work and not specifically placed by law under the control of some other body or officer, and prescribe rules and regulations for the preservation of such property. 5 Purchase and furnish such apparatus, maps, globes, books, reproductions of standard works of art, furniture and other equipment and supplies as may be necessary for the proper and efficient management of the schools. 6 Establish and maintain elementary schools, high schools, vocational, industrial and agricultural schools, night schools, or such other schools and classes as shall be deemed necessary to meet the needs and demands of the town. 7 Establish and maintain school libraries which may be open to the public as provided by law. 8 Authorize general courses of study which shall be followed in the schools. 9 Contract with boards of education of the towns, union free school districts and cities for the instruction of pupils of the town, and when any such contract is made the public money or state tuition apportioned for such instruction shall be paid to such town. Sec. 340 Schools to be free to children of town. Each school main- tained in a town under the supervision and control of a town board of education, and each department of such school and each course of study maintained therein, shall be free to the children of school age residing in such town. Sec. 341 Transfer of pupils. When in the judgment of the board of education of a town any pupil residing therein can be more conveniently accommodated at a school in an adjoining town such board of education may provide for the transfer of such pupil to the school in such adjoining town. The board of education making such transfer shall send notice thereof to the board of education of the town to which such pupil is transferred. Whenever pupils have been transferred as herein provided, the board of education of the town to which the transfer is made shall submit, through its chairman and clerk, to the board of education of the town where the pupils reside a verified statement of the amount due for the tuition of such pupils. The board of education of the town where such pupils reside shall direct the payment of such amount by the school treasurer of the town out of the school funds of the town. The amount due for such tuition shall be determined by dividing the total current expenses of the schools of the town in which such transferred pupils attend by the average number of pupils attending such schools as the same shall be shown by the records for the last preceding school year, or may be deter- mined by agreement between the boards of education of such towns before the transfer is made. Sec. 342 Schoolhouse sites. The board of education of a town, whenever in its judgment it is necessary for the interests of the schools of the town 1 , may designate a new site for the schoolhouse, or enlarge the site of an existing schoolhouse. Whenever a new site is designated, or an existing site is enlarged, the board shall pass a resolution stating the necessity therefor, describing by metes and bounds the land to be acquired for either of such purposes, and estimating the amount of funds necessary therefor. Such resolution must be adopted by at least a majority of the members of the board of education. When such resolution is adopted the land described therein may be acquired by the board of education in the manner provided by law for the acquisition of real property for school purposes. Sec. 343 Erection, repair and improvement of school buildings. The board of education of a town shall provide for the repair of school build- ings in the town, or other buildings under its control and management, and shall expend therefor an amount not exceeding the amount included in the annual school tax budget. The boardrnay also remodel, enlarge or improve such school buildings or other buildings under its control and 44 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK management, and may construct new buildings, whenever required, for the proper accommodation of the school children of the town. The board of education shall not expend in any one year for the remodeling, improvement or enlargement of an existing school building, an amount in excess of five thousand dollars ($5000) without a vote of the school meeting of the town, except as hereinafter provided. Sec 344 Annual school budget. 1 On or before the first day of July in each year the board of education shall prepare in duplicate an itemized tax budget containing the amounts required to be raised by tax for school purposes in the town for the ensuing school year. Such tax budget shall contain a statement of the probable amount to be received by the town in the next apportionment of school funds from the State and the estimated amount to be received from all other sources, and shall specify the several amounts to be raised for the following purposes : a The salaries and compensation of principals, teachers, medical inspectors, attendance officers, janitors and other employees appointed or employed by said board of education. b All necessary incidental and contingent expenses of the schools of the town, including transportation, the purchase of fuel and light, supplies, text- books, school apparatus, furniture and other articles and services neces- sary for the proper maintenance, operation and support of the schools of the town. c The ordinary repairs of school buildings and other buildings under its control and management. d The remodeling, improvement or enlargement of existing buildings, and the construction of new buildings and the furnishing and equipment thereot. e The amount required to be raised for the payment of the interest and principal of bonds and other indebtedness lawfully incurred for school purposes and which are a charge against the town. / The amount which may be required for the payment of any other claim against the town arising from the support and maintenance of the schools of the town. g The amount voted at the annual or a special school meeting in the town on a proposition or question lawfully submitted at such meeting. h The amount determined upon as the proportionate share of the cost of maintaining a school in a district partly in two or more towns, required to be paid by said board. 2 The clerk shall cause such budget to be published at length once in each week for the four weeks next preceding the first day of August, in two newspapers if there shall be two, or in one newspaper if there shall be but one, published in such town, or in a newspaper published outside of such town but having a general circulation therein. A written or printed copy of such budget shall be posted in at least five of the most public places in the town at least twenty days before the first day of August. 3 Such tax budget shall be signed in duplicate by a majority, of the members of the board of education of the town. One of such duplicate tax budgets shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the board of education and one shall be delivered to the supervisor of the town. 4 The board of education of a town may, in the manner herein provided, prepare a supplemental budget to raise money for any lawful purpose. a When authorized by a vote of an annual or special school meeting in the town. b When the amounts stated in the annual tax budget for the purposes specified are insufficient therefor and such amounts may be raised by tax without a vote of a school meeting in the town. Such supplemental budget shall not authorize the levy of a tax for the purposes therein specified, or be effectual for an}' purpose unless there shall be indorsed thereon the certificate of the district superintendent of the supervisory district in which such town is situated, to the effect that the purposes for which the amount therein specified is to be raised are lawful. 5 The supervisor of the town shall cause such budget and supplemental budget, if any, to be presented to the board of supervisors at its annual THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 45 meeting and the amount specified therein shall be levied against the taxable property of the town as provided by the tax law. The board of supervisors shall provide for the collection of the tax so levied at the same time and in the same manner as other town taxes are collected and the warrant of the collector shall direct the payment of the tax so collected to the school treasurer of the town. 6 The Commissioner of Education may prescribe the form of such budgets. He may adopt regulations not inconsistent with law, providing for the examination, review, correction and the modification of such budgets and the instruction and assistance of school authorities in the performance of duties in respect thereto. 7 Each district superintendent shall, during the month of August in each year, examine the tax budgets on file in the office of each clerk of the board of education of each town in his supervisory district, and shall advise with and aid boards of education in the preparation and correction of such budgets, and perform such other duties in respect thereto as may be prescribed by the Commissioner of Education. Sec. 345 Borrowing money in anticipation of collection of taxes. The board of education of a town may borrow money in anticipation of the levy and collection of a tax, for any of the purposes specified in a budget or supplemental budget filed with the clerk of the board and presented to the supervisor of the town as herein provided. Certificates of indebtedness may be issued by such board of education which shall be signed by the president of the board and countersigned by the treasurer thereof. Such certificate shall not be issued for more than one year from the date thereof, and shall bear interest at a rate not exceeding six per centum per annum. The money borrowed shall be placed in the custody of the treasurer and shall be paid out by him on the order of the board of education in the same manner as money collected by taxes levied against the taxable property of the town. Sec. 346 Tax on property in districts in two or more towns. If a district is situated partly in two or more towns, the taxable property in that portion of such district lying in a town other than that in which the principal schoolhouse is situated, shall be assessed for school purposes at the same rate as the taxable property of the town in which such principal schoolhouse is located. The valuation of the real property in the portion? of such district lying in two or more towns as appearing upon the several assessment rolls of such towns may be equalized by the supervisors of such towns upon the request of the boards of education of such towns, or of three or more taxpayers residing in the portion of such district, in either of such towns, and the provisions of section 414 of the Education Law shaii apply to such equalization. The board of education of the town in which such principal schoolhouse is located shall certify, in writing, to the boards of education of the other towns in which portions of such district are situated the proportionate amounts of the tax to be assessed, levied and collected in such portions of such district and such amounts shall be included in the school tax budgets of such towns. The board of supervisors of the county in which such towns are located shall cause the amounts so certified to be levied against the taxable property in the portions of such district situated in such towns, at the same rate as the rate of tax for the support of schools in the town in which the principal schoolhouse in such district is located. The amount of such tax when collected shall be paid to the school treasurer of the town in which such principal schoolhouse is located. The taxable property in the portions of such district located in the towns other than the town in which such principal schoolhouse is located, shall not be assessed for school purposes in such towns. Sec. 347 Submission of certain questions to a vote of the town. 1 Whenever the board of education of a town shall deem it necessary to expend an amount exceeding the sum of five thousand dollars for the repair, remodeling, improvement or enlargement of existing school buildings or the construction of a new school building or the purchase of land for a 46 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK new site or for an addition to an existing site it shall submit a proposition therefor to a vote of the qualified school electors of the town at either an annual school meeting of the town or a special school meeting called for such purpose. 2 If a school building in the town shall have been condemned by the district superintendent as wholly unfit for use. and not worth repairing and the amount required to be raised by tax therefor shall exceed the sum of five thousand dollars, the board of education shall submit a proposition for the construction of such new building to the qualified school electors of the town as above provided. If the amount to be raised for the erection of a new building in place of a building which has been condemned is less than five thousand dollars, the amount thereof shall be included in the annual school tax budget of the town. Except as herein provided the provisions of this chapter relative to the condemnation of school buildings shall apply to the condemnation of school buildings in towns. 3 The board of education of a town may in its discretion submit a proposi- tion to the qualified electors of the town at an annual or special school meeting of the town for the voting of a tax in an amount not less than one thousand dollars for the erection of a new building, the repair, remodeling, improvement or enlargement of an existing building, the purchase of a new site or of an addition to an existing site. 4 When the electors at a school meeting in a town adopt a proposition for any of the purposes specified in this section they may authorize and direct the levy of a tax to meet the expense incurred thereby either in one levy or by instalments. 5 The provisions of section 467 of this chapter as amended relative to the notice of the meeting and the levy of a tax by instalments shall apply, except as inconsistent herewith, to the submission of the propositions herein authorized and the levy and collection of taxes for the purposes specified. Sec. 348 Issue and sale of school bonds. Whenever a tax shall have been voted to be collected in instalments for any of the purposes specified in the preceding section, the board of education of the town may borrow so much of the sum voted as may be necessary at a rate not exceeding six per centum. The board may issue bonds or other evidences of indebtedness for such purposes which shall not be sold below par. The interest and principal of such bonds or other evidences of indebtedness shall be a charge upon the town and shall be paid when due. Such bonds or other evidences of indebtedness shall be sold by the board of education in the manner provided by section 480 of this chapter. Sec. 349 State funds to be used for schools of town. Funds hereafter apportioned by the State under the provisions of this chapter to school districts under the supervision and control of a town board of education shall be apportioned on the basis provided in this chapter, but the funds so apportioned to the several school districts of a town shall be paid to the town school treasurer. Funds apportioned for teachers' salaries shall be paid on the order of the board of education of the town for the payment of the salaries of teachers employed in such town and funds apportioned for school libraries, apparatus, maps or works of art, shall be paid respec- tively in like manner for school libraries, apparatus, maps or works of art, in such town. Sec. 350 Certain union free school districts not subject to provisions of article. This article shall not apply to union free school districts having a population of five thousand or more and employing a superintendent of schools. A school tax in a town in which the whole or any portion of such a district is situated shall be levied only against the taxable property in the town outside of the boundaries of such union free school district. The inhabitants of such district shall not be permitted to vote for candidates for members of the town board of education or upon any proposition or question submitted at an annual or regular school meeting in the town. The provisions of the Education Law relative to union free school dis- tricts and the affairs thereof shall apply to union free school districts THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 47 having a population of five thousand or more and employing a superin- tendent of schools. Sec. 351 School district officers abolished; terms continued to collect funds, pay claims, etc. 1 All trustees, members of boards of education and other school officers in office when this act takes effect shall continue in office until the first day of August 1915. Upon such day the offices of trustees, members of boards of education, district clerks, school district collectors, treasurers and other school district officers shall be and are hereby abolished and the terms of such officers shall cease except as herein provided. 2 The trustees, boards of education and other officers of each district, enumerated in subdivision 1 of this section, are hereby continued in office with all the powers and duties conferred on such officers by the Education Law or other statutes, including the power to levy, assess and collect taxes for the purpose of closing up the business and financial affairs of such district and of satisfying its obligations, adjusting its claims, collecting funds due it and paying its just debts. After liquidating all outstanding obliga- tions and settling or adjusting all claims against such district, and closing up all its financial affairs as a district, such officers shall apportion any funds remaining in the treasury, except moneys received from the State, among the taxpayers of the district. Such apportionment shall be based upon the rela- tion of the assessed valuation of such taxpayers to the aggregate assessed valuation of the district. The portion of such funds which consists of moneys received from the State shall be paid into the town school treasury. Sec. 352 First school election. The first school election to elect a town board of education shall be held in each town of the State on the second Tuesday in June 1915. The polls of such election shall be open from nine o'clock in the morning until seven o'clock in the evening. The election shall be held in a schoolhouse in the town to be designated by the district super- intendent of schools. Such district superintendent shall designate a school- house which shall be the most accessible for the greatest number of residents of the town and which shall also afford adequate facilities for such election. The district superintendent of schools shall appoint three qualified school voters of the town to act as inspectors of such election. Such inspectors shall elect one of their number poll clerk. The provisions of this act relating to and governing annual school elections so far as may be practicable and not inconsistent with this section shall apply to and govern such first election. The inspectors shall canvass the votes cast and the persons receiving the greatest number of votes shall be elected. The district superintendent shall give notice of such election as required for an annual election. The returns of such election, all ballots, poll lists and other records of the election shall be filed by the inspectors with the district superintendent of schools. Such superintendent shall thereupon notify each person elected as a member of the board of education of such election. He shall also call a meeting of the board of education of each town in his supervisory district, elected at such election, on the first day of August 1915, at eleven o'clock in the forenoon at the principal schoolhouse of the town for the purpose of organization and the transaction of any other business which may properly come before such board. After a clerk of such board is chosen, the district superintendent shall deposit with such clerk the election returns, poll lists, ballots and other records of election delivered to him by the inspectors of the first town school election. Sec. 353 Time and place of annual meeting. 1 The annual school meeting in each town shall be held on the first Tues- day in May in each year, at which members of the board of education shall be elected and such other business as may legally come before such meeting shall be transacted. Such meeting shall be held at the schoolhouse in_ the town which is most conveniently accessible to a majority of the qualified electors of such town. The board of education shall designate the school- house at which such meeting shall be held. 2 The board of education may divide the town into school election dis- tricts, whenever it deems it necessary for the convenience of the qualified 48 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK electors, because of the territorial extent of the town or the number of such electors. If a town is divided into school election districts, the board shall designate the schoolhouse in each district where the annual meeting shall be held. 3 The polls for the election of members of the board of education, at such meeting, shall be open from nine o'clock in the morning to seven o'clock in the afternoon. Sec. 354 Notice of annual school meeting. The clerk of each board of education shall given notice of the time when and the places where the annual school meeting in the town is to be held, by publishing such notice once in each week for the four weeks next preceding such meeting, in two news- papers, if there shall be two, or in one newspaper, if there shall be but one, published or circulated in such town. If no newspaper shall be published or circulated therein, such notice shall be posted on the door of each school- house in the town and in at least ten other public places in said town, at least twenty days before the time of such meeting. Sec. 355 Special school meetings in towns. The board of education of each town shall have power to call a special meeting of the qualified electors of the town, whenever it deems necessary and proper, and whenever required by law, in the manner prescribed for £he giving of a notice of the annual meeting. Such special meeting shall be held at the schoolhouse or school- houses at which the annual school meeting of the town is required to be held. Sec. 356 Qualifications of voters at school meetings. 1 To be eligible to vote at annual or special town school meetings, a person must possess the qualifications prescribed in section 203 of this chapter, except as provided in the following subdivision: 2 In a school district located in two or more towns, those persons pos- sessing the qualifications required under subdivision 1 of this section shall be entitled to vote at annual or special town school meetings in the town in which the principal schoolhouse of the district in which they reside is located, irrespective of the town in which they reside. A person entitled to vote under this subdivision, at an annual or special town school meeting in a town other than the town in which he resides, shall not be entitled to vote at such meetings in the town in which he resides. Sec. 357 Preparation of list of qualified electors. 1 The clerk of the board of education in each town shall, on or before the first day of April in each year, prepare a list of the persons qualified to vote at an annual or special school meeting held in the town. If the town is divided into school election districts, a separate list shall be prepared, as herein provided, containing the names of the qualified electors, residing in each district. The names of such list shall be arranged alphabetically, according to the sur- names of such electors, and shall contain a statement as to the place of residence of each elector. 2 Such list shall be placed on file in the office of the clerk of the board of education or at some other place, to be designated by the board, where it may be examined by any person interested therein, from four to eight o'clock in the evening of each Friday and Saturday of the four weeks immediately preceding the annual school meeting. The clerk of the board of education or some person to be designated by the board, shall attend at such office or place, at such times, and permit public inspection of such list. A person whose name is not upon such list, who is or will be a qualified voter at the annual meeting, may submit to the clerk of the board evidence showing such fact, and the clerk shall correct such list, by inserting his name therein. If the name and residence of a qualified elector_ are incorrectly stated upon such list, the clerk, upon satisfactory evidence being presented to him, may correct such errors. 3 A qualified voter at the annual school meeting of the town may, upon the examination of such list, file with the clerk of the board a written chal- lenge of the qualifications as an elector of any person whose name appears upon such list. The board of education of the town shall meet on the Monday preceding the annual school meeting and may, upon satisfactory THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 49 evidence being presented to it, correct the errors in such list of qualified electors and add the names of persons, ascertained by it to be qualified electors at such annual meeting. The board shall also indicate upon the list of qualified electors the persons whose qualifications as electors have been challenged. 4 If the annual school meeting is held in election districts, a separate list for each district, revised and corrected as above provided, shall be delivered by the clerk of the board of education to the inspectors appointed, as here- inafter provided, to conduct such school meeting in each of such districts. Sec. 358 Inspectors of election. The board of education shall designate from its members three inspectors of election for each election district into which such town has been divided. If the town is divided into more than two election districts, the inspectors required in addition to the members of such board shall be chosen from the qualified voters of the district for which they are appointed. The clerk of the board of education shall give written notice of appointment to the persons so appointed. If a person, appointed as inspector of election, refuses to accept such appointment the board of education may appoint a qualified elector of the district to fill such vacancy. Such board of inspectors shall before opening the polls in the election district for which they are appointed, organize by electing one of their number as chairman and one as poll clerk. Each inspector shall receive for his services a compensation of three dollars to be paid out of the school funds of the town and in the same manner as other expenses are paid. Sec. 359 Nominations and ballots. 1 Candidates for members of the board of education in a town shall be nominated by petition. Such petition shall be directed to the clerk of the board of education of the town and shall be signed by at least twenty-five qualified electors thereof. It shall state the names and residences of the candidates and whether such candi- dates are nominated for full terms or for the unexpired portion of such terms. Each petition shall be filed with the clerk of the board of education on or before the tenth day preceding the day of the annual school meeting. 2 The board of education shall cause to be printed official ballots, contain- ing the names of all candidates nominated as above provided. Such ballots shall separately state Avhether the persons named thereon are candidates for full terms or for portions of terms. The names of the candidates shall be arranged alphabetically according to their surnames, in columns under titles or designations, showing whether they are to be elected for full terms or portions of terms. Blank spaces shall be provided so that persons may vote for candidates who have not been nominated for the offices to be filled at such election. Such ballots shall have printed thereon instructions as to the marking of the ballots and the number of candidates for the several offices for which an elector is permitted to vote. 3 Whenever a question is required to be submitted to an annual or spe- cial school meeting, the ballots therefor shall conform as nearly as may be to the ballots required to be used, under the election law, for the submission of questions or propositions, at a general election. 4 The number of ballots to be used at an annual or special school meet- ing shall at least equal the number of qualified electors in the town, as appears from the list of qualified electors thereof. The clerk of the board shall cause to be delivered to the inspectors in each of such election districts, on the day of the meeting, a sufficient supply of such ballots for the use ol the qualified electors thereof. Such ballots shall be printed at the expense of the town and the cost thereof shall be paid out of school funds, in the same manner as other school expenses. An election of a member of a board of education shall not be declared invalid or illegal because of the use of ballots which do not conform to the requirements of this section or to the provisions of the election law, provided the intent of the elector may be ascertained from the use of such irregular or defective ballot and such use was not fraudulent and did not substantially affect the result of the election. 50 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Sec. 360 Conduct of school meetings; challenges. 1 All elections, held as provided herein, shall be conducted, so far as may be, in accordance with the provisions of the election law relative to general elections, except as otherwise provided herein. Suitable ballot boxes shall be provided by the board of educatien, to be used at such school meetings. Such ballot boxes shall conform as nearly as may be to the provisions of the election law relative to ballot boxes at general elections. All persons, whose names appear upon the list of qualified electors, as residing in the town or election districts, shall be permitted to vote and shall be given ballots for such pur- pose. Persons whose names do not appear upon such list may be permitted to vote upon satisfactory evidence being presented showing that they are qualified electors of the town or district and upon making the declaration hereinafter prescribed. The ballots when presented to the inspectors, shall be folded so as to conceal the names of candidates for whom or the proposi- tion or question for which the elector has voted. All electors entitled to vote, who are in the places where the election is held at or before the time of closing the polls, shall be allowed to vote. The poll clerk shall keep a poll list, containing the names of the qualified electors who vote at such election for the candidates or propositions or questions voted for thereat. 2 Any qualified elector may challenge the right of a person to vote, at the time when he requests a ballot. All persons, named upon the list of elec- tors as having been challenged prior to the day of the meeting, shall also be challenged before ballots are given to them. The chairman of the board of inspectors shall require the person so challenged, or a person whose name does not appear upon the list of qualified electors, and who requests the privilege of voting, to make the following declaration : " I do declare and affirm that I have been for the thirty days last past an actual resident of this town and that I am qualified to vote at this meeting." If such person makes such declaration, he shall be permitted to vote at the meeting but if he shall refuse to make such declaration he shall not be permitted to vote for candidates or upon any question or proposition at such meeting. 3 A person who wilfully makes a false declaration as to his right to vote at such meeting, is guilty of a misdemeanor. A person who is not qualified to vote at such meeting but who shall vote thereat, shall be subjected to a penalty of fifty dollars which may be recovered in a suit brought therefor by the board of education for the benefit of the schools of the town. Sec. 361 Canvass of votes; declaration of result. 1 Immediately upon the close of the polls, the board of inspectors shall count the ballots found in the ballot boxes, without unfolding them, except so far as is necessary to ascertain that each ballot is single. They shall compare the number of ballots found in the ballot boxes with the number of persons recorded on the poll list as having voted for the candidates or the questions _ or proposi- tions submitted at such meeting. If the number of ballots found in the ballot boxes shall exceed the number of names so recorded on such list, such ballots shall be replaced, without being unfolded, in the boxes from which they were taken and shall be thoroughly mingled in such boxes and one of the members of the board of inspectors designated by such board shall publicly draw out as many ballots as shall be equal to the number of excess ballots. The bal- lots so drawn out shall be inclosed, without unfolding, in an envelop which shall be sealed and indorsed with a statement of the number of such excess ballots withdrawn from the box and shall be signed by the inspector who withdrew such ballots. Such envelop shall be delivered to the clerk of the board of education and shall be preserved by him for a period of at least one year. 2 The ballots shall be counted or canvassed by the inspectors in the man- ner provided for the canvassing of ballots at a general election, except as otherwise provided herein. The votes cast for each candidate and for each question or proposition shall be tallied and counted by the inspectors^ and a statement shall be made, containing the names of each candidate receiving THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 51 votes at such meeting and the number of votes cast for each candidate and also the number of votes cast for and against each question or proposition submitted at such meeting. Such statement shall also give the number of ballots which are declared void and describe the defects therein and shall also specify the number of wholly blank ballots cast. Such statement shall be signed by the inspectors. A ballot shall not be declared void unless the defects are such as clearly to indicate that the ballot was marked for identi- fication or that the intent of the elector in voting such ballot can not be ascertained therefrom. The ballots which are declared void and not counted shall be inclosed in an envelop, which shall be sealed and indorsed as con- taining void ballots and shall be signed by the inspectors. Such envelop shall be filed with the clerk of the board of education and preserved by him for a period of at least one year. After the ballots are counted and the statements have been made as required herein, such ballots shall be replaced in the ballot boxes. Each box shall be securely locked and sealed and de- posited with the clerk of the board of education. The unused ballots shall be placed in a sealed package and be returned to the clerk of the board of education, at the time when such ballot boxes are delivered to him. 3 The inspectors shall deliver the statement of the votes cast at such meeting, in each election district, to the clerk of the board of education on the day following such meeting. The board of education shall meet at the usual place of meeting, at eight o'clock in the evening of the day follow- ing such election and shall forthwith examine and tabulate the statement of the results of the election in the several election districts of such town. The board of education shall canvass the returns as contained in the state- ments of the inspectors and shall determine the number of votes cast for each candidate and for and against each question or proposition in the sev- eral election districts of the town. The board shall thereupon declare the result of the canvass of the votes in each election district. 4 The candidates receiving a plurality of the votes cast respectively for the several offices shall be declared elected. The clerk of the board of education shall record the result of the election as announced by the board of education, in the minutes of the meeting. Sec. 362 Successful candidates to be notified of election. The clerk of the board of education shall, within twenty-four hours after the result of the election has been declared, serve a written notice either personally or by mail upon each person declared to be elected as member of the board of education. A person upon whom such notice has been served shall be deemed to have accepted the office unless within five days after the service of such notice he shall file written refusal with the clerk. Sec. 363 Appeals to the Commissioner of Education. An appeal may be taken to the Commissioner of Education from such election or from any of the acts or proceedings of a school meeting or the board of education in respect thereto, in the same manner and with the same effect as in the case of an appeal to him from the acts or proceedings of a school meeting or election or of a board of education, under the provisions of this chapter. The Commissioner of Education ma}', in his discretion, order a new election in any town. Sec. 2 Repeal of inconsistent provisions; effect of repeal. All acts or parts of acts, general or special, inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. The repeal of the acts hereinafter specified or of such inconsistent acts or parts of such acts shall not affect any right exist- ing or accrued or any liability incurred prior to the passage of this act. Sec. 3 Sections renumbered. Sections 340 and 341 of the Education Law are hereby renumbered sections 365 and 366; sections 360, 361, 362, 363, 364 and 365 of such law are hereby renumbered respectively sections 370, 371, 372, 373, 374 and 375. Section 4 Time of taking effect. This act shall take effect immediately. 52 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Excerpt from address of Master W. H. Vary at the annual session of the New York State Grange, February, 191 5: Our Common Schools Many a man owes all the education that he possesses to the little red schoolhouse beside the road. The district school has been from time immemorial the bulwark of our educational system, and fond recollections cluster round the memories of days gone by that we spent in those unpre- tentious buildings. In those days the seats or benches were filled to overflowing with bright and winsome lads and lassies, eager for their work and a good natured rivalry as to who should stand at the head of the class in spelling. Today things seemed to have changed. The seats in many a schoolhouse are practically unoccupied, consequently there is no rivalry and no incen- tive for effort to surpass. Teacher spends her time with but one to three pupils. Taxes have become extremely burdensome in many districts, others more favorably located, have none at all, being able to make arrangements with some village or high school for the instruction of the children resid- ing in said district for the amount of public money appropriated by the State, thus relieving all property in such a district from any school tax v/hatever, while a poorer district, that is, one with less taxable property, has a tax burden grievous to be bourne. We believe most thoroughly in the country school not only for what it has already done, but what it may do in the future. But, would it not be well to consider and determine if possible whether or not there was some remedy for this seeming injustice and inequality, and consequently ineffi- ciency? Some have suggested that the town be the unit of taxation instead of the district, thereby giving each district a like amount for school pur- poses. Under this system all taxes for school purposes would be put into one budget and assessed uniformly on the property of the whole town and paid to the town collector, the same as other taxes are now levied and col- lected in the town. It has also been suggested that a school board com- posed of five persons have charge of all the schools in a town, hiring teach- ers for all the schools and having charge of all school matters instead of having trustees in each district as now. Another plan is to consolidate the schools so far as practicable to the end that the children may be brought together in a central location where two or more teachers would be employed, the public money apportioned to all the consolidated districts to be used in support of this central school. I submit these questions for your thoughtful consideration to the end that possibly a solution may be found that will make our country schools more effective and the expense of maintenance more equitably divided. Intel- lectual progress will proceed more rapidly if we work hand in hand with the teachers in our public schools. Albany, N. Y. March 30, 1915 To the Members of the Senate and Assembly of the State of New York An anonymous, typewritten circular letter is being distributed throughout the State among school officials, Grange members and other citizens, in THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 53 which the statement is made that the State Grange indorsed the township plan before the bill establishing town school boards was drafted. The ques- tion is then asked, " Do the members of the Grange know the provisions of the bill, No. 1731, introduced on March 17?" In answer to that question the officers of the State Grange desire to state that they do know the provisions of the bill. No special bill was indorsed by the State Grange. The State Grange indorsed certain principles involved in the township school plan which they desired incorporated into a law. The officers of the Grange attended two different conferences at Albany at which the bill now before the Legislature was prepared and had written into that bill the provisions unanimously adopted by the resolution of the State Grange. We are therefore most cordially supporting the Tallett bill, No. 1731, now pending in the Assembly. Very truly yours W. H. Vary, Master W. N. Giles, Secretary Constituting the Legislative Committee of New York State Grange On April 15, 1915 the Commissioner of Education called the attention of the Legislature to the need of legislation " which might make possible a betterment of rural school conditions " in the following letter: THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK the state department of education Office of the President of the University and Commissioner of Education Albany, April 15, 1915 To The Honorable, The Legislature of the State of New York: I deem it my duty to call the attention of the Legislature to the necessity for legislation which will make possible a betterment of rural school condi- tions. The trend of population and wealth to the cities, the appeal of the city life even to those who remain in the country, and the consequent inade- quacy of financial support and lack of community spirit in many districts, have brought us face to face with a serious public problem: the efficient maintenance of the country school in the sparsely populated and less pros- perous communities of the State. There are 11,642 elementary schools in the State. Of these, 8430 are one- room schools. In almost half of these (3580) the average attendance for 1913 was ten or less, as follows : Schools Average attendance 13 1 74 2 172 3 54 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Schools Average attendance 235 4 362 5 440 6 533 7 544 8 631 9 576 10 These statistics give intimation of a condition more needful of attention than that of overcrowding in other parts of the State. The State contrib- utes from $125 to $200 to each of these schools whatever the average attend- ance, and it has therefore a concern in the economic aspect of the problem; but this is of far less importance than the educational and social significance of these statistics. Of even more serious import is the fact that the district property valu- ation basis for the support of schools in about half (3826 districts) of the one-room school districts (8430 districts) is less than $40,000 (i. e. a valuation which at one per cent would yield a maximum of $400 for school purposes). Of these, 1311 have a valuation of $20,000 or less (i. e. a maxi- mum of $200 each for school purposes, if the school tax does not exceed one per cent), and 27 have a valuation of not more than $5000 (i. e. not more than $50, if the school tax does not exceed one per cent). These districts are, many of them, undergoing substantial, and some of them painful, sacrifice for even the meager provision which is made. In contrast with these may be put districts which because of high property valuation (in many cases due to corporation properties) or nonresident tuition, have a merely nominal local school tax or none at all. Under such conditions the burden must be unequal or else the educational provision must be unequal, as between districts. The State, in its consciousness of these inequalities in educational pro- vision or burden, has attempted to reduce them by its annual apportionments, making the allotments somewhat larger for the districts of low valuation than for those of high valuation (varying from $125 to $200) ; but these are by no means sufficient to bring about anything like adequate school pro- vision in some of the districts, or to equalize the disparaties of burden. While, at present, New York State is the thirty-third in the list of states in the percentage which state aid bears to the local expenditure for school purposes within the State, it is not anticipated that the State is ready to make any immediate increase of its appropriation for such equalization purposes. Unless, then, the schools unable to make adequate provision out of their own district resources, plus the state allotment, are to remain static or to deteriorate, some other way must be sought to give them needed help. Two courses are open: one (1) is the consolidation of districts and transportation of pupils where necessary; the other (2) is the creation of a larger local unit of taxation and consequently of administration. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 55 As to the first (i), volutary consolidation has proceeded slowly. In recent years the Legislature has sought to encourage the movement and has author- ized consolidation by district superintendents; but, while the educational results promise to be wholesome, even under this plan progress is made only in spots and with difficulty. If there could be a redistricting of the entire State for school purposes, taking natural and social centers as the school centers, the problem, I believe, would in that way be most success- fully solved; but it would be a task requiring not only closest sympathetic study of local conditions and tendencies (a prodigious labor in itself), but the highest and most courageous intelligence and judgment that the State could command. The present district boundaries were many of them determined by eco- nomic and social and physical conditions which existed more than fifty years ago. (The districting was authorized under an act of 1812.) These conditions have been changed, not only by movements above referred to, but also by facilities of communication and transportation, and in many cases have been so changed as to give no reason for the continuance of these boundaries, except the convenience of a few and a sentiment (most worthy in itself) which attaches to a school that has cherished associations. Con- solidation is a method of making readjustments slowly and, chiefly, in extreme cases, to changed conditions. Arbitrary redistricting by the Depart- ment or by a commission of the State would be a means of swift readjust- ment. The first is practicable but slow ; the second is ideal but also remote. There remains one other course : (2) that of widening the local area of taxation and administration, so that the burden may be more equitably distributed and a better school provision more generally maintained without diminishing local initiative or responsibility or increasing State provision or control. The so-called " township bill " is intended to call the attention of the Legislature to this alternative plan. While the township system is in vogue in all the states immediately surrounding New York State, and while it has been for years discussed in reports and in meetings of school teachers and officers, it has not recently, at any rate, been brought effectively to the attention of the people as a whole. Even if, as is probable, your Honorable Body will not find itself ready to act favorably upon such a proposed plan this year, its presentation will at any rate invite your serious thought, and will through you reach the thousands of districts in the State which you represent, and there compel attention and have serious discussion. This Department has no desire to impose a system from above, even if it could; but it is under compulsion to urge upon your careful and courageous thought what it believes to be for the good of the schools of the State, that there may come a united effort, and sacrifice if necessary, for the improvement where it is most needful. Just as the schools of our cities are now managed as a whole by the several cities, it should be possible, without in any way impairing local initiative, interest or pride, to plan for each township as a whole, to make each school a more vital force in the larger area and to relate it more closely to the daily life or the community which it serves. Respectfully yours , John H. Finley 56 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The Annual Report of the Commissioner of Education in 1916 contains another reference to the proposed law : School Legislation The Department has considered carefully during the year the enactment of a general city school law and also of the township system. Measures were introduced in the Legislature similar to those suggested in the annual report last year. They were introduced for the principal purpose of hav- ing them printed for distribution, of centering public opinion upon the desirability of this legislation, and of giving teachers, school officers and the public the opportunity to criticize the propositions and to offer such sug- gestions for the improvement of the measures as might seem desirable. The following transcription gives the action of the Legislature in 1916 in regard to the township school law as taken from the New York Assembly Journal of 1917, volume 2, pages 1128, 2026-27: Int. no. A. 1498. Pr. no. A. 2090. Mr Machold. An act to amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of the same. March 24 Read first time — Referred to committee on public education. April 13 On motion of Mr Machold, the committee on rules was instructed to report Assembly bill (no. 1805, int. no. 1498) entitled "An act to amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns," with the following amendments : Page 3, strike out all of lines 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26, and on page 4 strike out all of lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, and insert in lieu thereof the following : " 2 Where there are two or more union free school districts each having a population of less than fifteen hundred, each maintaining an academic department which has been admitted to The University of the State of New York and the principal schoolhouse in each is situated wholly in the same town, the district superintendent shall issue an order dividing the town into as many units as there are such union free school districts situ- ated in the town and designating with which of these union free school districts the several school districts of the town shall be associated to form such units. Each union free school district together with the districts desig- nated by the district superintendent to be associated with it in forming such unit shall elect a separate board of education in the same manner as boards of education in towns are elected, and such board shall have the same jurisdiction, possess the same powers, and exercise the same duties over all the schools forming said unit exactly as a town board of education does over the schools in a town, and wherever in this act reference is made to the town board of education it shall be construed as referring also to the boards of education elected for such units. Honorable H. Edmund Machold Member of tjie Assembly; introducer of the township bill THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 57 "3 Whenever twenty-five duly qualified voters from each of such sepa- rate units in a town having two or more boards of education shall present a petition to the district superintendent to have all of the schools situated within the limits of the town united under one town board of education as provided by subdivision 1 of this section, the district superintendent shall direct each separate board of education to submit to the voters of their unit at the next annual school meeting the question, ' Shall all the schools in the town of be put under the jurisdiction of one town board of education?' If a majority of the voters in each separate unit, voting at such election, shall vote in favor thereof, the terms of office of each of the members of the boards of education in such town shall terminate one year from the first day of August next following such annual meeting and there shall be elected at the next annual meeting a new town board of education as provided by section 353 of this act, which board shall take charge of all the schools of the town on the first day of August following such election. " Page 4, line 10, change the figure "3" 1 to "4." Mr Speaker, from the committee on rules, reported said bill amended as directed. On motion of Mr Machold, said bill was ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee. The Annual Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1917 contained a complete discussion of the advantages the township system would bring to the rural schools. In this report the approval of the new proposed law by the New York State Grange at their two annual meetings was also included. Tozvnship System There has been much misrepresentation in relation to the provisions of the township bill and therefore much misunderstanding exists throughout the whole State as to the terms of this measure. It has been stated, for the purpose of misleading the public, that all the schools in a town would be abolished and one central school established if the township system were put in operation. This statement is absolutely erroneous. Not a single school district in any town in the State is abolished under the terms of the township bill. Every district will continue, under the terms of such bill, under their present boundaries. The only way by which such boundaries may be changed or the school discontinued in any district will be by action of the town board chosen by the people of the town. There will of necessity always be in this State several thousand of the one-room school buildings. The topography of the State, the climate and other conditions render it absolutely necessary, in order to provide educa- tional facilities for all children of the State, to continue to maintain several thousand of these one-room schools. These one-room schools which are to be continued must be made the very best schools possible under existing conditions. 58 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK There is a great difference between the consolidation of schools and the township administration of schools. During recent years many school districts have been consolidated even under the school district system, but the method by which these consolidations have been effected have resulted in much ill feeling in various parts of the State. One purpose of the township bill is to remove the objections which now exist to the method of consolidating schools. It is proposed under the township bill to give more power to the local authorities in relation to the consolidation question. It is proposed in this measure to confer on the town board, which is chosen by the voters of the town, the power to veto or to confirm the action taken by a district superintendent of schools in the consolidation of school dis- tricts. It is also proposed in this measure to confer on the town boards of a supervisory district the power to elect district superintendents. District superintendents, therefore, and town boards will work in cooperation in the administration of schools and on all questions relating to the operation of the schools, including their consolidation. It has also been stated that under the provisions of the township bill new school buildings are to be erected and large expenditures of money made for this purpose. Under the terms of this measure not more than five thousand dollars may be expended on any school building without authorization by the voters of the town. Articles have been written in several papers by persons opposed to the township system in which it has been asserted that under the terms of the township bill children will be transported in conveyances eight, nine or ten miles for the purpose of attending school. No such plan is contemplated under the township system. Any plan which would impose such a hardship upon children would be opposed by the Education Department. It has been judicially determined by a commissioner of education that five miles is too great a distance for children to travel to attend school, even by conveyance, over rough roads and in sections of the State where the winter climate is severe. Children may, however, travel from two and one-half to four miles, when proper conveyance is provided, without any hardship or injury if the transportation is under proper regulation. The township bill contemplates the utilization of our great system of state highways, improved town highways, the thousands of miles of electric and steam railroads, the automobile, the autobus and all modern means of transportation. These methods of transportation are utilized for every other purpose in rural life and there is no valid reason why such means of transportation should not be utilized in the maintenance of good schools in the farming sections. In each town throughout the State there are from eight to thirty-five sepa- rate school districts. Each of these districts maintains an independent organi- zation with its own local officers, and each is a tax district; so that in each township there are all the way from eight to thirty-five separate and inde- pendent authorities in charge of the schools of a single town, and possessing the power to assess taxes upon the property of such districts for the main- tenance of schools. This kind of an organization for the administration of rural schools has been demonstrated to be cumbersome, obsolete and inefficient. It has been discontinued in many states and must be in this State before we can improve and modernize the rural schools, and enable THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 59 them to serve the people o£ the agricultural sections as they should and as conditions demand they shall. To make these schools effective there must be an efficient, modern organization to administer them. The plan proposed is the township system. By such system we mean the substitution of a town board of education for each of the separate district trustees and boards of the several districts in a town. This town board would be chosen at a special town meeting held annually in May, at which no other matters except those related to the educational affairs of the town would be considered. This board would have the control and management of the schools in a town. Large powers in relation to school matters would be conferred on this board. The method of control and management would be the most democratic plan which could be adopted. Let us compare the organization and administration of the rural schools with the organization and administration of the schools maintained in the cities and villages of the State. When schools were first organized in this State, they were known as " district " schools not only in the rural sections but in the villages and cities as well. The schools in all parts of the State were known as " district " schools for the first half century of their existence. The districts of cities even had separate and distinct organizations. The movement for the establishment of consolidated schools originated as early as 1853, and New York was one of the first states of the Union to participate in this movement. A general law was enacted in that year, known as the " union free school district law." The name of the law signifies the general purpose for which it was enacted. The object of this law was to form a union of school districts and then to make the schools free. As most of you know, we did not have free schools in this State at that time, nor were the schools throughout the country free. It was not until 1866 that New York made her schools absolutely free. Under the act of 1853, however, the schools in the cities and villages were from time to time consolidated until all the schools of each of the cities of the State were organized into one system under the general control and man- agement of one body. This same action has been taken from time to time in the villages, so that at the present time there is not a village in the State which maintains two separate and distinct school organizations. Imagine how a plan would be received today proposing a separate school system for each school in each of the cities and villages of the State! What answer would be given by the people of any city in this State to the proposition to choose a local board for each school maintained in the city; to give to that board the power to employ teachers, fix their salaries, supervise repairs and all expenditures, and in short to have the general control and business management of the schools? Imagine a city having from fifteen to forty schools and changing the plan of organization of the school system of such city so as to create a separate and distinct organiza- tion for each school, giving to the authorities of that school taxing power, so that there would be in such city from fifteen to forty boards of control, each assessing and collecting taxes and managing and supervising the schools of such city. There is not a city in the country that would indorse such a proposition or that would tolerate it under any conditions. There is not even a body of farmers who could be selected in any part of this State that would indorse such a plan of school administration for the cities 60 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK and villages. Yet this very system of school administration exists through- out the rural regions of this State and has been in operation for one hun- dred twenty-five years. There has been no change in the fundamental organization of the rural school system since the enactment of the first general law relating to the organization of common schools in 1795. The adoption of the township system as the unit of administration of the rural schools throughout the State would result in the following advantages : 1 The present unit of administration is so small, and the management of the usual district school regarded as a matter of so little importance, that the best men and women of a community will often decline to serve as trustees. If the management of country schools were raised to a higher plane, and the vital importance of the school to the community could be more strongly emphasized, men and women of the greatest education and culture and the widest business experience in a community would be attracted to the position, and would not only be willing but desirous of serving in such capacity. The general management of the educational interests of a whole town, which would include from ten to thirty schools as now organized, by a board of five, would exalt and dignify the impor- tance of the office of school trustee and would emphasize the work of the school so that a board of the type above described would be chosen. 2 Placing the schools of an entire town under the general management of a single board of five persons chosen by the voters of the town, who possess the qualifications now required to be entitled to vote at school district meetings, would result in giving to every proposition involving an expenditure of funds active, deliberate and businesslike consideration. The great waste resulting from unnecessary expenditures and careless manage- ment and supervision of school funds would cease. 3 The maintenance of unnecessary schools would be discontinued. Five people chosen by the voters of a town, and each one interested in all the affairs of the town, could be trusted to determine what schools might be discontinued to the advantage of education and all other interests of the town. No one need fear that a board thus chosen and composed would close a school when such action would be the means of prohibiting children from attending school because of the distance to travel. 4 The unit of taxation would be the town. Taxation for school purposes would then be equalized. All the property of a town would pay its pro- portionate and equal share for the maintenance of schools in the entire town. The burdens which are unjustly borne by more than one-half of the school districts of the State would be removed. Large corporate interests which now pay taxes toward the maintenance of a single school would pay their proper share for the maintenance of all the schools of a town. 5 Schools maintained under such management would provide educational facilities in the country districts which would be the equal of the educational advantages afforded by the schools maintained in the cities. Many things must be done in connection with the country schools before this result may be accomplished. Such result will never be achieved until all the interests and agencies of a much larger unit than the present school district — and this unit is preferably the town — are brought together in harmonious action, and the people appreciate the possibilities of this cooperation. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 6l 6 It is impossible to grade small schools properly under their present organization. With nearly 4000 schools having an average daily attendance of less than 10, the impossibility of grading such schools will be readily recognized. In thousands of others the enrolment is 25 to 35. In these schools every one of the eight elementary grades is represented and often there are pupils taking advanced subjects. One teacher must do all this work with the result that not more than ten minutes on the average is given to a recitation, and often less. In the graded schools of the cities and villages from thirty to forty minutes are given to a recitation. The dis- advantage of the pupil in the rural school is too obvious to need description. 7 With the greater number of pupils brought together and the basis of taxation equalized and enlarged, sufficient teachers might be employed so that the schools might be graded and the instruction adapted to the ages of the pupils, and be made as liberal, comprehensive and efficient as the instruction generally provided in the schools of the cities and villages. 8 Under such conditions courses of instruction could be provided which would be adapted to the needs of our agricultural communities. These courses could be enriched and made as strong from the intellectual and cultural standpoint as courses of study are in the populous centers. It would also be possible to establish courses of study which would contribute to the needs of every phase of agricultural development and interest in the State. These schools could then be made the great laboratories of every farming necessity of the State. A generation ago the boy on the farm found it profitable to attend school during the winter months from the time he became 16 until he attained his majority. Boys of this age are no longer found in the rural schools. They now rarely seek the village high school when the usual fall work on the farm is completed in November. Courses of study are now generally arranged so that all pupils must enter school at the beginning of the year in September. If our rural schools were organized on the basis which I have outlined in this discussion it would be feasible to organ- ize special courses for the boys of 16 or more who must remain at work on the farm until late in the fall or the beginning of winter, and who must return to such work in early spring. Courses of this type extending over several winters would be possible and would be of inestimable value. Courses especially prepared to meet the needs of girls as shown in some of the views which have been presented would be provided. 9 High school facilities could be provided throughout the farming sec- tions. Central schools of academic grade might be maintained in many centers. These schools would be within daily reach of many of the children between the ages of 12 and 18 who now leave home Monday morning and remain until Friday night at considerable expense in order to enjoy such privileges. If these schools were established the young people would be provided at home with the educational advantages which they must now obtain away from home, and they would also be afforded the association, influence and protection which exists in every good home. 10 Competent teachers might then be employed in these schools. Teachers who possess qualifications which are the equivalent of teachers who are employed in the schools of cities and villages. Six thousand teachers, one-half of those employed in the rural schools of the State 62 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK today, who have had no educational advantages beyond the elementary school, and who have had no professional training, would be compelled to give way to efficient, trained teachers. The State could establish institu- tions for the training of teachers with courses of study based upon the economic, industrial and sociological conditions of our rural life. 11 Schools would be maintained for the same period of time in the country districts that they are now maintained in the cities and villages. The children in the rural schools who have one month less of school than the children of the cities are not given an equal opportunity with the city children. Vacation schools could also be established. 12 A system of libraries meeting the intellectual needs of every citizen of the town could then be maintained. Provision could be made for study clubs in any section of the town and these libraries would afford the books which would enable the people to get the literature required to carry on such study clubs. It would be unnecessary to attempt to maintain an inde- pendent library in each school in a town. One central library could be maintained and from this library books could be supplied every school in the town. Books could be taken from the central library and placed at the disposal of each school so as to meet its particular needs and thus avoid the duplication of the purchase of books. A set of books which had been used in one school for a period of time could be transferred to another school and the books of the latter school could be transferred to another, and so on. By this interchange of books much economy could be exercised in the administration of school libraries. Lecture courses might also be established. These courses could be on popular subjects, political questions, cultural subjects, agricultural topics, health topics and any other question in which the people have a common interest. These two agencies — the library and the lecture — could be made a tremendous power in promoting the common enlightenment of the people in all our rural communities. 13 The enforcement of the statutes in relation to the operation of the schools, such as the compulsory attendance law, the medical inspection law, the physical education law, sanitation of school buildings, etc., could be made more effective and administered more economically. There is much waste and inefficiency in the present enforcement of these statutes but under the authority of a central town board, one competent person might be employed to do the work for which several agencies are now required, and not only do such work for a less expenditure but with greater efficiency. 14 The recreational and social interests of the people could be properly organized and administered. Play is as essential as study in the moral and intellectual development and growth of a child. It is as important that children shall have wholesome recreation as it is that they shall have efficient classroom instruction. It is impossible in many rural communities for the boys to enjoy a game of baseball without becoming trespassers. There should be, under the control of the school authorities in every town, ample grounds to afford the usual outdoor sports and games in which young people generally desire to participate. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 63 15 The people of an entire town would be brought closer together in a community of interests. The spirit of cooperation would be fostered not only in educational but in all other activities in which they had a common interest. To the rural communities might be restored much of the prestige and leadership in intellectual, social and political matters which such com- munities possessed half a century ago. Within a decade the influence of such a reorganization of our rural life would be felt in the life of the nation even. 16 tinder the township system there would be an agency in the rural schools for the administration of practical and effective agricultural courses. The agricultural interests of the State are of prime importance and among its valuable commercial assets. The value of her farm property is about $1,500,000,000 and the State ranks first in the value of her crops in many of the staple agricultural products. The value of her farm products for the past year was about $300,000,000. If we are to apply to the rural schools the general principle that in any scheme of education the course of study shall be related to the living conditions of the children for whom such course of study is provided, instruction in agriculture must form a part of the course of study for the rural schools. Every rural district, therefore, and every district maintaining a high school in the 600 villages of 2,000 or less population should maintain courses of instruction related to rural life which must, of course, include agriculture and homemaking. The boys who are 12 years of age or more, in attendance upon these schools, from whom the great bulk of recruits for farm life in this State must be obtained, could then be given practical education along the lines of scientific agriculture. Potato, corn and other similar clubs could be organized in every rural school maintained in the State and instruction could be provided which would relate to the interests of every community. The pupils could be taught, for instance, how to prepare the soil for the various crops, what soil is adapted to the growing of such crops, what kind of fertilizer is necessary and when it should be used. They could also be taught how to select seed, when to plant and how to cultivate a crop, the value and necessity of frequent cultivation and of rotation in crops, when and how to harvest crops, and, what is equally as important, how to market a crop with the least expense and the greatest advantage to the producer. Similar work should be provided for girls in the organiza- tion of canning clubs, bread-making clubs, and all other work related to the home. It is impossible, of course, to do this work satisfactorily under the school district system. A special teacher should be employed in agriculture in order to make this work successful. Not one of the rural schools as now organized is financially able to employ a teacher for this purpose. Under the township system a director of agriculture could be employed for the town and he could organize and supervise courses in agriculture in every school in the town. Every boy and girl, therefore, in attendance upon a rural school or upon a high school in any of these 600 villages could be given instruction in the lines of work in which the great majority of these young people will ultimately be employed. The encouragement which this State has given in recent years to voca- tional courses has resulted in the organization of such courses in 70 of 64 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK the villages high schools located in agricultural communities. In 33 of these 70 schools homemaking courses have been organized for the girls. There are in attendance upon these schools about 1000 boys and about 600 girls. During the past year about 800 of these boys carried on home project work, which is an important feature of agricultural courses. By home project work is meant a business enterprise in some particular line of farming carried on at the home farm in accordance with the principles and practices learned in school and reinforced by the experience of the home. After paying all expenses incurred in their experiments and setting aside for their own labor $20,000, these 800 boys mentioned above had a net profit of $40,000. Each of these boys therefore earned on the average $75. Of course some earned more than $75, some received less and others sustained a loss. These experiments, however, illustrate the rule in the actual affairs of life, including farming. But such experiments as these present the opportunity, through the school, of showing the boy who fails the cause of such failure, to point out to him how such failure may be turned to success, and to offer him the necessary encouragement to achieve this result. This incident is mentioned to show the possibilities of what might be accomplished through the schools if all the schools in the farm- ing sections of the State were organized on the basis of the 70 schools in which these courses have been maintained. The entire rural school system should be organized on such a basis under the township system that instruction in agricultural courses and in home- making courses may be given to all children in attendance upon these schools. Much work is now being done along this line as the accompanying pictures will show, but there would be a revolution in the work which might be accomplished in the agricultural sections of the State under an organization such as would be afforded by the township system. In order to get accurate information upon the operation of consolidated schools in other states, the state superintendents of states which have done the most in connection with consolidated schools were requested to reply to the following questions : 1 What effect has the establishment of consolidated schools had upon the value of farm property within the territory where such schools have been established? 2 Has the establishment of such schools been the means of providing a system of education which is adapted to the needs of agricultural life and, if so, in what way? 3 What is the general attitude of the people in the consolidated districts toward the continuance of the consolidated school, after it has been estab- lished and its work become effective? 4 Are better educated and trained teachers provided in the consolidated schools than were provided in the separate schools? 5 Have you been able to establish a system of transportation for the chil- dren which is satisfactory to the people generally, and which does not operate as a hardship upon the children? The following answers to these inquiries have been received: Mr C. C. Swain, Rural School Commissioner, Minnesota: Answering your specific questions, I beg to advise that the consolidation of schools has invariably increased the value of farm property within the tern- tory served by that school. . . In view of the fact that agriculture, manual training and home training are required in our consolidated schools, and, further, as principals engaged THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 65 must have rural experience and must be able to minister to rural educational needs, our consolidated schools are particularly fitted to minister to the peo- ple of the countryside. Better educated and trained teachers are required by law in all our con- solidated schools. Only teachers qualified for the elementary schools in our cities can qualify in our consolidated schools. We have found our transportation problem is not so serious as we antici- pated. Over eight thousand country children were successfully transported last year. We have reached a point now where we can say that if transpor- tation is not a success, the failure is due to mismanagement. We have not been able to find a school district where the people wish to go back to the old order of things. In fact, entire rural districts have joined and established consolidated schools without a dissenting vote _ after the ad- vantages of consolidation have been demonstrated for just a single year. Hon. F. B. Pearson, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ohio: The consolidation of schools has had a marked effect upon the value of farm property where this system exists. Farmers who reside in such com- munities are confident that the value of their farms have been increased from five to twenty dollars an acre. As farms are advertised for sale it is notice- able that there is an increased number of advertisements that contain as a desirable point the information that these farms are located in school dis- tricts which have the advantage of centralized schools. It is easy to under- stand why centralization does raise farm values. Persons who are interested in the education of their children, and these persons are always the most desirable citizens for any community, prefer residences in communities where the schools are centralized. Owners, tenants and laborers are attracted to these townships which have centralized schools. This is evident by the in- creased enrolment and average attendance after centralization has taken place, although the tendency in rural districts is to decrease in population. The establishment of centralized schools has been the means of providing 3. system of education which is adapted to the needs of agricultural life in that as the reputation of schools has become established the authorities do not feel obliged to copy the courses of study which have been adopted by town and city high schools. Again, the more careful gradation of pupils and the economy in equipment which result from centralization _ have made it possible to secure better equipment and grounds for the teaching of agricul- ture than could be secured when the appropriations which were given for this purpose had to be divided among a half dozen or more different schools. There is no duplication in equipment now and even if only the same amount is spent it results in much better advantages. Again, high schools are usu- ally established in connection with centralized schools. In these high schools agriculture is sometimes taught all four years. There was no opportunity for this in rural high schools without centralization. It has been estimated by A. B. Graham, who has carefully investigated conditions in Ohio, that after centralization is once established 75 per cent of the people who formerly opposed it become advocates of it after learning of its advantages at first hand. It is to be noted that in Ohio the_ spread of centralization is in snots. The school districts which adopt centralization are usually contiguous to districts which already are under that system. From this it would appear that the satisfaction with centralization must be evident to neighboring school districts. A map which we have in the office very clearly indicates the contagiousness of centralization. Better educated and better trained teachers are provided in consolidated schools. Not onlythis but teachers are usually obtained who are trained especially and peculiarly adapted to the work of their special grades, and instead of having one teacher who is not specially prepared teaching twenty-four to thirty recitations a day and giving each grade about thirty-three minutes of time, we have teachers who are specially prepared devoting either all or, in some instances, half of their time to a grade. The increased efficiency due to special training of teachers and to the better gradation is remarkable when this increased effi- ciency is established by observation in the two sorts of schools. 66 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK A satisfactory system of transportation is the most difficult feature of cen- tralization. Where boards of education carefully plan routes and establish schedules and purchase adequate equipment the problem can be solved fairly satisfactorily. We do not advise routes over seven miles in length ; that is, we do not believe that the most extreme distances on a route should exceed this. While there are many routes in Ohio that are eight and nine miles in length and while transportation on these in many instances is fairly satisfac- tory and in almost every .instance is preferred to the one-room system of schools, yet we do not advise such long routes. Hon. Charles A. Greathouse, State Superintendent of Public Instruction? Indiana: [This is one of the pioneer states in consolidation and has more and better consolidated schools than an other state in the country.] 1 While I do not have any statistics in answer to this question, I am reliably informed that the value of farm lands has increased where consoli- dated schools have been established. 2 In reply to this question, there is no doubt in my mind but what the- consolidated rural school has provided a system of education which is adapted to agricultural life in Indiana. In the majority of cases, the township trustees have purchased enough ground so that children taking agriculture work may experiment on the school grounds specially laid out for this pur- pose. The consolidated school provides a special agricultural teacher. I may add further that the consolidated school usually has a special room for agriculture in the basement where experiments in agricultural work are made and where they hold their stock shows and things of that sort. 3 In reply to your third question I desire to state the general attitude of the people in consolidated districts is such that they would not think of re- turning to the old district plan. It has been the experience in this state- that peojple who experience the results of a consolidated rural school for two or three years, are very much pleased with the results. 4 Better educated and trained teachers are provided in the consolidated schools than are provided in the district schools. There are a number of reasons for this but two of the main ones are, first, a township trustee can. pay more, second, the teachers in consolidated schools have the needed super- vision, which can not be true in the district school. 5 This feature of the consolidated school has caused more trouble than, any other. The trouble is usually with the township trustee who desires to make his route for transportation too long. When the route is not over 4^2 or 5 miles, we have very little trouble with the question of transpotation. Dr J. Y. Joyner, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, North Carolina: I The effect of the establishment of consolidated schools upon the value of farm property within the territory in which such schools have been estab- lished, is in all cases one showing positive increase in value of farm prop- erty. I have yet to learn of a single case in this state in which there has- been any decrease in the value of farm property. I have learned of many instances in which property had increased considerably in value as evidenced by subsequent sale. a Regarding the question of whether the establishment of such schools has been the means of providing a system of education that is adapted to the needs of agricultural life, I will say that it has gone far in that direction,, to enlarging the school sites, the employment of a large number of teachers who are better equipped, a more practicable division of labor among these teachers, the increase in the school funds to provide necessary equipment, etc., has clearly helped in a large measure to provide means for the adapta- tion of the rural schools to the needs of country life. 3 It has been our experience that people generally are enthusiastically proud of their consolidated schools once they can bring themselves to approve the consolidation. In other words, after consolidation is affected in a com- munity, that community would not go back to the old system. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM &J 4 Better educated and better trained teachers are provided in practically all cases through the increase in popular interest in the school and through the provision that is made for larger school funds, with which to pay these teachers. 5 We have not put the system of public transportation into extensive use in this state as yet, but in these communities in which it has been tried, _ it seems to work very nicely and without any special hardship upon the chil- dren. We have learned, however, that it is essential that the length of the route over which the children are transported to and from school must not be made too long, else there will be hardships unavoidable, both as concerns the children themselves and their parents. [Doctor Joyner also states that since 1903 the number of one-teacher, one- room rural school has decreased by over two thousand.] Hon. C. P. Cary, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Wisconsin: I The establishment of a good school in any community always increases the valuation of farm territory. People who are looking for places to make their homes always take the school into account when they buy property. If there is a good school in the community they will pay more for a piece of land than if their children will have to attend a poor school. 2 In this state when a consolidated school is established it becomes a state graded school of two or more departments. The consolidated schools are not considered in a class by themselves. The state graded schools as a class are regarded as superior to the one-teacher school. 3 In the state graded schools with two or more teachers it is possible to do more thorough work than can be done in a one-teacher school, especially if the enrolment in the latter is large. It has also been possible to introduce more hand work for the reason that there is more time to devote to such work and as a rule the teachers are better prepared for it. 4 With a stronger class of teachers it is possible to do more effective work The teaching of agriculture as a rule becomes more effective. These schools also radiate their influence farther in that the territory is larger and the pupils come from a larger number of homes. 5 The transportation problem seems to solve itself whenever the people decide to adopt the new plan. This is a business undertaking and can usu- ally be settled in a satisfactory way. In fact, transportation on a reasonably large scale is likely to prove more satisfactory than transportation on a small scale. Hon. Francis G. Blair, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Illinois: I am fully convinced that wherever there has been created a community sentiment strong enough to organize and maintain a consolidated school, that such a school is far superior to the one-room schools which have been displaced by it. At the dedication of the Kishwaukee consolidated school building in Illinois, Prof. Newell D. Gilbert of the Northern Illinois State Normal School, spoke as follows in relation to the value of consolidated schools : Personally, I regard the consolidated school as second to no other advance step in the evolution of American education; also I regard it as nearer of effective realization than any other movement of equal importance. I do not believe you farmers are holding a place of political and social influence nearly commensurate with your numbers, your wealth, your intelligence, or your force of character. So far as this may be true, it comes, I believe, from living rather isolated, being educated in isolated one-room schools, so that the farmer has lived and thought too much in individual, rather than social terms. The consolidated school offers a redemption from this situation, and at the same time a great expansion and enrichment of every phase of rural life, for: I It offers a rallying point for the people of a neighborhood about the greatest single idea in modern life, the education of children. 68 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 2 It stimulates an unlimited number of allied interests — entertainments, lectures and discussions on live themes, such as will set all reading, think- ing-; and it helps to make country life bright and attractive, comfortable and profitable away beyond the power of the city to compete. 3 It means better teachers, in healthier rooms, with more books and apparatus, with playground and gymnasium, with laboratory and shop — and all used to carry out a course of study specifically adapted to make the most and best of rural life.. 4 A rural community is so homogenous in occupation that the children can work out on a practical scale at home what is taught at school, and thus make their lessons part and parcel of their growing lives. 5 That gallery takes my eye; not with its grace, for it hasn't much; but It is crowded to the spilling point with splendidly capable young men. This consolidated school might readily hold them united in things to be done here - — things industrial, political, educational, social, religious. In this comrade- ship of effort they would learn organization and leadership, fulfilling the fondest dreams of their elders and bearing Kishwaukee influence far. 6 Into this group will come other young men from the normal school and university, with the best treasures of these institutions, to be leaders in their ways. 7 In the acceptance of leadership from- without will come your greatest difficulty and, in all possibility, your greatest single gain ; for on the wisdom of your choice of teachers, on your ability to listen to them with neither too great prejudice nor too ready compliance, and to follow right leading, all else will hinge. In view of all I have said, you will readily believe that I am glad to be fiere to-night; to meet you, the people of this Kishwaukee school; to see your sons and your daughters about you, so noble in measureless^ power, so beau- tiful in the inexpressible graces of young life. It is splendid that you have among you a great dreamer, and that you have the heart to honor him in the giving and acceptance of this excellent portrait, a symbol, I take it, of what you hope, a pledge of what you purpose. I have not, I am sure, gone beyond his dreams in what I have said ; I shrewdly suspect that I am barely started. You have put your hand to a big task in a fine way. You will recall the word of the Great Teacher touching one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back. Hon. H. A. Davee, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Montana: 1 The establishment of consolidation in three communities with which I am best acquainted has had the effect of increasing the value of farm prop- erty within the consolidated community. The fact that these schools main- tain rural high school, makes that territory very attractive to prospective purchasers and renters. 2 The establishment of consolidated schools has made it possible to put in agriculture, manual training and domestic science courses; thus meeting the needs of the community. 3 After the second year the people in every locality with which I am -familiar are well satisfied with the consolidated school. In many cases they liave carried by a margin, and no attempt has ever been made to disestablish 4 There is no doubt but what better trained teachers are provided in the consolidated school. They have a better organization, and the positions are more attractive to better teachers. 5 Except on some of the very long roads (some of them are eight miles) the people are well satisfied with transportation. In some cases children fiave to start very early and get home late but in all cases during the cold weather the children who come in the wagons, no matter how far, arrive at school in better condition than those who walk a mile through the cold and snow. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM £>9 Hon. Charles H. Lugg, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, South Dakota: 1 The establishment of a consolidated school has a tendency to increase the valuation of farm property in the neighborhood and to attract purchasers of such property. 2 The establishment of these schools has greatly improved the type o£ education offered in the country districts, but the advantages offered are not yet what we desire, except in a few schools. The deficiency is not inherent in the school or in its administration, but in the community, which has not, except in a few instances, risen to a lull conception of the possibilities of the graded rural school. 3 The general attitude of the people toward the consolidated school after it has once been established in their community is favorable. We have not had a case where there was any talk of going back to the old system. A few of the more active opponents ot the system usually keep up more or less growling, but even they acknowledge that " the things work." 4 Better trained and better educated teachers are sought for the consoli- dated schools, and the faculties employed will compare favorably with those employed in our city schools. 5 We have not found a system of transportation that is perfect, but dis- trict ownership of school wagons, with bonded drivers is as satisfactory as anything we have tried. We find that a route should not be longer than can be driven in one hour even when the roads are bad. Our routes average about five miles, and we have but little complaint except from people who- are not inclined to accept any inconvenience personally for the good of.. the community, and we have come to feel that such selfishness should be ignored. Governor Ferris of Michigan, in an address before a convention of farmers in his state recently expressed his views upon consolidation as follows : I am anxious that Michigan should have her share of good roads; that she should do great things in this direction. in order that we may revolu- tionize a dead school system, paralyzed because our forces are scattered, We have hundreds and hundreds of local schools that do not have more than 15 or 20 pupils, and these schools must remain little and must remain scattered so long as there is no means of consolidation. I am aware that there are in this audience bitter opponents to the consolidation of our schools, but when I make this plea for it, I plead for the human element, for the boy in the country, for the girl there. There are many farmers who own their own automobiles, who can get their boys and girls to Battle Creek, or rather large centers like Lansing or Kalamazoo, but I am talking for the majority who can not hope to find their way into these large cities; it is for these boys and these girls that I plead here this morning. . . . I, as governor of Michigan, care for good roads for the state of Michigan; I want them so that we can improve the educational system. This would bring up the value of farm property and I believe it is absolutely impossible to overesti- mate the possibilities of conserving brains, of building character, of educat- ing men and women so that when they do getthe dollars they can have the capacity of enjoying them and getting something out of life. Superintendent Henry A. Dann of the second district of Erie county communicated with residents of many consolidated districts . in other states to obtain their opinion of the desirability of maintaining such schools. Superintendent Darin has published a pamphlet giving in full the letters which he has received. W r e are including herein some of these letters so that school officers of this State may have the views of people of other states who have resided in districts maintaining single-room schools but 70 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK who are now residents of districts maintaining consolidated schools. The following letters were addressed to Superintendent Dann : McNabb, III, May 15, 1916 My dear sir: Yours of May 5th at hand. We have had our consolidated school in oper- ation now for nine_ years. It is a great improvement over the " old way." No one in the district would care to go back to the old way. It costs more, but it gives us a first-class high school right at home within reach of those boys and girls who are not able to pay for high school and board in some town. At present we do not haul the children to school. They arrange for that. Drive their own rigs. Have a barn at the school grounds. I am a farmer. Live in the district. No children now in school. Have finished high school. Have land (farms) worth at least $50,000 in the district. Taxes are higher, but they are well spent. It is the only hope for the poorer class, and you know " The poor will always be with us." Hastily W. B. Mills Putnam, III, May 13, 1916 Dear sir : In reply to yours of the 5th. We have four districts in one building. Cost us $12,000. Brick, inside closet, steam heat, 5 rooms and basement under entire building. Manual training in part of basement, employ five teachers and a janitor. Have a barn on school grounds for teachers to put their horses in. We have fifteen rigs at present, furnished by patrons. The dis- trict has never furnished rigs. The law in this state Will not allow tran- portation, but they get there. Everyone well satisfied. It does not cost as much to maintain the consolidated school as it did the four district schools before; and we have a much better school than it is possible to have in the country. We can get better teachers at less salary than the country school has to pay. You can not get a good teacher to go five or six miles in the country and do her own janitor work and walk a mile or two to her board- ing place. We pay our principal $120 a month and the other teachers $55, but we are going to have to pay about $60 from now on, as they are getting it elsewhere. But most all teachers prefer consolidated school work. The children are generally a better class to handle than the city bred. And why is not the country child entitled to as good a school as the city child? I believe the day is not far away when the little country schoolhouse will be the thing of the past. The high school at home does away with the sending our boys and girls away from home to get a high school education. That alone is worth all it costs if you have but one to school. I have a boy six- teen, graduated last year. I knew what he was doing while he was getting his education. It is just the time in their young lives that we should be their companions as much as possible. Excuse this hasty letter. Will be glad to answer any other questions. Wish you success in your consolidation work. Yours respectfully W. M. DRAKE Rochester, hid., April 28, 1916 My dear sir: Yours of the 24th inst. at hand and carefully noted. Yes, we have about ten consolidated schools in the county. Some of these schools are simply grade schools, while others are both grade and high schools. From two to six school hacks per school are used in transporting the children to these schools, and in every instance the patrons have been per- fectly satisfied with both the transportation and the advantages of the cen- tralized school. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM JI We have fifty one-room schools in the county with a total enrolment of 15 14 pupils, and the total enrolment in the ten centralized schools is 1408. Ira other words, about one-half of all pupils in the county are enrolled in the centralized schools. This year the average daily attendance in all one-room schools is 89 per cent, while the average daily attendance of all centralized schools is 99 per cent; besides this the quality of the work done in the centralized school is fully 25 per cent better than the quality of the work in the one-room school. There is a much greater community spirit and better school interest mani- fested in the consolidated districts than in the small one-room districts. Yours very truly Henry L. Becker Vincennes, hid., May 5, 1916 Dear sir: I am pleased to have an opportunity of giving my estimate of the con- solidated school from my experience. I am an attorney by profession and have an office in the city, but live two miles out. Have two children, ages ten and six, who attend said school. I have visited the school as a patron twice every year, and have a fair acquaint- ance with most of the patrons, which acquaintance was made principally at the meetings of patrons and teachers that are frequently held at the building. At the beginning of the school there was some prejudice against abandoning the small district schools, but I think it has practically all disappeared since the interest of the children in school work has noticeably increased in the consolidated school. I have heard very few complaints on the method of transportation, as the rules for the drivers are strictly enforced and they are superseded if they become lax in their duties. I have been told they get from $45 to $50 a month, and the township furnishes the wagons. Besides liaving a better school, I think the taxes are lower in this township than any ■other in this state. I do not believe there is one of the patrons out of ten who would be willing to go back to the old plan. I thank you for asking my opinion of this, as it has been a real pleasure to me to boost our school since my children do so well there. Yours truly J. M. Glenn International Falls, Minn., May 25, 1916 Dear sir: Yours of 18th inst. at hand, and I will be glad if I can give you any useful information with regard to the consolidated school. We have two girls of eight and ten years of age who expect to advance to fifth grade soon. This is their first term at the consolidated school to be hauled by wagon, and they like it better than the country school. I, with all the people that I liave talked with about the school, believe it to be a great deal better for •die children than the old school. The new school is modern in every way. There is work taken up there and taught which would be impossibe in the small country school. None of the children who have been hauled in wagons tsave ever been tardy or missed a day so far this term. We are dairy farmers about three miles from the school. The bus that takes our children has only ten children to haul and costs $6o_ a month. There is another wagon on a shorter route which hauls fifteen children and costs $40 a month. Another one hauls about twenty-four children and costs $100 a month. So you see it depends some on how many children to the wagon and the distance. Hoping this will help you, I remain, Mrs John Hoey P. S. If I can help you any further will be glad to do so. ■ 72 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Collins, Miss. I will try to write you a few lines about our consolidated school. When they commenced to get the school I was against it. I did not think it would do, but there was enough for it to get it. I have been sending to school there three years and the more I send the better I like it. I will say to people in your community if they want a new school this is the best for them. It takes some more money to run it, but like you do with your horse when he is just about wore out trade it off and give the difference and say you made a good trade. Put your little schools together and you will make another good trade. I can tell you all it is just like running your farm with plenty of tools and without much team you can not do much. When you get your little school all together it is just like taking a handful of little sticks, one of them is easily broken, but put them all together and they are hard to break. By doing this you can get good teachers, and I find out that is the life of the school. Before the schools here were consolidated there was always confusion in the schools. Since we have tried it I can say for myseif I would not take any kind of a price for it and do without it. When the school started the children didn't think they could go to such a school,, but now they laugh about the little old schoolhouse and they say now they would not go back to it for anything. You have been feeding your pigs for a long time and I guess they are fine. Now let us give our children a better chance and see how they will do. When we train our horses we can get better prices for them and put more confidence in them ; try your children the same way. Yours truly W. E. Deese October 16, igi6 Dear sir: I am glad to write you a few words relating to our consolidated school at Orchard Park, for the system is very successful and the people who send children to the school find that every feature of the arrangement is much better than the former system. We have a large, modern building with proper classrooms, gymnasium, good ventilation and heating, and all other features that should be found in an up-to-date school. There are fourteen teachers and the course includes four years of academic instruction. About one hundred fifty children are brought in from districts in which the small schools have been abandoned. It was planned to keep the Windom school open for the children in the primary grades, but when the parents had an opportunity to compare the new building and superior instruction to be had there with that given in the smaller school, they were unwilling to have their children attend the small school. Our tax rate compares favorably with other academic districts. At the start there was considerable outside opposition to the consolida- tion and maintenance of the consolidated school. This opposition has prac- tically disappeared and the people seem to be generally satisfied. I have held the position of postmaster for a number of years. At present I am engaged in the real estate and insurance business and have many opportunities of learning what people think on this subject. At one time I was principal of the local school and my daughter has taught school, so that I have been much interested in the questions that have come up. Very truly A. K. Hoag Canandaigu,a, N. Y ., August 22, igi6 Dear Mr Dann : I received your letter asking facts about our consolidated school. I will answer as it looks to me. I think most of the people who send children to our district would say " Yes," quickly. It is an improvement over the old way. We have had our school one year and find we learn many things by THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 73 experience. Circumstances govern those. Transportation is the hard nut to crack, but it can be done and made a success of at that. We have three routes coming in here at an expense of $900 yearly. Each driver has 2j4 or 3 miles one way, or nearly 6 miles to drive every day. Our school was closed only one day last year by bad roads. Last year we had a principal and two teachers ; this year we are spreading out a little — a principal and three teachers; 70 pupils. This provides two years' high school work. The tax rate which covered running the school and retiring $1000 — the yearly pay- ment we made on our building — was a fraction over $8 a thousand. I' send one boy 12 years old to school — all I have. I am a f ai'mer and also do road work. Hoping this will be what you want. Yours respectfully Frank A. Hall Dansville, N. Y '., R. F. D., 4, August 5, 1916 Dear Mr Dann : A year ago three rural districts were consolidated with the Dansville High School district. Last autumn we hired two large inclosed auto buses to carry the children to and from their districts. These cost $550 for the year. The children were, on the average, in them seven minutes a trip. In a remote district, we had a fire started each morning in the old district school- house after the bad weather set in. A responsible woman built the fire and supervised the youngsters while there. This cost us less than $25. We have a definite schedule for the arrival and the departure of the bus. We have it remain at the schoolhouse district five minutes. The only trouble we had was in the beginning. We had to educate the driver that he had to live up to his schedule explicitly. We taught him this lesson by hiring an automobile to gather the children when he failed to arrive in time, and to charge the expense to him. The whole affair works beautifully now. Very truly yours J. M. Foster, Superintendent Rolla, N. D., May 26, 1916 Dear sir: Your letter of the 18th to hand and in reply have to say that we have had a consolidated school here for the last 15 years. Our school district is one township. We have four rigs to haul the children ; one from each corner of the township school in the center ; we haul all the children ; two-room school- house; two teachers; school starts from April to November. We pay $40 to $50 for the rigs; teachers $55, $60, $65; children at school 65 to 7o. Our taxes are 10 mills on the dollar; they are less than in some schools where children have to walk. The children learn better in our school than in the smaller schools. They go all the time. I have been on this school for 25 year and know how it goes. By all means get a consolidated school. Yours truly William Craig, Clerk Cando, N. D., June 6, 1915 Dear sir: While I am pleased to reply to your inquiry of 28th ult., I feel it rather a task unless we assume that you know something of conditions in our West. The large farms — tenants with children one year, tenants without children the next. These two problems we met by placing our schoolhouse in the center of our civil township. Attendance has increased until now there are 74 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 36 children enrolled. The total number of children in one township ! The school wagons are generally used in the consolidated districts throughout thft state and are more or less satisfactory. We did not deem it advisable in our district, so voted the mileage system. We pay 10 cents a mile, one way, to each child each day he attends school — it would bankrupt a district to' pay this amount under different conditions than ours. I know this pay system causes a better attendance, and if the parents do not realize this many of us do — that the regular attendance is working wonders with the children. In the three years we have paid transportation it has averaged probably $170 a month. School wagons I believe are hired for $75 to $80 each a month. With us the $170 is divided among the families of the district and almost everyone has an old horse and buggy whose use is not missed on the farm. While everyone admits that the consolidated school does not solve the rural school problem yet it seems the most satisfactory solution yet presented, I am a farmer. Have four children 12, 10, 8 and 7 years, respectively. Before we changed, the two older walked 20 rods to school — now they all drive two and one-half miles, yet their added interest and progress outrivals the inconvenience. I would like to suggest that you may find the consolidated schools of Indiana and Ohio more nearly like the conditions you must have in New York. Yours very truly George Timms Montpelier, Vt., June 4, 1914 My dear sir: In response to yours of June 1, I wish to say that consolidation has been going on in Vermont for nearly 30 years. Today there are within this small commonwealth over four hundred unused one-room school buildings. At first transportation was not satisfactory but has gradually become so. In Montpelier all the schools of the township are consolidated and I have never heard of any complaint. In Fairfax, Vt., nine schools were closed and all the children were brought into the village school. In my opinion consolidation has been a success where it has been put in force. Trusting this may be satisfactory, I remain, Very sincerely yours Mason Stone Gary, W. Va., May 26, 191& Dear sir: In response to a request made by Supt. W. C. Cook, of McDowell county,, W. Va., I am writing you concerning the workings of the consolidated school in Adkin district of McDowell county. This school was established by bond issue in 1912. The building was erected in 1912-13, and was opened September 10, 1913. Three wagons were put into operation to carry the pupils from three towns at distances of one,, two and three and one-half miles from the building. In some of these wagons only the four upper grades were so transported, and in others all ages of pupils were brought in. The consolidated system as we have it has always been satisfactory and we could not be induced to go back to the old system of one-room schools formerly in vogue. Efforts are being made to effect more consolidation in other parts of the district which will no doubt be successful. Yours very truly C. H. Archer, District Sup't, Adkin district THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 75 Good Roads Aid Schools One of the great agencies in the State for the proper administration of rural schools is New York's great system of improved highways. The movement to build a system of improved highways is of recent origin. It was inaugurated in 1898, only eighteen years ago, under the " Higbie-Arm- strong " and the " Fuller-Plank " highway acts. In 1907, the people of the State voted to raise by the issuance of bonds $50,000,000 to be used in the construction of improved highways. In 1912, the people of the State again voted to raise by the issuance of a second bond issue, an additional $50,000,000 for the construction of additional improved highways. The highways which have been and which are to be constructed out of this enormous appropriation of $100,000,000 are generally known as state roads. Approximately 12,000 miles of this type of roads have been designated to be constructed out of this fund. The report of the State Highway Commis- sioner for 1915 shows that, on January 1, 1916, about 8000 miles of state road had been constructed or were under contract for construction. This is about two-thirds of the entire mileage to be constructed. The same report shows that about $75,000,000, or three-fourths of the entire appro- priation, has been expended on roads completed or under contract for construction. When these state roads are completed, the total amount of mileage will represent only one-seventh or one-eighth of the entire highway mileage of the State. In order to extend the improved highway system, the State has encouraged each town to improve its highways by providing a system of state aid. The State appropriates a fund which is apportioned by the State Highway Department to the several towns of the State for the improvement of their respective town highways. This fund is apportioned upon the assessed valuation per mile of road in each town. Under the statute regulating this subject, the towns of the State are entitled to receive annually about $2,200,000. In addition to this sum, which must be expended for the improvement of town highways when it is once appor- tioned, each town in the State may raise by local tax, funds for the improvement of its highways. The report of the State Highway Com- missioner for 1914 shows that the several towns of the State raised in that year the aggregate sum of $3,340,000 for this purpose. If the towns should raise this sum annually, there would be invested each year in the improvement of town highways, $5,540,000. The annual investment of such sum in constructing improved town highways of the type which have been constructed in many of the towns of the State would rapidly increase the mileage of improved highways in the State. In his annual report of Janu- ary I, 191 6, the State Commissioner of Highways states that over 4000 miles of town macadam road and nearly 6000 miles of town gravel roads, or a total of 10,000 miles of improved town highways, have been constructed within the past few years. The combined mileage of state roads and of town improved roads includes about one-fourth of the total mileage of highways through the entire State. It is the settled policy of the State to maintain a system of improved highways. The State not only will maintain the system of state roads which it has constructed but it may reasonably be expected that such system will gradually be extended. These roads have made rural life more attractive, TO THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Slave made agricultural pursuits more profitable by bringing the farm in closer touch with the markets, and they afford those living in the rural regions the opportunity of enjoying the amusements and the social life of village and city. These roads have enhanced the value of all farms In the State which are located upon or near them. The construction of Improved town roads has exerted a similar influence upon the conditions and life of the sections of the State through which they extend. For this reason, we may confidently expect that the maintenance of these roads and the rapid extension of such type of roads will be a permanent policy of the State in the development and maintenance of its highway system. In this connection, consideration must be given to the recent action of the United States government on the question of improved highways. This subject is one in which the national government is certain to become perma- nently interested. Congress appropriated $90,000,000 in July last for the construction of national highways. This sum was appropriated to be ap- portioned among the several states on condition that each state should duplicate the amount of its apportionment. This measure therefore pro- vides for an expenditure within the next five years of $180,000,000 for the construction of national highways through the several states. New York's share of this appropriation is about $3800,000. The act of July last made the initial appropriation but the interests of the national government m the subject have recently become so vital in many respects that it may reasonably be expected that the government has simply entered upon a great program in the construction of national highways and that other appropriations for the extension of this system of roads will follow. Since the State entered upon the policy of improving its highways in 1898 there has been expended or authorized for expenditure for that purpose the following: revenue from bonds for constructing state roads, $100,000,000; contributed by the State to the towns as state aid, about $25,000,000; appro- priated by the towns for town highway purposes, about $80,000,000; New York's share of the appropriations made by Congress, about $3,800,000. In addition to these items, a large amount of money has been raised and appro- priated by the counties for the purpose of constructing and maintaining improved roads. The various amounts are rapidly increasing each year. The sum received as federal aid will in a few years be greatly in excess of the amount indicated above. The amount authorized therefore for the construction of improved roads in this State within the last eighteen years exceeds the aggregate amount which all the cities and all the school districts of the State have invested in school buildings and sites. This great investment by the people, in good roads, should be utilized in every way possible to give a proper return thereon. These roads may be made one of the State's greatest agencies in the further development of her public school system. If these roads make the farms of the State more accessible to the markets because greater loads of produce may be hauled, in less time and with greater comfort and less expense, such roads should also make the schools more accessible to the children of the State. If these roads permit families to drive twenty- live and forty miles even by automobiles, as many do, to attend a dinner party, a dance, a theater, a political meeting, or other forms of amuse- ment in the evening without hardship, then surely such roads may also be o U < ?? Uh Troy-Schenectady, Part 3, Highway No. 604, Albany County SaKATi.GA-ScHUYI F.KV1U.E HIGHWAY No. 244, SARATOGA COUNTY Hoffman-Cranesyille Highway No. 5126, Montgomery County Westchester County — Town of Bebford, Town Macadam at Hon. Seth Low's Farm THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM JJ utilized to take children by automobile three or four miles to attend a school which will afford such children the school facilities to which they are entitled, without imposing a hardship upon them. Official reports in this Department show that 3000 schoolhouses are located on state roads and improved town roads or upon highways leading to such roads, so that these state and improved roads may be used by the children in traveling to and from school. Through the courtesy of the Honorable Edwin Duffy, State Commissioner of Highways, the accompanying pictures of state roads and of town roads are given. Previous to the inauguration of the movement for improved highways in 1898, the several towns of the State v/ere divided into road districts on a plan similar to that under which the territory of a town is still divided into school districts. Each of these road districts was under the general control of an overseer of highways as each school district is now con- trolled by a school trustee. Each of the taxpaj^ers living in one of these road districts was required to work on the road a certain number of days according to the assessed value of his property. Each male citizen above the age of 21 years was also required to work on the roads one day for a poll tax. The overseer of highways Avas authorized to warn all persons or corporations required to work on the roads to come to such place on the road, at such time and with such implements as such overseer desig- nated. Those who are familiar with the method of " working the roads " which prevailed under such system know how much time was wasted and how the roads deteriorated. Under the act of r8o8, towns were allowed to abandon the old labor system or the plan of each person working out his time on the road and to adopt the money system by which the town appropriated a sum of money for improving the highways. The State encouraged the adoption of this plan by appropriating to each town an amount equal to 25 per cent of that which the tc \vn rrrsed. In a pcr'od of ten years, 650 out of 933 towns in the State frd adopted the money system. The plan had by this time become so generally acceptable and satisfactory throughout the State that the old plan of labor system and the old office of overseer of highways were abolished end 'he money or lax system made mandatory and a new officer, known as town superintendent of highways, created. This officer has supervision of a!! repairs and con- struction of the highways of the entire town. The old labor system of working the highways 'was the system cf a century ago but it did not provide means of trail sporta,t : on equal to the demands of the present times. Those living in the country succeeded in getting over these roads when necessity compelled hut sueh roads dkl not provide the facilities required by farmers for such traveling as they were compelled to do. The district schools still provide an education for the children living upon the farms but not of that type to which they are entitled and which the commercial and industrial interests of the State demand. When the Legislature abolished the plan of our fathers in build- ing and maintaining roads and the time-honored office of overseer of high- ways and pathmaster, as he was often called, that body was not guilty of an invasion of the home rule doctrine or of undemocratic conduct. The initiative in the general movement was given to each town and as soon as y8 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK the people of the town saw the advantages which would accrue to them by an adoption of a modern and businesslike method, they voluntarily adopted it. Since that time, the people living in the rural districts have built 10,000 miles of improved highways. The consolidation of schools should be deter- mined by the people of each town and when they realize the advantages to be derived from such type of schools the people will provide them. It is quite as important to the agricultural interests of the State that good schools shall be maintained as it is that good roads shall be maintained. Facilities to give the children living upon the farms, who are to be the future farmers of the State, an education which will properly prepare them for their work, is an asset as vital to farming interests as the construction of good roads to enable the farmers to reach market and to serve other necessities. If it was not an invasion of the doctrine of home rule to substitute the money system of working roads for the labor system and to abolish road districts in a town and to substitute town superintendents of highways for overseers of road districts in order to provide an adequate system of improved roads, why can it be considered an infraction of the doctrine of home rule to substitute a town board of education for the district trustees, place the maintenance of schools upon the administrative unit of the town instead of the district and confer upon the people of the town the right to determine how many schools the educational necessities of the town require in order to provide an adequate system of improved schools? Are roads of more importance to the farm than schools? Is the marketing of produce grown upon a farm of more importance to the farm than educating the children living upon the farm? The adoption of the township bill in the administration of rural schools will aid in improving the school facilities of rural New York as much as the present system of maintaining roads has aided in improving the highways of New York over the plan in vogue for a century preceding the adoption of such system. The adoption of the township system of schools will produce a spirit of cooperation between the town board of education and the town superin- tendent of highways which will result advantageously to the system of improved roads as well as to the schools. State Agricultural Society Indorses Township System At the annual meeting of the New York State Agricultural Society in 1915 the following action was taken in reference to the township system: Report of Committee on Agricultural Education Dean H. E. Cook Your committee has indorsed the report of the special committee on agricultural unification, and asks the privilege of making their report a part of the report of this committee. . Your committee also recommends to the careful consideration 01 this society the proposition to change the unit of administration of the rural schools of the State from the district system to the township system. In- equalities in taxation, for education particularly, exist under the antiquated plan of the school district system. The modern idea now prevails to a large THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 79 extent, in a majority of the best farming sections of the country, of bringing more pupils and more property to the support of a single school so that the work of such school may be graded, better teachers employed, adequate equipment provided, and the schools of the farming sections made the «qual of the city or village schools. Your committee believes that the town- ship system worked out on proper lines would result in a economical admin- istration of schools affairs in the rural regions, as well as providing not only school facilities necessary for the proper development of the educa- tional interests of the State, but an enlarged use of school plants throughout the agricultural sections for community purposes. Mr Schriver: I move a division of the subject and then move the adop- tion of the report of the first committee on unification of agricultural education. The President: It is moved and seconded that we divide the subject of Dean Cook's reports and vote for the adoption of the first report which is die report on the correlation of the agricultural educational subjects. Carried. Mr. Schriver: In order to bring it before the body parliamentarily, I ;move the adoption of the second report. Motion lost. Dean Cook : Would I be out of place in asking for a more positive vote on the township system? If I ever saw a weak vote on both sides, it was expressed by this audience. If the subject is worth our attention at all it is worth putting some positive stamp on it. Let us show where we stand on a question that is bound to be important in the next few years in our rural communities. Mr Fraser: I honestly do not know how to vote on it. I judge we have a committee that has been working hard and that are interested, but per- sonally I do not know how to vote on it. The President: I think Mr Fraser expresses a somewhat general feeling or condition. The chair will consider any resolution. Dean Cook : I should like to move for a reconsideration and give us a chance to vote on the two questions involved. The President: The Chair believes that a brief statement of just what the township proposition is, would probably clarify the matter a little in the sninds of some people who have not given it much study. My understanding is that the proposition is to create in the township a township board to take the place of the direct school boards as we have them now, leaving the dis- position of the schools entirely in local hands. This would make it possible for the town board to combine two or more schools in one if that seems advisable, and at the same time it would be left to the discretion of the Iboard to continue other districts where they are now organized. The board would have the privilege of leaving the matter just as it is now, the only difference being that there would be a township board instead of a school district board, and that such board would have the authority to combine certain schools, if that seemed the best plan. Mr Giles: Unfortunately, I was out of the room and only came in just at the close of this report. It seems to me that we are not going at this just right, and, since it is open for reconsideration, I believe what I shall say will be in order. This committee has done a large amount of work at your direction. I think it is entirely right and proper to accept the report of that committee without adopting any part, and then take up the different recommendations for adoption or rejection. Let us accept it, and then it oecomes our property and we can discuss it and settle it in a parliamentary manner. The President: Shall we reconsfder the question? Motion seconded. Carried. 80 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The President: The Chair will now consider a resolution on the ques- tion as it originally stood. Mr Giles : I move that the report of this committee be accepted. By that I mean it then becomes our property and we can take the questions up separately, and the body take care of them. Motion carried. The President: Is there anything further at this time? I might say that I think the usual way would be for the matter to come in as a resolution and go to the committee on resolutions. If the Chair might, it would suggest that this be done in this case. Mr van Alstyne: It seems to me that the matter is clearly before us, and that we should dispose of it now. I move that this society accept or adopt the proposition of the township school as outlined by Doctor Finegan yesterday. Seconded. The President : I think that the resolution should be put in writing and submitted to the committee on resolutions. Mr Schriver: Is there any objection to our continuing in the way we once started, proceeding with the adoption of the first report? The President : It has been adopted. Mr Schriver: What did the reconsideration involve? The President: The second question. Mr Schriver: I move that we adopt the report as presented by the chairman of the committee. Mr Giles: I appear to discuss this question under some embarrassment^ as I am not quite ready to be recorded. I am a little like Mr Fraser. We certainly had a very illuminating discussion yesterday by Doctor Finegan, and one that probably carried conviction to some doubters. In round terms Dean Cook has said, and Doctor Finegan approved, that we stand for the township system. But there are many details that have tb be worked out before we can act intelligently. We have relegated to ourselves in a way, for the time being, duties of assistant legislature, and we would not want them to pass a bill without a first, second and third reading. We under- stand a bill is to be introduced. We do not know how these schools are to be supported. We do not know how the present indebtedness will be handled. I do not want to sec a reform movement stopped. I am very confident in the opinion that neither this state society, nor any of us as individuals, are sufficiently post-id on the whole details of this plan to pass now an arbitrary resolution io send to the Legislature, stating that we will adopt the township system. It may be coming. If it is coming, let us go carefully. I am opposed to this society passing this sweeping resolution now that ties us to a system, the details of wh : ch we do not know. T shall vote, no. Mr van Alstyne: 1 bav always been ail opponent of the township system of schools, but as I said in conversation with Doctor Finegan yester- day, I have become converted: There arc some details I do not know about and that I am not clear on, but it seems to me that this body is not called upon at this time to pass upon details — that is not our function in regard to any matter. As I understand it, we are only called upon now to pass upon and approve the principle of the township system and the system of the tov/n board of trustees, which to my mind is certainly sound. Our district superintendents are very good, but it must be apparent from what Doctor Finegan said, that an immense amount of power is in their hands; not too much power if thev are the right men, but a great deal too much if they fail to come up to that standard. With the system of the township trustees, it seems to me that is avoided. I believe we must have something THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 8l better. Here is a plan presented, apparently economic, that has been worked out in other places, and we are simply asked now to vote on our approval of the township system as a whole. I believe the principle is sound and I think that the majority of people so believe. The details can be worked out later. Mr Weed : I believe Mr van Alstyne has brought out the proper point. We are not concerned with the details. The report of the committee simply says that they approve the township system as an abstract thing. We are not called upon to approve any special township system, but that we believe the township system is better than the supervisory district system. I am fully convinced that it would be better in the district where I live. We have, I think, 9 pupils on our school roll at present. There were 18 last year and I think our average attendance was about 7. We can not afford to pay the teacher we would like to have to teach those pupils. If the whole enrolment comes, there are but 18 pupils, ranging from 6 to 16 years of age. It is a pretty hard thing to get one teacher competent to teach them. It is not a specific plan but the general plan which we are called upon to approve. Mr Tuttle: I think there is a misapprehension here on the part of some, that if we adopt the township system we are going to do away with the school superintendent system. This is not true. Doctor Finegan said that the school superintendent could supervise the fewer schools after consolida- tion much more efficiently than he could supervise the large number of schools under the present district system. It does not do away with the superintend- ent at all. It means the consolidation of certain schools, making perhaps one instead of four. Misapprehension should not be in our minds when we vote on this question. I think that this question is one that ought to be referred to the Association of School Superintendents. They are the men who visit all of these district schools. They know their own territory absolutely and perfectly, they know the requirements of the schools and the communities, and the feeling of the people in those communities. I wish to amend the motion which is before us by making a motion to amend this way, " That this question be respectfully referred to the Association of School Superintendents of this State," and let them confer with the Educa- tion Department on this subject. Dean Cook: It seems very unfortunate — we are dealing with legis- lative problems and education problems, soil problems, and all the problems incident to our life, and I do not understand that this is a school of agri- culture, a legislature, or an education department. If our good friend's posi- tion were sound we can eliminate all of our work and refer it back to the organizations that deal with these subjects. The President : If Dean Cook would allow the Chair to say, the amend- ment has not yet been seconded. All in favor of the adoption of the report on the township system, signify it by rising. Carried — 30 to 13. Report of Committee on Common Schools at the Annual Meeting of the State Grange, February 1916 Worthy Master and Patrons: Your committee on common schools desires to make the following report: There were six resolutions presented to us, all of which pertained to the matter of the township bill no. 1731 which involves as paramount features the abolition of the present school district officers without affecting in the least the present district boundaries and establishing town boards of edu- 82 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK cation, also making a uniform tax in all districts of a town. All of these resolutions were read and reread, giving them the most careful consideration. There were, also, four resolutions offered to the committee to amend section 129 of article 5 of the Education Law of this State, which gives district superintendents authority to change the boundaries of rural school districts. We held a public hearing on all resolutions, which was largely attended, and at which the questions were discussed at great length by many inter- ested people. Practically all were substantially in favor of the township bill, as it is termed, becoming a law, but in a modified form from the bill as drafted a year ago. On account of the wide divergence of opinion on a few of the salient points of this bill and chiefly because of the evident misunderstanding throughout the State of this extremely important matter, your committee deemed it the very best of wisdom to not take any definite action upon this bill, or resolutions offered, but to continue the action of the State Grange at its last meeting upon this measure for another year, and in the meantime provide a way in which every grange in the State may have the opportunity to study the bill as drafted at present and suggest any changes that they may consider as being for the best interests of the State at large. The prevailing sentiment relative to the education law seemed to be in favor of the resolutions presented, but since the matter of the township bill was not definitely acted upon the committee unanimously thought best that all action upon pending measures of this body be deferred for one year. Your committee, however, desires to recommend to your honorable body the following resolution, which we beg you to accept: Resolved, That the so-called township bill as indorsed by the State Grange last year be left as it is until our meeting in 191 7. And that Whereas, Every year there is always so much work to be done on common schools and educational matters, that a permanent standing committee be established consisting of three members, each to serve for a term of three years, except the first one, when one member shall serve one year, another for two years, and the third for three years, making it neces- sary, after the first year, to have one appointment each year. And Whereas, There is quite a general misunderstanding of the present bill in all parts of the State, that this committee cause to be distributed to all granges of the State circulars definitely explaining all important features of the bill. It is also recommended that all subordinate granges devote at least one lecturer's hour to a consideration of the bill and afterwards present their resolutions containing reasons why they are for or against the bill to their pomona grange, at some time before December 1, 1916; that each pomona grange shall draw up resolutions from those submitted by the subordinate granges and send same to the chairman of the standing committee on com- mon schools and education of the State Grange, that said committee may be able to formulate some resolutions in accordance, as much as it is pos- sible and feasible, with the wishes of the farmers of New York State and have them presented to the State Grange in 1917. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 83 Whereas, The township school bill will undoubtedly be considered by the present State Legislature, and Whereas, It is an undisputed fact that there is urgent need of improve- ment of the country school system, and believing this bill is a step in the right direction; therefore be it Resolved, by Arkwright Grange No. 1249, that the bill be passed as approved by the New York State Grange. Mrs Bertha Snow, Sec'y Whereas, Section 129 of the Education Law of the State of New York gives a district superintendent unjust and practically unlimited power in changing school boundaries, dissolving and consolidating school districts, etc., and Whereas, The State Commissioner of Education is requesting the district superintendents to make such consolidations as named in section 880 of article 34 of the same law, as the only persons to whom an appeal can be made, and Whereas, The only relief from any order of a district superintendent is an appeal to said Commissioner of Education, and whose decision upon such appeal is final, thereby giving him more power than should ever be vested in any one official; be it therefore Resolved, That the State Grange go on record as being in favor of immediate legislative action permitting any school district whose appeal from the act of a district superintendent changing school boundaries has not been allowed, the right to take their case into court to be tried by a judge and jury, and be it further Resolved, That we favor the repeal of section 129 and also an amendment of section 880 of the Education Law making the decision of the Com- missioner of Education upon any appeal provided for by said section subject to review by the courts. Whereas, Section 129 of article 34 of the Education Law of this State gives a district superintendent an unjust and unlimited power in the chang- ing of boundaries of rural schools, and Whereas, District superintendents in many cases have made changes that are causing unnecessary expense to the farmers, and Whereas, Sections 880 and 881 of article 34 of the same law are unfair and unconstitutional and give the Commissioner of Education more power than should be vested in one man, be it therefore Resolved, That we ask the State Grange to make an effort to have sec- tion 129 of article 5 and sections 880 and 881 of article 34 of the Education Law repealed and a new section enacted giving all school districts that have had an appeal before the Commissioner of Education in regard to the changing of school district boundaries the privilege of taking their cases into court to be decided by a judge and jury. 84 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Whereas, Section 129 of article 5 of the Education Law of this State- gives a district superintendent an unjust and unlimited power in changing the boundaries of rural schools ; and Whereas, District superintendents in many cases have made changes that are causing inconveniences and unnecessary expense and hardship to the farmers of this State; and Whereas, Sections 880 and 881 of article 34 of the same law are unfair and unconstitutional and give the Commissioner of Education more power than should be vested in one man; be it therefore Resolved, That we ask the State Grange to make an effort to have section 129 of article 5 and sections 889 and 881 of article 34 of the Education Law repealed and a new section enacted giving all school districts that have made an appeal to the Commissioner of Education in regard to the changing of school district boundaries the privilege of taking their cases into court to be decided by a judge and jury. Resolution offered by Conesus Grange No. 1195; indorsed by Springwater Grange No. 1245 : Whereas, The proposed law uniting rural schools would work a hardship upon the pupils of said schools of the State of New York, and Whereas, It would place said schools in the hands of politics, and Whereas, There would be grave danger of abuse of power by the pro- posed directors, and Whereas, It would tend to materially increase the taxes of said rural districts ; be it therefore Resolved, That we ask the State Grange, an organization of rural people, to place itself on record as opposed to this bill and to do everything honor- able within its power to prevent its passage. Lockport, Jan. 8, i9i6 Since we, the members of Niagara County Pomona Grange, have care- fully considered in the light of conditions as they exist in our county, the communication from the State Grange legislative committee dated Novem- ber 5., 1915, and calling our attention to the reposed amendment to the Education Law by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns, and since we believe 1 Such an amendment would complicate too much the organization of the schools of the towns, and 2 It would be difficult to elect a school board of seven in a town to perform thoroughly without salary the several duties outlined for it in this proposed amendment, and 3 That, if time should prove the necessity of remuneration for the services of this school board, it would make the office political, and would mix with politics the administration of the schools of the town, and 4 That the present administration of the schools is adequate under the trustee system with the efficient and thorough supervision of the district superintendent of schools. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 85 Be it, therefore, Resolved, That we recommend to the New York State Grange that it use its influence to oppose in every legitimate manner pos- sible the enactment into a law of the proposed bill no. 1731 to amend the Education Law of the State of New York. [Signed] C. F. Treichler, Master Fred Cozzens, Secretary Resolved, That the New York State Grange is in favor of asking the State Legislature that no action be taken on the so-called township or con- solidated school system at this session of the Legislature, but that each subordinate grange be requested and urged to study the subject, and that our state lecturer be requested to aid each subordinate grange lecturer in presenting the subject for study and consideration. Resolved, That we express our appreciation of the work done by our legislative committee in this matter during the past year. Resolution offered by B. T. Ball: Resolved, That the Department of Education set a standard for all rural schools. 1 Any school not measuring up to the standard to be absorbed by an- other or other schools that do meet the requirements. No school district having the ability and disposition to maintain a first- class school to be absorbed by another or other districts under any cir- cumstances. 2 Such districts to have three trustees, a district clerk, and a treasurer. All to be elected at the annual school meeting. 3 Joint teachers and trustees conventions to be held annually in each supervisory district. Trustees must attend such conventions. Trustees' expenses to be paid from the school funds. 4 District superintendent to have not more than fifty schools under his charge. He to visit each school at least one-half day each ten weeks. 5 Uniform blanks and books to be furnished by the State for the dis- trict officers. Such blanks and books to be inspected by the state officials. Such blanks and books to be kept in a place provided for them in the school building. 6 Every school to have sanitary toilets under same roof with the rest of the building, also approved light, heat and ventilation, also ample playgrounds. 7 All moneys for the general running expenses of the school to be raised by the county as a part of the regular county tax and paid to the district treasurer. State moneys to pass through the county treasurer's hands. Amount paid to the district treasurer to be based on the number of teachers in the district. 86 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Individual districts may raise by special school tax any sums above what come from the county that may be wanted for any purpose. 8 Textbooks to be furnished by the county. We, the undersigned committee of the Oswego County Pomona Grange, have carefully examined Assembly bill no. 1731, entitled an act " To amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns," introduced in the As- sembly March 17, 1915, and we have also carefully studied the memo- randum prepared by State Master Vary and State Secretary Giles, dated at Watertown, November 5th, 1915. We believe that the common schools of the towns should be placed on a more uniform basis; that the teaching ability can be made more effective; that uniform textbooks should be provided; that supplies should be pur- chased more cheaply; and that the burden of taxation should be more equitably distributed. In accomplishing these important changes the farmers and the rural population should be very vigilant and watchful that home rule be conserved and not surrendered. We should hold a steady and firm hand lest we fall in the tide of centralization of power and unconsciously delegate to more remote powers the underlying principles of our govern- ment — the right of having a voice in our homes and a hand in governing our community. Let us not be governed by future promises, but let us exercise our independent thought and determine just what we must sur- render and just what we shall gain. Would we not obtain greater home rule if it is provided that the voters in the present school districts elect trustees as at present, that the trustees so elected prepare estimates of the amounts of money which will be required to operate the school, that the voting inhabitants have a voice in whether or not the school shall join with another either permanently or otherwise, that the trustees shall be the custodians of the school district property and have a voice in recommending needed supplies and repairs, that the trustees so elected meet at a central point and elect a town board of education? Would it not provide a greater degree of home rule for the rural tax- payer if all union school districts be excluded from the proposed act instead of villages having a population of 5000 or over? Why make the town system of school taxation more extended than the town system of highway taxation whereby the incorporated villages are excluded? Why should the rural population assist in maintaining the high schools in incorporated vil- lages any more than they should assist those localities in paving their streets? We respectfully submit the foregoing for careful consideration. Resolution submitted by Past Lecturer Lewis County Pomona Grange: Whereas^ It is generally conceded that the rural schools have carried the United States safely for over 100 years and that it would be far better and safer for the towns and cities to carry their own children out into jthe country district schools and keep them in school there, thereby avoiding the saloons and the dancing houses that are in the cities, as we all want our THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 87 people and our children to keep clean bodies, clean hearts and clean souls, which, if we can have but one, is far better than a college education. The country people are saying we can and we will keep our country district schools and woe to the politician that works against us. The districts that today have but few scholars may in four or five years have between twenty and thirty scholars. In the Stiles district four times in the last fifty years that school has gone down to two, three and four scholars, and in a few years there were between twenty and thirty scholars. In the Stiles district recently one boy passed the eighth grade before he was 13 years old and had taken the college arts course in Lowville Academy nearly one year before he was fourteen years old. In that Stiles district 47 years ago Mary Stiles, Jared Stiles' only daughter, went to the State Normal School at Oswego and entered the State Normal School one year in advance, right from that country district school, and every country district school in this, our great State, the greatest and best state in the whole United States, can do just as well if the trustees try as hard as those trustees to hire first- class teachers. And as the farmers learn to do intensive farming instead of extensive farming and the large farms are divided into small farms, we will have more families and more scholars ; then we will need our country district schoolhouses and schools more than we ever have before. Therefore, Resolved, That we will keep our country district schoolhouses and schools just as they are. Only we demand that there be money appropriated to help build better schoolhouses and we also demand better teachers. Respectfully submitted H. Fay Nethaway, Chairman James Pringle Fredus H. Wilcox Report adopted. Report of Subcommittee on School Taxation to State Association of Tax Officers January 5, 1917 Hon. Ogden L. Mills President, New York State Tax Association 15 Broad street, New York City My dear Senator: The subcommittee appointed by you to consider the subject of school taxation has held two meetings and reached a unanimous agreement upon a report. The committee begs leave to report as follows : It would be difficult to construct a system of school taxation the oper- ation of which would result in greater injustice and inequality of taxation than the present school districts system. There has been no material change in the system of taxation for school purposes in this State since schools were established more than a century ago. When schools were first organ- ized any group of citizens who desired to associate themselves together 88 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK for the purpose of maintaining a school could do so, without reference to the assessed valuation of the property involved. The schools established by these associations were later formed into school districts and, in the formation of such districts, no consideration was given to the number of children ( for whom school facilities were to be provided, the amount of territory embraced in the district, or the amount of assessable property which would support the schools. As the country became settled and the population increased, other districts were formed simply to meet a local necessity. There are now more than 10,000 school districts in the State, outside of the cities and villages. More than 8000 of these maintain one-room schools and in about one-half of such schools the average attendance is less than ten. In about 1500 of these districts the assessed valuation of all property in the district is less than $20,000. This means that five farms of an average value of $4000 each must bear the burden of taxation for the support of a school. More than 2000 other districts have an assessed valu- ation ranging from $20,000 to $40,000. In these 2000 districts ten farms of an average value of $4000 each must support a school. The two essential elements for the maintenance of a school are the children to be educated therein and the property which must support it. The number of children attending the schools in the districts to which we have referred and the value of the property which must support such schools make it impossible to maintain good schools in these districts. There are, therefore, more than 3500 school districts in which it is not possible to main- tain a satisfactory school. It is a fundamental principle that inequality of taxation for governmental purposes in any division of government results in an inequality of the services administered under such government. It follows that inequality in taxation for school purposes means an inequality in educational facilities and opportunities. Your committee examined the official reports of the superintendents of several of the counties of the State and found it to be the general rule that one district would have an assessed valuation, for instance, of $15,000 and an adjoining district in the same town would have an assessed valuation of $150,000. It often occurs that the district having the low assessed valuation has more children to educate than the district having the large assessed valuation. This inequality of taxation is well illustrated by the following official reports of the tax rate for school purposes : District County Tax rate 2 Peru Clinton 00099 13 " " 022 53 6 Tompkins Delaware .010 16 " " 044 6 Hancock " 01065 21 " " 05177 6 Evans Erie .002 14 " " 0055 8 Brighton Monroe 00209 9 " " 00253 9 Phillipstown Putnam .01589 14 " " 00253 4 Canandaigua Ontario . 00835 1 " " 00368 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 89 District County Tax rate 3 Phelps Ontario . 00192 14 " " 00604 7 Edwards St. Lawrence .017 9 " " 003S9 1 Rossie " 0144 8 " " 00399 Similar illustrations for every town in the State could be taken from the official reports which have been filed in the Education Department by superintendents of the several supervisory districts of the State. The present system of taxation for school purposes not only results in an inequality of taxation and in providing inefficient schools but it is also wasteful in its operations. Thousands of dollars are wasted every year under this system of collecting taxes for school purposes. In some districts taxes remain uncollected, in others proper returns are not made, in others, through the negligence and improper qualifications of officers or for other reasons, school taxes which are collected are not paid into the treasury. It is impossible to establish a bureau which could organize an effective supervision of the collection of taxes in the 10,000 school districts of the State. The expense of such supervision makes it prohibitive. There are nearly 14,000 separate officers charged with the duty and responsibility of levying and assessing taxes for school district purposes. There are also nearly 10,000 officers charged with the duty of collecting taxes for school purposes. If the basis of administration for school purposes should be established upon a larger administrative unit better business methods would prevail in the assessment and collection of taxes, much waste of funds would be avoided, the inequality of taxation now prevailing would be eliminated, the burdens of taxation for school purposes would be more fairly distributed and the inefficient schools now maintained could be placed upon a basis which would serve the interests of separate communities to a much greater extent. Your committee also examined the provisions of the bill introduced into the Legislature of 1916 by Assemblyman Machold of Jefferson county and reports that in the judgment of its members the township bill proposed therein as a substitution for the present school district system would result in more efficient schools, in economy in the administration of such schools and in a just and equitable system of taxation. Under the terms of such bill a town school board, selected by the voters of the town at a special school election, prepares a budget for the schools maintained in the town. This budget is to be presented to the board of supervisors at its annual meeting and such board is to provide for the levying and collection of such taxes at the same time and in the same manner as all other town taxes are collected. The unit of taxation for all local governmental purposes is the town. If the plan proposed in this measure should be adopted the assess- ment of taxes for school purposes would be on the same basis as taxation for all other local purposes. 90 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The committee recommends the indorsement of the proposition making the town the unit of taxation for school purposes in accordance with the plan outlined in this bill. Respectfully submitted Thomas E. Finegan Otho G. Cartwright Julius A. Roberts H. J. COOKINGHAM, JR Committee Resolution adopted by the Seventh State Conference on Taxation, held at Rochester, N. Y., January 11 and 12, 1917 Whereas, The present system of taxation for rural schools is wasteful in its operation and unequal in its burdens; Whereas, The present unit, the rural school district, finds in one instance a small unit with large property assessments, and an adjoining unit with small property assessment, and, Whereas, Justice demands that all the property of the town should bear equally the costs of all the schools of the town; therefore Resolved, That this association indorse the proposition to make the town- ship the unit of taxation for school purposes. Two Annual Meetings of State Grange Have Indorsed Township System At the meeting of the State Grange in 1915 the following action was taken by that organization relative to the township bill : The following resolution was offered by Mr C. M. Pierce: Resolved, That this New York State Grange is in favor of making the town the unit of taxation for school purposes, with a town school board, but is not in favor of a general consolidation of rural schools at present. The committee on common schools was unable to reach a unanimous decision on the above resolution and presented the following resolution, which was adopted by the grange: Resolved, That the New York State Grange is in favor of making the town the unit of taxation for school purposes, provided that all incorporated villages are excluded from said unit. That we are in favor of a town school board of from three to seven members, to be elected by the voters at an annual school meeting. This board shall serve without salary, and shall have the same powers and duties as the present trustee or board now have in their respective districts, but this law shall not wipe out existing school districts nor change their boundaries. The following report of the standing committee on common schools, of the State Grange, will be of interest to every rural school district in the State. It was adopted without a dissenting vote at the meeting held in Oneonta, February 9, 1917 : Your committee has made a careful study of the report of the standing committee on education and common schools of the State Grange, and has made full use of the excellent work done by that committee during the past year. It has held lengthy hearings, at which all interested were permitted THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 91 to be heard; 30 persons appeared and spoke, either as individuals or as representatives of their granges. It has examined with care all the resolu- tions submitted to this Grange on the subject of rural schools, by pomona and subordinate granges of the State, and has given due consideration to the same, and offers this report as a substitute for such resolutions. As a result this committee is unanimous in its belief that the welfare of the rural schools of this State demands a change in the methods of admin- istration, to the end that the burden of the same may be more equitably distributed and the authority for the administration of the schools may be lodged in the hands of the people who support them and patronize them. It found, it is true, a considerable diversity of opinion on many matters, and that it would be impossible for any individual or set of individuals to secure all those things which they would desire to see incorporated in new school legislation. In fact, every member of this committee has found it necessary to surrender some of his personal views in order that a working compromise might be reached. But this has been cheerfully done because we realize that some legislation is desirable and necessary; that the State Grange should have a voice in such legislation, and that to further delay action would not only be neglecting an obvious duty, but would undoubtedly lessen the future influence of the Grange in this and other matters. Therefore we recommend that legislation be passed making the town the unit of school organization and taxation. In the formation of such legisla- tion we regard the following principles as fundamental: 1 We believe that the power of consolidating schools should rest entirely in the hands of the people. Therefore we recommend that such power shall be taken entirely from the district superintendent and the State Department of Education, and that no consolidation order shall hereafter be effective until confirmed by the board of education of the town or towns in which these districts are located. 2 We recommend that in towns having four or more districts, or school units, not more than two members of the board of education shall be chosen from any one district. And in those towns having only three districts, a majority of the board shall not be chosen from any one district. 3 We recommend that any bill passed shall contain a provision whereby local school authorities may establish in the rural communities schools adapted to the needs of such communities, with adequate provision for instruction in agriculture and homemaking; these schools to receive such state aid as will make possible their development without a tuition charge or an excessive tax rate on the town. 4 Whereas, the use of many different kinds of textbooks is now a matter of inconvenience and unnecessary expense, we recommend that any bill passed shall contain a provision for uniform textbooks throughout each town to be adopted by the board of education. 5 We recommend that the board of education shall not expend in any one year for the construction of new buildings or the remodeling, improve- ment or enlargement of existing school buildings, an amount in excess of one-half of 1 per cent of the assessed valuation of the town, and in no case in excess of $5000, without a vote of the qualified school electors of the town. 6 Whereas, experience has shown the present method of electing district superintendents of schools to be unsatisfactory, we recommend that such officials be elected at a joint meeting of the members of the town boards of education in each supervisory district. 7 We recommend that the town board of education shall consist of the trustees elected by the several districts in the same manner as at present, the board to choose its own chairman and appoint its own working com- mittees, and that in submitting to the school electors the names of persons to 'be voted for as members of the board of education the connection of any political party designation with such name shall be absolutely prohibited. 8 Whereas, it is impossible for your committee to include in its report all the numerous details entering into a measure of such importance as a law on the subject now under consideration, we recommend that S. J. Lowell, 92 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK state master, and W. N. Giles, state secretary, or their successors as legis- lative committee, be a committee to represent the State Grange of New York in the framing of a law for the government of the rural schools of the State ; and we ask them to secure the incorporation in such measure of the prin- ciples above set forth, and in other matters to secure what they believe, in their judgment, to be for the best interests of the rural schools of the State. H. A. Crofoot J. Eugene Dillenbeck Howard S. Murphy Fred. Dascond William A. Mather Mrs H. T. Donovan Mrs R. R. McLouth Lynn Tilley Millard L. Hundley Mrs C. A. McFadden Mrs Milo F. Randall Tax Rate in One District District Superintendent Pierce of the third supervisory district of Erie county has submitted the following statement in relation to the average daily attendance, cost per pupil and tax rate for the several districts under his supervision : Aurora Dist. '. Average daily Cost per Tax rate Dist. Average daily Cost per Tax rate no. ^ attendance pupil per M no. attendance pupil per M I 492 $52.59 $8.92 6 30 a 133-16 18.03 2 57 20.00 8... 7 44 42.31 6. 11 3 10 47.23 3-30 8 43 26.69 7... 4 22 26.49 4. 11 9 10 48.27 2.50 5 28 6 8 19-45 6... 10 23 38.19 5-.. 57-H 4... 7 11 53-93 5... Average rate for town $5-99 8 41 36.58 8.53 Marilla Q l6 28.28 6... Dist. Average daily Cost per Tax rate 10 i7 30.33 5-40 no. attendance pupil per M 11 11 42.14 5.8o I 37 $33-63 $9. • • 12 14 37-55 6.86 2 3 4 13 26 38.26 21.15 42.26 6.50 9. . . Average rate fo r town $5-99 11 7-50 East Hamburg 5 23 22.40 4-5o 6-54 Dist. Average daily Cost per Tax rate ] 6 23 23.22 no. attendance pupil per M 7 21 28.90 6 50 I 271 $47.50 $9... 8 16 35 -20 10. . . 2 ip 3 28 29.07 3-o6 9 23 20.33 8.. . 32.94 5-50 4 37 15-08 6.29 Average rate for town $7.50 5 18 36.13 3.09 Wales 6 25 25.12 3-55 Dist. Average daily Cost per Tax rate 7 19 32.31 8. . . no. attendance pupil per M I 10 $43.00 26.32 $6.00 5.50 Average rate for town $5.50 2 23 Elma 3 12 40.20 7.30 Dist. Average daily Cost per Tax rate 4 6 80.57 7.50 no. attendance pupil per M I 5 45 23.98 5-40 1 9 $58.93 $4... 6 5 94.30 6.32 2 13 49-03 5-8o 7 18 28.68 6.50 3 22 28.21 36.94 4.80 2.84 8 32 20.72 4... 4 15 5 15 34.09 3.89 Average rate fo r town $6.l8 a Cost per pupil very much above normal for the reason that the district is paying for new- building and equipment in two installments THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 93 Attention is directed to the fact that in one district in the town of Aurora the tax rate a thousand was $3.30 and in another district it was $8.92, while the average for the town was $5-99. In East Hamburg the tax rate in one district was $3.06 a thousand and in another district it was $9, while the average for the town was $5.50. In Elma the tax rate in one district was $2.84 a thousand and in another district it was $7, while the average for the town was $5-99- In the town of Marilla the tax rate, in one district was $4.50 a thousand and in another district $10, while the average rate for for the town was $7.50. In the town of Wales the tax rate in one district was $4 a thousand and in another district $7.50, while the average for the town was $6.18. The effect of the township system on the question of taxation would be to equalize the cost of maintaining the several schools in a town. The poor, weak districts which are now burdened with taxation for the main- tenance of school would be relieved to the extent of paying only their proportionate share for school taxes. Illustrations similar to these could be given for every town in the State. Opinion of Legislative Committee of State Grange Watertown, N. Y ., November 5, 1915 To the Subordinate and Pomona Granges: The Committee on Legislation of the State Grange incloses herewith copy of the proposed township bill which was before the Legislature of 1915. The committee participated in the drafting of this proposed bill and gave the measure approval. We desire to call the attention of the granges of the State to some of the principal features of the bill. We ask all granges to examine this bill and to suggest amendments which will improve it. Your attention is especially called to the following provisions : 1 This bill may well be called a home- rule measure in rural education. It confers powers in relation to the management and control of rural schools, which are now exercised by district superintendents and the Depart- ment at Albany, upon the people themselves and upon representatives which the people may choose at local school elections. The committee regards this as one of the strongest features of the bill. 2 Not a single school district in the entire State is disturbed in any way by this bill. Not a single district is consolidated with another district. The boundaries of no district in the State are modified in any way what- ever. Every school district now in existence is continued under this bill as such district is now formed. 3 The bill proposes to substitute for the various local trustees of the several districts of a town, a town board of education. This board is to be chosen by the local school voters of each town, at a school meeting held in May of each year and such board is to have the general charge, control and management of all the schools of its town. 4 This board is to determine in what districts school shall be main- tained. If the children in a district may conveniently attend the school of another district without hardship and without traveling too far, the board of education of the town has authority to close such school temporarily and direct that the children attend the adjoining school. The board may, 94 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK in short, under this proposed plan open schools in a town whenever con- ditions require it and close such schools when necessary. Thus the varying conditions of the rural regions may be met and their needs as to schools promptly satisfied. We believe that any board of seven men and women, chosen in a town, may be trusted to act judiciously in an important matter of this kind and for the best interests of the people in all parts of the town. Under such arrangement, no unnecessary school will be maintained and a school may be operated in any district in the town where the con- venience of the people requires it. 5 This plan will result in economy in many ways and in a great saving to the farmers of the State at large. Large sums which are now wasted and lost and moneys which are not even collected on a tax list will be saved to the people of the town. There will be no expenditures for the maintenance of unnecessary schools. All supplies for the schools of an entire town will be purchased in bulk and at a price much less than they may be purchased now. Textbooks may also be purchased on the same basis. 6 Not more than one-third of the money now expended in the enforce- ment of the compulsory attendance law and medical inspection law will be required under the plan proposed by this bill and much better results will be accomplished. 7 Uniform textbooks for an entire town will be provided and the parents of children, who move from one district to another, will not be compelled to buy new books. A large saving to the farmers of the State will result therefrom. 8 The taxes for the support of schools will be raised by the entire town. This will place the distribution of school taxes upon a more equitable basis. All the property of a town will pay its proportionate and equal share for the maintenance of the schools of the entire town. The burdens which are unjustly borne by more than one-half of the rural schools of the State will be removed. Large corporate interests, now paying taxes for the support of a single school, will pay their proportionate share for the maintenance of all the schools of the town. 9 Better teachers may be selected by a board for an entire town than if the teachers are selected by the school officers in each of the districts of the town. Better instruction will therefore be provided for the children. io Provision may be made for high school instruction in towns in which high schools do not exist. The whole plan will have a tendency to pro- vide for all the children of the farming districts, school facilities which will be the equal of the school facilities provided in the cities. II We believe that one of the desirable features of this plan will be the bringing together of the farmers of an entire town and the solidifying of them into a community of interest. We believe that, under this man- agement, the rural schools of the State may restore to the agricultural sec- tions much of the prestige and leadership in intellectual, social and political matters which such communities possessed a generation ago. Respectfully yours W. H. Vary W. N. Giles Committee on Legislation THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 95 The Passage of the Township Bill — 1917 The following is a report of the action of the Legislature in 1917 on the township bill taken from the New York State Assembly and the Senate Journals. It contains a full discussion and the vote on the bill. Int. no. S. 647. Pr. no. S. 1484. Mr Halliday. "An act to amend the Education Law by creating town boards of education and providing for support and maintenance of schools in towns." February 22 Read first land second time. Referred to committee on public education. March 28 Mr Halliday moved that the committee on public education be discharged from the consideration of Senate bill (no. 727, int. no. 647) entitled "An act to amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns," and that said bill be amended, reprinted and recommitted to the committee on public education. The president put the question whether the Senate would agree to said motion, and it was decided in the affirmative. (New York Senate Journal 1917, v. 1, p. 250, 709-10.) Int. no. A. 911. Pr. no. A. 2235. Mr Machold. "An act to amend the Education Law by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns." February 22 Read first time — Referred to public education committee. March 28 Mr Machold offered for the consideration of the House a resolution, in the words following: Resolved, That the committee on, public education be discharged from the further consideration of the bill (no. 1016, int. no. 911) entitled "An act to amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns." Mr Speaker put the question whether the House would agree to said resolution, and it was determined in the affirmative. Said bill having been announced, Mr Machold moved to amend by sub- stitution therefor the following substitute bill : (See Appendix no. 17) Mr Speaker put the question whether the House would agree to said motion, and it was determined in the affirmative. On motion of Mr Machold, said bill was ordered reprinted and recom- mitted to said committee. April 11 Mr Machold gives notice that he requests that Assembly bill (no. 1872, int. no. 911) entitled "An act to amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns," a copy of which is hereto annexed, be made a special order, and asks that his request be referred to the committee on rules for the purpose of making said bill a special order on second and third reading. g6 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Mr Speaker, from the committee on rules, to which was referred the bill introduced by Mr Machold (no. 1872, int. no. 911), entitled "An act to amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns," reported in favor of the passage of the same, with the following amendments: Page 4, line 3, strike out " more than," and after the word " teachers " insert " or more." Page 12, line I, strike out all that follows the word " Determine." Line 2, strike out " be maintained and," and insert after the word " employed in the several schools of the town" ; also strike out the word " therein " in such line. Page 4, line 6, strike out " at least " and insert in lieu thereof " only." Line 9, strike out all that follows "3." Line 10, strike out all of such line down to and including the word 41 necessary." Change the letter " p " in the word " provide " to a capital. Line 11, insert after the word "transportation" the words "when neces- sary, and after the word " children " in such line insert " attending school." Strike out the word "such" in line 11. Page 24, line 4, after the word "more" insert " at the time this aet takes effect." Page 24, line 10, strike out " at least " and insert in lieu thereof " only." Page 26, line 1, after the word " more " insert " or employing fifteen teachers or more." Page 39, at the end of line 24, insert the following: " This act shall not affect a pending action or proceeding brought by or against a trustee, trustees or a board of education of a school district but the same may be prosecuted or defended in the same manner and for the same purpose by the board of education of the town of which such district forms a part, as though this act had not been passed. All contracts entered into by a trustee, trustees or the board of education of a school district prior to the taking effect of this act, under and pursuant to the provisions of the Education Law, shall be carried into effect according to the terms thereof hy the board of education of the town of which such school district forms a part, in the same manner and for the same purpose as though this act had not been passed. Any right, existing or accrued, or any liability incurred by a trustee, trustees or board of education of a school district, prior to the passage of this act, may be asserted and enforced by or against the board of education of the town of which such school district forms a part, in the same manner and to the same extent as though this act had not been passed." Those who voted in the affirmative were : Messrs Sweet, Adler, Machold, Callahan. * and that the same be reprinted, as amended, and when it shall have been on the desks of the members three calendar legislative days it be made a special order on second and third reading immediately after the con- sideration of the special orders on third reading theretofore reported. Which report was agreed to, and said bill ordered reprinted, as amended, * So in original. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 97 and that when it shall have been on the desks of the members three calendar legislative days it be made a special order on second and third reading immediately after the consideration of the special orders on third reading theretofore reported. April 19 Reported correctly printed no. 2235, int. no. 911. April 23 On motion of Mr Machold, and by unanimous consent, said bill was ordered placed on the special order second and third reading calendar for Monday next. April 25 On motion of Mr Machold, and by unanimous consent, said bill was ordered placed on the special order second and third reading calendar for Wednesday next. Mr Speaker announced the special order, being the bill (no. 2235, int. no. 911) entitled "An act to amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of of schools in towns." Debate was had thereon, when Mr Adler moved the previous question. Mr Speaker put the question, "Shall the main question now be put?" and it was determined in the affirmative. On motion of Mr Machold, said bill was read the second time and ordered to a third reading. Said bill was then read the third time, having been printed and upon the desks of the members in its final form at least three calendar legislative days prior to its final passage. Mr Speaker put the question whether the House would agree to the final passage of said bill, and it was determined in the affirmative, a majority of the members elected to the Assembly voting in favor thereof, and three- fifths being present. Ayes 77, noes 54 Those who voted in the affirmative were : Adler Donnelly Kiernan Perlman Armstrong Donohue Larney Pierce Augsbury Ellenbogen Law Pratt Baxter Everett Levy Ryan Bell Fancher Machold Seaker Bewley Farrell Mahoney Sesselberg Bloch Fertig Malone Shapiro Bloomfield Flamman Marsh Simpson Brennan Gardner McArdle Slacer Brereton Goodman McDonald Smith Brink Gould McGarry Straub Brush Grant McGinnies Taylor, F. J Burr Green McNab Tudor Calahan Greenberg McWhinney Twomey Cheney Hamil Meyer Wells, F. A. Coffey Hopkins, F. D. Miller, E. H. Welsh Davies Hopkins, F. E. Miller, N. J. Wheeler Davis, E. C. Judson Mitchell, H. C. Whitehorn Davis, G. T. Dobson Kelly Parsons Youker 9 8 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Those who voted in the negative were : Allen, J. C. Fenner Leininger Serven Allen, J. S. Fullagar Lord Shannon Ames Gage Lynch Shiplacoff Bourke Gaylord Martin Showers Bush Geiersbach McCue Soule Caulfield Goldberg Mead, C. L. Talmage Chace Goldstein Mead, J. M. Taylor, A. Cowee Hager Merritt Thayer Crane Harris Mitchell, H. J. Wells, L. H. Danser Jenks Murphy Wheelock Donohoe Johnson O'Hare Wiltsie Duke Kasson Praagen Witter Ericson Kenyon Quackenbush Zimmerman Fearon Lattin L. Ordered, That the clerk deliver said bill to the Senate and request their concurrence therein. (New York Assembly Journal v. 2, p. 427-28, 1255, 181 1, 1822-23, 2250, 2269, 2348, 2503-4.) April 25 — Received in Senate On motion of Mr Lockwood, a bill (no. 2235., rec. no. 642) entitled "An act to amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns," which was read the first time, and by unanimous consent was also read the second time. On motion of Mr Lockwood, and by unanimous consent, the rules were suspended and said bill ordered to a third reading and referred to the committee on public education, retaining its place in the order of third reading. April 26 Mr. Lockwood, from the committee on public education, to which was referred the Assembly bill introduced by Mr Machold (no. 2235, rec. no. 642), entitled "An act to amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns," reported in favor of the passage of the same, which report was agreed to and said bill restored to its place on the order of third reading. The committee on rules reported the following, namely, that Assembly bill (no. 2235, rec. no. 642), entitled "An act to amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns," with amendments be taken up forthwith in the Senate, be advanced to the order of third reading and be and continue the pending order of business, superseding and taking precedence over all other orders until the vote of the Senate upon the final passage thereon be taken ; that debate thereon, including debate upon all amendments or motions offered for the purpose of amendments and every question arising pending its consideration, be limited to not* exceeding one hour, not more than one-half of such time to the members of the majority and not more than one-half to the members of the minority; that at the expiration of such debate, the vote of the Senate: shall be forthwith taken upon the final passage of the bill and the amendments offered thereto, if any, then pend- THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 99 ing; that no motion shall he entertained, except tor the purpose of amend- ment or call of the Senate and but one motion to adjourn shall be enter- tained and then only upon the recognition of the temporary president for such purpose; that in case a motion to adjourn is carried, the measure at that time under consideration together with the proposed amendments shall be the pending order of business when the Senate shall again convene and shall be taken up and continued as though no adjournment of the Senate had intervened and no additional time shall be allowed for debate thereon and the consideration of the measure shall be continued to the vote of the Senate on its final passage. Debate on the adoption of this report shall not exceed one hour, not more than one-half hour to the members of the majority, and not more than one-half hour to the members of the minority, if desired. That any and all rules of the Senate inconsistent with this rule be and they are hereby suspended until the vote of the Senate on its final passage. The president put the question whether the Senate would agree to said report, and it was decided in the affirmative. Said bill was read the third time. The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to the final passage of said bill, the same having been printed and upon the desks of the members in its final form for three calendar legislative days, and it was decided in the affirmative, a majority of all the Senators elected voting in favor thereof, and three-fifths being present, as follows : For the affirmative : Boylan Dunnigan Lockwood Slater Brown, A. P. Emerson Marshall Stivers Brown, E. R. Foley Mills Towner Burlingame Gibbs Murphy Wagner Carroll Gilchrist Newton Walker Carson Halliday Ottinger Walton Cromwell Hewitt Ramsperger Wellington Cullen Hill Robinson Whitney Daly Koenig j Sage Wicks Downing Lawson . Sheridan Yelverton 40 For the negative: Argetsinger Knight Thompson, G. F.Walters Graves Mullan Thompson, G. L. 7 April 30 Mr. Artgetsinger asked unanimous consent that he be recorded in the negative on Assembly bill (no. 2235, rec. no. 642) entitled "An act to amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and pro- viding for the support and maintenance of schools in towns," which was passed on Thursday, April 26th. (Senate Journal 1917, v. 2. p. 1343-44, 1361, 1390-91, 1468-) April 27 The Senate returned the bill (no. 2235, int. no. 911) entitled "An act to amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and pro- viding for the support and maintenance of schools in towns," with a mes- IOO THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK sage thai they have concurred in the passage of the same without amend- ment. (New York Assembly Journal 1917, v. 3, p. 2616.) April 27 — To the Governor. May 2 — Approved — chapter 328. (New York Legislative Index, 1917, P. 273.) On February 23, 1917, the following letter was sent by the com- mittee on legislation of the State Grange to the pomona and subor- dinate granges indicating the results of their action after having consulted with the committees in the Legislature on the township school bill: NEW YORK STATE GRANGE, P. OF H. SECRETARY'S OFFICE Skaneateles, N. Y., February 23, 1917. To the Pomona and Subordinate Granges: Your legislative committee begs leave to advise you that, pursuant to instruction from the State Grange, such committee has been in Albany in consultation with those interested in the township school bill and that a bill has been introduced into the Legislature which embodies the recom- mendations adopted by the State Grange in relation to this matter. The essential provisions of this measure are as follows : 1 Every school district in the State is continued under such bill as these districts now exist. No order consolidating two or more districts may become effective until such order is first approved by a majority vote of the town board of education and thereafter approved by a majority vote of the qualified electors of each district present and voting at a joint meeting called for that purpose. 2 The town is made the unit of taxation and of administration for school purposes. Union free school districts having a population of 1500 or more are not included in the provisions of the bill. These districts will continue to be operated as separate and independent units. In towns having two or more union free school districts which maintain academic courses of study, such towns are to have two school units and therefore two boards of education, as provided in the Machold bill of last year. 3 Trustees of the several districts in a town will continue to be elected as they are now chosen and these trustees will elect the members of the town board of education. Not more than three members of a town board may be chosen from the same school district. The town board of education is charged with the administration of the school affairs of the town and will elect its own officers. 4 Under the terms of this bill a town board may provide instruction in agriculture and homemaking courses, and when schools or classes of this kind are established in any town, the town will receive the same state aid which is now given to cities and villages which maintain such courses. These courses may, therefore, be maintained, in any town which desires to maintain them, free to all the children in the town and without a burden of taxation upon the taxpayers of the town who support the schools. Senator Morris S. Halliday Introducer of township bill THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM IOI 5 Provision is also made in this bill for uniform textbooks in the several towns of the State. 6 District superintendents will hereafter be chosen, if this bill becomes a law, by the town boards of the several towns comprising a supervisory school district. The district superintendents will therefore be directly associated with the boards of education who are responsible for the admin- istration of the schools. 7 Provision is made in the bill by which town boards shall not expend a sum in excess of one-half of one per cent of the assessed valuation of the town, and in no case an amount in excess of $5000, in any one year for the construction of new buildings or the enlargement of existing school buildings without a vote of the qualified school electors of the town. Your committee takes this means of advising you promptly of the action which it has taken in compliance with your instruction to have the above features incorporated in the township bill. Fraternally yours S. J. Lowell W. N. Giles Committee on Legislation THE TOWNSHIP LAW Chapter 328 AN ACT to amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns. Became a law May 2, 1917, with the approval of the Governor. Passed, three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follozvs: Section 1 Chapter 21 of the Laws of 1909 entitled "An act relating to education, constituting chapter 16 of the Consolidated Laws," as amended by chapter 140 of the Laws of 1910, is hereby amended by inserting therein a new article, to be known as article 11-a, and to read as follows: Article 11 -a Town Boards of Education Section 330 School districts continued. 331 Town board of education 332 Qualification of members of board of education 333 Appointment of officers by board. 334 Bond of treasurer 335 Vacancies in school offices 336 Board to constitute a body corporate 102 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Section 337 Meetings of board 338 Duties of clerk 339 Duties of treasurer 340 Powers of board of education 341 Schools to be free to children of town 342 Transfer of pupils 343 Schoolhouse sites 344 Erection, repair and improvement of school buildings 345 Annual school budget 346 Levy and collection of taxes 347 Borrowing money in anticipation of collection of taxes 348 Submission of certain questions to a vote of the town 349 Issue and sale of school bonds 350 State funds to be used for schools of town 351 Certain union free school districts not subject to provisions of article 352 School district officers abolished; terms continued to collect funds, pay claims, et cetera 353 Outstanding bonds ; existing school property 354 Election of board of education 355 Time and place of annual meeting 356 Notice of annual school meeting 357 Special school meetings in towns 358 Qualifications of voters at school meetings 359 Preparation of list of qualified electors 360 Nominations and ballots 361 Inspectors of election 362 Conduct of school meetings; challenges 363 Canvass of votes ; declaration of result 364 Successful candidates to be notified of election 365 Appeals to the Commissioner of Education § 330 School districts continued. Each school district in the state is hereby continued as such district exists at the time this act goes into effect or until modified as provided in this chapter. No order consolidating two or more school districts shall be effec- tive until such order is approved by a majority vote of the town board of education of the town or towns in which such districts are located, and thereafter approved by a majority vote of the qualified electors of each district present and voting at a meeting of the districts consolidated by said order. § 331 Town board of education. 1 A town board of education in each town of the state, having jurisdiction over all the schools in the town as hereinafter provided, except in union free school districts having a population of fifteen hundred or more or employ- ing fifteen teachers or more at the time this act takes effect, and the school districts in the several towns of a county which adjoins THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 103 a city having a population of one million or more and in which there are only two district superintendents, is hereby established to begin on the first day of August, nineteen hundred and seven- teen. Such board shall consist of three members in each town in which the number of school districts under its jurisdiction is five or less and shall consist of five members in all other towns. The term of office of each member shall be three years except that, of the members first elected hereunder, in a town having three mem- bers on such board, one shall hold office until August first, nineteen hundred and eighteen, one until August first, nineteen hundred and nineteen, and one until August first, nineteen hundred and twenty, and in a town having five members, two shall hold office until August first, nineteen hundred and eighteen, two until August first, nineteen hundred and nineteen, and one until August first, nine- teen hundred and twenty. The terms of office of such members shall begin on the first day of August following their election. 2 Where there are two or more union free school districts each having a population of less than fifteen hundred, each maintaining an academic department which has been admitted to The Univer- sity of the State of New York and the principal schoolhouse in each is situated wholly in the same town, the district superintendent shall issue an order dividing the town into as many units as there are such union free school districts situated in the town and designating the several school districts of the town to be associated with such union free school districts to form such units. The said units shall be known as town school units and shall be num- bered by the district superintendent at the time of such division. Each union free school district and the districts so associated with it in forming such unit shall have a separate board of education to be elected in the same manner as boards of education in towns are elected. Such board shall have and exercise the jurisdiction and powers, and perform the duties in respect to the schools in the districts forming said unit, conferred or imposed upon a town board of education as to the schools of the several districts in a town. Wherever in this article reference is made to the town board of education, to the school officers of the town, to the school meeting of the town, or to the school electors of the town it shall be construed as referring also to the boards of education, school officers, school meeting or school electors of such units as the case may be. 3 Whenever twenty-five duly qualified voters from each of such separate units in a town having two or more boards of education 104 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK shall present a petition to the district superintendent to have all of the schools situated within the limits of the town united under one town board of education as provided by subdivision 1 of this section, the district superintendent shall direct each separate board of education to submit to the voters of their unit at the next annual school meeting the question " Shall all the schools in the town of be placed under the jurisdiction of one town board of education?" If a majority of the voters in each separate unit, voting at such election, shall vote in favor thereof, the terms of office of each of the members of the boards of educa- tion in such town shall terminate one year from the first day of August next following such annual meeting, and there shall be elected at the next annual meeting a new town board of education as provided by section three htmdred and fifty-four of this act, which board shall take charge of all the schools of the town on the first day of August following such election. 4 In a town in which there is, wholly or in part, a union free school district having a population of fifteen hundred or more or employing fifteen teachers or more, the principal schoolhouse of which is situate in such town, such district may by resolution, duly submitted and adopted as provided by law at a district meeting, determine to become subject to the provisions of this article. The board of education shall, upon the petition signed by not less than fifteen per centum of the qualified electors of such district, give notice of the submission of such resolution to an annual or special meeting, in the manner provided by law. If such resolution be adopted at such meeting, the board of education of the town in which the schoolhouse of such district is situate, shall, upon peti- tion signed by fifteen per centum of the qualified electors of such town, residing outside of such union free school district, submit a resolution to an annual or special meeting of such town as pro- vided in this article, for the purpose of determining whether such union free school district shall become subject to the provisions of this article. If such resolution be adopted by such town, the schools of such union free school district shall become subject to the jurisdiction of the board of education of such town and the provisions of this article shall apply to such district and the schools thereof, notwithstanding the exception contained in subdivision I of this section, and thereupon the terms of office of the officers of such union free school district shall terminate. § 332 Qualifications of members of board of education. A member of a board of education must be a qualified elector at the THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 105 school meetings of the town for which he is chosen. A district superintendent of schools, or a supervisor shall not be eligible to the office of member of a board of education. Not more than one member of a family shall be a member of the same board of educa- tion in a town. A person who is removed from his office as a member of a board of education shall be ineligible to appointment or election to any school office in the town for a period of five years from the date of such removal. § 333 Appointment of officers by board. The board of educa- tion of each town shall elect one of its members chairman who shall serve until the next annual meeting of the board, and shall also appoint a clerk of the board and a town school treasurer to serve during the pleasure of such board. Any person who is qualified to vote at a school meeting in the town may be appointed as clerk or treasurer. A member of the board or a teacher employed in a public school of the town shall not hold the office of clerk or treasurer. The board shall determine the duties and fix the compensation of such clerk and treasurer. § 334 Bond of treasurer. The treasurer, within ten days after the receipt of notice in writing of his appointment, duly served upon him, and before entering upon the duties of his office, shall execute and deliver to the board of education a bond, in a sum to be prescribed by the board and with sureties to be approved by it, conditioned for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office. § 335 Vacancies in school offices, i A school office becomes vacant by death, resignation, refusal to serve, incapacity, removal from the town or from office. 2 A member of a board of education who publicly declares that he will not accept or serve in the office of member of the board of education, or refuses or neglects to attend three successive meet- ings of the board of which he is duly notified, without rendering a good and valid reason therefor to the board of education, vacates his office by refusal to serve. 3 A member of a board of education vacates his office by the acceptance of either the office of district superintendent of schools or of supervisor. 4 A treasurer vacates his office by failure to execute a bond to the board of education as herein required. 5 A vacancy in the office of a member of a board of education may be filled by the board. A person appointed to fill such vacancy shall hold office until the next annual school meeting of the town, 106 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK when such vacancy shall be filled by election for the balance of the unexpired term. 6 When a vacancy has existed in the office of a member of a board of education for thirty days, the district superintendent of schools shall appoint a person qualified to vote at school meetings in the town to fill such vacancy and the person so appointed shall hold office until the next annual school meeting of the town, when the vacancy shall be filled for the balance of the unexpired term. § 336 Board to constitute a body corporate. The board of education of each town shall be a corporation. All property which is now vested in, or shall be hereafter transferred to, the board of education of a town for the use. of schools therein shall be held by such board as a corporation. § 337 Meetings of board. The annual meeting of a board of education of a town shall be held on the first Tuesday in August of each year. A regular meeting of the board shall be held at least once in each quarter. The board may adopt by-laws pre- scribing the time and place where regular meetings shall be held, and regulate the conduct of such meetings. Such board shall also prescribe a method of calling special meetings. The meetings of the board shall be open to the public but the board may hold executive sessions at which business may be transacted which should not, in its judgment, be transacted in an open session, at which sessions only members of the board or persons invited shall be present. § 338 Duties of clerk. The clerk of the board of education of each town shall have the powers and perform the duties of the clerk of a school district as provided in this chapter. In addition to such powers and duties, such clerk shall 1 Act as clerk at all meetings of the board and record the pro- ceedings of such meetings, and the orders and resolutions adopted thereat, in proper books. 2 Draw and sign warrants upon the treasurer for all moneys to be disbursed by the town for school purposes and present them to the chairman to be countersigned by that officer. Each warrant shall specify the object for which it is drawn, the fund from which it is payable and the name of the individual or corporation to whom the amount thereof is payable. 3 When directed by the board of education, prepare all reports required by law and forward the same to the proper officers. 4 Perform such other duties as are or shall be required by law or by the board of education. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM IO7 § 339 Duties of treasurer. The treasurer shall have the powers and perform the duties of a district treasurer as provided in this chapter, and in addition thereto shall 1 Be the custodian of all school moneys of the town and be responsible for the safekeeping and accurate account thereof. 2 Pay all orders or warrants lawfully drawn upon him out of the moneys in his hands belonging to the funds upon which such orders or warrants are drawn. 3 Keep accurate accounts of all moneys received and disbursed by him, the sources from which they are received and the persons to whom, and the objects for which, they are disbursed. 4 Prepare and submit as required by law annual reports of receipts and disbursements, and render at such times as may be required by law or directed by the board of education, a report or statement relative to the school funds of the town. § 340 Powers of board of education. The board of education of each town shall, in respect to the public schools and school officers of the town, 1 Exercise the powers and perform the duties conferred or imposed by law upon boards of education or trustees of school districts, so far as they may be applicable to the schools or other educational affairs of the town and not inconsistent with the pro- visions of this article. Any power, duty, liability or obligation which is conferred or imposed by this chapter, or any other statute, upon the board of education of a union free school district or the trustees of a school district, shall be exercised or performed by the board of education of a town, and such board shall be subject to such liability or obligation, in respect to the schools in the town, in the same manner and to the same extent as in the case of boards of education in union free school districts or trustees of school districts. 2 Determine the number of teachers to be employed in the several schools of the town and to contract with principals and teachers for the maintenance and operation of such schools pur- suant to the provisions of this chapter ; employ or appoint medical inspectors, nurses, attendance officers, janitors and other employees required for the proper and efficient management of the schools and other educational affairs under their direction and control. 3 Provide transportation when necessary for children attending school, under regulations to be prescribed by it. 4 Have the care, custody, control and safekeeping of all school property or other property of the town used for educational, social Io8 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK or recreational work and not specifically placed by law under the control of some other body or officer, and prescribes rules and regulations for the preservation of such property. 5 Purchase and furnish such apparatus, maps, globes, books, reproductions of standard works of art, furniture and other equip- ment and supplies as may be necessary for the proper and efficient management of the schools. 6 Establish and maintain elementary schools, high schools, voca- tional, industrial, agricultural and homemaking schools or classes, night schools, or such other schools and classes as shall be deemed necessary to meet the needs and demands of the town. 7 Establish and maintain school libraries which may be open to .the public as provided by law. 8 Prescribe courses of study which shall be followed in the schools or classes established and maintained in the town. 9 Contract with boards of education of other towns, and of union free school districts and cities for the instruction of pupils of the town, and when any such contract is made the public money or state tuition apportioned for such instruction shall be paid to such town. § 341 Schools to be free to children of town. Each school maintained in a town under the supervision and control of a town board of education, and each department of such school and each course of study maintained therein, shall be free to the children of school age residing in such town. § 342 Transfer of pupils. Where pupils of school age resid- ing in a town may be more conveniently instructed in the school or schools of an adjoining town, or of a union free school district or city, the board of education of such town may provide for the transfer of such pupils to the school or schools in such adjoining town or an adjoining union free school district or city in or out of the town. The board of education making such transfer shall send notice thereof to the board of education of the town, union free school district or city to which it is proposed to transfer such pupils, and provisions shall thereupon be made by the board of education of the town, union free school district or city wherein such pupils are to be instructed, for the accommodation of such pupils, upon the approval of the Commissioner of Education. The Commissioner of Education shall not approve the transfer of such pupils, when such action shall require the town, union free school district or city receiving such pupils to provide additional teachers or other school accommodations, without the consent of the board THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM IOO, of education of such town, district or city. Whenever pupils have been transferred as herein provided, the board of education of the town, union free school district or city to which the transfer is made shall submit, through its chairman and clerk, to the board of education of the town where the pupils reside, a verified statement of the cost of the instruction of such pupils. The cost of the instruction of such pupils shall be a charge against the town wherein such pupils reside, and the board of education thereof shall direct the payment of the cost of such instruction out of the school funds of the town, in the same manner as other charges upon such funds are paid. The amount charged for such instruction may be determined by agreement between the board of education of the town wherein the pupils reside and the board of education of the town, union free school district or city in which such pupils are to be instructed, or if such boards are unable to make such agreement the matter may be referred to the Commissioner of Education for determina- tion; and in making such determination the per capita cost of the instruction of the pupils of the town, village or city to which such pupils have been transferred may be used as a basis. § 343 Schoolhouse sites. The board of education of a town, whenever in its judgment it is necessary for the interest of the schools of the town, may designate a new site for the schoolhouse, or enlarge the site of an existing schoolhouse. Whenever a new site is designated, or an existing site is enlarged, the board shall pass a resolution stating the necessity therefor, described by metes and bounds the land to be acquired for either of such purposes, and estimating the amount of funds necessary therefor. Such resolu- tion must be adopted by the votes of at least a majority of the members of the board of education. When such resolution is adopted the land described therein may be acquired by the board of education in the manner provided by law for the acquisition of real property for school purposes. § 344 Erection, repair and improvement of school buildings. The board of education of a town shall provide for the repair of school buildings in the town, or other buildings under its control and management, and shall expend therefor an amount not exceed- ing the amount included in the annual school tax budget. The board may also remodel, enlarge or improve such school buildings or other buildings under its control and management, and may construct new buildings, whenever required, for the proper accom- modation of the school children of the town. The board of 110 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK education shall not expend in any one year for the remodeling, improvement or enlargement of existing school buildings or for the construction of new buildings an aggregate amount in excess of one-half of one per centum of the assessed valuation of the town and in no case an amount in the aggregate in excess of five thousand dollars without a vote of the school meeting of the town, except as hereinafter provided. § 345 i Annual school budget. On or before the first day of July in each year the board of education shall prepare in tripli- cate an itemized tax budget containing the amounts required to be raised by tax for school purposes in the town for the ensuing school year. Such tax budget shall contain a statement of the probable amount to be received by the town in the next apportion- ment of school funds from the State and the estimated amount to be received from all other sources, and shall specify the several amounts to be raised for the following purposes: a The salaries and compensation of principals, teachers, medical inspectors, nurses, attendance officers, janitors and other employees appointed or employed by said board of education. b All necessary incidental and contingent expenses of the schools of the town, including transportation, the purchase of fuel and light, supplies, textbooks, school apparatus, furniture and other articles and services necessary for the proper maintenance, opera- tion and support of the schools of the town. c The ordinary repairs of schools buildings and other buildings under its control and management. d The remodeling, improvement or enlargement of existing buildings, and the construction of new buildings and the- furnish- ing and equipment thereof. e The amount required to be raised for the payment of the interest and principal of bonds and other indebtedness lawfully incurred or to be incurred for school purposes and which are a charge against the town. / The amount which may be required for the payment of any other claim against the town arising from the support and main- tenance of the schools of the town. g The amount voted at the annual or a special school meeting in the town on a proposition or question lawfully submitted at such meeting. h The amount determined upon as the proportionate share of the cost of maintaining a school in a district partly in two or more towns, required to be paid by said board. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM III 2 The clerk shall cause such budget to be published at length once in each week for the four weeks next preceding the first day of August, in two newspapers if there shall be two, or in one newspaper if there shall be but one, published in such town. A written or printed copy of such budget shall be posted in at least five of the most public places in the town at least twenty days before the first day of August. 3 Such tax budget shall be signed in duplicate by a majority of the members of the board of education. On or before the first day of September such duplicate tax budgets shall be filed as fol- lows : one in the office of the clerk of the board of education and one in the office of the clerk of the town. 4 The board of education of a town may in the manner herein provided, prepare a supplemental budget to raise money for any lawful purpose, a When authorized by a vote of an annual or special school meeting in the town, b When the amounts stated in the annual tax budget for the purposes specified are insufficient therefor and such amounts may be raised by tax without a vote of a school meeting in the town. Such supplemental budget shall not authorize the levy of a tax for the purposes therein specified, or be effectual for any pur- pose unless there shall be endorsed thereon the certificate of the district superintendent of the supervisory district in which such town is situated, to the effect that the purposes for which the amount therein specified is to be raised are lawful. Such sup- plemental tax budget shall be prepared in the same manner and filed with the same officers as the. annual tax budget. 5 The Commissioner of Education may prescribe the form of such budget. He may adopt regulations not inconsistent with law, providing for the examination, review, correction and the modifi- cation of such budgets and the instruction and assistance of school authorities in the performance of duties in respect thereto. 6 District superintendents shall, during the month of August in each year, examine the tax budgets on file in the office of each clerk of the board of education of each town in his supervisory district, and shall advise with and aid boards of education in the preparation and correction of such budgets, and perform such other duties in respect thereto as may be prescribed by the Com- missioner of Education. § 346 Levy and collection of taxes. 1 The board of education 112 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK of the town shall, within ten days after the first day of September in each year, cause the amounts specified in such tax budget and supplemental tax budgets, if any, to be levied and assessed against the taxable property within that portion of the town which is subject to the provisions of this article. The board of education shall immediately upon the completion of its tax list annex thereto a warrant for the collection thereof, which shall direct the col- lector of the town to collect the tax so levied and assessed and to pay over the amount thereof to the town school treasurer. The town collector of taxes shall have the same power and jurisdiction in respect to the collection of such taxes as he has in respect to the collection of other taxes levied upon taxable property in the town, and the provisions of law relative to the collection of such taxes, except as otherwise provided in this chapter, shall apply to the collection of such school taxes. 2 The town collector shall before receiving the warrant for the collection of such taxes execute a bond to the board of education of the town, with one or more sureties to be approved by the board, and in the amount to be prescribed by such board, conditioned for the due and faithful collection of the taxes under such warrant and the return thereof to the proper officer. 3 The provisions of article fifteen of this chapter relating to the assessment and collection of taxes shall apply to the assessment of school taxes in a town by the board of education thereof, and to the collection of the taxes assessed and levied as herein pro- vided, except so far as the provisions thereof may be in conflict with the provisions of this article. 4 If a district is situated partly in two or more towns, the tax- able property in that portion of such district lying in a town other than that in which the principal schoolhouse is situated, shall be assessed for school purposes at the same rate as the taxable prop- erty of the town in which such principal schoolhouse is located. The valuation of the real property in the portions of such dis- trict lying in two or more towns, as appearing upon the several assessment rolls of such towns, may be equalized by the super- visors of such towns upon the request of the boards of education of such towns, or of three or more persons liable to pay taxes upon real property in either of such towns, and the provisions of section 414 of this chapter shall apply to such equalization. The taxable property in the portions of such district located in a town or towns other than the town in which the principal schoolhouse THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 113 of such district is located, shall not be assessed for school pur- poses in such towns. § 347 Borrowing money in anticipation of collection of taxes. The board of education of a town may borrow money in anticipa- tion of the levy and collection of a tax, for any of the purposes specified in a budget or supplemental budget filed with the clerk of the board of education and the other officers with whom the .same is required to be filed as herein provided. Certificates of indebtedness may be issued by such board of education which shall be signed by the president of the board and countersigned by the treasurer thereof. Such certificate shall not be issued for more than one year from the date thereof, and shall bear interest at a rate not exceeding six per centum per annum. The money bor- rowed shall be placed in the custody of the treasurer and shall be paid out by him on the order of the board of education in the same manner as money collected by taxes levied against the taxable prop- erty of the town. § 348 Submission of certain questions to a vote of the town. 1 Whenever the board of education of a town shall deem it neces- sary to expend an amount exceeding the sum of five thousand dol- lars for the repair, remodeling, improvement or enlargement of existing school buildings or the construction of a new school build- ing it shall submit a proposition therefor to a vote of the qualified school electors of the town at either an annual school meeting of the town or a special school meeting called for such purpose. 2 If a school building in the town shall have been condemned by the district superintendent as unfit for use and not worth repairing and the amount required to be raised by tax therefor shall exceed the sum of five thousand dollars the board of educa- tion shall submit a proposition for the construction of such new building to the qualified school electors of the town as above pro- vided. If the amount to be raised for the erection of a new build- ing in place of a building which has been condemned is less than five thousand dollars the amount thereof shall be included in the annual school tax budget of the town. Except as herein provided the board of education of a town shall be subject to the same powers and duties in relation to the erection of a new schoolhouse, when the schoolhouse in a district in such town has been con- demned, which are imposed upon trustees of school districts under the provisions of the Education Law. 3 The board of education of a town may in its discretion sub- mit a proposition to the qualified electors of the town at an annual 114 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK or special school meeting of the town for the voting of a tax in an amount not less than one thousand dollars for the erection of a new building, the repair, remodeling, improvement or enlarge- ment of an existing building, the purchase of a new site or of an addition to an existing site. 4 When the electors at a school meeting in a town adopt a propo- sition for any of the purposes specified in this section they may direct the levy of a tax to meet the expense incurred thereby either in one levy or by instalments. 5 The provisions of section 467 of this chapter relative to the notice of the meeting and the levy of a tax by instalments in a union free school distict shall apply, except when inconsistent with this act, to the submission of the propositions herein authorized and the levy and collection of taxes for the purposes specified. § 349 Issue and sale of school bonds. Whenever a tax shall have been voted to be collected in instalments for any of the purposes specified in the preceding section the board of education of the town may borrow so much of the sum voted as may be necessary at a rate not exceeding six per centum per annum. The board may issue bonds or other evidences of indebtedness for such purposes which shall not be sold below par. The interest and principal of such bonds or other evidences of indebtedness shall be a charge upon the town and shall be paid when due. Such bonds or other evidences of indebtedness shall be sold by the board of education in the manner provided by section 480 of this chapter. § 350 State funds to be used for schools of towns. Funds hereafter apportioned by the state under the provisions of this chap- ter to school districts under the supervision and control of a town board of education shall be apportioned on the basis provided in this chapter, but the funds so apportioned to the several school districts of a town shall be paid by the county treasurer to the town school treasurer. Funds apportioned for teachers' salaries shall be paid on the order of the board of education of the town for the payment of the salaries of teachers employed in such town and funds apportioned for school libraries, apparatus, maps or works of art, shall be paid respectively in like manner for school libraries, apparatus, maps or works of art, in such town. § 351 Certain union free school districts not subject to pro- visions of article. This article shall not apply to a union free school district having a population of fifteen hundred or more or employing fifteen teachers or more at the time this act takes effect THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 115 unless a resolution shall have been adopted by such district making such article applicable to such district as provided in section 331 of this article and the provisions of such article shall not apply to the school districts in the several towns of a county which adjoins a city having a population of one million or more and in which there are only two district superintendents. Unless such resolu- tion shall have been adopted, a school tax in a town in which the whole or any portion of such a district is situate shall be levied only against the taxable property in the town outside of the bound- aries of such union free school district and the inhabitants of such district shall not be permitted to vote for candidates for members of the town board of education or upon any proposition or ques- tion submitted at an annual or regular school meeting in the town. School districts which, under the provisions of this section, are exempt from the provisions of this act shall continue to be sub- ject to and regulated by the provisions of law which now regulate and control the affairs of such districts. § 352 School district officers abolished; terms continued to collect funds, pay claims, et cetera. 1 All trustees, members of boards of education and other school officers of school districts subject to this article, in office when this act takes effect shall con- tinue in office to and including the thirty-first day of July, nine- teen hundred and seventeen, when the offices of trustees, members of boards of education, district clerks, collectors, treasurers and other school district officers of such districts shall be and are hereby abolished and the terms of such officers shall cease except as herein provided. 2 The trustees, boards of education and other officers, of each district, enumerated in subdivision 1 of this section are hereby continued in office with all the powers and duties conferred on such officers by the education law or other statutes, including the power to levy, assess and collect taxes for the purpose of closing up the business and financial affairs of such district and of satis- fying its obligations, except bonded indebtedness, adjusting its claims, collecting funds due it and paying its just debts. After liquidating all outstanding obligations except bonded indebted- ness, and settling or adjusting all claims against such district, and closing up all its financial affairs as a district, such officer shall apportion any funds remaining in the treasury, except moneys received from the State, among the taxpayers of the district in the manner now provided by law. Such apportionment shall be Il6 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK based upon the relation of the assessed valuation of such taxpayers to the aggregate assessed valuation of the district. The portion of such funds which consists of moneys received from the state shall be paid into the town school treasury. § 353 Outstanding bonds; existing school property, i The bonded indebtedness of the school districts in a town which are subject to the provisions of this article, including a union free school district having a population of fifteen hundred or employ- ing fifteen teachers or more, which has adopted a resolution pur- suant to the provisions of section 331 of this article, existing and outstanding at the time of the taking effect of this article shall be a charge against the property which is subject to tax for the maintenance of the schools in such town or union free school district. 2 Within one year from the taking effect of this article the value of the school property in the several districts which are made subject to the provisions hereof shall be appraised and determined by a commission consisting of the supervisor of the town, the chairman of the town board of education and the district superin- tendent of schools. 3 The value of the school property in each district as so appraised shall, after deducting the outstanding bonded indebted- ness of such district, be credited to such district and charged against the town. The total amount charged to the town as a result of such appraisal shall be raised by tax upon the taxable property of the town in the same manner as other school expenses are raised. Such tax shall be levied and collected in five equal, annual instalments and the amount required shall be included by the board of education in the annual tax budget of the town. 4 The commission hereinbefore created shall, upon appraising such property and determining the credit to be allowed to each district, apportion the amount so credited to such district among the owners or possessors of taxable property in the district in the ratio of their several assessments on the last corrected assess- ment-roll of the town. The said commission shall report to the board of education of the town the apportionment so made and the board shall cause to be issued to each of such owners or possessors, a certificate of credit stating the amount so apportioned. Such certificates of credit shall be transferable by the persons to whom they are issued, and shall be payable only out of moneys raised by tax as herein provided for the payment of the charge against THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 117 the town on account of the school property acquired by such town. They shall be issued in such denominations and shall be due at such times as to provide for their payment out of the moneys raised by tax for the payment of such charge. 5 The Commissioner of Education shall prescribe rules govern- ing the commission in the appraisal of school property as herein provided and regulating the distribution and apportionment of the credits and charges herein referred to and the form and denomina- tion of such certificate. An appeal will lie from such appraisal or from any act of such commission or board of education in respect to the apportionment of credits, the distribution of charges and the levy and collection of a tax on account of such school property to the Commissioner of Education in the same manner and under the same conditions as in the case of other appeals to the Commissioner of Education. A like appeal will lie from the apportionment of the bonded indebtedness of any town. § 354 Election of board of education, i The first board of education of each town thereof shall be elected by the trustees and members of the boards of education of the several school districts in such town, subject to the provisions of this article. The said trustees and members of boards of education shall meet for such purpose on the second Tuesday in June, nineteen hundred and seventeen, in one of schoolhouses in the town to be designated by the district superintendent of schools. The said trustees and members of boards of education shall organize by the election of a chairman and clerk. They shall thereupon proceed to elect mem- bers of the board of education of the town to hold office for the term specified in section 331 of this article. The persons elected as members of such board shall be residents of the town and quali- fied electors at school meetings therein. Not more than three of the members of such board of education shall reside in the same school district, except in towns in which there are less than three school districts. The chairman and clerk of the meeting shall can- vass the votes cast for the candidates for the offices to be filled and the candidate receiving a majority of the votes cast shall be elected. The chairman and clerk of the meeting shall thereupon notify the district superintendent in writing of the persons declared elected as members of said board, and the district superintendent shall give notice of such election to the persons so elected. As the terms of office of such members expire their successors shall be elected at the annual school meeting. Il8 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The district superintendent of schools shall call a meeting of the board of education of each town in his supervisory district, elected as above provided, on the first day of August in nineteen hundred and seventeen, at the principal schoolhouse of the town, for the purpose of organization and the transaction of any other business which may properly come before such board. Upon the election of a clerk of such board, the chairman and clerk of the meeting held for the purpose of electing members of the board of education shall file the minutes of the meeting with such clerk. § 355 Time and place of annual meeting. i The annual school meeting in each town shall be held on the first Tuesday in May in each year, at which members of the board of education shall be elected and such business as may legally come before such meeting shall be transacted. Such meeting shall be held at the schoolhouse in the town which is the most conveniently acces- sible to a majority of the qualified electors of such town. The board of education shall designate the schoolhouse at which such meeting shall be held. 2 The board of education may divide the town into school elec- tion districts, whenever it deems it necessary for the convenience of the qualified electors, because of the territorial extent of the town or the number of such electors. If a town is divided into school election districts, the board shall designate the schoolhouse in each district where the annual meeting shall be held. 3 The polls for the election of members of the board of educa- tion at such meeting shall be open from nine o'clock in the morn- ing to four o'clock in the afternoon. § 356 Notice of annual school meeting. The clerk of each board of education shall give notice of the time when and the places where the annual school meeting in the town is to be held, by publishing such notice once in each week for the four weeks next preceding such meeting, in two newspapers, if there shall be two, or in one newspaper, if there shall be but one, published or circulated in such town. If no newspaper shall be published or circulated therein, such notice shall be posted on the door of each schoolhouse in the town and in at least ten other public places in said town, at least twenty days before the time of such meeting. § 357 Special school meetings in towns. The board of educa- tion of each town shall have power to call a special meeting of the qualified electors of the town, whenever it deems necessary and proper, and whenever required by law, in the manner prescribed THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 19 for the giving of a notice of the annual meeting. Such special meetings shall be held at the schoolhouse or schoolhouses at which the annual school meeting of the town is required to be held. § 358 Qualifications of voters at school meetings, i To be eligible to vote at annual or special town school meetings, a per- son must possess the qualifications prescribed in section two hun- dred and three of this chapter, except as provided in the following subdivision : 2 In a school district located in two or more towns, those per- sons possessing the qualifications required under subdivision 1 of this section shall be entitled to vote at annual or special town school meetings in the town in which the principal schoolhouse of the district in which they reside is located, irrespective of the town in which they reside. A person entitled to vote under this subdivision, at an annual or special town school meeting in a town other than the town in which he resides shall not be entitled to vote at such meetings in the town in which he resides. § 359 Preparation of list of qualified electors, i The clerk of the board of education in each town shall, on or before the first day of April in each year, prepare a list of the persons qualified to vote at annual or special school meetings held in the town. If the town is divided into school election districts, a separate list shall be prepared, as herein provided, containing the names of the qualified electors, residing in each district. The names on such list shall be arranged alphabetically, according to the surnames of such electors, and shall contain a statement as to the place of resi- dence of each elector. 2 Such list shall be placed on file in the office of the clerk of the board of education or at some other place, to be designated by the board, where it may be examined by any person interested therein, from four to eight o'clock in the evening of each Friday and Saturday of the four weeks immediately preceding the annual school meeting. The clerk of the board of education or some per- son to be designated by the board, shall attend at such office or place, at such times, and permit public inspection of such list. A person, whose name is not upon such list, who is or will be a qualified voter at the annual meeting, may submit to the clerk of the board, evidence, showing such fact, and the clerk shall correct such list, by inserting his name therein. If the name and resi- dence of a qualified elector are incorrectly stated upon such list, the clerk, upon satisfactory evidence being presented to him, may correct such errors. 120 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 3 A qualified voter at the annual school meeting of the town may, upon the examination of such list, file with the clerk of the board, a written challenge of the qualifications as an elector of any person, whose name appears upon such list. The board of educa- tion of the town shall meet on the Monday preceding the annual school meeting and may, upon satisfactory evidence being pre- sented to it, correct the errors in such list of qualified electors and add thereto the names of persons, ascertained by it to be qualified electors at such annual meeting. The board shall also indicate upon the list of qualified electors, the persons whose qualifications as electors have been challenged. 4 If the annual school meeting is held in election districts, a separate list for each district, revised and corrected as above pro- vided, shall be delivered by the clerk of the board of education to the inspectors appointed, as hereinafter provided, to conduct such school meeting in each of such districts. § 360 Nominations and ballots. 1 Candidates for members of the board of education in a town shall be nominated by peti- tion. Such petition shall be directed to the clerk of the board of education of the town and shall be signed by at least twenty-five qualified electors thereof. It shall state the names and residences of the candidates and whether such candidates are nominated for full terms or for the unexpired portion of such terms. Each petition shall be filed with the clerk of the board of education on or before the fifteenth day preceding the day of the annual school meeting. 2 The board of education shall cause to be printed official ballots, containing the names of all candidates nominated as above provided. Such ballots shall separately state whether the persons named thereon are candidates for full terms or for portions of terms. The names of the candidates shall be arranged alpha- betically according to their surnames, in columns under titles or designations, showing whether they are to be elected for full terms or portions of terms. Blank spaces shall be provided so that persons may vote for candidates who have not been nominated for the offices to be filled at such election. Such ballots shall have printed thereon instructions as to the marking of the ballots and the number of candidates for the several offices for which an elector is permitted to vote. 3 Whenever a question is required to be submitted at an annual or special school meeting, the ballots therefor shall conform as THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 121 nearly as may be to the ballots required to be used, under the election law, for the submission of questions or propositions, at a general election. 4 The number of ballots to be used at an annual or special school meeting shall at least equal the number of qualified elec- tors in the town, as appears from the list of qualified electors thereof. The clerk of the board shall cause to be delivered to the inspectors in each of such election districts, on the day of the meeting, a sufficient supply of such ballots for the use of the qualified electors thereof. Such ballots shall be printed at the expense of the town and the cost thereof shall be paid out of school funds, in the same manner as other school expenses. An election of a member of a board of education shall not be declared invalid or illegal because of the use of ballots which do not con- form to the requirements of this section or to the provisions of the election law, provided the intent of the elector may be ascertained from the use of such irregular or defective ballot and such use was not fraudulent and did not substantially affect the result of the election. § 361 Inspectors of election. The board of education shall designate three inspectors of election for each election district into which such town has been divided. The clerk of the board of education shall give written notice of appointment to the persons so appointed. If a person, appointed as inspector of election, re- fuses to accept such appointment, the board of education may appoint a qualified elector of the district to fill such vacancy. Such board of inspectors shall before opening the polls in the elec- tion district for which they are appointed, organize by electing one of their number as chairman and one as poll clerk. Each inspector shall receive for his services a compensation of three dollars, to be paid out of the school funds of the town and in the same manner as other expenses are paid. § 362 Conduct of school meetings ; challenges, i All elections, held as provided herein, shall be conducted, so far as may be, in accordance with the provisions of the election law relative to general elections, except as otherwise provided herein. Suitable ballot boxes shall be provided by the board of education, to be used at such school meetings. Such ballot boxes shall conform as nearly as may be to the provisions of the election law relative to ballot boxes at general elections. All persons, whose names appear upon the list of qualified electors, as residing in the town or election 122 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK districts, shall be permitted to vote and shall be given ballots for such purpose. Persons whose names do not appear upon such list may be permitted to vote, upon satisfactory evidence being pre- sented showing that they are qualified electors of the town or district and upon making the declaration hereinafter prescribed. The ballots when presented to the inspectors shall be folded so as to conceal the names of candidates for whom or the proposition or question for which the elector has voted. All electors entitled to vote, who are in the places where the election is held at or before the time of closing the polls, shall be allowed to vote. The poll clerk shall keep a poll list, containing the names of the qualified electors who vote at such election for the candidates or propo- sitions or questions voted for thereat. 2 Any qualified elector may challenge the right of a person to vote, at the time when he requests a ballot. All persons, named upon the list of electors as having been challenged prior to the day of the meeting, shall also be challenged before ballots are given to them. The chairman of the board of inspectors shall require the person so challenged, or a person whose name does not appear upon the list of qualified electors, and who requests the privilege of voting, to make the following declaration: "I do declare and affirm that I have been for the thirty days last past an actual resident of this town and that I am qualified to vote at this meeting." If such person makes such declaration, he shall be permitted to vote at the meeting but if he shall refuse to make such declaration he shall not be permitted to vote for candidates or upon any ques- tion or proposition at such meeting. 3 A person who wilfully makes a false declaration as to his right to vote at such meeting, is guilty of a misdemeanor. A person who is not qualified to vote at such meeting but who shall vote thereat, shall be subjected to a penalty of fifty dollars which may be recovered in a suit brought therefor by the board of edu- cation for the benefit of the schools of the town. § 3&3 Canvass of votes; declaration of result. 1 Immediately upon the close of the polls, the board of inspectors shall count the ballots found in the ballot boxes, without unfolding them, except so far as is necessary to ascertain that each ballot is single. They shall compare the number of ballots found in the ballot boxes with the number of persons recorded on the poll list as having voted for the candidates or the questions or propositions submitted at such meeting-. If the number of ballots found in the ballot boxes THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 123 shall exceed the number of names so recorded on such list, such ballots shall be replaced, without being unfolded, in the boxes from which they were taken and shall be thoroughly mingled in such boxes and one of the members of the board of inspectors designated by such board shall publicly draw out as many ballots as shall be equal to the number of excess ballots. The ballots so drawn out shall be inclosed, without unfolding, in an envelop which shall be sealed and indorsed with a statement of the number of such excess ballots withdrawn from the box and shall be signed by the inspector who withdrew such ballots. Such envelop shall be delivered to the clerk of the board of education and shall be preserved by him for a period of at least one year. 2 The ballots shall be counted or canvassed by the inspectors in the manner provided for the canvassing of ballots at a general election, except as otherwise provided herein. The votes cast for each question or proposition shall be tallied and counted by the inspectors and a statement shall be made, containing the number of votes cast for and against each question or proposition sub- mitted at such meeting. Such statement shall also give the num- ber of ballots which are declared void and describe the defects therein and shall also specify the number of wholly blank ballots cast. Such statement shall be signed by the inspectors. A ballot shall not be declared void unless the defects are such as to clearly indicate that the ballot was marked for indentification or that the intent of the elector in voting such ballot can not be ascertained therefrom. The ballots which are declared void and not counted shall be inclosed in an envelop, which shall be sealed and indorsed as containing void ballots and shall be signed by the inspectors. Such envelop shall be filed with the clerk of the board of education and preserved by him for a period of at least one year. After the ballots are counted and the statements have been made as required herein, such ballots shall be replaced in the ballot boxes. Each box shall be securely locked and sealed and deposited with the clerk of the board of education. The unused ballots shall be placed in a sealed package and be returned to the clerk of the board of education, at the time when such ballot boxes are delivered to him. 3 The inspectors shall deliver the statement of the votes cast at such meeting, in each election district, to the clerk of the board of education on the day following such meeting. The board of education shall meet at the usual place of meeting, at eight o'clock in the evening of the day following such election and shall forth- with examine and tabulate the statement of the results of the 124 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK election in the several election districts of such town. The board of education shall canvass the returns as contained in the state- ments of the inspectors and shall determine the number of votes cast for and against each candidate at such election and for and against each question or proposition voted upon in the several election districts of the town. The board shall thereupon declare the result of the canvass of the votes in each election district. 4 The candidates receiving a plurality of the votes cast respectively for the several offices shall be declared elected. The clerk of the board of education shall record the result of the election as announced by the board of education, in the minutes of the meeting. § 364 Successful candidates to be notified of election. The clerk of the board of education shall, within twenty-four hours after the result of the election has been declared, serve a written notice either personally or by mail upon each person declared to be elected as a member of the board of education. A person upon whom such notice has been served shall be deemed to have accepted the office unless within five days after the service of such notice he shall file his written refusal with the clerk. § 365 Appeals to the Commissioner of Education. An appeal may be taken to the Commissioner of Education from such election or from any of the acts or proceedings of a school meeting or the board of education, in the same manner and with the same effect as in the case of an appeal to him from the acts or proceedings of a school meeting or election or of a board of education, under the provisions of this chapter. The Commissioner of Education may, in his discretion, order a new election in any town. § 2 Repeal of inconsistent provisions; effect of repeal. All acts or parts of acts, general or special, inconsistent with the pro- visions of this act are hereby repealed. The repeal of the acts hereinafter specified or of such inconsistent acts or parts of such acts shall not affect any right existing or accrued or any liability incurred prior to the passage of this act. This act shall not affect a pending action or proceeding brought by or against a trustee, trustees or a board of education of a school district but the same may be prosecuted or defended in the same manner and for the same purpose by the board of education of the town of which such district forms a part, as though this act had not been passed. All contracts entered into by a trustee, trustees or the board of education of a school district prior to the taking effect of this act, THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 125 under and pursuant to the provisions of the education law, shall be carried into effect according to the terms thereof by the board of education of the town of which such school district forms a part, in the same manner and for the same purpose as though this act had not been passed. Any right, existing or accrued, or any liability incurred by a trustee, trustees or board of education of a school district, prior to the passage of this act, may be asserted and enforced by or against the board of education of the town of which such school district forms a part, in the same manner and to the same extent as though this act had not been passed. § 3 Sections renumbered. Sections 340 and 341 of the Educa- tion Law are hereby renumbered sections 364 and 365 ; sections 360, 361, 362, 363, 364 and 365 of such law are hereby renumbered respectively sections 370, 371, 372, 373, 374 and 375. § 4 Time of taking effect. This act shall take effect imme- diately. It was very apparent to the State Education Department that in many of the communities there would be considerable difficulty in changing from the old system that had been in operation to the new system of school management and organization. To avoid this the following bulletins were sent to the district superintendents and to the various local communities in order to help them in the readjustment and in the interpretation of the law: Township School System To District Superintendents and Town Boards of Education: On May 2, 1917, Governor Whitman approved the Machold township school bill. With such approval this measure became chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917. This law provides an entirely new plan for the administra- tion of the rural schools of this State. The old school district system which was adopted in 1795 is abolished and the schools of an entire town are placed under the control of a town board of education. In making this change the State of New York is doing what the leading states of the Union have already done in administering the affairs of their rural schools. There are certain provisions of the measure which should be well understood at the outset, in order that its administration may accomplish the intended purpose and be as free as possible from friction and embarrassment. The attention of superintendents and town boards is therefore directed to the following important provisions : School Districts Each school district in the several supervisory districts of the State is continued as such district existed on the second day of May last. 126 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The provisions relating to the consolidation of school districts should be clearly understood. If it appears desirable to consolidate two or more districts in any town, the district superintendent having jurisdiction may take the initiative by issuing an order of consolidation. After the district superintendent issues such order, he must deliver a copy thereof to the town board of education for the consideration of that body. The town board of education may, at a regular or special meeting, consider such order and determine whether it should be approved or disapproved. If the town board disapproves such order, no further action may be taken in relation to the consolidation. If the town board of education approves such order, a meeting of the voters of the several districts affected by such order should be called. The town board of education should direct its clerk to give at least six days' notice of. the time and place of such meeting to each of the voters residing in the school districts affected by such order. The meeting should be held at the most central and convenient places for the voters of the several districts. A record of those voting on the propo- sition should be made and such record should show the district in which each voter resides, and how each voter voted on the proposition. It is sug- gested that a separate record be made of the votes cast by residents of each district as this will aid in making a canvass after the polls have been closed. After all persons have voted who desire to vote, a canvass should be made of the votes cast. The order of consolidation does not become effective unless a majority of the votes cast in each district is in favor of such consolidation. A district superintendent should not therefore include in an order of consolidation a district in which he knows the sentiment to be opposed to consolidation. The unfavorable vote of one district would defeat the entire proposition. It is wise, therefore, to include in the order of consolidation those districts only in which it is known that public sentiment is in favor of the consolidation. After the proceedings are completed, the district superintendent should file his original order, the original approval of the town board, the notice of the meeting at which the voters of the several districts voted on the confirmation of such order, and ,the record of the proceedings of such meeting, properly certified, in the office of the clerk of the town. Copies of all such original papers should be filed in the office of the clerk of the board of education of the town, and also with the Commissioner of Education. Districts Not Included in Township Law There are certain school districts which are not included within the provisions of the township law. These districts are as follows : i All union free school districts having a population of 1500 or more. 2 All union free school districts employing fifteen teachers or more. 3 All of the school districts included within the county of Nassau. To be exempt from this law school districts must have satisfied the above exceptions on the second day of May, when the law became operative. Union free school districts which may hereafter reach a population of 1500 or more or which may hereafter employ fifteen teachers or more are not exempt from the provisions of the township law. All school districts which did not meet the exceptions above stated on the second day of May THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 127 last, when the township law went into effect, are included within the pro- visions of such law. Those school districts which are not within the township law will con- tinue to be operated and regulated under the provisions of the Education Law relating to union free school districts. In other words, there is no change in the management and administration of the schools in such districts by reason of the enactment of the township law. Town School Units District superintendents were directed in a circular letter issued from this Department on May 17th last to divide certain towns into town school units in accordance with the provisions of the township law. There are in many of the towns throughout the State two or more union free school districts which come within the provisions of the township law. The law provides that in all such towns the district superintendent shall divide the town into as many town units as there are such union free school districts. Full directions relative to the method of dividing towns and numbering the units were given in the circular of May 17, 1917. Each separate unit thus organized and numbered must be considered in every respect, in the administration of the township law, as a town. Attention is directed to the provisions by which two or more separate units in a town may be consolidated into one unit. Subdivision 3 of sec- tion 331 outlines fully the procedure which must be taken to consolidate two or more town school units into one. The attention of superintendents and boards of education is also called to subdivision 4 of section 331 which authorizes the voters of a district which is not under the township law to take the necessary action to place the schools of such district within the provisions of the township law. A union free school district having a population of 1500 or more or employing fifteen teachers or more may, at either an annual or special meeting, properly called, vote upon placing such district under the provisions of the township law. After favorable action is taken by such district on this proposition, the board of education of the town shall, upon a petition signed by fifteen per cent of the qualified school electors of such town, not including the electors of such union free school district, submit the question to the voters of such town at either an annual or special school meeting to determine whether or not such town and the union free school district shall combine and have but one board of education. A majority vote of those present and voting is required of the district which desires to come under the township system and a similar vote is also required of that portion of the town which forms the township unit within the town. The initiative must be taken by the district which is not included within the provisions of the township law and, unless affirmative action is taken by that district at the meeting, no further action may be taken. If affirmative action is taken the question must then be submitted to the voters of the remaining portion of the town and receive affirmative action by such voters. In other words, the district which is not under the provisions of this law and that portion of the town which is under the law must each vote in favor of the consolidation, if such consolidation is to be made. 128 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Qualifications and Number of Members on Town Board of Education The qualifications of voters at town school meetings are the same as they have been for several years for voters at school district meetings. These are as follows : General Qualifications i A citizen of the United States. 2 At least 21 years of age. 3 A resident within the district for a period of at least 30 days next preceding the meeting at which he or she offers to vote. Any person who possesses all of the above general qualifications and any one of the four following special qualifications is entitled to vote. Special Qualifications 1 One who owns or hires or is in the possession under a contract of purchase of real property in such district liable to taxation for school purposes. 2 One who is the parent of a child or children of school age, provided such child or children shall have attended the district school in the district in which the meeting is held for a period of at least eight weeks within the school year preceding such school meeting. (Under this provision both father and mother may vote.) 3 One who, not being the parent, has permanently residing with him or her a child or children of school age who shall have attended the district school for a period of at least eight weeks within the school year preceding such meeting. (Under this provision but one person may vote, namely, the head of the household.) 4 One who owns any personal property assessed on the last preceding assessment roll of the town exceeding $50 in value, exclusive of such as is exempt from execution. [See Education Law, § 203.] Qualified voters may vote on any question brought before any annual or special school meeting; it is not essential that a person be a taxpayer to vote on propositions for raising money by tax on the district. Women possessing any of the above qualifications are entitled to vote. To be eligible to membership on a board of education a person must satisfy the above qualifications of voters at town school meetings. Neither a superintendent of schools nor the supervisor of a town is eligible to elec- tion as a member of the town board of education. Not more than one member of a family shall be a member of the same town board of educa- tion. Members of one family residing in the same household are regarded as members of the same family. In the case of a father and son who live together as one family in the same dwelling, only one of such persons would be eligible to serve on the same town board of education. The question is frequently raised as to whether or not a teacher in a town may be a member of a town board of education. Section 285 of the Education Law prohibits a trustee from being personally interested either directly or indirectly in any contract which he makes in behalf of the district. The township law subjects members of town boards of education to all duties, obligations and responsibilities which the provisions of the THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 120, Education Law impose on trustees of school districts. Teachers are not, therefore, eligible to membership on a town board of education. If no provision were contained in the Education Law in relation to the matter, the two positions — as teacher in a school and as a member of the con- trolling board of such school — would be incompatible. If a person who is a member of a board of education is removed by order of the Commis- sioner of Education, that person is not eligible to membership on the board of education or to any other school office in the town for a period of five years from the date of such removal. No other person is prohibited from serving as a member of a town board of education. In a town having five school districts or less the number of members on a board of education shall be three. In all other school districts the number of members shall be five. Meetings of Town Board The law provides that each town board of education shall hold an annual meeting on the first Tuesday in August. For the year 1917 this meeting must be held on the first day of August. At this meeting the first action to be taken by the board is the election of one of its members as chairman •of such board, who shall serve in that capacity for the ensuing school year. Upon the expiration of the term of office of such chairman at the next annual meeting, another chairman is to be chosen. Meetings of the board must be held at least once in each quarter. It is suggested that for the current year provision shall be made for holding meetings at least once each month. It is further suggested that the district superintendent confer with boards of education and arrange with such boards to fix the time of their monthly meetings on such days and at such hours as to enable the district superintendent to meet with the several town "boards at their regular monthly meetings. Provision should also be made for calling special meetings. Each board may adopt such method for calling special meetings as it may desire. The method adopted, however, must provide for giving personal notice of ample time, in some way, to each member of the board. Clerk of Town Board At the first annual meeting of the town board of education on August 1st next the board should appoint a clerk. The law does not specify a definite term for such officer but provides that he shall serve during the pleasure of the board. In appointing such clerk, however, the board may exercise its pleasure in this respect at the time of the appointment, by specifying a definite term of one year. It is recommended that such action be taken. No member of the board of education may serve as clerk, neither thay a teacher employed in any public school of a town be appointed to the office of clerk. The person appointed to this position must be a qualified voter at school meetings in the town. The law does not fix the amount of the salary for such officer. The salary which such officer shall receive must be fixed by the board of education. The Education Department has been requested, in a number of cases, to suggest the salary which should be paid the clerk of a town board of education. It is not feasible to fix a uniform 5 130 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK salary for this office. The salary to be paid a clerk must be determined by the amount of work which such officer will be required to perform. The work which a clerk must do in connection with this office depends largely upon the number of school districts in the town, the population of the town, and the extent of its territory. An efficient man, familiar with clerical duties and with fiscal affairs, should be selected for the office of clerk. The busi- ness management of the affairs of the board will depend in a large measure upon the skill and efficiency of the clerk. That officer should be a man whose judgment the board of education would respect. The town board should feel free to assign to the clerk many of the business affairs for inves- tigation, on the understanding that such officer will look into these matters, obtain data in relation thereto, and submit the results of his investigation, together with recommendations thereon, to the board for action. The clerk of the board of education will also be required to make out the tax list, to attend to correspondence between the board, the district superintendent, the Education Department and others. Section 338 of the township law states specifically what duties the clerk of the board of education must perform. In addition thereto, such officer must perform all other duties which the board of education imposes upon him. It is important that the clerk shall keep accurate and complete records of all the transactions of board meetings. The board should provide suitable books for such records. Town School Treasurer At the first meeting of the town board of education to be held on August 1st next, such board should also appoint a treasurer. It is suggested that the term of the treasurer be fixed for one year. No member of the town board of education and no teacher employed in the schools of the town may serve as treasurer. The treasurer must be a qualified voter at school meetings in the town. The salary of such officer is not fixed by lav/ and it is the duty of the board to determine what compensation shall be allowed such officer. Section 339 states specifically the duties of the treasurer of the town and this officer must also perform such additional duties as the board of edu- cation of the town may require of him. The Commissioner of Education will specify the form in which the accounts of the treasurer shall be kept. The law further provides that the budget prepared by the board of educa- tion shall be in the form prescribed by the Commissioner of Education. The accounts of the treasurer should be kept so as to conform to the requirements of the budget. The form in which such budget shall be sub- mitted is specified later in this document. After a board has designated a treasurer, it should also determine the amount of the bond which that officer is required to give. Within ten days after the treasurer receives a written notice of his appointment, he should execute a bond in the amount required by the board, with proper sureties, and submit the same to the board for its approval. Powers and Duties of Town Board Section 340 of the township law specifies the powers and duties of the board of education. These arc the broad general duties and powers of THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I3I the board and are sufficiently stated in this article to give the board of education the general power, control and management of the school affairs of the town. The men and women who are chosen for membership on the first town board of education, under the provisions of this law, are charged with important duties and have an opportunity to render a great service to the State. The success of the administration of this law, and the progress which may be made in rural education depends wholly upon the spirit in which the town boards discharge their official obligations and responsibilities to their constituents and to the State. It is recommended that the members of these boards immediately familiarize themselves with the school conditions in the several districts of the town. These boards should have definite knowledge of the type of school which has been main- tained in each district in their respective towns, of the number of children to be educated in each district, of the needs of such children from an edu- cational and social standpoint. It is suggested that an inspection of all school property in the town be made at an early date with the district superintendent. It is further suggested that it would be unwise to attempt to make very material changes in the administration of these schools during the ensuing year. It is believed that it would be much wiser for a board of education to make a careful study of school conditions in the entire town, to consult the district superintendent in relation to the same and determine upon the broad policy which is later to be pursued in providing educational facilities for the children of the town. It is specially recommended that district superintendents and boards of education proceed with great deliberation in the consolidation of school dis- tricts. It is recommended that school districts shall not be consolidated until town boards have had ample opportunity to examine into the needs of the schools of the town and to formulate a general policy with respect to the location of school centers to be maintained within the town. It is not possible at this time to touch upon all the questions which will be raised by the one thousand school boards in the State. The interests of communities vary. The outlook which men and women have upon edu- cational needs is not the same in all towns. It is not possible, therefore, to anticipate all the questions which will arise under the administration of this law. It is the desire of the Education Department, however, to cooperate with boards of education in every way possible, to give them any information upon educational questions which they are seeking, to furnish them with any literature which is available for distribution, to have repre- sentatives of the Department meet them upon special occasions to discuss special subjects in which the particular community is interested, and to render any other service which may be possible in the advancement of the schools which are under the management and control of these boards. Contracts Betzveen District Trustees and Teachers In districts having a sole trustee, the trustee chosen at the annual meet- ing in May last has the legal right to contract with a teacher for the ensuing school year. If such trustee has made a contract with a teacher it is binding upon the town and must be respected by the town board. If such trustee has not contracted with a teacher it is the duty of the borra 132 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK of education to contract with such teacher or teachers as may be necessary to operate the school in such district. In districts having three trustees or more, or a board of education, such officers also possess the power to con- tract with teachers for the ensuing school year. In all cases where teachers have been employed by such trustees or boards, the contracts are binding and must be respected by the town board. Any vacancies which occur in the teaching force of the schools of the town should be filled by the selec- tion of teachers by the town board. No teacher should be employed who is hot in possession of a certificate of qualification issued by proper authority. Janitors, Truant Officers, Medical Inspectors, Physical Training Supervisors It is also the duty of town boards of education to appoint truant officers, janitors, medical inspectors, and physical training supervisors. The board of education should provide a janitor for each school main- tained in the district. The janitors should be required to see that fires are started sufficiently early in the morning to have the buildings in suitable condition to receive the children at the hour when children generally reach the schoolhouse. The janitor should also be required to keep the building clean and in a sanitary condition. The attendance upon the rural schools should be improved and town boards now have an opportunity to render this service. A truant officer should be appointed who will look after the enforcement, of the com- pulsory attendance law for the entire town. He should be a man of cour- age, who will look into violations of the law, bring to the attention of the town board the names of parents who should be prosecuted for persistent and wilful violation of the law. All children, within compulsory school ages, should be in attendance upon school when school is in session unless there is a legal excuse for their absence. There has been much laxity in the enforcement of the medical inspection law. In many districts the expenditure made for the enforcement of such law has not brought adequate returns. In many districts throughout the State more has been expended in the enforcement of the medical inspection than should have been expended for such purpose. One medical inspector should now be employed for the entire town. An agreement should be reached as to the salary to be paid such inspector. The board of education, and the district superintendent, should see that the person employed to do this work performs it in such a manner that the children of the town will receive the service which the law contemplates they shall receive through such inspection. In many towns of the State at the present time, full time school nurses have been employed. A registered nurse who has been admitted to prac- tice in this State may be employed as a school nurse. Our experience shows that the best service will often be rendered through the employment of a full time nurse who may do very much of the work required under the medical inspection law in the physical examination of school children, in following up cases of children who are ill or physically defective, and in providing proper treatment for such children. School nurses should be employed during the entire year, including the vacation period as well as during the time school is in session. In some cases registered nurses who have also had training along the lines of physical education and who are THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 33 qualified under the law to give instruction in that subject may he employed to do the work required under the medical inspection law and the physical training law at a salary which will make it economical to combine these phases of educational administration and at the same time render the best service possible to the children. Where competent, trained persons may be employed in such a combination of service, it is recommended that such course shall be pursued. School Must be Maintained in all Districts A board of education has not authority to discontinue a school in any district in the town. The law contemplates that school shall be maintained in each district in a town, except such districts as may have contracted for the education of their children prior to August 1, 1917, under author- ization of a vote of a district meeting. If there is not a sufficient number of children in a district to warrant the continuance of a school therein, the course of procedure must be the consolidation of the district with an adjoin- ing district. Such consolidation must be made as provided under section 330 of the Education Law and as described on pages 1 and 2 of this docu- ment. A town board has not the authority to determine that a school shall be closed in such district. Schools Maintained by Contract School districts were authorized under the provisions of section 580 to 586 of the Education Law to contract with school districts or cities' instead of maintaining home schools. Before such contract could legally be made it must have been authorized at a district meeting. Trustees of school dis- tricts, therefore, which authorized such contracts previous to August 1, 1917, could legally enter into such contracts and these contracts are binding upon the town board. The terms of the contracts thus entered into should there- fore be carried out in each case. Before such contracts become effective, however, they must be approved by the Commissioner of Education. The procedure of former years should therefore be followed, and in cases where the contracts have been executed, they should be forwarded to the Commissioner of Education for consideration. If approved by the Com- missioner of Education, town boards will be notified. If such contracts are not approved, the board of education will also be notified and it will then be the duty of the board of education to employ a teacher and maintain a school in the districts where such contracts had been authorized. Transfer of Pupils The attention of town boards is called to the provisions of section 342 of the township law which relates to the transfer of pupils from the schools of one town to the schools of an adjoining town, or union free school dis- trict, or city. There are many cases where children living in a certain section of a school district might more conveniently attend school in an adjoining town, or union free school district, or city. In such cases the town board of education may arrange to have such children attend such adjoining school. The school system is regarded as a State system and the State is required to provide for the education of all its children. The State 134 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK makes an annual contribution to every community toward the maintenance of schools. If the town of A affords school privileges which are more convenient for the children living in certain sections of the town of B the board of education of the town of A must accept such children from the town of B, provided the education of such children does not necessitate the employment of additional teachers or the providing of other school accommodations on the part of the town to which such pupils are assigned. In such case the board of education of the town of B may transfer the children in question to a school or schools in the town of A, or of a union free school district not under the township law, or even to a school in an adjoining city. The board of education of the town of B should immedi- ately forward to the board of education of the town of A, or to the union free school district, or to the city to which such children have been trans- ferred, notice of the action which it has taken. To prevent one town from imposing upon another, the law requires the approval of the Commissioner of Education where pupils are thus transferred. The board of education of the town of A must, when a transfer is properly made and approved, make provision for the education of the pupils thus transferred. It is assumed that the two boards of education will talk such proposi- tion over in advance and come to an agreement upon the compensation to be paid for the education of such children. If such agreement is not reached, the board of education receiving such children should forward to the board of education in the town where such children reside a verified statement of the cost of the instruction of such pupils. The town wherein such children reside must pay the expense of their instruction. The board of education is authorized to make the necessary payment for such instruction out of the school funds of the town. Transportation When the children of a district attend another school under contract, or when such children are transferred from the school of one town to a school in another town, union free school district, or city, and the distance which the children are required to travel to attend school is too great to permit their walking to and from school daily, it is the duty of the town board of education in which such children reside to provide for the transportation of such children. In consolidated districts which have already been established, or in other cases where it is apparent that the distance which children are required to travel to attend school is too great for such children to walk to and from school daily, transportation should also be provided. Town boards of edu- cation have ample authority to make provision for transportation in such cases. Schoolhouse Sites A town board of education may designate a new site for a schoolhouse to be erected in a town and it may also enlarge the site of an existing school- house. To designate a new site or to enlarge an existing site, the board is required to pass a resolution which should state the necessity for such action and it should also describe the land to be acquired for such purpose by metes and bounds. An estimate of the amount of funds necessary for THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 135 the purchase of the same should also be stated in the resolution. The resolution must be adopted by a majority vote of the board. After the board of education has adopted such resolution, it may acquire title to the prop- erty described in the resolution as provided by the Education Law for the acquisition of real property for school purposes, provided funds have been properly appropriated for the purchase of the same. It is recommended to boards of education that a careful study of the school facilities of the town, the existing school necessities and the prospective demands upon the schools shall be carefully considered before any action is taken in designating new sites or acquiring additional property for the enlargement of the present school accommodations. Erection and Repair of School Buildings The board of education of a town is charged with the general care of school property, with the repair and improvement of such property, and with the duty of erecting school buildings and other buildings for educa- tional purposes in the town. The board may take such action in relation to any of these matters as may be required in order to provide the proper accommodations for the education of the children of the town. The board of education, however, is limited in the amount of money which it may expend in any one year for the remodeling, improvement or enlargement of existing school buildings, or for the construction of new buildings. A town board may not expend in any one year an amount in excess of one-half of one per centum of the assessed valuation of the property of the town. In no case may such board expend for these purposes, except in a case where a school building has been condemned by the district superintendent, an amount which in the aggregate exceeds the sum of $5000, unless such excess has been authorized by the voters of the town at a town school meeting. If the board of education desires to expend an amount in excess of one* half of one per centum of the assessed valuation of the property of the town, or if the assessed valuation of the town exceeds one million dollars and the board of education desires to expend an amount in excess of $5000, for remodeling, improving or enlarging existing school buildings or con- structing new buildings, the board must submit such proposition to either an annual or special meeting and receive authorization to make such expenditure. A board may expend a sum which does not exceed one-half of one per centum of the assessed valuation of the taxable property of the town, and in a town which has an assessed valuation in excess of one million dollars, the board may expend $5000 for these purposes without a vote of the district. If it is necessary to make an expenditure in excess of $1000 for any of these purposes, the board of education may, in its discretion, submit the question of such expenditure to the voters of the town at an annual or special meeting. Condemnation of School Buildings A district superintendent may condemn a school building whenever, in his judgment, such building is not fit for use and not worth repairing. In condemning such building the district superintendent must express in the order of condemnation the amount necessary for the erection of a new I36 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK building. When a town board of education has been served with a dis- trict superintendent's order condemning a schoolhouse in the town and such order specifies that the amount necessary to erect a suitable building in place of the one condemned is not in excess of one-half of one per centum of the assessed valuation of the property of the town, or if the assessed valua- tion of such property is one million dollars and the amount expressed as necessary for the erection of the building is not in excess of $5000, the board may proceed to erect a new building in place of the one condemned without a vote of the district. If the amount stated in the order of the district superintendent as necessary for the erection of a new building is in excess of the amount above stated, it is then the duty of the town board of education to call a meeting of the school electors of the town for the purpose of voting an appropriation for the erection of such building in com- pliance with the order of the district superintendent. If the meeting author- izes such appropriation and directs, in the resolution making the appropria- tion, that the amount shall be raised by tax to be collected in instalments, the board of education may proceed to issue school bonds in the same manner that bonds are now issued by school districts under the provisions of the Education Law. If the meeting does not authorize a tax for the erection of such buildings, to be raised in instalments, it is then the duty of the board of education to proceed to erect such building and to raise the necessary sum therefor by one tax upon the property of the town. In other words, the law regulating the condemnation of school buildings by district superintendents and the erection of new buildings in place of the condemned buildings is not changed under the township law. The town board of education is to exercise the same powers and is subject to the same official obligation in erecting a school building in place of a condemned building as trustees of school districts under the provisions of the Educa- tion Law. The same recommendation is made in relation to the erection of school buildings and in relation to material improvements or the remodeling of existing buildings that is made in reference to the designation of new sites or the enlargement of existing sites. Before expenditures are made in the erection of buildings or the remodeling of existing buildings, the board of education should have a definite school policy in mind in reference to the maintenance of schools in the various districts of the town. Schools to be Free to Children of Town The schools which are now maintained in a town are open to the attend- ance of all children in such town. Section 341 of the Education Law pro- vides that each department of a school and each course of study maintained in a school shall be free to the children of school age residing in the town in which such school is maintained. If a school of academic grade is main- tained in a district of a town, all the children of the town meeting the requirements for admission to an academic school are entitled to attend such school without the payment of tuition. No charge may be made to any pupil of the town attending an academic or vocational school maintained in such town. Children residing in a town which does not maintain an academic school may attend an academic school in an adjoining town, and THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I37 the State will continue to pay to such school the same apportionment of $20 a year which is now paid. Children residing in a town in which an academic school is maintained, but not within the school district in which such depart- ment is maintained, will entitle the town to receive the same apportionment which has been paid for years under the nonresident tuition law, viz : $20. Textbooks The textbooks used in the several schools of the town are to be designated by the town board. It is recommended that town boards make as little change as possible in the textbooks to be used. .There should, however, ulti- mately be a uniformity of textbooks in the schools of a town. If modern textbooks are not in use in any of the schools of the town, the board of edu- cation should, in due time and after due consideration, authorize modern textbooks for the use of the schools of the town. The question is raised as to whether or not a board of education has the authority to provide free textbooks for the children of a town. The law does not confer this power upon the board of education. The voters of the town, however, do have the authority to vote upon the question and if free textbooks are authorized by a vote of the school electors of the town at either an annual or special meeting it becomes the duty of the town board to pro- vide free textbooks. Tax Budget The law provides that, on or before the first day of July each year, the board of education shall prepare an itemized tax budget. This budget must be in triplicate. It must contain the amounts required to be raised by tax for school purposes in a town for the ensuing year. The budget must also contain a statement of the probable amount to be received by a town from the State in the apportionment of State funds, and also the probable amount to be received from other sources. It is not possible, of course, this year to prepare this budget on or before the first day of July. This provision of the law is directory and not mandatory. The failure to prepare such budget on the first day of July does not prevent the board of education from pre- paring the budget on a later date. In the future this budget should be prepared on or before the first day of July each year. Since the board of education does not assume the functions of its office until August 1st this year, it is not possible for such board to prepare a statement by July 1st. The board should, however, prepare a budget for the ensuing school year as soon as may be possible after assuming its functions on August 1st. In the preparation of this budget the town board should consider the expenditures which have been made during the previous year by each of the several districts of the town. It should also give careful consideration to any budget which was authorized at an annual meeting of a school district on the first Tuesday in May last. It is recommended that the district super- intendent be prepared to furnish the town board with complete data in rela- tion to the expenditures made by the several districts of the town in recent years for school purposes. With this information at hand, the board of edu- cation should proceed to prepare its budget on the basis outlined in section 345 of the Education Law. Under the provisions of this section the board should include such amounts for the several schools of the town as may be I38 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK necessary to meet the various purposes outlined in paragraphs c to h inclu- sive of subdivision 1 of said section 345. As soon as this budget is prepared by the board of education, such board should publish the same at least once each week for the four weeks follow- ing the date on which it is prepared. The publication of such budget must be in two newspapers if there are two in a town, or in one newspaper if there is but one published in a town. It is suggested that boards of education familiarize themselves at once with the needs of the several school districts for the ensuing school year. The whole financial needs of the schools of the town should be understood by members of the board and the budget should be formally prepared, ready for adoption at the meeting of the town board to be held August 1, 1917. It would then be possible for the board of education to adopt the budget and to give notice immediately as specified above to the voters of the district. Much time will be saved if this action is pursued by boards of education and it is urgently recommended that they shall follow such course. The law authorizes the issuance of a supplemental budget. If it should be necessary later iri the year, to meet contingent expenses, the board of edu- cation would have the power to issue a supplemental budget. It is strongly urged that boards shall include in the budget adopted at the annual meeting sufficient funds, so far as they are able to ascertain at that time, to meet all expenses during the year. It is suggested, however, that after the budget for the ensuing year is adopted on August 1st next, it shall be submitted to the district superintendent for his formal approval in the manner required for a supplemental budget. The following form of budget is hereby prescribed: ESTIMATED RECEIPTS Public money for teachers wages Public money for library and apparatus Public money for academic quota and attendance Public money for nonresident tuition Other tuition receipts Receipts from other sources Balance to be raised by tax ESTIMATED EXPENDITURES 1 General control (Regulative and executive service) Salaries of clerk of board Other expenses of board of education Compulsory education — salaries Compulsory education — other expenses School census 2 Instructional service (Supervision and teaching) Salaries of teachers Textbooks Other supplies used in instruction THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 39 3 Operation of school plant Wages of janitor and other employees , Fuel Water, light and power Janitor's supplies Other expenses of operation 4 Maintenance of plant (Upkeep) Upkeep of grounds (repairs) Repair of buildings Repair and replacement of equipment 5 Fixed charges Insurance Contributions and contingencies 6 Debt service Payment of bond Redemption of short term loans Payment of interest — on bonds Payment of interest — on short term loans Refunds of taxes and tuition 7 Capital outlay (Acquisition and construction) Land New buildings Alteration of old building (not repairs) Equipment — heating, lighting, plumbing and electrical Equipment — furniture Equipment- — instructional apparatus S Auxiliary agencies and other sundry activities Libraries — salaries Libraries- — books, repairs and replacements Libraries — other expense Health service — medical inspection Health service — nurse service Health service — dental service Health service • — other expense Transportation of pupils Care of children in institutions Provision of lunches Community lectures and social centers Recreation Payments to private schools and schools of other civil divisions Relation of District Superintendents to Town Boards of Education District superintendents should meet with town boards frequently to advise them of the needs of the several schools in their respective towns and to dis- cuss with such boards the educational policies which it is advisable to pursue. The district superintendent is the professional school officer of the town. 140 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK His official relation to the town board of education is intended to be the same as the relation of a city superintendent of schools to a city, board of education. The district superintendent is to cooperate in every way possible with town boards of education to relieve such bodies of as much of the details of administration as may be possible. District superintendents should, therefore, take up in advance of board meetings, matters which are to be pre- sented to the board and should go over such matters with the clerk of the board, getting the business affairs which need consideration by the board in such form that they may be presented to the board of education without prolonging the board meetings. The board of education is expected to give its time to the large problems involved in the administration of the schools and to the determination of the general school policy of the town. It is recommended that boards of education shall frequently consult the district superintendents in relation to matters bearing upon the school interests of the town. Before selecting teachers the town board should make inquiry into their reputation and qualifications. The district superintendent will be able to render much service to town boards of education in recommending teachers who have been successful in the schools where they have been employed. It is recommended that boards of education shall not contract with teachers until such teachers have been approved by the district superintendent. Boards of education will also find that district superintendents will be a,ble to be of much service to them in making suggestions relative to the adoption of textbooks and in providing suitable libraries adapted to the needs of the schools and the interests of the community. Assessment and Collection of Taxes The clerk of the board will prepare the tax list. All of the taxable prop- erty in each of the school districts under the jurisdiction of the board of education will be placed upon the tax list. The valuations of such property will be taken from the town tax roll. Where a school district is located partly in two or more towns it is to be regarded, for the purpose of taxation as well as for all other purposes of the township law, as lying wholly within that town in which its principal school house is located. Therefore, where the schoolhouse of a district is located in town A but such district extends partly into town B, it will be necessary for the clerk of the board of town A to obtain the assessments of that portion of the district which extends into town B from the tax roll of the latter town. It will also be necessary for the clerk to obtain the list of apportionments of franchise taxes made by the assessors with respect to such joint district. Where there are two or more town school units in the town the town board of assessors must apportion to each unit its share of the franchise taxes as required by section 40 of the tax law. An apportionment must also be made as between the town unit and any union free school district in the town not subject to the township law. After the tax has been levied by the board of education the same will be extended upon the tax roll by the clerk and when completed the board of education will annex to the tax list its warrant for the collection thereof. The tax list and warrant will then be delivered under the direction of the board of education to the town tax collector who is required to collect the same and to pay over the amount thereof to the town school treasurer. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I4I Books and Property of School Districts All school records, all books and all other district property, together with the keys of all school buildings, should be turned over by the trustees of the several districts of a town to the board of education of the town. The clerk may act for the board in receiving such records, books, property, keys etc. Annual School Meeting A special pamphlet will be prepared in relation to the annual elections, giv- ing full information as to the registration of voters, appointment of inspec- tors, method of conducting annual meetings, etc., for the annual meeting which will be held on the first Tuesday in May. Valuation of School Property Later in the year information will be forwarded to district superintendents and boards of education in relation to fixing the value of school property which is turned over by the several districts to the town. It is suggested that no action be taken in this matter until a further communication is received from the Department in relation thereto. The officers of the Education Department will be gratified to be of service at any time to the local school officers who are required to organize the rural schools of the State under this new system. The change marks an important event in the history of the State's school system. We have the opportunity of rendering a great service to the State in the administration of this im- portant work. We offer such aid as we shall be able to give in solving any of the problems which confront you and we solicit that cooperation from you which is essential to the success of the school system. Very respectfully 3'ours Thos. E. Finegan July 2, iqi? Deputy Commissioner of Education Election of Boards of Education in Towns and Town School Units To District Superintendents: Chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, entitled "An act to amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns," requires the performance of certain duties by district superintendents of schools in respect to the division of towns into town school units and the election of members of boards of edu- cation of towns and of such town school units. It should be noted that the law does not apply to union free school districts having a population of fif- teen hundred or more or employing fifteen teachers or more at the time the act took effect, that is, May 2, 1917. Special attention is called to the fol- lowing features which will require immediate action by district superin- tendents : 1 Enumeration of population of certain union free school districts* If it appears from available information that there is doubt as to whether a union free school district which employs less than fifteen teachers has a 142 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK population of fifteen hundred or more, the board of education should be ad- vised to take an enumeration of the population within the district, using as a basis therefor, so far as possible, the state enumeration of 1915. Such, enumeration should be made with care, by either the clerk of the board or some person designated 'by it. A written statement of the result of such enumeration should be prepared by the clerk or person taking it and the orig- inal should be filed in the office of the town clerk. A certified copy thereof should be delivered to the district superintendent and another certified copy be transmitted to the Education Department. The presumption will be in close cases that the union free school district is within the provisions of the township law. An enumeration should not be directed except in a doubtful case. 2 Division of towns into town school units. The law provides that where there are two or more union free school districts, each having a popu- lation of less than fifteen hundred and each maintaining an academic depart- ment which has been admitted to the University of the State, and the prin- cipal schoolhouse in each of which is situated wholly in the same town, the district superintendent must by order divide the town into as many town school units as there are such union free school districts situated in the town. The district superintendent should make such division immediately. In dividing the town, the district superintendent should take into consider- ation the accessibility of the outlying districts to the school in the union free school district. The academic department of the union free school district will be available to all the pupils residing in the town school unit. No school district may be divided in forming a town school unit. Each town school unit will have a separate board of education, to be elected by the trustees and members of the board of education of each district in such town school unit. The order dividing the town should designate the union free school districts and the common school districts comprising each town school unit. The order may be in the following form : ORDER DIVIDING TOWN INTO SCHOOL UNITS IN THE MATTER of the Dividing of the town of , county of , into town school units. It appearing that there are union free school districts in the town of county of , each having a population of less than fifteen hundred and each maintaining an academic department which has been admitted to The University of the State of New York, and the prin- cipal schoolhouse in each of which is situated wholly in the said town of , Now, therefore, pursuant to the power conferred upon me by section 331, subdivision 2, of the Education Law, as added by chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917; It is hereby ordered that the said town of , county of , be and the same hereby is THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 43 divided into town school units, containing the following school districts and to be numbered and designated as follows : Town school unit no. 1 shall contain and comprise the territory now included in union free school district no town of , county of , and school districts nos. , town of Town school unit no. 2 shall contain and comprise the territory now in- cluded in union free school district no , town of , county of , and school districts nos. , town of [Provide similarly for other town school units if there are more than two of such union free school districts.] This order shall take effect immediately. Dated June , 1917 District Superintendent of Schools of the Supervisory District, County of This order should be executed in triplicate, one of which should be filed in the office of the town clerk of the town, one should be transmitted to the Commissioner of Education and one should be retained by the district superintendent of schools. 3 Notices of meeting for election of members of boards of education. The members of the town board of education in each town which is subject to the provisions of the act, and in town school units as established by district superintendents, are to be elected at a meeting of the members of the boards of education of the existing union free school districts and the trustees of existing common school districts on the second Tuesday in June, that is, June 12, 1917. Members of boards of education and trustees now in office are to participate in the election of members of the town boards of education and the boards of education of town school units. The mem- bers of boards of education and trustees elected at the annual meeting held on May I, 1917, do not participate in such election. District superintendents should forthwith serve a notice, in substantially the following form, upon all the members of the board of education of the union free school district within the town or town school unit, and on each trustee of each common school district in such town or town school unit : To Trustee of {or Member of Board of Education of Union Free School District) District No , Town of You are hereby notified, pursuant to the provisions of chapter 328 of the Laws of 191 7, known as the township law, that a meeting of the trustees and members of the board of education of the town of , (or of town school unit no, town of ) is hereby called and will be held at the school house in district no of said town, at ,011 the 12th day of June,, 144 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 1917, at o'clock in the noon, for the purpose of electing a board of education of said town (or of school town unit no of said town), consisting of members. Dated June , 1917 District Superintendent of Schools of the Supervisory District, County of Such notices may be served at least five days before the meeting either personally or by mail upon the members of the board of education or the trustees of the districts. 4 Number, terms of office and qualifications of members. Where the number of school districts in a town or in a town school unit is five or less, the board of education is to consist of three members. Where the number of school districts in a town or town school unit exceeds five, the board will consist of five members. If there are three members, one is to hold office until August 1, 1918, one until August 1, ioio, and one until August 1, 1920. If there are five members of the board, two are to hold office until August 1, 1918, two until August 1, 1919, and one until August 1, 1920. The term of office of each person elected should be designated at the time of the election. Not more than three members of a board of education shall reside in one school district. It is to be expected that the larger and more populous school districts will be given adequate representation on the board. The board in determining the representation should deal fairly with each district. Any person who resides in the town and is qualified to vote at a school district meeting is eligible to the office of member of a board of education,, except the supervisor of the town and the district superintendent of schools. Not more than one member of a family shall be a member of the same board of education. 5 Conduct of election. Upon convening at the time and place named in the notice, the trustees and members of the boards of education present must organize by the election of a chairman and a clerk. A quorum should be present at the time of the election of members of the board. A quorum consists of a majority of the trustees and members of the boards of education of the several districts in the town or in the town school unit. The members present may adjourn to a specified time and place for sufficient cause. The trustees and members present should^ vote by ballot for the candidates for members of the board of education. The ballot should designate the term of office for which each candidate is voted. The candi- dates for the offices of members of the board, the terms of which are to expire at the same time, may be voted for upon one ballot. The chairman and clerk of the meeting shall canvass the votes cast for members of the board of education, and the candidate receiving a majority of the votes cast shall be elected. The clerk of the meeting should keep a record of all the proceedings of the meeting and should keep a poll list containing the names of all per- sons who voted for candidates for the offices to be filled. He should include in the minutes a record of the votes cast for the respective candidates. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 145. The minutes of the meeting should be written out and certified to by the chairman and clerk of the meeting, and a copy thereof be delivered to the district superintendent. The district superintendent should thereupon give notice of the election to the persons elected as members of the board of education. The original minutes of the meeting should be filed with the clerk of the board of education of the town or town school unit, when such clerk is elected. 6 Districts in two or more towns. A district which is located partly in, two or more towns is deemed to be wholly within that town in which its principal schoolhouse is located. A person who resides in that portion of the district in another town is qualified to hold the office of member of the board of education of the town in which the principal schoolhouse is located. 7 Time of taking office. The members of a board of education of a town or of a town school unit elected as provided in the township law do not take office until August 1, 1917. Such board has no official duties or powers until that time. It is suggested, however, that the members as soon as they are elected confer or meet for the purpose of informally discussing the school affairs of the town. They may also properly confer with trustees and members of boards of education of existing districts, and with district superintendents, with a view to providing for urgent school repairs, supplies and accommodations. Respectfully yours Thos. E. Finegan Assistant Commissioner for Elementary Education The University of the State of New York The State Department of Education September 5, 1917 To Town School Boards: Questions relating to the interpretation of the township law having been raised in certain counties of the State, particularly in relation to the powers and duties of former trustees of school districts, the preparing of school budgets and the levying and collection of taxes, the Education Department wrote the Attorney General for an opinion upon these points. The Attorney General has written such opinion. For the information of town boards and others interested in these questions, the opinion of the Attorney General is given in full. Very truly yours Thos. E. Finegan Deputy Commissioner of Education STATE OF NEW YORK Office of the Attorney General, Albany School Taxes — Township Law — Westchester County Tax Act Chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917 known as the township school law adding article 11-a of the Education Law repeals chapter 105 of the Laws of 1916, known as the Westchester county tax act, in so far as it is incon- sistent therewith. I46 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The provisions with respect to the time of performance of acts required by sections 345 and 346 of the Education Law should be regarded as directory and not mandatory. Inquiry Should school taxes in the county of Westchester for the year 1917 be assessed, levied and collected under chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, chapter 105 of the Laws of 1916, or partly under one and partly under the other? Opinion Chapter 105 of the Laws of 1916 provided a scheme for taxation in the county of Westchester somewhat different from that in force under the tax law in the rest of the State. Chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917 pro- vided a scheme for the administration of all the schools in the State outside of the city of New York, and the raising and distribution of taxes for the purpose of maintaining them. The two acts are inconsistent with respect to the methods of assessing, levying, collecting, holding and dis- bursing school tax moneys and the question has been raised whether the act of 191 7 would create in Westchester county exception to the special scheme for taxation provided by the act of 1916, or whether Westchester county should continue to act under its local law and present in itself an exception to the general scheme provided for the whole State by the 191 7 amendment. Section 2 of the township school law provides that : "All acts, or parts of aots, general or special, inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed . . . ." But this provision is really only a declaration of the common lav; which it has become customary to include in new legislation and which is here valuable principally as a preamble to the saving clause which follows it, protecting existing rights under former statutes. It is a general rule that a local statute is not deemed repealed by a general act unless it is clearly the legislative intent to effect such repeal. But there is no rule of law which prohibits the repeal of a special act by a general one without the use of express words, and the question whether a repeal has been made is always one of legislative intent. If the statutes are so inconsistent that the prior special act cannot operate when the general act is given the fair construction required by its language, the former must be deemed abrogated. The inconsistency, in such a case, sufficiently indicates an intent to repeal the statute. Thus the intent to repeal a former special law may be shown when the legislature enacts a revising law designed to cover the whole subject and furnish the only rule on the subject. Pratt Institute vs. City of New York, 183 N. Y. 151 ; City of Buffalo vs. Lewis, 192 N. Y. 193. I am satisfied that the intent of the Legislature in passing the township school law was to institute a uniform system of school government through- out the State under the supervision of the Commissioner of Education. As part of this system of school government it includes a system of taxation. Should we say that the intent was to institute a system of government but to allow the taxation to be controlled by the local Westchester statute in that county, we would come to a situation where it would be impossible to determine which of the statutes should control as to certain details. In THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 147 resolving all such conflicts in favor of the township school law, I think we would carry out the true intent of the Legislature and that, therefore, in any proceedings for the assessment, levy or collection of school taxes in Westchester county we should look first to the township school law and only to the Westchester county tax law when the former is silent. In this way where the township school law provides for collection by tax collectors and we find that there are no tax collectors in Westchester county, we look to the Westchester tax law and find that the receivers of taxes in that county perform the same functions and are selected in the same way as the collectors of taxes in other counties — in fact they are the same with a different title — and it is clear that, after the completion of its tax list under section 246 of the Education Law, the town board of education should issue a warrant for the collection thereof, in Westchester county, to the receiver of taxes. It has been suggested that the township school law can not take effect this year because the provisions for school budgets contained in section 345 et seq fix specific days and times at which certain acts must be performed. Many of these days are necessarily before the first of August while the statute specifically provides that the new town boards of education only come into existence as such on the first day of August. Under section 354 the first board of education of each town should have been elected on the second Tuesday of June 1917, and should have convened on the first day of August for the purpose of organization and the transaction of business. Section 345 provides that on or before the first day of July in each year the board of education shall make up its budget which shall be published at length at least once in each week for the four weeks next preceding the first day of August and which shall be posted at least twenty days before the first day of August. How, it is asked, can a board of education first con- vened on August 1st under section 354 possibly comply with these require- ments of section 345? The answer is that the requirements in the statute as to time of prepara- tion, publication and posting of the budget are directory and not mandatory. They are not essential to the general scheme of taxation provided by the act but are inserted for the guidance of the local authorities as to when to perform their duties and for the purpose of securing more uniformity throughout the State in the time at which these acts are done. Few rules of statutory construction are better settled than the rule that: " a statute specifying a time within which a public officer is to perform an official act regarding the rights and duties of others, is directory unless the nature of the act to be performed or the phraseology of the statute is such that the designation of the time must be considered as a limitation of the power of the officer." (Lewis Sutherland, Statu- tory Construction, § 612) As McKinney puts it (1 Consol. Laws 59) " It is frequently the case that a statute directs a public officer to do an act at a certain time, though it is not of the essence of the act that it be done at that particular time. The direction is given for the pur- pose of securing system, uniformity, and dispatch in the conduct of I48 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK the public business, rather than for the purpose of making the rights of persons dependent on the doing of the act at the specified time. In such cases, the direction as to time is generally considered merely directory, and the rights of other persons are not injuriously affected by the failure of the officer to perform the duty at the time prescribed. Especially is this so when the acts are to be done for the benefit of the public, or where there are no negative words in the statute forbidding the acts to be done at any other time." 1 In Looney v. Hughes, 26 N. Y. 514, I find in the opinion of Selden, J. at pagei 518, this language: "The general rule on this subject is, as stated by Marcy, J. in The People v. Allen, (6 Wend. 486) that 'where a statute specifies a time within which a public officer is to perform an official act, regarding the rights and duties of others, it will be considered as directory merely, unless the nature of the act to be performed, or the language used by the legislature, show that the designation of the time was intended (sic) as a limitation of the power of the officer.' . . . The provision was intended, at least in part, for the benefit of the public, and it has been held with great uniformity, that the public interests are not to suffer by the laches of any public officer {United States v. Kirk Patrick, 9 Wheat. 720; Same v. Van Zandt, 11 id. 184; Same v. Nicholl, 12 id. 505 ; Dox v. P. M. General, 1 Pet. 325 ; People v. Russell, 4 Wend. 570)." In that case a statute required a county treasurer to issue a warrant against a delinquent town collector within twenty days. It was held that this provision was directory and that a warrant issued later was effective. In an action against the sureties of the collector who had defaulted, the defendants pointed out that had the warrant been issued within the twenty days prescribed by the statute, it probably would have been possible to collect from the principal, and that, therefore, the delinquency in issuing the warrant should excuse the sureties. But the court held against them on the basis that the twenty day provision was for the benefit of the public, forming no part of the contract of the sureties and the delinquency on the part of public officers should not be permitted to inure to the detriment of the public. In commenting upon the distinction between mandatory and directory language in statutes, Judge Leonard, in People v. Supervisors of Ulster, 34 N. Y. 268, says : ' The statute prescribes no penalty, and imposes no forfeiture in case of a noncompliance with these provisions. There is no declaration that the verdict shall be void in case of the failure to comply with any of the directions of the statute as to the form of the proceeding. These are some of the indicia by which the courts have established wise rules for determining the intention of the Legislature in the enact- ment of laws. Statutes are held to be directory or declaratory, accord- ing to the existence or the want of certain indications of legislative intent. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I49 These rules have been long in practice, and the legislative bodies must be presumed to have enacted statutes with reference to them, as it is in their power to use language so that the statute must be con- sidered mandatory, thereby excluding the power of the court to construe them as declaratory. These rules do not subvert, but carry into effect the intention of the law giver as it is to be gathered from the phrase- ology of the statute. A strict and literal adherence to the letter and form of a statute in minor and nonessential particulars will often defeat a remedy, or destroy a right which it was the principal intention of the legislature to create or provide. Where a statute directs an act to be done in a certain way, or at a certain time, and a strict compliance as to time or form does not appear to the judicial mind to be essential, the proceedings are held valid, though the command of the statute has been disregarded. The statute is then said to be directory." The case which has been cited in most of our leading cases in New York upon this subject is Pond v. Negus, 3 Mass. 230. This case is directly in point on the principal question since it deals with the assessment and collection of school taxes. A statute was under consideration which author- ized the voting, assessing and collecting of money for the building and repair of district schoolhouses. The statute provided that the tax assessors should assess the tax within thirty days after the vote of the meeting was certified to them. No negative words restraining the making of the assess- ment after the time specified were included in the statute, and the court held that on this account the naming of the time for the assessment was to be regarded as directory merely and not as a limitation of their authority. The Pond case is cited in Barnes v. Badger, 41 Barb. 98, where the general rule is stated as follows : " The general rule most certainly is, that where a statute directs a public officer to do a thing within a certain time, without any negative words restraining him from doing it afterwards, the naming of the time will be regarded as directory, and not as a limitation upon his authority. {Pond v. Negus, 3 Mass. 230; The People v. Allen, 6 Wend. 486; Merchant v. Langworthy, 6 Hill. 646; Ex parte Heath, 3 id. 43; 12 Wend. 481; 5 Conn. 268; 11 Wend. 604; The People v. Cook, 14 Barb. 290 to 292)." In People v. Cook, 14 Barb. 259 (affd. 8 N. Y. 67), at pages 290, et seq, there is a careful summary of a number of cases on this subject showing that the rule is uniform that where the time or manner of doing a thing is not of the essense it will be considered directory rather than mandatory. See also Matter of- Broadway Widening, 16 Barb. 572, 579. Wetheril v. Mosher, 9 Hun 412, 415. Thompson v. Harris, 88 Hun 478, 481. Metcalf v. New York City, 1 New York Sup. 873. Bradley v. Ward, 58 N. Y. 401. Gale v. Mead, 2 Denio 160. Thomas v. Clapp, 20 Barb. 165. People ex rel. Locke v. Rochester, 5, Lans. 11. -I50 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The rule appears to be similar in the other states : Williams v. School District, 21 Pick. 75 (Mass.). State v. Harris, 17 Ohio State 608. State v. Homer, 34 Md. 569. Anderson v. May field, 93 Ky. 230. Smith v. Sevain, 71 N. H. 277. State v. West D ninth Land Co., 75 Minn. 456. Under these authorities I think it clear that the provisions in sections 345, et seq, of the Education Law referring to the times at which acts should be done with respect to school budget, should be regarded as directory merely and not mandatory; and failure to perform any of these acts upon the day specified will not vitiate the act if performed afterwards. I think that the town boards of education may proceed now to appropriate, advertise and post their tax budgets for the year 1917 and to complete their tax lists and deliver their warrants to the town collectors of taxes (in Westchester county the receivers of taxes). The continuation of the school districts by section 330 is only for the purpose of determining their territorial extent and controlling the location of schools. The purpose of this section was to give to the qualified electors of existing districts the determination of the question as to the maintenance of schools in such districts. The districts have no existence for any administrative purpose, except that the trustees, boards of education and other officers of each school district are continued by subdivision 2 of paragraph 352. " for the purpose of closing up the business and financial affairs of such district and of satisfying its obligations, except bonded indebted- ness; adjusting its claims, collecting funds due it and paying its just debts." Subdivision 1 of section 252 shows clearly that they go out of business for other purposes on July 1, 191 7. I do not see how the language of section 352, coupled with the language of section 330, can be construed to mean that the school districts shall continue to be administered under the old law for the fiscal year 1917-1918 and until August 1, 1918. It seems to me perfectly clear that that is not the intent of the statute, but on the other hand that the statute shows the specific purpose of the legislature to have the change take effect this year. Section 4 of the act (chapter 329 of the Laws of 1917) provides that it shall take effect immediately. It was signed by the Governor on May 2, 191 7.. Section 354 provides that the first board of education shall be elected in June 1917 and shall convene in August 191 7 for the purpose of organization and the transaction of any other business. Section 352 provides that the school officers of the school districts, in office at the time of the taking effect of the act, should continue only until July 31, 1917, when their terms would cease and their offices be abolished. The provisions with respect to the advertising of the budget prior to August 1st, as I have shown, are merely directory, and it seems to THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 151 me clear beyond question that the legislature intended the statute to go into effect in its entirety this year. Dated: August 28, 1917. Merton E. Lewis Attorney General To: Frank B. Gilbert, Esq., Counsel, The University of the State of New York, Albany, New York. The University of the State of New York The State Department of Education Albany October 20, 1917 To District Superintendents and Town Boards of Education: The correspondence which we are receiving indicates that there is not a clear understanding as to the provisions of the law in relation to the right of children to attend schools maintained in the town in which they reside, their right to attend schools maintained outside of such town, and the payment of tuition therefor. In order to place before all superintend- ents and boards of education the proper interpretation of the law in rela- tion to these matters, your attention is called to the following: 1 The word " town " as used in the law and in this letter means a town school unit. In a tozvn in which there are two or more town school units, the rulings herein stated must be applied to each unit as though such unit were a separate town. 2 No tuition may be charged a pupil for attendance upon a school in the town in which such pupil resides or for attendance upon any class maintained in a school in such town. 3 a The law provides that the schools maintained in a town shall be free to the children of school age residing in such town. This provision of the law must, of course, be construed in connection with other provisions of the law. This particular provision does not confer upon parents the right to determine which school in a township their children shall attend. The law specifically retains each school district as such district existed at the time the township law became operative. The purpose of this provision of law was to define in a general way the centers where, and the territory within which, a school should be maintained. A town board is given the power to determine what schools shall be maintained in a town and it may maintain a school in each of the districts in a town. The children may, of course, as a matter of right, attend the school maintained in the district in which they reside. b If a town board maintains a course of study in a particular school under its supervision which is not maintained in the other schools of such town, the children residing in any district in that town are entitled to attend the school in which such special course of study is maintained, for the purpose of receiving instruction in that particular course of study, provided they meet the requirements for admission thereto. 152 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK c For instance, if a town board maintains an academic department in •one of its schools, such department must be open to all the children resid- ing in the town who meet the conditions prescribed for admission to such department; or, if a town board maintains an agricultural or homemaking course in a particular school, such course must be open to all the children of the town who meet the requirements prescribed for admission thereto. d If the children residing in one district may more conveniently attend school in another district in the town, it is within the discretion of the town board to permit such children to attend that school. e If a school in one district is overcrowded and the school in an adjoining district is not overcrowded, and the board of education may, without inconvenience or hardship, transfer some of the children from one district to the other so as to relieve the overcrowded condition in that school, the board may take that action. 4 In a pamphlet issued by this Department under date of July 2, 1917, we outlined the provisions regulating the transfer of pupils, as follows : The attention of town boards is called to the provisions of section 342 of the Township Law which relates to the transfer of pupils from the schools of one town to the schools of an adjoining town, or union free school district, or city. There are many cases where children living in a certain •s ection of a school district might more conveniently attend school in an adjoining town, or union free school district, or city. In such cases the town board of education may arrange to have such ■children attend such adjoining school. The school system is regarded as a State system and the State is required to provide for the education of all its children. The State makes an annual con- tribution to every community toward the maintenance of schools. If the town of A affords school privileges which are more convenient for the children living in certain sections of the town of B the "board of education of the town of A must accept such children from the town of B, provided the «ducation of such children does not necessitate the employment of additional teachers or the pro- viding of other school accommodations on the part of the town to which such pupils are assigned. In such case the board of education of the town of B may transfer the children in question to a school or schools in the town of A, or of a union free school district not under the township law, or even to a school in an adjoining city. The board of education of the town of B should immediately forward to the board of education of the town of A, or to the union free school district, or to the ■city to which such children have been transferred, notice of the action which it has taken. To prevent one town from imposing upon another town, the law requires the approval of the Com- missioner of Education where pupils are thus transferred. The board of education of the town of A must, when a transfer is properly made and approved, make provision for the education of the pupils thus transferred. It is assttmed that the two boards of education will talk such proposition over in advance and c ome to an agreement upon the compensation to be paid for the education of such children. If such agreement is not reached, the board of education receiving such children should forward to the board of education in the town where such children reside a verified statement of the cost of the instruction of such pupils. The town wherein such children reside must pay the expense of their instruction. The board of education is authorized to make the necessary payment for such instruction out of the school funds of the town. 5 The question as to what items may be included in the cost of instruc- tion is frequently raised. Section 342 of the Education Law, as amended by chapter 328 of the Laws of 191 7, contains the provision that the board of education of a town, union free school district or city shall not be required to receive pupils from a district in an adjoining town, if by receiving such pupils it is necessary to provide "' additional teachers or other school accommodations " without the consent of the board of education, •etc. Where reference is made to the compensation paid to a union free school district, town or city for receiving such pupils, it is to be based on 41 cost of the instruction of such pupils." It is clearly the meaning of this law that no hardship shall be imposed upon a union free school district, town or city in receiving pupils under this provision of law. Schools, wherever maintained, are state schools and the state contributes to their general support and maintenance. It was the theory of the Legislature that a district should receive pupils living outside its boundaries, when by so doing these pupils would be relieved of the inconvenience or hardship THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 53, caused by being required to attend school elsewhere. At the same time, it is clearly the meaning of the statute that a district receiving such pupils shall be reimbursed for the actual cost of instruction. What, then, does "cost of instruction" mean as used in this law? In the plan of school accounting, prepared by the Education Department for the use of boards of education throughout the State, is a general outline of what may be included for " instructional service " under expenditures made for the operation of public schools. In determining the " cost of instruction " for this special purpose boards of education may include the items, specified' in such general outline, which are as follows : Form s — Instructional Service 3-1 Supervisors' salaries. Where a supervisor gives a portion of his time to teaching, distribute the s ilary between 3-1 and 3-9 in proportion to the time devoted to supervision and teaching respectively. 3-2 Other expenses of supervisors of grades and subjects. Traveling and other expenses allowed in attending conventions, institutes, etc., street car fares, report blanks, stationery used by supervisors. 3-3 Principals' salaries. If principals teach, divide the salary between 3-3 and 3-9 proportion- ately to the relative time devoted to supervision and teaching as above. 3-4 Salary of principal's clerk. Supply teachers acting in that capacity in principal's office. If any of these persons teach, divide the salary as above between 3-4 and 3-9. 3-5 Principals' office supplies. Stationery, blank forms, report cards, class books, attendance- registers, permanent record cards, etc. 3-6 Other expenses of principals' offices. Traveling and other expenses allowed in attending: conventions, institutes etc., car fare. 3-7 Blank column reserved for futher classification if desired. 3-8 Other expense of supervision. Teachers' traveling and other expenses allowed in attending conventions, institutes etc., cost of institute speakers, and other institute cost. Common- sense must be used to decide just where supervision leaves off and teaching begins. In general this matter can be settled by answering the question, " Does the item paid for actually teach, the children or does it make better teachers?" 3-9 Teachers' salaries. Exclude proportionate part of salary for time spent as supervisor, principal, principal's clerk or superintendent's assistant. This includes teachers of all grades and subjects. 3-10 Textbooks if furnished to pupils. If textbooks are furnished only to indigent pupils, charge in column 9-13. Include supplementary reading books. 3-1 1 Other supplies used in instruction. This includes paper, chalk, ink, pencils, other school- room supplies, laboratory supplies and materials, supplies used in teaching cooking, sewing,, drawing, manual training, art, music, kindergarten and physical training, etc. It should be noted that a supply is something, the use of which involves its consumption, breakage or probable loss, while a piece of equipment is an article which is used year after year. Care should be taken to exclude from supplies used in instruction any article made of durable material which is supposed to last year after year with reasonable use. No permanent, laboratory apparatus or equipment is to be included in this column. Supplies for recreation, athletics, school gardens, school lunches and all other auxiliary activities enter on form 9 and' not in this column. 3-12 Commencement exercises and exhibits. Expense of music, palms, printing programs,, renting chairs, moving piano etc., for commencement exercises or school entertainments. 3-13 Blank, reserved for further subdivision of instructional service if desired. The total cost of instruction thus ascertained is to be divided by the number of pupils registered as attending school. 6 A pupil residing in a school district in which an academic department is not maintained, and who is qualified to attend an academic department,, may attend school in a district in the town in which an academic depart- ment is maintained. The State will apportion to the district receiving such pupil $20 tuition as in former years. The fund received, from this source will be paid into the treasury of the town and used for the support of the schools in the town. 7 A pupil may attend school in a district which maintains an academic department but which is outside the town in which such pupil resides,, provided an academic department is not maintained in the district in which such pupil resides, and the State will apportion to the district which such 154 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK pupil attends $20 tuition as in former years. The fund received from this source will be paid into the treasury of the district, town or city and used for the support of the schools therein. 8 When a pupil attends an academic department in the town in which such pupil resides, the board of education may not charge such pupil addi- tional tuition. The academic course or high school must be free to all children residing in the town in which such school is located. 9 If no academic department is maintained in any of the schools subject to the jurisdiction of the town board of education it becomes the duty of such board to provide academic instruction for pupils who have completed the work of the eighth grade either by contract with, or transfer to, the schools of another township, union free school district or city where such instruction is given, and provision should be made by the board for the tuition of such pupils. The difference between the tuition charged and the amount apportioned by the State is to be paid by the board of education of the town in which the pupils reside. 10 If a pupil resides in a town which maintains an academic department in one of its districts but is so located that such pupils could more con- veniently attend an academic department in another town, the town board of education of the town in which such pupil resides may provide for the payment of the tuition of such pupil in the town where such pupil attends school. A town board of education of a town which maintains an academic department is not ordinarily required to pay the tuition of pupils who attends an academic department in another town. If the town board provides adequate facilities in its own town for all academic pupils, such pupils must generally attend the school in which such academic department is maintained or pay the tuition charged them by the town where they da attend. 11 If an academic department is not maintained in any district in a town, the town board of education may establish such department in one of the schools in the town which is properly equipped to give such work. No vote of the town is required upon such question, in order to give the board power to establish such department. The requirements of the Board of Regents for the establishment of an academic department must, of course, be satisfied before such department may be established. Application for the organization of such department must be submitted in required form to the Board of Regents and receive affirmative action. Very respectfully yours Thos. E. Finegan Deputy Commissioner of Education To understand fully the attitude of the public in regard to the township bill during the period in which it was discussed in the Legislature and the period following its enactment is best under- stood by a careful survey of the following newspaper clippings which include the editorials, comments and letters from various citizens in regard to this matter. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 155 Anonymous Circulars Distributed about the State, March 1915 Information was obtained by the author of this report showing that these circulars were prepared before the bill was introduced in the Legislature and were ready to be mailed from three points in the State as soon as the bill was introduced. SEE ASSEMBLY BILL 1503 (Introduced March 17th, 1915) It provides for Township School Boards and the maintenance of schools by towns, except in Union Free School Districts with a population of 5,ooo, or more. There must be united and immediate demand upon the members of the Legislature that they LEAVE THE SCHOOLS ALONE! Write the Assemblymen and Senator from your District. Assembly Bill 1731 introduced March 17, 1915, takes them away from you. It revolutionizes the entire school system from the bottom up. I It provides for Township School Boards of seven members, and the maintenance and complete control of schools by them. II It destroys neighborhood spirit, and personal interest in schools. Cen- tralizing and undemocratic. III It introduces politics in schools — political boards instead of nonpartisan trustees. Political and commercial influences in teachers appointments and letting of large contracts. IV It means greatly increased expense. New, large, central, modern build- ings and equipment. Increased valuations and higher taxes. V Farm values lowered because of distance from central school when neighborhood school is abolished. Get a copy of the bill and study it. In the meantime, you can do two useful things at once: I Write or telegraph your Assemblyman and Senator at Albany, and particularly II Write or telegraph at Albany — Hon. Morell E. Tallett, Chairman Assembly Education Committee, asking (a) Why such haste? (b) Why not give the people time to think and make their thoughts known? (c) Why not leave the schools alone to work out their own salvation? DO IT NOW THE GRANGE DON'T WANT THE BILL The State Grange endorsed the Township Plan (control of schools by town school boards) on February 5, 1915, before the bill establishing town school boards was even drafted. Do the members of the Grange know the provisions of the bill, No. 1731, introduced on March 17? I $6 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Have they figured what taxes they will pay under the bill as introduced? Or have they taken the figures of others presented before the bill was drafted? Have they reckoned the cash value of a farm — how much less it will bring — when the nearby school is done away with? When the nearest school is several miles away? Experts say values will fall thirty to forty per cent. THE BILL WANTS THE GRANGE! BUT WHAT WILL THE GRANGE GET? It is not too late to correct a mistake or misunderstanding. Your Assemblymen and Senators at Albany will be glad to hear from you now. Write them not to act until you know what the bill is, until you figure out what it will cost you. And write at once or telegraph the Honorable Morell E. Tallett, Chairman of the Assembly Committee on Education, and the Honorable Charles C. Lockwood, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Education, both at Albany. THERE IS NO TIME TO SPARE Report of the Committee of the Academic Principals Associa- tions To the Principals of the State of New York: Your committee, appointed to cooperate with the Education Department in the consideration of a township bill, does resolve as follows : First, That the plan in our judgment is along the line of the proper development of the school systems of the State of New York. Second, That it is our opinion that the schools in general will be greatly benefited by the passage of the township bill. Third, That in our judgment a plan of this sort is imperative for the welfare of the children and the people of the State of New York and the development of its resources, especially those of agriculture. Therefore, Let it be resolved that the committee does approve of the enact- ment of this bill. [Signed] Geo. F. Barford W. J. Multer F. G. Lyon F. W. Van Zile William F. H. Breeze Chairman Grand Island, N. Y., April pth, 1915 Hon. M. E. Tallett Assembly Chamber Albany, N. Y. Dear Sir: I am greatly interested in the bill introduced by you, which is intended to replace the present system of school districts by a township system. I fee! THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 157 fully in sympathy with the purpose of the bill because I know of the benefit of such a system by actual experience. A number of years ago the town of Grand Island, Erie county, New York, had eleven school districts, each under the usual separate organization. The people were dissatisfied with this system and procured a special law to be passed organizing these districts into a township system with one board of education consisting of five members. From that time all matters pertaining to the several schools have been directed by said board. The taxes are uniform thruout the town and are all paid to the town collector and spread on the town tax roll. This system has been in operation for about 30 years and has proved entirely satisfactory to the people of the town. As far as I know there has never been any suggestion on the part of any resident that we return to the old district plan. Yours respectfully, Adam Kaiser Supervisor of the Town of Grand Island Resolutions by Dansville Grange Copy of a circular letter by the Dansville Grange, No. 178, April 8, 1916 and a discussion of the resolution by J. Murray Foster, supervising principal, Dansville High School, Dansville, N. Y. To the Grangers of the State of New York, greeting: Dansville grange, No. 178, presents herewith her resolutions, and earnestly .asks you to help get pledges from the members of the Legislature to sup- port a bill that will give the people a right to vote upon such important questions as are referred to in the resolutions. Kindly do your best to get favorable replies, and mail to us. As soon as a majority is reached the bill will be introduced. Let us see what the granges can do for what is right. Personal letters also suggested. Kindly acknowledge receipt of these resolutions (with suggestions) by postal card. Dansville Grange No. 178 proposes to place a copy of these resolutions with every grange in the State, requesting its consideration and adoption. The " one man school law " is an insult to the intelligence of the people of the country, it enforces confiscation and taxation without representation. See resolution of H. Fay Hethaway, chairman committee on common schools, state grange report for 1916, adopted (p. 137), then ask yourself how we can do it, when a law is enforcing the opposite all over the State. Also if your grange is in sympathy with this movement and care to send a small remittance (postage stamps will do) to help finance the campaign it will be thankfully received. Should it become necessary for this committee to attend a hearing at Albany on this issue, they propose to get there if they have to go on foot. There was such a mixup of amendments and laws presented at Jamestown on this question that their only way out was to wait a year and think about it. A publicity campaign has been going on in " Live Issue of the Day " for the repeal of the " one man law," the last four months in metropolitan papers, and not a single word was received in its defense, only one side to it. 158 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Address all communications to Dansville Grange Executive Committee, G. C. Stone, Chairman, Dansville, N. Y. The remittances may be made payable to L. C. Gottshall, Treasurer, Dansville Grange. Dated April 8, 1916. Preamble and Resolutions Whereas, For example : In 1914, district no. 4 of Dansville, N. Y., pos- sessed a nearby school with modern equipment, 16 pupils, no debt, a gradu- ated teacher, forty weeks, taxes $350; in 1915, the district was forcibly consolidated with district no. 1, a school two miles from the grange hall, school building, school grounds and equipment representing an outlay of $5000, no longer the property of the district, bonds covering the district for $30,000, a debt the people of the district had no voice in making, taxes raised to $1750. The inhabitants of the district (small farmers among the bills) who pay the tax had no voice or vote or notice of the transaction; and Whereas, The school laws of the State of New York allow a school superintendent to dissolve a district or consolidate the same with remote districts, thus depriving the country of its nearby schools without notice, voice or vote of the people of the district affected, thus decreasing the value of their farms, on account of long distances to a school, incurring a great increase of taxation and inconvenience of parents getting their little children so far away to school, therefore, Resolved, That while we are in favor of good schools, school improve- ments and competent teachers, we will not submit to being ignored and humiliated by the enforcement of the "one man school law" that does not recognize any right of participation on our part without protest. Resolved, That this grange do hereby petition and demand a law that will restore to school districts of the State their constitutional right to vote upon the question of dissolution or consolidation of their schools, and the result of such vote shall decide whether it shall be done or shall not be done, and extend this privilege to districts that have been consolidated by force. Resolved, That this grange forward a copy of these resolutions to its representatives in the Legislature, inclosing a stamp and requesting a reply. Resolved, That we will use our best efforts to get the right to vote, then unite with the Department of Education in making the rural schools the best in the world, and save the convenient and nearby little red schoolhouses in the country, and paint them white. Granges are requested to adopt these resolutions and send them forward as soon as possible. Adopted by Grange No 1916 Master Sec'y Discussion of Resolutions by Mr Foster I knew that the grange appointed a committee two years ago to fight consolidation. The first move was to secure Senator Newton to do the fighting and all were very enthusiastic over the proposed fight until they learned the Senator's rate of fees. This acted as a very wet blanket on their ardor and a new attack was planned. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 59 For awhile it look the form of letters in the Rochester newspapers. Then I learned they were going to write every grange in the State. That was a year ago. This committee did not send these letters out with an idea of fighting the township bill, but rather to get the consolidation law repealed. I know that the chairman is in favor of the township bill — at least he says he is and I believe he is an honest man. In the preamble, line 2, the statement " modern equipment " is made. Mr Collister told me one reason why he was very glad to consolidate that school was the fact that he could not get the district to make the changes and add the equipment necessary for a good school. In line 3 a "graduated teacher" is mentioned. Yes, she was graduated from our school with no professional training. She was a slip of a girl who prepared for college and by virtue of the fact that she had earned an academic diploma she taught. She had no more of an idea of how to teach children to read than the memory of how she was taught would give her. In line 5 the distance of our school is given as two miles from the grange hall. This is a misleading fact. The district schoolhouse is but a mile from our schoolhouse. The committee might have given the distance of their school from a so-called hotel of very unsavory reputation which is but a few rods, but they didn't. In line 7, the debt of our district is exaggerated. It is now approximately $24,000. In line 10 the statement " no notice of the transaction " is not entirely true. Mr Collister notified the trustee of this district that he intended to consolidate and asked him to notify the inhabitants. If there should be any objections he would hold hearings. .He heard nothing from the trustee and consolidated the district. It seems that the trustee said nothing to his people, and when they heard of it there was a wail to heaven. He then held hearings after the deed was done. This fact is what stirred up the farmers. In line 15 the allegation that farm values have been decreased has been met by Mr Oberdorf's letter which I sent you about a week ago. He represents the largest holdings in the district. In line 17 it is stated that the present system inconveniences parents. This point has been covered before but I shall do so again. The children have no farther to walk than they had when the district school was open. Now they have to walk to the old district schoolhouse which is opened and warmed for them by one of the mothers. Here the children wait for a closed auto 'bus which meets them there at 8.35. The journey to our school is covered in five minutes. At night the same 'bus returns them to the school house from whence they came. From there they walk home or are met by the parents as the case may be. In line 19 it is alleged that the district is in favor of good schools. Mr Collister's experience led him to believe the contrary. It is certain that the district would never have given their children the advantages they now enjoy. They could not because the cost would have been prohibitive. I have been in Dansville six years and I can not remember a single child from that district that earned a preliminary certificate. I do know that about 85 per cent of those trying Regents examinations from that school failed. This is a good indicative of how good a school they kept. l6o THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Educational Legislation 1917 The editor of the School Bulletin sat in one of the boxes near the ■speakers' stand in Madison Square Garden on July 3 last at the opening ■session of the National Education Association, and listened to the address •of welcome delivered to that body by Governor Whitman of this State. It had been a long time since he had heard a man in public life, not specifically identified with public education, give a stronger, more effective or more .sympathetic address upon public education than that delivered by Governor Whitman. During the two years that Governor Whitman has served as the chief -executive of the Empire State he has given ample proof of his interest in and devotion to the public school system. It is not too much to say that ■no man who has ever preceded him in the executive chair of this State has done more, or as much even, for public education as Governor Whitman has done during the two years he has served as Governor of the State. It may even be truthfully said that no governor of an American state has approved so many important educational measures having as far-reaching effect upon the future development, organization, and administration of the public schools of a great state as Governor Whitman has approved. The physical training law which was advocated by Governor Whitman and passed by the Legislature of 1916 was sufficient in itself to preserve the reputation of a governor, because of the influence which such measure will have upon the future generations of the State, even if no other great ■measure had been enacted during his term. The far-reaching effects of this measure are only just beginning to be felt, but under the wise adminis- tration of the law by the State Education Department the results which will be accomplished within the next five or six years will be almost unbelievable. There are so many large educational measures to the credit of Governor Whitman's administration for the year 1917 that it is impossible to treat each of them fully in an article of this kind. Any one of the great reforms which will be inaugurated in the school system through the adop- tion of these important measures would give character and standing to any governor's administration, and yet Governor Whitman has seventeen important measures to his credit in the important educational laws which he has signed this year. The School Bulletin takes pleasure in carrying in this issue pictures of the governor and members of the Legislature who took conspicuous part in the enactment of educational legislation. It believes that the educational workers of the State should know who these men are and what they have done for improving educational facilities in the State. It is difficult to single out the men who are entitled to special commenda- tion for the service which they have rendered in the enactment of these laws. There are some men, however, who should receive special com- mendation in this article and chief among these is Senator Elon R. Brown of Watertown. Senator Brown has long been a commanding figure in the Senate and he has been one of the men upon whom the educators of the State could rely for support in any important proposition involving their interest. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM l6l It would have been impossible to pass the township bill in the Senate of the Legislature of 1917 if it had not been for the support given it by Senator Brown, and for the influence which he exerts in that body. Sena- tor Brown has for many years been interested in the township bill and came to the Legislature of 1917 determined to make a fight in its behalf. No man knows rural conditions in this State or rural schools better than Sena- tor Brown. He knew there was strong opposition to this measure, but he is not a man who abandons a proposition because there is opposition to it. Nearly twenty years ago he was one of the leaders in the Legislature to support the movement for good roads although he knew at the time that the farmers generally were opposed to the plan. He was invited to address the State Grange upon the township bill last winter. He accepted the invitation and Dr Bugbee, principal of the Oneonta Normal School, who heard the address, is authority for the statement that he never listened to a sounder, more forceful or eloquent address in behalf of the rural schools of the State than the one delivered by Senator Brown before the State Grange at Oneonta in February last. It is generally conceded that the address which he delivered before this body modified to a great extent the opposition which the State Grange had manifested toward the township bill. The body believed that there would be legislation along the lines of the township and believed it was wise to compromise and agree upon a measure they could support. The Grange therefore recommended the enactment of a township law but suggested certain amendments to the bill which had been proposed in previous years. These amendments were nearly all incorporated into the law and the State Grange then gave the measure support before the Legislature. Through the generalship and influence of Senator Brown but six votes were recorded in the Senate in opposition to the township bill. He also gave cordial support to the city school bill and every other educational measure which passed the Legislature. Opposi- tion on his part to the city school bill would have defeated that important measure. Senator Halliday of Ithaca was made the chairman of a special com- mittee of the Senate to consider legislation in relation to the rural schools. He introduced the township bill and did much work in perfecting the measure. He brought much strength to the support of the bill. His support and the explanations which he gave of the results to be accomplished by the bill reduced the opposition in many of the agricultural sections of the State. Speaker Sweet, Majority Leader Adler, Assemblyman Machold of Jeffer- son county, who introduced the township bill in the Assembly, and Minority Leader Callahan were sponsors for the township bill in the Assembly. The bill had a harder road to travel in the Assembly than it had in the Senate. The opposition was thoroughly organized in the Assembly and under skilful leadership. The influence, however, which Speaker Sweet has long wielded in the lower house of the Legislature, was exerted in behalf of this measure. It is quite probable that any one of these four men in the Legislature could have defeated the bill had he been opposed to it. Mr Machold of Jefferson county is personally popular in the Assembly. He knew rural school conditions and had mastered the provisions of the township bill. He was quick and ready in debate and prepared to meet all arguments which the opponents of the measure advanced. He represented 6 1 62 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK a rural county which was in sympathy with the bill. The local granges of his county supported it. The educational workers in the State know of the interest which Senator Lockwood has manifested in educational legislation as he was chairman of the committee of public education during his pre- ceding term in the Senate, and all measures which have passed the Senate relating to public education in the last three years have had his unqualified support. The chairmanship of the committee on public education is one of the dignified and important chairmanships of the Senate committees. Sena- tor Lockwood has work ahead of him for next year in protecting the important educational measures which have been exacted this year from interference by interests which are hostile to them. The legislative program of the Education Department on public education which has been carried to such a successful conclusion means a practical reorganization of the entire State. The successful carrying out of this program is beyond the expectations even of those who hoped some day to see these great reforms enacted into law. The following is a brief description of each of these measures : I The full text of the township law has already been given in the last issue of the School Bulletin, and its provisions have been commented upon from time to time. The editor has observed that local newspapers through- out the State which opposed the township bill before its enactment are now since the bill has become a law and its provisions are being understood pointing the strong features of the bill and the things which are to be accomplished for rural education under the new plan, and are generally giving the measure cordial support. Neither the men in the Legislature who espoused the cause of this measure nor the Governor who has signed the bill will ever regret the part which they have taken in the enactment of a law which will revolutionize the organization of the rural schools of the State and place them upon a more practical and efficient basis, thus enabling them to meet more fully the needs of present rural life conditions in this country. The School Bulletin extends its hearty congratulations to the Governor and to the members in both branches of the Legislature who had the courage to stand for this great educational reform. — The School Bulletin, June, iqij Our Hope for the Public School " Having chosen democracy as our form of political organization, the public school must be our hope." This sentence is taken from an article entitled " What Remains of Child Labor " in the last issue of the New Republic. We quote it because we believe it is true. Democracy means government by the people, direct or representative. The United States has chosen this form of organization, but democracy with us is yet an ideal not an accomplished fact. The people will not govern until they are able to, they will not be able until the education of our citizens averages higher than the sixth grade of the grammar school. The form of the government of New York State is capable of expressing the will of the people, that it seldom does so, or when it does the fact that the will is often a weak one is because the 460,020 illiterates, and a large portion of the remainder of our population has not been educated beyond the sixth grade. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 163 The public school is our hope, but we will be disappointed by our hope unless the whole citizen body takes real and intimate interest in the school. Placing hope in the public school as it is now is leaning upon a broken reed. Neither the character of the education given nor the efficiency with which it is taught is likely to develop the self-reliant and intelligent citizen body required to govern a great nation. Let us examine briefly the public school as it is represented in Rhine- beck. It is compelled to teach a curriculum outlined by the State University, but few of the children of Rhinebeck ever reach that end, and there is little in the grammar and high school course to prepare them for life in a country community. The whole tendency is to educate them away from Rhinebeck towards the university. If they can reach it well and good, if not their arrested educational development leads them towards the city. There is nothing to inspire or train them to make a happy and profitable life out of their native environment. This is the fault of the State. There would be something to commend if what we do were well done. What is outlined by the State University is good education of its kind, not the best for the community, but still good if well done. Our village school might be an excellent one of its kind if the community gave enlight- ened and energetic support to the principal, but we seem to regard our duty performed when we appoint a master, it seldom occurs to us to hold up his hands, we do not always give him the tools to work with. Not even this can be said for our country schools. Usually a recent graduate from a high school with little or no training as a teacher is sent to take charge of a school and teach eight grades with no assistance. The best trained teacher in the world cannot teach single handed more than two grades, an untrained or partially trained teacher can hardly even attempt it. What must we do? We cannot afford to have a full corps of teachers in every district school, but why not have one good school, say in the village and bring the pupils to it. Let each district purchase one or two Ford busses and gather the children each morning, bring them to the school in the village and take them home in the afternoon. Sleighs might be used in winter. We believe this could be done without increasing the present budget. In this way it would be possible to center attention on one school and make it effective. Think it over! This plan works well in the West. — Rhinebeck Gazette, November 18, IQ16. A Bill That Should Be Passed for the Good of the Schools The New York Assembly has before it now a measure which should by all means be enacted into a law for the sake of the rural schools of the State. Hardly anything else could be devised that would so greatly help the country schools, especially those in thinly settled and relatively poor districts, as what is known as " the township school bill." The most important feature of the new measure is that it makes the town, instead of the district, the unit, and places the control of the schools for the town in the hands of a board of directors, instead of having a trustee for each particular school. It is not a consolidation law, as some 164 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK of its opponents have been trying to make the public believe, though con- solidation would be possible where deemed advisable. The board of directors would consist of seven members, each elected for three years, so arranged that their terms would expire at different times. It wotnd exercise for all the schools practically the same powers as are now conferred upon trustees and boards of education. A moment's consideration will show that there are many advantages to be derived from the proposed plan. As an example, when a district was relatively small, with a low valuation of property, it would not be necessary to boost the taxes to the point of practical confiscation in order to keep the school running. The expense of that school, with a new building or whatever else it needed, would be shared by the more thickly settled and more prosperous districts of the town. The result would be that the children of the poorer, sparsely settled districts would have practically the same educational advantages as those more fortunately situated, as they ought to have. Another advantage would be uniformity of textbooks, and, very likely, fewer changes in the textbooks. So far as we have been able to investigate it, there appears to us but one defect in the proposed measure. We are not aware that any provision has been made for separate control of schools of an incorporated village in the various townships. In some cases it might work well to have the schools inside of an incorporated village under the control of the board elected at large in the township of which the village was a part, but in many cases we fear it would not. Pennsylvania, after whose system the new law is closely modeled, found it did not work, and so her schools in an incorporated place have a different board from that of the township in which the cor- poration is situated, though they are permitted to cooperate in whatever way they please. Practically the only opposition to the present bill seems to come from the textbook companies, and it is not open and above-board. Circulars mis- representing the measure have been scattered broadcast over the State, but whoever sent them out was either afraid or ashamed to sign them, for they bear no signature. It is pretty certain, however, that they were sent out by the textbook companies. Many of them were addressed to grangers and some subordinate granges, relying on the representations in the circulars, have taken action against the bill. The State Grange, however, participated in the framing of the bill through its legislative committee, and is sup- porting it. It is quite likely that there are some flaws in the measure, but very few perfect laws were ever enacted. It is at least a long step in the right direction. — Cuba Patriot and Free Press, April 16, 1915 Rural Schools and Proposed Machold Bill (By Susie C. Minard) We have been asked as a grange to consider at one meeting the proposed Machold bill on the township system of taxation and administration of our rural schools. This question should be discussed freely from the teachers', parents and THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 165 taxpayers' point of view. I would like to say something from the parents' viewpoint : We have always watched closely the man who worked for us; we have carefully supervised the maid in our kitchen, but we have ignored our schools and the teacher who guided the little feet that are to walk forever down the centuries. We are living in an age of progress and while no one who is vitally interested wishes to stand in the way of true progress, yet, as we look over the past and see what a tremendous influence our present school system has had on the development and growth of our nation, we can not help thinking that our old-fashioned methods are not so bad despite all the mistakes that have been made. The Board of Education of New York State is determined to have a change in our school system and a change it will have of some kind. It may be better and it may be worse, but through the educational committee of the State Grange, they have given us, as granges, an opportunity to tell something of what we want. Without doubt there is need of some change in our school system. In this section we have good schools; we have many first-class teachers, but there are many sections where the schools are very poor and inefficient. It is better to go slowly and not sanction, without serious thought, something that may mean very radical changes. The township system as laid out in the Machold bill is a long step in the direction of consolidation of schools. In a speech made by Thomas E. Finegan, Assistant Commissioner of Education, before the New York State Agricultural Society, he said: " While the township system and consolidation of rural schools are closely related, they are somewhat different. Consolidation may take place without the township system, but the adoption of the township system would do more toward the facilitation of the consolidation of rural schools than any other action which could be taken." I am not in favor of consolidation of schools in this State. Our weather conditions and roads make the transportation problem too great and I firmly believe there should be a school within walking distance of every child in New York State. With the awakened interest in education that has come in the last fifteen years our present district school system could be made as efficient as a centralized school. Of course we must pay the price, but why cry economy for our rural schools, when our Nation could spend hundreds of millions of dollars in digging a big ditch, that is a monument of folly or again, our own State spends millions of dollars for a canal that will benefit our State but little, a piece of missionary work for the west or the thousands of dollars spent annually on our State roads much of which is wasted in graft, in unnecessary and poor work? Why must we, in face of all this extravagance, economize in our educa- tional facilities? We should have more State aid for our schools, and the farmers need not cry about high school taxes when they can trade off an automobile every year for the latest model. — Auburn News, December 7, 1916 l66 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Measure Aims at Better Facilities for Instruction in Rural Districts Albany, Feb. 22. — Bills to promote the better education of children of residents of rural districts were introduced in the Legislature today by Senator Morris S. Halliday of Ithaca and Assemblyman S. Edmund Mac- hold of Ellisburg The measures would permit the consolidation of small, isolated districts where the expense of educational facilities are a burden upon taxpayers, into larger township districts, and the construction of larger and better schools with advantages offered for higher education not possible in the present district schools. The measures have the support of the State Department of Education, the State Grange and Majority Leader Elon R. Brown of the Senate.— Elmira Star-Gazette, February 22, igij Want Nassau Exempted from Township Bill It was the unanimous opinion of the members of the various boards of education, school trustees, superintendents and principals, of Nassau county, who were in Hempstead Saturday afternoon at a meeting in the Hempstead High School building that Nassau county should be eliminated from the provisions of the so-called township bill, and a resolution unanimously carried by the meeting to that effect. The township bill was discussed in the columns of the last issue of this paper and a brief outline at this time will suffice. The provisions that the Nassau county school authorities object to are that it makes the boundaries of all incorporated villages of over 1500 population and the school districts the same, and that all other school districts shall be under the control of a town board of education and not the local school boards as is now the case. There were present at the meeting on Saturday, representatives from sixty-nine school districts in the county about nine-tenths of the total districts. Superintendent J. T. P. Calkins of Hempstead acted as chairman of the meeting and A. J. MacElroy of Rockville Center recorded. Assemblyman Thomas A. McWhinney addressed the meeting and stated that the bill which had been introduced by Senator Halliday was being fathered by the State Department of Education and that both Dr Finley, Commissioner, and Dr Finegan, Deputy Commissioner, had assured him that Nassau county would be exempted from the bill's provisions. The bill of course would not specifically eliminate Nassau county iut would be worded in such a way that this county would not be obliged to operate under this act. It was decided by the meeting that one member from each school district should comprise an advisory committee to confer with the assemblyman not only in relation to this present bill but also in regard to other proposed laws affecting educational matters. The appointment of a member from each district to be left with the various boards in the districts. The chair- man of the meeting was instructed to call a meeting of this committee at the earliest possible moment. — Hempstead Sentinel, March 15, 1917 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 167 Township School System Disapproved in Chemung The following resolutions were unanimously passed at the school meeting in district no. 4, town of Chemung, May 1, 1917 : Whereas, The Education Department has made a political deal with Tammany Hall to abolish the district system of schools and deprive us of the management and control of our school, and has granted concessions to Tammany in the bill for the management of the schools of New York City, and received in return the solid vote of Tammany for the notorious grab bill known as the township system, and Whereas, Our State senator has repeatedly been requested by the board of supervisors and others to oppose such legislation; and Whereas, He introduced the township bill in the Senate and supported the Finegan-Tammany deal in defiance of the expressed wishes of his constituents; therefore be it Resolved, That we use every legitimate means in our power to elect a senator who will work for the restoration of the management of our school and protect it from the designs of those who want to abolish the majority of schools because they desire to escape the bulk of the labor of supervision. — Elmira Gazette, May 4, 1917 W. H. Hillman, Chairman Township School System The action of the State Grange in unanimously indorsing the township school system on its closing day was somewhat affected by the admirable address of Senator Elon R. Brown in setting forth and indorsing the plan. The grange did not go into details, but it did indorse the principle, leaving the details to the action of the people of towns and so preserving the principle of home rule. Legislation was urged recommending making the town the unit of school supervision and leaving the question of consolida- tion with the people themselves. Uniformity of textbooks was recommended and the composition of the town board of trustees was to be made up so that no one section of a town could control the board's action. It was recommended that the legislative committee of the State Grange draft a bill embodying the recommendations of the committee. This means better rural schools and the grange admits that they are needed After three years of discussion the principle is adopted and the details will work themselves out. It will most probably end in a board of education for rural towns having supervision over all the township schools and probably leading on to the establishment of rural high schools which would be of great benefit. However, all this is left to the people of each town to decide. Under the action of the State Grange adopting the princi- ple one may look for a rapid increase in the growth of efficiency of rural school systems. At present, to gain a higher education, the farm boys and girls have to seek refuge in the union school of villages or high schools of cities, where they are educated away from the farm instead of toward it. The farm is, therefore, all the time drained of what comes out of its soil and is not put back. Good rural schools are a necessary conservation measure. The State Grange has long seen it, but also seen many obstacles, which are gradually disappearing, so that it can take a definite stand on this l68 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK question. It is a great movement which will have a large effect upon country life and the State Grange is to be congratulated on having at length reached a conclusion toward a definite plan of action. — Watertown Times, February 10, 1917 Against Centralization The following communication speaks for itself : Rock Stream, N. Y., Feb. 15, 1917. Hon. Morris Halliday, Albany, N. Y. Dear Senator: We, the undersigned taxpayers and residents of school district no. 7, town of Reading, Schuyler county, most earnestly protest against the ridiculous school laws now in force and proposed — laws that no doubt would be applicable to congested districts, cities and villages — are not at all necessary to the general welfare of scholars in rural districts. It is unnecessary to refer to the compulsory vaccination law and yearly examination by phy- sicians, etc. We have now foisted upon us this new physical training fad. Imagine our boys and girls being in need of such — simply rank nonsense. Hardly a boy but what has some chores to do at home. This in connection with the usual exercise of all school children should be sufficient physical " training " for any scholar in normal condition. We have just finished paying a large tax because of being compelled to practically rebuild and refurnish our schoolhouse, with toilets, etc. Now we hear the new "sanitary closet" has arrived at a cost of only about $150, or more. Probably some one particular closet picked out as being the best one (for some ones pocket at Albany) which spells graft. There has not been an epidemic in our section in the memory of our oldest resident, and why the taxpayers in rural districts should be burdened with oppressive taxation for such utterly needless innovations is a matter we propose to look into. Now, senator, regarding this centralization of schools, who wants it? Certainly we of the rural districts do not! and were the matter put to a vote of the people it would be defeated by 90 to I. Think of small scholars being compelled to travel six, seven or eight miles to school with the mercury about zero. What would be the effect on farm values were the same located on the outer edge of the school zone? It would be a difficult matter to procure a good tenant on one of these farms if he had children of school age, with the result that such property would depreciate in value and many farms in the remote distance from the centralized school would lay idle. This central school proposition has already had a trial and it has proven unsatisfactory — in fact a failure. Why force laws on the people they do not need or want, but yet are compelled to pay for? It is quite evident that our legislators are either not familiar with rural conditions and the requirements, or that these laws are brought forward in such a manner as to escape their notice as anything of importance. The highway laws have centralized our roads at Albany, THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 169 our schools are rapidly passing beyond our control, but we still continue to pay the freight. We earnestly request your influence defeating any legislation toward centralization of schools. Creates Township System of Schools Albany, Feb. 22. — Bills creating the township system of schools were in- troduced in both houses of the Legislature today. The main feature of the proposed law is that hereafter an order consolidating two or more school districts must have the approval of a majority of a town board and a majority of the electors of each district affected. The bill does not include in the township system union free school districts having a population of 1500 or more. In a town having two union free school districts maintaining academic departments there shall be two boards of education. Not a single school district in the State is abolished. One of the benefits of the proposed law will be the equalization of taxa- tion for school purposes. — Utica Herald-Dispatch, February 22, 1917 Better Schools Albany, Feb. 22. — Bills to promote the better education of children of residents of rural districts were introduced in the Legislature today by Senator Morris S. Halliday, of Ithaca, and Assemblyman E. Edmund Mac- hold, of Ellisburg. The measure would permit the consolidation of small isolated districts where the expense of educational facilities are a burden upon taxpayers, into larger township districts, and the construction of larger and better schools with advantages offered for higher education not possible in the present district schools. The measures have the support of the State Grange and Majority Leader Elon R. Brown, of the Senate. — Coming Journal, February 23, 1917 The Township School Bill Assemblyman Machold introduced in the Assembly yesterday and Senator Halliday in the Senate the bill creating the township system of schools. Mr Machold made the following statement in relation to the bill : " This measure is similar in many respects to the one which I introduced last year. It contains amendments which were recommended by the State Grange. The officers of the State Grange have been in Albany this week in consultation with members of the Legislature and the Education Depart- ment in reference to this measure. The bill contains all the recommenda- tions made by the State Grange. The principal features of the measure are as follows : " 1 Not a single school district in the State is abolished. Every district is continued as it now exists. " 2 The bill provides that hereafter an order consolidating two or more school districts must, before it becomes effective, have the approval of a majority of the town board of education and must thereafter be approved by a majority vote of the qualified electors of each district affected. I70 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK " 3 The bill does not include in the township system union free school districts having a population of 1500 or more. In a town having two union free school districts maintaining academic departments, there shall be two boards of education and, of course, two units of school administration for the town. "4 The administrative body in charge of the schools of a town will be a board of seven members. The bill provides that the trustees chosen at present in the several school districts of the State shall elect a town board of seven members, and this board is to have general control and adminis- tration of all school matters in a town. "6 Under the provisions of this bill a board of education in a town may provide courses of study adapted to the needs of the rural communities. It will be possible to teach agriculture in all the school districts of the State and to give corresponding courses in home-making to the girls attending such schools. It means educational opportunities for the country boy and girl in courses of study adapted to their needs equal to the educational facilities now afforded boys and girls living in the cities and populous centers. " 7 It is claimed by the advocates of this measure that if the schools are operated under the township system the administration of the schools will be more economical and at the same time more efficient. " 8 District superintendents who are now chosen by school directors hav- ing no other function to perform and having no other relation to the school system whatever, will be chosen under this bill by the town boards of the town forming a supervisory district." — Troy Times, February 23, 1917 Consolidation Bill for Schools Ready- Albany, Feb. 22. — Bills to promote the better education of children of residents of rural districts were introduced in the Legislature today by Senator Morris S. Halliday of Ithaca and Assemblyman H. Edmund Mac- hold of Ellisburg. The measures would permit the consolidation of small, isolated districts, where the expense of educational facilities is a burden upon taxpayers, into larger township districts, and the construction of larger and better schools with advantages offered for higher education not possible in the present schools. The measures have the support of the State Depart- ment of Education, the State Grange and Majority Leader, Elon R. Brown of the Senate. — Binghamton Republican, February 23, 1917 For Better Rural Education Albany, Feb. 22. — Bills to promote the better education of children of residents of rural districts were introduced in the Legislature today by Senator Morris S. Halliday of Ithaca and Assemblyman H. Machold of Ellisburg. The measure would permit the consolidation of small, isolated districts, where the expense of educational facilities are a burden upon tax- payers, into larger township districts, and the construction of larger and better schools with advantages offered for higher education not possible in the present district schools. The measures have the support of the State Department of Education, the State Grange and Majority Leader Elon R. Brown of the Senate. — Troy Times, February 22, 1917 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 171 Rural Education Bill Bills to promote the better education of children of residents of rural districts were introduced in the Legislature Thursday by Senator Morris S. Halliday of Ithaca and Assemblyman H. Edmund Machold of Ellisburg. The measures would permit the consideration of small, isolated districts, where the expense of educational facilities are a burden upon taxpayers into large township districts and the construction of larger and better schools with advantages offered for higher education not possible in the present district schools. The measures have the support of the State Department of Education, the State Grange and the majority leader, Elon R. Brown of the Senate. — Dansville Breeze, February 24, 1917 The Country Schools There is a bill before the Legislature at Albany the purpose of which is to abolish the country schools and to establish in their stead central high schools to be erected at distant points. The present system of rural schools needs a thorough change for the better but whether high or academic schools located many miles distant from each other, is desirable, or not is a very- grave question. It should receive the careful consideration of the educators of the State before its final adoption. It has been very evident to all inter- ested in the educational affairs of the State that our entire system of public instruction is largely without practical results. Essential changes are neces- sary to make it more effective and useful. — Seneca Falls Reveille, Febru- ary 28, 19 17 Proposed Change in School System The proposed township school system will undoubtedly come up for action in the Legislature very soon. Under the provision of the proposed law a town board of seven members, elected by the people at a meeting held for the purpose, will have charge of all the schools of a town, exercising the same functions as those of the present school district trustees. High schools in villages of less than 1500 inhabitants would come under the jurisdiction of the township board. — Afton Enterprise, March 8, 1917 Features of the New Township School Bill A letter has been addressed to the granges of the State outlining the essential provisions of the township school bill which has been introduced into the Legislature. The following are extracts from this letter: 1 Every school district in the State is continued under such bill as these districts now exist. No order consolidating two or more districts may become effective until such order is first approved by a majority vote of the town board of education and thereafter approved by a majority vote of the qualified electors of each district present and voting at a joint meet- ing called for that purpose. 2 The town is made the unit of taxation and of administration for school purposes. Union free school districts having a population of 1500 or more are not included in the provisions of the bill. These districts will continue to be operated as separate independent units. In towns having two or more 172 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK union free school districts which maintain academic courses of study, such towns are to have two school units and therefore two boards of education, as provided in the Machold bill of last year. 3 Trustees of the several districts in a town will continue to be elected as they are now chosen and these trustees will elect the members of the town board of education. Not more than three members of a town board may be chosen from the same school district. The town board of education is charged with the administration of the school affairs of the town and will elect its own officers. 4 Under the terms of this bill a town may provide instruction in agri- culture and homemaking courses, and when schools or classes of this kind are established in any town, the town will receive the same state aid which is now given to cities and villages which maintain such courses. These courses may, therefore, be maintained, in any town which desires to main- tain them, free to all the children in the town and without a burden of taxation upon the taxpayers of the town who support the schools. 5 Provision is also made in this bill for uniform textbooks in the several towns of the State. 6 District superintendents will hereafter be, chosen, if this bill becomes a law, by the town boards of the several towns comprising a supervisory school district. The district superintendents will therefore be directly asso- ciated with the boards of education who are responsible for the adminis- tration of the schools. 7 Provision is made in the bill by which town boards shall not expend a sum in excess of one-half of one per cent of the assessed valuation of the town, and in no case an amount in excess of $5000, in any one year for the construction of new buildings or the enlargement of existing school build- ings without a vote of the qualified school electors of the town. — Tully Times, March 16, 1917 Retain the Rural School, Urges Writer Editor Republican- Journal: If you will grant space for the sentiment of some of the mothers in dis- trict no. 24, in Lisbon, I will set them down as they have come to my knowledge. Are we for higher education? Yes — most decidedly. For a high school in Lisbon ; yes again, and gladly would pay our increased taxes for the sake of educating our children near by. All we ask is that our rural schools may remain intact for those little ones not of high school age. There are some, who, being childless or having no little ones under their care, profess indifference as to the outcome of this agitation, but for the sake of the little ones of our friends and neighbors we cannot afford to be silent in this matter. It is not only for the present year, but for the years to come that we must fight, for children will be born as the world moves on. Our plea for the rural school is based upon the observations we have made of the surroundings in which our children receive their first glimpse into the great world of letters. Have you ever attended a rural school meeting? THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 173 Have you heard the plans for the betterment and beautifying of the build- ing and grounds and for educational facilities for our children's use by these honest and sincere men, and — yes, it should be, women? Have you attended the exercises and little entertainments at these schools and noted the efforts of the children in their different line of work, their decorative ability, the sunny windows and general cheerful aspect and good fellow- ship prevailing? Well, if you have you are with me in thought. We believe in the compulsory education law and wish the age limit were 18 instead of 16. We would like to see a graduate from the normal school at the head of our rural schools, while we acknowledge in wonder the results achieved by the teachers from the training class. We believe in domestic science, in manual training and the fine arts, but when my girl is 16 I will guarantee she will know how to bake as fine a loaf of bread as any teacher of domestic science I have ever met. It is the girls of the village who need training in this line, not the girls of the country, you may observe as I have, how people of the village carry home their suppers from the stores in paper bags. Where would the woman of the country land if she attempted to feed the several hearty mouths of her family out of paper bags? Every girl and boy, too, should know what H O contains and its uses inside and out, the relative of different foods to her body and the proper kinds of food to serve at each meal, but in these days of splendid magazines and libraries no one need remain ignorant in these matters nor is a special school needed, while in itself, it is a splendid idea to introduce into our schools of today. From this little schoolhouse of ours have gone forth boys and girls who have progressed in directions that have made them noticeable in the work of the Nation. You know them, no need to name them. Have you stood on your veranda and watched your small boy, with his pail of luncheon, gaily starting out for "his first day of school?" Your eyes filled as you realized he now was leaving your loving care and that his fight in the battle for existence had really begun. But you were comforted as you thought that he went from your care to that of a young woman who has known and loved him from infancy and who has not so many but that she could spare some love and attention for each child. If they are ill, we soon may reach them; if they grow weary, they easily may reach home and mother. Have you forgotten the days when your fat legs dangled from the hard seats and you longed to be out where for several years you roamed, and reigned supreme? Township Plan is Proposed Creation of the township system of schools to better equalize school taxes throughout the State, is sought in a bill introduced in the Legislature by Senator Halliday and Assemblyman Machold. The bill would tend to place the administration of the schools on a more economical and efficient basis. The distribution of taxes would be made on relative strength of the districts. Under the provisions of the measure a board of education in a town may provide courses of study adapted to the needs of the rural communities. It will be possible to teach agriculture in all the school districts of the State and to give corresponding courses in homemaking to the girls attending such schools. 174 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK It means, its introducers claim, educational opportunities for the country boy or girl in courses of studies adapted to their needs equal to the educa- tional facilities now afforded boys and girls living in the cities and populous centers. The bill does not include in the township system union free school districts having a population of 1500 or more. Not a single school district in the State is abolished, and every district continues as it now exists. The measure is similar, in some respects, to the one introduced last year. The officers of the State Grange have been in Albany the past week in consultation with the State Education Department in reference to the measure and the bill contains all the recommendations made by the grange. — Securities Post, February 28, 1917 The Township School Bill Favored by the State Grange The secretary of New York State Grange has issued a circular to pamona and subordinate granges advising them of the action taken by the legislative committee which has been in Albany in consultation with those interested in the township school bill, and that a bill has been introduced which embodies the recommendations adopted by the State Grange. The essential provisions of the measure are as follows : Every school district in the State is continued under each bill as they now exist. No order of consolidating two or more districts may become effective until such order is first approved by majority vote of the town board of education and thereafter approved by the qualified electors present and voting at a joint meeting. The town is made the unit of taxation and of administration. Union free school districts having a population of 1500 or more are not included in the provisions of the bill. These districts are to continue to be operated as separate independent units. Towns having two or more union free school districts maintaining academic courses are to have two school units and two boards of education. Trustees of the several districts in a town will continue to be elected as they are now and these trustees will elect the members of the town board of education. Not more than three members may be chosen from the same school district. Under the terms of this bill a town board may provide instruction in agriculture and homemaking courses, and when such classes are formed in a town the town will receive the same State aid as is now given in cities and villages which maintain such courses. These courses may be main- tained in any town which desires them, free to all children in the town and without a burden of taxation upon the taxpayers. Provision is also made for uniform textbooks. District superintendents will, if the bill becomes a law, be chosen by the town boards of the several towns comprising a supervising school district, and will therefore be directly associated with the boards of education who are responsible for the administration of the school. Provision is also made in the bill by which town boards shall not expend a sum in excess of one-half of one per cent of the assessed valuation of the THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 175 town, and in no case an amount in excess of $5,000 in any one year for the erection of new buildings without a vote of the taxpayers. — Honeoye Falls Times, March 15, 1917 No Township School To the Times For the first time in its history the educators of St Lawrence county have put themselves squarely on record as being willing to give the farmer a better educational system. We also have the disgraceful record of the farmers of the town of Lisbon going flatly against it. When a farmer votes against a school system whose purpose and object is to give his own children a better education he might just as well come right out openly and say, we don't want our children to have the advantage of an education. We want them to grow up in ignorance. We want them to go through life as a mark for the grafter and the vagabond. Let us not forget that the state grange has gone on record in favor of the township school. If the position taken by the farmers of Lisbon on the township school is not a travesty on everything that the grange pretends to teach or stand for, then what do you call it? Is there any better service that the farm bureau of St Lawrence county could render to farmers as a class than to find out if those men are grangers? If they are grangers then why not start an organized movement to have them voted out of the grange? I would also head a subscription list for 50 cents to raise the money to buy them a leather medal. L. D. Lamon Route 5, Watertown, March 14 — ■ Watertown News, March 14, 1917 A Model Rural High School Deputy State Commissioner Thomas E. Finegan, who has charge of the rural schools of this State, speaking to the district superintendents at their convention recently held in Rochester, said : I am going to ask every one of the 207 superintendents in the State to do just one big thing this year, and that is to organize a model rural school in a supervisory district and articulate it with the living conditions of rural life — a school which will administer to every intellectual necessity of that community. Select a good agricultural community. Make a survey of it. Put together eight little schools that are unable to minister to the needs of the people. Get at least $250,000 of assessed valuation for the support of this model school. Every school should serve the needs of the entire community and should be a real institution of democracy. Bring these eight schools into one school. Get as a principal a graduate of the State College of Agri- culture. Pay him $1200 a year. Have courses in agriculture for the boys. Hire a woman graduate of some school like Mechanics Institute at $800 a year to give homemaking courses for the girls. Obtain a health director and five grade teachers at $600 yearly salary. Teach the boys and girls who are to do the farm work and the home work I76 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK on the farm to respect their own work. Do this and you will be entitled to a place on the roll of honor. It seems to the writer that the tendency of the Education Department is toward centralization of the rural schools. This would be a splendid idea if some safe method of conveying the small pupils to the central school could be devised. But lacking comfortable means of transportation, would it not be best to keep the district schools where they now are for the use of the smaller children, say through the first five grades. By and by, when there is need and a demand for a rural town high school, let all the school dis- tricts of the town unite and build and equip a model rural high school such as Mr Finegan suggests. To this school could go the sixth, seventh and eighth grades from all the schools of the town, and also all the older boys and girls who might wish to take up high school studies. Let part of the high school work embrace some economics and some of the science of the different fields of activity in agriculture, and credit all work done by the pupil toward an academic diploma. This would give the country boys and girls the distinction of being high school graduates, and at the same time be fitted to cope with the problems of country life — to appreciate the fact that the best place on God's green earth is the farm when right conditions prevail. Whatever we may think about the present as past methods of getting an education, the country school is at the door of a great revolution. Existing conditions do not satisfy the present needs of the nearly grown up boy and girl in the country. The remedy that is about to be applied is consolidation of school districts into rural high schools, in which shall be taught, along with books, agriculture and home economics. Since consolidation means the loss of the local district school, it behooves those who wish to retain their home school for their little children, to see that the most necessary things are provided for the health and comfort of the pupils. One of the bad features of country schools is the filthy, out- door toilet, breeder of disease and bad morals. Chief Inspector of School Buildings Frank H. Wood, of the Education Department, in a recent speech before the Newville chautauqua, said that within the next two years all schools must have nothing less than an inside chemical toilet. The bad ventilation of schoolhouses must be remedied by a jacketed stove that will furnish 30 cubic feet of pure air per pupil each minute, warmed to a tem- perature of 65 to 68 degrees. Hereafter all schoolhouses should be lighted, as provided by law, and not permit the continuance of cross lights which prevail in many schoolhouses in the country. Seats that are not fitted to the age and size of the pupils are the cause of much of the deformity more or less pronounced in the rural school children. The dust of the schoolroom from the soft, cheap crayon, wooden blackboards and bad methods of sweep- ing and dusting is a prolific cause of colds, grippe and consumption. The water which the children drink must be carefully protected from dust, flies and disease germs. Finally the trustees must make every effort to place over their schools teachers especially prepared to lead the children into those paths of knowledge which will educate them toward the country and not away from it." In the light of the foregoing extracts from the speeches of Mr Finegan and Mr Wood, it would seem that those who wish to retain their country schools had better take an inventory of stock. Is the school building in good THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 177 condition, good foundation, good windows, well painted. If not, better attend to it. Have wooden blackboards? Get slate. Have you an old unjacketed stove, without proper means of ventilation? Then comply with the law as mentioned in Mr Wood's speech at Newville. Are the seats graded to the use of the pupils? If not, attend to them. Are the children drinking from an open water pail with a common drinking cup? Then know that there is a fine for having an open water pail in a public place. Is there a cloud of dust floating in the schoolroom every time it is swept? See to it that there is no more dust in the schoolhouse than in the neatest private home. Is your teacher a live wire — a community builder? Is she the most influential person in the district? If she is, keep her. If she is not, get one that has these attributes. In short, measure up to the standards of the present, and make an effort, at least, to keep part of the best blood in the country. The writer of this article is a farmer, who attended the old-time district school. He believes that the time has not yet come when the district school should be discarded in those districts which would experience difficulty in transporting pupils. And yet the writer is not so wedded to the past that he can not see the handwriting on the wall. And in closing this rambling article he wishes to again urge upon trustees to better the conditions of the rural schools before the strong hand of the law is set to work in the inter- est of the boy and the girl in the country school. A Farmer — Little Falls Times, March 3, 1917 Much has been said concerning the disadvantage of transportation, vol- umes remain unsaid. No one can control the weather, nor the drifted roads, nor the pitch-holes from North's Corners to Lisbon. At least it appears not. We must convey our children to the meeting place. How can we know the hour when they will arrive at this place in the evening, having four miles to face through wind and weather, too severe for us old women to face more than three times in one winter? A farmer's evening work and supper must start at 4 o'clock if he is to finish before 8. I believe the farm- ers to be the hardest worked people in the U. S., editors, doctors and ministers not excepted. We already have more than we can well endure. Must we add more to these tired shoulders? Do you know if it were not for the unpaid labor of women and children on the farm the average farmer never would see his land free from debt and countless numbers live and die without ever seeing it. We men and women of the soil love our children as much as do the city dwellers. Can we afford to give them the advantage we never had, but would like them to have? How many of us could enjoy a Corot, a Landseer, a Matys and others of this stamp, but may never enjoy any picture finer than the sun setting seen through the old apple orchard. Well, thank tfie Lord, they can't transport that scene of beauty, either with taxes or consolidation. It is the deadly monotony of farm life that drives so many farmers' wives to the insane asylums. More farmers' wives there than any class, you will find if you care to inspect. A farmer loves his wife as much as any man, but under the present system he can do no better than see her perform the office of cook, seamstress, laundress, dairy 178 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK maid and gardener. Is it any wonder we do not want to see our girls become wives of farmers when we note the easy lives of the women of the village? If we had just a little of the money so lavishly used in directions not nearly so useful, but which we farmers must hand over cheerfully as our taxes, we could bring things into our homes that would make life on the farm more attractive. Give the men and women a little chance, too, so that they may keep step with the children who enjoy the advantages of higher education. I almost lost track of my plea in my thought of the men and women. Just one thing more in closing. One man told me that he moved in this neighborhood just as the district was dissolved. He had one child, and through mud and rain, snow and blow, hot or cold, he has been forced to drive to district no. 24 with that child. The boy finishes in the rural school in one more year, but the interest of his father in the fate of the other children does not cease. He remarked that not for $500 added to the value of his farm would he repeat the experiment nor wish it on any child in the community. By all means there should be a high school. Lisbon has found out her mistake long ago in this matter. But before we are forced into a calamity of the sort proposed, men and women, let us recall the words of him who said, " This government is a government of the people, for the people and by the people." Mrs O. J. Dezeix — Ogdensburg Journal, March 10, 1917 Rural Union Schools The old red schoolhouse of more than a quarter century ago gave place to the more modern district school. Now the rural union school is likely to take the place of the district school in Rensselaer county. Residents of the town of Sand Lake are pioneering for an arrangement which would unite eight district schools under one roof. The union school would have many advantages over the scattered schools of the districts. There would be better accommodations, the teachers would be better qualified for their duties and many essentials which can not be enjoyed by the pupils in the present small schools would be assured. A high school course would be added to the union school. When one considers the fact that advanced courses can not be followed under the present arrangement, he will easily appreciate the advantage of the present movement. There is some fear that the transportation problem will present obstacles which may not be easily overcome. The good folk of Sand Lake should not worry over this question. Rural union schools have been in existence in various parts of the west for a considerable period. In all sorts of weather the children and their teachers are carried to school and back home. With proper vehicles and adequate accommodations for clearing the roads in inclement weather, the pupils should miss very few sessions of the union schools. In this part of the country the pioneer movement is in the nature of an experiment. It will assuredly succeed if the public goes about the matter in a practical manner. — Troy Evening Record, March 22, 1917 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 179 Rural Schools Merger Discussed in Sand Lake Believing that its educational expenses would be lessened and that its children would be afforded better and more practical courses, the town of Sand Lake is pioneering, in this section of the State, a movement to have its eight district schools consolidated into one central union school. Early next month a meeting will be called to discuss the matter informally and if sentiment is found favorable the question will be voted on as soon as pos- sible. The establishment of such a school and the resulting elimination of eight school districts as they are now operated would be a bold stroke in a complete change of rural educational methods, and it is not at all certain the idea will receive unanimous approval. Although the consolidation would, it is pointed out, result in a better school building, better furniture at the use of the pupils, better working apparatuses, a better library, better teachers and more interest in school activity on the part of virtually every resident in the enlarged district, there enters against all these the problem of transportation. For it would be necessary for some of the pupils to travel several miles through all kinds of weather. But the State, realizing that this would be the biggest objection to the idea, has taken the transportation problem into hand. It will furnish means of carrying the pupils back and forth and assume the costs, believing the rural union school a big improvement in all ways over the many district schools. The children would congregate in a certain place at a certain time every morning and would be met here by auto-buses, probably. At the close of the day they would be returned in the same way. This method would seem practical and entirely satisfactory except, it is declared by some, in times of heavy snow fall when many of the country roads are more or less impassable. Along highways built in the old-fashioned way, dug below the level of adjoining ground and parellel on each side by rail fences and stone walls, the snow sweeps in and settles into drifts that blockade all traffic. Yet there may be means to overcome such conditions. However, those interested in the movement balance this objection against the advantages which would result and contend that the latter are infinitely greater. For instance, in the curriculum of the new school there would be a high school course — a fact which would convenience several young people now attending High school in this city and make it possible for many more of the town children to have the advantages of such an education. They are prevented from anything more than a district school training now because of the expense of traveling back and forth between country and city. The pupils making the trip now would be saved this expenditure. In addition the building would be of the strictly modern type and far more sanitary than the small ill-ventilated wooden structures now serving each district. Its cleanliness, its better furniture and working apparatus would act as an incentive to study and educational interest in the children. Its library would contain a volume and variety of books unattainable now. Its teachers would be much better equipped and the courses of study would be larger and more practical. Agricultural and homemaking training would be one of the features, and in view of the fact that the school would be situated in the center of a l8o THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK farming community the value of these things is readily realized. Because the pupils would be more or less connected with agricultural pursuits, edu- cation along these lines is pointed out to be needed more than in urban localities where in likelihood the bulk of the pupils would not follow farming as their life work. After the erection of the building — which would also be utilized as a place of community meeting — it is claimed that the cost of the town's educational maintenance would be less than it is at present. The keeping up of the eight individual buildings would be eliminated and less teachers would have to be hired. There are no schools of this type and nature in this section of the State at present. — Troy Evening Record, March 22, 1917. Township School Bill a Law Governor Whitman yesterday signed the Machold township school bill, one of the most important educational measures enacted in many years. It aims at the improvement of rural schools and with that in view both Assemblymen Fancher and McGinnies supported it, though there has been some difference of opinion relative to the wisdom of some of its provisions. From a synopsis of the bill prepared by its introducer, Mr Machold of Jefferson, and forwarded to the Morning Post by Assemblyman Fancher, we quote the following facts in relation to its principal provisions : The purpose of this legislation is to create a town unit for the organiza- tion and maintenance of the rural schools of the State, to take the place ot the present district system. The present system was organized under an act of 179S, and continued by a general act of 1812, since which -time no change has been made in the organization provided for the rural schools of this State. This is about the only institution in the State whose organization has not been revised to meet the demands which this progressive age has placed upon it. The bill provides for the continuance of every rural school district in this State as is at present constituted. Under the existing Education Law, the superintendent of schools of a county has the power by order, to consolidate two or more districts of a town, which order is subject to an appeal to the Commissioner of Education of this State, whose decision is final. The exercise of this authority given in the Education Law has given rise to a great deal of dissatisfaction in many of the rural communities of this State. In order to overcome this dissatisfaction I have provided in this bill that no order consolidating two or more school districts shall be effective until the town board of education shall approve the same, and that thereafter a majority of the qualified electors of each district shall approve of the said order to consolidate the districts. Under this provision, not a single school district of the State can be con- solidated until a majority of the electors of the district vote for it. It is very apparent to anyone who has studied the conditions confronting the improve- ment of the rural schools of our State, that in many localities the small assessed valuation makes it prohibitive to maintain the type of school which would be for the effective instruction of the children residing there. We have 10,000 school districts outside of Ithe villages and cities of the State, and of these 8500 are one-room schools; 1000 of these district schools have an average attendance of less than 7, and 1600 other districts have an average attendance of less than 10; of these districts, 1300 have an assessed valuation of less than $20,000 and 1500 have an assessed valuation of from $20,000 to $40,000. This means in the districts having an assessed valuation of $20,000 or less, five .farms of the value of $4000 must maintain a school, THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM l8l and in districts of from $20,000 to $40,000, eight or ten farms must support the school. This is a very patent reason why it is not possible to maintain as good a school in these districts as can be maintained in districts having a larger assessed valuation, and is one of the vital weaknesses of the present system. The unit of taxation for every other purpose today is and always has been the town. If the town is made the unit of taxation, and the properties of the town paid their proportionate share for the maintenance of schools, and if the inequality for school facilities for the boys and girls on the farms is to be corrected, there must be an adjustment of the inequality of taxation for school purposes. You all know that large corporate interests pay taxes for the support of schools in districts in which they extend. In many towns such properties pay taxes in two or three districts and pay no taxes in ten or twelve surrounding districts. Take for example the cases of the railroad and telegraph companies who only pay taxes in the districts through which they run, and while no one would maintain that the people living in the districts surrounding those through which they run do not contribute supplies and produce for their maintenance, and should receive for the maintenance of schools a like pro- portion of taxes the same as they receive for the support of other town ac- tivities. My contention is that under a township system, uniformity of tax- ation for school purposes will make uniformity of educational facilities. The boys and girls living in the rural sections are entitled to just as good facili- ties as the boys and girls living in the cities or villages. I do not think any- one will even pretend that they have much facilities now, nor do I think anyone will pretend that such facilities are possible under the present organi- zation. We think no one can read this statement of Mr Machold without being impressed with the reasonableness of his argument for the improvement of the rural schools by the equalization of the tax burdens among the districts in a single town. The provision that the qualified school voters of each district to be consolidated must approve the plan after the town board of education has favorably acted upon it will remove the principal objection that has been made to the township plan. Mr Machold argues also that families will remain on the farms to a larger extent if suitable provision is made for the education of the children in the rural districts. Under a township system it will be possible to main- tain the district schools and to place good academic schools within reach of almost all the children of the town, so that they can attend and return home each night. One physical director and one medical inspector can do the work for the whole town, while at present every district must make separate provision. There is no more real reason for dividing townships into separate self- governing districts than there is cities, where the school administration is always unified, however great the number of schools, Years ago the towns were divided into road districts with pathmasters, but the town highway system has resulted in eighteen years in the construction of 12,000 miles of improved highway under local superintendents. So long as a district continues in existence, an elementary school must be maintained under the general Educational Law. The town board of education must provide the teacher. Mr Machold points out that this plan or a similar one now prevails in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Penn- sylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin. The Middle West makes much better provision for the children of the farmers than this great 1 82 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Empire State with its enormous expenditure for the schools. It is a matter of gratification that the weak point in our educational system has finally been corrected by the enactment of so good a law. — Jamestown Post, May 4, 1917 Town Government for Schools The Union believes that the Machold school bills which passed the Legis- lature last week and are now in the hands of the Governor mark a long step in advance for efficiency in the rural schools of the State. They abolish the old school district system, which never had any reason or logic behind it, and establish the town as the unit for school taxation and school government. We believe it is and is intended to be another step toward school consolidation and school consolidation we believe to be the best solution yet discovered of the rural education problem. It has taken us a long time to get this public school problem clearly in our minds. It wasn't so many years ago that taxpayers without children used to complain because they had to contribute toward the support of the schools which were educating their neighbor's children. They looked upon the schools as being maintained for the benefit of the children only. They failed to see, as Germany has seen for many years, that the children are the greatest assets of the state and nation ; that the education of the children is for the benefit of the state and nation primarily. We are beginning to see that now, but we have been mighty slow about it and mighty clumsy and inefficient in the way we have gone about our school work in the meantime. The Union applauds the American spirit which declares that we are going into this war without malice. We sincerely hope that when the war is over we will go very speedily about adopting some of the excellent ideas of public education which Germany has practiced for years and which have made her not only efficient in war but efficient in everything which she undertakes. — Norwich Chenango Union, May 10, 1917 Doesn't Like Provisions of Machold Bill Lisbon May 27, 191/ Editor News: Your article in a recent number explaining the provisions of the Machold school law deserved careful reading on the part of all country folk. Your view of its probable operation seems derived from prejudiced sources, how- ever, and is, I believe, unwarrantably optimistic. The law is long and com- plicated, not to say ambiguous, and it is to be feared that many will be unpleasantly surprised when, by the actual operation of the measure they learn its true character and find that a complete revolution has been effected in our school system without consulting those most interested in school matters, the people who furnish the children and the money. The State Department of Education desires to do much for the farmer. Some of its present plans will be jokes in five years, but this is certain: It can not help us so long as it does not have our confidence and it can not have that until it takes us into its confidence. At the time of the passage of the Machold bill not one person in a thousand knew anything about it. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 183 Nothing had appeared in the press. Yet the bill had been in the Legislature nearly all winter. The Department sent several representatives to Lisbon last winter. The business of all but one was at that time unknown to the public. That one, Prof. Hawkins, addressed a special town meeting upon educational matters. He showed us pictures of chicken coops, onion beds and talked of other matters as interesting, but never intimated that the Department had at that very time before the Legislature a scheme for rob- bing us of the last vestige of control of our elementary schools. No wonder that Dr Finegan didn't advertise such matters among us ruralites. He was forced to drop some of the worst features of the bill in order to get it past the Legislature and the Governor. But it is bad enough yet. In the first draft seen by the writer it took the election of all school officers out of the hands of the people. It gave the town board of education power to consolidate schools at will though endeavoring to fool the public by stating expressly in the first paragraph that districts must not be consolidated with- out consent. These provisions were removed by subsequent amendments. But they show the purpose for which the act was framed, and Dr Finegan's purpose is unchanged. He loves power for its own sake and doesn't care much how he gets it. He is a true bureaucrat and hopes to effect at least a part of his purpose by what is left of the township law. Farmers certainly do well to distrust him until he proves the contrary. If anyone thinks that this is only the ravings of a bumptious hayseed let him find out about the Deputy Commissioner and examine the charges made against him within the last few months by the papers and people of Syracuse and Buffalo. We checked him for the time in Lisbon last winter because his affairs in other parts of the State required delicate handling and couldn't bear the loud noise we made. But he did it sullenly and reluctantly and the order reinstating the dissolved districts and abolished officers said something about the first of August that has never been explained and he has no doubt plans for our welfare just as benevolent as those so fortunately (for us) disconcerted. The present law leaves an excellent opening for such an attempt. For the next two years it proposes to keep the control of our board of education out of the people's hands. It provides that this board shall have power " to establish and maintain elementary schools, high schools, vocational schools," and any other old sort it sees fit. It gives it power to spend five thousand per year for building new schools without consent of the people and by following " barge canal methods " and adding here a little and there a little, it will be possible to spend some money and build some school. We have to fear not only the action of the Department at Albany. There are some Lisbonites who are determined to make the town build and main- tain a high school no matter whether the majority need or favor such an institution. We offered to submit the question to a special town meeting. The petition for the meeting was prepared. The requisite names obtained and the document placed in the hands of the town clerk. Then we heard no more about it. Under the new law if a high school is built it must be built and maintained by the whole town. The board of education can establish a high school or vocational school. It can as already shown, provide the funds, if that is not included in the power to " establish," and it has un- limited power to " maintain " it after establishment. 184 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Were there some of our townsmen who knew more about this law last March than most of us did? Was that why the special meeting was dropped? There is at least room for suspicion. The citizen who reads and ponders the above will agree that the peoplt of the whole town should elect our first board of education. We should know first what each member thinks of these matters before he becomes a member. We wish to give the law a fair chance the coming year and that is impossible unless the people choose those important officers. Any room for clique or local favoritism or graft will overbalance any good that may be in the township system. A caucus of all the legal school voters in the town should be held a few days before the 12th of June, when the new board is to be chosen by the trustees, and five men nominated for the offices. The trustees in this part of this town declare that they consider this the best way to meet the situ- ation and say that they will gladly ratify the choice of the people. A major- ity of our thirty trustees will be glad to do so rather than take the entire responsibility of such election upon themselves. If there are any who prefer candidates of their own it will be interesting to know who such trustees and their candidates may be. Respectfully James D. Moore The Township School Law Following are the chief features of the Machold township school bill enacted by the last Legislature : The town board of education consists of five members, unless the town has five or less districts, when it shall consist of three members, and is established to begin the first day of August 191 7. The term of office is three years, beginning the first day of August, following election and is so arranged that the terms of not over two members shall expire at the same time. A member of the board of education must be a qualified elector at the school meetings of the town for which he is chosen. A supervisor is not eligible and two members of the same family can not be on a board. The first town school board shall be chosen by the present district trus- tees of each town who will meet on Tuesday, June 12th, for that purpose. Thereafter the members of the town school board will be chosen at the annual town school meeting to be held on the first Tuesday of May. In electing members of the board printed ballots shall be used and regular nomi- nations must be made by petition, 25 signatures being necessary to get a candidate's name on the ballot. The election must be held between 9 a. m. and 4 p. m. and be conducted by three inspectors named by the board of education for that purpose. The town may be divided into districts for school election purposes if deemed expedient. The town board of education is to hold its annual meeting the first Tues- day in August, when one of its own members must be elected chairman. A clerk and treasurer are to be appointed but they must not be members of the board or teachers. Regular quarterly meetings of the board are to THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 185 be held, and special meetings whenever necessary. Members o£ the town board of education serve without pay. Boards of education shall exercise the powers and perform the duties conferred or imposed by law upon boards of education or trustees of school districts, so far as they may be applicable to the schools and other educational affairs of the town and not inconsistent with the provisions of this act. On or before the first day of July in each year the board of education shall prepare an itemized tax budget containing the amounts required to be raised by tax for school purposes for the ensuing year. Such budget shall contain a statement of the amount of state funds apportioned to the town and the estimated amount to be received from all other sources, and shall fully specify the amounts to be raised for the various purposes. Full publication is required both by publishing in the newspapers and by posting in at least five of the most public places in the town. The board of education shall, within 10 days after the first of September, cause the amounts specified in the budget to be levied and assessed against the taxable property of the town. The town collector shall collect the taxes and pay over the amount to the town school treasurer. Hereafter the town boards of education will employ all the teachers in their respective towns, but they must recognize all contracts made by pres- ent trustees in force when they assume office. The town school board will also attend to all repairs to school buildings, purchase all equipment, etc. It can not, however, expend more than one- half of one per cent of the assessed valuation of the town for new build- ings, enlargements and improvements without a vote of the school meeting. Each school and each department of such school shall be free to the children of school age residing in the town. Where pupils may be more conveniently instructed in the school or schools of an adjoining town, village or city, the town board of education shall provide for the transfer to such school. The cost of such instruction shall be a charge upon the town in which the pupils reside. — Yates Co. Chronicle, Pcnn Yan, June 6, 19 17 School Trustees Disprove of the New School Law Pursuant to the provisions of the new school law the trustees of the rural schools of the town met at the South Side school building Tuesday afternoon, June 12th, and elected five persons to act as the town board of education. Fred Compitello was selected to act as chairman of the meet- ing and Smith G. Horton was elected clerk. H. H. Benning and Mrs Lewis Jordan were elected as members of the board to serve for one year; Ray Watson and F. S. Kelsey were elected for two years, and Henry Cross was elected for three years. Before the meeting closed the provisions of the law were discussed and a vote was taken protesting against the new school law as it applies to rural school districts. The protest is well taken. As the law now stands the control of the schools is in the hands of five persons who, without doubt, will do the best they can to promote the welfare of the schools of the town, but they can not possibly be in as close touch with the problems and conditions of each and every school in the town as could the trustees as l86 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK they have heretofore been elected. In addition to this the new law provides that the patrons of the schools shall meet at one or two places within the town at the annual school meeting in May to elect the members of the board of education. This will mean that the greater part of the legal voters at such election will have to travel many miles to attend the meeting and the result will be that nine-tenths of the voters will be practically disfranchised. There may be some advantages to be derived from the new order of things but it is doubtful if they will offset the disadvantages above mentioned. — Clyde Times, June 14, 1917 Lisbon Town Trustees Name School Board Lisbon June 13.— The Lisbon town trustees selected strong men for the board of education under new township law at their meeting here today. Strong resolutions in favor of continuing old school districts were passed. The following officers were elected: William Row en, one year; James H. More, one year ; Samuel Toyo, two years ; H. L. Jones, two years ; Joseph Hargrave, three years. The following resolutions were passed unanimously: Whereas, The Education Department of the State of New York by their action with the Legislature have succeeded in passing the educational bill known as the Machold bill into a law, which is now in effect, having for its object the consolidation of rural schools. We, the trustees of the several districts of the town of Lisbon here assembled, do hereby resolve, that the said law is calculated to take away from the rural communities the right to conduct their affairs, whereas the right to manage the educational affairs of our rural communities should at all times be vested in the common people and the parents of the children, to be educated. Be it further resolved, that any attempt to usurp the authority of the common people is not in keeping with our form of government and is detri- mental to the agricultural interests of the state of New York. Any attempt to discourage agriculture and the farmer in the production of food at this critical time in the world's history is a grave mistake on the part of the Educational Department and we. the said trustees of the town of Lisbon, do further resolve, that we believe the best interests of our town and State will be conserved by the maintaining of our district schools and the proper attention of the quality of teachers to teach these schools by the Department and superintendent in charge will do more to improve the country schools than consolidation with the necessary incon- veniences which it involves. — Ogdensburg Jounral, June 14, 1917 Clarkstown Elects Board of Education Under the provisions of the new town board of education law repre- sentatives of the various schools of Clarkstown met yesterday at West Nyack with Dr John T. Gilchrest of Upper Nyack as chairman. The present trustees of the several school districts are done away with under the recently enacted statute and in future five men will serve as a town board of education, each district sharing the taxes. The new law met with much opposition and it was voted that the secre- tary of the meeting send to the State Commissioner of Education a resolu- tion in which it is set forth that the statute is one of the worst ever enacted in New York State. — Rockland Co. Democrat, Nyack, June 15, 1917 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 187 Rebel Against New School Law Babylon is the only town in this, the third supervisory school district of Suffolk county, to rebel against the new educational law, consolidating the districts wherein their population is less than 1500. At a meeting in West Babylon on Tuesday night of the trustees of the Copiague, Deer Park, West Babylon and North Babylon districts, the only districts in this town affected, they were unanimous in their declaration that the new law is unconstitutional, and refused to elect a town board of edu- cation, as provided under the law. Henry A. Brown, of Deer Park, was chairman, and Henry S. Johnson, of West Babylon, was clerk. Of the eighteen trustees in the four districts all but two were present. The law provides that where this new town board of education is not elected by the trustees at the election called for that purpose, then either the district superintendent may appoint the board or the Commissioner of Edu- cation may call another election. It is not decided yet as to what action will be taken in the Babylon mix-up, but meanwhile the trustees of the four districts are proceeding along the old lines. The new educational law, as passed by the recent Legislature, provides that after August 1 these small school districts shall be consolidated under one town board of education, whose membership is limited to five. Where there are more than five districts five members of the board are to be elected, but where there are five or less than five districts the membership is limited to three. Babylon town having four of these small districts is entitled to only three members, while Huntington with fifteen districts has five members on its board and Smithtown with eight districts has five members on the board. Under this consolidation the tax rate in all the districts will be the same, to be based upon the aggregate valuation of all the properties in the com- bined districts. While this will lower the rate in some districts it will raise it in others. The school tax will be paid to the general town tax collector instead of a district collector, as before. This central board of education will control all expenditures in the several districts and engage the teachers and do under the one general head what was before done by the individual boards. It centralizes all the former duties and powers of the present boards in one body. With the membership of this central body limited to three or five it leaves many of the present districts without personal representation on the board, which, it is believed, is contrary to the spirit of the constitution. While the Huntington town meeting also furnished a lively debate on the new law, the trustees from their fifteen districts elected the following new board: J. B. Morrell, of Centreport, for three years; John Soper, of lower Melville, and John Dean, of Greenlawn, for two years; J. Whitson Valentine and Mrs J. B. Jennings, of Cold Spring Harbor, for one year. The meeting was held in East Northport, and J. Whitson Valentine was chairman, and James Schofield, of West Hills, clerk. Smithtown elected as its board of education William Flynn, of Kings Park, for three years; Andrew Madison and Frank Brush, of Smithtown Branch, for two years; Everett Smith, of St James, and Alvin Smith, of Fort Salonga, for one year. The meeting was held at Smithtown Branch. G. B. Purick was chairman and Herbert Hallock was clerk. Both hail from Smithtown Branch. — South Side Signal, Babylon, June 15, 1917 l88 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Not Satisfied South Scriba, June 21. — The general opinion of the people here is to the effect that the election of the directors for rural schools will not be accepted here. We are well enough satisfied with the old way of running the district. We have a good school building, equipment etc., and the people here feel that it is not necessary to have to pay taxes to build up districts in a run-down condition. A meeting is to be called soon and members from adjoining districts will be invited to be present. In the recent election of directors this part of the town was not represented by one, while it is understood that north of state road are three, on state road one and river road one. We have four schools in this section of the town and if there are to be directors each territory should have representation. — Oswego Palladium, June 21, 1917 Protest School Merger West Islip, L. I., June 22. — Forty residents of the West Islip school dis» trict attended a special meeting to protest against the amalgamation of this district with four other school districts under the terms of the recently en- acted lav/. The union of the schools was consummated a week ago at a meeting held in Brentwood, at which time Samuel J. Wagstaff of West Islip and Dr William H. Ross of Brentwood were elected trustees. The taxpayers of this district protest against the unfairness of the new order of things. They pointed out at last night's meeting that their tax rate is now about 20 cents and under the new system will be 60 cents. The result of the meeting was the adoption of resolutions of protest, which will be taken to the State Educational Department at Albany by Mr Wagstaff. — Brooklyn Eagle, June 22, 19 17 Hurley Aroused Over School Law Hurley, Aug. 21. — There was a meeting of the board of education of town in this village on Monday. Mr Scribner, of West Hurley, was- elected to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Mr Walton. The new township school law in equalizing the school tax over the entire town, instead of each district managing its own matters as heretofore, has about doubled the tax in the two school districts of the town; no. 5 in West Hurley and in our village. On the other hand, the tax in district no. 8, will be greatly lessened from its former rate of $2 per hundred dollars of valuation to 71 cents per hundred. Naturally this village with a doubled tax in view, is much con- cerned about it; under the law, there is no change to be expected excepting by reducing expense. Four hundred dollars of the $4700 voted, was for the employment of a physical director and visiting nurse, made mandatory by law. The Department of Education at Albany has recommended a salary to the clerk and treasurer on account of the duties placed upon them by the law, duties which were not even thought of under the. old trustee system. In view of this recommendation, the board voted $100 to the clerk, and $75 to the treasurer. Considerable comment has been made on account of these salaries and the matter was talked over at length at this meeting with resi- dents of the village present. The $100 granted to the clerk makes a differ- ence of one cent per hundred dollars of valuation. School no. 2 in West THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM l8g Hurley, has but one or two scholars and at the next meeting to be held at West Hurley, August 31, the question of abolishing this school will be taken up with an opportunity for those interested to be present. — Kingston Leader, August 22, 1917 The School Tax Muddle The new school law is still puzzling the brains of the best legal talent in the county. Attorney General Lewis says he is going to sustain the law, but even if he does, it will not remove some very knotty problems. According to the school law, the town school boards must prepare their budgets and advertise them for four weeks in two papers in the town. The boards must also prepare the assessment roll, extend the tax and issue the warrant to the town tax collector. Then the taxes are to be collected under the school law which means that the taxpayers in the town districts will have to pay one per cent for the first thirty days, and five per cent thereafter. This is unfair to the taxpayer for the town collector is paid a salary to collect without fee. He will, without a doubt, turn the fees over to the town, but that won't relieve the unfairness to the taxpayers who happen to live outside the villages. After the collector finishes collecting taxes, he must make a return to the county treasurer, who will pay to the district the amount of uncollected taxes and then make a return to the supervisors who will have to assess them against the property when the next town taxes are collected. Then another muddle is that where there are adjoining districts. The law provides that the tax must be collected in the township where the school- house is located. This means for instance that if Ossining and Mt Pleasant have a joint school district and the schoolhouse is in Mt Pleasant, that John J. Hughes, who is elected by the voters of Mt Pleasant, will collect taxes in the town of Ossining. Mt Pleasant has joint districts with Ossining, North Castle, New Castle, and Greenburgh. It is plain to be seen what a mix-up it is. Then there are joint districts between the counties of Westchester and Putnam. What will happen there? No one knows yet. The law also provides that when two such districts are joined for col- lection that the assessments must be equalized and if they are not, then three weeks' notice must be given before the assessment roll can be prepared. This means that in every joint district three weeks' notice will have to be given, for no two towns have the same rating in the equalization table. The worst feature of the law to our mind is the combining of the several districts into one and making the small districts bear the burden of the large. For instance, if the tax rate in the Sleepy Hollow district is $5 per thousand and the rate in Valhalla is $10 per thousand, then the rate will be $7.50 per thousand, a great injustice to the taxpayers in the Sleepy Hollow district. It is possible that the collection of taxes in the town school districts will be delayed until after the Legislature is convened so that the law can be amended. The present school law is one of the " brightest " things the State Board of Education has pulled off in some time. — Tarrytozvn Argus, August 24, 19 17 I90 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Opposes School Law Whitesboro, Oct. 18. — School district no. 5, on Hart's Hill, registered its opposition to the new town school law at a largely attended meeting in the handsome new schoolhouse of the district and practically every taxpayer signed a petition in opposition to the law. R. H. Kroll was chairman of the meeting. Nearly all present took part in the discussion and it was the consensus of opinion that the new law works an injustice to nearly all districts. The petition will be sent to Assemblyman Louis M. Martin. Among the points brought out was that it is generally supposed that district no. 5 is benefited by the law because it has a brand new schoolhouse erected at the cost of $6500. The fact is if the district paid its just dues on the bonded indebtedness it would pay 63 cents per $100, but as an actual fact it pays $1.16 per $100. The law, which has recently gone into effect, is that the entire town shall pay equal proportions of school taxes throughout the entire town, regard- less of districts, with the exception of districts having a population of 1500. Whitesboro and Middle New York Mills are the excepted districts. Another point brought out was that each district has a trustee and these trustees at a May meeting elect the school board of five members for the town. Now, it so happens that Oriskany district, which is most benefited, has a representation of 12 trustees against nine for the remainder of the town, so that when it comes to May meeting the remainder has no voice. — - Utica Herald-Dispatch, October 18, 1917 Taxpayers to Know What Is Done with Their School Money There is one feature of the new township school law which will be appre- ciated by the common people who pay the money to run their schools in the way of itaxes. That is the provision of the statute whereby they are to be informed where their money goes — what it is spent for, how much is devoted to the various items that go to make up school expenses. That has been one of the marked defects of the old system, so far as country schools are concerned. In cities and incorporated villages the tax- payers have all along been told where their money went. Each year, if the law was obeyed, there was published a detailed account of the receipts and expenditures of the schools. These reports were scanned carefully by the people who were paying the bills. They saw how much of their money was spent for fuel, how much each teacher received, how much went for janitor service, and just what was spent to keep their educational plant running, down to the last penny. But it was not so in the case of the district school. There was no provision for rendering to the people who paid the bills any detailed account of the expenditure of the money. Those who could attend the school meetings usually found out in a general way, but there were quite a few who could not, and these had to trust to hearsay. It was a very unbusinesslike way of doing business. Fortunately the trus- tees were almost invariably strictly honest, and so could be trusted to do the business of the district in this loose fashion. But it was a poor plan nevertheless. The new township law, however, provides that the people shall be taken into the confidence of the school authorities to the fullest extent in the THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I9I transaction of the public business. The clerk of the board is directed to publish each year a budget showing just what the board desires to raise for each purpose in connection with the schools. This budget shall show, first, the estimated receipts to the school fund — the moneys from the State or other sources. It shall also show how much of this money is to be devoted to each purpose — for expenses of the board, for compulsory education, for teachers, for books and other supplies, for janitor services, fuel, light, repairs, upkeep of grounds, insurance, medical inspection, transportation of pupils, tuition of pupils sent to other districts, etc. The total of these items, less the amount received, will naturally indicate the sum to be raised by tax- ation. Thus the taxpayers will know exactly why their taxes are what they are, and will know where the money goes. Such a budget for the town of Cuba was published in the Patriot last week and will appear in this and two subsequent issues, as directed by law, in order that there may be no excuse for any one failing to have the information. The budget for other districts will also be forthcoming shortly. It is new work, and some of the boards have not been able to get their budget completed yet. This being the first year, the State authorities have advised that some leeway will be allowed in the matter of time. In the future, however, this budget is to appear before the 1st of August. This matter of publicity is regarded as one of the best features of the new law. It is right in line with the rapidly spreading theory that every taxpayer of a municipal corporation of any kind is a stockholder in that corporation, and as such is entitled to know down to the smallest detail how its business is conducted. School directors will undoubtedly be pleased with the provision, for it gives them an opportunity to explain to their constituents just what they are doing. They recognize that the money they handle is not theirs, but belongs to the taxpayers, and they will be glad to let the tax- payers see that they are conducting their business honestly and carefully. — Cuba Patriot, August 24, 1917 High Taxes Cause Much Complaint Rural communities, particularly in Washington county, complain of increased taxes caused by the operation of a new law which places rural schools of a township under the management of a single board of educa- tion. It is claimed that the increase in small districts will be heavy, due to the fact that they will be forced to assist in paying for expenses incurred in larger districts. Ordinarily the taxation in small districts has been very light, but the new group system means that many changes must be made in the school managements. The same condition applies to Rensselaer county, but it is said that the residents of the various towns favor the law because additional educational facilities can be afforded. In the town of Greenwich, Washington county, the average tax rate for the little "one teacher" school districts scattered about the town will in ail probability be doubled this season. In the districts where a high tax rate has been collected heretofore the increase will be less marked, but in no instance will a lower tax rate than that of last year prevail. The school budget for the current season calls for the raising of $10,511.12 by taxation. This amount will fall on the districts outside of the village, and it will 192 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK require a tax; rate above $8 on $1000 to raise the money. The tax will be levied and collected this fall, the work being taken care of by the town collector. An example of where the larger districts benefit by the law is shown in the case of the Thompson district in the town of Greenwich. A modern school building has been erected there and three teachers are employed. This district, as well as the one at Middle Falls, has some bonded indebted- ness, the burden of which is now shifted on the entire township. There has been an increase in the cost of operation. Teachers' wages have materially advanced and it is thought possible that some of the district schools may be eliminated. There is no doubt the operation of the new law will give rise to some severe criticism on the part of taxpayers in the smaller districts, and in some towns the objections are already showing up. In the town of Fort Edward an appeal has been taken to the State Commissioner of Education for a ruling upon the law. Fort Edward has one large district, located near the Washington county fair grounds, that comes under the operation of this law. The district has six or seven teachers and a modern school building for which the district is bonded. — Troy Record, September 8, 1917 Harvest of the Township School Bill of Senator Brown Today being the date set for the collector of school taxes to receive the same, makes it an appropriate time to note a few reflections on this much heralded scheme of Senator Elon R. Brown. Many residents of the town of Ulster have this day paid nearly twice as much in school taxes as they did last year, and this will probably make them ^inquire why this great increase when they have been given nothing in return for it. It has been said by someone that the best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it, and possibly this large increase in taxes will have the desired effect. This is also a good time to draw attention to the fact that our regular tax bill is going to be much larger than it has been before, for it is impossible for us to have $500,000 spent on a State constabulary without feeling it in our tax bills. It is impossible for us to have $25,000 spent by a Wicks com- mittee, without the farmers growing so many more potatoes to pay for it. We can not enjoy the great privilege of having a special session of the State Legislature, at an enormous cost, without doing a lot of hard work to meet the bill. And when the farmer reflects that all these enormous expenditures were absolutely unnecessary, it does not add to the joy of living or ease his aching limbs. Nor does it add to his peace of mind when those responsible for all this squandering of the hard earned money of those who have to work for it are told to get up a little earlier, work a little harder, go to bed a little later, and be patriotic. Brother grangers and fellow farmers, is the harvest of the Brown school bill sufficient to arouse you to action? Or will it be necessary for you to wait until you receive your next general tax bill with its large increases on account of the above mentioned unnecessary expenditures, together with your share in the cost of the unseemly wrangle between Brown, Barnes and Whitman with the million dollar appropriation for Brown's last food bill. The following telegram was sent by the legislative committee of the THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I93 National Grange to Senator Simmons concerning the scope of taxation to pay for the war : " National Grange is not satisfied with amount proposed on incomes and excess profits. Poor people pay the bulk of tariff and internal revenue taxes. The soldiery must largely come from the same class. You have conscripted men; you should now, in fairness, conscript excess profits." The following interesting letter criticizing the attitude of Lake Katrine Grange on its action in regard to taxation is worth studying by all who have had this question before them. The last paragraph, with the exception of the last sentence, is so correct logically and so in line with the conclusions of the Grange Committees having this work in hand, it is most remarkable the writer did not see how this statement contradicts his previous ones. As this writer says, these are knotty problems, but they are not unsurmount- able. A little careful thought with a single eye for the truth will enable anyone to arrive at a clear understanding of them. I welcome Mr Hansen's criticism and give him a cordial welcome to Lake Katrine Grange, where he will be given a full opportunity to lay before the members his conclusions. Mt Marion, October 2. Should taxation be based upon the individual ability to pay or should it be based upon the benefits society gives to the individual. These are knotty questions. The Lake Katrine Grange have decided in favor of taxing the benefits. From all accounts farms around Lake Katrine are worth a little less than the buildings and improvements could be replaced for, and taxing the land irrespective of improvements would therefore exempt the farm from taxa- tion altogether. The farmers in New York State do not pay any direct taxes to either the state or national government, and having only to pay taxes on the farm for the maintenance of roads, schools, jails and poorhouses within the county. Taxes, it seems to me, are the last things which should worry the farmer. The taxes which oppress the people are not the taxes which are collected from improved real estate, but those taxes which the consuming public is forced to pay in the form of indirect taxation. Rent is another big item which makes a big hole in the pay envelop. The annual production of a farm, I believe, is divided fifty-fifty between the man who owns the farm and the man who works the farm, and the ability of the man who gets the rent should not be taxed. And the owners of tenement houses should have the rent free from taxation, I suppose, which would be the case when the property is worth less than the cost of replacing the buildings. The value of the land should be used to pay social expenses and this value they say is the result of services rendered. How can it be true that the value of a coal mine is the result of social services? What has the value of fertile soil got to do with social services. Does anybody believe that the value of the land fronting New York harbor is produced by the social activities of the people parading up and down Broadway? 1 194 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The Lake Katrine Grange and the Pomona Grange are on the wrong track. Social services, like police and fire protection and all other kinds of pub- lic services rendered by the government, are in most cases brought about by public necessities resulting from the presence of the people and land values wherever they are found must be the result brought about by an increased demand for the land due to an increase in the population and it has nothing to do with social services. J. H. Hansen R. F. D. 4, 180, Saugerties. — Troy Evening Record, September 8, 1917 New School Law Applied in Sullivan Callicoon, Oct. 2. — A misrepresentation of the newly enacted township school law insofar as it applies to parts of districts lying in two or more towns, seem to have been made in one or two instances that have been called to the notice of the Democrat. In such instances, the old law stated, in substance, that taxes were to be levied and collected in the town in which the principal schoolhouse of the district was situated. Some seem not to be of the opinion that the township law altered such districts by making their boundaries the same as the town boundaries and, therefore, in many instances, restoring to the town many districts which had been consolidated with districts lying in other towns. The opening sentences of the new law will disprove this opinion. Section 330 opens thus : " Each school district in the State is hereby continued as such district exists at the time this act goes into effect." From this it is easily gathered that the boundaries of town districts are not altered by the change in the law. Now as to the plan of levying and collecting the school taxes. The last sentence of paragraph four of section 346 of the new education law reads : " The taxable property in the portions of such districts located in a town or towns other than the town in which the principal schoolhouse of such district is located, shall not be assessed for such purposes in such towns." A concrete example of the application of these sections is that of the Kohlertown school district which was consolidated by order of the Depart- ment of Education two years ago with the Jeffersonville district. Some of the residents of what was formerly the Kohlertown district had thought the new law restored them to the town of Delaware, for school administration pur- poses; but the section first quoted in this article makes it plain that such is not the case. The schoolhouse of this particular district is, therefore, in Jeffersonville, and the section last quoted in this article makes it fully as clear that school taxes are to be levied and collected by the Callicoon town board of education. — Port Jervis Gazette, October 4, 1917 Repeal of School Law Yorkville, Oct. 9. — Even before the new township school law, passed last May, has had a try-out, the taxpayers of Yorkville want it repealed, as emphatically expressed at the open meeting of the board of trustees last THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 195 night. Edward Jones was chairman of the meeting and Village Clerk Edward Ellmore secretary. There were about 75 present. It was brought out during the discussion that under the old law, when the Yorkville district did business by itself, the tax rate was $5.29, and this year, under the town act, it is $11.65. Members of the old board were present and asked why the increase ; also, the members of the town board were present and contended for the new tax rates as necessary, which are for the entire town, except the districts of Whitesboro and Middle New York Mills, the population of which exceed 1500. A large majority present favored the repeal of the new law, which is statewide and has been in operation for several years in adjoining states. Those opposed to the law based their opposition on the information that Assemblyman L. M. Martin had voted against it and had informed them that it was passed by but one majority. A letter from the assemblyman asking the wishes of the district was read. Frank Butterworth of the town board explained the workings of the new law. M. C. Copeland of the old board opposed the new law. Robert Cooper also objected to the higher tax rate. Mr Butterworth read the school budget adopted by the town board in August, calling for $30,768, of which $27,627 is to be raised by tax, and explained the purposes for which it is to be expended. He said the York- ville school was the poorest in the town and the poorest equipped, and that an inspection of the schools on Hart's Hill or at Oriskany would prove it. Mr Cooper moved that it be the sense of the meeting that the law should be repealed and that the chair appoint a committee of five to confer with the senator and assemblyman of this district on the matter. The majority wanted the law repealed. Mr Hughes condemned the local school and favored the new law. Robert Bryson wanted the new law given a fair trial; John G. Evans said he was satisfied with the old law, but the new law seems to be working satisfactorily in other states ; Dr H. M. Mitchell said that better schools under the new law would be provided and would cost more money; Mr Taylor favored the increased cost if the money was to be spent in Yorkville. J. Wesley Hayes, who was a member of the old board, asked if the town board expected to expend the increased amount on the schools in Yorkville. Mr Butterworth replied : " We have been in office about 60 days and you expect a new school. The old board was in office 14 or 15 years and not only built no new school, but it did not keep the roof on the old one." Mr Cooper's motion was carried and the chairman announced that he would appoint the committee within three days. — Utica Dispatch, October 9, 19 17 Assemblyman Lord and the Schools The good judgment of Assemblyman Lord is again vindicated by his vote against the township school law and by his efforts to prevent its passage. At this time when the taxpayers in this county are paying their school taxes the thought comes fresh to their minds. In most instances this law, which as we say was opposed by Assemblyman Lord, by combining all school districts in a town in one tax district has resulted in a marked increase of school taxes, and this increase has not brought a corresponding I96 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK improvement of service. Another new school bill which has caused an increase of expense in the country districts is the requirement that a physical training teacher shall attend at intervals each country school. The ordinary boy and girl in the country receives sufficient physical training by being permitted to do chores from six o'clock in the morning until school time, and by walking in some instances one or more miles to school without the necessity of indulging in calisthenic exercise. Assemblyman Lord was one of the chief sponsors of a bill to do away with this physical training teacher in the country districts. Through his efforts of the bill repealing this was passed in the Assembly, but was not passed by the Senate. It was through Assemblyman -Lord's efforts, possibly more than any other member that this measure which would have resulted in a great saving to the taxpayers was brought out upon the floor of the Assembly from the committee on education which had refused to report it, and it was passed by the Assembly, but failed of passage in the Senate. We hope that our assemblyman during the coming winter will continue his efforts to alleviate the unnecessary expense of this new bill so far as possible, and we congratulate him upon his opposition to it in the past session. — Bainbridge Republican, October II, 1917 The School Question The nominees for supervisor in the several districts of Albany county are requested to come out with plain statements, before election, in the Alta- mont Enterprise, as to their exact position on the obnoxious amendment to our existing school law that has been forced upon the farmers of New York State, and is being tried out in our county to see if we will take up with it is one, vastly increasing our taxes, with exactly the same service as before, as regards the efficiency of the schools ; and the writer might add here, the " Department of Education " has licensed and sent out some pretty rotten teachers, that we have taken up with in the past and made little or no complaint. And now the Department, as the originator of this law, is attempting to make our schools a political issue. Are we Germany? The schools are state affairs there and the people have paid taxes on even their cats, and every hen and chicken, in fact, every stick and " dud " they dared to own, until they have become — what? The world knows, at bitter, bitter cost, and we, the people of the United States, must help pay, IN TAXES, for that blunder of the German people ! The cost of the school, one of the lowered priced, where the writer lives has been raised in teachers' wages and janitor work alone about $100 more than under the regular system, with exactly the same service. Add to this the extra expense of clerk, treasurer, and cost of schools throughout the districts of the town where more teachers are required, and we have been correctly informed our taxes will be raised 75 per cent. Who can pay it? The writer knows of more than one case where a farm, if sold, would not bring $3000, and the school tax will be over $50! One-third of the value the property for schools ! The Department of Education several years ago put over a plan to give to every high school graduate who passed a certain per cent in examinations, $100 a year for four years toward a college education. So these would-be THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 197 scholars not only obtain their college tuition from us taxpayers, free, but we are paying each one $400 to live on while they are getting it! Are we really so rich and liberal? The writer knows personally of numerous cases, where these young people are the children of rich and well-to-do parents who are amply able to pay their own bills, some of them even attending exclusive and high priced colleges, which farm children sigh for in vain. When the legal adviser of the Department of Education — sitting in his magnificent office in the Education Building in Albany (no other state in the Union has such a building on so grand a scale) — answered the writer's question why this new idea was being forced upon us, he said among other things : " The country districts are so penurious, we were compelled to do it to obtain greater efficiency." Are we mean, stingy hogs? Do the 60 odd millions each year we have been helping to give to those fellows in the " government employ," heaven save the mark, look as if we have been stingy? They have the money to pay the teachers — but we have not paid any taxes for that purpose this year. Where did they get it? From the 40 millions alleged to have disappeared last year in the capitol? It is time we farmers wake up as to exactly where all this money we hand out every year goes to. Government is one thing, but should it require more than 60 million every year to run the government of New York State? A certain stenographer in the capitol once made this remark to the writer: " It would make the taxpayers' hair stand on end, if they knew where their money goes." And when that " abomination of desolation," the barge canal bill, was passed, one of the originators of it said to the writer, " Even when we were framing it, we did not expect the farmers of the State would stand for it ! " Who represents us in the government? Several years ago, when a bill was brought up to exempt farms that were mortgaged from full taxation, the monied men from New York City came up with thousands of dollars and killed the bill. How did they kill it, and why do we still have to pay full value in taxation when actually we own only half? Ask yourselves how these things are done ! Through suckers in the employ of the people ! Make no mistake about it, those who are to be supervisors : we farmers mean business. We will have enough WAR TAX to pay without excessive school taxes that, in the end, after all only tend to wean our youths away from the farms. Our old schools — when the boys and girls worked at home fall and spring, and attended school winters until they were twenty — made honorable farm men and women. We are living today to attest to the fact. Taxpayef — Altamont Enterprise, October 12, igiy The Township School Law Very many people have asked me to make a statement in regard to the township school law, that is causing so much complaint in this town owing to the unjust tax levied and now being collected. When this bill was before the Assembly, I did all I could to defeat it and voted against it. The bill was advocated and presented by the Department of Education, and was backed in the 'Legislature by the assemblymen from the city of New York, I98 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK composed of 26 Democrats and 12 Republicans. They held a conference and acted together, claiming it would reduce the number of country schools for the cities to support. Using this argument, they obtained the votes of the members from Buffalo, Troy, Albany, Greater New York, The Bronx, Westchester and Nassau counties, and five up-state men. This carried the bill over our protest by one majority. I have sent out letters to 126 former school trustees in the assembly district and so far 49 of them have replied. Of this number 45 districts are thoroughly in favor of the repeal of this law and four for its modifica- tion so as to eliminate the larger schools. This law works a great hardship on the town of Kirkland — in fact, the greatest in this assembly district — as it compels the outside districts to con- tribute to the support of the Clarks Mills school and to assume that school's indebtedness. The Clinton High School district is not within this law at all, so no blame can be attached to legislation for the high tax here. But the valuation of this district is not in the other school tax district and this leaves an unjust burden on all the taxpayers in the small school districts of the town. I am collecting all necessary data on this matter, and if reelected to the Assembly, shall take it up with all the country members of Assembly and the Governor and either repeal the law, or so amend it as to protect the taxpayers of the country districts. Louis M. Martin Member of Assembly, Second Oneida District. — Clinton Courier, Oct. 17, 1917; Vernon News, Oct. 18, i9i7 Explains Township Law Yorkville, Oct. 18. — At a meeting of the committee appointed by Presi- dent Edward J. Jones, chairman of the last citizens' meeting, Hon. Louis M. Martin of Clinton appeared and discussed in an informal way the new township school law and increased taxation. James A. Smith, chairman of the investigating committee, in introducing the speaker, in part said : " Our worthy representative at Albany, Hon. Louis M. Martin, has kindly consented to confer with this committee regard- ing the advisability of repealing or so amending the township school law as to relieve the congested conditions and difficulties arising through this method of outrageous and burdensome increased taxation." Mr Martin stated that this bill was fathered by Tammany as election ammunition to show that they were saving about $70,000 to New York City at the expense of the up-state counties. That was frankly admitted on the floor of the Assembly by Tammany leaders. It was to be managed by freezing out about 800 small country schools, which now receive about $150 apiece from New York State at large. The New York City and Buffalo representatives together with five scat- tered up-state men, none of whom were from Oneida county, carried the bill by a majority of one vote, 76 necessary to carry. The Senate being strongly controlled by the cities readily passed the bill. Governor Whitman fully THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 199 determined that the theory of the bill was correct, signed it, not realizing the outrageous taxation created. Mr Martin says that Oneida Castle, Clarks Mills, Vernon, Kirkland and New Hartford are in equal or greater difficulties. In his younger days Mr Martin taught school for eight years and has been chairman of his district school board for 14 years, so should be well qualified to amend or work for a repeal of this unjust law. Mr Martin further explained a clause of this new school law wh : ch has been completely overlooked by the local people, as follows : Each school is to be appraised and that amount is to be divided among the taxpayers of each respective district. Twenty-five per cent to be paid back in the form of due bills to be applied on future school taxes, for each of the next four years. The town board district at large to pay these moneys. This, in a wealthy district with a relatively inexpensive school, like Yorkville, taxes will be still greater than they are this year with no further educational benefits derived. Mr Martin stated that as a representative of the people from his district, he is solely interested in their best welfare and that from the individual standpoint he has every reason to be intensely interested as he himself, in his home town, was hit hard by the increased taxation. He took a firm stand and stated that if he is returned to the Legislature he will do everything in his power as a senior at Albany and a member of the judiciary and ways and means committees, to repeal or so amend the law as to prevent the tail wagging the dog in the future. He assured us that a solution of this problem could be worked out even if it had to be done by uniting the smaller units which he felt would be necessary as in all probability the law as it now stands working hardships on the people at large could be easily repealed by their representatives at Albany, as pressure would be brought to bear and a realization of high and outrageous taxation, rather than the theory of the bill, would now receive due consideration. The following members of the committee were present: Chairman James A. Smith, Secretary Robert R. Jones, Edward S. Trosset, Charles Hiller and John Wesley Hayes. — Utica Press, October 19, 1917 Hart's Hill is Indignant Whitesboro, Oct. 17. — An indignation meeting in opposition to the new township school law was held tonight in Hart's Hill, school district no. 5 of the town of Whitestown, and practically all the taxpayers signed a petition asking for the repeal of the law. The meeting was held in the schoolhouse and R. H. Kroll was named as chairman. A discussion of the law was engaged in by nearly all present, and at the close of the meeting it was the consensus of opinion that the law works an injustice on various districts and is not a just measure. The petition will be sent to Albany through Hon. Louis Martin, assemblyman, of Clinton. Among the points brought out was, that it is generally supposed that dis- trict no. 5 is benefited by the law, because it has a brand new schoolhouse erected at the cost of $6500. The fact is if the district paid its just dues on the bonded indebtedness it would pay 63 cents per $100, but as an actual fact it pays $1.16 per hundred dollars. 200 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The law, which has recently gone into effect, is that the entire town shall pay equal proportions of school taxes throughout the entire town, regardless of districts, with the exception of incorporated villages of a certain popu- lation. Whitesboro is the excepted village in this town. Another point brought out was that each district has a trustee and these trustees at a May meeting elect the school board of five members for the town. Now, it so happens that Oriskany district, which is most benefited, has a representation of 12 trustees against nine for the remainder of the town, so that when it comes to May meeting the remainder has no voice. — Utica Press, October 18, 19 17 To Test New School Law Justice Tompkins is to decide an action brought by the former trustees of school district no. 8 of the town of Greenbush to test the constitutionalty of the new town school act. The defendants are cited to appear before the Nyack jurist at Goshen on Friday. The papers attack the validity of chapter 328 which legislated the old boards out of office and created a new town school board. The court is asked to restrain the receiver from collecting taxes and the town board from usurping any of the powers of the district. Ever since the new town school law went into effect there has been much dissatisfaction because it is considered unjust. Small school districts gen- erally have had their taxes increased because they had to share the burdens of the larger ones. — Nyack Democrat, October 19, igij The new school law is going to bring trouble over in Caledonia. In towns where the village has less than 1500 population the debts of all the school districts , are bunched together and assessed against the town. Now no. 6, the Caledonia High School district, has a debt of $20,000 which people who had nothing to do with voting, must now help to pay as well as those of their own district. It is understood that ex-Congressman J. W. Wadsworth, who, owns the Street farm of 2000 acres just across the river from here and who will have to pay many hundreds of dollars of this $20,000 debt, objects and may test the constitutionality of the law. But he will not be alone, for others likewise object. The situation in Avon is entirely different. — Avon Herald, October 18, 1917 Farmers Kicking Farmers are kicking on the new state school law, which provides a town board of education and claim it will materially increase their school tax. Each school now must be provided with all necessary supplies, which are specified. In the past they were furnished if the money was available. Very often it wasn't. The schools also have to have a physical director and the high school tuition mounts up. A tax of $60 is levied for each of these pupils. Of this the State pays $20 and the remaining $40 is levied against all of the taxpayers in the district in which the pupils live. Besides, the school board has to pay salaries to its clerk, the truant officer and the treasurer. Previously the town paid the truant officer and the others gave their services free. — Oswego Palladium, October 20, 1917 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 201 The Township School Law The political opponents of E. Corning Davis are directing much criticism against him because he was one of the large majority which voted for the township school law at the time of its presentation to the State Legislature. Mr Davis's interest in this forward step in public school administration was such that his present candidacy for member of assembly deserves the sup- port of every parent of a school child and the support of every voter who believes in better things and better days for the schools. That the township system for schools is a good one and that it has the approval of the public is shown in the fact that every state east of the Mis- sissippi, except Illinois, is administering its rural and village schools under this system. Massachusetts adopted the system more than fifty years ago; Michigan more than forty years ago ; Ohio more than thirty years ago. A system that has proved so successful and satisfactory in all of our neigh- bor states is exceedingly unlikely to be the wrong system for the Empire State. It is claimed by Mr Davis's opponents that the new system has brought about an undue increase in school taxation. There has been an increase in school taxes in certain townships, but this is not due to the system itself. The township law does not specify or make compulsory any increase what- soever in taxation. The increase is due to the action of the boards of education. These groups of men, chosen according to law, have seen the only too manifest needs of the rural schools and have attempted to supply some of these needs. These needs could not be supplied without money; to secure this money taxes had to be levied. The boards of education have nothing at all to gain from any increase in taxation, since there is not one cent of salary to compensate any board mem- ber for his work and responsibility. He gives his services, and they are many, to his town. Where there has been an increase in taxation, it is because the boards have believed, as every thoughtful citizen is bound to believe, that country children in country schools are entitled to some consideration. Boys and girls in the country need as healthful, sanitary surroundings, as decent a working environment, as long a term of schooling as boys and girls in the city have. Country pupils need the benefits of a more closely organized system of education. They have too long been somewhat the sufferers of the eighteenth century, hit-and-miss, go-as-you-please district system, under which they missed examinations (school being closed), lacked materials to work and study with (though expected to gain promotion), did without sanitary and moral surroundings (though in need of these as much as any city child), studied in poor light and cross lights which strained their eyes, sat in seats which have made many stooped shoulders and crooked backs, breathed air filled with dust from a timehonored floor, wiped wet hands on a common, dirty towel, drank from a tin dipper, used by sick and well alike, lived through a good part of the year in a room only too often ugly, dismal and dirty, and finally left school not knowing why the city seemed to them a place where comfort and opportunity and every pleasant thing was to be found. 202 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK That has been the history of the country school child's life in some thou- sands of rural schools in this State. That is the failure of the antiquated, cumbrous district systerru And the township system is the remedy, the promise of a better day to come for our rural boys and girls, the day which has come to the boys and .girls in every neighboring state. The man who has supported this measure has well earned the support of every voter who believes that the country boys and girls of this State, a very great asset in the State's wealth, are entitled to as fair a chance as their play- mates in the city. — Amsterdam Recorder, October 23, 1917 Assemblyman Davis Took Right Stand N. Berton Alter, superintendent of schools of district no. 1 of Mont- gomery county, which is composed of the five western towns, upholds the position of Assemblyman E. Corning Davis in voting for the township school law, despite the fact that he differs with him politically, Mr Alter being an ardent Democrat. In a letter on the subject to the Morning Sentinel, Super- intendent Alter says I have noticed with considerable regret the articles in your paper in oppo- sition to the township law for administering rural school affairs, which went into effect August 1st. It seems that the only real point of opposition to the law is that it has increased taxes. This may or may not be true. It is true that taxes are higher this year than they were last year, and if the war continues there is every reason to believe that next year taxes will be still higher. The increased cost of milk and other farm products in- creased the amount that the teacher must pay for board, and then the teacher must have more salary, which salary, of course, must come from the farmers who are selling the milk, eggs and other farm products at advanced prices. While it is true that the increase in tax, where there is an increase, is due largely in the first supervisory district to the increased amounts paid to the teachers and that these teachers were nearly all engaged under the provisions of the law governing the old system, still some of the increase is due to improvements of a sanitary nature — the installation of sanitary toilets in the schools. We in the first supervisory district now have twenty-nine of the fifty one-room buildings equipped with sanitary toilets. Adequate drink- ing facilities are being provided and suitable facilities for washing the hands, etc., are being installed in the schools. In this day when every person prac- tically can afford an automobile, or at least a Ford, it seems that the boys and girls, the most important crop produced on the farm, ought to have adequate housing facilities. In the town of Minden last year the highest rate was $13.60 per thousand of assessed valuation; the lowest was $3.98. The rate for the whole this year is $8 per thousand assessed valuation. Ten of the fifteen teachers in this town are receiving larger salaries than they received last year. Five schools have been or will be equipped with sanitary toilets at a cost of $1400, this item alone accounting for a rate of more than $1 per thousand. The district paying the lowest rate of taxation has had its schoolhouse improved to the extent of a roof at a cost, if paid for by the individual dis- trict, of $1 per thousand. The benefits that are being derived from the law are so numerous and so distinctly visible that it seems a waste of time to enumerate a few. In many towns the term of school has been increased from 36 to 40 weeks. Certainly four weeks ought to be worth one-tenth as much as forty. Certain needed supplies never before furnished to teachers and pupils are now being sup- plied at the expense of the town boards to the schools. This item includes chalk, ink, erasers and in many cases drawing papers and supplies needed in the teaching of drawing. Paper towels and toilet paper are also being THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 203 furnished to the schools. I can remember the time when any person advo- cating providing the school with paper towels would have been set down as an escaped patient from the state hospital " somewhere in New York." — Amsterdam Recorder, October 24, 1917 The ttew Township School Law Now that the township school taxes are due, and apparently some higher than in former years, taxpayers are vigorously protesting. The reasons for the advance can be easily explained. In years past it was considered bad taste to " kick " on high school taxes, but this year with an advancement of 100 per cent or better it is said that some farmers can not drive past a " little red schoolhouse " without frowning. When the schools outside the village had its own one trustee and a teacher would ask for needed supplies or repairs the trustee could not furnish it because no provision had been made for it. Now the school board has to have the money, as the law compels them to and the law specifies just what the schools must be supplied with. Some of the taxpayers object to the "new f angled" things for the schools. Each must have a physical director now. Romping back and forth between home and school no longer is considered sufficient exercise for the children. The board is not permitted to borrow on next year's revenues. Under the new law all the money needed this year must be obtained this year. Don't blame the board or the collector, they are simply complying with one of the hundreds of new laws that were enacted at Albany last winter. — Red Creek Herald, October 25, 1917 Farmers Kicking Farmers are kicking on the new state school law, which provides a town board of education and claim it will materially increase their school tax. Each school now must be provided with all necessary supplies, which are specified. In the past they were furnished if the money was available. Very often it wasn't. The schools also have to have a physical director and the high school tuition mounts up. A tax of $60 is levied for each of these pupils. Of this sum the State pays $20 and the remaining $40 is levied against all of the taxpayers in the district in which the pupils live. Besides, the school board has to pay salaries to its clerk, the truant officer and the treasurer. Previously the town paid the truant officer and the others gave their services free. — Norzvich Union, October 25, 1917 Jas. D. Moore Urges Repeal of Machold Law Lisbon, N. Y:, Oct. 25, 19 17 Editor, News: Come up ye jolly farmer men and pay your Machold-township-school-sys- tem taxes. Don't be ugly if they happen to be a few hundred per cent higher than the old fashioned sort. Remember that, as everywhere else, so in educational matters, you can't be strictly highbrow and up-to-date unless you are willing to pay the price. Moreover, what is your loss is perhaps other people's gain. Inquire and you will probably find that in the 204 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK union free school districts nearest you the burden of taxation is lighter than under the old order of things. This is the intent of the Machold law, that a uniform tax rate by compelling you to help pay for the more expensive buildings, teachers and equipment of the village school and thus making the expense the same to you whether you send your children there or to their own district school will in time pry you loose from that " little red schoolhouse " and make you willing to be consolidated and centralized. But get the taxes paid and off your mind and be ready to welcome the appraisers when they come around to put a value upon your district property preparatory to its becoming town property. In Lisbon the supervisor, superintendent and chairman of the board all reside in one school district. No. 5, Oswegatchie is two-thirds as fortunate. It will be strange if the appraisers are not similarly distributed in other towns having village schools, since officials tend to collect in villages. This will prevent the farmers from putting off any gold bricks on their native towns, a wise provision. As soon as this transfer is once made it will, on account of its difficulty and completely never, never be unmade. But the law doesn't require that the towns take possession before next May if those who prefer the old law to the new law, get busy, there is no reason why the Machold law should not be repealed before that. As soon as the fall work is out of the way let the campaign begin. If this unjust and impractical system is not to be fixed upon us now is the time to act. Meetings should be held in every district. Town boards of education should be urged to use their influence. Town meetings should be held to protest. Our board of supervisors helped us individually and petitioned collectively to help us out. Petitions to your assemblyman and senator should be thoroughly circulated if it is to be hoped that the grange will line up more positively than before. Finegan had a hard fight to squeeze the measure through the Legislature last spring when not one farmer in ten knew what was afoot. Now that the measure is understood an aroused public sentiment will easily secure its repeal if everyone whom the law affects injuriously will do his part. If some of us who are holding offices created by the Machold law find it hard to part with our new emoluments of honors, our neighbors and fellow citizens should know how to assist us and persuade us to take the right side. Finally let those of us who are working against this law in the several towns, get into communication as soon as possible. The writer will be glad to hear from any such and to inform them in regard to what we are doing, in Lisbon. James D. Moore — Ogdensburg News, October 26, 1917 Township School Bill Hon. M. E. Tallett, our member of assembly, asks us to publish the fol- lowing letter, which we think will interest the people of Madison county: DeRuyter, N. Y., Oct. 27,1 1917. " Mr Charles H. Skelton, Editor Canastota Courant, Canastota, N. Y. " My Dear Mr S kelton : " The Courant of October 26, under the heading ' The School Law,' makes THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 205 a very fine apology for me, which obliges me to make a statement and ask you to correct that editorial, in which you say that I finally supported the bill. Here are the facts : "The township school bill is a department measure, drawn by the State Education Department. It was, together with other measures, given me by the Department to introduce, because I was chairman of the committee on education and was expected to handle the legislation of the Department. It was introduced by me in 1914 and again in 1915, but met with so much opposition that my committee refused to let the bill out of committee and therefore it did not come before the house for passage. " In 1916 I informed the Department that, owing to the opposition to the bill, I preferred not to introduce it. The bill was then given to Mr Machold of Jefferson county to introduce and it met the same fate as in 1914 and I9I5- "In 1917 Mr Machold again introduced the bill and my committee again refused to let it out, the same as in the previous three years. "A rule of the Legislature provides that at a stated time, to be named by the Legislature, about one month previous to adjournment, all bills still in the hands of the several committees of the house, which have not been passed, are taken over by the rules committee and such legislation as that committee deems of importance and for the best welfare of the State, is let out and placed on the calendar for final passage, or a vote of the house. The township bill was let out by the rules committee in the last days of the session and received, as I remember it, seventy-eight ' ayes,' while seventy- six ' ayes ' is the least that will carry any bill. I did not vote for the bill and felt that I could not properly represent the rural portion of my county if I did so. "While the measure was favored by the State Grange, there was but one local grange in the county in favor, so far as I could learn. All other granges in the county, from which I heard, were opposed. " The rural part of the State was against this measure, but Buffalo, Roch- ester, Albany and enough of New York City came across to get the seventy- six votes necessary to carry the bill. " While I have conscientiously opposed the measure for four years, I consented under pressure to become the chairman of the township board of DeRuyter, and am using my best efforts to make it a success. There are several amendments which I have in mind that will make the measure more workable and less burdensome and should I be returned to the Legislature, I hope to be able to have them adopted. "It has been my highest aim to represent the majority of my constitu- ents in all matters, and so long as I am honored by being made their representative, their will and not mine, will prevail with me. " Thanking you for your courtesy, believe me, " Very sincerely yours "M. E. Tallett" — Canastota Journal, October 31, 1917 ; DeRuyter Gleaner, November I, 1917 206 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Did Not Vote for Township School Bill When the township bill was passed in the Assembly both of the Steuben county representatives, Hon. R. M. Prangen of Hornell and Hon. S. E. Quackenbush of Corning voted against the measure. Reports have been circulated by unscrupulous persons that Mr Quackenbush voted for the measure and in order 'to put at rest such rumors especially in the first dis- trict where the circulation is more persistent Mr Quackenbush has issued the following letter : Corning, N. Y., Oct. ig, 1917 Editor Corning Daily Journal: It having come to my knowledge that a report was being circulated that I voted for what is known as the township school bill; Assembly bill no. 2235, int. no. 911, I hand you a copy of official vote taken on that measure which as you will observe records me in the negative. In justice to myself and also to the people of the first assembly district of Steuben, I felt it my duty to send for copies of this vote that it might be known that such report now being circulated was absolutely false and unwarranted. I am loath to believe that anyone in this district would maliciously circu- late such a report but am rather of the opinion that it is an honest mis- understanding of two separate and distinct school bills which were before the Legislature at the same time. I did vote for what is known as the Senate Lockwood bill, no. 2147, int. 491, which relates to boards of educa- tion in cities and has nothing whatever to do with township or rural districts. Believing the people of this district should be given the facts and being desirous of correcting an honest misunderstanding if such, I respectfully ask you to give this space in your valuable paper. I will add further, that I confidently look for the repeal of the township school bill, at the coming session. Very respectfully yours Samuel E. Quackenbush — Addison Advertiser, November 1, iqi? Disapprove of School Township Law A public meeting was held Saturday afternoon at 3 o'clock in the common council chambers for a discussion of the school township law, of which the farmers of the county do not seem to approve. Assemblyman E. Corning Davis, who supported the bill, was present, as was also Walter D. Elwood, superintendent of the second district. There were about 60 farmers present, and up to 3.30 o'clock fully ten had spoken at greater or less length, all being against the law as it operates in their districts. They were especially bitter against the introduction of physical culture in the rural schools, and the whole trend of opinion was that while the law might be good, and the township system beneficial, if all its provisions were introduced gradually, the arbitrary manner in which the increased expenses are forced upon them all at once, by the supreme power of the Board of Regents, is unbearable. The general sentiment was that the law ought to be repealed. A letter was read from the secretary of the State Grange, saying that the law was THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 207 originally framed and approved by the grange, but was so amended that the original ideas were lost, and as it stands it is not a grange measure. — Amsterdam Recorder. — Coblcskill Index, November 8, 1917 Dislike New School Law Canandaigua, Nov. 16.— The provisions of the new township school law is causing much discussion among grangers of this county and some drastic action may be taken as a result of various meetings being held both within the granges and without. The next meeting of Canandaigua Grange, to be held November 28th at Woodmen's hall, will be given over almost entirely to a discussion of the law, and a committee consisting of Warner J. Simons, Sidney J. Hickox and R. Melvin Pierce, appointed at the last grange meet- ing, will report at the coming meeting after holding a conference with a committee from the eastern part of the county. The annulment of the law is sought by many of the grangers for the reason that it has saddled heavy tax burdens on many of the residents of rural school districts which they are unwilling to bear because they have no benefits additional to those they hitherto enjoyed, and on the contrary many of them are put to much trouble and expense in that their children have to go farther to school than they previously did. — Rochester Democrat, November 17, 1917 Royalton Shies at New School Law Lockport, Nov. 19. — The first of the Niagara towns to take public excep- tion to the new township school law passed by the last Legislature is Royal- ton, where strong opposition has been brewing the past few weeks since' it became known among the taxpayers in the small school districts that they would have to pay from two to five times as much school tax as under the old law, by which each district paid its own tax separately. At a meeting of over 200 taxpayers from various parts of the town held at Good Templars hall, Royalton Center, at which vigorous addresses were made by well known residents, resolutions were adopted condemning the new law and calling for a committee to take steps to secure its repeal at the coming session. A committee consisting of Prof. Wallace F. Droman of Griswold street, Herbert Sprout of the Lewiston road and Carlos Campbell was named. W. J. Kennedy of Middleport was chairman of the meeting and Ernest Campbell acted as secretary. — Buffalo Courier, November 20, 1917 Farmers Raise Objections Farmers are kicking on the new state school law, which provides a town board of education and claim it will materially increase their school tax. Each school now must be provided with all necessary supplies, which are specified. In the past they were furnished if the money was available. Very often it wasn't. The schools also have to have a physical director and the high school tuition mounts up. A tax of $60 is levied for each of these pupils. Of this the State pays $20 and the remaining $40 is levied against all of the taxpayers in the district in which the pupils live. Besides, 208 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK the school board has to pay salaries to its clerk, the truant officer and the treasurer. Previously the town paid the truant officer and the others gave their service free. — Palladium. — Mexico Independent, November I, 1917 Kicking Over School Law The people of Sullivan county are generally kicking over the township school law. In some localities it has doubled the taxes. It has taken the management of the schools from the people of the locality and put it in the hands of a committee, and the committee in some cases is unsatisfactory. Who is responsible for that law? The Republican Governor; the Repub- lican Senate and the Republican Assembly. Merritt, the Democrat from Sullivan, voted against it. — Liberty Gazette, November l, 19 17 Richford's Stand on New Law for Township Schools In response to a letter from the secretary of the Dairyman's League to John J. Richford, the Fusion candidate for member of assembly, asking him for a statement of his position on the new township school law Mr Richford has written the following answer: " Ehnira, N. Y., Oct. 31, 1917 "Mr Archie Turner, Secy, Horseheads, N. Y. " Dear Sir : I am in receipt of your letter in regard to the new township school law. I am enclosing a copy of my answer to a letter from Mr M. H. Hewitt on October 22d. My opponent is endeavoring to make capital for himself by extensively advertising his answer to a similar letter. " Personally I intend to be perfectly frank with the voters. I would rather state my lack of information on issues with which I am not familiar and trust to the fair-mindedness of the voters to see that a man who comes before them for public office, if he is square and honest, will be equally fair with his constituents after he is elected. I have said in reply to letters on other subjects that the wishes of my constituents would have first con- sideration in determining my attitude on matters of this character. "As I have talked with others about this school law I find only opposition to it on the part of the people in the rural districts. This is borne out by the feelings which you state exist in the Grange and Dairyman's League. If this accurately represents the feeling of the taxpayers and have no reason to feel that it does I would vote and work for restoration of the old law if an opportunity presents itself. " Trusting that this information covers the point in question, I am, " Sincerely yours "John J. Richford" The following is the letter to Mr Hewitt, referred to above : '"Elmira, N. Y., Oct. 24, 1917 " Mr M H. Hewitt. " Dear Sir: Your letter of the 226. at hand this morning. In reply would say I spent some time out in the country yesterday and in conversation with a farmer learned for the first about the change in the school law. This THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 20O, gentleman and others with whom I talked informed me that the new law was working an injustice upon them by doubling their school tax and giving them no better school facilities than they enjoyed under the old plan. If this is the fact, and it should also appear that under the old plan the funds raised were adequate to support the school system, the new plan must be working an injustice. Knowing nothing about the matter, as I do, I am unable to answer your question intelligently. But of this you may be sure. I would not favor the retention of the new law if in its practical operation it is shown to be unfair to the people in the rural districts. I am glad you have called this matter to my attention as I regard it as very important. " Very sincerely yours "John J. Richford " — ■ Elmira Advertiser, November 2, igiy Not the Right Time for Radical Rural School Changes Rural centralized school law has been opposed by country people from the outset. Theoretically it has seemed good in some respects, but in prac- tice it is proving costly and unsatisfactory — and it is only getting into opera- tion. Assemblyman Brush, who has been in conference with some of his colleagues, is prepared to introduce a bill for the repeal of the law. The measure is too radical in what it contemplates and should be laid aside for consideration after the war, when those affected will have an opportunity to weigh its merits and demerits and decide whether they want it put into effect. — Newburgh News, November 3, 1917 Brickbats for Education Law The meeting of representative taxpayers of the county, which was held at the common council chambers yesterday afternoon was largely attended. The following officers were elected : J. H. Faulknor, of the town of Glen, president, and Charles E. DeGraff, of this city, secretary. The township education law was given a severe grilling by the men present. Arguments, pro and con, were advanced, but the most of the pro arguments came from Assemblyman E. Corning Davis, who tried to defend his position on the bill by saying that he gave it his support, inasmuch as he did not receive any letters from the Montgomery county taxpayers ask- ing him to do otherwise. District Superintendent of Schools Walter Elwood, was present and answered several questions as to what was done with the money raised by means of the school tax. It was brought out that while the salary budget has been increased by a considerable margin, the salaries of few of the teachers have been increased. Organizations are being formed in every county of the State, with the object in view of getting before the next Legislature, measures calculated to either reduce this law, or cause its repeal entirely, and a committee was appointed to meet with the representatives of these other county organiza- tions and frame up some measure of relief. No petitions are to be circulated or presented to the Legislature. The local committee is composed of the following men: W. Barlow Dun- lap, Amsterdam, chairman; Frank Hotaling, Amsterdam, and Boyd H. Devendorf. — Amsterdam Sentinel, November 4, 19 17 2IO THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Careful Study of New School Law The new township school law, its promoters and advocates, are being subjected to much unjust and unfair criticism. A little thoughtful study of the intents and purposes of this law would remove much of the prejudice, in certain quarters, against it. This law provides for a single board of education which is responsible for all of the schools in a township. This board has a much heavier responsi- bility than the former district trustees had in their respective territories. A board with twelve or more districts to look after has a much bigger task than a trustee with a single district. The law consequently places a larger measure of power, both financial and supervisory, into the hands of this new board than could justly have been placed into the hands of the district trustees. Since tax is levied to cover the needs of all the schools in the town, according to a town budget, the rate of tax logically becomes uniform throughout the town. Some assert that it is unconstitutional and unfair for small districts to have to help support larger and more expensive schools. Here is a district with a one-room school; adjoining it is a district with a two-room school. Both schools have the same assessed valuation. It is asserted that the one- room district's obligation, under the township law, to help support the two- room school is inherently unfair. To begin with, this is an exceptional case. Almost without exception, the larger school has a correspondingly larger valuation. Let us suppose, however, that all the districts, whether with large schools or small schools, had an equal valuation, and that the small school districts generally had to contribute toward the upkeep of the larger schools. Let us suppose that this arrangement is unfair. Our first step, then, is to refuse the $2000 or so of public money to which the town is entitled. By accepting it we are working an injustice of the rankest sort upon the people in the cities of this state, for they furnish eighty per cent of the public money given to the rural schools. If it is unfair for the small school, in this hypothetical case, to help support the larger school, it is equally unfair for the people in the cities to help support the rural schools. We hear no complaint, however, from the cities about the eighty per cent of public money which they contribute to the country schools. It is all a question of responsibility. If we are responsible for the educa- tion and welfare of ;the children only in our district, why is it that the state tries to help the poorest districts most by giving them a much larger amount of public money? According to the argument of those who say that the! township system is unjust because they have to help support dis- tricts other than their own, and who say that poor and neglected schools should take care of themselves, it is wrong that our districts with the least valuation should receive the most public money; it is wrong that any dis- trict should receive any public money. Let each district take complete care of itself. According to this same argument, it is wrong that we should pay any- thing toward the building of roads over which we are not likely to travel. If each district had been left to build its own roads, New York State's splendid system of macadam roads would be what today? According to the argument, Ave have no responsibility either for the bridges, hospitals, prisons, normal schools and state colleges outside our own district. What THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 211 would New York State be today, if the people objected to paying anything for public institutions outside their own district? If our responsibility for the sick, the poor, the criminal, the insane, the tubercular, and for our public wealth as found in river, forest, fish, and game, extends beyond the boundary lines of our own district, why shouldn't our responsibility for one of our very greatest forms of state wealth, our boys and girls, extend beyond our small school district? Anything that we can do to help the children, whether in our school district or out of it, is a public benefit; the community will enjoy the reward. And in this day and age, our community is something much bigger than our school district. Some assert that our rural schools today are in a very poor condition, that the children don't learn as they used to in the good old days, that teachers of quality are no longer obtainable as they were in the golden age, some thirty or forty years ago. If that is true, what is to blame but the old district system itself? The: 1 old district system was in effect throughout the State until August I, 1917. Certainly the township system is not to blame for any poor scholarship or poor teaching that may be found in the rural schools today. The township system can't accomplish in three months what the old district system could not accomplish in one hundred and twenty- two years. Some claim that the district system, being such a good, old system, estab- lished in 1795, is good enough for anybody today. If a 1795 school system is so good, just because it is so old-fashioned and venerable, why don't we go back to equally old-fashioned and venerable systems of transportation, farming and living? If the township system is too modern for any common use, because it promises a more efficient school system and somewhat better schools, why do we so disregard the hallowed past as to buy ourselves automobiles, harvesters, reapers, gas engines, as to have telephones in our houses and macadam roads past our doors, as to travel in railway coaches and on steamboats? When we discard all of these modern conveniences we can consistently object to the township law on the grounds of its being too modern, and consequently too expensive. These modern conveniences cost money. We have no objection. Why should we object because a modern school system with decent schools is going to cost some money? It will be our schools and our children who will receive the benefit, just as we receive the benefit of our automobiles and good roads, and up-to-date machinery. And our children are entitled to a good schoolhouse as much as the family car is to a good garage or the choice blooded heifer to its comfortable quarters. A painted schoolhouse is no worse than a painted dwelling; a schoolhouse with modern toilets is no more a crime than a private house with a bath room, for instance. — Amsterdam Evening Recorder, November 5, 1917 Rural School Question The democrats have started an eleventh-hour hunt among rural voters against republican members of assembly in this section of the State, who voted for the township school bill. The bill itself is a move in the right direction. It has been apparent for many years that with changed condi- tions the district school was not giving to the rural section as good an 212 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK opportunity for education as children had in cities and villages, although public schools are largely maintained by state funds. This was unfair to the country districts and destructive of the best interests of the State. Nothing is more essential than the maintenance of a high standard of citizen- ship among the rural population. In no other way will the rural population consent to continue to perform its duty on farms. This bill, originally prepared by the Education Department at Albany, was amended and modified to suit the wishes of the rural interests and was indorsed by the State Grange before it was passed by x let it pass?— Auburn News, December 7, IQ16 Don't Like School Law Wilson, Dec. 6. — One hundred taxpayers living outside the union district In the town have adopted a resolution of protest against the provisions of the township school law. Criticism of the law was made by speakers on the. ground, that the uniformity of the school tax throughout the town increases the tax for residents living outside the union district. These resi- dents object to assisting those living within the confines of the district to maintain the high school. Protest was also made against the law requiring the services of a physical training instructor at a salary of $1000 a year and also that inside chemical lavatories be installed in all district schools before September 1, 1018, at an expense of $3500. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 229 A committee consisting of W. Glenn Swick, Charles A. Wilson and G. E Burmaster will confer with an attorney and plan a course of action. This committee will report at an adjourned meeting to be held on Saturday after- noon. — Buffalo Express, December 7, 1917 Disapproves School Law The following resolutions regarding legislative matters were presented by Mr Webb and passed : " Whereas, The new school law known as the township school bill has been tried in this county with the result of markedly increasing taxation? without improving service and, " Whereas, The employment of a physical training teacher to drill pupils physically in the country districts is in our opinion unnecessary; now therefore, "Be it resolved, That we request our representatives at Albany to seek the repeal of both statutes, and introduce bills before the Legislature asking the repeal thereof and be it further resolved that we approve the attitude of Hon. Bert Lord on these questions as heretofore expressed by him in his votes thereon." — Norwich Sun, December 7, 1917 The Rural School Trouble After years of agitation and debate a general education law was enacted last spring. It was called the Finegan bill when on its passage. That was because Dr Thomas E. Finegan, Assistant Commissioner of Education, was the chief draftsman of the bill and its most conspicuous expounder and defender, although the bill was drawn under the eye of Commissioner Finley and approved by the Board of Regents. The point :of the law that is of most in ihe towns is the change from the old district system to the town system. There were from eight to thirty-six districts in a town, according to the size of the town, and each district had a board of trustees who considered nothing but their own district. Now the town is the district, with single school board and .power over both the tax levy and the placing of pupils in the schools. It is the complaint of a number of districts that the plan increases their taxes. That is not disputed. One result of the law is the union of many districts so that better teaching and better housing may be secured than was the case in many of the former districts, some of them with no more than 10 pupils and .those of all ages within school limits, so that a teacher must handle all the grades in the course of the day, and thus be able to give hardly more than ten i minutes to a recitation. It is needless to say that too much of the rural teaching was too poof to be endured and the effort at reform began years ago with the substitution) of the county superintendent for the school commissioner who was hardly ever an educator but usually a good fellow, with a warm heart and hearty handshake, and delight in " mixing." In short, a politician liking the money far oftener than he was a competent school leader and inspiration to study. Without going into the subject at length today it may be said with perfect truth that the school law is the result of many compromises. It is the 230 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK purpose of the state authorities in education to find out wherever the law is at fault in its application, taxes and all, and to correct it as quickly as the legislature can be moved to cure defects discovered. Where a district used to pay too little to have a good school and finds its taxes raised by the new law, there is a protest of vigor. Where the opposite effect is the case, and is the majority of districts as far as reported, there is approval or silence. Every district should seek to have the right thing done and it will be done in time. The School District Issue Every rural county has more or less of a school district question under the new township law on the subject. The sore point with many districts is taxes, since there is an increase in taxes in the districts from which complaints arise. The reason for higher taxes in certain districts is due to the fact that in a former district with large valuation the school tax was naturally small. In the smaller district with less property to tax, the rate for schools was higher than in the big district, for the teaching itself must be up to State standard in all districts, large and small. Now that each town is made one district for school purposes as well as others, there is one rate for all property owners in the same town. But equalization works both ways, that is, to raise taxes in a district that was especially favored before, and to lower them in districts with the opposite fortune. At once there is an outcry from persons in low tax districts and protests fill the air, though the great majority of both citizens and districts make no complaint. Some critics of the law have not read it or have but half read it. They insist, for instance, that the little red schoolhouse, long the refuge of the spellbinder when he had no ideas to express, shall not go. The law reads that " each school district in the State is hereby continued as such district exists at the time this act goes into effect or until modified as provided in this chapter. No order consolidating two or more districts shall be effective until such order is approved by a majority vote of the town board of educa- tion of the town or towns in which such districts are located, and thereafter approved by a majority vote of the qualified electors of each district." So the sacred little red schoolhouse stays until the district itself changes it. Not a hair of its old gray head is touched except by the deliberate action of those who live in it. They are ill informed or very careless of the truth who assert the contrary, that is, if they are able to read the statute quoted above. Some solid objections have been raised to the working of the law but none to the principals of it. The defects can be cured and will be remedied as fast as the Legislature will permit. But the objections of the mossback who is lost in admiration of the shanty that bore the name of schoolhouse are unworthy of consideration. Without grades, or equipment, or ventilation, or good teaching, except for short intervals, and then by chance, without much of anything except four walls, four windows and a door, the shame of the State in hundreds of districts is passing away not to return.— Geneva Daily News, December 12, 1917 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 23I The Township School Law To the Editor of the Recorder: Sir: No legislation enacted in recent years has been so bitterly attacked an certain quarters as has the township school law, lately put in effect in the ■sciXTa.1 districts of the State. It has been assailed by interested indi- «yi«faals as being a monstrous, unjust and oppressive tax law, discriminating against the farmers and adding to the already heavy financial load which Shey are carrying in these trying times. Attacks on new legislation are to be expected during the heat and rancor of a campaign such as we have just $>assed through. The principal ammunition of the party in opposition is obtained by assailing and misrepresenting new and untried legislative enact- ments, but even after the election clamor has died down, the self-centered •opponents of this law are determined to carry on with their efforts to •destroy it, and secure a return to the old school district system. Though &e law does not in any way affect the city of Amsterdam, the opposition •seems largely to have centered there. Meetings have been held in the city to denounce the bill, committees organized and statements sent forth through the press, which have no doubt influenced many well-meaning persons to -misjudge the character and affect of the law. I feel free to say that the law lias never been expounded as to its scope and effect in any of these state- ments. It has been denounced as an unjust and tyrannical means of taxation -weighing heavily on an already overburdened section of the community. There is not an atom of truth in this contention. The school law is in no •semse a tax measure. It simply consolidates the weak and scattered school .districts in each country town under one board of education, just as all the ^schools are in the city, thereby strengthening them, giving them uniformity of government, and absolutely equal treatment in all matters educational. 'This is what the law does, and all it does. The question of expenditures, that is, the amount raised and spent on the schools is left entirely to the •town board of education, within certain prescribed limitations just as it is with the board of education in your city. This' board in the country towns -will naturally be controlled by the non urban population as the majority of the inhabitants who have the power to elect members of the board reside otstside of the villages. At least this is so in the town of Mohawk, where -only two of the five trustees live in Fonda. If the tax rate is too high in 3ray town for educational purposes, it is in the power of the voters to regulate that, by electing at the annual school meeting, trustees in sympathy -with their views. As a matter of fact the additional taxation of which com- plaint is made is not an imposition but a rectification of a condition which 'had become almost intolerable in the State outside of the cities. For years the small villages have kept ahead of the other school districts in the town- ship. The educational standard has been raised, graded schools and high schools have been built and maintained at heavy sacrifice financially. The Ibfflrden on these small communities has been a severe strain but has been stobly and uncomplainingly carried for the benefit of the coming generations. "The farmers have had all the advantages of these village schools with none of the cost. The farmer's child had the same educational opportunities as the village child. Indeed, at the annual graduating exercises in the Fonda Migh School it is no uncommon sight, as happened last year, to see a majority 232 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK of the graduates from the outlying districts of the town, where not one dollar was raised for the support of the school. This condition is remedied under the new school law. There are no separate districts. The town board of education controls and maintains all the schools in the township from the Fonda High School to the little red schoolhouse at Albany Bush, which is just as it should be. All children are on the same plane and the taxpayers of the town are assessed equitably for the support of the schools. Possibly coming at this time, in an era of high taxation such as we have never before experienced, this change may strike rather hard on those whom it most effects. However, with absolute control over the educational expendi- tures of his township and perfect equality in educational opportunity for his children the farmer cannot justly charge the new education law with being in any way unfair, unjust or oppressive. It is a .good law and a great step forward in the country districts. Yours sincerely, Henry Kelly Fonda, N. Y. — Amsterdam Evening Recorder, December 12, igi/ A big kick is being registered by rural residents on the new school law and we understand one Geneseo land owner has decided to contest the con- stitutionality of the law in the courts. Under the new law each town has a school board and the town becomes a unit, except in districts of over 3000 inhabitants where high schools .are located and taxes in county districts are very materially increased. Each school now must be provided with all necessary supplies, which are specific. The schools also have to have a physical director and the high school tuition mounts up. A tax of $60 is levied for each of these pupils. Of this the State pays $20 and the remaining $40 is levied against all of the taxpayers in the district in which the pupils live. Besides, the school board has to pay salaries to its clerk, the truant officer and treasurer. Previously the town paid the truant officer and the others gave their services free. — Mount Morris Union, December 13, 1917 The New School Law under Finley The Legislature will be called upon to make a revision of the new school law. Strong protest against some of its provisions has gone up in the country districts, especially. The Cayuga county board of supervisors favors its revision. People generally in the townships appear to be dissatisfied with its operation. One of the main objections is found in the unwonted increase in school taxes under the new law. One farmer in this county is -said to have paid on 200 acres of land a school tax of $50. Elsewhere extortionate increases are cited. In the town of Clay, Onondaga county, the rate advanced from $2.30 per thousand to $7.43 per thousand. Farmers object to going on the same plane of heavy taxation their city brethren have long occupied, even if the benefits could be measured in tangible improvements in the schools. But the objectors maintain that improvements in the schools are not com- mensurate with the increased cost. The idea of combining the district schools and sending pupils from a wide territory to a central school is THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 233 ■declared not to work out in practice. School officialdom is asserted to have been complicated, the new law having added two salaried employes to each district board — a departure that helps boost the taxes. The number of superintendents has been greatly increased, Cayuga county having numerically more superintendents than under the old regime, which, many declare to have been more satisfactory. Educators who claim to have studied the situation still maintain, that the new law is bound to prove beneficial and that time, should be given to determine results. Educational conditions in the country districts, they urge, long have been below, par; and they say the law was. designed to place country and city children on a footing more, nearly equal. In short, the " little red schoolhouse " has received, some very severe jolts from the professional educators, who maintain that the instruction received there has not been sufficient to equip sturdy young America from the farms for. competition with the product of city schools. No good reason has. been cited why an industrious student could not obtain the rudiments of an educa- tion as well in a "little red schoolhouse" as in the higher halls of. learning; and to protests that presidents have been educated in loghouses and captains of industry have graduated from the plow-handle and the country store they say with great superiority that all this has changed. No longer may captains of industry be bred without a sheepskin, and as for presidents, they gradu- ate from college chairs. The contest between the educators and the farmers who are sour on soaring school taxes, modern education and the trimmings, promises to wax warm at the forthcoming legislative session. — Auburn Advertiser, December 13, 1917 The Township School System The. board, of supervisors has gone on. record as opposed to the existing township school, system and. asks the legislative representatives to obtain its repeal. The township school law certainly has operated to increase the taxes of many of the residents of the country towns. The Journal some time ago called attention to the fact that the school taxes in the. town of Harmony were over. $10 per thousand while the taxes in. Jamestown were : only a trifle over $12 per thousand, and the contrast between what Jamestown has to show for this expenditure and what Harmony has to show, really sug- gests the question as to why the Harmony taxes should be so high. As a matter of fact the Harmony taxes, are as reasonable as the taxes of many of the other country towns ; which are working under this township system. Consequently it is no wonder that the taxpayers of the back, dis- tricts are not specially enthused over the existing situation. In Harmony for example there is a long stretch of the lake front covered with summer cottages., all of which are assessed at relatively as high a figure as any property in Jamestown. This summer property has to help pay for the maintenance of the excellent schools of Panama and Ashville and in one. of the. districts the children, of school age are actually sent to the Chautauqua school which is more convenient and easy of access, their street car fares being paid, of course from the school funds. Under such cir- cumstances the benefit of the Panama and. Ashville schools to this particular locality does not seem very great. 234 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK This of course is only a single locality. Residents of Panama and AshvilUe and vicinity derive a benefit from this plan because the summer property of Chautauqua lake is helping to pay for the maintenance of their schools. To be sure the summer property is expected to help pay for the main- tenance of schools somewhere but in the case cited if assessed by the school' district for the actual expense of sending those of school age to school it is safe to say the assessment would be considerably less. We are not saying that the township system is wrong. We should be glasi to know that it is the most desirable, but so far as cursory observatioBi goes, it does seem as tho the rural schools might be conducted for less- than they are conducted at present. It is true the country school districts are scattered over a wide stretch of territory and the Jamestown school districts are compact and thickly populated, but it is equally true that tfoe expense of equipment and maintenance of the rural schools is, or should hs*. much less than the expense of equipment and maintenance of the James- town schools. As a matter of fact in some of the large villages the buildis*g» are as elaborate and the equipment as expensive as in Jamestown but alf the people of the country towns can not have the advantages of the large- schools in the villages. They must still use the little old red schoolhouse and it does not seem quite just that they should be required to pay for tic- educational facilities provided their neighbors more fortunately located. — Jamestown Journal, December 14, 1917 Rural School Reforms Attention is called to the article on the township school law reprinted from the Jefferson County Journal of Adams. It appears in full on this- page today. The article seems to be one of the best statements in behalf of the new school law that has been published. Numerous adverse com- ments have been printed from time to time. Most of them have beew based on the increased tax rate occasioned by the new order of things,. but the Journal article presents the question in a broad way and should! receive careful study. The township school law, now in operation about four months, is a reform? that should have come many years ago. It can not be expected that it will supplant the old system without complaint on the part of many. We always revere the old order and are slow to take on the new, especially when we have to pay more for the new. We are wont to say that the old' was used a hundred years, consequently it is good enough for a period of years to come. This logic is hardly well founded. The fact that the oM' district school law continued so long does not argue that it should not change now. We have advanced far during recent years. The country" schools have remained practically stationary. The district school date- back nearly to the pioneer days. It is time that a change came. The law probably has its defects. But defects like those urged against this measure should not condemn the whole law. The Legislature the- coming winter can amend. That is what the St Lawrence county board? of supervisors asks. The Canton board has gone on record as against the repeal of the law. Four months is too short a trial to condemn any measure of this character, especially in view of the fact that there seems? THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 235 to be general admission that the efficiency of the country schools has advanced far under the Machold law. It is unfortunate that the measure did not become a law long ago, or at a time when affairs were in a more settled state than now. But this is no argument against the measure itself. All prices are higher, fuel, the salary of the teacher, the school supplies, and a higher tax rate would have been necessary under any condition at this time, although probably not as much as the inauguration of this new system has resulted in. But this is no argument against the measure. The fact that the Jefferson county edu- cators frankly say the efficiency of the country schools has increased 25 per cent during this short trial is a stable argument for the merits of the new measure. Schools are to educate and to educate well. Good systems always cost more than poor systems, but the country dweller will see the desira- bility of paying for the best. No law is perfect as passed. But this law is improving rural education, and that was why it was adopted. It is entitled to a fair trial. It is con- fidently believed that with that fair trial the system will be given its proper place as a most beneficial piece of legislation. The condemnation now seems to be based not upon any charge that the educational advantages and effici- ency have not been increased, but upon the fact that in some districts tax rates have been increased. Yet the rural children seem to need the high school education, and it is not just clear why the village districts should furnish the buildings and equipment and hire the teachers, the State pay the tuition of the rural children, and rural patrons bear none of the burden of maintaining these academic schools. It is, however, much to be regretted that the township system was not adopted 25 years ago, before the great majority of our academic schools were established; then many of them would have been located where they would better accommodate the rural children of the township or unit. Just how much of this outstanding bonded indebt- edness in the union free school districts should now be assumed by the other districts in the township or unit is a question worthy of careful study. In comparing tax rates in any district under the new law comparison should be made with what would have been the tax rate in that district under the old law this year, and not with the tax rate of last year. The new law is hardly to be blamed because there is a serious shortage of teachers this year and teachers' salaries in rural schools are from $1 to $3 higher per week than last year ; nor is the new law to blame because coal and wood are hard to get at all and cost much more than last year; nor because all lines of school supplies cost more than a year ago. We fail to find only a small percentage of the increase in school tax rates due directly to the new law. But under all the wartime conditions this year we wonder what would have been the school tax rates in many weak districts under the old law. About 1300 districts in the State had each only $20,000 or less of taxable property to support a school ; and about 3800 districts had each only $40,000 or less of taxable property; now, if the township law is repealed, what will be the school tax rates in those districts? What relief is proposed for them in place of that afforded by the township law? Some feel that the township law results in a loss of local control over the community school, while others take the view that the power of the 236 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK school meeting voter has really been extended, and he now has a voice at the annual town or unit school meeting in the school affairs of the whole township or unit, instead of simply his local district. The board of edu- cation: is hereafter to be elected at the annual town or unit school meetings, and: if the opponents of the new law have as much: interest in school mat- ters as they prof ess it ought not to be difficult to secure the election of: boards of education: that will conserve, rural interests. In these days of automobiles, state roads, telephones, rural mail delivery, etc., boards, should be able. to look after, every school reasonably well if they will. work : through committees, like: the 1 union free school boards. It ought not to be necessary to call the whole hoard together every time a box of chalk or a new broom is needed. The township law has: been in full effect only about four months, now and this during the trying times of war. It looks like child's play to demand the repeal of the law before it has had anything like a full and fair trial. Some amendments are doubtless needed:; we fail to recall many new laws that have been entirely satisfactory without some changes. It would seem worth, while to remember that every adjoining, state has had a township school. law for years, and. not one of them has ever returned to the district system. The district system originated in Massachusetts, but was discarded there, for the. township, system about 35 years ago; and the master of the state grange wrote us last winter that he would regard a return to the district system as a long stride backwards. The state constitution makes it the duty of the Legislature to provide a " system of free common schools wherein all the children of the state may be educated." Public schools are state institutions, not merely local ones. The State is regulating them more and more closely, and school •expenses, like, all others these times, are on the increase. Why not quit lighting the. township, law and all unite in one big campaign for an increase in the. amount: of . puhlic: money paid by the: State for the support of our schools? While New York State pays much toward the. support of her schools, you may be surprised to know that she is not. one. of the most liberal states: in. her per capita allowance for educational purposes. — Water- Sown Times, December 15, 1917 The Township School Law Our local union free school district having more than 1500 population does siot come under- the new township school law, hence we have no particular prejudice in the matter. But what concerns man}'- of our' readers interests the Journal, and numerous criticisms of the law appearing in some of our daily papers have led us to consider the matter somewhat. The principal objections raised against the law seem to be: 1. — That rural school tax rates are higher. 2. — That the bonded indebtedness of a union free school district should not be assumed by the township or unit of which it is a part. 3. — That local control is lost over the community school. 4. — That' it is difficult to administer the law so as properly to' care for each and every school. The question seems to us a little different in a town or unit having no academic school from what it is in a town or unit having one or more of THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 237 such schools to support. Where the schools of a township or unit are all of the same grade, all elementary, why isn't a uniform school tax rate just as fair and equitable as a uniform tax rate for roads and bridges, the support of the indigent poor, and other usual town expenses? There were some gross inequalities in school tax rates under the old district system, due largely to the great differences in the amount of taxable property in the different districts ; wealthy rural districts generally had a moderate or low tax rate, and most of these are. now paying a substantial increase jinder the new law. We have in mind two schools in the same township, each? employing one teacher, where, without any considerable amount of unusual outlay last year .in either district, the tax rate in the wealthy district was only 10 cts. per $100 of assessed valuation, while in the weak district the tax rate was 32 times that, or '$3.20 per $100 of valuation. This year both districts are paying the same rate, much to the relief of the weaker one; but very likely the taxpayers in the wealthy district are not all enthusing over the new law. We find, too, that under the district system a number of rural districts contracted and some of them paid all their school expenses out of the "pub- lic money" received from the State, and did not raise a cent of local school tax. Naturally, some of the taxpayers in these hitherto fortunate districts do not 1 like the new law which compels them, to pay the same school tax rates as other taxpayers in the same town or unit; probably we should favor the old law were we in their places — it is so natural to .want the " long end of the evener." The equitable distribution of the bonded indebtedness in some of the union! free school districts is a puzzling problem, especially where .the academic school is so situated as to be conveniently accessible to only a part of the rural children living in the township or unit. It seems pretty well settled in the minds of intelligent, thinking people that such -.are the demands of the modern business and professional world today that a high school educa- tion is relatively no better preparation for one's life work than was a good common school education fifty years ago. There was strenuous objection b} r many taxpayers 50 years ago when our common schools were first made free and were required to be supported by public taxation ; and many rural taxpayers object now to being taxed to support the village high schools. Yet the rural children seem to need the high school education, and it is not just clear why the village districts should furnish the buildings and equipment and hire the teachers, the State pay the tuition of the rural children, and rural patrons bear none of the burden of maintaining these academic schools. It is, however, much to be regretted that the township. system was not -adopted 25 years ago, before the great: majority of our academic schools were estab- lished; then many of them would have been located where they would better accommodate the rural children of the township or unit. Just how much of this outstanding bonded indebtedness .in the ;union free school districts should now be assumed by the other districts in the township or unit is a question worthy of careful study. In comparing tax rates in any district under the new law comparison should be made with what would have been the tax rate in that district under the old law this year, and not with the tax rate of last year. 238 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The new law is hardly to be blamed because there is a serious shortage of teachers this year and teachers' salaries in rural schools are from $1 to $3 higher per week than last year; nor is the new law to blame because coal and wood are hard to get at all and cost much more than last year; nor because all lines of school supplies cost more than a year ago. We fail to find only a small percentage of the increase in school tax rates due directly to the new law. But under all the war-time conditions this year we wonder what would have been the school tax rates in many weak districts under the old law. About 1300 districts in the State had each only $20,000 or less of taxable property to support a school ; and about 3800 districts had each only $40,000 or less of taxable property; now, if the township law is repealed, what will be the school tax rates in those districts? What relief is proposed for them in place of that afforded by the township law? Some feel that the township law results in a loss of local control over the community school, while others take the view that the power of the school-meeting voter has really been extended, and he now has a voice at the annual town or unit school meeting in the school affairs of the whole township or unit, instead of simply his local district. The board of edu- cation is hereafter to be elected at the annual town or unit school meetings, and if the opponents of the new law have as much interest in school mat- ters as they profess it ought not to be difficult to secure the election of boards of education that will conserve rural interests. In these days of automobiles, state roads, telephones, rural mail delivery, etc., boards should be able to look after every school reasonably well if they will work through committees, like the union free school boards. It ought not to be necessary to call the whole board together every time a box of chalk or a new broom is needed. The township law has been in full effect only about four months now and this during the trying times of war. It looks like child's play to demand the repeal of the law before it has had anything like a full and fair trial. Some amendments are doubtless needed; we fail to recall many new laws that have been entirely satisfactory without some changes. It would seem worth while to remember that every adjoining state has had a township school law for years, and not one of them has ever returned to the district system. The district system originated in Massachusetts, but was discarded there for the township system about 35 years ago, and the Master of the State Grange wrote us last winter that he would regard a return to the district system as a long stride backwards. The state constitution makes it the duty of the legislature to provide a " system of free common schools wherein all the children of the State may be educated." Public schools are state institutions, not merely local ones. The State is regulating them more and more closely, and school expenses, like all others these times, are on the increase. Why not quit fighting the township law and all unite in one big campaign for an increase in the amount of public money paid by the State for the support of our schools? While New York State pays much toward the support of her schools, you may be surprised to know that she is not one of the most liberal states in her per capita allowance for educational purposes. — Jefferson County Jour- nal; reprinted by Sandy Creek News and by Watertown Daily Times. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 239 Asks Fair Trial for Township School Plan To the Editor of the Morning Post: In a recent issue I noticed that the board of supervisors passed a unani- mous resolution attacking the new school law of 191 7, known as the town- ship law. Their action should be considered seriously because a grave question is involved. We have to educate the children of today for future citizens. Undoubtedly they have heard some disgruntled farmers complain ■ai a few dollars higher tax. The issue the supervisors have taken is that some disgruntled farmers shall escape taxation, and others shall bear all the burden of maintaining £fee schools at a higher standard. I have the fortune and misfortune of liv- ing in a central high school district and know the hardship we have met with m. educating these disgruntled people's children for $10 per year for each jffipii who did not hold a preliminary certificate and for those who did Isold a preliminary certificate the State paid to our =chool the sum of $20. .So practically some of the people have had their children educated for aaothing while it has cost the taxpayers of high school districts from $65 to $75 per year for each pupil and in some cases much more. I would like •to say to the supervisors and disgruntled farmers that by repealing the township school law they will lower the standard of education in the State, as the high school districts can not stand the heavy taxation required to maintain their schools to the required standard. The present law has reduced our taxation six mills and put it on an equal basis all over the town, of • which I do not complain. It you succeed in repealing the present law, we are done once and for- ••ewer educating your children for $10 a year — honorable board of super- visors, why not join hands and work for higher education, equal taxation and equal rights to our schools and our citizens. All children should have 3M equal chance for an education to fit them for citizenship. Give the new law a fair trial. I attended a centralized school 45 years ago. It gave satisfaction to all and in my opinion it was superior to the old system in this State. August Anderson Ashville, Dec. 14, 1917. — Jamestown Post, December 17, 1917 Mr Moore Wants Action Ogdensburg, N. Y., Dec. 15, 1917 Editor Plaindealer: — Our board of supervisors has favorably taken action rrecommending among other things the two important amendments to the Sffachold law asked for in their resolution of the day of the hearing; one preventing the combination of union free schools with common school dis- tricts in the same unit, the other dispensing with the transfer of school -property. At the hearing the superintendents present seemed to consider Aese amendments important and desirable. Mr Seaker appeared to be of Sfee same opinion. Those members of the board who have since by vote pat themselves upon record as opposed to repeal have by the same act -declared for these two alterations in the law. 240 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK It almost seems that we have overlooked the fact that the important question is not what we, our supervisors, our superintendents or our assem- blyman may think in regard to this matter; but what does Thos. E. Finegan think ? In reference to the second of the amendments mentioned above at the hearing Superintendent Clark claimed to speak for the Deputy Committee, but no one seemed willing to assume like responsibility with regard to the first and most important one. Why should this be? At the close of the coming legislative session at Albany one of three things will have hap- pened to the Machold law, amendment, repeal or nothing. Dr Finegan should be as much interested in the outcome as any man in the State. If, for the sake of avoiding waste of time in discussion of the matter by our State Legislature in order that they may give more attention to the war problems that must come before them, we who favor repeal should be willing to compromise and consent to further trial of the school law on condition of the passage of these two amendments recommended by the board, what are we to expect from the Department of Education? Those who stand for the law as Messrs Ffanmer and Seaker and Supt. MacDonald should be able to give the answer. They should have been able to tell us whether or not the Department would support, not one, but both of the amendments, before the board took the matter under consideration. Is Dr Finegan fooling his partizans or are they trying to fool the rest of us ? A telegram to Albany should do the trick if fair play is intended and all St Lawrence county and the State should known before the end of the week what the Department means. If the event shows that, as in the past Dr Finegan prefers darkness to light where his plans are concerned; if he still refuses to take us into confidence and clings to what is his apparent idea that he is a divinely appointed guardian and other than a servant of the people, then it almost seems that men like Supt. MacDonald, Mr Hanmer and Mr Seaker should acknowledge themselves deceived and join in the demand for repeal. Come out of your hole, Doctor, or the farmers of the State are likely to start a campaign the slogan of which will be "A long vacation for Finegan.'^ Those supervisors who have opposed the Department on this point in the past should take the lead in action for the future. Messrs Hatch and Sweet are veterans in the cause and there are others. A county meeting of those opposed to the present law should be held to choose and provide for the expenses of a representative from St Lawrence county to look out for our interests when this matter comes up at Albany. Take up this responsibility, gentlemen, and we farmers will support you. James D. Moore Ogdensburg, N. Y., R. D. 1. — Canton Plain Dealer, December 18, 1917 What a Supervisor Says "About half of the taxpayers in my town are for the law and the other half are against it. That is because about half of them have had their taxes raised by it and the other half have had theirs lowered. That is all the THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 241 argument most of us over our way need. My taxes have been lowered a little and I need hardly state that I am in favor of the law as it stands." Another supervisor from the southern part of the county said, " I am in favor of it, but think the town boards should make some sort of arrange- ments whereby urgent repairs could be made without the delay of sending to the town superintendents. If the chimney falls off or a window gets broken there should be somebody in the district with authority to go ahead and fix it up and send in a bill. I don't see any reason why the teachers could not be empowered to act in such emergencies. That is the worst complaint we hear outside the question of taxes." One supervisor who hails from a section where real estate values are rather low explained one of the purposes of the law that he thought was all right, " Take my district for instance. We had .under the old system to pay about as much to support our school as other districts with twice the assessed valuation that we have, and we did not have near so much to pay with. The new law distributes the tax over the whole town and we pay our share, according to our assessment and still have just as good a school." " Why can't you throw your district into one adjoining and carry your children to school? There would only be one school to support and you could afford to hire a better teacher. " The average farmer hasn't the time to go to school twice a day. And even if we hired someone to do it, there would be lots of days in the Winter when the roads were blocked and the children could not get to school. Besides it would kill a good many communities. People with chil- dren will not move into a locality where there is not a school handy. I think the law is all right if the town superintendents will use common sense in handling it. There is a good deal of kicking about it but as near as I can find out it is the ones who have the most valuable real estate and find that there has been a few cents added to their taxes who are doing the kicking." — Auburn Citizen, December 19, 1917 The New Township School Law Just preceding the election in November, the dissatisfaction of certain taxpayers with the new township school law was used as a means of for- warding selfish political ends, but fortunately the effort was unsuccessful. The Republican candidate for the Assembly, Mr George M. Tyler, promptly checkmated the attempt, promising that if elected he would use his best endeavor to secure the correction of any unjust provision in the new statute, and the voters took him at his word. The dissatisfaction alluded to, how- ever was not allayed and recently has found expression in resolutions adopted by some of the local granges demanding the repeal of the law. The Times, with the aim of sifting the matter to the bottom and securing information that might be useful in an attempt to repeal or amend the lav/, has asked a number of representative citizens in different parts of the county to state, either over their own signatures or otherwise, the facts in regard to the operation of the law and their opinion as to its advantages and dis- advantages. Below are printed a number of replies to this request, which show that there is a great difference of opinion in regard to the wisdom. of the law and not a little misapprehension as to its provisions and prac- 242 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK tical working. In the next issue of the Times we plan to review these and other criticisms and to report the result of inquiries made of those who have given the matter careful attention and study. No Improvement Over the Old Law Spring-water, N. Y., Dec. 10 Mr C. F. Milliken, Canandaigna, N. Y. Dear Sir : — In reply to your letter of the 7th inst., I would say so far as the new town school law affects Canadice that there is no improvement over the old law in any respect and it has these disadvantages : First. An expensive physical director must be hired to teach physical culture. This is given once in two weeks, and the teacher makes the rounds of all the schools in one day, staying hardly fifteen minutes in a school. This work is not needed or wanted in our rural schools where often children are walking two and more miles to school. Second. The secretary and treasurer of the school board are salaried officers, thereby creating added expense. Taxes in some districts are more than doubled and the schools are not being looked after as well as under the old system. It would be a change for the better to go back to the trustee system and let each district take care of its own school. Very truly yours C. A. Gibbs The Last Straw Editor Times: The town school law, about which there is so much dis- cussion, is the proverbial "last straw" to break the back of the rural tax- payer. The immediate cause of trouble is the equalization of taxes in the several districts of the town. Of course the districts with a large assessed valuation are the most aggrieved by the raising of their tax rate, there being one tax rate for all the districts of the town. But to my mind this is not the worst feature of the law. The centralization of authority by the Education Department in regard to rural schools has by successive steps reached a point under the new law that is practically intolerable. Under this law the taxpayers and voters of the district have nothing to say as to the management of the school, the hiring of the teacher, or the upkeep of the building. The centralization of authority makes it easier to con- solidate the districts which in many cases works great hardship to the children of tender years who are compelled to wait at corners and by the roadside for conveyances which carry them to and from school. In fact this law is a bold stroke against Democracy — for which this nation is spending billions of dollars and will sacrifice thousands of lives to perpetuate. Ralph M. Simmons New Law Sustained is Just in the Main Farmington, N. Y ., Dec. p Mr C. F. Milliken, Editor Times: My Dear Sir : — I am sending at your request a brief statement express- ing my knowledge and views with reference to the new township school law as it affects the taxpayers of this town. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 243 The reason for the taxes being higher, and in some cases double those ol last year in some districts, is largely due to the distribution of the corpora- tion property, such as railroad, franchises etc., throughout the town under the new law, which heretofore has been apportioned to the school districts through which they passed, thereby reducing the taxes in those districts to a minimum. It is mainly the taxpayers of these districts that are making a noise. I believe this change is just and a great improvement over the old system, as it now makes a uniform rate throughout the town and it relieves to some extent those districts that were bearing the greater burden of tax- ation in support of the free schools of the town. Then again those in a town who are located in a joint district where the schoolhouse is in an adjoining town and in which there is a high school, their taxes have also increased under the new law, by reason that they have to pay toward the maintenance of the high school. But in that case they have free patronage of the school and in cases where there are pupils to be sent the tuitions saved will offset the additional taxes. There are two items of expense, however, that affects the taxpayers in general that might be considered unnecessary and unjust: First, the appoint- ment or election of a school board at a salary; second, the payment of tuitions by the town of non-resident pupils to the several high schools. I believe this last item is unjust and that the expense should be borne by the state or individual, as it would create a burden upon towns. The school taxes or expenses are a trifle higher in this town this year, and they are bound to increase with the times. E. J. Gardner Thinks the Lazv Has Come to Stay Mr Milliken, Dear Sir: The " township school law " is receiving a great deal of criticism from the taxpayers of the rural districts and justly so in some of its provisions. The salary of the clerk is one of the chief items of expense, but I will say for the work he has to do he is not overpaid. He has to look after all the schools of the town, the same as the trustees under the old law were supposed to do with the schools in their respective districts. Another bill of expense that we have made provision for in our town is the expense of sanitary closets and their installation which is not a pro- vision of the new law, but an order of the State Board of Education. I think any sober-minded person who knows anything about the condition of most of the outdoor closets of the rural schools will agree with me when I say it is money well expended. I think the taxpayers do not take into consideration we are working under war conditions. It is true the taxes in some instances have been increased to an alarming extent, especially in districts where they come under the unit system, and have to help pay the bonded indebtedness of a high school building recently built in the unit to which they have been assigned. I have in mind the Shortsville unit, which takes in a small part of the town. Last year their rate was about $3 per M., this year about $11 per M. I think that is one part of the law that should be changed and many other parts of the law should be changed which I will not mention at this time. 244 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK I notice those who are criticizing the law the most are those who, perhapSj, never went to an annual school meeting". I know of one instance when there were only three at such meeting. No business could be transacted. Such indifference, in my opinion, is one thing that brought about the enact- ment of this law. The township school law, I think, has come to stay, but not in its present form. Dec. 14, 19 17 XX — Ontario County Times, December 19, 1917 Township School Bill Makes Heavy Taxes To the Editor of The Morning Post: I noticed in your paper of December 17th an article from Mr August Anderson in regard to the township school law, wherein he states that the supervisors must have heard some disgruntled farmer complain of a few dollars higher tax. Now, I for one do not complain of the tax, if it would in any way improve the chance for my children to get a better education,, but it does not in my present location. It seems to me when a man lives in a high school district and enjoys that privilege without having to transport his children, that man would be will- ing to pay a higher tax than the man who has to' send them away from home to secure an education. I live six miles from the nearest high school. If my children attend that school it will be no small expense for me either to hire their board or transport them back and forth. I don't blame Mr Anderson for taking the stand he does as it has reduced his tax and he can get his children educated at the expense of his fellow men, but I shall have to take the stand with the disgruntled farmers, of whom there are many. Ernest J. Hanson Ashville, Dec. 18, 1917 ■ — Jamestozvn Post, December 20, 1917 Brooklyn Pays for Up-State Schools To the Editor of The Standard Union: I trust that your Sunday editorial upon " The Children of the State,' 7 will attract the attention it deserves and inform some of our newspapers,, leaders of public opinion. I see only one statement to which we can take exception, and that is only by reading the editorial literally instead of, as I believe it was written, more or less figuratively. The statement that " One-room schoolhouses with less than a dozen children are no more," unfortunately, is not literally correct. Within an hour and a half's ride of Buffalo many one-room schoolhouses are still trying to do work, and the same is true all over the rural part of the State. We shall see a struggle in the Legislature in behalf of money to get the township school law repealed, that these poor, inefficient, out-of-date one-room schoolhouses may be maintained at the expense of the State rather than at the expense of the taxpayers of the district. In such dis- tricts the teacher is paid as little as possible, that, as near as possible, the State may contribute enough to support the school and the taxpayer be THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 245 called upon only for the deficiency; in other words, taxes are levied in Greater New York to support just such inefficient schools. Doubtless the township law has defects, and amendments to remove or better the law should be met with reason and sympathy, but attempts to repeal it with opposition as unyielding' as flint. X. Y. Z. — Brooklyn Union, December 21, 1917 There is considerable- opposition in the rural districts of Niagara county to the new school township law. In the town of Wilson a large meeting has been held to advocate its repeal. A petition was signed and will be presented to Senator Thompson and Assemblyman Franchot urging them to •do what they can for the repeal of the law. in the State Legislature which meets shortly after the beginning of the new. year. It is understood that one. of the taxpayers present at the meeting, will refuse to pay his school taxes so as to have a test case for the courts to pass upon and the decision of which might test the validity of the township law. The rural districts have heavy school taxes and this seems to be the general subject of con- versation. — Niagara Falls Journal, December 21, 1917 Give it a Fair Trial In some sections of the State there is considerable agitation for the repeal of the township school law passed by the last Legislature; It is conducted mostly by those who have had their taxes increased by it, and in a few instances they have persuaded boards of supervisors to take formal action asking for the repeal or radical amendment of the law. Doubtless the law should be amended in some particulars, and doubtless, too, it will be as the necessity for change is made certain. Nobody supposes it is perfect. But it would take a very wise individual indeed to tell in just what particulars it should be changed with only two or three months' trial. As to the matter of higher taxes, there never was any claim that the new system would lower the cost of education, except in some cases where, owing to the poverty of the district in taxable property, the tax rate was abnormally high. As a matter of fact, the rate has been lowered in a number of such districts, but of course they are not the ones that are making a noise about the change. There has been a considerable increase in some few districts where school tax was ridiculously low, and where the children were being educated largely at the expense of residents of other- districts: The first year of the new law's operation has' seen quite a number of expenses that will not be repeated, while there has not as yet been oppor- tunity to put into effect any economies. For example, a school bus has been purchased by the town of Cuba to provide for the transportation of pupils of a contract district in a manner that will be more comfortable and health- ful than in the past. That cost several hundred dollars, but it ought to last many years. Taxes would certainly have been higher this year even if there had been no change, if the old district systenx had remained in force. The State had insisted that this year there must, be physical training instruction in the country as well as in the village schools, and. that requires an additional instructor. Fuel and everything else is higher. 246 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The first and greatest consideration is the improvement of the schools. If that is accomplished, we do not believe there are half a dozen readers of the Patriot who will begrudge a little higher school tax. The township system has brought about such a result in other states. It has in no case failed to do so. Let us give it a fair trial in New York. A fair trial will require at least two or three years. Better still, five years or longer. If it does not by that time bring about the results hoped for, it will then be time enough to go back to the old district system, which practically every other state of the union has abolished long ago. — Cuba Patriot, December 21, 1917 Township School Law is Discussed " The township educational law as it operates in New York causes an increase of between 200 and 300 per cent in the taxes of the farmer. It decreases the taxes of the villages, and increases those of the real farmer, giving him in return the privilege of sending his children to the village school, which however he can not exercise on account of climatic and topographical conditions. It ought to be repealed and every effort of the farmer be bent towards that direction." The above in brief is the opinion expressed at a meeting of the taxpayers of the county held in the common council chambers this afternoon. There were about 40 in attendance, mostly representatives of the rural districts. W. Barlow Dunlap addressed the meeting as spokesman for the committee recently appointed to investigate conditions. DeWitt Boyd Devendorf and Frank Hotaling were the other members of the committee. Judge Dunlap said that the opposition all over the State is growing, and that hundreds of letters are being received daily by the Rural New Yorker, a farmer's paper, against the law. He stated, that although the Department of Education has said that it is for the benefit of the small school and that taxes would not be increased, there have been no benefits, and that the actual investigations show that there is not a single case where the tax of the real farmer out in the districts, has not been increased, and that only the tax of the villages and those of the farmer adjoining the village or city have been increased. He urged all present to write, without delay, to Senator James W. Yelverton, Elon R. Brown, leader of the Senate, and E. Corning Davis, telling them what is thought of the law, how it operates, and asking them what they will do if a bill to repeal it is introduced. Physical culture in the rural schools was ridiculed and characterized as " utter nonsense," introduced at considerable expense, and it was stated that the pupils of the country schools, up to the eighth grade, are as good or even better than those of the city village schools, the advantages of which are supposed to be given them in return for all this increased cost. — Amster- dam Recorder, December 22, 1917 Obect to School Law Eden, Dec. 16. — At a special meeting of the taxpayers of school district no. 8 of the town of Eden, it was decided to protest against the Finegan school law as un-American and not in keeping with true democracy. Peti- tions were circulated among the nine districts in the town and were signed by about 400 protesting taxpayers. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 247 The rural districts object to paying the high school tax of the town, whereby their taxes have been increased more than 300 per cent. Objection is made to the appointing of physical instructors for farmers' children in district schools. Whoever heard of a farmer's children needing physical instruction, was asked. Another objection to the law is the installation of chemical lavatories in district schools at an expense of $200 or $300 per school, an innovation which so far has not proven hygienically satisfactory. Other neighboring townships are showing a keen interest and a wish to join in the fight to have this law repealed and the old system again adopted. This means strong pressure will be brought to bear on the legislative officials at Albany. — Buffalo Express, December 17, 1917 School Taxes Are More Than Doubled Dundee, Nov. 28. — Harry W. Carpenter of Glenora, collector for the town of Starkey, who is also collector of the school taxes for the town under the new school township law, which went into effect this year, has just completed the collection of the school taxes this week. Mr Carpenter states that the farmers throughout the town are highly indignant at the passage of the new school law and in practically all of the cases through- out the township of Starkey the taxes of the farmers have been more than doubled. One farmer, whose taxes last year were $17, paid $46 this year. Another farmer who paid $24 last year was obliged to pay $52 this year. This comes somewhat as a result of the surrounding country being obliged to help pay for the maintenance of the Dundee schools. Most people thought that the operation of the new law would be to lower the taxes in the village from what they had been under the old system, but it is found that the rate in the village this year is somewhat higher than it was last year. Some of the extra taxes come as a result of extra expenses under the new law, such as salary of the clerk of the board of education, and new apparatus in some of the schools, etc. It is said that a determined effort will be made at the coming session of the State Legislature to overthrow this law as it is gen- erally unsatisfactory, both to the people in the rural districts and in the village. — Elmira Star-Gazette, November 28, 1917 Patrons' League Organizes for School Bill Fight Albion, Jan. 24. — The Orleans County Patrons' League was organized here today by nearly 100 prominent residents of the rural communities who are opposed to the new town rural school law which is proving so unsatis- factory and expensive to all communities. Justice of the Peace Charles H. Porter of Albion presided at the meeting and W. Reed Curtis, a prominent Carlton farmer and former nominee for assemblyman, was secretary. Prominent among the features of the present school law that are con- sidered objectionable and which it is desired to have abolished, because they are unnecessary features that have created jobs for a few, jobs which could be eliminated and the work done by the district teachers and several thousand dollars saved yearly to the county, are the three physical trainers in Orleans county rural schools whose salary is $1200 each and expenses ; and the three 248 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK district superintendents of rural schools who now are said to cost the county about $5400 yearly with salaries of $1200 each and expenses. In their stead the ruralites would go back to the old system of one school commissioner who could be employed at not to exceed $1500 annually; urging the abolishment of the town boards of education and going back to the former method of district school trustees, and the office: of town school board clerks, now said to cost from $300 to $500 in each town of Orleans county. Various other objectionable features were discussed which will be taken up by those who are solidly united in the fight to secure the best results, and keep down taxation. Among the speakers were: Frank Mason and G. E. Snyder of Gaines; Le Vant Parker, Charles Porter, Carl Parker and others, of Albion; Mr Watson of Barre, W. Reed Curtis of Carlton and others. Petitions were circulated in each district, requesting the repeal of the pres- ent town school law, together with the incorporation in the law created to replace it, of methods of handling the school problem more economically. In the sixteenth district of Carlton the petition is said to contain the name of every legal voter in the district and in the sixth district of Carlton, where the petition was circulated yesterday afternoon, everyone of the 124 voters seen signed. In each of the school districts an organization will be formed, with a president, secretary and treasurer. On February 2 the voters of each district will elect delegates to represent their respective district at a county conven- tion to be held at the court house, Albion, on Saturday, February 9. About 200 delegates will be present at that time to discuss, the matter of securing legislative action to repeal the: present law and: recommend to Assemblyman Dr Frank H. Lattin and Senator Geo. F. Thompson changes that would prove more satisfactory to those who have children to educate and. those who foot the bills. — Buffalo Courier, January 25, 1918: New Town Board School Law a Success The rate cf taxation fixed by the town board of education for the schools of this town outside the union school districts of Huntington and Northport, is 42 cents per $100, which is three cents less than the average of the several school districts in the same territory last year. This in spite of the fact that numerous repairs have had to be made on school buildings and the standards of instruction have been raised. The town board of education have issued an annual report which is full, of interest and shows a highly intelligent grasp of the needs of the schools and opportunities for their development which was not to be expected of the various district boards under the old law as they were men often of little experience in educational matters. Under the management of the present board children in the. remotest district of the town will get as good an education as those living in the larger villages. These children will have an opportunity to acquire not only a first-class- grammar school education, in most cases in their own schools, such as is prescribed by the Department of Education of the State of New York, but they will also be privileged to take an academic course in the high THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 249 schools of the Huntington and Northport union districts. They can get in either the benefit of a college preparatory course and in the high school of this district a commercial and manual training course with the use of the fine athletic equipment. In some cases the smaller districts may be united and the children farthest away from the school building taken to the school by means of a publicly hired conveyance. The charge that the low rate is maintained only by increasing the rate in some of the districts in order to help others is not a valid argument against the system. The increase is not very great in any district and there is no just reason why the charges for the maintenance of schools should not be as generally distributed as the cost of highways and bridges and other administrative expenses of the township. Those persons in the territory who are paying the largest taxes we are informed are raising little or no objection. It is the intention of the board to supply the children with the best up-to- date textbooks free of charge. Musical training has been introduced, which is pleasing to both children and parents. The conferences of all the teachers of the several districts have led to many valuable interchanges of ideas and improved the efficiency of the schools. Teachers get necessary supplies more promptly, sanitary conditions are improved. The truancy law is being enforced as never before. A few modifications could be made in the law which would somewhat improve it, but from what we can learn the residents generally of districts affected are greatly pleased with its workings and hope that the new system has come to stay. It is one of the most advanced steps for the benefit of the rural school that has ever been taken by the Legislature and the State Department of Education. — Long-Islander, December 21, 1917 Town School Board Report The time for collection of school taxes and the assembling of the State Legislature doubtless will direct attention to the operation of the new law which has been in .force -since August. 1, having to do with the schools in our township other than those in the villages of Huntington and Northport. At first, there seemed to be some dissatisfaction with the law, largely no doubt, because of the change in the existing order of things, but in its operation the advantages have proven so manifest that hostility has been disarmed and, speaking generally, the sentiment has seemed to be favorable in our township. The new law certainly has in it large possibilities of advantage in any town which will carefully study it and put it into operation. Town School L,aw still under Fire Protests of all kinds and from all quarters, except from the beneficiaries, are pouring in against the township school bill. The absurdity of scrapping a whole system because here and there a school was found that was in a dilapidated condition, is beginning to become apparent, and farmers all over are asking what the district superintendent received his pay for, but 25O THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK to attend to just such matters. The increased cost of all the proposed new schemes do not appeal to many of those who are being called upon at this time as never before to pay out hard-earned money for all kinds of neces- sary efforts to help the suffering of this and other nations. And when on reflection it is brought home to the hard-working farmer that the best induce- ment offered by the advocates of this measure is, that his son shall have as good an education as the business man's son, it does not look good to him. He reasons that if the net result of the higher education is to produce a class of people who despise honest labor, and look with contempt on the people who uncomplainingly keep working to secure food for all, and whose highest ambition is to ride on the backs of others, then there is something wrong with the system and we had better give it a thorough overhauling before spending millions upon millions more of the people's money in salaries to be paid to teachers, whose interest it is to teach the children the exact opposite of what is needed more now than at any previous time, namely, the problem of getting a living. Farmers should get together at once on this matter and secure the repeal of this bill. — Kingston Leader, December 21, 1917 But we do know that there has now been established a board of five to look after the schools, none to receive pay, but that they elect a clerk who will receive from $200 to $300, according to time and conditions. This in itself, with the amount drawn of state money, will run one school district of the thirty-two. Under the old system a trustee could receive nothing, and he did a great deal of work for the schools. Now one man living far away has seven to ten districts to look after. You can not blame him for not wanting to take time to run and see to same from his work and no pay. Result, small things are overlooked. We have a physical director under another school law. What portion of her pay will come from each district we do not know. We have a school superintendent who seems to be versed in all kinds of fads and fancies along with the physical instructor, even telling us how our children should be dressed. The children's minds are now taken from their subjects, teachers' meetings are numerous, schools are closed at any trivial whim of our superintendents ; in fact, we seem to have no voice whatever today in regard to our schools. Could not all this expense have been spared us until at least after the war is over and conditions are again normal? The State is being covered by cards asking the farmer to save, if only a loaf a week, and yet at one blow the new school fads wipe out enough to purchase thousands of loaves. The teachers' salaries are not raised enough to cover any appreciable difference. We are advised our children will be carried to school by teams hired for same. One team might gather the pupils of a certain district and draw them five or ten miles. Can you hire such a man and team for less than $4 or $5 per day? Twenty-five dollars per week and thirty-six weeks. Please figure and see if it will not cover the running expenses of one or even two of our present school districts, were formerly economy was the watchword at school meetings. We will admit there are sections of the State where this plan might work to advantage, but in this north country, with the present cross roads in TEIE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 251 deplorable condition in spring and fall, with snow banks many feet deep in winter and roads not passable, it would not. Larger schools mean less personal attention to each student. Devise some plan whereby you can keep the boys and girls on the farms and have all the farms occupied and you will then have plenty of students and few school districts will have to be closed. Tend more toward the home and farm life, less toward foreign languages and you will help the farmer, help the Nation and help win the war. Thus we, as a school district, state the following: First. We are opposed to increased taxation without value received. Second. We are opposed to the consolidation of our schools. Third. We are opposed to the present method of a board of five trustees and their employees to look after our schools. Fourth. We are opposed to the operation of the new law until same has been voted on by all the people to know whether they want it or not. Fifth. We do not believe it necessary for the State to compel us to hire a physical instructor. Our present teachers can cover all work needed by a child from the farm who has more outdoor air and exercise than any city child. Sixth. That we are not in accord with the ideas of our school superin- tendent as to the method of running our schools. Seventh. That we positively are not opposed to education, but are in favor of the same to the limit of our resources, but that we desire same to be such that it will cover the needs of the country and be elastic enough to fit the conditions of the children found in the community and assist them to become scientific farmers and farmers' wives instead of city clerks, teachers and street car conductors. Eighth. That it is our desire to have all farming school districts call meet- ings and start a movement that will call a halt by pressure being placed on our representatives until the law is changed back or left for the people to decide what change they desire. H. B. Bailey Elmer Blount Arthur Grant Potsdam, December 17 — The Syracuse Post-Standard, December 22, 1917 The farmers do not approve of the school township law because of various things, chiefly because putting its provisions into effect costs money. Under ordinary conditions I should give my personal opinion that it was about time more money be spent upon the rural schools, under the compulsion of law if necessary, but as things are at present it would seem the farmers are justified in asking the modification of the law until things assume the normal again. So far as the increased cost of erecting better outbuildings and pur- chasing equipment for the schoolroom is concerned, I am for the law. The argument that the ultimate aim of the law is to consolidate the rural schools, and that this expense will have been futile, will not stand analysis. Broadly speaking, nothing that ever was, but reached the end of its usefulness, and was replaced by something else. System succeeds system, regime replaces regime. The last of one order gives birth to the beginning of another. No one ever discovered anything all at once. The man who discovered spectacles may have been as smart as the man who invented the telescope, but the telescope was too big for him to see, although it grew out of his idea. The men who developed certain educational systems were, in their day, as brilliant 252 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK as those of the present, but their day is done. They themselves would be the first now, if they could be reincarnated for a time, to endorse the ideas of now, and they might point with pride to the fact that it was because they were, that these things are. Was the cost of the stairway in vain because it has been succeeded by the elevator? $. * * * * * * * * * Considered closer, this "cost in vain " argument seems even less reasonable. There are many children in school now who will be out by the time the consolidated system is in effect. They are entitled to the best that they can get, and the experts in the Department at Albany have said that the best that can be given under present conditions is to be had under the township law. If we are to lose as many men in the present war as there seems reason to believe we will, there is every need that the ones who are to replace them step into the meld of endeavor as well equipped as possible. If the place to equip them is not the schools, why are the schools? There was never a time in the history of America when the need was greater to bend every e'ffort to so instruct boys and girls, as to send them out of school with the ability to "produce the goods," materially and mentally. We are going to need them in the field of labor and in the field of thought. America has just made the most radical departure from her traditions in her existence, and by the outlook she will be short her normal man power before two years. If that isn't a reason for maintaining the best schools pos- sible, there is no such thing as reason. But of course, if Obadiah Jones and Zeke Zimmerman do not approve the pedagogical methods, and if it is going to cost them $10 a year more, why do away with what the best minds in our educational system have devised as the best to suit the needs. Of course, as I said in the beginning, I do not blame them for kicking on the cost, but on the whole I should say that a repeal of the law in toto would be a retrogressive movement. * * * ******* If there is any one phase that should be retained, it is that providing for physical culture in the rural schools. The working strength and the longevity of the farmer are .proverbial, but I think that the man from Mars would prefer the clean cut, -glossy, rubber muscled, high school athletic to the bowed, muscle bound, -gnarled farm boy. The psychology of play, of .games, erect carriage, proper breathing, the development of co-ordination of mind and muscle, of eye and movement, are things that have been deeply studied, and the findings thereon have been properly considered by Albany before installing the present physical culture system in the rural schools. I venture to say that the men in the educational building know more about these things than the average farmer. Some of them came from the farm themselves. They are smart men, too. That is why they came. But — " It's , all darn- nonsense. 'Taint the way . I was fetched up, and see whar.I be.naow." — Amsterdam .Evening Recorder, .December 22, 19 17 Proposed Repeal of the Township School Law The Reporter has frequently criticised the State Department of Education for blind disregard of the wishes of local boards of education and the autocratic insistence that when it comes to the schools the Department has THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 253 all the say and the people no voice. So in discussing the. proposed repeal of the township school law it can not be accused of partiality to the Depart- ment in Albany. The township school law was indorsed by the New York State Agri- cultural Society, the State Grange, and other bodies. Every state in New England has adopted the township system. Every state bordering upon New York State has discarded the old district system and adopted the township plan. The law went into effect last May. There has not been time for a fair trial of its merits, and yet it is proposed to repeal the law before it has been tried out. The demand for a repeal has come from those who find their school taxes raised. Taxes on the more prosperous sections of a town are higher than under the old law and less in the less prosperous sections. In a way the law operates like the income tax law in that those that have must pay more than those who have not. If Walton had decided on school matters on a basis of tax saving she would never have had a school approach- ing the present institution. When the union free school was voted in 1868 the opposition was bitter because it would tax 'those without children and increase the tax rate. No one who has the welfare of the county at heart should allow the matter of taxes to influence if the new system is an improvement on the old. Because in the past the district school has filled an important place in educa- tion is no reason to assume that it does so now. The old carry-all has given place to the automobile, and the scythe to the mowing machine. Both were necessary things in their day, but their day has passed. The district school system was devised a century ago to meet conditions as they then existed. Foity years ago the apex was reached. There was then in. the rural districts one hundred thousand more children than there are today. Right around Walton there are schools with one to a dozen pupils that formerly had. from twenty-five to forty. While village schools have kept pace with, the demands the old district school is in many respects where it was forty years ago, but lacking the enthusiasm of numbers. Recent statistics show that there are. fifteen schools in. the State now in each of which there is just one pupil. There are 86. in which there are. 2; 1.16 with 3 pupils; 258 with. 4. pupils ; 35-7 in which, there are but 5 pupils; 600. in which there are. less than 7, and. 3800 in which there, are less than 10 children in attendance. Now, it doesn't need any argument to prove that a school with from two to. ten pupils is hardly a school in any proper, sense; It is. for the elimination of. these schools by consolidation, the; merging, of the resources of scattering districts, so that one. good school will take : the place of several poor ones, that the township law was. passed. Doubtless there are drawbacks, but the same energy displayed in improving the law as now seems back of the demand for its repeal would, correct these deficiencies and bring the country school somewhere near the standard of the village or city school. The belief is general that the farmers want the law repealed. Unquestion- ably many are influenced by the opposition of the Rural New. Yorker to the law. But it is also true that very few have given the measure careful con- sideration, especially those who are- the most benefited. The district school performed a great service but anyone who goes over Delaware county, sees 254 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK the run-down buildings and compares the opportunities offered with those of larger communities must be convinced that the old-time district should give place to something better. — Amsterdam Evening Recorder, December 22, 1917 Township School Law The Jefferson County Journal in a recent issue discussed the Machold law. The article shows so much study and candidness that it is reproduced here as follows : " Our local union free school district having more than 1500 population does not come under the new township school law, hence we have no par- ticular prejudice in the matter. But what concerns many of our readers interests the Journal, and numerous criticisms of the law appearing in some of our daily papers have led us to consider the matter somewhat. "The principal objections raised against the law seem to be: I. — That rural school tax rates are higher. 2. — That the bonded indebtedness of a union free school district should not be assumed by the township or unit of which it is a part. 3. — That local control is lost over the community school. 4. — That it is difficult to administer the law so as to properly care for each and every school. " The question seems to us a little different in a town or unit having no academic school from what it is in a town or unit having one or more of such schools to support. Where the schools of a township or unit are all of the same grade, all elementary, why isn't a uniform school tax rate just as fair and equitable as a uniform tax rate for roads and bridges, the support of the indigent poor, and other usual town expenses? There were some gross inequities in school tax rates under the old district system, due largely to the great difference in the amount of taxable property in the different districts; wealthy rural districts generally had a moderate or low tax rate, and most of these are now paying a substantial increase under the new law. We have in mind two schools in the same township, each employing one teacher, where, without any considerable amount of unusual outlay last year in either district, the tax rate in the wealthy district was only ten cents per $1000 of assessed valuation, while in the weak district the tax rate was 32 times that, or $3.20 per $100 valuation. This year both districts are paying the same rate, much to the relief of the weaker one, but very likely the taxpayers in the wealthy district are not all enthusing over the new law. " We find, too, that under the district system a number of rural districts contracted and some of them paid all their school expenses out of the ' public money " received from the State and did not raise a cent of local school tax. Naturally, some of the taxpayers in these hitherto fortunate districts do not like the new law which compels them to pay the same school tax rates as other taxpayers in the same town or unit; probably we should favor the old law were we in their places — it is so natural to want the ' long end of the evener.' " The equitable distribution of the bonded indebtedness in some of the union free school districts is a puzzling problem, especially when the academic school is so situated as to be conveniently accessible to only a part of the rural children living in the township or unit. It seems pretty THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 255 well settled in the minds of intelligent, thinking people that such are the demands of the modern business and professional world today that a high school education is relatively no better preparation for one's life work than was a good common school education 50 years ago. There was strenuous objection by many taxpayers 50 years ago when our common schools were first made free and were required to be supported by public taxation ; and many rural taxpayers object now to being taxed to support the village high schools. Yet the rural children seem to need the high school education, and it is not just clear why the village districts should furnish the buildings and equipment and hire the teachers, the State pay the tuition of the rural chil- dren, and rural patrons bear none of the burden of maintaining these academic schools. It is, however, much to be regretted that the township system was not adopted 25 years ago, before the great majority of our academic schools were established; then many of them would have been located where they would better accommodate the rural children of the township or unit. Just how much of this outstanding bonded indebtedness in the union free school districts should now be assumed by the other districts in the township or unit is a queston worthy of careful study." — Canton Plain Dealer, December 25, 1917 Farmer's Wife Criticises Township School Law To the Editor of The Morning Post: I see Mr Anderson has already had some answers to his letter printed a few days ago ; but I would like to add one more to the number and ask him just how the township system is supposed to raise the standard of our present school system? How can a town board composed of a few men who get no pay for their work and the majority of whom usually live in the principal village, be supposed to look after the interests of all the rural schools in their town as efficiently as one trustee, usually having children, can do in his own district? I fail to see how " some of the people have had their children educated for nothing 1 " simply because the State has formerly paid their tuition in high school. Where did the State get its money? Didn't as much of it come from taxes paid by the farmers as anywhere? At present my daughter is attending high school less than two miles from home, but in another town, she being able to board at home. Her tuition is paid indirectly from my taxes and those of my neighbors. Our own town has no high school but there is talk of putting one in next year in which case I shall be obliged to help pay for a high school situated seven miles from my home where I can send my children without tuition, but they will not be able to board at home. The expense of hiring their board and the inconvenience of being away from home would be much greater than to still keep them in the nearest high school and pay their tuition myself. Where is the justice or advantage in that? If we have supervisors who realize that the " disgruntled farmers " are of enough value to the community to have their interests looked after equally with those who expect to live on six or eight hours work a day, and then give the farmers' children whatever school advantages they see fit, and tell the farmer what he must pay for it, let them be praised for so doing. I am sure the farmers appreciate it. 256 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK And let me say to Mr Anderson that our rural communities are not com- posed of such ignorant people that they would complain of higher taxes could they see where they were getting anything in return. But when> we realize that we have paid three times as large a tax this year as last (that is about what ours was) and then have no voice in managing our schools, we fail to see the advantage and if anyone can point it out to me I would be glad to have them: do so. A Disgruntled Farmer's Wife Poland, Dec. 24, igif — Jamestown Post, December 26) 1917 Township Trustees Disgusted To the Editor of The Post-Standard: The sentiment against the Machold: school law in the northern, part of Cayuga county was plainly evidenced sprue, days ago: when a petition- was circulated calling for a repeal of the- law, signed by at least nine-tenths of. the taxpayers and parents to whom it was presented. The writer, a farmer, taxpayer and a parent, has ; taught school a number of terms, and at the present time also holds the very undesirable office of one of the township board of education or township trustees. Under the new law this present year the school tax in this town was nearly double that in former years, and in some districts, as also in other towns in this section, more than doubled, and there does not appear to be any prospect of a let-up for future years. If we were getting results commensurate with the increased outlay it would be some consolation, but we are not. Our schools are worse off' thaa in the past. I believe that throughout the State three-fourths- of the town- ship boards are practically "going it blind," without adequate instructions from " the powers that be" at Albany. Schools are out of supplies, and it seems almost impossible to keep all the schools in town properly equipped 1 . When one trustee has- to look after three or four districts instead of one it is somewhat difficult to keep' matters on "an 1 even keel," especially as most of us have our own business to look after, and. all we do for the schools has to be time donated. Some of the friends of this law (college professors, school superin- tendents, school faculties and taxpayers in villages and a few others)' ask us to wait and give this new departure a trial. If any of these gentlemen pur- chased a horse that proved to- be a kicker or balky or invested in an auto- mobile that would not go, would they advocate keeping same for four or five years in order to give it a fair trial? Judging from the opinions expressed by most people, this law has been "weighed in the balance" and found sadly wanting, and is about the best developed specimen of a "dismal failure " that we have met in many a day. There may be some sections where this law would work out all right, but I, for one, do not believe that the proper time has yet arrived for any such sweeping change as has. been forced upon us by this high pressure, self- styled progressive State Educational Department. Disgusted Township Trustee Sterling Station, December 23 — Syracuse Post-Standard, December 27, 1017 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 257 Town School Law's Repeal Albany, Dec. 27 — Repeal of the Machold township school law, which, it is declared, has evoked more protests than any law ever passed by a New York State Legislature, or a radical modification of it so that it will meet the wishes of the rural communities is one of the things that the new Legis- lature is expected to accomplish early in the coming season. This measure came from the State Department of Education and bore the indorsement of the State Grange. Its object seemed entirely worthy to the legislators and Governor Whitman because it was designed to consoli- date the rural school districts into one township school and give the farmer's boy the same educational opportunity for instance that the son of the immigrant landing in New York would have. But the measure in theory and its practical operation under the law which Governor Whitman signed are apparently so at variance and complaints from all over the State are so numerous that it is regarded as practically certain the law will either be radically amended or wiped off the books altogether. The taxing provision of the bill has not proven satisfactory and people in the X'ural communities have registered protests with their representatives and with the departments here. Under the operation of the law taxes in some instances, it is said, were increased to ten times the amount that was paid under the previously existing order of things. In some localities the cost of transporting children to the one central or nearly central township school has been more than the cost of maintaining the school in their home district that was abandoned when the new law went into effect. Under the present law in order to get children to school on time it is necessary, in some cases, to get them away from their homes almost before daylight and they are not brought back until after dark. Their mothers do not know how their offsprings are fed and the mothers are mostly voters now, so that their numerous protests on this score will be in all proba- bility a powerful influence in the Legislature in repealing the law or so amending it that it will achieve the object sought without offending the people whom it was designed to benefit. The statement that the law was designed to give the child in the rural community the same opportunity as the child in the city in the matter of education brought hundreds to its support. But the working of the law has alienated most of this support and the demands for its repeal or radical modification are so insistent and unanimous that early action to this end is forecast. — Lockport Union Sun and Journal, December 27, 1917 Machold Law Has Its Defenders To the Editor of The Post-Standard: From the letters in the Post-Standard regarding the Machold school law, it might appear that most people were dissatisfied with the law. The great objection seems to be against higher taxes. Now all towns that have had an increase in their tax rate have been making improvements, paying up old debts, or they have an inefficient town board: for the same schools con- 9 258 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK ducted in the same way can be run with less money under the new system than under the old. I have been health officer for a number of years, and I know that the sani- tary conditions of the rural schools are in a deplorable condition and it is next to impossible to get the ordinary trustee to clean up, fix up and keep the toilets in a sanitary condition. But few schools have had the medical inspection of the pupils until toward the close of the term and many do not comply with the law at all. The same waterpail and dipper can be found yet. By means of the Regents examinations and the physical examinations it has been shown that the city children are surpassing their country cousins and this can only be explained by the inferior conditions of the country schools. The country child has as good a right to a modern mental and physical development as the city child as long as the State is paying over one-half of the expense. In lieu of these inferior conditions the State Board of Health and the State Board of Education have decreed that all schools must be provided with sanitary closets before November 1918, and that every pupil must have a physical examination and all school houses must be properly equipped. This will cost money and the taxes will be higher no matter under what system. But it is certain that these necessary changes can be made for less cost under the Machold system than under the old. (Anyone with a different opinion let him accept Mr Silfer's challenge). In Hastings, Oswego county, there are two railroads running through the town and in the districts through which these railroads run the tax rate has been low. They have received the benefit while the whole town paid for the roads. In one of these districts the rate was only $3.20 on the thousand, while in other districts the rate has been as high as $25 per thousand. This year the rate was $10 for all. The average rate was the same as last year, and with an efficient town board this should have been the case through the State, except in towns that have no high school. In these towns now the town must pay for the high school education of its pupils while in the past the parents or the pupil has had to pay this. Perhaps this accounts for the high tax rate in some towns, but this is just, as before the pupils in some towns have had advantage over pupils residing in the same state but in different towns. Since the tax rate is the same some of the districts are already advocating joining with larger districts. This in time will reduce the cost and increase the efficiency of the school as it is well known the larger the school the more interest. M. V. Veeder Central Square, December 26 To the Editor of The Post-Standard: The Machold law has its imperfections. This is true with most laws, but the law, I believe, has in mind the betterment of the schools of the State. "Algerose " is begging the question when he asks where I was educated. Mr Miller also dodges in his method of questioning. I am glad, however, if my article succeeded in getting the " neighborhood telephones going." The ex-trustee from Port Byron enters into personalities and, in fact, a THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 259 great many of those who have written in opposition to the new law either enter into personalities or seem to ride the one great hobby — taxation. I was educated first in a rural school. I did my first teaching in a rural school, therefore my sympathies have been and are largely with the rural school problem, and it is for this reason that I take the time to write ira defense of any system that may better the conditions of the rural school problems. Some of the opponents of the new law seem to think that it was made for consolidation and they are afraid that " the little red schoolhouse " will be done away with. Again turning to Hastings — less than two miles east of Hastings is a school to which children are now walking through snowdrifts, rain and sunshine, some of them over two miles. There is one less than two miles west of Hastings with a few children, and another one and one- half miles south of Hastings on a good macadam road, with good access to Hastings. Would it not be far better to consolidate these four schools at Hastings Corners and have two or three teachers, so classes could be graded and teachers would have less classes and more time for individual teaching and drills, thus getting all the benefits of the grade school? At the same time the boys and girls would be at home with their parents instead of being obliged — as many are in this State — to drive from four to six miles to high school or to board away from home at the very age when they need the home companionship most. However, the new law does not compel nor is there anything in the law that would say that school officers have the right to consolidate. On the contrary, the law says explicitly that it must be left to a majority of the electors in the territory to be consolidated. Those who oppose the law seem to lose sight of the fact that special and economic conditions have changed in the whole world in the last fifteen years, but the rural schools of New York State are just about in the same condition they were a generation ago. A. A. Sifert Hastings, December 24 — Syracuse Post-Standard, December 29, 1917 Township School Law Defended January 8, 19 18 Editor, Kingston Freeman: Many persons in Ulster county who are interested in public education were surprised that the board of supervisors should pass a resolution calling upon our representatives in the State Legislature to use their influence to secure the repeal of the township school law. This resolution purported to be based upon the wishes of the several constituencies represented by the super- visors, and persons most interested in rural educational progress are won- dering to what extent the various constituencies throughout Ulster county were really consulted about this all-important matter. To most persons vitally interested in rural education the action of the board of supervisors came as a distinct surprise, and there is no little feeling in rural sections that this action was urged by a few disgruntled individuals who can no longer control school districts for their own financial gain and for the 260 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK perpetuation of their own ascendency in neighborhood feuds, as was pos- sible under the antiquated district system, and that the board of supervisors was induced to take action in this matter without any careful investigation into the merits of the case. It would be interesting, therefore, to know to what extent the super- visors investigated rural educational conditions in Ulster county for the purpose of making a fair estimate of the relative value of the old district system as compared with the township system in the matter of adminis- trative efficiency and in the more important matter of giving the country boy and girl educational opportunities to which the sons and daughters of a vigorous rural population are entitled. Is it possible that the board of supervisors of Ulster county took action in this matter without such investigation? Is it possible that the board of supervisors took action of such momentous significance in a matter affect- ing the most important institution of rural Ulster county without giving it as much investigation and consideration as they gave to the question of the extermination of the black bear? The friends of the black bear had ample opportunity to be heard upon the question of his extermination, but the proceedings of the board as given in the county press do not indicate that the friends of rural education were given a hearing when action was to be taken affecting the progress of rural education. The black bear and Inspector Todd are to be congratulated! But the question of practically instructing our legislators to work for the reestablishing of a rural school administrative system conceived in the necessities of colonial New England, but long ago discarded by every state of the New England group and by many others throughout the country; the question as to whether a majority of country boys and girls shall continue to be robbed of their intellectual birthright of equality of educational opportunity by the crude machinery of a provincial system; the question as to whether rural New York shall keep in the center of the highway of educational progress through a system of administration that promises a better day for country schools or return to a system that has kept this State for a quarter of a century far behind the rest of the union in this matter — these questions are disposed of with but little apparent consideration for the wishes of the friends of rural education. There are some significant questions that the board might have con- sidered if it wished to be consistent in the application of general principles ?to this matter. If the district system is better for school administration, -why is it not better for the administration of other town affairs? Why not divide the town up into districts for other business, permitting each ■district to elect its own officers, build its own roads, etc.? If school tax- ation over a whole town is " inequitable," to use the word found in the "board's resolution, why is it not inequitable to use the town as the unit of taxation for other purposes? If the school affairs of a town can not be •properly managed by a town school board, how is it that the other affairs of a town can be managed by a town board? To be consistent, a resolu- tion calling for a return to the district system for school business should be followed by a resolution calling for a division of the towns into districts for other town matters, with a supervisor in charge of each district. Is it possible that those who are responsible for the formulation of the policies THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 2DI of the board of supervisors would contend that road building is properly a town matter and the education of the future citizens of a town is of such slight relative importance as to be of no concern to the town as a whole? Do our county legislators believe that the training for future citizenship is a district matter in which towns have no responsibility? Another significant question : Why did not the city supervisors ask for the repeal of the law that makes the city of Kingston a single unit for the administration of its schools? Why did they not ask for a return to the antiquated system that permitted each ward of the city of Kingston to manage its own school through a trustee or a board of trustees? If they think that such a worn-out system as that is good for rural Ulster, why not for Kingston? The answer is, that they know that the people of Kings- ton would not permit their school system to return to pre-Revolutionary practices. And, furthermore, the supervisors themselves would not think of taking such preposterous action in regard to the Kingston schools. Why, then, in the name of reason, do they want to foist back upon rural Ulster a system that would be an educational disgrace to Kingston? It may be answered that Kingston is more compact than the towns and can, therefore, manage its school affairs better as a unit administered by a single board. But New York City, Chicago, Boston, in fact every large city in the country is a single unit for school administration. Would anybody contend that their educational problems are less intricate than the same problem in the towns of rural Ulster county? The schools of Greater New York are administered by a board of seven members. However, the objection to the township system was not based upon extent of territory, but on the plea that it is " inequitable." Is it equitable, may I ask, that one district should have a tax rate three or four times as great as an adjoining district simply because of arbitrary boundaries established a century ago to meet the needs of pioneer life when isolation was relieved only by ox-cart, the horse and the weekly mail? Have railroads, the tele- graph, the telephone, the daily mail and the automobile done nothing to break down the geographical and intellectual barriers of a century ago? Is it " equitable " that arbitrary boundaries should give one school district in a town an assessed valuation of only $6796, as is the case in district no. 10, town of Hardenbergh, while the assessed valuations of the other districts of the town range from $14,093 to $33,152, with practically identi- cal problems to meet? Is it " equitable " that the people of that district should be burdened with a tax rate two to four times as high as other districts in the town for the same educational advantages? Is it "equitable" that district no. 3, town of Shandaken, should have a tax rate of four mills on a dollar while dis- trict no. 13 immediately adjoining district no. 3 has a tax rate of thirteen mills on a dollar for the same educational advantages? Serious inequalities of this nature, which were prevalent in all sections of Ulster county under the district system, have been entirely removed by the equalization of tax- ation under the township system. Is it possible that the board of super- visors was not aware of these facts, which established beyond the possi- bility of a doubt the greater equity of the township, system, when they called for the repeal of this law on the theory that it is "inequitable?" 262 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Township School Law Ulster county took a firm stand against the much-discussed township school law last Thursday afternoon when the board of supervisors adopted a resolution condemning the legislation as " oppressive and inequitable " and calling upon Senator Walton and Assemblyman Brink to do " their utmost to secure its repeal " at the next session of the Legislature. The law has been in operation less than a year, but in that short time there has' been scarcely a gathering of grangers in every section of New York State that has not used the " big stick " on the measure, and Ulster county grangers have not been behind in the fight against it. The climax of it all came up Thursday and with the county officials lined up on the same side of the fence as the grangers, the bill will be given a hard run as far as Ulster is con- cerned during the winter months at Albany. — Roxbury Times, December 20, 1917 "Silk Stocking Lunkheads" To the Editor Putnam County Republican': I was very much interested in the letter of " Earnest Inquirer." It bris- tles with points of well-founded criticism. The above caption, taken from the letter, fairly describes, I believe, the managers of our public schools. Whatever may be the purpose of the present school law, the obvious effect is to largely increase taxation without an apparent benefit. The number of high schools has not been increased, nor is it likely to be. The opportunity to secure a high school education is, and will be, practically the same as formerly, unless taxation for that purpose is to be greatly increased. The towns of Kent and Putnam Valley will serve as examples. Statistics show that only three per cent of the beginners in high school graduate and the article turned out as having finished the course is wretched value for the money we expend. A business letter recently contributed to an acquaintance of the writer by a high school graduate of eighteen contains in two short paragraphs four errors in grammar and three in spelling, while the punctuation is purely accidental. And yet the letter shows an intelligent mind. There is altogether too much time wasted on nonessentials and altogether too little devoted to sound elementary arithmetic, reading, spelling and Eng- lish composition. It is not too much to say that most employers are obliged at their own expense, to waste a year or two teaching the boys and girls whom they employ what should have been learned in the public schools. We ask for bread and they give us a stone. The " fads " of physical culture, etc. are taking the time that should be devoted to a sound basis of teach- ing to enable the children to reap the reward of all true teaching, which is the ability to teach oneself. It can not be truthfully said that teachers are underpaid or, as a rule, overworked. Why, therefore, the continual discontent? A spirit that is communicated to pupils and makes it easy for the " soap box orator " to inculcate socialistic and other doctrines subversive to sound principles of government. That our schools are less efficient now than in former years and that the tendency is still in that direction are facts too obvious for argument. It is THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 263 high time that taxpayers and business men especially should get behind an effort to secure a proper and an adequate return for the taxpayers' money. M. F. Agor Mahopac Falls, Dec. 25th, 1916 — Putnam County Republican, December 29, 1917 School Taxes To the Editor of the Recorder: Sir : In common with every other taxpayer in the rural parts of the State of New York, I am simply amazed at the increase which has been made in school taxes for 1917, over the school taxes for 1916. Last year I paid in Philipstown $651.71, and have this year had to pay $1083.28, an increase of $467.57, or seventy-five and ninety-four hundredths per cent (75.94). This without any increase in my assessments. I am told that in Putnam Valley things are worse, but have not yet received the bill for school taxes on my lands in that township. The total assessed values, real and personal, in Philipstown are this year $3,224,224, and the total school taxes thereon $30,338.24. The rate for $100 assessment is now ninety-five cents (95c.) exclusive of the collector's charge. The census of 1915 gave to Philipstown a population of 3571. Taken on an average, every man, woman and child in our town is therefore this year called on to pay $8.50 for education. In the great city of New York, with its enormous population of underbred and underfed aliens, there may be need for such fads as " physical training." But our farmer boys and girls are not housed in tenements, and do get plenty of exercise in their walks to and from school, and in helping their parents in farm work and in doing chores. Nor are the parents of our boys and girls such paupers that we have to see that their children are fed, much less is there need with us, as are some schools in the city, of actually feeding the children at the public cost. New York City also maintains, as we do not in the rural parts of Philipstown, high schools, colleges &c. Yet despite all the extravagance due to city life and city conditions, the total tax for educa- tional purposes in the city of New York is only at the rate of $7.89 per head of population, and somewhat less than sixty cents per $100 of assessed values, to be exact fifty-nine cents and ninety-seven hundredths of a cent. As no charge is made in the city for the collection of taxes and we in the country have to pay at least one per cent, education is now costing us sixty per cent more than it does in the city, per $100 of assessment. We are told that this increase in school taxes is due to a law enacted at Albany last winter, which our member of the Legislature, Hon. John P. Donohoe, and Republican members from other rural districts, rightly opposed. We now have a Republican Governor and a Republican majority in the Sen- ate and in the Assembly. Every candidate for office, Democratic, Republi- can, Progressive or what not, except possibly a few in the large cities, always professes to be " The Farmer's Friend." Will those who are to legislate at Albany this winter repeal or amend last winter's law so as to make it in some measure fair to the owners and tillers of farm lands? There is in last year's law one good feature, namely, that school taxes are 264 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK thereunder collected by one man throughout the whole of each township instead of as formerly by one or more men in each of our dozen or more school districts. Stuyvesant Fish Garrison, N. Y., Bee. 10, 1917 — Putnam County Republican, December 29, 1917 Delegates Condemn Township Law Thirty-three men and women representing 29 school districts in Sullivan county, met in the grand jury room of the court house on Saturday after- noon and discussed the township school law. The attendance was not as large as expected, only a sixth of the county being represented. Several speeches condemning the law were made. John Townsend, of Bethel, was elected a delegate from Sullivan county to ask for the repeal of the law. Mr Townsend accepted the duties, and in his speech of accept- ance he said his town! had suffered as much as any town in the county by the law; that they had bought twelve barrels of oil for the town; 12 portable toilets had been contracted for and an indebtedness of $1584 imposed on the town. He would do his best, he promised, to have the law repealed. A resolution was offered asking that each district subscribe $2 for the purpose of paying delegate Townsend's expenses. The chair appointed A. Sniffin, A. W. Robinson and W. F. Curlette a finance committee to pass upon all bills incurred by the organization. Mrs Temple was very much against the school consolidation law, and urged that the delegates to Albany be instructed to use every legitimate effort to have the law repealed. Mr Townsend, therefore, is clothed with all the authority necessary to have the law repealed. The meeting closed with a resolution thanking Hon. John J. Dillon, of the Rural New Yorker, for the splendid work he has done in opposing the law and urging him to continue his good work. Township School Law To the Editor of The Journal: The township school law seems to be a serious bone of contention at present. The more it is discussed the better acquainted with its provisions will the people become. I desire at this time to discuss one phase of our school system and the township law in relation to it, and that is the financial. In an editorial in your issue of the 15th you compare the tax rate of Jamestown and Harmony and say that it would seem as though the rural schools could be run cheaper. The writer is not familiar with all the facts in relation to Harmony but as chairman of the Villenova school board I can give some facts and figures in relation to that town which would likely apply with equal force to any rural town. Villenova has eleven schools with twelve teachers. The total registration is about 130 pupils and the average attendance would of course be slightly less or not to exceed 10 pupils on an average to a teacher. Owing to the compactness of its territory, Jamestown would be able to teach that num- ber of pupils with five teachers. The wages of a teacher are the same, THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 265 no matter whether there are two pupils or 25. It costs as much to heat the school house, make the necessary repairs, give janitor service and pay the other incidental expenses, in a small school as in a large one. If Villenova were able to place all her pupils in five schools and eliminate the other seven schools the tax rate for the current year would be five dollars on a thousand. Or in other words, give us the same compactness of territory that Jamestown has and we would educate the children for half the money. The writer has known of more than one school that has been run with two pupils and schools with from three to six are not at all uncom- mon. The two pupils have a right to an education, but it is expensive to say the least to pay a teacher say $12 a week and the other incidental expenses for that number of pupils. The present boundaries of school districts were defined when farms aver- aged small in size and families large in number and rural population was about double what it now is. Any person in middle life can easily remem- ber when most rural schools had from 30 to 50 pupils in the winter and the same schools now have from two to 10. Probably one-half the rural teachers of Chautauqua county could easily teach all the pupils. Possibly if they were consolidated to that extent it might inconvenience some, but it is safe to say with some rearrangement, possibly in a few cases move a school house or build a new one to make them more central, that at least one-third of the rural schools of Chautauqua county could be eliminated with no serious inconvenience to any one. This would eliminate one-third of the taxes, one-third the teachers would be released for other work and the pupils would be much better off for it is well known that the hardest job any teacher has, is to keep up the interest in a little school with less than a dozen pupils. If taxes seem high this matter should be given serious consideration. Most of the objection to the township law seems to be the so-called increase in taxation. There has been some increase in some districts and a reduction in others. It has been equalized and very properly so, too. The most flagrant injustice in our whole taxation system has been the manner of obtaining the funds for running the schools. The taxpayers in high school districts have been educating high school pupils from the rural districts for $20 a year (paid by the State), when it has been costing them upwards of $50 and pupils in the grades that come in from the outside for eight or $10 which has cost them around $40. The rural taxpayer has got this benefit at the other fellow's expense. In the towns of Chautauqua county bordering on Lake Erie in the districts bordering on the lake, the bulk of the school taxes have been paid by the trunk line railroads, trolley lines, trunk telephone lines and gas lines. Why should not the taxpayer in the back districts of those towns receive part of the benefits from these foreign corporations? It is as just that the township should be made the unit of school taxation as for other taxation. There has been however some actual increase in taxation this year but it is usually unjustly laid to the township law without any investigation. In Villenova every teacher gets from one dollar to three per week more than the teachers in the same schools last year and mind you not a one of them get any too much. This actual increase amounts to 17 per cent of 266 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK our total tax levy. These teachers were nearly all hired by the old trus- tees before the township law went into effect so that the law nor even the present board are responsible for this increase. Should we go back to the old system the wages would go down. This is the first year we have had to raise money for a physical training teacher; the cost of making ordinary repairs has increased 50 per cent or more ; all the common articles used such as flags, brooms, pails etc., have doubled in price. For none of these items is the township law responsible. In fact the only money that has been raised or spent for which this law is responsible is the following: Salary of clerk of the board, salary of treasurer of board, and a complete set of books (which will last for a term of years) so that all the acts of the board including their source of revenue and their expenditures may be kept in a comprehensive way so that any taxpayer may see just what has been done at any time. The total of these items of expense is $152, a very minor fraction in the tax levy, and certainly too small an amount upon which to ask for a repeal of the law. Probably the facts as brought out in relation to Villenova would apply with equal force to any other rural town in the county. The calm observer will recall Mark Twain's story of how in the early days of the west a mob caught a supposed horse thief and while they were placing the noose about his neck and the other end over a limb of the nearest tree, some one with a reflecting mind sug- gested that as they had ample time they better try him before they pulled him up to make sure that they had the right fellow. But the mob shouted as one man, " Hang him first and try him afterwards." The same tactics are being resorted to in relation to this law. H. S. SWEETLAND South Dayton, Dec. 27. — Jamestown Journal Higher School Tax Due to Many Causes There is considerable dissatisfaction with the new township school law growing out of the increased taxation. On all sides are heard criticisms of the law because of the increased amount of taxes. A study of the matter shows that the additional taxes are not due solely. to the law but to many contributing agencies. These have been summed up and are here presented. (1) The burden is evenly distributed. The town boards had no balance on hand Aug. 1, and in other years many districts have carried considerable- balances. (2) There are additional expenses — made by the law — such a clerk, treasurer etc., for salaries. (3) An expense not made by the law — Physical training teacher has been employed by the town board in compliance with the law. The State will at the end of the year pay back one half of this salary. However, teachers" salaries must be paid monthly and the board had to include this in the budget. (4) In making up the budgets, many town boards assumed that the State would not pay the tuition of any pupils residing in the town and added this amount to be made up by taxation. The boards had no information on this point and the step taken was the only logical one to be made. The State THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 267 will pay such tuition as heretofore, and has decided that towns must pay tuition for pupils attending in towns other than that in which their district is located. This will amount to a considerable figure in many towns. Thus more money has been raised in many instances than will be used and a handsome balance will be held over for the next school year. But as to the outlook for a reduction in taxes, this is less bright, as it is apparent that because of the scarcity of teachers, wages will be much higher and on doubt offset the balance on hand and state monies. There is a shortage to be faced of teachers apparently from 25 to 50 per cent and if the school standards are to be maintained the only way to bring about a general relief is to increase the salaries and hold those teachers who would otherwise be drawn away by more lucrative compensation for their services. To add to the burden imposed by the educational system there is the increase in both fuel and supplies cost. — Sullivan County Democrat, January I, 1918 Township School Bill The Brown township school bill was passed by the State Legislature at its 1917 session has aroused the antagonism of people throughout the State and the chances are that at the coming session attempts will be made to repeal it. To say the least, the law is an experiment which has only been tried successfully in one or two other states of the Union — and in none in exactly the form in which it was adopted for this State. As soon as it went into effect it resulted in raising the school taxes in directions where there had not been any considerable expenditure for school purposes but which were in the same town with districts where there was a con- siderable school debt. Whenever the pocketbook is hit, people are liable to have their ability to appraise other values properly paralyzed to the point where they are unable to recognize those other values real or possible. In the case of the township law, it is urged that there has not been enough opportunity given to determine just how the law will work out. Educators of the highest rank maintain that in the end it can not fail to be appreciated if given the proper chance to work itself out. There should be, of course, no need in these times to spend more money than is necessary to accomplish results, and if the township law imposes extra expense which is not com- pensated for by improved service it is contrary to the spirit of a period of necessary economizing. On the other hand there is no place where we can so well afford to spend our money as in the education of our children and if the Brown law accomplishes better results, especally in rural education it would be a short-sighted policy to repeal the measure even if it does impose higher taxes on part or all of the school taxpayers of the State. — Geneseo Republican, January 3, 1918 Writer Vigorously Defends New School Law Mr Editor: We noticed the item in your paper last week to the effect that school taxes had been doubled; we do not think that your item is just or fair to anyone and it reflects on the present management of the rural schools of this great State. 268 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK It is true that some taxpayers will find their school taxes much higher this year than they were last, but they are only getting their just dues in that ; the matter is like this : Some years ago towns bonded themselves in building the O. & W. Railway to Delhi. Although these bonds are drawn on the whole town and every taxpayer had a part in meeting them, only those school districts traversed by the road got any benefit of the taxes paid by the railroad. Under the new law the railroad tax is equalized and every district fares alike. For the very same reason that river districts find their taxes increased, the back districts find theirs decreased. In this new law this State is only following other states. Whilst we ought to be leading, Mr Editor, we are following, for the state of Ohio made the town or township the school unit more than twenty years ago and a few years later directed that the town board of education should consist of five mem- bers. There is no talk of any backward steps in Ohio and you will find that school conditions in rural districts there are much better today than they were years ago, for there are better buildings and better oversight than ever before. The state of Indiana, years ago, made the town or township the unit. There one trustee has oversight of all the schools of the town, just as the supervisors have oversight of town affairs in this State; no one hears of any backward steps in the great rural state of Indiana. In some of our rural districts there is not enough local pride to shut the •schoolhouse door and this sort of people are the ones who talk loudest about fighting the new law, etc. It is a fact, Mr Editor, that many cow barns have been built and many others made as warm as possible, in late years ; many of these are well ventilated, but it is a rare schoolhouse that has any other ventilation than a hole in the foundation, a loose piece of siding or an absent window pane. We recall attending a meeting in a Delaware county schoolhouse where there was a man who was over seventy years of age. He looked the ceiling over and looked about the room and said : " This is the same schoolhouse that I attended when I was a boy." Yet there was not a single barn in use in that neighborhood that was as old as that schoolhouse, and there the farmers took pride that water would not freeze in their barns on the coldest nights; think more of their cows than they do of their children, who spend a large part of every twenty-four hours for nine months in the schoolhouses. We see barns with concrete foundations, others are banked carefully to keep out the cold, but how many of the rural schoolhouses are looked after in that way? We heard one farmer, who lives back from the railroad, say, " That law requiring indoor toilets for schoolhouses is all right" That man evidently thinks his children worth more than his cattle. We would like to ask what wisdom there is in maintaining schools within a mile of each other. Is that a wise use of taxpayers' money? Yet that is what towns have been doing for years. Ohio and Indiana rural districts are two miles square so that schoolhouses are at least two miles apart; how much longer is a mile in Delaware county? One school board found a school with a house, the siding of which was off in places, roof badly leaking and window glass out, the foundation was open, they found that two of the children were about half a mile from THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 269 another school and that the other three children were, by going cross lots, nearer another school than their own, therefore that school, having no teacher, was suspended, making a saving to the State and taxpayers of approximately $400. Another board found that one of their schools had been attended the previous year by no more than two children and that a large part of the year there was only one, therefore they suspended that school and transport that one child to a nearby district, a saving to the tax- payers. The boards found that many of the teachers had been hired at increased wages ; they found that fuel contracts called for more money than in other years ; they could hardly do anything but assume those contracts ; they could not annul the schools. Undoubtedly there will be saving in the future in consolidation; there will be better school housing and there will be better apparatus, for this great State is not going to take any backward steps. The law calling for indoor closets or toilets was enacted before the new boards were elected; all the new boards could do was to comply with the law. We are suspicious, Mr Editor, that the farmers who kick, are the " curb- stone, noteshaving sort," that they are those who have already had their children schooled or else they never had any to school, or they are some of those who live along the O. & W. Railroad who now, by a just equalization, see their school tax put where it belongs. The average Delaware county farmer is not thinking of discarding his mowing machines, his hay tedders and rakes, his reapers and manure spread- ers, his corn binders, reversible sulky plows and other machinery; neither is he thinking of the schools that were good enough for his father and mother; he is wanting something more modern and more up-to-date and he is going tc cooperate with other average farmers in getting it. Mr Editor, we invite you to move to the country, send your children a mile or more to a schoolhouse with the sizzling green wood fire, with a siding" off the house, cat holes in the foundation and window glass out, a leaking roof overhead. We dare say that in this zero weather, you would not last more than a week, but you would hike back to Delhi, where the taxes are probably higher and where you would have some modern conveniences and apparatus. Mr Editor, I would like to help catch some of those kicking farmers and I would like to help put rings into their noses and to lead them into some of our rural schoolhouses and chain them up so that they might enjoy some of the things that " were good enough for Pap and Mam." They would bellow like the bulls of Bashan in a few hours and beat it back to civilization as soon as they could be loosed "Au Revoir " The writer adds a postscript which is herewith appended, as follows : This State is just getting awake to rural school conditions ; it has been asleep along those lines, but when the State gets right wide awake there will be something doing and we will have better rural school facilities than some of the states that are so far ahead of us now that they can not see us for the dust. — Wish you a Happy New Year. — Delhi Republican, January 5, 1918 270 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK No Friend of Red Schoolhouse To the Editor of the Democrat and Chronicle: Sir: In a letter on rural schools your Union Hill correspondent makes several statements which call for reply. Any law the object of which is to improve rural conditions ought to have the sanction of the farmer and rural real estate owner, even though it involves an increase in taxes. A matter of such vital importance as our rural schools should not be left to itself for the duration of the war simply because it is going to cost a few additional dollars in taxes. The burden imposed is not heavy and the benefits secured are many and of far-reaching importance. The new township school law is a step in the right direction and the thought of turning back should never be entertained by a wise and progress- ive people. The small expense occasioned by the salaries paid to the clerk of the board and treasurer is negligible when applied to the township as a whole, and is calculated to be offset by greater efficiency. Under the old system each school was operated independently of the other schools in the town. Under the new system all schools of the township are controlled by one board of education. It has centralized the governing power which is certain to result in bringing our rural schools up to the highest point of efficiency possible in such schools. The work is unified in every respect and at the end of the year it will be possible to point out the strong and weak schools in each township. Complaint is made that rural districts have now to help pay the expenses of high school districts. This is true in towns where high schools are brought under the operation of the new law, but in towns where this is not true complaint is made that those living outside of the high school district have to pay tuition for high school privileges. The ideal arrangement is where the township is made the unit. Then any poor boy or girl can avail himself or herself of high school privileges, and the expense of such school- ing is a proper charge against every dollar's worth of property in the town, the same as when a new bridge or town hall is built. The "little red schoolhouse" is out of date and has been for many years. Our entry into the war has brought out one very vital fact regarding our rural communities. Under date of December 22, 1917, the Country Gentle- man, the farmer's own paper, has this to say editorially about rural condi- tions : " The United States Public Health Service presents a serious indict- ment against the rural communities which have failed to provide for the Tiealth of their children. Seventy-five per cent of the defects which have tarred young men from rural districts from army service were caused by unsanitary conditions in the rural schools. Such defects as poor sight, flat feet, bad teeth and underweight, appeared in alarming numbers when young men from the cities and towns were examined. Seventy-five per cent of the most seriously afflicted came from the rural districts. Robbing children of health and opportunity will not be tolerated any more than German autocracy." The new law strengthens the arm of the State Department of Education which is now in position to demand that the conditions complained of in the editorial, which have been a menace to the health and morals of our children THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM • 2"Jl for so many years, be discontinued. We, who live in rural communities, •would do well to heed this timely warning and make the necessary changes on our own initiative. Your correspondent sees the day when rural schools will be consolidated but would postpone it to a time when our highways have been improved to facilitate transportation of the children. I am quite sure that the consensus of opinion of the people of the State would be that our highways are now in condition to insure transportation of our children in safety and comfort. Every day that we postpone the improvement of the rural schools we do so at the expense of the efficiency of the State and Nation. W. L. Titus Member Board of Education Irondequoit, N. Y '., Jan. 7, 1918 — Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, January 8, 1918 Education Law Cases Pending Geneseo, Jan. 8. — (Special.) — A number of actions are now either pending or soon will be in Livingston County Supreme Court, to combat the new education law of New York State, which compels the farmers to support by taxation village school districts in return for the use of the latter schools. The new law, in fact, threatens to do away entirely with the picturesque and practical district school, by organizing a scheme under which the " town school unit" does away with school taxation by each district of the property in its own confines. The farmers' two main objections to the new law, so far, are that the advantages the comparatively expensive village school district may afford in cases where children live some miles from town are practically inaccessible to them because of the difficulty of getting the youngsters there in bad weather, and the further objection that the new law compels them to pay for village school improvements they did not vote for, thereby raising their school tax rate several fold and in some cases as much as five fold. One local man who owns extensive farm lands in Caledonia has had his school tax, thanks to the inclusion of the $50,000 Caledonia High School expenses in the budget, raised from less than $200 to about $700. The farmers in the county have heretofore educated their children up to the point where district school leaves off, at an average of less than $2 per $1000, and then sent on their children to village school on a tuition basis where they wished to advance them further. By that arrangement the extra cost of advanced schooling was paid only by those who availed themselves of it and not by those who were unable to. — Rochester Times, January 9, 1918 Maintain Town Education Law The plaintive cry that the little red schoolhouse is being wiped out by the new town ■ board of education law should deceive no one. The little red schoolhouse is being far better cared for under the new law than ever before. The school property is being kept up in better shape, the schools are being run more economically and a higher standard of education is being main- 272 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK tained in all of them. There is an opportunity given even the poorest pupils to get the benefits of an academic course at any of the nearby high schools of the town free of expense to themselves or their parents. The men and women serving on these town boards are in most instances persons versed in educational matters and better qualified in most cases to manage the schools than the farmers and others composing the old district boards, who had very little time to look after such matters. The effort now being made by the politicians in some of the up-state towns to have the law repealed this winter should be defeated. We believe the opposition to the law has largely died out in this section and we trust that our Long Island representatives at Albany will oppose strongly any attempt to repeal the present law. It may require some amendments to perfect it, but there should be no backward step. The law is in the best interests of the children of the rural districts, who are to become the future citizens who will take an important part in the management of the affairs of the commonwealth. They should be enabled to get as good an education as the pupils in the city schools. — The Long Islander, Huntington. — Green- port Republican Watchman, January 10, igi8 The Township School Law Out of all the criticism and discussion of the Machold school law two things are becoming quite evident: 1. That people interested in rural schools are thinking as they have not been in the habit of doing; 2. That whatever is done about the Machold law, whether it is amended or wholly repealed, we shall not go back to the old district system we had before, No sensible person probably expected the new law to be perfect, but whether it can be perfected or must be replaced by something different, the signs of the times quite plainly indicate that the rural school question in this State will never be settled until we get a good, progressive, up-to-date system, whatever that shall finally prove to be. It is always easy simply to find fault without pointing out any sure remedy ; good, constructive criticism is all too rare. But the review of the Machold law in the Rural New Yorker of Jan. 26th, by Mr Richard Hall of Dun- kirk, N. Y., is worthy of careful reading by every rural school patron. Mr Hall says : " Before the passage of the bill I devoted much time in debating the merits of the township plan with various state officials, and did every- thing possible to prevent its enactment. There are, however, some good points in it, and I believe in amendments rather than an outright repeal." Mr Hall makes very frank criticism of some of the present requirements in rural school, and suggests some radical amendments of the law, but we earnestly urge both friends and opponents of the township plan to give his article careful study. — Sandy Creek News, January jj, igi8 The favorite camouflage of those who would perpetuate the district system of school administration in New York State is to pour into the ears of an unsuspecting and romantic public a silver stream of fervid eloquence on the wonder and glory of the " little red schoolhouse." The fallacy in their argument against the township law is the contention that the "little red schoolhouse " and the district system are inseparable. That the district school system was one of the chief glories of colonial New York, serving THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 273 at that time as a suitable expression of the educational ideals of a pioneer people willing to do their best to provide for the perpetuation of the intel- lectual and spiritual life of the colony, is looked upon by those who would continue this system into the twentieth century as a justification of their position. But the public school is the only institution to which they are willing to apply this argument. In other matters men of broad vision are content to preserve the indomitable spirit and hig"h idealism of colonial days, and give this spirit and idealism opportunity to express themselves through the avenues of twentieth century efficiency in organization. But in rural school administration there is a determination to adhere to colonial inefficiency in organization as exemplified in the district system, even though it is appar- ent to the most casual observer that the perpetuation of the colonial organi- zation has no relation whatever to the preservation of colonial educational idealism. If we can but retain and perpetuate the devotion to the cause of education that was responsible for the district system, we can safely dispense with the district system itself. This early devotion to education found expression in New England in the establishment of her first schools under the township system; but later, in 1789 the district system was legalized in response to the same sort of sentiment that is now clamoring for the repeal of the township law in New York State. Of this law of 1789 estab- lishing a district system Horace Mann, one of the greatest of educational statesmen, said that it was " the most unfortunate law on the subject of com- mon schools ever enacted in the State." A return to the district system in New York State at this time would be even more unfortunte. Let us learn to distinguish between democracy and provincialism in education. Wallace J. Andrews District Superintendent — Kingston Freeman, January 11, 1918 Township School Law Is Defended A correspondent writes the Press in defense of the much condemned town- ship school law and asks that his statement be published. This the Press is pleased to do, it being the policy of the " brightest daily " to open its columns to both sides of all questions. The correspondent writes : " Every- where we hear complaint about the new township school law because of the increase of taxes. People ought to consider that everything is costing more than it did and that the town school boards are doing things for the districts that they would not do for themselves. Many repairs were made by school boards this year which should have been made from one to five years ago and even more. " It is simply a case of letting everything go as long as possible and then having many repairs necessary. It is true that many districts would have gotten along without repairs or extras, but they shouldn't. If you don't believe in advantagement, why didn't you stick to the old log house. Other things besides the township law have increased the taxes. Everything is higher and consequently the teacher must have more pay in order to live. Coal is much higher in price. School supplies have all increased. Even a broom now costs a dollar. 274 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK " This new law will bring about better buildings. The State will require sanitary toilets in all buildings by September 1918. Boards are now putting them in where repairs were necessary. This is one new item of expense. I hear you saying, " The old outhouse is good enough." It might be if it was kept in decent condition, but it is cleaned once a year or once in two years, the door with a panel out is often hanging on one hinge, and the fence is falling down. Are these outhouses places to develop good morals? Not as anyone knows of. It might do some people good to pay a little more atten- tion to their school. It might not be so hard to squeeze out an extra dollar or two tax. " Now, let us go to the inside of the schoolhouse. Would you want to spend six hours every day there? Now be honest about it. At the back of the room is a stove with the grate broken and a crack clear around the fire-box. This attempts to heat the building. It all depends on where you sit and the condition of the weather. If you sit near the stove you roast and if over in the farther corner of the room you freeze. " Perhaps in the afternoon it gets warm enough in all parts of the room. This may be occupied by twenty children. There is no ventilation except when someone passes through the door, so by night the air is so foul that it isn't fit for anyone to breathe. Some of these farmers who object to a ventilating system in the school, instal them in their barns for their cows. Isn't a child as good as a cow? These heating and ventilating systems have been installed by the new trustees where they have found a new stove needed. " This new law will bring better schools. With one trustee, there is very little consideration of the applicant for a position. The best help if any was necessary, was to the ' man of authority.' Now, it will be necessary to apply to a whole board and if the teacher is a failure, three men are now liable to the consent of employing the said person; there will be a certain amount of consolidation follow from this new law. " Now, don't misunderstand me. I said a few schools. Is it advisable to maintain a school of one or two scholars? Anyone who has experience with schools will tell you that children in the larger schools do better. There is more of an incentive to work, as there is competition. Remember, these schools do not have to be closed forever, but "A great argument of the people opposed to the law is so hard to get supplies for the school. How about the old system? How about a trustee that said that one box of chalk and one broom were enough for one year? How about the flagpole that went for months without being fixed, until the teacher had to get one of the big boys to do it? How about the many rural trustees who would not buy books for the library? Most of these old trus- tees didn't want the position, and if they had it they tried to get along with as little as possible. Their main object was 'a low tax rate.' "One great objection is the bonded indebtedness of the union free school districts. It seems hard to do, but remember when you build that new build- ing which you need that the rest of the town will help pay for it. Also, remember that you have the privilege of using it without tuition fees. Some will say that they live too far away. How about the normal schools and colleges then? You are helping support them, but still all of you are not sending children there. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 275 ""The first of last August the township board of education came into office •with a lot of rural schools in bad condition on their hands. They will not always get the work done as cheaply as they could because it had to be rushed "This school needed a new door, that a new flagpole, the next one new desks, and so on, until they had made the repairs needed for the last five to ten jears in all the districts of their town. At least give the township law a >irial and see if it won't work out to the advantage of education as it has in well, and costs 100 per cent more to feed, to swallow his loss, by disposing-: in some way of the roadster and again secure a horse adapted to his busi- ness. Again we quote : " We give the children no choice, the strong arm of tte- State says they must go to school and to the parent, you must send themi to school." This magnetic speaker would have you believe that the compulsory edu- cation law was a part of the abominable 1917 rural school law. The compulsory education law for city and country alike went into effect: in 1895, and following the allusion to these two special statutes of the lasfr: century, he very eloquently says it is time for an antediluvian system to give" way to some modern system. If the assets of the benefits of the 1917 law were not ninety per cent liabilities, we poor, ignorant folk would submit te> an added cost of from fifty to one hundred per cent, but as it is we poor:- long-whiskered " rubes " have decided to make a protest that somebody wlfU see and feel, and we are in distinguished company, for James Wadswortfe . United States Senator from the State of New York through his attorney.,. Elihu Root, has brought suit in the Supreme Court at Rochester, attacking: the constitutionality of the law. Now we confess that we don't know any- thing about the constitutionality of the law, but we would like to point otsfr some of the inconsistencies of the workability of it. Our distinguished^ speaker points out that these township boards of education were elected last May by the school trustees and many of them are of the same trustees now working in the several boards. This time he tells a whole truth, but let mc tell you that during this first winter when these patriotic fellows are called: out by the president of the board to drive six or eight miles, taking fully seven hours to settle some necessary work that he could easily have done ire seven minutes as trustee of his district ; when you come to consider that these men are expected to give their time and pay their own expenses, that they are beginning to feel that " the other fellow " can have it next year. And the elections are to occur on a special day in May! In May, whesc:< the patriotic farmer is working sixteen hours a day to try to keep up the food supply of the nation, he is to leave his work undone and take the* greater part of a day to go to vote at a special election. Well again oust friends (?) very well know that the election of the town board will be car- ried by the little manufacturing village where men work eight hours a& day and have some time for politics, and in a very short time the State- THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 279 Department through their representatives will elect whom they please and the farmers will pay the tax. Certainly there are some districts that could safely be consolidated as has been done for many years, but when it comes to consolidation of town- ships, for primary and grammar schools in townships where distances run eight and ten miles, there are problems of politics, money and morals and health, that we seriously fear that our city friends have not considered. Our friend, the speaker from Albany, with a veiled slur, says that formerly the supervisors got one per cent for checking out school monies, and he notices that some supervisors are against the law. Yes, and super- visors are still getting one per cent for handling certain school monies, and the dear " rural people " are paying from four to ten hundred per cent more for the operation of the present law in the handling of the monies by the clerk and treasurer of the boards. Some reason for a firm protest. But this law is thrust upon us without a voice or vote, and again in the name of democracy we shall fight the Hohenzollerns to a finish whether they hail from Albany or Berlin. We cordially forgive our friends of the Westminster Club for unwittingly circulating unpatriotic propaganda, but again we submit that their bump of credulity was more highly developed than the rural people whom they are trying so hard to help. Pomona Granger Wayville, Jan. 28, 1918 — The Saratogian, January 29, 1918 In Defence of the New School Law Editor, Marlborough Record: The following was written in answer to Supervisor Sagendorf of the town of Woodstock, whose letter with clippings from the Rural New Yorker against the Township school law appeared in the Kingston Freemen of January 16 : I wish to answer that the strongest argument in favor of the new law is the supervisor's own statement, " that in his town the average tax rate, under the old law was six mills, and under the new, eight mills." Now, will the supervisor kindly tell of a single thing that has not risen in price more than two mills on the dollar in the past year? The new township law is correct in principle, that the tax rate should be the same in all districts of the town. Why should a person living in a district with a large assessed valuation and a small school pay more than a person living in a small district when the expense in maintaining the respective schools is practically the same? Take, for instance, two districts in this town (Marlborough), one with an assessed valuation of $37,000 and the other with an assessed valuation of $101,000; for every dollar of tax paid in one district, in the other dis- trict you would have to pay $2.75. Our town, county and state taxes are assessed on the town as a whole and why not the school tax? In this town all but one of the new trustees were elected at the district school meetings held last May and only one in a district. One district hav- ing no local trustee. 280 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Again, the West Shore and Buffalo Railroad run through districts one and two, paying this year $660 tax. Is it " equitable " that districts one and two should divide the sum? Do not the other districts contribute to the income of the railroads and should not they receive some of the tax? But the main objection to the law is the increased expense — increased mainly by the evening-up process, and the opponents of the law are largely in districts with a large assessed valuation and a small school. The necessary increased expense in this town is $325 for clerk, treasurer and election expenses, which on an assessed valuation of over $766,000, is trifling — all other expenses should be the same and allowing only for every- thing being higher. The new board bought brooms, coal, chalk and erasers at wholesale prices, which would reduce the extra expense above stated. The new board made the estimates to cover the different items of expense as near as they could — it seems now as if in some of these items, there will be a surplus, if so, less money will be needed for next year. In some of the clippings I read : " That though the expense is greater, no better educational results have been obtained." At the time this was written only three months had elapsed and is it possible to see better results in that time? The only valid objection to the law, as I can see it, is that some districts have no district representation in cases of emergency. No law was ever enacted that did not need amendment, possibly an amendment providing for a larger board in towns having ten or more districts, would be better, and that only one member of the board should reside in a district. The time has come when you can not expect your school trustees or any one else to work for nothing and board themselves. It is all they can reasonably be expected to do is to act as trustees and have all clerical work paid for. The fact is, that this law will be just what the school electors make it, and if it does nothing else than to make the voters come to the school meetings, and take an interest in school matters, it will not have been passed in vain. The states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Pennsylvania and most of the western states have adopted a similar law. In conclusion, let us all take more interest in the education of our children and help in every way possible to improve our educational facilities, casting aside the mere item of expense. C. S. Northrip Milton — Marlborough Record, January 25, igi8 Opposing the School Law At a meeting of citizens, held in Canandaigua on Saturday, an organization was perfected, having for one of its objects the repeal or radical amendment of the recently enacted township school law. Charles Reese of Clifton Springs was chosen president, with Mrs Howard Converse as secretary and THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 28l J. B. Gates as trustee, and a vice president for each town. Meetings will be held in each town on Saturday to take action in regard to the school law, and choose delegates to attend a county meeting to be held in Canandaigua on February 9. — Phelps Citizen, January 24, igi8. Favors Repeal of the Township School Law To the Editor of The Morning Post: During December several letters on the township school law were pub- lished in the Morning Post. In one of these the writer says " the law spe- cifically states that a school law shall be maintained in each district and that a district can not be consolidated without a majority vote of the district in question." Now, I believe the first part of this statement to be an erroi and hoped to see it corrected before this. True the very first article of the law prominently provides that district boundaries may be maintained, but farther over in the law the town board of directors is given the power to conduct schools where they see fit and transport pupils to these schools. As some one has said: "What good are district boundaries without a school?" A large part of the opposition to this law coming from the men and women of the farms of New York State lies in the fact that it is a consolidation law when sifted out. These fathers and mothers believe that the best school for their children is the small one near home and mother, located in the open country, where the contaminating influences are least and the teachers' con- trol can be most complete. They believe that the results obtained in good habits and scholarship in these schools show them to be desirable. They also believe that the kind of school that is best for village children is not the best for theirs. They believe that this law provides for a yoking of diverse interests and that under the provisions of the law the control of the town school board will naturally gravitate to the village. This will harm the good feeling which now generally exists between farm and village. Further, the law provides for an equalization of taxes which they believe should not be exactly equal. The resident of the remote farm should not pay as much toward the support of the high school as the person who has it right at his door. For these reasons and more we demand the outright repeal of this law. We do not believe in the foundation principle of the law. It is not just to ask us to give it further trial. It was enacted against our wish. Its prompt repeal would cause a much smaller upheaval of the school system than a later one. Let not the reader think that country people do not desire changes and improvements in their schools. One has only to live among them to hear them constantly spoken of. Among these improvements desired are: Spe- cial schools for the training of teachers of country schools ; improved qual- ifications for superintendents and a better method of electing them ; pro- visions for winter terms in some of the schools, so that those older boys and girls who cannot go the full year may attend; and a means of making more uniform tax rates which are more than township wide and at the same time retain local control of schools. Benjamin Pringle Stedman, Jan. 22, igi8 — Jamestorvn Post, January 25, igi8 .282 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK A Teacher Talks My dear Mr Mcintosh: I have read with a great deal of interest the articles recently printed by you in regard to the township school law, and have also observed that the rural newspapers are nearly all considering the question of whether or not it should be repealed or amended at this session of the Legislature. As a teacher in a rural school I think that I have a right to be interested in this question from the standpoint of the teacher. As my father is a taxpayer and consequently bears his share of the expenses of running the schools I think that I also have a right to be interested in the question from the standpoint of a taxpayer. Personally I want with all my heart to see the country schools of New York the equal in every way of the city schools. Working as I do with children every day I have become acquainted with their hopes, their ambitions and their plans. I want to see these children have a chance, the best possible chance to make something of themselves, and I want to see them have that chance regardless of any reasonable expense, .conse- quently I believe that the township law should not be repealed but should be left as it is. You may ask me why I believe that the new law makes the condition of the schools any better than they were previous to its passage. I will be glad to tell you. In the first place we know that the old system was a piti- able failure, for in the majority of districts it was almost impossible to find a capable man to serve as trustee. We know that generally the office was saddled on the first man who came handy and that eight: times out of ten he was a man absolutely unqualified to hold the office. In the last two school meetings held in our town five men were elected trustee who were not inter- ested enough in the schools to attend the meeting, and who only accepted the office when notified by the clerk because they were afraid that they would be fined if they refused. Some of these men had not even the qualification required by law ; that they be able to read and write. It was very seldom that an educated man could be induced to serve. In our town not one of the rural trustees elected at the last two elections had ever had a better education than that afforded by the ordinary district school. I ask you to tell me fairly if you think that these men were able to give the school the kind of attention and the kind of care that it should have had even though they were men of the highest character and of unimpeachable integrity. But even when a qualified man was elected it made but little difference, as the chief aim of the old trustee forced upon him by public sentiment, was to keep down taxes. We know that generally not one penny more was spent than was absolutely necessary to keep the school going. A purchase of maps, books for the library, necessary equipment, pictures etc., was nearly always accompanied by arguments, and efforts on the part of teacher worthy of a congressman trying to get an appropriation for his home town. We know that school buildings were allowed to run down. Paint, paper, and suitably decorated interiors were more often than not entirely unheard of. Children were sent to school buildings nearly always built with no attention to sanita- tion or the common rules of physical and aesthetic well-being. We know that the condition of the outbuildings was nearly always a disgrace to the idea of sanitation and decency. We know that one of their characteristics Tvas the covering of obscene markings, which did more to degrade the moral THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 283 ssissibilities of the children than anything else, because the trustee in his fear ®£ the criticism of his neighbors would not spend the money necessary to S«3j paint to cover them. 1 have taught, myself, in a district where I have ©ifered to buy the paint to cover the outbuildings, but the trustee refused to allow me to do so, claiming that the people of the district would say that i*e was spending money foolishly. And we know that the majority of the old trustees economized on teach- es. The cheapest teacher, too often cheap in more ways than one, got the job. Professional efficiency counted for but very little. The low wages paid the rural teachers of the State of New York have been a scandal for years and in my opinion the main reason for them has been this false econ- ©my on the part of the trustee. The result has been shown when our rural stsadents entered high school. Poorly prepared, poorly trained, they have struggled against those children from the village who have had superior •training from superior teachers, and as a result the great majority have dropped out before their course was half finished. These were some of the 3sad conditions of the old system and are enough to prove my point that •at was a failure. I need say nothing of the " politics " often played at the annual school meeting, of the undue authority often exerted by residents of -she district which forced timid teachers to be unjust and partial in their treatment of children, nothing of these and kindred evils which every stu- dent of school conditions knows to have been in existence. Readers will faiow that I have not exaggerated in the least, but have rather made things milder than they were. So much for the Old, now for the New. Our town board of education is composed of five men. For the chairman --we have a practical business man, who himself has been a teacher and who 'knows the need of the schools, and who is also a heavy taxpayer. The rest s>i the men are farmers, everyone of them up-to-date and progressive, and 'While none of them spend money foolishly they are not the penny-pinching sort of men that will not buy the things that are absolutely essential for the Ihealth and comfort of our future citizens. They are all of them men of •ifae highest character, of proven integrity, and of suitable education. Are not •men of this kind better fitted to have charge of the schools than the kind of ■■anen that were ordinarily elected trustee? We also have a clerk who attends to all the clerical work of the schools •of the town, a little task which used to call down the most hearty curses •of the trustees, on the rare occasions when they condescended to attend to "it, without the aid of the district superintendent. Certainly our clerk gets a salary, the magnificent sum of 300 dollars a year, which I presume is one ■ of the useless salaries upon which opponents of the law place so much em- -phasis. There is also a treasurer, who gets 100 dollars. Four hundred -dollars a year in useless salaries. No wonder we don't like the new law. "Those useless salaries must add at least ten cents a thousand to the taxes of ^very taxpayer. Now we come to that part of the new law which has caused the people to -rise in wrath and which if the truth is told is at the bottom of all the opposi- tion. The taxes have doubled. Yes, they have and that is one of the best 'features about the new law, for it shows that the schools are getting the atten- -*ion they need. Every school building in this town has had repairs made which should have been made long ago. Our buildings have been painted, 284 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK and repaired. We have had books and maps and equipment that has been needed for years. The wages of teachers have in many cases been raised to something like a living wage. My own school has added thirty dollars' worth of new books, all of them needed, to the library, without an effort on my own part. If I had suggested such an idea to the trustee last year he would have died of shock, and incidentally I would not have gotten the books. No wonder the taxes are high. If a man leaves his farm buildings without repairs and his farm without equipment for ten years and then pays for all needed in a lump it naturally will hit his feelings and his pocketbook more forcibly than it will if he attends to it every year as he should. We have let the school buildings go with just as few repairs as we could and now we have to pay for them all in a lump. Naturally then they take money and lots of money, but we must remember that the repairs are now nearly all made and will not have to be paid for next year. It is a good thing for us to remember also that all of our town boards are taxpayers and therefore are hit as hard as any of us. This is the first time in the history of the State when the taxes have been fair. Why should people of the village be forced to support a high school for the people of the farm. Yet this is what has been done for years. If the farmer wanted to send his boy or girl to high school in the village he could do it and it cost him not one cent additional taxes, while the village dweller was compelled to pay heavy taxes to support the high school. To be sure the State paid something but it came nowhere near paying the total ex- pense of that pupil to the village. Now for the first time every person is bearing his just share of the common burden of the taxes and that is as it should be. The high school now belongs as much to the farmer as to the villager and should be equally as much a source of pride and interest. Now no one district is forced to pinch and deny itself, struggling with a high and unbearable tax rate of perhaps thirty dollars a thousand, while its neighbor sailed easily along with a rate of six or seven dollars a thousand. That was one of the features of the old law and it is something that no man who has any idea of fairness will wish to return to. Our American republic was founded upon principles of fairness and justice. Have we become so fond of the Almighty Dollar that we are forgetting those principles. I have seen the new law referred to many times as an obnoxious piece of kaiserism. Such talk is sheer foolishness without reason or logic back of it. Was not the first unit of government in this country the town? Has it not been around the town that all of our political institutions have been built? Is not all of our local government carried on with the town as & unit? Then why should it be kaiserism if we turn over the affairs of our schools to the same unit? Will we not still have our votes at school meet- ing? Will we not still select the men who have charge of our schools and will we not be able to reach them just as easily as before? Kaiserism — nonsense. I believe that the new law will result in better work by the teachers of the rural schools. Under the old system good work counted for very little, A teacher might gain a good reputation in one or two districts, but it would help her very little toward getting a better position, and we all know that the hope of advancement is one of the strongest incentives for good work. Under the new law the town board knows what every teacher is doing. They THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 285 know the ones who are best fitted for advancement and I believe that a system will soon be perfected by which the deserving teachers will be promoted to better schools and those who are not deserving dropped from the profession. This alone will be productive of better schools and better teachers, a result which alone will justify the entire expense of the new law. It has been said and perhaps with some degree of truth that the new law will result in throwing the schools into politics. There always has been ana probably always will be a degree of political manipulation in school affairs, but I do not believe that the effect can be any worse than it was under the old plan. Cleaner politics can always be procured by placing cleaner men in office. The same remedy for politics under the old system may be applied under the new. Consolidation has been the great fear of some of the people who oppose the new law. No one will deny that the Education Department probably in-, tended to make consolidation more easy where desirable. Likewise no one will deny that consolidation in many cases is a very desirable course to pursue. But under the new law no districts may be consolidated without the assenting vote of the district concerned, while under the old law the district superintendent had full power to dissolve a district and unite it with another. This then is a change for the better, and renders consolidation less liable instead of more so. Finally, may I ask if it is your opinion that the law has had a fair chance to demonstrate whether it is for the best or not? It has been in force only a few months and we have certainly not had the time to tell whether it is for good or for evil. We must remember that it is the product of the thought of men who have grown gray in the service of the schools of the State and who we know have the best interests of the schools at heart. We all of us know Dr Thomas E. Finegan, a product of our neighboring county of Schoharie, and we know that he understands the conditions of rural schools from beginning to end. He is one of the men who were responsi- ble for having this law passed and put in practice. Are we going to dis- credit him and the able men who are his helpers without giving them every opportunity to show us whether or not he is working for our benefit. Would that be fair? And are we who have no means of knowing all the ins and outs of education in this State going to say that we know better than those who have, what should be done. I leave the answer to these questions to any thinking person. I say give the new law a fair trial. Give our leaders a chance to show us that they are worthy of our confidence. And then, after we have done this, if we are still of the opinion that the new law should be repealed, we can take the necessary steps and go back to the old system. The law can be repealed just as well two years from now as now and will it not be wiser to wait. At any rate let us be careful lest we put our Empire State, the State that now marches at the head, years behind the other great states of Vermont, New Jersey, Ohio, and many others who have the township law, in educational progress. We are not living for the present, we are living for our children and for their children after them. Let us give them every opportunity to be so trained and so educated that they will live to be a credit to the new and greater country life in the new and greater age that is dawning upon us. A Rural Teacher — Delaware Republican, January 26, igiS 286 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Finds Advantages in New Town School Law The Knickerbocker Press, on January 21 last, contained an article on tife town school law, criticizing my article approving of this school system, pub- lished in the same paper on January 14. This critic, writing from Vo©ir- heesville but stating that Guilderland was her town, objected to my approval. of the present system on the ground that I was a lawyer and a city mgjia and, therefore, unfamiliar with country conditions and the wishes of farEE- ers relative to the education of their children. My observation has been that the people attacking this system have iaas- dulged in unnecessary personalities in order to distract attention from that real reason for their opposition to the law, which consists almost entirely im their objection to contributing their fair share of the amount which is neces- sary for the maintainance of suitable schools for country children. While my own occupation and place of residence have nothing to do with the merits ©5 this question, yet for almost eight years I have lived continuously on a farms of 150 acres, and I send my own children to one of these rural schools. I have the same objection that she entertains to paying unnecessary taxes, bssa as a parent of school children I wish the best system that is practical adoptsS for our country schools and I am willing to contribute whatever my shares may be towards the improvement of the schools throughout the town. I have no financial interest of any nature in the maintenance of the preserea law. I assume that none of the people would be willing to accept either ths& critic or myself as competent to plan a system for the proper management; of rural schools. A portion of the money raised by the State through gess- eral taxation is used to employ the best experts that can be found to manage our schools through the State Department of Education. The New Yorik State Department of Education is regarded as the equal of any similar esr» ganization in the United States. It is their duty, which they have properSjv discharged, to thoroughly investigate the condition of our rural schools aisj to endeavor to improve them wherever possible. This Department is familiar with the work done by similar organizations in other states in the Union. They know that the country school system which we have just adopted tots been in operation for several years in most of the states on each side - auff us, that it displaced in these states the same system that we have just dis- carded, and that in each of these states it has fully demonstrated its great superiority over the old school system. We are fortunate in having at the head of the Department, charged wlfch responsibility for the care and management of our rural schools, a man whv> is recognized by educators as one of the best informed, most practical sssM progressive educators engaged in this particular field. Dr Finegan not oriJy has demonstrated his worth to the people of the State of New York but has received the unqualified approval and support of the National Society ©§ School Superintendents who have selected him as their president, and therefejr demonstrated their complete confidence in his ability, his knowledge, his ex- perience in educational matters and his management of our rural schools.. It was only after a most careful investigation by Dr Finegan that the Stms Department determined to abolish the old system of managing our schools, and to introduce in its place the system which the states on all sides of *as were employing, and the system which is similar in many respects to ifea* THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 287 found in most of our cities. It would be the height of folly for people, who at best can be classified only as amateur educators, to argue that their ideas should be substituted and adopted by the State in place of the mature judg- ment of the greatest experts in this country. The two main objections urged by opponents of this system are that it deprives small communities of local control and that it uses money raised in one locality for expenditure in another. Under the old system the trus- tees prepared budgets, and these were submitted to a school meeting of the taxpayers. Under the present system, while the budget is prepared by the board of education and published for the benefit of the entire town, yet no attack can be made successfully upon this budget if the proposed appropria- tions are for purposes recognized by the law and kept within the limitations prescribed by the law. Under the old system the taxpayers had the power, and this power usually was employed to cut down the budget so as fre- quently to prevent necessary improvements from being made, and competent teachers from being employed. The experience of sixty or seventy-five years has demonstrated that this system for these reasons has been a failure. The new system is based upon the same principles upon which all other town money is raised and disbursed. The principle of selecting competent men to take charge of such matters and trusting to their good judgment to re- frain from extravagance and to spend the money not only legally but wisely, is followed invariably in the town government, in the city goverment, in the county government, in the state government and in the national government. The old system was an anomaly. It grew out of the situation where the pri- vate schools of several generations ago, which had been supported by the people in the vicinity, were converted into public schools for the free educa- tion of children and all the people in Jthat little locality instead of merely the parents of the children at school, were forced to contribute for its support as a matter of public policy. But this system never was a success, and we have outgrown its necessity. It has given way to a modern system and we cannot go back to it. In the disbursement of money raised for general town purposes we may find, for instance, that a large sum is used for the construction or mainte- nance of a bridge that is used by but a portion of the town, yet the people in another portion of the town who will never have occasion to use this bridge are forced to contribute towards paying for it; but sooner or later the latter in turn will require some public improvement, and then the section of the town which has enjoyed the benefits of the bridge will be taxed to pay for the public improvement in the other section. All are taxed for the general public good of the whole town, and so it is, and should be, with the schools. It is far more important for a man living in the southwest corner of a town to have the children in the northeast corner properly educated than it is to have a bridge or some other local improvement constructed in that locality, for he is sure to benefit sooner or later by the improvement in these children which must eventually benefit the entire town. The new system affords possibilities which could not even be contemplated under the old system. Let me illustrate this by what has been done in oui own town, and lest some reader may say at the startoff that such improve- ments must have been extremely expensive, perhaps unwarrantably so, I should mention that whereas the critic from Voorheesville stated that in her 288 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK town of Guilderland there are thirteen schools for which the town was obliged to raise $25,994, yet, in the town of Bethlehem, there are fifteen schools for which our town raised less than $25,000, and our tax rate was but seventy-two cents on every $100 of assessed valuaation. The first im- provement made by our board which would not have been practical under the old system was to employ a trained nurse, to act in the double capacity of supervisor of physical training and school nurse for all the schools in the town. Whatever criticism may be made of the office of supervisor of phys- ical training, every well informed person must concede that a competent school nurse will protect the health of school children, perfect the sanitary conditions of our schools and improve the personal appearance of many of the children. Every child in our schools is examined carefully by this nurse. Those having difficulty with their eyes or with their hearing or breathing, who have defective teeth or other physical weaknesses are reported to their parents, who are informed of their condition, advised to consult a physician or surgeon and frequently induced to take the necessary measures to safe- guard the well being of their children. Our school nurse was largely respon- sible for the speedy control of an epidemic of typhoid fever in one of our large villages which was exciting the consternation of our people, and might have led to the gravest consequences. Our experience so far has imbued us with great confidence in this plan of having a competent trained nurse to safeguard the health of our school children. We next organized a rather unusual type of school, offering an academic course for children of the first and second year in high school, and what may be termed an industrial course to cover a period of four years to be taken by children from the seventh grade upward. The principal of the school is a graduate of the agricultural department of Cornell University. He is giving a thorough course in agriculture at this school, extending over a period of four years and designed primarily for the benefit of farmers* sons, which includes also a very practical course in carpentry, forge work and machinery. We have employed also for the benefit of the girls a graduate of the State College for Teachers who gives a thorough course in home economics, in- cluding cooking, sewing, household management, home nursing, etc. This school is open to all the children of the town free of charge. Moreover, we encourage children from distant parts of the town to come to the school by paying all, or the greater part of, the cost of their transportation. Some of these children come by trains, some by motor busses and some by bicycles in good weather and horses in bad weather. We have taken out the seventh and eighth grades from two of the district schools in close proximity to this central school and give the children of these schools an option of coming either to the central school, in which event we pay their transportation, or of going into the city of Albany, in which event we pay their tuition, which amounts practically to the same as their transportation. Courses are so arranged that a child in the seventh grade spends his forenoon in the regular rural school, located in the same village in which is situated the new school, where he gets his usual elementary work, while he spends the afternoon in the new school at his industrial work. Children in the eighth grade spend their mornings at the new school, taking the industrial course and their afternoons in the old school getting their regular elementary work. This new school is located in an old dwelling house, and one of the novel features THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 289 is an arrangement by which the teacher of home economics has three girls living in the school with her for the first four days of the week, so as to be under her constant care and supervision, and in this way learn home man- agement to far better advantage than they can merely in classroom work. When these girls have finished a period of two or three weeks living at the school their places are taken by three other girls. Of course, during the entire period all girls are having their regular cooking and sewing lessons in the school kitchen or sewing room. While no charge is made for the girls' lodging they all contribute towards the expense of maintaining their table at the school, and this amounts, as the mothers of some of the girls have stated, to about the same sum that it would cost for their meals at home. Such a school is made possible because the State pays half the salary of the principal, one-third the salaries of the other teachers and makes a gen- erous allowance for equipment. We have adopted in our town the principle of promotion in order to en- courage and reward our teachers. If a vacancy occurs in a position that is more desirable than that held by another competent teacher in our town, we believe in promoting such a teacher to this vacancy rather than going outside of the town. This principle, of course, could not be applied under the old system. It has worked extremely well in operation. In one of our vil- lage schools the principal got into a row with some of the people there and before an investigation could be made by the board he broke his contract and deserted the school. It became necessary to fill his position immediately. We were able to transfer to this place a teacher who had been doing excel- lent work in another school in our town who thereby was rewarded by being given larger pay and a splendid opportunity to demonstrate her ability and authority in a prominent position. She already has made a great success in her new location and should win a reputation that will lead to further ad- vancement, if not in our town perhaps in other towns or in cities, where they could afford to pay more for a first-class teacher than our town may be justified in paying. The place she left vacant has already been filled by a competent teacher, and the people of the village from which she was taken realize that they in turn, when a vacancy occurs in their school which is supe- rior in many respects to most of the schools in our town, will be able to call upon the rest of the town to surrender to them the most competent teacher occupying a position of inferiority to that becoming vacant. We believe this system of promotion will improve the schools throughout the town, and even make our system attractive to teachers outside of the town, who otherwise might not care to take a position in our town that in itself might not be par- ticularly advantageous, but as a stepping stone to something better where the merit system is recognized might be extremely desirable. We have also found it advisable and necessary to employ a regular sub- stitute in our town, which could not have been done under the old system. We have four classrooms in one of our village schools, and three class- rooms in another village school. The principal of each of these schools is one of the regular teachers whose work confines him to his own classroom, and prevents him from properly supervising the other class- rooms. Notwithstanding this he has been held responsible for the con- dition of the entire school. The employment of this substitute enables us to send her for a portion of her time to each of these schools, thus permitting 10 29O THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK the principal to surrender his class to the substitute and supervise the rest of his school. The substitute also takes the place of other teachers at the school as well as the places of teachers at our one room schools, thus en- abling the regular teacher to spend a day or two visiting and inspecting other schools, either in our own town, or in the adjoining cities. The visiting: teacher is enabled in this way to observe different methods from those em- ployed in her own school and thereby improve her own work. This system so far has worked well and is meeting with enthusiastic response from the teachers. Contact With Teachers We have made it a point under this new system to have all the teachers of the town meet the board once every four weeks, at which time they file their reports of the school work, and obtain their checks for four weeks" salary. This permits the board to meet frequently all the teachers and to discuss with them various problems involving the different schools, and also enables the teachers to become acquainted with each other, and to talk over with each other the various questions of school management in which they are interested. We have also arranged to have an expert on rural schools attend these meetings and deliver a course of lectures on modern meth- ods of teaching and managing rural schools. We hope also that we can arrange to have the younger teachers in our town who have not had the advantage of a course at a normal training school, spend a portion of their summer in attendance at one of the summer courses at a school devoted to the training of rural teachers. We expect as a result of these measures to increase the teacher's interest in her profession, to stimulate her ambition and to improve her methods of teaching; and we intend to so organize the force as to promote those teachers who demon- strate their ability and their devotion to their work. The result will be that we should have very much better teachers and greatly improved schools, with corresponding advantages in the education of our children. All of these things are done in many of our cities where the same system of school organization is in operation that is provided under the present town school law. The results have been satisfactory in the cities and we anticipate the same improvements in our country schools. I should add, inasmuch as some of the frenzied opponents of the new system have stigmatized it as an example of " Prussianism " by which the schools of the State will be managed by the State Education Department instead of by local representatives, that all of these changes originated with our own board, that none of them was ordered or even suggested by the state board, although each of them after adoption tentatively by our board was submitted to the State Department and approved by it before being put into operation. Elsmere, January 2$ Charles J. Herrick — Knickerbocker Press, January 28, 1918 Letters from the People To the Editor of The Journal: I have read with much interest the letters appearing in the Journal in regard to the township school law and am rather glad that as " Mother °* THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 29I I was able to draw out something besides generalities. From the first I have been thoughtful of the law mentioned and have discussed it with both educators and parents as well as with the man in charge of the exhibit of the subject at the State Fair at Syracuse. Always the farmers in thinly settled districts opposed it thus leading me to ask " why." Yes, I am a mother and have always lived in town with the exception of the time when I taught in a district school which was for the length of three terms, and in case there should be criticism I would say that I was not " fired." I know what it is to wade through deep snow to a cold schoolhouse, often to build my own fire, often to sweep the floors, to dust and to clean the windows. I know what it means to have between 40 and 50 pupils with 15 classes a day, many in the same class having textbooks that belonged to their parents and they of such variety that assigning the same lesson to all was something of an undertaking. As one of the terms was spent in a small school I also know what it means to try to make enough work for two or three pupils and myself to keep us from stagnation or indifference. It is this very fact that many school districts were drawing public money for so few pupils that made the old way seem inefficient. Then there is the incentive to study that comes with rivalry, the preparation for citizenship and good fellowship, that poise that comes with constant contact with others of our kind that one gets only in the larger school. I take it for granted that those who are opposing the new law have either read or heard read article n-c to which they refer. Of course we must take into consideration that few proposed laws are ideal even to the minds of the farmers, who must not feed the people stronger food than they are able to assimilate but must only propose such reforms as it seems the people can intelligently accept and, it seems, we were not ready for this new school law. It is a good deal like the present food conservation. The housekeeper may know that the menu is well balanced, the food wholesome and nutri- tious, but the greatest problem comes in getting the family to eat the approved food. They have become accustomed to certain foods cooked in certain ways and they object to the change even though they may benefit by it and the people as a whole be better fed. Our representatives in The University of the State of New York as well as those in the food con- servation committee see the work as a whole while we are apt to think of the law as we do of the weather signal — only created for our own local needs. At the exhibit at Syracuse the model schoolhouse and grounds, the covered wagon for conveying the children to and from the schoolhouse seemed a long step forward, especially the wagons where soapstones, flatirons or footwarmers might be used to keep the little folks warm. I could not help but think of the crowded cars of our large cities where children must ride for miles to school in close contact with all kinds of disease and filth and the air putrid with bad breaths and unwashed clothes. The taxes seem to be the biggest objection and I do not doubt that they are a burden but if you can have more grades, better apparatus, more experi- enced teachers by pooling your interests, as has been proven in some locali- ties, you need not send your children to the city school at so young an age,. 292 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK the rudiments of agriculture and household economy can be taught, they will be able to render some assistance to the busy parents and will be surrounded by the wholesome atmosphere of the country. " Farmer " wishes each district to take care of itself. Has he visited many of the districts of his State? This law would not have been needed if each district had cared for its children. To "Another Mother," bless her, I would say that our children have sometimes had to sit in wraps in the winter time and this very morn- ing one of the rooms was dismissed because the room was too danger- ously cold to keep the children even with wraps. I can not get the thermometer above 53 in one of our own living rooms though there is a furnace with just as good a fire as we can build in the cellar. There are two reasons for this, namely: the war with all its attendant pri- vations such as lack of coal to supply our many transports, etc., the unprecedented poor quality of the coal that we do receive, and the effort to save; and the second reason that never in my whole forty-five years have I ever experienced such prolonged cold weather in this locality where the close proximity of large bodies of water renders the atmosphere damp and the cold more penetrating. "Another Mother" is looking for immediate results. We can not adjust ourselves to new conditions or achieve our goal without steady and pro- longed effort. Why is the power in the hands of one trustee when you are entitled to three or five? There is often safety in numbers united for a common cause and you may under stress appeal to the State Commissioner. The Brookton farmer complains that the law takes the burden of tax- ation out of the hands of many and places it in the hands of a few while it seems to me that this is just what he advocates in going back to the old system. There never was a greater chance for the people to shift the responsibility than in the old conditions. I should like to know personally "A Taxpayer." A letter so devoid of bitterness must come from one whose heart and mind are big and broad. Yes, I do know of the men worth while who have begun their education in the district schools and that is one reason for making it possible to have larger, better equipped schools and girls may be kept among the wholesome surroundings of country life as long as pos- sible which (not the excellency of the old schools) was the foundation stone in the character of those men and women who made good. I would like to ask "A Farmer" if the $104.20 school tax was a yearly -tax or if it did not include a special tax for building or improvements. Special taxes are liable to come to all as Ithaca must know after having two ■of her school buildings burn in one year. It is becoming known, but slowly I will admit, that consolidation of even city schools as in the Gary system, ■is less expensive and tends to democracy. It costs from $40 to $50 to ^educate one pupil in our city high schools. Do not talk too much about the •tuition, it might be raised to meet the expense which is equally borne by taxpayers who have no children. Many of "A Taxpayer's " problems are purely local and would indicate a disposition to shun responsibility and a lack of desire to be up to date and growing. The schools are pushing our young people rather hard but after long years of effort they are so arranged that a pupil of unusual ability may go as fast as he desires and the pupil of slower mind may take a longer period, so if he rushes too fast for his THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 293 store of nervous force he must necessarily be to blame. Twenty } r ears ago there were more farmers' wives in the asylums for the insane than women of any other walk of life. It surely could not have been the rush of school life that put them there. The future farmer must learn to conserve energy, to take advantage of the best of the new inventions for lessening labor, to know the land and how to preserve its fertility, and to know his family of humans as well as his live stock and how to conserve their energies, and there is no better place to teach this than in the country schools where the problems of one are often the problems of all. No, I do not hold an office or draw $500 a year salary because the posi- tion I occupy is rewarded by an allowance which in my case is generous. Why not form a parent-teacher association in your township and get together on your grievances? Have you shut the teachers out of your grange? Finally we are in war. Nothing is normal and what might work to our advantage in peace times will not now. A Mother — Ithaca Journal, January 29, 1918 Condemned Without Trial Johnsburg, N. Y., Jan. 26, 1917 Editor News: From time to time I have read comments on the new township act, most of them unfavorable. It seems to be hailed as a demon, demoralizing children, spending money unnecessarily, and swallowing up districts. The act was planned with the view of combining districts eventually. This feature is feared mostly because people accept it in its exaggerated form. I do not believe the combining of districts will be widespread, but will touch a few outlying districts where the attendance is very small. At best, the wages in such districts have to be fairly good before a teacher will consider the position. When the entire expense of the school is summed up, reports will prove that the cost is much more per child in that one-room district than it is in a graded school of a village. Why not, then, combine with your neighbor and share your expenses together for economy and for the benefit of your children? Today the world is commercialized and dollars are the criterion. While possibly now the taxes seem high I have reason to believe that later the districts will share more proportionately. One mother argued that her children would have to walk to the assigned place and then wait an hour, more or less. The time, the place and con- veyance could easily be adjusted to the need. She also said that she had guarded her children's morals carefully, and now they would be mixed in with children about whom she know nothing, and possibly spoiled. The mixing is fine and the good will still be good. Mother's influence goes farthest. Should you speak regarding system, people say, " Oh, yes, I believe in system." What is the township act but a system — a system for the rural school? In one paper it was stated that under the old management the trustee resided in the district, could easily be approached by teacher and pupils, and had the interests of the school at heart. He may have had the interests at heart, but convenience viewed the needs from one side and the 294 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK people of the district from another side, and the trustee, in his efforts to keep on the " right side " of the people, was handicapped. Does it not seem that through a board of trustees he has more power to supply the actual needs of the district? Because he is a member of such a board, does that make him less interested in the welfare of the district? He has need to feel that he is a part of the whole, that upon him comes a greater respon- sibility, therefore from him must go greater and more efficient service. Since the days of '61 our motto has been " In union there is strength." Still let it be. The scientist, the inventor, the chemist, each in his own way, tests out; no one questions his right. This township act is a system in embryo; let it be " tested out." A Rural School Teacher — Warrensburg News, January 31, 1918 The Township Systems Editor Evening Times: Sir: It is true that the township system originated in Germany, was transplanted to Britain by the Germans and later brought to x\merica by the descendants of those Germans who once conquered the Britons. But what matter where the system originated ! Before discarding the township because of its German origin let us investigate what effect it has had on the progress of mankind. The first thing that attracts our attention and chal- lenges our admiration is that the people living under some form of the township systems have always been able to protect themselves from a for- eign foe. We have only to cite Germany, England and the Eastern United States. These countries have never yet come under the heel of a foreign oppressor outside of the Teutonic race. Local self-government taught them that " in union there is strength." Taking pride in building up, strengthen- ing and ornamenting their communities made strong nations. The various townships became links in the mighty chain of freemen. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Hence every township necessarily became interested in the growth and character of every other township; and just as every person in the township was interested in the development of his own town, so every town was interested in the development of every other town that all together might develop into a strong nation, capable of pro- tecting and aiding any or all of the towns that entered into the nation's composition. Uncle Peter represents a self-centered class whose horizon is bounded by their own selfish desires. They do not see, or do not care to know, that in helping to make a progressive township they not only are safeguarding their own property and family, but are also opening new avenues of pros- perity to themselves and neighbors. And if all the towns of our State are filled with intelligent and progressive citizens then necessarily the body politic will be such as to establish and maintain an intelligent and pro- gressive commonwealth. Uncle Peter would have a property qualification for voting. Such a sys- tem would be wholly undemocratic and entirely out of harmony with the THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 295 principles for which we are supposed to be waging the present war. If only taxpayers could vote no public improvements would be made except such as would bring immediate and direct benefit to the voter. Our venerable friend asks why should a few taxpayers bear all the bur- den of the public highways? For the simple reason that the roads are a public utility and as such should be supported by public taxation. The townships that have the beat roads are the most progressive, because they have more ready and frequent access to the greater centres, and because they are more frequently and easily reached by outside influences. The town without improved highways is non-progressive and lagging in public spirit and philanthropy. Probably no county in the State with the same assessed valuation has a better system of public highways, or a better county superintendent of public highways than our own Herkimer county, and the old man's yell that our public roads were better under the pathmaster district system is the dying squeal of an obsolete custom. Rome for years held her conquered territory because she could quickly send her troops to the farthest hounds of her empire over improved roads that radiated from her capital in all directions like spokes from the hub of a wheel. The successes of the Ger- man armies in the present war are due in a large measure to her magnificent ■highways, over which her huge auto trucks quickly transport her troops and munitions of war. What is true of a township is true of a nation. A nation's road system is a true index of the nation's rank in civilization. Any township without improved highways is a weak link in the chain, and any citizen who talks like Uncle Pete against township road building is a traitor to his country, because, if these United States are to take first rank in the commercial world they must, and that right quickly, build up and main- tain the most comprehensive and convenient road system to be found any- where. Give us transportation facilities, our varied climatic conditions, our variety of soil, our great mineral wealth and our boundless water power can feed and clothe the world; and then only can we exercise the inherent instincts of our Anglo-Saxon forefathers to conquer the world. But in this commercial warfare we shall rob a people to make them richer, and ■enslave them to make them freer than ever they were before. When the old rate bill system of schools was abolished and the district system was adopted by the Legislature Uncle Peter and his friends put up such a fight that the district system had to be voted on a second time by the people before it became firmly fixed. So the present complaint against the township system of schools is only the customary expression against change. The same people made the same complaints when the change was anade from the old pathmaster system of working roads to the present town- ship system of working roads. Uncle Pete, with much inward groaning, asks why those who have no children should be taxed to educate other people's children? The answer is obvious. The children are the wards of the State, and the State will be strong only as the people are well trained. Self -preservation is the first law of the Slate, and the State is preserved by her public schools, and the kind of public schools she maintains determines the destiny of the State. And again the first right to all property is inher- ent in the State ; therefore the State has a right to exact an equitable share of all property for the support of that vital public necessity, the public school. Say, Uncle Pete, how long would your life and your property be 296 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK safe had there been no schools in your neighborhood during the last 50 years? You say you have received no personal benefit for the thousands of dollars of school taxes which you have been forced to pay. Has it been worth anything to you to live among moral and intelligent people where you could accumulate property? Is it worth anything to lie down at night, feel- ing yourself under the protection of law, justice and fraternity? Or perhaps you would prefer to live in Mexico or Russia. I said above that the State has a right to exact an equitable portion of property for public purposes, and the township school system is the only system of public schools yet devised that places an equal burden of taxes on all residents of the town- ship. Under the district school system a man living in the poorer section of the township was forced to pay often four or five times as much tax as another man living in a richer part of the same township to support the public schools of the township. Since the public schools are the vital factor in making good townships, and since good townships make good states, then the one man was paying for more than his share toward the development of the State. This is obviously unfair and undemocratic — a violation of the very principles for which our forefathers fought in the Revolution, and a violation of that democracy for which we are fighting today. The question is often asked: "Does the township system add to the cost of the schools?" The only additional expense is the small, salaries of the clerk and treasurer, and these may be largely offset by purchasing fuel and supplies at wholesale. The present town boards did not hire this year's teachers and are in no wise to blame for the necessary increase in wages. Nor is the township system to blame for the present high prices of supplies, nor for the scarcity of fuel. Most people living near schoolhouses with large wood-lots refuse either to loan or sell wood to schools to help tide over a storm until the board of education can supply the needed amount. If private individuals have difficulty to supply one family with fuel what must be the difficulty of a board in supplying from 6 to 12 schools in widely separated parts of the townships, in some districts of which there is riot enough public spirit to keep open the roads and where there is pronounced hostility to the board of education and to the township system. Next summer the boards of education can purchase the year's supply of fuel at wholesale and store it at the schoolhouses for winter use. This can be drawn when the roads are in the best condition. Under the township system, a fair and equitable scale of wages can be paid the teachers, thereby keeping the best and getting rid of the inefficient. Then, too, the boards of education can gradually bring about a standard for repairs to school buildings, making a uniformity throughout the township. It is only by standardizing our roads, our bridges, our schools, in short all public utilities, that our township can have that healthy growth that makes for a strong state and an aggressive nation. Thus, Mr Editor, I have presented both sides of the township systems. The reader is at liberty to take whichever side he prefers. But this much is certain, the farmer is the man most vitally interested in the rural schools. If he is not satisfied with the present law he should draw up and submit a bill that will satisfy him, but if he is the patriot he pretends to be he will see that there is incorporated in his bill a rate of taxation that falls equally on the "just and the unjust" throughout the entire township. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 297 On Saturday next, February 2d, there is to be a large gathering of farmers in the village of Herkimer. Every farmer interested in the rural schools should make every effort to be present and help draft a bill that will put Herkimer county on the map as a progressive school county. But I rather mistrust when the farmer, or any other man, frames a school bill big enough for the Empire State that may please everybody, it will be when Old Gabriel blows his trumpet. For the rich districts will be no more willing to bear their just share of the burdens of township taxation under a new law than they are at present. This war is placing upon the farmer the greatest burden that he has ever been called upon to bear in the history of our Nation. The flower of young manhood is being stripped from the farms, leaving them too often desolate or forsaken. And these young men, the pride of the country side, the props of old age and the mainstay among the Nation's defenders, can not be replaced. More than a million red-nosed sots are loafing about the streets and saloons or are in poorhouses, asylums, jails or prisons, for whom the farmer is called upon to raise food. These parasites on the farmer were made what they are by the fiendish partnership between Uncle Sam and the brewer and distiller. Had this great government trained this million or more of men into ways of usefulness and sobriety instead of drunkenness and debauchery, they could have been skilled men on the farm or in the machine shops making farm tools and farm machinery so greatly needed at the present time. The government that has directly aided and protected the saloonkeeper and dive proprietor in debauching the farmers' sons, now calls frantically to the farmer to raise more food, and save more wheat, while the same government has permitted enough food to go into making the Devil's brew to feed all the allies in Europe. The government is urging the farmer to cut more wood, while right now, after every pay day in the anthracite coal mines 20 per cent of the miners are incapacitated for work through strong drink, permitted by the government, thus cutting short coal production by over 3,000,000 tons per year. Not only that, but the government has indirectly come into competition in the labor market with the farmer, thus taking from the farms the skilled hired man. With his son at the front and his best hired man in the munition plant, the farmer is at his wits' end. In their sore dilemma there is great danger that the farmer may take his children from the public schools and set them at work on the farms. Such an act would be a catastrophe to the entire nation. The rural school in the past has furnished the red blood of the statesmen — the leaders in state and national affairs. More than a million of the farmers' sons who were destined to become leaders have suddenly been called from civil life to become heroes of men. Most of them will never return, or will return physically unfit to carry the burdens of the strong. Who will take their places? From whence shall come the red blood of the future — the statesmen who will bind up the wounds of war, build our great transconti- nental highways, help to establish justice and tranquillity once more among the nations, and make our Nation a democracy in fact as well as in name? Obviously in the future as in the past they must come from the rural school, and if the rural school fails in this crisis in our Nation's history this country will be filled with the discord of rival factions, as in Russia. 298 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Then let the farmer, who today is the real hero of the nation, look beyond the trials and temptations of his present needs, and while praying for his son and his neighbor's son at the front, may he at home defend his rural school, seeing more clearly day by day the vision of that great army of young people who shall leave the old school house on the corner to become the leaders of the nation. S. C. Kimm Herkimer, N. Y., Jan. 30, '18 — Little Falls Evening Times, February 1, igiS' Further Discussion of New School Law Dear Mr Editor: I believe you are a grange booster; what do you think of this? Report of standing committee on common schools, of the State Grange. It was adopted without a dissenting vote at the meeting held in Oneonta, Feb. 9, 191 7, a year ago. Your committee has made a careful study of the report of the standing committee on education and common schools of the State Granges, and has made full use of the excellent work done by that committee during the past year. It has held lengthy hearings, at which all interested were permitted to be heard; 30 persons appeared and spoke, either as individuals or as representatives of their granges. It has examined with care all the resolu- tions submitted to this grange on the subject of rural schools, by pomoma and subordinate granges of the State, and has given due consideration t® the same, and offers this report as a substitute for such resolutions. As a result this committee is unanimous in its belief that the welfare of the rural schools of this State demands a change in the methods of adminis- tration, to the end that the burden of the same may be more equitably distributed and the authority for the administration of the schools may be lodged in the hands of the people who support and patronize them. It found, it is true, a considerable diversity of opinion on many matters> and that it was impossible for any individual or set of individuals to secure all those things which they would desire to see incorporated in new school legislation. In fact, every member of this committee has found it necessary to surrender some of his personal views in order that a working compromise might be reached. But this has been cheerfully done because we realize that some legislation is desirable and necessary; (Mr Editor, what was the reso- lution of the supervisors of Delaware county?) That the State Grange should have a voice in such legislation, and that to further delay action would not only be neglecting an obvious duty, but would undoubtedly lessen the future influence of the grange in this and other matters. Therefore we recommend that legislation be passed making the town the unit of school organization and taxation. Mr Editor: The above and a whole lot more along the same line which simply catalogues and specifies is found in " Elementary Education," vol. 2„ Report of Education Department for 1917. It appears, Mr Editor, from an investigation of this report that the Educa- tional Department and Legislature were, in enacting the present law, carry- THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 299 ing out the counsel of the granges of the State, and who is so foolish in these rural districts to think that the grange members are going to injure their own interests? The present law was drafted after careful investigation of laws in other states (every state that touches New York State has the town unit in taxa- tion and administration of rural schools) and after correspondence with administrators of these laws. Mr Editor, we would like to ask each supervisor who voted for those resolutions that wanted the good old way, if he ever saw or read the new law? We do not believe any of that bunch belong to the grange nor that they ever read the law. Is it not about time for the grange to turn its attention to the supervisors about election time? What did they call it — "oppression?" Mr Editor: Clark Nesbitt is a member of the grange. I do not believe he stands for repeal and I am confident that he did not have the support of many of those who write " Supervisor " after their names. This State has gone too far ahead ever to go very far back. "Au Revoir" Delaware Republican, February 2, 1918 The Town School Law as Viewed by a Teacher To the Editor -of the Knickerbocker Press: Sir: Much comment has been made on the present town school law and much ridicule has been manifested. From a teacher's standpoint of view, I think the value of the present system can hardly be overestimated. It is going to promote a wonderful system of improvement in our rural schools in a not far distant date. The time has hardly elapsed since the town board has been in power to form an opinion of its value. Too many are now ready to condemn this system even though our rural schools are to be benefited. Here, let me explain how they are to be benefited. In the first place, after the town board has been in power for a year, the promotion of good teachers to better positions in the town is an incentive for teachers to follow that profession. It is going to create more interest for their work and we will have far better teachers than ever before. So many of our teachers after graduation follow the profession long enough to earn a " trousseau," and the rural schools advance the cost. Still we can not say that the fault lies wholly with the teachers, when we consider that most rural schools offer no advancement to teachers under the old system. Can we therefore wonder at their leaving the profession before they had learned to be a successful teacher? It does not require merely an education to be a successful teacher. That is only a foundation on which we must work. It requires experience — the key to success. Another instance of the value of the town board is the demand for good teachers. The work of each teacher is investigated and if satisfactory work is not done, they are to be dismissed. This will require that all teachers 300 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK do good work and there will be no infringement of " poor " teachers upon any of our rural districts. Again, much fairness and justice will be given teachers. In the past no regard for these traits was shown. I quote you an instance to show that weak point of the old system. In a certain locality a good conscientious teacher had been engaged by a trustee of that district, and had taught two successive years. She had proved herself an efficient teacher and had endeared herself to the community at large. The following year another trustee was elected. He engaged another teacher, one just graduated, with no knowledge of rural conditions. She secured the position because she was an intimate friend of the trustee's family. The former teacher had proved successful, still she was dismissed for an inexperienced and unsuccessful teacher because one trustee had sole authority in choosing a teacher. Was this not an injustice to the successful teacher? Was there any regard for fairness? Then, too, some of our former trustees used no judgment whatever in choosing teachers. They considered financial economy far more important than efficient economy. A certain trustee once remarked to me, that anyone could teach the rural schools in the present day. It does not require much of an education. Consequently, after learning the prospective salary of each applicant, the '"cheapest" teacher was accepted. Such a trustee had no interest for the welfare of his school. It was merely a compliance with the law, not an education of merit, that he sought. Too manj'- trustees, in the past, have been only too willing to reward teachers with inadequate wages. It was considered economy to secure a teacher for ten dollars a week even though education (as far as the teacher was concerned) was at a standstill, while a salary of fifteen dollars a week to a good experienced teacher was robbery. Too much stress and thought have been placed on money, while education has been placed in the back- ground. Another disadvantage of the old system was that one man had the authority to select the teacher. In many communities it has been almost impossible to elect trustees who would serve and as a consequence they served unwill- ingly. School interests were overlooked. Good teachers were not demanded. The children of those districts were defrauded of an education that right- fully belonged to them. Therefore, is it not better to have several trustees or a board of trustees to look after school interests and secure competent teachers, than a disinterested trustee? Mrs Merritt, in her reply to Mr Herrick, under date of January 21, undoubtedly has a wrong conception of the value of the present school system. This new law has not as yet been in effect a year. In fact not more than one-half of the school year has elapsed, and many matters have been improved already. Yet we can hardly expect any very great change until, at least, one year has elapsed. Then, we shall see the improvements of rural education, for we must remember that October's apples can not ripen e'er May's blossoms have withered. I will admit, in my opinion, that there are some clauses in the. town school law that need amending. Especially is this true regarding the taxation ques- tion and several minor clauses. But the selection of the teachers for each township should be solely in the hands of the town board. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 301 I see no reason why one clerk can not perform the services of a large township. As regards his salary, if the sum is not adequate for his duties as clerk, how about the salary a trustee receives? I think you will agree that there is not much profit in a trustee serving for pleasure. I know of two townships where the clerks have performed their services well. I have heard no complaints where schools have been deprived of necessary supplies where the needs were made known in these townships. In fact, in most cases all such communications have received prompt atten- tion, and it was not necessary to wait for a meeting of the board before it was granted. Mrs Merritt has also said that trustees gave teachers last year $38 for janitor work. I quote you an exception to this, for a certain janitor, a schoolboy, received $27 last year, and only in the past three years many janitors received but fifty cents a week. I, myself, as a teacher have taught for $9.50 per week with the niggardly sum of fifty cents a week added for janitor work. This year, I understand that $40 is allowed in each district for janitor work, and where the need of supplies have been made known to the board, they have tried to furnish them. Again, last year, after school meeting in May, a certain trustee engaged a teacher for ten dollars a week. This sum, at the present time, will hardly cover the expenses of a teacher. This is not much of an encouragement for any teacher to offer her services as a gift to a rural district. Can we therefore wonder at so many teachers leaving the profession when they can secure good positions and a much higher compensation in other branches of work? Such a trustee does not consider the cost of securing an education for the purpose of teaching. Mrs Merritt speaks of very inferior teachers in the past. Here, let me ask whose fault it has been. From experience I am well aware of the cost of a Normal education, being a graduate myself. And, it is hardly fair for any district to demand a good teacher unless they are willing to meet the demands of a salary sufficient to fully compensate for a thorough education. There are now so many different branches of industry open to young women that require so little education, and many do not prepare for teaching. For- tius reason better conditions should exist so that we may have better educated teachers. This has been proved in a certain rural district. For several years, a large rural school had been in charge of some very inferior teachers. They received between $10 and $12 a week salary. Finally the school became in a deplorable condition. After a time, the district became aware of the downfall of education in the school, and at the next school meeting, voted to engage only normal graduates as teachers with a weekly compensation of at least $15 per week It is needless to say that since that time they have secured efficient teachers and as far as I can learn, have had a good school. In conclusion, I wish to say that while some clauses need amending in the present school law, I deem it necessary that the choice of teachers be left entirely with the town board. For then, and then only, can we have a good system of education throughout all rural communities. A Teacher — Albany Knickerbocker Press, February 4, igiS 302 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Professor Works on the Township School Law Professor Works, of Cornell University, replies to an editorial which appeared in a recent issue of the News in which we condemned the new township school law and said that it should be repealed. Assemblyman Fenner of this county is one of a number of legislators who have introduced bills to repeal it. Professor Works has given an illuminating exposition of some of the important features of the law. We agree that many of its features have been misunderstood. In the matter of consolidation of districts, the new law is better than the one which it superseded. A consolidation can only be consummated now in pursuance of favorable action by the voters of the districts concerned. It was wise to take the power of consolidation from the State Department of Education and place it entirely in the hands of the people. It is a good provision of the new law that no board may include in a tax budget an amount in excess of one-half of one per cent of the total assessed valuation of the town for the improvement of the school property of the town without a favorable vote by the people. We concede that the township system has restored power in the matter of consolidation to the hands of the taxpayers, and in the levying of taxes they have lost no power as compared with the district system, except that this power is not lodged, as it should be, with each individual school district. We are glad that Professor Works is in accord with us in believing that our present system of electing district superintendents is unsatisfactory. We regret that he does not suggest a better system. We are also willing to concede that the State Department of Education was in no way influenced by any political partisanship in framing and recommending the Machold township law. Nor do we believe that the Department was influenced by any political partisanship in devising and recommending the passage of the law which created the office of school superintendent, abolishing school commissioners and providing for the election of these school superintendents by what we call a body of SUPER- MEN, called school directors. While conceding all this to the State Department of Education, and while acknowledging the several good points in the new township law to which Professor Works calls attention in so lucid a manner, we still feel inclined to stand by every word which we wrote in condemnation of the Machold law. Professor Works suggests that there is nothing in the new legislation which justifies us in characterizing it as " trampling down the principles of home rule in educational matters." We will see about this. The professor is entirely wrong in thinking that we had in view the method of school con- solidation for which the law provides, when we condemned it in forcible language. Not at all, we were well aware, as Professor Works points out, that in this respect the new law is an improvement over the old one. The vicious principle of the new law which is fundamental and undemo- cratic, and which does trample down the principle of home rule, is the aboli- tion of local district government for the district schools. We do not think it would be wise for a county board of education, composed of five mem- bers, serving without compensation, to undertake to run all the schools THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 303 in the county. Similarly we think it unwise, unjust, undemocratic, vicious and dangerous for a town board of education, composed of five members, serving without pay, to be entrusted to run all the schools of a township. Take the town of Caroline for instance. It has 16 school districts. Each one of these districts (the one at Speedsville, for instance), formerly conducted its own affairs, held its school meeting, elected its trustee or trustees, passed on its school budget and on the question of any extraordinary expenses for school improvements. The men and women who attended this school district knew local conditions, it was their own children who attended the school, and, we believe, they were more competent to select a trustee than any other possible group of citizens and far more competent than a town school meet- ing. The trustee elected also knew local conditions, knew the sentiment of his constituents and he was the right man to hire a teacher and to carry on the business of the school district as the representative of the people of the district. This was a democratic system, this recognized a sound principle of home rule in educational matters. Now the school at Speedville is governed by five men who have 15 other schools to look after, who serve without compensation, and a majority of these men live 10 miles away from the school they are governing. The law provides that not more than three of the school board shall be from any one district. Even were the members of the town school board scattered as widely as possible, 11 districts in Caroline would be unrepresented on the board. The law makes no provision for the expenses of the board of education in visiting the different school districts, and the town boards of education, as a matter of fact, do not visit the different districts. They ought to do so, they ought carefully to inspect every schoolhouse, note its sanitary conditions and its state of repair; otherwise how can they intelli- gently decide what it needs? And how can they decide whether last year's teacher is the right man or woman for the position and deserves reengage- snent? Even if they visited every school in the township occasionally, and often talked with the patrons of the school, how little they would know as to the real needs of the district compared with those who reside in the to the local people first. Hard work ahead. I realize that trying to repeal the whole system is like attempting to move the capital, but I believe it can be done if you can arouse the people to realize the invasion of their rights and the burdens proposed to be laid upon them. Of course, all sorts of concessions and fantastic schemes will be proposed in order to save the i township system. But as a rebuke to those who have put this thing over, and as a return to sane democratic management in the political unit of lowest denominations, the school district should be restored. R. N. Y. — In order to make clear what this writer says about the school lav/, we have printed, on page 6, section 353 on outstanding -bonds. The statements about the Grange are correct, and there seems, little doubt that Senator Elon R. Brown was largely responsible for the camouflage which put the endorsement over. — January 5, 19 18 A Town Man Talks On page 1298 " D. B. D." states the facts about the workings of the new school law in this county also, but in villages having a high school it is but just the expense of maintaining that school be apportioned throughout the town ; as heretofore we who are residing in such villages had the pleasure of cheerfully paying (or otherwise, as the mood struck us)' the entire expense of such a school, which was open to any outside the district. Our budget always touched the $2,000 mark, whereas the rural schools adjoining paid not over $250 "or thereabouts. To illustrate, in my daughter's graduating class there were six, and the writer was the only parent represented by the class contributing one cent in taxes toward this school. Eventually many schools will be closed and centralized, no doubt, which is both a good and a bad idea, according to location, etc. But more important, I think, to the country schools, is the repeal and abolishing of this useless, confusing and very expensive physical training program of contortions midway between those of a gymnast and a pugilist. In one-room ungraded country schools there is enough changing of classes to keep things moving without taking four other times daily to distract the pupils' attention from their work. The average country boy or girl who does chores, then walks a mile through snowbanks, needs rest rather than exercise at school. Confine this scheme to cities where it is practical, and cut out such nonsense- from- the rural schools, and " D. B. D." will see that from $2000 to $3000 is saved in his county taxes at once. This physical director work, just the superintendents' salaries, costs the schools from $5 to $10 an hour, and the job is generally held down by some politician whose expert knowledge consists chiefly in drawing his salary. Greene Co., N. Y. — January 5, 19 18 358 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The New York School Law The Article Referring to Bonds P- 353- Outstanding Bonds; existing school property, i The bonded indebtedness of the school districts in a town which are subject to the pro- visions of this article, including a union free school district having a popula- tion of 1,500 or employing 15 teachers or more, which has adopted a resolu- tion pursuant to the provisions of section 331 of this article, existing and outstanding at the time of the taking effect of this article shall be a charge against the property which is subject to tax for the maintenance of the schools in such town or union free school district. 2 Within one year from the taking effect of this article the value of the school property in the several districts which are made subject to the pro- visions hereof shall be appraised and determined by a commission consist- ing of the supervisor of the town, the chairman of the town board of educa- tion and the district superintendent of schools. 3 The value of the school property in each district as so appraised shall, after deducting the outstanding bonded indebtedness of such district, be credited to such district and charged against the town. The total amount charged to the town as a result of such appraisal shall be raised by tax upon the taxable property of the town in the same manner as other school expenses are raised. Such tax shall be levied and collected in five equal, annual instal- ments and the amount required shall be included by the board of education in the annual tax budget of the town. 4 The commission hereinbefore created shall, upon appraising such prop- erty and determining the credit to be allowed to each district, apportion the amount so credited to such district among the owners or possessors of taxable property in the district in the ratio of their several assessments on the last corrected assessment-roll of the town. The said commission shall report to the board of education of the town the apportionment so made and the board shall cause to be issued to each of such owners or possessors, a certificate of credit stating the amount so apportioned. Such certificates of credit shall be transferable by the persons to whom they are issued, and shall be payable only out of moneys raised by tax as herein provided for the payment of the charge against the town on account of the school property acquired by such town. They shall be issued in such denominations, and shall be due at such times as to provide for their payment out of the moneys raised by tax for the payment of such charge. 5 The commissioner of education shall prescribe rules governing the com- mission in the appraisal of school property as herein provided and regulat- ing the distribution and apportionment of the credits and charges herein referred to and the form and denomination of such certificate. An appeal will lie from such appraisal or from any act of such commission or board of education in respect to the apportionment of credits, the distribution of charges and the levy and collection of a tax on account of such school prop- erty to the commissioner of education, in the same manner and under the same conditions as in the case of other appeals to the commissioner of educa- tion. A like appeal will lie from the apportionment of the bonded indebted- ness of any town. — January 5, iqi8 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 359 The Present School Question As a member of the board of education of the town of Montezuma, I can personally say that the new school law is not taking well with the farmer, or, as a rule, with the taxpayer of the incorporated villages in this locality. It has caused an advance in taxes in general between 25 and 75 P er cent, without any improvement in educational advantages. One farmer in par- ticular whose school tax for 1916 was $27.86 has just paid for the year 1917 a school tax of $104.20. His oldest child, attending high school in an adjoin- ing town, pays $10 tuition over and above the $20 allowed by the State. The next neighboring high school demands $20, and the city of Auburn $30 in addition to the State's $20, and the boards of education say that next year it must be necessarily increased. If so, only the well-to-do farmer will be able to give his children a high school education. Boards of education of villages which maintain high schools inform towns which do not maintain high schools that if the matter of increased tuition was referred to Albany a higher tuition rate would be allowed the high schools or towns would be compelled to build high schools. If this was a fact, and to my personal belief upon reading the school law, the latter is the main idea of the State Educational Board. This would work an unjust tax burden upon towns in which the population and location would not warrant a high school, and a large percentage of the towns throughout the State are in this class. The taxpayers of villages were led to believe that taxes would be lowered hy taking in the entire town, but, with four villages here, this is shown so far, 1917, to be an error, as they average the same, to $2 per 1,000 higher. As almost all of the high schools of this county are in debt, this law compels the school districts to help liquidate this debt without any voice or vote on the advisability of incurring this debt. Schools have been closed, necessitating a hardship upon one-half of the students, according to age, by being compelled to walk miles further to school, no way provided for their transportation at present, or thought of by boards of education, because of the expense necessary to carry this out, thereby becoming an additional tax on the town, which the taxpayers object to, and every case to may knowledge the board of education is composed of residents of the village, or have a controlling vote on the board. While the law says members of the town board of education shall receive no salary, it leaces to the town board the right to fix the salary of the clerk and treasurer, which varies all the way from 30 cents an hour to $500 a year. One town near here is reported as paying that amount. There is hardly any end to the arguments against the present school bill, and but few in favor of it. Personally I do not think that this Machold school bill would have become a law if some of our State Grange officials had not been unduly influenced regarding it. I believe I can truthfully say that this law would never have been drafted if the assessed valuation were greater in the incorporated villages throughout the State than in the towns •otitside of the villages. Cayuga Co., N. Y. A. P. Fuller — January 12 , 1918 360 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK I wish to commend The R. N. Y. upon the stand it has taken in a recent editorial in which it refers to the commission which is to investigate the rural schools of New York State. Your advice given as to the personnel of the committee is both safe and sane; the country women should have a representative. They can give valuable information as to what their children need along educational lines, from a professional as well as a practical standpoint. To cite a specific instance: In Eastern Wayne County, in a community in which I am personally acquainted and interested, there lives a young woman who is a normal school graduate. Before her marriage she was a •successful teacher. She now has two boys attending the rural school, and a third will soon enter. This young woman not only finds time to visit the school regularly, but the teachers, who are young and too often inexperienced,, find this teacher-mother's advice sound and hints helpful. Other things being equal, can anyone give a valid reason why this woman, in the light of her formal training as a teacher, her practical experience in the school-room,, and finally her position as a parent in the community, is not fitted to give advice that is both " safe " and " sane " about the needs of the rural schools in the State? G. W. F. This commission to investigate the rural schools is composed of various- State officials and is headed by Senator E. R. Brown. These persons are granted the privilege of appointing someone to serve for them if they care to do so. The majority of this commission will frankly admit that they know little or nothing about rural schools except what they read in the school reports. They never will send any children to such schools, and they know little about the feeling of country people. We think we are justified in saying that the majority of the commission feel convinced, before they start, that they must find fault with the present system. Our suggestion is that these members who confess that they know little about the subject step one side and appoint just such women as our correspondent refers to in their places. This would be a courteous and sensible thing to do, and it would result in a more thorough investigation, and one that would satisfy our country people. Thus far we have not heard of any of these commissioners making this reasonable offer. — January 29, 19 iS Autocracy in School Matters In September 1917, at a special school meeting in District No. 17, town of Denmark, Lewis Co., N. Y., a vote was taken on a resolution read by the superintendent to annul this district and annex it to District No. 1. Twenty- eight voted against the measure and five for it. This superintendent was a stranger who had just moved from another part of the State to District No. I.. When undertaking to close this school permanently, he professedly did not know the district boundaries, the number of school children residing in the district, nor where their homes were located.. The argument put forth by him and the members of the board was that under the township law our tax would be less by having fewer schools. The sentiments of the THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 361 voters showed plainly that whether the tax would be more or less the school should be kept open, and it was, during last year. When the town- ship law was repealed, the superintendent had autocratic power, and as soon as the snow was gone a surveyor was sent to map District No. 17 joined to District No. 1. The superintendent issued a decree saying by his authority the two districts were one. District No. 17 has appealed repeatedly to the Department of Education at Albany through an attorney and representatives from the district. These appeals have amounted to nothing except to convince those interested of .the utter disregard of the department for the needs and rights of country people. Our Winters are severe, with mercury being frequently from 20 to 25 degrees below zero, and occasionally much lower. The snow is deep and roads badly drifted, making regular attendance at school from some of the farms impossible for young children in Winter, and a matter of much loss of time and hardship to both children and parents at other seasons, from all of them. District No. 1 is a village district, with a heavy bonded indebtedness which is spread over the forcibly acquired territory. Last year, under the township law, our tax was about 300 per cent more than in 1016; this year it is nearly 400 per cent over that of 1916, and we have no school. Cit}^ people are loath to believe conditions like the above can be forced upon people in this supposedly free country. The New York Evening Sun published recently in its correspondence column a letter calling attention to this abuse which country dwellers are compelled to bear under the present school system, the editor making comment that " with the repeal of the township law this evil was corrected," which it surely was not, as Section 129 of the education law shows. Unless the farms are to be depopulated we must have in this north country nearby schools ; and as there is con- siderable sentiment against autocracy at present, and favoring the return of forcibly annexed territory, would it not be a suitable time for the New York State Legislature to put down the autocracy within her borders, and restore the stolen school districts? Lewis Co., N. Y. John M. Lewis — January 4, 1919 The School Liaw; A Reply to Mr. Hitchings In do not wish to take too much of the valuable space in The R. N. Y. to condemn the present school law, but would like to reply to Mr Hitchings, one of the Board of Education in Onondaga County. Perhaps Mr Hitchings has depicted the little old red schoolhouse throughout Onondaga County in its actual condition, but personally I am not thoroughly convinced that con- ditions are any worse there than in adjoining counties. True, there are schoolhouses that need remodelling or perhaps should be abandoned for all times. There was a section in the old law that governed this, and could have been enforced just as well as in the famous Machold law, which allows the present board to expend one-half of one per centum of the assessed valua- tion of the taxable property of the town, for a new schoolhouse, to choose the site, to spend $1000 on repairs of any one schoolhouse or on all, and this without any voice or vote from the residents of the district. This dis- 362 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK trict may or may not have a representative on the board. The richest as well as the poorest district in the town may find itself in such a position with no voice or vote. Our forefathers called this " taxation without representation." Mr Hitchings says that " farmer trustees are to blame for the increased taxes, for they saw the chance to put one over, and increased the teacher's salary." If this was true even in one case, then I wish to say that no prophet of old or present-day fortune-teller has anything on this trustee. The facts are that the Governor signed this school bill on May 2, 1917, the same day trustees were elected, and teachers were hired, without any knowl- edge that the Machold bill had become a law until some time thereafter. Mr Hichings further says : " To be a member of the element that con- trols the country church, the corner store or the country school is the height of some of our taxpayers' ambition, and the loss of control of the school,, together with the advance in taxes is a bitter pill for them to swallow." My personal belief is if they belonged to this ambitious element they would be represented on the school board, for it is pure politics ; they who seek will be more often elected than they who seek not, regardless of ability. Those who read the school law are not kicking like a Missouri mule at the board, but rather against the law, which the board has no power to amend. I do not think the taxpayers of the town in which Mr Hitchings resides and attends regularly to the board meetings, or in the town in which I irregularly attend board meetings, think that we are deliberately robbing them, but they do see now what was not made plain to them last April ; that if this law is not repealed it is only a short time when school taxes will far exceed every other tax levied, and this without any educational advan- tages in country schools. Mr Hitchings thinks it is far more patriotic for the taxpayer to stop his kicking and get behind the local board. This is the opinion of residents of villages who have had their taxes reduced, and of the members of the State Board. Patriotism is a grand thing, and should be more general today, but we hear more about it for the farmer than for any other class. He should submit to ever)- law enacted and be patriotic, be submissive to the powers that be, for this is all for Mr Farmer's good. While we are fighting for the rights of mankind, for the rights of pure democracy, we should peacefully submit to be ruled by autocracy in our school education. One of the makers of this famous school law was so patriotic, so loyal to the country which gave him birth, to the State in which he holds an honorable office, that he places his 12-year-old child in a foreign country to be educated, in which in education, sanitation and morality it is far below the normal level, a country in which the statistics show that more than twenty-nine per cent are illiterate. The defender of this now famous school law, over which the State Board of Education will in the near future hold a post-mortem by the advice of the people and the consent of the Legislature, asks us to wait and give it a fair trial, to keep this six months' kicking Missouri mule for another six months, and possibly it will cease its kicking and be submissive. Cayuga Co., N. Y. A. P. Tuller — February 16, 1918 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 363 A Resolution on School Matters At a regular meeting of the Ontario County, N. Y., Civic Organization, held at Canandaigua, January 7, 1919, the following resolutions were adopted : Whereas, we believe that the number of school district superintendents in the County of Ontario should be limited to two, and that they should be elected by the direct vote of the people, and that neither said superintendents nor the State Department of Education should have the power to consolidate, and that no district should be consolidated without the request and vote of the districts affected thereby, and Whereas, we believe the law requiring physical training in the rural schools to be unjust, and Whereas, we believe that the power to regulate the schools should be placed in the hands of the people of the districts where the schools are located and should not be centralized and in the hands of any official of the department. Now, therefore, be it resolved, That we request our member of Assembly and Senator and the Governor of this State to use all proper and legitimate means to cause such amendments to be made or new laws passed that the number of school district superintendents in Ontario County shall be reduced to two; that they be elected by a direct vote of the people; that all power to consolidate rural schools be taken entirely from the school superintendents and the State Department of Education and eliminated from and be placed in the hands of the people of the districts to be affected; that such amend- ments be had or law passed that all requirements for physical training in the rural schools be eliminated and that such physical training be not required unless requested and voted by the district requiring the same. Mrs H. D. Converse, Sec'y, The Ontario County Civic Association. — February 15, 1919 A Plea for the School Law I note from reading not only The R. N.-Y. but other papers as well, that there is a strong note of protest against the new township school law. I must confess that I cannot qualify as a juryman who has never thought about or heard the case discussed. It is true that I happen to be the chairman of our loral town board, and for the past five months I have had occasion to deal with and to think a good deal about the law. There are reasons why I am somewhat prejudiced in favor of the law. It is perhaps one of my natural mental defects that when I want advice on any subject I turn to those who are supposed to be experts. When I want legal advice I do not ask the local cheese-maker, and if I need medical attention I do not consult the village blacksmith. By the same token, when I seek advice on educational topics, I very naturally turn to the gentlemen who have their offices in the splendid educational building on Capitol Hill in Albany, because they have made it their business to think about these problems for many years, and I am not afraid of expert knowledge. Now I am willing to admit that these men, like all enthusiasts, sometimes lose sight of the dollar and are inclined to put what they believe to be school efficiency ahead of taxes, yet I cannot but think that they are educated, patriotic, high-minded gentlemen who very earnestly THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE. OF NEW YORK and sincerely and unselfishly desire the best good of. the rural schools of the State. I think I .am also correct when I state that the law in its main out- lines, at least had the approval of the New York State Grange, which, is supposed to be the clearing house for agricultural legislation. I believe the opposition is coming mainly from two sources — one being that rather - numerous class who are mentally so constructed that they are constitutionally opposed to anything they do not understand, and then there is vociferous opposition to the law on the part of those who have been touched In that most sensitive part of their anatomy — the pocket nerve. I believe that an attitude of open-minded toleration toward that which Ave do not understand is commendable and I further insist that if this new law really means increased efficiency on the part of our country schools, we cannot afford to lay too much stress on an incidental increase in the tax rate. Please note that this law sets in motion no large amount of new or expen- sive machinery. No matter how our rural schools are administered, this cost is bound' to increase along with everything else, and we cannot expect any- thing else. Outside of a clerk that may rceive from $50 to $300, and a treas- urer that may serve without charge (an officer of a local bank may do this free in consideration of the itown placing the school funds in his custody) or may receive a small 1 salary, there is absolutely no reason why schools should cost more than under the old system. But teachers' wages have gone up, althougrtless than in almost any other calling — also there has been an in- crease for janitor service and for fuel, supplies and repairs. It is true that the Department 'of Education has established a policy looking toward the adoption. of sanitary toilets and also for instruction in physical training and the principles of elementary hygiene. I really believe that sanitation, decency and even common morals require some changes in our ofttimes unspeakable school privy. Physical training happens to antedate the township law, but incidentally I may say that if the expense of a suitable instructor can be divided between three or four itowns, the cost per district will not be heavy, and I really believe that if we are fortunate enough to secure a sympathetic and tactful teacher who can look after the children's eyes and straighten up their shoulders and give some elementary instruction in personal and family hygiene, it will be worth more than the cost. The fundamental principles of the township law may be summed up in a single sentence, viz.: It makes the township the unit, of school organization, for purposes of taxation and admin- istration, and it vests the control in the hands of a body of five trustees instead of a trustee for each district. We hear ithe curious statement that this bill will transfer the control of the schools to Albany, when as a matter of fact these five trustees are absolutely supreme in questions of local administration. They surely need not, and in many cases will not, consolidate a single district or close a single school. These five men will be as easily voted out of office as. the town clerk or the village constable, and if they are unresponsive to the popular will, there is the ballot box and universal suffrage. A board of five men from your own town, not chosen from Albany and not self-perpetuative, but chosen by the bailors of their neighbors, can hardly be regarded as intro- ducing." the Prussian system into the control of the rural schools." Now.. in theory the old system of choosing the local trustee was an ideal example of home rule, but in practice it was often a joke. There are many THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 365 districts where in practice it was hard to get enough electors in attendance at the. annual school meeting to go through the form of selecting the officers. Very often the office of trustee has been "put on " a man for the one reason that he was. not present to decline the "honor," while quite as often he has been chosen because of his recognized ability to drive a hard bargain in hiring a teacher at the lowest possible wage without reference to their qualifications. The .ultimate test of any educational law is this: Does it secure school efficiency? Surely this question cannot be answered at the end of. five months of partial trial, and I do not propose to debate it. I wish. the law might have a year or two of fair trial and then if certain changes seem desirable (as will probably be the case), it can be amended. But there is. one outstanding principle of the law that is ' fundamentally sound, and does not admit of debate, and that is the idea of making the township the unit of school taxation, because it puts the iburden on those: best able to bear it, and hence makes for what we have learned to call " social jus- tice." If a farmer lives in a district where lands are valuable,, where popula- tion is fairly dense, and where the amount of taxable property is fairly Jarge, he will surely pay more taxes than ever before. On the other hand, if he lives in a remote locality, where farms are scattered and land values low, and where in the past the maintaining of his poor school has meant a heavy bur- den, he will surely be surprised at his decreased tax rate^ I but unfortunately he is not likely to take the trouble to write the papers about it or to express his appreciation to the department at Albany. The law puts into effect the socialistic dictum, " From every man according to his ability." Now for a concrete example. I live in School District No. 4, Township of Cobleskill, N. Y. It is open country with the farms of moderate value and fairly closely settled, but there is no village and no railroads or corpora- tions to swell our valuation for taxation. The district tax roll is about $120,000. Last 3 r ear our school tax rate was 38 cents per hundred dollars and this year it will be 52 cents, and by that token I am entitled to be opposed to the school law because it costs me several extra dollars. • But on the other hand, District No. 8 in this same town lies high up on rugged hills with poor and scattered farms and a total valuation of only $19,000. Last year those burdened farmers out of their poverty paid a school tax of $1,33. This year their rate will be the same as mine, 52 cents. I believe, that social justice demands that the richer and more able districts shall help to. bear the special burdens of the remote and less able. I am sure that every voter of District No. 8 will be enthusiastic over the new law. I do not believe the law is perfect. I think some minor features. may be revamped. I do not believe.it will bring in the educational, millenium, but I do know that there is a great outcry before anyone is seriously, hurt, and I wish our farm people might keep an open mind, call it ; at 'least ari> honest, well-meant effort toward better things, and wait a year or two to see if it will not justify itself. February 9, 1918 Tared Van'Wageken, Jr 366 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Physical Training In Rural Schools A recent bulletin issued by the State Department refers to the " Com- prehensive program of physical training" in the rural schools put on through- out the State this year, and expects it to do wonders, but keeps very shy of detail or the way it was " put over " the taxpayer, or whether it was favorably received or not. Having been about somewhat in two or three counties, I have yet to meet a farmer or taxpayer who is in favor of their school being closed one day each month for the teacher to attend a physical training conference held somewhere in the county most convenient to the traveling instructor, while the teachers generally object to spending more than their day's wages to attend the same. Counting the time and expense, is it not another case of " paying too dear for the whistle " ? Were the parents more familiar with the required stunts and supervised games, the whole scheme would be ridiculed to oblivion. To attempt to teach dancing in a country schoolhouse having on an average less than 30 square feet of clear floor space is somewhat cramped; while pupils prefer to use their own initiative in starting games, rather than to play by rule. To see a gathering of teachers squeezing through hoops, jumping over imaginary brooks, and playing tag and bean-bag games, requires a stretch of the imagination to believe any educational advantages are derived from it. Governor Smith in his inaugural message, when urging retrenchment in public expenses, says : " Many of the proposals for new activities of the State will require money. The wasted dollar not only burdens the citizens, but helps retard the progress of the State." Will the rural residents quietly submit to this entering wedge of enforced taxation? If so, then those proposed $300 chemical toilets will follow along soon for the taxpayer to settle for as a matter of course. R. Ulster County, N. Y. — March 22, 1919 Autocratic Power of School Authorities I have been reading the articles in regard to country schools, and have come to the conclusion that what we need in this country is a new Declara- tion of Independence. With free speech strangled, the press muzzled, and taxation without representation, as in the matter of sanitary toilets for rural schools, it is time there was a change. The autocratic power with which the Board of Regents makes and enforces laws, regardless of cir- cumstances or conditions, would do credit to a Kaiser. Not that I am opposed to any legitimate expense for the advancement of education, but I am opposed to being held up by any bunch of politicians who may come before the footlights. Last year we were obliged to pay a physical instructor to go to each school two or three times during the year. The farmers protested and the law was repealed, making it optional with each school, and this year those who did not want it are compelled by order of the Education Department of the State to pay and send the teacher once a month to some place to receive physical instruction, thus making us lose nine days' instruction in each school during the year, and incidentally putting another over on the farmers. Some THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 367 years ago four school commissioners, elected by the people, looked after the schools, better, and at less expense, in Oneida County, than seven district superintendents, not elected by the people, do at present. So much for politics in the management of rural schools. C. J. Salmon • March 22, igig Oneida Co., N. Y. The first report of that district school organization comes from Tioga Co., N. Y. I succeeded in getting the voters in School District No. 3, town of Owego, at Waits, N. Y., to elect officers of the Rural School District Civic Organ- ization ; not a single vote against, and will send you the officers elected as requested: J. W. Shumway, president; E. N. Goodspeed, vice-president; T. J. Wait, secretary; Z. Codner, treasurer. J. B. Mead Anyone can see the advantage in having a strong non-partisan organiza- tion of this sort in every school district in the State. We shall not be satisfied until we have such an organization extending up through district, township, county and State. — June 15, 1918 During the fall and winter of 191 7 a great deal of organized effort was made on the part of those opposed to the principle of township control of schools to bring about pressure upon the Leg- islature to meet in the next January, for immediate repeal of the bill. The constitutionality of the bill was likewise questioned and the decision of the courts in this regard will appear in the appendix, part A. We have endeavored to gather together the newspaper articles that would best portray the efforts of those determined upon a repeal of the township school bill. Free Books for Public Schools The most important rural social institution is the public school, because the much talked of rural problem is a problem of education. When the country school teaches a curriculum suited to the needs of rural life, when it is manned by trained and efficient teachers, and has the support and cooperation of the public the problems of country life will need only time for their satisfactory solution. In the meanwhile it is well for us to remember that even now we look to the public school in its present experimental and unsatisfactory condition to instill into rural life, nourish and cultivate the germs of progress and enlightenment, and to lay the foun- dations of the much needed rural leadership. So much Rhinebeck in common with other similar communities expects from its public schools. In view of this the least we can do and ought to do is to see that the schools are equipped to do the work we require. The schools in Rhinebeck are not so equipped. We will consider but one 368 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK defect, but one which of itself is sufficient to prevent good results from being obtained. The best trained teachers in the world, the most alert and willing scholar can not teach or learn without books, and our schools do not furnish books for the pupils. Every child who comes to the Rhinebeck High School for example, is supposed to provide itself with the required books. Supposed to! yes, but what are the actual facts? Some families claim that they cannot afford the six dollars a year necessary to equip each h:gh school student, others who cannot claim this refuge put off buying the books on the flimsiest excuses, the principal must take time off to appeal to the parents and hear their excuses, and then with no result. The school has been in session several weeks, yet there are children in the High School still unsupplied, these are not the children of the very poor either. Other children come to school with the text books their fathers used, books of a generation ago, valueless because long superseded, but doubly valueless because pages have been lost. How can efficient work be done in the face of such opposition? It is opposition, parents may not mean it so, but it is just the same, stupid opposition. Perhaps it arises in some cases from ignorance, but in others it can only be set down to indifference which is worse, but whichever it is it forms a black menace to the future of Rhine- beck. The community ought not to allow it. The school is not an institu- tion solely for the improvement of the individual, its main object is to secure social efficiency, it exists to make Rhinebeck an enlightening, self-respecting, efficient and self-sustaining community and to keep it so ; that is why we compel children to go to school. We have no right to allow a menace to the future of this village to thrive in our midst. But what shall we do about it? We cannot compel parents to buy books, there is no law for that purpose. If some families in Rhinebeck are willing to ride around in automobiles and send their children to school without the barest necessities of learning we cannot force them to do otherwise; it is within their power to so evade the spirit of the compulsory education law. But the citizens of Rhinebeck have the power to make their schools efficient, they can have free text books. This is the best method anyway and all of the best school districts have adopted it. Free text books would insure that all pupils would be supplied at the beginning of the term with materials for work, this would mean the saving of time so needed in the school term. The purchase of text books by the board would tend toward the standard- ization of the texts in use. No child would then have to study from a book of a generation ago, and all would have the same text to study, which is absolutely necessary if any efficient instruction is to be given. The cost of supplying free text books would not mean a large increase in taxes. The initial expense for the Rhinebeck Grammar School would be $628. After the books are once installed it would cost little more than $100 a year to renew them. The first cost of books for the High School would be about $500 and the annual support correspondingly less, thus bv adding only eleven hundred dollars to the budget for one year and two hundred thereafter this district could make a great advance towards the efficient school which it ought to have. It is not economy to save money to the detriment of the public school, it is tragedy for it means a less progressive, less enlightened and therefore a poorer community. Poverty is seldom the result of mere misfortune, most often it is due to lack of THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 369 skill or ability to use one's powers, an efficient school in time can do much to remedy this, consequently to spend the needed money on free school books is to make an investment that in time will yield large returns. Another point worth noting is that people of the community already pay more for school books than is necessary to supply them without charge. If parents who have children in the grammar school bought new books every year they would spend $785 each year, the Board of Education can buy the same books for $628, thus saving $157. But of course it is not necessary to have new ones every year, the old ones could be used and the books replenished for $100 per year, that is for the grammar school ; parents cannot buy second-hand ones as cheaply. Free books would thus mean a real economy —*■ the small increase in taxes would not nearly equal the amount parents already pay for their children's texts. This question is worthy of our attention and interest, it means a more efficient school, sensible economy, and a step forward for the village. It must be decided by the voters not by the Board of Education. Section 673 of the Education Law provides that the qualified voters in a union free school district have authority by a majority vote to vote a tax for the purchase of all text books used in the schools of the district. The Board of Education may include this in their yearly budget and the taxpayers can then vote it into effect. Let us urge the board to do so and then see that it is carried. — Rhinebeck Gazette, October 28, iqi8 Township School System Cuba Grange, No. 799, Patrons of Husbandry, C. B. Gordon, Worthy Master; Elmer E. Conrath, Secretary Cuba, N. Y., Dec. 0, 1916 Dear Sir : I have your letter inquiring as to my observation and experience in the operation of the township school system in Pennsylvania. As I have not time to go into a detailed discussion of the subject, perhaps I can not do better than recapitulate briefly a few remarks I made on that subject before Cuba grange, Patrons of Husbandry, of which I have the honor to be secre- tary. These refer principally to the practical working out of the township plan, as observed in seven years of teaching under it in Pennsylvania ; and some 20 years of close relation to it and observation of it as a newspaper man. I should say one of the first and greatest results of the township system is to emphasize the country school and make it more important as a com- munity center. I must say that in my teaching experience in three counties in Pennsylvania I did not know of a single school district whose children were transported to a village. In some cases where there is no township high school, the pupils who have graduated from the grades in the country go to the village school to complete their course. But these cases are decreasing in number because the number of township high schools is increasing. So that in general the tendency is to make the country school the educational center and very often the social center as well, for a community. There is a tendency to make a freer use of the schoolhouse, and farmers' institutes, lecture courses, literary societies, etc. are quite commonly held there. 370 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The township high schools to which I refer above are another logical out- growth of the township system in Pennsylvania and I see the proposed new law for this State wisely permits their establishment here. These are a splendid thing, because in them the course of study can be adapted to the needs of the country boys and girls, which in some respects are different from those of the village boys and girls. This high school is located at a central point in the township, is part of the township system and the pupils of the town- ship schools attend without paying tuition. The course of study is in large measure determined by the township school board and they fix it to suit the needs of the country people, including instruction in agricultural subjects for the boys, domestic economy for the girls, etc. I have attended the com- mencement exercises of these and I recall that I was struck with the very prac- tical nature of the work they had done in the course. The standard of teachers, I believe is likely to be higher under the town- ship system and incompetent teachers are more likely to be weeded out. By engaging all the teachers for a township the board has a wider choice, and it is not unusual to have three or four times as many applicants as there are schools to be filled. The contracts are all made at one time, and " school letting day " is quite an event in the community. The board is greatly aided in its work of selection by knowing the character of the work done in each district the year before, what teachers failed, and what ones succeeded. Teachers' wages are more likely to be uniform, Pennsylvania has a mini- mum salary law which does not permit any township to pay less than $50 per month of 20 days, I believe; but even with this law and the free text books of that state, the school taxes, so far as my personal observation goes, do not average as high as they do in this county of Allegany, (N. Y.) because one, two, and three-pupil schools are unknown. And of course, the taxes are the same all over a township. They are not heavy among poor people with large families and light among the wealthier with small families. Every railroad or other corporation in the township contributes its share toward the support of all the schools in the township, not merely to the schools of the districts in which it happens to be located. Where the township system prevails you will find more uniform school buildings. There are no " poor districts," because all are on a par. Textbooks of course are uniform throughout a town under the township system, so that parents who move from one district to another need not buy different books, even where they are not furnished free. In one county in which I taught, representatives of the various townships got together, agreed on a series of books for all the townships, and thus had uniform books all over the county, besides getting them very much cheaper by insuring the dealer a large order. This was before the days of free text books there. I do not think I ever knew of a case where politics entered into the man- agement of the country schools of Pennsylvania, though political interference has hurt the schools of the larger cities. I have voted for members of the school board when I did not even know their politics. All I knew was that they were good men and qualified for the position of school director. Under the Pennsylvania school code the election of directors is non-partisan, that is, you dare not connect any political title with the candidate's name ; and I note the proposed township law for this State is practically the same in that re- spect. The position of township school director is in no case looked upon as Elmer E. Conrath Editor of the Cuba Patriot and Free Press THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 371 a political office, but rather as a sacred trust, having in charge the welfare of the rising generation. It is generally possible to get the ablest men of the community to serve, leading farmers, business and professional men, as well as the best and ablest women. Men will accept a place on the school board who could not be induced to take any sort of an ordinary office. In fact, I know of instances in which the township school boards represented a higher average of ability and efficiency than any other official body in the county, because they were the best men selected from all political parties, not merely from the dominant one. While there is no provision in the Pennsylvania Code for the distribution of directors over the township, yet I have never known of any tendency to concentrate them in one section, for the reason that it is not considered an office to be striven for, but a duty to be accepted if designated for it, and the directors are usually well scattered over the township. And there is no ten- dency to neglect any of the schools, whether in a section represented or not. For one poor school reflects upon the whole township and the aim is to main- tain them all at the highest possible level. The matter of school consolidation, which seems to excite a good deal of controversy in this state, is one that I really never knew to be agitated or even discussed in Pennsylvania. Such matters are entirely in the hands of the township school board, which is elected by the people, and so are practi- cally in the hands of the people themselves. If a school for some reason dwindles down to half a dozen pupils or less, it is frequently united with an- other school and perhaps a new school house is erected, more convenient to the pupils of both of them. I have known such cases where the old buildings were sold for enough to buy the new property and put up a better building than either of the old ones. If the distance pupils must travel is beyond a certain fixed limit, they are transported. But in any event they remain in the country schools and aid to build them up. For the school board having charge of such schools can be counted on not to tear them down in order to build greater the village or city schools, over which they have no authority and in which they have no interest. These are a few facts concerning the township system as I observed it in operation. There are other natural developments of course, as townships teachers' institutes, township courses of study, a healthy rivalry among schools of the same township, intervisitation among the schools, the advantage of buying supplies in larger quantities, and so on. But most of these are obvious and need not be rehearsed. However, if there is any particular points not mentioned here on which I can give information, I shall be very glad to do so. Yours very truly Elmer E.. Conrath Note: Mr Conrath is now Editor and Publisher of the Patriot and Free Press, published at Cuba, Allegany Co., N. Y. — Sandy Creek News, Decem- ber i4 3/2 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Start Suit to Test Town School Act; Collection Halted The former trustees of School District No. 8, town of Greenburgh, have started an action to test the constitutionality of the new town school act and papers were today served on William A. Buckley, receiver of taxes, restrain- ing him from proceeding with the collection of taxes until the case is heard. The plaintiffs are Elmo Brown, Bernard Call and Walter H. Whifiin, school trustees of District No. 8, and William Bunselmeyer, William C. Emerick, Charles H. Shack and Mr Buckley are made defendants. The suit was brought through Cohen and Richter, attorneys, and the order was signed by Justice Arthur S. Tompkins. The defendants are cited to show cause at a special term at Goshen, in Orange County on Friday, October 19th at ten-thirty o'clock. The trial is desired in Westchester County. The papers attack the validity of Chapter 328 which legislated the old boards out of office and created a new town school board. The court is asked to restrain the receiver from collecting taxes and the town board from usurping any of the powers of the district. Ever since the new town school law went into effect there has been much dissatisfaction because it is considered unjust. Small school districts- gener- ally have had their taxes increased because they had to share the burdens of the larger ones. Elmsford, a large district, has had its taxes practically cut in half and it benefits by the law. The case is one of great interest. Few doubt but what the law will be declared unconstitutional. — Tarry.toivn News, October l3, 1917 Orders Test of New State School Law White Plains, N. Y ., Friday. — Justice Arthur S. Tompkins handed down a decision in the Supreme Court to-day in which he declines to pass upon the alleged unconstitutionality of the new State educational law placing town school districts under one town board of education. He directs a trial of the issues. Elmo Brown, Bernard Call and Walter H. Whiff en, the board of trustees of the Elmsford school district, brought a proceeding before Justice Tompkins to test the new school law, and also sought an injunction restraining the Greenburgh Board of Education from collecting taxes or taking any action at all pending the decision. More than a thousand school districts in the. State may be affected by the final decision in this action.— New York Telegram, November 2, 1917 Trial to Test Validity of State School Law White Plains, N. Y ., Nov. 2. — Justice Arthur S. Tompkins in the Supreme Court to-day declined to pass upon the alleged unconstitutionality of the new State Educational Law, which places all tOAvn school districts under one town board of education. He directed a trial of the issues. Elmo Brown, Bernard Call and Walter H. Whiffen, constituting the Board of Trus- tees of the Elmsford school district, brought a proceeding before Justice Tompkins to test the new school law and also sought an injunction restrain- ing the Greenburgh Board of Education from collecting taxes or taking any other action pending the decision. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 373 Justice Tompkins declined to restrain Greenburgh Board from proceeding with its general work under the act, but granted the plaintiff's motion to the extent of restraining the Board from collecting taxes or exercising any au- thority over school property upon condition the plaintiffs bring the action to trial on the second Monday of November. More than iooo school districts in the State may be affected by the final decision in this action. — New York Evening World, November 2, 1917 School District No. 8 Wins Temporary Fight on Town Act The attorney for the trustees of School District No. 8, town of Green- burgh, Julius Henry Cohen of No. in Broadway and Hartsdale Road, Elms- ford, who argued the case brought against the new Town Board of Edu- cation, requesting an injunction restraining this board from any jurisdiction oyer the school and its property was heard by Justice Tompkins at Goshen on October 19th and briefs were to be returnable to the Judge on October 31st at Nyack, has rendered his decision on same as follows : Serious questions are raised as to the constitutionality of Chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, under which the defendant Board of Education was chosen, and much doubt exists as to whether, assuming the law to be constitutional, District No. 9 (Elmsford) should have participated in the selection of the Town Board of Education for the Town of Greenburgh. All of these questions should be promptly determined, and the department of education, and all concerned should, waiving all formalities and technical objections, unite in an early trial of this action to the end that there may be a final decision respecting- the constitutionality of the law and the legality of the election of the Board of Education in the Town of Greenburgh, without unnecessary interference with the educational facilities of that town or any other, and that proper legislation may be enacted at the next session of the legislature if the .act in question, or any part thereof is invalid. It is well settled that the Court at Special Term will not declare a law to be unconstitutional unless the invalidity thereof clearly appears, especially where great injury or much confusion may result therefrom, to persons and corporations not parties to the action, and following that rule, I shall not undertake to declare the act unconstitutional*, nor restrain the Board of Edu- cation, of the, town of Greenburgh : from proceeding with its general work under said, act but I will grant the plaintiff's motion- for an injunction pen- dente lite to the extent of restraining said Board of Education from collecting or attempting to. collect any tax within School District No. 8; and from exer- cising any control of authority over school property within said district, upon condition, however,, that the plaintiffs bring this action to trial, at the Special Term, for Trials, to be held at White Plains on the second Monday of No- vember.: — Tarrytown News, November 3, 1917 The Morning Sentinel, grossly partisan at all times, is decidedly unfair in its. report of the meeting held in this city on ; Saturday to consider the, new township education law. It was shown, at that meeting that the law was emphatically for the advancement of public education. The general feeling was not so much against the law itself as against enforcement of it, at this time, in such a way as to put a greatly increased weight of taxation on the shoulders of the people of the rural districts. Assemblyman Davis' statement 374 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK of his reasons for supporting the measure was entirely satisfactory, and his position in regard to it will not injure his candidacy for reelection. In pass- ing this law, the legislature simply put New York in line with the rest of the United States. — Amsterdam Recorder, November 5, 1917 School Law Is Unsatisfactory The Board of Supervisors re-convened here yesterday morning for a business session. Supervisor J. J. Hornett of Altona introduced a resolu- tion in which it was declared that the change in the school system, by which the substitution of the township system for the district system is made, is detrimental to the best interests of the school system and imposes an unnecessary hardship upon the taxpayers. Consolidation in this county is practically impossible, said Mr Hornett. The motion was seconded and adopted. The change is made by the new education act passed by the state legislature last year. — Plattsburg Republican, November 21, 1917 Want Law Repealed The following resolution, which will meet with the approval of the vast majority of the residents of this county, was yesterday unanimously adopted by the Board of Supervisors in annual session, the resolution being introduced by Supervisor John J. Harnett of Altona: Whereas the Legislature of the State of New York, at the annual ses- sion for the year 1917, passed a law, which was approved by the Gov- ernor of the State, being Chapter 328 of the laws of 1917, radically chang- ing the district school system of the State, and substituting for the district system the township system of schools, and Whereas it is the opinion of this Board of Supervisors of Clinton County that the change is detrimental to the best interests of our school system, and imposing unnecessary hardship upon the taxpayers of the various towns of this County. And Whereas the County of Clinton is situated so far north and the distances within the County so great, and our winters are so severe, that the consolidation of our schools is practically rendered impossible. Now be it Resolved by the Board of Supervisors of Clinton County in session duly assembled that they emphatically protest against the continu- ance of the said law upon the statute books of our State and do hereby call upon the Honorable James A. Emerson, the Senator from this dis- trict, and the Honorable Wallace E. Pierce, the member of Assembly from this County to introduce a bill at the 1918 session of the Legislature, repealing the said law and restoring the former system of school admin- istration and that we ask them to use every effort to secure the passage of such a repeal. Be it Further Resolved that a copy of these resolutions be spread upon the minutes of the Board and a copy sent to the Senator and Member of Assembly of this district, and a copy to the Governor of this State. — Plattsburgh Sentinel, November 23, 1917 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 3/5 Want School Law Repealed The consolidated school law or Chapter 328 of the laws of 1917 which was passed by the legislature last winter and approved by the Governor is found detrimental in its appliance throughout the northern section. The Clinton County Board of Supervisors while in annual session on Tuesday made known their oposition to this law by passing resolutions which will be presented to the Clinton Assemblyman and Senator James A. Emerson in an effort to have the law repealed this winter. The radical change from the district school system to that of the township system will, according to the supervisors' resolutions, prove detrimental to the best interests of our school system, imposing unnecessary hardship upon the tax payers. Clinton County is situated so far north and the distances within it are so great, and the winters are so severe, that the consolidation of schools is practically rendered impossible. — Lake Placid News, November 23, 1917 Supervisors Favor Repeal of School Law The Chemung County Board of Supervisors went on record yesterday as favoring the repeal of the new school or county educational law, which pro- vides for the creation of boards of education in all towns of the State, instead of maintaining the present system of school districts, governed by trustees or directors, duly elected. By a vive voce vote, a resolution asking that the Senator and Assemblyman representing this district be asked to work and vote for the repeal or amendment of this law was passed yesterday. The law is one against which much has been said and written. It was one of the questions or issues raised by the residents of rural communi- ties during the recent campaign, and both Chemung county candidates for the Assembly stated that they favored a repeal of the measure or its amendment to conform with the ideas of the voters. Both candidates made public statements expressing their views on the question. Chief among the objections to the measure as it now stands, is that it increases the expense or school tax without appreciably making the school system more representative, and that the present district arrangement is better for both pupils and parents in the rural districts. — Elmira Adver- tiser, November 27, 1917 Supervisors Are Against Law The county supervisors yesterday went on record as favoring the repeal of the county educational law which requires a town board of education instead of district trustees. Under this law the school taxes of the towns of this county have been much increased, it is said, and there is little if any additional benefit. — Elmira Gazette, November 27, 1917 376 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Want School Law Repealed To Hon. E. A. Everett, Member of Assembly from the Second District of St Lawrence County : The amendment to the education law approved May 2nd, 1917, has resulted in greatly increasing the expenses of maintaining rural schools while in no way adding to their efficiency. Therefore, the undersigned, members of the Board of Education of Unit No. 1, town of Canton, respectfully ask you to use your influence with the Legislature to have this amendment to the education law repealed. L. E.. Rodee S. C. Blount D. E. Healy Dan Donovan O. A. Howard ■ — Cantuu Commercial Advertiser, November 29, 1917 Want School Law Repealed The consolidated school law or Chapter 328 of the laws of 1917 which was passed by the legislature last winter and approved by the Governor is found detrimental in its appliance throughout the northern section. The Clinton County Board of Supervisors while in annual session last week made known their opposition to this law by passing resolutions which will be presented to the Clinton Assemblyman and Senator James A. Emerson in an effort to have the law repealed this winter. The radical change from the district school system to that of the township system will, according to the supervisors' resolutions, prove detrimental to the best interests of our school system, imposing unnecessary hardship upon the taxpayers. Clinton County is situated so far north and the distances within it are so great, and the winters are so severe, that the consolidation of schools is practi- cally rendered impossible. — Ausable Forks Record, November 30, 1917 The following resolutions regarding legislative matters were presented by Mr Webb and passed; " Whereas the new school law known as the township school bill has been tried in this county with the result of markedly increasing taxation without improving service and, " Whereas the employment of a physical training teacher to drill pupils physically in the country districts is in our opinion unnecessary, now therefore " Be it Resolved that we request our representatives at Albany to seek, the repeal of both statutes, and introduce bills before the legislature asking the repeal thereof and be it further resolved that we approve the attitude of Hon. Bert Lord on these questions as heretofore expressed by him in his votes thereon."— Submitted by A. C. Bowers, District Superintendent, from one of his local papers, December 1917 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 377 Spoke Against New School Law Gasport, Dec. I. — At the regular meeting of Gasport Grange held in Odd Fellows Hall Tuesday evening last there was a general discussion of the new township school law. John Pease was elected chairman of the meeting. Prof. Wallace Droman of Middleport and former Assemblyman Frank Bradley of Somerset were the principal speakers. Prof. Droman spoke for the interests of the taxpayers of Royalton, whose taxes have been increased two, three or four times the usual amount and for which they, had received absolutely nothing, it is claimed. He explained the workings of the law and showed that the present increase in taxes was but a forerunner of worse things to come. He urged concen- trated effort on the part of the Granges throughout the state to try and repeal the law or secure a satisfactory amendment. Mr Bradley also spoke against the bill and explained that in order to have any weight with the powers that be at Albany there must be some powerful influence at work and as he considered the Grange the most powerful agricultural organization in the state, united effort on its part would do much good. The Grange appointed a committee to draft resolutions to be sent to the Pomona Grange Dec. 8th at Newfane, asking that body to take some decided action against the bill. Those in favor of the measure were given an opportunity to show any good points it had, if any, but no one ventured a remark in its behalf. After announcing another meeting of the town taxpayers at Royalton for this afternoon at 2 o'clock the meeting adjourned. — Lockport Union Sun, December I, 1917 Opposed to School Bill The Journal is in receipt of communications from 20 of the 34 granges in Chautauqua county, containing a record of the action taken by those granges on the proposed rural school legislation. As this matter is to be the subject of formal action and resolutions by Pomona Grange which is to meet at Brocton on Thursday and Friday, a review at this time of what the various subordinate granges have done, is of interest. Three of the 20 granges from which reports have been received failed to take any definite action. Three of the granges reporting are in favor of the proposed legislation, with minor changes. Fourteen of the granges are definitely and decisively opposed to the proposed law. A brief explanation of the school bill and of the situation may assist in understanding just what is proposed. It is proposed to enact a law during the coming winter in which the department of education, and the representatives of the grange and other rural interest may unite, to assist in improving the rural schools of the state. The proposed bill which is now before the granges for discus- sion is not drawn on hard and fast lines for introduction in the legis- lature, but by the positive statement of the officials of the department of education will be amended in any needed respect whenever rural interests 37§ THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK may agree upon the desired changes. But subject to this possible change if provides for a new system of school administration in New York state. First, it provides for township school boards to administer all the schools within the geographical limits of such township. Second, it provides for a uniform township tax for school purposes, the amount to be decided annually by said township board. Third, while it is not a consolidation measure, in that not a single school consolidation is provided for in the bill, it provides powers to said township school boards, to discontinue schools in any district or districts in the township and to provide for the education of pupils in such districts in other schools. This is mentioned, not because it is one of the chief features of the bill, but because it is the chief objection now urged to it. Several granges in the county have based their opposition entirely on this feature. It should be said that the power of consolidation now rests in the hands of the district superintendent, with the approval of the department of education, and without providing for the opportunity of court review. The effect of the bill, were it enacted into law as it stands, would be to equalize the school tax of an entire township, give the township school board the right to say where each pupil in the township should attend school. The members of the township school board, by the provisions of the present bill, are to be elected by the voters of the township with an equitable distribution between present school districts Avhose district lines are to remain intact. So much for the oustanding features of the school bill. Now for the action of the granges of this county. Those which report unqualified opposition to the bill are as follows: Dewittville, Clymer, Fredonia, Chautauqua, Sherman, Sinclairville, Kennedy, Hanover, Cherry Creek, Portland, Gerry, Cassadaga, Stedman, and Findley Lake. Those which favored the bill, with suggested amendments : Volusia, Busti, and Union. No action taken : Ripley, Sheridan and Ross. The 14 granges which have not responded to requests for information as to their action either to The Journal or to the Secretary of the County grange are Westfield, Stockton, Ellery, South Harmony, Panama, Ellington, Villenova, Centralia, Charlotte Center, Ashville, South Ripley, Niobe, Ark- wright and Frewsburg. Really constructive resolutions were adopted by Lombard grange and Union grange. Two suggested amendments proposed by Union grange will undoubtedly attract much attention. The first is to remove all Union Free schools from the operation of the law, leaving them to be operated and maintained under the present boards of education and taxation system. The second is to draw the teeth of the proposed bill by a provision for real home rule, providing that the school in a district may not be annulled and closed by any township board without the vote of a majority of the voters of such district at a meeting called to consider such proposed annullment. — Jamestown Journal, December 4, 1917 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 379 Meeting of Town Rural School Boards A meeting of the various Town Rural School Boards, of whom there are fifty members in the county, five in each town, held a meeting at the Court House Monday to discuss various facts regarding the present school law that appears so unsatisfactory and more expensive to many localities. S. M. Wyman of Shelby was chairman of the meeting and Leslie Tanner of Medina, secretary, Mrs Chas. Jackson, Clarendon; G. E. Snyder, Murray; Howard Pratt, West Gaines ; Assemblyman Frank Lattin, Gaines, and others took part in the discussion. There appears to be general dissatis- faction with the new law. Resolutions were adopted requesting Assembly- man Lattin and Senator Geo. Thompson to prepare and introduce Legis- lative Bills to repeal those portions of the Education Law adopted recently in so far as they apply to rural district schools by requiring a Physical Instructor which work, it is contended can be done by the individual teacher; also to repeal the law requiring physical examination of students in rural schools ; and to abolish Town School Boards and go back to Trustees. In Orleans county an added expense of from $300 to $500 is created in each town for clerk and treasurer of such Boards ; increased taxes of joint districts are also one of the features objected to in the existing law. — Orleans County Republican, December 5, iqi? School Law Is Under Attack The board of Steuben county supervisors yesterday at Bath considered a resolution placing itself on record as against the present town system of schools, and a return to the former S3'stem. Such resolution was intro- duced by Supervisor Ray McCorn of Urbana, and voices the injustice of the system to a majority of taxpayers. The resolution followed the receipt of a lengthy petition from residents of the town of Prattsburg, decrying the town system, and praying a return to former conditions. The resolution was not passed, however, but was tabled. While the supervisors are perhaps to be commended for showing no pre- cipitate action, yet the fact remains that eventually the board must take action by arraying itself against this system of schools, provided, of course, the supervisors consider themselves the servants and agents of their con- stituents and bound to serve and act in the interests of the majority of their people. The resolution will be considered later, and if it is not passed, it is up to the people in the various towns to ascertain exactly how their supervisor voted, and then from that supervisor the reason for his lack of support of the resolution. In the town of Howard, a lengthy petition has been signed and will be forwarded to Albany, against the town system. As an iniquitous and unjust law, this town school system leads the procession, in the opinion of a majority of Steuben county residents. It remains to be seen what the supervisors propose to do in the matter. — Hornell Tribune Times, Decem- ber 5, 1917 School Boards Flay New Law Albion, Dec. 4. — A meeting of the various rural school boards of the town of Orleans county, was held at the Court House to-day to discuss 380 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK various phases of the present school law affecting the rural district schools. There appears to be a general dissatisfaction in the county with the new law, which in most places has" proved more expensive to the taxpayers than the operation of schools under the old system, with district .trustees. There are fifty members of the rural school boards in Orleans county. Each town has five members. These members receive no pay but have a salaried clerk and treasurer whose salaries are costing from $300 to $500 for each town, which was not required under the old system. In Albion the clerk receives $300 and the treasurer $50. In some of the other towns higher salaries are paid. Numerous objectionable features to the present law were brought out and resolutions were adopted requesting Assemblyman Frank H. Lattin, who , is a member of the Rural School Town Board of Gaines, and State Senator George F. Thompson, of this district, to prepare and present legislative bills at the coming session of the Legislature at Albany to repeal the objec- tionable features of the new school law in so far as they apply to rural schools. The resolution objects to the employment of supervisory school district physical instructors, a position created in 1916, and to the provision that each district teacher be required to give such instructions with her regular work; also that the law requiring physical examination of students in rural schools, at an expense of from 50 cents to $1 each, be repealed; and that the plan of having district trustees, with each district receiving its own tax, be adopted again, instead of the present law, giving the money of a joint school district to the town in which the schoolhouse is located. — Rochester Democrat, December 5, 1917 Would Change Town School Law Supervisor James K. Losee of the town of Clifton Park is of the ^opinion that the present law establishing town boards of education is not for the best interests of the pupils and taxpayers and he will endeavor to have the law repealed. At the session of the board of supervisors Tuesday, Mr Losee introduced a resolution that the board ask the senator and assembly- man to do all in their power to have the bill repealed. The resolution went over under the rule. Supervisor Bunyan offered a resolution that a committee- be appointed to audit the bills growing out of the appeal of the city of .Saratoga Springs from the equalization of taxes. — Saratoga Sun, December 5, 1917 Pomona Grange Wants the Township School Law Changed Deputy Godfrey read a communication from one of the county granges in the eastern part of the state setting forth in emphatic "manner their antagonism of the new township school law and asking aid toward a vigorous rousing of action against it that action might be' taken in the legis- lature this winter to repeal the obnoxious portions. Rather free discus- sion followed for a half hour or more, resulting in the drafting of the following which explains itself : By Bro. Godfrey Whereas, there is general dissatisfaction among the farmers of the county with the present town school law, in the feeling THE TOWNsIIIP SYSTEM 381 that the burden for paying the bonded indebtedness of the union school districts being assessed upon the whole town is unjust and unfair, be it Resolved, By the Cattaraugus County Pomona Grange that the next state legislature be requested and urged to annul this law in such a man- ner as to relieve such taxpayers in the towns, who do not reside in the union school districts, from being obliged to help pay off such indebtedness as may now rest on such districts ; and further be it Resolved, That the above resolution be placed in the hands of the chairman of the delegation to the state grange to be presented to that body. — Little Valley Hub, December 6, 1917' Supervisors Would Have Township School Law Altered Little Valley, Dec. 6.— Mr Lynde offered a resolution which was adopted : " That it is the opinion of the board of supervisors of Cattaraugus that the present township school law is unjust." Therefore : " Be it resolved that we ask our Assemblyman and Senator to work for the repeal of this law, especially that section of the law per- taining to the purchase of school properties by the town."- — Olean Herald, December 6, 1917 Supervisor Losee Against New School Law Ballston Spa, Dec. 4. — According to a resolution introduced at the meet- ing of the Board of Supervisors here this morning, by Supervisor Losee, of Clifton Park, the present rural school system of town boards of edu- cation, consolidation of districts, etc., is not for the "best interests of either pupils or taxpayers." In his resolution Mr Losee recommends that the Board of Super- visors ask the Senator and Assemblyman to do all in their power for the repeal of the amendment to the school law which provided for the present system. The resolution went over under the rule. — Hudson Valley Times, December 6, 1917 Lewis Grange Passed Resolution on School Law The following resolution was unanimously adopted by Lewis Grange No. 1077 at their meeting Dec. 1st : Resolved, That it is the sentiment of the members of Lewis Grange No. 1077 cf Lewis, Essex Co., N. Y., that the existing school law should be abolished and we hereby request our senator and member of assembly to respectfully use all honorable means to secure the repeal of the school law as enacted 1917, particularly that part of the law pertaining to the physical training. — Essex County News, Keeseville, December 7, 1917 Seek Repeal of New School Law One of the striking features of the closing session was a resolution offered by Supervisor Webb of Otselic to the effect that, inasmuch as the new school law is not improving the present conditions to the extent that it has increased the taxes, it should be repealed as well as the law which 382 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK created a physical instructor for every county. The resolution was passed by the board and Assemblyman Bert Lord will be asked to vote for the repeal of the law. Mr Lord also was commended for the stand which he took when the bill was made a law, voting in the negative at that time. — Binghamton Press, December 8, 1917 Would Exempt Small Schools Potsdam, Dec. 7.- — At the business meeting of Pomona grange, held Wednesday, action was taken finally on the Machold school law, which provoked considerable discussion the previous day. Resolutions were adopted recommending that schools with an attendance of less than 500 scholars be exempted from the provisions of the law. The grange also passed a resolution recommending the discontinuance of the brewing of beer and various soft drinks, the making of which used up food elements, which the resolution says might be used to advantage elsewhere. — Watertown Re-Union, December 8, 19 17 Grange Against New School System The Ulster County Pomona Grange at its meeting at Masonic Hall in this city Friday afternoon adopted a resolution instructing delegates to the State Grange convention to do all in their power to secure the repeal of the Township School Bill, which has been in effect for a short time. The resolution was offered by Clarence E. Davis of Flatbush, and was vigor- ously opposed by George E. House of Ulster Park. A motion by County Agent W. H. Hook of the Ulster County Farm Bureau to table the resolu- tion was lost by a small majority. — Kingston Freeman, December 8, 1917 No More Fooling with Schools Brocton, Dec. 8. — The legislative committee of the County Grange at a preliminary session held Thursday afternoon, prepared to make a vigor- ous report to the main body this afternoon, against any further effort on the part of the Department of Education to press its township unit school bill, and in favor of larger financial support for the weaker district country schools. A large number of resolutions were before the committee on school affairs, and the preponderance was so strong against further township con- solidation that the committee had no option except to take the position stated. New resolutions presented by Benjamin Pringle and Jared Hewes, both of Stedman grange, took up most of the time and were both favored in most details. Mr Pringle's resolution set forth that country schools need different management and different kind of instruction from graded or village schools, and advocated the establishment of Normal schools for training country school teachers, the establishment of special summer courses for the same purpose, the supervision and instruction to be in the hands of persons with successful experience in teaching country schools, and in full sympathy with such schools. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 383 Mr Hewes' resolution was on a county system of taxation for the assistance of the country schools and provided that all property of public service corporations be exempted from school district taxation, and be assessed at a uniform rate of five mills in each county, and that the money raised by this special tax be divided by the county treasurer of each county among the school districts on some equitable plan, preferably an equal quota to each teacher employed. Mr Hewes' resolution also provided for the repeal of Section 880 of the education law in so far as it makes the decision of the commissioner of education final, and not subject to court review, and demands that the law be amended to provide that there be no further change in the management or control of the individual school districts of the State except as " condi- tions in the various districts may demand, as evidenced by a majority vote" of the districts. — Jamestown Journal, December 8, 1917 Grange Condemns School Law Dunndee, Dec. 10 — The Lakemonnt Grange held a regular meetinng on Saturday, with a good attendance. One of the main topics considered was the operation of the new township school law, and after considerable dis- cussion of the matter by those present, the meeting passed a resolution addressed to the Board of Supervisors of the county asking it to use its influence to have the Machold township school law either repealed or amended, as the granges believe it operates against the interests of the farmer and is at the same time unsatisfactory to the residents of the vil- lages for the reason that it materially increases the taxes and does not in any way improve the school system. — Rochester Herald, December 11, 1917 Grange Opposes Town School Law and Physical Culture Exercises Knowlesville, Dec. 11. — The first afternoon meeting of Knowlesville Grange was held Saturday afternoon. After a roast-beef dinner had been served the meeting was called to order at 2 p. m. The township school law was discussed and the Legislative Committee was authorized to draw a resolution asking the local representative to give his support to any bill tending to repeal the law. A resolution was also adopted asking for the abolishing of the physical culture exercises in the rural schools. — Rochester Herald, December 12, 1917 We notice several granges and other organizations of farmers are passing resolutions opposed to the new school law. Their opinion seems to be divided from those who wish to have the law utterly repealed and others who wish to have it modified materially. The great cause of complaint seems to be that the farmer is having to pay more in the form of school taxes than he formerly paid. The writer of this article was a farmer's son. He went to a district school as long as the district schools would furnish classes for him and then attended the village school, paying tuition at a rate that was dirt cheap for him, but which was a large loss to the village school which 384 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK he attended. The education he received at the village school did not cost him nearly as much as the same instruction was costing the residents of the village district. Aside from his failure to pay his fair proportion of the cost of maintaining the school, he never paid a single cent of the expense incurred in the erection of the village school. He can never make up the loss that village school sustained and he does not expect to be asked to do so. During the years he attended the village school, he was an outsider, a foreign student — was treated as such and felt the treatment, but did not at the time understand the cause. Had the present law been in effect, he would have had his tuition paid in the taxes on his father's farm and would have gone to the village school, when the time came, on an equal footing with every other scholar there. He would have been the proprietor and not a hanger-on. As he came to this time in life and looked back on the events of those days he would have had no thought to disturb his self-respect. He would feel that his way had been fairly paid for him by the one who should pay it. There may be inequities in the new law. As a usual thing, when a bigger concern takes in several smaller concerns, there is a lack of smoothness in the operation of the combination for a time and this must of necessity be the case where the big concern is a whole town and the smaller ones are school districts. The distribution of assets is a delicate matter and cannot be done without some disturbance. The new adjustment of responsibilities is sure to breed some friction and for a time there will be troubles. In this particular instance the biggest trouble maker is to be found in selfish- ness. Men whose families have grown up, or men who never had a family, have just been to the collector and paid a school tax much greater than that they have been accustomed to pay and they go away declaring they will have that law repealed or they will work to defeat the reelection of any member of the Legislature who will not help to repeal it. The one sweeping change we would suggest would be that all schools become the property of the State and be managed by the State at State expense — that every dollar of property should be made to contribute in equal proportion to the support of the schools of the State and that it should be possible for every child who grows to maturity in the State to be taught at State expense some useful occupation, and if he is capable of being educated to the highest point of efficiency, he should be forced to become so educated, and the State should pay the expense. — Victor Herald^ December 13, 1917 Opposition to Township Law Another [resolution] had to do with the repeal of the Township School bill, and authorizing the appointment of a committee of three to confer with the State Grange Master, Sherman J. Lowell of Fredonia, before his anticipated meeting with the State Educational Department, and appointing Mr Lowell a committee of one to demand a just readjustment or amendment of the law. On the Township bill the committee drafted the following recommendation and resolution which carried " Your committee recommends in regard to the discussion on the repeal of the Rural School bill that inasmuch as the time THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 385 for investigation has been short for a favorable and thoroughly unbiased opinion as to the merits of the bill, the following resolution be adopted : " Be it hereby resolved, that the Master of Chautauqua County Pomona Grange appoint a committee of three to take the subject of amendment or repeal of the Rural School Educational bill, under advisement and in confer- ence with the State Master before, if possible, his anticipated conference with the educational department, who after such conference be appointed a com- mittee of one to represent the rural residents and taxpayers as a body in de-. manding either the amendment of the existing bill or the repeal thereof and the substitute of some form that will more nearly represent the interests of the rural residents." — Jamestown Post, December 15, 1917 Give the School Law a Chance At a meeting of the Pomona Grange in Newark on Wednesday, December 5th, a resolution was adopted asking for the repeal of the town school law. It has come to our attention that a number of members of the Pomona Grange, who stand very high in that order, opposed this resolution, as they did not think the grange should go oh record as absolutely in favor of re- pealing the law. These men, who are quite prominent and well known throughout the county, were in the minority and were voted down. They favored an amendment to the law rather than a repeal of the law. It is the opinion of The Union-Gazette that the town school law should be given a fair chance, as it undoubtedly has many commendable merits. We have read the law with considerable care and it has some very admirable features which had the sanction of the State Education Department and in our opinion it was a very wise piece of educational legislation. Under the old system, every township had a number of trustees. There was no great degree of uniformity in the methods of administration among these various trustees. Under the new law, all of these districts are unified under a single town Board of Education, the duty of whose members it is to administer the affairs of all the districts in the same way. We believe this was a long step ahead and we believe that it would be wise if the state would go a step further and include the rural schools and the village schools under a single Board of Education. Whether this would be wise in the cities, which are administered under special charters, is a question. But in the rural com- munities of the state, like Wayne County, we believe much benefit would be derived by the school children if they were governed by a single board of education, instead of by two boards of education. But the rural school law, uniting all of the school districts under one head, was, in our judgment, a wise and a forward step in educational matters. We have heard of no really good argument in favor of a repeal of the township school law. The fact that the taxes are a little higher, or consid- erable higher, is no argument against the wisdom of the law. It is going to cost billions of money to prosecute successfully the present war, but who would have the audacity to say that the generations who will live fifty or a hundred years from now will not see in this expenditure, blessings that we cannot now see, and which will be well worth the sacrifice in blood and in money that is being made by the present generation. IS 386 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The change of the state constitution, which permits the women to vote, is going to cost the taxpayers in this state thousands of dollars. But who will say that in the onward progress of civilization it is not wise for the women to vote. We believe the time will come when the women in all countries will vote, the same as the men, on all questions. Therefore, the mere increasing of the taxes as a result of the town school law is not, by any means, a valid argument that, because of this increase in expense, the law is unwise and should be repealed. It is possible that there are some features of the law which should be amended. It is not to be presumed that the legislators who enacted this law would be able, in the first draft of it, to so construct the legislation that, in its practical workings, there would be no need for amendments. The law should be given a fair chance and it should not be condemned as a whole until it has been thoroughly tested; and by all means there should be no snap judgment on this law. If it is to be changed or even if it is to be repealed, it should be done only after thorough investigation and after deliberate reflection. Such investigation and such deliberation are a matter of wisdom ; for even these people, who are now demanding the repeal of the law in its entirety, might find, if they investigated the law more thoroughly, that it does contain some merits. We wonder if all of the grangers who voted in favor of this resolution to repeal the law have given the law careful investigation and due deliberation, or if they merely jumped at a hasty conclusion that the law is all bad because the taxes happened to be a little higher. It is possible that some other conditions may have entered into the situa- tion this year that caused the increase in taxes and that the entire advance in taxes should not be charged to the rural school law. The Newark Grange is the largest grange in Wayne County and the Po- mona Grange of Wayne County is one of the most influential granges in the whole state. It has a very enviable reputation and that reputation should always be safeguarded and it seems to us that the Pomona Grange of Wayne County acted unwisely when, at its annual meeting on December 5th, it put itself on record as in favor of a repeal of this law which has been in oper- ation practically only ninety days. Do our good friends in the Pomona Grange think that they are able to give a wise and conservative judgment on a piece of legislation that has been in operation for only three months? Is it not possible that there may be some features of this law which, if al- lowed to stand, would greatly benefit the children of the farmers of Wayne County and of the state in general? If it does contain merits, it would be unwise to repeal the law until it has had a fair trial. Would it not be wise and a matter of information and of general interest to have discussions upon this law at the grange meetings during their com- ing winter sessions? There might be a series of debates or papers which would be very valuable. Why not approach the subject with an open mind and if the law does con- tain merits, find out what they are? If it has defects, those defects should be pointed out and the legislature would be glad to amend the law, but by all means no rash action should be taken- until there has been sufficient time THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 387 to test the law and to find out whether or not it was wisely enacted. The law had the sanction of the State Education Department and it is to be pre- sumed that, with their special training, they thought it would be for the wel- fare of the children of the state, and the experiment should be thoroughly tested before it is condemned. — Newark Union Gazette, December 15, 1917 St Lawrence Supervisors Approve Township Bill Supervisor Hanmer of Massena introduced a resolution, which was adopted, that the board approve the enactment of a law embodying the plan of the Machold, or township bill, excepting that it should be amended so as to exempt all union free school districts from the proposed system.— Syracuse Post Standard, December 16, 1917 Auburn Grange Opposes the Township School Law At the last meeting of Auburn Grange, opposition was expressed to the Machold Township School Law recently enacted and a demand made for its repeal. A resolution was adopted as follows : " Resolved that it is the sense of Auburn Grange that the present school law is not an improvement on the one 1 which it repealed and that the dele- gates recently elected by Pomona Grange to the State Grange be requested to use their influence in the State Grange for the repeal of the present school law and for the enactment of the old or a similar law." — Auburn Citizen, December 26, 1917 Condemn the Township School Law Here are the resolutions, condemning the Township school law, adopted by Clifton Springs Grange : "Whereas, the members of the Clifton Springs Grange, No. 1042, find Article XI, A, the Township School Law, to be unjust, unconstitutional, and oppressive in its operation, imposing unjust, excessive, illegal and inequitable taxes, increasing the taxes in all units from 2 to 4^2 times over that of preceding years. "Whereas, the bonded indebtedness of High Schools, in which the rural schools had no voice in the making and from which they receive no benefit, therefore savoring of tyranny, must be assumed by the rural schools. " Whereas, it concentrates the governing powers of our rural schools, with- out limit, into the hands of a few individuals called the Town Board of Education, giving them the power to leave a school without a teacher, oblig- ing the districts to consolidate, thus decreasing the value of the farms on account of the long distances to school, and the heavy taxes placed upon them ; and extending their power to designate the school at which any pupil in said unit may be directed to attend without the consent of parents, working hardships upon both parents and pupils of the rural schools. "Whereas, the law changes the title of rural school property to town property under the control of the Town Board of Education, taking the last and entire control of the rural schools from the rural people, putting it in the complete control of Town Board of Education, which is a corporation. "Whereas, it further injects politics into our school system. " Therefore, be it resolved that we members of Clifton Springs Grange, No, 1042, in regular session, Dec. 4, 191 7, as a Grange and a community, 388 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK demand a repeal of Article XI, A, the Township School Law, at the next session of the Legislature of the State of New York, and urge that the New York State Grange will assist us in getting this bill repealed and that we be allowed to go back to the rural schools and the trustees as it was before this bill became a law. "And Be It Further Resolved that we will not be compelled to have a change in our rural schools when we do not demand it." — Ontario County Times, December 26, 1917 Obnoxious School Law There seems to be a concerted effort on the part of the people residing in the country districts to bring about the repeal of the township school law that went into effect last fall. The Granges are registering their votes against it and only last week the board of Supervisors of Wyoming county voted unanimously to have our representatives at Albany do their utmost for the repeal. We under- stand they did not vote in favor of it in the first place. The assemblymen and senators from the cities were the ones responsible for the passage of the measure. We have talked with a school superintendent who favors the law. He believes the people should not be impatient and hasty in the matter. Many laws that are unsatisfactory and even obnoxious at first come afterwards to be regarded more favorably. It is the change from an old established order of things that wrenches and displeases. It takes time to get used to a new law and become acquainted with all its beneficial results. Everything that goes a little wrong under the new system is at once laid to the law and gives rise to the desire to abolish it or modify it. The feature of the Township School law that is most vigorously denounced by its opponents is the increased tax it has caused. If there were no war with its attendant inflation of prices, its call for Liberty loans and Victory loans and its thousands of other demands upon our purses perhaps the people of New York state would be more willing to put up with the new school law and give it a try-out — even though it is more costly than the old system. It is quite, possible that after making the experiment they would become reconciled to its radical provisions. As it is, there is a difference of opinion between the villagers and the farmers. The citizens of the incorporated villages having high schools favor the law because it reduces their school tax. The 1 country people are against the law because it increases their school tax. The majority of farmers say their school tax has been trebled. The rebate in tuition at the high schools in no wise offsets the increase in taxation. Wherever villages having under fifteen hundred population are heavily in debt for new school buildings, the people living outside of the corporations are obliged under the Township School system to help pay the debts on the school property. The farmers had no voice in contracting those debts and therefore they naturally object to help pay them. At first there was an interchange of good-natured raillery on the sub- ject between the village folk and the country folk. As time goes on the THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 389 feeling tends to become more bitter and the remarks are more acrimonious. — Wyoming County Times, January 3, 1918 For Township School Law At a meeting of representatives of farmers' organizations of Herkimer County in the Palmer House here today, a resolution was adopted after careful consideration favoring the passage of the township school law and proposing a number of amendments. It was felt by the representatives present after consideration of the law, that it has been misconstrued and a great deal of misunderstanding exists as to the law which have tended to make people overlook its good points. Although it was felt that the amend- ments proposed in the resolution adopted are seriously needed, the con- ferees were united in the opinion that the law in main is much more satis- factory than the old law. Organizations represented were the Pomona Grange, the Dairymen's League, the Board of Supervisors and the district superintendents of schools of Herkimer County. Representatives at the conference were as follows : Pomona Grange, Lester E. Young, Richfield Springs ; W. H. Farber, Poland ; Dairymen's League of Herkimer County, Charles A. Shepard, president, Little Falls; John L. Paine, vice-president, Mohawk; Board of Supervisors, D. A. Van Allen, Little Falls ; Eugene Swift, Jordanville ; legislative com- mittee of the Farm Bureau, W. F. Rasbach, chairman, Herkimer; R. H. Smith, secretary, Frankfort; district superintendents of schools, A. J. Rose, West Winfield; F. C. Kimm, Herkimer; C. B. Keller, Fairfield; B. M. Robin- son, Poland. Others present were: C. A. Taylor, manager of the Farm Bureau; A. B. Davies, assistant manager, and John Carey, Richfield Springs. Eugene Swift acted as chairman and Lester E. Young as secretary. These men are representative of the sentiment of the farmers of Herkimer County and their decision after full consideration of the law will carry con- siderable weight among the farmers and with the legislators at Albany. The following amendments are proposed in the resolution adopted: That the union free school district maintaining an academic department should be excluded from the township system; that the 'school in any district may be closed temporarily and reopened at a later date as conditions may warrant, subject to the discretion of the township board, without loss of public money during the period when such schools may be closed and with the understand- ing that students of the said district temporarily closed shall be provided for by the town board; that the medical inspection laws as existing in their relation to rural schools should be repealed; that in supervisory districts where registered nurses are employed, medical inspection shall be employed only to examine such pupils as such nurse shall recommend. — Utica Press, January 16, 1918 The Township System Dr Finegan was right in regard to the township system, just as he was right in regard to the city system. Every forward movement starts up a lot of kickers. The state department had nothing to gain by either the town- ship system or the city system except the betterment of education. And it could have escaped all the kicks by simply sitting still and doing nothing. 39° THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK That might have given them some temporary comfort, but it would not have been doing their duty. And people cannot fail in their duty indefinitely without being found out. In saying that Dr Finegan is right, and that he has given the people of the state a great boon, we would also say that Governor Whitman is not altogether wrong. The governor says that the township system law needs amendment. And so say we. The law should be so amended as to allow the districts to come into the consolidated system, and not to require it. In 'states where the township system was made optional, the districts have come in with a rush. Compulsory legislation makes the farmers feel that in taking their districts from them, you are taking from them something that belongs to them to give a benefit to other people. And of course from that point of view they would fight. The facts, however, are all the other way. The villages and cities get nothing by the coming in of the rural districts; and the rural districts get everything. The farmers are no longer compelled to abandon their farms to renters in order to get educational advantages for their children. And it is a wonderful farm that can stand renters very long. The farming interest is undergoing destruc- tion, because of the inequality of school privileges. When the farmers belong to the towns they share in everything that the town has to give. Their children during the day enjoy town instruction and town life, and in the evening and night they enjoy what town children do not have. They enjoy the privilege of mingling in farm activities and sleeping on farms under the protection and with the companionship of their parents. The better education of the children and the protection of farm interests and farm values require the township system of education. The little school- house can no longer compete with its big neighbor. The big tree will always destroy all the little trees within its immediate vicinity. The carryall bring- in the country children in the daytime after their morning chores, and bringing them home in the evening time to their evening chores, is the great- est boon that has ever been given to American life. Save the township system by all means ; but give to the farmers the privilege to which they are entitled, the privilege of saying whether they will come in or not. They will come in all right. The thing is so plain that nobody can fail to see it. — Batavia Times, January 12, igi8 Improve Rural School Law That the township school law, which is now a prime topic of conversation in all rural districts, has merits which should preserve it from annihilation, is the attitude taken by the Utica Observer, in voicing the similar sentiments voiced at a recent farmers' meeting in Herkimer, where resolutions favor- ing the amendment of the statute were adopted. In the Observer appears the following editorial comment on the matter: The township system of schools is going to receive an overhauling in the legislature. This is certain because the country districts want it, and their representatives in the legislature have signified almost everywhere that they are going to represent the feeling at home. The best word that has been said about the law, however, has come from the farmers of Herkimer county, who say that the law ought to be amended, but not wiped off the books. This is contrary to much of the criticism that THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 391 has come from the country. Generally the desire is to get back to the old system. The trouble with the system is that there hadn't been any improvement in it since the days before the Civil war, and we'll have to admit that edu- cational methods have advanced along with other professional vocations, like medicine, or law. The country schools were given a new plan because the country children are entitled to just as good an education as can be had in the cities. It seems to be true that the specifications were not fulfilled, and that the cost of what improvement was made is out of proportion to the gain. Yet it would be a grave mistake to believe that the country school can be improved and at the same time he conducted at the price of operation a generation ago. Improvements cost money, and we should say that most of the increase should go to the teachers. It would seem, too, that the idea of combining schools, where it can be done with reasonable convenience, is not to be aban- doned. The country lad ought to have a high school education as easily in his grasp as the city youngster has. Heretofore the village or the city youth has had his education free, while the boy or girl from the farm has been penalized by tuition. So the legislature may very well go over the law with the idea of improv- ing it, rather than step way back to the old plan. Expenses may be cut down by eliminating some of the overhead machinery which has been built up during the past few years. For instance, there appears to be too many superintendents, and it is all too elaborate, cumbersome and expensive. — Little Falls Times, January 14, 1918 The Township School Law Our local Union Free School District having more than 1500 population does not come under the new township school law, hence we have no par- ticular prejudice in the matter. But what concerns many of our readers interests the Journal, and numerous criticisms of the law appearing in some of our daily papers have led us to consider the matter somewhat. Against the law seem to be: 1 That rural school tax rates are higher. 2 That the bonded indebtedness of a Union Free School district should not be assumed by the township or unit of which it is a part. 3 That local control is lost over the community school. 4 That it is difficult to administer the law so as promptly to care for each and every school. The question seems to us a little different in a town or unit having no academic school from what it is in a town or unit having one or more of such schools to support. Where the schools of a township or unit are all of the same grade, all elementary, why isn't a uniform school tax rate just as fair and equitable as a uniform tax rate for roads and bridges, the sup- port of the indigent poor, and other usual town expenses? There were some gross inequalities in school tax rates under the old district system, due largely to the great differences in the amount of taxable property in the different districts ; wealthy rural districts generally had a moderate or low tax rate, and most of these are now paying a substantial increase under the new law. We have in mind two schools in the same township, each employ- 39 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK ing one teacher, where, without any considerable amount of unusual outlay last year in either district, the tax rate in the wealthy district was only 10 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, while in the weak district the tax rate was 32 times that, or $3.20 per $100 of valuation. This year both districts are paying the same rate, much to the relief of the weaker one; but very likely the taxpayers in the wealthy district are not all enthusing over the new law. We find, too, that under the district system a number of rural districts contracted and some of them paid all their school expenses out of the " public money " received from the State and did not raise a cent of local school tax. Naturally, some of the taxpayers in these hitherto fortunate districts do not like the new law which compels them to pay the same school tax rates as other taxpayers in the same town or unit; probably we should favor the old law were we in their places — it is so natural to want the " long end of the evener." The equitable distribution of the bonded indebtedness in some of the Union Free School districts is a puzzling problem, especially where the academic school is so situated as to be conveniently accessible to only a part of the rural children living in the township or unit. It seems pretty well settled in the minds of intelligent thinking people that such are the demands of the modern business and professional world today that a high school education is relatively no better preparation for one's life work than was a good common school education fifty years ago. There was strenuous objec- tion by many taxpayers So years ago when our common schools were first made free and were required to be supported by public taxation ; and many rural taxpayers object now to being taxed to support the village high schools. Yet the rural children seem to need the high school education, and it is not just clear why the village districts should furnish the buildings and equip- ment and hire the teachers, the state pay the tuition of the rural children, and rural patrons bear none of the burden of maintaining these academic schools. It is, however, much to be regretted that the township system was not adopted 25 years ago, before the great majority of our academic schools were established; then many of them would have been located where they would better accommodate the rural children of the township or unit. Just how much of this outstanding bonded indebtedness in the Union Free School districts should now be assumed by the other districts in the township or unit is a question worthy of careful study. In comparing tax rates in any district under the new law comparison should be made with what would have been the tax rate in that district under the old law this year, and not with the tax rate of last year. The new law is hardly to be blamed because there is a serious shortage of teachers this year and teachers' salaries in rural schools are from $1 to $3 higher per week than last year; nor is the new law to blame because coal and wood are hard to get at all and cost much more than last year ; nor because all lines of school supplies cost more than a year ago. We fail to find only a small percentage of the increase in school tax rates due directly to the new law. But under all of the war-time conditions this year we wonder what would have been the school tax rates in many weak districts under the old law. About 1300 districts in the state had each only $20,000 or less of taxable property to support a school ; and about 3800 districts had each only THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 393 $40,000 or less of taxable property; now, if the township law is repealed, what will be the school tax rates in those districts ? What relief is proposed for them in place of that afforded by the township law? Some feel that the township law results in a loss of local control over the community school, while others take the view that the power of the school meeting voter has really been extended, and he now has voice at the annual town or unit school meeting in the school affairs of the whole town- ship or unit, instead of simply his local district. The board of education is hereafter to be elected at the annual town or unit school meetings, and if the opponents of the new law have as much interest in school matters as they profess, it ought not to be difficult to secure the election of boards of education that will conserve rural interests. In these days of automobiles, state roads, telephones, rural mail delivery, etc., boards should be able to look after every school reasonably well if they will work through committees, like the Union Free School boards. It ought not to be necessary to call the whole board together every time a box of chalk or a new broom is needed. The township law has been in full effect only about four months now, and this during the trying times of war. It looks like child's play to demand the repeal of the law before it has had anything like a full and fair trial. Some amendments are doubtless needed; we fail to recall many new laws that have been entirely satisfactory without some changes. It would seem worth while to remember that every adjoining state has had a township school law for years, and not one of them has ever returned to the district system. The district system originated in Massachusetts, but was discarded there for the township system about 35 years ago, and the Master of the State Grange wrote us last winter that he would regard a return to the district system as a long stride backwards. The state constitution makes it the duty of the legislature to provide a " system of free common schools wherein all the children of the state may be educated." (Public schools are state institutions not merely local ones.) The state is regulating them more and more closely, and school expenses, like all others in these times, are on the increase. Why not quit fighting the township law and all unite in one big campaign for an increase in the amount of public money paid by the state for the support of our schools. While New York State pays much toward the support of her schools, you may be surprised to know that she is not one of the most liberal states in her per capita allowance for educational purposes. — Jefferson County Jour- nal. — Potsdam Cour. & Freem. January 16, 1918 The Township Schools Dr Thomas E. Finegan, deputy State commissioner of education was clearly right before the State Agricultural Society Tuesday in taking issue with the Governor's ill considered call for repeal of the township school law. We wouldn't undertake to say and presume Dr Finegan wouldn't that the law, which he drafted, is incapable of improvement in any details. But to simply wipe it out would put New York behind the States on every side of her, even little Vermont and bar children of our rural districts from decent education. 394 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Once the school district system was the ideal of democratic government, bringing close to the people the duty they naturally felt to be the highest in love for their offspring, of giving them such an education as would fit them well for the duties of life and put them in the way of the opportunities Americanism opened to them. That was when our rural areas were well populated with husbandmen having good wholesomely large families. It is a very different matter now when, as Dr Finegan says there are 3800 of these districts having less than 10 children of school age and 900 of them with not more than five. Obviously, even with the best of dispositions it is impossible to support in such districts such schools as it is the right of the children to have; and it is unfortunately true that in many of them the disposition is lacking, the most enterprising of the population having been drained off and leaving a refuse of shiftlessness and ambitionlessness, of moral and intellectual degeneracy that presents the sore spots in our rural life that thinking men recognize to be one of our serious social problems and where healthy interest in schools or provision for their support are not to be expected. Even subsidizing of them can have no satisfactory results. However we may regret it or hope that some time there will be a return of something like the " old days " in these now sparsely inhabited districts, the township system is the only adequate way at present of providing that edu- cation for all that is the very foundation stone for free institutions. (Indeed, it is a question if this change is not too much instead of too little guarded from abuse by the provision that it can only be on a vote of a majority of its citizens that a district can be consolidated nto the larger entity.) Governor Whitman says the change has increased taxes. Except as the trouble be an administrative one, this, of course, can only be true to the extent that better education or facilities for it are afforded. And this is not an age or this a land for such an objection to prevail. — Albany Argus, Janu- ary 17, 1918 Charges School Tax as Imposed now Is Illegal A tax litigation which if successfully prosecuted will seriously involve real property assessments in every town in New York State, brought by James W. Wadsworth, United States senator, against Charles Menzie, Joseph A. Krenzer, Joseph D. Donohue, James C. Foote and Peter Carmi- chael, constituting the Board of Education for the town of Caledonia, and Henry Feeley, tax collector of the town of Caledonia, will be submitted on briefs to Supreme Court Justice William W. Clark, in this city. Since the question involved in the litigation is purely constitutional, the opposing attorneys have stipulated to forego argument and submit the matter entirely on briefs. Senator Wadsworth is represented by Elihu Root, and Frank K. Cook, a deputy attorney-general of this State. Archibald M. Little, of No. 820 Insurance building, represents the town officials and Frank B. Gilbert, chief counsel of the University of the State of New York, represents the educa- tional and tax departments of the State. Senator Wadsworth charges that the amendment to the State education law, taking effect on August 1st last, abolishing the school district as a unit of taxation and providing that school taxes be paid pro rata by all real THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 395 property owners in a given town, is unconstitutional. Senator Wadsworth is owner of 1900 acres of land in the third school district of the town of Caledonia. This property is assessed at $112,200. The real property in the district is assessed for a total of $405,018.10. The third school district has existed as a tax unit for more than fifty years. According to Senator Wadsworth, the schoolhouse is valued at $1000. One teacher is employed and the average attendance for the last several years has been ten children. The expense of maintaining the district in the year 1916 to 1917, includ- ing repairs to the schoolhouse, was $802.52. In the year 1915-1916 the school expenditure was $580.65,, and the preceding year, $569.94. The school tax for each of the three years was $1.50 for each $1000 valuation. The village of Caledonia has a brick schoolhouse valued at $50,000, carries $28,000 in bonded indebtedness on the schoolhouse and the annual cost of maintaining the school is $12,000. Because of the new law the school tax in the town of Caledonia is $6.50 a thousand, which was levied on real property owners in the third as well as the other districts. Senator Wadsworth charges that the amendment which raises his school tax in the third district from $168.30 to $729.30 is unconstitutional in that it taxes one unit for benefits derived by others. He claims that the school facilities of the village of Caledonia are not accessible to children residing in the third school district because of distance and weather conditions, especially in the winter. Senator Wadsworth charges that the school facilities in the third district are adequate and that the charge of $15 a year made upon children of the third district when attending the higher grades in the school at Caledonia is equitable. He charges that no benefits whatsoever are derived from the taxpayers in the third district from the payment of the increased tax. The third district is situated several miles from the village and is made up almost entirely of farming property. Senator Wadsworth made applica- tion to Justice Clark for an injunction restraining the town authorities from collecting the tax but after Mr Little on behalf of the town stipu- lated to withhold the collection until after the determination of the action the Senator withdrew his application. Many taxpayers throughout the State are opposed to the new law and Governor Whitman, in his message to the 1918 Legislature, recommended its repeal. The law increases taxes of owners of valuable farm property situated in towns containing villages in which a number of school children reside. They are assessed pro rata on their farm property at the same rate as taxpayers in the village. The benefit to the village taxpayer is apparent from the fact that the rate in the town of Caledonia this year is $6.50 a thousand, while the 1916-1917 rate was $10 a thousand. Owners of property at summer resorts in which there are few children are obliged to pay more under the new law. The school tax on some summer homes in Monroe county has been increased nearly 500 per cent. Senator Wadsworth brings the action on behalf of himself and other tax- payers in the Genesee valley. Many farmers oppose the law. Should the 1918 Legislature repeal the law the question of the constitu- tionality of the 1917 assessment will be determined by the courts. Papers 396 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK in the action have just been filed and the briefs probably will be submitted in three or four weeks. — Rochester Democrat, January 23, 1918 Township School Law The State Board of Regents has aroused the State of New York over the passage of its township school law last year. The Chautauqua county board of supervisors unanimously adopted a resolution submitted by Super- visor Ray G. Crandall of Poland protesting against the law and calling upon the Legislature for its repeal at the present session. Similar action was taken in other counties of the State. Now the press dispatches tell us that Senator James W. Wadsworth has begun suit in supreme court here to contest the constitutionality of the amendment to the State education law taking effect last August, which made whole townships instead of school districts units for the assessment of school taxes. The suit is brought against the board of education and tax collector of the town of Caledonia in Livingston county and seeks to annul the levy of school taxes for this year on 1900 acres of land owned by Senator Wadsworth in the third school district in the town on the ground that the levy includes taxes for the benefit of other districts in the town, especially the village of Cale- donia which maintains a school plant costing much more to maintain than that which has existed in the third school district and from which children of the third district derive no advantages. The tax rate for the third district has been $1.50 per $1000 for the last three years; this year under the new law it is $6.50 per $1000. Senator Wadsworth's school tax is raised from $168.30 to $729.30. — Jamestown Journal, January 23, 1918 Favor Town School Law " We, the members of the Parent-Teachers' Association of Holland Patent High School and residents of School Unit, No. 2, of Holland Patent, town of Trenton, Oneida County, N. Y., in meeting assembled, do hereby express our approval of the principle of the township system of schools. We believe that it is a step forward in rural education and that time and experience will vindicate the principles involved. We are opposed to its repeal. " Therefore, Be it resolved, that a copy of this resolution be sent to the assemblyman representing the Third Assembly District of Oneida County, and to the senator representing Oneida County, as an expression of our views of the township school law." Holland Patent, Jan. 23 — Unanimous approval of the township school law was evidenced tonight at a largely attended meeting in the Holland Patent High School, held under the auspices of the Parent-Teachers' Association of the school. Residents of the village and districts in unit No. 2 were out in force and after listening to an able address by Ray P. Snyder, superintendent of District No. 1. Mr Snyder said that this township law was the first step taken in rural education since 1795, and he pointed out that almost any step taken showed an increase of interest, hence he proceeded to speak in favor of the law. He said that opposition was found to almost every advance and he cited THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 397 a law that was passed in 1866 by which free schools were established. At that time there was opposition. He showed how the things we now approve have always had opposition when they were first broached, just as there was opposition when the city schools were first taken out of the control of wards. Mr Snyder touched upon the various things that had been said as being against the working of the law. He said it had nothing to do with con- solidation of schools; that there is no new expense except the salaries of a clerk and treasurer. He pointed out that the expense that has come is due to increased cost of everything, which is from 20 to 30 per cent over last year and would have come whether this law was passed or not. He said the budget had been made on a basis of 33 1-3 per cent, average for the entire State. Mr Snyder said that the great howl was higher taxes, but he said it is not of necessity due to the township law. It had nothing to do with the expense of physical training or of medical inspection of nurses' service. He read statements from superintendents of other states, all of which endorsed the law. Among them were: Vermont, Pennsylvania, Massa- chusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, Michigan and West Virginia. In none of these has the law been repealed and in fact, he said, no state has ever repealed the law after having it passed. The talk was enlightening and the unanimous action of the meeting was proof positive that this section is in favor of the township school law, no matter what others may think of it. — Utica Press, January 24, 1918 Oswego Grange Opposes Repeal of Machold Law Oswego, Jan. 15. — Resolutions to be presented at the annual meeting of the New York State Grange at Syracuse next month were adopted by the Oswego County Pomona Grange at a special meeting at the State Armory this afternoon. The organization by a divided vote went on record as opposed to the repeal of the Machold township school law, which went into effect last year, but it approved certain amendments. Those who did not approve the report of the legislative committee of the grange were in favor of having the law repealed. Some were also in favor of more extensive amendments than were contained in the resolution as presented for adoption. However, the report of committee was approved. The amendments to the law as recommended would provide for the election of a district school trustee, the same as under the old law, and would make him the custodian of school property in the district. The grange is also in favor of an amendment to the law which would provide for the election of town board of education by the district trustees of a town, and any amendment which would re-establish and strengthen the community spirit providing that such amendment does not injure the effi- ciency of the schools. In connection with the school proposition the grange also went on record as favoring physical training in the schools, but urged that the instruction be given by the teachers instead of employing special physical instructors for the work. 39§ THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Repeal Machold Law To the Editor of The Post-Standard: The farmers and grangers of Oswego county want the Machold school law repealed. I could go on and state the reasons, but the matter has been pretty well threshed over in your columns. It makes us hot under the collar for some to say that the principal reason why we oppose the law is increase of taxes. We are incensed not because we have to pay more taxes but because those increased taxes bring no benefits. Why cannot this Machold law be repealed and if we must have a new country school law, let the representatives of the different farmers organi- zations confer with the educational department officials and our representa- tives at Albany and draft a bill that when passed, will be acceptable to the people who are actually affected? L. J. Farmer Member Richland Board of Education Pulaski, January 17 — Oxford Review Times, January 25, 1918 To Fight School Law Albion, Jan. 24. — The Orleans County Patrons league was organized here yesterday by nearly 100 residents of the rural communities who are opposed to the new town rural school law. Justice of the Peace Charles H. Porter of Albion presided. W. Reed Curtis, a Carlton farmer and former nominee for assemblyman, was secretary. In each of the school districts an organization will be formed. On Febru- ary 2d, the voters of each district will elect delegates to attend a county convention at the courthouse here on February 9th. About 200 delegates will be present at that time to discuss the matter of securing legislative action to repeal the present township school law and recommend to Assemblyman Dr Frank H. Lattin and Senator George F. Thompson changes that would prove more satisfactory to those who have children to educate and those who foot the bills. — Buffalo Express, Janu- ary 25, 1918 Grange Favors Trial of the Township Law Gouverneur, Jan. 30. — Gouverneur Grange has indorsed the action of the St Lawrence County Pomona Grange in not asking for a repeal of the Machold school law at this time, deeming it best to give the statute a year's tryout. The measure was thoroly discussed and explained, and three amend- ments were offered: That the township lines be the boundaries of the unit of taxation, that union free school districts with a population of 500 or over be districts by themselves and that no appraisal be put on school property. The question of military training in schools was also discussed but not approved, as it was advocated that such training should be given elsewhere in order to reach all young men. The ages of nineteen and twenty were agreed upon as the proper time to receive military training. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 399 Physical training in rural schools was approved. It was advocated that the regular teachers be prepared to give such training rather than to compel the employment of special instructors. Six applications for membership were voted upon and accepted and two were referred to a committee. — Ogdensburg News, January 31, 1918 The Township School Law Editors of the Star, Dear Sirs: I read Mr Faulkner's letter in last week's issue of the Star with much interest. I want to call to mind two or three points that Mr Faulkner and his sympathizers in the general discussion of the school law appear not to comprehend. The Township School Law means — First, taxing all the township alike for the maintenance of the schools of the township; second, the election by the voters of the town, five men of their choice to manage the business of the schools. These men hire teachers, keep school property in repair and look after all the details of the business management. They make a budget of probable expenses and determine the amount for which the town is to be taxed for the running of the schools. This is, manifestly, not taxation without representation, for the men who pay taxes elect the board. One good point is that all property in the township is taxed alike for running the schools of the town, the same as for keeping roads, paying the bills of the poor master, and supplying public money for all public work. This means that all are taxed alike, as they were not before. Every farmer in New York State has been dodging for the past forty years, trying to get out of being school trustee. Now the work formerly performed by the trustee is done by the school board for the town, with the clerical part put on the shoulders of a clerk paid in most cases from $100 to $150 per year. Railroads are now contributing about twice as much toward the support of schools. Under the old system they got off with a low tax rate, because the tax was universally low in districts containing railroad property. Now the rate is the same for the whole town. I live in a so-called hill district in Otsego County, with no railroads or other big corporations. My taxes have been increased a little, but I am surprised that it should not be more with the increase in the cost of fuel, teachers' wages, the added expense of physical training, and general war price for everything. Friends of the old district systems want to remember that our teachers are all now teaching under contracts made with the old trustees, under the old district system, many of whom thought it was a good chance to " sting" the town because they hired the teachers and the town would have to pay. Our school board had to start this year without any surplus left over from the year before, so it was necessary to raise enough money to run the business and will probably have $800 or $900 left over to apply on next year. I think some lose sight of the fact that physical instruction, medical 400 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK examination, the installation of sanitary toilets and the increase of the size of the school yard are State laws passed before the township law was passed and have absolutely nothing to do with the township law. These things together with the general rise in all costs, particularly teachers' wages are responsible for most of the increase in taxes over last year. A lot of people are calling for a repeal of the Township Law without knowing what the bill is. Has Mr Faulkner read it? Each farmer should read the bill and figure out what it is that makes an increase in taxes before he condemns the township bill. Yours truly Frank E. Smith — West Winfield Star, February I, 1918 The Plea of "A Rural Mother" It will be a hard blow to those of the rural districts if the proposed plan for centralizing rural schools goes into effect. The passing of the " district school " means a great deal to the farmer and his family. His children deserve, without question, as good an education as can be given them, but carting them off in the early morning to a place appointed by outsiders, and at the close of day bringing them back, little and big alike, looks very much like taking away a parent's rights. Every year something is taken away from the rural districts' authority — until there is precious little left, yet they must settle the bills just the same. Now every one knows that all children are not alike in temperament, etc., but no matter, bundle them all in, as a farmer ships his calves to a distant pasture, and even he distinguishes between the weak and the strong. While the cities are striving to awaken new interest in its schools, with its social centers the one bulwark of the farming community is to be ruthlessly taken from them. Individuality will be lost, the pride taken in " our " school and "our " teacher gone and in a few years the country schools will be run by one or two man power. It is paternalism with a vengeance. Haven't the parents who bear the children anything to say? Must they yield those children up to be educated as some man or men with certain ideas in their heads, deem best? If the mothers of the State were permitted to vote on this question it would very soon be decided that the district school should stay. Consolidation is a hobby with some. I suppose we will have community farms next, where each will be allowed a patch of ground and the necessary tools with which to work it. The only boy on the honor roll in the graduating class of the Elmira academy in 1915 was a country boy, one who had attended a country school. Yet the country school must go. No good. One boy said last year: " When we get to high school we are just one of the units to make the whole, we don't count as individuals as we did in our school." And that is why, as a rule, you will find the country child better grounded in elementary subjects than the city pupil. The teacher, if she is good for anything, knows each child's deficiencies as well as his disposition and can treat him accordingly. She can know the condition of each child. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 401 Those wise men at Albany have some ideas which seem most queer to us simple farm folks. That of teaching boys how to raise potatoes, for instance. It is asking a good deal of a girl to add the profession of agriculture to her education, and if she does not, how is she going to teach it? The average country boy knows a heap more from practical experience than his teacher can tell him. Of course she can help about some things, just as discussion on any subject helps. Practical knowledge is what counts whether it be on a farm or in a counting-room. Whatever you do, oh State educators, leave us our little district schools. A Rural Mother Improving the Rural Schools Editor Telegram — " The Plea of a Rural Mother 1 " for protection to our district schools is one of the best articles that I have read on the subject. It is full of facts that cannot be disputed by the would be dictators of our schools. Every- one should read that article, and I hope that you will publish many more for the district school is a subject that is dear to our hearts. Our authority over our schools has been growing less each year, and now it is planned to take the schools from us and centralize them so that they will be more convenient for the officials to visit. The present law intends that superin- tendents shall visit the schools all of the time except when actually engaged in office work. For a time we received much attention and the schools improved. But when the " wise ones " encouraged them to attend all kinds of conventions and other " doings " expenses paid, and many found it easier traveling away from the backwoods school. Many small groups of superintendents have organized and hold little " conventions " and social gatherings of their own. They have frequent and agreeable meetings but I believe that the time should be spent in Visiting the Schools as the Law says it shall be. Too much time is spent in advising the legislature when it could be more profitably employed in assisting some struggling teacher in her task of converting the raw material into the finished product. It is a very notice- able fact that " conventions " are never held during the three months of no school. Much has been published to show that over fifty per cent of our country schools should be closed for lack of patronage. Statistics show that less than four per cent of our rural school children are attending schools where the attendance is less than ten. The concentration scheme would make less work for some officials, but the rights of the parents and the convenience and safety of the little ones ought to be of more importance. The Empire State should never abandon the little red schoolhouse. Respectfully yours Big Flats, N. Y. W. H. Turner 402 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK "The Little Red Schoolhouse " To the Editor of the Herald: Under the caption, "Another Dangerous Bill," there appeared in The Herald of March 30 an editorial article opposing the bill now before the Legislature which proposes the township system for New York State rural schools. The comment is based on the opinion that the present system of district control is the nearest approach to nonpartisanship that can be found in any educational organization; that it is free from political intrigue and is the purest and most lovely form of democracy in existence. If the writer of the article ever had any personal experience with the " little red schoolhouse," it must have been long forgotten, and in its place have come a few sentimental memories which have entirely smothered the grim, hard realities. This is nature's way of making early hardships seem pleasant in later years. Whittier's description of a schoolhouse in his beautiful poem, " In School Days," causes almost everyone to wish that he might have spent his childhood attending a rural school, but he touches only the sentimental side of it, as does the above mentioned article. A clear, practical and unsentimental description of the schoolhouse men- tioned in this poem would tell us of a building which, to say the least, could not bring out the best in the boys and girls who studied in it or put crude " charcoal frescoes on its walls." That there was a " ragged beggar " being sunned is nice to think about from a poetic viewpoint but it is not a pleas- ant thought to live with six hours a day. Let us not decry sentiment, but we can not mix it with law-making at Albany. Business is business. Facts are facts. Here are some facts : Some of the most narrow, crooked, underhanded workings of partisan chicanery are carried on annually in rural school districts — worse than are perpetrated in any division of state government. Who pays the cost of such conditions? The ultimate consumer. The ultimate consumers are the defenseless pupils. For example, in a district numbering one hundred families, only thirty of these families send children to school. Through lack of interest, one way or another, there are about twenty voters present at the annual meeting. They happen to be representatives of families where there are children of school age. These voters desire a good school. They elect an intelligent trustee who has a vital interest in other things affecting the school besides holding taxes at a minimum. He hires a good teacher and pays her a modern living wage. He improves sanitary conditions, spends about $500 in improve- ments and repairs which should have been made years before. He visits the school and encourages the best in the teacher and her pupils. He spends a few dollars on shrubbery and playground apparatus. He was a brave man. He had a splendid school in every way, but the tax rate went up one- eighth of 1 per cent, and the wrath of the " little old red schoolhouse " graduates of the class of 1850 or thereabouts descended upon him like a bomb from an aeroplane, and at the next annual meeting there was a revived interest in school affairs. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 403 The good old patriarchs and patriarchesses whose sons and daughters have long since ceased to be school children, and those who have never been blessed with any, assemble at their alma mater and declare vehe- mently that taxes are too high. " Why, my tax is a dollar more than it was last year ! " They elect, with no difficulty, one of their own number, a man who visits the school building once a year, that visit always being when he comes to the annual meeting to vote for a cheap trustee, a cheap teacher and a cheap school, so that his pocketbook may be protected. Who suffers because of this system? The children. Thousands of boys and girls in this state are suffering to-day because of the inability of the present system to give them that which educators in this state know to be their legitimate heritage. Thousands of men and women are to-day holding inferior positions because the strong arm of the state has not thrust aside these nanow-minded, ignorant, thick-headed, chadless taxpayers and given to its children its protection against the ignorance and tyranny of petty neighborhood quarrels and prejudices. The state does not let its farmers starve their stock. Why should it permit them to starve the minds of the children in their district, and in some instances, through improper conditions, corrupt their morals? You say that a rural school district wants, first and last, a good teacher and a well conducted school. The present system under such conditions can not give this to the majority of schools. At least it has failed to do so thus far, and who can say the present system has not had a good long trial? Only one illustration of political immorality has been cited. There are many other brands of the same kind of politics in vogue in rural school dis- tricts, but space forbids their discussion. Monroe County rural schools can not be taken as a standard from which to judge other rural schools of the state, because rural school districts adjoining large cities are always of a higher type than those where the population is sparse and scattered. Monroe County should be proud of its rural schools, but listen, and from other less thickly populated sections you may hear a Macedonian cry. What the township system may do, we do not presume to know, but we do know that conditions in our rural schools at present are far from being perfect, and that the " little red schoolhouse in the valley " will eventually go the way of all other institutions that have outlived their time and use- fulness, and in its place will come an institution, larger, better and stronger equipped to carry on the work of education. Reader West Webster, N. Y., March 31 Concerning the Township School Law (Written for The Recorder) I Q. What is the township school law? A. The township school law places the administration of the schools of a township in the hands of a single board of education consisting of five mem- bers. This law does away with administration by districts, the old system in which, say, twelve or fifteen independent groups of trustees conducted school matters. 404 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK { The township school law provides that the whole township assume the expense and the duty of educating all of the children in the township. This means an equalized tax rate for all districts in a town. 2 Q. Is the township an unreasonable unit for administering school affairs ? A. No. Unless we believe that the township is an unreasonable unit for administering other affairs also. We are as responsible for all of the chil- dren of the town as we are for all of the highways of the town or for all of the poor of the town. To claim that each district should have its own separate and independent trustees is the equivalent of claiming that each district should have its own supervisor, its own overseer of the poor, its own superintendent of highways, its own clerk, its own justices of the peace, its own assessors. If having a town superintendent of highways, for instance, is efficient, having a town board of education is likewise efficient. 3 Q. Is the township unit for school purposes anything new or radical? A. No. Every state east of the Mississippi, for instance, with one excep- tion has as its school unit either the township or the county. Massachusetts, for example, has administered its schools under the township system for more than fifty years. Two years ago Ohio, after forty years of the town- ship system discarded it as being too limited and adopted the county system. 4 Q Does the township school system bring about enforced consolida- tions? A. No. Under the district system, the district superintendent of schools had the power to consolidate schools, if he chose to exercise it. Under the township system, this power is no longer enjoyed. The power now rests entirely with the people of the districts. In paragraph 330, the very first paragraph of the new law, we find this : " No order consolidating two or more school districts shall be effective until such order is approved by a majority vote of the town board of education of the town or towns in which such districts are located, and thereafter approved by a majority vote of the qualified electors of each district present and voting at a meeting of the districts consolidated by said order." This portion provides all possible defense against consolidations not desired by the people themselves. 5 Q. What can be accomplished under the township system which could not be accomplished under the district system? A. I All tbe schools in a township can be brought up to at least a mini- mum standard of buildings and equipment for the purpose of health, sanita- tion, comfort and convenience. This was impossible under the district sys- tem, in which some prosperous districts neglected to do anything for tha improvement of their schools and other districts, with low assessed valua- tions, could illy afford to do anything. Under the district system there were to be found in each town a few schools properly kept up and more schools improperly kept up. Under the education law, the children in one section of a township have rights equal to those enjoyed and possessed by the children in other sections of the township. The township system, since it looks after all the children of the town, is faced with the obligation of seeing that all of the children have their rights. Among these rights stands foremost the right to healthful and sanitary school surroundings — oiled hardwood floors, seats which fit the pupils, fresh air, sufficient warmth, an abundance of light THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 405 from the proper directions, blackboards which the children can use without teetering on top of a bench and which are not full of shiny reflections, sani- tary toilets. These rights it will be possible for the township system to pro- vide for all of the children. That the district system failed in this respect can be readily shown by a cursory examination of our rural schools. II All the schools in a township can be brought up to some definite stand- ard ot school work and scholarship. Uniform text-books for a township will be the first step. Under the district system, each district, being an independent unit, used any and every kind of text-book it fancied. A uni- form length of school term is another step, already taken in several town- ships in this section. Under the district system, some schools ran forty weeks, others, thirty-six or thirty-eight. Why, in a public school system, should some children in a township be entitled to four more weeks of instruc- tion each year than other children in the same township? Supplying all of the schools in a township with a certain amount of material for the proper teaching of writing and drawing and other required subjects would be a third step toward some definite standard. Under the district system some schools were provided with this material, others were not, and the same quality of work could not be required of each of these two types of schools. The township system can raise the quality of teaching throughout a town and teachers can be chosen and retained for their actual worth and accom- plishment. Under the district system, some teachers were chosen and retained in this fashion while others were chosen and retained because they were the first who happened along or because they " made a hit " with the trustee or because the trustee had no time to bother with a group of appli- cants. Uniform text-books, a uniform length of school term, uniform sup- plies, and a certain teaching standard are all within the possibilities of the township system and beyond the possibilities, as long experience has proven, of the district system. 6 Q. Is school administration under the township system upon a more efficient basis than under the district system? A. Yes. Wherever authority is centralized, increased efficiency results. We see this demonstrated in city school systems; we see it demonstrated in the nation's war preparations. The more heads there are to any under- taking, the less, as a rule, is accomplished. That is why a single unit of five members, a town board of education, can do far more for a town than twelve or fifteen separate and independent units such as the trustee groups were. When a board of education does something, whether buying library- books or establishing a uniform term, or putting in sanitary toilets, it does this for an entire group of schools, not for a lone school here or a lone school yonder. 7 Q. Is a board of education, under the township system, an undemocratic institution? A. No. Unless the town board, which consists of the supervisor and the justices of the peace, is also undemocratic. Unless the board of supervisors is also undemocratic. Unless our state legislature is undemocratic. Unless congress is undemocratic. Unless city boards of education are undemo- cratic. If all of these are Prussianized institutions, then, too, is our town board of education a step toward Prussianism. But we vote for our town 406 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK officers, our county officers, our state officers, our national officers, and we also vote for members of the boards of education. Every man or woman qualified to vote for a district trustee is qualified to vote for members of the board of education. The first boards of education were chosen by the district trustees, who, in turn, had been elected by the people of the districts. Beginning next May, the school voters of the township will directly elect members to their board of education. This is as near democratic and repre- sentative government as we can get. 8 Q. Is an equalized school tax rate in a Township without a High school unfair? A. No. Unless we disclaim responsibility for the welfare and education of boys and girls in districts less fortunate and more in need than our own. If it is unfair that we should contribute to the support of schools other than our own, it is unfair that the people in the cities of the state should be required through their taxes to contribute eighty per cent of the pub- lic money which the country districts receive. Why should the people in the cities be obliged to contribute $100 or more to each rural district each year while those who receive the $100 or more cry out against contributing anything toward the support of schools other than their own? What is sauce for the goose, is sauce for the gander. If we maintain that poor dis- tricts should take care of themselves and that they are deserving of no consideration, we should rightfully protest against the State's giving the largest public money quotas to the poorest districts. That would also be unfair, if nobody is duty bound to assume responsibility for the less fortunate. An equalized tax rate means that every part of a township assumes its just share of responsibility for the boys and girls of the community. If it is unfair that the large school taxes paid by railways and other corporations should be expended for the benefit of all of the children in a township and not merely for the benefit of the children in the lucky districts where the railroad happens to pass, it is just as unfair that the other large taxes paid by the railways and corporations should be expended for the benefit of entire towns and counties and not solely for the benefit of the lucky districts. The people in the districts where railways happen to pass haven't done anything more to earn the advantage which comes from big railway taxes than people in neighboring districts where railways don't happen to pass. 9 Q. Is an equalized school tax rate in a township maintaining a High school unfair? A. No. For years, under the district system, villages have at heavy expense maintained High school courses. The smaller the High school, the smaller the village, the greater, proportionately, the cost of maintenance has been. To these High schools in the villages, boys and girls from country districts have come and have been instructed and have been required to con- tribute nothing in a financial way toward the cost of their education. The people in the villages have borne the great brunt of expense. A majority of country boys and girls who have High school educations can thank some neighboring village for their opportunity. There is no great unfairness in a system where rural districts begin to pay something toward the cost of institutions whose advantages they have enjoyed so long free of charge. 10 Q. Is it generally true that small districts have to contribute, under the township system, to the support of larger and more expensive schools? THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 407 A. No. Some exceptions would be found perhaps, in the cases of Lhe townships maintaining High schools, but these High schools are open to the boys and girls even of the small districts. Very generally the larger and more expensive schools are in districts with correspondingly large assessed valuations. The rich districts are more likely to be contributing to the sup- port of small districts than small districts to larger and more expensive ones. 11 Q. To what extent does our attitude toward the township system depend upon our feeling of responsibility toward our community? A. Almost entirely. And our community, as we look upon it in these days, is much farther reaching than any school districts. Almost daily it grows in breadth and we accept our responsibility toward it unquestioningly in every respect except in respect to education. We do not spend our money for good roads merely in our school districts; our money also helps build other roads, too, roads which we may seldom or never use but which other men will use and enjoy. Here we have the larger community. We do not limit our sympathies to the poor and unfortunate in our school district alone; we establish and pay for county homes, homes for the feebleminded, children's homes, old people's homes, and send millions of dollars to help the hungry and homeless in France and Belgium. Here, too, we have the larger community. We are not concerned with the sick only in our own district ; our broader concern is shown by our paying for general hospitals, hospitals for the insane and tuberculosis sanatoria. Here again we have the larger community. And just as surely our responsibility includes the boys and girls of a community bigger than our school district. The boys and girls of a township, say, are our care. Once we acknowledge this responsi- bility, we believe in the township system of schools, the sole purpose of which is to bestow greater opportunities, greater advantages, greater care upon the township boys and girls, all of them, all of the children of the expanding community. 12 Q. Has the township school system caused an increase in school taxes in all districts? A. No. Many districts are paying practically the same amount of school tax this year as last. Some districts are paying less this year than last. These facts can be proven in every section of the state. The clerks of the boards of education have the exact figures, if these should be desired. 13 Q. What feature of the township school law has been the principal cause for increased school taxes? A. That providing for an equalized school tax rate. The expense of maintaining all of the schools of a township has become a charge against the entire township. This has resulted in considerably increased school taxes for many rich districts with small and cheaply maintained schools. It has re- sulted also in some rather heavily increased school taxes for those districts whose school taxes were paid for the most part by the railroads and corpo- rations they happen to possess. Their happening to possess them gives them no more exclusive right to the large taxes paid for school purposes than to the large taxes paid for town and county purposes. The railroad, for in- stance, has no children attending school and is, in its impersonal way, just as much interested in the children of the back districts as in the children of 4-08 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE. STATE OF NEW YORK the railroad districts. The equalized tax rate has also increased the taxes deservedly for those prosperous districts which have, with false economy, neglected to keep their schools up in shape. 14 Q. Were the improvements made by the boards of education done under compulsion from the township school law? A. No. The boards of education are charged with the same duties in the matter of maintenance and improvement of school property as were the dis- trict trustees. When a board of education has' made repairs or improve- ments, it has done so because it has seen and attended to some of the most glaring and immediate needs. It was as much the duty of the district trus- tees to attend to these needs as it is now the duty of the boards. The only difference is that some groups face their duties more conscientiously than others. The greatest improvement made and one which added the greatest item to the school budget was the installation of the approved sanitary toilets. These toilets were put in not only because they are decent and moral and sanitary but also because they were required by a regulation of the state board of regents — a regulation put in force several months before the township school law was even discussed in the legislature. Neither the toilets nor the other improvements and repairs, few in number, are due to any provisions in the township school law. In fact, this regulation and these duties would confront the district trustees today if they were still administering the schools. 1 5 Q- Why have some boards of education had to do so much more than others in the matter of repairs and improvements? A. Because some boards of education inherited whole groups of schools which hadn't even been fairly kept up for a period of years. An accumula- tion of long-deferred needs were handed over to these boards. The boards are not to be blamed for what their predecessors failed to do. A more prog- ressive school spirit has prevailed in some sections than in others, with the result that there was no special accumulation of needs facing the boards when the township law took effect. In the first supervisory district of this county, for example, fifteen schools were equipped with approved sanitary toilets before the new boards of education took office. Had this supervisory district had fifteen toilets installed under the district system, it would have been as though the boards of Glen and Mohawk had found every rural school already fitted out when they assumed office, it would have been as though the board of the town of Amsterdam had found all of its schools fitted out and the board of the town of Florida had found about half of its schools fitted out, it would have been as though the principal item in this year's budget had been cut down by half or each of the towns mentioned. This supervisory district had one approved toilet and that but half paid for when the new boards took up their duties. That is but one striking instance. Had there been a properly awakened school spirit throughout this end of the county, the new boards would have had very much less on their hands this year. What have we here to show for our progressiveness in comparison with, say, the second supervisory district of Fulton county, which borders ours on the north, where seventeen new school houses have been built in as many years, or with the sole supervisory district of Schenectady county, where twenty-five new school houses have been built in less than that number of years? So THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 4CX) little that our boards are to be pitied rather than condemned for what they have found themselves obliged to do this year. 16 Q. Are the boards of education paid a salary? A. No. No more than the trustees were compensated under the district system. They give their services to the community, which is more than is asked of the town boards of health, or of the town board itself. 17 Q. What officers connected with the board of education are paid? A. The clerk, the treasurer, the attendance officer and the medical inspector. The two latter, however, were paid for their services under the district sys- tem and do not, consequently, enter into the present consideration. The com- pensation of the clerk and treasurer is not fixed by the township school law. If the boards of education could secure clerks for a dollar a year, they would have a legal right to. The clerks in this section, at least, are not overpaid, consideraing the new and more business like accounting system and various other numerous duties which a centralization of management brings about. The volume of protest formerly arising from the trustees because of the clerical and accounting work would indicate that a paid clerk for school matters might be considered a welcome relieving force. The treasurers are paid a nominal sum for the financial responsibility they are obliged to assume. Had the trustees been compensated for their clerical work and for other work now done by the' clerks of the boards of education, the small salaries of these clerks would be a decrease in the school expenses of the towns rather than the very small increase that it is. 18 Q. Are the teachers being paid more per week under the township system ? A. No. Only five teachers out of the seventy in this supervisory district have been hired by the new boards. Small increases over last year's were paid to four of these, which was due to the fact that teachers grew increas- ingly difficult to obtain as the summer wore on and war-time demands be- came more insistent. The trustees elected last May had the right to hire teachers and to agree upon the salary. If the other sixty-six teachers are receiving more per week this year than last, it is only because the trustees themselves were willing to grant the increase. Some teachers are teaching two weeks more, others four weeks more this year than last. In this round- about fashion they receive more money but have to render correspondingly longer service. 19 Q. Can the public learn how school moneys are being expended? A. Yes. All of the records of the clerk and the treasurer of the board of education are open to inspection at any time. There is no more secrecy about these records than about those of the supervisor or the town clerk or the overseer of the poor or the superintendent of highways or any other public officer. 20 Q. Have the boards of education an undue amount of financial power? A. No. With ten or a dozen times as many school houses to take care of, the power to expend money for the proper upkeep of these schools had to be increased several-fold. Even though some boards of education can, if there is need, spend as much as five thousand dollars in a year for repairs and improvements, they will not exercise this power in any high-handed fashion. When taxes go up, their taxes as property-holders go up as fast as anybody's, and as high, since a majority of the board members have good 410 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK big valuations subject to taxation. This being the case, we can rest con- fident that they will not soon be willing to enter upon a regime of extrava- gance. In other matters, such as teachers' wages, fuel, and so on, the trus- tees under the district system had as much power as the boards of education now have. 21 Q. Will the boards of education, as some fear, proceed to equip rural schools with grand pianos, marble-tiled bath-rooms, mahogany furniture, oil paintings, stained-glass windows, and electric lights? A. Yes. If people who say such things succeed in their tireless efforts to drive sensible men mad. Otherwise, no. 22 Q. Can the boards of education do their manifest duty by the public school boys and girls without spending somewhat more money than for- merly? A. No. The condition in which a great many schools were taken over by the boards shows that approximately nothing could be done for the building up of the schools without spending more money than before. 23 Q. Can rural schools be brought up to any standard of respectability at all without the expenditure of money? A. No. Unless in that happy but distant land where we get something for nothing. 24 Q. Do modern schools cost more than antiquated ones? A. Yes. Up-to-date farms cost more than rundown ones. Automobiles cost more than democrat wagons. 2 5 Q- Which is better for our boys and girls, a pleasant, healthful well- equipped school presided over by a good teacher or the other kind of school with the other kind of teacher? A. Why, the good school, of course! 26 Q. How can we have this good school? A. Only by being willing to spend money wisely. 27 Q. Why are our boys and girls worthy of having this money spent for their welfare? A. Because they are American boys and girls, soon to be the men and women of America. Every advantage that we can give them now of health, understanding and knowledge will mean an American community that much richer and more generous in real manhood and real womanhood only a little later on. 28 Q. Should the district system of schools be considered sacred and unchangeable because it was established one hundred and twenty-two years ago? A. No. There is no more sacredness or perfection in the district system of schools than there is in the eighteenth century system of farming or the eighteenth century system of transportation or the eighteenth century system of communication or in the eighteenth century system of living. If pro- found changes in these various systems brought increased comfort and con- venience to humanity, a change in the school system is not likely to prove the undoing of our civilization. If we are going to cling to an eighteenth century school system simply because it is one hundred and twenty-two years old, we must likewise cling religiously to all of the rest of the equally old and cumbrous systems ; we must piously insist upon travel by horseback and THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 41 1 canoe and flee as from the devil from railroads, steamboats, macadam roads, automobiles, trolley cars and aeroplanes ; on our farms we must devoutly use the ox-team, the scythe, the cradle, the flail, and spurn in righteous horror the tractor, the grain drill, the mowing machine, the binder, the threshing machine and the gas engine; we must worshipfully content ourselves with mail once a month or so, with even rarer newspapers, with no telephones and pray to be delivered from the R. F. D., the daily newspaper, the weekly and monthly magazines, telephones and telegraphs. We must faithfully do all of these things ; then, and only then, can we properly say that improvements are sinful and that the district system, too, is sacred and unchangeable. 29 Q. Has the district school system been able to meet the demands made upon it by modern conditions of living and thinking? A. No. The condition of the majority of rural schools today is the living proof. We need but to contrast them with city schools and village schools and all schools which endeavor to meet the needs of the times and to fur- nish the best which experience and study recommend, in order to see how wide the gulf is that is fixed between them. The contrast in outward appear- ance is typical of the contrast in equipment, sanitation, comfort, convenience and studies really preparing for life. City schools try to keep abreast of modern conditions and demands. Some rural schools have tried ; many have not done even that much, each doing, under the district system, much as it pleased, with exceedingly uneven results, in the matter of recognizing or ignoring the demands of the advancing times. The township system with its centralization of authority and its broader field is in a much more effective position to cause the rural school to keep abreast, at least, of modern rural life and its silent though insistent requirements. 30 Q. Is there any need to " fear " that our rural schools under the township system, will presently be as healthful, comfortable, convenient and well-equipped as city schools? A. No. The cost of bringing our rural schools up to this point would be prohibitive, and members of the boards of education also have to pay school taxes and are no more anxious than anyone else to make school costs exorbitant. While, perhaps, the rural schools can not reach the highest standards even under the township system, there is no excuse in the world for their failing to reach a good standard. This standard is the goal of every conscientious board of education. It is but the recognition of the undeniable rights of country boys and girls, rights not even considered under the district system in altogether too many shameful instances, as the condi- tion of the rural schools today makes manifest. 31 Q. Was the township system of schools established for the benefit of taxpayers or for the benefit of the children of the state? A. The township system was established for the benefit of the children, to give them better facilities, advantages and opportunities. From the viewpoint of many taxpayers, the most beneficial legislation for them would be legislation closing the schools entirely, or legislation causing the parents of children in school to bear the whole expense. Taxpayers who expect such benefits have failed to learn the greatest lesson of a more closely united world, the lesson of responsibility to the whole community. 32 Q. Is there any sense in the accusation that the township system is to blame for the poorness of rural schools today? 412 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK A. No. Some of the bitterest opponents of the new system maintain, with great simplicity of mind, that rural schools are in very poor shape. The district system alone must answer this accusation. The district system had one hundred and twenty- two years in which to make good. With their own mouths, the advocates of the district system declare that it failed to make good when they try to blame the rural schools' poor condition on the town- ship system. Surely the township system can not be expected to accomplish in six months what the district system could not accomplish in one hundred and twenty-two years. Rural schools certainly did not become so poor and so bad in a night, the night of July 31, 1917, the night before the township law took effect. If the opposition claims that the new system should have remedied all defects by this time, in some six months, it is acknowledging that the new system is a marvel, as, indeed, it would be, doing in that short time what the old system could not do in more than a century. But the township system itself does not make any such wild claims in its own behalf. It needs much more than six months to remedy years of backsliding 33 Q. Is there any sense in the accusation that the township system is to blame for the present poor quality of teaching in the rural schools? A. No. Ninety-three per cent of the teachers employed in the second supervisory district of this county were hired by the district trustees. If their teaching is so poor, the trustees had no business hiring them and the district system is to blame. As a matter of fact, though, this accusation against the teaching force is both false and unjust. The great body of the rural teachers work hard and earnestly, at smaller wages than city teachers get, enduring far greater handicaps and discomforts than any city teacher has to endure. Records in abundance are on file giving the figures which show that rural teachers, for the most part, are hard and successful workers. 34 Q. What has the township system to say to those who claim that schools good enough for them thirty and forty years ago are good enough for the boys and girls of today? A. Merely this — that it is only conceit which makes people declare that their own education was the last word in completeness those thirty and forty years ago, and only selfishness which makes them begrudge better schools and better advantages to the boys and girls of today. Conditions have changed greatly in thirty or forty years; life has grown much more com- plex; more and more is demanded of people, competition has grown much keener. If country boys and girls are to hold their own in the complexity and competition of modern life, they need better schools, for one thing, than those of thirty and forty years ago. In the competition of living, " good enough " fails to get people anywhere. 35 Q. How does a typical rural school, the kind generally inherited by the township system, compare with its surroundings in the matter of tak- ing advantage of modern science and modern thought? A. The surroundings usually are years and years ahead of the school- house. Here is a school with a macadam road running past it. Is the schoolhouse as good an example of an up-to-date schoolhouse as the mac- adam road is of an up-to-date road? No, nine times out of ten. Automo- biles hurry up and down the road. Is there anything in the schoolhouse as efficient and comfortable an example of its type as the passing motors are of their types? No, nine times out of ten. We have only to look at a few THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 413 things, such as heating, lighting, ventilation, or seating, to understand the truth in that answer. Has the school as modern educational equipment for its purposes as the adjoining farm has modern agricultural equipment for its purposes? No. The school probably has as much as a catalog of modern school equipment and supplies, but the farm next door actually has its cream separator, milking machine, ensilage cutter, potato planter, mowing machine, reaper, binder, gas engine, some or all of them. Does the schoolhouse look as good and well kept up as some of the barns visible from its windows? No. Compare the two in almost any district and judge for yourself. Are the children in the schoolhouse as well looked after and as comfortable, judged by human standards, as the farm animals are, judged by good animal husbandry standards, in many of the barns to be seen from the schoolroom windows? No. Not in our typical rural school, with its roast- ing and freezing sections, its foul air, its water pail, its eye-straining shadows and cross lights, its ill-fitting seats where children sit in uncomfortable and unhealthful positions. 36 Q. Is the township system a harmful system because under it con- ditions will be favorable for the employment of school nurses and physical training teachers? A. No. Unless we believe that better health is a worthless consideration. Unless we believe that country children are so healthy that they do not need the physical training and medical attention which city children receive. This belief, however, is based upon complete ignorance of the actual facts and figures. The long and careful investigations of the National Educa- tion Association and the American Medical Association show this conclu- sively. In every one of fourteen common health defects, the percentage of cases was much greater among country children than among city chil- dren; often the percentage of cases was twice as great among country children as among city children. Where we learn that sixteen out of every hundred rural children suffer from malnutrition, we also learn that but seven out of every hundred city children suffer from this handicap. While 3.5 per cent of rural children have spinal curvature, only 1.3 per cent of city children are similarly afflicted. This comparison could be car- ried out at length, and the end would show what the beginning shows — that country children have many more health defects than city children. If country children do not need physical training, how are we going to dispose of the statements of the officers of the present American army who find that the boys from the country can not stand up under the strain of strenuous army life as well as boys from the city? When country boys are the ones most frequently dropping out of drill from sheer exhaustion, we dare not say that city boys need physical training and that country boys do not. 37 Q. Is the township system a harmful system because under it condi- tions will be favorable for the employment of agriculture and domestic science teachers? A. No. Surely instruction in agriculture is as vital for a country boy as manual training instruction is for a city boy. Surely instruction in domes- tic science is as vital for a country girl as for a city girl. The chart truly says — " Education is that training which fits for the duties of life." Agriculture and domestic science would certainly do as much toward fitting children for the duties of life as learning all the counties of the state, 414 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK for example, or all of the rivers of the world, where they rise, in which direction they flow, and what they empty into or any of the other many things tradition expects us to learn temporarily and which are heartily approved of by those who consider agriculture and domestic science most unnecessary. If we ever expect to keep our country boys and girls on the farms, we must give such subjects as agriculture and domestic science some standing; we must raise them to positions of dignity and respect; we must show the boys and girls that their work at home is a science and a business and worthy of their mettle; and this can be done best by honor- ing agriculture and domestic science with a place on our rural school pro- gram. The rural school course of study must educate our boys and girls not away from ithe farm but to it; it must vitally interest them in their interesting and varied environment. Country children are as entitled to their special teachers of agriculture or domestic science as city children are to their special teachers of manual training, domestic science, music, drawing, and so on. 38 Q. Is there any reason in the world why country boys and girls should not be entitled to as good educational care as city boys and girls? A. No. They are all together alike citizens of Uncle Sam's commonwealth, those who will be the nation itself in the not distant future. Country boys and girls are as good and deserving in the eyes of the nation as city boys and girls. Their rights are as clear cut and undisputed. And seeing that they have their rights is not the necessary evil that many seem to think but a positive good and a genuine satisfaction to all true-hearted and right- minded men and women. — Amsterdam Evening Recorder, February 4, 7 and 9, 1918 Discussion Waxed Warm on Township Law Herkimer, N. Y., February 4. — Saturday afternoon's meeting of farmers, their wives and teachers of the various schools, held at Herkimer High School, showed emphatically the strength of the feeling that has arisen in Herkimer County regarding the township school law. This was to have been the last topic on the program but the anxiety of the meeting to bring it to an issue made it the first, and it was debated at such length and vigor that it proved to be the only subject. Chairman Morey was called on at times to rule on parliamentary questions, as there were many anxious to be heard and many motions in the air at times. Among those to speak was John Carey of Richfield Springs, who favored retention of the town- ship as a basic unit for financial administration of the schools. The district, he thought, is too small to enable an equitable taxation and distribution of service is also better maintained over the larger area. The township law, he said, is charged with many things for which it is not responsible, such as consolidation of schools, in which regard the new law gives greater safety than the old. The remedy for most of the evils laid to the former will be found to lie in amendment by legislation of previously existent laws. Other factors to which the speaker called attention were that new town boards must start even without a cent of money and are necessarily "up against it " in determining just what amount is going to be required for necessary expenses. The result will be some overestimates that would not occur on the second year. Also there is the effect on the schools of the THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 415 general trend toward ever higher prices and cost of living, with proportion- ate effect on supplies and salaries. Manager Charles A. Taylor of the Farm Bureau, who held a perfectly neutral attitude in the discussion as considering that it properly belonged to the farmers themselves, presented as a neutral and for the information of all to be used by either side, a tabulation of school money expenditures in the county. — Little Falls Times, February 4, igi8 The Township School Plan The township school law has a number of things in its favor, if we may believe its friends, and the law is of interest to city people, who contribute 80 per cent of the public money which goes to the country districts every year. If each school in Utica had its own trustee and was supported financially by the ward in which it was operated, we would have a fair comparison with what existed in the country before the township law was put into operation. It would then happen that in some wards the schools would be kept four or five weeks less than schools in other wards were kept. In some wards the big mills would pay most of the taxes and the residents would pay hardly any. In some wards the trustee would hire the first teachers that came along, or he would hire the ones that jollied him, while in other wards trustees would make a specialty of securing teachers of superior training and would pay them fairly well, instead of endeavoring to pay the least possible. In other terms, there would be no centralization of control, and conse- quently the efficiency of centralized control would be lost. Massachusetts not long since abolished the town unit of control in order to have the advantages possible in a larger unit, namely the county system. The township system, of course, has not had time enough to have a fair trial, but the purpose of it was to raise the standard of teaching in those districts which were behind the times, and to provide better school buildings and equipment. That these things are needed is manifest to any one who will look over some of the school buildings common in the country. Bad air, bad sanitary arrangements, poor light and some other things have been the rule for many years in numerous districts and would continue to be tolerated, unless remedied by the infusion of some outside agitation. The township system, at any rate, has served to stir up a consideration of the country school, and that alone is worth while. Under the old system the high schools have been maintained by the villages, which was not quite fair with the villages, inasmuch as boys and girls came from the surrounding country and were not required to contribute greatly toward the support of the schools. In this way the surrounding territory was fortunate, like a district which had a big corporation to pay most of the cost of conducting the school. The new system tends to equalize the cost throughout the town. The country districts can well afford to give their schools more consider- ation, and look more carefully into the township law. The more one learns about it the better it looks, although it is entirely possible that it should be 4l6 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK improved. A new system usually has room for improvement after it has been tried out. That may be the case with the township plan. — Utica Observer, February 8, igi8 Registered Protest in Mass Meeting Representatives from many of the school districts of Chenango county met at the court house in this city Saturday morning and afternoon to register their protest against the Machold township school law. The meeting was called largely through the efforts of M. L. Simon of McDonough who issued notices for same and aroused the sentiment which was already to kindle. Mr Simson called the meeting to order shortly before 1 1 o'clock and called upon Assemblyman Lord to explain to the men the provisions of the Machold law and his position thereon and toward other legislative matters. This Mr Lord did, saying that he had always been opposed to the law and that he did everything that he could to prevent its passage at the 1917 ses- sion of the state legislature. He spoke of its provisions, how it had worked out in the majority of up-state counties and assured the representatives that several counties approved and that the Tammany crowd in the legislature would probably try to block a repeal of the bill. There is to be a hearing on the measure and its repeal February 27. Mr Lord told his constituency that during the early fall he had contemplated offering a bill urging the repeal of the Machold law, when his friend, Representative Martin of Oneida, wrote him asking his endorsement of the measure he has drafted and presented. Mr Lord assured Mr Martin of his support and then turned his attention to another school law over which much dissatisfaction has been felt in rural communities, the physical training law. He now has a bill in the house which on passage would make optional with the district the employment of a special physical training teacher and making the local teacher the instructor in phys- ical training in her grade or district school. This bill has the approval of the state grange. Then Mr Lord told the men present, nearly all of whom were members of the Dairymen's League, of his effort to work out an amendment to the Don- nelly act to relieve farmer organizations from prosecution. All of these measures he freely discussed with the men, exchanging views and vouchsafing information. Mr Simson then called for an organization of the body and this was per- fected with W. E. Stover of Smyrna as chairman and D. E. Edgerton of Greene as secretary. Leon M. Walworth was elected delegate to file the Chenango county protest at the legislative hearing on the two school bills on February 27. The following resolution was adopted: Your committee on resolutions, reporting, offer the following resolution and move its adoption: Resolved — that we favor the repeal of the so-called Machold Township School Law. That we offer this resolution believing that the experience of one year thereunder has demonstrated that no improvement in service has been obtained, but upon the other hand a marked increase of taxation has resulted. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 417 In fact the operation of the law has caused hardship and unnecessary in- convenience to the school children and patrons of the district by compelling ihem to travel long distances in an exposed condition. Further an increase in taxation over even the present high rate will follow under the law if it is continued. Further, that we favor the adoption of the Lord bill which relieves the districts from the necessity of hiring a physical training teacher. Further Resolved, that we present a copy of this resolution to our senator and assemblyman. Further Resolved, that we express our approval of the stand of Hon. Bert Lord in opposing the original passage of the township school law and the physical training law, and we commend his efforts in the present session looking to the repeal thereof. The foregoing is a copy of the report of the committee on resolutions unanimously adopted at a meeting held at the courthouse, in the city of Nor- wich, N. Y., on February 9th, 1918, attended by representatives from all the school districts of Chenango county. — Norwich Sun, February o, 1918 Unanimous Action of the Schoolmasters of the Southern Tier at Elmira, February 9, 19 18 Whereas, The township school law of the state of New York is again under discussion and will probably be before the legislature for reconsider- ation, and Whereas, We do not believe that this state should take a backward step which no state having once adopted such a law, has ever taken, be it Resolved, That we unanimously commend the fundamental principles of the present law and believe that it is elevating the standards of the rural schools and that it is giving that equality of opportunity which is his right to every child in the schools of the state. Township School Law The proposed repeal of the Township School Law is in response to a wide- spread demand from rural sections all over the state, on account of the in- creased burden of taxation which it is alleged to have caused. The primary object of the law was to provide better educational facilities in the country by combining several small school districts into one. It is claimed by the Department of Education and by advocates of the law that its obnoxious features are due to the mechanics of the measure, that its main principle is sound and desirable, and that existing defects may be adjusted by proper amendments. Governor Whitman called attention in his annual message to some phases of the law which he considered objectionable and recommended their correction. — Port Jervis Union, February 11, 1918 Town Schoolship System Should be Preserved A bill has been introduced at Albany to repeal the law providing for a township school system. We are assured by Senator Thompson of this 14 4l8 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK district that it is the intention to have a new law passed which will contain some features of the present statute. The only changes that are needed apparently are those which would af' feet the provision in the present law calling for an equalization of the burden of paying the interest and principal of the bonded debts of the several dis- tricts. It is felt that each district should pay its own bonded debt, assumed often for the building of a superior class of school buildings. As to maintenance of buildings and payment of teachers' salaries and standards of education, the tax rate for those should be uniform throughout the township if we are to have a unified and improved system under which the poorest boy or girl in a rural district can get as good an education as the city child. The new system is in the interests of economy in that it provides for the consolidation of a number of the districts where there is too small attend- ance to warrant the maintenance of the school. A system of transportation would be provided for the children who would have to travel too far to walk to attend the school in the consolidated district. Dr Thomas E. Finegan, Deputy Commissioner of Education, in a recent address before the New York State Agricultural Society, said that we are maintaining at the present time 15 schools in each of which there is just one pupil; 86 others in each of which there are just two pupils; 166 others, in each of which there are just three pupils; 258 others, in which there are just four pupils; 357 others, in which there are just five pupils; 600 districts in which there are less than 7 children in attendance. There are 3800 rural schools in the State in which there are less than ten pupils. The average assessed valuation of each of these districts is less than $40,000. In 2000 of these districts the average assessed valuation is less than $20,000. As Mr Finegan says, the entire State has an interest in putting an end to this state of affairs. The financial interest lies in the fact that the State is contrib- uting $200 per year for the support of each of 2000 school districts above named and $150 to $175 each for the smallest of them. We Long Islanders have to help put up for them and have an interest in seeing a township sys- tem in operation that would do away with a large portion of them. More- over, we have another interest in seeing that all the children of the State get at least a good grammar school education, such as is impossible under the present system. Mr Finegan says that there are 100,000 less children in attendance upon the schools maintained in the agricultural regions than there were 35 years ago*. It is the salvation of our country to have a large and better educated rural population which will induce better systems of farming and business conditions in the rural sections. This is a State question. We are behind New England and other sections. Every state bordering on New York has adopted the township system. There are plenty of safeguards provided against an unjust or unfair con- solidation of districts. More than there were under the old law. The Dis- trict Superintendent has to take the initiative and it then has to pass the Town Board of Education and it must then be submitted to the voters of the districts affected. It has been urged against the law that it requires physical training. This law was passed in 1916 and has no connection with the Township School THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 419 law. It requires physical training to be given in all schools, regardless of whether they are under the township law or not. It is a highly necessary part of our system of training the young to-day if we are to have a nation fit to perform the duties of the citizens of a republic and a nation. Are the boys and girls living in the agricultural regions entitled to receive an educa- tion which will enable them to meet the problems that confront the men and women who are to bear the responsibility of the great burdens involved in the proper solution of the problems of our rural life? Are we to establish a system of education in the agricultural centers of the State which shall be equipped to deal in a comprehensive manner with the great social, economic and political questions which confront the people living in the rural sections of this country? In the solution of these great problems should we not profit by the experience of other States? Should we not take into consideration the fact that not a single State which has adopted the township system has gone back to the old district system? And should not that be regarded as evidence in favor of a fair trial for the township system? Does not the experience of this State for the last half century under the district system show conclusively that the great educational necessities of the agricultural communities of the State can not be adequately supplied under the old dis- trict system? Shall not this State, after having adopted the township system which has adequately met the needs of the rural communities in half of the States of the Nation, give that system a fair trial, instead of plunging the State into educational chaos by the repeal of such law? — Long Islander, February 22, 1918 The Township School Law Those who have registered their opposition to the Township Education Law have emphasized the points of its cost and of its centralization of power. They have not considered its educational value to the boys and girls of the country schools. The question of cost is, of course, important, but it is relative, particularly in school matters. To maintain a school plant and an entirely efficient teach- ing force costs good money and it is right that it should. The main point from a money point of view should be, not altogether the absolute cost, but should deal with the business of a proper return on the investment. There can be no doubt whatever that large minded men and taxpayers in. this state will grant the right of school children to enjoy proper school en- vironment and good teaching. From reports that we have been looking over recently and particularly from our own observation, we are convinced that the children have not had a fair deal. The condition of school houses, school equipment and sanitation are way below a safe minimum. The teaching is better than the material equipment, but not what it should be, and still largely underpaid. The old district system has not exactly broken down, but it has served its day. It is not adequate to the demands of modern education. The township system promises better things, better educational opportunities for the children in rural schools. It should be given a fair trial. There is no single item of cost in its administration that should not be in the budget of a rural school under the old system, including clerk hire, janitor service and the like. 420 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK As to the centralization of power in a few hands and taking prestige from individual trustees, there would seem to be no valid argument. The town- ship is a convenient and safe unit of popular government. Voters have the same rights that they enjoy in selecting supervisors, superintendents of high- ways and other town officers. They elect the members of the Town Board. The legislature would be guilty of monumental folly in repealing the Town- ship School Law. Let us keep the new school law, watch it, revise, improve it as we go along ; but never let up in our effort to give the children of this state the best pos- sible educational opportunities; for in the sound and broad education of the children lies the safety of the state and its institutions. — Cold Spring Re- corder, February 22, 1918 Plea for School Law The following letter is from a former Sullivan County school teacher: Chicago, III., Feby. p Ed. Watchman: Have read in your valued paper about the effort to re- peal the township school law. Are you not making a mistake in helping this along? True, taxes are higher, but as every move we make costs twice as much as formerly, how can this be helped? People living in large towns having an independent school system do not realize the great difference the new law makes in country schools. Are you aware that there still are district schools where the teacher works for $18 and perhaps as low as $9 per week; where the building is so poor that the winter winds whistle through inch wide cracks, where there are outbuildings which are no more than shacks open to the weather and which have not been cleaned in years ; where the teacher struggles to keep herself and children warm with a small box stove with green wood coated with ice, and where year after year there is a trustee elected whose only idea is to get school business done as cheaply as possible? This is not right. People are not so pinched to the last penny. The same ones who would object to buying a new water pail for the school, think noth- ing of investing in a one or two hundred dollar phonograph or a Ford car. The township law with a board of education in control promises much improvement. It is not right that some teachers should be receiving $10 and ■others $18 for exactly the same work. Simply because, in some cases, the favored one happens to be a friend of the trustee or engaged to some of his wife's relations. Nor should the size of the school make so much difference. It takes as much time and energy to teach 10 or 12 pupils as it does to teach 30 or 40. The boards should decide what the town can afford to pay and make all schools alike or nearly so. Also, the township system has a tendency to put the better and more rep- resentative people in control, and they are not changed so often, more interest is shown in the schools ; the personal element is largely done away with in hiring teachers. It also is fairer — equalizing the taxes so that one district alone cannot have the benefit of the railroads, pipelines, telegraphs etc., but the whole town benefits, as it should. Also, let us hope that the physical training be not taken out of the schools THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 421 entirely; its benefits are apparent. If the rather expensive special teacher cannot be afforded let us hope that the regular teacher be given some train- ing in this and a certain amount be required, and so strike a " happy medium." Don't do away with the township system. It promises good. Our chil- dren are our country's most valuable asset. They are just as precious, just as deserving as our gallant soldier boys. Let us give them the best that we can. It is their little hands that must carry on the torch and their task will not be light. Also let us hope that gradually the mothers will show more interest and that in every township there will be at least two of its most intelligent moth-, ers on the board of education. "A board of education without a woman on it is like a home without a mother." Attached to this is a part of a bill introduced into the State legislature: Efforts are being made to repeal the new township law, that was passed by the legislature last year. While some injustices have been occasioned by the working of the new law, which will undoubtedly be rectified by the present legislature, on the whole the measure is a great step forward in the better- ment of the rural schools of the State, and helps to put New York State on a level with other States. The old school district dates from 1795. There are still 4000 schools in the State with less than ten pupils each, and over 3500 school districts where the total amount of taxable property in the dis- trict is less than $20,000. The taxable property in one school district may be $500,000 and in an adjoining one may be $15,000. In the first district a man might pay a school tax of two mills on the dollar and the school in that dis- trict would have plenty of money. In the adjoining district a man might be obliged to pay 10 mills on the dollar and the school in that district would not save money enough to give the children any advantages whatever. The law makes the township the unit of taxation in place of the school district, and all the property in the township is taxed equally and the money apportioned where it is needed. A board of education elected by the voters of the township takes the place of the school trustees. This board of educa- tion may, if they think best, consolidate the small schools of adjoining dis- tricts. Union free school districts of 1,800 population were excluded from the provision of the law and all union free school districts employing fifteen teachers or more. A budget for the following year must be made out for all the schools in the township by the board of education and be published in the local news- papers and posted where the public may see and discuss it. There is much misunderstanding of the new plan, and some of the things objected to are temporary, due to putting the plan into operation. The new boards of education came into existence without a penny in the treasury and had to make a budget large enough to cover the expense of getting the new plan started. They also had to assume the contracts already made with school teachers by the old school trustees, so that while they had to raise more money last year than may be needed next year, they made less improvement in the schools last year than they will make next year and this has led to some dissatisfaction. — Monticello Rep. Watchman, February 22, 1918 422 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Mr Kelley Would Retain Machold Law Editor Malone Telegram: Dear Sir — For many years the rural schools of New York have been waning, i. e., they have been decreasing in size and efficiency. Out of these acknowledged facts came the effort of the Education Depart- ments of the state to do something to improve the educational facilities for the rural boys and girls. The department succeeded in establishing the township system in place of the old one. It would be a waste of time to urge the superiority of the town- ship system over the single district system. That system is in operation in all of the New England states (I understand). It also is largely operating in the west. Everywhere it has been tried it has proved beneficial to the chil- dren. In New York it has not had a fair trial. It came at a time when the cost of everything was greatly enhanced. Even the district school would cost more than formerly. The farmers complain that taxes are higher under the new system and they ask the legislature to send them back to the cheaper one. Now the question of repeal is involved in a political disagreement in Albany. I quote from an editorial in the Burlington Free Press Feb. 19, 1918. " The contest between the two systems is involved in personal politics in New York — Speaker Sweet was credited with being behind the measure (to repeal the township law). In spite of this the Governor sent in an emer- gency message urging repeal and Speaker Sweet is indignant over the ap- parent effort of the Governor to win credit." The Free Press further says that recently Speaker Sweet's friends have been urging him to enter the gov- ernorship contest against Whitman and that in the political conflict thus started little if any attention is given to the merits of the school question. The same Free Press editorial says the New York State Agricultural Society, the State Grange, the Conference for Better County Government have strongly endorsed the township system and that Drs Finley and Finegan have issued statements in its support. According to the same editorial Dr Finegan says there are fifteen districts in the state with just one pupil in each, eighty-six in which there are two. One hundred sixteen with three pupils, two hundred fifty-eight with four pupils, three hundred and fifty-seven with five pupils and six hundred schools each with less than ten pupils in attendance. It is im- possible to maintain in one of these districts anything worthy of the name school. These are the kind of schools that the rural districts are clinging to with such tenacity. Some eight or ten years ago a teacher from the Malone Grammar School accepted a position in a North Dakota school. It was a rural school con- ducted under the township system. She found, in a country place, a fine large substantial building, well lighted, well equipped and furnished. Sev- eral teachers and farmers carry pupils as far as six miles to that school. The salary they paid was large enough to induce our teacher to go there to teach. They, however, were mostly Swedes and Norwegians. They had intel- lectual ideals, apparently, veiy different from ours. Without much comment on our rural schools it is apparent that the system under which they exist is more outgrown than the highway system which THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 423 was discarded a good many years ago. A district with only from one to five pupils in it can hardly be said to be alive for school purposes. Do the farming communities pay exceedingly high taxes for the support of schools? The usual rate in Malone village is from 12 to 15 dollars per thou- sand of valuation. I doubt if many rural districts pay as much. Malone schools have received non-residents for a long time for much less than the actual cost of their education. In addition to this the state has heretofore paid the tuitions for non-residents attending our high school so that tuition for non-residents has cost the parents nothing. The actual yearly cost of carrying students through our high school must be about fifty dollars per student. The state pays but twenty and somebody must pay taxes to make up the balance. Malone village cannot quit because the cost of education is increasing, and ask the legislature to vote them back to some old, worn out, decayed and cheaper system. It must pay the cost, whatever it is. Why shouldn't the rural communities do the same? Dr Finley and Dr Finegan are two very able educators. When they examine a system and recommend it the people of New York will make no mistake in giving it a fair trial. John Kelley — Malone Telegram, February 23, 1918 Feb. 21, 1918 Town School Law Editor Union-Star: May a rural subscriber of the Union-Star venture to differ with the editorial statement that the enactment of the town school law was ill-advised? The demand for improvement of the rural schools by patrons of the rural schools was general, and the law as enacted is approved by them, as well as by Dr Finley and all educators, down to the cheapest little school teacher of the cheapest school in the state. I am a farmer and am sending six of my children to school. If I hired a governess for my children like Senator James Wadsworth, or like Gov- ernor Whitman, or if I lived in a city like the editor of the Union-Star with educational facilities at hand, from the kindergarten to college, I would not consider that I could utter the last word on rural schools or the opera- tion of the town school law. Having lived a little over a half century on the farm, I believe that I am fairly conversant with real rural life. The consolidation of rural schools is approved by progressive parents because of improved service and greater economy, but tax-slackers through- out the state are using the severest winter on record as an argument to discourage this reform. Two of my children are walking three miles and riding fourteen daily on the cars to get an education, while my younger children, four in number, walk two miles daily to and from the rural school. Wherein is the hardship, Mr Editor, in a walk of two or three miles or a ride of three or four over a snowy country road? Now a word as to the people who are disaffected by the town school law. Has the editor of the Union-Star, or has one of the tax-reformers, honestly compared last year's school tax under the district trustee system with the first levy under the town school law? Let me compare them dispassionately that you and your readers may judge. 424 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The last levy under the old system called for just enough money to con- duct the schools for one year. There was already a surplus in the hands of the local school officials throughout the state to pay teachers' salaries and other expenses for three or four months, or until the next annual tax was collected. This surplus, which has been carried from year to year to pro- vide especially for monthly payments to teachers, was returned pro rata to the taxpayers from whom it had been collected shortly after the town school law became operative. To provide for this rebate and to meet the resultant deficiency it was necessary for town boards of education everywhere to appropriate for approximately fifteen or sixteen months school expenses at the beginning. This fact is well known to every intelligent man who is conversant with the operation of the new school law. Does the editor of the Union-Star remember a little more than a decade ago when the unit of taxation was changed from the district to the town and a money tax was exacted instead of labor for the repair and mainte- nance of our district highways and for snow removal therefrom? The change was compulsory and immediately successful. The howl of protest was as loud as it is today over school taxation. Let us have no more cheap functionaries like the old highway overseer or the obsolete district school trustee. Between their service and that of the dollar a year dignitaries at Washington there is a decided analogy. Let us apply the same principle to our schools that has proved so successful on our highways. If the town school law must be repealed to placate a certain class of economists let us re-enact the so-called " free school law " of seventy-five years ago when those who sent their children to school paid all the school taxes. Tax-re- formers would then repress their noble rage and we who financed the schools would patronize and control them. Delanson, N. Y. W. W. Christman — Schenectady Union-Star, February 25, igi8 Rural School Law Editor Post Express: In your editorial on the rural school law in Tuesday's edition there is one sentence which seems to me to put the whole thing in a nut shell, if true. " Under the present law a general and undue rise in cost for rural education is not producing desired results." From the point of view of one township I would like to speak of that statement. (1) There has been an advance in the school rate, chiefly for the reason that under the old boards the schools in certain districts had fallen into such a bad condition that the first task of the new board was to put them into shape at some extra expense. Better teachers have been hired, and teachers' salaries have been increased along with all other salaries and wages. If these things are taken into account I question whether one can say of this particular district of which I speak, that there has been an " undue rise in cost." There has been a rise in cost due to much needed improvements. (2) But these improvements have not been spectacular enough to dazzle the eye of the people. Education is a process in which time is an essential factor. The full effect of the new law cannot be seen in a few months, but THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 425 with characteristic American impatience for " results " many people are ready to throw aside the old law before it has had a chance. If we remember that results in education take time then may we not ask whether the " desired results " are reasonable. Whatever these " desired results " are should they be expected in so short a time? Have we any right to expect such results? I believe that as much as ought reasonably to be expected has been accom- plished by the new law. I do not assert that the experience of the township of which I speak is typical, but I hope that those who write and speak on the subject will investi- gate the facts along these lines before they act. Auburn, February 21, 1918 Helper — Rochester Post Express, February 23, 1918 The Township School Law To the Editor of The Knickerbocker Press: Sir: In the last annual message issued by Governor Whitman a severe attack was made on the new township school law, evidently inspired by the farmers of the state, many of whose taxes have been increased under this new law, it being the same law, by the way, approved by the Governor less than a year ago and which no one can claim has been given even half a trial. A special message has also recently been issued urging the repeal of the law, and much has been said and written both for and against it. Assuming the best of motives on all sides, I have good reason to believe that the oppo- nents of the law are more scared than hurt, and as one deeply interested in the welfare of our schools and therefore strongly in favor of the township law, I venture to modestly also offer my mite in the general discussion. At the outset I might say that the business in which I have been engaged for more than thirty years, to say nothing of having been a trustee and patron of a rural school for several years meantime, has brought me in close touch with the schools of this and many other states, thereby giving opportunity to obtain first-hand information in this connection, and because of this fact I might also add that it fell to my lot some years ago to prepare a paper on this township subject for a state association of school boards of which I was a member at the time. Submitting this brief explanation as my license for offering this communication, I will first cover the facts and figures gained for the occasion just referred to, and follow with more recent infor- mation along the same line. And just keep well in mind, please, that the law which the Governor now desires repealed is the one that met with his approval last year; that his attack is based largely on the score of increased taxes among the farmers, regardless of any increased benefits under the law, and further, that this law was framed and fathered by the state education department after long years of experience and presumably with a fair knowledge as to the crying need of a better rural school system. Now coming to the pros and cons. Let us first take a look at the benefits to be gained under a township system, and right here please take note that, contrary to the belief of many in our midst, a large number of other states 426 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK already have a township, county or other consolidated system, some of which have been in effect for many years. The little state of Vermont, for instance, adopted a township system more than twenty years ago, and in response to my inquiries when preparing the paper referred to, the state department of education advised me that the Vermont legislature did the heroic act in passing a township law with probably nine-tenths of the towns opposed to it, and that after a few years trial probably not three towns in the whole state would vote to return to the old district system, and here are some of the benefits set forth by the same authority: " Better teachers on account of more judicious selection on the part of school boards and a sense of greater moral support on the part of teachers; better schools on account of better teachers, better equipment and greater interest; more economical expenditure of school funds; equalization in sup- port of schools and a wiser administration of affairs. Under the district plan each succeeding committeeman felt constrained to maintain school a shade cheaper than the previous one in order that he might live comfortably in the community." And yet under the township plan it was found that the " cost per pupil per week during each of the years of the township system was less than in any of the last five years of the district system, not including construction or repairs." The Vermont township law is the pride of the state today, and in recent years it has been made still stronger. A state board of five members appoints the state commissioner of education, his assistants and all superin- tendents in the union districts. And in Massachusetts a township system has been in full effect for more than thirty years, from which state I also secured interesting information on the same occasion. The testimony of one of its veteran rural school officials was cited by the state department of education as illustrating the sentiment in the rural sections, as follows : " For eighteen years we have had the best attendance from transported children, with less sickness and no accidents. The children like the plan exceedingly, and we have saved the town at least $600 a year. Everybody is converted to the plan. We encountered all the opposition found anywhere, but asserted our sensible and legal rights and accomplished the work. I see no way to bring the country schools up but to consolidate them." The Massachusetts township school system is today one of the oldest and strongest in the Union. A strong township system has also been in effect in the state of New Jersey for more than twenty years. Two attempts were made to repeal the law in the two legislatures immediately following its passage, both ot which failed, and after which the law steadily increased in favor until practically all opposition vanished. At the time of my advice the state department briefly summarized the township advantages as follows : " Equal school privileges for all, equal school burdens for all, better school buildings, better equipment, longer school terms, better qualified teachers, better supervision, increased attendance and interest, and more economical expenditure." The state department also reported as on file about one thousand opinions gathered from prominent educators in every state in the Union, without one dissenting voice. "All commend the township system." And after more than twenty years' experience the department now reports general approval THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 427 and that the expense is less than formerly as compared with benefits, because the results under the township system are infinitely greater. And down in Pennsylvania a consolidated system has been in effect so long that the old district system has been forgotten, and our Canadian neighbors have also outstripped us in the consolidation of schools. But suppose we now take a look at the objections to a township system here in New York, some fancied serious ones, and analyze them a little. It is pretty well understood that the big objection is on the score of increased taxes, largely among the farming class, and right here I take off my hat to the tiller of the soil as about the only fellow in the ring that we could not long exist without. And with all due respect for his objections the farmer is in fact the very one to derive the greatest benefit from a good township school law, and later on he will doubtless feel grateful to those who now stand against his objections. What of the expense, anyway? Why have any schools if they cost money? Or, if we have any, why not have the best that money can procure? The plain truth is, Mr Farmer, the other fellow has been paying part of your taxes under the old district plan, while under the township plan you are re- quired to stand a fair share of the burden. This really tells the whole story, but let us also look at two other minor objections advanced by the opposi- tion, one of these being that the township plan takes away local control. That's a good one if you only think that way, but if it's a question between local control and good schools it ought to be taken away. If of so much importance in the country, why not also in the city? Take Albany for instance, or any other city, who would listen to having a special trustee for each school, thereby creating no end of confusion and lack of uniformity in school management? At this point please note that under the old district plan there were more than ten thousand separate districts, each having one or more trustees in control, and consequently with about ten thousand different opinions as to school management, while under the township system there are less than one thousand school boards, each board having jurisdiction over all the schools in the town, perhaps a dozen or two, which means more uniformity of action and at the same time gives ample " local control." These town boards consist of three to five members each, according to size of the town, and can be selected from different districts in the town if the people .so desire. It is strictly up fo them to select an efficient business board. Now comes the matter of conveyance to and from the schools. This is another staggering one, if you can only see it that way. Many children have too far to walk, for inclement weather, under the old district plan, and that plan has not yet been changed to any extent, while under a com- pleted township plan a good system of conveyance would naturally follow, as in other states, transporting the children to and from school, with dry feet and dry clothing, instead of letting them tramp through mud or snow, in all kinds of weather. Our timid friends tell us, however, that they fear to trust their children in a public conveyance for a few miles ride to good schools, while under the old plan large numbers of boys and girls, because of lack of good school facilities at home, are seeking advanced schools in the cities and villages all over the State, going back and forth daily by steam or trolley car, or other 428 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK conveyance, for five, ten, fifteen and even more than twenty-five miles, and of course at heavy expense to their parents. Why not abolish the steam trolley car, and the automobile, all of which score a daily toll of accidents and lives in all directions? Of course all precaution should be taken to protect school children from possible accidents, but there seems no good reason to shy at a school carryall any more than at other modes of conveyance. Here you have the three stiff objections to the township system — taxes, local control and the transportation of children to and from school, the fallacy of which seems well established by the evidence from the other states as cited above, backed by long experience. It would be a fine thing if all taxes and all accidents could be abolished, but of course no law can do the impossible. Now let us take a little look inside and see if any real educational advan- tages can be found in the old district system over the new township plan. I have yet to discover a single one advanced by township opponents, but possibly some " benefits " can be found in the district plan, from the follow- ing references, which I submit with proper respect for the districts in question and without being too personal. I have in mind, first, a district over in Rensselaer county with only about twenty pupils, but with an assessed valuation of more than $500,000, more than half being against railroads and other corporations, from which it is easy to see that the individual tax is next to nothing. This district has a small school, with one teacher, and has been under the same trustee, a most estimable gentleman, for more than forty years. A few miles beyond this district is another one with more than ten times as many pupils and several teachers, but with a valuation of less than $700,000 and less railroad and other corporation property than in the smaller district. No argument is needed to make clear the injustice of this system of taxation for school purposes. I also have in mind another district in the same county with only one pupil a year or so ago, and without even that one before the school year had half elapsed, and yet the teacher continued her daily visit to the schoolhouse and drew her pay just the same. And another district over in Columbia county having only one pupil, and with a valuation of less than $70,000, paying at the rate of $400 for the schooling of one pupil. I am also reminded of a case reported some years ago, when the State paid only $100 towards the salary of each teacher, to the effect that a cer- tain trustee contracted with an adjoining district for the schooling of the children in his district at five dollars per year, taking the other ninety-five dollars himself for transporting the children back and forth. And he probably had a legal right to make such a deal, even though it was later discovered that all the children in the district belonged to this same thrifty trustee. One more illustration of the benefits of local control under the district plan comes from a district in Albany county, having a small school and a valuation of less than $20,000. It appears that the schoolhouse is also used for Sunday school purposes, or was a few years ago when $15 worth of chairs were purchased, which led to a lawsuit, after a change in trustees, to determine whether the chairs were district property or Sunday school prop- erty. This litigation lasted for a year or two and cost the taxpayers over THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 429 $1,000, to say nothing of the time and old friendships involved. And as a climax it developed in filing papers in the case, that about half the voters of the district were unable to sign their names except with a cross. I cite this case as no reflection whatever upon the integrity nor good intention of anyone in the district, but as a crack at the district system under which it occurred, and no one is likely to be bold enough to assume that such a mishap could occur under a township system, with one board having control over all its schools. I dare say that the State Education Department might reveal numerous other cases all over the State, more or less similar, discrediting point blank any system that tolerates them, if it could with propriety hold the details up to public scrutiny. It may not be amiss for me to here say that this article is written without knowledge of the State Education Department, but I have the facts from various sources in support of every statement. At this point just make note that over 3,000 schools in this State have not more than ten pupils each, several hundred hardly half that number and a few with only one pupil each, and still our farmer friend objects to con- solidation. And it may not be generally known that throughout the entire rural section there is an army of more than 500,000 boys and girls who must be content with the meagre education to be secured in the rural schools, except a small percentage whose parents may be able to send them to advanced schools outside. Now, I submit that these boys and girls, reared in the open, mostly with rugged constitutions and keen for a ripe education, are not being fairly treated, and that it is high time the actual rural school conditions are laid bare, wherever and whoever they hit. Probably no school system could be devised that would suit every tax- payer down to the last point, but whatever the faults of the new township law it is a long stride in the right direction and should be made still stronger. Eventually every town with sufficient population should have a central school with a high school course and where vocational subjects are taught, so that every ambitious boy and girl in the town can be well equipped for the school of life. This doesn't mean the closing of all the " little red school- houses " of fond memory to the fathers and mothers in the rural districts, but it does mean closing the small and useless ones. I respectfully submit that the great State of states, the most populous and wealthy of them all, which invests $25,000,000 for a political winter resort, $150,000,000 for a canal system, and untold millions for new roads, should not begrudge its children sufficient education to properly care for these legacies in future years. Let's all be fair to ourselves and give the present township law at least a few years' trial before we even attempt to condemn it, and then if it doesn't bring good results we will all oppose it. I feel sure that it goes without saying that it would be a disgrace to the State to repeal the law at this time, as well as a gross injustice to the great rural army of boys and girls of today who are to become the men and women of tomorrow. And to save the present township law every man and woman at all interested in educational affairs and every boy and girl as well, should immediately appeal to their representatives in the Legislature to stand up and be counted in its favor at all hazards. And I would especially urge those residing in the cities and villages, already enjoying good school advantages, to join in this campaign for the 430 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK benefit of their rural friends. And do it now. Why? Just listen a minute more, please. It appears that the farmers all over the State have been fairly burning the telephone wires for the last few weeks, and plowing through the drifts, regardless, in their frantic efforts to secure petitions and arrange neighborhood meetings for the purpose of creating a big repeal sentiment and making an impression in the Legislature. And, take it from me, they are doing it. Stacks of letters, petitions and telegrams have been flowing into the Capitol from the opposition in all directions, and the friends of better rural schools should come to the rescue of the township law in droves and quickly. Every chamber of commerce, every mothers' club, every school society and every other progressive organization, as well as every individual at all interested, should express their views to their legislators by wire, letter, petition or in person. Otherwise your wishes will not be known when the question comes to a vote, and that day is fast drawing near. The result will be far reaching, and it is up to the friends of better schools to say whether they shall move forward or backward — and to that end all sections of the State should speedily rally around the present town- ship law and insist that its foundation stones be not tampered with. Albany, February 23. W. A. Choate — Albany Knickerbocker Press, February 25, 1918 Gets after Foes of School Law Styling opponents of the township school law, " penny pinchers," Will W. Christman, a farmer of Duanesburg township in Schenectady county, has written a letter to the editor of The Knickerbocker Press appealing to the Legislature to keep the present law on the statute books. Mr Christman has nine children who are now attending the schools or have done so, one daughter being a school teacher. Mr Christman also makes a warm defense of the present Welsh-Slater physical training laws, against which some objections have been voiced to the Legislature from the rural districts. His letter follows : To the Editor of The Knickerbocker Press: " Sir : Mr Seibel should have included Senator Wadsworth in the car- toon recently published in The Knickerbocker Press in which he depicted Speaker Sweet and Governor Whitman in a sprint for the rural vote. It looks like a neck and neck race between the senator, the speaker and the Governor to placate the penny pinchers. But has Governor Whitman reck- oned with the progressive farmers who have no objections to the town school law, but who did object to the regime of the obsolete district school trus- tee? From present indications the state administration proposes to take a step backward, to return to the moss-grown system, or rather lack of system of our great-grandfathers. "A true indictment of the district school trustee is found in the speech of A. A. Lavery, published in the report of the state conference on taxation for 1915. Mr Lavery was chairman of the legislative committee of district school superintendents and a portion of the indictment follows : " ' The ever changing school policy of districts consequent upon the change of trustees makes it impossible to fix and maintain any systematic methods either pedagogical or financial. It is a sad fact that in but few communities will a self-respecting man consent to be a trustee. Neither is this strange THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 43 1 when the only recompense received is the dislike of neighbors. This is much more serious than may be apparent, and in many districts it means that the last man to move in is elected, while it is a fact that even worse is true. " ' The local difficulties experienced by trustees willing to do their best for the schools by petty jealousies, grumblers about taxes, and those who wish to make a trustee's life miserable and the consequent dislike of a self-respect- ing man to incur the displeasure of his neighbors, whether their plaints be well founded or not; the loss of taxes as a result of such grumblers and the neighborhood animosities consequent upon such returns as are provided by law ; the petty, depressing local disputes met by every trustee over trivials are some of the reasons.' " Examples of neglect, inefficiency, lack of patriotism and ignorance were so common in the administration of rural schools under that system that I hesitate to classify those that were especially notorious. Cases of chronic truancy have escaped the law for months because trustee and teacher wished to avoid trouble. " I have observed a delay of four months in a case of this kind and then action was taken by one outside the little official circle. During the last four years when the flag should have been displayed at all times it has been folded and laid away for months, because the trustee was too busy or too negligent to purchase a rope. I number among my acquaintances an ingenious slacker, the last school trustee in his district before the town school law became oper- ative, who sent his fifteen year old son to school this term with instructions to give his age as fourteen years. On the school register of the previous term and in an application for a work certificate at that time the boy's age was given as fourteen years. " It was learned that the parent planned for his son to evade the draft by a gradual reduction in years should the war continue. I recall an occasion when a rural district voted to dig a well near the school house rather than carry water used at the school from a nearby farm house. The trustee at that time had original opinions on sanitation and the well was dug within fifteen feet of the unspeakable school toilet. "And this is the regime that our critics love. In one respect the depart- ment of education has been accessory to the crimes and misdemeanors of the system, for all the official inspection of our rural schools has been the perfunctory, annual half hour visit of the district superintendent. " Critics of consolidated schools will wring your heart if it is ' penetrable stuff' because children must take those long, cold drives to the central school. That is not, however, the rural sentiment. Our own district with fifteen pupils, the largest in this section, I find after careful investigation, has a majority of voters in favor of consolidation, if there was a strong cen- tral school with which to consolidate. Two of my children in attendance at the Altamont high school, walk one and one-quarter miles to the station, ride seven miles and walk one-quarter of a mile from the station to the school. This is a walk of three miles and a ride of fourteen daily. Four ot my children are enrolled in the rural school which is a little over one mile from our home. This compels the youngest to walk a little over two miles daily. " On January 21 and 22, two of the Garfield holidays, my son, fifteen years old, walked from our home to Altamont for examinations, owing to the dis- continuance of the weekly train service.^ On January 22, my daughter, sev- enteen years old, accompanied him, making the trip in two hours. The dis- tance is six miles as the crow flies. On both mornings the thermometer reg- istered zero. Every winter we have cases of frost late and we fail to see that the hardship would be greater if our children we're compelled to ride three and one-half miles to Delanson where our central school should be located. " ' Impossible owing to climatic conditions,' with these words Mrs Mer- ritt dismisses the subject of consolidated schools in a letter to the Altamont Enterprise. The Altamont high school has been closed on several occasions this winter, so has the Delanson village school, and so has every rural school in this section ' owing to climatic conditions,' but that does not alter the 432 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK fact that when it is possible for a child to walk one or two miles over a country road, it is equally possible for them to ride three or four. My children have made the trip to Altamont twice this winter and found the school closed owing to the cold. '"Impossible, Impracticable!' So some of our predecessors argued while the first steamer crossed the Atlantic. 'Impossible! Impracticable!' so they cried when the rural mail delivery was introduced. I have a neighbor who still goes a mile and a quarter to Duanesburg postoffice for his paper, when the rural delivery from Delanson has passed his door for six or eight years. My neighbor also opposes the consolidation of schools. "We agree with the conscientious objectors to physical education that our children are getting considerable physical training outside the curriculum, but if we speak here and now in defense of the physical training law or go out in the barnyard and wave a red flag at the Holstein bull, we place ourselves in an analogous situation. Our opponents may be stoop shouldered, short breathed, or anaemic from wrong living but they cannot repress their noble rage when the subject is mentioned. "While the physical education law has the earnest approval of progressive parents, it is usually confounded with the town school law by its critics, in both senses of the word. It is a matter of rather recent history that the introduction of the study of physiology in our schools was the signal for a similar clamor. Educators have learned that a trained body is just as essential as a trained mind. In spite of the boast that the law should not apply in the country owing to the fine physique and robust health of our young men, the provost marshal's report of the operation of the selec- tive service act contains the interesting statement that the percentage of physical disqualifications was almost exactly the same in urban as in rural districts. |.i ; , j '"I cannot attest for Mrs Merritt that our district school buildings have been kept in good condition. From personal observation extending over a long period I can corroborate the testimony of Mr Herrick. At this moment I can designate two school buildings that upon proper complaint and investigation would have been condemned several years ago. Besides years of inattention and neglect, many of our buildings lack the modern requirements for ventilation and light. There are other improvements required not less essential. I refer to the perennial condition of the out- buildings or toilets, which are a menace to health and a disgrace to civilized beings. " Regarding an appropriation by the board of education for the town oi Guilderland, Mrs Merritt writes : ' More than $2,000 for what was formerly done without any compensation whatever.' We have samples of the kind of service our critics love in the dollar-a-year dignitaries at Washington, and Mrs Merritt has been a country resident long enough to remember when we tried the same cheap functionaries on the town highways until the high- ways overseer became a joke. " It is acknowledged that the repeal of the town school law is demanded because of increased taxation. The increase was inevitable as the increase in cost of food, clothing and shelter was inevitable. Last year my daughter taught eleven pupils in an Albany county district. This winter she has six pupils in the same school and an increase in wages (she is paid $11 a week and does the janitor work). Next year this school will enroll three pupils and the teacher will have another increase in wages. " Unless the law provides for the consolidation of schools the tax per district or town will continue to increase regardless of the decrease in pupils. " United States Senator Wadsworth has brought suit against the board of education of the town of Caledonia, Livingston county. Elihu Root is the senator's attorney. As reported in the newspapers Senator Wadsworth charges that the amendment which raises his school tax in the third district from $168.30 to $729.30 is unconstitutional in that it taxes one unit for benefits derived by others. " Because of the new law the school tax in the town of Caledonia is $6.50 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 433 a thousand which was levied on real property owners in the third as well as the other districts. The rate of $6.50 a thousand is not unusual or exces- sive in those sections of Schenectady county, where little corporate prop- erty exists. My own rate was almost exactly that amount before and aftt*r the town school law became operative, in reality the first tax levy under the town school law was approximately for fifteen months' expenses. Unhappily Senator Wadsworth, Speaker Sweet and Governor Whitman are each in his own characteristic way, using the situation to the limit. " I have in mind a picture of Senator Wadsworth and Elihu Root, a picture that should be impressed upon the minds of the recently emanci- pated voters of the Empire State. Senator Wadsworth is a farmer, in the kid-gloved class, an opponent of prohibition and a versatile and dan- gerous enemy of equal suffrage. Mr Root was once elected to the United States senate when that office was indirectly elective. He was an uncom- promising opponent of the election of United States senators by the people and unfortunately for his own further political preferment voiced that opinion in a speech to the legislature, thanking them for the honor con- ferred. Since his voluntary retirement he has not added to his popularity by emulating Senator Wadsworth in opposing votes for women. Take the picture with you, my newly emancipated fellow citizens; study it well. Is not the attitude of these two gentlemen on the improvement of our rural schools very natural and characteristic? " In a previous paragraph I referred to the obsolete highway law of two decades ago. When the state arbitrarily changed the unit of taxation from the road district to the town and exacted a money tax instead of labor for the repair of our dirty roads and the removal of snow, there was, I think, a louder howl of protest than we now hear against the central control of schools. The ' money system ' as it was called, has proved its efficiency and economy. " Now, out of the wreck of socialistic ideas in the world war we have salvaged and will utilize probably for all time, the government or central control of railways. On this subject Oscar Straus writes: "'With only three per cent increase in equipment they (the railroads) have shown twenty-six per cent increase in transportation service, simply through being permitted to operate their properties on a national instead of a sectional or local basis.' " Let us apply the principle which I have illustrated in the administration of our schools. " One of the stock arguments against the town school law is that it meets the approval of officials and teachers only, while ninety-five per cent of the rural population are demanding its repeal. Another argument is advanced that parents everywhere opposed fhe consolidation of schools. I am not a teacher, and I have for years persistently and consistently refused the office of district school trustee for one of the very reasons given by Mr Lavery, namely, ' that no self-respecting man could accept the office.' " I am a farmer, born and reared on the farm where I now live. My wife and I are taxpayers. The cost of tuition and transportation has com- pelled us much against our wishes and interest to send our children to the rural school until they are fourteen or fifteen years of age. The ultra tax reformers might well work themselves into a fine frenzy had they children of their own to educate. " We have nine children whose ages range from twenty-four to nine years. Our eldest boy is a graduate of the Altamont High school, was a teacher in the rural schools for three years and is now a noncommissioned officer in the 105th United States infantry. " Our eldest daughter is a graduate of the same school and is teaching her second term in an Albany county district. Our second son, age eighteen, completed his second year at the High school last spring and enlisted in the regiment with his brother. Our second daughter and third son are now in their second and first years respectively. "Our railway station is Duane, seven miles from Altamont. Car fare is $27.50 per school year for each child. At the close of this school year our 434 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK total contribution to the D. and H. company for transportation for our children will be $347.50. " It has been said that education weans our boys and girls from, the farm. This we deny. If our sons survive the war they will return to rural life and occupation. So will our son-in-law who was a farm laborer and is now with the colors in France. We love the farm, our children love the farm, and with some privation and much labor we are educating them for the farm by the farm. " The legislature has been moved by the clamor of tax slackers to con- sider the repeal of the town school law. Its repeal would placate a minority of unprogressive and ignorant economists. The department of education has given fair warning that its repeal would be disastrous. Education has made equal suffrage a fact. It has made an immediate prohibitory liquor law possible. " In education lies the safety of our laggard democracy. Let us not take the backward step, gentlemen, let us go forward and consolidate the schools." Albany Knickerbocker Press, February 26, 1918 Township Schools The Legislature is now considering a new school law. It repeals the present Township Law; it provides that the present district school of a town shall elect trustees, which trustees shall unite and form a town board of education, very similar to the present town board of five members, except- ing that union schools maintaining an academic department are excluded from such organization and themselves shall return to the old system of a separate board of education and separate tax for their own support. The proposed law puts the rural schools back entirely into the hands of the people of the rural districts, the only change seemingly being a united board of education and an equalization of town school taxes outside the village high school districts. This removes from rural districts the burden of helping the high school or academic school district taxes only along the lines of tuition which they must pay as now for rural pupils attending the high school or academic school. Speaking candidly the proposed change thwarts largely the purpose of the present Township System in one particular and that is the taking out of the hands to a considerable extent the care and maintenance of rural school buildings from the taxpayers of the separate districts. The rural school buildings, with occasional exceptions, have been shamefully neglected, and in many instances the children of rural communities may be grateful for the immediate action during the past year of the Township Board of Education, which began at once after organization to make repairs and improvements to rural schoolhouses long needed and found in a dilapidated and disgraceful condition in many instances. If the present Township Law is abandoned or changed as proposed, then the Rural District Superintendent is the power that stands between the children and the taxpayers and comfortable and properly equipped school buildings. If the school officer has got sand enough and is not afraid of war he can bring about the conditions needed — and he always has the State Department behind him. — Morris Chronicle, February 27, 1918 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 435 Reply to Mr Lord To the Editor of the Sherburne News: It is with much interest that I have noted the recent articles in your paper upon the Township School Law. As a taxpaj r er and District Superintendent of schools I think it my duty to make a statement in regard to this matter: First: So far as I am able to learn the chief objection of the Township School Law is the increase in the rate of taxation, a condition which after careful study I am convinced will not be helped to any extent by repeal of the law. Especially will this be true among those districts lying back at a distance from the prosperous centers. Teachers' wages have advanced and will advance still more, and it is my opinion that it will be a difficult matter another year to obtain the services of a country school teacher for less than $12 per week. We have difficulty even this year to obtain teachers for this wage. The cost of all supplies, repairs and other items of maintenance have advanced from 30 to 50 per cent, and a repeal of the law cannot reduce this additional expense in maintaining a school. In my judgment we should have asked for more state aid instead of the repeal of the law. "When a district school could be maintained for $400 the apportioned perhaps $175 to that district, now it will be a difficult matter to maintain a district school for much less than $500. The State still apportions $175 to the same dis- trict. It is no more than right that the State should be asked to bear its apportionate share of this advance in the cost of maintenance. Second: I also desire to call to the attention of those opposed to the Township Law that six months is altogether too short a time to give a fair test of operation. In the first place, there was no balance on hand at the beginning of the school year. In the second place, repairs which normally were made during the summer vacation, had to be attended to and paid for later in the season. Teachers' wages were raised this year, not by the town boards, but by trustees elected under the old district system. This item alone I have found to amount to from one to three dollars per thou- sand dollars valuation in many of the common school districts. This advance in wages ought not to be charged against the new system. A sum also had to be raised to provide for repairs during the summer vacation of 1918, and also to provide for a balance on hand with which to pay the first months' salaries of the teachers at the beginning of the next school year. Funds also had to be raised for new record books, and many other additional expenses resulting from a change to a new system. Many of these things will not have to be provided for another year, and it is my opinion that the tax rates next year can be somewhat lowered in the various school units of this supervisory district, .even though there be some advance in teachers' wages. At least time should be given for a fair test of opera- tion before the township system be so severely condemned, for I am of the opinion that the schools of any town unit can be maintained more econom- ically under a township system than it would be possible to have them maintained under the old district system. Third: The principle of the township system is right. Nearly every state east of the Mississippi rive and north of the Mason-Dixon line has a township system. of schools. Simply because changing from the district system to a township system has resulted in an increased tax rate the first 43^ THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK year, causing some of the prosperous communities to pay a fair and just proportion of taxes for school purposes, is no proof that the principle involved is wrong, and even though I myself, had to pay more than double the school tax this year than formerly, I believe that the equalization of taxation for school purposes is right and just. To return to the old dis- trict system means high taxes for some districts, low taxes for others, and higher taxes for all. It also means a retardation in educational progress for at least ten or fifteen years. What our communities should ask for is not a repeal of the Township Law, but amendments which will do away with the objectionable features, bring more aid from the State, and war- rant the successful operation of the schools under this system. Yours respectfully Albert C. Bowers — Sherburne News, February 28, igi8 A Reply to Mr Lord Editors Sherburne News: I have a high regard for Mr Lord but I can not agree with him on one point in his article in your last issue in which he deals with taxation for school privileges. He argues that those who receive the greater school bene- fits should pay more than those who receive less. He says, " If the chil- dren of a man have the opportunity while living at home to easily attend a school with an Academic department he should pay more for it than the taxpayer whose child only has the benefit of common branches." This seems reasonable, but I believe it proves too much. If a taxpayer should only pay according to what he or his family gets, what about those who have no children? The man with six children to be educated should pay six times as much as the man who has one ; and many times as much as the man who has none ; in fact as the latter gets no direct benefit from the school, either district or high, he should pay nothing at all. I have heard this argument advanced. I remember a very wealthy and childless judge berating the fact that he had to pay for the education of the numerous progeny of the immigrants. I asked him whether he would like to have a horde of ignorant and untaught foreigners vote on matters affecting his property and the welfare of his city or would prefer to have these voters educated and trained as far as possible in American ideals. The fact is that education is a benefit not merely to the man who has children to go to school but in a general way to all alike. We would all prefer to live in a country where education is more or less general rather than in one of almost universal ignorance like Russia. Education is not like other village or city privileges such as water and lights and police and fire protection which are of greatest advantage to those who live in the city or village and are rightly paid for by village and city people and not by those outside who do not profit by them. Education on the other hand is of advantage to all whether they live in the village or the country and should be paid for in equal proportion by all. I think that is the American theory. At the same time, Mr Editor, the school privileges in all parts of a town should be made as nearly equal as possible. That is why I believe in the THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 437 township system as it is and has been for many years, employed in neighbor- ing states. The trouble as I understand it with our present township school law is that it is neither one thing nor t'other; neither fish, flesh or fowl or good red herring. It ought to be made one thing or the other. It might be repealed. I believe we would be in line with modern progress if instead we should make it what it ought to be and carry out in good faith the township system as found in other states. According to this system the old districts would be entirely abolished. The school business of the whole town would be put into the control of a board representing the whole town- ship. Schools would be combined and as soon as practicable modern school buildings with all needful appliances and conveniences would be built in one or two well chosen centers outside the village. If the system is carried out as far as it is in many towns free transportation would be furnished to those who need it. In this way school privileges would be equalized as far as possible through the whole township. Something like twenty years ago, Mr Editor, I wrote some articles for the News on the township system. I had come from a state where the old district system had then been long abandoned as antiquated and inefficient. I trust that "An Interested Party" and myself are not the only persons in Chenango county today who favor the new way. New York is now one of the very last of the states to see that the district school system is pre- historic. " The little red schoolhouse " is very poetic and all that but it belongs to the age of the stage coach, the spinning wheel and the tallow dip. Sooner or later it will be superseded by something better. Yours truly February 25, 1918 William A. Trow Sherburne News, February 28, 1918 The Township Education Law Commenting on the attacks upon the Township Education Law the Union expressed the opinion that the real animus behind the criticisms of the law was the alleged increase in the cost of maintaining schools. We further expressed the opinion that this alleged increase was in no sense attributable to the law. When the schools came under the operations of the township law last August there was not a dollar in the town treasuries as a working capital for the school system. The districts of the State which then came under the provisions of the law had been in the habit of carrying a balance from year to year for working capital which in the aggregate amounted to between one and two million dollars throughout the State. The towns were without this working capital and it had to be included in the amount raised by tax for the first year. No figures are available to show just what the amount by which the first year's school tax was thus increased amounted to, but in the cities and villages where such funds have maintained, the records show that the balance from year to year has averaged about 10 per cent of the total tax. It is reasonable to assume therefore that at least 10 per cent of the amount raised under the township law for this first year is due to the necessity of raising this working capital and not in any sense to the provisions of the law. 438 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK A study of school taxes raised this year under the township law shows an increase of about 30 per cent over the last year under the old district system. Ten per cent of this, we have seen, may reasonably be attributed to a necessity which will not exist after the first year. The remaining 20 per cent is easily accounted for. The cost of maintaining schools, like the cost of labor and materials going into any other line of activity, has materially increased during the year. Reports from nearly fifty cities and incorporated villages in New York State show that the increase in the cost of maintaining schools has been from 15 to 30 per cent during the past year and that the average increase throughout the State is not far from 20 per cent. There is no reasonable ground for the statement that the township law has increased the school tax. What it has done is to equalize the school tax throughout the town so that every $100 of assessed valuation in the town pays the same amount of school tax, just as every $100 assessed valuation pays the same highway tax, the same general town and county tax, and the same State tax. Every $100 of assessed valuation in a town pays the same tax for the maintenance of improved highways, although the improved highway passes by very few of the acres so assessed. The result has been to increase the school tax in some portions of the town and decrease in others. The records show that the tax has been decreased in more school districts than it has been increased. It is the people who live in the districts where the increase is effective who are making the noise. The people from the districts where there has been a decrease have not been heard from. We do not believe that, on a sober second thought, the people who are criticizing the new law, will be proud of their precipitate action. They will, we think, come to realize that the school system of the State is one of its important foundation stones, that its maintenance is for the benefit of the whole State and that the proper unit for distributing the expense is the town, just as they have come to recognize the town as the proper unit for every other form of local taxation. There are undoubtedly defects in the township school law. Its most ardent supporters do not claim that it is perfect. But we believe that its principle is sound and that its critics might be much better employed to improve it than in an effort to destroy it and return to an antiquated system which has no merit to recommend it. — Chenango Union, February 28, 19 1 8 The Little Red Schoolhouse The Eagle has often agreed with Governor Whitman and much less often with Senator Elon R. Brown, but on the issue of the " little red school- house," Senator Brown is right and Governor Whitman is wrong. The idea of capitalizing the sentimental interest in the " little red schoolhouse " in order to secure the repeal of the township school law is political buncombe, in this case fitly contracted to " bunk." The interest of the farmer in the " little red schoolhouse " is not because the district school system gives better teaching than the town system, with its opportunity for the farmer's children to pass on from their neighbor- hood school to the town high school, but because the district school system gives more patronage to the political leaders of the school districts and THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 439 enables them to keep their school tax down. There is a teacher to be hired for the district school for every term, and so long as her selection is in the hands of the district committee she becomes an item of patronage which is convenient if not profitable. In the old days there were districts in which every family having a daughter who had put up her back hair " got a whack " at the summer term of the school. In the summer the big boys and girls stayed at home to work, and it was held that any girl whose father had a vote was a good enough to teach the little shavers. The compulsory education law may have destroyed that primitive form of graft, but the power to choose teachers and to buy material when a new schoolhouse is to be built is still attractive to the sort of men who are elected on school district committees. The wiping out of their " home rule " under the town school law is the root of a good deal of the effort to swing the State back to the old and utterly inadequate district system. Half a century ago, when the " little red schoolhouse" was all there was for rural communities, it started many fine men up in the world. But in those days the demand for good teachers for cities and big towns was not so strong, teaching had only begun to be an organized profession and a great many college students and young women of the type who now become high school teachers were glad to get district schools to teach. The only chance to secure that grade of instruction now is through the town system, which gives the good teacher a steady job instead of one held at the will of the local committeeman. The town system has come to stay and Governor Whitman in trying to stop it suggests Mrs Partington and her broom at the seaside. He seldom gets on the wrong side of so sound and progressive a measure as the town school law. — Brooklyn Eagle, February 28, 1918 The Township School Law To the Editor: The township school law seems to have us all going and coming. It has not had a fair trial. As a former trustee for the 10 years previous to the taking effect of this law, and as a member of the present board, I would not repeal it, but amend it. In making the town the unit of taxation it is good and the district that I live in pays one-third of the taxes, and would have had a tax rate this year of four mills. Under the township law it was 6.15. The good point was, that two districts for several years did not keep school, therefore paid no taxes. Now everybody does. The same faults in the township law were in the old law. The rural schools are held down to grade work, the main reason being for lack of taxable prop- erty. When the mortgage tax law passed this district lost $9000 of assessable property another nearby district lost $6000. There went what would make five good farms in assessed valuation or nearly one-half of some school districts. No property should escape school taxes. No one should be in any school office that does not have children in school. There are too many without them, that are put in for the purpose of keeping down taxes, regard- less of any good to the children. I agree with Mr Yager in that the new bill affords no better school facilities. But it is a better business method for running them. If the department had with a little more foresight buried the sanitary closet order until after the war and the State not enforced the 440 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK physical training law in rural schools until it could have been carried out, half the fault with the present bill would disappear. Consolidations should never be forced and no school should be maintained without 10 pupils. High school girls should never be sent out to teach us hayseeds farming until they know that twisting a cow's tail never milked a cow, none but normal graduates with agriculture training at Cornell or some other place should be allowed to teach in rural schools. By my experience in serving in the regulars during the Spanish war, I know that physical training is a great thing for anybody. The way it is done in Richfield is by proxy. Our district superintendent hired the physical training teacher and schools had been going five weeks before we knew it, and we were asked to pay one month's salary before contract was signed. Since then the teachers in this town have each received one letter per month and each school has been visited twice by the teacher, during the 20 weeks of school. The parents are asked to sign a card stating their children have put in three hours of physical activity at home during each week. The State will pay one-half of this and the town one-half. Why not furnish each teacher in town with some book upon physical training and save this graft or unearned salary? The best way is to oblige every rural teacher to learn it and not allow them to teach until they do, in the meantime suspend the law. If the State would select the central school district of each town and support it to the extent that taxes would not be or amount to confiscation obliging such school to teach agriculture and high school work (at least two years high school), would reduce the rural schools by one-half in less than 10 years. Unless something like this is done to stay the flow from the rural districts to our industrial centers, and where proper schools are maintained, you will all pay higher and higher for what is needed to sustain life and any law like the old or present, until it contains something like the above, will not be popular. Richfield, N. Y. Floyd B. Palmer — Richfield Spa Mercury, March 1918 The Rural School Question Editor Post Express: This is no time to waste money. We have paid twice and three times as much for our schools this year. They are no better than before. We all know of injustice, unfairness, poor teachers, poor schools, the time of the children wasted, the money of the parents wasted. We all know what we don't want. We have talked, we have written letters, we have criticised. Things are not right, more money spent, no results. This is extravagance, inefficiency or graft. The schools are in a mess. Now we will have to go to work to get them out. We must decide what we want, then go ahead and get it. Everything is possible where the stake is the welfare and future happiness of our dearest possession, — our children. 1. We want equal educational opportunity for every child in New York state, whether he live on a farm, in a town or in a city. We want equal educational opportunity. Fifty years ago we were a homogeneous people with agriculture as the basis of our economic life. City and country were practically on an equality, THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 441 socially and economically. The educational opportunities of the city child and the country child were equal. With the introduction of machinery, the building of large factories and industrial enterprises, the wealth became centralized in the cities. There was a corresponding period of depression in the country. The country school has remained what is was because better schools mean more money. The cities had improved, the money had im- proved their schools until now the opportunities for education are very unequal, a most undemocratic condition. Fifty-eight and five-tenths per cent, of the children between 6 and 20 years of age in the United States live in the country, and 41 per cent, of the adults. So less than half of the people are asked to educate more than half of the children. The percentage of illiteracy in the country is just double that in the city. And 50 per cent, of the country children never get beyond their own districts. The solution of the problem how to give to every child in the state equal educational opportunity, is to make the state the unit of education; not dis- tricts, nor townships, nor counties but the state. All the property in the state, including city property, should be taxed for the support of every school in the state, a uniform tax rate. There should be a state department of suffi- cient strength to direct and unify the educational development in the state and entrusted with the control of all the school funds. This would mean that every school, wherever located, would be a state school. There would be one standard for all in buildings, equipment and teaching force. This would distribute the corporate and other wealth now centered in the cities, over other territory where it is so sadly needed. A standardization in education is not a new idea in our state. For many years we have had the Regents' examinations, which insure a standardization of results, but not of the means by which these results are attained. Why should the wealth of the cities help support the schools in the country? First, because it costs more to educate a child in the country. In Michi- gan in 1902, in schools of less than six pupils the cost per pupil was $99.50; in schools of less than fifteen pupils it was $41.50, and in the cities it was only $19.50. Second, because the country feeds the city. A recent report shows that 45,000,000 producers are feeding 90,000,000 consumers. It shows that at the present rate and without a war, in 20 years from now we won't be raising enough wheat for our own consumption. Food will win the war. Don't waste it. Food will win the war. Help raise it. Food, food, more food. The city people must have food. The farmer wants his children educated. The successful farmer can afford to move to the city in order that his children may be well-educated. But the city can't afford to have him leave the farm because he is the man who can make two blades of wheat grow where one grew before. There are 350,000 teachers in the rural schools of the United States. Of these 68,000 have no professional training whatever, and only 1,100 are col- lege or normal school graduates. Would this be tolerated in the cities? Our 442 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Normal schools are State schools for the benefit of all. Are these schools training girls to teach in the country? Are they trying to create an interest in rural work? We want our children in the country to have at least the medical care received by children in the city schools. A child is an asset to the nation only when he has health, trained ability and a living desire to serve the state. Is the health of our children being conserved when they are compelled to assemble in a school building and are not protected against infectious and communicable diseases? The discrimination against the health of country children has gone on long enough. Not to protect them is a crime. We want our schools out of politics. One of the greatest obstacles to rural school progress is partisan politics and factional favoritism. A noted educator has said: " The only remedy for such evils is creation of public sentiment that will demand that all public school officers make merit the determining force in the selection of teachers, and public economy their motto in the administra- tion of public school funds. In the management of public schools all dis- tinctions, social, political and religious should be banished, all differences hushed. This management should recognize neither party nor church creed, condition nor station, but it should be so administered that its bounties and benefits will fall in equal measure upon all." Pultneyville, N. Y ., March I, igi8 Florence Forbes Cornwall — Rochester Post Express, March 2, 1918 Favor School Law as Forward Step Downsville, N. Y ., February 26, 1918 Editor Reporter: I did not intend to say anything for publication relative to the township school law. I have refrained from doing so by main strength. But I am not willing to allow the statements of my good friend, A. P. Cook, of Cooks Falls, as published in last week's Reporter, to go unanswered because they relate to the acts of the town board of education of which I am a member, and his statements are based upon a misunderstanding of the law or a mis- apprehension of the facts, or both. The desks removed from the school house at Cooks Falls for use in the new department recently organized at Horton, have not been appropriated upon the assumption that the town owns them under the law. It does not. They are the property of the Cooks Falls district and will continue to be until appraised and paid for. The board has had occasion in other instances to remove certain school furniture from one district where it was not needed to another district where it was needed, but an account has been kept, and all such articles of property will be credited to the district owning the same or returned to the owners and rental paid for the use of the same. Section 353 of this township school law provides that an appraisal of all THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 443 school properties in the several districts shall be made within one year from the time the law went into effect, and the value thereof apportioned among the taxpayers of each district in the ratio of their several assess- ments, and certificates of credit issued and delivered to each taxpayer, which will be paid in the manner provided by the law, and can be used and cashed at a bank in the same manner as a town audit. This appraisal would have been made last fall except for the fact that opposition to the law developed among certain farmers whose taxes had been raised by equalizing the school taxes and making the town the unit of taxation instead of the school district. Not knowing what would be the fate of the law this winter it was deemed advisable to defer the appraisal of school properties throughout the state until spring. If the law is not repealed the properties will be appraised this spring. If it is repealed the school furniture taken from various districts will be returned to the districts owning the same and the rental value thereof paid. This is all I expected to say, but having the paper in my typewriter I would like to finish out this sheet if I will not be taking too much of your valuable space. I would like to state first that because I happen to be a member of the school board and privileged to work in that capacity for nothing and board myself, I am not biased in favor of the law, but think I can judge of it fairly upon the merits. This law has increased my real estate school tax seventy per cent, so it does not work to my financial advantage, but it does square with my sense of justice. I think I should be required to pay for the cause of public education in the town where my property is located at the exact rate which the other taxpayers in the town pay. For the past thirty years I have taken a lively interest in the education of children in the public schools, as a school teacher, as a school commissioner, and as a member of our village school board, and have kept in touch with the school affairs of this state, and to some extent in some other states. Feeling this interest I have read all that has been published in adverse criticism of the law in our county papers, and also many articles in papers published in the cities, and I am frank to say and candid in saying it, that there is a very great amount of misinformation abroad concerning the provisions of this law. In nearly every article which I have seen written in opposition to this law, its provisions are misconstrued or misstated. What is needed in refer- ence to this law is not its repeal, but the enlightenment of the public as to its provisions. Take for example the three letters published in last week's Reporter, not that I desire to criticise the writers, for any other letters writ- ten in opposition to the law which have come to my attention would do as well. The complaint of Mr Misler and Mr Downer is that the law is to blame for taking their children away from Burnwood or Elk Brook and conveying them to a school many miles away through zero weather, etc. Now. as a matter fact neither the school at Burnwood nor 1 at Elk Brook has been closed, and no children conveyed from either district, and there is not the remotest probability of any such event happening. There is no pro- vision in the law requiring the closing of any district school and the trans- portation of the children to distant places. In fact the law provides in the very first section that no district shall be consolidated with another district without the approval of a majority of the voters of both districts. And so it goes. The same sort of criticism runs through all the letters I have read. 444 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK They take some old clothes of fiction and stuff them with their imagination and set up this scarecrow and call it the real thing and proceed to throw stones at it. If those disposed to condemn the law would take the law itself and read it, and not base their judgment upon what somebody else says about it, and compare it with the law as it existed before the township amendment, there would be much less opposition to the law. Educators have fought and bled and died for this law. It is the result of the well considered and mature judgment of men and women of wide knowledge and experience in rural education, who have had the advantage of understanding the practical work- ings of township school laws in other states where the plan has been worked out and tried out and succeeded. In those states they have seen the same opposition when the law was first put in force, that they now see in this state, and they have also seen that opposition fade away and after a few years the most violent critics became its firm supporters. And that is what would happen in this state if the repeal of the law could be deferred for a year or two and give time for a fair trial. It would seem that a law thus conceived and worked out in the cause of education in rural districts, and which has the support of the education department, regents of the university, district superintendents, school teach- ers, and all educational associations, ought to receive respectful and sym- pathetic consideration from those who have made no special study of thos« matters. There is a lot of camouflage used to hide the real cause of the opposition to this law. The foundation of all the opposition that has arisen may be found in the fact that the big farmer who assumes to speak for farmers generally, and who lives at or near the rich and valuable portions of the town where taxable values are high and where the railroads and cor- porations are located, have been compelled under this township law to pay his just and equitable portion of taxes for the support of schools in his town, and by thus equalizing the tax rate over the town, his taxes have been materially increased over what they were under the district plan. The fact that the small farmer living on cheaper lands and remote from creameries and village has had his tax lowered proportionately does not concern the big fellow. It is the big farmer who is doing the kicking. It is he who attends farmers' gathering and does the talking. It is he who talks about preserving the little red school house, which by the way is not in his school district, but is situated in the back district where the farmer has been paying under the district plan as high as $60 school tax on a thousand dollars assess- ment, while the farmer who is now assuming to speak in his interest has been paying as low as $8 on a thousand. Under the present law they both pay about $15 on a thousand. It must not be supposed that all who have had their taxes thus increased are opposed to "the law; it is only a portion of such, and a small portion at that, but a very noisy portion. They are ashamed to admit the real cause of their opposition, and are assuming to base their opposition on other grounds, and even assigning provisions to the law which are not in the law at all. Most of what we hear against the law is said in good faith, but based upon what somebody says about the law and not upon the law itself. Governor Whitman approved the township law one year ago ; in his annual message last fall he asked that the law be amended ; later in a special message THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 445 he demanded its repeal. Speaker Sweet says that the Governor obtained from him in confidence what he and the other politicians had agreed upon with reference to this law, and then incorporated this in his special message. In other words the Governor stole Speaker Sweet's thunder, and the Speaker did not like it as he had notions of running for Governor himself next fall and he wanted to win the favor of the farmers by acceding to their wishes in respect to the school law. The politicians at Albany are not at all concerned about the rural school law. With them it is anything to get back into the good opinion of the farmer in order to get his vote next fall. So the politicians have intro- duced a rural school bill which repeals the present township law and enacts another law in its place, and this new bill has been scattered broadcast among the farmers and farmers' organizations to ascertain if it suits them. This bill was drawn without consultation of the education department or the regents of the university or any other educational body. Even the chair- man of the Assembly committee on public education refused to introduce the bill, and the one who did introduce it is evidently unwilling to father it as he requires the statement in the heading that he introduces it " by request." About two-thirds of this bill is copied verbatim from the present township law. Some of the new matter cannot be understood and would lead to confusion if enacted into law. Some of its provisions are unjust and will greatly aggravate the " evil " it assumes to remedy. If this bill is enacted into law, the fellow who is now kicking against the present law will find that he has jumped out of the frying pan into the fire. I don't know that the politicians who drew this bill are to be much blamed. They were called upon to do the impossible thing. They undertook to pro- vide a remedy for an evil that was not contained in the township law at all, but resided only in the imagination of those who were opposing the law. Allow me to make just one comparison between the present law and the proposed law drawn to correct what they call an injustice in the present law. And in doing this I will take the matter alluded to by Mr Cook in his letter above referred to, and make the comparison concrete, so no one will fail to understand what I mean. Mr Cook said that Cooks Falls has a school house costing $2,500, well equipped, and he feels that it is unjust to ask the taxpayers at Cooks Falls who have already been taxed to build and equip their own school house, to pay their portion of the tax to build a new school house in another part of the town from which the Cooks Falls people can never receive any benefit. I will assume that the valuation of all the tax- able property in the town is one million dollars; that the value of the Cooks Falls school house and equipment is $2,000; that the assessed valuation of the property in the Cooks Falls district is one hundred thousand dollars, and that Mr Cook's property in Cooks Falls is assessed at $1,000. Under the present law when the school properties are appraised and certificates of credit issued to the taxpayers in the several school districts as provided in the section above referred to, Mr Cook will receive $20 as his proportion of the value of the school property in his district. Pepacton, ten miles away, needs a two room school house at a cost of $2,000. This amount will be assessed on the whole town and Mr Cook will pay as his proportion the sum of $2. That is the way the matter works out under the present law. 446 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Now how does this proposed law meet the situation? It would lay the tax on the whole town to build the school house at Pepacton, except the Downs- ville district, and deducting the valuation of the property in the Downs- ville district, Mr. Cook's taxes would he $2.50, and he would have no credit whatever on account of the valuable school property in Cooks Falls. Under the present law every district receives full credit for its school properties, so that each district is placed upon an even footing. Under the proposed law the district having valuable school properties is reduced to the same level as the one having none at all. There are other provisions of the proposed law that " remedy " the evils of the present law in the same fashion. All of which proves the truth of the adage, that a shoemaker should stick to his last. It is unfortunate that we have so many politicians at Albany and so few statesmen. Allow me to quote the words of Robert G. Ingersoll in his great tribute to Roscoe Conkling delivered before the legislature at Albany. "The politician hastens to agree with the majority, insists that their prejudice is patriotism, that their ignorance is wisdom; not that he loves them, but because he loves himself. The statesman points out the mistakes of the multitude, enlightens and enlarges their minds and educates the conscience, not because he loves himself, but because he loves and serves the right." If those who are running affairs at Albany were statesmen instead o£ politicians, instead of yielding to the behest of those who do not under- stand the law, they would enlighten them concerning it and point out the mistakes of the opponents of the law and disclose its merits. Then prac- tically all opposition would cease. In every farmers' gathering in this State where the township law has been discussed, and opportunity has been given to some educator to explain and interpret the law, opposition has been overcome. One instance of this was at the recent meeting of the dele- gates of the state federation of farm bureaus at Ithaca representing a membership of 50,000 farmers, where Professor Work of Cornell Univer- sity explained the merits of the law, and answered every objection so satis- factorily that the report says that Mr Work made a defense of the law, which carried 1,000 persons who heard it with him. Only yesterday the representatives of the New York State Woman Suffrage party, who claim a membership of 1,000,000, issued a statement strongly opposing the repeal of the township school law, and declared that its repeal "will be little short of a calamity." The politicians who have started out to wreck the rural schools in order to promote their own political fortunes, may find that they have also wrecked their political fortunes. E. E. Conlon Delhi N. Y., Feb. 26, 1918 Editor Reporter: In the outcry against the present system of school maintenance and gov- ernment, raised in many parts, the objection heard oftenest and urged with the greatest vehemence, is that it has greatly increased the tax on property without contributing to the comfort or efficiency of the schools. The fact that an increase in taxation was inevitable under any system is entirely lost sight of. To bring this act clearly to the attention of the people, as briefly as possible is the purpose of this article. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 447 Records in my office, compiled from the annual reports submitted by the trustees whose terms of office expired July 31, 1917, show that the aggre- gate amount raised by the towns forming the third supervisory district, excluding the high school districts of Delhi and Walton, during the school year 1916-17, was $15,602.04, divided among the towns composing the dis- trict as follows: Delhi, $4,016.01; Hamden, $4,778.61; Walton, $6,807.42. As a matter of interest, I may add that the Delhi high school district alone raised during the same year $13,292.50 and the Walton high school district alone raised $24,967.69 or $9,365.65 more than all the common school dis- tricts of the three towns raised in the same year. The registration of Walton high school last year was 768; the registration in all the com- mon schools in the three towns was 883. In other words, Walton high school district expended $32.50 for each pupil enrolled in its school while the average expenditures in the common schools of the supervisory district was but $17.65. A whole volume of commentary is wrapped up in that difference. The new town boards of education began the exercise of their duties on August I, 1917. They adopted budgets for the current school year aggre- gating $22,055.52, an apparent increase of $6,453.48. This aggregate budget is divided among the towns of the supervisory district as follows : Delhi, $7,000; Hamden, $6,755; Walton, $8,300.52. These sums were levied upon the taxable property of the towns. I intimated at the outset that an increase in taxation was inevitable under any system. Prior to the enactment of the township law, the state legis- lature had provided that all of the old outside toilets should be abol- ished and toilets installed inside of the school buildings. This provision is to be carried into effect on or before September 1, 1918. To meet this requirement, the several boards included in the budgets adopted the sum of $3,200, or approximately one-half of the total increase in expenditure. It is not expected that this $3,200 will complete the required installation of inside toilets and in all probability an additional appropriation will have to be made for this purpose. Another enactment of the state legislature previous to the passage of the township law, is the law providing for physical training in all of the schools of the state, public or private. Last year, the cost of this training to the common school districts of the supervisory district was $389; this year it will be approximately $720, or an increase of $331. Last year the aggregate amount of wages paid to the teachers of the supervisory district was $10,628.23. This year there will be paid according to contract for teachers' wages, $12,519.56, or an increase of $1,891.39. These wage items do not take into account the public money received from the state, but are the actual amounts levied upon the property of the dis- tricts ; and this increase would have been more than $1,000 greater than it is but for the fact that these town boards have been able to temporarily eliminate five schools by distributing the pupils of those schools among neighboring districts, thereby saving the cost of maintenance in large meas- ure, and affording the pupils better school advantages than they could otherwise have enjoyed. It must be remembered that nearly all of the teachers engaged at the present time were tentatively contracted with by the trustees who were 448 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK elected at the annual school meeting held last May, the new boards merely- ratifying the agreements made then, consequently the township law is in nowise responsible for this increase. A raise in teachers' wages was abso- lutely necessary and a still further raise will be necessary if our best teachers are not to be diverted to occupations that offer more attractive salaries. Salaries in other occupations have advanced much more rapidly of late than teachers' wages. Another item of actual increase that cannot be charged against the township law is the amount of money that was left in the hands of the sev- eral school collectors on July 31, 1917, the last day of the district system. The aggregate of the sums in the hands of the fifty-five collectors in the three towns was $1,691.77. The new town boards were obliged to credit the districts with these several amovints and to start with an absolutely clean sheet, whereas the districts would have had these amounts as a capital asset. It will readily be seen that these four items of increase, the $3,200 for inside toilets, the $331 for physical training, the $1,891.39 increase in wages and the $1,691.77 virtually paid back to the districts, wipes out the $6,453.48 added to the tax burden of the supervisory district and leaves a margin of $660.68 to the credit of the more efficient management of the new town boards. Then add to this margin of credit the further facts that these boards have provided more generously for school libraries ; for repairs ; for janitor service and for contingent expenses than has ever been done before, and the statement I made before the county grange last year, and also in the public prints about the same time, that " The township law stands for increased efficiency at relatively decreased cost," is amply justified. Taxes are higher to be sure; the aggregate of taxes would have been higher still under the old system. They will be still higher for some years to come under any system than they are now. School facilities in very many places are wholly inadequate to present day needs. Many build- ings must be extensively repaired or replaced. School grounds must be enlarged and equipped. Transportation facilities must in some sections be provided for and instructional equipment must in almost every place be largely increased. Facilities that sufficed a half century ago are wholly inadequate now. The question is frequently asked me, " Why have not some of these requirements been provided for during recent years?" The question is a perfectly proper one and perhaps this is the proper time and place to answer it for the benefit of all. I have been in this office six years. When I entered upon its duties, it was with an enthusiastic determination to improve rural school conditions, as some sections know. Four years ago the township bill was introduced into the state legislature; that and each suc- ceeding legislature struggled with the problem until the present law was enacted a little less than one year ago. As I studied the various bills that were introduced and became aware of the fact that none of them made provision for the reimbursement of districts that had made expen- sive repairs, it required no especial keenness of perception to see that a double burden would inevitably fall upon those districts if the bill should become a law. That they would not only have paid for their own improve- ments, but would also have to help pay for the improvements of other THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 449 districts. It seemed but the. most ordinary business sense to go slow, and for the past three years I have gone slow. If that be a matter for criti- cism I must abide it. Still there have been some improvements : two entirely new school buildings, not counting the ones erected by high school districts ; several repaired from the foundation up ; fourteen combination out buildings (woodhouse and toilet). Six years ago the children in several of the districts that came under my supervision were condemned to the old wooden benches ; every one of these, except in district 15, Walton, has given place to new iron seats and desks. I found a number of schools without a semblance of a school library; now the smallest library in the supervisory district has thirty-four volumes and there are but seven districts in the three towns that have less than fifty volumes and nineteen of the fifty-five districts have more than one hundred volumes each. Then but very few schools had any- thing better in the way of blackboards than the old greasy wooden ones; now hundreds of square feet of slate boards are in use. Bookcases, wall clocks, water jars, wash basins, soap and towels and reputable wall pic- tures and many other conveniences and comforts before almost unheard of are now to be found in most of the schools. All of the schools have been provided with the syllabus prepared by the state and in addition to that with the monthly syllabus outlines prepared by the district superintendents of Delaware, Otsego and Schoharie counties, an invaluable aid to the work of the teacher. The grade work is much more closely followed and an increasing number of grade certificates is sent out from this office each year. And still more gratifying, perhaps, than all else, is the fact that each succeeding year sees a greater number of regents' preliminary certificates earned in the rural schools. Another objection that is very frequently and very persistently urged against the township law is, that it is going to obliterate the school districts as they have existed heretofore and consolidate them into one or more central schools to which the children of the outlying territory must be transported. How this belief originated, or why it continues to exist, is difficult to understand; nothing can be further from the actual facts than this belief. I am sure that those who constantly reiterate it have never even read the present law. The very first paragraph of the township law reads as follows : Section 330. School districts continued. Each school district in the state is hereby continued as such district exists at the time this act goes into effect or until modified as provided in this chapter. No order consolidating two or more school districts shall be effective until such order is approved by a majority vote of the town board of education of the town or towns in which such districts are located, and thereafter approved by a majority vote of the qualified electors of each district present and voting at a meeting of the districts consolidated by said order. Those who are fearful of consolidation should be the very last to ask for the repeal of this law and a return to the former law. Let us briefly compare the procedure in consolidation under the old and the new laws. Before the adoption of the township system, a district superintendent, and before his day a school commissioner, could make an order consolidating IS 450 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK two or more school districts. He did not have to consult the trustees of the districts, nor the people of the districts ; he simply abolished the old districts and made a new one. The only redress the people had if they did not like it was the doubtful expedient of an appeal to the Education Department at Albany. The method of consolidation under the present law is as follows : The district superintendent may make an order consoli- dating two or more school districts ; that order must then be approved by the town board of education and then it must be submitted to the people of the affected districts and voted upon by them. If either the town board of education, or the people of either district refuses to vote in favor of the consolidation, the order of the district superintendent be- comes null and void. How, in the name of common sense, is this pro- cedure subversive of the principle of home rule? There are two chances now to defeat consolidation without an appeal to Albany and there was absolutely no chance to do so under the old law. I have hoped and worked for the enactment of the township law; I believe in it ; it has not yet had a chance to demonstrate its greater effi- ciency. There has had to be some experimenting and there have been some mistakes made; it would be strange indeed if there were none in the inauguration of any new system. Very many of the other states have dis- carded the district system and adopted the township system and not a single one has ever gone back to the district system. I hope our great Empire State will not be the first to take a retrograde step in this matter. Edward O. Harkness Dist. Supt. — Walton Reporter, March 2, igi8 More About Township Law Editor of the Enterprise: In rebuttal to Mrs Merritt's testimony regarding the Wadsworth's, I wish to state that I am a regular subscriber and reader of two daily news- papers, one Republican and one politically independent; that I am more than an occasional reader of several others, both Democratic, Republican and Socialist ; that I am also a reader of the Rural New Yorker; that several papers which I have read, printed the report that United States Senator Wadsworth had sued his home town, Caledonia, in Livingston county, because his school taxes were excessive and unconstitutional ; that the Rural New Yorker printed the same report in its editorial columns and commented on it in its usual demagogic style, and that Mrs Merritt in one of her letters on the township school law and school taxation used these words : "We will take the case of our United States senator, who is also a real farmer, James W. Wadsworth, who at this time is suing his own town for excessive school taxation, employing the best legal advice obtainable — that of Elihu Root." But it is really immaterial whether the senator or the senator's father proves an alibi ; the party which the Wadsworth's represent has gone on record as an enemy to the improvement of rural schools. " To my certain knowledge," writes Mrs Merritt, "there has not been left standing in my town of Guilderland a school building answering to THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 451 anything like the description you have given of yours." And again : " Edu- cation we must and intend to have and, as in the past, the best obtainable, but we do not intend to have a group of city theorists, and a few slackers from our own communities tell us how, when and where we are to obtain these things for our children. . . ." These criticisms of Mrs Merritt's I have answered at some length and in a general way, both in the Union-Star and in the Knickerbocker Press. But they have been answered tersely by different members of boards of educa- tion in Albany county who have congratulated me on the stand which I have taken for the improvement of rural schools. Here is a quotation from a letter to me written by a board member, dated March 6 : "I have read your articles in the Knickerbocker Press and I wish to thank you for some of your statements. I have visited most of the schools in our town and know the conditions as they are ; some of the schools have been very much neglected." Here is one from another member dated March 12 : "I wish to congratulate you upon your stand for the township school law. From my experience as a member of the board I find the chief objectors to it are those who are most able to pay and nine-tenths of them have no children in school." These letters vouch for the neglect which I have censured and tend to prove that the violent minority in the rural districts which we have antago- nized is composed largely of the exponents of race suicide or birth-control. Delanson, R. D. 3, March 20, 19 18 Will W. Christman — Altamont Enterprise, March 2, 1918 Township School Law As so many objections to the so-called Township School Law have appeared in the agricultural papers during the last few months, nearly all of which seems to come from those who are apparently hurt by the law, I ask space for a few arguments from the other side. Section 331 of the law provides that a Union Free School district with a population of 1,500 is a separate school unit, therefore the extra expense of such school cannot be considered in the so-called extra expense of the town unit. This excludes nearly all of the village schools from consideration under this law. Second: One of the best features of the law is that providing for an equalization of taxes, for why should District No. 1, with an equal or greater number of children and paying the same amount for teacher, fuel, janitor etc., as District No. 2, adjoining, pay a tax four or five times as great simply because the property in District No. 1 is less in value than in No. 2. My home town contains 17 school districts. During 1916 and for several years preceding one district with only three or four children contracted with another district to take the children for fifty dollars per year; the balance of the two hundred dollars received from the state was given to the party who conveyed the children and the mortgage tax apportioned on the basis of attendance and a penny collection taken at the annual school meeting paid the insurance. Thus this District containing some railroad property and one or two summer homes, for several years escaped tax- ation for school purposes while a district within three miles with seven 452 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK or eight children paid a tax of from $2.25 to $2.60 per hundred dollars valuation. This is not a wild or imaginary statement, but is a matter of record in the Education Department at Albany. In 191 6 the tax rates ranged from 35 cents to $2.30 per hundred in a town 7 miles by 9. Under the present law the uniform rate is $1.00. As to the increased expense, the amount raised in 1916 was $5,700.45, in 1917, $6,311.84. Of this difference of $611, $243 is for Physical Instructor, $150 for Medical Inspection, form- erly paid for the most part by the parents, and an appropriation of $75 for Truant Officer which was formerly a town charge and paid for by taxes levied although under another name. These are all items that have no con- nection with the new law. The balance includes premium on collectors and treasurers' bonds. The figures for the budget were taken from estimates furnished by trustees at the School meetings last May and in most cases were approved by the voters of the several districts at that time. There- fore there is at least one Board that cannot be charged with reckless extravagance with the people's money. As to consolidation of Districts and the passing of the "Little Red School House," if the writers of the opposition would read the law they would find that they are more fully pro- tected than under the old law, as the present law provides for approval by the Board and majority vote by each District affected before such consolida- tion can take place. It would therefore seem that if proper care is used in the selection of the members of the Board (and there is little chance of getting persons who are not thoroughly interested in schools to serve with- out pay), there is nothing to fear from this source. There is, of course, as in all new laws, much chance for improvement in this one but if the people who are benefitted will make as much noise as those we have heard from there is no real danger of its repeal. I might say that after a careful count of the several pieces assessed in this town, 294 show an increase and 511 a decrease in the amount paid in taxes under the present system as compared with 1916. Whether this applies to all localities I am not in a position to say, but from my investigation am led to believe that a large majority are benefitted, and believe after the law is understood and is fairly in operation it will give satisfaction. I would be glad to hear from others who favor the law. Respectfully W. G. Robinson Greenfield Center — Saratoga Sun, March 4, 1918 The Township School Law To the Editor of the Knickerbocker Press: Sir: When we were boys an old uncle used occasionally to visit us. It seems but yesterday although it was more than thirty-odd years ago when he came and slept in the bed opposite ours in the big bedroom upstairs. Uncle Dan was a man of methodical habits and vigorous speech. One night one of us rose silently while he slept and with malice prepense removed his pants from the chairback, where he invariably hung them before retiring and substituted a pair of our own which were several sizes THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 453 smaller. Uncle Dan was an early riser, and we too on this occasion were alert, but feigning slumber when he arose. I well remember the white night-capped head moving about in the dim morning twilight, the stertorous, short breaths while he struggled with those pants, the final futile attempt to adjust them to his rotund waist, then the quick suspicious scrutiny and the climax when he exclaimed: "If I had a yaller dog that didn't know more than them boys, I'd shoot him — I would ! " I was reminded of this incident by those gentlemen of the present Legis- lature who by pretext or camouflage propose to repeal the township school law and re-enact the old district trustee system, to force upon the people an educational system long since out-grown, as appropriate and useful to us of today as those substituted pants were to our estimable uncle. To carry the analogy further I promise for the progressive parents of the State that when these gentlemen arise for reelection that they will have arrived at the end of their political fortunes and for the same reason that fate overtook us for our juvenile delinquency, instead of Uncle Dan's hypothetical yellow dog. It may not be amiss to restate two of the reasons why I favor the town- ship school law and the consolidation of rural schools. One reason is that those of my children who are from eight to fourteen years of age must walk two miles daily to attend a school where no systematic peda- gogical method is maintained, in a building insufficiently heated, improperly ventilated and lighted and generally neglected; and where the sewage dis- posal is a threat to health and disgraceful to the State which tolerates it. Another reason is that two of my children have each walked approximately 2,400 miles and ridden 11,200 on the cars in taking a four-year course at the Altamont high school. This you will observe makes a total of 27,200 miles, considerably more than the circumference of the globe, traveled in securing their education. Delanson, March 1 Will W. Christman — Albany Knickerbocker Press, March 5, 1918 Township School Law The following is a copy of a letter written by F. G. Wadsworth, Y. M. C. A. educational secretary, and an authority on educational matters through his connection with the Massachusetts State Board of Education : Hon. DeWitt Talmage, Assembly Chamber, Albany, N. Y.: My Dear Mr Talmage: In view of the discussion relative to the school district law and the activities of certain agencies looking toward the repeal of the law I am taking the liberty of writing to you to express my opinion regarding the law in question. My experience as a Superintendent of Schools in Maine and as agent for the Massachusetts State Board of Education has convinced me that the law as it now stands on the statute books, while not perfect, is a step in the direction of better schools for the rural communities of New York State. I have been located here on Long Island since August 191 7 in the capacity of Educational Secretary for the Nassau-Suffolk Counties Y. M. C. A. During this time I have had an opportunity to observe the workings of the 454 TIIE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK township law, also to hear the criticisms of farmers and others who favored the repeal of the law and I am of the opinion that their attitude is not due to any one cause hut to a combination of causes. The new law is criticised (i) because the tax rate has been increased; (2) because there have been few, if any immediate improvements in instruction; (3) because there has been no apparent increase in the scope of educational opportunities ; (4) because the larger administration unit does not provide for adequate representation in the Board of Directors. These criticisms are practically the same as were made in the state of Massachusetts when the township law was under consideration there. In the practical operation of the law over a term of years, however, these criticisms will lose force. The law as it now stands will no doubt need to be modified from time to time. The fundamental principal, however, of "taxing wealth where it is for the education of children where they are " to the end that a more equal educational opportunity may be provided throughout the commonwealth, is absolutely sound. Provisions should be made whereby (1) the work of the teachers in the rural communities may be more closely supervised; (2) systematic training of teachers in service may be carried on; (3) the enlistment of the interest of school masters may be obtained, through frequent round table conferences held in numerous centers throughout the State, in the improvement of school organization and administration. I trust that this statement of conditions as they appear to me may be of service to you. Assuring you of my desire to cooperate in any way possible in the pro- motion of a sound educational program, I remain Sincerely yours, F. G. Wadsworth — Greenport Watchman, March 9, 1918 The Agricultural Press and the Township School Law To the Editor of the Knickerbocker Press: Sir: While the daily press, the Legislature and farmers generally are discussing the township school law it may not be amiss for a farmer to analyze and perhaps to criticize in a friendly way the editorial opinion of the agricultural press. A monthly farm periodical, having, I think, a larger circulation in this State than any other agricultural publication, is printed in an adjoining state where a township school law has been operative for many yenrs. This magazine has refrained from venturing an opinion, editorial or other- wise, on the subject. It is apparently satisfied with the school law of its own and of the Empire State and is adverse to conserving anybody's chestnuts or fanning the political fire of any faction or party. It has been asked why the two largest agricultural weeklies circulated in the State are publishing malignant contributions and v : olent editorials denouncing the township school law and demanding its immediate repeal. I think that the question can be easily answered. In the first of these maga- zines even' contributed or editorial column on this subject might well be W. W. Christman An advocate of the township law THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 455 headed " Political Advertising," and carry a picture of Governor Charles S, Whitman at the top. The paper is printed in another adjoining state where a town school law has long been operative. Not one word condemning their own law has escaped them, but the editors have discharged their flammen- werfers indiscriminately at every public defender of the New York law. The reason for this remarkable editorial diplomacy is obvious. They expect to get subscribers where Governor Whitman gets votes. Their competitor for the affections of the farmers of the Empire State is also a weekly magazine and published in New York. It is defendant in a $250,000 libel suit brought by the rival publishing company which claims to have been injured to that extent. * * * Their contributed and editorial condemnation of the township school law has been more vitriolic than any I have read, but their columns of disapprobation, which might also be designated " Political Advertising," should carry a composite picture of United States Senator Tames W. Wadsworth and Mr. Elihu Root. But this is really a camouflage to the swelling ambition of its publisher and associate editor. One of its editors resides on a farm in still another adjoining state where a town school law is also operative and which he has approved editorially. Its associate editor and publisher is a resident of New York and was not long ago appointed to an important office from which he was summarily removed. * * * To the rural readers of The Knickerbocker Press who still retain two opposing wisdom teeth I recommend the following sentence which I quote from this editor's comment on the township school law hearing at Albany on February 27 : " Governor Whitman signed the township school law last year, but since the demand for its repeal became so pronounced he char- acteristically abandoned it and is now courting credit by opposition to it." Personally I would not object if these gentlemen stopped the clock while they fought to a finish, but when they propose to turn the hands back for half a century I offer strenuous objections. The gayety of their readers has been constantly augmented for the last two years by the recriminations which have been flung back and forth by the rival and belligerent editors whom I have mentioned. Were their maga- zines published in the same city personal encounters would possibly result. But I believe that the editorial opinion of those who shout " felon " or scream " liar " should be discounted in advance of its publication. Delanson, March 13 Will W. Christman — Albany Knickerbocker Press, March 75, 1918 Repeal of School Law It is worth noting by the people whose ideals are those of civilization that in the Assembly Wednesday there was just one Republican that had the pluck to vote against the repeal of the township school law. The rest of the negative vote was cast by Democrats and Socialists. The bulk of the vote for repeal was Republican. Does such a contrast mean anything? Unfortunately there are men in all parties that will " play politics," yield to what they know to be unreasoning clamor if they think there is personal or party advantage in so doing. The judicious and conscientious voter in deciding where his support should go has to consider in which party this 456 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK evil tendency is most controlling. How can he have any doubt after the exhibitions this Legislature is making? Even the man whose name the law bears joined in the vote for repeal in confessed obedience to clamor. Democratic Leader Donohue did not misstate the fact at all when he said: I have waited for a good and sufficient reason to be advanced why this law should be repealed, but in place of a reason comes a tirade of abuse against the State education department officials. The nearest approach to a reason was that given by Assemblyman Martin, of Oneida, when he said: When this law was enacted a rural school teacher that I know who had been getting $9.50 a week resigned and was later hired at $11.50 a week. She taught in the same way, in the same schoolhouse, from the same books. That is, her wage was raised a trifle over 21 per cent. How does that compare with the addition to what she has to spend to live, with all other wage increases, with the increases the farmers are getting for what they sell? It ought to be a matter of shame to every true man of New York that such stuff can be put forth on its representative floor. Yet in such just facts as this, in surpluses or necessary revenues provided by new taxation to take the place of those returned to taxpayers of con- solidated districts, and in the cost of the provision of sorely needed better schools has been the basis of all the howling that we have been hearing. Not a man has even attempted to show any other source of " increased taxes." Of course, talk like that of Assemblyman McCue that the township law violates the home rule principle was the sheerest nonsense. It ought to violate it in those districts that cannot or will not provide proper educa- tion for their children and those that used to pay no taxes whatever for that purpose, farming out the work on State money received. But McCue knows perfectly well that not one of these districts can be consolidated into another for the sake of better schools except upon its own vote. Our Republican misrulers are doing about the wickedest thing they can do in catering to this spirit, subversive of all that is best in Americanism, its duties, its ideals and its aspirations. These misrulers are also stupid as well as vicious. For this spirit is small in comparison with the noise it has made. It surely misrepresents our average farmer. To believe otherwise is to distrust democracy itself and to say that the great cause we are fight- ing for in the world war is a fallacy. It is still open to hope that the howlers will be camouflaged after the repeal of the township act by passing another embodying its essential features. But even that will make the course of the misrulers more, rather than less, despicable. — Albany Argus, March 15, 1918 Vote in Favor of the Rural Schools Both sides agree that the fate of the township school repeal bill depends upon the Kings county senators. Woman suffrage, prohibition and other issues have so fully engrossed legislative and public attention of late that it is more than likely that the importance of the pending bill is not fully realized. Should repeal come, confusion worse confounded would immediately follow. The rural, elementary schools of the State, of which there are THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 457 nearly 400 with less than one pupil and more than 3,000 with not more than five, would be thrown back into the stagnation and isolation of former times, and the working arrangements, financial and administrative of the new system, already well co-ordinated and functioning much more smoothly than could have been expected, completely dislocated or " scrapped " ; in other words, a condition approaching chaos would fall upon the entire elementary up state school system. Anyone who has followed the matter need not be reminded that so far, despite all invitation and opportunity, no argument worth the name has been advanced for repeal, merely a clamor, motive and source of which is everywhere understood personal and political, but with no substantial support, not even a respectable echo, based upon real, existing conditions. Naturally " slackers " who have, through the combination of circum- stance, schools for which they have never paid, would like to continue to enjoy immunity from taxation and education of their children at the expense of their neighbors, but that this sort of thing should be success- ful in civic and educational affairs, is no more popular nor creditable than in our great national and international contest. To starve the schools of the State is, of all policies, the most penny-wise and pound-foolish ; that New York in its public free schools is now to fall to the rear and far behind the rear of all its neighboring states and go back to the times of the turnpike, the stage coach and horse-drawn canal boats seems almost incredible. Kings county senators and their constituents ought to be grateful for the opportunity to decide the question of rural education rightly. A Wisconsin governor, " Jere " Rusk, of civil war fame, after he had done a courageous act, remarked : " I seen my duty and done it," words which, excusing the grammar and applauding the deed, Kings county mil repeat to its senators who defend and maintain schools of the State. — Brooklyn Union, March 19, 19 18 Give Township School Law a Fair Trial Resolutions regarding the rural school question were adopted unanimously by the Tompkins County Pomona Grange at its last meeting as follows : " 1. That the township law be retained and given a fair trial; that it be amended so as to cut out all schools maintaining academic departments. "2. That the academic fund be increased from $100 to $1,000 per year. " 3. That the state tuition for academic pupils be increased from $20 to $40. " 4. That the public money for district quotas be made $200 for each rural school district. " 5. That physical training teaching be continued in the schools but that as soon as possible the local teachers be required to give all the work and thus eliminate a special teacher in said subject." The report was submitted by a committee composed of Fred A. Beardsley, Hattie K. Buck, M. D. Batty, E. T. Wallenbeck — Ithaca Journal, March 20, 1918 4.58 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Democracy and the District Schools Editor Eagle-News: The feeling of the deep dissatisfaction with the new rural school law in New York State and the accompanying feeling of resentment and antagon- ism are the result of what I believe to be an unwise tampering with our rural school system without sufficient forethought on the part of those who advocated and pushed through the legislation. Such important changes as those affected by this law should be, when contemplated, made the subject of a thorough and extended, state-wide discussion. That is the only fair way of dealing with the public on the part of officials of the state education department, who are presumably responsible for the law, and members of the state legislature should have been closely enough in touch with their constit- uents to have known that the wishes and interests of the public were being antagonized, and they should have suggested and brought about, in default of such a step being taken by the education authorities, a referendum of the subject to the people of the state with ample time for thorough consideration and discussion. That this law was thrust upon the people without a knowledge generally of what was being done is proved by the event. Had there been such knowledge it is undoubtedly true that opposition to the bill would have made itself felt as it is making itself felt now. According to all that I can learn from the newspapers concerning responsibility for the measure, it seems that the Grange organizations, or many of them, advocate it and used their influence, or allowed their influence to be used, to secure its passage by the legislature. Although not a member of the Grange myself I am heartily in sympathy with the work that is being done by that organization but I consider it a great mistake for any organization like the Grange, who include in their membership perhaps considerably less than half of the adult rural population of the state, to assume to speak, specially in such an impor- tant matter, for the entire body of citizens. Still more culpable than the politicians or the Grange is the State Depart- ment of Education in its sponsorship for a law, concerning which it did not know whether it would meet the wishes and needs of the great body of rural school patrons of the State. There does not seem to be a realization on the part of the members of the State Department of Education of the real breadth and scope of the question with which they have been dealing. Their exclusive manner of handling the question without consulting the people shows this to be true. And the manner in which they have ignored the salutary and beneficent effect of the rural school system on the rural popula- tion in the past and the possibilities for good of that system in the future also shows this. In the pamphlet issued by the education department summarizing and explaining the provisions of the law and bearing date of July 2 last, atten- tion is called to the fact that " the old school district system was adopted in 1795." Whether the writer of this pamphlet meant to stigmatize this system as antiquated and out-grown I cannot say, but this, it would seem, is the implication sought to be conveyed by his words. In contrast with the " old school district system," he states, in the sentence preceding the one con- taining the quoted words, " this law provides an entirely new plan for the administration of the rural schools of this state." Do the members of the THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 459 State Department of Education consider that the mere fact of " newness " is a proof of superiority? If so, they need only to be reminded, as we need to remind ourselves, of the antiquity of some of the most useful and precious of our laws, our customs and our institutions. I wonder if they consider that they, or any other body of men of the present day, could make an improve- ment upon the division and apportionment of powers and responsibilities devised by those who originated and planned our State and national govern- ments and who wrote their constitutions? If so, they would find themselves opposed to the wisest and most learned of men since those early days, for it has been the task of such men to expound the principles laid down by the founders of our institutions, and instead of changing those fundamental principles, to express loyal allegiance to the wisdom and foresight of the founders who gave us those institutions. The school district system is a part of, and fundamental to, our democratic system. There could not be a more perfect example of home rule than that afforded by the school district, and the loud and deep protests against this law are a sign that democratic government is still prized most highly by the people. The school district is the smallest of the units of government in our country, and its electors and elective officials constitute just as truly a unit of self-government as do the township, the county and the state, each in its own sphere and with its clearly defined powers of legislation and administration. The district school, I repeat, is fundamental in our scheme of government and education for it is there that the principles and duties of self-government are taught and responsibility for such teaching and close association with the work are absolutely essential to the integrity and highest usefulness of the rural school system. Education could not be brought closer to the people than it is brought by the district school, nor could opportunities for sharing in the work of education be increased or made easier, and this undoubtedly was the object of those who planned the system of country schools. It is a very important fact, a fact that we need to remember, that democracy in this country and in every other country possessing any degree of freedom in government, is not a finished, a perfect product of previous experience. Here in America, which is certainly as far advanced in this respect as any country, there are pitfalls and dangers of many kinds threatening us and making of our experience thus far only an experiment, an experiment that may be ultimately overthrown. We cannot afford at any time, and least of all at this time when the freedom and progress of the whole world are threatened by the most powerful retrogressive movement known in history to allow any backward step or to introduce any element of weakness into our free democratic government. It is on this ground, therefore, of adherence to our principles of self-government that so many people throughout the state are demanding the repeal of this law. The other reason, which we see so often and so forcibly stated, namely, the added expense entailed by the law, an expense that many persons of good judgment believe will grow and become more and more burdensome, is perhaps in itself sufficient for a repeal, but whether so or not, certainly the people of this state and nation cannot and will not tolerate any interference with the rights and duties of self-government. 400 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK I wish to suggest that after this law is repealed the state education department with the co-operation of the people of the state, especially the rural population, enter upon a campaign for increasing the efficiency of the rural schools as they now exist. Let the officials of the department direct their energies to the development of better teaching ability in rural schools. How- ever much may have been done in this direction in the-past surely much more can be accomplished. The best results in education are not obtained by the machinery of a system such as this law has created, or by externals, or super- ficial routine. The teacher is the great instrument of progress and of results in education and this truth is witnessed to by the whole history of education. Let the department also seek to develop in the district superintendents, who are in reality a part of the teaching body, higher inspirational and cultural ability as well as practical administrative capacity, and to enlist them more than ever before in an effort to impart to teachers and schools whatever they possess in the way of such ability. School directors, trustees and the entire rural population should be included in this effort on the part of the education department. I believe also that, in order to increase the usefulness of the schools by bringing them movement which has made great progress in some parts of our country. The campaign is already under way. There never has been within the memory of persons now living such an awakening of the people of this State on the subject of education. Opposition to this law should not be allowed to slacken ; it should be kept up till the law is repealed, and this campaign for popular rights should be made the beginning of a serious and persistent effort to improve the condition of the school, and so remove all pretexts for destroying or fundamentally chang- ing our rural schools. Let the people continue the demand for the return of responsibility and power of action to themselves, the source from which it emanates and the place where it belongs, and let every assistance that can be obtained be welcomed and accepted. The whole body of citizens of this State interested in their schools and working for them will be an incalculably great influence not only for the better education of children and youth in the schools but for the education and development of all the people. This problem of better results in rural education cannot be solved by superficial methods and external changes any more than the parallel and related problem of the country church can be solved in this way, larger numbers in rural communities, greater interest, and more earnest, intelligent and devoted effort are needed. It is work that develops, and it is activity that promotes growth. And this activity cannot be delegated to others without a corresponding loss in growth and development. I ask that this question be looked at in this larger, more inclusive way and that thoughtless effort which dissociates education from the practical duties of citizenship be avoided. Our education should be directed to the development of the various powers of the individual and the object should be to continue the education, in its broadest meaning, of all citizens beyond the early period of formal instruction and preparation. To that end it is essential that citizens demand for themselves as a right the exercise of public duty, and that they perform every kind of public work that it is possible for them to perform, thus securing for themselves the strength and the growth that result from the exercise of responsibility. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 461 Regarding the educational situation in which we find ouselves in this state, I make the following suggestion which is applicable to all matters concerning which legislative action may be taken, and which is a summing up, in part, of what precedes : Whatever expert knowledge may be required to deal with any given situation, and whatever confidence officials may have in their ability to deal with a given situation, action should not be taken without knowledge of the condition of public opinion and even in many cases without waiting for the development and education of public sentiment. That is to say, there should be an understanding and co-operation between the people and their representatives. And, more important still, the people should keep in closer touch with their legislative representatives and should watch closely what they are doing and what they propose to do. If public servants would take this view of their duties to the public, and if citizens in private life would more generally and faithfully perform this public duty, I believe far more satisfactory results would be attained in legislation. Charles E. Robbins Staatsburg, N. Y ., March II, 1918 Poughkeepsie Eagle News, March 21, 1918 The Township Law Out of the discussion concerning the township school law throughout the State a new situation in the legislature has developed. It is assumed that the township law will be repealed, at least in those features which have proven objectionable and burdensome and in the place of these features will be substituted a liberal policy of State aid. Under this policy each district maintaining an academic department will receive a district quota of $250 and an academic quota of $600.00, or a total of $625.00 more per year than they have been receiving heretofore. It is proposed that the quota for each rural school be raised to $250 — an average increase of $100, while district quotas for teachers will continue in addition. It is further proposed that union free school districts maintaining an academic department shall not be a part of the township system; that the people retain the power to create units smaller than towns whenever the interest and convenience of any particular community require; that school district boundaries remain the. same as at present until changed by vote of the people concerned; that contiguous school districts in different townships or counties be permitted to unite whenever the people by vote so direct; to give the people authority to establish independent districts whenever the public interest and convenience require ; to increase the num- ber of members on boards of education in the larger units, to preserve the principle of home rule and in other ways to increase rather than diminish the power of the local community in regard to the management of its schools. Additional public money for Wayne County would be $31,075. As 87% of the assessed valuation in the state is in the cities, it follows that the cities must pay 87% of the increase. — Clyde Times, March 28, 1918 462 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Our Senator and Assemblyman are no doubt doing their best to preserve the good parts of the Township School Law and to do away with the objec- tionable features of this law. They are having a hard time of it, what with the bigotry of some rural gentlemen who are afraid their taxes will be raised on the one hand, and the desire of the education department to put New York State in the van educationally on the other. The Assembly has decided to repeal the Machold Township Law which has been in operation the past year. The Senate will probably follow suit unless they can be forced to see the advisability of amending it to conform to later and better ideas. All rural well-wishers of a better educational system for our country schools should look up the provisions of the new law and make their wishes known to our lawmakers. They want to hear from the people. In our opinion the proposed new law eliminating High and Union schools altogether from the Township system and providing for a payment by the State of $250, to each rural district, and $600, to each Union or High school, is a fairer arrangement than the present law and will overcome many of the objections to that law. — Hamilton Republican, March 28, 1918 Discussion of school law was next on the program and it started with explanations about the law by Manager Taylor and Dr. Kimm, district school supervisor. It was pointed out that as the township law had been repealed that it was not intended to return to the old system but that the new proposed act called for the allowance of $250 to each school district in a township and that $500 was to be allowed each district having a bonded indebtedness. There would be a salary only to the clerk and the treasurer and the teachers for the various schools were to be hired by an educational board whose membership of three or five would be elected by the qualified electors of the township at an annual election called at some central meeting place in the township. There is to be a custodian of the school building in each district. The present bill if enacted would bring to the rural school district the additional sum of $1,500,000 and would mean $22,000 for Herkimer County. All academic schools are left out of township moneys, and leaves consolida- tion of schools to the local board. Some one made inquiry about the percentage of tax paid by the incorporated cities and villages, the country districts and the city of New York, and it was pointed out that the city of New York's percentage was 70, the other incorporated cities and villages, 23, and the country districts 7 per cent. Dr. Kimm suggested that the bill would be considered by the state senate next Wednesday and urged that a resolution be sent Senator Robinson favoring its enactment. Questions were asked about various features of the law and it became apparent that all was not harmony in favor of the proposed law. Various persons made known that they favored a return to the old district system and claimed that the township system was not best for the interests of the pupils or taxpayers. However, a motion was made that a committee of three be appointed to draft resolutions relating to the proposed law and this motion was carried, Grant Wright, C. W. Crim and Dr. C. D. Huxtable being appointed. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 463 Then the discussion started as some of those present stated that the time was not opportune to favor or disapprove of the measure as not sufficient study had been given to the bill. The assertion that steam roller methods were to be used was quickly denied and instances of the ill favor of the repealed township law were mentioned. Loren E. Kelley, veteran member of the bureau, was recognized and he declared that he had been through the district school and he didn't know why the boys and girls can't get their A. B. C.'s there. The committee following consideration of the matter finally presented a report that the individuals present could sign if they chose a resolution favoring the enactment of the bill. There was no effort made to place the meeting upon record. — Evening Journal, March 28, 1918 The Township School Law That people in rural communities are at last taking school matters seriously was indicated as never before by the attendance at a big mass meeting last Saturday in the Courthouse, Riverhead, for the purpose of discussing the township school law. There has been almost unanimous disapproval of the little understood school law which recently went into effect. There were many spirited debates at the meeting both for and against the law, with the result that instead of 100 per cent, of those present, who represented every district in the county, being opposed to the school law, over 50 per cent, came away favoring it. Mrs. Ruth Litt, of Patchogue, made an appeal for the retention of the law in which she implored : — Don't go back to the old system of education in rural schools. We must look after the children better than we have in the past. We must keep them in the country. We must give them the scientific training that they need, beginning with scientific farming, if you please ; we have not been giving them the things they need, and that is why they have left the country and gone to the cities. This meeting has been a splendid thing, a debate of school matters, which has never before taken place in the 275 years of Suffolk's life." Dr. Thomas E. Finegan, Deputy Commissioner of Education, gave an interesting history of the law and advocated that it not be repealed. He said there was not the need of 10,000 one-room schools in the State, 3,000 of them with less than 10 pupils; 88 with two and 15 with only one. He said the law will increase the amount to be paid by the State to schools and where $ico is now paid, it is proposed to increase this to $725 to each village high school. A system of military training in connection with physical training, which are now State require- ments in rural schools, is impractical for the little one-room school. Every country community owes it to its children to give them the benefit of all the training made possible by modern, centralized high schools. The much abused and generally misunderstood new township school law makes this possible and why go back to the impossible old country school system. — Binghamtbn Nezvs, March 29, 19 18 464 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Push the New School Bill The new Township School Bill which is pending a vote in the Senate deserves your support. It will bring a big increase of sta,te aid to all schools and thus lower all school tax rates. Write Senator Towner at Albany at once to use his influence to secure its passage. Superintendent F. O. Green is devoting night and day to the task of disseminating informa- tion about the provisions of the new bill and deserves great credit for his unselfish and unremitting labor. How the Proposed School Law Will Benefit Rhinebeck TOWNSHIP DISTRICT District Totals. Increase under new law , Average tax rate for 1016-1017: $2.45 per $1000. Under new law would have been $2 . 00 per $1000. District quota. Ac. quota R. H. SCHOOL DISTRICT NUMBER 5 Quota Quota 1916-17 New law $125 $250 225 350 225 350 125 250 125 250 125 250 125 250 125 250 150 250 125 250 125 250 $1 600 $2 950 I 600 ISI25 100 $225 Si 350 $250 600 $850 Increase , Tax rate, old law. . Tax rate, new law . Decrease . FOURTH SUPERVISORY DISTRICT Table of Increase — New Money- Milan North East. Pine Plains. Red Hook . . Rhinebeck . . Rural 975 I 350 600 750 1 350 High 625 625 250 625 510.83 10.21 $ .62 Total 975 I 975 1 225 2 000 1 975 5 025 3 125 8 150 An increased appropriation of $1,353,672 will be made for the schools outside of New York City. Dutchess county will receive for rural schools, $21,075; for high schools, $6,soo,a total of $27,575 new money. — Rhinebeck Gazette, March 30, 1918 Educational Legislation — State Aid A new crisis has developed in the rural school situation. It is assumed and anticipated that the township law will be repealed. But it is the gen- eral, if not unanimous, opinion of those who have favored and those who have opposed the township law, that something must be done to improve the condition of these schools, and that we can not go permanently back THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 465 to the old system. The question arises, '"why should we go back to it at all?" Can not some immediate improvement be assured? Other states surrounding New York have gone forward. Shall New York State not do something, and at once, instead of confessing herself helpless in the face of conditions which are admittedly not to be generally improved under the old system? A proposal comes from the Senate committee on education to meet this crisis by calling upon the State to contribute a greater part itself toward meeting the expense of education throughout the State. The State allot- ments have remained nominally the same for a quarter of a century, but are actually less than they were twenty-five years ago, and are relatively greatly diminished. While the local expenditures for rural schools have been doubled in that period (three millions to six millions), there has been no increase in the State appropriations to these districts. The entire increase in the State appropriations has been apportioned to the cities and villages. Moreover, New York State is now thirty-first in the list of States in the proportion of state to local expenditure for school purposes, and it is twenty-fifth in the proportion of State aid to total assessed valuation. Under the proposed increase to $250 for each district, the State would not be meeting more than a fair share of the burden due to changed conditions and increased cost. Under the provisions, therefore, of the plan contained in the bill of the Senate committee on public education, the county of Otsego will receive an increased allotment from the State of $35,300. In the second place, it is proposed to eliminate from the town school unit all the union free school districts which maintain academic departments, and to make an allotment to each in the amount of $600. An especially heavy burden rests at present upon many of these districts. In the third place, it is proposed to maintain the larger, that is, the town, unit of taxation and administration, except when the towns are too large for one board; but to consolidate no districts except upon the vote of the districts affected. New York State is hesitating at the moment. There is a strong demand for the repeal of the township law. Its enactment has, however, served a good purpose in inciting a greater interest in the schools of the State. But it would be a disaster to the State and a cause for humiliation in the eyes of all the States, if New York were to accept as inevitable a system which every other State in this part of the country has abandoned, and were to decline to bear a fair share of the expense which an improved condition of the schools makes imperative. H. Cossaart, Dist. Sup't. — Morris Chronicle, April 3, 1918 Circular Letter Sent Out by Wolcott Grange No. 348, February 25, 1918 Wolcott Grange, No. 348 Wolcott, N. Y., Feb'y 25th, 1918. Dear Brother Grangers : At a meeting held by the Wolcott Grange, No. 348, Saturday, Feb'y 23d, 1918, the whole question of rural school laws of New York State was most 466 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK carefully and thoroughly considered. And this was the result, that we ask all the Granges throughout the State to write to their respective Assembly- men and Senators urging them to secure the repeal of all additions and amendments to the Educational Law passed since 1909; for these reasons: 1st, the rural school law, as it stood in 1909, had worked well for the preceding thirty years. 2nd, the taxes were far less for maintaining the Educational Department at Albany. 3rd, in our own County our school taxes for 190S were less than twenty-five per cent, of our school taxes for 1917. 4th, and there has been no improvement in the rural schools since 1909. One of the most prominent High School principals of this State made this statement. Now, Dear Brother Grangers, this we know, that since 1909 there have been various amendments and additions to the Educational Law, none of which has in any way benefited the rural schools, but each of these amend- ments and additions has taken more money from the taxpayers, and put it in the pockets of some cheap politician, until the aggregate of these stealings amounts to more than three times the cost of maintaining the schools in 1909. If you do not believe these statements look at your own tax receipts and be convinced. During the past generation a persistent effort has been made to make of the schools a political football, to be kicked back and forth by the politicians, for the sake of the money they can get out of it to pay political debts. A prominent member of the Legislature once told the Legislative Com- mittee of this Grange that if the granges would pull together they could get any legislation they asked for. Now, Brothers, let's pull together and secure the re-enactment of the Educational Law of 1909. Wr.'te your members of the Legislature and do it now, and do it often. Fraternally Yours, Legislative Committee of the Wolcott Grange. By F. W. Kneeland, Chairman, F. H. Everhart, Secretary. Letters from John B. McManus, District Superintendent of Schools, First District, Otsego County, to the Wolcott Grange, Cooperstown, N. Y ., March 2, 19 18. Worthy Master and Fellow Patrons of the Wolcott Grange: I have your letter of the 25th of February and appreciate what you say relative to the ability of the grange to secure legislation at Albany. The grange is now in a position to get what it demands and with this influence comes added responsibility. We must now give most careful consideration to the questions that come to us for decision and in doing so be mindful of the welfare of those outside of the grange as well as those who belong to our order. The grange was founded to " promote the welfare of our country and of mankind." The welfare of the grange is not mentioned but the fathers of the order were wise men and picked the sure road to the success that the grange has achieved. I have been a member of the grange for twenty-twc years and have watched it grow into its present position THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 467 of influence and power. That prestige was built up on wise, conservative and deliberate action and by such only can it be held. Indiscretion on our part may lose to the grange all that it has taken long years to gain. Let us now consider some of the points raised in your letter : First — We had good schools under the old law but not in all districts. Some of the districts in Otsego Co. are weak financially and cannot afford to maintain good schools. Shall it not continue to be the policy of the grange to act unselfishly and consider the education of all the children in all the districts. Second — New York is the "Empire State - ' but it is the 33rd on the list in the matter of appropriations for its Educational Department and public schools. The State tax this year was iJ4 mills, the expense of all Departments being met for the most part by automobile and various other kinds of licenses. Third — Our school taxes are more but is this exceptional? In 1909 I sold milk for 90^. We now receive $3.20 for 3% milk. I do not think of anything that has not increased in price. Each school and all the schools cost more to maintain, administer them any way you will. I have farms in two schcol districts and the new law increased my taxes in both cases but the increase goes to help out some of the weaker districts, in one case lowering the tax from 17 to 10 and that a district supporting a grange, and while as an individual I may com- plain I cannot do so and speak the policy of the grange. The State Grange in 1917 asked to have the town made the unit of organizat : on and taxation. See page' 115 of the proceedings. Did we make a mis- take? Let us be sure before we act for we can't afford to make too many. Fourth — Suggests to me a good subject for debate between the older and younger members. If the principal is of the standing mentioned I should be glad to know his name and if he is sincere he will be glad to have it used. We send the best we have to Albany and if they are thieves there is some consolation in knowing that " it might have been worse " if we had sent some who remained at home. Statements of this' kind create distrust in our repre- sentatives and do not " promote the welfare of our country." We get more consideration than, probably, any order or society in the State and should not be heard to complain if we don't get everything we ask. We are but a part of the State and the whole is greater than any of its parts. The Legislature represents us but it also represents other interests and we bind ourselves as grangers to respect the rights of all orders and societies. In 1907 I was trustee of my school district and hired a .teacher for $6.25 a week. The teacher, hired by the trustee not by the incoming board of education, is now receiving $12.50. I bought wood for $1.50. Now it is costing $3.25.. The cost of everything has increased but the State still makes the same apportionment to this district that it made in 1906 and has not come forward with its share of the increased cost. If the state paid this district $175 in 1906 should it not now pay $350? The State fixed the rate of tuition for non-resident pupils at $20 in 1903 which at that time was not unreasonable. But now that the actual cost of 468 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK instruction per pupil has doubled the State should appropriate double the amount that the children from the rural districts may still enjoy free high school privileges. Here in Otsego we seek corrections the same as you but we are not as a grange asking for the repeal of the Township Law for while it will let some of us out on the tax question it will not reduce the tax in the town as a whole and we seek to aid the brother from the weak as well as from the strong district. Assemblyman Nesbit of Delaware, County Grange Deputy, has introduced a bill that would give to each rural district double the State aid that it is now receiving (or nearly so). Otsego will favor this measure. Assemblyman Bloomfield of Otsego has introduced a bill providing for an appropriation of forty dollars from the state for the tuition of each rural child attending high school. Our county grange has already endorsed this measure. Legislation of this kind is sure to bring relief to the taxpayers in the country districts and until we secure such enactments we do not look for lower taxes whether the schools are administered under the township system or the old district plan. Letter from H. A. Zimmerman, Albany, M. Y., to Mrs Lena L. Severance, Buffalo, N. Y., February 13, 1918 Your letter of the 9th instant, relative to Township School Bill, is at hand. A vast majority of the people effected by this law are so intensely opposed to it, that it will be repealed. If two or three changes, which have since been proposed, had been incorporated in the original bill, I doubt very much, there being so much opposition. At least, the attack would not be so successful. Two omissions to which I might at this time make reference, are: — 1st — Creating Town Boards of Education, consisting of a trustee elected in each school district; then all of the trustees constitute the Town Board of Education. 2nd — Where a school district was heavily in debt, owing to one ot many conditions which might exist, the indebtedness should be cared for by that particular district, and the future expenses of maintaining schools, borne by all of the districts as planned in this law. People throughout the country have confused the Provisions of the Town- ship School Law, with the laws providing for Manual Training, and improved sanitary conditions, which are required, and have lost sight of the fact that a great many districts were avoiding many expenses towards school maintenance under the old law ; whereas, under the new law, every district has been required to pay something towards the maintenance of our public schools. Personally, I am very much in hopes that a new bill will be introduced which will in reality cure the defects of the old one, but as I said before, I expect the repeal of what is known as the Machold Township School Bill. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 469 The following letters to the State Department and to members of the Legislature from individual members of town boards, parents, citizens and others interested in the township system are of interest. In the opinion of the board of education of the town of Caton, the township law has resulted in greater expenses without increasing the efficiency of the schools. Sentiment is strong in this town for the repeal of the law. From my study of the situation, and conversation with people in all parts of the town I would suggest that if the law is to be retained the practical working would be better if each district should elect a trustee as in the past to have direct charge of the local affairs of the district, the Board of Education to be composed of the trustees. I would suggest that the trustees should receive a uniform rate of compensation for their services, say $20 per annum or perhaps even less, and penalized for non-attendance at board meetings by withholding a part of their salary. January 18, 1918 Very truly yours Harry I. Dow Coming, N. Y. You may be interested in learning what we have observed in relation to consolidating various rural districts with the Union Free school district of this city some two or three 3 r ears ago. The estate I represent owns property in two of the outside districts brought in, and we think the change has been beneficial. Educational opportunity in these districts has been greatly increased, bestowing upon children living at a distance all the school advantages enjoyed by the children of the original town district. The comfortable and convenient places at which children assemble, and the automobile transporta- tion to the High School building, make it almost as convenient for children of remoter homes to attend as though living within the city limits. Life for parents in these more distant districts is now more attractive because families may be kept together while the children are receiving a splendid education — in the agricultural, commercial, or other courses. Farms now may retain those who would move to villages for better educational facilities. Thus these farms are more desirable and consequently more valuable than before. March 6, 1917 Yours sincerely W. S. Oberdorf Dansville, N. Y. I want to thank you for your kindness in sending me copy of the Town- ship School Bill and I am very glad to note that it has become law. My first impression of this bill was that it was intended to head off con- solidation but upon learning more fully about it I find it a well planned study in that very direction giving all school children the opportunity of free education and placing the burden of taxation equitably upon all the property of the town. Again thanking you, I remain, May 2, igiy Yours very truly E. B. Johnson Chaumont, N. Y. 47° THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Do you consider that the matter of equal suffrage has placed women who do not have children of school age in schools but who are American citizens, on the list of qualified voters, to the extent that we can use them as Inspectors of Election at our school election in May, as we find it hard to find good men who can find time to serve, and we have several ladies who are much interested in our schools and would gladly take hold of the work rendering good service, and also give them a better knowledge of how the work is handled. I am much in favor of the township school law as I was not favored with the present day advantages, in the one-room school which I had the privilege to attend in my boyhood days, and I wish to do all I can to aid in the betterment of the schools throughout the State. February 5, igiS Very truly yours Orvil E. Smith, Clerk, Board of Education, Town of Niskayuna, N. Y. Probably you have had full information on the Farce that was called a hearing on the Township Bill before the Grange last week. I want to add my testimony that the infamous worsted cat chased by the still more infamous asbestos dog, had a walk-over in comparison with any chance that bill had before that committee. The chairman took it on himself to badger the speakers, and cut off what might be said for the bill and let the opponents yell their vituperations. When I was about coming to the real nut of taxation he interrupted with an unimportant question, before I got that half answered he put in another, then I told him that I wanted to finish what I had started to say, and he gave me to understand that my time would be extended so I could, and fired a question, when I get that answered he slurred at my answer and then he told me to sit down and of course was backed by the mob they had there. What I got was the common allowance interruptions by the chairman, side-tracking questions and told our time was up. The only man apparently who was allowed to speak as long as he pleased, and at least three times (I don't how many more) was a chap shouting personal abuse of you as the thing that unequivocally condemned the bill — honest I didn't get another thing to it, nothing against the bill, nothing against you except being the villain that made all the trouble — the chairman said that it was a fine speech and I said let him yell some more whenever he felt like it, which seemed to me most of the time. Men glowered at me as though I was trying to burn their babies. I asked a woman who was sitting next to me for a name I hadn't caught. I might have been an angleworm and perhaps she would have shuddered, as it was, she never moved an eye-lash in my direction. I concluded the more that I said the worse off the bill would be. One of its most vital defects was that the school superintendent, teachers, lawyers and village people were the ones that wanted it retained. As an example of the kind of a chairman we had, a gentleman whose name I didn't get was giving him a good many reasons for retaining the bill, when as usual he, — the chairman, — broke in and wanted to know where the school meeting was to be held in which the rural people could have a voice and a vote. The speaker told him in as many THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 471 parts of the town as they wished. The chairman disputed that was provided in the law, and wanted the speaker to show it. He said he didn't care to lose his time searching the law, but it was there. Knowing what would happen to him, if he ever let himself on the side line, I took out a copy of the law, walked over to the chairman, and pointed out clause 2 Sec. 355. He scowled over it a while and then muttered something to the general effect that it would take a Phila. lawyer to tell what that meant. Mind you this man was the chairman of the Committee that was supposed to be giving a hearing on the bill. February l4, 1918 Yours as ever John D. Cary Cary Cottage Richfield Springs, N. Y. The forty-fourth session of the New York State Grange is over and as you already know a resolution endorsing the Township as a unit and a Town Board of Education was passed without a dissenting vote. Many delegates were sent to oppose the proposition but they were either won over or made to think they were compromising. Nearly all the suggestions made in the report of our committee were included in the resolution which the Session Committee presented to the body for adoption. We did not deem it wise to mention the matter of extra quotas for consolidated districts, but I posted a friend (Prof. Works of Cornell) who was asked to help draft the resolution and he made a provision for such a matter. I met eight of your District Superintendents who were present as voting delegates. One of them, Mr. C. M. Pierce of Adams, who introduced the first resolution favoring a Township School Law two years ago at Oswego, did good work for it. He succeeded in getting a Mr. Conrath, an editor from Cuba, N. Y. to be on hand to speak for the bill before the sessions committee. Mr. Conrath was also asked to help draft the resolution. Pierce has been sending out some good literature during the past two years. I believe it has counted. One of the best things that has come about as the result of all this agitation is the better feeling which the Country people as a whole have towards your department. The discussion before the committee helped to dispel a certain fear which has seemed to exist to some extent. I understand that Sec. W. N. Giles says that our committee is to be abolished so we shall probably not meet officially again. However, if at any time I am able to do anything for your department in the interest of better schools I shall be glad to do so. Thanking you for the courteous treatment which you gave our committee, I am February 12, 1917 Sincerely yours James Pringle Ashville, N. Y. Can you inform me whether the Department intends to push the Town- ship School Bill this session? We hope it will be done in the same form. The suggestions by the State Grange are, in my opinion good in part, but 472 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK that suggestion that each district elect its own trustees as at present and limited to two members strikes me as absurd. First, — the size of the Board thus created would be so large as to be cumbersome. Second, — the Union School would be at the mercy of the rural districts with only two of their own trustees to protect themselves. Why not let the representation on the Board be based on assessed valuation of districts, then if necessary two contiguous districts could combine to elect one trustee. In our town, the assessed valuation of our district, No. 2 is $313,038 while the average valuation of the 12 other districts is $70,906. To say that we should be allowed only 2/14 of the voting power would be rank injustice. We are maintaining a high grade Academic department with agricultural and home economic courses, and I greatly fear that with so little power on the Board our school would be crippled. February 23, 1917 Yours truly E. A. Parks President of the Board of Education (Also Editor of Wyoming Reporter) A discussion today with Principal Glasier of Warsaw and L. A. Cass, publisher of Western New Yorker, the leading paper of Wyo. County, showed me why some people are opposing the Township Bill. Warsaw now draws a large amount of money from the State on account tuition of non- resident academic pupils and fears they will lose a large part of tuition, if pupils have to pay it themselves or if towns not having high schools contract with other nearby towns rather than with Warsaw. They say, if the State would pay such tuition where towns are unprovided with High Schools and pupils could attend where they pleased they would not seriously object to the bill. I have tried to get Mr. Cass who is a Republican State Committee Man, for this county to actively support the bill and then Mr. Sage, our assemblyman would fall in line. Of course you are familiar with all these objections and I only call your attention to it to explain why I cannot probably succeed in getting Mr. Cass to help me. In fact he objected to my advocating the bill in our paper here, which he owns, until I made it a straight personal issue. I sincerely hope the bill will go through. April 10, 1917 Yours truly E. A. Parks Wyoming, N. Y. I also have a copy of Chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917 and am glad to see that the Governor has recommended its repeal or amendment. It has cer- tainly worked monstrous injustice to the taxpayers in the rural districts. I do not know enough about such legislation to discuss the details of its proper amendment, but for the sake of justice would like to see every word of Chap. 328 repealed, excepting so much as provides for the collection of school taxes by the town collector instead of, as heretofore, by a board of school district collectors. Almost every man owning any considerable area of farm land has hitherto been taxed in two or more school districts. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 473 In respect to my lands in Putnam County, I have been yearly compelled first to ascertain who is the new collector in each particular school district for the new year, thereafter to find out where he lives, and in the end to go and get from him my tax bill. January 16, 1918 Truly yours Stuyvesant Fish New York City The people of the town of Newfield are about all opposed to the Township Law because the school tax in nearly every district is higher than ever before. Most of the people wish to return to the old system. Personally, I am in favor of this system as we all have the same rate of school tax. Several school districts in the town by combining, transport- ing, etc., have never paid any school tax at all, for many years, until this last year. Naturally they holler. The people in this town are all opposed to medical inspection, physical instruction, sanitary closets, etc. If we had not been forced to pay for these things this year, the people would not have had so unfavorable an impression of the law. I believe that all these things are very nice for the children, but not necessary. And nearly all feel that in these hard times that the schools should be run as economically as possible. I feel that the department at Albany is not in as close to the people as it should be. It considers only the good of the pupil, without stopping to consider whether the people can afford more tax. In this town someone should be given the power to consolidate school districts. They are altogether too many school districts for the number of pupils. One district has only one pupil. If the town board had the power to re-district the town, we could save money and have more 1 efficient schools. In conclusion, would say whatever you do, keep the school taxes down until after the war; and you will meet with the approval of all. The people will not stand for increased school taxes now ; no matter what the benefit. June 15, 1918 Very truly yours Donald S. Cutter Newfield, N. Y. Your circular letter asking for opinion as to the operation of the Town- ship School Law received, and the matter carefully considered. I have not only been interested in the matter as a trustee, but have conferred with District Superintendent, checking up my understanding of the intent of the law, before replying. In reply I would say after careful consideration, that I believe the entire law should be repealed, and if necessary a new law drafted to cover in a simpler manner the points really to be desired. I am speaking, not only as the present chairman of the town board of education; but from past experience as a member and president of the former board of education in this union free school district. I say repeal, rather than amendment, because it seems to me that the present law is already sufficiently difficult for all to understand, without further complicating it. 474 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK My reasons for taking this stand are substantially as follows : The fact that as far as my experience goes the law must be: more expensive in opera- tion than has been the case, should be offset by some evident advantage. The only possible advantage I have been able to see is the possibility of putting into effect in towns a policy of employing a higher grade of teachers, especially in the smaller schools. This is a possibility, and not necessarily a result of the law. Inasmuch as this is the case, I consider the law an unduly method of gaining this point. There may be other merits in the law as it stands, but I think of no one that is sufficiently important to justify the law as a whole; nor do they appeal to me so, taken collectively. On the other hand, there is widespread dissatisfaction over the law, on the part of the people as a whole. This in itself may not be sufficient con- demnation. But I have found it so far in this town very unsatisfactory. For example, much as the old-time trustee has been belittled, it must be admitted that if he was good at all he had direct interest in the affairs of the district. It gave the district an independence which has now been taken away from it. I found in our case here, that while before the new system went into effect, I was very much interested in our union free school district and high school, somehow this law has taken the edge off this interest; it is no longer "our own," and our responsibility must extend to the whole town. The same is true with the smaller outlying districts. They had at least some one to look after them before ; now, while there is a member of the board delegated to look after each group, the interest and responsibility do not seem direct, and everyone is complaining of the effect. And I believe we have conscientious representatives on the board; as good as they can be expected to average. If some change from the old method is considered necessary, why can it not be arranged in some way so that each district feels that it has direct representation and supervision? I am not at all in favor of the present system of monthly meetings, concerned in a general way with the affairs of the whole town. We are being centralized all too fast, it seems to me, for a democratic people. I recognized that it is done in the name of efficiency; but efficiency as the one goal to be desired, I believe has been discredited. I understand you wrote to the Town Board of Education, Carlton, N. Y., asking opinion and suggestions of amendments to the present school law. I am not in favor of the present school law in regards to the Town Board System. I would like to see that Law appealed and return to the old District system. If not appealed, amended so that the Town School Board can secure compensation for services rendered. I would be in favor of having the Law amended in regard to employing special Physical Instructor for District Schools until the school teachers are qualified to give those instructions, in addition to their present work. It is may opinion with the present system, we do not receive the added benefit in comparison to the extra expense incurred. Jan. i4, igi8 Yours respectfully E. J. Burt Member Town School Board, Carlton, N. Y. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 475 I am frank to acknowledge that this section is sparsely inhabited; dis- tances are great, roads on the whole none too good, weather conditions in the winter likely to be very bad. But there must be other sections of the State of about the same description. Here the Township Law, in some of its features, may not work out as well as in other localities. But while it is not possible to have laws that are perfectly fair to everyone, it seems to me that this law works too, much hardship, in its intentions and applica- tions, upon such rural districts as this. All this I have intended to submit respectfully and not in a sense of mere fault-finding. I am not fitted to make any suggestions of value. But I am honestly of the conviction that the present Township School Law is not at all acceptable to the people, and is unwarranted. Jan. 18, igi8 Yours very truly Ellis W. Bently Sandanonah Farm In answer to your request for statements from town boards as regards the township school law, will say I am in favor of the repeal, for the reason it is too expensive for the rural districts. Our taxes are from 50 to 75% more and we gain nothing. Another reason is that as the law now stands it places too much power in the hands of a few. I have no suggestions to make as regards to amendments, but would favor the old law. I would like to call your attention to the physical culture humbug, we want that buried, so there will be no resurrection. C. W. Clark Wappinger Falls, N. Y. I find a circular letter in my mail which I judge is meant for the Presi- dent of the Town Board of Education. This letter asks for an opinion regarding the Township Law. This law does not intimately concern the school in which I am interested, but I venture an opinion in view of the fact that I am mid-way between two Townships and can see the working of the law from an intimate standpoint. Permit me to say that the trouble is not in the law but in the men who are but slightly attempting to work out the provisions of the same. The tax rate is the great cry, but I know one school which until the past week or so had two physical training teachers. One was hired by the old Board and the Commissioner placed the second. Why not have waited until the new system was workng before a duplication of officeholders? There are two district schools in a Township adjoining this place, one with three scholars and another with five. The one with five is within two miles of our High School with walks all the way. We offered to take all the scholars at $21.00 a year. One school closed for days on account of no glass in the windows, the same school went six weeks without chalk or erasers. What can you expect a law to do with such management? Whenever I attempt to help a farmer in the' interpretation of the law he dislikes, I am accused of playing for the tuition the Town is supposed to pay for 476 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK scholars going to High School. Such is not the case, Mt Morris has earned many times every cent a Town Board is supposed to pay us but has not as yet. The physical training is a sore spot, to the thinking of a farmer the humped up, stoopshouldered, deformed farmer boy is a perfect man. He walks two miles to school with a shuffle that is all the exercise he needs. The writer was on the Draft examining Board of this County. He saw dozens and dozens of young country workers physically unfit. The ratio was far more than the village boys. But must know all the items I express, it is an old story with you, pardon my answering a ques- tion put to the other man. Jan. g, ig 17 Very truly Dr. W. H. Povall Mount Morris High School I saw in the Hoosick Falls Democrat a request from the Hoosick Town Board of Education concerning the Township School Law and where Mr. Stevens said he thought it was a good thing. Now I think Mr. Stevens might make a good politician but I don't like the way he said about the Schools being better. Now I do not live in Hoosick but live in Pittstown. I know all the men on the school board in Hoosick though. I would like to write a little from a school district in Pittstown. I don't know what the school board is doing in Pittstown. I guess not much of any thing If you say anything much to any of them they say they don't get much money out of it. I have talked with a good many in the town and they don't like the way the schools are run. Now we want it back the old way so we can run our own District. Now we cannot have anything to say in our own District. There was a lot of window lights out. The teacher kept blinds shut to keep out the snow and wind that was nice for the children. Now the water pail has given out so they come to our house to borrow a milk pail to bring water in. Some of the blinds are off and the hinges broke but we in the district must keep still and let the good school board go on. Another thing that is about the biggest and foolish piece of business is this physical culture. Another thing is a foolish idea is the having the Doctor come and exam- ine the children and charge $6 or $7 and some of the scholars he never sees but gets his money just the same, a little more graft. Now Mr. Finegan, I hate to see the schools go on in this way and I know I could bring you a lot of names that would the same as I have from the town of Pittstown. We would like to have this new way wiped out entirely and the old way back and run our own schools. Politics may be all right but lets not have them in our schools. Hoping this may do some good I know I am awful sorry to see it go on this way. Another thing, none of the school board ever comes to the school house. They don't whether the teacher teaches one day or five. I don't believe any of them have ever seen the teacher. You may think that this letter don't amount to much but I have seen quite a lot. Hoping this school law will be changed, I remain a resident of District No. 7, of Pittstown. Jan. 25, 1918 Nathan Cottrell Hoosick Falls, N. Y. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 4/7 I have received from the department a copy Act No. 1016 introduced in the Assembly by Mr. Machold to amend the education law by creating town boards of education etc. Am I right in interpreting section 331 paragraph 2 to mean that the results of our Dansville consolidation will be set at naught if the bill becomes a law? Our consolidated district now extends beyond the limits of our village. If my interpretation is right to what district or districts will the parts of which we would be) shorn belong? We have taken from some of these districts desks,, maps, globes and the libraries which are now in use in our school. If this bill becomes a law shall we have to give them up? Our Board of Education is contemplating the sale of some of these schoolhouses. If they were sold before the law goes into effect would our district become liable? We are beginning to plan for next year, but before we make any definite move even in the hiring of teachers, we want to know if our district is liable to be decreased in size and valuation. What in your opinion are the chances of the bill becoming law? March 5, 1917 Very truly yours J. M. Foster Supervising Principal, Dansville High School, Dansville, N. Y. Utica, N. Y ., January 24, 1918. I enclose herewith a clipping from this morning's " Utica Daily Press " containing a report of a public meeting held at Holland Patent last evening and including a copy of the Resolution adopted at such meeting. I thought that it might give you some encouragement to know that your efforts to improve the educational advantages in rural districts through the agency of the Township principle was appreciated by some rural communities. Some time ago, as president of School Unit No. 2, Town of Trenton, I received a circular letter from you asking Boards of Education to make suggestions and recommendations with reference to the Township School Law. I appreciate that the main thing, at this time, is to retain the principle of the Township system and that the main thing at the time the bill was passed was to establish the principle of a Township system and that in accomplishing the main purpose compromises had to be made and provisions written into the law which nullify to some extent the fundamental principle. I know that you will receive many suggestions that cannot possibly be incorporated into the law, especially at this time, but I have one or two observations to make for your consideration. I have heard that some of those who are opposed to the law have taken the position that they will not continue to oppose it, if all Union Free School Districts are exempted from its operation. To include such a provision in the law, in my judgment, would be to nullify the principle involved, to such an extent, that the boys and girls of the rural communities would be deprived of the educational advantages that a Township educational system is intended to give them. In fact, one of my criticisms of the present law is that by Subdivision 2 of Section 331, towns where there are two or more Union Free School Districts, are 47^ THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK divided, they are divided into as many School Units as there are Union Free School Districts. This provision was not, as I remember it, in the law as originally introduced, but is an amendment to the original measure, and was one of the compromises effected. I would very much like to see Subdivision 2 of Section 331 stricken out and the law so amended as to make each Township the unit for school administration. There are prob- ably more difficulties in the way of such an amendment than I realize, but at the same time, I cannot refrain from making this suggestion. With reference to the subject discussed in the preceding paragraph. It may be impossible to bring Union Free School Districts of 1500 or more under the operation of the law, but it ought to be possible to bring all Union Free School Districts not having 1500 population under the provisions of the law without dividing the town in which they may be located into so many units. To illustrate my point, I would cite the Town of Trenton, Oneida County as an example. At Holland Patent we have a high school at the village of Barneveld in the same town they do two years high school work, in the village of Hinckley in the same town they have a full high school course. As a result the town of Trenton is divided into three school units. While this is an improvement over the old system, in my judgment a much better educational system could be devised for the town of Trenton. If we were operating under one Unit instead of having three schools doing the same kind of work we might have a High School course and agricul- tural course and a business course, giving to the boys and girls of the town and surrounding towns a much better educational opportunity, with very little, if any increased cost of operation. The second suggestion that I would make is that the original provision providing for the election of the District Superintendent by members of the town boards of education within his supervisory district be retained. The present method provided for the election of the District Superintendent is very faulty. In many cases the School Directors now serving are the ones originally selected and no attention is paid to the matter of selecting School Directors. Partisan politics determines the selection of the School Directors and therefore has too much bearing on the selection of the District Superintendent. I call your attention to Section 353 which relates to outstanding bonds and existing school property. The suggestion of the State Department, that boards refrain from carrying out the provisions of this section until further notice from the Department was very wise. A great majority of people do not know of this provision of the law and if they did the demand for the repeal of the law would be much stronger than it is to-day, from the taxpayers in districts other than Union Free School Districts maintain- ing Academic Departments. I believe that this provision of the law could be stricken out without causing any adverse comment or opposition from residents of Union Free School Districts, whereas the carrying out of this provision will intensify the opposition of the outlying districts to the Town- ship bill. There may be some constitutional objections urged against the striking out of this section. You probably have given this particular feature of the law careful consideration and realize as fully as I do the effect it will have upon the outlying districts. If there is any possible way that this section can be stricken out I believe that it would be the best thing to do. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 479 The law provides considerable red tape and formality in connection with school elections. It may all be necessary, but if the procedure can be simpli- fied to some extent, I think that it would be advisable. It secerns to me that the provision lequiring candidates to circulate a peti- tion and secure thereon the signatures of at least 25 qualified electors serves no useful purpose. Subdivision 2 of Section 360 provides that blank spaces shall be provided so that persons may vote for candidates who have not been nominated for the offices to be filled at such election. Subdivision 3 of Section 335 provides that the polls for the election of members of the board of education shall be open from a. o'clock in the morning to 4 o'clock in the afternoon. During the progress of the voting it would not be possible to have a school meeting such as has heretofore been held when the board had the opportunity to present its reports and the residents of the village had the opportunity to examine the school officials with reference to the conduct of the affairs of the school. To omit from the law, a provision for a meeting such as I have indicated I believe is as great a mistake as the abolition of Town Meetings. The law as I read it does not furnish the opportunity for the members of the Board to meet with the voters of the district. I think some provi- sion should be made in the law to retain the mere essential elements of the former school meeting of the district. I trust I have not wearied you and would ask you to accept these sug- gestions in the same spirit as they are given. January 24, 1918 I am very truly yours David B. Lisle Utica, N. Y. May I say this? I believe you are right in using means to better the conditions of the rural schools. You say " It is impossible to maintain efficient schools under the old district system." I am sure this is true. I live in a rural community and I know what a bogus education the country child is getting. The most inexperienced teacher is hired by an equally incompetent board. As a class the average farmer resists a new idea, and hangs back like a spunky child. In all the " resoluting " against this new measure I have not seen one word where the best interest of the child was considered. It takes a big man to fight such opposition and out of all this there should come better conditions for the rural schools. January 17, 1918 Very respectfully Mrs J. G. Bly Sherman, N. Y. [Letter from Senator James A. Emerson to Mr W. H. Miner, Chazy, N. Y., February 21, 1918] Governor Whitman has sent a special message to the Senate of the State of New York demanding absolute repeal of the Township School Law. Also, the Board of Supervisors of Clinton county have passed a resolution directing' their senator to vote for the repeal of this law. I note what you say in your letter and personally I have no reason to doubt but what your thoughts in the matter are worthy of the highest 480 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK consideration, but it is an established precedence when a board of super- visors in a county direct their senator to support or disapprove any measure, he is supposed to be duty bound to follow their directions. [Letter from W. H. Miner, Chazy, N. Y., to C. J. Vert, Clinton county, Plattsburg, N. Y.] Referring to the enclosed letter from Mr James A. Emerson, senator from the Northern District of New York, would it be convenient for you to find out why the Board of Supervisors of Clinton county has passed a resolution as outlined in the first clause of Senator Emerson's communi- cation. I feel certain that the members of said board could not have given the subject such consideration as was warranted under the circumstances. If these supervisors will come to the Chazy Central Rural School and acquaint themselves with the actual necessary expense involved in educat- ing a child properly, and then compare the work in said institution with that which is being attempted in the old-fashioned district schools, they will surely get the message and will forthwith recall their resolution. It costs at least $100 per school year to do the necessary things whereby a child may have an opportunity to obtain an installment of real education. Most of the country school districts in the State of New York raise from $175 to $250 to defray the educational expense of each school year on account of from twenty-five to thirty-five children. How perfectly absurd such a sum of money is in comparison with the true requirements ! If the farmers really stopped to consider the value of their own children as edu- cated competent citizens compared with the value of the same children improperly educated and confronted with all of the handicaps which lack of education involves, they would be " whooping it up " for the Township Bill and for every other bill which could in any manner increase the chances of their children in the matter of obtaining a thorough education. I wish you would make it clear to the Board of Supervisors that the repeal of the Township School Law would be a crime against the children of the State of New York — and nothing short of a crime. The only trouble with the Township Bill is that it does not go far enough. People who live in the cities make every possible sacrifice to educate their children, but the farmers unfortunately hold a different viewpoint and feel that the old district school is plenty good enough. However, I think the farmers of Chazy have already learned that the old-fashioned method of trying to teach a child "Reading, Riting and Rithmetic" is a delusion and utterly unworthy as a measure of the interest of parents in the welfare of their children. [Mr Vert's reply to the letter of Mr Miner, March 4, 1918] I have your letter of February 28th, in regard to the Township School Law. What Senator Emerson says is true. The Board of Supervisors not only adopted a resolution favoring the repeal of the Township School Law, but also selected a committee from their number and instructed that com- mittee to go to Albany and work for the repeal of the law, which they did at the public hearing held on Wednesday last. I have talked not only with members of this committee, but with others of the Supervisors, and I never encountered such a situation in this county. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 481 They simply will not reason in regard to the matter, and no one represent- ing the opposition to the law, did any reasoning at the hearing on Wed- nesday last. It was simply a howl for the repeal of the law; the only understandable contention being, that their taxes had been increased, with no corresponding benefit. They attacked the physical instruction provision, which, as you doubtless know, is no part of the Township Education Law, and this is simply a sample of their ignorance of its provision. Another sample of their methods was displayed when, unable to meet the convincing statements of the fact by Dr Finley they simply raised a hoodlum howl of " Repeal, Repeal, Repeal ! " It is practically impossible to meet an attitude like that with reason. In the light of the revelations made at the public hearing on Wednesday last, I am preparing a pamphlet, which will be the substance of an argu- ment, I propose to make at a later hearing at the Capitol. This, of -course, will be prepared for distribution among the Legislators themselves. I am satisfied that if the main features of the law are to be preserved, it must be through the votes of the members of the Legislature coming from the cities, who are in a decided majority in the Legislature, if they will- stand by provisions of law which tend to give children of the country advantages Avhich their children enjoy. The farmers, as a class, seem to have simply gone mad over the situation. The Rural New Yorker a very influential farm paper edited by a man by the name of Dillon, who spoke viciously against the law on Wednesday last, has been a great factor. We are surely up against a stiff proposition when the Governor of the State sends a special message to the Legislature for the repeal of a law, and the repeal is backed not only by forces of the Governor, but by the Speaker of the Assembly. Senator Elon R. Brown, was the only political leader who had the manhood and vision to stand up for the principle of the present law. However, I think you are absolutely correct that the forces which stand for progress and enlightenment along this line, must make the fight and make it to a finish, even though temporarily defeated. The principle embodied in this law must ultimately and permanently win. Other- wise, there is no such thing as progress. As for getting the Board of Supervisors together to repeal their action, I am afraid this may prove impossible ; furthermore I am satisfied that at present it would be no good. They are almost unanimously, fanatically, not reasonably opposed to the law. You can have a little idea of how perfectly rabid they are. However, I will make the effort. [Letter of W. H. Miner, Chazy, N. Y., to Dr Thomas E. Finegah, March 6, 1918] Enclosed herewith please find a letter from Honorable Charles J. Vert •of Plattsburgh with reference to the Township School Law. I am sure Mr Vert will do everything possible to aid in saving the law from repeal. I received letters from Representative Pierce and Senator Emerson and they stated the matter about the same as Mr Vert outlined it in his letter of March 4th herewith. I am sorry conditions are so adverse and trust that as suggested by Mr Vert, we may be able to obtain favorable action through the representatives who come from city districts. 16 482 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The Chazy Central Rural School is progressing in a manner which brings great satisfaction and pleasure to me. I am looking forward to a visit from you at your convenience later in the season and am sure you will note much improvement in the children of this vicinity. The dental work which is now well under way is being handled apparently to the entire satisfaction of the children and their parents. Dr Schieb is extremely busy and is taking up his duties like a veteran. You will surely be pleased to note the records which we are producing in regard to the physical and mental condition of the children. Tully Grange No. 617 today passed the following Resolutions to transmit to Speaker Sweet : " The township law has proven very satisfactory in our town still we would not oppose the proposed bill if it were not for the injustice that it works to the union school districts. We recommend that the union schools be reimbursed for the burden of maintaining an academic department. We further recommend that the trustees be elected for three years ; one- third being elected every year." I am sending a copy to my senator and assemblyman. Very sincerely February 27, 1918 M. E. Hinman Albany, N. Y., March 31, 19 1 5 My Dear Superintendent: The Legislative Committee, representing the State Association of District Superintendents, have been in Albany the greater part of the week working in behalf of the township bill. Anonymous circulars, copies of which you have undoubtedly received, have been distributed broadcast throughout the State, misrepresenting the provisions of the bill and therefore arousing considerable opposition to the measure. The friends of the township plan have not been active in writing their representatives in the Legislature. The letters and telegrams have been in opposition on the measure. The interests which inspired this opposition succeeded in getting a large number of letters and telegrams to members of the Legislature this week. There is still a strong sentiment for the measure and members of the Legislature say that the principles involved are sound. It is necessary however to have members of the Legislature feel that there is a sentiment behind this proposition and that school men and other citizens are earnestly advocat- ing it. It is our judgment that district superintendents of each county should meet at once, communicate with their representatives and get influential people who are known to be favorable to the proposition, members of boards of education, etc., to write members of the Legislature in behalf of the bill. It should be made perfectly clear that this bill neither alters present school district boundaries, dissolves a single district nor consolidates dis- tricts. School district boundaries throughout the entire State are left under the bill as they now stand. If it is unnecessary to maintaia school in any of these districts, the town board is given authority to discontinue the THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 483 school. In other words, the broad principle of home rule is clearly written into this bill and confers upon officers chosen by the people themselves the power to determine what schools should be maintained to meet the needs of the town. Unless effective work is done by superintendents at once the measure is in danger. We believe that, if superintendents take an active interest in the measure immediately and can succeed in inducing prominent and repre- sentative citizens to communicate at once with their representatives in the Legislature, the measure may receive favorable consideration. Very truly yours A. A. Lavery Maniford D. Green Charles M. Pierce Legislative Committee At a meeting of the Chateaugay Grange, Friday, February 22, a motion was made and carried to the effect that our secretary petition our repre- sentatives in the State Legislature not to vote for the repeal of the Town- ship law. Very truly yours February 27, 1918 Myrtle E. MacDonald Chateaugay, N. Y. I have yOur circular letter of December 28th with regard to the operation of the Township Law. The law is not applicable to our town and has made no change in our school system. We are, therefore, not in a position to pass any judgment upn the law. I notice that several of the Boards of Supervisors throughout the State have passed resolutions requesting the repeal of this Law. It would seem to me that the Law ought to be left in force for a sufficiently long time to try it out. According to my information the system has hardly gotten to working as yet. Very truly yours Ralph Hastings Tupper Lake, N. Y. The operation of the township law has given very good satisfaction so far as I have been able to learn, in the town of Rensselaerville. The schools are well looked after by our town board of education provided with good teachers, etc. ; teachers' salaries are somewhat more than last year, fuel higher, clerks and treasurer salarly making a small raise in our taxes. I think our rate was $7.04. In the past, several districts in this town have been paying $2 and higher; it seems the burden is more justly borne. One of my friends told me his school tax was one-half of the amount he paid last year. Yours respectfully H. Henshall Bates 4^4 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Now in regard to the present Township School Law I am very much opposed to the repeal of it. I think if with some minor changes it will work out all right. It certainly equalizes the taxes in the rural towns. The best of any law yet and if you change this law and go back to the old law it is going to throw the high schools in small districts and towns out of business on account of high taxes. With school teachers' wages going to seven hundred and more small high school districts can't stand the taxes. I appeal to leave the Township School Law just as it is for now and see how it works out. It is certainly yet if you lessen the taxes. If the physical training teacher and the medical examinations were optional with the rural towns they will eleminate some expense that can be got along without. If you could see the schoolhouses you would not wonder that the rural districts are finding as they expected that the new law was going to make them new schoolhouses in one year, but that was out of the question but nevertheless I assure you that they have had as good attention under the new law as they ever did under the old. Once more, leave the law as it is and it will work out all right. Yours truly February 25, 1918 Hiram Haskin President of the School Board, town of Cherry Creek This new school system is a grand good thing in my estimation. I have served under the old system as well as being a trustee at present. The childless taxpayer, especially, thinks it no good, " taxes too high." The welfare of the child is little thought of by him. Under the old system it was hard work for the trustee to get through an appropriation for necessary repairs, say nothing of sanitation. When the new board first visited the various school buildings in our township, we found them or most of them in a dilapidated and filthy condition. If you were to visit them today, you would find the buildings, including outbuildings, in a respectable and sanitary condition. Who would begrudge an extra dollar so spent? This system is new and if a chance is given it, it will work out all right. If the different districts had placed the schools as they are now their taxes would have been as high as they now are, and I assure you nothing was foolishly spent. Under the new system, the rural scholar has the same chance as the one in the larger schools, a chance to get a high school education, I wish it was included in the law that were compelled to have a high school education. The unlearned taxpayer can tell the educated in office at Albany how to run the educational department. Mr Finley would be a fine man to them, if he ran the schools " cheap." Everything that is being done at present, is for the future welfare of the scholar, the men who will control the affairs of this the " Greatest Country on Earth." When the Compulsory School Law first came out the greedy and shift- less parent fought it. Was it a good thing? Think so. The majority of the people who are fighting this system know only one thing about it, it costs more, or his tax was more this year. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 485 As to the physical training. Do our boys in camp just learn to aim a gun straight. No, they go through various exercises that they may become strong and healthy and able to endure. Chopping wood and hoeing corn is not the only exercise our rural scholar needs. As to the medical examinations. Go to the dentist, for instance, and ask him how many more young mouths he has looked after since this became a law. Is it essential to have good teeth? This system is O. K. January 15, 1918 George W. Abbott Trustee of the Township, Town of Wappingers I am one of the Board of. Education of the Town of Montgomery. I wish to state a few facts about how I found things in the eleven school dis- tricts. I was appointed caretaker of all the schools at no salary. I am inter- ested enough to do the best I can on the job. In regard to the taxes being higher, seven are not higher, (why) because almost without exceptions they did not vote enough money to pay the difference in the higher cost of teachers' wages, also not enough for coal. One case the teacher had to dismiss the school. The fire would not burn. The clerk and I went over on a Sunday and cleaned out the chimney and pipe. It was chuck full and we had to dig it out. It had not been cleaned out in years. We found window lights out of our school. Window shades were off six to eight windows in the same building. No interest taken in a great many of these. Four of the districts, the taxes were lower. They were in debt. Most of the people from these districts are pleased with the law. What kicking is done, is done by a man on account of the cost and some of the rest holler like sheep. Even when they really think it will be a good thing after it has worked out. There are people in all the districts for it and against it. There should be more power given to the Board in regard to closing the schools. We have one with only one scholar. The superintendent said I could let the teacher go to the child's home and teach so as to save coal. As a whole they would like to send the children to our high school or to Walden High School, same town. Out of the town district we have sent about 25 or 30 above the sixth grade to the Walden High School as that was nearer than ours for the pupils. I think about 50 have come to our High school. Two or three of the schools are hardly better than hog pens. I wish the most of the people of the State could see things, that would settle most of the kicking. W. S. Hanlokt January 11, 1918 Montgomery, N. Y. Today I have paid the school tax for a man that is assessed for $2500. He has a wife in an asylum, a daughter that has fits. They own a farm that produces very little. The farm is mortgaged and they are really poor. 486 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The school tax is 38 cents. Tax $11.50 last year, the assessment was the same but the tax was $3. The $7.50 increase was because of this new and unjust law. You said we ought to give the law a trial before we condemn it, and we have given it about four months' trial and I find that every time there is a meeting of the unit I have to travel eight miles instead of two as formerly. I find my school tax was over $50 instead of about $15 last year. I find that the teachers are inconvenienced by this law. None but those that receive a salary speak well of it. Not a child derives any special benefit from it so far as I can learn. Therefore it seems to me that outside of salaried officeholders a man is either a knave or a fool that favors it. Am I not right? Yours December 11, 1917 Merritt S. Hallock Member of School Unit No. 2, Rocky Point, N> Y. [Superintendent Young's reply to Mr. Hallock.] I received your letter and in reply allow me to 1 emark as follows : I do not desire to reason along the line as some people do about the Township Unit Law, for I could not conscientiously do so. Why do these people not murmur about the road tax? If the road tax would be levied as by school districts the taxes would be ever so much lower. People say nothing about road taxes, they complain only when it pertains to their boys and girls the most precious of creation. The same people say nothing when they have to pay taxes to pay for office, etc. These same people, maybe, will pay per annum many times more money for luxuries, — yes, for strong drinks, than for taxes to educate their off- spring * * * All great movements have been abused in their formative stage, the Township Unit Law can theoretically bear the same treatment for it has the floor and it will stay, likely some modifications will be made, but it is in line with civilization and human progress. I find in the main that the law is not overbearing but an improvement on the old stingy or miser.ly rural customs. Forget not that school taxes are not for local purposes but for a state of general usefulness. I want to be fair, however, with my patrons and all I can do is to suggest that you make your complaints and grievances to our representatives and they will serve you I am sure. [Extract from a letter to the Hon. Gilbert Seelye from Miss Mary A Callaghan, Ballston, N. Y., February, 1918.] It has come to my attention that a strong effort will be made in the near future to repeal the township education law passed last year. May we hope that your vote may be cast against the repeal. True, the act has been in force but a few months, and a fair trial has not been given it, but from my observation, a distinct gain over the old system has already been made. Similar acts have long been in force in all the leading states of our country and shall we of the boasted " Empire State " return to the anti- THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 487 quated methods of a century ago, which then served their purpose, t>ut under changed conditions have certainly been found wanting? There seems to be an erroneous impression that compulsory physical train- ing is a part of that act, whereas, as you know, the physical training law was passed the previous year. There has been much complaint in regard to increased taxation, but are we not paying double the price paid for commodities only a short time ago? Necessarily, the expense of conducting schools would increase with all these things; besides the present boards of education, in most cases had nothing to do with hiring teachers for the present year, that having been done by the old trustees before the newly elected members of boards of education assumed office. Again, there were expenses this year for equipment etc., which will not have to be repeated next. Many of the people have been misinformed as to the provisions of the law, who, I am sure, would change their opinions did they have an oppor- tunity to understand its real meaning. For instance in this town people have been told especially by the tax collector in making his rounds,, that members of the board receive munificent salaries which accounts for their increased taxation. Now, Mr. Seelye, may I not ask that you will put forth every effort to give the new law at least a fair trial? We certainly hope that, before many years have passed, we, of Charlton may do as you have done at Burnt Hills, and consolidate a number of our very small schools, and give our young people the privilege of a high school education in their own town. Mary A. Callaghan [The following are letters to the Hon. Elon R. Brown:] Will you kindly use your influence to get repealed as speedily as possible the unjust and iniquitous school law passed by the last legislature? A law whose effects in operation would be more unjust and worse in their results on the school, could not well have been devised. We have a good-sized new school for which we are paying and those who have children (we have none) are getting the direct benefits from it, while childless property owners are benefited by enhanced real estate values. Certainly in all justice we who benefit either directly or indirectly from the school are the ones to pay for the school, but this year my school tax is $10 less (approximately) than it has been at the least since the building was constructed. Now, I am willing that someone else should pay that $10 if they want to; but I have a strong suspicion that the people in the small outlying districts who are not at all benefited by our school are not over- joyed at being compelled to pay that additional tax. In fact, from what I hear they are pretty indignant and justly so. I taught in another state under a somewhat similar law and the result was a continual row about supplies, high taxes and the whole school busi- ness thrown into politics, a thing earnestly to be avoided. Thanking you for your attention to this matter, I am Sincerely yours (Mrs.) Edna C. Jones Dec. 17, 1917 Nanuet, N. Y. 488 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK I was at the hearing before the joint committee which was held in the Assembly Chamber on the 27th ult. i was very much impressed with your speech upon that occasion and must congratulate you upon the stand you have taken and hope that 3'ou will be successful in your battle for better rural schools. You are distinctly right in saying that to return to the old system of a single trustee school would put this State back twenty-five years and would make us a laughing stock for our sister states to jeer at. You are just as right when you state that those who oppose the present Township Law do so more because of higher taxes than for the reason that they think the schools were on a higher plane under the old scheme. There are, possibly, defects in the present Township Law although I can't lay my hands on them, but the fundamental principle of having the town- ship instead of a school district the unit with a Board of Education com- posed of three or five members to administer affairs, is beyond doubt correct. And, should it be deemed wise to amend the present law or adopt my friend Speaker Sweet's idea of a commission to determine on a new law next 3 r ear, this fundamental idea must become the basis of such new legislation. There is no reason why the rural schools should not take on Visual Instruction, Socialized Recitation work and the good things going in the city schools. At present the rural schools are far behind the times, anti- quated and returning little for the outlay. The principal reason for this is because of the single trustee system. He could not comprehend Visual Instruction. He was not capable of judging whether Socialized Recitation would be a good thing for his school. He had no scheme, or policy of education. His administration depended for its success upon whether it was economical or not. The Board of Education meeting once a month with the Supt. of Schools in attendance, can and does discuss such matters, do adopt courses which tend to place the schools upon a higher plane of efficiency. There is no possible doubt about this. The records show and it is a matter of common knowledge. This tendency will grow, as the various Boards become used to doing things and determining what matters ought to be looked after to get a better return for the monies expended. Whatever changes may be proposed, let the Board of Education of three or five members be the basis of any composition. Let me congratulate the people of this State in having a leader with your pronounced powers of vision. You will pardon me this long letter? Very truly yours H. I. Fish March 11, 19 18 Williamsville, N. Y. Another trouble we are having is this new Township School Law and I am reliably informed you can do more this winter in the Legislature, than any one else, to help us out. Of course you city folks are not affected by this law, and it is I suppose even doubtful if you have any first hand information as to its workings. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 489 I have sometimes doubted, if the Educational Department at Albany really knew what a mess it is and the opposition it has created. For it seems to me, if they were aware of conditions as they actually exist, they would be so anxious to get the law repealed as we are, provided of course, that the department is composed of real educators and not politicians and bureau- crats. You can't help much in educational ways, when you give people the idea you are grasping for dictorial power and robbing them of their money to build up a political machine. Now the objections to this law on Long Island are these: 1. A little Union Free School village with less than 1500 inhabitants is arbitrarily made our educational center. Ever since the Academy in a neighboring village closed, most of the children in our school district as soon as they finish in our school go to the Port Jefferson school there. This arrangement allows several members in a family to go to the same school and the older can look after the younger. It is simply common sense that the center of trade for a dozen or so hamlets should be their educational centre. Under the new law an attempt was made to hook us to Setauket Union Free School a little berg beyond Port Jefferson. By scraping around care- fully, the village officials counted over 1,500 and that let them out. The only other Union Free School is at Marches. I believe on the south side of the Island, 15 miles away. 2. The method of running the schools under the new law is extravagant and wasteful. A very conservative estimate will give the increased cost at 10-30 per cent., with no corresponding advantages. To have a man go 10-20 miles to put in a window light is throwing the taxpayers' money away. But within a week I understand the District Superintendent wrote the Chairman of our Board of Education that we ought not to say anything as long as the tax rate was under $75 and $100. With six districts, without a Union Free School and giving the clerk only $400 our district tax rate jumped 210 per cent. 3. Some of the Districts in the Unit are usually without a local repre- sentative on the Board of Education. In our Unit there is one; in a neigh- boring unit 6 or 7. 4. The law is an unmitigated nuisance, both for the teachers and the indi- vidual members of the Board of Education. It is almost impossible for the teachers to get their money by mail in less than a week after it is due. While the most of cases must travel from 100-1000 per cent, farther to do the same business, they did as trustees. To a hard working farmer this is a serious matter. 5. The law tends to produce bad feeling between villages or an excessive tax rate. Where all districts pay the same tax all schools must have the same appliances whether one-half dozen children or two score. In reality a teacher with a small number of children with inferior equipment can often give them a better education than a teacher with a larger number and superior equipment. But the law makes no distinction. 6. And finally the law opens the way for politics to creep into our country educational affairs. You know as well as I that any easy job that pays $1000 or $1500 a year has a lot of applicants and that the way the law reads, means politics. 490 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK I hope I have been able to give you a little idea why we are so bitter against this law. Both our local and County Grange condemned it soundly. Our Senator and two Assemblymen are pledged to fight against it. If again the Department of Education still afflict us with this accursed law I hope you will stand with us simple farmer folks as you have in the matter of the selected draft for common sense and the public weal. Yours truly Daniel W. Hallock Dec. a, 1917 Rocky Point, N. Y. Kindly allow me to inform you that about ninety-five per cent, of the people of the rural school districts throughout the State are very much opposed to the present Township School Law. We are determined that it shall stand as it is now, and hope that at the present session, the matter will receive such attention as is necessary to prevent further discussion. Respectfully yours W. A. Buck Jan. 8, 1918 Phelps, N. Y. I read that you are not convinced that the opposition to the Machold school law is general. I think you will find that the farmers are against it to a man. In my case my school taxes were raised 475 per cent, that is, I pay the same rate as the man living next to the school building, who enjoys electric lights, village water, sewers, cement walks, nearness to stores, railroads etc., while my children have to travel three miles to school — at present through two feet of snow. Is there anything right about that? I ask you as man to man if this centralization of power doesn't tend to autocracy? We farmers feel that you should use your influence, which seems to be considerable, to repeal this law. Very truly yours Dec. 17, 1917 B. R. Hall Camillus, N. Y. I am writing to ask you to use your great influence to effect the repeal of the present Township School Law. I am a member of the Town Board of Education of the town of Romulus, New York, and can see no advantage in this new Township System, over the old school system of individual districts with trustee or trustees elected by the parents and taxpayers of such districts, who administered the affairs of the district in accordance with the wishes of such taxpayers, and parents cf the pupils in attendance at the school. While the new Township System undoubtedly will increase the taxation, yet this to my mind would not be objectionable, if we received a propor- tunate increase in educational advantages. As a matter of fact, there is ' mo more efficiency, and it is a serious question in my mind whether the THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 49T efficiency of the old district system will be maintained under the Township System. And when it comes to the consolidation of the schools in the town, which I understand is the purpose of the Educational Department at Albany to effect, that proposition applied to the rural districts appears to me to be just as ridiculous as it would be to enclose a sufficient area in the central part of each town, to pasture all of the milch cows in the town, using the argument that the cows could be more efficiently handled, as it would elim- inate the cost of fencing farms, and the cost of equipment and maintenance on each individual farm. It seems to me if the purpose and intentions of the Educational Depart- ment at Albany, as affecting the rural schools was carried to its logical conclusion, it would lead to the establishment of large institutions adjacent to the centralized schools, similar to the present Orphan Asylums, whereby the children could be cared for, during the time they were not in school. This, of course, would destroy all home life, and family ties, but we would have our children in school, where a proper corps of instructors would be maintained. If conditions in the rural districts were as they are in the cities, it is possible that the idea of school consolidation would work out all right, but when it is remembered that in many of the towns of the State of New York it would mean a trip of many miles, to and from these consolidated schools each day, much of the time the roads are impassable, from mud and snow, and the weather below zero during a good part of the winter months, with the conditions on the farms as it is today, with farm help excessively scarce, it appears to me to be almost an act of lunacy to attempt to con- solidate the schools under the present conditions. I certainly would not attempt to advise the population of any of the cities or towns of the State, as to the proper methods under which then schools should be conducted, yet we have in our Department of Education at Albany, men who are evidently as ignorant of the conditions confronting the rural population, yet they are entirely willing to try to bring about con- ditions, and impose hardships of which they have no conception. Each rural school district, as it was organized under the old law was - taking care of the school children, furnishing and maintaining the proper building and hiring instructors for the school. If in some cases, the build- ings were not as good as they should be, I dare say that is als.o true regard- ing the city schools and school buildings. In short, at the present time when all the resources of our country are being poured out to " make the world safe for democracy " our Department of Education through this Township Law is seeking to impose its auto- cratic and arbitrary will on a people who until very recently believed that they were living in a free country. If it were a matter of winning the war, we are willing to submit to almost any condition, but this is a matter that has nothing to do with war. We feel we have a right to control our children, to look after their mental, as Avell as their physical and spiritual welfare. Very respectfully yours F. S. Williams Jan. 3, 1918 Kcndaia, N. Y. 492 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK I am Physical Director for the schools of the town of Newfane, Niagara Co., and have under my supervision the twenty-six teachers employed in the seventeen schools of the town. We understand that an effort is being made to do away with the special teacher in physical training and put the work in the hands of the regular class teacher. None of our teachers have had special training in this work, and knowing the great harm that will come from unwise* handling, every one has asked that in justice to themselves and the pupils, the present Physical Training Law be retained. In this town the expense of the special teacher is ten cents on a thousand dollars. Will any loyal American refuse the price of one cigar a year to make us a stronger nation physically than the draft and our school medical inspection have proven us to be? Will you not use your influence to help our country boys and girls, and their teachers? Yours for a stronger, cleaner, happier America, Vesta McKee March 6, 1918 Newfane, N. Y. I had the pleasure of meeting you at Ithaca Farmers' Week, and I remember what you said in regard to the new Township System of schools and I heartily agreed with you. I really believe it is a decided improve- ment over the old system, and I earnestly hope it will not be repealed as it would be a step backward. As president of our town board, I am in a position to know, that it has worked to advantage in the outlying rural districts. The only people who are doing any kicking are those living in districts where the railroad pays more than half the tax. They had a rate as low as $3.49 per M and some farmers in the outlying districts nine miles from the railroad had a rate of $13.50 per M. The average rate last year before the new system was $7 per M. This year it is $8. The addition of $1 is due to increase in teachers' wages, longer term of school, and installing several new sanitary closets. The teachers in all of our sixteen districts tell me they are well pleased with the new system. I think the law as a whole is a decided improvement over the old system, but I believe there are some improvements that could be made, and I earnestly hope they will not repeal this law as it would be a step backward. Very truly yours Mar. 16, 1918 F. W. Bauder President of Town Board, Fort Plain I very sincerely hope that you will see your way clear to vote against the repeal of the township law. To go back to the old district system would be as much to the disadvantage of the country child as to go back to the old method of having farmers work out their road taxes. I do not think any of us would be willing to return to that even though we do pay taxes for improvements on roads in parts of our town where we never drive. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 493 Most, in fact, all of the opposition I found to the law, has been based solely on financial reasons, or because of injured pride locally. Never has any one convincingly put forth any arguments that the law is going to injure the country child. In fact his rights seem to be utterly ignored by those who are bitterly opposed to the law. Most of the articles written show an absolute lack of knowledge of the details of the law. Even Governor Whitman's first message to the legislature in which he urged a reconsideration of the law showed he failed to distinguish between con- solidation and the township law which are by no means synonymous. After six years' supervision of rural schools I am absolutely convinced that any real permanent plan of improvement can not be carried out under the old system. Much of the objection to the law is because of fear that there will be improvement. I can not find any rural school supervisor who does not honestly believe that it is for the good of the schools to retain the law. In my opinion this and the physical training law are two of the most needed, most constructive laws for rural children that have been passed in years. All the states in which there has been most real development in the country have such a school system. Why should New York lag behind from purely selfish opposition. To say that the law has failed after five months' trial in a year o£ utterly abnormal conditions is ridiculous. Boards did not take office until August I. Owing to scarcity of labor and short time they were not able to expend all the money raised in the budget for necessary repairs. Most of my boards have made reasonable intelligent plans for the following summer based upon the needs of the town as a whole, and in every case with special consideration for the child in the weak remote district who never had half a chance before. For these reasons and many others I will forbear mentioning, I sincerely hope that you will place the rights of the country child ahead of every other consideration and vote to retain the township law. The only excuse for the schools is that they be a real benefit to the children. Under the old system the children never will get full value for a dollar expended. Under the new law my family pay heavy taxes in various districts where they were much lighter last year. None of us wish to see the law repealed though no children in the family are involved. Pardon the personality but the common attitude seems to be that school officials would feel differently if they paid their taxes. Respectfully Feb. ii, 1918 Ruth M. Johnson Dist. Supt. of Schools, Port Ley den, N. Y. Being very much interested in the Township Law, and knowing that you are making a fight to retain the law on the Statute Books I am taking the liberty to write you, the following is a copy of a letter I sent to Senator James A. Emerson of this district, I also wrote Assemblyman Raymond T, Kenyon of Essex County the same. I wish to register my protest against the repeal of the Township Law, this is a good law and a just law, and should be allowed to remain on the statute books as it now stands. 494 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK I am not going into a long argument as to why it should stand, but I want to put you right as far as our town is concerned in regard to the reso- lution adopted by the Board of Supervisors of Essex County. The Super- visor from Essex did not represent a majority of his constituents in voting for the resolution to repeal the law, I firmly believe that were this law allowed to come to a vote of the town, that it would receive a good majority. As a matter of fact the Supervisor from Essex is the owner of a farm located in school district No. 8 in which district there has been no levy of taxes for school purposes for eight years, they have taken their public money hired their four or five scholars transported to schools in Essex and Whallons- burg, and so far as the High School in Essex is concerned, we have furnished the scholars from district No. 8 and all other rural districts of the town, with school building, corps of teachers, free use of library, apparatus of all kinds, have furnished them with text books FREE, with no tuition or expense •of any kind to them, now isent it right that they should help us maintain this High School? Why should they be permitted to get away from taxation altogether, while we are burdened with a tax of from twenty to twenty-five mills on a dollar. We of the village of Essex have maintained this High School for the last eighteen years as a free school with no tuition, and have welcomed the scholars from the outside districts with open arms. As a matter of fact we have in our school to day twenty five non-res. pupils, who are furnished as I said before with every thing FREE even Hot Lunches. Now because a law has been passed forcing them to share and share alike with us the tax proposition, you would think from the howl they make that they had hit in a vital spot. Yes, The rural tax payers, under the old law, have got by with a low tax rate for school purposes, and let me tell you, they as a whole, havent spent much money, and they havent much to show for what they did spend. I have found conditions in schools that I have visited that should not be tolerated, I have found schools with no Text books, No Primary readers for the little ones, no spelling books no histories, no arithmetics, no geog- raphies, the only text books that I could find in this school was two that were bought and paid for by the teacher, No blackboards that were fit to •use, in some cases nothing but oil cloth painted sometime in the long ago with black paint, in fact I have purchased and installed under the directions of the present Town Board of Education over 200 hundred square feet of slate blackboards and it would take an additional 500 square feet to supply the needs. I have found as a rule the buildings too small to accommodate the number of scholars. I have one school in mind with 16 scholars four or five of them big husky boys of fourteen or fifteen years of age, the room is small and stuffy, the seats are too small for the large boys and too large for the folkes, with no blackboards, nothing to do with, the out houses a dis- grace, the one for girls with the roof rotten letting in the rain and snow, the sills rotten so it stands on one corner, and the side with cracks so big you can throw a cat through anywhere. I drove over to this school last fall on a fine warm day and found the teacher with her sixteen scholars doing the physical culture exercises on the grass by the roadside near the school building, as I approached the teacher turned to me and said I take the children out here for physical exercises because I am afraid they THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 495 will go down through the floor it is so poor. In another district they dont even own the ground upon which the school building stands, of course their tax rate has been low in the past and why not, their policy has been to hire a teacher regardless of qualifications, give her a cord of wood and a box of chalk and tell her to teach school, are such conditions giving the future generations a chance to get even the rudiments of an education? I say NO Emphatically NO. Let me tell you the other side of the story, another district in our town with an assessed valuation of over one hundred thousand dollars they the finest little school building you ever saw, with every thing to do with, books, blackboards, and maps and a library, a fine teacher, and no SCHOLARS, she has but four little ones from five to eight years of age the most of them live quite far away from the school and what is the result, there are many days during the severe winter weather that the most of these children cannot get to school, there are sometimes one and sometimes two scholars in school and the teacher has nothing to do, a waist of time and much valueable cord wood. Again is there any reason why the taxes from the D. & H. R. R. with an assessed valueation of over $85000 in our town be paid over to but three school districts? I sent it right ynd jusi thai i..\ among all the schools of the town? As a matter of fact the tax rate has been lowered under this new Town- ship law in three of our. districts, our high school has been helped a little, some of the districts that do not get a slice of the railroad tax have been helped a great deal. In one district the rate under the new is $11.20 per thousand, to day were they under the old system, with the increased cost of everything, Teachers wages, fuel and other things, the tax rate in this district would have been over $i6Too per thousand, and district No. 8 gets by with no tax whatever, this is absolutely wrong and should not be. Well Dr. This has been rather a long letter, but I hope you will receive it in the same spirit in which it is written, and that is for the benefit and the uplift of all schools and an even distribution of the cost of maintaining these schools. Very truly yours March 17, 1918 Nelson A. La Roe Clerk Board of Education, Essex, N. Y. Enclosed find a copy of resolutions concerning the township school ques- tion which were passed at our Pomona Grange meeting recently. As secre- tary of the Grange, I was instructed to forward a copy of these resolutions to you. I hope you may give them your attention. Yours very truly March 18, 1918 E. S. Savage Ithaca, N. Y. The committee on Education for Rural Schools recommend : 1. That the township law be retained and given a fair trial; that it be amended so as to cut out all schools maintaining academic departments. 2. That the academic fund be increased from $100 to $1000 per year. 496 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 3. That the State tuition for academic pupils be increased from $20 to $40. 4. That the public money for district quotas be made $200 for each rural school district. 5. That physical training teaching be continued in the schools but that as soon as possible the local teachers be required to give all the work and thus eliminate a special teacher in said subject. [Signed] Fred A. Beardsley Hattie K. Buck M. D. Batty E. T. Wallenbeck When your Committee was here Farmers' Week, I attempted to illustrate two points, but the details that I used as illustrations became the subjects of discussion so that the two points that I wished to make were lost. I had not planned to mention the school law except as an illustration, but, since it became the chief subject of discussion, I would like to add one or two more points to what I said at that time. I stated then, and firmly believe that the best thing to do with this law is to repeal it. Even if the law has some merit, the people do not want it and are, therefore, not in a position to give it a fair trial. Since I really believe in democracy, I do not think it desirable to make people accept such a law when they do not want it. Furthermore, I do not believe that the law is a good one. So far as I know, the two points in favor of such a law are :" 1. To have a larger taxation unit. 2. To have schools consolidated. The law might accomplish some good by having a larger taxing unit, but is, in my judgment, not the best way to bring this about. Many of the school districts that are poor are situated in townships where the entire township is poor. I believe that if the taxes paid by public service corpora- tions outside of incorporated places were distributed between the school districts within the county, much more would be done toward equalizing taxation than is accomplished by this law. Townships are not an important governmental unit. They are wholly unrelated to natural school district lines. If we are to have consolidated schools, the consolidation should be around the natural school centers which are wholly unrelated to the township lines. . Consolidation of schools is by no means a universal remedy for all ills. There are many communities in which consolidation is desirable and many others in which it is undesirable. The most serious rural school problem is adequate provision for high school instruction within convenient reach of the farms. In some cases consolidation of schools will help to bring this about. I believe, however, that the State should give special attention to aiding the small high schools, and am of the opinion that if this is done, immensely more will be done to help the rural situation than could be accomplished by attempts to help the elementary schools. The amount of compensation that the village schools now get for non-resident high school students is altogether too small. I have rarely kuwa a farmer to leave his farm because his elementary THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 497 schools were unsatisfactory, but have known of thousands of farmers who have left th^ farm to obtain high school facilities. Without making any considerable provisions for improvement the present law provides for a much larger unit of control. Other things being equal f the smaller the unit of control, the better. I am not a professor of pedagogy, but, by choice, I live in a rural school district and have six children to pass through these schools. I am very glad, indeed, that they have the opportunity to go to an ungraded district school, rather than be required to attend the grades in city schools. The township school law is causing a great and unnecessary expense and is not giving satisfactory results, nor do I see any expectation of its bringing good results if it is continued. Very truly yours March 2~p, igi8 G. F. Warren Ithaca, N. Y. Fearing that the Township School Law will be repealed and we will revert to the old system, which we consider very unsatisfactory at best, we are writing to ask you to use your influence to secure the passage of the substi- tute bill proposed in the senate. We feel that this bill is a step in the right direction. March 28, 1918 Yours for better school legislation Wm. A. Gaffey, Clerk. D. D. Cady, Chairman of Board of Ed. J. T. McKown J. Edward Smith Jr, Prin. Maryland, N. Y. At a meeting of the Board of Education of this Town, held March 30th,. they requested me to inform you that they were in favor of the Senate Township School Bill, but were not in favor of the compulsory hiring of a Physical Trainer in the rural schools, as they think the teacher could give them sufficient training along their lines. Respectfully yours April 2, 1918 J. I. Lanfear, Clerk Board of Education, Town of Worth As a representative of the interests of the people of New York State, we respectfully ask you to consider the injury done the Farmers of this State by the Township School Law. We insist that the patrons of our Rural Schools are capable of adminis- tering the affairs of their own schools efficiently. We insist that they be accorded the primary rights of self-government. We insist that they more than any one else, are interested in the welfare of their children. We know from direct information, that our own rural schools have not had proper attention, under the new school law; and that the High School in the town, has more than its share of attention. 498 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK In our own district, with a valuation of $250,000 we have in the past maintained the school with every advantage for 1000 dollars a year. This past year, under the Township Law, we raised $2375 ; which is paying $1375 to help support the mismanaged High School, which gives us no material benefit, and over which we have no control. We ask you in all FAIRNESS to work for the Repeal of the Township Law. Yours for Good Government Jan. 17, igiS C. A. Burton Brocton, N. Y. I would like to call your attention to the new school law, and to ask your opinion in regard to it. It is very unpopular here and we would be very glad to have it repealed. We believe it to be an unjust and dis- criminating law, because it favors the villages at the expense of the country districts. Although I do not live in your district I am hoping to get you interested. Knowing that it would be a decided advantage to have you on our side. Hoping that you can see your way to favor a repeal, I remain, Yours truly Dec. 26, 1917 W. W. Boardman Boonville, N. Y. Among a lot of rotten deals that have been foisted upon the rural popu- lation of New York last years school law is one of the D est ever perpetrated. Yours truly Jan. 4, 19 18 J. W. Eaton Slate Hill, N. Y. Just a word about the new school law. Can it not be repealed or amended in some way? In the town of Amenia, Dutchess Co., the school tax was from 25% to 300% higher than under the old law. At first the outlying districts supposed they were helping to support the high school in the village of Amenia, but from investigation found even the village people were paying a higher rate. Why should this Be? If the law is not repealed it should be amended so all property owners pay school tax in their own town that is in the town in which the property is located. We own a farm in the town of Washington where assessments are about full value but are unfortunate in that our property is located in an overlapping school dis- trict from the town of Amenia where assessments are low. The Amenia school tax rate was $11.80 per thousand while in the town of Washington it was but $6.00 per thousand. A number of the taxpayers along the town line are in the same position, paying about double the school taxes our next door neighbors are who pay their tax in our own town. The injus- tice this works needs no further explanation, what applies to our town will apply in the country and state. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I am an assessor in the town of Washington, Dutchess Co., and have been the past eight years, and have a good knowledge of the local taxes and assessments. Trusting you will give this matter your attention, I am, Sincerely Jan. 7, 1918 S. S. Benham Wassaic, N. Y. I am just one more to voice my protest against the Township Law. I beg of you to give us back Democratic rule. The reasons for its repeal you have already received. No use of adding to them, they are good and sufficient. Yours very truly, Jan. 7, 1918 James S. Whitaker Penn Yan, N. Y. Will you kindly let me know if the Township Law will be repealed this Legislature. There is great dissatisfaction in this State as you no doubt know. I think this law should be repealed. The taxes are just twice what they were last year in this district and I do not see that we have any better school and we have no improvements at all. The teachers salary is $2.00 a week more this year than last year, and this is all we are getting for the extra taxes. If we were getting the value of our money, there might be some justice in the present law and I would be the last man to put a kick if I felt we were getting value received. Yours very truly Feb. 18, 1918 L. U. Benjamin Richford, N. Y. Have canvassed the situation pretty thoroughly concerning the Machold Township School Law. The sentiment seems to be practically unanimous for a repeal of the law. Only a small proportion being in favor of an amendment. Yours truly Jan. 9, 1918 Nat L. Rowe Port Byron, N. Y. If the matter comes up looking to the repeal of the Township School Law please work for its repeal. We in this section do not like it. Yours truly Jan. 9, 1918 Wilbur Berke Albany, N. Y. 5 exist some minor defects. This first year of its operation, however, does not afford it a fair test and! has placed the boards at a disadvantage because they have been bound' more or less by the actions of the old trustees which has rendered the con- duct of the schools very much the same as before. The oft repeated statement that this law has raised the taxes materially, IS NOT TRUE. Because of the Physical Culture work, increased wages. to teachers, high cost of fuel, etc. ; taxes would have been higher under the old plan and the new law is not responsible for the increase. Tax rates under the old law were very different in the various districts* and the equalization of these rates has caused a considerable increase in THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 505 some districts and a corresponding decrease in other districts but the average rate is no larger than before. A man who pays taxes in three •districts was in my office recently and made the statement that his tax was less in all three of these districts. As clerk of the board, I would like to suggest just one change and this is in regard to the levying of taxes in joint districts. It would save a great deal of time, remove the possibility of many errors, and eliminatb considerable dissatisfaction if each board could levy on the entire assessed valuation of the town and each taxpayer could pay his school tax in the town where he pays his other taxes regardless of district lines. As a whole we are well suited with the Township Law and sincerely liope that the effort that is being put forth to repeal the same may not succeed. Extract from Letter from Board of Education, Arcade, Dated January 3, 1918 Generally speaking, the local Board of Education and the patrons of this Supervisory District, are not favorably disposed toward the new Town- ship school law. I am inclined to believe that the great objection is because of increased tax rate: In this district the increased rate is principally lieeause : First: Provision was made in the school budget for $800 to provide funds to meet teachers' wages for the first two months of school in the Fall of 1918 (before funds would be available from collection of taxes in 1918). Second: About $350 had to be provided for physical training which Is generally considered entirely unnecessary in rural districts. Third: About $500 had to be provided for installation of "Sanitary Toilets" in two schools and at least $1500 will have to be provided next year if the mandate of the Department of Education is observed before September 1st next. Fourth: Provision was made for expenditure of $225 for Clerk and Treasurer of the District, and an allowance of $100 was provided for expenses of the Board. Fifth: Provision had to be made for Truant Officer, amounting to $50, and this expense has heretofore been a "Town" charge and not against the several Districts. Sixth: $100 was provided for Health Inspection while heretofore there has been no provision made for such — or at least not more than a few •dollars has been expended for this purpose. With a total taxable valuation of about $500,000 this means about 4 mills tax to meet the above " extras " and when the total rate has been running from .0045 to .007 (according to varying valuations in the several Districts) and takes a jump to .0091175 there is, naturally, a very decided objection made to the " new order of affairs." In the judgment of the writer the " district schools " of each town should be included in one supervisory district and have a uniform rate -of taxation — no variations of rate in the several " districts " of the same 566 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK town. Only "district" schools should be included within the same super- visory district ■ — no union free or high schools. Taxes for support of " district " schools should be spread entirely within the town in which the schools are located — no overlapping district requiring "adjustment" and apportionment between adjoining towns. No compulsory requirement for employment of a special teacher for physical training in "district" schools, but a rigid requirement of the local teachers that each give instruction in the elementary physical exercises. That the compulsory introduction of sanitary toilets be left to the direction of the District Superintendent. That a member of the district school board (supervisory district) be elected from each of the several " districts " in the town. That a single Clerk and Treasurer and Collector, with duties as now provided, be chosen as at present : This would insure a decidedly better and more accurate system of accounting and records than has heretofore been possible. That the time for collection of the " school " taxes be the same as for the collection of the " town " taxes : If the taxes were spread entirely within the town in which the schools are located, the valuations taken from the " town roll," and collections made by the " town collector " at the same time the " town •' taxes are collected, there would be less confusion than at present and the " school " roll could be more easily collected : The only objection that I can see would be in the fact that for the first year the school tax would have to be spread in an amount that would provide funds for about four months for the ensuing year, after the first year this extra provision would not have to be made and there would be funds available at all times. Extract from Letter from Board of Education, Town of Ville- nova, South Dayton, Dated January 22, 1918 The writer has one son through college and now teaching, two daughters through high school, one in Normal and one in business college, two children in high school and one in district school so that you can readily imagine that I am more than ordinarily interested in the school system. Some years ago I made an investigation into the systems of Ohio and Pennsylvania and since that time have been an advocate of a township system. First because it equalizes taxation and makes those in the outside districts pay their share of the expenses of the high school where their children have been educated at less than cost; Also, we have plenty of instances all around us where railroads, trolley lines, telephone and telegraph lines, gas lines run through, say one side of a town and pay most of the school taxes in the districts through which they run under the old system while under the township system the other districts of the town would get the taxation benefit of these outside corporations the same as they do in the other taxes. Another reason is that under the township system, all the schools in the town would be brought up to the same standard. In this town we found some districts where the people had taken a keen interest in the schools and were in nice condition while in the adjoining district there was every evidence of neglect, I think in four districts there was not even seats in the boys closet. Our Board have endeavored to make a start towards bettering these conditions and make all districts on an equal basis both in equipment and competency of the teachers. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 567 The law is working all right although its being an untrodden road it has taken more time and trouble to get things working in a smooth channel than it would next year. There is some demand for its repeal although that comes mostly from agitation on the part of two or three persons. I personally believe that there should be little if any change this year but allow the people to adjust themselves to the new conditions. Our Board considered this matter at its last meeting and the following amendments were suggested : That the members of the Board should receive pay for their time the same as the members of the town boards do ; that only one member of a board could be elected from a district. We think this important to prevent the voters in the district where the election is held, from electing a majority of the Board. Perhaps an amendment that Avould compel the districts that were bonded to pay for new schoolhouses to pay those bonds, exempting the balance of the unit would also be advisable. Whatever dissatisfaction with the law comes from what is called th& increase in cost. The facts are that the increase comes from increase in teachers wages and higher cost of supplies, etc., all of which is not chargeable to the township law. In this town the only increases chargeable to the law is salary of clerk $100; salary of Treasurer, $30; cost of books of record, etc., about $21. or $151. Our tax budget was $7500, so these items cut no figure whatever. Extract from Letter from Myron S. Hatch, Albion, Dated January 8, 191 8 In regard to your letter of December 28th will say, that the town board of education had a meeting and requested me to send you the following sug- gestions which in their minds would help to cut expenses, and be more satisfactory to the people of the rural districts, as the farmers in general are opposed to the township law as it stands. First : That the teacher be instructed in physical training culture so they can instruct the children, without expense of a special physical training teacher for each three towns. Second: That the uniform tax rate be maintained. Third: That the boundary lines of a town be the dividing line for the spread of the school taxes. Fourth : That it would greatly reduce the expenses of election, if each district were to elect a member of the board at a school meeting to be held in their own district. Each district having a member on the board of education. Fifth : That the Town School directors be done away with and the town board of education have the power to employ the District Superintendent. Sixth : That the board of education have the power to close a school temporary, where the membership is small, and to contract with an adjoining school or schools for scholars of the closed school. Extract from Letter from Fred Sanders, Chairman, Town Board of Education, Georgetown, Dated January 11, 1918 The Town Board of Education of the town of Georgetown, N. Y., has no suggestions to offer in regard to the new Township School Law only that it be kept in force as it is at the present time. 568 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Our entire Board are in favor of this law and do not wish to have it changed. We have one district that is against this law and would like to see it repealed, but this district was consolidated with another district a few years ago and the money they draw from the State paid all of their expense and they did not have to raise any tax; and one of the farmers in the district is worth about forty thousand dollars and when he had to pay a ratio of $1.10 per hundred dollars. " Something is radically wrong with the Town- ship School Law and we're going to do ALL we can to knock it out." That is all the reason ANY of them have for wanting this law repealed. I ASSURE you our Board is UNANIMOUS FOR IT. Extract from Letter from Board of Education, Town of Jeru- salem, Dated January 14, 1918 It is working out as good as can be expected, the directors have been very faithful in attending the meetings of the Board, and have done all that they could do to make the schools a success. This is no small matter when you consider that a Board meeting means a twenty-mile drive over muddy roads this Fall and over snow banks this Winter, at night after a hard day's work on the farm for two of the members, all with no pay for their services. The school buildings and outhouses have all been cleaned and put in sanitary condition : necessary repairs have been made, all of which has been accomplished equally well with less effort and expense under the old system where there was someone close by each school to look after these matters. Now as to the matter of expense it certainly is a more expensive way than as you will see by the following facts. Take the matter of repairs; under this plan there had to be an inspection to see what the conditions were, then a mechanic was sent to do the work. Under the old system the house was inspected at the school meeting and someone close by who was interested was employed to make the repairs. Of course these men are still in the districts but the directors do not always know where to find them. In several cases where they were located they felt that the schools had been taken out of their hands and the interest and pride that they had taken in the past was gone and they would not be bothered with the work. The printing of the ballots, the pay of the inspectors, and other expenses of the election will add considerable to the cost of the plan. The preparation of the poll list requires a house to house canvass. In this town we have one hundred and fifty miles of roads, and in making this list the clerk will have to travel at least one hundred and seventy-five miles for which he of course will receive pay. The employment of the physical trainer receives very severe criticism. We have twenty-four schools that our trainer looks after for one hundred dollars per month. She visits the schools once in two weeks and outlines the work to the teacher, now whether there is any benefit derived rests with the teacher. There is nothing about these drills or exercises that could not be printed in the form of a syllabus and the teacher could work from this just as well as to pay someone to come and show her. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 569 If these exercises were suited to the individual need of the pupil, to correct some special defect or weakness, then the trainer would be of some value, but they are not, each one takes the same exercises whether weak or strong and in many cases the weak ones are worse off as the result. These things may be practical in the cities, but in the country where the boys and girls help with the work in the homes mornings and nights besides walking to and from the school and are taught exercises that imitate the motions of sawing wood when perhaps the boy has done a turn as the real thing before leaving home is ridiculous. We have yet to find anyone who approves of this feature of the law, even physicians question its value and in some cases condemn it. The public is very much dissatisfied with the Township law even where the taxes have been made lower as a result, there has been an offer made to circulate a petition for its repeal to show their sentiment against it. Extract from Letter from Richard B. Wilson, Town of Lock- port Board of Education, R.F.D. 7, Lockport, Dated January 12, 1918 We don't experience the opposition that is heard in adjoining towns, we have no High School to support and while in some districts the taxes are higher than usual it is usually the case that the assessment has been raised on that particular piece of property. I have talked to some of the teachers and they are in favor of it as it avoids numerous difficulties that formerly arose between teachers and people in the neighborhood that were always finding fault with things. There needs to be more time in getting out the tax list as by Septem- ber 10 the assessors in the towns have not completed their work and the tax roll are not available for us to work on. We have seven joint districts and we experienced much difficulty in finding those that lived in the adjoining towns if there was some way that each town could raise its own tax for schools it would simplify matters to a great extent. The. greatest opposition we find is the installation of the chemical toilets as the general opinion is that they will not give good; satisfaction after they are installed and ! the cost is so very high at the present time of plant labor and materials. This letter may not be very satisfactory to you but as I will repeat, we do not hear the loud opposition that we hear in other towns. No meetings of protest being held that I am aware of. Extract from Letter from A. L. Benedict, Chairman of School Board, Fairport, Dated January 15, 1918 In relation to the township school law I would amend it to discard the school boards and there is no use of having physical culture taught in country schools for they cannot get to the schools in the winter and the teacher should know enough to teach all that is necessary for farmers' children. In relation to the toilets that should be left to the town or 570 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK district, the taxpayers cannot stand so much unnecessary expense in war times. I think if the law is not changed a great many of the boards will resign. We pay our clerk $400 and it will cost more another year if the law is not changed. Extract from Letter from F. C. Snow, Chairman of Town Board of Education, Camden, Dated January 7, 1918 In regard to the new school law, I think it should be repealed, as it is more expensive and can see no improvement in the schools, it removes local government in the districts all persons I have spoken with in regard to it are in favor of repeal with one exception. Extract from Letter from Town Board of Education, Town of Amherst, Eggertsville, Dated January 6, 1918 Our clerk, Mr. Haffner, has shown me the letter he wrote you about the working of the new school system. I say amen to all he wrote, if people would only wait and give this system a fair trial they would find out that after the old shacks have been repaired, or rebuilt, the expense then would not be so great, and all the children in the whole town will have the same chance, if people only knew enough to grasp it, in regard to the election of members. I can not see the benefit of a separate election for school unless it is for the vote to raise the necessary funds to pay the school expenses. We will let some one who has more experience figure that out. Extract from Letter from Town Board of Education, West- ville, Dated January 17, 1918 Everyone in our town is against this law. It has added on a lot of expense and we do not get any different school than we got before. We have nine districts in our town and have nine teachers just the same, and nine schoolhouses to keep in repair and heat the same. So the new law adds on a lot of expense but does not lesson the expense in any way. The whole town rather have the old law with a trustee in each district and each district manage their own affairs. It is very expensive and unhandy for a clerk of the board of education, who has to have a rig, to visit every district in the town, to carry the supplies and to see a trustee near each school and it was not much expense to see to these things. The laws we get the last few years are adding to our taxes all the time until the school taxes now are double, or more, than they were several years ago. Our town and Fort Covington are are paying a physical train- ing teacher $1000 for the school year. She visits the districts once in two weeks for about one-half hour; the teacher has the rest to do, and the people think the teacher might as well do it and save the expense of $1000 which is a large item 'to add to our taxes. The people are all against this law, for they don't think it is needed in our rural districts, where the children have work to do before and after school each day and walk to school and return from one-quarter to two miles, with the exercise they THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 571 get at recess in the forenoon and also in the afternoon, with one hour at noon to run and play. You see they have about all the exercise they need. Now these laws may be all right for the cities and thickly populated centers, but the people of rural towns to a man think they ought to be exempted from us through the legislature. To have these laws repealed, as to the rural towns, we would be a thankful people. Extract from 'Letter from Board of Education, Shortsville, Dated January 15, 1918 Situate as we are, in one of the storm centers of the State, brick-bats directed against the same are used instead of bouquets. In relation to this unit, the rural districts, with the exception of District No. 12, are strongly opposed thereto, the principal opposition being based upon the increased tax rate. District No. 12, which in 1916 had a tax rate of $9.99 per thousand has been increased to $11.98, in other words, $1.99 per thousand increase. District No. 7, which includes the High School and comprises the village of Shortsville, has been reduced about $11 per thousand, in other words, from $21.40 to $11.98 and pays about one-half of the tax in the entire unit. The Board of Education has installed in all rural schools inside toilets and has expended considerable sums of money in the repair and improve- ment of the same. Such improvements and repairs being absolutely neces- sary for the comfort, convenience and welfare of the pupils attending same. Briefly summarized, the inside toilets would have made an increase in the tax of each rural district of from 50 to 75 per cent above the normal tax of 1916 in the extent the local officers of each district had made the same independent of the Township Law. In addition thereto, the expense in fuel has been increased about 25 per cent above that of the year 1916. Another element which has been overlooked is the fact that the assessed valuation of rural property, consisting of farm lands, has been increased by the local Board of Assessors in the three towns of which this unit forms a part, about 10 per cent, while that of the village remains about the same, being far in excess of the assessed valuation of farm property. I might also add that the work of the Board of Education has been retarded by the antagonistic attitude of those residing in the rural districts, who have refused to give us any aid, advice or recommendation as to their wishes. I have endeavored to ascertain the sentiment in towns in this county where there are no high school maintaining academic departments. From conversations with members of the local boards, tax collectors and super- visors and others, I find the following results : Mr. D. C. Spangle, tax collector of the town of Hopewell, informs me that he found very little sentiment opposed to the township system in the town of Hopewell, the opposition in that town being restricted to those residing in Joint District No. 3 of the towns of Manchester and Hopewell. In the town of Farmington, the people are generally satisfied with the condition, except in one or two of the railroad districts where the tax has been increased. 5/2 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK In the town of Canandaigua, the people are generally satisfied with the workings of the law except in railroad district where there has been .. a slight increase in the tax, and I am also informed that there is very little opposition in the town of Victor, except as above stated. The Granges, which represent the farmer element, have been spurred into action by one A. B. Katkamier, a lecturer in said Granges, residing in the town of Farmington, who I understand is largely responsible for the many resolutions that have been adopted condemning the same. The experience of the Board of Education of this unit has been that m the districts having the greatest valuation and paying the smallest tax, we have found the most deplorable condition so far as the school buildings- are concerned, to wit : In District No. 2, where the tax rate has been less than $2 per thousand, we found the outhouses absolutely unfit for use,. filthy, boards knocked loose and foundations out from under them, the roof of the school building was in a leaky condition, interior of the school building was in a smoky and dirty condition and the plastering off, the same was true so far as District No. 3 of the towns of Manchester' and Hopewell, but not quite as bad. In District No. 12, where the highest tax rate existed, we found the best state of repairs and buildings in the best condition, which was also true with Joint District No. 5 of the towns of Manchester and Phelps, which had an average tax rate of a little better than $6 per thousand in 1916. The situation, briefly summarized, is this : If taxation is the only criterion- repeal the act. If education for the masses is the aim, retain the Township? Law with such amendments as would permit the attendance of any pupil to any high school maintaining an academic department most conveniently- situated to the pupil, eliminating from the law the provision exempting: districts having a population of 1500 or more therefrom, which could, no doubt, be brought about by spreading the tax over the county, retaining: the local Boards of Education, who are to prepare each year, as provided in the present act, their respective budgets to be approved by the District Superintendents filed with the clerk of the Board of Supervisors or the County Treasurer. Thus far there has been no concerted action on the part of the village or localities maintaining academic schools and in the event of the repeal of the act, the result will be an increased rate of tuition for non-resident academic pupils in attending same, based upon the actual cost of education,, taking into consideration the amount invested in its plant, and in this respect my attention has been called to two instances in the last two days one of which is the city of Geneva, where heretofore the Board of Educa- tion has permitted academic pupils outside of the city to attend the same without payment of tuition, excepting the $20 allowed by the State, which has been raised to $75 per year, requiring the pupil to pay the sum of $5.5 in addition to the $20 heretofore received. In the village of Perry, the tuition has been increased to $40 per year. What other districts have done I have not, as yet, been able to learn. The effect of this is simply to establish a barrier around higher educa- tional advantages for worthy rural pupils who are unable to pay tl»e increased tuition. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 573 Extract from Letter from Board of Education, Town of Fine, Oswegatchie, Dated January 28, 1918 Answer to your letter some time ago I think there is a big mistake in running schools 36 weeks in the country school district; 32 was long enough and if you look it up in the last reports you will see there are a whole! lot of little tots that can not get their course. It is a great benefit to the school teachers but not to the scholars or fuel. Look it up and see if this is not right. I think in this town 95 per cent are dissatisfied with the new law and if the people could have a vote on it, it would get shattered. I do know this much, that school boards will not do their duties that they liad ought to do for nothing. The old way was the best all together. Let all of the districts run their own business. Extracts from Resolutions and Recommendations of the Board of Education of Town of Parma We, the undersigned taxpayers of District No. 7 of the town of Parma, Monroe county, N. Y., who in 1916 under the old school law had a school tax. decimal of .0022 and under the township law in 1917 had a school tax •decimal of .0054, do not consider the increased tax sufficient reason for the repeal of the township school law, but feel the establishment of the town- ship as a school unit is a step in the right direction, and that this attempt at the revision of our rural school policy ought not to be abandoned on so short trial. We believe further that if injustice exists under the opera- tion of the present law, amendment of the law will correct it. Eugene E. Collamer John Eidman Geo. Collamer Peter Hendershott George Zorn Mrs. L. Hendershott Lawrence Wright E. B. Hendershott Charles E. Ducolon C. W. Vanorden W. I. Smith Vincent Bush W. I. Smith, Mgr. Irving Smith Hilton Cold Storage Co. Joseph Nundy James Nundy David Nundy Chas. Straub Tames Hendershott B. A. Smith Extract from Letter from Town Board of Education, Town of Amherst, Eggertsville, Dated January 4, 1918 Our schools are 16 in number. We found the larger schools in good condition, but most of the smaller schools were in very bad shape. The old district law was certainly out of date. We were without funds to do anything until the middle of September, we only hear of a few com- plaints, but of course like everything new there is bound to be some criticism. We found taxes were not uniform even in adjoining districts. 574 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK only about two miles apart and same class school. Our largest district No. 13, was $3.10 per 1000 last year, while this year $3.20 per $1000 which prevailed in our town. Our additional expenses were as follows : Bonded indebtedness $1500 Physical director 1000 Salary clerk 800 Indoor toilets, $775 ; installing depts, $725 1500 Total $4800 We will have 8 more toilets to install this year, but we will have no bonded indebtedness which will bring our expenses lower. While the law may need amendments from time to time, it has not had the opportunity to adjust itself to the new conditions. In the old days they would elect a trustee not for his fitness or ability, but just because he would fake at and the chances were he would visit the school once or twice a year. In the new law it is run on a business principle and we have made many repairs and put in needed improvements and if let alone will have every school in good sanitary and comfortable condition. 1. My suggestion which I think would improve the working of the new law would be as follows : Have the old board have office until Jan. 1, 1919 instead of August 1, 1918 and the two members which who were elected 'at the regular November election this will save the expense for an election in May and will also save the expense of preparing voting lists as the regular registration will take care of that, now that there is equal suffrage, divide the town where there are 5 members into 5 districts allowing only one member from each district to be elected this will allow 2 districts in the town Nov. 18 (2 members). Two districts in the town Nov. 19 (2 members). One district in the town Nov. 20 (1 member). The town will then be fairly represented. 2. Regarding the appraising of school property and returning the amount to the taxpayer in district, v/ould suggest the town issue 10-year school bonds for the amount paying off one-tenth each year and interest paying over the amount to the taxpayer in one payment instead of three this will spread the payment of the school bonds over 10 years and will not be a hardship on any taxpayer. 3. In the collection of school taxes I think they should be collected with the regular county tax instead of a special collection. The first year might be determined and might make it necessary for school boards to borrow money until such collections were made, but it seems unnecessary to make two collections when one would do the work. Extract from Letter from Board of Education, Sandy Creek, Dated February 20, 1918 The first action of the Board last August was to make a personal inspec- tion of all the school property of the town. This was done on an appointed day by the members, as a body, accompanied by the Secretary and the Dis- THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 575 trict Superintendent of Schools. A detailed memorandum was made of the condition of every school building, and while still on the ground the mem- bers of the Board discussed and decided upon such repairs, equipment and improvements as appeared to be needed to put the school property in good working order. This tour of inspection revealed various needs, among which may be mentioned — Remortaring of foundation walls; extensive floor repairs; laying new floors ; replacing broken window-lights ; stove and chimney repairs ; repaint- ing exteriors and interiors; roof repairs; replastering; repairing out-build- ings ; constructing annexes for storing wood, and to provide approaches to out-buildings ; new equipment, including maps, drinking-f ountains, towel- holders, flags, poles, ropes, etc. It was decided that all floors should be oiled, and that every school-house should be cleaned before the opening of school. It was decided that eventually annexes should be built on to all the school-houses not already thus equipped, for the purpose of providing indoor approaches to the toilets and also to provide storage for fuel ; but in order to avoid a heavy burden of taxation in any one year, it was agreed that such extensive improvements should be spread out over a period of two or three years. The location and arrangements of an annex for this purpose is regarded as a matter of considerable importance, and is one that with the assistance of our efficient Superintendent of Schools Mrs. Mildred G. Pratt, has been worked out very satisfactorily in the building operations of this kind thus far attempted. In accordance with the recommendations of the State Department of Education in respect to lighting, the annex, wherever practicable, is built on the right-hand side, which leaves the windows at the left and rear of the pupils, unobstructed for the admission of light. The Board directed that all the schools of the town should open on the same day; and with slight exceptions (due to the illness of teachers) a uniform schedule has been maintained throughout the town. The Board decided early in the winter that instead of taking a midwinter vacation, the rural schools should continue through to the end of the spring term with only one week out at Easter, thus releasing as earl} r as possible in the spring, the children of the schools for work on the farms. The Board took early action to provide for an adequate supply of wood for the rural schools so that in no case has it been necessary to close a school for lack of fuel. In order best to fulfill the requirements of some of the schools it has been necessary in certain instances to transfer a teacher from one rural school to another. Such a shift, involving three districts, enabled the Board to fill an unexpected vacancy and the arrangement worked out to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. This, of course, would have been 'impossible under the former school law. Monthly meetings of the Board have been regularly held, in all of which, with one or two exceptions, every member of the Board has been present. In these meetings personal reports are submitted by the 'District Superin- tendent of Schools and the Principal of the Union Free School, one or both of whom are also 'called for consultation in special meetings of the Board that are held as occisioned demands. Thus in frequent conferences the needs of all the schools, both village and rural, are canvassed, and the Board is 576 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK enabled to keep informed regarding the work of every teacher. The Board is endeavoring to accord equal consideration to the Union Free School and the schools of the rural districts. Sandy Creek High School for the past forty years has been an important factor in the educational life of Northern Oswego County. Of its hundreds of graduates a large proportion have come from the country districts, and for more than a quarter of a century the rural schools of the surrounding country have been largely 'taught, by graduates of its Teachers' Training Classes:. Accordingly the Board is pro- ceeding on the theory that the- 'interests of the rural schools and the Union Free Schools of the town are closely related. Except for the repairs and improvements mentioned (some of 'which might not have been attended to by the individual districts) and the salary of the Secretary of the 'Board (approximating $300 for the year), there is no good reason why the school expenses should be greater than would have been the case under the old law. Altogether, the Township Law, as applied in Sandy Creek, is regarded as having produced very satisfactory results during the brief time it has been in force. Extract from Letter from Clarence E. Taylor, Earlville, Dated January 8, 1918 In reply to your letter sent to Town Boards of Education, say that feel sure that this law is no exception to all laws, in that there are always isolated cases of apparent injustice in the working of any law or ruling. We feel here that this law would in time work for a better educational system- throughout the country districts, and have already seen instances of this in our town. There are some who object to this new system, but only do so on account of increased taxes, and the objectors in nearly every case have no children. This law made my own personal taxes over four times as large as they were before it was adopted, yet feel that before was not paying my share of the school expense as my farm was within one mile of village school yet in district outside, where we could maintain a school for very small assessment, and nearly all the children of the district got the benefits of the Earlville school at very much less cost than residents of the school district therein. Have thought that a county unit might be a better system. It is hard work to get men interested enough in the town unit to give of their time to do the needed work of the town boards. We try to meet monthly, but there are so many things to see to in our large districts that we are busy about half our time with something or other connected with the work. I am firmly convinced that gradually the state will take more and more control of the schools until they will have complete supervision of the. school system entirely, which day will be glad to see. We would be glad to see the law given a longer trial. Extract from Letter from William M. Fort, Superintendent of Schools, Newark, Dated January n, 19-18 ■ In connection with the township law, I feel I ought to say this to you. I have mad quite a careful survey of the objections entered to the law and find every one of them reducible to the proposition- — namely increased taxes. 1 have talked with the president of our township Board of Education and he tells me that in his judgment that this year for the first time the district schools of our township have clean schoolhouses, proper equipment witn which to work and a fairly good grade of teachers who are fairly well paid. Of course the taxes would be increased, but every school is get- ting the worth of its money. Under the old regime what taxes were paid in, never were used in a way that brought about a fair return for the money expended. And this is so because trustees provided only a school build- ing, a teacher, and some pupils. How could you make bricks without more material than this. Permit me to suggest that everybody stand by their guns and give this law a fair test before anything is done with it. Extract from Letter from Wheaton M. Coward, President, Board of Education, South Byron, Dated January n, 1918 As far as this section is concerned, there is no objection to the new law. It seems to be working out very nicely here and we hear of no complaints in regard to same. Letter from Ira T. Stradling, Clerk of Board of Education, North Norwich This township of N. Norwich is fairly well pleased with the school laws as they are at present. Letter from Frank A. Hill, President, Board of Education, Town of Salem Repeal of law entirely. Extract from Letter from Board of Education, Colchester, Dated January 9, 1918 In this town the law is working out well. When this board began their duties last summer we found a number of ochoolhouses and buildings in the back districts in poor condition from neglect. The school district having a low valuation and the tax rate being correspondingly high, in some cases as high as $60 tax on a thousand assessment, the district had been getting along as cheaply as possible. We did not have time before the opening ot the schools to remedy all of these conditions, but we made such improve- ments as were possible and will complete them during next summer. I think that all members of our board view the law with favor, particu- larly the principle of making the town the unit of taxation. The only objec- tion to the law that I have heard has come from those whose taxes have been raised; those who live in districts having high valuations, in which are factories', railroad or corporation assessments. They do not like the idea of sharing those taxable values with the small weak districts. But of course their complaint is unjust. It is not all, by any means, whose taxes have thus been raised, who complain. I have heard a number of those *9 5/$ ?#£ UNIVERSITY OF' fHE STATE OF ftfiW Y0K& say that notwithstanding their taxes were much higher they believed the law to be just, and they were willing to pay their additional tax, recog- nizing that it was only just that all in the town should be taxed for school purposes at the same rate. While we have had no meeting of the board since receiving your letter, and therefore what I say with reference to the amendment of the law represents only my own personal views, I believe that the weak point in the law is the method of electing the members of the board of education. No matter how good a law may be, it will never work very well if these charged with its administration are opposed to it and seek to discredit it. Those opposed to the law will be more likely to come out to the election and elect one in sympathy with their views, than those who favor it, and this for several reasons. Those having a grievance will be more likely to attend election than those who are satisfied with conditions and feel satisfied and that everything is working just and right. Further those who oppose the law are to be found near the centers of population where valua- tions are comparatively high, hence near to places where elections are held. The State furnishes practically two-fifths of the money for the support of the common district schools, and the State Department of Education ought to be represented on each board of education. I think the boards of education would be materially strengthened if the district superintendent was permitted to appoint two members of the board and the votes of the town to elect three. The district superintendent is very nearly a representative of the Education Department, and the qualifications for that office are so high that none but good men can hold that office, and must be in sympathy with the Education Department, so that an appointment of a member of the board of education by the district superintendent would virtually be an appointment by the Education Department, while not being so in name, and probably no great objection would be made to that arrangement by the people, while they would object if the appointment were made directly by the Education Department. This would insure at least two on the board who would work in harmony with the district superintendent, and the successful operation of the law depends very largely on the district super- intendent. He visits the schools, knows the teachers, and the needs of each particular school, and the ability of practically all the teachers, and his advice is invaluable to the board in the selection of teachers as well as in many other matters. Under the arrangement suggested, while the two appointed by the district superintendent would be numerically in a minority on the board, they would usually be the strongest men on the board, and would really shape the policy of the board, although the others might not know it. The best system, in my judgment, would be to have the district superin- tendent appointed by the Commissioner of Education, and all members of the town board appointed by the district superintendent, but I recognize that the dear pee-pul would not stand for that. They will strenuously insist on taking a hand in the running of the schools, a matter they are incom- petent to do with the greatest success. But they are very jealous of sur- rendering their rights. So the above plan of so amending the law that the district superintendent would appoint two members of the board and the ftiE -TOWNSHIP SYSTfiM ^f§ people of the town elect the other three, would probably be as far towards making the town boards really efficient as it would be safe to go at the present stage of our earthly existence. As to the first objection urged by Governor Whitman in his message against the law in respect to the consolidation of weak districts to form a union school, and the consequent abolition of many of the existing districts we know nothing of, as that plan has not been attempted in Delaware county. As to his other objection that the board of education is given power to raise by taxation the necessary expenses of running the schools, and thus depriving the people of the right to vote on the amount to be expended "within the' school district." If he means what he says, that the voters in the school districts shall have the right to say how much money shall be expended in their respective districts, and leave the town the unit of taxa- tion, such a suggestion is obviously unsound. To raise a general fund by taxation on the whole town, and then allow each district to take out what the voters of that district desire, would soon bankrupt the town. But I assume that what he means is that the voters of the town should be per- mitted to vote upon the question of adopting the budget prepared by the town board. There is no great objection to that, provided, however, that the law shall provide that notwithstanding the failure of the voters to adopt the budget or vote the amount asked for, the board of education shall proceed to levy and collect the amounts necessary for the ordinary and necessary expenses of properly maintaining the schools in the town, as now provided where the inhabitants of a union free school district refuse to vote the required sums, by sections 323-325 of the Education Law. If such a safeguard was not placed in the law ignorant and penurious voters might wreck the whole system in a town by refusing to vote the reasonable and necessary moneys to maintain the schools. Such a pro- vision would be only a sort of camouflage thrown up to deceive the voters and make them think they had something to say about raising moneys for school purposes while in fact they did not really have any, except as to the extraordinary expenditures. Extract from Letter from Board of Education, Colchester, Dated January 2, 1918 I understand that there is to be a great effort made this winter to repeal the Township School Law. I note that the farmers of this county at their county grange meeting recently adopted a resolution favoring the repeal of the law. From reports published in newspapers and from other sources I learn that there are strong objections to the law among influential farmers and small business men throughout the State, leaders, so called, of thought in their respective localities. I think that the objections to the law rest upon, first, ignorance of the provisions of the law, second, selfishness. I have noticed various articles and statements in local newspapers, the same state- ments copied into different papers, with reference to the law, many of which contain the largest amount of misinformation and misstatement of fact that was possible in so short a space, Then many object to the law because their school taxes are higher than under the old system. They care nothing $io T&fc fcftivfcfcsifltf op mt BiA^u of ttm toM about the other fellow whose taxes have been reduced. Principles of equity and justice have no weight with them. They pay more taxes than they did before, and that is enough. They, therefore, proceed to condemn the law and demand that it be repealed. The leading citizens in a town are usually those who have accumulated some property and live at or near villages or centers of population where valuations are high as compared with more remote farms and properties, and hence under the old system their school taxes were usually low. These are the men who attend farmers' institutes, grange meetings, and meetings of organizations designed to promote their interests. Their voices are heard in the land; they pass resolutions and get their statements in print and published in the newspapers. But it must be remembered that their numbers are not to be determined b}" the amount of noise they make. The submerged half, as it were, live in the more remote sections of the town; they are not "leaders;" their voices are seldom heard; they keep the even tenor of their way. The valuations of property in those neighborhoods being low their taxes under the old system were very high. Under the present law their school taxes have been much reduced, and they are pleased with the law, but not being " leaders " and used to talking they do not proclaim their joy from the housetop. We do not hear from those whose taxes have been reduced, but only from those whose taxes have been raised. Having been connected with schools and school matters, more or less, for many years, I know something of the history of efforts which have finally been successful in placing upon the statute book of this State the Township School Law, and it must not now be repealed. Those who oppose it through ignorance of its provisions should be enlightened; those who seek its repeal because their school taxes are higher than under the old law should be informed that the total expense for the whole town is no more than formerly; that for every dollar they are required to pay more than formerly, somebody else in the town will pay that much less than formerly. That the law does not increase the school taxes in the town ; it only equalizes them. When they have been thus informed, if they need the information they should then be squelched. A man who has the advantages of near markets and easy access to villages, and then kicks because he is required to pay precisely the same rate of taxes for the schools in the town as does his fellow townsmen who live in more remote sections at greater distance from village and markets, with all other disadvantages which are endured by those who live remote from centers of population, is not entitled to very much respect or consideration. I trust that the Department of Education will be able to prevent the repeal of this law at the present session of the Legislature. If it is not repealed this year it never will be. The opposition will cease after the law has been in force long enough to have a fair trial. Extract from Letter from Board of Education, Lewiston, Dated January 10, 1918 This question was discussed at a meeting of the Board, at which all members but one were present, and it was the opinion of all members that it was a great improvement over the old method of operating the schools, THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 581 and if allowed sufficient time, with a few amendments, would prove a great advance in Rural School government. We would respectfully offer the following suggestions : First. That all school districts including an incorporated village he excluded. This would lower the taxes by excluding the large bonded Union schools located in most of these villages. These schools require more than the smaller rural schools, and those needs could better be supplied by a separate board. Second. Instead of the town buying all the schools as proposed, thereby increasing the taxes still more, the schools should all be turned over to the town, and no charge of any kind made against the several districts. This, providing suggestion one is adopted. Third. The question of installing sanitary indoor toilets should not be pressed for a few years. We realize this is in no way connected with the township law, but the root of the whole trouble seems to be increased taxes, and sanitary toilets and township law have come to spell the same thing to most people. Fourth. The physical training law, although a good thing for the cities and larger towns, no doubt, does not seem to be desired by the farmers. It means quite an added expense, not commensurable with the benefits gained. In conclusion, I wish to say that this Board would like to see the law continued, with the above alterations, until such a time, that it can be shown that it is not a great improvement over the old method. Extract from Letter from C. C. Swart, Board of Education, Busti, Dated January 9, 1918 We are holding our Board meetings regularly on the last Thursday of each month and always have with us the Principal of our high school and our District Superintendent. Local problems have arisen but we have always been able to meet and handle them, as it seems to us, in a satisfactory manner. In matter of equipment, better school buildings, better teachers, and a fairer equalization of taxes the new law seems to be working very much to the advantage of the schools. We desire to see this law have a good fair trial and giving it our hearty support to that end. Extract from Letter from S. E. Bryner, Clerk R. F. D. 4, Troy, Dated January 1, 1918 The most common complaint is that regarding an inevitable increase in tax rate. This increase is not due so much to the advent of the new town- ship law as to the circumstances attending its advent, i. e., war conditions, advanced cost of material and labor, and practically everything that is a necessary part of the school equipment. The law itself does not entail a greatly increased cost of school operation, as it merely adds to those items which were alreadj' necessary, a salaried clerk and treasurer and the method of holding school elections, as prescribed, is more expensive than the ojd method, which really entailed np expense. Likewise the law made 582 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK necessary the purchase of considerable stationery, filing cases, record files and such business furniture as would be called for in order to keep the records in a proper business manner. This item will naturally be less in the forthcoming years, as much of the furniture is of a permanent nature. The management of the rural schools is now and for the first time, I presume, approaching a correct business form. Like perhaps most boards, the school board of this town upon assuming its duties made a round of the schools and found many necessary and vitally important repairs required, 'a legacy from the old trustee system,, who, with all due respect to their good intentions were usually thwarted by lack of funds in doing more than would just let the district get by. The item of immediate repairs for our schools was quite large, and is, as yet, not complete. This, together with the added cost of administering the new law, has caused an increased tax rate in this town of about $1.61 per $1000 valuation. The rate will propably be somewhat larger this year, due to the cost of installing four sanitary chemical closets. We have also replaced two old-fashioned stoves with interior circulating heaters and the results in this cold weather is proving the good judgment of the change. Not only uni- formly warmer school rooms but less fuel is consumed. Equalization of taxes : The massing of the town's ratable property for the purpose of school taxation has resulted in an increased local cost to some districts and a reduced cost to others, as compared with the old method. Some complaints have been heard from the former but none from the latter. As time goes on these variations will be forgotten. Just now, with a rising market on everything the subject is uppermost in the minds of about everybody. It is too early to speak of the benefits to accrue from the consolidation of schools, and the closing of those having an abnormally small enrollment. The ideas is a good one but will require the exercise of careful fore- thought to work it out to the best advantage in actual practice. Virtually all to whom I have spoken on this point are heartily in favor of abolishing the small school wherever the conditions will allow, and by bringing together a larger enrollment of children to have the grade work separated. Rural parents, as rule, are most emphatic in their demand for the graded school. Briefly stated, the benefits that are now apparent from the operation of the new law. are a better and more business-like management of the school finances, more prompt response to calls for supplies, etc., required by teachers and janitors, a uniform system of text books throughout the town — impossible under the old district plan — a more hearty co-operation on the part of the teachers with better team work, closer touch with the district superintendent in all matters appertaining to the schools, as also with the state department, absence of petty quarrels and bickerings and workings at cross purposes on the part of trustees, better service on the part of the janitors, as all now receive the same wage in schools of equal size. Here- tofore, some janitors received $50.00 per year, others $5.00 for the same work. An inner circulating library system between the schools, with one teacher acting librarian for the town. Suggestions : That the school taxes be collected simultaneously with the state, county and town taxes. Each school clerk must obtain from the town clerk, or from the supervisor, after approval by the board of assessors, THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 583 the tax enrollment book, which he requires to have in his possession a matter of several days in order to copy the names, valuations, etc. If a suitable column were provided he could in the same time set the rate for the school levy, make out his rate card and extend the net amounts as applied to each property owner in the proper colunm. The book would be returned and when the state, county and town taxes were extended, the school column would be added to the total, and the book when delivered to the collector would be ready for the collection of all taxes. For the first year of this operation it would be necessary to authorize the school boards to borrow sufficient money to pay their running expenses until say, Jan. 1st. This plan would provide much greater convenience to the taxpa} r crs, especially in the saving of time, and the school taxes would thereby be swallowed up in the grand total and not be such a prominent eyesore as they are at present. A less expensive method of holding school elections. As the law stands at present, the matter of school elections will be quite expensive, calling, as it does, for inspectors at $3.00 per day, printed ballots, forms, etc. If no more persons turn out to the school elections than has been customary during the five years that the writer has been interested in school work, the most of the equipment will be waste paper. Why not permit the ballots to be printed blank, and have the elector fill in the name of the person he votes for — other propositions, if any to be on separate ballots. This would enable the supply of ballots to be used for successive elections. The names of the candidates nominated as called for by the law to be posted in the voting place on election day. I understand there is a reactionary element that is calling for the repeal of the township law. This movement is apparently being featured by some newspapers who just at this time find it profitable to cater to the rural com- munity by inciting a sort of rebellion. No more backward step could be taken by the people of the Empire state than to return to the old district school system, which long ago outlived its usefulness, and while the new law is perhaps not as perfect as it might be, it is a long step in the direction of progress, the results of which will be more and more apparent as the years roll on. Extract from Letter from Board of Education, Town of Webb, District 1, Stating Resolutions and Recommendations, Dated February 22, 1918 We, the undersigned, will say that we have had this system, — The Town- ship System, — in force in the town of Webb, Herkimer county, for several years and found it to exactly meet the needs of this Town and we hope and expect to keep' this system in force in the future. Extract from Letter from Poland Town Board of Education, Kennedy, Dated January 5, 1918 I would suggest that the Physical Instructor be abolished or made optional in rural districts and the work given to the local teacher. 584 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Second, that town lines be taken for boundary lines, instead of district lines. Third, town school boards and teachers shall meet together at least twice in a school year. Fourth, Trustees shall visit all schools in the town at least twice a year. Fifth, Trustees shall receive an annual salary of $50. Extract from Letter from Board of Education, Mendon, Dated January 11, 1918 I believe the objections offered to the law are not so much against the system, or by the inhabitants of the union school districts, affected, as by the taxpayers in the rural districts because of the increase in school taxes caused by their being obliged to assist in paying the expense of maintain- ing the Union School in the town-school unit. My suggestion would be to exempt all union districts from the opera- tion of the law, the same as the law now exempts those of fifteen hundred population, and make the town school unit to include the district schools of the town only, or possibly in towns where the schools are widely separated, or have more than a certain number of schools to divide the town districts into school units, the union school district remaining a unit by itself. This would probably take care of {he cry against the increase of tax on farm property. However, I would give the union schools the right to charge tuition in all departments enough to cover the cost of educating the pupil and make this a charge against the district from which the pupil comes and not against the individual or parent. I also believe school districts lines should be made to conform to the town lines as this would expedite the collection of taxes and be more satisfactory both to the property owner and the Board of Education. School trustees should also be allowed compensation the same as members of town boards. Extract from Letter from J. A. Copeland, Clerk, Board of Education, York, Dated January 11, 1918 In replying to yours of recent date in regard to the operation of the Township School Law will say that our Board passed a motion in favor of going back to the old system. Personally I do not agree with the Board in this matter and believe with a few changes the township law is right. I do not believe that the Physical Training teacher is needed in the country districts and believe it is money thrown away as the children get all the exercise needed on their trip to school each morning besides other work they have to do at home. I think the new law will be just like the Highway Law was when the pay system became a law. The farmers all put up a kick about their taxes being so high but you could not get them to go back to the old way now. I was tax collector for six years in this town and know how the farmer feels on this matter, THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 585 In our unit where we have a two room school the taxes are lower than last year in other districts they are some higher but I believe when we get our school buildings up in shape that the taxes will not be very much higher in any of the districts. Extract from Letter from H. L. Oldham, Clerk, Board of Edu- cation, Versailles, Dated January 19, 1918 Replying to your letter in regard to the township law, will say; that it is too expensive. A saving could be made by having the school election in November with the general election. The Physical Culture teacher could, be done away with especially in the country, the teacher giving that instruction themselves. I think that there should be as many members on the Board as there are school districts, and a member chosen from each district. Taxes could be levied and raised the same as our land and county taxes, and thereby save expense. Extract from Letter from Board of Education, Colesville, Dated January 12, 1918 The Board of Education has requested me to answer your letter of December 28 saying that it is confident the new school law is a step in the right direction, and will place the schools in a systematic and better work- ing condition than under the old method. Everything is now systemized and done in a business-like manner, while heretofore it was more of guess work and no real business or head to it. Of course the law is new and the boards have many things to contend with, which will be soon overcome and by another year everything will be run- ning smoothly. Like all new laws, there are few things that might be changed to better conditions. One suggested by the board, is to have the districts divided at the Town lines, and if the children attend school in another town, to pay that town for the tuition. A second suggestion was that the members of the Board be paid a small fee for their time and then they would be mora apt to look after matters more promptly, and attend board meetings more regularly. Extract from Letter from Board of Education, Cameron, Dated January 3, 1918 At the last meeting of the Board of Education the following resolution was adopted: That it is the unanimous opinion of this board that the present Town- ship School System is a much needed improvement over the old District System. 1. That it makes equal taxation for the support of schools. 2. Gives Board power and makes them responsible for the education of the children. 3. Makes possible for a more economical and efficient maintenance of the schools throughout the town. 586 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Extract from Letter frorn Board of Education, Wilson, Dated January 29, 1918 We, the undersigned, members of the Town Board of Education of the town of Wilson, Niagara county, N. Y., do hereby endorse the School Township Law and ask that it be given a fair trial as we believe that it will work out ultimately for the best educational interests of the State. In connection we would suggest that the taxing feature be so changed so that all property assessable in the Town for school purposes be ihe same as found upon the Town Assessment Roll thus eliminating the present tax confusion. As special recommendations we would ask that the present physical Train- ing Law be so changed as to make it possible for the Teachers to do this work. Also that the Medical Inspection be no longer required and finally that the installation of sanitary closets in rural schools at least for the present be not made obligatory. These changes would not effect the efficiency of the schools and would produce real economy. Extract from Letter from Board of Education, Unit 1, Town of Camillus, Warner, Dated January 9, 1918 Our main difficulty in reference to the Township Law is that the tax- payers in the small districts feel that they should have as good equipment uf every kind for a few pupils as we have in the high school with 225 pupils. We believe, however, that in the course of time this objection will lose its force as their children are gradually brought into the central dis- trict at Warner. We have no doubt that under such an arrangement we can build up an educational plant at Warner that will give the best and most practical training possible, and that the children now attending the small schools will not be the only ones profited, for the larger number will give a new spirit and make possible departments of Agriculture and Home Economics. For these reasons we believe that in the main the law is all right and should be tried out before it is meddled with. Continuous change is what makes the expense. Extract from Letter from Board of Education, Unit 1, Town of Chazy, Dated January 12, 1918 Your letter of December 28 regarding the working of the township school law, was brought before the town board of education and the law was thought to be working well, no amendments were suggested. The board at the same time adopted a resolution in favor of the law and against a repeal. Extract from Letter from E. A. Taber, President, Town Board of Education, Davenport, Dated January 8, 1918 There is very lit Lie objection in this town to the working of the law. I think after the law has had a fair trial the vast majority of the people will THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 587 be pleased with the new arrangement. Like any new law bringing about such a marked change there is bound to be some complaint on the part of a few during the first year of its operation. It seems to me that the town should be the unit of taxation for the sup- port of the schools of the town. It is much more just than the method of raising the taxes by districts. The new law means great things for the rural schools. I earnestly hope that the present law is retained in all of its essential features. Extract from Letter from B. E. Brophel, Chairman, Board of Education, Moscow, Dated January 7, 1918 I wish to say that we have no fault to find with the township law, and believe that a general good in town schools will be derived. I do not believe that this system has yet been sufficiently tried but so that anyone could suggest any amendments that would be for the betterment of same. Would it not be practical and advisable to wait for a sufficient time so that the present system can be well tried out before making any changes? Extract from Letter from Whitestaun Board of Education, Oriskany, Dated January 8, 1918 The law has not been a success in this town and has caused much dis- satisfaction among people who have the best interests of the schools at heart. Local interest seems to be paralyzed and the schools are an easy prey to politicians under this system. The trouble seems to be that the unit is too large for efficient, democratic school government. The unit should be made smaller and the school government placed directly in the hands of the people again. I respectfully suggest that all the benefits of consolidation without the evils of the township system can be obtained by abolishing both the town unit and the old common school district and making the Union Free School District the basis of local school government. Extract from Letter from President, Board of Education, East Hampton Union School, Dated December 31, igi.7 In the judgment of this Board, it would be wise to have the township law repealed as soon as Providence will permit. Extract from Letter from, Town Board of Education, Cornwall, Dated January 1, 1918 Replying to your favor of the 28th ulto., in re operation of Township Law, would say: We have three districts, two of which have outstanding bonds and interest charges ; the actual result is that these two find school taxes little if any higher under the new law; the third district however, is where the principle kicking is done, for there the tax is three times higher, owing not only to aforestated cause, but to the fact that we adopted a most liberal budget — allowing $1167.36 more than last year for school expenses. 588 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The principal objection seems to be that the new law gives no visible improvement in methods or results; also that it is more or less of an infringement of Home Rule. Taken as a whole the consensus of opinion — among the farmers — seems to be strongly for a repeal of the law; the Chairman of our Board so expresses himself, and so would I were it not for the fact that I am getting a salary out of it. Our great trouble is to get the members of the Board to do anything; having three members, two insist on having the chairman and clerk do the actual work; therefore, if you want to put life into local school matters, also induce the best men to take Board positions, then pay them some small sum. In the matter of possible amendments I would suggest: That members of a Board be paid some small sum for each meeting attended. Now that we are to have universal suffrage, I would make it such in fact as well in name, by making eligibility for voters at a school meeting just the same as at any general election. Extract from Letter from W. R. Christi, Clerk, Kirkwood Board of Education, Dated January 8, 1918 People on back districts seem satisfied their taxes being lower on unit systems getting benefit of railroad and State property. Those on front districts are not satisfied as their taxes are from $1 to 2 per $1000 higher. What they feel is an imposition in having to pay for physical training teacher as they don't get any benefit from it. They feel it's like throwing their money away. Children in rural districts get plenty of exercise walking to and from school and working at home nights and mornings. It costs $1800 per year for two physical training teachers in the eastern district. Taxpayers are up in arms against it, claim they won't stand i'oi physical training teachers. It being war times, if you could abolish physical training in rural districts I think people would soon see that unit system is a good thing same as they do in State of Pennsylvania. Part of Board has to drive seven miles in order to meet in central location regardless of roads and weather, they felt it was asking too much without a compensation. Extract from Letter from C. R. Stephenson, Board of Education, Schuyler Lake, Dated January 14, 1918 Being chairman of the Board of Education of this town I have failed, as yet, to see where there has been any marked improvement in this system and it has created a considerable dissatisfaction on the part of the tax- payers in the rural districts. The only suggestion I can think of at this time, would be to abolish the township law and re-establish the old system or one somewhat like it. In making the above statement I believe it is the voice of the rest of the Board as I have talked with all except one. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 589 Extract from Letter from Board of Education, Truxton, Dated January 17, 1918 The Township Law has so far worked favorably in this town, the only criticism we have heard is from the three districts of the town who in prior years have made contracts with the High School here and who have paid no taxes for some years, they complain of the high school taxes this year. We would suggest a change in the election of the Board of Education to save expense and inconvenience to voters in voting at a general election. Let each district hold their meeting on the first Tuesday in May as here- tofore and elect their trustees and vote the amount of their tax budget. They will also instruct their trustees who to vote for at the annual election of Board of Education. The truste.e of the district to have general supervision of his district during the school year and report monthly to the Board of Education of matters affecting the school, notify the clerk of the Board of all supplies needed and repairs to be done. The trustees of each district to meet at a place designated on the second Tuesday in May and elect members of the Board of Education by ballot and hand to the clerk of the Board their budget for the district. The Board of Education to employ teachers and fix their salaries as in present law, also arrange for transportation of pupils. We think taxation as a town is just to all taxpayers. Reduce the Board of Education to three members. Extract from Letter from William W. Kinfield, Franklinville Town School Board, Dated January 7, 1918 Regarding the township school law, I believe it is working well in our town of Franklinville although I deem it rather early to pass judgment on it. First — Regarding taxes — Under the old system some districts with a (valuation of 18,000 had a tax-rate of .013 on which to maintain a school. Other districts with over 100,000 valuation had a tax-rate of .0028 to do the same. The district which we found in poorest shape had one of the highest valuations and the taxpayers in this district are doing most of the kicking against the new law. Second — Regarding teachers contracts: The present teachers made their contracts with the several trustees — These contra-.ts were taken over by the board. We fired seme teachers having 17 to 18 pupils receiving $13.50 per week, while ethers having 25 or 26 pupils are getting $11.00. I think a board could grade the salaries according to labor involved. Third — This is a serious disadvantage of the old system — we find that the school-meetings in nearly every district have been run by a clique, who afterwards control the affairs of the district — many .times to the disad- vantage of others — or in other words "feather their own nest." Govern- ment by a board should overcome this. Fourth — The school board is in position to get acquainted with the needs of the several schools and the metal of the teachers — They can in future place them where they can do the most efficient work. 590 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Fifth — Regarding the levying of a tax of the school board as mentioned in the governor's message, Is it any more unjust than the town board laying a tax for town expenses? Our district superintendent says there was more repair work done in his district during the last three weeks in August than had been done before during the five years he had lived in the district. Since our high school is a separate unit we fail to see why taxes should aggregate any more than if assessed by the several districts — providing the same standards of efficiency were maintained. People fail to appreciate the fact that it is the increased cost of labor and material which is sending taxes up. Most of the kick is coming from those who are loath to divide up the benefits they have been receiving from the corporations in their districts. So far as our town is concerned, if the people elect good conscientious men on the school board we see no reason why the township law should not be a success. Extract from Letter from Board of Education, Town of Pinckney I speak from what experience I have had. The law as it is now is a vast improvement over the old District System as I have come in contact with the work. I found things very irregular about the different School Prop- erty for instance on District on the far north road of the town. I found that the school house had the wall under it all tumbled down and had been that way for many years. Never had been repaired it was banked with manure drawn for some one's horse stable the winter before and it had lain there all summer. I had it repaired and leveled the floor and put a new hard wood floor over the old worn out floor and oiled it and fixed the house up generally now. That is running it cheap for the District so you will readily see that children under such conditions do not receive equal treat- ment there being no uniformity. The best and newest school house in. the Town had a nice cellar and wall under it with two departments, but the bottom was a mudpuddle, Cso to speak) with a furnace in the middle of it having been that way since it was built — 15 years since. I had it cemented and put in sanitary toilets up to date. My intentions if I remain clerk to equip all of them on an equality which to my mind is right as it should be. The main cause for complaint being for and 1 in relations to taxes. You will see that some of the districts have a larger valuation then others take a district with one teacher existing the same and other expenses the same with half the valuation of another and the small valuation would have to pay twice in their tax and the small notice it is less. So the majority are raised mostly because it equalizes tax alone to some extent. If I was going to make any changes it would be to make the unit of taxation by counties at least and I have been thinking it should by direct tax on the entire state under some method for the reason that it would be most equal. I know of a number of towns now who are highly favored under this township law. There is one town in our county (viz.) West Turn which GHP Gould's paper co. and mills in it with a valuation of an equal to the rest of the entire town with the village of Lyons falls included so that exists all along Black River to the Lake through Jefferson Co. just so with other corporate property til ever -the state of N. Y, so you w if It was hf the stats si th§ publis money side §i it it thmH bs equalised, THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 59I Extract from Letter from Willis M. Burnet, Milan, Dated January 15, 1918 I am expressing the opinion of the Board of Education of the town of Milan when I say that the objection to said law is the cost of maintenance. From my personal observations as clerk I believe the system is working well and I am satisfied that if an amendment can be added to equalize taxes the greatest objections will be removed — this could be a county or a state affair instead of a town affair, either of which would be preferable to our present form. All taxpayers about here are objecting to the physical training law and would like to see said law repealed. Many, however, do not understand that Dr. Finley has already done the State a great service regarding his law. He may be able to help us again, in having the law modified or repealed. By all means lets have an amendment to equalize taxes affixed to the township law, and possibly some uniformity regarding the salary of the clerk. Extract from Letter from Board of Education, Boston, Dated January 10, 19 18 We find the expense of running and operating the Township law, the installing of toilets and raising money for new school buildings and altera- tion of old ones, increases our rate of tax on one thousand of valuation from 2.50 to 7.00 and surrounding towns are hit harder than Boston, we cannot see the benefit of any amendment to this bill, 75% or more of tax- payers in our town favor the repeal of this law, and return to former systems of district election and control of schools, we consider the law requiring a physical nurse in rural district school a farce and an imposition on tax- payers of district. If considered necessary in district school, we suggest that teachers qualify for these duties. Extract from Letter from Harry G. Chapin, Chairman, Town Board of Education, Town of East Bloomfield, Dated July 11, 1918 When the law was before the legislature Assemblyman Wheeler sent me a copy and asked for my opinion of it. It seemed to me that such a law should be a great improvement by making the town the school unit instead of the school district. It would result in a more uniform school manage- ment, better schools and a more just apportionment of the tax. I wrote to him urging the passage of the law and have no reason to change my opinion since. In this town CEast Bloomfield) Dist. No. 8 maintained for years, a high school with a school plant worth $50,000, while the other -8 districts in the town sent many of their children to it at a merely nominal charge for tuition in the lower grades and none at all in the high school. Thus the whole town received the benefit and one district paid the bill. The school tax in district No. 8 wag three times as high as in the others. The objec- tions to the lav/ are thorn whosg attention is arrested by the increased school tax which they are called upon to pay. The §sme class, 50 years ago, grudg- ingly paid thfilr tan iff ifrg f§ts ishesi \%ff, Th«y efej$$i§4 I© fbf i^S8g« 592 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK from the labor system to the money system of highway tax, and they raised almost as much clamor as now when it was proposed to build State roads 20 years ago. Fortunately the cities carried that measure through the legislature and state roads were built through rural communities, when the grangers saw that they were getting the main benefit while the cities were paying nearly all the cost they changed their attitude and now they cannot get enough state roads. They seem to think any law is bad that adds a dollar to their tax, but all laws good that heap the taxes on the cities especially the city of New York. An absolute repeal of the fore school law would lower taxes and therefore please many of the grangers. I am a farmer (not a granger) myself, my school tax was $60 last year and $112 under this new law, but I would not for that reason, condemn the law, perhaps I was not paying enough tax before. The city members of the legislature ought to retain the township school law, at least until it has had a fair trial. The money which the cities are giving (through the medium of state tax) to every school district in the state should not be wasted as it is in many instances by local mismanagement of rural schools. The theory of the law is all right, it may need minor amendments, but not in the first year of its trial. Extract from Letter from R. A. Gingott, Clerk, Board of Education, Russell, Dated February 8, 1918 We have a school district in our town in which there are no children attending school as there is none of school age in the district and there will not be the balance of this school year. The teacher goes to the school house each day and stays the required number of hours and has to keep fire to keep warm. Now is it absolutely necessary that she do this as it is a waste of fuel which is so hard to obtain at this time especially. Extract from Letter from C. S. Northup, Clerk, Town Board of Education, Milton, Dated January 11, 1918 The opposition to it comes from largely assessed districts where the schools have been run previously on the cheap or deficiency system. One district where the tax is double levied an extra tax last fall and still I find unpaid bills against the district. Now they compare the old tax with the new. Then again three of the districts have paid back to the taxpayers $930 which in the appropriations made last May was reckoned in in mak : ng the budget for the present year. One district voted '■■&. tax of $650, which with the public moneys received would make about $750 to- run the school. The district engaged a teacher for 36 weeks for '$650. The coal etc. purchased by the new board will cost some $75, janitor $60; repairs etc. say $56, and there is still a debt from last year of $20. The taxpayers of this district are all against the new law and no one should wonder. The only increase in taxation in this town is the clerk's salary $175, treasurer's fees $50 and the election expenses of $100 — $325. This on an assessment of $766,186 is but a trifle. All the other amounts levied are wh?A woyld be necessary to rim the schools under the old law. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 593 The principle of the new law " that all property in the different districts should pay the same rate " is correct. Those districts with a large assessment that have been running a very cheap' school now have to help pay the expenses of the districts with a small assessment and a large tax rate. One taxpayer said to me " I am paying $40 to educate a lot of ginks " (Italians). The higher cost of everything is not considered. The fault finding taxpayers only consider the increased cost regardless of the fact that the new board commenced without a cent; in fact we find outstanding bills to be provided for and while the board made the budget to cover the expenses as nearly as could be estimated, there will be a surplus in some of the funds, probably amounting at end of year to from $500 to $1,000. This will reduce tax another year. Extract from Letter from Albert B. Merriam, President, Town Board of Education, McDonough, Dated January 9, 1918 In reply to your circular letter of inquiry of December 28, 1917 in regard to operation of the township law, .will say that in our town opposition to the law comes principally from two classes, of citizens. The first class consists of those in the districts in which the schoolhouses were condemned, which fact shows that those people have taken so little interest in school matters that they would not even provide a suitable place for their children to go to school and now want to put the blame on to some other party. The second class are people in other districts who have taken little or no interest in schools except to keep taxes just as low as possible not even caring whether the children received any good from the school or whether the money paid out brought good returns, but only that the amount paid should be just as little as possible. Extract from Letter from George W. Abbott, Trustee, Township of Wappingers, Dated January i5, 1918 This new school system is a grand good thing in my estimation. I have served under the old system as well as being a trustee at present. The childless taxpayer, especially, thinks it no good — "taxes too high." The welfare of the child is little thought of by him. Under the old system, it was hard work for the trustee to get through an appropriation for necessary repairs, to say nothing of sanitation. When the new board first visited the various school buildings in our township, we found them, or most of them, in a dilapidated and filthy condition. If you were to visit them today, you would find the buildings, including outbuildings in a respectable and sanitary condition. Who would begrudge an extra dollar so spent? If the different districts had placed the schools as they are now, their taxes would have been as high as they are now, and I assure you noth- ing was foolishly spent. Under the new system, the rural scholar has the same chance as the one in the larger schools — a chance to get a high school education. I wish it was included in the law they were compelled to have a high school education. The unlearned taxpayer can tell the educated in office at Albany how to run the education department. Mr. Finley would be a fine man, to them, if he ran the schools " cheap". 594 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Extracts from Resolutions and Recommendations of the Town School Board of Unit 2, Town of Eaton Whereas, the principal reason assigned by the opposition is that the town- ship law is the cause for increased taxation and that it will close up per- manently all the rural schools; it is evident that its opponents either have not in the past borne their share of taxes, or do not understand that con- solidation rests entirely with the people of every school district to decide, or else they do not appreciate that under the old system, if the high schools had received a just compensation per academic pupil, the cost of tuition to the non-resident pupil would have been prohibitory to poor boys and girls and those of moderate means,' and Whereas, This town school board, after due consideration, is of the firm belief and conviction that the principle of a free elementary and free high school education should be maintained and supported in a democratic form of government by an equal tax upon property in the unit as defined in the township law, that full compensation for high school tuition by the indi- vidual debars the poor boys and girls from such educational advantages and serves only the sons and daughters of the wealthy, and that the increase in taxes per unit is not due to the township school law, but to the following causes : 1. There was no money in the hands of the school board. 2. To a slight increase in teacher's wages made by the rural trustees and the boards of education before August 1st. 3. To the increase in the cost of fuel and necessary supplies. 4. To some additional repairs which should have been made years before for the comfort and convenience of pupils and teachers. 5. To raising the full amount of the salary of the physical instructor. 6. To increasing the length of the school j^ear from 36 to 38 weeks in the rural schools in order to give the rural boys and girls opportunities equal to those in the villages — to give a square deal to the children in the very communities making the biggest protest, and furthermore That the township school law has not been in operation long enough to show its real merits, only its defects are apparently seen by its opponents, but It has established a closer relationship between the- rural school and the high school by making the corps of teachers responsible to one board ; it unified the subject matter given the group of school, produced uniform methods of instruction and text books used, and yields to better supervision. Extract from Letter from Mrs. H. S. Sweetland, Clerk, Villanova Town Board of Education, Dated January 23, 1918 Some years ago I made an investigation into the systems of Ohio and Pennsylvania and since that time have been an advocate of a township system. First because it equalizes taxation and makes those in the outside districts pay their share of the expense of the high school where their children have been educated at less than cost; also we have plenty of instances all around us where railroads, trolley hues, telephone and telegraph lines, gas lines mn thrsagh my am mi® of a twff m4 pay m@H ©f *fe« §®fe®6l tmm m th« THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 595 districts through which they run under the the old system while under the township system the other districts of the town would get the taxation benefit of these outside corporations the same as they do in the other taxes. Another reason is that under the township system all the schools in the town would be brought up to the same standard. In this town we found some districts where the people had taken a keen interest in the schools and were in nice condition while in the adjoining district there was every evi- dence of neglect. I think in four districts there was not even seats in the boys closet. Our board have endeavored to make a start towards bettering these conditions and make all the districts on an equal basis both in equip- ment and competency of the teachers. The law is working all right although its being an untrodden road it has taken more time and trouble to get things working in a smooth channel than it would next year. Extract from Letter from A. K. Johnson, Chairman, Board of Education, Fort Edward, Dated January 10, 1918 You ask a statement concerning the township law. There has been general dissatisfaction in the town of Fort Edward, N. Y., ever since the law went into effect, and instead of making any amendments, we strongly urge the repeal of the bill. Extract from Letter from Louis C. Anderson, Clyde, Dated January 8, 19 18 Will say that the majority of taxpayers in our town are very much opposed to the township system, on account of higher taxes, also of taking away of what few rights they had of expressing their views along school matters. The Grange in our town and county are unanimously opposed to the sys- tem and are going to ask that the law be repealed. Extract from Letter from John Gagnill, Clerk of Board of Edu- cation, Town of Clinton, Dated January 11, 1918 I have your letter of Dec. 28 in regard to the operation of the town- ship law. It has been very unsatisfactory in this town. I would suggest that each town pay their own taxes and abolish all joint districts. This has been the cause of considerable trouble. A repeal of this law would meet the approval of all the taxpayers in this locality. Extract from Letter from C. J. Peters, Bleecker, Dated January 4, 19 18 Answering your circular letter asking for suggestions for amending the township law; will say that we do not like it here at all. The really competent men do not have time to devote to .the work as it deserves, mi within a v&y £sw ymn I am afrai4 there -win bs a lot si very 596 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK ignorant men wholly unfit to serve on the Board trying to run the schools. I cannot think of any improvements in the law itself, I should suggest it be repealed. Extract from the Recommendations and Resolutions of the Niles Town Board of Education, Moravia, Dated January 14, 1918 At a meeting of the Board of Education of Nilcs, Cayuga Co., N. Y., held Jan. 12, 1918, the following resolution was passed. Resolved, That we the undersigned constituting the Board of Education of Niles, N. Y., recommend to the commissioner of Education that the Machold school act be repealed on -the grounds that it is more costly and not as efficient as the old way. Extract from Letter from Levey Youngs, Clerk, Board of Education, Knox, Dated January 2, 1918 The town Board of Education of the Town of Knox had a meeting on Dec. 31, 1917 they requested to answer your letter in regard to the town- ship school law. The Board thinks that it would be better for the rural districts if they could return to the old method of running the schools as it will be less expense to do so. Extract from Letter from May Corcoran, Marilla, Dated February 7, 1918, Stating Following Recommendations and Resolution: Resolved, That it is the opinion of the members of the "Board of Education" of the town of Marilla that the "Township Sj-stem" is a decided improvement over the "District System" in the matter of school administration, and that the Board is in favor of the continuance of the "Township" system but would recommend an amendment to the law, that town lines be fixed as boundaries between town units. Extract from Resolutions and Recommendations from Letter from Arthur E. Seiden, Clerk, Board of Education, Le Roy, Dated January 14, 1918 At a meeting of the LeRoy Township Board of Education, held Jan. 8, 1918, the following resolutions were adopted. That so far as this board may judge by its experience the new town- ship school law presents no material ad-vantage over the old system. That in neighboring townships, where bonded districts were brought under the new township system, the rate of taxation seems oppressive. Extract from Letter from Elizabeth M. McCarty, Clerk, Throon School Board, Auburn, Dated January 1, 1918 T have not been able to get any suggestions from our Board concerning the amending of t-h? township law. While every one seems opposed to it THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 597 because of inconvenience and increased taxation without any improvement. No one seems to have a definite remedy, this was the case in Pomona Grange when a resolution was asked for concerning the law before it was passed. It was hard to get the board together they were all farmers and busy tired men, they come up to the meetings without any thought of what must be done in haste to get away, if it hadn't been for one woman Mrs. Fred Robinson, trustee in our own district I should have given up afler the first month. I can see that it has a broadening effect on the trustees to have their small affairs discussed for instance, I know by the manner of one when the question of chalk buying came up that his school had used very little before. Also when one bright young teacher said to Mrs. Robinson I am so glad the Board will allow us time to attend rural school week at Cornell, cur trustee has never known anything about it. I feel that much rests with the superintendent, some of them are only figure heads, a body requiring reports, the school question being a side business. If we could have more superintendents like Mrs. Anna Kent in south end of Cayuga Co. she knows her teachers, the pupils the families and the problems for twelve years and I know it is very hard to get people to take an interest in their own children's school. In our district we organized a mothers club ten years ago, that has done wonders but it is very hard to keep it going. Parents find out a great many things in a very short time when they go and sit in a school room an hour. I know the department realizes this because it has suggested the use of school buildings as social centers. These rural teachers, most of them young, need a very definite backing by the trustee, in fact by the community but they don't all get it. We have some very unsuitable trustees, anyone interested in the children ought to be ashamed to put such men in office. I am secretly delighted with the "Row" this law has raised. If it should have to be repealed it has done one grand thing set people talking about rural schools, wheeled them up in the foreground. Extract from Letter from Board cf Education, Town of New Albion, Cattaraugus, Dated January 9, 1918 The judgment of the town Board of Education and the people in gen- eral is that some changes should be made regarding the assuming the bonded indebtedness of the village school buildings by the rural commun- ity, the rural taxpayer thinks the benefits to be derived by him do not justify his pay for the village property. Also regarding the assessment of property, while there is some provision made along this line, we think that where a school unit is composed of parts of several townships, all the property in the school unit the same or uniform basis for school purposes so that all, pay a uniform school tax. And above all the Board and people demand that the Physical training teacher be dispensed with entirely in rural schools at least, the belief is that a large number of teachers have had Normal training and are capable to give all the extra Physical training necessary without incurring the extra expenses of the Physical training teacher. In the number of instances 598 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK we find this training works an actual hardship on the pupil, ex. a boy of 11 years had to walk about four and one-half miles to and from school making nine miles a day, and then have the training teacher make them run two miles before letting them go heme, the people think such training is worse than useless. With these conditions relieved, especially the Physical training, I believe the system will work out quite well for the people will become acquainted with some of the benefits they do not see at present. Extract from Letter from Board of Education, Town of Osceola, Dated January 7, 1918 It is my opinion and the opinion of practically everyone with whom I have talked about it that the Medical Inspection law is an absolute fizzle. There is no follow up work even done and this year the doctor whom we appointed is trying to hold us up for an exorbitant price. While the Physical training has met with much criticism I think it is gradually getting the sympathy of the people and should come to stay. However, I do not think it needs any longer to be supervised in rural schools. The rural teacher does the work and the departments are capa- ble to see that teachers are drilled thoroughly in this work at Normal schools and Training schools there is no more need for a supervisor of physical training than for a supervisor of Arithmetic. Do you realize that a supervisor of rural schools spends two hours out of every three, travel- ing from school to school. It might be well to have the voters at the annual school meeting vote on the school budget. I think it would lessen criticism in regard to the amount of money raised. It has been very difficult, in my experience to get the members of the school board to report at meetings, I would suggest that some compensa- tion be allowed members for attending board meetings. Extract from Letter from E. A. Kent, Clerk, Board of Education, Vienna, Dated January 11, 1918 We have had very few complaints from this law and they have been from people living in the richer districts which complaints have been higher taxes, these complaints have not been very serious, one thing we believe that would make the law better is to have school taxes assessed and collected with other Town taxes, would say at this time that there is considerable bitter feelings in this town against the inside toilet and Phy. Training Teachers laws, and the members of the Board of Education agree that Inside Toilets are an expensive luxury not necessary in any of our schools and believe that with taxation higher than ever before and with calls most every day for contributing for Red Cross and Y.M.C.A. work which we all agree are good and great work and are- worthy of all we can possibly do for them that it would be wise and proper to have these laws modified or appealed for the present time. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 599 Extract from Letter from Board of Education, Busti, Dated January g, 1918 We are holding our Board meetings regularly on the last Thursday of each month and always have with us the Principal of our high school and our District Superintendent. Local problems have arisen but we have always been able to meet and handle them, as it seems to us, in a satisfactory manner. In matter of equipment, better school buildings., better teachers, and a fairer equalization of the taxes the new law seems to be working very much to the advantage of our schools. We desire to see this law have a good fair trial and are giving it our hearty support to that end. Extract from Letter from Board of Education, Unit 2, Town of Carmel, Dated January 14, 1918 We feel that the new school law has not yet had a sufficient try-out to discover exactly where its weakness lies. We feel that the condemnation of the law, which is so universal through the rural communities, is due to the fact, in most cases, that the superintendents in most communities sub- mitted tentative budgets to the boards elected under the new law and said boards, not being willing or able to take the matter up properly, took these budgets as correct ones and assessed the community to that amount. It was our idea, upon receiving the tentative budget from Mr. Williams, our superintendent, that he sent this budget merely that we might have a model on which to work and we did spend a great deal of time on the budget submitted by him and reduced it from $16,000 to $11,000 for our unit. The result of this reduction was that our tax rate was a very fair average of the rates previously collected in the five school districts which make up our unit. It is in' fact .004. In the other units in the county the tax rates rose in some cases as much as 70 per cent. We feel sure that the result of this will be that next year our rate will vary but very slightly, while the rates in the other units will be very low, barring waste of money. They will undoubtedly hold over a large surplus. When this condition appears the taxpayers will no longer feel the irritation they now feel and I believe that if this were made clear in an open letter, published widely in the rural papers, that a great deal of the present activity toward the repeal of the law would cease. I believe that should you take this matter up with your various superintendents in the various counties you will find that the same conditions exist in at least eight out of ten of the school districts. The same being due to a lack of appreciation of the new law and therefore a dread of it on the part of the new trustees, who are facing conditions absolutely new to them. In so far as any suggestions can be made by us in regard to amendments which might improve the law, we feel that the most important thing that can be done is to make a strenuous effort to simplify the law so that it will be understood by the boards more readily. To cite an instance of cumbersomeness, — -in order that any bills may be paid the bills must come before a meeting of the board, be passed upon by them, the clerk must 6oO THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK issue an order to the treasurer to pay same, and the treasurer will then draw a check to the person to whom the money is due. Full board meet- ings are very inconvenient in many districts when the traveling is bad and to call them more frequently than once a month is a burden upon the trus- tees, whose services are rendered gratis. It seems to me that the clerk might be given power to pay all bills upon the O. K.ing of said bills by the teachers, who had been empowered to order the goods, up to $100. This would at least keep small tradesmen who supply the schools from waiting a long while for their money. The Clerk could be empowered to pay regularly to the teachers every month their salary checks upon receipt of the attendance blanks without any further authorization from the board, other than a single action taken at a meeting early in the Fall when all the contracts of the various teachers were turned over to the clerk. These services are a charge against the districts and it seems unnecessary that the teachers should be kept waiting every month for their salary. In District No. 4, which is the district with which I was connected before the township law went into effect, it was the custom to pay the teachers in ten payments, one every four weeks during the school terms, without waiting for the attendance sheet to be turned in. This is contrary to the present law, but it seemed to us that if the teacher was not to be trusted it was time to dismiss the teacher and we did so in any case when the report was not turned in properly and promptly. In this way the first payment was made four weeks after the opening of school and between that payment and the second payment the first attendance report would be in our hands, no other payment being made till it was, and so on throughout the year there would be one payment in advance of the attendance reports. This sim- plified the work of the secretary because we also withheld the retirement quota for each teacher from the last check of the school year, making all checks for even amounts save the last which was not paid until all work connected with the school was completed to the satisfaction of the principal and the board. This seems to us to be a very much simpler method of bookkeeping and payment in regard to the teachers wages. We find that in our community we have had the good fortune to obtain the services of Mr. P. A. Anderson, as clerk of the board for a nominal salary he is a practising lawyer and an able man whose time is valuable. He has just sent in to me his resignation, saying it was impossible for him to do all the work connected with the board, much to his regret. It seems to us that the salary of the clerk should be based definitely by your department upon the amount of the assessed valuation or upon the amount of the taxes collected, so that the onus of paying a reasonable salary to a good man will not be upon the various boards in the counties. In this way we feel that the services of a good man could be obtained and retained. As it is now should we attempt to pay a salary commensurate with the work the clerk has to do we should be very seriously criticised in the various dis- tricts and the new law would be attacked still more viciously. Extract from Letter from W. S. Titus, Chairman, Irondequoit Town Board of Education, Dated February 10, 1918 The township school law is a step in the right direction. It would be a colossal mistake to repeal it. Some changes should be made by amendment. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 601 You know what they are. The farmer's opposition to this law is incon- sistent. He buys automobiles, improved and up to date farm machinery. Adopts modern methods to improve his soil, cultivate his crops and prune his trees. He joins agricultural societies and his local grange but when it comes to improving the inefficient rural schools, he balks. I wish you suc- cess in your efforts to induce the Legislature to act wisely in this important matter. Extract from Letter from Board of Education, Town of Ogden, Dated January 23, 1918 The law when carried out will do much toward raising the standard of Education (particular in the Rural Schools). While we would hardly suggest amendments, would just like to say modestly that we would like to see the Principal of our High School over the whole town. District no. 9 is near to Churchville the district voted at the last minute to continue the school we immediately hired a teacher, she had 2 pupils for the first 2 or 3 months now she has 5 the rest (2 or 3) are going to Churchville we think it would be far better to discontinue this school and take them to the Churchville school. Now we are up against another proposition, the rural school teachers contracts call for 36 weeks Disk no. 1 in which our High School is located calls for 40 weeks, our tax rate was fixed for the whole town, and our rural tax payers may say that their schools are not getting the amt. of schooling that the high school is, how will we straighten this out? GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE FOR AMENDMENT Governor Whitman in his annual message to the Legislature of the State of New York on January 2, 1918, calls the attention of the Legislature to the need of amendment to the law as it now stands in the following words : I call your attention to the widespread discontent among the rural com- munities due to the passage of the so-called township school law. This law was introduced and passed at the instance of the Regents of The University of the State of New York in the belief that it would better rural school conditions. I was also informed that the measure had the approval of the officers of the State Grange, who took the same view. While it was designed to promote the consolidation of weak and ineffi- cient schools with the stronger and better equipped, its framers apparently overlooked the existing conditions in some of the rural districts and, there- fore, undertook practically to force the abolition of many of the existing school districts and their union with the stronger schools when such con- solidation was impractical. The result seems to be a very large increase of taxes among the rural districts without a corresponding increase in equipment, in teaching, or in efficiency. It has thrown upon some of the rural districts the burden of supporting, in large measure, union free schools located in the larger villages of town- 602 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK ships, and investigation has shown that the consolidation of eight or nine rural districts, some of which are five, six or seven miles from the central high school, can not be accompl'shed advantageously at the present time. Another feature of the bill wh'ch is objectionable is the fact that the town board of education is given power to raise by taxation the necessary expenses of running the schools, thus depriving the people of the right to vote on the amount of money to be expended for school purposes within the school district. As a general principle the continuance of local self-government for the purpose of raising funds for local public expenditure should still be regarded as one of the fundamental safeguards of our State. Taking into consideration these and other objections to the law and bearing in mind the practical demonstration afforded by the experience of the past year and the failure of the law properly to accomplish the purpose for which it was enacted, it is my belief that the best interests of the State require its amendment. LETTERS FROM STATE SUPERINTENDENTS The following letters express the attitude of the various State Superintendents in regard to the repeal of the township system : In a letter of February 12, 1918, Commissioner of Education Payson Smith of Massachusetts wrote as follows : The Township School Law enacted in New York last year has com- manded the respect and approval of the school administrators of this section. There can be no question that popular education in America can realize in practice its highest ideals only when it has behind it the strong and positive support of the state in some such manner as has been pro- vided in New York by this law. Education in a democracy will certainly in some measure fail to produce what the people expect of it if its adminis- tration and support are left upon a parochial or neighborhood basis. It would be hardly less than a calamity if New York should recede from the position which it has taken. We quote the following from the letter of Mary C. C. Bradford, State Superintendent of Public Instruction of Colorado, and Presi- dent of the National Education Association, under date of February 13, 1918: I am surprised to learn that an effort is being made to repeal the law of the State of New York providing for the township unit of administration. I have been very proud of the fact that the Empire State had taken the forward step of enacting a law designating the township as the adminis- trative and taxing unit, and it is a matter of deep regret to me to learn of the present efforts being made before your legislature to undo that splendid piece of work. The forward looking states are rapidly discarding the district system. Surely New York, with its magnificent achievements in the educational WO id, cannot afford to retrograde. The district system . is outworn in Honorable Chas. S. Whitman Governor THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 603 practice and valueless in principle, and the larger unit of administration and taxation has already won the universal commendation of thinking people. Trusting that New York will be true to her best self and refuse to repeal a statute that adds so much to its educational reputation. Commissioner C. N. Kendall of New Jersey outlines as follows the operation of the township law in the State of New Jersey in his letter of February 11, 1918: The township school law is working so well that nobody in New Jersey to-day thinks that there ever was any other system of school district organ- ization in existence. It was enly during the first two years after the passage of the township law in 1894 that there was any opposition. In the report of one of the superintendents of a county mainly com- posed of rural districts and having therein sixteen townships, and previous to the passage of the township law there were in these sixteen townships one hundred and thirteen small school districts, is found the following: As the year closes the subject of discussion is the new township law. Opinions differ largely as to its merits. As a rule, there is much unfavor- able criticism from the unthinking. But those whose fairness permits them to look on all sides are willing to admit that there are many advantages in the new law. The sensational newspaper articles in regard to the Narcotic and Free Text-book laws prejudiced many, and led them to confound these and the Township act. This led in many instances to the condemnation of the whole Township law. Like a new garment it was severely searched for flaws, and they were of course found. In the first flush of so radical a change the good points in the law were lost sight of, but as the clouds rolled by these appeared, and are beginning to be acknowledged. I have no doubt that when the advantages are seen in the practical workings of the law that there will be a general and hearty acquiescence. The prediction in the above paragraph came true sooner than was anticipated. In the following year the same superintendent wrote of conditions in the same county, as follows : The enactment of the Township and Free Textbook laws at one time served to concentrate thought upon the schools. People, who had never before been interested in the schools one way or the other, now changed from an attitude of indifference to not only one of interest, but, in many cases to active participation in the work of managing the schools. At the elections for members of the boards of education held in July, many prom- inent citizens permitted themselves to be elected, and the honor of being president of the board of education came to be regarded as a prize. The following or third year after the enactment of the township law we have the following from the same county superintendent: The Matawan school is to take the place of three old schools, and under the old system three separate school districts. There is but one other school now left in the township. This will be kept as a primary. It will be seen that we have by the above consolidation an excellent working of the Town- ship act. It has made possible what was long talked of in Matawan — a graded school. The school laws were revised in 1903 but there was no thought of repealing the township law. No one of the present day thinks of going back to the old, small school district system. The unequalities of taxation that some people saw in the matter >vere more apparent than real, and entirely 604 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK faded out after the first two years. There was nothing at any time at which the taxpayer could become justly alarmed. The unequalities in the matter of local taxation were easily adjusted by wise administration of the boards of education. At any rate, it can be said that there is nobody to-day in New Jersey that desires to go back to the old system of small districts whose boundary lines were constantly changing. All school districts to-day in New Jersey are either townships, boroughs, towns or cities, with the provision that two or more of these municipalities may unite into a consolidated school district consisting of more than one municipality. The opinion of State Superintendent Nathan C. Schaeffer in regard to the operation of the township law in Pennsylvania is expressed in his letter of February 12, 1918, as follows: In my opinion the old district system of school administration has been the greatest hindrance to school progress against which the School System of New York has had to contend. The school districts into which a town- ship is divided, cannot be changed as the population in rural districts changes. Under the township system schools which are no longer needed, can be closed and the pupils can be transported to a central or consolidated school where better grading and better teaching become possible. The States which have tried a larger unit of administration, say the township or the County, would no longer go back to the old district system. " The school district," says Prof. Moore, " is the minutest subdivision into which governmental authority has ever been broken, and under its control of instruction public education declined to its nadir. The process by which the school districts thus unhappily opposed the general welfare and obtained a destructive measure of local control was at least a century long." In the state of Illinois in 1867 only about 5 per cent of its schools were graded. The small proportion of graded schools furnishes an impressive practical argument in favor of the abolition of the independent local school districts. I found in Illinois a school with two pupils who were educated(?) at an expense of $242.50 per year for each. If these pupils had been per- mitted to go across the boundary line of the district into the schools of the adjacent city, the annual cost per pupil would have been reduced to forty dollars and the instruction would have been much better. An attend- ance of two pupils will kill the enthusiasm of the most gifted teacher. In Pennsylvania we have always had the township system. The few independent districts which were created in the early days, are still a hindrance to the progress of secondary education and sometimes to the school progress of the entire township from which these districts were carved. . In a letter dated February 15, 1918, State Superintendent Pearson of Ohio in speaking of the Township Law in that state says : It has given us supervision and a school organization that has resulted in marked improvement in the rural schools of this state. Buildings have been repaired, ground's have been improved, equipment and libraries have been purchased and installed, uniform courses of study have been established, uniform text-books have been adopted, the enrollment and attendance has increased, this being especially true in the Irgh schools. Community interest has been awakened, a closer relation has been estab- lished between the schools and the people of the community, outside activities have been planned and developed, resulting in a greater inter- est in school work, both on the part of pupils and patrons. Districts have been equalized and schools have been consolidated and centralized, which has resulted in giving the boys and girls of the rural districts equal educa- tional opportunities with those of the city. Where these schools have been established the drift of young men and women from the farms to the city has stopped almost absolutely. Practically every one realizes the value of the present system. Much has been accomplished even in the poorest counties in the state and where the administration of the new code has been the least effective. The politicians in your state will, no doubt, seek to have the law repealed as they sought to do here, but they failed in their purpose. If you had our governor in your state you would need not fear the repeal of your school code because he would veto any measure that would have a tendency to revert to the inefficiency of the old system. He did much to secure the enactment of the code in this state and has protected it ever since to the fullest extent of his influence and power, which has had much to do in placing it on a sure foundation until sentiment could develop in favor of it, which in itself has rendered its repeal impossible. PRINCIPLES OF SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION DISCUSSED AT THE CONFERENCE OF MASTERS OF SUFFOLK COUNTY GRANGES ORGANIZATION The administrative units should be organized (in terms of geographical area or extent of population) as large as is practicable, consisting with securing in proper form : 1 The development of expert service, with ample previous professional training and an adequate compensation, secure tenure, freedom from undue restrictions and with direct responsibility to competent, expert or lay authority. 2 The conservation of local and popular interest in, a sense of responsi- bility for, all that pertains to successful school administration and teaching. To produce these results requires that the powers and duties of local and central, or community and state agencies shall be clearly defined so as to avoid duplication of responsibility or uncertainty as to where final respon- sibility lies. In working on the details of administration under this principle, emphasis should be placed on preserving in largest measure, local interest and initiative in all matters which the local authorities can handle to best advantage, presupposing the cooperation, advisory and in some instances supervisory service, of specialists employed by the state. 606 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OE NEW YOKtf SUPPORT OF SCHOOLS The present system of school support in New York State is excessively burdensome to poorer communities, that is, communities having a relatively large public school attendance in proportion to taxable property. There is no guaranty that poorer communities can or will reach the minimum educational standards in buildings, equipment, supervision or instruction which the state has a right to expect shall be reached by cities, towns and districts. The unit of taxation therefore, should be sufficiently large to assure minimum educational opportunities to the residents of all communities without excessive local cost. To this end, consideration should be given to the county or the state as the possible unit of taxation rather than to towns or parts of towns. SUPERVISION The unit of supervision should be such as to admit of frequent inspections of schools by the supervising officer. The supervising officer should be a man or woman with professional training and experience possessed with a large degree of executive ability and should be directly responsible to the local school authorities whom he should serve as advisory and executive officer. At the same time he should have an indirect responsibility to the state and should be certified by the state for such service. The superintend- ent should perform the following duties : i He shall attend all meetings of the Board of Education. 2 He shall visit each of the schools of the town as often as is practicable, and give careful attention to matters of organization, instruction and discipline. 3 He shall call such meetings of supervisors, principals or teachers, general or special, as he may deem necessary for the purpose of giving instruction or direction to said supervisors, principals or teachers in the discharge of their duties, for the discussion of methods of teaching and of school government, and for securing uniformity in the instruction and discipline of the schools. 4 He shall recommend to the board for appointment of supervisors, principals, teachers, playground directors, and teachers, medical inspectors and nurses and other employees required by the school system. 5 He shall report to the committee the failure of any teacher or other employee to do satisfactory work, to comply with the rules of the board. 6 He shall have general supervision of the work of the janitors of the several schools. 7 He shall supervise and examine the payrolls of principals, teachers and other employees, and all other bills and accounts referred to him for examination, and submit a statement as to their correctness to the committee And such other duties as the Board of Education may require. RURAL SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT It is suggested that classification of rural schools on the basis of standards determined by the state educational authorities as to (i) lighting, heating, ventilation and sanitation of buildings, (2) equipment, (3) instruction, (4) grounds; giving publicity to the work of schools in higher classes, would stimulate pride in the improvements oi rural schools, ADDRESS BEFORE STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY BY DR THOMAS E. FINEGA3ST Deputy Commissioner of Education I was invited to take part in a discussion of the merits of the township system to take place in the Assembly parlors at the Capitol before the New York State Agricultural Society on January 15, 1918. The following includes the address given at this particular time and those portions of an address delivered to the New York State Association of District Superintendents of Schools in the auditorium of the Hotel McAlpin in New York City on January 17, 1918, which pertained to this particular question. The Township Education Law Two years ago I had the honor of addressing the annual meeting of this society upon " The Township School System." At that meeting your or- ganization passed a resolution favoring legislation which would change the administration of rural schools in this State from the school district system to the township system. You did not, of course, indorse a particular town- ship bill. The Legislature of 1917 enacted a township school law and that law is now in operation. We have all been hearing very much about this law during the past few months. It has been one of the subjects of popular discussion and I am sure that this discussion will prove of real benefit to the schools and to the people of the State. My knowledge of rural conditions leads me to say that the conditions prevailing in the agricultural sections of the State today are not much different from what they were two years ago today, when this body adopted a resolution favoring a change in the administration of the school system from the old district system to the modern township system. I assume, therefore, that before this organization reverses its judgment upon this question it will insist upon having substantia! reasons assigned to show that the judgment expressed two years ago was not based upon a proper understanding of rural conditions and was not an expression of sound judgment. Why did this honorable body adopt a resolution favoring the township system? What condition of affairs induced your society to take such action? Let us examine the conditions of rural life to ascertain if you were not justified in your action two years ago and should not affirm such action today. We are maintaining in this State at the present time 15 schools in each of which there is just one pupil; we are maintaining 86 other schools in each of which there are just two pupils. We are maintaining 166 other schools in each of which there are three pupils. We are maintaining 258 other schools in each of which there are four pupils only. We are maintaining 357 other schools in each of which there are but five pupils. In other words, there are in operation today in the rural regions of this State nearly 900 schools in each of which there are not more than five pupils. But in addition to these goo schools, there are 600 other districts in the State in each of which there are le3s than seven children in attendance upon school. There are 3800 rural schools in this State today in each of which there are less than ten children in attendance. And what is even worse than this, the assessed valuation of each one of these 3800 districts is less than $40,000. In one-half of such districts — 2000 of them — the assessed valuation of each district is less than $20,000. In other words, under the district system four farms of an average value of $5000 were required to support a school in 2000 of the districts of the State, and in nearly 2000 additional districts, eight farms of an average value of $5000, or ten farms of an average value of $4000, were compelled to support a school. This placed a burden upon these communities which they were not able to meet. There is not a man or woman within the sound of my voice who does not know that it is abso- lutely impossible to maintain in one of these districts a school which comes anywhere near approaching an institution worthy of the name school. These schools are maintained not only in the interest of the local community but in the interest of the State as well. The State has an interest not only in each of these 900 schools that has an attendance of less than five, but it also has an interest in each of these 3800 schools that has less than ten children in attendance. The interest of the State from a financial standpoint is nearly equal to that of the taxpayers in each of these 3800 districts. The taxpayers are, of course, taking their money in each one of these districts and supporting these schools. The State is doing likewise. The State is taking from its treasury $200 and putting that amount of money in each of 2000 of these schools and from $150 to $175 in each of the remaining 1800 schools. The cities of the State have nearly as great interest in the schools main- tained in the agricultural sections as they have in the schools maintained in the cities. There has been a great change in this State in the last forty years. Thirty-five or forty years ago there were more people living in the agricultural regions than were living in the cities and large villages. There were one hundred thousand more children in attendance upon the schools maintained outside of the cities and villages than were in attendance upon the schools maintained in the cities and villages. With an approximate population of ten million people today, eight million of these people are living in the cities and large villages of the State and only two million in the rural sections of the State. In the schools maintained in the cities and villages of the State there are six hundred thousand more children than there are in the schools maintained in the agricultural sections of the State. There are one hundred thousand less children in attendance upon the schools main- tained in the agricultural regions than there were in attendance upon such schools thirty-five years ago. The cities have not only increased in number but they have rapidly increased in population. When the country assumes normal conditions the growth of our cities is bound to continue. These millions of people in our cities must be furnished with food products and raw materials which must be supplied by the people living in the agricultural communities. If the fanners of the State are to avail themselves of this great opportunity and are to meet this demand, the farms must be made more productive, Agriculture THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 609 must be pursued on a basis of morp exact science and sounder business prin- ciples. Rural life must be made more comfortable and attractive so that it will hold the best young men and young women on the farms and induce the best types of citizens to locate in agricultural sections. The schools are the great agencies which must achieve this result. The conditions described, therefore, make this problem of rural education one of the great problems of the State. It is not simply a rural question but it is one of the great state questions demanding rational, deliberate con- sideration and courageous treatment. The ineffective, incoherent school dis- trict organization, devised a century ago to meet primitive conditions,, is not able to meet the great rural problem of the twentieth century. Every state in New England has recognized this fact. So have New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Every state bordering upon the State of New York has dis- continued the old school district system and adopted the modern, effective plan of the administration of its schools under the township system. The great leading agricultural states of the West have also adopted the township system. Before discussing how the township system may achieve these results, I desire to consider the principal objections which have been urged in oppo- sition to the township law. Let us examine the provisions of that law and consider fairly and deliberately the objections which have been raised. By pursuing this course we should be able to determine whether or not the provisions of the law operate unfairly and unjustly, whether or not there are provisions of the law which discriminate against certain sections of a town or impose hardships upon the children or the people, and whether or not the law will achieve the results contemplated by those who have favored its enactment. I know, of course, that there is widespread opposition to the operation of this law in the form in which it now stands. I am well informed as to what the objections are. Correspondence with district superin- tendents, with members of town boards of education, and with leading citizens interested in education in all parts of the State, together with newspaper articles which have constantly appeared in the local papers as well as in the city press, have given me full information relative to the objections urged against this law. The principal points of opposition may be briefly stated, as follows : 1 The arbitrary consolidation of school districts. 2 Injection of partisanship in school affairs and the creation of political boards. 3 Taking from women the right to vote in school meetings. 4 Requiring physical training to be taught in the rural schools. 5 Taking from the people the control of local appropriations. 6 Violation of home rule. 7 Increased taxation. 8 No improvement in school facilities. It must be recognized, of course, that it is difficult to frame a measure affecting every home in the rural parts of the State without bringing forth much criticism, and particularly upon a subject in which the people have such an abiding interest as the education of their children. Much 20 6lO THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK of the criticism of this measure has been based upon what some person has said of the law instead of what the law itself is. It is generally charged that there are many provisions in the law which the law does not contain. Many provisions of this measure have also been improperly interpreted. One of the most frequent objections raised to this statute is that it contemplates the consolidation of rural schools and that there is to be generally in the towns one central school. There is no such provision in the law and no such action is contemplated. Under the statutes in existence previous to the enactment of the township law, a district super- intendent could arbitrarily make an order consolidating as many districts as, in his judgment, seemed advisable. Under a provision of the town- ship law, this power to consolidate districts has been taken from the district superintendent. Now what is the real provision of this statute in this respect? The district superintendent is required to take the initiative in the consolidation of districts. If he deems it necessary to consolidate one district with another he makes the required order. The next pro- cedure is to submit such order to the town board of education. The town board may affirm or decline to affirm such order. If the town board declines to affirm such order, no further action may be taken in the matter and the consolidation is not made. If the town board approves the order, such action on the part of the board does not make the order effective. It must thereafter be submitted to the voters of each of the districts affected by such order. If a majority of the votes in either district is against consolidation, the order of the district superintendent becomes ineffective. Suppose a district superintendent makes an order consolidating four dis- tricts and the order is approved by the town board of education. The question as to whether or not such districts shall form a consolidated dis- trict is then submitted to the voters of the several districts. If a majority of the voters of each of these districts should favor consolidation, such districts would be consolidated into one district. But if a majority of the voters of the fourth disrict should vote against the consolidation, such district does not become a part of the consolidated district. If the voters of each of the four districts should vote in opposition to consolidation, none of such districts would become consolidated. In such case, the order of the district superintendent would be ineffective. In other words, under the provisions of the township law as it stands today, it is impossible to consolidate a single school district with another district unless a majority of the voters of such district vote in favor of consolidation. Is there a fairer method of permitting the people to express their desires upon this question than through the very method contained in the township law? I desire to be absolutely fair and open on this question of consolidation. There is nothing desired by the Department which I have the honor to represent which is not for the interest of your schools. I know that your desire is to maintain schools which shall serve in the most efficient manner possible the great agricultural interests of our State. The Education Department has strongly advocated the consolidation of weak school dis- tricts. The Board of Regents, which is responsible for the broad genera! policy of the Education Department, has believed in the consolidation of rural schools. From the conditions which I have already outlined it must THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 6ll be apparent to you all that there are now many rural schools maintained in this State which should not be in operation. Wherever it is possible, without hardship to the children, to close these schools and take the chil- dren to other schools where they will receive a better education, it is believed that such action should be taken. It is believed by the Depart- ment that through such action the rural schools of the State would be more economically administered, they would be able to maintain more efficient courses and would be offering to the children the opportunity for a broader and more practical education than such children are able to get in these weak schools which are now being maintained. The Department will undoubtedly continue to advocate the consolidation of these weak schools, but this consolidation must be effected in accordance with the provisions of the statutes written in the township law. This places the consolidation of school districts absolutely within the power of the people of each district. Just how partisanship is to be injected in the township system has not been stated. The charge is a general one and without specification. It is generally claimed that the town boards of education are to become political boards and that they are to be used for political purposes. You know that the trustees of school districts in each town, chosen at the annual meeting in May last, selected the members of the town board of education. In many towns the majority of the members of the town board were former trustees, and in many cases the entire membership of the town board is made up of the former trustees of the several districts of the town. If the old district system, under the management of trustees, was not a political system, how does it happen that the new town board of education becomes a political board when such board is: composed of men who were former trustees and of men chosen by the votes of the trustees of the several districts of the town? As the law now stands, in the future, members of town boards of education are to be chosen at a special town school meeting. The law requires that on the second Tuesday in May of each year, the voters in each of the several towns of the State shall come together and elect members of the town boards of education. Is there a fairer or more democratic method for the selection of the men and women of the very highest type, those who are most interested in the education of the children of the town, than through a method which affords the fathers and mothers of boys and girls of that town the opportunity to come together in the good old-fashioned New England town meeting and even the form of giving expression to ideas of local interest by our Dutch ancestors, and there select the men and women who are to be charged with the obligation of administering the affairs of the schools of that town? If under such a system, ladies and gentlemen, you can not prevent politics from creeping into the administration of the schools, by what system can you devise a method which will keep politics out of the schools? No other questions may be considered at this town meeting than those per- taining to the administration of the schools. For this very purpose, a date separate from the date of the town municipal meeting was selected. If political considerations are the controlling factors in any town board of education, then the people of that town bear the responsibility. If boards 6l2. THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK of education or other school officials have been governed by political con- siderations in the- determination of school questions, that fact should be made known. If any official or other' person has used, or attempted to use,' the school organization in any town for improper, selfish or political purposes, that fact should be stated with full specifications. A general charge implying that such is the case is insufficient. If such a condition exists anywhere in the State, the public should be given the facts. The charge' is frequently made that under the township system women are to be deprived' of the privilege of voting for town school officers and on educational propositions which come before town school meetings for consideration. It is surprising to know of the number of articles which have appeared in the press stating that women are to be deprived of voting on school matters under the terms of this law. New York was one of the first states in the Union to recognize the right and the duty of a woman — a mother or taxpayer — to attend school meetings and to express her judgment' as to what men and women shall be chosen to administer the affairs of the schools and also to express her views 1 upon the determination of other questions coming before school meetings for consideration. There has been no discrimination under the laws of this State between men and women in relation to their right to vote on questions coming before school meetings. The identical qualifications which have been in existence for years are still in existence, and women still have the same right to vote under the terms' of the township law in all town school meetings which they possessed under former statutes in the school district meetings. There is much opposition throughout the rural parts of the State to the enforcement of the provisions of the law requiring physical education to be taught in all the sh'ools of the State and to all children in the schools above the age of eight' years. It is generally charged that the township law con- tains the provisions relating to the teaching of physical training. This ob- jection to the law is stated about as frequently as the objection to the con- solidation of school districts. The law requiring physical training to be taught to all children in attendance upon the schools was enacted by the Legislature of 1916. That law is an entirely separate act. It has no connection in any way whatever with the township law. If the township law had not been enacted, there would have been mandatory provisions in the laws of the State requiring the rural schools, as well as other schools, to employ a director of physical education. Repealing the township law will in no way affect the law which requires the employment of a director of physical education in the rural schools. If it is your judgment that the children of the State should not receive instruction in physical training and if you believe that public opinion supports your judgment would not the proper course of procedure appear to be to deal with the statute which requires physical training and not to hold the township law responsible for the law requiring physical education. If physical training is to be taught in the rural schools of the State, the proper administration of that law must be based 'upon some organization different from the old school district system. The township system affords an ideal organization for the proper administration of physical education in the rural schools. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 613. It is also claimed, that boards of education are given too much power in determining the appropriations for school purposes and that the people should be given greater authority in determining such appropriations. What changes does this law make in the method of determining appropriations for school purposes? Let us compare the method under this law with the methods of making appropriations under former statutes. Ever since schools were made free, fifty 3*ears ago the trustee of the little school district has had the right to include in his budget the amount necessary >to pay the salary of the teacher and the incidental expenses of maintaining the school. The voters of the district could not even determine the amount which the trustee should pay the teacher. The power to determine the salary of a teacher was absolutely the prerogative of the trustee. It was upon extraordinary matters solely that the voters of the district deter- mined the amount of the appropriation. Since 1853 the boards of education in union free school districts have prepared their budgets and submitted them to the voters of their respective districts. The law has expressly provided that the voters of a district could not reduce the amount included in a budget for the salaries of teachers or contingent expenses. For a half century this method has been the plan of making appropriations for public school purposes. If school officials had abused this power, if unnecessary appropriations had been made, and if the money of the people had been wasted under this plan, remedial legislation would have been enacted. The general plan which has been followed for fifty years is followed under the provisions of the township law. The board of education prepares its budget and is required to publish the same so that every taxpayer of the town may know the amount included in the budget and the purposes for which the money is to be collected. The modern method of preparing •budgets for all municipal purposes is. required under the provisions of the township law. The board of education may include in, its budget such sum as may be necessary to pay the salaries of the teachers, to. provide fuel and other supplies. This law very properly contains a limitation .as to the amount of funds which a board may include in the budget for improve- ment to school property. A board of education may include an amount not in excess of one-half of one per cent of the total assessed valuation of the town. Any amount greater than this must be determined by a vote of the people. In no case may a board of education include more than $5000 for the erection of new buildings or the improvement of school property in the entire town. This, however, is the identical method which is followed in making appropriations for other municipal purposes. What is the method of making appropriations in incorporated villages? Does not the board of trustees of the village prepare its budget and include therein the necessary expenses for conducting the affairs of the village? The board of trustees of a village may include in its budget one-half of one per cent of the assessed valuation of the property of the village for improving the streets. Such board of trustees may also' include an addi- tional sum equal to one-half of one per cent of the assessed valuation of the property of the village for such other purpose as in the judgment 01 ihe board is necessary. It is only for extraordinary purposes in the village 614 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK that the people vote upon appropriations. Since when did you men have the privilege of voting in the towns in which you reside upon appropriations for town purposes? Does not the town board of your town include in its budget the items to meet the expense of operating the affairs of the town? Does not your town board include, on the recommendation of the super- intendent of highways, such amount as it deems necessary for the proper maintenance of the highways of the town? Do the voters of the town vote upon these questions? May not your town board include in its budget an item of at least $3000 for the repair or construction of bridges? If this power is to be given the boards in control of the affairs of villages and of towns, are you to give less power in this respect to the board (charged with the administration of schools? Is it of more importance that the board of a village or the board of a town should have the authority to include in its budget funds sufficient to repair streets and build bridges, than that the board of education of the town should have the authority to include in its budget an amount sufficient to repair and improve school buildings so that such buildings shall be comfortable and sanitary for the children who are compelled to occupy them? Is not the procedure authorized in making appropriations for improvements to school property by town boards of education the identical method which is authorized by law for the improvement of municipal property in villages, in towns, in counties and in cities? Shall the State reverse its sound policy of a half century in determining how appropriations shall be made to improve school property? It is charged that the discontinuance of the school district system and the adoption of the township system is an infraction of the spirit of home rule. The unit of administration in governmental and political control has always been the town. The township system does not take from the unit of control any of the powers possessed by a smaller unit of control. It gives the town, which is made the unit of control and administration, larger powers and confers upon the town powers which had formerly been exer- cised by the State. Instead of taking local control from the people under this system, a much larger degree of local control is conferred upon the people in connection with the schools than the localities formerly possessed. This law does not confer an additional power upon any state officer or department which such officer or department did not formerly exercise in the administration of the schools under the school district system. On the other hand, matters connected with school affairs have been transferred from the State to the local school authorities of the town. Previous to 1898 the highways of the several towns were operated under a district system similar to that under which the rural schools have been operated. A certain piece of highway in the State was called a " road district " and was under the control of an overseer of highways. You all know what the condition of the highways was under that system. In 1898 the road districts were discontinued and the office of overseer of high- ways was abolished. In the place of this form of management, a system of town control was organized, and the office of town superintendent of highways was created. The highways have since been maintained by the town. You all know what improvements have been made in the highways- of the State since this system of operation went into effect. We do not THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 615 now hear it charged that the discontinuance of the old district system of highways and of the office of overseer of highways, and the substitution therefor of a town system of highways under the management of a town superintendent of highways is an infraction of the spirit of home rule. There must be a unit of local administration of schools as well as of other governmental functions. Since the town is accepted as the unit in all these other matters, why should it not be accepted for the schools as well? Are not the schools of as much importance as the highways? Should not the education of the children be regarded as important as the improve- ment and maintenance of highways? Are roads of. more importance to the farm than schools? Is the marketing of produce grown upon the farm of more importance to the farm and to the State than educating the children living upon the farm? The people of the town elect their officers and determine all extraordinary appropriations for the support and maintenance of schools under the town- ship system as they do for the support and maintenance of other town or local affairs under the town municipal government. It is the ideal system of local government and not an infraction of the home rule principle. We now come, I think, to what we may regard as the real vital objection to this law. That objection is that taxes have been increased. Let us go into this whole question of school taxes with an open mind and with a determination to be just and fair with each other. We should also have in mind the distinction between increased taxes and the equalisation of taxes. I assume that every man who owns property is willing to pay his pro- portionate share of taxes for the maintenance of schools. Every property owner should do this. No property owner, however, should be compelled to pay more than his proportionate share of school taxation. To ascertain what the exact situation is, let us consider what the facts have been for the last fifty years in relation to taxes for the support of rural schools. I will show you what the taxes have been in one of the towns in each of three different counties in the State. I have had no purpose in mind in selecting the three towns in question. I could have selected a town in any county of the State. I should be glad to have a committee appointed by this society meet with me to go over the official records to ascertain what the facts are in every county in the State. I invite any individual who is here today to come to the offices of the Department and go over this matter with me. The towns for which I have the data on this question are Rome, Oneida county; Philipstown, Putnam county, and Canaan, Columbia county. 6i6 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Rome, Oneida county, 1916-1917 ASSESSED DISTRICT VALUATION 2 $154148 3 *9 150 4 48297 5 59 698 6 59 550 7 238 815 8 . 186 159 9 •. 32348 10 339 155 " 89 135 12 60200 *3 79 750 14 < 123550 15 160756 16 17 929 J 7 22650 18 33 350 19 162 834 20 139 830 Total $ 2 027 304 AMOUNT OF TAX RATE $334 97 $.00217- 249 40 •00855 331 80 .00686 417 18 .OO698 315 64 .OO53O- 310 55 .00130 500 .OO268- 300 .OO927 365 95 .00107 405 22 .OO454 301 .00500- 548 15 .O0687 494 20 . 0040a 350 14 .00217 179 30 .OIOOO 236 3i .01043 195 .00835 1 194 46 .00733 204 30 .00146 $7 233 57 $.003568 It will be observed that the several districts in this town have assessed valuations ranging from a little less than $18,000 to nearly $340,000. Dis- tricts 16, 17 and 18, having valuations from about $18,000 to $23,000 respec- tively, are compelled to raise about the same amount of funds for school purposes as district 20 which has an assessed valuation of nearly $140,000. It will be observed that the tax rate in district 16 is ten mills ; in district 17 ten mills and in district 18 eight mills, while in district 20 the tax rate is less than one and one-half mills. If the tax for school purposes had been spread upon this town, there would have been a uniform tax rate of three and one-half mills. It will be observed that thirteen of the nineteen dis- tricts had a tax rate last year in excess of the average rate for the town. If a tax had been spread uniformly upon the town, the taxpayers in each of these thirteen districts would have paid less taxes and the taxpayers of the six remaining districts, which had a tax rate ranging from one and four-tenths mills to three and one-half mills, would have had their taxes increased. The tax rate for the current year in this town, under the town- ship system, is five mills plus. Under this rate nine of the nineteen dis- tricts have a lower tax rate than each of such districts had last year. The taxes have been equalised for school purposes. Every taxpayer in the sev- eral districts of the town is paying the same rate of tax for the support of schools. Some, of course, are paying more than they paid last year and others are paying less than they paid last year. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 6l7 Philipstown, Putnam county, 1916-1917 DISTRICT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30 12 13 14 Total ASSESSED AMOUNT VALUATION OF TAX RATE $21 063 $310 63 $.01474 193 890 484 76 .00250 43 975 5°2 50 .OII42 989 654 4 913 49 .00496 64 300 501 54 .00780 108 500 500 .00461 109 550 536 82 .OO49O 109 960 307 88 .OO280 13 340 201 73 .01512 219 450 2 589 97 .01180 45 660 530 .OIl6o 766 503 2 653 69 .OO346 587 327 1 236 15 .00210 $3 273 172 $15 269 16 $.00466 In the case of the town of Philipstown, Putnam county, it will be •observed from the above table that the valuations of the several districts in this town range from a little over $21,000 to nearly $1,000,000. It will be observed that district 9 having an assessed valuation of a little over $13,000 raised over $200 in taxes, while adjoining district 8, having an assessed valuation of nearly $110,000, raised only $307. It will be observed that district 14 had a tax rate last year of two mills plus, while district 9 had a rate of fifteen mills plus. The tax rate of last year, if the taxes for school purposes had been spread over the entire township, would have been four mills plus. The taxpayers of eight of the thirteen districts would have paid a smaller amount of taxes last year and the taxpayers in five of the thirteen districts would have paid a larger amount for taxes. Five of the districts in this town are paying a smaller tax for school purposes this year by reason of the tax being spread over the town, while eight are paying a larger tax because of this method of assessing property for school purposes. Canaan, Columbia county, 1916-1917 DISTRICT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total ASSESSED AMOUNT VALUATION OF TAX RATE $289 489 $2 325 $.00803 51 748 313 OI .00604 117 672 149 84 .00127 50 082 270 45 .00540 133 086 399 27 .00300 256 468 900 .00350 34 724 342 80 .00987 20 000 4i8 350 2 805 .00670 $1 371 619 $7 SOS 37 $.0054 It will be observed from the above table for the town of Canaan that the assessed valuations in the several districts of this town vary from $20,000 to $418,000, and the tax rate in these several districts ranges from one and two-tenths mills to nine and eight-tenths mills. Had the taxes for 6l8 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK school purposes been spread over the entire town, the uniform tax rate would have been five and four-tenths mills. Five hundred districts of the State are taking their children to adjoining schools instead of maintaining a home school. The funds apportioned to these districts by the State is sufficient, in most cases, to pay the tuition for the education of their children. During these years the property owners in these 500 districts have not contributed one dollar in tax for the support of schools. The State has provided for the education of their children. They are now paying their proportionate share in common with all other property owners in the town. Now I ask you in all fairness if you regard it as a fair, square, honest procedure in the assessment of taxes for school purposes to compel the property owner in one district to pay a tax of fifteen mills for the main- tenance of the same type of school which is provided in the adjoining district and for which his neighbor pays a tax of only two and one-half mills? This is not my idea of fairness, justice or common honesty. It was a knowledge of this intolerable condition of affairs and of this antiquated and inequitable system of taxation which induced this society to adopt a resolution two years ago declaring itself in favor of the reorganization of the rural school system upon the basis of the township. Many of these districts having large valuations have had the privilege of taxing valuable corporate property and this has been the means of keeping the taxation for school purposes in such districts at a low rate. Is there any reason why the railroads and other corporate property should not pay their proportionate share of taxes for school purposes throughout the entire town? Is not the town the basis upon which taxes are levied for all governmental functions? Are the districts which have had the benefit of the taxation of this property for a half century to continue to enjoy that privilege in violation of the rights of the taxpayers in the other school districts in the town through which the railroad does not extend? Do not the farmers living upon the farms in the districts through which the rail- road does not extend bring their supplies over the railroads and do they not ship the produce of their farms to market over the railroads? Are they not, therefore, supporting the railroads to as great an extent relatively as are the property owners residing in the districts through which the rail- roads fortunately happen to extend? More than this, you all remember that years ago, when we were building our great system of railways in this State, in nearly every town through which the railroad extends and even some towns through which the railroad did not extend, bonds were issued to help construct these railroads. The people of the entire town paid these bonds and yet more than half of the school districts of the State have not received one dollar in return in the form of taxes for the support of schools in such districts. This injustice should not be tolerated longer, and these flagrant inequalities in taxation for school purposes should be corrected. It is true that many people have paid more taxes this year for school purposes than in former years. IMs true that in some instances individuals have been compelled to pay three and four times as much for school pur- poses this year as they paid in former years. It appears, Mr President, from an examination of the tax rate in the town in which your farm is located, THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 619 that you were compelled to pay this year about four times more taxes for school purposes than you paid upon your farm last year. From the reports received you did not regard this fact as an injustice to you or as unfair dealing on the part of the town toward you in the collection of school taxes. I am informed that you recognized it as a fair, honest method of assessing taxes upon your farm. You recognized that your neighbor was being accorded fair dealing and substantial justice. When the statement is made that a man has paid this year three or four times as much for the support of schools as he paid last year you may put it down, as a general proposition, that such person did not pay his proportionate share of taxes last year. It is not costing twice as much to maintain the rural school this year as it did last year. I have gone over the budgets of 174 town units. These budgets reveal the true story of these alleged increased taxes. They show the increased amount of funds which have been collected — mind you, I say collected — but not expended. The average increase in these budgets is about one-third. The fact that the budget has been increased is not proof that it is going to cost more to operate the schools under the town- ship system than it cost under the district system. This tax was collected by the town board of education and many of the members of such board were formerly trustees in the separate school districts. These boards must render an account of their expenditures at the end of the year. It is entirely proper to inquire why it was necessary to levy a third more for the support of the schools this year than was expended last year for that purpose. Did the conditions of business affairs and of school administration justify this action on the part of town boards of education? Of course, you all expect that it is going to cost more to operate schools this year than it did last year. It has cost every one of you more to live this year than it did last year. You do not buy supplies of any character for your farm or home for which you do not pay more than you paid last year. There is no line of business in which a man is engaged in which he does not pay more for the supplies used in that business this year than he did last year. It must be expected that the increased price for service, for fuel and for all kinds of supplies must be paid by the school authorities as well as by business concerns or individuals. Is it costing more generally through- out the State to operate the schools this year than it did last year? This increased cost, however, is not due to the operation of the township system. Members of the board of education receive no compensation for their services. The only additional expense required under this system is the salary of the clerk, which averages from two hundred to three hundred dollars, and the expense involved in conducting the annual school election. This latter expense is the fee of the inspectors and the cost of printing the tickets, which can not under any conditions be a large amount. There are economies which offset some of this expense. The boards of supervisors no longer receive one per cent on the three million dollars of public school money paid out by them to the several towns. Of course, where buildings have been shamefully neglected and outbuildings have been an offense not only to health but to common decency it has required addi- tional money to make needed improvements. Where money has been 620 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK expended for this purpose it is to the credit of the- system and not to its discredit/ The other day I sent a note to each city superintendent in the State, to the superintendent of each village having a population of 5000 or more, and to boards of education of small union free school districts, making inquiry as to whether or not it is costing more to operate the schools in their respective cities, villages and districts this year than it did last year. Replies have been received from the following cities and the increase is shown to be- Amsterdam , Auburn Buffalo Corning . . . EJmisa Fulton Geneva Gloversville Hudson ... Jamestown Lackawanna Little Falls Middletown PER CENT 25 15 15 10 20% 15 ioy 2 is 13 Mount Vernon New Rochelle , Niagara Falls Ogdensburg . . . Qlean Oneida Oaeonta Rensselaer . . . Salamanca . . . Tonawanda . . . Utica Watervliet . . . Yonkers PES' CENT 23 16 IS 18 15 12 12 y a 23 Replies from the superintendents of villages having a population of 5000 or more show that the expense of operating the schools has increased this year as follows : Albion Endieott Fredonia .... Hastings .... Hudson Falls Huntington. . . Mai one Massena .... Medina PER CENT 25 North Tarrytown Ossining Peekskill (8) Port Chester . . . Port Washington Tarrytown Waterford Wellsville Walden PER CENT IS 18 18 25 15 IS 30 Replies received from the small, independent union free school districts not under the township law show that the increased expense of operating the schools in such districts is as follows: PER CENT Akron Baldwinsville Bath- Castleton Fairport . . . Friendship . rM* PER CENT Lowville . . Lyons Roslyn .... Scotia Sidney .... Ticonderoga 15 If it costs more to operate the schools in the cities of the State, in the villages having a population of 5000 or more, and in the small union free school districts, will it not also cost more to operate the schools in the remaining portions of the State? Bruce's School Reporter issued JanuaTy 2, 1918 — the best authority in the United States on the cost of operating schools— contains the following statement : THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 621 The year 1917 opened with the one striking feature for schools of increas- ing prices. We predicted in our Annual Review last year increased prices ranging from 20 per cent and up. These came to pass and the first quarter of 191 7 was characterized by general price increases all along the line. School boards were slow to appreciate the full significance of these increases. Budgets were made up with some margins allowed for increased prices. On the whole, however, school boards did not, as they usually do, allow for the possibilities of the year with a very peculiar and unsatis- factory result. It takes money to run the schools of any community and a short-sighted school board is very apt to underestimate needs even under ordinary circumstances, let alone sharp advances in all prices of school goods. Qf course, this natural increase under existing conditions in the cost of 'the operation of schools does not equal the one-third increase in the budgets in general. It does, however, account for an increase of from 12 to 20 per cent, as indicated by the above reports. School districts have very generally carried a balance at the end of the year. This balance has been the working capital of the district. It is not possible to operate a school system without a working capital. The State government is required to have a working capital of at least five million dollars to transact the busi- ness of the State property. Every county, every city, every town and every incorporated village must have a certain amount of money in its treasury as a working capital. Every business man .must have a ■working capital if he is to maintain his credit and keep out of bank- ruptcy. The farmer must have his working capital. Is it not necessary therefore, for the town board of education charged with the operation of the schools of a town to have a working capital? Last. year, the amount raised by tax for the maintenance of schools now under the operation of the township system was approximately $6,962,824. In. previous years the districts which are now operating under the township system carried a ■balance of from one and one-half to two million dollars, and in each of the thirty-nine villages of the State having a population of 5000 or more the board of education has carried a balance equal to ■ 1.3 per cent of the taxes raised. Town boards of education assumed their duties on August 1st last, and there was not a dollar in the town treasury as a working capital for the operation of the schools. The men on these boards recognized the necessity of. having available funds to meet the expenses incurred in the maintenance of schools and they very properly included in the budget for the first. year sufficient funds to give them this working capital. Then too, 'these boards did not have correct knowledge as to the amount of funds which would be necessary to meet the expenses of the operation of the schools- of the' town. The administration of the schools for one year will .afford -.that knowledge. Undoubtedly, in many towns a larger amount of money was collected this year than is necessary to meet the expenses incurred in the operation of the schools. There is no reason to believe that these men, who are tax- payers themselves, will not properly protect the interests of the town. ,'It would, in my judgment, be most unreasonable to assume that town boards, ^possessing the interest which they do in educational matters and being tax- 622 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK payers themselves, would generally make improper or unnecessary expendi- tures of these funds. In cases where more money has been collected than is necessary for the operation of the schools, there will be a balance at the end of the year which may be applied toward the expenses for next year and which will reduce the budgets accordingly. Whatever amount, therefore, which was included as a working capital, plus such additional sum as was estimated beyond the actual needs of the year, will remain as a surplus or working capital for the ensuing year. Under the old district system school was maintained for only nine months in the rural regions. The cities and villages maintain school for ten months. Town boards of education have very generally provided for the mainte- nance of schools in the country districts for the same period of time as schools are maintained in the village districts. You should bear in mind, therefore, that this year is the first time in the history of the State when the schools of the rural regions are affording the boys and girls on the farms the opportunity to attend school the same period of time as the children in the villages and cities have been permitted to attend school for many years. Of course, you know that it is not possible to afford the boys and girls of the country districts the advantages of an education equal to that which is afforded the boys and girls in the cities and villages unless the schools in the rural regions are maintained for the same period of time during the year that schools are maintained in the cities and villages. It is frequently stated that the operation of the schools under the town- ship system incurs a larger expenditure of funds without a corresponding increase in the efficiency of the schools. You must remember that the schools have been in operation under the township system only a little over four months. Town boards of education were given no power to organize a plan for the' current year. In most districts teachers had already been employed by the former trustees of districts, and the compensation of these teachers had been fixed by the former trustees. Town boards had no oppor- tunity to formulate a general plan which could be put in operation for the current year in economizing in the administration of schools. They had no opportunity to establish any definite plan in relation to the qualifications of teachers to be employed. Town boards of education were compelled to assume charge of the administration of the schools at the time these schools were about to open and to operate the schools with such teachers, supplies and under such arrangements as had been provided by the former trustees of school districts. Town boards of education now see very generally wherein the schools may be improved, how teachers of better qualifica- tions may be employed and how economies may be practised. In many towns action has already been taken along this line for the administration of schools for the ensuing year. But notwithstanding the embarrassments under which town boards of education assumed the general direction of the schools for the current year, improvements have been made in the administration of schools in many of the towns of the State. It is also true that the schools in many of the towns are administered on a more efficient and economical basis than ever before. Time will not permit an enumera- tion of the various plans which have been adopted in many of the towns of the State for the purpose of improving the rural schools, of affording THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 623 the boys and girls attending these schools an opportunity for an education as nearly equal as it may possibly be to the opportunity afforded the boys and girls in the populous centers of the State. Many reports are on file in the Education Department from town boards of education indicating what these boards have done in this respect. Any individual desiring to know what these plans are will be accorded the privilege of examining the records filed in the Department if they so desire. Various interests in the State concerned with the proper administration of the rural schools were consulted in the preparation of the township bill. You understand., of course, that in framing a measure as important as this, it was not possible to include in the bill all the features which the various interests desired. On the other hand, it was necessary for all those inter- ested in the measure to yield some points which were regarded as important. One of the questions under consideration at the time this bill was framed was, Shall the districts containing the village high schools be included under the township system? There were those who desired to include all villages there were others who desired to exempt the villages from the plan. A compromise was reached by providing that all union free school districts .having a population of 1500 or more, or employing fifteen teachers or more, should not come within the terms of the law, and that all union free school districts having a population of less than 1500, or employing less than fifteen teachers should become a part of the township system. The admin- istration of this law for four months has shown that the arbitrary inclusion under this system of districts maintaining a high school and having a population of fifteen hundred or more has been one of the chief causes for the opposition which has arisen to this law. There are many cases in which a union free school district is located in one corner of the town and often in two or three towns. There are people living in remote sections who are not accessible to the school of such village. Under this plan these tax- payers are compelled to pay the same amount of taxes for the support of this school as people who live near and have the full advantages of such school. That feature of the law has contributed very largely to the dis- satisfaction which has arisen throughout the State. There are reasons why the union free school districts should not be included in the township sys- tem. The people living in the villages who have established their high schools very naturally desire to control such schools. The people living out of the villages are somewhat sensitive about the people living in the villages controlling the schools not in the village. Their fear is that the people of the village high school district will give strong support to the village school and neglect the rural school. If the union free school districts were separate units, this concern on the part of each element would be avoided. Distributing the taxes for the support of the village high school over the entire town has resulted in increasing the taxes upon the farm property and in many cases the imposition of such taxes has resulted in injustice. There can be no objection to the spreading of the tax for school purposes over that portion of the town outside of the high school district because the schools maintained therein are of the same general type. If the union free school districts were taken out of the township system, the trouble caused through the assumption of outstanding school district 624 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK bonds by the town would be avoided. These districts have very generally,, within recent years, constructed school buildings and otherwise improved school property for which bonds are still' outstanding. A constitutional question was raised as to whether or not this property of the district could be taken by the town without the town reimbursing the district for the value of this property. On the plan followed the town assumed the outstanding bonds and paid to the taxpayers of the district the difference between such bonds and the value of the school property. The same course was pursued with each other school district and for the same reason. The course pursued in this State under the township law is the same course which was pursued in Massachusetts and New Jersey and other states. When the bill was framed there were many who desired to have the tax for school purposes spread upon the property within the boundaries of the town. It is not possible to pursue this course if union free school districts are continued in the system. In some cases property valued in excess of one million dollars would be transferred to an adjoining town under such plan. Hundreds of children living in such a district would be compelled to attend school in the town in which such property paid no taxes. Very much dissatisfaction has arisen in the small joint districts. In such districts the property is taxed in the town in which the school- house is located. The rate of taxation in that town may be ten mills while the rate of taxation in the adjoining town in which a portion of the property is located may be five mills. The people living in such portion of the district observe that their neighbors are paying a tax of but five mills for school purposes in the town in which they reside, while these taxpayers are compelled to pay ten mills in the town in which their chil- dren attend school. These are mere details involved in the plan of taxa- tion but if the tax were spread in accordance with town boundaries, all these troublesome questions would be eliminated. In a discussion of this question, however, we must not fail to consider the influence which the high school in the hundreds of small villages of the State has exercised in the development of our progress during the last fifty years. This little high school has been one of the great social institu- tions of the State. It has served many more people than those living within the boundaries of the district who have given it financial support. Every property owner in the district and every rentor of a home has contributed his proportionate share in taxes or in rent for the maintenance of this high school. It is a common occurrence to find in the graduating classes of these high schools, more pupils who come from the districts outside than there are pupils who live in the high school district. Pupils have been received into these liigh school districts generously and, until very recently, in most cases upon tuition paid by the State for nonresident pupils. Usually this amount has not equaled one-half of the actual cost per capita of the maintenance of the high schools. These schools have been an asset to every farm which is accessible to them. If these schools were discontinued or removed, the value of farm property within the influence of such schools would depreciate. The widow of limited means who owns her little home, the common laborer who may THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 625 own his home or who may rent one, and the clerk receiving a small salary and employed in various capacities in community life have been paying their proportionate share for the maintenance of this high school which has rendered as much service to the young people who have been educated in such high school and who live outside the district as it has to those living within the district. These high schools have not received fair treat- ment. If they are to be eliminated from the township system provision should be made which will guarantee to them compensation for the attend- ance of nonresident pupils which shall be at least equal to the per capita cost of instruction. Provision should also be made by which all children who have completed the elementary course shall, as a matter of right, be guaranteed the privilege of completing a high school course. Five years ago when the State Department of Education renewed the campaign for the adoption of the township system, it was distinctly stated that the matter would not be pressed before the Legislature by the Educa- tion Department until the state organizations identified with our agricultural interests should feel disposed to cooperate in the movement. It has been the purpose of the Education Department to work in cooperation with these organizations. The State Agricultural Society and the State Association of Tax Officers have indorsed the township system, and the State Grange has twice adopted resolutions favoring the township system. The State Grange at its annual session in 1915 adopted the following resolutions : Resolved, That the New York State Grange is in favor of making the town the unit of taxation for school purposes, provided that all incorporated villages are excluded from said unit. That we are in favor of a town school board of from three to seven members, to be elected by the voters at an annual school meeting. This board shall serve without salary, and shall have the same powers and duties as the present trustee or board now have in their respective districts, but this law shall not wipe out existing school districts nor change their boundaries. At the annual meeting of the State Grange in February 1917 the follow- ing recommendations in relation to the township system was adopted : Your committee has made a careful study of the report of the standing committee on education and common schools of the State Grange, and has made full use of the excellent work done by that committee during the past year. It has held lengthy hearings, at which all interested were permitted to be heard; 30 persons appeared and spoke, either as individuals or as representatives of their granges. It has examined with care all the resolu- tions submitted to this Grange on the subject of rural schools, by pomona and subordinate granges of the State, and has given due consideration to the same, and offers this report as a substitute for such resolutions. As a result this committee is unanimous in its belief that the welfare of the rural schools of this State demands a change in the methods of admin- istration, to the end that the burden of the same may be more equitably dis- tributed and the authority for the administration of the schools may be lodged in the hands 'of the people who support them and patronize them. It found, it is true, a considerable diversity of opinion on many matters, and that it would be impossible for any individual or set of individuals to secure all those things which they would desire to see incorporated in new 626 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK school legislation. In fact every member of this committee has found it necessary to surrender some of his personal views in order that a working compromise might be reached. But this has been cheerfully done because we realize that some legislation is desirable and necessary; that the State Grange should have a voice in such legislation, and that to further delay action would not only be neglecting an obvious duty, but would undoubtedly lessen the future influence of the Grange in this and other matters. , Therefore we recommend that legislation be passed making the town the unit of school organization and taxation. In the formation of such legisla- tion we regard the following principles as fundamental : 1 We believe that the power of consolidating schools should rest entirely in the hands of the people. Therefore we recommend that such power shall be taken entirely from the district superintendent and the State Department of Education, and that no consolidation order shall hereafter be effective until confirmed by the board of education of the town or towns in which these districts are located. 2 We recommend that in towns having four or more districts, or school units, not more than two members of the board of education shall be chosen from any one district. And in those towns having only three districts, a majority of the board shall not be chosen from any one district. 3 We recommend that any bill passed shall contain a provision whereby local school authorities may establish in the rural communities schools adapted to the needs of such communities, with adequate provision for instruction in agriculture and homemaking; these schools to receive such state aid as will make possible their development without a tuition charge or an excessive tax rate on the town. 4 Whereas, the use of many different kinds of textbooks is now a matter of inconvenience and unnecessary expense, we recommend that any bill passed shall contain a provision for uniform textbooks throughout each town, to be adopted by the board of education. 5 We recommend that the board of education shall not expend in any one year for the construction of new buildings or the remodeling, improve- ment or enlargement of existing school buildings, an amount in excess of one-half of 1 per cent of the assessed valuation of the town, and in no case in excess of $5000, without a vote of the qualified school electors of the town. 6 Whereas, experience has shown the present method of electing district superintendents of schools to be unsatisfactory, we recommend that such officials be elected at a joint meeting of the members of the town boards of education in each supervisory district. 7 We recommend that the town board of education shall consist of the trustees elected by the several districts in the same manner as at present, the board to choose its own chairman and appoint its own working com- mittees, and that in submitting to the school electors the names of persons to be voted for as members of the board of education the connection of any political party designation with such name shall be absolutely prohibited. It will be observed that the State Grange specifically recommended in 1917 that the town should be made the unit of school organization and taxation. The Grange further recommended that seven features which that organiza- THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 627 tion regarded as fundamental principles in the township system should be incorporated in the law. The first, third, fourth and fifth of these recom- mendations were incorporated into the law. The sixth recommendation related to the method of electing district superintendents. Members in the Legislature did not regard this recommendation with favor. The recom- mendation, even if incorporated into the law, could not have become effective until 1920 when the term of the present incumbents of the office of district superintendent expires. The second and seventh recommendations related to one principle, and that is the election of the board of education. Members of the Legislature did not believe in the plan recommended. The Legislature, however, was willing to favor the method recommended by the Grange for the first year and thereafter to permit the people to elect the members of the town board of education at a special town school election. The Legislature did not accept the recommendation of the Grange to the effect that not more than two members on the board of education should be chosen from one dis- trict. This feature was changed so that not more than three members of the board should be chosen from one district. There was a recommendation by the Grange to the effect that in towns having three districts a majority of the board should not be chosen from any one district. When the matter was under consideration by the Legislature it was discovered that there were already several towns in the State in which there was but one school district. It will be observed, however, that the principal recommendations of the State Grange were accepted and that the only recommendation which was incorporated in the law in modified form was the one relating to the election of boards of education. Every organization interested in rural affairs which has given considera- tion to the subject of rural schools has taken action favoring the adoption of the township system. Your society has taken action favoring such system ; the State Grange has twice taken such action ; the State Association of Tax Officers has taken such action; the Conference for Better County Govern- ment has favored the system, and every person of experience in public school administration favors the township system in preference to the district system. The fact that some features of this law are unsatisfactory is not in itself sufficient ground for the repeal of the act; the fact that it is costing more to operate the rural schools this year than in former years is not sufficient ground to warrant the repeal of the law. The correct procedure to follow in this case is to make such modifications to the statute as will eliminate the features which have proved unsatisfactory. It will be a distinct step back- ward in the educational development of the State to repeal the township law. In this whole discussion, what has been said about the interests of the children in the rural regions? What consideration has been given to the necessity of providing for these children the type of education best adapted to their needs? Shall we provide the boys and girls living upon the farms of the State an opportunity for obtaining an education which is equal to the opportunity now afforded the boys and girls living in the industrial centers of the State? Are the boys and girls living in the agricultural regions entitled to receive an education which will enable them to meet the problems that confront the men and women who are to bear the responsibility of the great burdens involved in the proper solution of the problems of our rural 628 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK life? Are we to establish a system of education in the agricultural centers of the State which shall be equipped to deal in a comprehensive manner with the great social, economic and political questions which confront the people living in the rural sections of this country? In the solution of these great problems should we not profit by the experience of other states? Should we not take into consideration the fact that, with a single exception, not a state which has adopted the township system has gone back to the old district system? And should not this be regarded as evidence in favor of a fair trial for the township system? Does not the experience of this State for the last half century under the district system show conclusively that the great educational necessities of the agricultural communities of the State can not be adequately supplied under the old district system? Shall not this State, after having adopted the township system which has adequately met the needs of the rural communities in half of the states of the Nation, give that system a fair trial instead of plunging the State into educational chaos by the repeal of such law? FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE EIGHTY-SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE NEW YORK STATE AGRI- CULTURAL SOCIETY HELD IN THE ASSEMBLY PARLOR, STATE CAPITOL, ALBANY, NEW YORK, JANUARY 15, 1918 Meeting called to order by President. Session at 2 o'clock, Tuesday, January 15, 1918. The President : I take great pleasure in announcing to you that our good friend Mr Tucker will preside at our afternoon meeting. He does not need any introduction. Mr Tucker (presiding) : Dr Finegan of the State Department of Educa- tion will address us on the subject " The Township Education Law." [Doctor Finegan's address printed elsewhere.] President Tucker: We are now to have the pleasure of listening to an address by Dr Eugene H. Porter, State Commissioner of Foods and Markets. Address of Dr Eugene H. Porter I deem it most fortunate that I did not precede the flow of oratory which you have enjoyed. Had I been in front of it, I would have been submerged, but being in the rear I arrive before you a little out of breath but otherwise in fair physical condition. I have been reflecting not only this afternoon but at other times on the tyranny of words and that is a tyranny to which we as a people, it seems to me, are peculiarly liable. In this militaristic age of ours such advancement has been made in our civilization, in our environment, in our living, that we have come to regard the word progress as indicating something to be desired. Anything labelled progressive is followed by a multitude too eager in the race to ask themselves whether the race is the race of progress or of some- thing else. We are much given to speaking of science and scientific, for- getting that the science of today is the ignorance of tomorrow. " Science " THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 629 and " Scientific " in themselves have no value except as we understand the conditions of their use and the personal views of their user. Peace, retrench- ment and reform are things we hear much about. Peace with a red-handed tyrant would be the surrender of our liberties. Retrenchment in time of war is a crime. Reform, too, often means but the fresh forging of chains for an enslaved people. It was said a little time ago that the tyranny of the church need no longer be feared, but the tyranny of slogans, the tyranny of catchwords, the tyranny of small minorities turning themselves so as to represent the will of the majority attempting to drive an entire people along in a narrow line of habit, of business, of morals, is one of the dangers which we are confronting. So, to come back to the word " progress." Hardly, yet, it seems to me, have the echoes ceased reverberating of the persistent advocate of the town- ship school law. He spoke about the objections to this law, and if I speak on this topic it is because I am as deeply interested as an individual in the training of our children in this state as Doctor Finegan, because I am today a professional teacher, by virtue of my life certificate, in the State of New York, because I was once a principal of a school in New York State, and last but not least, because at the present moment I am the proud owner of the title of president of a township board under this iniquitous township act. Doctor Finegan brought up the objection to the bill which he states had been advanced throughout the country districts, the objection to consolida- tion. There never has been any objections to this particular act because of any attempt at consolidation under it and Doctor Finegan knows that as well as I do. The objection to consolidation occurred some three, four five or six years ago when the Education Department, reaching out in its grasp for power, determined that the will of the people of the district should be disregarded. They gave it up not with any pleasure but, reluc- tantly, because it was deemed expedient to put one good thing in this bill to leaven the rest of an unpractical measure. Previous to the enactment of this law any district superintendent could consolidate school districts in this State and I was glad that Doctor Finegan referred to Columbia county. Columbia county is my home county. I was born in the town of Ghent and brought up on a farm. I happen to know of a case of enforced con- solidation there under that act, where two districts were forced to con- solidate with a third. The district that was central in the consolidation contained a school with two departments. These teachers were nothing but ordinary district school teachers. No attempt was made to supplement them with other teachers nor did they receive any higher salaries, and tha people of those districts whose population had been somewhat reduced, pro- tested unanimously against the decision of the Department. It was of no avail, the edict had gone forth, consolidation was the policy and it must be had and the great Department of Education must not be thwarthed by a few ignorant farmers. So these districts, my friends, today are con- solidated. Taxes have been doubled in these two districts that were driven In and they have today a consolidated school with three ordinary district teachers without a single advance in their education or in any other way. There is no objection to the law as to its consolidating force. I want to say right here that I believe that if the underlying principle of this bill is that 63O THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK of consolidation as a foundation upon which to build a proper school act, then I am in thorough sympathy with Doctor Finegan so far as that goes, but the point in question is that the progress he is speaking of and the progression attributed to his Department, illustrated in this act under dis- cussion, rests on whether it is a practical law and how it affects the majority of the people of the State of New York. In regard to the election, speaking of democracy, our advocate of this law states almost with tears in his eyes, and with an eloquence most touch- ing that he advocates the presence of the mother, that the old-fashioned democracy of Jefferson and Jackson must and shall be preserved in the schoolhouses in this State. Of course it must and it will be, but without this new law. Now, what were the facts? The facts were that under the old district system a school meeting was held and money was raised, every voter had a voice and when the meeting adjourned everyone was satisfied, because everyone was represented. What is the condition now? The condition now is, and I speak with full knowledge of the circumstances and conditions because as I have stated I am president of a local town board, we make up a budget in private session. It can be thrown open to the public, but I have yet to learn of a single board that has done this. That budget is printed in a newspaper for a certain length of time and then it becomes law abso- lutely. A further point to be raised — other boards have certain powers. Suppose they have, we are not talking about other conditions but about the school board. The school board has a power never before granted to any authority in school work, to raise $5000 without consulting the taxpayers of that town. Do you like that? I do not. I don't care how honest they may be, I want no man in my town who has authority to raise so great a sum as $5000 without my knowledge and consent. As to the question of transportation, the underlying purpose of this bill — > I don't think Doctor Finegan stated it and he will pardon me if I state it for him — the underlying purpose of this bill is the consolidating of school districts in this State. The purpose may be most admirable but the system devised to carry out the purpose may be most wretchedly inadequate. Take the town of Triangle in Broome county where I live and where my farm is, a typical rural township district. After this bill became a law and matters came into the hand of the town board it was plain to all of us that the only escape from excessive taxation from this act was to con- solidate the schools. When we considered the situation we found that only with one or two exceptions where we might join two schools together, it was practically impossible to consolidate any more of the schools in that town. The taxes in the town of Triangle went up two and one-half times what they were before with exactly the same teachers, schoolhouses, equipment, train- ing and nothing more and that was all there was about it. We paid the bill. I will say to you now to be absolutely fair, one reason why this par- ticular township of Triangle suffered so greatly — and we did not suffer so much as other towns — was because we had a high school in it. What was the result of this act in so far as the high school was concerned in the village of Whitney Point? The Whitney Point people were not pleased, for they found that we had taken their high school away from them. In THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 63I came a new board of trustees and their school was gone, and upon reflec- tion, although their taxes were somewhat lessened, they did not like it. In regard to transportation, it is true that the board of education may direct a district to furnish transportation, but I do not know of any district in this State where they have undertaken to compel them to do it. I do know of a number of consolidated districts where the children live six or seven miles away where nothing has been done about transportation and the Department of Education has likewise done nothing about it. The chief difficulty in the way of consolidating districts is this transportation ques- tion. We all know that if you can bring the children together and have a dozen teachers you can have better education facilities. The question is, Can you do it under this act? I say most emphatically, no, it can not be done under this act as it at present stands. One other thing the doctor touched upon, very lightly indeed, the question of bonded indebtedness of high schools. How did the Department of Education undertake to solve that question which has seemed so vexatious to them? It did not seem so vexatious when they were framing the bill. Under the provision of this act the supervisor and the district superintendent and myself are made a committee, and it is to be our duty to appraise all the school property in the town of Triangle. Then we are to add it together and assess it upon the assessed valuation of the town. What do you sup- pose will be the effect upon the people of the town of Triangle when that happens? Then after that does happen, what do you suppose we are ordered to do with the money? Divide it up pro rata among the taxpayers of the various districts. Many of these taxpayers died two or three years ago and there will be a great many others morally entitled to this money who will never receive it. And after you have gone through with all that pro- cedure what have you done? Taken out of one hand and put into another. The schoolhouses in the town of Triangle belong to the people of the town of Triangle. Then the old town meeting he referred to but we have never attended any such town meeting as he spoke of. What is this open, free New England town meeting. I want to tell you, gentlemen, if I had this law here I would like to read it to you. It is the most impractical and com- plicated system for a little election for a town board that the wit of man or the ingenuity of the devil himself could devise. I have not the cour- age, my friends, to regard that as a New England town meeting. Of course, we do not look through the same spectacles. One other thing he has spoken to you about at some length, the inequal- ity of taxation in the various school districts. That is all true for years and years and for generations. Nobody ever complained about it for this reason, the people paid for what they ordered and what they got. They were not paying for something somebody else got and they did not. I know Doctor Finegan has the welfare of the schools at heart and he and I can meet in any argument and remain friends. I know the doctor has the utmost concern for the advancement of education in our State, but I could not help but feel — and I do not hold the doctor responsible — I could not help but think how far away the teaching today in our rural schools is from teaching our rural children to make them satisfied, con- 632 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK tented and useful citizens of the country to which they belong. There is no agriculture, gentlemen, in our country schools today worthy of the name. I sat down to devise some means of getting agriculture in our schools today but the curriculum is so crowded that there is no room to get anything else in without ruining the curriculum and driving the children insane. . . . President Tucker : We will now have the discussion on Doctor Finegan's paper. Mr Smith : I don't agree with our last speaker regarding the schools but it is certainly heartening to find any discussion within these walls. I want to say this, that for five years, and until recently, I was a clerk of a little white schoolhouse in Columbia county, six miles from Ghent. We had one teacher with thirty pupils and about twenty classes. What do you think one teacher, however good she may be, can do with twenty classes? I was five years clerk, and sent my children into the village school. I assure you that from my experience with the country school I believe that a child who leaves the country school and goes to the village school will save at least one or two years in his education. I want to give that testimony in favor of the township law. There are some defects that should be corrected, but on the whole, I am in favor of it. Mr Boyce, of Delhi : For several years I have been working through the department of rural education at the State College and the State School of Agriculture at Alfred in attempting to bring about better conditions in our rural schools. When the township system came into existence I could see whereby there might be some way in which we could bring closer together the school and the home ; and I felt that a large improvement bad been made in our school system. Doctor Finegan, I think we will all agree, has given this more serious attention than any other man in the State, and he frankly admitted that there were faults in the law, but I would very much dislike to see this law repealed until we have given it a fair show. No law in a year has ever had a fair opportunity. Let us remedy its greatest defects that there may come out of it the best of the serious judgment and experience of men. I plead that we don't go back but that rather we recommend that certain changes shall be made that will make what seems to me a law that has great efficiency in it. Mr Herrick: I live on the outskirts of the city of Albany on a farm of 130 acres. I have two children whom I send to our little rural school. I am interested as a taxpayer in the amount of money paid for the main- tenance of our school. I am also interested as a father in the ability of my children to get a good education in our neighborhood. I have served on the board as one of the trustees under the former system. From that experience I know something about the manner in which it operates. It requires a good deal of time to look after schools in any of our country districts. You know from your own experience that comparatively few people wish to take the office. It is not sought after. The experience in our district some time ago was that when the school meeting was held no one present would take office of trustee and so more as a joke on some absent member than anything else, they elected some member who was not there. When he wanted to get out of the job, he discovered that he would be fined unless he held the THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 635 position. There is a reason for this unwillingness to serve. If he attempted to manage the school the way it should be managed, the trustee met with criticism. If he spent the amount of money that should be spent, if he employed the kind of a teacher and paid her the salary she was entitled to, he was criticised. The reason for this was that the vast majority of the taxpayers did not have children in that school; the parents of the school children were completely outnumbered and so the incentive of the majority was to cut down expenses. Now, what change has been effected by this new law? You know that there is no incentive to take the positions on the new board of education. I was asked whether I would go on. I said I would not, I could not give the time to it, it was a thankless job. As we under- stood the law it was necessary for the members of the board to be old trustees, and consequently I had to go on the new board and eventually was made chairman of that board. While I think conditions in our town were very much better than in many towns of the State, the school buildings are badly run down. We put a roof on one building in a district where two years ago the appropriated $200 for that very purpose and the roof was never put on. We have installed sanitary toilets and we have put a modern heating apparatus in one school. The whole truth of the matter is that if this new system is to be a success, if our schools are to be raised to the standard they should be, we have to spend more money than in the past. Mr Works : I am not here as a representative of any district whatever but I am here as a representative of a department interested in the better- ment of rural schools as far as it is possible for us to cooperate with the people in this work. I want to say a word or two about the township system. I do not believe that the present law is entirely satisfactory and what one should consider is to retain the best in it and gradually improve it as this is found necessary from experience. I would like to call your attention to this fact : Here is the state of Massachusetts which is generally recognized as one of the most progressive states of the Union in all educa- tional matters and which has for thirty-five years had the township system, and you hear no talk whatever about going back to the district system. Not only that, but there are only two or three states east of the Mississippi which have the district system. That alone is proof to me that there must be merit in this system. I don't say that conditions in the Middle West are adapted to conditions here, but conditions in the New England States are not radically different from those in this State. Furthermore, you put in operation a piece of legislation affecting the whole educational system of the State and it would be impossible to have that work without some injustice. The real question is, how does the amount of injustice in this system compare with the amount of injustice under the old system? I am satisfied that anybody who will make a candid and fair study of the conditions that existed under the district system and the conditions that obtain now, can not help but feel better satisfied with conditions in effect today than under the old system. There is one thing I would like to emphasize. It was implied several times that this township system has resulted in no improvement over the other system. In the first place, you have no right to place judgment after nine months' operation. So, 634 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK I would say, if this were to come to a vote before this association on the question of fairness alone the law is entitled to another year's trial. What are some of the things that enter into a .good school anyway? That is the way to get at this question. First and foremost, the one big thing is a good teacher. There is absolutely no other thing so important in reckoning a good school in your district or any other district as a good teacher, and time and time again under the old district system I have seen a trustee let a good teacher go for a difference of $1 or $1.50 a week and take the chance of getting a good teacher again. Dollars and cents will not measure the difference between a good teacher and a poor teacher. Will the township system brings about better teachers? I believe it will. I have attended a good many meetings of town boards, and I have found that time and time again when the question came up of increasing the salary of a teacher $2 or $5 a week to hold her, the board was ready to do it. You could not have got it from the old trustee. I am satisfied myself that this township system is going to bring better teachers because the town board of education will make an effort to hold them in the town better than the trustees did. Another fact you must recognize is this, that you can not bring about a complete adjustment in so far as teaching is concerned in a short space of time. The next step is to prepare people definitely for that kind of work. We have to have a system to make it worth while to enter. Another factor in making an efficient school from the work of the teacher relates to the materials she has to work with. Just recently we have been getting some information from teachers in Livingston county ; and one of the principal reasons why the teachers prefer to work in the village school rather than in the district school is expressed thus : " In the village school we can have materials to work with ; in the district schools we find this practically impossible." In a district school $5 or $10 will go a long way toward providing materials. One other thing has been mentioned here and that is the inadequacy of the curriculum in the district schools. I am willing to grant that is true. It is not the kind of curriculum which should be there, but you have had a district system working on it one hundred years and have not accomplished your purpose. The township system I believe will make possible the development of a curriculum in the schools necessary for the boys and girls. There are a number of other things I could point out to you. I want simply to say this : I hope this is not going to be voted down or given adverse consideration without very carefully weighing all the factors entering into it. The President: Do any other gentlemen desire to speak on this subject? If not, will Doctor Finegan close the discussion? Dr Finegan : I have only one word to say. I want to correct one or two statements made by Doctor Porter. I know that he did not intentionally make a misstatement. He implied that the town board had the authority to raise $5000 for the purpose of improving school property. The law THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 635 provides that the board can not raise more than one-half of one per cent of the assessed valuation of the town and in no case more than $5000. I want to say one word in relation to the question of transportation. The fact is that children are transported to school in between four and five hundred districts today, and there is not a contract approved by the Depart- ment unless that contract shows the distance and shows that there has been provided adequate means for transporting children to and from school, and furthermore whenever the question is raised by any parent or resident of the district, and we have reason to believe that inadequate transportation is provided, the matter is taken up and skilled authorities are sent to adjust it. Under the contract system there were last year in this State five hundred school districts in which the property of those districts was not contributing one cent for the education of the children and the support of the schools. In these districts the people contracted 'for the education of the children, and in five hundred of these centers they received sufficient money from the State so that fund was sufficient to make the 'payment necessary for the education of the children in the district which they attended. The entire property of these five hundred districts, ' therefore, did not contribute one cent and the children were educated entirely upon the state funds. No one believes in compelling children to travel five, six 'or ten miles. That is absolutely under the control of the local board. If there is a dis- trict anywhere in the State in which the children are compelled to travel four, five or six miles to attend school and transportation is not provided, if there is a person here who can inform us of such a fact, I will see that the thing is settled inside of 48 hours from the time we get such notice. Committee's Resolution At the Wednesday morning session, January 16, 1018, the committee on reso- lutions unanimously recommended the adoption of the following resolution: Resolved, That the State Agricultural Society, while recognizing that some changes are required in the school law in order to render it more equitable, fully indorse the township plan in principle and recommends that the law be amended as may be suitable and not repealed. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON COMMON SCHOOLS AT THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE STATE GRANGE, IN FEBRUARY 191 7 Your committee on common schools wish to report they have made a careful study of the report of the standing committee on education and common schools of the State Grange, comprised of : H. Fay Nethaway, Canandaigua, N. Y., James Pringle, Ashville, N. Y. ; and Fredus H Wilcox, North Bangor, N Y., and have made full use of the excellent work done by that committee during the past year. They have conducted lengthy hearings, at which all interested were per- mitted to be heard, and thirty persons appeared and spoke, either as indi- viduals or as representatives of their granges. They have examined with care all the resolutions submitted to this grange on the subject of rural schools by pomona and subordinate granges of the 636 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK State, and have given due consideration to the same, and offer this report as a substitute for such resolution. As a result this committee is unanimous in its belief that the welfare of the rural schools of this State demands a change in the methods of adminis- tration, to the end that the burden of the same may be more equitably dis- tributed and the authority for the administration of the schools may be lodged in the hands of the people who support them and patronize them. They found, it is true, a considerable diversity of opinion on many matters, and that it would be impossible for any individual or set of individuals to secure all those things which they would desire to see incor- porated in new school legislation. In fact, every member of this com- mittee has found it necessary to surrender some of his personal views in order that a working compromise might be reached. But this has been cheerfully done because we realize that some legislation is • desirable and necessary; that the State Grange should have a voice in such legislation, and that to further delay action would not only be neglecting an obvious duty, but would undoubtedly lessen the future influence of the Grange in this and other matters. The people of the farming sections of this State have no more important interest than the education of their boys and girls, and no organization is in position to better understand the educational needs of these communities than the grange. Hence it should take a positive stand for constructive school legislation. Therefore we recommend that legislation be passed making the town the unit of school organization and taxation. In the formation of such legisla- tion we regard the following principles (recommended by the special com- mittee and accepted by regular grange committee) as fundamental : First : We believe that the power of consolidating schools should rest entirely in the hands of the people. Therefore we recommend that such power shall be taken entirely from the district superintendent and the State Department of Education, and that no consolidation order shall hereafter be effective until confirmed by the board of education of the town or towns in which the district or districts are located. Second : We recommend that in towns having four or more districts, or school units, not more than two members of the board of education shall be chosen from any one district, and in those towns having only three districts a majority of the board shall not be chosen from any one district. Third : We recommend that any bill passed shall contain a provision whereby local school authorities may establish in the rural communities schools adapted to the needs of such communities, with adequate provision for instruction in agriculture and homemaking; these schools to receive such State aid as will make possible their development without a tuition charge or an excessive taoc rate on the town. Fourth: Whereas, the use of many different kinds of text books is now & matter of inconvenience and unnecessary expense, we recommend that any bill passed shall contain a provision for uniform text books throughout each town, to be adopted by the board of education. Fifth: We recommend that the board of education shall not expend in any one year for the construction of new buildings or the remodeling,. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 6$f improvement or enlargement of existing school buildings, an amount in excess of one-half of one per cent of the assessed valuation of the town, and in no case in excess of $5000, without a vote of the qualified school electors of the town. Sixth: Whereas, experience has shown the present method of electing district superintendents of schools to be unsatisfactory, we recommend that such officials be elected at a joint meeting of the members of the town boards of education in each supervisory district. Seventh : We recommend that the town board of education shall consist of the trustees elected by the several districts in the same manner as at present, the hoard to choose its own chairman and appoint its own working committees, and that in submitting to the school electors the names of persons to be voted for as members of the board of education the connection of any political party designation with such names shall be absolutely prohibited. Eighth: Whereas, it is impossible for your committee to include in its report all the numerous details entering into a measure of such importance as a law on the subject now under consideration, we recommend that S. J. Lowell, State Master, and W. N. Giles, State Secretary, or their successors as legislative committee, be a committee to represent the State Grange of New York in the framing of a law for the government of the rural schools of the State ; and we ask them to secure the incorporation in such measure of the principles above set forth, and in other matters to secure what they believe, in their judgment, to be for the best interests of the rural schools of the State. H. A. Crofoot J. Eugene Dillenback Howard S. Murphy Fred Dascomb Wm. A. Mather Mrs H. L. Donovan Mrs R. R. McLouth Lynn Tilley Millard L. Hundley Mrs C. A. McFadden Mrs Milo F. Randall Report adopted. Action of Committee of Academic Principals Association To the Principals of the State of New York: Your committee, appointed to cooperate with the Education Department in the consideration of a township bill, does resolve as follows : First, that the plan in our judgment is along the line of the proper development of the school systems of the State of New York. Second, that it is our opinion that the schools in general will be greatly benefited by the passage of the township bill. Third, that in our judgment a plan of this sort is imperative for the welfare of the children and people of the State of New York and the development of its resources, especially those of agriculture. 638 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Therefore, let it be Resolved, That the committee does approve of the enactment of this bill. Signed by the committee William F. H. Breeze Geo. F. Barford W. J. Multer F. G. Lyon F. W. Van Zile The following is the bill introduced by the committee on public education March 18, 1918, to amend the Education Law providing for the maintenance of schools in towns and also relative to the apportionment of additional school moneys. An act to amend the Education Law by providing for the administration and maintenance of schools in towns other than certain union free school districts, and relative to the apportionment of school moneys. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly,- do enact as follow: Section 1 Chapter 21 of the Laws of 1909, entitled "An act relating to education, constituting chapter 16 of the Consolidated Laws," as amended by chapter 140 of the Laws of 1910, is hereby amended by inserting therein a new article, to be known as article 11-a, and to read as follows: Article 11-A TOWN SCHOOL DISTRICTS Section 330 School districts continued 331 Establishment of town school districts; division and alteration; special school districts 2,2s 2 School districts having outstanding bonded indebtedness 333 Board of education of town school district 334 Qualifications of members of board of education 335 Appointment of officers by board 226 Bond of treasurer 337 Vacancies in school offices 338 Board to constitute a body corporate 339 Meetings of board 340 Duties of clerk 341 Duties of treasurer 342 Powers of board of education 343' Schools to be free 344 Transfer of pupils 345 Schoolhouse sites 346 Erection, repair and improvement of school buildings 347 Annual school budget 348 Levy and collection of school taxes 349 Borrowing money in anticipation of collection of taxes 350 Submission of certain questions to a vote of the town THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 639 Section 351 Issue and sale of school bonds 352 State funds to be used for schools of rural school districts 353 Certain union free school districts not subject to provisions of article 354 School district officers abolished ; apportionment of funds and indebtedness 355 Outstanding bonds ; existing school property 356 Time and place of annual meeting 357 Notice of annual school meeting 358 Special school meetings in towns 359 Qualifications of voters at school meetings 360 Conduct of school meetings 361 Successful candidates to be notified of election 362 Appeals to the commissioner of education 363 Custodian of school property in school district § 330 School districts continued. 1 Each school district in the State is hereby continued as such district exists at the time this act goes into effect or until its boundaries are modified as provided in this chapter. 2 No order consolidating two or more school districts shall be effective until such order is approved by a majority vote of the town board of education of the town or towns in which such districts are located, and by a majority vote of the qualified electors of each district present and voting at a meeting of the districts consolidated by said order. § 331 Establishment of town school districts; division and alteration; special school districts. 1 The several school districts in a town, except union free school districts in which academic departments were maintained on or before the second day of May, 1917, shall constitute and are hereby established as a town school district. Such district as so established shall be designated by the district superintendent, by order executed by him and filed in the office of the town clerk, as town school district number of the town of 2 A town school district may be divided into two or more town school districts, but in no such case shall a town school district contain less than five school districts, and such districts shall be compact and contiguous. At the annual meeting to be held on the first Tuesday of June, 1918, or at any annual meeting thereafter, of a town school district, or at a special meeting called for the purpose, a resolution may be adopted by a majority vote of the qualified electors present at such meeting, dividing such town school district into two or more town school districts. Such resolution shall specify and designate the school districts to be included in each of such town school districts. If such a resolution be adopted, a certified copy of it shall be transmitted by the clerk of the meeting to the district super- intendent of schools, who shall thereupon make an order describing such town school districts and designating them by number. Such order shall be executed in duplicate, one of which shall be filed in the office of the town clerk of the town and one transmitted to the Commissioner of Education. 64O THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Upon the execution of such order, such ijwn school districts shall be •established as described therein. The members of the board of education ■of the town school district so divided, in office on the first day of August following the date of the execution of such order, residing in the town school districts into which such town school district is divided, shall be members of the boards of education of the town school districts in which they reside and shall continue as such until the expiration of their respective terms. The board of education of each new town school district, estab- lished by such order, shall consist of three members, if the number of school districts in such town school district is seven or less, and of five members if the number of such district is more than seven. Vacancies in the board of education of each town school district established by such ■order, shall be filled at the annual meeting on the first Tuesday in May following the date of such order. The members of the board of education of each town school district, so established, shall be divided into classes, so that those continuing in office as above provided and those elected at such annual meeting, shall, where the board consists of three members, hold office for terms of one, two and three years, respectively, and, where such board consists of five members, two shall hold office for one year; two for two years and one for three years, and their successors shall be elected for terms of three years beginning on the first day of August succeeding their election. 3 When the public interest and convenience require it, because of the isolation of the territory of one or more districts or because of any other unusual local situation, an independent school district may be established by a district superintendent. Such district may be established on the peti- tion of one or more of the boards of education having jurisdiction over the territory to be included in such independent district, or upon the petition of a majority of the qualified electors within such territory. Such petition shall show the territory to be embraced in such independent school district. The district superintendent, upon making the order establishing such inde- pendent school district, shall file the original with the Commissioner of Edu- cation and a copy of such order with the clerk of the board of education of each town school district in which the territory of such independent school district is located. Such order, however, shall not become effective until approved by the Commissioner of Education. Such independent school district shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter relative to common school districts. 4 When necessary for public convenience and the educational interests of a community, a town school district may be established comprising school districts in two or more towns in one or more counties by order of the district superintendent or district superintendents in whose supervisory districts such towns are situated. When a town school district is so estab- lished it shall be subject to the provisions of this article. The district superintendents of the supervisory districts in which such districts are located shall execute an order designating such town school district by number and shall file such order in the office of the town clerk of the town or towns in which such districts are situated. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 64I 5 School districts in a town school district established as herein provided may be annexed to a union free school district maintaining an academic department, by vote of the qualified electors of such districts present and voting at a meeting called for the purpose as provided by law. Such meet- ing shall be called by the board of education of the town school district in which such districts are located and the board of education of such union free school district, upon petition submitted to them signed by not less than fifteen per centum of the qualified electors of each of such districts. Such meeting shall be held at the principal schoolhouse in such union free school district. If a majority of the qualified electors present at such meeting from each of the districts shall vote in favor of such annexation, such union free school district and the districts annexed thereto shall become a town school district and shall be subject to the provisions of this article. 6 A union free school district in which an academic department was maintained on or before May 2, 191 7, may become a part of a town school district as provided herein. The board of education of any such union free school district shall, upon petition signed by not less than fifteen per centum of the qualified electors of such district, submit to an annual or special school meeting in the manner provided by law a resolution determin- ing that such district shall become a part of a town school district in the town in which such union free school district is located and become subject to the provisions of this article. If such resolution be adopted at such meet- ing, the board of education of the town school district in which it is pro- posed to incorporate such union free school district shall call a special meeting of the qualified electors of such town school district, and there shall be submitted to such meeting a resolution determining that such union free school district shall become a part of such town school district and be subject to the provisions of this article. Only qualified electors of such town school district residing outside of such union free school district shall vote upon such resolution. If such resolution be adopted such union free school district shall become a part of the town school district and be subject to the provisions of this article. The district superintendent shall thereupon issue an order indicating that such union free school district has been included within the town school district. At the annual meeting to be held on the first Tuesday in May following the date of such order, a board of education shall be elected, to consist of three members if the number of school districts in such town school district is five or less, and of five members if the number of such districts is more than five. The members of the board of education elected at such annual meeting shall be divided into classes as herein provided for the election of the first board of education of a town school district, and shall hold office for terms of one, two and three years, beginning on the first day of August succeeding their election. Their successors shall be elected for terms of three years. The terms of office of the members of the board of education and other officers of such town school district and union free school district shall terminate on the said first day of August, and on and after such date such town school district as established by including such union free school district shall be subject to the provisions of this article. 21 642 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 7. All orders executed by district superintendents under the provisions of this section shall be in the form prescribed by the Commissioner of Educa- tion. Each such order shall be executed in sufficient number so that one may be filed in the office of the town clerk of the town or towns in which the districts affected are situated and one shall be transmitted to the Com- missioner of Education. Any qualified elector conceiving himself to be aggrieved by any order executed by a district superintendent under this section may bring an appeal from such order to the Commissioner of Education within one year from the date thereof. Such appeal shall be brought in the manner provided by law for appeals to the Commissioner of Education. § 332 School districts having outstanding bonded indebtedness. 1 A school district having, at the time this act goes into effect, an outstanding bonded indebtedness in excess of five hundred dollars shall not be included within a town school district and shall not be subject to the provisions of this article, except as provided herein. Such school district shall continue as an independent school district and be subject to the provisions of the Education Law in relation to school districts not included within town school districts. If one of such school districts determines, as hereinafter provided, to become a part of a town school district, such school district shall on complying with the provisions prescribed herein become a part of a town school district and shall be subject to the provisions of law relating to town school districts. 2 In each school district having a bonded indebtedness in excess of five hundred dollars, the State shall assume and pay the sum of five hundred dollars toward the liquidation of such outstanding bonded indebtedness from funds appropriated for this purpose, upon the condition that the qualified electors of such district shall, on or before August 1, 1919, at an annual or special meeting duly called for such purpose, vote to become a part of the town school district and to continue to assume the liability of the balance of such outstanding bonded indebtedness, after applying thereto the five hundred dollars assumed by the State. When one of such school districts votes to become a part of a town school district and to pay such balance of the outstanding bonded indebtedness, the board of education of the town school district shall include annually in its hufWt an amount sufficient to meet the payment of such outstanding bonded indebtedness and the interest thereon as it becomes due, and shall levy and assess the same against the property of such school district. A school district may, at the time it votes to become a part of the town school district, also authorize the trustees of such school district to liquidate such outstanding bonds before their maturity, upon the condition that satisfactory arrangements therefor may be made with the holders of the outstanding bonds. 3 In each school district having a bonded indebtedness of five hundred dollars or less, such indebtedness shall be assumed by the State and shall be paid out of funds appropriated for this purpose. Thereupon such school district shall become a part of the town school district. 4 The school authorities of each district having an outstanding bonded indebtedness shall furnish the commissioner of education with such evidence THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 643 as he shall require in relation to the amount of such outstanding bonded indebtedness. § 333 Board of education of town school district. 1 A board of educa- tion is hereby established in each town school district. Such board shall consist of three members in a town school district comprising five or less school districts, and of five members in each town school district com- prising more than five. If a town school district has more than nine school districts, the number of members of the board of education may be increased to seven, by adopting a resolution at an annual meeting, after notice given as required in section 308 of the Education Law. 2 The members of a town board of education in a town having one school unit, elected and in office under chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917^ residing in the school districts comprising a town school district as herein established, shall continue in office as members of the board of education of such town school district for the terms for which they are elected. The members required to be elected in order to complete the membership of such board shall be elected at an annual school meeting to be held in such town school district on the first Tuesday in June 1918. The members of the board of education shall be divided into classes, so that those con- tinuing in office as above provided and those elected at such annual meet- ing, shall, where the board consists of three members, hold office for terms- of one, two and three years respectively, and, where such board consists of five members, two shall hold office for one year, two for two years and one for three years, from the first day of August, 1918, and their success- ors shall be elected for terms of three years, beginning on the first day of August succeeding their election. 3 In a town which under the provisions of said chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917 was divided into two or more town school units, the members of the boards of education of each of the town school districts comprising the districts in such former town school units shall be elected at an annual' meeting to be held in such town school district on the first Tuesday in June, 1918. If there are three members to be elected, one of such members shall be elected to serve until August 1, 1919; one until August 1, 1920, and! one until August 1, 1-921. If there are five members to be elected, two of such members shall be elected to serve until August 1, 1919; two until August 1, 1920, and one until August 1, 1921. Their terms of office shall begin August 1, 1918. Their successors shall be elected at the annual meeting- for terms of three years beginning on the first day of August following their election. § 334 Qualifications of members of board of education. A member of a board of education of a town school district must be a qualified elector at the school meetings of the district for which he is chosen. A district superintendent of schools, or a supervisor shall not be eligible to the office of member of a board of education. Not more, than one mem- ber of a family shall be a member of the same board of education. A per- son who is removed from his office as a member of a board of education shall be ineligible to appointment or election to any school office in the district for a period of five years from the date of such removal. 644 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK § 335 Appointment of officers by board. The board of education of each town school district shall elect one of its members chairman who shall serve until the next annual meeting of the board, and shall also appoint a clerk of the board who may be a member of the board or a teacher employed in the public schools of the district. The board of education of such district shall appoint a treasurer. Such treasurer shall also be the collector of school taxes of such district, except in a county where it is provided by special act that school taxes shall be collected by the same officer as town taxes. Such clerk and treasurer shall serve during the pleasure of the board. Any person who is qualified to vote at a school meeting in the district may be appointed as clerk or treasurer. The board shall determine the duties and fix the compensation of such clerk The treasurer shall receive as compensation for his services the fees allowed by this chapter to a school collector for the collection of school taxes. § 336 Bond of treasurer. The treasurer, within ten days after the receipt of notice in writing of his appointment, duly served upon him, and before entering upon the duties of his office, shall execute and deliver to the board of education a bond, in a sum to be prescribed by the board and with sureties to be approved by it, conditioned for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office and for the due and faithful collection of school taxes, under a warrant for the collection thereof, executed as provided in this article. § 337 Vacancies in school offices. 1 A school office becomes vacant by death, resignation, refusal to serve, incapacity, removal from the district or from office. 2 A member of a board of education who publicly declares that he will not accept or serve in the office of member of the board of education, or refuses or neglects to attend three successive meetings of the board of which he is duly notified, without rendering a good and valid reason there- for to the board of education, vacates his office by refusal to serve. 3 A member of a board of education vacates his office by the acceptance of either the office of district superintendent of schools or of supervisor. 4 A treasurer vacates his office by failure to execute a bond to the beard of education as herein required. 5 A vacancy in the office of member of a board of education may be filled by the board. A person appointed to fill such vacancy shall hold office until the next annual school meeting of the rural school district, when such vacancy shall be filled by election for the balance of the unexpired term. 6 When a vacancy has existed in the office of a member of a board of education for thirty days, the district superintendent of schools shall appoint a person qualified to vote at school meetings in the district to fill such vacancy and the person so appointed shall hold office until the next annual school meeting of the district, when the vacancy shall be filled for the balance of the unexpired term. § 338 Board to constitute a body corporate. The board of education of each town school district shall be a corporation. All property which is now THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 645 vested in, or shall be hereafter transferred to, the board of education of a town school district for the use of schools therein shall be held by such board as a corporation. § 339 Meetings of board. The first annual meeting of a board of educa- tion of a town school district, established as herein provided, shall be held on the first Tuesday in July, 1018. The annual meeting of a board of education of such district in each year thereafter shall be held on the first Tuesday in August of each year. A regular meeting of the board shall be held at least once in each quarter. The board may adopt by-laws pre- scribing the time and place where regular meetings shall be held, and regulate the conduct of such meetings. Such board shall also prescribe a method of calling special meetings. The meetings of the board shall be open to the public but the board may hold executive sessions at which business may be transacted which should not, in its judgment, be transacted in an open session,, at which sessions only members of the board or per- sons invited shall be present. § 340 Duties of clerk. The clerk of the board of education shall have the powers and perform the duties of the clerk of a school district as provided in this chapter. In addition to such powers and duties, such clerk shall 1 Act as clerk at all meetings of the board and record the proceedings of such meetings, and the orders and resolutions adopted thereat, in proper books. 2 Draw and sign warrants upon the treasurer for all moneys to be dis- bursed by the district for school purposes and present them to the chair- man to be countersigned by that officer. Each warrant shall specify the object for which it is drawn, the fund from which it is payable and the name of the individual or corporation to whom the amount thereof is payable. 3 When directed by the board of education, prepare all reports required by law and forward the same to the proper officers. 4 Perform such other duties as are or shall be required by lav/ or by the board of education. § 341 Duties of treasurer. The treasurer shall have the powers and per- form the duties of a district treasurer as provided in this chapter, and in addition thereto shall 1 Be the school tax collector of the town school district, and have the powers and perform the duties of a school tax collector as provided by this chapter. 2 Be the custodian of all school moneys of the town school district and be responsible for the safekeeping and accurate account thereof. 3 Pay all orders or warrants lawfully drawn upon him out of the moneys in his hands belonging to the funds upon which such orders or warrants are drawn. 4 Keep accurate accounts of all moneys received and disbursed by him, the sources from which they are received and the persons to whom, and the objects for which, they are disbursed. 646 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 5 Prepare and submit as required by law annual reports of receipts and disbursements, and render at such times as may be required by law or directed by the board of education, a report or statement relative to the school funds of the district. § 342 Powers of board of education. The board of education of each town school district shall, in respect to the public schools and school officers of the district, 1 Exercise the powers and perform the duties conferred or imposed by law upon boards of education or trustees of school districts, so far as they may be applicable to the schools or other educational affairs of the district and not inconsistent with the provisions of this article. Any power, duty, liability or obligation which is conferred or imposed by this chapter, or any other statute, upon the board of education of a union free school district or the trustees of a school district, shall be exercised or performed by the board of education, and such board shall be subject to such liability or obligation, in respect to the schools in the town school district, in the same manner and to the same extent as in the case of boards of education in union free school districts or trustees of school districts. 2 Determine the number of teachers to be employed in the several schools of the town school district and to contract with principals and teachers for the maintenance and operation of such schools pursuant to the provisions of this chapter; employ or appoint medical inspectors, nurses, attendance officers, janitors and other employees required for the proper and efficient management of the schools and other educational affairs under their direction and control. 3 Provide transportation when necessary for children attending school, under regulations to be prescribed by it. 4 Have the care, custody, control and safekeeping of all school property or other property of the district used for educational, social or recreational work and not specifically placed by law under the control of some other body or officer, and prescribe rules and regulations for the preservation of such property. 5 Purchase and furnish such apparatus, maps, globes, books, reproduc- tions of standard works of art, furniture and other equipment and supplies as may be necessary for the proper and efficient management of the schools. 6 Establish and maintain elementary schools, high schools, vocational, industrial, agricultural and homemaking schools or classes, night schools, or such other schools and classes as shall be deemed necessary to meet the needs and demands of the town school district. 7 Provide for the academic instruction of all pupils residing in such town school district, who have completed the elementary courses of instruc- tion in the schools in such district, in the academic department or high school of another town school district, union free school district or city, if the town school district in which such pupils reside does not maintain a high school or academic department. 8 Establish and maintain school libraries which may be open to the public as provided by law. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 647 9 Prescribe courses of study which shall be followed in the schools or classes established and maintained in the district. 10 Contract with boards of education of other town school districts, and of union free school districts and cities for the instruction of pupils of the district, and when any such contract is made the public money or State tuition apportioned for such instruction shall be paid to such town. § 343 Schools to be free. Each school maintained in a town school dis- trict under the supervision and control of a board of education in such district, and each department of such school and each course of study main- tained therein, shall be free to the children of school age residing in such district. § 344 Transfer of pupils. Where pupils of school age residing in a town school district may be more conveniently instructed in the school or schools of an adjacent town school district, or of a union free school dis- trict or city, the board of education of such town school district may provide for the transfer of such pupils to the school or schools in such adjacent town or an adjacent union free school district or city. The board of education making such transfer shall send notice thereof to the board of education of the town school district, union free school district or city to which it is proposed to transfer such pupils, and provisions shall there- upon be made by the board of education of the town school district, union free school district or city wherein such pupils are to be instructed, for the accommodation of such pupils, upon the approval of the Commissioner of Education. The Commissioner of Education shall not approve the transfer of such pupils, when such action shall require the town school district, union free school district or city receiving such pupils to provide additional teachers or other school accommodations, without the consent of the board of education of such district or city. Whenever pupils have been trans- ferred as herein provided, the board of education of the town school dis- trict, union free school district or city to which the transfer is made shall submit, through its chairman and clerk, to the board of education of the town school district where the pupils reside, a verified statement of the cost of the instruction of such pupils. The cost of the instruction of such pupils and, in case of academic pupils the cost in excess of the State tuition allowed for their instruction, shall be a charge against the town school district wherein such pupils reside, and the board of education thereof shall direct the payment of the cost of such instruction out of the school funds of such district, in the same manner as other charges upon such funds are paid. The amount charged for such instruction may be determined by an agree- ment between the board of education of the town school district wherein the pupils reside and the board of education of the town school district, union free school district or city in which such pupils are to be instructed, or if such boards are unable to make such agreement the matter may be referred to the Commissioner of Education for determination; and in mak- ing such determination the per capita cost of the instruction of the pupils of the town school district, village or city to which such pupils have been transferred may be used as a basis. 648 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK § 345 Schoolhouse sites. The board of education of a town school district, whenever in its judgment it is necessary for the interest of the schools of the district, may designate a new site for the schoolhouse, or enlarge the site of an existing schoolhouse. Whenever a new site is desig- nated, or an existing site is enlarged, the board shall pass a resolution stat- ing the necessity therefor, describing by metes and bounds the land to be acquired for either of such purposes, and estimating the amount of funds necessary therefor. Such resolution must be adopted by the votes of at least a majority of the members of the board of education. When such resolution is adopted the land described therein may be acquired by the board of education in the manner provided by law for the acquisition of real property for school purposes. § 346 Erection, repair and improvement of school buildings. The board of education of a town school district shall provide for the repair of school buildings therein, or other buildings under its control and management, and shall expend therefor an amount not exceeding the amount included in the annual school tax budget. The board may also remodel, enlarge or improve such school buildings or other buildings under its control and management, and may construct new buildings, whenever required, for the proper accommo- dation of the school children of the district. The board of education shall not expend in any one year for the remodeling, improvement or enlargement of existing school buildings or for the construction of new buidings an aggregate amount in excess of one-half of one per centum of the assessed valuation of the town school district and in no case an amount in the aggregate in excess of five thousand dollars without a vote of a school meeting of the district except as hereinafter provided. § 347 Annual school budget. 1 On or before the first day of July in each year the board of education shall prepare in duplicate an itemized tax budget containing the amounts required to be raised by tax for school pur- poses in the town school district for the ensuing school 3 r ear. Such tax budget shall contain a statement of the probable amount to be received by the district in the next apportionment of school funds from the State and the estimated amount to be received from all other sources, and shall specify the several amounts to be raised for the. following purposes : a The salaries and compensation of principals, teachers, medical inspec- tors, nurses, attendance officers, janitors and other employees appointed or employed by said board of education. b The cost of instruction of pupils residing in the district who are to be instructed in the schools of another town or in a union free school district or city. c All necessary incidental and contingent expenses of the schools of the district, including transportation, the purchase of fuel and light, supplies, textbooks, school apparatus, furniture and other articles and services neces- sary for the proper maintenance, operation and support of the schools of the district. d The ordinary repairs of school buildings and other buildings under its control and management. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 649 e The remodeling, improvement, or enlargement of existing buildings,, and the construction of new buildings and the furnishing and equipment thereof. / The amount required to be raised for the payment of the interest and principal of bonds and other indebtedness lawfully incurred or to be incurred for school purposes and which are a charge against the district. g The amount which may be required for the payment of any other claim against the district arising from the support and maintenance of the schools therein. h The amount voted at the annual or a special school meeting in the district on a proposition or question lawfully submitted at such meeting. 2 A written or printed copy of such budget shall be posted in at least five of the most public places in the district at least twenty days before the first day of August. The board may cause such budget to be published at length once in each week for the four weeks next preceding the first day of August, in two newspapers if there shall be two, or in one newspaper if there shall be but one, published or circulated in such town school district. 3 Such tax budget shall be signed in duplicate by a majority of the members of the board of education. On or before the first day of September such duplicate tax budgets shall be filed as follows: one in the office of the clerk of the board of education and one in the office of the clerk of the town. If a town school district is established comprising school districts in two or more towns a sufficient number of such tax budgets shall be executed so that one may be filed in the office of the town clerk of each town. 4 The board of education of a town school district may, in the manner herein provided, prepare a supplemental budget to raise money for any lawful purpose a When authorized by a vote of an annual or special school meeting in the district. b When the amounts stated in the annual tax budget for the purposes specified are insufficient therefor and such amounts may be raised by tax without a vote of a school meeting in the district. Such supplemental budget shall not authorize the levy of a tax for the purposes therein specified, or be effectual for any purpose unless there- shall be endorsed thereon the cer- tificate of the district superintendent of the supervisory district in which such district is situated, to the effect that the purposes for which the amount therein specified is to be raised are lawful. Such supplemental tax budget shall be prepared and signed in the same manner, and filed with the same officers as the annual tax budget, within ten days after the execution thereof. 5 The Commissioner of Education may prescribe the form of such budget He may adopt regulations not inconsistent with law, providing for the exam- ination, review, correction and modification of such budgets and the instruction and assistance of school authorities in the performance of duties in respect thereto. 6 District superintendents shall, during the month of August in each year, examine the tax budgets on file in the office of each clerk of the board of education of each town school district in his supervisory district, and shall advise with and aid boards of education in the preparation and cor- 65O THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK rection of such budgets, and perform such other duties in respect thereto as may be prescribed by the Commissioner of Education. § 348 Levy and collection of school taxes. 1 The board of education of a town school district shall, within ten days after the first day of September in each year, cause the amount specified in such tax budget and supplemental tax budgets, if any, to be levied and assessed against the taxable property in the town school district. The board of education shall immediately upon the completion of its tax list, annex thereto a warrant for the collection thereof, which shall direct the treasurer of the town school dis- trict, as the collector of school taxes thereof, to collect the taxes so levied and assessed. The treasurer, as school collector of taxes, shall have the same power and jurisdiction in respect to the collection of such taxes as a town tax collector has in respect to the collection of taxes levied upon taxable property in a town and the provisions of law relative to the collection of such taxes, except as otherwise provided in this chapter, shall apply to the collection of such school taxes. 2 The provisions of article 15 of this chapter, relating to the assessment and collection of school taxes, shall apply to the assessment of school taxes in a town school district by the board of education thereof, and to the col- lection of the taxes assessed and levied as herein provided, except so far as the provisions thereof may be in conflict with the provisions of this article. 3 If it is provided by special act that school taxes in a county shall be collected by the same officer as town taxes, the provisions of such special act shall control the collection of school taxes therein and the taxes col- lected by such officer shall be paid to the treasurer of the town school district. § 349 Borrowing money in anticipation of collection of taxes. The board of education of a town school district may borrow money in anticipation of the levy and collection of a tax, for any of the purposes specified in a budget or supplemental budget filed with the clerk of the board of educa- tion. Certificates of indebtedness may be issued by such board of education which shall be signed by the president of the board and countersigned by the treasurer thereof. Such certificate shall not be issued for more than one year from the date thereof, and shall bear interest at a rate not exceed- ing six per centum per annum. The money borrowed shall be placed in the custody of the treasurer and shall be paid out by him on the order of the board of education in the same manner as money collected by taxes levied against the taxable property of the district. § 350 Submission of certain questions to a vote of the district. 1 When- ever the board of education of a town school district shall deem it neces- sary to expend an amount exceeding the sum of two thousand and five hundred dollars or an amount in excess of one-half of one per centum of the assessed valuation of the property of the town school district for the acquisition of a schoolhouse site, for the repair, remodeling, improvement or enlargement of an existing school building or the construction of a new school building in a school district in such school district, it shall submit THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 65 1 a proposition therefor to a vote of the qualified school electors of the town school district at either an annual school meeting of the district or a special school meeting called for such purpose. 2 If a school building in a town school district shall have been condemned by the district superintendent as unfit for use and not worth repairing and the amount required to be raised by tax therefor shall exceed the sum of two thousand and five hundred dollars or an amount in excess of one-half of one per centum of the assessed valuation of the property of the town school district the board of education shall submit a proposition for the construction of such new building to the qualified school electors of the district as above provided. If the amount to be raised for the erection of a new building in place of a building which has been condemned is less than two thousand and five hundred dollars the amount thereof shall be included in the annual school tax budget of the district. Except as herein provided the board of education of a town school district shall be subject to the same powers and duties in relation to the erection of a new schoolhouse, when the schoolhouse in a district in such district has been condemned, which are imposed upon trustees of school districts under the provisions of the Education Law. 3 The board of education of a town school district may in its discretion submit a proposition to the qualified electors of the district at an annual or special school meeting for the voting of a tax in an amount not less than one thousand dollars for the erection of a new building, the repair, remodeling, improvement or enlargement of an existing building, the pur- chase of a new site or of an addition to an existing site. 4 When the electors at a school meeting in a town school district adopt a proposition for any of the purposes specified in this section they may direct the levy of a tax to meet the expense incurred thereby either in one levy or by instalments. 5 The provisions of section 467 of this chapter relative to the notice ol the meeting and the levy of a tax by instalments in a union free school district shall apply, except when inconsistent with this act, to the submission of the propositions herein authorized and the levy and collection of taxes for the purposes specified. § 351 Issue and sale of school bonds. Whenever a tax shall have been voted to be collected in instalments for any of the purposes specified in the preceding section the board of education of the town school district may borrow so much of the sum voted as may be necessary at a rate not exceeding six per centum per annum. The board may issue bonds or other evidences of indebtedness for such purposes which shall not be sold below par. The interest and principal of such bonds or other evidences of indebtedness shall be a charge upon the district and shall be paid when due. Such bonds or other evidences of indebtedness shall be sold by the board of education in the manner provided by section 480 of this chapter. § 352 State funds to be used for schools of town school districts. There shall be apportioned to each town school district, out of public moneys to be apportioned by the State, district quotas for each school district included within such town school district. Each town school district shall receive 652 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK all public mone3^s apportioned by the State under the provisions of this chapter, in the same manner and of the same amount as school districts are entitled to receive out of such moneys under such provisions. The funds hereafter apportioned to a town school district as herein provided shall be paid by the county treasurer to the school treasurer of such district Funds apportioned for teachers' salaries shall be paid on the order of the board of education of the town school district for the payment of the salaries of teachers employed therein, and funds apportioned for school libraries, appa- ratus, maps or works of art, shall be paid respectively in like manner for school libraries, apparatus, maps or works of art, in such town. All public school moneys apportioned under the provisions of this chapter on account of schools maintained in districts during the school year ending July 31, 1918, in school districts included within a town school district as herein established, shall be paid by the county treasurer to the treasurer of such rural school district. All school moneys so apportioned on account of schools maintained in a union free school district maintaining an academic department, which prior to the taking effect of this act was included in a town or town school unit as then constituted, shall be paid to the treasurer of such union free school district. § 353 Certain union free school districts not subject to provisions of article. This article shall not apply to a union free school district maintaining an academic department, except as herein otherwise provided. School districts which, under the provisions of this section, are exempt from the provisions of this act shall continue to be subject to and regulated by the provisions of law which now regulate and control the affairs of such districts. A union free school district maintaining an academic department which prior to the taking effect of this act was subject to the provisions of this article as inserted by chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, shall, on and after the taking effect of this act, be subject to and regulated by the provisions of this chapter relative to union free school districts. An annual school meeting shall be held in each of such districts on the first Tuesday in June, 19x8, and there shall be elected at such meeting a board of education to consist of not less than three nor more than nine trustees. Such trustees shall by order of such meeting be divided into three classes, the first to hold for terms of one year, the second for terms of two years and the third for terms of three years, from the first day of August, 1918. Their successors shall be elected for terms of three years. The provisions of this chapter relative to the election of trustees in union free school districts shall apply to the election of trustees at such annual meeting. The trustees so elected and their successors in office in each of such union free school districts con- stitute the board of education thereof. The annual meeting held in each of such districts as herein provided shall have the same powers and duties as annual meetings held in union free school districts under the provisions of this chapter. § 354 School district officers abolished; apportionment of funds and indebtedness. 1 All members of boards of education and other school officers of towns and town school units in office when this act takes effect shall continue in office to and including the thirty-first day of July, 1918, when THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 653 the offices o£ members of boards of education, clerks, treasurers and other school district officers of such towns and town school units shall be and are hereby abolished and the terms of such officers shall cease except as herein provided. 2 The board of education of a union free school district maintaining an academic department which prior to the taking effect of this act was subject to the provisions of this article as added by chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917. shall take office on July 1, 1918, and on and after that date such board shall possess the powers and perform the duties conferred or imposed upon boards of education of union free school districts under this chapter. 3 The board of education of a town or town school unit in office when this act takes effect shall cause to be prepared an itemized account of the receipts from all sources for the support of the schools in such town or town school unit and of the expenditures of such moneys, and cause the same to be submitted to the board of education of the town school district and a duplicate thereof to the board of education of a union free school district maintaining an academic department which, prior to the taking effect of this act, was included within such town or town school unit. A copy of such account shall also be submitted to the district superintendent of schools having jurisdiction over such districts. The district superintendent shall examine carefully such account, and if he finds the same accurate he shall approve it and notify the boards of education of such districts that he has approved the same. If it appears from such account as so approved that a balance unexpended remains in the hands of the school treasurer of such town or town school unit, such balance shall be apportioned to the town school district and the union free school district which was formerly a part of such town school unit, according to the assessed valuation of the taxable property in such town school district and union free school district. If it appear from such account that there are outstanding obligations or claims against the town or town school unit, except bonded indebtedness, incurred because of the maintenance of the schools in such town or town school unit during the preceding year, the amount of such deficiency or outstanding obligations and claims shall be charged proportionately against such town school and union free school district, based upon the assessed valuation of the taxable property in such districts. The boards of education of such town school district and union free school district shall cause the amount of such deficiency or outstanding obligations and claims so apportioned to each district to be included in the school tax budget thereof, and the amount raised by tax on account of such apportionment shall be paid out in liquidation of such outstanding obligations and claims. § 355 Outstanding bonds; existing school property. 1 The bonded indebt- edness of a school district in a town, existing and outstanding on May 2, 1917, the time of the taking effect of chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, shall continue as a charge against the taxable property of such district, and the principal and interest thereof shall be paid when due out of taxes levied and assessed against the taxable property of such district. 2 If a board of education of a town or a town school unit which prior to the taking effect of this act included a union free school district main- taining an academic department, provided for the levy and collection of a 654 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK tax upon the property of such town or town school unit for the payment of the principal and interest of any bonded indebtedness existing against such union free school district, under section 353 of the Education Law as inserted by chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, the amount of such tax col- lected for such purpose shall be applied in payment of the principal and interest of such bonded indebtedness falling due prior to the taking effect of this act. On and after the taking effect of this act the bonded indebted- ness existing and outstanding against such union free school district shall be a charge against the taxable property of such district and shall be paid in the same manner as other charges against such district. 3 All school property in a union free school district maintaining an academic department, included within a town or town school unit under the provisions of chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, which under that act became the property of such town or town school unit and within the custody and control of the board of education thereof, shall, on and after the taking effect of this act, become the property of such union free school district. § 356 Time and place of annual meeting. 1 The annual school meeting in each town school district in each year after the said annual meeting on the first Tuesday of June, 1018, shall be held on the first Tuesday in May in each year, at which members of the board of education shall be elected and such business as may legally come before such meeting shall be trans- acted. Such meeting shall be held at the schoolhouse in the district which is the most conveniently accessible to a majority of the qualified electors of such district. The board of education shall designate the schoolhouse at which such meeting shall be held. 2 The board of education may divide the town school district into school election districts, whenever it deems it necessary for the convenience of the qualified electors, because of the territorial extent of the town school district or the number of such electors. If a town school district is divided into school election districts, the board shall designate the schoolhouse in each district where the annual meeting shall be held. § 357 Notice of annual school meeting. The clerk of each board of education shall give notice of the time when and the place where the annual school meeting in the town school district is to be held, by publishing such notice once in each week for the four weeks next preceding such meeting, in two newspapers, if there shall be two, or in one newspaper, if there shall be but one, published or circulated in such district. If no newspaper shall be published or circulated therein, such notice shall be posted on the door of each schoolhouse in the district and in at least ten other public places in said town, at least twenty days before the time of such meeting. § 358 Special school meetings in towns. The board of education of each town school district shall have power to call a special meeting of the qualified electors of the district, whenever it deems necessary and proper, and whenever required by law, in the manner prescribed for the giving of a notice of the annual meeting. Such special meetings shall be held at the schoolhouse or schoolhouses at which the annual school meeting of the town is required to be held. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 655 § 359 Qualifications of voters at school meetings. To be eligible to vote at annual or special town school meetings a person must be a resident of a school district included within the town school district, established as herein provided, and possess the other qualifications prescribed in section 203 of this chapter. 2 In a school district located in two or more towns, those persons possessing the qualifications required under subdivision 1 of this section shall be entitled to vote at annual or special town school meetings in the town school district of the town in which they reside. § 360 Conduct of school meetings. 1 The provisions of this chapter relative to the conduct of annual and special school meetings in school districts shall apply to annual and special school meetings held in town school districts except as otherwise provided in this article. 2 If school meetings are held in a town school district at one place, the members of the board of education of such district shall act as inspectors of election at such meetings. If the town school district has been divided into school election districts, the board of education shall designate three inspectors of election for each election district into which the town school district has been divided, who shall be qualified electors, residing within such election district. The clerk of the board of education shall give written notice of appointment to the persons so appointed but, if a person so appointed as inspector of election refuses to accept such appointment, the board of education may appoint a qualified elector of the district to fill such vacancy. Such board of inspectors shall, before opening the polls in the election district for which they are appointed, organize by electing one of their number as chairman and one as poll clerk. Each inspector shall receive for his services a compensation of three dollars, to be paid out of the school fund of the town and in the same manner as other expenses are paid. 3 The clerk of the board of education shall attend at each meeting in a town school district where school meetings are held at one place and keep a record of the minutes thereof. The clerk in such a town school district, or the poll clerk, where a town school district is divided into election dis- tricts shall keep a poll list of the names of the qualified electors present and voting for candidates for district offices or upon questions submitted. If the clerk or poll clerk is absent or is unable or refuses to act, the board of education or inspectors of election shall appoint a qualified elector to act in his place. 4 Any qualified elector present at the meeting may challenge the vote of any person offering to vote either for candidates for district offices or upon questions submitted at such meeting. The provisions of this chapter relative to challenges shall apply to challenges so made. 5 The board of education shall at the expense of the district provide a suitable box in which ballots shall be deposited as they are received. Ballots for candidates for district offices shall contain the names of such candidates and shall designate the office for which each of them is a candi- date. The ballots may be either written or printed, or partly written and partly printed. The ballots when presented to the inspectors shall be folded so as to conceal the names of candidates for whom, or the proposition or 656 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK question for which, the elector has voted. All electors entitled to vote who are in the place where the election is held at the time of the closing of the polls shall be allowed to vote. 6 The inspectors immediately after the close of the polls shall pro- ceed to canvass the votes. They shall first count the ballots to determine if they tally with the number of names recorded by the clerk, and if they exceed that number enough ballots shall be withdrawn to make them correspond. The ballots so drawn out shall be inclosed without unfolding in an envelop which shall be sealed and endorsed with the statement of the number of such excess ballots withdrawn from the box, and shall be signed by the inspector who withdrew such ballots. Such envelop shall be delivered to the clerk of the board of education and shall be preserved by him for a period of at least one year. The inspectors shall thereupon count the votes and upon the completion of the count make a written statement containing the names of the candidates, a description of the proposition or question submitted, and the number of votes cast for each of such candidates and for and against each question or proposi- tion submitted at the meeting. Such statement shall be signed by the inspectors. The chairman of the board shall declare publicly the result of the count. The persons having a plurality of the votes cast for the respective offices shall be declared elected. The statement of the result of such votes shall be delivered to the clerk of the board of education and he shall record the result of the election in the minutes of the meeting. 7 If a town school district is divided into election districts the inspectors shall deliver a statement of the vote cast at such meeting, in each election district, to the clerk of the board of education on the day following such meeting. The board of education of the town school district shall meet, at its usual place of meeting, at eight o'clock in the 'evening on the day following such school meeting and shall forthwith examine the tabulated statements of the results of the school meeting in the several election dis- tricts of the town school district. The board of education shall canvass the returns as contained in the statements of the inspectors and shall determine the number of votes cast for and against each candidate at such election and for and against each question or proposition voted upon at the school meeting in the several election districts of the town school district. The board of education shall thereupon declare the result of the canvass of the votes cast in the election districts. § 361 Successful candidates to be notified of election. The clerk of the board of education shall within twenty-four hours after the result of the election has been declared, serve a written notice either personally or by mail upon each person declared to be elected as a member of the board of education. A person upon whom such notice has been served shall be deemed to have accepted the office unless within five days after the service of such notice he shall file his written refusal with the clerk. § 362 Appeals to the Commissioner of Education. An appeal may be taken to the Commissioner of Education from such election or from any of the acts or proceedings of a school meeting or the board of education, in the same manner and with the same effect as in the case of an appeal to THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 657 him from the acts or proceedings of a school meeting or election or of a board of education, under the provisions of this chapter. The Commis- sioner of Education may, in his discretion, order a new election in any town school district. § 363 Custodian of school property in school district. 1 There shall be a custodian of school property in each school district included within a town school district. Such custodian shall be a resident of such school district and a qualified elector of the town school district. Such custo- dian may be elected by the qualified electors of the school district at a meeting of such electors to be held on the first Tuesday in August in each year, in the schoolhouse of such district, at seven thirty o'clock in the evening. Notice of the time and place of the meeting for the election of such custodian shall be given by the clerk of the board of education of the town school district by causing five notices of such meeting to be posted in five conspicuous places previous to the date of such meeting. One of such notices shall be posted on the front door of the schoolhouse. 2 Such meeting shall be conducted and such custodian shall be elected in the same manner as school district officers are elected in districts not included within a town school district. A statement of the result of the vote for custodian shall be made and signed by the chairman and clerk of the meeting and the clerk shall cause the same to be filed with the clerk of the board of education of the town school district. 3 If a custodian is not elected by the qualified electors as hereinbefore provided, the town board of education may designate a qualified elector of such district to serve as the custodian of school property in such district. 4 Subject to the supervision and control of the board of education of the town school district, such custodian shall have the care and custody of the schoolhouse, school grounds and all school property of the dis- trict. He shall be responsible to the board of education for the safe- keeping of such property. He shall superintend, under the direction of the board of education, the erection, repair and improvement of the school building in the school district and the equipment of the same. He shall perform or cause to be performed such work in the repair and improve- ment of the school building and of the school grounds as may be author- ized by the board of education, and for which provision has been made in the school tax budgets of the town school district. He shall provide for cleaning the schoolhouse, for building fires, and for janitor work generally in and about the schoolhouse, and when authorized by the board of education of the town school district shall provide fuel and other necessary supplies for the use of the school. The amount to be expended therefor shall not exceed the amount included in the school tax budget of the town school district. All contracts made by such custodian for the purchase of fuel and supplies and the performance of labor shall be sub- ject to the approval of the board of education of the town school district. Such board of education may compensate such custodian for services actually performed by him in caring for the schoolhouse and grounds and in making repairs and improvements thereof. The board of education of the town school district may remove such custodian from office for refusal or failure to ytileim the duties imposed 658 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK upon him by this section. A vacancy in the office of such custodian shall be filled by the board of education, and the person appointed to fill such vacancy shall hold office until the election of a custodian as provided in this section. § 2 Section 491 of such chapter, as amended by chapter 140 of the Laws of 1910, is hereby amended to read as follows : § 491 Apportionment of moneys appropriated for the support of com- mon schools. After setting apart therefrom for a contingent fund not more than ten thousand dollars, the Commissioner of Education shall apportion annually the money appropriated for the support of common schools as follows: 1 To each city and to each union school district which has a population of five thousand and which employs a superintendent of schools, eight hundred dollars. This shall be known as a supervision quota. [2 To each district having an assessed valuation of twenty thousand dollars or less, two hundred dollars. 3 To each district having an assessed valuation of forty thousand dol- lars or less, but exceeding twenty thousand dollars, one hundred and seventy-five dollars. 4 To each district having an assessed valuation of sixty thousand dollars or less, but exceeding forty thousand dollars, and to each Indian reser- vation for each teacher employed therein for a period of one hundred and sixty days or more, one hundred and fifty dollars.] 2 To each town school district, two hundred and fifty dollars' for each of the school districts in such town school districts on September 1, igi8. If a new town school district shall be organized after September 1, 1918, there shall be apportioned to such district two hundred and fifty dollars for each of the school districts in such town school district. If a school district shall be transferred from one town school district to another, the town school district to which such school district is transferred shall receive the apportionment for the transferred district. 3 To each union free school district, to each independent school district organised pursuant to the provisions of subdivision 7 of section 331 of this act, two hundred and fifty dollars. The apportionment provided for by subdivisions two and three shall be known as district quotas. 4 When a town school district, union free school district, or independent school district contains a consolidated district established since March 25, 1913 there shall be appointed to such town school district, union free school district, or independent school district a district quota for each of the school districts embraced in such consolidated district. 5 To each of the orphan asylums which meet the conditions mentioned in article 35 of this chapter, one hundred and twenty-five dollars. [6 To each of the remaining districts and to each of the cities in the State one hundred and twenty-five dollars. The apportionment provided for by subdivisions 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 shall be known as district quotas.] 6 To each Indian reservation for each teacher employed therein for a period of one hundred and sixty days or more, one hundred and fifty dollars. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 659 7 To each such district, city and orphan asylum for each additional qualified teacher and his successors by whom the common schools have been taught during the period of time required by law, one hundred dollars. The apportionment provided for by this subdivision shall be known as the teacher's quota. 8 To a school district which has failed to maintain school for one hun- dred [sixty] eighty days or which has employed an extra teacher for a shorter period than one hundred [sixty] eighty days such part of a district or teacher's quota as seems to him equitable when the reason for such failure is in his judgment sufficient to warrant such action. 9 To each separate neighborhood such sum as in his opinion it is equi- tably entitled to receive upon the basis of distribution established by this article. 10 All errors or omissions in the apportionment whether made by the Commissioner of Education or by the school commissioner shall be cor- rected by the Commissioner of Education. Whenever a school district has been apportioned less money than that to which it is entitled the Commis- sioner of Education may allot to such district the balance to which it is in his judgment entitled and the same shall be paid from the contingent fund. Whenever a school district has been apportioned more money than that to which it is entitled the Commissioner of Education may, by an order under his hand, direct such moneys to be paid back into the hands of the county treasurer by him to be credited to the school fund, or he may deduct such amount from the next apportionment to be made to said district. 11 The Commissioner of Education may also in his discretion excuse the default of a trustee or a board of education in employing a teacher not legally qualified, legalize the time so taught and authorize the payment of the salary of such teacher. § 3 Subdivision 2 of section 492 of such chapter, as amended by chapter 140 of the Laws of 1910 and chapter 511 of the Laws of 1913, is hereby amended to read as follows : 2 No town school district or other district shall be entitled to any portion of such school moneys on such apportionment unless the report of the board of education of such town school district or the board of education or trustees of such other district for the preceding school year shall show that [a common] schools- [was] were supported in [the] such district for the instruction of the pupils residing in such district and taught by [a] qualified teacher.? or by successive qualified teachers for at least one hundred and eighty days, inclusive of legal holidays that may have occurred during the term of said school and exclusive of Saturdays. § 4 The first paragraph and subdivision 1 of section 493 of such chapter, as amended by chapter 140 of the Laws of 1910, is hereby amended to read as follows : § 493 Apportionment of moneys appropriated to cities, academies, aca- demic departments and school libraries. The Commissioner of Education shall apportion the money annually appropriated for the support of cities, academies, academic departments and school libraries in accordance with regulations established or to be established by him as follows : 660 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK I To each city, union free school district, [and] nonsectarian academy and town- school district maintaining an academic department, a quota of [one] six hundred dollars for each such academic department maintained therein. This apportionment shall be known as the academic quota. § S Section 502 of such chapter, as amended by chapter 140 of the Laws of 1910, is hereby amended by adding thereto a new subdivision to read as follows : 3 To the city of New York, the actual expenditures for the maintenance and support of three training schools, but not to exceed the sum of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars on furnishing the Commissioner of Education such evidence as he shall require of such expenditures. § 6 All acts or parts of acts, general or special, inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. The repeal of such incon- sistent acts or parts of such acts shall not affect any right existing or accrued, or any liability incurred prior to the passage of this act. This act shall not affect a pending action or proceeding brought by or against a trustee, trustees, or a board of education of a school district, prior to the taking effect of chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, but the same may be prosecuted or defended in the same manner and for the same purpose, by the board of education of the town school district of which such district forms a part, as though this act had not been passed. Any action or proceeding brought by or against the board of education of a town or a town school unit under or pursuant to the provisions of said chapter 32S of the Laws of 1917, pending at the time this act takes effect, may, if such action or proceeding pertains to a school district included within a town school district as established herein, be prosecuted or defended in the same manner and for the same purpose by the board of education of such town school district as though this act had not been passed. If such an action or proceeding brought by or against the board of education of a town or a town school unit, under and pursuant to such chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, pertains to a union free school district maintaining an academic department, such action or proceeding may be prosecuted or defended by the board of education of such union free school district in the same manner and for the same purpose as though this act had not been passed. All contracts entered into by a trustee, trustees or the board of education of a school district prior to the taking effect of this act, under and pursuant to the provisions of the Education Law or of said chapter, 328 of the Laws of 191 7, shall, if such contract pertains to a district included within a town school district as established by this act, be carried into effect according to the terms thereof by the board of education of the town school district, or if such contract pertains to a union free school district main- taining an academic department, it shall be carried into effect according to the terms thereof by the board of education of the union free school dis- trict, in the same manner and for the same purpose as though this act had not been passed. Any right, existing or accrued, or any liability incurred, prior to the passage of this act, by a trustee, trustees, or board of education of a school district, included within a town school district as established by this act, may be asserted and enforced by or against the board of education of the town school district of which such school district forms a part, in the same manner and to the same extent as though this THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 66l act had not been passed. Any such right or liability accrued or incurred prior to the passage of this act by the board of education of a union free school district maintaining an academic department, or in behalf or on account of such district by the board of education of a town or a town school unit, under and pursuant to chapter 328 of the Laws of 191 7, may be asserted and enforced by or against the board of education of such union free school district, in the same manner and to the same extent as though this act had not been passed. § 7 Sections 340 and 341 of the Education Law are hereby renumbered sections 364 and 365; sections 360, 361, 362, 363, 364 and 365 of such law are hereby renumbered respectively sections 370, 371, 372, 373, 374 and 375. § 8 This act shall take effect July 1, 1918, except that the provisions of sections 331, 353, 356, 357, 359, 360, 361, 362 and 363, relative to the estab- lishment of town school districts, the election of boards of education therein, and the election of boards of education in union free school districts maintaining academic departments, shall take effect June 1, 1918. The boards of education of towns and town school units as constituted under and pursuant to chapter 328 of the Laws of 1017, shall have the powers and perform the duties conferred or imposed by law until their offices are terminated as provided in this act, except they shall not be author- ized to employ teachers for schools in the town school districts established by this act or in union free school districts maintaining academic depart- ments, subsequent to May 1, 1918, but the boards of education of town school districts and union free school districts maintaining academic departments elected under and pursuant to the provisions of this act may immediately subsequent to their election employ teachers for the schools in such districts for the ensuing school year. ACTION OF JOINT LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE REP- RESENTING STATE EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS Educational Legislation — State Aid To all interested in improving the educational facilities of the State: A new crisis has developed in the rural school situation. It is assumed and anticipated that the township law will be repealed. But it is the general, if not unanimous, opinion of those who have taken an interest in the country schools, both those who have favored and those who have opposed the township law, that something must be done to improve the condition of these schools, and that we can not go permanently back to the old system. The question arises, " Why should we go back to it at all?" Can not some immediate improvement be assured? Other states surrounding New York have gone forward. Shall New York State not do something, and at once, instead of confessing herself helpless in the face of conditions which are admittedly not to be generally improved under the old system? A proposal comes from the Senate committee on education to meet this crisis by calling upon the State to contribute a greater part itself toward meeting the expense of education throughout the State. The state allot- ments have remained nominally the same for a quarter of a century, but are actually less than they were twenty-five years ago, and are relatively 662 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK greatly diminished. While the local expenditures for rural schools have been doubled in that period (three millions to six millions), there has been no increase in the state appropriations to these districts. The entire increase in the state appropriations has been apportioned to the cities and villages. Moreover, New York State is 'now thirty-first in the list of states in the proportion of state to local expenditure for school purposes, and it is' twenty-fifth in the proportion of state aid to total assessed valuation. Under the proposed increase to $250 for each district, the State would not be meeting more than a fair share of the burden due to changed con- ditions and increased cost. Under the provisions, therefore, of the plan contained in the bill of the Senate committee on public education, the county of will receive an increased allotment from the State of $ In the second place, it is proposed to eliminate from the town school unit all the union free school districts which maintain academic depart- ments, and to make an allotment to each in the amount of $600. An especially heavy burden rests at present upon many of these districts. In the third place, it is proposed to maintain the larger, that is, the town, unit of taxation and administration, except when the towns are too large for one board; but to consolidate no districts except upon the vote of the districts affected. New York State is hesitating at the moment. There is a strong demand for the repeal of the township law. Its enactment has, however, served a good purpose in inciting a greater interest in the schools of this State. But it would be a disaster to the State and a cause for humiliation in the eyes of all the states, if New York were to accept as inevitable a system which every other state in this part of the country has abandoned, and were to decline to bear a fair share of the expense which an improved condition of the schools makes imperative. F. D. Boynton, Superintendent of Schools, Ithaca Chairman Joint Legislative Committee H. S. Weet, Superintendent of Schools, Rochester President, State Teachers Association S. R. Shear, Superintendent of Schools, Poughkeepsie President, State Council of Superintendents George H. Covey, District Superintendent of Schools, Westchester county President, State Association of District Superintendents A. R. Brubacher, President, State College for Teachers P. I. Bugbee, Principal, Oneonta State Normal School C. Edward Jones, Superintendent of Schools, Albany Arvie Eldred, Superintendent of Schools, Troy Daniel J. Kelly, Superintendent of Schools, Binghamton Ray P. Snyder, District Superintendent of Schools, Oneida county John D. Jones, District Superintendent of Schools, Allegany county J. M. Schoonmaker, District Superintendent of Schools, Ulster county. The following table shows the amount of additional public moneys which would be apportioned by the State to the several counties of the State under the terms of the township school bill introduced by the committee on education in the senate : THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 66 3 COUNTY Albany Allegany Broome Cattaraugus . Cayuga Chautauqua . Chemung . . . Chenango Clinton Columbia Cortland Delaware Dutchess Erie Essex Franklin Fulton Genesse Greene Hamilton Herkimer Jefferson Lewis Livingston . . Madison Monroe Montgomery , Nassau Niagara .... Oneida Onondaga . . Ontario .... Orange Orleans .... Oswego Otsego Putnam .... Rensselaer Rockland . . . St Lawrence Saratoga . . . Schenectady Schoharie . . Schuyler . . . Seneca Steuben Suffolk Sullivan Tioga Tompkins . . . Ulster Warren Washington . Wayne Westchester . Wyoming Yates DISTRICT ACADEMIC QUOTAS QUOTAS TOTAL $I 4 6/5 $1 500 $16 175 23 700 8 coo 31 700 17 925 2 500 20 425 27 000 9 000 36 000 35 050 5 000 40 050 28 150 10 500 38 650 10 100 3 000 13 100 21 800 6 500 28 300 13 550 5 £00 19 050 16 55o 3 000 19 550 12 300 2 500 14 800 26 775 6 500 33 275 21 075 6 500 27 575 31 200 9 500 40 700 13 150 7 000 20 150 14 175 4 500 18 675 8 250 1 500 9 75o 14 875 4 500 19 375 12 000 3 500 IS 500 4 050 1 500 5 550 18 000 4 000 22 000 35 825 11 500 47 325 17 100 4 000 21 100 19 575 6 000 25 575 19 525 9 000 28 525 24 725 6 000 30 725 12 100 3 000 15 100 7 125 7 000 14 125 18 650 3 000 21 650 29 000 12 000 41 000 28 875 1 1 000 39 875 20 850 4 500 25 350 18 675 7 500 26 175 15 150 2 ;oo 17 650 24 325 5 000 29 325 25 300 10 000 35 300 6 100 2 500 8 600 15 7 2 5 2 500 18 225 5 725 3 5oo 9 225 46 675 14 000 60 675 17 800 3 500 21 300 5 900 1 500 7 400 15 450 3 000 18 450 9 375 2 000 11 375 1 1 000 2 000 13 000 34 175 9 000 43 175 16 000 14 500 30 500 13 450 4 5 00 17 950 13 250 4 000 17 250 14 6/5 4 000 18 675 20 050 2 500 22 550 8 875 3 000 11 875 20 750 5 000 25 75o 24 575 6 500 3i 075 14 200 8 500 22 700 18 325 5 000 23 325 1 1 525 1 500 13 025 664 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK This selection of letters and newspaper clippings indicates the attitude of the people in regard to the proposed amendment of Township Law. Township School Law Amendments Albany, Dec. n. — Republican leaders have decided that legislation must be passed at the coming session of the legislature modifying the law enacted last 3 r ear, known as the township school law. This decision is the result of complaints from the rural districts, where it is claimed that the law has worked a hardship on the communities having rural schools. It is charged that the expense of the school system has been increased without proportionate increase in benefits of the education system. It is said that the demand from rural districts that the law be changed this year will be so insistent that no legislator having such a district will dare to turn an unheeding ear to his farmer constituents. And it was by votes of men representing the rural districts that the bill passed the legis- lature last session. The changes to be made in the measure, it is said, will make the plan a home-rule one, so as to permit localities to adopt the township system or reject it as their own judgment may dictate. Of course, this plan will be opposed by the state department of education, which wants a system of school administration uniform for the state. But the legislators, warned by the decreased pluralities of many from the rural districts, undoubtedly will override the department officials. Under the law as enacted at the last session, certain school districts were omitted from the provisions of the statute. These comprised all union free school districts having a population of 1.500 or more; all union free dis- tricts empHojang fifteen teachers or more, and all of the school districts included within the county of Nassau. It is said that the bill amending the township school bill will be one of the first to be introduced when the legislators return to Albany for the winter work. — Buffalo Express, December 12, 1917 Ask Amendments to Machold Law Canton, Dec. 12. — Practically all the afternoon of yesterday was given over by the board of supervisors to a discussion of the Machold township school law. Most of the district school superintendents of the county were present, and Assemblyman Frank L. Seaker and representatives of the town school board of Lisbon were also present. District Superintendent Edward McDonald, Massena, opened the discus- sion. He said that he thought the law should be amended so as to exempt union free schools from its action. He said that the most of the com- plaint had come from increased taxes, but that there were a number of causes for increased cost of operation of the schools for which the law was not responsible, such as the fact that teachers' wages had been increased from 10 to 15 per cent, that fuel cost more, and that for a number of THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 665 years the country districts had been looking forward to the time when some similar law would be enacted and had deferred making necessary repairs to their school property pending the time when the town should take the property over and make the repairs. He said that about the only added expense caused by the law was the salary of the clerk and treasurer and that in some cases larger salaries had been paid to these officers than were necessary. He thought $100 to $150 should be sufficient to pay the salaries of these officers. He recom- mended that the districts should be permitted to contract with one another, saying that in his district he knew of one school with only two pupils and another with only one. He said that the law did not permit of elimination of a district except by a referendum vote of all the districts in the township, and in this respect did not allow of consolidation and elimination of districts so readily as the old law. Mr. Moore made a lengthy speech as representing the farmers of Lisbon, charging that the bill had been sprung on them unawares, but this Mr. McDonald denied, calling attention to the fact that the bill was endorsed by the granges generally and by the state grange and also by the board of supervisors at its last annual session, and that the matter had been in the air for several 3 r ears. District Superintendent William E. Clark spoke in favor of the bill as a whole, but said that some amendments should be made and that he was assured by the state department of education that it was of the same mind. One of the amendments suggested provides for the town's taking over the property of the districts, which was one of the provisions of the law particularly objectionable to the Lisbon men. Assemblyman Frank L. Seaker stated that he voted for the law because he believed it was a good law and that he still believed it to be a good law in its main features. He called attention to the fact that the law had been in force only about four months and was endorsed by granges and other bodies generally when it was presented and that he thought it should have a fair trial. Supervisor Hatch of Russell spoke in opposition to the bill, saying that he thought it tended to take the authority out of the hands of the residents of the districts and put it into the hands of those not so much interested. J. Leslie Craig of Lisbon said he would be satisfied with having the bill amended in certain particulars, but if it could not be amended, he was for its repeal. After some further discussion, Mr. Chaney introduced a resolution which was adopted and which stated that the board favored the amendment of the law so as to take the union free school districts out from under the operation of the law and to do away with the provision providing for the town's taking over the property of the districts. Mr. Daly introduced a bill to permit the town of Colton to borrow the sum of $2,000 for highway purposes. At its meeting Monday evening, the board went on record as favoring an amendment of the election law so as to provide for the having of one election district for every 500 of voting population. — Watertown Times, December 12, iqi? 666 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Sweet Expects Amendment to School Measure Modification, not repeal, is the legislative program with respect to the Machold township school law, according to Speaker Thaddeus C. Sweet of the Assembly, who is preparing to take up the reins next week for his fourth consecutive year in Assembly leadership. " Sentiment is overwhelmingly strong for some modification of the Mac- hold law," said the Speaker yesterday at his home in Phoenix, " so as to make it more workable without sacrificing its fundamental principle — higher education for children of rural districts. " I think it will be possible to make it less burdensome without a complete repeal, although a course so drastic as that is possible if no easier methods can be found. The State Department of Education, grange leaders, promi- nent educators and legislators are devoting a great deal of thought to the subject and a great many suggestions have been made. " One of them, which I recall particularly, is that the unit for the law's operation be made the county, instead of the township. It happens fre- quently that certain townships in the county have big taxable corporate interests, like trolley and lighting franchises, while neighboring townships have none. Enlarging the unit would spread the tax burden over a larger territory." — Ogdcnsburg Journal, December 27, 1917 The Abused Township School Law The Township school law, constituting Article XI-A of the State Edu- cation law, continues to absorb public attention, particularly in the rural districts. It is the leading subject of discussion at Grange meetings, special meetings of taxpayers have been held in different parts of this county, and a few days ago delegates representing aggrieved citizens held a con- ference in Canandaigua with Senator Carson and Assemblyman Tyler and presented resolutions demanding repeal of the law. Not before in years has a legislative enactment aroused such bitter con- troversy as has this act of the Legislature of 191 7, and while not a few representative citizens defend the law in its general scope, there is well- nigh universal criticism of some of its provisions and a widely-expressed demand for its entire repeal. Judging from the communications printed in recent issues of The Times and others since received, the new law is condemned for four principal reasons : 1 — ■ The largely increased taxation for school purposes which has fol- lowed its enactment, doubling, trebling and even quadrupling former school taxes. 2 — The injustice done taxpayers of certain districts through the spread- ing over a. whole town of a tax for new buildings, constructed for the immediate benefit of a locality. 3 — The alleged centralization of authority in the State Department of Education and the alleged robbing of the people of control over the local schools. 4 — The elaborate and costly method provided for the annual election of members of the Town Boards of Education. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 667 There can be no question whatever but that injustice has resulted from the equalizing of taxes in some of the larger units, or that the elaborate election method prescribed will entail larger cost without compensating advantages. The instance showing the rankest injustice in the matter of taxation is that found in the town of Manchester, where the two high schools, each of which the law requires shall be the focus of a unit of control and tax- ation, are located in the southwestern corner of the town, so distant from other sections now called upon to bear a proportion of the indebtedness incurred through erection of buildings as to be entirely denied the advan- tages they afford, being in fact naturally tributary to the high school at Palmyra, in the adjoining county of Wayne, or to that in Clifton Springs, which being in a village of 1500 inhabitants, is constituted a unit by itself. Other less aggravated cases of injustice might be noted, but this one suffices to show that there is just cause for dissatisfaction and complaint and good reason for amendment of the new law. However, even this criticism is met in part at least by the fact that the law provides that if pupils are nearer to some high school of another unit than the one in which they reside, it is the duty of the town board to arrange for them to attend such school. The election provisions requiring the nomination by petition of candi- dates for members of the town board of education, the registration of the voters, official ballots and other machinery of a general election, will entail large expense, serve no good purpose, and would prevent rather than assist in getting the best men to serve on the several boards. The increase in taxation in some rural districts, owing to their inclu- sion in units having high school buildings to pay for, as in those above instanced, is unjustifiable, but otherwise it appears that there is no addir tional expense in school administration involved in the operation of the township law, except that resulting from the employment of a paid secre- tary of the board of education, the salary of whom has been fixed in the towns of this county anywhere from $50 to $600 a year. At the last named figure this secretary is required to make out the tax roll without additional compensation, and as he must provide the registry list of voters, acts as general purchasing agent and performs other duties as directed by the board, hei is probably not overpaid for the work he does, and when it is considered that even at this largest figure the salary is but a very small percentage of the total budget of a town it will be seen that it adds little to the tax rate. The members of the board receive no compensation, the collector gets only the fees that such officers have heretofore received, and there are no more. Whence then the large increase in this year's levy for school purposes? It is due partly to the general tendency of the times, to increased wages to teachers, to the providing of inside sanitary closets now ordered by the state authorities, to the cost of the required physical instruction, and to the provision made by most of the boards for a surplus with which to open another year. Contrary to quite general understanding, the township law is in no way responsible for the sanitary closets or the physical instruc- tion. Had it never been enacted, expenditures for these new features, 668 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK amounting in each town to several thousand dollars, would have had to be made, and in case of its repeal could not be avoided. The proposed sur- plus would seem to be a wise provision in view of the fact that the balances in the hands of the old school trustees must be returned to the taxpayers and the new boards had to start the year with an absolutely empty treasury. As to the charge that the new law takes control of the schools from the hands of the people and centralizes it in the hands of state officials there seems to be no foundation. The control is taken from district trus- tees, in whose election usually only a handful of people have participated and placed with a board of five members in each town or unit, but these five are to be elected by the people, are directly responsible to the people and exercise no power over the schools, the hiring of teachers, or the making of improvements that their predecessors did not possess. It is true that they are empowered to make up the budget, but the trustees under the old system could arbitrarily increase the tax levy over the sum voted if they found it necessa^ in order to obtain teachers or make improve- ments. It is true that, while consolidation of districts can omy be brought about by vote of the people interested, a board may in its discretion close a school, but when it is known that some of the schools have no more than 8 or 10 pupils each and that the members will presumably act for the benefit and convenience of those from whom they derive their power it need hardly be feared that injustice will be done in this respect. Condi- tions are very different from the time a few years ago when each rural school had 20 or 30 pupils, including boys and girls 15 to 20 years old. Now if such children go to school at all it is at a high school or academy. The law's advantages, as pointed out by discerning taxpayers and prac- tical school men, are manifest. The unifying of the control of the schools in a town or other unit will make for a higher and more uniform standard and better equipment. The equalization of the school tax rate throughout a town will remove the unfair advantages possessed by one district over another, perhaps adjoining, by reason of the possession of railroad or other corporation property, an advantage as great as that between $2 and $10 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. As the change made a few years ago from district to town control of road supervision, which it is remem- bered was for a time strenuously resisted, made for better roads and equalized the cost of their maintenance, the township school system, it amended to avoid unnecessarily cumbersome and expensive elections and to remedy such injustices as those presented in the town of Manchester, may be depended upon to make for better schools and a fairer distribu- tion of the cost of their maintenance. The law is a new one and has not as yet had a fair test. The town- ship system of school control for which it provides has the unqualified endorsement of the most experienced and best qualified educational men in the country and has been put in operation in most of the Eastern states, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and other commonwealths recognized as the most progressive in the Union. Its operation will not unlikely lead to, or be accompanied by, increased cost in the maintaining of schools in rural sections, though, we are assured, in many cases the taxes in future years will be considerably lessened. That is an unavoidable THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 669 result of the popular demand for improved and more efficient educational facilities for the rising generation. The people in Canandaigua and other centers of population have been taxing themselves $11 per $1,000 of assessed valuation for the support of schools whose advantages have been placed at the disposal of the pupils from outside at considerably less cost. But as above indicated the Township school law, in some of its provi- sions, works rank injustice and necessitates unwarranted expense. It should be amended. Its repeal would be a mistake. — Canandaigua Times, Janu- ary 2, 1918 Township School Law One of the big issues of the session of the state legislature this winter will be the so-called township school law, which has almost all of the farm- ing districts in the state as stirred up as a hornet's nest struck by a well- aimed stone. Dr. Thomas E. Finegan, the father of the bill, states that the Depart- ment of Education was not satisfied with the bill as it now stands, par- ticularly with that portion of it which deals with the taxation, and every town board in the state affected by the measure was being asked to present its opinion on the legislation with a view to equalizing the financial side of the measure. " Everything is costing more these days," declared Dr. Finegan. " This is true in regard to education as in everything else. You cannot put through a big question like this and have it satisfactory all at once. There must be revision and we expect to make recommendations to the legis- lature at this coming session. Some of the districts had large valuations and some of them small and the result was that some had to pay higher taxes than others. The former complained. The chief complaint seemed to be generated by bringing the village high school into the township and this put a higher tax on the farming community. We are going to try to solve this matter in an equitable manner." — Warrensburg Nezvs, January 24, 1918 Township School Law Rochester, Jan. 24.— Senator James W. Wadsworth has begun suit in Supreme Court in Rochester to contest the constitutionality of the amend- ment to the state education law taking effect last August which made whole townships instead of school district units for the assessment of school taxes. Senator Wadsworth is represented by Elihu Root, former senator from New York, and Frank K. Cook, deputy attorney-general; the town is represented by A. M. Little of Rochester, and the state education and tax departments are represented by Frank B. Gilbert, chief counsel of the University of the State of New York. The suit is brought against the Board of Education and tax collector of the town of Caledonia, in Livingston county. — Ogdensburg News, Janu- ary 25, 19 18 Note: Senator Root was not retained in this case and did not appear in the case. It was gene-Tally believed that his name was used in this connection to give the prestige which his name carries to the repeal of the law. 670 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK School Law May Be Amended There has been a considerable opposition among the farmers of the whole state against the operations of the township school law enacted at the last session of the legislature. The taxes of the rural regions were largely increased by the provisions of the law, and although the educa- tional advantages to the children of the state were largely increased under the law, the opposition came from those who thought more of taxes than they did of education. Catering to the opposition Assemblyman Martin, of Oneida, introduced a bill in the legislature last week providing for the repeal of the law. This was referred to the education committee, and word comes forth that the bill will be allowed to die in committee, as the state board of education will oppose its passage to the utmost. It is probable, however, that the bill will be amended so as to remove a number of its most objectionable features, among which is the increased taxation. — Montgomery Standard and Republican, January 25, 1918 Modify Township School Law There may be many faults to> be found with the Township School Law but it appears somewhat rediculous to attribute every failure connected with the school work of the State to the application of that popular law. Those who attack the township school law should not include Governor Whitman in their tirade as he approved that law simply because the Granges of the counties and state represented that law was wanted and in his effort to give the people what they wanted, or thought they wanted, he approved the township school law ; what better could any Governor have done regard- less of political affiliations? Governor Whitman could approve or repeal that law without all this agitation and committee work and with just as little encouragement as he endorsed it to become a law — he is a Governor who wishes to give the people what they want. The township school law was endorsed by the State Agricultural Society, the State Grange and other bodies. Every State in New England has adopted the township system. Every state bordering upon New York State has discarded the old district system and adopted the township plan. When the Union Free School was adopted in 1868 the opposition was bitter because it would tax those without children and increase the tax rate. Because in the past the district school filled an important educational position is no reason that it does so now. The old carryall has given place to the automobile and the scythe to the mowing machine, both were neces- sary things in their day, but their day has passed. Forty years ago the apex was reached. There was then in the rural districts one hundred thousand more children than there is today. Right in the town of Bethel there are schools that now have ten to a dozen pupils that formerly had from twenty-five to forty-five. While the village schools have kept pace with the times the district school is in many respects where it was forty years ago, but lacking the enthusiasm of numbers. Recent statistics show that there are fifteen schools in the state now in each of which there is just one pupil. There are eighty-six in which there are 2; 116 with 3 pupils; 258 with 4 pupils; 357 in which there are THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 671 •but 5 pupils; 600 in which there are less than 7, and 3,800 in which there are less than 10 children in attendance. It does not need any argument to convince any reasonable person that a school with from one to five pupils is hardly a school in any sense. It is for the elimination of these schools by consolidation and the merging of the resources of scattering districts, so that one good school would take the place of several poor ones, that the township school law was passed; that law still left the matter of consolidation to the people of the districts affected, and they could continue as they are or consolidate at their option. In this respect there was no privilege taken away from the taxpayer by the township school law. The meeting at Monticello last week there was considerable reference made to the purchase of sanitary toilets and the expense connected with their purchase — the indebtedness of the town of Bethel for toilets being $1,586.27. The committeeman from this county should become more familiar with the township school law as the installation of sanitary toilets is no part of that law, and no reference is made to these toilets in any section of the township school law. They are made compulsory by a regulation of the State Board of Regents who are to be complimented on their relegating the unsightly and unsani- tary district toilet to the past ages. The Boards of Education had the authority to purchase the toilets and install them in the schools of the town and they have followed the direc- tions given them by the State Department of Education so that all the schools would have their sanitary toilets without the cost coming on each individual district, while every district gets the benefit. This is about the first time an indebtedness was incurred upon the town of Bethel and each section derived a benefit from the contract. Take for instance, in the year 1912, the town board of this town with John Townsend, supervisor (the committeeman appointed at Monticello to go to Albany), entered into a contract involving an expenditure of some $4,850 for road machinery for making stone road; year after year since that time the tax payers of every school district in the town have been paying out their money on the contract price of the machinery and how many districts have had a foot of stone road built in their borders? The Board of Education cannot be justly criticised for their impartial work in installing sanitary toilets to comply with law and decency, neither is the township school law responsible for the disappearance of the old district privies. The physical training and the expense connected with its conduct in rural districts is outside the township school law by special statute of its own, yet it is placed among other offensive things that go to make the town- ship school law so unpopular. The cost of carrying on the township law next year in the town of Bethel would be far less than the past year, but the Times would be as well pleased for a return to the former system of the district school and the board of trustees. We hope the repeal will take place before the time of the annual school meeting, when the expense of the conduct of the election under the township school law can be omitted and the clerk of the Board of Education can vacate the duties of his office.— White Lake Times, Feb- ruary 22, 1918 672 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Finds Advantages in New Town School Law By CHARLES J. HERRICK The Knickerbocker Press, on January 21 last, contained an article on the town school law, criticizing my article approving of this school system, pub- lished in the same paper on January 14. This critic, writing from Voor- heesville but stating that Guilderland was her town, objected to my approval of the present system on the ground that I was a lawyer and a city man and, therefore, unfamiliar with country conditions and the wishes of farm- ers relative to the education of their children. My observation has been that the people attacking this system have indulged in unnecessary personalities in order to distract attention from the real reason for their opposition to the law, which consists almost entirely in their objection to contributing their fair share of the amount which is necessary for the maintenance of suitable schools for country children. While my own occupation and place of residence have nothing to do with the merits of this question, yet for almost eight years I have lived con- tinuously on a farm of 150 acres, and I send my own children to one of these rural schools. I have the same objection that she entertains to pay- ing unnecessary taxes, but as a parent of school children I wish the best system that is practical adopted for our country schools and I am willing to contribute whatever my share may be towards the improvement of the schools throughout the town. I have no financial interest of any nature in the maintenance of the present law. I assume that none of the people would be willing to accept either this critic or myself as competent to plan a system for the proper management of rural schools. A portion of the money raised by the state through gen- eral taxation is used to employ the best experts that can be found to man- age our schools through the state department of education. The New York state department of education is regarded as the equal of any similar organization in the United States. It is their duty, which they have properly discharged, to thoroughly investigate the condition of our rural schools and to endeavor to improve them wherever possible. This department is familiar with the Avork done by similar organizations in other states in the Union. They know that the country school system which we have just adopted has been in operation for several years in most of the states on each side of us, that it displaced in these states the same system that we have just dis- carded, and that in each of these states it has fully demonstrated its great superiority over the old school system. We are fortunate in having at the head of the department, charged with responsibility for the care and management of our rural schools, a man who is recognized by educators as one of the best informed, most practical and progressive educators engaged in this particular field. Dr Finegan not only has demonstrated his worth to the people of the State of New York but has received the unqualified approval and support of the National Society of School Superintendents who have selected him as their president, and thereby demonstrated their complete confidence in his ability, his knowl- edge, his experience in educational matters and his management of our rural schools. It was only after a most careful investigation by Dr. Finegan Charles J. Herrick An advocate of the township law THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 673 that the State department determined to abolish the old system of managing our schools, and to introduce in its place the system which the states on all sides of us were employing, and the system which is similar in many respects to that found in most of our cities. It would be the height of folly for people, who at best can be classified only as amateur educators, to argue that their ideas should be substituted and adopted by the State in place of the mature judgment of the greatest experts in this country. The two main objections urged by opponents of this system are that it deprives small communities of local control and that it uses money raised in one locality for expenditure in another. Under the old system the trustees prepared budgets, and these were submitted to a school meeting of the tax- payers. Under the present system, while the budget is prepared by the board of education and published for the benefit of the entire town, yet no attack can be made successfully upon this budget if the proposed appropria- tions are for purposes recognized by the law and kept within the limitations prescribed by the law. Under the old system the taxpayers had the power, and this power usually was employed to cut down the budget so as frequently to prevent necessary improvements from being made, and competent teachers from being employed. The experience of sixty or seventy-five years has demonstrated that this system for these reasons has been a failure. The new system is based upon the same principles upon which all other town money is raised and disbursed. The principle of selecting competent men to take charge of such matters and trusting to their good judgment to refrain from extravagance and to spend the money not only legally but wisely, is fol- lowed invariably in the town government, in the city government, in the county government, in the State government and in the national government. The old system was an anomaly. It grew out of the situation where the pri- vate schools of several generations ago, which had been supported by tha people in the vicinity, were converted into public schools for the free educa- tion of children and all the people in that little locality instead of merely ths parents of the children at school, were forced to contribute for its support as a matter of public policy. But this system never was a success, and we have outgrown its necessity. It has given way to a modern system and we cannot go back to it. In the disbursement of money raised for general town purposes we maji find, for instance, that a large sum is used for the construction or main- tenance of a bridge that is used by but a portion of the town, yet the people in another portion of the town who will never have occasion to use this bridge are forced to contribute towards paying for it; but sooner or later the latter in turn will require some public improvement, and then the section of the town which has enjoyed the benefits of the bridge will be taxed to pay for the public improvement in the other section. All are taxed for the general public good of the whole town, and so it is, and should be, with the schools. It is far more important for a man living in the southwest corner of a town to have the children in the northeast corner properly educated than it is to have a bridge or some other local improvement con- structed in that locality, for he is sure to benefit sooner or later by the improvement in these children which must eventually benefit the entire town. The new system affords possibilities which could not even be contemplated under the old system. Let me illustrate this by what has been done in our 22 674 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK own town, and, lest some reader may say at the startoff that such improve- ments must have been extremely exensive, perhaps unwarrantably so, I could mention that whereas the critic from Voorheesville stated that in her town of Guilderland there are thirteen schools for which the town was obliged to raise $25,994, yet, in the town of Bethlehem, there are fifteen schools for which our town raised less than $25,000, and our tax rate was but seventy-two cents on every $100 of assessed valuation. The first improve- ment made by our board which would not have been practical under the old system was to employ a trained nurse, to act in the double capacity of super- visor of physical training and school nurse for all the schools in the town. Whatever criticism may be made of the office of supervisor of physical training, every well informed person must concede that a competent school nurse will protect the health of school children, perfect the sanitary condi- tions of our schools and improve the personal appearance of many of the children. Every child in our schools is examined carefully by this nurse. Those having difficulty with their eyes or with their hearing or breathing, who have defective teeth or other physical weaknesses are reported to their parents, who are informed of their condition, advised to consult a physician or surgeon and frequently induced to take the necessary measures to safe- guard the well being of their children. Our school nurse was largely responsible for the speedy control of an epidemic of typhoid fever in one of our large villages which was exciting the consternation of our people, and might have led to the gravest consequences. Our experiences so far has imbued us with great confidence in this plan of having a competent trained nurse to safeguard the health of our school children. We next organize a rather unusual type of school, offering an academic course for children of the first and second year in high school, and what may be termed an industrial course to cover a period of four years to be taken by children from the seventh grade upward. The principal of the school is a graduate of the agricultural department of Cornell university. He is giving a thorough course in agriculture at this school extending over a period of four years and designed primarily for the benefit of farmers' sons, which includes als« a very practical course in carpentry, forge work and machinery. We have employed also for the benefit of the girls a graduate of the State College for Teachers who gives a thorough course in home economics, including cooking, sewing, household management, home nursing, etc. This school is open to all the children of the town free of charge. Moreover, we encourage children from distant parts of the town to come to the school by paying all, or the greater part of, the cost of their transportation. Some of these children come by trains, some by motor buses and some use bicycles in good weather and horses in bad weather. We have taken out the seventh and eighth grades from two of the district schools in close proximity to this central school and give the children of these schools an option of coming either to the central school, in which event we pay their transportation, or of going into the city of Albany, in which event we pay their tuition, which amounts practically to the same as their transportation. Courses are so arranged that a child in the seventh grade spends his forenoon in the regular rural school, located in the same village in which is situated the new school, where he gets his usual elemen- THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 675 tary work, while he spends the afternoon in the new school at his indus- trial work. Children in the eighth grade spend their mornings at the new school, taking the industrial course and their afternoons in the old school getting their regular elementary work. This new school is located in afi old dwelling house, and one of the novel features is an arrangement by which the teacher of home economics has three girls living in the school with her for the first four days of the week, so as to be under her con- stant care and supervision, and in this way learn home management to far better advantage than they can merely in classroom work. When these girls have finished a period of two or three weeks living at the school their places are taken by three other girls. Of course, during the entire period all girls are having their regular cooking and sewing lessons in the school kitchen or sewing room. While no charge is made for the girls' lodging they ali contribute towards the expense of maintaining their table at the school, and this amounts, as the mothers of some of the girls have stated, to about the same sum that it would cost for their meals at home. Such a school is made possible because the State pays half the salary of the principal, one-third the salaries of the other teachers and makes a generous allowance for equipment. We have adopted in our town the principle of promotion in order to encourage and reward our teachers. If a vacancy occurs in a position that is more desirable than that held by another competent teacher in our town, we believe in promoting such a teacher to this vacancy rather than going outside of the town. This principle, of course, could not be applied under the old system. It has worked extremely well in operation. In one of our village schools the principal got into a row with some of the people there and before an investigation could be made by the board he broke his con- tract and deserted the school. It became necessary to fill his position immediately. We were able to transfer to this place a teacher who had been doing excellent work in another school in our town who thereby was rewarded by being given larger pay and a splendid opportunity to demonstrate her ability and authority in a prominent position. She already has made a great success in her new location and should win a reputation that will lead to further advancement, if not in our town perhaps in other towns or in cities, where they could afford to pay more for a first-class teacher than our town may be justified in paying. The place she left vacant has already been filled by a competent teacher, and the people of the village from which she was taken realize that they in turn, when a vacancy occurs in their school which is superior in many respects to most of the schools in our town, will be able to call upon the rest of the town to surrender to them the most competent teacher occupying a position of inferiority to that becoming vacant. We believe this system of promotion will improve the schools throughout the town, and even make our system attractive to teachers outside of the town, who otherwise might not care to take a posi- tion in our town that in itself might not be particularly advantageous, but as a stepping stone to something better where the merit system is recognized might be extremely desirable. We have also found it is advisable and necessary to employ a regular sub- stitute in our town, which could not have been done under the old system. 676 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK We have four classrooms in one of our village schools, and three class rooms in another village school. The principal of each of these schools is one of the regular teachers whose work confines him to his own class room, and prevents him from properly supervising the other class rooms. Notwith- standing this he has been held responsible for the condition of the entire school. The employment of this substitute enables us to send her for a portion of her time to each of these schools, thus permitting the principal to surrender his class to the substitute and supervise the rest of his school. The substitute also takes the place of other teachers at the school as well as the places of teachers at our one room schools, thus enabling the regular teacher to spend a day or two visiting and inspecting other schools, either in our own town, or in the adjoining cities. The visiting teacher is enabled in this way to observe different methods from those employed in her own school and thereby improve her own work. This system so far has worked well and is meeting with enthusiastic response from the teachers. We have made it a point under this new system to have all the teachers of the town meet the board once every four weeks, at which time they file their reports of the school work, and obtain their checks for four weeks' salary. This permits the board to meet frequently all the teachers and to discuss with them various problems involving the different schools, and also enables the teachers to become acquainted with each other, and to talk over with each other the various questions of school management in which they are interested. We have also arranged to have an expert on rural schools attend these meetings and deliver a course of lectures on modern methods of teach- ing and managing rural schools. We hope also that we can arrange to have the younger teachers in our town who have not had the advantage of a course at a normal training school, spend a portion of their summer in attendance at one of the summer courses at a school devoted to the train- ing of rural teachers. W r e expect as a result of these measures to increase the teacher's interest in her profession, to stimulate her ambition and to improve her methods of teaching; and we intend to so organize the force as to promote those teachers who demonstrate their ability and their devo- tion to their work. The result will be that we should have very much better teachers and greatly improved schools, with corresponding advantages in the education of our children. All of these things are done in many of our cities where the same system of school organization is in operation that is provided under the present town school law. The results have been satisfactory in the cities and we anticipate the same improvements in our country schools. I should add, inasmuch as some of the frenzied opponents of the new system have stigmatized it as an example of " Prussianism " by which the schools of the State will be managed by the State educational department instead of by the local representatives, that all of these changes originated with our own board, that none of them was ordered or even suggested by the State board, although each of them after adoption tentatively by our board was submitted to the State department and approved by it before being put into operation. Elsmere, January 25. — Albany Knickerbocker Press. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 677 New School Bill Brings More Money The Machold Township School Law will undoubtedly be repealed. Oppo- sition to it has been so bitter on the part of the State Granges that even a reasonable lease of life seems likely to be denied this measure. The prin- cipal ground of objection is increased and unequal taxation. As the town- ship system has for many years been an accepted system, has been adopted in every adjoining state as a progressive plan for the improvement of rural education, and has been publicly declared by our Department of Education to be the most forward step in rural education since the establishment of free schools, everyone must be deeply impressed with the advisability of a substitute measure which will save to the people of the State such provisions of the law as the public welfare requires, while affording relief from provisions which have resulted in inequalities or improper burdens. A bill has already been introduced in the State Senate known as the " Senate Bill on Public Education " which to a remarkable degree eliminates the objectionable features of the Machold Law and includes new provisions for State aid of high and rural schools which should ensure its enthusiastic endorsement by every member of our organization. Your legislative com- mittee and the undersigned were assured in a conference at the Depart- ment Wednesday that its provisions are most acceptable to the Department and immediate communication with all our members acquainting you with its provisions was advised. The features which distinguished the bill from its predecessor are: Union free school districts are withdrawn from the township system. The districts of the township forming a town school district have a Board of Education of three, five or seven members depending on the number of districts in the town district. The union free school district is a separate entity controlled by its own Board of Education as at present. Union free school district may receive nonresident pupils and charge a tuition equal to the actual cost of instruction ; the State paying' $20, the district from which the pupil comes paying the difference. Smaller units than towns may be created when public interest and convenience require it. Units of adminis- tration so as to embrace school districts from two or more towns, even if in different counties, may be organized. Independent districts may be created. State aid provided by this bill is greatly increased. Every school district in every town school district will receive a district quota of $250. Every union free school district will receive a district quota of $250. To every city, union free school district and town school district maintaining an academic department an academic quota of $600 will be given. In other words every high school will receive $850 in lieu of the $125 district quota and $100 academic quota now received or a net gain of $625. It is a critical moment in our educational progress as a State. The con- dition of rural life, the strength of our citizenship, the productive capacity of our farm land and the welfare of the State largely depend on the education of its youth. Write your assemblyman and senator today asking them to support the " Senate Bill on Public Education." Action on this bill will begin in the 678 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK legislature next Monday or Tuesday. One strong collective effort will help to place on the statute books a law which will preserve the good features of the township law and increase State aid for all time. The additional district quotas which will come to Dutchess county amount to $21,075 and the academic quotas $6,500, making a total of $27,575 of new money received from the State. The Rural School Bill The Malone-Lockwood school bill is a measure that is definitely drawn to meet the objections made to the present town school law. It appears on its face to accomplish that object. It is understood to be satisfactory to the department of education and if that is the case it ought to be sent forward for executive approval with the least delay under the regular order. The new bill defines rural schools as all those in a town except union free schools with academic department begun before May 17, 1917. The dis- trict unit is the town but the town board is made up of trustees elected in the several districts of the town and thus the town is a rural school district in the terms of the law and no less than five districts must be united to make a rural district. Where there are twelve or more districts in a town the electors may divide the town into two or more rural districts by popular vote at the annual meeting or a special meeting called for the purpose. The rural district board of education shall maintain a school in each district going to form the rural, or town district. It shall provide trans- portation when necessary for children attending school and furnish all needed equipment. It shall establish elementary, high, vocational, industrial, agricultural, and home-making schools or classes, night schools or any other kind of school that shall be thought necessary to meet the demands of the rural district. It may provide for academic instruction in another district if the district in which a student lives has no high school and there is room in an adjacent district for such instruction without new buildings or more teachers. On the subject of taxation it is provided that the trustees of the rural school district, that is, of the town as a whole, if one district, or of the district if there are two or more in the town, shall prepare an annual budget. In no event is it prepared by the trustee of the single district, who is elected to represent a district in the rural district board. The annual budget need not be approved by vote of the district. But if there is a supplemental district budget for any reason it must be voted by the district. The taxable property of a rural district is assessed on the town roll and is duly apportioned if the district runs into two towns. The school budgets, annual and supplemental, go to the board of supervisors and are incorporated in the regular town budget, collected by the town collector and finally turned over to the treasurer of the rural school district. The separate districts composing the rural district have nothing to do, evidently except to elect its member of the rural district board of education. It will be seen that taxes are based on the taxable values of property throughout the town so that no single district has any advantage over another. It will raise the school tax in some districts by raising assessments THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 679 and lower it in others, and all through the process of uniform assessments for town purposes including schools. The bill puts control of transporta- tiontion into local hands so that no complaint need arise on that score. In a word it works as might be expected when the single district plan of run- ning schools is changed to the rural district plan of not less than five districts united into one and all districts under the supervision of the State Department of Education. This bill may be regarded as the best solution to be had of the rural school problem. The old system had to be revolutionized if children were to be induced to remain in the country after coming half way to years of discretion, for the old system had fallen into universal contempt except in the districts that put self-interest of a few taxpayers above the imper- ative need of sound teaching for New York children in the rural regions. — Geneva Daily News, February 22, 1918. Good Points of Township School Law There is a statewide discussion on the repeal of the Township School Law, on which a hearing was given in Albany yesterday. There are three bills introduced in the Legislature to repeal this law. School authorities believe the repeal of the bill is a backward step educationally, especially if there is no substitute bill enacted in its place. Senator Brown and Speaker Sweet both joined in recommending some compromise measure yesterday. Friends of the new Township law argue that it has not had a fair trial. It has hot yet been put completely into operation. It requires time to change the entire basis of management of the rural schools of a state the size of New York, and to put the new system into smooth running order. Amend- ments are needed to adjust certain inequalities in the practical workings of the law, and these should be made without delay. But to repeal the entire measure would mean confusion in the schools and would throw into the scrap heap all the constructive work that has been done under the new law. The main effect of the law is to equalize the school taxes in a township, and to give help to the poorest districts that have had the worst schools. Here are some of the enlightening statistics in regard to this Township School Law sent out by the Woman Suffrage Party which opposes repeal. There are still 4,000 schools in the State with less than ten pupils each, and over 1,500 school districts where the total amount of taxable property in the district is less than $20,000. The taxable property in one school district may be $500,000 and in an adjoining one may be $15,000. In the first district a man might pay a school tax of two mills on the dollar and the school in that district might have plenty of money. In the adjoin- ing district a man might be obliged to pay ten mills on the dollar and the school in that district would not have money enough to give the children any advantages whatever. The new law makes the township the unit of taxation in place of the schcol district and all the property in the township is taxed equally and the money apportioned where it is needed. A Board of Education elected by the voters of the township takes the place of the school trustees. This Board of Education may if thought best, consolidate the small schools of adjoining dis- 680 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK tricts. Union Free School Districts of 1,500 population were excluded from the provisions of the law and all Union Free School Districts employ- ing fifteen teachers or more. A budget for the following year must he made out for all the schools in the township by the Board of Education and be published in the local newspapers and posted where the public may see and discuss it. There is much misunderstanding of the new plan and some of the things objected to are only temporary, due to putting the plan into operation. The new Boards of Education came into existence without a penny in their treasury and had to make a budget large enough to cover the expense of getting the new plan started. They also had to assume the contracts already made with school teachers by the old school trustees. So that while they had to raise more money last year than may be needed next year, they made less improvement in the schools last year than they will make next year and this has led to some dissatisfaction. Those who helped frame the bill think it a great mistake to repeal the measure until its obvious faults have been eradicated and the system has been given a brief trial. It is not an experiment but is in line with what several of the other states have done for their children in the rural dis- tricts. — Jamestown Post, February 28 > 1918. Senator Brown Counters Strong on Whitman Albany, Feb. 28. — Another hurdle for Governor Whitman to jump in his race to distance apposition from the up-State Republican farmer was raised by Senate Leader Brown yesterday, just when it began to appear that the Governor had outgeneraled Brown in bidding for support from the tillers of the soil. The repeal of the Township School Law, concededly a wise enactment of the last Legislature but hated by all farmers because it raised their taxes, was being threshed out at a largely attended committee hearing. One speaker after another had pointed out that Mr. Whitman, responding to the demands of the rural voters, had urged the Legislature to repeal the law, before Brown vigorously defended it. The farmers, whose opposition to Governor Whitman's third term aspira- tions. Brown and his Republican associates have been encouraging, listened in evident amazement to Brown's address until he reached this passage: " We have 8,300 one-room schools in this State, I propose to the Legis- lature that we vote $ioo, $200, or $300 as a State appropriation for each district to bring the educational system of each district up to the standard. I propose that we bring the appropriation for each district to a reasonable equal amount, on the condition that the district raise for educational pur- poses an amount equal to that given by the State." Up to this point Brown had been listened to in silence. But thereafter applause marked his every utterance. Brown finally resumed his seat, smiling triumphantly. When the farmers left for home the agreement was general that, if Brown's suggestion were adopted, the one objectional feature of the Town- ship School Law would be removed, because the State would provide money to cut down the farmers' school taxes. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 68l Last week when Governor Whitman withdrew his nominees for members of the State Farms and Markets Council, it was conceded that he had deprived his Republican legislative opponents of the only issue upon which they might accomplish his political downfall. The farmers had criticised the nominees severely, and the anti-Whitman forces had been making capital of the unpopularity of the Whitman selections. Now, however, politicians who have 'been observing the strategic moves on both sides, credit Brown with having maneuvred himself back into a posi- tion of potential strength with the Republican farmer element. Further than that, it was pointed ©at that Brown, at the same time, had popularized himself with the vast body of educational uplifters who are campaigning for the retention of the Township .School Law, which State Commissioner of Education Finley to day called " the most important and beneficent legislation in the interest of the rural schools enacted since the establishment of the free schools in New York State." The township law, which, by combining school districts, has abolished the one-room school and established central schools where classes are graded and every modern facility provided, was opposed at the hearing by elements which Brown described as " backwoods, barbarians, bourbon and ignorant." "Jf you repeal this law," announced Brown, " you will set back education in New York State a quarter of a century. I do not want to be a party to such a poor, cheap, puny demand. " Such mistakes as there are in the law should be corrected. I am for correction, not, however, because I want to get on any political band wagon. The little red schoolhouse in the 8,300 rural districts of this State is a dilapidated affair, that would not be permitted to stand as a barn on the poorest farm in the State." Asa Bird Gardner, former District Attorney of New York, who appeared for Rockland County, contended that the " Little Red School is good enough," and that the " Three R's with a little bit of geography and history," are sufficient for the wants of the farmers' children. When Mr. Gardiner read from an arithmetic in use in the country schools, and contended that it was too obtruse to be understood by him, Senator Robinson of Herkimer, remarked: " I dont know where we'll get an arithmetic simple enough for you to understand." John Townsend, an up-State farmer, complained that the law worked many hardships on his District School Board, including the purchase of a $6 lock for the schoolhouse door. " The Red School House was good enough for our father and grand- fathers," argued Townsend. " Do you think we ought to abolish bathtubs because our forefathers didn't use them?" asked Senator Lockwood, of Brooklyn.— Saratoga Saratogian, Feburairy 28, iqsS. Changing the Rural School ILaw A bill is pending in the Legislature to radically amend or repeal the rural school law, which, in effect, provides for the administration and support of the schools by townships instead of by school districts as formerly. We 682 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK believe in this matter the legislature should be very certain of its course and not accept without question the theory of the opponents of the law. This measure, whatever may be its faults, was a long step forward in progressive school administration. It provides for a co-ordinated (popular word nowadays) school system that reaches all the way from the primary school in the rural districts to the university. Practically, it brings the high school within the reach of the boys and girls on the farms. It adds to the efficiency (another popular word) of the village schools, and makes the good roads functionate more completely. To turn back now, to wipe this law off the statute books altogether, would be taking a step backward, so far as the public schools are concerned. Also, there is a demand that the farms shall be worked to the limit of their capacity. To accomplish this much desired work, it is necessary to make rural life attractive. One thing that has been urged against life on the farm for a family has been that the children are remote from schools and that the educational system is in fact of little account. Of course, distances cannot be reduced by statute nor space annihilated by law, but this school law did accomplish much in educational co-ordination and efficiency. Its best features should be preserved; and probably can be while inequalities in the burden of taxation can be remedied. — Hudson Falls Herald, February 28, 1918. The Machold Law The compromise made yesterday at Albany on the proposal to repeal the Machold school law seems like the sensible and sane thing to do. Senator Brown promised more state aid for the rural schools, and Speaker Sweet suggested the appointment of a commission to make a study of the town- ship system and report to the next Legislature. There has been a strong sentiment aroused against the bill which had for its only purpose the improvement of the rural school conditions. The objections have been based entirely on economical grounds and with little consideration of the educational advantages which might flow from the change in the school system. There has been a lot of sentimental talk about the passing of the little red schoolhouse. Some great men have come from the little red school- house, and we had one president of the United States who never went to any school. But that does not affect the argument that the boys and girls of the farm should have an equal educational opportunity with the boys and girls of the city, and that they do not have under the district school system which it is proposed to re-establish. Give the township system a fair test, and no one can say that has been done. Dr. John H. Finley, the commissioner of education, is one of the greatest educators in the world today, and is so recognized both in this country and in Europe. He is not a faddist, and there is no man more inter- ested in the boys and girls of New York. He said that when he came to the Educational departments four years ago he found that the children of the rural sections of New York did not have the school advantages he had 40 years ago in the country districts of Illinois. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 683 The city boy has his way open from the kindergarten to the college. So far as education is concerned the country boy does not have that open road. It is to the advantage of the State, and it is certainly to the advantage of the rural districts that every boy in the State has as nearly an equal chance as it is possible to provide. The township law is not a perfect law, and there can be amendments made to remedy some of the defects. But it is due to the children of the State that it be given a fair trial before it is wiped from the statute books and we return to a system which is condemned by every progressive edu- cator in the country. Let us have a study of the system by a commission to determine how the defects can be remedied before we take the backward step in the matter of the education of the children of our State. The minister of education for England says after the war that country will be the greatest which does the most for its schools. If that is true of countries it is likewise true of States. New York may decide that it is better to save a few dollars and retain a system of education which will not give the boys and girls of the rural districts the same advantages that the boys and girls of the rural districts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Mas- sachusetts now have. But before this great State makes that decision there should be a fair and honest trial of a system which is more progressive and which has the approval of every" student of educational matters. — Watertown Standard, February 28, 1918. Whitman Is Trying to Pacify Farmers Albany, March 2 — " Will Governor Whitman be able to pacify the dis- gruntled farmers?" On the answer, politicians believe, depends largely the success or failure of the Whitman renomination boom as the situation stands at present, and consequently the question is foremost in the minds of both the Whitman supporters and the anti group which is struggling to kill the Governor's third term aspirations. There was a time, a few months ago, when the success or failure of the Governor's ambitions seemed to depend largely on the attitude of the Republicans in the big cities — particularly New York and Brooklyn. But that time has passed. The Governor has effected close alliances with the organizations in these sections, and now the seat of opposition is the up-State and largely the agricultural sections. This is a dangerous battle- ground, too, for it is the farming sections that pile up Republican pluralities on Election Day, and even the leaders in the metropolitan districts are inclined to think twice before they line up finally behind a candidate who has the opposition of the farmer. Therefore, on successful settlement of the agricultural dissatisfaction depends not only the support of those sec- tions, but by indirection it tends to affect the loyalty of the metropolitan districts. The dissatisfaction among the farmers hinges on two points — the town- ship school law and the administration of the State Council of Farms and Markets. Governor Whitman is trying to give the farmers what they want in both cases, and so far as it lies within their power the antis are endeavoring to keep the split wide open. 684 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The township school law was passed last winter, on the recommendation of the State Commissioner of Education, Dr. John H. Finley. It wipes out the little school districts, consolidating them in larger districts, for the purpose of enlarging the area of taxation and supplying thereby better educational advantages in the rural districts. The effect, however, has been to jump the farmers' school taxes enormously. They leaped from 10 to 200 per cent, in many sections. That brought the farmers to Albany with a demand on the Governor, who had supported and signed the bill, for its immediate repeal. The Governor has yielded to their pleas. He is ready to sign the bill repealing the hated act. This might have been the end of the issue, but Senator Brown, leader of the Republican majority in the Upper House and the most active anti- Whitman fighter, has thrown a monkey wrench into the wheels that threatens to tear the whole question wide open and leave it a bleeding sore. Mr. Brown made a speech at the hearing on the repeal bill on Wednes- day, proposing that, as compromise, the State keep on the statute books the plan for better rural schools, and appropriate out of the general fund moneys to stand the extra expense where it bore heavily on the farmers. Brown argued that the system was conceded to be a big advance over the old plan, that it would be a step twenty-five years backward to erase it from the statute books and that if it was an unbearable burden to the farmer the rest of the State should come to the financial rescue and that in no event should the farmer be robbed of his educational advantages. This has a kick in it that may come back on the Governor from New York City — the section where his renomination boom is now strongest — because it means, if put into effect, a jump in the direct tax levy. The indirect revenues of the State, as matters now stand, will be insufficient. A direct tax of from $10,000,000 to $13,000,000 must be imposed. Therefore, appropriations from the general fund to help the country school districts in addition to the present budget means increases in the direct levy. And New York City pays 70 per cent, of all direct taxes. It will be called on to pay the lion's share of any increase to help the country schools. The second issue, while it has created scarce a ripple of excitement below the Harlem River has set the up-State afire. It is the State Council of Farms and Markets. The agricultural interests are against the policy that body has pursued. They are against its personnel — in large part. Several of the 'big farm organizations have passed resolutions condemning it and a State Federation of Agriculture has been formed for the express purpose of fighting it. One of the principal officers of the Council against whom criticism has been directed is the secretary, Charles Betts of Lyons, but the criticism has been direct, as well, against the members of the Council and Governor Whitman, after sending the names of the ten councilmen — -those whom he had named temporarily last summer after the Council was created — to the Senate for confirmation two weeks ago, withdrew them all last week as a result o-f the protests from the farms. This was another move to conciliate the farmer. — Brooklyn Eagle, March 3, 1918 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 685 Brown Gives Right Report on Speech Senator Elon R. Brown yesterday made public transcripts of his argu- ments Wednesday before the senate and assembly education committees in which he opposed repeal of the township school law and advocated its amendment to correct objectionable features. This action followed objec- tions to the manner in which he was quoted in newspapers carrying reports of the hearing. Abstracts purporting to comprise the arguments of Senator Brown made before the committee were given to the press at the Capitol Wednesday afternoon and were generally used reporting his talk. When the articles appeared Senator Brown objected to them, declaring he was incorrectly quoted. When the stenographic transcripts of what he said before the committee were given out yesterday afternoon, Senator Brown said he had been inves- tigating to learn the origin of the abstracts given to the press Wednesday afternoon but had been unable to determine from what source they had come. " They might have been circulated to put me in a wrong light," Senator Brown declared. In arguing before the committee for the retention of the best features of the township school law, Senator Brown told of his own experiences, explaining a system which was in use in Welles-ley, Mass., and comparing the system with the system then in use in New York state. "I was amazed at the comparison between that township school and the schools in New York," Senator Brown declared. " It led me to think upon the subject and to study it. Among other papers that I read was one which I think was the report of the board of education of the state of Connecticut for the year 1900 — a very marvelous report framed by Profes- sor Sumner at Yale. I looked over the law and got reports of the various educational systems of the states and I discovered -that in most of the northern states there had been- a change from the old district system to a broader plan, usually the township system. " I began to investigate and I found that they had better schoolhouses ; that they had larger schools ; that they had systems of transporting scholars to central schools; that they spent more money on buildings and on teaching, . . . and that in the rural districts they systematically gave instruction in agriculture. I became satisfied that we were backward in our system in New York, and the reason for our becoming backward was easy enough to apprehend. " The country districts were more populous fifty years ago than they are today; the families were larger — there were more children within a school district than there are today. The people were poor and salaries were small, but a better class of mind could be obtained to instruct children in those days than can be obtained for small pay today. " Many of our best citizens received their best instruction in the old select schools which prevailed throughout the country districts, where able men inspired their students. Now, our schools in the country have steadily gone down in attendance. The schoolhouses are poor, miserable, cheap. The majority of them would not be permitted to stand as outbuild- THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK ings on the best farms in the town. This is the fact about it, and everybody here knows it, that the children in the country haven't received and aren't receiving the education which the rising generation needs if we are to be worthy of the name of a commonwealth at all. " Now this bill may have faults. I suppose it has. I never knew a bill blocking out a new line of thought and action which wasn't in need of amendment and change. A great many people think that when legislation is passed it should be perfect. Now what I object to about this situation is this : " I have always advocated doing everything that could be done to make the rural schools of the state stronger, and the rural districts better and more desirable as a place of residence. I believe that the interests of the commonwealth demand that attention. I object, after this bill has been passed, because it has defects and because there are a good many defective people who object to it on untenable grounds. I object to having an issue made upon the subject of education where you find upon one side all bour- bonism and ignorance and on the other side progressivism and no alter- native. I object to that division. " I don't want a fight between those on one hand who want to go back to conditions that are undesirable, and on the other hand people who want improved school conditions in the rural districts without any capacity to solve the problem. I object, as a legislator, to being put in a position of either discarding this attempt to improve the schools of the state alto- gether or giving the people of the state something that they are not satisfied with. " We should seek now to find out what the just criticisms are upon this legislation and correct them. If we repeal this law, it will set back edu- cation in this state for a quarter of a century. I object, as a legislator, to being put in an impossible position and because there is something to correct, to correct it by destroying a great and beneficial measure. " It isn't consistent with the public interest or with manhood to do a thing of that kind. It may be that there are mistakes in the bill. I am for correcting them, but I am for correcting them not because I am afraid or because I want to get on the "band wagon," but because I believe con- ditions will be improved — and for no other reason. " Now education is a state matter. How many millions does the state appropriate annually for education " ? Doctor Finley : " Six or seven million dollars." Senator Brown : " It is a recognized fact, and has been for decades, that education is the state's duty and the state's obligation, and the particular manner in which it performs that duty — i whether by the school district system or the township system or whatever system it may do it — is merely a matter of convenience. The state has been giving six or seven million dollars and in the apportionment of this money it has come to my knowl- edge that in quite a number of districts they have sent their children to a neighboring district and paid the entire expense with the state's apportion- ment and levied no tax whatever, and I suppose those people are objecting to this bill. Honorable Elon R. Brown President Pro Tern of the Senate and Republican Leader THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 687 " It is a novel experience to me to be in harmony with the Woman Suffrage party, but I am their ally or they are mine — we are married today. It may be on the Japanese plan, possibly. " I want to say, in relation to this matter, that I have had very grave doubts whether, even with an appropriation of six or seven million dollars among the various school districts of the state, the state of New York was discharging its full duty. I understand that there are about 8,300 one-room schools in this state. . . . Now, if the state of New York hasn't given enough to the support of these single-room schools so that the different towns can afford to have the tax levied in the town as it is in the state, on an equal basis throughout the entire state, I am in favor of the state's levy- ing more and giving more to the common schools that cannot be main- tained without it. "Now I want to say to you — I don't want to be unfair and I don't want to institute a plan for the flag and an appropriation — but we have had poor conditions for an awfully long time on the one-room system. We have 8,300 districts with one, two, three, four or five scholars, and they have been maintained for $300, $400, $500 or $600 when it is wholly inadequate. " So far as I am concerned I stand ready to correct the wrongs in this bill, ic recognize the necessity of the state's helping these single-room schools, on the ground that they are single-room schools, and to vote, if need be, to vote $100 more to every single-room school on the average; if that won't do, to vote $200, and if that won't do, to vote $300 to every single-room school for the purpose of bringing it up to a desirable standard of efficiency." — Albany Knickerbocker Press, March 3, 1918 Farmers Plead for Red School House Albany, March I. — The farmers, for whose political favor there has been a merry race among the various factions of the Republican party, were here in force Wednesday. They came to fight for the repeal of the town- ship school law at the hearing before the Senate and Assembly education committees. The Governor has sent a special message to the Legislature asking for the repeal of the township school law while Speaker Sweet at the opening of today's hearing announced that he is not only for its repeal but also for the creation of a commission to study the entire question. A big delegation of women suffragists appeared at the hearing to protest against the proposed repeal of the township law. Senator Elon R. Brown made an impassioned appeal for the retention of the township law. " The country school," he said, " has been steadily going down in attend- ance. The schoolhouses are poor, miserable and cheap, and respectable farmers would not permit the majority of them to stand as outhouses on their farms. I do not want to see a return to the intolerable conditions of the past. If this law is repealed education in this State will go back twenty-five years." The woman suffragists were indignant because they were not consulted on the question of repealing the township law and declared that such action would result in a step backward. They freely criticised the State Education 688 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Department, declaring that one of the principal causes for the opposition to the law was the bungling way in which it was; enforced. Dr. John H. Finley, State Education. Commissioner, led the opposition to the repeal of the law, terming the law an. effort to give the farmer boy an equal opportunity with the city boy to get a good education. He said that it was a long step forward and that sufficient time had not yet been given tO' try it out Assemblyman Louis M. Martin, of Oneida, marshalled the forces of the farmers who demand the repeal of the township law. John. TOwnsend, of Sullivan county, insisted that the school that was good enough for Lincoln was good enough for him. Senator Lockwood then asked him if he thought they ought to abolish bath tubs because they did not have them in those days. John J. Dillon, former State Commissioner of Markets, was vociferously applauded by the farmers when called upon. He asserted that he had never seen such unanimity among the country folks as was evidenced in their demand for the repeal of the township, law. A score of farmers from all sections of the State also spoke, demanding the law's repeal and a return to the little red school house district. — Part Jervis Union, March 4, 1918 Wants School Law Retained Passage of the bill designed to amend the township school law, enacted last year, by correcting certain features that have aroused opposition in the rural districts,, rather than the complete repeal of the law, is recom- mended in a report submitted to the Senate last night by the committee on public education. The main provisions of the bill are : The withdrawal of the union free- school districts from the township system. An increase in the State aid of $100 to each of the rural schools of the State, payable to the town. An increase in the academic quota from $100 to $500 for each of the high schools of the State. Permitting union free school districts which receive nonresident stu- dents to charge a tuition equal to the actual cost of instruction. Power to create smaller units than towns when the public interest and convenience require it. Authority to organize units of administration so as to embrace school districts from two or more towns. Even if in different counties. Authority to establish, when public interest and convenience and local conditions require, independent district. Increasing the number of members on the board of education in the large units. " The committee has," says the statement, " in view of the present strain on the resources of the State to meet war conditions, restricted its recom- mendations for changes and for expenditures to the minimum essential to remedy intolerable conditions to relieve the rural districts of the unjust burdens of taxation which they are required to carry, and to adapt the township system to existing conditions. If the bill becomes a law it will, THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 689 in the opinion of the committee meet all reasonable objections of the law of 1917, preserve the good features of that law, and save the State from lapsing into a decadent condition in rural education. "No internal matter is of greater importance; the condition of rural life, the strength of our citzenship, the productive capacity of our farm- land, and the welfare of the State are largely dependent upon the education of its youth. " No one should fail to see that there is a critical moment in its history and that the failure to solve the pending problem means a backward step instead of a strong, vital, progressive movement in rural education." — Albany Argus, March ig, 1918 A Bill Which Would Help the Country Districts The Senate Committee on Public Education, after giving careful con- sideration to the bills which have been introduced this session calling for the amendment or repeal' of the present township law, has prepared and introduced a bill known as Nos. 1175-1212. We believe that this bill should have the careful consideration of every one of our readers, both those who are especially interested in our schools and those others who are interested in the general welfare of the rural communities. This bill calls for the amendment of the township law as it now stands SO' that those provisions which have jcaused the most: criticism and objec- tion are eliminated. It provides that every district which has an academic department shall be entirely separated from the rural districts. The rural districts would then contribute nothing in taxes toward the support of schools maintaining academic departments. All academic schools would have a separate board of education as under the old district system. Towns containing twelve or more school districts may be divided into two or more Town Districts but no Town District shall contain less than five school districts. This will make the work in towns containing many school districts more easily and efficiently administered. A resident of each rural school district shall be elected by the voters of each district as custodian of the school property of the district. His duties are to look after the repairs and improvements made in the dis- trict, provide for cleaning the school house, buy the fuel, etc. An appropriation of $250 to be paid by the State to each town for each school district in the town. An academic quota of $600 to each high school district. As the rural schools are now receiving from $125 to $175 this means that each rural district will receive almost double the amount, on the average, that it now receives. We have made careful investigation and find that the towns in this vicinity would be benefited as follows : The Town of Boston would receive $1750, an increase of $850. The Town of Colden would receive $2600, an increase of $1100. The Town of Concord would receive $6025, an increase of $2125. The Town of Holland would receive $3400, an increase of $1375- The Town of Sardinia would receive $3900, an increase of $1575. This means an increase in the public money received in these five towns of more than seven thousand dollars. 69O THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK This is the first bill we have seen in a very long time that takes into consideration the real service which the rural districts are rendering to the State as a whole and responds by offering the financial assistance which has long been their due. We think this bill of so much importance to the rural and village districts that we urge our readers to procure copies of the bill at once, examine it thoroughly, and see if it should not receive our undivided sup- port. — Springfield Journal and Herald, March 28, 1918 The Township School Law The Assembly has recently voted for a repeal of the present township school law. A bill has just been introduced in the Senate by the com- mittee on public education which, it is believed very largely meets the objections that have been raised to the Machold law. Its main features are: 1. The elimination of all union free school districts maintaining aca- demic departments from the present township units. 2. Power to divide a town into two or more units by vote of the qualified electors wherever public interest and convenience seem to require it. 3. Power to establish independent districts whenever public interest and convenience require it. 4. Increase State aid for schools to the amount of $1,500,000. This will mean an average increase of more than $100 for each one room school and a $625 increase for each union school with an academic department. Under the provisions of this bill Lewis county will receive $21,000 extra public money for the support of its schools. 5.. Election by the people in each school district of a custodian of school property who shall, under the direction of the board of education, look after repairs, engage janitors, provide fuel and, in short, take care of all the details in connection with the operation of the school in the district for which he is elected. 6. Assumption by the State of all bonded indebtedness of the different districts to the amount of $500. 7. Power to increase on vote of the people, the number of members of a board of education in town units with more than nine school districts. 8. Permitting union schools to charge for non-resident pupils a tuition in advance of the State allowance up to the limit of the actual per capita cost of instruction. It would seem that no reasonable objection can be raised against this bill. It is expected that all the friends of education will rally to the support of this measure, including the opponents of the present Machold law. There never was a time when it was more important that we keep up the standards of our schools. They are the corner stone of our democracy. If we would be patriotic, if we would fight "to make the world safe for democracy," then we must keep our schools up to the highest possible standard of efficiency. The school is the most potent, the most funda- mental of all our democratic institutions. There is a reasonable certainty that this bill will be written upon our statute books, provided it is shown to be backed by public sentiment. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 69 1 The time for action is short, however. This bill will come up for action in the Senate next Wednesday, April 3d. Now is the time to let our representatives in the legislature know whether this bill, which has grown out of all the agitation and debates of the past winter, is really what the rural people want. If we believe in better schools in Lewis county, then we should flood our Assemblyman, A. A. Copeley, our Senator, Theodore Douglass Robinson, Senator Charles C. Lockwood, Assembly M. E. Tallett (chairman respectively of the Senate and Assembly committees on public education,) with telegrams, letters and petitions to that effect. It is hoped that churches and granges, farmers and townspeople, in short every individ- ual and club or organization of whatever nature which is interested in the matter of public education will take action and let our representatives know whether we are for or against this proposed law. Township School Law Out of the discussion concerning the township school law throughout the State a new situation in the Legislature has developed. It is assumed that the township law will be repealed, at least in those features which have proved objectionable and burdensome and in the place of those features will be substituted a liberal policy of State aid. Under this policy each district maintaining an academic department will receive a district quota of $250 and an academic quota of $600, or a total of $625 more per year than they have been receiving heretofore. The dis- trict quota for each rural school, it is proposed, will be $250 — an average increase of $100. This increased liberality on the part of the State in mat- ters of education will equalize the opportunities of all children for an education and will put New York State which is now 31 on the list in the matter of State aid. more nearly in line with what is being done in the other States of the Union. In other words the feeling now seems to be that New York State should take a forward rather than a backward step and get more nearly in line with the other States, most of which number have adopted a liberal policy of State aid for schools. It is further proposed that union free school districts maintaining an academic department shall not be a part of the township system ; that the people retain the power to create units smaller than towns whenever the interest and convenience of any particular community require; that school district boundaries shall remain the same as at present; that con- tiguous school districts in different townships be permitted to unite when- ever the people by vote so direct; to give the people authority to establish independent districts whenever the public interest and convenience require; to increase the number of members on the boards of education in the larger units, and in many other ways preserve the principle of home rule — to increase rather than diminish the power of the local community. — Rye Courier, March 29, 19 18 New School Bill Deserves Support The present township law is proving unsatisfactory to many localities for several reasons, principally the inclusion of the high school districts 692 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK with their bonded indebtedness as a part of the general township unit, the difficulty of town boards in providing for custodians of school prop- erty, and the increased taxation upon many districts. However, it is felt that it would be little short of a calamity to revert to the unequal taxation and fragmentary administration of our schools which existed prior to the enactment of the present law. Senate Bill No. 11 75 which has been read twice and which will be brought up for vote Wednesday, April third contains the following provi- sions which should eliminate every reasonable objection to the present law: (1) Union free school districts maintaining academic departments are not included in the township unit. (2) An increase in the state aid of $100 to $125 to each of the rural schools of the state payable to the town. (3) An increase in the academic quota to each high school from $100 to $600 and the district quota from $125- to $250. (4) Permits union free school districts to charge tuition to nonresident pupils equal to the actual cost of instruction. (State aid for each aca- demic pupil to be deducted.) Cost to be paid by the town unit. (5) Permits the forming of smaller units than the town when public interest or convenience requires it. (6) Permits " joint districts " from two or more counties. (7) Independent districts may be established when advisable. (8) Increases the number of members on the board of education when expedient. (9) Provides for a custodian of each school house and property to be chosen from the district. A companion bill is already under way amending the present physical training law so that schools having less than ten teachers will not be required to maintain a local physical director thus eliminating the expense of having physical training teachers in each town. Rhinebeck has eleven outside districts which under the new law would constitute a town district. Under the new law taxes will be collected by treasurer of the district who will receive the usual collector's fees. People will elect a custodian of property in each district. All objectionable features of old bill have been removed in this. As shown in detail in another part of this issue of The Gazette the Town of Rhinebeck outside of the village would receive $1350.00 more under the new law. Rhinebeck High School would be increased $625.00 and the total increase for the county would be $27,575.00. District Superintendent F. O. Green has worked hard to make known the valuable features of the new law. He has prepared detailed tables for each town in his district similar to the one for Rhinebeck. The Gazette believes the new law will prove satisfactory to citizens generally and at the same time work for the improvement of the schools of both the country and village. Write to Senator Towner at once and urge the passage of the law. — Rhinebeck Gazette, March 3o, 1918 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 693 letter from Charles J. Herrick, President of the Board of Edu- cation, Town of Bethlehem, to Senator Elon R. Brown, Dated March 31, 1918 As I understand that you are now engaged in drafting a bill to be substituted for the present town school law, I venture to express my opinion as to the manner in which the Boards of Education should be selected. Under the substitute proposed by Senator Lockwood each school district was to elect each year a trustee and all of these trustees within the town or rural school district were to constitute the Board of Educa- tion. I am very much opposed to this feature as it seems to me that the present system of selecting a few members from the town at large and of electing only portion of these each year, having the remainder serve for a longer period, will accomplish very much better results. I should be very reluctant to see that feature of the Lockwood bill provid- ing for the selection of the trustees by each district, which trustees would constitute the Board of Education, embodied in any new program. If the town system is to be preserved there must be a town spirit aroused in the Board of Education in order to make that system a success. Even now we find members of the Board viewing the work solely as repre- sentatives of a special district, and feeling no sense of obligation towards the rest of the town. If there should be representatives from every district this feeling would be intensified, there would be either a deadlock, each member refusing to do any thing for any district except his own, or else the representatives would compromise, each agreeing to the other's proposal in order to get his own plans carried out, which would result in the expenditure unnecessarily of considerable sums of money in every district of the town. Moreover such a large body is unmanageable. It is difficult enough to get five representatives of country communities to agree upon any line of policy, and it would be almost impossible to achieve results with a larger body. If it becomes necessary to have each district elect a trustee then these trustees ought either to elect from their members a small Board of Education, or else delegate their powers to' either an executive com- mittee or to a chairman. I cannot approve either of having the Board of Education changed every year as provided >under the Lockwood bill. Under the present law three members of the Board who have had experi- ence, survive each annual election. This enables the policy of the Board to be continued and the experience of the past known and utilized by the Board for future work. It seems to me too, that the selection by the entire town of the trustees makes them more independent than if they are selected by the local districts. We have found in our own experience that we have been obliged to disappoint certain districts in their expecta- tions because for some reason the granting of their desires at that time might have been detrimental to the interests of the entire town, or more expensive than the town could afford. If each district has the selection of a trustee in acting for the welfare of the entire town in opposition to the wishes of his district, might be punished through the refusal of the district to return him to office, which punishment would militate against the best interests of the town. Under the Lockwood bill providing for a representative from each district, the communities having the greatest num- t>94 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK ber of children and the largest assessed valuation of property in our town would be in a hopeless minority. I venture to say that two-thirds of the property valuation and of the school children in our town come from the villages of Slingerlands, Delmar, Elsmere and Selkirk. I£ the Lockwood bill went into effect they would have four votes in a Board consisting of fourteen members and the representatives of the minority of the people of the town would thus be able to control the schools of the districts where the majority of the people live. I am sorry to have taken up your time with such a lengthy discussion of this feature but it seems to me extremely important for the proper administration of the schools under the township system. Letter from H. J. Tirpening, M.D., Fulton, to Senator Elon R. Brown, Dated March 18, 1918. I wrote you in December or January urging the repeal of the Machold Township School Law, I am writing you again for the same purpose, as I see a substitute has been proposed. The State Department has had this same law, save the physical training part, before the school institutes and educational meetings for 25 years and it never grew in favor and the people in the country do not want it. They want no substitute but they do want it repealed. Now, Senator Brown, the public think that Dr Finegan has your best ear and that you are the man that stands in the way of its repeal. I hope this is not so, for no law passed in 25 years so vitally affects the rural por- tion of this state. Letter from C. S. Morris, Chairman, Board of Education, ford, to Senator Elon R. Brown, Dated March 28, 1918, I desire to inform you that a very large majority of the influential citizens of the town of Milford favor the passage of Senate Bill No. S 1175, T212 and I sincerely hope and trust you will lend your support to said bill. Letter from Ralph H. Pickard, Clerk Township School Board, Town of Minden, Fort Plain, to Senator Elon R. Brown, Dated March 28, 1918 At a meeting of our Town Board of Education held yesterday P.M. it was resolved that I, as the Clerk of our Board, should write you, that we are in favor of the Senate Bill No. 1212, amending the Township School Law and that the bill has our hearty approval and we ask you to support the bill. Letter from W. A. Choate, of the W. A. Choate Seating Co., Albany, to Senator Elon R. Brown, Dated April 2, 1918. I now venture a further line to say, as one of the strongest of township advocates, that the bill No. 11 75 which I understand is the measure pro- posed in place of the present law, certainly does not meet the views of a THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 695 very large class of township advocates. In fact, to my mind and speaking frankly, it strikes me that the author of this new bill is either indifferent to the real rural school situation or else fails to grasp it. Personally, I would much prefer to see the bill pass than to see the old law repealed entirely, and thereby hang to the township unit — but more trouble will follow all the same. And yet it would seem easy enough to iron out the bid " obstacles " if an earnest effort is made to do so — but if this new law is introduced simply for the purpose of stalling action on the repeal and thereby leaving the present law on the books, enough said. Incidentally — of course you have been advised by the State Education Department that something like ONE MILLION DOLLARS was turned back into the pockets of the taxpayers when the new township law took effect, handing the new system an empty treasury, which accounts in* a measure for the increased taxes. On all sides it seems to be the belief that the Senate will not make the mistake made over in the Assembly — and therein lies the hope of the township advocates. Letter from F. W. Bauder, President, Farmers and Mechanics Bank, Fort Plain, to Senator Elon R. Brown, March 27, 1918 I am heartily in favor with the new proposed school law number 1212. I think it is a marked improvement over the present law. Letter from Hugh I. Fish, Williamsville, to Senator Elon R. Brown, Dated March 30, 1918. I have some information concerning the general terms of the new Lock- wood Bill, which as I understand it, is to be substituted for the present township law. It seems to me that this is an admirable measure, I am told that it pro- vides for five members to compose a Board of Education, and I am won- dering if you favor this bill and whether you will forcast the probable action of the Senate in this matter. Letter from F. C. Carpenter, Manager of John Wilcox Estate, Printers and Publishers, Milford, to Senator Elon R. Brown, Dated March 28, 1918 Having just recently been privileged to peruse a copy of Senate Bill No. 1 175, No. 1212, I am writing to you to express my sentiments con- cerning same as a substitute for the Township School Bill under which the schools of the state have been operated during the past year. As the editor of a country weekly I have come in direct contact with many people who are opposed to the township bill we have had, for one' or more reasons. So far as I can learn of the general opinion in this section the opposition is not to the entire bill but to certain portions thereof which Senate bill No. 1175, No. 1212 are aimed to correct. In fact many people 696 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK recognize good points in the township bill, although they condemn it utterly as a whole. Consequently, it has seemed to me that it would be a mistake to revert to the old order of things by repealing the township bill as the Assembly has already voted to do. Believing that it is your desire to learn as nearly as possible what the sentiments of the people are concerning the matter, I wish to say, that after investigating carefully the changes which Senate Bill No. 1 175 and No. 1212 would make, I believe that the objections to the old law are rectified in the proposed substitute, and though my expression in its favor may count as the opinion of only one, nevertheless I assure you that my decision was made only after talking the matter over with men whom I have known to be opposed to the township bill and have seen them con- vinced that the new proposed bill would be satisfactory. Therefore, I wish to put myself on record as being in favor of the Senate Bill No. 1 175, No. 1212, and respectfully request your consideration of the same to the end that you may favor its passage. THE GOVERNOR'S SPECIAL MESSAGE FOR THE REPEAL Albany, February 8, IQ18 To the Legislature : In my annual message I called attention to certain of the defects in the so-called township school law. Since communicating with you at that time I have continued to study the situation and I have come to the con- clusion that the only solution of the problem confronting us, due to the passage of that bill, is its immediate repeal. On July 31, 1916, there were ten thousand and twenty-four rural school districts of less than fifteen hundred population or employing less than fifteen teachers. By the operation of the township school law, these ten thousand and twenty-four rural school districts were consolidated into nine hundred and eighty-two town school units. For the purpose of ascertaining whether the consolidation of these dis- tricts put an increased expense upon the taxpayers, I investigated figures submitted to me by the Education Department in regard to the expense in the town school units which had been consolidated and the districts which had not been consolidated. These figures consist of instances selected at random and furnished me, as I have said, by the Education Department. There is an average increase in the total tax levy in one hundred and seventy-three town units in twenty-three counties of more than thirty-three and eight-tenths per cent. It is safe to say that each of the one hundred and seventy-three town units is made up of at least ten of the former rural free school districts. Thus figures from seventeen hundred and thirty of the old districts have been considered, and of the nine hundred and eighty-two districts which are now in existence the figures from one hundred and seventy-three have been considered. In view of the fact that these figures have been impartially selected, I deem it safe to say that the percentage of the increase will prevail through- out the other districts in the State. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 697 On July 31, 1916, there were one hundred and ninety-five districts of more than fifteen hundred population or employing fifteen teachers. These districts were not consolidated under the provisions of the law. The expense in twenty-seven of these districts, selected at random in fifteen counties, shows an increase of only thirteen per cent for the year 1917-1918. This indicates that the burden of a twenty per cent increase has been placed upon the taxpayers in the town units by the operation of the township school law. I find that the widespread condemnation of the law is not alone based on the increase in taxes, but that there are other objections. Districts with small school houses have been forced to assume the bonded indebtedness incurred by other districts for the building of large school houses from which the former derive no benefit. The management of school houses has been taken away from the locality which had a pride and interest in its maintenance and operation, with the result that the buildings are often neglected and in many cases fuel has not been supplied. Children are being transported long distances to school and in many instances pass, on their way, serviceable school houses which have been closed by reason of the provisions of the act. From the experience of the last few months and the information gath- ered as to the working of this law, I believe wise legislation may be formu- lated which will work for the benefit of the rural school district. For these and other reasons I recommend the repeal of chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917. [Signed] Charles S. Whitman LETTER OF PRESIDENT FINLEY February 7, 1918 To the Honorable The Legislature of the State of New York: We respectfully ask your attention to this brief statement concerning the rural schools of this State, for whose general supervision we are, under your direction, responsible. " There is no educational need more pressing than the improvement of the educational conditions in rural districts and the small villages." This is the testimony of one of the very highest educational authorities in this country. It was appreciation of this need by the Regents, nearly every one of whom has been in close touch with country or village schools, that led to their urgent support of the measure known as the "Township School Bill," enacted into law at the last session of the Legislature. The Governor, in his message of January 1918, gives the Regents credit for taking the initial steps in behalf of this legislation, " in the belief that it would better rural school conditions," and we should therefore meet whatever just criticism the law in its operation deserves. It should be said in the first place that there has been as yet no educa- tional test of the law. It has been in operation only a few months, and except for such physical and sanitary improvements as have been made under the direction of the new boards, the schools have been carried on under plans made by the district trustees of last year. The new boards did not enter upon their duties until a few weeks before the opening of the school year. 698 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK There is only one comparison that the operation of the law does permit; that is, as to the cost of maintenance; and even in that we have only the estimated expenditures of this year to compare with the exact expenditures of last year. These estimates show a considerable increase, due in part to war conditions, but also in part (probably about one-half of the increase) to such items as (1) improved sanitation, (2) physical training, (3) salary of school clerk and (4) the absence of a balance with which to begin the year. Physical training, which we consider the most wholesome provision that has been made by any state for the promotion of the health, happiness and better citizenship of our children, is not a provision of the Township Law, though its efficient supervision will be greatly assisted by the town- ship system. The Township Law can not therefore be justly criticised as the source of increased expense, except so far as the added expense is for the intended educational benefit of the child in the country, that he may have as healthful a school environment and as good teaching as the city child. The taxes of many have, however, been increased, and this has caused protest ; but this increase is in the main attributable to the equalization of the tax over the larger area. It can not be successfully argued that the principle of a uniform tax throughout a town is unsound in theory or practice, so far, at any rate, as the elementary schools are concerned. If bridges and roads and other public utilities may be maintained by a tax extended over a town, certainly schools which are maintained for the com- mon good may be supported by a like tax. The only valid objection is that in readjustments due to any change in system some individual injustice will be done. But, as a matter of fact, the taxpayers called upon for larger contributions should consider that they have been paying less than under a more equitable system they should have long ago been called upon to contribute. If, however, it can be shown that what the resident of any town is required to pay is for the good of the child, and so of the community and the State and Nation, it is not conceivable that any good citizen will object because his tax for this service, fundamental to the very maintenance of the State, is increased by its equalization on a town basis. The sole question is therefore as to the educational advantages of the new system in comparison with the old. As has been said, we have as yet no ground in our own state experience for reaching a conclusion. We do have, however, the experience of other states (all the New England states, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and practically all the leading states in the country) that have abandoned the district system for the township system or an even larger unit of administration and taxation. There is practical unanimity of opinion among those who have to do directly with the education of children, that there can be no great general improvement in the rural school conditions except under this larger unit of taxation and administration; for nearly half of the one-room school districts of the State (3800 out of 8340) have a valuation of not to exceed $40,000, and an average attendance of not to exceed 10. It is obvious that THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 699 adequate facilities can not be provided and efficient teaching assured in these days on such a basis, especially when agricultural teaching ought to form a part of the training in every rural school. The Township School Law as finally enacted does not in our judgment, go as far it should, for it does not compel the elimination or consolidation of a single district in the State, though there are hundreds of schools that have an average attendance of only one, two, three, four or five pupils. Much of the criticism that the law has invited is due to the supposition that it does provide for this. As a matter of fact, it does not disturb the boundaries of a single district in the State. All that it does is to assure, so far as that is possible, equality of school provision throughout the town with equity of burden. The Township School Law is the most important legislation touching the common schools of this State enacted since the establishment of free schools — and it is of record that the latter called forth even greater criti- cism than this measure, and was repealed after its first enactment only to be reenacted in substantially the same form. The repeal of this measure would, we believe, be a disaster. Modification may be necessary to obviate any inequities that may have arisen in the general application of the law, as the Governor has suggested, but it is hoped that its essential features will be preserved. Respectfully submitted John H. Finley Commissioner of Education Signed: Pliny T. Sexton, Chancellor Albert Vander Veer, Vice Chancellor Chester S. Lord William Nottingham Francis M. Carpenter Abram I. Elkus Adelbert Mott Charles B. Alexander John Moore Walter Guest Kellogg Herbert L. Bridgman Members of the Board of Regents (Regent James Byrne is abroad in war service) P. S. It should be noted that the Governor's suggestion of modification referred to above was that contained in his message of January 1918, and not that of his special message of February 8th recommending repeal. This letter had been written and sent to the public printer before the special message was issued. It is therefore not to be interpreted as a reply to the Governor's message. Dr Finegan's address, giving more detailed information concerning the law, is enclosed herewith. J. H. F. 700 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The following represents the attitude of the people as expressed through the newspapers after the publication of the Governor's " Special Message." Governor Whitman has sent to the Legislature a special message asking for the repeal of the Township School Law. We hope the Legislature will not repeal it. In the main it is a great improvement over the old system for our rural schools. In the hands of its friends the law is satisfactory; in the hands of town boards of education opposed to it it is a flat failure. The State Education Department made the law, and the changes were too radical to have been made all at once. They had an ideal in view and jumped the State into it. But few people are ready for the ideal in any- thing, and were not ready for such a radical change in their school system. There may be several features of the law that should be changed by amendment, and we hope the Legislature will do so ; but to repeal the law suid go back to the old system would certainly be a mistake. — The Morris Chronicle, February 13, 19 1 3 As to the Township School Law- It is not necessary to take seriously Governor Whitman's pronouncement in his message yesterday against the township school law. Every one understands that the document " released " yesterday was a mere roll call of recruits as Falstaff paraded his squad, or, better, it might perhaps be an inventory of political assets and obligations for use in the coming cam- paign, which is to decide the Governor's political future. No more obvious moral appears on the face of things that the Governor is open to argu- ment, paraphrase for a trade, than his letting himself down so easy at the end of his indictment by a suggestion, which nobody ever doubted, that the law might be improved. As to the township law, when the proper time comes, there will be plenty to say about that. Nobody ever pretended that it was perfect. Few men and things, except Governors and messages are, in this world, but after years of trial the friends of the township law are firm in their belief that it was a long step in the right direction of better schools and better citizens in the rural counties, in which are the future strength and hope of the State; that fairly interpreted and wisely worked, it means more equitable adjustment of the cost of education, that the irregularities and contradic- tions of time and change will be rectified and that teachers, pupils and taxpayers will all be brought into better relation of harmony and efficiency with the State. Later in the session, doubtless, all these points of faith will be brought out and publicly established by experience and competent experts, the best possible demonstration, for nobody doubts the sincerity and good faith of both the real parties to the issue. But what a pitiful and discouraging thing that the welfare of the public schools of the State should be made a pawn in a politician's game of personal ambition! — Brooklyn Standard Union, January 3, 1918 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM JOl To Repeal Township School Law The knell of the Township School Law was doubtless sounded yesterday when Governor Whitman sent a message to the Legislature recommending its repeal. As the rural legislators will reflect the general sentiment of their constituents against the law, it is likely that the action urged by the Governor will soon be taken. The State Grange, now in session at Syracuse, has received a flood of resolutions from subordinate granges favoring imme- diate repeal. The entire opposition seems to grow out of the high taxes, which are estimated by the Governor to have increased 33.8 per cent in the township units as against 13 per cent in districts not so consolidated. We are informed by those familiar with the operation of the law in some of the towns of this vicinity that many of the costly improvements which have added to this year's enormous school taxes in the rural towns were ordered by the former district trustees, probably because they foresaw that they would be taxed upon the towns under the new law. The general com- plaint is that too many improvements were made in one year, not that there was any waste of public funds. Under these conditions the Legislature might very properly consider whether taxation in any one # year for school purposes might not be limited to a reasonable percentage of the assessed valuation of the town. While it is probable that the Legislature will yield as the Governor has done, to the general opposition expressed to the whole law, we are inclined to believe that the township school system has much to commend it from the educational point of view. The work done in " the little red school house " was good when there was an inspiring teacher and an apt pupil but to bring the village school within reach of all the children of a township, the ultimate purpose of this law, seems to us a great step in advance, which ought not to be lightly thrown away because of a year of exorbitant school taxes. — Jamestown Post, February 0, 1918 The New School Law As was announced in the Advertiser some weeks ago Ex- Congressman James Wadsworth of Geneseo is after the new school law full cry. Mr. Wadsworth owns the big Street farm of about 2,000 acres in the east end of this town and his school tax in consequence is very much increased by this new law. The action will be decided upon briefs submitted to Supreme Court Justice William W. Clark. The Board of Education for the town of Caledonia and Henry Feeley, tax collector, are made defendants. Elihu Root and Frank Cook are attorneys for Mr. Wadsworth. A. M. Little of Rochester represents the town officials and Frank B. Gilbert the educational and tax departments of the state. As is well known this village has a brick school house worth about $50,000 and which carries $28,000 bonded indebtedness, the annual cost of maintaining which is in the vicinity of $12,000. Because of the new law the school tax in town of Caledonia is $6.50 a thousand, which was levied on real property owners in the third as well as the other districts. Mr. Wadsworth charges that the amendment which raises his school tax in the 702 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK third district from $168.30 to $729.30 is unconstitutional in that it taxes one unit for benefits derived by others. He claims that the school facilities of the village of Caledonia are not accessible to children residing in the third school district because of distance and weather conditions, especially in the winter. He charges that no benefits whatsoever are derived by the taxpayers in the third district from the payment of the increased tax. Well, what of it? There are many taxpayers in every district who do not get any benefit from the schools except indirectly from a moral standpoint. It is, of course, unfortunate for Mr. Wadsworth that he should be owner of that splendid farm down on the Genesee, but for years the taxpayers of the Caledonia high school have been paying their money out to educate the children of non-residents in the higher branches, and now to conform with the rules of the State Education Department, we are fitting them for college, saving the expense of sending pupils away to preparatory schools, yet the parents of these non-residents are up in arms because they are asked to help educate their own sons and daughters. We say there are many taxpayers right in this district who are not interested in this higher educational movement, except indirectly, and we can see no decent reason why James W. Wadsworth, sr., should escape this tax. We learn that Governor Whitman, who only last winter signed this law, is now in favor of its repeal by the legislature, but we hope the members will not knuckle down to him. It is a just law. — Caledonia Advertiser, January 31, igi3 The Rural School Law The proposal to repeal the town board school law, drawn by the State Department of Education and passed last winter, comes from people up State who are more interested in the patronage of the rural schools than in their teaching. The Legislature should go slowly before destroying a system which has only begun to take root. There has not been time enough yet for a general test of the new system, but in towns where the citizens have supported it loyally the effect has been found good; so good, indeed, that those towns will protest against going back to the old boards of trustees, who commonly knew little about teaching but were keen to keep down taxes. Under the old law supervision was left to superintendents having several towns under their charge and whose work tended to become routine and perfunctory, although superintendents here and there resisted that tendency; where, under the new law, men and women have been chosen to the town boards because they had an interest in maintaining high standards of teaching the stimulating effect on the schools has been notable. In some cases teachers' meetings have been held and have been found to promote high professional standards, in others repair of neglected buildings has been brought about, while the adoption of free text- books is one of the things to which some of these boards look forward. On its administrative side the new system is simpler than the old. Grad- uates of the district schools are admitted free to the town high schools, the rate of taxation has been made uniform for all the districts in a town — a source of opposition in some of the wealthier districts — and the tax is col- lected by the town collector along with other taxes. These things help to THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 703 carry out the purpose of the new law, which is to give a better education to country boys and girls. That purpose should not be abandoned until the law has had a fair trial. — Brooklyn Eagle. Repeal or Amend Township Law? Albany, Feb. 6. — Shall the township school law, passed in 1917, be re- pealed or amended? That is a question in which legislators, especially those outside of cities of the states, are deeply interested. Many say the law should be repealed entirely and permit towns to go back to the old school district plan, while others are equally positive that the law is a good one, only some amendments should be made. A number of bills affecting the future status of the law have been introduced and there will be a hearing in about 10 days. It promises to be one of the most interesting hearings of the season. The township school law has been strongly opposed in many sections and its repeal has been advocated. Other sections urge amendment, while the State Education Department, which prepared the township school law, says it has not been given a fair trial. It has been in operation only about five months. One of the greatest objections to the law is the taking of control and guidance of the rural schools from the district trustees and vesting the power in town school boards of five members elected by the entire town. Another objection is the effect of the operation of the law upon the tax statements rendered for support of schools. Dr. Thomas E. Finegan, the deputy commissioner of education, who had a great deal to do with the law, says the new statute, after a fair trial, will result in better educational facilities in the towns, better instructions, high school facilities, graded systems, libraries, lecture rooms, recreational and social development and a discontinuance of unnecessary schools. Dr. Fin- egan says the five months' operation of the law has not given it a fair trial. According to the Education Department, the state is now maintaining 15 district schools where there is only one pupil and that there are 86 schools in which there are only two pupils. There are over 000 district schools in oper- ation today where there are not over five pupils learning their A B Cs and in three Rs. There are 600 districts in which there are under seven chil- dren, while in 3,800 schools the attendance of scholars does not exceed 10. The assessed valuation of the 3,800 districts is less than $40,000, and in one-half the districts the assessed valuation is less than $20,000. The Edu- cation Department believes that under such conditions it is absolutely impos- sible to maintain in such districts a school which will give a boy or girl anywhere near a fair chance. Many school districts with large property valuations, including railroads, have had the privilege of taxing corporations and this has resulted in keeping down the school tax rate in the district. Other districts in the town, it is claimed, should receive the benefit of this taxation; that the basis of this taxation should be the town and not the school district, and that all school districts within the town should receive benefit from this source of taxation. 704 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Many children in towns without high school advantages attend high schools in other towns and cities and have been required to pay certain tuition fees. The new law makes the town and not the individual pay the tuition. — Watertown Standard, February 6, 1918 A Thorny Path Governor Whitman's path to the renomination he is represented as desir- ing will not be altogether flowery from present indications. Senator Brown, republican leader in the senate, is generally understood to be devoting deep thought to the erection of a barb wire entanglement that will call for some agility to surmount; and Speaker Sweet seems also bent on hedging up his way with thorns that he shall not find his path. Both the governor and the speaker appear to be in agreement that the present township school law is a crude and blundering piece of legislation; but the speaker thinks it can be improved into usefulness while the governor wants it repealed and hints that he has a plan in the back of his head for a better law to take its place. Evidently the law should be changed as it is widely and bitterly condemned; and its constitutionality has been challenged in the courts, and nobody that knew much about it ever wanted it except the Department of Education. The people do not want it, that is sure; and we can understand the natural anxiety of the governor, at this juncture, to gain the credit for giving them what they desire and to relieve the speaker of any responsibility in the matter he was inclined to assume. In any event, with Senator Brown's entanglement and the political cheval-de- frise the speaker is believed to be at work on, the governor seems likely to have a prickly path. — Rochester Post Express, February 11, igl8 The Governor and the Township 'Schools Nobody misunderstands Governor Whitman's zeal for the repeal of the township school law, a slaughter of the innocents,, it might fairly be called, since many of the consolidated schools are not yet a year old, which, to use the familiar comparison, almost out-Herods Herod. It is not necessary to dignify what the governor probably calls his policy by the new French word in everybody's mouth, since that is supposed to stand for cleverness, skillful deceit, at least plain " bluff," while this unseemly haste lest campaign thunder be stolen, and which has aroused the just indignation of Speaker Sweet and Assembly leaders, is neither. On the very first day of the session, in his list of offerings for political barter, which the governor by custom and courtesy called his message he went out of his way to intimate that among his choicest joblots of repeals and amendments was one which meant for the townships school law innocul- ous desuetude with the implication of equivalent Republican votes from the districts affected and disaffected. In plain terms, the governor plays the schools of the state as pawns in his game for a third term at Albany, which it is an open, nation-wide secret is but the overture to the play which is to be staged at Washington,, a game in which the Perkins-Calder presence and activities at St. Louis last week are further significant factors, and for these reasons, though there are other and more weighty, the late of the township schools is of interest to every citizen, urban or rural, of the state. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 705 New York, however, has other and special concern in the contest, which the governor seems not only to invite but determined to force, if it can be made to advance his political fortunes. City money supports, in large measure, two-thirds or three-fourths in many localities, the country schools and as everybody knows, the upstate counties, in spite of all efforts at equalization, always win and put the heavier end of the load on the city taxpayer. No one pretends that the four thousand schools upstate, none of which have ten pupils each, many of them not half that number, begin to pay their way, nor that deprived of city money, assessed, collected and disbursed for them by the state, they would not have to go out of business. Therefore, it is by the simplest principles of common equity and justice, since New York city is taxed to maintain and operate these rural schools, we should have a voice as to what sort of schools they shall be, and the right to insist that the obsolete, expensive, inefficient plants and methods of past generations, the incomplete and inadequate teaching, and all the other relics and handicaps of bygone days and outworn conditions shall be scrapped, and the money spent for that which is worth while, modern and abreast of the times, that the education which is given shall be the real thing of the present time, which will fit the country ! boys and girls to take up the struggle, or the game, as they may prefer to call it, of life on equal term with those of the cities, and that as nearly as pos- sible, all grades and courses of the schools of the state shall be standard- ized and equivalent. The city of New York has the right to say and to know that its money, spent anywhere up-state, buys as good schooling, in content, in environment and personality, as that which it spends on its own children within its own limits. When it comes to the township law itself and its merits, its friends need have no fear, if they will bestir themselves and make a square fight, inde- pendent of politics, of the result. Fruit of years of study and thought by the best experts, approved by the State Agricultural Society, and Grange, and by many smaller rural organizations of weight and influence, it repre- sented to an exceptional degree the combined intelligence of educators, citizens and legislators;, and to propose now, after less than a year's actual trial, to throw it into the discard because it is not ideal and absolutely perfect, is not common sense, hardly common decency. Moreover, to reverse the machine just as it gets under way, would be certain to pro- duce confusion and dislocation, which would create a condition worse than that which it is intended to correct, far more than could possibly be devel- oped by permitting the normal operation of the law until adjustments are effected and the new system stabilized. Time is certainly fair to both interests. If the law is as bad as its enemies would make out, it must soon become inoperative and die a natural death ; if it is what its friends believe, and their faith is growing stronger every day, it must have a chance to prove what it. can do. Examination of objections to the law discloses but one which cannot be fairly and reasonably explained and rightly stated and squarely met, this objection becomes really an argument, and a strong one, in its favor. Increased cost, heavier taxation, is the protest of those who are hit, and there is no denying that there are cases of this sort, some prominent poli- 2 3 706 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK ticians among them, who will pay more under the new law than the old. Complete investigation, however, demonstrates that instead of increasing taxes the township law equalizes them, and spreads equally and equitably the burdens which had heretofore been borne by the fewer and the less favored. By the same reason, therefore, many citizens are obtaining for less money better schools and longer terms than ever before, and promise of progress and contentment never before possible in the rural depopulated and isolated districts. So far from being an exterior or superior force law, consolidating without consent of those affected, the township law is the embodiment and refinement of home rule carried to its extreme. No district can be consolidated or absorbed against its will, and three distinct and separate affirmative votes must be obtained to make it effective. And so with all the other minor but apparently sincere and serious objections; they disappear on honest discussion and intelligent study. Now is it quite reasonable to believe that New York cares longer to adhere to a school system of which the unit, the district, has been discarded by every New England state, by New Jersey and Pennsylvania? Had Governor Whitman been even less impatient of his own political stake, cared to go or send across the street to the Department of Educa- tion, he could probably have learned that the friends and critics of the township schools are favorably comparing notes and hopeful of an early and satisfactory solution of the whole matter. Much of the trouble will disappear by removing the union free school districts from the operation of the law, and with an amendment to this effect and a smoothing out of a few other places, the principle and structure of the law will be saved and its efficiency increased. This is morally certain to be the early and satis- factory outcome if the hand which would mingle the schools and politics of the state can be stayed. A still more potent reason, too, has New York in the welfare and pros- perity of the country schools. Not more certainly do we draw water from the Catskills, the great reservoir of Ulster and Greene, than blood and brains, the physical and mental power of the coming generations, from them and the up-state counties beyond, and we can no more do without one than the other if we are to continue to be the imperial city. — Brooklyn Standard Union, February 17, igi8 New York's Town Schools Contest and Vermont's New York is going through an experience not unlike that attending Vermont's long struggle over substitution of town schools for the district system. The chief difference is that the contest between the two systems has become involved in personal politics in New York at this time in a way that promises to have far-reaching results. The township bill was passed in the Empire State last year. It called for equalization of school taxes by spreading the apportionment over the whole town, thus making those who had not been paying enough pay more, while others paid less. Some of the farmers and others have ignored good effects of the system as a whole and brought pressure to bear upon up-State legislators for the repeal of the township act and a return to the old dis- tricting system. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM JOJ When the bill to repeal the town system act was introduced in the Assembly some time since, Speaker Sweet was credited with being behind the measure. In spite of the fact that this bill was pending Governor Whitman sent an emergency message to the Legislature urging repeal of the township school law, although the speaker had assured the executive the measure was in a forward state of preparation. Speaker Sweet is cred- ited with indignation over this apparent effort by the executive to win credit. Governor Whitman and Speaker Sweet had been closely allied politically. Recently an attempt has been made to induce Sweet to enter the governor- ship contest against the executive who is seeking a third term. It is claimed by th Albany correspondents that the merits of the school measure which has aroused this strife, are receiving little if any attention, the law having fallen into the background as soon as the political row had been started. The New York State Agricultural society, the State Grange, the State Association of Tax Officers, the Conference for Better County Government, and State suffragists have strongly endorsed the township method of administering rural schools. The department of education made an exhaust- ive study of the State's requirements, and the application of the town- ship system and thereafter made unqualified recommendation that the system was the best for New York. When the repealing act was introduced in the Legislature various reasons were given by its sponsors for putting forward such a measure. It was said that the township system made consolidation of school districts arbi- trary, therefor the law was undemocratic. The objection was made that it brought partisan politics into school affairs by the creation of political school boards. The distance children must travel under the new system and the increase in taxation for the people of some of the former districts are other arguments urged against the town system. Dr. John H. Finley, commissioner of education, and Dr. Thomas E. Finegan, commissioner of elementary education, have issued a statement in support of the town system. They say the -town school board is com- posed of the men who formerly acted as school trustees, so if the new board is political, which is unlikely, the influence is brought over from the old system into the new. Under the old districting system, New York State, in its rural districts, was covered with little one-room school houses maintained by taxation in small districts. Teachers' salaries and equipment in these schools were exceedingly inadequate to provide the children with a curriculum in any way approaching the education standards of the State. The tax for their maintenance was apportioned according to the assessed valuation of the land in the separate districts, with the result that it happened that a poor district would have an exceedingly high tax rate which, at the same time, was only sufficient to maintain a poor school. In other instances the tax- ing of some rich corporate property, like a railroad, which went through a certain district, would make the school tax next to nothing. According to Dr. Finegan, " there are fifteen schools in the State now in each of 708 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK which there is just one pupil. There are eighty-six in which there are two; 116 with three pupils; 258 with four pupils; 357 in which there are but five pupils ; 600 in which there are less than ten in attendance. It is impossible to maintain in one of these districts anything worthy of the name of school. " The immense advantages of the township system," said Dr. Finegan, "are these: With a larger unit of administration, it will be possible to obtain school trustees with larger experience and viewpoint. Centralization of board administration will result in giving school affairs more business- like management. Unnecessary and poorly equipped schools will be dis- continued. The unit of taxation being the town, the rate will be equalized. Township schools will provide educational facilities more equal to the advantages of city schools. With the larger school system, a better system of grading can be accomplished, and more and better teachers obtained." Friends of the township system say it has not had fair opportunity for full trial in New York in one year. Town boards have not had the chance to put into operation all their plans. Like everything else, it has cost more to operate the schools this year. It is urged that every State in New England has recognized these facts. Every State bordering on the State of New York, including Vermont, has discontinued the old district system and adopted the town system. The leading agricultural States of the West have also adopted the township system. As far back as 1892 the Vermont Legislature passed a law which began with these eventful words : "After the date on which this act shall take effect each town in this State shall constitute a single district for school purposes, and the divisions of the town into school districts shall no longer exist, except for the settlement of their pecuniary affairs." Thus ended a fight over two decades. A law authorizing towns to make the change had been tried a decade and found wanting. The first law providing for general primary education in Vermont was passed in October, 1782. It authorized the dividing of towns into convenient school districts and the appointment of trustees in each town for the general superintendence of schools. The judges of the county courts were authorized to appoint trustees of a county school in each of their respective counties. The latter constituted the original central schools. At the end of half a century the primary educational system was on prac- tically the same basis as at the outset. The selectmen of each town were required by law to assess a tax of three cents on a dollar of the grand list in addition to the deposit money for the support of schools. The Legis- lature in 1825 had established a fund for the benefit of the common schools. In 1837 Congress provided for the distribution of surplus revenue growing principally out of the sale of public lands, Vermont's share being only a few cents short of $670,000. The permanent school fund, mobilized anew in 1906, now aggregates about $1,370,000. A State superintendent of education was substituted in 1874 f° r a board of education. In 1888 a radical change in school supervision was made after a heated campaign, county supervision being substituted for town super- vision. 1 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 709 Following the adoption of town schools in 1892 educational development was rapid. In 1894 free text-books were provided. Two years later free high school privileges were instituted and supervision by union of towns was made possible. In 1908 the State took measures to encourage manual training, and in 1912 similar encouragement was extended to the teaching of agriculture and domestic science. In 1915 the Legislature thoroughly revised Vermont's primary educational system largely in accordance with the report of the Carnegie commission, and we believe we now have under State Commissioner Hillegas one of the best systems of any State in the Union. We would not dream of going back to the antiquated district system in Vermont. — Burlington, Vt., Free Press, February 19, 1918 Township School Law The Governor took a strong position for the repeal of the township school law. He, first, in his annual message recommended that the law be amended, but on further study he sent a special message to the Legislature calling attention to the increased expense caused by the operation of the act. He also based his desire for the repeal of the law on the proposition that districts with small school houses have been forced to assume the bonded indebtedness incurred by other districts for the building of large school houses from which the former derive no benefit. Furthermore, the management of school houses has been taken away from the locality which had a pride and interest in its maintenance and operation, with the result that the buildings are often neglected and in many cases fuel has not been supplied. He has called attention on many occasions to the inadvisability of taking away from the people the control of the expenditures for school purposes, and believes that the people should have the right to vote upon the amount to be raised by taxation. He has frankly admitted that the bill was passed and urged by those who were supposed to understand the needs of the rural communities in regard to education, but he has since, by personal study, found that the farmer was being discriminated against and has come out in aid of the farmer. — Fort Edward Advertiser, March 21, igi8. In order to bring further light upon the activities of this period we are presenting the following newspaper articles and letters to indicate the attitude of those interested in the amendment rather than the repeal of the law. The School Law A well organized effort is being made by the rural people of the State for the repeal or radical amendment of the new township school law. The opposition to the law has its root in the fact that the new order of things places an equal share of the expense of maintaining village and high schools, except city high schools, upon the rural taxpayers, thereby nearly doubling their school taxes. 7IO THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Some other objections to the law are also raised, charging inefficiency. How well founded these latter objections may be could better be deter- mined by a longer trial, as, like many other new departures, there may be some confusion which would soon disappear. Certain it is that the rural people are now compelled to pay more m proportion to the number of pupils they send to high schools, than the villagers pay; but they seem to forget, or possibly do not know, that for years under the previous law the villagers practically paid the expense of the high school education of any rural children who came to their schools. Under the " free tuition act " the State paid $20 per year as tuition to the schools for each non-resident high school pupil, expecting that in this way rural children might, after completing their preliminary training in the dis- trict schools, attend high school without any tuition expense to themselves. But as the average cost per year for the maintenance of high school depart- ments was about $50 per pupil, the village school districts bore the greater part of the expense, which was the case here in Naples. Some schools finally tired of this, and charged a higher rate of tuition, the pupil paying the additional expense after being credited with the $20 paid by the State; but this destroyed the " free tuition " plan and prevented some from going beyond a district school, and led to the present township law. While the present law no doubt places more than his share of the burden upon the rural taxpayer, it would be equally unfair to return to the former law. It would seem that the old law could be made quite just in this respect by a provision that each rural school district pay the high school tuition of any children in the district who go to high school after com- pleting the courses of instruction offered in their own district. — Naples Record, January 3o, 1918 Would Amend It While recognizing the objections to the rural school township law the Jamestown Morning Post is in favor of amending the law before repealing it entirely. The Post says : In accordance with what seems to be a very general demand from the rural counties, Senator Thompson of Niagara has introduced a bill to repeal the Township School Law and directing town boards of educlation to return the school taxes to the district trustees. Before going quite so far as this, an effort should be made to amend the law so that the taxes to be raised in any one year shall be strictly limited to some definite percentage of the assessed value. Then the features of the law which promise better educational results in the rural districts will not be sacrificed without a trial. — Niagara Falls Journal, January 22, 1918. New School Law Idea Throughout County Owing to features of the present township school law objectionable to many persons, especially so in the rural sections, Supt. Stanton D. Austin has scheduled a series of public meetings for the purpose of explaining the new Senate bill as it has been introduced. It is hoped that every citizen will take advantage of the opportunity of becoming familiar with this bill, so as to conscientiously urge its adoption in place of the present township school law. The meeting will be held as follows : Thursday, March 28, 1 P. M., Davis's Hall, Steuben Corners. Thursday, March 28, 8 P. M., at the school house, Trenton. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 711 Friday, March 29, 8 P. M., at the school house, Hinckley. Saturday, March 30, 2 P. M., at the school house, Westernville. Saturday, March 30, 8 P. M., at the Grange Hall, Floyd Corners. Monday, April 1, 2 P. M., at the school house in North Western. Monday, April 1, 8 P. M., at the school house in Holland Patent The taxpayers and all of those who are interested in the welfare of our schools should attend at least one of the meetings. The Senate Bill has been so drafted as to remove all objections con- tained in the present township law, and carries with it a greater State aid toward the support of the schools of the State. In fact this Senate Bill is said to be a golden opportunity to the taxpayer if it can be enacted to take the place of the present township law which has proven to be so unpopular. In order that the opportunity may not be lost, it is the duty of every citizen to urge the repeal of the present township school law and the enactment of the Senate Bill in its place. If this can be done, the financial support will largely come from the State, and the direct tax upon the people for the support of the schools will be greatly diminished. Bill for Township School System Favored with Five Modifications Sessions of Pomona Grange in the Odd Fellows' Temple on Ellicort street yesterday morning, afternoon and evening were the most largely attended of any similar sessions in recent years. The most important trans- action of the grange was the adoption of a resolution regarding the pro- posed new school law. William F. Pratt, Thomas Roach and E. P. Lincoln, the committee on resolutions that had been appointed at the afternoon session, formulated a resolution expressing the sentiment of the granges of the county on the school law, which was presented at the afternoon session. This committee took all the resolutions that had recently been adopted by subordinate granges and rejected and adopted various features of these recommendations as their judgment prompted. The following resolutions, which they pre- sented, represented the combined sentiment of the subordinate granges and was unanimously adopted : " Resolved, that Genesee Pomona Grange favors the township system, with the following modifications : " First, that the number of trustees in union school districts should be limited to three, thereby leaving the balance of power outside of the high school districts. " Second, that, if feasible, the annual school meeting be held after the close of the school year. " Third, that the amount $5,000 under section 343 and subdivision 2 of section 347 be changed to $2,500. " Fourth, that the publication of the budget be made before the annual school meeting and that the district superintendents shall examine such budget and advise concerning same before publication. " Fifth, that, if possible, a simpler method of election be provided for." Features of this proposed law have been under discussion in subordinate granges for several months past and the measure is looked upon by grangers 712 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK as their special legislation. The state Legislature some time ago called upon the State Grange to formulate provisions for a law changing the con- duct of school districts. H. A. Nethaway of Canandaigua was made chair- man of a committee from the State Grange and this committee called upon the granges of the state for recommendations. Subordinate granges are making recommendations to their county granges and these will in turn report to the State Grange. In general, the principal features of the new bill are that there shall be township superintendents instead of district school trustees. The result of the enlarging of the school district will be to put the administration in the hands of fewer men, to eliminate and combine districts, curtail expenses and secure greater uniform- ity in all respects. — Batavia News, December 8, 1916 THE HEARING ON THE BILL The hearing on the township bill was to be held on February 12, 1 91 8, but was postponed until February 27th. The following- appeared to speak in favor of the bill at this hearing : Dr John H. Finley, State Department of Education Dr George A. Works, State College of Agriculture, Cornell University Mrs Raymond Brown, director, New York State Woman Suffrage party Three other representatives of same organization Miss Mary Wood, chairman, legislative department, General Federation of Women's Clubs Dr Samuel McCune Lindsay, director, New York State Work, Bureau of Municipal Research, New York George A. Hastings, secretary, New York State Committee on Feeble- mindedness Representatives of Toizm Boards of Education Charles Herrick, president, board of education, town of Bethlehem, Albany county John L. Campbell, member board of education, town of Portland, Chau- tauqua county W. S. Titus, president, town board of Irondequoit, Monroe county Other representatives of town boards Mr Patterson and Mr Schuyler, town of Florida, Montgomery county R. Grant Hitchman, Onondaga county George W. Dunn, Webster, Monroe county Supervisors and others from Westchester county Charles Rivenburg and Mr Lawrence, town board of Germantown District Superintendents George Covey, 3d district, Westchester county., president, State Associa- tion of District Superintendents Carlos Blood, 3d district, St Lawrence county, chairman, legislative com- mittee, State Association of District Superintendents Fred Hill, 3d district, Monroe county, former president State Association of District Superintendents William E. Binsley, 5th district, Erie county Honorable Simon L. Adi.er Majority leader of Assembly THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 713 Albert H. McMurray, 3d district, Wayne county John B. McManus, 1st district, Otsego county S. C. Kimm, 2d district, Herkimer county Charles Cheney, 2d district, Westchester county Miss Lou Messinger, 2d district, Saratoga county D. M. Blue, 7th district, Oneida county A. W. Trainor, 4th district, Lewis county G. G. Steele, 1st district, Lewis county John Schoonmaker, 3d district, Ulster county Arthur J. Rose, 1st district, Herkimer county Other Citizens Myron Terpenny, town board of education, Camillus Mrs Florence E. S. Knapp, Camillus Mr Taylor, town board of education, Hamilton, Madison county Frank Weed, town of Malta, Saratoga county (farmer) Mr Schill, who represents District Superintendent Elwood Mr McNeil and Mr Brower, town board of town of Mohawk, Mont- gomery county Assemblyman Slacer Senator Gibbs Mr Bull, supervisor of Westchester county, and other supervisors of same county. Hold Hearing on Repeal of Finegan Law Albany, Feb. 8.— Chairman M. K. Tallett of the assembly education committee, announced last night that the hearing on the Martin bill to repeal the township school law, which was to have been held February 12, has been postponed until Wednesday, Feb. 27. At that time the committee will take up the question of amending the law in relation to physical train- ing and medical examination in rural schools. One of the big fights of the legislative session will center round the township school act. The chief objection to it seems to be that it slightly increases taxes in some districts, although the state educational department points out it equitably distributes expenses, and is a fair-play proposition. The law also makes it more certain that children in rural sections will get the best possible kind of education, something which, in the past, has not been vouchsafed all of them. A large hue and cry has been raised over the law, but it has been in force only a short time and even some of those clamoring for its repeal admit there is a possibility it may not have been given a fair trial. An Erie county assemblyman today said he considered it unfortunate that the friends of the bill are not as active as those opposed to it. " There is no doubt, whatever, in my mind," he declared, " that the law is a good one. It is a step in the right direction, and its repeal will be a sad step backward. " So far as I personally am concerned, however, I must admit that unless those who favor the bill in my district become more active and show that the sentiment really is in favor of continuing the law, instead of repealing it, as many are trying to do, I will feel it is my duty to vote for the repeal." Assemblyman Herbert A. Zimmerman of Buffalo sent letters to school 714 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK officials in the district he represents, asking for their views on the law. The replies he has received favor the repeal, but there is no sound argu- ment in them to justify this step — except the repeated statement, with varia- tions, that the township law makes the cost of school maintenance more expensive. Mail on the subject received by other Western New York legislators and assemblymen and senators from all parts of the State is no different and indicates the same trend of argument. Dr. Thomas E. Finegan, deputy commissioner of education, told a meeting of the farmers here recently that increases in costs are not unusual and could not help being reflected somewhat in the cost of school administration. In the large cities the costs, he said, have advanced much more rapidly than in the rural sections under the township act. One opponent of the law became so enthusiastic that he informed the stenographer of Assemblyman Zimmerman : " The town people are feeling quite antagonistic toward Governor Whit- man for signing the bill, so if Mr. Zimmerman can have the law repealed the towns of his district may nominate him for governor." — Buffalo News, February 8, 1918 Farmers in Furious Attack on Township School Law; Spirited Defense by Finley Groups of emphatic, disgruntled farmers from all parts of the state, shouting " Repeal ! Repeal ! " surrounded Commissioner of Education John H. Finley and the public education committees of the senate and assembly in the well of a crowded assembly chamber at 6:30 o'clock last night, as the curtain was rung down on the politically significant township school law hearing. Commissioner Finley had just finished a final appeal to save at least the groundwork of the law, even though many features objec- tionable to the farmers be stricken out by amendment. For four hours and a half, the defenders of the bill, woman suffrage leaders, district superintendents and representatives of a few town boards of education, led by Commissioner Finley, had urged the good features of the measure, and the opponents, mostly farmers, had raked it end to end with criticism. The hearing revealed differences of opinion on the subject among Gov- ernor Whitman, Majority Leader Elon R. Brown and Speaker Thaddeus C. Sweet of the assembly. Senator Brown, after arraigning the State's rural school education sys- tem as far behind the times, proposed legislation appropriating anywhere from $800,000 to $2,400,000 for the " little red school houses " and the cor- rection of certain features of the present law. A flat repeal, he declared, would give rural education in the State a setback from which it would take a quarter of a century to recover. Speaker Sweet had declared himself for a flat repeal of the law, with- drawing from the position of correctional amendments suggested in the bill offered by Assemblyman John G. Malone of Albany. The speaker followed this with the suggestions of the appointment of a commission to map a new law for the rural districts, to be reported and enacted in 1919, a law that would suit the rural districts. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM /1 5 Governor Whitman had previously put himself on record as favoring a flat repeal of the law in a message to the assembly that caused the split between him and Speaker Sweet. Rural leaders who, in the past, have been lined up against Governor Whitman, were found on his side of the argument. John J. Dillon, editor of the Rural New Yorker, and Seth J. T. Bush, president of the Western New York Horticultural society, were both on hand, advocating the Gover- nor's proposal — repeal. Sherman J. Lowell, master of the State Grange, also urged the committee with the necessity of a repeal. Perhaps one of the most striking features of the hearing was an impas- sioned plea for the repeal by James Kelly, an Erie county farmer, who took Senator Brown to task. " If you don't repeal this law," he thundered, gesticulating with clenched fist, " you'll irritate the already irritated farmers and create a rural Bol- sheviki, for the farmers don't believe they're getting a square deal. "You say to us produce more — more grain, milk, eggs. If we are good enough to produce the food that provides the subsistence of the nation, we are good enough to know what school laws we want. " The farmers are suffering from an economic situation that is driving the boys and girls to the cities. That's the reason for the depopulation of the rural schools.' Mr. Kelly's remarks brought forth cheers and applause from the farmers, especially his remarks about food production. Commissioner Finley who advanced the main argument for the retention of the features of the law and others who spoke favorably for it were united in declaring that the law had not been given a fair trial, that a year was not long enough, and that while the law had defects, the principle of it was sound and should not be destroyed by a flat repeal. " Correct the defects by amendment, don't destroy it," was the crux of their arguments. Assemblyman Louis M. Martin, introducer of the bill for repeal led the farmers in their arguments while Commissioner Finley led the proponents of the law. Charles J. Herrick, president of the Bethlehem school board of Albany county, one of the first proponents for the present law, after telling of the improvement of school conditions in this district under the present law, branded as " tax slackers " those who objected to the law because of the increase in cost. " This system is more expensive. We did not deny it last year. We don't deny it today. Support of the schools is a public duty and those who would not are tax slackers in the same way as there are military slackers." W. S. Titus, a Monroe county school superintendent, also spoke for the measure, favoring it because it equalized taxation. " This law raises New York state to the level of neighboring states in rural education," said Mr Titus. " Give it a chance. Six months or a year is not long enough to test it." Carlos Blood of St. Lawrence county, chairman of the legislative com- mittee of the State Association of District Superintendents, declared that there were " great big principles underlying the law, which should be main- tained and not lost sight of. Jl6 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK " Those who want this law repealed are holding the almighty American dollar so close to their eyes that it has been obscuring their vision," he declared. George A. Hastings, secretary of the New York committee on feeble- mindedness, presented a resolution adopted by that committee, urging the retention of the law until it had been given a fair trial. Others who appeared to be registered in favor of the bill or who spoke for it included Dr. George A. Works, of the State College of Agriculture of Cornell University, John L. Campbell, member of the board of education from the town of Portland, Chautauqua county; R. Grant Hitchman of Onondaga county, George W. Dunn of Monroe county, and these district superintendents, George W. Covey of Westchester county, Fred Hill of Monroe county, S. M. Kimm of Herkimer county and John Schoonmaker of Ulster county. Assemblyman Martin opened for the farmers, in a bitter arraignment of the law. Addressing himself to the commissioner as well as to members of the committee he said : " There must be something wrong with this law when all these people, whom it was supposed to benefit, are coming here to protest against it. There must be something wrong with this law when taxpayers in West- chester county have started an action in the courts to have it stricken from the statutes. There must be something wrong with this law when the astute assemblyman, Mr McWhinney, had his county, Nassau, exempted from the provisions of the law last session and then went out in the corridor chuckling." Mr Martin then introduced Julius Henry Cohen, who has started the action to have the law stricken from the statutes for Westchester taxpayers. Mr Cohen declared himself in sympathy with a plan for better rural schools, with additional expense, if necessary, but he declared that the present law was not the right one and also was unconstitutional. " Let's wipe it off the statute books and start on this rural school problem afresh," he urged. John Townsend, a farmer of Sullivan county, told the committee he was at the hearing because the taxpayers of his school district sent him. " I am here to ask the legislature to undo something it has done," he declared. Later he declared the rural schools had been " Finleyized and Fineganized " enough. " It has resulted in excessive taxation and no benefits," he concluded, referring to the law. One of the jokes of the hearing occurred during Mr Townsend's address. He was indulging in some rhetoric to the effect that the old style system had been good enough for Washington and Lincoln and good enough for those of today. " Why not go hack and abolish the bathtubs," suggested one of the mem- bers of the committee. Colonel Asa Bird Gardner, of Westchester county, who told the com- mittee he sent his children to the rural school, also spoke against the present law as being unfair and unjust in the method of tax levying. He even assailed the school books that are being used, saying they were too advanced for small children. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM JIJ M. F. Agar of Putnam county opposed the law, he declared, because the taxpayers whom he represented were opposed to further consolidation of the school districts, as provided by the law. Mr Dillon, the food and markets commissioner removed by the Gov- ernor, made one of the principal speeches for the repeal of the law. " Repeal this law and restore the law we had and while you're at it repeal this calisthenics and physical exercise law," Mr Dillon advised the com- mittee. " Get this monstrosity out of the way and give us a chance to say what we want. We want good schools in the country. We want good teachers in the country. " While we are sending our boys to fight for democracy, we are building up an autocracy right here by this law." Mr Dillon then took exception to some remarks that the rural schools were not turning out as advanced and finished pupils as the city schools and declared he had found rural school children as good or better than the product of the city schools. " If there are any exceptions to that rule," declared Mr Dillon, " it is right here in these legislative halls." W. P. Dunlop of Montgomery county opposed the present law, he told the committee, because it works out for the benefit of the large school districts and to the detriment of the small. Seth J. T. Bush, of the Western New York Horticultural society, told of a resolution the society had passed condemning the law and then urged a repeal. " We want a square deal and we don't believe we are getting it," he declared. Mr Lowell, master of the State Grange, also made a plea for the repeal. He was corrected several times for turning his back to the committee as William Jennings Bryan had done at the prohibition hearing on the previous day. Mr. Lowell indulged in some irony at the expense of the State Educa- tion department, when he told of a rural school in his district that had a flag staff on the roof and had been obliged to erect another in the yard. " The school now has two staffs for one flag," Mr Lowell said and his audience tittered loudly. There were scores of farmers at the hearing who could not be heard because of the time limit set on the hearing. When Commissioner Finley rose and spoke in rebuttal they flung all order to the winds and from all parts of the chamber came the cry " Repeal ! Repeal ! " It was the fanners' only rebuttal. — Albany Knickerbocker Press, February 28, 1918 The School Bill Hearing The hearing on the Township School bill at Albany on February 27 was a new experience for official Albany. Never before did the plain farm homes from the back districts of the State crowd the largest legislative chamber of the Capitol. The fathers and mothers of the back districts went to Albany to demand the repeal of the Township School Law, and to appeal for their little schoolhouse. Dr. Finley, the genial and able Com- missioner of Education, spoke in favor of the law. He was supplemented 7l8 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK by the officials of the Department, and several women from cities, not affected by the law, also spoke in favor of the bill. Senator Elon R. Brown, the astute leader of the Senate, also spoke for it. He admitted a need of changes, but opposed repeal. The burden of the arguments for the old bill was that country children should have more and better education and better schools; that farmers opposed the law to save money; that city children had a preference for positions because of their better education, and that intelligence and progress favored the bill, and ignorance and dullness only pleaded for its repeal. I have taken part in many debates during the past 35 years, but never before felt more pride in my subjects and my associates than on this occasion. The human element was there ; and this is the element that had been overlooked when this law was written, and passed and defended. This human element is the influence that will win the repeal of the law. The farmers contended that they joined the opposition in the desire for good schools and better education for the children; that they were willing to pay for them; that they objected to a city autocracy that sought to impose a school system on them that they did not want; that country mothers rebelled against a provision that compelled them to send their young and tender children miles from home to attend a city school ; that the country school- house is a community asset, and lastly that the boys and girls from those country schools have worked their way to the top round of the ladder in every industry and business and profession in this country. The country school has turned out men and women in the past and may be trusted to do so in the future. It is safe to say that the bill will be repealed. The demand was for clean repeal of the Township bill and the physical culture provision of the military law. Governor Whitman signed the bill last year, but since the demand for its repeal became so pronounced he characteristically abandoned it and is now courting credit by opposition to it. Farmers are learning how to get what they want. — Rural New Yorker, March o, 19 18 The Rural School Law The state department of education has chosen Dr. Thomas E. Finegan to be its spokesman in its fight to prevent the repeal of the rural school law — a repeal advised by Governor Whitman in his message to the legis- lature. Dr. Finegan has published a defense of the law as it now stands and has appeared before committees of the legislature. But judging from the defense published there is the same failure to keep clearly in mind two distinct issues which is often found in handling matters of legislation. Dr. Finegan restates the objectionable conditions in rural schools which led to the enactment of the present law. There is good ground for believing his facts accurate. Unquestionably in many rural schools the pupils are not given proper educational advantages. But Dr. Finegan assumes that the present law, or one amended to retain its essential provisions, is the only means of bettering objectionable conditions. If the farmers of the State are to be believed, the present law has made their school taxes unreasonably 'high and has not proved practical in bettering conditions. It would seem that a sensible thing to do would be to consider first what conditions must THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 7IO. be removed in favor of better ones and then to devise legislation sufficiently flexible to provide for actual improvements at reasonable cost. It is probable that local conditions are a great factor in determining what is best to be done in specific instances. Under the present law a general and undue rise in cost for rural education is not producing desired results. There is unquestionably a way to secure good education for rural children without doing injustice. This is the legislation needed, but it will not be found either by ignoring need of betterment or by seeking to retain a law unamended that has proved ineffective and productive of financial injustice. — Rochester Post Express, February ig, igi8 No Argument Against It Dr. Finley countered well at the legislative hearing on the township school question when in reply to the present president of the State Grange he read a resolution of that body advocating the passage of the law. The assertion had been that it was imposed on " the farmers " without consulting that body. In fact, Dr. Finley said, its representative had helped frame the measure. The incident was of importance as illustrating the general substanceless of the howling that has been worked up for its repeal and which The Argus has refused to believe to be in any way representative of the yeo- manry of the State; such of them as have joined in it simply haven't stopped to think or analyze. When they do so they will agree with the deliberate judgment of their most important educational organization. That this must be so was made evident to any unprejudiced person that followed the hearing Wednesday. Deduct from the shriekings for repeal what was merely words, frothy denunciation without specific evidence or facts to support it, and how much was left? Simply an assertion that "taxes have increased " under the new law. Save as the cost of everything has been increasing under war conditions and save as surpluses have been returned to taxpayers of old districts to be replaced by new ones that must be raised in consolidated units, how can taxes under honest or capable administra- tion — and if that has anywhere been lacking certainly the law is not at fault — be increased except as they represent better schools? No one has undertaken to answer that question. No human being can. Take the third of the one-room school districts in the State that have appraised property valuations of less than $20,000 with an average attendance of 10 or less. To maintain anywhere near a decent school in one of them, employ a competent teacher, provide fuel and proper equipment, maintain the building in repair and make good the natural depreciation going on, would cost at least $800 yearly, more likely $1,000 or more. That would mean a tax every year amounting to four or five per cent, of all the taxable property in the district, less the subsidy that comes from the State. Oi course, the people in these districts cannot from their own means support such schools as every American child is entitled to. The essential princi- ple of the township law is that other and better-to-do districts in the same town shall help them by an equalization of the school tax throughout the town. The only taxes that can be increased are, therefore, those in these more prosperous and populous districts. But these increases represent noth- ing but better schools. J2.0 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK . These we must have if the greatest State of the Union in wealth and population is not to be steeped in an ignorance deeper than that of any of its northern sisters. In the last analysis the question is whether the State or township shall save us. The State is now disbursing approximately $6,500,000 as her share. Whether she should add anywhere from $800,000 to $2,400,000 more as Senator Brown proposes, 90 per cent, of it coming from the cities, must equitably depend — and can only be determined when there is equalization of the burden throughout townships — on whether the rural citizens are paying as much pro rata for their schools as the cities do. Until that point is reached, it is simple robbery to draw more from the cities for the betterment of rural schools. When that point is reached the cities, through the State should and doubtless will cheerfully match dollar for dollar all that the townships or rural districts or whatever you call them spend for themselves. The Bolsheviki spirit which one of the howler statesmen threatens unless the rural districts can be appeased in their " want more " proclivities, is already here to the extent that assent- is refused to such a fair basis. If it turns and rends the Republican party that has so long been stimulating it in seeking the " up-State vote " it will be a righteous retribution. But the question of fair dealing between men is the all important one and it is time to end these policies that have hardly a pretense of right in them. For there is a second and doubtless the loudest element in this howl about "more taxes." It is in the districts of which there are hundreds, as Prof. Works, of the rural education department of Cornell, says, that under the old law paid not a dime of school taxes but taking the $200 a year given by the State to each district of $20,000 or less of taxable property, farmed out the education of their few children to some adjoining district. Are we going to cater further to methods so absolutely devoid of Americanism? And isn't it infinitely pitiful that we have politicians capable of seeking to do so? — Albany Argus, March 1, iqi8. The Politicians and the Schools It is rather amusing to see the politicians at Albany falling over each other in an effort to repeal the township school law and get credit for the same. Even Gov. Whitman and Speaker Sweet are in the petty game. All of them have an ear only for the clamor against the law which arises in many sections, a great deal of it due to conditions that are in no way related to the law. Probably few or none of the politicians stop to consider whether or not the law would improve the schools of the State, or what has been the rusult in other states where it was applied. Few or none of them stop to think of the folly of attempting to pass judgment upon a law which has been in effect only about half a year, some parts of which, in fact, are not yet in operation. They only know that in some quarters a good deal of noise is being made about the law, and that the folks who nake the noise have votes. We trust that instead of repealing the law outright and going back entirely the old school system, some satisfactory solution may be reached so that fundamental features of the law may be saved and given a fair trial. We are juite satisfied that if the system were to be in operation a couple of years THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 721 under normal conditions the great mass of the public would not wish to go back to the old way. There would, of course, remain the objections of those who habitually put the dollar before the child — usually their own dollar and somebodyelse's child. But they should hardly be allowed to dictate the educational policy of a great state. — Cuba Patriot and Free Press, March 8, 1918. The New York Assembly voted 107 to 36 in favor of repealing the Town- ship School Law, which hasn't been in operation a year, which the Legis- lators don't know yet whether it is a good law or not, which hasn't had a chance to show its qualities good or bad, which really was a big benefit to rural schools, and properly worked out in five years would have placed New York State far along advanced lines of educational systems. The Assembly was scared into their action. We hope the Senate will show judg- ment enough to appreciate many of the benefits of the Township system, its justice and its worth, amend it perhaps, but never flatly repeal it. Such an act is cowardly. It comes before the Senate this week. Probably a proper amendment would be to bar the academic high school districts from the operation of the Township system. With this exception let the law alone. — Morris Chronicle, March 20, 1918. Robbing Peter to Pay Paul The article in your issue of March 30, declaring that a crisis has developed in the rural school situation requires an answer from the already tax-over- burdened rural communities. In the first place what crisis has developed in the rural school situation other than the township school law, which your article stated it is assured will be repealed. With that law repealed no crisis will remain or develop. If it is to be repealed it is on account of the unanimous demands of the rural communities which were most affected by it, and demanding the repeal of this law the rural residents are not asking or demanding any substitute in place of it. For the Education Department of the State to foster some new Panacea before the present law is actually repealed looks suspicious in itself. Who is asking for any law? We have heard the plea that something must be done to improve the conditions of the rural schools before. This argument was well and finally answered at the hearing on the bill for the repeal of the present iniquitous township law. If the conditions are so bad, why were they not discovered before the pet township bill fell into disfavor. Oh, no if the rural residents had remained as innate and uncomplaining as they were expected to remain upon the passage of the present law no cry would have been raised about the bad condition of the rural school. It is strange that such bad conditions would have resulted in the origin of some of the greatest men and scholars that this country has ever known. Who constitute the majority of the graduating classes of the high schools and who are the leaders in the classes of the colleges and advance schools, other than these same children who have acquired their first taste for knowledge in these same despised rural schools. And then the climax of this offer of something a great deal better. The offer is made with a promise of gold. $28,300 is offered to the neglected and downtrodden rural schools and taxpayers. Surely the offer of balm such as this has always worked a charm on the country taxpayer since time 722 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK immemorial and why should it not work again. But the rural taxpayer has learned a thing or two by brutal experience, and he knows that $28,300 can- not be allotted by the State unless some one settles for it. The State acquires its money only by taxation. Then how can this money be raised for Chenango county except by taxation? What difference does it make whether we pay our money out in school tax or State tax? Someone must settle and everyone knows that it is the rural taxpayer, who cannot hide his land or cattle in safe deposit vaults, whose taxes always go up and never down. Cannot the politicians "have a heart?" When all the country and every citizen is straining every effort to meet his war taxes and purchase his share of Liberty Bonds, and is doing it gladly and without complaint, why must some department of the State government take this time to foster upon us new and untried methods of running our rural schools entailing additional taxes. No, the rural residents asked that the township school law be repealed. They have not asked for any new legislation curtailing their right to manage their own affairs, and the rural taxpa) r er who is wise will not endorse any new scheme until he knows much more about it than he can acquire at the hastily called meetings being held throughout the State to give this new bill an appearance of rural respectability. If he does he may again find himself asking for abolishment of further councils and commissions the same as all agricultural societies of the State are now doing with the State Food Commission and the Farm and Market council. Remember the bright promises made for these, but how soon the promises failed to materialize after the legislation was enacted. — New Berlin Gazette, April 6, 19 18 The Township Education Law A hearing with reference to the bill repealing the so-called township law, which law last year established the township school system, and which hear- ing was set for Februaiy 12, has been postponed to Wednesday, February 27, at Albany, in order to take up at the same time the amendment with reference to the physical training and medical examination in rural schools and in order to prepare considerable legislation for consideration by all desiring to be heard on the question. Much opposition has developed to the so-called township school law. Its operation has proved to be more expensive than the old system, and it is not satisfactory in many other respects. It is still defended, however, by its sponsor, Dr. Thomas E. Finegan, deputy commissioner of education, and he delivered an address upon the subject before the New York State Horti- cultural Society in the Assembly parlor of the Capitol, at Albany, on Janu- ary 15, and one before the New York State Association of district superintendents of schools, in the auditorium of the Hotel McAlpin, New York, on January 17. In his lengthy defense of the township law, Dr. Finegan says: We are maintaining in this State at the present time 15 schools in each of which there is just one pupil; we are maintaining 86 other schools in each of which there are just two pupils. We are maintaining 166 other schools in each of which there are three pupils. We are maintaining 258 other schools in each of which there are four pupils. We are maintaining 357 other schools in each of which there are but THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 723 five pupils. In other words, there are in operation today in the rural regions of this State nearly 900 schools in each of which there are not more than five pupils. But in addition to these 900 schools, there are 600 other districts in the State in each of which there are less than seven children in attendance upon school. There are 3,800 rural schools in this State today in each of which there are less than ten children in attendance. And what is even worse than this, the assessed valuation of each one of these 3,800 districts is less than $40,000. In one-half of such districts — 2,000 of them — the assessed valuation of each district is less than $20,000. In other words, under the district system four farms of an averfage value of $5,000 were required to support a school in 2,000 of the districts of the State, and in nearly 2,000 additional districts, eight farms of an average value of $5,000, or ten farms of an average value of $4,000, were compelled to support la school. This placed a burden upon these communities which they were not able to meet. There is not a man or woman within the sound of my voice who does not know that it is absolutely impossible to maintain in one of these districts a school which comes anywhere near approaching an institution worthy of the name school. These schools are maintained not only in the interest of the local community but in the interest of the State as well. The State has an interest not only in each of these 900 schools that has an attendance of less than five, but it also has an interest in each of these 3,800 schools that has less than ten children in attendance. The interest of the State from a finiancial standpoint is nearly equal to that of the taxpayers in each of these 3,800 districts. The taxpayers are, of course, taking their money in each one of these districts and supporting these schools. The State is doing likewise. The State is taking from its treasury $200 and putting that amount of money in each of 2,000 of these schools and from $150 to $175 in each of the remaining 1,800 schools. As previously stated by the Journal, considerable opposition to this law has developed in Niagara county. Formal action against it has been taken by several communities in this county. In Orleans county the opposition seems to be more intense than it is in Niagara county. Assemblyman Lattin of Orleans county says that he has received letters from over 90 per cent of the rural school trustees of that county, opposing the law. Petitions against the law have been signed by over 2,000 voters and taxpayers of Orleans county. The only bill introduced to date, receiving serious consideration, is the Martin bill which provides for the restoration of former conditions in respect to school districts. — Niagara Falls Journal, February 25, 1918. MEMORANDUM RELATIVE TO THE REPEAL OF ARTICLE li -A OF THE NEW YORK STATE EDUCATION LAW Presented to Committees on Education at Hearing on Township Bill February 27, 19 18, by Bureau of Municipal Research Assembly bill No. 26 (Senate number 307) is now under consideration by your committee and your recommendations relative to the disposition of this proposed legislation will soon be presented to the Senate and Assembly. This bill proposes to repeal article 11-a of the New York State Education Law. The repeal of this statute would have far-reaching effects on the future development of rural education in the State of New York. Because of the great significance of this legislative bill the Bureau of Municipal Research desires to place before you certain facts and recommendations bearing on the question involved in this proposed legislation. 724 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The sources of the information presented herewith are : 1 Investigations made by the Bureau of Municipal Research for the Nas- sau County Commission (formed under the laws of New York State) of the government of Nassau county 2 Studies made of state school laws and reports of New York and other states 3 Digests of the recent (1917) report of an educational survey of Nassau county (prepared by the New York State Education Department and Dr G. D. Strayer, professor of education administration, Teachers College, Columbia University) As a result of careful consideration of the facts gleaned from the above sources, eight major conclusions are arrived at and are presented herewith. Under each conclusion are set forth the supporting facts and arguments as follows : 1 A repeal of article n-a of the Education Law of New York State would mean taking a step backward in educational administration, because a The district system to which we should return is antiquated, hav- ing been established over 100 years ago and having outlived the condi- tions which it was established to meet b The most recent tendency in state education administration has been toward the larger unit of control : (1) All the states east of the Mississippi river (22 in number) except New York, Illinois and Michigan, have abandoned the dis- trict system (Maryland did so as early as 1865) (2) Massachusetts, beginning in 1853, having three times repealed the law for the abolition of the district system, finally in 1882 estab- lished the township system which is still operating successfully in the entire state (3) Ohio adopted the township system in place of the district system in 1892 and in 1914, by adopting the county system, further enlarged its administrative unit (4) No state which has adopted the larger unit of administration has ever returned permanently to the district system 2 The school district has proven to be an ineffectual unit of state edu- cational administration, because a Under it educational opportunities in a state are unequal (1) They are dependent upon the taxable wealth of the small school district rather than on the aggregated taxable wealth of a number of districts varying widely in amounts of assessed valuations (2) They could not possibly be equalized under a system in which there are, as in New York State, over 10,000 districts each one hav- ing from 1 to 3 trustees b The advantages of expert educational supervision are almost nulli- fied under the district system, because (1) The power of the superintendent of the supervisory districts is dependent upon the good will and close cooperation of many groups of school trustees THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 725 (2) The supervisory districts include too many independent school districts and trustees (in Nassau county there are two super- visors and 237 trustees for 57 school districts) 3 The district plan is wasteful of public funds and effort, because under it a A disproportionate amount of money is expended in the collection of taxes (1) In Nassau county (1915) it cost over $16,000 to collect the district school taxes alone, not counting the cost of copying the tax rolls in each district b An unnecessary number of teachers is employed (1) There are 3800 schools in the State with less than ten pupils c There is an undue number of school sites and buildings d The purchase and distribution of supplies is uneconomical e The expenditures for fuel, light, janitorial services, etc., are duplicated 4 The district system does not distribute the burdens and benefits of education equitably : Under it a The school tax rate based upon property valuation shows marked variation within towns — 1 In Rome tax rates varied from 1 mill to 10 in 1916° 2 " Phillipstown " 2 " 15 " " a 3 " Canaan 1 " 9 " " ° 4 " Hempstead " 2 " 15 " 1915 6 5 " North Hempstead " 1 " 7 " " b 6 " Oyster Bay " 1 " *7 " " b b The product of the school tax per pupil in Nassau county shows marked variation : (1) For the year 1914-15 in Hempstead it varied from $430 to $22^ (2) For the year 1914-15 in North Hempstead it varied from $79 to $3i c (3) For the year 1914-15 in Oyster Bay it varied from $58 to $I9 C (4) In 191 5 in Nassau county it varied from $365 to 20.50^ c The cost of maintenance of schools per teacher employed showed marked variation (1) In 1915 in Nassau county it varied from $689 to $3016^ 5 The town law eliminates the evils of the district system because a It' centralizes the control of schools and places the responsibility of their administration in th ehands of a few who can be held accountable b It eliminates waste, for (1) It reduces the cost of the collection of taxes (2) It makes possible centralized purchasing and distribution of large quantities of supplies, thereby reducing the cost o Township Education Law; address by Dr Thomas E. Finegan before New York State Agricultural Society, January 15, 1918. & Bulletin 652, University of the State of New York, December 1, 1917- c Bulletin 652, University of the State of New York, December 1, 1917, part I, table I. d Id. part 2, table 96. 726 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK c It eliminates conflicts of authority between the superintendent and the numerous district boards d It equalizes the school tax throughout the town e It makes possible the equalization of the educational opportunities throughout the town 6 The town law makes possible the immediate consolidation of schools a Consolidation has made slow progress under the district system in New York State b Consolidation has always followed where the unit of adminis- tration has been enlarged (1) In Indiana under the town system the number of schools with less than 20 pupils was reduced from 4180 to 1775. in ten years (1899-1909)1? (2) In Ohio consolidation became state wide in 1898 after the town had become the unit of administration (3) In Kentucky extensive consolidation followed the establish- ment of the county unit of administration (1908)° 7 Consolidation of schools, the inevitable result of the town law, will produce great advantages for the educational system of New York State a Consolidation is conceded to be beneficial everywhere, for (1) The United States Bureau of Education calls it "the most necessary reform for efficiency and economy in the conduct of rural schools " b (2) In Massachusetts, Connecticut, Ohio and Indiana, the most vigorous opponents of the plan at the time of its introduction were later among its strongest supporters c b Consolidation has proved a marked benefit in states where it has been tried (1) Illinois testified to its advantages in three schools^ (2) Indiana reports " The -work of the consolidation of schools is highly gratifying — children are doing better work, better teach- . ers can be secured, and the High School attendance has increased by 6300 s (3) Utah reports that "All the arguments in favor of consoli- dation are true — the tax levy is smaller, and a very material growth has been made without any additional debt . . . With better build- ings and graded schools we are able to command a better teaching force. . . . The care that is now exercised in the handling of public school funds is an argument in itself for consolidation. No consolidated county would return to the small unit system. The larger unit is superior to it. It makes for economy and efficiency in every department." f e Monroe: Cyclopedia of Education, Article on Consolidation of Schools. a Kentucky State Educational Report, 1912— 13. b Bulletin 1917, No. 5, U. S. Dep't of Education, c E. P. Cubberly, Monroe Cyclopedia, Consolidation of Schools. d Circular No. 76, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Illinois, 1914. e Indiana State Report, 1910. / R. C. Nelson, State Superintendent of Education, Utah, 1913, quoted in United States Bureau of Education Bulletin 191 4, No. 44. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 72.7 (4) Kentucky after having tried consolidation for four years, reports that " The results are so much better that the cost cannot be considered. . . . There can be no reasonable argument made in favor of the old plan." s The Kentucky report enumerates 38 benefits of consolidation, important among which are — (a) Better grading and classification with better results for the same length of time (b) Longer school term (c) Larger number of recitations and more personal in- struction (d) Better work in the higher branches (e) More comfortable and sanitary buildings with modern equipment (/) Broader and deeper school spirit (g) Efficient supervision (h) Thorough work in special branches as domestic science, manual training, music, agriculture etc. (*) Better school officials (/) Public pride in the schools (k) Better teachers (/) Economic management (m) Superior quality of citizenship for the state and greater opportunity for the child 8 The town unit system has proved satisfactory in other states: a Massachusetts returned to it after having alternated between it and the district system b Iowa reports that " in counties where both the township and the district systems exist under the township plan " the management is much more efficient than in the same counties where either the sub- district or rural independent system prevails' 1 c Connecticut which adopted the town plan in 1909 reports that " This law reduces administration to the simplest elements and fixes responsibility for the working of the school system. It has found com- plete justification in diminishing the multiplicity of agencies and offices in fixing legal authority to make timely material improvements and in giving teachers and children a better chance."* In the light of the above facts and arguments, the Bureau of Municipal Research is firmly convinced that the repeal of the township law would be a serious mistake. It would deprive the State and local authorities of the opportunity to work out progressively a more economical, efficient and equitable distribution of the costs and benefits of education throughout the State. Leaving aside, however, the arguments on the merits of the case, it must be apparent to even the most casual observer that a few months' test of a system cannot furnish a sound basis for final judgment. Repeal now would be condemnation without adequate trial — a violation of accepted principles of legislation. g Kentucky State Educational Report 1912— 13, p. 367—403. h Quoted in U. S. Bureau of Education Bull. 1914, No 44. i Connecticut State Educational Report, 1910. 728 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The Bureau of Municipal Research therefore respectfully urges that your committee disapprove Assembly bill no. 26 (Senate number 307) on the ground, first, that the township system is fundamentally right and in line with recent educational advance, and, second, that no fair and just test of the law has been made. The action of the Legislature in 1918 on the township question is given in detail in the transcripts of the proceedings as appear in the Senate and Assembly documents of the 1918 session 1918 Intro, no. S. 5, pr. no. S. 440. Mr G. F. Thompson, "An act to repeal chapter 328, Laws of 1917." Jan. 2 Read first time. By unanimous consent read second time. Referred to committee on public education. Feb. 12 Mr G. F. Thompson moved that the committee on public education be discharged from the consideration of Senate bill (no. 5, int. no. 5) entitled "An act to repeal chapter three hundred and twenty-eight of the Laws of nineteen hundred and seventeen, . . ." and that the said bill be amended, reprinted and recommitted to the committee on public education. The president put the question whether the Senate would agree to said motion, and it was decided in the affirmative. Feb. 19 Mr G. F. Thompson gave notice that at some future time he will move to suspend rules numbered 1, 4, 8, 11, 14, 16, 18, 22, 30 and 44, for the purpose of reading, passing and transmitting to the Assembly out of its regular order the Senate bill (int. no. 5, pr. no. 440) entitled "An act to repeal article eleven-a of the Education Law relating to town boards of education, and certain provisions of the chapter by which such article was added, and to provide for the restoration of former conditions with respect to school districts." March 6 Mr G. F. Thompson moved that the motion to discharge the committee on public education from further consideration of Senate bill (no. 440, int. no. 5) entitled "An act to repeal article eleven-a of the Education Law, relating to town boards of education and certain provisions of the chapter by which such article was added, and to provide for the restoration of former conditions with respect to school districts," to be made pursuant to a notice heretofore given to be made a special order in the order of reports of standing committees on Tuesday, March 19th. March 19 Mr G. F. Thompson called up the notice heretofore given for the suspen- sion of Senate rules in relation to Senate bill (no. 440, int. no. 5) entitled "An act to repeal article eleven-a of the Education Law, relating to town boards of education, and the certain provisions of the chapter by which such article was added, and to provide for the restoration of former con- ditions with respect to school districts," and moved to substitute the Assem- bly bill (no. 26, Senate reprint no. 1207, rec. no. 128) entitled "An act to THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 729 repeal chapter three hundred and twenty-eight of the Laws of nineteen hundred and seventeen, entitled 'An act to amend the Education Law by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and main- tenance of schools in towns,' and to amend the Education Law by providing for the administration and maintenance of schools in towns other than in certain union free districts, and relative to the apportionment of school moneys," in such notice. The president put the question whether the Senate would agree to said motion, and it was decided in the affirmative. (New York Senate Journal, 1918, p. 11, 141, 201, 370.) Intro, no. S. 17, pr. no. S. 17. Mr Slater, "An act to amend the Educa- tion Law in relation to town board of education." Jan. 9 Read first and second times. Referred to committee on public education. (New York Senate Journal, 1917, v. I, p. 14.) Int. no. A. 26, pr. no. S. 1348. Mr Martin, "An act to repeal article eleven-a of the Education Law relating to town boards of education, and certain provisions of the chapter by which such article was added and to provide for the restoration of former conditions with respect to school districts." Jan. 9 Read the first time. Referred to the committee on public education. March 6 Mr Tallett from the committee on public education to which was referred Assembly bill introduced by Mr Martin (no. 26, int. no. 26), entitled "An act to repeal article eleven-a of the Education Law, relating to town boards of education, and certain provisions of the chapter by which such article was added, and to provide for the restoration of former conditions with respect to school districts," reported in favor of the passage of the same, without amendment. Those who voted in the affirmative were : Messrs Tallett, Harris, Welsh, Duke, Soule, Gage, Brink, Amos, Fitzgerald, Whitcomb, Donnelly, Link, Claessens, which report was agreed to, and said bill placed on the order of second reading. March 7 Mr E. C. Davis (reported) from the committee on revision, to which was referred the bill, introduced by Mr Martin (no. 26, intro. no. 26), entitled "An act to repeal article eleven-a of the Education Law, relating to town boards of education and certain provisions of the chapter by which such article was added and to provide for the restoration of former conditions with respect to school districts." Read the second time. On motion of Mr Martin, said bill was placed in the order of third reading and referred to the committee on revision. March 13 The bill (no. 26, int. no. 26) entitled "An act to repeal article eleven-a of the Education Law, relating to town boards of education, and certain 730 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK provisions of the chapter by which such article was added, and to provide for the restoration of former conditions with respect to school districts," having been announced. Debate was had thereon, when Mr Martin moved the previous question. Mr Speaker put the question, "Shall the main question be now put?" and it was determined in the affirmative. Said bill was then read the third time, having been printed and upon the desks of the members in its final form at least three calendar legislative days prior to its final passage. Mr Speaker put the question whether the House would agree to the final passage of said bill, and it was determined in the affirmative, a majority of all the members elected to the Assembly voting in favor thereof, and three-fifths being present. Ayes 107, Noes 36 Those who voted in the affirmative were : Adler Gay lord Prangen Allen Graham Pratt Alvord Hager Quackenbush Ames, D. H. Harris Richford Ames, H. L. Hooper Rowe Amos Jenks Seaker Bates Johnson, E. A.. Seelye Bewley Johnson, L. W. Shannon Bloomfield Judson Showers Bourke Kasson Slacer Brink Kenyon Smith, E. A. Brownlee Kiernan Smith, H. W. Brush Lattin Snyder Burtnett Lord Soule Caulfield Lown Tallett Cheney Machold Talmage Coles Malone Taylor, A. Copeley Martin Taylor, F. J. Cowee McCue Thayer. Crane McElligott Trahan Crowley McGinnies Tuckerman Davies, A. E. McKeon Twomey Davies, E. O. McNab Tyler Davis, E. C. McWhinney Vorhees Davis, G. T. Mead, C. L. Waldman Dobson Mead, J. M. Wells, F. A. Donohoe Meyer Welsh Duke Miller, N. J. Wheelock Ellenbogen Mitchell Whitcomb Everett Murphy Williams Fearon Nesbitt Wiltsie Fenner O'Hare Witter THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 731 Franchot Parsons Youker Gaffers Patrzykowski Zimmerman Gage Peck Gardner Pierce Those who voted in the negative were : Belknap Flynn McDonald Brackley Garfinkel McGarry Braun Gitlow McKee Burr Goldberg McLaughlin Claessens Hamill Miller, E. H, Curley Havican Morris Decker Karlin Orr Donnelly Kennedy Rosenberg Donohue Klingmann Seesselberg Fallon Larney Shiplacoff Farrell Link Sutherland Feigenbaum McArdle Whitehorn Ordered, That the clerk deliver said bill to the Senate and request their concurrence therein. (New York Assembly Journal, 1918, p. 27, 590, 638, 743-44) March 14 In the Senate — rec. no. 128. Read first time. By unanimous consent read second time and referred to committee on public education. March 19 Mr Lockwood, from the committee on public education, to which was referred the Assembly bill introduced by Mr Martin (no. 26, rec. no. 128) entitled "An act to repeal article eleven-a of the Education Law, relating to towu boards of education, and certain provisions of the chapter by which such article was added, and to provide for the restoration of former conditions with respect to school districts," reported in favor of the passage of the same, with amendments, the title being amended to read as follows: "An act to repeal chapter three hundred and twenty-eight of the Laws of nineteen hundred and seventeen, entitled 'An act to amend the Educa- tion Law by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns,' and to amend the Education Law by providing for the administration and maintenance of schools in towns other than in certain union free school districts, and relative to the apportionment of school moneys," which report was agreed to, and said bill committed to the committee of the whole. March 20 Mr Lockwood moved that the committee of the whole be discharged from the consideration of Assembly bill (no. 26, Senate reprint no. 1207, rec. no. 128) entitled "An act to repeal chapter three hundred and twenty- eight of the Laws of nineteen hundred and seventeen, entitled 'An act to amend the Education Law by creating town boards of education and pro- viding for the support and maintenance of schools in towns,' and to amend the Education Law by providing for the administration and maintenance of schools in towns other than in certain union free school districts, and 732 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK relative to the apportionment of school moneys," and that said bill be restored to its original form (Assembly bill no. 26, rec. no. 128) by striking out the Senate amendments, and recommitted to the committee on public education. The president put the question whether the Senate would agree to said motion, and it was decided in the affirmative. March 25 Mr Whitney moved that the committee on public education be discharged from the consideration of Assembly bill (no. 26, rec. no. 128) entitled "An act to repeal article eleven-a of the Education Law, relating to town boards of education, and certain provisions of the chapter by which such article was added, and to provide for the restoration of former conditions with respect to school districts," and that the said bill' be amended, reprinted and recommitted to the committee on public education. The president put the question whether the Senate would agree to said motion, and it was decided in the affirmative. April 3 Mr Lockwood, from the committee on public education, to which was referred the Assembly bill introduced by Mr Martin (no. 1348, rec. No. 128), entitled "An act to repeal article eleven-a of the Education Law relating to town boards of education, and certain provisions of the chapter by which such article was added, and to provide for the restoration of former conditions with respect to school districts," reported in favor of the passage of the same, which report was agreed to. On motion of Mr Lockwood, and by unanimous consent, the rules were suspended and said bill ordered to a third reading. The Assembly bill (no. 26, Senate reprint no. 1348, rec. no. 128) entitled "An act to repeal article eleven-a of the Education Law, relating to town boards of education, and certain provisions of the chapter by which such article was added, and to provide for the restoration of former conditions with respect to school districts," was read the third time. The President put the question whether the Senate would agree to the final passage of said bill, the same having been printed and upon the desks of the members in its final form for three calendar legislative days, and it was decided in the affirmative, a majority of all the Senators elected voting in favor thereof, and three-fifths being present, as follows: Argetsinger Brown, A. P. Burlingame Carson Cromwell Dunnigan Emerson Farrenkopf Fowler Gibbs Gilchrist Hewitt For the affirmative Hill Slater Knight Stivers Koenig Thompson, G. F. Lockwood Thompson, G. L. Marshall Towner Mullan Walters Murphy Walton Newton Wellington Nicoll Whitney Ottinger Wicks Ramsperger Yelverton 34 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 733 Boylan Cotillo Cullen For the negative Dowling Lawson Downing Robinson Foley Wagner Ordered, That the Clerk return said bill to the Assembly, with a message that the Senate has concurred in the passage of the same, with amendments. (New York Senate Journal, 1918, v. 1 & 2, p. 541, 582, 684, 898, 909.) April 8 The Senate returned the Assembly bill (no. 26, Senate reprint no. 1348, int. no. 26) entitled "An act to repeal article eleven-a of the Education Law, relating to town boards of education, and certain provisions of the chapter by which such article was added, and to provide for the restoration of former conditions with respect to school districts," with a message that they have concurred in the passage of the same, with the following amendments : Page 2, line 25, strike out all after the period and insert "All acts or parts of acts, general or special, repealed by chapter three hundred and twenty-eight of the Laws of nineteen hundred and seventeen, are hereby re-enacted to take effect on August first nineteen hundred and eighteen." Page 3, strike out all of lines 1 and 2 and all of line 3 down to and including the period. Mr. Martin moved to concur in the Senate amendments. Mr Speaker put the question whether the House would concur in said amendments, said bill having been printed and upon the desks of the members in its final form at least three calendor legislative days prior to its final passage, and it was determined in the affirmative, a majority of all the members elected to the Assembly voting in favor thereof, and three- fifths being present. Ayes 138, Noes o Adler Gage Nesbitt Allen Gardner O'Hare Alvord Garfinkel Orr Ames D. H. Gaylord Parsons Ames, H. L. Gitlow Patrzykowski Amos Goldberg Peck Bates Graham Pierce Belknap Hager Prangen Bewley Hamill Pratt Blakely Harris Quackenbush Bloomfield Hooper Richford Bourke Jenks Rosenberg Brackley Johnson, E. A. Rowe Braun Johnson, L. W. Seaker Brink Judson Seelye Brownlee Karlin Seeselberg Brush Kasson Shannon Burtnett Kennedy Shiplacoff Caulfield Kenyon Showers 734 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Cheney Claessens Coles Copeley Cowee Crane Crowley Curley Davies, A. E. Davies, E. O. Davis, E. C. Davis, G. T. Decker Dobson Donohoe Donohue Duke Ellenbogen Everett Farrell Fearon Feigenbaum Fenner Fitzgerald Flynn Franchot Gaffers Kieman Larney Lattin Leininger Link Lord Lown Machold Malone Martin McArdle McDonald McElligott McGarry McGinnies McKee McKeon McLaughlin McNab McWhinney Mead, C. L. Meyer Miller, E. H. Miller, N. J. Mitchell Morris Murphy Slacer Smith, E. A. Smith, H. W. Snyder Soule Tallett Talmage Taylor, A. Taylor, F. J. Thayer Trahan Tuckerman Tyler Voorhees Waldman Wells, F. A. Wells, L. H. Welsh Wheelock Whitcomb Whitehorn Williams Wiltsie Winter Witter Youker Zimmerman Ordered, That the clerk return said bill to the Senate, with a message that the Assembly have concurred in the amendments of the Senate thereto. (New York Assembly Journal, 1918, p. 1764-65.) April 9 The Assembly returned (to the Senate) (no. 26 Senate reprint no. 1348, rec. no. 128) entitled "An act to repeal article eleven-a of the Education Law, relating to town boards of education, and certain provisions of the chapter by which such article was added, and to provide for the restoration of former conditions with respect to school districts." Senate ordered clerk to return said bill to Assembly. (Senate Journal, 1918, v. 2, p. 1 105). April 10 The Senate returned the Assembly bill (no. 26, Senate reprint 1348, int. no. 26) entitled, "An act to repeal article eleven-a of the Education Law, relating to town boards of education, and certain provisions of the chapter by which such article was added, and to provide for the restoration of former conditions with respect to school districts." Ordered, That the clerk deliver said bill to the Governor. (New York Assembly Journal, 1918, p. 2034.) April 13 Approved. Chapter 109. (New York Legislative Index, 1918, p. 146.) Int. no. A. 73, pr. no. A. 73. Mr Franchot, "An act to repeal chapter three hundred and twenty-eight of the Laws of nineteen hundred and THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 735 seventeen, entitled 'An act to amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns.' " January 16 Read first time. Referred to the committee on public education. Int. no. A. 125, pr. no. 125. Mr Gaffers. "An act to repeal chapter three hundred and twenty-eight of the Laws of nineteen hundred and seventeen, entitled 'An act to amend the Education Law by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns and revising the district and union free school systems.' " January 18 Read the first time and referred to the committee on public education. (New York Assembly Journal, 1918, p. 45, 60.) Int. no. S. 307, pr. no. S. 322. Mr. Wicks, "An act to repeal article eleven-a of the Education Law, relating to town boards of education and certain provisions of the chapter by which such article was added and to provide for the restoration of former conditions with respect to school districts." Feb. 5 Read first time. By unanimous consent read second time and referred to committee on public education. (New York Senate Journal, 1918, v. I, P- 95-) Int. no. S. 475, pr. no. S. 521. Mr Lockwood, "An act to repeal chapter three hundred and twenty-eight of the Laws of nineteen hundred and seventeen . . ." Feb. 15 Read first time. Referred to committee on public education. (New York Senate Journal, 1918, v. 1, p. 169-70.) Int. no. A. 574, pr. no. A. 620. Mr Malone. Feb. 15 By unanimous consent, Mr Malone by request introduced a bill entitled "An act to repeal chapter three hundred and twenty-eight of the Laws of nineteen hundred and seventeen, entitled 'An act to amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns,' and to amend the Education Law by providing for the administration and maintenance of rural schools " (int. no. 574), which was read the first time and referred to the committee on public education. (New York Assembly Journal, 1918, p. 285.) Int. no. A. 666, pr. no. A. 736. Mr. J. M. Mead, "An act to repeal chapter three hundred and twenty-eight of the Laws of nineteen hundred and seventeen . . ." Feb. 20 Read first time. Referred to committee on public education. (New York Assembly Journal, 1918, p. 341.) Intro, no. S. 953, pr. no. S. 1212. By education committee, "An act to repeal chapter three hundred and twenty-eight of the Laws of nineteen hundred and seventeen, entitled 'An act to amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and 73^ THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK maintenance of schools in towns ' and to amend the Education Law by providing for the administration and maintenance of schools in towns other than in certain union free school districts and relative to the apportionment of school moneys." March 18 Read the first time and referred to committee on public education. March 20 Mr Lockwood moved that the committee on public education be dis- charged from the consideration of Senate bill (no. 1175, int no. 953) entitled "An act to repeal chapter three hundred and twenty-eight of the Laws of nineteen hundred and seventeen, entitled 'An act to amend the Education Law by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns,' and to amend the Education Law by providing for the administration and maintenance of schools in towns other than in certain union free school districts, and relative to the apportionment of school moneys," and that the said bill be amended, the title being amended to read as follows : "An act to amend the Education Law, by providing for the administra- tion and maintenance of schools in towns other than certain union free school district, and relative to the apportionment of school moneys," and that the same be reprinted and recommitted to the committee on public education. The president put the question whether the Senate would agree to said motion and, it was decided in the affirmative. March 26 Mr. Lockwood, from the committee on public education, to which was referred the Senate bill introduced by committee on public education (no. 1212, int. no. 953) entitled "An act to amend the Education Law by pro- viding for the administration and maintenance of schools in towns other than certain union free school districts, and relative to the apportionment of school moneys," reported in favor of the passage of the same, which report was agreed to, and said bill committed to the committee of the whole. (New York Journal, 1918, v. 1, p. 512, 585, 701-2.) April 2 The committee on rules reported the following, namely, that Senate bill (pr. no. 1212, int. no. 953) entitled "An act to amend the Education Law by providing for the admininstration and maintenance of schools in towns other than certain union free school districts, and relative to the apportionment of school moneys," with amendments, if any, be taken up forthwith in the Senate, be advanced to the order of third reading and be and continue the pending order of business, superseding and taking pre- cedence over all other orders until the vote of the Senate upon the final passage thereon be taken ; that debate thereon, including debate upon all amendments or motions offered for the purpose of amendments and every question arising pending its consideration, be limited to not exceeding one hour, not more than one-half of such time to the members of the majority and not more than one-half to the members of the minority; that at the expiration of such debate, the vote of the Senate shall be forthwith taken upon the final passage of the bill and the amendments offered thereto, if any, then pending; that no motion shall be entertained except for the purpose THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 737 of amendment or call of the Senate and but one motion to adjourn shall be entertained and then only upon the recognition of the temporary president for such purpose; that in case a motion to adjourn is carried, the measure at that time under consideration together with the proposed amendments shall be the pending order of business when the Senate shall again convene and shall be taken up and continued as though no adjournment of the Senate had intervened and no additional time shall be allowed for debate thereon and the consideration of the measure shall be continued to the vote of the Senate on its final passage. Debate on the adoption of this report shall not exceed one hour, not more than one-half to the members of the majority, and not more than one- half to the members of the minority, if desired. That any and all rules of the Senate inconsistent with this rule be and they are hereby suspended until the vote of the Senate on its final passage. The president put the question whether the Senate would agree to said report, and it was decided in the affirmative. Following the debate upon the adoption of said report, Mr E. R. Brown moved that the Senate do now adjourn, and that when the Senate recon- venes, the said report shall be the pending order of business immediately following the reading of the journal. The president put the question whether the Senate would agree to said motion, and it was decided in the affirmative. April 3 The president stated the pending question to be the report of the com- mittee on rules in relation to Senate bill (no. 1212, int. no. 953) entitled "An act to amend the Education Law by providing for the administration and maintenance of schools in towns other than certain union free school dis- tricts, and relative to the apportionment of school moneys," which was under consideration by the Senate at the time of adjournment on Tuesday, April 2d. The president put the question whether the Senate would agree to said report, and it was decided in the affirmative. On motion of Mr E. R. Brown, and by unanimous consent, the rules were suspended and said bill ordered to a third reading. Said bill was read the third time. The president put the question whether the Senate would agree to the final passage of said bill, the same having been printed and upon the desks of the members in its final form for three calendar legislative days, and it was decided in the affirmative, a majority of all the Senators elected voting in favor thereof, and three-fifths being present as follows : Boylan Brown, E. R. Cotillo Cullen Dowling Downing Dunnigan Emerson Farrenkopf Nicoll Wellington 27 For the Affirmative Foley Ottinger Gibbs Robinson Koenig Sage Lawson Sheridan Lockwood Slater Marshall Stivers Murphy Wagner Newton Walker Nicoll Wellington 738 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK For the Negative Artgetsinger Hill Towner Brown A. P. Knight Walters Burlingame Mullan Walton Carson Ramsperger Whitney Fowler Thompson, G. F. Wicks Gilchrist Thompson, G. L. Yelverton 18 Ordered, That the clerk deliver said bill to the Assembly and request their concurrence therein. New York Senate Journal, 1018, \. 2, p. S75-6, 906-7. ) April 4 In Assembly. Rec. no. 315. To education committee. (New York Legis- lative Index, 1918, p. 109.) No. 521 Int. 475 In Senate Introduced by Mr. LOCKWOOD — read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the committee on public education. An act to repeal chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, entitled "An act to amend the Educational Law, by creating town boards of education and pro- viding for the support and maintenance of schools in towns," and to amend the Education Law by providing for the administration and main- tenance of rural schools. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: Section 1 Chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, entitled "An act to amend the Education Law by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns," is hereby repealed. § 2 Chapter 21 of the Laws of 1909, entitled "An act relating to edu- cation, constituting chapter 16 of the Consolidated Laws," as amended by chapter 140 of the Laws of 1910, is hereby amended by inserting therein a new article, to be known as article eleven-a, and to read as follows : Article XI-A RURAL SCHOOLS Section 330 Rural schools 331 Rural school districts established 332 School districts continued 333 Board of education of rural school district 334 Qualifications of members of board of education 335 Appointment of officers by board 336 Bond of treasurer 337 Vacancies in school offices 338 Board to constitute a body corporate 339 Meetings of board 340 Duties of clerk 341 Duties of treasurer 342 Powers of board of education Honorable Robert F. Wagner Minority leader of Senate THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 739 Section 343 Schools to be free 344 Transfer of pupils 345 Schoolhouse sites 346 Erection, repair and improvement of school buildings 347 Annual school budget 348 Property subject to taxation; levy arid collection of taxes 349 Maintenance of school in school district in two or more towns 350 Borrowing money in anticipation of collection of taxes 351 Submission of certain questions to a vote of the district 352 Issue and sale of school bonds 353 State funds to be used for schools of rural school districts 354 Certain union free school districts not subject to provisions of article 355 School district officers abolished; apportionment of funds and indebtedness 356 Outstanding bonds; existing school property 357 Notice of annual school meeting 358 Special school meetings in rural school districts 359 Qualifications of voters at school meetings 360 Conduct of school meetings § 330 Rural schools. All public schools maintained in a town except those maintained in a union free school district in which an academic department had been lawfully established on or before the second day of May 191 7, shall be known as rural schools. § 331 Rural school districts established. 1 The several school dis- tricts in a town, except union free school districts in which academic depart- ments were maintained on or before the second day of May, 191 7, shall con- stitute a rural school district and shall be known as rural school district No. — of the town of . 2 A rural school district in which there are twelve or more school dis- tricts may be divided into two or more rural school districts, but in no such case shall a rural school district contain less than five school districts, and such districts shall be contiguous. At any annual meeting of a rural school district or at a special meeting called for the purpose, a resolution may be adopted by a majority vote of the qualified electors pres- ent at such meeting, dividing such rural school district into two or more rural school districts. Such resolution shall specify and designate the school districts to be included in each of such school districts. If such a resolu- tion be adopted, a certified copy of it shall be transmitted by the clerk of the meeting to the district superintendent of schools, who shall there- upon make an order describing such rural school districts and designating them by number. Such order shall be executed in duplicate, one of which shall be filed in the office of the town clerk of the town and one transmitted to the Commissioner of Education. Upon the execution of such order such rural school districts shall be established as described therein. § 332 School districts continued. 1 Each school district in the State is hereby continued as such district exists at the time this act goes into effect or until its boundaries are modified as provided in this chapter. 74° THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 2 No order consolidating two or more school districts shall be effective until such order is approved by a majority vote of the town board of education of the town or towns in which such districts are located, and by a majority vote of the qualified electors of each district present and voting ai a meeting of the districts consolidated by said order. § 333 Board of education of rural school district, i Each school dis- trict within a rural school district shall hold an annual school meeting on the first Tuesday in May at seven-thirty post meridian for the purpose of electing a trustee who shall serve for one year from the first day of August following his election. The provisions of section 227 of this chapter shall apply to and regulate such election. 2 The trustees of the several school districts within a rural school dis- trict shall constitute the board of education of such rural school district. § 334 Qualifications of members of board of education. A member of a board of education of a rural school district must be a qualified elector at the school meetings of the district for which he is chosen. A district superintendent of schools, or a supervisor of a town shall not be eligible to the office of member of a board of education. Not more than one member of a family shall be a member of the same board of education. A person who is removed from his office as a member of a board of education shall be ineligible to appointment or election to any school office in the dis- trict for a period of five years from the date of such removal. § 335 Appointment of officers by board. The board of education of each rural school district shall elect one of its members chairman who shall serve until the next annual meeting of the board, and shall also appoint a clerk of the board and a school treasurer who may be a member of the board or a teacher employed in the public schools of the district. Such clerk and treasurer shall serve during the pleasure of the board. Any person who is qualified to vote at a school meeting in the district may be appointed as clerk or treasurer. The board shall determine the duties and fix the compensation of such clerk and treasurer. § 336 Bond of treasurer. The treasurer, within ten days after the re- ceipt of notice in writing of his appointment, duly served upon him, and before entering upon the duties of his office, shall execute and deliver to the board of education a bond, in a sum to be prescribed by the board and with sureties to be approved by it, conditioned for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office. § 337 Vacancies in school offices. 1 A school office becomes vacant by death, resignation, refusal to serve, incapacity, removal from the district or from office. 2 A member of a board of education who publicly declares that he will not accept or serve in the office of member of the board of education, or refuses or neglects to attend three successive meetings of the board of which he is duly notified, without rendering a good and valid reason therefor to the board of education, vacates his office by refusal to serve. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 741 3 A member of a board of education vacates his office by the acceptance of either the office of district superintendent of schools or of supervisor of the town. 4 A treasurer vacates his office by failure to execute a bond to the board of education as herein required. 5 A vacancy in the office of member of a board of education may be filled by the board. A person appointed to fill such vacancy shall hold office until the next annual school meeting of the rural school district, when such vacancy shall be filled by election for the balance of the unex- pired term. 6 When a vacancy has existed in the office of a member of a board of education for thirty days, the district superintendent of schools shall appoint a person qualified to vote at school meetings in the district to fill such vacancy and the person so appointed shall hold office until the next annual school meeting of the district, when the vacancy shall be filled for the bal- ance of the unexpired term. § 338 Board to constitute a body corporate. The board of education of each rural school district shall be a corporation. All property which is now vested in, or shall be hereafter transferred to, the board of edu- cation of a rural district for the use of schools therein shall be held by such board as a corporation. § 339 Meetings of board. The first annual meeting of a board of edu- cation of a rural school district, established as herein provided, shall be held on the first Tuesday in July, 1918. The annual meeting of a board of education of such district in each year thereafter shall be held on the first Tuesday in August of each year. A regular meeting of the board shall be held at least once in each quarter. The board may adopt by-laws prescribing the time and place where regular meetings shall be held, and regulate the conduct of such meetings. Such board shall also prescribe a method of calling special meetings. The meetings of the board shall bt open to the public but the board may hold executive sessions at which busi- ness may be transacted which should not, in its judgment, be transacted in an open session, at which sessions only members of the board or persons invited shall be present. § 340 Duties of clerk. The clerk of the board of education shall have the powers and perform the duties of the clerk of a school district as pro- vided in this chapter. In addition to such powers and duties, such clerk shall 1 Act as clerk at all meetings of the board and record the proceeding*! of such meetings, and the orders and resolutions adopted thereat, in proper books. 2 Draw and sign warrants upon the treasurer for all moneys" to be dis- bursed by the district for school purposes and present them to the chair- man to be countersigned by that officer. Each warrant shall specify the object for which it is drawn, the fund from which it is payable and the name of the individual or corporation to whom the amount thereof is payable. 74^ THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 3 When directed by the board of education, prepare all reports required by law and forward the same to the proper officers. ' 4 Perform such other duties as are or shall be required by law or by the board of education, § 341 Duties of treasurer. The treasurer shall have the powers and per- form the duties of a district treasurer as provided in this chapter, and in addition thereto shall 1 Be the custodian of all school moneys of the rural school district and be responsible for the safekeeping and accurate account thereof. 2 Pay all orders or warrants lawfully drawn upon him out of the moneys in his hands belonging to the funds upon which such orders or warrants are drawn. 3 Keep accurate accounts of all moneys received and disbursed by him, the sources from which they are received and the persons to whom, and the objects for which, they are disbursed. 4 Prepare and submit as required by law annual reports of receipts and disbursements, and render at such times as may be required by law or directed by the board of education, a report or statement relative to the school funds of the town. § 342 Powers of board of education. The board of education of each rural school district shall, in respect to the public schools and school officers of the town, 1 Exercise the powers and perform the duties conferred or imposed by law upon boards of education or trustees of school districts, so far as they may be applicable to the schools or other educational affairs of the district and not inconsistent with the provisions of this article. Any power, duty, liability or obligation which is conferred or imposed by this chapter, or any >ther statute, upon the board of education of a union free school district or the trustees of a school district, shall be exercised or performed by the board of education, and such board shall be subject to such liability or obligation, in respect to the schools in the rural school district, in the same manner and to the same extent as in the case of boards of educa- tion in union free school districts or trustees of school districts. 2 Maintain a school in each of the school districts within the rural school district; determine the number of teachers to be employed in each of such schools and contract with principals and teachers for the maintenance and operation of such schools pursuant to the provisions of this chapter ; employ or appoint medical inspectors, nurses, attendance officers, janitors and other employees required for the proper and efficient management of the schools and other educational affairs under their direction and control. 3 Provide transportation when necessary for children attending school, under regulations to be prescribed by it. 4 Have the care, custody, control and safekeeping of all school property or other property of the rural school district used for educational, social or recreational work and not specifically placed by law under the control of some other body or officer, and prescribe rules and regulations for the preservation of such property. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 743 5 Purchase and furnish such apparatus, maps, globes, books, reproduc- tions of standard works of art, furniture and other equipment and supplies as may be necessary for the proper and efficient management of the schools. 6 Establish and maintain elementary schools, high schools, vocational, industrial, agricultural and homemaking schools or classes, night schools, or such other schools and classes as shall be deemed necessary to meet the needs and demands of the rural school district. 7 Provide for the academic instruction of all pupils residing in such rural school district, who have completed the elementary courses of instruc- tion in the schools in such district, in the academic department or high school of another rural school district, union free school district or city, if the rural school district in which such pupils reside does not maintain a high school or academic department. 8 Establish and maintain school libraries which may be open to the public as provided by law. 9 Prescribe courses of study which shall be followed in the schools or classes established and maintained in the rural school district. io Contract with boards of education of other rural school districts, and of union free school districts and cities for the instruction of pupils of the rural school district, and when any such contract is made the public money or state tuition apportioned for such instruction shall be paid to such rural school district. II To designate a repository wherein the funds of .the district shall be deposited. § 343 Schools to be free. Each school maintained in a rural school dis- trict under the supervision and control of a board of education in such district, and each department of such school and each course of study maintained therein, shall be free to the children of school age residing in such district. § 344 Transfer of pupils. Where pupils of school age residing in a rural school district may be more conveniently instructed in the school or schools of an adjacent rural school district, or of a union free school dis- trict or city, the board of education of such rural school district may pro- vide for the transfer of such pupils to the school or schools in such adjacent town or an adjacent union free school district or city. The board of educa- tion making such transfer shall send notice thereof to the board of educa- tion of the rural school district, union free school district or city to which it is proposed to transfer such pupils, and provisions shall thereupon be made by the board of education of the rural schood district, union free school dis- trict or city wherein such pupils are to be instructed, for the accommodation of such pupils, upon the approval of the Commissioner of Education. The Commissioner of Education shall not approve the transfer of such pupils, when such action shall require the rural school district, union free school dis- trict or city receiving such pupils to provide additional teachers or other school accommodations, without the consent of the board of education of such district or city. Whenever pupils have been transferred as herein provided, the board of education of the rural school district, union free school district 744 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK or city to which the transfer is made shall submit, through its chairman and clerk, to the board of education of the rural school district where the pupils reside, a verified statement of the cost of the instruction of such pupils. The cost of the instruction of such pupils and, in case of academic pupils the cost in excess of the state tuition allowed for their instruction, shall be a charge against the rural school district wherein such pupils reside, and the board of education thereof shall direct the payment of the cost of such instruction out of the school funds of such district, in the same manner as other charges upon such funds are paid. The amount charged for such instruction may be determined by agree- ment between the board of education of the rural school district wherein the pupils reside and the board of education of the rural school district, union free school district or city in which such pupils are to be instructed, or if such boards are unable to make such agreement the matter shall be referred to the commissioner of education for determination ; and in making such determination the per capita cost of the instruction of the pupils of the rural school district, village or city to which such pupils have been transferred may be used as a basis. § 345 Schoolhouse sites. The board of education of a rural school dis- trict, whenever in its judgment it is necessary for the interest of the schools of the district, may designate a new site for the schoolhouse., or enlarge the site of an existing schoolhouse. Whenever a new site is desig- nated, or an existing site is enlarged, the board shall pass a resolution stating the necessity therefor, describing by metes and bounds the land to be acquired for either of such purposes, and estimating the amount of funds necessary therefor. Such resolution must be adopted by the votes of at least a majority of the members of the board of education. When such resolution is adopted the land described therein may be acquired by the board of education in the manner provided by law for the acquisition of real property for school purposes. § 346 Erection, repair and improvement of school buildings. The board of education of a rural school district shall provide for the repair of such buildings therein, or other buildings under its control and manage- ment, and shall expend therefor an amount not exceeding the amount included in the annual school tax budget. The board may also remodel, enlarge or improve such school buildings or other buildings under its con- trol and management, and may construct new buildings, whenever required, for the proper accommodation of the school children of the district. The board of education shall not expend in any one year for the remodeling, improvement or enlargement of existing school buildings or for the con- struction of new buildings an aggregate amount in excess of one-half of one per centum of the assessed valuation of the rural school district and in no case an amount in the aggregate in excess of two thousand five hun- dred dollars without a vote of the school meeting of the district, except as hereinafter provided. § 347 Annual school budget. 1 On or before the first day of July in each year the board of education shall prepare in triplicate an itemized tax budget containing the amounts required to be raised by tax for school THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 745 purposes in the rural school district for the ensuing school year. Such tax budget shall contain a statement of the probable amount to be received by the district in the next apportionment of school funds from the state and the estimated amount to be received from all other sources, and shall specify the several amounts to be raised for the following purposes : a The salaries and compensation of principals, teachers, medical inspec- tors, nurses, attendance officers, janitors and other employees appointed or employed by said board of education. b The cost of instruction of pupils residing in the district who are to be instructed in the schools of another town or in a union free school district or city. c All necessary incidental and contingent expenses of the schools of the district, including transportation, the purchase of fuel and light, supplies, textbooks, school apparatus, furniture and other articles and services neces- sary for the proper maintenance, operation and support of the schools of the district. d The ordinary repairs of school buildings and other buildings under its control and management. e The remodeling, improvement or enlargement of existing buildings, and the construction of new buildings and the furnishing and equipment thereof. / The amount required to be raised for the payment of the interest and principal of bonds and other indebtedness lawfully incurred or to be incurred for school purposes and which are a charge against the district. g The amount which may be required for the payment of any other claim against the district arising from the support and maintenance of the schools therein. h The amount voted at the annual or a special school meeting in the district on a proposition or question lawfully submitted at such meeting. i The amount determined upon as the proportionate share of the cost of maintaining a school in a district partly in two or more towns, required to be paid by said board. 2 A written or printed copy of such budget shall be posted in at least five of the most public places in the town at least twenty days before the first day of August. The board may cause such budget to be published at length once in each week for the four weeks next preceding the first day of August, in two newspapers if there shall be two, or in one news- paper if there shall be but one, published or circulated in such rural school district. 3 Such tax budget shall be signed in triplicate by a majority of the mem- bers of the board of education. On or before the first day of September such triplicate tax budgets shall be filed as follows : one in the office of the clerk of the board of education, one in the office of the clerk of the town, and one shall be delivered by the clerk of the board to the super- visor of the town. 4 The board of education of a rural school district may, in the manner herein provided, prepare a supplemental budget to raise money for any law- ful purpose. 74^ THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK a When authorized by a vote of an annual or special school meeting in the district. b When the amounts stated in the annual tax budget for the purposes specified are insufficient therefor and such amounts may be raised by tax without a vote of a school meeting in the district. Such supplemental budget shall not authorize the levy of a tax for the purposes therein specified, or be effectual for any purpose unless there shall be endorsed thereon the certificate of the district superintendent of the supervisory district in which such district is situated, to the effect that the purposes for which the amount therein specified is to be raised are lawful. Such supplemental tax budget shall be prepared in the same man- ner and filed with the same officers as the annual tax budget. The clerk of the board of education shall deliver such supplemental budget to the supervisor of the town. 5 The Commissioner of Education may prescribe the form of such budget. He may adopt regulations not inconsistent with law, providing for the examination, review, correction and the modification of such budgets and the instruction and assistance of school authorities in the performance of duties in respect thereto. 6 District superintendents shall, during the month of August in each year, examine the tax budgets on file in the office of each clerk of the board of education of each town in his supervisory district, and shall advise with and aid boards of education in the preparation and correction of such budgets, and perform such other duties in respect thereto as may be prescribed by the Commissioner of Education. § 348 Property subject to taxation; levy and collection of taxes. The taxable property in a rural school district shall be subject to taxation for school purposes in the town in which it is located, and the tax imposed on such property for school purposes shall be assessed against such prop- erty on the town assessment roll of such town. If a school district included within a rural school district, as constituted by this article, is in two or more towns, the taxable property of that portion of such school district which is in each town shall be assessed and taxed in such town for school purposes. The supervisor of the town shall cause the school tax budget and sup- plemental tax budget, if any, to be presented to the board of supervisors at its annual meeting, and the amount specified therein shall be levied against the taxable property of the town which is subject to tax for school purposes as herein provided, in the same manner as other taxes are levied against the taxable property of the town. The board of supervisors shall provide for the collection of the tax so levied at the same time and in the same manner as other town taxes are collected, and the warrant issued to the collector shall direct the payment of the tax so collected to the treas- urer of the rural school district. § 349 Maintenance of school in school district in two or more towns. The school in a district which is located in two or more towns shall be maintained at the expense of the rural school district of the town in which the schoolhouse is situated. The pupils residing in such school district in a THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 747 town other than that in which the schoolhouse is located shall be entitled to attend the school in such school district, and there shall be charged against the rural school district of the town in which such pupils reside the pro- portionate cost of the maintenance of such school based upon the num- ber of pupils in attendance from the portion of such school district situated in such town. The board of education of the rural school district of the town in which such pupils reside shall include in its tax budget the amount required to be paid for the cost of such maintenance as herein provided, and such amount shall be paid by the board of education of such rural school district to the board of education of the rural school district main- taining such school. § 350 Borrowing money in anticipation of collection of taxes. The board of education of a rural school district may borrow money in anticipa- tion of the levy and collection of a tax, for any of the purposes specified in a budget or supplemental budget filed with the clerk of the board of education and presented to the supervisor of the town as herein provided. Certificates of indebtedness may be issued by such board of education which shall be signed by the president of the board and countersigned by the treasurer thereof. Such certificate shall not be issued for more than one year from the date thereof, and shall bear interest at a rate not exceeding six per centum per annum. The money borrowed shall be placed in the custody of the treasurer and shall be paid out by him on the order of the board of education in the same manner as money collected by taxes levied against the taxable property of the town. § 351 Submission of certain questions to a vote of the district. 1 Whenever the board of education of a rural school district shall deem it necessary to expend an amount exceeding the sum of two thousand and five hundred dollars for the repair, remodeling, improvement or enlargement of existing school buildings or the construction of a new school building it shall submit a proposition therefore to a vote of the qualified school electors of the district at either an annual school meeting of the district or a special school meeting called for such purpose. 2 If a school building in the rural s'chool district shall have been con- demned by the district superintendent as unfit for use and not worth repair- ing and the amount required to be raised by tax therefor shall exceed the sum of two thousand and five hundred dollars the board of education shall submit a proposition for the construction of such new building to the qualified school electors of the district as above provided. If the amount to be raised for the erection of a new building in place of a building which has been condemned is less than two thousand and five hundred dollars the amount thereof shall be included in the annual school tax bud- get of the district. Except as herein provided the board of education of a rural school district shall be subject to the same powers and duties in relation to the erection of a new schoolhouse when the schoolhouse in a district in such district has been condemned, which are imposed upon trustees of school districts under the provisions of the education law. 3 The board of education of rural a school district may in its discretion submit a proposition to the qualified electors of the district at an annual 748 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK or special school meeting for the voting of a tax in an amount not less than one thousand dollars for the erection of a new building, the repair, remodeling, improvement or enlargement of an existing building, the purchase of a new site or of an addition to an existing site. 4 When the electors at a school meeting in a rural school district adopt a proposition for any of the purposes specified in this section they may direct the levy of a tax to meet the expense incurred thereby either in one levy or by instalments. 5 The provisions of section 467 of this chapter relative to the notice of the meeting and the levy of a tax by instalments in a union free school district shall apply, except when inconsistent with this act, to the submis- sion of the propositions herein authorized and the levy and collection of taxes for the purposes specified. § 352 Issue and sale of school bonds. Whenever a tax shall have been voted to be collected in installments for any of the purposes specified in the preceding section the board of education of the rural school dis- trict may borrow so much of the sum voted as may be necessary at a rate not exceeding six per centum per annum. The board may issue bonds or other evidences of indebtedness for such purposes which shall not be sold below par. The interest and prinicpal of such bonds or other evidences of indebtedness shall be a charge upon the rural school district and shall be paid when due. Such bonds or other evidences of indebtedness shall be sold by the board of education in the manner provided by section 48 of this chapter. § 353 State funds to be used for schools of rural school districts. There shall be apportioned to each rural school district, out of public moneys to be apportioned by the State, a district quota for each school district included within such rural school district, based upon the assessed valuation of the taxable property of such district as it exists when this act takes effect. Each rural school district shall receive other public moneys apportioned by the state under the provisions of this chapter, in the same manner and of the same amount as school districts are entitled to receive out of such moneys under such provisions. The funds hereafter apportioned to a rural school district as herein provided shall be paid by the county treasurer to the school treasurer of such district. Funds apportioned for teachers' sal- aries shall be paid on the order of the board of education of the rural school district for the payment of the salaries of teachers employed therein, and funds apportioned for school libraries, apparatus, maps or works of art, shall be paid respectively in like manner for school libraries, apparatus, maps or works of art, in such rural school district. All public school moneys apportioned under the provisions of this chap- ter on account of schools maintained in districts during the school year ending July 31, 1918, in school districts included within a rural school district as herein established, shall be paid by the county treasurer to the treasurer of such rural school district. All school moneys so apportioned on account of schools maintained in a union free school district main- taining an academic department, which prior to the taking effect of this THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 749 act was included in a town or town school unit as then constituted, shall be paid to the treasurer of such union free school district. § 354 Certain union free school districts not subject to provisions oi article. This article shall not apply to a union free school district main taining an academic department. School districts which, under the pro- visions of this section, are exempt from the provisions of this act shall continue to be subject to and regulated by the provisions of law which now regulate and control the affairs of such districts. A union free school district maintaining an academic department which prior to the taking effect of this act was subject to the provisions of this article, shall, on and after the taking effect of this act, be subject to and regulated by the provisions of this chapter relative to union free school districts. An annual school meeting shall be held in each of such districts on the first Tuesday in May, 1918, and there shall be elected at such meet- ing a board of education to consist of not less than three nor more than nine trustees. Such trustees shall by order of such meeting be divided into three classes, the first to hold for terms of one year, the second for terms of two years and the third for terms of three years, from the first day of August, 1918. Their successors shall be elected for terms of three years. The provisions of this chapter relative to the election of trustees in union free school districts shall apply to the election of trustees at such annual meeting. The trustees so elected and their successors in office in each of such union free school districts constitute the board of education thereof. The annual meeting held in each of such districts as herein provided shall have the same powers and duties as annual meetings held in union free school districts under the provisions of this chapter. § 355 School district officers abolished; apportionment of funds and indebtedness, i All members of boards of education and other school offi- cers of towns and town school units in office when this act takes effect shall continue in office to and including the thirty-first day of July, 191 8, when the officers or members of boards of education, clerks, treasurers and other school district officers of such towns and town school units shall be and are hereby abolished and the terms of such officers shall cease except as herein provided. 2 The board of education of a union free school district maintaining an academic department which prior to the taking effect of this act was sub- ject to the provisions of this article as added by chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, shall take effect on July 1, 1918, and on and after that date such board shall possess the powers and perform the duties conferred or imposed upon boards of education of union free school districts under this chapter. 3 The board of education of a town or town school unit in office when this act takes effect shall cause to be prepared an itemized account of the receipts from all sources for the support of the schools in such town or town school unit and of the expenditures of such moneys, and cause the same to be submitted to the board of education of the rural school district and a duplicate thereof to the board of education of a union free school district maintaining an academic department which, prior to the tak- 750 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK ing effect of this act, was included within such town or town school unit. A copy of such account shall also be submitted to the district superintendent of schools having jurisdiction over such districts. The district superintend- ent shall examine carefully such account, and if he finds the same accurate he shall approve it and notify the boards of education of such districts that he has approved the same. If it appears from such account as so approved that a balance unexpended remains in the hands of the school treasurer of such town or town school unit, such balance shall be appor- tioned to the rural school district and the union free school district which was formerly a part of such town school unit, according to the assessed valuation of the taxable property in such rural school district and union free school district. If it appear from such account that there are out- standing obligations or claims against the town or town school unit, except bonded indebtedness, incurred because of the maintenance of the schools in such town or town school unit during the preceding year, the amount of such deficiency or outstanding obligations and claims shall be charged proportionately against such rural school and union free school district, based upon the assessed valuation of the taxable property in such districts. The boards of education of such rural school district and union free school district shall cause the amount of such deficiency or outstanding obligations and claim so apportioned to each district to be included in the school tax budget thereof, and the amount raised by tax on account of such apportion- ment shall be paid out in liquidation of such outstanding obligations and claims. § 356 Outstanding bonds; existing school property. 1 The bonded indebtedness of the school districts in a rural school district which are subject to the provisions of this article, existing and outstanding at the time of the taking effect of this article, shall continue as a charge against the taxable property of such district, and the board of education of the town school unit in which such district is situated shall at the time it sub- mits its annual tax budget to the supervisor of the town as provided in section of this article, present to such supervisor a certificate stating the amount of the principal and interest of such bonded indebtedness falling due during the school year. Such certificate shall designate the district against which such bonded indebtedness exists and shall describe definitely the boundaries of such district. The supervisor of the town shall present such certificate to the board of supervisors at the same time as the annual school tax budget of the town is presented, and it shall be the duty of such board of supervisors to levy a tax, in the same manner and at the same time as other school taxes are levied, against the property within the limits of such district. The tax levied for the purpose of paying the principal and interest of such bonds shall be collected in the same manner as other school taxes in such town and shall be paid when collected to the town school treas- urer of the town in which such district is situated, to be applied by him in the payment of such principal and interest. If such district is partly in two or more towns, the certificate shall state such fact and shall be prepared by the town board of the town in which the principal school house in such district is located, and such certificate shall be submitted to the supervisor of the town in which such school house is located. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 751 2 If a board of education of a town or a town school unit which prior to the taking effect of this act included a union free school district maintain- ing an academic department, provided for the levy and collection of a tax upon the property of such town or town school unit for the payment of the principal and interest of any bonded indebtedness existing against such union free school district, under section 353 of the Education Law as inserted by chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, the amount of such tax collected for such purpose shall be applied in payment of the principal and interest of such bonded indebtedness falling due prior to the taking effect of this act. On and after the taking effect of this act the bonded indebtedness existing and outstanding against such union free school district shall be a charge against the taxable property of such district and shall be paid in the same manner as other charges against such district. 3 All school property in a union free school district maintaining an aca- demic department, included within a town or town school unit under the pro- visions of chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, which under that act became the property of such town or town school unit and within the custody and con- trol of the board of education thereof, shall, on and after the taking effect of this act, become the property of such union free school district. § 357 Notice of annual school meeting. The clerk of each board of education shall give notice of the time when and the places where the annual school district meeting is to be held, by posting such notice on the door of the schoolhouse in each district and in at least three other public places in each of such districts, at least twenty days before the time of such meeting. § 358 Special school meetings in rural school districts. The board of education of each rural school district shall have power to call a special meet- ing of the qualified electors of the district, whenever it deems necessary and proper, and whenever required by law, in the manner prescribed for the giv- ing of a notice of the annual meeting. Such special meeting shall be held at a schoolhouse designated by the board of education. § 359 Qualifications of voters at school meetings. To be eligible to vote at annual or special school meetings a person must be a resident of a school district included within the rural school district, established as herein provided, and possess the other qualifications prescribed in section 203 of this chapter. 2 In a school district located in two or more towns, those persons possess- ing the qualifications required under subdivision 1 of this section shall be entitled to vote at annual or special school meetings in the rural school dis- trict of the town in which they reside. § 360 Conduct of school meetings. 1 The provisions of this chapter relative to the conduct of annual and special school meetings in school dis- tricts shall apply to annual and special school meetings held in rural school districts, except as otherwise provided in this article. § 3 All acts or parts of acts, general or special, inconsistent with the pro- visions of this act are hereby repealed. The repeal of chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917 and of such inconsistent acts or parts of such acts shall not affect any right existing or accrued, or any liability incurred prior to the 752 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK passage of this act. This act shall not affect a pending action or proceeding brought by or against a trustee, trustees or a board of education of a school district, prior to the taking effect of chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, but the same may be prosecuted or defended in the same manner and for the same purpose, by the board of education of the rural school district of which such district forms a part, as though this act had not been passed. Any action or proceeding brought by or against the board of education oi a town or a town school unit under or pursuant to the provisions of said chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, pending at the time this act takes effect, may, if such action or proceeding pertains to a school district included within a rural school district as established herein, be prosecuted or defended in the same manner and for the same purpose by the board of education of such rural district as though this act had not been passed. If such action or pro- ceeding brought by or against the board of education of a town or a town school unit, under and pursuant to such chapter 328 of the Laws of 191 7. pertains to a union free school district maintaining an academic department, such action or proceeding may be prosecuted or defended by the board of education of such union free school district in the same manner and for the same purpose as though this act had not been passed. All contracts entered into by a trustee, trustees or the board of education of a school district prior to the taking effect of this act, under and pursuant to the provisions of the Education Law or of said chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, shall, if such con- tract pertains to a district included within a rural school district as estab- lished by this act, be carried into effect according to the terms thereof by the board of education of the rural school district, or if such contract per- tains to a union free school district maintaining an academic department, it shall be carried into effect according to the terms thereof by the board of education of the union free school district, in the same manner and for the same purpose as though this act had not been passed. Any right, exist- ing or accrued, or any liability incurred, prior to the passage of this act, by a trustee, trustees, or board of education of a school district, included within a rural school district as established by this act, may be asserted and enforced by or against the board of education of the rural school district of which such school district forms a part, in the same manner and to the same extent as though this act had not been passed. Any such right or liability accrued or incurred prior to the passage of this act by the board of education of a union free school district maintaining an academic department, or in behalf or on account of such district by the board of education of a town or a town school unit, under and pursuant to chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, may be asserted and enforced by or against the board of education of such union free school district, in the same manner and to the same extent as though this act had not been passed. § 4 Sections 340 and 341 of the Education Law are hereby renumbered sections 364 and 365; sections 360, 361, 362, 363, 364 and 365 of such law are hereby renumbered respectively sections 370, 371, 372, 373, 374 and 375- § 5 This act shall take effect July 1, 1918, except that the provisions of sections 333, 354, 357, 358, 359, 361, 362 and 363, relative to the establish- ment of rural school districts, the election of boards of education therein, r'.id the election of boards of education in union free school districts main- THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 753 taining academic departments, shall take effect May i, 1918. The boards of education of towns and town school units as constituted under and pur- suant to chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, shall have the powers and per- form the duties conferred or imposed by law until their offices are ter- minated as provided in this act, except they shall not be authorized to employ teachers for schools in the rural school districts established by this act or in union free school districts maintaining academic departments, sub- sequent to May 1, 1918, but the boards of education of rural school dis- tricts and union free school districts maintaining academic departments elected under and pursuant to the provisions of this act may immediately subsequent to their election employ teachers for the schools in such dis- tricts for the ensuing school year. No. 736. Int. 666. In Assembly Introduced by Mr J. M. MEAD — read once and referred to the com- mittee on public education An act to repeal chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, entitled "An act to amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns." The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: Section 1 Chapter 328 of the Laws of 191 7, entitled "An act to amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns," is hereby repealed. § 2 For the purpose of avoiding confusion and disturbance in school administration and management during the remaining part of the current school year, all members of town boards of education of the respective township units as created by said chapter 328, shall continue in office up to and including the thirty-first day of July, 1918, when their terms of office as members of such town boards of education, and also the terms of the officers appointed by them under the provisions of said chapter 328, shall cease and determine, and their offices shall on said date be abolished, except as herein provided. § 3 The board of education and the other officers of each township unit created under the provisions of said chapter 328, are hereby continued in office with all the powers and duties conferred on such officers by the education law or other statutes, including power to levy, assess and collect taxes, for the purpose of closing up the business and financial affairs of such township unit and of satisfying its obligations, except bonded indebt- edness, adjusting its claims, collecting funds due it and paying its just debts. After liquidating all outstanding obligations, except bonded indebt- edness, and settling all claims against such township unit and closing up all its financial affairs, such officers shall apportion any funds remaining in the treasury among the various school districts within their township unit. Such apportionment shall be based upon the rel?t : evi of the assessed valu- ation of the taxable property in such schoc! districts to the aggregate 754 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK assessed valuation of the taxable property in the respective township unit. The bonded indebtedness lawfully incurred by any such town board of education shall be a valid charge against any school district or districts in which, or for the benefit of which the money raised by or through the sale of bonds, has been expended, or is to be expended. It shall be the duty of such town board of education, on or before the thirty-first day of July, 1918, to determine the proportion of benefit received by any such respective school district or districts through, or by reason of such bonded indebted- ness having been incurred, and on the basis thus arrived at, to fix the amount or amounts to be paid by any respective school district or districts. § 4 For the purposes of this act, always excepting said chapter 328, all the provisions of chapter 21 of the Laws of 1909, entitled "An act relating to education, constituting chapter 16 of the Consolidated Laws," and all acts supplementary thereof or amendatory thereto, relating to school dis- tricts which have heretofore been subject to the provisions of said chapter 328, and which were in force on the first day of May, 1917, are hereby revived and shall be deemed to be, and they hereafter again shall be in full force and effect. The school district officers last elected or appointed in school districts which became part of township units shall have power and the duty to exercise and perform the functions necessary to and for the proper election of school officers at the next annual school meeting to be held on the first Tuesday in May, 1918. The school officers to be elected at such meeting shall enter upon and assume the duties of their respective offices on the first day of August of the same year. § 5 All acts or parts of acts, general or special, inconsistent with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed. § 6 This act shall take effect immediately. No. 322. Int. 307 In Senate Introduced by Mr WICKS — read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the committee on public education An act to repeal article 11-a of the Education Law, relating to town boards of education, and certain provisions of the chapter by which such article was added, and to provide for. the restoration of former conditions with respect to school districts. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: Section I Article 11-a of chapter 21 of the Laws of 1909, entitled "An act relating to education, constituting chapter 16 of the Consolidated Laws," as amended by chapter 140 of the Laws of 1910, as added by chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, entitled "An act to amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns," and section 2 of the chapter last men tioned are hereby repealed. § 2 Sections 364 and 365 of chapter 21 of the Laws of 1909, entitled "An act relating to education, constituting chapter 16 of the Consolidated THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 755 Laws," as amended by chapter 140 of the Laws of 1910, as thus renumbered by chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, are hereby renumbered sections 340 and 341; and sections 370, 371, 372, 373, 374 and 375 of such chapter, as thus renumbered by chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, are hereby renum- bered, respectively, sections 360, 361, 362, 363, 364 and 365. § 3 School districts, as existing on the second day of May, 191 7, which became subject to the provisions of chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, are restored, from and after August 1, 1918, with the powers and functions of common or union free school districts, as the case may be, as prescribed by the Education Law, and shall continue until altered, consolidated or dissolved as provided in such law. On and after August I, 1918, the provisions of such law relative to common or union free school districts as the case may be, shall apply with full force and effect. Trustees shall be elected, meetings held and preliminary business transacted prior thereto as provided in the next section. § 4 The district superintendent shall issue a call for a meeting, in each such school district within his jurisdiction, of the qualified electors thereof, to be held in the month of June, 1918. He shall cause notice of such meet- ing to be given in the manner provided in section 193 of the Education Law for the giving of notice of an annual meeting by the clerk. The expense of giving such notice shall be a charge against the district. The meeting may be called to order by any qualified elector present, who may- conduct the election of a chairman, clerk and tellers. A trustee or trustees, as the case may be, for such district shall be elected to take office on the first day of August, 1918. Where more than one trustee is to be chosen, they shall be elected for terms severally expiring in such manner that the number of trustees to be elected thereafter, on the first Tuesday of May in each year, for full terms, shall conform to the provisions of the Education Law. The whole number of trustees to be elected at such meeting in June, 1918, shall be the number which such district had on May 2, 1917; but nothing herein contained shall prevent a subsequent change in the number, after August 1, 1918, in the manner provided in such law. § 5 At such meeting in June, 1918, any business which, by the provisions of the Education Law may be transacted at an annual meeting in a similar school district, may be transacted at the meeting so called. The provisions of the Education Law relating to the qualifications of electors at an annual meeting shall apply. §6 Except as otherwise provided in this section, a town board of education, constituted pursuant to article 11-a of the Education Law, as added by chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, shall not borrow money, issue bonds or other evidences of debt or make any contract obligation, after this section takes effect. Provided, however, that where funds on hand or provided for shall be insufficient to pay salaries and compensation of prin- cipals, teachers, medical inspectors, nurses, attendance officers, janitors and other employees of the board, and necessary expenses for light, fuel, sup- plies, text books, school apparatus, furniture, articles and services, and ordinary repair of school buildings, in order to properly maintain and operate the schools within its jurisdiction until and including July 31, 1918, the board may borrow money for such purposes upon temporary certificates of indebtedness, in anticipation of taxes. 756 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK § 7 Obligations lawfully created by such town board of education before August i, 1918, shall not be impaired by this act. Bonds, if any, and other evidences of debt, issued by such board to pay for the erection of a new- school building or to remodel, enlarge or improve an existing school build- ing, or to purchase a site for a school, or for any purpose in connection with the schools within the territory of a particular school district, shall be a charge upon the school district in which the building or site is located, or otherwise specially benefited or to be benefited by the proceeds of the debt. Where the amount due or to become due on a contract, made by such board, for the construction, repair, remodeling, enlargement or improvement of a building in the territory of any school district, or for any purpose applying only to the school or schools in such district, is not provided for by bonds or other evidences of debt, the payment thereof shall also be a charge upon such district. Where bonds or other evidences of indebtedness have been issued, or contracts made, by such board for any lawful purpose with respect to the schools in the town generally, the obli- gation thus created shall be apportioned among the school districts in pro- portion to benefits received or provided for. Such apportionment shall be made by the district superintendent after examining the facts at a public hearing. Such hearing shall be after notice given by such superintendent in the same manner as notice of an annual meeting of a common school district. The determination of such superintendent shall be filed with the town clerk and shall be subject to review by certiorari, upon the appli- cation of any qualified elector of the town. § 8 School buildings and sites within a school district, and personal property used in connection therewith, when this section takes effect, shall belong tu such district. Unexpended moneys in the hands of the treasurer of any town board of education, when this act takes effeot, after the pay- ment of obligations incurred by the board, shall be divided among the several school districts, located in the town, in the proportion that the assessed valuation of taxable property in the district bears to the assessed valuation of such property in the town. Personal property, other than money, in the hands of the board, not already applied to particular schools, shall be distributed by the district superintendent among such schools as, in his judgment, are in need of the same for their proper operation. § 9 Moneys to pay a school district's portion of a town obligation, as apportioned under this act, shall, when raised b} r tax, be paid to the super- visor of the town, who shall, out of moneys so provided by the districts, pay such obligations as they mature. § 10 Members of town boards and their treasurers shall continue in office after August 1, 1918, until the affairs of the board are closed, and for such purpose only. § 11 A town, as referred to in this act, shall include any part of a town for which a town board of education was created by such article 11-a of the Education Law. Provisions of this act applying the provisions of the Education Law to school districts, meetings and trustees shall not be deemed to mean and include such article 11-a. § 12 Sections 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 of this act shall take effect August 1, 1918. The other provisions of this act shall take effect immediately. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 757 No. 17. Int. 17 In Senate Introduced by Mr SLATER — read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the committee on public education. An act to amend the Education Law, in relation to town board of education. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: Section I Subdivision I of section 331 of chapter 21 of the Laws of 1909, entitled "An act relating to education, constituting chapter 16 of the Consolidated Laws," as amended iby chapter 140 of the Laws of 1910, and inserted by chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, is hereby amended to read as follows : 1 A town board of education in each town of the State, having juris- diction over all the schools in the town as hereinafter provided, except in union free school districts having a population of fifteen hundred or more or employing fifteen teachers or more at the time this act takes effect, and the school districts in the several towns of a county which adjoins a city having a population of one million or more and in which there are [only] at least two district superintendents, is hereby established to begin on the first day of August, 1917. Such board shall consist of three members in each town in which the number of school districts under its jurisdiction is five or less and shall consist of five members in all other towns. The term of office of each member shall be three years except that, of the members first elected hereunder, in a town having three members on such board, one shall hold office until August I, 1918, one until August i, 1919, and one until August I, 1920, and in a town having five members, two shall hold office until August 1, 1918, two until August 1, 1919, and one until August 1, 1920. The terms of office of such members shall begin on the first day of August following their election. § 2 This act shall take effect immediately. Nos. 5, 440. Int. 5 In Senate Introduced by Mr G. F. THOMPSON — read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the committee on public education — committee discharged, said bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended, and when reprinted to be recommitted to said committee. An act to repeal article 11-a of the Education Law, relating to town boards of education, and certain provisions of the chapter by which such article was added, and to provide for the restoration of former conditions with respect to school districts. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: Section 1 Article 11-a of chapter 21 of the Laws of 1909, entitled "An act relating to education, constituting chapter 16 of the Consolidated Laws," as amended by chapter 140 of the Laws of 1910, as added by chapter 328 758 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK of the Laws of 191 7, entitled "An act to amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns," and section 2 of the chapter last men- tioned are hereby repealed. § 2 Sections 364 and 365 of chapter 21 of the Laws of 1909, entitled "An act relating to education, constituting chapter 16 of the Consolidated Laws," as amended by chapter 140 of the Laws of 1910, as thus renum- bered by chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, are hereby renumbered sections 340 and 341; and sections 370, 371, 372, 373, 374 and 375 of such chapter, as thus renumbered by chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, are hereby renum- bered, respectively, sections 360, 361, 362, 363, 364 and 365. § 3 School districts, as existing on the second day of May, 1917, which became subject to the provisions of chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, are restored, from and after August 1, 1918, with the powers and functions of common or union free school districts, as the case may be, as prescribed by the Education Law, and shall continue until altered, consolidated or dissolved as provided in such law. On and after August 1, 1918, the pro- visions of such law relative to common or union free school districts as the case may be, shall apply with full force and effect. Trustees shall be elected, meetings held and preliminary business transacted prior thereto as provided in the next section. § 4 The district superintendent shall issue a call for a meeting, in each such school district within his jurisdiction, of the qualified electors thereof, to be held in the month of June, 1918. He shall cause notice of such meet- ting to be given in the manner provided in section 193 of the Education Law for the giving of notice of an annual meeting by the clerk. The expense of giving such notice shall be a charge against the district. The meeting may be called to order by any qualified elector present, who may conduct the election of a chairman, clerk and tellers. A trustee or trustees, as the case may be, for such district shall be elected and take office on the first day of August, 1918. Where more than one trustee is to be chosen, they shall be elected for terms severally expiring in such manner that the number of trustees to be elected thereafter, on the first Tuesday of May in each year, for full terms, shall conform to the provisions of the Education Law. The whole number of trustees to be elected at such meeting in June, 1918, shall be the number which such district had on May 2, 1917; but nothing herein contained shall prevent a subsequent change in the number, after August 1, 1918, in the manner provided in such law. § 5 At such meeting in June, 1918, any business which, by the provisions of the Education Law may be transacted at an annual meeting in a similar school district, may be transacted at the meeting so called. The provisions of the Education Law relating to the qualifications of electors at an annual meeting shall apply. § 6 Except as otherwise provided in this section, a town board of educa- tion, constituted pursuant to article 11 of the Education Law, as added by- chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, shall not borrow money, issue bonds or other evidences of debt or make any contract obligation, after this section takes effect. Provided, however, that where funds on hand or provided for shall be insufficient to pay salaries and compensation of principals, teachers, THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 759 medical inspectors, nurses, attendance officers, janitors and other employees of the board, and necessary expenses for light, fuel, supplies, text books, school apparatus, furniture, articles and services, and ordinary repair of school buildings, in order to properly maintain and operate the schools within its jurisdiction until and including July 31, 1918, the board may borrow money for such purposes upon temporary certificates of indebted- ness, in anticipation of taxes. § 7 Obligations lawfully created by such town board of education before August 1, 1918, shall not be impaired by this act. Bonds, if any, and other evidences of debt, issued by such board to pay for the erection of a new school building or to remodel, enlarge or improve an existing school building, or to purchase a site for a school, or for any purpose in connection with the schools within the territory of a particular school dis- trict, shall be a charge upon the school district in which the building or site is located, or otherwise specially benefited or to be benefited by the proceeds of the debt. Where the amount due or to become due on a contract, made by such board, for the construction, repair, remodeling, enlargement or im- provement of a building in the territory of any school district, or for any purpose applying only to the school or schools in such district, is not pro- vided for by bonds or other evidences of debt, the payment thereof shall also be a charge upon such district. Where bonds or other evidences of indeb- tedness have been issued, or contracts made, by such board for any lawful purpose with respect to the schools in the town generally, the obligation thus created shall be apportioned among the school districts in proportion to benefits received or provided for. Such apportionment shall be made by the district superintendent after examining the facts at a public hearing. Such hearing shall be after notice given by such superintendent in the same manner as notice of an annual meeting of a common school district. The determination of such superintendent shall be filed with the town clerk and shall be subject to review by certiorari, upon the application of any qualified elector of the town. § 8 School buildings and sites within a school district, and personal property used in connection therewith, when this section takes effect, shall belong to such district. Unexpended moneys in the hands of the treasurer of any town board of education, when this act takes effect, after the pay- ment of obligations incurred by the board, shall be divided among the several school districts, located in the town, in the proportion that the assessed valuation of taxable property in the district bears to the assessed valuation of such property in the town. Personal property, other than money, in the hands of the board, not already applied to particular schools, shall be distributed by the district superintendent among such schools as, in his judgment, are in need of the same for their proper operation. § 9 Moneys to pay a school district's portion of a town obligation, as apportioned under this act, shall, when raised by tax, be paid to the super- visor of the town, who shall, out of moneys so provided bj' the districts, pay such obligations as they mature. § 10 Members of town boards and their treasurers shall continue in office after August 1, 1918, until the affairs of the board are closed, and for such purpose only. 760 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK § 11 A town, as referred to in this act, shall include any part of a town for which a town board of education was created by such article 11-a of the Education Law. Provisions of this act applying the provisions of the Education Law to school districts, meetings and trustees shall not be deemed to mean and include such article 11-a. § 12 Sections 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 of this act shall take effect August 1, 1918. The other provisions of this act shall take effect immediately. No. 125. Int. 125 In Assembly Introduced by Mr GAFFERS — read once and referred to the committee on public education An act to repeal chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, entitled "An act to amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and pro- viding for the support and maintenance of schools in towns," and reviving the district and union free school systems. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: Section 1 Chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, entitled "An act to amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns," is hereby repealed and the district and union free school systems in towns as they existed and were maintained and supported prior to the second day of May, 1917, are hereby revived and restored and all laws and parts of laws repealed by such chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917 are hereby revived and continued with the same force and effect that they had prior to their repeal. § 2 Town boards of education and all officers under them as created by such chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917 are continued in office until the first day of August, 1918. § 3 At the annual district school election in towns to be held in the year 1918 district school officers shall be chosen, who, thereupon, shall become vested with all property owned or possessed by their respective school dis- tricts prior to the second day of May, 1917, and thereafter town boards of education and all officers under them shall and are hereby abolished and such boards and officers forthwith shall deliver all property and money in their possession to such district school officers in such manner as shall be deter- mined by the town board of each town in proportion to the assessed value of the taxable property in such school district as it appears upon the last assessment-roll of such town for state or county taxes and with a view to restoring and returning to each school district the property owned or pos- sessed by it prior to the second day of May, 1917, and a fair and propor- tionate amount of such money. § 4 The property of any school district which has become destroyed or so changed in its nature subsequent to the second day of May, 1917, that its identity cannot be traced or determined shall be appraised by the town board of the town in which such district is located at its market value at the time such district was divested of title thereto and such value thereupon shall become a town charge and forthwith be paid to such district. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 761 § 5 It is the purpose of this act fully to restore the maintenance, control and government of district and union free schools in towns to the system and conditions provided by law in relation thereto as they existed prior to the second day of May, 1917, and to continue such system and conditions as though chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917 had never been enacted. § 6 All acts or parts of acts, general or special, inconsistent with the pro- visions of this act, are hereby repealed. § 7 This act shall take effect immediately. THE REPEAL OF THE LAW Chapter 199 AN ACT to repeal article 11-a of the Education Law, relating to town boards of education, and certain provisions of the chapter by which such article was added, and to provide for the restoration of former conditions with respect to school districts. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: § 1 Article 11-a of chapter 21 of the Laws of 1909 entitled "An act relat- ing to education, constituting chapter 16 of the consolidated laws," as amended by chapter 140 of the Laws of 1910, as added by chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, entitled "An act to amend the Education Law, by creating town boards of education and providing for the support and maintenance of schools in towns," and section 2 of the chapter last mentioned are hereby repealed. § 2 Sections 364 and 365 of chapter 21 of the Laws of 1909, entitled "An act relating to education, constituting chapter 16 of the consolidated laws," as amended by chapter 140 of the Laws of 1910, as thus renumbered by chap- ter 328 of the Laws of 1917, are hereby renumbered sections 340 and 341 ; and sections 370, 371, 372, 373, 374 and 375 of such chapter, as thus renum- bered by chapter 328 of the Laws of 191 7, are hereby renumbered, respect- ively, sections 360, 361, 362, 363, 364 and 365. § 3 School districts as existing on the second day of May, 1917, which became subject to the provisions of chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, are restored, from and after August 1, 1918, with the powers and functions of common or union free school districts, as the case may be, as prescribed by the Education Law, and shall continue until altered, consolidated or dissolved as provided in such law. All acts or parts of acts, general or special, re- pealed by chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, are hereby reenacted to take effect on August 1, 1918. Trustees shall be elected, meetings held and pre- liminary business transacted prior thereto as provided in the next section. § 4 The district superintendent shall issue a call for a meeting, in each such school district within his jurisdiction, of the qualified electors thereof, to be held in the month of June, 1918. He shall cause notice of such meet- ing to be given in the manner provided in section 193 of the Education Law for the giving of notice of an annual meeting by the clerk. The expense of giving such notice shall be a charge against the district. The meeting may be called to order by any qualified elector present, who may conduct the elec- tion of a chairman, clerk and tellers. A trustee or trustees, as the case may 762 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK be, for such district shall be elected to take office on the first day of August, 1918. Where more than one trustee is to be chosen, they shall be elected for terms severally expiring in such manner that the number of trustees to be elected thereafter, on the first Tuesday of May in each year, for full terms, shall conform to the provisions of the Education Law. The whole number of trustees to be elected at such meeting in June, 1918, shall be the number which such district had on May 2, 1917; but nothing herein contained shall prevent a subsequent change in the number, after August 1, 1918, in the manner provided in such law. § 5 At such meeting in June, 1918, any business which, by the provisions of the Education Law may be transacted at an annual meeting in a similar school district, may be transacted at the meeting so called. The provisions of the Education Law relating to the qualifications of electors at an annual meeting shall apply. § 6 Except as otherwise provided in this section, a town board of educa- tion, constituted pursuant to article 11-a of the Education Law, as added by chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, shall not borrow money, issue bonds or other evidences of debt or make any contract obligation, after this section takes effect. Provided, however, that where funds on hand or provided for shall be insufficient to pay salaries and compensation of principals, teachers, medical inspectors, nurses, attendance officers, janitors and other employees of the board, and necessary expenses for light, fuel, supplies, textbooks, school apparatus, furniture, articles and services, and ordinary repair of school buildings, in order to properly maintain and operate the schools within its jurisdiction until and including Jury 31, 1918, the board may borrow money for such purposes upon temporary certificates of indebtedness, in anticipation of taxes. § 7 Obligations lawfully created by such town board of education before August 1, 1918, shall not be impaired by this act. Bonds, if any, and othet evidences of debt, issued by such board to pay for the erection of a new school building or to remodel, enlarge or improve an existing school build- ing, or to purchase a site for a school or for any purpose in connection with the schools within the territory of a particular school district, shall be a charge upon the school district in which the building or site is located, or otherwise specially benefited or to be benefited by the proceeds of the debt. Where the amount due or to become due on a contract, made by such board, for the construction, repair, remodeling, enlargement or improvement oi a building in the territory of any school district, or for any purpose applying only to the school or schools in such district, is not provided for by bonds or other evidences of debt, the payment thereof shall also be a charge upon such district. Where bonds or other evidences of indebtedness have been issued, or contracts made, by such board for any lawful purpose with respect to the schools in the town generally, the obligation thus created shall be apportioned among the school districts in proportion to benefits received or provided for. Such apportionment shall be made by the district superin- tendent after examining the facts at a public hearing. Such hearing shall be after notice given by such superintendent in the same manner as notice of an annual meeting of a common school district. The determination of such superintendent shall be filed with the town clerk and shall be subject Honorable Louis M. Martin Introducer of the repeal bill THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 763 to review by certiorari, upon the application of any qualified elector of the town. § 8 School buildings and sites within a school district, and personal prop- erty used in connection therewith, when this section takes effect, shall belong to such district. Unexpended moneys in the hands of the treasurer of any town board of education, when this act takes effect, after the payment of obligations incurred by the board, shall be divided among the several school districts, located in the town, in the proportion that the assessed valuation of taxable property in the district bears to the assessed valuation of such prop- erty in the town. Personal property, other than money, in the hands of the board, not already applied to particular schools, shall be distributed by the district superintendent among such schools as, in his judgment, are in need of the same for their proper operation. § 9 Moneys to pay a school district's portion of a town obligation, as apportioned under this act, shall, when raised by tax, be paid to the super- visor of the town, who shall, out of moneys so provided by the districts, pay such obligations as they mature. § 10 Members of town boards and their treasurers shall continue in office after August 1, 1918, until the affairs of the board are closed, and for such purpose only. § 11 A town, as referred to in this act, shall include any part of a town for which a town board of education was created by such article 11-a of the Education Law. Provisions of this act applying the provisions of the Edu- cation Law to school districts, meetings and trustees shall not be deemed to mean and include such article 11-a. § 12 Sections 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 of this act .shall take effect August 1, 1918. The other provisions of this act shall take effect immediately. LETTER OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT Procedure to be Followed in Administration of Rural Schools Due to Repeal of the Township Law To District Superintendents and Town Boards of Education: The bill introduced in the recent session of the Legislature by Honorable Louis M. Martin of Oneida county repealing the law enacted by the Legis- lature of 1917 known as the " township school law " passed both branches of the Legislature, was signed by the Governor on April 13th, and thus became chapter 199 of the Laws of 1918. The general effect of this law is to place the schools under the control and operation of the statutes which controlled and regulated these schools pre- vious to the time when the township law went into effect. Under the terms of this law town boards of education are to continue in charge of the schools during the current school year, or until August 1, 1918. Town boards of education and other town school officers are to continue in the performance of their duties as the township school law provides until that date. Town boards will make the reports required by this Department for the current school year. Proper blanks will be forwarded from this Department in due time. Such town boards may take any action necessary to maintain and operate the schools to the end of the school year. 764 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town boards may not, however, after the taking effect of the repeal act, on April 13, 1918, make any contract or incur any indebtedness which be- comes a liability against the town, nor can such boards take any action or incur any obligation which become liabilities against anj> of the school dis- tricts embraced within the territory over which such town boards of educa- tion have jurisdiction. Town boards should not enter into contract to make repairs or improve- ments to any of the school buildings under their supervision nor should they undertake to erect new buildings or outbuildings for the remainder of the school year. These matters should all be held in abeyance for such action as the respective school districts within a town unit may determine to take after the schools are in operation under the former law prescribing and regulating the school district system of the State. Town boards should economize to the same extent in the administration of the schools for the remainder of the year as though such schools were to be operated another year under the township system. The law makes provision for the proper distribution among the several school districts in the town of any balance in the treasury after paying all of the obligations lawfully incurred by the town board. This balance is to be divided among such districts in the proportion that the assessed valuation of the taxable property of the district bears to the assessed valuation of such property in the town. On August 1, 1918, all school districts in the State are to be restored as such districts existed on the second day of May 1917. The alteration of the boundaries of such districts and the consolidation of districts may thereafter be made as provided by article 5 of the Education Law. The provisions of the Education Law relating to common school districts and those provisions relating to union free school districts were not repealed by the act establish- ing the township system in 1917. The act therefore, repealing the township law and restoring school district to their status previons to the enactment of the township law places such school districts again under the operation of the law which governed and controlled them before the enactment of the township law. Under the terms of the repeal act annual school meetings or elections are not to be held on the first Tuesday in May 1918, in any of the common school districts or in any of the union free school districts which are under the township law. School authorities in these districts should, therefore, make no further provision for holding meetings on the first Tuesday in May, nor will it be necessary for town boards of education to complete the registra- tion of those entitled to vote at town school meetings as provided under the township law. The law authorizes district superintendents to call' a meet- ing of the voters of each school district under his jurisdiction some time during the month of June T918. It is important that these meetings should be held as early as possible so tha.t officers may be duly chosen in all the school districts of the State to arrange for the employment of teachers, repair of school buildings, and to have all matters in proper form for the opening of schools in September. It is, therefore, recommended that district super- intendents call these meetings at 7.30 o'clock p. m. on June 4, 1918. A notice of these meetings must be given as provided by section 193 of the Education Law. The district superintendent should prepare a notice of THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 765 the district meeting and should deliver the. same to a qualified elector for posting in each of the common school districts. Five notices should be posted. One of these notices must be posted on the front door of the school- house and one must be posted in each of four other conspicuous places in the district. These notices should be posted at least five days prior to the date fixed for holding the meeting. District superintendents should, therefore, have these notices prepared and properly delivered so that those to whom they are delivered may post them not later than May 27, 1918. In union free school districts the notice should be given by publishing the same once in each week for each of the four weeks immediately preceding June 4th. These notices should be published in two newspapers if there are two such papers in the district, or in one newspaper if there is but one paper published in the district. If no newspaper is published in the district, the notice must be posted in at least twenty of the most public places in the dis- trict and at least twenty days before the day of the meeting. These notices should be prepared and delivered to those who are to pub- lish or post them not later than May 4, 1918. By observing these dates ample time will be afforded to enable proper notice to be given and all question as to the legality of such notices will be avoided. These notices should be in the following form : NOTICE OF SCHOOL DISTRICT MEETING Notice is hereby given that a school district meeting of the inhabitants of school district no , town of , qualified to vote at school meetings in said district will be held at the schoolhouse in said district on , June, 1918, at 7:30 o'clock p. m., for the election of a trustee (or trustees) and other district officers and for the transaction of such busi- ness as is authorized to be transacted at an annual district meeting under the provisions of the Education Law. This notice is given in compliance with chapter 199 of the Laws of 1918. District Superintendent CONDUCT OF MEETING 1 The meeting may be called to order by any qualified elector present who may conduct the election of a chairman, clerk and tellers. 2 A trustee or trustees, as the case may be, for such district shall be elected to take office on the first day of August 1918. 3 The whole number of trustees to be elected in the district at the meet- ing held in June 1918, shall be the number which the district had on May 2, 1917. 4 Where one trustee is elected he shall be elected for a term of one year, beginning August 1, 1918. Where three trustees are elected they shall be designated for terms of one, two and three years, respectively. 5 A district clerk and a collector shall be elected who will take office on August 1, 1918, and also a district treasurer in such districts as had a treas- urer on May 2, 1917. 6 In each union free school district which was subject to the township law a full board of education is to be elected, consisting of the same number 766 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK of members as comprised the board on May 2, 1917. They shall be elected for terms of one, two and three years, such terms to be designated by the electors. In such union free school districts the clerk, collector and treas- urer will be appointed by the board of education after such board takes office and will not be elected at the school meeting. 7 After the election of the district officers the meeting should consider its budget for school district purposes for the ensuing school year, beginning August 1, 1918. Provision should be made for the salaries and compensation of principals, teachers, medical inspectors, nurses, attendance officers, janitors and other employees of the board, and necessary estimated expenses for light, fuel, supplies, books, school apparatus, furniture and repairs and any other items for which the voters of a school district have power to vote taxes under the provisions of the Education Law. 8 School districts desiring to contract for the education of their children in other districts should adopt a resolution at the meeting authorizing the trustee to make such contract. AUTHORITY OF NEWLY ELECTED OFFICERS While the trustees of a common school district or boards of education of union free school districts and other district officers elected at the meeting held in June 1918 are not authorized, nor do they have legal authority to transact school business prior to August 1, 1918, the date on which they assume the duties of their offices, it is suggested that such trustees and boards of education arrange for the employment of teachers by coming to a general agreement with teachers on the terms of their contract but that such contract shall not be executed until August 1, 1918. POWERS OF PRESENT TOWN BOARDS OF EDUCATION Town boards of education may not borrow any money, issue bonds or other evidence of debt, or make any contract obligation. This precludes the present board from making any contracts with teachers for the coming school year and also from purchasing any supplies or incurring any indebtedness whatsoever. The repeal act contains an express provision to the effect that where funds on hand or provided for shall be insufficient to pay salaries and compensa- tion of principals, teachers, medical inspectors, nurses, attendance officers, janitors and other employees of the board, and necessary expenses for light, fuel, supplies, textbooks, school apparatus, furniture, articles and services, and ordinary repair of school buildings, in order to properly maintain and operate the schools within its jurisdiction until and including July 31, 1918, the board may borrow money for such purposes upon temporary certificates of indebtedness, in anticipation of taxes. TOWNSHIP SCHOOL OBLIGATIONS 1 Obligations lawfully created by the town boards of education are not impaired by the repeal act. 2 Where a contract has been made by the board for the construction, en- largement or repair of the school building within a particular district or for any purpose applying only to the schools in such district and the same is not THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 767 provided for by bonds or other evidence of debt, the payment of the moneys due under the contract becomes a charge upon the particular district in which the building is located. 3 Where bonds or other obligations have been lawfully issued with re- spect to the schools in the township generally such obligations are to be apportioned by the district superintendent among the several school districts in proportion to the benefits received or provided for. Such apportionment shall be made by the district superintendent after examining the facts at a public hearing. The full text of the repeal act is appended hereto. Very respectfully yours Thos. E. Finegan Deputy Commissioner of Education. THE TOWNSHIP LAW When a camel becomes angry at its master, the man puts his clothes on a dummy and lays it down where the camel can reach it. The camel stamps upon it with ungovernable rage until it is weary and then relapses into its usual surly good nature, whereupon the master is safe to treat it as usual. The farmers of the state have shown the unreasonable rage of the camel against the township law, and now having threshed out their fury over a dummy law in the assembly, will it is hoped acquiesce reasonably in the needed amendments offered in the senate. There is nothing unprecedented in the movement for the repeal of the new school law. In 1849 the legislature passed a bill to submit to the people a law to establish free schools, and it was passed by 249,872 to 9 I »95i- But when it came to raising the money the taxpayers revolted and the next year the legislature submitted a repeal to the voters of the state. In 42 of the 59 counties there was a majority for repeal of 46,874, and the law was saved only by the majority of 171,912 against repeal in the other 27 counties, which included the principal cities. Then as now the farmers of the state felt the pinch upon their pocketbooks, but what farmer would now go back to the old rate system? In his annual message Governor Whitman declared in favor of amend- ment, and later in a special message urged its repeal. Against this message Speaker Sweet protested as follows : That the press and the people of the state may obtain the correct view of my position in the matter of the proposed legislation on the subject of rural school educational matters as dealt with by the special message of the Gover- nor to the Assembly under date of Friday, February 8th, I beg to state : That at the request of Governor Whitman and in reply to his question as to what was being done by the Legislature on the subject of rural education, I informed him that a bill had been prepared and that on the evening before I with other members of the Assembly had worked until after midnight in a study of the provisions of the bill as had been prepared to form our final conclusions before its introduction as to whether it met our purpose in re- sponse to the requests of rural citizens in an endeavor to remedy the evils complained of under the present township school law. And in an effort to overcome the objections thereof the bill proposed that each rural school dis- trict unit would proceed under the identical manner of the old law prior to the enactment of the Machold bill in electing a trustee for each rural district 768 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK unit, who, with the trustees similarly elected in all other rural district units in a rural school district would constitute the rural school board of a town- ship, the number on such board being determined by the number of school district units within such township, and that the respective trustees not only would become members of the rural district board, but would be the custo- dians of the unit district school property for its maintenance and that the district board composed of the unit district trustees should provide at least one teacher for each district unit school, unless the qualified electors of the unit district should of themselves and by a majority vote that the school in their unit district should be closed and joined with another unit district, as in the case which might exist that there would be but two or three pupils in such unit district proposed to be abandoned. The proposed bill excludes from the rural school district the union free school. It also provides that any bonded indebtedness of a school district shall remain a lien upon the district incurring such obligation and shall be amortized by that district alone. The bill also dealt with the subject of high school education for rural school pupils who had completed their elementary course of education in the rural school district by providing chat they should be admitted to a union free school district having an academic course of study on the payment of a tuition of which the state would pay at least forty dollars per pupil, which is double the amount now paid, or if determined at the time of the hearing on this bill such amount should be fixed on a percentage basis of the cost of the maintenance of the rural pupil in the union free school district, the amount varying in some instances, and that the difference between the amount of the tuition and that paid by the state should be a charge upon the rural school district at large in order to offer an inducement and an opportunity for the rural pupil to receive the advantages of a high school education which as at present, in many instances, are denied. Also in justice to the union free school. district, it was provided that so great a number of rural high school pupils could not be forced upon any single union free school district as to require an outlay by the union free school district of funds for the enlargement of the school building, etc., without the approval of a majority vote of the school electors of the union free school district. In fact, the bill already prepared, met, as was our endeavor, the objections complained of in the instance related, and others. The items of expense imposed upon a rural school district for physical training and medical inspection were not a result of the enactment of the township school law, but were in separate sections of the educational law and required separate legislation which, as previously stated, are in process of formulating in accordance with that part of my address to the members of the Assembly on the occasion of my election as Speaker of the Assembly on January 2d, last. The message of the Governor to the Legislature this morning dealt with the various sections of the proposed bill as had already been drawn and as stated by me to him, concluding that it was his belief that wise legislation may be formulated that he recommended the repeal of the township school law as now- exists, which in his first message to the Legislature on its con- vening was dealt with in the nature of a recommendation for its amendment. Contrary to the usual custom which is, that special message from the Gov- ernor presented at the hand of his private secretary to the Legislature, by agreement with the secretary to the Governor some weeks ago, were to be presented to the Speaker of the Assembly and by him handed down as a communication from the chief Executive, as has been the practice as well as the understanding, as immediately above related, until this morning the mes- sage referred to was delivered to a deputy clerk of the Clerk of the Assembly and by him to the Journal Clerk who acting as Clerk of this morning's ses- sion read, and properly so, the communication to the members assembled. As Speaker of the Assembly, with confidence in my associates, I deemed the procedure and the manner of handling the subject in the message unfair to the Assembly and those who have with integrity and honest effort en- deavored to work out this school question and it is in the spirit of protect- Honorable T. C. Sweet Speaker of the Assembly THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 769 ing those associates that I take exception to the methods employed. Not desiring to enter into a controversy with anyone, and least of all the Gover- nor of our state, who, as my record stands, I have endeavored at all times to support and uphold when in my judgment correct, I believe it is incumbent upon me to protect the integrity of the Assembly, chiding its members when in my judgment they act in error and myself receiving criticism by them and the public when I err in judgment. It has been my purpose in the past, is and shall continue to be my course, in the interest of the enactment of the best legislation in the interest oj the people, to stand for principles involving my position and the Legislature so long as I shall continue to be its presiding officer. On Feb. 27, a hearing was held before the joint legislative committee at which Senator Brown expressed himself in favor of the present law, as follows : I feel that I ought to say something on this occasion. May I give just a little personal experience? When a daughter of mine went to Wellesley College we felt that it was necessary to go there to reside also. We took a house in Wellesley. There were two other children of school age and we thought to have arrangements made so that they might be put in a private school. We commenced to speak for private schools. All the information which came back was to the effect that the schools in the town of Wellesley were better than any private school available. I could scarcely believe it. Although myself having been educated in common schools and having attended a common school in the country, I felt it my duty to employ a pri- vate tutor for my children. I had the choice of incurring that expense and paying my taxes at the same time for the support of the public schools in the town in which I resided or * * *. When my children went to the school in Wellesley I found they were of the best ; that the students who went from the high school ranked high in college, and that the children who came from the common schools were well trained by experienced and able teachers. In that town they employed a superintendent at an expense of $1,000 per year and twice each year I re- ceived a communication from that superintendent telling me precisely the progress of my children in school, and what the family should do to en- courage them and to correct any faults. I was amazed at the comparison between that township school and the school in New York. It led me to think upon the subject and to study it. Among other papers that I read was one which I think was the report of the Board of Education of Connecticut for the year 1900 — a very marvellous report framed by a Prof. Sumner of Yale. I looked over the law and got reports of the various educational systems of the States and I discovered that in most of the Northern States there had been a change from the old district system to a broader plan, usually the township system. I began to investigate and I found that they had better schoolhouses ; that they had larger schools ; that they had systems of transporting scholars to central schools ; that they spent more money on buildings and on teaching, and that in the rural districts they systematically gave instruction in agriculture. I became satisfied that we were backward in our system in New York, and the reason for our becoming backward was easy enough to apprehend. The country districts were more populous fifty years ago than they are today; the families were larger, there were more children within a school district than there are today. The people were poor and salaries were small, but a better class of mind could be obtained to instruct children in those days than can be obtained for small pay today. Many of our best citizens re- ceived their best instruction in the old select schools which prevailed through- out the country districts, where able men inspired their students. Now our schools in the country have steadily gone down in attendance. The schoolhouses are poor, miserable, cheap. The majority of them would not be permitted to stand as outbuildings on the best farms in the town. 25 yjO THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK This is the fact about it, and everybody here knows it, that the children in the country have not received and are not receiving the education which the rising generation needs if we are to be worthy of the name of a common- wealth at all. Now this bill may have faults. I suppose it has. I never knew a bill blocking out a new line of thought and action which was not in need of amendment and change. A great many people think that when legislation is passed it should be perfect. Now what I object to about this situation is this : I have always advocated doing everything that could be done to make the rural schools of the State stronger and the rural districts better and more desirable as a place of residence. I believe that the interests of the common- wealth demand that attention. I object after this Bill has been passed because it has defects and because there are a good many defective people who object to it on untenable grounds, I object to having an issue made upon the subject of education where you find upon one side all bourbonism and ignorance and on the other side progressivism and no alternative. I object to that division. I do not want a fight between those on one hand who want to go back to conditions that are undesirable and on the other hand people who want improved school conditions in the rural districts without any .capacity to solve the problem. I object as a legislator to being put in a position of either discarding this attempt to improve the schools of the State altogether or giving the people of the State something that they are not satisfied with. We should seek now to find out what the just criticisms are upon this legislation to correct them. If we repeal this law it will set back educa- tion in this State for a quarter of a century. I object as a legislator to being put in an impossible position and because there is something to correct, to correct it by destroying a great and beneficial measure. It is not con- sistent with the public interest or with manhood to do a thing of that kind. It may be that there are mistakes in the bill. I am for correct- ing them, but I am for correcting them not because I am afraid or because I want to get on the " band wagon", but because I believe conditions will be improved, and for no other reason. Now, education is a State matter. How many millions does the State appropriate annually for education? Doctor Finley— Six or seven million dollars. Senator Brown — It is a recognized fact and has been for decades that education is the State's duty and the State's obligation, and the particular manner in which it performs that duty — whether by the School district system or the township system or whatever system it may do it — is merely a matter of convenience. The State has been giving six or seven million dollars and in the apportionment of this money it has come to my knowl- edge that in quite a number of districts they have sent their children to a neighboring district and paid the entire expense with the State's appor- tionment and levied no tax whatever, and I suppose those people are objecting to this bill. It is a novel experience to me to be in harmony with the Woman Suffrage party, but I am their ally or they are mine: we are married today. It may be on the Japanese plan, possibly. I want to say in relation to this matter that I have had very grave doubts whether, even with an appropriation of six or seven million dollars among the various school districts of the State, the State of New York was discharging its fullduty. I understand that there are about 8,300 one-room schools in this State. Now, if the State of New York has not given enough to the support of these single room schools so that the different towns can afford to have the tax levied in the town as it is in the State, on an equal basis throughout the entire State, I am in favor of the State's levying more and giving more to the common schools that cannot be maintained without it. I want to say to you I do not want to be unfair and I do not want to institute a plan for the flag and an appropria- tion, but we have had our poor conditions for an awfully long time on the one room system. We have 8,300 districts with one, two, three THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 771 tour or rive scholars and they have been maintained for $300, $400, $500 or $600 when it is wholly inadequate. So far as I am concerned I stand ready to correct the wrongs in this bill, to recognize the necessity of the State's helping these single room schools on the ground that they are single room schools and to vote, if need be to vote, $100 more to every single room school on the average; if that won't do to vote $200, and if that won't do to vote $300 to every single room school tor the purpose of bringing it up to a desirable standard of efficiency. When that appropriation is made I want it to be conditioned on the appropriation of an equal amount by the district under the direc- tion of that splendid, inspiring force who has addressed you today and who is the head of our educational system, so that when the money is distributed it shall be distributed on a principle of apportionment which shall comply with the rules which he shall formulate to induce and com- pel the abandonment of such impossible conditions as may now exist. If we do that we will have done something which is approximately progres- sive, and until we do it we shall be guilty if we repeal this law of going back into the dark ages because when we tried to emerge we did not per- ceive precisely the door through which we should make our exit. I want to say to those citizens who have come here to advocate the repeal of this bill that I appeal to you as citizens of this State who must have at heart the welfare of the children of the State — your children and your neighbor's children ■ — who must have at heart the welfare of the commonwealth, so much of which depends upon the progress, the intelligence, the knowledge and the willingness to make sacrifices of the great rural population of this State, you must look upon it in a broad way: you must approach the Legislature with demands not to restore impossible conditions but with demands that its members shall do their part while you do your part to cor- rect these very bad conditions. I intended to hear what was said in opposition to the bill, hut my engage- ments are such that it is impossible for me to do so. I found its advocates first speaking and I am obliged to those; but I shall receive a careful report of the objections raised to the bill and I shall give careful atten- tion to them. President Finley had written: We shall be at a disadvantage in presenting at the hearing, set for the 27th of February, the merits of the present township school law as seen by the department because of the absence of Dr Finegan who is most fully acquainted with conditions in the State. He is president of the department of superintendents of the National education association, which has its meeting in Atlantic City, the chief national educational meeting of the year. We do not, however, ask for a postponement of the hearings, for we know that the Legislature, will not act on this most important school meas- ure — the most important, in my judgment, enacted since the establish- ment of free schools in this State — without fullest consideration of what is best for the children in the rural districts. He was present at the hearing, and said the law was an effort to give the farmer boy an equal opportunity with the city boy for a good education. It was a long step forward, and sufficient time had not been given to try it out. A letter declaring that the repeal would be a disaster was signed by all the regents except one, who is in Europe. They said: " There is practical unanimity of opinion among those who have to do directly with the education of children that there can be no great general improvement in rural school ■conditions except under this larger unit of taxation and administration. Nearly half of the one-room school districts of the state (3800 out of 8340) have a valuation of not to exceed $40,000 //2 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK and an average attendance of not to exceed ten. It is obvious that ade- quate facilities cannot be provided and efficient teaching secured on such a basis, especially when agricultural teaching ought to form a part of the training in every rural school." On March 13 the bill for repeal passed the assembly by 107 to 36. On March 6 Senator Thompson said the senate committee was hopelessly entangled over the bill, to which Senator Robinson replied that he was ready at any time to vote against the bill, and Chairman Brown said the committee was quite capable to manage its own affairs. It was agreed that it would come up March 19, and on that day reported a bill making the needed amendments in the present law. The Senate committee on public education has proposed a new measure embodying the essential features of the township law and also providing for liberal State aid. The principal features of the Senate bill are as follows : 1 Elimination of all districts maintaining academic departments. 2 Combination of other school districts into a town district. 3 Division of a town containing 12 or more school districts into town districts ; no town district shall contain less than 5 school districts. 4 Organization of town districts out of school districts located in two or more towns or counties, to meet public convenience; organization of even independent districts to meet local conditions. 5 Apportionment of $250 to each town for each school district in the town. If no school is maintained in a district, the town would still be entitled to the quota. An academic quota of $600 to each high school district. School men and the public are shortsighted if they do not grasp this opportunity to obtain this great amount of State aid for the rural and village schools. It means additional aid of $625. for every high school in the State. If up-state does not avail itself of the favorable attitude in the Legislature toward this measure and give it hearty support, it will be many years before such an opportunity is again presented. The joint legislative committee of the State teachers association, the State council of superintendents and the State association of district super- intendents has issued a strong appeal urging school authorities and the public generally about the state to support this measure. — School Bulletin, March, 1918. The New School Law; Now Organize for Control The unexpected has happened. The " impossible " has been accomplished. The Township School Law has been repealed. The Capitol at Albany has been jarred to its very foundations, and the Department across the street has received a shock, thanks to The R. N.-Y., and a lot of men and women all over the State of New York who have brought this about and have shown that they are not afraid of politicians. Now, on May 7, let the rural people rally to the largest funeral ever held in the State of New York and pay their last tribute to the defunct Township School Law, and then elect their trustees as they did in the past years. But a word of warning. We must not rest secure in what we have accomplished. There will surely come a counter-attack, and you may rest THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 773 assured that when the Department gets its breath there will be another lemon hauled out of its sleeve to pass out to us. It seems to me there is no better time than when every school district is assembled at the annual school meeting, to organize as a district to cooperate with a town, county, and a State organization. Then we can present such a solid front that no political power of Kaiserism can put anything on to us we do not ask for. We are told that our district schools are to be probed. If there is any probing to be done let us do it ourselves. We have no confidence in the committee they are to send out. It is an ill wind that blows nobody some good. Let the experience of the past year be a lesson to us and teach us that we must be faithful to our political duties and to know whom we are voting for. The people of the State have never been so personally acquainted with their representa- tives as during the past session of the Legislature. If your representatives have been true to your wishes re-elect them; if not then turn them down. But don't fail to let them know what your wishes are. If you don't instruct them, how are they to know? Things have happened in the Legis- lature during the last session that surpass all history. Prayers have been recalled. The Township School Law has been repealed inside of a year from its passage and legislators have been shown up in their true light. C. L. C. R. N.-Y. — Let us add this suggestion. Elect the best men and women you can find in your town as school officers. They must accept as a patri- otic duty. We must show the possibilities of the old law. Begin by putting in the best school officers you can find. — Rural New Yorker, April 2/, 1918 And now the Legislature proposes to have an investigation of the rural school problem, conducted, no doubt, by members of the Legislature. This commission or committee is to make a more or less extended investigation, and report next year, their report to form the basis of legislation some time. There is but one thing certain about this investigation, and that is, that it will take time and cost money. The state of New York has a department of education which receives statistical reports regularly from all the schools, rural and urban. The department has also inspectors who are experts, and who are numerous enough and make visits enough to get a pretty clear idea of conditions, and on their report as to facts and on their recommendations, the state commissioner of education, after years of careful observation and study makes recommendations to the Legislature. It is possible that the legislative investigation will discover more than the commissioner has so far done, and its findings contain more of wisdom on educational matters but it is not at all probable. — Utica Press, April 15, 1918 The " deestrict " school, emblematic of what is most antiquated and defective in American elementary education, was half deposed last year while men marveled that New York had clung so long to it Yesterday Gov. Whitman replaced it in its old position (by signing the repeal of the Township School Law. New York, which had been maintaining 3,800 dis- trict schools, in each of which there were less than ten pupils, for lack of means of combining them; which had seen a farmer in one township taxed for the schools five times as much as his neighbor; which had watched 774 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK the school funds poorly administered for lack of a sound budget system, was given a prospect of relief by the Machold Act, approved by practically all the educational authorities of the State. Different schools within a town- ship might then easily be consolidated — they did not have to be; school taxes were equalized, as other taxes have been for years ; general school administration was renovated. Some erroneously believed that consoli- dation was mandatory, that the unwise physical training requirements — really provided by another act — were part of this law, and that school expenses were increased. Some were purely selfish. It might have been proper to modify the law in some particulars. But, with a shortsighted view of legislative expediency, to repeal it, is a wrong to the State.- — New York Post, April 16, igi8 Rural School Inefficiency Our rural school system needs reorganizing, and needs it badly. In our rural schools, as they exist today, there is too much lost motion, too little steadiness. That our old district schools are extremely prodigal of their pupils' time must be apparent to anybody who ever has attended them. They take a longer time to train the child than is necessary and often train him faultily. It should not be so. Why is it? Frederick J. Lewis, superintendent of schools for this district, is authority for the statement, which holds true in his district and probably does in others of which this is typical, that only two out of ten teachers remain for more than one year at a school. In other words the percentage of new teachers each year is 80. Here we have one of the most important causes contributing to the inefficiency of our rural school system. When a new teacher comes to a school, it requires the first few weeks of her term to get acquainted with the pupils ; to find out where each belongs and to classify each correctly. With the next school year comes another teacher. She, too, like her predecessor, has to find where each child belongs. There has been left no classified list of pupils, with important and necessary information about each of them. The new teacher has to find out for herself — by her own experience. The experience of her predecessor is of no avail; it is merely wasted effort, something learned never to be used. True, the new teacher finds — usually — a list of the students who have failed or passed, as the case may be, the graded examinations, a record which, because of the wide difference in marking by teachers is wellnigh valueless. In reality, the case of the school teacher who takes charge of pupils without anything to work upon, is no more tragic than would be the case of a general who succeeds to the command of an army without receiving any information from the retiring staff as to the army's personnel, equipment or ability. The frequent change of teachers also contributes to inefficiency by the consequent change of system. Few teachers have the same system of instruction. The pupils under one teacher have to spend part of their time unlearning what the teacher of the preceding year taught. One teacher forbids what another ordered. Imagine a country with entirely new laws each year. A similar system works havoc in our rural schools. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 775 Superintendent Lewis made another statement recently which throws additional light on the inefficiency of the rural school. He said that wages in other positions and professions were so much higher than the wages paid for teaching, that the best talent no longer is attracted to the teaching profession. Undoubtedly he is right. The only remedy will be to pay higher wages; and the rural schools soon will find themselves compelled to do this if they wish any but mediocre talent to instruct the children. Before we can hope to improve our rural schools we shall have to encourage a teacher's return year after year to the same school and the attraction to the teaching profession of broader, more capable persons.— Liberty Register, April ig, igi8 Mixing Politics and Education An educational " episode," as the movie man would say, which merits attention is now enacting in Arizona. Not so much on account of the persons and interests involved, as for the strong light which it throws on the irrepressible conflict between politics and education and the disastrous consequences certain to follow attempts to mix them. Arizona, youngest, is also one of the most advanced states in its educational scheme and system, and the support of the state to its schools generous and irre- vocable, with a correspondingly large and intimate supervision and control. Since the election, which took a court decision to establish, of the demo- cratic Gov. Hunt, the State Normal School of Flagstaff has been in a state of disorganization, because of the suspension of its president by the governor for political reasons. The students, incensed by the interference with what they considered their domain, all went on strike, work was stopped, and apparently speedy cessation, possibly dissolution, of the school was inevitable. Finally a compromise was effected, pending an investigation, but now all hopes of a settlement have been dissipated by the refusal of the gov- ernor to conduct the inquiry in Flagstaff, on the ground that he fears mob violence and by the threat of the students that if the investigation is held elsewhere they will renew the strike and make it permanent. The evicted president substantially admits that he paid no attention to the pre-election demands for political contributions, a position in which faculty and stu- dents back him, while the governor holds that as state officials, beneficiaries of the party which controls the school system of the state, they should bear a share of the expense of its operation. Essentially, therefore, and apart from its personal factor, there is noth- ing new in the Arizona contention. It is in its first, and state-wide appli- cation of " to the victors belong the spoils " and the expense of getting them, to the school and educational system of the state that lies its significance. New York, also, within the last few months, passed through its experi- ment of mixing politics and education, and the repeal of the township school law, against the judgment of the most competent and experienced authorities, betrayed by its friends who repudiated their own arguments the year before for its enactment, with only four months of trial and no facts worth notice against it, was ruthlessly jammed through, under execu- Jj6 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK tive whip and spur, to advance personal ambition and the rural schools of the state, relegated three-quarters of a century into the past, thrown back into the turnpike and stage coach days when graded schools were unknown and the high schools of the present day and rank not dreamed of. Fortunately the department of education has met the reverse, the unfore- seen and the unprecedented situation promptly and wisely, and has sent everywhere throughout the state carefully prepared and workable instruc- tions which will enable the schools to go on with the least possible inter- ruption and minimize, to a great degree, the dislocation and confusion, otherwise inevitable. No thanks, though, will be due the governor that his attempt to wreck the public schools of the state that he might drive his political car of triumph over their ruins did not succeed, and his reversal of himself and his record and ostentatious change of front upon legislation which, a year before, he had advocated and promoted, will become another count in the indictment Avhich the rural counties of the state are daily strengthening against him. The present point of remark on these two attempts, one near and the other remote, and both certain to fail ; to mingle politics and education, for oil and water will not mix, is that the situation, though by long usage and constant acquaintance familiar, is just now of exceptional and highly emphasized importance. Education is enlarging its scope and powers and extending its fields and functions to a degree and at a rate hitherto alto- gether unknown, and by so much as this is true, by so much are the peril and danger of political control and domination enhanced. With the war, though not in consequence of it, have come physical culture, military training, instruction in civics, vocational and industrial schools and a whole congeries of activities, but yesterday unknown, and that they are to be made the sport and playthings of politicians; schools, asylums for favorites and positions, sinecures ; their administration perquisites of lead- ing citizens and real estate speculators is unthinkable, and in this state, impossible. New York has gone too far on the road of educational progress to reverse or change its direction, and a temporary set-back like that of the last session means only one of Haig's falling back to a stronger position, against the political Huns. Particularly in the city is the issue sharply drawn and the experiment for high stakes. The "try-out" of the small board, accepted with grave and honest misgivings by many of the most thoughtful and competent, is now about to have its first, real, practical test. Four months have been occupied, and by no means wasted, in getting " a good ready " in selecting a superintendent who measures up to the duties and opportunities, and the choice has been satisfactory and auspicious. The whole system should soon begin to get under way, and function with harmony, discipline and intelligent and sympathetic efficiency, teamwork on a large scale which it has never yet attained. Any politician of high or low degree, who, for political reasons or partisan motives, undertakes until further notice to interfere with the public schools of the city and those charged with their instruction and administration will do well to recall the monkey and buzz- saw incident. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM JJJ On the other hand, as the politician should keep off the grass, by so much the more should parents and citizens be attentive and vigilant. The machine is so large and complicated that direct and immediate action through the ballot is difficult and practically impossible. The Mayor who appoints the school board will not be elected for nearly four years, the new superintendent's term is for six, but the schools are open, every day, and parents will do pupils, teachers and themselves no better service than by per- sonal visit and observation, by that direct, first-hand knowledge which means sympathy and appreciation. Two of the greatest driving forces for both pupils and teachers, personal understanding and relations, were the corner- stones of the little red schoolhouse and, modified to meet city conditions, great advantage would result from their restoration and reproduction in our time and environment. As for politics and partisanship, as they stop at the frontier and at the church, so must they at the school. — Brooklyn Standard, May 5, 1918 Country Schools on Backward Step A chaotic condition has been brought about by the repeal of the town- ship school bill. Town boards of education created under the township bill, are now legislated out of existence and after August 1, Perry will again be divided into eleven districts instead of two units as at present. Town education boards have been directed not to enter into any contracts to make repairs or improvements to any school building or undertake to erect new buildings for the remainder of the school year. These directions have been communicated to them by the district superintendents of schools. The repeal act took effect on April 13th. A town board is forbidden to contract or incur any indebtedness or obligation which might become a liability against the school district over which such board has jurisdiction. On August 1, 1918, all school districts in the state are to be restored to such districts as existed on May 2, 1917, and any alterations in boundaries or consolidation of districts thereafter must be made in accordance with the education law. Annual school meetings cannot be held this month. County school superintendents of schools are directed to call meetings of the voters of the school districts during the month of June. The State Department of Education has directed that such meetings shall be held at 7 130 p. m. on June 4th. At each meeting trustees are to be elected to take office on August 1, 1918; also a district clerk and collector to take office at the same time, and a treasurer, provided the district had a treasurer on May 2, 1917. In union free school districts a full board of education is to be elected. After such elections the district officers shall consider the budgets for the school year beginning on August 1st. It is suggested that, as the authority of the newly-elected officers is not legal prior to August 1st, that they come to an agreement with teachers on contracts to date from August 1st. Obligations created by the town boards of education are not impaired by the repeal act and bonds and other obligations shall be apportioned by the district superintendent among the several school districts in proportion to the benefits received or provided for. District superintendents are directed JJ& THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK to prepare meeting notices as required by law. Provision is made for newspaper publication where a newspaper is published in the district. The military training law has been made more drastic by the enactment of the Slater bill requiring boys between 16 and 19 years old to attend drill and perform military duties. Compliance with the requirements of the new law entitle the youth to certificate, without which he cannot attend public or private school or obtain employment. Governor Whitman has also signed the bill introduced by the Assembly committee on education for the purpose of relieving certain rural school districts of the burden of maintaining physical training instructors. Under the provisions of the law districts maintaining less than ten teach- ers in the public schools may have physical training taught by one of these teachers instead of requiring the district to hire a teacher whose work is confined to physical training instruction. — Perry Herald, May 8, 1918 Faithful Stewards These To the Taxpayers of the Town of Huntington: The Town Board of Education to whom, by law, was committed the care of the schools in the township of Huntington (except those in the villages of Huntington and Northport) desire to make their report to you both as to their doings and the handling of the finances. We do this at this time as, having served the town during the past school year in accordance with the Township School Law, the operation of a new law relieves us from further duties on this date except such as may be required in the closing up of matters with which we have had to do. The newly elected trustees in the various districts will now assume control. In our judgment the Township School Law had in it possibilities of much usefulness and, as taxpayers and those interested in the children, we can- not help feeling that if the operation of the law could have been con- tinued for a short while longer, results would have been so apparent that there would have been no attempt to repeal it. It has been possible to bring about a uniformity of control of advantage to the scholars and with- out increase of cost. The Board started upon their term of office with the thought in mind that the children of our township deserved first consideration and were entitled to the best possible educational advantages. All that has been done was done with this thought in mind. The placing of new school books in the hands of the children at the expense of the town was one means of promoting uniformity. Frequent contact on the part of the trustees and their representative, the clerk, with the teachers, tended also toward the same end. The prompt payment of teachers and janitors by the Treasurer was also productive of good results. In this connection we desire to say that the Board and the town, through them, have been very well served by Mr. Fredericks, the Clerk, and Mr. Bunce, the Treasurer, who for nominal salaries entered into the work with the same spirit and interest as did the members of the Board and were animated by the same purpose. Joseph B. Morrell of Northport, N. Y. President of a town board of education and favorable to the township system THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 779 We have endeavored to have the medical inspection attended to and we regret that more of the parents have not seen fit to follow it up. We would respectfully recommend to the newly elected trustees that this very important matter, the health of the children, be carefully guarded and attended to. The plan which we had in mind in connection with the staff of teachers, as to classifying and grading, it will not be possible to carry out now, but this had in it large possibilities in our judgment. We believe that, general speaking, the people interested in the schools have felt that the Board was working disinterestedly and with the sole thought of the good of the children in mind. For many courtesies and helpful suggestions we desire to express our thanks. At considerable expense of time the Board has served the community and, of course, with- out any recompense whatever except the consciousness of having been of service to the children of our town. In another column will be found the treasurer's statement, both of a general character and as related to each of the districts so far as the expenses could be allotted to each. We trust that all will be found in order and to the satisfaction of our constituents. Respectfully submitted, J. B. Morrell I. W. Valentine John Deans John H. Soper Huntington Town Board of Education, July 31, 1918 — Long Islander, August 9, 1918 Town Board System Should Be Restored We wish that every voter in Suffolk and Nassau Counties could read the report of the Town Board of Education of the town of Huntington and study up some of the possibilities of the Town Board Law which was repealed last winter, when the plan should be carried out in the spirit as well as the letter. The only regret expressed by the Huntington Board, the members of which rendered their services without charge, was that the law had not been allowed to stand at least two years during which their plans could have been worked out more fully. The advantages of a uniformity of control in all the districts, the maintenance of graded schools, a uniformly higher standard of teaching, of better and more sanitary buildings, the advantage of free attendance at the high school of the town for children of all the districts, and a better attendance and enforcement of the truancy law, the prompt payment of teachers and securing the best of teachers; attention to the physical ailments and defects of the children, free textbooks, teaching of music, and all at an average cost no higher than under the previous inferior separate unregulated school system, are some of the many reasons why the Town Board of Education law should be re-enacted. The complaint made by some that the tax rate was made higher in a part of the districts and lower in others, under the new law, was one of 780 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK the best recommendations of the law. There is no reason why the rich districts with few children should not help pay for the tuition in the poor districts with man}'- children. In as small a territory as a township what is for the benefit of one section is for the benefit of all. There is no more logic in maintaining separate school districts with different rates of taxa- tion and standards of tuition than there would be in having separate road districts. No more than there would be in having different rates of taxa- tion for schools in different sections cf the City of New York. A campaign should be begun by every friend of the children in the rural districts of the State of New York to have the old law re-enacted. The inequalities as to the burden of bonded indebtedness between the dis- tricts could be easily adjusted, so that each district could pay off its own special burden of indebtedness incurred prior to the enactment of the law. The future of our country rests very largely, if not mainly, with the boys and girls of to-day of our rural districts. The importance of giving them the best possible educational facilities that the country can afford cannot be over-estimated. The great problems with which our country is to grapple within the next few years calls for men and women well educated and strong mentally, morally and physically sound. This equipment must be gained largely in the public schools. — Long Islander, August 9, 1918 Report of Township Board July 31, 1918 The Board of Education of District I, of the Town of Chautauqua: Gentlemen: We hereby turn over to the acting clerk of your board, the insurance policies on Mayville school properties, the contracts with teachers for the ensuing year and the keys to the school buildings. The equipment for the different departments is complete, with the excep- tion of the domestic science and agriculture departments. We recommend that the new board contract for coal at an early date, as there has been no contract let for coal 'by the Township Board. You will undoubtedly have to overhaul the toilets as they have not been satisfactory during the past year; and have been a subject of much criticism by the public. The heating plant is also in bad condition and has given the board much trouble and expense during the past year; and the Town- ship Board is of the opinion that the present heating plant can not he used another winter. The Township Board installed the two new departments, agriculture and domestic science as an experiment; also with the expectation that the school unit would remain under the township law, thereby approximately two thirds of the source of income from taxation came from the rural districts. Since the repeal of the township law the tax rate in this district is so high that public sentiment seems to favor the discontinuance of these two departments. As there is no sanitary kitchen for the domestic science department nor any suitable place for the agriculture department without renting or building a new building, this board would recommend that they be discontinued. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 7 8l This board has left five vacancies in the Mayville school faculty, viz.: Principal, preceptress and history teacher in the high school, also physical director and 6th grade teacher. We would recommend that in filling these vacancies that you do not consider politics, relationship or religion as a requirement. We also recommend that you hold all board meetings in a public place so that the parents and taxpayers may feel free to attend. The above recommendations were unanimously passed by the board. Clark E. Goodrich, Clerk. — Mayville Sentinel, August 2, 1918 Town of Fowler, St Lawrence County Comparison of expense under the township law and the 1916 expense 13 is ASSESSED teachers' TAX RATE, TEACHERS' VALUATION TAX, I ( ji6 WAGES, 1 91 6 1917 WAGES, 1917 $153 793 $993 41 $880 .O064S $880 37 14* 362 87 396 .OO98 432 45 173 324 55 414 .0072 540 352 513 I 672 8l I 600 .OO46 I 710 28 470 395 06 396 .014 396 30 170 225 324 .0075 360 46 777 450 360 .OO96 396 42 675 £27 19 360 •0053 39<5 52 575 232 37 324 .OO44 396 32 400 273 13 360 .OO84 432 107 500 750 432 .0075 432 79 750 290 369 Annulled .OO362 432 23.940 90 87 153 .0038 Contract 11 930 149 96 306 .0125 396 $1 044 838 $6 436 21 $6 674 $7 198 Total tax raised 1917 under the township law. Total tax raised 191 6 under the old plan More tax raised 191 7. $7 979 38 6 436 21 $1 543 07 The tax rate under the township law is .0077 and if the tax had been distributed last year in the same way, upon the town generally, the rate would have been .0062. Districts 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 15 would have benefitted by that plan, and districts 4, 8, o, 12, 14 would have paid a higher rate. 782 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The increased expense is accounted for as follows : OLD LAW TOWNSHIP LAW Janitor service $131 $155 Compulsory law 15 50 Fuel 577 727 Repairs 377 21 653 Medical inspection 57 So 50 Insurance 32 80 .... Library 25 50 Physical training 108 59 250 Clerk and treasurer 25 250 Incidental expenses 302 91 612 $1 652 01 $2 797 Teachers' wages, shown above 6 674 7 198 $8 226 01 $9 99s It will be seen from the above that the principal increase in expense for the present } r ear over last year is made up as follows : Teachers' wages $524 Clerk and treasurer 225 Physical training 141 41 Repairs 275 79 Fuel and janitor 184 Compulsory law 35 Incidental expense 310 $1 695 20 The incidental expenses are simply estimates and without any doubt, some of that money will be carried over for next year's expense. Town of Gouverneur, St Lawrence County ASSESSED teachers' TAX RATE, teachers' VALUATION TAX, I 916 WAGES, 1 91 6 1917 WAGES, 191 7 $ 7 I 417 $260 28 $324 .0037 $336 64 240 260 60 360 .O04I 396 I II 840 359 57 360 •OO33 396 54 250 200 03 324 .0038 360 58 236 250 77 360 .0045 360 60 053 271 33 360 .0043 432 102 748 355 46 396 ■0035 414 53 144 279 88 360 •0053 432 117 777 470 525 .004 540 44 460 178 04 288 .004 324 64 264 287 360 .005 378 42 856 206 42 324 .005 336 54 850 331 37 431 .006 414 138 230 759 17 798 .0054 960 69 790 278 79 360 .004 396 $1 108 150 $4 749 50 $5 930 $6 431 There was 50 1 more paid teachers this year than last year. Total tax raised 1917 under the township law Total tax raised 1916 under the old law More tax raised 1017. #6118.85 4749.50 S1369. 35 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 783 The tax rate' under the township law in the town of Gouverneur is .00544, and if the tax had been distributed last year upon the town gen- erally the rate would have been .0043. Districts 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 are as high or higher than the average of the town would have been based in the township plan, and districts 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 16 have a lower tax rate than the average and would pay more tax under the township plan. The increased expense for this year over last year is accounted for as follows : OLD LAW TOWNSHIP LAW Janitor service $90 $100 Compulsory law 30 Fuel 339 62 540 Repairs 12647 320 Medical inspection 23 SO 50 Insurance 74 90 50 Library 10 18 50 Physical training 150 300 Clerk of board 150 Incidental expenses 191 71 250 Furniture 25 $1 006 38 $1 865 Teachers' wages, above 5 930 6 431 $501 ISO 150 193 53 200 38 30 58 29 25 66 32 $1 374 62 $6 936 38 $8 296 From the above it will be seen that the increase in expense for the present year over last year is made up as follows : Teachers' wages Clerk Physical training Repairs Fuel and janitor Compulsory law Incidental expenses Furniture Medical inspection and library From the foregoing it will be seen that the only expense this year that would not have been necessary under the old system is the item of $150 for clerk hire. A Reactionary Legislature The bill repealing the township law has been signed by the governor, restoring on August 1, 191S, the school districts as they existed May 2, 1917, with the old provisions of the law. In June the district superintendents are to issue call for meetings in each district, to be called to order by any qualified elector, to elect the same number of trustees that existed in May, 1917, and to transact any other business of a regular meeting. The town boards may not borrow money or make contracts except to maintain school till July 31, but are to remain in office until relations of the towns to the districts have been adjusted. 784 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK This is reactionary legislation, the first set-back the Education Depart- ment has met since Commissioner Draper returned to New York in 1904. The commonest comment upon the recent session is that it shows how unnecessary it was, and how much better if the New York legislature met biennially. Had there been no session this year, costing the state half a million, the township system would have had a second year's trial, many .of the difficulties would have been solved, and the higher taxation would have been less manifest. As it is we are thrown once more to the bottom of the hill, and must toil up again toward the township system. As a whole the legislature did very little. Mr. Martin introduced another bill to provide for an investigation of rural school conditions and to recommend remedial measures to next year's legislature. It provided for the appointment of a special commission of 7 members to consist of the master of the state grange, the president of the state agricultural society, the professor of home economics at the school of agriculture at Cornell university, the other members to be named by the president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the Education department and the state tax commission. So kind to allow the Education department to be among those present. — School Bulletin, Syracuse, N. Y., April 1918, page 163. AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT CAN BE DONE TO HELP BUILD A TOWNSHIP SPIRIT The question of possibilities in developing the township spirit is well illustrated in the following township educational day program and extracts of a letter from District Superintendent Walter Elwood, of the second supervisory district of Montgomery county, dated December 11, 1917. Programs similar to that for Amsterdam were used for the towns of Florida and Glen. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 785 PROGRAM Township Educational Day OF The Schools of the Town of Amsterdam To be Held at Crescent Park FRIDAY, MAY 25, 1917 A General Exhibition of Work Undertaken in the Public Schools during the School Year, 1916-1917. IN THREE DIVISIONS 1. — Contests in Reading, Arithmetic, and Spelling 2. — Exhibit of work in Drawing, Writing, Hand- work, Nature Study. 3. — Exhibition of work in Physical Training — Set- ting-up Exercises, Folk Dances, Games, Races. We extend a pressing invitation to fathers and mothers, to school officers and to all friends of our schools to be with us on May 25, and to help us make the day a success. We will do our best to make the whole affair pleasant for you. 786 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Superintendent Elwocd's Letter I believe I told you last April of our good fortune in enlisting the deep interest of Mrs. Sanford of Amsterdam in the weals and woes of our rural schools. Mrs. Sanford's interest took practicable shape when she hired for this Supervisory District a trained agricultural man to organize and supervise the boys' and girls' work in gardens and crops. Mr. C. E. Shill, a graduate of the Cortland Agricultural Course and of the State College of Agriculture at Cornell, came highly recommended and made our new cause his own. Five hundred boys and girls enthusiastically enrolled ; only three hun- dred and five, however, finished the season's work in that frame of mind. Our efforts came to a striking conclusion the first week in October upon the occasion of our County Fair, when the pupils brought samples of their best products and their gardens' financial accounts. It would have done your heart good to see the intense interest that our thousands of visitors showed in the school exhibit and particularly that part which con- cerned the boys' and girls' agricultural enterprises. The Fair officials them- selves had to admit that the school display was the chief attraction of the week, and that despite the presence of a huge Carnival Company just out- side our doors. Fathers came up to me and declared that if they had known how well this work was going to turn out they would have had their boys get into it. Grizzled old farmers said that it was wonderful and regretted that agriculture had not been a part of their school life years ago. We were proud of our school exhibit- — -which Professor Griffin of Cornell said was the best he had ever seen — and especially proud of our pupils' success as young farmers. We had an extraordinarily bad season — a cold, late, wet Spring, a destructive hailstorm in the Summer and a premature hard frost. Our boys and girls, nevertheless, succeeded in raising, at a conservative esti- mate, more than $4,000 worth of edibles on the thirty-six acres which they had under intensive cultivation. When Mr. Shill's contract with Mrs. Sanford was about to expire, I took up with four of my Town Boards of Education the matter of continuing our agricultural study throughout the year. My strongest argument lay in a statement of what had already been done, as visualized at the Fonda Fair. The result was that the Four Townships approached unanimously decided to enter into a contract with our agriculture man for the remainder of the school year. This was a vindication — if any were needed — of our new undertaking. The farmers, I am glad to say, generally believe that this work is a fine work for country boys and girls, and that the keen interest the youngsters take in it ought to help in the problem of keeping them on the farm. I am enclosing some photographs taken of our school exhibit at the Fonda Fair, believing that they would be of interest to you. I wish to mention not only the work of Mr. Shill, the first regularly employed rural school agriculture supervisor of the State, but also the good work of Miss Florence M. Bright, our physical training teacher, whose energy and enthusiasm has accomplished wonders for the physical training work in this District. I wish you would have been present at our three THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 78? Township Educational Days last May and June to see for your B <*.lf what a good beginning we had made. By careful organization and freqnent conferences, we have been able to accomplish as much as some districts i know of where several physical training teachers are employed, and more, too, judging from the equality of the work done by teachers coming to us from some of these other districts. Miss Bright and I believe in folk dances and games as well as the setting-up exercises and have established our standards for all of them, which puts an extra burden, perhaps, upon our teachers, but which, nevertheless, brings results — which, after all, is our goal. Some thirty-five of my schools have earned Victrolas for them- selves and these, of course, add much to the physical training periods. Our school nurse, Mrs. Lillian E. Wilcox, also a new official for us in this district, is likewise very materially assisting in the solution of the health problem, devoting special attention to the follow-up work where we can actually see defects being remedied. The four good Townships in this district have followed my counsel and established a uniform school term of forty weeks and and have appropri- ated money generously for "supplies used in instruction and have made arrangements for the new sanitary toilets. I have but one school Board which is not whole-heartedly in favor of the Township School system, and that is the Board which is doing nothing and which can not, consequently, see any advantage in it. I like the fine, willing spirit which has grown up among my teachers, and which makes my work a pleasure, and I thank God for the Township School System. (I've had to fight valiantly in its defense, both by word of mouth and in print, and did so, gladly.) We've tried to interest the public in our work in every way that we could. That was one of- our reasons for the Township Educational Days, the big school exhibit at the Fonda Fair, and some of our other activities, patriotic and otherwise. We've successfully undertaken several of them. We don't do these things for the sake of appearing gallantly in the lime- light, but for the plain utilitarian purpose of awakening public interest in our rural schools, their fine efforts and their needs. We hope that understanding will follow interest and, goodness knows, all of us engaged in public rural school work need the intelligent sympathy and understand- ing of our patrons and constituents. Ignorance and indifference, in the matter of rural education, have too long been a powerful depressant upon the vitality of the country school, and the boys and girls have been the sufferers. In conclusion, I would like to say that I find the work of being a District Superintendent exceedingly interesting. It strikes me that it is an important job, with no end of things to be accomplished. But, unfortunately it is as financially unprofitable as it is professionally interesting. TRANSPORTATION There is now an extended system of transportation of school chil- dren in operation in this State. Individual conveyances, school busses, automobiles, automobile busses, electric lines, steam lines, 788 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK motor boats, horses and sleighs, are all utilized rather extensively in taking children to and from school. All these agencies, together with our system of state and county roads and improved town roads, are bringing within the reach of all children better school facilities. Where transportation is provided systematically and with good business regulation and supervision, the objections that have been raised to such system have been overcome. It is no hardship upon any child to ride from two to four miles in a comfortable wagon or other conveyance in order to attend school. Very generally children will prefer this method to walking a mile or more to attend school. Under proper regulation it is just as safe for children to be conveyed to school as it is for them to walk to school. There are, of course, certain regulations in the transportation of children which must be strictly observed. There must be an established route with scheduled hours for arrival and departure, and drivers should carry watches and be required to meet this schedule. The schedule should be arranged so that children will be on the road the minimum period of time. This can be done without incon- venience to the home and without interfering with the established hours which regulate farm life as to rising in the morning, hour of meals, etc. The cases are rare when children should be compelled to travel, even in a proper conveyance, more than four miles to attend school. The climate and the topography of the country, etc., must also be taken into consideration. During cold weather conveyances should be inclosed, blankets provided and very often the conveyances may be properly heated with safety to the children. No person should be permitted to carry children to and from school who has not the full confidence of the community. The driver should be responsible for the conduct of the children during the time they are under his care to the same extent that a teacher is responsible for their conduct while they are in school. , Any breach of conduct on the part of a pupil should be immediately reported to the teacher on the arrival at the school or to the parents when returning the children to their homes. It may be advisable in some instances to make an allowance to parents for taking their children to and from school for such days as the children are actually conveyed. This plan may also prove to be economical in the administration of a transportation system. Accompanying pictures demonstrate how feasible transportation Transporting children in district 3 Orangetown, Rockland county Utilizing the railroad to attend the high school at Cobleskil THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 789 is, the advantages which are afforded children thereby, and the desirability of making the transportation of children to and from school a general feature of rural school life. Laws Relating to Transportation for School Children ALABAMA Sec. 6 In addition to the duties hereinbefore prescribed, the county boards of education shall perform the following duties : . . . provide for the transportation of pupils at public expense. (Alabama: General Acts, 1915, no. 220, p. 282-83) ARKANSAS Sec. 75470 The board of directors shall have power to provide such transportation for the pupils of the districts as the board may deem advis- able, and may purchase, rent or hire conveyances for this purpose; or the board of directors may enter into contracts with others for transportation service, requiring proper bonds for the faithful performance of the terms of said contracts. Such transportation shall be comfortable and safe, and shall be governed by such rules and regulations as the board of directors may prescribe. The cost of transportation shall be paid out of the school funds to the credit of the consolidated school district. (Arkansas: Sup- plement to Kirby's Digest, 191 1, p. 629-30) CALIFORNIA Sec. 1674, par. 13 The board of trustees of a union or joint union school district may contract, in such manner as they may deem best, for the transportation, to and from school, of such pupils as may seem to such board to be in need of such transportation, and shall pay for such transpor- tation, in the usual manner, out of any funds available for the purpose; provided, that all such contracts for transportation shall be first approved by the county superintendent (or superintendents) of schools of the county (or counties) in which such district is situated. (California: Kerr's Cumulative Supplement Annotated, 1906-13, p. 201) COLORADO Sec. 5909-D As soon as the organization of a special school district as herein contemplated shall have been perfected and its officers elected, it shall be the duty of the school board of such consolidated school district, if necessary, to purchase a site and erect a suitable building thereon, and said school board is hereby required to maintain and support a graded course of instruction, and may include a high school course of not less than two years, and may at its discretion furnish transportation to and from school to all pupils living one mile or more from the consolidated school or building. Said distance to be measured from the enclosure imme- diately surrounding their residence to the school house property along the public highway : provided, that the person or persons employed for the purpose of transporting the pupils to and from school shall be required to give reasonable bond for the faithful performance of duties as prescribed by the school board. (Colorado: Annotated Statutes, v. 4, p. 3760) 790 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK CONNECTICUT Sec. i Any town in which a high school is maintained may, at any annual or special meeting, authorize and instruct the high school com- mittee, board of school visitors, or town school committee, as the case may be, to provide for the transportation, to and from such school, of any pupil attending such school and residing within the limits of such town, or pay the whole or a part of the reasonable and necessary costs thereof. (Connecticut: Public Acts, 1907, ch. 36, p. 612) Sec. 1 Every town in which a school has been discontinued or in which two or more school districts have been consolidated shall furnish, whenever necessary, by transportation or otherwise, school accommodations so that every child over seven and under sixteen years of age can attend school required in sections 21 16 of the general statutes. If any town refuses or neglects to furnish such accommodations, the parent or guardian of any child who is deprived of schooling, or any agent or officer whose duty it is to compel the observance of the laws concerning attendance at school, may, in writing, request a hearing by the town school committee, board of school visitors, or board of education, as the case may be, and said officer shall give such person a hearing within ten days after receipt of his written request therefor, and shall make a finding within ten days after said hearing. (Connecticut: Public Acts, 1911, ch. 173, p. 1436-37) GEORGIA Sec. 1565 Whenever the county board of education deems it for the best interest of a school, they shall have the right to provide means for the transportation of the pupils to and from said school, provided that no school is established in three miles of the pupils to be transported: pro- vided, that this shall only apply to school or schools where two or more districts have been combined or consolidated and such other schools as are now furnishing transportation. No school trustee, teacher, or superin- tendent of county schools shall be interested financially in transportation of pupils. (Georgia: Park's Annotated Code, 1914, v. 1, p. 675) INDIANA Sec. 6423 It shall be the duty of the township trustees to provide for the education of such pupils as are affected by such or any former discontinu- ance in other schools, and they shall provide and maintain means of trans- portation for all such pupils that live at a greater distance than two (2) miles and for all pupils between the ages of six (6) and twelve (12) that live less than two (2) miles and more than one (1) mile from the schools to which they may be transferred, either within the township or in an adjoining township or school corporation, as a result of such discon- tinuance. In all townships where a school has been abandoned under the provisions of this act, the trustee shall provide for the transportation of all pupils of any other school of such township who live more than two (2) miles and all pupils between the ages of six (6) and twelve (12) that live more than one (1) mile from the school to which they are attached, when- ever a majority of the patrons of such school petition the trustee to pro- vide such transportation. Such transportation shall be in comfortable and THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 791 safe conveyances. The drivers of such conveyances shall furnish the teams therefor, and shall use every care for the safety of the children under their charge, and shall maintain discipline in such conveyances. Restrictions as to the use of public highways shall not apply to such con- veyances. The expenses necessitated by the carrying into effect of the provisions of this act shall 'be paid from the special school fund. (Indiana: Burns's Annotated Statutes Revision, 1914, v. 3, p. 290-91) Sec. 6423-a 1. That in all cases where a township has established a centralized school and has provided for the transportation of the school children of the township to such school, it shall be the duty of the town- ship trustee of such township to provide for the transportation of pupils transferred from schools in adjoining townships when such pupils have been transferred to such township school and when such transportation will not necessitate any additional wagons or require an additional distance to be traveled in such transportation. Sec. 6423-6 2. The township trustee having charge of the school from which such children are transferred shall pay to the township trustee of the township to which they are transferred, an amount equal to the per capita cost of transportation of the pupils of such township. (Indiana: Burns's Annotated Statutes Revision, 1914, v. 3, p. 291) IOWA Sec. 2774 It may, when necessary, rent a room and employ a teacher, where there are ten children for whose accommodation there is no school- house; and when the board is released from its obligation to maintain a school, or when children live at an unreasonable distance from their own school, the board may contract with boards of other school townships or independent districts for the instruction of children thus deprived of school advantages, in any school therein, and the cost thereof shall be paid from the teachers' fund. And when there will be a saving of expense, and children will also thereby secure increased advantages, it may arrange with any school in the same or in another corporation and such expenses shall be paid from the contingent fund. (Iowa: Code Annotated, 1897, p. 942) Sec. 2157-g The persons to whom free tickets, free passes, free trans- portation and discriminating reduced rates may he issued, furnished, or given are the following, to wit : . . . school children to and from public and parochial schools. (Iowa: Supplement Code Annotated, 1913, p. 823) Sec. 2794 ... (c) It shall be the duty of the school board of any consolidated independent school corporation and school township main- taining a central school to provide suitable transportation to and from school, for every child of school age living within said district, and outside the limits of any city, town or village, but the board shall not be required to cause the vehicle of transportation to leave the public highway to receive or discharge occupants thereof. The board shall from time to time, by resolution regularly adopted, number and designate the route to be traveled by each conveyance in transporting children to and from school. The school board may require that children living an unreasonable distance from school shall be transported by the parents, or guardian, a distance of not to exceed two miles, to connect with any vehicle of transportation to and from school; or may, in the discretion of the board, contract with 792 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK an adjoining school corporation for the instruction of any child living an unreasonable distance from school, and they shall allow a reasonable amount of compensation for the transportation of children to and from the point where they are taken over, or discharged from, the vehicle used to convey them to and from school, or for transporting to an adjoining district. In determining what an unreasonable distance would be, consideration shall be given to the number and age of the children, the condition of the roads, and the number of miles to be traveled in going to and from school. The board shall have the right on account of inclemency of the weather to suspend the transportation of any route upon any day or days when in the judgment of the said board it would be a hardship on the children, or when the roads, to be traveled are unfit or impassable. (d) The school board of any consolidated independent school corpora- tion shall contract with as many suitable persons as they deem necessary for the transportation of children of school age to and from school, such contract to be in writing and shall state the number of the route, the length of time contracted for, the compensation to be allowed per week of five school days, or per month of four school weeks, and may provide that two weeks' salary shall be retained by the board pending full compliance therewith by the party contracted with, and shall always provide that any party or parties to said contract and every person in charge of vehicles conveying children to and from school, shall be at all times subject to any rules and regulations said board shall adopt for the protection of the children, or to govern the conduct of the person in charge of said con- veyance. (Iowa: Supplemental Supplement, Code, 1915, p. 264-65) KANSAS Sec. 9 . . . The district board of the district in which school is dis- continued shall provide for the transportation of the pupils of said district, living two miles or more from the school to which said pupils are sent, to such school or schools in a safe and comfortable and enclosed conveyance or conveyances, properly heated, and the expense of such transportation shall be paid by said school district in which school has been discontinued; provided, further, that when any school district within the provisions of this act, having voted an amount of money representing not less than four and one-half mills of the assessed valuation of such district, finds its funds insufficient to pay the tuition and cost of transportation as herein provided the state shall pay to said district schools three-fourths of the difference between the amount raised by said district from all sources for school purposes, and the cost of tuition and transportation of pupils therein, and the county shall pay from the general fund one- fourth of said differences; provided, that not more than seventy-five dollars shall be given to any district whose school has been discontinued according to the provisions of this act. (Kansas: Laws 191 1, ch. 268, p. 495-96) Sec. 1 That the district board of any school district may provide for the comfortable transportation of pupils of said school district living two and one-half or more miles from the school attended, by the usual traveled road, in a safe and inclosed conveyance or conveyances properly heated, and said district board is authorized to establish such rules and regulations as may be necessary for carrying out the provisions of this act. (Kansas: Laws 191 1, ch. 273, p. 501) THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 793 LOUISIANA Sec. 2526 The free right of passage or conveyance over all public ferries, bridges and roads which are rented out by the state, parish, or municipality, or over which the state or parish, or municipality, exercises any control, or for which license is paid or toll exacted, be and is hereby granted to all children attending the public schools ; and no tolls or fees shall be demanded or exacted from said children by the keepers or attendants of said ferries, bridges or roads in their passage to and from school between the hours of 7 o'clock a. m. and 9 o'clock a. m. and 4 o'clock p. m. and 6 o'clock p. m. ; provided, that on Sundays and holidays no children shall have the right to cross said such ferries, bridges roads or roads on terms different from those of any ordinaiy passenger. The provision of the foregoing section shall apply to the parish of Orleans as well as other parts of the state. (Louisiana: Marr's Annotated Revised Statutes, v. 1, p. 844, 845) MAINE Sec. 2 . . . The superintendent of schools in each town shall procure the conveyance of all common school pupils residing in his town, a part or the whole of the distance, to and from the nearest suitable school, for the number of weeks for which schools are maintained in each year, when such pupils reside at such a distance from the said school as in the judg- ment of the superintending school committee shall render such conveyance necessary. Provided, however, that the superintending school committee may authorize the superintendent of schools, to pay the board of any pupil or pupils at a suitable place near any established school instead of providing conveyance for said pupil or pupils, when in their judgment it may be done at an equal or less expense than by conveyance. (Maine: Revised Statutes, 1916, ch. 16, p. 351-52) MARYLAND Sec. 25 . . . The board of county school commissioners shall obtain the consent of sixty per cent of the patrons of the school, the schoolhouse of which is to be closed in order that it may be consolidated with another school, and to arrange for and to pay charges of transporting pupils to and from such schools. (Maryland: Annotated Code, v. 3, p. 810) MASSACHUSETTS Sec. 15 . . . For conveying pupils to and from the public schools, or, if it maintains no high school or public school of corresponding grade but affords high school instruction by sending pupils to other towns, for the necessary transportation expenses of such pupils, the same to be expended by the school committee in its discretion. (Massachusetts: Revised Laws, 1902, v. 1, p. 369) Sec. 1 A town of less than five hundred families or householders, in which a public high school or public school of corresponding grade is not maintained, shall, through its school committee, when necessary, provide for the transportation of any child who resides in said town and who, with the previous approval of the school committee of the town, attends the high school of any other town or city, and shall pay for the expense of such transportation a sum not exceeding one dollar and fifty cents per 794 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK week during the time of actual attendance of such child in the high school. If any town fails to provide such transportation, it shall be liable in an action of contract, to the parent or guardian of a child who has been furnished with such transportation for such amounts, not exceeding one dollar and fifty cents per week, as the parent or guardian has paid for the same. A town which has expended for the support of its public schools for the preceding year from the proceeds of local taxation an amount not less than four and less than five dollars per thousand dollars of valuation shall receive from the treasury of the commonwealth one- half of the amount actually expended for transportation under the pro- visions of this act; and a town which has expended from the proceeds of local taxation for the support of its public schools for the preceding year an amount equal to at least five dollars per thousand of valuation shall receive from the treasury of the commonwealth the whole transportation under the provisions of this act. (Massachusetts: Acts and Resolves,, 1913. P- 338-39) Sec. 1 . . . For the transportation to and from a public school of any child whose tuition is payable by the commonwealth or by the city of Boston under the provisions of this section, the commonwealth or the city of Boston, as the case may be, shall pay to the city or town furnishing such transportation, for each week of five days or major part thereof, an amount equal to the average amount for each child paid by said city or town per week for the transportation of children to and from school over the route by which such child is conveyed. Settlements of the accounts of the several cities and towns with the commonwealth and with the city of Boston shall be made annually on the first day of April, and the amounts found due shall be paid within three months thereafter. (Massachusetts: Supple- ment to the Revised Laws, 1902-8, p. 442) Sec. 1 The rates of fare charged by street or elevated railway com- panies for the transportation of pupils of the public day schools or public evening schools or private schools between a given point, from or to which it is necessary for them to ride in travelling to or from the schoolhouses in which they attend school and their homes, whether such schoolhouses are located in the city or town in which the pupils reside or in another city or town, shall not exceed one-half of the regular fare charged by such street or elevated railway company for the transportation of other passengers between said points, and tickets for the transportation of pupils as aforesaid, good during the days or evenings on which said schools are in session, shall be sold by said companies in lots of ten each. A railway company which violates the provisions of this section shall forfeit twenty- five dollars for each offence. (Massachusetts: Supplement to the Revised Laws, 1902-8, p. 1042) MICHIGAN Sec. i The district board or board of education of any school district which does not maintain a high school shall have authority and is hereby required to vote a tax sufficient to pay the tuition to one of the three nearest high schools of any children of school age residents of said dis- trict, at the time of giving notice as hereinafter provided, who have com- pleted the studies of the eight grades, not exceeding in amount twenty THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 795 dollars per pupil per year, unless the voters appropriate a larger sum at the annual school meeting, and may vote a tax to pay the transportation during school days of such children. (Michigan: Howell's Statutes, v. 4, P- 4049) MINNESOTA Sec. 2691 For the purpose of promoting a better condition in rural schools, and to encourage industrial training, including the elements of agricultural, manual training and home economics, the. board in a consoli- dated school district is authorized to establish schools of two or more departments, provide for the transportation of pupils. Sec. 2692 (1) For the purpose of receiving state aid, schools in con- solidated districts shall be classified as A, B and C. They shall be in ses- sion at least eight months in the year, and be well organized. They shall have suitable schoolhouses, with the necessary rooms and equipment. Those belonging to class A shall have at least four departments ; those of class B three departments ; and those of class C two departments. The board in a consolidated school district maintaining a school of either class shall arrange for the attendance of all pupils living more than two miles from the school, through suitable provision for transportation, or for the board and room of such as may be more economically and conveniently provided for by such means. Sec. 2747 . . . Provide for the free transportation to and from school, at the expense of the district, of pupils residing more than one-half mile from the school house, for the whole or such part of the school year as they may deem expedient, and subject to such rules and regulations as they may adopt ; and they shall require from every person employed for that purpose, a reasonable bond for the faithful discharge of his duties, as prescribed by the board. Sec. 2782 It shall be the duty of the said board to furnish school facili- ties to every child of school age residing in any part of said unorganized territory, either by building school houses, leasing school room, transporting said children to the nearest school, boarding said children within con- venient distance from a school at the expense of said board, or otherwise, and to provide necessary supplies, text and library books. (Minnesota: General Statutes, 1913, p. 609-10, 620-21, 626-27) Sec. 2750 The school board of any district, when it deems it advisable, may provide for the instruction of its pupils in an adjoining district, and in such case may discontinue the schools of its own district, or of any grades or departments in said schools, and provide for the free transpor- tation of the pupils of its own district to the school in an adjoining or nearby district. MISSISSIPPI Sec. 2 The expense necessary to carry this act into effect and provide for the transportation of the pupils, as provided in section 1 of this act, shall be paid out of the school fund of the county. At the end of each scholastic month the person or persons employed to transport the pupils shall file with the cotmty superintendent an itemized statement of his ser- vices, properly sworn to by him and approved by at least two of the trustees and certified to by them ; and upon the filing of such account with 796 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK him the county superintendent shall issue to such person a pay certificate, and such account shall be filed and preserved in his office. If the trustee, without good cause, refuse to approve said itemized account, such person may appeal to the county superintendent, who shall issue his pay certificate without the approval of the trustees, in case he decides, after full investi- gation, in favor of the person who transports the pupils. Upon the presen- tation of the pay certificate for services rendered, as herein set out, duly attested by the county superintendent, the clerk of the board of supervisors shall issue a warrant in the manner as directed for the issuance of teachers' warrants in Section 4566 of the Mississippi Code of 1906. The oath required to said account may be made before the county superintendent. Sec. 3 On petition of the majority of the qualified electors of a con- solidated school district containing not less than twenty-five square miles, and on the approval of the county school board, the board of supervisors shall, in the same manner as provided for separate school districts, annu- ally levy a tax on the property of the said district sufficient to pay for fuel, transportation wagons and other incidental expenses, erect and repair school buildings for the district, and shall levy a tax sufficient to maintain the schools of said district after the expiration of the county public school term or to supplement during the county public school term, provided a free public school shall be maintained therein at least seven months in each scholastic year. And the board of supervisors may issue bonds for such consolidated districts, in the manner provided in the chapter on " Munici- palities " to erect and repair and equip school buildings for said district. The tax collector shall collect the taxes required of such district as other taxes are collected, and deposit same with the county treasurer to the credit of the district for which it was levied. Such funds shall be disbursed on pay certificates issued by the county superintendent, on the order of the trustees of the district. The expense of transporting the pupils shall be borne by the district after the expiration of the county public school term. Sec. 1 That where two or more schools are consolidated into one school by the county school board, the board of public school trustees for said consolidated school, together with the county superintendent, are authorized and empowered to provide means for the transportation of pupils living two miles from the consolidated school to and from the schoolhouse in the district, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the state board of education. (Mississippi: Laws 1912, ch. 255, p. 323-24) MISSOURI Sec. 10846-0 The board of directors of any school district of which the assessed valuation does not exceed fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) and in which the average daily attendance in school during any year has been less than fifteen, is hereby authorized to arrange with the board or boards of directors of other district or districts for the admission of all children of school age in said district having a daily attendance of less than fifteen, and, if desired to arrange also for transporting the children to and from school. In the event any such district has levied for school purposes the maximum levy provided by law (sixty-five cents on the one hundred dol- lars assessed valuation) and applies the funds so derived together with the money on hand and the amount received from public funds to the payment THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 797 of the cost of transportation, for the children of said district and also applies any balance remaining in such fund after the payment of transpor- tation cost to the payment of tuition for the children of said district and does not have a sufficient amount to meet all this tuition cost, the state shall grant aid to such district sufficient to enable the district to keep all its children in school for a period of at least eight months : Provided, however, the amount of aid granted shall in no case exceed the actual cost for tuition and the rate of tuition paid shall not exceed the pro rata cost for maintenance in the district or districts which said children attend, based on the maintenance cost of the preceding year. It is also provided that the estimated cost per pupil for transportation shall be a reasonable charge and the state superintendent shall decide as to the reasonableness of this charge and his decision shall be final. The application and man- ner of payment of the aid granted under this section shall be similar to the application and method of payment provided in section 10846. (Mis- souri: Laws 1915, S.B. 261, p. 384-85) Sec. 1 That section 4 of the act of the general assembly of the state of Missouri, approved March 14, 1913, be and the same is hereby amended by inserting between the word "district" and the word "provided" in line 8 of the said section, the following : " Provided that when the average attendance in any elementary school for any month falls below ten, the school board shall have authority to close such elementary school for the remainder of the term and to provide transportation for the pupils of such elementary school to some other elementary school or schools in said district. Such transportation to be paid for out of the incidental funds of the district," so that said section, when amended, shall read as follows : Sec. 4 The question of transportation of pupils may be voted upon at the special meeting above provided for, if notice is given that such a vote will be taken. If transportation is not provided for in any school district formed under the provisions of this act, it shall then be the duty of the board of directors to maintain an elementary school within two and one- half miles by the nearest traveled road of the home of every child of school age within said school district: Provided, that when the average attend- ance in any elementary school for any month falls below ten, the school board shall have authority to close such elementary school for the remain- der of the term and to provide transportation for the pupils of such ele- mentary school to some other elementary school or schools in said district. Such transportation to be paid for out of the incidental funds of the district: Provided further, that if transportation is not provided for, any consolidated district may by a majority vote at any annual or special meeting decide to have all the seventh grade and the eighth grade work done at the central high school building, provided fifteen days' notice has been given that such vote will be taken. Such seventh and eighth grade work at the central high school may be discontinued at any time by a majority vote taken at any annual or special meeting. (Missouri: Laws 1915, H.B. 1032, p. 385-86) MONTANA Sec. 816 ... 3 That the trustees of any school district in the state of Montana, when they shall deem it for the best interest of all pupils 798 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK residing in such district, may close their school and send pupils of the district to another district and for such purpose are hereby empowered to expend any moneys belonging to their district for the purpose of paying for the transportation of pupils from their district to such other district or districts and for the purpose of paying their tuition. Whenever the trustees of any school district in the state of Montana deem it for the best interest of such district and the pupils residing therein they made (may) expend any moneys belonging to their district for the purpose of paying for the transportation of pupils from their homes to the public school or schools maintained in such district. (Montana: Revised Codes, Supplement 1915, v. 3, P- 105) NEBRASKA Sec. 6943 A board of education of a city or a board of trustees of a high school district, by a two-thirds vote of the entire board, or a district board of any school district in this state when authorized by a two-thirds vote of those present at any annual or special meeting, is hereby empowered to make provision for the transportation of pupils residing within the dis- trict to any other school to which such pupils may lawfully attend, when- ever the distance from such school shall render it impracticable for the pupils to attend without transportation. (Nebraska: Revised Statutes, 1913, P- 1935) Sec. 2 (b) The district board of any consolidated school district shall provide for the comfortable transportation of pupils of said consolidated district living two or more miles from the school attended, by the usual traveled road, in a safe and inclosed conveyance or conveyances, property heated, and said district board is authorized to establish such rules and regulations as may be necessary for carrying out the provisions of this act. At any regular annual school district meeting in such district, it shall be lawful for the qualified voters therein by two-thirds vote to suspend the provision for the district transportation of pupils and the said action shall be confirmed by the county superintendent upon a satisfactory showing that individual arrangements have been made for all necessary transportation of pupils without cost to the district. (Nebraska: Laws 1915., ch. 121, p. 277) NEVADA Sec. 4 And provided further, that the trustees of consolidated school districts shall require contracts with persons whom shall be of reputable character elected as drivers of vehicles used to transport children to school at the expense of the district. Such contracts shall state the time of the arrival at and the departure from the schoolhouse each day, the time such person is to act as driver of such vehicle unless released by agreement, the compensation of the driver and any other details that the trustees may designate. Before any driver of any school vehicle shall begin the duties of that position he shall furnish a bond of an amount equal to his total wages for the current term of school in which he shall be hired, which bond shall insure the faithful performance of his contract. Sec. 5 To obtain funds for such transportation, the trustees shall, each year, make an estimate of the amount of money necessary to maintain such transportation for that year or for the next ensuing year or for both, and shall certify the amount to the county commissioners, who shall ascertain THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 799 the necessary percentage on the property in said district as shown by the last assessment made thereof after equalization to raise the amount of money certified to and shall add it to the next county tax to he collected on the property aforesaid; and the same shall be paid into the county treasury in favor of said district and be kept as a separate fund to be known as Consolidated School District No Transportation Fund, to be drawn only for purposes of transportation of school children to and from school, and in the same manner as is now provided by law for draw- ing other school moneys ; provided, that if the trustees shall certify to the county commissioners that such money is necessary for immediate use, the tax provided for in this section shall be due and payable to the treasurer of the county in the same manner as are all other taxes. Sec. 6 The trustees of any school district, other than a consolidated district, shall provide transportation to and from school for all children living one mile or more therefrom in the manner provided in sections 4 and 5 of this act, if at any regular or special election held in the dis- trict the proposition of providing transportation for pupils to and from schools shall have been submitted to the qualified voters of the district and a majority of the votes cast shall have favored such transportation. Sec. 6 The trustees of any school district, other than a consolidated dis- trict, shall provide transportation to and from school for all children living one mile or more therefrom in the manner provided in sections four and five of this act, if at any regular or special election held in the district the proposition of providing transportation for pupils to and from schools shall have been submitted to the qualified voters of the district and a majority of the votes cast shall have favored such transportation. (Nevada: Stat- utes, 1915, ch. 29, p. 28-29) NEW HAMPSHIRE Sec. 1 The school board of every district shall provide schools at such places within the district and at such times in each year as will best sub- serve the interests of education, and will give to all the scholars of the district as nearly equal advantages as may be practicable. They may use a portion of the school money, not exceeding 25 per cent, for the purpose of conveying scholars to and from the schools. (New Hampshire: Public Statutes and Session Laws, 1901, p. 298) Sec. 1 Any school districts may raise money for the purchase of suitable vehicles for the transportation of school children. (New Hampshire: Pub- lic Statutes and Session Laws, Supplement 1901-13, p. 168) NEW JERSEY Sec. 117 Whenever in any district there shall be children living remote from the schoolhouse, the board of education of such district may make rules and contracts for the transportation of such children to and from school. Nothing in this section shall be so construed as to prohibit a board of education from making contracts for the transportation of chil- dren to a school in an adjoining district when such children shall be trans- ferred to said district by order of the county superintendent of schools, or when any children shall attend school in a district other than that in which they shall reside by virtue of an agreement made by the respective boards of education. (New Jersey: Compiled Statutes, 1709-1910, v. 4, P- 4765) 800 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK NEW YORK Sec. 206 ... 18. Whenever any district shall have contracted with the school authorities of any city, or other school districts for the educa- tion therein of the pupils residing in such school districts, or whenever in any school district children of school age shall reside so remote from the schoolhouse therein that they are practically deprived of school advantages during any portion of the school year, the inhabitants thereof entitled to vote are authorized to provide, by tax or otherwise, for the conveyance of any or all pupils residing therein to the schools of such city, or district with which such contract shall have been made, or to the school maintained in said district, and the trustees thereof may contract for such convey- ance when so authorized in accordance with such rules and regulations as they may establish, and for the purpose of defraying any expense incurred in carrying out the provisions of this subdivision, they may if necessary use any portion of the public money apportioned to such district as a district quota. (New York: Birdseye, Cumming and Gilbert's Consolidated Laws Annotated, 1910-13, v. 7, p. 586) Sec. 186 . . . The Commissioner of Education shall have power in any such central district to require the payment by the district of such expense of transportation of school children to and from the school as in his judgment justice requires, and the same shall be a charge upon the district. (New York: Birdseye, Cumming and Gilbert's Consolidated Laws Annotated, 1914, v. 9, p. 425) NORTH CAROLINA Sec. 1 Upon the consolidation of two or more school districts into one by the county board of education, the said county board of education is authorized and empowered to make provision for the transportation of pupils in said consolidated district that reside too far from the schoolhouse to attend without transportation, and to pay for the same out of the apportionment to said consolidated district: provided, that the daily cost of transportation per pupil shall not exceed the daily cost per pupil of providing a separate school in a separate district for said pupils. (North Carolina: Public Laws, 1911, ch. 135, p. 290-300) NORTH DAKOTA Sec. 1 190 The district board may call, and, if petitioned by one-third of the voters in the district, shall call an election to determine the question of " conveying pupils at the expense of said district to and from schools already established," or " of consolidating two or more schools, and of selecting a site and erecting a suitable building, or of making suitable additions to buildings already erected, to accommodate the pupils of schools to be vacated." Said elections shall be conducted, both as to notices and as to manner of canvassing the votes, in the same manner as the annual school election. If a majority of the votes cast at such election are in favor of conveying the pupils at the expense of the district to and from schools already established or of consolidating two or more schools and of providing a suitable building for the accommodation of the pupils of vacated schools, then the board shall make all necessary arrangements to carry out the decision of the district. The board shall arrange for the transportation THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 8oi of pupils to and from such schools. It shall establish routes of travel, adopt rules and regulations for such transportation, and shall contract with responsible parties for such transportation. Provided, that whenever the school board of a district in which a consolidated school is established is unable to make suitable arrangements for the transportation of pupils to and from school, said transportation shall be provided according to the provisions of section 1342. (North Dakota: Compiled Laws, 1913, p. 288) Sec. 1 190 The district school board may call, and if petitioned by one- third of the voters in the district, shall call, an election to determine the question: (1) "to consolidate two or more schools or the territory usually served by two or more schools and select a site and provide a suitable building," or (2) " to select a school already established and, if necessary, make suitable additions thereto to accommodate the pupils of the school to be vacated." Said election shall be conducted, both as to notices and as to manner of canvassing the votes, in the same manner as the annual school elections. If a majority of the votes cast at such an election are in favor of either proposal, then the board shall carry out the decision of the district within four months thereafter. In the event of carrying out either proposal prior to or after the passage of this act, it shall be the duty of the board to provide for the transporta- tion of the pupils at public expense to and from the consolidated school, except to those pupils living less than two and one-half miles from such school; and it shall also be the duty of the board, if deemed expedient, to move to the site selected schoolhouses already built or to sell such school- houses. (North Dakota: Laws 1915, p. 166). Sec. 1342 ... 5. If no school is taught the requisite length of time within two and one-quarter miles of the residence of such child by the nearest route, such attendance shall not be enforced, except in cases of consolidated schools, where the school board has arranged for the trans- portation of pupils. In school districts where consolidated schools have not been established, the school board shall pay a sum not to exceed thirty- five cents nor less than fifteen cents per day to any one family living more than two and one-quarter miles from the nearest school, which shall be equitably based upon the number of children attending school from each family; provided, that the tender of such a daily compensation shall be construed as furnishing transportation and when such a tender is made by the school board, the compulsory attendance law shall apply to all children of school age living more than two and one-quarter and not to exceed five miles from school ; provided, further, that the provisions for transpor- tation shall not apply to deaf, blind and feeble minded children in this state, and this section shall not be construed to apply to parents, guardians, or other person having control of any child or children between the ages of eight and fifteen, inclusive, who desire to send such child or children for a total period of not exceeding six months, which may be taken in one or more years, to any parochial school for the purpose of preparing such child or children for certain religious duties. It shall be the duty of the clerk of the school board to include in his annual statement an item setting forth the amount spent for the transportation of pupils. (North Dakota: Laws 1915, p. 180-81) 26 802 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK OHIO Sec. 7730 The 'board of education of any rural or village school district may suspend any or all schools in such village or rural school district. Upon such suspension the board in such village school district may pro- vide and in such rural school districts shall provide for the conveyance of the pupils attending such schools to a public school in the rural or village district, or to a public school in another district. When the average daily attendance of any school for the preceding year has been below twelve, such school shall be suspended and the pupils transferred to such other school or schools as the local board may direct. No school of any rural district shall be suspended or abolished until after sixty days' notice has been given by the school board of such district. Such notice shall be posted in five conspicuous places within such village or rural school district. Sec. 7731 In all rural and village school districts where pupils live more than two miles from the nearest school the board of education shall provide transportation for such pupils to and from such school. The transporta- tion for pupils living less than two miles from the schoolhouse, by the most direct public highway shall be optional with the board of education. When transportation of pupils is provided, the conveyance must pass within one-half mile of the respective residence of all pupils, except when such residences are situated more than one-half mile from the public road. When local boards of education neglect or refuse to provide transportation for pupils, the county board of education shall provide such transportation and the cost thereof shall be charged against the local school district. (Ohio: Laws 1914, H. B. no. 13, p. 139-40) Sec. 7646 Each township board of education shall establish and maintain at least one elementary school in each subdistrict under its control, unless transportation is furnished to the pupils thereof as provided by law. (Ohio: Paige and Adams Annotated General Code, v. 3, p. 812) OKLAHOMA Sec. 4 The powers and duties of the district boards herein provided and of the several officers shall be the same as those provided by law for school districts and their several officers and in addition it shall be the duty of said district board to provide transportation to and from school for all pupils residing two or more miles therefrom, in suitable vehicles of ample size, with comfortable seats, arranged to conform to the size of the pupils to be carried, with adjustable covers for the comfort and protection of the pupils, drawn by stout, gentle teams, driven by competent persons of good moral character, who shall have control of the pupils during their transportation. Provided, that any consolidated school district may, by a majority vote of the legal voters present and voting at any annual meeting, provide free transportation for all pupils under ten years of age, in said districts whether living more than two miles or not, and such free transportation shall then be furnished to all pupils under ten years of age residing in the district until a change shall be ordered at an annual meeting of such district by a majority vote of all the legal voters present and voting at such meeting. Provided, further, that all independent school districts THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 803 having the area, population and assessed valuation equal to that required of consolidated school districts, as provided by law, shall have the authority to provide transportation for pupils, as provided by law. (Oklahoma: Laws 1915, ch. 36, p. 44-45) OREGON Sec. 4055 That a district school board of any legally organized district shall, when authorized by a majority vote of the legal voters present at any legally called school meeting, furnish transportation to and from school to all pupils living more than two miles from the school building; and may, at their discretion, provide for the transportation of any and all pupils residing nearer than two miles from the central building; said distance, in either case, to be measured from the inclosure immediately surrounding their residence to the schoolhouse property along the nearest traveled road; Provided, that the district school board may, at its discretion, pay the board of any pupil or pupils at any suitable place near any established school instead of providing conveyance for said pupil or pupils, when, in their judgment, it may be done at an equal or less expense than by conveyance. District school boards of such districts are hereby authorized to pay for the transportation or board of pupils, as provided for in this section, out of the common school fund of their respective districts; and shall, when authorized by a majority vote of the legal voters present at any legally called school meeting, levy a tax upon the taxable property of their dis- tricts for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this section. Sec. 4056 The district school board of any legally organized district shall, when authorized by a majority vote of the legal voters present at any legally called school meeting, suspend the district school for such time as they may have been authorized, and arrange with any adjoining or other district, or districts, during the time when the school shall be suspended for the instruction of the pupils of such district; and, also, provide for the transportation of any or all pupils residing therein to and from the school house in the district with which the arrangements for their instruction is made, and to pay for the amount of expense incurred in providing for the transportation, and for tuition of pupils in an adjoining or other district or districts. District school boards are hereby authorized to pay for the trans- portation or board of pupils, as provided for in this section, out of the common school fund of their respective districts, and when authorized by a majority vote of the legal voters present at any legally called school meeting, shall levy a tax upon the taxable property of their districts for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this section. (Oregon: Lord's Laws, v. 2, p. 1603-4) PENNSYLVANIA Sec. 1404 . . . The board of school directors in any school district in this commonwealth may, out of the funds of the district, provide for the free transportation of any pupil to and from the public schools. (Penn- sylvania: Laws 191 1, p. 3S1) RHODE ISLAND Sec. 7 The school committee of any town may, subject to the approval of the commissioner of public schools, consolidate any schools the average number belonging to each of which is less than twelve, or may unite such school or schools with some other school in order to establish a graded 804 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK school or to secure greater efficiency of the schools; and said committee shall have authority to provide, in their discretion, transportation for pupils to and from school. (Rhode Island: General Laws 1909, p. 286) SOUTH DAKOTA Sec. 108 When pupils reside more than two and one-half miles from the nearest school house in the school district and not to exceed three miles, then the parent, guardian or pupil shall receive from his school district ten cents per day for each pupil, if more than three miles and not to exceed four miles twenty cents per day. If more than four miles and not to exceed five miles thirty cents per day. If more than five miles forty cents per day. Provided, however, that in cases where more than one pupil from any family receives compensation under the provisions of this section, the total amount allowed for any one family shall not exceed twenty (20^) cents for traveling three miles or under, and not to exceed forty (40$) cents for traveling between three and four miles, and not to exceed sixty (60$) cents for traveling between four and five miles, and not to exceed eighty (80^) cents for traveling five miles or more. Provided, that such financial provision shall be only for actual attendance at public school and conditioned that the district in no way furnish means of con- veyance. Provided, that when any pupil shall have passed the eighth grade, such pupil, his parents or guardian shall not receive payment for trans- portation to or from school. Provided, that when pupils reside nearer some school in' another school township or district then the school board or board of education can make arrangements for the schooling of such pupils at such other school by paying tuition at the rate of ($2) dollars per month for each pupil so enrolled from any such district, unless some other rate be agreed to between the school boards of districts concerned prior to the enrolment of any such pupil, such tuition to be computed from the time of enrolment until such pupil leaves such school permanently, or to the close of the school term, and such transportation as previously provided for in this section. Provided, further, in determining the distance to be traveled to get to any school the most direct route to be established by the schol district board, subject to an appeal as provided in sections 114, 115 and 116, of chapter 135, Session Laws of 1907, shall be the basis of computation. Provided, further, that no township or district shall expend more than eight hundred ($800) dollars for transportation in any one year. Provided, further, that no payments shall be made until the close of the school year, and if bills allowed are in excess of eight hundred ($800) dollars, said sum of eight hundred ($800) dollars shall be divided pro rata, but this act shall not apply to school districts organized as consolidated school districts under chapter 194 of the Session Laws of 1913. (South Dakota: Laws 1915, ch. 163, p. 345-46) TENNESSEE Sec. 2 That whenever, by reason of such consolidation, a sufficient num- ber of children is situated too far away from such schools to attend without transportation, said boards of education are hereby authorized and empowered to make provisions for the transportation of said pupils that THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 805 reside too far away from said school to attend without transportation, and to pay for same out of the respective public school funds of the county in which such children reside. (Tennessee : Acts 1913, ch. 4, p. 7) TEXAS Sec. 6742 All persons or corporations, owning or operating street rail- ways in or upon the public streets of any town or city in this state of not less than forty thousand inhabitants, are required to carry children of the age of twelve years or less at and for one-half the charge or fare regularly collected by such person or corporation for the transportation of adult persons ; provided, that this article shall not apply to street cars carrying children or students to and from schools, colleges, or other institutions of learning, situated at a distance of one mile or more beyond the limits of the incorporated city or town from which said cars run. Sec. 6743 All such persons or corporations, owning or operating street railways, shall sell or provide for the sale of tickets in lots of twenty, each good for one trip over the line or lines owned or operated by such person or corporation, at and for one-half the regular fare or charge col- lected for the transportation of adult persons, to students not more than seventeen years of age, in actual attendance upon any academic, public or private school, of grades not higher than the grades of the public high schools of this state, situated within or adjacent to the town or city in which such street railway is located. Such tickets are required to be sold only upon the presentation by the student desiring to purchase the same oi the written certificate of the principal of the school upon which he is in attendance, showing that he is not more than seventeen years of age, is in regular attendance upon such school, and is within the grades herein- before provided. Such tickets are not required to be sold to such students, and shall not be used, except during the months of the year when such schools are in actual session, and such students shall be transported at half fare only upon the presentation of such tickets. (Texas : Vernon's Sayles' Civil Statutes, 1914, v. 4, p. 4386) WASHINGTON Sec. 4481 Every board of directors, unless otherwise specially provided by law, shall have power and it shall be its duty Eleventh. To provide and pay for transportation of children to and from school when in their judgment the best interests of their district will be subserved thereby, but, in case transportation is provided, the directors shall not be compelled to transport children who live within two miles of the schoolhouse. (Washington : Laws 1915, ch. 44, p. 144-45) WEST VIRGINIA Sec. 68 Boards of education shall have authority to consolidate two or more subdistricts into a single subdistrict, and where practicable establish a graded or consolidated school therein, and if necessary, provide for the transportation of pupils to and from such school at public expense; pro- vided, that no subdistrict whose school during the last preceding school year maintained an average daily attendance of twelve or more, shall be 806 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK consolidated with another subdistrict except with the written consent of at least a majority of the voters of the subdistrict affected. Contracts for the transportation of pupils shall be let to the lowest responsible bidder, and all expenses shall be paid out of the building fund of the district, under such rules and regulations as the board of education may prescribe. (West Virginia : Acts 1915, ch. 58, p. 383) WISCONSIN Sec. 419-^ In case two or more school districts shall be ordered con- solidated, and in case the electors and school board of such consolidated school district shall maintain during any school year a first class rural school, a state graded school or free high school, and the grades below a free high school, and the electors of such consolidated school district shall direct the school board to transport all persons of school age living more than two miles from the school in such district, that may desire to attend school, then the state may repay to such school district ten cents per day for each such person living more than two miles from school, the distance to be measured by the nearest traveled highway, that was so transported to and attended school regularly for at least six months during the school year. Sec. 419-/ In case the electors of any such consolidated school district shall desire to take advantage of the provisions of sections 419-& to 419-h, inclusive, relating to transportation, they may make arrangement with the parents, guardians, or other persons to transport children living more than two miles from school ; providing, that such parents, guardians or other persons shall provide for the transportation of the children a comfortable and convenient bus or wagon well supplied with protection against inclement weather, and shall actually transport or provide for the transportation of such children to the school for at least six months. Sec. 419-g Any board of the consolidated school district entitled to aid under the provisions of sections 419-& to 419-^, inclusive, shall, on or before the fifteenth day of July in each school year, make under oath- a report to the state superintendent giving the name of each pupil transported more than two miles, the number of days each such pupil was transported, the mode of transportation, and the total amount claimed by the district on account of all pupils residing more than two miles from school for whom transportation or transportation and tuition have been paid. Upon receipt of such report the state superintendent shall certify to the secretary of state the amount due such district, and the secretary of state shall there- upon issue a warrant in favor of such district, for such amount which shall be paid by the state treasurer to the treasurer of the district from the school funds provided for by section 1072-0 of the statutes. Sec. 419-h To carry out the provisions of this act there is hereby appro- priated annually, out of the moneys assessed and collected under the pro- visions of section 1072-a of the statutes, a sum sufficient to meet all the approved claims coming under the provisions of sections 419-& to 419-h, inclusive. Sec. 430-2 The electors shall also have power to order the board to provide for transportation of any or all pupils residing in the district to and from the school or schools with which contracts for tuition are made. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 807 Sec. 430-3 In all cases where the electors have voted to suspend the school in their district or have directed the board to pay for tuition or for transportation they shall provide by tax upon the district, a sum sufficient to meet the cost of the tuition or the transportation or both; provided, that if any district at its annual or at a subsequent special meeting prior to the third Monday of November following shall not vote a tax sufficient to pay for tuition or transportation or both for the time during which the school is suspended, the district board, on or before the Wednesday next following said third Monday of November, shall determine the sum necessary to pay for tuition or transportation or both, as the case may be, and the district clerk shall at once certify to the town clerk the amount so fixed and the town clerk shall assess said amount as other district taxes are assessed. Sec. 430-4 It shall also be lawful for the electors of any school district to authorize the school board or town board of school directors to enter into an agreement with the parent, guardian or other person in charge of any pupil to compensate such parent, guardian or other person for trans- portation, or providing for the transportation of any pupil or pupils to and from school, and to enter into contracts for the transportation to and from school of all persons of school age who attend, and to levy a tax therefor; provided, that in all cases where the distance from the home of the pupil or pupils, who are to be transported, is two miles or less by the nearest traveled highway, the sum per pupil so paid shall be such as may be author- ized by the electors, and in all cases where the distance is more than two miles the state may be called upon to pay five cents per day for each such pupil transported regularly to and from school in some reasonable and comfortable manner for a period of not less than five months. The school board or the town board of school directors and the principal teacher of the school in which such pupil is enrolled shall, on or before the fifteenth day of July of each year, make under oath a report giving the name of each pupil transported more than two miles, the number of days such pupil was transported, the mode of transportation and the total amount claimed by the district on account of all pupils residing more than two miles from school, for whom transportation or transportation and tuition have been paid. Sec. 430-5, Upon receipt of such report the state superintendent shall certify to the secretary of state the amount due such district and the secre- tary of state shall thereupon issue a warrant in favor of such district for such amount which shall be paid by the state treasurer to the treasurer of the district from the school funds provided for by section 1072-a of the statutes. Sec. 496-g Whenever the electors of any rural school district maintaining a one or two department rural school, shall direct the school board or the town board of school directors to close the district school, and provide trans- portation and tuition for all persons of school age, who may desire to attend school, at a district maintaining a one or two department rural school, or a state graded school, or the grades below the free high school in a free high school district, each such rural school district shall receive special state aid in the sum of one hundred fifty dollars annually upon complying with the following conditions: 808 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK (i) Transportation and tuition shall be provided for at least thirty-two weeks including legal holidays for all persons of school age desiring to attend school during the school year. (2) The average daily attendance of the pupils transported under the provisions of this act from any district or subdistrict to the school in any rural school district, or to a state graded school, or to the grades in a district maintaining a free high school shall be at least eighty per cent of the entire number enrolled for transportation to such school during each term of school. (3) The district board shall in all cases where the school is closed and transportation is provided by team, enter into a written contract in the name of the district with one or more persons, whereby it is agreed that such person or persons are to safely and carefully carry or provide for carrying the children to and from the school or schools in the district where provision has been made for their schooling. (4) The driver of each transportation wagon shall be of good moral character, trustworthy and responsible; shall furnish a safe team and a suitable and comfortable bus or wagon well supplied for protection against stormy and inclement weather; such driver shall have control of and be responsible for the good order and behavior of the children while in the conveyance going to and returning from school, and shall prohibit the use of profane or unseeming language upon the part of the pupils, and shall report all cases of insubordination while on the wagon to the parents and to the school board of the district. Be it also understood that in cases where it is practicable conveyance by interurban, steam railway or auto- mobile shall be equivalent for transportation or conveyance by a team. (5) No state aid under the provisions of sections 496-q to 496-t, inclu- sive, shall be paid to any district providing transportation and tuition for its pupils at a district maintaining a rural school of one or more depart- ments, unless the school in the district where such nonresident children attend shall be a first-class rural school as defined in sections 560-/ to 560-m, inclusive, and acts amendatory thereof, and it is further provided, that in case the district entering into a contract for the schooling of nonresident pupils, according to the provisions of sections 496-q to 496-t, inclusive and shall fail to maintain a first-class rural school as provided in sections 560-/ to 560-m, inclusive, then such school districts shall forfeit their rights to collect tuition from the district where such nonresident children reside for such school year or part of a school year that the school in such school district shall not have been maintained as a first-class rural school. (6) The school board of each district taking advantage of sections 496-q to 496-t, inclusive, shall make annually, on or before the first day of August, a special report under oath to the state superintendent of public instruc- tion showing that the above conditions have been complied with, and '.his report shall give the names and ages of the persons transported, the num- ber of days each such person was transported and attended school, the rate of tuition paid and the amount of tuition paid for each person. (7) It shall be the duty of the county superintendent of schools in any county where a rural school takes advantage of the provisions of sections 496-q to 496-t, inclusive, and provides transportation and tuition for persons THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 809 of school age at a rural school, to report annually to the state superin- tendent upon the blanks furnished by him, such information as he may request for the purpose of ascertaining if the rural school in such district during the year for which aid is demanded was maintained as a first-class rural school, according to the provisions of sections 560-f to 560-m, inclusive. (S) Upon the receipt of such sworn statement of the school board and in case of the attendance of pupils at a rural school of a satisfactory report from the county superintendent of schools, it shall be the duty of the state superintendent to certify to the secretary of state the amount due each such school district under the provisions of sections 496-g to 496-t, inclusive. It shall then become the duty of the secretary of state to draw his warrant for the amount certified in favor of the treasurer of each such school district. (9) In case of a disagreement concerning the standard of work done in any rural school, the decision of the state superintendent shall be final, and he shall have power either in person or through inspectors of schools, to investigate the quality of work done and equipment offered in any of the schools accepting nonresident pupils under the provisions of sections 496-5 to 496-^ inclusive. Sec. 496-r The school district board shall embody in the notices of every annual or special meeting at which any or all of the provisions of sections 496-q to 496-^ inclusive, are to be considered, a statement of the effect chat the electors will be called upon to vote upon such questions; said notices to be posted as provided in sections 426 and 427 of the statutes; provided, however, that failure to include such statements in the notices posted for the annual school district meeting shall not prevent the electors from con- sidering and voting upon such questions. Sec. 496-s To carry out the provisions of sections 496-g to 496-?, inclu- sive, there is hereby appropriated annually out of the moneys assessed and collected under the provisions of section 1072-c of the statutes, a sum sufficient to meet all the approved claims coming under the provisions of sections 496-g to 496-t, inclusive. Sec. 496-t Each district taking advantage of sections 496-q to 496-t, inclusive, shall receive the same apportionment of the state and other taxes as provided by law, as would have been received had school been main- tained in the district. Sec. 496-9 The officers of any consolidated rural school district may enter into contracts for the transportation of pupils to the consolidated rural schools maintained under their authority. Sec. 496-10 The school board of any consolidated rural school district established and formed under the provisions of sections 496-1 to 496-12, inclusive, must provide transportation to and from the consolidated school for all children of school age residing more than two miles from such consolidated school, the distance to be measured by the regularly traveled highway. In case the electors of such consolidated rural school district fail to levy a sufficient amount to enable the school board to provide for the transportation as required by this section, the board shall on or before the second Wednesday in November certify to the town clerk a tax suf- ficient to meet all obligations arising on account of contracts entered into 8lO THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK for the transportation of children living more than two miles from school, which tax, when so certified to the town clerk, shall be levied and collected as other district taxes are now levied and collected. Sec. 496-12 It shall also be lawful for the electors to authorize the school board to enter into an agreement with the parent, guardian 01 other per- son in charge of any pupil, to compensate such parent, guardian or other person, for transporting any pupil or pupils to and from school, and to enter into contracts for the transportation to and from school of sll per- sons of school age who attend, and to levy a tax therefor. In all cases where the distance from the home of the pupil or pupils who are to be transported is two miles or less by the nearest traveled highway, the sum per pupil so paid shall be such as may be authorized by the electors; and in all cases where the distance is more than one and less than two miles, the state shall pay five cents per day, and where the distance is more than two miles, ten cents per day for each pupil transported regularly to and from school in some reasonable and comfortable manner for a period of not less than five months. The school board and the principal teacher of the school in which such pupil is enrolled, shall on or before the fifteenth day of July of each year, make under oath a report giving the name and showing the distance and number of days each pupil was trans- ported, the mode of transportation, and the total amount claimed by the districts on account of such transportation. (Wisconsin: Statutes 1915, p. 252-53, 256-57, 318-19, 320-21) COURT ACTIONS Two actions were instituted in the courts for the purpose of test- ing the constitutionality of the township law. Soon after the law went into effect reports were circulated in the town of Greenburgh, Westchester county, to the effect that the taxes imposed under the township law would be much larger than the taxes imposed for the maintenance of schools under the old district system, and a meeting of the citizens of that town was held to determine whether or not a court proceeding should be instituted to test the constitutionality of the law. Attorneys attended such meeting and gave their opinion as to the constitutionality of the law. The citizens were advised at the meeting to test the law and it was agreed that an action should be instituted. Some time after the action had been instituted in Westchester county, the Honorable James W. Wadsworth of Geneseo instituted a second action in the county of Livingston. Substantially the same questions were raised in the case in Livingston county which were raised in the case in Westchester county. The questions raised in these cases, if sustained by the courts, would have invalidated nearly all the cases of consolidations of school districts which had taken place in the last fifty years. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 811 Each of the above cases is so important and has such a vital bear- ing upon school administration and on the organization of school systems that the complete record of each is given. These records are as follows : Complaint, Affidavits, Order to Show Cause Supreme Court of the State of New York County of Westchester Elmo Brown, Bernard Call and Walter H. Whiffen, constituting the board of trustees for school district No. 8, town of Greenburgh, Westchester county, State of New York, Plaintiffs against William Bunselmeyer, William C. Emerick and Charles H. Schock, individually and as claiming to constitute the town board of education for the town of Greenburgh, Westchester county, State of New York, and William A. Buckley, receiver of taxes of the town of Greenburgh, Westchester county, State of New York, Defendants Trial desired in Westchester county The plaintiffs, by Cohen & Richter, their attorneys, complaining of the defendants, allege : 1 The plaintiffs are the trustees of school district no. 8 of the town of Greenburgh, county of Westchester and State of New York, duly organ- ized and existing under the Education Law, being chapter 21 of the Laws of 1909, or chapter 16 of the Consolidated Laws, as amended, and constitut- ing, under section 270 of said law, the board for such district as a body corporate, and holding, pursuant to said law, ail property vested in and transferred to said trustees for the use of schools in the district. That such trustees possess all the powers and are subject to all the duties, liabilities and penalties imposed by the Education Law upon such trustees, including the power to purchase and hold 'school house property, to have the custody and safeguarding thereof, to levy assessments and to collect taxes sufficient for the maintenance of said schools. 2 The defendant William A. Buckley is receiver and collector of taxes for the town of Greenburgh, county of Westchester, State of New York. 3 That school district no. 8 aforesaid has existed as a school district for more than sixty years and its affairs have been managed by trustees. That it now owns and holds the site and buildings used for school purposes on the Dobbs Ferry road, having an approximate valuation of $16,000. That expenditures for said school approximate $8000. That seven teachers are employed therein, and that the average attendance during the preceding 8l2 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK year was approximately 200 pupils. The plaintiffs have in their hands as such trustees a cash balance of $1300. 4 The defendants Bunselmeyer, Emerick and Schock above named, claim to be the duly authorized board of trustees constituted for the town of Greenburgh, under and pursuant to chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, amend- ing the said Education Law. 5 That said chapter 328 added to the Education Law a new article, entitled " Xi-A," which purported to create town boards of education. 6 Section 352 thereof provided as follows : "Sec. 352. School district officers abolished; terms continued to collect funds, pay claims, et cetera. 1 All trustees, members of boards of education and other school officers of «chool districts subject to this article, in office when this act takes effect, shall continue in office to and including the thirty-first day of July, 1917, when the offices of trustees, members of boards of education, district clerks, collectors, treasurers and other school district officers of such districts shall be and are hereby abolished and the terms of such officers shall cease except as herein provided. 2 The trustees, boards of education and other officers, of each district, enumerated in subdivision 1 of this section, are hereby continued in office with all the powers and duties conferred on such officers by the education law or other statutes, including the power of levy, assess and collect taxes for the purpose of closing up the business and financial affairs of such district and of satisfying its obligations except bonded indebtedness, adjusting its claims, collecting funds due it and paying its just debts. After liquidating all outstanding obligations except bonded indebtedness, and settling of adjusting all claims against such district, and closing up all its financial affairs as a district, such officers shall apportion any funds remaining in the treasury, except moneys received from the state, among the taxpayers of the district in the manner now provided by law. Such, apportionment shall be based upon the relation of the assessed valuation of such taxpayers to the aggregate assessed valuation of the district. The portion of such funds which consists of moneys received from the state 'shall be paid into the town school treasury." 7 Section 354 thereof provided as follows : " Sec. 354. Election of board of education. 1 The first board of education of each town thereof shall be elected by the trustees and members of the boaids of education of the several school districts in such town, subject to the provisions of this article. The said trustees and members of boards of education shall meet for such purpose on the second Tuesday in June, 1917, in one of the school houses in the town to be designated by the district superintendent of schools. The said trustees and members of boards of education shall organize by the election of a chairman and clerk. They shall thereupon proceed to elect members of the board of education of the town to hold office for the term specified in section 331 of this article. The persons elected as members of such board shall be residents of the town and qualified electors at school meetings therein. Not more than three of the members of such board of education THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 813 shall reside in the same school district, except in towns in which there are less than three school districts. The chairman and clerk of the meeting shall canvass the votes cast for the candidates for the offices to he filled and the candidate receiving a majority of the votes cast shall be elected. The chairman and clerk of the meeting shall thereupon notify the district super- intendent in writing of the persons declared elected as members of said board, and the district superintendent shall give notice of such election to the persons so elected. As the terms of office of such members expire their successors shall be elected at the annual school meeting. The district superintendent of schools shall call a meeting of the board of education of each town in his supervisory district, elected as above provided, on the first day of August, in 1917, at the principal schoolhouse of the town, for the purpose of organization and the transaction of any other business which may properly come before such board. Upon the election of a clerk of such board, the chairman and clerk of the meeting held for the purpose of electing members of the board of education shall file the minutes of the meeting with such clerk." 8 By said chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917 it was provided that there should be established, to begin on the 1st day of August, 1917, a town board of education in each town of the State, which should thereafter have juris- diction over all the schools in the town as provided in said act. 9 There was, however, specifically excepted from the said act, by section 331 thereof, " union free school districts having a population of fifteen hundred or more or employing fifteen teachers or more at the time this act takes effect, and the school districts in the several towns of a county which adjoins a city having a population of one million or more in which there are only two district superintendents ... ." 10 That the said statute, in the form in which it was originally introduced in the Legislature, Assembly bill introductory no. 911, print no. 1016, provided for the establishment of a town board of education in each town of the State, which should thereafter have jurisdiction over all the schools in the town, and excepted from the operation of said act " union free school dis- tricts having a population of fifteen hundred or more." That in the amend- ment and reprint of the said bill, 1872, the said provision was changed so as to except from the operation of the said law, " union free school districts having a population of fifteen hundred or more or employing more than fifteen teachers," and likewise excepted " the school districts in the several towns of a county which adjoins a city having a population of one million or more and in which there are at least two district superintendents." n That in the final amendment of the bill before it was passed by the Legislature, the words " at least " aforesaid, were changed to " only," so that section 331 as adopted by the Legislature and signed by the Governor reads that its provision shall not be applicable to school districts having a population of 1500 or more or employing fifteen teachers or more, and "school districts in the several towns of a county which adjoins a city having a population of one million or more and in which there are only two district superintendents." 12 The only city in the State of New York having a population of 1,000,000 or more is the city of New York, and the only counties adjoining the city 814 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK of New York are the counties of Nassau and Westchester. Westchester county has, and for a long time past has had four district superintendents. Nassau county has, and for a long time past has had but two district super- intendents. 13 That the foregoing provision by which Nassau county is excepted from the operation of the law and Westchester county is included is unconstitu- tional and void, in that it unreasonably discriminates against the residents and taxpayers of the county of Westchester; that whatever reason may exist for a system of education in rural districts throughout the State requiring the consolidation of school districts, no such reason is applicable to West- chester county, and if such a reason exist applicable to Westchester county, it is equally applicable to Nassau county. That it is apparent that the reason for the amendments made to the legislation while passing through the Leg- islature was that districts having a population of more than 1500 and employ- ing more than fifteen school teachers, and counties adjoining a city so large as New York City, were, in the opinion of the Legislature, so peculiarly situated that the general policy and principles of legislation could not be carried out in such districts. But the limitation of the application of the exception to counties adjoining a city having a population of 1,000,000 or more to the one district in which there are only two district superintendents is arbitrary and without reason and discriminatory against the residents and taxpayers of the county of Westchester. 14 Upon information and belief, the plaintiffs allege, further, that the said act is unconstitutional and void, in that it violates article 9, section 1, of the constitution, which requires " that the Legislature shall provide for the maintenance and support of a system of free common schools wherein all the children of this State may be educated." The plaintiffs allege that said provision of the constitution is intended to guarantee to all the children of the State equality of opportunity for securing free common school education. 15: Upon information and belief, that the total assessed valuation of real estate within district no. 8 aforesaid, is $2,536,210. That in the year 1915 the school tax rate per thousand in said district was 3.007; in 1916, 2.991. That if there be included within the town board of the Town of Greenburgh the districts nos. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, constituting respectively the districts of Ardsley, Scarsdale and Hartsdale, the districts represented by the plaintiffs, and the village of Elmsford, the school tax rate will be raised to 5.734 per thousand. 16 Upon information and belief, that in district no. 6 (Scarsdale), the school tax rate in 1915 was 2.597 per thousand ; in 1916, 3.027. That in district no. 7 (Hartsdale), the school tax rate during 1915 was 2.419; and in 1916, 1.848, and that under the new consolidation of districts under the operation of the said law (chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917), the school tax rate for said district no. 6 (Scarsdale) and no. 7 (Hartsdale) will be 5.734. That the school tax rate for district no. 9 (village of Elmsford) for 1915 was 7.54, and for 1916, 7.315; and for district no. 5 (Ardsley), for 1915, the school tax rate was 8.659, and for 1916, 5.717, and that by such consolidation the rate per thousand for each of said two districts, Elmsford and Ardsley, will become 5.734. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 815 17 Upon information and belief, that the children who attend the school of district no. 8 are entirely children of parents who cannot afford to send them to private schools or to the school at White Plains, while from the districts of Elmsford and Ardsley many children are sent to the school at White Plains. 18 Upon information and belief, that the village of Elmsford has a brick school building, located upon one and a half acres of land, valued at at least $45,000; that said village of Elmsford has already a bonded school indebtedness of $30,000, and proposes to raise another bonded indebtedness of between $30,000 and $40,000; that the school district of Ardsley has a brick school house covering a site of one and a half acres, and is worth not less than $100,000; the said district has a bonded indebtedness of at least $6o,ooo. That the entire bonded indebtedness of district no. 8 (district represented by the plaintiff) is $6000. The school building is a frame school building covering not more than an acre and a quarter and valued at $16,000. 19 Upon information and belief, that the total expenditures for the school for district no. 8, during the year 1916, were not more than $8000. 20 That said chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917 provides (sec. 35s) for an annual meeting in each town on the first Tuesday in May in each year, of which notice shall be given (sec. 356) by publication in at least two news- papers and at which duly qualified voters shall be entitled to vote, and prior to which, and on or before the first day of April in each year (sec. 359). the clerk of the board shall prepare a list of such persons qualified to vote. That candidates (sec. 360) for members of the said board of education shall be nominated by petition, which shall be signed by at least twenty-five qualified electors, shall state the names and residences of the candidates and whether such candidates are nominated for full terms or for the unex- pired portions of such terms, and such petitions shall be filed with the clerk of the board of education on or before the fifteenth day preceding the day of the annual school meeting. The said act further provides that official ballots shall be printed by the board of education, containing the names of all candidates nominated as above provided, which ballots shall separately state whether the persons named thereon are .candidates for full terms or for portions of terms, and upon which shall be printed alphabetically the names of the candidates, according to hteir surnames, in columns under titles or designations, showing whether they are to be elected for full terms or portions of terms ; that blank spaces shall be provided so that persons may vote for candidates who have not been nominated for the offices to be filled at such election, and such blank ballots shall have printed thereon instructions as to the marking of the ballots and the number of candidates for the several offices for which an elector is permitted to vote. The said act further provides that the number of ballots to be used shall at least equal the number of qualified electors in the town, as appears from the list of qualified electors thereof; that the clerk of the board shall cause to be delivered to the inspectors in each of such election districts, on the day of the meeting, a sufficient supply of such ballots for the use of the qualified 'electors thereof, and that such ballots shall be printed at the expense of the 8l6 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK town and the cost thereof shall be paid out of the school funds, in the same manner as other school expenses. The said act further provides (sec. 361) for the designation of three inspectors of election for each election dis- trict into which such town has been divided, to be appointed by the board of education of such town, and that written notice of appointment should be given by the clerk of such board to the persons so appointed. That such board of inspectors shall, before opening the polls in the election district for which they are appointed, organize by electing one of their number as chairman and one as poll clerk. Said act further provides (sec. 362) that all elections as provided herein, shall be conducted, so far as may be, in accordance with the provisions of the election law relative to general elec- tions, except as otherwise provided herein ; that suitable ballot boxes shall be provided by the board of education, to be used at such school meetings, and that such ballot boxes shall conform, as nearly as may be, to the pro- visions of the election law relative to ballot boxes at general elections. The said act further provides (sec. 362), that all persons whose names appear upon the list of qualified electors, as residing in the town or election dis- tricts, shall be permitted to vote and shall be given ballots for such purpose. Said act further provides that any qualified elector may challenge the right of a person to vote, at the time when he requests a ballot, and provides for the manner in which such challenge shall be disposed of. Said act further provides that a person who wilfully makes a false declaration as to his right to vote at such meeting, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Said act further pro- vides (sec. 363) for a canvass of the votes by the inspectors, for the manner in which invalid ballots shall be recorded and counted, for the manner in which an appeal may be taken to the Commissioner of Education from such election, and for the declaration of election of the successful candidate, and for the acceptance or declination of such candidate. 21 Notwithstanding the elaborate provisions made in the said act for the election of members of the said town board of education, nevertheless, the said act provides (sec. 354) : " The first board of education of each town thereof shall be elected by the trustees and members of the boards of educa- tion of the several school districts in such town, subject to the provisions of this article." That for such purpose the said trustees and members of the boards of education shall meet on the second Tuesday in June in one of the schoolhouses in the town to be designated by the district superintendent of schools, and the said trustees and members of boards of education shall thereupon elect a chairman and clerk and proceed to elect members of the board of education of the town, to hold office for the term specified in section 331 of this article. That section 352 of the said act provides that all trustees, members of boards of education and other school officers of school dis- tricts subject to this article, in office when this act takes effect, shall con- tinue in office to and including the thirty-first day of July, 191 7, when the offices of trustees, members of boards of education, district clerks, collectors, treasurers and other school district officers of such districts shall be and are hereby abolished and the terms of such officers shall cease as herein provided. 22 That subdivision 1 of section 354 of said chapter 328 is in the follow- ing language: "The first board of education of each town thereof shall THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 817 be elected by the trustees and members of the boards of education of the several school districts in such town, subject to the provisions of this article." The presence of the comma between the word "town" and " subject," as the plaintiffs are informed and verily believe, leaves it open to judicial inter- pretation as to whether or not the words "subject to the provisions of this article " apply to the election, or whether they apply to the members of the board of education or the school districts which shall be entitled to vote at the election of the trustees of the town board. That as appears from other sections of the said law, notwithstanding the termination of the offices of the old school district trustees, they are, nevertheless, "subject to the provisions of this article." Subdivision 2 of section 352, providing that " trustees, boards of education and other officers, of each district, enumerated in sub- division 1 of this section are hereby continued in office with all the powers and duties conferred on such officers by the education law or other statutes, including the power to levy, assess and collect taxes for the purpose of closing up the business and financial affairs of such district and of satisfying its obligations, except bonded indebtedness, adjusting its claims, collecting funds due it and paying its just debts." 23 The plaintiffs are informed and believe that all of the provisions relating to the election of the first board of education are unconstitutional, null and void, in that they violate section 2 of article 10 of the constitution of the State of New York, which provides that " all other officers whose elec- tion or appointment is not provided for by this constitution, and all officers whose offices may hereafter be created by law, shall be elected by the people, or appointed, as the Legislature may direct." In that more particularly, the provision for the election of the first board of trustees does not provide for the election of the said board of trustees by the people. 24 School district no. 9 comprises the village of Elmsford, duly incorpo- rated as a village under the village law of the State of New York. Upon information and belief, the said village of Elmsford has for the year last past had a population of more than fifteen hundred. 25 Upon information and belief that on the second Tuesday in June last, there was held what purported to be an election for membership in a town board of education for the town of Greenburgh. That such meeting was held in the village of Elmsford at the Elmsford schoolhouse. That notwith- standing the provisions of the said chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, and the provisions of the constitution of the United States as well as of the State of New York, the said village of Elmsford participated in the said election of the trustees and other villages participated .in said election, and an alleged election took place, at which the defendants Bunselmeyer, Emerick and Schock were declared to be elected as the trustees of the town of Green- burgh, under and pursuant to the provisions of said chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917. 26 That the plaintiffs were represented at said meeting and made vigorous and earnest protest against the holding of the said alleged election, and fully notified the chairman presiding that the plaintiffs contended that the said election was null and void, and that the provisions of the statute under which the same was held were unconstitutional and null and void. That notwithstanding the plaintiffs' protests the meeting proceeded and the defend- 8l8 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK ants Bunselmeyer, Emerick and Schock, as aforesaid, were declared to be the duly elected trustees, and have since asserted their right to act as trustees, as aforesaid. 27 That the plaintiffs received protests from taxpayers within school dis- trict no. 8, and demands that proceedings he taken by the plaintiffs to contest the validity of the provisions of law aforesaid, and to restrain the defendants Bunselmeyer, Emerick and Schock from taking over the prop- erty funds of school district no. 8, and from assessing and levying any tax against the taxpayers within said district. 28 That on the 23d day of August, 1917, a taxpayers' meeting was held in the schoolhouse on Dobbs Ferry road in said district, and that at said meeting there were present at least thirty taxpayers ; that the meeting decided, with but only three votes dissenting, to request the trustees to bring appro- priate proceedings to test the constitutionality of the said law and the authority of the defendants Bunselmeyer, Emerick and Schock to administer the affairs of school district no. 8, and the power of the said defendants to levy and assess a tax against the property of said taxpayers. 29 That subsequently thereto the said action of said meeting was ratified and confirmed by the taxpayers within the school district no. 8, representing approximately $1,800,000 of taxable property at its present assessed valuation, and that in addition thereto taxpayers within school district nos. 6 and 7 have joined in the support of the said request, so that a total of taxpayers owning property within the said districts, amounting in assessed valuation to upwards of $2,500,000, have joined in the support of this action. That while these papers are being drawn other taxpayers in said districts are signing a form of ratification and approval of these proceedings. 30 That notwithstanding the protests of the plaintiffs the defendants Bunselmeyer, Emerick and Schock have proceeded and aie now proceeding to exercise authority over the school property v/ithin the respective districts in the town of Greenburgh, including the said district no. 8, and that to that end they have asserted and are still asserting their right to levy a tax upon all the property of the taxpayers in said district and have already fixed and determined the rate of 5.734 as the school tax rate for the ensuing year ; that they have already made up the assessment rolls for said district and are about to extend the amount of the tax levied against each property owner, and have announced that they will do so on Monday next, to wit, October 15, 1917. That the said defendants have also demanded of the plaintiffs that they turn over to the defendants all school property of every kind, nature and description, and that they threaten to take proceedings to enforce the said demand. 31 That unless there is a speedy determination of the questions herein involved, great hardship and irreparable damage will ensue to the taxpayers of the said district, and the administration of the schools will be confused, to the great injury of the children, a multiplicity of suits will result from the questions involved, and the plaintiffs will be unable to perform their duties as trustees. That until there is a determination of the validity of the provisions of chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917 aforesaid, the plaintiffs are charged by law with the duty of administering the property in their hands as trustees, and are subject to severe penalties for failure so to do. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 819 32 That the plaintiffs have no adequate remedy at law; that acting under the authority of section 346 of said chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, the defendants Bunselmeyer, Emerick and Schock have made a tax budget and are causing the amounts specified in said tax budget to be levied and assessed against taxable property within the portion of the town of Green- burgh, which they allege is subject to the provisions of said law, and that said defendants are about to annex thereto a warrant for the collection thereof, directing the said defendant Buckley, as collector of the town, to collect the tax so levied and assessed and to pay over the amount thereof to the town school treasurer ; and that by reason thereof the plaintiffs will be interfered with in the performance of their duties under the law, and great confusion in the collection of taxes will result. Wherefore, the plaintiffs pray to this court for a determination of their rights and duties as trustees aforesaid, and for a determination by this court that the said chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917 be declared unconstitutional, null and void, in that it violates the provisions of the constitution of the United States and the constitution of the State of New York, and in that more particularly it violates section 1 of article 14 of the constitution of the United States, section 1 of article 9, and section 2 of article 10 of the constitution of the State of New York, and further, that the defendants and each of them restrained from exercising any of the powers alleged by them to be vested in them under the provisions of chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, or any part thereof, and more especially that they be restrained from taking over any of the property formerly held by the trustees of school district no. 8, and from levying or collecting any tax against the prop- erty of any of the taxpayers therein, and that pending the hearing and determination of this suit the said defendants be temporarily enjoined and restrained from doing any of the aforesaid things or performing any of the aforesaid acts. Cohen & Richter, Attorneys for Plaintiffs in Broadway New York City State of New York County of New York Elmo Brown, being duly sworn deposes and says : That he is one of the plaintiffs herein ; that he has read the foregoing complaint and knows the contents thereof, and that the same is true to his own knowledge, except as to the matters therein stated to be alleged upon information and belief, and that as to those matters he believes it to be true. Elmo Brown Sworn to before me this 12th day of October, 1917. Anna Drusin Notary Public Kings Co., No. 174 Certificate filed in New York Co., No. 195 820 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Preliminary Injunction Supreme Court of the State of New York County of Westchester It appearing to my satisfaction by the complaint herein, duly verified the 12th day of October, 191 7, and by the affidavits thereto annexed, that the plaintiffs demand a judgment against the defendants restraining the commission of the acts hereinafter enjoined, and that the commission or continuance of said acts during the pendency of this action would neces- sarily produce serious and irreparable damage and injury to the plaintiffs and multiplicity of suits, and that there is a question as to the validity and interpretation of chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, by which the management of school district boards is transferred to town boards, and it appearing that the defendants are about to levy and collect a school tax against the taxpayers in the district over which the plaintiffs assert jurisdiction, and it further appearing to my satisfaction by said complaint and affidavits that there is good and sufficient reason for believing that the defendants are about to do said things, and that by reason of the multiplicity of suits that will have to be brought by the taxpayers within the said districts the plaintiffs have no adequate relief or remedy except through the injunctive relief of a court of law, and the plaintiffs having duly given the undertaking required by law, Now, upon reading the summons in this action, dated the nth day of October, 1917, the complaint duly verified the 12th day of October, 1917, the affidavits of Elmo Brown and Harry Haupt, each duly verified the 12th day of October, 1917, and the affidavit of John H. Lauren, duly verified the nth day of October, 1917, and upon such other affidavits as may be served upon the defendants at least twenty-four hours prior to the return of this order to show cause, and upon motion of Messrs Cohen &.Richter, attorneys for the plaintiffs herein, it is Ordered, that the defendants and each of them, their agents, servants and employees, be and they are hereby enjoined and restrained until the further order of this court: 1 From levying or attempting to levy, or from collecting or attempting to collect any tax against any of the taxable property of taxpayers within school district no. 8 of the town of Greenburgh, Westchester county, State of New York. 2 From exercising any control or authority over the school property said school property situated within the said district. 3 From incurring any indebtedness or obligation chargeable against the said school property. 4 From interfering in any way with the performance by the plaintiffs of their duties as trustees of school district no. 8. 5 From asserting any power or authority to act as trustees of the town board of education. Sufficient cause appearing therefor, it is further Ordered, that the defendants, and each of them, show cause before this court, at a special term whereof, to be held at Goshen, Orange county, State of New York, at the county court house, on the 19th day of October, 1917, THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 82 1 at 10 130 o'clock in the forenoon of said day, or as soon thereafter as counsel can be heard, why the injunction herein granted should not be continued during the pendency of this action, and why the defendants should not be further enjoined as and for enforcing any power asserted by them to be vested in them under and pursuant to chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917. ■ Sufficient ground appearing therefor, it is further Ordered, that the plaintiffs may use in support of this injunction and of the motion to continue the same, any affidavits or other papers served on the defendants or their attorney not later than twenty-four hours prior to the return day hereof. Sufficient ground existing thereof, service of this order, with copies of the papers heretofore recited, on or before the 17th day of October, 1917, shall be deemed sufficient service thereof. Dated, New York, October 13, 1917. A. S. Tompkins, Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York Answer of Defendants Bunselmeyer, Emerick and Schock Supreme Court of the State of New York County of Westchester The defendants, William Bunselmeyer, William C. Emerick and Charles H. Schock, individually and as trustees of the town board of education for the town of Greenburgh, Westchester county, State of New York, in answer to the complaint of the plaintiffs' herein, by David Tepp, their attorney, allege : 1 Deny each and every allegation contained in paragraphs designated " First," "Thirteenth," " Fourteenth," " Twenty-third," " Twenty-fourth," and " Thirty-first " in plaintiffs' complaint. 2 Deny each and every allegation contained in paragraph designated "Twenty-second" in plaintiffs' complaint, except that subdivision 1 of sec- tion 354 and subdivision 2, of section 352 of chapter 328 read as therein set forth in quotation marks. 3 Deny each and every allegation in paragraph designated " Thirty- second " of plaintiffs' complaint, except that the defendants Bunselmeyer, Emerick and Schock have made up a tax budget and are causing the amounts specified in said tax budget to be levied, etc., as alleged, and that said actions are done under authority of section 346 of chapter 328 of the laws of 1917. 4 Deny any knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to any allegations in paragraphs designated " Seventeenth," " Eighteenth," "Nineteenth," "Twenty-seventh," "Twenty-eighth," and "Twenty-ninth" of plaintiffs' complaint. 822 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Wherefore, the defendants herein named demand judgment dismissing the complaint herein, together with the costs and disbursements of this action. David Tepp Attorney for defendants, William Bunselmeyer, William C Emerick and Charles H. S chock, individually and as constituting the town board of education for the town of Greenburg, New York, 144 Main street, White Plains, New York State of New York County of Westchester William Bunselmeyer, being duly sworn, deposes and says, that he is one of the members of the town board of education of the town of Greenburgh, New York, which town is one of the defendants in the within action; that he has read the foregoing answer and knows the contents thereof ; that the same is true to his own knowledge, except as to the matters therein stated to be alleged on information and belief and that as to those matters he believes it to be true. William Bunselmeyer Sworn to before rae this 19 day of October, 1917. Ernest Fullard Griffin Notary Public Order Vacating Injunction At a special term of the Supreme Court, held in and for the county of Westchester, at the county court house, in the city of White Plains, on the 24th day of January, 1918. Present: Hon. William P. Platt, Justice Elmo Brown, Bernard Call and Walter H. Whiffen, constituting the board of trustees for school district no. 8, town of Greenburgh, Westchester county, State of New York, Plaintiffs against William Bunselmeyer, William G. Emerick and Charles H. Schock, individually and as claiming to constitute the town board of education for the town of Greenburgh, Westchester county, State of New York, and William A. Buckley, receiver of taxes of the town of Greenburgh, Westchester county, State of New York, Defendants On reading and filing the order to show cause herein, dated the 19th day of January, 1918, the affidavit of David Tepp, verified January 19, 1918, THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 823 the summons and complaint herein, and all the filed papers herein, the telegram of Frank B. Gilbert, dated January 23, 1918, the telegram of Mer- ton E. Lewis, dated January 23, 1918, and a further telegram of said Merton E. Lewis, dated January 23, 1918, and the affidavit of Julius Henry Cohen, verified the 23d day of January, 1918, and upon hearing David Tepp (Joseph Rosenzweig, of counsel), in support of the motion, and Messrs. Cohen & Richter (Theodore Richter, of counsel), in opposition, it is Now, on motion of David Tepp, attorney for the defendants, Ordered that the motion brought up for hearing by said order to show cause of January 19, 1918, be and the same hereby is in all respects granted; and it is Further ordered that the injunction order herein contained in the order of Honorable Arthur S. Tompkins, dated Oct. 13, 1917, and the injunction order thereafter entered herein in the office of the clerk of the county of Westchester on the 23d day of November, 1917, as well as any and all other injunctions and stays heretofore in any manner granted herein, be and the same hereby are as to each and every one of them vacated and set aside. Enter, William P. Platt, J. S. C. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law Supreme Court of the State of New York Westchester County This cause having come regularly on for trial before this court at special term, without a jury, the trial having been completed and this cause submitted to the court for its decision, on the 13th day of November, 1917, plaintiffs appearing by Messrs Cohen & Richter, their attorneys, and by Julius Henry Cohen, Esq., of counsel, the defendants, William Bunselmeyer, William C. Smerick and Charles H. Schock, constituting the town board of education for the town of Greenburgh, county of Westchester, State of New York, appearing by David Tepp, Esq., their attorney; the defendant, William A. Buckley, as receiver of taxes for the said town of Greenburgh, appearing bj> Frank D. Brigg, Esq., his attorney, and the State Department of Education appearing amicus curiae, by Hon. Merton E. Lewis, Attorney General; and the court having heard the allegations and proofs and the arguments of counsel, and having duly considered the same, and having thereafter and on the 1st day of December, 1917, rendered its decision in writing herein, hold- ing and deciding that chapter 32S of the Laws of 1917 passed by the Legis- lature of the State of New York, was and is constitutional and valid; and also, that the election of the defendants, William Bunselmeyer, William C. Emerick and Charles H. Schock, as members of and constituting the first town board of education of said town of Greenburgh, under and pursuant to he provisions of section 354 of said chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, was and is legal and valid, the court now makes its findings of fact and conclu- sions of law herein, as follows, that is to say: 824 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Findings of Fact First: That at and during all the times herein mentioned the town of Greenburgh was and still is a municipal corporation, duly organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the State of New York, and that at and during all of said times the defendant, William A. Buckley, was and still is the duly elected, qualified and acting receiver of taxes for said ; of Greenburgh, and as such receiver of taxes was empowered and was charged by law with the duty of collecting school taxes within such school districts in said town as wer,e by law subject to the provisions of the act of the Legislature of the State of New York, known as chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, known as the township school law, which went into effect on May 2, 1917. Second : That at and prior to the time when said act mentioned in finding first went into effect, to wit: May 2, 1917, there existed in said town of Greenburgh four school districts, the trustees of which were bodies corpo- rate under the laws of the State of New York, and having duly elected quali- fied and acting trustees thereof, known as school districts nos. 5, 6, 7 and 8 respectively of said town of Greenburgh, and then engaged in the perform- ance of the duties imposed by law therein as such; that each and all of said school districts nos. 5, 6, 7 and 8 became subject to the provisions of said act of the Legislature of the State of New York, above mentioned, on May 2, 191 7, when the same went into effect, and that on said date neither of said four school districts nos. 5, 6, 7, or 8, was a union free school district, hav- ing a population of 1500 or more, nor employed 15 teachers or more. Third : That at said time, to wit : on or prior to May 2, 1917, there also existed in said town of Greenburgh a school district known as union free school district no 9, of the town of Greenburgh, the trustees of which were William Bunselmeyer, Joseph Sokol, Howard W. Lander, Charles E. Ward, Sr. ; Mary Hamilton, Louis De Beauvais and William E. Mountenay, who were a body corporate, duly organized and existing under the laws of the State of New York, and performing their duties and functions as such, which school district no. 9 had, by the last official census thereof, taken prior to May 2, 1917, a population of less than 1500, to wit: a population of i486, and did not employ nor was said district no. 9 then employing 15 or more teachers. Fourth : That thereupon, pursuant to the provisions of section 354 of said act, the trustees of said school districts nos. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 met as provided in said act, at one of the school houses in said town of Greenburgh, desig- nated by the superintendent of education for that purpose, to wit : at a school- house located in said district no. 9, on the second Tuesday in June, 1917, for the purpose of electing and designating the first town board of education of said town of Greenburgh, as provided by said act ; that said meeting there- upon proceeded to elect members of the board of education of said town of Greenburgh to hold office for the time specified in section 331 of said act, and that said meeting and election was participated in by the trustees of all of said five school districts, including the trustees of said district no. 9, and that thereupon the defendants, William Bunselmeyer, William C. Emerick and Charles H. Schock, all of whom were duly qualified to act as such under said law, were duly and regularly elected and designated as the town board THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 825 of education of said town of Greenburgh, and that they all duly qualified as such, and that the district superintendent duly gave notice to said persons so elected at such election, as required by said act, and that thereupon the superintendent of schools, duly, and as required by the provisions of said act, called a meeting of said board of education so as aforesaid elected, on the first day of August, 1917, at the principal schoolhouse in said town of Greenburgh, to wit: at the schoolhouse in the village of Elmsford, in said district no. 9, for the purpose of organization and for the transaction of any other business which might or may properly come before such board ; and that at said meeting said board was duly organized and otherwise complied with the provisions of said act, and thereupon entered upon the discharge of their duties as such board, and have continued to perform such duties since said date. Fifth: That thereafter, and as provided by law, said town board of education duly levied and assessed a tax for school and educational pur- poses in said educational unit, comprising, under the new organization under said act, the five school districts above in these findings mentioned, and that thereafter and in due time said board duly delivered the assessment roll for said tax so levied and assessed, to the defendant, William A. Buck- ley, as receiver of taxes for said town of Greenburgh, who thereupon, and after the dissolution of the restraining order, and as provided by law, pro- ceeded to collect the tax so levied and assessed, including the tax levied and assessed against the persons and property, liable to such tax, within said school district no. 9, and that said receiver has collected substantially all said tax which can be collected, and has fully accounted for and paid over to said town board of education all moneys by him so collected. Sixth: That the moneys so collected and paid over to said town board of education, as well as all other moneys received by it from the former trustees of said school district nos. 5, 6, 7 and 8, and from the trustees of said school district no. 9, have been in large part and almost entirely paid out and disbursed by said town board of education for purposes of educa- tion and as provided and required by law. Seventh : That there still remains in the custody of said town board of education the sum of $2700, which is the proportion of the unexpended balance in its hands, ratably and fairly apportionable to the said school district no. 9, as though it had not been included in the new educational unit formed, as aforesaid, under the provisions of said act. Eighth : That after said election and designation so as aforesaid held on the second Tuesday of June, 1917, under section 354 of said act, under direction of the Commissioner of Education of the State of New York, a new census or enumeration of the inhabitants of said school district no. 9, commencing on January 29, 1918, and completed prior to March 7, 1918, and that by such new census or enumeration it was found and ascertained by said Commissioner of Education that said school district no. 9 had on May 2, 1917, when said act went in effect, a population in excess of 1500, to wit: a population of more than 1600, and that to that extent the last official census taken as aforesaid, prior to May 2, 1917, was inaccurate, and that therefore the inclusion of said school district no. 9, in said new educa- tional unit, under said act, was illegal and unwarranted in law. 826 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Ninth: That said Commissioner of Education has determined that the inclusion of said district no. 9, in said new educational unit, was and is illegal, and has directed that the members of the board of education thereof in office on May 2, 1917, be reinstated as members of the board of educa- tion of said union free school district no. 9, possessing the powers and performing the same duties as though they had not been included within the new school unit aforesaid; that said Commissioner of Education has also decided that the said election of the defendants, William Bunselmeyer, William C. Emerick and Charles H. Schock, as comprising the town board of education of said town of Greenburgh, held on the second Tuesday of June, 191 7, was illegal, but that they were and are de facto such town board of education, and has also directed that the trustees of the districts comprising such new unit, that is to say, the trustees of said districts nos. 5, 6, 7 and 8, shall meet at a time and place to be designated by the district superintendent of schools, not less than thirty days after March 7, 1918, for the purpose of electing a town board of education, under the provisions of said act for said new unit comprising said districts nos. 5, 6, 7 and 8, and that such election has been held, and at such election the fol- lowing named persons were duly elected as comprising such town board of education, that is to say: Frederick E. Tompkins, William C. Emerick and Charles H. Schock, all duly qualified under said act, and that they have been duly qualified as such, and that said town board so elected has duly organized as such, and as required by the provisions of said act, and is now engaged in the performance of its duties as such. And as conclusions of law from the foregoing facts the court finds : First : That said act known as chapter 328 of the Laws of the State of New York, of 1917, was and is constitutional and valid. Second: That the election held under said act on the second Tuesday in June, 1917, was illegal by reason only of the participation therein and the inclusion in said new educational unit of said union free school district no. 9, and that therefore the defendants, William Bunselmeyer, William C. Emer- ick and Charles H. Schock, comprising said town board of education, are not now such a board, but that from the time of their said election they were in law a de facto town board of education, and all of their acts as such board were and are legal and valid, as though they had been legally elected and designated as such board, and that all of the acts of said defendant, William A. Buckley, as such receiver of taxes, in the premises were and are legal and valid. Third: That whenever and as soon as the new town board of education, the election of which is provided for in the order of the said Commissioner of Education, hereinbefore mentioned, under date of March 7, 1918, shall have been duly elected and qualified and shall have been duly and regularly organized as such board, pursuant to law, and shall have entered upon the proper discharge of its duties as such, the powers and functions of said defendants, William Bunselmeyer, William C. Emerick and Charles H. Schock, as comprising said de facto board, shall cease and forever deter- mine, and all property in their possession which ratably belongs to the four school districts comprising the new educational unit aforesaid shall be deliv- ered to and transferred to the said new board and that thereupon all prop- THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 827 erty in the possession of said William Bunselmeyer, William C. Emerick and Charles H. Schock, as comprising said de facto board, ratably and fairly belonging to said union free school district no. 9, shall be by said de facto board turned over and transferred to the reinstated board of educa- tion of said union free school district no. 9, and that like disposition shall be made of any moneys collected from taxes on account of said 5 school districts or the new educational unit of which they had, de facto, been composed, by the defendant, William A. Buckley, as such receiver of taxes, shall be likewise and in the same manner paid over and transferred to him. Fourth : That neither of the parties hereto shall be entitled to any costs or disbursements herein. Let judgment be entered accordingly. Dated, April 30, 1918 J. A. Young Justice of the Supreme Court Judgment At a special term of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, for the county of Westchester, held at chambers in the City of New Rochelle, on the 30th day of April, 1918 Present : Hon. J. Addison Young, Justice Elmo Brown, Bernard Call and Walter H. Whiffen, constituting the board of trustees for school district no. 8, town of Greenburgh, Westchester county, State of New York, Plaintiffs against William Bunselmeyer, William C. Emerick and Charles H. Schock, individually and as claiming to constitute the town board of education of the town of Greenburgh, Westchester county, State of New York, and William A. Buckley, receiver of taxes of the town of Greenburgh, Westchester county, State of New York, Defendants This action having heretofore been regularly tried by the court at special term, without a jury, the plaintiffs appearing by Messrs Cohen & Richter, their attorneys, the defendants, William Bunselmeyer, William C. Emerick and Charles H. Schock, appearing by David Tepp, Esq., their attorney, the defendant, William A. Buckley, as receiver of taxes for the town of Greenburgh, appearing by Frank D. Briggs, Esq., his attorney, and the State Department of Education appearing, amicus curiae, by Hon. Merton E. Lewis, Attorney-General, and the court having after due deliberation 828 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK rendered its decision, and made and filed its findings of fact and con- clusions of law herein; Now, on motion of Frank D. Briggs, Esq., attorney for William A. Buckley, as receiver of taxes, it is Ordered, Adjudged and Decreed : 1 That the act of the Legislature of the State of New York, amendatory of the Educational Law, known as chapter 328 of the Laws of 191 7, which went into effect on May 2, 1917, is in all respects constitutional and valid. 2 That the attempted inclusion in the new educational unit for the town of Greenburgh, Westchester county, State of New York of the school dis- trict of said town known as union free school district no. 9, with school districts nos. 5, 6, 7 and 8 of said town, was illegal, for the reason that said act known as chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, had no application to said union free district no. 9, for the reason that at the time said act went into effect, on May 2, 1917, said district last named had more than 1500 population. 3 That the attempted election by the trustees of said 5 school districts, to wit: districts nos. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, on the second Tuesday in June, 1917, under the provisions of section 354 of said act, of the defendants, William Bunselmeyer, William C. Emerick and Charles H. Schock, as a town board of education for said new educational unit, was illegal, and they were not nor are they legally such town board of education. 4 That though not legally elected as such board, said three persons last named were and are a de facto town board of education for said town of Greenburgh, and all their acts as such were and are legal and valid, and are so adjudged and declared. 5 That whenever and at such time as the new town board of education of said town for the educational unit composed, under said act, of said school districts nos. 5, 6, 7 and 8, shall have been duly elected under the election ordered by the Commissioner of Education of the State of New York, pursuant to his order dated March 7, 1918, shall have been duly elected and shall duly qualify as such, and shall become duly organized pursuant to the provisions of said act, and shall regularly assume and enter upon the duties of their office as such town board of education, the duties and powers of the defendants, William Bunselmeyer, William C. Emerick and Charles H. Schock, as such de facto board shall at once cease and determine, and the latter shall thereupon and on demand pay over and transfer to said new town board so elected, any and all funds, moneys and property of every kind or nature in their possession or under their control as such de facto board, which fairly and ratably belongs to the four school districts comprising and composing said new educational unit, formed under said act. 6 That as soon as may be after the service upon their attorney of a copy of this judgment with notice of entry thereof, the defendants, Wil- liam Bunselmeyer, William C. Emerick and Charles H. Schock, comprising such de facto board, shall pay over and transfer to the reinstated board of education of said union free school district no. 9, of the town of Green- burgh, all funds, moneys and property of every kind in their possession or under their control, which fairly and ratably belongs to said union free THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 829 school district no. 9, and that upon the payments and transfers above pro- vided for being made, as herein provided, the said defendants, William Bunselmeyer, William C. Emerick, and Charles H. Schock, shall be released and freed from any and all liability of every kind and nature, as members of said de facto board. 7 That as to any and all moneys which may have been heretofore col- lected or received by the defendant, William A. Buckley, as receiver of taxes for said town of Greenburgh, under or by reason of any taxes, levied or assessed by said de facto board, for or on account of the educa- tional unit comprising said school districts nos. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, or collected or received by said William A. Buckley for or on account of said five school districts, or either or any thereof, and by said William A. Buckley duly paid over to said de facto board, the said William A. Buckley shall not nor is he in any way or manner liable at law or otherwise, but that as to such moneys so by him paid over to such de facto board, said Wil- liam A. Buckley shall be and he is hereby adjudged to be fully and freely exonerated and discharged. 8 That as to any such funds or moneys so collected or received by said William A. Buckley, as such receiver of taxes, and not so paid over by him to said de facto board, the same shall be by said William A. Buckley disposed of as follows: (a) As to the proportion of such moneys in his charge, fairly and ratably due to the new educational unit, comprising school districts nos. 5, 6, 7 and 8, the same shall be by said William A. Buckley, as such receiver of taxes, paid over to the new town board of education of said town, the election of which is provided for in the order of the Commissioner of Education of the State of New York, dated March 7, 1918, as soon as and after the due election, qualifying and organization of said new board, and upon demand by said new board therefor. (b) The proportion and amount of such unpaid moneys as shall be fairly and ratably belong to said union free school district no. 9, of said town of Greenburgh, shall, on demand therefor, or by said William A. Buckley, as such receiver, paid over to the reinstated board of education of said union free school district no. 9, and upon such payments being made as herein provided, the said William A. Buckley, as such receiver, shall be from thenceforth and forever released, discharged and fully exon- erated from any and all liability by reason of any such moneys or the collection or receipt thereof by him. 9 That in case of any dispute or controversy as to the proper disposi- tion of the funds and property, the payment and transfer of which is pro- vided for in the foregoing provisions of this judgment, any of the parties to this action may apply to this court for such further order or relief as he or they may deem proper, upon notice to the parties not so applying. 10 That any of the parties to this action may apply at the foot of this judgment for such other or further order or relief as may be just and proper. 11 That neither of the parties to this action shall recover any costs or disbursements herein as against any party to this action. Enter, J. A. Young Justice of the Supreme Court 83O THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Opinion of Lower Court on Motion for Injunction SUPREME COURT WESTCHESTER COUNTY Tompkins, J. : Serious questions are raised as to the constitutionality of chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, under which the defendant board of education was chosen, and much doubt exists as to whether, assuming the law to be con- stitutional, district no. 9 (Elmsford) should have participated in the selec- tion of the town board of education for the town of Greenburgh. All of these questions should be promptly determined, and the Depart- ment of Education, and all concerned should, waiving all formalities and technical objections, unite in an early trial of this action to the end that there may be a final decision respecting the constitutionality of the law and the legality of the election of the board of education in the town of Green- burgh, without unnecessary interference with the educational facilities of that town or any other, and that proper legislation may be enacted at the next session of the Legislature if the act in question, or any part thereof, is invalid. It is well settled that the court at special term will not declare a law to be unconstitutional unless the invalidity thereof clearly appears, especially where great injury or much confusion may result therefrom to persons and corporations not parties to the action, and following that rule, I shall not undertake to declare the act unconstitutional, nor restrain the board of education of the town of Greenburgh from proceeding with its general work under said act, but I will grant the plaintiff's motion for an injunction pendente lite to the extent of restraining said board of education from collecting or attempting to collect any tax within school district no. 8, and from exercising any control or authority over school property within said district, upon condition, however, that the plaintiffs bring this action to trial at the special term for trials to be held at White Plains on the second Monday of November. Dated, Nyack, N. Y., November I, 1917. Opinion on Constitutionality SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER The plaintiffs are the trustees of school district no. 8 of the town of Greenburgh. The defendants constitute the town board of education of that town, claiming to be such under the provisions of chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917. The plaintiffs seek in this action a determination of their rights and duties, a decree of this court that the law in question is unconstitutional and in violation of section 1 of article 14 of the United States constitu- tion; section 1 of article 9, and section 2 of article 10 of the constitution of this State, and that the defendants be restrained from exercising any powers under that act and from taking over the school property of the district and levying or collecting any tax, etc. The purpose of the act in question seems to be to reorganize the rural school districts into a town school system with a single town board of THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 83I education instead of separate boards in each of the several districts of the towns. Defendants assert that this legislation was enacted upon the recom- mendation of the State Department and the Regents of the University, and that it is a great advance in the solution of the problem of rural education. It provides for the creation of a town board of education in each town with certain exceptions, to which I shall refer hereafter, and similar boards in certain union free school districts, the qualification of members of such board, appointment of officers, their powers and duties, etc. Such boards are made bodies corporate and are given full control and management of the school and school property, the levy and collection of taxes for school purposes, etc. The act contains the following provision : § 331 Town board of education. 1 A town board of education in each town of the State, having jurisdiction over all the schools in the town as hereinafter provided, except in union free school districts having a popula- tion of fifteen hundred or more or employing fifteen teachers or more at the time this act takes effect, and the school districts in the several towns of a county which adjoins a city having a population of one million or more and in which there are onlv two district superintendents, is hereby established to begin on the first day of August, nineteen hundred and seventeen. . . . It is contended by plaintiffs that this section violates the provisions of the fourteenth amendment to the United States constitution in that it unlaw- fully discriminates against the citizens of Westchester county and denies to them the equal protection of the laws, because the exception contained in this section of the school districts in the towns of a county adjoining a city having a population of one million or more, and in which there are only two district superintendents, was intended, and can only apply to, Nassau county, is purely arbitrary and unreasonable and unfairly discrimi- nates against the towns of Westchester county. I understand it to be conceded that this exception can only affect Nassau county, and we may assume that that was the legislative intent. Could the Legislature enact a law reorganizing and consolidating the rural school system in towns and except from its provisions the towns of Nassau county without violating the constitutional provisions in question; or was it obliged to include all rural communities in the State, or at least include in any exception all counties which apparently were, or might be, claimed to be of a similar nature with respect to wealth, population and their proximity to a large city like New York? It seems to me that this is a matter over which the Legislature has full control. It is not for the courts to determine whether the legislative reason for the exclusion of one county from the provisions of the act and the inclusion of another, apparently similarly situated, is good or bad. To attempt such a review opens a wide field of pure speculation. To the Legislature has been entrusted power to provide " for the maintenance and support of a system of free common schools wherein all the children of the State may be educated " (New York State constitution, article 9, section 1) ; and it is clearly within its province to provide the necessary legislation to accomplish that purpose. Clearly, this constitutional provision does not require it to provide the same system and organization for each locality in the State. On the contrary, it is within its power to provide such a system or systems as will meet the special needs of each locality, and its classification is not the subject of judicial review. What the real purpose of legislation was in excepting 832 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Nassau county from the benefit of this act we may only surmise, conjec- ture or speculate upon. The court can not know. Unless, however, some right of person or property is invaded by reason of this so-called discrimi- nation, some liberty of person or action interfered with, property taken or vested right destroyed, its action is beyond the review of the courts. Clearly, the inhabitants of one portion of the State have no vested right to have the same kind of school system as those of another portion, and therefore no personal liberty or liberty of action to attend the schools of the state is unlawfully interfered with. No school property or vested right in school property is taken or destroyed, for such school property is still in the people and is merely transferred to and held by a new board in trust for school purposes. I have been unable to find any case in this State where any such con- stitutional question had been presented. I do not think the cases cited by plaintiff's counsel are applicable here. The case of Matter of Henneberger (155 N. Y. 420) involved a very different constitutional provision. There the Legislature attempted by general language to provide for the construction of highways in a particular locality and the court held that although the language was general in form its purpose was plainly to evade the con- stitutional mandate that the Legislature should not pass a private or local bill laying out highways. In that case the Legislature sought by an act general in form to affect a particular locality, contrary to the constitutional provision. Here, on the contrary, the Legislature has passed a general act providing for a general school system in rural communities affecting all such communities, with the exception of those contained in one county. There is no inhibition against their making such an exception in our state constitution similar to that violated by the act under review in the Henne- berger case. Nor do I think that the numerous cases cited by plaintiffs' counsel involv- ing the construction of statutes enacted under the police powers of the Legislature have any application. I do not think that the legislative author- ity over our school system is comprehended within the definition of the police powers of the State as that term. is usually understood. Ordinarily that term includes the power of the Legislature to enact such legislation as may be necessary to preserve the public health, protect the public morals and provide for public safety, and it is well settled that such powers must be so exercised that statutes enacted thereunder have some reasonable connection with the public welfare and apply without discrimination to all persons comprehended in the subject matter of the act; although, even in the regulation of such matters, it has been held that the Legislature is author- ized to apply the act to certain portions of the State and except others, and that such application will involve no violation of the fourteenth amend- ment of the United States constitution. (See People v. Havnor, 149 N. Y. 195.) The court in that case said: "That amendment does not relate to territorial arrangements made for different portions of a state, nor to legis- lation which, in carrying out a public purpose, is limited in its operation, but within the sphere of its operation affects alike all persons similarly situated." I am therefore convinced that these provisions of the statute under dis- cussion constitute a valid exercise by the Legislature of its power to pro- vide a school system, and that it violates no constitutional provision. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 833 Plaintiffs also attack the following provision of the act : § 354 Election of board of education. 1 The first board of education of each town thereof shall be elected by the trustees and members of the boards of education of the several school districts in such town, subject to the provisions of this article. The said trustees and members of boards of education shall meet for such purpose on the second Tuesday in June, 1917, in one of the schoolhouses in the town to be designated by the district super- intendent of schools. The said trustees and members of boards of education shall organize by the election of a chairman and clerk. They shall thereupon proceed to elect members of the board of education of the town to hold office for the term specified in section 331 of this article. The persons elected as members of such board shall be residents of the town and qualified elec- tors at school meetings therein. Not more than three of the members of such board of education shall reside in the same school district, except iu towns in which there are less than three school districts. The chairman and clerk of the meeting shall canvass the votes cast for the candidates for the offices to be filled and the candidate receiving a majority of the votes cast shall be elected. The chairman and clerk of the meeting shall thereupon notify the district superintendent in writing of the persons declared elected as members of said board, and the district superintendent shall give notice of such election to the persons so elected. As the terms of office of such members expire their successors shall be elected at the annual school meeting. The district superintendent of schools shall call a meeting of the board of education of each town in his supervisory district, elected as above pro- vided on the first day of August in 1917, at the principal schoolhouse of the town, for the purpose of organization and the transaction of any other busi- ness which may properly come before such board. Upon the election of a clerk of such board, the chairman and clerk of the meeting held for the purpose of electing members of the board of education shall file the minutes of the meeting with such clerk. Plaintiffs contend that this section violates section 2 of article 10 of our state constitution. That section prescribes the method by which certain county, city, town and village officers shall be selected, and further pro- vides that all other officers whose election or appointment is not provided for by the constitution, and all officers whose offices might thereafter be created by law, should be elected by the people or appointed as the Legis- lature may direct. The criticism by plaintiffs' counsel is that this statute provides for an election of the first board of trustees not by the people, but " by the trustees and members of the boards of education of the several school districts in such town." On the other hand, it is contended by defend- ants' counsel that although the Legislature has employed the word " elec- tion " in this section of the act, the method actually prescribed was clearly nothing more than an appointment ; that as the annual school meeting at which these boards would ordinarily be elected was held prior to the taking effect of the statute, it was necessary to provide some method of electing the first board, and that method consisted in what is termed in the act " an election " by the trustees and members of all the several boards of edu- cation in the town. The question presented is whether the word " election " as used in the section under review, as well as the method prescribed for such election, was an election within the meaning of that word employed in the constitutional provision referred to ; or was it simply equivalent to an appointment by the boards of education of the town jointly assembled for that purpose? If it was an election as distinguished from appointment, this section of the statute can not be upheld. In determining this question, it 27 834 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK is necessary to consider the substance of the statute rather than its mere form. If, then, we substitute for the words "elect," "elected" and "elec- tion" the words "appoint," "appointed" and "appointment," it could hardly be argued that because the statute prescribed a method of voting, it was art election, rather than an appointment. Plainly, the only means by which a board of that character could make an appointment would be by voting. The substitution above referred to neither adds to nor detracts from the substance of the statute. The method pursued and the result obtained are precisely the same, whichever language is employed, and I do not think that a statute should be held unconstitutional merely because the Legislature has employed the word " election " for what is plainly noth- ing but an appointment within the meaning of the constitution. (See People v. Sturges, 27 A. D. 387, Aff'd. 156 N. Y. 580; State Board of Pharmacy v. Bellinger, 138 A. D. 12.) If the method prescribed resulted in an appointment, the Legislature was authorized to provide for such appoint- ment either for full terms or temporarily. The only remaining provisions of this statute attacked are those con- tained in sections 352 and 353. Section 352 provides, among other things, for an apportionment and distribution by the old trustees of the funds remaining in their hands except state moneys after closing up the financial affairs of the district, among the taxpayers of the district. Section 353 makes the bonded indebtedness of the several school districts affected a charge against property subject to tax for the maintenance of the schools of the town, and provides for an appraisal of school property, a credit to each district of its value after deducting the bonded indebtedness, and an apportionment and distribution of the amount credited to and among the owners or possessors of taxable property in the district in the ratio of their several assessments. The right of the Legislature to alter and enlarge towns, villages and school districts, to transfer the public property affected, to the newly created town, village or district and to charge it with the outstanding indebtedness, has never, so far as I have been able to find, been questioned by any decision in this State. This power has been upheld 'by the United States Supreme Court (Laramie Co. v. Albany Co., 92 U. S. 307)- In my opinion such transfer of property violates no constitutional provision. No property or property right is taken away. The transfer is simply from one public authority to another, for convenience of administration. The appraisal, apportionment and distribution among the taxpayers and owners and possessors of taxable property provided by the state presents a different question. The precise constitutional provision claimed to have been contravened by this portion of the statute is not pointed out by the plaintiffs. Clearly neither the provision of section 1 of the fourteenth amendment to the United States constitution nor section 1 of article IX, nor section 2 of article X of our state constitution are so violated. Section 10 of article VIII which prohibits a town from giving any money or prop- erty to any individual is designed to prevent the application of public moneys to private uses. The right of the Legislature to distribute these moneys and property to taxpayers, even for the purpose of equalization, is not entirely clear. I know of no similar statute in this State nor of any decision of our courts involving this precise question. In New Jersey a similar statute was held unconstitutional as devoting public funds to private use (State THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 835 ex rel. Elizabethtown Water Co. v. Wade, 59 N. J. L., 78). On the other hand, similar statutes have been upheld in Massachusetts and Rhode Island (Whitney v. Stow, in Mass., 366; Matter of Town Council of Cranston, iS R. I., 417; Matter of School Committee, Town of Johnston, ig R. I., 279; Matter of Cumberland, 21 R. I., 576; Matter of North Smithfield, 26 R. I., 164; Tefft v. Lewis, 27 R. I., 9). These latter decisions, in effect, hold that where the purpose of such a statute is merely to equalize the burden of the new school system upon all the taxpayers of the town, it does not violate any constitutional inhibition and will be upheld. My own opinion accords with this view. It seems to me only fair that the burden of this new system should be equitably apportioned among the several school districts of the town so as to secure equality as far as possible, and I know of no better way to accomplish this purpose than as provided in the statute. The criticism that it results in the payment to present tax- payers who personally made no contribution to the fund now sought to be distributed is unsound, and ignores the fact that whatever taxes were levied for school purposes were levied against the property and no 2 , 54 P- 349, the court said : " The word ' election ' in the strict sense, undoubtedly means the choice of an officer in the exercise of which all the qualified electors have an opportunity to participate, while the word ' appointment ' is understood to mean the selection by one or more persons, who have been commissioned for that purpose, of another, who, by virtue of the choice, represents or may exercise some authority over the persons delegating the power to make the appointment." To the same effect : . . Wickersham v. Britton, 93 Cal. 34, 28 P 792, 29 P 51, 15 LRA 106 and note Speed v. Crawford, 3 Mete. (Ky.) 207, 211 State v. Squire, 39 Oh. St. 197, 199 State v. McCollister, 11 Oh. 46, 52 In State v. Williams, 60 Kan. 837, 841, 58 P. 476, the court held : " In the popular sense an election is a choice which several persons collectively make of a person to fill an office or position, while an appoint- ment is a choice for such office or position by some single officer or person." 882 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK In Reid v. Gorsuch, 67 N. J. L. 396, 401, 51 A 457, it was held: " The distinction seems to be that election signifies the act of choosing, where several participate in the selection. Appointment relates to the bestowal of the office upon the person selected, whether the choosing be the act of one or of many. Where the choice rests in the sole discretion of an individual, the usual authoritative evidence that a selection has been definitely made is in the act of bestowal ; hence, in such cases, the word ' appointment ' has come to include the function of selection as well as the function of authoritatively designating the person selected. That the func- tions are distinct, however, appears when we come to consider those cases where one has the exclusive function of selection, but the appointment is subject to the approval of others; for instance, the governor nominates and, with the advice and consent of the senate, appoints certain officers. But where the power of making an appointment resides in a numerous body, the exercise of the power necessitates a previous agreement, by a majority of voices or otherwise, with respect to the person to be chosen; and the choice so made is an election ; after which the person selected receives the appointment, and can properly be said to be ' appointed,' although he is the choice of many. Under our system of government the most familiar exam- ple of ' election ' is that which is participated in by the people at large ; at the same time it requires the use of the phrase ' popular election', or ' election by the people', to clearly express the thought." It is true that in People v. Ahearn, 131 App. Div. 30 (affirmed 196 N. Y. 221), the Court of Appeals held that where the Greater New York charter provided for " election " by a board of aldermen, this was in legal contem- plation only an appointment, but an examination of the case will reveal that there was no real discussion of the question and this interpretation of the statute was conceded. So, too, in Sturgis v. Spofford, 45 N. Y. 446, where the Legislature provided that pilot commissioners should be named by the chamber of commerce in certain marine insurance companies. The court held that though the word " elected " was used, it really meant " appointment." The same was held in People ex rel. Mitchell v. Sturgis, 27 App. Div. 387 (affirmed 156 N. Y. 580). These authorities, though seemingly per contra, really emphasize and en- force the rule. In each of these cases it will be found that the Legislature, inadvertently used the word " election " when it had in mind " appointment." The act now under consideration discloses a very deliberate attempt to pro- vide for " election " of trustees of the town board of education. It has taken a short cut in the case of election of the, first board, by providing that this election shall be made by the old trustees of the districts. But such a short cut the Legislature may not take. If there is to be an election, it cannot be an election by delegated agents of the people, but must be an elec- tion by the people themselves. That was the very purpose of the consti- tution. Section 355 provides for an annual meeting in each town on the first Tues- day of May in each year, of which notice shall be given, and provides that such meeting shall be held in the schoolhouse in the town " which is the most conveniently accessible to a majority of the qualified electors of such town." Section 356 provides for the notice of this annual meeting. Section 358 provides for " qualifications of voters at school meetings," and says that they shall " possess the qualifications prescribed in section two hundred and three of this chapter." Section 203 of the Education Law provides that a person to be " entitled THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 883 to vote at any school meeting for the election of school district officers, and upon all other matters which may be brought before such meeting " must be : " 1 A citizen of the United States. 2 Twenty-one years of age. 3 A resident within the district for a period of thirty days next preced- ing the meeting at which he offers to vote ; and who in addition thereto pos- sesses one of the following four qualifications : a Owns or hires, or is in the possession under a contract of purchase of real property in such district liable to taxation for school purposes, or b Is the parent of a child of school age, provided such child shall have attended the district school in the district in which the meeting is held for a period of at least eight weeks during the year preceding such school meet- ing, or c Not being the parent, has permanently residing with him a child of school age who shall have attended the district school for a period of at least eight weeks during the year preceding such meeting, or d Owns any personal property, assessed on the last" preceding assessment- roll of the town, exceeding fifty dollars in value, exclusive of such as is exempt from execution. No person shall be deemed to be ineligible to vote at any such meeting, by reason of sex, who has the other qualifications required by this section." Section 359 requires the preparation of a list of qualified electors by the board of education, and for a separate list in each " school election district " which lists shall contain " the names of the qualified electors, residing in each district." This list is to be placed on file in the office of the clerk of the board of education. Public inspection of such list is to be permitted, and " if the name and residence of a qualified elector are incorrectly stated upon such list, the clerk, upon satisfactory evidence being presented to him, may correct such errors." By subdivision 3 of section 359 a qualified voter at the annual school meeting " may, upon the examination of such list, file with the clerk of the board, a written challenge of the qualifications as an elector of any person, whose name appears upon such list," and the board of education of the town is required to meet on Monday preceding the annual school meeting and to correct the errors " in such list of qualified electors and add thereto the names of persons, ascertained by it to be qualified elec- tors at such annual meeting. The board shall also indicate upon the list of qualified electors, the persons whose qualifications as electors have been chal- lenged. And by subdivision 4 of section 359, if the annual school meeting is to be held in election districts, a separate fist for each district, revised and. corrected as provided in the law, is to be delivered by the clerk of the board of education to the inspectors appointed by section 361 to conduct the elec- tion. Section 360 provides elaborately for " nominations and ballots," provides that candidates for members of the board of education " shall be nominated by petition." Such petition is to be directed to the clerk of the board of education of the town, and shall be signed by at least tw.enty-five qualified electors thereof. By subdivision 2 the board of education is required to print " official ballots, containing the names of all candidates " so nominated. It is required to state whether or not these candidates are for full terms or for portions of terms. It is required to arrange alphabetically according to their surnames, in columns under titles or designations, showing whether they are to be elected for full term? or portions of terms. Blank spaces are required " so that persons may vote for candidates who have not been nomi- nated for the offices to be filled at such election," and such ballots must have 884 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK printed upon them instructions as to the marking of the ballots and the num- ber of candidates for the several offices for which an elector is permitted to vote. Subdivision 4 makes provision for the printing of ballots and declares an election of a member of a board of education invalid or illegal because uf the use of ballots which do not conform to the requirements of this sec- tion, or to the provisions of the election law, provided the intent of the elector may be ascertained from the use of such irregular or defective ballot and such use was not fraudulent and did not substantially affect the result of the election. Section 361 provides for inspectors of election. Section 362 provides for ballot boxes and says : "All elections, held as provided herein, shall be conducted, so far as may be, in accordance with the provisions of the election law relative to general elections, except as otherwise provided herein. Ballot boxes are to be provided which shall con- form as nearly as may be to the provisions of the election law relative to ballot boxes at general elections. Persons whose names do not appear upon the list may be permitted to vote upon satisfactory evidence being presented showing that they are qualified voters in the town and district, and upon making the declaration hereinafter prescribed." Again, "the ballots when pre- sented to the inspectors shall be folded so as to conceal the names of candi- dates for whom or the proposition or question for which the elector had voted." Again it is provided that all electors shall be entitled to vote, who are in the places where the election is held at or before the time of closing the polls, and the poll clerk shall keep a poll list, containing the names of the qualified electors who vote at such election for the candidates or propositions voted for. Subdivision 2 of section 362 provides for challenges by qualified electors, and the form of declaration which must be made, and that if the person makes such declaration " he shall be permitted to vote at the meet- ing," but if he shall refuse to make such declaration he shall not be permitted to vote for candidates or upon any question or proposition at such meeting. Subdivision 3 of section 362 makes it a misdemeanor for any person to wil- fully make a false declaration as to his right to vote at such meeting, and a person who is not qualified to vote at such meeting, but who shall vote thereat, shall be subjected to a penalty of fifty dollars, which may be re- covered in a suit brought therefor by the board of education for the benefit of the schools of the town. Section 363 provides for a canvass of votes and for the manner in which the ballots shall be opened and counted. Section 364 provides that " successful candidates " shall be notified of their election within twenty-four hours after the result of the election has been declared. It is quite evident that the Legislature knew clearly the meaning of the word " election " and the meaning of the word " appointment " in framing this act. It had in mind the election law governing the details of the election. In the first sentence of section 333 the Legislature makes a clear discrimination between the use of the word "appoint" and the use of the word " elect." It provides that the board of education of each town shall elect one of its members chairman, but it shall appoint a clerk of the hoard to serve during the pleasure of such board. So that when section THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 885 354 is headed " Election of board of education," and it is provided that " the first board of education of each town thereof shall be elected by the trustees and members of the boards of education in the several school districts in such town, subject to the provisions of this article," the Legis- lature must have meant an " election " and not an " appointment." That this is true is made clear by the repeated use of the words " elected " and " qualified electors " in said section, and by the requirement that the chair- man and clerk of the meeting " shall canvass the votes cast for the candi- dates for the offices to be filled and the candidates receiving a majority of the votes cast shall be elected. The chairman and clerk of the meeting shall thereupon notify the district superintendent in writing of the per- sons declared elected as members of said board, and the district superin- tendent shall give notice of such election to the persons so elected." And, furthermore, as the terms of office of such members expire their successors shall be elected at the annual school meeting. There can be no way by which the word " election " can be twisted out of its meaning so as to constitute an " appointment," and if this be true, the provisions are unconstitutional because there is no election by the people. It is no argument to say that there was not time enough for such an election. We are dealing with the question of constitutional power and not with the question of constitutional policy. Upon the oral argument the court directed our adversaries' attention to the consideration of but two points; first, the constitutionality of the statute by reason of the exclusion of Westchester county; and, second, as to the inclusion of school district no. 9 (Elmsford), giving us the impression that the point that we are now discussing as to the application of Article X, section 2 of the constitution was not regarded as a weighty point by the court. If this was the tentative opinion of the court, it must be due to counsel's failure adequately to present the point, because an examination of the constitution and of the authorities we have cited indicates that it is equally as strong as either of the other two points. 3 The unconstitutionality of the provision discriminating against West- chester county. The statute is obviously intended to consolidate the school districts of the State under town management. Without going into detail, this is deducible from a very cursory reading of the statute and was so conceded by state counsel for the Department of Education on the oral argument. It was quite obvious, however, that the general policy of consolidating union free school districts could not be effectively carried out in all parts of the State. For reasons of policy, it is obvious that the Legislature did not regard it as applicable to districts having a population of more than 1500 or to districts having more than twelve teachers. The counties adjoin- ing the city of New York present in themselves a separate and distinct problem of educational policy. In Westchester county are such cities as White Plains, Yonkers, New Rochelle, Tarrytown and Mount Vernon. There, excellent facilities for high school education are now provided, accessible to the rural neighbors at far less expense than they could possibly supply. In many of the districts like Ardsley and Elmsford, fine brick schoolhouses, involving heavy investments and bonded indebtedness have already been THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK provided. This is quite evident from the budget just published by the defendants, in which the interest to be paid on bonded indebtedness varies as follows : In the case of school district no. 5, Ardsley, the interest on bonds amounts to $2745. In the case of no. 9, Elmsford, it amounts to $2093 ; while in the case of no. 6 it is only $162 and in the case of no. 8 it is $300. In the matter of debt service, payment of bonds, no. 5 must, next year, pay $2000. while each of the other districts only pays $500. Even in the matter of instructional service, teachers' salaries, the incongruity is to be found in that no. 5 carries a budget of $10,050, while no. 6 carries $2650. In the operation of school plant, the wages of janitors alone for no. 5 amount to $1200, while for no. 6, they amount to but $480. The counties adjoining New York, therefore, presented a natural and logical basis for separate classification and this classification was the one contained in the law as it was in process of enactment and is to be found in the printed number of the act " nos. 1016, 1872, introductory number 911 " and shows that it was not to apply ;o " School districts in the several towns of a county which adjoins a city having a population of one million or more and in which there are at least two district superintendents." The general policy ci the law wth regard ic the constitutional restrictions upon the legislature vith respect 1.1 acal governmental incisure-; is expressed clearly oy Jadge Giay m the Ma ?r of Henneberger, j-,5 r\ Y 420: " The provision expressed a fundamental idea in our popular form of government; namely, to commit to local bodies the discharge of functions, which can be as well, if not better, discharged by them. For a variety of reasons, the state legislature should not be concerned with the administration of those local affairs, as to which there exist local legislative bodies ; whose acts, motived by the needs of the citizens, are more sure to be pure and effi- cient. Notwithstanding the existence of general laws, the statute books were being filled by acts operating upon particular and sectional interests." And in that case, commenting upon an act carefully drawn so as to effect one possible community, the court said : " The classification of cities by population is an idea recently embodied in the Constitution, and good reasons exist why, in a general law, reference may be had to conditions of population, whether in counties, cities, towns or villages, or with respect to a proximity to cities of a certain growth." Judge Gray asked : " Whether the constitutional provision shall continue to stand as a vigorous expression of the will of the people; or whether the legislature may evade its inhibition, with the approval of the judicial branch of the government." And in answer to the question by him said : " It is my judgment that when a constitutional question is presented to the court, it should be answered according to the view which takes in the pur- pose of the adoption of the constitutional provision and the consequence to the people of its disregard. I do not think it to be a safe principle of con- struction to adopt that the general form of the legislative enactment may save it from condemnation; when a willful and impolitic, or unnecessary, purpose to evade the constitutional mandate is to be seen through the trans- parent device. That would be too fraught with danger to the efficiency of the constitutional provision." THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 887 It is now well settled that "All classification must be based upon substantial distinctions which make one class really different from another . . . The classification adopted must be germane to the purpose of the law . . . The classification must not be based upon existing circumstances only. It must not be so constituted as to preclude addition to the numbers included within a class . . . To whatever class a law may apply, it must apply equally to each member thereof." Johnson v. Milwaukee, 88 Wis. 383, 390, 60 NW 270 (quot Wagner v. Milwaukee County, 112 Wis. 601, 602, 88 NW 577) . Again, " If its distinctions are based upon some just reason and it does not at- tempt, under the guise of regulating an evil, to deprive of liberty or property without due process, or unjustly to confer special or exclusive privileges upon one class at the expense of others, or to put burdens and penalties upon persons beyond the extent to which their conduct and relations to an evil fairly subject them, in view of the principle upon which the regulations are rested, the statute is not objectionable on constitutional grounds." In re Home Discount Co., 147 Fed. 538, 545. Again in State v. Hammar, 42 N. J. L., 435, 440. " The true principle requires something more than a mere designation by such characteristics as will serve to classify, for the characteristics which thus serve as the basis for classification must be of such a nature as to mark the objects so designated as peculiarly requiring exclusive legislation. There must be substantial distinction, having a reference to the subject matter 01 the proposed legislation, between the objects or places embraced in such legislation and the objects or places excluded. The marks of distinction on which the classification is founded must be such, in the nature of things, as will, in some reasonable degree, at least, account for or " justify the restric- tion of the legislation." In Sutton v. State, 96 Tenn. 606, at page 710, the court said that it " Must possess each of two indispensable qualities. First, it must be so framed as to extend to and embrace equally all persons who are or may be in the like situation and circumstances, and, secondly, the classification must be natural and reasonable, not arbitrary and capricious." In Gulf C. & S. F. R. Co. Iv. Ellis, 165 U. S. 150, at page 155, Brewer, J., stating the familiar rule with regard to the scope of the fourteenth amendment to withhold from states the power to classify, said: " If the law deals alike with all of a certain class, it is not obnoxious to the charge of a denial of equal protection. While, as a general proposition, this is undeniably true, yet it is equally true that such classification cannot be made arbitrarily. The state may not say that all white men shall be sub- jected to the payment of attorney's fees of parties successfully suing them, and all black men not. It may not say that all men beyond a certain age shall be alone thus subjected or all men possessed of a certain wealth. These are distinctions which do not furnish any proper basis for the attempted classification. That must always rest upon some difference which bears a reasonable and just relation to the act in respect to which the classification is proposed and can never be made arbitrarily and without any such basis." In Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U. S. 356, the United States Supreme Court said: " The cases present the ordinances in actual operation, and the facts shown establish an administration directed so exclusively against a particular class of persons as to warrant and require the conclusion that whatever may have been the intent of the ordinances as adopted they are applied by the public 888 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK authorities charged with their administration and thus representing the state itself, with a mind so unequal and oppressive as to amount to a practical denial by the state of that equal protection of the laws which is secured to the petitioners, as to all other persons, by the broad and benign provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of we United States. Though the law itself be fair on its face and impartial in appearance, yet, if it is applied and administered by public authority with an evil eye and an unequal hand, so as practically to make unjust and illegal discriminations between persons in similar circumstances material to their rights, the denial of equal justice is still within the prohibition of the constitution." In Hall v. Geiger-Jones Co., 242 U. S. 539, the court said : " If a class is deemed to present a conspicuous example of what the legis- lature seeks to prevent, the Fourteenth Amendment allows it to be dealt with, although otherwise and merely logically not distinguishable from others not embraced in the law." Central Lumber Co. v. S. D., 226 U. S. 157. Now, within these definitions a reasonable basis could readily be found for holding that the two counties adjoining the city of New York present a classification all by themselves. They are large and they have many large schoolhouses, both communities are suburban residential communities, hav- ing a large population which does its business in New York, there are many golf courses, many summer residences, whose owners send their children to public or private schools in New York City, and the general accessibility to higher education is such that they require no such treatment as is required in the case of rural communities generally throughout the State. The Legislature, therefore, not only had the power, but actually acted upon the proposition that they constituted a class of people or a class of schools, namely, those within a county adjoining a city having a population of more than a million, separate from all others. Could the Legislature, by limiting this classification to these districts, in which there are only two district superintendents, thereby confine it to the small county of Nassau and deny its privileges and protection to the large county of Westchester? Could it say that a county so classifiable for educational reasons as that it adjoins the city of New York, is properly exceptable from the act, and yet deny the privileges of such an exception to all of Westchester county? West- chester county might have a dozen, might have two dozen, might have a hundred school superintendents, yet having exceeded the limit of two, is it to be deprived of the privileges accorded to' Nassau county, which hap- pens to have just two? Of course, the argument is equally sound that a county so situated as to be territorially entitled to one district superin- tendent, would be deprived of the privileges of exception. Such an act as this which almost definitely names a particular county (like Nassau) is repugnant to all constitutional provisions. In N. Y. S. U. Co. v. Dept. of Public Health, 32 Misc. 577, at 581 Andrews, P. J. said : " The statute in question, while prohibiting the carrying on, or the continu- ance of such trade or business in the borough of Brooklyn, impliedly permits it so to be carried on in any of the other boroughs of Greater New York. "Under these circumstances, the statute is obnoxious to the criticism that it is arbitrary, unreasonable, and was not an act in the interest of the public generally; that is to say, the public of Greater New York. . . . "... Moreover, while the business is prohibited in the borough of Brooklyn, it is permitted to be carried on in all the other boroughs of the THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 889 city, and the act is obviously not for the benefit of all the public in Greater New York, but only for the supposed benefit of a smaller portion thereof. " It is undoubtedly true that under what are known as the police powers, the legislature can exercise a very wide discretion in enacting statutes for the preservation of the health and comfort of the citizens of this State. But its acts are subject to review by the courts, and where statutes have been passed, which are found to be arbitrary and unreasonable, and which were not for the interest of the general public, they have been held to be in excess of its powers, and have been nullified by the courts," citing: Taylor v. Porter, 4 Hill 145 ; Matter of Jacobs, 98 N. Y. 98 ; People v. Marx, 99 N. Y. 386 ; Foster v. Scott, 136 N. Y. 577; People v. Rosenberg, 138 N. Y. 410; Health Dept. v. Rector, 145 N. Y. 32; People v. Havnor, 149 N. Y. 195 ; Colon v. Liek, 153 N. Y. 188, 196; Lawton v. Steele, 152 U. S. 133, 137 ; Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U. S. 356; Minn. v. Barber, 136 U. S. 313 ; Collins v. N. H., 171 U. S. 30, 34. The practical consequence is shown in the increased tax rate which dis- tricts nos. 6, 7 and 8 will have to pay, jumping from 2.419, 1.848 and 2.991 respectively to 5.734 per thousand; in other words, for Hartsdale the tax rate is nearly treble and for no. 8 it is nearly double. In the brief submitted by the attorney for the Commissioner of Educa- tion it is said that " The complaining district has the greatest financial resources of all of the districts comprising the unit and that they have expended less for the education of their children than any of the other districts, and under the former system furnished to their children the least school facilities." And at page 13 it is argued that " The important and positive beneficial result " of the law is to " equalize the school facilities ... by giving to the children of the districts com- prised in the town school unit the privileges of all the schools in all the districts therein, and by providing for their academic instruction in high schools and academic departments in other units, districts or cities, where no such instruction is provided in the schools in the community within which they reside." Now, in Westchester county are the incorporated cities and villages of Yonkers, White Plains, Tarrytown, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, Pleasantville and Mount Kisco, all of which are clearly exempted from the operation of the act. The rich property owned by all of these cities and villages is not combined with any of the other sections of the county, but each is continued as a separate, distinct governmental agency for the administration of the schools. Nowhere in the entire State can there be found a county so dotted with large cities and villages, with so little left of a community surrounding each that could properly be called "rural." The general object of the law "to unify the rural school districts " (page 12 of the brief for the Commissioner of Education) can not be worked out in any practical way so as to apply to the county of West- 89O THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK chester. It is obvious, therefore, that the original purpose of the law could not be carried out throughout the whole State and that it was neces- sary to exclude from its operation, not only all cities, villages and dis- tricts having more than 1500 population or more than twelve teachers, but as well, all counties adjoining cities having a million or more in popula- tion and which there were at least two district superintendents. The amend- ment by which the words " at least " were converted into the word " only " is a clear act of discrimination against Westchester county. One searches in vain through the sixty-five pages of the brief submitted by the Commissioner of Education for any authority supporting such -a dis- crimination. It is argued that the plaintiffs have mistaken their remedy, (which point we shall presently consider separately). It is said that the matters of Henneberger and Smith v. Smythe, (155 N. Y. 420 and 197 N. Y. 457 respectively) are not in point. We did not argue upon the motion that they were controlling. They relate to the home rule provisions of the constitution, but the principles underlying these decisions are applicable to the case at bar and indicate the policy of the State and the constitution in dealing, not only with special and local bills, but with all legislation directed at particular localities. This is made clear in N. Y. S. U. Co. v. Dept. of Public Health, 32 Misc. 577 (ante). The entire argument upon this score made by counsel for the Commissioner of Education is contained in the first paragraph on page 56 of his brief : " There is no constitutional objection to the inclusion in the act of a specific provision excepting the county of Nassau from its operation. It is for the Legislature to determine as to the localities to be affected by legisla- tion of this kind. If all of the schools and the children of a specified dis- trict, town or county are subject to the provisions of a law, it may not be deemed to be class or discriminatory legislation because other counties, towns and districts are no't made subject to its provisions." For this point he cites no precedent and fails to meet the force of the federal and state authorities to which we have already referred. 4 The argument that the plaintiffs must proceed by quo warranto. The facts referred to in the affidavits submitted relating to the popula- tion of school district no. 9 (Elmsford) are nowhere discussed in the labored brief for the Commissioner of Education. Nor is the failure to take appropriate action on the petition of Mr. Gengenbach explained. The point is made, however, that the complainants in this suit may not bring this point to the attention of the court and that their only remedy is to appeal to the Attorney General for a proceeding to test the title of the defendants to their office. For this, the learned counsel for the Depart- ment of Education cites the case of Prankard v. Cooley, 147 App. Div. 145 ; People ex rel. Corscadden v. Howe, 177 N. Y. 499 and Johnston v. Carside, 65 Hun 209. In Prankard v. Cooley, the plaintiffs were taxpayers who sought to set aside the determination of the defendant Cooley as school commissioner of the school district, which determination, they alleged, was wholly " In pursuance of a fraudulent scheme instituted and instigated by certain unnamed persons," by which separate school districts were constructed " In order to escape their share of taxation for school purposes and to throw upon other persons, including the plaintiffs, an additional financial burden THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 891 in that respect." The court held that the proper remedy was by quo warranto : " That the validity of a municipal corporation created by proceedings legal and regular in form can not be questioned collaterally by a private individual, but can only be determined in proceedings instituted by the Attorney General in the " name of the State and in the nature of a quo warranto" This suit is not a suit by private individuals, but is a suit of school trustees, who are themselves a body corporate and are charged by law with responsibility and custody of certain property. They are not legislated out of office, but under subdivision 2 of section 352 "Are . . . continued in office with all the powers and duties conferred on such officers by the Education Law or other statutes, including the power to levy, assess and collect taxes for the purpose of closing up the business and financial affairs of such district and of satisfying its obligations, except bonded indebtedness, adjusting its claims, collecting funds due it and paying its just debts." They are therefore continuing trustees with trust duties and trust powers and have the right and the duty to appeal to a court of equity for instruction as to the application of the law and for the protection of the property which is in their charge. They assert that certain provisions purporting to be law are unconstitutional and void. As is said by Chief Justice Barker in People ex rel. Corscadden v. Howe, the cases in which courts have declined to interfere " relate to contests between rival claimants for the same office." By virtue of an unconstitutional act of the Legislature, the defendants not only assert title to an office, but are seeking to distribute property held in trust by the plaintiffs. In the Corscadden case, an unconstitutional act put the plaintiff out of office. Three of the seven judges of the Court of Appeals (Parker, Chief Justice, O'Brien and Werner) held that the act was unconstitutional, and held that a court of equity might enjoin the defendants. The majority of the court, finding in the litigation nothing but "a contest over a public office," refused to entertain jurisdiction. The case at bar is clearly distinguishable in that it does not involve solely a contest for public office, but involves the determination of the rights of property between two sets of trustees, the plaintiffs on the one hand and the defendants upon the other. In this connection, we bring to the atten- tion of the court, another provision of the law, which requires the plain- tiff trustees, after the liquidation of " all outstanding obligations, except bonded indebtedness and the settling or adjusting of claims against such district and the closing up of all its financial affairs as a district, to appor- tion any funds remaining in the treasury, except moneys received from the State, among the taxpayers in the district, in the manner now pro- vided by law," and " such apportionment shall be based upon the relation of the assessed valuation of such taxpayers to the aggregate assessed valuation of the district." This provision, as well as the provisions under section 353, results in the taking of the property held by the trustees and distributing it among the present taxpayers, a distribution in itself uncon- stitutional; see State ex rel. Elizabethtown Water Co. v. Wade, 59 N. J. L. 78, in which the court says : " So far as this tax is remitted, it is imposed for private use, not for any public use ; no part of it goes to discharge a public debt or to promote a 892 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK public purpose, and no part of it finds its way into the public treasury. In the most favorable view that can be taken of the law, it is levied expressly for the benefit of a selected class of persons, to reimburse them for moneys heretofore paid by them in satisfaction of taxes legally laid upon them and appropriated to public uses. ... It cannot be justified on the theory that the taxpayers who receive the remittance are only receiving compensation for property in which they have a personal interest. Such taxpayers have no right of property whatever in school lands and buildings, to the purchase of which taxes paid by them have been applied. The school property is public property, the property of the incorporated district and not of the tax- payers residing within it." It is clear that none of the authorities cited by the learned counsel for the Commissioner of Education apply to a case like the present, which is one not brought by a taxpayer and which does not involve title to an office " created by proceedings legal and regular in form," but is brought by trustees of school property still continued for certain definite purposes, who have duties to perform and who are confronted with unconstitutional provisions of law and with irregular administration of the law. As the plaintiffs are suing to preserve a trust res, an equity action is the proper form of action in this case and a temporary injunction is the proper provisional remedy. " The jurisdiction of courts of equity to restrain the proceedings of munic- ipal corporations (even) at the suit of citizens and taxpayers, where such proceedings encroach upon private rights and are productive of irreparable injury, may be regarded as well established. In the exercise of this juris- diction the courts proceed upon substantially the same principles which gov- ern their interference in cases of trusts, a municipal corporation being re- garded in equity as charged with and made the depositary of a public trust, and tfius amendable to the jurisdiction of equity for a breach of that trust." High on Injunctions (4th ed.) sec. 1236. Meehan v. Sharp, 15 Barb. 193. Stuyvesant v. Pearsall, id. 244. Where public officers are acting illegally or without authority and in breach of trust, and are causing irreparable injury or a multiplication of actions at law, they will be enjoined. 22 Cyc. tit. Inj. p. 879, and cases cited. Even though the State may not be enjoined, state officers seeking to act in an unconstitutional or illegal manner may be enjoined. McConnell v. Arkansas Brick, etc. Co., 70 Ark. 568; 695 W. 559. See numerous illustrations of the rule in 22 Cyc. p. 881-82. School directors and other school officers may be enjoined when they are proceeding illegally. Wharton v. Cass, Tp. 42 Pa. St. 358. Krickbaum v. Benton, 3 Kulp (Pa.) 30 Kulp v. Reets, 1 Luz. Leg. Reg. (Pa.) 675- A taxpayer may prevent the collection of taxes illegally levied for school purposes. Moss v. Special School Dist. Bd. of Ed., 58 Ohio St. 354; 50 N. E. 921. Where the authorities of a county, for example, attempt to appropriate and pay to a judge as a mere gratuity any portion of the county funds, such appropriation, not being authorized by law, an injunction will be allowed to prevent its payment. Perry v. Kinnear, 42 111. 160. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 893 Walker, C. J., in this case saying: " In the absence of some law authorizing the performance of the act, the board has no power to make such an appropriation, and being unauthorized and illegal, its consummation should be restrained. By an unauthorized tax, the citizen is deprived of his property without sanction of law. And bodies created for the discharge of public duties and to aid in conducting the affairs of counties, have not been entrusted with the power to seize and appropriate the property of the people to any but legal purposes. The inhabitants of the state have been secured in the possession and enjoyment of their property against as well the officer created by law as private persons. The former can only exercise power to deprive him of it, in the mode and for the pur- poses constitutionally authorized by law." The fundamental error in the contentions of counsel for the Commissioner of Education lies in his confusing this case with a conflict over an office, like the keeper of a penitentiary (People ex rel Corscadden v. Howe, 177 N. Y. 449), or the Commissioner of Police (People ex rel Wood, v. Draper, 24 Barb. 265). Here the provisions of law which affect the prop- erty of the taxpayers in school district no. 8, which determine the disposi- tion of the funds now held by the plaintiffs as trustees, and which affect the future liability of the taxpayers, are brought before the court for the purpose, primarily, of fixing and determining the rights and duties of the plaintiffs. That the Commissioner of Education has not been misled in this regard appears from the opening sentence in his brief : " The action is brought ... in the name of Elmo Brown . . . constituting the board of trustees for school district no. 8. . . . The action is in equity and the plaintiffs pray for a determination of their rights and duties as trustees of district no. 8. . . ." The only money question involved in the Corscadden case was the salary that went with the office. The majority of the court recognized the case as presenting only a conflict over an office. Witness this sentence (p. 505) "As early as the case of Tappan v. Gray (9 Paige 507) it was held by the chancellor that the Court of Chancery had no jurisdiction to enjoin at the suit of the incumbent of the office the intrusion of a hostile claimant illegally appointed to the office." And so it understood People ex rel. Wood v. Draper (24 Barb. 265). Reading the opinion of Parker, Ch. J., in conjunction with the majority opinion by Cullen, J. in the Corscadden case, is there the slightest doubt if a case like the present had been presented, that all seven judges would have agreed that injunction would lie? (In that case, it will be observed that the court had before it two litigations, one involving the direct question of title to the office, the other an injunction. It disposed of the first by holding that the relator was entitled to the office. The decision in the injunction suit, therefore, was a mere pro forma decision upon what really became academic by the court's decision — see Parker's opinion). It has long been settled that where a particular fund is to be appro- priated for the support of one school to the exclusion of others, any citizen or taxpayer of the township is entitled to an injunction to prevent such improper application of the fund. High on Injunctions, sec. 1263; Malory v. Madget, 47 Ind. 241. 894 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK And "An injunction," says High, " is the appropriate remedy, in behalf of the taxable inhabitants of a school district, to restrain the township treasurer from paying out money for the erection of a schoolhouse at a place other than that authorized by law." Id. Marble v. McKenney, 60 Me. 332. Again, " The wrongful use of corporate property is a fraud upon the rights of corporators, and may be prevented by the aid of equity, where courts of law are powerless to grant the necessary relief." (High, sec. 1269.) Thus the use of a schoolhouse by the inhabitants of a school district for religious purposes, against the wishes of any taxpayers of the district, is an improper use of the corporate property, even though the district may have voted to permit such use. And in such a case, any taxpayer of the district is entitled to an injunction, though the injury sustained by him in person be slight, since he can have no adequate remedy at law. " The principle which runs through the cases is that corporations have only such powers as are within the scope of their charters ; and where they are wasting or misappropriating the corporate property or funds, courts of equity treat them as trustees of the property for the benefit of the individual cor- porators ; and on this ground as well as on the ground that such misappro- priation of the property is a fraud upon the rights and interests of the cor- porators individually, they interfere by injunction to restrain and prevent any such wasting or destruction of the corporate property. And it makes no dif- ference if the corporation is a joint-stock, manufacturing or trading corpora- tion, ... or a municipal or territorial corporation . . . or is of the character of this school district." Scofield v. Eighth School District, 27 Conn. 499. See also Hurd v. Walters, 48 Ind. 148. Page 150: "We entertain no doubt of the powers of the court to grant injunctive relief in such a case as the present, if it be shown that the trustee had ex- ceeded his authority, for there is no other remedy." Spencer v. School District, 15 Kan. 259. Even if the directors of the district or a majority of the taxpayers, or electors consent, nevertheless, any taxpayer may enjoin the use of a school- house for other than school purposes. Spencer v. School District, 15 Kan. 259. In such a case, a single resident and taxpayer of the district, whose children attend school therein, has a sufficient interest to maintain the suit for an injunction. Idem. So too, a taxpayer may enjoin the school authorities from leasing a public school for the purpose of keeping a private school. Weir v. Day, 35 Ohio St. 143. In the case at bar, the situation is worse; the entire school property is to be turned over, books, building and cash, to a new board under an unconstitutional exercise of power. The fact that in determining such a question a court of equity must deter- mine the validity of an election does not preclude it from entering into the matter. Thus, for example, upon a bill of taxpayers to restrain the issuing of county bonds in aid of a subscription to a railway, upon the ground of the illegality of the election under which the bonds are issued, THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 895 the court has jurisdiction to investigate and pass upon the validity of such election. " In such cases the jurisdiction is exercised, not with a view to contesting the election, but for the purpose of ascertaining whether the contract of subscription has been duly authorized in accordance with law." High on Inj., sec. 1285. Winston v. Tenn. & P R R. Co., 1 Baxter 60; McDowell v. Mass. & S. C. Co., 96 N. C. 514; Goforth v. Rutherford R. Co., 96 N. C. 535, 2 S. E. 361. This suit is similar to that of a suit by a citizen and taxpayer in behalf of himself and all other taxpayers of the State, to enjoin a state treasurer from issuing bonds of the state in aid of a subscription under an act of the legislature which is unconstitutional. Such a suit will always lie. Whiting v. Sheboygan & Fond du Lac R. Co., 25 Wis. 167. The whole subject of "Injunction against public officers" is exhaustively treated by High in chapter 22, where, in section 1308 he states it to be well settled that " The preventive jurisdiction of equity extends to the acts of public officers and will be exercised in behalf of private citizens who sustain such injury at the hands of those claiming to act for the public as is not susceptible of reparation in the ordinary course of proceedings at law." And whenever public officers "Assume powers over property which does not belong to them, and infringe upon or violate the rights of citizens under pretense of such assumed authority, equity has jurisdiction to interfere for the protection of the citizen." (Id., sec. 1309). All the cases cited by High for the proposition that equity will not deter- mine the title to office (sec. 1312) relate entirely to contests between two claimants for the same office. (See notes to sec. 1312 and 1313). But High recognizes clearly, as here, that " The actual incumbents of an office may be protected, pending a contest as to their title, from interference with their possession, and with the exercise of their functions." (Sec. 1315, citing many cases). Thus, as here, the officers dc facto of a school district may restrain persons claiming to be officers de jure, but who are not in possession, from taking possession of the schoolhouse, and from interfering with plaintiffs in the employment of teachers and in the management of school affairs ; and " This, notwithstanding the fact that the defendants thus enjoined claimed to be the legally elected officers and have instituted proceedings in quo war- ranto to establish their title." Brady v. Sweetland, 13 Kan. 41. And courts of equity will always determine title to an office when the question "Arises incidentally" (sec. 1315) . It could not be put more strongly than it is put by the author in stating the qualifications of the rule quoted in the brief submitted by counsel for the Commissioner of Education at page 35 (sec. 1312) : " The rule announced in the preceding sections which forbids interference by courts of equity for the purpose of determining disputed questions con- cerning the appointment or election of public officers is to be understood as applying only to cases where the title to the office is the sole issue involved and where the bill is filed for the primary purpose of determining the same." (Sec. 1315 a). 896 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Thus, equity, High points out, will entertain jurisdiction of condemnation proceedings, where the right to the relief is based upon the charge that one of the officials who had instituted the proceedings was not in fact a duly appointed official ; and in such a case, the court may pass upon the validity of the appointment in question for the purpose of determining the issues thus properly before it. Hurley v. Level Commission, 76 Miss. 141 ; 23 So. 580. See also High, sec. 1235, for application of same principle in cases involv- ing disputed questions of title to offices of private corporations. Equity will always interfere in behalf of an officer de facto, claiming to be the officer de jure to prevent another from wresting the office from him. See 2 Cyc. Lit. Injunctions, p. 887, and cases cited in note 33. It is, of course, elementary that where the matter in litigation is a trust fund, as here, an injunction will be granted to preserve the fund and save it for the party to whom it may belong upon the final decree. 22 Cyc. Lit. Injunctions, p. 823. The case of People ex rel. Kingsland v. Clark, 70 N. Y. 518, cited by counsel for the Commissioner of Education (p. 36) is not in point. The quotations by counsel appears in the syllabus with the preface " It seems " in italics, to which counsel does not refer. The action was to restrain the defendants from incorporating the village of North Tarrytown. The real ground of the decision is that the injunction would have " no practical effect upon the corporation" and the "village itself, or the trustees as exercising the franchise, were necessary parties." The case of Johnson v. Garside, 65 Hun 208, is also not in point. There the contest was over the office of fire commissioner of the city of Cohoes. The court held that "The only substantial question (italics by the court) to be tried in this action is the title of Dickey and Daley to the office in question." The case of Palmer v. Foley, 45 N. Y. 112 (not cited by counsel for the Commissioner of Education) is more nearly akin to the one at bar and is distinguished in Johnston v. Garside. The point of the distinction is indicated by Putnam, J. (p. 211) : There " The plaintiff was deputy chamberlain of the city of New York and in possession of the office. As such he had under his control city funds, amounting to a very large sum, and the defendant, it was alleged, was un- lawfully about to interfere with his possession of said funds." Obviously, whatever rights a citizen or taxpayer might have to restrain the defendants from doing an illegal act, the plaintiffs here have superior rights, even to those of a citizen or taxpayer. They are trustees and as such charged with the duty of administering a trust fund. As such, they have the right always to protect the res in their custody and to apply to equity for such protection; but, additionally, they have the right to seek instruction from the court concerning the administration and execution of their trust. (See 39 Cyc. at "Trusts" p. 316 and numerous cases cited.) So far as the " distribution " of property under sections 352 and 353 of the act are concerned, this is as clearly unconstitutional as anything can be. As the court points out in the case of Water Co. v. Wade, 59 N. J. L. 78, (a case on all fours with the case at bar), THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 897 "The theory of taxation is that it is levied for a public purpose; that it is an attribute essential to the exercise of government, without which it would be powerless to discharge its functions, and for that reason it is held to be inherent. It is the public use for it which marks it as a tax. Where no public end is subserved, the former cannot be called into question." There, as here, taxes were imposed, out of which other taxpayers who were such on given days named, were to receive back certain remittances, "Although they had become such taxpayers after all the school property had been paid for by taxation of the district, and they had never contributed to the purchase of the school property. The effect of this legislation is to assess upon all the taxpayers of the consolidated district a tax equal to the value of all the school property in the several districts comprising it at the time of the consolidation, and to give back to the taxpayers in each of the old districts a sum equal to the value of the school property in their dis- trict." This, says the court, is a tax " Imposed for private use, not for any public use ; no part of it goes to discharge a public debt or to promote a public purpose, and no part of it finds its way into a public treasury." " In the most favorable view that can be taken of the tax, it is levied ex- pressly for the benefit of a selected class of persons. . . ." The present taxpayers in school district no. 8 " Have no property whatsoever in the school lands or buildings to the pur- chase of which taxes paid by them have been applied. The school property is public property, the property of the incorporated district, and not of the taxpayers residing in it." By what right are present taxpayers to receive a division of school property when those who for twenty years past have paid into the school fund, by selling their property but a day before, lose all benefit therein? Why should a recent purchaser — one who has, maybe, not yet paid a single annual tax, receive a complete pro rata share of the school property of the district? As the court says in the case cited, to share the property in this fashion is not using it for a public purpose; it is distributing it as a personal gift to a specially favored class. Has this court no power to restrain such a misuse of authority by the legislature? Is school property the property of the present group of taxpayers, or is it held in trust for the district, never to be turned back? Counsel for the Commissioner of Education, in one branch of his brief, contends that the very constitutional basis of the redistricting comes through the State's power to make any district it pleases for educational purposes. If his argument is sound, then certainly the school property does not belong to the people in any one district heretofore bounded by any specified geographical lines, but it belongs to the people of the district which the State chooses to form. Consequently, to disperse the property, or to levy a tax to divide up its appraised value among a limited number of present taxpayers amounts either to a concession that the taxpayers in a single school district, say no. 8, have a vested constitutional right to the school property within their district, or else the State owns it. If the State owns it, by what constitu- tional authority can it be turned back to the taxpayers? If the State does 29 898 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK not own it, and it belongs to those within the old district lines, how can the State constitutionally divest these persons of their share in the property by process of consolidation? 5 The argument of confusion It is said that the continuance of the preliminary injunction until the trial will create great confusion in the administration of the law. This argument would come with better grace from the Commissioner of Educa* tion, if the petition of Mr Gengenbach had been acted upon and there had been a reelection in which the trustees of school district no. 9 did not participate, or if the Commissioner of Education had reorganized this district in accordance with the law whose constitutionality is now under consideration. But the difficulties of administering the law are not due to the presence of this litigation; they are due to the nature of the questions that unavoidably arise from the consideration of this law. If the law is constitutional, the sooner it is so declared the better. If it is unconstitu- tional, the sooner it is so declared the better. None of the school districts can be administered without incurring new bonded indebtedness. It is already well known to the Commissioner of Education that none of the bond houses will lend a dollar to any of the new town school boards, counsel for such houses having already raised the same questions that are raised in this litigation. The only thing that will prevent confusion is a clear and distinct utterance from the court as to the constitutional character of the law under consideration. Instead of questioning the validity of the pro- ceedings instituted by the plaintiffs and raising technical objection to the disposition of these large, important questions, the Department of Education ought to join in the prompt determination of the question and its review by the higher courts. So far as the school administration is concerned, it will continue to be hampered and embarrassed until there is a determination of these questions. The technical points raised by the Department of Edu- cation will only delay the disposition of the controversy. The plaintiffs seek only a determination of their duties as trustees. They hold property as well as office. They are required by the new statute to perform one set of duties — they are required under the statute under which they were elected to perform another set of duties. Which law are they to follow? They are called upon by the taxpayers of their district to resist any attempt to take over the property which they now hold in trust. To what court shall trustees apply for a determination of their duties in such a situation, except to a court of equity? The distinction between the case at bar and the cases cited in the brief of counsel for the Commissioner of Edu- cation is referred to in one of the cases cited by him at page 42 of his brief, where (quoting from the leading case of the People ex rel Wood v. Draper, 24 Barber 265), the court says " It may very well be and indeed there is no doubt that a man being a pub- lic officer may be restrained in a proper case from doing a particular act of an official character." It is to restrain the defendants from doing particular acts under pro- visions of a statute clearly unconstitutional that the plaintiffs, holding property to which the defendants lay claim, bring this proceeding. If THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 899 everything that counsel for the Commissioner of Education says were true as to the difficulty of the court's ousting the defendants Bunselmeyer, Emerick and Schock from office, it still remains true that the court must pass upon the constitutional features of the Act by which they seek to interfere with property held by the plaintiffs and by which they seek to impose new and additional burdens upon the taxpayers of the town of Greenburgh. i\nd the court must surely determine whether or not the defendant Buckley, whose title to office is not attacked and against whom no claim is made except that he is about to enforce a law which is clearly unconstitutional, may proceed with the enforcement of the provisions of law which are thus put under scrutiny. Respectfully submitted Julius Henry Cohen Cohen & Richter Of Counsel Attorneys for Plaintiffs in Broadway, New York City. SUPREME COURT LIVINGSTON COUNTY James W. Wadsworth, Plaintiff vs. Charles Menzie, Joseph A. Krenzer, Joseph D. Donohue, James C. Foote and Peter Carmichael, individually and as claiming to constitute the town board of education for the town of Caledonia, Livings- ton county, New York, and Henry Feeley, collector of the said town of Caledonia, Livingston county, New York, Defendants Complaint The above-named plaintiff, in behalf of himself and others similarly situ- ated, by Cook & Horton, his attorneys, complaining of the said defendants, alleges : 1st: That this plaintiff is and at all of the times hereinafter mentioned has been a citizen of the United States of America, a resident of the State of New York and a freeholder and taxpayer in the town of Caledonia, Liv- ingston county, New York, and in school district number 3 of said township, more particularly hereinafter described; that the real property owned by plaintiff and situate in said town of Caledonia in said school district number 3 thereof is assessed for taxes in said township and in said school district in the sum of one hundred and twelve thousand two hundred dollars ($112,200), and that he has been assessed and has paid taxes levied upon the aforesaid assessment for several years last past prior to the commencement of this action and including the year 1916. 2d: That the defendants Charles Menzie, Joseph A. Krenzer, Joseph D. Donohue, James C. Foot and Peter Carmichael, above named, claim to be the duly authorized board of education elected for the town of Caledonia, Livingston county, New York, under and pursuant to the provisions of chap- ter 328 of the Laws of 191 7, amending the Education Law of said State. 3d : That the defendant Henry Feeley is the collector of taxes for the said town of Caledonia, county of Livingston, State of New York. 900 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 4th : That upon information and belief the said school district number 3 of the said town of Caledonia aforesaid and of which said plaintiff is a tax- payer, as hereinabove stated, has existed as a school district for upwards of fifty years last past and that its affairs have been managed pursuant to law by the successive trustees thereof; that it now owns and holds a site and schoolhouse situate in said district number 3 and used for school purposes therein, of an approximate value of one thousand dollars ; that one teacher is employed in said school and that the average attendance at said school dur- ing the preceding several years has been about ten pupils ; that the expendi- tures for the maintenance of such school and for school purposes in said district have approximated the sum of about six hundred dollars per year; that said school has been wholly adequate and sufficient for all of the needs of the residents of said school district and their children; that the said school is favorably situated in said district, and is accessible to all children of school age therein ; and that the affairs and business of said school district have been properly and conservatively managed for several years last past by the said defendant Joseph A. Krenzer, the duly elected and acting trustee thereof but who is now claimed by the defendant herein to have been superseded by the new school law, viz, the said chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, further, that the balance in the hands of the said Joseph A. Krenzer as such trustee of the school district number 3 was, on the 31st day of July, 1917, the sum of $194.12. 5th : That said chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917 added to the Education Law a new article, entitled " XI-A," which purported to create town boards of education, provided among other things, that there should be established to begin on the 1st day of August, 1917, a town board of education in each town of the State, which should thereafter have jurisdiction over all of the schools in the town, as provided in said act. 6th: That section 352 of said "Article XI-A" of chapter 321 of the Laws of 1917, provided as follows: " Sec. 352 School district officers abolished; terms continued to collect funds, pay claims, et cetera. 1 All trustees, members of boards of educa- tion and other school officers of school districts subject to this article, in office when this act takes effect shall continue in office to and including the thirty-first day of July, 1917, when the offices of trustees, members of boards of education, district clerks, collectors, treasurers and other school district officers of such districts shall be and are hereby abolished and the terms of such officers shall cease except as herein provided. 2 The trustees, boards of education and other officers, of each district, enumerated in subdivision one of this section are hereby continued in office with all the powers and duties conferred on such officers by the education law or other statutes, including the power to levy, assess and collect taxes for the purpose of closing up the business and financial affairs of such dis- trict and of satisfying its obligations, except bonded indebtedness, adjusting its claims, collecting funds due it and paying its just debts. After liquidat- ing all outstanding obligations except bonded indebtedness, and settling or adjusting all claims against such district, and closing up all its financial affairs as a district, such officers shall apportion any funds remaining in the treas- ury, except moneys received from the state, among the taxpayers of the dis- trict in the manner now provided by law. Such apportionment shall be based upon the relation of the assessed valuation of such taxpayers to the aggregate assessed valuation of the district. The portion of such funds which consists of moneys received from the State shall be paid into the town school treasury." THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 9OI 7th: That section 353 thereof provided as follows: " Sec. 353 Outstanding bonds; existing school property. 1 The bonded indebtedness of the school districts in a town which are subject to the pro- visions of this article, including a union free school district having a popula- tion of fifteen hundred or employing fifteen teachers or more, which has adopted a resolution pursuant to the provisions of section three hundred and thirty-one of this article, existing and outstanding at the time of the taking effect of this article shall be a charge against the property which is subject to tax for the maintenance of the schools in such town or union free school district. 2 Within one year from the taking effect of this article the value of the school property in the several districts which are made subject to the provi- sions hereof shall be appraised and determined by a commission consisting of the supervisor of the town, the chairman of the town board of education and the district superintendent of schools. 3 The value of the school property in each district as so appraised shall, after deducting the outstanding bonded indebtedness of such district, be credited to such district and charged against the town. The total amount charged to the town as a result of such appraisal shall be raised by tax upon the taxable property of the town in the same manner as other school expenses are raised. Such tax shall be levied and collected in five equal, annual in- stallments and the amount required shall be included by the board of educa- tion in the annual tax budget of the -town. 4 The commission hereinbefore created shall, upon appraising such prop- erty and determining the credit to be allowed to each district, apportion the amount so credited to such district among the owners or possessors of taxa- ble property in the district in the ratio of their several assessments on the last corrected assessment roll of the town. The said commission shall report to the board of education of the town the apportionment so made and the board shall cause to be issued to each of such owners or possessors, a certifi- cate of credit stating the amount so apportioned. Such certificate of credit shall be transferable by the persons to whom they are issued, and shall be payable only out of moneys raised by tax as herein provided for the payment of the charge against the town on account of the school property acquired by such town. They shall be issued in such denominations and shall be due at such times as to provide for their payment out of the moneys raised by tax for the payment of such charge. 5 The Commissioner of Education shall prescribe rules governing the commission in the appraisal of school property as herein provided and regu- lating the distribution and apportionment of the credits and charges herein referred to and the form and denomination of such certificate. An appeal will lie from such appraisal or from any act of such commission or board of education in respect to the apportionment of credits, the distribution of charges and the levy and collection of a tax on account of such school prop- erty to the Commissioner of Education in the same manner and under the same conditions as in the case of other appeals to the Commissioner of Edu- cation. A like appeal will lie from the apportionment of the bonded indebt- edness of any town." 8th : That section 354 thereof provided as follows : " Sec. 354 Election of board of education. 1 The first board of educa- tion of each town thereof shall be elected by the trustee and members of the boards of education of the several school districts in such town, subject to the provisions of this article. The said trustees and members of boards of education shall meet for such purpose on the second Tuesday in June, 1917, in one of the schoolhouses in the town to be designated by the district super- intendent of schools. The said trustees and members of boards of education shall organize by the election of a chairman and clerk. They shall thereupon proceed to elect members of the board of education of the town to hold office for the town specified in section 331 of this article. The persons elected 902 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK as members of such board shall be residents of the town and qualified elec- tors at school meetings therein. Not more than three of the_ members ol such board of education shall reside in the same school district, except in towns in which there are less than three school districts. The chairman and clerk of the meeting shall canvass the votes cast for the candidates for the offices to be filled and the candidate receiving a majority of the votes cast shall be elected. The chairman and clerk of the meeting shall thereupon notify the district superintendent in writing of the persons declared elected as members of said board, and the district superintendent shall give notice of such election to the persons so elected. As the terms of office of such members expire their successors shall be elected at the annual school meeting. The district superintendent of schools shall call a meeting of the board of education of each town in his supervisory district, elected as above provided, on the first day of August in nineteen hundred and seventeen, at the prin- cipal schoolhouse of the town, for the purpose of organization and transac- tion of any other business which may properly come before such board. Upon the election of a clerk of such board, the chairman and clerk of the meeting held for the purpose of electing members of the board of education shall file the minutes of the meeting with such clerk." 9th: Upon information and belief, the said plaintiff alleges, further, that the said act is unconstitutional and void, in that it violates section i of article IX of the constitution of the State of New York, which requires " that Legislature shall provide for the maintenance and support of a system of free common school's wherein all the children of this State may be educated," and further alleges that said provision of the constitution is intended to guarantee to all of the children of the State equality of opportun- ity for securing free common school education, and that the same educational privileges shall be given equally to all persons in the same class. ioth : Upon information and belief, that the total assessed valuation of real estate within the said school district number 3 of the town of Caledonia aforesaid is $405,018.10; that in the year 1916-17 the amount expended for s-hool purposes in said district, including repairs to said schoolhouse, was $802.52; that the amount raised by tax in said district for school purposes was $617, that the school tax rate per $1000 in said district was $1.50; that in the year 1915-16 the amounts expended for school purposes in said dis- trict was $580.65, the amount raised by school tax therein $600, and the school tax rate per $1000 in said district was approximately $1.50; that in the year 1914-15 the amount expended for school purposes in said district was $569.94, the amount raised by school tax therein was $500 and the school tax rate per $1000 in said district was less than $1.50; that by the inclusion of the said school district number 3, pursuant to the aforesaid amendment of the Education Law in a combined school unit in said town, a school tax rate for the year 1917-18 is created in said school district number 3 which is over four times the prior school tax rate therein, to wit, a tax rate per $1000 in said school district since the said act is alleged to have become operative in the amount of $6.50; that the district school situate in said district number 3 is, as aforesaid, accessible to the residents of said school district and their children, and that the remaining schools maintained in said town are not thus accessible ; that the said school heretofore maintained in said school district is sufficient for the needs of said district, and confers educational advantages upon the children of school age in said district equal to those of any other school in said town with the exception of the high THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 903 school in the village of Caledonia, hereinafter referred to, and which the school chidren of said district number 31 were permitted to attend upon the payment of a tuition amounting to the sum of $12 per annum for attendance in the grades of such high school and $15 per annum for attendance in the high school department thereof; that the said high school in the village of Caledonia is situate a very considerable distance from the rural community comprising said school district number 3, that the same is not accessible in winter time during periods of heavy snows and that it is impracticable if not impossible for the majority of the school children in said school district number 3 to attend the said high school in the said village of Caledonia; and that the effect of the said act of 1917 amending the Education Law of the State, as aforesaid, although quadrupling the school tax in said district number 3, is to confer no benefit upon said school district number 3 whatso- ever. nth: Upon information and belief, that the same conditions described in the foregoing paragraph of this complaint with reference to school dis- trict number 3 in said town also apply to school district number 1 in said town of which the assessed valuation of real estate therein is $107,020, and the school tax rate in the year 1916-17 was .00456 ; and to school district number 2 in said town of which the assessed valuation of real estate therein is $151,014 and the school tax rate in the year 1916-17 was .00265; and to school district number 6 in said town of which the assessed valuation of real estate therein is $153,653, and the school tax rate in the year 1916-17 was .00276; and to school district number 9 in said town of which the assessed valuation of real estate is $366,670, and the school tax rate in the year 1916-17 was .001363; that the amount raised by school tax for school purposes in each of said districts for the said year 1916-17 was as follows, viz: school district number 1, $488; school district number 2, $400.16; school district number 6, $424.07 and school district number 9, $500; and that the new school tax rate per $1000 in each of said districts, including said school district number 3, under the combination of said districts with school dis- trict number 5 of said town, in which is included the high school in the said village of Caledonia, in one school district pursuant to the said amended act, is, for the present year, $6.50, without any added benefits accruing to said school districts excepting said school district number 5, notwithstanding such large and unprecedented increase in school taxes. 12th : Upon information and belief, that the said school district number 5 of the said town of Caledonia includes the village of Caledonia in said town; that said school district number 5 has a school building and school property of the value of at least $50,000; that the said school district number 5 has a bonded indebtedness of $23,700; that, in the past several years, there has been raised in said school district number 5 by tax for school purposes an annual sum of about $12,000 per year; that for the year 1916-17 the total assessed valuation of real estate within said district was $1,241,546, the sum raised therein by tax for school purposes was $12,421.46 and the school tax rate per $1000 in said district was about $10 and that the same school tax rate per $1000 has existed therein for three years last past; that since the consolidation of all of the above mentioned school districts of said town in one unit during the present year, pursuant to said act, the said school district number 5 is attempting to raise by tax 904 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK throughout the said town, for school purposes, the sum of $12,500, and that by the provisions of said amended act the school tax rate per $1000 during the present year in said school district number 5 is reduced to the rate of $6.50 per $1000, by the automatic charge of a large part of the amount necessary to be raised for school purposes in said school district number 5 against the other districts in said town hereinabove mentioned, without any added benefit to said last-mentioned school districts, many of which are situated several miles from said village, in a farming community inaccessible to the school in said village, and from which it would be extremely difficult and impracticable, even if not impossible, for children of school age to attend said school. 13th: That under the provisions of said chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917 so amending the Education Law it is directed in sections 355 to 364 thereof inclusive that an annual school meeting shall be held in each town on the 1st Tuesday of May in each year, of which notice shall be given by publication as therein provided and at which duly qualified voters shall be entitled to vote according to a list of such voters prepared by the clerk of the board of education ; that candidates for members of the board of education to be voted upon at such school meeting shall be nominated by petition duly filed, and shall be voted for at said school meeting by ballot prepared as directed therein ; that such election shall be conducted by inspectors of election duly named in accordance with the provisions thereof ; that such inspectors shall organize, and that the election of such board of education shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of the election law relative to general elections except as otherwise provided therein; that the votes at such election shall be duly canvassed by the board of inspectors, the votes cast at such school meeting counted or canvassed and the candidates receiving a plurality of the votes cast shall be duly declared elected as such, board of education, and in which said sections of the said amendment of the Education Law is stated and set forth full directions covering and controlling the election of said board of education and to which said sections of the said amended act reference is hereby made for a more particular statement of the contents thereof. 14th: That notwithstanding the elaborate provisions made in the said act for the election of members of the said town board of education, never- theless, the said act provides (sec. 354) " The first board of education of each town thereof shall be elected by the trustees and members of the boards of education of the several school districts in such town, subject to the provisions of this article " ; that for such purpose the said trustees and members of the boards of education shall meet on the second Tuesday in June in one of the schoolhouses in the town to be designated by the district superintendent of schools, and the said trustees and members of boards of education shall thereupon elect a chairman and clerk and proceed to elect members of the board of education of the town, to hold office for the term specified in section 331 of this article; that section 352 of the said act provides that all trustees, members of boards of education and other school officers of school districts subject to this article, in office when this act takes effect, shall continue in office to and including the 31st day of July, 1917, when the offices of trustees, members of boards of education, district clerks, collectors, treasurers and other school district officers of THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 905 such districts shall be and are hereby abolished and the terms of such officers shall cease as herein provided. 15th: That subdivision 1 of section 354 of said chapter 328 is in the following language : " The first board of education of each town thereof shall be elected by the trustees and members of the hoards of education of the several school districts in such town, subject to the provisions of this article." That the presence of the comma between the word " town " and " subject," as the plaintiff is informed and verily believes, leaves it open to judicial interpretation as to whether or not the words " subject to the provisions of this article " apply to the election, or whether they apply to the members of the board of education or the school districts which shall be entitled to vote at the election of the trustees of the town hoard; that as appears from other sections of the said law, notwithstanding the termination of the offices of the old school district trustees, they are, nevertheless, " subject to the provisions of this article," subdivision 2 of section 352, providing that " trustees, boards of education and other officers, of each district, enumerated in subdivision one of this section are hereby continued in office with all the powers and duties conferred on such officers by the Education Law or other statutes, including the power to levy, assess and collect taxes for the purpose of closing up the business and financial affairs of such district and of satisfying its obligations, except bonded indebtedness, adjusting its claims, collecting funds due it and paying its just debts." 16th : Upon information and belief, that all of the said provisions of said act relating to the election of the first board of education are uncon- stitutional, null and void, in that they violate section 2 of article 10 of the constitution of the State of New York, which provides that " all other officers whose election or appointment is not provided for by this con- stitution, and all officers, whose offices may hereafter be created by law, shall be elected by the people, or appointed, as the Legislature may direct; " in that more particularly, the provision for the election of the first board of trustees does not provide for the election of the said board of trustees by the people. 17th : That subdivision 1 of section 353 of the said chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, provides that the bonded indebtedness of a school district, existing and outstanding at the time of the taking effect of this article shall be a charge against the property which is subject to tax for the main- tenance of the schools in such town or union free school district. 18th : Upon information and belief, that none of the said school districts in the said town have any bonded indebtedness with the exception of the said school district number 5 in said town which has a bonded indebtedness in the amount of $23,700; that prior to the enactment of the said chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, the aforesaid bonded indebtedness of said school district number 5 in said town had been created according to law by the vote of the qualified electors in said district; that bonds representing such indebtedness had been issued in accordance with law by the officers of said school district number 5. and that the principal and interest due upon said bonds became, were and continued to be an obligation of said school dis- trict number 5 and a charge upon the taxable property of said district; but go6 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK that said bonded indebtedness was not created, voted upon or authorized by this plaintiff or by any of the aforesaid electors or taxpayers of the said school district number 3 or of the other remaining school districts in said town, and has never been created, authorized or ratified by any of the school districts of said town with the exception of the said school dis- trict number 5 or by any elector or taxpayer therein; that the said act is unconstitutional and void and violates section 6 of article 1 of the con- stitution of the State of New York, and section 1 of article 14 of the con- stitution of the United States, which provide that no person shall be deprived of property without due process of law, in that said act attempts to charge against this plaintiff and against the taxpayers of the school districts of said town outside of said school district number 5, a bonded indebtedness, created by said school district number 5 and not created, authorized or in any respects ratified by the other school districts of said town or by this plaintiff or any other taxpayer in such other school districts. 19th : Upon information and belief, that, notwithstanding the premises and in alleged compliance with the provisions of said chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, what purported to be an election for membership in a town board of education for the said town of Caledonia was held in said town on or about the second Tuesday of July, 1917, and an alleged election took place at which the defendants Charles Menzie, Joseph A. Krenzer, Joseph D. Donohue, James C. Foote and Peter Carmichael were declared to be elected as the board of education of the said town of Caledonia, and thereafter, in alleged compliance with said amended act, took over the powers and duties of the said trustee of said school district number 3 and the control and management of its property and the property of the other school districts of said town, and thereafter proceeded to levy and assess against the taxable property within said town a school tax computed in alleged compliance with said amended act, levying the same at the aforesaid rate per $1000 of $6.50, and completed a tax list, affixed thereto a warrant for the collection thereof, and delivered the same to the aforesaid defendant Henry Feeley, the collector of said town, with directions to him to collect the tax so levied and assessed and to pay over the amount thereof to the school treasurer of said town. 20th : Upon information and belief, that, pursuant to the aforesaid levy and assessment of such tax, including a tax levied to pay the interest and part of the principal of the said bonded indebtedness of school district number 5 in said town, the said defendant Henry Feeley, as such collector, has been and is attempting to collect the same from this plaintiff and from the taxpayers of the school districts of said town hereinabove described, and is threatening, and has threatened, to proceed to attempt to enforce the collection of such tax out of the property of this plaintiff and of other taxpayers in said town unless such tax is paid. 21st: That prior to said amendment of the Education Law and for the year 1916-17 the school tax in district number 3 of said town levied and assessed upon the plaintiff's property therein and paid by this plaintiff amounted to the sum of $168.30; that since the said amendment the said alleged board of education have levied and assessed upon the property of the plaintiff in said school district number 3 a school tax for the present THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM gDJ year amounting to the sum of $729.30; that, by reason of said amendment, and the attempted- charge against the remaining districts of said town of the bonded indebtedness and interest thereon existing in said school district number 5, and the charge against the other districts of said town of a part of the expense of maintaining the said high school in the said village of Caledonia, the school taxes of all of the other school taxpayers in said school district number 3 in said town have been increased in the same proportionate amount as hereinabove stated with reference to this plaintiff, and the school taxes in each other school district of said town except the said school district number 5 have been also materially and largely increased. 22d: Upon information and belief, that this plaintiff is one of many tax- payers in the said school districts in the said town of Caledonia outside of the said school district number 5 who are and will be harrassed, prejudiced and damaged by the aforesaid acts and proceedings of said defendants under and pursuant to the said unconstitutional act of the Legislature; that the constitutional rights of many other taxpayers in said town have been and will be violated by the assessment and levy of said illegal tax and that many other taxpayers in said town having in common the same rights sought to be enforced herein by this plaintiff, are prepared to institute actions seek- ing the same relief hereinafter demanded or like relief in the event that such common relief can not be procured herein ; that this plaintiff has refused to pay the aforesaid illegal tax for the reasons above stated, and apprehends that the collection of such illegal tax will be enforced and his property seized to satisfy the same ; that he has no adequate remedy at law, and that this action is brought to prevent the consummation of the above described illegal acts and to obviate a multiplicity of actions by many other taxpayers similarly situated, and whose rights in the premises are similar to the rights of the plaintiff hereinabove described. WHEREFORE this plaintiff prays for a determination by this court that the said chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917 of the State of New York be declared unconstitutional, null and void, in that it violates the provisions of the con- stitution of the United States and the constitution of the State of New York, and in that more particularly it violates section 1 of article 14 of the constitu- tion of the United States, section 1 of article 9 and section 2 of article 10, and section 6 of article 1 of the constitution of the State of New York, and fur- thers, that the defendants and each of them be restrained from exercising any of the powers alleged by them to be vested in' them under the provisions of chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917. or any part thereof, and more especially that the said defendants be restrained from collecting or attempting to collect any school tax against the property of the plaintiff or of any of the taxpayers therein, pursuant to the said chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, and that pending the hearing and determination of this suit the said defendants be temporarily enjoined and restrained from doing any of the aforesaid things or performing any of the aforesaid acts, together with such other and further relief in the premises as to the court shall seem proper. Cook & Horton Plaintiff's Attorneys Office and Post Office Address, Geneseo, Livingston County, N. Y. 908 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Answer The defendants in the above-entitled action, answering the complaint of the plaintiff herein by A. M. Little, their attorney, deny upon information and belief, each and every allegation in said complaint contained in the sub- divisions thereof numbered " ninth," " fifteenth," " sixteenth," and so much of the " eighteenth " paragraph of said complaint as alleges that said act is unconstitutional, void and violates section 6 or article I of the constitution of the State of New York and section i of article 14 of the constitution of the United States which provide that no person shall be deprived of property without due process of law ; and so much of the " twenty-second " paragraph of said complaint as alleges that the constitutional rights of many other tax- payers in said town besides said plaintiff have been and will be violated by the assessment and levy of said alleged illegal tax ; and these said defendants allege by way of answer to said complaint and the whole thereof, upon information and belief, that chapter 321 of the Laws of 1917 and such portions thereof as are alleged and set forth in the complaint herein do not violate any of the provisions of the constitution of the State of New York or the constitution of the United States. WHEREFORE, said defendants demand judgment against the plaintiff dis- missing his said complaint, with costs. A. M. Little Attorney for Defendants Office and Post Office Address, 820 Gorman Insurance Building, Rochester, N. Y. Brief for Commissioner of Education Preliminary Statement The action herein is in equity brought by summons and complaint by James W. Wadsworth, a resident and taxpayer in school district no. 3, town of Caledonia, Livingston county, N. Y., against the town board of education of the town school unit comprising the school districts in such town, and the collector of such town, who is by virtue of his office the school collector of the town school unit. The plaintiff in his complaint prays for a determina- tion by this court that chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, being the so-called township school law, under which the defendant board of education was elected and assumes to act, be declared unconstitutional, null and void, and that the said defendant board of education " be restrained from exercising any of the powers alleged by them to be vested in them under the provisions of chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, or any part thereof, and more especially that the said defendants be restrained from collecting or attempting to collect any school tax against the property of the plaintiff or of any of the tax- payers therein." The plaintiff also asks that pending the hearing and determination of the suit the defendants be temporarily enjoined and restrained from doing any of the aforesaid things or performing any of the aforesaid acts. The plaintiff at the time of serving the summons and complaint in such action served notice that an application would be made at a special term of THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM O/X) the Supreme Court appointed to be held in and for the seventh judicial dis- trict at Supreme Court chambers in the village of Wayland, N. Y., on the 12th day of January, 1918, for an order temporarily enjoining and restrain- ing the defendants from collecting or attempting to collect any school tax against the property of the plaintiff or of any of the taxpayers in such town under authority of such chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, pending the hear- ing and determination of this suit. By agreement of the attorneys for the parties, the hearing on the motion was adjourned to such time as might be designated by Mr Justice Clark. Hon. John H. Finley, Commissioner of Education of the State of New York, appears by Frank B. Gilbert, Esq., Counsel to the University, amicus curiae. The defendant board of education has served an answer which in substance admits such allegations in the complaint as are material to a determination of the constitutionality of the law. It is obvious that if the act under the circumstances is declared to be unconstitutional the plaintiff is entitled to. the relief which he seeks. It should be assumed that unless it be established by weight of authority that such act is clearly unconstitutional the defendant board of education and town school collector should not be restrained temporarily from performing their official acts pending the trial and the determination of the suit. It seems appropriate, therefore, that the court upon this motion should consider and determine the main question as to the constitutionality of the law. If the court determines that the law is consti- tutional, no further question remains for determination and judgment should be rendered against the plaintiff. Statement of Facts The sole question involved in the suit is one of law. The following allega- tions in the plaintiff's complaint may be admitted without affecting the issues raised : 1 That the plaintiff is a resident and taxpayer of the town of Caledonia, Livingston county, and of school district no. 3 of said town. 2 That the defendants, Charles Menzie, Joseph A. Krenzer, Joseph D. Donohue, Tames C. Foote and Peter Carmichael, constitute the board of education of the town of Caledonia, Livingston county, under and pursuant to chapter 328 of the Laws of 191 7, and that the defendant Henry Feeley is the collector of taxes for such town and as such is, under such chapter, the collector of school taxes therein. 3 That the school tax rates for district no. 3, town of Caledonia, and the other districts specified in paragraphs 10 and 11 of the plaintiff's complaint, for the school year of 1916-17 are as indicated in such paragraphs, and that the tax rate for the unit comprising all the school districts in the town of Caledonia for the school year of 1917-18 is $6.50 on $1000. 4 That the assessed valuation of the taxable property in union free school district no. 5, which includes the village of Caledonia in said town, is $1,241,- 546 and that the rate of tax therein for the school year 1916-17 was about $10 per $1000, and that the tax rate for the town school unit of which such union free school districts becomes a part is, for the school year of 1917-18, $6.50 per $1000. 9IO THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 5 That union free school district no. 5, Caledonia, has a bonded indebted- ness of $23,700 and that such indebtedness was created for the purpose of erecting a new schoolhouse in such district and was authorized by the vote of the qualified electors thereof, and that the bonds representing such indebtedness were issued in accordance with law by the officers of such union free school district no. 5, and that under and in accordance with the terms of such bonds they were at the time of their issuance obligations of such union free school district and a charge upon the taxable property thereof. That the bonded indebtedness of such union free school district was not created, voted upon or authorized by the qualified electors of district no. 3 or any of the other districts of the town school unit, and such indebted- ness has never been created, authorized or ratified by any of the school dis- tricts of such town with the exception of such union free school district no. 5. 6 That the Defendants, Menzie, Krenzer, Donohue, Foote and Carmichael, were elected members of the board of education of the town of Caledonia under and pursuant to the provisions of chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917. on or about the second Tuesday of June, 1917, by the trustees of the several common school districts and the members of the board of education of union free school district no. 5, and that on August 1, 1917, the defendant board of education took over the powers and duties of the trustees of the school dis- tricts comprising the town school unit of Caledonia and the control and management of the property of such districts, and thereafter proceeded to levy and collect a tax for school purposes and to conduct and maintain the necessary schools in such town, pursuant to the provisions of the township school law and the Education Law. It is alleged in the tenth paragraph of the plaintiff's complaint (fol. 20) that the effect of the township law, " although quadrupling the school tax in said district no. 3, is to confer no benefit upon said school district no. 3 whatsoever." And it is further alleged in the eleventh paragraph (fol. 22) that the tax rate formerly existing in the school districts outside of union free school district no. 5 has been increased to $6.50 per $1000, " without any added henefits accruing to said school districts excepting said shool district no. 5." And again in the twelfth paragraph (fols. 24-25;) it is alleged that " by the provisions of said amended act the school tax rate per $1000 during the present year in said school district no. 5 is reduced to the rate of $6.50 per $1000 by the automatic charge of a large part of the amount necessary to be raised for school purposes in said school district no. 5 against the other districts in said town hereinbefore mentioned, without any added benefit to said last mentioned school districts, many of which are situated several miles from said village in a farming community, inaccessible to the school in said village, and from which it would be extremely difficult and impracticable, even if not impossible, for children of school age to attend said school." In this connection the court will perhaps take notice of the fact that school district no. 3 and the other districts outside of the Caledonia union free school district are common school districts maintaining elementary schools, each with a single teacher, while the school maintained in the union free school district is a department school having a high school g : ving academic THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 91 1 instruction. Such school is a graded school with a supervising principal and eleven teachers. Under section 341 of the township school law, all the pupils residing in the town may obtain the privileges of this school without payment of tuition. A pupil who completes the work in any of the elementary schools in the common school districts in the town may obtain academic instruction in the Caledonia high school without additional cost. The records of the Education Department show that a number of academic pupils have been in attendance at the Caledonia High School in the past, and it should be noted that this high school is as conveniently accessible to the pupils in the other districts in the town as any other high school in the vicinity, and that if it does appear that pupils who have completed elementary courses in the schools in the commfon school districts may be more con- veniently instructed in the high schools of adjoining towns, they may be transferred thereto and the board of education of the Caledonia town school unit will be required to provide the cost of instruction. (See township school law sec. 342). It is not the purpose of the law to abandon existing schools in the several school districts of the town. The children therein will not be required to attend upon instruction in the Caledonia village school. The law gives pupils who have obtained all that they can from the schools in the districts where they reside the privilege of attending upon advanced instruction without addi- tional cost at the high school in the village of Caledonia. The Caledonia High School is a substantial educational asset to the town of Caledonia. Without it the children in the outlying districts would be compelled to go a much greater distance to attend upon academic instruction. District no. 3, in which the plaintiff resides, has, according to the records of the Education Department, twenty-five pupils registered as in attendance at the school in the district, while there are 350 pupils registered in attendance at the school in union free school district no. 5. The assessed valuation in district no. 3 is $405,000, while that in union free school district no. 5 is $1,241,000, so that the taxable resources of district no. 3 for each pupil are about five times those in union free school district no. 5. The same inequality of tax burden in comparison with union free school district no. 5 may be shown in the other common school districts comprising the Caledonia town school unit. School district no. 3 and many of the other districts have within their limits very valuable farm lands and are also favored by tax revenues derived from the assessment of railroad and other corporate property. Many of them are relieved of an appropriate tax burden for school purposes because of a lack of children to be educated. The inference may be drawn from the paragraphs in which the plaintiff attempts to show the injustice of the present law in imposing upon them the burden of contributing to the maintenance of schools for the education of children who do not reside within the restricted limits of their small districts, that in all cases the burden of paying the cost of the education of the children of the State mlust fall upon the particular community in which such children reside. This does not conform to the true theory of public education. The State under the constitution owes to its children, as a matter of state concern, the duty of providing school facilities for all of them, wherever they may be situated. If a community lacks 912 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK financial resources, its children must not because of such fact be deprived of educational facilities. Entirely apart from the fact that the children resid- ing in the plaintiff's district and the other common school districts of the town will be benefited by the privilege of attending upon instruction in the high school in the village of Caledonia, the law may not be attacked justly because of the consolidation of the several districts in the town, resulting in the extension of the burden over the taxable property therein. We have long since departed from the theory that the education of the child must be paid for by the person directly interested in such child. Public education is a proper subject of taxation. A taxpayer may not be relieved of the duty of paying a tax because the property taxed is remote from the school maintained. The determination of the territorial extent of the school tax unit is within the exclusive control of the Legislature. Analysis of Township Law For the sole purpose of informing the court as to the object, operation and effect of the township school law, it seems advisable to include in this brief a concise analysis of such law. No attempt is made to convince thf> court of the wisdom of its provisions. The questions of policy as to school administration and maintenance must of course be addressed to the Legis- lature, and the court is only concerned in a determination of the validity of the law and of the meaning and application of its provisions. I assume, how- ever, that it will be helpful to the court to know something of the arguments presented to the Legislature in obtaining the enactment of the law. a Object of Law Chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, referred to herein as the township law, was enacted by the State Legislature upon the recommendation of the State Education Department and the Regents of the University. The proposal to unify the rural school districts into a town school system has been before conferences, conventions and associations of teachers, school superintendents and organized bodies of school authorities for many years, and has been unqualifiedly approved by them. A bill substantially in the same form and accomplishing the same purpose was introduced in the Legislatures of 191 5 and 1916. It has been recognized by leading educational experts as a pronounced advance in the solution of our problem of rural education. Three important and positive beneficial results are accomplished by the law : First. It tends to improve the educational opportunities of the children of our rural communities and to equalize the school facilities to be furnished to them. It does this by giving to the children of the districts comprised in the town school unit the privileges of all schools in all the districts therein, and by providing for their academic instruction in high schools and academic departments in other units, districts or cities, where no such instruction is provided in the schools in the community within which they reside. It authorizes provision for transportation, so that children in remote portions of the school unit may obtain school privileges which otherwise would be inaccessible. It provides for more effective supervision of instruction and requires standardization of school buildings and equipment. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 913 Second. It increases efficiency of scnool administration in that it reduces the number of school organizations and of school officers :md employees. Under the former system there were in the neighborhood of 11,000 school districts having one or three school trustees, a district clerk, collector, and in many cases a treasurer. Besides that, there were in the neighborhood of 600 union free school districts having a population of less than 1500, with a board of education of from three to nine members and a district clerk, col- lector and treasurer. In place of this arnty of school officers we have under the present system less than one thousand town school units, with from three to five trustees and a district clerk and treasurer. School taxes are now payable to the same tax collector as town and other taxes. The administra- tion of the school system of the State outside of cities and union free school districts having a population of fifteen hundred or more, is now concentrated in a compact body of men who may be held directly responsible to the qualified electors of the town school unit, and through whom supervising officers, including the State Education Department, may reach definitely and effectively the persons in charge of school administration. Under the former system a school trusteeship was regarded as an irksome burden, too fre- quently shunned by men competent to administer affairs of importance. Under the present law it is anticipated that business men prominent in their communities will be willing to assume responsibility for the proper mainte- nance of the schools in the town in which they live. Third. It equalizes the burden of taxation for the support of our rural schools throughout the State. Thousands of instances might be given where because of some favorable situation the taxpayers in one district have practically avoided the payment of any substantial school tax, while in tfcr near neighborhood, across the street, the highway or the stream, a more unfortunate neighbor has been burdened with an excessive tax. In hundreds of districts, owing to the operation of the law whereby contracts might be made with adjoining districts for the instruction of the pupils of a district and public money has been available to meet the contract obligation, the property of the district has been entirely without the burden of a school tax Hundreds of districts having an assessed valuation of less than $20,000 have required to maintain schools with one, two and somletimes three teachers, making a tax almost unbearable, while in a less populous but more wealthy community a school with few pupils has been maintained for a nominal sum. The extension of the unit from the district to the town has materially improved this situation. By spreading the tax over a more extended territory the districts so placed as to include within their limits valuable corporate and other property have been required to share their privileges and advantages with adjoining districts less fortunately situated. Naturally, the complaints come from those districts where because of this attempt at equalization there has been substantial increase in the burden of the tax required to maintain our State system! of education. The educational advantages to be obtained from the application of the provisions of the township law will outweigh the increased cost to the taxpayer who because of fortuitous advantage of location has for a generation or more been little affected by the cost of school maintenance, if he has in mind the importance of providing effectively for the education of the children of the State. 914 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Hon. Thomas E. Finegan, Deputy Commlissioner of Education, has made a careful investigation of the benefits to be derived from the so-called township system. He has written many articles and addresses upon this subject. Reference is made especially to an article prepared by him, included in the Annual Report of the State Education Department for 1916, entitled " The Township Law." Such article is appended to this brief. b Provisions of Township Law The following salient features of the new law are properly to be con- sidered in comprehending its purpose and effect: 1 The school districts of the State are continued under section 330, so far as their territorial extent is concerned, until consolidated as provided therein. The purpose of this provision is to retain such districts for maintenance of existing schools therein, so that a town board of education may not arbitrarily abandon a schoolhouse and compel the children to attend that in another district, unless it be upon order of the district superintendent and approval of the qualifieed electors of the districts and town. 2 The school districts in a town, including both common and union free school districts, are included within the town school unit and a board of education is established therein. Union free school districts having a popu- lation of fifteen hundred or more or employing fifteen teachers or more on May 2, 1917, the timle of the taking effect of the law, are excepted from the provisions of the act. An exception is also made as to the school districts in the towns of a county which adjoins a city having a population of one million or more and in which there are only two district superintendents. (See township law, sec. 331, subd. 1). If a town has two or more union free school districts having a population of less than fifteen hundred and each maintaining an academic department, the town is divided into as many town school units as there are such union free school districts situated in such town, and a board of education is established for each town school unit. The division of the town is miade by the district superintendent. 3 The board of education in a town or a' town school unit having under its jurisdiction five school districts or less consists of three members. In all other towns and town school units such board consist of five members. The term of office of each of the members of the board begins on the first day of August following his election. (Township law, sec. 331 subd. 1). 4 The annual meeting of each board of education is held on the first Tuesday in August in each year. The board organizes by the election of one of its members as chairman and is required to appoint a clerk and a town school treasurer. (Township law, sec. 333, 337). 5 The board of education of each town is a corporation. All property vested in or hereafter transferred to the board of education of a town or a town school unit for the use of the schools therein is held by such board in trust for the schools of the town or unit as a corporation. (Township law, Sec. 33$) ■ 6 The first board of education of each town and town school unit was to be elected by the trustees and members of the boards of education of the several school districts therein. The meeting for such purpose was held on the second Tuesday in June, 1917. Such trustees and members of boards of THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 915 education of the school districts comprised in the town or unit constituted a board for the purpose of electing the first board of education. (See town- ship law, sec. 354, subdivision 1). The terms of office of the members first elected are prescribed in section 331, subdivision 1. In a town or unit hav- ing a board consisting of three members, one is to hold until August 1, 1918, one until August I, 1919, and one until August 1, 1920. Their successors are required by section 554 to be elected at the annual school meeting. Sec- tions 355-364 inclusive provide for the time and place of holding the annual meeting, the qualifications of voters at school meetings, the determination of the qualifications, the making of nominations, appointment of inspectors, the con- duct of school elections and the canvass of votes cast thereat, with the declara- tion of the result. These sections provide a new method of holding school elections and were designed to remedy a rather glaring defect in the laws which have been in existence in the past, controlling the conduct of school elections. The former law which controlled as to school elections in common school districts provided no method of ascertaining in advance the qualifica- tions of those who offered to vote for school officers and upon school appro- priations. It is proposed in the scheme included in the township law to pre- pare in advance a list of the qualified electors of the town and permit inspection of such list of electors, so that in advance of the election the qualifications of those who offer to vote may be ascertained. The scheme will result in prevention of fraudulent voting at contested school elections and avoid in the future many contests such as have arisen as to election of school officers and the voting of appropriations for school improvements. It was not possible to apply this method to elections of the members of the first board because of the time that would be required in the prepara- tion of the lists and in organizing the necessary machinery. For this reason the plan was devised of providing for the election of the first board by trustees and boards of education in office at the time of the taking effect of the law, and by providing that their successors should be elected in the method prescribed for the holding and conduct of annual school meetings. 7 The board of education of the town or town school unit assumes the functions, exercises the powers and performs the duties theretofore conferred or imposed by law upon the boards of education or trustees of the school dis- tricts comprising such town or school unit. Powers other than those for- merly possessed by boards of education or trustees of school districts are conferred upon the town board of education. The object of the extension of the powers was to impose upon the board of education of the town a responsibilhy for school conditions which was not imposed under prior laws. Section 340 of the township law provides that any power, duty, liability or obligation conferred by any law upon the board of education of a union free school district or the trustees of a common school district are to be exercised or performed by the board of education of a town. 8 The board of education of a town is authorized by section 342 to transfer pupils from a district in the town to a school in another town, where acces- sibility or convenience requires it. Provision is made for an arrangement for the payment of the cost of such instruction by the town where the pupils reside to the town board of the town in which the pupils are instructed. Under this provision, if a town board of education does not see fit to pro- 916 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK vide academic instruction in any school of the town, an agreement may be made with the board of education of another town or union free school dis- trict or city, whereby such children will receive academic instruction at the expense of the town. It is provided in section 341 that all the schools of the town are to be free to the children residing therein, so that if one district furnishes advanced instruction all the children of the town may receive the benefit thereof, while under the former system the children were restricted exclusively to the school maintained within the limits of the district. 9 Under section 343 the board of education of a town is authorized to designate a new schoolhouse site or enlarge the site of an existing school- house. The board may expend in any one year an amount not exceeding one- half of one per cent of the assessed valuation of the property within the town school unit, and in no case in excess of five thousand dollars, for the improvement of school buildings, without a vote of a town school meeting. If it is proposed to exceed this amount a vote of the qualified electors of the district is required. 10 The board is required to prepare the annual school budget, including items of necessary expenditure. The form of the budget is prescribed by the Commissioner of Education. If the amount included therein is not sufficient to meet the requirements of the schools of the town, the board may prepare and issue a supplemental tax budget. (See township law, sec. 345). 11 The board of education is required to cause to be levied and assessed against the taxable property in the town the amount specified in the tax budget. A tax list is prepared and a warrant attached thereto and placed in the hands of the town collector of taxes for collection. The provisions of the Education Law relative to the assessment and collection of taxes for school purposes apply to the assessment and collection of school taxes in towns. (See township law, sec. 346). 12 If the board of education of a town deems it necessary to expend an amount exceeding the sum of five thousand dollars, it may call a school meeting to vote upon a proposition therefor. Such proposition may be sub- mitted at an annual school meeting. Where it is proposed to vote an appro- priation, provision is made for the levy and collection of a tax in instal- ments and the issue and sale of town school bonds. (See township law, sec. 348, 349). A town board of education may borrow money in anticipation of the levy and collection of a tax for any of the purposes specified in the budget or supplemental budget filed with the clerk of the board of education. (Township law, sec. 347). Provisions Attacked as Unconstitutional The plaintiff in his complaint prays for a determination by this court " that the said chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917 of the State of New York be declared unconstitutional, null and void, in that it violates the provisions of the constitution of the United States and the constitution of the State of New York, and in that more particularly it violates section 1 of article 14 of the constitution of the United States, section 1 of article 9 and section 2 of article 10, and section 6 of article 1 of the constitution of the State of New York." THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 917 The court is therefore asked to determine in the action that the law is uncon- stitutional because in violation of the provisions of the constitution referred to in the prayer for relief. The question at issue involves a determination as to the specific provisions of the law alleged to be violative of certain pro- visions of the United States and state constitutions. It is assumed that the provisions referred to are all that are complained of by the plaintiff in this action, and that if it be determined that the specific provisions which are attacked are not in violation of the constitution the law will be sustained, the preliminary injunction denied and the plaintiff's complaint dismissed upon proper motion therefor. The law is asserted to be unconstitutional in the following respects : 1 In paragraph 9 of the plaintiff's complaint it is alleged that the act is unconstitutional and void in that it violates section 1 of article 9 of the con- stitution of the State of New York, which requires that " The Legislature shall provide for the maintenance and support of a system of free common schools, wherein all of the children of this State may be educated." It is not alleged in what respect any particular provision of the law deprives the children of the State of the privilege conferred upon them by the constitution. It is not alleged that any specific provision of the statute is violative of this constitutional provision. 2 In the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth paragraphs of the complaint it is alleged in effect that section 354 of the township law, which provides that " The first board of education of each town thereof shall be elected by the trustees and members of the boards of education of the several school districts in such town, subject to the provisions of this article" is unconstitutional and void because in violation of section 2 of article X of the constitution, which provides that "All other officers whose election or appointment is not provided for by this constitution, and all officers whose offices may hereafter be created by law, shall be elected by the people, or appointed as the Legislature may direct." It is contended that the provision of section 354 relating to the election of the first board of education does not provide for the election of the said board of education by the people, and that it is not an appointment within the meaning of the constitutional provision, and that therefore it is in viola- tion of the constitution. 3 It is contended that subdivision 1 of section 353 of the law, which pro- vides that the bonded indebtedness of a school district existing and out- standing at the time of the taking effect of the article shall be a charge against the property which is subject to tax for the maintenance of the schools of such town, is in violation of the constitution, presumably section 1 of article VI of the state constitution and article XIV of the constitution of the United States, in that the plaintiff and other taxpayers in district no. 3 and other districts of the town of Caledonia, except union free school dis- trict no. 5 of such town, are deprived of their rights and property without due process of law. Under this provision the bonded indebtedness of union free school district no. 5, in the amount of $23,700 which was outstanding at the time of the taking effect of the township lawi, was transferred to and became a charge against all of the taxable property in the town school unit of Caledonia. It is contended that since the taxpayers and qualified electors 9l8 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK of the districts outside of union free school district no. 5 of such town did not have the opportunity of voting for the erection of a new school building in the union free school district and did not authorize the issue and sale of bonds therefor, they can not be taxed to pay the principal and interest of such bonds. The plaintiff's right of action depends upon a determination of the validity of the provisions to which he has referred in his complaint. Our argument will therefore be directed to the questions thus raised by him. Points i The township school law has been declared constitutional in all its material features in the case of Brown against Bunselmeyer, and the determination therein should control the determination in this case. The provisions of the township school law (Laws of 1917, chap. 328) which are attacked in this section were also attacked in the case of Brown and others, constituting the board of trustees of school district No. 8, town of Greenburgh, Westchester county, against William Bunselmeyer and others, constituting the town board of education for the town of Green- burgh, Westchester county. The constitutional questions which are raised by the plaintiff in this case were also raised and passed upon by Mr Justice Young of the Supreme Court, Westchester county. This case will be reported in the Official Advance Sheets, 101 Misc. 625. There is sub- mitted herewith a copy of the opinion of Mr. Justice Young in the Green- burgh case. A comparison of the complaint in this action with the com- plaint in the Greenburgh case shows clearly enough that the complaint herein was prepared after examination of the complaint in the Greenburgh case, and the prayer for relief is substantially the same in both complaints. In the Greenburgh case a determination was sought declaring the law unconstitutional " in that it violates the .provisions of the constitution of the United States and the constitution of the State of New York, and in that more particularly it violates section 1 of article XIV of the Constitution of the United States, section 1 of article IX and section 2 of article X of the constitution of the State of New York." In this case the com- plaint seeks a declaration that the law is unconstitutional because of viola- tion of the constitutional provisions referred to in the Greenburgh case, and in addition thereto that it is in violation of section 6 of article I of the constitution of the State of New York. The purpose of seeking a determination that the law is unconstitutional as being in violation of section 6 of article I of the state constitution is apparently to bring before the court the provisions of subdivision 1 of section 353 of the township school law, which provides that the bonded indebtedness of a school district existing and outstanding at the time of the taking effect of the law shall be a charge against the property which is subject to tax for the maintenance of the schools in each town. It is alleged in the eighteenth paragraph of the plaintiff's complaint that by virtue of this provision bonded indebtedness in the amount of $23,700 which was outstanding against union free school district No. 5 of the town of Caledonia, has become the bonded indebtedness of all of the other districts in the town, and that as a result thereof the plaintiff and THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 919 other taxpayers similarly situated residing in the other districts of the town have been deprived of their property without due process of law. If the provision referred to is unconstitutional upon this ground, it is in violation of section 1 of the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the United States as well as of section 6 of article I of the constitution of the State of New York. This question was before Mr Justice Young in the Greenburgh case and was passed upon by him in his decision. It was contended by the plain- tiffs in the Greenburgh case that the exception contained in section 33:1 of the law, of a county adjoining a city having a population of one million or more and in which there are only two district superintendents, violates the provisions of the fourteenth amendment of the United States con- stitution in that it unlawfully discriminates against the citizens of West- chester county and denies to them the equal protection of the laws. It was contended that this exception was purely arbitrary and unreasonable and that it unfairly discriminated against the towns in Westchester count}'. This provision is not attacked in this case. A careful analysis and examination of the opinion of Mr Justice Young will thus show that he has sustained the constitutionality of the law as to all of its provisions which are attacked in this action. The opinion shows that he gave careful attention to all of the points presented by plaintiffs' counsel. He reviewed carefully all of the cases cited, both for and against the constitutionality of the law, and the grounds for his conclusions are stated concisely and expressed clearly. His opinion, it is suggested, should have great weight in controlling the determination of this case. 2 The act does not violate section 1 of article IX of the constitution, which requires the Legislature to provide for the maintenance and support of a system of free common schools. The plaintiff in the ninth paragraph of his complaint alleges that the act is unconstitutional and void in that it violates section 1 of article IX of the constitution of the State of New York, which provides that " The Legislature shall provide for the maintenance and support of a sys- tem of free common schools wherein all of the children of this State may be educated." It does not appear in what respect the law contravenes this section of the constitution. The complaint alleges in the paragraph referred to that " Said provision of the constitution is intended to guarantee to all of the children of the State equality of opportunity for securing free common school education and that the same educational privileges shall be given equally to all persons in the same class." It is submitted that the township school law was enacted in full conformity with this constitutional provision. It provides for a uniform system of school administration in all of the school districts comprising the town school unit and mlakes all of the schools in the town free to all children residing therein. The children who have completed the elementary grades in the school in the district in which the plaintiff resides may under this law have the same equal privileges as children residing in union free school district no. 5 of the town of Caledonia, in respect to attendance upon academic instruction in the high school to be maintained by the town in such district. 920 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK One object which is accomplished by this law is the equalizing of school facilities and opportunity in the districts comprising the town school unit. Under the law the schools in the several districts are not to be abandoned, but are to be continued until it is determined by the qualified electors of the several districts that they should be consolidated. School privileges are thus amply protected under the township law, and the opportunity of attend- ing academic or other special courses of instruction is extended to all the children of the town. The township law was enacted, therefore, in strict compliance with the mandate of the constitution requiring the maintenance of a " system of free common schools, wherein all the children of this State may be educated." 3 The provision made for the election of the first board of education in towns does not violate section 2 of article X of the state constitution. It is provided in article X, of the state constitution as follows: "All city, town and village officers, whose election or appointment is not provided for by this constitution, shall be elected by the electors of such cities, towns and villages, or of some division thereof, or appointed by such authorities thereof, as the Legislature shall designate for that purpose. All other officers, whose election or appointment is not provided for by this con- stitution, and all officers, whose offices may hereafter be created by law, shall be elected by the people, or appointed as the Legislature may direct." The plaintiff in his complaint sets forth in full the provisions of section 354 of the township school law, which provides in subdivision 1 thereof that "The first board of education of each town thereof shall be elected by the trustees and members of the board of education of the several school districts in such town, subject to the provisions of this article." It is contended that all of the provisions of the section relating to the election of the first board of education are unconstitutional, in that the provision for the election of the first board of education does not provide for the election of such board by the people. This question was presented by the plaintiff in the Greenburgh case, supra. In passing upon it Mr Justice Young says : " The question presented is whether the word ' election ' as used in the section under review, as well as the method prescribed for such election, was an election withm the meaning of that word employed in the constitutional provision referred to ; or was it simply equivalent 'to an appointment by the boards of education of the town jointly assembled for that purpose? If it was an election as distinguished from appointment, this section of the statute can not be upheld. In determining this question, it is necessary to consider the substance of the statute rather than its mere form. If then, we substi- tute for the words ' elect,' ' elected ' and ' election ' the words ' appoint,' ' appointed ' and ' appointment,' it could hardly be argued that because the statute prescribed a method of voting, it was an election, rather than an appointment. Plainly, the only means by which a board of that character could make an appointment would be by voting. The substitution above re- ferred to neither adds to nor detracts from the substance of the statute. The method pusued and the result obtained are precisely the same, whichever language is employed, and I do not think that a statute should be held uncon- stitutional merely because the Legislature has employed the word 'election ' for what is plainly nothing but an appointment within the meaning of the constitution." It is true that the statute says the first board of education of each town shall be " elected " by the trustees and members of the boards of education THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 921 of the several school districts in such town. The trustees and members of the boards of education in office when the act took effect were constituted a board for the purpose of selecting the persons who should form the first town board of education. The Legislature devised this procedure for the purpose of expediting the organization of the boards of education in the several towns. Subsequent elections were to be held in accordance with the somewhat elaborate provisions of the statute. If this procedure had been followed in the election of the first board of education, there would have been considerable delay in the selection of the new boards and their induction into office. The Legislature has termed what m?ay properly be deemed an appoint- ment as an election, and has used the term " elected " with the same signifi- cance and meaning as would ordinarily apply to the word " appointed." If the selection of the first board by the trustees and members of boards of education of districts in the town is in effect an appointment, it is none the less so because the Legislature has seen fit to call it an election. The plaintiff's contention, therefore, as to the constitutionality of this provision resolves itself into a mere quibble with respect to the use of words. A procedure which the Legislature may provide within its constitutional powers is contended to be unlawful and unconstitutional for the purpose of con- struing the act, simply because the Legislature has called such procedure an election, not because of any objection to the procedure itself. There can be nothing of substance in such a contention. The same contention has been made in other cases, and so far as we are able to ascertain there has never been a case where a method of choosing officers which in effect was an appointment, was declared unconstitutional because it was termed an election. The authorities in fact are all to the contrary. In People v. Sturgess, 27 App. Div. 387, affd. 156 N. Y. 580, it was held that chapter 247 of the Laws of 1895, providing for the "election " of a village president by the board of trustees of a village, is not unconstitu- tional under this section as designating a mode of selecting that officer other than an election by the people or an appointment by local authority. It was there held that the " election " by the trustees was equivalent to " appoint- ment " within the meaning of section 2 of article X of the state constitution. In Sturgis v. Spofford, 45 N. Y. 446, it appeared that chapter 467 of the Laws of 1853 provided that three commissioners of pilots should be " elected " by the members of the chamber of commerce and the other two by the presidents and vice presidents of the marine insurance companies of the city of New York represented in the board of underwriters of said city. It was contended that this provision was violative of section 2 of article X of the state constitution because it did not in terms provide that such officer should be " appointed " or elected by the people. The court held that the act was not unconstitutional, saying: "Although the word election is used in the statute, it can not be supposed that the legislature intended it in any such sense as that word is used in the constitution, or as the result of the choice by the ordinary mode of voting by the people. The mode prescribed by the statute for selecting these offi- cers is, in legal effect, an appointment, and comes within the meaning of that word as used in the constitution, and the misnomer of the legislature can not change the real character of the act provided for." (Page 449) 922 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK In State Board of Pharmacy v. Bellinger, 138 App. Div. 12, it was held that article IX of the public health law, creating the State Board of Pharmacy, was not violative of section 2 of article X of the state constitu- tion because it provided that the members of the board should be " elected " by a restricted electorate of licensed pharmacists, for while the statute used the word " election," the method of selection amounted in legal effect to an appointment. The decision in the Pharmacy case cited Sturgis v. Spofford (supra) and of it said : " This authority is decisive on the point now raised." We respectfully submit that these decisions of the courts of New York are controlling upon this question and conclusively establish the proposition that where a statute uses the term " election " and the method described is that of an appointment, the requirements of the constitutional provision have been met. 4 The provisions of the law transferring to the town school unit property belonging to the school districts included therein, and imposing upon the town school unit the bonded indebtedness of such districts, are not uncon- stitutional because in violation of section 6 of article I of the State constitution and section 1 of article XIV of the United States constitution, which provide that no person shall be deprived of property without due process of law. Section 353 of the township school law provides in effect that the bonded indebtedness of the school districts in a town which are subject to the provisions of the law shall be a charge against the property which is subject to tax for the maintenance of the schools in such town. Such section also provides for the taking over by the town school unit of the school property in the several districts in such unit. A method is prescribed for the appraisal of the value of such school property, and when so appraised, after deducting bonded indebtedness, the balance becomes a charge against the town and certificates are to be issued on account thereof to the taxpayers of the several districts representing the value of the property thereof, which certificates are payable in annual instalments out of moneys raised by tax upon the taxable property of the town. The plaintiff in this action alleges that union free school district no. 5 in the tOAvn of Caledonia has a bonded indebtedness in the amount of $23,700, which under the law becomes a charge against the other districts in the town. It is alleged, and of course conceded, that the taxpayers in the other districts of the town had no voice in the incurring of such indebtedness. It is contended that the charge made against the plaintiff and the other taxpayers of the school districts of such town outside of such union free school district no. 5 on account of such bonded indebted- ness deprives the plaintiff and such taxpayers of property without due process of law. The township law, in section 340, substitutes the board of education of the town school unit for the trustees and board of education of the districts comprising such unit, and confers upon such town board the power to control and maintain all school property in the unit. All of the districts in the unit are united in one district for administrative and tax purposes. All such districts are dissolved, so far as their administrative THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 923 functions are concerned, and the territory therein has been consolidated in one unit. It has been the law in this State for more than fifty years that the establishment of school districts or alteration of their boundaries and the consolidation of school districts, is within the control of the Legislature, and provision has always been made for such establishment, alteration or consolidation by authorities indicated by the Legislature. For instance, in sections 128 and 129 of the Education Law, which was originally enacted in 1864, (chap. 555, tit. 6, sec. 8) the school commissioner (now district superintendent) might dissolve one or more school districts and annex the territory thereof to adjoining districts or consolidate such districts into a new district. Where such dissolution and consolidation was effected, the law provided, in section 137, that the property of such districts should become the property of the consolidated district. And in section 134-a, as amended by Laws of 1913, chapter 129, it is provided that where districts are consolidated under sections 128 and 132 the bonded indebtedness of the dissolved districts becomes the bonded indebtedness of the consolidated district. Numerous controversies have arisen in the courts and before the Commissioner of Education and the former Superintendents of Public Instruction involving the validity and effect of such consolidation. No question has ever been raised in any of these cases as to the constitutional power of the Legislature to transfer to the consolidated district the prop- erty of the dissolved districts, or to impose upon the consolidated district the bonded indebtedness of the dissolved districts. The question here raised is identical with that which has been and may be raised in a case where the Legislature has increased the territorial extent of a municipality and provided that the property of the annexed territory should become that of the municipality and the indebtedness of such annexed territory should become a charge upon the consolidated munici- pality. There have been many notable instances where the Legislature has altered and enlarged cities, towns, villages and school districts, and transferred public property to and imposed outstanding indebtedness upon the newly constituted city, town, village or school district. Such legisla- tion has been enacted as to very many of the cities of the State. Greater New York as now constituted is made up of counties, cities and villages which were included therein under the Greater New York charter of 1897. Section 5 of such charter provided that all valid debts of the municipal corporations, towns, villages and school districts, therein united and consolidated, as well as the debts of the city of New York, shall be the common debt of the city of New York, etc. Numerous cases have arisen involving questions as to the payment of such debts, but in no case has the validity of the transfer of the debts been successfully attacked. As stated by Judge Young in the Greenburgh case (page 8 of pamphlet) " The right of the Legislature to alter and enlarge towns, villages and school districts, to transfer the public property affected to the newly created town, village or district, and to charge it with outstanding indebtedness, has never, so far as I have been able to find, been questioned by any decision in this State." It is respecttully insisted that in view of the many occasions where the Legislature has enacted legislation of this kind, if such provisions are 924 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK unconstitutional for the reasons stated by the plaintiff herein the courts would have long since declared their invalidity. It is a general proposition, established by weight of authority in everv jurisdiction, that the Legislature has full control over the creation of municipalities and the determination of the territory to be included within their boundaries. If the Legislature declares that the territorial extent of a municipality shall be increased by annexation, the municipal property included in the annexed territory becomes the property of the enlarged municipality unless contrary provision is made. And so where the Legis- lature consolidates two or more municipalities or enlarges one munici- pality by the transfer of territory from another, it may make the con- solidated or annexing municipality liable for the indebtedness of all the municipalities included therein. 28 CYC 220, and cases cited. It is stated in Dillon on Municipal Corporations, 5th edition, section 355, that " Not only may the legislature originally fix the limits of the corporation, but it may, unless specially restrained in the constitution, subsequently annex or authorize the annexation of contiguous or other territory, and this with- out the consent and even against the remonstrance of the majority of the persons residing in the corporation or on the annexed territory; and it is no constitutional objection to the exercise of this power of compulsory annexation that the property thus brought within the corporate limits will be subject to taxation to discharge a preexisting municipal indebtedness, since this is a matter which in the absence of special constitutional restric- tion belongs wholly to the legislature to determine." And in section 357 it is stated: " The legislature may in the absence of a constitutional restriction dissolve a county, city or town and incorporate its territory and inhabitants in new political organizations or divisions. If a municipal corporation goes out of existence by being annexed to or merged in another corporation and if no legislative provision is made respecting the property and liabilities of the corporation which ceases to exist, the corporation to which it is annexed or in which it is merged is entitled to all its property and is answerable for all its liabilities." This statement is approved of in the case of Huffmire v. City of Brooklyn, 162 N. Y. 584, 587, where it is stated that " Where a municipal corporation is legislated out of existence and its ter- ritory annexed to another, the latter, unless the Legislature otherwise pro- vided, is entitled to the property and liable for the debts of the former." In the case of Mount Pleasant v. Beckwith, 100 U. S. 514, the court says: " Old towns may be divided and new ones incorporated out of parts of the territory of those previously organized, and in enacting such regulations the legislature may apportion the common property and the common burdens, and may as between the parties in interest settle all the terms and conditions of the division of their territory or the alteration of the boundaries as fixed by any prior law." In the case of Laramie County v. Albany County, 92 U. S. 307, it is said at page 308: THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 925 " Counties, cities and towns are municipal corporations, created by the authority of the legislature ; and they derive all their powers from the source of their creation, except where the constitution of the state otherwise pro* vides. Beyond doubt, they are, in general, made bodies politic and cor- porate; and are usually invested with certain subordinate legislative powers, to facilitate the due administration of their own internal affairs, and to pro- mote the general welfare of the municipality. They have no inherent juris- diction to make laws, or to adopt governmental regulations ; nor can they exercise any other pozvers in that regard than such as are expressly or im- pliedly derived from their charters, or other statutes of the state." Again at page 310 the court says : " Corporations of the kind are properly denominated public corporations, for the reason that they are but parts of the machinery employed in carrying on the affairs of the State; and it is well-settled law, that the charters under which such corporations are created may be changed, modified or repealed, as the exigencies of the public service or the public welfare may demand. 2 Kent Com., 12th ed., 305 ; Angell & Ames on Corp., 10th ed., sect. 31 ; McKim v. Odom, 3 Bland, 407; St. Louis v. Allen, 13 Mo. 400; The Schools v. Tatman, 13 111. 2j; Yarmouth v. Skillings, 45 Mo. 141. " Such corporations are composed of all the inhabitants of the Territory included in the political organization ; and the attribute of individuality is conferred on the entire mass of such residents, and it may be modified or taken away at the mere will of the legislature, according to its own views of public convenience, and without any necessity for the consent of those composing the body politic. 1 Greenl. Ev., 12th ed., sect. 331." Again at page 311 the court says: " Public duties are required of counties as well as of towns, as a part of the machinery of the State; and, in order that they may be able to per- form those duties, they are vested with certain corporate powers; but their functions are wholly of a public nature, and they are at all times as much subject to the will of the legislature as incorporated towns, as appears by the best text-writers upon the subject and the great weight of judicial authority. " Institutions of the kind, whether called counties or towns, are the aux- iliaries of the State in the important business of municipal rule, and can not have the least pretension to sustain their privileges or their existence upon any thing like a contract between them and the legislature of the State, because there is not and cannot be any reciprocity of stipulation, and their objects and duties arc utterly incompatible with every thing of the nature of compact. Instead of that, the constant practice is to divide large counties and towns, and to consolidate small ones, to meet the wishes of the residents, or to promote the public interests, as understood by those who control the action of the legislature. Opposition is sometimes manifested; but it is everywhere acknowledged that the legislature possesses the power to divide counties and towns at their pleasure, and to apportion the common property and the common burdens in such manner as to them may seem reasonable and equitable. (Citing cases). " Political subdivisions of the kind are always subject to the general laws of the state; and the Supreme Court of Connecticut decided that the legis- lature of that state have immemorially exercised the power of dividing towns at their pleasure, and upon such division to apportion the common property and the common burdens as to them shall seem reasonable and equitable. (Citing cases.) " Such corporations are the mere creatures of the legislative will ; and, inasmuch as all their powers are derived from that source, it follows that those powers may be enlarged, modified, or diminished at any time, with- out their consent, or even without notice. They are but subdivisions of the state, deriving even their existence from the legislature. Their officers are nothing more than heal agents of the state; and their pozvers may be 926 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK revoked or enlarged and 'their acts may be set aside or confirmed at the pleasure of the paramount authority, so long as private rights are not thereby violated." Again at page 313 the court says: "Old towns may be divided, a new town may be formed from parts of two or more existing towns; and the legislature, if they see fit, may apportion the common property and the common burdens, even to the extent of providing that a certain portion of the property of the old town shall be transferred to the new corporation. " In dividing towns, the legislature may settle the terms and conditions on which the division shall be made. It may enlarge or diminish their territorial liabilities, may extend or abridge their privileges, and may impose new liabilities. Towns, says Richardson, C. J., are public corporations, created for purposes purely public, empowered to hold property, and invested with many functions and faculties to enable them to answer the purposes of their creation. " There must, in the nature of things, be reserved, by necessary implica- tion, in the creation of such corporations, a power to modify them in such manner as to meet the public exigencies. Alterations of the kind are often required by public convenience and necessity; and we have the authority of that learned judge for saying that it has been the constant usage, in all that section of the Union, to enlarge or curtail the power of towns, divide their territory, and make new towns, whenever the convenience of the public requires that such a change should be made." To the same effect are Worcester v. Worcester Consolidated Street Rail- way Co., 196 U. S. 539, and Kies v. Lowrey, 199 U. S. 233. The case last cited is a school district case and holds, quoting from the headnote : " Where the legislature of the State has the power to create and alter school districts and divide and apportion the property thereof, no contract arises in favor of any district created by an act, the obligation whereof is later impaired by a subsequent act altering the districts and transferring property, nor does such later act amount to the taking of the property of the district taken without due process of law." In this case it appeared that the constitution of the state of Michigan required the Legislature to establish and provide a system of public schools, whereby a school shall be kept open at least three months in each year in every school district in the state. In fulfilment of this constitutional requirement legislation had been enacted from time to time by the Legisla- ture of Michigan providing for the formation of school districts, among others four districts in the townships of Somerset and Moscow, county of Hillsdale. In 1901 the Legislature passed an act to incorporate the public schools of the village of Jerome, Hillsdale county, Michigan, define the boundaries thereof, provide for the election of trustees, fix their powers and duties and provide for the distribution of territory of the disorganized districts, by the terms of which act one of the districts formed in the townships of Somerset and Moscow, in which the village of Jerome is situated, and portions of other districts, was set off and incorporated in one school district to be known as " the public schools of the village of Jerome." The act appointed defendants in error trustees of the new district, to continue in office until their successors should be elected, as provided in the act, and gave 4o the new district the property within its limits which had belonged to the districts from zvhich it zvas created, and required the THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 927 new district to assume and pay the debts and obligations of the old dis- tricts. The new district did not include all the lands of the old districts. The constitutionality of the act was attacked and the act was held con- stitutional by the state courts. Appeal was however taken to the federal courts, the claim being made that the act impaired the obligation of contracts within the meaning of the federal constitution. The act was held to be constitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, the court citing with approval Laramie County v. Albany County et al. (supra), the court saying (199 U. S. 239) among other things: " The districts did not hold this property under any contract with the State, but as a public agency ... If the legislature of the .state has the power to create and alter school districts and divide and apportion the property of such districts no contract can arise, no property of a district can be said to be taken, and the action of the legislature is compatible with a republican form of government even if it be admitted that section 4, article IX, of the constitution applies to the creation of, or the powers or rights of property of, the subordinate municipalities of a state." The State of New York has been late in following other states in their recognition of the educational necessity of abolishing small school units and substituting in place thereof larger units, either by consolidation or by the adoption of a township, system. In Massachusetts the so-called township system has been in force and effect for nearly fifty years. The same questions arose under the statute in that state abolishing school dis- tricts and substituting in place thereof the township system as have arisen under our statute. It was contended there, as it is here, that the taking- over of the property of the school districts by the newly organized town school unit and the imposing upon the town of the burden of paying the outstanding indebtedness was a deprivation of the property rights of the taxpayers of the town adversely affected thereby. In every case where the question has arisen in the state of Massachusetts under the law con- solidating school districts and establishing the township system, the court has sustained the constitutionality of the township law and denied that there was any infringement upon existing property rights by the taking over of the property of the school district and by the imposition upon the town of existing indebtedness. The case of Rawson v. Spencer, 113 Mass. 40, which arose under Massa- chusetts statutes, provided for the abolition of school districts and the substitution in place thereof of the township system (Statutes 1869, Ch. no; Ch. 423, § 6) the court said: " The provisions of the statutes for the abolition of the school district system require the taking possession by the town of all the property which the districts owned and could convey; the appraisal of the same; the levy of a tax on the town for the amount of the appraisal ; the remittance to the tax- payers of each district of the appraised value of their district property less the amount of the debts due from the district ; and lastly, the assumption by the town of all the district debts. Gen. Sts. ch. 39, § 3. St. 1869, Ch. no; Ch. 423, § 6. " The plaintiff contends that these provisions are unconstitutional because the property of the district is taken and appropriated by the town without .compensation provided therefor, and because the taxes imposed therefor are unreasonable and not proportional, and because the obligation of contracts is thereby impaired. 928 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK "These objections to the statutes are not well taken. The laws in ques- tion were enacted in the legitimate exercise of that power by which the Leg- islature may require the performance of certain public duties by different municipal or political agencies at its discretion. Before their enactment, school districts were indeed quasi corporations with the power to hold prop- erty, to raise money by taxation for the support of schools, and with certain denned public duties. But they were public and political as distinguished from private corporations, and their rights and powers were held at the will of the legislature, to be modified or abolished as public welfare might re- quire. The property held by them for public use was subject to such dispo- sition in the promotion of the objects for which it was held, as the supreme legislative power might see fit to make. The laws in question do nothing more ; they provide for the transfer of public property and of a public duty connected with its use from one public corporation to another. In justice to those taxpayers in districts where the property transferred exceeds the debts, allowances are made intended to equalize as to such taxpayers the common burden. There is no attempt to provide compensation in the sense in which compensation is required when private property is taken for public use under the right of eminent domain. The right here exercised is quite distinct from that, and requires no provision for compensation." See also School District No. 1, Stoneham v. Richardson, 23 Pickering (Mass.) 62. In the case of Perrizo v. Kesler, 93 Mich. 280, which arose under Michigan laws, 1891, act No. 176, authorizing the organization of any township into a single school district upon certain steps being taken by the qualified electors of such township, under section 13 of which it was provided in effect that all school property, both real and personal, within the limits of a township incorporated as aforesaid, shall by force of the act "become the property of the public schools of such township, and all debts and liabilities of the primary school districts of said township, as they existed prior to its incorporation under the provisions of this act, shall become the debts and liabilities of the public schools of the township so incorporated " ; the court said : " While the injustice and inequity of this section may well be admitted, in a case where the inhabitants of an existing district within the township may be well equipped in school buildings and other property, and out of debt, while other districts are in debt and without much property, and are com- pelled by a majority of the electors of the township, against their will, to be incorporated into a single district with the others, and surrender their prop- erty into the common fund, and bear their proportion of the debts of the other districts within the township, yet there is no constitutional objection against it. 1 Dill. Mun. Corp. § 185. The history of our State is full of such legislation in the enlargement of the boundaries of municipalities, and the right so to legislate cannot now be questioned." In the face of these convincing authorities it seems futile for the plaintiff to insist that the provisions of the statute imposing upon the town of Caledonia the outstanding bonded indebtedness of union free school dis- trict no. s of such town are unconstitutional because of depriving the plaintiff and other taxpayers of their property without due process of law. 5 The law is constitutional and the plaintiff's motion for injunction should be denied. Respectfully submitted Frank B. Gilbert Attorney for the Commissioner of Education. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 929 Opinion of Court Action to construe the township school law (Laws 1917, chap. 328) and to determine its constitutionality and to restrain defendants from collecting certain taxes under said law. Fred A. Quirk, for plaintiff. Archibald M. Little, for certain defendants. Frank B. Gilbert, for the Commissioner of Education. Clark, J. : This action is brought to determine the constitutionality of chapter 328 of the Laws of 1917, commonly called the township school law. This law was repealed in 1918 (chapter 199, Laws of 1918), but while it was in force certain taxes were levied under its provisions against plain- tiff's property in the town of Caledonia, and he asks to have the school authorities restrained from the collection of said taxes on the ground that the law under which they were levied was unconstitutional and void. The facts in the case are conceded. The plaintiff is an extensive property owner in school district no. 3, in the town of Caledonia, Livingston county, N. Y. Proceeding under the terms of the township school law (chapter 328, Laws of 1917), the school districts of said town were consolidated into a single town school unit with a single board of education in place of separate boards and trustees in each of the several school districts of the town. School district no. 5 in said town before the consolidation had a valuable school building and a bonded indebtedness of $23,700, which bonds had been issued in accordance with the law by the proper officers of said school district no. 5. Under the terms of the township school law this bonded indebtedness would be spread upon the districts of the entire town — that is, the districts consolidated into one township system would assume the payment of the bonded indebtedness of district no. 5. The plaintiff attacks the constitutionality of the township law on several grounds, but none of them seem to be of importance excepting the one which asserts that plaintiff is deprived of his property without due process of law, in that the act attempts to charge against this plaintiff a bonded indebtedness created by school district no. 5, and not created, authorized, or in any respect ratified by the other school districts of said town, or by the plaintiff or any other taxpayer in such other school districts. Plaintiff also attacks the constitutionality of the act in reference to the provisions about appraising the value of the school property in each district, crediting the value to the district and charging it against the town, in that it violates section 6 of article 1 of the constitution of the State of New York, because it will deprive the plaintiff of his property without due process of law and without compensation therefor, and take his property for private uses and for purposes of a personal rather than a public chai acter. I do not think the act violates section 6 of article 1 of the constitution of the State of New York, or section 1 of article 14 of the constitution of the United States, which provide that no person shall be deprived of property without due process of law. 30 930 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK The township school law in question substitutes a board of education of the town for the trustees and boards of education of the districts com- prising the new school unit and confers upon the town board of education the power to control and maintain all school properties of the town. All of the districts of the town are united in one township school unit, the several districts are dissolved so far as their administrative functions are concerned, although they are continued as to territory of the several districts consolidated into one town unit, and it is intended to equalize the burden of taxation for the support of all schools in the territory affected. For many years the Legislature has had full control over the creation of municipalities, and to determine what territory should and should not be included within their boundaries, and it has long been held that when the Legislature consolidated two or more municipalities or enlarged one by the transfer of property from another, it might make the consolidated municipality liable for the debts of all the municipalities included in the consolidation. 28 Cyc. 220. Dillon on Municipal Corporations, Sec. 355. Huffmire vs. City of Brooklyn, 162 N. Y. 584. This township school unit became a public corporation composed of all the inhabitants of the town of Caledonia by virtue of the act in question, and boundaries of the district could be modified or enlarged by the Legis- lature without the necessity for the consent of those composing the body of the township. It has long been the policy of some of our sister states to abolish small school districts and substitute the larger township unit to the end that the educational facilities of the community might be enlarged and improved. In Massachusetts for instance, a township school law very similar to the law under consideration here has been approved and upheld as being constitu- tional, although many times attacked on the precise grounds relied upon by plaintiff in his contention here. An examination of those cases and of cases in Rhode Island, where a similar township school law has been in force for some years, reveals the fact that the courts of those states have uniformly held that the township school laws abolishing the school district system and taking possession by the town unit of all the property of the districts consolidated, the appraisal of the sarnie, and the levying of a tax on the town for the amount of the appraisal and the remittance to the taxpayers of each district of the appraised value of their district property, less the amount of the debts due from the district, and the assumption by the town of all the district debts, has been approved and declared constitutional. Rawson vs. Spencer, 113 Mass. 40. Stoneham vs. Richardson, 23 Pickering 62. Whitney vs. Stow, in Mass. 366. Matter of North Smithfield, 26 R. I. 164. Tefft vs. Lewis, 27 R. I. 9. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 93I So far as my examination discloses township school laws in several other states similar to the one under consideration here have uniformly been upheld as constitutional, excepting in the state of New Jersey, where a similar statute was held unconstitutional as devoting public funds to private uses. State ex rel. Elizabethtown Water Co. vs. Wade, 59 N. J. Law, 78. The conceded fact that plaintiff as a taxpayer of district no. 3 of the town of Caledonia, is required under the provisions of the act in question to pay a portion of the bonded indebtedness of district no. 5 in said town in the creation of which he had no voice or part, would seem to be unfair, but when we consider the fact that under the provisions of this act the valuable school property in district no. 5 becomes the property of the entire township unit, of which plaintiff's district no. 3 is a part, and that the inhabitants of district no. 3 will be entitled to the privileges afforded by the fine school building in district no. 5, it would be equally unfair to say that the inhabitants of district no. 3 should receive an interest in the school properties in district no. 5 with all the advantages thereof without paying anything for such interest and advantages. The whole scheme of consolidating the school districts of a town into one township school unit is in line with progressive ideas for the advance- ment and improvement of our educational system, and while our own State has seemjingly been tardy in adopting the town unit system, it seems to have worked out satisfactorily and with the approval of the courts in other states, excepting the state of New Jersey. The right of the Legislature to alter the boundaries of towns, villages and school districts, and enlarge them and to transfer public property of the districts affected to the newly created territory, and to impose upon it the outstanding debts of the old territory, has been upheld not only by the courts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, but by the Supreme Court of the United States. Laramie Co. vs. Albany Co., 92 U. S. 307. The consolidation of the school districts of the town of Caledonia into one township unit, transferring the property of the districts affected to the town unit, and imposing the indebtedness of district no. 5 upon the entire consolidated territory, which received title to and advantages from the improved school facilities existing in district no. 5, violates no pro- vision either of the state or federal constitutions to which my attention has been called. The plaintiff has in no way been deprived of property or property rights for private purposes, for the transfers contemplated by this act are from one public corporation to another not for private purposes, but for greater convenience in administering the educational functions of the town of Caledonia. Likewise, the appraisal, apportionment and distribution of taxable prop- erty as provided for under the act is not repugnant to the provisions of the federal constitution, nor of section 1 of article 9 of the state constitution, for it does not contemplate taking public property for private uses. It is simply a scheme to equalize the expenses of the new town school unit to the end that all taxpayers will share in the common burden on the basis of equalizing the property rights of the districts brought into the 932 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK town unit, giving credit to each district for the expenditures which it has made in providing school facilities. It is my opinion that the criticisms of plaintiff to the act in question are without merit, and that its provisions are not repugnant to either the state or federal constitutions. It follows that the injunctive relief asked for must be denied, and the complaint dismissed. Findings may be submitted and judgment entered accordingly. TAXATION The Raising of Money for Schools and Other Town Purposes Report of the Committee on Public Education Certain provisions of the township school law of 1917 for the improve- ment of rural schools have caused dissatisfaction in the agricultural sec- tions and this committee now has under consideration a bill passed by the Assembly for its repeal. The principal ground of objection is increased taxes. As the township system has for many years been an accepted system, has been adopted in every adjoining state as a progressive plan for the improvment of rural education, and has been publicly declared by our Department of Education to be the most forward step in rural education since the establishment of free schools, the committee is deeply impressed with the duty and necessity of saving to the people of the State such provisions of the law as the public welfare requires, while affording relief from provisions which have resulted in inequalities or improper burdens. The school district system was changed to the township system August 1, I917. The management of the ten thousand schools affected was then turned over to the township boards of education, which are now in full charge. To again overturn the administration of these schools at this time would involve great confusion and loss of efficiency. Such action should not be taken if the situation may reasonably be met by pursuing another course. There has been a general decline in the population of the agricultural sections of the State for the past forty years. This has resulted in a corre- sponding decrease in the number of children in attendance upon many of the schools maintained in these parts of the State. The official reports of the Education Department show that there are 8340 one-room schools in the State and that 3800, or nearly one-half, have a valuation not to exceed $40,000; in 1200 of these districts the valuation is less than $20,000. It further appears that in these 3800 rural districts the enrolment for the past year was as follows : Schools Enrolment IS I pupil 86 • 2 pupils 166 3 pupils 258 4 pupils 357 5 Pupils 600 7 pupils 2318.. • • 8 to 10 pupils THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 933 Two of the essential elements in the maintenance of a good rural school are a sufficient number of pupils to stimulate an interest in the work and a sufficient amount of property to support the school without burdensome taxation. It is clear from the above facts that in nearly one-half of the rural schools of the State there is neither the number of children necessary to organize a successful school nor an amount of property sufficient for the support of a school, without imposing taxes upon the people which are burdensome. The cost of maintaining all the schools in the territory under the opera- tion of the township law is approximately eight million dollars. The amount of public money contributed by the State is approximately $1,775,- ooo. It was necessary last year, under the district system, therefore, to raise by tax for the support of these schools about $6,225,000. The follow- ing tables will indicate not only the burden of taxation which is imposed upon farm property for the support of rural schools but they will also show the inequality of taxation existing under the old school district system. These high rates of taxation and the inequality in the assessment of such taxes prevail not only in the counties to which these tables relate but are typical of conditions generally throughout the State. Town o£ Colchester, Delaware County School Assessed assessed valuation 1 $17 471 2 (I9l6) 98128 3 4 28 495 5 47 158 6 19 670 7 21 322 8 31 566 9 20 059 10 13 250 11 7 270 12 (1915) 102473 13 10 780 14 38 684 15 28 453 16 6 060 17 30908' 18 13 780 19 15 600 20 19 683 21 (1914) 183946 22 6 877 2 3 (1915) 77 515 2 4 (1915) 64516 2 5 26 9 7 2 5 27 10 645 Tax rate 1916-17 .0I20 .OI43 .0200 .0110 .OO80 .0114 .0100 .0115 .0230 .0270 .0118 .0190 .0188 .0080 .0360 .0120 .0120 .Ol6o .0143 .0203 .0270 .OI03 •0053 .0250 ■0313 934 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Colchester, Delaware Co. — Cont'd School Assessed Tax rate assessed valuation 1916-17 28 $9 375 -0250 29 30 9 425 -0220 Total $942834 .0144 Average tax . 0144 Total, 1917-18 $142 302 .01533 Balance 1916 $754 61 Balance 1917 837 54 Excess for 1917 $8293 Tax 1916-17 13 885 06 Real tax $13 802 13 Tax 1917-18 $17 5i6 71 Tax 1916-17 13 885 06 Increase $3 631 65 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $650 1916-17 66 $584 increase Instruction 1917-18 $18900 1916-17 17 269 $1 631 increase Operation 1917-18 $2025 1916-17 1627 $398 increase Maintenance 1917-18 $225 1916-17 454 $229 decrease Auxiliary 1917-18 $325 1916-17 559 $234 decrease THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 935 Fixed charges 1917-18 . . 1916-17 . . Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $300 165 $135 increase >i 300 655 $645 increase $75 138 $63 decrease Total 1917-18 $23 800 1916-17 20 933 School district 2 . . 3 ••■ 4 ... 5 ••• 6 ... 7 ••• 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Dist. No. 1 separate Total 24 Average tax rate. . . . $2 867 increase /are County No. of Assessed Tax rate teachers valuation 1916-17 $37 ii9 0069 29 000 0080 25 008 0140 54 258 0060 3 143 208 0091 40 225 0070 32 410 0099 30 117 0076 74 220 0044 9 525 0200 44 951 0060 28 428 0080 37 524 0072 11 500 0175 57 412 0057 16 101 0145 20 620 0118 20 313 0125 22 270 0117 11 270 0159 34 077 0095 9 188 0201 $788 744 .0086 .0106 Total 1917-18 $797 521 .0105 93^ THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Balance 1916 $1 501 00 Balance 1917 1 259 00 $242 00 Tax 6 807 00 Real tax 1916-17 $7 049 00 Tax 1917-18 $8 361 00 Tax 1916-17 7 049 00 Real increase $1 312 00 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $345 1916-17 47 $298 increase Instruction 1917-18 $13030 1916-17 9737 $3 293 increase Operation 1917-18 $975 1916-17 826 $149 increase Maintenance 1917-18 $425 1916-17 301 $124 increase Auxiliary 1917-18 $360 1916-17 199 $161 increase Fixed charges 1917-18 $250 1916-17 135 $115 increase Debt service 1917-18 $60 1916-17 3 $57 increase THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 937 Outlay 1917-18 $1 125 1916-17 None $1 125 increase Total 1917-18 $16571 1916-17 11 248 $5 323 increase Town of Rochester, Ulster County- School Assessed Tax rate ■district valuation 1916-17 1 $59248 .OIIO 2 I06359 .OO98 3 35690 .0084 4 40 874 . 0072 5 12 140 . 022 =6 32515 .0111 7 9 5oo .0515 8 „ 38 940 . 0102 9 7360 .0390 50 9140 .0301 11 16 415 .0182 12 42002 .0092 23 45 150 .029 M 13890 .0273 ^5 11 480 .0216 Total ... $480703 .0141 Average tax rate .01904 Rate 1917-18 .01757 Balance 1916 $635 93 1917 24921 $386 72 Tax 1916-17 6 821 17 Real tax 1916-17 $7 207 89 Tax 1917-18 $8 500 39 Tax 1916-17 7 207 89 Real increase $1 292 50 938 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Mooers, Clinton County School Assessed Tax rate district valuation 1916-17 1 $9284 .0150 2 27 747 .0059 3 102346 .0454 4 11 308 .0152 5 19097 .010 6 11 290 .0274 7 12922 .ong 8 177400 .0037 10 22 721 . 0097 13 9 366 .0179 14 21 871 . 0195 15 23308 .0188 16 44132 .0180 17 10953 -0144 18 .' 11 316 .0174 19 4 632 . 0280 20 4831 .037 21 18 719 .0120 22 3658 .0491 Total $546899 .0172 Average rate . 01962 Rate 1917-18 .032 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 2,22 47 $162 21 Tax 1916-17 9 524 73 Tax (real) $9 686 94 Tax 1917-18 $13 606 63 Tax 1916-17 9 686 94 Real increase $3 919 79 Town of Schuyler Falls, Clinton County School Assessed Tax rate district valuation 1916-17 1 $40 324 .OI70 2 75 079 .0073 3 36 128 . OIOS 4 • • • 13 038 .0169 5 185602 .0212 6 11 005 .0109 7 45 690 . 0070 8 18647 -0159 9 • 7 715 .0370 Total $433 228 .0157 Average rate . 0160 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 939 Total 1917-18 Not given Balance 1916 $757 18 Balance 1917 694 67 $62 51 Tax 1917 6 828 71 Real tax $6 891 22 Tax 1917-18 $7 173 22 Real tax 1916-17 6 891 22 Real increase '. $282 00 Town of Bolton, Warren County School Assessed Tax rat e district valuation 19 1 6-1 7 1 $543 028 .OO54 2 139 438 . 0026 3 134 092 . 0028 4 7 435 -0325 5 29543 .0099 6 9250 .0249 7 41 761 . 0099 8 16925 .0150 9 6415 -0349 Total $927887 .0057 Average rate .0153 Total 1917-18 $943 341 . 0082 Balance 1916 $1 371 26 Balance 1917 297 63 $1 073 63 Tax 1916-17 5 379 07 Tax (real) $6 452 70 Tax 1917-18 $7 618 68 Tax 1916-17 6 452 70 Real increase $1 165 98 940 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Hague, Warren County School Assessed Tax rate district valuation 1916-17 1 $91668 .0200 2 62 225 . 0070 3 13920 .0204 4 42560 .0160 5 113 297 .0032 6 11 632 .0175 Total $335 302 .0107 Average rate . 0140 Total 1917-18 $345 260 . 014 Balance 1916 $782 73 Balance 1917 952 40 Excess 1917 $169 67 Tax 1916-17 $3 806 23 169 67 Tax (real) $365656 Tax 1917-18 $4 833 64 Tax 1916-17 3 636 56 Real increase $1 197 08 Town of Troupsburg, Steuben County School Assessed Tax rate district valuation 1916-17 1 $18 550 . 0140 2 54 365 .OO78 3 34 726 .0067 4 37 8o8 .0059 5 87081 .0236 6 22 107 .0133 7 37221 .0062 8 38020 .00715 9 26588 .0097 10 30 180 . 0080 11 36057 .0080 12 29 000 . 0063' 13 26890 .0076 14 26 320 .0110 15 18000 .00305 16 20800 .0100 17 • 17895 .0103 Total $561 608 .0105 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 941 Average tax rate . 0093 Rate 1917-18 $560631 .0110 Balance 1916 $223 68 Balance 1917 74 98 $148 70 Tax 1916-17 591069 Real tax $6 059 39 Tax 1917-18 $6 166 94 Tax 1916-17 6 059 39 Real increase $107 55 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control I9I7-I8 $155 1916-17 18 $137 increase Instruction 1917-18 $8 025 1916-17 7 869 $156 increase Operation 1917-18 $900 1916-17 682 $218 increase Maintenance 1917-18 $35o 1916-17 432 $82 decrease Auxiliary 1917-18 None 1910-17 358 358 decrease Fixed charges 1917-18 None T9i6-]7 100 $100 decrease 942 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Debt service 1917-18 None 1916-17 $223 $223 decrease Outlay 1917-18 None 1916-17 None Total 1917-18 $9 430 1916-17 9 682 $252 Town of Malone, Franklin County chool Assessed d istrict valuation i $57 218 2 125 326 3 53 756 4 59 394 5 69 240 6 60 252 7 48 211 8 23 800 9 21 870 10 19 873 11 36348 12 13 450 13 66 720 14 15650 15 72651 16 15 700 17 27 437 18 28 395 19 68 801 20 15237 21 50 346 22 23 500 24 8 300 25 34 450 Total 24 $1 015 927 Average tax rate Total 1917-18 $1 021 262 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 decrease Tax rate 1916-17 .008 .003 .OO42 .0037 .0055 .005 •0055 .OIIO .0114 .0172 .OO86 .OII2 •O053 .Ol6o • 0045 .015 .0057 .0053 .OO58 .OI58 .007 .OII7 .030 .OI38 .0068 •0543 .OO981 $907 $818 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 943 Tax $6 937 Real tax $7 755 Tax 1917-18 $10 001 Tax 1916-17 7 755 Real increase $2 246 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $850 1916-17 None $850 increase Instruction 1917-18 $10458 1916-17 8892 $1 566 increase Operation 1917-18 $1 000 1916-17 1 228 $228 decrease Maintenance 1917-18 $1 36b 1916-17 670 $690 increase Auxiliary 1917-18 None 1916-17 ••■• $195 $195 decrease Fixed charges 1917-18 - None 1916-17 $123 $123 decrease Debt service 1917-18, incidental $151 1916-17 738 $587 decrease Outlay 1917-18 None iyio-17 None 944 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Total I9I7-I8 $13 819 I9I6-I7 • II 846 5 i 973 increase Town of Belmont, Franklin County School No. of Assessed Tax rate district teachers valuation 19 16-17 I 2 $38901 .01442: 2 • 16 993 .OI47 3 11 650 .01741 4-. 20353 .00884 5 • 4 129548 .01323; 6 113S0 .02433 7 10670 .01160 8 15806 .01568 9 • 32731 .00828 10 2 47501 .01581 11 14275 .0140© 12 21389 .00744 13 ••• •••.. 19 593 .01541 14 8885 .01640 15 21709 .01500 16 13 490 . 01370 Total 20 $434880 .01356 Average tax rate . 01414 Total 1917-18 $448 344 .01800 Balance 1916 $661 Balance 1917 205 $456 Tax 5 896 Real tax $6 352 Tax 1917-18 $8 070 Real tax 1916-17 ° 6 352 Real increase $1 718 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $285 1916-17 .... None 1 $285 increase THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 945 Instruction 1917-18 $8 140 1916-17 7 712 increase Operation 1917-18 $1 300 1916-17 856 $444 increase Maintenance 1917-18 None 1916-17 $358 $358 decrease Auxiliary 1917-18 $140 1916-17 426 $286 decrease Fixed charges 1917-18 None 1916-17 $191 $191 decrease Debt service 1917-18, incidentals $1 270 1916-17 397 ^873 increase Outlay 1917-18 None 1916-17 None Total 1917-18 $11 405 1916-17 9 94i $1 464 increase The burden of taxation upon farm property for school purposes is further illustrated by a comparison with the rates of taxation in some of the larger cities of the State. The tax rates for school purposes in these cities are of follows : Albany .005 Buffalo 0085 New York .005 Rochester .0067 946 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Syracuse .0054 Schenectady .0088 Utica 0084 Yonkers .0057 A further injustice in the matter of taxation under the district system is the method of the assessment of taxes on corporate property. Railroad, telegraph, telephone and other similar corporate property pay taxes in those school districts only through which such property extends. In many cases, a single district in a town has for years had the sole benefit of taxation for school purposes on all of this property, while the other twelve to thirty districts in the town have received nothing whatever in the form of taxes from such corporations. The township law, in operation at the present time, requires these corporations to pay a proportionate share of the taxes for the maintenance of schools in all the districts of the town. The separation of the village districts from the remaining districts will in a measure continue this injustice and some relief for such injustice should be accorded to the districts in which such property is not located. The inequality of taxation and of school opportunities does not give the boys and girls upon the farm the equal advantages for obtaining an educa- tion which are afforded the boys and girls in the cities or villages where uniformity of taxation provides uniformity of school facilities. In the rural schools, the instruction is confined to the elementary branches while in the cities, having unusually lower tax rate, the instruction includes four-year high school courses and, in the city of New York, such instruction even includes a four-year college course. The country boy or girl is at a still greater disadvantage in the rural school because the school term is shorter, the teachers are not so well qualified and the equipment is altogether inadequate. There are employed in the smaller rural schools more than 3000 teachers, who have had no high school nor professional training. These teachers hold the lowest form of certificate authorized, are not qualified to be employed in the schools maintained in the villages and cities and would not generally be considered by board of education in a village or city for employment as teachers. Another inequality in the matter of taxation for rural schools should be clearly understood. The law has for some years authorized a rural district to contract with another district for the education of its children instead of maintaining a school in its own district. When such contract is made the district is entitled to receive from the State the same amount of funds which it would receive if it maintained a home school. The result of this is that there are about 500 districts in the State operating under the contract system which maintain no school in their own districts, but which receive their regular allotment of public money from the State and such allotment is sufficient, in a majority of cases, to pay the tuition received by the district which educates such children. These districts take the money received from the State, pay it to the district which educates the children, and escape all taxation for school purposes. The State has there- fore generously maintained for several years such school facilities for hun- THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 947 dreds of districts as they have had and the taxpayers in such districts have not paid a dollar in taxes for school purposes. This situation should no longer he tolerated, and property in these districts which escapes taxation for school purposes should be compelled to pay its proportionate share of taxes for the maintenance of schools. The uniform policy of the State has been to extend state aid for public education to those units of administration which are in the greatest need of such aid. In 1885 Governor David B. Hill approved a plan which increased the amount of state aid to the country schools and in 1891 Governor Hill again approved a change in the method of apportioning public funds by which a fixed amount was thereafter required to be apportioned annually to every school district in the State. Under the plan adopted in 1891, the amount of public money apportioned to each school district in the State was on the average $153. The amount apportioned these districts at the present time is on the average $150. While the amount appropriated by the State for the support of public schools has increased largely since 1891, the entire increase in this appropriation has been apportioned for the support of the schools in the villages and cities of the State. In 1891, when the amount apportioned to each rural school was on the average $153, it was necessary to raise by taxes for the maintenance of rural schools only $3,000,000. The amount required to be raised last year, under the district system was approximately $6,255,000, or more than twice as much as it was necessary to raise in 1891. It is observed therefore, that, while the cost of the maintenance of rural schools in the last twenty-five years has largely increased, the State is not making an increased apportion- ment for the support of such schools, and it is necessary to raise by taxes upon the property supporting these schools more than twice the amount which it was necessary to raise in 1891. Materials of all kinds as well as service of every grade are costing more than ever before. The cost of maintaining schools has been increased and relief must be provided. Our State does not occupy the position it should in the amount of funds which it appropriates for public education. On the basis of percentage of State aid to the total cost of the maintenance of schools, New York stands 31 on the list; on the basis of the state aid to $1000 of assessed valuation, New York stands 25 on the list. Under the law of 1917 school districts can not be consolidated nor abolished except by a vote of the school electors. But education has long been recog- nized as a state rather than a local function. Such powers as are delegated to the localities are so delegated as a matter of state policy for the purpose of securing local interest and encouraging proper educational facilities, but not to give an option to curtail such facilities or close schools. Under these circumstances the repeal of the law and the restoration of former conditions, involves the confession of impotency. The legislature is not reduced to the alternative of destroying an improved system of edu- cation nor perpetuating a wrong to rural taxpayers. It may both improve the system and correct the wrong; and the committee submits a bill which in its opinion will accomplish 1 oth these ends. Its main provisions are 94§ THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK a The withdrawal of the union free school districts from the township system. b An increase in the state aid of $100 to each of the rural schools of the State, payable to the town. c An increase in the Academic quota from $100 to $500 for each of the high schools of the State. d Permitting union free school districts which receive nonresident students to charge a tuition equal to the actual cost of instruction. e Power to create smaller units than towns when the public interest and convenience require it. f Authority to organize units of administration so as to embrace schooi districts from two or more towns. Even if in different counties. g Authority to establish, when public interest and convenience and local conditions require, independent district. h Increasing the number of members on the board of education in the larger units. The committee has in view of the present strain on the resources of the State to meet war conditions, restricted its recommendations for changes and for expenditures to the minimum essential to remedy intolerable condi- tions ; to relieve the rural districts of the unjust burdens of taxation which they are required to carry, and to adapt the township system to existing conditions. If the bill becomes a law it will, in the opinion of the committee, meet all reasonable objections of the law of 1917, preserve the good features of that law, and save the State from lapsing into a decadent condition in rural education. No internal matter is of greater importance; the condition of rural life, the strength of our citizenship, the productive capacity of our farm land, and the welfare of the State are largely dependent upon the education of its youth. No one should fail to see that this is a critical moment in its history, and that the failure to solve the pending problem means a backward step instead of a strong, vital, progressive movement in rural education. Charles C. Lockwood Chairman Raising Moneys for Town Purposes Section 170 of the town law defines what are town charges. Among such charges are the following briefly stated: the compensa- tion of the town officers, contingent expenses necessarily incurred for the use and benefit of the town, moneys directed by law to be raised for town purposes or authorized by vote of a town meeting, judgments, costs and expenses, and expenses of the supervisor. Bills are presented to the town board at its annual or quarterly meetings held for the purpose of auditing such bills, covering all items included within or authorized under the section referred to. These audits are certified by the town board and an abstract thereof made, published and presented by the supervisor to the board of supervisors to be included in the town tax authorized by such board. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 949 The town highway fund is first estimated by the superintendent of highways, his estimate being passed upon by the town board, and when determined by such board is presented by the supervisor of the town to the board of supervisors for action. There are certain limitations placed by law upon the town board as to the amounts to be raised for highway purposes. (94, highway law, as amended by L. 1916, ch. 578.) An estimate of the amount required for the poor fund is made by the overseer of the poor and when approved by the town board Is presented by the supervisor to the board of supervisors. Moneys are also authorized to be raised for protection against fire and various other incidental purposes which enter into the town budget. The people of the township do not control the expenditures or the amounts to be raised for town purposes under the sections referred to. The citizens and taxpayers of a village do not by vote regulate the ordinary running expenses of the municipality, nor vote the appropriations therefor. The same is true of county expenses and appropriations. Powers of Trustees to Raise Taxes Without Vote of the District Prior to the enactment of the township law school district trus- tees and boards of education had power to raise moneys for certain purposes without vote of the district electors. Section 275 of the Education Law sets forth the powers and duties of trustees and at the end of this section we find the following paragraph : Any expenditure made or liability incurred in pursuance of this section shall be a charge upon the district. Under this section trustees were authorized to raise moneys by tax without vote for the following purposes: To insure school buildings, furniture, etc. (subd. 6) To insure school library (subd. 7) To pay the salaries of teachers (subd. 12) To pay judgments rendered against the district (subd. 12) To repair the schoolhouse and furniture not exceeding $50 (subd. 14) To make repairs and abate nuisances pursuant to the direction of the district superintendent (subd. 15) To provide stoves and fuel (subd. 15) To provide apparatus and implements for cleaning schoolhouse (subd. 15) To provide janitor service (subd. 16) To provide blank books for district records (subd. 17) To expend not exceeding $25 for books and apparatus (subd. 18) To establish branch schools (subd. 19) To hire rooms and buildings for temporary use (subd. 4) 950 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Section 283 provides that where any expenses are incurred by trustees which are by express provision of law made a charge upon the district they may raise the amount thereof by tax in the same manner as if voted by district meeting. Under section 453 trustees were required to provide fire escapes and the cost thereof was made a charge upon the district. Under section 457 provision was required to be made for suit- able outbuildings and the expense incurred was made a charge upon the district. Under the medical inspection act (article 20-a) the salary of the medical inspector and school nurse becomes a district charge. Under section 652 a school census is required to be taken and the expense made a charge upon the district. Instruction in physical training is made mandatory by article 26-a and the expense as apportioned between districts jointly employing a medical inspector. Under article 27 the purchase and display of a United States flag becomes a necessary charge. Boards of education under section 317 have all the powers, and are required to perform all the duties devolving upon the trustees of school districts and are, therefore, authorized to make expenditures above set forth and raise taxes therefor and in addition, under sec- tion 325, may raise all moneys necessary for ordinary contingent expenses and levy a tax for same in like manner as if the inhabitants of the district had voted therefor. In incorporated villages or cities in which a union free school district was established the corporate authorities were required to raise such sums for school purposes as the board of education declared necessary, covering the teachers' salaries and the ordinary contingent expenses of running the schools. Under the district system of school government each individual district which was fortunate enough to have within its boundaries a public service corporation was bound to have a comparatively low rate of taxation because of the increased assessed valuation of the district occasioned by the existence of the public service corporation therein. In many instances neighboring districts similarly situated but lacking additional assessed valuation of such corporation had double and treble the tax rate of the more favored districts. This condition prevailed throughout the State. Under the provisions of the township law, equalizing the tax burden over the township, we have for the first time in the history of the State a situation which requires the public service corpora- THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 95 1 tions to pay their fair share of tax burdens for school purposes. The increased taxes paid by such corporations because the districts in which they are located now have an equal tax rate with other dis- tricts in the township have amounted to thousands of dollars this year. The Payment of School Moneys Direct to Town Boards of Education The following counties were selected for the purpose of ascer- taining the amount of public moneys (1918) which will be appor- tioned to the districts under the township school system in such counties and will be paid by the county treasurer direct to the treas- urer of the town board of education in each case, thus eliminating the supervisor from the handling of such moneys. Under this law the supervisors will not be entitled to the percentage they have been accustomed to receive upon the moneys which formerly passed through their hands but which now will go direct to the board of education. This will mean a loss to the supervisors and a saving to the schools as follows : Columbia county $243 62 Dutchess county 301 47 Livingston county 263 51 Oneida county 635 31 Onondaga county 414 68 Saratoga county . 301 08 The committee on Education in the Senate made a careful study of the opposition and presented the following report. The School Tax Rate for 1917-18 Under the Township System of School Administration Albany co. 1st dist. Rate Tax Bethlehem . 0072 $24 250 Coeymans .0079 10 500 New Scotland . 0060 10 038 40 Coeymans (dist. 1) .0134 909250 2d dist. Berne .0113 797628 Knox . 0087 5 001 41 Rensselaerville .0104 7 548 55 Westerlo .0093 5 733 66 3d dist. Colonie . 0056 48 009 28 Green Island .0070 17 436 99 Guilderland .01342 22 531 31 952 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Allegany co. 1st dist. Allen Caneadea Centerville Hume Rushford 2d dist. Amity Belfast Cuba Cuba (dist. i) Friendship Friendship (dist. i) New Hudson 3d dist. Alma Bolivar Clarksville Genesee Scio Wirt 4th dist. Angelica Almond Birdsall Burns Grove West Almond .... 5th dist. Alfred Andover Independence Ward Wellsville Willing Broome co. 1st dist. Colesville Sanford Sanford (dist. 3) . . . 2d dist. Conklin Dickinson Fenton Kirkwood Windsor Rate Tax .01034 $2 709 36 .00610 5 174 01 .0130 434249 .0111 14 283 91 .01531 9 725 70 .010 11 471 37 .016 16 490 48 .00677 4 667 75 .016688 15500 .0099 3 725 .01564 10600 .00861 5 485 95 .0115 7222 .01092 15 468 .0107 4028 .0063 3 520 .0108 8i35 .010 7834 • 0135 9 840 18 .0100 9 017 39 .0114 3 030 76 .0108 9 020 60 .0081 3000 .01302 283988 .011136 10400 .011139 12000 .010557 6670 .01076 2 700 .009677 4980 .010275 4 342 .010 12000 .009 7 771 .0225 21 254 94 .01206 10 652 78 .0065 6630 .0075 2842 15 .005 4 279 82 .Oil 13900 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 953 Broome co. 3d dist. Binghamton Maine Union Vestal 4th dist. Barker Chenango Lisle Nanticoke Triangle Cattaraugus co. 1st dist. Farmersville Franklinville Franklinville (dist. 1) Freedom Lyndon , Machias Yorkshire 2d dist. Allegany Allegany (dist. 3) Hinsdale Humphrey Ischua Olean Portville 3d dist. Ashf ord Carrollton East Otto Ellicottville Great Valley Red House Salamanca 4th dist. Dayton (unit 1) Dayton (unit 2) Little Valley Mansfield New Albion New Albion (dist. 1) . Otto Perrysburg Persia Persia (dist. 1) 5th dist. Coldspring Conewango Rate Tax .0093 $2 343 24 .0084 470909 .0055 7 716 34 .016 9 624 95 .009 6 883 65 .00657 5 279 23 .Oil 7 365 88 .011 2 254 29 .013 9 367 54 .01436 7882 .009 6300 .012 12000 .0094 6 757 .0146 2946 .0174 14240 .016 11 580 .0067 7 074 60 .01052 7 677 70 .0106 7 775 .00883 2035 .00734 4000 .0040 2082 .01174 15 101 .01212 8500 .00953 10900 ,00941 4200 ,0128 14000 on 9000 00766 3000 01206 2 700 ,01041 3969 01468 10930 01653 13 890 91 00783 4465 0093 348580 015 8 876 49 .00945 5996 00869 5637 .00551 2 975 01023 16503 3800 8000 954 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Cattaraugus co. 5th dist. Elko Leon Napoli Randolph Randolph (dist. i) South Valley Cayuga co. ist dist. Conquest , Ira Sterling Victory , 2d dist. Brutus (unit i).. Brutus (unit 2) Cato Mentz Montezuma Sennett Throop 3d dist. Aurelius Fleming Ledyard Owasco Springport 4th dist. Genoa (unit 1) Genoa (unit 2) . . . Scipio Venice 5th dist. Locke Moravia (dist. 1) Moravia Niles , Sempronius Summerhill Chautauqua co. ist dist. Arkwright Hanover Villenova 2d dist. Carroll Cherry Creek . Ellington , Kiantone Poland Rate Tax $2000 5 500 3 500 4000 .016085 9 283 73 2500 .008 678486 .010 9 243 92 .0079 11 84469 .0086 5 026 05 .0045 3280 .0103 11 76885 .0100 8000 .0110 1 1 402 16 .0049 4897 .00481 6000 .006 3 955 26 .00497 6 765 18 .0050 3 325 .0075 8500 .0075 9 365 .0065 7 035 78 • 0150 646850 .0150 8 307 15 .0067 6 775 .0082 564966 .0117 5 601 02 .012 10 121 13 .007 2 593 32 .0071 4 745 08 .009 3 506 28 .00007 280001 4000 23000 5 30O .0100 833665 .0200 12 209 59 .019 9 655 .011187 4 782 50 .015 12 230 63 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 955 Chautauqua co. 3d dist. Busti Clymer French Creek Harmony 4th dist. Chautauqua (unit 1) Chautauqua (unit 2) Mina Sherman 5th dist. Pomf ret Portland Ripley Westfield Westfield (dist. 1).. 6th dist. Charlotte Stockton (unit 1) Stockton (unit 2) . . Chemung co. 1st dist. Catlin Erin Horseheads Horseheads (dist. 4) Horseheads (dist. 10) Van Etten Veteran 2d dist. Ashland ■•.... Baldwin Big Flats Chemung Elmira Southport Chenango co. 1st dist. Lincklaen Otselic Pharsalia Pitcher Plymouth Smyrna 2d dist. Columlbus • • New Berlin (unit 1) New Berlin (unit 2) Rate Tax 01 $1513036 0105 7 497 on 3 544 52 01021 21 184 009 18 375 55 0125 22500 oi45 8 151 06 0157 14 845 80 005 10 935 53 0095 2388038 0057s 13 160 54 00965 26 020 06 006 886442 010944 900064 012 5 561 16 .012 432509 .0122 473168 .008 8248 .0182 22679 .01234 10 502 61 .0152 95ii .Oil 7054 .0088 4 332 45 .01677 3 153 78 .0082 7 959 07 .00764 8 055 75 .00677 708421 .088 1207868 .007 1 251 .015 678872 .0097 2 225 67 .01 331809 .0112 5 0000© .012 7 334 .010 4674 .015 10 661 .0122 6570 956 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Chenango co. 2d dist. North Norwich Sherburne 3d dist. German McDonough ....... Oxford Oxford (dist. 1) .. Preston Smithville 4th dist. Af ton Coventry Greene Greene (dist. 4) 5th dist. Bainbridge Guilford (unit 1) Guilford unit 2) ... Norwich Clinton co. 1st dist. Ausable Black Brook Peru Plattsburg Saranac Schuyler Falls 2d dist. Altona Clinton Dannemora (unit 1) Dannemora (unit 2) Ellenburg 3d dist. Beekmantown Champlain Champlain (dist. 5) . Chazy Chazy (dist. 1) Mooers Columbia co. 1st dist. Austerlitz Canaan Chatham Ghent (dist. 1) Ghent New Lebanon Rate Tax .005 $2582 .010 15875 .01419 2303 .0235 594068 .0087 6S6677 .012 10 594 95 .01067 3 55o64 .01205 5 no 97 .0121 13 430 .0085 3 605 39 .0068 15 696 14 .012 941445 .0116 12400 .0097 7 22262 .008 7 212 50 .00651 533008 349638 4200 927197 9686 10 530 50 7 173 22 .028 728994 .040 8057 .042 7 577 26 .0417 8149 94 ■ 0335 14535 .014 6014 10 .0165 859282 .017 722891 .015 5 205 35 .015 762901 .032 13 606 63 .00939 3290 .00718 9790 .00588 8910 .01117 21 000 .0055 6 433 .0107 7 785 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 957 Columbia co. 2d dist. Claverick (dist. 6) . . Claverack Germantown Greenport Kinderhook (unit i) Kinderhook (unit 2) Livingston Stockport 3d dist. Ancram Clermont Copake Gallatin Hillsdae Taghkanic Cortland co. 1st dist. Cortlandville ....... Homer Preble Scott 2d dist. Cincinnatus Cuyler Solon Taylor Truxton 3d dist. Freetown Harford Lapeer Marathon Virgil Willett Delaware co. 1st dist. Deposit Masonville Sidney Tompkins Sidney (dist. 1) 2d dist. Colchester Hancock 3d dist. Delhi (dist. 16) .... Hamden Rate Tax .0105 $H575 .0053 824429 .00718 6425 22 .0033 7 000 .00977 6000 .00816 9485 .00974 9093 11 .00514 8 004 79 ,00639 6000 .00467 3 684 22 .00591 6253 .00898 2500 .0100 8612 .0083 2970 0068 1320469 ,0070 504407 .00614 5 546 35 .00210 8 339 50 .0150 7 373 61 .0072 2 977 67 .0087 2521 01 .00809 1 307 36 .01250 5 570 .0115 3 38l 85 .0098 3 425 21 .0101 2 925 37 .00975 9 041 79 .0128 709342 .01466 3260 01160 408459 .0140 4 935 ■0053 5 055 .01684 10 000 .010617 .01457 16 373 .01495 17 516 71 ■01437 26000 .01156 15 087 5<» ,01120 6 750 55 958 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Delaware co. 3d dist. Walton Walton (dist. 1) ... Delhi 4th dist. Andes Middletown (unit 1) Middletown (unit 2) Roxbury 5th dist. Davenport Franklin Meredith 6th dist. Bovina Harpersfield Kortright , Stamford (unit 1) . Stamford (unit 2) . Dutchess co. 1st dist. Beekman , East Fishkill Fishkill Pawling Union Vale Wappingers Wappingers (dist. 2) 3d dist. Amenia Clinton Hyde Park (unit 1) Hyde Park (unit 2) . Stanford 4th dist. North East , Pine Plains Milan Red Hook (unit 1).. Red Hook (unit 2) . Rhinebeck Rhinebeck (dist. 5) . Erie co. 1st dist. Amherst Amherst (dist. 3) Clarence Clarence (dist. 1) ... Grand Island Newstead Newstead (dist. 3) . . Rate Tax .01050 $836052 .02509 28600 .0074 7000 .02000 12206 .01800 15035 .01914 9 703 .01383 13256 .01180 7 759 75 .00844 10 627 23 .00520 6901 99 .0071 4 020 99 .0122 4 993 78 .00773 7 673 50 .0168 10 231 55 .0118 7 513 47 •00545 4000 10 .00833 10 100 .010688 12 443 .00725 14225 .00947 4498 .00593 9600 .00112 11 500 .01180 14 483 67 .0062 5 7IO .0063 9 100 .0048 5800 .0069 7 73i 29 . 00769 13200 .0103 10 010 .00734 3828 .00802 11 54i •00547 8 747 . 00294 10 221 .0105 13769 .0032 18 225 97 .00385 8000 .00525 719580 .0041 5 124 40 .0057 7000 .00865 10 462 98 .0128 17 744 98 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 959 Erie co. ist dist. Tonawanda Tonawanda (dist. i) ... 2d dist. Alden Cheektowaga Hamburg Lancaster West Seneca Cheektowaga (dist. 9) . West Seneca (dist. 3) . 3d dist. Aurora (dist. 1) Aurora East Hamburg (dist. 1) East Hamburg Elma Marilla Wales 4th dist. Brant Collins Eden Evans Evans (dist. 13) North Collins 5th dist. Boston Colden Concord Concord (dist. 1) Holland Sardinia Essex co. ist dist. Crown Point Minerva Newcomb North Hudson Schroon Ticonderoga 2d dist. Elizabethtown Essex Lewis Moriah (dist. 1) Moriah (dist. 5) Moriah Westport Willsboro Rate Tax .0012 12 078 42 .01556 39 976 92 .00906 18406 ,00518 26000 ,00466 32 739 36 , 00265 8 117 ,00632 22 930 98 01530 40 776 94 00944 11 765 00857 29645 00684 9615 ,0090 22 500 63 0039 4 685 44 0055 8 986 14 0096 6 520 91 ,00695 S870 00385 9 548 16 ,00815 12525 .00586 14 606 88 ,0040 19 340 56 ,01091 15845 ,00792 15 368 58 ,00677 5230 ,01141 7 950 .0073 10500 .01146 19965 .01023 10 000 .00886 11 519 ■ 0147 9262 ■ 0143 4500 .02912 8900 .00953 3000 .015 7046 .00676 3000 .01283 11 016 .0112 7 970 .01206 3000 .01009 21 407 50 .02002 24 075 04 .02063 14000 .0105 10 854 39 .01165 9250 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Essex co. 3d dist. Chesterfield Jay (dist. i) Jay Keene North Elba (dist. 2). North Elba St Armand Wilmington Franklin co. 1st dist. Bellmont Burke Chateaugay Chateaugay (dist. 1) Malone 2d dist. Altamont Brighton Duane Franklin Harriettstown 3d dist. Bangor Brandon Constable , Fort Covington Westville 4th dist. Bombay Dickinson Moira (dist. 1) Moira (dist. 2) Santa Clara Waverly , Fulton co. 1st dist. Carogo Ephratah Johnstown , Oppenheim Stratford 2d dist. Bleecker Broadalbin Mayfield Northampton Perth Rate Tax .009505 $5 000 .0324 10 528 53 .021 5 192 19 . 02408 1323269 .01131 31065 .009505 5000 .0391 7 527 14 .01789 250032 .018 8 070 20 .0125 6 661 56 .0090 407286 .0360 10 131 48 .00981 10 001 35 • 035 31 765 34 .020 8 963 54 .015 2.151 18 .0219 12000 .0085 5 709 41 .0119 6 810 89 .0135 2000 .0146 3 492 44 • 0133 808872 .0116 249658 .0125 5625 .014 s 563 04 .0225 7 120 .015 5 753 26 .022 4002 .020 11 416 54 .0200 2 741 32 .0126 6687 .0105 12 194 05 .0130 7 595 .00213 4 443 67 .0400 2 576 44 .0134 821245 .0140 894428 .0164 927008 .0088 3 288 65 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 961 Genesee co. 1st dist. Alabama Alexander Batavia Oakfield Darien Pembroke 2d dist. Bergan , Bethany Byron Elba Le Roy (dist. l) Le Roy Pavilion Stafford Greene co. 1st dist. Athens Cairo Catskill Coxsackie Coxsackie (dist. 1) 2d dist. Windham New Baltimore Greenville Durham 3d dist. Ashland Halcott Hunter (unit 1) Hunter (unit 2) Jewett Lexington Prattsville Hamilton co. Arietta Benson Hope Indian Lake Inlet Lake Pleasant Long Lake Morehouse Wells 31 Rate Tax .005 $744463 . 00689 879898 .005 13 831 22 .005 4 570 08 .005 871927 .0065 II 99442 .00754 12 851 74 .00657 7891 . 00646 12 104 50 .00521 7000 .01075 35660 .00384 5 761 26 . 00478 9 693 12 .0035 6 192 32 .0072 10 105 58 .0122 8 697 89 .007 14 839 95 .0066 478930 .00783 10 910 26 .0182 7 616 50 .0075 7 116 .0091 609371 .0078 4 160 60 .01248 2410 ,0200 1 468 70 ,0080 16 836 09 .0099 6 998 93 .0129 3 579 ,0128 3 657 73 0132 2528 005 3283 0091 1 737 12 015 1 524 32 015 10 72721 0077 2800 0065 3 53i 01614 20 652 90 0034 1 829 02 on 641532 962 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Herkimer co. 1st dist. Columbia Frankfort German Flatts Litchfield Winfield Frankfort (dist. 9) ... German Flatts (dist. 2) 2d dist. Danube Manheim (dist. 2) Little Falls Manheim Stark Warren 3d dist Fairfield Herkimer Ohio Salisbury Schuyler 4th dist. Newport (unit 1) , Newport (unit 2) Norway Russia Webb (dist. 1) Webb Wilmurt Jefferson co. 1st dist. Ellisburg (unit 1) Ellisburg (unit 2) Henderson Lorraine Worth , 2d dist. Adams Adams (dist. 13) Rodman Rutland (unit 1) Rutland (unit 2) Watertown 3d dist. Clayton (dist. 8) Cape Vincent Clayton Orleans Rate Tax .0085 $5 485 57 .0074 21 214 58 .0085 5 855 .Oil 4 222 07 .010S4 11 370 .016 20 763 69 • 0177 23 122 13 .00910 8 072 m .01390 1824280 .00733 6 050 .00695 7 5oo .0150 6 957 u .0105 5 5oo .0120 10 000 .0110 11 000 .01609 2 700 .0110 9 855 .0054 6000 .01434 7500 .012 3 7793© .0126 3 639©5 .012 638080 20 082 sr .005 773$ .0075 426005 .0080 7 297 SO .0075 9 552 28 .0069 7 555 25 .0085 4 59494 .0140 2 968 7® .0085 8199 .0105 10 700 .0080 6 387 72 .0120 6134 .0090 7889 .0050 4827 .0160 11 76832 .0078 13 594 .0080 11 309 57 .0090 1466867 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 963 Jefferson co. 4th dist. Pamelia , Lyme (unit 1) Lyme (unit 2) Brownville Hounsfield Brownville (dist. 1) ... 5th dist. Alexandria Alexandria (dist. 5) ... Antwerp Theresa 6th dist. Champion Champion (dist. 2) Le Roy Philadelphia Wilna Wilna (dist. 1) Lewis co. 1st dist. Croghan Diana New Bremen Watson 3d dist. Greig Lyonsdale , Martinsburg , Turin 4th dist. High Market Lewis Leyden Osceola West Turin (unit 1) ... West Turin (unit 2) Livingston co. 2d dist. Conesus Lima Livonia (unit 1) Livonia (unit 2) Sparta Springwater 3d dist. Mount Morris (dist. 1) . North Dansville (dist. 1) Nunda (unit 1) Rate Tax 0065 $5 094 12 0070 6300 0077 5 378 95 0070 13625 12 759 11 0125 13520 0150 12 944 48 0100 14 134 06 0100 16 117 56 009 9 836 55 0095 8 986 62 0135 11 925 90 0073 10500 0065 8000 0071 11 719 0116 21 751 01 14 12 755 02426 12945 01632 9792 0155 5262 OI5S 3 13800 0202 669697 0071 5 545 10 0124 7852 0130 3 469 62 0199 4 211 39 0129 9 950 0123 4 879 13 0156 681693 0088 5 509 09 007 5 791 53 00486 10 000 009924 15500 012 8 527 50 008 5 819 93 on 12500 ,00931 13 823 81 011116 24000 964 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Livingston co. 3d dist. Nunda (unit 2) Portage West Sparta Madison co. 1st dist. Brookfield (unit 1) . Brookfield (unit 2) Brookfield (unit 3) . Georgetown Hamilton Hamilton (dist. 1) Lebanon 3d dist Eaton (unit 1) Eaton (unit 2) Madison Smithfield Stockbridge ........ Monroe co. 1st dist. Brighton Henrietta Irondequoit. Penfield Webster Irondequoit (dist. 3) Webster (dist- 1) 2d dist. Mendon Perinton Perinton (dist 9) . . . Perinton (dial. 13) . Pittsford Pittsford (dist: 6) .. Rush 3d dist. Clarkson Greece Greece (dist. 1) Hamlin Parma Sweden 4th dist. Chili Gates Ogden Riga Wheatland Rate Tax $5202 5 373 2a 5 500 .0107 5000 .0150 7 000 41 .0097 3 585 06 .0110 4 03 74 0120 15 474 08 .0132 13 287 86 .0090 536960 .01163 6078 .0125 888842 .0080 9 484 95 .0104 465496 .0100 9048 .00345 19800 .00449 11 000 .00592 23802 .00704 13389 .00409 8502 .0056 8965 .00551 10550 .00719 20000 .00391 9500 .00721 21 189 .00002 25 450 .00555 771828 .00968 13 312 40 .00442 10 000 .0045 7 109 25 .004 21 336 82 .007 30 144 81 .0033 931722 .0054 1902272 .0033 14 891 90 .0031 9 054 46 .0047 3087659 .005812 18500 .00467 11 602 31 • 00525 14903 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 965 Montgomery co. 1st dist. Canajoharie Canajoharie (dist. 8) . . Minden Minden (dist. 14) Palatine Root St Johnsville St Johnsville (dist. 2) . 2d dist. Amsterdam Charleston Florida Glen Mohawk Niagara co. 1st dist. Hartland Royalton Somerset Royalton (dist. 1) 2d dist. Cambria Lockport Niagara Pendleton Wheatfield 3d dist. Newf ane Lewiston Porter 'Wilson Oneida co. 1st dist. Deerfield Marcy New Hartford Whitestown New Hartford (dist. 1) New Hartford (dist. 4) New Hartford (dist. 8) Whitestown (dist. 4) . . 2d dist. Augusta (unit 1) Augusta (unit 2) Bridgewater Marshall Paris (unit 1) Rate Tax .00760 $631715 .01200 15 801 .00800 894086 .01690 25500 .00780 13 879 09 .00816 7 336 30 .00570 244060 .OHIO 3 321 .00861 19 399 71 .0116 4 171 77 .010694 13 179 79 . 009092 12 351 05 .0077 20 028 51 .004 10 644 12 . 00436 20 277 68 .00446 15 028 61 .009 14 5i3 01 .003 6 448 91 . 00369 9000 00783 27075 .•00525 ■6 085 74 .0026 5 556 44 ■0039s 23634 .00656 16 347 43 .008 12 820 56 .00565 21 571 .011707 4836 .0129 8975 .01383 12 271 .016 27628 .01044 20 700 .02335 20 100 ,0127 9500 .0113 15 000 ,018 7 742 34 .0123 3640 .0094 4 513 17 ,od8 4897 53 .01305 8814 966 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Oneida co. 2d dist. Paris (unit 2) Sangerfield Sangerfield (dist. 11) 3d dist. Kirkland Kirkland (dist. 4) Vernon Vernon (dist. 6) Westmoreland 4th dist. Verona (unit 1) Verona (unit 2) Rome Vienna 5th dist. Floyd Steuben Trenton (unit 1) . . . . Trenton (unit 2) ... Trenton (unit 3) Western 6th dist. Camden (dist. 1) ... Camden Florence Annsville Lee 7th dist. Boonville (dist. 1) .. Boonville Ava Forestport Remsen Onondaga co. 1st dist. La Fayette Onondaga Otisco Tully Onondaga (dist. 1) . 3d dist. Cicero Clay Manlius (unit 1) Manlius (unit 2) Manlius (dist. 11) . . 4th dist. Elbridge (unit 1).., Elbridge (unit 2) . . Rate Tax .01618 $6942 .007 3 935 . 01464 10900 .01485 16500 .01639 14 012 19 .0192 18 952 21 .0108 10 906 61 .010 12450 .01039 11 472 .012 881090 .00533 11 439 • 0175 7 776 55 .013 3 462 55 .016 4 432 87 .0157 522314 .01729 6360 .01577 6 619 73 .01568 6 491 52 .01609 13 038 50 •013975 5 5oo .0225 3 227 50 . 02428 7 925 .01649 6000 .01285 10500 .015 6 502 91 .0235 3300 .020 7800 .017 804833 .00752 6180 .00697 18475 . 00823 4 494 .00944 9626 .01227 15 779 13 .0079 12000 .00743 16 494 73 .011628 14878 .0097 17960 .0099 10580 . 00589 8 715 .00666 7000 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 967 Ononadga co. 4th dist. Lysander (unit 1) .. Lysander (unit 2) Salina Van Buren Salina (dist. 1) Lysander (dist. 16) . . 5th dist. Camillus (unit 1) 'Camillus (unit 2) Geddes Marcellus Skaneateles ......... Spafford Marcellus (dist. 2) . . Skaneateles (dist. 10) Ontario co. 1st dist. Canandaigua East Bloomfield Victor West Bloomfield 2d dist. Farmington Manchester (unit 1) . Manchester (unit 2) . Phelps Phelps (dist. 4) Phelps (dist. 8) 3d dist. Geneva Gorham Hopewell Seneca , 4th dist. Bristol Canadice Naples Richmond South Bristol Orange co. 1st dist. Cornwall Crawford Highlands Montgomery Newburgh New Windsor Woodbury , Cornwall (dist. 4) . . . . Cornwall (dist. 5) . . . Rate Tax .00721 $6000 .00655 6000 .00325 6500 .0060 8066 .00981 11 388 .010586 22303 .00757 12 755 .00957 18 058 27 .00725 3 727 27 .0050 6 046 32 .00729 11 200 .01026 6000 .0095 7 207 94 .00851 12765 .00527 10 591 20 .008196 13600 .00623 17879 .00627 6348 .00342 6 301 71 .01027 18000 .01198 1770446 .00447 12 512 .00898 11600 .00774 12 130 .00532 12 131 , 00782 12634 00563 15961 .007 4 882 68 ,010 3 958 .015 14 295 48 ,01044 9 095 59 01135 4000 00635 5000 010 8000 0066 1 490 95 0100 20 552 51 ,007 18 990 28 ,00956 13500 00874 1 1 840 69 00971 13 492 83 0125 13 503 54 968 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Orange co. 1st dist. Highlands (dist. 2) 2d dist. Blooming Grove . . Chester Goshen , Goshen (dist. 8) Hamptonburgh Monroe Monroe (dist. 1) Tuxedo Tuxedo (dist. 6) . . Warwick (dist 12) Warwick 3d dist. Deerpark Greenville Minisink Mount Hope Wallkill Wawayanda Orleans co. 1st dist. Ridgeway Shelly Yates Ridgeway (dist. 12) 2d dist. Albion Barre Gaines Albion (dist. 1) 3d dist. Carlton Clarendon Kendall Murray , Murray (dist. 7) Oswego co. 1st dist. Bojdeston Orwell Redfield Sandy Creek 2d dist. Albion Parish Richland , Richland (dist. 7) . . Williamstown Rate Tax .016 $1930626 .00753 11 130 .0140 14300 .0053 4 999 22 .01557 23 028 70 .00630 5 620 06 .00831 12 994 59 .01527 15 000 •01445 7 327 67 .00420 23 517 15 .01130 15 800 .0100 19 602 99 .010994 10 165 .012243 2765 .01257 10 000 .01 14 256 78 .007 12 487 57 .00852 6 546 85 .0036 10 907 79 •0053 10 030 14 .00639 16 212 .00869 40600 .00336 5 400 .00463 7 073 .00371 7 131 .00144 28 000 .005 12 318 30 . 00489 5 5oo .007616 13 848 30 .00856 11 91887 .00915 11 512 81 .0142 2 119 36 .0041 484026 .0178 4 505 94 .016 15 115 60 .0121 6767 .0134 7105 .0094 9710 .0167 11 500 .0157 5 776 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 959 Oswego co. 3d dist. Amboy Constantia Hastings Schroeppel Schroeppel (dist. 12) West Monroe 4th dist. Mexico Mexico (dist. 7) New Haven Palermo ScriDa Otsego co. 1st dist. Cherry Valley Middlefield ••• Roseboom Springfield (unit 1) , Springfield (unit 2) . 2d dist. Decatur Maryland (unit 1) ... Maryland (unit 2) . Westford Worcester (unit 1) .. Worcester (unit 2) . , 3d dist. Exeter Hartwick Otsego Richfield 4th dist. Milford Otego • Oneonta Unadilla 5th dist. Butternuts Laurens Morris New Lisbon , 6th dist. Burlington Edmeston Pittsfield Plainfield Putnam co. Carmel (unit 1) Carmel (unit 2) Rate Tax .0169 $2541 ,0150 8 541 27 ,0100 10420 00775 6500 ,0162 10 435 0124 3 014 96 00703 4 673 01386 8900 ,01036 7800 0010 4230 OOQO 7 584 OI4 10 970 47 ,009 9 010 80 015 4 531 17 012 3 77i 27 012 742661 ■OII73 1 765 05 0I54I 8515 OI769 6 585 02300 6270 OI458 9289 11 OI738 4 000 50 5 047 85 8 184 85 8296 2015 008 8 026 50 0120 10 608 82 OO78 6 673 59 ,0120 1550633 01280 10 044 33 OIO80 5642 01 100 5 075 50 OO835 428551 00882 5 026 24 010 10 365 71 3 930 98 009375 4 768 30 00680 9 463 004 10 432 97o THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Putnam co. Kent Patterson Philipstown Putnam Valley Southeast Southeast ((list. 13) Rensselaer co. 1st dist. Brunswick Hoosick Pittstown Schaghticoke 2d dist. Grafton Petersburg Poestenkill Stephentown Berlin 3d dist. East Greenbush North Greenbush Nassau Sand Lake Schodack , Schodack (dist. 10) . Rockland co. Clarkstown Haverstraw Orangetown Orangetown (dist. 3) Orangetown (dist. 8) Ramapo Ramapo (dist. 3) Ramapo (dist. 7) Stony Point (unit 1) Stony Point (unit 2) St Lawrence co. 1st dist. Clifton Edwards Fine Fowler Gouverneur Pitcairn 2d dist. Hammond Macomb Morristown (unit 1) Morristown (unit 2) , Rossie Rate Tax .0099 $6/75 .0083 12055 .00922 29930 .0100 4 774 .00346 10307 .0064 12 162 .004018 7 234 •00395 7819 .007 15 940 .00502 15 785 .0095 452040 .0084 2 583 62 .0118 4 75663 .0122 5 927 54 .0060 10000 .0046 4678 .0103 944949 .0100 7 102 78 .0059 12930 .0142 996144 .0057 37876 .0099 11 900 .0074 18 555 09 •00795 1 16 355 .01228 15 186 95 .009 53 19903 .00811 24684 .00892 26 198 .0126 12474 • 0137 7 997 .014249 9 55o .01 892845 •014543 ' 9 735 .0077 7 979 38 .0054 611885 .011288 2 700 .01 996873 .01 6 382 27 .00831 6 278 65 .012092 5 913 .00925 3 779 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 971 St Lawrence co. 3d dist. Hermon De Peyster Oswegatchie De Kalb (unit 1) De Kalb (unit 2) 4th dist. Lisbon Madrid Waddington 5th dist. Canton (unit 1) . Canton (unit 2) . Canton (dist. 1) . Clare Pierrepont Russell 6th dist. Colton Parishville Potsdam Potsdam (dist. 1) Potsdam (dist. 8) 7th dist. Brasher (unit 1) Brasher (unit 2) Louisville Massena Norfolk Norfolk (dist. 1) 8th dist. Hopkinton Lawrence Piercefield ..••.. Stockholm Saratoga co. 1st dist. Clifton Park .... Halfmoon Malta Stillwater Waterf ord • • 2d dist. Ballston , Charlton Galway Milton Milton (dist. 1) . Providence Rate Tax .0105 $8 161 51 00546 360375 0065 11 17860 .00933 650634 00847 6 756 60 ,00676 I49I5 00650 5 820 72 .00720 8 102 61 .008 12 678 17 00712 10 029 22 .011061 16 567 45 .005 1 31805 .007376 5 022 83 .013 10 051 28 .0088 867066 .011 6510 007 12 009 16 .012 1 1 289 65 .00623 14 054 57 00963 6 589 22 .0066 3888 .0075 5 264 07 .006 5 985 94 .0057 4 195 .012 9 222 25 .0060014 6000 . 00794 6500 .0131 10 000 .00675 7 100 .007 8 294 75 .005 544682 ,006 5 746 .0078 4600 500 ,00825 12068 .007 3 641 34 .013 5 93i 25 .0118 5 790 • 0155 29 501 21 .0106 1 569 68 972 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Schoharie co. i st dist. Blenheim Broome Gonesvilk ■ Gilboa Jefferson ....••.. 2d dist. Esperance Fulton Middleburg Schoharie Wright 3d dist. Carlisle Cobleskill Cobleskill (dist. i) Richmondville . . . Seward Sharon Summit , Moreau Moreau (dist; i) , Northumberland . Saratoga Saratoga (dist. i) Saratoga Springs • Wilton • • 4th dist. Corinth Corinth (dist. 7) . Day Edinburgh Hadley , Greenfield ■ Schuyler co. 1st dist. Catharine Cayuta Hector Montour , 2d dist. Dix Bix (dist. 1) Orange Reading Tyrone Rate Tax .00958 $2 039 22 .00780 2 248 67 .01032 3 281 17 .00S86 5 427 79 .0150 6 843 22 .0064 5 294 97 .0087 481796 .0095 11 000 .0102 11 279 .0082 3900 . 00632 4 055 .00520 454812 .01380 21 525 . 00770 805748 .00670 4298 . 00730 10 161 14 .01220 7 542 36 .0054 8 007 56 .0152 12 050 38 .0109 6 01 1 49 .0075 7 161 27 .016217 8 695 18 .00552 7 oiS 44 .007 4 037 33 .0128 3 213 62 .0166 23 18423 .0120 1 446 08 .0204 2 709 12 .0184 2015 72 .0100 6 311 84 .0124 7 313 01 .007846 1 930 79 .0085 18 290 81 .012 9 053 .0076 5 144 .01394 18974 .0116 3 101 05 .0072 3 934 69 .0085 4 839 40 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 973 Seneca co. ist dist. Covert Lodi Ovid Romulus Varick 2d dist. Fayette Junius Seneca Falls .... Tyre Waterloo Waterloo (dist. i) Steuben co. 1st dist. Erwin Erwin (dist. i) Corning , Lindley Tuscarora Caton 2d dist. Bath Bath (dist. 5) .... Bradford Campbell Hornby 3d dist. Addison Addison (dist. 1) Cameron Rathbone Thurston Woodhull 4th dist. Greenwood Troupsburg ...... Jasper West Union 5th dist. Canisteo Canisteo (dist. 1) Dansville Fremont Hartsville ........ Hornellsville 6th dist. Avoca Cohocton (unit 1) Rate Tax .0080 $12 367 59 .00972 11 290 .0073 14 55i 50 .003314 785806 .00652 5 924 70 . 005850 14 000 .006095 4000 .00444 4000 . 006707 4000 .0054 5 070 78 .01077 2093145 .0050 4 024 33 .0179 19820 .00828 8 322 55 .01x5 6 209 98 .0094 4 339 34 .0090 481275 .00787 12 750 00 . 00825 1726750 .0109 2800 .007 5250 on 3 973 90 .012246 10 500 .006207 1 036 94 .0082 4S1756 .0065 523601 01 3 77147 .01076 7 009 49 .01 6405 31 on 6 166 94 008 5 1 19 82 ,01 3 498 98 008 5240 01554 14000 007 6 200 007 3820 .0097 2600 0085 11 000 0079 12 281 0125 9000 974 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Steuben co. 6th dist. Cohocton (unit 2) ... Howard Wayland • • Wayland (dist. 1) ... 7th dist. Prattsburg Pulteney ■•.... Urbana Urbana (dist. 11) ... Wayne Wheeler Suffolk co. 1st dist. Easthampton Easthampton (dist. 1) Easthampton (dist. 5) Southampton (dist. 6) Riverhead (dist. 5) . Southold (unit 1) ... Southold (unit 2) ... Southampton (unit 1) Southampton (unit 2) Southampton (unit 3) Southampton (unit 4) Southold (dist. 5) Southold (dist. 10) . . Shelter Island Riverhead 2nd dist. Brookhaven (unit 1) Brookhaven (unit 2) , Brookhaven (unit 3) Brookhaven (unit 4) Brookhaven (dist. 2) Brookhaven (dist. 6) Islip (unit 1) Islip (unit 2) ....... Islip (dist. 1) Islip (dist. 2) Islip (dist. 3) Islip (dist. 4) ....... 3rd dist. Babylon Babylon (dist. 1) ... Babylon (dist. 4) ... Babylon (dist. 6) ... Huntington Huntington (dist. 4) Smithtown Rate Tax .0084 $7200 .0086 5624 .0047 4000 .016 13850 .011 10 705 75 .009 6 478 56 .000 6 176 08 .0178 14 47i 57 .007 2 072 38 .005 3 310 77 .0095 19 736 06 .0064 21 186 50 .0150 2166683 .0100 47 175 .0105 22035 .0096 1 1 265 43 .0080 22 031 18 .0082 2515480 .0086 12 945 65 .0100 8 539 55 .0090 9 585 44 .0124 3126850 .0039 8486 .0075 21 350 31 .0065 21 57221 .0038 7 520 64 .0060 22 162 88 • 0053 15 5i6 50 .0080 12047 .0095 16 038 72 • 0035 16 227 34 .0060 25 464 70 .0055 32 704 12 .0069 21 250 .0048 14000 . 00825 18 285 37 0093 10 938 77 .0106 29465 .0182 15 214 .0114 25 129 28 .0042 33 856 50 .0092 15 725 .00586 27062 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 975 Sullivan co. 1st dist. Bethel Cochecton ■ Highland Liberty Lumberland Tusten 2d dist. Callicoon Delaware • • Fremont Neversink Rockland (unit 1) • Rockland (unit 2) . 3d dist. Fallsburg Forestburgh ....■•. Mamakating Thompson Thompson (dist. 1) Tioga co. 1st dist. Berkshire Candor Newark Valley • • . Richford • 2d dist. Barton Spencer Tioga 3d dist. Nichols ..•• Owego Tompkins co. 1st dist. Enfield Newfield Ulysses 2d dist. Groton Groton (dist. 8) Ithaca Lansing 3d dist. Caroline Danby Dryden (unit 1) Dryden (unit 2) . . . Rate Tax .0196 $9 592 32 .0112 5 504 58 .0286 5000 .0269 14800 .015 484986 .01772 5000 0344 14085 .026 IO99O "]2 .021 9 644 17 .03 5 141 46 .024 11 710 .0172 7 542 94 ,044 31 198 11 .01371 2 833 90 019 16 564 16 .0263 10 435 84 .0419 21 357 50 .010 460270 ,010 12 976 26 .0110 10 336 98 ,012 476414 01 10055 013 1 1 004 70 007 7 530.73 .007 14 912 27 010 10 847 65 .0085 4660 .01 8 087 88 .009 1 1 224 92 0070 6 826 07 .012 10 600 00 0052 981659 0083 12000 .0085 8 418 85 .009 6485 .Oil 11 288 49 .0098 10 215 976 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Ulster co. 1st dist. Hurley Kingston Rosendale . . • • Saugerties , Saugerties (dist. 10) . Ulster 2d dist. Esopus Gardiner Lloyd Lloyd (dist. 3) Marlboro Marlboro (dist. 3) ... New Paltz New Paltz (dist. 1) . . . Plattekill Shawangunk ......... 3d dist. Denning Marbletown Rochester Wawarsing Wawarsing (dist. 39). 4th dist. Hardenburgh Olive Shandaken Woodstock Warren co. 1st dist. Caldwell Luzerne Queensbury Queensbury (dist. 18) Warrensburg Warrensburg (dist. 1) 2d dist. Bolton Chester Hague Horicon 3d dist. Johnsburg Stony Creek ......... Thurman Rate Tax .00716 $4700 .04496 990 .011441 8100 .01 17490 .0125 2491836 .00781 8200 .00884 1529950 .01009 5400 .01017 4060 •01559 17800 .01122 8601 .0137 8obo .0120 3 382 .0146 8 450 35 .01551 11 400 .01648 2 485 57 .00919 9500 •01757 8 500 39 .01914 15 000 . 03209 1960795 • 0233 3 5i868 .0089 8035 .0101 1 1 752 39 .0077 4220 .083 12 829 24 . 00638 10 044 36 .00109 I 51287 •01453 2 101 05 .0135 9 128 50 . 00814 761868 .025 10600 .014 4 833 64 .024 4888 .015 1 1 392 92 .0185 3 672 36 .015 2812 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 977 Washington co. ist dist. Dresden Fort Ann Hampton Putnam Whitehall 2d dist. Granville Granville (dist. 7) ... Hartford Hebron Kingsbury 3d dist. Argyle Easton Fort Edward Fort Edward (dist. I) . . Greenwich Greenwich (dist. 3) . . 4th dist. Cambridge Jackson ......... Salem White Cr^ek White Creek (dist. 10) Wayne co. ist dist. Arcadia Galen Galen (dist. 16) Lyons Lyons (dist. 6) Savannah 2d dist. Butler Huron ■ Rose Wolcott Wolcott (dist. 1) 3d dist. Macedon Marion •: Palmyra Palmyra (dist. 1) .... Walworth 4th dist. Ontario Williamson Sodus Sodus (dist. 4) Rate Tax .011 $3870 .Oil 8630 .0084 3 779 .007 3 182 009 5 930 .0086 9 480 29 .0132 17670 .011 6 025 29 .00682 5000 .01084 846485 .00643 5 400 .00574 62S022 . 00664 7 623 05 • 0133 20765 .0075 10 511 12 .00908 9125 . 00508 5 230 42 .00592 314483 .01059 12 625 77 .00625 4 524 03 .01282 9 645 97 . 00599 11 93250 .0045 9 773 .008 1079659 .00467 6000 .008 21 038 04 .00794 14 218 22 .00805 5 075 . 00625 6125 .0079 10835 .00005 9650 .01289 11 460 .007 IS 574 .00844 12 912 85 .00588 10 511 .00729 16350 .007 9 320 . 00908 17736 .00934 22 104 .00766 17200 .011865 7 855 •978 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Westchester co. 1st dist. Eastchester (dist. i) Eastchestcr (dist. 2) .... Eastchester (dist. 3) .... Harrison Harrison (dist. 6) Rye Rye (dist. 1) Rye (dist. 2) Rye (dist. 3) Pelham (dist. 1) Scarsdale Scarsdale (dist. 1) 2d dist. Greenburgh Mount Pleasant Mount Pleasant (dist. 9) North Castle Greenburgh (dist. 2) Greenburgh (dist. 3) 3d dist. Bedford Bedford (dist. 10) New Castle • • New Castle (dist. 2) Lewisboro Ossining Poundridge 4th dist. Cortlandt Cortlandt (dist. 2) North Salem ........... Somers Yorktown Wyoming co. 1st dist. Arcade Arcade (dist. 1) Eagle Java Sheldon Pike 2d dist. Attica Attica (dist. 1) Bennington Middleburg Orangeville Warsaw Warsaw (dist. 10) Rate Tax .01202 $52 96c •01435 27968 .00572 29000 .0091 2965 .0134 29805 .00141 1645 .00884 27013 •00335 11 636 .00686 36 246 15 . 00859 63000 .0091 2965 .00781 65465 .00573 62000 •00355 47 597 .00523 1 800 .00441 49 925 .00547 38960 .00330 25 039 79 .00902 20000 .00438 16000 .01050 30 995 . 00264 6700 .00801 22864 .00576 3 313 .00548 47 675 .00797 23 000 .00377 8685 .00385 10527 .00586 14000 .00911 4 820 26 .0100 9841 86 .00863 654186 .00577 539823 .00787 10 000 .0115 7 727 91 .008 5 11009 .00927 10500 .00930 8 149 77 •00955 12 182 .00888 2 689 65 .00581 6200 .01060 25605 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 979 Wyoming co. 3d dist. Castile Covington • Gainesville (unit 1) Gainesville (unit 2) Genesee Falls Perry- Perry (dist. 6) Wethersfield Yates co. 1st dist. Barrington Benton ••.... Milo Starkey Torrey 2d dist. Italy ■ • Jerusalem Middlesex Potter • • . . . Rate Tax .00686 $16 037 .0045 4 372 27 .00965 IOOOO .009 6 641 28 .00658 2800 .004 441428 .0095 28 314 70 .0081 4 540 34 .0075 4612 .00431 6842 16 •00539 7 183 78 .00727 14 017 04 .00583 4 53157 .007 3 582 12 .005 7 303 .0095 9 505 .008 9 015 07 Compilation and Digest of the Laws of the Forty-eight States Relating to Governmental Unit of Taxation for School Purposes Compiled by William E. Hannmx, Legislative Reference Librarian, New York State Library COUNTY UNIT TOWNSHIP UNIT DISTRICT UNIT Alabama. Arizona. . Arkansas. California. Colorado. . Connecticut. Delaware . . . Florida Georgia. Idaho . . Illinois . Indiana. Iowa. County tax of 30 cents levied for school pur- poses County school tax to be levied County tax of so cents levied for school pur- poses County school tax of 5 mills to be levied County school tax not to exceed 7 mills County school tax not to exceed i of 1 per cent County school tax of S15 per capita of school enumeration County school tax not to exceed 3 mills Township. Special tax Tax additional to county tax when asked for District tax of 7/10 of 1 per cent Tax additional to county tax when asked for Special tax for district purposes not to exceed 20 mills Township school ta: not to exceed 50 cents on Si 00 valu- ation District Special tax school tricts dis- Special tax for independ- ent school districts not to exceed 1 5 mills District tax not to exceed 3 per cent Specific tax when re- quested 980 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY UNIT TOWNSHIP UNIT DISTRICT UNIT Kansas . . . Kentucky. Louisiana . Maine Maryland. Massachusetts. Michigan Minnesota .... Mississippi. Missouri. . . Montana . Nebraska . Nevada. . . New Hampshire . New Jersey New Mexico . . . . New York North Carolina. , North Dakota. . , Ohio Oklahoma. Oregon . Pennsylvania. . . Rhode Island. . South Carolina . South Dakota. Tennessee Texas . Utah Vermont . Virginia Washington . . , West Virginia . Wisconsin Wyoming County school tax not to exceed 20 cents on $100 valuation Parish school tax not less than 3 mills County school tax not to exceed 40 cents on each Si 00 valuation Township school tax not less than 80 cents for each in- habitant District tax not to exceed 4.5 mills On petition of district question of tax for local school purposes voted on. Tax not to exceed 25 cents on $100 valua- tion County school tax 1 mill. . County school tax levied on property outside separate school districts Township tax. Township tax. County school tax 4 mills . District school tax not to exceed 25 mills Separate school districts levy to supplement state tax District school tax not to exceed 65 cents on $100 valuation Special school tax not to exceed 10 mills District, school tax not to exceed $3.50 on $100 valuation County school tax not to exceed 50 cents on $100 valuation County school tax. County school tax. Township tax. Township tax. County school tax not~to exceed 1 mill County school tax $7 per capita of school enumer- ation Township tax. Township tax. District school tax not to exceed 30 mills Special school district tax Tfetrrct school tax not to exceed 5 mills Special school district tax 5 mills District tax County school tax 3 mills Township tax. On petition of district special tax of 8 mills submitted to voters District school tax County school tax | mills. Levy of addi- tional tax allowed County school tax. District school tax not to exceed 50 cents on $100 valuation »*. - -.j County school tax. Township school tax not less than 40 cents on dollar valuation County school tax not to excee 5 mills County school tax not to exceed 3 mills District school tax also levied District school tax also levied District school tax also levied fc--.j»»| District school tax notjto exceed 2 per cent tf District school tax also levied THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 981 ALABAMA Sec. I That upon a petition signed by two hundred or more qualified electors of any county, to the court of county commissioners or other governing body, in any county within the state of Alabama, said court of county commissioners or other governing body shall order an election to determine whether or not a special tax shall be levied for public school purposes within said county, and upon request of the county board of education to the court of county commissioners or other governing body, said court shall order an election to determine whether or not a special tax shall be levied for public school purposes within any school district in any county; provided that no election in any school district shall be held for the purpose of levying and collecting a special school tax for school purposes unless the county in which said district is located shall be levying and collecting a special county tax for school purposes of not less than thirty (30^) cents on each one hundred dollars ($100) worth of taxable property in such county. Sec. 5 . . . Provides that the funds arising from levying the special tax for school purposes in any school district, shall be used for the exclusive benefit of the public schools of such district; and in the case of incorporated cities and towns shall be paid over to the treasurer of said incorporated city or town, to be used for the exclusive benefit thereof. (Alabama: General Acts, 1915, no. 403, p. 360, 362-363) ARIZONA Sec. 2818 . . . The board of supervisors of each county shall annually, at the time of levying other taxes, levy a county school tax of a rate not less than a rate sufficient to raise the said minimum amount of money less the amount of money received by the county for school purposes from the state and other sources, and in addition a rate on the property of any district or districts in which an additional amount has been asked for; said tax shall be added to the county tax and collected in the same manner. That portion levied for county school purposes shall be paid into the county treasury to the credit of the county school fund for the support of the common schools. Such additional portion as has been levied for school purposes in a particular district shall be paid into the school fund of such district. (Arizona: Revised Statutes, 1913, p. 946) ARKANSAS Sec. 7590 The electors of every school district shall, when lawfully assembled in annual school district meeting with not less than five electors present, have the power, by a majority of the votes cast at such meeting, to determine what amount of money shall be raised by tax on the taxable property of the district, sufficient, with the public school revenues apportioned to the district, to defray the expenses of a school for three months, or for any greater length of time they may decide to have a school taught during the year; provided, no tax for the purpose aforesaid greater than sevent-tenths of one per cent on the assessed value of the property of the district shall be levied; and provided further, they may if sufficient revenue cannot be raised to sustain a school for three months during any one year, determine by ballot that no school shall be taught during 982 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK such year, in which case the revenue belonging to such district shall remain in the treasury to the credit of such school district; eight, to repeal and modify their proceedings from time to time. (Arkansas: Statutes, 1911, P. 638) CALIFORNIA Sec. 1817 The county superintendent of every county, and of every city and county, must, at least fifteen days before the first day of the month in which the board of supervisors of such county, or city and county, is required by law to levy the amount of taxes required for county, or city and county purposes, to furnish to the board of supervisors and to the auditor, respectively, an estimate in writing of the minimum amount ot county or city and county school fund needed for the next ensuing school year . . . But in no case shall the rate of tax levied for county, or city and county, school purposes in any one year exceed fifty cents on each one hundred dollars of taxable property in the county, or city and county. Sec. 1840 The board of school trustees or board of education of anj school district or of any city may, at least fifteen days before the 1st day of the month in which the board of supervisors is required by law to levy the taxes required for county purposes, submit to the county superintendent of schools an estimate of any amount of money in excess of the amounts derived from the state and county funds which will be required for the maintenance of any school or schools in their several districts for the ensuing school year. The county superintendent of schools shall thereupon examine said estimates and submit copies of the same with his approval or disapproval endorsed thereon to the board of supervisors and to the county auditor at the time he submits to them his estimate for the county school tax for the ensuing school year. If the county superintendent of schools approve such estimate the said board of supervisors may at the time and in the manner of levying other taxes levy and cause to be collected in the several school districts for which estimates have been submitted and approved as herein provided, the excess amounts so estimated and approved. The funds so levied and collected shall be known as the special school fund of . . . school district (as the case may be) and shall be available for any and all of the purposes for which the school funds derived from the state and county may be used and the moneys drawn from it shall be paid out in the same manner as state and county school funds are paid; provided, this section shall not be so construed as to repeal sections eighteen hundred and thirty to eighteen hundred and thirty-nine, inclusive of this code. (California: Kerr's Cumulative Supplement Anno- tated, 1906-1913, p. 238-39) COLORADO Sec. 5893 The county commissioners shall, at the time of levying the tax for county purposes, cause to be levied a tax for the support of the schools within the county, of not less than two (2) mills on the dollar, of the assessed value of all taxable property, real and personal, within the county, which tax shall be collected by the county treasurer at the same time and in the same manner, as state and county taxes are collected, except THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 983; that it shall be receivable only in cash It is hereby made the duty of the county commissioners to increase the minimum rate of two (2) mills,, to what shall be required for the purpose as stated as above; provided^ that such tax levy shall in no case exceed five (5) mills; provided, further if any school district shall fail to certify a special tax for other expenses of the district necessary to maintaining a public school each year, as pro- vided for in section 77, the county commissioners shall cause the same to levied. Sec. 5895 On or before the day designated by law for the commissioners of each county to levy the requisite taxes for the then ensuing year, the school board in each district shall certify to the board of county commis- sioners a statement showing the aggregate amount, which, in the judgment of said school board, it is necessary to raise from the taxable property of said district, to create a special fund for any of the purposes specified in section 51 of this chapter; said statement shall also show the items com- posing said aggregate and the purpose to which it is intended to devote each sum so itemized. It shall thereupon be the duty of the county commissioners to levy, at the same time that other taxes are levied, such rate, within tht limits allowed by law, as will produce the aggregate amount so certified. The amount of such special tax, which shall be assessed to each taxpayer of such district, shall be placed in a separate column of the tax book, which shall be headed "special school tax;" provided, in the case of districts of the third class no higher rate than twenty mills per dollar shall be levied. There shall also be a column in said tax book in which shall be designated the number of the school district in which the property is listed. This tax shall be collected in cash only and placed to the credit of the proper district as fast as collected and the amount placed to the credit of each district shall be reported to the secretary of such district at the end of every month, and shall be subject to the order of the district board. It is hereby made the duty of the county assessor and county treasurer to so- arrange their tax schedules and books as to conform to the above provi- sion; provided, that the county assessor shall list all property, both real and personal, in the school district in which the same may be on the first day of May. (Colorado: Statutes Annotated, v. 4, p. 3744-46) CONNECTICUT Sec. 10. The expenses of maintaining public schools which shall be incurred with the approval of the town school committee shall be paid by the town treasurer on orders drawn by the town school committee, except so far as they may be met by the income from local school funds. Such orders may be signed by such persons on behalf of the school committee as the committee by by-law or special vote, certified by the secretary to the town, treasurer, may provide, and in the absence of such by-law or special direc- tion by the secretary. (Connecticut: Public Acts, 1909, p. 1074) Sec. 1 Section 2177 of the general statutes is hereby amended to read as follows: Every school district shall be a body corporate, and shall have power to sue and be sued, to purchase, receive, hold, and convey real and personal property for school purposes; to build, purchase, hire, and repair schoolhouses, and supply them with fuel, furniture, and other appendages 984 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK and accommodations; to establish schools of different grades; ... to lay taxes and borrow money for the foregoing purposes; and to make agreements and regulations for establishing and conducting schools, not inconsistent with the regulations of the town having jurisdiction of the schools in such district. (Connecticut: Public Acts, 1915, ch. 172, p. 2002) DELAWARE Sec. 2292 It shall be the duty of the school committees of the several school districts for white children in the State, to make assessment lists for their respective districts. . . . It shall be the duty of the school commissioners in each of the districts aforesaid, annually, in the month of July, to assess and levy without regard to any vote thereon, in each of their respective districts, that is to say; in each of the school districts in New Castle county the sum of one hun- dred dollars ; in each of the school districts in Kent county the sum of one hundred dollars, and in each of the school districts in Sussex county, the sum of sixty dollars, to be applied to the support of the schools of their districts respectively. (Delaware: Revised Code, 1915, p. 1106-7) Sec. 347 Each board of public instruction is directed : . . . Fourteenth. To prepare on or before the last Monday in June of each year, an itemized estimate showing the amount of money required for the maintenance of the necessary common schools of their county for the next ensuing scholastic year, stating the amount in mills on the dollar of taxable property of the county, which shall not be less than three or more than seven mills, and furnish a copy of the statement to the assessor of taxes of the county, and file a copy in the office of the board of public instruc- tion; and the assessor shall assess the amount so stated, and the collector shall collect the amount assessed and pay over the same monthly to the county treasurer who is also by law school treasurer, to be used for the sole benefit of the public schools. Sec. 399 Each county shall constitute a school unit; all subdivisions of a county for school purposes shall be designated as school districts; all school districts levying a school district tax, shall hereafter be designated as special tax school districts, and all schools receiving any district tax, as special tax schools. (Florida: Compiled Laws, 1914, v. i, p. 128, 130, 144) Sec. 1534 . . . Whenever the citizens of any county wish to sup- plement the public school fund received from the State by levying a tax upon the property of the county, it shall be the duty of the ordinary to order an election not earlier than twenty days, nor later than sixty days, after receiving a petition of one-fourth of the qualified voters of the county, unless the number of qualified voters in a county shall exceed five thousand, in which event the ordinary shall order the election after receiving a petition of one-tenth of the said voters ; and notice of the same shall be published in THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 985 at least three weekly issues of the county newspaper in which legal advertise- ments of the county are published. If the election is carried for local taxation, the ordinary or board of county commissioners, whichever levies the county tax, shall levy a local tax as recommended by the comity board of education, or such board of public education, whether established by a general or a local law, as has control of the public schools of the county, upon all the property of the county, not to exceed one-half of one per cent, and the same shall be collected by the tax collector and paid by him to the county board of educa- tion, or such board of public education, whether established by a general or a loca 1 law, as has control of the public schools of the county. (Georgia: Laws, 1916, no. 284, p. 37-38) IDAHO Sec. 129 (a) The board of trustees of an independent school district shall have power and it is its duty : . . . s To levy a special tax, if necessarj*-, which, when added to money appor- tioned by the county superintendent of schools, will be sufficient to pro- vide funds for the maintenance of the schools for nine (9) months in each year. The special taxes levied by said board of trustees for the payment of interest on bonds and sinking fund, for payment of bonds at maturity, together with the levy for the maintenance of schools, shall not exceed ten (10) mills on the dollar of the assessed valuation of all property in the district : provided, that the state board of education may authorize a particular district to increase its levy to fifteen (15) mills upon a showing of financial conditions that hi the opinion of the said board justifies such increase : and provided further, that districts maintaining rural school routes may levy an additional tax of not to exceed four (4) mills for the support of such rural routes. (Idaho: Session Laws, 1917, ch. 59, p. 179-80) Sec. 99 The board of county commissioners of each county is this State must levy annually upon all the taxable property of said county a tax for general county purposes, . . . and upon the same property and for the same year the board must also levy a tax for general school purposes, to be collected and paid into the county treasury and apportioned to the county school fund, which levy shall be sufficient to raise a minimum sum of fifteen dollars ($15) per capita of school enumeration. (Idaho: Session Laws, 191 7, ch. 170, p. 503-4) Sec. 189 For the purpose of establishing and supporting free schools for not less than six nor more than nine months in each year and defraying all the expenses of the same of every description; for the purpose of repair- ing and improving school houses, of procuring furniture, fuel, libraries and apparatus, and for all other necessary incidental expenses in each district, village or city, anything in any special charter to the contrary notwithstand- ing, the directors or the board of education and the authorities of such village or city, as the case maj/ be, shall be authorized to levy a tax annually upon all the taxable property of the district, village or city, not to exceed, except as hereinafter stated, one and one-half per cent for educational, and one and one-half per cent for building purposes upon the valuation to be 986 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK ascertained by the last assessment for state and county taxes. . . . But if the board of education, in any district having a population of not less than one thousand and not over one hundred thousand inhabitants, and not governed by any special act in relation to free schools now in force by which no tax limit is imposed, shall desire to levy in any one year more than one and one-half per cent, but not more than two per cent, for educational purposes, such board may, by resolution stating the percentage so desired, cause a proposition for an assent thereto to be submitted to the voters of such district at any general school election, or at a special election called for that purpose, and if at such election a majority of the votes cast on said proposition shall be in favor thereof, the board of education of such district may thereafter, until such authority is revoked in like manner, levy annually for educational purposes, a tax in excess of one and one-half per cent, but •not exceeding the percentage mentioned in said proposition, and for build- ing purposes such a percentage that the aggregate levy shall not exceed three per cent. (Illinois: Revised Statutes, 1915-16, p. 2387) Sec. 6443 That the school trustees of the several townships, towns and cities shall have power to levy annually a tax not exceeding fifty cents on each one hundred dollars of taxable property and twenty-five cents on each taxable poll, which tax shall be assessed and collected as the taxes of the state and county revenues are assessed and collected, and the revenues arising from such tax levy shall constitute a supplementary tuition fund, to extend the terms of school in said townships, towns and cities after the tuition fund apportioned so such townships, towns and cities from the state tuition revenues shall be exhausted. (Indiana: Burns's Annotated Statutes, 1914, v. 3, P- 297) Sec. 12 The trustees of the several townships, towns and cities, shall have the power to levy a special tax, in their respective townships, towns or cities, for the construction, renting or repairing of schoolhouses, providing fur- niture, school apparatus, and fuel therefore, and for the payment of other necessary expenses of the school, including tuition and teachers' salaries, whenever in any current year the tuition funds shall have been exhausted; but no tax shall exceed the sum of seventy-five (75) cents on each one hundred dollars ($100) worth of taxable property, and one dollar ($1) on each poll, in any one year, and the income from said tax shall be denom- inated the special school revenue. (Indiana: Laws 1917, ch. 126, p. 408) Sec. 2807 The board of supervisors shall at the time of levying taxes for county purposes levy the taxes necessary to raise the various funds authorized by law and certified to it under this chapter, but if the amount certified for any such fund is in excess of the amount authorized by law it shall levy only so much thereof as is authorized by law. If a schoolhouse tax is voted at a special meeting and certified to said board after the regular levy is made, it shall at its next regular meeting levy such tax and cause the same to be forthwith entered upon the tax list to be collected THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 987 as other school taxes. It shall also levy a tax for the support of the schools within the county of not less than one one nor more than three mills on the dollar on the assessed value of all the taxable property within the county. (Iowa: Code Annotated, 1897, P- 957) KANSAS Sec. 8913 The inhabitants qualified to vote at a school meeting lawfully assembled shall have power : . . . Fifth, to vote a sum annually not exceeding the limit fixed by law, as the meeting shall deem sufficient, for the various school purposes and for the payment of any floating indebtedness of the district, and distribute the amount as the meeting shall deem proper in the payment of teachers' wages, and to purchase or lease a site (provided, when not included within the limits of a town or village, said site shall not contain less than one acre), and to build, hire or purchase such schoolhouse, and to keep in repair and furnish the same with the necessary fuel and appendages, and to pay any floating indebtedness of the school district; sixth, to authorize and direct the sale of any schoolhouse, site or other property belonging to the district when the same shall not longer be need- ful for the use of the district, seventh, to give such direction and make such provisions as may be deemed necessary in relation to prosecution or defense of any suit or proceedings in which the district may be a party. Sec. 8980 It shall be the duty of the school district clerk to certify to the county commissioners of their respective counties, on or before the 25th day of July, annually, the aggregate amount by them determined in each district to be necessary for school purposes. Upon the receipt of such certi- fication the county commissioners shall, on or before the first Monday in August, annually, levy on the real and personal property in each district, as returned by the assessment roll of the county, a percentage which will produce an amount equal to and not exceeding by more than five per cent the amount certified by the district clerk; provided, however, no levy shall exceed four and one-half mills. And the county clerk is hereby authorized and required to place the same on the tax roll of said county, in a separate column or columns, designating the purpose for which such taxes were levied ; and the said taxes shall be collected by the county treasurer and paid over to the treasurers of the respective school districts in the county, with the same power and restrictions and under the same regulations and in all respects as to the sale of real or personal property. He shall be authorized and he is hereby required to act according to the provisions and requisitions of the law for the collection of taxes for state and county purposes. (Kansas: General Statutes, 1915, p. 1804, 1817) KENTUCKY Sec. 129 It shall be the further duty of the county board of education to estimate and lay before the fiscal court of the county the educational needs of the county in accordance with such estimate, and said county shall levy a tax for school purposes not to exceed twenty cents on each hundred dollars of assessed valuation of property in the county and a capitation tax, not exceeding one dollar, and the sheriff shall then collect this tax as other State and county taxes are collected : provided, no tax for school purposes 988 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK shall be levied under this act upon property in cities and towns maintaining a first class system of public schools in which all grades are already taught to the satisfaction of the state board of education, and upon property in school districts which are made exempt as provided for in section 77 of this act. When the tax so levied shall have been collected by the sheriff of the county, he shall turn over to the county superintendent, who shall act as treasurer of the county board of education, the amount of money so levied and collected, and the county board shall expend the money so received in the building, improvement and equipment of schoolhouses, for for the purchase and condemnation of necessary real estate, for the pay- ment of teacher, purchasing, necessary supplies and the extension of the school term in the various subdistricts throughout the county, as in their judgment as a county board the needs of the individual schools for white and colored pupils demand. The county superintendent shall give such special bond as may be approved by the county court. No fund shall be paid out except on the order of the county board, signed by the chairman and countersigned by the secretary. Sec. 130 Upon the petition of ten legal voters of any school subdistrict, the division board of education of any division shall submit to the legal voters of said subdistrict the question whether or not a tax shall be levied upon the taxable property in such subdistrict in any school year for " local school purposes;" an ad valorem tax may be so voted not to exceed twenty-five cents on each one hundred dollars of taxable property. (Ken- tucky : Acts, 1916, ch. 23, p. 229-30) LOUISIANA Sec. 2592 The police jurors of the several parishes, and the boards of trustees, councilmen, and legal representatives of cities, town and village (except the parish of Orleans) shall levy for the support of the public school of their respective parishes a tax for the public schools which shall not exceed the entire state tax, provided, that with this tax the whole amount of parish taxes shall not exceed the limit of parish taxation fixed by the constitution; and provided also, that no police jury of any parish shall levy for the support of its schools less than three mills on the dollar of the assessed valuation of the property thereof, unless the parish board of school directors of that parish certifies that the needs of the schools can be met by a smaller levy such taxes shall be paid to the school treasury of the parish or town where collected, monthly by the tax collector; provided towns not exempted under their charters, from the payment of parish taxes, and sub- jected to the same burden of taxation as the parishes are shall not pay this tax, for the same is included in the taxes imposed by the parish in which the town is situated. Sec. 2594 A parish board of school directors as the governing body shall have authority to create at any time school districts composed of an entire parish, a ward, two or more wards, parts of two or more wards, part of an existing school district, parts of two or more existing school districts, or any other portion of a parish ; and the parish board of school directors shall have exclusive authority to order, hold and conduct in any school district so. created and named or any school district already created special elections for THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 989 the purpose of raising additional funds in aid of the public schools, or to be authorized to issue school bonds for the purpose of securing funds to be used in erecting and equipping school buildings, said elections to be held under the provisions of the constitution of the State of Louisiana and all laws governing such elections. (Louisiana: Marr's Annotated Revised Stat- utes, 1915, v. 1, p. 863-65) MAINE Sec. 16 Every town shall raise and expend, annually, for the support of common schools therein, exclusive of the income of any corporate school fund, or of any grant from the revenue or fund from the state, or of any voluntary donation, devise or bequest, or of any forfeiture accruing to the use of schools, not less than eighty cents for each inhabitant, according to the census by which representatives to the legislature were last apportioned, under penalty of forfeiting not less than twice nor more than four times the amount of its deficiency, and all moneys provided by towns, or apportioned by the state for the support of common schools, shall be expended for the maintenance of common schools established and controlled by the towns by which said moneys are provided, or to which said moneys are apportioned; but nothing in this section shall be so construed as to annul, or render void, the provisions made in section 21 of this chapter for the establishment and maintenance of union schools by adjoining towns. (Maine: Revised Stat- utes, 1916, p. 354-55) MARYLAND Sec. 26 The county board of education, each year, beginning with the year 1916, shall prepare, subject to the rules and regulations of the state board of education and on and with the advice of the county superintendent, an itemized and detailed school budget, showing the amount of money needed for permanent improvements and repairs, and for current repairs k furniture for old buildings, maintenance and support of the schools during the succeeding school year, also the estimated total amount that will be received from the state, which shall be used for paying teachers' salaries and purchasing textbooks, materials of instruction and school supplies; and finally the amount that will be needed to be raised by local taxation. This annual school budget shall be submitted in writing, not less than twenty days before the usual date for levying county taxes, to the board of county com- missioners ; at the same time a copy of this annual budget shall also be sub- mitted to the board of county commissioners and to the state superintendent of schools. The board of county commissioners are hereby authorized, em- powered, directed and required to levy and collect such tax upon the assess- able property of the county as will produce the amount requested to be raised by local taxation in the annual budget of the county board of educa- tion. The amount requested in the annual budget of the county board of education for current repairs, furniture in old buildings, maintenance and support of the schools, for the succeeding school year, and to be raised by local taxation shall not hereafter in any year be less than a minimum tax, levied and collected, of 34 cents on each one hundred dollars ($100) of the assessable property in the county. Provided that if in any county the tax levied and collected for the school year ending July thirty-first 1916, for cur- 99° THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK rent repairs, furniture in old buildings, maintenance and support of the schools, was less than 34 cents on each one hundred dollars ($100) of assess- able property in the county, such county shall only be required to increase its total tax rate for the schools annually by 2 cents on each one hundred dollars ($100) of the assessable property in the county, until the tax levied and collected for current repairs, furniture in old buildings, maintenance and support of the schools in any one school year, shall equal a minimum tax levied and collected of 34 cents on each one hundred dollars ($100) of the assessable property of the county. Provided, further, that the total amount requested for any one school year by the county board of education for per- manent improvements and repairs, current repairs, furniture in old build- ings, maintenance and support of the schools shall not exceed a tax levied and collected of 40 cents on each one hundred dollars ($100) of the assess- able property in the county, unless the board of county commbraoners shall approve and sanction such additional tax. Provided also that if the total amount requested for any one school year by the county board of education to be raised by local taxation exceeds a tax, levied and collected of 40 cents on each one hundred dollars ($100) of the assessable property, in the county and such additional tax is not approved and sanctioned by the board of county commissioners, the county commissioners shall indicate in writing what item or items of the annual budget of the county board of education have been denied in Avhole or in part, and the reason for the denial in whole or in part of the respective items. Taxes so levied and collected shall be separately indicated on tax bills and tax receipts, and shall be known as the county school tax. Taxes so levied shall be collected as other taxes and shall be paid monthly to the treasurer of the county board of education in as nearly equal amounts as possible, beginning on or before the tenth of October of each year and continuing up to and including June ; provided that taxes levied and collected for permanent improvements and repairs or spe- cial purposes may be required to be paid oftener, upon the order of the presi- dent and secretary of the county board of education to the board of county commissioners. All taxes received by the county board of education shall be expended by them in accordance with the items of their annual budget. Any sum of money which may have been specially levied and collected on any election or schoolhouse district for the educational purposes connected with such district shall be collected for and applied to the purpose so in- tended originally and shall be used for no other purpose ; and if said funds have been used otherwise, they shall be returned and applied as aforesaid. (Maryland: Laws 1916, ch. 506 p. 1012-14) ■ MASSACHUSETTS Sec. 22 Towns shall raise by taxation money necessary for the support of public schools. (Massachusetts: Revised Laws, 1902, v. 1, p. 469) MICHIGAN Sec. 20 The qualified voters of any school district when lawfully assem- bled at the first and at each annual meeting or at an adjournment thereof, or at any special meeting lawfully called, except as hereinafter provided, shall have power: . . . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 99I Seventh, To determine the amount of money to be raised by tax for all school purposes, except as otherwise provided by law; the tax herein pro- vided for, together with the one-mill tax, when collected and received by the treasurer shall be accounted for under the title of "General fund;" (Michi- gan : Public Acts, 1913, no. 230, p. 447-48) Sec. 9919 It shall be the duty of the supervisor of the township to assess- the taxes voted by every school district in his township, and also all other taxes provided for in this act, chargeable against such district or township,,, upon the taxable property of the district or township respectively, and to place the same on the township assessment roll in the column for school taxes, and the same shall be collected and returned by the township treasure! in the same manner and for the same compensation as township taxes. If any taxes provided for by law for school purposes shall fail to be assessed at the proper time, the same shall be assessed in the succeeding year. (Michigan: Howell's Statutes, 1912, v. 4, p. 3969-70) MINNESOTA Sec. 2916 The county auditor shall extend upon the tax lists of the county, in the same manner as district school taxes are extended, a tax of one mill on the dollar of the taxable property in each district, to be known as the county school tax, and be credited to the school district in which the property taxed is situated. The tax levied by school districts shall be known as the district school tax. Sec. 2917 In common districts such district school tax shall not exceed fifteen mills on the dollar for the support of the schools, or ten mills for the purchase of school sites and the erection and equipment of schoolhouses; but in such districts in which such ten-mill tax will not produce six hundred dollars, a greater tax may be levied for school sites and buildings, not to exceed twenty-five mills on the dollar, nor six hundred dollars in amount. In common districts having less than ten voters the district school tax shall not exceed four hundred dollars. In independent districts school tax shall not exceed four hundred dollars. In independent districts no tax in excess of eight mills on the dollar shall be levied for the purpose of school sites and the erection of schoolhouses. In special districts such amounts may be levied as may be allowed by special law at the same time when the Revised Laws take effect. Provided, that in any common school district of this state in which there is now or shall hereafter be maintained a high school or a graded school, the district school tax for the support of schools may be not to exceed twenty-five mills on the dollar. (Minnesota: General Statutes, 1913, p. 648) MISSISSIPPI Sec. 4572 The board of supervisors are empowered to levy annually for public schools a tax upon the taxable property of the county, which is out- side the limits of any separate school district, and may levy an additional poll-tax of not exceeding one dollar on each male inhabitant liable to pay a poll-tax; all to be collected as other taxes for general purposes, and at ths. same time, and to be paid into the county treasury to the credit of the school-fund; and such taxes shall be receivable only in lawful currency 992 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK of the United States, and shall be used for the maintenance of the public schools after the expiration of the four months required by the constitution. When two hundred qualified electors, outside of separate school districts, shall petition the board of supervisors to levy a certain tax for the extension of the school term of the county, the board of supervisors, within not less than twenty days nor more than forty days, shall submit the proposition to the qualified electors, outside of separate school districts, of the county at an election, and if a majority of those voting shall vote for the tax the board of supervisors shall levy the said tax, at the time other county taxes are levied, on all property in the county subject to taxation which is not situated within a separate school district, and shall continue from year to year to levy the same tax until another election is held, as is provided for in this section; provided, that boards of supervisors in those counties where the tax is now being levied shall have the power to continue levying the tax with- out an election. And every municipality, being a separate school district, may in like manner levy and collect such taxes for the maintenance of schools. (Mississippi: Code, 1906, p. 1242-43) Sec. 4534 The mayor and board of aldermen of a municipality constitut- ing a separate school district, or board of supervisors of unincorporated separate districts, in the manner heretofore provided, shall annually levy a tax sufficient to pay for fuel and other necessaries for its public free schools, and shall make such levy of taxes as may be necessary to maintain the schools, after the expiration of the four months' term provided for by the state, or to supplement during the four months for the funds distributed by the state. And such municipality or board of supervisors for unincorpo- rated districts, in the manner heretofore provided for, may levy and collect taxes to erect and repair school buildings, and may issue bonds for that pur- pose, in the manner provided in the chapter on " Municipalities." (Missis- sippi : Laws, 1912, eft. 246, p. 315) MISSOURI Sec. 10845 The qualified voters assembled at the annual meeting, when not otherwise provided, shall have power by a majority of the votes cast: . . . Fourth. To determine, by ballot, the length of school term in excess of eight months that the public schools of the district shall be maintained for the next scholastic year; also, to determine the rate, if any, in excess of forty cents on the one hundred dollars' assessed valuation to be levied for school purposes, as provided for in section 10796. Sec. 10846 The board of directors of every school district is hereby em- powered and required to continue the public school or schools in the district for a period of eight months in each scholastic year: provided, that when any district has levied for school purposes (teacher and incidental) the maxi- mum levy as provided by law, and the funds so derived, together with the money on hand and the amount received from the public funds, are insuffi- cient to maintain such school or schools for such a period, paying the teacher or teachers a maximum salary of forty dollars per month, then such district shall receive from the state treasurer a sufficient amount to make up this deficit. Any district making application for such state aid shall show that THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 993 it contains an area of not less than nine square miles, that it has an assessed valuation of forty thousand dollars or less, that it has an enumeration of at least twenty-five pupils of school age, and that it has made a levy of sixty- five cents on the one hundred dollars' valuation for school purposes, not more than twenty-five cents of said levy to be used for incidental purposes. (Missouri: Revised Statutes, 1909, v. 3, p. 3370-72) MONTANA Sec. 920 In addition to the provisions for the support of common schools, hereinbefore provided, it shall be the duty of the county commissioners of each county in the state to levy an annual tax of four mills on the dollar of the assessed value of all taxable property, real and personal, within the county which levy shall be made at the time and in the manner provided by law for the levying of taxes for county purposes, which tax shall be collected by the county treasurer at the same time and in the same manner as state and county taxes are collected. For the further support of the common schools, there shall also be set apart by the county treasurer all moneys paid into the county treasury, arising from all fines or violations of law, unless otherwise specified by law. Such money shall be forthwith paid into the county treasury by the officer receiving the same, and be added to the yearly school fund raised by taxing each county and dividing in the same manner. Sec. 921 On or before the day designated by law for the commissioners of each county to levy the requisite taxes for the then ensuing year, the school board in each school district shall certify to the county commissioners the number of mills per dollar which it is necessary to levy on the taxable property of the district, not to exceed ten mills, to raise a special fund to maintain the schools of .said districts, to furnish additional school facilities therefor, and to furnish such appliances and apparatus as may be needed, and, in districts of the first and second class, the trustees thereof must make such special levy, or so much thereof as may be necessary to maintain a school term of at least nine months in each year, and the county commis- sioners shall cause the same to be levied at the same time that other taxes are levied, and the amount of such special tax shall be assessed to each tax- payer of such district, and shall be placed in a separate column of the tax book, which shall be headed, "Special School Tax." (Montana: Revised Codes, 1915, v. 3, p. 143) NEBRASKA Sec. 6740 Trustees of each school district within the state of Nebraska shall, prior to the annual school district meeting in each year, as provided by law, prepare an estimate showing the amount of money required for the maintenance of schools during the coming school year, and shall determine the amount of money required for school maintenance during the coming school year, which shall be an amount sufficient to maintain a school in the manner and for the time provided by law, and the amount of money so re- quired shall be levied as a tax upon all of the taxable property of the school district. . . . Provided the amount so levied shall not exceed in any one year three and one-half dollars on the one hundred dollar valuation as as- sessed and equalized. (Nebraska: Revised Statutes, 1913, p. 1881-82) 32 994 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK NEVADA Sec. 139 The board of county commissioners of each county shall, annu- ally, at the time of levying other county taxes, levy a county school tax, not to exceed fifty cents on each one hundred dollars valuation of taxable prop- erty, which tax shall be added to the county tax and collected in the same manner, and paid into the county treasury as a special deposit, to be drawn in the same manner, as other public-school moneys; and should said county commissioners fail or neglect to levy said tax as required it shall be the duty of the county auditor to add such tax as the superintendent of public instruction may deem sufficient, not exceeding fifty cents on each one hun- dred dollars valuation of taxable property in the county, to the assessment roll, to be collected as specified in this section. (Nevada: Statutes, 1915, ch. 269, p. 402-3) new Hampshire Sec. 1 The selectmen in each town shall assess annually, upon the polls and ratable estate taxable therein, a sum to be computed at the rate of (seven hundred and fifty) dollars for every dollar of the public taxes apportioned to such town, and so for a greater or less sum. (New Hampshire: Public Statutes and Session Laws, Supplement 1901-13, p. 165) Sec. 2 The school board of each district in their annual report shall state in detail the sums of money which will be required during the ensuing fiscal year for the purchase of textbooks, scholars' supplies, flags, and appur- tenances, and for the payment of the tuition of the scholars of the district in high schools and academies, in accordance with chapter 96 of the Laws 1901, and for the payment of all other statutory obligations of the district. The selectmen of the town, in their next annual assessment, shall assess upon the taxable polls and property of the district a sum sufficient to meet the obligations of the above enumerated and when collected shall pay the same over to the district treasurer. (New Hampshire: Laws 1915, ch. 68, p. 73) new jersey Sec. 95 The legal voters of each township, incorporated town or borough school district may, at any annual or special meeting of said legal voters, by the vote of a majority of those present, raise by a special district tax such sum or sums as a majority of said legal voters present as such meeting may agree upon. (New Jersey: Compiled Statutes, v. 4, p. 4755) NEW MEXICO Sec. 5 The board of county commissioners shall annually at the time of levying other taxes levy a special school tax upon all the taxable property of its respective county, which together with the other revenues provided by law shall produce sufficient revenue to support and maintain said schools in municipal school districts and in rural school districts where there is or is to be established a graded school with at least four teachers, for the full period of nine months, and in rural school districts for the full period of seven, eight or nine months in accordance with the estimates as made and finally passed upon for such districts. (New Mexico: Session Laws, 1915, ch. 79, p. 118) THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 995 NEW YORK Sec. 346 1 The board of education of the town shall, within ten days after the first day of September in each year, cause the amounts specified in such tax budget and supplemental tax budgets, if any, to be levied and as- sessed against the taxable property within that portion of the town which is subject to the provisions of this article. The board of education shall imme- diately upon the completion of its tax list annex thereto a warrant for the collection thereof, which shall direct the collector of the town to collect thft tax so levied and assessed and to pay over the amount thereof to the town school treasurer. (New York: Laws 1917, ch. 328, p. 1095) NORTH CAROLINA Sec. 41060 ... (8) On or before the first Monday in June of each and every year the county board of education of each county shall ascertain the amount of money needed to maintain the public schools of such county for four months during the succeeding school year. (North Carolina: Gregory's Supplement to Pell's Revisal, 1913, v. 3, p. 652) NORTH DAKOTA Sec. 1222 Each district school board shall have power and it shall be its duty to levy upon all property subject to taxation in the district, a tax tor school purposes of all kinds authorized by law, not exceeding in the aggre- gate a rate of thirty mills on the dollar in any one year; provided, that such board may in addition thereto whenever there are past due warrants out- standing in said district levy not to exceed fifteen mills additional in any one year. (North Dakota: Laws 1915, ch. 139, p. 177) OHIO Sec. 7586 Each board of education, annually, at a regular or special meet- ing held between the third Monday in April and the first Monday in June, shall fix the rate of taxation necessary to be levied for all school purposes, after the state funds are exhausted. Sec. 7588 In all cases of special school districts lying wholly within one civil township, or if the special district lies in and is part of two or more civil townships of the same or different counties, or two or more special districts lie wholly or partly within one civil township, a tax for school pur- poses may be levied, not exceeding six mills, on the duplicate of all the tax- able property in such township lying outside of all city and village school districts therein. Sec. 75S9 The funds raised from such levy shall be divided between the board of education of the township and of the special school district, or be- tween the board of education of the township and the boards of education of the special school districts, as the case may be. (Ohio: Page and Adams Annotated General Code, p. 787-88) OKLAHOMA Sec. 7815 The county commissioners shall annually provide for a school tax, which shall be levied and collected as other taxes; and the money so 99^ THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK realized, together with the proceeds of all moneys collected from fines, for- feitures, escheats, penalties, proceeds from the sale of estrays, and all moneys collected from- marriage licenses, shall constitute a county school fund, to be appropriated .exclusively for the purpose of estalishing and supporting pub- lic schools for not ;less than three nor more than nine months in each year, and defraying current expenses of the same of every description ; and said county school fund shall be apportioned to each school district in said county in proportion to the number of children over the age of six years and under the age of twenty-one years, resident therein, as shown by the last annual enumeration of the same. The county treasurer shall pay to each district treasurer in the county all school moneys in the county treasury belonging to the district, upon the order of the director and clerk of the district: pro- vided, that said order shall be accompanied by a certificate from the district clerk, stating that the treasurer of the district has executed and filed his bone as required by law. Sec. 7829 It shall be the duty of the school district board to cause to be certified by the school district clerk to the county clerk of their county, on or before the second Monday in July, annually, the aggregate percentage by them levied on the real and personal property in each district, as returned on the assessment roll of the county; and the county clerk is hereby author- ized and required to place the same on the tax roll of said county, in a sepa- rate column or columns, designating the purpose for which said taxes were levied ; and the said taxes shall be collected by the county treasurer and paid over to the treasurers of the respective school districts in the county, with the same power and restrictions and under the same regulations and in all re- spects, as to the sale of real and personal property. Sec. 7376 Except as otherwise provided in this article, the total levy for current expenses of each county, city, town, township or school district shall not exceed in any one year the following: County levy, not more than five mills: Provided, that any county may levy not exceeding one mill additional in aid of the common schools of the county, and in any county where a county high school is located, an addi- tional levy of not more than one mill may be made for the county high school; Provided, further, that where the assessed valuation of any county is less than four million dollars, the county levy shall not exceed six mills. City levy, not more than seven mills. Incorporated town levy, not more than five mills. Township levy, not more than three mills. School district levy, for the support of common schools, not more than five mills. (Oklahoma: Revised Laws, 1010, v. 2, p. 2126, 2130, 1999) OREGON Sec. 4042 For the purpose of creating a county school fund, the county courts of the several counties of this state are hereby required to levy, at the same time they levy other taxes, a tax for school purposes upon all the taxable property of the county, which aggregate an amount which shall pro- duce at least $7 per capita for each and all the children within the county between the ages of four and twenty, as shown by the then preceding school census, which shall be collected at the same time, in the same manner, and THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 997 by the same officers, as other taxes shall be collected; provided, that the per capita amount so levied in any county shall not be less than the per capita amount of the school tax levied, in. the county for the year 1903. Sec. 4043 In case a district does not levy a special tax of at least five mills on the dollar for maintenance for the ensuing year or that will produce an amount sufficient to give the district for such maintenance the difference between $300 and the amount received from the county school fund as pro- vided for in section 4042, or fails to report the same to the county clerk and county school superintendent as required in section 4045, it shall be the duty of the county court of the county in which said district is located to levy, at the same time it levies other taxes, a tax on all. the taxable property of said district that will produce an amount sufficient to give to the district for maintenance: for the ensuing year the difference between $300 and the amount received, or to be received by said district for the ensuing year, from the county school fund as provided for in section 4042 ; provided, that such levy by the county court shall not exceed five mills on the dollar. (Oregon: Lord's General Laws, 1910, v. 2, p. 1591) PENNSYLVANIA Sec. 501 All taxes required by any school district in this commonwealth, in addition to the State appropriations, shall be levied by the board of school directors therein. Sec. 502 There shall be but one levy of school taxes made in each school district in each year, which shall be assessed, levied, and collected for all the purposes provided in this act, and shall be uniform throughout the territorial limit of each school district. (Pennsylvania: Laws 1911, p. 331) RHODE ISLAND Sec. 4 No town shall receive any part of such state appropriation, unless it shall raise by tax, for the support of public schools^, a sum equal to the amount it may receive from the treasury for the support of public schools. Sec. 13 The town treasurer shall, on or before the first day of July, annu- ally, transmit to the commissioner of public schools a certificate of the amount which the town has voted to raise by tax for the support of public schools for the current year; and also a statement of the amount paid out to the order of the school committee, and from what sources it was derived, for the year ending the thirtieth day of April next preceding: and until such return is made to the commissioner, he may, in his discretion, withhold the order for the money in the state treasury belonging to such town. (Rhode Island : General Laws, 1909, p. 269, 272) SOUTH CAROLINA Sec. I Be it enacted by the general assembly of the state of South Caro- lina, That the existing county boards of commissioners of the several coun- ties of the state, or such officer or officers as are vested with the same or similar powers, shall levy a tax of three mills on the dollar upon all the tax- able property in their respective counties, which tax shall be collected at the same time and by the same officers as the other taxes for the year, and shall be held in the county treasuries of the respective counties and be paid out 99§ THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK exclusively for the support of the public schools as provided by law. (South Carolina: Acts 1916, no. 560, p. 973) Sec. 1742 The voters or electors of any school district, who return real or personal property for taxation, are authorized to levy and collect an annual tax, to supplement any special or other constitutional or other tax for like purposes, in the following manner : upon the written petition or request of at least one-third of the resident electors and a like proportion of the resi- dent freeholders of the age of twenty-one years, being filed with the county board of education, asking for the same and stating the rate of the tax levy proposed, which shall not exceed eight mills, the said county board of edu- cation shall order the board of trustees of said school district to hold an election at some place within the district, after giving notice of the time and place thereof. (South Carolina: Code of Laws, 1912, v. 1, p. 483) SOUTH DAKOTA Section 1 . . . Provided that at the annual school district election the electors shall have authority to instruct the board in matters pertaining to the management of the schools for the coming year. ... At this meeting the electors may instruct the board and it shall be their duty to carry into execution all such instructions, pertaining to the branches to be taught in addition to those prescribed in section 138; the time at which the schools of the district shall be held ; the amount of tax levy, to direct the repair of the school houses, fixtures and out buildings ; and for the removal of the school house to a more convenient location, for the erection of a new one, or the sale of an old one, and the lands belonging thereto ; and upon any other subject pertaining to the schools. (South Dakota: Compiled Laws, 1910, v. 1, p. 578) TENNESSEE Sec. 1393 A tax of one and a half mills on the dollar shall be, and is hereby, annually assessed upon all property subject to taxation, for the sup- port of the public schools, which shall be collected as other taxes, and paid over to the county trustee in the county where collected, and distributed therein to each school district, according to scholastic population. Sec. 1394 When the money derived from the school fund and taxes im- posed by the state on the counties shall not be sufficient to keep up a public school for five months in the year, in the school districts in the county, the county court shall levy an additional tax sufficient for this purpose, or shall submit the proposition to a vote of the people, and may levy a tax to prolong the schools beyond the five months ; said tax to be levied on all property, polls, and privileges liable to taxation, but not to exceed the entire state tax. (Tennessee: Code 1917, p. 583) TEXAS Art. 2836 The county commissioners' court shall at the time of levying the taxes for county purposes, also levy upon such school district the rate of tax said district has voted upon itself, or, if the proposition shall have been, " for a school tax not exceeding fifty cents on the one hundred dollars, valu- ation of taxable property in the district " the commissioners' court shall levy such a rate within that limit as shall have been determined by the board of trustees of said district and the county superintendent, and certified to said THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 999 court by the county superintendent. It shall be the duty of the tax assessor to assess said tax as other taxes are assessed and to make an abstract show- ing the amount of special taxes against each school district in his county, and to furnish the same to the county superintendent, on or before the first day of September of the year for which such taxes are assessed; and the taxes levied upon the real property in said districts shall be a lien thereon, and the same shall be sold for unpaid taxes in the manner and at the time of sales for state and county taxes. A special tax voted in any district after the levy of county taxes shall be levied at any meeting of the commissioners' court prior to the delivery of the assessment rolls by the assessor. The tax assessor shall assess, and the tax collector shall collect, said district taxes as other taxes are assessed and collected. (Texas: Vernon's Sayles' Civil Statutes, 1914, v. 2, p. 2016) UTAH Sec. 1891x27. The board of education shall on or before the first day of May of each year, prepare a statement and estimate of the amount necessary for the support and maintenance of the schools under its charge for the school year commencing on the first day of July next thereafter. . . . The board of education shall forthwith cause the same to be certified by the president and clerk of said board to the officers charged with the assessment and collection of taxes for general county purposes in the county in which the district is situated, and the board of county commissioners of the county in which the district is situated shall at the time of making the annual levy of other county taxes, levy such per cent as shall, as nearly as may be, raise the amount required by the board, which levy shall be uniform on all prop- erty within said district as returned on the assessment roll, and the said county officers are hereby authorized and required to place the same on the tax roll. (Utah: Laws 1915, ch. 78, p. 09) Sec. 1891X Each county within the state shall constitute a county school district of the first class (Utah: Laws 1915, ch. 78, p. 99) VERMONT Sec. 141 A town shall annually appropriate for school purposes a sum not less than forty cents on the dollar of the grand list of the town school district, and any town raising a less sum shall not be entitled to any of the benefits other than supervision, under this act. (Vermont : Acts and Resolves, 1915, no. 64, p. 148) VIRGINIA Sec. 833-0 The board of supervisors of each county shall have power, and it shall be their duty, at regular meeting in month of January in each year or as soon thereafter as practicable, not later than their meeting in April: ... Second. To levy a tax upon all the property in the county, upon which county levies are laid, sufficient to raise the amount recommended by the county school board in their estimates for county school purposes, or so much thereof as it may allow ; and to levy a tax upon such property, in each school district, sufficient to raise the amount recommended by the county school board for district school purposes, or so much thereof as it may allow; IOOO THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK but the tax so levied shall not be less than the minimum nor exceed the maxi- mum prescribed in the third subdivision of section fifteen hundred and six (Virginia: Code, 1916, v. 4, p. 244-45) Sec. 1466 The duties of district boards of school trustees shall be, in* general, as follows: . . . Eighth. On or before the fifteenth day of May, in each year, to prepare and return to the president of the county school board, to be by him laid before the board at its earliest meeting, an estimate of the amount of money which will be needed in the district during the next school year for provid- ing schoolhouses, textbooks for indigent children, and other school appli- ances, and necessary expenses. (Virginia : Code, 1904, v. 1, p. 798-99) WASHINGTON Sec. 4602 The county commissioners of the several counties of the state of Washington shall annually, at the time of making the tax levy for county purposes, levy a tax on all the property subject to taxation in their county, sufficient to produce the sum of ten dollars for each child of school age therein, as is shown by the certificate of the county superintendent herein- after mentioned : provided, that such tax on said property shall in no case exceed five mills on each dollar, at the assessed valuation; such tax to be used for the support and maintenance of the public schools in such county. Sec. 4605 In addition to the school revenues provided by sections 4600 and 4603, for the support of the common schools of this state, a tax may be levied upon all taxable property in each school district of this state, in the manner provided by law, and the funds thereby created shall be known as the " school district fund." The " school district fund," together with the apportionment from the " current state school fund " and the county apportionments, shall constitute the "general school fund" of each school district. (Washington: Anno- tated Codes and Statutes, 1909, v. 2, p. 502-3) WEST VIRGINIA Sec. 2 Every magisterial district in each of the counties of the state shall be a school district, which shall be divided into such number of sub- districts as may be necessary for the convenience of the free schools therein. The present districts and subdistricts shall remain until changed in the manner prescribed by law. Sec. 3 In each district there shall be a board of education consisting of a president and two school commissioners elected by the voters thereof. (West Virginia: Code, 1916, p. 556) Sec. 3 At its session held on the second Tuesday in August, as aforesaid, the board of education of every district or independent school district shall ascertain the condition of the fiscal affairs of the district, and make up an itemized statement thereof, which shall set forth in detail : . . . . Said statement shall also set forth the separate amounts necessary to be raised for each of said funds by the levy of taxes for the current fiscal year, and the proposed rates of levy of taxes, in cents on each one hundred dollars of assessed value, in the taxable property of the district for each of said funds; and also the aggregate of the taxable property of the THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM IOOI district, stating separately the assessed value of personal property, of real estate, and of the property assessed by the board of public works. A copy of such statement duly certified by the secretary of the board, shall he published as provided in section two and posted in each post office in the district at least eight days before an adjourned meeting of the board to be held on the fourth- Tuesday in August ; at which time the board shall reconvene and proceed in all respects as provided in section two. After having entered the said statement, as finally approved, in its book of record of proceedings, the board shall thereupon levy as many cents on each one hundred dollars of the assessed valuation of the property of the district, according to the last assessment thereof, as will produce the amount shown by the said statement necessary to be raised for the building fund, and levy in like manner the amount as shown by said statement to be necessary for the teachers' fund to continue the schools in such district for the term of six months or for a longer term where such may be established by or according to law. (West Virginia : Code, 1916, p. 292) WISCONSIN Sec. 43c The inhabitants of any school district qualified by law to vote at a school district meeting when assembled at the first and at each annual meeting in their district or at any adjournment thereof in their district shall have power: . . . (5) To vote such tax as the meeting shall deem sufficient to purchase or lease a suitable site for a schoolhouse, to build, hire or purchase a school- house and to keep in repair and furnish the same with the necessary fuel and appendages. (6) To vote such tax as the meeting shall deem proper for the payment of teachers' wages in the district. Sec. 430-0 The total amount of school district tax hereafter levied in any school district in this state in any one year for building, hiring or purchasing any school building, and for the maintenance of schools, includ- ing teachers' wages and incidental expenses, shall not exceed two per cent of the total assessed valuation of taxable property in such school district for the preceding year. (Wisconsin : Statutes, 1915, p. 255, 257) WYOMING Sec. 7 It shall be the duty of the board of county commissioners of each county to levy a general school tax upon all property within the county in an amount sufficient to raise three hundred dollars for each teacher within said county as certified to by the county superintendent of schools : provided, that said levy shall not exceed three mills upon the dollar. (Wyoming: Laws 1913, ch. 52, p. 44) Sec. 9 The authority of the qualified electors of any school district at the annual meeting, to vote a tax for school purposes, is hereby limited to the extent that no tax shall be voted for such purposes which shall be in excess of three and one-half mills upon the dollar of all the taxable property of any such school district. Provided, that in no event shall any school district levy any greater tax than is reasonably necessary for the ensuing school year; and provided, further, that the question of an 1002 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK increased levy above the limitation hereinbefore specified may be submitted by the district board of any school district to the electors of the district at the annual meeting or election. (Wyoming: Laws ion, ch. 106, p. 179) Comparison of taxes and expenditures for schools under district and township administration Expenditures for 1916-17 (district administration) Budget for 1917-18 (township administration) Albany County Town 0/ Berne Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $106 800 2 I 43 380 3 I 22 742 4 I 74 740 S I 30 438 6 1 19 690 7 1 50 055 8 1 35 63s 9 I 39 588 10 I 13 815 II 3 15 4 25 12 C 13 Contract 15 100 14 1 42 600 15 1 40 988 16 1 IS 950 17 1 37 700 18 1 21 355 19 1 IS 045 20 1 24 900 21 1 33 551 Total 19 $699 497 Average rate Total 1917-18 $705 987 Balance 1916 $528 87 Balance 191 7 259 00 Tax 191 7 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax Real increase $269 87 $5 6 754 024 72 59 $7 6 976 024 28 59 Si 951 69 a Joint with Schoharie county. Tax rate 1916-17 .0047 .0072 .0088 .0080 .0082 .0147 .0063 .0078 .0100 . 0122 .0192 .0054 .0073 .0146 .0069 .0130 .0168 .0099 .0100 Expenditures budget ) Control 1917-18. . . . Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 .... Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. ■ • • Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- • ■ • Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Total 1917-18. , . . 1916-17. . . . 1916-17 and 1917-18 $670 .. 32 75 S637 2S $8 820 . . 7 909 32 S910 68 J910 . . 779 15 $130 80 $250 . . 306 45 $56 45 S30 .. 95 69 .0082 .0100 .0113 $65 69 S30 .. f30 .. S290 . . 2 17 $287 83 S280 . . 270 59 $9 41 $11 250 . . 9 426 12 $1 823 88 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM IOO3 Town 0} Colonic Dist. Teachers 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. ny c ounty — Continued Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $276 663 ■ 0037 316 866 .0078 420 780 .007S ISO 822 .0034 278 883 .0099 187 603 0033 175 454 .0030 155 258 .0100 400 OOO .0034 447 386 .0049 211 917 .0030 248 132 .0032 140 000 .0028 [ 267 275 .0035 152 419 .0028 141 076 .0067 174 095 .0030 326 638 .0107 320 976 .0084 99 447 .0169 520 019 .0079 23 Contract 24 Home Total. $6 411 709 R8 573 086 $4 757 32 882 11 $3 875 21 Tax 1917 $37 326 76 Real tax 41 201 97 Average rate . . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. Balance 1917. Tax 1918 $48 009 28 Real tax 1917 41 201 97 Real increase . 807 31 Town oj Cuilderland Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $46 500 2 1 89 000 3 1 96 4S0 4 2 134 950 5 1 5i 350 6 1 137 260 7 7 372 305 8 1 104 700 9 1 70 600 10 1 84 250 11 3 222 350 13 1 104 140 14 I 2 9 550 Total 22 $1 543 405 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 678 912 Balance 1916 $1 333 61 Balance 191 7 640 33 $693 28 Tax 1917 $13 844 51 Real tax 14 537 79 .0058 .006 .0056 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $2 330 • ■ 1916-17 7i3 • - $1 517 .. Instruction 1917-1S $28 580 . . 1916-17 25 394 . . $3 186 .. Operation 1917-18 $8 200 . . 1916-17 6 855 . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 ... Auxiliary 1917-18 .... 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. • • • Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . • ■ Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 . • ■ • $129 .. Total 1917-18 $49 985 .. 1916-17 47 208 .. $1 345 ■• $1 050 . . 4 772 .. $3 722 .. $625 . . 618 . . $7 •■ $600 . . 913 •• $313 •• $6 750 .. 5 964 • • S7S6 .. $1 850 .. 1 979 •• Expenditures budget 1 Control 1917-18 Instruction 1917-18 Operation 1916-17 Maintenance Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17- ■ • • Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. ■ ■ ■ $2 777 ■• Tax rate 1916-17 . 00840 .00500 .00601 1916-17 and 917-18 $1 760 .. 160 . . .00581 .00501 .01521 .00474 .00634 .00476 . 01008 .00410 .01580 . 00894 .00840 .01342 Si 600 . . $14 415 • • 12 307 • • $2 108 . . $2 78s •• 2 315 • • $470 . . $1 144 •• 1 217 . . $73 .. $500 . . 301 . . $199 ■■ $300 . . 209 . . $91 .. ioo4 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Albany county Town of Guilderlaud .Assessed Dist. valuation Tax 1918 522 S3i . . Real tax 1917 14 537 79 Real increase $7 993 21 ■ Continued Town of Knox Dist. 1 Teachers Assessed valuation $66 747 47 328 52 323 39 861 30 806 73 707 30 841 36 555 46 029 62 354 44 030 29 777 Tax rate 1916-17 .0049 .0064 .0055 .0063 .0076 2 4 6 7 .0075 .0070 8 gL 11 .Q045 12 . 00.84 Total S560 3.5S .0062 Average rate Total 1917-18 $574 875 .0064 .87 Balance 1916 $340 28 136 64 $203 64 Balance 191 7 Tax 1 pi 7 $3 474 56 3 678 20 Tax 1918 $5 001 41 3 678 20 Real tax ,. $1 323 21 a Joint with Schoharie county. Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Debt service 1917-18 $1 .690 . 1916-17 1 406 . $284 . Outlay 1917-18 $3 400 . 1916-17 498 . $2 902 . Total 1917-18 $25 994 • 1910-17 18 413 . $7 58l • Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $375 .. 1916-17 15 76 $350 24 Instructions 1917-18 $5 000 . . 1916-17 4 718 62 S2&1 38 Operation 1917-18 $875 •• 1916-17 515 64 $359 36 Maintenance 1917-18 $325 ■• 1916-17 141 ,03 $183 97 Fixed charges 1917-18 $T5 •• 1916-18 52 83 $37 83 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $66 10 $66 10 Outlay 1917-18.* . . . $12 . . 1916-17 1 . . $11 .. Auxiliary 1917-18 $90 . . 1916-17 43 90 $46 10 Total 1917-18 $6 692 . . 1916-17 5 554 88 $1 137 12 Town of Rensselaerville Dist. 1 2 Teachers Contract 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Assessed valuation $29 200 41 000 63 000 68 579 25 950 (17 564 ( 19 740 24 446 47 241 Tax rate 1916-17 .0022 .0091 .0049 .0060 . 0104 .0196 1 •0T7S) .0105 .0065 Expenditures budget Control 1916-17 Instruction 1916-17 and 1917-18 $TI5 •• 3 15 30 5 6 7 8 9 $299 70 $7 875 16 7 039 . . $835 84 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 100 = Town of Rensselaervide Dist. Teachers Albany county — Concluded Total.. Average rate . . Total .1917-18. Balance 1916. Balance 1917. Tax 191 7. Real tax. . Tax 1918 Real tax 191 7. Real increase. Town of Westerlo Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 Contract S 1 6 1 7 1 8 9 1 10 1 11 1 12 1 13 I4~ 1 IS I 16 17 I 18 Contract Total 13 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 19.1S Real tax- 191 7 Real increase Assessed valuation $19 850 23 923 36 252 87 082 116 129 32 870 18 750 60 240 $731 821 $725 830 $353 232 63 93 $120 70 $5 190 5 3io 18 80 $7 548 5 310 55 80 $2 237 75 Assessed valuation $59 066 38 106 34 975 18 209 29 709 39 572 81 350 18 015 21 002 23 232 42 750 19 850 26 31 759 445 51 15 725 968 S55I 733 $5-53 507 $309 347 -85 43 S22 42 $3 861 3 883 06 48 $5 733 66 3 883 48 $1 850 18 Tax rate 1916-17 . 0119 .0105 . 0106 .0047 .0083 .0294 • 0115 .0064 .0071 .0105 .0104 Tax rate 1916-17 .0123 .0080 .0065 .0034 .0074 .0082 .0040 .0127 .0115 . 0060 . 0020 . 0080 .0060 .0079 .0052 . 0069 . 0073 ■ 93 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 191 7-1 S Operation 1917-18 $600 . . 1916-17 611 44 Sn 44 Maintenance 1917-18 S150 . . 1916-17 187 23 337 23 Fixed charges 1917-18 $2S- . . 1916-17 661-64 $4.1 64 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $19 48 $19' 48 Outlay *9i7-i8 #1 OSS .. 1916-17 ios . - ?9S0 . . Auxiliary 1917-18 $175 • • 1916-17 260 23 $85 23 Total 1917-18 $10 195 • • 1916-17 8 304 48 Si 890 52 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $410 •• 1916-17 12 26 $397 74 Instruction 1917-18 $5 715 •• 1916-17 5 211 L7 ?S03 83 Operation 1917-18 $750 . . 1916-17 554 32 Si9S 68 Maintenance ■ I9i7 i -l8'. . . . . $200- . . 1916-17- 185 20 $14. 80 Fixed charges 1917-18 $50 . . £916-17 75 69 $(*& 69 Debt service 1917-18 1916^17 . . • ■ ■ S315 :• •. «3TS .. Outlay 1917-18 $125 .. 19 16-17 13 06 $111, 94 Auxiliary 1917-18 $500 . . 1916-17 482 41 $17 59 Total 1917-18 $7 750 . . 191 6-1 7 6 849 11 $900 89 ioo6 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Allegany county Town of Alma Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 I $US335 .0038 2 I 76 631 .OO56 3 5 130450 .0209 4 r 45 966 . 0065 S 1 37 S08 .0079 5 1 21 802 . 0068 ^' 1 57 346 . 0059 8 1 43 093 .0110 Total 12 $528 181 .0097 Average rate • 0085 Total 1917-18 $628000 .0115 Balance 1916 $1 095 81 Balance 1917 °i2 27 $183 54 Tax 1917 $5 169 71 183 54 Real tax $5 353 25 Tax 1918 $7 222 00 Real tax 191 7 5 353 25 Real increase $1 868 75 Town of Almond Dist. Teachers 1 1 a 1 3 2 4 1 5 1 6 7 7 , 1 8 1 9 1 Total 16 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $68 375 .0044 53 680 .005 78 140 .0070 29 805 .0087 39 585 .0055 432 667 .0094 49 750 .0054 SO 690 .0053 34 405 .0063 S837 IS7 .0076 .0063 $901 739 1. 00 $347 32 132 71 $214 61 $6 426 83 6 641 44 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $205 . . 1916-17 58 11 $146 89 Instruction 1917-18 $6 254 ■ . 1916-17 5 394 86 $859 14 Operation 1917-18 $985 .. 1916-17 913 37 $71 63 Maintenance 1917-18 $78 . . 1916-17- .... 307 27 $229 27 Fixed charges 1917-18 $263 .. 1916-17 80 45 $182 55 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $156 . . $156 .. Outlay 1917-18 $855 . . 1916-17 996 34 $141 34 Auxiliary 1917-18 $60 . . 1916-17 68 99 $8 99 Total 1917-18 $8 700 . . 1916-17 7 975 39 $724 61 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $295 • • 1916-17 43 84 $251 16 Instruction 1917-18 $9 244 .. 1916-17 8 338 08 $905 93 Operation 191 7-1 8 $940 . . 1916-17 890 98 $49 02 Maintenance 1917-18 $895 •• 1916-17 193 03 $701 98 Auxiliary 1917-18 $155 •• 1916-17 113 03 $4i 97 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I007 Town of Almont Allegany county — Continued Tax 1918 Real tax 191 7. Real increase. Assessed valuation $9 017 39 6 641 44 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $260 .. 1916-17 195 IS $65 85 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $2 837 . . $2 837 •■ Outlay 1917-18 S143 .. 1916-17 174 24 $31 24 Total 1917-18 5n 932 • • 1916-17 9 975 71 $1 956 29 Town of Allen Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 S26 307 2 1 18 096 3 1 34 704 4 I 19 595 5 I 32 908 6 1 49 100 7 1 16 733 8 I 32 198 9 1 32 106 Total 9 S261 747 Average rate Total 1917-18 $261 825 Balance 1916 $294 26 Balance 1917 254 68 S39 S3 Tax 1917 S2 365 73 Real tax $2 405 31 Tax 1918 $2 707 36 Real tax 191 7 2 405 31 Real increase $302 05 Tax rate 1916-17 .0083 .0090 .0081 .0127 .0079 .0061 .0097 .0077 .0150 .009 .0094 .01034 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $108 . . 1916-17 I108 . . Instruction 1917-18 $3 451 ■ . 1916-17 3 169 85 S281 15 Operation 1917-18 S515 ■ ■ 1916-17 246 90 £268 1Q Maintenance 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 411 51 $3H Si Fixed charges 1917-18 $45 - • 1916-17 S4 53 $9 53 Debt service 1917-18 Not given 1916-17 Not given Auxiliary 1917-18 §50 . . 1916-17 55 73 $5 73 Outlay 1917-18 None 1916-17 S6S 30 $6$ 30 Total 1917-18 $4. 269 . . 1916-17 4 006 82 $262 18 ioo8 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Allegany county — Continued Town oj Alfred Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 2 $160 248 . 0090 2........ 1 101 317 .0030 3 8 414 559 .015 4 I 30625 . 0069 S 1 93 351 .0027 6 I 58 326 .004 7 I 52 116 .0050 Total 15 $910542 .0097 Average rate 0065 Total 1917-18 $933 922 .011136 Balance 1 916 $818 47 Balance 1917 468 89 $349 58 Tax 1917 8 894 23 Real tax $9 243 81 Tax 1918 $10 400 00 Real tax 9 243 81 Real increase $1 156 19 Town oj Amity Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 11 $716649 2 1 35 450 3 „ 2 206 132 4 1 48 060 5. 1 109 297 Total 16 $1 115 588 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 147 137 Balance 1916 $915 76 Balance 1917 * 763 30 $847 54 Tax 1917 10 157 44 Real tax $9 309 90 Tax rate 1916-17 .0110 .0061 .0066 .0056 .0039 .0091 .0066 .01 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $235 •• 1916-17 96 52 $I3S 48 Instruction 1917-18 $8 084 . . 1916-17 7 991 92 $92 08 Operation 1917-18 $1 270 . . 1916-17 1 349 95 $79 95 Auxiliary 1917-18 $800 . . 1916-17 180 90 $619 10 Maintenance 1917-18 $250 . . 1916-17 752 6<> $502 69 Fixed charges 1917-18 $179 • • 1916-17 203 42' $24 42 Debt service 1917-18 $1 635 • • 1916-17 1 667 65. $32 65 Outlay 1917-18 $250 . . 1916-17 262 24 $12 24 Total 1917-18- .... $12 703 • . 1916-17 12 505 29 $197 7i Expenditures budget Control 1917-18. 1916-17 and [917-18 $395 . 202 . Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- • • ■ $193 • $11 280 . 9 671 . Operation $1 609 . $1 750 . 1 428 . Maintenance 1917-18. . . . $322 . $650 . 466 . $I&& THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1009 Town of Amity Assessed valuation Tax 1918 In 471 37 Real tax 1917 9 3°9 90 Real increase $2 161 47 Allegany county — Continued Town of Andover Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 9 $547 875 2 1 37 950 3 1 58 390 4 1 47 290 5 1 31 450 6 1 H7 790 7 1 68 500 9 1 99 262 Total 16 $1 008 507 Average rate Total 1917-18. $1 053 632 Balance 1917 $901 28 Balance 191° 235 88 $665 40 Tax 1917 9 367 74 Real tax $8 702 34 Tax 1918 $12 000 Real tax 1917 8 702 34 Real increase $3 297 66 Expenditures budget : Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. , . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . Debt service 1917-18. , , . Outlay 1916-17. . . Total Expenditures : budget Control Instruction 1917-18. . . Operation Auxiliary Maintenance Fixed charges 1917-18. . . Debt service Outlay Total 1916-17 and [917-18 $265 .. 196 . . $69 . . S50 . . 305 . . S225 .. None $3S •• $35 •• $232 .. 739 . . $507 ■ • $-14 622 13 042 . . $1 5&0 . . Tax rate 1916-17 • 0133 .0072 .0051 .006 .0067 .0027 .0051 .0033 [916-17 and 19x7-18 $260 . . 126 70 $130 30 $8 900 . . 8 268 89 .0092 $631 11 .0062 .01139 $1 515 978 74 $536 26 $1 228 . . 89 84 $1,130 16 $500 .. $352 02 $100 . . 157 46 $57 46 $968 . . $270 94 $■450 . . $201 10 $2 663 55 IOIO THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Allegany county — Continued Town of Angelica Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 9 $398661 .0149 2 I 57470 . 0049 3 1 30 38S .01 4 1 40479 .0072 5 1 no 342 .0025 6 1 11 916 .0206 7 1 39 104 .0070 8 1 24888 .0070 Total 16 $713 245 .0109 Average rate . 0093 Total 1917-1S '...8812 1.35 Balance 1916 $1 78 s 08 Balance 1917 758 ^8 $1 026 40 Tax 1917 $7 784 42 1 026 40 Real tax 1917 $8 810 82 Tax 1918 $0 840 18 Real tax 1917 8 8. o 82 Real increase $1 o 29 36 * Incidentals {972. Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $320 . . 1916-17 141 23 $178 77 Instruction 1917-18 59 485 • • 1916-17 8 586 38 $898 62 Operation 1917-18 $995 .. 1916-17 1 772 14 $777 14 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $502 23 $502 23 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 $201 40 $201 40 Fixed charges 1917-18. 1916-17 $112 66 $112 66 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $242 58 $242 58 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $38 so $38 50 Total 1917-18 *$n 772 . . 1916-17 n 597 12 Si74 88 Town of Belfast Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 11 $706 381 2 1 40 169 3 1 31 532 4 1 60 158 5 1 66 471 6 1 26 738 7 1 85 673 Total 17 Si 017 122 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 030 655 Balance 1916 $585 99 Balance 1917 2 077 30 1 49i 31 Tax 1917 $11 754 93 Real tax $10 263 62 Tax rate 1916-17 ■ 0145 .0060 .0063 .0046 ■ 0037 .008 .0036 Expenditures budget 1 Control 1916-17- . . . Instruction 1917-18. . . . Maintenance 1916-17 Operation 1916-17 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 and 917-18 $405 • • 276 . . $129 . . $12 500 . . 10 981 . . $1 519 •• $675 • • 241 .. .0067 .016 $434 .. $2 100 . . 2 207 . . $107 .. $325 •• 229 . . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM IOII Allegany county — Continued Town of Belfast Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $16 490 48 Real tax 1917 10 263 62 Real increase $6 226 86 Town of Birdsall Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $56 249 . 0047 2 1 41447 .0070 3 1 31 830 .0079 4 1 S3 412 .0053 5 1 2863s .0106 6 1 19255 .0090 7 1 19 432 .0145 Total 7 $250 260 .0073 Average rate .0084 Total 1917-18 $266 167 1 . 14 Balance 1916 $237 41 Balance 1 91 7 218 23 19 16 Tax 1917 $1 843 79 19 18 Real tax gi 862 97 Tax 1918 $3 030 76 Real tax 1917 1 862 97 Real increase $1 167 79 Expenditures budget Fixed charges 1917-18. 1916-17. . 1916-17 and 1917-18 $550 . 193 • Debt service 1917-18 $357 . $2 525 . 3 570 . Outlay 1916-17 5 1 045 . $400 . 246 . Total $154 . . $19 480 . 17 943 • $1 537 .. Expenditures 1 916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $173 . . 1916-17 50 $172 50 Instruction I9i7-i8 $2 016 . . 1916-17 2 S54 09 S538 09 Operation 1917-18 S316 . . 1916-17 247 35 $68 65 Maintenance 1917-18 $320 . . 1916-17 73 10 $246 90 Auxiliary 1917-18 $70 . . 1016-17 57 35 ™ . $I2 °s Fixed charges 1917-18 $10 .. 1916-17 37 II $27 11 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $81 50 $81 50 Outlay 1917-18 $400 . . 1916-17 19 24 , $3So 76 Total 1917-18 $3 305 • ■ 1916-17 3 070 24 $234 76 1012 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Allegany county — Continued Town oj Bolivar Assessed Tax, rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 12 $665210 .0134 2 1 106452 .0035 3 1 56567 .0075 4 1 75 286 .0044 5 1 9i 919 -0033 6 1 168389 .0030 7 1 84 716 .0041 8 1 35850 .0080 Total 19 $1284389 .0089 Average rate .0059 Total 1917-18 $1416538 .01092 Balance 1916 $1 146 01 Balance 1917 1 191 97 $45 96 Tax 191 7 $11 509 46 45 96 $11 463 50 Tax; 19x8 $15 468 00 Real tax 11 463 50 Real increase $4 004 50 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $350 . . 1916-17 122 07 $227 93 Instruction 1917-18 $12 838 . . 1916-17 10 375 81 $2 462 19 Operation 1917-18 $1 750 . . 1916-17 1 849 26 $99 26 Maintenance 1917-18 $400 . . 1916-17 367 42 $32 58 Fixed charges 1917-18 $400 . . 1916-17 13485 $265 15 Debt service 1917-18 $1 530 . . 1916-17' 2 014 99 £484 99 Outlay 1917^18 $600 .. 1916-17 $600 . . Auxiliary 1917-18 $400 . . 1916-17 54' 56 $345 44 Total 1917-18 $18 268 .. 1916-17 14 918 96 $3 349 04 Town of Burns Dist. Total . Average rate . . Total 191 7-1 8. Balance 1916. Balance 191 7. Tax 1917- Real tax. . Teachers Assessed Tax rate valuation 1 916-17 $112 184 .003s 331 865 .0181 43 567 .00.62. 44 689 .0070 93 012 .004 116 074 .0033 16 742 .0103 24 885 .0085 19 030 .0085 502 048 $834 092 $512 31 496 43 $15 88 $8 2S6 26 15 88 .0077 1.08 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $585 •• 1916-17 82 80 $502 20 Instruction 1917-18 $7 602 . . 1916-17 6 779 56 $822 44 Operation 1917-18 $1 253 60 1916-17 ! 368 60 $H5 ■• Maintenance 1917-18 $195 • • 1916-17 513 78 $318 78 Auxiliary 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 !43 79 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM IOI3 Allegany county Town of Burns Assessed Dist. valuation Tax J018 °. $9 020 60 Real tax 1917 8 302 14 Real.increase $718 46 • Continued Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $121 37 $121 37 Debt service 1917-18 $1 170 . . 1916-17 1 917 41 1747 41 Outlay, none Total 1917-18 $10 955 60 1916-17 10 :9:27 31 $28 29 Town of Caneadea Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 1 $57 405 3 1 47i 47i 4 1 73 582 5 1 53 089 6 1 139 218 9 r 29 765 10 1 46470 Total 7 $871 000 Average rate Total 1917-18 $848 199 Balance 1916 $462 09 Balance 1917 431 62 $30 47 Tax 1917 $4 001 83 Real tax • 4 032 30 Tax 1918 $5 174 01 Real tax 1917 4 032 30 Real increase > $1 141 71 Tax. rate 1 9 16-17 0053 0089 0096 0062 0048 00.84 0055 0042 0054 0061 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $235 . . 1916-17 $235 .. Instruction 1917-18 $3 720 . . 1916-17 3 699 15 S20 85 Operation 1917-18 $671 .. 1916-17 609 61 $61 39 Maintenance 1917-18 $75 .. 1916-17 279 90 $204 90 Fixed charges 1917-18 $25 . . 1916-17 73 62 $48 62 Debt service 1917-18 $745 . ■ 1916-17 790 85 $45 85 Auxiliary 1917-18 $60 . . 1916-17 57 60 $2 40 Outlay 1917-18 .$1 000 . . 1916-17 14390 $856 10 Total 1917-18 $6 531 .. 1916-17 5 654 63 $876 37 ioi4 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Cent err Me Dist. Allegany county — Continued Teachers Joint Total . Average rate . . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. Balance 1917 • Assessed valuation $81 791 25 477 28 013 32 910 49 016 52 627 29 29s 25 967 21 815 $346 911 $334 038 £318 73 278 52 3 370 30 Tax 1917 Real tax $3 410 51 Tax 1918 *4 342 49 Real tax 1917 3 410 51 Real increase. $931 98 Town of Clarksville Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 2 $76 295 2 1 39 630 3 1 62 030 4 1 50 601 5 Contract 29 350 6 1 26 760 7 1 58 704 Total 7 $343 370 Average rate Total 1917-18 $373 412 Balance 1916 $516 79 Balance 1917 °30 03 $113 24 Tax 1917 2 535 43 Real tax $2 422 19 Tax rate 1916-17 .0099 .0111 .0096 .0095 .0080 .0051 .0130 .0130 .0164 .0104 .0130 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $266 . 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. 1916-17. Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $266 . . $4 508 . . 4 117 72 $390 28 $498 .. 390 21 $107 79 $200 . . 313 IS $113 IS $50 .. 49 22 $0 78 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $140 68 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17- $72 $20 53 $33 Total 1917-18 $5 682 1910-17 4 99i 30 $690 70 Tax rate Expenditures 191 5-17 and 1916-17 budget 1 91 7 -18 .0110 Control .0100 $310 .. .0050 .0069 $310 .. .0100 Instruction .0062 $3 400 . . 1916-17 2 971 98 .0073 $428 02 .0081 Operation .0107 $370 . . 239 25 $130 75 Maintenance $75 .. 266 29 $191 29 Fixed charges $405 •• 67 61 $337 39 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM IOI Allegany county Town of Centerville Assessed Dist. valuation Tax 1918 $4 028 00 Real tax 1917 2 422 19 Real increase $ 1 60s 81 Town 0/ Cuba Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 r $425 40 3 1 508 75 4 1 358 24 S Contract 372 59 6 1 306 72 7 Contract 441 70 8 „ 9 1 285 31 Total 5 $2 698 31 Average rate Total 1917-18 $669 691 Balance 1916 $421 75 Balance 1917 427 94 $6 19 Tax 1917 $2 698 31 Real tax $2 692 12 Tax 1918 $4 667 75 Real tax 1917 2 692 12 Real increase $1 975 63 Continued Expenditures budget Debt service 191 [91- 6-17 and -18 Outlay Auxiliary $465 . . 1916-17 Total 29 50 $435 SO $5 025 . . 3 574 63 Si 450 37 Tax rate 1916-17 .0028 .0028 .0073 .0040 .0080 .0046 .0064 .0041 .0051 .00697 Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $415 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . 115 M 235 2 481 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $754 $360 198 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17- . • $162 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . • $60 $1 135 830 $255 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $235 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $280 123 Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $157 $5 740 3 652 $2 088 ioi6 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Allegany county — Continued Town of Friendship Assessed "Tax rate Teachers va uation 1916-17 Dist. 2 Contract $86 588 .0042 5 1 34044 .0070 6 Contract 27 497 . 0020 7 Contract 28 740 .0120 8 r 103 462 .0034 3 1 39 946 .0051 4 1 35 588 .0070 Total 4 $355 865 .0050 Avsrage rate . 0058 Total 1917-18 $376817 .0099 Balance 1916 $74 26 Balance 1917 189 01 $114 75 Tax 1917 1 802 90 Real tax $1 688 15 Tax 1918 $3725 .. Real tax 1917 1 688 15 Real increase $2 036 85 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 #325 00 1916-17 Instruction £325 .. $2 550 .. 1 772 .. Operation S77S .. ?i70 .. 98 .. Maintenance S72 .. $100 . . 87 .. Auxiliary ,$13 •• $1 100 . . 836 .. Fixed charges $274 . $100 . . 28 .. Debt service $72 .. Outlay $370 .. 4 •• Total $366 .. $4 735 •• 2 825 .. $1 900 . . Town of Genesee Dist. Total. Average rate . . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. Balance 1917. Tax 1917. Teachers Assessed valuation $169 558 Tax rate 19 16-17 .0055 Real tax $3 226 60 124 76 53 140 428 933 089 996 $565 004 $558 916 $391 07 174 65 $216 $3 010 42 18 $3 226 60 .0037 .0043 .0055 .0070 .0052 .0063 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $210 73 1916-17 $210 73 Instruction 1917-18 $3 409 1916-17. Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . 3 083 60 $325 40 $297 03 427 29 $130 26 $37 88 456 19 $418 31 $36 .. 98 39 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM. IOI7 Town of Genesee Tax 1918 All egany count Assessed valuation $3 520 .. 3 226 60 y — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 .0097 .0061 .0066 .0030 .0071 .0030 Expenditures budget Debt service 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Total 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Expenditures budget I Control 1916-17. . . . Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 .... Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Auxiliary 1916-17 .... Outlay 1916-17. . . . Total 1916-17. . . . Expenditures budget Control 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. . . . Operation 1916-17 and 1917-18 $293 40 Teachers $74 .. Assessed valuation $77 059 41 280 39 360 115 498 47 890. 139 90S $74 -. $168 24 87 04 $81 20 $4 232 88 4 152 51 $80 37 Town of Granger Dist. 1916-17 and 917-18 2 . . . 1 1 1 1 1 4 6 7 $2 754 .. Total 7 $460 995 0051 $338 75 Total 191 7-18 not given $226 42 137 4S • 0059 Tax rate 1916-17 .0084 .0058 .0120 .0122 .0081 .0040 .0094 .0008 .005 .0057 $97 36 $88 94 2 362 36 $2 451 30 $43 52 Tax 1918 $45 .. Teachers Assessed valuation $34 014 44 78o 14 984 22 954 31 263 109 782 18 530 3° 632 9 670 49 604 $372 213 $122 85 $3 401 48 Town of Grove Dist. 1916-17 and 917-18 $218 .. 3 4 5 6 7 8 18 86 $199 14 $3 492 . . 3 404 69 9 10 $87 31 $315 • • 319 88 $303 7i8 .0073 .81 Total 191 7-1 8 $4 88 ioi8 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Grove Allegany county — Continued Assessed valuation Balance 1916 $229 39 Balance 1917 166 38 $63 01 Tax 1917 $2 152 37 63 01 Real tax 1917 Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase $2 2IS 38 $3 000 2 215 38 $784 62 Town of Hume Assesses Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $50 507 2 2 146 267 4 2 104 700 5 1 186 059 6 1 73 590 7 1 58 260 10 1 28 450 11 7 529 680 12 1 43 5SO 13 1 36 470 14 1 47 071 Total 18 $1304604 Average rate Total 1917- 18 $t. 286 839 Balance 1016 $2 003 07 Ba.an> e 1917 I 500 04 $503 03 Tax 1917 5 947 58 Real tax $6 450 61 Tax 1918 $14 283 91 Real tax 1917 6 4so 61 Real increase $7 833 30 Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 191 7-1 8 Maintenance 1917-18 $561 . . 1916-17 144 18 $416 82 Auxiliary 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 71 19 $21 19 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $40 77 $40 77 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $4 636 . . 1916-17 3 999 57 $636 43 Tax rate 1916-17 .0056 .0040 .0120 .0030 .0049 .0050 .0105 .0090 Expenditures I( budget 19 Control 1917-18 Instruction 1916-17 Operation 1916-17 Maintenance 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 Debt service 1916-17 Auxiliary 1916-17 Outlay 1916-17 Total 1917-18 1916-17 pi 6-1 7 and 17-18 $445 . . 157 S3 $287 47 $10 500 . . 9 399 • ■ .0124 . 0080 .0074 $1 IOI .. $1 975 .. I 562 36 .0077 .orii $412 64 $322 .. 794 33 $472 33 $50 .. 738 92 $688 92 $695 .. 435 75 $259 2S $960 . . 786 26 $173 74 $935 •• 263 20 $671 80 $15 882 .. 14 137 65 $1 744 65 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM IOIO, Allegany county — Continued Town of Independence ■ Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 19 16-17 1 5 $228 135 .01 2 1 155 153 .0025 3 1 68067 .0044 4 1 60 862 . 0048 S 1 101 120 .0035 6 1 52 325 005s Total 10 $665662 .0058 Average rate 005 1 Total 1017-18 $632183 .010557 Balance 1016 $1 074 82 Balance 1917 4 88 42 $586 40 Tax 1017 3 904 13 Real tax $4 490 53 Tax 1018 $6 670 Real tax 1917 4 490 53 Real increase $2 179 47 Expenditures 1016-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 25 71 $274 29 Instruction 1917-18 $5 175 • - 1916-17 4 652 91 $521 09 Operation 1917-18 $935 •• 1916-17 714 53 $220 47 Auxiliary 1917-18 $925 .. 1916-17 98 43 $826 57 Maintenance 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 535 61 $235 61 Fixed charges 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 ... 66 83 $133 17 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $325 1916-17 59 28 $265 72 Total 1917-18 $8 160 . . 1916-17 6 154 30 $2 005 70 Town of New Hudson Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 I 8 r 9 1 10 1 11 1 12 1 Total 12 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $53 766 .0053 67 521 • 005s 56 135 .0051 118 040 .0045 56 136 .0070 38 358 .0065 28 215 .0080 38 000 .0061 26 489 .0094 42 162 .0065 64 884 .0073 48 071 0055 $637 777 .0060 .0064 $637 160 .0086 $476 59 742 33 $265 74 3 835 94 $3 570 20 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $270 . 1916-17 $270 . Instruction 1917-18 $5 200 . 1916-17 4 576 . $624 . Operation 1917-18 $560 . 1916-17 471 ■ $89 . Maintenance 1917-18 $125 • 1916-17 44 • $81 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $650 . 1916-17 100 . $550 . 1020 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of New Hudson Allegany county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $S 485 95 Real tax 1917 3 570 20 Real increase $1 915 75 Town of Rushford Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 6 #261 392 3 1 53 006 4 1 71 746 6 1 64 257 7 1 27 87s 9 1 58 700 10 1 38 580 11 1 29 693 12 1 42 685 Total 14 $647 934 Average rate ........ Total 1917-18 $635 067 Balance 191 7 $ r 586 74 Balance 1916 1 248 64 S338 10 Tax 191 7 #5 947 58 338 10 Real tax $5 609 48 Tax 1918 $9 725 70 Real tax 1917 5 609 48 Real increase $4> 116 22 Taxrate 1916-17 .03774 .01774 .00550 .00650 .00853 .01912 .00582 .01000 .00680 . 00940 .00841 .01531 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Fixed charges 68 .. Debt service Outlay $12 .. I350 . . 173 .. Total $177 • • $7 235 .. 5 432 . . $1803 .. Expenditures budget 1 Control 1916-17 and 917-18 $280 . . 10 60 Instruction $270 . . $9 461 . . 8 755 55 Operation $705 45 $1 435 .. 1 210 38 Maintenance $224 62 f 250 . . 137 54 Fixed charges $112 46 $100 . . 262 41 Debt service 1917-18 , . 1916-17. . .. $162 41 $1 360 . . Auxiliary $1 360 . . $475 .. 104 02 Outlay . $370 98 $1 360 . . IS .. Total $1 345 . . . $13 361 .. 9 894 90 $3 466 10 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1021 Tax rate 1916-17 .0106 .0060 .0070 . 0100 .0060 .0039 .0040 .0040 .0077 Allegany county — Continued Town of Scio Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 5 $337 363 2 I 45 114 3 1 4i 8S3 4 1 21 639 5 1 40 772 6 1 88 760 7 1 46 605 8 1 86 165 Total 12 $708 271 Average rate . 0064 Total 1917-1S S753 240 .0108 Balance 1916 $1 954 35 Balance 1917 1 629 80 $324 55 Tax 1917 5 503 94 Real tax $5 828 49 Tax 1918 $& 135 . . Real tax 1917 5 828 49 Real increase $2 306 51 * Incidental and supplemental Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 37 20 S112 80 Instruction 1917-18 $5 400 . . 1916-17 6 270 si $870 51 Operation 1917-18 S950 . . 1916-17 1 093 08 $143 08 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $230 82 $230 82 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $106 87 $106 87 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 *Outlay 1917-18 $1 533 58 1916-17. $1 533 58 ♦Auxiliary 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 88 26 In 74 Total 1917-18 $& 133 58 1916-17 7 826 74 Town of Ward Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 x r $27 923 .0109 2 1 29082 .0095 3 1 36253 .0067 4 i 18589 .0128 5 1 43050 .0076 6 1 33 532 .0087 7 1 43 303 .0054 8., 1 13 726 .0100 Total 8 $245 458 . 0083 Average rate .0089 Balance 1 9 16 $181 57 Balance 1917 95 72 $85 85 Tax 1917 $2 057 33 Real tax $2 143 18 * Incidental and supplemental . Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $86 . . .1916-17 45 $85 55 Instruction 1917-18 S3 098 .. 1916-17 2 947 53 $150 47 Operation 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 287 74 $87 74 Auxiliary 1917-18 $300 .. 1916-17 28 50 S271 59 1022 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Ward Allegany county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1018 $2 700 . . Real tax 1917 2 143 18 Real increase $556 82 Town oj Wellsville Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 1 $35 770 3 1 113 472 4 1 29 255 5 1 52 675 6 2 138 755 7 I 131 519 8 1 37 765 Total 8 539 211 Average rate Total 1917-18 $514,554 Balance 1916 353 71 Balance 1917 301 13 $52 58 Tax 1917 2 351 30 Real Tax 2 403 88 Tax 1918 4 980 . . Real Tax 1917 2 403 88 Real Increase $2 576 12 Tax rate 1916-17 . 0049 . . .0030. . .0095.. . 0049 . . .0053.. .0029. . . 0046 . . . 00430 . . .0050. . 0096770 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Maintenance 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 157 72 $142 28 Fixed charges 1917-18 $59 .. 1916-17 66 26 $7 26 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $25 .. 1916-17 80 95 $55 95 Total 1917-18 $4 068 . . 1916-17 3 569 IS $498 85 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $255 .. 1916-17 7 95 $247 05 Instruction 1917-18 $3 500 . . 1916-17 2 956 17 $543 83 Operation 1917-18 $38 50 1916-17 291 93 $93 07 Auxiliary 1917-18 $725 00 1916-17 49 09 $675 9i Maintenance 1917-18 $300 00 1916-17 185 23 $114 77 Fixed charges 1917-18 $80 .. 1916-17 5i 17 $28 83 Debt service 1917-18 $25 .. 1916-17 none $25 .. Outlay 1917-18 $825 .. 1916-17 34 95 $790 05 Total 1917-18 $6 095 •• 1916-17 3 576 49 $2 518 5i THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1023 Allegany county — Continued Town of West Almond Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 X 1 $50 850 . 0050 2 1 30450 .0090 3 1 26000 .0102 4 1 22050 .0112 5 1 28630 .0094 6 1 16200 .0106 7 1 15065 .0126 8 1 20 840 .0119 Total 8 $210 085 .0091 Average rate .0199 Total 1917-18 218 121 1.3020 Balance 1916 $53 17 Balance 1917 14 27 $38 90 Tax 1917 $1 919 97 38 90 Real Tax $1 958 87 Tax 1918 $2 839 88 Real tax 1917 1 958 87 Real increase $881 01 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $265 .. 1916-17 6 05 $258 95 Instruction 1917-18 $4 442 . . 1916-17 2 851 36 $590 64 Operation 1917-18 $346 . . 1916-17 303 35 $42 65 Maintenance 1917-18 $80 . . 1916-17 120 23 $40 23 Auxiliary 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 47 35 $52 65 Fixed charges 1917-18 $25 . . 1916-17 37 87 $12 87 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $18 38 $18 38 Total 1917-18 $4 258 . . 1916-17 3 384 59 $873 41 Town of Willing Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $56284 .0057.. 2 1 52058 .0077.. 3 1 69601 .0055.. 4 1 32 08S .0081.. 5 1 40313 .0080.. 6 1 77 300 .0051.. 7 1 35 742 .0062.. Total 7 $363 386 . 0063 . . Average rate 0066 . . Total 1917-18 $422567 .010275 Balance 1916 $304 70 Balance 191 7 146 36 $158 34 Tax 1917 2 298 45 Real tax $2 456 79 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $215 .. 1916-17 16 65 $198 35 Instruction 1917-18 $3 102 . . 1916-17 2 782 47 $320 53 Operation 1917-18 $410 .. 1916-17 334 50 $75 50 Auxiliary 1917-18 $475 .. 1916-17 73 II $401 89 Maintenance 1917-18 $325 . . 1916-17 265 16 $59 84 1024 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Willing Allegany county — Concluded Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $4 342 . . Real tax 1917 2 456 45 Real increase $1 '885 21 Town of Wirt Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 5 $291 342 2 1 51 588 3 1 36 858 4 1 52 130 S 1 74 852 6 1 43 294 7 1 66 473 8 1 29 139 9 1 84 219 10 1 38424 11 1 29 142 Total is $797461 Average rate Total 1917-18 $783 457 Balance 1916 $672 16 Balance 1917 403 39 $268 77 Tax 1917 , 6 259 22 Real tax $6 527 99 Tax 1918 $7 834 .. Real tax 191 7 6 259 22 $1 574 78 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Fixed charges 1917-18 Debt service $110 .. 58 65 $Si 35 Outlay 1917-18, Total 1917-18 . , , Expenditures budget Control 1916-17. . . . Instruction 1916-17. . . , Operation Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . Debt service 1917-18 Outlay Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . Total 1916-17- . . . $750 .. 320 27 $729 73 $5 388 .. 3 550 81 $1 837 19 Tax rate 1916-17 .0122 .0061 .0070 .0050 .0044 ■ 0055 .0042 .0077 .0035 .0070 .0070 1916-17 and 1917-18 $200 . . 52 28 $147 72 $7 260 . . 6 620 04 $639 96 $1 050 . . 870 66 .0078 .0063 .01. . $179 34 $600 . . 467 97 $132 03 $300 . . 191 47 $108 S3 $348 .. 558 52 .$210 52 $250 .. $250 . . $200 . . 36 70 $163 30 $10 208 .. 8 797 64 $1 410 36 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1025 Broome county Town of Barker Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 4 $3^& 195 2 1 24 668 3 1 31 421 4 1 3i 18S 5 I 37 610 6 I 29 128 7 1 18 055 8 1 87 253 9 1 60 40S 10 1 54 426 ii 1 13 653 12 1 107 36s 13 1 25 774 Total 16 5849 138 Average rate Total 1917-18 $764 850 Balance 1 91 7 $851 83 Balance 1916 747 50 $104 33 Tax 1917 Is 137 34 104 33 Real tax I5 033 01 Tax 1918 |6 883 65 Real tax 191 7 5 033 01 Real increase $1 850 64 Tax rate 1916-17 .0065 .0095 .0078 .0100 .0055 .0081 .0085 .0030 .0062 .0050 .0120 .0030 .0080 .0060 .0071 .0090 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18..... I151 . 1916-17 47 . I104 . Instruction 1917-18 I7 036 . 1916-17 6 5S7 . 1479 . Operation 1017-18 I751 . 1916-17 646 . Iios . Maintenance 1917-18 I440 . 1916-17 198 . I242 . Fixed charges 1917-18 I35 . 1916-17 143 . I108 . Outlay 1917-18 I150 . 1916-17 104 . I46 . Auxiliary 1917-18 1549 . 1916-17 128 . I421 . Total 1917-18 I9 112 . 1916-17 7 823 . $1 289 . Town of Binghamlon Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 Contract I4 450 2 1 24 345 3 1 25 293 4 1 50 930 5 1 56 358 6 1 23 230 7 1 53 943 Total 6 $^38 539 Average rate Total 1917-18 S251 925 Balance 1916 $235 23 Balance 1917 17 31 3217 92 Tax 1917 , 1 883 17 Real tax {2 101 09 Tax 1918 $2 343 24 Real Tax 1917 2 101 09 Real increase $242 15 Tax rate 1916-17 .0125 .0100 . 0068 .0070 .0110 .0060 .0078 .0088 .0093 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 |i90 1916-17 4 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $186 535 397 Ii38 1315 273 $42 I6s 234 I169 I16S 76 I148 I148 33 1026 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Binghamton Broome county — Continued Town of Chenange Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation I I $20 097 2. I 31 640 3 I 34 215 4 I 47 310 5 1 17 452 6 1 39 966 7 I 64 289 &[['.'. 1 65 411 9 I 93 284 10 I 156 012 II 1 133 640 12 I 44 764 13 I* . 43 215 Total 13 $79i 295 Average rate ........ Total 1917-18 1803 659 Balance 1916 $584 93 Balance 191 7 584 S3 $36 40 Taxi9i7 #4 018 86 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase $4 055 26 $5 4 279 055 23 26 $1 223 97 Town of Colesville Dist. Teachers 1 2 1 3 1 4 3 5 6 I 7 I 8 1 9 10 I 11 2 12 I 13 14 l 15 16 1 17 „ 1 1 g Contract 19 Contract Assessed valuation $31 636 28 279 12 399 30 471 21 070 20 256 82 801 182 539 28 987 32 975 79 903 19 871 16 387 21 084 25 586 Tax rate 1916-17 0100 0125 0150 0140 0100 0129 0050 0056 0094 0068 0044 0130 0060 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $41 • Total $41 •• $3 270 . . 3 173 •• $97 .. Tax rate 1916-17 .012 .008 .009 .0075 .013 .0061 .0048 .0055 ■ 00495 .0025 .0027 .0061 .0062 Expenditure i< budget 19 Control 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 Operation 1916-17 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 )i6-i7 and 7-18 $421 . . 11 . . $410 ., $5 336 . . 5 072 . . $264 . . $617 .. 526 . . .00507 $9i ., .0067 .00657 $630 . . 354 • • $276 Fixed charges 1917-18 $50 1916-17 76 $26 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $53 $53 Auxiliary I9i7~i8 $11 1916-17 55 Total 1917-18 $7 065 1916-17 6 147 $918 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $950 . 1916-17 138 . $812 Instruction 1917-18 $12 200 . 1916-17 12 014 . $186 . Operation 1917-18 Si 265 . 1916-17 1 102 . $163 . Maintenance 1917-18 $725 . 1916-17 920 . $195 . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 102/ Broome county — Continued Town cf Colesville Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 21 1 49 356 .0077 22 1 90 245 . 0040 23 1 23350 .0132 24 1 67 439 .0052 25 1 78328 .0030 26 1 17 812 .0173 27 1 33 275 .0075 28 1 22 738 .0122 29 I 54 575 .0060 30 I 69 576 .0060 31 Contract 9 500 Total 26 $1 261 357 .0075 Average rate . 0091 Total 1917-18 $12 000 57 Balance 1916 $2 322 87 Balance 1917 1 128 64 $ 1 194 23 Tax 1917 9 488 93 Real tax $10 683 16 Tax 1913 $12 000 00 Real tax 191 7 10 683 16 Real increase $1 316 84 Town of Conklin Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 2 $170083 .0053 2 1 100 562 .0050 3 1 in 077 .0041 4 1 145 757 .0040 5 1 41 375 .0060 6 1 23368 .0110 7 1 56050 .0070 8 1 24300 .0111 Total 9 $672 572 .0054 Average rate . 0067 Total 1 91 7-i 8 $883315 .01206 Balance 1916 $203 08 Balance 1917 254 50 $51 42 Tax 1917 3 627 37 Real tax $3 575 95 Tax 1918 $10 652 78 Real tax 191 7 3 575 95 Real increase $7 076 83 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Auxiliary 1917-18 $930 1910-17 660 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. . . . $290 $50 123 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. .. $73 ii2 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $12 $650 158 $492 Total 1917-18 $16 790 1916-17 15 127 $1 663 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $550 .. 1916-17 ? Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 $550 .. $4 245 . . 3 996 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 $249 . . $540 . . 591 .. Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $51 .. $400 . . 299 . . Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 $101 . . $600 . . 26 .. Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $574 .. $100 . . 41 .. Debt services 1917-18 1916-17 $59 .. $162 .. ? Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $162 .. $4 050 . „ ? Total 1917-18 1916-17 $4 050 . . $10 647 . . 4 953 . • $5 694 . . 1028 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Broome county — Continued Town of Dickinson Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 2 %???} -0029 2 Contract 59 750 3 " 129 318 .0030 4 2 329651 .0052 Total 4 $1100406 -0035 Average rate . 0037 Total 1917-18 1 070 163 93 .0065 Balance 1916 $633 55 Balance 1917 529 70 $103 85 Tax 1917 3 798 97 Real tax $3 902 82 Tax 1918 $6 630 .. Real tax 1917 3 902 82 Real increase $2 727 18 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $410 5 1916-17 64 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operations 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $4 125 2 857 $1 268 $650 333 $317 $275 466 JiSo 114 $36 $30 102 $72 $1 200 185 $1 015 $665 223 $442 Total 1917-18 $7 505 1916-17 4 344 $3 16 r Town of Fenton Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 2 2 $141283 . 0050 3 1 60 450 . 0053 4 1 63 915 .0059 S * 21 880 I 13 955 / ■** 6 , 1 3x527 .0095 -7 1 45 980 . 0065 Total 7 $378 990 .0056 Average rate . 0060 Total 1917-18 $39 455 664 .0075 Balance 1916 $341 36 Balance 1917 407 36 66 .. Tax 1917 2 128 29 Real tax $2 062 29 Tax 1918 $2 842 15 Real tax 1917 2 062 29 Real increase $779 86 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $475 1916-17 $475 Instruction 1917-18 $3 150 1916-17. 3 298 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $148 $300 279 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. • • $21 $150 180 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $30 $80 85 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1029 Town cj Fenton Broome county — Continued Town of Kirkwood Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $106 109 2 1 202 265 3 1 in 5^8 4 1 157 273 5 1 38 945 6 1 34 189 7 1 32 698 8 1 43 528 9 1 41 S63 10 Contract 29 766 11 1 99 827 Total 10 $901 491 Average rate Total 1917-18 $855,964 Balance 1916 $700 19 Balance 191 7 54* 70 $158 49 Tax 191 7 3 389 21 Real tax $3 547 70 Tax 1917-18 $4 279 82 Real tax 1916-17 3 547 70 Real increase $732 12 Tax rate 1916-17 .0032 .0025 .0038 .0024 .0110 .0064 0083 .0051 .0060 0035 .0052 .0050 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 , 1916-17 $32 .. $32 .. Debt service 1917-18 $25 ., 1916-17 10 . . $15 .. Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $4 180 . 1916-17 3 884 . $296 . Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $255 - 1916-17 $255 • Instruction 1917-18 $5 000 . 1916-17 4 40i . $599 • Operation 1917-18 $550 . 1916-17 491 • $59 • Maintenance 1917-18 $525 • 1916-17 481 . $44 Auxiliary 1917-18 $75 ■ 1916-17 87 . $12 . Fixed charges 1917-18 $25 . 1916-17 63 • $38 . Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $6 430 . 1916-17 5 523 • $907 . Town ©J Dist. ' Lisle Teachers 5 Assessed valuation $1798 64 189 465 23 208 39 889 36 521 17 021 Tax rate 1916-17 .0138 .0080 3 4 5 6 1 .0100 .0046 .0068 .0106 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $143 . 1916-17 275 . $132 . 1030 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Broome county Town of Lisle Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 7 I $30 301 8 1 19 260 9 2 72 336 10 1 38 750 11 1 24 522 Total 17 S671 137 Average rate Total 1 91 7-1 8 $669 025 Balance 1916 $899 35 Balance 1917 553 10 $346 25 Tax 1917 6 523 62 Real tax $6 869 87 Tax 1917-18 $7 365 88 Real tax 1916-17 6 869 &7 Real increase $4°6 01 Continue d Tax rate 1916-17 .0080 .0100 .0104 .0072 .0090 .0097 .0089 .0110 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Instruction 1917-18 J7 284 . 1916-17 6 910 . $374 • Operation 1917-18 $973 ■ 1916-17 1 116 . $143 ■ Maintenance 1917-18 $383 • 1916-17 682 . $299 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $397 . 1916-17 108 . $289 . Fixed charges 1917-18 $200 . 1916-17 132 . $68 . Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $250 . 1916-17 465 $215 Total 1917-18 $9 762 1916-17 9 556 $206 Town of Maine Dist. Teachers 1 2 2 1 3 4 1 5 6 1 7 Contract 8 9 I 10 1 11 I 12 .• 1 13 I 14 I Total 11 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 191 7 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase Assessed valuation $101 929 28 175 4i 154 41 500 31 093 38 314 34 112 28 390 55 870 31 870 16 421 Tax rate 1916-17 .0067 .0080 $448 828 $560 S 25 $581 54 92 67 $527 3 047 25 79 $3 575 04 $4 709 3 575 09 04 $1 134 05 0064 0065 0070 0075 0010 0049 0091 0012 .0067 .00583 .00840 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $262 . 1916-17 1 . $261 . Instruction 1917-18 $5 130 . 1916-17 4 735 • $395 - Operation 1917-18 $528 . 1916-17 476 . $52 . Maintenance 1917-18 $200 . 1916-17 308 . $108 . Fixed charges 1917-18 $240 . 1916-17 100 . $140 . Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $83 . $83 . Outlay 1917-18 $25 . 1916-17 7i ■ $46 . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM Broome county — Continued Town of Maine 1031 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget, 1 1 -1 Auxiliary 1917-18 » 2 °S • 1916-17 $205 . Total 1917-18 16 590 . 1916-17 S 774 Town of Nanticoke Assessed n - t Teachers valuation DlSt " 1 $33 12s I ;. 1 32 345 2 1 19 546 3 j; 20 36O 4 r 54 398 5 l 14 635 6 .'.'.'.'.'.'.' 1 31777 " Total. J J^X tS^^v.::::::::::::::::: $£™j* Balance 1916 * r || 1% Balance 1917 . . $128 97 T«I9I7.. ' 73 ° 96 t, 1+ „ $1 859 93 Real tax _ -v,, T „ T73 $390 325 $1 150 252 71 82 #897 2 695 89 22 $3 593 II $3 000 3 593 II $593 II .00783 .0079 .00766 Expenditures 19 budget 191' Control [6-17 and -18 $150 .. 12 .. Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 S138 .. $3 013 . . 2 892 26 Operation 1916-17 $120 74 $465 .. 451 81 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $13 19 $157 .. 60s 02 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 Not classified 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $448 02 $308*36 $308 36 $15 •• 52 94 $37 94 $150 .. $150 .. $292 75 ^292 75 $3 950 . . 4 615 14 $665 14 Town of Salamanca Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $82 990 2 1 57 346 3 1 39 635 4 I 41 893 S I 20 400 Total 5 $242 264 Average rate Total 1917-18 $240 440 Balance 1916 no 01 Balance 1917 23 96 $86 os Tax 1917 $2 099 45 Real tax $2 185 50 Tax rate 1916-17 .005 .0062 .007 .012 .026 . 00866 .0112 .01206 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $145 •• 1916-17 20 25 $124 75 Instruction 1917-18 2 150 . . 1916-17 1 795 94 $354 06 Operation 1917-18 $280 . . 1916-17 274 95 $5 OS Maintenance 1917-18 $466 . . 1916-17 153 14 $312 86 1056 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Salamanca Cattaraugus county — Continued Tax 1918 Assessed valuation $2 700 00 2 185 50 Tax rate 1916-17 .0014 .00153 . 00050 .00200 .00100 Expenditures budget Auxiliary- Fixed charges Debt service Outlay Total Expenditures budget Control Instruction 1916-17. . . . Operation 1916-17- • • • Maintenance 1916-17. . . . Fixed charges Outlay Auxiliary 1916-17. . . . Total 1917-18. . . 1916-17 and 1917-18 $15 ., no .. $514 50 Teachers 1 1 1 Contract 1 1 $95 .. S16 56 $16 56 $427 70 72 Assessed valuation $23 550 25 818 60 385 8 020 11 975 12 460 $142 208 $426 98 $417 41 $417 41 $3 483 70 2 788 97 $694 73 Town of South Valley Dist 1916-17 and 1917-18 $240 . . 3 s 6 7 8 $240 . . $2 310 . . 2 061 42 $248 58 Total 5 .01008 $272 . . 200 27 .00129 Total 1917-18 $71 73 $3U 39 135 85 $150 .. 198 75 Tax 1917 $178 54 1 433 5i $48 75 $25 .. $1 612 05 Tax 1918 $2 500 00 1 612 05 $7 17 Real tax 1917 $300 . . $887 95 $275 70 $425 •■ 314 34 $110 66 $3 722 . . 2 831 25 $890 75 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1057 Town of Yorkshire Dist Teachers Total . IcS Average rate . . Total 1917-18. Balance 1917. Balance 1916. Tax 1917. Real tax. . Tax 1918 $11 580 Real tax 1917 Real increase. $723 339 $723' 539 $1 658 I 293 00 91 5364 69 7 580 42 $7 215 73 $11 580 7 215 73 $4 364 27 .0104 .0078 .016 LUgUS cou Assessed valuation $34 250 41 225 55 181 142 996 23 999 30 380 nty — Cor Tax rate 1916-17 .0054 .0050 .0064 .0161 .0049 .0074 .0119 .0053 .0080 icluded Expenditure: budget Control 1916 1917- -17 and 18 $4iS • .'. 42 08 Instruction . $ $372 92 56 056 37 056 1916-17. 8 676 71 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17- $2 097 29 $1 586 786 26 $799 74 $400 359 86 $40 14 $550 151 91 $398 09 $225 153 49 $71 5i $825 I 276 18 $451 18 $725 298 58 Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $426 42 J15 500 . . 11 745 07 $3 754 93 Cayuga county Tmvn of Brutus Dist., Teachers Assessed valuation $143 103 156 043 165 125 119 189 123 910 Tax rate 1916-17 5 6 .... . 1 . . . . 1 .00317 .00151 .00200 .00282 Total 3 $707 370 .00239 $727 272 .002388 Total 1917-18 .00451 S460 62 $460 62 1 694 15 $2 154 77 Expenditures 1916-17'and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $250 . 1916-17 , . ..... . Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $250 . $1 758 . 1- 942 . $184 . $180 . 145 ■ $35 $369' $369 .. 34 1058 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Brutus Cayuga county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $3 280 . . Real tax 1917 2 154 77 Real increase $1 125 23 Town of Colo Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $85 050 2 1 104 106 3 1 80 100 4! .'.".■!. '. 1 56 250 < 260 140 i s s \ 46 280 : 6 1 58 093 7 1 78 264 8 1 33 020 9 1 67 270 Total 13 S868 573 Average rate Total 1917-18 $800 000 Balance 1916 $415 28 Balance 1917 747 51 $332 23 Tax 191 7 ° °7o 06 Real tax $S 743 83 Tax 1918 $8 000 Real tax 1917 5 743 8 3 Real increase $2 256 17 Tax rate 1916-17 .00351 .00391 .00504 .00599 .01093 .00576 . 00390 .00872 .00520 . 00699 .00477 . 01000 Expenditures budget Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 and [917-18 $120 . . 14 - . Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $106 .. Outlay 1916-17. . . . iso . . Auxiliary 1916-17. . . . $S0 .. $1 580 .. 530 . . Total 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Ii 050 . . $3 938 . . 3 000 . . $938 .. Expenditures budget Control 1916-17 and [917-18 $323 ■ • 99 . . Instruction 1917-18. . . . $224 -. $6 725 . . 6 124 . . Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $601 . . $1 122 . . 1 135 • . Maintenance 1917-18. . . . $13 • . $250 . . 264 . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . ■ ■ J14 .. I46S .. 73 ■ • Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. ■ . • $392 .. $200 . . 44 -. Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $156 .. {215 .. Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. • ■ ■ I215 . . $385 .. 369 . . Total 1917-18 1916-17. . . . I16 .. $9 685 . . 8 108 . . $1 577 -. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1059 Town of Conquest Dist. Cayuga county — Con inned Teachers 3- 4- 5- 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11 . 12 Contract 13 1 14 1 IS 1 Total . 11 Average rate . . Total 1917-1$. Balance 19 16. Balance 1917. Tax 1917 Real tax. . Tax 1918 Real tax 1917. Real increase. Assessed valuation $80 800 62 227 122 30s 66 500 78 791 109 220 69 408 40 5-'S 41 48 1 52 ' 63 2SO S73 0O5 470 S835 1 76 1848 107 50 ; £559 360 69 74 $198 $3 759 95 25 $3 958 20 $6 3 784 958 86 20 $2 826 66 Town oj Genoa, Unit No. 1 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 5 $104 891 67 311 43 IOO 10 1 6g 381 ii 1 4° 964 12 1 65 S7i Total 8 391 2 18 Average rate Total 1917-18 $431 233 Balance 1916 $459 24 Balance 1917 227 19 $232 05 Tax 1917 5 40-' 23 Real tax $5 634 28 Tax rate Expenditures 1916-17 and 1916-17 budget : [917-18 . 00464 Control ■ 00459 J300 . . .00340 . 00500 27 . . .00577 S273 •• • 00343 Instruction ■ 00399 1917-18. . . . $5 978 . . 1916-17 . 4 017 . . . 00800 $1 36l .. Operation 1917-18. . . . $720 . . .00718 1916-17. . . . 518 .. . 00499 . . .00485 J202 . . _ Maintenance .00450 1917-18. . . . 1330 . . ^_ — 1916-17. . . . 292 . . 00507 .008 Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . S38 .. $203 .. 162 . . I41 •■ Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . $65 .. 1916-17. , . , 66 . . $1 ~. Debt service Outlay 1917-18. . . . $95 .. $95 •• Total 1917-1S. . . . $7 691 .. 1916-17. . . . 5 682 . . $2 009 . . Expenditures Tax rate 1916-17 and 1916-17 budget 1917-18 .0200 Control 1917-18. . . . 5i75 •• . 00448 00793 $175 •■ .00700 Instruction , — . — 1917-18 $4 950 . . .01380 1910-17. . . . 4 065 58 .009*5 $284 42 015 Operation 1917-18 $666 . . 1910-17. . . . 703 32 $97 32 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $249 21 $249 21 io6o THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Genoa, Unit No. I Cayuga county — Continued Tax 1918 Real tax 191 7. Real increase. Assessed valuation $6 469 SO S 634 28 Town of Genoa, Unit No. 2 Dist. Teacher; S ! 6 5 &.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'...... V.... 1 9 1 13 I Total 9 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916. . , Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax S3 848 46 Tax 1918 $8 307 15 Real tax 1917 3 848 46 Real increase $4 458 69 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $71 960 .00542 168 87S .00770 25 125 55 000 47 730 78 612 .00599 52 850 . 00600 57 3l6 .00610 527 468 .00689 .00624 $553 793 .015 $554 30 340 68 $213 62 3 634 84 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Auxiliary 1917-18 $575 ■■ 1916-17 470 00 $104 ° 4 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $60 2 4 $6o~ 2 4 Emergency 1917-18 $434 s ° 1916-17 $434 SO Debt service 1917-18 $1 491 • • 1916-17 1 516 90 $25 90 Outlay 1917-18 $200 ■ • 1916-17 127 4i $72 59 Total 1917-18 $8 491 50 1916-17 7 853 ° 2 $637 88 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $215 .. 1916-17 25 46 $189 54 Instruction 1917-18 $5 142 42 1916-17 4 425 60 $716 82 Operation 1917-18 $840 . . 1916-17 558 73 $281 27 Maintenance 1917-18 $170 . . 1916-17 29 94 $140 06 Auxiliary 1917-18 $110 . . 1916-17 69 37 $40 63 Fixed charges 1917-18 $70 . . 1916-17 119 86 .$49 86 Debt service 1917-18 $1 004 " ' 1916-17 230 * ' $774 .. Outlay 1917-18 $2 757 57 1916-17 676 28 $2 081 29 Total 1917-18 $10 308 99 1916-17 6 135 24 $4 173 75 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I06l Cayuga county — Continued Town of Ira Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 5 $307 6iS • 00960 2 1 65 231 .00399 3 1 47 129 .00544 4 I 29 057 . 00809 S 1 28421 .00943 6 1 74 657 .00505 7 1 43098 .00749 8 1 52920 .00557 9 1 50 586 . 00850 10 1 38256 .01050 11 1 39 280 . 00692 12 1 49 097 . 00700 13 Contract 53 090 14 Contract 36 765 .00159 Total 16 $915 202 .00707 Average rate . 00685 Total 1917-18 $924392 .01 Balance 1916 $1 S46 05 Balance 19 17 1 798 46 $47 59 Tax 1917 6 495 44 Real tax $6 543 03 Tax 1918 $9 243 92 Real tax 1917 6 543 03 Real increase $2 700 89 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control $375 .. 76 .. $299 . . Instruction 1917-18. . . . $8 600 . . 1916-17. • . • 7 933 $667 .. Operation $1 350 .. 676 .. $674 • • Maintenance 1917-18. . . . $470 . . 1916-17- • • • 710 . . $240 . . Auxiliary $275 . . 388 .. $113 .. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . $475 .. 1916-17. . . . 112 . . $363 .. Debt service 1917-18. . . . $300 . . 1916-17. . . . $300 . . Outlay 1916-17. . . . Total 1917-18. . . . $11 845 . . 9 895 . . $1 950 . . Town of Locke Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $65 600 2 I 35 930 3 I 30 010 4 3 205 075 5 1 36 620 6 1 22 270 7 1 25 028 8 1 40 275 Total 10 $460 808 Average rate Total 1917-18 $478 708 Balance 1916 $3 105 04 Balance 191 7 ; 788 22 $2 316 82 $2 316 82 Tax 191 7 1 968 40 Actual tax $4 285 22 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00549 .00700 .00750 .00080 .00989 .00897 . 00466 .00719 .0042 .00642 .0117 Expenditures 1 916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 Instruction 1917-18 $4 670 1916-17 3 954 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17- . . Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $716 $1 030 743 $287 $250 212 $38 '$54' $54 $720 748 $28 1062 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Locke Cayuga county — Continued Tax 1918 Assessed valuation $5 601 02 4 285 22 Tax rate 1916-17 .01162 .00238 . 0020s .00269 .00285 .00810 00431 . 0109 Tax rate 1916-17 .01000 .00751 . 00600 00533 . 00500 Expenditure budget Outlay 1917-18. , . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. Expenditure:: budget Control Instruction Operation Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 Fixed charges Debt service 1917-18. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17- ■ ■ ■ Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Total 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. • . • Expenditures budget Control 1917-18. , s 1916-17 and 1917-18 S300 . . 83 .. Si 315 80 Teachers $217 .. S50 . . 6 S .. Assessed valuation $636 3 IS 52 870 123 030 in 858 112 496 $1 036 569 S15 . . $7 020 . . 5 859 ■ ■ Si 161 . . Town of Mcntz Dist. 1916-17 and 1917-18 3 1 1 $950 •• 71 .. 4 5 S879 .. Total 15 $9 450 . . 8 788 . . Total 191 7-18 fi 036 569 $662 . . 1350 93 129 77 $2 565 • ■ 1 795 • • $221 16 8 400 34 S770 . . S385 •• $8 621 50 Tax 1918 . . $11 402 16 8 621 50 S679 . . $165 . . $2 780 66 Teachers Assessed valuation $74 no 48 630 52 875 50 871 79 162 $30 .. 1575 . . 1 672 . . $1 097 • . 1740 . . $740 .. I400 . . 206 . . fl94 ■ . |lS 230 . . 13 791 . . $1 439 • - Town of Montezuma Dist. 1916-17 and 1917-18 3 S13 •• S *I3 •• THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I063 Cayuga county — Con 'tinted Town of Montezuma Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1016-17 6 1 $222 763 • 00200 7.../...... I 441 390 -001.35 Total 8 ?p6p 807 ■ 00333 Average rate • °°53 1 Total 1917-18 $999 305 0049 Balance 1916 $210 59 Balance 1917 l ° 4 $209 55 Tax 1917 3 136 23 Real tax $3 345 78 Tax 1918 54 897 29 Real tax 1917 3 345 78 Real increase $1 551 51 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Instruction 1917-18 $4 070 1916-17 3 548 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17- Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Total 1917-18. 1916-17- $522 $560 410 $150 $220 388 $168 $39 $39 $4 850 4 398 $452 Town of Moravia Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 1 $58 468 3 1 55 128 4 1 7i 326 5 1 53 400 6 1 42 649 7 1 88 302 Total 6 I369 273 Average rate Total 1917-18 $370 475 Balance 1916 $131 84 Balance 1917 115 85 $15 99 Tax 1917 2 159 51 Actual tax $ 2 175 50 Tax 1918 $2 593 32 Real tax 2 175 50 Real increase $41782 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00600 .00750 .00500 . 00600 .00936 .004.28 .0058 00635 .007 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $150 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. 1916-17- Operation 1917-18. 1916-17- Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17- • • Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- - • ■ Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17- . • Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17- Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17- $150 $2 655 2 579 $76 $175 314 $139 $200 48 $152 $258 $233 "'$6' ?6 $30 72 $42 Total 1917-18 $3 468 1916-17 3 041 $424 1064 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Cayuga county Town of Niles Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $79 9io 2 1 49 650 3 1 59 200 4 1 56 715 S 1 48 475 6 I 49 750 7 1 39 687 8 I 63 088 9 I 42 603 10. ... I 31 850 II I 29 781 12 I no 520 Total 12 $661 229 Average rate Total 1917-18 $668 321 Balance 1916 $441 30 Balance 191 7 307 32 $133 98 Tax 191 7 4 136 41 Real tax $4 270 39 Tax 1917-18 $4 745 08 Real tax 1916-17 4 270 39 Real increase $474 69 — Con'inued Tax rate 1917-17 .00520 .00850 .00725 •00551 .00726 .00724 .00711 .00500 .00550 .00872 .00800 .00360 .00625 .00657 .0071 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 $300 . . Instruction 1917-18 $5 184 . . 1916-17 4 990 . . $194 ■ • Operation 1917-18 $560 . . 1916-17 ... 530 . . $30 .. Maintenance 1917-18 $111 . . 1916-17 303 • . $192 .. Auxiliary 1917-18 $120 . . 1916-17 89 . . $31 •• Fixed charges 191 7-1 8 1916-17 $97 . . $97 -. Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $39 . . $39 .. Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $9 . . $9 .. Total 1917-18 $6 275 . . 1916-17 6 057 . . $218 . . Town of Scipio Dist. Teachers 13. 14. Total . 14 Average rate. . Total 1917-18. Assessed valuation $105 926 116 323 60 816 73 155 79 588 77 923 66 618 88 142 51 458 43 804 68 467 104 764 134 578 39 934 $1 in 496 $1 125 495 Tax rate 1916-17 .00401 .00267 ■00577 .00502 .01000 .00513 .00480 . 00405 .00785 .00627 .00520 .00381 .00256 .00659 .00486 .00527 .0067 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 $300 . . Instruction 1917-18 $5 000 . . 1916-17 5 975 .. $975 .. Operation 1917-18 $587 60 1916-17 631 .. $43 40 Maintenance 1917-18 $600 . . I9IO-I7 422 .. $178 .. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I065 Town of Scipio Cayuga county — ■ Continued Assessed valuation Balance 1916 $734 80 Balance 1917 S7i 54 $163 26 Tax 1917 5 402 32 Real tax $5 56S 58 Tax 1918 $6 775 -. Real tax 191 7 5 565 58 Real increase $1 209 42 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 $175 ■ • $175 .. Fixed charges 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 83 . - $17 .. Debt service 1917-18 $170 40 1916-17 178 . . $7 60 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $136 • • $136 .. Total 1917-18 $6 758 .. 1916-17 7 600 . . $842 . . Town of Sempronius Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $40 589 2 1 32 100 3 1 41 123 4 5 I 53 332 6 1 51 487 7 1 39 889 8 1 66 679 9 1 33 000 10 1 36 700 Total 9 $394 899 Average rate Total 1917-18 $395 14° Balance 1916 $178 91 Balance 1917 137 86 $41 05 Tax 1917 2 778 75 Real tax $2 819 80 Tax 1918 $3 556 28 Real tax 2 819 80 Real increase $736 48 Tax rate 1916-17 .00799 .01012 .0031 .00599 .00550 .00715 .00499 .00935 .00695 .0070 .05635 .009 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-i 8 Control 1917-18 $50 1916-17 7 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $43 $3 847 3 607 $240 $450 375 $75 $300 156 $144 61 $339 $11 $11 $45 59 $14 $5 092 4 276 io66 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Caynga county Town of Sennett Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation i ' i |n8 ooo 2 i 180 708 3 1 136 080 4 Contract 79 940 5 1 83 040 6 1 92 593 7 2 39° 208 8 1 77 500 9 I 72 000 Total 9 $1 229 069 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 245 595 Balance 1916 $696 33 Balance 1917 254 8 4 $441 51 Tax 1917 4 096 37 Real tax U 537 88 Tax 1918 $6 000 Real tax 1917 4 537 88 Real increase f 1 462 12 — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 . 00304 .00239 . 00440 .00629 .00370 .00245 .00269 .00392 00437 .00333 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $250 1916-17 62 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $188 $4 810 4 332 $478 $650 656 16 $100 598 $498 J190 104 $17 $17 |8o $6 000 5 849 $151 Town of Sterling Dist. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17- 18. 19. Total . Teachers Assessed valuation $129 442 80 148 no 591 Tax rate 1916-17 $1 683 744 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 499 175 Balance 1916. Balance 191 7. Tax 191 7. Real tax. $2 499 97 2 352 84 Ji47 13 9 713 86 $9 860 99 . 00660 . 00449 . 00361 134 287 00S58 88 043 .00397 100 848 .00347 72 999 00513 38 591 . 00800 45 980 .00671 51 567 .00630 152 241 .00279 148 390 .00252 47 162 .00583 483 455 .00800 .00576 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 I500 . 1916-17 161 . $339 . Instruction 1917-18 $10 789 . 1916-17 10 268 . $521 . Operation 1917-18 $1 610 . 1916-17 1 420 . J190 . Maintenance 1917-18 $1 050 . 1916-17 773 • $277 . Fixed charges 1917-18 $100 . 1916-17 150 . $50 . Debt service 1917-18 $275 • 1916-17 269 . $6 . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I067 Cayuga county — Continued Town of Sterling Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $11 844 69 Real tax 19 17 9 860 99 Real increase Si 983 70 Town of Summerhill Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $28 360 2 1 41 051 3 Contract 28 620 4 1 40 511 6 1 46 819 7 1 33 507 8 Contract 25 633 9 1 20 220 10 1 39 944 Total 7 $304 72S Average rate Total 1917-18 $308 712 Balance 1916 $371 S3 Balance 1917 272 02 $99 Si Tax 1917 1 986 76 Real tax $2 086 27 Tax 1918 $2 800 01 Real tax 2 086 27 Real increase $7 13 74 Tax rate 1916-17 .00893 . 00400 .00807 . 00700 .00700 .00416 .00100 . 00900 .0065 .00614 .00907 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $46 #46 Auxiliary 1917-18 $150 1916-17 193 $43 Total 1917-18 $14 474 1916-17 13 280 $1 194 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-i 8 Control 1917-18 $100 1916-17 $100 Instruction 1917-18 $3 021 1916-17 2 836 $185 Operation 1917-18 $400 19 16-17 27s $125 Maintenance 191 7-1 8 $60 1916-17 63 $3 Fixed charges 191.7-18 I9I6-I7 $31 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $156 $156 Auxiliary 1917-18 $357 1916-17 397 $40 Total 1917-18 $3 928 1916-17 3 778 $160 Town of Throop Dist. Teachers 1 2 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 Total 7 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $234 309 .00343 68 918 .00570 127 152 .00257 82 960 . 00400 77 913 . 00398 81 443 .00367 $672 69s .00366 Expenditures budget Control 191 191- 6-17 and -18 $327 . . 1916-17. . ■ 23 . . Instruction $304 . . $3 293 . . 1916-17. . . . 2 913 • . $380 io68 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Throct Cayuga county — Continued Assessed valuation Average rate Total 1917-18 $659 210 Balance 1916 $521 21 Balance 1917 $521 21 Tax 19 1 7 2467 •• Real tax $2 988 21 Tax 1918 $3 955 26 Real tax 1917 2 988 21 Real increase $967 05 Tax rate 1916-17 .00389 .0600 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Operation 1917-18 $443 1916-17 433 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17- Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17- $10 550 389 $339 $34 62 $18 $18 $600 24 $576 $4 765 3 844 Town of Venice Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $48 462 2 1 44 200 3 1 nr 732 4 1 84 701 5 1 55 850 6 I 49 615 7 I 42 732 8 1 49 739 9 I 39 150 10 I 80 760 II I 65 3S7 12 1 32 744 Total 12 $705 042 Average rate Total 1917-18 $688 975 Balance 1917 • ■ • $1 009 09 Balance 1916 829 54 $179 S5 Tax 1917 4 090 24 Real tax $3 9io 69 Tax 1918 $5 649 66 Real tax 1917 3 9io 69 Real increase $1 738 97 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00699 .00612 . 00400 . 00444 .00603 .00580 .00700 .00651 .00768 .00501 .00700 .00750 .00580 .00617 .0082 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $275 1916-17 $275 Instruction 1917-18 $4 4°3 1916-17 4 907 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $444 $701 499 $202 $182 173 $100 118 $18 $219 69 $150 $50 33 $17 $5 990 5 799 $191 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM IO69 Cayuga county Town of Victory Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $77 251 2 1 63 550 3 1 39 735 4 1 5i 118 5 6 1 67 421 7 8 1 49 495 9 1 34 600 10 I 46 000 II I 112 113 12 I 48 000 Total 10 $589 283 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 $327 30 Balance 1917 302 08 $25 22 Tax 1917 3 245 24 Real tax S3 270 46 Tax 1917-18 $S 026 05 Real tax 1916-17 3 270 46 Real increase $1 755 59 — Concluded Tax rate 1916-17 .00453 .00397 . 00999 .00579 .00710 .00535 .00795 .00583 .00330 .00606 .00550 .00598 .0086 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $365 1916-17 66 Instruction 1917-18. . I9i6-r7. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17- Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17 • Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- . . • Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17- 5299 U 5i5 4 126 $675 388 $287 J220 112 $ioS $95 6 $140 52 $400 $400 $6 410 4 750 $1 660 Chautauqua county Town Dist. of Arkwright Teachers 1 Assessed valuation $44 201 71 602 46 629 41 380 29 766 38 3S9 35 230 45 670 Tax rate 1916-17 .0081 .0113 .0070 .0090 .0100 .0078 .0080 .0082 .0088 Expenditures budget ] Control 1916-17. . . . Instruction 1917-18. . . . Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 and 917-18 1 $245 . . 3 1 1 1 22 60 5 6 . 7 8. . . . $222 40 $4 885 .. T 8 $352 837 $1 440 94 .0087 Total $317 42 T0 7° THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of A rkwrighl Chautauqua county — Continued Balance 1916. Balance 1917. Tax 1917. Real tax . , Assessed valuation $504 85 303 75 $201 50 3 121 46 S3 322 96 Town of Busli Dist. Teachers 8 1 . . . . 1 Assessed valuation $870 398 104 343 20 165 29 933 39 213 30 825 no 955 30 571 20 675 22 213 8i 220 28 480 Tax rates 1916-17 .00702 . 00400 .00891 1 5 6 .... 1 ... 1 1 00738 . 00800 8 9 .... 1 .... 1 .... 1 .01000 .01290 .01850 .... 1 .00800 . . . . 12 Total Si 388 991 .0078 Total 1917-18 Si S13 036 $2 2&' t 311 ' 44 ; 62 $973 10 83; 82 ' 42 Sn 811 24 Tax 1918. . , $15 13c 11 8u 1 36 : 24 S3 319 13 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Maintenance $172 23 Auxiliary Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $172 23 $155 •• 71 . . $84 . . Sis • • 7 50 Debt service $7 50 1916-17 S552 IS Outlay 1552 15 1916-17 S6 75 Total 1917-18 1916-17 $6 75 $5 300 . . 4 593 71 S706 20 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-1S $704 • . 1916-17 114 2i S589 72 Instruction 1917-18 $12 986 . . 1916-17 11 425 84 $1 560 16 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $2 050 I 622 85 $427 15 $530 I 332 62 $802 62 Sioo 136 Si S36 Si S250 346 86 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. S96 86 $I7S ■-'. 1 I4S 7i $970 71 $1 7S8 . . 787 40 Si 000 60 Total 1917-1S $18 583 • ■ 1916-17. . . . 16 912 07 St 670 93 Debt 1917-18. 1916-17- THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1071 Town of Carroll Dist. Chau Teachers tiuqua cour Assessed valuation $118 361 392 64S Si 659 32 074 25 000 20 848 71 010 17 300 ity — Continue Tax rate 1916-17 • 0033 .0128 .0071 .0078 .0148 .015S .oiis 0139 .0106 d Expenditures budget Control 1917-18. . . , 1916-17. . • • Instruction 1917-18. 1916-17. , Operation 1917-18. Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- ■ ■ Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 . . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 and 1917-18 7 $600 . . ... 1 43 • • 1 1 $557 .. 6 . 1 7 8 1 1 37 000 . . 7 343 . . Total 14 $728 897 $343 .. .0109 .01 $833 665 S700 . . 928 . $510 74 503 86 $228 .. $6 88 $700 . . 187 .. T $7 782 07 6 88 $513 .. $7 776 09 3437 . . 118 $8 336 65 7 776 09 J3I9 .. $560 56 $400 . . 123 .. Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $277 $1 637 Total 1917-18. 1916-17. Si 637 33 837 10 379 36 542 Town of Cherry Creek Dist. Teachers 1 7 2 1 3 I 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 Contract 8 1 10 1 Total 14 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 191 7 Tax 1917 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 3249 891 .0206 92 104 .0045 16 020 .0156 17 002 0175 25 754 .0120 48 965 .0067 15 529 .0010 78 334 .004s 29 898 .0090 $573 597 .0128 S610 479 .02 $857 09 476 41 3380 68 7 379 53 $7 760 21 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 3900 . 1916-17 151 • Instruction 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Operation 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17 . . . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . 3749 .. 39 7 125 . . 403 • . 3i 722 . . $1 1 485 00 423 • ■ 362 .. 5i 1 250 . . 298 .. $48 .. 3350 .. 188 .. 1072 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Chautauqua county Town of Cherry Creek Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $12 209 59 Real tax 1917 7 760 21 Real increase. $4 449 38 Continued Expenditures budget Fixed charges 1916-17 and 917-18 $1 200 . . 87 .. Outlay 1916-17. . . . $1 113 •• $99 •• Debt service $99 •• $435 •• 428 .. Total $7 •• . $14 745 ■ • 11 077 • • $3 668 , . Town of Clytner Dist. Teachers Assessed valuation $68 082 75 754 351 628 38 057 79 410 82 450 77 924 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00399 . 00464 .01096 .00912 . 00400 . 00489 .00503 Total . $773 30S .0076 Average rate. . Total 191 7-1 8. Balance 1916. . Balance 1917.. Tax 1917. Real tax. . Tax 1918 Real tax 1917. $714 020 $350 61 323 34 $27 27 $5 940 65 $5 967 92 $7 497 00 5 967 92 .00609 .oios Real increase $1 529 08 Expenditures 1916-17 and. budget 19 1 7-18 Control 1917-18 $155 •• 1916-17 79 79 $75 21 Instruction 1917-18 $7 527 ■• 1916-17 6 843 91 $683 09 Operation 1917-18 $1 012 . . 1916-17 1 071 21 Maintenance 1917-18. .. 1916-17- . • $59 21 $350 .. 187 36 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $162 64 $20 .. 164 62 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Debt 1917-18. 1916-17. $144 62 $100 . . 121 50 $21 50 $378 •• 4 95 $373 OS $800 . . 3 492 46 $2 692 46 Total 1917-18 $10 342 . . 1916-17 11 965 80 $1 623 80 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1073 Town of Ellington Dist. Total . Average rate . . Total 1917-18- Balance 191 7- Balance 1916. Tax 1917- Real tax. Chautauqua county — Continued Teachers Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase $3 774 r 9 Assessed valuation $27 930 119 245 60 915 35 477 22 589 24 950 33 540 86 548 42 057 26 140 19 230 $498 621 $508 157 $ 1356 26 386 04 $970 22 6 851 03 $5 880 81 $9 655 00 5 880 81 Tax rate 1916-17 .0079 ■ .0347 .0050 .0100 .0090 .0120 .0069 .0040 .0066 .0098 .0116 .0137 .0107 .019 Expenditures 19 budget 191 Control 1917-18 1916-17 16-17 and 7-18 $333 • 28 . Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . $305 $9 860 8 573 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17- h 287 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $1 395 938 $457 $140 200 $60 $70 126 $56 $775 825 $50 49 Auxiliary $41 .. $275 .. 243 •• Total 1917-18 $32 .. $12 938 10 982 $1 956 Town of French Creek Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 ! S 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 1 Total 9 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1917 Balance 1916 $4 28 Tax 1917 2 386 28 Real tax $2 390 5 1 Assessed valuation Tax rate 1916-17 $47 646 58 540 49 090 31 500 46 836 47 547 .00777 .00482 .00686 .00849 .00520 . 00600 12 no •OI7S4 12 500 12 588 .01359 .01690 $318 624 .00748 .00968 $322 229 .011 $348 37 344 14 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $132 -. 1916-17 45 $131 55 Instruction 1917-18 $4 112 . . 1916-17 3 493 94 $618 06 Operation 1917-18 $315 .. 1916-17 294 34 120 66 Maintenance 1917-18 $390 00 1916-17 290 82 1074 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of French Creek Tax 1918 Real tax 1917. Real increase. Chautauqua county — Con'inued Assessed valuation $3 544 52 2 390 51 $1 154 01 Expenditures 1916- budget 191 7-) Fixed charges 17 and (8 $25 .. 3 75 Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Outlay S2 1 25 I50 .. 60 85 $10 85 $450 . . 29 58 $420 42 Debt 1917-18. . . . Total 1917-18. . . . • $5 A $1 90 i 174 63 299 37 Town of Hanover Dist. Teachers Assessed valuation I222 450 47 615 86 756 62 836 65 741 106 656 179 356 85 975 95 884 no 893 59 253 47 127 670 487 44 599 512 619 Tax rate 1916-17 .0036 .0075 .0043 •0043 3 4 1 1 6 7 9 1 1 1 .0062 .0025 .0040 .0038 .0045 •005s .0070 .0037 . 0089 .0161 14 3 16 9 Total $2 398 247 .0068 Total 1917-18 $1 968 55 1 160 52 Tax 1917 $808 03 $16 309 83 $17 H7 86 Tax 1918 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $575 .. 1916-17 289 58 $285 42 Instruction 1917-18 $16 188 . . 1916-17 13 745 57 $2 442 43 Operation 1917-18 $2 050 . . 1916-17 2 108 15 $58 15 Maintenance 1917-18 $4 037 . . 1916-17 2 158 54 $1 878 46 Auxiliary 1917-18 $725 00 1916-17 419 84 $305 16 Fixed charges 1917-18 $125 .. 1916-17 170 73 „ , . $45 73 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $8 233 ■ ■ #3 233 Outlay 1917-18 $2 700 . . 1916-17 236 27 $2 463 73 Total 1917-18 $26 400 . . 1916-17 27 361 68 $961 68. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1075 Chautauqua county — Continue Town of Harmony Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $90 325 • 00409 2 - 1 43 366 .00775 3 3 37IS90 .00939 4 1 90558 .00464 5 1 62 010 .00613 6 S 192574 .01458 7 I 37 426 . 00550 8 2 197 497 .00420 9.. 1 82351 .00251 10 1 4667S .00650 II 1 64 424 00477 13 I 32 664 . 00500 14 I 54 977 . 00500 IS Contract 228 405 .00250 16 2 174 754 00485 17 I 60 959 .00500 18 I 72 092 .00415 19 I 44 181 .00841 20 1 36250 .00798 Total 26 $1 983 078 . 00645 Average rate . 00599 Total 1917-1S $2075480 .01021 Balance 1916 $1 830 82 Balance 191 7 1 368 91 $461 91 Tax 1917 12 868 13 Real tax $13 330 ot Tax 1918 $21 184 .. Real tax 1917 13 330 04 Real increase $7 853 96 Expenditures 1 916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $475 • • 1916-17 80 18 $394 82 Instruction 1917-18 $14 583 So 1916-17 11 883 54 $2 699 92 Operation 1917-18 $1 799 . . 1916-17 1 893 45 $94 45 Maintenance 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 726 17 $526 17 Fixed charges 1917-18 $80 . . 1916-17 68 21 $11 79 Auxiliary 1917-18 $312 so 1916-17. .... 898 94 $586 44 Outlay 1917-18 $5 000 . . 1916-17 444 64 $4 S5S 36 Debt 1917-18 $1 500 . . 1916-17 2 528 60 $1 028 60 Total 1917-18 $25 100 . . 1916-17 18 523 73 $6 576 27 Town of Kiantone Dist. Teachers 1 Assessed valuation $91 46t 61 830 164 600 82 521 226 583 $626 995 Tax rate 1916-17 1 3 4 5 Total 2 1 1 6 .0115 0045 0013 0051 0054 Total 191 7-18 $427 469 Balance 1916 $243 00 98 20 $144 80 3 249 26 $3 394 06 Real tax Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7- 1 8 Control 1917-18 $110 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $110 $3 335 2 747 $550 439 Sroo 773 $673 1076 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Kiantone Chautauqua county — Continued Assessed valuation $4 782 so 3 394 06 Real increase $1 388 44 Tax 1918 Real tax 1917. Town of Poland Dist. Teachers Total. $765 023 Average rate . . Total 1917-18. Balance 1917 $2 358 17 Balance 1916 862 20 $1 495 97 Tax 1917 $16 314 82 2 358 17 Real tax $13 956 65 Tax 1918 Real tax 1917. Real increase. .0085 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $8 1916-17 77 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $69 $605 6iS Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $10 58o Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. 175 66 $9 Total 1917-18 $4 783 1916-17 4 797 $14 Assessed Tax rate Expenditures 1916-17 and valuation 1916-17 budget 191 7-18 $116 418 .0050 19 337 .0120 39 758 .0088 Budget not received 96 030 .0045 50 908 .0100 181 258 .0062 27 940 .0090 233 374 .0122 Town of Pomfret Dist. Teachers 1 Contract 2 1 3 1 4 2 5 1 6 1 7 1 9 1 Assessed valuation $165 686 60 8r8 28 800 179 304 60 421 74 320 39 926 222 240 164 44s 129 ISO Tax rate 1916-17 .00363 . 00484 .01100 . 00692 .00703 .00747 .00800 .00283 . 00503 .00232 Expenditures budget 191 Control 7- 16-17 and 18 $830 . . 23 .. Instruction $807 . . $8 100 . . 7 357 .. $743 ■• THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM IO77 Town of Pomfret Dist. Chautauqua county — Continued Teachers 13. 14- 15. 10. Total . Assessed valuation $19 740 70 390 30 204 66 782 128 575 $1 440 807 $2 183 472 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1917 $ l 2 90 77 Balance 1916 1 511 44 Tax 1917. $139 33 i 156 92 139 33 Real tax. Tax 1918 $10 935 53 Real tax 1917 8 0I 7 59 Decrease $2 9*7 94 Tax rate 1916-17 .01266 .01226 .00847 .00713 .00700 .0056 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Operation 1916-17 Maintenance 1916-17 894 •• $356 .- $800 . . 954 •• Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $154 •■ $155 •• 90 . . Debt service 1917-18 $65 .. $480 . . Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $480. . $1 000 . . 2 120 . . Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 $1 120 . . $900 . . 505 ■• Total 1917-18 1916-17 $395 • . $13 515 ■• 11 943 • • $1 572 .. Town of Portland Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation l 1 $158 491 2 I 72 820 3 !!!!!!!!.'.... i 347 530 4 ' 1 149 243 s 1 103 520 6 .'.'.'. 14 755 357 7 2 140 787 g 1 132 681 9 '.'.'.... 1 275 320 10 3 270 274 H 1 59 771 Total 27 $2 471 794 Average rate • • - Total 1917-18 $2 512 088 Balance 1916 $1 799 18 Balance 1917 * 671 02 $128 16 Tax 1917 $17 9iS 23 128 16 Real tax $18 043 39 .00688 .0095 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $905 ■ 1916-17 273 . $632 . Instruction 1917-18 $17 825 . 1916-17 16 140 . $1 685 . Operation 1917-18 $3 625 . 1916-17 2 386 . $1 239 . Maintenance 1917-18 $950 . 1916-17 1 381 . $431 . Fixed charges 1917-18 $295 • 1916-17 464 . $169 . 1078 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Portland Tax 1918 Real tax 191 7 . Chautauqua county — Continued Real increase. $5 836 99 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Debt service 1917-18 Ii 550 1916-17 3 008 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Si 458 $1 650 1 261 I389 $650 563 Total 1917-18 $27 450 1916-17 25 476 Ii 974 Town of Ripley Dist. Total . Average rate . . Total 1917-18. Balance 191 7. Balance 1916. Assessed Tax rate Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 $169 989 .00247 1 286 540 .00200 10 916 367 .00710 1 413 455 .00200 1 45 447 .00S00 1 63 165 . 00649 1 44 800 . 00899 1 39 235 .00550 1 05 040 .01009 1 38 050 . 00600 1 40 3*5 .00800 $2 122 473 $2 288 900 $930 46 729 ■ . $201 46 Tax 1917 $10 931 37 201 46 Real tax $10 729 91 Tax 1918 $13 160 54 Real tax 1917 10 729 9i Real increase. $2 430 63 Town of Sheridan Dist. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Teachers Assessed valuation $466 795 539 436 232 405 155 140 294 516 248 £70 0OO5 00575 Tax rate 1916-17 .0014 .0022 .0030 .0024 .0014 .0027 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $525 1916-17 85 $440 Instruction 1917-18 $12 135 1916-17 10 902 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $1 233 J 1 960 1 668 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $292 $500 1 166 I242 138 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $104 $250 M75 175 Total 1917-18. 1916-17. Iioo E15 887 14 134 Ii 753 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 1916-17 $3 283 . . Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 $6 271 15 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1079 Chautauqua connty — Continued Town of Sheridan Dist. Teachers 2 Assessed valuation $288 098 343 422 204 064 78 8S4 Tax rate 1916-17 • 0035 2 .0030 1 .0024 1 .0051 Total . Average rate . Total 1917-1! Balance 1916. Balance 191 7. Tax 1917- Real tax. $2 850 300 $1 606 700 37 34 $906 6 909 03 01 $7 815 04 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. • ■ • Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . • . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . • Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Total 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. • • • $742 35 $1 513 53 $246 20 $67 25 {265 .. 5466 43 $9 604 74 Town of Villenova Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $46 756 .0068 a 2 61 941 .0095 3 1 27 330 .0100 a 1 18 866 .0120 5 I 29 300 .0109 6 " ' .'. 1 31 529 .0068 7 I 37 939 ■ oo6 ° 8 I 47 325 0070 o Schoolhouse in Cattaraugus Co. I0 1 30 626 .0072 U I 43 264 .0074 12 I 41 230 .0100 Total 12 $416 106 . 0084 Average rate ■ 0086 Balance 1916 $396 60 Balance 1917 201 46 $195 14 Tax 1917 $3 483 59 Real tax $3 678 73 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $285 . . 1916-17 6 63 $278 37 Instruction 1917-18 $6 448 . . 1916-17 4 783 94 $1 664 06 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 {411 45 Auxiliary 1917-18 $155 • • 1916-17 72 . . $83 .. Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $321 02 Fixed charges I9I7-I8 $22S . . 1916-17 25 38 $199 62 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $2 42 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $7 113 . . 1916-17 5 622 84 $1 490 16 io8o THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Westfield Dist. Chautauqua county — Concluded Teachers 3 I 4 „ I 5 Contract 6 i 7 Contract Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $64 495 . 00900 96 790 .00253 327 488 .00250 341 536 .00124 152 093 .00202 32 470 . 00700 32 640 . 00498 157 648 .00600 112 136 . 00300 46 54S . 00500 40 090 .00592 29 42S .00442 Total . $1 433 356 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 410 732 Balance 1916. Balance 1917 . . 00446 .006 Tax 191 7. Real tax. , Tax 1918 Real tax 1917. Real increase. $1 358 88 857 77 $SOi 11 4 651 41 $5 152 52 $8 864 42 5 152 52 $3 711 90 Chemung county Town of Ashland Dist. Teachers Assessed valuation $238 547 175 941 18 150 49 800 Tax rate 1916-17 1 3 4 .01100 .00619 Total 7 $482 438 .0061 Total 1917-18 $492 324 .0088 $924 95 17 05 Tax 1917 $907 90 2 980 08 $3 887 98 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $675 1916-17 58 Instruction 1917-18. , 1916-17. $617 $5 350 4 370 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $980 $1 150 399 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $751 $585 1 495 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. . . . $910 $200 25 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17- ■ • $175 $737 566 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $171 $1 208 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $1 208 $515 481 Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $34 $10 420 7 394 026. . Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $300 .. 1916-17 28 76 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $271 24 $3 796 66 3 387 67 $408 99 $730 .. 356 69 $373 31 $250 268 24 $18 24 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 08 1 Chemung county — Continued Town of Ashland Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $4 332 45 Real tax 1917 3 887 98 Real increase $444 47 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $25 . . 1916-17 40 19 $15 19 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $425 ■ ■ 1916-17 1 088 82 $663 82 Auxiliary 1917-18 $75 22 1916-17 52 50 $22 72 Total 1917-18 „ $5 601 88 1916-17 5 222 87 $379 01 Town of Baldwin Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 1 3 I 4 1 5 1 6. .„ 1 7 1 Total 7 Average rate , Total 1917-18 Balance 1917 Balance 1916 Tax 1917 Real tax $1 607 12 Tax 1918 $3 153 78 Real tax 1917 1 607 12 Real increase $1 546 66 Assessed valuation $30 072 31 088 21 105 27 430 24 130 28 165 18 453 Tax rate 1916-17 .00847 .00700 .01000 .00860 .01663 .00800 . 00900 $180 443 .0089 . 00965 $188 048 .016771 $154 39 146 24 $8 15 1 615 27 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $275 • • 1916-17 60 . . $274 ■• Instruction 1917-18 $2 757 24 1916-17 2 451 88 $305 36 Operation 1917-18 $400 00 1916-17 294 70 $105 30 Maintenance 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 65 96 $234 04 Fixed charges 1917-18 $25 I9I6-I7 37 75 $12 7.5 Outlay 1917-18 $85 •• 1916-17 $85 .. Auxiliary 1917-18 $61 50 1916-17 43 24 $18 26 Total 1917-18 $3 903 74 1916-17 2 894 13 $1 009 61 1082 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Chemung county — Continued Town of Big Flats Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1 916-17 1 5 $422 200 .00810 2 1 S9 40S .00465 3 1 153624 .00219 4 1 27 090 .00830 5 1 22 460 . 00750 6 1 90 757 .00700 7 1 190 420 . 00227 Total 11 $965 956 . 0055 Average rate . 0057 1 Total 1917-18 $969 896 .0082 Balance 1916 $546 54 Balance 1917 311 07 $235 47 Tax 1917 5 400 67 Real tax $5 636 14 Tax 1918 $7 959 07 Real tax 1917 5 636 14 Real increase $2 322 93 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-i 8 Control 1917-18 $430 . . 1916-17 72 73 $357 27 Instruction 1917-18 $5 942 1916-17 5 251 76 $690 24 Operation 1917-18 $1 190 . . 1916-17 1 013 62 $176 38 Maintenance 1917-18 $800 . . 1916-17 270 39 $529 61 Fixed charges 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 58 3* $91 68 Outlay 1917-18 $"36 . . 1916-17- .... 438 56 $297 44 Auxiliary 1917-18 $127 .. 1916-17 !94 61 $67 61 Total 1917-18 $9 375 • 1916-17 7 299 99 $2 075 01 Town of Catlin Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 1 10 1 11 1 Total 11 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $28 340 .0092 18 900 .0112 16 288 .012 40 468 .0068 19 050 0131 63 909 005 78 484 • 0053 18 500 .0099 31 408 .0085 18 575 .013 12 000 .0137 $345 922 .008 . 00979 $258 723 .012 $583 82 46c > 55 $122 I 27 2 78; ' 57 $2 91c 1 84 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $225 ■ . 1916-17 4 35 $220 65 Instruction 1917-18 $4 929 ■ . 1916-17 3 996 84 $932 16 Operation 1917-18 $650 . . 1916-17 513 02 $136 98 Maintenance 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 230 53 $69 47 Auxiliary 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 26 75 M3 25 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM IO83 Town of Catlin Chemung county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $4 325 09 Real tax 191 7 2 910 84 Real increase $1 414 25 Expenditures 1 916-17 budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 52 71 $2 71 Debt service 1917-18 $55 ■ ■ 1916-17 62 so $7 50 Outlay 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 $50 .. Total 191 7-18 $6 309 ■ • 1916-17 4 886 70 $1 422 30 Town of Chemung Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 Contract $148 015 .00250 2 2 205 254 . 00469 3 1 29792 .00758 4 1 121 626 .00270 5 1 83301 .00344 6 1 13 904 . 01228 7 1 21 650 .01000 8 1 28 920 . 00778 9 1 24 970 . 01850 10 2 161 597 • 00390 11 1 20 joo .00821 12 1 28603 .00750 13 1 iot 863 .00421 14 1 14 000 .01174 15 1 22 120 .01750 Total 16 $ t 035 615 ■ 0048 Average rate . 008 1 6 Total 1917-18 $1 054 405 .00764 Balance 1916 $1 102 02 Balance 1917 826 37 $275 65 Tax 1917 5 073 01 Real tax $5 348 66 Tax 1918 $8 055 75 Real tax 1917 5 348 66 Real increase $2 707 09 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $525 .. 1016-17 23 5i Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. ■ • • Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 ... Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . • Fixed charges 1917-18. ■ • • 1916-17. • • • Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. • . • Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . • $189 49 Total 1017-18 $10 797 • ■ 1916-17 8 059 65 $2 737 35 $501 49 $6 964 6 258 38 $705 62 $1 100 803 90 $296 10 $500 342 47 $157 53 $7.5 93 46 $18 46 $925 19 42 $905 58 $708 518 51 1084 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Chemung county — Continued Town of Elmira Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 Contract $84 787 2 1 48 247 3 1 30 655 4 1 137 158 S 1 93 736 6 4 564 124 Total 8 $958 707 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 046 676 Balance 1916 $562 88 Balance 1917 400 75 $162 13 Tax 1917 4 942 22 Real tax $5 104 35 Tax 1918 $y 084 21 Real tax 1917 5 104 35 Real increase $1 979 86 Town of Erin Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $43 317 2 1 26 493 3 2 73 000 4 1 30 875 5 1 21 806 6 1 34 619 7 1 41 258 8 1 28 844 9 I 19 470 10 I 19 090 II I 21 996 12 I 22 764 Total 13 $383 532 Average rate Total 1917-18 $387 833 Balance 1916 $500 92 Balance 1917 341 96 $158 96 Tax 1917 3 805 96 Real tax $3 964 92 Tax rate 1916-17 .00353 .00518 .00822 .00227 . 00972 . 00620 Expenditures budget Control Instruction Operation Maintenance Fixed charges Debt service 1917-18. Outlay 1916-17. . . . Auxiliary Total Expenditures budget 1 Control 1917-18. . . . Instruction Operation Maintenance 1916-17 Auxiliary ; 1916-17 and 1917-18 $660 . . 25 .. $635 .. $5 207 06 3 773 85 .0051 ■ 00585 .00677 $1 433 21 $1 233 .. 1 133 93 $99 07 $140 . . 246 33 $106 33 $70 .. 12465 $54 65 $830 .. 717 10 $112 90 $355 •• $355 •• $580 . . 391 50 $188 50 $9 075 06 6 412 36 Tax rate 1916-17 .007 .017 .0125 .01 .0125 . 0072 .0063 .0062 .0099 .013 .008 .011 . 00992 1916-17 and 917-18 $254 98 26 $254 72 $5 540 . . 4 889 73 $650 27 $610 . . 622 47 $12 47 $375 •• 298 18 .01005 .0122 $76 82 $60 .. 29 50 $30 50 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM IO85 Town of Erin Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $4 731 68 Real tax 1917 3 964 92 Real increase $766 76 Chemung county — Continued Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges Town of Horseheads Assessed I ax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 !_ 4 $120 295 .0146 2. .'...'..'..'.'.'....... . 1 I0 S °62 . 002 3 !!!!.!!!..!. i 49 °°8 • °°s 5 !'."!..... 1 362 560 . 004 6 1 23 314 .008s 7 1 8S 290 .004 8 1 80 2S5 .0044 9 1 64603 .0045 Total 11 $9SO 4U - 00528 Average rate 005875 Total 1917-18 $1 081 817 - 008 Balance 1 916 Si in 94 Balance 1917 S24 47 $587 47 Tax 1917 5 019 26 Real tax $5 606 73 Tax 1918 $82 248 Real tax 1917 5 606 73 Real increase $2 641 27 1916-17. . . . 66 44 Debt service 1917-18. . . . $16 44 $210 .. 220 . . Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $10 .. $1 .. Total 1916-17. . . . $1 .. $7 099 98 6 127 58 $972 40 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 29 57 Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . • $270 43 $6 848 .. 5 oil 82 Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $1 836 18 $1 150 .. 1 013 84 Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. • • ■ $136 16 $900 . . 103 93 Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $796 07 $75 ■• 37 99 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $37 01 $175 •• 139 47 Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $35 53 $645 • ■ 524 25 Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $120 75 $103 50 Total 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $103 50 $10 093 • • 6 964 37 $3 128 63 io86 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Southporl Dist. Che tnung county — Continued Assessed Tax rate Teachers valuation 1916-17 I30 143 .00100 47 568 .00629 250 682 .00219 4 475 38S . 00569 100 836 . 00399 92 731 .00512 45 798 00793 76 582 . 00500 37 126 . 00800 63 430 . 00600 33 090 .00750 22 350 . OIOOO 34 950 . 00844 30 896 . 00900 Total. Si 341 567 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 509 835 Balance 1916. Balance 191 7 . $1 086 is 699 24 $387 28 Tax 1917 7 203 54 Real tax $7 590 82 Tax 1918 $12 078 68 Real tax 1917 7 590 82 Real increase $4 487 86 .00615 .008 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $1 026 . . 1916-17 60 60 $965 40 Instruction 1917-18 $9 405 72 1916-17 7 685 60 $1 720 12 Operation 1917-18 Ji 500 . . 1916-17 1 202 21 I297 79 Maintenance 1917-18 $1 no . . 1916-17 491 42 I618 58 Fixed charges 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 116 . . $16 .. Debt service 1917-18 I327 50 1916-17 210 . . J117 50 Outlay 1917-18 $1 035 . . 1916-17 174 65 $860 35 Auxiliary 1917-18 $195 .. 1916-17 118 52 $76 48 Total 1917-1S $14 699 22 1916-17 10 059 . . $4 640 22 To-.'ft of Van Etten Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 5 $273 000 2 1 101 788 3 1 12 775 4 1 60 470 5 1 21 720 8 Contract 12 010 9 1 35 000 10 1 36 303 n 1 9 860 Total 12 $562 926 Average rate Total 1917-18 $628 820 Balance 1916 $536 37 Balance 1917 176 85 $952 52 Tax 1917 . . 7 358 63 Real tax $8 168 15 .0138 .01141 .0152 Expenditures 1916 budget 1917- Control 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Maintenance 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . -17 and 18 $219 .. 246 74 $27 74 $7 100 5 912 23 $1 187 77 $1 325 963 72 J361 28 J550 155 00 1394 10 $880 961 58 il 58 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM IO87 Chemung county — Concluded Town of Van Ellen Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 . Real increase. Assessed valuation ?9 5ii •■ 8 168 IS Si 342 85 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 170 17 $29 83 Debt service 1917-18 Ii 697 50 1916-17 1 328 13 $369 37 Outlay 1917-18 $325 ■ • 1916-17 18 498 72 $18 173 72 Total 1917-18 $12 296 50 1916-17 28 237 19 $15 940 69 Town of Veteran Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $30 700 2 1 66 610 3.. . ... ...... '. ....... 1 36 921 a " ' I 61 OOO 5 1 35 766 6 1 18 960 7 1 47 612 g 2 72 000 9! ......... ......... 1 47 141 i 1 60 120 u !!!'.'.!'.!.... 1 19 584 12 2 94 258 i 3 1 28 482 14! '.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'..'. .. 1 23 341 Total.. 16 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 191 7 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase S642 495 $643 i >45 $740 538 95 62 $202 5 286 33 58 $5 488 91 $7 054 5 488 91 $1 565 09 Tax rate 1916-17 .0090 .0047 .0070 .0080 .0050 .0100 .0070 .0158 .0063 .0059 . 0101 .0091 .0085 .0075 .0082 .0081 ■ Oil Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 17-18 Control 1917-18 $275 .. 1916-17 20 .. $255 .. Instruction 1917-18 $7 476 .. 1916-17 6 267 88 $1 208 12 Operation 1917-18 5775 . . 1916-17 1 °74 98 $299 98 Maintenance 1917-18 $800 . . 1916-17 571 85 $228 15 Auxiliary 1917-18 $50 • • 1916-17 76 42 $26 42 Fixed charges 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 71 52 $1& 48 Debt service 1917-18 $28 . . 1916-17 28 40 $0 40 Total 1917-18 $9 554 • • 1916-17 8 III 05 $1 442 95 io88 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Afton Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation i Contract $11 228 2 1 22 322 3 1 17 693 4 5 1 39 171 6 1 51 78i 7 1 19 623 8 Contract 81 537 9 1 100 794 10 1 36 637 11 Contract 20 534 12 7 382 893 13 1 22 585 15 2 153 101 Total IS $959 899 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 114 067 Balance 1916 $694 16 Balance 1917 534 28 $159 88 Tax 1917 9 495 14 Real tax $9 655 02 Tax 1918 $13 430 00 Real tax 1917 9 655 02 Real increase $3 774 98 Chenango county Tax rate 1916-17 .01286 .01100 .01013 . 00683 . 00502 .01319 .00301 . 00300 . 00649 .01240 .01444 .01130 .00857 .0099 . 00909 .0121 Town of Bainbridge Dist. Assessed Tax rate Teachers valuation 1916-17 $63 650 . 00449 91 692 . 00444 49 423 .00809 16 750 .015 Contract 23 126 .01150 18 600 .01100 23 950 .01049 58 270 .00591 68 783 .00579 79 735 .00599 9 441 868 .01458 1 39 808 .00550 Total. $975 655 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 069 061 Balance 1916. Balance 1917. .00856 .0116 Tax 1917. Real tax . . $73i 55 720 46 $11 09 9 952 11 $9 963 20 Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $350 . . 1916-17 251 77 $98 23 Instruction 1917-18 $7 815 .. 1916-17 8 467 41 $652 41 Operation 1917-18 $1 645 . . 1916-17 1 595 48 $49 52 Maintenance 1917-18 $250 . . 1916-17 238 69 $11 31 Auxiliary 1917-18 $1 760 . . 1916-17 1 1 065. 56 $694 44 Fixed charges 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 119 17 $30 83 Debt service 1917-18 $1 460 . . 1916-17 1 520 30 $60 30 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $614 87 $614 87 Total 1917-18 $13 430 .. 1916-17 13 873 25 $884 33 Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $75 • ■ 1916-17 179 . . Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $104 .. $9 525 • . 10 510 .. Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $985 •• $1 745 •• 1 236 . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $509 •• $500 . . 109 . . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . • 1916-17. . . . $39i ■• $450 .. 490 . . $40 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I089 Chenango county — Continued Town of Bainbridge Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $12400 .. Real tax 1917 9 963 20 Real increase $2 436 80 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $395 • 1916-17 134 • $261 . Debt service 1917-18 $1 37S • 1916-17 3 790 . $2 415 . Outlay 1917-18 $935 - 1916-17 3 SOI • $2 626 . Total 1917-18 $15 000 . 1916-17 20 009 . $5 009 . Town of Columbus Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 3 ;•;;; "i"" m '378 4 " I 44 ISO 5 I 35 898 6 Contract 20 457 7 1 52 573 8 " 1 106 381 9" I 55 998 10 1 30 380 11 I 25 875 Total 8 $460 090 Average rate i'i""i Total 1917-18 $467 448 Balance 1916-17 $497 22 Balance 1917-18 l8 5 45 $3H 77 Taxi9i7 2 377 00 Real tax $2 688 77 Tax 1918 $4 674 •• Real tax 19 17 2 ° 88 77 Real increase $ x 985 23 Tax rate 1916-17 Expenditures budget ] Control 1916-17. . . . Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 .... Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 .... Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Total 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 1916-17 and 917-18 500 . . . 00648 .01105 .00191 .00146 . 00450 . 00450 . 00794 . 00699 $500 .. $3 725 - • 3 535 57 $189 43 $500 . . 378 70 .0051 .00556 .010 $121 30 $450 .. 277 48 $172 52 |i 000 . . 102 76 $897 24 $50 . . 49 24 $0 76 $169 59 $169 59 $200 . . $200 . . $6 425 . . 4 513 34 $1 911 66 35 1090 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Coventry Dist. Chenango county — Continued Assessed Tax rate Teachers valuation 1916-17 I $32 500 . 00900 77 475 .00520 3 4 S 6 7 8 47 300 .00519 63 640 .00554 41 075 .00604 30 100 .00800 21 385 .01109 52 225 .00662 9 24 022 .01750 35 450 .00619 Total 10 $425 172 .0070 .00803 $424 163 .0085 Balance 1917. Balance 1916. Tax 1917. Real tax. , S316 90 260 90 $56 00 3 006 23 $2 9S0 23 Tax 1918 $3 605 39 Real tax 1917 2 950 23 Real increase. 3655 16 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 {99 • • 1916-17 90 $98 10 Instruction 1917-18 $4 361 .. 1916-17 4 131 S3 $229 47 Operation 1917-18 $375 •• 1916-17 269 94 $105 06 Maintenance 1917-18 $75 •■ 1916-17 120 71 $45 7i Fixed charges 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 36 . . $164 . . Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $29 10 Capital outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17. . . . $64 75 Total 1917-18 $5 270 .. 1916-17 4 593 43 $676 57 $29 10 $90 $90 $70 5 25 Town of German Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $24 569 2 1 25 825 3 1 39 358 4 1 16 71S 5 . . . Contract 22 220 6 1 17 225 7 1 14 756 Total 6 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917. Real tax $160 668 $162 5 28 $165 116 97 80 $49 1 455 II 71 $1 504 82 Tax rate 1916-17 .0110 .0106 .0066 .0116 .0107 .0184 .0115 .01419 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $148 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. , 1916-17. , Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $148 M no 2 352 $242 $160 146 $14 $330 63 $263 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1091 Town of German Tax 1018 Real tax 1917. Real increase. Chenango county — Continued Assessed 1 valuation $2 303 00 1 504 82 $798 18 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Auxiliary 1917-18 $440 1916-17 173 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17 . $267 $20 46 $26 $362 30 $332 $53 ~ , $ 53 Total 1917-18 ■ $3 570 1916-17 2 863 $707 Town of Greene Dist. Teachers 13. 14. IS- 16. 17. 18. 19- Total . Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $72 113 . 00479 65 430 . 00509 43 659 .00322 40 725 . 00402 49 600 . 00400 16 07S 01369 39 000 .00550 58 748 . 00699 65 575 .00268 47 675 .00542 172 022 .00549 14 645 .01300 97 984 .00283 74 943 . 00490 Average rate Total 1917-18 Si 888 029 Balance 1916. Balance 1917. Tax 1917. Real tax. . Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 . Real increase. 33 31 43 326 925 goo $973 345 Si 888 029 Si 009 740 88 22 $269 66 5 142 14 $5 411 80 S6 645 63 5 411 80 Si 233 83 . 00849 .00800 . 00692 .00617 .00350 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 S480 . . 1916-17 3 69 $476 31 Instruction 1917-18 $7 797 1916-17. Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 7 083 31 J7I3 69 S900 . . 700 18 Si99 82 *455 .. 259 71 Si95 29 S83 63 US 78 $32 IS $330 .. SOI 89 $171 89 $194 84 J194 84 J75 .. 22 50 *52 50 Total 1917-18 $10 120 63 1916-17 8 881 90 Si 238 73 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Capital outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. 1092 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Chenango county — Continued Town of Guilford, Unit 1 Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $44 100 . 00400 8 1 so 000 . 00998 9 1 48 210 .00700 10 1 70756 .00498 11 1 41 no .00661 12 1 71 587 .00400 13 1 42 543 • 00740 14 5 167 810 .01485 IS 1 32 250 .01000 16 1 32 730 .00700 18 1 30 500 .00869 Total IS $631686 .00870 Average rate . 00769 Total 1917-18 I740 848 .00975 Balance 1916 $734 99 Balance 1917 438 81 $296 18 Tax 1917 S 554 24 Real tax $S 850 42 Tax 1918 $7 222 62 Real tax 1917 5 850 42 Real increase „ $1 372 20 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $467 1916-17 49 $418 Instruction 1917-18 $6 483 1916-17 6 702 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $219 $725 650 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. • • *75 $860 315 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $545 $136 98 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. • • $38 $1 346 1 716 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $370 $365 "5 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $250 $279 95 $175 Total 1917-18 $10 652 1916-17 9 740 $912 Town of Guilford, Unit 2 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 1 $26 900 3 1 87 264 4 5 190 315 5 1 113 990 6 1 67 510 7 1 49 100 17 1 no 563 Total 11 $645 642 Average rate Total 19 17-18 $736 252 Balance 1917 $768 17 Balance 1916 685 36 $82 81 Tax 1917 $4 373 69 — 82 81 Real tax. $4 290 88 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00860 . 00400 .01299 .00200 .00518 . 00500 . 00448 .00670 . 00603 . 00800 Expenditures 1 916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $290 . 1916-17 41 . $249 . Instruction 1917-18 $5 600 . 1916-17 5 161 . $439 . Operation 1917-18 $670 . 1916-17 650 . $20 . Maintenance 1917-18 $450 . 1916-17 H5 • $335 • Fixed charges 1917-18 $75 • 1916-17 57 • $18 . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1093 Chenango county Town of Guilford, Unit No. 2 Assessed valuation Tax 1018 $7 212 50 Real tax 1917 4 290 88 Real increase $2 921 62 Continued Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Debt service 1917-18 $165 . 1916-17 310 . Ji45 • Capital outlay 1917-18 $29 . 1916-17 29 . Auxiliary 1917-18 {58 . 1916-17 58 . Total 1917-18 $7 250 . 1916-17 6 421 . {829 . Town of Lincklaen Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $28 960 2 Contract 12 160 3 1 is 935 4 S Contract 6 275 6 1 34 185 7 Contract 10 830 8 1 13 872 9 1 12 895 10 1 34 470 Total 6 $169 582 Average rate Total 1917-18 $169 582 Balance 1916 $438 38' Balance 1917 225 03 „ I213 35 Tax 1917 932 76 Real tax $1 146 1 1 Tax 1918 $1 251 00 Real tax 19 17 1 146 it Real increase $104 89 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00700 00829 00548 00701 007 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 Ii70 .. 1916-17 1 25 $168 75 Instruction 1917-18 $2 128 . . 1916-17 2 096 56 ?3i 44 Operation 1917-18 $130 . . 1916-17 no 26 $19 74 Maintenance 1917-18 $85 .. 1916-17 76 09 $8 91 Fixed charges 1917-18 {10 . . 1916-17 41 19 $31 19 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 J142 40 $142 40 Outlay 1917-18 $25 .. 1916-17 7 20 $17 80 Auxiliary 1917-18 $463 .. 1916-17 508 92 $45 93 Total 1917-18 {3 on . . 1916-17 2 983 87 $27 13 IQ94 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Chenango county — Continued Town of McDonough Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $27615 .0067 2 1 36 665 .0085 3 21 510 .0023 4 1 22845 .0111 5 1 24 859 .0113 6 7 3 85 501 .0269 8 20 278 .0080 Total 7 $239 273 .0148 Average rate . 0106 Total 1917-18 $252795 .0235 Balance 1917 • $50o 81 Balance 1916 194 48 — $306 33 Tax 1917 $3 546 51 306 33 Real tax $3 240 18 Tax 1918 $5 940 68 Real tax 1917 3 240 18 Real increase $2 700 50 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $160 .. 1916-17 18 . . $142 .. Instruction 1917-18 $1 635 • 1916-17 3 222 . , $1 587 • Operation 1917-18 $450 . 1916-17 503 . $53 • Maintenance 1917-18 $1 438 . 1916-17 43 • $1 395 • Auxiliary 1917-18 $840 . 1916-17 478 . $362 . Fixed charges 1917-18 $10 . 1916-17 40 . $30 . Debt service 1917-18 $590 . 1916-17 714 • $124 , Outlay 1917-18 $400 . 1916-17 20 . $380 . Contingencies 1917-18 $500 . 1916-17 $500 . Total 1917-18 $6 023 . 1916-17 5 038 . $985 • Town of New Berlin Unit No. 1 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $73 547 2 10 395 000 3 1 62 500 9 r 33 150 10 1 28 950 11 1 30 200 15 1 52 244 Total 16 $675 S9i Average rate Total 1917-18 $710 990 Balance 1916 $415 02 Balance 1917 147 54 $267 48 Tax 1917 9 322 19 Real tax $9 589 67 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00485 .01880 .00558 .01029 .01122 .00780 .00550 Expenditures budget K Control 1917-18 1916-17 Instruction 1916-17 Operation 1917-18 Maintenance 1916-17 and 117-18 $400 . . 60 .. $340 •• $8 500 . . 10 on 82 0136 $1 sii 82 $1 975 . . 308 05 . 00914 .015 $1 666 95 $500 . . 287 13 $212 87 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1095 Chenango county — Continued Town of New Berlin Unit No. 1 Assessed valuation Tax 1018 $10 661 Real tax 1917 9 589 67 Real increase $1 071 33 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Auxiliary 1917-18 $750 . . 1916-17 98 SO $651 so Fixed charges 1917-18 $500 . . 1916-17 239 83 $260 17 Debt service 1917-18 $1 480 . . 1916-17 2 661 92 $1 181 92 Outlay 1917-18 $50 .. 1916-17 75 ■ • $25 •• Total 1917-18 $14 155 ■• 1916-17 13 74 2 2 5 $4i 2 75 Town of New Berlin, Unit No. 2 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 4 1 $75 000 5 S 228 768 6 1 25 632 7 1 84 108 8 1 26 159 13 1 46 972 14 1 34 762 Total 11 $521 131 Average rate Total 1917-18 $538 688 Balance 1916 $432 47 Balance 1917 42 61 $389 86 Tax 1917 4 425 55 Real tax. . ., $4 815 41 Tax 1918 $6 570 Real tax 1917 4 815 41 Real increase $1 754 57 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00533 .01154 . 00905 . 00498 . 00669 . 00639 .00749 .0084 .00735 .0122 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $390 .. 1916-17 20 10 $369 90 nstruction 1917-18 $5 850 . . 1916-17 6 on 90 $161 90 Operation 1917-18 $990 . . 1916-17 2 214 21 $1 224 21 Maintenance 1917-18 $250 . . 1916-17 I7S 14 $74 86 Auxiliary 1917-18 $650 . . 1916-17 46 91 $603 09 Fixed charges 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 66 21 $33 79 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 292 49 $292 49 Outlay 1917-18 $150 . . 1 1916-17 k*& m $150 .. Total 1917-18 $8 380 . . 1916-17 8 826 96 $446 96 1096 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Chenango county — Continued Town of North Norwich Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $67 433 • 00459 2 1 65667 .00148 3 2 137 934 .00611 4 1 71 428 . 00399 5 1 57 880 .00501 6 1 70750 .00480 7 Contract 9 360 . 00300 8 1 22 070 .00909 Total ?*. . 8 $502 522 .0049 Average rate .00400 Total 1917-18 $516488 .005 Balance 1916 $177 46 Balance 1917 4 26 $173 20 Tax 1917 2 455 28 Real tax $2 628 48 Tax 1918 $2 582 . . Real tax 1917 2 628 48 Decrease $46 48 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $190 . . 1916-17 $190 . . Instruction 1917-18 $3 266 . . 1916-17 2 855 14 $410 86 Operation 1917-18 $270 . . 1916-17 347 7i $77 7i Maintenance 1917-18 $120 . . 1916-17 229 98 $109 98 Auxiliary 1917-18 $210 . . 1916-17 225 06 $15 06 Fixed charges 1917-18 $31 4i 1916-17 57 66 $26 25 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $38 86 $38 86 Outlay 1917-18 $15 ■ • 1916-17 $15 •• Total 1917-18 $4 102 41 1916-17 3 754 41 $348 . . Town of Norwich Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers 1 valuation 1916-17 2 . . . $67 822 .00515 3- • . 36 100 .00972 4. • . 69 433 . 00430 5- •• 1 7i 92 5 .00146 6. .. 1 44 210 .00226 7- •• 32 920 .01250 8. .. 75 948 .00263 9... 47 618 . 00500 30 ISO 84 953 .00450 62 134 106 412 . 00689 13 ■■ • 1 . 00282 14. .. 34 575 .00751 T $721 162 . 00440 Total $818 322 . 00651 77; 98 $175 25 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $445 1916-17 13 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $432 $5 039 4 194 $845 $480 400 $212 145 $67 $1 050 918 $123 Town of Norwich Tax 19 17 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM Chenango county — Continued IO97 Assessed valuation $3 504 62 I7S 25 Real tax ~ $3 329 37 Tax 1918 „ Real tax 19 1 7 $5 330 08 3 329 37 Real increase. $2 000 71 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18. 1916-17. Debt service 1017-18. . . 1916-17. . . lis 41 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total #26 1352 7 $345 1917-18 s 7 6o3 I0l6 -I7 s 768 $1 835 Town of Otselic Dist. Total . Average rate. . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. . Balance 1917. . Tax 191 7 . Real tax. . Tax 1918 .... Real tax 1917 . Real increase. Teachers Contract Contract Assessed valuation f$io 168 i 20 561 I 21 285 si 573 42 837 169 545 19 784 26 530 13 304 18 582 17 939 $412 108 $412 108 #303 102 62 08 $201 5 198 54 87 $5 400 $6 788 5 400 41 72 41 $r 388 31 Tax rate 1916-17 .00418 00594 00759 02053 00601 00997 01292 01054 00660 .0126 • 008425 .015 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control W7-I* $ I9l 2S IOI 6-i7 8804 Instruction $103 21 I0I J- 18 16 057 .. I » l6 - I 7 5 7 56 49 Operation * 3 °° SI J 9I7-I8 $ z S3S 1916-17 ' Maintenance 1917-18.. . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. . . . $60 1 63 $30 .. 114 76 Debt service 1917-18.. . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $84 76 JS84 7s 618 01 $33 26 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Total $76 84 $675 .. 647 Si $27 49 J 9i7-i8 * 9 378 I0l6 ~i7 8 828 31 $549 69 1098 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Oxford Dist. Chenango county — Continued 11. 12. 13. 14. is. 16. 17. Total . Average rate. . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. . Balance 1917. . Tax 1917- Real tax . , Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 . Real increase. Teachers Assessed valuation $30 619 15 450 124 207 25 515 43 725 46 S24 31 813 42 648 57 743 19 050 30 950 46 565 38 800 129 179 28 400 34 348 $745 536 $789 285 $667 472 12 80 $194 4 323 3 ^ 82 $4 518 H $6 866 4 5i8 77 14 $2 348 63 Tax rate 1916-17 .0052 .0170 .0032 .0085 .0069 .0060 .0078 .0066 .0070 .0130 .0050 .0060 .0029 .0040 .0085 .0065 .0057 .0071 .0087 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 {525 • 1916-17 25 . I500 . Instruction 1917-18 $5 940 . 1916-17 5 342 . $598 . Operation 1917-18 I585 . 1916-17 434 • $151 • Maintenance 1917-18 $250 . 1916-17 470 . $220 . Fixed charges 1917-18 fso . 1916-17 81 . $3i ■ Debt service 1917-18 $650 . 1916-17 12 . f6 3 8 . Outlay 1917-18 $275 • 1916-17 9 ■ $266 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $1 115 . 1916-17 902 • $213 . Total 1917-18 $9 390 . 1916-17 7 275 . $2 115 • Town of Pharsalia Dist. 1 Teachers Assessed valuation $31 ois 36 922 23 735 f 39 000 ) \ 9 800 J 22 240 13 600 10 945 20 995 21 100 Tax rate 1916-17 .01073 . 00799 3 4 5 6 7 8 .... Contract .00875 . 00494 . 00986 . 00899 .00982 9 .01052 Total 8 $229 352 . 00790 $229 352 .00895 Total 1917-18 . 00970 $640 72 444 67 $196 os 1 822 54 $2 018 59 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $121 10 1916-17 70 $121 40 Instruction 1917-18 $3 149 57 1916-17 3 352 97 $203 40 Operation 1917-18 $441 •■ 1916-17 194 93 $246 07 Maintenance 1917-18 $280 .. 1916-17 57 99 $222 01 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $48 12 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1099 Town of Pharsalia Chenango county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $2 225 67 Real tax 1917 2 018 59 Real increase $ 207 08 Town of Pitcher Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 2 594 330 2 1 28 750 3 I 13 900 4 , 1 29 060 6 2 86 801 7 1 58 480 Total 8 $311 321 Average rate Total 1917-18 $311 321 Balance 1916 $400 15 Balance 1917 141 53 $258 62 Tax 1917 2 384 33 Real tax $2 642 95 Tax 1918 $3 318 90 Rekl tax 1917 2 642 95 Real increase $675 95 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $223 46 $223 46 Outlay 1917-18 $75 .. 1916-17 $75 .. Auxiliary 1917-18 $305 .. 1916-17 66 85 $238 15 Total 1917-18 $4 372 67 1916-17 3 945 02 $427 65 Tax rate 1916-17 .00912 .007 .009 . 00742 .00718 .00508 Expenditures budget Control 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Instruction 1916-17, , Operation 1917-18 Maintenance 1917-18 Fixed charges 1916-17 Debt service 1917-18 . , 1916-17 , Outlay 1916-17. . , Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Total 1017-18 1916-17. . . . 1916-17 and [917-18 $90 .. $90 .. . $3 536 .. 3 096 86 .0076 . 007466 .01 $439 14 $400 . . 328 57 $71 43 $100 . . 35 92 , $64 08 $100 . . 81 92 $18 08 $151 92 $151 92 $19 70 $19 70 $85 .. 44 75 $40 25 $4 311 •• 3 7S9 64 $551 36 IIOO THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Plymouth Dist. Teachers ogo county — Continued Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $71 589 .00406 76 720 . 00849 18 130 .01043 24 300 . 00923 24 763 . 00904 20 754 .01 22 664 .01411 21 528 .01 26 290 .008 31 445 .01094 14 III .01508 25 745 .01 Total 13 Average rate. . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. . Balance 1917. . Tax 1917. Real tax. . 1378 039 $378 039 $385 01 95 98 $289 03 3 355 18 $3 644 21 Tax 191 8 Is 000 00 Real tax 1917 3 644 21 Real increase $1 355 79 .0088 . 009949 .0112 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $120 . . 1916-17 1 22 $118 78 Instruction 1917-18 $5 435 75 1916-17 4 955 3i $480 44 Operation 1917-18 {508 10 1916-17 306 60 $201 50 Maintenance 1917-18 $400 . . 1916-17 155 78 $244 22 Fixed charges 1917-18 $465 12 1916-17 67 84 $397 28 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $204 35 $204 35 Outlay 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 10 . . $90 .. Auxiliary 1917-18 $25 .. 1916-17 116 72 $9i 72 Total 1917-18 $7 053 97 1916-17 5 817 82 $1 236 15 Town of Preston Dist. Total . Average rate. . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. . Balance 191 7. . Tax 1917. Teachers Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $30 676 .0057 42 512 .0060 36 087 .0067 60 290 .0064 22 967 . 0129 35 678 .0066 46 379 .0077 55 934 .0050 $330 523 $332 769 $252 02 175 39 $76 63 2 238 5S Real tax $2 315 18 .0067 .0072 .01067 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $110 ., 1916-17 2 . . $108 . . Instruction 1917-18 $3 425 • 1916-17 3 093 . . $332 Operation 1917-18 $275 .. 1916-17 233 . , $42 .. Maintenance 1917-18 $625 . , 1916-17 174 .. $451 . Fixed charges 1917-18 $20 . , 1916-17 44 . $24 . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM IIOI Town of Preston Chenango county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $3 550 64 Real tax 1917 2 315 18 Real increase $1 23s 46 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Debt service 1917-18 {300 1916-17 13 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. S288 J40 67 $27 $4 795 3 625 $1 170 Town of Sherburne Dist. Teachers 13- 14. 1=; 16. 17. Total . Assessed valuation $83 319 73 245 55 500 19 750 138 930 588 171 18 300 43 151 25 490 18 995 174 312 48 960 58 360 19 400 68 279 17 709 $1 451 871 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00400 Average rate . . Total 1917-18. Balance 1917. . Balance 1916. . $1 581 205 Si 125 89 785 20 S340 69 Real tax $10 245 20 Tax 1918 $15 875 00 Real tax 1917 10 245 20 Real increase. $S 629 80 . 00469 .00513 .0114 .00161 .01050 .01 .00550 .011 .01166 . 00434 .00672 .00516 • 00995 • 00450 .01 .00725 .010 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $350 . . 1916-17 120 49 $229 5i Instruction 1917-18 $15 200 . . 1916-17 13 906 10 $1 293 90 Operation 1917-18 $2 000 . . 1916-17 1 248 84 $75i 16 Maintenance 1917-18 $850 . . 1916-17 365 59 $484 41 Auxiliary 1917-18 S975 ■• 1916-17 164 97 $810 03 Fixed charges 1917-18 $125 •• 1916-17 234 06 $109 06 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 I302 52 $302 52 Outlay 1917-18 I325 •■ 1916-17 61 43 $263 57 Total 1917-18 $19 825 . . 1916-17 16 404 . . $3 421 . . 1102 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Smithville Dist. Chenango county — Continued Teachers 3 Total . Average rate. . Total 1917-18. Balance 1016. . Balance 1917. . Tax 1917. Real tax. , Tax 1018 Real tax 1917 . Real increase. Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $170 1916-17 5 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17- ■ Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. • • • Debt service 1917-18.. . 1916-17- • ■ Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17- $165 $3 361 5 076 $1 715 $625 S69 $212 $212 $30 136 $106 $200 $200 $600 43 $557 $105 102 Total 1917-18 $5 091 1016-17 6 143 $1 052 Town of Smyrna Dist. Teachers Total . Average rate. . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. Balance 1917. Tax 1917. Real tax. . Assessed valuation $100 615 168 725 80 139 16 580 23 000 27 897 41 640 19 537 17 450 17 300 17 410 14 905 27 269 $572 \f>l $572 *6 7 $563 414 70 57 $149 4 893 13 49 $5 042 62 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00350 .01199 . 00400 .01454 .01579 ■ 00739 .00675 .01000 .01300 .01150 .01200 .00970 .0085 .01001 .012 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 . $435 •• 1916-17 13 4° $421 60 Instruction 1917-18 $6 979 .. 1916-17 6 429 47 Operation 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $5 93 Fixed charges 1917-18 $35 . . 1916-17 9i -. $56 .. Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $135 74 $135 74 $549 53 $910 611 48 $298 52 $350 344 07 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 103 Town of Smyrna Chenango county — Concluded Assessed valuation Tax 1018 $7 334 Real tax 191 7 5 042 62 Real increase $2 291 38 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Outlay 1917-18 $700 . . 1916-17 1 75 $698 25 Auxiliary 1917-18 $275 . . 1916-17 109 57 $165 43 Total 1917-18 $9 684 . . 1916-17 7 736 48 Si 947 52 Town of Altona Dist. Clinton county Assessed Tax rate Teachers valuation 1916-17 4 $62 457 .0263 23 427 .0106 12 118 .0183 10 010 .0300 16 445 .0121 26 273 .0100 14 467 .0130 23 888 .02097 9 500 .0263 15 5i6 .0150 27 148 .0265 14 610 .0190 9 320 .02677 Total . Average rate . . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. . Balance 191 7. . Tax 1917 $5 301 64 Real tax. Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 . Real increase. $265 179 $260 J55 $249 188 20 48 $60 $5 301 81 64 $5 362 45 $7 289 5 362 94 45 $1 927 49 Town of Au Sable Dist. 2 3 4 5 6 Teachers .019603 .028 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $53 280 .0142 53 582 .0086 19 545 .0114 153 650 .0029 54 245 .0046 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $464 . 1916-17 47 . $417 . Instruction 1917-18 $8 025 . 1916-17 7 153 . $872 . Operation 1917-18 $765 . 1916-17 731 . Maintenance 1917-18 $400 . , 1916-17 233 • $167 .. Fixed charges 1917-18 $75 .. 1916-17 100 .. *25 . . Debt service 1917-18 $50 .. 1916-17 132 . . $82 .. Outlay 1917-18 $125 .. 1916-17 29 . . * ■,■ $ 96 .. Auxiliary 1917-18 $440 . . 1916-17 223 .. $217 .. Total 1917-18 $10 344 . . 1916-17 8 648 . . $1 696 . . Expenditures I9i6-i7and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $309 . 1916-17 24 . no4 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Clinton county — Continued Town of Au Sable Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 19 16-17 7 Contract $18 930 8 1 91 938 0035 Total 7 $445 170 . 0056 Average rate . 0077 Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 $264 32 Balance 1917 • 89 48 $174 84 Tax 1917 $2 521 77 Real tax 2 696 61 Tax 1918 $3 496 38 Real tax 1917 2 696 61 Real increase $799 77 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-i 8 Instruction 1917-18 $3 778 . Operation $490 . $360 . 273 • Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $81 . $175 . 28 . Fixed charges 1916-17 $147 • $60 . 45 . Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $15 • $10 . 163 . Capital Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $153 • $50 . Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 $50 . $90 . 257 • Total 1917-18 1916-17 $167 . $4 832 . 4 084 . $748 .. Town of Beekmanlown Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $38 809 . 0065 2 1 23 815 .0149 3 1 40 143 .0115 4 1 13 050 .0158 5 1 18 815 .0101 6 1 39 071 0075 7 1 19382 .0102 8 1 10 540 .020 9 1 15 180 .0112 10 1 10 190 . 0262 11 1 21 065 .0119 12 1 48 265 .0067 13 1 15 145 .0148 14 2 69 026 . 010 15 1 23686 .0103 Total 16 $406 182 . 0107 Average rate .0125 Total 1917-18 $429 578 .014 Balance 1916 $201 21 Balance 1917 74 77 $126 44 Tax 1917 4 350 83 Real tax $4 477 27 Expenditures 19 16- 17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $225 . . 1916-17 9 65 $215 35 Instruction 1917-18 $4 500 . . 1916-17 S 909 50 $1 409 so Operation 1917-18 $1 085 . . 1916-17 637 09 $447 9i Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $365 "26 $365 26 Fixed charges 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 127 62 $27 26 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $153 79 $153 79 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 105 Clinton county Town of Beekmanlown Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $6 014 10 Real tax 191 7 4 477 27 Real increase $1 536 83 Continued Town of Black Brook Dist. Total . Average rate . . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. . Balance 19 17 . Tax 1917 . Real tax. , Tax 1917-18. . Real tax 1917 . Real increase. Teachers Assessed valuation $8 220 8 900 5 735 3 720 7 195 II 995 9 255 7 245 5 462 14 770 9 164 3 545 $95 206 $190 147 05 17 $42 88 $3 069 3 112 13 01 $4 200 3 112 00 01 $1 087 99 Tax rate 1916-17 .0277 .0270 .0477 .0600 .0298 .0358 .0209 .0300 ■ 0351 . 0200 .0300 .0800 .0322 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Auxiliary 1917-18 $90 . . 1916-17 114 48 $24 48 Total 1917-18 $6 000 . . 1916-17 7 317 39 $1 317 39 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $350 1916-17 30 $320 Instruction 1917-18 $5 38o 1916-17. Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. • . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. • . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. 4 808 $572 1450 436 $14 $50 221 $171 $138 73 $138 73 $31 $172 $12 {6 600 5 783 Town Dist. 1 . . . of Champlain Teachers 7 Assessed valuation $238 951 46 522 56 311 60 817 46 353 26 815 18 913 32 685 Tax rate 1916-17 .020 .006 .0045 .0049 0053 .010 .009 .0069 Expenditures budget Control 1917-18. . . Instruction 1916-17 . . . Operation 1917-18. . . 1916-17. • . 1916-17 and 1917-18 1 $195 • • 3- • . 1 1 1 60 .. 6 7. . . 8. . . Si35 •■ $7 800 . . 9 • • otal 1 14 6 812 07 T S527 367 .0124 $987 93 .00832 .01652 Total $520 777 $2 105 . . 1 711 93 $393 07 uo6 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Champlain Clinton county — Continued Assessed valuation Balance 1016 $856 36 Balance 1917 92 44 $■ Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase 6 ?763 5S2 02 55 $7 316 47 $8 7 592 3i6 82 47 $1 276 35 Town of Chazy Dist. Teachers 2 r 3 2 4 I 5 4 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 1 Total 12 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 $357 21 Balance 191 7 343 52 $13 69 Tax 1917 3 962 59 Real tax $3 976 28 Tax 1918 $5 205 35 Real tax 1917 3 976 28 Real increase $1 229 07 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $24 878 .0099 27 067 .0190 44 5ii .0075 126 746 .0150 3i 639 18 978 46 026 .0060 28 269 .0083 34 623 .0062 16 113 $398 850 • 0093 $347 023 ois Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Maintenance 1917-18 $400 . . 1916-17 602 41 $202 41 Fixed charges 1917-18 . $125 .. 1916-17 70 65 ^ , *S4 35 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $51 04 $51 04 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $129 44 $129 44 Auxiliary 1917-18 $220 . . 1916-17 259 58 . . $39 58 Total 1917-18 $10 845 . . 1916-17 9 697 12 $1 147 88 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $215 .. 1916-17 62 61 Ii52 39 Instruction 1917-18 $5 859 • • 1916-17 5 132 35 $726 65 Operation 1917-18 $788 50 1916-17 690 51 $97 99 Maintenance 1917-18 $390 .. 1916-17 84 21 $305 79 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $83 06 $83 06 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $19 11 $19 11 Outlay 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 $100 . . Auxiliary 1917-18 $250 .. 1916-17. . .-. . in 22 $138 78 Total 1917-18 $7 602 50 1916-17 6 183 07 $1 419 43 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I IO7 Clinton county — Continued Town of Clinton Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $10512 .0190 2 1 s 188 .0370 3 1 10 80S .0170 4 1 25 879 .01219 5- • ■ • • 3 37 957 .0512 I 11 005 .01485 7 1 7 320 .03376 8 1 15642 .0120 9 I 29 709 . 0094 10 • . . . I 6 207 .0279 11 1 23767 .01398 12 13 I ' 12 942 .0153 Total 14 $196933 .0233 Average rate 021965 Total 1917-18 $201452 .04 Balance 1916 $200 Balance 1917 254 $57 Tax 1917 4 402 Real tax $4 345 Tax 1918 $8 057 Real tax 1917 4 345 Real increase $3 712 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 191 7-18 $306 . 1916-17 6 . $300 . Instruction 1917-18 $7 025 . 1916-17 5 161 . $1 864 . Operation 1917-18 $1 225 • 1916-17 798 . $427 • Maintenance 1917-18 $300 . 1916-17 188 . $112 . Fixed charges 1917-18 $125 • 1916-17 181 . $56 . Debt service 1917-18 $760 . 1916-17 572 . $188 . Outlay 1917-18 $650 . 1916-17 3 • $647 • Auxiliary 1917-18 $285 . 1916-17 129 . $156 . Total 1917-18 $10 676 . 1916-17 7 038 . $3 638 . Town of Dannemora, Dist. 1 Unit No. 1 Teachers 6 Assessed valuation $129 247 14 825 23 475 Tax rate 1916-17 • 0473 3 ■ ■ . , 8 .0228 Total $167 547 .0410 Total 1917-18 $180 411 S406 65 $406 65 6 870 97 $7 277 62 Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $125 . 1916-17 197 . $72 . Instruction 1917-18 $5 091 . 1916-17 4 322 . $76 . Operation 1917-18 $1 066 . 1916-17 1 144 . $78 . no8 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Dannemora, Uuit No. I Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $7 S77 26 Real tax 1917 7 277 62 Reali ncrease 299 64 Clinton county — Continued Expenditures budget Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 and 917-18 $257 ■ • 109 . . Fixed charges 1917-18 $148 .. $203 . . Debt service 1916-17. . . . $203 . . $1 968 . . 2 493 • • Outlay 1916-17. . . . $525 •• 1393 • • Auxiliary 1916-17 $393 • • $201 . . 643 . . Total 1917-18 $442 . . $8 708 . . 9 504 ■ • $796 . . Town of Dannemora, Unit No 2 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 4 8 $173 818 5 1 20 997 Total 9 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase $194 815 $195 358 $84 34 30 66 $49 64 $6 500 00 $6 549 64 $8 6 149 549 94 64 $1 600 30 • 02493 .041718 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $350 1916-17 185 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17 . . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18'. . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . igif-17. . . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Tota 1917-18, 1916-17, $165 $5 900 4 90i $1 950 1 556 $394 $100 148 $50 649 $599 $700"^ 2531 - $447 $9 050 7 692 $1 358 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM IIO9 Town of Ellenburg Dist. Teachers Total . jS Average rate. . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. . Balance 19 17 . >n county — Con inued Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $11 877 .0172 10 83S .0155 9 092 . 0262 14 850 .0144 28 158 •03047 14 124 .0116 9 301 .01988 26 596 .0111 7 226 .0280 13 092 .0140 11 456 .0159 15 253 .0175 13 370 .01858 24 008 .0366 17 994 .04927 22 624 .0091 8 796 .0260 8 430 .0270 18 625 .0130 64 182 .0640 $433 285 $875 96 222 23 $653 73 Tax 1917 $10 191 63 Real tax 10 845 36 Tax 1918 $14 515 00 Real tax 1917 10 845 36 Real increase . .023265 0335 Expenditures 19 1 6-1 7 and- budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $702 . 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 $13 S33 • 1916-17 Operation 1917-18 $2 210 . 1916-17 Maintenance 1917-18 $850 . 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 S225 • 1916-17 Debt service 1917-18 $r 050 . 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $1 150 . 1916-17 Auxiliary 1917-18 $600 . 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $20 320 . 1916-17 $3 669 64 Town of Mooers Dist. Assessed Tax rate Teachers valuation 1916-17 $9 284 .0150 27 747 .0059 6 102 346 • 0454 11 308 .0152 19 097 .010 11 290 .0274 12 922 .0115 17 700 .0376 22 721 .0097 9 366 .0179 21 871 .0195 23 308 .0188 44 132 .0180 10 953 .0114 11 3IO .0174 4 632 .0280 4 830 .037 18 719 .0120 3 658 .0491 Total . 26 Average rate. . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. . Balance 1917. . Tax 1917. Real tax. . $387 200 $422 357 $480 93 322 47 $158 46 9 524 73 $9 683 19 . 0246 .0246 .032 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $580 .. 1916-17 37 50 $542 50 Instruction 1917-18 $14 125 . . 1916-17 11 733 99 $2 391 01 Operation 1917-18 $1 888 96 1916-17 1 659 87 $229 09 Maintenance 1917-18 $778 is 1916-17 837 32 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 .... Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 $636 $59 17 $159 254 63 70 $95 07 $760 . . 1 478 50 $718 SO $636 IIIO THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Clinton county Town of Mooers Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $13 606 63 Real tax 1917 9 683 19 Real increase $3 923 44 Continued Town of Peru Dist. Teachers 1 7 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 2 10 1 11 1 12 1 13 1 14 1 Total 21 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1917 Balance 1916 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase Assessed valuation $170 927 40 411 33 033 18 717 14 747 11 627 62 603 90 233 54 280 24 586 14 492 9 367 7 337 32 133 $584 193 $1 391 I 208 49 28 • $183 9 438 21 38 $9 255 17 $9 271 9 2S5 97 17 $16 80 Tax rate 1916-17 • 0313 .0080 .0064 .0140 .0120 • 0307 .0069 .0039 .0101 .0118 .0199 .0220 . 0230 .0079 .0161 Expenditures 1916-17 and • budget 191 7-18 Auxiliary 1917-18 $255 •■ 1916-17 192 50 $62 50 Total 1917-18 $19 182 74 1916-17 16 194 38 $2 988 36 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $350 1916-17 65 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . $285 $9 566 9 255 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $311 $1 440 1 524 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $200 360 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $160 $100 168 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $750 1 246 $170 328 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $158 $300 180 Total 1917-18. 1916-17 . $120 J12 876 13 126 $250 Town of Plattsburgh Dist. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Teachers Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $74 56s .0052 74 131 .0055 68 822 .0047 16 986 .0160 32 864 .0080 70 496 .0051 122 520 .0070 180 661 .0029 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $635 . 1916-17 38 . $597 • Instruction 1917-18 $7 450 . 1916-17 6 588 . $863 . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM mi Clinton county — Continued Town of Plattsburgh Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 11 1 $12 226 .0211 12 1 39 802 . 0060 13 4 133 940 .0261 Total is $827 013 • 0089 Average rate . 0080 Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 $764 33 Balance 1917 450 25 $314 08 Tax 1917 7 417 19 Real tax $7 731 27 Tax 1918 $9 686 00 Real tax 1917 7 731 27 Real increase f 1 954 73 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Operation 1917-18 $1 125 1916-17 1 062 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $63 $350 300 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $50 $200 100 $100 Debt service 1917-18 $1 375 1916-17 2 597 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $1 222 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17- $52 $330 246 Total 1917-18 $11 556 1916-17 10 970 Town of Saranac Dist. Assessed Tax rate Teachers valuation 1916-17 3 $35 385 .0260 2 28 495 .0212 17 060 .0185 IS 638 .0108 40 5 08 .0097 187 319 .0159 13 611 .0329 6 425 .0280 12 813 .0131 7 740 .0260 7 940 .0330 8 340 .0365 22 82s .0180 33 370 .0100 IS 563 .0422 19 077 .0137 7 02s .0236 5 346 .0317 Total Average rate. . Total 1917-18. Balance 19 17- . Balance 1916 . Tax 1917. Real tax.. $486 480 015 48 392 07 323 41 $9 004 97 381 56 .0185 Expenditures 191 6-17 and budget 191 7-i 8 Control 1917-18 $480 . 1916-17 81 . $399 . Instruction 1917-18 $11 627 . 1916-17 10 660 . $967 . Operation 1917-18 $1 220 . 1916-17 1 13s . $85 . Maintenance 1917-18 $230 . 1916-17 505 ■ $275 • Fixed charges 1917-18 $75 . 1916-17 146 . $71 ■ Debt service 1917-18 $546 . 1916-17 256 . $290 . Outlay 1917-18 $345 • 1916-17 7 . $338 . III2 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Clinton county Town of Saranac Assessed valuation Tax 1018 f 10 530 so Real tax 1917 8 381 56 Real increase $2 148 94 Continued Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Auxiliary 1917-18 $445 •• 1916-17 312 •■ $133 • Total 1917-18 $14 968 . 1916-17 13 102 . $1 866 . Columbia county Town of Ancram Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 '. 1 $141 326 .00362 2 1 58 132 .00430 3 1 60 953 .00492 4 1 98651 .00516 5 1 122 02s .00470 6 1 84 956 . 00426 7 1 43 040 . 00697 8 1 82 472 . 0054s 9 1 40 446 . 00586 10 2 193256 .00547 Total 11 $925257 .0049 Average rate 005 1 5 1 Total 1917-18 $937 580 . 0063994 Balance 1916 $214 14 Balance 1917 $214 14 Tax 1917 4 553 16 Real tax $4 767 30 Tax 1918 $6 000 . . Real tax 1917 4 767 30 Real increase $1 232 70 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $400 . . 1916-17 $400 . . Instruction 1917-18 $S 100 . . 1916-17 4 974 58 $125 42 Operation 1917-18 $550 .. 1916-17 509 56 $40 44 Maintenance 1917-18 $250 . . 1916-17 5°9 98 $259 98 Auxiliary 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 49 82 $50 18 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $80 01 Debt services 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18.. . 1916-17. . . Total 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $80 $800 68 01 05 $731 95 $7 200 . . 6 192 . . $1 008 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM III3 Columbia county — Continued- Town of A usterlitz Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 2 $138 975 00749 2 1 27 100 .00820 3 1 73 807 .00581 4 1 43 763 .01083 5 1 33 955 .01030 Total 6 $317 600 . 0079 Average rate 00852 Total 1017-18 $350 258 .009393 Balance 1916 $356 17 Balance 1917. $356 17 Tax 1917 2 517 68 Real tax $2 873 85 Tax 1918 $3 290 00 Real tax 1917 2 873 85 Real increase $416 15 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $300 . 1916-17 20 . $280 . Instruction 191 7-18 $3 000 . 1916-17 2 685 . $315 • Operation 1917-18..... $450 . 1916-17 254 . $196 . Maintenance 1917-18 $75 . 1916-17 196 . $121 . Fixed charges 1917-18 $115 - 1916-17 93 . $22 . Outlay 1917-18 $25 . 1916-17 456 . $43i • Auxiliary 1917-18 $130 . 1916-17 61 . $69 . Total 1917-18 $4 095 • 1916-17 3 765 ■ $330 . Town of Canaan Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 19 16- 17 1 2 $289 489 . 00803 2 1 51 748 .00604 3 1 117 672 .00127 4 1 50082 .00540 5 1 133 086 . 00300 6 2 256468 .00350 7 1 34 724 .00987 8 3 20 000 9 2 418 350 . 00670 Total 14 $1371619 .0054 Average rate . 00574 Total 1917-18 $1 362 455 .00718643 Balance 1916 $1 827 56 Balance 1917 $1 827 56 Tax 1917 : 7 505 37 Real tax $9 332 93 Expenditures 1 916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $410 1916-17 Instruction 191 7-i 8. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 191 7-i8 1916-17 $410 $6 370 8 203 $1 833 $1 380 1 213 $167 $25 921 $300 284 $16 IH4 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Canaan Columbia county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1018 $9 790 00 Real tax 1917 9 332 93 Real increase. $457 07 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Debt service 1917-18 $1 700 . 1916-17 1 398 . $302 . Outlay 1917-18 $50 • 1916-17 6 630 . $6 580 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $930 . 1916-17 ■ 407 . $523 • Total 1917-18 $n 165 . 1916-17 19 056 . $7 891 . Town of Chatham Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 A 1 6 Contract 7 1 8 1 9 2 10 1 n 2 12 1 13 1 Total 14 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 191 7 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1917-18 Real tax 1916-17 Real increase Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $68 488 . 00423 224 250 .00245 44 283 .00621 81 775 . 00397 120 578 . 00422 33 346 Contract 45 945 .00812 49 921 . 00648 260 694 .00399 66 858 . 00448 369 327 • 00349 83 300 . 00542 66 211 ■00443 $1 514 976 .0057 .00478 $1 513 541 .00588 $482 12 17 20 $464 92 6 034 42 $6 499 34 $8 910 . . 6 499 34 $2 410 66 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-i 8 Control 1917-18 $580 . 1916-17 $580 . Instruction 1917-18 $7 750 . 1916-17 6 616 . $1 134 • Operation 1917-18 $1 430 . 1916-17 985 • $445 • Maintenance 1917-18 $90 . 1916-17 313 • $223 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $850 . 1916-17 74 • $776 . Fixed charges 1917-18 $125 . 1916-17 173 • $484 • Debt service 1917-18 $60 . 1916-17 136 . $76 . Outlay 1917-18 $190 . 1916-17 327 . $137 • Total 1917-18 $11 075 . 1916-17 8 624 . $2 451 . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM III5 Columbia county — Continued Town of Clermont Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $105 199 .00380 2 1 77 015 .00442 3 1 61 801 .00601 4 2 455 953 .00276 5 1 43 671 .00695 Total 6 $744 539 . 0035 Average rate 004788 Total 1917-18 $787 303 .00467954 Balance 1916 $202 73 Balance 1917 12 70 $190 03 Tax 1917 2 679 24 Real tax $2 869 27 Tax 1918. $3 684 22 Real tax 1917 2 869 27 Real increase $81495 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $140 . . 1916-17 3 75 $136 25 Instruction 1917-18 $3 340 • • 1916-17 2 889 57 $450 43 Operation 191 7-18 $460 . . 1916-17 412 08 $47 92 Maintenance 1917-18 $150 .. 1916-17 152 60 $2 60 Auxiliary 1917-18 $362 . . 1916-17 45 60 $316 40 Fixed charges 1917-18 $15 .. 1916-17 105 40 $90 40 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $75 • . 1916-17 67 50 Total $7 50 1917-18 $4 S42 . . 1916-17 3 676 50 $865 50 Town of Copake Dist. Total . Average rate . . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. . Balance 1917.. Teachers Assessed valuation $123 276 93 950 69 117 SO 962 55 940 38 425 140 452 160 178 112 614 170 566 $1 015 480 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00405 •00435 • 00759 .00616 . 00688 .00746 .00283 . 00396 . 00423 .00387 .0044 00513 $1 057 983 .00591634 Tax 1917. Real tax. . $258 31 77 03 $181 28 4 591 29 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $425 .. 1916-17 10 63 J414 37 Instruction 1917-18 $5 408 . . 1916-17 4 880 35 $527 65 Operation 1917-18 $663 50 1916-17 581 31 $82 19 Maintenance 1917-18 $570 . . 1916-17 399 16 $170 84 Auxiliary 1917-18 $85 .. 1916-17 75 OS $9 95 in6 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Columbia county — Continued Town of Copake Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $6 252 . . Real tax 1017 4 772 57 Real increase $1 479 43 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $82 18 $82 18 Incidentals 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 $300 . . Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $108 26 $108 26 Total 1917-18 $7 451 SO 1916-17 6 136 94 $1 314 50 Town of Gallatin Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $41978 .00849 2 1 28 195 .01187 3 1 115 188 .00390 4 1 38 631 .01899 5 1 54 25s -00559 Total 5 $278 247 0078 Average rate 009768 Total 1917-18 $278247 . 008985 Balance 1916 $30 62 Balance 1917 31 98 $1 36 Tax 1917 2 179 47 Real tax $2 178 11 Tax 1918 $2 500 . . Real tax 1917 2 178 1 1 Real increase $321 89 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $140 • • 1916-17 100 21 $39 79 Instruction 1917-18 $2 168 . . 1916-17 2 109 86 $58 14 Operation 1917-18 1916-17.... ■ I284 43 $284 43 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17. .... $28 06 $28 06 Auxiliary 1917-18 $25 . . 1916-17 46 63 $21 63 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $28 47 $28 47 Debt services 1917-18 $160 .. 1916-17 236 63 $76 63 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 *n8 70 $118 70 Total 1917-18 $2 493 • • 1916-17 2 952 99 $459 99 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM III7 Columbia county — Continued Town of Germantown Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 • 1 2 {180645 .008858 2 1 213 466 .004801 3 1 62 079 .007498 4 1 75 927 .006244 S 2 1 29 036 . 009649 6 1 156436 .004474 Total 8 $8 17 589 . 0067 Average rate 00692 Total 1917-18 $894829 .00718 Balance 1916 $489 35 Balance 1917 89 25 $400 10 Tax 1917 S Sio 09 Real tax $5 910 19 Tax 1918 $6 425 22 Real tax 5 910 19 Real increase $515 03 $245 07 $5 100 5 072 67 {27 33 J 1 000 783 $216 94 $300 101 33 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 {222 .. 1916-17 465 07 Instruction 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Operation 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $198 67 Auxiliary 1917-18 {42s . . 1916-17 121 84 {303 16 Fixed charges 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 79 04 $29 04 Debt service 1917-18 $190 . . 1916-17 314 53 $124 53 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $33 •• $33 •• Total 1917-18 $7 285 . . 1916-17 6 970 54 $314 46 Town of Ghent Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 19 16- 17 2 1 $56 150 .00920 3 3 615452 .00324 4 1 86 142 . 00464 S 1 97 800 . 00408 6 1 112 190 .00400 7 1 74 866 . 00433 8 1 139 188 .00237 Total 9 $1 181 788 .0037 Average rate . 0045s Total 1917-18 $1 167953 .0055096 Balance 1916 $2 556 20 Balance 19 17 452 55 $1 103 65 Tax 1917 4 413 24 Real tax $4 516 89 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $680 1916-17 5Si $129 Instruction 1917-18 $5 340 1916-17 18 889 $13 549 Operation 1917-18 $1 025 1916-17 4 703 $3 678 Maintenance 1917-18 $200 1916-17 499 $299 iii8 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Ghent Columbia county — Continued Assessed ' valuation Tax 1918 $6435 .. Real tax 1917 4 516 89 Real increase $1 918 11 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 {400 1916-17 4Si Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. fSi is'987' $5 987 $848 $310 1 423 *l 113 Total 1917-18 *7 9SS 33 351 I25 396 Town of Green port Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 3 $1 570 soo 2 1 174 685 3 1 53 977 4 1 282 625 6 $2 081 787 Average rate Total 1917-18 $2 117 061 Balance 1916 $594 44 Balance 19 1 7 326 10 $168 34 1917 tax 5 276 36 Real tax $5 444 70 Tax 1918 $7 000 00 Real tax 1917 5 444 70 Real increase $1 555 30 Tax rate 1916-17 .002362 . 003966 . 008336 .001498 .0025 .0040 . 00330 Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $140 .. 1916-17 19 30 $120 70 Instruction 1917-18 $3 S80 . . 1916-17 3 435 40 $144 60 Operation 1917-18 $640 . . 1916-17 564 21 f 75 79 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 J164 77 $164 77 Fixed charges 1917-18 . 1916-17 $119 53 |H9 53 Debt service 1917-18 $2 500 . . 1916-17 720 .. fi 780 .. Outlay 1917-18 $90 . . 1916-17 1 176 15 li 113 85 Auxiliary 1917-18 $50 .. 1916-17 131 69 Total 1917-18 $7 000 .. 1916-17 6 331 OS $668 95 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM III9 Town of Hillsdale Dist. Columbia county — Continued Teachers 6 13 Contract 14 1 Assessed valuation $330 015 S3 756 60 382 72 026 28 192 52 221 27 321 42 061 39 5U 29 810 31 807 30 38S 28 500 26 775 Total . Average rate. . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. . Balance 1917. . Tax 1917. Real tax $7 920 8s Tax 1917-18 Real tax 1916-17 Real increase $852 •65 $302 133 08 12 $168 96 7 7Si 89 $7 920 85 $8 612 . . 7 751 .. $861 Tax rate 1916-17 .0120 .0072 .0061 .0052 .0124 .0076 .0102 .0091 .0061 .0091 . 0091 . 0062 .0003 .0090 .0091 .0073 .0100 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $365 . 1916-17 99 . $266 . Instruction 1917-18 $9 873 . 1916-17 9 198 . $675 • Operation 1917-18 $1 100 . . 1916-17 1 003 . . $97 .. Maintenance 1917-18 $300 . 1916-17 798 . $498 ., Auxiliary 1917-18 $245 . 1916-17 142 . , $103 . . Fixed charges 1917-18 $147 ., 1916-17 108 .. *39 • • Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $8 .. $T7 Outlay 1917-18 $225 •• 1916-17 439 .. $214 .. Total 1917-18 $12 255 .. 1916-17 11 795 . . $460 . . Town of Kinderhook, Unit No. 1 Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 5 $472141 .006969 6 Contract 102 400 . 004844 7 1 42 950 .005777 Total 6 $617 491 . 0064 Average rate 005963 Total 1917-18 $614117 .009771 Balance 1916 $1 269 75 Balance 19 17 3 60 $1 266 15 Tax 1917 3 987 72 Real tax $5 253 87 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $245 .. 1916-17 176 12 $68 88 Instruction 1917-18 $6 130 .. 1916-17 5 149 09 $980 91 Operation 1917-18 $715 .. 1916-17 629 .. Maintenance 1917-18 $150 .. 1916-17 647 47 $497 47 II20 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Kinderhook, Unit No. I Tax 1918 Real tax Real increase. mbia county — Assessed valuation $6 000 00 S 253 87 • Continued Expenditures budget Fixed charges 1917-18, . . . 1916-17. • . ■ Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 . . . Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 .... Auxiliary 1917-18 Total 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 1916-17 and 1917-18 $25 .. 199 49 $746 13 $174 49 $10 .. |io .,. $655 •• 493 12 $161 88 $7 930 . . 7 294 57 I635 43 Town of Kinderhook, Unit No. 2 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 8 $398 315 3 2 364 015 4 1 192 820 5 Contract 93 750 8 1 115 890 Total 12 $1164790 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 162 423 Balance 1916 $708 29 Balance 1917 488 51 Tax 1917 $7 928 38 Real tax 8 148 16 Tax 1918 $9 485 00 Real tax 8 148 16 Real increase $1 336 84 Tax rate 1916-17 .012495 .003655 .004612 . 003946 .003116 .0068 . 005564 .00816 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $490 . . 1916-17 158 10 $331 90 Instruction 1917-18 $7 577 • • 1916-17 7 762 82 $185 82 Operation 1917-18 $1 431 • • 1916-17 1 021 83 $409 17 Maintenance 1917-18 $600 .. 1916-17 452 08 $147 92 Fixed charges 1917-18 $120 . . 1916-17 185 46 $65 46 Debt service 1917-18 $294 ■ • 1916-17 231 79 $62 21 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $259 63 $259 63 Auxiliary 1917-18 $525 .. 1916-17 434 63 $90 37 Total 1917-18 $11 037 .. 1916-17 10 506 34 $530 66 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM II2I Columbia county ■ — Continued Town of Livingston Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $110 545 .005246 2 1 175 340 . 003992 3 1 55640 .005841 4 1 72 175 .007620 5 Contract 77 200 6 ' 1 53 750 .006511 7 1 57 855 .007000 8 1 101 100 .003497 9 1 34 740 .007974 10 1 107 607 .005109 11 1 34 739 .008635 12 I 53 351 .006560 Total 11 $934 042 . 005 Average rate 00618 Total 1917-18 $933892 .00974 Balance 1916 $452 16 Balance 1917 129 54 $322 62 Tax 1917 4 740 38 Real tax $5 063 00 Tax 1918 . $9 093 1 1 Real tax 5 063 00 Real increase $4 030 11 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $470 . . 1916-17 39 24 $430 76 Instruction 1917-18 $6 050 . . 1 916-17 5 361 75 $688 25 Operation 1917-18 $1 400 . . 1916-17 677 67 $722 33 Maintenance 1917-18 $600 . . 1916-17 194 04 $405 96 Auxiliary 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 143 50 $156 50 Fixed charges 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 74 64 . $25 36 Debt service 1917-18 $1 515 .. 1916-17 226 71 $1 288 29 Outlay 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 77 16 $222 84 Total 1917-18 $10 735 .. 1916-17 6 794 71 $3 940 29 Town of New Lebanon Dist. Teachers 1 5 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 I 10 1 Total 14 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 $473 25 Tax 1917 6 934 79 Real tax $7 408 04 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $377 855 .00118 21 270 .00869 47 060 . 00800 61 665 .00650 23 158 . 00974 28 910 . 00864 82 392 .00365 32 426 . 00693 24 168 .01000 24 595 . 00996 $724 199 .0096 $726 582 .010715 $778 78 305 53 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control I9I7-I8 $535 1916-17 273 $262 Instruction 1917-18 $7 120 1916-17 6 921 _ t . $199 Operation 1917-18 $1 115 1916-17 849 $266 Maintenance 1917-18 $100 1916-17 623 Fixed charges 1917-18 $200 1916-17 184 $16 36 1 122 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of New Lebanon Columbia county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 101S $7 785 00 Real tax 191 7 7 408 04 Real increase $376 96 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 191 7-18 Debt service 1917-18 $850 . 1916-17 1 012 . $162 . Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $458 . $458 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $330 . 1916-17 277 . $53 - Total 1917-18 $10 250 . 10 237 . $13 • Town of Stockport Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 4 $667 926 . 003443 2 2 158383 .007367 3 4 495 797 . 004432 4 I 190 142 . 002581 Total 11 $1 512 248 .004 Average rate 0044557 Total 1917-18 $1 557 318 5.14 Balance 1916 $526 45 Balance 19 17 11 . . $515 45 Tax 1917 6 155 69 Real tax $6 671 14 Tax 1918 $8 004 79 Real tax -. 6 671 14 Real increase $1 333 65 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $296 . . 1916-17 27 84 $268 16 Instruction 191 7-18 $6 700 . . 1916-17 6 093 21 $606 79 Operation 1917-18 $1 175 • • 1916-17 1 150 52 $24 48 Maintenance 1917-18 $425 • ■ 1916-17 324 28 $100 72 Fixed charges 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 131 80 $68 20 Debt service 1917-18 $15 •• 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $75 ■• 1916-17 38 89 $36 11 Auxiliary 1917-18 $250 . . 1916-17 133 75 $116 25 Total 1917-18 $9 136 . . 1916-17 7 900 . . $1 235 71 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 123 Columbia county — Continued Town of Stuyvesant Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 4 S482 259 004803 2 Contract 114 155 . 003066 3 3 52-1 576 .003488 4 Contract 62 653 . 006629 5 1 7i 405 .005041 6 1 243754 .002256 Total 9 Si 500 802 .00388 Average rate 004213 Total 1917-18 $1 498 133 0051397 Balance 1916 $377 61 Balance 1917 9 78 $367 83 Tax 1917 5 828 82 Real tax $6 196 65 Tax 1918 $7 700 00 Real tax 6 196 65 Real increase Si 503 35 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1017-18 $315 .. 1916-17 28 45 S286 55 Instruction 1917-18 $6 848 . . 1916-17 5 805 40 Si 042 60 Operation 1917-18 $735 • • 1916-17 761 20 S26 20 Maintenance 1917-18 S400 . . 1916-17 241 76 S158 24 Fixed charges 1917-18 S332 . . 1916-17 71 50 $260 49 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 S490 . . S490 . . Outlay 1917-18 S50 . . 1916-17 16 22 $33 78 Auxiliary 1917-18 $190 . . 1916-17 781 64 $591 64 Total 1917-18 $8 870 . . 1916-17 8 196 18 $673 82 Town of Taghkanic Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 S78 130 2 1 41 639 3 1 44 863 4 1 1 (i 710 5 I 73 52 1 6 Contract 14 915 Total 5 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax S364 778 S3S5 ; JOI S353 39 63 77 S3 13 1 983 86 52 $2 287 38 Tax rate 1916-17 ■ 003S3 .00760 .00780 . 00466 .00612 . 00306 0054 00551 1 0083591 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $212 . . 1916-17 S212 . . Instruction 1917-18 $2 255 . . 1916-17 2 491 68 S236 68 Operation 1917-18 S300 . . 1916-17 264 09 $35 9i Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $251 18 S251 18 1 124 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Taghkanic Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $2 970 . . Real tax 1917 2 287 38 Real increase $682 62 Columbia county — Concluded Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Auxiliary 1917-18 $75 • • 1916-17 169 25 $94 25 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $23 30 $23 30 Debt services 1917-18 $128 .. 1916-17 $128 .. Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $37 46 $37 46 Total 1917-18 $2 970 . . 1916-17 3 236 96 $266 96 Town of Cincinnalus Dist. Teachers 1 5 4 x 5 1 6 1 7 r 8 1 Total 10 Average rate Total 1917-1S Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase Cortland county Assessed valuation $300 460 27 661 41 740 15 00s 49 S67 54 459 488 892 S491 : 574 $263 184 41 95 $78 46 $5 793 92 $5 872 3* $7 373 5 872 61 38 $1 501 23 Tax rate 1916-17 .01500 .00750 .00560 .01245 .00780 . 00500 .01180 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $350 . . 1916-17 88 62 $261 38 Instruction 1917-18 $6 750 . . 1916-17 5 513 44 $1 236 56 Operation 1917-18 $1 100 . . 1916-17 637 97 $462 03 Maintenance 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 298 53 $1 47 Auxiliary 1917-18 $250 . . 1916-17 181 75 $68 25 Fixed charges 1917-18 $175 •■ 1916-17 118 16 $56 84 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $1 948 87 $1 948 87 Outlay 1917-18 75 • • 1916-17 761 95 $686 95 Total 1917-18 $9 000 . . 1916-17 9 549 29 $549 29 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1125 Town of Corllandville Dist. Cortland county — Continued Teachers 9 Contract Assessed valuation $60 16s 193 683 134 517 21 000 45 060 33 175 48 195 98 135 28 390 30 Sio 195 969 167 326 525 972 47 435 85 065 79 065 117 OOO 36 719 S.i 947 381 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 941 867 Total . Balance 1916. Balance 1917. Tax 1917 . Real tax. . $1 752 92 1 276 86 $476 06 10 566 81 5i 1 042 87 Tax 1918 $13 204 69 Real tax 191 7 11 042 87 Real increase. $2 161 82 Tax rate 1916-17 .0050 .0022 .0024 .0059 .0068 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $337 . 1916-17 96 . .0050 $241 . .0112 Instruction .0073 1917-18. . . . $12 900 . .0041 1916-17 . . . . 11 255 • .0080 $1 645 . .0070 (a) Operation .0025 1917-18. . . . $1 480 . .0078 1916-17 1 558 • .0057 .0043 $78 . .0051 Maintenance .0044 1917-18. . . . $1 500 . .0069 1916-17. . . . 784 • Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17 • $716 $400 350 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- • • • S50 Debt services 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . *i75 ?I75 $60 6 $54 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17 . Total 1917-18 $16 677 1916-17 14 981 $1 696 (a) Including $280 supplies. Town of Cuyler Dist. Teachers 1 1 4 I 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 2 12 1 14 1 15 Contract Total 10 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Assessed valuation $16 375 9 150 8 444 44 714 12 000 22 659 54 299 37 150 136 505 28 567 12 516 15 933 $398 3 1 2 $413 565 $357 256 45 $101 2 302 45 30 $2 403 75 Tax rate 1916-17 .00150 .02199 .00197 . 00926 .00559 . 00938 .00598 . 00800 .01200 . 00600 .00840 .00720 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $160 . . 1916-17 1 3i $158 69 Instruction 1917-18 $3 75° ■ ■ 1916-17 3 800 55 $50 55 Operation 1917-18 $375 • • 1916-17 332 44 $42 56 Maintenance 1917-18 $150 • • 1916-17 205 27 $55 27 Auxiliary 1917-18 $575 ■• 1916-17 268 57 $306 43 1 126 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of CuyUr Cortland county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $2 977 67 Real tax 191 7 2 403 75 Real increase $573 92 Town of Freetown Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $40 471 2 1 67 070 3 1 31 832 4 1 54 160 5 1 19 234 6 I 29 944 7 I 32 098 8 I 25 468 Total 8 $300 277 Average rate Total 1917-18 $294 073 Balance 1916 $279 48 Balance 1917 185 09 $94 39 Tax 1917 2 027 83 Real tax $2 122 22 Tax 1918 $3 381 85 Real tax 1917 2 122 22 Real increase $1 259 63 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00740 .00412 ■ 00754 . 00590 .01129 .00711 .00685 . 00928 .0067 - 00744 .0115 Expenditures 1916-T7 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . $20 . . 1916-17. . . . 64 16 $44 16 Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 .... $70 23 $70 23 Outlay 1917-18. . . . $100 . . 1916-17 .... 38 50 $61 50 Total 1917-18. . . . $5 130 . . 1916-17 4 78r 03 $348 97 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 917-18 Control 1917-18. . . . $200 . . 1916-17 .... 3 $197 ■ Instruction 1917-18. . . . $3 810 . 1916-17. . . . 3 105 • $705 ■ Operation 1917-18. . . . $395 • 1916-17. . . . 203 . $192 . Maintenance 1917-18. . . . $200 . 1916-17. . . . 39 ■ $161 . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . $50 . 1916-17 62 . $12 . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 10 . 1916-17. . . . 39 • $29 . Debt services 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18. . . . $75 ■ 1916-17. . . . $75 . Total 1917-18. . . . $4 740 . 1916-17. . . . 3 451 ■ $1 289 . . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 127 Cortland county — Continued Town of Harford Dist. Teachers 3 1 S 2 6 1 7 Contract Total 7 Average rate. . Total 19 17-18. Balance 1916. Balance 1917. Tax 1917. Real tax. Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 . Real increase. Assessed valuation $34 175 95 127 28 366 89 234 87 HO 15 500 Tax rate 1916-17 00599 00698 00800 00749 00383 $349 5 21 $349 . 'II $238 195 21 01 $43 2 099 20 6l $2 142 8l $3 38l 2 142 85 81 $1 239 04 Town of Homer Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 1 $73 609 3 1 19 199 4 1 45 969 5 Contract 179 029 6 1 „ , 78 141 7 1 28 669 8 1 58 309 9 Contract 80 310 10 Contract 118 000 11 ic 1 32 300 12 5 I 94 091 13 1 86 233 Total 9 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax $893 8 59 $9 046 $475 46 294 65 $180 81 3 509 82 $3 690 63 . 0060 . 00645 Expenditures 19 16-17 and .•budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $125 . 1916-17 7 • $118 . Instruction 1917-18 $3 600 . 1916-17 2 711 . $889 . Operation 1917-18 $265 . 1916-17 302 . $37 ■ Maintenance 1917-18 $300 . 1916-17 53 ■ $247 • Fixed charges 1917-18 $25 . 1916-17 46 . $21 . . Debt services 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 $100 . . Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 ..... $75 •• 213 • • $138 Total 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 $4 49 '- ■ . 3 33- • $1 058 . . Tax rate 1916-17 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 • 0045 .0110 .0058 .0006 .0040 .0010 .0047 .0025 Control 1917-18 1 91 6-1 7. . . . $1 226 . . II . . Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. • • • $1 215 .. $3 9l6 . . 4 177 • • .0085 .0063 .0040 Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- ■ • ■ $261 . . $879 ■ • 412 0039 Maintenance 1 91 7-1 8. . . . '1916-17. . . . $467 . . .0046 .00614 $525 .. 403 .. $122 Auxiliary 1917-18 $750 1 91 6-1 7 700 $50 1 128 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Homer Cortland county — Continued Tax 1918 Real tax 19 17 . Real increase . . 855 72 Town of Lapeer Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $31 487 2 1 28 373 3 1 18 301 4 1 26 810 5 1 44 917 6 1 37 720 7 1 85 027 8 Contract 12 525 Total 7 $285 166 Average rate Total 1917-18 $289 621 Balance 1917 $127 26 Balance 1916 126 02 Si 24 Tax 1917 1 843 65 Real tax $1 842 41 Tax 1918 $2 92S 37 Real tax 1917 1 842 41 Real increase $1 082 96 Tax rate 1916-17 • 00737 . 00820 .01290 . 00806 . 00660 . 00636 .00458 .0064 .00772 . 0101 Town Dist. 4 5 6 of Marathon Teachers 1 1 Assessed valuation $33 84S 72 094 72 158 38 952 664 307 24 675 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00683 . 00414 7 8. .. . 1 8 .00576 .00819 9 otal 1 . 00950 T 14 $906 031 .0078 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $52 1916-17 55 Debt services 1917-18 1916-17 $3 $63 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $63 $7 348 5 821 $1 527 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7—1 8 Control 191.7-18 $110 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . $110 $3 105 2 797 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $308 $265 183 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $82 $400 77 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $323 $25 192 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $167 $25 30 Debt services 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $5 $300 Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $300 $4 230 3 279 $951 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $450 . . Instruction 1916-17. . ■ $202 . . $& 875 .. 7 808 . . $1 067 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 129 Cortland county — Continued Town of Marathon Assessed valuation Average rate Total 1917-18 $927 2Si Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase S9II 613 28 25 $298 7 132 03 85 $7 430 88 $9 041 7 430 79 88 $1 610 91 Town of Preble Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $18 775 2 1 114 103 3 1 75 083 4 I 80 752 5 1 28 915 6 2 220 041 8 1 60 882 9 Contract 16 800 10 1 45 550 11 1 13 850 Total 10 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1917 Real tax 1917 Real increase $674 841 $712 ( )87 $602 424 68 98 $177 3 494 70 37 $3 672 07 $5 044 3 672 07 07 $1 372 . . Tax rate 1916-17 • 00735 •00975 . 00748 .0070 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1917-18 Operation 1917-18 $1 575 1916-17 1 604 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. ■ • $300 124 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $176 $325 172 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $153 $150 223 Debt services 1917-18 1916-17 $53 $50 53 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $175 124 Total 1917-18 $11 900 1916-17 I0 356 $1 544 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $45' 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. • $455 $4 697 4 019 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $575 494 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. • ■ $625 237 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. • • • Debt services 1917-18. . ■ • 1916-17. . . . ?272 280 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $125 $7 079 5 523 $1 556 ii3o THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Cortland county Town of Scott Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation i i $46 925 ( 4i 650 ) I 40 500 I 2 4 consoli- •! 39 250 i dated | 18 575 [ 28 100 j 4 1 44 793 6 1 22 490 7 , 1 30 300 Total 8 $312 583 Average rate Total 1917-18 $324 720 Balance 1916 $654 90 Balance 1917 149 13 $505 77 Tax 1917 3 709 32 Real tax $4 215 09 Tax 1918 $8 339 50 Real tax 1917 4 215 09 Real increase $4 124 41 Town of Solon Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $30 999 2 I 47 852 3 1 54 718 4 1 17 657 5 I 65 787 6 1 21 150 7 1 13 458 8 1 16 560 9 Contract 13 543 Total 8 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax $281 ' 724 $287 814 $269 343 73 68 —$73 1 788 95 54 $1 714 59 1 — Con. Tax rate 1916-17 . 0045 tinned Expenditures budget Control 1917-18 1916-17 .... Instruction 1917-18 , 1916-17. . . . Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 Debt services 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 1916-17 Expenditures budget 1 Control 1917-18 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 Auxiliary 1917-1S 1916-17 1916-17 and [917-18 $284 . . OIS4 .0108 0085 .0078 $284 . . $4 975 • • 3 466 . . $1 509 • ■ $555 • ■ 397 • • .0118 .0094 . 210 $158 .. $650 . . 174 •• $476 . . $925 ■ • 947 ■ • $22 . . $150 . . $150 . . $950 . . 792 . . $158 .. $10 843 . . $10 843 . . $8 339 ■ • 16 769 . . $8 430 . . Tax rate 1916-17 .00679 . 00449 . 00630 .00835 00532 . 00709 .01299 .01177 1916-17 and 917-18 $100 . . 75 $99 25 $3 525 • ■ 2 925 44 $599 56 0063 .00788 . 00876 141 59 $168 41 $285 . . 50 55 $234 45 $100 . . 114 50 $14 50 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM II3I Cortland county — Continued Town of Solon Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 . Real increase. Assessed valuation [2 521 01 1 714 59 $806 42 Town of Taylor Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 6 1 7 1 8 Contract 9 1 Total 7 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 $355 74 Balance 1917 433 58 — $77 84 Tax 1917 1 332 38 Real tax $1 254 54 Tax 1918 $1 307 36 Real tax 1917 1 254 54 Real increase $52 82 Assessed Tax rate Valuation 1916-17 Si 2 998 .01472 22 970 .01000 24 84s . 00649 14 968 .01000 32 720 . 00692 31 175 • 00749 14 650 .00050 6 175 .02267 $159 501 .0083 . 00984 . 00809 $161 558 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Fixed charges 1917-18 $115 .. 1916-17 55 70 $59 30 Total 1917-18 $4 435 • ■ 1916-17 3 288 53 $1 146 47 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $125 . . 1916-17 1 79 $123 21 Instruction 1917-18 $2 560 . . 1916-17 2 528 21 $3i 79 Operation 1917-18 $270 . . 1916-17 169 80 $100 20 Maintenance 1917-18 $190 . . 1916-17 15 94 $174 06 Auxiliary 1917-18 $95 ■ ■ 1916-17 12 . . $83 .. Fixed charges 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 48 35 $1 65 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $32 42 $32 42 Total 1917-18 $3 290 . . 1916-17 2 808 51 $481 40 Town Dist. of Truxton Teachers Assessed valuation Tax rate 1916-17 1 . . . $11 500 2 . . . 3- • ■ 4. . . 5. . . 6. . . 7- ■ • 8. . . 9. . . 10. . . 1 1 1 1 ... 4 Contract 1 35 864 29 550 30 700 9 125 140 145 82 675 39 426 14 770 9 500 . 00017 . 00642 .00798 .02263 . OIOOO . 00400 .00076 .02384 24 750 12 425 14- .. .02000 Total 12 $440 430 . 0078 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 10 62 $189 38 Instruction 1917-18 $s 720 . . 1916-17 5 438 33 $281 67 Operation 1917-18 $555 • • 1916-17 535 35 $19 65 1 132 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Cortland county — Continued Town of Truxton Assessed valuation Average rate ' Total 1017-18 S445 599 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase Tax rate 1916-17 .OHIO . 01250 5 1 079 461 61 49 $618 3 454 12 87 $4 072 99 Is 4 570 072 99 1 497 01 Town of Virgil Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 147 247 2 2 90 164 3 I 32 202 4 1 30 484 5 1 32 181 6 1 18 280 7 1 8 825 8 I 39 903 9 1 30 718 10 1 15 230 II I 45 22S 12 1 16 084 13 I 20 712 14 1 16 903 15 1 42 476 16 I 28 040 17 1 36 940 Total 1 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase Tax rate 1916-17 .00917 . 00900 . 00768 .00750 . 00648 .01114 .02000 .00614 . 00798 .01000 . 00600 .01584 .00727 .01465 . 00616 . 00899 . 00700 $551 614 .0084 $553 021 .01281 $841 07 606 43 S243 54 4650 14 $4 884 78 $7 093 42 4 884 78 1 $2 208 64 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Maintenance 1917-18 $175 • • 1916-17 182 06 $7 06 Auxiliary 1917-18 $600 . . 1916-17 669 37 $69 37 Fixed charges 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 163 86 $63 86 Debt service 1917-18 $743 •• 1916-17 $743 ■ • Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $843 32 $843 32 Total 1917-18 $8 093 . . 1916-17 7 842 91 $250 09 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $385 • • 1916-17 3 ■ • $382 .. Instruction 1917-18 $8 075 . . 1916-17 7 152 . . $923 • • Operation 1917-18 $650 . . 1916-17 531 .. $119 .. Maintenance 1917-18 $650 . . 1916-17 170 . . $480 . . Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 $94 . . $94 •■ Fixed charges 1917-18 $250 . . 1916-17 101 . . $149 . . Debt services 1917-18 1916-17 $2 . . $2 .. Outlay 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 21 . . $21 .. Total 1917-18 $10 060 . . 1916-17 8 074 . . $1 986 . . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 133 Cortland county Town of Willet Assessed^ Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $36 265 2 2 151 80s 6 1 42 825 Total 4 $230 895 Average rate Total 1917-18 #222 460 Balance 1916 $234 65 Balance 1917 64 55 $170 10 Tax 1917 1 322 69 Real tax $1 492 79 Tax 1918 $3 260 00 Real tax 1917 1 492 79 Real increase $1 767 21 Concluded Tax rate 916-17 . 00799 . 00496 .00650 . 00648 .01466 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $S 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17- • Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 191 7-1 8. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt services 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $2 075 1 631 $444 $253 199 $75 24 $51 $330 70 $260 $1 000 260 $3 828 2 231 $1 597 Delaware county Town Dist. of Andes Teachers Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 . . . . 1 $24 152 270 320 01263 . . . . 5 02200 3- • ■ 4- ■ • 5- • • 6 . . . . 1 1 1 27 21 713 335 00930 01293 7- . . 8 13 556 02000 9. . . 1 . . . . 1 12 10 493 270 02199 02 267 . . . . 1 29 IS 20 11 22 8 90 25 41 12 43 801 990 360 900 712 040 000 633 775 276 810 075 01040 13. • • 14. . . IS- • . 16. .. 17. . . 18. .. 19. . . . . . . 1 . . . . 1 1 . . . . 1 1 . . . . Contract . . . . 1 01320 OO986 01652 01493 03153 01536 01299 . . . . 1 00713 22 . . . 23. . . 1 1 01660 OO604 Total 23 $591 329 0151 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $350 1916-17 60 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Jn 800 10 394 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $1 406 $1 315 1 407 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. • ■ $92 $1 784 443 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $1 341 $180 I5S $25 1 134 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Andes Delaware county — Continued Assessed valuation Average rate Total 1917-18 $610 300 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase $705 347 07 26 $357 8 965 81 94 $9 323 75 $12 206 9 323 75 $2 882 25 Tax rate 1916-17 Expenditures budget 1 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . 1916-17 and 917-18 $65 ■ • 127 . . Debt services 1917-18. . . 1916-17 .... $62 . . $860 . . 1 498 . . Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 .... $638 . . $45 ■• 115 ■ • Total 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 .... $70 . . $16 399 • • 14 199 . . $2 200 . . Town of Bovina Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 '..■'.. 1 3 1 4 2 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 Contract 10 1 II I Total 11 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax , Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase Assessed valuation $42 522 47 407 48 525 112 086 20 000 75 141 38 766 59 212 19 347 15 478 30 173 $508 657 $566 537 $443 439 06 92 $3 3 682 14 32 S3 685 46 $4 020 3 68s 99 46 5335 53 Tax rate 1916-17 00579 00557 00784 00933 00960 00539 01030 00450 OOI29 01459 00760 0072 00561 0071 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $320 1916-17 4 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 191 7-1 8. 1916-17 . Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17 . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- • ■ ■ Debt services 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17 . $316 $4 535 4 977 $442 $337 314 $23 $100 266 $166 $220 70 $150 $102 $10 3 $7 $351 $5 891 5 754 $137 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1135 Town of Colchester Dist. 1 2 (1916) 3 4 5 6 7 Delaware county — Continued 12 (1915). 13 14 15 16 17 19- 21 (1914)- 23 (1915). 24 (1915). 25 26 27 28 29 30 Total . Tax 19 16-17. Real tax Teachers 38 Assessed valuation $17 471 98 128 ' "28 '49S 47 IS8 19 670 21 322 31 566 20 059 13 250 7 270 102 473 10 780 38 684 28 453 6 060 30 908 13 780 15 600 19 683 183 946 6 877 77 515 64 516 9 725 10 645 9 375 9 425 $942 834 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 142 302 Balance 1916. Balance 1917. $754 61 837 54 S82 93 13 885 06 !i3 802 13 Tax 1917-18 S17 516 71 Tax 1916-17 13 885 06 Real increase. Tax rate 1916-17 .0120 .0143 .0200 .0110 . 0080 .0114 . 0100 .0115 .0230 .0270 .0118 . 0190 .0188 .0080 0360 .0120 . 0120 .0160 0143 .0203 .0270 .0103 0053 0250 0313 .0250 .0171 01533 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $650 1916-17 66 $584 Instruction 1917-18 $18 900 1916-17 17 269 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $1 631 $2 025 1 627 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17 . . . $225 454 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17- $229 $325 559 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17 . . . $234 $300 16s $135 Ji 300 655 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. S75 138 Total 1917-18 $23 800 1916-17 20 933 $2 867 $3 631 65 Town of Davenport Dist. Teachers Assessed valuation Tax rate 1916-17 1 1 $27 65 49 46 53 24 107 19 34 25 18 7 891 876 964 700 925 225 352 728 277 000 550 850 .0118 0059 3 (1916) 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 1 1 1 4 1 1 .0058 .0075 . 0048 .0096 .0231 .0083 . 0100 .0104 1 .0103 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Contract 1 1 . 0229 61 17 15 14 28s 975 850 250 .00198 .0119 .0225 .0189 16 Total $562 912 .0118 Total 1917-18 .0116 $637 925 .01216 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $200 1916-17 33 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17 . Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $167 $7 938 7 544 $755 824 $100 263 $163 $1 220 893 $327 1 136 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Delaware county- Town of Davenport Assessed valuation Balance 1916 $618^15 Balance 1917 874 88 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1917-18 Real tax 1916-17 Real increase $256 6 648 73 5i $6 391 7S $7 759 6 391 75 78 $1 367 97 Continued Expenditures budget Fixed charges u 1917-18 \. 1916-17 19 19 16-17 and 7-18 $149 . 65 • Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $84 . $619 • 565 • Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $54 • $50 . 28 . Total 1917-18. , , , 1916-17. . . . $22 . $11 031 . 10 215 . $816 .. Town of Delhi Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $46 413 2 1 37 786 3 1 32 020 4 1 47 071 5 I 28 515 6 1 16 603 7 1 25 100 8 I 28 433 9 1 41 895 10 1 20 854 II I 19 701 12 I 19 211 13 1 19 76l 14 I 9 621 15 1 17 922 17 I 14 315 18 1 53 058 Total 17 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1917-18 Real tax 1916-17 Real increase $478 279 $946 487 $332 163 81 82 ll68 4 016 99 01 $4 185 -• $7 000 . . 4 016 . . $2 984 . . Tax rate 1916-17 .0060 .0070 .0087 .0062 .0096 • 0155 .0102 .0100 .0054 .0105 . 0096 . 0112 .0086 .0184 .0125 .0122 .0044 .0084 .0098 .00740 Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18. $275 1916-17 1 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17- - ■ Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1-917-18 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $274 $7 319 6 601 $718 $620 399 $221 feip 186 $124 $251 30 5221 S404 87 $317 $1 000 Si 000 Total 1917-18 fio 184 1916-17 7 305 $2 879 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM "37 Delaware county — Continued Town of Deposit Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $64 148 . 00850 2 1 16 103 .0099" 3 ••• 4 1 22 193 .OOS59 5 I 40 949 • 00734 6 Contract 9 882 . 00187 7 1 is 271 .01278 8 2 82 578 .01156 9 10 1 20610 .01300 11 Contract 12 440 .01289 12 1 21 180 .01101 13 1 33 3SO .00900 Total 10 $338704 .00982 Average rate . 00968 Total 19 1 7-i 8 $352060 11.60 Balance 1916 $595 02 Balance 19 17 367 33 $227 69 Tax 1917 3 328 37 Real tax $3 556 06 Tax 1918 $4 084 59 Real tax 1917 3 328 37 Real increase $756 22 Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 191 7- 1 8 Control 1917-18 $600 . 1916-17 16 . $584 ■ Instruction 1917-18 $4 500 . 1916-17 4 192 . $308 . Operation 1917-18 $600 . 1916-17 428 . $172 . Maintenance 1917-18 $300 . 1916-17 163 • $137 • Auxiliary 1917-18 $550 . 1916-17 142 . $408 . Fixed charges 1917-18 $50 . 1916-17 137 • $87 . Debt services 1917-18 $424 • 1916-17 470 . $46 . Outlay 1917-18 $100 . 1916-17 42 . $58 . Total 1917-18 $7 124 . 1916-17 5 590 . $1 534 Town of Franklin Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 Contract 3 I 4 1 5 1 6 Contract 7 8 Contract 9 I 10 7 II I 12 Contract 13 Contract 14 1 15 1 16 (1916) 2 17 1 18 1 19 1 20 1 21 1 22 • 1 23 1 24 (1916) 1 Total 25 Average rate Total 1917-18 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $48 485 .00618 40 8so .00202 42 890 . 00641 23 530 . 00956 26 ISO .00965 35 880 . 00668 27 220 • 00374 12 780 .01337 254 830 .01103 23 700 .0096 19 950 .0045 37 525 .0053 12 200 . 0164 27 425 .0080 1 01 900 .0083 IS 750 .0150 11 080 .0242 27 900 .0081 28 710 .0080 14 800 • 0135 40 685 .0064 37 ISO .0060 65 910 .0061 $977 300 .0085 $1 259 295 8-44 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $325 1916-17 103 $222 Instruction 1917-18 $11 681 1916-17 12 237 $556 Operation 1917-18 $1 090 1916-17 9-12 $148 Maintenance 1917-18 $285 1916-17 408 $123 Auxiliary 1917-18 $1 92s 1916-17 1 380 $545 Fixed charges 1917-18 $20 1916-17 83 $63 1 138 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Franklin Delaware county — Continued Real tax 1917 Real increase Town of Hamden Dist. Assessed Tax rate Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 $34 238 .0070 2 121 905 .0096 1 46 468 .0070 1 18 160 .0125 1 18 525 .0114 1 20 570 .0124 1 29 398 .0085 1 17 888 .0120 1 S3 764 . 0060 Contract 48 987 .0022 1 12 818 . 0167 1 16 316 ■ 0157 1 16 884 .0120 1 11 942 .0251 1 16 064 .0141 1 16 775 . 0148 Total. 16 Average rate. . Total 1017-18. Tax 1917-18. Tax 1916-17. Balance 1916. Balance 1917. Tax 191 7 . Real tax $5 069 00 Tax 1917-18 Real tax 1916-17 . Real increase. Outlay 1917-18 — ■ Equipment, heating, lighting and plumbing . $500 J02 $603 124 $6 755 4 779 00 00 Si 976 00 $559 269 00 00 $290 4 779 00 00 $5 069 00 $6 755 5 069 00 00 $1 686 00 $1 200 00 Town of Harpersfield Dist. . 0117 .01120 Teachers 5 Contract 6 1 7 1 Assessed valuation $24 175 7 350 28 535 43 925 12 600 16 380 19 540 12 050 15 750 34 350 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00900 .00447 .01512 .01255 .01256 .01197 . 00900 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $281 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $281 $50 19 Total 1917-18. 1916-17. 5i5 216 IS 453 $237 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $240 1916-17 2 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . $6 903 6 638 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $265 $595 588 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17 . . . $250 150 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17 . $100 $455 290 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 . . . . $165 $343 107 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $236 $10 275 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17 . $265 $1 200 Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $1 200 $9 996 8 050 $1 946 Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $325 .. 1916-17 2 . . $323 .. 1917-18 1916-17. ■ . • $5 250 . . 5 005 . . $245 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 139 Delaware county — Continued Town of Harpersfield Assessed Tax rate valuation 1 916-17 10 1 S26 650 .01393 12 1 33085 .00800 14 1 72 247 .00553 « ' {"To] °° 293 17 I 14 885 .01310 Total 12 S384 522 .00S3 Average rate ■ 00993 Total 1917-18 $409438 0122 Balance 1917 $331 57 Balance 1916 314 I0 $17 41 Tax 1917 S3 208 66 17 41 Real tax S3 191 25 Tax 1918 $4 993 78 Real tax 1917 3 191 25 Real increase Si 802 53 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Operation 1917-18 $475 • 1916-17 330 . Si45 • Maintenance 1917-18 S325 • 1916-17 136 • $189 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $900 . 1916-17 451 . S449 ■ Fixed charges 1917-18 $25 . 1916-17 61 . S36 . Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $14 S14 Outlay 1917-18 S450 1916-17 44 S406 Total 1917-18 $7 750 1916-17 6 043 Si 707 .0299 . 0102 .0040 .0128 .0281 . 006 .0178 . 0280 Town of Hancock Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1 916-17 1 2 S46 911 .0181 2 1 13 316 .0125 3 2 51 896 .0129 4 5 1 19 645 6 1 48 238 7 Contract 26 375 8 1 31 231 9 3 51 125 10 1 54 405 II 2 43 041 12 1 7 476 13 14 2 105 852 .0193 IS 1 23 353 .0139 16 3 121 980 .0129 17 I 20 991 0143 18 4 102 846 . 0184 19 I 106 567 . 0058 20(1915) 14 381 549 .0286 21 1 5 235 .0602 22 I 9 473 .0300 23 I 25 438 .0118 24 2 15 897 .0406 25 I 3 525 0949 26 I 41 328 . 0096 27 I 16 062 . 0249 Total 49 Si 378 815 .0185 Average rate . 0226 Total 1917-18 Si 808 399 .0143 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $500 . 1916-17 707 • S207 . Instruction 1917-18 $18 700 . 1916-17 25 649 • S6 949 • Operation 1917-18 S3 600 . 1916-17 3 636 . $36 . Maintenance 1917-18 S900 . 1916-17 1 911 . Si on . Auxiliary 1917-18 S800 . 1916-17 989 • S189 • Fixed charges 1917-18 Ssoo . 1916-17 501 . Si . Debt service 1917-18 S600 . 1916-17 720 . Si 20 . 1140 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Delaware county — Continued Town of Hancock Assessed valuation Balance 1916 $2 532 69 Balance 1917 2 049 38 S483 31 Tax 1916-17 25 644 n Real tax $26 127 42 Real tax 1916-17 $26 127 42 Tax 1917 — 18 26 000 . . Decrease $127 42 Town of Koririeht Dist. Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Outlay 1917-18 $400 . 1916-17 485 . $85 . Total 1917-18 $26 000 . 1916-17 34 598 . $& 598 . Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $560 . 1916-17 26 . $534 • Instruction 1917-18 $7 725 . 1916-17 7 175 • $550 . Operation 1917-18 $750 . . 1916-17 444 • $306 . Maintenance 1917-18 $398 . , 1916-17 i9S ■'-■ $203 . . Auxiliary 1917-18 $460 . . 1916—17 119 . . $341 • • Fixed charges 1917-18 $125 • ■ 1916-17 119 . . $6 .. Debt service 1917-18 $430 . . 1916-17 558 . . $128 .. Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 59 • ■ $59 •■ Total 1917-18 $10 448 . . 1916-17 8 695 . . $1 753 •• Town of Masonville Dist. 1 Teachers 2 Assessed valuation $71 585 30 410 20 no 15 940 16 875 17 805 35 770 24 670 32 895 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00964 3 4 5 6 1 1 1 .012 ■ OI399 .01299 8. . . 9 .00512 .00780 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 $5 051 . . $5 051 . . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM II4I Delaware county — Continued Town of Masonvide Assessed valuation $8 280 29 775 20 145 17 27s Total . Average rate. . Total 1917-18. Balance 1917. Balance 1916. Tax 1017 $3 359 Real tax. Tax 1918 Real tax 19 17. Real increase. S34I >35 352 500 S488 435 15 46 $52 i6-i7 00208 3 4 . . . . 1 . . . . 1 00365 00334 6. . 7 8 40 289 00564 9 io .... 2 191 304 32 250 87 295 19 285 62 496 00600 .00500 Ii .00299 1-7 r 3 H r 5 16 17 .... 1 .... 1 .... 1 .0025 . 00399 60 538 77 350 24 800 .00451 .00428 .00927 Total .... 12 $928 234 .00388 . 00443 $953 773 5 • 30 $1 026 29 907 30 $118 99 $3 605 57 118 99 $3 498 68 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $385 • 1916-17 $385 • Instruction 1917-18 $5 150 . 1916-17 4 925 • $225 . Operation 1917-18 $800 . 1916-17 492 . $308 . Maintenance 1917-18 $310 . 1916-17 130 • $180 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $520 . 1916-17 44 2 • $78 • Fixed charges 1917-18 $4° • 1916-17 229 . $189 ■ Debt service 1917-18 $25 • 1916-17 in • 1 146 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Sidney Delaware county — Concluded Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $5 OSS Real tax 191 7 3 496 58 Real increase Si 558 42 Assessed valuation $37 119 29 000 25 008 54 258 143 208 40 225 32 410 30 117 74 220 9 525 44 951 28 428 37 524 II 500 57 412 16 101 20 620 20 313 22 270 11 270 34 077 9 188 $788 744 $797 521 $1 1 501 259 00 00 $242 6 807 00 00 $7 049 00 $8 7 361 049 00 00 $1 312 00 Tax rate 1916-17 .0069 . 0080 .0140 .0060 .0091 .0070 .0099 .0076 .0044 . 0200 .0060 .0080 .0072 • 0175 .0057 0145 .0118 ■ 0I2S . 0117 .0159 .0095 .0201 .0086 .0106 .0105 Dutchess county Assessed valuation $50 383 128 394 35 166 54 723 26 481 4i 124 99 303 210 728 492 690 59 019 Tax rate 1916-17 • 007939 0031 15 . 007199 . 006852 .011328 .006895 . 005706 . 00S800 . 010605 . 004674 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $7 230 . 1916-17 6 329 . $901 . . Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $345 1016-17 47 Instruction 1917-18 $13 030 1916-17 9 737 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $3 293 $975 826 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $149 $425 301 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $124 $360 199 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 $161 $250 135 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17 . . . $115 $60 3 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. #57 Ji 125 Total 1917-18 $16 571 1916-17 11 248 $5 323 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $500 1916-17 71 $429 Instruction 1917-18 $12 575 1916-17 10 498 $2 077 Operation 1917-18 $2 204 1916-17 1 684. $520 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 147 Dutchess county — Continued Town of A mcnia Assessed Tax rate valuation 19 16-17 Average rate 00731 1 Total 1917-18 $1 227 720 1 1.80 Balance 1916 S48S 02 Balance 1917 300 80 $184 22 Tax 1917 9 937 02 Real tax $10 121 24 Tax 1918 $14 483 67 Real tax 1 91 7 I0 l21 24 Real increase $4 362 43 Town of Beekman Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 Si47 140 2 1 227 629 3 1 216 846 4 1 54 713 5 1 65 029 Total S $7H 3S7 Average rate Total 1917-18 $735 595 Balance 1916 $177 35 Balance 191 7 78 38 $98 97 Tax 1917 2 257 37 Real tax $2 356 34 Tax 1918 $4 010 00 Real tax 1917 2 356 34 Real increase $1 653 66 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7- 1 8 Maintenance 1917-18 I425 ■ 1916-17 550 • $125 . Auxiliary' 1917-18 $425 • 1916-17 341 • $84 . Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 S241 . I241 . Debt service 1917-18 $1 487 • 1916-17 712 . $775 • Outlay 1917-18 $250 . 1916-17 197 • $53 ■ Total 1917-18 $17 866 . 1916-17 14 294 ■ $3 572 . . Tax rate Expenditures 19 [6-17 and 1916-17 budget 191 ' 7-18 00358 Control . 00208 1917-18 $190 . . .00299 . 00502 1916-17 .00504 $190 . . Instruction .00317 1917-18 $3 000 . . 1916-17 2 665 20 .0037 0055 Operation $334 80 1917-18 $350 .. 1916-17 385 52 $35 52 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $152 09 $152 09 Auxiliary 1917-18 $75 ■ ■ 1916-17 58 .. $17 •• Fixed charges 1917-18 $6 . . 1916-17 23 99 $17 99 * Contingencies 1917-18 $1 069 ■ • 1916-17 $1 069 . . Total 1917-18 $4 690 . . 1916-17 3 284 80 $1 405 20 * Includes supplies. 1 148 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Dutchess county — Continued Town of Clinton Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $72 057 .004163 2 1 27 410 .012004 3 1 56 430 .006556 4 1 62 450 . 006805 5 1 73 530 .005439 6 1 87 126 .005436 7 1 77847 .005048 8 1 264 379 ■ 002835 9 1 65 386 .005072 10 1 95 548 ■ 005450 Total 10 $873153 .00491 Average rate 00588 Total 191 7-i 8 $921 120 6.20 Balance 1916 $459 79 Balance 1917. : 156 86 $302 93 Tax 1917 4 292 81 Real tax $4 595 74 Tax 1918 $5 710 00 Real tax 1917 4 595 74 Real increase $ 114 26 Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $324 1916-17 84 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. , Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 191 7-i 8. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $5 590 5 033 $557 $790 570 $220 S220 168 $52 Fi45 84 $61 $20 54 $34 $17 $17 $7 089 6 010 $1 079 Town of East Fishkill Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $37 730 2 3 •■••• 4 I 106 770 5- • •' I 175 990 6 3 290 301 7 1 155 074 8 1 46 095 9 1 75 974 10 I 30 300 II 1 57 517 12 I 46 174 13 I 151 531 Total 13 $1 173 456 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 212 857 Balance 1917 $449 91 Balance 1916 365 70 $84 21 Tax 1917 $6 772 43 84 21 Real tax $6 688 22 Tax rate 1916-17 .00662 .00421 . 00370 .00912 .00329 .00872 .00778 .00857 .00602 .00779 • 00359 .00577 .0063 .0083 Expenditures 1 916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $460 . . 1916-17 4 . . $456 . . Instruction 1917-18 $7 489 • • 1916-17 6 960 04 $528 96 Operation 1917-18 $1 016 . . 1916-17 915 77 $100 23 Maintenance 1917-18 $500 .. 1916-17 695 41 $195 41 Auxiliary 1917-18 $170 . . 1916-17 103 20 $66 80 Fixed charges 1917-18 $50 .. 1916-17 63 83 $13 83 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 149 Town of East Fishkill Dutchess county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $10 100 00 Real tax 1917 6 688 22 Real increase $3 411 78 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $127 58 $127 58 Contingencies 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 $100 .. Outlay 1917-18 $2 000 . . 1916-17 26 65 $1 973 35 Total 1917-18 $11 785 . . 1916-17 8 896 48 $2 888 52 Town of Fishkill Dist. Total . Average rate. . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. . Balance 191 7 . Tax 1917. Real tax. . Teachers Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $12 443 00 Real tax 1917 Real increase. $184 976 108 869 377 388 437 087 $1 108 320 1 164 198 $2 242 733 22 06 $1 509 10 061 16 97 $11 571 13 $12 443 11 571 00 13 $871 «7 (a) Includes supplies. (b) Total of budget $13 543- Tax rate 1916-17 .01121 . 00362 .00878 .00978 . 00907 .0083 .0107 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $585 .. 1916-17 290 31 $294 69 Instruction 1917-18 $7 275 . . 1916-17 7 712 25 $437 25 Operation 1917-18 $2 003 . . 1916-17 2 091 03 $88 03 Maintenance 1917-18 $4iS •• 1916-17 1 219 87 $804 87 Auxiliary 1917-18 $215 .. 1916-17 170 60 $44 40 Fixed charges 1917-18 $100 .. 1916-17 287 31 $187 31 Debt service 1917-18 $1 450 . . 1916-17 1 646 11 $196 11 Contingencies a 1917-18 $1 700 . . 1916-17 $1 700 . . Total 1917-18 b$i3 743 . - 1916-17 13 417 48 $325 52 ii5o THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Dutchess county — Continued Town of Hyde Park, Unit No. i Assessed Tax rate D; s t_ Teachers valuation 1916-17 ! 7 Si 303 101 .005989 , 1 39 135 .006999 5 .[... 1 74 430 . 009069 Total 9 $1416 666 . 00617 Average rate • ■ ■ -00735 Total 1917-18 $1 444 845 6.30 Balance 1917 $174 36 Balance 1916 ■ _ °5 40 $88 90 Taxl 9 l7 $& 754 30 88 90 Real tax $« ° 6 5 40 Tax 1918 *9 100 00 Real tax 1917 8 °°5 40 Real increase $434 60 Town of Hyde Park, Unit No. 2 Assessed Tax rate Qigt Teachers valuation 1916-17 .... 5 $1 211 148 .002759 ............... 1 46 195 • 006494 Total 6 Si 257 343 .00386 Averagerate ir'oin ARf. ;»° 5127 Total 1917-18 $* 2I ° 486 4- 8o Balance 1916 S216 04 Balance 1917 I0/ 8b $to8 16 Tax 1917 4 853 55 Real tax »4 961 71^ Tax 1918 $5 800 Real tax 1917 4 961 71 Real increase $838 29 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1916-17. . . $216 . . Instruction 1916-17 . . . $6 776 . . Operation 1916-17 . . . $1 042 . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . 1916-17 .... $585 .- $535 ■ ■ Fixed charges 1916-17 . . . $202 . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. .. $157 •• Outlay 1916-17. . . . $311 -• Total 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- ■ ■ • #9 824 . . Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 Si95 1916-17 191 Instruction 1917-18.'. 1916-17 . . $4 695 4 7io Operation 1917-18. 1916-17 . $15 $725 778 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $19 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 191.6-17. • ■ ■ Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. • ■ Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $80 40 Si79 $179 $75 39 $6 364 5 796 $S68 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM II5I Dutchess county Town of Milan Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 S42 680 2 1 27 910 3 1 83 483 4 , 1 57 506 5 Contract 26 650 6 1 42 419 7 1 75 875 8 1 21 871 9 I 109 507 10 I 28 955 Total 9 S516 856 Average rate Total 1917-18 $521 490 Balance 1916 $245 83 Balance 1917 222 18 $23 65 Tax 1917 $2 727 82 Real tax $2 751 47 Tax 1918 S3 828 . . Real tax 1917 2 751 47 Real increase $1 076 53 Town of North East Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 1 $72 978 3 1 98 246 4 1 85 352 5 1 65 625 6 7 744 122 7 1 76 820 8 1 115 632 9 10 I 173 236 II I 90 750 12 I 57 044 13 1 134 235 14 1 171 180 Total 18 Si 885 220 Average rate Total 1917-18 Si 880 986 Balance 1916 $544 23 Balance 1917 482 70 $61 53 Tax 10 048 49 Real tax Sio no 02 — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 . 0064 .0083 .0036 .0043 .0009 .0063 .0059 .0103 .0043 .0078 Expenditures budget Control 1917-18 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 . . . . 1916-17 Debt services 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 .... Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 .... Total 191 7-i 8 . . . . 1916-17 .... 1916-17 and 1917-18 S250 . . 3 ■ • $247 •• $3 950 . . 3 646 S304 .. .0052 .0059 .00734 S440 . . 362 .. S78 .. S250 . . 131 .- $119 . - $258 . . 138 . . $125 .. $25 .. 8 .. $17 •• $50 . . $50 .. $55 • ■ $55 .. $5 228 . . 4 333 • • $895 •• Tax rate 1916-17 .0050 .0045 0057 . 0046 .0063 0059 0040 0058 0039 0065 0037 0035 0053 0050 00769 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $37 S . 1916-17 200 $175 . Instruction 1917-18 $11 625 1916-17 10 157 . $1 468 . Operation 1917-18 $1 725 1916-17 1 721 . S4 7 Maintenance 1917-18 S560 . . 1916-17 828 . . S268 . . Auxiliary 1917-18 $535 . . 1916-17 329 . . $206 . . Fixed charges 1917-18 $340 . . 1916-17 87 . . $253 . . 1153 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Dutchess county — Continued Town of Norlk$East Assessed Tax rate valuation Tax 1918 $13 200 00 Real tax 1917 10 no 02 Real increase $3 089 98 Town of Pawling Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 Contract 2 1 $167 045 3 1 311 145 4 1 in 342 5 7 773 655 6 1 199 456 7 1 178 409 8 1 S3 260 9 1 97 245 Total 14 $1 896 557 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 961 35i Balance 1916 $2 401 69 Balance 1917 l °49 34 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase $1 9 3S2 65S 35 79 $11 008 14 $14 11 225 008 OO 14 $3 2l6 86 Expenditures 19 16- 17 and budget 1917-18 Debt services 1917-18 $595 - 1916-17 700 . $105 . Outlay 1917-18 $125 • 1916-17 $125 . Total 1917-18 $15 880 . 1916-17 14 022 . $1 858 . Tax rate 1916-17 .00308 .00289 . 00278 .00675 .00275 00391 . 00462 .01208 Expenditures budget 1 Control 1917-18 1916-17 . . Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 Auxiliary 1917-18 . . 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 Contingencies 1917-18 1916-17 Debt service 1917-18 . 1916-17 Outlav 1917-18 . . 1916-17 , . Total 1917-18 1916-17 . . . . 19 16-17 and 917-18 $530 . . S69 37 $39 37 $9 777 ■■ 9 654 59 $122 41 . 00509 $1 450 . . 1 863 42 ■ .0073 $413 42 $620 . . 594 08 $25 92 $230 .. 236 19 $6 19 $195 85 $195 • ■ $1 200 . . $1 200 . . $2 905 • ■ 557 50 $2 347 50 $90 .. 5 376 74 $5 286 74 *$i6 802 . . 19 047 74 $2 245 74 * Total of budget $16 702 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1153 Dutchess county — Continued Town of Pine Plains Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 9 $577 330 .0122 2 1 46 080 . 0063 3 1 106 353 .0035 4 1 80 61 1 . 0048 5 I 74847 .0069 6 1 73 198 .0044 Total 14 $958 469 .0093 Average rate . 0064 Total 1917-18 $971 854 .0103 Balance 1917 $68 54 Balance 1916 54 08 $14 46 Tax 1917 $8 962 15 14 46 Real tax $8 947 69 Tax 1918 $10 010 .. Real tax 1917 8 947 69 Real increase $1 062 31 Town of Red Hook] Unit No. 1 Dist. Teachers 3 6 7 1 9 I Total 8 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 $2 958 83 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax. $10 896 95 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $250 . 1916-17 50 . $200 . Instruction 1917-18 $9 600 . 1916-17 8 723 . $877 • Operation 1917-18 $1 960 . 1916-17 1 327 . $633 • Maintenance 1917-18 $300 . 1916-17 131 • $169 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $650 . 1916-17 S83 ■ ■ $67 .. Fixed charges 1917-18 $215 .. 1916-17 100 . . $115 •• Debt services 1917-18 $860 .. 1916-17 5 49i . • $4 631 . . Outlay 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 $150 .. Total 1917-18 $13 985 . . 1916-17 16 405 . . Tax rate 1916-17 .0073 .0049 .0020 Expenditures budget Control Instruction Operation 1917-18. 1916-17 Maintenance 1916-17 $2 420 . . Assessed valuation $928 845 127 005 364 880 1916-17 and 1917-18 $367 .. 439 .. $1 420 730 .0057 $72 .. $1 438 635 .0047 .00802 $s 964 .. 5 534 •• $2 958 83 192 06 $430 .. $1 285 .. 1 043 . . $2 766 77 8 130 18 $242 .. $175 •• 209 •• $10 896 95 37 H54 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Dutchess county Town of Red Hook Unit No. I Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $n 541 00 Real tax 1917 10 896 95 Real increase $644 05 Continued Town of Red Hook, Unit No. 2 Dist. Teachers 1 1 4 6 Assessed valuation $136 755 895 7io 133 875 198 600 495 405 Total. Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 617 100 Balance 1916. Balance 1917. Tax 1917. Real tax. , Tax 1918 Real tax 1917- Real increase. $1 860 345 $1 617 100 $1 207 3i 57 85 $1 175 7 237 72 38 $8 413 10 $8 747 8 413 10 $333 90 Tax rate 1916-17 .0040 .0045 .0028 .0040 .0030 .0038 .0037 .005407 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 171 .. $29 .. Fixed charges 1917-18 $700 . . 1916-17 145 •• $555 •• Debt service 1917-18 $1 550 .. 1916-17 1 800 . . $250 . . Outlay $1 900 . . 3 360 . . $1 460 .. Total . $12 141 •• 1916-17. . . . 12 701 . . $560 .. Expenditures 1916-17 and budget ; [917-18 Control 1917-18. . . . $405 • • 1916-17. . . . 185 ■• $220 . . Instruction $7 537 •• 1916-17. . . . 7 234 •• $303 .- Operation $1 440 . . 1 222 . . $218 .. Maintenance $100 . . 1916-17. . . . 378 .. $278 .. Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . $125 .. 1916-17. . . . 190 . . $6 S .. Fixed charges 1917-18 $237 -■ $237 •■ Debt service 1917-18. . . , 1916-17. . . . $1 179 .. $1 179 .. Outlay $314 •• $314 •• Total a $9 607 . . 10 939 • • $1 332 .. (a) Of this amount $861 was set aside as illegal by order of Commissioner of Education, THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM "55 Dutchess county — Continued Town of Rhinebeck Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 S680 416 . 00095 2 2 396 671 . 00526 3 2 1 02s 151 .00138 4 I SOO 244 . 00279 6 1 144935 .00241 7 I 109 575 .00443 8 1 72 093 . 00476 9 1 68 009 .00625 10 1 44836 .00501 11 1 . 206 150 .00242 12 1 228 086 .00263 Total 13 $3 476 166 . 0024 Average rate , . 00348 Total 1917-18 $1 023 725 .00294 Balance 1916 $841 68 Balance 1917 668 24 _ *I73 44 Tax 191 7 8 489 45 Real tax $8 662 89 Tax 1917-18 Jio 221 00 Real tax 1916-17 8 662 89 Real increase Si 558 11 Town of Stanford Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $90 683 2 , ( 201 575 1 4i 134 3 I 83 065 4 1 69 669 S 1 44 865 6 1 79 994 7 I 86 983 8 Contract 31 650 9 1 56 061 10 2 188 853 11 1 69 669 12 1 65 568 13 1 48 905 Total 14 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax $1 158 i 5 ) $618 34 389 69 $228 5 442 65 90 $5 671 5 ; .0046 . 00689 Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $250 1916-17 35 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . $215 $8 200 7 764 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. £2 200 1 548 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $700 470 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $230 #325 140 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $185 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $115 $115 $200 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $200 Total 1917-18 $11 675 1916-17 10 338 Si 337 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $41 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . $7 075 6 305 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $770 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $77 $225 141 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $790 208 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . 183 Ii33 1156 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Dutchess county — Continued Town of Stanford Assessed valuation Tax 1917-18 $7 731 29 Real tax 1916-17 S 671 55 Real increase. $2 059 74 Town of Union Vale Dist. Teachers Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $30 152 . 00746 200 715 .00502 69 414 .00576 80 527 . 00434 15 540 .0194 74 507 .00739 Total. Average rate. . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. . Balance 1917.. $470 855 $474 567 $98 92 91 50 $7 42 2 835 77 Tax 1917 Real tax $2 843 19 Tax 1918 $4 498 Real tax 1917 2 843 19 Real increase $1 654 81 . 00602 .0082 .0095 Expenditures budget Debt service 1916-17. . . . 1916-17 and 1917-18 $200 . . 22 . . Outlay $178 .. $75 •• 66 .. Total 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- ■ • • $9 .. $9 800 . . 7 831 .. $1 969 . . Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Instruction 1917-18 $2 822 .. 1916-17 3 127 90 $305 90 Operation 1917-18 $1 601 1916-17. 380 25 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $1 220 75 '$131*56 $131 56 $75 •• 69 50 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $5 50 $54 02 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $54 02 $155 40 Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $155 40 $4 498 . . 3 9i8 63 $579 37 Town of Wappinger Dist. Total. Teachers Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $127 013 .00401 154 819 .00355 649 785 .00373 384 432 .00484 94 662 .00475 162 936 . 00276 $1 573 637 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 620 076 Balance 1916. Balance 1917. Tax 1917. Real tax., $801 15 629 24 $171 91 6 252 89 424 80 . 00394 .0039 .0059 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $550 . . 1916-17 37 45 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. .. 1916-17- • • $512 55 $7 252 5 335 27 06 $1 917 21 $710 772 91 $62 91 $1 172 923 82 $248 18 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM "57 Town of Wappinger Dutchess county Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $9 600 00 Real tax 1917 6 424 80 Real increase S3 175 20 Concluded Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Auxiliary 1017-18 $250 . . 1916-17 258 81 $8 81 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 S208 97 $208 97 Incidentals 1917-18 $618 . . 1916-17 $618 .. Total 1917-18 $10 552 27 1916-17 7 537 02 $3 015 25 Erie county Town of Alden Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1... 1 $126 704 .00464 2 1 109580 .00365 3 1 163 224 .00238 4 5 1 104350 .00456 6 1 122 000 . 00383 7 1 80636 .00599 8 1 90 864 . 00448 9 2 191 906 .00595 o 7 258 227 .02813 1 1 32 046 . 00690 2 1 173 925 .00408 3 1 252 303 . 00292 Total 19 Si 705 76s .0077 Average rate . 00646 Total 1917-18 $2 031 454 .00906 Balance 1917 S751 99 Balance 1916 680 48 $71 51 Tax 1917 $13 293 74 7i 51 Real tax $13 222 23 Tax 1918 $18 406 00 Real tax 1917 13 222 23 Real increase $5 183 77 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7- 1 8 Control 1917-18 Si 100 . . 1916-17 190 16 $909 84 Instruction 1917-18 S14 201 . . 1916-17 12 082 11 $2 118 89 Operation 1917-18 $1 537 • • 1916-17 1 29s 67 S241 33 Maintenance 1917-18 S49S •• 1916-17 385 89 $109 11 Auxiliary 1917-18 $575 •• 1916-17 331 57 $243 43 Fixed charges 1917-18 $ 1 72 . . 1916-17 172 43 So 43 Debt service 1917-18 $2 700 . . 1916-17 3 042 03 $342 03 Outlay 1917-18 Si 886 .. 1916-17 134 39 Si 751 61 Total 1917-18 $22 666 . . 1916-17 17 634 25 $5 031 75 n 5 8 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Erie county Town of Amherst Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 4 2 $226 312 5 1 177 489 6 1 145 676 7 1 216 541 8 1 365 655 9 11 154 S83 10 I 170 842 II I 228 047 12 I 154 062 13 3 1 484 723 14 1 205 123 15 1 78 050 16 1 330 545 17 1 164 834 18 2 1 185 740 19 1 125 923 Total 20 $5 420 145 Average rate Total 1917-18 $5 695 605 Balance 1916 $1 458 47 Balance 191 7 1 370 39 $88 08 Tax 1917 12 384 79 Real tax $12 472 87 Tax 1918 $18 225 97 Real tax 1917 12 472 87 Real increase $5 753 10 — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 .0046 . 0022 .0019 .0019 .0012 .0028 .0019 .0012 .0024 .0031 .0020 .0050 .0010 .0024 .0016 .0026 . 00228 Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 1916-17 $165 50 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 $8 933 99 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 $1 884 06 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $586 30 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 $504 80 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $230 71 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $2 244 06 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17 $357 16 Total 1917-18 1916-17 $14 906 58 Town of Aurora Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 2. 2 $125 082 .00999 3 1 102 000 . 00409 4 1 162 800 .00262 5 1 113 S23 .00579 6 1 in 957 .00319 7 1 128 450 .00362 8 2 187 884 .00930 9 1 75 700 .00364 *o 1 94 250 .00484 1 1 1 73 890 .00490 x 2 1 81345 .00455 Total 13 $1256881 .0054 Average rate . 00513 Total 1917-18 $1407720 6.84 Balance 1916 $968 04 Balance 191 7 9°8 78 $59 26 Tax 1917 6 877 40 Real tax $6 936 66 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $690 1916-17 56 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. . . . $634 $7 050 6 480 $570 $1 325 895 $430 $500 3ii $189 150 89 $61 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM "59 Erie county — Continued Town of Aurora Assessed valuation Tax 1018 $9 615 00 Real tax 1917 6 936 66 Real increase $2 678 34 Town of Boston Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $161 199 2 1 163 686 3 1 52 803 4 1 95 981 5 1 65 689 6 1 73 663 7 1 44 728 Total 7 $630 449 Average rate Total 1917-18 $773 595 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 19 17 Real increase $558 83 258 74 $300 2 864 00 16 $3 164 25 $5 230 3 164 00 25 $2 065 75 Tax rate 1916-17 .00200 .00250 .00740 . 00440 .00620 .00500 . 00500 .004 . 00464 .00677 Town of Brant Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 4 $262 133 .00721 2 1 182337 .00300 3 1 217 693 .00200 4 1 119 318 . 00606 5 4 901 923 . 00222 Total 11 Si 683 404 .0033 Average rate . 0040 Total 1917-18 $2479600 .00385 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Debt service 1917-18 $225 1916-17 325 $100 Outlay 1917-18 $1 375 1916-17 4°3 $972 Auxiliary 1917-18 $225 1916-17 132 $93 Total 1917-18 $11 540 1916-17 8 691 $2 849 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $300 .. 1916-17 $300 . . Instruction 1917-18 $3 000 . . 1916-17 3 269 42 $269 42 Operation 1917-18 $400 • ■ 1916-17 420 57 $20 57 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $306 09 $306 09 Auxiliary 1917-18 $230 . . 1916-17 203 50 $26 50 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $49 38 $49 38 Outlay 1917-18 $2 200 . . 1916-17 25 55 $2 174 45 Total 1917-18 $6 130 .. 1916-17 4 274 5i $1 855 49 Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $700 .. 1916-17 63 .. $637 •■ Instruction 1917-18 $6 600 . . 1916-17 5 183 • • $1 417 .. n6o THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Erie county — Continued Town of Brant Assessed valuation Balance 1916 $1 207 87 Balance 1917 687 47 $520 '40 Tax 1917 S 612 10 Real tax $6 132 50 Tax 1918 $9 548 16 Real tax 1917 6 132 50 Real increase $3 415 66 Town of Cheektowaga Dist. 1 Teachers 3 1 1 2 2 I 6 3 Assessed valuation $746 950 321 325 203 610 772 406 278 930 Tax rate 1916-17 3 4 S 6 .00194 .01787 7 8 161 870 610 257 269 035 10 .00918 Total. 364 383 .0055 Average rate. . Total 1917-18. . 00626 014 205 .00518501 Balance 1916 $3 649 90 Balance 1917 2 596 33 $1 053 57 18 606 00 Tax 1917 Real tax $19 659 57 Tax 1918 $26 000 00 Real tax 19 659 57 Real increase . Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1917-18 Operation 1917-18 $770 .. 1916-17 604 . . $166 .. Maintenance 1917-18 $291 .. 1916-17 156 . . $135 •• Fixed charges 1917-18 $239 . . 1916-17 18s .. #54 • - Debt service 1917-18 $1 000 . . 1916-17 774 •• $226 . . Outlay 1917-18 $750 .. 1916-17 257 .. a -t 493 •• Auxiliary 19x7-18 $300 .. 1916-17 101 .. $199 • . Total 1917-18 $10 650 . . 1916-17 7 323 . . $3 327 • • Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $1 475 •- 1916-17 322 25 $1 152 75 Instruction 1917-18 $15 381 . . 1916-17 11 349 21 $1 152 75 Operation 1917-18 S5 046 . . 1916-17 3 922 79 $1 123 21 Maintenance 1917-18 $1 252 .. 1916-17 1 934 15 $682 15 Auxiliary 1917-18 $725 .. 1916-17 752 90 $27 90 Fixed charges 1917-18 $209 .. 1916-17 290 60 $81 60 Debt service 1917-18 $3 290 . . 1916-17 3 038 88 $251 12 Outlay 1917-18 $1 157 .. 1916-17 228 50 $928 50 Total 1917-18 $28 535 •• 1916-17 21 839 28 $6 695 72 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM Il6l Town of Clarence Dist. Erie county — Continued Teachers Assessed valuation $216 448 76 791 106 102 106 261 38 478 60 217 197 298 57 674 no 419 84 767 72 123 82 526 Total . Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 370 412 Balance 1916. Balance 19 17. Tax 1917 Real tax. , Si 362 58 764 84 $597 74 4 014 92 $4 612 66 Tax 1918 S7 194 80 Real tax 1917 4 612 66 Real increase $2 583 14 Tax rate 1916-17 .0018 •00375 .00325 .00654 . 0046 . 00419 .00510 .00309 . 00328 . 00449 .00323 $1 209 104 .00332 .0039 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 1916-17 $67 51 $67 51 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 I4 515 82 $4 515 82 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 $826 46 $826 46 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $321 15 &321 15 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 feio 25 $310 25 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $81 66 $81 66 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $152 18 $152 18 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $17 25 $17 25 Total 1917-18 1916-17 $6 292 28 $6 292 28 TownjDf Colden Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation I 1 $79 925 2 I 35 411 3 I 42 450 4 1 Si 325 5 1 96 950 6 1 42 925 7 1 65 375 8 1 51 925 9 1 47 775 10 1 140 000 Total 1 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1917 Balance 1916 Tax 1917 Real tax 5654 061 S696 645 $438 287 68 44 $151 4 197 24 14 $4 045 90 .0064 .00685 .01141 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $380 .. 1916-17 5 45 $374 55 Instruction 1917-18 $5 025 . . 1916-17 4 636 35 $388 65 Operation 1917-1S $550 .. 1916-17 433 14 $116 86 Maintenance 1917-18 $325 .- 1916-17 210 84 $114 16 Auxiliary 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 138 80 $161 20 Il62 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Colden Erie county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $7 950 00 Real tax 1917 4 045 90 Real increase $3 904 10 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $20 . . 1916-17 52 09 $32 09 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $13 48 $13 48 Outlay 1917-18 $2 800 . . 1916-17 132 67 $2 667 33 Total 1917-18 $9 400 . . 1916-17 5 622 82 $3 777 18 Town of Collins Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $151 665 2 1 151 080 3 2 282 508 4 1 66 on 5 1 67 67S 6 5 296 926 7 1 55 456 8 1 68 708 9 1 107 150 10 1 108 846 Total 15 $1' 356 025 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 535 730 Balance 1917 $2 099 18 Balance 1816 1 546 35 $552 83 Tax 1917 $6 950 42 552 83 16 397 59 Tax 1918 $12 525 00 Real tax 1917 6 397 59 Real increase $6 127 41 Tax rate 1916-17 .00230 .00225 . 00460 .00481 . 00400 .00959 . 00721 .00507 .00326 .00298 .0051 .0046 .008155 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 191 7-1 8 $690 1916-17 92 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17... Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $598 $9 500 7 36l $2 139 $1 250 824 $426 1325 61 $300 438 $138 $600 55 $545 $1 300 3 246 $1 946 $525 263 $262 J14 490 12 340 $2 150 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 163 Town of Concord Dist. Erie county - - Continued Assessed Tax rate chers valuation 1916-17 1 $85 000 .00491 1 60 322 .00431 1 54 015 . 00600 1 48 560 .00639 1 64 192 .00540 1 45 230 . 00600 1 37 160 . 00700 1 68 260 . 00400 1 53 550 . 00500 1 107 585 . 00350 1 94 000 .00386 1 113 242 .00497 1 147 OOO . 00200 1 74 000 .00528 Total . pi 052 116 Average rate Total 1917-18 Si 432 815 Balance 1917. Balance 19 16. Tax 191 7. Real tax. £562 08 556 85 $5 23 4 328 88 $4 323 65 Tax 1918 $10 500 00 Real tax 1917 4 323 °5 Real increase. 176 35 .00448 . 00490 .00733 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $445 .. 1916-17 $445 •• Instruction 1917-18 $5 650 . . 1916-17 4 962 63 $687 37 Operation 1917-18 $600 . . 1916-17 54 1 32 $58 68 Maintenance 1917-18 I200 . . 1916-17 358 09 $158 09 Auxiliary 1917-18 $400 . . 1916-17 149 62 $250 38 Fixed charges 1917-18 $20 .. 1916-17 82 26 $62 26 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $85 16 $85 16 Outlay 1917-18 $5 025 . . 1916-17 4 58 $5 020 42 Total 1917-18 $12 340 . . 1916-17 6 183 66 $6 156 34 Town of East Hamburg Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $75 075 .00500 2 2 166 131 .00285 3 1 152452 .00535 4 1 85589 .00518 5 1 187 480 .00293 6 1 156 280 .00332 Total 7 $823 007 . 0038 Average rate . 00462 Total 191 7-1 8 $1 201 395 3.90 Balance 1916 $355 84 Balance 1917 91 52 $264 32 Tax 1917 3 159 70 Real tax $3 424 02 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $645 1916-17 47 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $3 850 3 368 $545 448 $275 189 1 164 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of East Hamburg Erie county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $4. 685 44 Real tax 3 424 02 Real increase $1 261 42 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $100 1916-17 62 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $75 27 $155 116 $39 $5 645 4 308 $1 337 Town of Eden Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 2 $458 770 2 1 126 348 3 1 102 450 4 9 871 000 5 1 212 993 °„ 1 170 104 1 1 152 S45 8 1 167 239 9 1 73 143 Total 18 $2 334 592 Average rate Total 1917-18 $2 492 658 Balance 1916 $961 67 Balance 1917 719 91 $241 76 Tax 1917 9 458 62 Real tax $3 700 38 Tax 1918 $14 606 88 Real tax 1917 9 700 38 Real increase $4 906 50 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00300 .00300 .00317 .00071 .00163 .00188 .00180 .00200 . 00346 .0040 .0030 .00586 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $780 1916-17 81 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Total *I9I7-i8. 1916-17. »o 300 8 479 $1 821 $1 750 1 396 $354 $500 325 $175 $325 228 $825 $1 900 420 $1 480 $475 199 $276 J16 855 12 012 $4 843 - . * Total budget $16 755- THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 165 Erie county Town of El ma Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 S93 645 2 1 91 150 3 1 99 673 4 1 159 987 S 1 118 345 6 1 188 478 7 2 262 891 8 2 135 OOO 9 1 155 69S 10 I 121 000 Total 12 $1 425 864 Total 1917-18 Si 633 706 Average rate Balance 1916 $524 gr Balance 1917 505 97 $18 94 Tax 191 7 6 063 37 Real tax S6 082 3 1 Tax 1918 S8 986 14 Real tax 191 7 6 063 37 Real increase $2 922 77 Town of Evans Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $235 402 2 2 420 150 3 2 357 960 4 I 377 950 5 1 76 300 6 1 592 303 7 1 478 984 8 2 36S 625 9 1 100 965 10 I 145 425 II 1 217 696 12 I 212 950 14 I 91 528 15 1 131 239 Total 17 S3 804 477 Average rate Total 1917-18 S4 835 139 Balance 19 17 S2 774 73 Balance 1916 2 492 91 $281 82 Tax 1917 $10 607 86 281 82 Real tax Sio 326 04 — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 • 00399 . 00398 .00470 .00252 ■00337 . 00304 . 00646 .00665 . 00200 . 00490 Expenditures budget Control 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. , , 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18. . . . Auxiliary 1916-17. . . . Total 1917-18. , . 1916-17. . . . Expenditures budget i Control 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 .... Instruction 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Operation 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 1916-17 and [917-18 $860 . 60 . S800 . S6 350 . 5 700 . S650 . $1 425 . 1 087 • .0042 5-50 .0047 $338 . $350 . 144 . S206 . $730 . 114 . S616 . S295 • 359 • $64 . $550 . 548 . $2 . S245 . in . Si34 ■ $10 805 . 8 123 . $2 682 . . Tax rate 1916-17 .00212 .00250 .00400 1916-17 and 917-18 $1 650 . 4i • .00425 .00199 .00115 .00569 .00305 • 00352 .00350 . 00136 • 00399 $1 609 . Sir 200 . 8 076 . $3 124 . $3 475 • 1 709 . Si 766 . $5 50 . 1 672 . . 0027 .0029 .004 Si 122 . Si 050 . 220 . $830 . S50 . 5 • S4S • n66 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Evans Erie county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $19 340 56 Real tax 1917 10 326 04 Real increase $9 014 52 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Outlay 1917-18 $1 700 1916-17 792 $908 Auxiliary 1917-18 $400 1916-17 179 $221 Total 1917-18 $20 075 1916-17 12 694 $7 381 Town of Hamburg Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 2 $364 344 3 1 US 450 4 1 376 040 5 1 667 630 6 1 344 924 7 2 730 316 8 10 1 392 816 9 1 259 190 10 1 589 630 11 I I7S 402 12 2 415 800 13 4 931 298 Total 27 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase $5 . 586 840 $7 02s [02 $5 2 839 344 98 S3 $3 23 495 882 45 70 I27 378 15 $32 27 739 378 36 IS $5 361 21 Toivn of Holland Dist. Teachers . 00296 . 00466 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $1 150 . . 1916-17 419 06 $730 94 Instruction 1917-18 $17 915 • • 1916-17 16 339 41 $1 S7S 59 Operation 1917-18 $5 090 . . 1916-17 4 629 18 $460 82 Maintenance 1917-18 $2 240 . . 1916-17 2 064 54 $175 46 Auxiliary 1917-18 $1 375 • • 1916-17 376 61 $998 39 Fixed charges 191 7-i 8 $450 . . 1916-17 315 50 $134 50 Debt services 1917-18 $6 485 ■ • 1916-17 6 570 26 $85 26 Outlay 1917-18 $1 295 • • 1916-17 649 76 I645 24 Total 1917-18 S36 000 . . 1916-17 31 364 32 $4 63S 68 Assessed valuation $31 033 33 641 319 130 Tax rate 1916-17 .00774 . 00966 .01005 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $410 . . 1916-17 169 04 39 853 .00627 $240 96 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 167 Erie county - Town of Holland Assessed valuation 6 1 $40 674 7 1 39 979 8 I 113 166 9 I 54 940 10 I 31 215 11 12 1 31 235 Total 15 $865 716 Average rate Total 1917-18 $977 713 Balance 1917 $304 20 Balance 1916 259 84 $54 36 Tax 1917 6 224 96 Real tax 191 7 $6 170 60 Tax 1918 $10 000 00 Real tax 19 17 6 170 60 Real increase $3 829 40 Town of Lancaster Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $162 360 2 1 181 450 3 1 484 121 4 1 367 446 5 1 476 000 6 I 99 705 7 1 113 785 8 9 I 166 970 10 I 144 52O Total 9 $2 196 357 Average rate Total 1917-18 $3 063 019 Balance 1916 $1 231 74 Balance 1917 25 80 $1 205 94 Tax 1917 4 373 14 Real tax $5 579 08 - Continued Tax rate 1916-17 . 00676 .00570 . 00449 .00589 .00739 . 00900 Expenditures budget Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Operation 1916-17. . . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Auxiliary 1916-17. • • • Fixed charges Debt service 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Total 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 Expenditures budget i Control 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 and 1917-18 $8 284 . . 7 329 54 $954 46 $975 •• 895 12 .0071 $79 88 $672 72 563 17 . 00687 .01023 $109 55 $75 •■ 210 08 $135 08 $163 44 $163 44 $14 55 $14 55 $1 S83 28 2 950 80 $1 367 52 $12 000 . . 12 295 74 $295 74 Tax rate 1916-17 .00367 .00305 .00123 .00158 . 00099 . 00349 . 00400 191 6-17 and 917-18 $1 042 . . in . . $931 .. $6 023 . . .00240 .00249 .00254 .00265 1916-17 4 837 81 $1 185 19 Operation 1917-18 $1 325 • • 1916-17 968 38 $356 61 Maintenance 1917-18 $412 • • 1916-17 407 98 $4 02 Auxiliary 1917-18 $457 •• 1916-17 362 97 $94 03 n68 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Lancaster Erie county — Continued Tax 1918 Real tax 1917. Real increase . Assessed valuation 58 117 00 S 579 08 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $100 .. 1916-17 85 67 $14 33 Debt service 1917-18 S28 .. 1916-17 21 03 $6 97 Outlay 1917-18 $270 . . 1916-17 203 80 $66 20 Total 1917-18 $9 657 • • 1916-17 6 998 65 $2 658 35 Town of Marilla Dist. Teachers 1 2 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 1 Total 10 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Rteal tax Real increase Assessed valuation $142 450 58 295 59 561 56 356 114 079 61 000 79 in 42 038 51 881 $664 771 $679 264 $346 62 117 08 $229 4 276 54 02 $4 505 56 $6 520 4 SOS 91 56 $2 015 35 Tax rate 1916-17 .00750 .00599 .00710 . 00619 •00433 .00655 .00597 .00989 .00578 .0064 .0066 9.6o Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $910 1916-17 48 Instruction 1917-18 $5 740 1916-17 5 040 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $700 $905 671 $234 $250 80 $170 $100 83 $17 $100 $100 $25 52 $27 $215 US $100 $8 24s 6 089 $2 156 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM H69 Erie county Town of New stead Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $102 228 2 1 no 075 4 1 in 088 5 1 113 130 6 1 95 978 7 8 1 107 380 9 1 106 260 Jto r 81 168 11 Contract 117 869 12 1 69 056 13 I 99 575 14 I 79 S29 Total 11 $1 193 336 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 209 689 Balance 1916 $620 67 Balance 19 17 479 03 $141 64 Tax 1917 5 038 09 Real tax $5 179 73 Tax 1918 $10 462 98 Real tax 1917 5 179 73 $5 283 25 • Continued Tax rate 1916-17 . 00348 Expenditures budget Control 1917-18 , , 1916-17 . . . Instruction 1916-17. . . Operation 1917-18. . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1916-17. , Fixed charges 1917-18. . . 1916-17, . . Debt service 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. . . Total 1916-17. . . 1916-17 and 1917-18 .00398 .004 .00320 $49 37 .00519 ■ 0033 .005 $5 305 76 .00561 . 00443 .004 $624 31 .00422 $430 t3 .0043 $348 $83 10 $14 75 '. '"$34 21 $6 889 76 Town of North Collins Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $201 324 2 1 68 093 3 1 72 392 4 11 600589 5 1 91 266 6 1 106 880 7 1 106 748 8 1 74 689 9 1 162 895 10 I 156 914 II I 81 644 Total 21 $1723434 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 940 969 Balance 1916 $1 251 45 Balance 1917 582 04 $669 41 Tax 1917 10 609 22 Real tax $11 278 63 Tax rate 1916-17 .00322 . 00400 . 00468 .01147 .00411 .00255 .00375 . 00469 .00199 . 00200 . 00399 .0061 .0042 .00792 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $750 1916-17 137 $613 Instruction 1917-18 $11 700 1916-17 10 013 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $1 650 1 118 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $532 $575 172 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. . . . $403 $200 201 Ji nyo THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Erie county — Continued Town of North Collins Assessed valuation Tax 1918 lis 368 58 Real tax 1917 11 278 63 Real increase $43089 95 Town of Sardinia Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 2 $172 640 3 26 334 4 1 100 659 5 1 66 270 6 1 41 357 7 1 24 150 8 4 199 540 9 I 34 020 10 1 46 210 II I 43 406 13 I 26 058 14 1 57 700 15 1 48 059 Total 17 1886 403 Average rate Total 1917-18 Si 299 458 Balance 1916 $756 44 Balance 1917 420 21 S336 23 Tax 1917 6 224 96 Real tax 1917 $6 561 19 Tax 1918 11 519 .. Real increase $4 957 81 Town of Tonawanda Dist. 2 3 4 5 Total Teachers Assessed valuation $2 405 096 1 732 344 944 456 296 522 $5 378 418 Tax rate 1916-17 .00523 .01257 .00350 . 00500 . 00603 . 00980 .00850 . 00906 .00689 .00613 .01150 .00819 . 00669 .0067 .00762 8.86 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00044 .00199 . 00084 .00341 .00117 Expenditures budget Debt service 1917-18 1916-17. . . . 1916-17 and [917-18 $1 735 . 1 255 . Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $480 . $1 135 . 2 950 . Auxiliary 1917-18 . . . 1916-17 $1 815 . $500 . 151 ■ Total $349 • . $18 245 . 15 997 • $2 248 . Expenditures budget Control 1916-17 and [917-18 5675 •• 37 03 Instruction 1916-17. . . . Operation 1917-18. . . . $637 97 $7 856 . . 7 228 85 $627 15 $1 150 . . 955 04 Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 $194 96 $1 775 •• 742 61 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $1 032 39 $88 . . 128 75 Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . $40 75 $460 . . 162 14 Outlay 1917-18. . . . $297 86 $2 100 . . 9 47 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Total 1917-18. . . . $2 090 53 $69 06 S69 06 $14 104 . . 9 332 95 $4 771 05 Expenditures budget ] Control 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . 1916-17 and 917-18 Instruction 1917-18 $4 305 2 ' THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM II7I Town of Tonawanda Erie county — Continued Assessed valuation Average rate Balance 1017 S3 072 88 Balance 1916 1 448 28 Si 624 60 Tax 1917 S6 312 S3 1 624 60 Real tax 1917 $4 689 93 Town of West Seneca Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 4 S915 098 2 7 777 945 3 1 275 945 4 1 879 082 5 1 271 150 6 3 506 430 Total 13 $3 62s 552 Average rate Total 1917-18 S3 625 533 Balance 1917 S3 157 52 Balance 1916 1 652 24 Si 505 28 Tax 1917 S17 862 31 1 505 28 Real tax $16 357 03 Tax 1918 S22 930 98 Real tax 1917 16 357 03 Real increase $6 573 9s Tax rate 1916-17 .0014 Tax rate 1916-17 .00499 .00600 .00201 .00141 . 00726 .00958 .0049 .0052 .00632 Expenditures 191 6- 17 and budget 1917-18 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 $1 277 12 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 S173 70 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 S32 69 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Si 000 . . Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 S6 851 40 Total 1917-18 1916-17 S13 640 18 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 Si 023 . . 1916-17 148 92 S874 08 Instruction 1917-18 $14 077 . . 1916-17 10 718 26 $3 358 74 Operation 1917-18 $3 454 . . 1916-17 2 635 96 S818 04 Maintenance 1917-18 $1 288 . . 1916-17 I 574 61 S386 61 Auxiliary 1917-18 S606 . . 1916-17 255 06 1350 94 Fixed charges 1917-18 $187 .. 1916-17 360 68 Si73 68 Debt service 1917-18 $3 438 . . 1916-17 3 184 22 $253 78 Outlay 1917-18 $1 413 .. 1916-17. .... 412 50 Si 000 50 Total 1917-18 $25 486 . . 1916-17 19 290 21 $6 195 79 1 172 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Erie county — Concluded Town of Wales Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation z 1 $40 806 2 1 106 944 3 1 49 987 4 I 49 639 5 2 170 403 6 1 48 545 7 I 68 201 $'.'. '.'.'. I I5S 650 Total 9 $690 175 Average rate Total 1917-18 $847 321 Balance 1916 $410 84 Balance 1917 163 52 $247 22 Tax 1917 3 740 75 Real tax $3 987 97 Tax 1918 $5 870 . . Real tax 1917 3 987 97 Real increase $1 882 03 Tax rate 1916-17 .00762 .00380 .00700 .00549 .00539 .00843 .00614 .00412 .0054 .0060 6.95 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $685 1916-17 25 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17 . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $660 $4 880 4 285 $595 $830 440 $330 243 $87 $140 57 Ii55 Si55 $325 $325 $200 105 $95 $7 390 5 3io $2 080 Essex county Town of Chesterfield Dist. Teachers 2 1 3 x 4 1 6 „ 1 1 Contract s'.V. '..'.'.'. 1 9 I 10 1 11 1 12 1 13 l__ Total 10 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $61 381 .0040 88 446 .0034 137 S38 .0079 25 237 .0118 10 480 .0030 74 671 .0045 38 376 .0052 11 061 .0150 13 155 .0148 11 973 • 0153 46 130 .0054 $518 448 .0063 .0082 $526 040 .009505 $758 35 141 03 $617 32 3 317 25 $3 934 57 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $527 50 1916-17 268 96 Instruction 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Operation 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $35 77 $258 54 $4 222 3 939 12 $282 88 $545 474 47 $70 53 $430 .. 306 88 $123 12 $150 185 77 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 173 Essex county — Continued Town of Chesterfield Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $5 000 . . Real tax 1917 3 934 57 Real increase $1 065 43 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $9 .. 1916-17 99 69 $90 69 Debt service 1917-18 $54° •• 1916-17 560 . . $20 . . Capital outlay 1917-18 $275 •• 1916-17 43 6s $231 35 Total 1917-18 $6 998 50 1916-17 5 878 54 $819 96 Town of Crown Point Dist. 13- 14- IS- 16. 7. r Total . Average rate . . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. . Balance 1917. . Tax 19 1 7 . Real tax . . Tax 1918 Real tax 191 7. Real increase. Teachers Assessed valuation S38 40s 73 270 171 S64 22 996 21 466 54 203 39 836 17 070 37 145 22 386 26 123 18 648 40 019 20 995 IS 082 4 445 21 771 $645 424 $629 979 $1 221 744 47 88 $476 5 221 59 07 $5 697 66 $9 626 5 697 66 $3 564 34 Tax rate 1916-17 .0050 .0027 .0140 .0058 .0093 .0037 .0052 .0063 .0050 .0079 .0087 .0065 .0064 .0058 .0088 .0270 .0100 .0080 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 1916-17 99 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17 . . . Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17 . $9 550 7 812 $1 738 $920 1 022 $102 $285 3i6 $31 $274 105 $168 $3 $50 $1 005 349 $656 Total 1917-18 $12 487 1916-17 9 713 $2 774 1 174 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Essex county — Continued Town of Elizabethtown Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 8 $533 495 .0167 2 1 96830 .0030 3 1 59 320 .0044 4 1 29 873 .0067 5- 1 81 500 .0036 6 1 40 430 . 0000 7 1 32760 .0083 Total 14 $374 208 .012 Average rate 00695 Total 1917-18 $857 996 .012839 Balance 1916 $803 79 Balance 191 7 93 76 $710 03 Tax 1917 10 498 50 Real tax $11 208 53 Tax 1918 $11 016 00 Real tax 191 7 11 208 53 Real increase $192 53 Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $300 ■• 1916-17 250 15 $49 85 Instruction 1917-18 $8 227 . . 1916-17 7 437 21 $789 79 Operation 1917-18 $1 421 . . 1916-17 1 568 50 $147 SO Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $915 45 $915 45 Auxiliary 1917-18 $225 .. 1916-17- 289 43 $64 43 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $746 87 $746 87 Fixed charges 1917-18 $600 . . 1916-17 306 85 $293 15 Debt service 1917-18 $2 400 . . 1916-17 1 872 03 $527 97 Total 1917-18 $13 173 •• 1916-17 13 386 49 $213 49 Town of Essex Dist. 1 Teachers Assessed valuation $219 151 102 453 19 767 63 75i 24 347 148 363 49 960 19 473 73 633 Tax rate 1916-17 .0176 .0027 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 .0088 .0038 .01 17 .0047 .0054 .0050 Total 13 $720 898 .0085 Total 1917-18 $732 584 .00746 .0112 $364 61 213 23 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 $151 38 6 196 12 Real tax $6 347 SO Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $650 . . 1916-17 218 84 $43i 16 Instruction 1917-18 $7 675 •• 1916-17 5 924 04 $1 750 96 Operation 1917-18 $950 .. 1916-17 699 71 $250 29 Maintenance 1917-18 $205 .. 1916-17 333 02 $128 02 Auxiliary 1917-18 S525 •• 1916-17 529 52 $4 5 2 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 175 Town of Essex Essex county — Continued Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 , Real increase. , Assessed valuation $7 970 00 6 347 SO $1 622 so Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Outlay 1917-18 $75 •• 1916-17 $75 •• Fixed charges 1917-18 $425 •• 1916-17 in 28 $313 72 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $1 833 81 $1 833 81 Total 1917-18 $10 505 . . 1916-17 9 650 22 $854 78 Town of Jay Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 2 $52 842 3 1 30 368 5 1 15 700 6 1 14 816 7 1 11 081 8 I 16 933 9 1 13 393 10 2 68 924 11 1 14 879 12 I 7 642 Total 12 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 19 16 Balance 191 7 $294 21 Tax 1917 3 592 37 Real tax $3 886 58 Tax 1918 $5 192 19 Real tax 1917 3 886 58 Real increase $1 305 61 $246 S78 $247 : -'■17 $724 430 51 30 Tax rate Expenditures 1916-17 and 1916-17 budget 1 917-18 .0151 General .0088 1917-18 $540 . . .0150 1916-17 81 20 .0173 .0197 $458 80 .0130 Instruction .0129 1917-18 $4 56i . . .014s .0161 1916-17 4 643 90 .0229 Operation $82 90 • 0145 1917-18 $467 37 1916-17 547 05 • 0155 .021 Maintenance $79 68 1917-18 $960 . . 1916-17 396 52 $563 48 Auxiliary 1917-18 $635 •• 1916-17 288 50 $346 50 Fixed charges 1917-18 $29 50 1916-17 94 59 $65 09 Debt service 1916-17 Capital Outlay $50 .. 1916-17 20 40 $29 60 Total 1917-18 $7 242 87 • 1916-17 6 072 16 $1 170 71 1 176 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Essex county — Continued Town of Keene Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 S $393 895 .0204 2 1 I9 73S .0129 i*3 2 32 315 .0368 4 1 25035 .0120 5 1 15 569 .0159 ]6 1 26937 .0114 7 1 4 925 .0365 <8 1 5014 -0369 J(9 1 14 968 . 0200 ', Total 14 $538 393 .0204 Average rate 0225 Total 1917-18 $554 326 .024082 Balance 1916 $792 14 Balance 19 1 7 978 79 $186 65 Tax 1917 11 002 70 Real tax $10 816 05 Tax 1918 $13 232 69 Real tax 1917 10 816 05 Real increase $2 416 64 Town of Lewis Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 1 $18 525 3 1 39 096 4 1 42 913 S 1 15 386 6 Contract 27 918 7 1 10 367 8 1 25 865 9 1 11 670 10 Contract 20 470 11 1 12 702 17 875 Total 9 $242 787 Average rate Total 1917-18 $248 810 Balance 1916 $356 04 Balance 1917 237 18 $118 86 Tax 1917 1 885 24 Real tax $2 004 10 Tax rate 1916-17 .0085 .0076 .oos8 . 0097 .0080 .0023 .0096 .0131 .0101 .0040 .0064 .0077 .0077 .01206 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $725 .. 1916-17 753 59 $571 41 Instruction 1917-18 $8 674 •• 1916-17 8 807 92 $133 92 Operation 1917-18 $1 895 •• 1916-17 1 970 06 $75 06 Maintenance 1917-18 $1 095 . . 1916-17 907 55 $187 45 Au6iliary 1x17-18 $385 •• 1916-17 626 . . $241 . . Fixed charges 1917-18 $21 .. 1916-17 105 52 $84 52 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Capital outlay 1917-18 $675 •• 1916-17 476 64 $198 36 Total 1917-18 $13 470 . . 1916-17 13 047 28 $422 72 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $125 .. 1916-17 25 50 $99 50 Instruction 1917-18 $4 600 . . 1916-17 3 259 45 $1 340 55 Operation 1917-18 $362 .. 1916-17 215 55 $146 45 Maintenance 1917-18 $100 .. 1916-17 123 42 $23 42 Auxiliary 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 525 75 $475 75 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 177 Essex county — Continued Town of Lewis Assessed Dist. valuation Tax 1018 $3 000 . . Real tax 19 1 7 2 004 10 Real increase $995 90 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 $50 .. 1916-17 S3 02 $3 02 Debt 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $S 287 .. 1916-17 4 202 69 fi 084 31 Town of Minerva Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 2 $52 769 2 I 45 467 4 1 23 230 5 1 44 550 9 1 22 040 10 1 7 984 13 1 34 304 Total 8 $330 344 Average rate Total 1917-18 $3U 734 Balance 1916 $362 63 Balance 1917 108 7 1 $253 92 Tax 1917 3 233 45 Real tax $3 487 37 Tax 1918 $4 500 . . Real tax 1917 3 487 37 Real increase $1 012 63 Tax rate 1916-17 .0132 .0156 .0151 .0064 .0115 .0240 .0214 .0101 .0153 ■ 0143 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $350 1916-17 81 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18.. . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $269 $4 050 3 634 $416 $500 417 $83 Jioo 418 $318 $50 42 $22 $850 113 J73I $5 900 4 813 $1 087 1 178 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Essex county Town of Moriah Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 2 $76 920 3- • • • 1 76 927 4 1 13 606 6 1 12 470 8 2 77 741 9 1 66 100 10 1 4 475 11 1 20 454 12 1 14 610 13 1 93 294 Total 12 $456 597 Average rate Total 1917-18 $472 521 Balance 1916 $867 20 Balance 1917 385 89 $481 31 Tax 1917 3 263 76 Real tax $3 745 07 Tax 1918 $14 000 . . Real tax 1917 3 745 07 Real increase $10 254 93 Town of Newcomb Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 4 5305 674 Average rate Total 1917-18 $303 674 Balance 1916 $100 32 Balance 1917 176 36 $76 04 Tax 1917 9 025 63 Real tax $9 101 67 — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 .0104 .0039 .0112 .0132 .0088 .0042 .0322 . 0085 .0108 .0042 Expenditures budget : Control 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . . Instruction 191 7-1 8. . . . 1916-17. . . . Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17, . , . Auxiliary 1917-18 . . . Outlay 1917-18. . . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Total 1917-18. . . , 1916-17. . . . Expenditures budget Control 1917-18. . . . Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 and [917-18 $575 .. 44 23 $530 77 $5 808 56 4 207 90 $1 600 66 .0071 $750 .. 557 96 $192 04 .01074 .002963 $1 100 . . 442 22 $657 78 $4 000 . . no 60 $3 889 40 $1 500 . . $1 500 . . $1 150 . . 209 77 $940 23 $1 025 . . $1 025 . . • $15 908 56 5 572 68 $10 335 88 rax rate 1916-17 .0295 1916-17 and 1916-17 .0295 .02912 $368 .. $368 $4 200 . . 3 928 . . $272 . . $1600 . . 1414 • • $186 . . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 179 Essex county — Continued Town of Newcomb Assessed valuation Tax 1018 $8 900 . . Real tax 1917 9 101 67 Real increase $201 67 Town of North Elba Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 3 1 $i5S 965 .0030 4 1 106 145 .0040 5 1 139 270 .0122 6 !.!.". ". 1 75 640 . 0069 Total 4 $477 020 .0065 Average rate 0065 Total 1918 $506 980 .007955 Balance 1916 $772 10 Balance 1917 11 28 $760 82 Tax 1917 3 126 24 Real tax , $3 887 06 Tax 1918 $4 033 03 Real tax 1917 3 887 06 Real increase $145 97 Expenditures 19 16- 17 and budget 1917-18 Maintenance 1911-17 $500 . . 1917-18 48 . . $452 . . Fixed charges 1917-18 $90 .. 1916-17 158 • • $68 .. Debt 1917-18 $1 060 . . 1916-17 2 145 ■ • $1 08S • • Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Auxiliary 1917-18 $1 450 . . 1916-17 1 423 •• $27 .. Total 1917-18 $8 900 . . 1916-17 9 484 • ■ $584 •• Expenditures 1 916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $635 •• 1916-17 152 39 $482 61 Instruction 1917-18 $2 034 . . 1916-17 1 9i8 10 $115 90 Operation 1917-18 $566 20 1916-17 594 79 $28 59 Maintenance 1917-18 $331 •• 1916-17 681 68 $345 68 Auxiliary 1917-18 $222 50 1916-17 64 98 $157 52 Fixed charges 1917-18 $15 •• 1916-17 63 90 $48 90 Debt 1917-18 $583 50 1916-17 567 49 $16 01 Outlay 1917-18 $105 •• 1916-17 354 19 $249 19 Total 1917-18 $4 497 20 1916-17 4 397 20 $99 68 n8o THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Essex county Town of North Hudson Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation I i $31 099 2 1 54 402 3 1 33 385 4 I 35 073 5 I 27 414 6 1 73 566 7 I 36 842 8 1 22 653 Total 8 $314 434 Average rate Total 1917-18 $314 674 Balance 1916 $65 29 Balance 1917 48 08 Real increase $17 21 Tax 1917 2 356 08 Real tax $2 373 29 Tax 1918 $3 000 00 Real tax 1917 2 373 29 Real increase $626 71 — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 .0079 .0044 .0069 .0123 .0076 .0041 .0098 .0143 Expenditures budget ] Control 1916-17. . . . Instruction 1917-18 1916-17. . . . 1916-17 and 917-18 $350 . 3i • #310 . $3 000 . 3 218 . .0084 .00953 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18.. . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17- $218 $500 329 I171 $50 154 $104 $40 40 $126 $126 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. S3 85 78 $307 $4 325 3 976 $349 Town of Schroon Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 4 $208 030 .0143 3 1 50692 .0069 4 1 41 707 .0080 5 1 787S8 .0070 8 1 12 060 .0178 9 1 3SO31 .0097 10 1 25 960 . 0096 Total 10 $452 238 .0111 Average rate . 01047 Total 1917-18 $469765 .015 Balance 1916 $527 99 Balance 1917 642 70 $114 71 Tax 1917 5 028 59 Real tax $4 913 88 Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 191 7-i 8 Control 1917-18 $300 1916-17 80 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18.. . 1916-17. .. $220 $6 450 5 270 $1 180 $72 $225 317 $92 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM Il8l Town of Schroon Essex county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $7 046 . . Real tax 1917 4 913 88 Real increase $2 132 12 Expenditures budget Fixed charges 1916-17 and 1917-18 $120 .. 286 .. Debt 1916-17. . . . $166 .. $525 ■• 631 .. Outlay 1916-17 $106 . . $305 .. Auxiliary 1917-18 . , . $305 •• $350 .. 74 •• Total 1917-18, $276 . . $8 650 .. 7 715 •• $935 .. Town of St Armani Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation r 1 $43 808 3 1 37 968 4 5 100 194 Total 7 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase $ 81 >70 $ [92 279 $1 I 125 65 058 48 5 $67 17 984 78 $6 051 95 $7 6 527 051 14 95 $1 475 19 Tax rate 1916-17 .0071 .0169 .0501 Expenditures budget Control Instruction Operation 1917-18. . . . Maintenance 1916-17. . . . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . Fixed charges 1916-17. . . . Debt 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Total 1917-18 1916-17. . . . 1916-17 and 917-18 $200 . . 174 66 .0328 $25 34 .0247 .0391 $4 667 . . 3 895 17 $771 83 $1 252 30 958 90 $293 40 $275 .. 210 41 $64 59 $260 . . 204 . . $56 .. $160 . . 183 92 $23 92 $1 462 . . 1 503 28 $41 28 $25 .. 26 25 $1 25 $8 301 30 7 156 59 $1 144 7i Il82 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Essex county — Continued Town of Ticonderoga Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $90225 .0051 3 1 55 212 .0054 4 2 87 686 . 0076 7 1 62 746 . 0044 8 1 10 585 -0154 9 2 51 857 .0134 10 1 42 537 .0075 Total 9 $400 848 . 0072 Average rate . 0084 Total 1917-18 $443 788 . 00676 Balance 1916 $601 41 Balance 1917 860 83 $259 42 Tax 1917 2 896 80 Real tax $2 637 38 Tax 1918 $3 000 00 Real tax 1917 2 637 38 Real increase $362 62 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1916-17 $225 1916-17 35 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $190 $3 500 3 214 $286 $450 345 $105 $200 200 $38 $38 $118 $118 $466 $4 900 4 009 $891 Town of Westporl Dist. Teachers 1 Assessed valuation $161 520 427 758 81 476 86 256 18 025 23 685 72 000 53 768 44 489 27 040 Tax rate 1916-17 .0024 8 .0089 3 4 5 6 8 1 1 1 1 Contract . . . 1 .0031 .0037 .0092 .0106 .0042 10 1 .0044 . . . 1 .0060 16 Total $996 017 .0059 $872 996 .0058 Total 1917-18 .0105 $3 597 75 2 046 95 $1 550 80 5 834 51 $7 385 31 Expenditures budget ] 1916-17 and 917-18 Control $491 • . 186 97 Instruction $304 03 $9 250 . . 8 284 36 Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $965 64 $1 232 46 1 147 87 Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $84 59 $556 .. 703 34 Auxiliary 1916-17. . . . $147 34 $290 . . 223 18 $66 82 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 183 Essex county — Continued Town of Westport Assessed Expenditures 1916-17 and valuation budget 191 7-18 Tax 1918 $10 854 39 Outlay Real tax 1917 7 835 31 Real increase S3 019 08 1916-17 4 OS Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $45 95 $402 23 180 .. Debt 1917-18 $222 23 *$773 86 Total 1917-18 1916-17 $13 045 55 10 729 77 $2 315 78 * Incidentals Town of Willsboro Dist. Teachers 9 Assessed valuation $425 265 87 462 54 158 3i 86s 32 363 16 068 52 975 30 120 15 180 37 292 Tax rate 1916-17 .0137 .0032 .0055 .0062 .0081 .0064 .0042 .0083 .0130 .0119 Expenditures budget Control I9i6>-I7. . . Instruction 1917-18, . . . 1916-17. . . , Operation 1916-17. . . . Maintenance Auxiliary 1917-18 . . , 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1916-17. . . . Fixed charges 1917-18. 1916-17 Debt 1916-17 , , , Total 1917-18 1916-17. . . . 1916-17 and 1917-18 1 $100 . . 3 1 1 1 107 50 $7 SO 6 1 1 $9 485 . . 8 . . . 1 8 712 94 1 $772 0,6 Total 18 $783 021 .0101 . $1 07S .. 1 398 12 .00806 .01165 $793 951 $323 1.2 $1 109 67 118 99 $150 . . 804 84 $990 68 7 935 22 $654 84 $90 .. 388 70 $8 925 90 Tax 1918 $9 250 . . 8 925 90 $298 70 $125 . . $324 10 $70 8s $557 50 190 22 $367 28 $262 50 537 SO $275 •• . $11 84s .. 12 335 67 $490 67 n84 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Essex county — Concluded Town of Wilmington Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 r 1 $34622 .0072 2 1 16054 .0117 3 .'. 2 43835 .0206 4 1 14 244 .0235 c 1 13 660 .0140 6/'.'.'.'.'.'. !'.!.. 1 15783 .0173 Total 7 $138 198 -QI55 Average rate ■ OI 57 Total 1917-18 $139 755 01789 Balance 1916 $239 59 Balance 1917 I2 5 28 $114 31 Tax 1917 2 145 36 Real tax $2 259 67 Tax 1918 $2 500 32 Real tax 1917 2 2 59 67 Real increase $240 65 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $275 .. 1916-17 9 18 $265 82 Instruction 1917-18 $2 828 .. 1916-17 2 758 71 $69 29 Operation 1917-18 $417 •• 1916-17 350 49 $66 51 Maintenance I9I7-I8 $50 .. 1916-17 221 67 $171 67 Auxiliary 1917-18 $90 . . 1916-17 75 34 $14 66 Fixed charges 1917-18 $7 .. 1916-17 60 02 $53 02 Debt 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $105 .. 1916-17 46 35 $58 65 Total 1917-18 $3 772 .. 1916-17 3 521 76 $250 24 Franklin county Town of Bangor ^^ ^ ^ Di st _ Teachers valuation 1916-17 t ... 4 $132 759 .0167 „ ' 2 101 313 .0100 t '" 1 26 248 .0075 1 73 018 .0050 % 2 49 998 .0113 f. 1 20 235 .0150 , ; . . 1 39 386 . 0040 0" '" 1 52 253 -0051 ' " I 14 350 .0100 11 '.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'. x 53 136 . ooso Total 15 $562 696 -OQ97 Average rate ••• oo8 9° Totali9i7-i8 $572 344 -0H9 Balance 1916 $93i •• Balance 1917 "* " $820 . . Tax 191 7 $s 501 •• Real tax #° 321 .. Expenditures 1 916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $275 1916-17 26 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $7 100 6 121 $979 $930 840 $90 $500 433 $250 276 $26 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 185 Town of Bangor Franklin county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1017-18 $6 Sn .. Real tax 1916-17 6 321 . . Real increase $490 . . Town of Bombay Dist. Teachers 1 5 2 1 3 2 4 1 S 1 6 1 7 I 8 I Total 13 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase Assessed valuation $IS6 550 58 467 82 205 11 461 25 516 39 035 25 876 14 275 Tax rate 1916-17 .01221 .00327 .00774 .00804 .00643 . 00498 .00620 .00742 $413 385 .01078 $450 097 .0125 S2I0 . . 22 . . $188 .. 4 456 00 $4 644 00 $5 625 00 4 644 00 S981 00 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $75 . 1916-17 133 ■ $58 ■ Debt service 1917-18 $100 . 1916-17 346 . $246 . Outlay 1916-17. . . . $55i -• $55i .. Total 1917-18. . . . $9 230 . . 1916-17. . . . 8 727 •■ $503 . . Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18. . . . $200 . . 1916-17. . . . 10 . . $190 . . Instruction 1917-18. . . . $6 000 . . 1916-17. . . . 5 181 . . $819 •• Operation $800 . . 1916-17 .... 971 • • $171 .. Maintenance 1917-18. . . . $300 . . 1916-17. . . . 318 .. $18 .. Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . $150 .. 1916-17. . . . 115 • ■ Fixed charges $35 .. 1917-18. . . . $100 . . 1916-17. . . . 100 . . Debt service 1917-1S. . . . 1916-17. . . . $50 .. $50 .. Outlay 1917-18. . . . $50 .. 1916-17. . . . 87 .. $37 •• 1917-18. . . . $7 600 . . 1916-17. . . . 6 854 . . $746 . . 38 n86 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Brandon Dist. Total . Average rate. . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. Balance 1917. Tax 1917. Real tax . . Tax 1917-18 Real tax 1916-17. Real increase. Franklin county — Continued Teachers Assessed valuation $26 02s 23 560 17 S63 37 724 IS 200 26 725 $146 797 J147 249 $100 38 1 618 $1 680 $2 000 1 680 $320 . . Tax rate 1916-17 .0099 .0117 .0090 .0059 .0149 .0178 .0110 .0115 .0136 Expenditures 1 916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $200 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. • . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $200 $2 325 2 223 $102 $250 213 $37 $200 462 $262 $150 87 $73 $25 29 14 $125 25 $100 $3 275 3 039 $236 Town of Brighton Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $127 402 2 2 (1916) 173 745 3 1 44 78i 4 3 89 233 Total 7 $435 161 Average rate Total 1917-18 $448 177 Balance 1917 $1 on 00 Balance 1916 701 00 $310 00 Tax 1917 $5 542 00 310 00 Real tax $5 232 00 Tax 1917-18 $8 964 00 Real tax 1916-17 5 232 00 Real increase $3 732 00 Tax rate 1916-17 .00961 .0283 .00706 .02158 .01273 .01664 .02 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 1917-18 Budget indefinite Instruction 1917-18 $6 990 . 1916-17 3 965 ■ $3 025 . Total 1917-18 $9 754 ■ 1916-17 7 677 . $2 077 ■ THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 187 Town of Burke Dist. Franklin county — Continued Teachers Con Con Total . Average rate . . Total 1917-18. Balance 1016. . Balance 1917. • Tax 1017. Real tax. . Tax 1018 Real tax 191 7. Real increase. 16 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $39 969 .00619 37 035 .00570 36 227 .00807 23 261 .01000 29 335 .00850 22 210 . 00600 38 147 .00491 33 417 .00829 26 800 -00753 27 650 .00830 17 780 ■OOS99 18 OSS .00899 27 620 .00097 24 640 .00964 17 OSS .00927 92 190 .01649 $5H 391 $532 925 $856 216 37 17 $640 4 475 20 or $5 US 21 $6 661 5 115 56 21 $1 S46 35 .0087 Expenditures 19 16- 17 and budget 191 7-18 Control (a) 1917-18. . $510 . . 1916-17 25 74 $484 26 Instruction 1917-18 $3 745 • • 1916-17 s 762 34 $2 017 34 Operation 1917-18 $636 56 1916-17 799 34 $162 78 Maintenance 1917-18 $950 . . 1916-17 408 46 $541 54 Auxiliary 1917-18 $525 • ■ 1916-17 776 SO $251 50 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $120 57 $120 57 Debt services 1917-18 1916-17 $617 59 $617 59 Incidentals 1917-18 $295 . . 1916-17 $295 •• Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $11 43 $11 43 Total 1917-18 $6 661 56 1916-17 8 521 97 $1 860 41 (a) Janitor's and Clerk's salary $510 Town of Chaleaugay Dist. 3. 4- 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Ii. 12. J 3. '4 15. 16 17 Teachers Con Total . Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $29 8a6 36 70s .0062 . 0060 49 201 .0041 26 250 .0070 41 430 .0060 38 561 0045 54 100 .0046 20 510 .0104 18 045 .0092 13 350 .0109 23 988 0075 30 797 .0052 13 88s .0111 28 133 .0057 18 565 . 0080 $443 426 .0062 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 *$826 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. , Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $826 $S 950 4 502 $1 448 £550 459 $91 $200 213 $13 Ill THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Franklin county Town of Chateaugay Assessed valuation Average rate Total 191 7-1 8 $452 54" Balance 1916 $602 72 332 60 $270 12 Tax 1917 # 2 789 98 Real tax $3 060 10 Tax 1918 $4 072 86 Real tax 1917 3 060 10 Real increase $1 012 76 * Includes Janitor's salary Town of Constable Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation ! 3 $88 486 2 ". 1 30 831 -> 1 30 679 4 1 18 418 S . ' 1 25 945 6 1 16 656 7 1 8 408 Total 9 $219 423 Average rate - Total 1917-18 $239 202 Balance 1916 $181 00 Balance 191 7 149 00 $132 00 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 191 7- Real increase . $2 523 OO $2 655 OO $3 492 2 65s 00 00 $837 00 — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 .00708 .009 Expenditures budget Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- ■ ■ ■ Fixed charge 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18 . . . 1916-17. . . . Incidentals 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18 . . . 1916-17- ■ • ■ Total 1917-18. . . . Expenditures budget Control 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- ■ • ■ Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- - - - Maintenance 1917-18. . - - 1916-17- • • • Auxiliary . 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- ■ • • Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- • ■ Debt service 1917-18... 1916-17- • • Outlay 1917-18. . - 1916-17- • ■ Total 1917-18. . - 1916-17- - ■ 1916-17 and 1917-18 $100 . . 516 $416 . . $200 . . 73 •- $127 -- Si 565 -- 32 .. Si 533 • • $54° 48 $540 48 $200 . . $200 . . $10 131 . . 5 796 . . $4 335 - • Tax rate 1916-17 .01266 .00744 .00981 1916-17 and [917-18 $245 - - .01350 .01094 .02140 $245 .. $3 598 . . .0114 $459 • • .01206 . 0146 $645 - - 379 ■ ■ $266 . . $204 . . 468 . . $264 . . $110 .. 72 . . $38 .. $40 . . 55 - ■ $15 . . '.'. ""u&".'. $48 .. $4 842 . . 4 161 . . $781 .. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 189 Franklin county — Continued Town of Dickinson Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1016-17 1 i $41 415 .0072 2 1 22 444 . 0090 3 I 54 383 .0055 4 1 30510 .0080 5 1 23 105 .0104 6 1 14 130 .0110 7 1 55 468 .0067 8 4 91 387 .0165 9 I 22 340 . 00938 10 I 26 620 . 0075 11 I 15 147 .016S Total 14 $396 949 ■ 01003 Average rate . 00979 Total 1917-18 $396 860 . 014 Balance 1916 $557 00 Balance 1917 283 00 $274 00 Tax 1917 3 982 00 Real tax $4 256 00 Tax 1917-18 $5 563 00 Real tax 191 7 4 256 00 Real increase $1 307 00 Outlay: Books and apparatus Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 S250 . 1916-17 23 . S227 • Instruction 191 7-i 8 $6 210 . 1916-17 5 482 . $728 . Operation 1917-18 $580 . 1916-17 694 . $114 . Maintenance 1917-18 $628 . 1916-17 214 . $414 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $200 . 1916-17 33 ■ $167 . Fixed charges 1917-18 $32 . 1916-17 87 • $55 • Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $100 . 1916-17 78 . $22 . Total 1917-18 $8 000 . 1916-17 6 932 . $1 068 . Town of Duanc Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $22 844 2 1 58 396 3 1 32 690 4 1 18 065 Total 4 $131 995 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 191 7 Tax 191 7 Real tax $ 143 412 JII7 120 00 00 $1 $3 584 00 00 $1 58l 00 Tax rate 1916-17 .015 .009 013 .01609 .012 .01327 .015 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $200 . 1916-17 14 . $186 . Instruction 1917-18 $2 250 . 1916-17 1 516 . $734 • Operation 1917-18 $300 . 1916-17 225 . 575 ■ Maintenance 1917-18 $40 . 1916-17 267 . $227 . IIOX) THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Duane Franklin county Assessed valuation Tax 1917-18 $2 151 00 Real tax 1916-17 1 581 00 Real increase $570 00 Town of Fort Covington Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 10 $272 024 2 1 15 161 3 1 29 905 4 1 29 985 S 1 25 930 6 1 46 025 7 1 52 807 8 1 25 400 9 1 36 14s J o 1 26 547 1 1 1 26 400 Total 20 $586 329 Average rate Total 1917-18 $608 174 Balance 1916-17 S507 00 Balance 1917-18 169 00 $337 00 Tax 1917 7 650 00 Real tax $7 987 00 Tax 1917-18 $8 089 00 Real tax 1917 7 987 00 Real increase $102 00 — Continued Expenditures budget ] Auxiliary 1917-18. , , , 1916-17- • • ■ Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . Debt service Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . , Total 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Expenditures budget Control 1917-18 1916-17, Instruction 1917-18. 1916-17 Control 1917-18. 1916-17, . , . Instruction 1917-18 1916-17. Operation 1916-17. . . • Maintenance 1917-18. . , . 1916-17 Auxiliary Fixed charges 1916-17 . ■ Debt service 1917-18 1916-17- ■ • Outlay 1917-18. .. Total 1917-18. , . 1 9 16-17 and :9i7-i8 $37 •• 45 ■• $8 .. $36 .. $36 .. $74 ■• $74 •■ $123 .. $123 •• $2 827 .. 2 300 . . $527 .. Tax rate 1916-17 .02107 .01164 . 00644 .00571 • 00947 . 00430 .00418 1916-17 and 1917-18 $275. ■ 26 .. $249 ■ . $1 027 ■ • . 00480 .00611 .00580 $1 027 00 $1 027 . - .00805 0133 $1 027 . . $8 853 • • 9 191 • ■ $338 .. $1 172 . . 1 143 • • $29 .. $200 . . 322 . . $122 . . $200 . . 280 . . $80 .. $120 . . $120 . . '.'. "J13O .. $130 .. '.'. $3 184".. $3 184 ■• . . $11 453 .. 14 370 . . $2 918 .. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM II9I Franklin county Town of Franklin Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $6 860 2 2 201 681 3 4 (1016) 133 489 5- 1 8 550 6 1 7 052 7 1 8 255 8 1 13 376 9 3 27 112 10 I 21 664 II I 17 377 12 I 16 512 13 1 9 880 Dist. No. 4 dissolved Total 18 £338 319 Average rate Total 1917-18 $547 945 Balance 1917 $1 077 00 Balance 1916 792 00 $285 00 Tax 191 7 $8 282 00 285 00 Real tax $7 997 00 Tax 1917-18 $12 000 00 Real tax 1916-17 7 997 00 Real increase 4 003 00 Continued Tax rate 1916-17 .02929 .0049 .0237 .03236 0333 .02805 .025 .06236 .015 .01467 .02120 .023 .01571 .02607 .0219 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 1916-17 I132 . $132 . Instruction 1917-18 $9 000 . 1916-17 7 704 . Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. ■ . . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. • • • Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $436 Total 1917-18 $12 000 1916-17 12 468 $1 296 . . $2 200 . . I 148 .. $1 052 .. 1447 ■• 387 ■• $60 . . $825 . . 1825 . . $203 . . $203 .. {250 . . 457 •• $205 ■ • 100 . . 536 .. Town of Harriettstown Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 , 2 2 $303 209 3 4 354 118 Total 6 $657 327 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1917 Balance 1916 Tax 191 7 Real tax $671 408 $793 645 00 00 S148 00 $5 537 148 00 00 $5 389 OIF Tax rate 1916-17 .0066 .0100 . 00842 .0083 .0085 Expenditures 191 7-1 8 and budget 1916-17 Control 1917-18 , 1917-18 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $3 675 3 062 $613 $690 758 $27S 718 $443 1 192 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Franklin county — Continued Town of Harrieltstown Dist. Teachers Tax 1917-18 Real tax 1916-17 Real increase. Outlay 1917-18: Furniture $75 Town of Moira, Unit 1 Dist. Teachers 1 11 3 I 4 ! 9 I 10 I Total 15 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 $1 154 00 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1917-18 Real tax 1917 Real increase Assessed valuation $5 709 00 S 389 00 Tax rate 1916-17 Tax rate 1916-17 .0236 .0090 .0110 .0042 .00428 .01723 Expenditures budget ] Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. . . Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . . Total 1917-1S 1916-17 Expenditures budget 1 Control 1917-18 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. 1916-17, Operation 1917-18 1916-17 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17. Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. 1916-17 Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 . Outlay 1917-18. . . 1916-17- . . Total 1917-18. . 1916-17. . . 1916-17 and 917-18 $675 •■ $320 00 $560 . . $235 • • 30 . . $205 .. $75 •• 266 .. $191 •• $5 625 . . 6 862 . . $1 237 • • Assessed valuation $210 496 25 918 22 932 1916-17 and 517-18 37 575 39 480 $336 401 $335 902 . 01042 .0225 $1 154 00 79 00 (Budget indefinite) $1 075 00 5 799 00 $6 874 00 $7 120 00 $246 00 $11 570 . . 6 486 $5 084 . . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 193 Franklin county — Continued Town of Moira, Unit 2 Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1 916-17 2 5 Si 99 943 .0140 S 1 40 196 .00463 6 I 28 627 . 0096 7 1 34 46s .0045 8 1 40 263 . 0085 11 1 19692 .0076 Total 10 $363 186 .01067 Average rate .00814 Total 1917-18 $376 207 .0158 Balance 1916 $168 00 Balance 191 7 159 00 S9 00 Tax 1917 $3 879 00 Real tax S3 888 00 Tax 1917-18 $5 753 00 Real tax 1917 3 888 00 Real increase Si 865 00 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 S165 1916-17 58 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. , Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $107 $5 200 4 413 $400 251 Si49 S230 172 $303 S215 7 233 Si 353 Town of Santa Clara Dist. Teachers 1 3 2 2 Total 5 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 191 7 Real increase Assessed valuation $98 633 84 225 Tax rate 1916-17 .0175 .0106 S182 858 .0143 S181 930 . 022 $714 71 210 96 S503 75 2 614 05 S3 117 80 S4 002 00 3 117 80 S884 20 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1917-18 Instruction 1917-18 $2 400 . . 1916-17 2 244 . . S156 .. Operation 1917-18 $350 . . 1916-17 372 35 $22 35 Maintenance 1917-18 S435 .. 1916-17 746 85 S311 85 Auxiliary 1917-18 S225 00 1916-17 203 83 $21 17 Fixed charges 1917-18 S515 • • 1916-17 87 06 S428 94 Outlay 1917-18 ?75 • • 1916-17 27 05 S47 95 Total 1917-18 $4 000 . . 1916-17 3 681 14 $318 86 1 194 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Franklin county Town of Waverly Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation i ii $179 889 2 2 103 64s 3 2 80 000 4 2 75 427 5 1 29 000 Total 18 $467 961 Average rate Total 1917-18 $570 827 Balance 1916 $822 56 Balance 1917 589 67 $232 89 Tax 1917 8 019 35 Real tax '. $8 252 24 Tax 1918 $11 416 54 Real tax 1917 8 252 24 Real increase $3 164 30 Town of Westville Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $18 400 2 1 14 240 3 1 29 917 4 1 48 289 5 1 30 752 6 1 15 600 7 1 26 715 8 1 14 200 9 1 13 096 Total 9 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax _. Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase $211 209 $215 820 $167 10 86 7.5 $157 1 937 13 61 $2 094 74 $2 496 58 2 094 74 $401 84 — Concluded Tax rate 1916-17 .0317 .0067 .0088 .0086 .0090 .0171 .0130 .02 Tax rate 1916-17 .0115 .0080 .0085 .0050 .0060 .0099 .0159 .0125 .0134 .00917 .0101 .0116 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $830 . . 1916-17 56 . . $774 •• Instruction 1917-18 $10 505 . . 1916-17 8 382 96 $2 122 04 Operation 1917-18 $1 777 . . 1916-17 1 016 24 $760 76 Maintenance 1917-18 $750 . - 1916-17 942 20 $192 20 Auxiliary 1917-18 $260 . . 1916-17 124 79 $135 21 Fixed charges 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 253 97 $53 97 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $126 87 $126 87 Outlay 1917-18 $50 .. 1916-17 . 257 63 $207 63 Total 1917-18 $14 372 . . 1916-17. . . . 11 160 66 $3 211 34 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $125 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . $I2S $3 250 2 939 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $311 $420 324 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $250 399 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $149 $75 96 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $21 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $4 150 3 809 $341 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 195 Fulton county Town of Bleecker Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $13470 .0192 2 1 11 100 .0030 3 1 IS 780 .0230 4 1 H 78s .0300 5 I 12600 .0113 Total S $64 73s . 0255 Average rate . 01 73 Total 1917-18 $64411 .04 Balance 1916 $102 88 Balance 1917 75 78 $27 10 Tax 1917 1 654 80 Real tax $1 681 90 Tax 1918 $2 576 54 Real tax 1917 1 681 80 Real increase $894 55 * Not finished Town of Broadalbin Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 S 1 6 1 7 Contract 8 7 9 1 10 1 Total 15 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 $635 22 Balance 1917 516 62 $118 60 Tax 1917 $6 381 76 Real tax $6 500 36 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $19 ISO .0112 25 762 .0078 Si 388 .0069 20 557 .0140 29 109 .0187 30 885 .0078 21 015 .0032 323 542 .0112 36 573 .0115 44 841 .0090 $602 822 .0105 .0101 $612 870 .0134 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18* Control 1917-18 $145 00 1916-17 6 20 $138 80 Instruction 1917-18 $2 900 . . 1916-17 2 253 SO $646 50 Operation 1917-18 $180 . . 1916-17 273 SO $57 SO Maintenance 1917-18 $80 . . 1916-17 44 34 $35 66 Auxiliary 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 66 91 $16 91 Fixed charges 1917-18 $10 . . 1916-17 24 97 $14 97 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $12 68 $12 68 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $45 . . $45 -. Total 1017-18 $3 36s . . 1916-17 2 691 10 $673 90 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $410 . . 1916-17 75 96 $334 04 Instruction 1917-18 $7 675 . . 1916-17 6 707 78 $968 22 Operation 1917-18 $1 24s . . 1916-17 1 168 68 $76 32 Maintenance 1917-18 $300 .. 1916-17 330 69 $30 69 Auxiliary 1917-18 $450 . . 1916-17 393 93 $56 07 ii^6 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Broadalbin Fulton county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $8 212 45 Real tax 1917 6 500 36 Real increase $1 812 09 Town of Caroga Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation I 2 $94 637 2 1 16 660 3 1 22 949 Total 4 $134 246 Average rate Total 1917-1S $137 066 Balance 1916 #299 81 Balance 1917 24 96 $274 85 Tax 1917 2 098 75 Real tax $2 373 60 Tax 1918 $2 741 32 Real tax 2 373 60 Real increase $367 72 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $60 . . 1916-17 134 25 374 25 Debt service 1917-18 $790 50 1916-17 1 336 68 3546 18 Outlay 1917-18 5i75 • ■ 1916-17 $175 .■• Total 1917-18 $11 105 50 1916-17 10 147 °7 $957 S3 Tax rate Expenditures 1916-17 and 1916-17 budget 1917-18 .0120 Control .0181 1917-18 $297 .0288 1916-17 10 04 .0156 $286 36 = Operation .0196 1917-18 $195 .0200 1916-17 .... 123 90 $71 10 Instruction 1917-18. . . . $2 158 1916-17. . . . 1 927 63 $230 37 Maintenance 1917-18. . . . $385 32 1916-17. . . . 118 39 5266 03 Auxiliary 1917-1S. . . . $35 1916-17. • . . 37 50 $2 50 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . $5 1916-17. . . . 119 19 $114 19 Debt service 1917-18. . . . $166 1916-17. • • • 172 $6 Outlay 1917-18. . . . $350 1916-17. • ■ • 663 25 $313 25 Total 1917-18. . . . $3 591 32 1916-17. . . ■ 3 172 50 $418 82 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 197 Fulton county Town of Ephratah Dist. Teachers 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 2 7 1 8 I 9 1 10 I 11 1 12 I Total 12 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase Continued Town of Johnstown Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 1 3 1 5 2 6 1 8 . 2 10 1 12 1 13 Contract 14 • 1 IS 1 16 1 17 1 18 2 19- . 1 21 ' 1 Total 18 Average rate Total 1917-1S Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax 1917 Assessed valuation S19 990 46 825 16 204 63 99i 96 438 32 874 20 705 49 540 114 553 19 168 36 224 Tax rate 1916-17 .0169 .0094 .0185 .0078 .0151 .0079 .0123 .0060 .0059 .0110 .0096 Expenditures 19 budget 1917 Control 1917-18 1916-17 16-17 and -18 S252 .. 49 .. Instruction 1917-18 S203 . . Ss 191 . . 5 653 90 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17 S462 90 S750 . . 922 63 SS16 512 . 0098 $530 417 .0100 .0126 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $172 63 $500 . . 326 12 S446 95 38 97 Tax rate 1916-17 . 0040 .0049 .0070 .0166 .0030 .0098 .Olio .0037 .0040 .0079 .0160 .0052 .0104 .0057 0083 .0100 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 Si73 88 $680 . . 350 13 $407 98 $5 in 76 $5 519 .74 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 S329 13 S6 687 00 5 519 74 S33 7i Si 167 26 Debt service 1917-18 S33 7i $1 124 . . 844 12 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $279 88 S600 . . Total 1917-18 1916-17 S600 . . $9 097 . . 8 179 61 S9I7 39 Assessed valuation $88 550 59 665 114 073 54 900 140 325 91 280 26 577 127 903 31 660 53 500 16 941 89 380 42 000 121 955 54 826 35 356 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 Si 625 . . 1916-17 21 09 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 Si 603 91 $9 800 . . 8 326 18 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 Si 473 82 Si 350 . . 1 100 22 Maintenance 1916-17 S249 78 S600 . . 1 172 16 Si 148 891 .0067 Si 161 338 .0060 .0105 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 S572 16 S550 . . 115 . . $698 33 240 11 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 5435 . . S25 .. $458 22 7 714 79 S8 174 01 117 77 592 77 1198 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Johnstown Fulton county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $12 194 os Real tax 1917 8 174 79 Real increase 4 021 04 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1917-18 Debt service 1917-18 $278 50 1916-17 669 51 1391 01 Outlay 1917-18 I9SO . . 1916-17 86 06 $863 94 Total 1917-18 lis 178 SO 1916-17 11 607 99 $Z 570 Si Town of May field Dist. Teachers 1 2 1 3- 1 4 r S 1 6 4 7 1 8 1 9 2 10 1 11 1 12 1 13 1 14 1 15 1 Total 18 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax $1 143 08 Tax 1918 $8 944 28 Real tax 1917 7 143 08 Real increase $1 801 20 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $59 794 .0060 17 322 • 013s 30 860 .0080 62 502 .0056 164 172 .0130 13 200 .0200 22 950 .0127 66 072 .0109 41 659 .0066 31 048 .0081 16 852 .0130 14 550 .0160 19 930 .0146 91 519 .0064 $651 529 .0104 .0104 $638 877 .0140 $608 14 302 65 $305 49 6 837 59 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $550 . . 1916-17 159 24 $390 76 Instruction 1917-18 $& 430 .. 1916-17 8 327 08 $102 92 Operation 1917-18 $1 348 •• 1916-17 1 144 69 $203 31 Maintenance 1917-18 $600 . . 1916-17 483 5i $116 49 Auxiliary 1917-18 $375 ■ 1916-17 117 12 $257 88 Fixed charges I9I7-I8 $125 . . 1916-17 145 06 $20 06 Outlay 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 130 99 $19 01 Total 1917-18 {11 782 . . 1016-17 10 517 69 $1 264 31 Debt service 1917-18 $204 . . 1916-17 10 . . $194 ■ - THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1199 Fulton county — Continued Town of Northampton Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $13 7S8 .0151 2 1 16 225 -0130 3 Contract 8825 . 0067 4 8 256795 .0186 5 Contract 8 505 . 0059 6 2 50925 .0201 7 1 11 450 .0227 8 1 159485 .0038 9 1 13850 .0218 Total 15 $539 818 .0139 Average rate .0142 Total 1917-18 $545249 .0164 Balance 1916 $436 52 Balance 1917 114 54 $321 98 Tax 1917 7 529 38 Real tax $7 851 36 Tax 1918 $9 270 08 Real tax 1917 7 851 36 Real increase Si 418 72 Town of Oppenheim Dist. Teachers 1 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 1 10 1 11 Contract 13 Contract 14 1 IS 1 16 1 Total 11 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Assessed valuation $9 025 48 456 70 685 104 849 287 831 19 010 17 603 27 199 19 819 23 906 9 450 7 257 8 405 Tax rate 1916-17 .0220 .0062 .0084 .0035 .0042 .0140 .0130 .0094 .0028 .0035 .0215 .0300 • 0233 $652 . 405 $580 613 $486 231 15 30 $254 4 214 85 62 $4 469 47 .0064 .0101 .0131 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $475 • • 1916-17 282 81 $192 19 Instruction 1917-18 $9 021 . . 1916-17 8 155 53 $865 47 Operation 1917-18 $1 395 .- 1916-17 1 127 24 $267 76 Maintenance 1917-18 $325 ■ • 1916-17 274 91 $50 09 Auxiliary 1917-18 $669 . . 1916-17 545 48 $123 52 Fixed charges 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 181 16 $131 16 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $264 50 $264 50 Capital Outlay 1917-18 $140 . . 1916-17 24 50 $115 50 Total 1917-18 $12 075 .. 1916-17 10 856 13 $1 218 87 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $750 . . 1916-17 3 43 $746 57 Instruction 1917-18 $6 305 . . 1916-17 5 322 79 $982 21 Operation 1917-18 $650 . . 1916-17 324 95 $325 05 Maintenance 1917-18 $500 . . 1916-17 178 89 $321 11 Auxiliary 1917-18 $890 . . 1916-17 459 84 $430 16 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $12 03 $12 03 1200 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Oppenheim Fulton county — Continued Tax 1918. . . . Real tax Real increase. Assessed valuation $7 S9S 00 4 469 47 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $572 93 $572 93 Outlay 1917-18 $1 000 . . 1916-17 $1 000 . . Total 1917-18 $10 095 • • 1916-17 6 874 86 $3 220 14 Town of Perth Dist. Teachers . . . . 1 Assessed valuation $41 837 49 645 64 161 62 503 65 845 44 201 22 620 Tax rate 1916-17 .0070 .0070 0053 .0056 .0049 .0077 Expenditures budget : Control 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Instruction 1916-17. ■ . . Operation 1917-18, , . Maintenance 1917-18. 1916-17. Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. . ■ Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17. Total 1917-18 1916-17. ■ . 1916-17 and [917-18 . . . . 1 $195 •• . . . . 1 1 . . $184 . . . . . . 1 $3 415 • • . . . . 1 2 589 77 . . . . 1 $825 23 . . . . 1 $410 . . 264 83 Total 7 $350 812 .0057 $373 710 .0063 .0088 $145 17 $165 . . $203 79 154 49 48 •• $49 20 2 025 07 $100 . . 19 39 $2 074 27 $3 288 65 2 074 27 $69 • • 26 40 $1 214 38 $75 • • $75 .■ . *$4 429 ■ • 2 949 39 $1 479 61 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I20I Town of Stratford Dist. Total . Average rate . . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. . Balance 191 7. . Tax 1917. Real tax . Tax 191 8. Real tax. . Real increase. Fulton county — Concluded Teachers Assessed valuation 544 635 10 596 22 620 16 251 22 07s 29 170 16 206 42 013 $203 569 $208 623 $347 36 233 37 S113 2 918 99 40 S3 032 39 $4 443 3 032 67 39 $1 411 28 Tax rate 1916-17 .0189 .0244 .0120 . IO67 .0120 .0100 .0218 .0082 .0143 .0138 • 0213 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 5385 .. 1916-17 1 60 Instruction 1917-18. 1916-17. Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $384 40 $4 350 3 967 $382 53 $300 191 22 $108 78 $300 117 39 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $182 61 $100 53 $47 $50 4 $224 $525 146 52 $378 48 $6 234 •- 4 766 20 $1 467 80 Town of Alabama Dist, Teachers 11 Contract Total . Genesee county Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 488 926 Assessed valuation Tax rate 1916-17 $153 79 125 164 512 026 • 003499 . 005699 • 004499 41 233 63 44 66 370 127 830 128 088 274 450 192 404 .007501 .003 • 005989 .00734 .020791 .003519 $1 304 068 •00875 .00687 .005 $1 488 926 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $40 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. , 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $280 $1 045 1 033 $12 $625 288 $337 1202 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Genesee county — Continued Town of Alabama Assessed valuation Balance 1916 $1 390 06 Balance 191 7 842 is $547 91 Tax 191 7 11 415 86 Real tax 191 7 $11 963 77 Tax 1918 7 444 63 Decrease $451914 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Auxiliary 1917-18 $750 1916-17 115 $635 Fixed charges 1917-18 $75 1916-17 182 $107 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $964 $964 Outlay 1917-18 $510 1916-17 6 495 $5 985 Total 1917-18 $8 813 1916-17 14 207 $5 394 Town of Alexander Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 2 5 $315008 .OHIO 3 1 128787 .00543 4 1 85472 .00454 5 1 64760 .00474 6 1 121 765 .00328 7 1 148 414 .00350 8 1 103 941 .00184 9 1 135 148 .00279 10 1 148 956 ■ 00350 Total 13 $1 252 251 .00551 Average rate 00452 Total 1917-18 $1 276 120 . 006895 Balance 1916 $346 19 Balance 1917 68 68 $277 5i Tax 1917 6 905 28 Real tax $7 182 79 Tax 1918 $8 798 98 Real tax 1917 7 182 79 Real increase $1 616 19 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $385 1916-17 20 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $365 $7 980 6 617 $1 363 $1 000 978 $22 $450 231 £219 $100 $200 82 $118 $463 $463 $500 1 466 $966 Total 1917-18 $10 715 1916-17 9 957 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I203 Town of Batavia Dist. Total . Average rate . . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916 . Balance 191 7 . Tax 1917. Real tax . Genesee county — Continued Teachers Assessed valuation $&3 797 286 '853 181 838 306 612 210 328 199 002 291 7SO 711 412 123 636 118 550 94 798 Tax 1918 $13 831 22 Real tax 1917 Real increase . $2 608 376 $2 766 244 $887 805 58 60 $81 9 577 98 08 $9 659 06 $13 831 9 659 22 06 $4 172 16 Tax rate 1916-17 .00716 00224 00188 00163 00463 00260 00200 00588 00409 00312 00375 00367 003 1 8 005 Expenditures is 16-17 and budget 19] 7-18 Control 1917-18 $510 . 1916-17 73 ■ $437 • Instruction 1917-18 $10 026 . 1916-17 8 366 . $1 660 . Operation 1917-18 Si 480 . 1916-17 1 198 . $282 . Maintenance 1917-18 $1 100 . 1916-17 1 133 ■ $33 - Auxiliary 1917-18 $300 . 1916-17 82 . $218 . Fixed charges 1917-18 $950 . 1916-17 236 . $714 ■ Debt service 1917-18 $535 • 1916-17 1 101 . $566 . Outlay 1017-18 $25 . 1916-17 183 . $158 . Total 1917-18 $14 926 . 1916-17 12 372 . $2 554 ■ • Town of Bergen Dist. Teachers Assessed valuation $74 021 212 575 86 932 86 659 165 520 164 194 632 377 164 321 Tax rate 1916-17 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 8 .00211 .00540 . 00616 .00258 00307 .00972 .00501 Total 15 $1 586 599 .00623 Average rate Total 191 7-18 $1 704 476 .00514 $2 258 57 158 88 Tax 1917 $2 099 69 9 885 07 $11 984 76 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $500 . . 1916-17 109 50 $390 50 Instruction 1917-18 $10 649 . . 1916-17 8 936 81 $1 712 19 Operation 1917-18 $2 354 78 1916-17 1 542 88 $811 90 Maintenance 1917-18 $600 . . 1916-17 846 73 _ , $246 73 Fixed charges 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 347 86 $297 86 1204 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Bergen Assessed valuation Tax 1018 $12 851 74 Real tax 191 7 n 984 76 Real increase 3866 98 Genesee county — Continued Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 #4 673 33 $4 673 33 Outlay 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 217 93 $H7 93 Auxiliary 1917-18 $250 . . 1916-17 219 66 $30 34 Total 1917-18 $14 503 78 1916-17 16 894 70 $2 390 92 Town of Bethany Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $135 987 2 1 84 006 3 1 68 255 4 1 50 927 5 I 81 242 6 1 89 475 7 I 96 786 8 1 183 944 9 1 218 922 10 1 67 622 11 1 117 443 Total 11 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 19 17 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 191 7 Real increase Si 194 709 $1 201 002 $1 830 928 61 38 6 5902 960 23 59 $7 862 82 $7 7 891 862 82 $28 18 Tax rate 1916-17 .00258 . 00499 .00550 .01099 .00549 .00800 .00516 .00299 .00228 .00550 . 00404 . 00441 .00522 ■ 00657 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $475 •■ 1916-17 29 28 $445 72 Instruction 1917-18 $6 210 . . 1916-17 5 497 93 $712 07 Operation 1917-18 $1 075 . . 1916-17 652 17 $422 83 Maintenance 1917-18 $750 . . 1916-17 419 07 $330 93 Fixed charges 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 82 42 $32 42 Debt service 1917-18 $156 . . 1916-17 731 69 $575 69 Outlay 1917-18.;... $525 •■ 1916-17 119 78 $405 22 Auxiliary 1917-18 $125 • • 1916-17 93 50 $31 SO Total 1917-18 $9 366 . . 1916-17 7 625 84 $1 740 16 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I205 Genesee county Town of Byron Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation I 3 $SOS 565 2 Contract 1 13 060 3 4 791 597 5 1 87 595 6 I 156 239 7 1 194 048 Total 10 Si 848 104 Average rate Total 1917-18 Si 872 130 Balance 1916 S768 4s Balance 1917 S768 45 Tax 1917 6 960 59 Real tax $7 729 04 Tax 1918 $12 104 50 Real tax 1917 7 729 04 Real increase S4 375 46 Continued Tax rate Expenditures 1916-17 and 1916-17 budget 1917-18 . 00400 Control .00199 1917-18 S470 .. .00446 1916-17 176 50 .00437 — .00279 $293 50 .00186 Instruction 1917-18 S9 062 . . .00376 1916-17 5 967 19 00324 S3 094 81 . 00646 Operation ===== 1917-18 Si 350 .. 1916-17 805 75 S444 25 Maintenance 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 473 72 S323 72 Fixed charges 1917-18 S125 . . 1916-17 246 46 S121 46 Debt service 1917-18 Si 512 50 1916-17 1 541 34 $28 84 Outlay 1917-18 Si 085 . . 1916-17 10 583 55 S9 498 55 Auxiliary 1917-18 S600 . . 1916-17 364 71 S235 29 Total 1917-18 S14 354 50 1916-17 20 159 22 $5 804 72 Town 0/ Darien Dist. Total . Teachers Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 743 853 Balance 1916. Balance 1917. Tax 1917. Real tax. . Assessed "] valuation S92 024 "ax rate 1916-17 00380 48 221 00362 214 107 42 930 108 149 00100 00325 00567 18s 158 193 251 811 477 432 602 00672 00368 00248 00994 162 74 151 148 805 440 00310 00409 00478 Si 682 147 0046 00434 005 $1 743 853 Si 638 48 938 88 • S699 60 7 746 72 S8 446 32 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-18 Control 1917-18 Si95 1916-17 342 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $147 56 878 5 9io. Si 142 1 001 S141 S13 S150 130 S20 S8 S 104 S19 I206 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Darien Genesee county — Continued Tax 1918 Real tax 1917. Real increase. Assessed valuation $& 719 27 8 446 32 $272 95 Town of Elba Dist. Teachers 1 5 2 3 1 4 Contract S 1 6 1 7 Contract 8 1 9 Contract 10 1 Total 10 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 $380 30 Balance 1917 139 39 $690 91 Tax 1917 5 886 44 Real tax $6 577 35 Tax 1918 $7 000 . . Real tax 1917 6 577 35 Real increase $422 65 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $458 367 .00618 81 38S . 00480 84 298 .00385 194 903 .00249 105 150 .00421 91 325 .00437 68 460 .00550 77 920 .00326 125 in .00299 $1 286 919 .00457 . 00393 Si 344 062 .00521 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Debt service 1917-18 $788 1916-17 1 98o Si 192 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $11 251 S11 251 Total 1917-18 S9 848 1916-17 21 315 Si 1 467 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 S60S - . 1916-17 112 64 S492 36 Instruction 1917-18 S5 684 . . 1916-17 5 564 84 S119 16 Operation 1917-18 S8so . . 1916-17 683 62 S166 38 Maintenance 1917-18 S388 .. 1916-17 870 46 S482 46 Fixed charges 1917-18 S50 . . 1916-17 85 27 S3S 27 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 S925 63 S925 63 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $H9 95 SH9 95 Auxiliary 1917-18 Si iSi • • 1916-17 1 177 08 S26 08 Total 1917-18 S8 728 . . 1916-17 9 539 49 S811 49 Town of Le Roy Dist. 3 4 5 6 7 Teachers Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 S335 950 .00198 118 250 .00472 132 800 .00280 101 270 .00370 209 368 00745 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 S47S •• 1916-17 12 37 $4626^ THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1207 Genesee county — Continued Town of Le Roy Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 8 1 $162 290 .00250 9 10 1 217 640 . 00254 11 1 175488 .00227 Total 9 Si 453 056 .00336 Average rate . 00349 Total 1917-18 $1 500 385 .00384 Balance 1916 $621 03 Balance 1917 415 51 $205 52 Tax 1917 4 893 37 Real tax $5 098 89 Tax 1918 $5 761 26 Real tax 191 7 5 098 89 Real increase S662 37 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Instruction 1917-18 $5 179 . . 1916-17 4 313 24 $866 76 Operation 1917-18 $778 . . 1916-17 568 71 $209 29 Maintenance 1917-18 $220 .. 1916-17 562 90 S342 90 Fixed charges 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 93 85 $43 85 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $5 14 $5 14 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $448 81 $448 81 Auxiliary 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 112 .. $38 .. Total 1917-18 $6 852 .. 1916-17 6 116 02 $735 98 Town of Oakfield Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 2 1 $133 999 .00319 3 1 272 049 .00223 4 1 56 976 . 00700 5 1 161 012 .00325 6 1 122 650 .00570 7 1 80 687 . 00500 8 1 56257 .00650 Total 7 $883 630 . 00387 Average rate . 00469 Total 1917-18 ! $914012 .005 Balance 1916 $1 14S 35 Balance 1917 1 132 04 $13 3i Tax 1917 3 425 84 Real tax $3 439 1 5 Expenditures 1816-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $225 . 1916-17 10 . $215 . Instruction 1917-18 $3 787 . 1916-17 3 475 . $312 . Operation 1917-18 665 . 1916-17 445 . $220 . Maintenance 1917=18 £526 . 1916-17 175 • $351 • 1208 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Oakfield Genesee county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $4 570 08 Real tax 1917 3 439 15 Real increase $1 130 93 Town of Pavilion Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $221 234 2 4 4S8 533 3 4 5 1 238.187 6 1 164 872 7 1 188 655 8 1 75 716 9 I 159 799 ro 1 183 086 11 . 1 249 479 Total 12 $1 939 56i Average rate Total 1917-18 $2 028 198 Balance 1916 $1 '338 26 Balance 1917 x 93 S8 $1 144 68 Tax 1917 6 503 H Real tax $7 647 79 Tax 1918 $9 693 I 2 Real tax 1917 7 647 79 Real increase $2 045 33 Expenditures budget ] Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. 1916-17. Outlay 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Total 1917-18. 1916-17 Expenditures budget Control 1917-18. 1916-17. . . . Instruction 1917-18. , . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . 1916-17. Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17- . ■ Auxiliary 1917-18. . . 1916-17- . Total 1917-18. . 1916-17- . 1916-17 and 917-18 $50.. 42 ■ . $8 .. $30 . . 41 . . $11 . . J177 -■ $177 •- $5 283 - - 4 365 • $918 00 Tax rate 1916-17 .00127 .00678 .00165 .00242 .00317 .00500 1916-17 and [917-18 S460 . . 72 24 £387 76 $8 585 - - 6 739 41 .00215 .00180 .00334 fl 845 59 Si 100 . . 919 39 .00303 .00478 $180 61 f 450 . . 496 91 $46 91 $105 .- 84 76 $20 24 $952 21 $952 21 $9 14 $9 14 $100 . . 62 48 $37 52 $10 800 . . 9 336 54 $1 463 46 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1209 Genesee county Town of Pembroke Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 S107 403 2 1 120 488 3 1 Si 63s 4 1 147 176 5 1 100 684 6 1 109 471 7 7 632 140 8 I 58 002 9 I 227 957 lo 1 60 760 H : 1 56 452 Total 17 Si 672 228 Average rate Total 1917-18 Si 691 451 Balance 1916 Si 046 93 Balance 1917 413 99 S632 94 Tax 1917 9 875 57 Real tax Sio 508 51 Tax 1918 S11 994 42 Real tax 191 7 10 508 51 Real increase Si 485 91 ' — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 .00416 . 00499 .00639 Expenditures 1 budget 19 Control 1917-18 1916-17 Instruction 1917-1S 1916-17 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 1916-17 916-17 and 17-18 S300 . . 68 . . .00320 .00419 .00761 .00624 S232 . . Sio 459 • • 9 223 . . .00609 .00650 Si 236 . . Si 691 • • 1 493 • • .00590 •00535 .0065 S198 . . S3S0 . . 530 . . S180 . . S300 . . 221 . . S79 ■• S400 . . 182 . . S218 . . Si 632' '.. $1 632 . . S15 156 . . S15 156 . . S13 500 . . 28 505 • ■ Si5 00s ■ • Town of Stafford Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 2 S274 156 . 00485 2 2 302 541 .00319 3 Contract 220 698 .00090 4 1 185 836 . 00300 5 1 155 515 .00200 6 1 309 409 . 00169 7 1 312 129 .00174 Total 8 Si 760 284 .00252 Average rate .00248 Total 1917-18 Si 769 220 .0035 Balance 1916 Si 063 99 Balance 1917 44 Si 063 55 Tax 1917 4 438 31 Real tax S5 501 86 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 S475 • • 1916-17 157 24 S3I7 76 Instruction 1917-18 S5 000 . . 1916-17 4 079 63 S920 37 Operation 1917-18 S710 . . 1916-17 640 83 $69 17 Maintenance 1917-18 $750 . . 1916-17 354 13 S39S 87 I2IO THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Stafford Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $6 192 32 Real tax 1917 S 5°i 86 Real increase $690 46 Genesee county — Concluded Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 17-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 62 61 $12 61 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $959 50 $959 50 Outlay 1917-18 $120 . . 1916-17 570 16 $450 16 Auxiliary 1917-18 $320 . . 1916-17 251 40 $68 60 Total 1917-18 $7 425 . . 1916-17 7 075 50 $349 50 Town of Ashland Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 Contract 3 1 4 1 5 „ 1 6 Contract Total 4 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase Greene county Assessed valuation $71 670 41 775 16 150 Tax rate 1916-17 .00700 .00901 .01675 .00901 .01017 .02129 Expenditures budget i Control 1916-17. ■ • • Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . ■ Operation 1916-17. . , . Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . . Auxiliary 1917-18. . 1916-17. . . . Fixed charges 1917-18 Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- ■ ■ • Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. • • ■ Total 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 and :9i7-i8 $129 ■- 1 . . 32 150 19 280 9 750 ?n8 .. $2 527 . . 2 088 $190 775 .00965 .01220 .012485 $439 . . $193 030 $154 .. $76 36 127 . . $27 .. $30 .. 134 •• $76 36 1 842 54 $1 918 90 $104 . . $565 . . 482 . . $2 410 00 1 918 90 $491 10 $83 .. $41 •• 20 . . $21 .. $191 . ■ $191 . . $3 446 .. 3 043 .. $403 •• THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I2II Greene county Town of A thens Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation r 3 $264 455 2 8 500 020 3 I 128 195 4 1 78 769 5 1 54 000 6 1 139 807 7 Contract 163 810 Total 15 $1 329 056 Average rate Total 1917-18 Si 403 155 Balance 1916 $597 " Balance 1917 220 25 5376 86 Tax 1917 8 650 33 Real tax $9 027 19 Tax 1918 $10 105 58 Real tax 1917 9 027 19 Real increase $1 078 39 Town of Cairo Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 5 $193 245 2 1 52 200 3 1 57 000 4 1 33 935 5 I 52 177 6 I 82 160 7 I 41 100 8 1 27 5io 9 1 30 775 10 1 57 290 11 1 69 528 Total 15 $696 920 Average rate Total 1917-18 $712 942 Balance 1916 $508 65 Balance 1917 363 4 1 $145 24 Tax 1917 5 536 91 Real tax $5 682 15 — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 .00684 .01039 .00295 .00507 . 00464 .00320 .01000 Expenditures budget : Control 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- • ■ • Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- • • • Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . • Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1916-17. Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. , . Outlay 1917-18. . . 1916-17- • ■ Incidentals 1917-18. 1916-17. . , Total 1917-18. . . 1916-17. ■ • Expenditure budget Control 1917-18. . . 1916-17. ■ • Instruction 1917-18. . . 1916-17- . . Operation 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . 1916-17. ■ ■ 19 16-17 and [917-18 f 550 . . 333 46 $316 54 $10 100 . . .00650 $1 185 16 .00615 .0072 $1 000 . . 1 138 61 $138 61 $400 . . 343 55 $56 45 $250 . . 375 05 $125 05 $158 11 I158 11 $12 31 $12 31 $100 . . 37 28 $62 72 $200 . . $200 . . $12 600 . . II 313 21 $1 286 79 Tax rate 1916-17 .01359 .00550 00531 s 1916-17 and [917-18 $400 . . 64 •• •00599 .00365 . 00669 . 00900 $336 .. $7 600 . . 6 659 16 . 00549 .00459 $940 84 $800 . . 727 27 • 00794 . 00696 .0122 $72 73 $500 . . $238 85 $430 .. 295 15 $134 85 1212 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Cairo Greene county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 58 697 89 Real tax 1917 5 682 15 Real increase S3 015 74 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $139 75 $139 7S Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 *I93 80 $193 80 Outlay 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 388 80 $188 80 Incidentals 1917-18 $440 . . 1916-17 $440 . . Total 1917-18 $10 370 . . 1916-17 8 729 08 $1 640 92 Town of Catskill Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 2 1 $22 825 3 2 19s 400 4 1 36 OOO 5 1 56 02s 6 1 4 1 650 7 1 38 820 8 1 96 260 9 Contract 41 318 io 1 96 090 !i 1 174 S75 1 2 1 74 845 13 1 28 87s 14 1 27 150 IS 3 40s 210 16 1 272 405 17 2 397 212 Total 19 $2 004 660 Average rate Total 1917-1S $2 119 9S8 Balance 1016 $1 004 97 Balance 1917 216 41 $788 56 Tax 1917 10 199 64 Real tax $10 988 20 Tax 1918 $14 839 95 Real tax 1917 10 199 64 Real increase $4 640 31 Tax rate Expenditures 1916-17 and 1916-17 budget ] Control [917-18 .01535 1917-18. . . . $825 . . .00700 53 54 .00539 $771 46 . 00669 Instruction .00916 1917-18. . . . . $11 275 • • 00350 1916-17. . . . 9 658 29 .00520 $1 616 71 .00317 Operation . 00448 1917-18. . . . $2 700 . . . 00601 1916-17. ■ ■ 1 456 93 .00707 $1 243 07 ■00133 Maintenance .00465 1917-18. . . . $1 400 . . .00518 1916-17 .... 815 11 $584 89 ■ 00653 Auxiliary .007 1917-18. . . . $450 . . 1916-17. . . . 196 . . $254 ■ • Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . $439 95 1916-17. . . . 122 74 $317 21 Debt service 1917-18. . . . $300 . . 1916-17. . . . 1 281 60 $981 60 Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $314 31 $314 31 Total 1917-18. . . . . $17 389 95 1916-17. . . . 13 898 52 $3 491 43 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1213 Greene county Town of Coxsackie Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 1 S44 970 3 1 36 911 4 1 56 075 5 1 126 600 6 1 201 300 7 1 124 010 8 1 73 115 9 1 36 450 Total 8 $699 431 Average rate Total 1917-18 $725 642 Balance 1916 $363 17 Balance 1917 281 58 $8 1 59 Tax 1917 2 925 23 Real tax $3 006 82 Tax 1918 $4 789 30 Real tax 191 7 3 006 82 Real increase Si 782 48 — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 .00619 .00641 00533 .00280 .00274 .00391 .00534 .00881 Expenditures 1 budget i( Control 1917-18 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 Fixed charges 1916-17 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Incidentals 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 1916-17 916-17 and )i7-i8 $250 . . 6 85 $243 15 $4 100 3 3l6 42 .0418 $783 58 .00519 .0066 $450 . . 395 14 $54 86 $575 -• 361 50 $213 50 $100 . . 34 35 $65 65 $41 95 $41 95 $16 34 $16 34 $50 . . 10 86 $39 14 $475 - - $475 - - $6 000 . . 4 183 41 $1 816 59 Town Dist. of Durham Teachers 1 Assessed valuation $37 294 26 680 32 349 18 045 31 280 63 757 28 529 17 498 41 175 60 212 44 500 29 318 70 635 35 689 $536 961 Tax rate 1916-17 .00914 . 00600 .008 .009 . 00699 .01129 .01529 . 00069 .00850 . 00844 . 00400 .00879 .00629 Expenditures budget 1 Control 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . ■ • Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- . . • Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- - - ■ Maintenance 1917-18. 1916-17 .... 1916-17 and 917-18 3- ■ • 4. .. 1 1 1 1 1 $250 . . 25 04 6 7- - - 8. . . S224 96 $5 000 . . ... 1 5 004 02 1 $4 02 13- - - 14. .. 15- - . 16. . . otal 1 1 1 $560 .. 479 83 $80 17 $300 . . 461 45 T 11 Avera Total $533 937 .00803 .0078 9 / $161 45 1214 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Durham Greene county — Continued Assessed valuation Balance 1916 $582 16 Balance 1917 S582 16 Tax 1017 3 382 is Real tax $3 964 31 Tax 1018 $4 160 60 Real tax 1917 3 964 31 Real increase $196 29 Expenditures 1916—17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Auxiliary 1917-18 $310 . . 1916-17 565 70 $255 70 Fixed charges 1917-18 $60 . . 1916-17 56 52 $3 48 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 90 90 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $8 20 $8 20 Total 1917-18 $6 480 . . 1916-17 6 601 66 $121 66 Town of Greenville Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 4 5 r 6 1 7 1 8 Contract 9 1 10 1 11 1 12 1 13 Contract 14 „ 1 15 Contract 16 1 Total 16 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Real tax 1917 Tax 1918 Real decrease Assessed valuation $65 443 76 368 27 844 155 294 37 790 36 322 28 300 27 835 25 335 28 411 33 250 24 264 15 500 48 403 19 800 14 810 $664 969 $669 638 $452 59 $452 59 5 864 48 $6 317 07 $6 317 6 083 07 71 $223 36 Tax rate 1916-17 .00830 .00500 . 00680 ■01349 .00679 .01010 .00897 .008 .01050 .00824 .00872 .01 . 00049 . 00630 .00838 .0091 Expenditur s 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control ' 1917-18 $180 . . 1916-17 29 94 $150 06 Instruction I9I7-I8 $7 525 • ■ 1916-17 7 526 70 $1 70 Operation 1917-18 $925 . . 1916-17 850 25 $74 75 Maintenance 1917-18 $235 .. 1916-17 434 °3 $199 03 Auxiliary 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 948 95 $848 95 Fixed charges 1917-18 $90 . . 1916-17 87 88 $2 12 Debt service 1917-18 $15 • • 1916-17 38l .. $366 .. Outlay 1917-18 $25 . . 1916-17 30 57 $5 57 Total 1917-18 $9 095 . . 1916-17 10 289 32 $1 194 32 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1215 Greene county Town of Halcott Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 r $16 750 2 1 11 850 3 1 22 550 4 1 10 82s Total 4 $61 975 Average rate Total 1917-18 $73 435 Balance 1916 $16 92 Balance 1917 $16 92 Tax 1917 1 130 96 Real tax Si 147 88 Tax 1918 $1 468 70 Real tax 1917 1 147 88 Real increase $320 82 Continued Town of Hunter, Unit No. 1 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 4 7 $377 926 6 1 126 565 8 3 354 945 10 1 46 285 Total 12 $905 721 Average rate Total 1917-18 $2 104 512 Balance 191 7 $1 264 20 Balance 1916 453 44 $810 76 Tax 1917 13 415 50 Real tax $12 640 74 .01824 .01758 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $Si . 1916-17 1 . 550 . Instruction 1917-18 Si 899 . 1916-17 1 718 . ■ Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. . • . Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Auxiliary 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18. 1916-17 Debt service 1917-18.. . 1916-17. Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17 Total 1917-18 Expenditures budget : Control 1917-18 Instruction 1917-18. 1916-17 Operation 1917-18 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. 1916-17 S181 .. S160 . . 117 •■ $43 ■• $50 . . 65 .. $15 •• $15 .. 11 . . $4 •• $30 .. 17 .. $13 • • $22 . . $22 . . $2 227 . . I 929 $298 . . Tax rate 1916-17 .01988 . 00499 1916-17 and [917-18 .01338 .01188 $269 .. $269 . . $9 600 . . 8 539 .01485 01253 $1 061 . . $2 475 . • 2 314 . . $161 .. $1 650 . . 1 274 • • $376 I2l6 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Greene county Town of Hunter, Unit No. l Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $16 836 70 Real tax 1917 I2 6 4<> 74 Real increase $4 195 96 Continued Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 $478 $478 Fixed charges 1917-18 $879 1916-17 70 $809 Debt service 1917-18 $3 032 1916-17 2 547 $485 Outlay 1917-18 $800 1916-17 508 $292 Total 1917-18 $18 436 1916-17 IS 999 $2 437 Town of Hunter, Unit No. 2 Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 6 3 „ x 7 Contract 9 * Total 9 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 191° Balance 191 7 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax Real increase Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $15 455 .01000 242 440 .01832 30 459 •01347 67 010 .00921 30 375 .01488 $385 739 $702 599 $157 70 95 $156 6 07s 75 79 $6 232 54 $6 998 6 232 03 54 $766 39 Expenditures 19 17-18 and budget 1916-17 Control 1917-18 $290 1916-17 177 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17- Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17 . . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. S113 $1 290 1 346 $2 636 $5 593 5 393 $200 $250 238 $12 SI0O 208 $108 $10 32 $22 $250 14 $236 $8 583 8 261 $800 853 $53 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1217 Greene county — - Continued Town of Jewett Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 2 $39 505 • 02000 2 1 13923 .01849 3 1 16 534 .02721 4 1 10 301 .02200 5 1 20815 .01409 6 1 IS 055 .02470 7 1 19300 .00433 13 515 8 1 12000 .00047 7 685 9 1 18 215 .01560 Total 10 $186848 .01516 Average rate . 01632 Total 1917-18 $277500 .0129 Balance 1916 $739 40 Balance 1917 $739 40 Tax 1917 2 833 45 Real tax $3 572 85 Tax 1918 $3 579 00 Real tax 3 572 85 Real increase $615 Expenditures 1917-18 and budget 1 91 7-18 Control 1917-18 $187 1916-17 5 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. • Operation 1917-18. . 1916-17. ■ Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. • • Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. • ■ Capital outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $4 723 4 569 $154 $642 481 $161 $80 461 $381 $105 147 $50 76 $26 '$88' $25 $25 $5 812 5 827 $15 Town of Lexington Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 Contract $15 175 .00049 2 3 1 13 129 .02077 4 I 37 892 .01527 5 I 25063 .01376 6 1 12 927 .01293 7 1 27 11S .01308 8 1 15 550 .01250 9 Contract 1 2 848 10 1 8 375 .02679 11 1 19423 .01340 12 1 17 910 .01283 13 1 IS 066 .01390 Total 10 $220473 .01290 Average rate .01415 Total 191 7-1 8 $284684 .012847 Balance 1916 $262 OS Balance 191 7 80 $261 25 Tax 1 91 7 2 845 27 Real tax $3 106 52 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $316 1916-17 9 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $307 $4 398 4 236 $162 $157 $110 207 $97 $435 408 $77 39 I2l8 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Greene county — Continued Town of Lexington Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $3 657 73 Real tax 3 106 52 Real increase $55 1 21 Town of New Baltimore Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $105 975 2 1 265 000 4 Contract 20 250 5 1 20 800 6 1 15 725 7 1 34 600 8 1 47 37S 9 1 69 135 10 3 246 100 11 1 132 475 12 1 29 500 13 1 13 ISO 14 1 85 050 Total 14 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax 1917 Tax 1918 Real tax 191 7 Real increase Town of Prattsville Dist. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Total Teachers $1 805 ] 35 $948 843 $688 60 $688 60 5 603 69 $6 292 29 $7 116 6 292 00 29 $823 71 Tax rate 1916-17 .00426 .00244 .00145 .0124 .01132 .00680 .00823 .00370 .00761 .00316 .00852 .008 .00593 .00310 .00644 .0075 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 193 897 .00959 19 975 .01449 18 512 .01147 16 984 .01577 15 700 .01800 16 000 .01250 $181 068 .01188 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $259 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $259 $21 80 Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $59 $5 816 5 538 $278 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $315 •• 1916-17 39 33 $275 67 Instruction 1917-18 $7 025 . . 1916-17 6 575 99 $449 01 Operation 1917-18 $880 . . 1916-17 965 32 $85 32.. Maintenance 1917-18 $380 . . 1916-17 625 75 $245 75 Auxiliary 1917-18 $375 •■ 1916-17 389 24 $14 24 Fixed charges 1917-18 $120 . . 1916-17 84 95 $35 05 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $62 20 $62 20 Outlay 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 SO 99 99 Total 1917-18 $9 14S • ■ 1916-17 8 793 77 $351 23 Expenditures 1917-18 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $157 . 1916-17 !3 ■ $144 • Instruction 1917-18 $3 157 . 1916-17 2 892 . $265 . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1219 Town of Prattsville Greene county — Concluded Assessed valuation Average rate Total 191 7-i8 $190 458 Balance 1916 $208 06 Balance 1917 $208 06 Tax 1917 2 151 83 Real tax $2 359 89 Tax 1918 2 528 00 Real tax 1917 $2 151 83 Real increase 168 1 1 Town of Windham Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $25 205 2 i 14 625 3 5 182 sio 4 1 80 675 5 1 25 760 6 Contract 15 075 7 1 24 532 8 1 17 200 Total 11 $385 582 Average rate Total 1917-18 $419 116 Balance 1916 $54 84 Balance 1917 $54 84 Tax 1917 S 634 3i Real tax 191 7 Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase $5 689 15 $7 616 5 689 SO IS $1 927 35 Tax rate 1916-17 .01363 .0132727 Tax rate 1916-17 .00991 •0134s .01919 .0084 .01615 .00562 .01199 .01220 .01461 .01211 .0182 Expenditures 1 9 16-17 and budget 1917-18 Operation 1917-18. . . . $344 • 1916-17. . . . 300 . $44 • Maintenance $30 . 1916-17. . . . 239 . $209 . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . $80 . 60 . $20 . Fixed charges 1916-17. . . • $65 . $65 • Debt service 1916-17. . . • $63 • $63 • Outlay Total $3 768 . 1916-17. . . . 3 632 . $136 . Expenditures 1916-17 and budget I9I7-I8 Control 1917-18. . . . $370 . 1916-17. . . . 66 23 $303 77 Instruction 1917-18. . . . $8 575 • 1916-17. • ■ • 6 in 57 $2 463 43 Operation 1917-18. . . . $1 165 1916-17. • . . 929 SS $235 45 Maintenance 1917-18. . . . $300 . 1916-17. . . . 298 98 $1 02 Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . $175 • 1916-17. . . . 481 78 $306 78 Fixed charges $165 . 1916-17. . . 93 59 $71 A 1 Debt service 1917-18. . . $902 50 1916-17. . . 1 254 36 $351 86 Outlay 1917-18. . . $100 1916-17. . . 139 43 $39 43 Total 1917-18. . . $11 752 50 1916-17. . . 9 375 49 $2 377 01 1220 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Hamilton county Town of Arietta Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation r 2 $253 243 2 I 106 724 3 4 I 299 044 Total 4 $659 on Average rate Total 1917-18 $656 600 Balance 1917 $634 24 Balance 19 16 436 42 $197 82 Tax 1917 $2 412 09 197 82 Real tax $2 214 27 Tax 1918 $3 283 00 Real tax 1917 2 214 27 Real increase $1 068 73 Tax rate 1916-17 Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 1917-18 .00129 .00632 Control 1917-18 5i4S . 1916-17 30 . .00366 .00320 .005 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. • • Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $115 $2 200 1 862 $338 $325 218 $107 $666 395 $271 $65 64 $1 $300 19 $134 $134 $3 701 2 722 $979 Town of Benson Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $61 955 2 I 64 995 3 I 62 680 Total 3 $189 630 Average rate Total 1917-18 $190 892 Balance 1916 $242 03 Balance 7 94 $234 09 Tax 1917 1 334 23 Real tax 1917 $1 568 32 Tax rate 1916-17 .00562 .00920 .00618 .00703 .00700 .0091 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-18 Control 1917-18 $8 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. .. 1916-17. • ■ $77 $1 42s 1 332 $155 84 $200 158 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1221 Town of Benson Hamilton county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1018 Si 737 12 Real tax 1917 1 568 32 Real increase $168 80 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Auxiliary 1917-18 I3S . 1916-17 $35 . Fixed charges 1917-18 $74 • 1916-17 13 . $61 . Debt service 1917-18 $118 . 1916-17 357 • $239 ■ Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $2 092 . 1916-17 1 952 . $140 . Town of Hope Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 2 1 $19 275 3 1 4 1 5 1 Total 4 Average rate Total 1917-1S Balance 1916 $31 27 Balance 191 7 29 58 $1 69 Tax 1917 $1 259 48 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase $19 275 16 927 26 023 38 595 .01378 .02299 .00913 .00941 $100 820 .01249 $101 620 015 $1 261 17 $1 524 1 261 32 17 $263 15 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $140 . 1916-17 S140 • Instruction 1917-18 $1 753 . 1916-17 1 659 • $94 • Operation 1917-18 $150 . 1916-17 154 • $4 • Maintenance 1917-18 $75 . 1916-17 155 • $80 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $65 • 1916-17 35 . $30 . Fixed charges 1917-18 $81 . 1916-17 15 • $66 . Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $2 264 . 1916-17 2 018 . $246 . 1222 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Hamilton county — Continued Town of Indian Lake Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 x 6 $250642 .01510 2 1 60502 .01074 3 1 52128 .00760 4 1 66051 .00756 5' 1 79 746 .00572 6 2 95 309 .01558 7 1 66712 .00637 g ' 1 64 140 . 00660 Total 14 $735 230 .01105 Average rate ■ 00903 Total 191 7-19 $715 148 015 Balance 1916 $993 51 Balance 1917 333 39 $660 12 Tax 1917 8 127 •• Real tax $8 787 12 Real tax 1918 $10 727 21 Tax 1917 8 787 12 Real increase $1 94° 09 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-i 8 Control 1917-18 $445 • 1916-17 146 . $299 - Instruction 1917-18 $8 200 . 1916-17 7 951 • $249 . Operation 1917-18 $1 500 . 1916-17 1 425 • $7.5 • Maintenance 1917-18 $600 . 1916-17 99i • $391 - Auxiliary 1917-18 $600 . 1916-17 456 . $144 • Fixed charges 1917-18 $1 307 • 1916-17 165 . $1 142 . Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $25 • $25 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $352 $352 Total 1917-18 $12 652 , 1916-17 11 511 . $1 141 Town of Inlet Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 2 $340 102 Average rate • Total 191 7-1 8 $361 290 Balance 1916 $545 77 Balance 1917 197 48 $348 29 Tax 1917 $2 523 58 348 29 Real tax $2 175 29 Tax rate 1916-17 .007755 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $50 . 1916-17 1 S ■ $35 • Instruction 1917-18 $1 610 . 1916-17 1 200 . $410 . Operation 1917-18 $350 . 1916-17 364 • $14 • THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1223 Town of Inlet Hamilton county — Continued Tax 1918 Real tax 1917- Real increase. Assessed valuation h 800 . . 2 175 29 $624 7i Town of Lake Pleasant Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $113 091 2 1 103 600 3. .'. . . 2 1 S3 150 4 I 107 737 S 1 75 759 Total 6 $553 337 Average rate Total 1917-18 $543 230 Balance 1916 $204 94 Balance 1917 $204 94 Tax 1917 3 325 57 Real tax $3 530 51 Tax 1918 $3 531 •• Real tax 3 530 51 Real increase $ 49 Tax rate 1916-17 .00450 .00500 .00800 .00501 .00705 .00601 .00591 .0065 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1917-18 Maintenance 1917-18 $400 . . 1916-17 I2 4 • • $276 . . Auxiliary 1917-18 $55 • • 1916-17 25 . . $30 .. Fixed charges 1917-18 $80 . . 1916-17 12 . . $68 .. Outlay 1917-18 $25 • • 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $3 160 . . 1916-17 2 400 . . $760 . . Debt service 1917-18 $590 .. 1916-17 °6o . . $70 ■• Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $225 .. 1916-17 43 • • $182 .. Instruction 1917-18 $3 025 .. 1916-17 2 °44 • • $81 .. Operation 1917-18 $537 .. 1916-17 508 . . $29 .. Maintenance 1917-18 $100 .. 1916-17 603 . . $503 ■• Auxiliary 1917-18 $75 •• 1916-17 54 • ■ $21 . . Fixed charges 1917-18 $244 . . 1916-17 83 . . $161 . . Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $25 . . Outlay 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 $200 00 Total 1917-18 $4 406 .. 1916-17 4 260 . . $146 . . 1224 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Hamilton county — Continued Town of Long Lake Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 191 6-17 1 12 $944496 .01270 2 2 333 922 .01095 Total 14 $1 278 418 .01224 Average rate 01184 Total 1917-18 $1279582 .016140 Balance 19 1 7 $1 291 75 Balance 1916 5 69 $1 286 06 Tax 1917 $15 660 21 Real tax 14 374 is Tax 1918 $20 652 90 Tax 1917 14 374 I S Real increase $6 278 75 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $1 100 . 1916-17 344 • Instruction 1917-18 $12 130 . 1916-17 ir 893 . $237 . Operation 1917-18 $3 100 . 1916-17 3 077 . $23 . Maintenance 1017-18 $750 . 1916-17 240 . $510 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $1 070 . 1916-17 952 . $2 022 . Fixed charges 1917-18 $100 . 1916-17 266 . $166 . Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $4 023 . $4 023 . Outlay 1917-18 S3 725 . 1916-17 154 • $2 571 . Total 1917-18 $21 975 . 1916-17 20 949 . $1 026 . Town of Morehouse Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $198612 2 1 194 800 3 1 143 921 Total 3 $537 333 Average rate Total 1917-18 $537 949 Balance 1916 $397 07 Balance 1917 283 62 $H3 45 Tax 1917 2 102 66 Real Tax $2 216 11 Tax rate 1916-17 .00354 .00305 .00559 .00391 . 00406 .0034 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18..... $125 . 1916-17 23 . $102 . Instruction 1917-18 $1 770 . 1916-17 1 627 . $143 . Operation 1917-18 . $195 . 1916-17 222 . $27 . Maintenance 1917-18 $25 . 1916-17 321 . $296 . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1225 Town of Morehouse Hamilton county — Concluded Assessed valuation Tax 1018 $1 829 02 Real tax 19 1 7 2 216 n Real decrease S387 09 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Auxiliary 1917-18 $55 1916-17 45 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $10 $104 $104 $260 $260 $2 170 2 602 $432 Town of Wells Dist. Teachers 1 1 a 7 3 1 4 1 5 1 Total 11 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax 191 7 Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Decrease Assessed valuation $30 040 413 234 37 956 46 545 35 401 5562 76 $583 810 $608 2.4 $608 6 332 24 37 $6 940 61 $6 41 s 6 940 32 6l $525 29 Tax rate 1916-17 .00850 .01229 .00742 .01000 .00700 .01124 . 00904 .011 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-i 8 Control 1917-18 J185 1916-17 69 $116 Instruction 1917-18 $6 284 1916-17 S 883 $401 Operation 1917-18 5687 1916-17 665 $22 Maintenance 1917-18 $125 1916-17 1 720 $r 595 Auxiliary 1917-18 $350 1916-17 340 $10 Fixed charges 1917-18 $426 1916-17 88 $338 Debt service 1917-18 $288 1916-17 1 299 $1 on Outlay 1917-18 $250 1916-17 47 $203 Total 1917-18 $8 695 1916-17 10 in $1 416 1226 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Herkimer county Town of Columbia Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation i i $58 846 2 3 1 56 740 4 1 68 002 5 1 42 330 6 1 98 628 7 1 54 220 8 1 48 893 9 Contract 45 340 10 1 41 560 11 1 52 875 12 1 67 010 Total 10 Average rate Total 1917-18 Tax 1917-18 Tax 1916-17 Increase Balance 1917 Balance 1916 Tax 1916-17 Tax 1917-18 Real increase Town of Danube Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $H3 515 2 1 98 264 3 1 229 209 4 I 99 106 5 I 168 716 7 1 55 275 8 1 52 366 9 1 34 030 10 1 31 569 Total 9 $882 150 Average rate Total 1917-18 $887 045 Balance 1917 $417 57 Balance 1916 227 45 $190 12 Tax 1917 $4 322 55 190 12 Real tax $4 132 43 Tax 1918 $8 702 60 Real tax 1917 4 132 43 Real increase $4 570 17 $634 444 $646 006 $5 48S 3 876 57 95 $1 608 62 $556 380 82 79 $176 03 $3 876 95 176 03 $3 700 92 $5 485 5 700 57 00 $1 784 65 Tax rate Expenditures 1916-17 and 1916-17 budget 1 91 7-i 8 .00650 Control 1917-18. . . . $235 •• .0613 1916-17- • • ■ .0059 .0076 $235 .. .0059 Instruction .006 1917-18. . . . $5 010 . . .0085 1916-17. . . . 4 233 79 .0074 $776 21 .0056 Operation .0052 1917-18. . . . $760 .. 1916-17. . . . 559 93 .0061 $200 07 .0111 Maintenance .0085 1917-18. . . . $800 . . 1916-17. . . . 616 94 $183 06 Auxiliary $50 .. 221 72 $171 72 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . $40 .. 1916-17. . . . 70 86 $30 86 Debt service 1917-18 $62 50 1916-17. . . . 16 49 $46 01 Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- • • • Total 1917-18. . . . $6 957 50 1916-17. . . ■ Expenditures 5 719 73 Si 237 77 Tax rate 1916-17 and 1916-17 budget 1917-18 .00462 Instruction .00385 .00348 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- • ■ • $4 144 48 . 00309 $4 144 48 .00898 Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- ■ • • . 00996 1475 36 $475 36 . 00490 Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- • • • .00635 $593 77 Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $148 73 $148 73 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- . • ■ $64 94 $64 94 Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- ■ • • $25 . . $25 .. Total 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- • • • $5 452 28 IS 452 28 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1227 Herkimer county — Continued Town of Fairfield Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $16 100 .01552 2 1 42 590 . 00527 3 Contract 30 820 . 00162 4 1 26 735 .00070 5 6 329 251 .01239 6 1 89 075 . 00617 7 1 39 854 . 00862 8 1 79040 .00518 9 I 44 818 .00836 10 1 72 268 .00521 II I 45 118 .00760 Total 15 $815669 .07664 Average rate . 00696 Total 1917-18 $830000 .012 Balance 1916 $1 008 32 Balance 1917 510 11 $498 21 Tax 1917 7 204 96 Real tax 1917 $7 703 17 Tax 1918 $10 000 00 Real tax 191 7 7 703 17 Real increase $2 296 83 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1917- -18 Control 1917-18 $275 1916-17 56 68 $218 32 Instruction 1917-18 $9 315 1916-17 8 072 84 $1 242 16 Operation 1917-18 $1 400 1916-17 1 548 20 $148 20 Maintenance 1917-18 a . . . $700 1916-17 341 17 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $358 83 $230 67 $230 67 $204 04 $204 04 $2 $258 a Including insuring. $258 $1 200 10 503 60 $1 496 40 Town of Frankfort Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 9 $794 338 2 1 287 841 3 1 241 928 4 1 89 261 5 1 833 220 6 1 45 315 7 1 58 571 8 1 86 831 10 1 53 234 II 12 I 36 545 13 I 30 251 14 15 1 34 200 Total 19 $2 591 535 Total 1917-18 $2 831 233 Balance 1917 $1 272 91 Balance 1916 1 007 03 $265 88 Tax rate 1916-17 .00372 .0024 .00181 .0044 .00141 . 006 .00401 . 00496 .00575 .0065 00950 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $1 240 . . 1916-17 97 15 $1 142 85 Instruction 1917-18 $12 550 . . 1916-17 9 377 79 $3 172 21 Operation 1917-18 $2 250 . . 1916-17 1 645 14 $604 86 Maintenance 1917-18 $500 . . 1916-17 481 12 $18 88 Auxiliary 1917-18 $450 . . 1916-17 197 45 $252 55 1228 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Herkimer county — Continued Town of Frankfort Assessed valuation Tax 1916-17 $10 628 41 26s 88 $10 362 53 Tax 1917-18 21 214 58 Real increase $10 852 OS Expenditures 1 916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 113 99 $186 01 Debt service 1917-18 $2 39S ■ - 1916-17 1 061 84 $1 333 16 Outlay 1917-18 $3 415 • • 1916-17 80 45 $3 334 55 Total 1917-18 $23 100 . . 1916-17 13 OS* 93 $10 04s 07 Town of German Flatts Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 3 1 JiSi 219 4 1 68 200 5 1 74 925 6 1 64 250 7 2 165 001 8 1 35 445 9 1 59 260 Total 8 $618 300 Average rate Total 1917-18 $685 728 Balance 1916 $164 83 Balance 1 91 7 Ill 39 $53 44 Tax 1916-17 $3 051 76 53 44 $3 105 20 Tax 1918 $5 85s 00 Real tax 1917 3 i°5 20 Real increase $2 749 80 Tax rate 1916-17 .0032 .00586 .00762 .00426 .00571 .00586 .00586 .00493 .00528 .00853 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $575 .. 1916-17 #575 .. Instruction 1917-18 $3 500 . . 1916-17 3 356 72 $143 28 Operation 1917-18 $550 . . 1916-17 354 II $195 89 Maintenance 1917-18 $2 000 . . 1916-17 69 96 $1 930 04 Auxiliary 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 144 2 5 $94 25 Fixed charges 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 47 72 $2 28 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $189 36 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $6 725 . . 1916-17 4 162 12 $2 562 88 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1229 Town of Herkimer Dist. Herkimer county — Continued Teachers 3 Contract 4 5 6 7 Total . Assessed valuation $392 330 210 980 66 260 SO 515 39 432 21 640 34 903 104 737 38 710 58 761 Si 018 267 Average rate Total 1917-18 $10 000 Balance 1916. Balance 1917. Tax 191 7. Real tax. . £524 69 670 2g 5i4S 60 7 824 92 ll 679 32 Tax 191 8 Jn 000 .. Real tax 1917 7 679 32 Re al increase . 320 68 a Including insuring. Town of Litchfield Dist. Teachers 1 Contract Assessed valuation S20 49s 32 600 60 817 28 062 32 850 65 500 39 070 56 500 37 420 Total . Average rate. . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. . Balance 1917. . $373 314 5383 82S $395 322 08 41 $72 67 Tax rate 1916-17 .00879 .00805 ■ 00943 00599 .00869 .01040 .00752 .00369 .00849 . 00340 ■07445 .00744 .011 Tax rate 1916-17 .00160 .00676 .00583 .01060 • 0175 .00788 .00705 .0600 ■00747 .00673 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 48 . . $252 .. Instruction 1917-18 $8 552 . . 1916-17 6 092 84 $2 459 16 Operation 1917-18 $1 200 . . 1916-17 1 001 84 $198 16 Maintenance 1917-18 $500 .. 1916-17 591 30 $91 30 Auxiliary 1917-18 o$425 . . 1916-17 271 . . $154 •- Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $130 27 $130 27 Debt service 1917-18 $540 .. 1916-17 1 304 46 $764 46 Outlay 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 $300 . . Supplies and in- cidentals 1917-18 $783 .. 1916-17 $783 •■ Total 1917-18 $12 600 . . 1916-17 9 439 71 $3 160 29 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 $3 500 . . 1916-17 3 226 14 $273 86 Operation 1917-18 $450 . . 1916-17 334 05 $H5 95 Maintenance 1917-18 $1 000 . . 1916-17 93 18 $906 82 1230 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Herkimer county — Continued Town of Litchfield Assessed valuation Tax 1917 $2 514 84 72 67 $2 442 17 Tax 1918 $4 222 07 Tax 1917 2 442 17 Increase $1 779 90 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Auxiliary 1917-18 $175 ■■ 1916-17 361 4 1 $186 41 Fixed charges 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 42 4 2 $7 58 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $5 375 ■ • 1916-17 4 °57 20 $1 317 80 Town of Little Falls Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 Contract $297 919 . 00234 2 1 42 330 . 00885 3 1 50213 .01045 4 1 99 490 . 00728 5 1 54 300 .00506 6 1 88654 .00540 7 1 84251 .00750 Total 6 $717 157 -00517 Average rate • 00669 Total 1917-18 $825 297 .0073307 Balance 1917 $ 2 53 47 Balance 1916 70 18 $183 29 Tax 1917 $3 7H72 183 29 Real tax $3 528 43 Tax 1918 $6 050 Real tax 1917 3 528 43 Real increase $2 521 57 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-i8 Control 1917-18 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 $2 735 84 $2 735 84 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 $435 45 $435 45 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $489 66 $489 66 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 $660 88 $660 88 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $89 17 $89 17 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $1 154 5i $1 154 5i Total 1917-18 1916-17 $5 56S 5i THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1231 Herkimer county — Continued Town of Manheim Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $312 401 .00224 4 1 138963 .00276 5 1 I4S 5o6 .00377 6 1 61 275 .00693 8 1 287731 .00208 9. .' 1 9i 237 .00513 Total 6 $1037113 .00301 Average rate . 0038 1 Total 1917-18 $1078326 .00695 Balance 1916 $705 4 8 Balance 1917 26 28 $679 20 Tax 1917 3 127 88 Real tax $3 807 08 Tax 1918 $7 500 00 Real tax 1917 3 807 08 Real increase $3 692 92 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 $3 077 59 $3 077 59 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 $546 93 $546 93 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $868 40 $868 40 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 $162 38 $162 38 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $48 43 $48 43 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 1916-17 $4 703 73 $4 703 73 Town of Newport, Unit No. 1 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 7 $404 506 2 1 38 900 4 1 48 515 5 1 17 235 6 1 29 650 Total 11 $538 806 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 $183 35 Balance 1917 149 93 $33 42 Tax 1917 4 873 61 Real tax $4 907 03 Tax rate 1916-17 .01011 . 00640 .00512 . 00490 .00674 .009 . 00665 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $165 . . 1916-17 114 03 $50 97 Instruction 1917-18 $7 345 • . 1916-17 5 801 40 $1 543 60 Operation 1917-18 $1 049 . . 1916-17 953 16 $95 84 Maintenance 1917-18 $400 .. 1916-17 62 78 $337 22 1232 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Herkimer county — Continued Town of Newport, Unit No. I Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $7 500 00 Real tax 1917 4 907 03 Real increase $2 592 97 Town of Newport, Unit No. 2 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 3 1 $34 175 8 5 276 990 Total 6 $311 165 Average rate Total 1917-18 $314 942 Balance 1916 $254 59 Balance 1917 17 68 $236 91 Tax 1917 2 493 9S Real tax $2 730 86 Tax 1918 $3 779 30 Real tax 1917 2 730 86 Real increase $1 048 44 Tax rate 1916-17 .00800 .01156 .0111 . 00978 .012 Expenditures budget ] cgi5-i7 and :9i7-iS Auxiliary $250 . . 213 97 Fixed charges $36 03 $300 . . 80 48 Debt service 5219 52 $50 .. 6 30 Outlay 1917-18 $43 70 $41 .. 92 33 Total $51 33 $9 600 . . 7 324 45 $2 275 55 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control $45 •• 49 13 Instruction 1917-18 $4 13 $3 500 .. 3 753 34 Operation $253 34 $568 .. S46 31 Maintenance 1916-17 $21 69 $200 . . 801 67 Auxiliary $601 67 $100 . . 48 40 Fixed charges 1917-18 $51 60 $13 •• 56 44 Debt service 543 44 $6 97 Outlay 1917-18 $6 97 $25 .. Total $25 .. $4 451 . • 5 262 26 $811 26 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1233 Town of Norway Dist. Total . Average rate . . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. Balance 191 7- Tax 1917. Real tax . . Tax 1918 Real tax 1917. Real increase. Herkimer county — Continued Teachers Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $39 OOO .00641 31 08S .00631 26 900 .01200 63 153 .00657 34 775 .00718 17 000 .00500 28 600 .01200 15 90S .01213 40 476 .01082 $296 894 $291 23 $246 10 S3 72 £235 2 493 81 95 $2 729 76 $3 639 2 729 03 76 $909 29 .0084 .00871 .0126 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $206 . . 1916-17 12 45 $193 55 Instruction 1917-18 $3 770 . . 1916-17 3 369 46 $400 54 Operation 1917-18 $499 32 1916-17 251 02 $248 30 Maintenance 1917-18 $200 .. 1916-17 226 05 $26 05 Auxiliary 1917-18 $75 .. 1916-17 101 82 $26 82 Fixed charges 1917-18 $17 50 1916-17 45 08 $27 58 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $141 75 $141 75 Outlay 1 1917-18 $255 .. 1916-17 $255 .. Total 1917-18 $5 022 . . 1916-17 4 147 63 $875 19 Town of Ohio Dist. Total . Average rate . . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916.. Balance 191 7.. Tax 1917- Real tax. . Assessed Tax rate chers valuation 1916-17 1 $32 920 . 00743 1 22 034 .01249 1 9 180 .03249 1 8 583 .02358 1 47 869 .00729 1 34 563 .00623 1 10 505 .02961 $165 424 $167 373 $159 56 2S 2 2 $103 1 891 06 47 $1 994 53 .01901 .016 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1916-17 Control 1917-18 $95 .. 1916-17 35 $94 65 Instruction 1917-18 $3 376 .. 1916-17 2 860 02 $515 98 Operation 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 209 38 $9 38 Maintenance 1917-18 a$i79 .. 1916-17 102 34 $76 66 a Including insuring. 1234 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town, of Ohio Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $2 700 Real tax 1917 1 994 S3 Real increase $705 47 Herkimer county — Continued Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Auxiliary 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 31 So $18 50 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $46 26 $46 26 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $25 30 $25 30 Supplies 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 $100 . . Total 1917-18 $4 000 . . 1916-17 3 27S IS $724 85 Town of Russia Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 1 $17 085 S 1 85 4 IQ 6 2 123 486 7 I 82 068 8 1 SS 224 9 1 10 oil 10. 1 91 800 i r 1 8 700 12! ... '. 1 21 665 13 I 22 015 is! I 19 199 Total 12 $536 672 Average rate Total 1 91 7-18 $531 733 Balance 1916 '• • • • $612 71 Balance 1917 89 43 $523 28 Tax 1917 4 680 04 Real tax $5 203 32 Tax 1918 $6 380 80 Real tax 1917 S 203 32 Real increase $1 177 48 Tax rate 1916-17 .01142 .00526 . 00990 .00489 . 00993 • 03049 . 00463 .02400 .01308 .01968 .01068 .0087 .01308 .012 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $550 . . 1916-17 57 12 $492 88 Instruction 1917-18 $6 310 . . 1916-17 5 269 30 $1 040 70 Operation 1917-18 $675 . . 1916-17 518 41 $156 59 Maintenance 1917-18 $175 • • 1916-17 432 50 $257 50 Auxiliary 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 I 20 S 1 $179 49 Fixed charges 1917-78 $50 . . 1916-17 i°3 93 $53 93 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $102 16 $102 16 Outlay 1917-18 $345 •• 1916-17 530 45 $185 45 Total 1917-18 $8 405 •• 1916-17 7 134 38 $1 270 62 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1235 Herkimer county — Continued Town of Salisbury Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $64520 .00865 2 1 69 250 . 00650 3 3 275 100 .01300 4 I 52 204 .00710 5 1 51 000 .05300 6 1 62 760 .00620 7 1 77 400 .00549 8 1 45 860 .00900 9 1 69570 .00634 10 1 70 000 .00500 11 1 54 550 .00400 Total 13 $892 214 .12428 Average rate . 01 1 29 Total 191 7-i8 $895900 .011 Balance 1916 $630 13 Balance 1917 525 99 $104 14 Tax 1917 7 495 14 Real tax $7 599 28 Tax 1918 $9 855 Real tax 1917 7 599 28 Real increase $2 255 72 Town of Schuyler Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 1 3 I 4 Contract 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 1 10 1 11 1 Total 10 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 $253 61 Balance 1917 197 49 $56 12 Tax 1917 3 235 36 Real tax $3 291 48 a Incl. insuriag. Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $106 388 . 00442 203 087 .00149 235 772 .00190 113 728 142 6.51 .00255 42 860 .00300 52 200 .00526 33 390 .00775 36 710 .00592 46 720 .00779 83 940 .00479 $1 097 446 . 04487 . 00448 .0054 $1 IOI 917 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $270 . . 1916-17. $270 . . Instruction 1917-18 {7 335 . . 1916-17 5 741 75 Si 593 25 Operation 1917-18 $850 .. 1916-17 835 26 $14 74 Maintenance 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 1 003 48 $903 48 Auxiliary 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 99 50 $50 so Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $157 96 $157 96 Debt service 1917-18 $1 000 . . 1916-17 1 540 04 $540 04 Outlay 1917-18 $1 280 . . 1916-17 192 84 $1 087 16 Incidentals 1917-18 $515 . . 1916-17 $515 .. Total 1917-18 In 500 . . 1916-17 9 570 83 $1 929 17 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $175 . . 1916-17 5i7S .. Instruction 1917-18 $5 475 • - 1916-17 4 272 35 $1 202 65 Operation 1917-18 #550 . . 1916-17 414 32 $135 68 Maintenance 1917-18 alsoo . . 1916-17 204 as $295 75 Auxiliary 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 117 85 167 85 1236 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Schuyler Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $6 000 00 Real tax 1917 3 291 48 Real increase $2 708 52 Herkimer county — Continued Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $67 os $67 05 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $39 29 $39 29 Outlay 1917-18 $425 .. 1916-17 $425 .. Supplies and incidentals 1917-18 $325 . . 1916-17 $325 .. Total 1917-18 $7 500 .. 1916-17 5 US 11 $2 384 89 Town of Stark Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $72 873 a 1 4° 665 3 1 50 073 5 1 84 105 6 1 37 in 7 1 40 437 8 1 57 464 10 1 40956 12 1 45 218 Total 9 $468 902 Average rate Total 1917-18 $463 801 Balance 1916 $195 95 Balance 1917 149 38 $46 57 Tax 1917 3 645 04 Real tax $3 691 61 Tax 1918 $6 957 11 Real tax 1917 3 691 61 Real increase $3 265 so Tax rate 1916-17 .00629 .0122 . 00704 . 00540 .00700 .00950 • 00344 .01224 .01194 .00777 .00834 .015 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 $4 032 95 $4 032 95 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 $528 76 £528 76 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 $143 19 $143 19 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $64 70 $64 7 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $443 •■ $^43 . . Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $211 88 $211 88 Total 1917-18 1916-17 $5 424 48 $5 424 48 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1237 Herkimer county — Continued Town of Warren Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $92 964 . 00403 2 1 45 392 .01329 3 1 20650 .01500 4 1 42370 .oioso 5 1 70136 .00749 6 1 64846 -00633 7 Contract 61 143 . 00425 8 1 93 528 .00299 11 1 28 210 .01061 Total 8 $519 239 . 00675 Average rate . 00827 Total 1917-18 $526940 .0105 Balance 1916 $292 89 Balance 1917 51 22 $241 67 Tax 1917 3 508 45 Real tax $3 750 12 Tax 1918 $5 500 . . Real tax 1917 3 750 45 Real increase $1 749 88 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 $3 718 31 $3 7i8 31 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 $410 92 $410 92 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $204 81 £204 81 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 $527 97 $527 97 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $80 32 $80 32 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $307 50 $307 50 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 1916-17 $5 249 83 #5 249 83 Town of Wilmurt Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 19 16-17 1 1 $27 920 .0100 3 1 hi 112 .00375 4 1 286 023 .00210 5 1 68 388 .01000 6 1 76 552 .00300 Total 5 $569 995 • 0038 Average rate .00577 Total 1917-18 $568006 .0075 Balance 1916 $697 41 Balance 1917 76 17 $621 24 Tax 1917 2 210 06 Real tax $2 831 30 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $375 •• 1916-17 9 60 £365 4C Instruction 1917-18 $2 882 . . 1916-17 2 305 14 $576 86 Operation 1917-18 $305 - . 1916-17 419 06 $114 06 Maintenance 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 399 OS $299 08 1238 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Wilmurt Herkimer county — Concluded Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $4 260 os Real tax 1 91 7 2 831 30 Real increase $1 428 75 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Auxiliary 1917-18 $458 86 1916-17 69 20 $389 66 Fixed charges 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 33 44 $116 56 Outlay 1917-18 S7I5 ■ ■ 1916-17 471 12 $243 88 Total 1917-18 $4 98s 86 1916-17 3 706 64 $1 279 22 Town of Winfield Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $56 940 2 Contract 34 4io 3 I 97 090 4 10 416 738 S Contract 52 650 6 1 41 440 7 1 84 422 8! 9 1 91 313 10 1 68 835 1 1 1 46 466 Total 17 $990 304 Average rate Total $1 049 326 Balance 1916 $1 811 13 Balance 1917 1 382 98 $428 15 Tax 1916-17 $8 342 38 428 IS Real tax $7 914 23 Tax 1917-18 $11 370 00 Real tax 7 914 23 Real increase $3 455 77 Tax rate 1916-17 .00532 .00685 . 00340 .01335 .00300 .00702 . 00448 . 00399 .0054 .0065 .00842 .00593 .01084 Expenditures 1 916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $285 00 1916-17 137 30 $147 70 Instruction 1917-18 $10 250 . . 1916-17 10 045 46 $204 54 Operation 1917-18 $1 650 . . 1916-17 1 422 09 $227 9i Maintenance 1917-18 $1 215 • ■ 1916-17 788 06 $426 88 Auxiliary 1917-18 $900 . . 1916-17 744 06 $155 94 Fixed charges 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 J 40 95 $9 OS Debt service 1917-18 $620 .. 1916-17 670 01 $50 01 Outlay 1917-18 I400 . . 1916-17 #400 . . Total 1917-18 $15 470 . . 1916-17 13 947 99 I15 220 . . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1239 Jefferson county Town of Adams Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 5 $215 982 2 1 62 593 3 1 65 150 4 1 81 980 5 2 83 000 6 Contract 42 275 7 Contract 39 222 8 Contract 39 705 9 I 26 380 10 1 32 575 11 Contract 83 163 12 1 88 958 14 1 92 658 Total 14 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 #953 641 $964 607 S770 89 309 22 $461 67 6 158 81 $6 620 48 $8 199 . . 6 620 48 $1 578 52 Tax rate 1916-17 .0113 .0062 .0053 .0050 .0076 .0066 .0010 .0085 .0097 .0054 .0034 .0037 .0064 .0061 .85 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 131 15 568 85 Instruction 1917-18 $7 700 . . 1916-17 7 533 44 $166 56 Operation 1917-18 $1 025 • . 1916-17 877 45 $147 55 Maintenance 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 569 16 ^269 16 Auxiliary 1917-18 $725 . • 1916-17 769 76 $44 76 Fixed charges 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 146 46 $96 46 Debt service 1917-18 $125 • • $125 .. Outlay 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 76 53 $73 47 Total 1917-18 $10 275 . - 1916-17 10 103 95 $171 05 Town of Alexandria Dist. Teachers 1 Contract 2 Contract 3 2 4 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 1 10 1 11 1 12 1 13 1 14 1 15 6 16 1 17 1 18 1 19 1 20 1 21 1 22 23 Contract Total 24 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $24 436 24 560 .0040 91 162 .0080 64 345 .0055 31 978 .0080 36 550 .0079 S3 290 .0071 58 895 .0055 25 250 .0089 18 780 .0080 48 208 .0073 88 700 .0029 55 801 .0075 244 041 .0060 67 120 .0065 37 050 .0095 37 250 .0095 77 405 .0036 32 845 .0081 149 271 .0057 13 800 .0078 18 800 $1 299 537 .0079 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $515 • • 1916-17 64 37 $450 63 Instruction 1917-18 #12 200 . . 1916-17 10 320 13 $1 879 87 Operation 1917-18 $1 525 . . 1916-17 1 536 40 $11 40 Maintenance 1917-18 $800 .. 1916-17 738 57 $61 43 Auxiliary 1917-18 $1 300 . . 1916-17 1 025 46 $274 54 1240 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Jefferson county — Continued Town of A lexandria Assessed Tax rate valuation 19 16-17 Average rate . 0069 Total 191 7-18 Si 413 405 .01 Balance 1916 $1 542 20 Balance 1 91 7 840 24 I701 96 Tax 1917 10 367 13 Real tax $11 069 09 Tax 1918 $14 134 06 Real tax 191 7 11 069 09 Real increase $3 064 97 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 241 14 $141 14 Debt service 1917-18 $760 . . 1916-17 780 .. $20 .. Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $100 22 fioo 22 Total 1917-18 $17 200 . . 1916-17 14 806 29 $2 393 7i Town of Antwerp Dist. 3- 4. 5- 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. ii . 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. Total . Average rate . . Total 191 7-i8. Balance 1916. . Balance 1917-. Tax 1917. Real tax. . Teachers Con ract 30 Assessed valuation $472 088 74 608 42 090 56 960 26 460 59 090 34 350 49 994 66 658 28 870 36 060 115 726 87 763 62 988 81 595 45 600 38 526 78 830 32 130 42 980 59 650 Tax 1918 Real tax 1917. Real increase . $1 593 016 $1 611 '56 $2 053 I 929 68 87 $123 12 527 81 89 $12 651 70 $16 117 12 651 36 70 $3 465 86 Tax rate 1916-17 .our .0040 .0071 .0056 .0082 .0055 .0095 .0077 .0053 .0099 .0055 .0090 .0035 .0143 .0040 .0050 .0070 .0057 .0086 .0059 .0034 .0078 .0069 .01 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $815 46 1916-17 142 12 $673 34 Instruction 1917-18 $14 140 . . 1916-17 14 089 66 $50 34 Operation 1917-18 $2 200 . . 1916-17 2 371 02 $171 02 Maintenance 1917-18 $2 200 . . 1916-17 857 79 $1 342 21 Auxiliary 1917-18 3400 .. 1916-17 329 30 $70 70 Fixed charges 1917-18 #100 . . 1916-17 241 95 $141 95 Debt service 1917-18 #600 . . 1916-17 1 321 25 $721 25 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $1 279 67 $1 279 67 Total 1917-18 $20 455 46 1916-17 20 632 76 $177 30 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1241 Jefferson county — Continued Town of Brownville Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 2 1 $60 075 • 0069 3 1 6S956 .0052 4 1 83 996 .0053 5 1 39 490 .0087 6 1 60170 .0050 7 11 749656 .0082 8 1 103 410 .0033 9 1 76598 .0040 10 1 40425 .0070 11 1 52098 .0061 12 1 54 436 .0050 13 1 25380 .0092 14 Contract 46 670 .0011 15 1 50 100 .0054 16 1 68830 .0040 17 1 96778 .0035 18 1 67000 .0045 Total 26 $1 741 168 .0063 Average rate .0054 Total 191 7-i8 Si 800 112 .00757 Balance 1916 $574 13 Balance 1917 488 73 $85 40 Tax 1917 10 969 34 Real tax $11 054 74 Tax 1918 $13 625 . . Real tax 1917 11 054 74 Real increase $2 570 26 Town of Cape Vincent Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $77 000 2 1 68 700 3 1 105 604 4 1 60 499 5 1 95 882 6 1 90 116 7 Contract 43 750 8 1 99 189 9 1 107 022 10 8 522 819 II 1 50 512 12 Contract 43 570 13 1 106 114 14 1 78 074 15 1 97 722 16 1 55 100 17 1 28 302 Total 23 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax $1 729 ! P45 $1 742 ! ?20 $634 421 18 39 $212 10 309 79 57 $10 522 36 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 176 70 $123 30 Instruction 1917-18 $14 300 . . 1916-17 12 144 25 $2 155 75 Operation 1917-18 $2 300 . . 1916-17 1 786 30 $513 70 Maintenance 1917-18 $900 . . 1916-17 1 075 22 $175 22 Auxiliary 1917-18 $400 . . 1916-17 198 58 $201 42 Fixed charges 1917-18 £170 . . 1916-17 241 05 $71 05 Debt service 1917-18 £680 . . 1916-17 776 40 $96 40 Outlay I9I7-I8 $75 .. 1916-17 180 25 $105 25 Total 1917-18 $19 125 .. I9r6-I7 16 578 75 $2 546 25 Tax rate 1916-17 .0045 .0052 .0034 .0030 .0037 .0031 .003 .0029 .011 .0074 .004 .0029 .0043 .0037 .0044 .0073 Expenditures budget ] Control 1917-18 Instruction Operation Maintenance Auxiliary 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 and :9i7-i8 $565 . . 106 26 $458 74 $12 561 .. 10 738 66 $ 822 34 $2 020 . . 1 242 26 $777 74 $525 .. .0058 $512 49 $630 .. 352 47 $277 53 $75 .. 252 40 .0046 .0078 $177 40 1243 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Cape Vincent Jeff ers on county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $13 594 ■ . Real tax 10 522 36 Real increase $3 071 64 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 17-18 Debt services 1917-18 1916-17 $504 04 $504 04 Outlay 1917-18 $330 . . 1916-17 196 69 $133 31 Total 1917-18 $16 706 . . 1916-17 14 430 27 $2 275 73 Town of Clayton Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $65 725 2 1 77 520 3 1 37 820 4 1 53 660 5 Contract 34 250 6 3 130 000 7 1 47 270 9 I 32 550 10 I 51 675 II 1 33 000 12 I 92 300 13 1 176 38S 14 1 33 840 15 1 92 410 16 I 54 050 17 1 Si 500 18 I 47 080 19 I 24 400 20 I 74 040 21 I 48 820 22 1 69 821 23 1 SO 500 24 Contract 52 126 Total 23 $1 430 742 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 413 696 Balance 1916 $633 20 Balance 191 7 585 85 $47 35 Tax 1917 7 469 38 Real tax $7 Si6 73 Tax 1918 $11 309 57 Real tax 1917 7 5*6 73 Real increase $3 792 84 Tax rate 1916-17 .0080 .0049 .0057 .0061 .0022 .0088 .0061 .ooss .0065 .0072 .0035 .0019 .0061 .0048 .0075 .0057 .0053 .0102 .0031 .0059 .0045 .0064 .00572 .008 Town of Champion Dist. Teachers 1 1 3 1 4 1 5 Contract Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $325 .. 1916-17 27 . . $298 .. Instruction 1917-18 £11 760 . . 1916-17 9 135 44 $2 624 56 Operation 1917-18 $1 400 . . 1916-17 730 S3 $669 47 Maintenance 1917-18 $550 . . 1916-17 9i7 53 $367 53 Auxiliary 1917-18 $645 . . 1916-17 349 88 $295 12 Fixed charges 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 no 14 $60 14 Debt services 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $195 .. 1916-17 $195 .. Total 1917-18 $14 925 . . 1916-17 11 270 52 Tax rate 1916-17 .0069 .0057 .007 .0055 $3 654 48 Assessed valuation $53 49i 59 n8 50 350 53 144 43 500 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control $474 .. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1243 Jefferson county — ■ Continued Town of Champion Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 7 1 68 170 .0050 8 1 86 100 .0054 9 2 202244 .0057 10 1 67500 .ooso 11 1 81 970 .0043 12 1 47 942 .0135 13 1 42 012 .0070 14 1 26 870 .0092 IS Contract 26 137 . 0052 16 1 45000 .0056 Total 14 $953 548 . 00578 Average . 0065 Total 1917-18 $945960 .0095 Balance 1916 $413 67 Balance 1917 130 91 $282 76 Tax 1917 5 5i6 86 Real tax $5 799 62 Tax 1918 $8 986 62 Real tax 1917 5 799 62 Real increase $3 187 . . Expenditures 1916-1 budget 1917-18 7 and 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $5 5 950 732 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . ■ • Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17- ■ ■ Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $218 51 050 783 $267 Ji 500 638 $550 482 $500 161 $500-$i6i $800 16 $784 $100 465 $365 Total 1917-18 $10 960 1916-17 8 313 $2 647 . . Town of EUisburg, Unit No. I Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 2 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 11 12 1 17 1 25 4 27 1 Total 15 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1917 Balance 1916 Tax 191 7 Real tax Assessed valuation $83 144 136 266 79 881 43 032 83 986 51 630 57 167 55 58 234 45 850 422 459 384 $929 221 $929 753 $522 352 33 24 $I7C 5 263 0') 18 $5 093 09 Tax rate 1916-17 • 0035 .0069 .0043 .0075 .0041 .0050 .0046 .0051 .0056 .0070 .0055 ■ 0057 .0054 .008 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 1916-17 $17 Instruction 1917-18. , 1916-17. $17 $6 334 6 302 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $32 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $76 $780 312 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $25 $25 1244 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Ellisburg, Unit No. I Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $7 297 50 Real tax 1917 5 092 09 Real increase $2 204 41 Jefferson county — Continued * $9,297. SO given in budget as total. Town of Ellisburg, Unit No. 2 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 8 2 $193 664 9 1 70 104 10 1 89 980 13 1 56 490 14 2 141 121 IS 1 37 760 16 1 57 471 18 7 220 039 19 1 54 770 20 1 59 565 21 1 62 638 22 1 35 087 23 Contract 37 719 24 94 549 26 1 70 460 Total 21 $1281417 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 286 96s Balance 1916 $1 013 66 Balance 1917 557 83 $455 83 Tax 1917 6 972 09 Real tax $7 427 92 Tajc 1918 $9 552 28 Real tax 1917 7 4 2 7 92 Real increase $2 124 36 Tax rate 1916-17 .0065 .0043 • 0035 .0055 .006 .0063 .005 .0075 .0052 .0047 .0053 .0080 .0025 .0048 .0054 .0054 .0075 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $96 . . $96 . . Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $6 . . $6 .. Supplies 1917-18 $292 50 1916-17 $292 50 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $13 .. $13 ■• Total 1917-18 *$8 382 so 1916-17 7 671 . . $711 50 Expenditures 1 916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $30 1916-17 2 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. $283 $7 692 12 075 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $4 383 $775 1 655 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. ■ . $880 $1 100 676 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $424 $1 925 125 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. . . . $1 800 $100 US Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $15 $1 530 9 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $1 S21 $300 30 $270 Total 1917-18 $13 727 1916-17 14 707 $980 . . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1245 Jefferson county — Continued Town of Henderson Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $60 200 . 0055 2 1 68410 .005 3 1 84 750 .0035 4 1 62350 .0057 5 Contract 51 890 .0054 6 Contract 50 350 . 0020 7 Contract 46 550 . 0025 8 4 220950 .0091 9 1 112 500 .0021 10 1 85 280 .0034 11 1 42 850 .008 12 1 127 730 .0040 13 1 76480 .004 Total 13 $ 1 090 290 .0052 Average rate .0046 Total 191 7-i8 Si 095 060 .0069 Balance 1917 $797 87 Balance 1916 532 26 $265 61 Tax 1917 $5 626 54 265 61 Real tax $5 360 93 Tax 1918 $7 S5S 25 Real tax 1917 S 360 93 Real increase $2 194 32 Town of Houndsfield Dist. Teachers Con 13. 14 . 15. 16. Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $344 396 .0130 60 400 ■ 0039 104 265 .0036 64 475 .0050 130 124 .0027 96 585 .0040 93 020 .0040 40 585 .0060 52 145 .0045 IS 125 .0109 102 200 .0042 14 825 .0125 79 958 .0036 77 898 .0046 161 330 .0030 48 685 .0041 Total . $1 486 016 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 456 689 Balance 19 16. Balance 1917. .0061 .0056 .0080 Tax 1917. Real tax . . $578 42 4 J 7 77 $160 65 9 093 37 59 254 02 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-i8 Control 1917-18 $34 1916-17 5 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . $289 $6 449 6 054 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $395 $906 736 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17- . . $170 196 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Si 740 863 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. . . . $877 $100 80 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $20 $363 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $363 $150 60 Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $9 975 8 403 $1 572 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $425 .. 1916-17 156 60 $268 40 Instruction 1917-18 $11 573 ■ • 1916-17 9 836 04 $1 736 96 Operation 1917-18 $1 650 . . 1916-17 1 232 57 $417 43 Maintenance 1917-18 $400 .. 1916-17 592 03 $192 03 Auxiliary 1917-18 $600 .. 1916-17 388 63 $211 37 Fixed charges 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 127 69 $27 69 1246 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Oundsfield Jefferson county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1018 $12 759 11 Real tax 1917 9 254 02 Real increase $3 505 09 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Not classified 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 $200 . . Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $192 24 $192 24 Incidentals 1917-18 $500 . . 1916-17 $500 . . Outlay 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 248 35 $198 35 Total 1917-18 $15 498 . . 1916-17 12 774 15 $2 723 85 Town of Le'JZay Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $160 085 2 1 97 770 3 S 339 044 4 1 57 479 5 I 77 372 6 I 47 663 7 1 59 678 8 I 39 076 9 1 41 996 10...., 1 94 297 11 . . . .' 1 4 1 660 12 1 67 537 13 1 46 150 14 I 72 433 15 I 65 416 Total 19 $1 307 656 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 438 356 Balance 1 91 7 $622 13 Balance 1916 373 02 $249 11 Tax 1917 8 456 29 Real tax $8 207 18 Tax 1918 $10 500 00 Real tax 1917 8 207 18 Real increase $2 292 82 Tax rate 1916-17 .0035 .0046 .0100 .0050 .0050 .0079 .0052 .0067 .0075 .0039 .0083 .0055 .006 .0059 .0050 . 00698 .006 .0073 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $425 . . 1916-17 11 . . $414 • . Instruction 1917-18 ' $9 550 .. 1916-17 8 597 . . $953 .. Operation 1917-18 $1 481 . . 1916-17 1 129 . . $352 .. Maintenance 1917-18 $500 . . 1916-17 900 . . $400 . . Auxiliary 1917-18 $500 . . 1916-17 347 .. $153 •• Fixed charges 1917-18 $300 .. 1916-17 no . . $210 . . Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $26 . . $26 .. Outlay 1917-18 $100 00 1016-17 82 .. $18 .. Total 1917-18 $12 856 . . 1916-17 11 202 . . $1 654 •• THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1247 Jefferson county — Continued Town of Lorraine Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1 916-17 1 1 $107780 .0036 2 1 36050 .0090 3 2 95 950 .0083 4 Contract 30 330 . 0057 5 1 29070 .0077 6 Contract 37 180 . 0047 7 Contract 21 970 .0018 8 1 30030 .008 9 1 45 700 .0057 10 1 27 000 .0079 11 1 27 625 .0094 12 1 30690 .0073 13 1 23600 .0085 Total 11 $542 975 .0065 Average rate . 0067 Total 1917-18 $540 544 .0085 Balance 1916 $292 79 Balance 1917 195 96 $96 83 Tax 1917 3 5i8 78 Real tax $3 615 61 Tax 1918 $4 594 94 Real tax 191 7 3 615 61 Real increase $973 33 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $250 . 1916-17 3 ■ $247 . Instruction 1917-18 $4 535 . 1916-17 4 442 . $93 . Operation 1917-18 $420 . 1916-17 388 . $32 . Maintenance 1917-18 $240 . 1916-17 347 . $107 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $1 350 . 1916-17 593 • $757 . Fixed charges 1917-18 $25 . 1916-17 70 . $45 . Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $12 - $12 Outlay 1917-18 $50 1916-17 29 $21 Total 1917-18 $6 870 1916-17 5 884 Town of Lyme, Unit No. 1 Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 1 4 6 8 1 9 1 10 1 Total 11 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $92 973 .0030 68 401 .0034 335 327 .0100 100 508 .0029 49 680 .0054 222 156 .0020 $869 045 • 0057 .0045 .070 $90 000 $920 27 869 59 $50 68 4 978 79 $5 029 47 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-18 Control 1917-18 $475 .. 1916-17 75 59 $399 4i Instruction 1917-18 $5 900 . . 1916-17 5 215 67 $684 33 Operatio.n 1917-18 $762 . . 1916-17 626 23 „ . ^35 77 Maintenance I9I7-I8 $135 .. 1916-17 374 29 $239 39 1248 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Jefferson county Town of Lyme, Unit No. J Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $6 300 . . Real tax 5 029 47 Real increase $1 270 S3 Continued Expenditures 1016-17 and budget 1917-18 Auxiliary 1917-18 $225 .. 1916-17 303 43 378 43 Fixed charges 1917-18 $48 .. 1916-17 114 33 $66 33 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $5 78 $5 78 Incidentals 1917-18 $142 95 1916-17 $142 95 Outlay 1917-18 $35 •• 1916-17 113 31 $78 31 Total 1917-18 $7 722 95 1916-17 6 828 63 $894 32 Town of Lyme Unit No. 2 Dist. Teachers 3 I 5 4 6 1 7 1 11 1 12 1 13 1 14 1 15 1 Total 12 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase Assessed valuation $55 684 206 14s 53 450 42 325 hi 881 47 150 57 295 39 830 87 998 $701 758 $694 444 $353 52 81 59 $301 3 700 22 38 $4 001 60 $5 378 4 001 05 60 $1 377 35 Tax rate 1916-17 .0042 .0075 .0053 .0060 .0032 .0050 .0042 .0050 .0040 .0052 .0049 .0077 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $235 .. 1916-17 9 63 $225 37 Instruction 1917-18 $5 958 . . 1916-17 5 208 22 $749 78 Operation 1917-18 $695 . . 1916-17 482 15 $212 85 Maintenance 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 42 42 $57 58 Auxiliary 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-I7 37 45 $12 55 Fixed charges 1917-18 $135 .. 1916-17 137 40 $2 40 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17. .... $33 20 $33 20 Total 1917-18 $7 173 .. 1916-17 5 950 47 $1 222 53 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1249 Town of Orleans Dist. Jefferson county — Continued Teachers C3. 14. IS. 16. 17. 18. Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $41 306 .0054 31 106 .0141 77 500 .0060 74 731 .0054 88 160 .0033 82 836 .0035 56 864 .0068 18 OOO .017 6S 490 .0054 63 392 .005 334 600 .002 72 890 .004 141 98s .0031 268 810 .012 68 360 .0049 52 777 .0080 37 777 .0063 41 920 .0081 Total . $1 621 504 .0058 Average rate . 00668 Total 1917-18 $1 629 854 .009 Balance 1916 $1 146 63 Balance 1917 697 37 Tax 1917- Real tax. . $449 26 9 530 94 Tax 1918 $14 668 67 Real tax 191 7 9 980 20 Real increase $4 688 45 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $275 •• 1916-17 30 69 $244 31 Instruction 1917-18 ?I3 073 .. 1916-17 10 049 22 $3 023 78 Operation 1917-18 $2 745 .. 1916-17 1 596 01 $1 148 99 Maintenance 1917-18 $900 . . 1916-17 703 78 $196 22 Auxiliary 1917-18 $270 .. 1916-17 38s 08 $115 08 Fixed charges 1917-18 $50 .. 1916-17 132 42 $82 42 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $214 89 $214 89 Outlay 1917-18 $35 . . 1916-17 275 74 $240 74 Total 1917-18 $17 348 .. 1916-17 13 387 83 $3 960 17 Town of Pamelia Dist. Total . Average rate . . Total 191 7-18. Balance 1916. . Balance 1917. . Tax 1917. Real tax . , Teachers Con Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $93 070 .0037 137 640 .0027 73 450 .0052 35 100 .0069 72 780 .0042 58 100 .0059 54 705 .0055 47 050 .0065 97 490 .0050 74 757 .0038 37 100 .0020 $78l -4-' $785 310 $364 342 02 50 $21 3 440 52 31 $3 461 83 .0044 .0047 .0065 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $250 .. 1916-17 1 34 $248 66 Instruction 1917-18 $5 020 . . 1916-17 4 296 30 $723 70 Operation 1917-18 $550 . . 1916-17 396 04 $153 96 Maintenance 1917-18 $350 . . 1916-17 181 23 '$168 77 Auxiliary 1917-18 $125 .. 1916-17 55 3t $69 (9 40 1250 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Pamelia Jefferson county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $5 094 I2 Real tax 1917 3 461 83 Real increase $1 632 29 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Fixed charges 1916-17 42 .. Debt service 1917-18 $8 .. $100 . . Outlay Total 1917-18 $6 44s .. 4 972 22 $1 472 78 Town of Philadelphia Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $76 305 2 1 79 163 3 7 494 70S 4. . I 101 059 5 1 64 61s 6 1 100 456 7 r 108 339 8 Contract 107 286 9 1 116 314 Total..... 14 $1 248 242 Average Total 1917-18 $1 243 854 Balance 1917 $668 23 Balance 1916 530 36 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase $137 7 330 87 89 $7 193 12 $8 000 7 193 12 $806 98 Tax rate 1916-17 .0045 .0051 .0092 .0034 .0055 .0037 .0033 .0034 .0020 .00587 .0045 .0065 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $375 1916-17 40 $335 Instruction 1917-18 $7 500 1916-17 6 888 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $1 325 1 178 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17- • • $147 $200 776 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17- $576 $720 633 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17- • • - $100 375 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17- • - $275 "'$41 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17- $41 $100 15 Total 1917-18. 1916-17- Jio 320 9 946 $347 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1251 Town of Rodman Dist. Teachers Total 14 Average rate . . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. . Balance 1917. . Tax 1917. Real tax. , Tax 1918 Real tax 1917. »on county — Continued Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $87 911 .0043 155 425 .0078 52 701 .0051 88 381 .0047 58 297 .0060 98 080 .0034 38 857 .0069 39 806 .0154 20 810 .0063 40 856 .0067 41 530 .0095 23 330 .0110 65 050 .0050 Real increase $1 108 85 $813 J34 $798 (65 1344 83 296 10 $48 5 230 73 M $5 278 87 $6 387 5 278 12 87 Si 108 85 .0064 .0071 .80 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $225 . . 1916-17 $225 .. Instruction 1917-18 $6 075 . . 1916-17 5 728 88 $346 12 Operation 1917-18 $600 . . 1916-17 522 18 $77 82 Maintenance 1917-18 $350 . . 1916-17 805 57 $455 57 Auxiliary 1917-18 $275 • • 1916-17 207 10 $67 90 Fixed charges 1917-18 $75 •• 1916-17 68 42 $6 58 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $323 79 $323 79 Outlay 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 6 25 $143 75 Total 1917-18 $7 750 .. 1916-17 7 662 19 $87 81 Town oj Rutland, Unit No. I Dist Teachers 4 1 5 1 7 5 12 Contract Total 7 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Assessed valuation $81 480 68 200 305 462 19 115 Tax rate 1916-17 .0049 .0050 .0100 $474 257 .008 .0066 $511 210 1.20 $683 95 $683 95 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $185 00 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. . 1916-17. . $301 44 $185 $4 275 3 962 41 $312 59 $900 . . 598 56 1252 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Jefferson county — Continued Town of Rutland, Unit No. I Assessed valuation Tax 1917 $3 795 90 Real tax $4 479 85 Tax 1918 $6 134 Real tax 1917 4 479 85 $1 654 15 Town of Rutland, Unit No. 2 Dist. Teachers r 1 2 1 3 I 6 I 8 7 9 Contract 10 1 11 1 Total 13 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 $671 63 Balance 1917 I0 ° 4 2 $511 21 Tax 1917 6 608 16 Real tax $7 H9 37 Tax 1918 $7 889 • . Real tax 1917 7 H9 37 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $58 593 .0065 68 240 .0049 16 225 .0120 65 000 .0046 496 440 .0099 74 400 .0010 36 580 .0064 30 290 ■ OOSS $845 768 .0078 .0064 $876 650 .90 $769 63 $218 52 $750 796 00 05 $46 05 $I9S .. 48 63 $146 37 $7 123 6 031 52 95 $1 091 57 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Maintenance 1917-18 $525 .. 1916-17 384 57 $140 43 Auxiliary 1917-18 $75 -. 1916-17 157 12 $82 12 Fixed charges 1917-18 $218 52 1916-17 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Total 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7- 18 Control 1917-18 $175 . . 1916-17 99 81 $75 19 Instruction 1917-18 $6 650 . . 1916-17 6 784 34 $134 34 Operation 1917-18 $1 000 . . 1916-17 1 178 65 $178 65 Maintenance 1917-18 $225 . . 1916-17 170 16 $54 84 Auxiliary 1917-18 $350 .. 1916-17 260 49 $89 61 Fixed charges 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 84 41 $55 59 Debt service 1917-18 $550 . . 1916-17 991 99 $441 99 Outlay 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 169 80 $69 80 Total 1917-18 $9 200 . . 1916-17 9 739 65 $539 65 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1253 Town of Theresa Dist. Jefferson county — Continued Teachers Con ract Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $462 631 .0090 41 486 .0074 48 594 .0062 50 020 .0050 17 850 .0136 37 900 .0076 87 498 .0040 28 9SO .0095 104 826 • 0035 31 710 .0070 61 888 .0045 46 194 .0029 93 816 ■ 0035 81 500 .0049 Total . $1 194 863 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 092 950 Balance 1916. Balance 1917. Tax 1917- Real tax. . Tax 1918 Real tax 1917. Real increase. $1 942 or 1 513 80 $428 21 7 923 30 $9 836 SS 8 351 51 $1 485 04 .0016 .0063 .009 Expenditures 1 916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $550 . . 1916-17 86 51 $463 49 Instruction 1917-18 $9 900 . . 1916-17 9 547 55 $352 45 Operation 1917-18 $1 400 • • 1916-17 1 449 20 $49 20 Maintenance 1917-18 $700 . . 1916-17 476 94 $223 06 Auxiliary 1917-18 $700 . . 1916-17 320 93 $379 07 Fixed charges 1917-18 $200 00 1916-17 231 92 $31 92 Outlay 1917-18 $100 .. 1916-17 250 43 $150 43 Total 1917-18 $13 550 .. 1916-17 12 363 48 $1 186 52 Town of Waterlown Dist. Total . Average rate . . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916.. Balance 1917- • Tax 1917. Real tax. . Assessed Tax rate Teachers valuation 1916-17 $50 569 .0066 63 862 .0056 44 491 .0068 69 763 .0052 84 442 .0040 54 000 .0069 59 562 .0055 79 015 .0039 60 435 .0075 35 089 .0068 115 530 .0025 112 000 .0034 Contract 69 109 Contract 14 600 $912 557 $965 550 $570 593 68 94 $23 4 077 26 99 $4 054 73 .0054 .50 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $325 .. 1916-17 25 . . $300 . . Instruction i9~LT-i% $5 113 47 1916-17 4 635 35 $478 12 Operation 1917-18 $650 . . 1916-17 487 91 $162 09 Maintenance 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 174 62 $125 38 Auxiliary 1917-18 $450 . . 1916-17 410 90 $39 10 Fixed charges 1917-18 $75 .. 1916-17 53 79 $53 79 1254 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Walertown Jefferson county — Continued Tax 1918 Real tax 1917. Real increase. valuation $4. 827 . . 4 054 73 Town of Wilna Dist. Teachers 13- 14. 15. 16. Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $31 247 .0068 48 9Si .007 16S 738 .0148 25 240 .or 52 047 .0062 45 479 .0060 268 570 .0041 145 868 46 450 .0065 14 463 .0156 33 864 .0080 64 000 .0043 500 000 .006 47 440 .0055 35 500 .0086 Total . Average Total 1917-18 $1 524 845 Balance 1916. Balance 1917. Tax 191 7. Real tax . . Tax 1918 Real tax 1917. Real increase . Si 524 ?57 $1 524 845 Si 1 974 640 72 22 9 $334 595 50 96 $9 930 46 $11 9 719 930 46 $1 788 54 .00629 .0078 .0071 budget 1917-18 Debt service 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 18 68 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $31 32 $125 . . 21 87 $103 13 Total 1917-18 $7 013 47 1910-17 5 828 12 $1 185 35 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $425 1916-17 316 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . $109 $9 300 8 273 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $1 027 fi 650 1 626 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $24 $600 1 135 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $535 $600 668 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 $500 269 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $231 fi 200 1 522 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $322 $250 Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $249 J14 525 13 810 Town of Worth Dist. 1 2 3 4 • 5 Teachers Assessed valuation S50 000 35 200 23 675 34 250 30 199 Tax rate 1916-17 .0081 .0071 .0101 .0069 .0085 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $115 .. $111 90 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1255 Jefferson County — Concluded Town of Worth Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 6 7 I $21 520 .OO84 8 1 14600 .0148 Total 7 $209 444 • 0085 Average rate . 0091 Total 1917-18 $212050 .014 Balance 1916 $290 86 Balance 1917 175 71 $115 IS Tax 1917 1 784 38 Real tax $1 899 S3 Tax 1918 $2 968 70 Real tax 1917 1 899 S3 Real increase $1 069 17 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Instruction 1917-18 $3 172 . . 1916-17 2 7SO 21 $421 79 Operation 1917-18 $277 76 1916-17 185 58 $92 18 Maintenance 1917-18 $360 . . 1916-17 150 99 $209 or Auxiliary 1917-18 $305 . - 1916-17 6 38 $298 62 Fixed charges 1917-18 $15 -. 1916-17 36 69 $21 69 Outlay 1917-18 $25 . . 1916-17 4 ■ • $21 . . Total 1917-18 $4 269 76 1916-17 3 136 95 $1 132 81 Town of Croghan Dist. Lewis county 13. 14. is. 16. 17. 18. 19. Total . Teachers Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 121 663 Balance 1916. Balance 1917. Tax 1917 Real tax 1917. Asse ssed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $144 028 .0052 139 383 .0051 33 320 .01 24 7S0 .008 45 730 .0065 48 230 .0065 66 500 .0059 23 690 .0115 28 5i5 .0082 17 580 .0110 60 830 .0054 17 970 .0172 32 780 .006 17 922 .0172 20 610 .0132 42 940 .008 28 350 .0104 101 065 .0038 no 100 .0034 II 990 .0265 $1 016 283 .0067 .0095 .0114 $1 121 663 $1 123 91 478 02 $645 89 6 827 33 $7 473 22 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $795 ■ • 1916-17 87 29 $707 71 Instruction 1917-18 $9 677 . . 1916-17 8 280 28 $1 396 72 Operation 1917-18 $1 920 . . 1916-17 1 in 77 $808 23 Maintenance 1917-18 $750 . . 1916-17 739 S3 $10 47 Auxiliary 1917-18 $550 .. 1916-17 323 . . $227 .. Fixed charges 1917-18 $700 . . 1916-17 120 18 $579 82 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $28 80 $28 80 1256 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Lewis county Town of Croghan Assessed valuation Tax 1018 $12 755 Real tax 1017 7 473 22 Real increase $5 281 78 Continued Town of Denmark Dist. Teachers 1 6 3 1 4 Contract 5 1 6 2 8 1 9 1 10 1 12 1 13 1 16 2 17 1 Total 18 Average rate Total 1017-18 Balance 1916 , Balance 1017 $528 56 Tax 1917 9 224 33 Real tax $975289 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $303 071 .019 38 468 .0054 38 463 .0052 61 375 .0044 140 158 .0044 60 630 .0078 63 133 .0045 28 799 .0078 43 850 .00S 55 504 .0066 168 951 .006 90 496 .0033 $1 092 898 .00844 $541 02 12 46 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Outlay 1917-18 $1 563 . . 1916-17 239 87 $1 323 13 Total 1917-18 $15 955 .. 1916-17 10 930 72 $5 024 28 Expenditures 1916— 17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $804 . . 1916-17 76 21 $727 79 Instruction 1917-18 $g 918 . . 1916-17 8 024 52 $1 893 48 Operation 1917-18 $2 392 . . 1916-17 r 557 22 $834 78 Maintenance 1917-18 Ji 025 . . 1916-17 746 18 $278 82 Auxiliary 1917-18 $350 . . 1916-17 442 13 $92 13 Fixed charges 1917-18 $307 • • 1916-17 75 40 $231 60 Debt service 1917-18 $1 050 . . 1916-17 1 890 52 $840 52 Outlay 1917-18 $950 . . 1916-17 976 61 $26 61 Total 1917-18 $16 796 . . 1916-17 13 788 79 $3 007 21 Town of Diana Dist. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Teachers Assessed Tax rate valua .tion 1916-17 $50 328 .0070 11 029 .0190 46 522 .0050 235 643 .0249 44 484 .0050 22 582 .0136 23 746 .0136 19 920 .0105 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $750 . . 1916-17 193 02 $556 98 Instruction 1917-18 $ro 095 . . 1916-17 9 825 40 $269 60 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1257 Town of Diana Dist. Lewis county — Continued Teachers Assessed valuation $21 210 12 I3S Total . Average rate. . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916 . Balance 1917. . Tax 1917 Real tax 191 7. Tax 1918 $12 945 00 Real tax 1917 Real increase. 9 040 12 906 14 251 $523 ' 796 $533 464 $818 253 98 04 $S6S 8 809 94 04 $9 374 98 $12 945 9 374 00 98 S3 570 02 Town of Greig Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $41 446 2 1 10 960 3 1 17 163 4 2 39 610 5 1 19 S27 6 1 67 060 Total 7 $195 766 Average rate Total 1917-18 $202 509 Balance 1916 $202 so Balance 1917 92 90 $109 60 Tax 1917 1 664 23 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase $1 773 83 $3 1 138 90 773 83 $1 365 07 Tax rate 1916-17 .0119 .0150 .0199 .0140 .0138 .02426 Tax rate 1916-17 .0030 .0155 .0117 .016 .0130 .0042 .0085 .0106 • oiss Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Operation 1917-18 $2 080 . . 1916-17 1 230 07 $849 93 Maintenance 1917-18 $660 . . 1916-17 541 88 $118 12 Auxiliary 1917-18 $560 . . 1916-17 322 75 $237 25 Fixed charges 1917-18 $700 . . 1916-17 175 50 $524 50 Debt service 1917-18 $800 .. 1916 17 934 79 $134 79 Outlay 1917-1S $1 300 . . 1916-17 155 97 $1 144 03 Total 1917-18 $16 945 ■ . 1916-17 13 379 38 S3 565 62 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $217 .. 1916-17 5 15 $211 85 Instruction 1917-18 $3 164 • • 1916-17 2 706 42 $457 58 Operation 1917-18 S409 . . 1916-17 255 20 Si53 80 Maintenance 1917-18 $297 . . 1916-17 84 37 $212 63 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 $79 89 $79 89 Fixed charges 1917-18 $231 •■ 1916-17 26 28 $204 72 Outlay 1917-18 $240 . . 1916-17 7 78 $232 22 Total 1917-18 $4 S58 .. 1916-17 3 165 09 $1 392 91 1258 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Lewis county Town of Harrisburg Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation i i $42 407 2 1 48 425 3 1 32 535 4 1 38 60s S 1 26 978 6 1 23 29s 7 1 42 891 8 1 33 352 9 1 22 380 10 1 21 015 11 1 59 82s Total 11 $391 708 Average rate Balance 1916 $307 82 Balance 1917 60 $307 22 Tax 1917 2 724 44 Real tax $3 031 66 Town of High Market Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $20 075 2 1 29 610 3 I 56 709 4 Contract 15 845 5 1 47 500 6 1 17 940 7 1 21 380 8 1 34 065 Total 7 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 191 7 Real increase $243 124 5266 i 591 $126 116 20 98 $9 2 400 31 28 $2 409 59 $3 469 62 2 409 59 $1 060 03 — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 .0057 .005 .0095 .0067 .0071 .01 .008 .0064 .01 .01 .004 .00695 .00814 Tax rate 1916-17 .0149 .0085 .0085 .0045 .0065 .0122 .0149 .0132 .0099 .0104 .013 $317 85 $5 461 3 900 47 $1 560 53 5605 316 22 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $317 85 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. . 1916-17. . $288 78 Maintenance 1917-18 $215 .. 1916-17 564 45 $349 45 Auxiliary 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 34 97 $15 03 Fixed charges 1917-18 J139 . . 1916-17 21 37 $117 63 Total 1917-18 $6 787 85 1916-17 4 837 48 Si 950 37 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $320 . . 1916-17 $320 . . Instruction 1917-18 $3 591 SO 1916-17 2 943 99 $647 si Operation 1917-18 $370 .. 1916-17 274 60 $95 40 Maintenance 1917-18 85 .. 1916-17 221 10 5136 10 Auxiliary 1917-18 $246 . . 1916-17 253 33 $7 33 Fixed charges 1917-18 $260 67 1916-17 73 04 $187 63 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $8 . . 1916-17 145 59 $137 59 Total 1917-18 $4 881 17 1916-17 3 9ii 65 $969 52 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1259 Lewis county Town of Lewis Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $13 868 2 1 29 050 3 1 7 350 4 1 19 330 5 1 9 350 6 1 9 230 7 1 27 200 8 1 20 390 9 Joint 10 2 42 741 11 1 33 650 Total 11 $212 159 Average rate Total 1917-18 $211 607 Balance 1916 $300 80 Balance 191 7 92 46 $208 34 Tax 1917 3 093 09 Real tax $3 301 43 Tax 1918 $4 211 39 Real tax 1917 3 301 43 Real increase $909 96 Town of Ley den Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $21 780 2 1 64 374 3 1 67 997 4 1 28 058 5 1 28 025 6 1 36 277 7 1 28 415 8 1 19 S42 9 Joint. 10 1 36 680 11 1 31 95o 12 1 39 672 13 1 27 060 14 1 40 731 15 6 228 269 16 I 46 545 Total 20 $74S 375 . 0097 Average rate Total 1917-18 $765 965 Balance 1916 $860 56 Balance 1917 471 40 — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 .0159 .0113 Expenditures budget Control 1917-18, , . . 1916-17. . . . Instruction 1917-18 1916-17. , . , Operation 1917-18. , . . 1916 17, Maintenance 1917-18 , , Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. • • ■ Fixed charges 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18 1916-17. . . Total 1917-18 1916-17 , Expenditures budget Control 1917-18 , . 1916-17. , Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17 Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. , Maintenance 1916-17 and 1917-18 $474 50 .0278 0336 .0085 ■ 0157 $474 50 $4 934 • • 4 548 73 .0146 .0089 $385 27 $360 . . 308 02 .0146 .0182 .0199 $51 98 $110 .. 136 96 $26 96 $37 • . 34 05 $2 95 $180 .. 88 01 $91 99 $11 . . 175 42 I164 42 $6 106 50 5 291 19 $815 31 Tax rate 1917-18 .0113 .0050 .0058 .0092 .0081 .0069 .0087 .0134 1916-17 and 1917-18 $1 050 .. 151 25 $989 75 $9 817 . . 8 488 91 .0085 .0065 .0066 .0085 .0061 .0154 .0054 $1 328 09 $1 235 . . 1 117 49 $117 51 0084 01299 $389 16 1917-18 $325 1916-17 483 71 $158 71 Auxiliary 1917-18 $20 . . 1916-17 316 03 $296 03 1260 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Leyden Lewis county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1917 $7 229 91 Real tax $7 619 07 Tax 1918 59 950 Real increase $2 330 93 Town of Lyons dale Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 2 $49 055 2 1 9 530 3 1 30 590 4 5 1 77 822 1 13 240 7 1 11 455 8 1 19 640 9 2 115 430 Total 10 $326 762 Average rate Total 1917-18 $331 582 Balance 1916 $539 65 Balance 191 7 238 76 $300 89 Tax 1917 3 434 83 Real tax $3 735 72 Tax 1918 $6 696 97 Real tax 1917 3 735 72 Real increase $2 961 25 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7- 1 8 Fixed charges 1917-18 $510 . . 1916-17 215 99 $294 01 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $270 . . $270 . . Outlay 1917-18 $218 .. 1916-17 171 79 $46 21 Total 1917-18 $13 175 .. 1916-17 11 215 17 $1 959 83 Pax rate 1916-17 .0140 .025 .0085 Expenditures budget ] Control 1916-17. . . . Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Maintenance 1917-18. , 1916-17. . . . Auxiliary Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1916-17 1916-17 and 917-18 $515 .. 19 . . .0059 .0166 .0220 .014 .0096 .0106 $496 . . $4 550 . . 3 752 79 $797 21 $600 . . 518 26 • 014s ■ $81 74 $300 .. 803 17 $503 17 $262 . . 122 48 $139 52 $95 .. 75 62 $19 38 $54 27 20 . . $54 27 $330 .. 26 51 $303 49 $6 672 . . 5 372 10 $1 299 90 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I26l Lewis county — Continued Town of Lowville Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 19 16-17 3 1 $57 349 -0055 4 1 38 713 0044 S 1 56 178 .0047 6 1 77 950 .0034 7 1 49 950 . 006 9 I 8394s .0025 11 1 85 957 -004 Total 7 $450 042 . 00417 Average rate . 00436 Balance 1916 $193 52 Balance 1917 $193 52 Tax 1917 1 877 38 Real tax $2 070 90 Expenditures 1 916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $425 • . 1916-17 $425 •• Instruction 1917-18 $2 793 • • 1916-17 2 542 71 $250 29 Operation 1917-18 $575 •• 1916-17 245 15 $329 85 Maintenance 1917-18 $197 . . 1916-17 219 35 $22 35 Auxiliary 1917-18 $40 . . 1916-17 59 62 $19 62 Fixed charges 1917-18 $54 • • 1916-17 4 75 $49 25 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $8 99 $8 99 Outlay 1917-18 $500 . . 1916-17 4 08 $495 92 Total 1917-18 $4 584 ■ • 1916-17 3 084 65 $1 499 35 Town of Martinsburg Dist Teachers 1 1 2 2 3 1 4 I 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 2 9 1 10 1 11 1 12 1 13 1 14 1 15 1 16 1 17 1 18 1 19 Contract Total Average rate Total 1917-18 Assessed valuation $43 768 61 466 44 3i8 50 015 82 900 53 800 88 321 74 489 40 088 29 S4i 30 950 39 ISO 13 550 29 700 22 150 15 400 20 950 32 110 14 450 Tax rate 1916-17 .0064 .0116 ■ 0033 .0044 .003 .0054 • 0035 .0115 .0068 .0075 .0082 .0064 .0153 .0068 .0151 .015 .016 .0084 • 0075 20 $787 116 .0073 $781 000 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Control 1916-17 $489 • • 1916-17 21 40 $467 60 Instruction 1917-18 $4 592 . . 1916-17 7 530 03 $2 938 03 Operation 1917-18 $1 210 . . 1916-17 770 96 $439 04 Maintenance 1917-18 $688 . . 1916-17 514 38 $173 62 Auxiliary 1917-18 $820 . . 1916-17 385 61 $434 39 1262 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Martinsburg Lewis county — Continued Assessed valuation Balance 1916 $638 63 Balance 1917 159 85 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase $478 78 5 7SO 22 $6 129 . . $5 S4S 6 129 10 $583 90 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $505 . . 1916-17 262 86 $242 14 Debt 1917-18 1916-17 $91 08 $91 08 Outlay 1917-18 $401 .. 1916-17 SO 95 $350 05 Total 1917-18 $8 70s . . 1916-17 9 627 27 $922 27 Town of Montague Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $24 280 2 1 13 799 3 1 12 430 4 1 10 550 5 1 71 000 6 1 18 865 7 1 28 730 8 1 12 035 9 1 33 720 Total 9 $225 409 Average rate Balance 1916 $137 61 Balance 191 7 6 76 $130 8s Tax 1917 2 196 41 Real tax $2 327 26 Tax rate 1916-17 .01 .01 .015 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $315 . 1916-17 1 . $4 3 ce $38 so Fixed charges 1917-18 $117 . . 1916-17 11 75 $ios 25 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 SiS 3i $15 3i Outlay 1917-18 $25 . . 1916-17 14s 26 $120 26 Total 1917-18 $5 351 • • 1916-17 3 959 76 $1 391 24 .005 .02 .Oil .02 • 0053 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 Operation Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 Auxiliary 1916-17 $314 •• $4 299 • . 3 336 99 $962 01 $380 .. 220 56 •00974 .0129 $159 44 $2IS .. 190 39 $24 61 $38 50 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1263 Lewis county — Continued Town of New Bremen Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 549 567 .0032 2 1 23306 .0140 3 2 87976 .0091 4 I 22 2SO .0102 5 1 29173 .01 6 1 29 550 .0093 7 5 262877 -on 8 1 19630 .0112 9 10 I 28270 . 009 II I 9 900 .02 12 I 10 990 .0216 13 I 14 310 .014 Total 17 $587 799 .0105 Average rate .0121 Total 1917-18 $611276 .01632 Balance 1916 $487 03 Balance 1917 296 64 $190 39 Tax 1917 6 180 19 Real tax $6 370 58 Tax 1918 $9 792 . . Real tax 1917 6 370 58 Real increase $3 421 42 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $535 •• 1916-17 32 03 $502 97 Instruction 1917-18 $8 152 .. 1916-17. . . > . 7 281 62 $870 38 Operation 1917-18 $1 090 .. 1916-17 966 89 $123 11 Maintenance 1917-18 £760 .. 1916-170. . .. 310 48 $449 52 Auxiliary 1917-18 $465 . . 1916-17 271 81 $193 19 Fixed charges 1917-18 $535 •• 1916-17 77 26 $457 74 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $110 79 $110 09 Outlay 1917-18 $870 .. 1916-17 46 79 $823 21 Total 1917-18 $12 407 . . 1916-17 9 097 67 $3 309 33 Town of Osceola Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $10 241 2 Joint 3 1 48 273 4 1 103 587 5 1 25 275 6 1 63 665 7 1 75 654 8 1 47 360 Total 7 $374 055 Average rate Total 1917-18 $396 704 Balance 1916 #447 42 Balance 191 7 239 96 $207 46 Tax 1917 3 133 63 Real tax $3 341 09 Tax rate 1916-17 .0220 .0073 .0029 .0129 .0079 .0139 .0079 .0084 .0107 .0123 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $365 • 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. . 1916-17. . $17 47 Maintenance 1917-18 $135 • . 1916-17 230 55 $95 55 $365 $3 994 •• 3 084 48 $909 52 $315 297 53 1264 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Osceola Lewis county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $4 879 13 Real tax 1917 3 341 09 Real increase $1 538 04 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Auxiliary 1917-18 $35 . . 1916-17 S4 68 $19 68 Fixed charges 1917-18 $300 .. 1916-17 177 56 $122 44 Debt service 1917-18 $583 ■• 1916-17 620 62 $37 62 Outlay 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 35 90 $164 10 Total 1917-18 $5 927 .. 1916-17 4 sor 32 $1 425 68 Town of Pinckney Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation r 2 $63 870 2 1 24 730 3 1 22 290 4 1 15 280 6 1 32 180 7 1 31 480 8 1 15 350 9 1 44 570 10 1 17 150 11 Contract 19 100 12 1 41 225 Total 11 $327 225 Average rate Balance 1916 $267 54 Balance 1917 57 $266 97 Tax 1917 2 959 31 Real tax $3 226 28 Tax rate 1916-17 .0122 .0085 .0125 .0115 .0087 .007 .0117 .007 .0099 .0031 .007 .009 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-1 $345 . . 1916-17 $345 •• Instruction 1917-18 $5 325 .. 1916-17 4 199 25 $1 125 75 Operation 1917-18 $640 . . 1916-17 443 64 $196 36 Maintenance 1917-18 $340 .. 1916-17 268 20 $71 80 Auxiliary 1917-18 $225 . . 1917-17 213 30 $11 70 Fixed charges 1917-18 $139 . . 1916-17 40 . . n , $99 .. Outlay 1917-18 $745 . . 1916-17 54 45 $690 55 Total 1917-18 $7 759 • ■ 1916-17 5 218 84 $2 540 16 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1265 Lewis county — Continued Town of Turin Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $28911 .0094 2 1 53 762 .0057 3 1 54 360 . 0048 4 1 60018 .0059 5 Contract 31 175 .0040 6 1 58 747 .0056 7 1 Si 423 .0050 8 1 50015 .0050 9 4 152 659 .01 10 1 31 480 .0103 11 1 10925 .0160 12 Contract 30 783 .0015 Total 13 $614 258 . 0068 Average rate . 0069 Total 1917-18 $633426 .0124 Balance 1916 $551 10 Balance 191 7 34 63 $516 47 Tax 1917 4 231 20 Real tax $4 747 67 Tax 1918 $7 852 Real tax 1917 4 747 67 Real increase $3 104 33 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $457 ■• 1916-17 73 28 $383 72 Instruction 1917-18 $7 131 • • 1916-17 5 757 09 $1 373 91 Operation 1917-18 $955 • • 1916-17 629 72 $325 28 Maintenance 1917-18 $415 .. 1916-17 503 98 $88 98 Auxiliary 1917-18 $725 . . 1916-17 532 65 $192 35 Fixed charges 1917-18 $391 •- 1916-17 119 48 $271 52 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $338 .. $338 .. Outlay 1917-18 $75 .. 1916-17 27 27 $47 73 Total 1917-18 $10 149 . . 1916-17 7 981 47 $2 167 53 Town of Watson Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $46 586 2 1 12 007 3 1 5 330 4 1 10 000 5 1 6 910 6 1 12 350 7 8 10 590 9 1 40 460 10 1 190 020 Total 8 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax $334 : 853 $339 ! >10 $215 208 86 82 $7 1 201 04 95 $2 208 99 Tax rate 1916-17 .0060 .02 .032 .02 .026 .0186 .0075 .01 .0022 .0066 .0158 .0155 Expenditures 1916-17 and Control budget 191 7-1 8 1917-18 $360 .. 1916-17 17 22 $342 78 Instruction 1917-18 $4 134 • • 1916-17 3 020 64 $1 113 36 Operation 1917-18 $630 . . 1916-17 274 64 $355 36 Maintenance 1917-18 $337 •■ 1916-17 120 15 $216 85 Auxiliary 1917-18 $373 00 1916-17 342 44 $30 56 1266 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Watson Lewis county^ — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $5 262 00 Real tax 1917 2 208 99 Real increase $3 053 01 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $306 . . 1916-17 104 59 $201 41 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $4 850 . . $4 850 . . Outlay 1917-18 $722 .. 1916-17 9 65 $712 35 Total 1917-18 16 862 . . 1916-17 3 937 83 $2 924 17 Town of West Turin, Unit No. 1 Dist. Teachers 3 1 4 1 5 - 1 6 1 7 4 8 1 9 1 Total 10 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 $118 23 Tax 1917 3 875 03 Real tax $3 993 26 Tax 1918 $6 816 93 Real tax 1917 3 993 26 Real increase $2 823 67 Assessed valuation Tax rate 1916-17 $31 326 36 326 16 350 .0115 .0083 .0136 59 579 197 965 .0044 .0110 32 193 .0090 33 136 .0079 $406 875 .0095 $433 999 .0094 .01564 $153 27 35 04 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $484 . . 1916-17 54 26 $429 74 Instruction 1917-18. .... $5 138 .. 1916-17 4 747 55 $390 45 Operation 1917-18 $699 • • 1916-17 552 69 $146 31 Maintenance 1917-18 $155 •• 1916-17. 325 47 $170 47 Auxiliary 1917-18 $105 . . 1916-17 92 50 $12 50 Fixed charges 1917-18 $70 93 1916-17 93 10 $22 17 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $165 ■ • 1916-17 123 47 $41 53 Total 1917-18 $6 816 92 1916-17 5 989 04 $827 89 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I267 Lewis county — ■ Concluded Town of West Twin, Unit No. 2 Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 19 16-17 1 1 $73 748 .0040 2 7 499 905 ■ 0076 Total 8 573 653 -0071 Average rate ■ 0058 Total 1917-18 $626036 .008S Balance 1916 $471 24 Balance 191 7 $471 24 Tax 191 7 4 096 24 Real tax $4 567 48 Tax 1918 $5 509 09 Real tax 1917 4 S67 48 Real increase $941 61 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $180 . . 1916-17 37 21 $142 79 Instruction 1917-18 $4 591 . . 1916-17 4 186 21 $404 79 Operation 1917-18 $1 03s . . 1916-17 773 66 $261 34 Maintenance 1917-18 $255 • • 1916-17 I2 7 49 $127 51 Auxiliary 1917-18 $75 • • 1916-17 7 50 $67 50 Fixed charges 1917-18 $500 . . 1916-17 126 17 $373 83 Debt service 1917-18 $510 .. 1916-17 1 537 94 $1 027 94 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $77 42 $77 42 Total 1917-18 $7 146 .. 1916-17 6 873 60 $272 40 Livingston county Town of Conesus Assessed Tax rate Dj s t. Teachers valuation 19 16-17 t 1 $150 193 00253 2 " 1 101 161 .00389 , ... 1 70 513 .00568 2 186 290 .00497 5 " .' 1 68 490 . 00547 6 \ Contract 69 079 • 00144 7 ' ' 1 59 162 .00590 g 1 72 681 .00599 9"!!!!!! 1 40312 .00724 Total 9 $817 881 ■ 00446 Average rate ■ • • 00 4 8 Total 1917-18 $805 978 -007 Balance 1916 $349 33 Balance 1917 2 4 2 2 S $107 08 Tax 19 1 7 3 654 73 Real tax $3 761 81 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $175 • 1916-17 5 • $170 . Instruction 1917-18 $5 634 . 1916-17 3 820 . $1 814 . Operation 1917-18 $972 . 1916-17 706 . $266 . Maintenance 1917-18 $85 . 1916-17 I'M • $109 . Auxiliary . 1917-18 $100 . 1916-17 312 . $212 . 1268 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Livingston county — Continued Town of Conesus Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $5 791 53 Real tax 191 7 3 761 81 Real increase $2 029 72 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 I9K5-I7 #57 .. ™ , *57 .. Total 1917-18 $6 966 . , 1916-17 5 094 . , $1 872 .. Town of Lima Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $139 940 . 00267 2 '. 1 145 264 .00213 3 1 267 120 .00146 4 1 106383 .00376 S 2 244 274 • 00367 6 1 163 829 .00211 7 1 130 130 .00307 8 1 190 249 .00224 9 2 609592 .00379 Total 11 $1 996 781 .00293 Average rate 0027 Total 1917-18 $2065577 .004864 Balance 1916 $612 68 Balance 191 7 289 41 $323 27 Tax 1917 5 862 24 Real tax $6 185 51 Tax 1918 $10 000 00 Real tax 1917 6 185 51 Real increase $3 814 49 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $700 1916-17 3i Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17- . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $7 200 5 on $2 189 $1 175 1 019 $156 $355 105 $250 $450 359 $91 $200 203 S63S 660 $25 $360 Fn 200 7 513 $3 687 Town of Livonia, Unit No. 1 Dist. Teachers 3 1 5 2 7 1 8 2 9 n 10 2 11 1 Total 20 * Budget indefinite Assessed valuation $170 924 128 070 69 800 164 420 598 966 199 020 148 765 Tax rate 1916-17 .00300 .01651 •00537 .00783 .00982 .00537 . 00469 $1 479 965 .00806 Expenditures 1916-17 and *budget 1917-13 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I269 Livingston county — Continued Town of Livonia, Unit No. 1 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 Average rate 0061 Total 1917-18 $1 561 822 .0099243 Balance 1916 $1 765 54 Balance 1917 1 705 09 Tax 191 7. $60 45 11 942 47 Real tax $12 002 92 Tax 1918 $15 soo 00 Real tax 1917 12 002 92 Real increase $3 497 08 * Budget indefinite Expenditures 1916-17 and *budget 1917-18 Town of Livonia, Unit No. 2 Dist. Total. Average rate . . Total 191 7-1 8. Balance 1916. . Balance 1917. . Tax 1917. Real tax. . Tax 1918 Real tax 191 7 . Real decrease . Teachers Assessed valuation $112 881 383 238 112 464 94 450 $703 033 $710 625 $1 787 355 12 93 fi 431 7 684 19 3-' $9 115 Si $8 527 9 115 50 Si $588 01 Tax rate 1916-17 ■00354 .01713 . 00300 .00401 .01093 .0044 .012 Expenditures 1916-17 and ♦budget 1917-18 * Budget indefinite Town of Mount Morris Dist. Total . Average rate. Total 1917-18 Balance 1916. Balance 1917. Tax 191 7. Real tax. Teachers Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $81 963 .00492 108 633 .00416 55 830 .00589 86 795 .00461 69 143 .00569 84 905 .00439 75 973 . 00490 45 955 . 00664 65 743 .00549 41 840 .00622 77 242 .00579 1794 028 .00516 .00534 $358 30 $358 30 4 100 30 $4 458 60 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $1 055 • 1016-17 5 . $1 050 . Instruction 1917-18 $6 202 . 1916-17 14 663 . $8 461 . Operation 1917-18 $525 . 1916-17 652 . $127 . Maintenance 1917-18 $500 . 1916-17 450 . $50 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $430 . 1916-17 82 . 1270 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Mount Morris Livingston county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $7 000 00 Real tax 1917 4 458 60 Real iicrease $2 541 40 Town of North Dansville Dist. Teachers 5 1 Balance 1916. Balance 1917. Tax 191 7. Real tax. . Tax 1918 Real tax 1917. Real increase . Assessed Tax rate valuation 191 6-1 7 $75 140 .00437 Town of Nunda, Dist. Unit No T« 1 achers 11 1 1 1 1 1 1 Assessed valuation 5671 486 38 846 33 600 38 080 43 236 40 OOO 63 232 Tax rate 1916-17 .01265 .00750 4 8 . 00696 .00656 .01000 .00625 .00500 Total 17 $928 480 .01106 .00785 Total 1917-18... Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $75 1916-17 50 Debt service 1917-18. .. 1916-17. . . $25 "$7 Incidentals, etc. 1917-18 1916-17 $500 $500 Total 1917-18 $9 287 1916-17 15 909 $6 622 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $10 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . $10 #360 374 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. #14 61 Incidentals 1917-18. 1916-17. $40 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $40 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $4 $479 445 $34 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-i 8 Control 1917-18 $100 1916-17 207 $107 Instruction 1917-18 $11 100 1916-17 9 740 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $1 360 $900 1 000 $100 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1271 Livingston county — Continued Town of Nunda, No. I Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase Town of Nunda, Unit No. 2 Dist. Teachers 3 1 5 r 6 1 7 1 12 4 Total 8 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 $262 23 Balance 1917 252 31 $9 92 Tax 1917 3 118 15 Real tax $3 128 07 Tax 1918 $5 202 00 Real tax 1917 3 128 07 Real increase $2 073 93 Assessed valuation Tax rate 1916-17 .00542 . 00499 .00375 .00856 .00941 Expenditures budget 1 Maintenance Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 Fixed charges Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Incidentals, supplies and other salaries 1916-17 Total 1916-17 Expenditures 1 budget i£ Control 1916-17 Instruction 1916-17 1916-17 and 917-18 $500 .. S85 .. $100 . . 128 . . $28 .. $50 .. 199 .. $149 •• $1 435 • • $1 435 .. $1 300 . . $1 300 . . $14 050 . . 13 126 . . $924 . . Assessed valuation $49 750 62 465 85 244 27 193 210 695 916-17 and 117-18 $3 ■• 80 .. $20 . . $435 347 .00716 $5 185 .. 4 053 . . . 00643 $1 132 .. 1917-18 $525 1916-17 505 $20 Maintenance 1917-18 $125 1916-17 162 $37 Auxiliary 1917-18 $50 1916-17 25 $25 Fixed charges 1917-18 $25 1916-17 42 $17 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $375 $375 Outlay 1917-18 $250 1916-17 420 $170 Total 1917-18 $6 460 1916-17 5 662 $798 1272 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Ossian Dist. Livii Teachers . . . . 1 lgston coui Assessed valuation $71 688 28 880 62 no 37 590 71 680 68 308 55 791 38 336 39 498 38 586 $512 467 ity — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 . 00434 3 4 • ••• 5 6 7 8 1 1 .0080 . 00988 .00515 . 00474 .00629 .00641 9 1 .00648 Total 9 ■ 00543 .00592 Total 191 7-1 8. . . . Tax 1918 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $100 1916-17 34 $66 Instruction 1917-18 $2 855 1916-17 3 786 $931 Operation 1917-18 $375 1916-17 226 $149 Maintenance 1917-18 *$io8 1916-17 214 $106 Auxiliary 1917-18 $60 1916-17 96 $36 Incidentals, etc. 1917-18 $337 1916-17 $337 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $67 $67 Total 1917-18 $3 835 1916-17 4 4 2 3 ♦Including insurance. Town of Portage Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 55 300 . 00650 2 1 51080 .00587 4 1 45 142 . 00524 6 1 115 084 .00350 7 8 Contract 42 921 . 00648 9 1 87 151 .00348 10 1 138729 .00339 n 1 142 000 .00250 12 1 176 315 .00249 Total 8 $853 722 . 00369 Average rate . 00438 Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 $467 43 Balance 1917 3io 57 $156 86 Tax 1917 3 150 94 Real tax $3 307 80 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $275 1916-17 7 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. , Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $4 958 3 489 $1 469 $51 $380 246 $134 $502 461 $41 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1273 Town of Portage Livingston county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $5 373 20 Real tax 1917 3 307 80 Real increase $2 065 40 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Total 1917-18. . .. 1916-17. . . . $70 .. 95 .. $25 .. $6 681 . . 4 743 • . $1 938 .. Town of Sparta Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $63 345 • 00344 2 1 87 297 • 00349 3 1 175 794 .00213 4 1 175697 .00298 5 1 79880 .00729 7 1 54 642 . 00699 8 1 85 767 .00400 9 1 41 758 .00677 Total 8 $764 180 .00394 Average rate . 0046 Total 1917-18 $727 491 .008 Balance 1916 $277 64 Balance 1917 185 43 $92 21 Tax 1917 3 014 76 Real tax $3 106 97 Tax 1918 $5 819 93 Real tax 1917 3 106 97 Real increase $2 712 96 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $260 . 1916-17 34 • $: Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Total 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $226 . . $5 729 .. 3 403 -. $2 389 . . $518 .. 380 . . $138 .. $205 . . 283 .. $78 .. $110 .. 118 .. $8 .. $40 .. 73 .. $33 •• $6 925 •• 4 291 .. $2 634 .. Town of Springwater Dist. 1 2 3 4 9 10 II 12 13 14 Teachers Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $115 70S .0022 192 600 .0229 33 135 .0100 59 202 .0069 56 140 .0046 39 207 .0066 66 586 .0045 26 625 .0106 39 625 .0070 81 973 .0050 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $700 . 1916-17 82 . $618 .. Instruction 1917-18 $11 605 . . 1916-17 9 888 .. $1 717 .. 1274 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Livingston county — Concluded Town of S pringwater Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 IS 1 $50 370 .0050 r6 1 24 30s .0108 17 1 45 76o .0083 18 1 41 740 . 0079 19 1 42 07S .0091 20 1 74 SIS .0060 21 1 40790 .0074 22 1 86 259 ■ 0041 Total 22 $1116612 .00889 Average rate • 0077 Total 1917-18 0010 Balance 1916 $926 16 Balance 191 7 58i 41 $344 75 Tax 1917 9 930 23 Real tax $10 274 98 Tax 1918 $12 500 00 Real tax 1917 10 274 98 Real increase $2 225 02 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Operation 1917-18 Si 485 1916-17 1 292 $193 Maintenance 1917-18 $425 1916-17 396 $29 Auxiliary 1917-18 $100 1916-17 159 $59 Fixed charges 1917-18 $100 1916-17 169 $69 Debt service 1917-18 $975 1916-17 2 038 $1 063 Outlay 1917-18. . . . . 1916-17 $125 $125 Total 1917-18 $15 390 1916-17 14 149 $1 214 Town of West Sparta Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $81 606 2 1 52 666 3 1 61 001 4 1 83 000 S 1 16 149 6 1 57 148 7 1 59 314 8 1 57 149 9 1 31 126 10 1 45 918 11 1 52 971 12 Contract 19 624 Total 11 $617672 .00598 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 $328 84 Balance 1917 136 31 $192 S3 Tax 1917 3 694 57 Real tax $3 887 10 Tax 1918 $5 500 00 Real tax 1917 3 887 10 Real increase $1 612 90 Tax rate 1916-17 .00458 .00573 .00629 .00514 .01484 .00556 .00599 .00559 . 00933 .00696 .00566 .00323 .00574 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $205 1916-17 IS Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. .. 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Incidentals, etc. 1917-18 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $190 $3 868 4 612 $744 $577 498 $79 $175 274 $100 245 $145 $575 $575 "$65' $5 500 S 784 $284 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1275 Town of Brookfield, Unit No. 1 Dist. Teachers 12 5 IS 1 20 Contract 23 Contract 27 Contract 28 Contract Total 6 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 $63 74 Balance 1917 68 94 $5 20 Tax 1917 3 S84 90 Real tax $3 579 70 Tax 1918 $5 000 00 Real tax 1917 3 579 70 Real increase $1 420 30 Madison county Assessed valuation Tax rate 1916-17 $207 803 37 900 98 000 16 600 32 200 64 359 • 0033 .0067 .0012 .0081 .0029 $456 862 .0078 $466 972 .0064 .0107 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $110 . . 1916-17 26 48 $83 52 Instruction 1917-18 $3 682 . . 1916-17 3 485 96 $196 04 Operation 1917-18 $525 ■ • 1916-17 477 85 $47 15 Maintenance 1917-18 $400 . . 1916-17 35 19 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $25 17 Auxiliary 1917-18 $1 167 . . 1916-17 781 39 $385 61 Total 1917-18 $6 572 . . 1916-17 5 705 13 $866 87 $364 81 $84 44 43 $39 57 $554 829 $275 $50 24 83 Town of Brookfield, Unit No. 2 Dist. Teachers 2 1 3 1 9 „ 5 16 Contract 17 1 18 1 19 1 21 I 22 Contract 24 Contract 26 Contract Total 11 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $55 500 .0072 34 795 .0072 142 432 .0200 23 600 .0010 47 950 .0090 33 400 .0074 36 150 .0060 3i 600 .0090 3i 700 .0090 26 500 .0085 12 400 .0027 $476 027 .0114 $467 094 .ois $290 70 137 04 $152 : 66 5 25 = ; 93 $5 40£ s 59 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $210 . . 1916-17 29 .. $181 .. Instruction 1917-18 $6 300 . . 1916-17 5 070 34 $1 229 66 Operation 1917-18 $825 .. 1916-17 627 57 $197 43 Maintenance 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 303 42 $103 40 Fixed charges 1917-18 $50 .. 1916-17 132 04 $82 04 1276 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Madison county — Continued Town of Brookfield, Unit No. 2 Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $7 006 ?4i Real tax 1917 5 4o8$59 Real increase $1 597 82 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Debt service 1917-18 $768 . . 1916-17 1 036 97 $268 97 Outlay 1917-18 $550 .. 1916-17 $550 .. Auxiliary 1917-18 $840 . . 1916-17 1 056 82 $216 82 Total 1917-18 $9 743 • ■ 1916-17 8 256 16 $1 486 84 Town of Brookfield, Unit No. 3 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 5 4 $138 960 7 1 52 160 l o 1 27 750 J 3 Contract 27 710 J 4 1 43 600 2 5 Contract 45 793 29 Contrast 14 950 Total 7 $350 923 Average rate Total 1917-18 $369 557 Balance 1916 $148 40 Balance 191 7 18 05 $129 35 Tax 1917 2 472 16 Real tax $2 601 51 Tax 1918 $3 585 06 Real tax 191 7 2 601 51 Real increase $983 55 Tax rate 1916-17 .010 .0058 .0083 .0029 .0075 .0022 .0023 Expenditures budget : Control 1916-17. . . . Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Fixed charges Debt service Supplies and in 1917-18. Outlay 1917-18 Auxiliary Total 1917-18 1916-17 and [917-18 $150 .. 24 08 $125 92 $4 150 . . 3 223 95 .0070 $926 05 $400 . . 314 67 .0056 .0097 $85 33 $60 . . 194 98 $134 98 $50 .. 57 90 $7 90 $5 97 $5 97 cidentals $100 . . $100 . . $25 .. $25 .. $25 .. 621 67 $596 67 $4 960 . . 4 443 22 $516 78 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1277 Madison county — Continued Town of Eaton, Unit No. 1 Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1016-17 1 1 $69 506 . 0050 2 S 222 027 .0100 3 2 80 570 .0163 6 r 26966 .0084 11 Contract so 926 .0060 12 1 44688 .0071 16 1 40740 .0090 Total 11 $535 423 .0096 Average rate . 0088 Total 1917-18 $528309 .0116 Balance 1917 $305 41 Balance 1916 189 80 $115 61 Tax 1917 $3 816 06 115 61 Real tax $3 700 45 Tax 1918 $6 078 00 Real tax 1917 3 700 45 Real increase $2 377 55 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $245 1916-17 5 Instruction 1917-18. , 1916-17. , Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $240 $5 967 5 491 $476 $ 1 000 683 £317 $300 520 $220 $485 407 $50 60 $10 $500' $506 >8 047 7 672 $375 Town of Eaton, Unit No. 2 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 4 1 $24 in 5 1 53 104 7 1 112 975 8 6 270 301 9 1 Si 540 10 Contract 25 500 14 1 39 430 15 1 65 648 17 1 75 in Total 13 $717 720 Average rate Total 1917-18 $7iS 324 Balance 191 7 $1 733 « Balance 1916 1 599 09 $134 02 Tax 1917 $7 712 40 134 02 Real tax 7 578 38 Tax rate 1916-17 .oios .0090 .0040 .0139 .0064 .0070 .0061 .0060 .0089 .0079 .012s Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $27S . 1916-17 82 . Instruction 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Operation 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $161 $193 $8 044 7 158 $886 $2 122 1 600 -' J $522 23 $200 237 $37 $455 616 1278 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Eaton, No. 2 Madison county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $8 888 42 Real tax 1917 7 578 38 Real increase $1 310 04 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $234 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $234 "Us Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $45 $385 $385 Total 1917-18 $11 481 23 1916-17 9 972 $1 509 23 Town of Georgetown Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 5 $133 766 2 1 31 263 3 Contract 17 950 4 1 39 855 6 Contract 62 716 7 1 26 030 8 Contract 115 790 9 1 26 500 Total 9 $453 870 Average rate Total 1917-18 $474 960 Balance 1916 $458 85 Balance 1917 284 12 $174 73 Tax 1917 $3 901 03 Real tax $4 075 76 Tax 1918 $4 963 74 Real tax 1917 4 075 76 Real increase $887 98 Tax rate 1916-17 .0150 .0060 Expenditures budget Control 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . , Instruction Operation 1917-18. . . . Maintenance Fixed charges Debt serv ce Incidentals 1917-18... . 1916-17. Outlay Auxiliary Total 1916-17 and 1917-18 $150 .. 2 . . .0062 .0072 .0047 .0100 $148 .. $4 500 .. 4 446 30 .0086 $53 70 .0084 .Oil $510 .. 483 04 $26 96 $600 . . 507 22 $92 78 $75 .. 66 80 $8 20 $415 11 364 89 50 22 $I2S .. $I2S .. $50 .. 27 47 $22 S3 $1 250 .. I 246 26 $3 74 $7 675 II 7 143 98 $531 13 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1279 Madison county — Continued Town of Hamilton Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 2 8 $436887 .0155 3 2 217 000 .0100 5 1 28208 .0088 6 1 72720 . 0040 7 Contract 34 175 .012 8 1 38570 .0060 9 1 91 800 .0040 10 1 30650 .0070 11 2 136872 .0060 12 Contract 63 798 .0015 13 14 1 21 845 .0116 15 1 45 706 . 0065 Total 19 $1 218 231 .0100 Average rate . 0077 Total 1917-18 $1289507 .012 Balance 1916 $807 48 Balance 1917 696 25 $111 23 Tax 1917 $12 179 61 Real tax $12 290 84 Tax 1918 $15 474 08 Real tax 1917 12 290 84 Real increase $3 183 24 Town of Madison Dist. Teachers Assessed valuation $250 375 5i 441 81 750 27 000 36 850 61 200 22 650 78 677 249 483 114 070 79 270 64 120 60 385 $1 177 271 Tax rate 1916-17 3 4 5 6 7 8 .0044 .0081 .0090 .0051 9 10 .0050 .0033 12. .0040 13 14 .0043 .0063 Total 15 .0058 $1 185 619 Total 1917-18 .0080 $898 62 599 79 $298 83 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7- 1 8 Control 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 90 48 $209 52 Instruction 1917-18 $9 900 . . 1916-17 10 099 61 $199 61 Operation 1917-18 $1 675 .. 1916-17 1 747 49 $72 49 Maintenance 1917-18 $500 . . 1916-17 697 04 $197 04 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $254 63 $254 63 Supplies and incidentals 1917-18 $1 050 . . 1916-17 $1 050 . . Debt service 1917-18 $2 900 . . 1916-17 3 195 66 $295 66 Outlay 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 48 09 $101 91 Auxiliary 1917-18 $570 .. 1916-17 710 69 $140 69 Total 1917-18 $17 045 .. 1916-17 16 843 69 $201 31 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $485 .. 1916-17 58 73 $426 27 Instruction 1917-18 $7 938 .. 1916-17 6 969 72 $968 28 Operation 1917-18 $r 311 . . 1916-17 873 68 $437 32 Maintenance 1917-18 $250 .. 1916-17 317 99 $67 99 Auxiliary 1917-18 $1 625 . . 1916-17 697 33 $927 67 1280 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Madison county — Continued Town of Madison Assessed valuation Tax 1917 $6 717 32 298 83 Real tax $6 418 49 Tax 1918 $9 484 95 Real tax 1917 6 418 49 Real decrease S3 066 46 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $125 • . 1916-17 153 20 $28 20 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18. .... 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $11 734 •• 1916-17 9 070 65 $2 663 35 Town of Lebanon Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 I71 665 2 1 35 500 3 1 37 424 4 2 235 500 5 Contract 39 78s 6 2 108074 7 1 37 815 8 1 47 280 Total 9 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 191 7.. Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real decrease $613 043 $596 622 $1016 55 488 83 $527 5 342 52 80 $5 870 3-' $5 369 60 5 870 32 $500 72 Tax rate 1916-17 .0059 .0080 .0080 .0078 .0025 .0171 .0070 .0061 .0087 .0078 .009 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 $150 . . Instruction 1917-18 ?4 550 .. 1916-17 3 886 72 $663 28 Operation 1917-18 $1 050 . . 1916-17 727 37 $322 63 Maintenance 1917-18 $250 . . 1916-17 600 68 $350 68 Fixed charges 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 37 88 $112 12 Debt service 1917-18 $950 .. 1916-17 2 517 38 $1 S67 38 Outlay 1917-18 $50 .. 1916-17 $50 .. Auxiliary 1917-18 $350 .. 1916-17 284 62 $65 38 Total 1917-18 $7 500 .. 1916-17 8 054 65 $554 65 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I28l Town of Lenox Dist. Total Average rate. . Total 1917-1S. Balance 1916. . Balance 1917. . Tax 1917. Real tax . . Tax'1918 Real tax 191 7 . Real increase . Madison county — Continued Teachers Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 553 353 .03)2 8i 17c .Oi$) 119 037 .0334 90 575 .03^4 43 338 .0)6l 41 40D .0166 129 932 • 033 7 261 415 .0029 148 846 .0060 $993 124 .0049 .0047 ===== — ■ $362 52 68 52 $294 • • 4 843 38 $5 137 38 $5 -'500 . . 5 137 38 $362 62 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 39 52 $260 48 Instruction 1917-18 $4 890 . . 1916-17 4 447 24 #442 76 Operation 1917-18 $525 - . 1916-17 592 03 $67 03 Maintenance 1917-18 $375 • • 1916-17 712 61 $337 61 Auxiliary 1917-18 $160 . . 1916-17 98 . . $62 .. Fixed charges 1917-18 $325 •• 1916-17 79 91 $245 09 Debt 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 428 59 $278 59 Total 1917-18 $6 725 • . 1916-17 6 397 90 $327 10 Towk of Lincoln Dist. 1 2 3 4 5 Teachers 1 1 1 1 1 Assessed valuation $54 053 117 390 40 300 98 308 94 211 Tax rate 1916-17 .0074 .0030 .0010 ■ 00S4 .0052 Total 5 $104 262 .0054 Average"rate Balance 191 7 $173 36 143 93 Tax 191 7 $29 43 2 181 98 $2 211 41 Expenditures 1.16-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $125 • • 1916-17 1 48 $123 52 Instruction 1 17-18 $2 700 . . 1916-17 2 236 83 $463 17 Operation 1917-18 $450 . . 1916-17 293 70 $156 30 Maintenance 1917-18 $75 .. 1916-17 134 17 $59 17 1282 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Toivn of Lincoln Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $3 100 . . Real tax 1917 2 211 41 Real increase $888 59 Madison county — Continued Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Auxiliary 1917-18 $28 . . 1916-17 29 20 Si 20 Fixed charges 1917-18 S32S • • 1916-17 Si 02 $273 98 Debt 1917-18 1916-17. $13 83 $13 83 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 I131 35 $131 35 Total 1917-18 $3 703 • • 1916-17 2 891 58 $811 42 Town of Oneida Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $155 896 2 1 62 985 3 1 34 920 6 1 42 285 7 1 45 350 Total 5 5341 436 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1917 $ l6 5 28 Balance 1916 14 1 53 S23 75 Tax 1917 $1 905 42 23 75 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase $1 88l 67 $2 I 500 88l 67 $6l8 33 Tax rate 1916-17 .0024 .0052 .0115 .0082 .0101 .0056 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $128 . . 1916-17 19 35 $108 65 Instruction 1917-18 $2 470 . . 1916-17 1 998 81 $471 19 Operation 1917-18 $220 . . 1916-17 250 06 $30 06 Maintenance 1917-18 $155 • ■ 1916-17 166 67 $11 67 Auxiliary 1917-18 $75 ■ • 1916-17 45 • • $30 .. Fixed charges 1917-18 $25 .. 1916-17 35 88 $10 88 Debt 1917-1S 1916-17 $20 30 *8t I .'. $20 30 Outlay 8? 1917-18 $217 • • 1916-17 99 58 •n^-i $ii 7 42 Total *s* 1917-18 $3 290 . . 1916-17 2 635 65 $654 35 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1283 Madison county — Continued Town of Smith field Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1 916-17 1 4 $225512 .0065 2 44 38o .0077 3 1 4 1 40 869 . 0076 5 1 33 150 .0063 6 1 40 698 . 0054 7 I 43 5 13 .0063 Total 9 $433 122 . 0067 Average rate . 0068 Total 1917-18 $447 592 . 0104 Balance 1917 $212 37 Balance 1916 200 05 $12 32 Tax 1917 $2 891 83 12 32 Real tax $287951 Tax 1918 $4 654 96 Real tax 1917 2 879 51 Reai increase $1 775 45 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1017-18 $175 . . 1916-17 52 50 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $122 SO $5 330 4 409 25 $920 75 $972 575 06 $396 94 $277 35 56 $241 44 $295 296 oy Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $1 09 $41 54 $41 54 $7 s 049 410 $1 639 Town of Slockbridge Dist. 1 Teachers 5 Assessed valuation $209 480 61 415 50 400 S3 S46 30 720 28 000 43 425 34 501 51 073 39 375 Tax rate 1916-17 0137 .0094 .0075 .0065 .0088 .0100 .0066 .0090 .0066 • 0055 .0071 .0060 .0088 .0084 Expenditures budget 1 Control 1917-1S 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 Operation 1917-1 1916-17 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 1916-17 and 917-18 $495 .. 184 64 $310 36 $8 405 . . 8 475 73 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 1 1 1 1 1 10 $70 73 66 53 148 30 200 020 361 450 $1 248 . . 1 030 80 13 14 15 1 1 $217 20 Total 17 $899 266 $435 . . Average rate Total 1917-18. . .0081 . 0100 910 . . $907 190 $475 .. $445 42; 1 74 ' 14 $1 328 .. 479 10 Tax 1917 $22 7 64; 7 66(3 : 60 ; 87 1 47 $848 90 $200 . . no 01 $89 99 1284 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Madison county — Concluded Toum of Stockbridge Assessed valuation T ax 1918 $9 048 R eal tax 191 7 7 666 47 Real increase $1 3S1 53 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $156 36 $156 36 Outlay 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 123 37 $73 37 Total 1917-18 $12 161 . . 1916-17 11 470 01 $690 99 Town of Sullivan Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 : 2 $318 773 .0055 2 8 449 433 .0130 3 1 55 265 .0065 4 1 226 062 .0017 S ...'.... 1 49 853 .0075 6 1 168 120 .0024 -j\ ....... I 37 293 .0075 8 I 71 593 .0060 g 2 1 10 070 .0082 10 1 44 885 .0095 11 1 49 050 .0072 12 1 50 100 .0068 13'..'..'. .... . I 37 540 .0093 15 1 41 392 .0089 16 1 44 312 .0097 17 I 62 837 .0053 18 I 105 508 .0044 19 1 171 134 .0025 20 I 66514 .0067 Total 28 $2139734 0069 Average rate .0062 Balance 1916 Si 397 93 Balance 1917 604 17 §793 76 Tax 1917 1466888 ■ Real tax 5r 3 462 64 Tax 1918 $19 500 . . Real tax 1917 15 462 64 Real increase $4 037 36 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $860 .. 1916-17 356 27 $503 73 Instruction 1917-18 $15 374 • • 1916-17 14 398 96 $975 04 Operation 1917-18 $1 989 . • 1916-17 2 no 18 $121 18 Maintenance 1917-18 $1 200 . . 1916-17 760 96 $439 04 Auxiliary 1917-18 $495 • ■ 1916-17 538 04 $43 04 Fixed charges 1917-18 $1 000 . . 1916-17 431 16 $568 84 Debt 1917-18 1916-17 $214 os $214 05 Outlay 1917-18 $1 932 . . 1916-17 914 72 $1 017 28 Total 1917-18 $22 850 . . 1916-17 19 724 34 $t. 125 66 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1285 Monroe county Town of Chili Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $233 440 . 00259 2 1 293 580 .00153 3 1 221 800 .00293 4 1 176 570 . 00453 5 2 264 900 . 00613 6 1 366 383 . 00122 7 1 236 115 .00222 8 1 184960 .00211 9 1 572 255 .00087 10 1 148 460 . 00235 11 1 172 175 .00290 Total 12 $2870638 .00238 Average rate . 0027 Total 1917-18 $2 920 587 . 0031 Balance 1917 $1 613 52 Balance 1916 810 73 $802 79 Tax 1917 $6 847 19 802 79 Real tax $6 044 40 Tax 1918 $9 054 46 Real tax 6 044 40 Real increase $3 010 06 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $450 . . 1916-17 38 95 $411 05 Instruction 1917-18 $6 394 46 1916-17 5 585 25 $809 21 Operation 1917-18 $950 . . 1916-17 960 61 $10 61 Maintenance 1917-18 $800 . . 1916-17 1 116 26 $316 26 Auxiliary 1917-18 $350 . . 1916-17 212 20 $137 80 Fixed charges 1917-18 $110 . . 1916-17 68 57 $41 43 Debt service 1917-18 1016-17 $146 97 $146 97 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $8 . : $S . . Total 1917-18 $9 054 46 1916-17 8 136 81 $917 65 Town of Clarkson Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 Si35 714 2 2 306 255 3 1 122 948 4 I 63 775 6 Contract 234 735 7 1 183 216 8 1 158 193 9 1 186 033 10 1 95 397 Total 9 $1 486 266 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 579 833 Balance 1916 $398 46 Balance 1917 319 61 $78 85 Tax 1917 4 744 06 Peal tax $4 822 91 Tax rate 1916-17 •00395 . 00-104 Expenditures budget Control 1917-18. . . 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . . , Operation 1916-17 , , , Maintenance 1916-17, , Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17. , , 1916-17 and 1917-18 $275 • • •00549 .00085 .00310 .00254 .00212 .00591 $275 $4 285 4 840 Si $555 $700 691 SI .00319 .0036 99 $8 $800 336 50 $463 $350 203 SO 27 $146 73 1286 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Clarkson Monroe county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $^ 109 25 Real tax 1917 4 744 06 Real increase $2 365 19 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-1S Fixed charges 1917-18 $30 . . 1916-17 65 08 $35 08 Debt service 1917-18 Sis .. I916-17 $15 ■■ Total 1917-18 $6 455 . . 1916-17 6 137 35 $317 65 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 £526 760 . 00305 171 437 .00247 2 576 975 . 00445 412 350 .00206 297 550 .00175 2 039 241 .00561 343 i°o .00503 Town of Gales Dist. Teachers 1 2 2 1 3 6 4 1 5 1 6 10 7 1 Total 22 $6 367 413 Average rate Total 1917-18 $6 576 957 Balance 1917 $3 301 49 Balance 1916 2 160 47 $1 141 02 Tax 1917 325 055 88 1 141 02 Real tax $23 914 86 Tax 1918 fao 876 59 Real tax 23 914 86 Real increase $6 961 73 • 0035 .0047 * l-l ll! Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $ 1 200 . . 1916-17 381 85 $818 15 Instruction 1917-18 $17 048 . . 1916-17 15 200 76 $1 847 24 Operation 1917-18 $4 446 . . 1916-17 4 037 • • $409 . . Maintenance 1917-18 *$755 ■ • 1916-17 1 419 68 $664 68 Auxiliary 1917-18 1570 . . 1916-17 1 034 . . $464 . . Fixed charges 1917-18 $330 . . 1916-17 254 65 $75 35 Debt service 1917-18 $6 666 . . 1916-17 6 277 01 $388 99 Outlay 1917-18 $300 .. 1916-17 6 903 49 $6 603 49 Total 1917-18 $31 315 ■ • 1916-17 35 508 44 $4 193 33 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1287 Monroe county — Continued To.ai of Greece Assessed Tax rate Disi. TeaA^rs valuation 1915-17 2 1 S307 643 • 00199 3 1 1 302 440 . 00204 5 1 t 369I487 . 00200 6 2 1 295 556 . 00548 7 1 \ 379 909 • 00200 8 Contract f 384 560 . 00260 9 1 [223 643 . 00499 10 3 '895695 .00603 11 2 f 407 356 .00440 12 1 368 137 .00168 13 1 j 183 024 .00245 14 1 166 248 .00315 15 2 392 109 .00436 16 1 F 206 023 .00150 Total 18 $4 881 830 .00354 Average rate .0032 Total 1917-18 $5 334 205 .004 Balance 1916 $2 805 28 Balance 191 7 1 638 74 Si 166 54 Tax 1917 17 293 41 Real tax $18 459 95 Tax 1918 $21 336 82 Real tax 1917 18 459 95 $2 876 87 Town of Hamlin Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $146 340 2 1 226 940 3 1 204 703 4 1 207 923 5 1 269 453 6 I 294 717 7 I 133 855 10 I 94 900 II 1 333 127 12 I 186 982 13 I 127 567 14 I 224 922 15 I 359 484 Total 13 $2 810 913 Average rate Total 1917-18 $2 823 400 Balance 1917 $807 23 Balance 1916 743 71 $63 52 Tax 1917 6 994 34 Real tax $6 930 82 Tax 1918 $9 317 22 Real tax 1917 6 930 82 Real increase $2 386 40 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-18 Control 1917-18 Si 003 . . 1916-17 286 81 F " ** J716 19 Instruction 1917-18 $12 869 . . I 1916-17 10 747 89 $2 121 1 1 Operation 1917-18 $2 764 . . 1916-17 2 975 78 I211 78 Maintenance 1917-18 $1 000 . . 1916-17 1 400 56 $400 56 Auxiliary 1917-18 $435 .. 1916-17 269 38 $165 62 Fixed charges 1917-18 {772 57 1916-17 492 35 $280 22 Debt service 1917-18 $4 218 25 1916-17 4 391 57 n , $73 32 Outlay 1917-18 $250 . . 1916-17 343 64 $93 64 Total 1917-18 $23 311 82 1916-17 20 907 98 $2 403 84 Tax rate 1916-17 .00417 .00264 Expenditure: budget Instruction 1916-17. . . Operation Maintenance 1916-17. , . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . 1916-17, Fixed charges. 1917-18. . . Outlay 1916-17 Tctal 1917-18 ; 1916-17 and 1917-18 .00250 .00232 .00204 .00236 .00280 $6 981 85 $6 981 85 .00458 .00180 . 00325 00325 $975 08 .00226 .00165 . 00248 $498 68 $205 93 .0027 0033 $98 17 $5 30 $8 765 01 1288 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Monroe county — Continued Town of Mendon Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $95 300 . 00524 2 2 240 400 . 00374 3 1 113 880 .00287 4 1 78 960 . 00428 S 6 1 146 165 . 00234 7 1 162 985 . 00297 8 9 I 122 035 . 00239 10 I 151 640 . 00270 11 I 75 310 .00438 12 I 156 660 . 00238 13 I 189224 .00251 14 I 98 572 . 00460 15 I 55 540 .00458 16 I 103 335 . 00346 17 12 874 552 . 00869 Total 27 $2 664 513 . 00500 Average rate . 00380 Total 1917-18 $2781332 .00719 Balance 1917 $1 088 09 Balance 1916 618 33 $469 76 Tax 1917 13 343 68 Real tax $12 873 92 Tax 1918 $20 000 00 Real tax 191 7 12 873 92 Real increase $7 126 08 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 5775 . . 1916-17 271 79 $503 21 Instruction 1917-18 $15 585 . . 1916-17 14 250 39 $1 334 61 Operation 1017-1S $2 525 ■ • 1916-17 2 250 38 $274 62 Maintenance 1917-18 $818 . . 1916-17 1 027 02 $209 02 Auxiliary 1917-18 Si 900 . . 1916-17 353 56 $1 546 44 Fixed charges 1917-18 $1 242 00 1916-17 274 91 $967 09 Outlay 1917-18 $380 . . 1916-17. ... 345 16 $34 84 Total 1917-18 $23 225 . . 1916-17 18 773 21 #4 451 79 Town ofOgden Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 12 $878437 .00794 2 1 113 043 .00369 3 1 253 353 . 00243 4 1 146 152 .00299 5 1 208 109 . 00303 6 1 186 471 .00206 7 I 145 934 • 00310 8 1 117 565 .00331 9 1 82 200 . 00435 10 1 no 124 .00360 11 2 369 838 .00308 12 1 83739 .00440 13 1 203 642 . 00244 14 1 80 009 . 00508 Total 26 $2 978 616 .00452 Average rate . 0037 Total 1917-18 $3 183 755 .0058 Balance 1916 .' $649 45 Balance 191 7 409 14 $240 31 Tax 1917 13 482 68 Real tax .'. . . $13 722 99 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 1916-17 $237 41 $237 41 Instruction 1917-18 $14 000 . . 1916-17 16 315 05 $2 315 05 Operation 191 7-18 $2 100 . . 1916-17 2 779 30 $679 30 Maintenance 1917-18 $600 . . 1916-17 541 30 $58 70 Auxiliary 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 377 75 $177 75 Fixed charges 1917-18 $655 ■• 1916-17 518 52 $136 48 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I289 Town of Ogden Monroe county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1018 . „ $18 500 00 Real tax 13 722 99 Real increase $4 777 01 Town of Parma Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 2 $208 950 2 I 163 600 3 2 185 900 4 9 I 000 256 S 1 225 900 6 1 143 403 7 , I 257 710 8 1 154 950 9 1 185 625 10 I 79 250 IX 1 78 450 12 I 216 200 13 1 231 537 14 I 235 470 Total 24 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax $16 992 28 Tax 1918 $19 022 72 Real tax 1917 16 992 28 Real increase $2 030 44 Tax rate 1916-17 .00813 . 00366 • 00535 ■00753 .00231 •00337 .00219 . 00360 .00299 .00567 .00478 .00277 .00259 .00275 $3 367 201 . 00480 .0041 • 0054 S3 522 725 $2 517 14 I 720 28 £796 86 16 195 42 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Debt service 1917-18 $745 .. 1916-17 6 831 88 $6 086 88 Outlay 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 3 283 58 $3 083 58 Total 1917-18 $18 500 . . 1916-17 30 884 79 $X2 384 79 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 1916-17 $126 49 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 $14 175 60 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 $2 407 97 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 Si 331 06 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 $450 75 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $332 74 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Si 721 64 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17 $251 30 Total 1917-18 1916-17 $20 797 55 Town of Perinton Dist. Teachers 1 2 2 2 3 I 4 1 5 I 6 1 7 8 1 10 1 11 1 12 1 Total 12 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $177 707 .00787 381 810 . 00366 232 140 .00215 215 175 . 00346 124 060 .00370 145 315 .00236 164 140 . 00348 1 10 810 .00518 163 674 .00259 372 252 .00165 $2 086 983 • 00336 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-18 Control 1917-18 $500 . , 1916-17 , Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. , 1916-17. . #74 75 $500 $5 500 5 468 54 $31 46 Si 400 1 474 75 1290 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Perinton Monroe county — Continued Assessed valuation Average rate Total 1917-18 $2 425 551 Balance 1916 $1 52s 40 Balance 1917 178 09 $1 347 31 Tax 1917 7 032 87 Real tax $8 380 18 Tax 1918 $9 500 00 Real tax 1917 8 380 18 Real increase $1 119 82 Tax rate 1916-17 .00361 .00391 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Maintenance 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 1 272 73 $1 072 73 Auxiliary 1917-18 $325 • . 1916-17 205 57 $119 43 Fixed charges 1917-18 $775 • . 1916-17 98 17 $676 83 Debt service 1917-18 $800 . . 1916-17 1 097 03 $297 03 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $254 35 $254 35 Total 1917-18 $9 500 . . 1916-17 9 871 14 $371 14 Town of Pittsford Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $205 940 2 1 132 220 3 1 145 040 4 1 303 075 5 1 103 500 7 1 83 600 8 1 124 400 9 1 204 750 Total 8 $1 302 525 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 388 650 Balance 1916 $397 21 Balance 1917 $397 21 Tax 1917 3 815 43 Real tax $4 212 64 Tax 1918 $7 718 28 Real tax 1917 4 212 64 Real increase S3 505 *4 Tax rate 1916-17 .00219 .00319 Expenditures budget : Control 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Operation 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 Total 1917-18 . . . 1916-17. . . . 1917-18 and [917-18 $499 50 .00237 . 00405 . 00466 . 0042 1 .00241 $3 334 • • 3 746 46 $412 46 $775 .. 636 44 .00292 .00322 .00555 $138 56 $360 .. 628 51 $268 51 $2 330 . . 147 50 $2 182 50 $50 .. 84 30 $34 30 $67 50 22 50 $45 •• $300 . . $7 716 .. 5 265 71 $2 450 2 9 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 120,1 Monroe county — Continued Town oj Riga Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1016-17 1 1 $213946 .00225 2 1 97 000 . 0062 1 3 1 140 431 .00300 4 9 1 295 I4 1 • 00463 5 I 30s 413 • 00163 6 I 143 922 . 00267 7 8 1 97 46S . 00649 9 I 90 569 . 00348 10 1 103 900 .00481 Total 17 $2 487 790 .00395 Average rate . 0039 Total 1917-18 $2484788 .00467 Balance 1917 $1 392 03 Balance 1916 1 066 94 $325 03 Tax 1917 $9 840 51 325 09 Real tax $9 515 42 Tax 1918 $11 602 31 Real tax 951542 Real increase $2 086 89 * Includes amount for library. Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 1916-17 $78 79 $78 79 Instruction 1917-18 $8 849 65 1916-17 9 933 IS $1 083 50 Operation 1917-18 $1 747 43 1916-17 1 635 05 $112 38 Maintenance 1917-18 $655 . . 1916-17 494 95 $160 05 Auxiliary 1917-18 $299 . . 1916-17 240 38 $58 62 Fixed charges 1917-18 $205 . . 1916-17 164 23 $40 77 Debt service 1917-18 $400 92 1916-17 400 92 Outlay 1017-18 *$93 .. 1916-17 260 98 $167 98 Total 1917-18 12 250 . . 1916-17. . 13 208 45 S9S8 4S 'Town of Rush Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 Si95 845 2 1 170 914 3 1 218 966 4 ! 205 63s 5 1 174 580 6 1 128 316 7 1 430 127 8 9 1 10 2 Total 10 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 $2 649 IS Balance 1917 64 32 $2 5S4 83 Tax 1917 6 048 18 Rea tax S8 633 01 Tax rate 1916-17 .00219 .00204 .00182 .00202 .00282 . 00264 . 00160 US 331 782 44i .00371 ■00755 Si 971 606 .00367 00293 . 004422 $2 261 439 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $514 SO 1916-17 5 50 Instruction 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Operation 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $134 48 $509 $6 248 5 Oil 30 Si 236 70 Si 067 1 003 25 S63 75 Si 000 44i 38 $558 t.,2 $300 165 52 1292 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Monroe county Town of Rush Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $10 000 00 Real tax 1917 8 633 01 Real increase $1 366 99 Continued Town of Sweden Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $210 453 2 1 258 064 3 I 159 350 4 I 106 740 5 1 97 463 6 1 266 578 7 1 155 280 8 1 14S 012 9 10 3 012 016 Total 18 $4 410 956 Average rate Total 1917-18 : $4 S12 696 Balance 1916 $3 595 33 Balance 1917 3*9 12 $3 276 21 Tax 1917 11 15S 34 Real tax $14 434 55 Tax 1918 $14 891 90 Real tax 1917 14 434 55 Real increase $457 35 Tax rate 1916-17 .00178 .00152 .00251 .00418 .00461 .00187 .00319 .0024 .00257 .00252 .0027 0033 Town of Wheatland Dist. Teachers Assessed valuation Tax rate 1916-17 1 2 3 4 5 8 1 1 1 1 $859 884 195 075 491 912 177 090 92 326 .00225 .00220 .00132 .00230 . 00349 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-i8 Fixed charges 1917-18 $963 ■ ■ 1916-17 455 35 $507 65 Debt service 1917-18 $1 182 50 1916-17 702 50 $480 . . Outlay 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 2 268 82 $2 168 82 Total 1917-18 $11 375 - . 1916-17 10 053 62 $1 321 38 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $536 . . 1916-17 112 . . $424 ■ • Instruction 1917-18 $9 750 . . 1916-17 10 340 93 $590 93 Operation 1917-18 $1 950 . . 1916-17 2 364 01 $414 01 Maintenance 1917-18 $350 . . 1916-17 926 64 $576 64 Auxiliary 1917-18 $650 . . 1916-17 217 78 $432 22 Fixed charges 1917-18 $110 83 1916-17 216 37 $105 54 Debt service 1917-18 $1 475 • • 1916-17 3 249 25 $1 774 25 Outlay 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 $200 . . Total 1917-18 $15 021 83 1916-17 17 426 98 $2 405 15 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $900 . . 1916-17 361 30 $538 70 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1293 Monroe county — Concluded Town of Wheatland Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 6 1 $189 218 .00230 7 1 177 149 .00267 8 1 337 403 .00628 9 1 261 274 .00210 Total 4 $2 781 331 ■ 00426 Average rate . 0028 Total 1917-18 $2 843 419 .00525 Balance 1916 $1 170 67 Balance 1917 853 29 S317 38 Tax 1917 11 858 80 Real tax S12 176 18 Tax 1918 $14 903 • ■ Real tax 12 176 18 Real increase $2 726 82 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1917-18 Instruction 1917-18 Sio 800 . . 1916-17. .... 9 957 5S $842 42 Operation 1917-18 ?2 300 . . 1916-17 1 662 61 ?637 39 Maintenance 1917-18 S600 . . 1916-17 1 4io 27 S810 27 Auxiliary 1917-18 Si 200 . . 1916-17 294 47 S905 53 Fixed charges 1917-18 S400 . . 1916-17 339 SO $60 50 Debt service 1917-18 $287 12 1916-17 1 037 80 5750 68 Outlay 1917-18 S300 . . 1916-17 140 59 $159 41 Total 1917-18 $16 787 12 1916-17 15 204 12 $1 583 • • Montgomery county Town of Amsterdam Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $232 814 2 2 496 065 4 1 55 020 5 4 4i6 899 6 1 122 365 7 1 58 000 8 1 38 910 9 Contract 88 057 10 1 65 282 ri 1 184 426 12 3 480 108 Total 16 $2 237 946 Average rate Total 1917-1S $2 252 005 Balance 1916 $1 493 54 Balance 1917 2 48 10 $1 245 44 Tax 1917 11 965 11 Real tax $13 210 55 Tax rate 1916-17 .00214 .00308 .00500 . 00824 ■00535 .00567 .00128 .00356 Expenditure; budget Control 1917-1S.... 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17. Operation 1917-18 1916-17 Maintenance 1917-18, 1916-17. . ■ Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 ; 1916-17 and 1917-18 S5S5 ■ • 247 05 $337 95 $9 310 . . 9 513 91 .00217 .00765 ■00534 $203 91 $2 210 . . 1 793 50 .0045 .00861 $416 50 $2 850 911 88 $1 938 12 5i 015 . . 263 S3 $75 1 17 1294 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Amsterdam Montgomery county — Continued Tax 1918 Real tax 1917- Real increase. Assessed valuation $19 399 71 13 210 55 $6 189 16 Expenditures'1916-17 and budget 1917-18JJ &M Fixed charges 1917-18 $275 • • 1916-17 191 49 Debt 191 7-i 8. 1916-17. Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $83 SI Si 115 SO 1 522 07 #406 57 $4 150 1 186 65 $2 963 35 $21 sio 50 15 603 38 $5 880 12 Town of Canajoharie Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation j 1 S70 255 2 1 44 048 3 1 75 680 4 Contract 59 368 5 r 60 on 6 1 60 536 7 2 216 277 q] I 82 390 10 1 7i 005 13 1 42 620 14 1 52 411 Total 11 #834 601 Average rate Total 1917-18 $831 019 Balance 1916 $302 76 Balance 1917 92 30 $210 46 Tax 1917 5 835 89 Real tax $6 046 35 Tax 1918 $6 317 IS Real tax 1917 6 046 35 Real increase S270 80 Tax rate. 1916-17 .01042 .00706 .00689 Expenditures 191 budget 19 1 7 Control 1917-18 1916-17 6-17 and -18 $253 .- 39 50 .00500 . 00669 .00620 .01020 . 00640 .00916 .00891 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 $213 SO $5 719 .. 5 748 68 Operation '1917-18 1916-17 $29 68 $650 .. 650 88 .0069 .00710 .0076 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 $0 88 142 64 $57 36 $350 .. 96 41 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $253 59 $134 •• 115 86 Debt services 1917-18 1916-17 $18 16 $120 26 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 S120 26 $660 . . 791 73 Total 1917-18 1016-17 $131 73 $7 966 . . 7 705 96 $260 04 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1295 Town of Charleston Dist. 1 Montg Teachers 1 ;omery county — Conti Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $36 574 .00850 42 964 .00981 42 809 .00729 46 684 .00960 38 788 .00899 28 619 .00799 27 727 .00692 19 874 34 212 .00756 38 220 .00777 tmed Expenditures budget : Control 1917-18. . . . 1916-17, , . . Instruction 1917-18. , , . 1916-17. ■ ■ ■ Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . , Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17. , , . Auxiliary 1917-18 , . 1916-17. ■ . ■ Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. ■ • • Outlay 1917-18, , . . 1916-17. ■ ■ • Total 1917-18. . , 1916-17. . . . 1916-17 and [917-18 $334 77 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 51 4 s 6 7 8 $323 26 $4 260 . . 3 757 21 9 10 $502 79 Total 9 $356 471 .00790 $760 . . 486 33 Averai rate $359 635 $196 35 117 80 $78 55 2 819 15 .0083 .0116 Total 1917-18 $273 67 $305 •■ Balance 1917 297 68 $7 32 $75 49 76 $2 897 70 Tax 1918 54 171 77 2 897 70 $25 24 Real tax 1917 $70 .. 49 90 Si 274 07 $20 10 $11 05 $11 05 $49 42 $49 42 $5 804 77 4 712 86 $1 091 9i Town of Florida Dist. Teachers . . . . 1 Assessed valuation $51 886 86 297 117 681 128 528 72 698 61 996 139 178 92 910 153 039 73 568 92 032 143 312 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00638 .00707 . 00394 .00346 . .00524 .00591 .00500 . 00376 . 00390 .00458 .00523 .01173 Expenditures 191 budget J 91^ Control 1917-18 1916-17 6-17 and '-18 . . . . 1 $850!. . . . . . 1 19 66 .... 1 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 $830 34 .... 1 6 $8 810"^.. .... 1 7 170 63 .... 1 . . . . 1 $1 639 37 ... 1 .... 1 $1 040 . . 86s 72 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $174 28 $650 . . 451 85 Total 14 Si 213 125 .00556 Si 232 417 • 0055 . 01096 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 $198 15 S841 54 52 82 $S8S • . 199 53 $788 72 6 754 61 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $385 47 $7 543 33 $115 -• I9il75 $76 75 1296 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Montgomery county — Continued Town of Florida Assessed Expenditures 1916-17 and valuation budget 1917-18 Tax 1918 $13 179 79 Debt Real tax 1917 7 543 33 Real increase f $5 636 46 Town of Glen Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $156 653 2 1 41 901 3 i 74 189 4 7 603 790 5 1 54 012 6 1 122 000 7 1 7i Si8 8 1 124 010 9 1 83 016 Total 15 Si 331 089 Average rate Total 1917-18 Si 358 415 Balance 1916 $386 75 Balance 1917 296 19 $90 56 Tax 1917 9 792 18 Real tax $9 882 74 Tax 1918 $12 351 05 Real tax 1917 9 882 74 Real increase f $2 468 31 Tax rate 1916-17 .00300 .00775 •00745 . 01040 .00550 .00450 . 00600 .00531 . 00360 • 00734 .0059 .009092 1916-17. $60 66 Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 Total 1917-18 1916-17. , $2 730 . . 478 76 $2 251 24 $14 780 . . 9 438 56 $5 341 44 Expenditures budget : Control 1917-18, 1916— 17. . . . 1916-17 and [917-18 $600 . . 285 35 Instruction S314 65 $8 935 • • 8 631 72 Operation 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . , S303 28 $1 640 . . 1 552 97 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. ■ • $87 03 $680 . . 877 05 Auxiliary 1917-18. . . 1916-17. • • . $197 05 $270 . . 206 55 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. . . S6374S $125 •• 213 21 Debt 1917-18 1916-17. . . $88 21 $1 474 9i Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $1 474 91 $100 . . 89 09 Total 1917-18. . . 1916-17, , . $10 91 . $12 350 . . 13 330 85 $980 85 Town of Minden Dist. 1 , 2 3 4 5 Teachers Assessed valuation $57 899 95 216 116 412 86 454 100 619 Tax rate 1916-17 .01115 .00840 .00413 .00356 . 00363 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $373 • • 1916-17 7 12 $365 88 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1297 Town of Mind en Dist. 6 7 10 11 Montgomery county — Continued Assessed Tax rate Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 $90 04s .OOSS7 Ir 1 99 240 .00521 1 88 288 .00449 1 29 703 .01350 1 59 719 .00675 1 45 682 .00744 O 1 99 084 .00605 1 58 839 .01055 1 37 509 .00938 1 52 524 .00699 Total . IS Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 117 608 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 $556 43 195 57 $360 86 7 103 99 Real tax $7 464 85 Tax 1918 $8 940 86 Real tax 191 7 7 464 85 Tax 1917. Real increase $1 476 01 .0063 .00712 .00800 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Instruction 1917-18 $7 657 . . 1916-17 7 205 83 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt services 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. #469 17 $650 842 52 $192 52 $200 600 12 $400 12 5343 168 77 46 $175 31 $226 88 25 79 $r 37 46 $420 579 72 $159 72 $1 400 457 78 Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $942 22 $11 288 02 9 850 04 $1 437 98 Town of Mohawk Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 2 $578 834 2 1 52 471 3 4 Contract 258 148 5 1 97 530 6 8 818 246 7 1 133 042 9 1 55 646 10 I 333 815 11 I 82 667 12 I 124 245 Total 17 $2 534 640 Average rate Total 1917-18 $2 601 106 Balance 1916 $77i 77 Balance 1917 314 56 $475 21 Tax 1917 14 479 96 $457 21 Tax 1917 14 479 96 Real tax $14 937 17 Tax rate 1916-17 ,00821 00746 00512 00849 00274 00609 001 19 00429 00334 00571 0052 0077 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $1 360 . . 1916-17 327 43 $1 032 57 Instruction 1917-18 $12 300 . . 1916-17 10 857 -14 $1 442 86 Operation 1917-18 $3 477 87 1916-17 2 859 47 $618 40 Maintenance 1917-18 $800 . . 1916-17 987 80 $187 80 Auxiliary 1917-18 $505 . . 1916-17 81 11 $423 89 Fixed charges 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 417 19 $267 19 1298 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Montgomery county Town of Mohawk Assessed valuation Tax 1918 . S20 028 51 Real tax 1917 *4 937 17 Real increase $5 091 34 Continued Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Debt 1917-18 $2 17s ■■ 1916-17 2 681 40 $506 40 Outlay 1917-18 $2 100 . . 1916-17 287 15 Si 812 85 Total 1917-18 $22 867 87 1916-17 18 498 69 $4 369 18 Town of Palatine Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $199 922 2 4 441 291 3 4 385 089 4 1 106 159 5 1 66 340 6 1 97 837 7 I 96 670 8 1 64 964 10 1 78 076 II 1 124 679 12 I 132 034 Total 17 $1 755 061 Average rate Total 1917-18 Si 779 730 Balance 1916 Si 031 31 Balance 1917 9 48 Si 021 83 Tax 1917 10 444 51 Real tax S9 422 68 Tax 1918 S13 881 94 Real tax 191 7 9 422 68 Real increase S4 459 26 Tax rate Expenditures 1916-17 and 1916-17 budget ] :9i7-i8 .00279 Control . 00677 1917-18. . . . S412 . . .00740 1916-17. ■ ■ • 292 17 . 00886 $118 83 .00656 Instruction . 00590 1917-18. . . . $9 922 . . . 00674 .00500 1916-17. . . . 9 616 97 .00296 S305 03 .00568 Operation 1917-18. . . . $1 600 . . .0059 1916-17. ■ . 1 368 86 .00578 $231 14 .0078 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 , Si 075 • • 668 91 $406 09 Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . $600 . . 1916-17. . . 474 43 S125 57 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . $199 22 1916-17. , , 237 89 $38 67 Debt services 1917-18. . . . 1916-17, , , S844 92 S844 92 Contingencies 1917-18. . . . S102 52 1916-17. . . , S102 52 Outlav 1917-18. . . . S2 300 . . 1916-17 315 7S Si 984 22 Total 1917-18. . . . . S16 210 74 1916-17. 13 819 93 $2 390 81 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1299 Town of Pendleton Dist. Montgomery county — Continued Teachers Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 S73 933 .00540 81 766 . 00460 94 066 • 00473 102 900 . 00449 241 842 . 00450 108 477 .00370 165 945 .00270 61 427 ■00551 Total . Average rate Total 1917-18 Si 159 Balance 1916. Balance 1917. Tax. 1917 Real tax 1917. Tax 1918 Real tax 1917. Real increase. S930 . 358 Si 159 188 S55i 332 14 32 S21S 3 965 82 09 S4 183 91 S6 0S5 4 1S3 91 Si 901 33 . 0042 . 00445 .00525 Expenditures budget ] Control 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . 1916-17 and :9i7-iS S225 75 4 50 Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $221 25 . $3 9/8 • • 3 799 09 Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . S178 91 S910 . . 723 23 Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. • ■ ■ S186 77 S272 .. 506 17 Auxiliary [916-17 S234 17 S80 25 160 10 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . S79 85 1916-17. . . . S51 13 Debt 1917-18 1916-17 $51 13 $5 ■■ 64 89 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17 S59 89 Si 690 20 5 25 Total 1917-18 1916-17 Si 684 95 $7 161 20 5 314 36 Si 846 84 Town of Root Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 1 3 I 4 1 5 1 6 1 8 1 9 1 10 1 11 1 12 1 13 1 Total 12 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 $870 66 Tax 1917 6 234 1 1 Real tax $5 363 45 Assessed valuation Tax rate 1916-17 Si 16 648 68 750 .00728 .00628 165 138 81 764 114 980 00 j 39 • 00530 .00614 5i 125 63 539 36 584 45 551 80 114 .00577 .00478 .r.0836 . 00764 .00223 47 512 44 286 . 00900 . 00956 S9I5 991 .0068 1936 S3 1 .00816 S882 78 12 12 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Control 1917-1S S272 . . 1916-17 21 43 #250 57 Instruction 1917-18 56 380 . . 1916-17 6 100 90 $279 10 Operation 1917-18 S800 . . 1916-17 800 97 So 97 Maintenance 1917-18 S450 . . 1916-17 260 29 S189 71 Auxiliary 1917-18 S24S . . 1916-17 215 15 S29 85 1300 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Root Montgomery county Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $7 644 54 Real tax 1917 5 363 45 Real increase $2 281 09 Concluded Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $113 80 1916-17 . 112 45 $1 35 Debt services 1917-18 $280 . . 1916-17 899 61 $619 61 Outlay 1917 18 $r 030 . . 1916-17 1 015 20 $14 80 Total 1917-18 $9 570 80 1916-17 9 426 . . $144 80 Town of St Johnsville Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 3 I $186 420 7 1 167 982 8 1 75 543 Total 3 $429 945 Average rate Total 1917-18 $428 176 Balance 1916 $300 51 Balance 1917 84 71 $215 80 Tax 1917 1 327 37 Real tax $1 543 17 Tax 1918 $2 440 60 Real tax 1917 1 543 17 Real increase $597 43 Tax rate 1916-17 .00174 .00326 . 00600 .00366 • 0057 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $91 . . 1916-17 1 . . $90 . . Instruction 1917-18 $1 653 . . 1916-17 1 424 59 $228 41 Operation 1917-18 $2x5 . . 1916-17 159 68 555 32 Maintenance 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 245 81 $45 81 Auxiliary 1917-18 $67 37 1916-17 58 50 $8 87 Fixed charges 1917-18 S36 38 1916-17 27 68 $8 70 Debt services 1917-18 1916-17 $3 95 Outlay 1917-18 $5 50 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $2 812 75 1916-17 1 921 21 $891 54 Town of Cambria Dist. r Teachers Niagara county Assessed Tax rate valuation 19 16-17 $127 836 .00329 128 943 .00303 96 998 .00350 105 067 .00424 96 564 .00453 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7- 1 8 Control 1917-18 $225 •• 1916-17 2 . . 3 5 $223 .. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1301 Niagara county Town of Cambria Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 6 r 185 568 7 1 117 7ii 8 1 71 309 9 1 63 271 10 1 131 412 ir 1 173 S35 Total n Si 298 516 Average rate Total 1917-18 $2 149 87S Balance 1916 $673 59 Balance 1917 637 33 536 26 Tax 1917 4 482 33 Real tax 1917 $4 520 59 Tax 1918 $6 448 91 Real tax 191 7 4 520 59 Real increase $1 928 32 ' — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 .00189 .00282 .00581 Expenditures budget Instruction 1917-18. . . 1916-17. ■ • . Operation 1917-18. . . 1916-17. ■ • Maintenance 1917-18 . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Debt 1917-18, 1916-17. . Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 1916-17 1916-17 and 1917-18 $4. 000 . . 4 810 35 .00296 .00220 .0034 $810 35 $1 517 50 680 14 .00386 .003 S837 36 $1 250 ■ . 263 86 $986 14 $83 30 $&3 30 $70 . . 59 20 $10 80 $636 41 $636 41 $1 450 . . $1 450 . . $7 698 91 5 913 35 $1 785 56 Town of Hartland Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 S105 252 .00400 2 1 107 342 . 00434 3 1 95 530 .00353 4 1 112 640 .00285 5 1 119 677 .00461 6 1 120 656 . 00359 7 1 163 869 . 00279 8 1 103 791 .00428 9 1 122 203 .00292 10 1 97850 .00431 11 1 109607 .00350 12 1 74 304 00544 13 1 89726 .00500 14 1 67 540 .00526 15 1 42223 .00799 16 1 89 700 . 00448 17 1 53 245 . 00740 Total 17 Si 675 155 .00417 Average rate . 00451 Total 1917-18 $2 661 030 .004 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $585 . . 1916-17 $585 .. Instruction 1917-18 $8 750 . . 1916-17 7 164 73 $1 585 27 Operation 1917-18 $1 485 . . 1916-17 1 206 41 $278 59 Maintenance 1917-18 $1 135 . . 1916-17 402 11 $732 89 Auxiliary 1917-iS $445 . . 1916-17 344 47 Sioo 53 1302 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Hartland Niagara county — Continued Assessed valuation Balance 1916 $707 69 Balance 1917 647 14 Tax 1917 Real tax 191 7 Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 6 $62 990 SS 72 $7 053 27 $10 7 644 053 12 27 $3 590 85 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $75 ■ • 1916-17 119 48 $44 48 Debt 1917-18 $142 25 1916-17 $142 25 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $18 97 $18 97 Total 1917-18 $12 617 25 1916-17 9 256 17 $3 361 08 Town of Lockport Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 1 3 ! 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 I 8 I 9 I 10 I II 1 12 1 13 1 14 1 15 ' 1 Total 15 Average rale Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 191 7 Tax 1917 Real tax 191 7 Tax 1918 Real tax 191 7 Real increase Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $97 247 .00407 114 161 .00325 168 045 .00207 89 938 . 00424 99 867 . 00499 100 289 . 00448 138 on .00315 108 624 .00414 99 169 .00350 83 089 .00507 162 476 . 00266 155 813 .00256 143 S4b .00279 72 471 . 00481 83 704 .00507 Si 746 450 .0034 $2 434 394 . 003697 $860 21 310 05 $550 16 6 208 05 $6 758 21 $9 000 . . 6 758 21 $2 24: [ 79 Town Dist. of Niagara Teachers 1 Assessed valuation $192 545 274 582 167 137 747 127 1 062 069 Tax rate 1916-17 .00234 Contract 1 .00274 7 .00965 5- • • 'otal 11 .01214 1 20 $2 443 460 .008 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $364 44 1916-17 n 85 $352 59 Instruction 1917-18 $7 100 . . 1916-17 6 987 02 $112 98 Operation 1917-18 $1 195 - - 1916-17 996 86 $198 14 Maintenance 1917-18 $730 . . 1916-17 774 43 $44 43 Auxiliary 1917-18 $375 ■ • 1916-17 250 60 $124 40 Fixed charges 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 106 41 $56 41 Debt $10 S2 Outlay 1917-18 $1 350 . . 1916-17 89 38 $1 260 62 Total 1917-18 $11 164 44 1916-17 9 227 37 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $725 • . 1916-17 5i 14 $673 86 Instruction 1917-18 $17 159 • • 1916-17 12 294 16 $4 864 84 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1303 Niagara county Town of Niagara Assessed valuation Average rate Total 1917-18 $3 458 880 Balance 1916 $956 50 Balance 1917 374 09 $582 41 Tax 1917 21 027 60 Real tax 1917 $211 610 01 Tax 1918 $27 075 . . Real tax 1917 21 610 01 Real increase $$ 464 99 ' — Contim Tax rate 1916-17 .00671 .00783 ted Expenditures budget Operation 1917-18, , . 1916-17 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Auxiliary 1917-18, , 1916-17. . . . Fixed charges 1917-18, 1916-17. . . . Debt 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17 Total 1917-18 1916-17. . . . 1916-17 and 1917-18 $4 920 . . 4 189 16 $730 84 $300 .. 91 15 $228 85 $325 • • 221 89 $103 11 $250 . . 248 41 $1 59 $4 800 . . 6 926 05 $2 126 05 $600 . . 949 99 $349 99 $29 079 . . 24 951 95 $4 127 05 Town 0} Royalton Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 1 $56 070 3 I 132 385 4 I 73 065 5 I 90 535 6 I 75 215 7 1 91 540 8 I 94 490 9 I 112 810 10 I 79 684 11 1 70 450 12 I SO 085 13 1 114 435 14 1 99 263 15 I 124 620 16 I 90 550 17 1 78 835 18 5 495 545 19 1 75 040 20 I 124 850 21 I 96 060 22 I 121 495 23 1 81 505 Total 26 $2 428 527 Average rate Total 1917-18 $4 650 844 Tax rate 1916-17 .00625 • 00394 .00547 . 00450 . 00465 .00476 . 00430 . 00360 . 00540 . 00500 . 00800 .00379 .00311 . 00686 .00568 . 00624 . 00999 .00560 . 00360 . 00348 .00387 . 00450 ■00577 .00511 .00436 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control $875 . . 1916-17 67 11 $807 89 Instruction 1917-18 $15 050 . . 1916-17 11 855 05 $3 194 95 Operation 1917-18 $2 900 . . 1916-17 2 158 76 $741 24 Maintenance 1917-18 $1 54° • ■ 1916-17 1 310 83 $229 17 Auxiliary 1917-18 $760 . . 1916-17 678 64 $81 36 Fixrd charges [917-18 $75 • . 1916-17 180 71 £r05 71 1304 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Niagara county Town of Royalton Assessed valuation Balance 1916 $3 091 48 Balance 191 7 2 759 66 $331 82 Tax 1917 14 057 37 Real tax 1917 $14 389 19 Tax 191S $20 277 68 Real tax 1917 14 389 19 Real increase $5 888 49 Continued Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-i8 Debt 1917-18 $1 630 . . 1916-17 1 675 . . #45 •■ Outlay 1917-18 $377 68 1916-17 462 79 J414 89 Total *S23 606 68 1917-18 23 707 68 1916-17 18 388 89 $5 3i8 79 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $580 646 • 01343 87 750 ■ 00343 53 100 .00677 105 838 . 00387 169 765 .00298 54 925 .00415 191 225 . 00476 119 144 .00355 201 561 .00238 61 589 . 00660 79 157 .00477 Town of Somerset Dist. Teachers 1 9 2 I 3 I 4 I 5 1 6 1 7 3 8 I 9 1 10 I II I Total 21 $1 704 700 Average rate Total 1917-18 S3 369 644 Balance 1916 $289 92 Balance 1917 167 49 $122 43 Tax 1917 12 200 89 Real tax 1917 $12 323 32 Tax 1918 $15 028 61 Real tax 1917 12 323 32 Real increase $2 705 29 .00716 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7- 1 8 Control 1917-18 $470 . . 1916-17 116 27 $353 73 Instruction 1917-18 $10 756 . . 1916-17 10 438 82 $317 18 Operation 1917-18 $2 175 . . 1916-17 2 031 24 $143 76 Maintenance 1917-18 $900 . . 1016-17 376 04 $S23 96 Auxiliary 1917-18 $427 50 1916-17 597 12 $169 62 Fixed charges 1917-18 $329 25 1916-17 137 78 $191 47 Debt service 1917-18 $1 993 . . 1916-17 2 100 36 — J107 36 Reserve fund . . $1 008 04 Outlay 1917-18 $75 • • 1916-17 138 02 $63 92 Total 1917-18 $18 133 79 1916-17 15 935 55 $2 197 24 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1305 Niagara county Town of Whealfield Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $117 552 2 I 550 355 3 I 462 295 4 1 1 28 540 5 I 166 377 6 2 338 358 7 1 115 850 Total 8 $r 879 327 Average rate Total 1917-18 $2 170 912 Balance 1916 $885 06 Balance 1917 386 . . $499 06 Tax 1917 4 100 89 Real tax 1917 $4 609 95 Tax 1918 $5 556 40 Real tax 191 7 5 609 95 Real increase $946 45 — Concluded Tax rate 1916-17 . 00400 .00118 .00089 Expenditures budget : Control 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . 1916-17. • Fixed charges 1917-18, 1916-17. ■ Debt service 1917-18 1916-17. , . Outlay 1917-18 1916-17. . . Total 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . 1916-17 and [917-18 $275 .. 19 05 .0025S . 0044s .00273 $255 95 $4 410 . . 3 885 04 $524 96 $803 45 756 40 .0021 .00261 .0026 $47 05 $200 . . 457 01 $257 01 $135 • ■ 96 19 $38 81 $50 .. 47 42 $2 58 $375 •• 375 • • $300 . . 5 • • $295 •■ $6 548 15 5 641 11 $907 34 Oneida county Town of Annsville Dist. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 , 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Total Teachers Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 S12 422 . 0200 58 157 .0065 25 676 .0141 10 224 .0206 11 775 .0178 9 190 .0244 13 530 .0166 42 710 .0164 30 224 .0099 7 475 .0416 8 770 .0200 16 560 .0150 8 000 . 0294 11 010 . 0226 6 210 .0300 40 820 .0083 7 302 .0383 $320 055 .0152 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $700 . 1916-17 16 . $684 . Instruction 1917-18 $8 250 . 1916-17 7 422 . $828 . Operation 1917-18 $950 . 1916-17 665 . $285 . Maintenance 1917-18 $700 . 1916-17 336 • $364 • 1306 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Oneida county Assessed Town of Annsville valuation Average rate Total 1917-18 $326 285 Balance 1916 $768 24 Balance 1917 419 83 $348 41 Tax 1917 4 89s 48 Real tax $5 243 89 Tax 1918 $7 925 00 Real tax 1917 5 243 89 Real increase t $2 681 ir — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 .0206 .02428 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Fixed charges 1917-18 ; 5125 1916-17 93 m, •"'«« | 3 2 Debt service 1917-18 P 1916-17 $106 m ^M ■'% * — $^ Outlay " t 1917-18 r 1916-17 $42 & $42 Auxiliary 1917-18 $300 1916-17 220 $80 Total 1917-18 $11 025 1916-17 8 900 $2 125 Town of Augusta, Unit No. 1 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $42 307 7 6 422 640 8 1 36 309 10 I 39 2S0 Total 9 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 191 7 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 191 7 Real increase $540 506 $435 S28 $1 272 550 39 38 $722 5 458 01 37 $6 180 33 $7 742 6 180 34 30 $1 561 96 Tax rate 1916-17 .00800 .01000 . 00840 .01498 .01 .01035 .018 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $210 . . 1916-17 47 75 Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. • . • Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. • ■ • Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. • • • Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- ■ • • Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. • • ■ $209 70 Total 1917-18 $9 396 . . 1916-17 8 305 72 $1 090 28 $162 25 $6 861 6 132 90 $728 10 $1 325 1 119 78 $205 22 $600 356 10 $243 90 $100 206 25 $106 25 144 52 $144 S2 $208 12 $208 12 $300 90 JO THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I307 Oneida county Town of Augusta, Unit No. 2 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 1 S38 135 4 4 103 010 5 Contract 31 311 6 Contract 24 350 11 1 41 487 13 I 32 3SO 14 Contract 24 800 Total 7 $285 443 Average rate Total 1917-18 $296 032 Balance 1916 $346 23 Balance 1917 195 52 $150 71 Tax 1917 2 146 67 Real tax $2 297 38 Tax 1918 $3 640 00 Real tax 1917 2 297 38 Real increase $i 342 62 Town of Ava Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $25 146 2 1 16 534 3 1 13 790 4 1 14 890 5 1 13 380 6 1 IS 090 7 1 16 980 8 1 13 505 9 1 12 150 9 $141 465 Average rate Total 1917-18 $140 425 Balance 1916 $197 54 Balance 1917 no 89 $86 65 Tax 1917 2 037 83 Real tax $2 124 48 — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 .00732 .01321 Expenditures budget Control 1917-18 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 Operation 1917-18 1916-17, , . Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17. , Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17. , Outlay 1917-18, , , 1916-17. • • . Total 1917-18 .... 1016-17. . . . Expenditures budget ] Control 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Instruction 1917-18. , Operation Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17. Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 1916-17 and [917-18 $221 .. 19 56 .00507 .00914 .0072 $201 44 $3 494 • • 3 207 79 $286 21 $580 . . 493 78 $86 22 $250 . . 130 87 .00902 .0123 $119 13 $515 •• 236 20 $278 80 $40 . . 37 73 $2 27 $5 100 4 125 93 $974 07 Tax rate 1916-17 .01500 .01200 1916-17 and :9i7-i8 $230 . . .01608 ■01457 .01486 .01185 .01281 .01650 $230 .. . $3 963 • • 3 441 IS $521 85 $445 ■ ■ 224 61 • 0144 .01447 ■ 0235 $220 39 $200 . . 174 os $25 95 $21 50 $21 50 i 3 o8 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Oneida county — Continued Town of Ava Assessed valuation Tax iqiS $3 300 00 Real tax 2 124 48 Real increase Si 175 52 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $227 . . 1916-17 44 ■ • S183 .. Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $5 065 . . 1916-17 3 905 31 $1 159 69 Town of Boonville Dist. Teachers 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 I 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 1 10 1 11 2 12 1 13 1 15 r 16 1 17 I 18 1 Total 17 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 $641 68 Balance 1917 547 81 $93 87 Tax 1917 ■ • 4 122 55 Real tax $4 216 42 Tax 1918 $6 502 91 Real tax 4 216 42 Real increase $2 286 49 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 S41 690 .00682 37 800 .00610 9 850 .02246 35 927 .00520 19 071 . 00480 31 722 . 00640 14 450 . 01660 29 800 .00815 8 700 .02275 35 080 .02144 14 250 .01277 16 950 .01256 28 050 .00750 38 189 .00519 9 460 .0300 57 758 . 00658 $428 747 .0096 #433 527 .015 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $491 •• 1916-17 $49i .. Instruction 1917-18 $7 544 • • 1916-17 6 159 21 $1 384 79 Operation ■ 1917-18 $642 . . 1916-17 486 37 $155 63 Maintenance 1917-18 $450 . . 1916-17 663 70 #213 70 Auxiliary 1917-18 $180 . . 1916-17 100 . . £8o .. Fixed charges 1917-18 I408 . . 1916-17 65 16 $342 84 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 $50 .. 'total 1917-18 $9 76s • • 1916-17 7 474 44 $2 290 56 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1309 Oneida county — Continued Town of Bridgewaler Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 4 $202 848 . 00807 2 1 29850 .00840 5 Contract 71 673 . 00523 6 Contract 25 800 . 00779 7 1 19 150 .01314 8 Contract 15 050 .00598 9 1 31 000 .01000 10 1 84754 .00400 Total 8 $480 125 .0071 Average rate . 00783 Total 1917-18 $480 125 .0094 Balance 1916 $668 25 Balance 191 7 507 95 $160 30 Tax 1917 3 456 41 Real tax $361671 Tax 1918 $4 513 17 Real tax 1917 3 616 71 Real increase $896 46 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $205 . . 1916-17 5 . . $200 . . Instruction 1917-18 $4 270 . . 1916-17 4 160 96 $109 04 Operation 1917-18 $550 . . 1916-17 287 09 $262 91 Maintenance 1917-18 $310 . . 1916-17 102 83 $207 17 Auxiliary 1917-18 $1 090 . . 1916-17 996 54 $93 46 Fixed charges 1917-18 $25 . . 1916-17 58 06 $33 06 Debt services 1917-18 1916-17 $50 . . Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $13 24 Total 1917-18 $6 450 . . 1916-17 5 673 72 $776 28 Town of Camden Dist. Teachers Assessed ' valuation $48 340 35 590 33 400 56 990 12 730 39 750 12 855 84 663 13 000 18 720 15 500 10 530 8 190 Tax rate 1916-17 .0080 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 1 1 1 1 .0067 .010. .0054 .0140 .0080 .0160 9 2 .0124 • 0153 11 1 .0101 12 .0110 13 14 1 1 .0200 .0270 Total 14 $390 258 .0103 $393 545 .0126 Total 1917-18 •OI397S $392 35 295 98 $96 37 4 023 10 $4 119 47 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $375 . 1916-17 16 . $359 . Instruction 1917-18 $6 015 . 1916-17 5 241 . $774 ■ Operation 1917-18 $710 . 1916-17 494 . $216 . Maintenance 1917-18 $350 . 1916-17 12s . $225 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $150 . 1916-17 78 . $72 . Fixed charges 1917-18 $100 . 1916-17 72 . $28 . 1310 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Camden Oneida county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1018 $5 soo 00 Real tax 191 7 4 up 47 Real increase $1 380 53 Town of Deerfield Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 3 r $51 130 4 I 33 510 S 1 17 160 6 I 26 095 7 I 69 280 8 Contract 29 620 9 1 48 347 10 1 68 900 Total 7 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 191 7 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 $4 836 00 Real tax 1917 2 686 51 Real increase $2 149 49 5344 >42 $413 072 $177 I4S S3 3" $32 2 654 17 34 $2 686 51 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00499 .01100 .01660 .01716 .00475 .01007 .0117074 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $6 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $150 473 Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $323 $7 850 6 567 $1 283 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-18 Control 1917-18 $285 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt services 1917-18. . . , 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $4 026 3 ois $1 on $390 360 $30 $200 115 3405 5237 J130 no $20 $295 62 $233 $630 182 $6 361 $4 012 $2 349 Town of Florence Dist. 1 3 4 S 6 Teachers Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $14 240 .0196 10 685 .0215 15 793 .0157 n 943 .0184 19 116 .0125 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $200 . 1916-17 4 . $196 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I3II Oneida county — Continued Town of Florence Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 7 Contract Sis sop Contract 8 1 9330 .0166 9 1 10 920 . 0053 10 Contract 7 070 Contract 11 1 9 835 .0227 12 1 S 100 .0445 14 1 9 411 .0223 15 1 6 250 .0592 Total 11 S14S 202 .0169 Average rate . 0234 Total 1917-18 Si43 395 -0225 Balance 1917 S432 86 Balance 1916 165 67 S267 19 Tax 1917 S2 461 87 267 19 Real tax $2 194 68 Tax 1918 S3 227 SO Real tax 1917 2 194 68 Real increase $1 032 82 * Including supplies Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7- 1 S Instruction 1917-18 S4 356 1916-17 3 723 S633 Operation 1917-18 S3P6 1916-17 262 $134 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 S246 S246 Auxiliary 1917-18 S500 1916-17 456 S44 Fixed charges * 1917-18 #375 1916-17 76 S299 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 S115 S115 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 S7 Total 1917-18 $5 827 1916-17 4 889 $938 Town of Floyd Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 (Annexed to No. 3 Marcy) 2 1 S48 640 .01120 3 1 20 310 . 00980 4 1 28 977 .01000 S 1 62471 .00478 6 1 34 367 .00910 7 1 16 316 .01133 8 Contract 26 525 9 1 33 053 .00679 Total 7 S270 659 -00757 Average rate . 00900 Total 1917-18 S266 350 .013 Balance 1916 S147 03 Balance 1917 125 86 S21 17 Tax 1017 2 302 43 Real tax S2 323 60 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 S375 1916-17 20 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. 1355 $3 303 3 287 S16 S109 S450 I26 $2S 56 1312 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Oneida county — Continued Town of Floyd Assessed valuation Tax 1918 t 53 462 55 Real tax 2 323 60 Real increase $1 138 95 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Fixed charges 1917-18 $100 . 1916-17 60 . ^40 . Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $100 . 1916-17 30 . $70 . Total 1917-18 $4 753 • 1916-17 3 870 . $883 . Town of Forestport Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $20 075 2 2 63 523 3 1 125 586 4 1 30 666 5 6 1 5 100 7 1 27 801 8 1 23 147 9 Contract 4 019 10 4 69 463 11 1 16 845 Total 13 $386 225 Average rate Total 1917-18 $390 000 Balance 1916 $640 72 Balance 191 7 166 09 #474 63 Tax 1917 5 170 41 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax Real increase $5 645 04 $7 5 800 645 04 $2 154 96 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00800 . 00936 .00385 . 00944 Town of Kirkland Dist. 1 2 3 5 6 Teachers .04205 .02219 . 00907 • 03473 .OHIO .0133 .01664 . 0200 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $415 .. 1916-17 24 13 $390 87 Instruction 1917-18 $7 130 . . 1916-17 5 540 IS $1 589 85 Operation 1917-18 $1 235 . . 1916-17 717 42 $517 58 Maintenance 1917-18 $560 . . 1916-17 1 094 80 $534 80 Auxiliary 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 173 16 $123 16 Fixed charges 1917-18 $360 . . 1916-17 67 93 $292 07 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 feio 30 $310 30 Outlay 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 $150 .. Total 1917-18 $9 900 . . 1916-17 7 927 89 $1 972 11 Assessed Tax rate Expenditures 1916-17 and valuation 1916-17 budget 1 91 7- 1 8 $66 430 .0049 Control 74 876 .0057 1917-18 $340 . 217 100 .0283 1916-17 89 . 113 150 .0029 — ■ 159 250 .0042 $251 . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 13*3 Oneida county Town of Kirkland Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 7 i $53 300 8 i 57 6oo 9 i 26 100 10 1 49 466 11 1 62 600 12 I 37 797 13 1 47 200 14 1 104 325 Total 20 Si 069 194 Average rite Total 1917-18 Si 013 050 Balance 1917 $393 45 Balance 1916 352 50 S40 95 Tax 1917 $10 484 43 —40 95 Real tax Sio 443 48 Tax 1918 S16 500 . . Real increase 10 443 48 Real tax 191 7 $6 056 52 — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 .0054 .0067 .0100 .0067 .0050 • 0075 .0060 .0045 Expenditures budget Instruction 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. ■ ■ ■ Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17. Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17, , Total 1917-18 1916-17 1916-17 and 1917-18 $11 396 . . 9 610 . . $1 786 . . Si 466 . . 1 388 . . .0098 S78 .. . 0075 .0148 S3 300 . . 238 .. S3 062 . . S57S .. 566 .. S9 . . S234 •• 269 .. S3S .. Si 300 . . 1 458 . . SiS8 .. $260 . . 352 . . S92 .. S18 871 . . 13 970 . S4 901 . . Town of Lee Dis-f. Teachers 1 2 2 1 3 Contract 4 Contract 5 1 6 1 7 Contract 8 1 9 1 10 I II I 12 I 13 Contract 14 Contract 15 1 16 1 Total 12 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax 42 Asse =sed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $87 43S .0149 18 585 .0121 8 370 .0020 21 070 .0080 18 875 .0125 13 490 .0207 29 300 .0100 12 360 .0211 12 685 ■ 0177 19 US .0100 20 265 .0120 15 750 .0170 9 355 .0046 12 935 48 275 .0066 S347 86s .0117 .0121 $363 727 .01649 $322 85 292 70 S30 15 4 084 36 $4 114 51 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 S650 1916-17 13 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $5 650 4 523 S775 782 S107 5i 325 1 468 S143 Si75 US 1314 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Oneida county — Continued Town of Lee Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $6 000 . . Real tax 1917 4 114 51 Real increase $1 885 49 Town of Marcy Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 i $173 579 2 1 46 890 3 1 18 600 4 1 78 705 5 1 95 060 .6 1 44 395 7 1 17 688 8 1 31 364 9 I 21 022 10 I 40 119 11 2 121 244 Total 12 $688 666 Average rate Total 1917-18 $691 825 Balance 1916 $676 66 Balance 1917 273 06 $403 60 Tax 1917 4 316' 57 Real tax $4 720 17 Tax 1918 {8 975 . . Real tax 1917 4 720 17 Real increase $4 254 83 Tax rate 1916-17 .00259 . 00690 .01344 . 00499 . 00500 00753 .01130 .01256 .01069 .01033 .00901 . 00663 . 00860 .0129 Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 1917-18 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $108 . Outlay 1917-18 $125 1916-17 28 . $97 Total 1917-18 $9 000 . 1916-17 7 230 . $1 770 . Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $480 . . 1916-17 25 . . $455 .. Instruction 1917-18 $6 830 . . 1916-17 5 034 ■ $1 796 . . Operation 1917-18 $595 . . 1916-17 442 . . $153 • • Maintenance 191 7-i8 $260 . . 1916-17 224 . . $36 .. Auxiliary 1917-18 $535 • • 1916-17 87 . . $448 . . Fixed charges 1917-18 $245 .. 1916-17 156 . . $89 .. Debt services 1917-18 $370 . . 1916-17 $370 . . Outlay 1917-18 $1 160 . . 1916-17 535 . . $625 . . Total 1917-18 $10 475 . . 1916-17 6 503 . . $3 972 .. Town of Marshall Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 Contract 5 Contract Asses valus $28 35 >sed .tion 400 650 900 130 550 Tax rate 1916-17 .00975 .01251 . 00600 . 00200 Expenditures budget Control 1916 1917- -17 and 18 $375 . . 87 4 • ■ 55 $371 .. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1315 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00489 .01000 .00568 .01000 . 00699 .0063 .00754 .008 Oneida county — Continued Town of Marshall Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 6 1 $94 800 7 1 33 IS6 8 1 43 900 9 1 19 815 10 3 178 473 Total 10 $610 774 Average rate Total 1917-18 $612 192 Balance 1917 $1 250 11 Balance 1916 1 038 41 S211 70 Tax 1917 $3 853 82 211 70 Real tax $3 642 12 Tax 1918 $4 897 S3 Real tax 1917 3 642 12 Real increase $1 255 41 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-18 Instruction 1917-18 $5 153 . ■ 1916-17 5 22s 73 $72 73 Operation 1917-18 $580 . . 1916-17 526 20 $53 80 Maintenance 1917-18 $350 . . 1916-17 113 52 $236 48 Auxiliary 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 99 . . $101 . . Fixed charges 1917-18 $75 53 1916-17 89 44 $13 91 Debt services 1917-18 1916-17 $3 96 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $13 99 $13 99 Total 1917-18 $6 733 53 1916-17 6 075 84 $657 69 Town of New Hartford Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 2 2 $219 151 .01224 3 5 r 194350 .00280 6 1 76779 .00456 7 Contract 50 391 • 00248 9 1 40 280 . 00856 10 1 21s 537 .00247 11 1 64 545 . 0061 7 12 2 94 103 01594 13 1 36060 .00831 Total 10 $991 196 .00684 Average rate .00705 Total 1917-18 $886649 .013839 Balance 191 7 $743 98 Balance 1916 668 17 $75 81 Tax 1917 6 781 32 Real tax $6 70s 51 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1916-17 Control 1917-18 $600 . 1916-17 10 . Instruction 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Operation 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $590 . . $5 956 . . 4 770 . . $1 186 . . $1 350 . . 868 .. $482 . . $1 250 . . 182 . . $1 068 . . $650 . . 138 .. i,3i6 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of New Hartford Assessed valuation Tax 1018 $12 271 Real tax 1917 6 70s 51 Real increase $5 565 49 Oneida county — Continued Town of Paris, Unit No. 1 Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $60 897 . 00898 2 1 si 180 .00779 4 6 262 244 .02932 6 1 97 435 .00405 8 1 101 573 .00419 Total 10 $610 900 . 015 Average rate 01087 Total 1 91 7-18 $675043 .0130569 Balance 1916 $5 048 72 Balance 1917 393 39 „, $4 655 33 Tax 1917 9 4S9 67 Real tax $ 14 115 Tax 1918 $8 814 . . Real tax 1917 14 115 .. Real decrease $5 301 . . Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $350 1916-17 161 $189 Debt services 1917-18 $1 650 • 1916-17 1 665 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $15 $1 950 444 $1 506 Total 1917-18 $13 756 1916-17 8 238 $5 518 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $270 . . 1916-17 98 52 $171 48 Instruction 1917-18 $6 169 , . 1916-17 5 398 89 $770 11 Operation 1917-18 $1 225 . . 1916-17 1 099 40 $125 60 Maintenance 1917-18 $550 . . 1916-17 156 67 $393 33 Auxiliary 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 209 18 $109 18 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $60 47 Debt services 1917-18 $2 220 . . 1916-17 2 805 67 $585 67 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $10 993 38 Total I9I7-I8 $10 534 •• 1916-17 20 822 18 $10 288 18 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 13*7 Oneida county — Continued Town of Paris, Unit No. 2 Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 S 1 $37 7SO . 01349 7 2 78534 .01702 9 6 3IS369 .01249 Total 9 $431 653 • 0134 Average rate . 01433 Total 1917-18 $429503 .01618 Balance 191 7 $90 90 Balance 1916 58 94 S3 1 96 Tax 1917 $5 787 17 31 96 Real tax $5 755 21 Tax 1918 $6 942 . . Real tax 5 755 21 Real increase j 1 186 79 Expenditures budget i Control 1917-18. . . . 1916-17- ■ • • 1916-17 and 917-18 $375 • • 54 05 Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $320 95 $5 389 . - 5 028 88 Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $360 12 $1 no . . 837 02 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17- • . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. • • ■ Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $272 98 79 30 $10 70 ?2 25 $32 25 $30 126 Debt services 1917-18 $1 200 1916-17 1 337 $137 Total 1917-18. 1916-17- $8 244 . . 7 656 61 $587 39 Town of Reinsert Dist. Teachers 1 6 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 I 6 1 7 1 9 1 10 1 11 1 Total 15 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $171 178 .02501 25 214 . 00869 95 075 .00290 18 035 .01430 21 525 .01400 30 550 . 00860 55 897 .00380 29 741 . 00623 11 501 .01744 19 790 .00800 $478 506 .0132 $438 549 .017 $1 837 58 1 132 23 $705 35 6 356 27 $7 061 62 Expenditures 19 16- 17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $220 . . 1916-17 41 99 $178 01 Instruction 1917-18 $8 380 . . 1916-17 7 208 11 $1 171 89 Operation 1917-18 $670 . . 1916-17 1 020 70 $350 70 Maintenance 1917-18 $225 . . 1916-17 382 17 $157 17 Auxiliary 1917-18 $303 33 1916-17 41 •• $262 33 i 3 i8 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Remsen Assessed valuation Tax 1018 $S 048 33 Real tax 7 061 62 Real increase $986 7 1 Oneida county — Continued Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Fixed charge 1917-18 $40 . . 1916-17 136 56 $96 56 Debt service 1917-18 $815 . . 1916-17 837 SO $22 50 Outlay 1917-18 $120 . . 1916-17 $120 . . Total 1917-18 10 773 33 1916-17 9 668 03 $1 ios 30 Town of Rome Dist. Teachers 20 1 Contract Total . Average rate . . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. . Balance 1917. . Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $154 148 .00217 29 150 .00855 48 297 .00686 59 698 . 00698 59 550 . 00530 238 815 .00130 186 159 . 00268 32 348 .00927 339 IS5 .00107 89 135 . 00454 60 200 .00500 79 750 .00687 123 550 .00400 160 756 .00217 17 929 .01000 22 650 .01043 23 350 00835 162 834 •00733 139 830 .00146 $2 027 304 .003568 Tax 1917. Real tax. Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 . Real increase. $2 145 969 $1 349 31 782 97 $566 34 7 233 57 $7 799 91 $11 439 • • 7 799 91 $3 639 09 • 00549 •0053305 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $800 . . 1916-17 8 . . $792 . . Instruction 1917-18 $9 200 . . 1916-17 8 137 • • $1 063 .. Operation 1917-18 $1 400 . . 1916-17 1 186 . . $214 . . Maintenance 1917-18 $650 . . 1916-17 928 .. $278 . . Auxiliary 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 229 . . $71 ■• Fixed charges 1917-18 250 . . 1916-17 I0 4 • $146 . . Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $ 122 . . Outlay 1917-18 $r 425 . . 1916-17 I02 • • *i 323 Total 1917-18 $14 025 . . 1916-17 10 816 . . $3 209 . . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM i3 J 9 Oneida county — Continued- Town of Sangerfield Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 Contract {38321 .01239 2 1 37 702 .0O9SS S Contract 76 687 .000085 6 1 44 407 • 00959 7 Contract 14 650 . 00323 8 r 18 333 .01301 9 1 59 775 .00549 10 1 82 484 . 00366 12 2 197 722 .00682 13 1 18 150 .01432 Total 8 $588 321 . 0064 Average rate 007815 Total 1917-18 $562 524 007 Balance 1917 $638 52 Balance 1916 470 50 $168 02 Tax 1917 $3 795 12 168 02 Real tax $3 627 10 Tax 1918 $3 935 Real tax 1917 3 627 10 Real increase $307 90 Town of Steuben Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $18 870 2 1 28 730 3 1 29 936 4 1 27 064 5 1 12 US 6 1 16 400 7 1 23 468 8 1 25 642 9 1 12 077 10 1 30 655 11 1 15 016 12 1 13 800 13 1 36 476 Total 13 $290 249 Average rate Total 1917-18 {277 053 Balance 1916 $577 66 Balance 1917 ISO 15 $427 5i Tax 1917 3 127 45 Real tax $3 . 554 96 Tax rate 1916-17 .01208 .01044 .00130 .00561 .01800 .01825 .01143 .01400 •01745 .01021 .01471 .01564 .00824 .0107 .01210 .016 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-i 8 Control 1917-18 $225 . . 1916-17 15 27 $209 73 Instruction 1917-18 $3 420 . . 1916-17 3 640 24 $220 24 Operation 1917-18 $577 •• 1916-17 586 . . $9 •• Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $75 12 $75 12 Auxiliary 1917-18. . . $750 . . 1916-17- • • 605 20 $144 80 Fixed charges 1917-18 $410 . . 1916-17 32 53 $377 47 Debt services 1917-18 $437 ■ ■ 1916-17 617 80 $180 80 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $5 •• Total 1917-18 $5 819 . • 1916-17 5 577 16 $241 84 Expenditures 1 916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $35 •• 1916-17 9 • • $26 . . Instruction 1917-18 $3 5io . . 1916-17 5 235 . $1 725 21 Operation 1917-18 $455 ■■ 1916-17 421 ■ • $34 •• Maintenance 1917-18 $325 •• 1916-17 225 ■ • $100 . . Auxiliary 1917-18 $65 . . 1916-17 32 . . $33 •■ Fixed charge 1917-18 *$I24 . . 1916-17 72 . . $52 .. * Includes incidentals. 1320 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Steuben- Oneida county — Continued Tax 1918. . . . Real tax Real increase. Assessed valuation $4 432 87 3 554 96 $877 9i Town of Trenton, Unit No. 1 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 4 $98 592 4 1 52 28s 5 1 38 200 7 I 37 336 9 1 58 230 12 1 47 470 Total 9 $332 113 Average rate Total 1917-18 $33i 016 Balance 1916 $672 6s Balance 1917 440 81 $231 84 Tax 1917 4 211 59 Real tax $4 443 43 Tax 1918 $5 223 14 Real tax 4 443 43 Real increase $779 71 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Total 1917-18. 1916-17. . . . Expenditures budget : Control 1917-18. 1916-17. . . . Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Operation 1917-18, 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17. Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. ■ $57 •• $4,514 • • 6 051 . . $1 537 ■ . Tax rate 1916-17 .02847 . 00669 1916-17 and [917-18 $200 . . . 00643 .00431 •00S47 $4 876 . . 4 553 .0126 $323 ■ • $875 .. 380 . . .00988 .0157 $495 • - $50 . . 341 • • $291 . . $50 . . 14 ■ - $36 Fixed charge 1917-18 *$250 1916-17 49 $201 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $403 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $118 Total 1917-18 $6 301 1916-17 5 858 * Includes incidentals. Town of Trenton, Unit No. 2 Dist. Teachers 2 7 6 1 11 1 13 _J Total 10 Average rate Total 1917-18 Assessed valuation $202 067 64 590 44 350 64 934 Tax rate 1916-17 .OI734 . 00498 .00732 .00532 $375 941 .0119 .00874 $367 730 .01729 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $410 . 1916-17 59 • $351 . Instruction 1917-18 $6 643 • 1916-17 6 305 ■ $33 • THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1321 Oneida county — Continued Town of Trenton, Unit No. 2 Assessed valuation Balance 1016 $198 15 Balance 1917 178 33 $19 82 Tax 1917 4 49s 63 Real tax $4 515 45 Tax 1918 $6 360 . . Real tax 4 515 45 Real increase $1 844 55 $428 4 694 20 II $5 122 31 $6 619 5 122 73 31 $1 497 4-' .01831 .00489 . 00990 .0117 .01100 •OIS77 Town of Trenton, Unit No. 3 Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 3 6 $164 038 8 1 125 173 10 2 108 750 Total 9 $397 961 Average rate Total 1917-18 $419 812 Balance $763 30 Balance 1917 335 10 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax Real increase Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Operation 1917-18 $1 210 . . 1916-17 891 . . S3I9 . . Maintenance 1917-18 $550 . . 1916-17 252 . . $298 . . Auxiliary 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 119 • . $181 .. Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $lis • . $HS ■■ Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $1 413 • ■ $1 413 • , Outlay 1917-18 $150 . , 1916-17 71 . . $79 • . Total 1917-18 $9 263 . . 1916-17 9 225 . , $38 . Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $220 . 1916-17 74 • $146 . Instruction 1917-18.. ... $5 620 . 1916-17 4 827 . $793 ■ Operation 1917-18 $1 182 . 1916-17 635 . $547 . Maintenance 1917-18 $110 . 1916-17 200 . $90 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $350 . 1916-17 31 ■ $319 . Fixed charge 1917-18 $50 . 1916-17 121 . $71 • Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $340 . 1916-17 335 ■ $s • Total 1917-18 $7 872 . 1916-17 6 223 . $1 649 . 1322 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Verona, Unit No. Dist. Teachers i 5 Oneida county — Continued 13- 15- 16. 17. Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $319 306 . 00859 114 708 . 00449 47 270 • 00793 37 600 00937 19 700 .01032 143 926 .00770 56 685 . 00458 143 906 .00282 104 619 .00286 35 070 .00859 28 631 .00785 40 600 .02272 Total . $1 092 021 Average rate Rate 1917-18 $1 103 475 Tax 1917-18 $11 472 . . Tax 1916-17 7 715 10 Increase Balance 1916. Balance 191 7. $3 756 90 $641 01 529 74 $111 27 7 715 10 $7 826 37 Tax 1917-18 $11 472 . . 7 826 37 Tax. $3 645 63 .00706 .00815 .01039 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. 1916-17. Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. 134 $466 $8 702 7 770 $932 $1 475 1 407 51 000 447 $553 $200 273 $73 ?ioo 228 $128 $550 $1 soo 2 344 Total 1917-18 $14 127 1916-17 12 604 $1 523 Town of Verona, Dist. 6 9 Unit No. 2 Teachers Assessed valuation $45 944 44 275 45 440 200 678 29 523 30 150 50 760 181 777 38 488 25 205 32 550 Tax rate 1916-17 .00925 . 00700 . 00800 .01000 14 18 .00550 . 00900 19 20 00559 . 00309 . 00740 23 24 .01985 . 00925 Total 14 $724 790 .007418 Total 1917-18. . . 00854 $734 258 $472 53 418 65 .012 $53 88 S 376 62 $5 430 50 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $598 1916-17 130 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $468 $7 044 5 925 $1 119 $1 200 882 $318 $575 431 $144 $175 180 $5 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1323 Oneida county Town of Verona, Unit No. 2 Assessed valuation Tax 1918 {8 810 90 Real tax 1917 5 430 so Real increase $3 380 40 Continued Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18. .... $275 • 1916-17 117 . $158 . Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $211 . Outlay 1917-18 }i 119 . , 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $10 986 . , 1916-17 7 876 . , $3 no .. Town of Vernon Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $38 550 .0055 2 1 27 200 .0110 3 I 104 354 . 0065 7 8 404 497 . 0192 8 4 268 243 .0141 9 1 88 420 .0036 10 1 28525 .0088 n 1 19 235 .0135 Total 18 $979 124 . 013843 Average rate 0101 Total 1917-18 $986979 .0192 Balance 1916 $6 686 32 Balance 1917 600 46 $6 085 86 Tax 1917 13 554 84 Real tax $19 640 70 Tax 1918 18 952 21 Real decrease $688 49 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $150 . 1916-17 114 . $36 . Instruction 1917-18 $15 042 . 1916-17 9 866 . $5 176 Operation 1917-18 $4 035 . 1916-17 2 378 . . $1 657 . . Maintenance 1917-18 $420 . . 1916-17 631 . . $211 .. Auxiliary 1917-18 $335 • • 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 303 ■ • $103 . . Debt service 1917-18 $1 000 . . 1916-17 5 109 . . $4 109 . . Outlay 1917-18 $3 000 . . 1916-17 6 065 . . $3 065 . . Total 1917-18 $24 182 . . 1916-17 24 466 . . $284 . . 1324 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Oneida county — Continued Town of Vienna Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 2 $68732 .01349 2 1 11520 .01700 3 1 47 577 .00895 4 2 58 797 ■ 00999 6 1 36370 .00559 7 1 10670 .01800 8 1 10040 .01922 9 1 18 420 . 01099 10 1 9210 .02112 11 Contract 8 841 Contract 12 1 9 700 .02775 13 1 49 699 • 00885 14 1 16044 .01180 15 1 21 299 .01200 16.!......... 1 64927 .00577 Total 16 $441846 .010611 Average rate 01360 Total 1917-18 $444279 .0175 Balance 1916 $577 35 Balance 1917 394 2 4 $183 11 Tax 1917 4 688 83 Real tax $4 871 94 Tax 1918 $7 776 55 Real tax 1917 4 871 94 Real increase $2 904 61 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $560 . 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 $6 757 . 1916-17 6 124 . $633 • Operation 1917-18 $1 250 . 1916-17 617 . $633 - Maintenance 1917-18 $450 . 1916-17 481 • $31 • Auxiliary 1917-18 $150 . 1916-17 335 • $185 . Fixed charges 1917-18 $243 . 1916-17 128 . $115 • Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $56 . Outlay 1917-18 $1 090 . 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $10 500 . 1916-17 7 741 $2 759 • Town of Western Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 1 4 J 5 1 7 ! 8 1 9 ! 10 1 II 1 12 2 13 I 14 1 15 1 16 and 6 1 17 1 18 1 19 1 20 1 Total 19 Average rate Total 1917-18 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $10 748 .01860 19 155 .01305 22 930 .01421 23 636 .01124 18 078 .01100 10 711 .02009 22 800 .01008 24 937 .01122 22 937 .01177 74 400 .0107s 18 878 .00874 19 761 .01229 23 900 .01420 48 643 . 00565 7 9i6 .02875 18 668 .01097 16 150 .01388 18 200 .01500 $422 448 .0117 .01336 $413 814 .01568 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $130 . 1916-17 19 • $111 . Instruction 1917-18 $8 366 . 1916-17 7 721 . $645 • Operation 1917-18 $709 ■ 1916-17 581 . $128 . Maintenance 1917-18 $311 ■ 1916-17 349 • $38 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $50 . 1916-17 29 . Sat THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1325 Oneida county — Continued Town of Western Assessed valuation Balance 1916 $542 64 Balance 1917 448 28 $94 36 Tax 1917 4 97 8 09 Real tax $5 072 45 Tax 1918 $6 491 52 Real tax 5 072 45 Real increase $1 419 07 * Includes contingencies. Town of Westmoreland Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 4 $160534 .0113 2 1 162 715 .0025 3 1 36887 .0095 4 1 119 442 .0046 5 1 34 300 .0077 6 Contract 61 589 7 1 84 943 • 0040 8 1 34 953 . 0060 9 1 52 200 . 0053 10 1 39 991 . 0060 II 1 37 985 .0111 12 1 44800 .0060 13 1 38 752 .0080 14 11 36514 .0076 15 Contract 46 599 . 0033 16 1 39 775 .0079 17 1 35 530 .0120 Total 18 $1 067 509 . 004813 Average rate 0071 Total 1917-18 $1245000 .0071 Balance 1916 $559 79 Balance 1917 428 24 $131 55 Tax 1917 6 582 58 Real tax $6 714 13 Tax 1918 $12 450 . . Real tax 1917 6 714 13 Real increase $5 735 87 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charge 1917-18 $27 1916-17 91 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . *$400 32 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $368 $9 993 8 828 $1 165 a Supplies included not itemized. Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $250 . . 1916-17 10 . . $240 . . a Instruction 1917-18 $9 800 . . 1916-17 8 114 99 $1 685 01 Operation 1917-18 $1 300 . . 1916-17 1 225 41 $74 59 Maintenance 1917-18 $450 .. 1916-17 19 08 $430 92 Auxiliary 1917-18 $400 . . 1916-17 in 25 $288 75 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $443 85 Incidentals 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 Debt services 1917-18 $50 .. 1916-17 141 08 $91 08 Outlay 1917-18 $100 .. 1916-17 317 15 $217 15 Total 1917-18 $12 650 .. 1916-17 10 382 81 $2 267 19 1326 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Tax rate 1916-17 .01129 .00789 .00329 .00528 . 00361 . 00640 .00751 . 01498 . 00999 . 00774 Oneida county — Concluded Town of Whilestown Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 10 $746 160 3 4 564 122 4 5 1 221 847 6 4 494 790 7 1 165 914 8 1 70 245 9 2 118 723 10 1 27 955 11 1 30 406 Total 24 $2 440 162 Average rate Total 1917-18 $2 400 000 Balance 1917 $2 291 06 Balance 1916 1 429 91 I861 15 Tax 1917 $18 895 77 861 15 Real tax $18 034 62 Tax 1918 $27 628 Real tax 1917 18 034 62 Real increase $9 593 38 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $1 220 . 1916-17 289 • $931 • Instruction 1917-18 $16 580 . 1916-17 14 421 . $2 159 • Operation 1917-18 $3 493 ■ 1916-17 2 765 . $728 . Maintenance 1917-18 $1 750 . 1916-17 919 • $831 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $1 250 1916-17 450 $800 Fixed charges 1917-18 $1 200 1916-17 361 $839 Debt services 1917-18 53 425 1916-17 2 550 $875 Outlay 1917-18 |i 850 1916-17 6 293 14 443 Total 1917-18 $30 768 1916-17 28 048 $2 720 Onondaga county Town of Camillas, Unit No. 1 Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 ! 1 $89 450 . 00360 2 8 750 732 .00600 4 2 309 320 . 00242 5 1 228330 .00262 6 268 043 . 00100 Total 12 $i 645 875 • 00395 Average rate . 0312 Total 1917-18 $1 683 749 .007576 Balance 1917 $719 45 Balance 1916 688 16 $31 29 Tax 1917 6 506 71 Real tax $6 475 42 Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $600 . 1916-17 207 . . 5393 • Instruction 1917-18 18 390 . 1916-17 6 728 . $1 662 . Operation 1917-18 $1 850 1916-17 1 004 . $846 . Maintenance 1917-18 $725 • 1916-17 367 • 5358 .. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1327 Onondaga county Town of Camillus, Unit No. 1 Assessed valuation Tax 1018 $12 775 - • Real tax 1917 6 47s 42 Real increase $6 279 58 Continued Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7- 1 8 Auxiliary 1917-18 $74° • 1916-17 2 46 . $494 • Fixed charges 1917-18 $325 • 1916-17 J 47 • $178 . Debt service 1917-18 $750 . 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $1 375 • 1918-17 98 . $1 277 • Total 1917-18 $14 755 • 1916-17 8 797 • $5 958 . Town of Camillus, Unit No. 2 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 3 2 $556 980 7 I 141 615 8 1 108 590 9 10 888 780 Total 14 $1 695 965 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 886 975 Balance 1917 $788 36 Balance 1916 77837 $9 99 Tax 1917 12 418 82 Real tax $12 408 83 Tax 1918 $18 058 27 Real tax 1917 12 408 83 Real increase $5 649 44 Tax rate 1916-17 .00323 .00194 .00186 .01140 .00732 .0046 • 00975 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-i8 Control 1917-18 $1 850 . . 1916-17 67 ■ . $1 783 ■ • Instruction 1917-18 $10 375 • • 1916-17 8 425 . . $1 950 . . Operation 1917-18 $3 025 . . 1916 17 ! 944 • • $1 081 . . Maintenance 1917-18 $600 . . 1916-17 447 ■ ■ $153 ■• Auxiliary 1917-18 $400 . . 1916-17 210 . . $190 . . Fixed charges 1917-18 $225 • 1916-17 Il8 • $107 • ■ Debt service 1917-18 $3 190 ... 1916-17 3 130 - $60 . Outlay I9L7-I8 $300 . 1916-17 134 • $166 . Total 1917-18 $19 965 • 1916-17 14 475 • $5 490 . 1328 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Clay Dist. Onondaga county — Continued Teachers Assessed valuation $112 693 93 625 193 70S I7S 912 166 510 131 767 138 478 82 000 70 693 83 757 340 074 55 208 68 904 86 87s 130 203 75 676 141 456 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00300 . 00449 . 00499 .00285 .00719 . 00299 . 00248 . 00500 . 00500 . 00388 .01160 • 00459 . 00500 . 00470 . 00350 . 00396 .00260 Total . $2 153 536 .005294 Average rate 00457 Total 1917-18 $2 220 017 .00743 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Si 250 41 811 31 $439 10 11 402 65 Real tax 1917 $11 841 75 Tax 1916. Tax 1918 $16 494 73 Real tax 1917 11 841 75 Real increase $4 652 98 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $1 500 . 1916-17 125 . Si 375 • Instruction 1917-18 $13 000 . 1916-17 10 047 . $2 953 • Operation 1917-18 Si 700 . 1916-17 1 381 . S3 19 . Maintenance 1917-18 S500 . 1916-17 639 . , ... Si39 • Auxiliary 1917-18 S500 . 1916-17 553 . „. , $53 ■ Fixed charges 1917-18 S200 . 1916-17 215 . |IS ■ Debt service 1917-18 Si 500 . 1916-17 2 134 . S634 ■ Outlay 1917-18 J500 . 1916-17 387 . S213 • Total 1917-18 Si9 400 . 1916-17 15 381 . 14 019 . Town of Cicero Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 3 S182 795 • 00794 2 1 122 492 . 00244 3 3 198 535 .00760 4 1 148 087 . 00308 5 1 87 450 . 00413 6 1 118 233 .00300 7 1 92 353 • 00400 8 1 96 947 .00270 9 1 71 591 . 00600 10 1 84552 .00437 12 1 70360 .00388 13 1 61 752 . 00600 14 1 72 050 . 00480 15 1 109 974 .00370 Total 18 Si 515 171 .004788 Average rate 00454 Total 1917-18 Si 520 616 .0079 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $500 . 1916-17 37 . S463 • Instruction 1917-18 $9 550 . 1916-17 8 394 . Si 156 . Operation 1917-18 ; S600 . 1916-17 844 . S244 . Maintenance •+ 1917-18 S300 . 1916-17 541 . $3A.l . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I329 Onondaga county — Continued Town of Cicero Assessed valuation Balance 1916 $1 082 47 Balance 1917 545 29 $537 18 Tax 1917 7 254 95 Real tax 191 7 $7 792 13 Tax 1918 $12 000 . . Real tax 191 7 7 792 13 Real increase $4 207 87 Town of Geddes Dist. Teachers Assessed valuation $168 300 Tax rate 1916-17 3 4 189 100 156 000 . 00290 . 00508 Total 3 $513 400 . 00349 Total 1917-18 Balance 1917 $326 96 44 20 $282 76 1 795 16 • $2 077 92 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Auxiliary 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 194 ■ . $44 •• Fixed charges 1917-18 $200 . 1916-17 102 . $98 . Debt service 1917-18 $1 500 . 1916-17 3i ■ $1 469 . Outlay 1917-18 $700 . 1916-17 Indefinite 1917-18 $500 . Total 1917-18 $12 000 . 1916-17 io 143 . $1 857 • Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $375 • 1916-17 17 . $358 . Instruction 1897-18 $2 250 . 1916-17 1 651 . $599 . Operation 1917-18 $533 . 1916-17 403 • $130 . Maintenance 1917-18 $140 . 1916-17 152 . $12 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $85 . 1916-17 70 . Fixed charges 1917-18 $18 . 1916-17 73 • $55 ■ Debt service I9I7-I8 $321 . 1916-17 221 . $100 . Outlay 1917-18 $735 . 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $4 57 . 1916-17 2 587 ■ $1870 . i33o THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Onondaga county — Continued Town of La Fayette Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 ! I $67 750 . 00600 2. . I 65 780 3 I 52 050 .00520 4,] I 64 294 .00531 5 I 93 365 • 00401 6 2 138 459 ■ 00650 7 4 150276 .01197 8 1 116 637 .00235 9 1 72 311 .00442 Total 13 5820 922 .00615 Average rate • °52 Total 191 7-1 8 $820 922 ■ 00752 Balance 1916 1433 38 Balance 1917 Il8 87 $314 5i Tax 1917 5 050 78 Real tax $5 365 29 Tax 1918 16 180 . . Real tax 5 365 29 Real increase {814 71 Town of Manlius, Unit No. 1 Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 19 16-17 1 1 $58 710 . 00449 3 1 61 716 .00526 6.......... 13 704384 .01277 7 Contracts 84 386 . 00325 8 1 45 268 . 00449 9 1 58190 .00515 13 Contracts 62 983 . 00246 14 1 80 150 .00400 15 '. '. . '. 1 75 917 • 00560 18 1 26 750 . 01000 Total 20 $1 258 454 • 009167 Average rate 00574 Total 1917-18 $1279 497 .011628 Balance 1916 $2 510 99 Balance 1917 2 237 72 $273 27 Tax 1917 11 536 75 Real tax 1917 $11 810 02 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $305 . 1916-17 4 . $301 . Instruction 1917-18 $5 706 . 1916-17 5 891 . $185 . Operation 1917-18 $1 265 . 1916-17 916 . $349 . Mantenance 1917-18 $445 . 1916-17 326 . J119 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $211 . 1916-17 76 . $135 • Fixed charge 1917-18 $100 . 1916-17 128 . $28 . Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $189 . Outlay 1917-18 $155 . 1916-17 6 , Ii49 . Total 1917-18 $8 187 1916-17 7 536 $651 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1 91 7-18 Control 1917-18 J475 - 1916-17 201 . $274 • Instruction 1917-18 $12 208 . 1916-17 11 482 . $725 . Operation 1917-18 $2 395 . 1916-17 2 010 . $385 . Maintenance 1917-18 $565 . 1916-17 786 . $221 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $1 ois - 1916-17 295 • $720 . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1331 Onondaga county Town of Manlius, Unit No. 1 Assessed valuation Tax 1018 $14 878 Real tax 1017 11 810 02 Real increase $3 067 98 Continued Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $470 1916-17 12s Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $34 S $2 005 2 043 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $300 955 $655 Total 1917-18 $19 433 1916-17 17 898 $1 535 Town of Manlius, Unit No. 2 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 8 $540 739 4 1 151 542 5 1 152 809 10 1 58 4SO 12 1 83 650 16. 1 144 127 17 2 231 747 19 1 159 382 20 2 328 954 Total 18 $1 851 400 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 852 075 Balance 1916 $4 443 3° Balance 1917 748 41 $694 89 Tax 1917 14 318 72 Real tax 1917 $15 013 61 Tax 1918 $17 960 . . Real tax 1917 *5 013 61 Real increase $2 946 39 Tax rate 1916-17 .01571 .00229 . 00326 . 00550 . 00360 .00341 . 00467 .00236 .00723 ■007733 00533 .0097 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $1 100 1916-17 238 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. #862 $8 240 9 791 $1 551 $2 850 2 153 S697 $450 390 $60 $425 409 $16 $450 182 $3 595 3 717 I122 $850 I 052 $202 E17 960 17 932 $28 1332 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Marcellus Dist. Con Onondaga county — Continued Assessed Tax rate chers valuation 1916-17 2 $291 897 . 00499 105 521 .00277 129 127 .00441 37 610 . 00662 63 262 . 00527 75 557 .00412 54 700 .00520 68 824 . 00500 ttract 115 625 .00281 136 470 .00359 138 156 . 00309 Total . Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 209 264 Balance 1916. Balance 191 7 ■ Tax 1917. Real tax. . Tax 1918 Real tax 1917. Real increase. $1 216 749 $1 209 264 $298 46 177 53 $120 93 5 075 70 $5 196 63 $6 046 32 5 196 63 $849 69 Town of Onondaga Dist. Teachers 13- 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 23- 24. 25- 26. Total . $2 650 664 Average rate Total 1917-18 $2 650 644 .0043 .005 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1917-18 $47 646 . 00549 168 931 . 00837 202 165 .00419 661 304 .00297 231 933 .00612 86 203 . 00499 85 683 . 00459 48 263 . 00624 73 000 . 00530 69 200 . 00470 51 780 . 00560 46 586 .00556 76 247 . 00394 89 000 .00481 64 639 . 00550 36 805 .00750 54 496 . 00550 91 423 .00441 80 623 .00744 29 426 .00815 68 878 . 00480 51 531 .00719 234 902 .01296 . 00564 .0059 . 00697 Expenditures 19 16- 17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $250 1916-17 ~ 10 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . $240 $5 700 5 251 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $449 $796 695 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $101 $100 635 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $535 $200 101 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. . . . $99 $58 Contingencies 1917-18 1916-17. . . . $500 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. • • Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $806 $4 $7 546 7 560 $14 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $420 . , 1916-17 90 . . $330 .. Instruction 1917-18 $16 023 • . 1916-17 14 968 . . $1 055 .. Operation 1917-18 $2 385 •• 1916-17 2 120 . . $265 • . Maintenance 1917-18 $1 025 .. 1916-17 1 060 . . $35 •• Auxiliary 1917-18 $767 .. 1916-17 x 58 .. $509 •• Fixed charges 1917-18 $125 . . 1916-17 284 . . $159 .. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1333 Onondaga county Town of Ouondaga Assessed valuation Balance 1916 $1 542 06 Balance 1917 586 34 „, $955 72 Tax 1917 14 964 91 Real tax $15 920 63 Tax 1918 $18 475 . . Real tax 15 920 63 Real increase $2 554 37 Continued Town of Otis co Dist. Teachers Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $103 755 . 00400 42 075 .00761 53 325 . 00700 59 425 .00588 38 325 . 00596 40 475 . 00596 27 800 . 00900 62 015 .ooroo 25 775 . 00906 28 300 .00884 22 900 .01090 35 340 . 00683 Total . Average rate. . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916.. Balance 1917. . Tax 1917- Real tax. , $545 510 $408 01 213 48 $194 53 3 616 36 $3 810 89 Tax 1918 $4 494 Real tax 3 810 Real increase. $683 11 Town of Skaneateles Dist. 1 2 4 6 7 8 9 12 13 14 Teachers $545 5io .00662 .0073 . 00823 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $157 400 . 00635 86 800 .00289 73 845 .00610 149 566 .00317 65 936 .00462 53 365 . 00669 90 700 . 00450 61 678 .00567 53 350 . 00450 57 800 . 00562 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 19 17-18 Debt service 1917-18 $950 . . 1916-17 1 168 . . Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $218 .. $795 .. 338 .. Total 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $457 ■• $22 490 . . 20 186 . . $2 304 . . Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $159 1916-17 7 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. $152 $5 319 4 708 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $495 591 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . fno 236 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $126 5199 53 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $146 $18 80 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $5 $6 389 5 769 $620 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $765 . 1916-17 31 . $734 . Instruction 1917-18 $8 700 . 1916-17 7 898 . $802 . 1334 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Onondaga county — Continued Town of Skaneateles Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 IS 1 $107062 .00233 16 1 70 950 .00550 17 1 162 225 .00339 18 1 52225 .00763 19 3 216925 .00834 Total 18 $1 459 827 .00518 Average rate ■ 0052 $1 535 095 . 00729 5 Balance 1916 $842 61 Balance 191 7 466 89 $375 72 Tax 1917 7 563 00 Real tax $7 938 72 Tax 1918 $11 200 00 Real tax 1917 7 938 72 Real increase $3 261 28 Town of Spafford Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $79 300 2 1 79 ISO 3 1 54 150 5 1 47 750 6 1 78 400 7 1 83 750 8 1 84 950 10 1 35 800 11 1 38 200 Total 9 $58i 450 Average rate Total 1917-18 $584 495 Balance 1916 $253 78 Balance 1917 61 16 $192 62 Tax 1917 3 126 90 Real tax $3 319 52 Tax 1918 $6 000 00 Real tax 1917 3 319 52 Real increase $2 680 48 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00499 . 00500 .00688 .00592 .00478 .00419 . 00400 .00878 .00781 .00537 .0058 .01026 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Operation 1917-18 $1 375 1916-17 1 149 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $226 $950 920 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $30 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. - . • $446 $145 107 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $2 360 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $50 141 $91 Total 1917-18 $12 585 1916-17 12 760 $175 Expenditures 1 916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $255 • 1916-17 13 • $242 . Instruction 1917-18 $6 no . 1916-17 3 803 • $2 307 • Operation 1917-18 $470 . I9r6-i7 445 • $25 • Maintenance 1917-18 $125 • 1916-17 326 . $201 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $125 • 1916-17 89 . $36 . Fixed charges 1917-18 $236 . 1916-17 47 • $189 . Debt service 1917-18 1916-17. . . . . $3 • Outlay 1917-18 $85 . 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $7 406 . 1916-17. . . . . 4 726 . $2 680 . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1335 Onondaga county — Concluded Town of Tully Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1016-17 1 1 $151 112 .00214 2 8 400412 .01152 3 1 123500 .00356 4 1 216 012 . 00300 5 1 77850 .00385 6 1 31650 .00758 7 1 18 800 . 01000 Total 14 $1 019 336 .00670 Average rate . 0060 Total 1917-18 $1019336 .00944 Balance 1916 $909 n Balance 1917 150 51 $758 60 Tax 1917 6 831 66 Real tax $7 590 26 Tax 1918 $9 626 . . Real tax 7 590 26 Real increase $2 035 74 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18. . . . $244 . . 1916-17 64 .. $180 . . Instruction 1917-18. . . . $1 658 . . 1916-17 7 357 •■ 5301 . . Operation 1917-18. . . . $1 785 .. 1916-17 1 371 • ■ $414 • • Maintenance 1917-18. . . . $580 . . 1916-17 973 ■ . $393 • . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . $260 . . 1916-17 186 . . Fixed charges $74 •■ 1917-18. . . . $200 . . 1916-17. . . . 104 ■ . $96 .. Debt service $1 200 . . 1916-17 1 193 . . $7 .. Outlay 1917-18. . . . $255 . . 29 . . $226 . . Total 1917-18. . . . . $12 182 . . II 277 . . $905 . . Ontario county Town of Bristol Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $96 831 2 1 52 671 3 1 49 350 4 1 45 736 5 I 73 267 6 I 90 300 7 I 84 310 8 18 424 9 I 42 832 10 1 47 000 11 1 52 757 12 1 49 389 Total 11 $702 867 Average rate Total 1917-18 $697 527 Balance 1916 $582 89 Balance 1917 359 58 $223 31 Tax 1917 4 228 56 Real tax $4 451 87 Tax rate 1916-17 .0004 .0070 .0060 .0050 .0056 .0049 .0061 .0159 0075 .0068 .0049 .006s .0060 .0064 .007 Expenditures budget Control 1917-18 1916-17 and [917-18 $121 . . 11 . . Instruction 1917-18 1916-17. . . . $110 . . $5 812 . . 4 872 .. Operation 1917-18 1916-17 $940 . . $507 . . 585 62 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17. . . . $78 62 $100 . . 613 55 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17. . . . $513 55 $50 . . 103 09 $53 09 1336 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Bristol Ontario county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1018 $4 882 68 Real tax 1917 4 451 87 Real increase $430 81 Expenditures 1016-17 and budget 191 7-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $4& 96 1916-17 86 57 537 61 Debt service 1917-18 , 1916-17 $2 71 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $18 40 Total 1917-18 $6 638 96 1916-17 6 292 94 $346 02 Town of Canadice Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $80215 .0050 2 1 58069 .0075 3 1 48616 .0100 4 1 34 989 • 0088 5 1 36981 .0100 6 1 29 296 . 0089 7 1 23 449 . 0142 8 r 29638 .0085 9 1 16863 .0160 Total 9 $358 116 . 0087 Average rate . 0099 Total 1917-18 $395 8oo .01 Balance 1916 $382 30 Balance 1917 189 08 $193 22 Tax 1917 3 125 25 Real tax $3 318 47 Tax 1918 $3 958 Real tax 1917 3 318 47 Real increase $639 53 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $165 • • 1916-17 19 •• $146 • • Instruction 1917-18 $4 420 • - 1916-17 3 546 • • $874 •■ Operation 191 7-18 $460 • • 1916-17 419 75 $40 25 Maintenance 1917-18 $60 • • 1916-17 692 56 $632 56 Auxiliary 1917-18 $90 ■ . 1916-17 82 21 $7 79 Fixed charges 1917-18 $188 . . 1916-17 70 55 $117 45 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $10 . . Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $5 383 •• 1916-17 4 840 07 $542 93 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1337 Town of Canandaigua Dist. Teachers 3- 4- 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 12 Contract io county — Continued Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $216 505 . 00300 101 215 .00441 276 309 .00189 48 576 .00789 491 272 .00878 in 452 .00449 US 605 ■00397 224 238 .00200 152 354 . 00308 57 316 .00567 178 841 .00252 Total . $1 477 72 1 048 61 $429 11 Tax 1917 8 964 86 Real tax $9 393 97 Tax 1918 $10 591 20 Real tax 9 393 97 Real increase $1 197 23 14 ■ 0045 Average rate . 00433 Total 1917-18 $2 008 847 .0052722 Balance 1916-17 Balance 1917-18 Expenditures for 1916-17 and budget 191 7- 18 Control 1917-18 $530 . . 1916-17 34 75 Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $147 18 Total 1917-18 $13 493 •■ 1916-17 12 369 81 $495 25 $7 020 7 107 62 $87 62 $1 533 1 554 52 $21 52 $620 575 96 $44 04 $1 550 . . 995 36 $554 64 $130 .. 78 36 $51 64 $1 460 1 520 42 $60 42 $650 502 82 $1 123 19 Town of East Bloomfield Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $112 431 2 1 181 440 3 1 67 234 4 1 65 424 5 1 106 936 6 1 158 828 7 1 121 253 8 8 642 209 9 1 153 077 Total 16 $1 608 832 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 659 340 Balance 1916 $2 612 66 Balance 1917 1 345 27 $1 267 39 Tax 1917 9 658 96 Real tax 1917 $10 926 3S Tax rate 1916-17 .00311 .00560 .00821 • 00573 . 00306 .00252 .00271 . 00899 .00350 Expenditures f and budget Control 1917-18 Instruction Operation 1917-18 1916-17 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 Auxiliary 1917-18 or 1916-17 1917-18 $400 . . 292 97 $107 03 $10 500 . . 9 III 32 $1 388 68 $2 025 . . 2 425 9i .006 . 00483 .008196 $400 91 $800 . . 303 03 $496 97 $275 .. 283 .. 1338 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of East Bloomfield Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $13 600 Real tax 1017 10 926 35 Real increase $2 673 6s Ontario county — Continued Town of Farmington Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 I236 772 2 1 220 884 3 1 150 424 4 1 157 596 5 1 121 668 6 1 159 810 7 1 85 699 8 1 117 99S 9 1 125 728 10 1 90 025 11 1 134 181 12 1 165 656 Total 12 $1 766 438 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 842 604 Balance 1916 $435 05 Balance 1917 257 94 $177 11 Tax 1917 4 627 68 Real tax $4 804 79 Tax 1918 $6 301 71 Real tax 4 804 79 Real increase $1 496 92 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $250 . . 1916-17. ■ . ■ 109 99 $140 01 Debt service 1917-18. . . . $2 150 . . 1916-17. . . . 2 403 29 $253 29 Outlay 1917-18. . . . $700 . . 1916-17. . . . 1 029 48 $329 48 Total 1917-18. . . . $17 100 . . 1916-17. . . . IS 958 99 $1 141 01 Tax rate Expenditures 1916-17 and 1916-17 budget 1917-18 .0020 Control .0023 1917-18. . . . $458 .. .002 1916-17. . . . .0028 0033 Instruction .0025 1917-18. . . . $5 862 .. .0043 1916-17. . . . 5 157 . . .0028 $705 .. .0028 Operation .0025 1917-18. . . . $859 .. .0025 1916-17. . . . 822 . . .00261 $37 .. Maintenance 1917-18. . . . .0027 $445 • • . 00342 1916-17. • . ■ 278 . . $167 . . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . $100 . . 1916-17- • • • 32 .. $68 .. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . $108 . . 1916-17. . . . 116 .. $8 . . Debt service 1917-18. . . . $7 .. 1916-17. . . . 17 -• $10 . . Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. • • • Total 1917-18 $7 839 •• 6 422 . . $1 417 •• THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1339 Ontario county — Continued Town of Geneva Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 2 r $490 844 . 0016 3 1 113 821 .0042 4 5 1 254 020 . 0038 6 1 175 447 ■ 0023 7 1 181 105 .0028 8 1 165 430 . 0041 Total 6 Si 380 667 . 0028 Average rate 003 r Total 1917-18 $1565907 .007746 Balance 1917 $621 06 Balance 1916 461 62 $159 44 Tax 1917 $3 835 84 159 44 Real tax $3 995 28 Tax 1918 $12 130 . . Real tax 191 7 3 995 28 Real increase $8 134 72 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $750 . . 1916-17 27 24 $722 76 Instruction 1917-18 $4 100 . . 1916-17 3 439 25 $660 75 Operation 1917-18 $675 • • 1916-17 705 30 $30 30 Maintenance 1917-18 $180 . . 1916-17 174 60 $5 40 Auxiliary 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 100 39 $99 61 Fixed charges 1917-18 $75 • ■ 1916-17 84 43 $9 43 Debt service 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 3 08 $46 92 Outlay 1917-18 $6 900 . . 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $12 930 . . 1916-17 4 534 29 $8 395 7i Town of Gorham Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 1 $182 930 3 4 540 880 4 1 138 910 5 1 145 no 6 1 165 ISO 7 ■•■ 8 1 179 810 9 1 31 836 io 1 150 150 ii 1 197 890 12 1 132 240 13 1 206 260 14 1 204 060 15 1 182 no 16. ...... . 1 12S 730 Total 17 $283 066 Average rate Total 1917-18 $2 323 325 Balance 1916 $1 306 03 Balance 1917 x 2 6o 55 $45 48 Tax 1917 7 846 22 Real tax $7 891 70 Tax rate 1916-17 .0023 .0055 .0027 Expenditures budget Control 1917-18. 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18, 1916-17. , , Operation 1917-18. . . , 1916-17, Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 Auxiliary 1917-18. . Fixed charges ; 1916-17 and 1917-18 $750 . . 66 10 .0021 .0026 • 0075 0032 .0016 .0027 .0018 .0018 .0021 .0030 $683 90 $8 250 . . 8 187 70 $62 30 $1 290 . . 992 94 $297 06 .0033 $1 876 . . 275 04 .0029 .00522 $1 600 96 $420 . . 233 36 $186 64 $100 .. 251 40 $151 40 *34o THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Ontario county Town of Gorham Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $12 131 .. Real tax 1917 7 891 70 Real increase $4 239 30 Continued Town of Hopewell Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 I121 430 2 1 113 178 3 1 188 137 4 1 108 380 5 1 124 294 6 1 125 673 7 1 75 700 8 1 162 914 9 1 205 680 10 1 102 193 11 Contract 164 107 12 1 96 200 Total 11 $1 587 886 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 614 923 Balance 1916 $4 58 1 73 Balance 1917 4i8 67 $4 163 06 Tax 1916-17 8 133 66 Real tax $12 296 72 Tax 1917-18 $12 .634 . . Real tax 12 296 72 Real increase $337 28 Expenditures budget ] Debt service 1917-18 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. . . . Total 1916-17, , Expenditures budget Control 1917-18 1916-17. . , , Instruction 1917-18 1916-17, Operation 1917-18, 1916-17. . Maintenance 1917-18 Auxiliary 1917-18. Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17- . . . Debt service I9I7-I8. . . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18 1916-17. . Total 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . 1916-17 and 917-18 $45 .. 3 92 $41 08 $3 500 . . $16 231 . . 10 010 46 $6 220 54 Tax rate 1916-17 .0028 .0038 .0133 1916-17 and 1917-18 $839 .. 112 . . .0081 .0032 .0046 . 0022 $727 .. $5 700 . . 4 644 . . .0098 003 .004 $1 056 . . $1 150 .. 830 .. $320 . . $900 . . 394 •• .0051 .0078 $506 . . $825 . . 1 180 . . $355 .. $150 .. 175 •• $25 .. $1 120 . . 1 046 . . #74 •• $3 550 .. 4 393 .. $843 •• . $14 234 . . 12 775 • . $1 459 . . Town of Manchester, Dist. 1 4 6 8 Unit T No. 1 :achers 1 1 1 11 1 1 1 1 Assessed valuation $97 530 98 276 96 000 607 076 63 750 137 000 108 690 177 426 *.I 385 748 Tax rate 1916-17 .0046 .0036 .0029 .0267 9 .0047 .0027 .003 13 .0045 Total 18 .01379 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $490 . 1916-17 36 . #454 • Instruction 1917-18 $11 435 ■ 1916-17 9 664 . $1 771 • THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 341 Ontario county Town of Manchester, Unit No. 1 Assessed valuation Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 751 068 Balance 1916 $649 11 Balance 1917 161 75 $487 36 Tax 1917 19 112 87 Real tax $19 600 23 Tax 1918 18 000 . . Real decrease $1 600 23 Town of Manchester, Unit No. 2 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 1 $222 700 3 1 125 613 5 2 266 356 7 12 750 955 12 1 SO 548 Total 17 $1 416 172 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 477 295 Balance 1916 $587 14 Balance 1917 287 87 $299 27 Tax 1917 $20 973 42 Real tax $21 272 69 Tax 1918 17 704 46 Real decrease $3 568 23 — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 .00658 .01027 Expenditures budget Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. , , , Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 1916-17 1916-17 and 1917-18 $2 835 ■ 2 521 . S3 14 • $920 . 296 . $624 . $535 • 100 . $435 - 5i50 . 193 • $43 • $2 897 . 8 577 . $5 680 . $1 175 . 730 . 5445 . . $20 437 . 22 117 . $1 680 . . Tax rate 1916-17 .0018 .0028 .0042 .0248 .0099 .0148 .0087 .0119 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $750 . 1916-17 185 . 1 Instruction 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Operation 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Total 1917-18 1916-17. . . 5565 .. $11 245 . . 9 888 . . $1 357 .. $2 850 . . 2 419 ■ ■ 5431 • ■ $1 100 . . 254 • . $846 . . 5350 .. 149 . . $201 . . $259 . . 191 . . $68 .. $3 007 . . 12 629 . . $9 622 . . $375 •• 555 .. $180 . , $19 936 . . 26 270 . . $6 334 • . 1342 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Naples Dist. Ontario county — Continued Teachers Con 13. 14. Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $S 16 979 .0164 S3 618 .0074 25 265 .0100 30 Sio .0048 49 331 .0052 39 008 .0089 33 96o .0090 39 836 .0102 13 308 .0183 22 206 .0119 31 807 .0079 30 514 .0114 24 389 .0113 31 127 .0164 Total . Average rate. . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. . Balance 191 7.. Tax 1917. $941 858 $953 032 $416 45 406 23 $ro 22 12 544 59 Real tax $12 554 81 Tax 1918 $14 29s 48 Real tax 1917 12 554 81 Real increase. $1 740 67 Town of Phelps Dist. Teachers 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. Con Total . .0106 .015 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $236 732 .0036 139 916 .004 158 or3 .0021 177 037 .0068 238 258 .0021 129 380 • 0035 202 856 .0022 129 616 .0035 179 876 .0022 141 164 .0032 99 777 .0028 37 196 164 719 .0024 54 573 .0137 126 765 .0032 92 300 .0092 104 586 .0038 112 408 .0038 $2 52s 172 .00362 Average rate . 0042 Total 1917-18 $2795615 .00447 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $75 .. 1916-17 100 S5 *25 55 Instruction 1917-18 $12 466 . . 1916-17 12 162 64 $303 36 Operation 1917-18 $2 700 . . 1916-17 2 302 20 $397 80 Maintenance 1917-18 $350 .. 1916-17 646 92 $296 92 Auxiliary 1917-18 $400 . . 1916-17 506 01 $106 01 Fixed charges 1917-18 $272 66 1916-17 202 58 $70 08 Debt service 1917-18 $1 855 • • 1916-17 1 912 02 $57 02 Outlay 1917-18 $143 34 1916-17 541 17 $397 83 Total 1917-18 $18 262 . . 1916-17. '. . . 18 374 09 $112 09 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $655 • 1916-17 25 . $630 . Instruction 1917-18 $10 120 . 1916-17 8 587 . $1 533 • Operation 1917-18 $1 685 . 1916-17 r 390 . $295 ■ Maintenance 1917-18 $865 . 1916-17 709 • $156 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $600 . 1916-17 475 • $135 • THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1343 Ontario county — Continued Town of Phelps Assessed valuation Balance 1916 $962 23 Balance 1917 511 67 $450 56 Tax 1917 9 164 57 Real tax $9 615 13 Tax 1918 $12 512 00 Real tax 9 615 13 Real increase $2 896 87 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 191 7-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $250 1916-17 216 $34 Debt service 1917-18 Ii5 1916-17 868 J8S3 Outlay 1917-18 $900 1916-17 32 $868 Total 1917-18 $IS 090 1916-17 12 302 $2 788 Town of Richmond Dist. Total . Average rate . . Total 191 7-i8. Balance 1916. . Balance 191 7. . Tax 1917- Teachers Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $26 530 .0124 75 846 .0052 94 515 .0042 148 219 .0032 38 450 .0080 50 424 .0055 70 545 .0055 81 772 .0050 241 977 .0199 33 700 .0081 )I 978 J340 94 87 93 |253 01 8 103 41 Real tax $8 356 42 Tax 1918 $9 095 59 Real tax 1917 8 356 42 Real increase 1739 17 .0094 Expenditures 19 16- 17 and budget 191 7-i 8 Control 1917-18 $330 . . 1916-17 43 85 $286 15 Instruction 1917-18 $7 561 . . 1916-17 6 921 51 $639 49 Operation 1917-18 $1 325 - . 1916-17 1 259 47 $65 33 Maintenance 1917-18 $325 . . 1916-17 543 26 $218 26 Auxiliary 1917-18 $110 . . 1916-17 123 83 Ii3 83 Fixed charges 1917-18 $90 36 1916-17 167 01 $76 65 Debt service 1917-18 $952 . . 1916-17 1 065 31 $113 3i Outlay 1917-18 $183 21 1916-17 588 55 J405 34 Total 1917-18 $10 876 57 1916-17 10 712 79 $163 78 1344 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Seneca Dist. Teachi 3 Ontario county Assessed ;rs valuation $360 700 159 050 310 529 155 920 152 074 160 700 335 002 177 640 486 890 208 627 — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 .0045 .0046 .0045 .0033 .0039 .0032 .0029 .0039 .0028 .002*2 Expenditures budget Control 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Instruction 1917-18. . . 1916-17- ■ • ■ Operation 1917-18. , . , 1916-17. . . . Maintenance 1916-17- . - Auxiliary Fixed charges 1917-18. . 1916-17 Debt services Outlay Total 1917-18 1916-17 1916-17 and 1917-18 1 $1 000 . . 2 61 83 4 5 6 1 1 1 $938 17 $8 962 . . 8 1 8 169 64 $792 36 1 2 $2 300 . . 13 1 1 042 20 Total 14 $2 507 132 .0035 $1 257 80 .OO36 .OOS63 $1 100 . . Total 1917-18 .... . . . $2 835 147 . 633 34 $2 666 20 $466 66 2 547 62 $700 . . $118 58 8 866 37 376 90 $8 747 79 $300 . . Tax 191 8 . . . $15 961 . . 164 57 8 747 79 $135 42 $7 213 21 $70 . . 19 60 $50 40 $1 650 .. 35 49 $1 614 51 $16 082 . . 10 503 57 $5 578 43 Town of South Bristol Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $69 520 2 1 37 575 3 1 54 575 4 1 49 623 5 1 12 000 6 1 26 900 7 1 30 417 8 1 23 596 9 1 16 820 10 1 31 645 11 Contract 16 875 Total 10 $369 546 Average rate Total 1917-18 - $352 927 Balance I9r6 $410 42 Balance 1917 240 53 $169 89 Tax 1917 3 144 04 Real tax $3 313 93 Tax rate 1916-17 .0054 .0100 .0065 .0091 .0141 .0100 .0082 .0125 .0165 .0103 Expenditures i< budget 19: Control 1917-18 1916-17 Instruction 1916-17 Operation Maintenance 1916-17 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 U6-17 and [7-18 $251 • - 5 81 $245 19 $4 912 . . 4 158 77 $753 23 $700 . . 511 98 .0085 .0103 .01135 $188 02 $61 .. 450 20 $395 20 $75 .. 101 09 $26 00 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1345 Town of South Bristol Ontario county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $4. 000 . . Real tax 1917 3 313 93 Real increase $686 07 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $125 • • 1915-17 67 95 SS7 05 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $165 25 Supplies 1917-18 $74 ■ ■ 1916-17 Outlay 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $6 198 . . 1916-17 5 467 05 $730 95 Town of Victor Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 11 Si 175 514 2 1 176 404 3 1 99 099 4 1 208 922 5 1 56 344 6 I 157 035 7 1 138 516 8 1 125 990 9 2 306 303 10 1 103 976 11 1 244 023 Total 22 $2 792 126 Average rate Total 1917-18 $2 868 808 Balance 1917 $1 752 43 Balance 1916 485 42 $1 267 01 Tax 1916-17 14 159 86 Real tax $12 892 85 Tax 1917-18 $17 879 . . Real tax 1916-17 12 892 85 Real increase $4 986 15 Tax rate 1916-17 .00736 . 00340 . 00404 . 00240 .00479 .00286 . 00397 .00357 . 004S6 .00481 .00123 . 00393 .0062 Expenditures 1916— 17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $285 1916-17 35 $250 Instruction 1917-18 $5 084 1916-17 4 682 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $700 633 $67 $210 83 $127 51 220 108 $100 54 $500 102 $8 099 5 729 $2 370 43 1346 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Ontario county Town of West Bloomfield Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation i i $83 511 2 1 94 270 3 1 139 286 4 1 62 312 5 1 83 496 6 5 256 535 7 112 356 8 179 646 Total 10 $1 on 412 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 053 088 Balance 191 $600 59 Balance 1917 567 • $32 79 Tax 1917 4 365 67 Real tax $4 398 46 Taxi 1918 $6 348 Rea tax 4 398 46 Real increase $1 949 54 — Concluded rax rate 1916-17 .00414 .00405 . 00606 .00362 .00461 .00292 Expenditure for 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 . , $285 . . 1916-17 35 26 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 $249 74 $5 084 . . 4 682 14 .0043 Operation 1917-18 $401 86 .00424 .00627 $700 . . 632 71 Maintenance 1917-18 Auxiliary 1916-17 $67 29 $210 .. 82 46 $127 54 $1 220 . . 107 40 Fixed charges 1917-18 $1 112 60 $100 . . 53 60 Debt service 1917-18 $46 40 $33 50 Outlay 1917-18 $500 . . 101 58 Total 1917-18 $398 42 $8 099 ■ . 5 728 65 $2 370 35 Orange county Town of Blooming Grove Assessed Dist. Teachers v luation 1 2 $213 714 2 1 74 861 4 1 187 297 5 6 371 412 6 1 137 038 7 1 86 695 8 1 109 582 9 1 76 076 10 1 35 629 ir 1 65 861 12 1 104 123 17 $1 453 287 Average rate Total 1917-18 .478539 Balance 1916 $1 138 35 Balance 1917 117 87 $1 020 48 Tax 1917 7 547 85 Real tax $8 568 33 Tax rate 1916-17 .0044 .0040 .0033 .0069 .0039 .0052 .0050 .0043 .0166 .0043 .0040 Expenditures budget : Control 1916-17, , Instruction Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17, , Maintenance 1917-18. . . . Auxiliary 1916-17 and C917-18 $750 .. 90 53 $659 47 $10 165 . . 9 480 14 $684 86 $1 531 54 1 146 32 .0052 .0056 .00753 $385 22 $310 .. 535 25 $225 25 $200 . . 85 25 Sua is. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1347 Town of Blooming Grove Orange county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1018 $n I30 Real tax 1917 8 568 33 Real increase $2 561 67 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Fixed charges 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 137 53 S87 S3, Debt services 1917-18 $242 . . 1916-17 313 30 $7i 30 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $13 248 54 1916-17 11 788 32 Si 460 22 Town of Chester Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 11 #681 680 2 1 107 313 3 I 63 959 4 I 89 169 Total 14 $942 119 Average rate Total 1917-18 S967 671 Balance 1916 $1 192 64 Balance 1917 354 84 $837 80 Tax 1917 10239 50 Real tax $11 077 30 Tax 1918 $14 300 . . Real tax 1917 11 077 30 Real increase S3 222 70 Tax rate 1916-17 .0129 .0048 .0070 .0051 .0108 .0075 .014 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 S600 . . 1916-17 252 44 S347 56 Instruction 1917-18 $9 865 . . 1916-17 8 843 43 Si 021 57 Operation 1917-18 1 960 50 1916-17 1 611 99 ,, . S348 5i Maintenance 1917-18 S170 . . 1916-17 490 49 S320 49 Auxiliary 1917-18 S227 . . 1916-17 244 25 Sl7 25 Fixed charges 1917-18 S65 . . 1916-17 313 7i S248 7 T Debt service 1917-18 S2 137 50 1916-17 2 614 50 S477 . . Outlay 1917-18 S975 . . 1916-17 197 19 $777 81 Total 1917-18 $16 000 . . 1916-17 1 458 . . Si 432 . . 1348 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Cornwall Dist. Total . . . Average rate. Total 1917-18. Balance 19 16. Balance 1917. Tax 1917- Real tax . Tax 1918 Real tax 191 7. Real increase. Orange county — Continued Teachers Assessed valuation $285 80s 227 510 236 529 $749 844 $786 735 $108 8 89 05 $100 3 661 84 23 $3 762 07 $5 000 3 762 07 $1 237 93 Tax rate 1916-17 .0076 .0044 .0021 .0049 .0047 . 00635 Expenditures budget : Control 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . . 1916-17 and [917-18 $471 . . 14 81 Instruction 1917-18. , 1916-17. . . . $456 19 $2 625 . . 2 232 12 Operation 1917-18 . . . 1916-17. . . . $392 88 $660 . . 513 43 Maintenance 1917-18. . , 1916-17. . . . $146 57 $100 . . 28 66 Auxiliary 1917-18, , 1916-17. . , . $71 34 $215 .. 89 34 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . $125 66 $36 .. 106 46 $70 46 $1 256 . . 1 299 50 Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. • • ■ $43 50 $197 • ■ Total 1917-18 1916-17, , $5 560 . . 4 284 32 $1 275 68 Town of Crawford Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $63 000 2 1 69 900 3 4 218 147 4 I 65 810 5 1 90 307 6 I 37 600 7 1 30 855 8 1 90 301 9 1 49 200 10 1 24 425 11 . . 30 000 Total 13 $769 545 Average rate Total 191 7-18 $802 000 Balance 1916 $685 56 Balance 1917 276 48 $409 08 Tax 1917 5 946 28 Real tax $6 355 36 Tax rate 1916-17 .0060 .0069 .0122 .0087 .0042 .0067 .0064 .0047 .0063 .0123 .0074 .010 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $650 . . 1916-17 1 03 $648 97 Instruction 1917-18 $8 300 . . 1916-17 7 338 45 $961 '55 Operation 1917-18 $400 . . 1916-17 833 20 $433 20 Maintenance 1917-18 $350 . . 1916-17 2 50 91 $99 09 Auxiliary 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 184 30 $84 30 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1349 Town of Crawford Orange county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1018 $8 000 . . Real tax 1917 6 35s 36 Real increase $1 644 64 Expenditures 19 16- 17 and budget 1017-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 5i40 73 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Jo 75 Outlay 1917-18 5750 . . 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $10 sso . . 1916-17 8 749 37 $1 800 63 Town of Deerpark Dist. 3 Total . Average rate . . Total 1917-18. Balance 1917- Balance 19 16. Tax 191 7 . Real tax. Teachers Assessed valuation Si33 097 54 743 27 978 53 043 119 740 57 555 102 256 173 452 229 216 Tax 1918 $10 165 Real tax 191 7 Real increase. S9Si c 80 $924 556 Si 624 794 99 92 5830 07 $7 654 23 830 07 $6 824 16 $10 165 6 824 16 $3 340 84 Tax rate 1916-17 .0052 0087 0270 0080 0038 0040 0061 0040 0140 0080 0090 010994 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 1916-17 $21 40 Instruction 1917-18 $7 740 .. 1916-17 5 933 51 Si 806 49 Operation 1917-18 $715 • • 1916-17 705 31 $9 69 Maintenance 1917-18 S800 . . 1916-17 1 150 82 S350 82 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 S208 75 S208 75 Incidentals and supplies 1917-18 S910 . . 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 S112 50 Debt services 1917-18 1916-17 $421 20 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 S83 67 Total 1917-18 Sio 165 . . 1916-17 8 637 16 Ji 527 84 1350 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Orange county Town of Greenville Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation i i $32 160 2 i 35 4io 3 i 52 5H 4 i 42 596 5 1 50 512 6 1 20 150 7 1 22 158 Total 7 $255 497 Average rate Total 1917-18 $225 834 Balance 1917 $397 75 Balance 1916 375 87 $21 88 Tax 1917 $2 184 82 21 88 Real tax $2 162 94 Tax 1918 $2 765 Real tax 1917 2 162 94 Real increase $602 06 — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 .0100 .0090 .0076 .0060 .0084 .0099 .0121 Expenditures budget ] Control 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . Instruction 1916-17 Operation 1917-18, 1916-17, Maintenance 1917-18 Auxiliary 1917-18. Fixed charges 1917-18 Incidentals 1917-18, 1916-17. . . Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17- . . Total 1917-18 1916-17. ■ . 1916-17 and :9i7-i8 $140 . . 4 50 $I3S 50 $2 050 . . 2 861 46 $811 46 $250 . . .0090 .012243 $2 S3 $150 .. 175 07 $25 07 $125 •• 58 $0 $66 SO $24 • . $50 • • $2 765 ■ ■ 3 376 06 $611 06 Town of Goshin Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $152 009 2 1 73 600 3 2 46 500 4 1 98 075 5 1 146 460 6! 1 78 875 7 1 175 751 9 1 91 525 Total 9 $862 795 Average rate Total 1917-18 $942 568 Balance 1916 $522 59 Balance 1917 382 38 $140 21 Tax 1917 3 850 48 Real tax $3 990 69 Tax rate Expenditures 1916-17 and 1917-18 budget E917-18 .0033 Control .0051 1917-18. . . . $420 . . .0181 1016-17. . . . 50 90 .0021 $369 10 .0057 Instruction .0026 1917-18. . . . $4 8S0 .. .0036 1916-17. . . . 4 239 64 .0045 $610 36 Operation .0057 1917-18. . . . $380 . . .0053 1916-17. . . . 396 74 $16 74 Maintenance $IS0 . . 309 73 $IS9 73 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1351 Town of Goshen Orange county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 191 S $4 999 22 Real tax 191 7 3 990 69 Real increase $1 008 S3 Town of Hamptonburgk Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $128 788 2 1 189 167 3 1 107 237 4 2 253 656 5 1 75 418 6 1 109 820 Total $864 086 Average rate Total 1917-18 $892 072 Balance 1916 $342 94 Balance 1917 331 38 $11 56 Tax 1917 3 948 08 Real tax S3 9S9 64 Tax 1918 $5 620 06 Real tax 1917 3 959 64 Real increase $1 660 42 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Auxiliary 1917-18 S90 . . 1916-17 107 . . I17 •• Fixed charges 1917-18 $40 . . 1916-17 62 22 $22 22 Incidentals 1917-18 $115 53 1916-17 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $1 09 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $10 76 Total 1917-18 $6 045 53 1916-17 5 178 08 $867 45 Tax rate Expenditures 1916-17 and 1916-17 budget 917-18 .0044 Control .0025 $325 .. • 0075 1916-17. . . . 25 10 .0046 $299 90 .0024 Instruction $4 431 • . .0046 3 784 79 .0046 $646 21 .0063 Operation 1917-18. . , $1 021 . . 491 07 #529 92 Maintenance $235 .. 387 07 ^143 07 Auxiliary $155 •• 84 .. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $200 15 $185 $6 387 4 901 53 $1 485 47 1352 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Orange county Town of Highlands Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation i i $H7 505 3 1 69 915 Total 2 $187 420 Average rate Total 1917-18 $225 901 Balance 1916 $56 32 Balance 191 7 • $56 32 Tax 1917 1 330 56 Real tax $1 386 88 Tax 1918 $1 475 • • Real tax 191 7 1 386 88 Real increase $88 12 ■ — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 .0036 .0130 .0071 Expenditures budget : Control 1917-18 1916-17. Instruction 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Operation 1917-18 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18, 1916-17 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. Debt service 1917-18 1916-17. Outlay 1917-18, 1916-17. Total 1917-18 1916-17 1916-17 and [917-18 $180 . . 4 •• $176 . . $1 070 . . 1 032 99 .0083 .0066 $37 or $100 . . 86 50 $13 SO $21 . . $25 • • $39 80 $469 - . $104 • ■ $1 375 1 757 29 $382 29 Town of Minisink Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 1 3 2 4 2 5 1 6 1 7 8 _3 Total n Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1917 Balance 1916 Tax 1917 Real tax Assessed valuation $43 ii7 50 872 193 488 144 260 97 no 76 185 169 795 Tax rate 1916-17 .0086 .0078 .0093 .0125 .0052 .0060 .0154 $774 827 .0103 $795 063 .012577 $1 373 98 1 083 13 $290 85 $7 950 85 290 85 $7 660 . . Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 1916-17. t ... $5 • ■ Instruction 1917-18 $6 500 . . 1916-17 5 744 20 $755 80 Operation 1917-18 $1 100 . . 1916-17 893 63 $206 37 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $540 54 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 $150 25 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1353 Orange county — Continued Town of Minisink Assessed Dist. valuation Tax 1018 $ I0 000 . . Real tax 1917 7 660 . . Real increase $2 340 . . Town of Monroe Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 1 $154 112 3 1 136 415 4 6 970 000 5 1 140 354 Total 9 $1 400 911 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 805 522 Balance 1916 $20 389 58 Balance 1917 3 817 85 I16 571 73 Tax 1917 11 469 22 $28 040 95 ! Tax 1918 $12 994 59 Real decrease Si 5 046 36 Tax rate 1916-17 .0030 .0040 .0103 .0037 .0082 0053 .00831 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Contingencies with libraries 1917-18 $700 . . 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $25 25 Debt service 1917-18 $1 700 . . 1916-17 1 760 50 $60 50 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $10 000 . . 1916-17 9 119 37 $880 63 * Spent over $16 000 for new building a Includes contingencies Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 S410 . . 1916-17 390 81 $ig 19 Instruction 1917-18 $5 550 . . 1916-17 6 465 99 $915 99 Operation 1917-18 $1 460 . . 1916-17 1 284 61 5i75 39 Maintenance 1917-18 Si 150 . . 1916-17 165 76 S984 24 Auxiliary 1917-18 S50 . . 1916-17 95 34 S45 34 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $276 96 S276 96 Incidentals & supplies 1917-18 S440 . . 1916-17 Debt service 1917-18 $3 390 . . 1916-17 3 457 50 S67 50 a Outlay 1917-18 S2 550 . . 1916-17 17 778 80 S15 228 80 Total 1917-18 S15 000 . . 1916-17 29 915 77 $14 91S 77 1354 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Orange county — Continued Town of Montgomery Dist. i Teachers 1 1 1 1 4 7 1 1 1 1 1 Assessed valuation $194 190 199 861 80 481 108 612 595 876 327 863 SI 030 61 050 48 793 100 000 53 400 Tax rate 1916-17 .0054 2 .0024 3 4 6 7 8 .0059 .0032 .0069 ■ 0145 .0147 9 .0069 .0073 II .0036 .0048 Total 20 $1 821 156 .0073 .0069 $2 628 67 1 620 09 $1 008 58 13 43i 24 $14 439 82 Tax 1918 $20 200 00 14 439 82 $5 760 18 Expenditures budget Control 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . 1916-17 and 917-18 $875 •• 222 . . Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $653 •• 5i4 515 • • 10 274 . . Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $4 241 . . $2 696 . . 2 123 . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $573 •• $893 •• Auxiliary 1916-17. . . . $300 . . 433 •• Fixed charges 1916-17. . . . $133 •• $130 .. 415 •• Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $285 ■ • $3 922 . . 2 965 •• Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $957 •- $868 .. Total 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. ■ . . $22 438 .. 18 193 . . $4 245 .. Town of Mount Hope Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $121 792 2 7 809 169 3 4 .'.'.. ' .' ." .' .' .' .' '.'..'. '. '. '. '. '. 1 143 985 S 1 289 940 Total 10 $1 364 886 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 425 677 Balance 1916 $3 069 7 r Balance 1917 1 140 °7 $1 926 64 Tax 1917 11 079 94 Real tax $13 009 13 Tax rate 1916-17 .0031 .0116 .0046 .0022 .0054 .01 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $575 • • 1916-17 151 85 $423 15 Instruction 1917-18 $7 650 . . 1916-17 6 550 64 $1 099 36 Operation 1917-18 $1 949 78 1916-17 1 493 63 $456 15 Maintenance 1917-18 $1 242 . . 1916-17 706 91 $535 09 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1355 Orange county — Continued Town of Mount Hope Assessed valuation Tax 1018 $14 256 78 Real tax 1917 13 009 13 Real increase $1 247 6s Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Auxiliary 1917-18 $400 . . 1916-17 299 64 Sioo 36 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 S381 35 &381 35 Debt service 1917-18 $3 615 .. 1916-17 3 711 • - $96 . . Outlay 1917-18 916-17 Si 123 56 Total 1917-18 Sis 431 78 1916-17 14 418 58 $1 013 20 Town of Neu'burgh Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 3 Si 056 320 2 1 64 700 3 1 162 260 4 1 116 775 5 6 572 272 6 1 57 9S0 7 1 82 855 8 1 181 080 9 2 209 975 10 1 153 716 11 .'.... 1 180 621 Total 19 $2 838 5S4 Average rate Total 1917-18 $2 712 897 Balance 1916 Si 246 46 Balance 1917 785 46 S461 . . Tax 1917 IS 570 38 Real tax $16 031 38 Tax 1918 $19 000 . . Real tax 1917 16 031 38 Real increase $2 968 62 .0060 .007 Tax rate Expenditures 1916-17 and 1916-17 budget : [917-18 .0040 Control .0053 S8so . . .0024 1916-17. . . . 186 67 .0039 .0075 S663 33 .0064 Instruction .0120 1917-18. . . . . S16 675 • • .0044 1916-17. . . . 11 518 31 .0064 .0075 $5 156 69 .0067 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $2 663 79 Si 601 22 S500 416 72 S83 28 S284 01 Sa 03s . . S975 •• S19 000 18 70s 72 S294 28 1356 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Orange county — Continued Town of New Windsor Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1016-17 1 5 $565 992 0091 2 1 74 744 • 0060 3 1 195 357 0057 4 1 85 793 .0064 5 I 1 26 978 . 0043 6 I 125 64s .0040 7 1 123 055 .0033 8 I 77 080 .0102 Total 12 $1374644 0069 Average rate . 0061 Total 1917-18 Si 413 223 .00956 Balance 1916 $2 210 08 Balance 1917 352 98 $1 857 10 Tax 1917 9 SOi 80 Real tax $11 358 90 Tax 1918 $13 500 . . Real tax 1917 11 358 90 Real increase $2 141 10 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 #840 .. 1916-17 325 32 $514 68 Instruction 1917-18 $7 896 . . 1916-17 6 994 n #90 1 89 Operation 1917-18 $1 855 . . 1916-17 1 370 S3 5484 47 Maintenance 1917-18 $919 . . 1916-17 496 45 #422 ss Auxiliary 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 303 70 $3 70 Fixed charges 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 735 34 $635 34 Debt service 1917-18 $2 570 . . 1916-17 1 960 56 $609 44 Outlay 1917-18 #200 . . 1916-17 8 007 10 $7 807 10 Total 1917-18 $14 680 . . 1916-17 20 193 11 $5 513 II Town of Tuxedo Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 2 $118 725 3 2 35 000 4 1 160 500 7 2 184 050 Total 7 $498 275 Average rate Total 1917-18 $474 283 Balance 1917 $704 71 Balance 1916 163 35 S541 36 Tax 1917 $4 966 35 54i 36 Real tax $4 424 99 Tax rate 1916-17 .0168 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-18 Control 0063 1916-17. . . Instruction 1917-18. . . Ill 25 1916-17. . . Operation $4 913 45 .01445 1916-17. . . Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. • . Auxiliary Si 078 32 $44 84 1916-17. . . S311 30 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1357 Town of Tuxedo Orange county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $7 327 Real tax 191 7 4 424 99 Real increase $2 902 68 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Fixed charges 1017-1 1916-17 $266 50 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $29 69 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 1916-17 $6 655 35 Town of Wallkill Dist. Teachers 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 1 10 1 11 1 12 1 13 1 14 1 15 1 16 1 17 1 18 1 19 2 Total 19 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 $2 034 03 Balance 191 7 1 473 68 $560 35 Tax 1917 9 014 62 Real tax $9 574 97 Tax 1918 $12 487 57 Real tax 191 7 9 574 97 Real increase $2 912 60 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $56 527 .0048 84 100 .0040 123 158 .0028 41 363 .0024 152 644 .0041 177 33i 0030 37 5i8 • 0057 52 159 .0082 144 493 .0035 231 259 .0021 105 226 .0119 56 881 .0070 34 500 .0113 52 953 .0052 78 591 .0051 33 575 .0075 168 704 .0047 100 095 .0140 Si 731 077 .0052 Si 784 572 .007 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $1 us • . 1916-17 13 IS $1 101 85 Instruction 1917-18 $10 660 . . 1916-17 8 729 14 $1 930 86 Operation 1917-18 $1 43s . . 1916-17 1 146 46 S288 54 Maintenance 1917-18 #650 . . 1916-17 1 631 65 S981 65 Auxiliary 1917-18 $345 . . 1916-17 263 65 t,. , , $Sl 35 Jhixed charges 1917-18 $203 57 1916-17 56 25 #147 32 Debt service 1917-18 $400 . . 1916-17 715 15 $315 15 Outlay 1917-18 #315 .. 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $15 123 78 1916-17 12 555 45 $2 568 12 1358 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Orange county Town of Warwick Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation i 2 $114 448 2 1 108 680 3 1 69 895 4 1 131 840 5 2 80 648 6 2 108 093 7 1 44 538 8 1 90 388 9 1 24 225 13 1 57 494 14 1 69 830 15 8 388 027 17 1 101 610 18 1 95 700 19 2 462 435 Total 26 Si 947 851 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 960 200 Balance 1916 $2 533 13 Balance 1917 2 144 56 $388 57 Tax 1917 14 96° 36 Real tax $15 348 93 Tax 1918 $19 602 99 Real tax 1917 15 348 93 Real increase $4 254 06 ■ — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 .0158 .0055 .0056 Expenditures budget ] Control 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. • • . Operation 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . . Maintenance 1916-17. . . . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. ■ . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . Debt service 1917-18. . . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. . ■ . Total 1917-18. 1916-17. . 1916-17 and 917-18 $690 . . 274 25 .0233 .0090 .0060 .0071 $415 75 $17 030 . . 15 367 15 .0050 .0050 .0101 .0040 .0048 .0047 $r 662 85 $2 800 . . 2 274 09 $525 91 .0077 $750 .. 715 10 .0078 .01 $34 90 $1 050 . . 619 28 $430 72 $50 99 216 85 $165 86 $175 •- 1 419 80 $1 244 80 $557 •- 363 05 $193 95 . $23 102 99 21 249 57 $1 853 42 Town of Wawayanda Dist. Teachers 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 Assessed valuation $69 989 138 232 109 133 59 325 98 500 95 920 71 832 35 833 32 224 Tax rate 1916-17 .00883 3 4 5 6 7 8 .00527 .00505 .01385 .00469 .00642 9 .00810 Total $730 888 .00648 Total 1917-18 $768 310 .00671 $1 298 20 719 63 Balance 1916 S578 57 $4 737 67 578 57 $4 159 10 Expenditures 1916— 17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $399 -. 1916-17 4 . . $395 • ■ Instruction 1917-18 $4 000 . . 1916-17 4 009 81 $9 81 Operation 1917-18 $385 • • 1916-17 395 97 $10 97 Maintenance 1917-18 $500 . . 1916-17 585 24 $85 24 Auxiliary 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 112 50 $37 50 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1359 Town of Wawayanda Orange county — Concludeed Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $6 546 85 Real tax 1917 4 159 iu Real increase $2 387 75 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-1S Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $28 SO Contingencies 1917-18 $677 87 1916-17 Debt service I9i7-i8 $435 .. 1916-17 435 90 $.90 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $6 546 87 1916-17 5 57i 92 $974 95 Town of Woodbury Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $176 198 2 4 399 1 25 3 5 I 066 081 4 1 23 500 Total 11 $1 664 904 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 354 875 Balance 1916 $2 812 00 Balance 1917 2 061 68 $750 32 Tax 1917 9 845 57 Real tax $10 595 89 Tax 1918 $11 840 69 Real tax 1917 10 595 89 Real increase $1 244 80 Tax rate 1916-17 .0034 .0112 .0042 .0108 .0050 .0074 .00874 Expenditures I9i6-I7and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $620 . . 1916-17 221 25 $398 75 Instruction 1917-18 $& 125 . . 1916-17 7 S23 13 $601 87 Operation 1917-18 $1 985 .. 1916-17 1 957 67 $27 33 Maintenance 1917-18 $400 . . 1916-17 744 73 $344 73 Auxiliary 1917-18 $155 .. 1916-17 143 98 $11 02 Fixed charges 1917-18 $156 40 1916-17 129 73 $26 67 Debt service 1917-18 $1 599 29 1916-17 1 475 00 $124 29 Total 1917-18 $13 040 69 1916-17 12 195 49 $845 20 1360 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Orleans county Town of A Ibion Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 2 1 $256 642 .00162 3 1 193 770 .00167 4 Contract 177 918 .00299 5 1 148962 .00179 6 1 319047 .00155 7 1 116 006 00345 8 1 131 735 .00311 9 1 102 412 .00401 10 1 97 262 .00418 Total 8 $1543781 .00237 Total 1917-18 Si 606 533 .00336 Average rate .0027 Balance 1916 $823 02 Balance 1917 598 75 $224 27 Tax 1917 3 668 62 Real tax $3 892 89 Tax 1918 ■ $5 400 . . Real tax 1917 3 892 89 Real increase $1 507 11 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 1916-17 $0 25 Instruction 1917-18 $4 470 . . 1916-17 3 872 43 $597 57 Operation 1917-18 $1 664 . . 1916-17 492 10 $1 171 90 Maintenance 1917-18 $450 . . 1916-17 537 26 $87 26 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 $194 15 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $59 10 Outl<" y 1917-18 1916-17 $41 39 Debt 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $6 584 -• 1916-17 5 196 68 $r 387 32 Town of Barre Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $84 149 .00571 2 1 61 000 .00576 3 Contract 101 122 .00149 5 1 131 139 .00388 6 1 82117 . 00405 8 1 92 132 .00480 9 1 177 103 00307 10 1 123 707 .00299 11 1 141 652 .00260 12 1 86463 .00519 13 2 240903 .00458 14 1 92 375 .00462 15 1 88504 .00484 Total 13 $1 502 366 .00391 Average rate 0040 Total 1917-18 $1 525 976 .004635 Balance 1916 $1 234 17 Balance 1917 556 33 $677 84 Tax 1917 5 874 67 Real tax $6 552 51 Expenditures I9i6-I7and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $360 . . 1916-17 1 75 $358 25 Instruction 1917-18 $6 500 . . 1916-17 6 132 11 $367 89 Operation 1917-18 $950 . . 1916-17 750 82 $199 18 Maintenance 1917-18 $450 .. 1916-17 1 092 82 $642 82 Auxiliary 1917-18 $120 . . 1916-17 200 . . $80 . . Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $7 502 . . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 36l Town oj Barre Orleans county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $7 073 • • Real tax 1917 6 552 51 Real increase $520 49 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $350 . . 1916-17 131 60 J218 40 Total 1917-18 $8 730 .. 1916-17 8 384 12 $345 88 Town of Carlton Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $1 159 819 2 1 178 839 4 1 113 255 5 1 120 186 6 1 319 383 7 1 124 357 10 1 80 230 ii 1 165 826 12 1 101 763 13 1 125 570 14 1 258 007 15 5 708 326 16 1 159 423 Total 17 $2 614 984 Average rate Total 1917-18 $2 463 603 Balance 1916 $531 40 Balance 1917 4 73 S526 67 Tax 1917 2 784 88 Real tax $4. 311 55 Tax 1918 $5 500 . . Real tax 1917 4 311 55 Real increase $1 188 45 .00316 .0052 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $240 . . 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 $4 176 . . 1916-17 4 271 25 $95 25 Operation 1917-18 $450 82 1916-17 502 96 $52 14 Maintenance 1917-18 $400 . . 1916-17 511 60 $111 60 Auxiliary 1917-18 $110 . . 1916-17 5i 59 558 41 Fixed charges 1917-18 $81 76 1916-17 62 98 $18 78 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $1 057 90 1916-17 38 70 $37 70 Supplies and contingencies 1917-18 $1 057 90 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $6 si6 48 J916-17 5 439 08 $1 077 40 1362 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Orleans county — Continued Town of Clarendon Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1 916-17 2 2 $284890 .00359 / 1 184 287 .00217 6*. 1 134807 .00296 I0 . . 1 122 141 .00286 n' \ 1 161 209 .00315 12'. 1 107 571 .00350 13 1 132430 .00205 I4 1 108879 .00325 Total 9 $1 236214 .00306 Average rate 00294 Total 1917-18 $1124630 .0048905 Balance 1916 $S3i 40 Balance 1917 4 73 $526 67 Tax 1917 3 784 88 Real tax $4 3H 55 Tax 1918 $5 500 .. Real tax 1917 4 3" S5 Real increase $1 188 45 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $240 . . 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 $4 176 . . 1916-17 4 2 7i 25 $95 25 Operation 1917-18 $450 92 1916-17 502 96 $52 14 Maintenance 1917-18 $400 . . 1916-17 511 60 $111 60 Auxiliary 1917-18 $110 . . 1916-17 5i 59 $58 41 Fixed charges 1917-18 $81 76 1916-17 62 98 $18 78 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $38 70 Supplies and contingencies 1917-18 $1 057 90 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $6 16 48 1916-17 5 439 08 $1 077 40 Town of Gaines Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $84 149 . 00445 2 1 84 000 . 00446 3 1 12754S .00250 4 1 156665 .00525 5 1 127 545 .00551 6 1 163955 .00280 7 2 232 891 .00410 8 1 262 572 .00152 9 1 122 562 .00326 10 1 112 200 .00276 11...!.. 1 219585 .00400 12 1 146079 .00213 Total 13 $1 839 748 . 00343 Average rate . 0036 Total 1917-18 $1 921 953 .00371 Balance 1916 $733 73 Balance 1917 303 54 $430 19 Tax 1917 6 314 08 Real tax $6 744 27 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 1916-17 $2 75 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 $7 530 .. 6 408 68 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 $1 121 32 $1 005 . . 897 10 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $897 10 $211 .. 988 80 Auxiliary 1917-18 $777 80 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $96 28 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1363 Town of Gaines Orleans county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $7 131 .. Real tax 1917 6 744 27 Real increase $386 73 Town of Kendall Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 3 1 $170 561 .00204 4 1 140 260 .00315 5 1 82 540 .00484 6 1 91482 .00545 7 8 47097 .01265 8 2 360 046 .00501 10 1 116 308 .00450 ir 1 80647 .00420 12 1 139 930 .00298 Total 17 $1235871 .00872 A verage rate 00498 Total 1917-18 $1917543 .007616 Balance 1916 $401 73 Balance 1917 $401 73 Tax 1917 ro 780 74 Real tax $11 182 47 Tax 1918 $13 848 30 Real tax 1917 11 182 47 Real increase $2 665 83 Town of Murray Dist. Teachers 2 1 3 1 4 Contract 5 1 6 3 8 1 10 1 " ••• 3 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $73 171 . 00341 97 080 •00539 170 105 .00266 95 432 00376 222 254 .01251 175 847 .00299 71 618 . 00487 197 030 .01119 118 203 . 00320 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Debt 1917-18. 1916-17. Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $2 25 $8 746 8 395 86 $350 14 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $275 .. 1916-17 69 62 $205 38 Instruction 1917-18 $10 000 . . 1916-17 9 991 25 Operation 1917-18 $1 700 . . 1916-17 1 905 59 ,t • $2 °S 59 Maintenance 1917-18 $500 .. 1916-17 646 47 . ... $146 47 Auxiliary 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 so 89 „. , , $249 11 .bixed charges 1917-18 $200 .. 1916-17 156 92 „ ,. . $43 08 Contingencies 1917-18 $1 073 30 1916-17 Debt service 1917-18 $i 500 . . 1916-17 2 331 30 Outlay ~ 5831 3 ° 1917-18 $100 .. 1916-17 501 16 Total * 401 I6 1917-18 $15 648 30 1916-17 15 653 20 $4 90 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control I9I7-I8 $375 .. 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 $7 680 .. 1916-17 6 821 70 £&S8 30 1364 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Orleans county — Continued Town of Murray Assessed Tax rate Dist, Teachers valuation 1916-17 13 1 $111984 .00357 14 1 54 450 . 00642 Total 14 $1 387 174 . 00618 Average rate . 00545 Total 1916-17 $1 393 386 . 00856 Balance 1916 $1 048 80 Balance 191 7 $1 048 80 Tax 1917 8 577 74 Real tax $9 626 54 Tax 1918 $11 918 87 Real tax 1917 9 626 54 Real increase $2 292 33 Town of Ridgeway Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 2 $283 172 2 2 203 170 3 1 149 150 4 1 156 900 5 1 296 015 6 1 169 658 7 1 no 800 8 1 232 895 10 1 212 128 11 1 146 133 13 1 132 293 14 1 182 885 15 4 510 240 16 1 92 100 17 1 137 516 Total 20 $3 016 065 Average rate Total 1917-18 $3 029 942 Balance 1916 $2 220 58 Balance 1917 1 499 16 $721 42 Tax 1917 10 206 68 Real tax $10 928 10 Real tax 1917 $10 928 10 Tax 1918 10 907 79 Real decrease $20 31 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Operation 1917-18 $1 000 . . 1916-17 1 704 si $704 51 Maintenance 1917-18 $484 . . 1916-17 1 133 15 $649 15 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 $398 12 $398 12 Physical instruction 1917-18 $488 . . 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 $816 . . 1916-17 224 70 $59i 30 Debt service 191 7-i8 $1 054 . . 1916-17 1 124 16 $70 16 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $57 06 Total 1917-18 $11 897 • . 1916-17 11 463 40 $433 60 Tax rate 1916-17 .00250 • 00443 .00200 Expenditures budget ] Control 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. ■ . • Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 1916-17 1916-17 and 917-18 $475 •• 8 22 .00168 .00235 . 00470 .00170 .00212 .00301 . 00348 .00201 .00700 $466 78 $9 125 • • 10 196 83 $1 071 83 $1 140 . . 1 775 34 • 00433 . 00290 $635 34 . 00338 $450 00 .0036 $283 23 $350 . . 261 45 $88 55 $460 . . 115 13 $344 87 $834 15 $12 000 . . 13 924 35 $1 924 35 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1365 Orleans county — Con tinned Town of Shelby Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 19 16-17 1 1 S124 529 . 00269 3 2 248 624 . 00439 5 1 72 171 .00510 6 1 102 850 . 00490 7 2 1 86 42 1 . 00600 8 1 106 031 . 0032s 9 1 70 I5S .00359 10 1 51 917 .00782 11 Contract 123 450 . 00304 12 1 84 033 . 00467 13 1 135 946 . 00300 14 2 311 275 .00223 15 1 109990 .00332 16 '. 1 182 821 .00314 Total 16 $1 910 213 .00379 Average rate . 0041 Total 1917-18 Si 887 008 .0053 Balance 1916 $1 187 86 Balance 1917 261 09 $926 77 Tax 191 7 7 246 58 Real tax $8 173 35 Tax 1918 $10 030 14 Real tax 1917 8 173 35 Real increase $1 856 79 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $450 . . 1916-17 10 20 $439 80 Instruction 1917-18 $8 900 . . 1916-17 7 757 59 Si 142 41 Operation 1917-18 Si 100 . . 1916-17 1 360 72 $260 72 Maintenance 1917-18 S700 . . 1916-17 629 01 S70 99 Auxiliary 1917-18 S600 . . 1916-17 201 50 S398 so Fixed charges 1917-18 $275 . . 1916-17 96 32 $178 68 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $331 19 Total 1917-18 $12 025 . . 1916-17 10 386 53 $1 638 47 Town of Yates Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 1 3 9 4 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 1 10 1 11 1 12 1 13 1 14 1 Total 21 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Si 631 28 Balance 191 7 402 55 Si 228 73 Tax 1917 12 750 54 Real tax $13 979 27 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 S121 490 .00349 I3S 707 .00211 853 560 .00867 173 675 .00300 87 180 .00602 174 503 .00342 115 640 .00320 78 420 .00419 195 102 .00307 105 216 00356 104 605 .00430 107 745 .00440 144 374 .00267 $2 397 217 .00531 .0040 .006394 S2 53s 334 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 S250 . . 1916-17 88 21 $161 79 Instruction 1917-18 $12 891 . . 1916-17 11 372 19 Si si8 81 Operation 1917-18 $2 241 . . 1916-17 2 214 62 S26 38 Maintenance 1917-18 Si 750 . . 1916-17 552 33 Si 197 67 Auxiliary 1917-18 $475 • • 1916-17 198 . . S277 .. Fixed charges 1917-18 S50 .. 1916-17 142 23 $92 23 1366 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Orleans county Town of Yates Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $16212 .. Real tax 1917 13 979 27 Real increase $2 232 73 Concluded Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Debt service 1917-18 $1 080 . . 1916-17 3 098 27 $2 018 27 Outlay 1917-18 $425 • - 1916-17 2ir 33 $213 67 Total 1917-18 5i9 162 . . 1916-17 17 877 18 $1 284 82 Town of Albion Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 4 5 1 6 1 7 Contract 8 1 9 I 10 1 11 1 12 1 13 . I 14 Contract 15 I Total 16 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1917. . . Balance 1916 Tax 191 7 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase Oswego county Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $34 58i .00752 36 713 .00692 32 500 .00500 153 776 .01250 25 130 .00857 31 372 .00610 10 158 .00817 31 867 .00900 55 513 .00539 39 248 .00917 19 330 .00964 20 400 .00830 35 834 .00778 12 958 .00710 9 670 .01820 $548 950 .00902 .00862 $555 497 .01218 $685 55 549 72 $135 83 $4 951 94 135 83 $4 816 11 $6 767 . . 4 816 11 $1 950 89 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-i8 Control 1917-18 $210 . . 1916-17 40 77 $169 23 Instruction 1917-18 $7 125 .. 1916-17 6 428 16 $696 84 Operation 1917-18 $1 275 . . 1916-17 691 95 $583 05 Maintenance 1917-18 $175 • - 1916-17 130 43 $44 57 Auxiliary 1917-18 $712 . . 1916-17 726 52 $14 52 Fixed charges 1917-18 $225 -■ 1916-17 171 06 $53 94 Debt service 1917-18 $25 . . 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 X 3 T 74 $18 26 Total 1917-18 $98 97 1916-17 8 320 63 $1 576 37 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I367 Oswego county — Continued Town of Amboy Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 191 6-1 7 1 1 $18835 .01189 2 1 22 700 .00106 3 1 23 87S • 00844 4 1 22 080 .01000 5 1 33 170 .01018 6 1 11 955 .00183 7 1 17 610 .01494 Total 7 $153 225 .0111 Average rate . 00833 Total 1917-18 $150 37S .0169 Balance 1916 $174 44 Balance 1917 87 62 $86 82 Tax 191 7 1 709 14 Real tax $1 795 96 Tax 191 8 $2 541 .. Real tax 1917 1 795 96 Real increase $745 04 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $205 1916-17 1 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. , Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $2 965 2 671 $294 $300 ISO $150 $300 160 $140 $56 S3 $15 S3 $17 $25 $3 866 3 105 $761 Town of Boylston Dist. Teachers 1 Contract 2 1 3 1 4 1 S 1 6 7 8 1 9 1 10 1 Total 7 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Assessed valuation $9 180 f 15 030 (11 980 I 19 630 (11 980 18 830 20 720 12 17 25 000 Soo 020 $149 890 $149 250 $182 64 35 57 $117 I 786 7K 44 $1 904 22 Tax rate 1916-17 .0215 .00748 .0100 .01256 .0185 .01429 .0100 .013166 .0142 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $160 . . 1916-17 24 75 $135 25 Instruction 1917-18 $2 855 . . 1916-17 2 67s 31 $179 69 Operation 1917-18 $210 . . 1916-17 249 61 $39 61 Maintenance 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 282 04 $182 04 Auxiliary 1917-18 $500 . . 1916-17 344 25 $155 75 Fixed charges 1917-18 $25 1916-17 35 47 $10 47 1368 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Boylston Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $2 119 36 Real tax 1917 1 904 22 Real increase $215 14 Oswego county — Continued Town of Constantia Dist. Teachers 1 5 2 3 3 1 4 Contract 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 1 10 1 11 1 12 1 13 1 Total 18 Aver age rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase Assessed valuation $189 680 149 135 49 155 8 800 9 925 15 925 8 850 11 725 85 100 7 165 9 575 IS 600 11 875 $572 510 $579 -'70 $737 378 08 16 $358 6 715 92 99 $7 074 91 $8 541 7 074 27 9i $1 466 36 Tax rate 1916-17 .01600 .01002 .00499 .01710 .02020 .01077 .00224 .02041 .00250 .02600 .02259 .01580 .01000 .0117 .01374 .015 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $50 28 Outlay 1917-18 $10 . . 1916-17 17 39 $7 39 Total 1917-18 $3 860 . . 1916-17 3 679 10 $180 90 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $625 1916-17 113 $512 Instruction 1917-18 $9 100 1916-17 8 197 $903 Operation 1917-18 $1 150 1916-17 974 $176 Maintenance 1917-18 $600 1916-17 808 $208 Auxiliary 1917-18 $350 1916-17 307 $43 Fixed charges 1917-18 $25 1916-17 107 $82 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $2 Outlay 1917-18 $150 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $12 000 1916-17 10 508 $1 492 Town of Hastings Dist. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Teachers Assessed Tax rate valuation 1917-18 $96 057 ■ 00734 26 52s .00889 94 095 .00319 240 919 .01010 28 304 • 009S3 62 810 . 00600 32 450 . OO860 33 650 . 00700 56 680 .00705 60 846 .00750 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 6-1 7 Control 1917-18 $280 . 1916-17 59 ■ $221 . Instruction 1917-18 $10 033 • 1916-17 10 347 • $3.1A ■ THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I369 Oswego county Town of Hastings Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 11 2 $116 131 12 1 18 jso 13 1 25 625 14 1 78 754 IS I 39 468 16 I 13 975 Total 23 $1 024 739 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 042 000 Balance 1916 $656 78 Balance 1917 313 19 $343 59 Tax 1917 8 on 36 Real tax $8 354 95 Tax 1918 $10 420 . . Real tax 1917 8 354 95 Real increase $2 065 05 Continued Tax rate 1916-17 00600 .01487 .00853 • 00593 .00700 .02000 .0078 .00853 .01 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Operation 1917-1S $1 150 1916-17 1 022 $128 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $200 991 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17 . $294 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $227 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17 . . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17 . $4 138 Total 1917-18. 1916-17. 5i5 801 13 906 $1 895 Town of Mexico Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $69 278 2 1 25 828 3 1 43 500 4 1 108 327 5 1 73 256 6 I 47 326 7 8 1 24 420 9 Contract 29 450 10 1 77 410 n 1 28 108 12 1 33 404 13 1 39 821 14 1 34 638 15 1 3i 689 Total 13 $666 455 Average rate Total 1917-18 $664 176 Balance 1917 Balance 1916 Tax 191 7 Real tax 1917 Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase $544 487 87 26 $57 3 900 61 44 $3 842 83 $4 673 3 842 00 83 $830 17 Town of New Haven Dist. 1 2 3 4 Teachers Assessed valuation $42 57i 59 057 3i 550 121 586 Tax rate 1916-17 .00520 .00751 .00798 . 00400 . 00546 . 00590 .01000 .00700 . 00300 . 00893 .00851 .00700 .00619 . 00549 .00585 .00685 •00703 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00650 .00550 . 00634 .00370 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 $6 150 . . 1916-17 4 925 ■ ■ $1 225 . . Operation 1917-18 1916-17 $1 217 07 Maintenance 1917-18 S200 . . 1916-17 Incidentals 1917-18 $710 . . 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $45 38 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $89 41 Total 1917-18 $7 060 . . 1916-17 6 276 86 $783 14 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $100 . 1916-17 1370 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Oswego county — Continued Town of New Haven Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 191 6-17 5 2 $193 006 .00624 6 1 36 002 . 00900 1 1 62 771 .00640 8.... 1 33Si6 .00500 9 1 20 180 .01243 10 1 30 950 .00931 11 1 45 290 .00752 12 1 72 289 .00618 Total 13 $748 768 . 00625 Average rate ■ 00701 Total 1917-18 $753 378 .01036 Balance 1916 $640 85 Balance 1917 380 98 $259 87 Tax 1917 4 681 94 Real tax $4 941 81 Tax 1918 $7 800 . . Real tax 1917 4 941 81 Real increase $2 858 19 a Includes insurance. Town of Orwell Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 3 5 1 6 1 7 8 1 9 1 Total 10 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 $306 50 Tax 1917 2 933 49 Real tax $3 239 99 Tax 1918 $4 840 26 Real tax 1917 3 239 99 Real increase $1 600 27 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $41 010 .00555 36 920 . 00654 11 600 .0230 115 060 .0089 617 766 .0006 32 020 .0080 18 040 .0100 287 540 .0010 20 745 .0120 $1 180 701 . 00248 $1 180 550 .0041 $434 27 127 77 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Instruction 1917-18 $6 700 . . 1916-17 5 276 40 $1 423 60 Operation 1917-18 $1 700 . . 1916-17 1 640 25 $59 75 Maintenance 1917-18 a $650 . . 1916-17 Auxiliary 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $54 99 Outlay . 1917-18 $350 . . " 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $9 800 . . 1916-17 6 971 64 $2 828 36 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $250 . . 1916-17 23 33 $226 67 Instruction 1917-18 $4 87s .. 1916-17 4 215 27 $659 73 Operation 1917-18 $885 .. 1916-17 453 81 $431 19 Maintenance 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 180 02 $119 98 Auxiliary 1917-18 $140 . . 1916-17 58 73 $81 27 Fixed charges 1917-18 $20 . . 1916-17 58 43 $38 43 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $0 87 Outlay 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 105 10 $55 10 Total 1917-18 $6 520 . . 1916-17 5 095 56 $1 424 44 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1371 Oswego county Town of Palermo Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $60 186 2 1 38 460 3 1 29 780 4 1 3i 248 5 1 37 330 6 1 15 260 7 1 32 296 8 1 22 390 9 1 47 064 10 1 22 980 11 1 70 481 12 Contract Total 11 $423 675 Average rate Total 1917-18 $499 410 Balance 1916 $401 38 Balance 1 91 7 101 31 $300 07 Tax 1917 3 120 27 Real tax $3 420 34 Tax 1918 $4 230 . . Real tax 1917 3 420 34 Real increase $809 66 * Budget not received. Town of Parish Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 6 $288 449 2 1 12 033 3 1 17 181 4 1 26 099 5 I 27 620 6 1 36 866 7 1 23 225 8 1 15 648 9 Contract 10 840 10 1 32 665 11 1 26 849 12 1 10 250 Total 16 $527 725 Average rate Total 1917-18 $529 9io Balance 1917 $769 63 Balance 1916 508 08 Tax 191 7 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase : 5261 55 $5 107 261 53 55 $4 845 98 $7 4 105 845 2 505 47 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Debt service 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 421 43 ?I2I 43 Outlay 1017-18 $150 ■ • 1916-17 556 47 $406 47 Total 1917-18 $12 348 49 1916-17 10 092 19 $2 256 30 Town of North Greenbush Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $165 464 2 1 147 262 3 1 49 957 4 2 260 508 5 1 182 000 6 1 103 581 7 1 108 605 Total 8 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 191 7 Real tax Tax 1918 S4 678 Real tax 1917 4 279 83 Real increase S398 17 Si 017 377 Si 103 ' 758 $1 : 019 381 38 68 3 S637 ; 642 70 13 S4 279 83 Tax rate 1916-17 .00212 .00298 .00563 .00461 .00277 .00265 .00540 .0035 Expenditures budget ] Control 1017-18 1916-17 , Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 Operation 1917-18. , . 1916-17 . . Maintenance 1917-18. 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. . . . Auxiliary 1917-18 , , . 1916-17 Debt service 1917-118. . . 1916-17 . . . Outlay 1917-18. , . . 1916-17 Total 1917-18. 1916-17- ■ ■ ■ 1916-17 and 917-18 S635 .. 2 . . $633 • • S3 350 . . 3 514 31 S164 31 #850 . . 852 17 00373 .0046 S2 17 $200 . . 424 41 S224 41 Sioo . . 63 25 S36 75 S414 ■■ 71 02 S342 98 S37I ■ ■ 326 .. S45 •• Si75 • ■ 42 38 S132 62 . *$6 095 ■ • 5 295 54 S799 46 * Amount of budget given as S6 045. 1402 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Petersburg Dist. Rensselaer county Teachers Continued 3 Contract 4 2 S I 6 i 7 I rotal . Average rate . . Total 1917-18. Balance 191 6. . Balance 1917. . Tax"i9i7. Real tax . Tax 1918 $4 500 39 Real tax 1917 3 175 82 Real increase Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Instruction 1917-18 $2 900 . . 1916-17 4 161 69 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17 . Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17- • • Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17 . . . Incidentals 1917-18. , 1916-17. , Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Auxiliary 1917-118. 1916-17. . Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $1 261 69 $345 ■■ 353 87 $8 87 115 23 $184 77 $15 ■- 54 35 $39 35 $160 . . $328 .. $500 50 $499 50 320 40 $264 40 $4 450 . . 5 013 64 $563 64 Town of Pitlstown Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $69 760 2 1 45 394 3 I 155 222 4 I 113 944 5 1 93 619 6 1 87 114 7 I 39 816 8 1 104 974 9 1 71 700 10 1 81 844 11 7 7ii 495 12 I 169 934 13 1 121 121 14 1 27 510 15 1 53 756 16 I 303 5io Total 22 $2 254 722 Average rate Total 1917-18 $2 277 159 Balance 1916 $1 048 09 Balance 1917 507 95 $540 14 Tax 1917 10 423 05 Real'tax $10 963 19 Tax rate 1916-17 .00540 .00819 .00322 .00340 .00447 .00450 .00627 .00291 .00415 .H439 .00715 .00248 .00268 .00830 .00424 .00150 .00462 Expenditures budget 1 Control 1917-18, . . . 1916-17. . , . Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. , Operation 1917-18. , . 1916-17, Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 Auxiliary 1917-18, , . . 1916-17. . . . Fixed charge 1917-18 1917-18. 1916-17. . . . 1916-17 and 917-18 $630 . . 132 34 $497 66 . $14 225 . . 10 760 28 $3 464 72 $2 195 • • 1 623 30 $571 70 $300 . . 963 45 . 00456 .007 $663 45 $300 . . 151 •■ $149 . . $200 . . 256 56 $56 56 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1403 Town of Pitlslown Rensselaer county — ■ Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $15 940 . . Real tax 1917 10 963 19 Real increase $4 976 81 Town of Poestenkill Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $52 500 2 1 56 760 3 1 108 262 4 1 29 080 S 1 26 237 6 1 17 378 7 1 18 523 Total 7 $308 740 Average rate Total 1917-18 $310 750 Balance 1916 $451 47 Balance 191 7 268 38 $183 09 Tax 1917 2 379 95 Real tax $2 563 04 Tax 1918 $2 583 62 Real tax 191 7 2 563 04 Real increase $20 58 Tax rate 1916-17 .00857 .00581 .00554 .00800 .01100 .01439 .01235 .0077 . 00938 .0084 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1910-18 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Incidentals 1917-18 $1 07 $500 . . 1916-17 Outlay 1917-1S 1916-17 Total 1917-1S 1916-17 $150 . . no . . $40 . . $18 500 . . 13 998 . . $4 502 . . Expenditures budget 1 Control 1917-18 1916-17 and 917-18 $180 . . Instruction 1916-17. . . . $3 252 , , 3 989 16 Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $262 84 $420 . . 326 71 Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $93 29 $53 • • 332 77 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $279 77 $15 ■• 49 79 Debt service $34 79 Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 .... $20 . . 76 58 Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 .... $56 58 $100 . . 71 10 Total 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $28 90 $4. 040 . '. 3 846 II $193 89 Town of Sandlake Dist. 1 2 3 4 5 Teachers Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $39 316 .00650 40 310 .00619 45 540 .00619 177 327 .00598 3i 905 .00801 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $635 .. 1916-17 49 17 $585 83 1404 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Rensselaer county — Continued Town of Sandlake Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1016-17 6 1 S3 7 543 .00740 7 2 220 425 . 00601 8 I 65138 . 00576 9 r 14 735 .01692 10 1 13645 .01358 11 1 15 210 .01786 Total 13 $701 094 • 00683 Average rate . 00912 Total 1917-18 S710 278 .01 Balance 1916 £654 87 Balance 1917 798 56 $143 69 Tax 1917 4 789 15 Real tax $4 645 46 Tax 1918 $7 102 78 Real tax 1917 4 645 46 Real increase #2 457 32 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Instruction 1917-18 $5 946 • • 1916-17 5 337 45 $608 55 Operation 1917-18 $987 78 1916-17 811 56 S176 22 Maintenance 1917-18 $900 . . 1916-17 269 73 $630 27 Fixed charges 1917-18 $75 1916-17 79 81 $4 81 Auxiliary 1917-18 $384 • • 1916-17 130 50 $263 50 Debt service 1917-18 $15 ■ ■ 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $100 . . 1016-117 .... 91 21 $& 79 Total 1917-18 So 052 78 1016-17 6 769 42 $2 283 35 Town of Schaghticoke Dist. Teachers 7 3 1 4 2 5 Contract 6 Assessed v aluation $923 523 61 753 216 230 227 397 75 895 275 414 76 753 120 235 197 032 316 617 292 452 222 452 74 317 51 360 J 131 430 Average rate Total 1917-18 S3 144 480 Total . Balance 1916. Balance 1917. Tax 1917. $1 494 16 1 174 29 S3I9 87 10 747 16 Tax rate 1916-17 .00627 .00485 .00105 .00329 .00326 ■ 00390 .00311 .00177 .00157 . 00149 .00139 .00269 .00579 ■ Q0343 .00311 .00502 Real tax $11 067 03 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 S600 . . 1916-17 219 53 $380 47 Instruction 1917-18 $11 881 12 1916-17 10 668 39 Si 212 73 Operation 1917-18 $2 204 . . 1916-17 1 646 50 S557 50 Maintenance 1917-18 $600"'. . 1916 17 422 92 Si77 08 Auxiliary 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 134 61 S165 39 Supplies and Incidentals 1917-18 Si 788 76 1916-17 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM M05 Town of Schaghticoke Rensselaer county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 S15 785 28 Real tax 1917 11 067 03 Real increase $4 718 25 Town of Schodack Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 3 $405 02 ° 2 1 185 21s 3 1 32s 171 5 I 60 160 6 1 58 450 7 I 115 475 8 1 31 200 11 1 323 570 12 2 202 577 13 1 140 147 14 1 75 600 15 1 200 295 Total 15 $2 122 880 Average rate Total 191 7-18 $2 203 962 Balance 1916 $1 953 28 Balance 191 7 702 40 $250 88 Tax 1917 8 057 61 Real tax $8 308 49 Tax 1918 $12 930 . . Real tax 1917 8 308 49 Real increase $4 621 51 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charge 1917-18 $193 52 1916-17 306 99 S113 47 Debt service 1917-18 Si 417 88 1916-17 893 96 $523 92 Outlay 1917-18 $125 . . 1916-17 490 31 „, $365 31 Total 1917-18 $19 no 28 1916-17 14 783 21 $4 327 07 Tax rate Expenditures 1916-17 and 1916-17 budget 1917-18 . 00494 Contro 1 00457 1917-18. . . . $480 . . .00169 1916-17. . . . 21 82 .00421 $458 18 .00370 Instruction . 00800 1917-18. . . . $8 425 . . .00194 1916-17 .... 7 642 10 .00351 $782 90 . 00419 Operation .00250 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 .... S2 100 . . 2 129 oS 00379 S29 08 .00435 Maintenance .0059 1917-18. . . . $2 400 . . 1916-17 .... 856 07 Fixed charges Si 543 93 1917-18. . . . •$455 ■ ■ 1916-17 .... 329 03 $12=; 97 Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . Si55 . . 1916-17 .... 181 36 $26 36 Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 .... S28 28 Outlay 1917-18. . . . S615 1016-17 .... 190 38 S424 62 Total 1917-18. . . . S14 630 . . 1916-17 .... 11 378 12 S3 251 88 Town of Siephentown Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 Contract 3 I 4 1 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 571 630 .00500 9 940 .01000 39 020 .00540 100 173 .00220 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 S400 . . 1916-17 1406 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Rensselaer county — ■ Concluded Town of Stephenlown Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 5 Contract $6 825 .00800 6 1 47 983 . 00650 7 1 34 873 ■ 00989 8 1 21993 .01023 9 1 9028 .02591 10 1 19 600 .01184 n Contract 12 480 .00400 12 1 13 495 .01451 13 1 8 785 02439 14 1 12 980 .01059 Total 11 $408805 .007 Average rate .01060 Total 191 7-1 8 $403 105 .0118 Balance 1916 $542 83 Balance 1917 169 09 $373 74 Tax 1917 2 888 83 Real tax $3 262 57 Tax 1918 $4 756 63 Real tax 191 7 3 262 57 Real increase $1 494 06 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Instruction 1917-18 $5 768 . . 1916-17 4 715 45 $1 052 55 Operation 1917-18 $734 63 1916-17 356 08 $378 55 Maintenance 1917-18 $175 .. 1916-17 126 01 $48 99 Fixed charges 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 124 79 $74 79 Debt service 1917-18. .... 1916-17 $0 49 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $172 75 Auxiliary 1917-18 $360 . . 1916-17 656 13 $296 13 Total 1917-18 $7 4S7 63 1916-17. .... 6 151 70 $1 335 93 Town of Clarkstown Dist. Total . Average rate . . Total 191 7-1 8. Balance"i9i6. Balance 1917. Tax 1917. Teachers Rockland county Real tax $34 614 66 I 232 145 135 850 $6 650 446 $6 727 717 $8 6 583 482 98 11 $2 32 IOI 512 87 79 $34 614 66 00580 0057 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $1 670 , 1916-17 856 . $814 . Instruction 1917-18 $26 023 . 1916-17 23 468 . $2 555 • Operation 1917-18 $4 915 ■ 1916-17 4 154 ■ $761 . Maintenance 1917-18 $2 245 . 1916-17 2 663 . $418 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $1 710 . 1916-17 946 . $76a . THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1407 Town of Clarkstown Rockland county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax iqi8 $37 876 . . Real tax 34 614 66 Real increase $3 261 34 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 17-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 Si 503 . 1916-17 4S7 . Si 022 . Debt service 1917-18 $2 693 • 1916-17 3 823 . Si 130 . Outlay 1917-18 S605 . 1916-17 2 140 . Si 534 ■ Total 1917-18 S41 37i . 1916-17 38 537 • S2 834 • Town of Haverstraw Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 3 S400 887 3 7 515 485 4 1 in 330 5 1 49 756 6 1 23 230 Total 13 Si 100 688 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 200 681 Balance 1916 $2 917 07 Balance 1917 2 095 18 S821 89 Tax 1917 10 128 21 Real tax $10 950 10 Tax 1918 $ii 900 . . Real tax 10 950 10 Real increase S949 90 Tax rate 1916-17 .00647 .01202 .00532 .00698 .01676 .0092 .00951 .00991 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 S855 . 1916-17 603 . S252 . Instruction 1917-18 $9 616 . 1916-17 8 129 . Si 487 • Operation 1917-18 Si 564 . 1916-17 1 638 . 574 • Maintenance 1917-18 S330 . 1916-17 702 . S372 . Auxiliary 1917-18 S171 ■ 1916-17 256 . $85 . Fixed charges 1917-18 S514 . 1916-17 277 . S237 . Debt service 1917-18 S579 • 1916-17 744 • S165 . Outlay 1917-18 $97 • 1916-17 166 . S69 . Total 1917-18 $13 726 . 1916-17 12 515 . Si 211 . 1408 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Rockland county — Continued Town of Orangetown Dist. Teachers 2 2 2 Assessed valuation S5I7 025 502 550 S84 650 532 493 360. 925 Tax rate 1916-17 .00500 .00678 .00979 . 00466 .00700 .0066 Expenditures ] budget i< Control 1917-18 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 1916-17 :9i6-l7 and 517-18 $550 . . 209 01 6 §34° 99 Total $2 497 643 $11 527 ■• 10 942 05 .00664 .00741 $2 S03 415 $584 75 $2 437 1 191 $1 246 16 732 96 26 70 S3 $2 900 . . 3 177 93 $277 93 Si 7 979 23 1 323 01 $18 555 17 979 09 23 $823 01 $1 785 ■ • 426 73 $575 86 $1 358 27 $286 . . I64 02 $121 98 $2 587 • • 3 617 36 $1 030 36 $100 . . 89 75 $10 25 $20 235 . . 19 949 86 $285 14 Town of Ramapo Dist. Teachers Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $844 991 .01233 285 644 .00532 967 707 .00413 451 200 . 00406 338 350 .0018 475 494 .00546 455 444 .00362 496 824 .00299 195 794 .00833 134 654 .00813 255 074 .00313 218 520 .00349 903 900 .01079 Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $1 540 . . 1916-17 544 28 $995 72 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17 • ■ S>34 281 . . 27 176 76 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17 . Total . 023 596 .0063 Average rate Total 1917-18 $5 910 830 Balance 1916 $10 146 53 Balance 1917 9 105 04 $1 041 49 Tax 1917 38 174 56 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17 . . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17 . $7 104 24 $6 6 328 078 93 J 249 07 $1 900 177 58 I277 58 $3 1 000 297 21 Real tax . Ji6 05 Fixed charge 1917-18. . . 1916-17 . . . n 702 79 $1 125 . . 594 56 Salvation Army property THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1409 Rockland county — Continued 1 own of Ramapo Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $53 199 03 Real tax 3921605 Real increase $13 982 98 'Town of Stony Point, Unit No. 1 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 3 $181 600 2 8 504 550 3 1 47 ii5 4 r 79 065 8 I 197 380 Total 14 $1 009 710 Average rate Total 1917-18 $989 610 Balance 1916 $1 286 01 J3alance 1917 1 237 96 $48 05 Tax 191 7 11 348 89 Real tax $11 396 94 'Tax 1918 $12 474 . . Real tax 11 396 94 Real increase , $1 077 06 Tax rate 1916-17 .0125 .01228 .01272 .00938 .00779 .0112 .01093 .0126 Expenditures budget Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18 1916-17. . . . 1916-17 and 1917-18 $8 4SO . . 6 920 67 $1 529 33 $850 . . 1 205 02 Total 1917-18, . 1916-17. . . . $615 98 . $57 474 ■ ■ 45 995 01 $11 478 99 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $850 1916-17 304 $546 Instruction 1917-18 $10 575 1916-17. 9 210 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $1 365 $1 885 1 560 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $325 $285 1 129 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $250 257 Fixed charge 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $7 $204 245 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $195 282 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $100 507 Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $407 S14 344 13 494 $850 "Town of Stony Point, Unit No. 2 Dist. Teachers 5 4 6 1 ' J__{ Total 6 Average rate Total 1917-18 45 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $351 225 .01320 92 900 .00631 109 280 26 400 $579 805 .0105 .00876 $584 055 .0137 Expenditures 1916 budget 191 7- Control 1917-18 1916-17 -17 and 18 S893 . . 253 ■ • Instruction 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $640 . . $6 090 . . 5 418 .. $672 1410 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Rockland county — Concluded Town of Stony Point, Unit No. 2 Assessed valuation Balance 1917 $1 83r 91 Balance 1916 1 795 17 $36 74 Tax 1917 $6 142 97 36 74 Real tax $6 106 23 Tax 191 8 $7 997 . . Real tax 6 106 23 Real increase $1 890 77 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Operation 1917-18 $1 200 1916-17 964 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-1S. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $250 320 $70 $480 151 $158 156 $2 $15 SS7 S9 173 7 262 Schenectady county Town of Duanesburg Dist ' Teachers 2 1 3 1 4 2 5 1 6 1 7 Contract 9 I 10 I 11 Contract 12 1 13 1 15 Contract 16 1 17 1 18 1 19 1 20 Contract 21 1 22 1 23 1 24 1 25 1 Total 19 Average rate Total 1917-18 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $63 932 0050 38 636 0080 360 755 0052 158 537 0028 .44 275 0070 58 3/>6 45 675 0084 55 564 0069 46 078 48 928 0072 27 000 OIOI 28 516 28 237 0045 29 054 0180 77 451 0098 60 757 0066 18 844 .0027 26 252 .0112 26 569 .0102 38 161 .0092 44 766 .0120 96 210 .OO47 $1 422 563 .0059 .OO78 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $925 • - 1916-17 32 77 $892 23 Instruction 1917-18 $10 720' . . 1916-17 10 145 65 $574 35 Operation 1917-18 $1 330 . . 1916-17 1 354 53 $24 S3 Maintenance 1917-18 $400 . . 1916-17 540 81 $140 81 Auxiliary 1917-18 $400 . . 1916-17 166 68 $233 32 Fixed charges 1917-18 $220 . . 1916-17 141 12 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I4II Town of Duanesburg Schenectady county — Con Assessed valuation Balance 1916 $1 861 97 Balance 191 7 1 361 82 $500 is Tax 1917 8 437 67 Real tax 18 937 82 Town of GUnville Assessed Dist Teachers valuation 3 2 S395 680 5 1 40 060 8 1 71 733 9 1 392 917 10 I 260 000 11 1 84 708 12 2 167 243 13 1 22 525 14 1 45 589 15 3 559 570 16 I 65 670 17 I 46 365 18 I 18 355 Total 17 $2 172 315 Average rate Total 1917-1S Balance 1916 $589 41 Balance 1917 371 ot S218 40 Tax 1917 14 881 67 Real tax $15 100 07 Town of Niskayuna A?sesfc-d Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 J327 780 2 2 400 000 4 '■'■ 237 361 5 4 65S 690 Total 9 Sr 623 831 Average rate Total 191 7-i 8 Tax rate 1916-17 0048 0070 0070 0020 0148 0032 0112 0140 0079 0061 0087 0075 0220 0069 0089 Tax rate 1916-17 .0016 .0088 .0098 .0109 .0084 .0062 tinned Expenditures 1 916-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Debt service 1917-18 $30 . . 1916-17 9 3i $20 69 Outlay 1917-18 $1 400 . . 1916-17 150 49 #1 249 51 Total 1917-18 lis 425 . . 1916-17 12 541 36 $2 883 64 Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $475 . . 1916-17 93 66 l38l 34 Instruction 1917-18 In 425 . . 1916-17 8 689 35 |2 735 65 Operation 1917-18 |2 590 . . 1916-17 2 065 01 I524 99 Maintenance 1917-18 I630 . . 1916-17 2 241 14 |i 611 14 Auxiliary 1917-18 I670 . . 1916-17 650 96 I119 04 Fixed charges 1917-18 I225 . . 1916-17 138 41 $86 59 Debt service 1917-18 $2 91S . . 1916-17 3 121 44 S203 44 Outlay 1917-18 $800 . . 1916-17 547 96 $252 04 Total 1917-iS I19 733 ■ • 1916-17 17 447 93 $2 285 07 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 I450 . . 1916-17 88 77 S361 23 Instruction 1917-18 18 650 . . 1916-17 7 061 96 li 588 04 1412 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Niskayuna Assessed valuation Balance 1017 $2 793 10 Balance 1916 1 697 47 Si 095 63 Tax 1917 13 667 56 Real tax $12 571 93 Schenectady county — Continued Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 S Operation 1917-18 $2 025 . . 1916-17 1 619 13 $405 87 Maintenance 191 7-1 8 $400 . . 1916-17 515 81 Town of Princelown Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 S24 825 2 1 109 585 3 1 SO 570 4 1 19 050 5 1 46 300 6 1 54 723 7 1 98 910 Total 7 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax $404 363 S326 249 41 $77 11 2 680 98 S2 758 09 $115 Si Auxiliary I9i»f- 8. . . . 5750 05 1916 7. ■•• 357 30 $392 75 Fixed charges 1917-18... 1350 .. 19161-7. . . 320 91 $29 09 Debt service $3 592 50 1916-17 3 051 37 $541 13 Outlay $625 .. 1916-17 711 30 $S6 30 Total 1917-18. . . . . $16 842 55 Expenditures 13 726 55 $3 116 . . Tax rate 1916-17 and 1916-17 budget 1 917-18 .0110 Control .0035 1917-18. . . . 5i55 -. .0078 .0119 2 92 .0090 $152 08 .0097 Instruction .0050 1917-18. . . . - $3 657 . . 1916-17- - - . 3 180 67 .0066 $476 33 .0083 Operation 1916-17, . S4I5 -• 416 70 $1 70 Maintenance 1917-18. . . . $85 -- 1916-17. . . . 131 88 $46 88 Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . $152 . . 1916-17. . . . 5i 03 $100 97 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . $50 .. 1916-17. . . . 35 01 $14 99 Debt services 1917-18 $10 . . 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18 $550 . . 1916-17 Total 1917-1S. . . . $5 074 - - 1916-17. . . . 3 818 21 Si 255 70 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1413 Schenectady county Town of Rotterdam Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $125 983 . 0035 3 • . I 345 292 . 0030 4 2 208 338 . 0070 5 7 438769 .0136 6 I 65 120 .0057 7 1 31 975 .0100 8 4 188 534 .0175 9 I 30850 .0087 10 81 350 II 4 363 330 .0085 13 4 244642 .0134 14 9 305 767 . 0312 Total 35 $2 429 950 .0120 Average rate .0111 Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 $10 039 56 Balance 1917 2 125 05 $7 914 51 Tax 1917 29 070 57 Real tax $36 985 08 Concluded Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 Si 310 . . 1916-17 555 47 S754 53 Instruction 1917-18 $27 700 . . 1916-17 23 511 80 $4 188 20 Operation 1917-18 $6 615 . . 1916-17 5 071 97 Si 543 03 Maintenance 1917-18 $3 565 • • 1916-17 1 568 51 $1 996 49 Auxiliary 1917-18 Si 190 . . 1916-17 799 50 S390 50 Fixed charges 1917-18 S955 • • 1916-17 771 89 S183 11 Debt service 1917-18 S4 665 50 1916-17 5 377 86 S712 36 Outlay 1917-18 S640 . . 1916-17 7 720 08 S7 080 08 Total 1917-18 $46 640 50 1916-17 45 377 08 Si 263 42 Schoharie county Town of Blenheim Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 Contract S19 361 2 1 19 989 .01149 3 1 66 049 . 00406 4 1 24 496 . 00932 5 1 10 725 . 01940 6 1 14 013 .01358 7 1 48 189 .00816 8 1 16 288 .01299 Total 7 S219 no .00789 Average rate .0113 Total 1917-18 S212 920 .00958 Balance 191 7 S48 15 Balance 1916 42 93 S5 22 Tax 1917 Si 730 35 5 22 Real tax Si 725 13 Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 S13S • • 1916-17 1 89 $133 11 Instruction 1917-18 S2 485 • • 1916-17 2 919 43 S434 43 Operation 1917-18 S235 • • 1916-17 201 96 $33 04 Maintenance 1917-18 S210 . . 1916-17 39 32 S170 68 Auxiliary 1917-1S S625 . . 1916-17 169 75 S455 25 1414 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Blenheim Schoharie county — Continued Tax 1918. Real tax. . Real increase. Assessed valuation $2 039 22 1 725 13 $313 09 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Fixed charges 1917-18 $10 .. 1916-17 30 03 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17 . Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $20 03 $4 10 $50 .. 11 32 $38 68 S3 750 . . 3 377 80 Town of Broome Dist. Teachers 1 Assessed valuation $10 360 20 468 IS 550 6 500 27 581 13 300 61 394 11 897 9 800 30 802 51 106 25 600 7 225 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00764 .01254 .00164 .0100 .0200 .00799 .01009 .02225 .01009 .00670 .00169 . 00950 .0134 .0078 Expenditures 19 budget 191 Control 1917-18 1916-17 16-17 and 7-18 2 3 1 Contract Contract 1 1 1 ... 1 $145 • - 4 IS 4 5 6 7 8 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 $140 85 $4 185 • - 4 711 99 1 1 9 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $526 99 1 1 $430 .. 13 Contract 304 36 Total 10 $291 583 $125 64 $315 ■• Total 1917-18 . . $288 325 12 33 $129 41 73 54 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 $302 67 $425 -- 250 70 $S5 87 $2 771 Si : 4i ; 87 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $174 30 $25 ■■ 53 86 $2 715 54 2 248 67 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $466 87 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $150 . . 18 28 Total 1917-18 1916-17 $131 72 $5 67s • • 5 355 67 $319 33 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM HI5 Town of Carlisle Dist. Teachei ... 1 Schoharie cov Assessed ■3 valuation $87 518 87 708 59 950 152 334 46 964 88 245 34 240 115 926 tnty — Com Tax rate 1916-17 . 00546 .00514 . 00646 .00325 . 00630 .00424 . 00984 .00345 .0047 .00551 . 00632 tinned Expenditures 19: budget 191' Control 1917-18 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 [6-17 and 7-i8 1 $120 .. 4 1 1 1 . . 6 1 1 $119 . . 8. 1 $4 122 . . 1 3 692 . . Total 8 $672 867 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 $430 . . $480 . . Total 1917-18 $641 913 431 • ■ $410 12 374 19 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $49 • • $281 . . $35 93 3 221 28 279 . . Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $2 . . $65 . . 54 055 • ■ 57 • • 3 257 21 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $8 . $797 79 $374 • • 76 .. Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $298 . . Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 $50 .. 48 .. Total 1917-18 1916-17 $2 .. $5 492 . . 4 584 ■ • $908 . . Town oj I '<- Dist. Teachers . . . . 1 Assessed valuation $116 635 133 299 117 340 148 936 114 307 133 882 54 575 19 150 $838 124 $874 639 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00429 .00228 .00319 .00551 . 00380 00353 .01291 Expenditures budget 1 Control 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 .... Operation 1917-18. . . 1916-17 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 1916-17 and 917-18 .... Contract $155 ■ ■ ... . . 1 5 ■ • . . . . 2 6 . . 1 $150 .. 1 .... Contract $3 869 ■ ■ .... 1 3 383 • • 0037 • 005 .00507 $481 . . $492 . . 47 1 ■ ■ $549 16 485 12 $21 . . $244 . . $64 04 5 729 21 136 . . $108 . . $3 793 25 $471 . . 46S • • $6 1416 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Cobleskill Schoharie county — Continued Tax 1918 Real tax 1917. Real increase. Assessed valuation $8 07s 48 5 793 25 $2 264 23 Expenditures 1916-17 anc budget 19 1 7-1 8 Fixed charges 1917-1S. 1916-17 . Debt 1917-18. 1916-17. Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17 . Total 1917-18. 1916-17 . $42 46 $2 5475 $5 748 4 5ii Town of Conesville Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 Contract $26 300 2 1 39 509 3 1 24 000 4 I 20 497 5 Contract 13 750 6 1 22 660 7 1 49 507 8 1 20 380 9 1 41 668 10 1 25 464 11 Contract 16 745 Total 8 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 191 7 Balance 1916 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax Real increase Tax rate 1916-17 $300 480 $317 685 1113 86 84 07 $27 77 $2 557 27 24 77 $2 529 47 $3 281 2 529 17 47 S75I 70 . 00940 .01337 .01639 .01509 00355 .01394 .00500 .01418 . 00939 .00851 .0111 .01032 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 3 IT $146 83: Instruction 1917-18 $4. 100 . . 1916-17 4 112 08. $12 08. Operation 1917-18 $365 • • 1916-17 202 94 $162 o6> Maintenance 1917-18 $215 . . 1916-17 21 94 $193 06- Auxiliary 1917-18 $190 . . 1916-17 85 . . S105 .. Fixed charge 1917-18 $20 . . 1916-17 41 09. S21 09. Debt service 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 208 83. 1 $8 83 Outlay 1917-18 $100 1916-17 75 7 6, $ 2 4 « Total *" 1917-18 $5 340 1916-17 4 750 j~ $589 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1417 Town of Esperance Dist. Total . Average rate. . 'Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. Balance 1917. Tax 1917 Real tax 191 7 . Tax 1918 Real tax 19 17 Real increase. Schoharie county — > Continued Teachers Assessed valuation $99 200 40 99S 55 400 56 387 271 483 107 000 164 223 Tax rate 1916-17 .0065 .0058 .0057 .0053 .0050 .0023 #794 75t .0051 $827 339 . 0064 $332 40 188 19 #144 11 4 027 S3 $4 172 02 $5 294 97 4 172 02 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $285 . 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt 1917-18. 1916-17. Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $4 475 . . 3 810 25 $664 75 $725 722 92 $2 OS $500 443 64 $56 36 $90 200 22 $110 22 $69 23 97 85 $46 $100 12 $50 $6 5 294 200 97 88 Si 094 09 Assessed valuation $40 705 103 000 16 125 101 138 15 150 24 825 Tax rate 1916-17 .0073 . 0026 . 0020 .0017 . 0063 .0125 .0050 .0064 .0079 .0159 .0102 .0078 .0052 0053 .0069 .0087 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $125 . . 1916-17 155 41 $30 41 Instruction 1917-1S $3 316 . . 1916-17 5 234 76 $1 918 76 Operation 1917-18 $546 . . 1916-17 401 78 $144 22 Maintenance 1917-18 $175 ■ ■ 1916-17 131 62 $43 38 Auxiliary 1917-18 $425 •■ 1916-17 217 45 $207 55 Fixed charges 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 16 42 $33 58 1418 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Fulton Schoharie county — Continued Tax 1918 Real tax 1917. Real increase. Assessed valuation $4 8i7 96 3 130 51 $1 687 45 Town of Gilboa Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $107 896 2 1 41 671 3 1 19 216 4 1 36 377 5 1 49 047 6 1 17 728 V I 92 789 8 1 29 259 9 1 11 927 10 1 25 464 II I 28 255 12 I 42 280 13 1 30 902 14 1 62 187 15 Contract 18 650 Total 14 $613 648 Average rate Total 1917-18 $612 695 Balance 1916 $325 27 Balance 1917 292 05 $30 22 Tax 1917 4 642 29 Real tax $4 672 51 Tax 1918 $5 427 79 Real tax 4 672 51 Real increase $755 28 Tax rate 1916-17 • 00439 .00897 .01133 . 00900 . 00463 .01222 . 00507 01345 .02305 .01088 . 00980 . 00923 .01133 . 00546 .00163 .00756 .0096 . 00886 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Debt 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 146 69 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $46 69 $80 96 $4 6 817 304 96 13 $1 486 17 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 11 42 $138 58 Instruction 1917-18 $6 565 • . 1916-17 6 886 65 $321 65 Operation 1917-18 $595 •• 1916-17 404 79 5130 21 Maintenance 1917-18 $425 - - 1916-17 48 78 $376 32 Auxiliary 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 96 75 S203 25 Fixed charges 1917-18 $30 . . 1916-17 82 95 $52 95 Debt service 1917-18 $330 . . 1916-17 159 57 $170 43 Outlay 1917-18 Sioo . . 1916-17 1 212 99 $1 112 99 Total 1917-18 $8 495 .. 1916-17 8 963 90 $468 90 Town of Jefferson Dist. Teachers 1 Assessed valuation $15 640 209 080 19 346 24 600 39 080 37 200 18 413 36 230 48 680 $448 269 Tax rate 1916-17 .0204 •0153 .0137 .0103 .0087 .0081 .0148 .0060 .0078 Expenditures budget l Control 1917-18. . . . 191 6-17 and -18 5 $230 . . 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1916-17. . . . Instruction 36 25 5 6 . .■ $193 75 $7 210 . . 8 1916-17. . . . 6 718 30 1 $491 70 Total 13 .0124 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1419 Town of Jefferson Schoharie county — Continued Assessed valuation Average rate Total 1017-18 $456 215 Balance 1917 $253 76 Balance 1916 228 53 $25 23 Tax 1917 $5 561 77 25 23 Real tax $5 536 54 Tax 1918 $6 843 22 Real tax 5 536 54 Real increase $1 306 68 Tax rate 1916-17 .0116 ois Town of Middleburg Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 9 $655 000 . 0092 2 1 20 425 . 0101 3 1 19 984 . 0096 4 1 26 500 .0106 5 I 80 745 .0036 6 1 66 88 1 . 0045 7 1 18 675 .0112 8 1 69355 .0060 9 I 38 325 .0046 10 I 49 920 . 0064 II I 15 825 .0141 Total 19 $1 061 635 .0081 Average rate . 0081 Total 1917-18 $1 079 276 .0095 Balance 1916 $588 38 Balance 1917 197 08 fo9i 30 Tax 1917 8 680 55 Real tax 1917 $9 071 85 Tax 1918 $11 000 Real tax 1917 9 071 85 Real increase $1 928 15 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Operation 1917-18 $970 . . 1916-17 767 30 $202 70 Maintenance 1917-18 $350 . . 1916-17 464 78 S114 78 Auxiliary 1917-18 $675 . . 1916-17 669 • • $6 .. Fixed charges 1917-18 $30 . . 1916-17 100 62 $70 62 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $51 25 Outlay 1917-18 $250 . . 1916-17 75 67 $174 33 Total 1917-18 $9 715 • • 1916-17 8 883 17 $831 83 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $395 .-. 1916-17 239 79 $155 21 Instruction 1917-18 $11 130 . . 1916-17 9 991 66 Si 138 34 Operation 1917-18 $1 470 . . 1916-17 1 202 77 $267 23 Maintenance 1917-18 $500 . . 1916-17 327 89 $172 11 Auxiliary 1917-18 $160 . . 1016-17 347 29 $187 29 Fixed charges 1917-18 $115 • • 1916-17 . . . 277 87 Debt 1917-18. 1916-17. Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17 . Total 1917-18 $14 4S5 • • 1916-17 13 266 84 Si 188 16 $162 87 $335 879 57 $544 57 $350 1420 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Schoharie county — Continued Town of Richmondville Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 1 $76 001 3 I 33 48S 6 1 42 930 7 1 44 680 8 1 138 912 9 Contract 32 725 11 S 518507 12 1 139 632 Total 11 $1 026 872 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 046 386 Balance 1916 $452 74 Balance 1917 327 53 $125 21 Tax 1917 5 729 21 Real tax 1917 $5 854 42 Tax 1918 $8 057 48 Real tax 1917 5 854 42 Real increase $2 203 06 Town of Schoharie Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 10 $582 000 2 1 64 462 3 I 59 700 4 1 78 049 5 2 211 350 6 I 102 448 Total 16 $1 098 009 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 107 711 Balance 1916 S361 49 Balance 1917 234 13 #127 36 Tax 1917 10 672 87 Real tax 1917 $10 800 23 Tax rate Expenditures 1916-17 and 1916-17 budget 1 917-18 . 00399 Control .ooSoS 1917-18. . . . $525 •• .00528 1916-17. . . . 84 -- . 00670 .00250 $441 •• .00331 Instruction .00734 1917-18. . . . $7 042 . . .00259 1916-17 .... 5 678 . . ■0055 Si 364 . - ■ Operation . 00497 1917-18. . . . $930 . . .0077 1916-17 .... 80s .. $125 -- Maintenance I9I7-7- • ■ ■ $400 . . 1916-17 .... 151 • • $249 . . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . $290 . . 1916-17. . . . 287 . . S3 • • Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . $40 . . 1916-17. . . . 144 . . S104 . . Debt 1917-18. . . . $640 . . 1916-17 .... 660 . . S20 .. Outlay 1917-18. . . . S125 .. 1916-17. . . . Total 1917-18. . . . $Q 992 . . 1916-17. . . . 7 809 . . $2 I83 . . Tax rate Expenditures 1916-17 and 1916-17 budget 1917-18 0137 Control .0048 1917-18. . . . $350 . . • 0045 1916-17 .... 132 87 .0050 • 0055 S217 13 .005 Instruction 1917-13. . . . $8 898 . . .0097 1916-17. . . . 9 463 08 .0064 $565 08 .0102 Operation. — 1917-18 Si 585 1916-17 .... I 706 68 $121 68 Maintenance 1917-1S. . . $235 • • 1916-17. . . 469 77 S234 77 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I42I Schoharie county Town of Schoharie Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $11 279 .. Real tax 1917 10 800 23 Real increase $478 77 Continued Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Auxiliary 1917-18 $250 . . 1916-17 288 27 $38 27 Fixed charges 1917-18 S35 .- 1916-17 251 44 _ $216 44 Debt 1917-18 $1 000 . . 1916-17 3 905 58 „ , $2 905 58 Outlay 1917-18 S305 .. 1916-17 S3 6p Total S251 3l 1917-18 $12 658 . . 1916-17 16 271 38 S3 613 38 Town of Seward Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $34 140 2 1 101 065 3 Contract 16 930 4 Contract 38 430 5 1 70 489 6 1 38 728 7 1 79 335 8 I 82 812 9 I 20 930 10 1 92 562 12 I 58 256 Total 9 S633 677 Average rate Total 1917-18 $633 677 Balance 1916 $391 62 Balance 1917 375 73 $15 89 Tax 1917 3 468 27 Real tax $3 484 16 Tax 1918 $6120.. Real tax 1917 3 484 16 Real increase $2 635 84 Tax rate 1916-19 .00579 ■ 00345 . 00659 . 00449 . 00645 .00759 .00500 .01090 00509 .00660 .0054 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $201 1916-17 4 $197 Instruction 1917-18 $4 429 1916-17 4 077 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17 . Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17 . . . Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 Debt 1917-18. 1916-17 . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17 . Total 1917-18. 1916-17 . $352 $425 449 $110 71 $615 463 $152 36 S376 3 $373 56 210 5 103 1422 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Schoharie county — Continued Town of Sharon Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 6 $526 002 . 00816 2 1 65890 .00682 3 1 81 000 .00410 4 1 68 935 ■ 00544 5 Contract 43 780 . 00797 6 1 74 875 .00705 7 I 94 040 . 00584 8 1 72 230 .00516 9 I 33 515 .00828 10 I 58 955 00557 11 Contract 59 745 . 00479 12 1 43 485 ■ 00597 13 1 70000 .00642 14 1 66 1 16 . 00544 Total 17 $1358658 .0067 Average rate . 00621 Total 1917-18 Si 396 733 . 0073 Balance 1916 $594 06 Balance 1917 388 88 $205 18 Tax 1917 9 215 86 Real tax 1917 $9 421 04 Tax 1918 $10 161 14 Real tax 1917 9 421 04 $740 10 Expenditures 1916-17 an budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $240 1916-17 59 $181 Instruction 1917-18 $8 673 1916-17 8 992 $319 Operation 1917-18 $2 050 1916-17 1 730 $320 Maintenance 1917-18 $225 1916-17 356 Auxiliary 1917-18 $100 1916-17 101 $1 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 12 Debt 1917-18 $400 1916-17 736 $336 Outlay 1917-18 $1 500 1916-17 970 $ 630 Total 1917-18 $13 188 1916-17 12 956 $ 232 Town of Summit Dist. Teachers 1 Contract 13- 14- 15. Total . Average rate. . Total 1917-18. Balance 191 7 . Balance 1916. Tax 191 7. Real tax. . Assessed valuation $19 935 79 137 26 166 35 075 14 204 26 383 32 263 23 459 16 564 29 449 14 367 28 519 75 559 23 566 $446 646 $618 226 $197 138 30 13 $59 17 $3 766 59 21 17 $3 70- 04 Tax rate 1916-17 .0020 .0048 .0092 .0072 .0158 .0108 .0080 .0077 .0077 .0111 .0168 .0089 .0085 .0124 .0084 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $170 1916-17 6 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916 $164 $6 020 5 611 $13 F637 134 $503 $75 64 $11 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM H23 Town of Summit Schoharie county — Concluded Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $7 542 36 Real tax 1917 3 707 04 Real increase $3 835 32 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Auxiliary 1917-18 S255 • 1916-17 236 . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17- Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $19 57 542 6 424 Town of Wright Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $79 950 2 1 9i 432 3 1 56 062 4 1 32 764 S 1 26 486 6 1 27 985 7 1 38 in 8 1 45 225 9 Contract 23 775 10 1 40 764 Total 9 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax 1917 Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 S462 554 $457 767 $216 209 17 59 $6 2 747 58 33 $2 753 91 $3 900 2 753 91 $1 146 09 Tax rate 1916-17 .0097 0059 0055 .0079 .0074 .0089 .0072 .0057 .0065 .0043 .0059 .0069 .0082 Schuyler county Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $215 • 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 $4 332 1916-17. Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. 3 831 50 $500 50 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $350 396 47 $46 47 $50 114 48 $64 48 $55 78 50 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $23 59 Debt 1917-18. 1916-17. Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $15 S3 $354 • • Total 1917-18 $5 381 . . 1916-17 4 430 51 $950 49 Towr. Dist. of Catharine Teachers 1 Assessed valuation $9 072 18 800 25 777 15 900 8 185 25 045 59 568 74 369 240 02 2 10 7 12 9S 3*3 $640 555 Tax rate 1916-17 . 0210 .0050 .0109 .0151 . 0089 . 0040 . 0050 . 0060 .0121 0130 .0528 . 0161 Expenditures budget Control 19 9! 16-17 and 7-18 Contract 1 1 Contract 1 1 $175 • • 3- . ■ 1916-17 . . . . Instruction 44 75 4. - - 6 7- . - 8 $130 25 $7 400 . . 1916-17. . . . 7 184 60 1 Operation 1 9 1 7- 1 8 . . . . 9. . . $215 40 . . . 1 , 5i 075 ■ • "otal 15 1 099 36 1 $24 3 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK ScKuyler county Town of Catharine Assessed valuation Average rate Total 1917-18 $589 759 Balance 1916 feio 43 Balance 1917 34 80 $275 63 Tax 1917 $10 415 75 Real tax $10 691 38 Tax 1918 $7 313 01 Real tax 191 7 10 691 38 Real increase $3 378 37 — Continued Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 .0139 Maintenance .0124 1917-18 $500 .. == 1916-17 621 68: $121 68' Auxiliary 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 54i 55 $441 55 Fixed charges 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 177 8o» $77 89^ Debt service 1917-18 $580 . . 1916-17 99 04. $480 96. Outlay 1917-18 $70 . . 1916-17 5 238 27 $5 168 27 Total 1917-18 $10 000 . . 1916-17 15 007 14 $5 007 14 Town of Cayuta Assessed £>j s t. Teachers valuation T 2 $139 068 t ;■;".!..... 1 86 792 4 _ ■ ■ 1 17 009 Total 4 $242 869 Average rate i mm i"ii Total 1917-18 ^ 2 4Q 086 Balance 1916 # 121 64 Balancei9i7 ._!!_! $0 97 Tax 1917 $I 2£>I 7 2 Real tax $* 2Q2 6o Taxi9i8 $* 930 79 Real tax 1917 I 292 6 9 Real increase #°38 10 Tax rate 1916-17 ■ 0059 .0036 .0100 .0065 . 007846 Town of Dix Dist. 2 3 4 5 6 Teachers Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $125 . . 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 $2 075 . . 1916-17 1 675 34 $399 66 Operation 1917-18 $255 . . 1916-17 156 90 $98 10. Maintenance 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 118 28. $18 28. Auxiliary 1917-18 $35 . . 1916-17 20 . . $15 •• Fixed charges 1917-18 $20 . . 1916-17 18 32- $1 68- Total 1917-18 $2 610 . . 1916-17 1 988 84 $621 16 Assessed valuation $35 400 31 150 18 250 53 690 41 050 Tax rate 1916-17 .00800 . 00667 . 00643 . 00523 . 00800 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $435 • • 1916-17 17 07 $417 93- THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1425 Town of Cayuta Dist. 7 Average rate . . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. . Balance 1917. . Tax 1917 Real tax 1917. Schuyler county — Continued Teachers Balance 1918 $5 144 Real tax 1917 Real increase. Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 36 215 . 00898 39 500 .00700 89 885 • 00339 64 955 . 00448 98 793 .01055 57 808 .00511 24 990 . 00903 49 950 .00580 $641 696 .00676 . 00682 5676 905 .0076 $53; 55 11 = 10 $42 c 45 4 34- 22 $4 762 47 $5 144 ■ ■ 4 76: 67 $38] 33 Expenditures budget 1916-17 and [917-18 Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $5 160 . . 5 192 57 $32 57 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $765 . . 603 46 Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $161 54 $600 . . 582 30 Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $17 70 $190 . . 69 75 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . S120 25 $50 . . 63 64 Debt 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . S13 64 £30 .. 408 27 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1916-17. 1916-17. 3378 27 S50 . . $7 280 . . 6 937 06 $34-2 94 Town of Hector Dist. Teache rs 1 1 3 I 4 1 5 1 6 Contract 8 1 9 1 10 1 11 1 12 1 13 1 15 4 16 1 17 1 18 1 19 1 20 1 21 1 22 1 23 2 24 1 25 Contract 26 1 27 1 28 1 29 1 30 1 31 1 32 1 33 I Assessed valuation Sin 036 44 190 94 812 37 171 123 062 63 635 39 980 35 019 52 321 48 945 39 272 245 632 105 816 53 575 37 861 33 855 33 016 48 735 35 582 109 689 72 469 25 402 90 156 29 673 23 836 22 360 31 500 49 594 65 730 37 470 Tax rate 1 916-1 7 ■ 0033 .0069 005 .0088 .0029 .005 .0075 .008 .008 .0067 . 006 .0077 .003 .007 .0084 .007 .0113 .006 .0071 .0085 . 006 .0014 .0044 .0079 .0100 .0112 .007 .0055 .0055 .0093 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $1 050 191 6-1 7 48 $1 002 Instruction 1917-18 $18 300 1916-17 16 340 $1 960 Operation 1917-18 $2 000 1916-17 1 952 48 Maintenance 1917-18 S600 1916-17 1 302 $702 Auxiliary 1917-18 Si 525 1916-17 1 121 S404 Fixed charges 1917-18 $400 1916-17 349 S51 1426 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Schuyler county — Continued Town of Hector Dist. 34 Teachers 1 1 2 Contract Assessed valuation 20 058 61 434 116 333 52 036 Tax rate 1916-17 .0140 .006 .008 .0045 Expenditures budget Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Total 1916-17. . . . 1916-17 and 1917-18 36 37 Total . . . . 36 $2 091 795 . 00636 $1 159 . . .0069 .0085 $2 151 860 . $23 875 • • 22 622 . . $2 227 73 I 159 09 $1 253 • • Si 068 64 $13 315 55 14 384 19 Tax 1918 . $18 290 81 14 384 19 $3 906 62 Town of Montour Dist. Teachers 4 1 5 7 6 1 7 Contract Total 11 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $93 432 0037 87 450 0045 69 510 .0050 520 007 .0070 34 255 .0052 66 125 .0011 $870 779 Average rate Total 1917-18 $833 526 Balance 1916 $1 522 02 Balance 1917 709 80 Tax 1917- Real tax . . $812 22 4 989 78 $5 802 00 Tax 1918 $9 053 00 Real tax 1917 5 802 00 Real increase. $3 251 00 .0044 .012 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $325 • • 1916-17 106 10 $218 90 Instruction 1917-18. 1916-18. Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17- Fixed charges 191 7-18. . . . 1916-17- • • ■ Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $9 004 . . 5 795 65 $3 208 35 $925 786 61 $138 39 $500 241 42 $258 S3 $210 261 02 $51 02 $75 •• 91 18 $16 18 $102 08 Total 1917-18 $11 039 • • 1916-17 7 384 06 $3 654 94 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1427 Schuyler county — Co Town of Orange Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $21 804 .01087 3 1 12644 .00658 4 1 29 191 .00200 S Contract 6317 . 00500 6 1 18080 .01382 7 Contract 13 495 . 00676 8 1 39 112 .00946 9 1 18 498 . 00794 11 \ . . 1 24 243 . 00926 13 1 12672 .01420 14 1 19348 .00825 15 1 8 207 .02206 16 1 ri 575 .01773 17 1 2865s .00720 Total 12 $263841 .00919 Average rate . 01008 Total 1917-18 $267331 .0116 Balance 1916 $i9S 96 Balance 1917 51 19 $138 77 Tax 1917 2 427 13 Real tax 1917 $2 665 90 Tax 1918 $3 101 05 Real tax 1917 2 565 90 Real increase $535 IS ntinued Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $195 •• 1916-17 S • . $190 . . Instruction 1917-18 $4 685 ■ • 1916-17 4 432 21 $252 79 Operation 1917-18 $415 • • 1916-17 352 18 $62 82 Maintenance 1917-18 $240 . . 1916-17 291 26 $51 26 Auxiliary 1917-18 $450 . . 1916-17 446 09 $3 9i Fixed charges 1917-18 $25 • . 1916-17 51 69 $26 69 Debt 1917-18 1916-17 $51 60 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $6 010 . . 1916-17 S 630 03 $379 97 Town of Reading Asses sed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 I $37 33S 2 I 129 945 3 I 99 OOO 4 1 38 665 5 1 ios 200 6 1 72 867 7 I 39 310 Total 7 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax 1917 $522 322 $562 1 009 189 24 19 68 $164 2 591 5i 46 $2 755 97 00555 .0072 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $295 ■ 1916-17 6 . Instruction $289 . 1917-18 $3 200 . 1916-17 2 911 . $289 Operation 1917-18 $375 • 1916-17 355 • $20 .. Maintenance 1917-18 $220 . 1916-17 306 . $86 . Auxiliary 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 52 . . $2 .. 1428 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Reading Schuyler county — Concluded Tax 1918 Real tax 1917. Real increase . , Assessed valuation $3 934 69 2 75.5 97 $1 178 72 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $7 1916-17 50 S43 Debt 1917-18 1916-17 $78 Outlay 1917-18 $750 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $4 897 1916-17 3 7S8 $1139 Town of Tyrone Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 - 9 1 10 1 12 1 14 1 15 1 16 2 Total 13 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax 1917 Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $27 625 •00735 49 075 .00200 38 036 .00522 37 425 .00561 29 295 .00100 39 000 . 00590 28 000 56 014 . 00850 48 856 . 00528 SO 406 .00705 29 399 .00819 28 050 . 00845 81 613 .00897 $542 734 .00652 .00687 $574 589 .0085 $771 06 258 37 $512 69 3 542 II $4 054 80 $4 8.39 40 4 054 80 5784 60 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $245 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 $5 759 1916-17 5 130 $629 Operation 1917-1S $725 1916-17 484 $241 Maintenance 1917-18 $185 1916-17 443 $258 Auxiliary 1917-18 292 1916-17 109 $183 Fixed charges 1917-18 I50 1916-17 101 J Si Debt 1917-18 1916-17 $30 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $107 Total 1917-18 $7 256 1916-17 6 404 S852 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I429 Town of Covert Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 r $104 38 3 1 114 224 4 1 155 030 5 Contract 90 608 6 1 89 612 7 1 49 7io 8 1 94 668 9 1 48 020 11 1 89 422 12 1 94 067 13 Contract 76 627 14 7 517 584 Total 16 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1916-17 Real tax Tax 1917-18 Real tax 1916-17 Real increase Seneca cotmty $1 523 610 $1 540 949 $1 147 512 17 44 9 $634 851 73 68 Sio 486 41 $12 10 367 486 59 41 $1 881 18 Town of Fayette Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1.. 1 $135 488 2 3 568 244 3 1 288 84s 4 1 104 893 S r 112 188 6 1 167 808 7 1 89 017 8 1 92 511 9 1 67 121 10 1 67 127 11 1 81 250 12 1 8s 472 13 1 58 765 14 1 113 208 15 1 199 806 16 1 129 897 Total 18 $2 361 640 Average rate Total 1917-18 $2 393 085 Tax rate Expenditures 1916-17 and 1916-17 budget l 917-18 .004 Control .0034 1917-18. . . . $110 .. .0032 1916-17- • • ■ 15S .. • 0035 .0038 $48 .. .0053 Instruction .0055 1917-18. . . . . $10 854 ■■ .007 1916-17. . . . 10 308 . . .0039 .0037 S546 • • .005 Operation .Oil 1917-18. . . . $2 215 • • 1916-17. . . . 1 452 . . .0064 $763 • ■ .0049 Maintenance .008 1917-18. . . . $1 140 . . — 1916-17. . . . 532 .. $608 . . Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . $375 •• 1916-17. . . . 353 ■ - $22 .. Fixed charges 1917-18 1917-18. . . . $57 •- 1916-17. . . . 156 .. $98 .. Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 Outlay $2 604 . . 1917-18. . . . $250 . . 1916-17. . . . 888 . . $638 .. Total 1917-18. . . . . $15 001 . . 1916-17 Expenditures 16 451 .. Si 450 . . Tax rats 1916-17 and 1916-17 budget 1917-18 .00276 Control .00400 1917-18. . . $800 . . 1916-17. . . . .00350 .00311 Instruction .00190 1917-18. . . $8 150 . - . 00449 1916-17 . . . 7 896 60 .00437 .00633 $253 40 . 00446 Operation .00617 1917-18. . . . $1 875 • ■ .00379 1916-17 1 714 3i . 00600 . 00400 $160 69 .00323 Maintenance .00280 1917-18. . . $1 745 • ■ 1916-17 . . 946 48 00357 $798 52 .00393 Auxiliary .00585 1917-18. . . $875 ■• 1916-17 , , . 169 94 $705 06 1430 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Seneca county Town of Fayette Assessed valuation Balance 1916 '. . $1 044 52 Balance 1917 617 74 1426 78 Tax 1917 8 436 65 Real tax $8 863 43 Tax 1918 $14 000 . . Real tax 8 863 43 Real increase $5 136 57 Continued Town of Junius Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $ 83 630 2 1 107 108 3 1 68 763 4 I 93 664 5 1 87 727 6 1 91 940 7 1 105 650 Total 7 $638 482 Average rate Total 1917-18 $656 272 Balance 1916 $450 84 Balance 191 7 410 64 $40 20 Tax 191 7 2 772 59 Real tax $2 812 79 Tax 1918 $4 000 . . Real tax 1917 2 812 79 Real increase $1 197 21 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Fixed charges 1917-18 $255 . . 1916-17 117 53 $137 47 Debt 1917-18 1916-17 I569 57 Outlay 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 160 75 $139 25 Total 1917-18 I14 000 . . 1916-17 11 575 18 $2 424 82 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00538 . 00299 ■ 00579 Expenditures 191 budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 :6-i7 and $440 . . . 00449 ■ 00459 . 00364 Instruction 1917-18 $3 320 . . 2 974 67 . 00402 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 $345 33 .00445 . 006095 $625 .. 338 18 Maintenance .1917-18 1916-17 $286 82 $245 .. 172 72 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 $72 28 $170 . . 85 62 Fixed charges 1917-18 Debt 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-118. . . . 1916-17 Total 1917-18 1916-17 $84 38 $44 30 $35 106 93 $71 03 $4 835 • • 3 722 42 $1 112 58 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1431 Seneca county Town ofLodi Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation j 1 $68 006 a'" ... ... . I 212 350 4 I 211 856 6 5 393 619 7 I 96 979 8 I 99 204 9 I 88 214 Total 11 Si 170 228 Average rate • • • • ■ Total 1917-18 Si 161 522 Balance 1917 S912 90 Balance 1916 269 19 $643 7i Tax 1917 $7 916 27 643 7i Real tax 1917 $7 272 56 Tax 1918 Si i 290 Real tax 1911 7 272 56 Real increase S4 017 44 — Contintu rax rate Expenditures 1916-17 and 1916-17 budget ] 917-18 .00519 Control . 00263 1917-18 $415 •• .00221 1916-17 72 17 .01351 . 00360 $342 03 . 00550 Instruction 1917-18. . . . $6 885 . . 1916-17 .00676 Operation $975 22 .00520 .00972 1917-18. . . . $1 280 . . 1916-17 1 098 09 $181 91 Maintenance 1917-18. . . . $735 •• 1916-17 61 27 $6"3 73 Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . $125 .. 1916-17 132 66 $7 66 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . $230 . . 1916-17 65 64 $164 36 Debt 1917-18. . . $1 470 . ■ 1916-17 ■ • • 1 682 32 $212 32 Outlay 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 • 213 09 $63 09 Total 1917-18. . . $11 290 . . 1916-17 . . . 9 235 03 $2 054 98 Town of Ovid Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 9 $547 428 2 1 130 443 3 1 178 515 4 1 91 427 5 1 130 234 6 1 125 276 7 1 118 451 8 1 190 904 9 I 114 373 Total 17 Si 627 051 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 992 496 Balance 1916 S598 69 Balance 1917 327 28 $271 41 Tax 1917 10 493 37 Real tax 1917 $10 764 78 Tax rate Expenditures 1916-17 and 1916-17 budget 1917-18 .01298 Control .00315 1917-18 S620 . .00330 1916-17 23s 1 .00519 .00320 .00220 Instruction .00314 1917-18... .00209 1916-17. . . .00389 . 00644 Operation == 1917-18. . . .00434 1916-17- ■ ■ .008502 (Dist. 1) .00677 (Dist. 2-9) Maintenance 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Auxiliary 1917-18. . 1916-17. . $66 31 S348 87 S8 205 9 463 21 $1 170 21 $2 040 1 957 60 58 2 40 $559 336 60 $222 40 $260 193 69 M32 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Ovid Seneca county — Continued Assessed. valuation Tax 1918 $14 551 50 Real tax 1917 10 764 78 Real increase $3 786 72 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 9 1 7- 1 8 Fixed charges 1917-18 $425 so 1916-17 182 89 $242 61 Debt service 1917-18 $2 340 . . 1916-17 4 972 79 $2 632 79 Outlay 1917-18 $12 .. 1916-17 262 63 $250 63 Total 1917-18 $14 551 50 1916-17 17 606 54 $3 055 04 Town of Romulus Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $72 046 2 1 136 801 3 3 729 917 4 1 117 479 5 3 235 104 6 I 187 920 8 I 292 430 Total 11 Si 771 697 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 478 679 Balance 1916 $1 950 32 Balance 1917 1 282 69 $667 63 Tax 1917 5 893 7i Real tax 1917 Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase $6 561 34 $7 6 858 06 56l 34 $1 296 72 Tax rate 1916-17 .00693 .00365 .00187 .00353 .00927 .00191 .00195 .00332 .00418 .005314 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 1916-17 $34° • • Instruction 1917-18 $5 206 . . 1916-17 * 6 114 78 $908 78 Operation 1917-18 $1 360 . . 1916-17 1 103 98 . $256 02 Maintenance 1917-18 $325 72 1916-17 219 89 I105 83 Auxiliary 1917-18 $155 •• 1916-17 125 67 $29 33 Fixed charges 1917-18 $118 . . 1916-17 147 16 $29 16 Debt service 1917-18 $353 34 1916-17 652 86 $299 52 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 191 7-1 8 $8 364 34 1916-17 7 858 06 S506 28 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1433 Seneca county Town of Tyre Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $87 254 3 1 73 065 4 1 123 366 5 1 62 668 6 1 82 802 8 1 78 840 9 I 80 583 Total 7 $584 578 Average rate Total 1917-18 $596 375 Balance 1916 $226 55 Balance 191 7 10480 Si 2 1 75 Tax 1917 2 420 56 Real tax $2 542 31 Tax 1 91 8 $4 000 . . Real tax 1917 2 542 31 Real increase Si 457 69 ' — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 . 00360 .00362 .00240 Expenditures budget ] Control 1917-18 1916-17. Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 Maintenance 1917-18. . . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 Debt 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 .... Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 .... Total 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 .... 1916-17 and 1917-18 $305 ■ - .00426 .00467 . 00360 $3 220 . . 2 839 33 .00414 $380 67 .00383 .006707 $680 . . 359 07 $320 93 $350 .. 1 10 89 $230 II $145 •• 103 09 $41 91 $50 . . 33 14 $16 36 S26 so $100 . . $4 850 . . 3 481 02 Si 368 98 Town of Seneca Falls Dist. Teachers 2 1 3 I 4 1 5 Contract 6 1 7 1 Total 5 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1917 $309 64 Balance 1916 201 42 $108 22 Tax 1917 $2 104 88 10S 22 Real tax Si 996 66 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 S103 37i .00340 119 904 .00326 272 515 .00142 67 165 .00424 134 213 .00252 139 185 .00251 S836 353 .00251 S899 915 . 00444 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 S32S •■ 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 S2 050 . . 1916-17 2 017 45 S487 55 Operation 1917-18 $700 . . 1916-17 403 67 $296 33 Maintenance 1917-18 S750 . . 1916-17 88 45 S661 55 Auxiliary 1917-18 $450 . . 1916-17 222 50 $227 50 H34 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Seneca Fads Seneca county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $4 000 . . Real tax 1917 1 996 66 Real increase $2 003 34 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $29 97 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $4 730 . . 1916-17 2 762 04 $1 967 96 Town of Varick Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 1 Total 9 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 $277 49 Tax 1917 3 534 3i Real tax 1917 $3 811 80 Tax 1918 $5 924 70 Real tax 1917 3 81 1 80 Real increase $2 112 90 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $62 284 .00481 98 390 .00426 89 349 .00392 65 339 .00500 102 279 •00374 50 505 .00475 268 592 .00250 90 707 . 00465 85 198 .00481 $912 643 .00387 .00427 .00652 $908 325 $580 99 303 50 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $370 . . 1916-17 Instruction 1917.-18 $4 725 . . 1916-17 4 042 70 $682 30 Operation 1917-18 $692 . . 1916-17 464 54 $227 46 Maintenance 1917-18 $975 •■ 1916-17 337 74 $637 26 Auxiliary 1917-18 $180 . . 1916-17 80 40 $99 60 Fixed charges 1917-18 $110 . . 1916-17 57 67 $52 33 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17. ■ ■ $3 60 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17 . Total 1917-18. 1916-17. ' Si 63 72 $7 5 052 150 37 $1 901 63 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM H35 Seneca county Town of Waterloo Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 1 $126 284 3 1 140 178 4 1 92 501 5 2 608 5S5 7 I 68 279 Total 6 $1 035 797 Total ■ - — ^-: Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 031 625 Balance 1916 $971 66 Balance 1917 641 38 $330 28 Tax 1917 3 170 48 Real tax $3 500 76 Tax 1918 $5 570 78 Real tax 191 7 3 500 76 Real increase $2 070 02 — Concluded Tax rate 1916-17 .00294 .00221 .00321 .00296 •0055s Expenditure: budget Control 1917-1S 1916-17. , . . Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 Operation 1917-18 . . . 1916-17. . . . Maintenance 1916-17. . . . Auxiliary 1917-18 . . 1916-17 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18, , . 1916-17 Total 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . j 1916-17 and 1917-18 $345 • • $345 •• . 00306 $3 300 . . 2 582 80 00335 .0054 $717 20 $700 . . 722 71 $22 71 $650 . . 303 09 $346 91 $75 - • 71 31 $3 69 $50 .. 35 86 $14 14 $450 . . 448 .. $2 . . $71 •• $5 570 . . 4 234 77 $1 335 23 Steuben co 01250 01S50 01214 00451 00679 OIOOO 00943 . 0099 .01199 ■ 014543 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $465 . . 1916-17 93 08 $371 92 Instruction 1917-18 $6 960 . . 1916-17 7 668 77 S708 77 Operation 1917-18 $975 •• 1916-17 998 S3 S23 83 Maintenance 1917-18 S850 . . 1916-17 1 049 22 S199 22 Auxiliary 1917-18 $435 • • 1916-17 430 32 $4 68 Fixed charges 1917-18 S50 . . 1916-17 61 68 $11 68 Debt services 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 S145 64 Total 1917-18 S9 735 ■ • 1916-17 10 447 S4 S712 54 1464 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK St Lawrence county — Conti Town of Fowler Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1016-17 1 2 S156 823 . 00632 2 1 38 101 . 00952 3 1 43 887 .00739 4 3 3SS650 .00470 5 1 29270 .01349 6 1 30520 .00737 7 1 49047 .00917 8 1 43244 .00525 9 1 54682 .00424 10 I 34 400 .00793 II I 96852 .00774 12 I 83 402 . 00347 14 Contract 25 956 . 00350 15 1 11 900 .01260 Total 16 $1 053 734 .0061 Average rate . 00733 Total 1917-18 $1 036 090 . 0077 Balance 1916 $769 39 Balance 1917 1 079 30 $309 91 Tax 1917 6 436 21 Real tax $6 126 30 Tax 1918 $7 979 38 Real tax 1917 6 126 30 Real increase Si 853 08 niied Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-1S $300 . . 1916-17 40 . . $360 . . Instruction 1917-18 $7 526 . . 1916-17 6 764 35 $761 65 Operation 1917-18 $883 . • 1916-17 826 78 $56 22 Maintenance 1917-18 $653 •• 1916-17 575 83 $77 17 Auxiliary 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 93 92 $6 08 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $48 95 Incidentals 1917-18 $612 28 1916-17 Debt service 1917-18 $254 80 1916-17 242 . . $12 80 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $10 . . Total 1917-18 $10 329 08 1916-17 8 601 83 Si 727 25 Town of Gouverneur Dist. Teachers 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 1 10 1 11 1 12 1 13 1 14 1 IS 2 16 1 Total 16 Average rate Total 1917-18 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $72 326 . 00360 64 140 . 00406 112 431 .00310 53 058 .00377 58 350 .00429 56 878 .00477 104 549 00339 55 494 . 00504 125 330 ■00375 44 5io . 00400 74 315 .00386 43 535 ■ 00474 59 134 .00560 138 000 .00550 69 751 . 00399 Si 131 801 .0041 . 00423 .0054 $1 12s 424 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 S180 . . 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 $6 591 • • 1916-17 6 069 77 $521 23 Operation 1917-18 S890 . . 1916-17 529 72 $360 28 Maintenance 1917-18 $320 . . 1916-17 316 21 S3 79 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1465 St Lawrence county Town of Gouvemcur Assessed valuation Balance 1916 $488 12 Balance 1917 366 42 $121 70 Tax 191 7 4 749 SO Real }ax 54 871 20 Tax 1918 $6 118 8s Real tax 4 871 20 Real increase $1 247 65 Continued Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Auxiliary 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 33 68 $66 32 Fixed charges 1917-18 $SO . . 1916-17 74 95 $24 95 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $25 . . 1916-17 19 Si $5 49 Total 1917-18 $8 156 . . 1916-17 7 043 84 $1 112 16 Town of Hammond Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 5 $287 689 2 1 34 590 4 1 63 126 S 1 122 400 6 1 62 030 7 1 77 900 8 1 52 590 9 1 73 835 10 1 60 232 II I 140 750 Total 14 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax $975 142 $996 ! ^7.5 $1 527 1 269 44 02 $258 42 $7 789 258 47 42 $8 047 80 $9 968 8 047 73 89 $1 920 84 Tax rate 1916-17 .0153 .0151 .0071 .0032 .0051 .0042 .0071 .0051 .0059 .0027 .0079 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-i 8 Control 1917-18 $215 .. 1916-17 26 40 $188 60 Instruction 1917-18 $7 600 . . 1916-17 6 635 89 $964 11 Operation 1917-18 $1 315 • • 1916-17 1 ISO 54 $164 46 Maintenance 1917-18 $450 . . 1916-17 401 08 $48 92 Auxiliary 1917-18 $375 • ■ 1916-17 224 12 $150 88 Fixed charges 1917-18 $275 .. 1916-17 267 39 $7 61 Debt 1917-18 $1 120 . . 1916-17 2 009 . . $889 . . Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $101 18 Total 1917-18 $11 350 . . 1916-17 10 815 60 $534 40 1466 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Hermon Dist. St Lawrence county — ■ Continued Assessed Tax rate Teachers valuation 1916-17 5 $284 520 .01050 I 64 775 . 00463 I 40 130 .00751 1 40 875 . 00800 I 81 050 . 00430 1 32 495 . 00826 1 39 470 . 00821 I 4 303 . 00620 1 33 525 .00783 Contract 15 575 1 26 800 .00876 1 20 035 . 00798 Total . Av rage rate . . Total 1917-18. Balance 1917.. Balance 1916. . Tax 191 7. Real tax. Tax 1918. Real tax. . Real increase. $■ 719 : 553 $■ 777 : 286 $1 I 428 095 67 25 : 8333 42 $5 791 333 28 42 $5 457 86 $8 5 161 457 51 86 $2 703 65 Town of Hopkinlon Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $63 500 2 2 165 050 3 1 39 770 4 1 101 635 5 1 101 350 6 1 33 370 7 1 * 24 380 8 I 22 410 9 I 89 240 10 2 90 683 11 1 26 000 12 Contract it 000 13 1 76 730 Total 14 $845 118 Average rate Total 1917-18 .' $856 173 Balance 1916 $359 03 Balance 1917 147 I2 I211 91 Tax 1917 4 079 63 Real tax $4 291 54 . 00804 ■ 00747 . 0105 Tax rate 1916-17 .00420 00515 . 00626 . 00271 . 00280 • 00554 . 00999 . 01 000 00303 .00730 . 01005 Contract . 00400 .00482 .00591 . 006001 Expenditures budget Control 1916-17 and 1917-18 1916-17. • • . Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $65 67 $7 300 . . 7 105 60 Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $194 40 $1 075 • - 890 or Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $184 99 $1 500 . . 450 26 Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $1 049 74 $35 •• 165 50 Fixed charges $130 50 1916-17. . . . Debt service $&S 62 Miscellaneous 1917-18. . . . $577 • . Outlay Total 1017-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Sio 847 . . 8 762 66 $1 724 34 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1 91 7-1 8 Control 1917-18. $635 • • Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. • • ■ Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $5 348 . . 5 326 27 $21 73 $840 . . 408 18 Maintenance 1917-18. . . . $431 82 $400 . . Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $50 . . 91 78 Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. • . ■ I41 78 $325 • • 187 03 $137 97 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I467 Town of HopkinUjii Tax 1918. Real tax. . Real increas St Lawrence county — Continued Assessed valuation $6 000 00 4 291 54 $1 708 46 Town of Lawrence Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $62 310 2 1 24 836 3 1 41 790 4 4 139 477 5 1 60 414 6 2 132 397 7 1 86 696 8 1 51 346 9 1 38 576 10 . . 1 55 082 11 2 141 623 12 Contract 43 000 Total 16 $820 5 47 Average rate Total 1917-18 $817 866 Balance 1916 $574 10 Balance 1917 2S0 61 $293 49 Tax 1917 5 649 56 Real tax $3 943 05 Tax 1918 $6 500 . . Real tax 191 7 5 943 05 Real increase $556 95 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00399 .00500 . 00409 • 01 599 . 00299 .00830 . 00449 . 00500 . 00399 .00410 .00516 . C0116 00681 0053.= 0070 Expenditures budget Debt service 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 and" [917-18 Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $100 . . 415 05 Total 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 .... $315 05 $7 608 . . 6 428 31 $1 269 69 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $430 . . 1916-17 36 26 Instruction 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $393 74 $6 740 . . 6 040 63 $699 37 $1 170 . . 1 074 52 Maintenance 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . $95 48 $445 . . 347 47 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $97 53 $100 . . 69 32 Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $30 68 $400 . . 388 77 Debt 1917-1S. . . . $11 23 1916-17. . . . $535 90 Outlay 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $334 82 Total 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . $9 28S . . 8 827 69 $457 31 Town of Lisbon Dist. 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Assessed Tax rate Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 $69 975 .00329 1 89 479 .00250 1 99 090 . 00300 1 79 744 .00274 3 198 787 . 00800 1 78 524 .00379 1 =19 028 .00338 1 78 380 •00333 1 72 6S0 .00329 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $565 . 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 $15 300 . 1916-17 11 937 • $3 363 . 1468 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Lisbon Assessed valuation io i #30 160 .00568 11 1 44060 .00453 12 1 63330 .00418 13 1 94 2 54 .00427 14 1 60848 . 00450 15 1 76 404 ■ 00330 16 1 47681 .00520 17 1 34 487 .00489 18 1 59 900 .00374 19 1 85 000 .00307 20 1 62 741 . 00400 21 1 24536 .00749 22 1 70 240 .00398 23 1 47607 .00398 24 1 61 953 .00443 25 1 92456 .00399 26 1 46910 .00510 27 Contract 27650 .00121 28 1 83 460 . 00301 29 r 53 587 .00463 30 1 69182 .00394 31 1 324SO .00584 32 1 32 400 . 00560 Total 33 $2 126 992 . 00424 Average rate • 00418 Total 1917-18 $2 240 359 . 00676 Balance 1916 $1 806 05 Balance 1917 1 890 23 $84 18 Tax 1917 9 020 95 Real tax $8 936 77 Tax 1918 $14915 ■■ Real tax 1917 8 936 77 Real increase $5 978 23 Expenditures 1 916- 17 and budget 1917-18 Operation 1917-18 $1 620 . . 1916-17 1 533 84 $86 16 Maintenance 1917-18. .... $1 250 . . 1916-17 580 12 $669 88 Auxiliary 1917-18 $750 . . 1916-17 312 69 $437 31 Fixed charges 1917-18 $25 ■ ■ 1916-17 167 42 $142 42 Debt service 1917-18 $405 •• 1916-17 438 02 $33 02 Outlay 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 7 •• $93 Total 1917-18 $20 ois • • 1916-17 14 976 09 $5 038 91 Town of Louisville Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $33 800 2 1 43 700 3 1 56 750 4 1 69 781 5 1 69 053 6 2 83 946 7 1 58 887 8 1 33 059 9 1 44 250 10 1 36 886 11 1 14 950 12 2 73 050 13 1 46 600 14 1 36 200 Total 16 $700 912 Average rate Total 1917-18 $701 96i Balance 1916 $258 61 Balance 1917 50 39 $208 22 Tax 1917 2 768 67 Real tax $4 976 89 Tax 1918 $5 264 07 Real tax 1917 4 976 89 Real increase $287 18 Tax rate 1916-17 . 00600 . 00600 . 00602 . 00599 .00670 .00846 .00506 . 00483 . 00684 . 00724 . 01049 • 00783 .00536 . 01000 .0068 . 0069 . 0075 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 $6 318 . . 1916-17 S 942 46 $375 54 Operation 1917-18 $540 . . 1916-17 7i6 15 $176 IS Maintenance 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 498 80 $398 80 Auxiliary 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17. . . . . 114 01 $14 01 Fixed charges 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 73 48 $26 52 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 .... $146 70 Total 1917-18 $7 308 .. 1916-17 7 491 60 $183 60 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I469 Town of Macomb Dist. Total. Average rate. Total 1917-18 Balance 191 6. Balance 1917. Tax 191 7. Real tax . , Tax 1918 Real tax 191 7 . Real increase * Budget missing. Town of Madrid Dist. Total . Average rate . . Total 191 7-1 8. Balance 1916. . Balance 191 7. . Tax 1917. Real tax . . Tax 1918 Real tax 191 7 . Real increase. Town of Massena Dist. Teachers Teachers 6 Teachers •ence county — ■ Contim Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $75 328 .0039 19 956 .0087 59 697 .0062 52 650 .0079 55 747 .0061 26 338 .0071 55 708 .0067 64 927 .0077 29 700 .0109 24 721 .0103 25 100 .0092 47 880 .0041 35 197 .0083 14 355 .0158 24 895 .008 $612 109 $638 227 $667 395 79 82 $271 4 412 97 63 $4 684 60 $6 382 4 684 27 60 Si 697 67 .0072 Assessed valuation $325 704 42 053 54 625 37 495 30 180 54 520 76 536 62 156 67 599 12 248 $763 116 $895 . (.96 $484 632 72 19 —$147 5 348 47 97 $5 201 50 $5 820 5 201 72 50 $619 22 Tax rate 1916-17 .00800 .00810 .00500 .00700 .00632 .00500 .00460 .00482 .00481 .00439 .00700 .005804 .0065 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $53 840 .00500 105 900) 117 032 1 .00340 85 965 .00459 115 000 ) .00500 40 025 ) 89 940 .00340 81 743 .00415 92 220 .00360 Expenditures 1916-17 and *budget 1917-18 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18. 1916-17. Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Total 1917-18. 1916-17. S25 .. $8 257 26 $997 23 $208 63 $2 95 $102 61 $10 300 . . 9 568 68 $731 32 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $195 ., 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 $6 784 .. 1916-17 6 175 17 $608 83 1470 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Massena Dist. Total . Balance 191 6. Balance 1917. Tax 191 7 . Real tax . St Lawrence county Teachers Continued Assessed valuation 1 $46 960 1 20 500 1 56 234 1 68 6so 1 55 872 1 24 060 15 $1 054 °4! Average rate Total 1917-18 Si 043 591 $33 1 72 124 74 $206 98 4 933 89 140 87 Tax 1918 $ 5 985 94 Real tax 1917 5 140 87 Real increase. S845 07 Tax rate 1916-17 .00650 .01270 .00532 .00510 .00500 .01100 .0046 .0058 .006 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Operation 1917-18 $756 56 1916-17 735 37 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $21 19 $345 341 27 $3 73 $75 123 73 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. #48 73 $100 . . no 19 $10 19 J8 255 56 7 488 62 $766 94 Town of Morristown, Unit No. 1 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 5 S318 950 2 1 76 500 3 I 38 470 6 I 52 670 7 1 59 044 11 I 64 387 12 1 50 000 Total n $660 021 Average rate Total 191 7-1 8 $672 254 Balance 1917 $2 172 18 Balance 1916 672 63 $1 499 55 Tax 1917 $5 000 45 I 499 55 Real tax $3 500 90 Tax 1918 $6 278 65 Real tax 191 7 3 500 90 Real increase $2 111 75 Tax rate 1916-17 .0095 .0030 .0067 • 0053 0093 .0051 0057 .0075 .0064 .0931 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $275 . . 1916-17 114 47 $160 53 Instruction 1917-18 $5 150 . . 1916-17 5 451 86 $301 86 Operation 1917-18 $925 . . 1916-17 462 34 $462 66 Maintenance 1917-18 $355 . . 1916-17 482 98 $127 98 Auxiliary 1917-18 $760 . . 1916-17 101 67 $658 33 Fixed charges 1917-18 $90 . . 1916-17 117 5i $27 51 Debt 1917-18 $475 . . 1916-17 1 666 32 $1 191 32 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $2 235 05 Total 1917-18 $8 030 . . 1916-17 10 632 20 $2 602 20 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1471 St Lawrence county Town of Morristown, Unit No. 2 Dist. Continued Total . Average rate. . Total 1917-18. Balance 1916. Balance 1917. Tax 1917 . Real tax . Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 . Real increase. Teachers 1 3 I 1 I Assessed valuation $47 850 145 553 78 328 73 990 38 955 65 145 45 500 $489 153 $1 105 18 689 72 Si 228 93 Tax rate 1916-17 .0074 .0105 .0136 .005 .0064 .0060 .0065 $495 321 .0086 .0079 .012092 Expenditures 1016-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $290 . . 1916-17 19 60 Instruction 1917-18. 1916-17. Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $270 40 $5 ISO 4 181 87 $968 13 $825 524 86 $300 14 $125 281 06 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Debt 1917-18. 1916-17. Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $156 06 $90 .. 142 58 $52 58 $65 56 72 $8 28 $630 . . 630 . . $150 .. 263 20 $7 325 • . 6 099 89 $1 225 11 Town of Norfolk Dist. Total . Average rate. Total 1917-ii Balance 1916. Balance 191 7. Tax 1917. Real tax. Teachers Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $316 669 .00251 21 OOO .01120 81 301 00337 35 160 .00401 69 071 .00499 33 700 .00793 23 785 .00836 24 435 ■00573 25 770 .01046 68 895 • 00544 57 432 .00500 $757 218 .0041 .0068 $764 501 .0057 $807 00 282 11 $524 89 3 334 18 $3 859 07 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 10 85 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 $89 IS $4 700 . . 4 310 71 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 $389 29 $760 . . S90 41 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $169 59 $100 . . 468 88 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 $368 88 $110 .. 311 63 $201 63 1472 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Norfolk St Lawrence county Tax 1918 Real tax 1917. Real increase. Town of Oswegatchie Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 1 3 ' 1 4 1 S 5 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 1 10 1 11 1 12 1 13 1 14 1 IS 1 16 1 17 1 18 1 19 1 21 1 Total 24 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 191 7 Balance 1916 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 191 8 Real tax 191 7 Real increase Assessed valuation $4 19s 00 3 859 07 $335 93 Continued Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 56 32 $6 32 Outlay 1917-18 $125 . . 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $5 995 .. 1916-17 s 748 80 $246 20 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $139 S34 .0239 78 283 .00382 76 319 .00373 70 845 .00458 370 512 .00843 64 035 .00546 88 937 . 00404 67 113 .00560 102 300 .00411 95 253 .00356 5i 560 .00387 62 407 . 00496 44 600 .00419 4i 500 .00412 65 330 .00294 47 844 .00347 68 098 .00427 38 488 .00500 63 750 .00470 42 742 .00614 fi 679 4S0 .00505 $1 719 760 .0065 $1 74; ]■ 77 77S ; 01 $966 76 $8 495 ; 00 966 76 $7 528 i 33 $n ni i 60 7 528 33 $3 6s c 1 27 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $500 . . 1916-17 39 35 $460 65 Instruction 1917-18 $10 477 . . 1916-17 9 732 20 $744 80 Operation 1917-18 $3 523 . . 1916-17 1 759 62 $1 763 38 Maintenance 1917-18 $100 . . 1916-17 308 19 $208 19 Auxiliary 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 94 3i $105 60 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $118 22 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Incidental 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $15 000 . . 1916-17 12 051 89 $2 948 n Town of Parishville Dist. Teachers 1 5 2 I 3 I 4 I 5 1 6 1 7 „ 1 8 Contract Assessed valuation $160 163 38 150 64 660 47 300 25 950 24 960 27 410 26 710 Tax rate 1916-17 .0140 .0059 .0055 .0035 .0072 .0094 .0091 .0056 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 1916-17 86 72 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 7 411 42 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1473 Town of Parishville Dist. 9 St L Teachers awrence county — Cont- Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $42 150 .0048 23 380 .0095 18 740 .0123 15 470 .0148 n 500 .0123 24 910 .0123 17 no .0306 16 755 .0080 inued Expenditures budget Operation Maintenance 1916-17. . . . Auxiliary Fixed charges Debt services 1917-18. . . . Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total Expenditures budget 1 Control Instruction 1916-17 Operation Maintenance Fixed charges Auxiliary Debt 1917-18 Outlay Total 1916-17 and 1917-18 10 11 $695 28 13 15 $220 49 16 Total 18 $585 318 .0099 ^729 25 Average rate Total 1917-18 .0103 .Oil 5591 860 Balance 1916 $500 85 495 93 Tax rate 1916-17 .02100 .00631 .01856 .01862 $71 3i $4 92 5 807 72 Tax 1917 $393 49 Real tax $5 812 64 Tax 1918 $6 510 00 5 812 64 $697 36 Real increase Teachers $9 607 96 Assessed valuation $417 686 79 140 275 035 Town of Piercefield Dist. 1 1916-17 and 917-18 2 S425 •■ 42 63 3 Total $771 861 fa82 37 Average rate .01529 .0131 $6 944 •• 6 707 02 Total 1917-18 $759 610 Balance 1917 $3 097 34 2 345 S3 $236 98 $2 800 . . 2 484 46 Balance 1916 $751 81 Tax 191 7 $14 377 79 751 81 fai5 54 $700 . . 520 48 Real tax 191 7 .... $13 625 98 10 000 00 Tax 1918 #179 52 Jioo .. 68 90 Real increase . . . $3 625 98 fa 1 10 fa75 .. 370 62 $4 38 4 27s 64 $586 69 $11 344 ■- IS 056 44 fa 712 44 47 1474 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Pierrepont Dist. St Lawrence cour Assessed Teachers valuation 1 $33 084 r 56 390 1 35 445 2 229 287 1 26 640 1 35 370 Contract 26 780 1 35 244 2 460 1 16 846 1 22 720 1 18 631 1 21 810 1 34 360 1 30 030 1 24 270 1 21 370 ity — Contit Tax rate 1916-17 .01000 .00540 .00690 .00435 . 00900 .00719 .00250 .00624 .00882 .01000 .00654 .01030 .00649 .00697 .00750 .00500 .00615 .00781 .007376 Tax rate 1916-17 .01676 .00514 .01050 .01550 .01350 .00870 .01333 .01660 tued Expenditures budget 1 Control Instruction 1917-18 Operation Maintenance Auxiliary 1917-18. .. . Fixed charges Debt service 1916-17... . Outlay Total 1917-18. .. Expenditure: budget Control 1916-17, Instruction 1917-18. 1916-17, Operation Maintenance Auxiliary 1916-17. , . 1916-17 and 917-18 $110 .. 24 .. $86 .. 6 8 $6 044 . . 5 7ii •• $333 $745 .. 526 . . 14 $219 .. 16 17 $150 . . 288 16 $670 737 $138 . . Total 1917-18 $680 922 $375 .. 330 • . $1 219 37 815 57 $39 .. $403 80 4 126 08 $30 .. 182 .. $4 529 88 $152 .. $5 022 83 4 529 88 $318 .. 704 • ■ $492 95 $386 .. Teachers 1 Assessed valuation $22 269 72 023 27 251 13 325 22 028 21 390 17 651 14 620 $123 .. 50 .. $7 772 . . 7 894 $122 .. Town of Pilcairn Dist. 3 1916-17 and 1917-18 1 $75 .. 1 16 .. 1 1 $59 .. 6 1 .... 1 $3 240 . . 8 1 3 099 51 Total 8 $210 557 .0104 $140 49 $239 189 .01250 .011288 *$725 •• 328 31 $558 41 340 50 $396 69 $217 9i 2 200 18 $295 82 $2 418 09 $65 50 * Includes incidental expenses THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1475 Town of Pitcairn St Lawrence county — Continued Tax 1018. . . . Real tax Real increase. Assessed valuation $2 700 00 2 418 09 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $19 90 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay I9i7*-i8 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $4 040 . . 1916-17 3 825 04 $214 96 Town of Potsdam Dist. Teachers 2 1 3 1 4 1 S 1 6 1 7 I 9 1 10 I 11 I 12 I 13 1 14 1 IS 1 16 I 18 I 19 1 20 I 21 I 22 'I 23 2 24 Contract 25 1 26 1 27 1 28 Contract 29 Contract 31 1 32 1 Total 26 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 $12 009 16 Real tax 1917 8 168 46 Real increase $3 840 70 Asses ised Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $58 320 .0045 48 243 .0052 77 250 .0035 57 240 .0057 354 499 .0016 113 344 .0022 66 650 .0043 85 000 .0039 83 650 .0048 28 72.5 .0071 80 000 .0048 69 142 .0040 66 232 .0047 7i 5io .0045 62 200 .0045 72 100 .0040 5i 705 .0045 48 334 .0055 75 109 .0040 42 871 .0018 33 050 39 475 .0029 89 106 .0039 43 816 .0044 22 295 .0046 39 157 .0049 42 60s .0081 49 835 .0049 Si 971 553 .0041 .0044 .007 $1 881 727 $1 560 27 448 77 $1 II] : 50 8 l6i ; 46 $9 279 96 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $700 . . 1916-17 20 59 $679 41 Instruction 1917-18 $12 750 .. 1916-17 10 555 39 $2 194 SI Operation 1917-18 $1 250 .. 1916-17 943 29 $306 71 Maintenance 1917-18 #550 . . 1916-17 445 35 $104 65 Auxiliary 1917-18 $95° • - 1916-17 852 98 $97 02 Fixed charges 1917-18 $100 .. 1916-17 156 52 $56 52 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $510 80 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $19 96 Total 1917-18 $16 300 . . 1916-17 13 504 88 $2 795 12 1476 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Rossie Dist. St Lawrence county — Continued Teachers Total. Average rate. . Total 1 91 7-i 8. Balance 1916.. Balance 191 7. . Tax 1917. Real tax. , Tax 1918. Real tax . Real increase. Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 35 328 .0144 37 630 .0073 50 895 .0058 79 OOO .0047 24 160 .0088 29 198 .0084 97 063 .0040 13 200 .0145 43 no .0035 $409 584 $408 627 $272 204 61 02 $68 2 658 59 03 $2 726 62 $3 779 2 726 62 $1 052 38 Town of Russell Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 7 $98 539 2 I 55 023 3 I 30 608 4 I 13 490 5 2 52 20s 6 I 65 102 7 Contract 9 580 8 1 59 454 9 1 35 7io 10 1 30 135 11 Contract 35 860 12 1 18 689 13 1 54 974 14 1 32 957 15 1 29 828 16 1 58 013 17 1 17 034 18 1 27 670 19 1 19 210 20 1 15 100 21 1 6 090 Total 25 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1917 Balance 1916 $755 371 $773 175 $1 938 1 831 32 18 $107 14 .0064 Tax rate 1916-17 .01000 . 00499 . 00653 .01410 .01000 . 00479 .01569 . 00442 .00700 . 00699 . 00400 . 00698 . 00500 .00700 .00759 .00532 .01900 .00722 .00910 .01059 .00831 .013 Expenditures budget 1916 917- -17 and 18 Control $225 . Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $2 668 .. 3 880 54 $1 212 54 $444 .. 336 16 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $107 84 $250 159 26 $90 74 $100 107 60 Fixed charges 1917-18. . . . $7 60 37 10 Debt service $52 90 $38 88 Outlay Total 1916-17 $3 777 .. 4 559 54 $782 54 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $58s 1916-17 103 Instruction 1917-18. . 1916-17. . Jio 746 10 144 Operation 1917-18. 1916-17. $602 $2 125 1 497 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $628 $560 5i6 Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $1 075 671 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17. . . . $404 $100 150 $50 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1477 Town of Russell Tax 191 7. Real tax. Tax 1918 Real tax 1917. Real * No children. St Lawrence county — Continued Assessed valuation $5 542 69 5 649 83 $7 731 75 5 649 83 $2 081 92 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 191 7-18 Outlay 1917-18 $25 1916-17 259 $234 Total 1917-18 $15 216 1916-17 13 505 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . 5i 711 '$165' Town of Stockholm Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $42 680 2 1 47 818 3 1 44 537 4 1 98 200 5 I 33 618 6 1 45 700 7 1 25 490 8 1 49 499 9 1 62 997 10 1 34 900 11 1 41 610 12 1 19 037 13 1 66 925 14 1 40 900 16 1 49 274 17 t 1 59 547 18 I 44 781 19 I 26 800 20 I 22 744 21 Contract 26 130 22 1 22 196 23 1 32 810 24 1 34 173 25 1 33 200 26 Contract 16 600 Total 23 Si 022 166 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 051 852 Balance 1916 $898 83 Balance 1917 337 65 $56 r 18 Tax 1917 5 657 . . Actual tax $6 218 18 Tax 1918 $7 100 . . Actual tax $6 218 . . Real increase $881 82 Tax rate 1916-17 .00782 .00567 . 00599 . 00494 .00470 .00615 .00761 . 00498 . 00476 .00587 .00602 .00800 . 00440 . 00605 . 00669 .00537 .00503 . 00463 .00599 . 00635 . 00499 .00600 .00970 .00598 .00675 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 5450 . . 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 $8 594 . . 1916-17 8 129 45 #464 55 Operation 1917-18 $990 . . 1916-17. ... 733 34 $256 66 Maintenance 1917-18 $600 . . 1916-17 855 92 $255 92 Fixed charges 1917-18 $90 .. 1916-17 167 63 $77 63 Auxiliary 1917-18 $535 • . 1916-17 431 70 $103 30 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $150 . . 1916-17 73 54 $75 46 Total 1917-18 $11 409 . . 1916-17. .... 10 391 58 $1 017 42 Town of Waddinglon Dist. Teachers 6 Assessed valuation $276 329 72 050 44 050 74 720 54 36i 7i 443 89 717 43 900 47 647 60 615 Tax rate 1916-17 .01208 .00364 .00579 .00404 .00300 .00510 .00357 .00510 . 00468 .00426 Expenditures budget ] Control Instruction 1916-17 and 917-18 $200 . . *6i .. $139 .. $8 606 . . 7 961 75 $644 25 1478 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Waddington Dist. Total . St Lawrence county Teachers Concluded Assessed valuation £80 926 88 563 24 794 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 125 362 Balance 1916. Balance 1917. Tax 1917- Real tax. Tax 1918 Real tax 1917. Real increase. $1 029 115 $1 125 362 $754 732 39 09 $22 6 561 30 23 $6 583 53 $8 102 6 583 61 53 $1 519 08 Tax rate 1916-17 .00375 .00315 .01083 .00637 .00530 .0072 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Operation 1917-18 $1 200 . . 1916-17 1 053 23 Maintenance 1917-18. . . 1916-17. . . $146 77 $400 . . 288 33 * Supplies. Suffolk county Auxiliary 1917-18. 1916-17. $111 67 $107 .. 41 51 Fixed charges $65 49 $101 07 Debt service 1916-17 $162 82 Total 1917-18 $10 513 •• 9 669 71 $843 29 Town of Babylon Dist. Teachers ... 2 Assessed valuation $308 937 502 654 333 945 Tax rate 1916-17 •00577 .00713 .00882 .00734 .00724 .0093 Expenditures 19 budget 191 Control 1917-18 1916-17 6-17 and 7-18 5 4 $835 • • 192 29 $1 145 526 Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 $642 71 Total 1917-18 $4 850 . . $1 176 993 5 201 .. $1 709 86 1 597 02 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 $351 • ■ $2 150 r 927 82 $112 84 8 316 65 $8 429 49 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 $222 18 $410 . . $10 938 77 8 429 49 848 57 Auxiliary 1917-18 1916-17 $438 57 $2 509 28 $210 200 47 Fixed charges 1916-17 $9 53 $199 . . 140 51 Debt service 1917-18. . . 1916-17. • • $58 49 $2 645 2 234 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. $411 $460 81 $379 Total 1917-18 $11 759 1916-17 10 825 66 $933 34 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1479 Suffolk county Town of Brookhaven, Unit No. 1 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 5 S7I3 864 5 3 I 508 026 II I 180 004 12 I 135 726 13 I 103 310 14 I 127 740 IS 1 116 991 16 I 7.8 1 75 18 I 170 000 20 I 250 000 25 2 465 on 35 1 147 005 Total 19 $5 813 052 Average rate Total 1917-18 $3 315 084 Balance 1 9 16 $4611 12 Balance 191 7 4 176 01 S435 11 Tax 1917 15 391 88 Real tax Si 5 826 99 Tax 191 8 $21 572 21 Real tax 191 7 ■ 15 826 99 Real increase $5 74s 22 — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 .0073 .0022 .0079 .0011 .0040 .0044 .0045 .0050 .0042 .0053 .0017 .0040 .0026 .0043 .0065 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $2 435 . . 1916-17 123 87 $2 311 13 Instruction 1917-18 $14 950 . . 1916-17 12 on 21 $2 938 79 Operation 1917-18 $2 910 . . 1916-17 2 24s 79 $664 21 Maintenance 1917-18 $800 . . 1916-17 219 19 $580 81 Auxiliary 1917-18. . . . ; $800 . . 1916-17 233 26 5566 74 Fixed charges 1917-18 $200 . . 1916-17 305 17 #105 17 Debt service 1917-18 $2 320 . . 1916-17. .... 3 206 68 $886 68 Outlay 1917-18 $250 . . 1916-17 4 048 11 S3 798 11 Total 1917-18 S24 665 . . 1916-17 22 393 28 $2 271 72 Town of Brookhaven, Unit No. 2 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 7 2 S284 332 8 I 350 619 9 I 289 435 10 I 508 427 17 I 116 095 19 1 243 222 Total 7 Si 792 130 Average rate Total 191 7-1 8 Si 979 114 Balance 1916 Si 168 76 Balance 19 1 7 341 19 $827 57 Tax 1917 3 766 25 Real tax $4 593 82 Tax rate 1916-17 .0036 .0025 .0012 .0015 ■ 0033 .0016 .0021 .0023 .0038 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 S685 . . 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 S4 820 . . 1916-17 3 889 47 $930 53 Operation 1917-18 $625 . . 1916-17 647 54 S22 54 Maintenance 1917-18 S675 •• 1916-17 311 21 $363 79 1480 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Suffolk county — Continued Town of Brookhaven, Unit No. 2 Assessed valuation Tax 1018 $7 520 64 Real tax 1917 4 593 82 Real increase $2 926 82 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Auxiliary 1917-18 $1 80s . . 1916-17 48 . . $1 757 .. Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $38 63 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $261 . . Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $637 . . Total 1917-18 $8 610 . . 1916-17 5 833 13 $2 776 87 Town of Brookhaven, Unit No. 3 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 23 4 $942 039 26 1 174 004 27 3 512 593 28 6 I 155 485 29 2 387 750 Total 16 $3 171 871 Average rate Total 1917-18 $3 693 812 Balance 191 7 $3 672 . . Balance 1 91 6 3 221 is $450 85 Tax 1917 $17 153 90 450 85 Real tax $16 703 05 Tax 1918 $22 162 88 Real tax 1917 16 703 05 Real increase $5 459 83 Tax rate 1916-17 .0048 .0038 .0055 .0071 .0024 .0054 .0047 .006 Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 191 7-i8 Control 1917-18 $700 . . 1916-17 330 54 $369 46 Instruction 1917-18 $12 349 so 1916-17 10 444 22 $1 90s 28 Operation 1917-18 $3 505 . . 1916-17 2 462 06 $1 042 29 Maintenance 1917-18 $1 981 . . 1916-17 89 71 $1 891 29 Auxiliary 1917-18 $735 .. 1916-17 3S4 49 $380 51 Fixed charges 1917-18 $475 84 1916-17 106 55 $369 29 Debt service 1917-18 $2 226 . . 1916-17 5 26s 95 $3 039 95 Incidentals 1917-18 $1 544 ■ • 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 $75 • . 1916-17 3 296 80 $3 221 80 Total 1917-18 $23 591 34 1016-17 22 350 32 $1 241 02 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I48l Suffolk county Town of Brookhaven, Unit No. 4 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 21 1 $179 661 22 1 199 311 30 1 429 931 31 1 150 217 32 1 S23 508 33 7 936 008 34 3 610 732 Total 15 $3 029 368 Average rate Total 1917-18 $2 947 002 Balance 1916 $3 792 04 Balance 1917 2 795 52 $996 52 Tax 191 7 11 84441 Real tax $12 840 93 Tax 1918 $15 516 50 Real tax 1917 12 840 93 Real increase $2 675 51 a Includes insurance. Town of East Hampton Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 1 $251 700 3 8 1 382 900 4 2 29s 9IS Total 11 $1 930 sis Average rate Total 1917-18 $2 072 49s Balance 1916 $2 033 54 Balance 191 7 737 24 Si 296 30 Tax 1917 11 249 64 Real tax $12 54s 94 — Continued Tax rate 1917-18 .0025 .0030 .0006 .0032 .0018 .0060 .0057 .0039 Expenditures budget J Control Instruction 1916-17. . . . Operation 1917-18. . . . Maintenance Auxiliary Fixed charges 1916-17. , , Incidentals 1916-17. . Debt service Outlay 1916-17 Total 1916-17 and 917-18 $500 . . 218 39 $281 61 $12 851 . . 10 341 38 $2 509 62 $2 055 . . I 996 88 .0034 .0053 $58 12 a$775 .. 243 26 $531 74 #260 50 168 01 #92 49 $108 15 $380 .. $1 160 90 $669 93 I 726 04 $1 056 17 . $17 481 43 15 963 01 $1 528 42 Tax rate 1916-17 .00249 .00602 .00773 Expenditure: budget Control 1917-18. . t 1916-17 Instruction 1916-17 Operation 1917-18 Maintenance 1917-18 1916-17 5 1916-17 and 1917-18 $1 746 .. 332 88 .00582 $1 413 12 .00541 .0095 $8 450 . . 7 546 02 $903 98 $2 300 . . 2 348 47 $48 47 $825 .. 1 261 19 $436 19 1482 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Suffolk county — ■ Continued Town of East Hampton Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $19 736 06 Real tax 1917 12 545 94 Real increase $7 190 12 Town of I slip. Unit No. 1 Dist. Teachers 5 6 7...-. 2 8 3 10 1 14* Total 12 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917... Tax 191 7 Real tax Si 2 084 55 Tax 1918 S16 227 34 Real tax 1917 Real increase Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1917-18 Auxiliary 1917-18 Si 645 .. 1916-17 155 . . $1 490 . . Fixed charges 1917-18 S106 . . 1916-17 145 14 S39 14 Debt service 1917-18 S747 50 1916-17 2 32S 70 Si 578 20 Outlay 1917-18 $5 OOO . . 1916-17 394 °3 $4 605 97 Total 1917-18 S20 819 50 1916-17 14 508 43 $6 311 07 Assessed valuation $1 129 224 2 274 909 293 332 Tax rate 1916-17 .0046 .0008 .0095 .0055 Expenditures budget i Control Instruction 1917-18 1916-17 Operation 1917-18 1916-17 Maintenance 1917-18 Auxiliary 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 Supplies and co 1917-18 1916-17. Debt service 1917-18. . 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 Total 1917-18 1916-17 1916-17 and 917-18 Si37 15 255 223 Sio 150 . . 9 03s 82 S3 952 688 .0028 .0051 .0035 Si 114 18 S4 627 801 S2 040 . . 1 908 21 $2 023 51 1 125 69 S131 79 S264 . . 329 57 S897 82 n 186 73 $12 084 55 S65 57 $16 227 34 12 084 55 $4 142 79 S328 .. 82 .. S246 . . S82 21 ntingencies Si 074 . . S216 . . S2 336 70 S13 856 .. 14 127 77 S271 77 * Just been organized: first year high school. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1483 Suffolk county — Continued Town of 1 slip, Unit No. 2 Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 6 3 S493 301 .0086 9 2 1 875 183 .0020 11 1 360 247 . 0024 12 2 847925 .0024 13 6 606733 .0136 Total 14 $4. 183 389 .0046 Average rate .0038 Total 1917-18 $4 306 839 .006 Balance 191 7 $5 519 07 Balance 191 6 4 896 64 $622 43 Tax 191 7 $19 137 20 622 43 Real tax $18 514 77 Tax 191 8 $25 464 70 Real tax 1917 18 514 77 Real increase $6 949 93 * Includes insurance. t Total of budget given as $25,215 Town of Huntington Dist. Teachers 1 2 2 2 S 1 6 2 7 2 8 3 9 4 10 2 12 2 13 2 14 1 15 2 16 2 17 I 18 I Total 29 Average rate Total 1917-18 Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $246 190 .00631 1 124 746 .00139 905 133 .00078 340 862 .00462 677 US .00381 859 201 .00321 578 787 .00569 609 858 .00184 400 000 .00427 380 260 .00801 160 679 .00315 209 004 .00991 200 000 .00532 190 644 .00218 519 988 .00138 $7 402 407 .00333 .00412 .0042 $8 146 519 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $1 325 . - 1916-17 411 77 foi3 23 Instruction 1917-18 $12 185 . . 1916-17 10 132 90 $2 052 10 Operation 1917-18 $4 430 . • 1916-17 4 902 . . #472 .. Maintenance 1917-18 *$i 000 . . 1916-17 551 65 $4A& 35 Auxiliary 1917-18 Si 100 . . 1916-17 309 81 $800 19 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $139 16 Debt service 1917-18 $4 300 . . 1916-17 6 562 50 $2 262 50 Incidentals 1917-18 $835 • • 1916-17 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $1 922 04 Total 1917-1S t?25 185 •• 1916-17 24 931 83 $253 17 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $1 775 . . 1916-17 Instruction 1917-18 $20 900 . . 1916-17 17 756 39 fo 233 61 Operation 1917-18 $5 525 . . 1916-17 5 167 07 $357 93 Maintenance 1917-18 $1 345 . . 1916-17 2 656 62 fl 311 62 Auxiliary 1917-18 $650 . . 1916-17 429 33 $220 67 1484 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Suffolk county Town of Huntington Assessed valuation Balance 1916 $7 135 26 Balance 1917 6 072 43 $1 062 83 Tax 1917 24 701 08 Real tax $25 763 91 Tax 1918 $33 856 so Real tax 1917 25 763 91 Real increase $8 092 59 Continued Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $455 ■• 1916-17 607 90 $152 90 Debt service 1917-18 $6 409 50 1916-17 4 933 08 $1 476 42 Outlay 1917-18 $100 .. 1916-17 1 380 25 $1 280 25 Total 1917-18 $37 249 50 1916-17 32 930 64 $4 318 86 Town of Riverhead Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $267763 .00299 2 1 147 185 .00350 3 2 207 579 . 00899 4 2 329472 .00304 6 1 100 000 .00799 7 1 209 400 .00257 8 2 I70 33S .00790 9 3 392 745 .00604 10 3 439 291 .00596 11 2 216429 .00850 12 I 165 116 .00249 13 I 186493 .00346 Total 20 $2 831 808 .00521 Average rate .00328 Total 1917-18 $2846708 .0075 Balance 1916 $2 532 89 Balance 1917 l °50 02 $882 87 Tax 1917 $14 781 21 Real tax $15 664 08 Tax 1918 $21 350 31 Real tax 1917 15 664 18 Real increase $5 686 23 Expenditures 19 16-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $2 523 • • 1916-17 !3i 44 $2 391 56 Instruction 1917-18 $13 679 • . 1916-17 12 374 8 9 $1 304 11 Operation 1917-18 $2 690 . . 1916-17 1 493 87 $1 196 13 Maintenance 1917-18 $343 •• 1916-17 633 59 $290 59 Auxiliary 1917-18 $667 .. 1916-17 393 70 $273 30 Fixed charges 1917-18 328 .. 1916-17 479 83 $151 83 Debt service 1917-18 $2 657 •• 1916-17 1 36S 91 $1 291 09 Outlay 1917-18 $275 •• 1916-17 15 739 86 $15 464 86 Total 1917-18 $23 162 . . 1916-17 32 613 09 $9 451 09 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1485 Suffolk county — Continued Shelter Island Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 8 $2 060 000 .00350 Average rate Total 1917-18 $2 167 000 .0039 Balance 1916 $1 413 00 Balance 1917 867 92 $545 08 Tax 191 7 7 211 57 Tax 1918 SS 486 00 Tax 1917 7 756 65 Real increase $729 35 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $200 . . 1016-17 78 50 $121 so Instruction 1917-18 $7 175 . . 1916-17 6 858 73 S316 27 Operation 1917-18 $950 . . 1916-17 1 247 96 $297 96 Maintenance 1917-18 $500 . . 1916-17 191 09 $308 91 Auxiliary 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 29 81 $20 19 Fixed charges 1917-18 $107 .. 1916-17 313 05 $206 05 Debt service 1917-18 $450 . . 1017-17 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 $76 93 Total 1917-18 59 432 . . 1916-17 8 796 07 S63S 93 Toiun of Smithlown Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 9 $701 941 2 1 593 372 3 4 I 135 257 4 1 456 651 5 6 660 351 6 1 249 785 7 1 317 56o 8 2 232 549 Total 25 $4 347 467 Average rate Total 1917-18 ?4 619 087 Balance 191 7 $4 428 53 Balance 1916 3 228 40 $ 1200 13 Tax 1917 $23 479 40 1 200 13 Real tax $22 279 27 Tax rate 1916-17 .01256 .00126 .00379 .00185 .00835 .00395 .00166 .00743 .00540 .00510 .00586 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-1? Control 1917-18 $1 750 . . 1916-17 221 34 $1 528 66 Instruction 1917-18 $17 910 . . 1916-17 17 366 03 #543 97 Operation 1917-18 $3 235 . . 19161-7 2 561 26 #673 74 Maintenance 1917-18 S700 . . 1916-17 . 1 514 52 $814 52 Auxiliary 1917-18 $1 225 . . 1916-17 963 23 $261 77 i486 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Smith-town Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $27 062 Real tax 1917 22 279 27 Real increase $4 782 73 Suffolk county — Continued Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $400 . . 1916-17 438 64 $38 64 Debt service 1817-18 $1 550 .. 1916-17 580 47 $969 S3 Total 1917-18 $29 717 50 1916-17 30 819 84 $1 102 34 Town of Southampton, Unit No 1 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 7 2 $497 749 8 2 24s 127 9 6 780 325 10 2 272 808 12 1 338 090 13 2 411 276 14 1 109 Si8 15 1 264 838 18 1 154 127 Total 18 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 191 7 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 T . . . Real tax 1917 Real increase S3 073 i 5SS $3 067 659 $2 495 OS 1 578 96 $916 15 171 09 78 $16 087 87 $25 154 16 087 80 87 $9 066 93 Tax rate 1916-17 .00341 .00915 .00734 .00349 .00137 .00511 .00358 .00445 .00279 .00492 .00452 .0082 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 19 1 7-1 8 Control 1917-18 $1 600 . . 1916-17 243 S7 $1 356 43 Instruction 1917-18 $14 450 . . 1916-17 12 477 96 Si 972 04 Operation 1917-18 $3 200 . . 1916-17 2 462 98 $737 02 Maintenance 1917-18 Si 800 . . 1916-17 579 83 Si 220 17 Auxiliary 1917-18 Si 150 . . 1916-17 348 60 $801 40 Fixed charges 1917-18 Si 200 . . 1916-17 666 29 S533 7i Debt service 1917-18 $2 860 . . 1916-17 2 673 25 S186 75 Outlay 1917-18 S950 . . 1916-17 3 103 59 S2 153 59 Total 1917-18 S27 210 . . 1916-17 22 556 07 S4 653 93 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I487 Suffolk county Town of Southampton, Unit No. 2 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 4 1 S240 668 5 7 771 456 17 3 483 078 Total 11 $1 495 202 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 534 ois Balance 1917 $678 59 Balance 1916 404 51 $274 08 Tax 191 7 10 466 79 Real tax $10 192 71 Tax 1918 $12 945 65 Real tax 1917 10 192 71 \$2 752 94 — ■ Continue Tax rate 1916-17 .00299 .00784 .00749 d Expenditures budget Control 1917-18. . . . 1916-17 , , . . Instruction 1917-18, 1916-17. . . . Operation 1917-18. . . . 1916-17. . . . Maintenance 1916-17. . . . Auxiliary Fixed charges 1916-17. ■ ■ • Debt service Outlay Total 1916-17 1916-17 and [917-18 $206 23 238 49 .00700 $32 26 .00610 .0086 $9 680 . . 7 350 48 $2 329 52 $1 640 . . 1 563 80 $76 20 $490 . . 906 72 $416 72 $480 . . 603 51 $123 51 $319 78 $1 723 15 2 888 70 $1 165 55 $184 08 $14 219 38 14 055 56 $163 82 Town of Southampton, Unit No. 3 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 2 9 $1 507 194 3 3 I 096 120 16 I 190 758 Total 13 $2 794 072 Average rate Total 191 7-i 8 Balance 1916 $1 180 42 Balance 19 1 7 971 51 $208 91 Tax 1917 $17 476 95 Real tax $17 685 86 Tax rate 1916-17 .00870 .00305 .00526 .00625 .00567 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $715 - . 1916-17 395 28 $319 72 Instruction 1917-18 $12 600 . . 1916-17 12 056 31 $543 69 Operation 1917-18 $2 960 . . 1916-17 2 112 68 $847 32 Maintenance 1917-18 $50 . . 1916-17 413 11 $363 11 1488 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Suffolk county Town of Southampton, Unit No. 3 Assessed valuation Tax 1918 Real tax $17 685 86 Continued Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1017-18 Auxiliary 1917-18 $375 •■ 1916-17 I0 4 40 $210 60 Fixed charges 1917-18 $135 • • 1916-17 300 93 $165 93 Debt service 1917-18 , $2 140 . . 1916-17 5 691 54 $3 551 54 Outlay 1917-18 $1 625 .. 1916-17 918 21 $706 79 Total 1917-18 $20 600 . . 1916-17 22 052 46 $1 452 46 Town of Southampton, Unit No. 4 Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 „ 1 $286 981 11 6 516 420 Total 7 $803 401 Average rate. Total 1917-18 Balance 191 7 Balance 1916 Tax 1917 Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax Real increase $853 955 $331 320 4 8 32 $11 08 $8 518 11 76 08 $8 507 68 $8 539 8 507 55 68 $31 87 Tax rate 1916-17 .00300 .01482 .01600 .00891 .01 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $425 • . 1916-17 332 44 $92 56 Instruction 1917-18 $5 260 . . 1916-17 4 582 64 $677 36 Operation 1917-18 $1 677 .. 1916-17 1 170 83 $506 17 Maintenance 1917-18 $280 .. 1916-17 24 30 $255 70 Auxiliary 1917-18 $80 . . 1916-17. . . ■ . 47 03 $32 97 Fixed charges 1917-18 • 1916-17 $39 49 Debt service 1917-18 $1 370 .. 1916-17 1 375 43 Outlay 1917-18. 1916-17. Total 1917-18. 1916-17. $5 $425 1 765 A3 87 $1 340 $9 517 9 338 87 03 $178 97 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM I489 Suffolk county Town of Southold, Unit No. I Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $157 250 2 4 392 961 3 3 291 405 4 3 600 850 13 2 144 950 Total 13 $1 587 416 Average rate Total 1917-18 $1 173 470 Balance 1916 $1 492 03 Balance 1917 835 45 $656 58 Tax 1917 12 044 07 Real tax $12 700 65 Tax 1918 $11 265 43 Real tax 1917 12 700 "65 Real decrease $1 435 22 — Continued Tax rate 1916-17 .00400 .00852 .00613 .00862 .00924 Expenditures budget it Control 1917-18 1916-17 Instruction 1916-17 Operation Maintenance Auxiliary 1917-18 Fixed charges 1916-17 Debt service Outlay Total 1917-18 1916-17 and )I7-i8 $500 . . 105 84 $394 16 .00774 $6 320 . . 8 676 34 .0096 $2 356 34 $1 710 . . 1 7or 28 $8 72 #50 .. 130 57 $80 57 $130 .. 222 17 $92 17 $60 . . 294 18 #234 18 $2 247 . . 3 278 67 $1 031 67 $175 .. 19 309 17 $19 134 17 $11 193 . . 33 7i8 22 $22 526 22 Town of Southold, Unit No. 2 Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 6 1 $162932 .00360 7 2 352251 .00494 8 2 303 043 . 00450 9 8 692 493 • 00999 11 1 258 473 .00298 12 3 359 874 .00690 14 2 277965 .00371 15 2 343 152 .00591 Total 21 $2750183 .00614 Average rate . 0053 1 Total 1917-18 $2 270 527 .008 Balance 1916 $4 074 42 Balance 191 7 2 575 23 $1 499 19 Tax 1917 17 241 61 Real tax $18 740 80 Expenditures 191 6-1 7 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $1 245 . . 1916-17 162 50 $1 082 50 Instruction 1917-18 $14 950 . . 1916-17 13 751 61 $1 198 39 Operation 1917-18 $2 600 . . 1916-17 2 484 13 $115 87 Maintenance 1917-18 $800 .. 1916-17 1 019 52 $219 52 Auxiliary 1917-18 $650 . . 1916-17 421 18 $228 82 1490 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Suffolk county Town of Soulhold, Unit No. 2 Assessed valuation Tax 1918 $22 031 18 Real tax 1917 18 740 80 Real increase $3 290 38 Concluded Sullivan county Town of Bethel Dist. Teachers 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 2 7 1 8 I 9 I 10 I II I 12 I 13 I Total 14 Average rate Total 1917-18 Balance 1916 Balance 1917 Tax 1917 , Real tax Tax 1918 Real tax 1917 Real increase Assessed Tax rate valuation 1916-17 $36 910 .0094 27 130 .0101 17 725 .018 27 225 .0116 37 469 .0086 137 801 .0087 53 153 .0075 28 470 .0013 26 500 .0125 19 400 .0199 30 925 .0108 22 800 .0136 14 180 .0222 $479 688 .0109 $489 40s .0196 $674 83 741 : Si $2; : 32 S 267 04 $5 290 36 $9 592 ! 32 5 29c ' 36 $4 301 96 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Fixed charges 1917-18 $788 50 1916-17 497 76 $290 74 Debt service 1917-18 $1 586 .. 1916-17 1 573 25 S12 75 Outlay 1917-18 $2 100 . . 1916-17 2 454 39 $354 39 Total 1917-18 $24 719 50 1916-17 22 364 34 $2 355 16 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 $280 .. 1916-17 106 15 $173 8s Instruction 1917-18 $7 800 . . 1916-17 6 322 85 Si 477 15 Operation 1917-18 $750 . . 1916-17 902 89 $152 89 Maintenance 1917-18 $1 700 . . 1916-17 278 17 $1 421 83 Auxiliary 1917-18 $300 . . 1916-17 96 99 $203 01 Fixed charges 1917-18 1916-17 $103 02 Debt service 1917-18 1916-17 $29 16 Outlay 1917-18 1916-17 S13 85 Contingent and supplies 1917-18 $962 32 1916-17 Total 1917-18 $11 792 32 1916-17 7 853 08 $3 939 24 THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM 1 491 Sullivan county — ■ Continued Town of Callicoon Assessed Tax rate Dist. Teachers valuation 1916-17 1 1 $9 450 .0315 2 6 144600 .0193 3 6 97 379 .0391 4 I 41 625 .0125 5 1 20 67S .0235 6 2 41 350 .0170 7 I 14 750 .0136 8 I 16350 .0147 9 1 16 475 . 0164 Total 20 $370 259 .0252 Average rate . 0208 Total 1917-18 $405 000 . 0344 Balance 1916 $396 71 Balance 1917 194 21 $202 50 Tax 1917 9 312 31 Real tax $9 514 81 Tax 191 8 $14085 Real tax 1917 9 514 81 Real increase $4 570 19 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 191 7-18 Control 1917-18 $475 .. 1016-17 164 82 T . ,. $3io 18 instruction 1917-18 514 250 1016-17 10 956 57 n .. $3 293 43 Operation I9I7-I8 $1 325 1916-17 1 201 22 Maintenance I9I7-I8 $250 1916-17 • 271 83 Auxiliary 1917-18 Si 595 1916-17 770 63 Fixed charges 1917-18 $300 .. 1916-17 282 67 „ , , . $17 33 Debt services 1917-18 $1 415 .. 1916-17 4 888 so Outlay _ $3 473 5 ° 1917-18 $450 . . 1916-17 4 615 94 Total " $4 l65 94 1917-18 $20 060 . . 1916-17 23 152 18 092 16 Town of Cocheclon Assessed Dist. Teachers valuation 1 1 $141 524 2 1 16 510 3 I 60 331 4 I 35 260 5 I 73 962 6 I 22 573 7 I 18 400 8 I 35 816 9 1 77 767 Total 9 $482 143 Average rate Total 1917-18 $491 480 Balance 1916 $372 64 Balance 1917 342 73 $29 91 Tax 1917 3 677 27 Real tax $3 707 18 Tax rate 1916-17 .0035 .0180 .0109 .0120 .0050 .0134 .0149 .0100 .0060 .0076 .0104 .0112 Expenditures 1916-17 and budget 1917-18 Control 1917-18 j I54 mm 1916-17 I2 5I Instruction I9I7-I8 $s 3 oo .. 1916-17 4 209 34 _. . $1 090 66 Operation 1917-18 $550 .. 1916-17 572 73 $22 73 Maintenance 1917-18 $100 .. 1916-17 216 59 . ... $116 59 Auxiliary I9i7-r8 $400 1916-17 no 13 $289 87 1492 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Town of Cochecton Sullivan county — Continued Assessed valuation Tax 1018 $5 5 787-S10; laws of various states relating to, 789-810 Truant officers, 132 Union free school districts, certain, not subject to provisions of article, 114 Vacancies in school offices, 105 Van Dyck, H. H., on school district system, 10 Vary, W. H., address, Our common schools, 52 Voters at school meetings, qualifica- tions, 119 Whitman, Governor Charles S., message for amendment, 601-2 ; special message for repeal of town- ship law, 696-97 ; attitude of peo- ple as expressed through the press after publication of, 700-12 Young, Samuel, on school district system, 9