DIGEST OF STATE LAWS RELATING TO PUBLIC EDUCATION. INTRODUCTION. There has been recently an increased interest in educational legislation. The school administrator and the student of educational systems now turn for information and help to legal provisions as they turn to statistics or to the opinions of experienced schoolmen. And they often find in the law more that is definite and pointed than may be found in statistics or discussion. Legislation on most educational subjects has passed beyond the experimental stage. A particular law in a State may originally have been enacted years ago and may now be materially amended in the light of experience. The study of such a law proves of substantial benefit in a State which has had less experience with the operation of an enactment of its kind, and especially in a State where no enactment of its kind has found its way to the statute books. Nor is an old law alone helpful. A new statute is not now enacted in the same haphazard way as formerly. The help of experts, legislative reference bureaus, educational associations, and societies for the promotion of particular types of education is generally available and is often used with profit in drafting such statutes. Accompanied with this new interest in educational legislation have been increased demands upon the Bureau of Education for information regarding school laws. So numerous had requests for such information become, and so much work of a fragmentary nature had been made necessary thereby, that it was decided to attempt to bring together in one volume a digest, or summary, of all general laws relating to public education. This bulletin is the result. It contains all laws in force January 1, 1915, relating to publicly supported education, excepting ordinary appropriations, legislation of local application, and special charters, as charters of cities. The enactments of 1915 are not included for the reason that much of the work of digesting was completed prior to December 31, 1914, and for the further reason that complete data for presenting a digest of these enactments will not be available for use in the bureau until late in the autumn of 1915. These enactments, as well as those of each succeeding year, will be published in a separate bulletin. In that way this digest, published 9 as of January 1, 1915, will become a landmark, and succeeding annual or biennial supplements will be published with a view to bringing the bureau's summary of educational legislation up to date. The preparation of a digest of this kind may be done with much labor and care, and yet the finished product will in all probability display palpable limitations. In the first place, the laws themselves with which the compiler must work are far from perfect. They contain many inconsistencies and are sometimes even contradictory. In a prefatory note one State superintendent of schools says that, owing to contradictions in different enactments, only extracts from the more important educational legislation are included in the pamphlet of school laws which he publishes. In another State the compiler of the general code has omitted legislation relating to certain institutions because of the want of authority to codify this legislation and eliminate confusion. When, as has been done in a few cases, each of the States writes a complete school code and enacts it into a single law, the contradictions and confusing provisions may be largely eliminated and the work of compiling a digest of school laws will be made easier and more nearly free from error. Another one of the limitations of a digest of this kind is due to general authorizations found in many statutes. Where large discretionary powers are conferred by statute upon boards or officers, obviously conditions prevailing under such general authorizations will not appear in the digest. For example, agriculture may be taught in a State under authority of the State board of education to prescribe the course of study for the public schools, and the fact that it is taught will not appear in a work of this kind. A third limitation is the absence of special charters from the digest. Much instructive law may appear in these charters, but it would require a greater amount of time and space than has been at the disposal of the compiler of this digest to give them adequate treatment. The digest, however, should serve a useful purpose. For the person desiring merely a ready reference work showing what States have legal provisions relating to any particular educational subject, it should meet all requirements; while to the more interested student it will give the main provisions of the law. References to sources might have been included, if it had not been for limitations of space. Approximately 13.000 pages of statutory law have been reduced to the compass of a few hundred pages here. Obviously the enormous number of references, which would have been added, if their inclusion had been thought advisable, would materially increase the size of the volume and the consequent cost of publication. The sources used in preparing the digest were the pamphlet school laws as published by each State; the code, or revised statutes, for subjects not appearing in the pamphlet school laws; and the acts of the sessions of the legislature held since the publication of the school laws or the Code. From these sources every general law relating to public education or to a State educational institution should be derived. When all available law for the subjects treated had been summarized for a particular State, a typewritten copy of the summary, or digest, was sent to the department of education of that State for examination and criticism. All of the chief State school officers, except one,' returned the manuscript with such corrections or suggestions as they thought proper. All suggestions made, except in a few cases where the matter of form of presentation was involved, were embodied in the digest. 2 In compiling the digests the writer has had the assistance of two other persons. Since the compiling proper was completed much effort has been made to check against errors and omissions which may have escaped the compiler or the State department of education. In this effort use has been made of a large amount of data which had been previously collected regarding numerous subjects, as, for examples, child labor, free textbooks, uniform textbooks, medical inspection, and schoolhouse construction. Judicial decisions are reserved for a possible separate study at some future time. The plan of presentation is self-explanatory. The various items are classified and presented under an outline which begins with State administrative agencies and proceeds through the entire school system. The outline is, with the exception of a few modifications, the same as that used by Dr. Edward C. Elliott in some earlier legislative bulletins of the Bureau of Education, entitled "State School Systems," and by James C. Boykin and the writer in a bulletin entitled "Legislation and Judicial Decisions Relating to Education." 1 Superintendent of education of South Carolina. Laws of States were compiled as follows: By Stephen B. Weeks-Kentucky, Maryland, and Mississippi. By A. Sidney Ford-Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. By Wm. R. Hoodall other States. PLAN OF CLASSIFICATION. A. GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL AND SUPERVISION OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION. a. General. b-1 State boards. b-2 State officers. b-3 State inspection of schools. c-1 County boards. c-2 County officers. d. District, township, and municipal boards and officers. e. f. School meetings; elections; qualifications for voters. Administrative units-Districts, townships, municipalities, etc.: formation; divisions; consolidation. B. STATE FINANCE AND SUPPORT. a. General. b. State school lands. c. Permanent State school funds: Composition and investment. d. State taxation for school purposes. e. General apportionment of State school funds; special State aid for elementary education. f. Special State aid for secondary education. C. LOCAL (COUNTY, DISTRICT, MUNICIPAL) FINANCE And Support. a. General. b. Local (county, district, municipal) bonds and indebtedness. c. Local (county, district, municipal) taxation for school purposes. d. Poll taxes, etc. D. BUILDINGS AND SITES. a. General. b. State aid; approval of plans. c. Decoration; care; sanitation; inspection; fire escapes. d. Prohibition districts. e. United States flag in schools. E. TEACHERS IN ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS. a. Teachers: Qualifications, general; examination fees. b. Teachers' examinations and certificates: General. c. Teachers' examinations and certificates: Special. d. Teachers' certificates: Validity; indorsement; registration; revocation. e. Teachers' certificates: Recognition of normal school and college or university diplomas. f. Teachers' associations; reading circles. F. TEACHERS: EMPLOYMENT; CONTRACT; APPOINTMENT; DISMISSAL. a. General; tenure, duties, etc. b. Teachers' salaries. c. Teachers' pensions. G. TEACHERS: PROFESSIONAL TRAINING AND EDUCATION. c. County and local normal and training schools. d. Teachers' institutes and summer schools. H. SCHOOL POPULATION AND ATTENDANCE. a. General. b. School census. c. School year; month; day; minimum term. d. School holidays. e. Place of attendance; consolidation of schools; transportation of pupils. f. Compulsory attendance; truancy; truant officers. d. Physiology and hygiene; alcohol; narcotics; other health instruction. e. Moral and ethical education. f. Humane treatment of animals. g. Music. h. Drawing. i. Technical, manual, and industrial education. j. Agriculture. k. Days of special observance. 1. Other special subjects. m. Sectarian instruction; Bible in the schools. n. Modern languages. M. SPECIAL TYPES OF SCHOOL. a. General. b. Kindergartens. c. Evening schools. d. Vacation schools; playgrounds; social centers. e. University and school extension; public lectures. g. Private and endowed schools; parochial schools. |