each month to any graduate of a two-year rural teacher training course beyond high school graduation teaching in a oneroom school. Aid for Teachers' Retirement Fund. In 1911 the legislature created a "Teachers' Insurance and Retirement Fund," providing for annuities to be paid teachers retiring from a period of service in the public schools aggregating twenty-five years. The act also made provision for special state aid for the purposes of the fund by providing for the withholding from the proceeds of the seven-tenths mill tax annually 10 cents for each person of school age. A new law known as the "State Retirement Law" was passed by the legislature in 1921. Under this law each teacher, who has reached the age of twenty-five years, teaching in an elementary school, a high school, a normal school, or the university, is required to make a "Required Deposit" in the retirement deposit fund equal to 5 per cent of his monthly salary. The state makes a deposit on behalf of each teacher each year equivalent to 50 per cent of the required deposit plus 5 per cent of the required deposit for each year of teaching experience. The amount the state contributes to the teachers' retirement fund is raised as a surtax on incomes. A teacher may apply at any time for the amount of benefit to which his service as a teacher entitles him. Aid for Vocational Education. A law passed in 1911 created a State Board of Industrial Education to be appointed by the governor, and required every city of over 5,000 inhabitants to organize and maintain vocational schools. Every city or village or town having a population of less than 5,000 was authorized to organize such a school, though not required to do so. The local administration of these schools was placed under a board consisting of the city superintendent of schools or principal of the high school and four other members, two employers and two employes, and to be designated the "Local Board of Industrial Education." State aid not to exceed $255,000 annually is extended to these schools. Aid for Consolidated Graded Schools. Special state aid not to exceed $100,000 was provided by an act passed in 1913 to partially defray the cost of erecting and equipping a school house in each consolidated rural school district formed by uniting the schools of two or more districts. Aid for Salaries of Supervising Teachers. When in 1915 the legislature provided for the appointment of supervising teachers for country schools by the Committee on Common Schools, provision was also made whereby the state paid the salaries and expenses of such supervising teachers out of the proceeds of the .7 mill tax. Aid for Teachers' Institutes. For many years the legislature has appropriated annually from the general fund a sum not to exceed $9,000 for teachers' institutes conducted under the direction of county superintendents. SUMMARY OF GENERAL AND SPECIAL STATE AID TO COMMON SCHOOLS 1922-23 1. Hold-Outs from School Fund: (1) Aid to Rural Schools meeting certain require- 29,900.00 (2) Aid to Districts having an assessed valuation of 13,117.26 (3) Aid to Rural Schools to increase teachers' 51,959.08 (4) County Supervising Teachers' salaries and ex- 216,386.89 (5) Transportation of Pupils. Sec. 40.16). 144,967.58 1,056.32 Total hold-outs from School Fund... $ 457,387.13 3,097,816.44 2. Distribution of .7 Mill Tax and Income of School Fund 3. Aid Disbursed from the General Fund: (1) State Graded Schools and Junior High Schools Building aid to consolidated schools. (Sec. State aid including aid for special instruction (2) High Schools: $ 10,000.00 181,000.00 General aid to high schools. (Sec. 20.27). Aid to manual training courses. (Sec. 20.29). 170,898.77 22,021.38 7,517.20 34,749.78 35,366.60 25,000.00 (3) County Normal Schools: Building aid for county training schools. (Sec. (7) Day Schools for the Deaf and Blind: 4. Summary of General and Special State Aid: 457,387.13 (2) Total distribution of .7 Mill Tax and Income Fund 3,097,816.44 (3) Total appropriation from the General Fund........ 1,129,976.06 Grand Total State Aid 1922-1923.. $4,685,179.63 XIV CERTIFICATION OF TEACHERS EARLY CERTIFICATION OF TEACHERS The legislative assembly that passed the first school law in 1839, realizing that teachers should at least possess a knowledge of the subjects in which they were to instruct children, delegated the authority to pass on the fitness of candidates for positions as teachers to the five school inspectors elected annually at the town meeting and to boards of trustees of organized school districts. Examinations Conducted by Town School Inspectors and Boards of Trustees. The school law of 1841 provided that the commissioners of common schools in each town at a meeting held for that purpose were to examine all persons offering themselves as candidates for teachers of the schools in the town. This law was an advance over the law of 1839 in that the examiners were directed to give such examinations "to determine the qualifications of the candidates in respect to moral character, learning and ability." The examinations given under the acts of 1839 and 1841 were of necessity very primitive in their nature. They were conducted by laymen, who, as a rule, knew little about the subjects in which they were supposed to examine prospective teachers. The law allowed them to decide on the subjects and whether the examination was to be oral or written. Naturally these early examinations were largely oral. No Time Limit on Certificates. No time limit was placed on the certificates that were issued. They remained in force until the teachers quit teaching, or until the certificates were annulled or until re-examination was demanded. However, few certificates were annulled and re-examinations were rarely demanded. These early certificates therefore were virtually life |