A graded school building must be equipped with a fan system of ventilation. When the outside temperature is lower than 55° above zero Fahrenheit, the fan must be in continuous operation during the entire time the schools are in session.82

Book supports shall be provided [in school libraries] to keep the books straight on the shelves. 83

The rules of the board as applied to graded and high schools. are enforced through the efforts of five state inspectors, one of whom must visit and report upon every school applying for state aid. The number of rural schools makes such state inspection impossible with the present meager appropriation for rural inspection purposes, and state support to rural schools is distributed upon the basis of reports made out by local officials and approved by the county superintendent. As long ago as 1906 the inherent dangers attendant upon making a local official serve as a state inspector were observed, and a system of true state inspection of rural schools applying for state aid was urged by the state superintendent. 84

Besides the requirements put upon the particular types of schools, all districts are required to take an annual school census, and it is made the duty of the state superintendent and of the High School Board to withhold the special state aid until such census has been completed. 85

Only one prohibition is put upon the expenditure of the Annual Fund. It can not be used for the purchase of any site nor for the erection of any school building. 86

A large part of the details of administration of the Annual Fund date from 1915, but special appropriations for the aid of particular types of schools have been made since 1878. For the past three years the appropriation and apportionment of the moneys of the Annual Fund have been matters of great interest and debate. The sums appropriated by the legislature have not been sufficient to pay the maximum apportionment due to the districts and schools meeting the requirements. The deficit thus created was distributed proportionately among the various schools. The increase in the deficit appears in the following table.

82 High School Board Rules Relating to High and Graded Schools Bulletin no. 45, May 1916 p. 39.

The following table shows both the apportionment of and the deficit in the Annual Fund and in the portion of the Current School Fund which is set aside for special aid to subnormal classes and to weak districts:

Total..

7,059 $1,777,599.50 $416,109.33 7,972 $1,950,909.00 $654,084.00

119

8.696.00 27,219.00 16.239.00

87 Nineteenth Bienn. Rept. Minn. Dept. of Educ., 1915-16 p. 24. 88 Nineteenth Bienn. Rept. Minn. Supt. of Educ., 1915-16 p. 115.

In 1917 the governor vetoed a bill passed by the legislature appropriating moneys to pay the deficit for 1914-15 and 191516. Such a deficit can not occur in the 1917-18 aid, since the legislature specifically announced that, if the amount available for this year is not sufficient to pay all claims in full, there shall be a pro rata settlement which shall be final.89 The attorneygeneral held that the deficit for 1914-15 and 1915-16 might legally be paid out of the legislative appropriations for state aid for 1916-17 and 1917-18, thus recognizing the legality of the districts' claims against the state. 90 An injunction prevented the State High School Board from taking such action, and the matter was appealed to the State Supreme Court.91 The court sustained the injunction; the money appropriated was paid out for state aid for the years for which it was appropriated;' and any further action must come from future sessions of the state legislature."

The whole matter of the disbursement of state aid is probably the most pressing problem in Minnesota's school system today. Its lack of recognition of scientific principles, its complexity, and its uncertainty from year to year combine to deprive the moneys distributed of much of their possible value.

89 Nineteenth Bienn. Rept. Minn. Supt. of Educ., 1915-16 p. 115.

90 Twenty-fourth Ann. Rept. Minn. Inspector of State High Schools 1917 p. 9.

91 Ibid.

Information furnished by the State Department of Education in response to author's personal inquiry, April 30, 1918.

A SURVEY OF EXISTING METHODS OF

LOCAL SCHOOL SUPPORT

Local school support constitutes the second main division of the types of school support. In 1916, for every dollar of state aid apportioned to the schools of Minnesota, local units raised $4.03 in local revenues.1 The chief interest attaching to local school support in a study of this kind lies in its importance as a measure of the effect of state aid upon the school system. In Minnesota it is important, also, as one of the factors contributing to the inequality of school opportunity already spoken of among the chief defects of the present system.

SOURCES OF LOCAL SCHOOL SUPPORT

There are no local permanent or trust funds in Minnesota, and local school support is derived from (1) the county 1-mill tax, (2) the state tax on moneys and credits, (3) miscellaneous fines and forfeitures, (4) special local taxes levied by school districts, (5) bonds issued by school districts or by counties.

The county is the unit through which all school taxes are collected, to which all levies must be certified on or before October 10 in each year, and through which all school funds are distributed to the separate districts.

The annual county tax or, as it is sometimes called, the local 1-mill tax, is required by state law, and the proceeds from it are "credited to the school district in which the property taxed is situated." In 1915 the proceeds of this tax amounted to a total of $1,492,492.65.3

A state tax of 3 mills upon all moneys and creditsa is directed by law. The proceeds of this tax are divided as follows: one

1 Nineteenth Biennial Rept. Minn. Dept. of Educ., 1915-16 p. 18-19 Table 7.

Gen. Statutes of Minn., 1913 sec. 2916 p. 648.

4 Gen. Statutes of Minn., 1913 sec. 2328 p. 525.

a "Moneys and Credits" as used here are defined as follows:

"Moneys' or 'money' shall mean gold and silver coin, treasury notes, bank notes, and other forms of currency in common use, and every deposit which any person owning the same, or holding in trust and residing in this state, is entitled to withdraw in money on demand" (See Revised Laws of Minn., 1905 chap. 2 sec. 798 p. 141.) "Credits' shall mean and include every claim and demand for money or other valuable thing, and every annuity or sum of money receivable at stated periods, due or become due and all claims and demands secured by deed or mortgage, due or to become due, and all shares of stock in corporations the property of which is not assessed or taxed in this state." (See Gen. Laws of Minn., 1917 chap. 130 sec. 1 p. 181.)

5

sixth to the revenue fund of Minnesota, one sixth to the county fund, one third to the village, city, or town, and one third to the school district in which the property is assessed. In 1915 the proceeds of this tax which were apportioned to school districts amounted to $213,082.88.6

The proceeds from the sale of all estrays are payable to the county school fund. The same fund is further increased from certain fines and forfeitures for violation of laws bearing upon the following matters: (1) sale of liquor,8 (2) shipment of liquor," (3) railroad crossings, 10 (4) practice of osteopathy," (5) practice of dentistry,12 (6) practice of optometry,13 (7) provision of fire escapes,14 (8) weights and measures,15 (9) usury,16 (10) injury to the United States beacons or buoys.17

Besides those fines and forfeitures which are added to the state and county school funds, certain others go, in whole or in part, to the school district in which they are collected. These are provided for by the laws concerning (1) delinquent taxes, 18 (2) breaches of the compulsory school attendance law,19 (3) the sale of cigarettes, 20 and (4) the registration of burials. The county or district may also provide that all fees for liquor licenses be added to the school fund.22

Special local school taxes are levied by all districts, common, independent, and special. In common districts the levy is voted by the electors at the annual school meeting,23 but if they fail

Gen. Statutes of Minn., 1913 sec. 2328 p. 525.

6 Rept. Minn. State Auditor, 1915-16 p. 553.

7

Gen. Statutes of Minn., 1913 sec. 6040 p. 1315.

8 Ibid. sec. 3173 p. 697.