STATISTICAL. Attached to this report will be found the following statistical tables and summaries : SUMMARIES. SUMMARY A-Comparative State summary of statistics for 1866 and 1867. STATISTICAL TABLES. TABLE 1-Statement by counties of the total amount of State School Fund apportioned for the school years 1864, 1865, 1866, and 1867. TABLE 2-Statement of the sources of revenue from which the State school apportionment was derived for the school years 1866 and 1867. TABLE 3-Statement showing the rate of county school tax on each hundred dollars of taxable property for the school years 1863, 1864, and 1865. TABLE 4-Statement showing the amount raised by county and city school taxes for each child between 5 and 15 years of age, for the school years ending June 30th, 1866 and 1867. TABLE 5-Statement by counties showing the amount for each child between 4 and 18 years of age, derived from all sources of school revenue, for the school years ending June 30th, 1866 and 1867. TABLE 6-Statistical table showing by counties the number of children between 5 and 15 years of age, and the average number belonging to public schools, for the school years ending June 30th, 1866 and 1867. TABLE 7-Statement by counties showing the total amount of school expenditures for the school years 1865, 1866, and 1867. TABLE 8-Statistical table by years showing the total expenditures for public schools in the State of California, from 1852 to 1865; the assessable property of the State, and the percentage of expenditures on taxable property. TABLE 9-Statement by counties of statistics from returns of School Census Marshals, for school years ending June 30th, 1866 and 1867. . TABLE 10-Statement by counties of statistics from reports of Common School Teachers. TABLE 11-Financial statement showing the receipts from all sources of school revenue, for the school years ending June 30th, 1866 and 1867. TABLE 12-Financial statement showing expenditures for the school years ending June 30th, 1866 and 1867. TABLE 13-Miscellaneous school statistics. TABLE 14-Statement by years showing the total amount of receipts and expenditures for public schools of State of California, from 1852 to 1867, inclusive. TABLE 15-Statistical summary by years of the public schools of California, from returns of School Census Marshals and teachers, from 1851 to 1867, inclusive. TABLE 16-Valuation of school property. TABLE 17-Financial statement by counties showing the total amount of receipts and expenditures for public schools of the State of California, from 1852 to 1867, inclusive. TABLE 18-Statistical table by counties showing the whole number of children under 15 years of age, and the estimated population on the basis that the children under 15 constitute 30 per cent. of the entire population. TABLE 19-Statistical table showing the number of children under 15 years of age, and the estimated population of the principal cities and towns of California. TABLE 20-List of County Superintendents whose term expires March, 1868. TABLE 21-List of County Superintendents elect. TABLE 22-Statement of the expenditures of the appropriation to the Department of Instruction, 17th and 18th fiscal years. REPORT. INTRODUCTION. The school year ending June 30th, 1867, marks the transition period of California from rate bill common schools to an American free school system. For the first time in the history of the State, every public school was made entirely free for every child to enter. In the smaller districts, having less than 100 children and less than $200,000 taxable property, free schools were maintained three months; in the larger districts, having more than 100 children and $200,000 taxable property, free schools were kept open five months. More than 21,000 pupils attended free schools during the entire school year of ten months. I am glad that in this, my last official report, I can say that a system of free schools, supported by taxation, is an accomplished fact. When I assumed the duties of this office, five years ago, I saw clearly that it was useless to expect to improve the character of the public schools to any considerable extent without a largely increased school revenue, derived from direct taxation on property. At the session of the Legislature in 1863, I secured a revision of the School Law, and a State school tax of five cents on the hundred dollars, which gave an additional revenue to the State Fund of $75,000 a year. A bill was also passed providing for the gradual funding of the indebtedness of the State to the School Department, then amounting to $600,000. At the next session, in 1864, an additional school revenue was secured by providing that the minimum county school tax should be equal to $2 per census child. This little clause gave an additional county school revenue of $75,000. In 1866, by the passage of the "Revised School Law," the State school tax was raised to eight cents on the hundred dollars, and the minimum county tax was raised equal to $3 per census child, both provisions together increasing the school revenue by at least $125,000 a year. I need not say that to secure an additional school revenue of $300,000 per annum, in the face of the high county, State, and National taxation, during a period of civil war, was no holiday task. During each successive session of the Legislature I became a persistent member of the "Third House," arguing, soliciting, meeting com mittees, and patiently waiting, with a determination to secure for every child in California a right guaranteed by law to an education in a system of free schools based upon the proposition that the property of the State ought to be taxed to educate the children of the State. I saw clearly at the outset that even after the revenue was provided, the schools would be to some extent a failure, unless protected from incompetent teachers by a thorough system of State examinations and certificates. The schools cannot rise higher than the teachers. The second leading object of my administration has been to secure a corps of professional teachers, and to elevate the occupation of teaching. How far this has been accomplished, the list of professional teachers, and the graduates of the Normal School, found in this report, will show. One third of the teachers in the State hold State diplómas and certificates, and one twelfth of the teachers are graduates of the California State Normal School. A State Board of Education, of Examination, of Normal School Trustees; a uniform series of text books, a course of study, rules and regulations, an educational journal, all constitute a system of education, in place of the irregular and unsystematical half public and half rate bill schools of five years ago. The progress of the schools since 1863 will be shown, to some extent, by the following brief comparison of statistics. The school census taken in June last showed an increase of attendance on public schools of 16,820 children over the number reported in attendance the year preceding, and a decrease of attendance on private schools since 1866 of 1,645. In 1862 only 50 per cent. of the census children were enrolled on the public school registers; in 1867 the percentage of enrolment was 66. In 1863 the average public school attendance was 20,000; in 1867 it was 46,000. In 1862 the amount of State School Fund apportioned was $75,000; in 1867, $269,000. In 1862 the amount raised by county taxes was $146,000; in 1867, $303,000. In 1862 the total receipts from all sources of school revenue amounted to $497,000; in 1867 to $1,287,000. In 1862 the amount paid for teachers' salaries was $330,000; in 1867, $696,000. In 1862 the total expenditures for public schools amounted to an average percentage of thirty cents on each one hundred dollars of the assessment roll of the State; in 1867 he expenditures amounted to 58 1-10 cents on each hundred dollars, besides leaving a surplus on hand for the next year of $150,000. A reference to the succeeding Summaries A and B, will exhibit in detail the statistical condition of the schools in 1865, 1866, and 1867. |