CHAPTER XV

THE PRESENT SITUATION

Present chaotic condition.-There is no more fundamental problem in the educational world today than the problem of sources and distribution of school revenues. One need not read far into the literature of the subject, meager though that literature is, to discover that educational opportunities in the United States or in a single state are not by any means equal, and that the burdens of school support fall with widely varying weight on different communities.

The money with which the public schools of the United States are supported is raised and distributed by almost as many methods as there are states in the Union. In many states, the methods of raising and distributing funds have grown up in a haphazard way. Laws have been passed to satisfy existing needs, without regard to any scientific plan. Division of territory into school corporations has been made without considering the ability of these corporations to provide funds necessary to furnish an education to their children. And state money has been distributed to these corporations without regard to their ability or their effort to support their own schools.

The present study will present a survey of the public school finances. of the state of South Dakota. It will attempt to show to what extent the system of raising and distributing school funds in South Dakota tends to produce equal educational opportunities for all children of the state; and to what extent this system approximates an equitable distribution of the burdens of school support. More specifically, it will consider: (1) where and how South Dakota gets her funds for public schools including both elementary schools and high schools; (2) how these funds are managed and disbursed; (3) for what purposes they may be expended; (4) the effects of the present system of finance, especially as shown by the equalities or inequalities in opportunities and in burden of support; (5) desirable modifications.

Sources. The present account is based largely upon a study of the laws of the state of South Dakota and upon the official federal and state educational and financial reports. The latest comparative data covering all states, available at the time of writing, were contained in the Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1920, No. 11, Statistics of State School Systems. The comparative data in this bulletin are for the year 1917-18. Some data of the same kind as those contained in this bulletin for the year 1919-20 were furnished privately by the United States Bureau of Education. The most recent documents of South Dakota available at that time were: (1) The Report of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction for the Year

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Ending June 30, 1920; (2) school laws compiled in 1919;1 (3) the school laws passed at the special session of the legislature in 1920 and those passed at the regular session of 1921; (4) The Report of the Commissioner of School and Public Lands for the Year Ending June 30, 1920. The 1920 census and the 1920 bulletins of the United States commissioner of education were also the latest of their respective kinds available. Since no reports of the state superintendent of public instruction of South Dakota later than 1920 were available, other reports of state officers of later date could not be used to advantage. The reports of the state auditor and the state treasurer were used for a few facts and also for checking data in other reports. The reports of the State Tax Commission of South Dakota for 1920 were used to secure the taxable valuations by counties. No reports available showed district valuations. It is evident from the above that no year later than 1920 could be selected for studying the conditions within the state itself.

Educational situation in South Dakota.-Before proceeding to the specific problem with which the present study is concerned, it will be helpful to gain some idea of the general educational situation in South Dakota and of the organization and administration of her school system. Tables I and II show (1) the conditions with which the school system has to deal; (2) the financial support given to the schools of the state; (3) the result of the interaction of (1) and (2) as shown in enrollment, attendance, length of school year, illiteracy, and average teacher's wage.

Table I shows conditions in 1920 so far as data were available, while Table II shows the conditions existing in 1918. The same numbering has been kept throughout the two tables so that comparisons between the two years may be made easily.

Table I shows that the density of the population is comparatively low and that the state ranks third in percentage of rural population. This makes our problem a more or less typically rural one. The negro population is negligible, being only one tenth of one per cent, which, with two other states, is the lowest in the Union. The state ranked thirty-seventh in total population, while it also ranked thirty-seventh in school population. The number of illiterates is comparatively small, being only 1.7 per cent. In a report of the survey of the state in 1918, we find the statement, "Only 0.4 per cent of the native born whites are illiterate, and only 5 per cent of the foreign born whites. More than one half of the persons illiterate are Indians and therefore wards of the Federal government. They should not

1 The 1919 compilation of school laws is incomplete and very poorly indexed, so the 1915 compilation was used to secure some facts.

have been included. The census of 1915 gives the total number of white illiterates, native and foreign born, as 3,114, or 0.72 per cent of the total population In some sections 'near illiteracy' prevails due to the scattered homesteading west of the Missouri river with long distance to the nearest school, bad roads, and severe winters." 2

Part II of Table I, shows that South Dakota ranked twenty-sixth in total support which would indicate that the per capita expenditure is large, since the state ranked thirty-seventh in school population. The reason for this is undoubtedly that, much of the state being rural, schools and classes are small, which always increases per capita cost. The comparatively low annual salary of teachers would confirm this conclusion, rather than a conclusion that the state is furnishing an exceptionally high class of schools.

The results as shown in Part III of the table are far from gratifying. Of the children 5 to 18 years of age 82.9 per cent were enrolled in school, the state ranking twenty-first in this respect. This is a great improvement over 1918 when only 70.5 per cent were enrolled, the state ranking fortyeighth. Of those enrolled (1920) only 67.3 per cent were in daily attendance, the state ranking forty-fourth. This means that less than 56 per cent of the children of school age (5-18) in the state were in daily attendance at school. The average number of days school was in session was 167, but the average number of days attended by each child between 5 and 18 years of age was only 92.7.

A few striking comparisons may be made between Tables I and II, showing advances the state has made from 1918 to 1920. While the rank in school population dropped from thirty-fifth to thirty-seventh, the rank of the state in total school support advanced from twenty-eighth to twentysixth. The per cent of children of school age enrolled was brought from 70.5 in 1918 to 82.9 per cent in 1920, changing the rank of the state from forty-eighth to twenty-first in this respect. This is a notable achievement. The per cent of those enrolled in average daily attendance advanced from 65.3 in 1918 to 67.3 in 1920, but the rank of the state dropped one placefrom forty-third to forty-fourth in this respect. The average length of school year in days changed from 186 to 167. However since the state reports indicate very few schools having more than 180 days the figure 186 for 1918 is unquestionably incorrect, so no comparison can be made. It is interesting to note that while the average salary of all teachers increased almost $200, or about 38 per cent, during the two-year period, the rank of the state remained the same.

United States Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1918, No. 31, The Educational System of South Dakota, p. 8.

TABLE I

FACTORS IN THE EDUCATIONAL SITUATION IN SOUTH DAKOTA IN 1920

a Computed from data in reports referred to. District of Columbia included on same basis

as a state.

All data are for 1919-20. Blank spaces indicate no data available for these items. Latest available data for these items are given in Table II. The federal reports, from which these data are taken, while far from accurate, are the only source available for interstate comparison and ranking.

с

Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910, 1:39, Table 19.

4 Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, 1:29, Table 16.

e Ibid. Composition and Characteristics of the Population, p. 27, Table 10.

1 Ibid., 1:47, Table 30.

Statistics of State School Systems, 1919-20, p. 64, Table 46.

h John A. H. Keith, "Can the United States Afford It?" The Journal of the National Education Association, 10, No. 4: 79.

1 Computed on the basis of Keith's estimate (see note h) and enrollment as reported in Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1922, No. 29.

1 Statistics of State School Systems, 1919-20, p. 42, Table 26.

* Statistical Survey of Education, 1919-20, p. 24, Table 15.

1 Computed from items 11 and 15 above.

m Statistics of State School Systems, 1910-20, p. 12, Table 5. • Ibid., p. 16, Table 9.

PIbid., p. 19, Table 12.

n Ibid., p. 13, Table 6.

TABLE II

FACTORS IN THE EDUCATIONAL SITUATION OF SOUTH DAKOTA IN 1918

All data are for 1918 unless otherwise stated and are from federal sources. Although the federal reports from which these data are taken are far from accurate, they are the only sources available for interstate comparison and ranking. Blank spaces indicate that data are not available. c Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910, 1:39, Table 19. d Ibid., p. 42, Table 23.

e Latest data available in 1918.

1 Statistics of State School Systems, 1917-18, p. 93, Table 20. Ibid., p. 95, Table 22.

h Four states have the same per cent, o.1+.

1 Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910, 1:56-57, Table 36.

1 Statistics of State School Systems, 1917-18, p. 153, Table 60.

* Legal school age in South Dakota is 6-21 years. The school population for 1918 was

estimated by the federal commissioners on the basis of 5-18 years.

1 Computed by dividing the total value by the number of children of all ages enrolled.

m Statistics of State School Systems, 1917-18, pp. 146-47, Table 56.

n Ibid., p. 148, Table 57.

a Ibid., p. 94, Table 21.

t Ibid., p. 114, Table 39.