CHAPTER XVI FEDERAL AID Sources of aid classified.—The sources from which the schools of South Dakota receive their funds fall into four major classes: federal, state, county, and district. Table IV shows the proportionate amount that the schools of the state received from the various sources, compared with the average for the whole United States, for the year ending June 30, 1920. The same facts shown in Table IV are shown graphically in Figure 1. TABLE IV PERCENTAGE ANALYSIS OF SOUTH DAKOTA PUBLIC SCHOOL REVENUE ■ Revenue receipts do not include balance on hand from the previous year or amounts received from sale of bonds, loans, sale of property, or insurance adjustments. Data taken from tables in the present study. See Tables VII, VIII, XV, XVII. ▸ Computed. Data taken from unpublished tables furnished by United States Bureau of Education. See also Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1922, No. 29, p. 25, Table 17. e Data taken from reports of superintendent of public instruction, commissioner of school and public lands of the state of South Dakota, the Federal Board for Vocational Education, and the state auditor, all for the year 1920. Exact method of computing each item will be given in later tables. The reports of the United States commissioner of education and of the state superintendent of South Dakota, although they give the total amount of money received by South Dakota from federal sources for vocational education, report the money coming from federal sources and distributed through state agencies as state money.1 The amount of federal money was therefore computed from the report of the Federal Board for Vocational Education which gave the amount of money the state received from federal funds for Smith-Hughes aid, and from the state auditor's report, which gave the amount received by the state from federal forest reserve funds. Table IV and Figure 1 show that, compared with the United States as a whole, South Dakota derives a slightly smaller proportion of its total school revenue from federal sources, about the same proportion of money from state sources, a comparatively very small proportion from county sources, and a considerably larger proportion from local district sources. Classified in this respect, we might then consider South Dakota an example 1 Statistics of State School Systems, 1917-18, p. 128, Table 44; Superintendent of Public Instruction Report, 1920, p. 252. of a state system dominated by the district unit. This situation is offset somewhat by the fact that the districts are quite large in area and organized to some extent on the township basis, the rural districts averaging about two schools each. (See Chapter XV and Table III.) COMPARISON OF PERCENTAGE ANALYSIS OF PUBLIC SCHOOL REVENUE RECEIPTS. SOUTH DAKOTA AND THE UNITED STATES, 1920 Sources of federal aid.-Federal aid to the schools of South Dakota is derived from the following sources: (1) the national forest reserve fund; (2) federal fines; (3) the Smith-Hughes subvention. National forest reserve fund.-Chapter 192 of the Acts of Congress (May 23, 1908) provided that thereafter 25 per cent of all moneys received from each forest reserve during any fiscal year, including the year ending June 30, 1908, shall be paid at the end thereof to the state or territory in which said reserve is situated, to be expended as the state or territorial legislature prescribes for the benefit of the public schools and public roads of the county or counties in which the forest reserve is situated.2 South Dakota has provided that of such moneys, one half shall go to the public school districts in proportion to the amount of reserve land in the districts, but not to exceed $15 per annum per census child in the district, any remainder going to the county general school fund of the county.3 The other half of the fund goes to the highways of the several counties. The state of South Dakota has within its borders 1,085,671 acres of federal reserve land.. Table V shows the amount which the state received from the national forest reserve fund and paid to the several counties for the year 1919-20. 2 United States Compiled Statutes, Annotated, 1916, Vol. 5, p. 6092, sec. 5149. Session Laws of South Dakota, 1911, ch. 160, sec. 2 of § 2. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, National Forest Areas, June 30, 1920, p. 4. TABLE V NATIONAL FOREST RESERVE FUND MONEY PAID TO THE SEVERAL COUNTIES WITH AMOUNTS DEVOTED TO SCHOOLS, 1919-20 Federal fines.-The federal criminal code provides that a fine for setting a fire, or leaving a fire unattended, on public domain, for building fire near peat, timber, or inflammable material upon public domain, Indian reservation, or land belonging to Indian tribes or upon Indian allotment held by the United States, and failing to extinguish fires, shall be paid into the county school fund of the county in which land is located. No record available, lists any money from this source. Federal Smith-Hughes grant.-The Smith-Hughes bill which provides federal aid to the states for vocational training requires that the state match dollar for dollar, the federal grant. In 1919 the legislature of South Dakota made an appropriation of $20,600 annually to carry out the provisions of the act. The federal report shows that in 1917-18, $15,139 was apportioned to the state from federal moneys for vocational purposes." The report of the state auditor for 1918 shows the following amounts received from the United States government for the different purposes:8 $3,854.29 for vocational education in agriculture 3,750.00 for vocational education in trades and industries 3,750.00 for vocational education in teacher-training. This same report shows the same balances on hand at the end of the year, so evidently none of it was used. No state appropriation was made for that year for supervising or inspecting this vocational work. "Criminal Code, secs. 52-54, United States Compiled Statutes, Annotated, 1916, 10:12624. United States Compiled Statutes, Supplement, 1918, p. 1520, sec. 93904e; (Act of Congress, February 23, 1917), ch. 114, sec. 9. Statistics of State School Systems, 1917-18, pp. 127-28, Table 47. 8 State Auditor of South Dakota Annual Report, 1918, 2:63; State Treasurer of South Dakota Annual Report, 1918, pp. 13, 14. The amounts given in the reports of the Federal Board for Vocational Education do not agree with those given in the reports of the state auditor and the state treasurer for South Dakota. Table VI shows the amounts of money available from federal funds and the amounts expended each year since the Smith-Hughes law went into effect. FOR INSTRUCTION IN TRADE AND INDUSTRIAL SUBJECTS AND IN HOME ECONOMICS All amounts in Table VI taken from annual reports to Congress of the Federal Board for Vocational Education, as follows: a Second Report, 1918, p. 110, Table 15. b Third Report, 1919, p. 242, Table 27. e Ibid., p. 249, Table 33. a Fourth Report, 1920, p. 248, Table 40. e Fifth Report, 1921, p. 291, Table 21. h Ibid., p. 250, Table 34. 1 Fourth Report, 1920, p. 249, Table 41. 1 Fifth Report, 1921, p. 292, Table 22. *Second Report, 1918, p. 112, Table 17; p. 293, Table 23. 1 Third Report, 1919, p. 248, Table 32. m Ibid., p. 251, Table 35. n Fourth Report, 1920, p. 250, Table 42. Fifth Report, 1921, p. 293, Table 23. Federal Board for Vocational Education Second Annual Report, 1918, p. 110, Table 15; p. 111, Table 16; p. 112, Table 17. Table VI shows that South Dakota is using more and more of her federal Smith-Hughes money. The balances unexpended have, during the year 1921-22, been reduced to a low amount, which means that the state is advancing its vocational training accordingly. The following table shows the amounts of money contributed to the public schools of South Dakota from federal sources during the year 1919-20 with the proportion these funds contributed to the total revenue of the state. TABLE VII FEDERAL SOURCES OF PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPPORT IN SOUTH DAKOTA, 1919-20 a State Auditor of South Dakota Annual Report, 1920, 1:1744. Computed. OF TOTAL STATE REVENUE .079 No data .185 b Federal Board for Vocational Education Fourth Annual Report, 1920, pp. 248, 249, 250. Computed. c Computed. |