may be practicable, and prior to the 15th of March The Superintendent of Common Schools, in obedience to the provisions of the first section of the Revised Statutes relating to Common Schools, respectfully submits the following ANNUAL REPORT from this department, embracing: I. A statement of the condition of the common schools of the state, and a comparison of the same with the last and in some instances and particulars with preceding years. We give the chief portion of our paper of this month to the annual report of the state superintendent-a document at all times of surpassing interest to the friends of education and in the present instance comprising an able and thorough exposition of the condition and prospects of our admirable system of common schooltures for the present year. instruction. The statistical information and comparative views contained in the report will well repay an attentive and discriminating pe rusal, and the many valuable suggestions and deductions of the superintendent in reference to the present workings and prospective utility of the system, will afford ground for continued confidence in this great interest of the state on the part of those who have hitherto fostered and sustained it. Our schools were never in a better condition, externally and internally, than they are at the present moment, and we cannot resist the conviction, based upon the details brought together in this report, that it is mainly and chiefly to the well directed exertions of the several county superintendents, ably seconded as they have been by the town superintendents, trustees, teachers, and inhabitants of districts, that we are indebted for this gratifying result. One fact which we derive from the report, speaks trumpet-tongued in this behalf. It is that while the AVERAGE ANNUAL INCREASE in the number of children instructed in our com-collect, embody and transmit. mon schools, since the organization of the system thirty years since, has been only 20,549that average has risen to upwards of 45,000 since the passage of the act of 1841! In view of this state of things, is there any tenable ground for the allegation that the expense of maintain ing this branch of the system exceeds the bene. fits it is capable of conferring? An average annual increase of 25,000 children. brought within II. Estimates and accounts of the expenditures school fund, the manner of investment; an account of the school moneys, embracing the capital of the of the sums received from all sources, and of the expenditure thereof, with estimates of expendi III. Plans for the improvement and manage. ment of the common school fund, and for the better organization of the common schools, and IV. Such other matters relating to the office of of the state, as at this time are deemed expedient the superintendent, and to the common schools to communicate. I. OF THE CONDITION OF THE SCHOOLS. It is the duty of the trustees of school districts to make their reports in writing to the town superintendents of common schools, dated on the transmitted, which reports are required to embrace first day of January in the year in which they are certain specified information in regard to the condition of their districts and the operation and progress of the schools therein during the year ending on the day preceding their date; and these reports are required to be delivered to the town clerk before the fifteenth day succeeding the date thereof for the use of such superintendent. The make and transmit their reports in writing to the town superintendents are also required by law to county clerks between the first days of July and August in each year, bearing date on the first day all the facts and information contained in the reof July, in the year of its transmission, embracing ports of the trustees of school districts as well as other matter which these officers are required to from the county superintendents of all the coun- In the fifty-nine organized counties in the State, there were on the first day of July, 1845, nine hundred and eleven towns and wards, containing 11,018 school districts, the school-houses of which were situated within the town or ward; 8,419 whole districts in the towns and wards, and 5,311 parts of joint districts composed of contiguous territory of adjoining towns; and that reports had been filed with the town clerks by the trustees of 8,291 whole districts, and 5,042 parts of joint districts, leaving 128 of the former and 269 of the latter, from which no reports have been received. It is known at the department that some joint districts are composed of conterminous territory of three and even four towns, but there is no data by which the exact numbers can be determined, and the new districts formed between the 1st day of January, and the 1st day of July, 1845, not being reported, the true number of non-reporting districts rests in conjecture; if however it be assumed at 217 we shall rather exceed than fall short of the number of delinquent districts. hundred and eighty-one. The difference in the city of New-York has been occasioned by not considering a portion of the public schools in that city as "common schools," or by counting each department kept in the same building as a separate school. It is believed that when two, or even more, schools are taught in the same building under separate instructors, the practice has been with the superintendent to enumerate each school, while the marshal, having to take the cost of the building, other improvements and real estate, has made return of no more schools than buildings. If the discrepancy in the returns from the city of New-York be satisfactorily accounted for, by either of the above suggestions, the marshal's returns still show an aggregate of two hundred and eight less than the town superintendent's reports. The superintendent has not any good reasons to question the accuracy of the reports of the subordinate school officers connected with this depart. ment, and to him, this want of entire agreement in their returns, is, under the circumstances, a cause of deep regret. The town superintendents of common schools were charged by the act relative to the census, with the duty of making and transmitting to the county clerks, between the first and tenth days of September last, abstracts of the marshals' returns of the census, and the secretary of state, in a circular printed upon the cover of the blanks to be used by them in making up these abstracts, specially called the attention of these officers to the importance of having the statistical results corrected in every instance where there was an apparent error, and where such correction was practicable. These officers, however, with their own reports before them, or the data from which they had recently been drawn up, permitted these returns of the marshals to pass through their hands without correction, and even made ab It appears by the last annual report from this department, that in the nine hundred and four towns and wards in the State, there were 10,990 school districts, the school-houses of which were situated within the towns or wards, 8,449 whole districts and 5,226 parts of joint districts on the 1st day of July, 1844, and that returns had been made by the trustees of 8,312 whole districts and 5,090 parts of districts; showing that there were 137 of the former and 136 of the latter, from which no reports had been received. The delinquent districts appear to be about one in fifty of the whole number in these two years, a number too inconsiderable to warrant the conclusion that our most admirable system does not retain the fullest confidence of the people, and to the extent its great merits demand. This comparative statement shows an increase of 28 districts, the school-stracts of them, certifying their correctness, when, houses of which are situated within the towns; decrease in whole districts, 30; increase in parts of joint districts, 85. as is clearly evident, there was an error in them, or in the reports of the condition of the common schools, which had within forty days been transBy the provisions of the act of the last session mitted by them to the county clerks; unless we of the legislature in relation to the census or enu- shall find upon a careful investigation of the submeration of the inhabitants of this state, the mar-ject that both returns may be considered correct, shals were required to ascertain and return the referring to the basis on which they were taken. number of common schools in their respective It has been suggested, and the superintendent census districts, the cost, respectively, of the believes there is weight in the suggestion, that as common school buildings, other improvements, the marshals were directed by law to ascertain the and of the real estate. Abstract E. annexed to "cost of common school buildings," of "other this report has been compiled from the census re- improvements," and " of the real estate" in conports, filed in the office of the secretary of state, nection with the number of such schools, there and it appears by the marshal's returns that the were many instances where the building was not whole number of common schools in the state on of any value, was standing on a site not owned by the 1st day of July, 1845, was only 10,707, vary- the district, and perhaps leased for a short term of ing materially from the aggregate given in the years, and as there were no "other improvements" reports of the town superintendents of the same worthy of notice, they have not taken any aedate, being three hundred and eleven less than count of numbers, except in connection with value the number of school districts having school and cost. houses within the town or ward reported in 1845, and two hundred and eighty-three less than was returned in 1844, A very slight examination of the abstracts will show that in those counties where "log school houses" may be found, and others nearly useless for the purposes of education, there the most material discrepancies exist. The town superintendent are by law bound to report all such as school houses; the marshals did not, because they were valueless. In four counties the returns correspond or agree in the numbers reported; in ten, the town superintendents' returns show a less number than the marshals', and in the remaining forty-nine counties, the reports of the superintendents show a greater number than the marshal's, varying from one up to fifteen, and sometimes twenty, and in one instance, the city of New-York, to one hun. dred and three, the marshals having returned seventy-eight, and the county superintendent one Decrease in one year of private schools, The whole number of unincorporated select and private schools" returned in 1844 was 2006 Whole number reported in 1845 is 1981 The whole aggregate of the "common" and select and private schools in the State on the 1st day of July, 1845, as appears by abstract A, was 12,999. The whole number of children in the State, on the 31st day of December, 1844, between the ages of 5 and 16, was 690,914 Deduct number reported for the city and county of New York, The whole number reported for the year ending on the 31st day of December 1843, exclusive of the city of NewYork, from which no returns had been received at the date of the report from this department, was Increase in the state in 1844, exclusive of the city of New York, portions of the year 1841 as stated in the fable is 598,749, and in the year 1844 the number instructed was 736,045, as above specified, showing an increase during this short period of 137,296, and an average for three years of 45,765, while the increase of children reported between five and sixteen years for the same time was only 89,149, and 70,000 an average of but 29,716. There are some other facts in this connection, 620,914 which the Superintendent believes worthy of special consideration. From 1815 to 1822 the number of children instructed, was less, each year, than the number between five and sixteen years reported. From 1823 to 1830 the number instructed was larger, each year, than the number reported between the above ages; and from 1831 to 1843, with the exception of 1835 and 1841, the number of children under instruction was again less each year, than the number reported over five and under sixteen years, and in 1840 that difference had extended to the appalling number of 29,569. 611,548 9,366 The whole number of children of all ages taught during the year 1844 in all the common schools of the state, including the city of New York, was 736,045 Of whom 4,298 attended school the whole year. do 46,018 do 94,992 do 4 and less than 6 2 and less than 4 do do do 216,380 less than 2 months. Showing that a number not equal to one half of all the children in the State over five and under sixteen years had been under instruction four months and upwards, and that the number instructed six mouths and upwards was only about seventeen thousand over one fourth part of all such children. The whole number of children reported above as having been under instruction some part of the year 1844, including the city of New York, was The number instructed during the year 1843, including 58,957 for the city of New York, was Increase during the year 1844, 736,045 Although the reports of 1845, as compared with 1844, show that a less number were under instruetion during the whole year, still we are gratified with the fact of an improvement in the other periods of attendance. The numbers under instruction during each of the years preceding the 1st day of January, 1843, 1844, and 1845, exceed the number reported between five and sixteen years of age during the same years. The facts here brought under review present the working of the system from the period that reports were first made to the present time, under the different forms of organization; and within the last four years a more healthful action seems to have pervaded the public mind, and a higher regard for the best interests and welfare of the rising generation has no doubt been stimulated by the impetus given to the system under the present organization of inspection and visitation. It appears to the Superintendent that no stronger evidence of public approbation of any great in709,156 stitution, whether of education or any other, could well be presented; nor can we doubt that any measures having for their object material changes whereby the workings of the system might be essentially deranged or the prosperity of our com. mon schools affected, or by any means retarded, would fail to meet the public approval. 26,889 The number of children instructed in the city of New York was 59,313 in 1844, hence nearly the whole of the increase above stated has taken place in the schools in other parts of the State. The annexed comparative table marked F, compiled from the reports made by this department, exhibits the relative condition of the schools from the year 1815 to the present time. This table presents some interesting and instructive facts in respect to the progress, and periodical condition of the schools, and indicates with great truth the sucoessful operations of the system; no matter what vicissitudes whether of temporary prosperity or adversity may have surrounded it, its steady march has been onward. From this table it may be seen that in 1815 the whole number of children instructed was 140,106 and in 1844 the number was 736,045, showing an increase in twenty-nine years of 595,939, and an average increase of 20,549 each year. The whole number of children over five and under sixteen years of age residing in the districts reported in 1815 was 176,449, and the number of such children reported in 1844 was 690,914, exhibiting an increase during the above period of 524,465, and an average of 18,085 for each year. The whole number of children under instruction during some houses of which are situated within the town: the under which they acted to make "actual inquiry number of children over five and under sixteen at every dwelling house, or the head of every fayears in the county; the whole number taught dur-mily residing therein" in the election district for ing some portion of the year; and the whole which he shall have been appointed, to enable number of pupils who have attended six months them to take such enumeration" truly and accuand upwards in each of said counties: rately." Counties. Albany, 2,896 160 18,579 14,595 Erie, Kings, 290 19,613 22,737 24 15,887 8,891 New York, 181 70,000 59,313 Onondaga, 319 18,976 22,980 Schenectady, Dutchess, 21 14,471 12,690 4,369 4,306 5,173 25,822 5,526 1.263 3,916 3,995 18,589 4,713 Rensselaer, 3,601 Westchester, 2,503 In the counties of Erie, Onondaga, Jefferson, Monroe and Oneida only, do the number under instruction exceed the number of children reported between five and sixteen years. The proportion of children under instruction six months and up. wards to the number over five and under sixteen reported is, without regarding exact fractions, in Albany, as three to thirteen; Kings nearly one to three; New York three to eleven; Onondaga two to seven; Schenectady two to five; Dutchess about one to four; Jefferson and Oneida one to five; Erie, Rensselaer and Westchester, two to nine; while in Monroe the children under instruction exceed the whole number reported, and only about three to eleven in number of all the children in the state reported were under instruction six months and upwards; a disparity much too large, if the laws of the state are administered with that benign and elevated feeling which prompted their enactment. The trustees of school districts in taking the account of the number of children in their respective districts on the last day of December previous to making their reports, are required to take down and report "the names of the parents or other persons with whom such children shall respectively reside, and the number of children residing with each," and they may include those who, at the date of the reports, shall actually be in the district and "composing a part of the family of their parents, or guardians, or employers, residing at the time in the district, although such residence be temporary," ," but they should not include in their reports" children belonging to the family of any person who is at the time an inhabitant of any other district in the state, in which such children may by law be included in the reports of its trustees," nor should they include "the names of any children who are supported at a county poor-house." It will no doubt appear somewhat remarkable that, with directions so plain, distinct and direct, these two classes of officers, all residents of the same towns, should differ so widely as they have in taking the enumeration of a class of population familiar to every one who has heard of "the common schools" of the state. As the school moneys are apportioned by the town superintendents among the several school districts, parts of districts and neighborhoods within their towns in proportion to the number of children residing in each between the ages of five and sixteen, as appears from the last annual reports of the trustees, and as each district has a direct pecuniary interest in having ALL the children coming within the ages above prescribed included in the trustees' reports, although the trustees do render a gratuitous service while discharging their duties, still it is believed their reports do not generally contain less than the whole number of children required to be reported. These abstracts do not show any material difference in the number of children in the city of New If we add three-fourths of the pupils attending York, and deducting 70,000 reported by the suthe private and select schools, with fourteen thou-perintendent of that city from the aggregate as apsand attending the academies, to 189,885, making the aggregate of 245,929, we have the whole number instructed six months and upwards, and the proportion is only two to five of all the children in the state between five and sixteen years of age. The abstract compiled from the census returns shows that the aggregate number of children in the state between the ages of five and sixteen years, residing in the different counties, is 664,520, and the aggregate attending common schools is stated at 493,539, a proportion of about two of attendance to three of the whole number of children. The whole number of pupils on the teachers' lists is 463,069, and the average attendance is 291,595, exceeding one half of the registered pupils only 60,061, and the number in attendance 44,831, while the average attendance is about 3 to 7 of all the children between five and sixteen years. It should here be remarked that the enumeration was taken by the marshals on the 1st day of July st, and these officers were required by the law pears in abstract A, and dividing the residue by the number of school districts in the remaining part of the state, we have an average of fifty-seven of this description of children for each school district out of New York. from which reports for the past year have not been The whole number of districts, as before stated, received is 217, and assuming that most of these it is believed that an average of twenty-five chilare small and inconsiderable in point of numbers, dren for each district would present very nearly Brought forward, The whole number of the same description of children on the 1st day of July, 1845, as appears by the abstract of the marshals' returns, exclusive of New York, is 626,339 594,517 and 6,462 were entirely destitute of such grounds; 2,133 were furnished with a single privy, 1,480 with double privies, and 5,194 were wholly destitute of this appendage. The number furnished with suitable and convenient seats, desks, &c., is stated at 3,811; and the number not so furnished at 5,440. The number provided with proper means for ventilation is 2,950, leaving 6,950 not so provided. Every district in the counties of Kings, Monroe and New-York, is provided with suitable privies; while in Allegany 190 out of 251 districts visited; in Broome 110 out of 156; in Chautauque 228 out of 309; in Chemung 89 out of 122; in Columbia 118 out of 182; in Franklin 87 out of 107; in Greene 104 out of 134; in Lewis 96 out of 130; in Putnam 132 out of 163; in Seneca 72 out of 111; in St. Lawrence 243 out of 329; in Steuben 65 out of 78; in Suffolk 76 out of 119; in Sullivan 73 out of 87; in Tioga 94 out of 134; and in Warren 83 out of 107, are wholly Of destitute of privies. Difference less by Marshals' returns, 31,822 The returns of the census of 1840, taken under the authority of the United States, exhibit similar differences in the numbers of this description of children, but not so great in extent. The whole outlay for school houses and their necessary appendages is derived from taxes volun. tarily imposed by the tax paying inhabitants of the school districts upon themselves in accordance with an uniform rule prescribed for all, while about one-fourth part of the annual expenses incurred for the support and maintenance of the schools is contributed from the public treasury, and another fourth raised by the boards of supervisors in the counties; the remainder is mostly paid by the pa. It appears from the reports of the trustees, that schools have been taught in the several school dis-trons of the schools. The law inflicts no other tricts from which returns have been received, for an average period of eight months during the year 1844. In the county of Kings the schools were kept open the whole year; in the city of New-York eleven months; in each of the counties of Albany, Columbia, Queens and Westchester, schools were maintained ten months; in each of the counties of Dutchess, Montgomery, Richmond and Rockland, an average period of nine and a half months; in each of the counties of Herkimer, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Orange, Schenectady, Schoharie, Seneca, Suffolk and Ulster, nine months; and in each of the counties of Onondaga and Rensselaer, eight and a half months. penalties upon the inhabitants of school districts for refusing or neglecting to provide a suitable school room, and to cause a school to be kept a limited time each year by a competent teacher, than the forfeiture of a sum not equal to one half of the annual expense of instruction; hence every burthen beyond the mere tax raised in the towns is voluntarily assun ed, and this, it is believed, constitutes the chief excellence of our system of education. The indications of advancement are neither feeble nor doubtful; and when called to witness the construction of new and in many instances commodious school houses, it is painful to notice so much inattention in providing those appendages so necessary to promote the physical comforts of the young and protect their moral sensibilities against the indelicate exposures which must inevitably happen for the want of conveniently arranged privies. In 1843 the aggregate number of pupils, who attended the common schools, engaged in the study and practice of vocal music in the winter schools was 10,220; in 1844 the number increased to 47,618; and during the year 1845 to 71,890. In the summer terms of 1843 the number was 17,On comparing the condition of the school 632; in 1844 the number had increased to 43,243; houses of the past with that of the next preand in 1845 to 77,925, or about one-ninth of the ceding year, there does not seem, on the whole, whole number instructed in the schools. These to have been much improvement in the aspect and results afford the most pleasing satisfaction at the condition of these indispensable aids in promofavorable reception given to an exercise so con- ting a vigorous and successful advancement in the ducive to health, innocent enjoyment and instruc.education of the youth of our state. The number tion; and should the ratio of progression continue we shall soon see hundreds of thousands of children engaged at proper intervals in the study and practice of vocal music" in our common schools. SCHOOL HOUSES. The county superintendents have visited 9,306 school houses during the year ending on the 1st of October, 1845; 7,566 of which were of framed wood; 567 of brick; 519 of stone, and 552 of logs. The number found in good repair was 3,783; in ordinary repair 2,701 ; and in bad repair 2,761. Only 672 were found containing two or more rooms, leaving 8,643 with but one room; 2,641 were furnished with suitable play grounds, of school houses of framed wood visited, is 774 less than was reported the preceding year, while those of brick, stone and log, are about the same. There is, however, considerable improvement indicated in respect to the appurtenances, state of repair and the number furnished with convenient seats and desks. It must be obvious that the comparison above instituted would not present the true relative condition of the school houses, unless the whole number in the state shall appear to have been visited and examined by the county superintendents in both years, and this is not pretended, as there were 1,712 which were not visited in 1845, and 1,952 in 1844. The special reports of the county superintendents which have been recieved |