CHAPTER XVIII. STATISTICS OF STATE SCHOOL SYSTEMS. Each State of the Union has a public school system of its own, supported by funds derived from its own resources and administered by officers chosen in accordance with its own laws. The General Government does not give direct financial aid to the common schools of any of the States and does not in any manner interfere with their management. These facts are not well understood abroad. Letters of inquiry addressed to this Bureau by many intelligent foreigners indicate that they regard the United States as having a national system of education, at least partly supported by the General Government. It is true that our State school systems are very similar in many essentials and present such uniformity in methods of administration and instruction that a traveler from abroad visiting the schools of half the States would not suspect that they are not under the same general management. The casual observer would not learn that several States expend annually for schools $25 per capita of school population and several less than $3 per capita; that one State maintains its schools one hundred and ninety-four days in the year and another only eighty-eight; that one State pays its teachers $65 per month and another only $28; that one State enrolls over 90 per cent of its school population, and another less than 45 per cent. A study of the school statistics of each State would be necessary to reveal these and other strong points of difference. The systems are sufficiently uniform to make possible a statistical comparison, and the points of difference are so marked as to make a study of the tables interesting and instructive. It is not possible to present each year complete and accurate returns from all the State systems. Many of the State reports are only biennial and others are long delayed in publication. In the tables which follow, the statistics of State school systems include elementary and secondary schools, both urban and rural. Thus the enrollment of 16,468,300 in the common schools of the States includes the enrollment of 4,506,678 in the public schools of the 594 cities of 8,000 population and over, and the enrollment of 707,205 in the 618 cities and villages of 4,000 to 8,000 population. The grand total includes 679,702 students in public high schools, city and rural, belonging to State school systems. The statistics of city school systems are given separately in Chapter XIX of this report, and the statistics of high schools in Chapter XXIV. Table 1 of this chapter shows that the population of the United States in 1905, as estimated by the Census Office, was 82,584,061. Based upon the ratios which prevailed in 1900, the estimated number of children 5 to 18 years of age was 23,410,800, and the number of male persons 21 years of age and over was 22,977,384. The school age is assumed to be 5 to 18, i. e., including all children just completing their fifth year and entering their sixth, all who have no more than completed their eighteenth year, and all between these ages. Several items of more or less value in a study of common school statistics will be found in Table 2; for example, density of population, urban population, nativity and race classification, percentage of illiteracy, etc. ED 1905 VOL 1-29 397 Table 3 shows for each State the age for free attendance at the public schools, age for compulsory attendance, date of latest school census reported, age of persons enumerated, and the number of persons enumerated. The number of pupils enrolled in the common schools at different dates since 1870 will be found in Table 4. In 1870-71 the enrollment was 61.45 per cent of the school population, in 1879-80 it was 65.5 per cent, in 1889-90 it was 68.61 per cent, and in 1899-1900 it had reached 72.43 per cent. In 1904-5 the enrollment was 70.35 per cent of the estimated total school population. It is possible that there has been a falling off in the percentage of enrollment, but it may be, on the other hand, that the increase of population has been overestimated. Table 6 shows that of the total enrollment of 16,468,300 in 1904-5 there were 8,266,855 boys and 8,201,445 girls. The enrollment was 19.94 per cent of the total population as compared with 20.51 per cent in 1900 and 20.32 per cent in 1890. The average daily attendance at various periods is given in Table 7. In 1904–5 the average number of pupils actually present at school each day was 11,481,531, or 69.72 for each 100 enrolled. Table 8 shows the average length of school term at various periods. The length of the school year increased from one hundred and thirty-two days in 1870-71 to one hundred and fifty-one in 1904-5. There was in the latter year an average of seventyfour days of schooling for every child 5 to 18 and an average of one hundred and five days attended by each pupil enrolled. There were 460,269,teachers employed in the public schools in 1904-5, the number of men being 110,532, or 24 per cent of the total number. In 1870 the percentage of male teachers was 41. The percentages for other years are given in Table 10. Table 11 shows the average monthly wages of teachers, number of schoolhouses, value of school property, and the estimated number of pupils enrolled in private schools. Tables 12 to 18, inclusive, relate to the receipts and expenditures of school moneys by the States. The aggregate expenditure for 1904-5 was $291,616,660, or $3.53 per capita of population, as compared with $2.24 in 1890 and $1.75 in 1870–71. Tables 19 and 20 show the total true valuation of real and personal property in 1880, 1890, 1900, and 1904. Expenditures for public schools are shown for each of these years. In 1880 there was an expenditure of 17.9 cents for public schools on each $100 of wealth, in 1890 it was 21.7 cents, in 1900 it had reached 24.3 cents, and in 1904 the estimate was 25.5 cents. The permanent school funds and values of school lands possessed by the States are shown in Table 21. The diagrams which conclude the chapter are easily understood. TABLE 1.-The total population, the school population, and the adult male population. Estimated number of children 5 Girls. Total. Percentage of boys. |