Here again the same relation is shown. When pupils fall below in reading and spelling as they do in the one-room school we would expect them to fall below in practically everything else since reading and spelling are at the very foundation of all school progress. Tests in other subjects bear out this expectation.-(Annual Report, Cuyahoga County.)

Showing the percent of efficiency for the county as a whole and for the one-room type of school as opposed to the eight-room type for grades four to eight, inclusive, in the fundamentals. (Annual Report, Cuyahoga County.)

HISTORY OF CENTRALIZATION.

As early as 1865 Massachusetts passed a law authorizing consolidation of schools and in 1869 enacted another law providing for the conveyance of school children at public expense. It has been tried successfully since that time not only by Massachusetts but by all the rest of New England. Ohio in 1892 was the first state west of the Alleghenies to permit the union of two or more districts to form a consolidated school. In 1892 the Kingsville Township board of education decided to transport the children of the township to Kingsville which was one

of the districts of the township. In 1894 the general assembly by special legislation made provision for the cost of transportation of pupils in Kingsville Township, Ashtabula County. At the meeting of the next general assembly another special measure was passed for the relief of the counties of Stark, Ashtabula, and Portage and in 1898 a general law was passed on the subject. In 1897 Mad River Township, Champaign County, transported 18 children to Westville rather than establish a new district and build a new school house. This was the first step toward establishing a centralized school in Ohio. The general legislation enacted by the General Assembly in 1898 and subsequently has been the result of a demand by those living in the country for an education that meets the needs of modern progressive life and that will give to the country

boys and girls a square deal in education. From these beginnings in Ashtabula and Champaign Counties centralization and consolidation of schools have spread over northeastern, central, and southwestern Ohio until today there are over 800 such schools in the state located in 62 different counties. The suspension of poorly attended schools and their consolidation with other one-room schools is an economic measure unless the transportation costs as much as to operate the schools, but no advantage is secured to the pupils except an increasing interest and enthusiasm in the work resulting from personal contact with large numbers.

Black Lines

Denote School Districts.

Shaded Lines wwwman Denote Township Lines.

Dotted Circles-O- Denote Community Centers..

Crawford County School District as Re-districted by the County Board of Education.

Where the topography of the country permits, the schools should be centralized or consolidated in one or more convenient accessible places. Community centers should be educational centers and every community is under obligation to its children to provide for them adequate educational facilities. The school center should coincide with the social and business centers of a community. In many places in the state of Ohio

there is a village school district surrounded by a rural school district, the latter having no educational center of its own although its people come to a common center for all other purposes. Such a condition of affairs should not exist. No citizen can hide behind such an imaginary line as constitutes the boundary between a village district and a surrounding contiguous rural district as a barrier shielding him from his moral responsibility to contribute to the support of proper and equal educational advantages for all the children of the community. There is no economic reason for such a condition of affairs and the time should come soon when these districts all over the state will be consolidated as has been done in many cases by county boards of education or by voluntary dissolution of one or the other of such districts, thus creating a community center for educational purposes as well as for all others. There are but few cases of this kind in the state of Ohio that could not be consolidated if the county boards of education would exercise the powers given them by the provisions of Section 4736 of the General Code. Many county boards of education have not performed their duties in this respect.

Very soon after their election some county boards of education made a survey of school conditions and after due consideration decided that the first and most important duty was to re-district the county and thereby give more equitable advantages to the pupils in the various sections. As a result of this action convenient districts were formed around centers of population and after prolonged and strenuous campaigns many of these districts centralized their schools and have today a type of school that affords the boys and girls opportunities for an education that is commensurate with the importance of the industrial activities of their respective communities.

Village districts and surrounding rural districts have been united in accordance with the trend of community interests and activities. The county board of education in Wood county has transferred 80 parcels of territory strengthening many of the weaker rural and village districts. Nine districts have been eliminated and others will be eliminated later as there is much waste in the small village arrangement. Some counties are cursed with special districts. These districts should be consolidated thus creating new and larger districts surrounding community centers or arranged according to topography and valuation. In Crawford County the county board of education re-districted the whole county soon after the new code went into operation. As a rule the county board of education consists of intelligent and broad minded men who have the right attitude toward school questions, who are not influenced by petty local bickerings, and whose election or official actions have not been influenced by politics. They have stood behind the county superintendent in every good thing that he has tried to do, thus giving a solidarity and a dignity to his work that he could not have attained had he been dependent upon political influence to perpetuate him in office.