The State board of education, at a meeting held June 24 and 25, 1889, resolved that it should be obligatory on all public-school pupils to use none other than the books adopted, and it was made the duty of parish superintendents and the New Orleans city superintendent to "enforce the introduction and use of said books absolutely." MAINE. 1 Free text-books.-The following act was passed in 1889, to take effect August 1, 1890: "Towns shall provide schoolbooks for the use of the pupils in their public schools at the expense of said town; and all moneys raised and appropriated for that purpose shall be assessed like other moneys. "School committees shall make such rules and regulations, not repugnant to law, as they deem proper for the distribution and preservation of schoolbooks and appliances furnished at the expense of the town." As to uniformity, etc.-Among the duties of superintending school committees of towns are the following: They shall "select a uniform system of text-books, due notice of which shall be given; any text-book thus introduced shall not be changed for five years unless by a vote of the town; any person violating this provision shall forfeit not exceeding $500, to be recovered in an action of debt by any school officer or person aggrieved. And when said committee have made such selection of schoolbooks they shall contract, under section 8, with the publishers for the purchase and delivery thereof, and make such rules as they deem effectual for their preservation and return."3 State Superintendent N. A. Luce says of the Maine law: "The plan, it seems to me, is the only solution of the whole problem, giving uniformity so far as necessary, and yet securing to the people all the benefits of constant competition, securing prompt and full supply, and reducing expenses to the minimum." 4 Circular of the State superintendent. The following circular, containing advice and suggestions as to putting the new system into operation, has been issued by State Superintendent Luce: : School committee or supervisor of · GENTLEMEN: The law relating to the selection and supply of school text-books in this State, under which you are to take action during the current year, is substantially as follows: Towns shall, on and after August 1, 1890, provide schoolbooks for the use of the pupils in their public schools, at the expense of said towns; and all moneys raised and appropriated for that purpose shall be assessed like other moneys. School committees shall select a uniform system of text-books, due notice of which shall be given; any text-book thus introduced shall not be changed for five years unless by vote of the town; any person violating this provision shall forfeit not exceeding $500, to be recovered in an action of debt by any school officer or person aggrieved. And when said committee have made such selection of schoolbooks, they shall contract with the publishers for the purchase and delivery thereof. They shall make such rules and regulations, not repugnant to law, as they deem proper, for the distribution and preservationof schoolbooks and appliances furnished at the expense of the town. When a pupil in the public school loses, destroys or unnecessarily injures any such schoolbook or appliance furnished such pupil at the expense of said town, his parent or guardian shall be notified, and if the loss or damage is not made good to the satisfaction of such committee w ́ '`in a La. Sch. Rep., 1888-89, p. 156. 'Me. Sch. Law. ed. 1889, secs. 8 and 9, p. 6. Ibid., sec. 87, IV, pp. 30-31. reasonable time, they shall report the case to the assessors, who shall include in the next town tax jof the delinquent parent or guardian the value of the book or appliance so lost, destroyed, or inured, to be assessed and collected as other town taxes. Your town having made appropriations for the carrying of this law into effect, it becomes your duty to take such action as its provisions require. You are to determine what books are to be used in your schools; to purchase the supply needed for the current school year; to contract for the future furnishing of such as may be needed from year to year; to make rules and regulations for their distribution to the schools, and for their care and preservation while in the hands of pupils and during vacations. To assist you, if I may, in this work, permit me to offer the following suggestions: 1. As to the selection of books.--That provision of law by which changes in text-books can not be made oftener than once in five years without vote of the town was not amended or repealed by the act of 1889 requiring towns to furnish books at public expense. Hence, unless your town at its late meeting voted to authorize you to make changes, you can do so only in case of series of books which have been used in town five years or more. Your first step, then, is to determine what changes can be made, and what, if any, it is desirable to make. Changes, however, should not be made save for very strong reasons. If the books in use in any branch of study are fairly satisfactory, they should be retained in use for awhile at least. The reasson for retaining are twofold: (1) That pupils desiring to do so may be able to use their own books without being compelled to purchase new ones-the law does not compel any pupil to use books furnished by the town, but does compel the town to supply all who wish to be supplied; (2) that books now in the hands of pupils, which are in good condition, may be purchased and made part of the town's supply. If changes are deemed necessary, the new books should be selected with much care. The points to be considered in selecting are, (1) excellence of text and adaptation to the ends of instruction; (2) mechanical qualities-whether firmly bound, of strong paper, and well printed; (3) price at which they will be furnished, both for first introduction and for a series of years. In the first of these particulars you will find less real difference between the later published books than publishers' agents will try to make you believe. In the second you will find quite a difference, and that difference should be given considerable weight. Somewhat of difference in price, too, will be found, and of course should be given due consideration. As between several series of readers, spellers, arithmetics, and geographies which could be named, mechanical make-up and prie should govern in selection. In order to make selections as above, you should apply direct to publishers or their agents for specimen copies of the books you desire to introduce, and for terms at which they will furnish them for first introduction and for continued supply. If you shall consider it of any assistance to you, I shall be prepared in a few weeks to send you, on application, a list of books in the common school branches, which I would advise you to examine before looking further. The books to be selected are, as a rule, to be uniform throughout the town. Such is the letter of the law. But in one case the spirit of the law may be observed, and yet its letter sacrificed to a higher good than that intended to be subserved by its literal observance. Wherever practicable it will be well to have two or more series of readers in use at the same time, taking care that there shall be uniformity in classes. By rotation of use from term to term or year to year, pupils will, by this plan, have a larger amount of fresh reading matter than in case only one series be used. For instance, Harper's may be used this term in one-half the schools and Butler's in the other, and next term they can be changed about. The expense by this plan will be no more than if only one series were used, as it will be necessary to purchase of each series only half enough to supply all the schools. 2. As to purchasing.-Having learned direct from publishers the prices at which they will sell you their books, both those which you propose to retain in use and those which you propose to introduce, before you will be prepared to make purchases you will need to know very nearly how many books of each grade and sort you will be required to supply your schools. This you can ascertain with sufficient accuracy by requiring the teachers in your summer terms to furnish you lists of the number required in their several schools. As already intimated books in the possession of pupils, which are of the kinds you propose to have used, should be brought up and made a part of the town's stock. Only such, however, as are in excellent condition-as are sound, whole and clean-should be so purchased. You may assume, as the basis of price to be paid for these, that books, except of the lowest grades, which have been carefully used a year, are worth four fifths as much as you will have to pay publishers for new ones of the same kind. One having been used two years would be worth two-fifths the price of a new one. So, also, books in the hands of the local dealer, if there be one, which are of the sort to be used, should be purchased at the same price as you would have to pay publishers for them. Whatever number additional, after making these purchases, is necessary to complete the needed supply, should be ordered direct from the publishers. When newly introduced books are to be purchased, before purchase is made the publishers should be required to enter into a contract fixing the price at which further supplies are to be furnished for a period of years, and giving assurance that the mechanical quality of the books will be maintained. 3. As to preparation for use.-The books having been purchased, before they are ready for distribution to schools and pupils, they are to be labeled and numbered. On the inside of the cover should be pasted a label similar to that herewith sent, on which should be printed general rules for care of the books while in pupils' hands, etc., and also the number of each book. These numbers should run from one up to the number of books of each grade owned by the town. For instance, if 200 primary arithmetics are owned, and 150 advanced, the primaries would be numbered from 1 to 200 inclusive, and the advance from 1 to 150. These labels can be procured at a very moderate cost by applying to Burleigh and Flynt, State Printers, Augusta, or they can be printed at any local office. 4. As to distribution to schools and care during vacations.—In these regards methods in towns having no districts, and in those having the district system, will differ somewhat. In the former it will be for the supervisor or committee to see that the necessary supply of books is at the schoolhouse in possession of the teacher, and ready for use the first morning of the term. In every schoolhouse should be a proper case or closet in which they can be stored under lock and key during vacations, and when not in use. Such receptacles are practicable when the town owns the schoolhouses, and they are under the charge and control of the committee or some responsible party by them selected. Under the district system it will in many cases be impracticable to have proper receptacles in which to store the books during vacations, and in all such cases they should be depos ited at some central place of safety under the immediate control of the committee or their agent. In such cases the school district agent should be held responsible for seeing that the necessary sup ply is at the schoolhouse at the proper time, and also for the transportation of them, at the close of terins, to the central depository. This is one of the matters to govern which committees are to make regulations. 5. As to distribution to pupils and care during use.-Here the teacher's responsibility comes in. He is to act as the agent of the committee in seeing that every pupil is promptly furnished with proper books; that they are properly cared for while in use; that they are promptly returned at the close of the term, except in cases where pupils are given, by the committee, special permission to retain during vacation; and that the committee are informed of all damage to and loss of books, for which payment is to be exacted under the provisions of the law. To this responsibility the teacher should be strictly held, and should not be paid for services until formal and satisfactory account of all books placed in his possession has been rendered. To this end, he should be required at close of term to make a return showing what books were put into his hands at the beginning of or during the term; what ones were used by each pupil; what were returned in good condition, and what were damaged or lost. A blank for such return, in the form of a supplementary register, is in preparation, and will be furnished like other register blanks. The keeping and return of such supplementary register will be as much a prerequisite to the obtaining of pay as is the keeping and return of the register of attendance, etc. 6. As to rules and regulations.-Beside the regulations relating to the distributing of books to the several schools, and the care of them during the vacations, the character of which will depend, as indicated above, upon local conditions, there are to be made certain general rules, touching the care of books while in pupils' hands, their return at close of terms, etc. In addition to such special rules in this regard, as may seem needed by local conditions, I suggest the following: 1 Teachers shall, once in two weeks at least, inspect or cause to be inspected, all books in the hands of pupils, and note their condition. 2. By permission of the teacher, any pupil may take books to his home for purposes of study. 3. All books are to be returned by pupils at the close of each term, unless special written permission to retain has been granted by the committee. 4. Any scholar losing or materially injuring a book must replace it at once, otherwise its value will be collected from his parent or guardian in the manner provided by law. 5. Any writing in, marking upon, or otherwise defacing of a book, will be considered a material injury for which such book must be replaced or paid for. Very truly yours, N. A. LUCE, State Superintendent of Common Schools. MARYLAND. The text-book system of Maryland is thus outlined by State Superintendent M. A. Newell: 1 "I. At the beginning of the State school system (1885-6-7) the State board of education adopted uniform text-books for the State, contracted for them, paid for them, distributed them to the several county school boards, and received from these boards the cost of the books and the expense of distribution. The county school boards distributed the books to the several schools and received payment from the pupils, with the exception of the indigent. "II. This system was convenient and economical, but very unpopular. "III. On a change of political supremacy in 18-8, the adoption and purchase of textbooks and mode of distribution was left to the county school boards, who were at liberty to sell the books, rent them at a rate not exceeding one dollar a term (three months), or make them free. The books must be uniform throughout the county and be free from sectional or religious bias." DR. NEWELL ON FREE TEXT-BOOKS. [Read before the Joint State Teachers' Association of West Virginia and Maryland, July 1888.] Why should not the books needed in our common schools be free to the pupils? We have free schoolhouses, free teachers, free stoves, free fuel, free desks, free black boards, free wall maps; why not also free school hooks? There was a time when none of these things were free, and some were nonexistent. The teacher was paid so much a week and boarded around." The writer has seen, when he was a boy, a band of urchins trooping to the schoolhouse, each with his contribution to the fuel of the day under his arm. He has also in his capacity of teacher had a pupil come to him with his desk carried behind him by a colored man, because "such was the old custom," as his father explained. Now all is free except the school books, and that tax remains as one of the relics of barbarism. But why should schoolbooks be free? 1. Because otherwise the schools are not really free. If any money consideration is necessary to the enjoyment of school privileges, the name "free school" is a mockery. 2. Because the cost of books keep some children out of school, and these perhaps the very children who need schooling the most. The parents are too poor to buy books and too proud to be willing to have their children enter as paupers. 3. Because the book tax introduces invidious class distinctions. Some children pay for their books; others are classed as "indigent" and do not pay. Here is a line of separation that should not be tolerated in any American school. The pupils should meet in school on the same level, as they will afterwards do at the polls when they come to exercise the right of suffrage. 17th Bi, Tex. Sch. Rep., p. XXXIV. 4. Because the work of the school can not be carried on promptly and efficiently unless books can be furnished by the teacher on the day they are needed. A teacher wishes to begin a class in grammar. He tells them to bring the proper text-book on the next Monday. Monday comes, and only three pupils out of twelve have the book. The opening is postponed till the next day. Next day brings four books, and the opening is postponed till next week. Next week sees half the class furnished with books, and the teacher debates with himself whether to give up the class, or to go on with one-half the members, or to give them another week to procure books. This is no fancy sketch, but a photograph from the life. 5. Because the want of free text-books enables parents to nullify a law of the State. In most of the States a law has been passed requiring "temperance physiology" to be taught in all public schools, "with the use of text-books as other branches are taught." But a parent by simply refusing or neglecting to purchase the text-book can virtually repeal the law-so far as his child is concerned-and set at naught the will of the majority of his fellow citizens, expressed under constitutional forms. 6. Because free books are on the whole the cheapest. The State can buy at a much lower rate than a private individual. Nearly one-half of the present money expended on books might be saved by buying at wholesale; and the additional State tax would hardly be felt by the majority of those who patronize the schools. 7. Because those communities that have tried the experiment of "free books" are perfectly satisfied and could not be induced to return to the old plan. 8. Because the arguments used against free books are the very same as have been urged, and are urged, against free schools. "People do not value property what they have not paid for." If I had a valuable horse given me by a friend, should I value him the less because he cost me nothing? Do we think the less of a broad and smooth highway, because there is no tollgate on it? Lastly, because free books would add 10 per cent. to the number of scholars, and 25 per cent. to the efficiency of the schools. MASSACHUSETTS. Free text-books.-Chapter 103 of the acts of 1884 provides that the school committee of every city and town shall purchase, at the expense of such city and town, text-books and other school supplies used in the public schools; and said text-books and supplies shall be loaned to the pupils of said public schools free of charge, subject to such rules and regulations as to care and custody as the school committee may prescribe. The advantages of the free text-book system are: 1. Economy in time and money. Under the present system the schools may be supplied, on the first day of the term, with all necessary means of study. This prevents the long delays that were formerly experienced in organizing the classes, and enables the teacher to make a better classification of his school. Experience has proved that the expense of books and supplies, by the new method of purchase, is reduced nearly one-half. 2. The new system furnishes a good occasion for training the children to take good care of those things not their own, but which they are allowed to use. 3. It seems, by the returns, to have increased the attendance upon the schools more than 10 per cent. 4. The public schools of the State are now literally free schools, offering to all, on the same free terms, the advantages of a good public-school education. Before the act of 1884 was passed, since 1873, sixteen towns in the State had voluntarily adopted the free text-book system. In all cases the most satisfactory results followed. Changes of schoolbooks.-A change may be made in the schoolbooks used in the public schools in a town by a vote of two-thirds of the whole school committee thereof at a meeting of said committee, notice of such intended change having been given at a previous meeting.2 Important results of the Massachusetts free text-book law. -Massachusetts State board of education: The legislature of 1873 passed a permissive act granting authority to the cities and towns by ordinance or vote to supply the public schools with all necessary text-books, which were to be the property of the towns, and to be lent to the pupils under such regulations as the school committees may make. A number of towns availed themselves of the privileges granted by the act. The results were so important and satisfactory that in 1884 an act was passed which provided that the school committee of every city and town shall purchase, at the expense of such city or town, text-books and other school supplies used in the public schools, to be loaned to the pupils free of charge. 2 Ibid. 'Mass. Sch. Law, with Annotations, Ed. 1888, pp. 41-2. From the returns it appears that the law is producing important results in reducing the cost of books, in enabling the schools to organize on the first day of the term, in increasing the attendance upon the schools, in furnishing a good occasion for teachers to train their pupils to habits of neatness and order, and in making the public schools literally free schools. * * The expenditure for books and supplies, under the free text-book law, increases the aggregate expenses returned by the towns. This item amounts for the year to $427,155.56. Though this largely increases the public tax, it entirely relieves individuals of what formerly proved to many a heavy burden; and while it contemplates a more abundant supply to the individual, it makes a large saving to the public as a whole. MICHIGAN. District school boards prescribe the text-books to be used; those once adopted are not to be changed within five years except by a majority of the qualified district voters. Free text-books.—An act of 1889 required each district to vote at the next annual meeting after its passage upon the question of furnishing free text-books to all publicschool pupils, the district school board being required to give ample notice that such vote was to be taken. In every district in which the vote was in favor thereof the school board was required to adopt a list of text-books, uniform throughout the district; to contract with some dealer or publisher to furnish them to the board at a price not greater than the net wholesale price of such books, and to ioan them to pupils free of charge. Any district having once adopted or rejected free text-books may take further action on the matter at any subsequent meeting. School districts in cities under special charters are exempt from the provisions of the act. But the school boards of such districts may submit the question of free text-books to the voters thereof." Provision is made for levying a tax in those districts which adopt free text-books to meet the additional expense. The act requires the director of any district adopting free text-books," says State Superintendent Estabrook, "to note the fact on his annual report to this office. An examination of these reports reveals the astonishing fact that 520 districts voted for free textbooks at their last annual school meeting. When it is remembered that but two years ago the measure had such weak support that it was impossible to bring it to a vote in either branch of the legislature, the fact that more than 500 districts should adopt the plan at the first opportunity certainly indicates that it has been gaining friends rapidly. One good result is reasonably certain to follow this action, and that is uniformity of text-books in many districts that have previously been cursed with the evil of diversity." MINNESOTA. [The following brief synopsis of the Minnesota State text-book law and remarks upon its operation are given by State Superintendent Kiehle:*] The original law was approved February 23, 1877, and the contract with Mr. D. D. Merrill signed March 14, 1877. The first selection and introduction of books was made by the commission August 25, 1877. The law applied to all districts, excepting special districts as named in the bill, and independent districts under the ruling of the attorneygeneral. The leading features of the bill were: 1. The contract for and during the period of fifteen years from and after the time when the books to be furnished in pursuance of the provisions of the contract shall be first introduced into the public schools of this State." 2. The fixing of a standard of quality and a maximum price. 3. Naming a commission to select the series. 4. Making district clerks depositaries for the sale of books to pupils, and accounting for the sales to county anditor. 5. The payment of all orders for books made upon the State contractor out of the State treasury, the amounts to be charged to the respective counties from which the orders came, the counties in turn charging back to the several districts. 6. New books to be added as necessary, and revision made every five years in the discretion of the superintendent of public instraction. Mich. Sch. Law, 1889, sec. 42. Mich. Sch. Rep., 1889, p. 19. 4 Sixth Minn. Bi. Sch. Rep,, pp. 17-22. |