Southport Telegraph

The Telegraph.
C. L. SHOLES. EDITOR
Friday, February 22. 1850

State Superintendent's Report.

We are under obligation to the Hon. Elijah Stearns, of the Senate, for the report of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. The report embraces a great many items, some of much and a few of less importance, and on the whole exhibits as full a view of the state of the common school education in Wisconsin, as could be expected from the necessarily imperfect reports of the county clerks, upon which the state superintendent was obliged to base his report to the legislature.

Below we give an abstract from the report of the most important facts disclosed:

General Statistics.

No. of organized counties in the State. 25
No. of towns reported. 316
No. of school districts in the state. 1430
No. of school houses. 350
No. of school districts in the state. 1780
Average No. of months teaching. 3.93

Statistics of Attendance. &c.

No. of children between the ages of four and twenty years who have attended school. 32,174
No. of children reported as resident of the towns. 74,516
No. of children over four years of age, attending school. 34,290
No. of children over four years of age, attending (4a. 4. 682
Average weekly attendance. 219
Actual No. of children in which a school has been taught in more members, 3.13
3.27
Average No. of wages paid to male teachers per month. $13 23
Average amount paid female $6 92

Statistics of School Houses.

Whole value of school houses, as reported, $70,810 75
No. of log school houses, 352
No. of frame school houses 294

The highest valuation of any school house in the state is set down for Southport, at $5000 00. Some of our exchanges, we see, are giving Racine credit for this honor, it belongs to Southport. Kenosha county, which has taken the lead in matters of educational interest in this state, and what is more, they are determined to keep it. The highest wages, according to the report, is paid to the teachers in the Southport schools, and according to the report, is 40 per month, to the male teachers But we know the male teachers in these schools, receive on the average over $50 per month. This discrepancy however, can be reconciled from the fact that when the report was made: there were more male teachers employed than now. The female teachers in these schools are reported as receiving $20 per month. The district boards of the town of Southport, have spared no pains nor expense in procuring the best teachers which money can hire, and richly is the community repaid for this outlay and pains. The lowest valuation of any school house is in Fond du Lac county, and this might have been left out of the report without detriment to the interests of education. It is set down at $50 75 But few counties have reported the amount received from counts and town treasurers, and other sources. as the whole amount, when the fact is, as the separate items in the report show, that she has received for school purposes $4,401 01. But in such tables as we have for authority, unless we examine and foot up the figures for ourselves, we cannot get a very correct idea of the facts in the case. The figures are as likely to betray the carelessness of the compositors as the labors of the superintendent. The amount of wages paid to Teachers is $12,788 37. This amount can give no approximation to the real amount of wages expended in the year because the time embraced in the reports of the town superintendents extended only from the first of May, (the time the new school law went into operation) until the first of September, (the time limited for the report of the several school districts.) upon whose report they were obliged to base theirs to the county clerk. So that in fact, they reported for the four months only, running from May to September, and that too, at a time of year, when in most places, no school is kept. We do not make these remarks to reflect at all upon the report of the State Superintendent, as it would not have been in the power of a mortal to have given us a more perfect report from such imperfect data. There is no doubt but a ground work has been laid by the care and assiduity of the State Superintendent, that will give us in another year a report that will be more satisfactory if not perfectly reliable. In connection with the above statistics, we also have the figures in reference to the school fund. These figures are based upon the appraised value of the four hundred and five school sections, which amount to $960,968 00 Deduct from this the value of the Racine section, 74,205 25 And we have 404 sections valued at 886,762 81 Which gives an average value per section of 2,194 96 All the school lands in the state are set down at fifteen hundred and twenty three sections These at the average appraisal value amount to $3,342,924 08 To this add Racine section, 74,205 25 The Waukesha and Jefferson canal lands, 14,807 34 The balance of the 500,000 acres at the average price above named, 1,668,048 85 And the five per cents, [called "pre- cincts," in the Superintendent's report] for 1848 and '49, 20,000 00 65,119,085 52

Dane, reports	$1,888	68
Jefferson,	1,429	33
Milwaukee,	6,022	14
Rock,	822	79
Walworth,	857	50
Washington,	1,626	57
Racine, is made to report but 1,699	61

To this must be added every year a certain amount for the five per cents. and the fines and forfeitures which accrue to the school fund, and which is not now definable. There is no doubt says the report, that the school lands will sell for 30 per cent. more than the appraisal, and in any case, says the superintendent. the school fund will not fall short of five millions of dollars.

Statistics in regard to the Racine section.

" The whole value of this section by the last appraisal, was $74,405 00. Sales were effected last summer to the amount of $74,474 72, on which $9,511 86 was received, and the remainder secured by 392 mortgages. Of the amount received $951 75 was paid into the county treasury to defray the cost of appraisal, and $8,400 was loaned on 23 mortgages; making four hundred and fifteen mortgages altogether, on this Section. The unloaned balance in the hands of the Treasurer is $160,11. The seven per cent. interest in advance on the $8,400 loaned, amounts to $588 and constitutes the school fund for the present year; this distributed as directed by law. amounts to eight and three-tenths mills per child. Milwaukee County will receive the largest amount, $69,63, and St. Croix County the smallest amount, twenty-four cents. The average apportionment per town is $2,32k; per district it is forty-seven cents. A sum so very small will hardly be worthy of distribution."

The sale of the School Lands will take place in the early part of this year, and will secure for distribution an income of thirty thousand dollars or more, to be apportioned among the school districts of the State in April 1851. Until then the schools must be supported in the manner now provided by law, and until the income is sufficient to meet all the expenses, the balance will have to be supplied as now.

The Superintendent reports having visited all the counties of the State except Portage, Rich- land, La Pointe and St. Croix. If he went through all the counties as swiftly as he went through this part of Racine, we don't believe any body now can see his tracks. We hope he will embrace an early opportunity to return and assist in giving the cause of education an impetus in these parts.