Report:

The following aggregates of revenue and expenditure are from the same

The difference between the total amount of salaries and the total amount of expenditures, is made up by the sum of $9,459 paid by all the academies for interest on debts; $9,153 for repairs; and $25,216 for fuel and other incidental expenses.

The debts of these institutions have diminished from $207,688, for 1844, to $171,556, for 1845.

The amount of receipts in tuition fees and of salaries paid to teachers, stands as follows, for the last three years:

In 1843,.. 1844,.

1845,

Tuition fees.

$178,691

186,708

188,583

Salaries of Teachers.

$196,182

200,496

192,252

The amounts paid for books and apparatus, under the act of 1834, relating to the application of the Literature Fund, are stated in the Regents' Annual Report of March 1, 1845, in the following summary:

This amount does not include money received by the Institution for the Deaf Dumb, and by Academies making no reports for the present year.

The whole of the preceding moneys have been accounted for, except $1,918.13 in all, a speedy settlement of most of which was expected by the Regents.

The whole number of teachers in the 146 reporting academies was 569, of whom 379 intended to make teaching their profession. The whole number of studeuts gratuitously instructed, was 221. The number of volumes in all the academy libraries reported, show an average of 378 vol

umes.

The list of studies presented in the report of the Regents, as collected from the annual academic reports, shows a very ample range of subjects. In addition to the ordinary branches of knowledge required in the common schools, the list embraces the higher departments of mathematics and natural philosophy, with the applications of both to their practical uses; the dead languages, including in several cases the Hebrew and Biblical antiquities; modern languages, physical science, moral and intellectual philosophy, history of various kinds, natural theology, political economy, vocal and instrumental music, drawing, and various accomplishments. These studies are not all pursued in every academy, but the more important among them are very generally taught, and the rarer ones are introduced in a considerable number.

COMMON SCHOOLS

The Common School System of this State, considering the whole circle of its relations to our political institutions, our civil condition, and the structure of society among us, may well be deemed the most important institution of the Commonwealth.

The general organization of the system may be compendiously described as follows:

The head and centre of the system is the Secretary of State, who is, by virtue of that office, Superintendent of Common Schools.

The other permanent administrative agents of the system, as constituted by law, are the Clerks and Treasurers of counties; the Supervisors, School Commissioners, Inspectors, Clerks and Collectors of towns; and the Trustees, Clerks and Collectors of school districts; all of whom are elected by the people, except the Treasurers of counties, who are appointed by the county Boards of Supervisors. The Comptroller and the Treasurer of the State are associated with the financial action of the sys

tem.

In the year next following each census of the State, whether taken under the authority of the State, or of the United States, that is, once in every five years, it is the duty of the State Superintendent to apportion the moneys arising from the Common School Fund among the counties, and the quota of each county among the towns and cities therein, according to the ratio of the population in each, compared with that of the whole State. He then certifies such apportionment to the Comptroller, and sends notice thereof to each County Clerk, stating the day on which the moneys will be payable. That day is the 1st of February in each year, and the moneys are paid by the State Treasurer, on the warrants of the Comptroller, to the several County Treasurers, who pay over the town quotas to the School Commissioners of the respective towns, to be distributed among the school districts.

Each County Clerk, on receiving from the State Superintendent notice of the appointment must give notice thereof to the Clerk of the Supervisors, to be laid before their Board at their next meeting, and they must thereupon assess an equal amonnt upon the towns, to be collected by the town collectors, with legal fees, as they collect their other town taxes. The levy of this tax is the statutory condition on which the School Fund money is distributed to the districts.

These School Commissioners are three in number, elected annually in each town, and they are constituted by statute a corporaton so far as to enable them to hold property for the use of the schools in the town, and to sue and be sued in their official ctapacity. They also set off, arrange and modify the school districts; and it is their duty annually, in July, to report in writing to the County Clerk, the number of districts in their town; the time during which the schools have been kept therein by qualified teachers; the amount of School Fund money received, as well as the amount received from the Town Collector; the whole number of pupils actually attending school, distinguishing the number over five and under sixteen years of age; and, in short, to report every thing relating to their duties, and the general legal and educational condition of the schools.

The three Inspectors in each town, together with the Commissioners, constitute a Board for ascertaining, by examination, the qualifications of teachers. Any two of the Board make a quorum, and their certificate of qualification is necessary to entitle a district to the actual receipt of its quota of the School Fund money.

The Trustees of the Districts are also a corporation so far as to enable them to hold property for the use of the District. They take charge of the school houses, their erection and repair; they make the contracts with the teachers, provide fuel for the schools; call meetings of the taxable inhabitants of the district, for levying whatever assessment may be necessary for district purposes, and apportion the assessments; direct the manner in which the rate-bills for teacher's wages shall be made up, with authority to say who shall be exempted for poverty; in short, they have charge of all the pecuniary concerns of the district, and they must make a report annually to the School Commissioners, who, as alreadry stated, report to the Connty Clerk, and he to the State Superintendent, thus making the chain of accountability complete.

In 1838 and 1839 the DISTRICT SCHOOL LIBRARIES were established by acts of the Legislature empowering each school district to raise by tax $20 the first year, and $10 in every subsequent year, for the foundation and annual enlargement of a library for the special use and benefit of the district school; and provision was made for the proper custody and circu lation of the books. The property in the library was vested like other district property, in the district trustees,--and in aid of these libraries it was also enacted that $55,000 from the annual income of the U. S. Deposit Fund should be distributed every year among the school districts, in the same manner as other school moneys, with the proviso that at the end of five years the respective quotas of the districts might be thenceforward applied either to the further enlargement of the libraries, or to the payment of teachers' wages, at the option of the several districts,

In 1841 some important changes were made in the administrative agen. cies of the system. One of those changes was the creation of a DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT GENERAL, with the authority to perform the duties of the State Superintendent in case of the absence or temporary disability of the latter, or the vacation of his office.

Another important modification introduced in 1841 was made by the enactment directing the board of Supervisors in each county to appoint a

County Superintendent, and in case of 200 or more school districts in a county, two such Superintendents, to hold office for two years, but removable for cause shown; and it was made their duty to visit all schools within their respective jurisdictions, to examine into all matters touching the condition and character of the schools, as well as the practical working of the entire system in all its parts, and to make full report thereon every year, to the State Superintendent. For every day of actual service in discharging the duties of his office such Superintendent is entitled to receive $2, but with the proviso that the whole pay should not exceed, in any one year, $500 to any one Superintendent.

In 1843 some further modifications were made in the organism of the system. The number of school districts in a couuty prescribed as the condition for appointing two County Superintendents, was reduced from 200 to 150; the offices of School Commissioners and Inspectors in the towns, were abolished, and in their stead TOWN SUPERINTENDENTS were created, to be elected at the annual town-meetings, with the other town officers; and in some further provisions relative to the election in each school district, of three trustees, a clerk, a collector, and a librarian for the district, it was enacted that the trustees should hold office three years, but classed so that one should go out and one be elected every year.

Though these changes were made in relation to the functionaries of the system, yet the functions themselves, being abundantly ample and well defined, were left, under the act of 1843, very much the same as they were before; it being the chief object of the act to secure greater activity, vigilance, and energy, in the exercise of those functions, and in the general administration of the system, by making a more judicious arrangement and application of the proper agencies, and by a more efficient concentration of responsibilities. The wisdom of these modifications has already been evinced by the improvement in the actual working of the system and the rising condition of the schools.

As the powers and duties of the Town Superintendents, in their main scope and spirit, and even in their more important particulars, are essentially very much the same, under the act of 1843, as were those of the Commissioners and Inspectors under the previous laws, the general outline thereof, already presented, is sufficiently full and precise for the purposes of this sketch; all that is further required for a correct idea of this portion of the system, as it now stands, being simply to substitute the words "Town Superintendents" for "Commissioners" and "Inspectors," whenever they occur in any of the previous paragraphs.

So in reference to the district trustees, the most important provision of the act of 1843 is the extension of their term to three years, but so classing them that one shall go out, and one be elected, every year. Their powers and duties, however, continue so essentially the same, that no further specification than has already been given, is demanded for the purposes of this general sketch.

The duties of the clerks, collectors, and librarians of the school districts, are sufficiently indicated by their official designations.

All the moneys from every source intended for the benefit of the district schools, being brought together in the hands of the Town Superintendent, it is his duty, as early as the 1st Tuesday of April in each year to appor. tion them among the districts in the towns, which have made the annual reports required by law, according to the number of resident children between 5 and 16 years of age. One fifth of the money goes to the benefit of the libraries and is called "library money,”; and if, in any distrlet of 50 children, the library exceeds 125 volumes, or 100 volumes in any smaller district, then such money may be applied to the purchase of globes, maps,

and other apparatus, by a vote of the district. The other three fifths of the money to be distributed must be applied to the payment of teachers' wages.

To entitle a district to receive its quota of "teachers' money," it must have had a school taught by a legal teacher for at least 4 months during the preceding year, and all such money received during that year, must have been actually applied to the payment of a teacher; nor can such quota be received by any district in which a school in all respects legal has not been taught for more than one month.

In addition to the powers and duties of the County Superintendents relative to the examination of teachers, the granting and revoking of their certificates, the inspection of the schools, and the supervision of the entire system in all its departments and details, within their respective jurisdictions, the act of 1843 further authorizes them to hear and determine appeals from the Town Superintendents, or the district authorities, on all questions arising under the school acts, instead of being required as formerly to make such appeals directly to the State Superintendent, to whom however, cases may still be taken in the last resort, if notice thereof be served in fifteen days; otherwise the decision of the County Superintendent is final. This appellate authority in the County Superintendent saves a great deal of trouble, expense, and delay to the districts, and to individuals, gives increased energy to the administration of the school system, and works well in all respects.

Such is a general sketch of the frame work of the Common School System of this State, as modified by the act of 1843, and regarded as a distinct whole. In preparing this sketch the main outlines of the system as former. ly organized, have been retained, in the belief that the modifications would thus be better understood and the account be renderedmore instructive and useful.

But, though the sketch of this important establishment, considered as a distinct and independent organization, is completed, yet another institution, separate from it, but designed for its benefit by imparting a still more enlightened spirit to its various administrators, and still higher competency to the teachers employed under it, has been organized under the title of the State Normal School.

NORMAL SCHOOL.

This school was first opened in the city of Albany, on the 18th of Dec., 1844, in pursuance of an act of the State Legislature passed at the next preceding session, and as organized by a board called 'THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, consisting of the Secretary of State as Superintendent General of Common Schools, made by the act member and chairman of the committee by virtue of his office, and four other persons appointed by the Regents of the University, with a Secretary appointed by the Committee. This committee, thus constituted is composed of the following persons.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.

Hon. Nathaniel S. Benton, Chairman.

Hon. Gideon Hawley, L. L. D., Rev. Alonzo Potter, D. D., Rev. Wm. H. Campbell, D. D., Members.

Francis Dwight, Esq. Secretary.

The immediate care and conduct of the School are entrusted to the following