The Deaf Part 29

Appropriations by the legislatures are usually made in lump sums.[580]

In the case of the semi-public inst.i.tutions the allowances are upon a _per capita_ basis, being from $260 to $357, but more often near $300.

In a few of the state schools appropriations are also based upon the number of pupils, as in Alabama with $230 a year for each pupil, in Kentucky with $150 a year, and in Iowa with $35 a quarter, the last two states having additional annual grants. In the states in which pupils are sent to schools outside, a sum of from $200 to $300 is allowed for each pupil thus provided for. In a few cases funds are received from a special tax a.s.sessment levied for the benefit of the school, as in Colorado with a one-fifth mill tax on the a.s.sessed property valuation of the state,[581] and in North Dakota with six per cent of one mill.

COST TO THE STATE FOR EACH PUPIL

The average cost for the support of the pupils in the inst.i.tutions for the year 1912-1913 was $277.23.[582] In few of the schools does the cost go as low as $200, while in a number it is between $300 and $400. The cost per pupil in the day schools averages, where known, $120.60;[583]

and in the private schools, where known, $225.33.[584] For pupils in the common schools of the country, the average cost is $31.65.[585] Thus it costs the state eight times as much to educate its deaf children in inst.i.tutions as it does its hearing children in the regular public schools, and four times as much to educate them in day schools.

The education of the deaf, then, is not an inexpensive undertaking on the part of the state. Because of the special arrangements necessary for its accomplishment, it comes high, compared with the cost of education in general. But considered merely as an investment, the outlay for this instruction bears returns of a character surpa.s.sed in few other fields of the state's endeavor.

FOOTNOTES:

[570] The figures in this chapter are for the most part from _Annals_ for January, 1914 (lix., pp. 26, 27), usually for the latest fiscal year, these being supplemented in a few cases from the Report of the United States Commissioner of Education for 1912 (ii., ch. xiii.). In the inst.i.tutions where there are departments both for the deaf and the blind, we have ascertained the proportionate part for the deaf of the entire inst.i.tution. If no allowance is made for the blind in these, the worth of all is $17,751,186, and the amount of property for each pupil $1,492. For 1911-1912 the value of all was $16,454,798, or according to the Report of the Commissioner of Education, $16,387,726. In this Report the value of scientific apparatus, furniture, etc., is stated to be $918,053.

[571] In most cases, as we have seen, the day schools are housed in public school buildings, special establishments being provided only in a few large cities. In the Report of the Commissioner of Education, the property value of four day schools, two being large ones, is put at $250,055, or $525 for each pupil; and if this be accepted as a measure, the property value of all the day schools is $1,019,550. The property value of seven denominational and private schools is likewise given as $324,717, or $1,358 for each pupil; and if this is taken as a measure, the property value of all is $865,404.

[572] In 1910-1911 this was $503,323, and in 1911-1912, $772,245. If allowance be made for the dual schools, it is about ten per cent less.

In the Report of the United States Commissioner of Education it is placed at $568,136 for 1911-1912.

[573] With no allowance for the dual schools, this is $3,423,126. In the Report of the Commissioner of Education it is $3,285,099, for all but six inst.i.tutions.

[574] At the Conference of Charities and Corrections in 1906 this was estimated to be $3,200,000. Proceedings, p. 249.

[575] For tables as to the cost of the support of the schools, see Appendix B.

[576] These endowment funds are found for the most part only in certain of the semi-public inst.i.tutions, and in a few state schools which have received land from the federal government. In the Report of the Commissioner of Education the amount of productive funds in thirteen states for 1911-1912 is given as $3,372,565, as follows: Maine, $2,000; Ma.s.sachusetts, $193,674 (in 1910-1911, $369,723); Connecticut, $403,000; New York, $1,002,633; Pennsylvania, $373,758; Maryland, $4,500; District of Columbia, $11,000; Kentucky, $9,000; North Dakota, $600,000; South Dakota, $400,000; Montana, $160,000; Utah, $160,000; California, $53,000. Thus practically two-fifths belongs in the states of Ma.s.sachusetts, Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania, nearly one-third being in New York alone; while a little under two-fifths belongs in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Utah.

[577] This is especially true of New York, where the counties pay the entire amount up to the age of twelve, and after that the state.

[578] In this connection it may be noted that Congress has been asked to grant $100,000 to "encourage the establishment of homes in the states and territories for teaching articulate speech and vocal language to deaf children before they are of school age". Teachers are to be trained for this purpose, and pupils are to enter at two years of age and remain till the regular school age. See Report of Pennsylvania Home for Training in Speech of Deaf Children, 1904, p. 5; Proceedings of Conference of National a.s.sociation for the Study and Education of Exceptional Children, 1911, p. 64.

[579] Charges for clothing and transportation of indigent pupils are as a usual thing paid for by the county, though this is a.s.sumed by some states. Often a given sum, as thirty dollars, is allowed for clothing, or the actual cost thereof is collected from the county. This is done through the proper administrative offices of the county, there being also some judicial procedure, as where the county judge or similar official certifies by proof. The school is then reimbursed for the expenditures it may have made. Some such procedure is quite general, especially in the South and West, though in a few states, as Vermont and New Jersey, the town or township, where this is the political division, plays a similar part. In Rhode Island, Ma.s.sachusetts, Maine, Louisiana, California, Nevada, and possibly other states, these charges are paid by the state. In Maryland they may be paid by the county, city or state.

[580] It happens sometimes that legislatures are inclined to reduce the appropriations to as low a sum as possible, and superintendents may receive commendation for efforts to cut down expenditures. There is danger, however, that such a policy may be carried to a point where efficiency is sacrificed to seeming economy. On the question of cost, see Report of Mississippi School, 1909, p. 11; Iowa Bulletin of State Inst.i.tutions, June, 1907, ix., 3; Ohio Bulletin of Charities and Corrections, Nov., 1907, xiii., 4.

[581] On the value of this tax, see Report of Colorado School, 1896, p.

22.

[582] In 1907-1908 this was $257.02; in 1909-1910, $253.92; in 1910-1911, $259.63; and in 1911-1912, $262.71. Without allowance for the blind in the dual schools, the amount in 1912-1913 is $289.60. According to the Report of the Commissioner of Education, the average cost is $303.58. It may be noted in this connection that the _per capita_ cost for the blind in schools is more than that for the deaf, being $359.

[583] In 1910-1911 this was $130.28.

[584] In 1910-1911 this was $264.06.

[585] Report of Commissioner of Education for 1909-1910. The figures for subsequent years have reference rather to average attendance.

CHAPTER XXI

PUBLIC DONATIONS OF LAND TO SCHOOLS

GRANTS BY THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

To the schools in some of the states land has been donated, either as an investment, the proceeds of which should be used for their benefit, or as sites for the erection of buildings. This has been done by the national government, by the states, by cities and by individuals and corporations. The most important of such gifts have been the grants of the public domain made by Congress for the benefit of certain of the state inst.i.tutions. Shortly after the work of the education of the deaf had commenced in the country, it bestowed 23,000 acres upon the Hartford school and a township of land upon the Kentucky.[586] After nearly three-quarters of a century it came again materially to the aid of this education, this time by directing that certain tracts of the public lands located in states about to be admitted to the Union should be set apart for the benefit of the schools. Thus in the enabling act of 1889[587] for the admission of the states of North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana, land was set aside for the benefit of the schools for the deaf and the blind, which are mentioned by name. In North Dakota and South Dakota the number of acres allowed to each was 40,000, and in Montana 50,000.[588] Likewise when Wyoming was admitted in 1890,[589]

30,000 acres were granted for an inst.i.tution for the deaf and the blind, though the school has not yet been established. When Utah was admitted in 1896,[590] 100,000 acres were granted to the school for the deaf. On the admission of Arizona and New Mexico in 1910,[591] like amounts were respectively granted for inst.i.tutions for the deaf and the blind, 50,000 acres having already been set aside in the latter while a territory.[592]

GRANTS BY THE STATES

Grants by the states themselves for the schools on a large scale have not been numerous. The state of Texas has set apart large tracts of public land for its inst.i.tutions, the school for the deaf coming in for 100,000 acres as its share. The school in Michigan has received a number of sections of the state salt spring lands, amounting to 16,000 acres.[593]

GRANTS BY CITIES OR CITIZENS

Small tracts of land have been donated in some cases by cities where the schools were to be established, sometimes accompanied by a cash donation as a further inducement for a particular location. Similar gifts have been made by individuals and corporations. These donations have occurred in about half of the states, but they have usually been small in size, most being of five or ten acres.[594]

FOOTNOTES:

[586] We have also seen how applications were made to Congress for the endowment of other schools.

[587] Stat. at Large, 1889, ch. 180. Washington was also admitted by this act, and there was a grant of 200,000 acres for "charitable, penal and reformatory inst.i.tutions". The schools for the deaf and the blind, which were not mentioned by name, seem not to have shared in this grant.

[588] Similar amounts were allowed to the reform schools, the agricultural colleges and the universities.

[589] Stat. at Large, ch. 664. When Idaho was admitted the same year (_ibid._, ch. 656) 150,000 acres were granted to charitable, educational, penal and reformatory inst.i.tutions, the school for the deaf not being directly mentioned.

[590] _Ibid._, 1894, ch. 138. Similar amounts were allowed for the school for the blind and other inst.i.tutions. As the school in Utah is for both the deaf and the blind, it really has 200,000 acres.

[591] _Ibid._, 1910, ch. 310. In the act admitting Oklahoma, though the school for the deaf is not mentioned among the inst.i.tutions upon which land is bestowed, it has shared in the grant, having land reported to be worth at least $350,000. _Annals_, lvi., 1911, p. 206.

[592] In general with respect to the land granted by Congress, it is provided that such land is not to be sold at less than $10 an acre.

[593] The state of Ma.s.sachusetts granted a small parcel of land to the Horace Mann school in Boston. To the school in Missouri 40 acres were granted by the state, and to that in Arkansas two tracts of land, one being of 100 acres.

[594] Thus land of perhaps five acres or less has been donated to the schools in California, District of Columbia, Illinois, New York (New York Inst.i.tution, Le Couteulx St. Mary's, and Central New York) Oregon, Pennsylvania (Oral and Pennsylvania Home), Tennessee, Virginia, and doubtless to other schools. Larger tracts, of ten acres or more, have been given in Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Michigan (state school and Evangelical Lutheran Inst.i.tute), Nebraska, Pennsylvania (Western), South Dakota, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and perhaps elsewhere. To the Kansas school 170 acres were presented, to the Minnesota 65, to the Washington 100, to the Oklahoma 60, to the school for the colored in Oklahoma 100, and to the school for the deaf, together with that for the blind, in Ohio 180. To the New York Inst.i.tution for Improved Instruction the city of New York granted the land for ninety-nine years at an annual rental of one dollar.

CHAPTER XXII

PRIVATE BENEFACTIONS TO SCHOOLS