xt7k3j393d6h https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7k3j393d6h/data/mets.xml Kentucky. Department of Education. Kentucky Kentucky. Department of Education. 1933-12 volumes: illustrations 23-28 cm. call numbers 17-ED83 2 and L152 .B35. bulletins English Frankford, Ky. : Dept. of Education This digital resource may be freely searched and displayed in accordance with U. S. copyright laws. Educational Bulletin (Frankfort, Ky.) Education -- Kentucky Educational Bulletin (Frankfort, Ky.), "Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction", vol. I, no. 10, December 1933 text Educational Bulletin (Frankfort, Ky.), "Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction", vol. I, no. 10, December 1933 1933 1933-12 2021 true xt7k3j393d6h section xt7k3j393d6h

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PUBLEC ENSTRUCTIGN

Published by order of the

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

JAMES H. RICHMOND
Superintendent of Public Instruction

ISSUED MONTHLY
Entered as second-class matter March 21, 1933, at the post office at
Frankfprt, Kentucky, under the Act of August 24, 1912.

Vol. 1 0 December, 1933 O No. 10

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BIENNIAL REPORT

of Me

SUPERINTENDENT OF
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

of the

Commonwealth of Kentucky

FOR THE BIENNIUM ENDED
JUNE 30, 1933

Pawn/zed 5} order of Me
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

JAMES H. RICHMOND
Superintendent 0f Pué/iz Ith/ttion

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STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

JAMES H. RICHMOND,
Superintendent of Public
Instruction, Chairman

SARA MAHAN, Secretary of State
BAILEY P. WOOTTON,

Attorney General

LENA ROBERTS, Secretary

STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

JAMES H. RICHMOND,
Supt. of Public Instruction

DIVISION OF PUBLIC RELA-
TIONS
W. C. BELL, Director

DIVISION OF RESEARCH

JAMES W. CAMMACK, JR.,
Director

DIVISION OF STATISTICS,
SCHOOL RECORDS AND
REPORTS

MOSS WALTON, Director
DIVISION OF RURAL SCHOOL
SUPERVISION

O. J. JONES, Supervisor

DIVISION OF HIGH SCHOOL
SUPERVISION

MARK GODMAN, Supervisor
DIVISION OF NEGRO EDUCA-
TION

L. N. TAYLOR,
State School Agent

DIVISION OF SCHOOL LIBRARY
SERVICE

RUTH THEOBALD, Supervisor

GORDIE YOUNG.
Asst. Supt. of Public Instruction

DIVISION OF SCHOOL BUILD-
INGS AND GROUNDS
JOHN W. BROOKER, Director
HUGH MERIWETHER,
Consulting Architect
DIVISION OF VOCATIONAL
EDUCATION
G. IVAN BARNES, Director
F. G. BURD, Supervisor
Agricultural Education
ATA LEE, Supervisor
Home Economics Education
A. N. MAY, Supervisor Trade
and Industrial Education

DIVISION OF VOCATIONAL RE-
HABILITATION’I‘

HOMER W. NICHOLS, Director
CLEVELAND MOORE, Supervisor
OLNEY M. PATRICK, Supervisor

DIVISION OF TEACHER
TRAINING
R. E. JAGGERS, Director
DIVISION OF CERTIFICATION
A. P. TAYLOR, Diréctor

DIVISION OF FINANCE
F. D. PETERSON, Director
HAROLD EADES, Member
J. VIRGIL CHAPMAN, Member

DIVISION OF INSPECTION AND ACCOUNTING
J. C. MILLS, Auditor and Inspector

STENOGRAPHERS

LENA ROBERTS

MRS. GRACE T. WALTERS
JAMIE PAULINE LUTTRELL
MARY LEE JACKSON

LOUISE O’DONNELL
CHRISTINE JOHNSON
CLARA KERSHAW

LILLIAN McKAY

CLYDE HOWELL

ALMA COOK ATKINSON
ALICE CLASBY

ALICE SEIBERZ
LILIAN ATKERSON
RACHEL BELL

MARY PALMER
ELANDOR MERKLEY

*In September, 1933, the name of this division was changed to “Special

Education. "

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LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
FRANKFORT

To The General Assembly
and Governor of the
Commonwealth of Kentucky:

In compliance with See. 4389 of the Kentucky Statutes,
I submit herewith the report of the Superintendent of
Public Instruction for the biennium ended June 30, 1933.

The report is given in three parts: Part I, the State-
ment of the Superintendent of Public Instruction; Part
11, Reports of the Directors of the Divisions of the State
Department of Education; and Part III, Summary of Statis-
tical Tables and detailed Financial and General School
Statistics for the individual school districts of the state.

In view of the crisis now confronting public education
in Kentucky, it is urged that Special attention be given to
the discussion of the conditions described in Part I.

Respectfully submitted,

JAMES H. RICHMOND
Superintendent of Public Instruction

January 2, 1934

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Letter of Transmittal

Statement of the Superintendent of Public Instruction

Reports of the Directors of the Divisions of the State Department

of Education

1
7

Statistical Tables

PART I
STATEMENT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF

’ PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

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INTRODUCTION

The biennium ended'June 30, 1933, was of great signiﬁcance to the
public schools. The ﬁnancial depression, the full force of which was
felt by the nation in the fall of 1929, reached its greatest depth in Ken-
tucky during this biennial period. At present the outlook is bright
for economic recovery in both state and nation; however, the manner
in which schools are supported in Kentucky will cause the year
1933-34, the ﬁrst year of the biennium of 1933—35, to be one of the
darkest in the school history of the state. While it is not the purpose
of this report to treat directly school conditions other than those of
1931-32 and 1932-33, it will be necessary from time to time to maker
to the preceding biennium and to the ﬁrst half of the year 1933-34, for
the purpose of showing certain trends in evidence during the biennium
covered in this report.

The full effect of conditions which began to develop as early as
1930-31 will not be felt for some years to come. A casual study of
school expenditures for 1931-32 would make it appear that the effects
of the depression were not in evidence at that time in Kentucky, when,
as a. matter of fact, conditions in the state as early as 1930', pointed
to a collapse of the public school system within a few years, unless
the people could be aroused to the imperative necessity of adequate
support for the schools. Accordingly, a program was launched for
the improvement of educational conditions in Kentucky, a program
which has already done a great deal in making possible the mainten-
ance of standards of our present school system and in paving the way
for a new era of public education in the state. This program will be
discussed brieﬂy in the report under the heading “The Kentucky Edu-
cational Commission”.

A complete description and analysis of school conditions during
the biennium just ended would require more space than the limits of
this report will permit. Furthermore, the report of the Kentucky
Educational Commission furnishes an exhaustive analysis of school
conditions in the state during the year 1931-32 and, to a limited extent,
those in 1932-33. It shall be the purpose of this Biennial Report, there-
fore, to consider brieﬂy the more signiﬁcant phases of the public school
program and the work of the State Department of Education during
the past biennium.

The ﬁrst division of this report will be devoted to a discussion of:
(1) the problems of operating the schools during the depression, (2)
the functional reorganization of the State Department of Education,
(3) the services performed by the State Department of Education,
(4) the Kentucky Educational Commission and (5) the necessity for
increasing the Common School Fund.

10 SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

OPERATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS DURING THE FINANCIAL
CRISIS

Decrease in financial support—The total revenue from both state
and local support received by the public schools of the Commonwealth
was $20,860,000 in 1929-30, aside from borrowed money and bonds.
This was increased $550,000 in 193031. Since 1030-31 the support of
public education has declined. In 1931—32, the ﬁrst year of this bien-
nium, the decline was $237,000 from the total for 1930-31; in 1932-33 the
decrease was considerably greater, the support for that year being
$3,183,000 less than for 1931-32. This represents a decline of 15 per
cent in public school revenue in one year.

The amount of state support of public education expressed in dol-
lars per pupil in the school census is called the state per capita. For
1929-30 the state per capita was $8.15; in 1930-31 it was $8.75. In
1931-32 it reached a, maximum of $9.00; but in 1932-33 it declined sharp-
ly to $7.00. For the state as a whole local support of public education
constitutes more than 70 per cent of the total. Although the state
revenue in 1931—32 slightly exceeded that for 1930-31, due to the greater
decrease in local revenue for 1931-32, the total support for 1931-32
showed a decrease. In 1932-33 there were sharp declines in both state
and local revenues, resulting in a net decrease of over $3,000,000 as
has been pointed out. .

The decreases in revenue are attributable to the decreases in prop-
erty valuations in the various districts and to increases in tax delin-
quencies. A part of the school revenue is derived from franchise taxes
on miscellaneous corporations and railroads. Since the earning power
of these corporations has been greatly reduced, the value of franchises
has likewise decreased.

Although for the Commonwealth as a whole the state support of
public education constitutes less than 30 per cent of the total, this per-
centage is far from true for the different types of school districts.
For the city districts of the state in 1931-32, state support was 18.7
per cent of the total; for the graded school districts this per cent was
23.8; and for the county school districts collectively the state support
was 40.3 per cent of the total. In more than one-third of the county
districts of the Commonwealth the revenue for the public schools from
state support exceeds the public school revenues obtainable by local
taxation. This means that in these rural areas of Kentucky, wherein
reside more than 200,000 school children, public education is largely
dependent upon the support afforded through the State Per Capita
Fund.

Since the rural sections of the state are more dependent upon the
state support than are the cities and centers of population, the reduc-
tion from $9.00 per capita in 1931-32 to $7.00 per capita affected them
more than it did the cities. Moreover, the proportionate reductions in
revenue from local taxation were also greater for the rural sections.

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BIENNIAL REPORT 11

These reductions in revenue in the county districts were not due to
changes in the local tax rates for schools. The average school tax
rate in the county districts in 1930—31 was 61.2 cents; in 1931-32 it
was 62.1 cents; and in 1932-33 it was 61.5 cents. These ﬁgures show
a variation of less than one cent in the mean or average tax rates.
School tax rates have held up remarkably well throughout the state.
It should be noted that on the average tax rates are higher in the less
favored rural sections of the state than they are in the state as a
whole. In 1931-32 43 out of the 120 county districts of the state were
able to raise less for public education by local taxation than they re-
ceived from the state common school fund. In these 43 counties the
average school tax rate was 67 cents compared with the 62 cents aver-
age for the 120 counties.

Increase in enrollment—The total district enrollment of the public
schools of the state for 1931-32 was 613,119; the corresponding enroll-
ment for 193233 was 622.115,* representing an increase of 8,996 pupils
in one year. The enrollment in the city school districts of the state
decreased 1,800 pupils while the enrollment in the county schools in-
creased 10,800. This indicates a distinct movement of population from
the cities to the rural districts and adds materially to the public school
burden of the less favored areas of the state.

Shortened school term—The decreased support for public educa-
tion is becoming apparent in the reduced quantity of educational oppor-
tunity afforded the children of the state. In 1930-31 and 1931-32 no
school districts of the state operated 011 a term of less than seven
months in length. In 1932-33 at least three county districts were
forced to reduce the length of the elementary school term to six
months. Reports for 1933-34 now in show that at least thirty of the
county school districts of the state are operating their elementary
schools for only six months.

Lag of school revenue receipts.—Not only has the amount of
money available for public education been greatly reduced in the last
tWo years, but the time in which it has become available. for use has
further hampered the operation of the schools. In 1931-32 and pre-
ceding years approximately 75 per cent of the receipts into the state
school fund were realized during the two months of September and
January. In 1932-33 the two months of largest receipts were Novem-
ber and March. In 1931-32 41 per cent of the receipts into the Common
School Fund were realized prior to November ﬁrst; in 1932-33 only 12
per cent of the receipts into the Common School Fund were realized
prior to November 1, 1932. This situation has been brought about by
extension of time for payment of state and county taxes. By an Act
of the General Assembly of 1932, the discount and penalty dates for
payment of taxes were advanced sixty days.

*The State enrollment for 1932-33 was 607,517. This smaller ﬁgure ex—

cludes the duplicates recorded in one or more school districts of the State.
In Dl‘ekus enrollment ﬁgures depulicates have been included.

12 SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

Local revenue receipts in the county districts has lagged two
months behind the local revenue receipts for city districts. In 1932—33
in the city districts one-half of the local revenue receipts Were avail-
able in December; while it was not until sometime in February that
county school districts had received as much as one-half of their local
school revenue. Since more than 75 per cent of the school revenue
expended annually goes for teachers’ salaries, it is obvious that the
lag of revenue receipts has delayed salary payments due the already
inadequately paid teachers in the rural sections of the state.

Decrease in teachers’ salaries.—Teachers’ salaries in Kentucky
have always been low in comparison with other states. The state
average salary for all public school teachers was $934 in 1930-31; in
1932-33 it was $726, a decrease of 22 per cent. In 1931-32 the average
annual salary paid the 9,970 elementary teachers in the county schools
was only $564. For the corresponding group of 10,070 teachers in
1932-33 the average salary was $459.

Decrease in capital outlay.—Due to the reductions in school reve
nue, curtailment of certain types of expenditures has taken place.
The most noticeable of these has been in capital outlay. Expenditures
for capital outlay in 1930-31 totalled $2,874,438; in 1932-33 the amount
expended for this purpose was only $589,315, representing a decrease
of 80 per cent. Other classiﬁed expenditures that have been greatly
reduced are: expenditures for materials of instruction 65 per cent,
school plant maintenance 45 per cent, and auxiliary agencies 41 per
cent.

Further reductions in 1933-84.—Support for public education in
Kentucky, though very meager in 1932-33, is still further reduced in
1933-34. The state per capita which was $9.00 in 1931—32 and $7.00 in
1932-33 is only $6.00 in 1933-34, a reduction of one-third in only two
years. Indications are that education expenditures will be reduced
in all types of school districts, but to a greater degree in those dis-
tricts, the rural sections, where curtailment of support can least be
afforded. Reports of the State Tax Commission indicate that property
assessments, upon which taxes for the school year 1933-34 will be paid
have decreased 15 per cent.

Protecting school funds.—As indicated in the introduction of
this report, it became apparent as early as 1930 that the schools
were in for serious ﬁnancial difficulties. It was the opinion of Mr.
Bell, then Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the other mem-
bers of. the State Board of Education that every precaution should
be taken to safeguard and protect all school funds in the hands of
public officials. Due to the fact that school funds had been lost oc-
casionally prior to that date, through the defalcation of school treas-
urers and depositors and through lax business methods, the State
Board felt that such conditions should be remedied once and for all.
‘Furthermore, a preliminary check up had shown that the practice of

BIENNIAL REPORT 13

bonding school treasurers and depositories had been extremely lax;
so the State Board of Education passed a regulation to the effect that
each school district should require its treasurer and/or depository to
execute proper bond for the faithful performance of the duties of the
office or offices.

The State Board was fully aware of the fact that an adequate
plan of safeguarding school funds would include also proper plans of
collecting funds and recording and accounting for them. Subsequent
developments have shown the wisdom of the Superintendent of Pub-
lic Instruction and the State Board in the action taken. By January
1, 1931, approximately 25 banks in the state had temporarily or per-
manently ceased business. There were only one or two instances
where public school funds were lost through the closing of banks
and, in each of these cases, the local board of education had not yet
complied with the regulations of the State Board.

An interesting chapter could be written on this subject, but suf-
ﬁce it to say that during the years following 1930,31 almost every
treasurer and depository of boards of education have executed proper
bond and there have been a relatively small number of instances
where school funds have been tied up through the closing of a bank.

Bonds guaranteed by personal sureties have always been in the
majority, but due to the fact that surety companies virtually ceased
to guarantee public official bonds other than those for faithful per-
formance of duties, the number of personal bonds has increased.
This has been true even though collateral bonds are becoming more
frequent. Collateral bonds are those where government bonds, state
warrants, or state bridge bonds have been deposited as collateral
for the protection of school funds.

Every effort has been made to see that boards of education
live within their budgets and, as a result, practices of ﬁscal admin-
istration have been approved. As a means of improving ﬁscal poli-
cies, a comprehensive study was made of school indebtedness in
Kentucky. As a result of this study, recommendations have been
made looking toward decreasing, in the immediate future, the amount
of ﬂoating indebtedness outstanding against school districts. Inci-
dentally, the school debt problem in Kentucky is small when com-
pared with other states. Exclusive of Louisville, the total school
indebtedness in Kentucky is only slightly in excess of $10,000,000.
Only two states in the union have a smaller per capita school in-
debtedness.

Possibly what will be looked upon as the most signiﬁcant plan
of protecting school funds in Kentucky was inaugurated July 1, 1933.
At that time a complete and comprehensive ﬁnancial accounting and
recording system was inaugurated. Through the consolidation of
all ﬁnancial problems under the direction of one person in the State

14 SUPERINTEN‘DENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

Department of Education a much better check can be made on ﬁscal
policies in the mture.

School economies effected.—On a relative basis, schools of Ken-
tucky have held up as well during the depression as those in the
great majority of the states. During 1931-32 and 1932-33 there were a
few states in which there were fewer reductions in the length of the
school term than there were in Kentucky. School tax rates held up
remarkably’well. All of which shows that every effort was made to
provide for the children of Kentucky a reasonably satisfactory pro-
gram of public education. Other sections of this report, however,
deal with the factors which have brought the public schools almost to
the point of a general breakdown.

It has been said the economies effected by the school admin-
istrators of Kentucky did much toward guaranteeing to taxpayers that
educational dollars received maximum returns. Indeed, no agency of
the state government has been called upon to effect as man] econo-
mies as have the schools. In the spring of 1932, prior to the time
of the preparation of budgets and salary schedules by district boards
of education, the State Department of Education prepared a list of
suggested school economies. This statement was approved by the
State Board of Education. The necessity for preparation and rigid
adherence to the school budget was pointed out. The importance of
sound administrative procedure was stressed, and a list of several
false economies was prepared. It has been reported that these sug-
gested economies did much toward aiding local boards of education in
solving their difficult ﬁnancial problems.

The theme of the August administrators’ conferences held in
1932 was “school economies.” Conferences were held at the Univer-
sity of Kentucky and the four teachers’ colleges. Several hundred
school administrators were in attendance at these conferences. The
importance of preparing and living Within a school budget, desirable
economies in instructional service, practical economies in the main-
tenace and operation of school plant, and economies possible in the
general admin'stration of the schools were stressed at these meetings.

In April, 1933, a more comprehensive list of suggested economies
was prepared than the one prepared the preceding year. This state-
ment dealt with preparation of the budget, economic buying prac-
tices, economies in instruction, economies in the operation and main-
enance of plant, economies in school housing, and miscellaneous
economies.

As pointed out above, the State Department of Education has
put forth every effort to guarantee to the taxpayers that dollars
spent on education shall receive maximum return. The rigorous in-
sistence on the practices of economics as brieﬂy outlined in this report
is evidence of the attitude of the State Department of Education on
this question.

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BIENNIAL REPORT 15

THE FUNCTIONAL REORGANIZATION OF THE STATE
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

The State Department of Education was called upon to render an
increased measure of service during the biennium. Indeed, the volume
of work performed by the Department demanded that it be reorganized
on a functional basis in order that it be in position to meet the de~
mands made upon it. So vast was the amount of ﬁnancial work to be
performed, it became necessary to create a division of ﬁnance. Certain
divisions performing kindred or parallel services were consolidated or
coordinated while the activities of others were expanded.

According to the provisions of Section 4396-6 of Kentucky Statutes,
the following divisions of the State Department of Education are in-
cluded within the departmental organization:

1. Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, with one Assistant
Superintendent of Public Instruction, who is authorized to act in
the absence of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Division of Statistics, School Records and Reports.

Division of Inspection and Accounting.

Division of Certiﬁcation and Examination.

Division of Rural School Supervision.

Division of High School Supervision.

Division of Negro Education.

Division of Vocational Education.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction may provide for addi-
tional departments as efficiency of service to the state may de-
mand, within the limits of the funds available for such service.

599°4°°9’"“?°.N’

Under the provisions of “9" above, the following divisions have
been added:

Division of Vocational Reliabilitation.*

Division of School Buildings and Grounds.

Division of Research.

Division of Finance.

Division of Teacher Training.

Division of Public Relations.

Division of School Library Service (added July 1, 1933).

ﬂewewww

These titles imply the type of service to be performed by the
respective divisions.

The statutory set-up of divisions, including the newer divisions
created in the reorganization of the State Department, may be
analyzed and described in terms of the functional services which they
render. On a broad basis, these services may be grouped into two
main types of work performed by the staff of the Department:

*In September, 1933, the name of this division was changed to “Special
Education. ”

SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

A. General Services.

B. Special Advisory and Supervisory Services.

Under “A”, there are three functions:

I. General administration and supervision of the system of educa'

II.

III.

tion within the Commonwealth, and the State Department of
Education, in relation to the school system of the state.

Promotion of the educational welfare of the children of the
Commonwealth in providing leadership for the cause of educa-
tion, and in interpreting to the public the actual work of the
schools. This service has to do with publicity and the arrang-
ing of various types of local, regional, and state conferences in
the interests of the advancement of education.

Continuous study of state and local school problems through
scientiﬁc research. This involves the systematic gathering of
school data, the securing of superintendents’ annual reports and
various other kinds of school statistics. This type of service
includes the making of surveys and the supplying of technical
statistical advice and scientiﬁc direction on research projects
carried out by members of the Department.

Under ”B”, there are two general functions:

I. Advisory and supervisory services in relation to the educational

administration of the schools and the problems connected with
instruction. The two branches of this division include (1) the
problems of the schools as instruments of education with their
administrative and instructional facilities, and (2) problems with
respect to the training and certiﬁcation of teachers.

The performance of the functions under (1) demands a con-
siderable amount of ﬁeld work and, therefore, requires a number
of supervisors, each of whom is professionally equipped for some
special branch of supervision, as, for example, the Public School
Supervisor, the Supervisor of Buildings and Grounds, the Super-
visor of Vocational Training.

The functions covered under (2) fall into three divisions:
(a) working with all institutions in the state which are engaged
in the training of teachers in order to develop proper curricula.
for the various types of teaching positions needed in the state;
(b) the setting up of proper principles for the certiﬁcation of
teachers and seeing to it that they are carried out in practice
through the issuance of certiﬁcates; and (c) studying the prob-
lems of teachers in service to discover whether or not their

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BIENNIAL REPORT 17

training is deﬁcient and making proper arrangements for the
continued growth of teachers in service.

II. Advisory and supervisory services in relation to the ﬁnancial

administration of the public schools call for: (1) auditing and
inspecting the records and accounts of school boards; (2) ascer-
taining whether the provisions of laws having to do With school
ﬁnances are being carried out; and (3) advising with boards in
the preparation of ﬁnancial plans.

Another phase of this type of service calls for the keeping
of accurate accounts of all funds used in the State Department

of Education.

All of the types of services mentioned herein are necessary and

essential to the carrying out of (1) the mandate of the State Constitu-

tion—

“The General Assembly shall by appropriate legislation pro-
vide for an efficient system of common schools throughout the
state.” (Section 183, Kentucky Constitution.)

and (2) the provisions of the laws of the state relating to the schools.

In the following outline the various divisions as provided for by

the Kentucky Statutes, including the added divisions, are classiﬁed
in terms of the functional services given above.

Organization of the State Department of Education

In charge: The Superintendent of Public Instruction.

A. General Services

I. Superintendent of Public Instruction and Assistant Superin-
tendent.
II. Division of Public Relations.

III. 1. Division of Research.
2. Division of Statistics, School Records and Reports.

B. Special Advisory and Supervisory Services

- I. Educational.

1. The Schools.

Division of Rural School Supervision.
Division of High School Supervision.
Division of Negro Education.

Division of Vocational Education.

P‘PP‘?’

'18 SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

e. Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.*

f. Division of School Buildings and Grounds.

g. Division of School Library Service (added July 1,
1933).

2. Teachers.

a. Division of Teacher Training.
b. Division of Certiﬁcation and Examination.

11. Financial.

1. Division of Finance.
2. Division of Inspection and Accounting.

SERVICES PERFORMED BY THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF
EDUCATION

During the ﬁrst year of the biennium covered in this report an
appropriation of only $55,000 was made available for the operation of
the State Department of Education. During each of the years of the
preceding biennium, which ended June 30, 1931, the sum of $65,000
was made available for operating the Department. The General As-
sembly of 1932 appropriated $60,000 for each of the years 1932-33
and 1933-34. The funds made available for the State Department of
Education are appropriated from the Common School Fund and not
from the General. Expenditure Fund. These appropriations must
cover all charges for salaries, traveling expenses, and operating ex-
penses of the Department. Charges for publishing "biennial reports,
courses of study, the school laws, and other publications required
by statutes, are charged direct against the Common School Fund and
not against the appropriation for the State Department of Education.

When it is considered that public education is the largest single
business of Kentucky and upon which more than $20,000,000 is ex-
pended each year beside expenditures for the state colleges, the
appropriation of $60,000 seems, and is, ridiculdusly small. The Con-
stitution of Kentucky, acts of the General Assembly, and numerous
decisions of the Court of Appeals state in unmistakable terms that
the function of education is a state responsibility; however, as pointed
out in the ﬁrst section of this report, the state has continued to spend
less and less through the Common School Fund on the public schools,
and, at no time in recent years, has the appropriation for the main-
tenance of the State Department of Education been adequate to carry
on its work. Were it not for the generosity of the General Educa-
tion Board of New York City in donating the services of ﬁve staff

*In September, 1933, the name 01‘ this division was changed to “Special
Education.”

er ~ “sh—*r

BIENNIAL REPORT 19

members to the Department, the services rendered by the Depart-
ment would be limited indeed.

.For many years the General Education Board has donated several
thousand dollars toward the maintenance and operation of the State
Department of Education. During the year the General Assembly
appropriated only $55,000 for maintaining the State Department, the
General Education Board gave the State Department of Education
$22,503,83 which covered the salaries, traveling expenses, and cleri-
cal assistance of three divisions of the Department. In February,
1933, the General Education Board made provision for the Division
of Teacher Training, including the salary of the director, his travel-
ing expenses, and a full-time secretary. In July, 1933, the Board
made provision for the salary and traveling expenses of the Super-
visor