THE CINCINNATI SYSTEM OF FREE SCHOOLS.

[Prepared for the American Educational Year-Book by Hon. Andrew J. Rickoff, Superintendent of Public Schools, Cincinnati.]

In the Ordinance of 1787, which was enacted by Congress for the government of the Northwest Territory, it was declared that "schools and the means of education shall for ever be encouraged"; and again in the Bill of Rights, adopted with the Constitution of the State in 1802, it is provided that "schools and the means of education shall for ever be encouraged by legislative provision." It was not, however, till the year 1825 that any school tax was assessed. This was the basis of the first school law of Ohio. In 1829 provisions were added to the charter of the city of Cincinnati, laying the foundation of the present school system. Various changes have been made in this law, the general tendency of which has been to invest the School Board with the entire management of the schools and school funds.

The "Board of Trustees and Visitors of the Cincinnati Common Schools" is composed of members, two from each of seventeen wards, elected by the people in such a way that the terms of one half of the members expire annually. The elections take place in April. At the meeting of the members on the first Tuesday of July, the Board is organized by the election of a President, VicePresident, and Corresponding Secretary. They may also elect a Superintendent, Clerk, and Messenger. Standing Committees on buildings and repairs, claims, course of study, and text-books, funds and taxes, furniture, &c., &c., are appointed by the President. The local trustees of the several schools are appointed by the Board.

The Board of Trustees fills all vacancies that occur in its own body; it is required to certify annually to the City Council the amount necessary to be raised for school purposes (over and above the State levy of one and a half mills on the dollar), not to exceed two mills to the dollar, which amount the City Council is required to certify to the County Auditor, who places it upon the duplicate of taxes for the county. It is authorized to purchase and dispose of property for school purposes, subject to a confirmation of Council; it appoints all teachers, and fixes their salaries; it makes all the necessary rules for the government and instruction of the pupils; it provides for the annual examination of the schools.

The Board of Examiners. - The Board of Trustees and Visitors is required to appoint, for the term of three years, suitable persons, residents of the city, men of competent learning and abilities, as examiners of said schools. It is made the duty of this Board of Examiners to meet at least once in every month, to examine the qualifications, competency, and moral character of all persons desirous of becoming teachers and instructors in said schools." No person can be “employed or paid" as a teacher in any of the public schools of the city "without having obtained a certificate from said Board of Examiners."

Schools for Colored Children. — The property of the colored people is taxed separately for school purposes, and the proceeds are devoted to the support of separate schools for their children. These schools are under the exclusive jurisdiction of a board of trustees elected by the people of color from among them

selves. They certify to the Council the amount required for school purposes, through the Board of Trustees and Visitors of Common Schools.

High Schools. A Central High School was established in 1847; but in 1851 a contract was made with the Board of Trustees of the Woodward College and High School, and the Board of Trustees of the Hughes Fund, each of which had under its control large amounts of property and money intended to furnish highschool education to the poorer portion of youth of the city, by which, with the aid of the city school fund, two high schools, the Woodward and the Hughes, were established, under the charge of a Union Board of High Schools, composed of six representatives from the Board of Trustees and Visitors of Common Schools, five Trustees of the Woodward Fund, and Two Trustees of the Hughes Fund. This board has under its control the entire government of the high schools; but no money can be paid by it without the concurrence of the general board.

Candidates for admission to these schools must be thirteen years of age, and pass an examination upon the studies of the intermediate schools. The examinations are made by means of printed questions and written answers.

Woodward High School.. Rev. Daniel Shepardson, Principal. 5 teachers. Pupils, 96 boys, 76 girls; total, 172. Annual expense for tuition, $ 5,269.84. Hughes High School. - Cyrus Knowlton, Principal. 5 teachers. Pupils, 86 boys, 95 girls; total, 181. Annual expense for tuition, $5,473.52.

Intermediate Schools. This class of schools was established in 1854. They correspond to the higher divisions of the grammar schools of other cities. There are four of them. The course is two years, and fits pupils for the high schools. The pupils are divided into two grades A and B, corresponding to the two years' Each grade is divided into sections, according to its size. The sections are numbered from the highest to the lowest, as A1, A2, B1, B2, &c.

course.

District Schools. - The city is divided into fifteen school districts. In each one there is a school. Each school is divided into four grades A, B, C, and D, corresponding to the first four years of a child's course. Each grade is divided into a greater or less number of sections, according to its size, numbered as in the intermediate schools. Excepting four small schools in the outskirts of the city, each district employs from eleven to twenty-two teachers. Children are admitted at six years of age.

Night Schools. This class of schools was established in 1841, for the benefit of young men and boys whose occupations prevent their attendance on the day schools. In 1856 these schools were opened to females. In the winter of 1856-57, the number of teachers was 27; cost of tuition, $2,719.50; number of pupils, 2,252; average attendance, 767.

Night High Schools, for the higher education of young men and women, especially in drawing, mathematics, and the natural sciences, were established i October, 1856. Cyrus Nason, Principal; 178 pupils; 93 average attendance; cost of tuition, $ 623.30.

German-English Departments, for the instruction of German children in their native language in connection with their instruction in English, are organized in nine of the district schools and one of the intermediates. Number of pupils studying German, 3,043.

Expenses. Tuition, $103,707.44; salaries of officers, $ 3,463.82; incidentals, $36,916.85; real estate and buildings, $50,095.29. Total, $193,183.40.

Tabular Statement of Attendance in the District and Intermediate Schools for the Month ending December 24, 1857, and Cost of Tuition in each, for the School Year ending June 30, 1857.

One Teacher of Penmanship is employed for all the schools, and has the assistance of one teacher in each school. Cost of instruction, $ 2,020.

Four Singing Teachers are constantly employed in giving instruction in music in all the preceding schools. Cost of instruction $4,800 per annum.

* School in an adjoining township; tuition fees of pupils from within the Corporation of Cincinnati paid by the City Board of Trustees and Visitors.

† Part of a year.

Intermediate Schools..

RATES OF SALARIES.

One Principal, who shall be a male teacher, with a No. 1 Principal's Certificate and three years' practical experience as a teacher, $1,320 per annum ($110 per month).

One Male Assistant, with a Principal's Certificate and two years' practical experience as a teacher, $800 per annum ($ 66.66 per month).

One First Female Assistant, with a No. 1 Female Principal's Certificate and three years' practical experience as a teacher, $ 600 per annum ($50 per month). One third of the remaining Female Assistants in such schools, with Female Principal's Certificate and two years' practical experience as teachers, not exceeding $450 per annum ($37.50 per month).

One third of the Female Assistants, with a No. 1 Assistant's Certificate and one year's practical experience as teachers, not exceeding $400 per annum ($ 33.33 per month).

The remaining one third of the Female Assistants, not exceeding $300 per annum ($25 per month).

District Schools. One Principal, who shall be a male teacher, with a No. 1 Principal's Certificate and three years' practical experience as a teacher, $ 1,200 per annum ($100 per month). Provided, that the salary of Principals of lesser districts and sub-districts shall be at the discretion of the board.

One Male Assistant, with a Principal's Certificate and two years' practical experience as a teacher, $800 per annum ($ 66.06 per month); or with a No. 1 Assistant's Certificate and one year's practical experience as a teacher, $600 per annum ($50 per month). Provided, that in districts where German is taught, there may be one additional Male Assistant in that department, with a Principal's Certificate and three years' practical experience as a teacher, at a salary of $900 per annum ($75 per month), and one other Assistant in that department, with an Assistant's Certificate, at a salary of $ 552 per annum ($ 46 per month).

SOCIETIES AND ASSOCIATIONS.

THE HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF OHIO. This Society was established at Columbus, in 1830. Hon. Jacob Burnett of Cincinnati took an active part in the early transactions of the institution. Its publications have been few. Hon. Benjamin Thompson, formerly Senator in Congress, was for some time President. Am. Quart. Reg., Vol. XV. p. 179.

OHIO STATE TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION.

Officers for 1858 (chosen December 30, 1857):- President, M. F. Cowdery. Corresponding Secretary, W. H. Young. Recording Secretary, H. H. Barber. Treasurer, J. J. Janney. Executive Committee, John Lynch, A. D. Lord, I. W. Andrews, C. S. Royce, Cyrus Nason, S. M. Barber, John Ogden.

THE OHIO JOURNAL OF EDUCATION.

This Journal, which is devoted to the interests of popular education, is published monthly, under the auspices of the State Teachers' Association, at Columbus. Wm. T. Coggeshall, Editor. Terms, $1 per annum.

XXV. MICHIGAN.

Capital, Lansing.- Area, 56,243 square miles. -Population, 1854, 511,720.

WHETHER We consider the improvement in the character of her schools, the intelligence and enterprise of her teachers, the awakening zeal of her people, or the generous outlays of money for school buildings and apparatus, Michigan now compares favorably with any State in the Union in her educational progress. The rapid growth of educational sentiment among her people for the last five years, is a subject of frequent and wondering remark, even to her own citizens.

The public school system of Michigan has often been commended for its unity and simplicity. It originally contemplated three grades of schools; first, the Primary or District Schools; next, the Preparatory or Academic Schools, branches of the State University; and third, the University, the solitary crowning stone of this pyramid of schools, all free, and offering to every child in the State an unobstructed path from the first step in study to the highest attainments in culture and knowledge.

PRIMARY SCHOOLS.

The Primary Schools are partly sustained by the income of the fund arising from the sale of the sixteenth section in every township of land, and partly by a tax of one mill upon each dollar of taxable property of the State. Each district is also permitted by law to vote a tax of a dollar for each child between the ages of four and eighteen, living within its limits. This latter tax is yet rarely voted to the full extent allowed, and hence rate-bills are resorted to still to supply the deficiency.

The permanent School Fund arising from the sale of lands amounts now to $1,384,288.03, yielding an annual income of $106,976, or 53 cents for each child in the State between the ages of four and eighteen years. This fund, it is expected, will ultimately amount to about $5,000,000. At the last meeting of the State Legislature, a law was enacted appropriating seventy-five per cent of the proceeds of the sales of certain swamp-lands, given to the State by Congress, to the primary schools. It is hoped that at least $4,000,000 more may thus be added to the School Fund.

Each primary school is under the direction of three district officers, entitled the Moderator, Director, and Assessor, each charged with the peculiar duties indicated by his title, and all together constituting the district school board. The business of licensing teachers and examining schools is intrusted to a board of three inspectors in each township. The number of primary school districts in the State is 3,659, and the number of children of legal school ages, that is, between four and eighteen years, by the reports for 1855, was 187,123. Of these there were in attendance in the public