USA > New Jersey > The history of New Jersey : from its earliest settlement to the present time : including a brief historical account of the first discoveries and settlement of the country, Vol. II > Part 26
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"The general school law was amended in 1846, so as to require every township to raise for school purposes a sum of money at least equal to its portion of the State appropriation. It also authorized the election of township superintendents, who were required, among other duties, to visit the schools every quarter, and to make a report of their condition to the State
* This provision was inserted in the new Constitution through the efforts of James Parker, the father of the school fund, and an ardent supporter of public education. Mr. Parker was also an early advocate of the construction of canals and railroads across the State, was long an able legislator in the State and in Congress, and an active philanthropist during many years. He was the second President of the State Historical Society. He died at the age of ninety-two years at Perth Amboy, in 1863 .- History of New Jersey, 1870, page 213.
+ State Superintendents of New Jersey :
T. F. King, from 1845 to 1852.
John H. Phillips, from 1852 to 1860.
Frederick W. Ricord, from 1860 to 1864.
C. M. Harrison, from 1864 to 1866.
E. A. Apgar, from . 1866 to -
-History of New Jersey, 1870, page 214.
..
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Superintendent. It authorized the Board of Trustees and Town Superintendents to erect school-houses and to determine what books should be used in the township. It made it the duty of the Trustees of the School Fund to elect the State Superintend- ent and to fix his salary, and limited his term of office to two years.
"In 1851 the annual appropriation was increased to forty thousand dollars .* The act of that year provided also that the public money should be apportioned to the counties in the ratio of their population, and to the townships in proportion to the number of children between the ages of five and eighteen years. No township was allowed to raise by taxation, for school pur- poses, more than three dollars annually for each child on the list. The public money was to be used in maintaining 'a free school in each township, in which all children who desired might be taught free of charge.'
"In 1854 teachers' institutes were established by law, and one hundred dollars were appropriated annually to each insti- tute. In the following year the Legislature provided for the purchase of Webster's Dictionary for each School in the State. The annual appropriation for the support of schools was increased to eighty thousand dollars in 1858-fifty thousand dollars from the school fund, and thirty thousand dollars from the general revenues.
"The educators in New Jersey were among the first in the United States to advocate the establishing of schools for the professional training of teachers. Professor Philip Lindsay, Acting President of the College of New Jersey, in 1823 declared in favor of professional schools for teachers. In January, 1828, Professor John Maclean, of the same institution, in a public lec- ture, recommended the establishment of a school 'to educate young men for the business of teaching.' In 1847 Professor E. C. Wines read to a convention at Mount Holly a 'report on Normal Schools,' which was printed and widely circulated. The subject was presented to the State Teachers' Association in
* By joint resolutions, the Legislature had added $10,000 to the annual ap- propriation in 1849, and in 1850, making the appropriation for each of these years $40,000 .- History of New Jersey, 1870, page 214.
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1855, in an essay by John T. Clark, of New Brunswick. County educational meetings and the reports of the State Superintendents and letters from many leading citizens, forcibly pressed upon the authorities the necessity for the immediate founding of a normal school. . Richard S. Field and David Naar greatly assisted the friends of this movement by using their influence to procure the legislation whereby, in 1855, the State Normal School was established, with an annual appropriation of ten thousand dollars for its support."* The act contemplates a normal school or seminary, for the training and education of teachers in the art of instructing and governing the common schools of this State. The Governor, with the advice and con- sent of the Senate, was to nominate and appoint ten trustees from each Congressional District in the State, for two years, five of whom should retire every year. The number of pupils was limited to two hundred and forty.
"Some enterprising citizens of the city of Trenton provided buildings for the accommodation of the institution, which was opened for students in March, 1856. The property of the Nor- mal and Model School and boarding-houses for students are valued at one hundred and sixty thousand dollars. An auxiliary department called the Farnum Preparatory School, was founded at Beverly, Burlington County, in 1856, by Paul Farnum, who gave seventy thousand dollars in property and money for the support of that school."t
The Legislature in 1857 made an annual appropriation of one thousand two hundred dollars to this school.
" The Board of Trustees appoints the teachers of the Normal School, and prescribes rules for the government of the school."t
Hon. Richard S. Field was elected first President of the Board of Trustees, which position he held until his death, in May, 1870, when William A. Whitehead was appointed. .
The present officers are : William A. Whitehead, President ; Charles E. Elmer, Secretary ; Elias Cook, Treasurer.
"The management of the institution has been highly success-
* History of New Jersey, 1870, page 215.
t History of New Jersey, 1870, page 216.
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ful, and has resulted in great good to the State. The profession of teaching has been elevated, educational interests in every county have been advanced, better teachers have been provided, and the public schools in all parts of the State improved rapidly."*
In 1858 the Legislature passed a resolution authorizing the Governor, during the suspension of the geological survey of the State, to permit the Trustees, for the benefit of the institution, the use of the mathematical and other instruments and apparatus belonging to the State, heretofore employed in said survey.
From the report of the Board of Trustees of the State Normal School, made to the Legislature in 1877, we find that the Far- num Preparatory School at Beverly had in attendance during the year 1876 one hundred and ninety-eight pupils, and an average attendance of one hundred and sixty-six.
The Model School at Trenton had in attendance three hun- dred and eighty-two pupils, one hundred and seventy-five of whom were males, and two hundred and seven females.
The Normal School proper, at Trenton, had in attendance two hundred and fifty-six, of whom thirty-eight were males, and and two hundred and eighteen females.
In 1856 Professor William F. Phelps was appointed Principal. In 1864 he resigned, and John S. Hart, LL.D., was appointed. Professor Hart resigned in 1871, and Professor Lewis M. John- son, a graduate of Williams' College, and late Principal of the Newark High School, succeeded him, and at the close of the academic year, July Ist, 1876, Professor Johnson retired · from the position of Principal, when the vacancy was filled by the appointment of Washington Hasbrouck, Ph. D., as Principal.
" The State Board of Education was established by an act of the Legislature in 1866. It comprises the Trustees of the State Normal School, together with the Governor of the State, the Attorney-General, Comptroller, Secretary of State, President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Assembly, and the Princi- pal and Treasurer of the State Normal School. It has authority to appoint the State Superintendent, makes an annual report to
* History of New Jersey, 1870, page 216.
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the Legislature of the educational work of the State, and pre- scribes rules and regulations for holding teachers' institutes. The distribution of public money to private and parochial schools was now discontinued, and the State appropriation was reserved for the support of the public schools entirely."*
In 1859 the State appropriation for the Normal School was continued for the term of five years, and in 1864 was again con- tinued for the same length of time, and on the 3d of April, 1872, they made an annual appropriation of fifteen thousand dollars.
February 2d, 1865, the Legislature passed an act to purchase the buildings now occupied by the State Normal and Model schools, together with the lots on which the same are erected, with the lands and grounds connected therewith and improve- ments thereon, with the fixtures, furniture, library, apparatus, and personal property connected with or used by the said schools, for the sum of thirty-eight thousand dollars.
In 1865 the Legislature, by enactment, incorporated "the Normal School Boarding-House Association," for the accommo- dation of teachers and pupils in the Normal and Model schools. The incorporators were, William White, Jonathan Steward, Charles Brearley, Henry B. Pierce, and Elias Cook, and the capital stock twenty thousand dollars, with power to increase the same to a sum not exceeding fifty thousand dollars, and divided into shares of fifty dollars each.
In 1864 the State Treasurer and Superintendent of Public Schools were authorized to purchase a sufficient number of Guizot's Physical and Descriptive Map of the United States, to supply one to each public school in the State, for which an ap- propriation of twelve thousand dollars was made.
"In 1867 the school law was remodeled, the best features of the old system were retained, and important new provisions were adopted. The State Board was confirmed, and its powers were enlarged ; the qualifications and duties of the State Super- intendent were defined ; the office of County Superintendent was established ; the 'Township Board of Trustees' was recog-
* History of New Jersey, 1870, page 217.
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nized as the legal association of the district trustees for each township; teachers were required to keep a 'school register ;' a school month was defined to be 'twenty school days, or four weeks of five school days each ;" Christmas, the first of January, the fourth day of July, and days of thanksgiving and fasting ap- pointed by the President of the United States or Governor of the State, were declared to be holidays.
" A State Board of Examiners was established, with authority to grant and revoke State certificates, which entitle the holder to teach in any part of the State; also County and City Boards with similar powers in their respective localities. Ample pro- vision was made for the government of the schools. For the support of the Normal School, ten thousand dollars annually was appropriated, forty thousand dollars for public schools, and in addition, from the revenue of the State, the sum of sixty thousand dollars annually, and the Treasurer was authorized to pay to teachers' institutes one hundred dollars annually to each one. The teachers in the schools were also forbidden to inflict corporeal punishment upon any child in any school in this State.
" This act gave authority to the inhabitants of any two or more districts to establish a graded school, to be supported by public funds and governed by a Board of Trustees. The collec- tion of taxes, the increase of the school fund, and the distribu- tion of the public money were carefully provided for, and the system in all its parts was adapted to the wants of the people."*
In 1867 it having been found under the new law that the annual appropriation from the school fund exceeded the amount that could be derived from the securities in that fund, and that there was a large deficiency at the close of the fiscal year, the Legislature o: dered that the sum of fourteen thousand eight hun- dred and seventy-four dollars and forty-seven cents be appropri- ated to the school fund out of the treasury, to pay said deficiency, and the Trustees were authorized to appropriate annually out of the income for the support of public schools the sum of thirty- five thousand dollars, and from the revenue of the State the sum
* History of New Jersey, 1870, pages 217, 218.
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of sixty-five thousand dollars per annum, in addition to the sum of thirty-five thousand dollars from the annual income of the school fund.
In 1871, for the purpose of maintaining free public schools, the Legislature directed an assessment, levy, and collection annually on the inhabitants of the State, upon the taxable real and personal property therein of two mills on each dollar of the valuation by the last abstract of ratables from the several coun- ties, and the townships were empowered at their annual town meetings to provide for the raising of such additional amounts as may be necessary to maintain free schools at least nine months in each year, and in case they made no provision for raising the additional amount necessary, the County Superintendent was to withhold from them their proportion of the State appropriation derived from the revenue of the State, unless the State Board should, for good cause shown, otherwise direct.
This act also provided that after the expiration of the present school year it should not be lawful to charge tuition fees for the support of public schools in this State, but that all such schools shall be free to all persons over five and under eighteen years of age residing within the district, so long as such schools can be thus maintained with the public school funds.
The following is a brief summary of the amount of money received from the various sources named, and appropriated to the support of public schools for 1876:
Amount of two mill tax $1,225,462 19
Additional State appropriation 100,000 00
Township school tax . 26,548 50 Interest of surplus revenue 30,523 54
District and city school tax for teachers' salaries 324,988 34
Total amount for the support of schools . $1,707,522 57 District and city school for building and repairing school-houses 407,767 70
. $2,115,290 27 Total amount appropriated for all school purposes .
Total valuation of school property in the State $6,449,516 00 Total census of children between five and eighteen years of age . . 314,826
There are in the State 1, 368 school districts, 1,532 school- buildings, and 3,046 school departments. The number of un-
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sectarian private schools is 235, and sectarian private schools, IO3.
During the year forty seven new school-houses have been erected, and sixty-six old buildings repaired, at a cost of $548,869.17. The number the school-buildings will seat com- fortably is 181,977. Average attendance during the year, 103,520 ; number attending private schools, 41,964, and number attending no school, 73,733.
In 1864 the Legislature passed an act empowering the Gov- ernor to nominate a Board of Commissioners, to be confirmed by the Senate, to consist of six citizens of this State, to cause the necessary surveys and examinations to be made by competent surveyors of the lands lying under the waters of the Bay of New York and of the Hudson River, and of the lands adjacent thereto, the Kill Van Kull, Newark Bay, Arthur's Kill, the Raritan Bay, and the lands lying under the waters of the Delaware River.
These commissioners having on the first of February, 1865, rendered their report, the same was adopted, and on the 31st of March, 1869, a supplement was passed to the act which, among other things, authorized the Governor to appoint four commis- sioners, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, who were required and empowered to complete as much of the details of the work assigned them by such original act, by surveys and otherwise, on the Hudson River, New York Bay, and Kill Van Kull, as in their judgment the interest of the State requires.
It also provided for the sale or rental of these lands, the pro- ceeds of which were to be applied to the payment of such appro- priation as the Legislature may authorize from time to time, then to the payment and liquidation of the State debt, and after- wards the same shall be invested according to law, and the interest thereof be annually paid over to the trustees of the school fund, to be appropriated by them towards the mainte- nance of free schools.
The commissioners appointed by Governor Randolph under this act were, Francis S. Lathrop, Charles S. Olden, Peter Vre- denburgh, and Bennington F. Randolph. Upon the death of Judge Vredenburgh, March 24, 1873, Thomas McKeen was ap- pointed to fill the vacancy.
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HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.
Early in the year 1875, ex-Governor Olden, who had been a most valued and useful member of the commission since its for- mation in 1869, resigned, and on the 14th of May of the same year, Amzi Dodd was appointed to fill the vacancy.
These lands are found to be of immense value to the State, and the income from the same cannot but amount to consider- able, though at present the amount cannot be ascertained.
In 1872 the Legislature passed an act directing that all leases which shall be made of lands belonging to the State, now or formerly lying under water, shall be transferred to the Trustees of the school fund of this State, and become a portion of the free school fund ; and that the annual income arising from said leases shall be distributed by the said Trustees for the support of free public schools, in the same manner that other moneys are now distributed for that purpose.
The several grants and leases up to December 4, 1872, is to the New Jersey West Line Railroad ; the principal sum paid and secured is $149,875 ; rentals secured to the State on land leased during the year, $13,000; twenty-nine applications during the year 1872, amount in the aggregate to $235,435 ; the Morris and Essex Railroad, $76,900; making a total of $475,210. These yield a rental equal to the annual interest on such amounts. The grants and leases already made amount to $162,875 ; those applied for since April 1, 1872, $235,435 ; leases not perfected in 1872, $201,900 ; total, $600,210 .* There are eighteen steam- ships of the Cunard Line, to Liverpool ; six of the White Star Line, to Liverpool ; fourteen of the Hamburg American Packet Company, to Hamburg ; thirteen of the North German Lloyds, to Bremen ; two of the Baltic Lloyds, from the foot of Fourth street, Hoboken ; one of the German Trans-Atlantic Steamship Navigation Company, and three of the North Wales, or Cardiff Line, to Cardiff, Wales, sailing from Jersey City and Hoboken, with an aggregate tonnage of 140,500.
In the year 1872 a supplement was passed to the school law, authorizing the State Treasurer, under the direction of "The
* During the year 1873 grants and leases have been signed amounting to the sum of $26,654.34. The amount realized in 1875 for principal and inte- rest was $482,872.65, and in 1876, for grants and leases, $50,282.46.
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Trustees for the Support of Free Schools," to invest the fund for the support of public schools in this State, in addition to the securities mentioned in the act to which this is a supplement, in the bonds of the several districts of the State, and in the bonds of any city or municipality of this State legally issued, for the purpose of building school-houses. And in case the bonds or the interest on any bonds issued, are unpaid when the same be- comes due, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction is directed to withhold from that school district, city, or munici- pality, in the apportionment of the school fund, an amount suffi- cient to pay the unpaid bond or bonds, and interest due, and the said Trustees are directed to apply and appropriate such amount so withheld to the payment of the overdue bond or bonds so held by them.
At the same session another supplement was passed, requiring applicants for admission to the Normal School to give on admis- sion, a written obligation, signed with their own hands, that their object in seeking admission to the school is to qualify them- selves for the employment of public school teachers, and that it is their intention to engage in that employment in this State for at least two years, or refund to the State the cost of their tuition; and in addition to the annual sum appropriated for the support · of the Normal School, there was appropriated annually the sum of five thousand dollars, for the purpose of constituting a schol- arship fund, to be applied in the following manner : There was to be fifty scholarships of one hundred dollars each, two of which is allotted to each county, to be competed for by the pupils in the Normal School from that county; and the remainder to be open for free competition by pupils in the Normal School from the State at large ; the competitive examinations to be conducted by the Principal of the State Normal School and his assist- ants. Scholarships are only awarded to those pupils who shall first enter into a satisfactory bond to the Treasurer of the State, obligating themselves to teach in the public schools of this State for the term of five consecutive years, or to refund the amount paid them upon a failure to do so from any cause save continued sickness or death.
The provisions made for free public schools in our State is not
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surpassed by any State in the Union, and there are very few, if any, in which it is equaled. New Jersey pays her teachers the highest average salaries of any State in the Union, with three exceptions, viz. : California, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. She has the largest school fund of any State in the Union, in proportion to population, except Massachusetts. Of her school system, Professor Northrop, of Connecticut, writing to our Su- perintendent, says :
"I have read your free school law with great interest. Its provisions are wise and liberal. It will place New Jersey in the very front rank among the States, in regard to schools. When I predicted, in my lecture on Free Schools, at Trenton, in the summer of 1869, that New Jersey would, in two years, organize free schools, I did not dare to hope that your State would so soon outstrip the other States in the liberality of your provisions for free education."
"The Superintendent of the Boston Public Schools repeats the same assertion, and any one who will take the trouble to examine into our school system will surely be convinced that these experienced men are entirely correct.
"He says: 'In her schools, New Jersey, to-day, towers far above nearly every State in the Union, including New York. She has but just begun to develop, and this is true of almost . every State, and a few years will see the grandest results, from the immense resources she has wisely appropriated to the cause of education.
"""'Her lands under water are worth millions, and from these millions a large fund is formed, which is to give us the best schools in America, because the burden of direct taxation rests so lightly upon the people. It should also be remembered that land in New Jersey is worth more per acre than in any other State of the Union.'"'*
"During the sessions of an educational convention at Trenton, in January, 1845, a preliminary meeting of citizens from all parts of the State, of which ex-Governor Peter D. Vroom was
* Beecher's Magazine, Vol. V., page 368. United States Census of 1850, 1860, and 1870.
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elected Chairman, was held on the 13th of that month, for the purpose of organizing a State Historical Society. This meeting appointed a committee to draft a constitution and by-laws, and then adjourned to meet again on the 27th of February. At the second meeting the 'New Jersey Historical Society' was fully organized.
"The Society published an address to the people, inviting all who possessed papers, books, or anything relating to the history of New Jersey, to forward them to the librarian. The inhabit- ants of the State responded freely to this request, and the Society thus became the recipient of much valuable historical matter. This has been carefully compiled by the Secretary, William A. Whitehead, and published in seven volumes, entitled 'Collec- tions of the New Jersey Historical Society.'"*
This Society was incorporated by act of the Legislature, Feb- ruary 6th, 1846, and on the 18th of March a resolution was passed appropriating the room in the State House over the office of the Clerk of the Supreme Court, together with one of the vaults attached to the treasurer's office, to the use of the Society, for the purpose of their library, and the deposit and safe keep- ing of their valuable documents and other collections ; provided they at their next annual meeting determine to locate their library at the seat of Government, and elect to occupy the same.
The first officers elected were : Chief- Justice Joseph C. Horn- blower, President ; Robert G. Johnson, ex-Governor Peter D. Vroom, and Hon. James Parker, Vice-Presidents; Thomas J. Stryker, Cashier Trenton Banking Company, Treasurer ; Thomas Gordon, Librarian ; William A. Whitehead, Corresponding Sec- retary ; Hon. Joseph P. Bradley, Recording Secretary; Daniel V. McLean, Chairman of Executive Committee.
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