IV. AN ADEQUATE STATE SYSTEM OF EDUCATIONAL SCRUTINY AND ADMINISTRATION

[Pritchett, Henry S., in the 5th An. Rept. of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 1910, pp. 77-80.]

These considerations bring up at once a topic often discussed in recent years, namely, the need in each state in the Union of an adequate system of educational administration and supervision. It is clear from our experience of the last twenty-five years, as well as from that of other nations, that somewhere in each commonwealth there should be an educational agency dealing with the higher institutions of learning and with the secondary and elementary institutions as well, for these schools are not unrelated enterprises, but are all parts of one thing. Such places should seek out the ablest men.

The most serious effort which has been made in this direction is in the State of New York, where the University of the State of New York has had supervision over elementary, secondary, and technical education; and its work has resulted in far greater uniformity and efficiency in the schools of New York than is to be found in most of the other states. The University of the State of New York, practically the State Department of Education, has had, however, no authority over higher institutions of learning, or at least, it has never exercised such authority. For this reason, therefore, it has been able to do only a limited work in the correlation of higher and secondary education. Recent efforts to deal with the institutions of education in Iowa and in Massachusetts were described in my last annual report. The creation of such commissions undoubtedly marks a step in the direction of an expert supervision of education in the interest of unity, economy, and efficiency, but as tried in both these states the commissions have certain weaknesses which make the ultimate outcome more or less doubtful. In neither Iowa nor Massachusetts has this body the supervision of the whole educational system. Again, even when composed of able and intelligent men, such commissions must in the end depend on expert advice; the members, being busy men, will find it difficult to give to the important questions before them the requisite time and study. It will not usually be found easy to bring busy men together for long deliberations.

In many of the western states, where public education has from the beginning been a matter of state pride, a superintendent of education has existed, with a very inadequate administrative force,

however, at his command. The positions have been in the main political, and generally have lacked the power, responsibility, and financial reward necessary to attract strong men. Furthermore,

as a rule, these officers have had no relation to higher education, whether in institutions under state control or in those upon private foundation. Colleges and universities have almost universally resented any inspection or scrutiny on the part of the state. This objection has not been without justification in the past on the ground that the men at the head of state departments of education have generally been appointed through partisan considerations. Very rarely have they been men of such high educational qualification as to fit them for a general scrutiny of state institutions of learning. Such places ought to command men of the highest qualifications. They should be places of such dignity and security as to attract the best men. Until that time comes, it is idle to hope that the higher institutions of learning can be helped or the state system of general education unified or made efficient by being placed under the departments of education. Just so long as the state superintendent's office is in politics, its influence will be thrown toward those educational measures which count for large numbers rather than toward those which count for efficiency and therefore for the ultimate interest of the whole people.

All of this, however, does not detract from the fact that the state unquestionably should have the power to scrutinize and report upon the educational institutions it has chartered, whether they call themselves state institutions or private institutions. There are no private colleges in the real sense. Not only is this true, but it is also true that the college or university has everything to gain by an intelligent and wise public scrutiny. College men have exactly the same human qualities that all other men have. No human organization can be hurt by letting in the light of a decent publicity, so long as educational freedom is not taken away. College men have been among the most insistent in demanding a public scrutiny of corporations. The demand is entirely just, and no other corporations have more to gain by a wise and friendly scrutiny on the part of the state than educational corporations.

The practical question is how to secure an agency in the present stage of educational and political development which shall be able to bring into helpful coöperation the more or less detached institutions now engaged in the educational work of the stateuniversities, colleges, technical schools, normal schools, high schools, and industrial schools.

In the present situation a commission seems the most practicable agency to which one can turn. A small state commission contain

ing representatives of the various educational institutions and empowered to scrutinize and report upon institutions of all kinds would seem likely to bring about a better understanding of common problems and a more just view of the whole educational problem. Such a commission would naturally have a representative from the office of the state superintendent, from the state university, from one of the strong endowed colleges, from the normal schools, and from the high schools. Such a commission would be a step forward in the use of the expert in American education. A body so chosen, comprised of educational experts who were also highminded men, could at least do two things. It could let the people of the state know what their institutions were actually doing, and it could point the way toward a better understanding, a closer coöperation, and a higher efficiency of the separate parts of the state educational system. For the state problem of education is one problem, and it will never be efficiently solved until the various agencies for education have abandoned an attitude which is often one of hostility or of armed neutrality for one of active coöperation. As in all such efforts, the first step to be taken is to disarm suspicion and promote good-will.

The form of state commission, referred to in the last paragraph of the preceding selection, is best typified by the socalled State Board of Education recently created for Iowa. The law under which the Board was organized, as well as an extract from the second report of this Board, shows the work accomplished in eliminating duplications in work in the three higher institutions maintained by the state.

V. IOWA STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

[Acts of 33d General Assembly (1909), Chapter 170; Acts of 34th General Assembly (1911), Chapter 132.]

SECTION 1. State Board of Education. The state university, the college of agriculture and mechanic arts, including the agricultural experiment station, and the State Teachers' College at Cedar Falls, and the College for the Blind at Vinton, shall be governed by a state board of education consisting of nine members and not more than five of the members shall be of the same political party. Not more than three alumni of the above institutions and but one alumnus from each institution may be members of this board at one time.

SEC. 3. Meetings. The board shall meet four times a year. Special meetings may be called by the board, by the president of the board, or they may be called by the secretary of the board, upon the written request of any five members thereof.

SEC. 4. Powers and Duties Organization. The state board of education shall have power to elect a president from their number; a president and treasurer for each of said educational institutions, and professors, instructors, officers, and employes, to fix the compensation to be paid to such officers and employes; to make rules and regulations for the government of said schools, not inconsistent with the laws of the state; to manage and control the property, both real and personal, belonging to said educational institutions; to execute trusts or other obligations now or hereafter committed to the institutions; to direct the expenditure of all appropriations the general assembly shall, from time to time, make to said institutions, and the expenditure of any other moneys; and to do such other acts as are necessary and proper for the execution of the powers and duties conferred upon them by law. Within ten days after the appointment and qualification of the members of the board, it shall organize and prepare to assume the duties to be vested in said board, but shall not exercise control of said institutions until the first day of July, A.D. one thousand nine hundred nine (1909).

SEC. 5. Board of regents and boards of trustees abolished. The board of regents and the boards of trustees now charged with the government of the state university, the college of agriculture and mechanic arts, and the normal school, shall cease to exist on the first day of July, A.D. 1909, and, on the same date, full power to manage said institutions, as herein provided, shall vest in the said state board of education. Nothing herein contained shall limit the general supervision or examining powers vested in the governor by the laws or constitution of the state.

SEC. 6. Finance committee-officers duties - term. The said board of education shall appoint a finance committee of three from outside of its membership, and shall designate one of such committee as chairman and one as secretary. The secretary of this committee shall also act as secretary of the board of education and shall keep a record of the proceedings of the board and of the committee and carefully preserve all their books and papers. All acts of the board relating to the management, purchase, disposition, or use of lands or other property of said educational institutions shall be entered of record, and shall show who are present and how each member voted upon each proposition when a roll call is demanded. He shall do and perform such other duties as may be

required of him by law or the rules and regulations of said board. Not more than two members of this committee shall be of the same political party and its members shall hold office for a term of three years unless sooner removed by a vote of two-thirds of the members of the state board of education.

SEC. 7. Qualification. Each member of the board and each member of the finance committee shall take oath and qualify, as required by section one hundred seventy-nine (179) of the code. The members of the finance committee, before entering upon their official duties, shall each give an official bond in the sum of twentyfive thousand dollars ($25,000), conditioned as provided by law, signed by sureties approved by the governor and, when so given, said bonds shall be filed in the office of the secretary of state.

SEC. 9. Business office-employes-monthly visitation. A business office shall also be maintained at each of the three educational institutions, and the board shall hire such employes as may be necessary to assist the said finance committee in the performance of its duties, and shall present to each general assembly an itemized account of the expenditures of said committee. The members of the finance committee shall, once each month, attend each of the institutions named for the purpose of familiarizing themselves with the work being done, and transacting any business that may properly be brought before them as a committee.

SEC. 19. Biennial report. The board shall make reports to the governor and legislature of its observations and conclusions respecting each and every one of the institutions named, including the regular biennial report to the legislature covering the biennial period ending June 30th, preceding the regular session of the general assembly. Said biennial report shall be made not later than October 1st, in the year preceding the meeting of the general assembly, and shall also contain the reports which the executive officers of the several institutions are now or may be by the board required to make, including, for the use of the legislature, biennial estimates of appropriations necessary and proper to be made for the support of the said several institutions and for the extraordinary and special expenditures for buildings, betterments and other improvements. That all the powers heretofore granted to and exercised by the board of control over the College for the Blind are hereby transferred to the State Board of Education and the State Board of Education is authorized and empowered to take charge of, manage and control said College for the Blind.