THE foundation of the public school system of California was laid in the Constitutional Convention held in Monterey, Sep- The Select Committee on the State Constitution reported, in Committee of the Whole, in favor of appropriating the five hundred thousand acres of land granted by Congress to new States for the purpose of internal improvements, to constitute a perpetual School Fund, with a proviso, however, that the Legislature might appropriate the revenue so derived to other purposes if the exigencies of the State required it. An ani- mated debate occurred on this proviso, in which Mr. Sherwood of Sacramento, and Mr. Jones of San Joaquin, were the prin- cipal speakers in favor of it; and Mr. Semple of Sonoma, and Mr. McCarver, opposed to it. The proviso was stricken out by the close vote of eighteen ayes to seventeen noes, thus secur- ing an inviolable fund for school purposes. In the progress of the debate Mr. Semple spoke as follows: "This is a subject upon which I have thought probably more than upon any other subject that has ever engrossed my attention. I regard it as a subject of peculiar importance here in California, from our location and the circumstances under which we are placed, the immense value of our lands, and the extent and wealth of the country. I think that here, above all places in the Union, we 1 should have, and we possess the resources to have, a well-regulated system of education. "It is the duty of members of this House to unite together and secure that reputation, character and ability in our public teachers which can only be obtained by a liberal and permanent fund. It is the basis of a well-regulated school system that it shall be uniform throughout the State; that any surplus funds collected in one district shall not be appropriated in that district, but that the aggregate fund from all the districts shall be appropriated strictly to school purposes, and distributed equally throughout the State. "We should therefore carefully provide that this fund shall be used for no other purpose." A section providing that a school should be kept in each district at least three months in each year, in order to secure any share of the State Fund, was adopted; an amendment by Mr. Hastings, to insert "six" months instead of "three," having been rejected. SIXTEENTH AND THIRTY-SIXTH SECTIONS. Mr. Semple, of Sonoma, whose opinions on school matters seem to have been remarkably clear and correct, moved, as a substitute for a rejected section relating to collecting and disbursing the proceeds of fines for breach of penal laws, that all funds collected from any source, including, of course, the proceeds from the sales of the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections of township school lands, be paid into a common fund, to be apportioned according to the number of children. William M. Gwin and Henry W. Halleck, both of San Francisco, spoke against the measure; and Mr. Semple defended it in an able speech. It was rejected, however, and the way was left open for a great deal of cumbersome legislation in vain attempts to form township school funds. Finally, after fifty thousand acres had been sold by various townships, the proceeds of which have never been heard of since, in 1861 a law was passed consolidating the proceeds into one common State School Fund, as proposed by Mr. Semple in 1849. THE TEST VOTE. When Article IX, on education, came up for final adoption in the Convention, there was a lengthy debate on the policy of concurring with the action in Committee of the Whole in striking out the proviso in section second before mentioned. The opinion prevailed in the Convention that this grant would be of immense value; that the lands would be located in mineral regions, and sold for fabulous sums; that the fund derived would be the most munificent in the world; and the argument was used in favor of the proviso, that the fund would be more than sufficient to educate the children, and would prove a source of corruption and speculation. Hence the question was made an important one, which brought out the full strength of the friends of free schools. W. M. Stewart and Messrs. Sherwood and Vermeule, spoke in favor of retaining the proviso, and Messrs. Gwin, Halleck, Botts, Hoppe, Semple, and McDougal, in favor of striking it out. After various amendments offered and rejected, the proviso was stricken out by the following vote: AYES.-Messrs. Aram, Botts, Brown, Covarrubias, Gwin, Hanks, Hill, Hoppe, Halleck, Hastings, Hollingsworth, Larkin, Lippitt, Lippincott, McCarver, McDougal, Ord, Price, Reid, Sutter, Stearns, Sansevaine, Tefft, Vermeule, Walker, and President Semple-26. NOES.-Messrs. Dimmick, Dominguez, Foster, Gilbert, Hobson, Norton, Pico, Sherwood and Wozencraft-10. And so was laid the foundation of our School Fund and School System. CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS. (Article IX of the Constitution, as adopted, was as follows: "ARTICLE IX.-Education. "SECTION 1. The Legislature shall provide for the election by the people of a Superintendent of Public Instruction, who shall hold his office for three years, and whose duties shall be prescribed by law, and who shall receive such compensation as the Legislature may direct.* "SEC. 2. The Legislature shall encourage by all suitable means the promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral and agricultural improvement. The proceeds of all land that may be granted by the United States to this State for the support of schools which may be sold or disposed of, and the five hundred thousand acres of land granted to the new States, under an act of Congress distributing the proceeds of the public lands among the several States of the Union, approved A. D. 1841, such per cent. as may be granted by Congress on the sale of lands in this State shall be and remain a * Amended in 1862 so as to provide for the election of State Superintendent at the Special Judicial Election, for a term of four years. perpetual fund, the interest of which, together with all the rents of the unsold lands, and such other means as the Legislature may provide, shall be inviolably appropriated to the support of common schools throughout the State. "SEC. 3. The Legislature shall provide for a system of common schools, by which a school shall be kept up and supported in each district at least three months in every year; and any district neglecting to keep and support such a school, may be deprived of its proportion of the interest of the public fund during such neglect. SEC. 4. The Legislature shall take measures for the protection, improvement, or other disposition of such lands as have been or may hereafter be reserved or granted by the United States, or any person or persons, to the State, for the use of a university; and the funds accruing from the rents or sale of such lands, or from any other source, for the purpose aforesaid, shall be and remain a permanent fund, the interest of which shall be applied to the support of said. university, with such branches as the public convenience may demand, for the promotion of literature, the arts and sciences, as may be authorized by the terms of such grant. And it shall be the duty of the Legislature, as soon as may be, to provide effectual means for the improvement and permanent security of the funds of said university." 2. SCHOOL LEGISLATION, 1849-50. Near the close of the first session of the Legislature, 1849–50, held in the city of San Jose, Mr. Corey, from the Committee on Education, reported that the taxes laid on the people for State, county, and municipal purposes, were so heavy the committee did not consider it advisable to report a bill to tax the people still further for the support of public schools, and, accordingly, the school bill, of which no record remains, was indefinitely postponed. But while the school bill, thus defeated, has been forgotten, the reason advanced by Mr. Corey has been the standing argument urged against every school bill which has contained any provision for maintaining by taxation a system of public schools. 3. THE FIRST FREE PUBLIC SCHOOL. A solid foundation for a school system was laid by the framers of the State Constitution, but San Francisco was the first place in the State to organize, independent of State law, by her Common Council, a free public school. The Ayuntamiento, or City Council, adopted, April 8, 1850, the following ordinance, drawn by H. C. Murray, which was the first public school ordinance of any kind passed in California, and consequently made the school taught by Mr. Pelton the first free public school in the State. The ordinance was crude, it is true, but it was the germ of all succeeding city ordinances. The following is a copy of the ordinance: "1st. Be it ordained by the Common Council of San Francisco, That from and after the passage of this act, it shall be the duty of J. C. Pelton, who has been employed by the Council as a public teacher, to open a school in the Baptist Chapel. "2d. Said school shall be opened from half-past eight o'clock A. M. to twelve o'clock м., and from two o'clock P. M. until five o'clock P. M., and shall continue open from Monday until Friday at five o'clock P. M. "3d. The number of scholars shall not exceed the number of one hundred; and no scholar shall be admitted under the age of four or over the age of sixteen. "4th. All persons desirous of having their children instructed in said school shall first obtain an order from the Chairman of the Committee on Education, and all children obtaining said order shall be instructed in said school free of charge. "5th. It shall be the duty of said Pelton to report to the Council on the first of each and every month the number of scholars and the progress of said school. "H. C. MURRAY. "F. TILFORD." 4. THE PIONEER SCHOOLS. On October 11, 1847, a committee of the Town Council contracted for the erection of a small schoolhouse of one room, on the southwest corner of the Plaza, at the corner of Clay Street and Brenham Place. On February 23, 1848, a small number of voters assembled and elected a Board of School Trustees, consisting of Dr. Townsend, Dr. Fourgeaud, C. L. Ross, Wm. H. Davis and J. Serine. This board elected Thomas Douglass as teacher, at a salary of one thousand dollars a year, and the school opened on the 3d of April, 1848, with 6 pupils. This was in fact a tuition school under public auspices, it being free only to indigent pupils. The Town Council agreed to make up any deficiency in the salary of the teacher, to the extent of four hundred dollars. The estimated population of the town, April 1, 1848, was one thousand, with 60 children of school age. In May the school numbered 37 pupils. On May 13, 1848, a new election of Trustees was ordered, and after a spirited contest the old board was re-elected. Soon after gold was discovered, the school dwindled to-8 pupils, and Schoolmaster Douglass closed his doors and started for the mines. |