building new schools, consolidating schools, and conveying children to school, and organizing rural high schools.

4. To select all teachers needed in the county schools, on nomination of the county superintendent.

5. To levy a uniform school tax on all the taxable property of the county under legal limitations and to expend the funds thus procured to equalize educational advantages among all the school children of the county.

6. To exercise all other powers and duties not enumerated above but which are prescribed by law.

Subdistrict trustees.-In nearly all States organized with the county as the unit for administrative purposes, subdistrict trustees, one to three for each school or school district, are appointed by the board or elected by the people to have general charge of the school plant, to perform certain duties assigned either by law or by the county board of education, and to act in an advisory capacity to the county board concerning school conditions in their districts. These subdistrict trustees act as local representatives of the people of the county, receive suggestions from the people, and make recommendations to the county board on the basis of these suggestions. In some States they are intrusted with important duties, such as keeping the school building in repair, having charge of the care and supply of school equipment, assisting in enforcement of the compulsory education law, and taking the school census.

THE COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS "

The rapid changes in American life have thrust new responsibilities on the superintendent as well as on his teachers. He still retains the clerical and financial duties assigned when the office was established. New developments in educational ideals and new appreciation of the importance of the professional administration of schools, the growth of a scientific attitude toward education, and the application of the results of scientific experimentation to school organization and methods of instruction have revolutionized our ideas concerning the selection of and the responsibilities which should be ascribed to this officer. The county superintendency is now considered the strategic position in the reorganization and improvement of rural education. The office demands a person of ability and professional training and experience equal to that of other responsible educational positions. In 38 States county superintendents are the supervisory officers for the rural schools of the counties and have certain administrative responsibilities varying in degree in the different States. In New England the supervising officer is the town or union superintendent.

11 For complete information, see U. S. Bu. of Educ. Bul., 1922, No. 10.

One State has also "supervising agents." In New York the rural superintendents are called "district superintendents" and supervise a section of a county. In Nevada they are deputy State superintendents and supervise one or several counties. In Virginia they are division superintendents, and in many cases the division and the county are coterminous. In Delaware there are no county superintendents, but State officials assume duties formerly assigned to the county superintendent. The term of office of the rural superintendent is four years in 18 States, two years in 16, and varies in the others. In 25 of these States the county superintendents are elected by the people, usually in the same manner as other county officers; in others they are appointed by boards; in New Jersey and Virginia they are appointed by the State board or State chief school officer.

The system of electing county superintendents at the regular political election partakes of those weaknesses indicated in discussing the office of the State chief school officer. Cities no longer select their superintendents by popular vote. Experience has taught them that an executive officer for such a position should be carefully selected by a responsible board in a manner similar to that in which boards of directors of business organizations select their executive officers. Although many competent superintendents are found under the elective system, it is on the whole an unsatisfactory method of selecting school officials. Political affairs consume the time and influence the action of officers elected in this way; tenure is uncertain and short; the officer must be a resident of the county, even though a better candidate could be secured if selection were made from a larger territory.

The powers and duties of the county superintendent should be practically the same as those of the city superintendent of schools. 1. He is the executive officer of the county board of education and administers under its legislation the educational policies determined by it.

2. He is the chief educational officer of the county and is primarily responsible for the conduct of the schools as their professional leader.

3. It is his duty to make recommendations relative to the location of schools, the number of grades required, the type of building and equipment, etc.

4. He selects supervisors, principals, and teachers for the schools, which appointments are formally approved by the school board.

5. He supervises the teaching in all schools under the county board, either directly or through assistants.

6. He determines the course of study and the textbooks to be used, subject to State regulations and the approval of the county board.

7. He provides for teachers' meetings and for a system of inservice training and unifies and harmonizes through his school system the work of the schools.

8. He sees that all records of educational activities are kept in proper form.

9. He has charge of health education, including health inspection, in conjunction with the county medical authorities.

10. He sees that the school census is taken and that the compulsory education laws are enforced.

CONSOLIDATED DISTRICTS AND CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS

There are approximately 160,000 one-teacher schools in the United States. The number is decreasing steadily. More than 10,000 of them were closed in the biennium 1922-1924. They are growing into larger schools, or are being united with other schools to form central graded village or open country schools. These larger rural schools gain in number as the smaller ones diminish in number. More than 2,000 were formed during the biennium 1922-1924. At the present time there are approximately 15,000 consolidated schools in the United States. They have long been recognized as a means for providing rural children with educational opportunity equivalent to that provided city children.

To consider the consolidated school the end of an administrative problem is a serious mistake; it is simply the manipulation of a school system's organization machinery in order that better classification, supervision, and groupings may be made. The consolidation or centralization of rural schools requires intelligent planning, and the best results have been secured where all the schools for an entire county were considered before any part of a consolidation program was begun. At least one State has enacted legislation which requires county boards of education to consolidate districts and change boundaries in accordance with an approved "county-wide plan of organization." More attention is being given in recent years to the proper organization of consolidated schools. Many of those already established are being strengthened and improved, and county officials are mapping districts more nearly in accordance with community boundary lines.

Consolidated schools, or districts, are established in various ways. The most common method is to proceed under detailed laws by which the patrons of the schools start the movement and vote upon it at a regular or special election. If a majority of the votes cast in each district, or, better, a majority in all the districts or territory included, are in favor of the consolidation, it is effected. Each of the uniting districts gives up its district boundaries and school board

and becomes part of the one large district. The advantages of such a procedure are that it arouses the interest of an entire community; the consolidation is thoroughly talked over, and if the school is established it is fairly sure to be a strong one. Care should be taken in framing laws of this kind that the consolidated district will receive as much State and county money as the entire number of uniting districts would, that any indebtedness of any of the districts be equitably adjusted for the entire consolidation, and that the school property of all the districts be vested in the one.

A second kind of law permits consolidation on petition to the county superintendent, the county board of education, or commissioners, or the district boundary board-whatever authority has power to create or change districts-a public hearing being first granted by that authority. The patrons of the schools have a voice in the matter, but it is expressed in petition and hearing, not in an election. This method is simple and effective.

A third kind of law gives the county board of education the power to consolidate schools on its own initiative and at its own discretion. This is the most satisfactory plan yet devised for the reorganization of a county's school system. With the county as a single unit for educational administrative purposes, as it is for almost all other public business, and with a representative county board of education responsible for the welfare of all schools in their county, it is simply a matter for such board to apply modern business principles to that county's school organization. Excellent examples are common in a number of States, and a few county boards of education have succeeded in providing graded elementary schools, replacing small ungraded schools, for all pupils in their respective counties. Similar to this, but of more limited application, are laws giving district boards power to consolidate schools within districts. These laws are being used to advantage in some sections in bringing about consolidation.

A fifth kind of consolidation law is common in the town unit States. The town is given control of the schools and may fix their number and determine their location. The town meeting decides the question. This is the usual procedure in the New England States. So far as secondary education is concerned, the New England States and some others are furthering centralization by providing for State funds for the payment of tuition and transportation for nonresident students, an excellent way of preventing dissipation of energy.

In some States organized on the township basis similar procedure may be followed. The schools are directed by township boards of trustees. There is, however, no adequate provision for establishing

schools on community rather than township lines. The township is often too small a unit territorially and financially for the establishment of satisfactory schools, and particularly for providing for high-school facilities. In several States organized on the township basis there is a movement for change to a larger unit. One reason for the change advanced is the possibility of securing thereby more effective consolidated units.

The laws providing for county secondary schools in district unit States make up another class. Some of these provide for one or more county high schools for a county, independent in administration and support from the elementary schools, and maintained by a tax on the entire county. Many very strong schools have been built under their provisions. The dual system thereby set up sometimes occasions conflicts between the elementary schools and the high school of the county and makes close correlation of work between the two classes of schools difficult.

Union high schools are established under laws which permit a number of districts to retain their own elementary schools, while all join in maintaining one central high school. The laws responsible for such schools, most common in the Western States, have resulted in the establishment of some very fine schools. In small communities and sparsely settled regions such schools are not feasible, but in more densely populated areas the union high school serves well.

In some States independent, special, and consolidated school districts are created by special acts of the legislature. The procedure is generally unsatisfactory. It postpones the development of the organization of larger areas, tends to create many small systems, and generally acts to interfere with equalized educational opportunity.

Among the important State laws relating to consolidation are those which provide for the following:

1. The establishment of minimum limits of area served, enrollment, average daily attendance, and length of term below which a school or district may not be created, or if created may not continue its existence.

2. An effective, quick way of uniting schools or districts, preferably in response to local demand, retaining for the united institution the full amount of apportionments the separate units would receive, arranging for an equitable assumption of any indebtedness, and providing for the proper disposal of any unnecessary school property.

3. Centralized authority for the planning and carrying out of programs of consolidation over large areas, thereby insuring equitable distribution of resources and school facilities, and adequate consideration to schools in isolated or backward strips of territory.