THE AKRON SCHOOL LAWS.

                   And other general laws concerning the Common Schools of Ohio 1847 - 1853

 

In this chapter you’ll find those important laws and amendments governing the common schools of Ohio during the final years of the common school reform movement in Ohio, 1847-53.

Through the dedicated efforts of the common school reformers, together with the community leaders of Akron, a new way to operate free schools, common to all children, finally passed in the Ohio Legislature and became law. Well actually - - it all started when those fellows from Akron they quietly slipped in their school law on a day when the General Assembly voted on eight different school bills. On February 8, 1847 every school bill passed by unanimous vote. It’s likely the legislators didn’t even read the bill Henry King wrote. Maybe they glanced at the first line “For the Support and Better Regulation, blah, blah, blah. . . “  Sure kid. Pile it on with the rest. Knowing how tough the sitting Legislature was on school taxes - this same legislature, in 1847, voted to reduce the maximum common school tax to, two fifths of a mill - it’s hard to believe they actually read into the heart of SEC. 7 of the Akron School Law, which read, “said town council shall proceed to levy a tax sufficient to meet such expenses of buildings and repairing school-houses, and the expenses attendant upon the maintenance of said free schools in Akron, during the whole year, customary vacations only excepted; said tax to be levied and collected as other taxes of said town are or may be collected . . .” This section assesses the total yearly cost of the schools on the property owners.

There are a number of existing accounts detailing how this all took place. Leggett remembers this way. “We drafted a bill for a local law for Akron, which proved satisfactory to a meeting of the citizens, and a mammoth petition to the legislature was got up. General L. Bierce,  Mr. H. K. Smith of Akron, and the writer were appointed a committee to take the bill and the petition to Columbus and lay them before the legislature. When the legislature met we had no difficulty whatever in getting the bill through both houses without change or amendment. Honorable Harvey Rice of this city [Cleveland,] who was a leading Democrat, and Judge Worcester of Norwalk, who was a leading Whig, were both in the legislature, if I remember correctly, and both were strongly in favor of free schools ”

Samuel Lane remembers a different set of Akronites charged with securing the necessary legislation, which included Gen. L.V. Bierce, Henry King, former Speaker of the House, Rufus P. Spalding and Harvey Spelman.

Judge Bryan, in his 1876 story, remembers Rev. Isaac Jennings contribution as doing everything and being everywhere. (Jennings’ main role in this history was gathering signatures for the petition mentioned above by Leggett and delivering a speech to the citizens committee on schools. However, by February 8, 1848 Rev. Jennings was on his way to get married in New   England.) What we can be sure of, there must have been a large a number educators and friends of education from Akron and elsewhere wandering the halls of the Statehouse on that very important day in Feburary.

Of course, the Akron School Law was modified and amended a few times. Some modifications were made at the suggestion of the Board of Education and Superintendent Leggett, after the schools were up and running. The intent of these changes were to make the law even more efficiently. Other amendments where purely inimical and penurious, as mentioned elsewhere.

Soon it became obvious, just having a good law wasn’t good enough. They needed it guaranteed by the Ohio Constitution before it would really work. Otherwise, the legislature would wipe out all their gains in a years time. So, the common school reform movement carried on until Henry King was elected Secretary of State and Commissioner of Common Schools. In this position he was able to make his law, the law of the land, for all times.

Below are those significant school laws which brought about the final goals of the common school reform movement - free schools, open and common to all children.

 

 

An Act

for the support and better regulation of Common Schools

in the town of Akron.

 

                                        [Passed February 8, 1847, XLVI vol. Stat. I05.]

 

     SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That the electors in the town of Akron, in the county of Summit, qualified to vote for members of the town council, shall, at the time and place of holding the annual election for said members of the town council, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, meet and elect six directors of the common school for said town of Akron; two of whom shall serve for one year; two for two years, and two for three years; the order of seniority to be determined by lot, by such directors, after the election, and annually thereafter, at the time and place above specified, there shall, in like manner, be two directors elected, who shall serve for three years, and until their successors are elected and qualified. All vacancies which may occur, shall be filled by the town council.

                                                       [Six directors shall be elected.]

 

     SEC. 2. The said directors, within ten days after their first appointment as aforesaid, shall meet and organize, by choosing from their number a president, secretary, and treasurer; and such treasurer,.before he enters on the duties of his said office, shall give bond and security, to be approved by the town council, and flied in the office of the mayor of said town, con­ditioned for the faithful disbursement of all moneys that shall come into his hands as such treasurer, which bond shall be made payable to the State of Ohio; and when such bond shall be forfeited, it shall be the duty of the town council to sue and collect the same, for the use of the common schools in said town; and the said directors, so organized and qualified, and their successors in offi^ce, shall ben body politic and cor­porate in law, by the name of "The Board of Education of the town of Akron," and, as such, and by such name, shall be authorized to receive all moneys accruing to said town, or any part thereof, for-the use and benefit of the common schools in said town; and the said board shall be capable of contract­ing and being contracted with, suing and being sued, pleading and being impleaded, in any court of law or equity in this state; and shall also be capable of receiving any gift, grant, donation, or devise, made for the use of the common schools in said town; and said board, by resolution, shall direct the payment of all moneys that shall come into the hands of said treasurer; and no money shall be paid out of the treasury, except in pursuance of such resolution, and on the written order of the president, countersigned by the secretary.

                                              [Board of education, officers, powers, etc.]

 

    SEC. 3. That said board shall hold their meetings at such time and place as they may think proper; that any four said board shall constitute a quorum; that special meetings may be called by the president, or by any two members of the board, on giving two days' notice of the time and place of holding Such meetings; but at no special meeting, except all the directors be present, shall any resolution in relation to sites for school-houses, or financial resolution, or order be passed, unless the two days' notice, as aforesaid be given, and the subject or subjects to be acted on, be specified in the notice, and a quorum of at least four members be present.

                                                            [Meetings of the board.]

    SEC. 4. That said board of education shall have the entire management and control of all the common schools in said town of Akron, and of all the houses, lands, and appurtenan­ces already provided and set apart for common school purpo­ses, as well as those hereafter to be provided for the same purposes; and the said town of Akron, from and after the first Tuesday in June next, after the passage of this act, shall constitute, in law, but one school district; and all moneys accruing to said district for school purposes, under any law of the state, shall be paid over to the treasurer for said board of education.

                                      [Shall have control of common schools, etc. in Akron]

                                          [Town of Akron constitutes one school district.]

 

    SEC. 5. It shall be the duty of said board of education, so soon as they may realize sufficient funds for the purpose, to establish within the bounds of the town corporate of Akron, six or more primary schools, to be located in different parts of the town, so as best to accommodate the inhabitants, in which the rudiments of an English education shall be taught. It shall be the further duty of said board to establish a central grammar school in said town, where instruction shall be given in "the various studies and parts of study" not provided for in the primary school, and yet requisite to a respectable English education. To each school in this system there shall be gratuitous admission for the children, wards, and apprenti­ces of all residents of the town corporate of .Akron, and such other persons in the immediate vicinity as may own property, charged with a school tax' in said town corporate of Akron, with the following restrictions, namely: No pupil shall be admitted to the grammar school who fails to sustain a thorough examination in the studies of the primary school; and the teacher shall have power, in either school, with the advice and direction of the board of education, to exclude for miscon­duct, in extreme cases, and to classify the pupils as the best good of the school shall seem to require: Provided, however, that said board of education shall not make any rules which will exclude from said primary schools any scholar who, by the general laws of this state, would be entitled to admission into the common schools, within said town, and said board shall not so appropriate the school fund, which, by the provi­sions of this act, shall come under their control, as to reduce the amount applicable to the support of said primary schools, below the sum to which, under the general laws of this state, the common schools within said town would be entitled.

                                    [Number and grade of schools; admission of pupils, etc.]

 

    SEC. 6. The said board of education shall have power to make and enforce all necessary rules and regulations for the government of teachers and pupils in said schools, to employ teachers, male and female, and pay them a suitable compensa­tion, to purchase all necessary books and apparatus, to select sites for school-houses, and superintend the building of the same upon their own plan, and to pay for the ]ands, and houses, and furniture, as well as other expenses of said school system, from the public moneys in the hands of the treasurer.

                                                                [Power of board.]

 

    SEC. 7. The said board of education, within thirty days after their Organization, shall report to the town council of Akron the number and description of buildings necessary for the purposes of the common schools in said. town, which report shall be in writing, and shall specify the amount of money necessary to be raised to meet the expense of erecting such buildings; and such board shall also specify, in said report, the amount of money necessary to be raised in addition to the money accruing to said town under the general school laws of the state, to defray all the other expenses of said school system during the current year; and thereupon the said town council shall proceed to levy a tax sufficient to meet such expenses of buildings and repairing school-houses, and the expenses attendant upon the maintenance of said free schools in Akron, during the whole year, customary vacations only excepted; said tax to be levied and collected as other taxes of said town are or may be collected. And it shall be the duty of said board, on or before the first Monday in April, in every year thereafter, to make report in writing to the town council, of all moneys received, how and for what pur­pose expended, with the proper vouchers, and such other information in relation to said schools as they may deem important, specifying in said annual report the amount of money necessary to be raised by taxation, to defray the expen­ses of said school system for the current year; and said town council shall, annually, upon the coming in of such report, and within thirty days thereafter, proceed to levy a tax suffi­cient to meet such expenses, to be levied and collected as other taxes of said town. [Modified: in the act of January 28, 1848. Tax not to exceed four mills on the dollar: see section 1 of same act.] And the town council shall cause all such reports of the board of education to be published, or so much thereof as they may deem necessary, the reports themselves to be left with the mayor of the town, open to public inspection.

                                                [How taxes levied for school purposes.]

                                                             [Reports of the board]

 

    SEC. 8. All legal titles to lands and houses, and other property used for common school purposes in said town of Akron, shall vest in the town council of Akron at the taking effect of this act, and all titles acquired thereafter shall be in the name of said town council; and said town council shall have power to sell, lease, and convey, any and all of the lands and tenements held under and by virtue of this act, and to purchase other lands and tenements in more eligible positions, by and with the advice of said board of education, but not otherwise.

                                                                 [Titles to board.]

 

    SEC. 9. The town council shall, immediately after the appointment of directors, as hereinbefore provided, appoint three competent persons to serve as school examiners of said town, all of whom shall be citizens of Akron; one to serve until the first Tuesday in June, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight; one until the first Tuesday in June, one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine; and one until the first Tuesday in ffune, one thousand eight hundred and fifty, and until their successors are qualified; and annually, at the first regular meeting of the town council, after the annual election for members of that body, they shall appoint one per­son for examiner, to serve for three years, and until his successor is qualified; and the council shall fill all vacancies that may occur by death or removal, or otherwise. The examiners, or any two of them, shall examine such Persons as may apply for that purpose; and ff they find the applicant qualified, they shall give him a certificate, naming the branches he is quali­fied to teach, that they have carefully inquired into his charac­ter and believe it to be moral and good, and that they believe him to be well qualified to govern and teach; they shall, also, in every case where two of their number concur, have power to annul any certificate previously given, and the person holding the same shall be discharged from the public schools in said town: they shall, also, separately or otherwise, together with such other persons as may be appointed by the mayor, visit said schools at least as often as once in every quarter, observe the discipline, mode of instruction, progress of the scholars, and such other circumstances as they may deem of interest; and, semi-annually, at such times as the board of education shall [appoint,] they shall report their proceedings to the town council, and also to the board of education, with such suggestions as they may think proper, the publication of which shall be in the discretion of the town council.

                                                   [Examiners of teachers and schools.]

                                                                      [Reports.]

 

    SEC. 10. Annually, at such time as the board Shall appoint, public examinations of all the schools shall be had, under the direction of the mayor, council, the board of education, and the examiners.         [Public examination of schools.]

    SEC. 11. So much of the general school law, and so much of any and all other laws of this state, general or local, as may be inconsistent with this act, or any of its provisions, is hereby repealed as to said town of Akron.          [Repealing clause.]

 

    SEC. 12. The power conferred upon the board of educa­tion of the town of Akron, in the fifth section of this act, is hereby conferred upon the managers of the common schools of the city of Dayton.

                                                       [Section extended to Dayton.]

 

    SEC. 13. Any future legislature may alter, amend, or repeal this act.

                                                                 [Right of Repeal.]

 

                                                           WILLIAM P. CUTLER,

                                             Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                                                               EDSON B. OLDS,

                                                            Speaker of the Senate.

 

Other School Laws passed by the Ohio General Assembly on the same day.

 

O.L., XLV, 26, February 8, 1847.  An act to amend the school law

O.L., XLV, 60, February 8, 1847.  An act to amend the act for levying taxes

O.L., XLV, 67, February 8, 1847.  An act to incorporate teachers’ institutes (see below)

O.L., XLV, 32, February 8, 1847.  An act to provide for the appointment of co. superintendents

O.L., XLV, 121, February 8, 1847.  An act for the support and better regulation of the schools in

District 1, in Ravenna

O.L., XLV, 140, February 8, 1847. An act to incorporate the Marietta Female College

O.L., XLV, local, 99, February 8, 1847. An act to incorporate Mansfield Acadenical Institute

 

Also:

 O.L., XLVI, 28, January 21, 1848.  An act to secure the returns of school statistics.

 

 

An act to amend the act entitled "An act for the support and better regulation of Common Schools in the town of Akron," passed February 8, 1847. [Passed January 28, 1848, XLVI vol. Stat. 110.]

 

    SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That the amount of tax hereafter to be assessed to defray the expense of the school system, introduced into said town by virtue of the act to which this is an amendment, shall not exceed, in any one year, four mills on the dollar of the taxable property in said town.

    SEC. 2. The board of education of the town of Akron shall have full power and authority to determine what branches of, education shall be taught in any and all of said schools under their management and control; and said board shall also have power, at their discretion, to restrict the right of admission into any and all of said schools, to the children, wards, and apprentices of actual residents, within the limits of the town corporate of Akron, with power to admit scholars from Abroad, upon such terms and conditions as said board shall see fit to prescribe.

    SEC. 3. That on or before the first Monday of June, in each year, it shall be the duty of the said board of education to make known to the auditor of the county of Summit, the amount of tax which they may want levied for school pur­poses during the current year; and thereupoⁿ it shall be the duty of said County auditor to assess the taxable property in said town of Akron, as the same appears upon the grand list; and the said tax shall be collected by the county treasurer at the same time with the state and county taxes, and in the same manner; and, when collected, the amount shall be paid over to the treasurer of said board of education.

    SEC. 4. That so much of the act to which this is an amend­ment as conflicts with the provisions of this act, be and the same is hereby repealed.

                                                           JOSEPH S. HAWKINS,

            Speaker of t he House of Representatives.

                                                         CHARLES B. GODDARD,

                                                            Speaker of the Senate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

An act to provide for extending the provisions of an act entitled "An act for the support and better regulation of Common Schools in the town of  Akron,"and the amendatory acts thereto, to the cities and incorporated towns of this State.

 

[Passed February 14, 1848, XLVI vol. Stat. 48.]

    SECTION 1.  Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That every incorporated town or city in this state, shall have the provisions of the act entitled "an act for the support and better regulation of common schools in the town of Akron," and the amendatory act thereto, passed by the forty-sixth general assembly of this state, extended to all or any of the said incorporated towns or cities, wherever two-thirds of the qualified voters thereof shall petition the town or city council in favor of having the provisions of said acts so extended.

   SEC. 2. That whenever two-thirds of the qualified voters of any city or incorporated town shall petition the town or city council in favor of having the provisions of said acts extended to said city or incorporated town, the electors quali­fied to vote for members of the town or city council, shall assemble at the time and place within said town or city, of which at least ten days' previous notice shall be given by the city or town council, by posting written or printed notices in at least three of the most public places in said city or incor­porated town, and then and there proceed to the election of six directors, by ballot, who shall serve, and in all respects be governed by the provisions of the act entitled "an act for the support and better regulation of common schools in the town of Akron," and the act amendatory thereto; and the common schools in said city or incorporated town shall, in all respects, be governed and organized according to the provisions of said acts.

    SEC. 3. That the last preceding election in said city or incorporated town, shall be the basis upon which to determine the number of qualified voters.

   SEC. 4. That all acts, or parts thereof, inconsistent with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed: Provided, that this act shall not extend to, nor be in force in the city of Cin­cinnati.

 

JOSEPH S. HAWKINS,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

CHARLES B. GODDARD,

Speaker of the Senate.

 

 

Other School Laws passed by the Ohio General Assembly

O.L., XLVI, 69, February 22, 1848. An act to amend the act for levying taxes.

O.L., XLVI, 81, February 24, 1848. An act to provide a department of common schools for colored persons.

O.L., XLVI, 83, February 24, 1848. An act amending the school law. 1 mill township sch

O.L., XLVI, 86, February 24, 1848. An act amending the act to incorporate teachers’ institutes.

O.L., XLVII, 17, February 10, 1849. An act authorizing separate schools for colored children.

O.L., XLVII, 19, February 16, 1849. An act amending the act to incorporate teachers’ institutes.

 

 

 

An act for the better regulation of the Public Schools in cities, towns, etc.

 

[Passed February 21, 1849, XLVII vol. Stat. 22.]

 

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That any incorporated city or town in the State, or any incorporated town or village, except such city, town or village, as is now, in whole or in part, governed as to Schools by some special law heretofore passed, containing within the town or village plot, as laid out and recorded, two hundred inhabitants or more, with the territory attached, or hereafter to be attached to said city, town, or village, for school purposes, may be organized into and established as a single school district, in the manner and with the powers hereinafter specified; but the provisions of this act shall not apply to any city, town or village, or any part thereof, which is now governed as to schools by any special law.

 

SEC. 11. Said board shall have power to make all necessary regulations for said schools, to prescribe

and enforce rules board. for the admission of pupils into the same, not inconsistent w~th the preceding section, and the examination that pupils must pass preparatory to admission into the schools of higher grades than the primary; to subdivide said school district, if they shall think proper; to select sites for school-houses ^f to superintend the building of the same, and to pay therefor, their appurtenances, furniture and apparatus, to borrow money for the erection of school-houses, upon a majority vote of said district therefor, and to incur all other expenses of said school system, and pay the same from the public moneys of said district.

 

SEC. 12. It shall be the duty of said board to keep said schools in operation not less than thirty-six, nor more than forty-four weeks of each year, to determine the amount of the annual tax to be raised for the purpose aforesaid, includ­ing all the necessary expenses of said schools, except for the erection of school-houses and the purchase, of sites; and on or before the first day of July of each year, to make known th_e amount of such tax to the auditor of the county in which said district is situate; and thereupon it shall be the duty of said auditor to assess the same upon the taxable property of the said district as the same appears on the grand list in his office, and the said tax shall be collected by the county treasu­rer, in the same manner, and at the same time, with the state and county taxes, and when collected shall be paid over to the treasurer of said board: provided, however, that the tax to be assessed under this section shall not exceed four mills on the dollar upon the taxable property of said district, as the same appears upon the grand list; provided further, that in case the amount so authorized to be raised, together with the other school moneys of said district, shall be insufficient to support said schools for the portion of the year mentioned in this section, that said board of education may require such sum as may be necessary to support the same for the residue of said time, to be charged at the discretion of said board upon the tuition of the pupils attending such schools; pro­vided, however, that the children of indigent parents, or orphans, who are unable to pay such charges, shall not be ex­cluded from said schools for the non-payment of the same; and it shall b^e the further duty of said board to keep an accu­rate account of their proceedings, and of their receipts and disbursements for school purposes, and at the annual meeting for the choice of directors in said district to make report of such receipts, and the sources from which the same were de­rived, and of said disbursements, and the objects to which the same were applied, and they shall also make report at the same time of such other matters relating to said schools, as they may deem the interests of the same to require.

 

SEC. 15. That said board of education, Or the treasurer thereof, shall have power to collect any charge or account for tuition, in the same manner as the treasurer of any common school district in this state, is now, or may hereafter be, authorized to collect any such charge or account.

                                                              JOHN G. BRESLIN,

                                             Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                                                         BREWSTER. RANDALL,

                                                            Speaker of the Senate.

 

Other School Laws passed by the Ohio General Assembly

 

O.L., XLVII, 39, March 6, 1849. An act amending the school law. X how to vote and collect tax

O.L., XLVII, 43, March 12, 1849. An act amending the school law. X

 

 

 

 

 

 

An act to amend an act entitled "An act for the support and better regulation of Common Schools in the town of Akron," passed February 8, 1847, and the acts amendatory thereto.

 

                                          [Passed Mach 15, 1849, XLVII vol. Stat. 45.]

 

     SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That the board of education in any city, town, Boards of education may or village, which has adopted the act entitled "an act for support and better regulation of common schools in the town of Akron," passed February 8, 1847, and the acts amendatory thereto, may adopt the eleventh, twelfth, and fifteenth sections of the act entitled ^“ act for the better organization of the public schools in cities, towns," etc., passed February 15, 1849, whenever, in the opinion of said board of education, the educational interests of such city, town, or village, may require it.

    SEC. 2. All acts, or parts thereof, inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.

 

JOHN O. BRESLIN,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

BREWSTER RANDALL,

Speaker of the Senate.

 

Other School Laws passed by the Ohio General Assembly

 

O.L. XLVII, 253, March   21, 1849. An act repealing the Akron School Law in the town of New Lisbon, Columbiana County.

 

O.L., XLVII, 52, March 24, 1849. An act amending the school law. X

 

O.L., XLVIII, 40, March 13, 1850. An act amending the law concerning public schools in cities and towns.

 

O.L., XLVIII, 662, March 21, 1850. An act to exempt Mt. Vernon from the provisions of the Akron School Law

 

O.L. , XLVIII, 648, March 22, 1850. An act to repeal the provision of the Akron School Law as far as in force in the town of Hanover, Columbiana County.

 

No school laws were written by the Ohio General Assembly in 1851 or 1851, which infuriated members of the common school reform movement for not creating new school laws according to the new Ohio Constitution. Upon taking office after the general election in 1852, with a new majority in the new General Assembly, the legislators took up the issue of education at their first opportunity and passed the landmark school law mentioned below.

 

                                                 GENERAL SCHOOL ACT of 1853

                                                             An Act to provide for

                     the reorganization, supervision and maintenance of Common Schools

                                            [Passed March 1, 1853, LI vol. Stat. 429.]