Page images
PDF
EPUB

in the table covering all the States. The land-grant institutions only receive 12.42 per cent of the State money in these 19 States, as compared with 14.48 per cent in all States. The 10 per cent less received by the public-school systems goes to increase the share of the separate State universities. Part of this loss to the public schools is made up by a larger indirect income from the Federal permanent school funds.

Table 3 shows from what sources each type of education receives its support.

TABLE 3.-Percentage analysis of income of each type of public education

[blocks in formation]

1 From direct appropriations 0.2937 per cent, and from indirect income, 1.0596 per cent. Less than one-tenth of 1 per cent.

The total amount of money spent by the Federal Government on public education is so small, comparatively speaking, that although two-thirds of it goes to the public-school system, this is only 1.06 per cent of the public-school income. The chief sources are local political units, that supply 68.42 per cent, and the State, that supplies 16.65 per cent. Teacher-training institutions obtain 86.43 per cent of their income from the State. The land-grant institutions receive 60.09 per cent of their income from the State and 11.53 per cent from the Federal Government on a basis of the figures presented in the table, but special attention must be called to the fact that these figures on income do not include receipts from residence board and dining halls, student activities, department earnings, athletics, loan funds, and similar rotary funds. The inclusion of such revenues would considerably reduce the proportion from both State and Federal sources, as is shown in Part III, dealing with business management and finance of the land-grant institutions. While the State has taken upon itself the major portion of the responsibility for fi nancing public higher education, the table shows it has assumed only one-sixth of the financial responsibility for the public-school system.

In Table 4 is presented the proportion of income for each type of education secured from public sources,

TABLE 4.-Percentage analysis of income for each type of education from public

[blocks in formation]

? From direct appropriation, 0.3 per cent, and from indirect income, 1.10 per cent. 3 Less than one-tenth of 1 per cent.

Only public money is considered in this table, income from miscellaneous sources being entirely eliminated. The significance of the table is that the State provides 80.65 per cent of the income of landgrant institutions from public sources, as compared with 99.16 per cent furnished by the State to teacher-training institutions and 82.82 per cent to other public colleges. Of the total public money used by land-grant institutions, 15.47 per cent comes from the Federal Government, 80.65 per cent from the State government, and 3.88 per cent from local public sources. For all higher education, including teacher-training institutions, land-grant institutions, and other public colleges, the State furnishes 85.53 per cent of the total income from public sources, exclusive of income from miscellaneous sources. TABLE 5.-Sources and distribution of income for publicly supported higher

education

[blocks in formation]

Table 5 is similar to Table 1, but includes only income for higher education. The Federal Government's support of higher education goes largely to the land-grant institutions, the percentage being 95.63, but only a little less than half of the State support goes to landgrant institutions, the remainder being divided between teacher

training institutions and other public colleges. Fifty per cent of all income to public higher education goes to the land-grant institutions.

In Table 6 is shown the percentage distribution of public money to all public education and to public higher education only.

TABLE 6.-Percentage analysis of income from public sources for public education1

[blocks in formation]

As indicated by the figures, 91.91 per cent of all public moneys expended on elementary, secondary, and higher education is expended for the public-school system, while 8.09 per cent is expended for public higher education. Of the income for higher education from public sources, the land-grant institutions receive 50.52 per cent as compared with 49.48 per cent for teacher-training institutions and other public colleges.

Table 7 is similar to Table 6, but includes only the 19 States in which the land-grant institution is separate from the State university. TABLE 7.-Percentage analysis of income from public sources for public education in 19 States with separate land-grant institutions and State universities, 1927-281

[blocks in formation]

1 Income from miscellaneous sources is excluded from this table.

In these States the land-grant institutions receive 4.19 per cent of the income from public sources for public education in contradistinction to 4.09 per cent for all the States combined. In other words, the figure represents but one-tenth of 1 per cent larger portion. The other public colleges, however, in these 19 States receive 5.22 per cent as compared with 2.12 per cent for all the colleges. For higher education only, the universities receive 45.02 per cent of the public funds available in the 19 States and the land-grant institutions only 36.57 per cent as against 50.52 per cent for all the States.

Chapter II.-The Governing Boards

The governing board of the land-grant college and the State university is an organization of a distinct type. Vested with powers by law over the custody of public properties, over the management of public educational institutions different in character and scope from ordinary business and governmental enterprises, it exercises a trusteeship of large responsibilities. In these capacities the governing board is accountable to the State and to its people.

The governing board is a legislative body. At the same time its functions may be administrative, executive, and supervisory. It has or should have final authority over every phase of the organization of the institution under its control consistent with its legally stated purposes as contained in the statutes of the State. The status of the land-grant institutions has been established by the constitutions of 12 States and by the acts of the State legislature in the remainder. Regardless of the method of establishment it has been the general policy to create governing boards for the government of the institutions.

Statutes of all the States have vested general authority over the land-grant colleges in the governing boards. The authority thus given includes the performance of all acts necessary to keep the institutions in operation, the care and preservation of their properties, and the government of their financial and educational affairs. Whether specifically stated or implied in the laws, the governing boards have jurisdiction over the administrative and business procedure; the election of a president; the employment and discharge of teachers, officers, and employees; the prescribing of courses of instruction; the fixing of entrance requirements of students; the determining and conferring of appropriate degrees; and the making of rules for the conduct of the students.

An important question is whether the governing bodies have corporate powers giving them the right to hold and dispose of property in their own name, to receive and administer trusts, to sue and be sued, and similar prerogatives inherent in a real trusteeship. The returns received in the survey were not complete upon this subject. It is found, however, that the governing bodies of seven institutions are actual corporate bodies. In three others, the governing boards have legal authority to hold properties, but not apparently to dispose of them. Two institutions report that their governing bodies

have the right to purchase land and in one case to exercise the right of eminent domain. The governing board of one university has specific authority to acquire water rights.

Authority to receive and administer trusts should be vested in the governing bodies. An examination of the reports shows that in addition to the cases already mentioned having corporate powers, such rights are specifically given the governing boards by the laws of seven States. In the case of one institution the board may accept gifts of lands and administer them, but all trusts and bequests in the form of moneys must be paid into the State treasury for investment as part of the university's endowment. The powers and duties of the boards are limited by statute in some instances. The law of one State provides that the salaries fixed by the board of trustees must be submitted to the legislature for approval or dissent. In a third the governing body is restricted in the erection of new buildings by the requirement that the approval of the State board of public works must be secured. The statutes of a fourth State prescribe that the board shall not appoint any relative by blood or marriage to a professorship or position in the university, while in a fifth State the board is forbidden to contract a debt not previously authorized by the general assembly. The governing board is prohibited from disposing of any real estate belonging to the institution without the previous consent of the governor's council by the law of a sixth State. It is specifically provided by statute in a seventh that no partisan or sectarian test shall be exercised in the appointment of professors, teachers, or other officers or in the admission of students.

The composition of the governing boards, their size and membership, method of their appointment, length of term and service, constitution of a quorum, and number of meetings annually are vital factors in their organization. In Table 8 are presented by institutions data on these subjects.

111490°-30-VOL 1- 6

« PreviousContinue »