Educational Environments 



Montana is Proud of Its Educational Facilities; the Ele- 

 mentary, Secondary and Higher Institutions All Pn> 

 viding Excellent Training for the Youth. 



S A TEST of the stage of progress reached by any people, one need 

 but study the provisions made for the education of the youth in 

 the educational system. The degree of advancement, attainment 

 and interest in things worth while, can be quickly ascertained by 

 a study of the school buildings, equipment and teachers pro- 

 vided for educational work. The state, desiring to attract the 

 better class of people among its citizenship, must be prepared 

 to provide the best in the educational field. 



The family, looking for a new location and wishing to give 

 the children the opportunity of an education, need have no hesitation about choosing 

 Montana. From the elementary schools to the highest institutions, the state has 

 excellent educational facilities, strong supervision and thorough administration. 



Those who laid the foundation of the state had in mind, not the few thousand 

 people then within its borders, but the thousands that were to come after them. 

 They realized that to make Montana a state of good citizenship, which would be an 

 asset to the state and nation, great care must be taken in providing the right kind 

 of education for the younger generation. Accordingly they adopted the policy of 

 paying good salaries to the teachers, making good school laws and instituting pro- 

 gressive features in the school system, so as to attract to the state the best and 

 most progressive educators. 



Large Sum for Schools. 



When Montana was admitted to the Union, the common schools received as an 

 endowment from the national government, one-eighteenth of all the public land in 

 the state, a total grant, when fully completed by survey and selection of lieu lands, 

 of approximately 5,233,920 acres. This endowment is administered for the schools of 

 the state by the state board of land commissioners and under the law none of the 

 land can be sold for less than ten dollars an acre. Up to the present time 794,914.59 

 acres have been sold, yielding the large sum of $14,539,887.90 to the permanent 

 school fund. Of this amount, $5,388,805.82 is invested in bonds, warrants and 

 farm loans, all bearing interest; $7,903,505.65 is represented by deferred payments 

 on land contracts, bearing 5% interest; and $1,247,576.42 is cash in the hands of the 

 state treasurer, awaiting investment. 



These millions in the common school fund have been so wisely invested that 

 the income is sufficient to give each school district, for every child of school age. 

 an annual apportionment, of a considerable amount to help pay the expenses of con- 

 ducting the schools. The apportionment has grown annually, being $3 per capita 

 in 1911, while in 1917, despite the large increase in the number of children, it was 

 $5.50. The total income for distribution from the permanent common school fund 

 in 1917 was $877,536. 



In addition to the money received by each district from the permanent school 

 fund, school districts levy a tax for the support of the common schools, the minimum 

 being four mills and the maximum ten mills, unless by special vote the freeholders 



