Miscellanies. 149 



Expenses of buildings for school houses, &;c. per ann. ^115,694 



Annual expense of books for 499,484 scholars, . 249,717 



Fuel, 88,460 



Amount of public money paid for teachers' wages, . 339,715 

 Amount paid by the different districts for teachers' 



wages, besides public money, . , . 346,807 

 Estimating in the same ratio for 45 towns which have 

 not returned the amount over and above public 



money, . . . , . ... 21,308 



#1,061,699 

 Being a total of one million sixty-one thousand six hundred and 

 ninety-nine dollars expended annually for the support of the com- 

 mon schools of the State. The superintendant's report to the legis- 

 lature proceeds : — 



" The preceding estimates show that the revenue of the school 

 fund (that is, the amount derived from the State treasury) pays less 

 than one-tenth of the annual expenditures for the support of the 

 common schools ; another tenth is raised by a tax upon the property 

 of the towns respectively ; and the two tenths thus made up, (being 

 the #239,713 in the foregoing statement) constitutes what is called 

 the school moneys, and is the sum raised by the commissioners of 

 the towns for distribution among the several districts. Something 

 less than two tenths, for school houses and fuel, is raised by a tax 

 upon the property of the district, in pursuance of a vote, of the in- 

 habitants thereof 5 and the residue, nearly six tenths, or #617,820, 

 is paid voluntarily by the parents and guardians of the scholars, for 

 books, and for the balance of their school bills, after the public 

 money has been applied. 



" In fifty-two counties, the average number of those attending 

 school, compared with the whole number of inhabitants, is as 1 to 3|. 

 The average in the State, including New York and Albany, is in the 

 proportion of 1 to 394-100. Appended to this statement, is a table, 

 showing a similar comparison between the children at school and the 

 whole number of inhabitants in various countries in Europe. In Rus- 

 sia there is 1 child at school for every 7 inhabitants ; in Bavaria, 1 

 to 8; in England, 1 to 15. 



" The children taught in the common schools of the State, fall only 

 576 short of half a million. According to an enumeration in 1829, 

 there are 442 private schools in the city of New York ; there are, at 



