II. GENERAL CONTROL EXERCISED BY THE STATE. By lodging with the several administrative officials powers of advice, approval of plans and equipment for school buildings, inspection and even condemnation of plants in operation, the State has made large extensions of its control over school environment. Advice is hardly a form of control; nevertheless, it constitutes the entering wedge of something more effective. Moreover, the function of advice is greatly strengthened when it is made legal, because the same act of the legislature that authorizes advice often sets aside a sum for the performance of the work. Table 1 summarizes the general situation regarding powers of advice, approval, inspection, and condemnation or correction. Forty of the States have taken some legal action to limit the local officials regarding hygienic precautions in erecting school buildings. The States that appear not to have taken legal steps in this direction are Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Tennessee. It does not follow that the State departments of education in these eight States are indifferent or even inactive with regard to the condition of schoolhouses. Through annual reports, circulars, and pamphlets, and the granting of certificates or commissions to "model schools," etc., all possible moral suasion is put into play. TABLE 1.-General control exercised by the State without definite standards. States and references.1 Advice. Approval. Inspection. Inspection combined with condemnation (or correction). Alabama: School Laws, p. 114.. Delaware: Laws of Delaware, ch. Iowa: School Laws, p. 65; Fif 1 Where it has been necessary to give more than one reference under a State, the citations are arranged very nearly as they give the data of the columns following from left to right. Interpret according to the scheme laid out on pp. 5-6 preceding, by reading, for example: In Alabama, the State education department must approve plans for rural districts before State aid can be extended; or again, in Louisiana, plans for all new schoolhouses must, according to a rule of the State board of health, be approved by the State education authority and the parish (county) education and health officials. The law also gives power to the State health authorities of Louisiana to inspect all schoolhouses. TABLE 1.-General control exercised by the State without definite standards.-Continued. Health; School Laws, p. 124; Maine: Laws of 1909, ch. 88.. Michigan: School Laws, p. 177; Reg., May 1, 1912; Bul. No. 40, L (State archi- XA'ABB'ma... LA'pa..... XC'ma; LBma. Mississippi: Code of 1906, sec. LA'ma.. 2513-2514; School Laws, 1914. Montana: Laws of 1913; Rev. Code, LA'md.... 1907, sec. 1483; Rule State Bd. of Health. North Dakota: School Laws, pp. LABB'ma.. LAeb; LAma 30, 103, 104, 105; Laws of 1913, ch. 6 and 263, House Bill, No. 378. Ohio: State Bldg. Code of 1911; Code of 1910, sec. 4424; Laws of 1910, pp. 395-397. Oklahoma: Rev. Laws, sec. 6788... Oregon: General Laws, sec. 3999... Pennsylvania: School Code, pp. 42, 52-53; Act of Apr. 27, 1905. Rhode Island: Laws of 1911, ch. 725. South Carolina: School Law, pp. 26-27, 40-41, 63; Acts of 1912, No. 419. South Dakota: School Law, secs. 32, 237. LA'B'C'A"C"ma LABB'ma. L (State inspectors of plumbing) C'pa. LA'ma. LA'pa; LAea. LA'pa. West Virginia: School Law, pp. L (medical LBma. Wisconsin: Laws relating to 80042°-15--2 LBma.. inspector) A. ADVICE. All of the States that have empowered officials outside of the district to give advice have backed up this advisory authority with stronger prerogatives. In one State the advisory work is shared by the county superintendent; in one by the local medical inspector; in one by the county superintendent of health; in two by the State board of health; in six by the State education department, i. e., by the State superintendent or commissioner of education or by the State board of education. In Montana advice is given to rural districts only. In Vermont the State board of health advises with municipal officers regarding the construction, heating, ventilation, and sanitary arrangements of public buildings, construed as including public school buildings. In certain other States advice is given to districts of all classes. The advice, except in Vermont, West Virginia, and possibly Texas, consists in the preparation of plans for buildings and the loan of the plans to districts desiring them. In Maine, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin specifications are prepared and lent. In three of the States that prepare plans the State superintendent may furnish the necessary details for large as well as small buildings, but in Maine and Wisconsin a four-room structure is the limit, while in North Dakota the superintendent has no authority to go beyond two rooms. The duty of giving advice is usually mandatory with the officials upon whom it is conferred, but in Maine the law is evidently permissive, since the State superintendent sets forth no standards and in a recent letter speaks only of approval. In West Virginia the local medical inspector; "when requested by the board of education," shall assist in formulating rules of procedure on matters pertaining to the lighting, heating, ventilating, and sanitation of the school buildings. It is evident that the purpose of advice is the protection of smaller and poorer districts against their own ignorance or the exploitation of persons from without. B. APPROVAL. Classes of officials utilized.—The power of approval of plans is a species of control more generally exercised and more potent in effects than the power of advice. Table 1 shows that the power of approval has been practically taken from the lay authorities in at least 30 States. The function of advice is exercised in all cases directly under legal warrant, but in 3 out of 30 States the power of approval finds its authority specifically in the administrative ruling of the State board of health or of the State board of education. Approval, like advice, comes most frequently from the hands of education officials. In 21 out of 30 cases these officials are the sole authority in approval; in 1 case the health authority acts alone; in 1 case the State archi tect; in still another a supervisor of plans in the building inspection department of the district police; in 5 cases health and education officials cooperate; and in 1 case, (Ohio), the health officials share their responsibility with several others. Degree of centralization.—So far as the health authorities are concerned, it is nearly always the State boards of health that have jurisdiction, local boards working under their direction. With the education officers the tendency toward centralization is not so marked. Of the 21 States where the education officers act alone, in 9 the State department of education is in full charge; in 7 the county superintendent, county school commissioners, or county board of education approves. In the 5 others, State, county, town, and district officers are variously combined. In North Carolina the State superintendent has the power of initial approval, but before the building can be paid for it must be inspected and approved by the county superintendent. In South Carolina both the State and county boards of education must approve plans before aid can be received from the county schoolhouse fund. In Maine and Montana the State superintendent and the State board of health cooperate under certain conditions. In Maine both must approve plans if other than those prepared by the State department are used. In Montana there is cooperation except in districts of the first class, i. e., those containing the larger cities. In these districts the board of health may act alone. In Texas county superintendents approve plans in common school districts and in independent districts having fewer than 150 scholastics, while local superintendents approve in others. In Louisiana three officers-the State superintendent, the parish superintendent, and the parish health officer-must approve all plans as to hygienic requirements. In Minnesota all matters relating to schoolhouse sanitation were transferred in 1913 from the State board of health to the State department of education, and definite powers lodged in the State superintendent of education. West Virginia's new law (1915) creates a State department of health, with greatly enlarged powers including a public health council which will have direct oversight of State sanitation, etc. The Ohio State building code.—While Ohio's State building code of 1911 is a most exhaustive piece of legislation, it is not retroactive in any of its features. It does not mention condemnation of existing buildings, and in this respect is below the standard of many other States. Further; it does not provide for legal approval or advice, but it does charge specific officials, State and local, with the enforcement of specific requirements of the code, e. g., the State fire marshal or municipal fire chiefs enforce all provisions relative to fire prevention; building inspectors or officials, State or local, have similar responsibility touching heat and ventilation, while health officials, State or local, look after sanitary plumbing. It will be noted that there is possible division in responsibility on the one hand or friction in authority on the other. Both those who have control of school buildings and those engaging or assisting in the construction, alteration, or repair of such buildings are under heavy penalties. Title 3, Part 2, of the Ohio Code deals with school buildings only, but so defines the term as to include libraries, museums, and art galleries; or, as the law states, "all buildings or structures containing one or more rooms used for the assembling of persons for the purpose of acquiring knowledge or for mental training." (Sec. 1.) School buildings are considered, however, under two classes or grades, grade A applying to "all rooms or buildings used for school purposes by pupils or students 18 years old or less." When Ohio requirements are subsequently referred to, grade A alone is meant. It is unnecessary to reproduce all the detail of the code itself in defining its standard requirements. Many of the precautions are less hygienic than practical in their bearing, and are designed to guard against future trouble and expense. They are, moreover, often too technical to be understood except by an architect or mechanic. Territorial extent of power of approval.-The extent to which approval of plans may go territorially varies widely. In a majority of the States this approval applies to all districts, but several exceptions must be noted. In California incorporated cities with boards of education are autonomous in this particular; in Maryland the city of Baltimore governs this matter for itself; in New York the cities of the first and second classes are exempt from interference; in Pennsylvania cities of the first class. In Utah the exemption applies to cities over 5,000, but the State superintendent believes that the larger cities should be brought under the operation of the law. In Oregon and Washington only districts of the third class, i. e., the most sparsely populated districts, need wait for approval. The premium placed by State aid.-In Alabama, State aid toward building rural schools is conditioned on approval of plans by the State superintendent. In Minnesota all plans of school buildings must have the approval of the superintendent of education, and the statutes provide that consolidated schools may receive building aid up to one-fourth the cost of the building, but not exceeding $2,000. The annual aid received by all classes of schools is also made contingent upon attaining certain definite standards with respect to buildings, mechanical equipment, furniture and apparatus. In South Carolina all schools are eligible to aid on a building project up to $300 if the plans are approved. The scale of aid is $50 for 1 Given in Bu. of Ed. Bull., 1913, No. 52, "Sanitary Schoolhouses. Legal requirements in Indiana and Ohio." Washington, Government Printing Office, price 5 cents. Ninth Report of Supt. Pub. Instr., Utah (advance sheets), pp. 13-14. |