those between 5 and 15. Report of 1826, Excess of children taught, over Excess of children between 5 and 16, over those taught. 18,189 Report of 1831, 1827, 17,804 1833,. .... 15,581 1834,....... 13,035 The excess above exhibited for each of the years specified, is to be taken in connexion only with the system of common school education. It is to be borne in mind that a large number of children receive instruction in academies and private schools, which are not embraced in the reports of the Superintendent; and if these were taken into the account, the whole number of persons annually receiving instruction, throughout the State, would unquestionably be found to exceed the whole number enumerated between 5 and 16 years of age. In the county of Genesee, more than 20,000 children have been instructed during the year reported: in Oneida, Otsego, Cayuga, Jefferson, Onondaga and Monroe, more than fifteen thousand; and including the foregoing, there are twenty-six counties in the State, in which more than ten thousand have been instructed. In each of twenty-two counties, there are more than two hundred organized school districts; in eleven counties more than two hundred and fifty; in Oneida three hundred and fifty-four; in Genesee three hundred and twenty, and in Otsego three hundred and ten. In one hundred and thirteen towns, more than one thousand children are instructed, in seventeen towns more than fifteen hundred, and in four towns more than two thousand.' In seventy-six towns there are more than twenty organized school districts, in twenty-four towns more than twenty-five, and in eleven towns more than thirty. The average number of organized districts to each town in the State, is nearly twelve and an half, and the number of scholars instructed, compared with the whole number of districts which have reported, gives an average of fifty-six, and a fraction to each. The annexed paper, marked C, exhibits the progress of the common school system, as exhibited in the annual reports, from the year 1816 to the present time. II. Estimates and Expenditures of the School Moneys. By the reports of the commissioners of common schools, it ap pears that the sum of three hundred and thirteen thousand nine hundred and thirty-eight dollars and twenty-nine cents, was paid by them to the trustees of the several school districts in April, 1833. The amount expended by the said trustees in the year 1832 was three hundred and seven thousand seven hundred and thirtythree dollars and eight cents; of which one hundred thousand dol lars was received from the Common School fund, one hundred and eighty-nine thousand one hundred and thirty-nine dollars and eighty-four cents, was levied by taxation upon the property of the inhabitants of the several towns and cities of the State, and eighteen thousand five hundred and ninety-three dollars and twenty-four cents was derived from the local funds belonging to par ticular towns. The public money paid by the commissioners to the trustees of the several districts, in 1833, exceeds the amount expended in 1832, by the sum of six thousand two hundred and five dollars and twenty-one cents. It will be seen, by reference to abstract B, that the amount paid for teachers' wages, in addition to the public money, is three hundred and sixty-nine thousand six hundred and ninety-six dollars and thirty-six cents, and exceeds, by the sum of eleven thousand three hundred and seventy-six dollars and nineteen cents, the amount paid for teachers' wages, in addition to public money, in the year 1832. The whole amount paid for teachers' wages is six hundred and seventy-seven thousand four hundred and twenty-nine dollars and forty-four cents; from which, however, should be deducted about fifty thousand dollars, expended by the public school society in the city of New-York, for building and repairing school houses, and other objects connected with their system of public instruction. The productive capital of the Common School fund has been increased during the year ending the 30th September, 1833, by the sum of eighteen thousand eight hundred and seventy-one dollars [Assem. No. 9.] 2 and fifty-six cents, and now amounts to one million seven hundred and fifty-four thousand and forty-six dollars and eighty-four cents. The actual receipts on account of revenue, during the year ending 30th September, 1833, amounted to one hundred and nine thousand one hundred and seventeen dollars and seventy-seven cents. Document D exhibits the increase and diminution of the fund during the same period. The paper marked E, contains a statement of the several items of capital, of which the fund is composed; the estimated revenue and the actual receipts on each item during the period above mentioned; and the estimated revenue on each item for the year ending the 30th September, 1834, amounting to one hundred and six thousand eight hundred dollars. Although the revenue of the Common School fund for the year ending the 30th September, 1833, exceeds by nine thousand one hundred and seventeen dollars and seventy-seven cents the amount drawn from it for distribution to the common schools, during the same year, the excess has not in fact been added to the productive capital. In 1831 the termination of the fiscal year was changed, from the 30th November to the 30th September, by act of the Legislature; and in consequence of this change the revenue of all the public funds, as given by the annual report of the Comptroller for 1832, accrued during a period of ten months instead of twelve. The annual report of 1831, stated the revenue of the Common School fund, from the 1st December, 1830, to the 30th November, 1831, while the report of 1832, stated it from the 1st December, 1831, to the 30th September, 1832. Accordingly it would appear, from the latter, to have fallen off from above one hundred thousand dollars to eighty thousand six hundred and sixtytwo dollars and thirty-three cents. By the provisions of sec. 17, of the first volume of the Revised Statutes, page 193, this deficiency, amounting to nineteen thousand three hundred and thirtyseven dollars and sixty-seven cepts, could have been supplied and paid from the General fund. But it was believed by the Comptroller that the receipts into the treasury, on account of the revenue of the fund, would by the 30th November ensuing, at which time the fiscal year would have terminated under the former provisions of the law, be equal to the sum required for distribution to the common schools; and it was deemed inexpedient, under the circumstances, to resort to the General fund, which was already in capable of sustaining, by its ordinary revenues, the burdens cast upon it. Thus the deficiency in the revenue of the School fund for 1831, occasioned by a change of the fiscal year, was left to be supplied by the excess of revenue to be derived from the fund in subsequent years. In consequence of the prevalence of the cholera the annual report of 1832 exhibited a further deficiency of six thousand two hundred and forty-four dollars and sixty-nine cents, in the payments on account of revenue, making, with the deficiency of the previous year, twenty-five thousand nine hundred and seven dollars and two cents. During the year ending the 30th September, 1833, the revenue amounted to one hundred and nine thousand one hundred and seventeen dollars and seventy-seven cents; leaving an excess, after distributing one hundred thousand dollars to the schools, of nine thousand one hundred and seventeen dollars and seventy-seven cents, applicable to the pre-existing deficiencies. The revenue for 1834 is estimated at one hundred and six thousand eight hundred dollars. Should this estimate prove well founded the deficiencies will, by the 30th September, 1834, be reduced to nine thousand six hundred and sixty-four dollars and fifty-nine cents, and the revenue of the fund will in fact have gained nine thousand six hundred and seventy-three dollars and eight cents in four years. In two years more it may be calculated, with reasonable certainty, that the whole amount of nineteen thousand nine hundred and fifty-six dollars and fourteen cents will be made up, by the annual excess of revenue above the amount apportioned to the common schools, so that the fund will have supplied, by its own resources, the deficiency exhibited in the annual reports, and occasioned by throwing it back in 1831 upon its receipts for ten months. Document F, exhibits the capital of the Common School fund from 1806 to the present time, the annual interest or revenue, the amount annually apportioned to the common schools, the increase and decrease for each year from the foundation of the fund, and the amount drawn from the General fund, at various times, to supply deficiencies of revenue. The unproductive capital of the School fund consists of lands lying principally in the fourth senatorial district. An enumeration of the different tracts, the number of acres, and an estimate of the value of each, will be found in the accompanying paper, marked G. By the paper last referred to, it will appear that the unproductive capital is estimated at one hundred and seventy-three thousand six hundred and sixty-four dollars and twenty cents, which added to the productive capital would amount to one million nine hundred and twenty seven thousand seven hundred and eleven dollars and four cents. In many cases, however, the estimate of the value of particular tracts is merely conjectural; and it may be fairly calculated that the amount of the productive capital will, in a few years, reach two millions of dollars without the aid of any further contributions to the fund from other sources. The principle on which the apportionment of public money for the support of the common schools proceeds, is to pay such an amount as shall furnish an inducement to the inhabitants of the several towns and school districts to raise by voluntary contribution such additional sum as shall be adequate to the accomplishment of the object. By an estimate in the last annual report of the Superintendent, it appears that the whole annual expenditure upon the system of public instruction, is equal to about one million one hundred and twenty-six thousand dollars. During the present year it will be somewhat more. Of the whole amount, the State or the Common School fund, pays less than one-eleventh. Small as this proportion of the expense of the system would seem to be, it is, nevertheless, fully adequate to the end in view; and it is probable that the regular augmentations of the Common School fund, by converting its unproductive into productive capital, will be such that the amount distributed, in proportion to the whole number of children taught in the common schools, will not for many years, be so materially diminished as to affect the influence which it exerts upon the voluntary contributions of the towns and school districts. In the year 1827, the sum of one hundred thousand dollars was first distributed among the common schools, and the number of children taught was four hundred and thirty-one thousand six hundred and one, giving twenty-three cents and a fraction to each scholar. The same amount distributed in 1833, apportioned upon a basis of five hundred and twelve thousand four hundred and seventy-five children, will give nineteen and threequarter cents to each, making a diminution in six years of nearly three and one-quarter cents in the amount apportioned to each scholar, and a further reduction to nineteen cents each may be expected before the sum annually distributed is increased. There is reason to believe, however, that the income of the fund will in a short time be increased, by augmentations of its productive capital, so as to admit of a distribution of one hundred and ten thou |