Local educational agency

“ Special rule.—If State law prohibits a State educational agency from carrying out one or more of its responsibilities under paragraph (4) with respect to those who provide, or seek approval to provide, supplemental educational services, each local educational agency in the State shall carry out those responsibilities with respect to its students who are eligible for those services. ”

“ In educational matters, the city areas are completely exempt from State control. Their schools and training schools are managed by local authorities, and supplied for the most part by local funds. Hence it follows that City Normal and Training Schools show even greater diversity of methods and arrangement than is found in State Normal Schools, for their lines of work and efficiency are entirely dependent upon the respective City Boards of Education. One effect of local school administration is distinctly undesirable. ”

“ The State Commission on People’s Education is by no means a central power governing the institutions of instruction and education. On the contrary, the entire school work ought to be transferred to the organs of local self-government. The independent work of the workers, soldiers and peasants, establishing on their own initiative cultural educational organisations, must be given full autonomy, both by the State centre and the Municipal centres. ”

“ Now, to meet the needs of the generations to come, we have established a Department of Education to express our national commitment to education, to promote equal educational opportunity, to assist local authorities in their efforts to improve our schools, and to administer Federal education programs more efficiently. ”

“ The Public Schools.—Public education is another department of municipal activity. [4] City governments spend great amounts of public money for this purpose. The work of our educational institutions is constantly being enlarged; courses in commerce, manual training, and domestic science are intended to strengthen the practical side of education. In some cities special schools are maintained for the defective classes and for truants. ”

“ The organization of different types of secondary schools, and the curriculum appropriate to each, are matters which continue to occupy the attention of educational experts. In accordance with the regulations for secondary schools issued by the Board of Education in 1907, substantial grants were made to secondary schools which conformed to certain conditions as regards local control and undenominational religious instruction, or the directive influence of the board as regards curriculum and management over all such schools was strengthened. ”

“ The older education of the district school was defective, and the new education is not enjoyed by many a farmer's boy or girl, because they cannot be spared in the later years of youth for long schooling. An adaptation of the idea of continuation schools for rural young people so that they may apply the new sciences to country life is greatly to be desired. The local school principal or county superintendent or an extension teacher from a State institution may be found available as director, and it belongs to the community to provide the necessary funds. ”

“ The benefits derived from the relation with the board of charities may be more than offset by the connection with educational agencies, where the school is recognized as part of the state's educational system. In respect to the providing of maintenance for the pupils, this can be regarded as but an incidence, when any other plan would be impracticable. The main, overshadowing purpose in the work of the institutions is education, and what are supplied beyond are only to render this the more effective. ”

“ Unlike the governing bodies of cities and counties, school boards have only one responsibility: the education of the youth of our country during their most formative and impressionable years. Apart from health, no subject is closer to the hearts of parents than their children's education during those years. For these reasons, the governance of elementary and secondary education traditionally has been placed in the hands of a local board, responsible locally to the parents and citizens of school districts. ”

“ The state of school affairs begins to attract much notice from the legislature, and no doubt the present system of school government will soon be improved. A board of education is appointed in each county, whose office it is to examine candidates for the office of parish school teacher, and report to the local governor as to their competency, previous to his conferring the required license. ”

“ Urban and rural areas.—If more than three local educational agencies in a State submit approvable local flexibility demonstration agreements under this chapter, the Secretary shall select local educational agencies with which to enter into such agreements in a manner that ensures an equitable distribution among such agencies serving urban and rural areas. ”

“ In some portions of the state the committees are wholly, and in others they are partly, responsible for the qualifications of teachers; they everywhere superintend and give character to the schools, and by their annual reports they exert a large influence over public opinion. The people now usually elect well-qualified men; and it is believed that the extracts from the local reports, published annually by the Board of Education, constitute the best series of papers in the language upon the various topics that have from time to time been considered. ”

“ That it is expedient that the Local Education Authority should be empowered to organise and direct the provision of a midday meal for children attending Public Elementary Schools, and that statutory powers should be given to Local Authorities to establish Committees to deal with school canteens. ”

“ This board may be appointed by the board of education, but should examine none but graduates of the high school and training school, unless specially requested so to do by the superintendent of instruction. The number admitted to the training schools should be limited, and the examinations should be gauged to the prospective needs of the elementary schools for new teachers. The supply of new teachers may well be largely, but should not be wholly, drawn from this local source. The force will gain fresh vitality by some appointments of good and experienced teachers from outside. ”

“ In reading, math, science, special education, early childhood education, and other areas, charter schools have implemented innovative programs that produce results. Charter school principals and teachers have the freedom to develop classroom techniques that meet their students' unique needs, and parents appreciate the ability to have direct input into their children's educational progress. Charter school administrators are accountable to students, parents, and community leaders, and they know that if their school fails to meet expectations, it must either improve or close. ”

“ A restoration of American education grounded in the principles of our founding that is accurate, honest, unifying, inspiring, and ennobling must ultimately succeed at the local level. Parents and local school boards must be empowered to achieve greater choice and variety in curriculum at the State and local levels. ”

“ The circumstances of the case naturally and quickly separate the duties of administration into two great departments, one which manages the business affairs, and the other which supervises the instruction. The business affairs of the school system may be transacted by any citizens of common honesty, correct purposes, and of good business experience and sagacity. The instruction will be ineffective and abnormally expensive unless put upon a scientific educational basis and supervised by competent educational experts. ”

“ Because they are subject to fewer State and district regulations than other public schools, charter schools offer teachers and administrators more freedom in tailoring programs to meet specific student and community needs. ”

“ For the purposes of this order:
(a) "Schools" means individual public or private education institutions encompassing prekindergarten through twelfth grade, as well as public school districts.
(b) "Community-based educational organizations" means nonprofit entities that are engaged in collaborative projects with schools or that have education as their primary focus. ”

“ The Government has encouraged private initiative in education, but at the same time, it has adopted the necessary safeguards to protect the public interest, and to carry out the educational aims enunciated in the Constitution. Through closer supervision by the Office of Private Education, the number of competent instructors has grown, school libraries have been expanded and laboratory equipment and facilities improved. ”

“ We desire to see local management under Government inspection, and assisted by grants in aid, taken advantage of wherever it is possible to do so, and that no Government colleges or schools shall be founded, for the future, in any district where a sufficient number of institutions exist, capable, with assistance from the State, of supplying the local demand for education. ”

“ The common district school, supported jointly by local taxation and State subvention, gives elementary education to the children of all classes. As the towns grow the tendency to graft manual and technical courses upon the ordinary public school curriculum is unmistakably strong. ”

“ At the same time, prominence is given in the higher primary schools to practical training of an educational character with special reference to the industries and circumstances of the locality, and in the rural districts a special agricultural bias is imparted to the curriculum. It is interesting to note that the institution of the higher primary schools was due in large part to the spontaneous initiative of the municipalities, and that in the later phases of state organization special care has been taken to avoid anything in the nature of a rigid uniformity in these schools. ”

“ The important role of private schools in the education of our youth deserves mention here. There are now throughout the archipelago 1,770 private educational institutions from the lower grades to university level, with over three-quarters of a million students. ”

“ We agree with the district court that those responsible for directing a school's educational program must be allowed to decide how its limited resources can be best used to achieve the goals of educating and socializing its students. ”