The Legislature did
not provide a penalty for neglect of this provision, nor does there seem
to have been any just method of compelling obedience. The Secretary of
the Commonwealth sent out blank forms of returns, and replies were
received from two hundred and fourteen towns, while eighty-eight were
entirely silent.
The returns received furnish a series of interesting facts for the year
1826. There were one thousand seven hundred and twenty-six district
schools, supported at an expense of two hundred and twenty-six thousand
two hundred and nineteen dollars and ninety cents ($226,219.90), while
there were nine hundred and fifty-three academies and private schools
maintained at a cost of $192,455.10. The whole number of children
attending public schools was 117,186, and the number educated in
private schools and academies was 25,083. The expense, therefore, was
$7.67 per pupil in the private schools, and only $1.93 each in the
public schools. These facts are indicative of the condition of public
sentiment. About one-sixth of the children of the state were educated in
academies and private schools, at a cost equal to about six-sevenths of
the amount paid for the education of the remaining five-sixths, who
attended the public schools. The returns also showed that there were
2,974 children between the ages of seven and fourteen years who did not
attend school, and 530 persons over fourteen years of age who were
unable to read and write.
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