SCHOOL FUNDING IN 1872

Florence, Ala., Feb. 5, 1872

To the Trustees of the Free Public Schools in Lauderdale County.

Gentlemen:--I give you below the amount apportioned to each township in the county:

                        Whites        Colored
T 1 R 7 west        $   202.66    $
T 1 R 8 west            441.33
T 1 R 9 west            378.06          14.67
T 1 R 10 west           442.66          45.34
T 1 R 11 west           270.66          22.67
T 1 R 12 west           274.66          53.34
T 1 R 13 west           230.66          12.00
T 1 R 14 west           234.66        [blank]
T 1 R 15 west           316.00          25.33
T 1 R 16 west            32.00        [blank]
T 2 R 7 west            222.66          28.00
T 2 R 8 west            417.33          98/67
T 2 R 9 west            285.33         237.33
T 2 R 10 west           320.00         181.33
T 2 R 11 west           194.66         196.00
T 2 R 12 west           357.33         236.00
T 2 R 13 west           278.66         246.67
T 2 R 14 west            94.66           9.34
T 2 R 15 west            96.00          34.33
T 3 R 11 west           546.66         502.67
T 3 R 12 west           262.67         446.66
T 3 R 13 west             50.6         254.67
        Total        $6,252.06      $2,877.14 

     The following are the late laws which will govern your action:
          No Trustee shall teach a free public school.
No school will be recognized as a public school until after this notice.
Trustees must not pay more than $40 per month for a school of twenty
pupils, nor more than ten dollars per month for every additional ten
pupils. Not more than three schools to each race allowed in a township.
Schools must have an average attendance of twenty pupils, and must
continue in operation five months. If the fund is not sufficient to secure
the services of competent teachers, the patrons must pay the teacher
enough to continue the schools in operation at least five months.
Teachers must report to me in duplicate quarterly. Teachers must make
contracts with trustees of adjoining townships for transferred children,
and have contracts approved by me, within twenty days from the time
the children enter school, or they will forfeit their pay.
          In order to give the laboring children an equal chance with the
rest, I would suggest that you make contracts, to close schools April 30th,
and commence July 16th, and close the balance of the five months term
by the 1st of October. The sooner you start the schools, I think, the better.
I expect soon to have money to pay the balance due the teachers for last year.
                                                    Respectfully yours,
                                                        J. M. WEEMS

[SOURCE: The Lauderdale Times, Tuesday, 6 Feb 1872, p. 3 ]