eity in which he resides, during at least twelve weeks if the public schools within such town or city shall be so long kept."

Legal provisions for establishing adequate machinery for the enforcement of school attendance were frequently lacking in the early compulsory education laws. For example, the appointment of attendance officers was frequently permissive; provisions governing exemptions under the laws were commonly general, rather than specific, permitting the exercise of an unduly large amount of discretionary power on the part of local officials; legal penalties for violations, together with prescribed machinery for imposing them, were often inadequate. Moreover, there was, in many communities, a lack of supporting public opinion to make the early laws fully effective. As a consequence, the effectiveness of a statutory provision for compulsory school attendance varied considerably among the different enforcement units of a State.1 Gradually, however, legal provisions became more specific and mandatory with the growth of public opinion in the belief that education is an essential not only as a protective device for a democratic form of government, but also as a means for enabling the individual to enjoy the fruits of democracy in a way that he otherwise could not.

The school census grew out of the need for some basis upon which to plan school facilities. As long as the school district was so small that the number of children to be educated was readily known to the local authorities, and so long as schools were locally supported, there was no need for a formal counting and recording of children. But when more and more State money became available for distribution and when the population increased until it was not possible to know from incidental ways the number of children for whom school facilities should be provided, the school census came into being. The census at first was a simple instrument, created by law, merely requiring local authorities to list the children of the district of the specified legal ages. As time went on, however, and more detailed and accurate information was needed for distributing State funds and planning school facilities, the items in which data were to be recorded were expanded and the procedures for collecting them were refined and made more specific.

However, certain problems were encountered in obtaining adequate and accurate census reports. Among these were the temptation to have the census lists as large as possible in order to obtain the maximum amount of State funds and, therefore, the possibility of enumerators listing as many names as possible, as they were frequently paid a certain number of cents for each name; the lack of adequate instructions as to procedures in making enumerations; and the consequent inaccuracies of the enumerators in performing their duties. As a result, census 1 See Development of Compulsory School Attendance. U. S. Office of Education Bulletin 1940, No. 6, Monograph No. 5.

reports from various districts sometimes included duplications and the total State figure was oversize. To remedy this situation, census laws either became more specific and explicit relative to the exactness of the data to be collected and the procedures to be followed in making the enumeration or authorized State educational officers to make such arrangements as would insure an "accurate" census. Laws also frequently imposed penalties upon enumerators and upon local authorities. responsible for the enumeration for failures to make accurate reports, and gave the State superintendent authority to require any or all of the census in any district to be retaken.

In the meantime, an additional need for the school census was coming into existence due to the enactment of compulsory education laws in various States. An accurate and complete census was necessary for the enforcement of such laws, as it constituted the official record against which to check school enrollments to discover children legally required to be in school, but whose parents had not entered them. The need for census data for this purpose required that information be recorded to show what children were of compulsory school age, the names of parents or guardians made responsible by law for the school attendance of children, their home address, and other items that would assist in the determination of violations and in the enforcement of the law.

In many States, too, the school census has been expanded for special purposes, for example, to include a report on all physically handicapped persons under a specified age, which would have value for enrolling such persons in special educational institutions provided by the State, and to discover and to provide necessary educational facilities for illiterates.

Altogether the school census in many States is the most important instrument for determining: (1) The total population for whom educational opportunities are to be provided, taking into consideration not only the present but the future; (2) provisions for educational facilities in accordance with population and shifts in population; (3) failures of individuals to comply with requirements relative to education; (4) individuals whose handicaps make them subject to special provisions; and (5) the apportionment of certain State funds among the schools of the State.

Legal provisions governing child labor had their beginnings in limiting the number of hours per day children of specified ages could work in certain occupations, especially in factories. Very early the needs for such legal provisions were recognized as related to educational needs, and the statutory measures came into existence which included prescriptions that not only restricted the employment of children but also required that children should have achieved a specified eduational status before they could be employed. As was the case with compulsory edu

eation, the early legislative enactments were inadequate relative to the creation of effective machinery for enforcement and to completeness. and specificity of provisions. However, out of an ever-increasing public sensitivity to child welfare there grew up new laws-and old laws were constantly revised to strengthen them-which were written not only in terms of limitations placed upon kinds and hours of employment, but also in terms of educational attainments and physical fitness as conditions to employment.

In the course of time, legal provisions have become more definite in the designation and the creation of legal machinery and personnel for enforcement, more restrictive as to hours of labor, more expanded as to prohibited employment, more specific as to authorized and required. operation of education and labor officials for the enforcement of legal prescriptions, more mandatory as to inspection of places of employment for ascertaining violations, more precise as to official examinations to determine physical fitness for employment, more explicit as to discretionary power to be exercised by administrative officers, and more complete in the enumeration of factors to which officials should give attention in their administration of the law.

SUMMARY OF PROTECTIVE LAWS AND REGULATIONS REGARDING CHILDREN

SCHOOL CENSUS

FORTY-TWO STATES carry on a State-controlled school census. It is required by law in 40 of these States. In 1 State (Illinois), it is carried on by a regulation of the chief State school officer. Of the 6 States not carrying on a school census, 3 (Delaware, Nevada, and New Jersey) have permissive legislation for a school census in the Statutes, and 3 (Arizona, California, and Indiana) do not mention the school census.

Of the 42 States that carry on a census, 27 take it annually, 6 make the count every 2 years, 1 State does it every 4 years, while 3 States hold to a 5-year period. In 4 States a continuous census is used. New York provides for a continuous census in all cities and annually in other school districts.

The age spans most popular for the school census are 6-21 years, 6-18 years, and 5-21 years, 11 States having the first, 10 States the second, and 5 States the last range. Fourteen different age ranges are used in the 42 States having a school census. The States with the different age ranges are as follows: New York, Louisiana, birth-18; Michigan, birth-20; Minnesota, Montana, birth-21; Connecticut, 4-16; Oregon, Wisconsin, 4-20; Rhode Island, West Virginia, 4-21; Massachusetts, New Hampshire, 5-16; Ohio, Maryland, 5-18; Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Nebraska, Washington, 5–21; Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, 6-18; Missouri, 6-20; Alabama, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wyoming, 6-21; South Carolina, 7-16; Virginia, 7-20.

The local school board or the director (or secretary) of the board is usually the designated agency for taking the census. The power to hire enumerators is usually given to the board of education. The clerk of the school board and, in some cases, the teachers are asked to take the census as a part of their regular work. Often the county

superintendent is charged with the responsibility of taking the census the local school boards are remiss in their duty. In a few States police officers in large cities are required to aid in taking the census. It is fairly common for States either by statute or by regulation of the State board to have various types of handicapped children specially noted in the census. There is considerable variation in the language of the laws and the regulations so that the figures gathered in the different States are not necessarily comparable. Also, instructions in different States vary in defining various types of deficiencies. In some States, deaf, partially deaf, blind, and partially blind only are asked for; in others, feeble-minded only. A good beginning has been made in the census of these handicapped children. States having some kind of census of the handicapped are: Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

The school census is prescribed in most States for some period (usually about a month) between the first of April and the end of September. There are almost as many different dates set for the census as there are States taking the census. The laws of the States do not usually prescribe any date "as of" which it is to be taken.

The forms for taking the census and the summaries required are left, in the majority of the States, by the law to the State department of education to prescribe and furnish. The laws of some States prescribe some or all of the items on the forms used in taking the census. The original individual census reports are usually filed with the officials of the local school system for their use in checking with the enrollment in school so that violations of the attendance laws can be located. In nly a few States is there direct prescription of the use of census data. Summary reports to the chief State school officers are required by law n 35 States. In 1 State (Florida) a report is required for handicapped children and in 2 other States (New Mexico and Virginia) the State. department regulations require such reports. The figures from the summary reports to county superintendents and State superintendents are used by 25 States as the basis for the allotment of funds to school districts. These States are: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.