sibility for the enforcement of attendance laws, and by arrangements made with welfare agencies to secure their cooperation in removing the conditions which result in the nonattendance of a child.

QUALIFICATIONS OF ATTENDANCE OFFICERS

Legal prescriptions establishing qualifications for attendance officers, or the legal delegation of authority to the appointing of local school officials for the purpose, are becoming more common. The trend is decidedly in the direction of establishing qualifications that not only include but emphasize abilities for social and child-welfare services.

SUPPORTING PUBLIC OPINION

Regardless of the fact that a State has on its statute books, as all States do, a law that requires the regular school attendance of every child of certain specified ages, there may not be strict and universal compliance with the law unless there is a sufficient supporting public opinion for its enforcement. State departments of education which are working on the problem of improved compulsory school attendance are giving attention to building up and maintaining, through educational processes, a public opinion that will support their efforts.

CHILD LABOR

COOPERATION OF ALL INTERESTED AGENCIES

Prohibitions against the employment of children of specified ages in all or certain occupations, and the protection of them against undesirable working conditions, constitute problems in child welfare that need the cooperation of all interested agencies. The practices of States that have made comparatively good progress in the protection of children against undesirable employment substantiate this viewpoint. Cooperative efforts for this purpose call for the participation of labor authorities, educational authorities, and social-welfare agencies. While the enforcement of child-labor laws is by statute placed in the hands of a designated authority, usually the State Commissioner of Labor, the laws frequently express or imply that the State educational authority shall cooperate in the enforcement of the law. This is sound procedure as the child is usually released from school to go to work. Moreover, the issuance of the permit to work is usually the responsibility of a school official. Furthermore, the health of the child is a factor for consideration in issuing a work permit. Hence, good practice requires the participation of all these agencies working with a common background of understanding for a common goal--the welfare of the child.

An example of a trend in this direction is the requirement made by one State that in addition to legally specified hazardous occupations

prohibited to children, the chief State officers for labor, education, and health together determine, from time to time, other occupations they deem hazardous, and which thereafter shall be prohibited to children.

EMPLOYMENT PERMITS TO BE SPECIFIC

In order to insure greater protection to working children there is a trend toward making work permits more specific as to the kind of work in which the child is to be employed. There is also a trend, growing out of experience, to expand the items of the information required as a basis for issuing a work permit, for example, that there be written evidence of opportunity for employment, furnished by the prospective employer.

CHECKING EMPLOYMENT AGAINST WORK PERMITS

There is a trend, and an increasing need, to follow up the issuance of a work permit to ascertain if the child is employed, and legally employed in accordance with the terms of the work permit. The practice of notifying both the enforcement officer and the employer of the issuance of a work permit and the practice of requiring the employer to return the work permit to the issuing official on the termination of the employment of the child, are safeguards for the realization of the objectives of the child-labor law.

EVIDENCE OF AGE

As age is used as a basis for prohibiting and permitting employment in general and also in specified kinds of work, the accurate determination of age is essential for the issuance or the refusal of a work permit. The various kinds of evidence of age that the laws of some States permit as proof of age, together with the amount of discretion permitted the issuing officer in establishing age as a basis for granting a work permit, indicate the need for the improvement of practices relative to establishing officially the age of a child.

STATE LAWS AND REGULATIONS
CONCERNING THE SCHOOL CENSUS

ALABAMA

Authorization.-A school census is required by law.

Frequency. The law provides for a census every 4 years beginning with 1946. The State superintendent of education may cause the whole or any part of the school census of any county or of any city to be retaken at any time, if in his judgment the whole or any part of the census has not been properly taken.

Time. The law sets July for the time to take the census. The exact dates during the month for making the enumeration are to be set by the State department of education.

Age-span. The law requires the enumeration of all children from 6 to 21 years of age within the State.

Enumerating agency.-County and city boards of education are required by law to have a school census taken of the children within their jurisdictions. The superintendents, with the approval of their boards, are required by law to appoint enumerators.

Regulation and supervision of enumeration. The law requires that county and city boards of education have the census taken in accordance with rules and regulations of the State board of education. Such rules and regulations are prepared by the State superintendent and submitted to the State board for its approval. Reports of the enumerators are made under oath. County and city superintendents direct the taking of the census.

Appointment of enumerators.-Appointment of enumerators is made in accordance with legal requirements, by county and city boards of education upon recommendation of their superintendents. No qualifications for enumerators have been formally set up.

Forms.-The State superintendent is required by law to prepare the forms and blanks to be employed in taking the census and in compiling reports therefrom.

Reporting. The law prescribes that persons taking the county census make their report under oath to the county superintendent; that persons taking the census in a city report under oath to the city superin

tendent who transmits the report for the city to the county superintendent; that the county superintendent transmit a consolidated report to the State superintendent. The law also prescribes the date on which each official makes his report. The census booklets are kept on file in the office of the county superintendent.

Use of census data. The law provides that county and city superintendents use the census data in compiling a list of children against which to check school enrollments. The State superintendent uses census data in the preparation of the annual report of the State department of education, which includes information for census-age children on Literacy, race, age groups, percentage enrolled in average daily attendance, State summary, distribution by counties, etc. The State department of education distributes school funds and uses the census report for general school planning.

ARIZONA

The State of Arizona does not take a school census.

ARKANSAS

Authorization.-A school census is required by law.

Frequency. The law provides for a biennial enumeration of all educable children in every even year. In case of evidence of illegal enumeration, the State board of education is authorized by law to require another enumeration.

Time. The time for making the enumeration is fixed by law as the month of March.

Age-span. The age group to be enumerated is prescribed by law as the children who have attained their sixth birthday on or before the first day of March and who have not attained their eighteenth birthday on that date.

Enumerating agency. The law delegates the responsibility for taking the enumeration to the school directors of each district themselves or to employ a competent person to do so.

Regulations and supervision of enumeration.-The enumeration is made, according to law, under the supervision, direction, and control of the State board of education. The State board of education is charged with the responsibility of setting up the general plan for taking the enumeration, including "directions" which it prints and distributes. The law sets forth a number of "regulations that shall prevail." The law requires that each enumerator make oath to the effect that each person enumerated by him meets certain legal provisions governing enumeration.

Appointment of enumerators.-If the school directors do not take

the enumeration themselves, the law authorizes them to employ a competent person to do the task.

Forms. In accordance with legal provisions, the State board of education prepares, prints, and distributes to the local school districts, forms and blanks for listing and reporting the children enumerated. These forms include the items, prescribed by the State board of education, for which data are recorded.

Reporting. The law requires each enumerator to make oath that he has listed children in accordance with certain prescribed regulations. The secretary of the school board of the district is required by law to sign an affidavit verifying the correctness of the enumeration. The law also requires that the secretary of the school board file with the county supervisor of schools the filled-in forms required by the State board of education. The county supervisor is authorized by law to inspect the reports of the several districts and to file a summary report of same with the State board of education. The law makes the State board responsible for correcting errors in the enumeration of a district. Use of census data. The law requires the State board of education to apportion the common school fund on the basis of the school enumeration. Census data are also included in the biennial report of the State board of education in comparison with school enrollments, given by races and counties.

CALIFORNIA

The State of California does not take a school census.

COLORADO

Authorization.-A school census is required by law.

Frequency. The law requires an annual census of children of school age, as defined in the law. The law authorizes the board of education in any school district of the first class to keep, at its discretion, a record containing census information, corrected at least as often as once a month during the school term. If this procedure is followed, parents are relieved from taking the oath referred to under "Regulation and supervision of enumerators."

Time. The law sets as the period for the enumeration of children of school age the time between the tenth day of April and the first day of May.

Age-span. The law defines school age as any age over 6 and under 21 years and states that "A school census is hereby defined to be a census embracing all persons between the ages of 6 and 21 years."

Enumerating agency.-The secretary of the local school board, or some person authorized by him, is required by law to take a census of all persons of school age who are bona fide residents of the district.

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