238 HISTORY OP funds, the sum $50,000 be appropriated for the further encou- ragement of schools, for the term of five years. In 1811, up to which time no fixed system had been estab- lished, Grov. Tompkins adverted to its necessity in his annual message, and an act was passed by the legislature in accord- ance thereto, authorizing the Grovernor to appoint a committee of five, to report a system for the permanent organization and establishment of public schools upon a durable basis. This committee submitted their report on the 14th of February, 1812, accompanied by a bill which subsequently became a law, com- prising substantially the main features of our common school system, as it existed up to the year 1888. The main features of the bill are comprised in the following extract from their report : The outlines of the plan suggested by the commissioners are briefly these ; that the several towns in the State be divided into school districts, by three commis- sioners, elected by the citizens qualified to vote for town offi" cers ; that three trustees be elected in each district, to whom shall be confided the care and superintendance of the school to be established therein ; that the interest of the school fund be divided among the different counties and towns, according to 'their respective population, as ascertained by the successive censuses of the United States : that the proportions received by the respective towns be subdivided among the districts, into which such town shall be divided, according to the number of children in each, between the ages of five and fifteen years ; that each town raise by tax annually, as much money as it shall have received from the school fund : that the gross amount of moneys received from the State, and raised by the towns, be appropriated exclusively to the payment of the wages of the teachers ; and that the whole system be placed under the superintendence of an officer appointed by the Coun- cil of Appointment. We have thus briefly drawn the outlines of the origin and
