FOREWORD The School Law of California is a measure of her treatment of the rights of children. It is a series of compromises among the radical, progressive, conservative and reactionary forces within the State. Protection of present achievements, and a continuous progressive evolution of legislation to protect the educational rights of children, require a thorough understanding of the questions at issue. Two issues that transcend in importance all others in our generation are the equalization of educational opportunities for all children, and the introduction of greater efficiency into the administration of our schools. The first issue is economic. Money must be collected where wealth is, and then distributed where the children are. The second issue lies in the recognition of education as a professional function that must be removed from all petty, selfish, or provincial political control. Teachers see these issues in the light of intimate everyday knowledge. Especially is it their responsibility to accept a dynamic intelligent leadership in presenting them to the general public. School Law is made in the heat of action, and not in the scientific laboratory. Consequently it lacks that logical arrangement that would make it more easily understood by the average citizen. This Outline and Digest is an attempt to arrange the present school code in a logical order, and to translate the involved legal terminology into the vernacular. The Digest deals only with outstanding features. References to the School Law, 1921 Edition, and to the 1923 Supplement are given for all technical points. This Syllabus is in every way a group enterprise, growing out of suggestions and contributions made by the classes in California School Law and State School System in Stanford University and the San Jose Teachers College. Particular acknowledgment is due Dr. Cubberley for permission to use the outline in his Osceola Code, and for his kindness in reading the Digest; to Mr. Will C. Wood, Mr. Job Wood, Mr. A. R. Heron, and Mr. Sam Cohn for their many courtesies in making available the records of the State Department of Education; to Mr. U. S. Webb and Mr. Frank English for similar courtesies in regard to the school opinions in the office of the Attorney General; to Mr. Roy W. Cloud, County Superintendent of Schools, for his kindness in regard to data for San Mateo County; and to Mr. Roy W. Hendrick for drawings contributed. In the second edition, attention is called to Appendix C containing directions for keeping the elementary school register and to the judicial decisions and opinions in Appendix A compiled by Mr. Charles E. Purviance. Stanford University, March 1, 1924 RALPH W. SWETMAN 578167 |