OCR Text |
Show ernment. The office has taken the position that whenever one or the other of the parents of Indian children is an owner of taxable prop-erty in the district, tuition for such children in the public schools should not be paid. Where they are not taxpayers, however, the Indian Office has paid for tuition of Indian children in the public schools an amount approximating that necessary to furnish school facilities for white children in the same community. Indian children are frequently admitted to these schools without the payment of tuition, even though their parents pay no taxes. Am OF COXMON SCHOOLS IN EASTERN OKLAROMA. For the fiscal year 1913 there was appropriated by Congress the sum of $300,000 "To be expended, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior under rules and regulations to be prescribed by him, in aid of the common schools in the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole Nations in Oklahoma." The purpose of this appropriation was to aid the public schools attended by Indian children whose parents do not assist in the support of the schools by the payment of taxes on their real estate. This appropriation resulted from a recent decision by the Supreme Court which relieved a large amount of unrestricted Indian lands in the Five Civilized Tribes' wuntry from taxation. Pursuant to regulations approved by the Secretary of the Interior, this money has been distributed to the Oklahoma public schools, payments to each district being based in part on the number of Indian children in attendance, and in part proportioned to the needs of the districts, their revenues available for school purposes differing because of the varying amounts of nontaxable Indian lands in differ-ent districts. EFFICIENCY OF EXPLOYEES. In order to strengthen the work now being done for Indian educa-tion, careful attention has been given to the improvement of the per-sonnel of the service. To induce teachers to continue work dong professional Lines, a reading circle is maintained and books bearing upon the profession of teach'mg are selected for study and discussion. To add emphasis to this work, teachers are asked to prepare theses on subjects designated by the office and closely related to those treat& in the texts discussed in the reading circle. The tbeues are submitted to the Indian Office, given a rating, and placed with the status files of the individual teachers. This has induced them to do more professional reading, and the service has been directly benefited thereby. As a further encouragement the teachen were told that those who made a record of "excellent" in their efficiency report would be given |