Lauderdale County, Alabama

Florence, Ala., Feb. 5, 1872

To the Trustees of the Free Public Schools in Lauderdale County.

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Gentlemen:--I give you below the amount apportioned to each township in the county:

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                      Whites       Colored

 

T 1 R 7 west    $ 202.66    $

T 1 R 8 west      441.33

T 1 R 9 west     378.06       14.67

T 1 R 10 west    442.66      45.34

T 1 R 11 west     270.66      22.67

T 1 R 12 west    274.66       53.34

T 1 R 13 west    230.66       12.00

T 1 R 14 west    234.66      [blank]

T 1 R 15 west    316.00       25.33

T 1 R 16 west     32.00       [blank]

T 2 R 7 west     222.66      28.00

T 2 R 8 west     417.33       98.67

T 2 R 9 west     285.33      237.33

T 2 R 10 west    320.00      181.33

T 2 R 11 west     194.66     196.00

T 2 R 12 west     357.33     236.00

T 2 R 13 west    278.66     246.67

T 2 R 14 west     94.66        9.34

T 2 R 15 west     96.00       34.33

T 3 R 11 west    546.66     502.67

T 3 R 12 west    262.67     446.66

T 3 R 13 west     50.60      254.67

Total           $6,252.06  $2,877.14

 

The following are the late laws which will govern your action: 
         

No Trustee shall teach a free public school. No school will be recognized as a public school until after this notice. 
Trustees must not pay more than $40 per month for a school of twenty pupils, nor more than ten dollars per month for every additional ten pupils. Not more than three schools to each race allowed in a township. Schools must have an average attendance of twenty pupils, and must continue in operation five months. If the fund is not sufficient to secure 
the services of competent teachers, the patrons must pay the teacher enough to continue the schools in operation at least five months. Teachers must report to me in duplicate quarterly. Teachers must make contracts with trustees of adjoining townships for transferred children, and have contracts approved by me, within twenty days from the time 
the children enter school, or they will forfeit their pay.          

 

In order to give the laboring children an equal chance with the rest, I would suggest that you make contracts, to close schools April 30th, and commence July 16th, and close the balance of the five months term by the 1st of October. The sooner you start the schools, I think, the better. I expect soon to have money to pay the balance due the teachers for last year. 
                                                    Respectfully yours, 
                                                        J. M. WEEMS 

[SOURCE: The Lauderdale Times, Tuesday, 6 Feb 1872, p. 3 ]