The decentralization of the public school system caused many abuses to spring up. Statistics became harder and harder to collect, and school practice less and less uniform in the different parts of the State. The school law was disregarded to such an extent as to cause a decrease in the school enumeration and enrollment in spite of the fact that the population was steadily increasing. In 1875 the enumeration[85] showed 720,186 children of school age, 394,780 of whom were enrolled in the public schools. In 1877 the enumeration had shrunk to 553,278 and the enrollment to 364,189. From this time on there was a steady growth until 1880 when the enumeration surpassed that of 1875.
The Negro public schools of the State also suffered a decline[86] in this period. In 1875 there was a Negro school population of 41,916 and an enrollment of 14,832. In 1877 the reported enumeration was 32,411 and the enrollment was 14,505. The enumeration did not equal that of 1875 until 1885, but the enrollment of 1878 surpassed that of 1875 by 6,376. The enrollment of 1877 was only 328 smaller than the enrollment of 1875. Thus, it would appear that while there was a failure in some districts to enumerate their children of color, that in those districts in which they were enumerated an increasing percentage of the children of color attended the public schools.
As has been pointed out before, the emancipators[87] of the Negro, in attempting to provide equal school rights for the Negro child, made more stringent laws for the enforcement of his school rights than were made for the enforcement of the school rights of the white child. The State Superintendent was empowered to enter districts which did not provide schools for Negro children according to the law, and to establish schools for these children, and to levy taxes for the maintenance of the schools. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that the State Superintendent was called upon a number of times in this period to exercise his power.
This official reported[88] in 1878 that the law in relation to the public schools for Negro children had been repeatedly evaded and violated during the two preceding years, and that a wicked and malicious advantage was being taken of the ignorance and the weakness of the Negro to shield the law-breaker who was using the money appropriated by the law for the education of the Negro youth. The method of evasion was fully described. In the first place, there was a failure to enumerate a sufficient number of Negroes of school age before the convening of the annual school meeting. After the meeting, when the directors were appealed to, they required the production of evidence that there was a sufficient number and then required time to look into the evidence which took a month or more. They would then inform the Negroes that it was too late to do anything that year, that they should have attended to the matter before the annual school meeting and that they must attend to it in time the following year. In many cases while the money due the Negroes was being used for other purposes, they were promised schools for the next year which the directors did not intend to give them. Sometimes the directors promised well and were then unable to find teachers or they disagreed with the Negroes concerning the site of the school. The year would thus elapse and a new board knowing nothing of the promises of the old board would be elected. The same course would then be followed sometimes with a little variation to suit the emergency. Finally the case would be brought to the State Superintendent and after an annoying and repeated correspondence to collect the facts in the case and to explain the law, the officers were induced to comply with the law by threats of its execution. In counties at a distance from the capital this threat was frequently of no avail because the Negroes were either induced to drop the matter by promises of future fulfillment, were unwilling to proceed to law, or lacked intelligent leadership.