Third Grade Class, Blachly School

This 1952 photograph shows the members of a third-grade class at the Blachly School in western Lane County.

While Oregon legislators began financially supporting some public schools in 1859, it wasn’t until the early 20th century that a comprehensive tax-funded school system was in place throughout the state. As early as 1916, Lane County school officials established a rural school in Blachly, in the Coast Mountain Range. By 1921, the school was serving students from the first through twelfth grades. Today, the Blachly School continues to provide education for children of all ages, including kindergarten, elementary, middle, and high school students.

In 1919, the state department of education began standardizing schools, in part to improve the quality of education and facilities at rural schools. For the first time in Oregon, all public school teachers were required to be high school graduates and to complete a twelve-week training course. States and counties also financially supplemented rural school districts, which were not able to raise as much money through taxes as urban schools. In Oregon, almost all public education money was raised by districts until 1946, when state legislators imposed an annual tax to create a school fund. In more recent years, the state has provided more than seventy percent of the funding for Oregon’s schools. However, financial equity between rural and urban districts continues to be a controversial issue.

Written by Kathy Tucker, © Oregon Historical Society, 2002.