THE SOUTHERN TIMES

Education After the Civil War

After the civil war, free public education became law in Georgia, and an education budget was created in 1871. Dr. Orr was made commissioner to lead the new school system. His primary goals were fining school money and enforcing equal education opportunities for all people. By the time Commissioner Orr died in the late 1880s, the public school budget quadrupled to 700 thousand dollars.

 

Money was not a problem for Georgia schools after their first few years, but there were still teacher and teacher training shortages. To combat these problems, the public school year in Georgia was made three months long. Teachers could jump between counties with staggered school years, and kids could work in the non school months. Also, training programs for teachers were made more permanent to replace the temporary, unorganized original programs.

 

The greatest problem public education had however, was created by the state. Laws were passed in 1877 that enforced segregated schools. That meant less teachers were available and lack schools were not given the same treatment from the state as white schools. These segregation problems continued well into the 20th century.