Website tells history of state's role in education

Did you know that in 1849, California's first Constitution set the pattern for the government's role in education, but that it was not until 1902 that the state voted to provide funds for it?

Now, more than a century later, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell has announced where the public may more easily access historical education information like this online for the first time.

"Our new California Department of Education's web page of historical documents has a treasure trove of information on

the development of the public education system in the state," said O'Connell.”These links will provide valuable resources for people interested in researching everything from the history of education to the bureaucratic makeup of the agency, to lists of education publications, speeches and other documents dating back to the mid-1800s."

These documents were in storage at the California Department of Education for decades and were not widely available even at the time of publication.Some of the documents are being made public for the first time, including organizational charts of the department with lists of employees, internal reports and speeches.

Virtually every document, including a few that were in poor condition, had to be electronically restored for ease of reading.The documents are now in the process of being converted into an electronic web page so the visually impaired may use devices to "read" the page.

There are currently 807 pages composed of 49 historical documents linked to the web page.The links do not represent all the publications available on the history of education in California.However, some of the lists of education reports

contain references to dozens of other publications.Other documents contain only a few pages with specific references to education.Some documents offer no explanation as to their source

For information call (916) 319-0818 or visit www. cde.ca.gov/re/di/cd/cde.asp.