Edwin Washington Project

Background:  The Literary Fund predates the post 1870 system of public schools and initially was a form of financing indigent education.  Amongst other things, the Archives contain annual reports of the School Commissioners for Loudoun County, who worked with the President and Directors of the local Literacy Fund to pay for the education for pauper children. 

The state Literary Fund (Watson and Gunter 2003) is a perpetual school fund established in the current Constitution of Virginia, though its roots go back to 1810 under a law passed by the General Assembly, thanks to Loudoun County lawyer Charles Fenton Mercer as a vehicle to educate indigent children.   Today, ”revenues to the Literary Fund are derived primarily from criminal fines, fees, and forfeitures, unclaimed and escheated property, unclaimed lottery winnings and repayments of prior Literary Fund loans.  Since 1908 and the passage of the Williams Loan Fund Bill, the Literary Fund provides low-interest loans for school construction, grants under the interest rate subsidy program, debt service for technology funding, and support for the state’s share of teacher retirement required by the Standards of Quality (Department of Education Staff 2012). “

Indigent funding by the government could also be supported through private donors.  A local example of that was the Hoge fund, set up through the estate of the Quaker Lizzie Hoge Taylor.  Probably realizing that neither she nor her husband would have children of their own, Mrs. Taylor created a will in 1869 for the support of indigent children in Loudoun.[1]  Although Quakers also supported schooling for African-Americans, we don’t know if her fund did that.   Lizzie then died in 1871 we believe.  The estate then set up in 1883 and a slightly over $2,000 initial donation (about $40,000 in contemporary monies) to be invested and the interest administered through a tax free fund on an apportionment basis to the various school districts of Loudoun; however, the formal fund wasn’t established until 1884 by the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate in 1884.[2]  There is no explanation in the records as to why the delay; but this was also the first year the fund appeared in official records in Loudoun.  Interest from the fund that year was $148.50[3].  That particular year, the monies were not apportioned to individual school districts; but beginning in 1885, the interest from the fund was apportioned in that manner, through to 1919, by then each District getting a standard amount each year, though the amounts varied by District.

1885 Apportionment[1]

• Hoge Fund to Broad Run $28.72
• Hoge Fund to Jefferson District $30.20
• Hoge Fund to Leesburg District $36.34
• Hoge Fund to Lovettsville District $29.89
• Hoge Fund to Mercer District $38.30
• Hoge Fund to Mt Gilead District $37.65

1919 Apportionment[1]

• Hoge Fund to Broad Run $16.85
• Hoge Fund to Jefferson District $14.00
• Hoge Fund to Leesburg District $9.25
• Hoge Fund to Town of Leesburg District $7.92
• Hoge Fund to Lovettsville District $16.34
• Hoge Fund to Mercer District $23.36
• Hoge Fund to Mt. Gilead District $20.28.

In 1920, the name of Hoge was dropped and the ledger showed Trust Funds providing similar amounts except for the town of Leesburg.  We assume this is still the Hoge Fund under a new name.  The amounts for 1921 were identical to 1920[1]. The same was  true in 1922.[2] Similar though not exactly the same sized donations by District continue as “donations” into 1925. The impression is that the donations come from a combination of sources, not just Hoge, which by then might have been absorbed into some other vehicle or perhaps abolished.

• Trust funds to Broad Run District $16.85
• Trust funds to Jefferson District $14.00
• Trust funds to Leesburg District $9.25
• Trust Funds to Leesburg Town District $157.92 (a significant increase)
• Trust funds to Lovettsville District $16.34
• Trust Funds to Mercer District $23.36
• Trust Fund to Mt Gilead District $20.28

In the 21^st century, wealthy taxpayers often complain about paying taxes for public schools because their children already attend private institutions.  Indeed, they often advance the idea of school choice, though those who so advocate rarely send their kids to public schools even though today’s Loudoun County Public School system ranks as one of the top in the nation.  Wealthy landowners in the 19^th century had similar concerns, often not approving of funding public education, and since they controlled Virginia’s politics, their philosophy held weight.  Further, although “common schools” were really intended for anyone, regardless of economic or social station, up to 1870, they had become synonymous with orphans and poverty.  America had a revolution which threw out the monarchy, but we were still a class society, so the stigma of linking poverty to common schools hurt.  In other words, the wealthy were not going to have their children learn in common schools[1]  next to “lower classes.”   Today, advocates of public schooling understand that the mixing of economic, social and cultural strata enriches everyone.  There were advocates in the 19^th Century of course, such as Charles Fenton Mercer, a Loudoun County lawyer, though he wanted state control and financial support and the Literary Fund was seen as a useful tool to address the concerns of the wealthy in that it was an indirect tax.  We found Loudoun County’s annual reports on these topics to be especially interesting, for while they did not illuminate how African-American children were educated in the county (not at all before the civil war), they did list teachers, salaries, terms of employment, and often provided lists of textbooks, along with budgets and information on the election of School Commissioners.  An examination of the reports back to colonial days will be a valuable asset to understand the evolution of county education.

See also “How Shall We Finance Building Needs.  The Literary Fund or Bond Issue.” In 1.1 Construction Decisions of the Board of Supervisors and the School Board 1/20/1956.  The papers in the folder deal with the availability of Fund loans in 1956, but are kept in 1.1, due to civil rights concerns.  Restrictions were made on needed construction for African-Americans unless they agreed to segregation.