You do not have to look far to find reports and lists decrying Florida’s weak support for education. It turns out that is nothing new. An 1871 publication called “Report of the Commissioner of Education”, found in the archives of the Library of Florida History, gives a sobering look at the status of education in post-war (Civil, that is) Florida.

Note the first two lines of the introduction to the Florida section: Information from this State is meager. Education encounters fearful obstacles.” The section on Florida runs three pages. Most states ran to about 20 pages.

Now, there are several qualifies that need to be pointed out: this was just after the Civil War, Florida had only been back in the Union since 1868, the population was small, rural and poor, only 26 of the existing 39 counties had operating public school systems and school attendance was voluntary.

In fact, almost all of the information included in this report came from the Peabody Fund, a private foundation founded by George Peabody to support education. The report does show some promising developments in scattered areas of the state.

It also shows the incredible rate of illiteracy in the parts of the state that did have statistics to report, especially among African Americans.

We now know not much was done to change that in Jim Crow Florida even as the public school system did expand during the so called ‘progressive era’ at the end of the 19^th century.

We also know the second line of the introduction can serve as a modern headline: “Education encounters fearful obstacles.”