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After the Revolutionary War the Confederation, Congress was broke. The Articles of Confederation didn’t allow the federal government to tax its citizens. The Land Ordinance of 1785-helped deal with this problem. As the states and Indians gave up their land, government surveyors divided the Illinois into townships. Each township was a square with sides six miles in length. The square would be 36 square miles. The township would then be divided into one-mile squares sections. Section 16 was to use for a public school. Section 8,11, 26, and 29 would be given to veterans of the American Revolution for service during the war. The federal government would sell the rest for not less than $640 per section or $1.00 per acre. Congress hoped to encourage the orderly growth of land west of the Appalachians and make some much needed money.

Illinois Education Timeline

1818 - 1849

1818 Illinois becomes the 21st state with a population under 50,000.

1825 The Illinois Legislature passes the Free School Law which calls for common schools in each county. Counties can create school districts and levy taxes to support schools. The law states that 2% of all state income must be used to support education.

1829 The Office of School Commissioner is established with each county.

1845 The Illinois Secretary of State is charged with the administration of schools and is designated as “State Superintendent of Public Instruction”.

1850 - 1859

1854 The Superintendent of Public Instruction becomes a separate office and is no longer a responsibility of the Secretary of State.

The Office of the Supt. of Public Instruction is established.

1855 Legislation is approved to provide a free public school system.

1856 Springfield establishes a public school system. Within a short time, a separate school is created for black students.

1857 William Powell becomes Illinois’ first elected state superintendent of education.

1860 - 1869

1865 The School Law of 1865 makes the position of state superintendent a four-year term. County School Commissioners become County Superintendents of Schools.

1870 - 1879

1870 A new state constitution states “The General Assembly shall provide a thorough and efficient system of free schools, whereby all the children of this state may receive a good common school education.”

The new constitution provides for the creation of local school boards and designates the state superintendent as a constitutional officer.

1872 The General Township High School Law enables voters to create and support a township high school.

1874 An attempt to require compulsory school attendance fails in the legislature.

A new law forbids segregation in public schools.

1876 In Illinois there are:

- 973,589 school-aged children between the ages of 6 and 21 (70% attend public schools)

- 1,563 school districts with 11,083 grade schools, 110 high schools and 20,000 teachers

The average school year is just under seven months long.

1880 - 1889

1882 By this time, most land assets set aside for school use (Section 16 land) had been sold. There are 164 high schools in Illinois.

1883 The Compulsory School Attendance Law passes. It requires all children between 8 and 14 to attend public or private school at least 12 weeks during a year. (This law is not strictly enforced until after World War II.)

1889 The compulsory age for school attendance is lowered to 7. The minimum school year is extended to 16 weeks.

1890 - 1899

1890 The average school year was 7.5 months long. For most students, instruction included reading, arithmetic, science and music.

Female teachers earned an average of $44 per month. Male teachers made about $10 more.

1891 The right of suffrage in school elections is granted to women.

1900 - 1909

1900 National statistics for education:

- average cost per pupil - $17

- illiteracy rate - 10.7%

- average public school salary - $325

1905 Illinois legislation provides that any school district can establish a high school.

County superintendents begin to receive salaries.

1907 The State Education Commission is created.

Francis G. Blair begins to serve as the State Superintendent. He holds the position for 28 years – longer than anyone in Illinois history.

1909 The state appropriation to the Common School Fund is $2.1million.

1910 - 1919

1911 A state act provides for the election of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, County Superintendent and boards of education.

1912 In Illinois, 69,512 students attend high school.

1915 The Illinois State Teacher’s Pension Fund passes, which helps attract citizens to the profession.

1917 A special tax authorizes the payment of tuition for grade 8 graduates in nonhigh school districts to attend nearby high school districts.

1919 A school consolidation law goes into effect. Within two years there were 60 consolidations across the state.

1920 - 1929

1920 In Illinois there are:

- 1.2 million students

- 38,000 teachers

The state appropriates $6 million for K-12 public education.

Illinois ranks 23rd with 27.5% of state and local funds supporting education.

Illinois ranks 38th in the amount of per student state tax support - $1.47.

1925 Forty-three Illinois districts have junior high schools.

1926 In Stark County, the per pupil expenditure is $4,374. In Williamson County, the amount is $728.

1927 The Illinois legislature allows for greater state aid to poorer districts. Each district receives $9 per students. Additional funds - as much as $25 per student – are directed to districts with low evaluations.

1930 - 1939

1931 The state of Illinois begins providing funds on a per student basis to assure equity between rich and poor districts.

1934 The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction has as staff of 34.

1936 The Illinois Curriculum Conference meets for the first time.

1938 The General Assembly passes a bill, which appropriate $500,000 for the bussing of students. This action promotes school consolidation. For the first time, Illinois high schools receive direct state aid.

1940 - 1949

1942 With over 12,000 districts, Illinois has more public school districts than any other state. Over 10,000 one-room schools have an average enrollment of 12 students. The population of rural students in Illinois is one-third of the number in 1900.

1945 Illinois citizens vote to reduce the number of school districts from 12,000 to 2,000.

1946 Wilder-Waite School becomes District #301

1946 The U.S. School Lunch Act begins to support school lunch programs.

1947 The Common Unit Law goes into effect and accelerates school consolidations.

1950 - 1959

1950 There are 4,480 school districts in Illinois.

1955 The number of school districts is reduced to 2,242.

1958 Responding in part to scientific advances in the Soviet Union, the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) serves to improve math, science and foreign language instruction.

1960 - 1969

1963 The population of Illinois is over 10 million and there are 1,430 school districts in the state.

1966 The number of school districts is reduced to 1,340.

Congress passes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which is designed to assure equality in education throughout the country. 1967 Illinois creates a state mandate for bilingual education. It provides resources for schools with

more than 20 students for whom English is not their first language.

1969 Wilder-Waite, Dunlap Grade, and Dunlap High become District #323

1970 - 1979

1970 Article X of the new state constitution creates the State Board of Education. A 17 member board replaces the elected Superintendent of Public Instruction.

1980 - 1989

1983 Illinois acknowledges the 100th anniversary of compulsory education.

1984 “Statements of Student Learning Outcomes” are developed – which lead to the Illinois Learning

Standards.

1985 The General Assembly passes the Education Reform Act which leads to numerous

educational changes. Illinois adopts 34 “State Goals for Learning”.

1986 The first Illinois School Report Cards were distributed to parents and citizens.

1988 The Illinois Goal Assessment Program (IGAP) began to assessment student achievement.

1990 - 1999

1991 Legislation provides for the creation of the Illinois Academic Watch List.

1995 School districts began to seek waivers and modifications to select Illinois laws or rules.

1996 A new Illinois law provided for the creation of charter schools.

1997 The Illinois Learning Standards are adopted. The assessment for students with limited English proficient – IMAGE – is first administered. Illinois reduces the number of State Board members from 17 to 9.

1999 The IGAP assessment program was replaced by the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT).

2000 - 2004

2000 The number of school districts is reduced to 894.

2001 The first Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE) is taken by Illinois 11th grade students.

2004 The compulsory age for school attendance is raised to 17.

In Illinois there are:

- over 2 million public school students and more than 300,000 nonpublic school students

- 888 public school districts

- 4,271 public schools

- over 130,000 people teach in grades K through 12 in Illinois public schools

Illinois Education Timeline

Wilder-Waite School

Early Family History

Wilder-Waite History

Contributed by Lyle W.

Loren Wilder was born November 11, 1813, in Dummerston, Vermont, and died September 11,1889 in Medina Township in Peoria County. He was one of the early settlers of Medina Township, a member of the County Board of Supervisors and a successful and highly respected farmer in the community.

Mr. Wilder was the son of Nat and Polly Warren Wilder. Nat was one of the 13 children of Joshua and Loes Wilder, who had moved to Vermont from Massachusetts in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Joshua was a veteran of the Continental Army of the Revolutionary War.

When Loren was three years of age his family move to Sandy Creek in Oswego Count, New, Located on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario. He was apprenticed to a tanner and followed that business in New York until he joined the migration to the West. He came to Peoria in 1836.

Mr. Wilder lived in Peoria for a number of years and later purchased land in Medina Township. He made improvements upon it and subsequently added to his farm holding. At the time of his death he was the owner of some 500 acres of productive farmland in Medina and Radnor Townships.

On December 4, 1848, Mr. Wilder purchased the southwest quarter of Section 19 in Medina Township. He made this land his home the rest of life. His great-grandson Edward Wilder Allen currently lives in the Wilder home.

Mr. Wilder married Mary Hanson, who had been who had been born in Londonderry, County Derry, Ireland in 1823. She came to Peoria with her family in 1823. She came to Peoria with her family in 1939. Their journey took them from Belfast by steamer, to Liverpool and then to New York. From New York, they crossed the Alleghenies by wagon through Pittsburgh and then down to the Ohio River. They took a packet boat down the Ohio River to the Mississippi River and up the Illinois River. They arrived in Peoria in late 1839 after a six-month journey. Mary’s sister Eliza Jane Hanson, married Loren’s cousin, Edward F. Wilder, and they made their home in Radnor Township.

Three children were born to the Mary and Loren Wilder. Thomas died at age ten. Maggie, who died April 9, 1883, was married to Alexander Keady. Mr. Keady was a farmer in The Dunlap community.

The second child Mary and Loren Wilder was Polly Francis Polly married Delizon M. Waite. Polly was born in Medina Township on April 8, 1851 and died there in 1842. Her children were Nellie and Loren Wilder Waite, both of who died in infancy, and Edward F. Waite and Linnie Waite Allen.

Delizon M. Waite was born in Oswego County, New York in 1848. At the age of 15, he joined a volunteer New York Calvary unit and spent the next two years as a soldier in the Civil War. He was a descendant of a family of new England patriots and early settlers, the first of who, Richard Waite, had come to Watertown, Massachusetts from England in 16 37. Delizon’s grandfather, Thaddeus Waite, fought in the Revolutionary War and participated in the Battle of Saratoga when British General Burgoyne surrendered.

Included in the extensive land holdings, of which Loren Wilder possessed at the time of his death, was a one-third interest in the 80 acres, which comprised the town of Alta. He and his father-in-law, Thomas Hanson, together with neighbor Imri Case, laid out the lots and dedicated the town of Alta. The name was derived from its location as one of the highest points in the area. Loren Wilder among those owned the lots on which Wilder-Waite School was built personally. The ownership continued in his family until the lots were dedicated to the school’s use in 1948 by Loren’s granddaughter, Linnie Waite Allen.

Mary and Loren Wilder, as well as Polly and Delizon Waite, were respected members of the Medina Township community for nearly a century. Polly Wilder Waite was a graduate of the Alta School, which was once situated at the intersection Allen and Alta Road. She also attended classed conducted by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Peoria. For many years, she was the secretary of the Alta School District. They left a rich tradition of keen interest in the value of education and the contribution, which can be made to any community, by a good school.

Note: The beautiful Victorian home that Loren Wilder built in the 1800’s is located off Allen Road on the west side next to “Future Dunlap School” sign.

Lillian Allen born in 1911 currently resides in the home.

She is the wife of Edward Allen. Edward died in 1992.

Edward Allen is the son of Linnie and Oscar Allen

Linnie Allen is the daughter of Polly and Delison Waite

Polly Waite is the daughter of Loren and Mary Wilder.

History of the Wilder-Waite School

The district organized in 1946 consisted of Orange Prairie #53, Glendale District #106, Tucker District #107, Dewey School District 110, Richwoods District 116, Alta District #84, and 16% of Banner District 81.

Consolidation have been talked about for several years among these schools and when the one room school in Alta burned, it was felt that this was the time to act.

Elections were held in the spring and the proposition of consolidation carried. Later a five member board was elected and a bond issue was passed which gave the board the power to purchase a site and erect a school building. The first board members were Lloyd A. Jones, President E.B. Kain, Secretary Pauline Trigger, Guy Romersbergher and Roscoe Allen.

It was decided to hold classes in Orange Prairie School building and the former Grange Hall (moved to Edwards, Ill and now used as a church) adjacent to it. These buildings were near the junction of Routes 91 and 150. A bus was purchased to transport the students.

Several sites were investigated and the board finally decided to buy the present site. The present school site, 14.31 acres, was part of 160 acres granted to one Paul Cassino, by James Monroe, President of the United States. Cassino received the land as a Military Bounty in 1818. (In May 1812, an act of Congress was passed which set aside bounty lands as payment to volunteer soldiers for the War of 1812. More than 5,000,000 acres were located in Illinois. Each qualified soldier was given 160 acres.)

The land passed through various hands until it came to be owned by Loren Wilder and Imri Case. From Loren Wilder the land went to Polly Waite, from Polly it went to Linnie Waite Allen and Delizon M. Waite, Jr. who in turn deeded the school site to Peoria County School Trustees in the spring of 1947. In the deal for the property the heirs asked that family names be considered in naming the school. It was decided to call the new school the Wilder-Waite School.

Water was the biggest problem in building the new school, at least water in an amount necessary for running a large school with it’s sanitary requirements. Four thousand dollars was budgeted for boring a well, but many attempts failed to produce enough water. Experts from various state departments were called in for information and a large deep well digging machine was brought in to the site. At about 1,500 feet an abundance of water was found but the final cost of finding water was over $30,000. Lankton and Ziegele were the architects hired to draw up plans for the building and George D. Johnson Co., was low bidder for the job. These were war and post war times, with shortages and spiraling cost. Contracts contained clauses passing the cost on to the builder, in case of labor increases and advances in the cost of materials. Building progressed slowly with labor shortages and waiting for materials to arrive.

When school opened in the fall of 1946, still at the one room schools, the enrollment was just over 100 students. Bud Boyer was the first bus driver and custodian. In October a second bus was bought and second driver hired.

Walter Mulvaney was the first principal and three other teachers had been hired.

In June of 1946 graduation exercises were held in the Dunlap High School gym for the first graduates of Wilder-Waite. There were fourteen in the class.

In the fall of 1947 classes again convened in the temporary locations. Additional classes were held in the Dewey School Building and another teacher hired.

The building opened in 1948 and it consisted of 6 classrooms, gym, and office. The total enrollment at that time was 107.

In 1952 two classrooms and the cafeteria was added. The enrollment then was 198.

The third addition, consisting of 4 classrooms, a remedial reading room, and a teachers’ room, was completed in 1959. The

enrollment at that time was 283.

Wilder Waite #303 consolidated with Dunlap Grade, Dunlap High, to become part of Dunlap # 323 in 1969.

The enrollment at the end of the 1971-1972 was 437.

In 1974 temporary classroom buildings were purchased to help relieve the overcrowding at Wilder-Waite.

In 1975 there 160 new students (k-12) from the new Candletree Apartments enrolled in the district and Wilder-Waite was bursting at its seams. Third grade and fourth grade classes attended classes at St. Jude church, and kindergarten classes were held at St. Clememt’s Church in Dunlap for the 1975 and 1976 school year.

With the opening of the new Pioneer Junior High (former Dunlap High School) in 1977 and the 7th and 8th grades classes moving, 3rd and 4th grades classes moved back to Wilder-Waite.

In 1980 the new Banner School opened and the population at Wilder-Waite was at . The temporary buildings were then used for band and early childhood classes. At some point the state wouldn't allow any student use of the building, so they were used for storage.

In 2007 Wilder-Waite was allowed to use the temporary building again for students.

District 323 Superintendents

Ron Hinton: March 1969 resigned July 1970

Mr. John Wroblewshki: resigned after 12 days

Dr. Martin Power: March 1970 resigned March 1971

William B. Spalding: May 1971 suspended in fall of 1972

( William Spalding then filed a lawsuit against the district charging in his lawsuit his contract called for a salary of $22,500 for the period July 1, 1972 to June 30, 1973. However, he said his salary was being actually paid at the rate of $21,000.)

Robert Sturm principal at Wilder-Waite was named Superintendent at the December 12, 1972 board meeting. “Sturm, who will remain as Wilder-Waite principal, will get no salary increase to compensate for the increased responsibilities,” said Warren Frye, board president.

Robert Sturm served as Superintendent until his retirement in 1981.

Dr. Bill Collier 1982-2004

Dr. Jeanne Williamson 2003 -2008

Dr. Jay Marino-2009

Illinois Education Timeline