To every district which raised $20 by local taxation, twice that amount was given from the income of the literary fund.

With the election of Calvin H.Wiley as state superintendent of education in 1852, substantial progress began.

In 1860 there were over 3000 schools, and the total expenditure was $279,000.

The number of illiterates had fallen proportionately and actually, and ten years more of uninterrupted work would have done much to remove the stigma of illiteracy.
The school fund was left intact during the Civil War, and most of the counties continued to levy school taxes.

A part of the fund was lost, however, through the failure of the banks in which it was invested, and the remainder was squandered by the Reconstruction government.