Hi everyone, I know a decent amount of American history around this time but admittedly not much about education here. I’m writing a historical fiction book and need some advice from a real person since google’s quality in answers and resources has gotten significantly worse. When answering please keep in mind I’m looking for information for a specific setting since I know answers can vary by place and circumstances. I’m setting it in 1874 New York City-ish, the main character is nine years old and poor, her family are immigrants that have lived in New York for about eight years. They would live near the major city area but in very poor housing. The exact city I’m thinking of is fictional and not actual New York City but they are in New York State.
I know that in 1874 schooling was made mandatory in New York. But was it free or were parents required to pay a mandatory tuition? What school would a poor immigrant child have been mandated to go to? And what would that school have looked like? Would it have been one room or segregated by grade and gender, who might the teacher be, would this character have been required to go to a school in the main city or one further out? And how would the state enforce and ensure that children were attending as they were mandated to?
Thank you for taking the time to read, I look forward to learning from everyone’s replies!