St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1890-10-30
SUPERVISOR TAYLoR,s REPLY.
Editor of the Caledonian:

Editor OF the OaledOman:
Aletter appeared in the CALIFORNIAN
of recent issue concerning the ex-
pense of the schools of the county in
which "Subscriber" questions por-
lions of my report to the county.
Not knowing the writer's name, |
seek to bring my reply to his atten-
ton through the columns of your
paper.
The writer does not deny the fact
that the schools of the county cost
less the past year than either of the
three previous years. The total an
nual expense of the schools for the
county for the past four years is as
follows: 1851, $4S, S94.1O; 'S7-SS,
5,O9979; $3.50, $40, 925.79;
1890, $44, 963.O3. The total ex-
penditures were given and compared
not to mislead, for it is well known
fact that the wages of teachers had
increased, but that the county might
see that school taxes had not become
burdensome under the new system.
That this is true may be seen by
comparing the amounts raised by
district taxes for support of the
schools during the same period:
'S6-97, $31 ,S53.S 'S7-SS, $31,-
97O.93; $3.50, $3O,S71.O5; 1890,
$31, 519.S5. The county paid for
teachers wages, including board, in
1857, $31, SS3.71; 'S7-SS, $31, 234.-
&c; $3.50, $31 ,431 .14,-an average
annual expense of $31 $3.50. Last
year $35, 652.S7 was expended for
the same purpose, an increase OF
$4,136.37 or about 10 per cent.
The average wages, including
board, of female teachers is $5.SS
per week. The same average for the
state is $6.1O.
The increase of wages has been I'M
equal throughout the county, owing
to the fact that in some towns very
good wages were formerly paid,
while in other towns the competi-
ton of young and poorly prepared
teachers was so great that wages
had been brought very low. The
effect of the new law has been to adj
vance wages in the latter sections,
which, as a general rule, have small
grand lists. This condition of affairs
has, no doubt, caused over taxation
in some districts; but this inequality
of the district grand lists has been
coming upon us for years and is in
no way chargeable to the new school
system. The remedy is in a law
equalizing taxations; when this is
brought about we have, as the state
superintendent says IN his report,
las good a system of public schools
as there is in America" The present
system of taxation is so manifestly
unjust it ought not to be tolerated
longer.
AS regards the expense of super
vision: The school report shows
that the total expense of county
supervision for the state has been
SIS, 299.16, showing an increase of
So, 546.71 over the average expense
of town supervision. The portion of
the expense for supervision charge
able to Caledonia county will be
81 ,O6926 To this should be added
the expenses of the board of educa-
ton for one meeting, the one at
which the supervisor was elected,
which probably did not exceed SIS.
The total expense of supervision to
this county would then be 81 IA 26.
If from this sum we take $4,000,
the average amount paid town super
intendents for the past three years,
we find an increase in the expense
of supervision amounting to $244.
Ga This actually increases taxation
throughout the county nearly two
mills on the dollar of the grand list
"a man with $25 list will have to
pay nearly five cents more for pur-
pose of supervision. Ten of the II
towns in the county pay less for
supervision than formerly But
enough in this direction; these figures
have been given to show how alb
surd the hue and cry that our schools
were costing us much more than
formerly. Let better Judgment
prompt us to a broader, more ration
al view of the subject. If our schools
can be improved, it matters little
what the expense, providing we get
fair returns for the money expended.
AS a state, our condition is such
that we should economic in every
reasonable direction, but we should