The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-10-24
GeorgIn's Public school system.

GeOrEIn's Public school system.
We do not believe we go beyond the
truth when we say there is a very general
j desire Throughout the state for an improve
ment Of the public school system. Recent
I ~ the state school commissioner called
attention to this desire. and suggested a
plan by which improvement could be eff
fecteG He viii make some important
recommendation TO the legislature which
may lead TO an exhaustive discussion Of
the public school question. such a dis
cussion would be a welcome one. because
il would draw the attention Of the people
10 the importance of providing better
public school advantages for their chill
dren.
II is well understood that the burden
which the people are now bearing in be-
half of the public schools is a heavy one.
While Georgia is far behind any one of
the New England states in the matter of
public education the school burden on
her taxpayers is about as great She has
neither the wealth in proportion to her
area nor the density Of population pos
sessed by any of the New England states
and, besides, a very large proportion of
her population is composed of negroes.
for whose children schools must be pro-
vided, but who contribute very little to-
ward the school fund
First-class public schools come with
wealth and population. neither Of which
the south has yet 10 the extent each is
possessed by the north President Dreher
of the Roanoake College. Virginia, in a
recent address pointed out the difficulties
under which the south labors in the mat
ter of providing educational facilities, and
presented figures showing that the south
in proportion to her population and wealth
spends as much for educational purposes
as do the New England states one state
ment that he made was that in 1891 New
England and the Middle states expended
$50, 46l,70S for education. Thirteen south
ern states expended sl8,s73 555-that is in
proportion to their resources they expend-
ed as much as the New England and Mid
die states. Another thing that must not
be overlooked in considering the support
that is given to the public schools in the
south is that the southern people have to
support their colleges and universities
while at the north such institutions have
liberal endowments.
But as liberal as we are here in Georgia
in the support we give the public schools.
we think the public school system could
be vastly improved without greatly in
creasng the burdens of the taxpayers,
We do not speak Of the public school sys-
TENS Of the cities. because the cities, as
rule, have satisfactory schools. 1t is in
the country districts that the need of bet
ter schools exists. and In many of them
the people would gladly consent to an addi-
tional tax for schools if the way was
opened for such a tax. There would. of
course, have TO be arranged a clearly de-
fined district school system, so that the
majority in each district could say
whether or not there should be a school
tax levied.
With the coming of immigrants who
have been accustomed to much better
schools than are TO be found in most
Of the counties Of this state the feeling in
many localities in favor of better public
schools is becoming strong. In counties
in which the people are anxious to have
the vacant lands occupied there would be
very little hesitation in voting enough
money to keep the schools open six or
nine months each year Such change
would speedily result in better school
houses and higher standard for teachers.
We don't know whether or not the leg
islature intends to take this matter up,
but it could render the state great
service by doing so. and providing a plan
for the gradual improvement of the pub
lie schools.