The Opelousas courier., 1901-10-19
Some Fallacies Exposed.

There is an impression too prev
alent in certain quarters in this
parish, that the towns of Opelou-
sas and Washington particularly
Opelousas) have in the past alb
sorbed much more than their due
proportion of the public school
funds, thereby depriving all the
outlying country districts of q
large share of these funds to
which they were justly entitled.
This impression is altogether er-
roneous, but its existence is
doubtless in some degree respon-
sible for the scandalous fact that
the police jury has for several
years past given such niggardly
encouragement to the cause of
public education in this parish,
permitting us TO be far outstripped
by our Observation-Disclosures for
instance, which appropriates $685.
600 annually, to our paltry $4,000
Or $4,000. Last year the schools
received $4,000, this year $4,000,
and next year they are to get
only $4,000 out Of a budget of
$65,00O.
This false impression has re-
Gently been accentuated by the
distribution of a typewriter cir
cular. UNSIGNED. and nurDOrting
to be an extract from a brief
prepared by the attorneys of S.
Andrus ct. al. in their suit against
the School Board. The state
ment is therein made (and we un-
derst&nd that it was offered in
evidence at fhe recent trial of the
suit above referred torand per-
mitted to go uncontradicted), that
only IS pupils were receiving in
struction i,s-sne snigh school
branches ilf the Opelousas and
Washington schools, combined,
during the four months of March,
April, May and June, 1901. Now,
the superintendent's record book
shows that for the first two of
these months there was an average
attendance of over 1852 in these
schools. The reports Of the
Washington school for May and
June and the report of the Ope-
lousas school for May (the June
report was not accessible to u.s.
are not in the book, but they
show that the average attendance
| in both schools for the four
months was very near $50. Where
the attorneys of Andrus ct. al,
got their figures and who made
those figures for them we cannot
conjecture. Mr.. White, the AL
exandria attorney who attended
the trial of the suit, claimed wher
he offered them in evidence, thai
these figures were official, and az
he is high toned, honorable gen
|tleman, we have no doubt tha1
he spoke in entire good faith
But he was clearly mistaken
The official figures are near $50
and not IS. Hence, all the cal
culations made in the circular
and based on these erroneous fig
ures, were also erroneous, and th'
| figures deduced therefrom as t.
cost of tuition per pupil, &c. &c.
should be cut almost in half
| Now, everybody knows that thes
schools were open to the childrel
of all other wards and that con
siderable number of country chill
dren attended them. Hence,
is quite unfair to charge up eve
these reduced figures against tn
wards in which the schools ar
situated.
Now in order to show that Ope
lousas at least, or the first ward
has not spent any more than tn
other wards, in proportion to tn
: number of children taught. but
on the contrary, that it has spen
J, less, besides giving instruction i
the higher branches to all who al
piled, we submit the followin
! table, compiled from the officis
+ records, showing the actual a
tendance in each ward for th
: month of January, 1901, and th
amount paid the teachers in each
1st. Ward .7ss Children .....-.s .ssa2 50
"a las 1876 90
af ays