Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1904-01-04
SCHOOL FUND INEQUALITIES
Important Bill To Be Introduc-
ed At The Coming
Legislature.

A bill will be introduced promptly
upon the opening of the coming seS-
sion of the Legislature for the purpose
of correcting some of the inequalities
| in the distribution of the public
school fund as disbursed according
to the recent decision of the Court of
Appeals, which interpreted the law
governing it.
The law as at present admins
tered works to the very great disad-
vantage of the counties having large
colored populations, indeed bearing
so heavily upon the colored schools
that they can be kept open only a
couple of months in the year. Anne
Arundel, which has the largest col
ored population of any county, is con-
sequently the greatest sufferer
under the method of distribution,
though similar state of affairs ex-
lists in all of the Southern Maryland
counties and some of those on the
Eastern Shore.
The law relating to the distribution
of the fund is somewhat obscure but
comptrollers for many years have in
terpreted it so as to distribute the
fund to the white schools in proportion
to the whole school population, white
and black, and to the colored schools
| in proportion to the colored school
| population This, of course, favored
the counties with large colored popu-
lations, but it was not thought unjust
| as the colored citizens contributed so
| little towards the maintenance of the
schools A suit was brought by GER
| tain residents of Allegany county, who
| held the opinion that the fund to the
white schools should be distributed
according to the white population
only. This would have equalized the
proportion to each county, irrespective
of its white or colored population.
The Court of Appeals held, however,
| that as the law stood the amount to
| the schools of each color must be dis
| tributed according to the whole school
population, white and colored, thus
| making no allowance for the relative
white and colored population. The
necessity of this course of disburse-
nent has proved unfortunate. Nc
one of the counties have received any
more for their white schools, as was
desired by the citizens of Allegany
county and other counties having a
small colored population and the coun-
| ties with large number of colored
residents have had there share of the
fund so reduced that the colored
schools could only remain open for
about two months in some cases, as in
| Anne Arundel county.
An absurd result of the new order of
| thing is that no matter how large the
whole population of a county may be
and how small the colored population,
the whole amount devoted to colored
/ schools, which as before noted, il
| in proportion to the whole population,
| it must be expended upon the col
ored schools and not diverted to the
white. Thus the persons who insti-
tuted the proceedings defeated their
| own object. The most ridiculous ex.
ample of the working of the law is
the case of Garrett county, which re.
ceives 1919. sc to be expended each
quarter on colored school population
of thirty eight. Anne Arundel county
receives 81, 1877. 80 a quarter to be ex.
pended ona bout seven thousand col
| ored children, while Allegany county
receives 81, S09.7 n for few hundred
This state of affairs is not salts.
factory to any county and it is dis
tressing condition in the large coloreC
counties where the schools cannot bt
kept open for any length of time
Therefore legislative relief will bt
sought.