The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1907-11-14
THE OLD KICK AGAIN
Better Division of the School
Taxes to be Demanded From
Legislature Next Year
A FAIR DIVISION WANTED

The old fight in regard to the dis
| tribution of the school fund is very
| likely to be reopened by the action of
the last legislature in making a spec
ial preparation from the mill tax
for the benefit of the country schools.
This question of the distribution of
the school funds has always been a
mooted legislative problem. Albert
r. Hall, who was probably. the most
fair and able statesman that the Wis
consin Legislative halls have ever
known, never made any pretense
that he considered there was fair
distribution of thet state school tax,
and always saidsthat the only possible
defense which could be made for the
present method of dividing the tax
was that it helped an educational
movement in the sparsely settled
counties.
The so. called seven tenths mill
school tax is collected from all coun-
ties IN the state in proportion to their
assessed valuation. The distribution
of the tax is, however, proportionate
to the number of children between
the school ages in the county. By
this method of collection and distri-
button, very large tax is collected
from the richer counties of the state,
which participate but in a small de-
greein it's distribution, the sparsely
settled portions of the state having
larger proportion Of children than
4 l..
first came before the legislature in a
bill offered by Assemb1yman Thomas
H. Mosher, of Racine county, a great
many years ago. This assemblyman
brought very strong figures before
the legislature to prove his assertion
that the country schools of the state
were being supported bystaxes raised
in the cities. The assemblyman made
great fight for recognition for his
measure, which provided for a more
equitable distribution of the tax, but
members OF the Legislature paid no
attention to hiss arguments and the
bill was killed with veryIlittle discus
sion.
Mr.. Mosher was so much put out by
the failure of hesassemb1y to pass his
bill that he came back to his home
and did not go back to Madison again
that session. The question that he
raised, however, at that time has been
legislative ghost ever since, with
solution as far away now as it was
at the time when the ssbil1 .iwas intro
duced which was fully fifteen years
ago.
The action of the last legislature,
however, in providing that $50 year
shall be appropriated from the funds
raised for the school taxes for each
rural school in the state and that
county and city schools shall not par
ticipate in this appropriation, which
is to be used Tor the installing Of
heating and ventilating plants in the
county schools, will bring the subject
up again for discussion and the result
will be that not only will the country
schools lose the last two years of this
annual appropriation, which IS to
cover triennia1 period, but they may
find themselves faced with reduc-
ton in the amount which they now
receive from the school tax fund.
Residents of northern Wisconsin
who are intimately acquainted with
the school situation up there say that
there is no reason on earth why this
discrimination in the distribution of
the school tax should longer continue.