Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1910-10-20
SMALL TOWNS ARE
PAYING THE BILLS
Treasurer Report Shows That
Public School Money Goes
Where Least Needed.
LAW IN NEED OF AMENDMENT 7
The Reverse of It's Intent Is Now
Being Brought about and the
Larger Towns Are Profit
ing Handsomely.
LAW IN NEED OF AMENDMENT

Montpelier. oct IA close scrutiny Of
the State treasurcr's report shows that
the State school laws governing the dis
trlbutiou Of the public money are sadly
in need of amendment If they are to ac-
complish the purpose FOR which they were
intended The intent of these laws was
to make the larger and richer towns
share the burden of supporting the
schools in tie smaller and less wealthy
communities so that in these towns
schools could he maintained that would
afford some of the advantages to he had
in the larger places.
| As matter Of fact the law accom-
! p'ishes just the opposite of what it was
| intended 90 do and instead OF the larger
! towns contributing to the smaller ones
the little towns are actually helping to
! pay the school bills of such places as
St lohnShury, Barre. Lyndon and a
score of others. This is clearly proven
hv tho figures from the troasurer's re-
port
Take for instance the town of 81. Johns
bury. In 1909 that town contributed
S3.4S1.S5 to the State by reason of the
s per cent. state school TAX and drew
back from the State from the various
distributions sSlS.G9, making the tidy
pro1t Of N.G4S.14 for s.. Johnsbury in that
year This year ST. Johnbury put 50. AZ y
into the pot and took out f.279SS n profit
of s-S32.lS, not quite so good as the year
before but still sum worth looking
after
/ Tho town OF Lyndon. one of the smaller
towns of the State. also understands the
game for in 1909 she put in sl.l@0.2i and
got back S3.Goi52, gain FOR her of
s@,4l42s In 1910 she put ia, 1885, o6 and got
| back S3f53.o5. a profit of about the same
as the year before, S24i699
Take the case of Derby. In 1899 Derby
cleaned up s3.9l6.s2 under the henefccnt
school laws. putting in sl.i9S.Ge and draw
| ina back &,i@.2S. In 1910 Derb. CON
tributed 81 l497 ~ and had returned to her
81, 0s.6i Barre town III 1909 swapped
tl.47S.37 for s+,74s 81 and in 1910 managed
to make her contribution Of 81 sol 12 bring
her back s5,537 81.
These are only typical instances of many
Of the larger towns which are being aided
! by the small ones. hut it is not all like
! that. In the case of burlington that city
| in 1909 put In sl2 2SS.i6 and only got hacll
S5,3'5.42 and about the same in 1914 Civ
ing S12.4ll.03 and receiving S5.iSo2l
HOW SMALL TOWNS FARE
How 1t works in the smaller towns is
! shown by the following Illustrations
| Somerset in 1909 had to pay in s9440 and
! in 1910 $50 and did not get penny in
return.
! Woodford in 1910 gave the State sl46 and
received in return SOL. CRANKY In 1909
had to give up Nli and got back ss3 70
and in 1910 got back sGi in return for 500 eS
The way in which it is done is ilustrat-
| ed by the figures for st. Johnshuly for
the year 1909 when that town maintained
! 80 legal schools. From the apportion-
mcnt OF the eight per cent State school
tax she received $l,41l.S9. from the reserve
fund of si5.0"" distributed to towns rails
Ing tax of at least so cents
for school purposes she got 81
32b,47 Her share of the appor-
tionment OF the interest from the per
manent school fund was S43l.09 and from
the reserve of $1,000 in connection with
that fund she drew si42l4 From the
state aid for higher instruction the in
come was g.. 70Ss and for transportation
she raked In S757O6 and an even thousand
dollars for supervision
As matter of fact St Johnsbury main
tains no high school but cducatca her
children at ST. JohnsbuIy Academy, a
private institution but afording n bet
ter education than any high school the
town could afford to maintain.
The way the game Is played In these
| towns is to keep down tho valuation OF
property and have a high taN rate a CON
dition OF affairs that will probably be
changed II the State ever has a central
tax commission that will establish a uni
form rate Of valuation throughout the
State.
An attempt was made two years ago tc
correct this matter by the introduction
Of House bill 32A. Tho bill was passed by
the House after various amendments
and passing from one body to the other
but was finally lost I'm the Senate and
was never put upon It's passage. There
are those who do not hesitate to say thai
the losing of the bin was not Academia
but 1t is pretty certain when the present
Legislature has tho matter put up to II
AZ II will hc, there VIII be "A change thai
VIII put the money in the smaller town.