The Pickens sentinel. (Pickens, S.C.) 1911-2016, 1912-01-11
s5OO,OOO D0LzA. 4
Cleaner Discusses in a aorce 5
Manner Cost of Schools atIa,
School Books

Yes. that is the estimate o.
the cost to change the SC %.
books, and a howl has gone ~
against the State Board of Ed-
ucation for making it. 1t IS !
heavy cost on the people, but ii
appears to me, let come what
will, the cost seems to be light
in comparison with some othel
expenditures of our State aud
county government. There is
extravaganza in many things.
No doubt, in my mind, the
State board was honest III its de
cision and thought the new
books best, and for that reason
made the change, not summing
up the cost Of a>half million dol
lars to the State. In a ,ecen1
report the average cost to each
child of school age, as | remem-
berit, was stated to be about fif-
ty-three cents. To look at it
that way, it does not appear so
burdensome. You can see, by
the report Of Supt. Swearingen,
that 235, ,O29 is the school atten-
dance in the State, of which
16O,S3O are white, 97,239 in the
rural schools, and 3,501 in the
town and city schools. In av-
eraging, the amount to whites
(town and country is sl2.62.
Two-ffths of the attendance is
in towns paving. no doubt, more
than twice the amount of ne
country. The report of Pickens
county. published not long since
in The Sentinel, shows that each
white student in this county re
ceived s5.43. It is a fact thai
in this county and all the Sta'ts
half the schools have special lev
les. The extra levy will raise
more than half the constitution
al 3-mill levy in this county,
and very likely this is true 0;
the whole State. II so, We can
count that in our county Il
would average about $3.50 to
each child. To ma e the s,l@3.
reduction for the State, .tsavl?i-
the schools to be run by t:i" pre-
visions made by the State, yos
can see at I, glance that the re
raj schools for the 1929 chl!-
dren would not be more than :
half million dollars.
Now, sum up the cost OF ouT
State colleges for white students
and you will see that the annu-
al appropriations amount to d
half million dollars, and that at
these colleges the enrolment
will be about $500, with a four
years course, at a cost of two
million dollars.
am told that, with this enor-
nous expenditure by the State
to maintain these colleges, it
costs as much to send a boy Or
girl to one of them as to any
other good college; and the claim
has been made by men high in
authority that students are no
better prepared to fill positions
or to enter upon the duties of
life than those of other colleges.
And the end is not yet. The
tendency is to build greater with
heavier appropriations every
year. Just how long the people
will endure this, cannot tell.
Supt. Swearingen's report
shows that all the revenue for
whites, in town and county, is
s1,9lS,67S, with the assurance
that more than one-third of this
amount was raised by extra
levy, leaving a fraction over a
million dollars for all schools.
Now, to allow the State colleges
to have one-fourth that amount
is a hard pull. when the farm
ers, who constitute the rural
schools, are given a mere pit
tance, and are taxed on then
fertilizers, too. This fertilizer
tax raises about three-ffths OF
the amount that is required TO
run the State colleges, ana IS
unjust.
It is true that these are -sy,,e
schools, but in South Care5.Ast
we have too many, amt Ii
are costing too mucn. v ~:
the good colleges a1d Ai@-
schools over the State, NJ: coa {
well afford to do with lcNe.'
State colleges, run on less moii-
ey, and increase the revenae 81
the rural schools. A half nali-
hon for books, a h If million iof