The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1914-12-03
FAVOR RAT|CAL CHAOGE
SCHOOL TAX system
PLAN CONCENTRATES HELPING
POORER COUNTIES AND
SCHOOL DISTRICTS.

A number Of radical changes vera
suggested and discussed at the meet.
ing of the county and city superin.
tendents of schools held in Boise last
week, which 1t is said will tend 70
place the schools Of the state on
higher plane Of efficiency than thew
have ever been, and at no greater cost
than has been heretofore expended
| If they are adopted.
The most important action of the
members of this meeting was the rec.
ommendation to the state board of ed.
ucation that bill be drafted to permit
the adoption of an entirely different
method Of raising the school revenue
which embodies no increase in the
revenue, but different way of rails
ing it.
Work Inequality.
At present the school funds are an.
portioned as follows: State tax, $751;
27305, or a little over z per cent.
county tax, $1OO5, 6S7.57, or about 27H
per cent; district tax, $2,397.454 or
nearly ssh per cent; these figures be-
ing for the year 1914 total of So
7O,415.90. This shows that the coun-
ty bears SO per cent of the entire
school tax, since the district tax is in
cluded in the c,unty's share of the
burden
These figures were compiled by the
Office of the state board of education,
which called attention to the Unequal
| ity Of county taxes in the several
counties For example, Clearwater
county, the richest in the state per
capita, has school revenue of $7129
assessed valuation for every child of
school age. and of this sum 64S45
comes from corporate taxes, the rail-
roads and the timber Caasia county,
the poorest county in the state, has
1873 per capita.
To Equalize Revenue.
A 5-mill levy, the limit allowed by
law, in Clearwater county would raise
$35 for each child in Clearwater and
in Cassia only little over 50. 1t was
the idea of the educators present that
this should be more evenly equaized
by having the state raise enough mon
ey each year to amount to SIS for each
child to be educated this money to be
distributed where 1t is needed, 1t being
plainly shown that Clearwater county
would not need any of it, while Cassla
county will need the full amount This
IS will include the 2 Y per cent raised
on school lands.
The state Of Washington, 1t was
stated, raises $40 per capita, and the
Washington schools lead all others in
the country in many respects.
With this aid from the state it was
believed nearly the same educational
advantages could be enjoyed in the
poorer counties that are enjoyed in the
richer ones.
Extend to District.
A similar method of equalizing the
school money within counties was ad
vocated. AS an example, it was cited
that the poorest district in Ada coun-
ty has $12.61 for every child in the
district, while the richest district has
$4,000 for each child. The richest
district in the entire state, in Latah
county. has $4,000 per child
In order to equalize this burden Of
educating the children of any county
It has been recommended that the
county raise a tax which shall equal
SIS for every child of school age. The
state and county would, therefore,
raise $40 for the educating Of every
child Of school age. The average cost
of educating a child is 1928. This would
leave only about IS per capita for the
district to raise.
The proposed bill has many minor
details for the purpose Of adjusting the
for small districts.