The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-01-26
EDUCATION WILL HOLDATTENT|ONOF
 SOL0NS THIS WEEK Local Taxation and Con- pulsory Attendance Among
 Reform Bills Prepared BOTH CERTAIN TO
 GET MAJORITY VOTE Former Measure Provides for Consti- tutional Amendment and Provides
 That Each District May Tax eltself for School Purposes
L. s. nETTy


 Montgom January 25.-tspecial1 Education q Forms will engage the at tention legislature this week.
 Impo ce measures proposing changes in tf cational system of the state hay .SS,i acted upon favoraply' by the cc' 6 ses on education of the two and these bills will be the prin-
 questions under consideration dur Ia. the next few days.
 The changes proposed in the bills will mark radical departure from the old system. for they will usher in certain reforms that are deemed necessary be- fore AIebama can take her proper place in the educational advancement of her people.
 The most important bill to come before the attention of the two houses proposes local taxation for tho support of public schools. This measure. providing for a constitutional amendment, has been one Of the principal questions submitted for legislative consideration during the past 10 years, but heretofore it has failed to secure the necessary vote of the mem bership of the two houses. At the ses- sion of 1911 it failed of passage by a margin of only a few votes.
 But the present legislature will not turn deaf ear to the provisions of the bill. Indications are that it Will pass the TWO houses without any serious objections on the part of the members.
 Provisions of the Bill
 The bill provides for an election or the first Monday after the final adjourn ment of the present session of the legls- lature, at which time there will be pre-. sented for the consideration of the quail. fled electors of the state an amendment to the constitution tor the purpose oi authorizing the several counties and th' several districts of any county to lev, and collect a special tax, not exceeding J cents on each $100 worth of taxable prop. erty, for public school purposes. Local taxation for the support of tho public schools has been an ambition ol the state educational department for q number of years, and it has numbered among its advocates practically every progressive educator in the state. It was advocated by the former governor of Ala. bama in his recent message to the legis lature, and it now has the support of q majority of the members of the two houses. The bill is certain to pass during the present legislative session. Another educational reform likely tt receive legislative approval is the measure providing for compulsory education. A bill containing this requirement. has alst been reported favorably by the commit tee on education, and there is strong probability that it will pass one of the two houses this week.
 Compulsory Education The compulsory education bill pro poses no stringent requirements. Foul months attendance in each year IS the limit proposed, and children between the ages of and 15 years are sub- ject to the provisions of the bill. The requirements for school attend ance are set out in the first section ol the bill, which reads as follows:
 That on and after the first day oi october, 1916. every parent. guardian or other person in the state of Ala bama having control or charge of any child or children between the ages o1 o d4Q 10 years, inCluSitt, Shdii pc c quired to send such child or children to a public school or to a pri ~ite. de nomination or parochial schvol taugh | by competent instructor. and sucf child or children shall attend schoo for at least so days during each ant every scholastic year; provided that tho county board of education, or in thu case of an incorporated city or town the city or town board of education shall have power to reduce the period of compulsory attendance to not les. than 50 days for any individual school provided further that the period o. compulsory attendance for each schoo shall commence at the beginning O the school, unless otherwise ordered b, the county board of education or b, the board of education of an incor. porated city or town, as the case ma, | be-
 The bill provides certain exemption! | as well as penalties for nonobeJienc' | of the law. The measure is consiceret one of the mildest compulsory schoo attendance bills that has been intro duced in any legislature in the souti and is regardes merely as an open | ing wedge to secure uniform scnoo attendance in the state. 1t is expect ed that the bill will become a law. l But local taxation and compulsor, 1 education are not the only bills Icok iContinued on Page Seven.D