St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1915-07-21
PRESS COMMENT
Important school Law


A notable change in the school
laws made at the recent legislative
session has not as yet received any
great amount of public attention. 1t
relates to state aid for advanced in
struction, and will probably have a
marked effect in stimulating attend
ance in secondary schools, also in ad-
ding to the demands upon the state
treasury.
The change comes through the en-
actment Of No. 70 of the Acts of
1915, which provides that each town
shall either maintain a high school
or shall furnish higher instruction
for its advanced pupils at any high
school or kindred school within or
without the state that may be select
ed by the pupils parents or guardian,
and shall pay such pupils tuition up
to thirty-siX dollars per year, or
more if the town so votes. But
towns are to be reimbursed in part
for these tuition expenditures by the
state according to a new system,
which, instead of being based as be-
fore on percentage of the grand list
expended for school purposes, is
based on fixed sums per pupil, accord
ing to the size of the towns grand
list.
The rebates are as follows
Towns having a grand list of five
thousand dollars or less receive
twenty dollars per pupil per school
year; those having a grand list of
more than five thousand dollars and
not more than seven thousand dol
lars receive fifteen dollars per pupil;
towns having grand list of more
1A11
more than ten thousand dollars re-
ceive ten dollars per pupil; towns
having a grand list of more than ten
thousand dollars and not more than
fifteen thousand dollars receive five
dollars per pupil; but towns having
a grand list of more than fifteen
thousand dollars receive no rebate.
Important features of this new ap-
portionment of state aid are ID
that it applies to towns that maintain
high schools of their own as well as
those that pay tuition to pupils 60
ing outside, and CD that it applies
to incorporated districts as well as
town districts.
We now begin to see how far
reaching are the effects of this act.
Whereas under the old law but LA
of the towns of Vermont had any
share of the $27, 583O6 distributed
in aid of higher instruction in 1913,
and none of the incorporated districts
received anything, henceforth all
towns and incorporated districts with
less than SIS, 200 grand list will re-
ceive from five to twenty dollars per
pupil for all high school pupils,
whether they furnish advanced in
struction or whether they hire it.
There are in Vermont only twenty
three towns or Incorporated districts
with more than $4,000 grand list.
These are Middlebury incorporated,
Manchester, Bennington incorporat-
ed, st. Johnsbury, Burlington, ST. AL
bans city, Swanton, Morristown, Der
by, Newport incorporated, Pittsford,
Rutland city, West Rutland, Proctor
incorporated, Barre city, Barre town,
Montpelier, Waterbury, Rockingham,
Brattleboro incorporated, Hartford,
Springfield and Woodstock. These
towns and districts get nothing; all
the rest draw rebates for every pupil
educated in high schools of their own
or of other towns, according to the
scale noted above.
In this locality towns and districts
will receive back per pupil as fol-
lows:-Braintree, $40; Brookfeld,
SIS; Chelsea, SIS; Corinth, $40;
Corinth incorporated, $40; Randolph
town, So; Randolph incorporated, So;
STAFFORD, $40; Thetford, SIS; Tun-
bridge, SIS; Vershire, $40; Wash
ington, $40; West Fairlee, $40; Will
$40; Barnard, $40; Beth
Ell town, $40; Bethel incorporated,
$40; Pomfret, $40; Rochester town,
$40; Rochester incorporated, SIS;
$40; Sharon, $40; Stock
bridge, $40; Granville, $40; Han
cock, $780, Sherburne, $40.
There is no fixed appropriation to
cover the rebates provided for in
Act 10, so that the amount is appar- |
emily limited only by the available
funds in the state treasury. 1t would |
appear that a very large sum will be |
needed to make the REIN ursement |
under this act.-Herald and News.
SUTTON