El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-02-05
LEA VS. Kelly ON PUBLIC SCHOOLS

/ forts to loom in the limelight as the
! promoter Of popular education and the
! friend of the public schools. In his plat
! form speeches and in his contributions
/ to the advertising columns of the Ell
I Paso newspapers he devOtes much time
! to telling what HE has done for pOpu-
/ lar education since he has been mayor
! of Ell PasO and how much money HE
1 has appropriated for public school pur-
poses during his term in office. At
J the same time he vociferously proclaims
that the schools are not in politics.
What Are the Facts:
Let us look at the facts. FL PasO has
splendid system Of public schools but
every one of the schools now in exist
ence in Fl PasO with the exception Of
the Alta Vista school, was IN existence
when mayor Kelly went into office in
1910. During the four and a half years
witch have elapsed since he first
climbed into the mayors chair he has
added one, and only one. public school
building TO the public school system Of
El PasO, to which he now points with
pride" This certainly is not a startling
record to have been made by man who
now devOtes so much of his time and
newspaper space to telling what HE
has done for popular education in Ell
Paso.
His Figures Are Wrong.
Mayor Kelly also devotes much time
and space to telling what HE has ap-
propriated for the maintenance Of El
E1SD s pubic ScnOOlS-F Z or instance. ne
says that for this year HE has appro-
priated S143,000 for school purposes,
d (see display advertisement in The FL
Paso Herald Of Monday, Jan. 25). What
are the facts? If those Interested will
refer to mayor keuy's annual budget,
published in The Ell PasO Herald on
Dec. %, 1914. they will see, included
therein. an item of S235, 2O5.96 set apart
for school maintenance purposes, OF
which the state and county pay $9g,-
&c
fixed at $4,000, instead Of $4,000.
An Overwhelmed.
This is an Overstatement of $1,000,
small matter, but why make it? He
probably includes in his figures an ap-
preparation of $1,000 for public library
purposes. but why should that be
charged to public schools?
In the budget, referred to- Mr.. Kelly
takes occasion, when referring to the
appropriation Of $4,000 of city funds
for school purposes, to make this OBJ
servatiOn; This is not as much as four
years ago because at that time the
schools were very heavily involved in
debt"
He makes almost the same observa-
ton in his campaign advertisement
published in The Herald on Jan. 25, and
he also adds that the number of school
children now is about 5000 in excess Of
the number of school children in Eel
Paso four years ago, or when he went
into office.
What He Docs Not Tell.
He does not tell the public that that
increase in the number of school chill
dren meant an increase of about S4S, 900
in the appropriation by the state to-
ward the maintenance of Ell PasO's pub
lie schools. making 1t possible, there
fore, to greatly reduce the amount
which should be raised, for school pur-
poses, in the form of taxes, levied
against Ell Paso property.
Where the Money came From.
-Four years ago there were, approx
mately 7106 children of school age in
the city OF FL PasO and at that time
the states per capita appropriation for
school purposes, based upon scholastic
population was $3.50. which would have
made the states total appropriation, four
years ago. $46.l89- Now, the states per
capita appropriation, for school pur-
poses, is $500, approximately. and, if
mayor. kelly's statement that scholastic
population has increased by nearly
5000, is correct giving a total schOlas-
tic population Of 1853. at the present
time. the state should pay into Ell
Paso's school fund, this year, S94,9O4 1
Ihls figure is approximately correct. as
mayor Kelly in his budget credits the |
state and county with So, 20596 and
the county's proportion of Ell PasO's
school tax is evidently about $500.
Why Is Credit Dcmamdcds
Why should mayor Kelly take to him
self any particular credit for the COM
paratively low assessment for school |
In 81 Paso county, when the (
state is paying approximately $4,000 /
ore now towards the maintenance of