St. Tammany farmer., 1917-10-20
SCHOOL BOARD.


1ave had, down deep in my
heart, desire to see the Madison
willie school grow and develop into a
Junior High School. l have wanted
to see the Sun school made an agM-
cultural or a Junior High School. l
have wanted to see the Progress
school an Agricultural school. and
have its five-acre site donated by the
Great Southern Lumber Co. under
cultivation. have wanted to see
the Waldheim school, with its thir-
teen acres Of land made into an agri-
cultural school. l have wanted to
see the children at Talisheek, at Cen
trail and at Audubon given the kind
OF school they deserve. l have want
ed to see these and many other good
things dn the school line. But the
sad part comes when you and l know
that all or any of these wards are all
required to give bare seven months
term. In other words, we must re-
ceive more money from our three
mill police jury fund. have talk
ed with q number of the prominent
men of the parish and have heard
several Of the police jury members
express themselves as feeling that a
fifty per cent assessment is enough.
Now. I desire to ask you, not as
school board members, but as fathers
and also taxpayers, is it enough to
pay taxes on one-half of your prop
erty only, when your children are
receiving some five months, some six
months and some seven months Of
school each year?
am told that the farmer cannot
afford to pay taxes on all of his prop
erty, and / answer that IL he can't
now, he never can. The farmer
never received higher price for his
cotton, his cane, his cattle, his sheep,
mis- corn, his wool, his potatoes, his
hens or his eggs, and still We are
told that he must be satisfied with
five months school.
Let us not forget that nine OF our
last years faculty at Slidell left US
to accept higher salaries in other
parishes. Let US not forget that ]
now need ten teachers that cannot
get because of the low salaries we
offer. Let US not forget that we
have teachers now paying $25 per
month for board where SIS and SIS
was paid last year. Let us not for
get that the principal of the Madi-
sonville school was this year told
that she must pay $3.50 per day for
board when last year she paid SIS
or $40 a month. With all these
facts before us, We are met with the
statement that the schools are get
ting all the money they have any
right to ask for.
You will pardon me, perhaps, IL
60 q little further by stating what
might be done under present condi-
tions. Last year, with an assess
ment Of something over six million
dollars, we received, as stated above,
$14,912.71 net. This year, with an
assessment Of $13,O0O,OO0, with only
so per cent taxed, we may expect
to receive perhaps thousand dol
lars more than last year. This
thousand dollars will go into the
general fund that is spread all over
the parish, and il it was so used,
would not be sufficient to extend our
term for the length Of one week, to
say nothing OF the debt this general
fund now has of something over
sixteen thousand dollars. l wish l
had the logic or oratory Of a Webster
or q Hayne. would ask the police
jury to tax seventy or eighty per cent
Of our assessment, for by so doing
they would he giving to every child
OF this parish not less than seven
months term, and this would guar
antee q term of nine months in every
white school in the first, second,
third, fourth, fifth, sixth, eighth,
ninth and tenth ward, and even the
seventh ward would have seven
months without special tax. This
would be possible with not over
three quarters Of our property taxed.
On, the other hand, our general fund