St. Tammany farmer., 1917-09-22
PROPOSITION OF
MAINTAINING
EDUCATION

VCOULluUSU FlOm '06O ~
needed for maintenance purpose
without authorization by vote OF the
people.
The practical operation Of the plan
IL adopted, would be about as fol-
lows:
1. We will assume that the build
ing program of a certain parish
would require 100000 for build
ings, sites and equipment. The
state government would be required
to pay $4,000 of this and the dis
tr.cts cincerned would authorize the
issuance of bonds for the balance
or $4,000.
2. We will suppose that this same
parish would need $4,000 for
maintenance purposes. This amount
would be ftemized in carefully pre-
pared budget of expenditures, which
the parish board would adopt and
pass in to the State Board of Edu-
cation for approval. The state gov
ernment would pay 100000 of this
maintenance fund, and the parish
school board would levy the m llage
necessary to raise the balance, Or
$50, 900, after deducting such reve-
nues as poll taxes, fines, interest on
sixteenth sections, and other perma-
nent funds. (There would be no
three-mill police jury tax as now.)
Should this plan be put in opera
tion. all special school taxes except
those for building purposes would be
discontinued and in future no special
taxes for maintenance purposes
would be voted.
Some of the arguments in favor
of this plan are:
l. The state would bear a rea-
sonable proportion Of the expense Of
education. The schools now prob
ably receive a fair proportion OF the
states revenues, but the states reve-
nues are too small, amounting to less
than 81 for each child of school age.
1t is certainly not unreasonable to
require the state to put UP 81 for
education for every SO raised by the
parishes.
2. The states revenues for schools
would be distributed on the 'bas S Of
local effort and achievement instead
Of upon the obsolete system of the
number of educable children. Each
parish would be helped by the state
exactly In proportion to its own eff
forts to educate Its children. This
vs a reasonable and business-like
method for the state to use in assist
ing the parishes. It is unjust and
unreasonable for the state to treat
parish which places its children
in schools and provides for them
adequate educational facilities just
as it treats a parish VIII 'ch places
only one-tenth Of its children in
school and deprives the other nine
tenths of educational opportunities.
3. The entire parish would be
used as the unit for raising funds
for maintenance purposes This IS
essential for the reason that highly
assessed property is usually concen-
trated in small areas in the different
parishes with the result that under
the district plan of raising special
school taxes very high millage is
required of those districts having low
assessments and a very low millage
Of the districts having high assess
ments. It is as necessary to edu-
cate the children in the poor sections
Of a parish as IN the rich sections,
and all property in the parish should
contribute to the education OF the
children in proportion to its value.
4. 1t Is troublesome, inconyenj
lent and a waste of time to be con-
tinually holding special tax elections
to raise money with which to run
the schools. The children should be
provided with good schools, and the
parish school board should have au-
thority to levy the taxes necessary to
maintain good schools.
There will be two principal argu-
ments advanced against the proposed
plan: IL Some OF the parishes are