Smyrna times., 1919-03-26
NFW SCHOOL CODE ENACTED
At THE ELEVENTH HOUR
KILLED IN SENATE AND RECON
SIDERED, 1T WAS AMENDED.
Passed the Senate to S and the
House IS to 11-Friends of Educa-
ton Elated Over Its Success.

fIOl EIdIeQ ONGT llS SUCCESS
After being once defeated the New
School Code which was defeated in
the Senate, then reconsidered and re-
committed, was so amended as to
make a majority vote necessary, in
stead of q two-thirds vote, and in the
final hours of the Legislature which |
wound up business at 5 o'clock this /
morning passed the Senate to :;
was called up in the House and passed /
that body Is to II. When the bill |
was first called up Monday for
final action, Attorney John B. Hut
ton. who was counsel for the School
Survey Commission which had the !
privilege Of the floor to explain it.
He pointed out that a number of
amendments had been made to the
original bill in order to meet the vari-
Gus objections that had been raised.
One Of these was limiting the powers
that were conferred upon the State
Commissioner of Education and Civ
ing supreme power to the State Board
of Education, making the State Com
missioner the executive officer of that
body only.
Method of Board Issue and Taxation.
The original bill placed no limit up
on the Bond issues that could be
issued, or the amounts that could be
raised by taxation, and the amend
ments limited the amounts that can
be raised by taxation to 112 per cent
of the assessed value Of real estate,
and the bond issues to per cent Of
the assessed value and also limiting
the borrowing capacity to 10 per cent
of the budget for the school year The
provision that the school fund be dis
tributed on the basis Of enrolment
and attendance, which would have
been unfair to the rural districts, was
eliminated. Henry Ridgely, well
known attorney of Dover, was also
given the privilege of the floor, and
pointed out how suggestions had been
made as to how the original bill
should be amended, and that these
suggestions had been carried out as
well as could be done under the cir
cumstances. He explained, however,
that the work had been done hastily,
and as some things had been found
that needed amending, there might
also be other things, and he would not
care to stand sponsor for the legality
of the bill as an attorney, tho he fav-
Ored the general provisions Of the bill.
Layton Favored, But No Safeguard.
Daniel J. Layton, of Georgetown,
declared that he was in accord with
everything Mr.. Ridgely had said. He
pointed out that he believed the pre-
sent system should be changed, but
advised the members to be cautious in
the manner which they changed it.
He called attention to the fact that
the bill required a two-thirds vote to
pass II and would therefore require a
two-thirds vote to amend it. He
pointed out that under the provisions
Of the code there was no check upon
expenditures, which did not have to be
approved By the Comptroller.
Senator Price Said Danger Imaginary
Senator Price declared that most Of
the danger was imaginary. He sale
it would be a miracle to form a bill
Of such magnitude without some flaw!
in it. He stated that while some o.
his constituents opposed the bill, th'
most of them favored it. Senate
Robertson pointed out that the Della
ware school code, then under consider
alton, was drafted by the same ed
ucational experts who drew up th'
Maryland School Code, and explaine'
how well the law has worked in Mary
land. He called attention to the fact
that the same fears had existed Il
Maryland when the code was passe'
there, but yet no amendments ha'
been offered to the law when tn
Maryland Legislature next met. Re
ferring to Senator Palmer's remar
that this was not the time to max
the change, he declared that it wa
true that the proper time to hav
made the change was twenty-fiv
years ago.
Motion to Defer Action was Defeate
Senator. Bennett, the chief opponen
made motion to defer action on tn
bill until some future time when th
legislature might be called in speci;
session to consider it more fully. Hi
motion was defeated. The origin;