Milford chronicle., 1919-11-21

Schools Are Uniform Grade
The backbone Of the School Code is
the fact that it gives uniformity TO
the schools OF Delaware. Children
may move from one section of the
State to another and find the same
standard of schools and studies
Schools are not bad and good by
patches or by accident This is large
ly due TO the fact that the Code gives
the State Board OF Education specific
duues-25 Of them-and says they
must perform these duties. II permits
no evasion of responsibility. And
among other things the Code says the
State Board shall" do, is that it shall
consult and advise" with the people.
Not One Word of Truth in Statement
That State Commissioner OF Ed
ucatiOn Has AutOcratic
Power
Taking up the assertion which has
been made over and over by enemies
of the Code. and which Daniel Layton
asserted and reasserted in his recent
Georgetown speech, and defed any
body to contradict him, the assertion
that the State Commissioner is an
autocrat and is the whole thing in
State educational matters, while the
State Board is nothing Mr.. dupont
characterized is as absolutely untrue"
and said in deciding upon educational
policies for the State, the State Com
m ssioner has not a word to say"
He showed where the State Commls-
sioner may make recommendations to
the State Board and advise with the
Board, but his power stops there. The
State Board does not have TO accept
his recommendations or await his
pleasure on any thing. IL can and
does assume the initiative.
Legislature Can Reduce His Salary
While upon the status of the State
Commissioner, Mr. dupont also took
up another assertion which has been
a fayOrlte OF Mr.. Layton, namely, that
inasmuch as the State Board fixes the
salary Of the State Commissioner,
there is no limit to what the State
may be paid Mr.. du-
Pont showed the law made il very
clear that all the money obtained by
the State Department of Education for
payment of its expenses and payroll,
the salary of the State Com
missioner, must be appropriated by
he legislature after the State Board of
education has furnished a budget
setting forth each item. If the amour
lsked for as salary for the State Com
missioner is too high, the legislature
las the power to reduce the item.
Although these two points were
made much of by Mr.. Layton in his
'ecent Georgetown speech, when it
,ame his turn to speak last Tuesday
light he carefully refrained from dis
ussing either of them. although in his
speech he defied the State
loard and the Governor, and the world
n general, to contradict him. Here
ras his chance to make good but he
ducked."
Remove Obstructive Officials
Regarding the removal of obstruc-
i've officials, Mr.. DUPONT said the
over should be conferred upon some
ody to remove elective officers who
'ere obstructing the enforcement of
ne school law. Ii that power we're
OF vested in the State Board of Edu- ,,
alton. whose duty it is to enforce the ,
lw, in whose hands should it be vest ,
1? Mr.. DUPONT said upon this and ,
.her details. if it were found wise to :
lange the law, well and good.
County School Commission to
Issue Bonds
Taking up the question OF County
cards of Education having the power f
issue bonds to build schools, Mr.. a
lPont said the County Board does b
e work. therefore why should it not. S
sue the bonds to pay for the work L
hich it does2 The levy court goes S
fore the legislature and gets per- d
ission to issue bonds for building G
Iads. and then builds the roads. The d
gislature has given permission to S
iunty boards to issue bonds to build "
hool buildings The cases are par D
lei. Il
Old Debts and School Buildings a
Taking up the criticism that a p
hool district like Bridgeville which
is a good building which it built
hile yet a district but for which it .
is not yet paid, now passes over to y
e county the debt il owes on its "
Hiding. Mr. DUPONT said that while u
'idgeville did this. yet It also turned
er TO the county the building. which p
an Offset 10 the debt. But there are y
any districts which have turned over q
the county nOthing-neither debts y
+ buildings; that is, no building fit W
be used. The county must build H'
ildings for these districts. Then ~
ere are districts which have done q
II worse They have turned over
: debts and no buildings. OF the
zee classes, Bridgeville was by far c.
= best liz
chOOls Owed S26O,OOO in Old Debts of
raking up the question Of old. un- fr
ID debts which school districts have N
ned over to County Boards, Mr. s.
Pont showed that these debts ag- st,
gate S26O0OO. This fairly took the le,
cath Of some of the audience. It en
S an explanation of why tax rates de
, so high that they were not looking Sc
3. The old school tax rates were en-
1t low because the old school COM an
tees didn't pay their honest debts. pu
lile upon the subject of taxes. Mr.. let
Pont showed the county rates es- a
lished under the new system are rel
high compared with school tax do
es in adjoining counties in New Co
sey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. pl,
also showed that under the old
IS, the colored districts were pay he
higher rates than the white dis tn,
It's, and that 62 per cent Of the &c
ored districts in the State Of Del pa
are were paying a rate of more ed
n so cents under the old law, su
ich is the new county rate in Sus-