Milford chronicle., 1921-07-15
DELAWARE'S SCHOOLS IN
LINE FOR ADVANCE


The annual report of the State
Board of Education showing the con-
dition of the public schools of Della
ware for the fiscal year ending June
80, 1920, just issued, is of particular
pertinance at present because it shall
have to serve very largely as q guide
mark for the new State Board until
the report for 1921 is printed:
! There are two chapters of special
interest. One is entitled School FL
nances," the other "Why Delaware
Ranks So Low in Education" In some
respects it is better to consider the
latter first, as it represents rather the
defects while the former suggests the
remedies.
The point is accentuated that in
the rating given Delaware by DR..
Leonard P. Ayres, one of the foremost
experts on school statistics in the I'm
ion, average attendance and average
expenditure per school child form
highly important factors. DR.. Ayres
found that Delaware ranked 38th
among her sister States in point of
average days attended by each child
of school age, and 3Oth in the aver
age number Of days the schools were
kept open, based upon figures cover
ing a period of 80 years up to April,
1920.
In this connection point is made by
the report just issued that while
"Delaware's index number has been
increasing through the years, the in
crease has been slower than that of
the other States, which have out
the Diamond State. In rank
the State has gone back from 9th
Tin 1900) to 38th Tin 1879 until not |
one northern State except West Vir-
ginia, was lower in rank than Della
ware"
1t is added, however, that ''the in
crease in the States index in the last
two years (1920 and 1921 warrants
The prediction that Delaware will not
rank much below the middle when the
figures for 1920 for the other States
come in, certainly not below the 30th."
State, in Reality, Rich
AS to school finances it is remark
I'd that eff state is too poor to ex-
end sufficient state aid to local dis
suffer" Here enters depression as to
he wealth, or resources, of Delaware.
Based on the census for 1920, the
eport points out that there are 223,-
O3 persons in the State; that allow
ng AZ persons to a family, there are
1856 families in the commonwealth.
,et for the year 1920, 1880 automo-
lie licenses were issued, which l
leans that every third family in the
tate owns an automobile.
IF the average cost of these cars i
5 placed at $1,000 each, the people /
Delaware have invested in automo-
lies $18,35O,0O0," the report con- {
ludes. 7
Again: Delaware's expenditures for g
Dads and its assessed valuation of g
yer S200,000,000 would indicate that v
ne State is far from being a poverty u
tricken commonwealth" But the fact i
nat the state ranks first in wealth t
n basis of the amount of income
nd profits tax paid by it's citizens to L
le Federal Government for the past I
lree or four years." further is cited c
self-evident proof of Delaware's v
erelictiOn with regard to it's support b
It's common schools. Says the re-
Ort: 6
In spite of the fact that Delaware tt
ood first in this rating federal in
)me taxi it ranked only thirty-sec- "
I'd as to the amount paid per pupil p
4 average daily attendance in the c.
lbl1c schools in 1916. In other words C
elaware spent $34.69 on each pupil,
nile "a other states paid $50 or more b.
9r pupil" hi
The Case Stated Bluntly
These figures are carried along to .
Ipport the argument until one is y
ruck by a paragraph which states q
e equation bluntly:
mo one knows how many persons
Delaware pay an income tax to the
ate' but some one has estimated
at ten persons pay more than. one
II the income tax which goes to the er
pport of the elementary schools M
d that lis persons in the State nav as
ree-fourths of the entire income MI
(. If this is anywhere near the truth an
" should men, many of them pay ca
no income tax at all, object if the WI
lte out of it's abundance should an An
)priate an additional sum to helm ar
lcate their children and their tol
ghbor's children, when the present oy
)ropriatiOn for public schools ell
cunts to only 42.2 per cent. of the thl
te's income?" the
he report, which is from the press Dal
the Star Publishing Company. is Wh
t1cularly replete, covering no less my
n 238 pages. To give the index INT
ne would fill nearly three-quarters POI
newspaper column. An
Lention should be made of sections pal
oted to Americanization work and mas
'ocational education. These provide u
lpend1ums useful not alone to in the
lctors in Delaware but to those of Dy
9r states because of the advanced ran
1t to which both have been carried. b[s .,s
ellent full-page illustrations tend oCh
visualize the work that is being pc
ried on. Uni
S27,S31.51 PAID BY DELAWARE mo
1A11A " AANE lett
elaware contributed S11.82751 in atn