Great Falls tribune., 1921-11-23

superintendent, a few schoo
state superintendent Of public
her staff, met at a breakfast
Park hotel Tuesday morning
sized the point that. inasmuch as the
schools were expected to develop bet
ter citizenship, the people of Montana
could i'll afford to discard any of the
essential departments of public school
| instruction. Some believed that man
ual training, agriculture and penman-
ship were departments that might be
dispensed with. On the other hand
nearly all agreed that the music de-
partment was indispensable in that it
had great influence in maintaining
morale of the schools.
Advocate Cooperative Plan
The consolidation of school districts,
the cooperative purchasing of school
supplies for an entire county and the
furnishing of transportation to rural
! scholars. each were considered feasible
schemes for economy. Attention was
called to Cascade county. which oper-
ates under the county unit plan, as an
example, it being claimed that $1,000
has been saved this year in the CO.
| operative purchasing of coal.
Superintendent $. r. Logan of Hard
in and Superintendent F. O. Randall of
kalispell expressed themselves as be-
lieving that a long range view of the
problem Of financing schools should be
taken and that, while immediate neces-
sites must be met. preparations should
be made for the future.
Whichever way you turn. you come
up against the same proposition" said
Mr.. Logan. "We must revise the state
constitution insofar as it relates to
taxation to secure new sources of
revenue"
This is no time to rewrite the
constitution Of the state" replied Su-
perintendent S. d. Largent of Great
Falls. ut is easy to write new laws,
but it requires real statesmen with
farsightedness to write workable
constitution that will be fair to all
classes. There are states in this
country which have only recently re-
written their constitutions and they
now are in just as bad if not worse
condition than Montana
To this, Mr.. Randall Of Kalispell
took exception. He said: In Mon
tana we have one of the worst, if not
the worst system of taxation in the
United States. That at least could
NC ICAtdiSu ny new SOuStlLuLlOu,
properly written"
Too Many Risks
r. H. Mcdowell, editor of the Terry
Tribune and member of the board of
education of his home. city, could see
no advantage in constitutional con-
yention. He pointed out that it would
take five years to secure the calling
Of such body and that as Mr.. Lar
gent had said, there were too many
risks involved in meddling with the
fundamentals of our present state
government. He suggested that it
would be much more feasible to util
ize the initiative machinery of the
state to secure the needed. tax re-
vision.
May Trumper. state superintendent
Of public instruction, surprised the
audience with the statement that in
her Investigations she. had found a
tendency in rural districts to graft off
public school funds. This she attrib-
uted to the poverty that exists in
certain communities. She mentioned
instances where men, as school trus-
tees, had given themselves jobs Of
transporting children to school or haul
ing coal and supplies for the school
district. work that could have been
done gratuitously or for less amount
than charged. but which was charged
up to the school funds at a generous
rate.
Three counties in the state, Cascade,
Carbon and ChOuteau counties, accord
ing to Miss Trumper, have adopted the
county unit system in school admins
tration and the counties have the best
managed and most economical admin
istrations in the state.
1t is Miss Trumper's opinion that
strict measures should be taken to
check all waste in public affairs. She
said she is willing that the schools
give an accounting for every cent that
is spent upon them, but she would
like also to see counts and city gov
ernments give like accounting to the
taxpayers.
Tax System Wrong, Claim
She believes that the school taxes
levied upon the districts are altogether
too high. In Montana, 62 per cent of
the cost OF maintaining schools in a
district is paid by the taxpayers of
that district. In California this per-
centage is reversed, the state paying |
the bigger share of the expenses from |
funds which are levied against the cor
porations and organizations engaged in !
operating natural resources. The |
state Of Montana, she said owes
something to the elementary and high |
schools of the state, but so far has |
never given any appreciable amount. |
Superintendent r. J. Cunningham
Of Bozeman referred to activities Of
county taxpayers organizations. He
is Of the belief that the strength Of
these organizations will continue to in
crease during the next two or three
years and that the teachers of the
state have no reason to oppose them.
He warned the teachers that it was
heir responsibility to see that the facts
school costs were placed
before the. taxpayers that they might
lct intelligently insofar as the schools
ire concerned. Mr.. Cunningham met
With committee of taxpayers a few
weeks ago and their decision was that
10 essential department Of school work
should be curtailed.
Superintendent ]. q. Williams Of |,
t. ArI . ~xs, II.