The Little River news., 1921-03-26
GOVERNOR IS CARRYING
 OUT HIS PLATFORM PLAN
Governor McRae Renders Helpful Aid To Educational Interests of the
 Entire State.
(By Clio Harper)

Little Rock, March 25.- Special D-I One of the blanks in Governor McRae's platform upon which he laid the great est stress, after that of retrenchment,
 was for the upbuilding and advance ment of educational institutions and
 programs. In every way possible he insisted upon the school interests be- ing given all they asked for. FOrtu-
 nately, he found the memoers Of the General Assembly in close accord with this policy and whenever any proposi- tion was made for the schools, there were very few voices raised in opposi- tion. The only educational measures
 which were defeated were for an ap-
 propriation of $5,OOO for school sur- vey to be made by the Arkansas School
 Commission; to require normal train- ing for first grade teachers ::censed
 after September, 1922, and to make small appropriation to match the fed
 era1 aid available for rehabilitation of disabled exservice men. The follow 1 ing educational measures were passed: The State Illiteracy Commission was ! granted an appropriation or S13,0OO for
 the biennial term for their work of
 fighting illiteracy in the state.
 1 The Arkansas State Textbook Law was amended making it possible for ! the State Textbook Commission at it's next regular adoption of text book in 1923 to change any books in the pre-
 sent adoption. The matter of ex
 that textbook companies will be able
 to sumbit their best publication for
 adoption.
 1 A department of Free Library Ser
 vice was created in the State Depart
 ment of Education. This was secured
 through the efforts of ,ne TeGerated i Womens Clubs of the State who con-
 tributed 5000 choice volumes to the
 library. No appropriation was secur-
 ed with which to secure additional books and with which to defray the ] expenses of the Department. It is ]; doubtful that this department can be
 operated until some funds are provided
 from some source. l The value of the voluntary school :, tax idea was recognized in an act re- quiring tax collectors to collect such ! taxes and to be responsible for the l same in their annual report. Twenty ! counties were exempted from this act. The County Board of Education was
 amended so as to remedy it's defects 1 and greatly strengthen the measure i The limit wa sremoved from the sal J ary of the county superintendents and ! the county boards of education are giv-
 the county superintendent. The state
 is authorized to pay $1500 annually on
 the salary of the coun,y super1nten-
 dents in each county, and state law ! of one-fifth mill was levied for the purpose of raising this fund. There
 will be no funds available from this
 source until July 1, 1922
 The State Schools all received in-
 creased millage and appropriations.
 The following is total state millage levied for all purposes.
 | Common school fund, 3 mills. Confederate pensions, mills. Vocational education, 20 mills. State normal school, 20 mills. | Branch normal school, 12 mills. Interest sinking fund, 20 mills. University of Arkansas mill. Charitable institutions, 1.20 mills. Agricultural schools, 50 mills. County superintendent fund, IS
 mills
 This is an increase of one mill state tax, all of which is for education. 1 There are important plans under l consideration by the educational inter-
 ests of. the state to be put into action
 during the next two years and it is
 hoped that by the time the next legis- i lature meets, this new program will be
 so far advanced that other necessary | legislation may be secured without diff