The courier-index., 1921-03-25
LITTLE ROCK LETTER

Little Rock, March 2l.--One ol the blanks in Gov. McRae's platform 1 upon which he laid the greatest 1 stress, after that of retrenchment
 was for the upbuilding and advance. I ueut of educational institutions ano I programs. In every way possible 1 he insisted upon the school interests | being given all they asked for. For. tunately he EoCud the members oi i the general assembly in close ac
 cord with this policy and whenever any proposition was made for the schools, there were very few voice;
 raised in opposition. The only ed ucationai measures which were de | feated were for ar appropriation | of S5,000 for 9 school survey tC
 be made by the Arkansas School | Commission; to require normal
 training for first grade teachers license after September, 1922, and
 to make a small appropriation to
 match the Federal aid available for
 rehabilitation of disabled ex-service
 men, The following educational
 measures were passed:
 The State IIliteracy Commission
 was granted an appropriation of S13,O00 for the biennial term for their work of fighting illiteracy in
 the state.
 The Arkansas State Textbook law was amended making it possible for
 the State Textbook Commission at
 it's next regular adoption of text
 books in 1928 to change any books
 in the present adoption. The mat ter of exchange, prices also was ar ranged so that textbook companies will be able to submit their best publications for adoption.
 A department of Free Library Service was created in the State Depa rtment of Education. This was secured through the efforts of the Federated Women's Club of the state who contributed 5000 choice volumes to the library. No appro- priation was secured with which to secure additional books and with which to cefray the expenses of the Department. It is doubtful that this department can be operated until some funds are provided from some source.
 The value of the voluntary school tax idea was recognized in an act requiring tax collectors to collect such taxes and to be responsible for the 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 and greatly strengthen the measure. The limit was removed from the salary of the county su- perintendents and the county boards of education are given authority to pay the expenses of the county su perintendent The state is author ized to pay $1 ,50O annually on the salary of the county superintendent in each county, and state law of Is 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 mileage and appropriations. The following is total state mile age levied for all purposes:
 Common school fund, 3 mills j; Confederate pensions, 2 mills; vo- cational education, 20 mills; state normal school, 20 mills; branch normal school, .12 mills; interest sinking fund, 20 mills; University of Arkansas, mill; charitable in 1.20 mills; agricultural schools, 50 mill; county superin- tendent fund, IS mills.
 This is an increase of one mill state tax, all of which is for edu- cation.
 There are important plans under consideration by the educational in- terests of the state to put into ac- tion during the next two years and it is hoped that by the time the next legislature meets, this new pro gram will be so far advanced that other necessary legislation may be secured without difficulty.