Paragould soliphone. (Paragould, Ark.) 1918-1950, 1921-09-14
ANNUAL FISCAL
REPORT OF CITY
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Local Directors r e n d e r
Statement Showing Ex-
penditures For the Past
Year.

| G. O. Light, secretary OF the city
school board has furnished the
DAILY Press with financial state
ment of the Paragould Special
lSchool District for the fiscal year
beginning July /, 1920 and ending
July /, 1921 According to Mr..
Lights report the board expended
practically fifty thousand dollars
flor the maintenance of the schools
lduring the past year, which taken
in connection with the attendance
iof 1858 during the year means
that the per capita cost OF instruc-
ltion last year in Paragould was
iS30.50, or $3.50 for the elementary
lschool students and $4,000 for high
|schoo1 students.
Mr. Light stated that there had
been some criticism of the amount
of money spent on the schools dur
ing the past year and that in Or
Ider to determine whether or not
Paragould had been unduly extrava-
giant in her expenditures as com
pared with other Arkansas cities,
he had ascertained the per capita
cost of instruction in some Arkansas
school systems and had found that
Paragould was we'll within the aver
age range expended per pupil in
other cities and that in several in
stances the local expenditure was
| ri hltT hon
where. For instance, it was found
that in Little Rock last year, Sis
was spent on each high school pupil,
$40 on each Junior high school
pupil and $50 on each elementary
school pupil Also in Fort Smith
during the same time, $50 was
lspent on each high school pupil and
$50 on each elementary school pu-
pill. In Newport last year. $50
was spent on each high school
student and $24 on each elementary
school student. In Stuttgart last
year it cost $3.50 for each child
lin the elementary schools and S940O
for the high school students At
Helena elementary school instruc-
ton cost $3.50 per capita last
year, while the cost of each high
school student was $4,000 The
leverage per capita cost of elementary
school instruction in Paragould dur
ing the same time, Mr. Light said,
was only $26. SO per capita. 1t is
| pointed out that in these cities
the average high school instruction
cost for each child was $S2.15, but
high school instruction in Para
gould last year amounted to only
| $54 90 per capita. In the opinion
| of Mr.. Light and the other members
Of the school board these figures
show conclusively that the cost of
the operation of the city schools
last year was not excessive, but
on the other hand, considerably
lower than other representative
schools in the state with which
its quality of work compares favor
ably.
The total amount received by the
was fifty-two thousand dollars. Of
this amount $29.623.43 was re-
ceived from the 12-mill tax, which
is only 925 per cent of the amount
that should have been derived from
this source. According to the as
sessed valuation of the district which
was $2,667, $50 last year the 12-mill
tax should have yielded S32,014.56
From the special 10-min voluntary
tax there was collected only $11,- |
421S4, which is only 425 per cent
of the amount that should have
been collected from this source had
everyone paid their part of thel
voluntary tax; that is, the 10-mills
on the assessed valuation OF So
667,SS0. There was collected last
year also S6,11s.73 i'll back taxes,
and the state apportionment for
the year was $6,061.50. Added to
that was $54S75 in miscellaneous
receipts. Making a total of $751;
1925. Deducted from this was
$4,000 for the tax collectors COM
mission, $SG4 As for the county
treasurers commission and S200 in |
interest charged on over draft. Thisl
leaves a net amount of $52.14187
which the board had at its disposal
last year.
The largest item in last year'si
expenditures was $37,042.33 for
teachers salaries. which representa-
approximately three-fourths of thei
total amount spent. Including the
superintendent and principals there
were exactly 81 teachers employed
last year and this would make The
average salary paid each teacher
of $1,001.17, or based on a 12-month
basis q monthly salary of S83. 43.
This is considered by the board as
relatively low salary paid to each
teacher when ii is recalled that
the requirement for high school
teachers is college graduation. anal
for elementary teachers the require
ment is at last high school gradua