The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-10-02
BOARD EXPLAINS
 DISTRIBUTION OF
 SCHOOL MONEYS
No Money Taken From City Schools, Is Stated-22,- 900 Absent Children the
 Cause of Reduction

That the county board of educa- tion is not taking away any monies from the municipalities for the bene- fit of the rural districts was de- clared by members of the board yes terday, in speaking of the new meth od of distribution of all state and county funds which was decided Fri day afternoon. They stated that the distribution to cities as made heretofore had been unfair to the children of the rural district.
 In explaining the position of the board In making the change a state ment was issued yesterday signed by the board of education by J. D. Moore, president. Il is as follows:
 "The public school law of the state of Alabama makes 1t the duty of the county board of education to distrib- ute all the public school funds and apportion them in the proper manner to the rural districts and to the mu nicipalities of the county. The law says the distribution should be made in such a way as to give the child in the rural districts an equal length of school term to the child in the mu- HlClpdlIticS, ItdNiHB IL lOI lHe DodI u to work out q rule that will reach this result.
 Tn 1917 the rule decided upon was on the basis of a school census of all the children from to 21, this being the school age. The board realized that the school census did not equal ize it fully and in order to protect the rural children, 4 per cent of the fund was deducted before 6istribut- ton as basis of equalization. Rule Adopted
 Recently on looking into this question more closely 1t was discov- cred that even after taking out the per cent before distribution the rural children were discriminated against. The law requires the dis ltribution of funds for only a year at time, the school year commencing October l. However, the rule adopt ed in 1917 was renewed from year to year until the present time. It was found that while the city of Birming- ham had 55,000 children of school age, there were 22.000 of them not attend ing school. even though the moneys had been appropriated for these 22,- 900, and it has been discovered that in the rural districts a larger percen- tage of the children of school age are attending.
 This will explain to those who do not understand the question as to why the census basis isSnot good rule whereby to equalize the oppor- tunities. of the child in the country with the child in the city as the law requires, Therefore, the county board of education has concluded that the proper basis is to spend the money on the children who are at tending school, because teachers are required for only the pupils who are in school and not for those of school age who do not attend.
 Basis of Attendance
 Therefore. the rule adopted by the county board, which seems fair to them, is to spend the money on the children who are in school, hav- | ing decided the best distribution is on the basis of attendance, and while 1t is very difficult to be absolutely accurate in filing the rule, in every way that we may conceive of this ap- breaches more nearly to the re- quirements of the law than any other rule that has been found.
 Invited Suggestions
 The county board of education is not required to consult the munici- palities in the distribution of these moneys. However, wishing to be absolutely fair. the county board called in the municipalities to ad- wise them of the change of method of distribution and to invite sug- gestions from them for a better rule ] if they had one to make.
 l Up to this time, after full and fair discussion, no suggestion has been offered by any of the munich palities whereby a more just and equitable distribution might be made and in consequence the county board sees no reason why they should mol proceed to live up to the require
 ments of the law to see that tn,
 child in the rural districts has ar equal opportunity for an education with the child in the city.
 "The county board is not takins