The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1922-01-11
For the Country
Boy and Girl.
morris Tribune)

The legislative committee Of the
Minnesota Educational Association is
really planning on doing something
for the country boy and girl-some-
thing that will look to the equalizlng
of education opportunities.
The two outstanding things which
they will urge upon the legislature
are:
"Creation of town boards of edu-
cation with power to change the
boundary lines Of their school dis
tricts; employment of full time clerks
for county superintendent of schools;
employment of helpers for rural teach
ers; appointment of county superin-
tendents of schools by county boards
of education; empowering county
boards of education to fix salaries OF
the superintendents and to authorize
employment of assistants to the sup
erintendents.
Legislation creating mill state
tax to equalize the cost of education
in Minnesota, the levy to produce. $4,-
100000 year (this in addition to the
one mill levy now used for similar pur-
poses."
The educators of Minnesota, either
through their state association or thru
the department of education have new
er given the proper support to the
propositions above outlined. The out
standing defect of the rural school has
been that it has been without adequate
supervision, and yet the educators OF
the state have SHE'D at getting behind
| program which discontinued the pre-
sent frontier method Of selecting coun-
| ty superintendent.
It has been perfectly clear to anyone
| who would stop long enough to con-
slider the problem, that rural schools
could never be improved until their
supervision was placed in the hands of
men and women of proper technical
training, selected on the basis of their
| training and experience, and receiving
a salary commensurate with the mar
ket price of their services in any other
educational field.
In other words, country school work
, should offer the same field for life
work that the city school offers.
| Now that the Minnesota Education
al Association has definitely attacked
the problem, we hope to see an end of
J the petty political bargaining, fam
boyant demagoguery and plain cow
ardice that has marked previous efforts
| to correct this patent defect in our
educational system.
The other proposition is one of out
standing merit. Today, the greater
part of the school revenue is derived
from local taxation, and the state con-
tribution is very small The result is
| that where there is much taxable pro-
perry, there is much money for the
schools, and where there is paucity
IF taxable property, there is a paucity
of money for education.
In other words, opportunity for edu-
cation depends upon the accident of
, residence
Education is matter of state con-
corn. and therefore better-far better
-+h9t the state entirely assume the
h'-"den of the education of it's coming
citiZepry-collecting all the school re-
| venues and disbursing them in such a
'rev As to afford equality of opportun-
itv for education.
Such a plan will not of course be
adopted end there may be other valid
~aasons Why it should not. but the adj
nntion cf a three mill state tax for
school purposes marks beginning in
the proper recognition of the concern
# the whole state in the equalizing of
educational opportunity.