The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-02-11
|MICHINGAN GETS |2-YEAR STUDY ON
 SCHOOL REFORM
BY DOUGLAS GRAHAM United Press Staff Correspondent

United Press Staff Correspondent
 Lansing, Mich, Feb. 1l-(UP)- Consolidation of Michigan's 6.274 school districts into approximately 250 districts of only four classes has been recommended after a two-year study by 8 commission composed of educational, government and busi- ness representatives.
 The recommendations, looking to long-range reform of state school administrative and financial trou- bles, were heralded as an important forward step in modernizing edu- cational structure by pr. Eugene B. Elliott, state superintendent of pub lie instruction and chairman of the study commission.
 Confronted by hundreds of tiny school districts. many of which in rural areas are financially poor and unable to provide proper edu- cational facilities, the commission urged immediate steps to reorgan- ize these heterogeneous units into larger districts, each containing no less than $3,O00,000 worth of prop erty, according to assessed valua- tions, and capable of providing ed- ucational facilities for no less than 390 students from the seventh through twelfth grades.
 Dr. Elliott said the commission had recommended that laws be en- acted by the 1945 Michigan Legis- lature permitting electors to adopt the new school district organiza- tion plan by simple majority vote, while providing that any existing indebtedness be continued as an ob- ligation of the area in which it was originally contracted until paid.
 Schoolmen have long recognized that division of the state into more than 5000 separate school units has delayed educational progress and resulted in manifold fiscal problems in districts where property valua- tions are low and sschooltax reven- ues consequently limited, Dr. Elliott said.
 The present districting plan is antiquated, he added, pointing out that it was set up over 100 years ago. when school problems were vastly different.
 Because of the disparity in needs and facilities of each district, Mi chigan's present school-aid formula has become so highly involved that not more than score of Schoolmen understand its workings and the state supreme court has confessed puzzlement over its mechanics. it was asserted. Qualifications of this confusing and oft-criticized formu- la will not be possible until steps are taken to reorganiZe the baS!c districts, the report declared.
 The commission also recommend ed that the state board of educa- tion and superintendent of public instruction positions be taken out of politics and discontinued as elec- tive offices. The report urged that the board be enlarged to eight members, appointed by the gover- nor with senate consent. and that the superintendent become an ad- ministrative officer named by the board and serving at its pleasure. The commission also requested that universal suffrage be granted in school elections. Michigan law now restricts such voting to par ents of school children or prop erty owners.
 Creation of a state $10,00O GOO postwar fund to stimulate construc- tion and modernization of school buildings was also requested. The commission further suggested that the state grant 75 per cent of i'm provement costs and that local dis tricts furnish 25 per cent toward new buildings.
 It was also suggested that the state raise its compulsory school attendance law from through 16 to 6 through 18, inclusive.