St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1947-05-09

and speak on equaliZation.)
According to the National Edu-
cation Association, the median ex-
penditure for the unsegregated
schools of the North and West is
$3.50 per classroom unit. In the
II southern states and the District
of Columbia, where dual school sys-
TENS are maintained, the median
expenditure is $l,166 for the white
schools and SAT- for the colored
schools.
The following statistics prepared
by the United States Office Of Edu-
cation, showing the comparative
expenditures between white and
colored students in IL states for the
year 1943-44, is enlightening:
Alabama spent 5000 on each
white child but only $25.65 on each
colored child; Arkansas, $6l.03 per
white child and $25.S1 per colored
child; Florida, 1886 per white
child and $47.44 per colored child;
Georgia, $73.79 per white child and
$23.63 per colored child; Louisiana,
$121.32 per white child and $40.25
per colored child; Maryland, $115.52
per white child and $90.82 per col
ored child.
Mississippi, $7l.65 per white
child and $ll.96 per cOlOred child;
North Carolina, $71.6O per white
child and $5O.O7 per eOlored child;
South Carolina, $s2.43 per white
child and $3.50 per cOlOred child;
Texas. $3.50 per white child and
$63.l2 per cOlOred child.
Comparative salaries of white
and colored teachers in the year
1894, as shown by the Office of
Education, were: Alabama, $1,l5S
for white teachers and $66l for
colored teachers; Arkansas, 1924
for white teachers and 1855 for
cOlored teachers; Florida, $3.50
for white teachers and 1910 for
colored teachers; Georgia, $1,l23
for white teachers and $515 for
cOlored teachers; Louisiana, 81, 6S3
for white teachers and 1928 for
colored teachers.
Maryland, $2,O25 for white teach
ers and $4,000 for cOlOred teachers;
Mississippi, $1,lO7 for white teach
ers and $342 for cOlOred teachers;
North Carolina, 1850 for white
teachers and $I.249 for cOlOred
teachers; South Carolina, $l,2O3
for white teachers and S6l5 for
eOlOred teachers; Texas, 1885 for
white teachers and $946 for col
Ored teachers; Virginia, $1,364 for
white teachers and $1,129 for col
Ored teachers.
II these states are to be given
federal monies to equalize educa-
tional opportunities between the
states and among white children
and colored children, respectively,
whiting the states, why should
they not be required to equalize
educational opportunities between
white and colored pupils between
and within the states?
If passed in its present form, the
Taft bill will simply crystalline ex-
isting disparities if it does not
widen them. OF course, it requires
an equitable distribution of federal
funds between white and colored
pupils in those states that maintain
dual systems, but under its pro-
visions an equitable distribution
can be based on a distribution to
colored schools based on daily av-
erage attendance, while the allot-
ment to the states would be based
on the census of children between
the ages of 5 and II years in each
state.
Such a formula does not take
into account the lack of compulsory
school attendance laws in the
south, the shorter term for the col
Ored schools than for the white,
the withdrawal of cOlOred pupils
from schools during harvesting
months to help with the crops, the
poorer schOOlrOOm facilities, the
lower pay of cOlOred school teach
ers, and other differentials all Of
which affect the educational OppOr-
tunity Of eOlOred youth and adds
to the illiteraey rate Of this cOun-
try.
There are some people who be-
lieve that If a provision were writ
ten into the Taft bill to require that
states maintain separate schools to
equalize their per capita expendi-
ture between white and colored chill
dren Of school age, it would make
the bill unpalatable to southern
Senators and Representatives.
The educational picture is so
dark in southern states that it ap-
pears they would be willing to make
any concession, short Of surrender
ing to federal control Of the schools,
to get federal aid. For example,
Ralph B. Jones, State Commission
er of Education, Little Rock, Ark,
testified that in 1916 the estimated
income Of the people Of his state
was 81 ,020, 900, 900 and in the same
year they spent on public school
services 90 per cent Of their income
as compared with l.5 per cent for
the nation. In spite Of this effort,
he said, the average salary Of teach