The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1954-03-24
State Superintendent
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he said, leach county received the
same amount of state money per
child, regardless of the wealth of
the individual county.
''The 10 counties of the greatest
wealth had 71a times as much
wealth per child as the 10 coun-
ties with the least wealth.
And, of course" he continued,
''the 10 poorest counties had the
most children"
The wealthiest counties had %
children for each 100 adults. The
poorest had Sc children for each
100 adults.
Minimum Foundation
The Citizens Committee, he went
on, proposed the Minimum Foun-
dalton Program to the legislature
in 1947 and it was enacted into
law.
This program, Bailey said, guar
antees every child in Florida a
minimum financial support for ed
ucation; gets the money where the
money is and spends it on the
children where the children are;
and provides that every county
must do its share according to the
county's ability.
1.-The Minimum Foundation Pro-
gram" Bailey said, ''is the most
important single improvement in
Florida schools in the history of
our state. Not only has it helped
Florida's school children, but it
has earned for Florida nationwide
appreciation and is now the pattern
for educational improvement in
other states"
Another giant step forward was
the School Building Amendment
No. l, recommended in 1851.
License Tax Funds
This proposal guarantees from
auto license receipts $500 per in
structional unit or per teacher per
year to be used for school construc-
ton.
This $500 ALLEGATION per year
stands for the next 80 years, ne
said, and counties can borrow a
gainst anticipated income to build
schools, now, Bailey said.
ION November "a of last year."
he added, "we opened bids on the
first SIS, OO0, 900 for seven counties
of what we estimate may be per-
haps 10000, 900 of school consttuc-
ton bonds this year - and Flori-
da now has under way the sound
est school construction program to
be found anywhere in the nation.
1.-THE second issue, for $50, ST., 900
for % counties, is now being vail
dated by the courts and construc-
ton should get under way this sum-
mer," he added.
Construction Told
In the past IL months, Bailey
said, 1,150 claSsrooms have been
built and thousands more are on
the drawing boards.
These two programs - the Min
imum Foundation Program and the
School Building Amendment - are
offering Florida children "educa-
tional opportunities unsurpassed
anywhere, Bailey said.
He added that Florida SCHOOLS
are stated by some of the best
qualified teachers in the nation.
I'm fact" he said, when it
comes to college preparation to
teach, our teachers rank in the top
seven of the 48 states with more
than So per cent of them holding
college degrees"
! Still Have Problems
However, said Bailey, there are
still problems to be solved.
The surging school enrolment is
one big problem, he said.
"For the past IL years we have
had the third largest percentage
increase in the nation of our en-.
rollments," he added.
He said Florida's birth rate dou-
bled from 1899 to 1949 besides the
large numbers of families with
children who are moving into the
state.
He said there were an estimated
Gas, 900 children in school in Flori.
da now and that the enrolment
will go up again next year.
| Securing qualified teachers, es.
pecially for the elementary grades,
he said, was another problem.
Teacher Shortage