Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-04-11
Scholarship Grants

The scholarship grant bill
drafted by the Perrow Com
mission for submission to the
Virginia General Assembly
does not provide freedom of
choice in education" because
1t discriminates financially
against the students attend
ing private schools and favors
students remaining in public
schools. Pertinent language
of the bill states:
"The amount Of the mini
mum scholarship to be pro-
vided out of joint State and
local funds for each child for
a full school year shall be two
hundred and fifty dollars or
the amount equal to the &C
tual cost of tuition at the
school attended by such
child or the total cost of
operation, excluding debt
service and capital outlay, per
pupil in average daily attend
ance in the public schools of
the locality providing such
scholarships, as determined
by the Superintendent of
Public Instruction for the
school year 1958-59, which,
ever of such three sums is the
lowest The governing
body (of the locality
may appropriate from local
revenues additional sums for
the purpose of supplement-
ing such minimum scholar
ships"
This formula discriminates
against scholarship grant
students in several ways in
determining the minimum
amounts Of the scholarships,
and makes possible limita-
ton Of scholarships to the
minimum by governing bodies
dominated by integrationists
and the public school lobby.
The maximum based on the
operating cost only for the
preceding year is usually
considerably less than the
amount appropriated for the
current year, and the maxi
mum of $3.50 is less than the
current cost per pupil in at
least IA Jurisdictions in the
State, including all of North
ern Virginia. For example, in
Fairfax County the l957-58
operating cost per pupil in
average daily attendance was
$295; for 1958-59 it will
be approximately $500; and
for 1959-60 approximately
$3.50 has been requested.
Another way that this bill
discriminates against scholar
ship grant students is that it
uses operating costs of the
local public Schools-not to-
tai costs. Total costs include
capital outlay, including costs
of providing buildings,
grounds and equipment. and
debt service as well as oper-
ating costs. In 1957-58 the
total cost per pupil in average
daily attendance in Fairfax
County was $500.
In order to make it eco
nomically possible for most
parents and guardians to send
their children to. private
schools the scholarship grants
must be at least equal in
amount to the total per pupil
expenditure for the same
grade in the public school
division in which they reside.
The amount cannot be left to
the discretion of local govern
ing bodies-the State must
intervene to insure equity.
I urge all parents to con-
tact the General Assembly
and demand equal protection
of the laws required by the
Fourteenth Amendment.
Harley NJ. Williams.
= +
No one can say if the plan
of the Perrow Commission
. will be enacted into law by
the Virginia Legislature, but
apparently it has a good
chance. In that case. the
NAACP may find that it
snapped the devil for a witch.
Massive resistance was not
the invention of a lawyer.
Courts found it easy 10 toss
out the window. They may
find the shrewd Lynchburg
attorneys plan considerably
more difficult. And suppose
the courts throw out Mosby
G. Perrow's plan? That would
be even worse for the NAACP::
so the wisest thing for that
group to do. as of now, would
be to pull in its horns. As
Senator Charles Fenwick said
recently: IF the Perrow Com
mission plan isn't successful
in Virginia, there viii be more
and more demands that the
State get out of the tfree)
public school busineSs!"
Already, the Old Dominion
school system is beginning to
take on the look of a giant