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Show Milton E. Moody Presents Facts On Schools Census Taken This Fall Reveals 2745 Children Of School Age In County By MILTON E. MOODY Supt. of County Schools Washington county school district comprises all the schools of Washington Wash-ington county. There are seventeen seven-teen .schools in the county made up as follows: Two one-room, seven two-room, two three-room, one elementary with nine teeners, one school from first to twelfth grade with eight teachers, one high school of grades seven to twelve with fourteen teachers, one school from seven to tenth grades with fifteen teachers, and the Dixie junior college composed of grades eleven to fourteen inclusive inclus-ive with twenty-six teachers. This makes a total of 108 teachers employed in the schools of Washington Wash-ington county. The two upper years at the Dixie junior college are under the direct supervision of the state department de-partment of public instruction while the other schools are controlled con-trolled by the . Washington county board of education comprised of five members who are elected by the people from five geographical district of the county. District number one is composed of the towns of Springdale, Rockville, Virgin, Toquerville, Leeds and New Harmony, who are represented repre-sented by Heber Hirschi of Rockville. Rock-ville. District number two comprises com-prises Hurricane and LaVerkin and is represented at present by J. W. Imlay of Hurricane. District Dis-trict number three is the east side of St. George and is represented repre-sented by Leo A Snow. District number four is the west side of St. George and Washington and is represented by W. B. Mathis of St. George. District number five is composed of the towns of Santa Clara, Ivins, Gunlock, Veyo, Central, Pine Valley and Enterprise Enter-prise is represented by Arthur P. Jones of Enterprise. The census taken this fall shows that there are 2745 children in the county of age six to eighteen and of this number 2637 are in school with 108 out of school. This is 25 less children of these ages in the county this year than last. Our census revealed a decrease de-crease in number of children in the county every years since 1937. This census also shows that there are 29 less girls than boys in these ages. Cost of the Schools At the present time the money which pays for the maintenance of the schools of Washington county comes from many sources. There is a local tax of 17 mills levied against the real and personal per-sonal property of the county, twelve mills of which is spent for operation and capital outlay and five mills of which is spent for debt service. Operations includes in-cludes the following division of expenditures: General control, instruction, in-struction, operation of plants, maintenance of plants, auxiliary agencies, co-ordinate activities and fixed charges. These divisions are further broken down into a total of forty accounts. Capital outlay includes accounts of buildings (Continued on page five) Facts On Schools (Continued from first page) built, lands, furniture and equipment equip-ment purchased. Debt service includes bonds redeemed, re-deemed, bond and note interest paid. Other sources of school revenue rev-enue are: State school fund which amounts to about $25 per year per child between the ages of six and eighteen; state equalization fund, state high school fund, state and federal vocational funds, forest for-est reserve fund, uniform school fund, district tax redemptions and ; laboratory fees collected from the students. Last year these reven-1 ues, plus a small amount of cash on hand, produced $197,977.55. Of this total $65,340.52 or 32 per! cent came directly from local revenues rev-enues while the balance came di-' rectly from state sources. However, How-ever, a small part of the revenue from the state came from sales tax collected in the county and from a direct state tax on real and personal proerty of the county. j The above figures show the de- pendence of the schools of Washington Wash-ington county upon the various laws which have produced the , above revenue. If we had to depend de-pend upon local revenue alone for the maintenance of our schools the length of the school term would need to be reduced from nine months to three or four. Recent Laws Passed Many of the recent laws passed by the state legislature which have had for their objective the increasing of money for school purposes have been equalization measures. That is, they have had as their purpose a more equal distribution of money among the districts of the state and therefore there-fore an equalization of educational opportunities. Much has been accomplished ac-complished over a period of years but we are yet far from our ideal. The wealth of the state is, of course, not equally divided over the state. The assessed valuation of the various districts shows clearly this variation. The as-1 sessed valuation of Washington 1 county schools district per school j child during the year 1939-40 was $1,333.17. The school district with the highest valuation per school child had $10,357.88 and the state , average was $3,579.66. The lowest low-est per capita valuation among the school districts was $1,012.73. Washington county was fifth from the bottom in amount. Because of this small valuation Washington county school district is making the maximum effort of any district in the state to keep its schools running efficiently. We are at present levying a local tax for school purposes of 17 mills which is the highest levy for his purpose in the state. Only one district levies as much as 16 mills and the remainder run from this to as low as 7.85 mills. j It is because of this effort put forth to maintain good schools that we receive a larger part of the state funds than most of the districts of the state. Of all the money spent in the state during the school year 1939-40 for educational edu-cational purposes 35.66 per cent came from state sources. In Washington county 68 per cent came from state sources. The per cent of collection of local taxes last year was one of the highest in history and this year points to an equally good year. Since it is also true that our valuation is high because it rests primarily on real and personal property and our levy is as hi;h as it can be legally we can expect ex-pect no further expansion of the school program until we obtain still more equalization money from the state. |