Show THE HIGH COST OF SCHOOLING editor box elder news I 1 de dear ar sir I 1 1 q A week ago today there aj appeared an article in houi under the caption high cost ot of schooling which contained so much orma tion that we feel that a reply la Is called for in justice to the public schools of our cou county nty as well as to the board ot of T education we are sorry the writer did not sign his same name either hla his purpose must not havo have been wholesome or else he r must not have felt very certain 0 of his ground for the sake of convenience we sha shall 11 refer to him as mr air blank sinco since that Is short convenient and seems to fit the case mr air blank starts start sout out in this wise the fact that we are paying in the neighborhood of eighty per cent atall of all the taxes collected in the building and of schools is beginning to claim the attention of the people who are in the habit of 0 thinking now novi in the first place the above fact Is not a tact fact at least so far as dox box elder is concerned itar blank will look at the upper right hand band corner of his last years tax notice and do a little figuring he will convince himself that he is wrong and that his bis statement Is very much exaggerated and very unjust to the public schools of box elder he will wil notice that there are 8 mills tor for state a and aad ad state school 5 mills for county 14 mills for county and district schools 2 10 0 of one mill faill for advertising 3 10 of one mill tor for pauper taxi tax 1 mills interest and sinking fund and A mill tor fot dependent mothers this leaves out the special road tax chic his levied only in certain districts each year now add to this for brigham its 10 mill tax and the total rate for brigham Is mills fourteen mills of this is ig district and county school tx tax t X and 3 mills of tho the 8 mill state tax goes back 10 to the county and city elementary and high schools this makes a total of 1712 17 mills which is spent in the building and maintenance of schools as against 21 mills spent tor for other iother purposes in other words mr air blanks tax notice if he be is a tax payer says very plainly that he pays only about per cent ot of all his taxes tor for schools and tori forge ow ar blank blaa asis ri is 41 ifs percent oi 44 ij ri t thi Is sw s 3 W Z I 1 A 1 l county persons im salaries laries besides building some schools equipping them furnishing books supplies fuel furniture and everything that goes to run or maintain our public including the box elder high school how many salaries and how much more is done with the other per cent of the taxes and which is the better investment the people of box bos elder are generous in their support of education but such misinformation as mr blk blank gave out injures unjustly a very necessary institutional part of modern life and progress I 1 now as to the two auest lons mr air blank asks first where is the consistency sis tency ricy in buying books and school supplies and giving them out gratis to the school children this reads like the awakening of some modern rip van vail winkle the books pencils and paper note books crayons erasers maps charts scissors water colors and all the various supplies which are now given gratis to the children costs box elder county approximately per year including the years of exchange of text books and all we have a school population of over children this is less than 2 per capita I 1 dare say bay some of mr blanks children it if he has any in school have read this year as high as tour four or five readers one each of geography history language physiology nature study or agriculture music and that same child has probably had six lead pencils one box ot of water colors or art crayons four note books all the print paper and composition paper he needed for his work besides other things not mentioned including ink pens etc now does mr blank mean to question the wisdom of our system it if we can furnish all these things each year at an average annual cost of less than 2 per pupil let him go and purchase at retail just one outfit like his child Is furnished each year and see how ranch much change he will receive back on his 2 or less his second question Is where is the consistency of paying train fare to such school students as live out of town he adds that he understands it is to make popular the high school here again our friend Is absolutely wrong it Is not to make popular tile high school at all it is merely the application of the principle ot of juskie in giving every boy and girl in box elder county equal opportunities for a high school training the people at tremonton Tre monton garland yost grouse creek or willard pay as high a rate ot of tax school purposes as does brigham this is not a brigham high school it is a box elder high school we cannot place a high school in every town and hamlet in box elder wo we cannot put one in each ot of the large towns it would break us financially and the grade ot of work done would be interior inferior but we can do something toward equalizing the cost of 0 high school education by allowing a transportation fee to those who continued on page five COST OF SCHOOLING continued from first paget page must be away from acm home under heavier expense than those who live where the high school is located now mr blank why should a high school education cost more for or a boy or girl living in grouse creek Snow villo or portage than for one who lives in brigham when these other districts pay as high a rate ot of taxation as brigham does we an advantage here they never can have is IB it worth anything to you to have your boy or girl under your own root roof every night instead of away among strangers it seems to us the last to complain about the he matter of transportation should be a person living under the shadow of that greit great school which brings innumerable other advantages which we need not mention here mr blank says we have gone daffy on the school question he needs an awakening he seems not to realize at pill in what age of the world hii we are living would he say we can call halt a worldwide world wide movement which is gaining momentum with each bound forward does he realize that even such nations as japan china india and others are sending thousands of their best students to foreign lands to get the best and latest in science invention law finance and religion to carry back to their native lands laabs and that these great oriental nations are having such nn an intellectual awakening as the world has never witnessed before does our friend know that we are scores of years behind denmark germany france and many of our oar sister states I 1 would not disparage our own efforts but we are merely in our infancy and whether our friend knows it or not we will be atlo able to maintain maint main cin tchi our position in the worlds progress only by greatly increased i efforts educationally avin gai ini our orr boys and girls gins every opportunity during their borig plastic years that they may cope with those af u their own genera generation ian in every land who are now receiving the most efficient training that konicy aid brains can call give D C JENSEN supt bupt of schools |