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Show Taxpayer Rapped On School Tax Cut : The Utah Education Association has just issued another of its bulletins bulle-tins dealing with school affairs of our state. This one relates to salaries salar-ies paid to teachers in Utah and was written by Dr. LeRoy E. Cowles of the University of Utah. It attacks the statement of Mr. A. P. Bigelow of the Utah Taxpayers Association wherein he says "I believe there is not a single polit'oal subdivision of ths state, not even excepting the school systems, that cannot do all that is legitimately required of them for less money." In his reply, Dr. Cowles lists the salaries paid by the various school districts of Utah to their teachers, which in many instances are surprisingly surpris-ingly low. He claims that salar es of teachers are far from what they should be on account of a poverty sy-chology sy-chology that has been "deliberately created by interests that seem to have much more concern for lowering taxes than for equitabley distributing distribut-ing the burden and provid'ng ada-quate ada-quate salaries and efficient schools " He asserts there is wealth enough in Utah to provide adaquate salaries for teachers and holds "that tho percentage percen-tage of the total income of the people of Utah spent for education has been growing less and less every year since 1920." The bulletin contains seven tabulations tabu-lations calculated to support the claim that it will be impossible for certain school districts to do "all that is legitimately required of them for less money." "The real trouble," says Dr. Cowles, "lies in the fact that there is not enough money provided to maintain tho school program demanded de-manded of the public." These dis-tirfcts dis-tirfcts cannot have first class schools without competent teachers and these cannot be provided without adaquate pay. A living wage cannot be paid to teachers unless more money is provided pro-vided for the less wealthy districts . , and more money cannot be had with-; out more tax revenue. "These facts," ! concludes the bulletin, "no doubt, are ! well known to the men and the inter- ests that would reduce taxes at any cost and thus work additional hard-j hard-j ships on the public schools and the. I children of the state. It is difficult,' j indeed, to understand why these men; and the interests they represent claim J to be friends of the schools of Utah I when their plans and actions give ; ! convincing evidence to the contrary."! |
