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Show School Board to Call Bond Election to Prevent Closing I Of Beaver County Schools Beaver county, as many other counties of the state, find themselves without funds to complete the present pre-sent school year or without any assurance as-surance that the schools will be able to open next September. Ways and means of augmenting the school fund to carry on the work have been discussed dis-cussed at public meetings held the past week in Milford, Minersville and Beaver, which have resulted in a decision made by the Board of Education Edu-cation of Beaver County to call an election in the near future for the tax-payers of the county to vote on the matter of issuing bonds in the amount of $60,000.00 to finance the district. For a number of years it has been the practice of the school board to borrow money to operate the schools on tax anticipation notes, thus when money is received it is used to repay these loans. Under this method, it will be seen that our schools have been operated entirely on borrowed money. This year, under the stringent string-ent conditions, it was impossible to obtain funds on tax anticipation notes, not-es, and it is simply a matter of closing clos-ing the schools of the county within the next week or two, or float a bond issue to secure the financial aid needed. need-ed. At a meeting of the school board held in Beaver yesterday it was decided de-cided to call an election to vote on the bond issue. These bonds will mature ma-ture in ten years and are to draw six per cent interest. At the meeting yesterday the board figured ways, and promised, to cut the expenses of school operations 10 per cent or more for the coming; ,year. Under this! plan the issuing of $00,000 in bonds will not raise the tax levy. Operating expenses at present amount to approximately $115,000 per year. A ten per cent cut would mean saving of between $11,000 and $12,000 a year, which would more than be sufficient to retire the bonds each year. Furthermore the county school district would be fully financed financ-ed and on a cash basis. At a mass meeting held in Milford Friday night expression was unanimous unani-mous for issuing bonds in the amount of $60,000 which would not only be sufficient to complete the present term but which would finance the district dis-trict for the opening months of school next fall until the time tax money would be available. In Beaver the sentiment was strong for a $30,000 bond issue, which would be sufficient to complete the present term, but which would make no provision for re-opening in the fall. However, as the expense of a bond election would amount to no more to vote sixty thousand dollars than it would to vote thirty thousand bonds, it is considered economy to vote the larger amount at this time and save the expense of another election, elec-tion, as only thirty thousand dollars worth of the bonds need be sold at the present time to complete the present pre-sent term. The remainder of the bonds may be held until next fall and sold at that time if it is found necessary. nec-essary. Beaver county cannot afford to close its schools, and the issuing of $60,000.00 in ten year bonds will not only put the school district on a cash basis, but they may be retired without with-out any additional expense to the tax-payers, providing the ten per cent cut in expenses is put into force. At the time of going to press the date of the election had not been set. However, sentiment is sufficiently strong against closing the schools, that all the schools of the county will be continued until the tax-payers are given an opportunity of voting on the proposed bond issue. |