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Show dr. e. g. mm ii DEFENSE OF TJX FOB SCHOOLS Salt 1 ,ike, Nov 17 In answer to criticisms that too much money is expended for education in Utah," Dr. E G. Cowans, state superintendent of public instruction, yesterday Issued a statement tending to show that the schools do not receive mqre than their just share of the revenue from taxation. taxa-tion. 'If it be true," said Dr. Gowans, in summarizing his statement, "that wo are spending too much for education; if 4S cents out of eacli dollar is too high an amount; if we have not yet evolved a just and equitable system" of taxation; If we are not giving to the children of the whole stato equal educational opportunity, and for these reasons readjustments are necessary for the future welfare of the state, the citizens of the state owe it to themselves and to their children to make such an intelligent study of. the whole question that thev can act wise- lv View of the Matter. Dr Gowans' statement follows: "There wore in tho public elementary element-ary schools of Utah in the year 1914-15 1914-15 97,000 children. During the same year there were in attendance in the public high school 7500 young men and women. These groups constitute a great army of future citizens of the slate, whose efficiency will depend to a considerable degree upon tho extent to which they take advantage of the educational opportunities which the schools afford. "The stato makes a valuable contribution contri-bution to the efficiency of Its future citizens by assisting In providing theso educational opportunities. It is generally known that more than 87 per cent of tho fund created by tho slate's S-mlll tax Is devoted to educational edu-cational purposes. This seems a large percentage of the state tax revenue, rev-enue, and yet It helps out the local boards of education only to the extent of giving them 56.74 per year for each elementary school pupil, and $13.95 for each pupil in the high school. "In tills connection it should be stated, and this is not generally known, that less than one-half of the S7 per cent above referred to goes to thoce 104,500 children In the. elementary elemen-tary and high schools, the other portion por-tion being devoted to the building and maintenance of other state educational education-al institutions. Result Is Gratifying. "It Is very gratifying to contemplate tho fact that 7500 young people are getting the advantages of a high school training within easy reach of their own homes, and to realize that this is duo to somo extent, at least, to the encouragement given the several sev-eral districts by the stato in the way of high school apportionment, even though tho amount per capita Is only ?13.95. "It requires but a simple operation in arithmetic for any taxpayer to determine de-termine just what he is doing for tho forwarding' of this great worlc of educating edu-cating all the children of all the people peo-ple For example, suppose that a citizen citi-zen ha3 property, tho assessed valuation valua-tion of which is $5000. The state tax on such property on an 8-mill levy is ?10. Throe-elsbts of this amount, or ?15, goes to the common school fund, and one-sixteenth, or ?2.50, tho amount derived from the 1 2-miIl tax, goes to the high school fund. "To know just what becomes of the remainder of the 540 it would be necessary nec-essary to mako a careful study of the statement which was published in the daily press by L. G. Kelly, state auditor, in July of this year. Citizens and taxpayers generally could do no better than make a careful study of his figures. Facts as to Taxes. "Unfortunately for tho public schools, however, many taxpayers have misinterpreted the statement that tho state spends 87 per ceut of Its tax revenue for educational purposes pur-poses and have concluded that 87 per cent of tho total tax which the Individual taxpayer pays is used for such purposes, which, is not correcL The facts are, concerning tho taxpayer tax-payer in Salt Lako City, for example, that 87 per cent of his 8-mlll state tax is so UBcd; nearly 25 per cent of his 10.09 mills county tax is so used, and considerably less than 50 per cent of his total city and city school tax of 23.5 mills. "What the average taxpayer Ib interested in-terested in, however, is in knowing just how each dollar of Ills total tax money is spent. Taking Salt Lake City again as an example, according to the levies for tho present year, 48 cents out of each dollar the taxpayer pays will be used for educational purposes, pur-poses, 39 cents and 7 mills of which will go to tho support of the public schools and S cents and 3 mlll3 to the support of other state educational Institutions. In-stitutions. This 39 cents and 7 mills of the taxpayer's dollar, which goes Into the public schools, pays, araons other things, tho salaries of a clean, straightforward, efficient and honor-ablo honor-ablo body of teachers a group of citizens citi-zens that will compare favorably with any other gioup of equal size in the state. Tho other 52 ceuts of his dollar dol-lar will bo used for tho general state, county and city expenses." |
