Show special session of legislature to convene the special session of the legislature has begun the main purpose of the session is to consider school eind and teacher retire mant problems according to the proposed agenda the recommendations ions of the school survey commission will be discussed and legislation to implement many of these important suggestions will likely be enacted the following facts should be helpful in arriving at sound conclusions school census changes in the 13 years from 1933 34 to 1947 48 the increase i in school census which include ds all persons in age group six to 18 inclusive clu sive was wag but the respect tive tire figures were vere and in the five years since that time however the total has jumped to or an increase of and there are more on the way enrollment figures show even greater changes during the last five years the increase in enrollment roll ment totals or from to that is a 20 advance it is noticeable that our enrollment is some or 1046 higher than the census figures in the same five year period average daily attendance increased from to or the preschool pre school census shows that the peak has not yet been reached kindergartens have had an important role in both attendance and enrollment increases according to the state superintendents ten dents report there were enrolled in kindergartens in 1940 41 for the past year the figure was this indicated that just at the time our school facilities were being se verly taxed due to the rapid rise in school census the kindergarten er program was greatly expanded thus adding to the strain on school facilities school schol building needs the increase of nearly in school enrollments shows the need for greatly expanded school housing nor is this all demands for improvement I 1 in n plant facilities and expansion of educational programs have added to the problem despite the fact that has been spent for capital purchases during the past five years there is still an acute shortage in certain areas of the state we have indicated the role the expended kindergarten program has played in the current housing shortage the school S survey u C commission cert tay hom has offered certani ai helpful p suggestions in this regard A uniform yardstick is needed to reduce the variables of pupil increases and inflation to a uniform standard by using per pupil in average daily attendance costs and then reducing these to the common 1939 40 dollar value we can more easily look the problem in the face since 1939 40 operating costs of utah schools per pupil in average daily attendance has risen from to living costs in the same period have jumped from 1017 to 1918 by dividing by the common value we find that actual pupil costs have increased from to or 27 it is generally agreed that the school must have still more money most everyone knows that utah has a higher ratio of her population in school than any other state in 1950 51 according to circular no of the U S office of education of our entire population was in school compared with the national average of the same sama holds true with college attendance continued on page 8 6 S SPECIAL ECIAL SESSION continued from tage cage 3 where utah with students leads the nation with a ratio of or double the national average of yes and our colleges cost a year to maintain As to our ability utah is relatively poor as has been pointed out our per capita income payments of 1453 last year were but 85 of the national average then reduced to income per pupil in average daily attendance our ability with is the very lowest in the 11 western states and is but 65 of the national average of we have good schools we want better schools just as good as we can afford along with national defense foreign aid and taxpayer solvency cigarette taxes more recent information than that contained in our october bulletin shows that but five states including utah have a tax rate of 2 cents per pack while nineteen charge 3 cents ten charge 4 cents four charge 5 cents two charge 6 and eleven charge 8 cents |