Montgomery Points Way 



In School Reorganization 



By JOHN K. COX 

 lAA Director of Rural School Relations 



AFTER several months of deliberate 

 study of school conditions in 

 Montgomery county, the School 

 Survey committee of that county unan- 

 imously voted to propose plans which, 

 if adopted, will in the opinion of the 

 committee, correct the many inequali- 

 ties of school financing and educational 

 opportunities now existing within that 

 county. 



What the Committee Found 



In reviewing school conditions as 

 they now exist, the committee discov- 

 ered many facts including the follow- 

 ing: 



Seventy-seven out of 124 one-room 

 schools could not raise enough money 

 without additional referendums to sup- 

 port themselves by local taxation. Only 

 47 of these schools could be considered 

 to have ample local financial support. 



Many of the 124 schools will receive 

 no state aid due to an enrollment of 

 fewer than 7 pupils in average daily 

 attendance. 



By July 15, only 42 of these 124 

 rural schools had been able to employ 

 teachers for the 1946-1947 school term. 



No school is operated in 24 districts. 



One school, not a one-room school, 

 is $28,000 behind on outstanding teach- 

 ers' orders alone. Last year this school 

 paid almost |1700 in interest on teach- 

 ers' orders. This same school was pay- 

 ing their grade school teachers |765 

 per year. 



Per capita costs in the high schools 

 of Montgomery county varied from 

 $159.80 to $471.28 for the 1944-1945 

 term. 



Only 3 of the 1 1 high schools have 

 an enrollment of 100 pupils and 4 out 

 of 11 teach vocational agriculture, 

 home economics and commercial 

 courses. 



As a result of this study the Mont- 

 gomery County School committee 

 voted on April 11 to recommend unit 

 districts to the voters. Taking into 

 consideration assessed valuations, stu- 

 dent populations, and community cen- 

 ters, the committee voted unanimously 

 on Aug. 8 to propose four such dis- 

 tricts. 



The boundary lines of these four dis- 

 tricts have not as yet been definitely 

 established and will be one of the 

 main topics of discussion in a series 

 of meetings to be held throughout the 

 county during the next ten weeks. It 

 will be necessary to discuss boundary 

 lines with several neighboring counties 

 since every effort will be made to hold 

 communities together so that normal 

 business and social relationships in the 

 community will be uninterrupted. 



Why Unit Districts.' 



The unit district combines all grades 

 1 through 12 under one administration 

 and tax rate, thereby, eliminating mul- 

 tiple taxing bodies, overhead costs, and 



JPaxten; 

 iFrMi W. 



County Superintendent of SdieeU Roy Nattlaihip and lAA Director of Rural School Role- 

 tloni John K. Cox ore shown wMi the Montgomery County School Survey Committee, 

 left to right: bode row, Nettlethip, Olin Snyder, Cox, Ous Somment, Stewcn^ Ibomos, 

 Hugh Rowden, chairman, and Omor Pooi; front row, Jetie Hill, Ed Priddle, and John 

 Williamson. H u g h Allen was absent when picture was talcea. 



the duplication of personnel, equip- 

 ment, and facilities. 



Each unit district, if adopted, will 

 be administered by a board of educa- 

 tion elected by the people of the dis- 

 trict. Financially these districts will 

 be in a position to provide the type of 

 program needed throughout the entire 

 district. 



The committee is of the opinion that 

 this type of program as administered 

 by its own school board is the most 

 flexible arrangement possible. They 

 think that it allows a greater measure 

 of self control than could be had in a 

 district with a narrow tax base and very 

 limited possibilities. 



"Offers Best Opportunity" 



This proposal does not mean, ac- 

 cording to Hugh Rowden, chairman 

 of the committee, that attendance units 

 will be eliminated immediately but as 

 roads and other conditions improve, 

 larger and better attendance units can 

 be established. 



Jesse Hill, farmer member of the 

 committee, states, "This plan would 

 provide the same educational oppor- 

 tunities for every child in the district, 

 regardless of which school he attends. 

 Bad roads would, therefore, not be a 

 handicap to this type of school re- 

 organization. Special teachers hired 

 and special equipment purchased by the 

 district would serve all the schools in 

 the district." 



The Montgomery County School Sur- 

 \ey committee had other reasons for 

 favoring the unit district, among which 

 are the following: 



With only 12.4% of teachers in 

 training schools in Illinois last year 

 taking training to teach in the ele- 

 mentary school and over twice as many 

 elementary teachers as high school 

 teachers needed, something needs to be 

 done for the elementary schools. The 

 unit district offers the best opportunity 

 to balance the emphasis on all 12 

 grades. 



Omer Poos, Hillsboro attorney and 

 member of the committee, states the 

 following, "The unit district provides 

 the means of placing additional em- 

 phasis upon the elementary school 

 without causing friction between the 

 grade and high schools. Also there 

 seems to be strong evidence that many 

 boys and girls get into high school 

 without being able to read intelligently 

 or write a complete sentence. 



"Such deficiencies are the fault gen- 

 erally of weaknesses in the grade 

 school program both rural and urban. 

 The unit district would enable the super- 



(Contmmed on page 18) 



:ORD 



OCTOBER, 1946 



if 



