WHY all the clamor over more state 

 money for schools? We all know 

 that school supplies cost more. Our 

 teachers deserve better pay. It is gen- 

 erally agreed that the state should provide 

 more money for education. Money is 

 available in the state treasury. All this 

 is conceded. Most of the argument 

 really concerns the division of funds 

 between the needy and the well-to-do 

 school districts. 



Schools in the poorer cities and rural 

 districts are desperately in need of money, 

 and must have much more state aid. On 

 the other hand, the well-to-do districts 



MORE 



STATE 



MONEY 



plus the flat grants and the equalization 

 aid, will equal $80 per pupil. 



Let's take an example. In one school 

 district the y^ per cent tax levy (25c on 

 each $100 of taxable property), amounts 

 to $50 per pupil. State flat grants pro- 

 vide an additional $19 per pupil, making 

 $69. Now the district can get $11 in 

 equalization aid to bring the total up to 

 the equalization level of $80. Thus we 

 have: 



Local tax (14%) $50 per pupil 



State flat grants 19 per pupil 



State equalization 11 per pupil 



Equalization level $80 per pupil 



/or WHICH Schools? 



also need more money and are deter- 

 mined to get a large part of it from the 

 state. Each group wants to get for itself 

 as much state money as possible. Many 

 people, including some who are closely 

 connected with the schools, do not under- 

 stand this conflict, so perhaps we'd better 

 explain. 



The state now gives financial aid to all 

 public schools (except unnecessary 

 schools with less than seven pupils in 

 average daily attendance) . "There are 

 two principal kinds of state aid: (1) 

 flat grants or general aid, and (2) equal- 

 ization or special aid. 



Flat grants are paid at a rate of $19 

 for each grade school pupil. Although 



By L. H. SIMERL 



Oiractor, lAA Dept. ef Rasaarch 



flat grants are given to districts in both 

 wealthy and poor communities, only the 

 more prosperous districts benefit from 

 flat grants. The reason for this will be- 

 come clear only when the basis of dis- 

 tributing equalization aid is fully under- 

 stood. 



Equalization aid provides special as- 

 sistance for districts in the communities 

 where the property tax cannot produce a 

 reasonable income. Each low income 

 school gets enough equalization aid so 

 that the total of a ^ per cent tax levy, 



Many persons over-look the fact that 

 the total amount of state aid is limited 

 to the difiFerence between the equalization 

 level and the amount produced by 14 

 per cent tax. Likewise they over-look the 

 fact that increasing the state flat grants 

 would reduce the state equalization aid 

 by the same amount, leaving the district 

 no better off than before. If flat grants 

 were to be increased by $6 the school in 

 our example would have no more total 

 state aid than before: 



Local tax (^4%) —$50 per pupil 



State flat grants 25 per pupil 



State equalization 5 per pupil 



Equalization level -....$80 per pupil 

 Note that increasing the flat grants 



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L A. A. BECOBD 



