By JOHN COX 

 lAA Director of Rvral School Relations 



Brown county was the first to vote un- 

 der the new Community Unit bill recent- 

 ly passed by the General Assembly and 

 was thereby the first to establish a county 

 12-grade district in Illinois. They voted on 

 Thursday, July 31, by a vote of 873 to 54 

 to bring all of the grade schools and high 

 schools under a single school administra- 

 tion and one county wide tax rate. Of 

 the votes in favor of the new county school 

 district, 424 came from rural areas and 

 449 from urban areas. 



Not long ago Brown county had voted 

 for a county wide grade school district by 

 a vote of 938 to 258. This county, with 

 approximately eight full townships, voted 

 to bring the high schools into the same 

 district with the grade school in order to 

 profit from the financial as well as superior 

 educational advantages of the 12 grade or 

 unit district system. 



Following close after Brown county, Scott 

 county voted approximately 3 to 1 to 

 establish a 12-grade county district on 



Above is the new Franlclin County Form 

 Bureau home at Benton recently acquired at 



Aug. 2. These two counties are among the 

 smallest in the state and can very well 

 function as a county school district. 



Success of any school district de- 

 pends upon the wisdom and foresight 

 of the people chosen to administer it. 

 However, these two counties have laid 

 the foundation for improved educational 

 efficiency and perhaps some ecotiooiy 

 in their school system. 



They also will receive a considerably 

 larger share of equalization state aid 

 because of the lower qualifying tax rate 

 of the unit district. 



No more than three representatives on 

 the school board can come from any one 

 township, according to the new community 

 unit law ; however, the Scott county survey 

 committee recommended that a board mem- 

 ber be elected from each of their seven 

 townships. It is thought that the public's 

 acceptance of the proposal will constitute 



a cost of about $20,000. The building li 

 50 feet X 100 feet and is a former hotel. 



a gentlemen's agreement to be followed in 

 selecting school board members in the future. 

 County superintendents report numer- 

 ous other petitions for votes under the 

 community unit law to set up 12-grade 

 districts. Many of these votes will be 

 for territory less than a county, par- 

 ticularly in the larger counties. Greater 

 economy is possible in a county distria 

 even in the larger counties. 

 However, many people think that the 

 possible economy would not offset the loss 

 in local control. The lAA recommends a 

 minimum high school enrollment of 150 

 pupils and most other organizations rec- 

 ommend a minimum of 300 high school 

 pupils. Therefore, it would not be con- 

 sidered wise by most educational leaders 

 to contemplate setting up a unit or 12 

 grade district with fewer than 150 to 300 

 high school pupils. The high school en- 

 rollment is approximately 18 per cent of 

 the total enrollment. 



HMYl YOU PlHCHBD MB! 



Conscience : ^^ ves, i did.' amd ive got a 



PERFECT RIGHT To! DIDKJ'T VOU 5AV VOU'D 

 VACCINATE VOUR. Pl6S ...TWO MOMTH^ AGO ?" 





Chnscience: ''so ^OTH IM6 1 WiTM THE WHOLE 

 COUNTRy NEEDING ALL THE PORK AND FATS 

 IT CAM GET.. .you TAKE A CHANCE OM LOSING 

 y0UC$ TO THAT DEVIL OVER. THERE i '" 



\^( 



Fdrmtl^ BtOW/i:^' WELLiVES... I DID, BUT 

 I'VE BEEtA Too Busy: SO.. ER,... ER . ■ . "^ 



Conscience '.''HQvt /ou're cooking with 



GA$.' AND ALL VOU HAD TO DO vVA9 GO 



StB VQUR FARM BUREAU FOR F.B. SERUM 



TQ .SAFEGUARD VOUR HOG /NVESTMENT"' 



22 



L A. A. RECORD 



SEPTEMB 



