FOREST TAXATION IN THE UNITED STATES 287 
$50 and $75 per pupil. The average cost for the county was $92.35, 
while the average for the State was $67.31. 
In Taylor County, Wis. (172, p. 25), a 1931 report showed 89 
separate school districts with from 1 to 5 schools per district. This 
meant an average for the county of 1 school board member to 
every 7 pupils and 1 teacher to every 12 pupils. 
The district system of taxation for schools generally results in wide 
discrepancies in educational quality as well as in tax burden. It is 
possible to equalize the burden through a system of equalization, 
though perhaps at a greater aggregate cost than necessary. It is not 
possible to equalize the quality of education, for the size of a school 
itself has much to do with the quality of instruction and experience 
which the child receives. The district system is thus likely to be un- 
fair both to the taxpayers and to the children. School authorities 
and tax authorities in all parts of the country are urging the adoption 
of the county as the unit of school taxation and administration. 
If the definition of the county unit given by the United States 
Bureau of Education (161, p. 19) is accepted, the term is applied to— 
systems in which the schools in the county (city schools usually excepted) are 
organized as a single system under one board of education and supported largely 
by county funds. 
In 1930 there were 11 States which might be called county-unit 
States, located, with one exception, south of the Mason and Dixon 
line. These 11 States are: Alabama, Louisiana, Utah, Kentucky, 
Maryland, New Mexico, Tennessee, Florida, Virginia, North Caro- 
lina, and Georgia. A number of other States have passed laws by 
which individual counties may vote to establish the county as the 
unit. These are Montana, Nebraska, Arkansas, Oregon, Texas, and 
Minnesota. 
In three States—Louisiana, Maryland, and Utah—most of the 
city schools are within the county system. 
In Maryland only the city of Baltimore is independent, while in Utah only five 
cities, with a population of over 5,000, are independent. ... In Louisiana no 
cities are independent, but special powers and forms of control are set up in parishes 
containing large cities (132, p. 37). 
In the other eight States most of the larger cities are independent, 
as well as varying numbers and kinds of independent districts. 
Elwood P. Cubberly (152, pp. 46-47), of Stanford University, says: 
The county unit provides a means for making the best that is in education to- 
day available for all. It offers the only possible solution for the so-called ‘‘rural 
school problem.’ The educational resources of a whole county need to be organ- 
ized as a unit to enable the people to obtain effective educational service. The 
plan is economical of funds, and even after providing for a better school and a 
longer term the costs are not usually any more. 
The Mississippi Tax Commission (144, p. 191) says: 
We believe that it would be wiser to prevent the further organization of small 
school districts and provide for the consolidation of existing districts into one 
county-wide district with uniform tax levies. We know of no other way to equal- 
ize the burden of taxation and also equalize the benefits derived from taxation. 
The adoption of the county-unit plan would not entirely equalize 
school taxes. Counties themselves differ greatly in taxable wealth 
and hence in tax rates. Thus, in Minnesota, the township school 
tax rate in 1925 averaged less than 10 mills in 21 counties and ex- 
ceeded 40 mills in 7 counties, These 7 counties with very high rates, 
