Vol. LXXXI. 
Published Weekly by The Rural Publishing Co., 
333 W. 30th St., New York. Price One Dollar a Year. 
NEW YORK, JULY 1, 1922 
Entered as Second-Class Matter. June 26. 1870, at the Post 
('dice at New York. N. Y.. under the Act of March 3. 1370 
No. 4697 
Suggestions of the Committee of Twenty-One 
A N EXTENSIVE SURVEY.—After two years 
spent in a study of rural school conditions in 
all sections of the State the Committee of Twenty- 
one has submitted its tentative suggestions to the 
rural school patrons of the State. It has taken this 
length of time because the committee realized if 
recommendations were to ne 
made for the whole State they - -- 
must he based on knowledge of 
State-wide conditions. Sugges¬ 
tions were obtained from thou¬ 
sands of rural school patrons in 
all sections of the State, and 
facts relating to the schools have 
been collected in every rural 
county. The preliminary report 
that has been issued is a sum¬ 
mary of the findings and a com¬ 
plete statement of the tentativ * 
recommendations to the rural 
school patrons. 
DISSEMINATING THE RE¬ 
PORT.—The committee would 
like to have sent a copy free to 
every interested person, but the 
funds at its disposal would rot 
permit of this. The reports that 
have been sent out have been 
placed with local Granges, Farm 
Bureaus, Home Bureaus, high 
schools, secretaries of Dairymen’s 
League locals, newspapers, li¬ 
braries, village, city and district 
superintendents of schools. This 
means of distribution was chosen 
in the hope of making the re¬ 
ports reasonably accessible to 
the farm people of the State. 
Since the committee could not 
place these reports in the hands 
of every rural school patron, it 
is especially appreciative of an 
opportunity to present its main 
proposals to the readers of The 
Kckai, New-Yorker. It will not 
he possible to give these recom¬ 
mendations in full. Therefore 
the phases that appeal to the 
committee as being most impor¬ 
tant have been selected. 
IMPORTANT FACT< )RS.—I n 
the opinion of the committee the 
most important, factors to be 
considered are: Consolidation 
of schools, administration and 
supervision, school support and 
a better prepared teaching force. 
Suggestions have been formu¬ 
lated on each of these questions, j, . 
and while they are based on the 
facts the committee had before it. regarding the 
conditions iu (he State, they are tentative in the 
sense that if better ways of meeting those problems 
can be obtained they will he gladly received by the 
committee. 'The committee’s main interest is that 
the rural people of the State should have an oppor¬ 
tunity to discuss the subject, and to give it the 
benefit of their judgment. 
OPTIONAL CONSOLIDATION .—The committee 
believes that consolidation of schools should be made 
optional. Under this suggestion no schools would be 
consolidated except on the basis of a majority vote 
of the qualified electors in each of the districts 
affected by a proposed consolidation. This should 
not be interpreted as meaning that the committee 
George A. Works, Chairman of the Committee of Twenty-one 
thinks there are no places in the State where schools 
might be consolidated to advantage. In fact, it is 
recommended that, there be some financial assistance 
given by the State to districts in which consolidation 
of schools is desired by the school patrons in order 
that it may be effected in the best possible manner 
and without an unreasonable tax on the community. 
The committee believes, however, that the question 
of whether or not the schools in a given community 
should be consolidated should be determined by the 
people who live in the districts which-it is proposed 
to consolidate. 
SCHOOL SI PPORT.—The facts collected by the 
committee show the need for a more equitable dis¬ 
tribution of the burden of school support. This 
problem needs consideration at 
the following points: 
1. In th.c local communities. 
At the present time there are 
districts that are paying from 30 
to 40 times as high taxes as other 
districts that are near at hand 
and have essentially the same 
school facilities. 
2. The relation of the State to 
the support of schools. There 
should be a frank recognition of 
the fact that it costs more to 
maintain schools in the open 
country than it does in cities and 
villages, and the State should 
meet this situation by placing its 
aid on a different basis than the 
present one. The State should 
do this because adequate educa¬ 
tion for country children is quite 
as important to the State as that 
urban children should have pro¬ 
per school facilities. 
To assist in meeting the first 
problem it is suggested that there 
should he a larger unit of taxa¬ 
tion. The marked differences in 
the present, tax rates are largely 
due to the great differences in 
wealth of the districts. Combin¬ 
ing these districts of varying 
wealth into a larger unit of tax¬ 
ation would eliminate many of 
the marked injustices that are 
now so common. 
The second problem should be 
met by the State setting aside a 
sum of money to he used for the 
equalization of educational op- 
* portunity as between country 
and city without an excessive 
burden falling on the farmer. 
The committee has recommended 
that the State raise a fund for 
this purpose and that it be dis¬ 
tributed on the following basis: 
1. The ability of the eommun- 
itii to support schools. The less 
the wealth of a community the 
more assistance it would receive 
from the State, and the greater 
ity-one its wealth the less help the State 
would give. This would result 
in each community paying practically the same tax 
rate as every other community for the maintenance 
of minimum standards in school facilities. 
2. The willingness of a community to support 
schools. It is suggested that where districts desire 
to establish schools above the average the State 
should recognize this interest and initiative on their 
part by giving them extra assistance to a limited 
extent A formula has beeu prepared for the dis- 
