Five-Point School Legislative Program Ready for

Submission to Kansas Legislators

ISSUED BY THE LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE

KANSAS STATE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION
315 West 10th Street, Topeka, Kansas

 

Bulletin No. 1

ROWING slowly but strongly like the stalwart oak of

the forest, the Five-Point School Legislative Program
received finishing touches at the final meeting of the Kan-
sas Legislative Council on November 10 to 18. The legisla-
ture two years ago created the background for the program
by passing the high school measure in different forms in
the two houses, and by enacting a resolution instructing the
Legislative Council to give further work to the schoo] code,
with special emphasis to rural school problems.

For two years very intensive work has been given to each
of the five points of the proposed program. The Legislative
Council, that most progressive agency of Kansas state gov-
ernment, has devoted extensive re-

Series of 1943

November, 194

 

 

* POINT TWO: for Ruri
Children.

The understanding necessary for a solution of the rur:
school problem is contained in Legislative Council Researe
Bulletin No. 118, ‘Closed Schools in Kansas.” This stud
reveals gross inequalities in educational opportunities an
tax loads in every county of the state. The bulletin whic
is massive in its presentation of details and somewha
technical in treatment is, however, not too formidable fo
wide study. The facts of the survey are shown in map forr
for ready digestion. (Copies of “Closed Schools in Kan
sas” bulletins are available for reference study in th

offices of superintendents of countie

Improved Elementary Schools

 

owe

search which has outdistanced any-
thing done before in the state to the
rural school. The final report, Bulle-
tin No. 113 ‘Closed Schools in Kan-

THE FIVE-POINT PROGRAM

and first, second and third class citie
of the state.)

The problems presented in th
comprehensive rural school stud:

eer ee

sas” points the problem and offers
the way for solutions which are in-

Recommendations to the 1943 Kansas
Legislature for Needed Improvement
of Kansas Schools.

have ready solution through count:
unit and state aid support. A bil

corporated in the proposals to the
1943 legislature. 1.

POINT ONE: Adoption of the New \
School Code.

A new proposed school code in the

form of Legislative Council Bill No. Ss:
30 is ready for submission to the
legislature. It provides for definite 4.

improvements in the legal framework
as applied to common school districts
and cities of the first and second 5.
classes. The code removes duplicate,
obsolete and troublesome sections of
Kansas school law. It avoids con-
troversial issues and brings logic and legal] soundness to the
code. Many administrative impediments are removed by the
new code, though the adoption of it alone will not solve
the glaring school problems of the state. Early enactment
of the school code in the coming legislature is a logical
expectation (Copies of the school code, Bill No. 30, will
be available for wide study when the printed report of the
Legislative Council is available in December.)

Education.

 

The New School Code.

2. Improved Elementary Schools for
Rural Children.

Uniform High School Measure.

Improvement of Office of County” ’
Superintendent.

Strengthening State Department of

carrying these provisions has bee
carefully drafted and has been re
ferred to the education committee:
of the Senate and House. The pro
posals of the county unit bill are no
new. They are applied in many state:
with highly satisfaetory results. A
similar proposal was offered the peo
ple of Kansas many years ago by
C. E. Rarick, the pioneer rural edu
cational leader of Hays. State aic
features of the bill are but an ex
pansion of the elementary state ak
now on our statute books.

The proposed county unit bill fol
lows substantially the suggestions offered by Ass’t Stati
Supt. W. A. Stacey in the October, 1942, KANSAS TEACHER
pp. 46-47. That report with substantiating information ma:
be used for study until the bill appears in printed form.

The county unit bill contains a formula that is logical an
easily understood. First of all, there is to be an over-al
county tax (exclusive of cities of 15,000 population) of |!
mills. The returns from this tax shall be divided among th

 

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