The Augusta Courier

Your Public Schools

Georgia has made great progress in the development of its public school system. However, we have never been able to raise enough money for our schools to keep pace with the more progressive states in the nation.

The worst part of it is that we have always believed that we weren't able to pay the bills. But, when we discover that for each of the years 1946 and 1947 the people of Georgia paid into the Federal Treasury in Washington more than 600 million dollars in taxes we were startled and many of us began to think that if we can contribute that much money to Washington that we ought to be able to take care of our schools at home.

Last year the State of Georgia collected a record-breaking amount of taxes in Georgia. The amount was a little over 100 million dollars.

Now the Georgia Education Association comes along with what it calls a minimum foundation program. In other words, it undertakes to set out how much money we must have each year as a minimum to adequately finance our public school system. Their program calls for 83 million dollars a year. Yet the total state budget is approximately 100 million dollars. If their plan should be adopted and no additional money should be provided that would only leave about 20 million dollars for the State to spend for every other purpose when we are now spending more than that amount on roads and for old age pensions and aid to crippled and dependent children and the blind.

Georgia can't finance this educational program on its present revenue. Georgia must have additional money in her Treasury in order to finance this educational program.

It is true that Georgia has never had adequate school buildings to house her school children. Georgia has never had a sufficient amount of money to pay teachers a proper salary so as to attract into our teaching profession the most capable and competent teachers. They say we have been losing good school teachers to other states at the rate of a thousand a year.

Georgia has never had an adequate transportation system for her school children.

Local school districts and counties have not had the taxing power to raise a sufficient amount of money to supply adequate school buildings, adequate transportation and competent teachers. We have become more dependent upon the State Government each year for these funds and the State's contribution has been gradually increased every year since the year 1937.

In order to keep progress with our sister states and give to our children the type of education they deserve it is going to take more money and it is going to take a better school system.

The Georgia Education Association is leading the way and blazing the trail.

It is doubtful if the State will in the next few years be able to go as far as the Georgia Education Association wishes but the time has come when we must launch out on that kind of a program and go as far as we can go.

At the same time we have got to get out of the habit of looking to the Federal government as a glorified Santa Claus. The Federal Government doesn't have any money of its own. The Federal Government only gets money by taking it away from the people. When we look to the Federal Government to support our schools we can expect Washington to collect the money out of us and then give us back what Washington wants us to have. We do not get this money back for nothing.

When we get Federal aid from Washington we only get back a portion of what we pay Washington. The Washington Government is very extravagant and they take out a lot of money for collecting the taxes, a lot more for administrative expenses and a lot for this and a lot for that. Then when we get Federal aid we get just a few crumbs falling from the Washington table.

And now when we ask for Federal funds for schools we get a threat from our enemies over the nation to give it to us with a proviso that it must be used for teaching white and negro children in the same schools.

If we expect and hope to stay out of the clutches of the folks who forced on the nation the Truman civil rights program and if we expect to educate our white and negro children in separate schools then we have got to raise our own money and finance our own schools.

It strikes us that the way to do it is to knock out some of these Federal taxes and leave some of these Federal tax moneys in Georgia so that Georgia can operate and finance her own schools.

Georgia must face this situation in the immediate future. If Georgia people aren't willing to solve this problem and to pay the bills you can expect the radicals of the nation to tax you with Federal taxes and then finance your schools and destroy segregation in your schools.

It is a lot better for Georgia people to wake up and meet this issue squarely in the face instead of rocking along until some other President of the United States hits you a lick like Harry Truman did with his civil rights program.

It is too late to close the stable door after the horse has disappeared. It is much better to anticipate these problems and solve them at home rather than to bellyache after some Harry Truman or Henry Wallace has stabbed you in the back.