The Miami Times

White Minister Demands Action On Equal Education

JACKSON, Miss. (ANP) Mississippi teachers, both Colored and White, will have to wait at least until January before they know what is going to happen to their pay scales, it was learned this week.

Gov. Fielding L. Wright said he will not call a special session of the legislature to settle the question.

In the meantime at a meeting of the Southern Regional council last week, the Rev. B. Schaeffer, White demanded a long-term program to provide equal teacher training and salaries and equal schools and transportation for Negro teachers and students in Mississippi.

The recent refusal of the state's teachers to accept a so-called regional plan offered by the committee of 300 for the "equalization" of teachers' salaries has left the education program of the state in an uncertain condition.

Negro teachers voted 4,579 to 203 against the plan which called for paying teachers on the basis of training and experience plus a general examination to be given by a national agency. White teachers voted 5,529 to 2,462 against the proposal.

Both Negroes and Whites objected to the idea of taking exams for their pay. Colored teachers also opposed this plan because no Negro was included in the committee of 300. This committee selected by Gov. Wright first met as a whole, then designated a sub-group to study the education question. It did not consult with Negroes during its planning sessions.

Negro and White delegates were