gal/elm 72a rends in Education 1 .. l 5' e xaEs Rural Counties {+91 ‘A55 TEXAS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION R. D. LEWIS. DIRECTOR, COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS DIGEST Progressively more attention is being given to public school education in Texas. Partic since the Gilmer-Aikin Act was passed in the summer of 1949, far-reaching changes have result considerable improvement in the rural educational system. With 43.4 percent of all Texas you the compulsory school ages residing in rural areas, these changes will play an important part future progress of the State. ~~ Through consolidation the number of rural schools declined by 66 percent since 1949. Some a country residents, however, do not approve of school consolidations. Since one of the most co? arguments against school consolidations is that some children spend too much time riding a bus f from school and are unable to take the fullest advantage of existing educational facilities, the v’ of this assumption was tested. Although nontransported students had better attendance recor made slightly higher grades than transported students, no relationship was found between dis, students were transported and their performances. ' Since the adoption of the Gilmer-Aikin Act, school administrators have increased their -‘j to enroll more students and to improve attendance records. Partly as a result of these efforts, V ments in rural areas have remained relatively stationary despite population losses. The percenta tendance record of 92.2 achieved in 1952-53 will be difficult to improve in the future. ~ Curricula have been broadened and “special service” personnel such as school nurses, lib and counselors, are now employed in schools serving rural areas. ‘ Improvements in the quality of rural education are being obtained through several other - Since the Gilmer-Aikin Act was passed, the average length of school term has increased, no rural I being operated less than 175 days in 1952-53. Pupil-teacher ratios have been reduced in rural ar less than 25 students per teacher. Classroom teachers are better qualified, having more teachi perience and academic preparation. The average rural classroom teacher has 12 years of teachi perience. More than 20 percent have master degrees and an additional 72 percent have bache I grees. The Texas Legislature in 1954 raised average salaries of rural classroom teachers to well A $3,000, based on a 9-month period. The cost of rural education has increased in recent years. The State furnishes 61 percent ~ total funds needed for rural education while the local school districts furnish 36 percent. Th L portionate shares of the cost borne by the federal and county governments have remained rela unchanged since the Gilmer-Aikin Act was passed. The State’s proportionate share of the n-c, become slightly less, while the school districts have assumed an increasingly greater share. expenditures per pupil in 1952-53 were slightly higher in rural areas than in the State as a whole, $242 and $217, respectively. ‘ Qaaqéégeai HUNDRED YEARS AGO (January 31, 1854), nurth Texas Legislature set aside$2 million 'ted States bonds for the support and main- pe e of public schools. Since that time public ,’ _ ion has grown consistently. a _ ew responsibilities have more far-reaching alit, nce to people than the maintenance of a ' program of public school education. At , t43.4 percent of all Texas youth in the com- p school ages of 6 to 18 reside in rural areas. , almost half of the State’s citizens and fu- Ileaders will come from rural homes. The tion and preparation of rural youth, there- fWlll play an important role in determining uture progress of the State. Texans have been aware of both the adequa- and shortcomings of their public school pro- Through cooperative endeavor and care- lanning on the part of the State Legislature, iofficial boards of education and professional lay groups, a new set of statutes was adopted 49 which called for a complete revision of the under which our schools were operating. e became known commonly as the Gilmer- r laws. The test of any educational system ‘n what is done for the pupils, however, and ‘ble studies still must be made to determine ffects of these laws upon rural education. PURPOSE OF STUDY i The purpose of this study is to portray the ts of recent legislation upon rural education exas by comparing basic educational trends l’ ral areas with State trends. More specific- i, its purpose is to determine the effects of the _‘ er-Aikin Act upon the following component f: of the rural educational system: school con- ation, enrollment, attendance, curriculum, _- and the quality of teaching. 5., The people of Texas are increasingly con- ius of the need for education and for planning iducational program for the future. In such A ing, past experiences should be examined fully so that a clearer view of the direction p_ implication of rural educational trends can fobtained. Adapting the school program to ~ ging conditions in our society has been a per- int problem. Through the information obtain- f this study, state, county, and local planning Rural Education in Transition i Study of Recent Trenzir m Education m Pa.» Tara! Rum] Countiar R. L. SKRABANEK, Associate Professor Department of Agricultural Economics and Sociology agencies, as well as professional and lay individ- uals, should be better equipped to determine the defects and virtues of our system. They also should be better equipped to plan more effective rural education in Texas for the future. SCOPE AND METHOD OF STUDY This study is confined largely to an analysis of trends in rural education in Texas. Rural edu- cation was studied for each school year from 1945- 46 through 1952-53. This information was com- pared with trends over the State. Five counties in which all residents were classified as rural by the Bureau of Census at the time this study was inaugurated were chosen. Those selected were: Burleson county in East-Central Texas; Castro and Lynn counties on the High Plains; Schleicher county on the Edwards Plateau; and Tyler county in East Texas (Figure 1). The counties were chosen to include two in the more densely popu- lated eastern section; two in the less densely pop- ulated High Plains region; and one on the Ed- wards Plateau. Data for each school year from 1945-46 through 1952-53 were obtained from the office of the county school superintendents in each county and from annual reports and records collected by the Texas Education Agency. CONTENTS Page Digest ................................................................ 1 2 Introduction ...................................................... _, 3 Purpose of Study __________________________________________ ,_ 3 Scope and Method of Study ...................... 3 School Organization Implications of Reorganization .............. .. 4 School Enrollment and Attendance ............ .. 6 Curriculum and" Teaching Personnel .......... .. 7 School Support ................................................. .. 10 Acknowledgments ............................................ __ 11 From left Figure 1. to right-Castro, Lynn, Schleicher, Burleson and Tyler. Location of the study counties. To understand the effects of fairly recent leg- islation upon rural education in the sample coun- ties, the data were divided into two separate per- iods for analysis. The first period, comprising the 4 school years 1945-49, just preceded the Gil- mer-Aikin legislation. The second period, com- prising the 4 school years 1949-53, was immedi- ately after the Gilmer-Aikin laws were adopted. SCHOOL ORGANIZATION Since 1927, when the consolidation laws were first passed, the number of schools in Texas has declined steadily. Most of the decrease has been in common schools. In 1945-46, there were 67 common schools operating in the five counties studied. By 1952-53, their numbers were reduc- ed to 17, or by 75 percent during the 8-year per- iod (Table 1). A similar trend was underway over the State, common schools decreasing by al- most 70 percent. The number of Negro and white common schools declined in about the same pro- portions in rural areas as in the State. In rural areas and in the State, the number of common schools decreased at a faster rate af- Table 1. Number of common schools in five Texas rural co-untiesand in the State. 1945-46 through ter the Gilmer-Aikin Act was passed. This can be expected to continue until there W only a handful of common schools left i State. In some Texas counties there are no a mon schools in existence at present. The greatest decrease in the number of mon schools during any year in both rural and the State occurred immediately after th mer-Aikin Act was passed. Between the s years 1948-49 and 1949-50, their number wit, duced by 36 percent in the five rural countiet by 28 percent in the State. Decreases in a and white schools were about the same. Since mechanization has increased ra during the last decade less labor is require farms. Consequently, many people formerl ployed in agriculture have moved to cities; fewer nonfarm residents are needed to wor sonally in agriculture. These factors have r ed in a loss of rural population in more tha of the counties in Texas. Between 1940 and’; the five counties included in this study r combined loss of more than 6,000 populatioi 13 percent. Fewer pupils to serve in open v try areas has resulted in the consolidatio many common schools with larger ones. The struction of many miles of farm-to-market and an increased desire for more educatio rural people have further facilitated this ' ment. Implications of Reorganization Although it is difficult to everemphasiz importance of improvements in educational. vices through reorganization, some open-co residents do not approve of school consolida They contend that when their schools are c, idated with larger ones an institution which- them together as a social unit is lost. A on school buildings in districts which have consolidated disclosed that they were eitherk and torn down or moved to the larger L the district. It often would be more des’ when a school is consolidated with another p, remove the school building. Instead it co i turned into a community or neighborhood cl This has been done in many Texas commu with farmers feeling that they retained thl hesive element their community needed. A School years Area and race 1945-46 I 1946-47 I 1947-48 I 1948-49 I 1949-50 I 1950-51 I 1951-52 I Number '1 Five rural counties White 45 38 32 27 18 19 15 Negro 22 28 26 23 14 13 8 Total 67 66 58 50 32 32 23 The State White 2786 2537 2169 1823 1357 1182 1017 Negro 1096 1039 867 725 473 417 367 Total 3882 3576 3036 2548 1830 1599 1384 ‘Breakdown by race not available at time of publication. 4 - ji igure 2. A school building no longer needed for that purpose can remain a cohesive element for a community by f. 'ng it into a community center. e time their children obtained the advantages , ttending a larger school. a l-Consolidations should be encouraged only to extent that a reasonable balance is reached teen better educational facilities and the in- ation of a larger community. Some of the l-country residents who live long distances u schools feel that the school is too far from p homes of its patrons and that too often there tle or no participation in its control or opera- 3 by these parents. They feel out of contact _ the teachers, and the teachers know little of 1 home life of the children. Hence the school itution plays little or no part in the life of the hborhoods in which some of its children re- One of the most common arguments against pool consolidation is that some children spend f much time riding a bus to and from school i are unable to take the fullest advantage of ting educational facilities. Since this opin- was voiced so frequently among rural people, p. validity of this common assumption was test- The records of 812 white high school stu- ts in two of the sample counties—Burleson f» Tyler--were obtained to investigate the re- ponship between transportation and student ormances in school} The specific items con- ered were attendance records, grade perform- es and participation in extra-curricular activ- s. surveys upon which this section of the study is bas- were conducted by two graduate students, Robert J. wards and Gerald McEntire, under the author’s super- QOII. Students who rode a private conveyance to school were not considered. Data for the fall se- mester were obtained from permanent school re- cords and from questionnaires filled out by all other high school students. Of the group studied, 326, or 40.1 percent, lived close enough to school so that they did not commute, whereas 486, or 59.9 percent, rode school buses various distances (Table 2). Slight- ly more than 10 percent of the pupils rode a bus to school more than 13 miles each way. Nontransported students were absent less frequently and received higher grades than trans- ported students but there was no difference in their participation in extra-curricular activities. Figure 3. Modern fleets of buses transport 60 per- cent of all students in Burleson and Tyler counties. Table 2. Distribution of 812 transported and nontransported white high school students in Burle Tyler counties, Texas, 1952-53 Transportation categories Distribution of students by sex Boys I Girls I Total I Boys I Girls I Number Percent Nontransported 174 152 326 39.9 40.5 I Transported 263 223 486 60.1 59.5 ‘- G 1.0 to 3.9 miles 70 64 134 16.0 17.1 4.0 to 6.9 miles 42 36 78 9.6 9.6 7.0 to 9.9 miles 56 3'6 92 12.8 9.6 10.0 to 12.9 miles 53 44 97 12.1 11.7 13.0 miles and over 42 43 85 9.6 11.5 Total 437 375 812 100.0 100.0 The differences in grades and attendance of the two groups were almost negligible. For example, nontransported students were absent an average I of 3.3 days per semester and transported students 4.1 days. The grade average of all transported students was B-, and those who rode buses to school had a grade average of C-I-. There apparently was little relationship be- tween distance students traveled to school and their performances. Girls who traveled the far- thest made better grades than girls who rode shorter distances or did not ride a bus, even though the intelligence quotient scores for this group were not higher than for other girls. At- tendance was not related directly to distance traveled to school. Among the boys, attendance records were better for some of the groups far- thest from school than for those who traveled shorter distances. Distance traveled to school also did not appear to be a factor in either club membership or election to an office in school- sponsored clubs. While it is apparent that the consolidation of schools sometimes has an adverse effect upon neighborhood and community relationships, it also appears that transportation is not an important factor in the performances of high school stu- dents. SCHOOL ENROLLMENT AND ATTENDANCE One of the most important trends in rural education is in school enrollment. Prior to the Gilmer-Aikin Act public school funds were ap- portioned on the basis of the census of children of scholastic age residing in each district, without Table 3. Average enrollment in public schools in five rural counties and in the State, 1945-46 1952-53 reference to their attendance. This system. vided no incentive for school administrate encourage children to enroll in school. The; laws, however, provide that a part of the L apportioned to individual districts can be I ted by a school only if the student is enrolle in attendance. This provision stimulated e tors to see that children enroll and attend .- regularly. 1 School enrollment in the five rural c0 . studied has remained relatively stationary the past 8 years. Between 1945-46 and 19 the total enrollment increased less than 2 pe f Thus it has not kept pace with the large inc ; registered in the State, where a gain of abo_ percent was achieved (Table 3). Althougi Gilmer-Aikin Act caused administrators ‘I crease their efforts to enroll more studen public schools, this factor has been offest in i. areas by population losses. a While rural areas have been losing p tion, the State as a Whole has had a treme population increase since 1940. This inc which was proportionately greater than thei in the United States, is reflected in the of school enrollment trends (Table 3). - The average enrollment in schools in». State has increased every year since 1945;. the beginning of the 1952-53 school year,‘ 41,000 more students were enrolled than r beginning of the preceding year. < Enrollment has increased about 7 per white schools in the rural areas of Texas d the past 8-year period. The average memb I has been leveling off during the past 3 years, School years Area and race 19s 1945-46 I 1946-47 I 1947-48 I 1948-49 I 1949-50 I 1950-51 I 1951-52 I I Number ' Five rural counties l‘ White 7,112 7.227 7,243 7,244 7,450 7,605 7,615 Negro 2,218 2,164 2,177 2,129 1,983 1,936 1,913 Total 9,330 9,391 9,420 9,373 9,433 9,541 9,528 _ The State r 1 White 969,991 978,744 990,118 1,022,403 1,073,442 1,119,807 1,168,196 l, "I a Negro 180,887 183,816 184,903 187,744 186,684 193,795 194,109 l1‘ Total 1,150,878 1,162,560 1,175,021 1,210,147 1,260,126 1,313,602 1,362,305 1, »=j For 5 years prior to this time, the" enroll- increased steadily—reaching its peak in ‘52, with the largest gain taking place im- tely after the Gilmer-Aikin Act was pass- The white population in the five study coun- declined about 10 percent between 1940 and L pport the contention of some demographers - most of the population decrease among rural g residents between 1940 and 1950 occurred g the first part of the decade and that it ed down considerably during the latter part. resent, the migration to cities by the white ent of the rural population is apparently rel- small. This factor, coupled with the in- A ed birth rate, accounts for the comparatively le enrollment figures. Average enrollment in Negro schools in the ;study counties has been decreasing steadily lithe past 8 years, dropping about 15 percent. _;: steady decline is reflected in the losses in S _ _o population in rural areas of Texas. In 1950 lfive counties studied had about one-fourth _r Negroes than in 1940. In view of this big ase, school enrollment also should decline ly. As a result of the increased birth rate _ g rural Negroes, however, their age distri- w has been favorable for maintaining enroll- it. iThe number of white pupils enrolled in the ic schools of Texas increased nearly 25 per- 1 within the past 8 years. Enrollment in Ne- public schools increased only 7 percent dur- the same period. This difference lies chiefly ' fering migration patterns. Negroes have ated from Texas in proportionately greater bers. More have also moved from farms to _ a during the past decade and a half. The j rate among Negroes declines sharply after become urban residents. The combination hese factors also partially accounts for the that while the white population in Texas in- j- considerably between 1940 and 1950, the 0 population remained about constant. L‘: Q-J‘|"< Q O - | u: LVUJ ;‘ UVG ¢ The enrollment can be expected to increase iderably during the next few years as the ef- of a greatly increased birth rate is felt in I rural and urban areas. Outgoing high school tuating classes, whose members were born . Enrollment trends for white pupils tend » during the depression and a period of low birth rates, will be replaced by three or four times their number by first-year entering students who were born in a period of high birth rates. As a result of this trend, a vast majority of the school dis- tricts have felt the need to expand their building programs. Since the birth rate has remained con- sistently high since 1940, the problem of provid- ing more buildings for an expanded enrollment can be expected to become more acute. Length of school term and regularity of stu- dent attendance are significant features of any educational system. Prior to the Gilmer-Aikin Act, the minimum requirement for the length of school term in Texas was6 months. Few public schools failed to exceed the length of term requir- ed by law, but most rural schools operated 7 to 9 months per year. Under new laws, however, all public schools are required to operate 9 months, exclusive of national holidays. In 1952-53 no rural school was operated less than 175 days, there be- ing no difference between the length of school term in rural areas and in other public schools in the State. Although attendance regulations were not rigidly enforced in most school districts before 1949, attendance records were consistently high in rural schools in Texas even prior to that time. Since 1945 the percentage attendance for all rural students has never been lower than 90.2 for any school year. Since the Gilmer-Aikin Act was pass- ed the lowest percentage attendance for any year was 92.2 (Table 4). This record compares favor- ably with attendance figures in other states and will be difficult to improve in the future. Very little difference exists between attend- ance records of rural pupils and those of other public school students in the State. During most of the years since 1945 rural schools have had better attendance records than schools in the State as a whole. CURRICULUM AND TEACHING PERSONNEL The consolidation of schools has made pos- sible broader course offerings for rural pupils. Such courses as vocational agriculture, home eco- nomics, industrial shop work and music now are found in almost all of the rural high schools in the State. le 4. Percent attendance in public schools in five rural counties and in the State. 1945-46 through 1952-53 School years , Area and race 1945-46 I 1946-47 I 1947-48 1948-49—‘| 1949-50 I 1950-51 I 1951-52 I 1952-53 .. Percent . rural counties 1 White 91.2 92.0 91.5 92.7 93.1 92.7 94.1 93.4 .. Negro 89.1 87.0 87.1 91.1 91.3 91.8 89.6 87.6 5 Total 90.2 90.9 90.5 92.3 92.7 92.6 93.2 92.2 Stat Wliite 90.0 91.8 92 2 93.6 91.6 92.7 92.4 92.8 l Negro 86.9 87.9 88 0 89.3 90.3 90.6 91.0 88.6 ; Total 89.5 91.2 91 6 92.5 91.4 92.4 92.2 92.2 Figure 4. Courses in vocational agriculture are taught in all high schools in the five study counties. In addition to a broader curriculum, special- ized services are available to most rural pupils. The Gilmer-Aikin Act provides for the employ- ment of “special service” teachers in addition to the regular classroom teachers. Prior to this time rural schools generally had no such person- nel on their staffs. By 1952-53, there were four librarians, three school nurses, four itinerant teachers, and four special service counselors or supervisors in the five rural counties studied. Their services are not restricted to the larger schools. Since it is impractical for each small school to hire its own special service personnel, some of the county administrators have worked out cooperative arrangements whereby all small schools in a county have these benefits by shar- ing the costs. In Burleson county, for example, a school nurse Works in all of the Negro schools in the common districts in the county. Similar arrangements are found in Negro and white schools in other counties. Through this method all of the school children in a rural area benefit Figure 5. School nurses and other special service personnel usually are employed in Texas rural schools. 8 by the special services offered by the public system. g A Even though curriculum offerings an employment of special service teachers ar portant in rural areas, the classroom teach cupies the key place in any educational ;1 Improvements in the quality of education inf areas, therefore, are related directly to the ity of teaching in rural schools. Such factol the ratio of numbers of students per te academic preparation for teaching, salaries years of experience in the teaching professio important auxiliary determinants of the qu of teaching. ‘ Prior to the Gilmer-Aikin Act local ~~ boards determined the average number of per teacher in their respective districts. the new laws, the State assumes the financial; den in helping schools to reduce their pupil-t er ratios to 25. In 1952-53, the ratio was 24 the rural counties studied. Rural areas have sistently had lower ratios than other schoo, the State, for the number of students per tel has been less than 25 every year since 19 This is accounted for at least in part by m tion out of rural areas. At present the r teacher ratio in the public schools of the is 26.3 and has not been below 26.0 since 19 In the past, the classroom teaching g sion in rural areas particularly was confine most exclusively to females. Within recent however, the number of male classroom teac, has increased steadily. In 1952-53, 30 perce, the total number of classroom teachers empl in rural schools were males. Although the ber of male classroom teachers is increasing the State as a whole, they comprise a smaller] portion (22 percent) of the total than in i areas. One of the main goals of the Gilmer- Act was to attract better qualified personn the teaching profession by setting up mini g wage scales for all teachers based in part on ’ demic training. a A striking improvement in educational tainments of classroom teachers has occurrk rural areas (Table 5). The number of class teachers with less than 2 years of college prepl tion has been reduced from about 1 out of i 1945-46 to less than 1 out of 100 in 1952-53. classroom teachers now possess a high school ploma. There also has been a decided incr’ in the number of classroom teachers with col degrees. In 1945-46, fewer than half of the I classroom teachers possessed degrees; by 1i 53, 93 percent had degrees. The numerical crease of classroom teachers with master de l has been almost as great as for those with :71 elor degrees. a‘ Percentages o1 classroom teachers by college training in five rural counties and in the State, i 1945-46 through 1952-53 T, H t _ _ I A School years »_" °° °9° "mung l 1945-46 l 1946-47 l 1947-48 l 1948-49 l 1949-50 l 1950-51 l 1951-52 l 1952-53 ,' Percent al counties , aster degree 1.3 3.2 4.2 5.5 8.9 11.4 18.5 20.4 chelor degree 45.7 48.3 59.3 58.6 72.4 77.2 73.4 72.4 "'~ years but less than 4 37.4 36.7 32.3 32.2 17.1 10.0 7.5 6.6 as than 2 years 15.6 11.6 4.2 3.7 1.6 1.4 0.6 0.6 1- e y aster degree 10.6 11.0 12.4 14.3 16.2 20.2 25.5 30.4 Bachelor degree 60.8 61.5 65.9 69.3 74.0 74.0 70.2 65.7 2 years but less than 4 22.6 21.7 16.5 14.4 8.7 5.2 3.7 2.9 91.999 than 2 years 6.0 5.8 3.2 2.0 1.1 0.6 0.6 1.0 p ‘nlthough classroom teachers in rural areas teachers. With no minimum Wage requirements f0 .rhave less training than classroom teachers at that time, salaries varied considerably from l1 - State, the gap between the two groups nar- one district to another largely as a result of the 9 _l considerably since 1945-46. At present, 9'6 relative difference in taxable wealth and the com- 1’ ; ffnt of the classroom teachers in the State pos- parative supply and demand situations for teach- l1 college degrees. During 1945-46, the per- ers. l * kges of classroom teachers in the State and 1, al areas having college degrees were 71 and The flverage annual Salary 0f CIaSSPOOm in ‘espectively_ teachers 1n rural areas has increased steadily 2r a slnce 1945-46. During the 8-year period that fol- 3. lfNegro CIaSSYOQm teachers 113V? Shown more lowed, it more than doubled, increasing from $1,- l. vement 1n college preparation 1n recent years 320 to $2,971 (Table 6y The trend of annual salary increases that occurred prior to Gilmer- Aikin legislation is expected to continue. The an- nual salary of classroom teachers in rural areas has increased an average of $618 in the 4-year interval since the new laws were enacted. State legislation passed in 1954 will raise average an- In the past, rural teachers traditionally have llgfiefilissgxegrggtggghiirisgilggles m rural areas é one of the most poorly paid occupational ’ ' ' in the nation. In recognition of the fact well-qualified personnel could not be attrac- into the teaching profession if exceedingly salaries prevailed, the Gilmer-Aikin Act pro- ; that a minimum wage scale must be observ- ‘ have, the whites. The percentage of Negro ' oom teachers possessing degrees is also tly higher in rural areas and in the State as ‘ole than it is for the whites. This'is attrib- e to keener competition for teaching posi- g among Negroes than among whites. ow?‘ Although the average annual salary of class- room teachers in rural areas is about $350 less than for the State as a whole, the rate of increase since 1945-46 has been slightly greater in rural . . . . areas. Since the Gilmer-Aikin Act was placed in » trsgllinlllgrlbgilc 3121:1121igegilgggiétigglgnzcéggga;Z effect, however, the rate of salary increases reg- xperience in the teaching profession. If a lstered by the two groups has been about the _l district desires, it may pay more than the Sama ‘Vmum wage specified by law but it must raise additional funds required locally. It is not Fommon for rural districts to pay more than j minimum wage. Negro classroom teachers in rural areas bene- fited more financially from Gilmer-Aikin legisla- tion than did white teachers. With lower salaries to begin with, since its adoption the average an- Prior to Gilmer-Aikin legislation, each indiv- Illlal Salary 0f NBQPO CIaSSPOOm teafihefs has i11- »= school board determined the salaries of its creased 38 percent while the salary of whites in- ile 6. Average annual salaries of classroom teachers in five rural counties and in the State.- 1945-46 through 1952-531 School years m“ “"4 m“ 1945-46 T194647 l 1947-48 l 1949-49 l 1949-50 l 1950-51 l 1951-52 l 1952-53 , Dollars ‘ rural counties White 1.410 1.763 2.368 2.408 2.843 2.726 2.938 2.956 Negro 1.029 1.270 2.183 2.167 2.866 2.931 2.903 2.979 Total 1.320 1.650 2.325 2,353 2.848 2.770 2.931 ' 2.971 A State 1 White 1.647 1.905 2.565 2.659 3.029 3.065 3.204 3.342 Negro 1.284 1.521 2.341 2.499 2.957 2.905 3.078 3.205 Total 1.594 1.848 2.532 2.636 3.018 3.038 3.186 3.323 = salaries are for a 9-month periad. creased 26 percent. Negro classroom teachers in rural areas now make more on the average than do white classroom teachers. This is largely the result of the former group possessing more aca- demic training and more years of teaching exper- ience. For the State as a whole, white classroom teachers have a slightly higher average annual salary than Negroes. This probably is because more white teachers are located in districts where salaries are above the minimum wage scale. In the past the rural teaching profession has had a high percentage of inexperienced classroom teachers. Because of salary differentials, inex- perienced teachers often started in rural schools and after gaining experience moved to city schools. Under these conditions, rural schools were often referred to as “proving grounds” for future city teachers. Now that the salary differentials are reduc- ed, rural schools are better equipped to retain ex- perienced personnel. Since the Gilmer-Aikin Act was adopted more experienced teachers have re- mained in rural schools. During the school year, 1949-50, about 14 percent of the classroom teach- ers in rural areas were in their first year of teach- ing (Table 7). By 1952-53 the percentage of new teachers was cut in half, or to slightly less than 7 percent. This rate of turnover is especially small since a large percentage of women teachers are in the marriageable ages. As they marry, many of them leave the teaching profession and have to be replaced by beginning teachers. The percentage of classroom teachers in rural areas who were teaching for the first time was lower in 1952-53 than for the State as a whole, since slightly more than 11 percent of all classroom teachers in the State were new in their occupa- tion that school year. Table 7. Percentage oi classroom teachers according to number of years of teaching experience in‘ rural counties and in the State, 1945-46 through 1952-53 ? The average number of years of teachi a perience for rural classroom teachers has in ed, reaching an all-time high of 11.9 years in , 53. This is almost 1 full year more than t,‘ State as a whole. A Teachers frequently move from one “' school to another. In 1952-53, 21 percent i, rural classroom teachers who had previous _ ing experience were in their first year at j present locations. High mobility apparent characteristic of the public school teaching; fession, for in the State during the same A 23 percent of all classroom teachers who had a ious teaching experience were new in the’ spective schools. Thus classroom teachers i‘ State apparently do not remain in one place ~ as long as do rural teachers. * SCHOOL SUPPORT The total cost of education in the five ~ counties studied increased from approxim $826,000 in 1945-46 to $2,303,000 in 1952-53., cost of education almost tripled in the a period. Even so, the budget for the peak l, 1952-53, is not excessive if the cost of the ~ investment is measured in terms of school ress rather than in terms of dollars expe During this peak year the people contribute proximately 1.6 percent of their income as share in the total cost of education in thei spective counties. Since 1950-51, expenditures for educati, rural counties have increased at a faster rate for the State. Although the total cost has ' going up since 1945, in terms of purchasing er of the dollar the increases noted in bot 1 penditures and teachers’ salaries are not as as the dollar amounts indicate. The total in in the rural counties as well as in the State NHfiOUJ€ 1 1 l. Area and teaching s¢h°°1 Years . 1 experience 1945-46 I 1946-47 I 1947-48 1948-49 I 1949-50 l 1950-51 I 1951-52 I 195 P? 1 Percent r 1 Five rural counties 4 In first year 11.4 9.7 7.9 7.1 13.9 13.5 5.4 i 1 to 5 years 28.0 23.9 23.1 21.6 19.7 24.9 30.3 . 6 to 10 years‘ 17.0 23.1 25.2 21.9 _ 28.4 23.8 21.7 11 to 20 years‘ 30.6 27.6 27.8 32.5 31.0 29.4 34.6 21 or more years‘ 13.0 15.7 16.0 16.9 A 7.0 8.4 8.0 Average number years experience: 9.9 10.5 10.8 11.3 11 1 10.9 11.5 The State In first year 5.8 6.4 6.2 7.2 9.9 9.4 7.5 1 to 5 years 20.1 19. 18.1 17.4 17.1 19.8 21.7 6 to 10 years‘ 20.3 19.5 19.7 19.0 23.9‘ 22.6 24.4 _ 11 to 20 years‘ 32.9 33.0 32.9 32.5 35.2 34.2 32.9 f?" 21 or more years‘ 20.9 22.1 23.1 23.9 13.9 14.0 13.5 20.8‘ Average number years . experience: 12.1 12.3 12.5 12.6 13.2 13.0 12.8 11.1; ‘Prior to 1949-50. teachers were grouped according to years o1 teaching experience in the following categories: 6 years; 11 to 20 years; 21 or more years. From 1949-50 and for each year thereafter, the group classifications were ‘f ed to: 6 to 12 years; 13 to 25 years; and 26 or more years. ‘ 10 i Percentage oi total school funds-by source oi receipts for five rural counties. 1945-46 through 1952-53. and for the State. 1950-51 through 1952-531 School years r source oi funds 1947-41; 1 1945-46 I 1946-47 I 1948-49 I 1949-50 I 1950-51 | 1951-52 | 1952-53 Percent - counties . ‘deral 1.7 2.4 2.2 2.9 2.1 2.4 1.8 2.0 ‘i -te 66.8 68.4 69.4 64.8 69.0 68.6 65.8 61.1 < unty 1.1 0.6 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.5 » cal 30.1 28.6 28.2 32.0 28.2 28.5 32.0 36.4 5 ' anthropic 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 . A e, jderql — — — —— — 2.0 2.4 2.1 qte - — — —- — 58.0 57.4 57.0 '1 - ugly —- — —- — —— 0.8 0.7 1.1 cal — — — — — 39.0 39.5 39.7 ' ‘lanthropic — ' — — — — U-Z U-U 0-1 i _ - -- —- — 100.0 100.0 100.0 Total jcreased considerably during the same per- 'nd the relative ability of people to pay for gr costs of education has increased generally. t has been accepted generally that rural ls expend less money per pupil enrolled than l er schools. Chiefly because of the improved ,e status of farmers and ranchmen since fginning of World War II, however, the gap en the two not only has narrowed, but ex- tures per pupil are higher in rural schools ‘j in the State as a whole. Average expendi- per pupil in 1952-53 were $242 in rural areas 217 in the State. Undoubtedly the cost of porting children is the major factor account- jor this difference. Public schools in Texas are state agencies h are conducted largely by local units of ll administration; but the federal, state, ‘ y and local units of government as well as nthropic organizations give financial assist- for school support. i The proportionate shares of the cost of pub- ucation in the five study counties coming z ‘ various sources have remained relatively anged since 1945-46 (Table 8). There has i been a shift toward an increased burden on State in financing rural schools. The State’s grtionate financial contribution has decreas- lightly every year since the Gilmer-Aikin Act y passed. At the same time the proportion of l» coming from local taxes has increased a lit- ievery year. Y” The State consistently has furnished between and 69 percent of the total funds needed in V: I for the State for years prior to l950_-5l are not available. rural areas for public schools, whereas the pro- portionate amount of rural school support coming from local taxes has varied between 28 and 36 percent. The proportion of funds contributed by the Federal Government for rural education also has remained relatively unchanged since 1945-46. During the 8-year period considered in this study, the Federal Government’s contribution toward the total cost of rural education has been between 2 and 3 percent every year. For the 3 years for which figures on costs of public education in Texas are available, it is evident that public schools in general depend a little more heavily on local taxes as a source of financial support than do rural schools. On the other hand, rural schools are a little more de- pendent on the State for financial support than are all public schools. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author expresses appreciation to the many persons who helped in one way or another in the completion of this study. Among these, L. P. Sturgeon, associate director of the Texas Education Agency, and other staff members of the Agency helped in the preliminary planning of the study. To Guy C. West and Nancy Wardlaw, respectively head and chief clerk of the Records and Statistics Division of the Texas Education, Agency, and to A. J. Faulds, Robert Estes, Lenore Tunnell, E. W. Craig and T. E. Howell, county school superintendents in the counties studied, the writer is indebted for their cooperation in sup- plying certain portions of the information on which this study is based. 11