About Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965 | View Entire Issue (March 3, 1955)
PAGE 16—March 3, 1955—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS Oklahoma OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. QKLAHOMA’S House of Repre sentatives passed a resolution Feb. 15, calling for a constitutional amendment election March 25. The House proposes to hand state voters a seven-point school finance pack age, including creation of a new countywide four-mill levy for all schools, replacing the present four mills restricted to Negro schools. The four-mill levy, key factor in merging the present divorced white and Negro school budgets was not the major issue in the controversy that lagged through House commit tees for nearly a month, burst into open battle on the House floor and is expected to cause further delays in the Senate. But the budget merger drew one isolated round of fire. Rep. Guy Horton of Altus (Jack- son county in southwest Oklahoma, with 267 Negroes age 6-17) sought to strike out the four-mill replace ment levy. Eliminating the separate levy for Negro schools would hasten desegregation, he said. “This will be a most classic tragedy for the Ne gro race. The Negro race has made its great progress because of the in spired leadership of Negro school teachers,” Horton said. In an open committee hearing Feb. 2, Horton had declared such action would “open the floodgates to de segregation.” “I look upon the Supreme Court decision as one of the most high handed usurpations of judicial au thority in the history of the Anglo- Saxon race,” he said at that time. Horton’s proposal was voted down. So was an amendment proposed by Rep. Frank Ogden, Guymon, who suggested making the four-mill levy permissive instead of mandatory. (Guymon, in Texas county in the Panhandle, lists no Negro residents of school age). NO SENATE OBJECTIONS No Senate objections to the four- mill levy have been indicated thus far. Gov. Raymond Gary, who has fought hard to hold down ad valorem tax increases in another phase of the omnibus measure, has shown no opposition to the replacement levy and has frankly called for speedy work toward a public election lay ing groundwork for desegregated operations. Oklahoma Education Association leaders, who first asked for a new five-mill replacement levy and later compromised for four mills, have expressed belief the dual budget system is the only real constitutional barrier to integrated schools. Fer- ma n Phillips, OEA executive secre tary has said other constitutional bans on mixed schools are “just so much deadwood” and can be cut away by legislative action without public vote in light of the Supreme Court decision. After its hard-fought trip through the House, the package finance meas ure must go through the Senate speedily, if a March 25 election is to be held. Sen. Oliver Walker, Senate education chairman, said the attorney general’s office advised him legisla tive work on the amendment resolu tion should be complete 30 days before the election date. Dale said he would hold public hearings on the bill if demand arose, but he expected none. The resolu tion was headed for conference com mittee study after its second reading in the Senate, and a conference re writing job is expected. The big issue in the Senate—as it was in the House—is whether school districts should be allowed to vote 5 or 10 mills above the present 20- mill constitutional limit for general operations. This is entirely separate from the four-mill Negro school revenue replacement issue, but school men argue the extra millage has vital bearing on educational standards for all children. Gov. Gary has repeatedly taken a stand against more than five extra mills, but has appeared to waver several times in the face of appeals from Oklahoma City and Tulsa edu cation leaders. The House overrode him and put a 10-mill provision in its final resolution (that is, high schools would be held to 5 mills). On the eve of Senate consideration, Gary again expressed hopes the limit can be held to five mills, but he did not rule out entirely the possibility that a compromise might be worked out for metropolitan areas. Supt. J. Chester Swanson of Okla homa City schools has said he cannot ask Oklahoma City patrons to sup port any finance program hampered with a five-mill ceiling because “that simply would not solve our prob lem.” Tulsa PTA leaders, apparently stung by Gov. Gary’s contention that his office mail shows most Okla homans do not want to increase their ad valorem tax burdens, called in mid-February for a whirlwind letter and telegram campaign ad vising the governor that patrons ac tually do desire 10-mill voting privi leges. Mrs. Evans L. Davis, Tulsa PTA president, issued the call, warn ing Tulsa will be in an emergency squeeze forcing half-day school sessions within two years unless millage relief is given. Both the school bloc and Gary’s administration backers have con ceded an amendment probably could not win at the polls if Oklahoma City and Tulsa actually withdraw support of the whole package. Still in the works is the possibility of a “formula” plan under which metro politan areas and certain other dis tricts might gain extra millage rights if they could show pressing need. Senate conferees also must decide whether the amendment will go to state voters in one lump, or as several separate propsals. The House in its stormy passage session defeated a freshman legislator’s attempt to divorce at least one measure from the main amendment. Rep. Dale Kite of Hollis objected to including a 17 million dollar college building bond issue proposal in the same amendment as the millage proposals, so that all the measures must suc ceed or fail together. Kite said he favored both propositions, but con sidered handing the millage and col lege bond proposals to the voters in a single amendment “cheap, legisla tive trickery.” SEVEN PROVISIONS The House resolution finally passed with two “no” votes. They were cast by Rep. Horton and Rep. Milam King of Checotah. The seven provisions, largely covered in pre vious issues of Southern School News, are as follows: The four-mill replacement levy; extra millage; a new state common school building fund; a 17 million dollar college building bond issue; opening the present five-mill build ing levy for use in repairs as well as new construction; lifting the bonded indebtedness ceiling from 50 to 10 per cent of assessed valuation, and permitting school boards to hire teachers beyond the present one- year contract limit. COURT RULES ON BONDS As the legislature argued financial problems of desegregation and other school operations, the Oklahoma Supreme Court decided Oklahoma counties may still legally float bonds to build Negro schools despite the U. S. Supreme Court’s anti-segrega tion order. The ruling came in a suit filed by Jeff McHenry and J. H. Matlock acting for Wagoner County tax payers. They had protested a $431,- 000 bond issue approved by that county’s voters Feb. 9, 1954, for separate school buildings and sites, arguing the bond issue amounted to a violation of the desegregation edict. McHenry, who was a Negro can didate for the U. S. Senate last July, and his co-plaintiff, also contended the bond issue earmarked for sepa rate school facilities violated the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U. S. Constitution, in that it deprived them of due process of law and equal protection under the law. The state court held that the U. S. high court order limited only the use of school property, not its con struction. “If it could be said that property so acquired could not be used for any purposes other than the educa tion of children of the colored race since it is for separate schools, there Southern Education Reporting Service P.O. Box 6156, Acklen Station Nashville, Tenn. BULK RATE U. S. Postage PAID Nashville, Tenn. Permit No. 928 University of Georgia Libraries Acquisitions Division Athens, Ga. Return Postage Guaranteed might be some merit in the plaintiff’s contention. But such contention can not be maintained,” the state court held. The court pointed out all sep arate school facilities in the various counties are owned by the state and when the present Oklahoma school law is revised, those plants probably will be used by both white and Ne gro pupils. CHURCH BACKS OPINION Another religious denomination entered a formal vote for school de segregation as the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma completed its 18th an nual convention in Oklahoma City in late January. The convention voted a resolution endorsing the Supreme Court stand against segregated edu cation and authorized its agencies to “work with others to peacefully bring this law into effect in the state of Oklahoma.” The Episcopalians also elected two Negroes among their official repre sentatives to the national general convention set next September in Honolulu. They are the Rev. Shirley G. Sanchez, rector of Oklahoma City’s Church of the Redeemer, and Arthur D. Boyd, an Oklahoma coun ty deputy sheriff. The Right Rev. Chilton Powell, Episcopal bishop of Oklahoma, gave strong personal en dorsement of integration efforts in a public address on Feb. 4. COMMISSION FORMED Among league-inspired efforts ma terializing in February was creation of a mayor’s commission on human affairs in Oklahoma City. Twenty- six citizens representing schools, churches, civic groups and organized labor were named to the group. Temporary chairman is Dr. W. Mc- Ferrin Stowe, pastor of St. Luke’s Methodist Church. Growing out of a league confer ence with representatives of the Na tional Conference of Christians and Jews, the YMCA, YWCA, and Coun cil of Churches, the commission was named from a list of nominees com piled by the cooperating agencies. Initial plans include a spring trip to Phoenix, Ariz., where the entire commission hopes to tour recently desegregated schools and spend sev eral days talking informally with key community leaders. Announcement of the panel’s ap pointment drew a public objection from Jimmy Stewart, Oklahoma City branch president for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Stewart said the NAACP has no official representa tion on the commission, although he noted “a good percentage” of com mission members are also on NAACP rolls. A check at city hall shows Stewart’s name was among the more than 50 nominees submitted to Mayor Allen Street. Stewart said in any case the NAACP “cannot and will not” sup port a group that might develop into a semi-official body capable of set ting policies in line with what he called the Urban Legue’s “weak- kneed” approach to integration. Stewart said his objection followed the national NAACP pattern set at last summer’s Atlanta meeting. Urban League leaders took the position that the NAACP protest was a “matter of personalities” rather than a reflection of genuine organ ized objection from the membership. An NAACP meeting Feb. 13 was thrown open to discussion of a pos sible formal protest, but no decision was reached. Further action was left to executive committeemen, who were to meet late in February. Virginia RICHMOND, Va. A s far as the school segregation controversy is concerned, Feb ruary was the quietest month in Vir ginia since the Supreme Court handed down its anti-segregation ruling on May 17 of last year. The state’s segregation study com mission has held no meetings since filing its interim report on Jan. 19 declaring that it would search for legal means to prevent enforced in tegration in the public schools. No plans have been announced for any further meetings. While Virginia now is following a “wait-and-see” policy, pending fur ther hearings before the Supreme Court, there have been several de velopments relating to the overall segregation issue: RICHMOND BIRTH RATES The Richmond News Leader edi torially has called attention to the fact that in 1954, for the first time, the number of births to Negro resi dents of the state’s capital city ex ceeded the number of births to white residents. Preliminary figures show 2,475 white births and 2,530 Negro births, or a rate of 15.4 per 1,000 population for whites and 32.8 for Negroes. Negroes constitute 29 per cent of Richmond’s total population. In 1946 the birth rates for white and Negro residents were virtually the same (23.0 for white and 23.2 for Negroes), but since then the white rate generally has been going down while the Negro rate has been rising. The News Leader said the causes of the shifting birth rate patterns are (1) the migration of young white couples to the suburbs beyond the city limits, and (2) the rising economic level of the Negroes. In commenting on the effect of this shift, the newspaper said, in part: “In our guess, Richmond will con tinue to maintain racially segregated public schools for many years to come, whether in defiance of the Supreme Court’s opinion or in ac ceptance of it. School districts will be drawn by white and colored neighborhoods, and where segrega tion cannot be accomplished by dis tricting it will be achieved by in dividual pupil transfers and volun tary choice of schools.” NEGRO PUBLISHERS MEET Members of the National News paper Publishers Association (Ne gro) , at their annual three-day Win ter Workshop at Hampton Institute, discussed the general topic, “The Role of the Negro Newspaper in a Desegregated Society.” A Workshop spokesman said that typical of the views expressed by the various speakers were those of Dr. John W. Davis, special director of teacher information and security of the National Association for the Ad vancement of Colored People, who said, in part: “The Negro press recognizes the fact that in a desegregated society all of the facets of segregation and racial discrimination will not cease to ex ist. These evils in the areas of race, creed, and color will re-emerge in the new order in more subtle and sophisticated disguises. . . . “The Negro press in the new order will not only continue to serve the Negro but even, as well, an in creasingly widening white reader- ship. Desegregation is a door througl which the Negro will pass to first- class citizenship so as to be classifier legally, politically, culturally, eco nomically and realistically as an un abridged American. . . . “The Negro press will enlighten the larger or metropolitan press on measures which may be used to bring harmony, good will and unity to the desegregated community with out harm to the sensibilities of the divergent or differing ethnic groups which make up the community.” The National Newspaper Publish ers Association has a membership of 30 Negro publications located in 19 states. HAMPTON PLANS COURSE Dr. Alonzo G. Moron, president ol Hamptop Institute, announced es tablishment of a special course for school teachers, “Professional Prep aration for Schools in Transition." In letters sent to 1,500 white and Negro teachers in the cities of Hamp ton, Newport News and Warwick, Dr. Moron explained: “In this course, the teacher-stu dents will study the racial aspects of our public school system, the legal basis for segregation, the effects of segregation on the Negro and white child, the costs of maintain ing segregation and the backgrounds of the May 17 decision. The second part of the course will cover com munity experiences during the de segregation of the schools in those areas where segregation was abol ished before May 17. Finally, there will be presented white and Negro teachers from Washington and Balti more who will describe their ex periences in an integrated school system.” The course taught by Dr. Moron meets for two hours each Saturday morning. Twenty-six persons—eight white and the remainder Negro- were registered. FUNDS FOR GRADUATES State Budget Director J. H. Brad ford has released figures showing that Virginia spent $193,737 from 3 graduate aid fund during the P® 3 ’ fiscal year for the education of Negro students at 60 out-of-sta* c universities. During the preceding year the fund disbursed $149,000 to provide assistance to 482 Virgin 33 Negro students attending 46 schoo 5 in other states. The fund was established “to vide equal educational facilities to certain persons denied admission Virginia State colleges, university and institutions of higher learning- CANDIDACY ANNOUNCED Oliver W. Hill, 47, chairman of» state legal committee of the Nation Association for the Advancement Colored People, announced his caI ^ didacy in the Democratic primary July 12 for one of Richmond’s se^ seats in the Virginia House of E e gates. Mr. Hill was an attorney the plaintiffs in the Prince Edw ^ County school case, one of th° se , which the Supreme Court pn against racial segregation. In 1948 Mr. Hill was elected * member of the City of Richmon^ nine-member Council, becoming named the city’s governing body i 11 century. first member of his race ^
