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PROMPT PAYMENT FOR COM- !
MON SCHOOL TEACHERS. |
Teachers Themselves Should Get
to Work—Parents VitallyCon
cerned—Every One Should
Lend a Hand.
There was, perhaps, never a
time when so many vital interests
were at stake in Georgia as at j
present, and the Legislature at its j
coming session, will be called upon !
to solve some problems of great j
moment.
One of the most vital of these j
problems is the welfare of the
schools, e’ pecially the country
schools. The time has come when
the people of the country are re
alizing the possibility of having
schools for their children quite as
good as city people have for
theirs. They should begin to
realize not only this possibility
but their right to have them, and
should undertake the duty of see
ing that the State does its part in
creating them. They should de
mand that all hampering condi
tions in the power of the Legis
lature be removed at its next ses
sion, and that such support and
help as may be possible for the
Legislature to give, be promptly
provided. The teachers, too,
should take part in an aggressive
campaign for changes in present
conditions. The time has passed
when a teacher’s duty is complete
when she does her class-room
work well. She should under
stand the conditions under which
her work must be done, and if
these conditions make good work
impossible or even difficult, she
should do her best to have them
changed. In other words, she
should be an active member of
society, working constantly to bet
ter all imperfect conditions, and,
especially, the conditions which
affect her work.
One of the worst conditions
which the country schools have to
face is that of the deferred pay
ment of teachers. In the present
year the evil has reached its maxi
mum, the teachers having been
paid, so far, only ten per cent of
their hard earned salaries. While
this goes on, the country schools
cannot hope to get the best teach
ers or to reach any high degree of
efficiency. No matter how devot
ed and self-sacrificing a teacher
may be, or how much she may be
willing to lose herself, in the
work, she must have enough
money for food, shelter and cloth
ing and, in many cases, her salary
as teacher is her only dependence
for these. Often she has aged
parents or helpless little brothers
and sisters also dependent on her
earnings. Even though she might
barely subsist without her salary,
it is her only dependence for self
improvement and the means of
becoming a better teacher. It is
easy to see that when she is of
fered a place where her salary
will be promptly paid, she will
feel it her duty to accept this in
stead of one where she will be
forced to wait from January to
November or pay rates of dis
count which will greatly reduce
even the pittance which the State
owes her.
In the interest of their children
then, the intelligent people now
living in tiie country, take
measures to have this’ evil reme
died. Once the people are arous
ed to the importance of’ the mat
ter, the remedy will not be diffi
cult. The deferred payments are
in no sense necessary. Practi
cally all other obligations of the 1
State are met promptly. The
whole burden of waiting is thrown
upon the persons who are least'
able to bear it and through them,
the country schools, which are
struggling under other difficulties
almost impossible to overcome,
have this additional hampering j
influence. All sorts of things have !
been proposed, but not one wise i
measure has, so far, been agreed
upon and urged unitedly upon the j
attention of the Legislature. So 1
far, also, a leader has been lacking!
and, while the evil has been talked
about and deplored, no remedy j
has been pushed to comnletion.'
The reason for this passivity owl
the part of the powers that be is j
not far to seek. The teachers who]
are forced to wait are, for the most
part women, and have no vote, \
The old soldiers long ago recog- ]
nized the power of their vote, and ]
when they called for prompt pay-!
ment, the powers heard and obey-1
ed. The votes which the teachers ]
lack are in the hands of the fath-1
ers of the children, who, after all,
are the real sufferers and when
these fathers use their power as
the old soldiers did, there will be
the same prompt obedience, and
this great source of harm to the
schools which their children must
attend will be removed, and it
will be possible for their children’s
teachers to be equal to those pro
vided for city children.
The teachers, themselves,should
not be idle. They have no vote,
but there are very few of them
who cannot control a vote. There
are many who can bring pressure
to bear upon the Legislature. All
can talk to the men who vote and
help in creating a sentiment.
There should be prompt action if
anything is to be accomplished at
the coming session of the Legis
lature. If the teachers in each
county would meet, organize for
the purpose, divide out the work,
which is to be done, call upon the
patrons of the schools to help, in
terview their representatives and
not rest until these representa
tives are pledged not only to vote
for relief, but to work for it, the
relief will be assured.
The trouble and its remedy are
both so simple that the wonder is
that it has been allowed to go on
so long. When the common schools
of Georgia were established, the
work of teaching was begun nearly
a year before the money which
had been appropriated for them
was available. The State has nev
er caught up with this particular
obligation. It has gone on, paying
other obligations promptly and
letting this one “slide.” At first
sight, it would seem hard to “catch
up” without increasing the taxes
and it is said that the tax payers
object to this. The teachers’
salaries for 1911, are to be paid
out of the taxes for 1911. The
schools have a session of several
months in the early part of the
year and the property taxes of
the State of which the farmers pay
the larger part are not due until
November. How then can the
teachers be paid? The answer is
simple. The property tax is not
the State’s only source of revenue.
Large sums come in from special
taxes from February on. Why can
not the teachers have a share of
| this money? The old soldiers are
paid their pensions in full in Feb
ruary. The teachers of the Uni
versity, the Norman Schools, and
other State schools are paid
monthly. The State House of
ficers and the members of the
Legislature get their salaries
promptly. The common school
teachers are the only State em
ployees who have to wait. The
old soldiers are paid in advance.
If they were willing to take half of
their pensions in advance, and the
other half six months later, the
teachers could be paid monthly.
If ail State servants, of whatever
description, were paid monthly,!
the common school teachers being
treated as other people are, the
trouble would end. This is the
remedy proposed by Mr. M. L.
Brittain, the State School Commis
sioner. He says, “After years oi
dispute on the part of our politi
cal leaders as to the correct solu
tion of this difficulty, 1 feel some
hesitancy in offering a suggestion.
It would seem, however, that the
State should adopt the usual busi
ness method of meeting obliga
tions monthly. If this simple
plan is pursued with impartial jus
tice, beginning at the .first of next
year, I am informed by the treas
ury officials that all debts can be
paid promptly and with no more
borrowing than at present.”
If anything in the way-of relief
is to be accomplished during the
coming session of the Legislature,
there must be harmony of action
on the part of the promoters of
the movement. Ond reason that
nothing has been done in the past
is that there were njany measures
proposed and none agreed upon.
The suggestion of the State School
Commissioner is simple, direct and
effective. It has the sanction of
the treasury officials. If the teach
ers and patrons of the country
schools will rally to the support of
this and win over their represen
tatives to prompt and effective
endorsement, the teachers will be
paid next year at the end of each
month of service.— [Communi
cated.]
Oak Hill Celebration on July 4th.
The annual celebration at Oak
Hill will be held July 4th, 1911.
A good program is being ar
ranged, which will appear later.
Cordial invitation is extended to
all.
T. W. Hicks, Secretary.
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