The fiscal problem in Missouri

Bibliographic data

Multivolume work

Identifikator:: 1831932415

Document type:: Multivolume work

Title:: Agricultural relief

Place of publication:: Washington

Publisher:: Gov. Pr. Off.

Year of publication:: 1928

Collection:: Economics Books

Usage license:: Get license information via the feedback formular.

Volume

Identifikator:: 183193440X

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-232093

Document type:: Volume

Title:: Agricultural relief

Volume count:: Pt. 3

Place of publication:: Washington

Publisher:: Gov. Pr. Off.

Year of publication:: 1928

Scope:: III S., S. 181 - 253

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

Usage license:: Get license information via the feedback formular.

Chapter

Document type:: Multivolume work

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Statement of R.M. Crowder, president farm bureau and president of the State Chamber of Agriculture, Elk Point, S. Dak.

Collection:: Economics Books

PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE 257 and in others they can be adequately financed by local levies considerably below the average for the state. The population of Missouri is more than fifty per cent urban. During the past decade the population of the rural sections showed a decline. In most of the counties the decline was large enough to be very significant in connection with the present problem. On the other hand, the important urban centers and many towns and villages showed increases in population during the decade, which more than compen- sated for the decline in the rural sections. It is not possible to measure the extent of the decline during each year of the ren-year period. For the present purpose, it may be assumed that the decrease in rural population in the counties affected was evenly spread throughout the period, and that the popu- lation shift is likely to continue for at least some time. The significance of this rural decline in relation to the problem of public school finance is found in the fact that it is a direct causal factor influencing the per capita cost and in many instances the per pupil cost of maintaining the one- teacher schools in a large number of the rural districts. The per capita cost in such districts must increase unless the ex- penditures for school purposes decrease as the population declines. An increase in state apportionments could at the most merely reduce the proportion of the expenditures financed by local levies and could not reduce the absolute costs or per capita costs. The decline in rural population injects a variable into the problem of public school finance, which may mean decreased efficiency because of inability to maintain the previous length of term or increased per capita cost, if the previous level of expenditures is maintained, and increased per pupil cost in those districts in which the enroll- ment shows a decline as a result of the decline in population. The shift in population is probably the most fundamental aspect of the school problem. The detailed statistics of the fifteenth decennial census showing population by counties and smaller governmental divisions will be extremely valu- able as an aid in solving the problem. The ten-year trend in population can be compared. with the trend in school enroll- ment, and such a comparison should indicate the approxi- mate change in per capita and per pupil costs in the sections with declining rural population.

Access restriction

Copyright

Object: The fiscal problem in Missouri

Multivolume work

Volume

Chapter

Table of contents

Download

Monograph

Chapter

This page

Image fragment

Citation links

Citation recommendation