248 THE FISCAL PROBLEM IN MISSOURI
Tue StaTE Survey Commission Pran of PusLic ScrooL
Finance .
The recent State Survey Commission has recommended an
elaborate plan of school finance, the effect of which would be
to transfer a larger part of the cost of the public schools to
the state government. Each elementary teaching unit under
this plan would be guaranteed a minimum of $900, and each
high school teaching unit, a minimum of $1,200. For the
purpose of introducing this program, each one-teacher school
district, regardless of daily attendance, is to be considered an
elementary teaching unit. High schools with an average
daily attendance of less than 142 pupils are to count as one
high school unit for the first 15 enumerated students, with
average daily attendance of 12, and one additional unit for
each additional 23 students! The plan not only provides
for the guarantee of the amounts per teaching unit as indicated,
 but also for the stepping up of the amounts until a
considerably higher level is reached? For the present purpose,
 only the initial basis will be considered; that is, the
analysis will be based upon a $900 guarantee for each elementary
 teaching unit and $1,200 for each high school teaching
 unit.
A local tax rate of $0.20 per $100 of assessed valuation
would be required before an elementary school district comprising
 one unit would be guaranteed the minimum of $900.
In other words, if a rural school district employing one
teacher has an assessed valuation of $50,000 and levies a
local school tax of $0.20 per $100 of assessed valuation, or a
total of $100, it would be guaranteed the difference between
$900 and $100, or $800. It should not be inferred, however,
that the plan would provide for 3800 state aid in addition to
that now received. The additional state aid would amount
only to the difference between $800 and the total of the
present state, county, and township aids. The county and
township aids are very small in many cases, and it may be
assumed that a district such as the one just cited would
receive a total of between $700 and $800 from the state.
t Report of the State Survey Commission, 1929, pp. 69 f.
2 The present forms of state aid would be gradually eliminated under the proposed
 plan of stepping up the minimum.