PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE 255 
had been organized along twentieth century lines. The bill 
passed by the 1929 legislature meets only half of the problem. 
There is grave danger in such a measure, as it may be ex- 
pected that any unqualified increases in state aid will tend to 
further entrench the present district system. Such increases 
remove the incentive to consolidation. The localities should 
finance their own expenditures insofar as they are able to do 
so. Where, of two adjoining districts, one has an exception- 
ally high valuation and the other has an exceptionally low 
valuation, there is no necessity for shifting the school 
burdens of these districts to the state.”* In the light of this 
statement, it would seem that the one-room district in many 
sections of Missouri might become even more firmly en- 
trenched if the recommended financial plan were adopted. 
The plan as recommended involves a considerable shifting 
of tax burdens, and the degree of shifting that would result is 
held to be desirable. The reduction of a district school rate 
from $0.65 to $0.20 per $100 of assessed valuation would in- 
volve a decrease of almost 709, while a reduction from $1.00 
to $0.20 would involve a decrease of exactly 80%. It seems 
highly questionable whether the desired degree of equaliza- 
tion in tax burdens would be achieved by changes in local 
rates so radical as these. The financial plan is apparently 
based in part upon the theory that such a result would be 
accomplished regardless of whether the reduction in the 
school rate represents a comparatively small decrease in total 
raxes in one district and a much larger decrease in another. 
The question arises whether a radical reduction in local tax 
rates is expedient, or whether it might not be more desirable 
to increase the state’s contributions to the support of public 
schools over a considerable period of time, thereby making it 
possible to test such changes in tax burdens as may occur 
when the successive changes are made. As the subject of 
tax burdens is rather elusive and in many instances defies 
careful statistical analysis, a gradual change has much to 
commend it. At least a gradual change would make it pos- 
sible to observe the effects, and it should also insure against 
an excessive shifting from one group to another. 
Finally, the proposed financial plan is an untried experi- 
1 Compton, R. T., Fiscal Problems of Rural Decline, Albany, N. Y., 1929, p. 182.