Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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JIM U LUCRb"FiU JONES MANAGING ED EDIT( Nixo With the most recent resigi the Supreme Court and the Hugo Black there is a big que With the next two appointi President Nixon will have ch spots. During Eisenhower's presli five new justices appointed during the days of the initial present laws on desegregatic which the Supreme Court too from school busing to dirty rr to do with this change in ti appointed by Eisenhower. The trend in the court appc conservative group. Another many of these members servalism to a more open mir this trend continues, there wi Some experts are specul sideration of two women foi some speculation of a Dem4 Whatever the choice, we I four members of the court overpowering. These appoin come, will comprise half the Our times fluest ' BY SMITH HEMPSTONE Columnist WASHINGTON-Assuming the 6 to-i ruling of the California Supreme Court is upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, Serrano V. Priest could become the most. si'gnificant legal finding on' education since 193i4's Brown V. Board of Education outlawed de jure school segregation. For more than a century, local property taxes have provided the great bulk of the funds for America's county school systems, the single exception being Hawaii, which finances its schools on a atatewide bash Because of higher property valuations, the richer suburbs 'ave beeb able to tax themselves at a lower rate and still produce superior schools such as Win fletka's (Illinois) New Trier and Bethesda's (Maryland) Bethesda Chevy Chase. In counties with a lower tax-base, proportionately ~betfunds tr~1 ARREA ITOR DAVE LUNDREN AD. MNGR. )RIALS i-four iation of Justice Harlan from prior resignation .of Justice stion as to the open positions. nents to the Supreme Court, oen four persons to fill those dency, the Supreme court had by the president. This was controversies leading to the in. This was also the period in k to contesting issues ranging ovies. Earl Warren had much ie highest court and he was intments has been to select a trend has been the change in from their supposed con ided, liberal view of things. If II be more changes made. lating on me possible con - the positions. There is also )crat being considered. tope that the appointment of by one man doesn't become tments, two past and two to Supreme Court membership. fior nuh facilities. In the case cited by the California court, for instance, residents of Beverly Hills, a plush suburb of Los Angeles, were taxing themselves at a rate of 2.38 percent, for which their children received $1,231.72 worth of education per head. Home-owners in working-class Baldwin Park, another suburb of the same city, were taxing themselves at a rate of 5.48 percent, for which their children received only $577.49 worth of schooling per kid. This, the California court ruled, it unconstitutional in that it violates the equal-protection clause of the Fourteenth Amend ment and "Invidiously discriminates against the poor because it makes the quality of a child's education a function et the wealth of his parents and neigh bors." On all this, a few observations If Serrano does become the law of the land, each of the states, an'of !hieh redeel Involved Insight: Cyril Bu 'A period (Editor's note: This is the first of two columns by Cyril Busbee, state suCrintendent of education.). yond doubt, the people of our State have brought credit to themselves and to South Carolina by their general conduct during the period of transition to the unitary school system. It was a period of unsettled emotions for both blacks and whites, partly because of the break with tradition and partly because of uncertainty about the future. But, with few exceptions, the people have responded with For many years, 50 per cent of th children enrolled public schools ha buses to and fron dignity, with intelligent appraisal of the facts, with determination to preserve and aevance public education, and - perhaps most importantly -- compassion for the well-being of children. It should be said, too, that conscious efforts were made to develop and maintain lines of communication between the races, between economic strata, and between the diverse cultural and social sectors of society. During this period South Carolina has been fortunate to have dynamic, responsible and responsive leadership. Governor John C. West and former Governor Robert E. McNair applied the full weight of their high office and the full measure of their fine personal talents to the resolution of the !iC equa seek new systems under which to finance their schools. Michigan, Maryland and Ohio already have under consideration schemes which amount to state takeover of educational financing and litigation similar to Serrano is pending In about a dozen states. Perhaps the most likely outcome would be a statewide, uniform property tax with the pooled revenues distributed equally throughout the state on a per-pupil basis. It is estimated, for Instance, that a 3.75 percent statewide tax on property valuations would produce $800 for the education of each of California's public school students. Equity and egalitarianism certainly would be served. But would the result not be to make the Calif ornia school system universally mediocre? And who would l2e hurt by this? Certainly not the wealthy, who tend to send their children to private schools. The hardest hit would be the emerging middle class, the traditional backbone of America, tthe perhaps marginal benefit of *he noor. And if wealthiM1'%6t sbee of unsettled problems in the interests of an tne people of the State. Chairman Robert S. Davis and all the other members of the South Carolina Education Advisory Committee worked diligently and effectively to identify areas of potential discord and resolve them before they could become anything like a confrontation or polarization. Of course, I want to pay special tribute to the public school teachers and administrators of slightly more than e total number of n South Carolina' ve been riding t their classes dail South Carolina. In the final analysis, only these dedicated professionals could make the unitary school system work, and they did. Students, parents and many other patrons of public schools provided a broad base of support. County and District Superintend nts moved whole heartedly into the broadest school community relations program our State has seen. They formed inter racial committees of leaders of both races to seek solutions to differences and they brought into their schools, with the willing help uf teachers and principals new concepts of individualized in struction without which the classroom aspects of the unitary system probably would have remained unsolvable. 2 "edi votd o axthemselves at a higher rate than the state levy in an at tempt to proviae superior education for their children at a still greater cost to themselves, would not this make "the quality of a child's education a function of the wealth of his parents and neigh bors," which the Carllifornia court deplores? Secondly, if the equal-protection clause of the Fourteenth Amend ment guarantees each child In Maryland an equal share of his state's educational pie, should a child receive less because his parents happen to live in Mississippi? Is it fair that the quality of a child's education should be a function of his parents' residency, which surely is con ditioned by their wealth? Is the only equitable answer to federalize public education and is that what the American people want? Thirdly, Serrano is a powerful blow at the general concept of local government. If the equal protection clause applies to ed ca , wiv .not to, qther func7 emotions' There are many others whose talents, efforts and good wW have contributed greatly to the climate of reasonable calm and composure which characterizes our public school enterprise at this time. Busing - which this year became one of the most emotion- charged words in America'-- has long been a State responsibility and has been conducted on a large scale in South Carolina. For many years, slightly more than 50 per cent of the total number of children enrolled in South Carolina's public schools shave been riding buses to and from their classes daily. The terms "desegregation" and "busing" are therefore most ac curately viewed in historical dimensions. The question of desegregated public school systems was basically decided by the United States Supreme Court in 1954. Subsequent decisions have reaffirmed and implemented that initial decision. School tran sportation, or "busing," has long been a Rtatp rpRoonsibility. The state has been operating a school y transportation system on various scales since the late 1920's. The cost of transportation is as legitimate a school expense as teachers' salaries, portable classrooms, science equipment and heating fuel. The confusion about "busing" occurs when the term is equated with tran sportation involved in the desegregation process. - Desegregation, or implementing a unitary school plan as required by law, necessarily entails assigning children to attend certain schools. Transportation is the means for carrying children to their assigned schools. The safety of children, and sincere concern for their reasonable comfort and con venience in both school assign ments and necessary tran sportation, should be prevailing considerations in any school transportation system. tca tion that the degree of fire and police protection afforded residents of Beverly Hmns, as opposed to those of Baldwin Park, should .be "a function" of the wealth of the former? As a matter of equity, it would seem that the poorer school districts should receive the bulk of state and federal contributions to the various educational systems. But the Imposition of total uniformity could result in the destruction of local Initiative and local pride, the spread of educational mediocrity and a widening of the gap between the wealthy, who can afford private schools, and all other Americans. Serrano may be good law and equitable philosophy, but It is yet another blow at hard-pressed middle class suburbanites. Whether the practical benefits accruing to rural and Inner city children will be worth it remains to be seen, assuming the California decision Is upheld by the Burger court.