of Governor Herbert R. O'Conor 111

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

BEL AIR ARMORY, October 19, 1942.

Bel Air

Four years ago I stood before an audience in Bel Air and promised my
unqualified support of the public school system of Maryland. I stand before
you tonight to give an account of my stewardship in this respect, and to point
the way in which our excellent school system may be improved during the years
ahead. Let me say again that I am proud of the standing of our school system,
and I repeat my promise that I shall do all within my power to maintain the
standing of the educational system, all the more important because of the trying
times in which we live. Further, if reelected, I shall exert every possible effort
to bring about desirable improvements in the years to come.

The first promise I made to you here four years ago was that "my appoint-
ments to the State Board of Education will be men and women of the highest
type, selected because of their knowledge of, and interest in, school affairs. No
tinge of politics, however faint, shall ever be allowed to influence the administra-
tion of school affairs. I am pledged to a non-partisan, non-political, efficient,
and worward-looking School Board. " I have kept that promise. The first
appointment it was my privilege to make to the State Board of Education was
that of the President of the Board, Mr. Tasker G. Lowndes, a. man of the oppo-
site political faith but one whose integrity of purpose, high sense of duty, and
interest in public education made him ideally fitted for this continued responsi-
bility. My other appointments have been made with the same purpose in mind.
I pledge myself to a continuation of that policy.

The second promise I made was that I would provide adequate support of
public education, not only to maintain the minimum standard of education but
to expand it wherever needed and wherever possibly. During the four years
of my Administration the public schools of the State received millions of dollars
more than they received during the four years of the previous Administration.
The support of all education by the State during my four years has been con-
siderably greater than during the preceding Administration. The record speaks
for itself. *

Equalization of educational opportunity has become a reality for most high
school children in Maryland counties through provision of transportation at
public expense. Transportation to high school at public expense was available
to 18, 893 white county pupils in 1942 as compared with 14, 356 in 1938, and to
3, 612 county colored pupils in 1942 as compared with 2, 983 in 1938. Four
additional high schools for colored pupils were in operation in 1942, thereby
extending to every county in the State, having a colored population, the oppor-
tunities for high school education. Transportation opportunities must be avail-
able so that no county boy or girl must be deprived of a high school education
because he or she lives too far away to attend high school.