304 JOINT RESOLUTIONS

At the 1947 Session of the General Assembly basic changes were
made in the financial arrangements for the public school system.
These changes included an expansion in the degree of State aid to
the, school systems of the several counties and of Baltimore City, an
increase in teachers' salaries, and a change in the equalization
formula. All these changes were based upon a fundamental re-
study and re-evaluation of the then existing problems of public
school financing.

Since that time there has been no comparable re-study and re-
evaluation of these problems. They are of vital importance to the
State and its citizens, and there is need of a complete new evaluation
of the philosophy and practice of the financing of the public school
system.

Existing formulae and figures may be outmoded by the great
economic changes that have occurred in the past decade or more, in-
cluding a constant spiral of inflationary prices and costs.

Over the same period the State and its population have undergone
a considerable degree of urbanization. While smaller and rural
counties in the main have seen their population figures remain
fairly static, those counties and areas which are located near the
large cities or adjacent to special installations have had a rapid in-
crease in population. For whatever reason the State's population
has grown rapidly and is changing its character.

The States surrounding Maryland also have had their own changes
in population and in public school financing. These changes in other
states also should be part of any re-evaluation here.

Another question which is persistently raised in the realm of pub-
lic school financing is that of assessment ratios and policies insofar
as they affect State aid to public schools. Perhaps there are alterna-
tives to our present system of basing great sums of State aid upon
variable assessment ratios.

Through the years of the late 40's and the decade of the 50's
many proposals concerning the public schools have been made in
legislative, administrative, and educational circles. We have seen
proposals for expanded State aid, increased salaries, and changes
in the formulae for the equalization fund and for those shared ex-
penses which are paid through the cooperation of the State and its
several political sub-divisions. Again the heavy volume of these
proposals is an index to public interest in the subject and is a sug-
gestion that the time has come for such a basic re-study of our
public school policies as is suggested in this Resolution.

It is universally agreed that our people want a capable school
system with competent teachers and adequate programs all over
the State. In striving for these ends, one of the troublesome prob-
lems has been that competition among the several political sub-
divisions may have hurt all of them. This tendency toward com-
petitive advantage should also be part of a new evaluation of the
public school system.

These are only some of the more important elements in public in-
terest and concern with the public school system of Maryland. Such