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THE
GILMER-AIKIN LAWby
Archie P. McDonald, PhD | |
Recently
I had a conversation with a young student preparing for a teaching career who
had never heard of the Gilmer-Aikin Law. Time, then, to remember this landmark
law passed by the Texas legislature that brought the state's educational system
at least and at last into the twentieth century.
Here's how it came about:
When the Fiftieth Legislature reached an impasse over establishing a minimum salary
for public school teachers in 1947, they authorized a joint committee chaired
by Representative Claud Gilmer and Senator A.M. Aikin Jr., of Paris, to study
the problem. The Gilmer-Aikin Committee presented a report that called for wide-ranging
educational reform, including consolidation of the state's 4,500 school districts
into approximately 3,000 districts to avoid duplicating services, state support
to supplement funds raised locally primarily through ad valorem taxes, and a state-wide
minimum salary for all teachers with individual districts able to offer more if
local revenues were available.
More controversial sections of the proposal
called for creation of an elected state school board which would in turn appoint
a state school superintendent to administer the State Department of Education.
Previously the office had been an elected one, which did not always insure a candidate
with expertise in education. Always controversial was a proposal to bar parochial
schools from using publicly owned school buses.
Opponents and proponents
of the proposal represented every corner of the political landscape, and they
used letter writing campaigns and media blitzkrieg to try to encourage or inhibit
passage of the law. In the Senate, the bill was directed successfully by Senator
James E. Taylor, and in the House by Representative Rae Files Still.
The
Gilmer-Aikin Law represented the most significant reform in public education in
Texas since free text books and compulsory attendance were adopted earlier in
the twentieth century. It guaranteed a minimal standard for all school children
in Texas for a minimum of 175 days per year for twelve years.
Of course,
things have changed in public schools over the last half-century. Among other
things, the Department of Education is now the Texas Education Agency and the
state superintendent is appointed by the governor. And there are other problems,
particularly how to fund escalating education costs in a state whose people's
mantra is "no new taxes." We may no longer have insightful legislators like those
who worked for the progress represented by the Gilmer-Aikin Law, but we should
not forget those who did so once upon a time. |
"All
Things Historical"
January
11-17, 2004 column
A
syndicated column in over 40 East Texas newspapers
Published with permission
This column is provided as a public service by the East Texas Historical Association.
Archie P. McDonald is director of the Association and author of more than 20 books
on Texas.
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