Texas Almanac, 1958-1959 Page: 380
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which appropriations are made for the state's which 787 were common and 1,012 were inde-
part in the operation of the schools. (See pendent districts. (See table on a following
table on a following page, showing sources page.)
of receipts to this fund.) Until passage of This decline in common and increase in the
the Gilmer-Aikin Act in 1949 this fund was independent districts has been accompanied
disbursed almost entirely for the annual by the practical disappearance of the 1-, 2-
apportionment on per capita basis to the and 3-teacher school. Larger, better equipped
schools of the state. Under this act 'certain schools have, been built in. both urban and
sources are reserved for the foundation school rural areas, high schools have been estab-
fund which is disbursed as an equalization lashed, and standards greatly raised generally.
fund as among the state's tax-resource-rich School Bus Transportation.
and tax-resource-poor districts. The highway improvement program, mak-
The state's permanent school fund is a nota- ing bus transportation of schoolchildren pos-
ble feature of the Texas public school finan- sible throughout most of the state, has been
cial structure. It was $359,762,257 as of Aug. an important factor in this school develop-
31, 1957, one of the largest endowment funds ment. There were 7,454 school buses in opera-
in the United States. This fund has been tion during the school year, .1955-56. Number
built up from the money received from the of pupils transported daily was 381,520. A
public lands given the public schools, amount- total daily mileage of 449,894 was traveled
ing to more than 42,000,000 acres, principally by the buses.
by provision of the present State Constitu- Racial Segregation.
tion when it was adopted in 1876. On the The issue of racial segregation-desegrega-
same date the university permanent fund of tion in the schools continued to be a problem
the University of Texas totaled $286,456,740. through 1956 and 1957. 'It had arisen when
This fund accrued from lands of the public the U.S. Supreme Court, May 17, 1954, de-
domain given the University of Texas. Both flared that segregation of white and Negro
permanent funds have been enriched by the pupils in public schools was unconstitutional.
discovery of ol on these lands. The court did not order immediate desegrega-
The school permanent fund has grown tion but that it should be done "with delib-
rapidly in recent years, much of the revenue rate speed."
coming from the state's offshore lands along A few Texas schools desegregated, or "Inte-
the Gulf Coast, or tidelands. Between the grated," within a short time, but they were
passage of the Submerged Lands Act, June in those parts of the state where the Negro
15, 1953, and June 15, 1957, there was de- population is light, largely in West and
posited in the permanent school fund a total Southwest Texas. Desegregation had been.
of $53,634,655.98, derived from these sub- effected in 125 school districts as of Sept. 1.
merged lands in bonus, royalty and rental 1957. out of a total of more than 1,000 dis-
receipts, according to the Texas General Land tricts. About 600 schools, having both white
Office. and Negro pupils, had not desegregated. (A
large number of districts are all-white, and
Transfers From Permanent Fund a few are all-Negro.) The 125 districts which
Only the income derived from the perma- had desegregated were preponderantly white
nent school fund is normally used for current districts, and only about 3,600 Negroes had
school purposes, but the Fifty-fifth Legisla- been admitted to white schools, out of a total
ture,: 1957, passed House Bill 103 directing of about 240,000 Negro scholastics in the state.
the State Comptroller of. Public Accounts to The Fifty-fifth Legislature in 1957 enacted
transfer from the permanent fund to the a law stipulating that a school district could
available fund 1 per cent of the permanent desegregate only on a majority vote of the
fund each of the fiscal years ending Aug. 31, district. (It did not. apply to those districts
1957, 1958 and 1959. It was provided, how- that had already desegregated at. time of
ever, that these transfers should not exceed, passage of the law.) It fixed penalties for
during the three years, the income from violation, including loss of state funds under
annual delay rentals on oil, gas and other the Gilmer-Aikin Act, and assessed fines
mineral leases accruing to the fund during against school officials who were responsl-
the same period. ble for the violation.
Number of School Districts. Three referendums on the issue had been
Rapid decline in the number of common submitted by the State Democratic Executive
school districts has characterized the develop- Committee (in response to a popular peti-
ment of public education in Texas. In the tion) in the first primary election of July
school year, 1910-11 there were 8,599 districts, 28, 1956. and a heavy majority vote had been
of which 8,053 were common school districts, cast against desegregation. (See p. 456.)
and 546 were independent school districts. As of mid-September, 1957; the issue re-
(This was the year of largest count of dis- mained unsettled with resistance to desegre-
tricts.) In the school year 1955-56, the total gation strongest in those parts of the state
number of districts had declined to 1,799, of with the heaviest Negro population.
Early Development of Teas Public School System
It is a noteworthy fact that the very be- However, nothing was accomplished, and at
ginning of conquest of Texas by white men the convention of Texas colonists, which met
was connected with educational effort in the at San Felipe n 183 the Mexican Govern-
founding of the early Spanish missions. (See ment was petitioned for a grant of land to be
pp. 50-52.) Along with their spiritual instruc- utilized in the creation of a school fund Still
uons, the padres taught the Indians to speak nothing was effected and afew private schools
and even read.and write Spanish and the arts served theeducational needs of Texas at the
of crop-growing and ilvestock-ralsing. time of the Revolution.
Aside from these early mission schools the The. Texas Declaration of Independence de-
first step+ toward ounding a educational ared that Mexicohad "failed to establish
system n Texas is revealed'in the.:ConsUtu- any.. public. system of education," and the
tion of the State of Coahulla-Texas adopted Constitution of the Republic of Texas con-
in 1827, providing for the establisihmen of tained provisions for such a. system.
elementary schools and seminaries In, the Several schools were incorporated by Con-
principal towns of the state. The Conress of ress during the Houston administration and
Coahulla-Texas -took action -under this -.-eo , in one or two instances. land -grants were
sttutional provision in 289, prbo'viding a plan made, but it remained. for President Mlrabeau
-for free instruction for pupi,- whose parents B, Lamar to take the first direct action look-
were unable to pay tultion. Again isn 1830, lng to the establishment of public schools.
provision was made specally for the found- In his message to the Texas Congress 1838,
Ing of six primary schools. he strongly urged the setting aside of largeTEXAS ALMANAC-1958-1959
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Texas Almanac, 1958-1959, book, 1957; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117139/m1/382/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.