A survey of the educational system of the Philippine islands by the Board of educational survey, created under acts 3162 and 3196 of the Philippine Legislature.

BOARD OF EDUCATIONAL SURVEY REPORT

85

all school support is granted by appropriation acts and by resolutions
for transfers from the general revenues. The taxation on real property
should be increased to 1 per cent and the additional one-eighth of 1
per cent tax be set aside for school purposes. A further increase
should be made permissive. Also an increase in the cedula tax might
be devoted to education. If at the same time evasions on the business
and license taxes were reduced to a minimum, specific duties on a number of imported articles increased, and the exemptions on the income
tax lowered, sufficient revenues to meet the more pressing educational
needs could be secured. But the further development of education in
the Islands will depend upon a radical though gradual change in the
methods of school support.
At present by far the greater portion of the governmental revenues
of the Philippines, as we have observed, accrues to the Insular Government. Consequently, but comparatively little support is given to education by local political divisions. Although during the last ten years
the provinces and the municipalities have borne an increasing share of
the burden, almost three-fourths of the revenues devoted to school purposes continue to come from the Insular Government. In the American
states the situation is exactly reversed. There the local governments
provide almost three times as large a percentage of all educational
revenues as does the central government. In view of these facts the
Commission thinks it desirable to treat at some length this question of
the gradual development of local participation in the support and
control of education.
MUNICIPAL TAXATION FOR THE SUPPORT OF ELEMENTARY
SCHOOLS.-The Board is of the opinion that if additional school
funds, sufficient to support an elementary-school system reaching all the
school population and taught by properly trained teachers are ever to
be secured, municipalities must be granted a limited right of local
taxation. This plan might involve some devolution to local authorities
of responsibility for support of schools. But even though some such
devolution of financial responsibility were made, administrative authority
might well be retained in the hands of division superintendents. The
reasons for granting the privilege of taxation and of placing a larger
part of the responsibility for the support of primary and intermediate
schools on the municipalities may be briefly stated as follows:
(1) This is the most important source from which funds sufficient
to support a system of elementary schools that will reach all the people
can be raised. Even now the Insular Government is greatly burdened
by the expense of maintaining the elementary schools. Through the
increase of population, the broadening of school needs, and the growing educational ambitions of the people, the requirements for financial