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Of all the schools affected by the Great Depression, already-underfunded rural schools suffered the worst. As farmers went broke and land values plummeted, property taxes fell. Unable to raise funds to continue operation, rural school districts cut teacher salaries, stopped buying supplies, or simply ceased operations. Iowa cut teachers' salaries by 30 percent to a mere $40 per month. By 1934 almost three hundred thousand rural teachers earned less than the National Recovery Administration (NRA) minimum wage of $650 per year. Many rural school districts revived the old practice of "boarding round" teachers — offering them bed and board rather than wages. Arkansas reduced the school year to less than sixty days for three hundred schools. By 1 April 1934 nearly twenty thousand American schools had closed, affecting more than one million students. Ten states reduced the school year to less than three months; twentyone others cut the school year to...
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This section contains 154 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) |
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