, 1876-06-11
THE SCHOOL EXPENDITURES.

-A0 0u{A4A " AAAu%RAANA AAs A[Ae kA40 FVt>
ular approval with which the proposition
made by Mr.. HozsE (while acting as Mayor
for general reduction Of municipal expendi-
lures Was received, and the preliminary steps
have been taken to make the Department Of
Schools conform for the ensuing year to the
policy of retrenchment which the hard times
and tho financial embarrassments Of the city
have rendered necessary. If the proposed
reduction shall be accomplished in the end,
the greatest obstacle in the way Of general
retrenchnent Of city expenses will have been
removed It is among the schools that the
most serious opposition to reduction was
to be expected, and for obvious reasons. The
Board of Education consists Of number of
gentlemen who are generally wel1-to-do,
whose sympathies are always with education
al progress, and who are inclined to think
that that part of the City Government under
their Immediate charge is more important
than any other. A large number Of the en-
ployes of this department are women, and it
is confessed1y harder to displease them,
either by reduction of salaries or other
wise, than to displease men in the same
way. The pub1ic-school teachers have.
also extraordinary opportunities for
manufacturing public opinion in their be-
half; they reach the mothers through their
children, and the fathers through the
mothers and children both, and thus inlu-
ence very wide circle Of the most respecta-
ble people through the dearest and tenderest
1rAr hal or1
est to resist, and the Board OF Education
must be prepared to make heroic struggle
against outside pressure if they hope to pre-
vail in the work they have undertaken. At
the same time, it is obviously nothing more
than fair that, if the tiremen, policemen,
and other employees Of the city, are to be put
upon shorter allowances, the school-teachers
and employees shall likewise accommodate
themselves to the same condition Of things.
They are not so hard-worked as the others.
Allowing for vacations and weekly holidays
aside from Sundays, their annual occupation
is only eight months instead OF the full
twelve months during which the other city
employees are obliged to work. Their fifty
two Saturdays, their sixty days Of summer
vacations, and their fourteen days OF Christ
mas, spring, and other holidays confirm this
estimate. Their working hours are also
much shorter, and their occupation is
all indoor and easy labor. There is
no special Or unusual qualification
necessary for the subordinate teachers,
and there is probably nobody engaged in the
business of school-teaching, as q rule, to
whom the work is not more congenial than
any other work would be, or who do not
earn more money in that occupation than
they could otherwise. Certainly, then, re-
ductions in other departments call for pro-
portionate reductions in the schools.
The scheme proposed by the Special Com
mittee of Five, consisting Of Messrs. PERRY
H. SanrH, ". K SULLIVAN, ". ]. ENo11sH,
T. J. BLuTHARDr, and RODNEY WEIGH, along
with President R1oHBERo, seems to have been
well devised and thoughtfully considered.
The Committee believe that its adoption will
save $100, GOO year without deteriorating
the class Of work or weakening the efficiency
Of the schools. If there is any change made
in it before adoption, it ought to be in the
direction Of still further retrenchment, and
certainly not toward the old system of e1-
traraRance. AZ to salaries, there has not
been a uniform reduction recommended, but
a judicious Encouragement whereby the
relative pay in different grades shall be more
fairly adjusted. The reductions in salary
average about 10 per cent On the bulk Of tbs
teachers and employees, and the reductions in
fha highest Qalar1ea and for tha newer