New-York tribune., 1881-12-16
United States viii not tolerate such an ar
TILE NEK- YORK SCHOOLS.

Tn the course of the hearings gwen Dy tle
BOARD of Estimate and Apportionment to tax
nayers and representatives of the city depart
,ocrts this week. the estimate of the Board of
Education will be taken up to-day. Certainly
there is none in the list OF greater Importance
The people are determined, and nightly, tlat
the provision for the schools shall be ample
There should be no excessive and unWlse
economy here. The public schools should nave
every dollar necessary to give every child IN
the CITY sound instruction. We could better
afford 70 pinch the police force, the firemen and
tbe courts than to be niggardly in providing
for tbe training of the children. New
York has never been wanting III generosity 10
the schools. ANY effort to stint them unduly
has made no headway. For years she mas
been spending nearly $50 per year Tor every
child enrolled on her school lists, without tax
ing into account the appropriation Tor the
CITY College. The average attendance III our
nublic schools for the closing week OF the last
school wear was 102, ,39S; for the first three
weeks of this school year IL was l15,2I2'
Last wear the appropriation was $3,62O,O93.
In nreyious wears the sums allowed have been
rs generous in proportion to the attendance.
For 1880 the Board of Education asked for
go. S36.925. The Board of Estimate in It's
nrovisional review of the figures reduced the
amount to $4,000 The Aldermen nave
recommended an addition of $200,OOO to that
sum for the building of two new schoOl-honSeS
in the Nineteenth Ward. In the original eSu-
mate $4,000 was named as the amount
needed for the Especial fund" for new hHllu-
ings. repairs and improvements This speclai
fund was to be divided in this way For sites
$50 900; for new buildings, repairs and aItera-
tions. S334.OOO for heating apparatus Tor
new schools $4,000; for improvement OF
ventilation. So. 800. The Board of Appor-
tionment makes its reductions in lump
sum. leaving each department to apporuon
the decrease as it may think best 1t has been
suggested that if the reduction to T3,3oo'ooO
is TO be insisted on, it may be necessary 10
scale down teachers salaries. This should not
be done. The city is rich enough To cOmpch-
safe fairly, and even literally, those charged
with the difficult and delicate task OF training
the Young Teaching requires BRAINS ana
brain work ought to be well PAID lhere are
a great many eXcTescences III other depart
ments which should be cut of before economy
toucbes the teachers salaries. Our Overpaid
and inefficient police force, for example, with
its hundreds of men on fat jobs 0i " speclal
duty.r with little or nothing to do, shouid feel
the knife long before any pruning Is done In
school matters. With $500 men, the annual
cost of our Police Department Is greater han
that of Paris with over 1000 men Cut there
II is true that many Of our teachers receive
more than they earn. The remedy IS not III
paying less, but in getting better teachers.
Bnt though no devoted, earnest and compe-
tent teacher should suffer the loss OF dollar
from his or her present rate OF compensation,
the Board of Education certainly needs to be
urgcd to greater trugllity. Our schools are
costing Us too much for the results achieved.
Too many of the School Commissioners trade
ON the public sensitvcness to anything like
crampinQ the schools. They are prone to cx-
travagance. Details are not scrutinized care
fully. These excellent and honorable citizens
do not treat the school expenses as they do
those Of their own private business. We have
no donbt that the special fund.- OF $4,000
mentioned above could be cut down twenty or
thirty per cent, and yet the school system
not suffer. We have no doubt that
the sum of S37, ,OGO for officers and clerks en-
ploycd by the Board of Education and the sum
of %32. 10 for the City Superintendent and
his assistants could be diminished with positive
advantage TO the city We think that the
schools have too much supervision No small
mart of it is supervision which is not of the
right kind. Get good teachers in the first
place. and then do not supervise all the force
and originality out of them.
II is probable that careful but not miscrly
economy could diminish the $ljO,OOD de-
manded for supplies without doing any harm.
And so of other items. Some new school
houses are needed. But wnen they can be-
built on city land they need not cost 100000
each. The suggestion has been made that
some of the littc-used school property down
town might be sold to advantage. There is
force in this If the Legislature could be
induced to pass a law keeping the children
out of the schools up to the age of six years,
much Overcrowding in primary schools would
be avoided and much good would be gained.
| Mothers should take care of their babies at
! home, and schOOl-rOOm Is not the place for
| children under SIX. But even the present law
recurring that no children under five shall be adj
| mittcd is largely evadcd and broken Another
matter where reform seems advisable is in the
| spending of 500, 900 per year for special
! teachers of German, French and drawing in
the common schools. Too much money il
| used in that manner 1t is no answcr tC
criticisms of defects in the present system tC
say that they exist because the people want
things done in that way. 1t is very far from
being certain that the majority of the people
do want them done in that way. And it i.
the business of the School Commissioners to
| enlightcn the ignorant, to clear away errors
to awaken sound public sentiment, and IA
urge the Legislature to take up any needed
| reforms.
SPASuODIC RAIDS.
| We are not utter disbclievcrs in the value
and utility of the "spasmodic raids which
tho nnlice occasionally make uuOn hnnnls