Omaha daily bee., 1895-11-14
PROTECT THfE SCHoOL FUND.

The money set apart for the main
tenancc of the public schools is n sacred
fund that should be surrounded with
lection. In assuming the management
OF this trust the Board of Education
assumes an obligation which it must
discharge with fidelity and diligence.
Within the past ten years more than
half Il million dollars II year on the
average of school money have been dis
burspd for the construction of school
buildings and the maintenance of the
school system. 1t is Il deplorable fact
that hundreds of thousands of dollars
have been tilched from the school fund
by questionable deals and fast and
loose methods. On the one hand vast
sums have been squandered in the pur-
chase of school sites ut exorbitant fig
ureS and in the excessive cost of build
ings. furniture and fixtures. On the
other hand thousands upon thousands of
dollars have been lost to the school
fund by the laXness in enforcing the
Slocumb law, the absorption of police
WV il' atIi'l III iDlloIbI itlIpI1 u II
tcrest on treasury balances by sue
ccSSive trcaSurcrS who should have been
required to turn every dollar of interest
derived from such balances into the
school fund.
1t is always easy to lock the barn door
after the horse has been stolen. With
proper effort the school board can yet
recover some of the money which lcgiti-
matcly belongs to the schools. In any
event. the time is at hand for effcctu-
ally preventing future leaks and inau-
gurating il system that will secure to
the schools of Omaha the benefit of
every dollar of revenue to which they
are by law entitled.
The suggestions Of City Treasurer
DumOnt are to the point and should be
given favorable consideration. A close
check should be kept by the board on
the school fund balances and every pre-
caution should be taken against placing
school funds in repositories that are not
in condition to favor every draft made
upon them.
The treasurer should be required to
apportiOn the school taxes as soon as
they are covered into the treasury.
Heretofore this pportiOnment has been
arbitrarily delayed in order that the
treasurer might use the funds for his
private advantage.
What is true of the school taxes is
more decidedly applicable to the money
collected from licenses. There is no
good reason why the license money
should not be credited to the school
fund as fast as it is paid in. The fail
IRE to enforce rigid accountability for
these moneys in the past is largely re-
sponsiblC for the defalcation and mis-
appropriation of School funds which is
now hampcrcring the board.
III laXnCSS that has prevailed in the
matter of the treasury deposits has
also prevailed in the matter of police
court fines. During II recent inveStiga-
ton it was shown that the comptroller
had not checked up the books of the
police court for seven months ut n
stretch. Would any we'll managed firm
OF corporation conduct business with
such ineXcuSable disregard of common
business methods?
Every dollar lost to the public school
fund or ~SquandCrcd out of it rObs the
school children of so much of their
patrimOny. The responsibility for all
such losses is justly %chargeable to the
school board and sooner or later its
members will be held accountable for
them.