The Saint Paul globe., 1902-02-17
STILL HAS A CHANCE
PRESIDENT OF SCHOOL HOARD DIS
CUsSEs RULING OF CHARTER
COMMISSION
THE SCOPE OF A STATE LAW
Zimmermann Thinks school Board
Can Secure z Mills ON Taxable
Value of Property in
the City.

The refusal of the fiscal committee of
the charter commission to concur in the
request of the board Of school commits
sioners in allowing the words total en-
rollment" to be substituted in the char
ter for average attendance may have
serious effect upon the schools of the
city, says Bernard Zimmerman, president
Of the board of education. Under the
provisions Of the charter the board is al
lowed to expend $25 per pupil for the
average attendance of the previous year.
The intention of the board in asking that
the change be made was that it should
be allowed to expend $25 per pupil for the
total enrolment of the year
Mr. Zimmerman says he thinks, how
ever, that the matter does not prevent
the board from getting all the money
1t needs, as the law allows a tax of z
mills which is ample to provide. all the
money required for building, but the
amount expended for maintaining the
school is insufficient 1t is very easy to
imagine conditions under which the ar
rangemefts might seriously cripple the
board. SO many things interfere with The
attendance of pupils that the average is
always several thousand less than the
total enrolment, and thus, according to
the charter as it now stands, only $25 per
pupil, according to the average attend
ance for the year, can be used.
1t frequently occurs that an epidemic
of some contagious disease starts in a
neighborhood, and the school is closed
or the attendance is seriously affected
This does not interfere with the money
secured for the year in which it occurs,
but it cuts down the average attendance,
which is the basis in making up the APP
portionment for the next year. If a seri-
Gus epidemic should occur, lasting sew
eral weeks. the attendance in the schools
might easily be so greatly reduced that,
according to the present conditions,
enough money would not be available
next year to maintain the schools.
This year the school board is building
several new buildings and additions to the
schools in the city, which will result in
the opening of seEenty-five new rooms
next year. Each of these rooms win have
to be supplied with a teacher, and they
will have to be cared for by janitors,
heated and kept in order. 1t will mean
an increased expenditure of several thou
sand dollars. Instead of getting an in
crease of $120,000, as would have been the
result if the commission had concurred
in the request of the board, the amount
to be expended next year will be $25 for
each pupil, according to the average at
tendance for this year.
There is a difference of opinion in re-
gard to the clause Of the charter which
limits the amount expended for school
maintenance. Some say the act, known
as the Minneapolis law" allowing the
board to draw to the amount of mills
of the taxable value of property in the
city, which was passed year later than
the adoption of the charter, invalidates
the provision limiting the expenditure to
$25 per pupil, and allows the board to use
as much money as needed within the
limit of the last act. 1t is understood
that members of the charter commission
and the city attorney differ on this mat
ter, the city attorney holding that the
charter fixes the limit.
1t was because of this last mentioned
law, which is held by the charter COM
mission as doing away with the limit of
SIS per pupil, that the committee refused
to concur in the request of the school
board