Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-24
SCHOOL TEACHERS PAY
Rolls 70 Ds signed In 1dvsncs-Checks
Then to y Sent to
Supervisors

The recent order Of the District Commits
sioners approving certain recommendations
Of the new auditor, John r. Garrison. re-
gardinz the methods Of handling pay rolls
In all branches Of the District service.
threatened to delay the payment Of month
ly salaries to the 1,500 teachers in the pub
lie school system of the national capital
the LIST Of the coming month. but happily
for the teachers matters have been so adj
justed that there Is now little likelihood of
delay.
For nearly thirty years past 1t has beel.
the custom to pay the school teachers by
means of individual checks, distributed
through the Office Of the secretary of the
board Of education The checks, each one
made out in the name OF the teacher who
had rendered the service, together with the
pay rolls, were forwarded the LIST of each
month to the school secretary at the Frank
lin School building. This officer would OBJ
tain the signatures OF the teachers and
turn over the checks to them. This system
was regarded as q safe one In every re-
spect. The checks were payable only to the
teachers, and there was no chance lOr
fraud except through forgery. which factor
cannot be taken into consideration in franz
ing any business system
Under recent date the Commissioners ap-
proved a recommendation from Auditor
Garrison In which he specified that 1t
should be the duty of the disbursing officer,
before making any payment in a pay roll,
to secure the signature or receipt of the
party to whom the money was to be paid.
Mr.. c. c. Rogers the District disbursing
officer, reported to the Commissioners that
1t would be impracticable for him, with the
limited force at his command. to obtain in
dividually the signatures of all the school
teachers within the District. He informed
the Commissioners that he had orally ap-
pointed w. F. Rodrick, secretary Of the
school board, to act as his agent in the dis
tribution of the teachers checks. Com
missioner West returned this paper to the
dsbursing officer, asking If 1t had been the
custom of his office to so authorize the Sec
rotary Of the school board in the past. Mr..
Rogers replied that the custom had pre-
next referred by Mr.. West to the auditor.
The latter official stated that the fact was
recognized that a dsbursing officer ham
ding so much money as the dsburSing Of
f1cer of the District of Columbia must nee
essarily perform some of his duties through
agents of his own selection, and for whom
he must be responsible. He said the prin-
ciple was well-established one. and that
1t would seem not to require any authorita-
tive direction from the Commissioners.
Plan Adopted.
The question next arose as to whether the
disbursing officer should continue to dis
tribute the checks through the secretary to
the school board and authorize him to re-
seive the signatures, or whether he should
appoint the supervising principals of the
various school divisions and the principals
of the High and Manual Training Schools
as agents to perform the work. The matter
was today settled by the adoption of a new
arrangement suggested by the accounting
officers by which the pay rolls of the teach
ers will be delivered personally by the dis
bursting officer or his deputy the 9th of
each month to the twelve supervising pr:n-
cipals of the graded school divisions, the
two principals of manual training schools
and the four teachers of high schools : 1t
will be the duty of these officers to secure
the signatures of the teachers under their
supervision prior to the list of the succeed
Ing month. The pay rolls will then be re-
turned to the disbursing Office. Individual
checks In payments to all teachers who
have signed the rolls will then be forwarded
to the secretary of the school board at the
Franklin School and distributed by him.
Teachers who fail to sign the rolls while in
the hands of the principals will not be paid
at the Franklin School. but will have to
call at the disbursing office in the District
building, sign the rolls and receive their
checks.
In Other Cities.
In the consideration of the matter OF
changing the method Of paying school
teachers Mr.. Rogers wrote to the authori
ties of several large cities. asking for an
outline of the various systems followed in
those municipalities. The replies received
indicate that the system which has pre-
vailed here for the last quarter Of century
and which has now been modified only in
slight degree is probably the best extant.
1t has safeguards which not to be
found elsewhere, and at the same time Is
the most convenient for the teachers.
In the city of Philadelphia, for instance
a warrant on the city treasurer is made
out In favor of the principal of each school
building. and he is charged with the duty
Of paying the teachers and janitors in the
school. This principal calls at the office
of the treasurer the 10th of each month
and receipts for the aggregate amount due
his teachers. He deposits the amount thus
received to his own credit in a private bank
and pays the teachers by his individual
check. About 400 employees Of the school
system are 30 paid.
In the city of Boston 1t requires two
weeks to pay the school teachers. They
are paid by four outside paymasters, in
cash. A certain number of schools are
Mondays, Tuesdays. Wednesdays. Thurs
days. Fridays and Saturdays in each
month, and the remainder are paid the
last Mondays, Tuesdays, &c, of each
month. The interim between the first and
last days of each month is taken up in
preparing the rolls.
In Chicago the principals Of the vari-
GUS school builC ags call at the office Of
the city treasurer and receive and re-
ceipt for individual warrants made out
to prepare the rolls and distribute the
warrants to principals. When the prin-
cipals pay the teachers under them they
secure receipts to duplicate rolls. Teach
close of each school month.
TEMPERANCE AS TOPIC.