Los Angeles herald., 1908-06-28

! tanned. IneSe decisions nOlu lndL lHe
legislative power of the municipality is
vested in the board of trustees, or coun-
Gil alone, and that no other department
of the city has the right to assume or
to invade it, The power to tax is legis-
lative power, and the board of educa-
ton may not exercise 1t directly or indi-
rectly. The wording of the charter,
though apparently giving the power or
| levying taxes up to a certain limit, is
not to be construed as mandatory but
as directory. This, however, is a legal
| question which your committee does
not feel that it's duty requires 1t to
pass upon. 1t Is for the courts to de-
eide. But your committee would only
| mention, in passing, that If the council,
! In view of these decisions of the SUI
preme court, claims the power of re-
view and control over the budget of
the board of education, 1t should exer-
else that power fully and see to 1t that
the amount furnished the board of edu-
cation is sufficient for it's needs, wheth-
err the estimate presented by the board
| is sufficient or not. An inadequate eS-
innate by the board will not excuse an
inadequate provision by the council.
Financial Investigation
"Since, under your instructions. we
were requested to examine into and
report upon the financial affairs of the
school board we deemed it proper to
| inquire into the methods and safe
guards employed by the city board of
| education in the matter of the dis
bursements of moneys for school pur
poses. We have examined the members
| of the important committees of the
| school board, as we'll as the persons
employed in positions of trust by the
| school department.; we have inquired
carefully into the methods of purchas-
ing and distributing supplies. of repair
ing buildings, of getting painting and
plumbing done, ETC., ETC., and 1t gives
us great pleasure to be able to report
to your honorable bodies that in our
| opinion, the management of the school
department of the city of Los Angeles
| Is worthy of the highest commentator.
Competitive bids are taken in the case
| of the purchase of all supplies that are
constantly needed, and the methods of
advertising for such bids and of classi-
flying the supplies required are most
| excellent and thor ough, inviting the
| fullest and fairest competition and en-
abling merchants dealing in particular
lines of goods to make their bids on FUR
nishing classes of such supplies. We
find, also, that a full, complete and &C
curate record is kept as to the receiv-
ing, storing and disbursing of these
| supplies, so that they may be ac-
counted for at any time. We are OF the
opinion that no business house In the
| cir employs Il InOle COIIlPlClC VI AlOAS
accurate system of keeping an invento-
ry account than the one that has been
| inaugurated and is being used by the
board of education.
"A rough estimate of expenses, made
| some months ago, convinced the board
OF education that the amount of money
available for school purposes would be
| insufficient to meet the demands, and 1t
was feared that the school year might
have to be shortened or the salaries OF
the teachers cut in order to bring the
expenditures within the sum provided
for school uses. No official action was
! taken, however, looking to the reduc-
ton of the teachers salaries or to the
earlier closing of the schools. By less
ening the amount spent on repairs and
| supplies, and by the receipt of larger
| amount of money from the state and
! county appointments that was anti
cipated, the board has happily been
able to meet the payments due the
teaching force for the full year. Thus
the question as to who was to blame
for the curtailing of the teachers sala-
raes drops entirely out of the contro-
versy.
Surplus Should Not Lapse
But another situation is opened up
which demands attention. Under the
| law no provision is made for the carry
| ing forward of any surplus by the
school board from one year to the next
1t is true that last year there was car
ried over from the preceding school
year over $4,000 which could be APP
piled to the payment of expenses for
this present year. The law, however,
makes no provision, as already stated,
! for such a surplus. The situation,
| therefore, is this The board of educa-
ton will enter the coming year Win
! little or no money left over from the
preceding year to meet the repairing or
school buildings, the painting of them,
plumbing, and such other matters as
ought to be taken care of during the
vacation. 1t is also very likely that
the board will find itself without sufti-
cient funds to pay the teachers at the
opening of the schools next fall, which
will compel the teachers to wait for the
| Dayment of their salaries until the
school moneys shall have been appor-
toned from the taxes to be collected
| for the fiscal year 19OS-1909. This Is
plainly a defect which calls for rem
| edy.
"While the total amount devoted to
school purposes seems large, aggregat-
ing nearly a million and a half of dol
| lars. vet 1t should be observed that the
item for teachers salaries alone is
more than four-fifths of the whole sum
asked for There are about HOO teach
ers employed in the school department
I
eighty-three schools. The question
having been raised whether the num-
Der OF teachers is not too large, your
committee examined several expert ed
ucators Of from twenty-five to forty
years experience, and without excep-
ton they agree in their testimony that
the number of teachers employed in
our public schools is not excessive or
more than the efficiency of the schools
REQUIRES At the end Of the year there
has been a shrinkage in the number
of teachers, but this shrinkage is in
cident upon the diminution in the num-
Der of scholars which always takes
place as the close of school APP
breaches. 1t is practically impossible
to estimate the number of teachers
required in any school by rigid
mathematical calculation, based upon
the ratio of teachers to pupils.
Greater responsibility
"It is to be remembered that for sew
eral years Los Angeles has been build
ing up a school department which is
undoubtedly one of the best and most
efficient in the United States. In adj
dition to the ordinary work of a school
system 1t has provided complete
course of kindergarten work; 1t has
built and equipped a large polytech-
mic high school, which has been pro-
nounced by men who speak with au-
thority as one of the finest in the
country; it has developed night