Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-09-30
The School Estimates.

There is no room for serious conflict
between the Commissioners and the board
of education in the matter OF the DIS
tricts public schools. While it Is per-
fectly natural for the latter body to de-
sire the transmission Of its estimates to
Congress intact, in the belief that they
are based upon the actual irreduc1ble
necessities of the schools. on the other
hand for the Commissioners to accede to
this proposition would mean the curtail-
ment of the estimates for all the other
branches of the District government for
the next fiscal year.
The dilemma confronting the Commits
sioners is not of their own causing. They
have before them the estimates Of the
various heads of departments, each ambi-
fious for the development of his branch
of the municipal organization, each zeal
Gus for the development of that line, and
justified in the belief that its expansion
and proper maintenance is for the benefit
q the community. The superintendent
of police. the chief of the fire department,
the health officer. the board of charities.
the various heads of engineering works
are all urging their own particular bud
gets as important. If the estimates Of
the school board are adopted without re-
duction all of these others must be cur
tailed in order to bring the total figure
submitted by the Commissioners to Con-
gress within the rigid limits laid down
by that body.
The indignation expressed by the school
trustees at their meeting yesterday should
.:be directed not at the Commissioners. but
at Congress. which created the situation
. which now threatens and indeed compels
the reduction OF their estimates. If their
= figures are reduced by million dollars 1t
is not because the Commissioners do not
appreciate the pressing needs of the
5 school system for additional buildings and
= more teachers, but because they realize
with equal force the urgent requirements
of the other departments of the District
organization. In such an event 1t is in
cumbent upon the school board to induce
the Commissioners. as doubtless they will
he able to do without difficulty. to lay a
special stress upon the needs Of the
schools beyond the estimates In the course
of any letter which they may address to
the appropriations committees as a sup
Elementary appeal for additional funds.
= In one sense the prospective curtailment
OF the school estimates is to be welcomed.
1t may enable the Commissioners to lay
their case before Congress. their appeal
for a separation of the current and devel-
opment appropriations. in even stronger
terms than before. 4 reduction Of the
funds allotted for school uses would be
disastrous. 1t would continue the conges-
ton In the buildings now overfiowing.
would increase the already heavy burden
upon the individual teachers and would
reduce the efficiency of the schools by
many per cent. The only way to give the
schools what they need, both in the way
OF an addition to the permanent equip
ments and In increased current main-
tenance, Is to relieve the general budget
of the burden imposed upon 1t by the in
equitable cash-payment plan of paying
for permanent works out of current in
come.