New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-09-17
Salaries Too High, VaCa-
tons a Scandal, He Tells
Estimate Board.
CUT TEACHING STAFF
TOPPER CENT URGED
Budget Increase Refusal to Save
,000-PrOpOses Adop-
ton of Gary Plan.

Radical reforms in the educational
system Of New York City are recon-
mended by Controller Prendergast IN
n report 10 be submitted 70 the Board
Of Estimate to-day. So startling IN
their nature are they that storm OF
protest is expected. not only from
teachers. who would be affected ou'
from many others.
Declaring that tho salaries paid 70
public school teachers here are the
highest in the world. while we lag be-
hind in the amount Of education given
TO the children. the Controller SAID II
would be q public scandal to continue
the present length Of vacations. WINE
irnpossible TO reduce salaries now the
Controller suggests that it woud be
feasible to make a reduction OF IL
ner cent in the teaching force by the
application Of intensive methods oil
instruction.
The Controller expresses the opin-
ion that the acceptance and execution
OF the ideas he presents would con-
.titute the greatest single advance in
the long course OF the government oil
New York City.
Proposed Changes.
These are the objects the Controller
would accomplish through the policy
outlined in his report:
/. The elimination Of any increase
in the budget of the Board Of Educa-
ton for 1918. This means saving
Of 100000.
2. The total elimination of part
time and overcrowding in the schools
by intensive use of the present school
buildings. New construction will be
limited exclusively to new districts or
where buildings are in bad condition.
g. The extension of the school year
from forty weeks to forty-four weeks.
4. The frightening Of the school day
from five to six hours.
3. The elimination Of extra pay for
service in vacation schools. and other
forms of extra pay for persons en-
ployed on annual salaries.
6. Reduction Of 10 per cent in the
number of teachers by lengthening the
school day and the school year.
Z. A change in the syst-m Of pro
noting teachers whereby merit alone
shall control This means the eradi-
cation Of the system ot paying teach
ers more for service in seventh and
eighth grades, and the substitution Of
a plan whereby each -eacher shall
teach the classes for which she is best
fitted.
8. The reduction OF the common
school course 10 seven years.
A request for an issue OF special rev.
enue bonds for SS7 500 to pay the in
creases of salaries for teachers eligible
to promotion in the last two years in
the elementary schools was the occa-
sion for the Controllers report. He
disapproves the requests, and says:
"In considering the ACCESSIBILITY Of
providing funds for these promotions, l
have been compelled to recognize that
the educational results achieved in our
city are not commensurate with the
huge sums Of money expended annu-
ally for public education. I have,
therefore. TO propose at this juncture a
clear departure in school admlnistra-
ton, which will alter fundamentally
the basis Of the general school fund
appropriations for 1916 and affect di-
rectly the problem of promotion which
is now under consideration.
Vacations a Scandal.
THE main cause of the shortening
in the product of the schools is that
they do not provide Il sufficient number
of hours of instruction for the chill
dren. The City Of New York has a
shorter school day and shorter school
year than cities Of the first class in
European countries. London has q
school day of five and one-half hours,
and Paris and Berlin of six hours, as
against five hours in New York City.
In Germany, which leads the world in
systematic education, children are re-
ouired by law to be in school more
weeks during the year, more days in