The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1916-10-12
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 70, 1915.
The Cost of Education.

Every year, about this time, there IS
m battle royal between the Common
Council and the Board Of Education as
to the appropriation which is to be
made for the support Of the city schools
for the ensuing year. This year there
lis q difference between the two public
bodies Of the city of some $4,000. The
members Of the Board of Education in
sist that the council is stingy and short
sighted and the members of the coun-
Gil are just as urgent in the claim that
! the members of the board are extrava-
CANT and that they are unwilling to
Ebear with the other board the cost of
public economy. Tt is probable that
there is an argument to both sides OF
the question but there should certainly
be common ground ON which these
two governing boards should be able to
meet and settle the differences. $1,000
! is not a great deal of difference OF
opinion when it comes to handling the
schools of big city like Kenosha. The
people of the city want good schools
and the most Of them are perfectly
willing to pay for them on account of
the fact that they figure that this is
about all that the city can give to her
children. The people also want low
taxes and public economy. The cost of
Everything is going up and the council
members can expect that it is going to
cost more to maintain a school system
in Kenosha next year than it ever did
before. If teachers must pay more liv-
ing expenses it is certain that they
must have more pay to meet these ex-
Ipenses. Kenosha teachers are not over
paid and there are lot of men who
criticize the schools who if called upon
to live on the salary paid to the grade
teacher would be loafng about the
lpauper commissioner 8 Office asking the
city to support their families.
The big item in the care of the
schools is the salaries which must be
paid. There should be no reasonable
ground for difference between the coun.
eli and the school board on this point
There is none. The members of the
council are willing to pay the teachers
and the janitors and they have raised
no question as to whether or not the
board has been lavish in fixing the
amount of the pay of these servants of
the people. 1t is the minor details of
school management which bring the
difference between the two committees
The school board believes that it should
look to the future and buy land for
lschoolhouses. The council seems to
question the. advisability of this plan
Both boards are elected by the people
and the school board has been given by
state law the right to make up the an,
Inual school budget. The same state
law makes it necessary for the Com.
mon Council to levy the tax to provide
the appropriation. If it were not for
the fact that the members of the coun.
ell are held responsible for the tax lew
~ is improbable that there would he
any question raised as to the amount
to be given to the schools. Just look,
ing at it from an uneducated stand
point along school lines one would
guess that a hundred and fifty thousand
dollars should provide pretty good care
lof the schools but there are lot of an
giles in Che school business that we dc
mot know. Men and women who serve
on the school board keep in close touch
with school problems and they should
be better able to tell just what is need
ca Tor the schools than any one else
Ihey may have some extravagant ideas
put we yet have to see public board
watch did not have it's pet "extrava
gance." The purchase of the Bonny
Hame property has been the cause Of
q lot of criticism. To us it seems to h,
unwarranted criticism. There is not 3
real estate man in the city who woulf
not say that the Bonny Hame farm a,
an Investment, at the price paid by the
school board, was not a good buy. II
may be even better buy for the use,
OF the school board. If the only ones
ton before the council and the schoo
board is the purchase of this land, the
school board should have the $4,000
1T has asked for.
VI course the squabble simply illu
strates again the lack of cooperation
between the two boards. The scboo
board might gain by taking the council
INTO ITS confidence. So far as we know
there is a standing invitation for tn,
members of the council to attend n,
meetings of the school board but ius
so Tar as that knowledge goes we ar,
assured that very few of them attend
me members of the school board usu
any go before the council TO settle /:
squaDole' Both could gain by attend
ing the meetings of the other.