Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-09-17
INCREASING Of
| SCHOOL BULGE rs
is RECOMMENDED
Educator Says They Should
Be Twice AS Large As Be-
fore the War; Teachers
Salaries Are Too Low.

tsY MORNING JOURNAL SPECIAL LEASED wHE1
IA New York, Sept. 16.-School
Budgets in American cities should
be twice as large as before the
war, according to an analysis of
public school statistics Just given
But by the Russell Sage foundation,
fNhe report maintains that teach
as salaries should now be double
F the pre-war figures in order 10 OBJ
| fain the same quality of educa-
Itional service. The cost of school
buildings is declared to have
trebled in the last five years.
These findings are made public
In a volume entitled Trends Of
School Costs" The author is DR.,
XIV, Randolph Burgess. assistant
director OF the department of edu-
cation Of the Russell Sage founda-
|tion. The study is an application
Ito the field OF education of the
[method of index number. The vol
ume is a companion to The Index
Number for State School systems
|by DR.. Leonard z, Ayres. which
|made a comparison of the eff
|ciency of the school systems of
different states.
n DIR. Burgess compares the sala-
|ries paid to teachers with those
| paid to laborers and artisans for
Eighty years and finds that the
wages paid to young women teach
Hers in country schools have IN
|xreased from $3.50 a week in 1871
Ito $3.50 now, an increase of 500
per cent. Salaries OF women teach
ers in cities show a similar IN
Increase from about $3.50 to $500
Va week. Men teachers received
t&huch smaller relative Increases.
Il Up to 1915 teachers received
|8percentage increases in salary
|mearly twice as great as artisans
Hand laborers, DIR. Burgess finds, but
Hin spite of the increases the aver
|sage pay of teachers has never risen
Has high as wages paid to such
Eartisans as blacksmiths. carpenters
land painters. -
During the five years since 1915
|#the salaries of teachers have in
creased on the average OF 40 per
cent as compared with a 100 per
cent increase in the wages of
Elaborers and artisans" says a sum
|#nary of the report. This lag in
feachers' salaries behind the gem
eral rise in prices has wiped out
Bill the gain that was made since
HE time of the civil war A COM
parison of teachers salaries and
fhe cost of the necessities of life
Zach year for the past eighty years
makes it clear that in the past two
years the purchasing power of the
Macher's salary has been less than
III any other time since the civil
Mar. The report maintains that
Bic only way 10 retain efficient
&eachers in service and at the same
lime attract able men and women
a1to teaching is to bring salaries to
d level corresponding to the level
tsof the wages in other occupations,
and the level of the cost of living,
This is taken to mean bringing
Esalaries to a point just double the
pre-war figures.
IA Levels of Expenditures.
s Estimating the probable levels
/ of school expenditures during the
Incoming few years. the conclusion
Wis drawn by DIR. Burgess that to
buy the same amount of educa-
tional service in 1920 and 1921 as
in 1915 II will be necessary to
double the school budget. In the
light of price and wage fluctua-
tons in the past and particularly
+ at the time of the civil war, it is
Kpredicted that no large decreases
Min prices or wages are to be an
8ticipated Immediately. but that eX-
penditures on the enlarged scale