The New York herald., 1921-10-10
s1S,OOO,OOO HIDDEN
BY SCHOOL BUDGET
City Taxpayers Must Provide
800, 100000 for Education,
and Not $71,700,000.

Instead Of the s71.70Uoo0 for schools
allowed by the Hylan Administration In
the tentative budget for 1929 which the
Board of Estimate takes up to-day. the
Board OF Education actually will be
compelled to have $91. 900 600 70 run the
schools next year. according to state
ment yesterday by the committee on
non-partisan facts.
The committee says the Hylan Admin
istration chopped $ls,000.000 out Of the
budgets school total. though the tax
payers will have to supply It anyway
through school moneys due to the city
from State funds. The statement adds
"The alternative method OF making
the budget would have been to state the
full amount for the school budget, which
must now be about $s1,ooo.000, charge
Il 10 the taxpayers who benefit from the
schooling and then use the State contri-
button toward this work for reducing
the tax levy"
The committees statement explains
the discrepancy between It's figures and
those of the Hylan budget. as follows:
THE tentative allowance for public
schools. $71,700,o00. In two respects un-
der-represents the cost OF the public
schools next year. In the first place
the estimates were prepared long before
the big increases in registration In Sep
temper. On this account more than q
million dollars will be needed on the
same estimate basis as that which has
allowed 100000.
Secondly, the tentative allowance.
as 1t stands Is more than $1S,00o000 less
than the Board of Education proposed
TO spend even before the unexpected In.
creases In registration. This sls.0OO,00
was subtracted from the Board OF Edu-
cations original estimate OF $S,sU,VV
because 900 Is expected from state
funds next year Since the State Will
contribute $4,000, 600, New York's tax
payers will not have TO pay that
amount. Therefore. the tentative budget
subtracts 1t from the so-called school
budget.
The statement comments further:
'Since 1917 the four budgets OF the
present administration have exceeded
the budget rate Of 1917 by $229.500,0o0
that is to say, IL the budget of 1917,
which was declared by those who criti-
csed the Mitchell administration to be
many millions too high, Is multiplied by
four, the total will be s229,50O.O00 less
than the total budgets for 1918 to 1891.
IF, in the same way, the four budgets
for operating the city are taken. after
exclud ng debt service and county costs.
1t leaves s1S6,400.000 more than the 1917
rate. In this same time the counties
have been allowed s4.42o,000 more than
-four times the 1917 rate. city operation
without schools $144.3oo.o00 more, and
the Borough OF Manhattan 40.5e. or
s4.40O.000 more.
Assuming for the sake Of argument
that every cent Of increase since 1917
was unavoidable. the way to get the
total sum which Ia TO be explained is not
to compare 1921 with 1917. but to COM
pare the total allowances for the last
four years with the spending base which
the present administration Inherited.
Taxes are raised every year, not every
four years. Increase in taxes. how
ever justifiable. should be counted by
including every years increases"
Commenting on discussion of part time
by Mayor Hylan his CRITICS, the COM
mittee said:
'It does not follow that every new
school seat takes two children from part
time. Many new seats are not where
part time Is. Part time does not OF tt
self necessarily mean less actual school,
ing or less beneficial schooling.
There are many other ways OF maxi
ing a thousand seats serve satisfactorily
more than a thousand pupils besides the
Gary plan. Therefore Mayor Hylan's
criticism of the Gary plan should not be
accepted as criticism OF all other meth
ods Of making three seats take care of
four children In his acceptance speech,
as In subsequent speeches. Mayor Hylan
did not pledge seat for every child. but
school Accommodations for every child of
school age"