The daily times., 1921-07-28
TOO MUCH RED TAPE
IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

causes of the present "deplorable"
condition OF American publ.c schools
are red tape and the handlcapping
of Boards OF Education by politicians.
according to survey of public
school boards and their receipts and
expenditures, directed by the Ma
ton Committee for Chamber of
Commerce Cooperation with the pub
lie schools and the American City
Bureau made public here today
The survey which covered condi-
tions in 377 cities showed, it was
said, that in AZ per cent of cases
where Boards of Education were in
dependent" or free from political
manipulation or control, that the
most efficient administrative and ed
ucational results are obtained.
1.-The best interests of the public
schools" says the report, cannot be
served in a city where the budget of
the Board of Education may be re-
duced and remodelled by city Off
cials who have not made a definite
study of the needs of the schools.
Boards which are really a sub-di
vision of the municipal government
and whose budget may be changed
by municipal authorities are classi
fed as dependent and undesirable
from the standpoint of the public
good.
Ba
case of cities in New Jersey, the bud
get must be passed upon by a special
Board of School Estimate; in Okla
homa cities the school trustees are
dependent upon an Excise Board; in
Ohio cities, school budgets. must be
submitted direct to a town meeting
and in many Western cities the bud
get is determined by some county au-
thority
The survey shows that the school
receipts in the 377 cities for the
past fiscal year were 3,26O,0OO
and that the expenditures of these
same cities during this period were
about $2,OOO,0OO less than income.
The funds are from five sources and
are supplied in the following pro-
portions: From the states 11.6 per
cent; federal government 1913 per
cent; the county ST per cent; local
taxes 65.4 per cent; non-revenue or
miscellaneous sources, including in
come from sale of bonds or short
time loans, ITO per cent. The sur
vey shows that of all cities reporting,
20 per cent do not receive a dollar
from the Federal government
Teachers salaries aggregated $780,
100000 or ga per cent of the total
of the current expense Of the schools.
The total expenditure for debt
service, varies from four-tenths of
one per cent in the Eastern cities,
one and one-third per cent in the
Southern cities and up to nine and
one-half per cent in the Great Lakes
group. In one-fifth of the Great
Lakes cities the expenditure for this
item is more than 20 per cent of the
total expenditure for all purposes
In a number of Ohio cities it l., be-
tween 80 and 35 per cent.
The relation Of capital outlay ag-
gregating $5f,727,554 to the total
expenditures, showed that nearly s5
per cent was utilized on sites and
new buildings. A total of $1,341,-
900 was expended for medical in
spection and dental and nurse SER
vice in the 377 cities named. The
part. of the total expenditure spent
for the alteration and equipment of
old buildings was only 1.8 per cent.
Commenting on this the committee
said:
t'The smallness Of this amount is
of particular interest in connection
with the findings Of this committee
in their report on school housing
in American cities. This
report shows that large percentage
of the children In the public schools
are continually menaced by the un-
sanitary conditions and fire hazards
in many old school buildings now in
use. In Eastern cities the condi-
tions are particularly bad"
An intermediate class of school
boards, designated as special"
which are neither dependent nor in
are also discussed in the
report and held to be contrary to
the best educational policy.
The basis for the committees sur
vey was an inquiry sent to the SUI
perintendents of schools in cities
with populations in excess of 5000.
The present survey is the third Of a
series. The first report, published