Evening star., 1922-09-20
DR.. BaIIou Urges Citizens to
Prod Congress to Reor-
ganize Schools.
PRESENT LAW OUTGROWN
Report Asserts Educational Prog
ress in Recent Years Makes 1906
Legislation Obsolete.

on Congress the necessity of passing
"at the earliest possible opportunity"
: the Capper teachers salary and school
of Schools Frank W. Ballou. in the
second Section of his annual report
, made public today.
DR.. Ballou said that this is the
most important school legislation for
the District of Columbia that has
been presented to Congress in more
! than fifteen years. The public is
! back of it: the District needs and
! wants it.
! The second section of the report.
brief in comparison with the frs,
is taken up in its entirety with argu-
ments favoriEg an increase in salary
/ Tor school employees. together with
/ changes in administrative orraniZa-
! tion. 1t also outlines the history of
! the Capper bill, now pending in Con-
! greSs.
Delayed by Tariff.
! Consideration of the measure in
| the Senate. was prevented by the dis
| cussion of the admin nistration's new
tariff bill and other urgent national
| business.
educator outside of Washington were
! asked to indicate the outstanding
needs of the school system of Wash
| jngton he would undoubtedly name
! new salary schedule as one of tn"
most urgent said the report. ''Tnc
salaries of all educational employees
/ of the board of education are low
compared with the salaries in other
| cities. They are not high enough TO
! secure the quality of service to which
the nations capital is entitled.
| "A salary schedule is more than
! legislation fixing the compen satI"n
; of employees. it is also legislation
! providing for the organization of the
; school system. The salary schedule
! must fix pay for positions. but posi-
! tions are conceived and created IN
! accordance with ones judgment as to
! how a school system should be or
ganiZed and operated. The leglsIa-
; ton fixing the salaries OF employees
and establishing the plan Of orGani-
cation and administration of the
! school system of Washington was
; passed in 1906. Outside of pjecemeai
! Legislation i'll appropriation acts, no
supplementary Legislation has been
! passed since that time.
! meanwhile. since 1906 great prog
! resS has been made in the theory ana
| practice of educational adminiStra-
! ton. Junior high schools have been
! established as an integral part of the
| school system. The extended use OF
!
! traditional fve-hour day, both for
! evening and summer school work and
! for adult education. recreation ana
{ civic Improvement. has been recog-
! nized and generally provided for IN
I cities like Washington. Larger units
! of elementary school organization are
| generally accepted as financially
necessary and educationaliy desira-
| Bile. Throughout the country in more
recent years there is a marked tend
{ ency more nearly to equalize sala-
! ries of elementary and high school
teachers by establishing salaries on
! the basis Of the qualifications pos
/ sessed. rather than on the grade OF
i work taught. Vocational and pre-
! vocational education has been gem
! orally established since 1906. All
| these and many ether developments
! have taken place since the organic
| school law was passed in 1905. New
legislation is now a necessity not
: only to provide adequate compensa-
| ton for employees but also to bring
! up to date the organization and ad-
ministration of the school system.
Annual Changes Inefficient.
!: For long time the school officials
! have felt the urgency of such legisla-
| tion. Attempts have been made an
| nually in the school budget to secure
: increased salaries for employees over
l
! the appropriation acts have frequent
/ 1y carried scraps of legislation to
meet new situations as they have
! arisen. This is not a good practice.
The salary schedule should be estab-
; lished through legislation, and the
school estimates for salaries prepared
! in accordance with that schedule.
j Moreover. the need OF recognizing and
| establishing by law the many new
practices which have necessarily
! been inaugurated in the school sys-
! TEN is equally urgent.
"Accordingly, legislation was intro
. duced into Congress during the past
year, covering a new salary schedule
| and providing for some administra-
! tive reorganization. This bill pro-
vides increased compensation for
school employees. 1t recognizes the
salary schedule for it's teachers. It
! provides salary schedule for free or
| administrative principles of elemen-
tary schools with sixteen rooms or
more. 1t abolishes session room pay
| as means of compensating princi-
| pals of elementary schools 1t
| abolishes the classes 1, 2, 3. 4, and
/ into which elementary school teach
ers are now grouped. 1t abolishes
| the present annual increases in salary
IS a uniform increase of S106 per
year for each elementary school
| teacher.
| This bill provides for the enlarge
! ment and reorganization of the boards
! of examiners in order that they may
transact an increasing amount of i'm
] portant business which they must
! annually do. 1t authorizes the board
! of education to establish the rank of
i annual substitute teacher 1t au-
! thorizes the board to appoint tenn
porary teachers. 1t authorizes the
l nj iSh he
! compensation Of all employees in the
= community center department., the
night schools, the vacation schools
and of all other employees who are
paid out Of lump sum appropriations.
! ''The bill originated with a COM
mittee of the Teachers Council when
; the Teachers Council authorized the
| appointment of committee on salary
| legislation in April, 1921. The Teach
ers' Council, representing the officers
and teachers, and the board of edu-
! cation are collectively responsible for
| the bill. 1t is not exclusively the
J superintendent's bill, or the board of
! education's bill Or the teachers bill;
rather. it is a bill prepared collective
/ ly and approved by all
Bill Carefully Drafted.
| 1.-THE bill is not the result of snap
! judgment or nasty consideration 1t
| has been prepared after long considera-
| ton and in accordance with definite
| principles. The preparation of the bill
been stated. At the same time that
| the committee on salary legislation was
| appointed the Teachers Council also
| appointed committee of the council
This committee gathered information
on salaries from nearly fifty cities of
over 100000 population and placed it at
the disposal of the corresponding COM