Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-27
SCHOOL ESTIMATES
REPORT IS STARTED
Donovan to Hold Board Is
Subordinate to District
Commissioners.

Preparation of report for the Dis
trict Commissioners over incidents lead
ing to the refusal of the Board of Edu-
cation to reduce it's budgstary estimates
for the next fiscal year was started
today by Daniel j. Donovan, auditor
and budget officer
The school boards attitude, it is said
at the District Building, may be the
forerunner of move to set up an in
dependent organization with its own
auditor. purchasing agent, repair shop
and architect. which Donovan estimates
would add several million dollars an
nually to the cost of the public school
system.
Donovan intends to show in his re-
port that the school system is an in
tsgral branch of the municipal govern
ment. subordinate to and under juris-
diction of the Commissioners. In sup
port of this he will call attention to
the recent ruling of Controller General
McCarl which held that the Public
Utilities Commission, which had long
been considered an independent agency,
is subordinate to the board of Com
miSSiOnerS.
May Revive 1916 Plan.
The action of the school board in
declining to accept the Commissioners
invitation to trim the school estimates.
it was said, may force the revival of
the 1916 proposal for legislation which
was designed to abolish the Board of
Education and set up a new system,
under which director of education
would be appointed by the Commits
SlonerS to administer the affairs of the
public schools and who would be
responsible to them instead of the
school board as at present. The direc-
tor Of education would. however. have
an advisory board of five members, also
appointed by the Commissioners. who
would function in an advisory and not
in an administrative capacity.
This proposed legislation was pre-
pared and sponsored originally by Maj
Donovan when he was secretary to the
Board of Commissioners. 1t was given
Endorsement then by Commissioners
Brownlow and Newman.
With public school system officials
awaiting presentation of the school
needs as seen by civic and community
associations in various parts of the Dis
trict. the preparation by the Board of
Education of bill authorizing a second
fve-year building program still is in the
preliminary stage in which. board men,
bers and school officers agree. no esti-
mate of appropriations necessary to
complete the present retarded five-year
building program and to cover the
needs which have arisen since the
authorization of the initial program can
be made
Following the meeting of the Board of
September 10, at which time
its legislative committee was instructed
to draft tentative bill authorizing a
second five-year building program, let
tiers requesting outlines of school needs
to the board by october 20 we're sent to
the civic bodies. At noon today. Harry
o. Hine, secretary Of the Board of Edu-
cation, said only two acknowledgements
Of the school boards letter had been
received. Neither of these acknowledge
ments, however, contained an estimate
of school needs. but merely set forth
that the question would be considered
at the next meeting of the responding
groups
Henry L. Gilligan, chairman of the
school boards legislative committee. |
which is to draft the bill for new
building program. said today that the |
published 100000 figure purported to
be the school officials estimates of the |!
SYSTEMS needs had no official status so
far as he knew
Charles F. Carusi, president of the !
board and a member of it's legislative |
said that that figure prob |
ably would be considerably below the |
actual money needs of the system if its |
ills are to be corrected He admitted |
that specification of definite amount !
before the civic and trade bodies are |
heard from could be only guess"