Evening star., 1931-12-09

DISTRICT SCHOOL BUDGET CUT
$985645 IN ESTIMATES FOR ,33
Request for $l2 $50, ,915 Is $2,15O, ,422 Below
Total Board Asked-Crounds
Items Slashed.

current appropriation were transmitted
to Congress by the Bureau of the Bud
get as the public school systems share
of the District Of Colun8bias economy
budget for 1893. b. .-..
Not only is the 1888 estimated budget
nearly a million collars below the total
appropriated in 1882 but it is s2,l50 ,422
less than the Board of Education of the
District asked for when it submitted
items totaling s14,6S1 1927 to the Com
mtssioners last Spring.
The reduction was effected chiefly In
the buildings and grounds items, which
the 1888 estimates place 81 ,624, 900 be-
low the total allowed by them this year
and s1,981 500 below the total sought
for this purpose by the School Board
While the school authorities submitted
buiking items aggregating $2,639, 500,
these estimates as they go to Congress
total 81 ,491 900, and while the School
Board sought s8280oo for land, the
Budget Bureau all1wei only singh
! $95.0 900 LAND item to remain in the 1913
estimates.
Despite these reductions, the "ex-
planatory synopsis of estimates of ap-
preparations for 1888" which accom-
panied the budget to Congress reports
met increase Of ss3s,355 for operation
and maintenance Of public schools :"
This met increase" the explanation as
serts, results from non-recurring 1882
items in the amount Of $l72,900 and
$8l1, ,345."
S5o,ooo for Fort Reno School.
Prominent among the items trans
mitted by the Budget Bureau Is sum
Of 0,000 for the preparation of plans
and specifications for q new senior
high school for the Fort Reno section
of Chevy Chase. In including this
item, the Budget Bureau would author
ize the employment Of an outside"
architect to do this work. without ref
legislation which requires the munich
pal architect Of the District to prepare
all school plans.
| Thus. If Albert L. Harris, municipal
architect, would have to postpone the
preparation Of plans for the new school
by virtue of the press Of other projects,
the District would be empowered to
engage another architect to draft the
plans so that construction Of the
school may be accelerated. In making
this allowance, the bureau needed the
urgent pleas Of the school authorities
themselves for the early launching OF
this badly needed senior high school.
The Budget Bureaus sympathy with
the school authorities efforts to secure
relief in the senior high school de-
partment OF the system was evidenced
further in its approval of an item Of
Sl35,000 for the completion OF the
Roosevelt High School. This amount
includes, besides actual construction
money, funds for the immediate I'M
provement of the schools grounds.
This Improvement" refers to sodding
and terracing, however, and not to the
construction Of the proposed stadium,
Tor which no money is allowed.
Increase In Teacher.
An item OF $4,000 Is included for
the construction of new four-class-
room building to replace the old Ken
ilworth School, which was condemned
early this season when its walls were
declared unsafe.
An increase Of 40 teachers positions
over the 1882 estimates are provided
for IN the new budget, which calls for
s6,673,0oo for personal services. These
new positions are allowed chiefly for
the new school buildings which are
being opened during the coming H.
month period. The personnel item In
crease includes $4,000 for additional
clerical help, $500 for automatic pro-
motions and additional positions in the
department of school attendance and
work permits, $l62, $40 for automatic
promotions Of teachers and $65, $3.50 for
additional personnel in the custodial
force. The additional teachers repre-
sent an increase of $111,lS0
Among the other items responsible for
the net increase of $636,355 In the
school budget include 5000 900 for furni-
ture and equipment for the new Roose-
welt High School, $4,000 for remodel
ing three rooms in the Western High
School for laboratory and typewriting
use, $500 for purchase of additional
laboratory apparatus and $780, 900 for
remodeling and equipping the old Busi-
ness and the old Cardozo High School
buildings. The schools had requested
$1so, 1873 for these last two buildings.
An item Of 1000 is included for
equipping the stages of Central and
Dunbar High Schools with counter
weight systems, draperies and other
stage apparatus, which have been
needed since the steel fire curtains
were installed in those two audito-
RUINS. This sum Is $4,000 less than
the School Board sought. The improve
ment dates back to the Knickerbocker
disaster in 1922, after which fire cur
tains were ordered in all theaters in
Washington. The installation Of the
curtains in these two high schools, how
ever. rendered the rest of the stage
equipment useless, and the school au-
! thorities have struggled ever since to
secure funds for their readjustment.
Other Building Items.
| Besides the Kenilworth School and
the completion of the Roosevelt High
School, other building items included
in the 1888 estimates are:
| An eight-room addition to the Ban
croft School, including the necessary
remodeling OF the present building,
s1o5. 900; an eight-room extensible
ent Keene School, $l15,000; COM
pletion of construction of the Taft
Junior High School, $780, 900; for be-
ginning construction of new Junior
high school on site already owned at
Nineteenth street and Minnesota ave-
nue. southeast, ip Anacostia, $225 900,
and the Commissioners are authorized
to enter into contract for the fin
ished structure not to exceed $3.50 900;
two-room addition to the Crummell
School, including new heating plant,
$4,000; new school in the vicinity
| Of Foxhan Village, to include four
completed rooms and unfinished space
for four additional rooms, 100000,
and a combination gymnasium and
assembly hall for Douglas-Simmons
School and gymnasium for the old
Cardozo High School building on M
street (provided that the unexpended
balance of the $4,000 appropriation
in 1882 for the Douglas-Simmon
School addition shall be available for
improvement Of the central heating
plant for both schools
Only one site is provided for in the
budget, and that to be purchased in
the vicinity Of the Logan School 1t
sos flfl1