Evening star., 1932-05-09

as class 2, group A, and the other as
class 2, group c.. Higher eligibility
requirements are necessary for the c
group. Many teachers are appointed
to the lower classification and then
raise their eligibility by Summer or
evening work at university. This
sl,836 is the money required to pro-
vide for the appointment in class 2,
group C, Of those teachers now in
group A who may, during the fiscal
year 1888, qualify for the higher salary
class.
Section 9 of the 1924 salary act
lower to higher group on the basis
of definite evidence of superior teach
ing. The $500 allowance "for teach
ers promoted for superior work" then,
covers the money required to provide
the added compensation to which their
efficiency has entitled the superior"
teachers.
The s116,300 which the House would
save by eliminating all automatic salary
promotions for teachers just as it has
sought to eliminate all automatic STEP
ups for other Government employees is
needed to carry out the provisions uf
section of the 1924 teachers salary act.
There is, however. a difference between
the promotions thus guaranteed teachers
and the step-upS provided for other en-
ployes. The teachers promotion is
provided at the rate of $100 a year if
her work is satisfactory. There is no
provision in that law which involves
an average" salary, as in the case OF
other Government employees. In other
words. if a teachers work Is not salts
factory she Is dropped from the service
If it is satisfactory she Is given 500
annual increase up to the maximum of
her class. Hence 1t is that teachers
regard their appointments under the
law of 1924 as moral contract the
violation of which the House invited
when it wrote into the 1888 appropria-
tions bill blanket legislative provision
eliminating all automatic salary promo
tions
In making these deductions from the
amounts carried in the budget as
transmitted to Congress by the Bureau
Of the Budget, Congress acted without
the counsel of the Board Of Education
or the school officers. Deeply concerned
chiefly over the effects of the series of
cuts totaling $46,367, school officials
contend that If the House had sought
merely to save that amount of money
they could have pointed out far less
04s<obAOh ways Va dO444S ~ oAAdl NC4 Z
chosen by the House subcommittee.
The school officials now are engaged In
a determined fight for the retention of
these sums in the 1888 budget, con-
vinced that If these deductions are
permitted to remain in the bill the
District public school system will stand
stripped Of the degree Of efficiency
which 1t has attained with the children
Of the Capital, the ultimate victims Of
economy"
Cuts Hit Equipment.
Inferior furniture that probably will
have to be replaced in four or five years
will be installed in the magnificent new
Roosevelt High School, which opens
next September.
Broken furniture in other school
buildings win be traded for that which
Is only slightly less dilapidated
Worn-out heating plants will be con-
tinued in service for another year.
Drinking fountains condemned as a
menace by the Health Department will
continue endangering the welfare of
Washington's school children.
Twenty-four new school buildings
benefit Of the minor repairs, and care
"SNAA PA~ASA6 bA4CA
These are only some of the things
In store for the Districts public schools
in the event the Senate approves the
slashes made by the House in the school
budget as represented in the District
Of Columbia appropriation bill for 1888
Funds Were Already Cut.
The cut of $4,000 in the Roosevelt
High School furniture and equipment
item which the Bureau of the Budget
has transmitted to Congress was the
final reduction of a chain of slashes
resulting from unanimous realization
that prices are down." Originally the
Board of Education submitted to the
Commissioners q request for $230,000
for this purpose. That figure was based
on estimates made approximately year
ago. Since that time, however prices
have been reduced somewhat, and the
school authorities were the first to
realize it. Hence, they themselves SUBJ
mitted to the Budget Bureau a new
estimate by which they expressed the
belief that the necessary furniture and
equipment for this latest of Washing
tons senior high schools could be pur-
chased for $4,000 less. And so the
Budget Bureau transmitted to Congress
an item of 5000, 900 for this purpose.
Meanwhile the House of Representa-
tives had become aware of lowering
prices, and it Topped another $4,000
off the Roosevelt furniture and equip
ment item. LII its report on the bill
the House specifically explained that it
had made this reduction because of
the lower cost of furniture, equipment,
supplies and other material
The school authorities contend to-
day that If the Roosevelt High School
Is to be provided with anything like
adequate equipment" at least $4,000
must be added to the item. If the
present $780, 900 is not increased, then
the school authorities must undertake
a plan of makeshift that in the end
cannot be anything but extravagance.
Cheap typewriter tables will be in
stalled in the business practice depart
ment, and, since the Roosevelt High