Evening star., 1933-04-09
Looking Before We Leap.

|
! Elsewhere in the columns of today's
Star there appears the first of series
Of articles discussing some of the steps
that may be forced upon the school
authorities to adjust the system to the
! drastic cuts ordered in the pending
District appropriation bill, should these
cuts be finally enacted into law by Sen
ate concurrence.
1t is shown, for instance, that the
schools must find some way of operat-
| ing on $219,1 100 less money for the pay
of teachers in the next fiscal year than
they now have.
During the House hearings on the bill,
the suggestion was made by some of the
committee members that some OF the
cuts might be absorbed" in such way
as to spare the obviously unfortunate
results anticipated. But it must be re-
membered that under the system of
budgeting, the expenditure of nearly
every penny is specifically directed. 1t
is impossible to absorb" cut in the
salaries of teachers, for instance, by
transferring the cut somewhere else. II
a cut Is ordered in the item of Officers
salaries" it is impossible to save the
job of some officer by discontinuing the
jobs of some teachers, nor can the job
of teacher be saved by cutting down
on Officers" When Congress orders
a reduction of s219 160 in teachers and
school librarians salaries. it has ordered
the school system either to discharge
or refuse to hire some 1856 teachers, or
take such action as would reduce the
pay of all teachers by the amount
needed to make up the s219, ,160-by
shortening the school year, for instance,
and docking" the teachers for the
time they do not work Teachers sal
aries have already been cut fifteen per
cent.
The cut in this item, only one OF
those applying to schools, cannot be
absorbed" by economies that do not
directly affect the teachers and, there
fore, the instruction of pupils. When
a cut of $4,000 is ordered, in addi-
ton, for salaries in night schools, it
merely means that the number Of night
school teachers who would be paid
$4,000 must be dispensed with, and
that means closing or curtailing the
night schools. When $4,000 is taken
from salaries in the library system, it
means personnel must be reduced to
meet the cut. That means closing
branch libraries. There is no such
thing as absorbing" these cuts through
out the system.
Now, these reductions-of which
those mentioned are only few
were made by the Commissioners,
Auditor Donovan and a Budget Bu
reau official at the rate, it has been
testified, of about a million dollars an
hour. That is to say, the Comnnis-
sioners and the Budget Bureau spent
less than fifteen minutes deciding to
lop some $4,000 from teachers SAL
aries alone. 1t is not to be said that
under the conditions they could do
reached in the House hearings, it was
not under discussion as long as that.
And in the House there was no discus
sion as to the real result that will fol-
low in the schools should the arbitrary
reduction be made.
What is going to happen? The
Board of Education has been trying to
decide and has under study a number
of alternatives, each one of them SO
drastic that their full meaning is diff
ficult to appreciate. Are we, to save
s219, 9,0o0-the cut decided on by flf-
teen-minute appraisal of totals-to
scrap the kindergarten system that
represents years of careful develop
ment and millions of dollars in trial.
and-error experimentation? Are we
to shorten the school year and deprive
even more children in these dark days,
of their opportunities in school? Are
we ruthlessly to discharge a hundred
or more teachers and deprive them
with their dependents Of the work for
which they have been trained, at COM
munity expense? This city is sending
500 men now to find work in the Pres
| ident's forestry camps. Are we, be-
| fore their axes begin to ring to the
tune of a dollar a day, Immediately
to throw more than a fifth as many
| teachers out of work-more than coun-
terbalancing whatever effect there may
be on increased purchasing power from
the employed foresters?
The point is that there must be a
great deal of weighing, pro and cen
before these hastily -arrived-at hori-
zontal cuts are made. The Senate has
decided to pursue its traditional custom
of permitting those to be heard who
wish to be heard, and learning from
the people who must stand the gaff ir
this ruthless cutting process what those
cuts mean. The Senators will find, or
the one hand, that the money is avail.
able to prevent some of the most dan.
gerous retrenchment and, on the other
that this proposed retrenchment, in.
stead of being carefully planned will
full consideration of details. was hit
or-nliss proposition promising nothing
but blind destruction and benefitin;
nobody or anything.