The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-10-24

ITOIH LklG ADMINISTRATIVE bklAVhBil
the secondary school; a high
cost per pupil Is justified and
represents an economical use Of
the peoples money.
"In order to give you an au-
thoritative statement on whether
or not the schools In Waterbury
are expensive, one would need to
make a careful analysis OF the en-
tire school program along the
lines suggested In the previous
sentence. You, OF course, are In
better position to make such a
study locally than we are at this
distance. There are, however, GER
tain published materials at hand
which would throw some light on
the relative position Of Water
bury both as TO dollar-and-cents
cost and as to educational serv-
ices, The Research Division OF the
National Education Association
examined this material and has
furnished the information which
I shall give you,
Comparisons Should Be Made
with Cities Of Like Size In the
Same Section OF the Country
School expenditures are quite
different In the various sections
OF the country, The costs per
pupil tend 10 be largest In the far
west and In the northeast, small
est In the south, and less extreme
either way In the middle west
Comparisons can be made most
fairly when the cities compared
are In the same section Of the
country. Since costs also vary
with size Of city, usually being
higher In larger cities where liv-
ing standards are high, 1t Is de-
sirable TO consider cities both
larger and smaller than the one
chosen for special study. In other
words II Is desirable that the city
being studied should occupy
middle position, both as 10 size
and geographic area, In relation
TO the cities with which 1t Is COM
pared.
II q circle Is drawn around Wa
terbury with every point on the
circle 1875 miles away from Water
bury, II includes IS cities between
10000 and 10000 IN population.
II the two other large cities In
Connecticut, between 100000 and
10000, are added, q total OF 81
cities Is reached. The COMPARE
sons which I shall send you will
be based on the most recent fig-
ures we can secure for these 81
cities. The area covered Is broad
enough TO include q number OF the
other manufacturing centers IN
New England. The population
range is broad enough to include
the neighboring large cities In
Connecticut and comparable cities
in the nearby states. Fifteen OF
the 81 cities are larger than Wa
terbury's e9,o02 1880 census)
and might be expected TO have
higher school costs; 20 are smaller
and might be expected to have
lower costs. Several OF these cit
les, such as Newton and East
Orange are In the metropolitan
areas OF Boston and New York
and might be expected to have
high costs; several others are
hard hit industrial cities, such
as Manchester, New Bedford, and
Fall River, where unemployment
Is high, public finances are at o
low ebb, and school costs might
be expected TO be low.
1t Is suggested sometimes that
comparisons OF school costs should
be made on the basis Of wealth,
or taxpaying ability. It Is reason
able to expect that cities In which
the average wealth per person Is
high can afford 10 maintain good
schools and should be expected TO
show leadership by developing
new educational methods and en-
riched teaching programs. At
present the best single measure OF
taxpaying ability Is assessed VAL
uatlon Of property, adjusted to an
estimated true value on the basis
OF the assessment ratio, and d.
yided by q population figure to get
valuation per capita. Such figures
are available for 1887 for 20 OF
the 81 cities. 1t Is recognized that
the adjusted totals on property
values are estimates and not ex-
act values, but they are at least
an approximate measure OF rela-
tive taxpaying ability. Waterbury
is In the upper third OF the 20 Cit
les on the basis OF per capita
wealth, using the 1887 figures
published by the Detroit Bureau
Of Municipal Research In the
National Municipal Review for
1887. Going back seven years to
q report issued by the United
States Bureau Of the Census on
Financial Statistics Of Cities for
1880 the latest year for which the
figures are available, WATERBURY
was then reported In the upper
third OF the entire group OF 81
cities in estimated true value OF
per capita assessment. When
school pupils instead OF total pop
ulation Is the unit Of measure
showing the estimated true value
q taxpaying wealth per child IN
school, Waterbury Is still in the
upper third OF the grou poi cities.
II seems clear from the fore
going statements that Waterbury