Evening star., 1947-01-22
Equity for Teachers

The merltorlouS purpose OF tne
recommendations for teachers pay
raises and promotion reforms which
Superintendent of Schools Corning
has prepared for consideration of
the Board of Education is to correct
inequities which, here as elsewhere,
have brought about real crisis in
the public school system. 1t is a
crisis marked by declining popu-
larity of the teaching profession as
a means of livelihood, with resultant
faculty shortages, lowering of teach
ing standards and other ills that, in
the end, may leave their mark on
today's youth.
The inequities which DR.. Corning,
acting under mandate from the
10th Congress, would eliminate are
of two kinds. There are those which
have developed as a result OF the
failure of teachers salaries to keep
pace with the upward trend in re-
cent years of pay scales in general;
and there are the inequities which
have become aggravatingly appar-
ent within the teachers pay struc-
ture itself. To deal with the first of
these morale -disrupting factors DR..
Corning proposes a general lifting
of teachers salaries in 1948 by a
minimum of $700 a year, in lieu OF
the present temporary $3.50 increase,
with current maximum salaries
boosted approximately 27 per cent.
To meet the problem of in-service
INEQUALITIES he recommends far
reaching promotion reforms aimed
at some of the principal sources OF
irritation and unrest among the
teachers. Advancement would be on
the basis of performance rather
than formal examinations.
The advocated pay scale, intended
as more or less permanent adjust
ment, would place Washington IN
the forefront of large cities with re-
spect to teacher salary levels. Even
before last years $3.50 increase
Washington teachers ranked well up
among those of the larger cities as
regards salaries. But such COM
parsons have little or no substance
now, because nearly every city in
the country has awakened to the
realization that teachers have been
shamefully underpaid in relation to
other industrial and professional
employes-and they have begun to
do something about it, often with
the help of State Legislatures.
DR.. Corning's recommendations
must clear several hurdles before
they reach the final and decisive
hurdle, Congress. They will have
little hope of clearing the remaining
obstacles unless they receive the
overwhelming support of the teach
ers themselves. Fortunately, DR..
Cornings report is said to embody
substantially the recommendations
of the Teachers Legislative Council
composed of representatives of the
forty-four teachers and school Off
GERS organizations. All of these
groups will have an opportunity to
express their views at public hear
ings to be called by the Board of
Education.
A united front by the teachers is
essential to advance the program
past the board, the District Com
missioners and, lastly, Congress,
Once the urgency and the reason
ableness of the final proposals are
established, the only question re-
naming will be how to provide for
the 100000 overall increase in the
teachers pay budget. That is diff
ficult question in itself, but one
which will have to be met forth
rightly when the teachers and their
champions have convinced Congress
of the Justice 6f their case.