Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1955-06-09

Editor, montgomery sentinel.
Dear Sir:
Partial answers, bowling to
space requirements, to the ques.
tons raised by Stanley Smigel
regarding the school budget fol
low: ID More information and
less heat from jealous school pro
ponents?
The budget presented by the
Board of Education is compiled
by painstaking and public meth
cd. After department requests are
curtailed by the superintendent
the Board itself studies each item
in open meetings over a period
of more than two months. Also
two public hearings were held
this year before the Board adop
ted its budget for consideration
by the County Council. A mass
of information has been avail
able at the Board office, from
Phil Claxton, chairman of the
PTA budget committee, from
most officers of local PTAs and
in the newspapers.
The amount of time spent by
emotional PTAerS" studying
every item in the budget is no.
surprising-after all, we pay tax
es too and we are also hit by
the high cost of living in the
DC. area. The major portion o.
the energy and the budget of the
county PTA is expended for tho
dissemination of statistical ma
terial, and the greatest care is
exerted to keep it accurate an6
precise (tho sometimes boringn
for it must first pass the yer,
critical eyes of representatives O.
almost 10000 members.
(2) Is the present school situa
ton a temporary crisis which
should be solved by accepting
crowded conditions?
The present situation is a crisi'
only because the public or it.
officials has not accepted respon
sibility. We are in an era of grea
population increase, complicate
by delay in building schools dur
ing the war and by the fact tina
teacher salaries have not KEEP
pace with those in other occupa
tons. Business magazines exul
over the new high population lev
ell and the ever-increasing brit
rate, figuring the present and fu
ture profits on diapers, homes
toys, TV sets, etc. But they have
so far baked at raising taxes
comparably to educate the young
sters.
County, state and federal au-
thorities all recognize the prob
lem, in innumerable reports, but
each suggests that the other lev
els raise taxes for the necessary
money.
Expenditure for education has
not kept pace with our rising
national income and standard of
living. For instance, Montgomery
Countians spend more money on
liquor each year than on public
education.
90 Can school construction be
more economical?
Two years ago a committee of
citizens, headed by Dave Scull
and Blair Lee, III was appointed
by the county council and the
Board of Education to seek econ.
omy measures in school construc-
ton. The report, completed one
year ago and still available.
found that Montgomery County
builds the cheapest schools in the
area and that we had frequently
been misled by false economy in
construction, which caused high
er maintenance costs within a
few years.
The only major recommended
ton was more advance planning,
which means more planning of
suburban development by coun-
ty authorities and site money
available to the Board in time
to reserve suitable land. Neither
of these conditions have been fav-
orable in the past.
Legal requirements are string.
ent in regulating school construc.
ton, where the health and safe.
ty of hundreds of children are in.
volved in each building. AS one
example, fire protection (not to
mention air raids) demands Ger.
tain considerations in two-story
structures for children in mater.
ials, in corridors, in stairs, in ex.
its, etc. Many communities have
their young, that these paren
ness of their offSnrino with