Montgomery County sentinel., 1962-11-15

"A single huge Idct escaped
emphasis in the charge made
on election day about the
school board. That fact is the
county's school population in
four years grew almost so per
cent.
One of the charges made
against the four school board
members who were voted out
of office is that they were ex-
travagant. In view of this
tremendous school population
growth and their overall rec
ord I feel this is the opposite
from the truth Actually by
closely examining costs the
School Board between 1858
and 1862 made economies in
operation that have saved tax
payers approximately a quar-
ter of a million dollars with
out diminishing essential serv-
ices.
Here are some of the spe-
cific items: $4,000 by the
school systems hauling its
own fuel oil; $4,000 by operat-
ing their own bus maintenance
system (saved in 1882; $780,
00O-more efficient system of
office supply purchase 1962);
$4,000 -streamlining of office
purchases 1861.
Other programs contribut-
ing to the quarter million dol
lar saving: /. Using cash dis
counts whenever obtainable;
2. Revamping cafeteria pur.
chasing; 3. Paying architects
fixed fees rather than on the
previous percentage basis. 1t
architects estimate exceeds
budget architect must revise
plans on his own time; previ-
Gus the county paid him for
revisions; a. REFUSING plans,
modified for new sites.
Our county school building
costs have gone up (as all
costs have) from S12.91 a
square foot in 1850 to $14.36 a
square foot in 1861, an IL per
cent increase.
During this same period ma
tional building costs rose 50
per cent, according to the De-
partment of Commerce Build
ing Cost Index. The average
school building cost all over
the country (including rural
areas less expensive than the
W. hington metropolitan
area) was SASS square foot
in 1861. The average cost in
the Northeast us. was $17.58,
yet ours in this more costly
area were only $14.36, actual.
ly below the national average.
Some of these economies
came from use of color for
variety rather than more eX-
pensive structural complexity,
some came from use of new
material like exterior facing
tile, which although it looked
more expensive could cost
from $1260 to $4,000 per job
less than brick for certain
uses. some from wise architec-
tural selection: a new school
might look more expensive,
because it wasn't a simple
rectangular shape, but might
actually cost less because of
the architects fresh solution
to space problems.
The period between 1858 and
1862 has witnessed a business
like administration of school
tax funds, with great attention
to elimination of wasteful pro-
cedures.
People continue to move
into the county in great num-
bers, and put their children in
our schools. We still haye
some children on double shift,
although it is expected there
will be none by the end of
November. Keeping up with
such swift growth has been
a major task. Let us hope the
new members of the school
board will recognize what a
serious task it is that we
don't want to begin double
shifts again, and that planning
for the training our children
should have to live intelligent
ly in this complex world will
require from them extensive
study, weighing of many fac
tors and probably very few
easy answers.