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Now, I will present the results of this investigation to you in summary form. In case any of you should like light evening reading, the findings are presented in great detail in two volumes of 400 pages.1 I will try to be as simple as possible in placing the principal findings and conclusions to you, and will be glad to answer any questions that you wish to ask for the purpose of bringing out details.

Chart 1 is a profile of the financing of education in the United States. It is a picture of the inequality of educational support in the United. States. All children in public schools are represented in this chart, 100 percent of them.

CHART 1 - DISTRIBUTION OF CLASSROOM UNITS ACCORDING TO LEVELS OF EXPENDITURE

UNITED STATES

CURRENT EXPENDITURE PER CLASSROOM UNIT

$500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 5,000 5,500 6,000

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PERCENTAGE OF CLASSROOM UNITS

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1 An Inventory of Public School Expenditures in the United States, by John K. Norton and Eugene S. Lawler. Report of the Cooperative Study of Public School Expenditures, American Council on Education, 744 Jackson Place NW., Washington, D. C., 1944, 1 vol., 409 pp., mimeographed, $3.

The vertical axis, from 0 to 100 percent, represents 100 percent of children in public schools. The horizontal axis represents amounts behind the education of these children. The amounts given on the horizontal axis represent sums behind a classroom unit which, for practical purposes, is the same as a typical classroom. We used expenditure per classroom instead of expenditure per child, because school systems are organized in terms of classrooms rather than in terms of individual pupils so far as cost is concerned. In some areas, such as cities, you can readily group 25 to 35 children per classroom, while in other areas, very sparsely settled, you may be able, even after transportation, to get not over 5, 10, or 15 children per classroom or school. However, you still have to maintain a classroom with a teacher in it, with books, and you have to heat that classroom. The classroom is a more meaningful unit of cost than the individual pupil. Accordingly the data of this study reveal how much money is behind a typical classroom; how much money is available to finance the salary of a teacher, the purchase of textbooks, the purchase of educational supplies, the heating of the room, the cleaning of the room, the overhead, and the administrative and supervisory expense of a classroom. Everything except costs of transporting children to school, and the original capital cost of the school building, is included in the expenditure figures of this study.2

We found a startling and shocking situation in our Nation, the world's greatest democracy. At the top of chart 1 we find some school systems in which amount of money expended per classroom per year is as much as $6,000-$6,000 back of each classroom group, to buy a generous and, we hope and, in fact, know, a very effective type of education.

Senator HILL. Doctor, that is $6,000 per year, is it not?

Dr. NORTON. $6,000 per year.

Senator HILL. Thank you.

Dr. NORTON. At the other extreme there are certain school districts in which there is literally less than $100 per year to buy all the things I mentioned; to maintain a classroom for a year. So at the extremes there is a ratio of 60 to 1 in educational provision, or in educational inequality, so far as finance determines the quality of education. We know from other sources that level of financial support has a very important relationship to quality of schooling provided.

Being more specific, at the top of chart 1 are 19,000 children in 790 classrooms, which cost $6,000 or more per classroom per year. At the bottom of chart 1, reading the figures from the table there are 38,000 children in 1,674 classrooms that cost less than $100 per The other children and classroom units of the country are spread in between those extremes. One can tell the percentage at any particular level by reading the figures of the vertical and horizontal axes or by referring to the table accompanying chart 1. This relatively long vertical line near the top of the chart is New York City, which finances its schools at an average cost of $4,100 per year per classroom unit, as we define the term in this study. Since New York City enrolls nearly 1,000,000 children, it takes up a substantial part of the chart.

2 For further information as to the exact meaning of the term "classroom unit," consult appendices of complete study, cited just above.

Going on down on the chart, the school systems of the country are classified at various levels of expenditure per classroom unit. Senator MORSE. Are those public and private classrooms?

Dr. NORTON. They are public only. I will say something about the children in nonpublic schools a little later.

The national median, or mid-point, is $1,600 per classroom. Putting it another way, half of the children of the country are in school systems that cost more than $1,600 a year per classroom unit, and half attend where the cost is less than $1,600 a year. Or, stating it in terms of percentages, the lower 10 percent of the children are in classrooms costing less than about $600 a year; some less than $100 a year.

Senator HILL. Doctor, you say the lower 10 percent. Translating that into figures, how many would be in that 10 percent?

Dr. NORTON. How many children?

Senator HILL. Yes.

Dr. NORTON. Well, I will have to make a quick calculation. About two or three million children. You can read it off by adding the figures of the table, chart 1. (NOTE.-2,330,000 children are in school systems costing less than $600 a year; and 3,129,000 in those costing less than $700 a year.)

Senator HILL. Two or three million children in classrooms where less than $600 per year is expended?

Dr. NORTON. That is right.

At the top, the upper 10 percent of children are in school systems costing more than $3,400 per year per classroom unit.

Next I will show the situation in individual States. These charts, I might say, are all drawn to the same scale both ways. Width indicates generosity in terms of amount of money behind each classroom, and narrowness represents inadequate provision. Chart 2 is for New York State, one of the rich States in the Union. New York City, the long vertical line in chart 2, is a large percentage of the State. Nearly all of the children in New York State are in school systems costing more than $1,000 per classroom unit. In fact, recent legislation has lifted them all well above $1,000. You will notice, generally speaking, that there is a substantial amount behind the education of all children of New York State, every classroom, even here at the lower level [indicating]. Chart 2 presents a general picture, in terms of width, of substantial provision for education. Now, the next one

Senator HILL. Before you leave New York, Doctor, will you call attention to the amount on the lower part of the chart? Is that all New York State?

Dr. NORTON. This is 100 percent of the children in public schools. Senator HILL. Of New York State?

Dr. NORTON. Of New York State.

Senator HILL. Some of the children in New York State, I see from the chart, are in classrooms where a relatively small amount of money is expended.

Dr. NORTON. Yes; there are a few in the $600 to $899 group, according to the figures in the table.

Senator HILL. Could you give us, in round numbers, how many that might be, approximately?

CHART 2 DISTRIBUTION OF CLASSROOM UNITS ACCORDING TO LEVELS OF EXPENDITURE

100%

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NEW YORK

CURRENT EXPENDITURE PER CLASSROOM UNIT

$500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 5,000 5,500 6,000

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$500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 5,000 5,500 6,000

Dr. NORTON. There were 3,233 children in classrooms from $600 to $900. We threw all these children together in the bottom group. However, recent legislation in New York State has improved the situation at the bottom of the chart.

Senator MORSE. My good colleague suggests that all the cheap schools are in the Republican parts of New York.

Dr. NORTON. I would rather let him speak on that subject.

Senator AIKEN. Dr. Norton, about those counties in New York that are operating for the lower amount; those are rural counties? Dr. NORTON. Yes.

Senator AIKEN. Is a county the unit of school government?
Dr. NORTON. No; it is not.

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Senator AIKEN. What is it?

Dr. NORTON. There are several classes of school districts in New York State, all the way from school systems like New York City to one-room school districts.

Senator AIKEN. Isn't it possible to operate schools in some parts of New York State for much less than in other parts?

Dr. NORTON. Yes, undoubtedly; but the difference is less than one might imagine.

Senator AIKEN. The proposed legislation would not have any effect on evening out the cost of living, if the school is within the same State, would it?

Dr. NORTON. I think it would not have an effect on evening out the cost of living. Its effect on evening expenditures for education would depend, of course, on the use of the fund made by the State.

In chart 3 we have the lowest extreme among the States, in terms of ability to finance education, and in terms of provision made for financing education-the State of Mississippi. The areas of charts 2 and 3 are an indication of the amounts of money back of a child's education in New York State and in Mississippi. The chart or profile for Mississippi is exceedingly thin. About one-half of 1 percent of Mississippi children are in school systems expending more than $2,000 per classroom unit. A great number of them are at $100 and $200 a year at the bottom of the chart. These are mainly Negro children in that State; the State of New York, on the other hand, is a wide chart, indicating substantial educational support.

Senator JOHNSTON. I believe the object of this bill is to try to equalize education as much as possible throughout the United States. Is that true, Doctor?

Dr. NORTON. I think that is one of the objectives, because one-third of the money provided goes for that purpose; yes.

Senator JOHNSTON. Why is it that you use the average daily attendance instead of the enrollment?

Dr. NORTON. One could discuss that at considerable length, I may answer the question briefly by saying that as soon as a child gets in school, and becomes a part of average daily attendance, he should begin to draw money as under this bill.

Senator HILL. In that connection, Doctor, as I recall, the average daily attendance factor applies to the emergency fund.

Dr. NORTON. I think that is right.

Senator HILL. As I recall, as far as the equalization fund is concerned, the factor is the number of children between the ages of 5 and 17, that being one of the factors for the division of the equalization fund, the other factor being the income of the State.

Dr. NORTON. I think that is right.

Senator HILL. As shown by the figures that are available in the Treasury.

Dr. NORTON. I think that is right.

Senator AIKEN. Dr. Norton, do all the States have compulsory attendance laws?

Dr. NORTON. Some kind of laws; yes. They differ as to their terms and also as to their effectiveness of enforcement.

Senator JOHNSTON. Is not there a great deal of difference though, in the average attendance throughout the United States?

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