' * GBAAGGAAGGSSGGGSSGGASGSSSGSGGSGGGR GGGS Sa *ONE a Al UNITY, OF faite VOL. VI, NO. 5 NOVEMBER, 1928 Research Bulletin OF THE National Education Association BSSSSSoaasaaaasaaaaaasasaaaaasaaacaae Can the Nation Aftord To Educate Its Children? SSSaooasooeaaoaaGaonusaeoeosoaoecaacaGe PUBLISHED BY THE RESEARCH DIVISION OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 1201 SIXTEENTH STREET NORTHWEST, WASHINGTON, D. ¢ I l as ond r Felt f Washington, D. C., un Act of A \ I ling at special sta I Act of Octol l ruth . a JBGSBBSSESSGSRSRSGGG6666666666666666S6S656SSSSSSS9S SSS666S966S3666666665666& —— G6) =, ee, 19OOG65560665595655S99S0506965595 Research Bulletin of the National Education Association Published five times each year in January, March, May, September, and November by the Research Division of the National Education Association of the United States President, Uri. W. LAMKIN Secretary, J. W. CRABTre! The payment of the $5.00 membership fee of the National Education Association entitles one to receive the Research Bulletin, the Journal, the Annual Volume of Ad- dresses and Proceedings, and certain other publications of the National Education Asso- ciation for one year. One dollar of each $5.00 membership fee is for a year’s subscription to the Research Bulletin. The Research Bulletin may be subscribed for separately at a subscription price of $1.00 per year. Copies may be purchased for 25 cents, and in quantities at a reduced rate. Those entitled to receive the Research Bulletin regularly are asked to report at once any change of address, giving old as well as new address. Entered as second-class matter Februar 10, 19 it the Post Office at Washinet » Act of August 24, 1912 \cceptance for mailir t special rate of postage ! 1103 \ct of October 3, 1917, authorized February 10, 1923 Director of Research: John K. Norton. Assistant Directors of Research: Margaret M. Alltucker; Frank W. Hubbard. Executive and Editorial Offices - - - 1201 Sixteenth Street N. W., Washington, D. ( Research Bulletins Previously Issued See reverse of title page for previously issued Research Bulletins and for information as to their availability. How to Secure Additional Copies Idditional copies of this issue of the Research Bulletin may be obtained at the following prices, postpaid if remittance accompanies order : Single copies of this issue 25¢ 2 to 9 copies—10% reduction 10 to 99 copies—25°% reduction 100 or more copies—33 1/3% reduction. Orders for Research Bulletins not accompanied by remittance are subject to trans- portation charges. Make checks payable to National Education Association. Subscriptions to Research Bulletins The Research Bulletin may be received regularly through a special subscription at $1.00 per year. Only those holding the $5.00 membership (see statement at top of this page) receive the Research Bulletin without such subscription. Many of the early issues of the Research Bulletin are already out of print. The special subscription at $1.00 per year offers an opportunity to maintain a complete file of future Research Bulletins. Reproduction of Material in Research Bulletins Electro-mat-slide service: The National Education Association maintains a special service to aid those reproducing material appearing in its publications. Send orders or requests for further information to the Division of Publications. Tables, charts, and any other material appearing in Research Bulletins may be reproduced for the advancement of education. No authority other than this notice is needed previous to such reproduction. For further information on this subject or others affecting the work of the Division, address the Research Division, National Education Association, 1201 Sixteenth Street N. W., Washington, D. C. ad e * ‘ian alle lace emacs ae Additional Light Upon School Costs The figures of the preceding sections of this Bulletin indicate we are not spending more for public purposes than we can afford. ‘The fact that we can afford to expend for schools and for other public purposes what we are spending, in itself, however, is not sufficient justification for such an expenditure. The expenditure of public money for any purpose should be based upon the fact that it is a wise expenditure which brings a return to the public sufficient to justify the outlay. Furthermore, the amount of the expenditure should be no more than is necessary in order to secure the benefit the public desires. No educator of standing has even desired that these criteria should not be applied to school expenditures. Therefore, let us ask two questions: First, is the expenditure for the schools a wise one which brings a return to the public which justifies the outlay, and sec- ond, is the amount of the expenditure more than is necessary in order to secure the benefit the public desires? Are school expenditures a wise investment? —The verdict of the war upon this question was considered in the first section of this Bul- letin. Let us examine the question a little more closely, particularly as to the relation of education to the nation’s economic efficiency. Recent estimates have been made of the amount of wealth and income of the various states. We know that the states which have consistently maintained the better types of schools generally possess more wealth per cap- ita and enjoy substantially larger incomes per capita than the states where the standard of education has been low. A recent study on this subject by the United States Bureau of Education presents statistical information and arrives at this conclusion: Notwithstanding obvious difficulties of proving such matters statistically, it seems clear that prop- erly applied expenditures for education is profitable to the state, because it tends to increase income and wealth, aids in the decrease of illiteracy, and gives to the individual better opportunities for self-devel- St., Indianapolis, Ind. opment and achievement, as well as a higher stand ard of living. It cannot be stated with certainty how much the economic superiority of the better educated states is due to superior education and how much to other factors. Few would claim the differences in educational opportunity wholly account for the differences in wealth and in come. On the other hand, only those of little vision would deny that superior education plays some part and doubtless an important part in producing economic well-being. Let us suppose that a generous amount of school ing of the right kind given all the citizens of a state raises their earning power on the aver age 10 percent over what it would have been had they had meager schooling or none at all. Ten percent of our total annual income is nine billion dollars, more than three times as much as we yearly pay for public schools and colleges of all types. That money invested in education brings handsome economic returns is supported by numerous studies of the relation of schooling to earning power. A recent study by Everett W. Lord is typical.? ing power of 7400 people in all walks of life The schooling and earn were examined. The average earnings of the college trained people of the group was $3,400 higher than those of high school training, while the high school graduates earn $1100 more than those of elementary school training. This study calculates the probable total life time earnings of a typical elementary, high school and college graduate, as indicated by the incomes of those studied, and arrives at these results: Total Period of Work Earnings Schooling Elementary .| 46 years (14 to 60) | $64,000,000 High school.| 42 years (18 to 60) | 88,000,000 College.... | 38 years (22 to 60) | 160,000,000 1 Education Pays the State, U. S. Bureau of Education, Bulletin No. 33, 1925 * Lord, Everett W. The Relation of Education and Income So far as is known: all of the numerous studies of this subject indicate that people with Alpha Kappa Psi Fraternity, 1050 North Delaware [ 283 ] the larger amounts of schooling on the average earn substantially larger incomes. Such investigations have been called “‘al- most worthless.” ! It is believed that this is too strong a term. It is true that improper deductions have been drawn from data as to the relation of schooling to income and earn- ing power of the individual. Some have rea- soned: People with superior schooling earn larger incomes, therefore, schooling is the sole key to larger earning power. Such reasoning fails to evaluate factors such as native talent, the supply and demand for workers in the particular calling one enters, and others which may contribute as much as or more than schooling to a particular person’s earning power. It fails to consider that super- ior schooling and superior earning power as well as having causal relationship may be partly the outgrowth of a common cause, such as su- perior native ability. The factors concerned in the economic changes caused by education need to be isolated, and to be made the subject of detailed and accurate study before we will approach exact information on this issue. But these and other considerations do not justify the scrapping of all evidence collected thus far as to the effect of schooling upon earn- ing power. ‘The evidence thus far collected has consistently indicated that people with larger amounts of schooling generally earn larger incomes. Also, it is difficult to imag- ine any logical consideration of this whole issue, having in mind the conditions obtaining in the United States, which would not conclude that schooling does have some influence, and indeed, considerable influence, in increasing an individual’s and a state’s economic productivity. Correlation between two variables, such as schooling and earning power, does not of itself imply causal relationship. Such relationship must be deduced from non-statistical considera- tions, namely, sound logical analysis. In this problem we have both positive correlation, and the logic of the situation suggesting that school- ing does operate in the direction of increasing the earning power of the person possessing it. These considerations suggest the following hypotheses, namely: Schooling does have ‘c 1 Clark, Harold F. sity, Bloomington, Indiana, Vol. IV., No. 5, page 6. the effect of increasing the earning power of individuals and. of communities and states whereas the degree to which schooling i: creases earning capacity cannot as yet be stated with precision, it appears likely that it is suff cient to more than pay for the cost of that schooling; and money expended for schoo should therefore be looked upon as an invest ment which increases rather than decreases th economic strength of a community. The prediction is ventured that the scientit investigations which will doubtless be made i: the next few decades on this question, and which all intelligent educators should encou: age, will produce results tending to clarify an to confirm, rather than to disprove, the hyp theses suggested above. Turning from statistical evidence to opinio: men of wide economic vision assert that scho ing makes an important contribution to th: nation’s economic productivity. Herbert Hoover in the 1928 Commerc. Yearbook lists education and scientific resear: as the first of five principal factors which ar responsible for the nation’s paramount econom position. President-elect Hoover, then Secr: tary of Commerce, stated: The fact that national output per capita has lo: been greater in the United States than in most other countries is in some measure owing to th abundance of agricultural land in proportion to th population, and the: abundance and variety; mineral resources. During the earlier history the country its progress was in considerable par: owing to the opening up of new resources. The i crease in output during recent decades, howeve: can not be attributed to this cause. There hay: been some new discoveries of minerals, notably of petroleum, but these contributions have been offset by the partial using up of other resources and by the necessity, with the growth of population, of ex tending cultivation to somewhat inferior lands The principal factors in the recent increase in productivity are, therefore, human as distinguishe: from natural factors. Among these factors is the advance in education and scientific research. ‘Taking account both of the proportion of the children in school and of the average duration of attendance, the amount of ele mentary and secondary instruction given in 1926 per person of school age, was 151 percent greater than in 1870, and 90 percent greater than in 189 In 1890 about 5% percent of the children betwee: The Economic Effects on Education, Bulletin of the School of Education, Indiana Univ: [ 284 ] a on of the le- 26, ter 90 en the ages of 14 and 17 years were in high schools and academies; in 1926 over 381% percent. Of per- sons 18 to 21 years of age about 11% percent were in colleges and universities in 1890, and nearly 9 percent in 1924. Meantime instruction has become much better in quality and especially more practical and more conducive to thinking power and to productive capacity.’ In a statement widely circulated by Uni- versal Service, Charles M. Schwab recently analysed the factors which are at the foundation of our economic prosperity as follows: Foreign business men have had a tendency to scan tables and charts giving a balance sheet on America in terms of coal and iron and oil, of cotton and basic foodstuffs, and then to conclude that there lies the secret of our phenomenal growth. Or, unconvinced, they come here and make ex- haustive surveys, then return home to declare that we win through to leadership because of labor- saving machinery. If not raw materials, then superior mechanism must be the foundation of our success, they conclude. A not so very different point of view is shown in some of the “annual business reviews” which appear in newspapers and periodicals at about this time of year. But the true reasons for American prosperity cannot be revealed in columns of sum- marizing figures. Nor are such figures infallible guides for prophecy regarding what is just around the corner. The national assets which I believe insure for us continued prosperity are in a _ sense im- ponderables. That is to say, I cannot put a value upon them, or record them in terms of dollars or barrels or tons. Some of our chief “prosperity assets” are: 1. The highest real wages in history—wages high not only in cash value, but in buying power 7U, S. Dept. of Commerce, Commerce Yearbook, 1928. ? The San Francisco Examiner, Sunday, December 2, ‘Ibid. p. 23. 2. A growth of understanding, of recognition of mutual interests, and of actual and practical co- operation in the business world, as between labor, management, and capital 3. Improved industrial management and mer- chandising, gearing production more carefully to consumption, so that operation of the “national in- dustrial plant” is steadied and periods of unem- ployment decreased 4. The widest ownership of things ever known; and this applies not only to automobiles, radio sets and homes, but to stocks, bonds, life insurance pol- icies and bank balances as well 5. The most extensive free school system in the world, and the most general desire for education. I have said that these national resources cannot be measured by ordinary bookkeeping methods; but certainly any one of them would have to be estimated as worth several billions of dollars.* In further developing the fifth imponderable, Mr. Schwab concludes: General education—the last of the “assets” as listed earlier—gave us a public which could recog- nize and help make effective the new economic code; and it is from the ranks of the millions edu- cated in our public schools that the future leader- ship must be drawn. And while the training of scientists able to help manage a highly technical civilization is impor- tant, mere mechanical technique is not enough—as the Germans discovered. They confirmed for us our belief in the value of technical education; but they also convinced us that we are correct in stressing general education in the liberal arts. The evidence was never stronger than it is today that expenditures for good schools con- stitute a wise investment which brings to the public a return many times the value of thei: cost. 1928, p. 1. voir of such leadership adequate to the future. A NO TIME have we had more able leaders in economic life than today. At no time have we been more certain that the fibre and intelligence of our people furnishes a vast reser- But able administrators, skilled workers, pro- fessional and moral leaders cannot be made by birth or money. They cannot be selected by divine right or through bureaucracy. Nor can their ranks be filled from a limited class. Our leadership can be found and it will be sympathetic to our ideals if we maintain the decency and dignity of family life through a stable economic system; if we maintain free and universal edu- cation and thus provide them the open stair to leadership; if we maintain for every individual an equality of opportunity to attain that position in the community to which his character and his ability entitle him. Then our supply of leadership will stream forward of its own impulse. It is in this insistence upon an equal chance and a free road to rise in leadership that our great American experiment has departed from those of history. It is our sure guarantee of the future. In its vast possibilities is the hope of every mother for her boys and her girls.—Herbert Hoover. [ 285] Uta a atti ats awh - * gr Ce es aS ER aa enact aad Is the cost of the schools greater than is necessary for their effective operation?—When one contemplates the unusually rapid increases in the number of dollars spent for education the inclination is to answer this question in the affirmative. The expenditures for public elementary schools increased from a little over half a billion in 1914 to slightly over two billions in 1926 according to Table 6. An increase in twelve years of 265 percent in the number of dollars expended for educa- tion seems large. But let us analyze the causes of this increase. The principal factors contributing to the rapid growth of school costs since 1914 are: 1. The rapid increase in school attendance, particularly in the upper and more expensive grades. 2. The depreciation in the purchasing power of the dollar. 3. The increase in the amount, the kinds, and the quality of service demanded by society. It is possible to measure the influence of these three factors in bringing about the growth in school costs. Consider the increase in the cost of public elementary and secondary schools, which constitute approximately 90 percent of the expenditures for all public Public elementary and secondary expenditures mounted from $555,- schools. school 1 Figures from U. S. Bureau of Education 2 Swift, Fletcher Harper. D. Cc. U. §S. Bureau of Education, 1923, p. 5. (Bulletin Biennial Survey of Public School Finance in the United States. 1923. 077,146 in 1914 to $2,026,308,000 in 192 or an increase of $1,471,231,000.'_ How mu of this increase is chargeable to each of t¢! factors enumerated above ? Cost of Increased Attendance.-—Betw: 1914 and 1926 the total number of da schooling provided in public elementary scho: increased from 2,112,197,000 to 2,850 327,458, while the days’ schooling provided public high schools increased from 143 460,000 to 510,907,752. The growth in tendance was over seven times as rapid in h as in elementary schools. This fact has an important ‘effect on burden placed upon the schools by increasin attendance. Every additional day’s attendan in high schools costs approximately two one-half times as much as an additional da attendance in elementary schools.? Theref in arriving at a true indication of the finan burden placed upon the schools by attendance a day’s schooling provided in high school sho count two and one-half times as much as on in elementary school. When this principle is accepted, and calculations are made, one obtains the num ber of weighted days’ attendance in the publi schools over a series of years. The figures to weighted days’ attendance are the same days’ attendance, as ordinarily understood, e\ 1920-22. Washing No. 47.) TABLE 6.—ANALYSIS OF FACTORS CAUSING INCREASE IN PUBLIC SCHOOL COSTS, 1914 TO 1926 | Cost of public education—ele- mentary and high schools Increase over 1914 1 5 2 =a "555,077,000 | $ 2,026. 308; 000 fe ctede as $ "1,471, 231,000 Increased Depreciation Other attendance of the dollar factors 4 | 5 | 6 ae uci tes ed re P 371,901 , 590 697 , 087 , 900 402 , 241,510 Amount of increase chargeable to plus $371,901,590). percent gives $697, 1. Increased attendance—$371,901,590. Attendance increased 67 percent from 1914 to 1926. An increase of 6/7 percent over the cost of education in 1914 ($555,077,000) is $371,901,590. | 2. Depreciation of the dollar—$697,087,900. Growing attendance justified an increase to $926,978,590 ($555,077 ,,000 In 1926, $175.20 purchased the same amount as $100.00 in 1914. 7,087,900. 3. Other factors—$402,241,510. Increased attendance and depreciation of the $1.00 added $1,068,989,490, making total of $1,624,066,490. The difference between this amount and $2,026,308,000 actually spent in 1926 for public ele- | mentary and high schools, or $402,241,510, is chargeable to other factors. Increasing $926,978,590 by 75 [ 286 ] -———— the um- blic OL cept that a day’s schooling provided in high the end-of the last paragraph, is $697,087,900. school is given two and one-half times as much This is the increase in school costs justified by weight as one provided in elementary school. the depreciation of the dollar between 1914 According to Table 7 the number of and 1926. weighted days’ attendance increased from Cost of Increase in Amount and Quality of 2 470,847,000 to 4,127,597,000 between Service-—Between 1914 and 1926 increased 1914 and 1926. ‘This is a 67 percent increase. attendance added $371,901,590, and the de Growth in attendance, therefore, justified an preciation of the dollar added $697,087,900 to increase in school costs over this period of 67 school costs. These sums plus the cost of pub percent. Sixty-seven percent of $555,077,000, lic education in 1914 give a total of $1,624, the cost of schools in 1914, is $371,901,590. 066,490. The difference between this amount This is the part of the increase in school costs, and $2,026,308,000, actually spent in 1926 for between 1914 and 1926, chargeable to grow- public elementary and secondary schools, ot ing attendance. If this amount is added to $402,241,510, is chargeable to such factors as the cost of education in 1914, the resulting the increase in the character and quality of sum is $926,978,590. service demanded from the schools. See Chart Effect of Loss in Purchasing Power of XIII and Table 6. Dollar —Between 1914 and 1926 the dollar It is evident that much of the increase of depreciated in purchasing power until it would 265 percent in school costs between 1914 and i 1926 is apparent rather than real. School costs ~ a ~ buy only as much as 59 cents purchased 1914. In 1926 it required $175.20 to buy as_ increased 265 percent only when measured by much as $100 bought in 1914. Therefore, in the discredited dollars-spent method, by which the twelve years following 1914, an increase of | dollars which fluctuate in value are assumed to 75.2 percent in the number of dollars expended be stable in value. ‘There is a better method for schools was justified because of the deprecia- of measuring changes in school costs. By this tion of the dollar in purchasing power. ‘This method, school expenditures in succeeding years is in addition to the increase justified by grow- are compared as to their purchasing power per ing attendance. Seventy-five and two-tenths unit of service rendered.’ By this method the percent of $926,978,590, the figure given at size of the job which a school system has to 1 Norton, John K. “Standard of Living and Standard of Education—Have They Kept Pace tional Research, January, 1926. CHART XIII ANALYSIS .§« FACTORS CAUSING INCREASE IN PUBLIC SCHOOL COSTS 1914+. 1926 1914+ 1826 1371901 590\—=f69 7 087 S00} J roxzar510 NN => ———— Me Expended for Public Schools in 1914 Increase over 1914 chargeable to increased atlendance E3 Increase over !9/4 char eable to depreciation Ire purchasing power of dollar [_] Increase over 1914,chargeable to increased efficiency A 1on National fda Fi £ perform and the purchasing power of the dol- lars expended are accurately measured and kept on a comparable basis. It would obviously be ridiculous to compare the expenditures of a school system having 2000 children with one having 4000 children with- out considering the difference in attendance. A similar thing is done in comparing 1926 school costs with those of 1914 without considering the difference in attendance. It is illogical to compare expenditures stated in dollars with a purchasing power of 100 cents with expendi- tures stated in dollars with a purchasing power of 59 cents. This is done when 1914 and 1926 school costs are compared without taking into account the depreciation in value of the dollar during this decade. Errors such as these are avoided when one compares school expenditures in different years according to their purchasing power per unit of service rendered. This method is used in the calculations of Table 7. The last figure of column 9 of this table shows that between 1914 and 1926 school expenditures increased 29 per- cent in purchasing power per unit of service rendered. School boards had 29 percent m: ability to buy services and materials necessa for the education of each school child in attend ance in 1926 than in 1914. This increase 29 percent is very different from the 265 pe cent increase indicated in column 8. In Chart XIV the trend of school costs fr. 1914 to 1926 is traced. The upper line in t! chart shows the trend of these costs by the d: lars-spent method, the lower line indicates ¢ trend according to their purchasing power p unit of service rendered. It will come as a surprise to many that increase in school expenditures from halt billion dollars in 1914 to over two billion d: lars in 1926, a 265 percent increase in the nu: ber of dollars spent, has meant an increase but 29 percent in the economic ability of sch boards to provide school facilities for the c! dren in attendance. ‘The apparent large creases indicated by gross school expenditur: are largely accounted for by the rapid increas in school attendance, and by the depreciating power of the dollar to command human se: ices and material goods. TABLE 7.—ANALYSIS OF INCREASES OR DECREASES IN PUBLIC SCHOOL Ex PENDITURES PER UNIT OF SERVICE RENDERED 1914 TO 1926 Expenditures for public elementary and high schoo! Aggregate Weighted Expended /|Purchasing| Purchasing E ed for | days cauest- aggregate for each power of | power of ex- | Percent in- | Percent in School |public elemen-| ing provided |days schooling) weighted dollar on | penditures (crease follow-| crease or de year tary and high | in public ele- | provided in days’ at- | 1914 base Fae ing 1914 in |crease follow- schools mentary and public tendance attend-| amount ing 1914 in high schools schools (cents) ance (cents) | expended purchasing power per unit of servic« rendered 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 - 9 1914...) $555,077, 2,255,657 ,000/2 , 470, 847 ,000 22.4 100 22.4 as : 1916...| 640,717, 2,461 , 407 ,000)2 , 725 , 393 ,000 23.5 92 21.6 15 4 decrease 1918...| 763,678, 2,498 ,424,000)2, 794,112,000 27.3 63 17.2 38 23 decreas 1920. ../1,036,151, 2,615,161 ,000/3 ,014, 888 , 000 34.4 51 17.5 87 22 decreas 1922. . .|1,580,671, 3,034,907 ,000/3 , 597 ,579 ,000 44.0 64 28.2 185 26 increase 1924. ..|1,820,744, 3,219,093, 3,895 , 103 ,000 46.7 61 28.5 228 27 increas 1926. . .|2,026, 308 ,000/3, 361 , 235 ,000/4, 127 ,597 ,000 49.1 59 29.0 265 29 increas aggregate days’ schooling value as the days schooling provided in elementary schools. was high elementary and school attendance, is estima consideration the pu purchasing power per unit of service d Caediens Gael on Read table as follows: In 1916 $640,717,000 was expended for public elementary and high schools (Column 2). Thx provided in this Lone in public elementary and high schools was $2,461,407,000 (Column 3 The weighted aggregate days’ schooling provided was $2,725,393,000 (Column 4). This figure is the same as that i: Column 3, except that the number of days schooling provided in high The percent of aggregate days attended by all pupils which ted on the basis of the enrolment figures since attendance figures segregated for schools is given two and one half times as much high schools are not available. There was 23.5 cents expended in 1916 for each weighted days’ attend- ance (column 5). Lk dollar in in i916 purchased the same as 92 cents | purchased in 1914. When this factor is taken int: of expenditures per weighted da ory is 92 percent of 23.5 cents or 21.6 cents (Column 7). ay oie to 916 school expenditures stated in dollars increased 15 percent. Over this same period the lecreased 4 percent (Column . Similarly cand de data for other years. on figures of U. S. Bureau of Education and the National Industrial Conference Board. [ 288 J en “ " Versus Dollars Spent.— Ability to Buy School efficiency is largely dependent upon the ability of school boards to purchase the things necessary to school maintenance. “he number of children to be educated and the purchasing power of the tax money appropriated should both be considered in comparing the sums ex- pended by school officials. School boards have no power to reduce school attendance. When children report at a school door in America, state law requires their admittance. School 1926 dollar its pre-war purchasing power. ‘They boards have no power to restore to the must go into the open market and bid against other well-financed interests in purchasing the essentials for school maintenance. An intelligent comparison of the school ex penditures of today with those of preceding periods must, therefore, be based upon a meas urement of the economic power of these ex penditures to purchase in the open market those things essential to school maintenance. When such a measurement is made we see } } that the economic ability of school boards to maintain school facilities of a was 29 given quality percent higher in 1926 than in 1914. This is an increase of approximately two percent each year over the preceding year, during the period 1914 to 1926, in the eco nomic ability of school boards to improve the schools. Considering the shortcomings of the schools revealed by the war this appears to be a reasonable increase. A similar conclusion CHART XIV TREND of PUBLIC SCHOOL COSTS ints UNITED STATES 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 i924 i926 a. a on {300 | | | | | | 63 | | | | | | : 1250 | | | [. 200 = | — + + + ~ + |200 150 |. pe) | 50 we + | T e c o G 19) i YU é. . ry) 100 | a | | | 1100 Vy a @)) 1 50 a | | | | 5 | } ) a> } | Bt aa A ©! Oo batten rail = { + + _ 0 | @| ---- a - | rey 1 - 50\. ee ne = = | 5¢ 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 —_—-—-— ul highs increase following 1914 of numbers of dollars expended for public, elementary schools. --------- Percents iige increase or decrease, followi U per unit of service rendered. ng 1914 of purchasing power of expenditures Read chart as follows: the number of of follars stats for sghod ls was Ae in 1916 than in 1914, 38% ater 1n 1918 than in | c. The pure wer O Sch ool, ex ures per unit ba ‘sleeiee red was 47. less im vie an int 19) Weps in 1918 than inig)4.e al { Be al on seas from t igures ° ureau oO ‘ae ation an tonal |ndaustric Research Division Natimal é nv a [ 289 ] was reached in a previous Research Bulletin which analysed the increase in school costs from 1914 to 1924.! These findings are sup- ported by a recent publication of the National Industrial Conference Board, an organization supported by some of the largest industrial in- terests in the country for the purpose of con- ducting scientific investigations on matters affecting industrial development. In its recent study of the cost of government in the United States this agency states, in the chapter on educational costs: The “true” expenditure per child per school day attended in 1890 was $0.166. In 1910, it was $0.205, and in 1925, $0.281. The increase of school expenditures thus measured in relation to school needs has not been excessive. During the twenty years 1890 co 1910, the increase was 23.5 percent and between 1910 and 1925 it was 37.1 percent. The annual increase during the thirty-five year period under consideration was less than 2 per- cent.” Economy in Federal Expenditures and School Costs Since the war there has been a rapid reduc- tion in the expenditures of the federal govern- ment. Some have demanded similar decreases in school expenditures. It has been contended that since the President’s economy campaign has resulted in reductions in federal expendi- tures, school expenditures should be reduced. This attitude assumes that the only way to exercise economy is to reduce expenditures. This assumption is shortsighted. Increases rather than decreases in some instances are the wisest sort of economy. ‘This was pointed out by President Coolidge in an address to the Business Organization of the Federal Govern- ment when he said: the greatest emphasis should be placed on constructive economy. Merely to reduce the expenses of the Government might not in itself be beneficial. Such action might be only the dis continuance of a wholly necessary activity. N, civilized community would close its schools, abol- ish its courts, disband its police force, or discon tinue its fire department. Such action could not be counted as gain, but as irreparable loss. The underlying spirit of economy is to secure better edu cation, wider administration of justice, more pub lic order, and greater security of conflagration, al! through a superior organization which will de- crease the unit of cost. The spirit of this statement offers little sup- port for the penny-wise and pound-foolish atti tude of those who have insisted that absolute reductions in total school expenditures and economy are synonymous. Such reductions in many communities would result in seriously crippling the schools—wastefulness of the worst order. Comparison of Effect of War on Nationa! and School Expenditures There has been a reduction in federal ex penditures since the war. It is natural to ask why school expenditures cannot be similarly reduced. The answer is that during the wa: period the expenditures of the national govern ment were necessarily far in excess of ordi nary peace time demands. ‘The opposite was true of school costs. Federal expenditures have been reduced principally by eliminating war activities. The schools have had no wa: costs to eliminate. This fact is recognized in the National In dustrial Conference Board’s study cited above which states: During the war years, school expenditures, lik: all other state and local governmental functions not immediately connected with the war, were cut to the irreducible minimum. In this period, teach ers’ salaries lagged far behind the soaring cost of living, with the result that many members of the profession were drawn into other more lucrative activities. The construction of urgently needed “Major Issues in School Finance,” Part I. Research Bulletin of the National Education Association. November, 1926, p. 249. 2 Cost of Government in the United States, 1925-1926, p. 157. National Industrial Conference Board, New York _ N GENERAL, the expansion of the school system is something more than a heaping up of I costs. It is a growth at once in extension and intensity. The numbers reached at are much larger than before; the quality of what is offered them has greatly improved. go far to explain why the public pays for its schools so much more than it did thirty-five years ago.—The Conference Board Bulletin, September, 1927, p. 71. These factors [ 290 ] ke ns “ut ot he ve ed school buildings was postponed until part-time sessions became the rule rather than the exception in most of the larger cities. By 1920, there had developed a marked decrease in educational efficiency that was evident to lay- men as well as to educators. The heavy increase of school expenditures since 1920 has represented, in large part, a regaining of the ground lost dur- ing the half-decade 1915 to 1920.’ The total expenditures of the federal gov- ernment chargeable against ordinary receipts jumped from $735,081,431 in 1914 to $18,- 952,141,180 in 1919.2 This was a 2478 per- cent increase in four years. Such an increase was unprecedented, but necessary if the war was to be successfully prosecuted. As soon as the war was over federal ex- penditures were rapidly reduced from $18,- 952,141,180 in 1919 to $3,404,295,067 in 1924.? Since that time federal expenditures have increased. They rose to $3,518,000,000 in 1926 and have increased since that time. The effect of the war on school costs was very different. During the war period school expenditures were considerably less than they would have been had peace prevailed. In 1918 and the years following, thousands of children attended school on half-time, the number of children per teacher was increased beyond the desirable maximum, and _ school building programs were reduced to the lowest possible minimum. Expenditures were reduced until school efficiency was seriously threatened. Hun- dreds of schools actually closed their doors because no teachers were obtainable. yc 1 Cost of Government in the United States, 1925-1926, 2 Figures from U. S. Treasury Department. * Norton, John K. “Standard of Living and Standard o tional Research, January, 1926, p. 28. In the case of the federal government it was constructive economy between 1919 and 1924 to reduce expenditures rapidly by eliminating war activities. This phase of the federal gov- ernment’s fiscal policy had been completed by 1924. Since that time federal expenditures have increased in response to the growth of the country and the desire by the people for the support of important activities and projects. In the case of the schools it was constructive economy to increase costs so pre-war standards of efficiency could be restored and improve- ments could be made. Table 8 gives data as to total ordinary ex penditures of the federal government in 1914 and 1926. The sums given do not include payments on the public debt. School costs were 3.65 times as great in 1926 as in 1914. ‘The ordinary expenditures of the federal government were 4.79 times as great in 1926 as in 1914. This indicates that, if economy has marked the control of federal expenditures since the war, it has also been a characteristic of school expenditures. The decrease in federal expenditures, for which the elimination of war activities has been principally responsible, releases large re- sources which may now be used for school support and other productive enterprises. In 1919 the federal government expended nearly nineteen billion dollars, largely for war pur- poses. ‘These expenditures were paid for by the same people who support the schools in state and local communities. It should not be p. 148. National Industrial Conference Board, New York f Education—Have They Kept Pace TABLE 8.—INCREASE IN ORDINARY EXPENDITURES OF FEDERAL GOVERN- MENT AND SCHOOL COSTS, 1914 TO 1926 Percentage 9 Item 1914 1926 eater 1 2 3 4 | Expenditures of Federal Government...... $735 081,431 $3,518,000, 000 379 | Public Elememtary and High School Expenditures. 555,077,146 2,026, 308 ,000 265 Expenditures of Federal Government are total expenditures of Federal Government chargeable against ordinary | feceipts. Figures are these of the U.S. Treasury Department, and are exclusive of expenditures to retire the public debt. Figures for expenditures for education are from U. S. Bureau of Education and include costs for current expense and | Capital outlay, but exclude payments for debt service. [291] difficult for a people capable of spending such a tremendous sum for war to provide slightly over two billion dollars for education. The facts presented in this section indicate: First, the money devoted to the support of legitimate educational needs. education is a wise investment for a purpos which justifies the outlay made; and second the cost of the schools at the present time a: HERE HAS BEEN a definite improvement in the quality of education supplied, a! ¢ hom this cannot be measured in quantitative terms. This better education necessarily costs more. The last few years have seen a marked raising of the standards of teacher train ing. To an increasing extent, college preparation, as well as normal school training, is required for all grades of teachers. Higher salaries must be paid to those better equipped teachers New courses and new curricula, particularly those of a vocational nature, are being added to the school schedule. Summer courses and evening classes are being constantly expanded.—Cost o/ Government in the United States, 1925-1926, p. 152-4. National Industrial Conference Board New York. [ 292 ] not greater than they should be considering A NOTABLE YEARBOOK The Articulation of the Units of American Education Seventh Yearbook of the Department of Superintendence eo ; | T1C Cy $2.00 Address communications and make checks payable to Department of Superintendence National Education Association 1201 Sixteenth Street, N. W WASHINGTON, D. ¢ ACIAL PROGRESS R marches upon the feet of healthy and instructed chil- dren. There should be no child in America that is not born and does not live under sound con- ditions of health; that does not have full opportunity of education from the beginning to the end of our institutions; that is not free from injurious labor; that does not have every stimulation to accomplish the fullest of its capacities. — Herderz Hoover.