RESEARCH BULLETIN OF THE NATIONAL VOL. XVI * No. 3 EDUCATION MAY » 1938 ASSOCIATION Why Schools Cost More Published by the RESEARCH DIVISION of the NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 1201 Sixteenth Street, N. W., Washington, D. a RESEARCH BULLETIN of me NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION Published five times each year in January, March, May, September, and November President, CAROLINE S. WOODRUFF Executive Secretary, WILLARD E. GIVENS Director of Research: William G. Carr; Associate Director: Frank W. Hubbard Assistant Directors: Richard R. Foster, lvan A. Booker, Hazel Davis Research Assistants and Section Heads: Frances G. Bradley, Louise B. Sease, Helen H. Cox, Anna Haddow, Madaline K. Remmlein, Ruth Shirley, Mildred Wharton, and Vera D. Vinogradoff Executive and Editorial Offices 1201 Sixteenth Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. Copyright, 1938, by the National Education Association of the United States Entered as second-class matter February 10, 1923, at the Post Office at Washington, D. C., under Act of August 24, 1912. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Section 1103, Act of October 3, Subscriptions The payment of the $5 membership fee of the National Education Association entitles one to receive for one year the Research Bulletin, the Journal, the An- nual Volume of Addresses and Proceed- ings, and certain other publications of the Association. One dollar of each $5 mem- bership fee is for a year’s subscription to the Research Bulletin. The Research Bulletin may be received regularly thru a special subscription at $1 per year. Many of the early issues of the Research Bulletin are already out of print. The special subscription at $1 per year offers an opportunity to maintain a complete file of future Research Bulletins. Those entitled to receive the Research Bulletin regularly are asked to report at once any change of residence, giving old as well as new address. Purchasing Copies Additional copies of this issue of the Research Bulletin may be obtained at the 1917, authorized February 10, 1923. following prices, postpaid if remittance accompanies order: Single copies, 25¢. 2 to 9 copies—10% reduction. 10 to 99 copies—25% reduction. 100 or more copies—33 4% % reduction. Orders for Research Bulletins not ac- companied by remittance are subject to transportation charges. Make checks pay- able to National Education Association. Reproduction of Material in Research Bulletins Material appearing in the Research Bulletin is copyrighted. However, De- partments and regularly affiliated organi- zations of the National Education Asso- ciation may reproduce parts of these bulletins for the advancement of education. These departments and organizations need no authority other than this notice previous to such reproduction. In other cases appli- cation for the release of materials is re- quired. Address communications to the Research Division, National Education As- sociation, 1201 Sixteenth Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. CONTENTS ——— FOREWORD INTRODUCTION I. TREND IN SCHOOL EXPENDITURES, 1870 To 1936 The Long-Time Trend Comparison of Downward Trends, 1875-1879 and 1930-1934 School Costs and Certain Related Trends II. THE ScHoot Bupcet, 1914 AND 1930 Selection of Period for Special Study The 1914 School Budget The 1930 School Budget III. THE PURCHASING POWER OF THE SCHOOL DOLLAR Changing Cost of Budgetary Items Salaries and Wages Textbooks Instructional Supplies Construction of School Buildings School Building Sites School Building Equipment Operation of School Plants Maintenance of School Plants Interest on Indebtedness and Fixed Charges Transportation of Pupils Coordinate Activities and Services Other Than Transportation Index of the Total Cost of Schooling IV. THE AMOUNT OF SCHOOL SERVICES Trend of Enrolments Increase in School Attendance Increased Attendance as a Factor in Higher School Costs oo Terran pmere V. HIGHER EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS Standards of Living and Standards of Educating The Curriculum Teachers Instructional Methods and Materials School Buildings and Equipment Extension of School Organization Irend of Increased Expenditures Caused by Added and Improved School Services VI. Factors AFFECTING SCHOOL Cost TRENDS, 1930 TO 1936. Purchasing Power of the School Dollar School Enrolments and Attendance Quality and Scope of the Educational Program VII. SUMMARY APPENDIX [ 127 ] FOREWORD HE PUBLIC SCHOOLS belong to the people of America. The people have a right to know what education is attempting to do, how its program is being carried out, and what it is costing. It is an important function of educators to make the facts known, not only thru the local public relations programs, but thru professional groups. Educators must keep constantly in mind that regardless of the excellence of the program, there are many people who think that school costs are excessive. Sometimes this feeling arises from the irritation stirred up by a recent tax bill. In other cases, an opinion is formed on the basis of a politically motivated statement “that schools are costing several thousand dollars more than last year.” Such opinions held by the public, even tho based upon inaccurate or incomplete facts, may limit constructive and necessary educational development. In any program designed to help the public understand school expenditures, the first step is to examine the trends in school costs. What was expended for public education in 1914 before the world experienced a cultural and political upheaval? What were the costs of schools in 1930 prior to recent economic maladjustments? How much more did education cost at the end of this period than it did at the beginning? Finally and most important of all, what has caused this rising cost? The primary purpose of this publication of the Research Division is to show that the number of dollars spent does not reveal the true trends in school costs. Account must be taken of increases in pupil attendance, improvements in school services, and decreases in the purchasing power of the dollar. The real ability of schoolboards to purchase facilities for the children in attendance has not increased as rapidly as the total gross expenditures would seem to indicate. Those citizens who fail to realize these fundamental facts are apt to be misled by inaccurate statements as to the costs of public education. In presenting this bulletin the Research Division not only supplies facts but suggests an improved approach to the analysis of school costs. It is believed that superintendents of schools and others within the profession will want to make similar studies on a community basis. These local facts should then be made known generally both to the staff and to laymen. Wivarp E. Givens, Executive Secretary, National Education Association. { 128 ] Introduction School expenditures require but a minor fraction of the nation’s income. Between 1914 and 1929 less than 3 percent of our current national income was expended each year for public education of all types. In 1930—the year of largest school expenditure—the pro- portion was 3.2 percent. As a result of the economic depression, school expenditures in 1933-34 fell to less than two billion dollars. This was about 3.6 percent of the total na- tional income. While income fell farther and faster than school expenditures in the early years of the depression, it has also increased faster than school expenditures in the years since 1933. In 1936 the schools’ share in the national income was 3.1 percent—smaller pro- portionately than in 1930. The percent of total governmental costs represented by school expenditures in 1936 was lower than that re- corded for any previous year. Since 1922 the Research Division has made several studies of school expenditures as related to such factors as national income, wealth, tax collections, governmental costs, and expendi- tures for certain commodities and luxuries. In 1926 an attempt was made to account for the increased cost between 1914 and 1924. A similar study was made in 1932 for the period 1914 to 1930. Both of these investigations charged a major part of the increased cost to the depreciation of the dollar as indicated by changes in the general cost of living. The sug- gestion was made that the procedure might be refined by substituting for general cost of living indexes those based upon changes in the prices of goods purchased by school systems. Part III of this bulletin shows how this change of pro- cedure has been worked out. While it has beer impossible to obtain complete data on all items purchased by school systems, some progress has been made toward a refized analysis of in- creases in school costs. Organization of Bulletin This bulletin suggests that rising costs of education can be accoun‘ed for on much the sane bases as inéreases in individual or family living costs. When in any year the head of a family discovers that the expenses of himself and his dependents are higher than they were in an earlier twelve-month period, he may be unable immediately to put his finger on the cause. When, however, he has calculated the exact amount of the increase in his expenditures and analyzed his budget to determine in what item, or items, this increase has occurred, he is almost sure to find that it is largely due to one or more of the three following causes: 1. Decrease in the purchasing value of the dollar. The cost of living, or general price level, has risen, so that less can be bought with each dollar than formerly. 2. Increase in the size of the family which must be supported from the family income, or the greater needs of some member, or members, of the family. More children, or the more expensive needs of older children as compared with younger, may involve increased family outlays. 3. Higher standards of living. The purchase of new goods and services may have increased ex penses but may have added to the efhciency, whoi« someness, and enjoyment of life. Also, some expen ditures may have been purely luxurious, but it is becoming increasingly dificult to draw a distinction between luxury and non-luxury expenditures. Many articles invented in the last half- or quarter-century, and formerly regarded as luxuries, have now come into common use and are looked upon as practical necessities So it is with the schools. Data presented in the following pages show that factors similar to those listed above account for the rise that has taken place in school expenditures. In its analysis of the trend of annual school costs, the present study follows approximately the outline briefly sketched above relating to increased living expenditures. First, in order that the relative as well as the actual change between any two years may be readily deter mined, the long-time trend from 1870 to 1936 is studied (Part 1) and its salient characteris tics noted. Comparisons are drawn between this and other related contemporary trends. Sec- ond, the period from 1914 to 1930 is subjected to special scrutiny and the school expenditures for the beginning and final years of this period are compared (Part I1), in order to learn in what item or items the increase has occurred. T hird, causes of the rise in school expenditures are considered and statistical evidence is pro- duced to show in what degree the direction of the trend between 1914 and 1930 has been in- fluenced by the following three factors: 1. Decline in purchasing value of the school dollar. The value of the school dollar, like that of the private expenditure dollar, fluctuates from year { 129 ] to year and the general trend of this value was downward between 1914 and 1930 (Part III). 2. Increase in the size of the educational task. The number of children for whom the schools are called upon to provide an education increased steadily between 1914 and 1930, especially in the relatively expensive high-school grades (Part IV). 3. Higher standards of educating. Standards of educating, like standards of living, were higher in 1930 than they were in 1914 (Part V). Technics developed in the bulletin are ap- plied to the period of declining prices follow- ing 1930 and to the new upturn, beginning in the biennium 1934-36 (Part V1). In the final section, the findings of the bulletin are sum- marized briefly (Part VII). Applicability of Technics to Studies by Local School Systems One aim of this bulletin has been to devise a method whereby local school systems can interpret their own expenditure tre: should be possible to obtain locally mor and detailed information on the amou certain items of the school budget yearly changes in unit prices of certain of items, than is available on a nationwid« Because of the lack of such needed ba for the nation as a whole, it has been at | necessary, in the following pages, to to approximations and estimates. Why this has been done, it has been clearly so st and it is believed that the use of the proximations and estimates does not the validity of the conclusions in any imp degree. The technics developed in Parts II-\ applicable to the statistics of any schoo tem, however large or small, and to any pe: whether of rising or falling prices. I. Trends in School Expenditures, individual whose living have \n isen cannot alway without a study of the factors involved. “Why expenses s state the reason for this rise im I still as hard pressed as I was five year ! i wo,” he may ask himself, “when my income has been steadily increasing since that time?” [he search for an answer to this question ir volves the asking of other questions such as, “Just how much more am I spending this year ?” and “Has the ncrease in my budget been regular and even than I spent five years ago from year to year during the intervening perio r has a sudden increase. or even a decrease which was later made up, occurred between iny two years?” Similarly in the expenditures the first step is to determine the of the analysis of rising school amount and characteristics upward trend. The Long-Time Trend Nationwide statistics on expenditures for public schools have been available since 1870.’ about 2,317 ? 253 hay In that year the cost of the schools was 63 million dollars. In 1930 it was nearly million dollars. This is an increase of million dollars in sixty years. The trend in school costs was almost continuously upward over the entire period. Only during the four years beginning with 1876 and again in the tour-year period following 1930 was there any decline for public schools. Between 1930 and 1934 school expenditures fell off 26 percent—to 1,720 million dollars. The figure of 1,968 million dollars for the school year 1936 suggests that, since 1934, the trend of school expenditures is again upward. The 1936 figure represents a 14 percent rise from 1934—a recovery of something less than half ot the ground lost since 1930. Column 2 of Table 1 gives the figures on total school expenditures between 1870 and 1936, upon which the above statements are based. Figure 1 depicts graphically the progress of mounting school costs between 1870 and 1930, the sharp drop following 1930, and the new upturn occurring in the biennium 1934-36. in annual expenditures 1See Annual Report of the Commissioner of Education also Biennial Surveys of Education for two-year periods beginning with 1916-18 1932-34, This bulletin also uses advance data furnished by the Office of Education, U : Government ular’’ Survey of Education for 1934-36. (Washington, D. C 2 The general long-time trend, also known as the ‘“‘se for 1 © trend 1870 to 1936 solid line shows the The amount expended of the broken line traces the general long-time trend irregular ' schools In each the for public 1870, vears since while smooth of these expenditures.* The curve representi! the general trend in the cost of schools slopes 1870 and 1883, then rises, slowly at first, but with a constantly It shouid be noticed that it does not change its slightly downward between 7 rs . accelerating rate, as 1930 is approached. direction during the depression years, in spite his fact and the recovery which occurred in ex of the falling off in actual expenditures. penditures for public schools between 1934 and 1936 suggest that school costs will continue upward for the next several vears. Comparison of Downward Trends, 1875-79 and 1930-34 There are some interesting comparisons to be drawn between the two periods of declining school costs which occurred between 1875 and 1879 and between 1930 and 1934. In the first place they were of equal duration. In each of these periods a decline occurred in school ex penditures in each of four successive years, as compared with the expenditures of the immedi- ately preceding year, only to be followed in the fifth year by a new and rather sharp up ward turn. In the second place, the slump in school expenditures, in each period, occurred approximately ten years after the close of a major war. It came, in each case, after a period of soaring expenditures immediately following the close of the war. A glance at Figures II and III, however, are also certain differences to be noted between these two periods. In the earlier period, after the Civil War, the drop in reveals that there school expenditures was slight, both actually and relatively, as compared with the decline of the later post World War period. The 1879 figure which represented the low point of the depression in school costs of the earlier period was a little more than 7 million dollars, or less than 9 percent below that for 1875, the peak thru 191 Survey is for 35) and for each year following The latest published Biennial S. Dept. of the Interior, f 9-90 (Vol. 1, p from the Biennial Printing Office.) was computed by the least squares method [ 131] jueurUJe (OLD (6) es os £0 £7 (g) (L) 98° 6L° 89 ss" 9s 9S" $9 OL" 88 $3" $8" 13° 13° vl" +9 #000 000 OLS 1 Oot 0 a | 8£O0 9SZ7 YI LIL 666° ST S8f'L16'St Z09‘°889'ST OTT’ €0s ‘St 61Z‘OLT'ST PLE‘ EOI St 690‘ 878‘ tI 9$6'S6b' FT SOL* EET FT LSe'S66' el OFE ES‘ ET 176‘ SSz‘ eT zet ‘Oso’ et T9€*7ZL ‘71 097° 76° ZT 009‘ 781 *ZI F688 TT 09% ‘$99 TT $70‘ 86E TT $9‘ 786‘ OT 878‘ 1S9'OT SLS‘TIZ'Or 918‘ 000‘OT $6$‘198'°6 8Sb ‘FOS 6 £88 SEF 6 900‘ $96'8 STI‘ 698'8 8L9'S8L'8 ISZ‘ bbb 8 +19‘ £00'S 90£ STS °L 78S‘ 1S9'L zss‘1L8'9 SLE'GIZ' FS PSE 109° 78 06£ ' £86'O8 96¢'S9E'6L ZOO‘ LPL‘ LL 80F 671° 9L Z19'86L ‘FL 976‘ £6b' EL OFZ ‘681° ZL PSS‘ F88'OL 898° 6LS°69 781‘ SLZ'89 96% ‘016'99 O18‘ s99‘s9o ZI‘ 19E'F9 ser‘ 9so' eo IZE'SLL‘19 L76' $6 ‘09 £EL‘ 917‘ 6S OFS LE6'LS Lee’ Bso'OS PST‘ 6LE'Ss 196‘ 660‘'%S 892 ‘078‘7ZS SLS‘IbS‘TS 78E 797‘ OS 189° 760‘ 6b Sb6'7£6' Lb £07‘ ELL°9F Z9P ‘E19 Sb IZL‘ESb' th 086‘ £67‘ £F 6£7 FEL 7h 86b $16‘ OF LSL°PI8‘6E 910‘ sso’ se O99 9819 Lod Li Ql 180° O08‘ ZSZ L6Z' 797 BETZ $99 SOP‘ L7Z 819° $96 FIZ LLS‘bST ‘007 116‘ 767‘ F6l 697 ‘739° L81 $96 86F EST 6L7° 608 ‘SLT €b8'ZOS'ZLT LSO'ILT'F9L Z10‘LI8‘SST 608 F6b ‘LET STL‘90S ‘OFT £82‘ 6ES'ZET 116‘ bbz b7I 068 ‘E82 ‘SIT SPs‘ 7ze' elt SLE‘ Sze‘Oll LES ‘ZIZ‘ eOr £00'0S1°96 99% '066'88 $96‘ 0F9' 8 189° $60'8L SLE‘ 761‘ 9L 097‘ £806 978‘ 6Eh' 6L 8LS‘780'€8 400‘ 0S ‘£8 987° FS0'08 $9 SET OL OLO PET EL Z19° LOT’ 69 999‘ 96‘ £9$ Sool Pool £061 “7061 “1061 “0061 "6681 "8681 “ LO8T “9681 “$681 "Post "£681 “"*"T68T “"* F681 "0681 "" "6881 ne ‘"" ** 1881 "9881 "$881 “Psst “8st “7881 “T88T “O88T “6L81 “SL8I “LL8I “9L8T “SL8t “PLsl “Elst “"TL8T “"TL8t “OL8T (9) (+) (€) (2) $3809 awoour [euoneN peTjolue tdnd Jed Jad uoneindod jo Byideo Sainjipuedxe yueurus8A03 auroout s}ooys Ssepuoses uoneindod s}ooq2s -A03 IIV pue Ase} $9}8}S onmnied -Uewe]s s1qQnd pep Ul SyuemjOIUq Arepuoses puv Areyueusja IqQnd 10} seinj1puedxg —_—__—_—__———_ [890] pue yeuoneN [JO 910M SaINjIpuedxe :Sainyipuedxe ‘a}83S ‘[elepeg JOoyIS ,Us2I0g JooyssS SGNAaYL AYVAOdWALNOD AAHLO ANV ‘961 OL 0L8I ‘SHUNLIGNAdXA IOOHOS AO GNAXL—I ATAVL qd ; 10J asoyy /u l t if ¢ . l ) Stl 0 6 SI S 0 st 0 z st Z 61 9 161 ! i 6 6l C 9’ 6l 9 tol 9 16! t g R t S t Ss 9 BLT 9 Ss $ s iS ee! £0 9¢ ‘Ad t6 1 perecns pat pDimuuatig ye npy jo APUOTSSIMUMO) tL 3 ee | 69 + tI O00 OOO $9 ac’ el 000 ) ¢! Rb ST 000° 000 Zz 72 I 000° 000° LIt 98 RI 000 ‘000 t 06 78°81 000 ‘000° RR 7S SI 000 ‘000° 601° OR al 000° 000° LL0° #8 Ig LT 000 000° €7S Ig 6s I 000° 000° 961 gL #6 °91 000 000° L£6 PL 80°91 000 ‘000° L9OF 92 SI 000° 000° S16 89 I RS 60° ZT Lt £16 wt OF re L38°9 I¢ 9¢ 9 o¢ 60°9 87 $s 87 OF Ss #0900 000° 616 97 S tz LLY £7 79 Ff (as th 1Z LI'Y 6! ss'¢ gt 6s ¢ I t 1 ligt < It IT ol Ol 6 » 1» SH Mm A 61 4 I UT 10 4U DnNuup ‘IO1I9} 000 OOO O6L 9 000 OOO STL &S 0° 000'096' Lt 000° 000 LEZ 6f 000 OOO SSS 6t 000° 000° 680 9S 000‘ OOO' TTT €Z 000° 000 ' T¢9 ¢8 000° 000‘ 6SS° 08 000° 000809 LL 00° 000° 8S9' 6L 000 ' 000° 97 000° O00 LSS OL 000° 000° S68 ° 69 000° 000° LE8° 6S 000000 17S‘ Ss 000° 000 ! 000° 000° T9109 1000 ‘000 '8S9°9S 689 'Z1 (000 ‘000 FILE 8F 1000 ‘000° S8S ‘OF 000 ‘000 ‘069° #9 1000 ‘000 ' L7Z* e¢ 000 ‘000° £6e' FE 9000 ‘000 ' SSL TE 000 ‘000 ‘099° 62 9000 ‘000 ' SPE ' 6Z 000‘ 000° 199° LZ I |t uN 9 } 1 02 jo a ) juawiyiedag “S “ 2y} Jo aD1a 9 oNse S 1Oy Y SOY , { jO nesing jeu ~ 1 ay} put Q I NIU} 6161 Sivad 1] 101) U Aa d aul DY And pun uj ypu 9T \ IY T “Y IBIS So O18 ¢ njood jo Sseainsay ay T | 0} uoos ‘¢ I-Pfol DIN] dq 10 Aaaang 9Y} JO SaINZy ‘suvak UaAI JO} BJep ay} jo Siseq 9q} UO PazEt “Sf6l 08 LI6I ) dag S$ ft NIU} SI6] SiIBAA UPA JY} 1 s By IQI-ST6I ! jua 1aq aie “QT6T NIG} OLSTI § y} 10 JO S8INSlq -SeDINog 860° LOE 97 861° 868° 896 I 9f6l 9F9 ‘OOF! FIL‘ 100 PERI sfol £61 FEF 97 rZ* SOT OZL' TI PLol LIS FSE 97 000 L*Szi 768° LLE' LEO I Feol Ith SLZ 972 000 $16 F71 sss Oso’ FLT Z 7L6l 87L°9L6' SZ 000 ETT’ ZI OL‘ OTL SPZ'*Z fol $10'8L9° SZ 000° 160° €ZI FRE O6L' OTE Z Orel 9S8' 87S FZ Te 97S 171 TIS‘ ¢9S 'OS7*Z 6761 969 6LI SZ L09° 198 OTT BE9 OEE FRITZ S76l 78S ‘096° FZ S8L 961 SIT FIt 7Z7E°SOl'Z Lz6l SOF IPL FZ £96 1¢8S Stl 061'8 0°72 as! Itt LOS PII 716'960'96'T Szol ole ZOZ ETT 9£6' EFL OTR I 761 Lob LES’ itl 919° LOL‘ OOL'T £761 $19°7L8 601 967 TL9°O8S T 7z6l ELL 80F 77 ¢S8°LO7 BOT OSZ TIF soe T 1Z761 OTE BLS 12 1¢0' €FS' 901 FOZ ISt 9E0 T Oz61 916° SIZ‘ 12 $90° 00° SOT 9F9'F16' 668 6lol 91S €$8'° OZ $s$6'L38s° cor 680‘°8L9' £9L Stol 709‘ 709‘ 07 StS °ZL1‘Z01 TLS‘ L61°ZOL LI6t L89° 1S¢'07Z SEL Lsl ‘Oo! £SO' LIL‘ OO 9161 607‘ FOL‘ 6T S79 Z#E' 66 S81‘ 09F' S09 Sl6l O8L°ESt' ol 91S‘ L76'°L6 OFT LLO'SSS Friel OFG' 609° 8T LF 71°96 SLE OPS 17S £16 Leo’ 781 St 867 160° S6 £61‘ 988° 78P Z161 SII seo'st 681‘ 789° £6 676 97L' OFF Tl6l 7S8° EIB LI 080° L97'76 PEb OSZ 97h Ol6l SLI‘90OS' LT bS£'169'06 LEL* L6¢° 10b 6061 Z96‘190'LT 09¢ ‘€L0° 68 OIF Pre Ile 8061 818'068'9T 99¢‘SSt'L8 eee 868 ‘Ore L061 OL6' 1#9'9T TLE‘ LES‘ SS 6$9' S9L* LOS 9061 OOF SOF OI SLE‘ 617’ FS soot gf£O'OSZ ‘9 rse' 109'78 pool CyyAT L 2/Qe] Ul seinBij uo paseg o8sl Si8l O18 7 0 i 9E61 - OL8L SAYNLIGNISdXF TOOHIS JO GNSaL I aanodla Based on figures in Table 1. of school expenditures recorded up to that time. [he revival in the next two years following 1879 was more than sufficient to make up for the loss suffered during the preceding four vears. Lhis upward trend which began in 1880 did not once waver during the entire fifty yea: to 1930. School expenditures, in the four years fol lowing 1930, suffered a much greater fall than in the earlier four-year period. Here the loss was 596 million dollars, a reduction of about 26 percent from the 1930 peak. Figure III does not show the full extent of this drop as compared with that of 1875-79 because the curve of the later trend was computed in terms of the percentage of change from a much higher figure, and this had the effect of reducing the scale of Figure II] as compared with that of Figure II. at Figure III is needed to see that the loss of In spite of this fact, only a glance income experienced by the schools in the years 1930-34 was unprecedentedly great. The new rise in school expenditures, after a duration of two years, was still insufficient to make up for 8 National Education Association, Research Division. High the Association, January 15, 1938. 21 p. (Mimeo FIGURE II 1 even halt ot the loss suttered. Will this new rise continue as did that which began in 1880? We do not know. latures of a numl In 1937, however, the levis OT states provided iO more liberal support of schools from sources during the 1938-40 biennium, al some cases the increased state support wa mere substitute for reduced local revenues School Costs and Certain Related Trends Has the steep rise observed in the trend of annual school expenditures been characteristic also of other contemporary trends? We know, tor instance, that while school costs were creasing, the population of the nation was What is the relation changes in total population and the rising c increasing. between ot schools ? Populatic N . column 3, 2, it is evident that the rise in school expendi \W hen the figures ot ‘Table i are compared with those of column tures has been much faster than the Increase in population. School expenditures in 1936 Wa FIGURE III TREND IN SCHOOL EXPENDI- TURES, 1870-1882 Showing Decline 1875-1879 40 rX 0 1870 1874 1878 1882 © Res. Div., Nat. Educ. Assn TREND IN SCHOOL EXPENDI- TURES, 1925-1936 Showing Decline 1930-1934 20 1925 1929 1933 1937 were about 30 times as large as those of 1870. During the same period the population almost trebled. Schools cost each inhabitant of the United States an average of $1.64 in 1870, $18.82 in 1930, and $15.33 in 1936. School enrolment—A later section of this bulletin will deal at some length with the re- lation of increased school enrolments and at- tendance to the cost of schools. It is sufficient to note here that the figures of column 4 of Table 1 reveal a rise of enrolments between 1870 and 1936 of 284 percent. The increase in school expenditures during the same period was more than eight times as great. The ex- penditure for schools for each pupil enrolled rose from $9.23 in 1870 to $90.22 in 1930 and then dropped to $74.67 in 1936. Public school enrolments reached their peak in 1934—the low point of the recent decline in school ex- penditures—and fell off slightly during the biennium 1934-36. All of this decrease in en- rolment occurred in the elementary schools (from 20,765,037 in 1934 to 20,392,561 in 1936). High-school enrolments continued to increase (from 5,669,156 in 1934 to 5,974,537 in 1936), resulting in a net decrease of 67,095 children in all grades. More will be said about this difference later. National income—The National Bureau of Economic Research has published estimates of national income in the United States for each year between 1909 and 1928.‘ For more recent years, beginning with 1929, the Division of Economic Research of the Commerce Depart- ment’s Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Com- merce has compiled similar estimates.’ While the methods used in arriving at the figures of these two series and the concepts upon which they are based are in close resemblance, they are not alike in all details. In order, therefore, that the Commerce Department’s estimates and those of the National Bureau of Economic Re- search might be combined to form a single series, Simon Kuznets made adjustments in the figures originally published, as far back as 1919, thus insuring their comparability from that year forward thru 1935.° The adjusted figures are shown in column 5 of Table 1. Estimates compiled for the earlier years, 1909 thru 1918, have not been adjusted and therefore, not strictly comparable with : included in column 5 for 1919 and later \ They are considered separately in relatio; the trend of school costs. They show that ing the period 1909 thru 1918 the relative crease in national income was greater tha; relative increase in the cost of public schools 105 percent as compared with 90 percen: Thruout this entire period, the relative s| of the schools in the total national income ,, mained approximately the same—about percent. In 1919, according to the figures as ad justed by Kuznets, the part of the total incom of the nation spent for public schools was slightly less than 1.5 percent. Four years of neglect, during which all the efforts of nation were directed toward the successfu! prosecution of the World War, had left : schools in a condition which constituted national emergency. Teachers were unde: trained and underpaid even in relation to th lack of training. Approximately 6 percent the population was illiterate. The school plant was antiquated and inadequate to meet needs of increasing enrolments. The Wor! War, however, had created in the people of the United States a realization of the short comings of the schools, on the one hand, and on the other, an awareness of the importance of public education in their national life and a willingness to suppor* the kind of needed. When, during the brief depression o! 1921-22, the national income fell from 72 billion to 59 billion dollars, expenditures tor schools were not reduced. The proportion « the total income spent for school purposes rose to 2.6 percent during the 1920-22 biennium. It failed to make any further appreciable ad vance, however, but remained practically sta tionary thruout the period of generally rising costs to 1930. Likewise, approximately the same propo! tion of the national income was spent for schools in the final year as was spent in the beginning year of the 1930-36 period. ‘This proportion was 3.1 percent in 1936, as com- pared with 3.2 percent in 1930. When the national income began to decline in 1929, schox Is * National Bureau of Economic Research. The National Income and Its Purchasing Power. New York: the Bureau, 1930. | 5U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Division of Economic Research. Natio Income 1929-1936. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1937. p. 11. ® Kuznets, Simon. National Income 1919-1935. Bulletin 66 of the National Bureau of Economic Research. New York Bureau, September 27, 1937. p. 2. [ 136] sho Boa mer incl are of 1 abot high late inde adji caus high late: cent figu com may 190. ! ited under WV orld ple of short- 1, and rtance and a chools ion of =) ‘opor t for n tne This com- 1 the 1929, chool expenditures, like other public expendi- res, lagged behind for a year and reached their peak in 1930. They fell slightly in 1931 nd 1932, but not as fast as the national in- me. In 1932, 5.5 percent of the total income { the nation was spent for public schools. The » drop in school expenditures occurred be- tween 1932 and 1934, and by the end of that jiennium the schools were once more receiving nly 3.6 percent of the national income. This proportion had further decreased to 3.1 percent n 1936, or slightly less than that spent for schools in 1930. Cost of government—While the cost of schools has increased faster than the general population or the number of children enrolled in public schools and has consumed a slightly rising proportion of the national income over a long span of years, it represented a lower percent of the total cost of government in the United States in 1935 than in any other year for which we have comparable data. By the total cost of government is meant the total mount spent by all governmental units, fed- eral, state, and local, exclusive of payments for the retirement of debt. Federal disbursements for tax refunds and expenses of the District of Columbia are also excluded. Comparable fig- ures on the cost of government, thus defined, are available from the publications of the National Industrial Conference Board for each vear from 1923 thru 1935. These figures are shown in Table 1, column 6. The Conference Board has also published estimates of govern- ment costs in 1890, 1903, and 1913, which are included in column 6 of Table 1, altho they are not based upon exactly the same concept of the cost of government as that described above. These figures are disproportionately high in comparison with those for 1923 and later years, because they include payments on indebtedness and because they have not been adjusted to eliminate certain duplications. Be- cause of the fact that these figures are too high to be strictly comparable with those for later years, it would be expected that the per- centage relationship of school costs to these figures would be disproportionately low in comparison with later years. However this may be, expenditures for public schools in 1890, 1903, and 1913 were equal to 16.5, 16.1, and 7 National Industrial Conference Board. Cost of Government in the United 1937. p. § National Education Association, Research Division. ‘Financing Public Education 17.8 percent of total government expenditur in those years respectively, while school cost in 1935 represented only 12.4 percent of governmental costs. Beginning with 1923 the proportion of total cost of government represented by school expenditures rose slightly from percent to 20 percent in 1927. Since 1927 the schools have accounted for a steadily decreas ing proportion of governmental expenditures. This statement is true, not only with respect to the relation of school costs to the expendi tures of all governmental units, but also with reference to the percent which school expendi tures were of state and local government costs. This percent was 27.6 in 1926, 26.7 in 1928, 26.3 in 1930, 25.0 in 1932, 22.4 in 1934, and 22.8 in 1935.7 While the increased govern mental activity which came with the depression has been a primary factor in swelling govern mental costs in recent years, the above figures years several prior To indicate that during 1929 the schools failed to keep pace with the expansion of other public functions. ‘This tend ency, already noticeable in predepression years, was especially marked in the years from 1930 to 1935. Table 1 shows that between 1930 and 1935 net governmental expenditures increased 24 percent. It must not be supposed that this in crease in the total cost of government was spread evenly over the expenditures of all governmental units or the expenditures for all governmental functions. Federal government costs increased 124 percent during the same period, while the combined net expenditures of state and local governments declined. State expenditures were reduced by almost 6 percent, and the expenditures of local governments, the principal source of school support, by more than 15 percent. In the meantime, the loss in school expenditures was even greater than the reduction in the total cost of local government. In contrast to this decline, the combined ex penditures of all governmental units for all purposes other than elementary and secondary schools increased more than 30 percent. Ex pansions of federal activity were principally in the fields of public works and public welfare. State governments also devoted an increased share of their funds to these purposes.® States, 1934-1936. New York: the Board ’ Research Bulletin 15: 25; January 1° FIGURE IV TRENDS RELATED TO PUBLIC SCHOOL COSTS Dollars Dollars 20 100 EXPENDITURES FOR PUBLIC ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EXPENDITURES FOR PUBLIC ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS PER INHABITANT SCHOOLS PER PUPIL r OF THE UNITED STATES EN ROLLE D 1870 TO 1936 1870 TO 1936 i. i i A. A. 0 rm 4 i iL 4 mn 0 i. 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 Percent Percent 25 25 PERCENT OF NATIONAL INCOME SPENT FOR PUBLIC ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS 1923 TO 1236 PERCENT OF TOTAL GOVERNMENT COSTS REPRESENTED BY SCHOOL EXPENDITURES 1923 TO 1935 = i, = i s oO rm 4 4 rm i 1929 1931 1933 1935 1937 1923 1925 1927 1929 1931 1933 1935 1937 © Res. Div., Nat. Educ. Assn [138 ] Figure 1V shows graphically the trends of _ per enrolled pupil; (3) the percent of nationa the relative change in (1) the amount of school income spent for schools; and (4) the percent expenditures per inhabitant of the United which school expenditures were of federal, States; (2) the amount of school expenditures — state, and local government expenditures. II. The School Budget, 1914 and 1930 In the preceding section of this bulletin it was stated that the first step in the study of any increase in the expenses of an individual or family was to determine the full amount of this increase and when it took place. As a first step, therefore, in an analysis of the rise in the cost of schools, the upward trend of school ex- penditures since 1870 was examined, in line with the suggestion that increased school costs can be accounted for on much the same bases as an increase in individual or family living expenses. The second step to be taken in any study of rising expenditures—whether of an individual or a family, or of some public institution like the schools—is to determine in what specific items of expenditure the increase has occurred. This involves a comparison of two separate expenditure budgets—one for the year at the beginning of the period under study, and one for the final year of that period. Selection of Period for Special Study Information is not available in detail con- cerning school expenditures in 1870. Not until the school year 1914 is the analysis of expendi- tures, reported by the federal Office of Edu- cation, sufficiently detailed to lend itself to an item-by-item comparison with the school budget of some recent year. Also, 1914 is the earliest year for which figures on certain other related or comparative trends can be obtained. It seems desirable, therefore, after having pre- sented in the preceding section data on the long-time trend of school expenditures from 1870, to limit this analysis to a shorter period. Not so much will be lost by this limitation as would be the case if the rise in school expendi- tures followed a straight line trend. As is shown by Figure I the curve of annual school expenditures from 1870 to 1936 becomes in- creasingly steep in its ascent as it approaches 1930. The later years of the period, prior to 1930, are those in which the greatest propor- tionate increase occurred and are, therefore, those best suited to the study of rising costs. School expenditures were not reported in as great detail in 1914 as they were four years later—for the school year 1918. Because of the desire, however, to extend the analysis of the upward trend in school costs as far back as possible, and because there seemed to |y advantage in linking this analysis with t war era, it was decided to select 1914 beginning or base year of this study and « estimates of the amounts of those it: expenditure for which exact data could ; obtained. For different reasons the school budve: 1930 was selected for comparison with that 1914. School expenditures rose to their al!-t peak in 1930. In a comparison of the sc! budgets of 1914 and any other year than 193 a part of this rise would be concealed. In that the full extent of the rise in school cos may be given due consideration, therefore period 1914 to 1930 was selected for sp scrutiny. Brief attention, however, wil! given later, in Part VI, to the trend of costs between 1930 and 1936. We have seen in the preceding section of bulletin that there was an increase in th nual expenditures for public schools betw: 1914 and 1930 of about 1,762 million dollars or over 315 percent. Let us look, now, at th 1914 and 1930 school budgets with a view : finding out whether or not some budgeta: items in a greater degree than others have bee: responsible for this increase. The 1914 School Budget The funds required for the support of pub! schools are used to purchase a wide variety of goods and services. Table 2 lists these goods and services with the amount and percent o! TABLE 2.—DISTRIBUTION OF SCHOOL EXPENDITURES, 1913-14 Percent Item of expenditure Amount * of total 1 2 . $373,069 ,332 69 ,538 ,464 10,992,775 11,075,221 33,472,370 15 ,853 ,968 3,514,786 8,363 ,505 18,742,811 7,004,423 . Salaries and wages..... is . Construction of school buildings . School building sites ‘ . School building equipment.... . Operation of plant . Maintenance of plant.... . Textbooks re . Instructional supplies........... . Interest and fixed charges. . . Transportation of pupils . Auxiliary agencies other transportation than 3,449,491 $555 077,146 100.00 « For sources and methods used in obtaining the figures 0! this table, see Appendix of this bulletin. [ 140] f public variety se goods rcent ot -HOOL Percent of total 100.00 figures of ‘otal school expenditures devoted to each in 114. The figures presented in Table 2 are ased for the most part upon those contained a the Report of the United States Commis- sioner of Education for 1916,‘ but a compari- son of this table with its source will reveal some differences. These are due principally to a re classification of the original data, so as to group rovether the payments for the services of all classes of school personnel under the general head of “salaries and wages.” Such a reclassifi- cation was needed in order to facilitate the study of the causes of increasing expenditures, since there is evidence that trends of the vari us types of payments for wages and salaries rend to parallel each other more closely than they parallel the trends of other school expendi tures, and that their movement is, at least in part, in response to the same general causes.” Effecting this reclassification of expenditures involved the use of some estimates. A full ex- planation of the sources and methods used in obtaining the figures of Table 2 will be found in the Appendix of this bulletin. Salaries and wages with an estimated total of about 373 million dollars represented over 67 percent of the total school budget in 1914. There are included in this item payments for the salaries of teachers, principals, supervisors, and superintendents, and the estimated amounts paid for the services of administrative and busi- ness employees, janitors and engineers, libra- rians, attendance officers, doctors and nurses engaged in school health work, drivers of school buses, and all other employees of boards of education. The second largest item of the 1914 school budget is for the construction of school build- ings. This includes the cost of construction of new buildings and of additions and improve- ments to old buildings which are not in the nature of repairs. It is estimated that 69.5 mil- lion dollars was spent for this item in 1914. The estimated expenditures, of slightly under 11 million dollars for the purchase of school sites and of slightly over 11 million dollars for school building equipment, each accounts for just under 2 percent of the total 1914 school budget, thus making a total expenditure for capital outlays in 1914 of over 91.5 million dollars, or 16.5 percent of total school expendi- 1 Vol. II, “Statistics of State School Systems,” p. 34. This report contains figures *See discussion on pages 144-45, tures. We see, of expenditure, salaries and wages, and capital then, that only two main items outlays were responsible for almost 84+ percent of the total school budget. Items of the 1914 school budget which were of less importance from a financial standpoint were textbooks and supplies, fuel and light for operating the school plant, the maintenance ot the school plant, rent, insurance and other fixed charges, and such items as the transportation of school children, school libraries, school cafeterias, and supplies needed in connection with school health sery- ices. How does the distribution of school expendi- tures in 1914 compare with that for 1930? The 1930 School Budget The facts concerning 1930 school expendi- tures are presented in Table 3. Total payments for salaries and wages, according to the figures 779 3 of this table, had risen by 1930 from about 37 million dollars to almost 1.5 billion dollars. Expenditures for total capital outlays had in- creased from approximately 91.5 million in 1914 to more than 370 million dollars in 1930. Yet each of these items represented a smaller proportion of the total school budget in 1930 than in 1914. Salary and wage payments con TABLE 3.—DISTRIBUTION OF SCHOOL EXPENDITURES, 1929-30 Percent Amount - of total Item of expenditure 1 2 3 1. Salaries and wages er ee $1,492 ,989 ,923 64 2. Construction of school buildings 261,098 ,090 11 3. School building sites. . 44,505 ,356 1 4. School building equipment ; 65,274,523 2 5. Operation of plant praiers 99 436,534 4 6. Maintenance of plant : 78,810,238 3 7. Textbooks ‘ ‘ 25,150,281 1 8. Instructional supplies 42,149,758 1 9. Interest and fixed charges 142,805 ,560 6 10. Transportation of pupils... 48 464,446 2 11. Auxiliary agencies other than transportation 16,105 ,675 0.69 Total $2,316,790,384 100.00 @ Sources and methods used in deriving the figures of this table are described in the Appendix of this bulletin stituted 64.44 percent of the total budget in 1930, as compared with 67.21 percent in 1914. The proportion of total expenditures devoted for the school years 1913-14 and 1914-15 { 141 ] to capital outlays fell slightly from 16.5 per- cent in 1914 to 16.0 percent in 1930. Another item which declined slightly in its relative im- portance in the budget was the expense (ex- clusive of wages to janitors and engineers) of operating the school plant. While the actual amount expended for this item increased from 33 million dollars in 1914 to 99 million dollars in 1930, it represented only 4.3 percent of total school expenditures in the latter year, as com- pared with 6.0 percent in 1914. The percent of total expenditures devoted to each of the other items of the school budget rose slightly between 1914 and 1930. Interest and fixed charges showed the greatest relative in- crease (from 3.4 percent in 1914 to 6.2 per- cent in 1930), followed by textbooks (from 0.6 percent to 1.1 percent), transportation of pupils (from 1.3 percent to 2.1 percent), school supplies (from 1.5 percent to 1.8 percent), and auxiliary activities, exclusive of transport (from 0.6 percent to 0.7 percent). Comparing the two budgets we find : no item of school expenditure was there a ¢ or loss in relative importance of as much a. 2 percent. It is remarkable that, in spite of +}, considerable increase in total school expend tures between 1914 and 1930, the general par tern of school spending remained so nearly the same. The similarity in the distribution of the school budgets for 1914 and 1930 is clearly brought out in Figure V. It is evident tha; speaking for the nation as a whole, the upward trend of school costs between those two years was not due to the overexpansion of any par of the school program. What then were the reasons for the stead) increase in the cost of schools between 1914 and 1930? The following sections will give con. sideration to this question. FIGURE V 1914 Textbootis and Supplies 2% »—Fixed Charges Auxiliary Agencies 2 5% Maintenance Operation 97: 6% Ralaries Capital Outlays 17% #555,077,146 Based on Tables 2 and 3. DISTRIBUTION OF PUBLIC SCHOOL EXPENDITURES 1930 Textbooks and Supplies?™ aber X09 Chayses Auxiliary Agencje Salaries 4 64%, $2,316, 795.4384 © Res. Div., Nat. Edu re a gaiy uch as 3 e of the expendi eral pat- early the mn ot the s clearly ant that, upward VO Vears ANY part e steady 914 and Ive con- III. The Purchasing Power of the School Dollar A part of the rise in school expenditures is due to the decline in the value of the school dollar. The school expenditure dollar, like the \jiving expenditure dollar of any individual or family, is constantly changing in value—that is in its ability to purchase goods and services.' With the schools, just as with the average indi- vidual, it is not the number of dollars contained in the annual income that counts most but the amount of goods and services that can be pur- chased with each of these dollars. When the general price level is high, the buying power of the dollar is correspondingly low and the indi- vidual must pay more for the goods and serv- ices which make up his standard of living. Either he must increase his expenditures in those years or lower his living standards. Simi- larly, it is necessary in some years to spend a larger sum than in other years for the goods and services needed for the operation of the public schools. If this larger sum is not forth- coming, standards of education will suffer. It is necessary to keep this fact in mind in study- ing school costs. Whenever school expenditures for two separate years are compared, the effect of the changing price level should be taken into account. While both the school dollar and the gen- eral living expenditure dollar are constantly fluctuating in value, they do not necessarily change in the same degree, or even in the same direction at the same time. Conceivably in any year, the school dollar may rise while the cost of living dollar declines, or it may lose value while the cost of living dollar gains in value. The possibility of such a divergence in trend between these two “dollars” becomes evident when the items which make up the school and family budgets are examined. An index of living costs, or of the purchas- ing power of the genera! living expenditure dollar, is compiled periodically by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States De- partment of Labor on the basis of information collected from 32 representative cities concern- ing the prices of a list of commodities contained in the family budget of the typical working- man as revealed by a comprehensive survey con- ducted in 1918-19. The results of this study, to which other data have been added from time to time, indicate that on the average over 50 percent of the expenditures of workingmen’s families are devoted to the purchase of food and clothing. On the other hand, the bulk of school total consists of payments for per- expenditures—about two-thirds of the school budget sonal services. Since there is no reason to sup- pose that the trends in the prices of these several budgetary items would parallel each other closely, it is to be expected that the two “dol- lars” of which they form so large a part would differ from each other considerably in value at any given time, and that the index of the cost of living compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics would be an imperfect measure of changes in the cost of schools. Hence, it is de- sirable to use some other means of measuring the effect of changes in the purchasing value of the dollar on the trend of school expenditures between 1914 and 1930. We already know that expenditures for the public schools were 1,762 million dollars higher in 1930 than in 1914. The question then is, How much of this increase in expenditures is directly attributable to a decline in the purchas- ing power of the school dollar? In order to answer this question it is necessary to eliminate from our calculations, at least temporarily, the effect of all other factors which might tend to produce higher school costs such as, for instance, greater school enrolments, better trained teach- ers, an expanded curriculum. This can be done by basing all measurements of changing costs upon the cost of the school program in any single selected year and calculating what that same program would have cost in other years, thus automatically ruling out the effect on school expenditures of any expansions or im- provements in school services. The percent of change in the cost of the same school program between any two years would then represent the percent of change in actual school expendi- tures, between those two years, which was caused solely by the fluctuating value of the dollar. On this basis, that part of the increase in school expenditures between 1914 and 1930, which was due to the decline in the buying power of the school dollar, is equal to the difference between the actual expenditure for the 1930 school program and the amount which + As explained in the Introduction, this bulletin uses the depreciation of the school expenditure dollar rather than that of the living expenditure dollar used in earlier issues of the Research Bulletin. [ 143 ] that same program would have cost in 1914, or, in other words, the difference between the actual expenditure for the 1930 school program and the expenditure for schools, which would have been necessary in that year, if the value of the school dollar had not changed between 1914 and 1930 but had remained at its 1914 level. Before this amount can be determined, the total of school expenditures must be broken down into separate items, or groups of items, and the increase in the cost of each, between 1914 and 1930, which was due to the decline in the purchasing power of the dollar, must be calculated separately. Changing Cost of Budgetary Items Tables 2 and 3 in this bulletin present such an analysis of the school budget for the years 1914 and 1930. Expenditures for 11 items, or groups of items, are listed in these tables. The following paragraphs give separate con- sideration to the amount by which the actual 1930 expenditure for each of these items ex- ceeded that which would have been necessary if the value of the dollar had been as great in 1930 as in 1914. The reader who does not wish to follow the details of this analysis may turn directly to page 153 where the discussion is summarized. Salaries and Wages The total amount of salaries and wages? paid to all classes of school employees in 1914 was approximately 373 million dollars, or over 67 percent of total school expenditures in that year. By 1930 payments te school employees had risen to more than 1,492 million dollars. In order to determine what part of the increase of 1,119 million dollars was due directly to a decline in the buying power of the dollar, the amount which the schools would have had to pay in 1914 for the services of a like number of persons equal in training, experience, and ability to those employed in 1930 must first be calculated. There is a special difficulty involved in the determination of this amount. In the first place, it seems fairly obvious that total annual payments for the salaries of teach- ers, the largest group of school employees, in- creased between 1914 and 1930 in response to (1) an increase in the number of teachers; (2) an increase in the number of days in the school 2 For a description of this item see page 141. year during which teachers were req render service; (3) an improvement in | qualifications; and (4) the decrease value of the dollar. The influence of | these factors on the trend of teachers’ payments must be eliminated before the of the fourth can be measured. In the « the first two factors this is easy to do. By ¢ termining the trend of the average salary , teachers for one week of service in each of : years 1914 thru 1930, the effects of the , number of teachers and the increasing lenyt) the school year on the total annual paymen: for teachers’ salaries are ruled out automatic The third of the above-listed factors proved teacher qualifications—presents a m difficult problem. It is a relatively simple matter to ascertai; for any given year, the average price of thousand feet of lumber or a carload of ment, and the changes in the prices of thes same commodities over a period of time. || unit upon which price measurements are bas —1000 feet of lumber or | carload of cement —does not change from year to year. | the realm of personal services, however, thy situation is distinctly different. For instance the federal Office of Education makes availa)! statistics on the average annual salary paid teachers® in each alternate year. According ' these statistics the average price of the ser ices of one teacher was $525 in 1914 and $1420 in 1930. Reduced to a weekly salar basis these amounts become $16.55 in 1914 and $41.10 in 1930, but the services of one teacher for one week were not the same in 1930 as in 1914. Therefore, they do not provide a satis- factory unit upon which to base measurements of the rise and fall of prices. These services were constantly changing during the period 1914 to 1930, because the average teacher who performed these services was constantly chang. ing. Before that part of the rise in teachers salaries between 1914 and 1930, which was caused solely by the decreased value of the dol- lar, can be calculated, it is necessary to know not how much was actually paid weekly fo the services of one teacher in each of those years, but how much would have been paid in 1914 for one week's services of the typical 193 teacher. *These figures are averages of the salaries paid all teachers, principals, and supervisors. See: U. S. Department the Interior, Office of Education, Biennial Survey of Education, 1928-30, ‘Statistics of State School Systems,” p. 40; and Annu Report of the Commissioner of Education, 1916, Vol. II, p. 30. (Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office.) [ 144] ver, the nstance ailabl ry paid rding ti he sery- 14 and y salary 914 and teacher 30 as in a satis- ements services » period her who y chang- eachers’ ich was the dol- a0) know ekly for of those paid in cal 193 irtment of nd Annua [he price which the services of the typical weacher of 1930 would have brought in any earlier year of the 1914-30 period cannot be letermined with exactness for the nation as a whole for the simple reason that this teacher id not exist—at least as a statistically ascer- rainable unit—in any year prior to 1930. Simi- larly the typical teacher of 1914 did not exist fter the close of that year. She was supplanted » the next year by the typical teacher of 1915 a somewhat different individual. The typical 1930 teacher who received an average weekly salary of $41 was a very different person from the typical teacher of 1914. The 1930 teacher was better educated and had received a more specialized training. Similarly, figures on the werage weekly wages and salaries of many other groups of school employees in 1914 and 1930, if they were available on a nationwide asis, would not represent comparable payments nthe two years for the same quality of services. The amounts of such comparable payments would be difficult, if not impossible, to obtain for most of these groups. If the changes in the payments which the schools would have had to make in other years for the services of their 1930 personnel cannot be determined exactly, they can at least be meas- ured approximately. W. Randolph Burgess, in a study of school cost trends between 1840 and 1920, compared the trend of the average weekly salary of teachers with those of the weekly wages of artisans and unskilled labor- ers for the same period and found a close re- semblance between them, altho teachers’ sal- aries started lower and gained ground steadily in relation to laborers’ wages until the last five years of the period. After 1915 the wages of labor rose sharply while teachers’ salaries lagged behind for a year or two before they, in their turn, entered upon a steep ascent. The trend of teachers’ salaries was also compared with the trend of the cost of living but no direct causal relationship was discovered be- tween these two series. Burgess interpreted his findings as evidence that (1) salaries and wages of all occupational groups tend to follow similar trends because they are all built upon the value of what the least competent worker is able to produce ; (2) any amount received by an individual in return for his services, which is in excess of the wage paid to the least competent worker, is extra compensation for a higher level of ability ; and (3) the progress which teachers made between 1840 and 1920 in raising their salaries in re lation to the compensation of other groups of workers was based upon the “increased ability which comes from increased training.” Figure VI bears out Burgess’ conclusions. The resemblance between the two curves shown here is evident, altho after 1915 they parallel each other somewhat less closely. In these later vears of the period the trend of teachers’ sal- aries rises higher, and develops a lag of two or three years in comparison with the trend of wages of unskilled labor. It fails to reflect the depression of 1921-22. It is prob the weekly able that the relatively greater rise in the curve of teachers’ salaries is due to the notable im- provement in teacher qualifications which has taken place since the close of the World War. This is in line with Burgess’ suggestion in the study cited above. The greater stability of the teachers’ salary curve and the lag which it re- veals in comparison with the trend of wages of unskilled laborers may be explained by the fact that teachers’ salaries are in the nature of pub- lic expenditures, and public expenditures, as a whole, are less sensitive to economic conditions than are most private payments for goods and services. From the argument of the two preceding paragraphs it follows logically that if there had been no change at all in teacher qualifications 1914 and 1930, the trend of the average weekly salary of teachers in those years between would have been approximately the same as the trend of the average weekly wages paid to un- skilled labor. In other words the change be- tween any two years of this period in the price which the schools would have had to pay for the services of the 1930 teacher would have approximately equaled the change in the price paid for the services of unskilled labor.°® At first thought it might appear that the lag noticed in the trend of teachers’ salaries in Figure VI, as compared with the trend of the “Burgess, W. Randolph. The Trend of School Costs. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1920. 142 p 5 There are, of course, some factors, other than the improvement of teacher qualifications, which tend to produce a difference between the trends of teachers’ salaries and‘ of wages of labor. It is impossible to take specific account of all these factors in this bulletin. Probably most of them are related in some degree to the causes of increase in school expenditures considered in Parts IV and V. At any rate the effect of these factors should be excluded from any measure of changes in teachers’ salaries which are due solely to the fluctuating value of the dollar. There seems good reason to believe that the trend of the wages of unskilled labor closely approximates what would be the trend of teachers’ salaries after eliminating the effect of these other factors. [ 145 ]} wages of unskilled labor, would affect the reli- and wages in other occupational fields rise. ‘T};. ability of the wage index as a measure of rel- situation was particularly evident in the vex. ative teachers’ salary costs, but further consid- at the end of, and immediately following. , eration suggests that this difficulty is more World War, when the more attractive salari« imaginary than real. The lag revealed in the offered in other fields resulted in an acute shor teachers’ salary curve in Figure VI was in the age of well-qualified teachers.° When wage trend of weekly salaries actually paid to teach- and salaries paid most occupational groups ar. ers. In a period when wages and salaries of declining and positions are scarce, schoolboard: other occupational groups are rising, school- if they do not reduce salaries, are able to tak, boards often delay in providing for proportion- advantage of a wider selection of availa), ate increases in teachers’ salaries, but the fact teacher personnel. Standards of teaching sery that the actual salaries paid do not change does may be raised by a more careful selection not mean that there is no change in the pur- _ teachers, and, as a result, the purchasing powe; chasing power of the dollar used for the pay- of the teachers’ salary dollar may be increased ment of these salaries. In such times, teachers without actually reducing the salaries paid are likely to leave the profession for work in ‘These were the conditions which operated j; other more highly remunerative fields so that some rural areas during the depression years the salary paid teachers no longer attracts the raise the standard of teacher qualifications. same quality of service, the cost of the same in- The index of wages of unskilled labor prob. structional services becomes higher, and con- ably serves as well, or better, to measure th: versely the purchasing power of the dollar used _ effect of changes in the purchasing power of the to buy these services becomes lower, as salaries dollar upon wages and salaries paid to othe: ® Evenden, E. S. Teachers’ Salaries and Salary Schedules in the United States, 1918-19. Commission on the Emergency % Education. Commission Series, No. 6. Washington, D. C.: National Education Association, 1919. p. 3-5. FIGURE VI TRENDS IN TEACHERS SALARIES AND WAGES OF UNSKILLED LABOR; 1900-1940 - owner enor a — Average weelly salary of teachers wwemeeeAverage weellly salary of unsKilled labor a a a a 1910 1915 1920 1925 1930 193 5 1940 © Res. Div., Nat. Educ. Assn rise. This the Véars WINE, the ve salaries “ute short. len Wages YrOUDs are oolboards le to take availabli ng Service lection ot ing Power increased ries paid erated j; N years t -ations. bor prob- asure the ver of the to other mergency sroups of school employees outside the teaching service. Several such indexes are available’- none of which covers all of the years between 1914 and 1930. That compiled by Paul H. Douglas, however, extends from 1890 thru 1926 and thus provides a figure for each year between 1914 and 1930, except the last four. Douglas’ index is based upon figures for aver- age weekly wages of unskilled labor compiled by Ralph G. Harlin for the years 1890 thru 1920, and by the National Industrial Confer- ence Board for the years 1920 thru 1926. These two series were spliced together by applying the indexes of the later series to the 1920 index of the earlier series. The National Industrial Con- ference Board figures, which are now available for the years 1920 thru 1936, are used in this bulletin to extend the series of index numbers brought together by Douglas, thru 1930.° The index numbers thus obtained for the years 1914 thru 1930 are included in Table 4, column 2, as a measure of the change in the power of the dollar to purchase the services of 7 Beney, M. Ada. Wages, Hours and Employment in the United States 1914-1936 Board, 1936. p. 52-55 Statistical Association, June 1922. p. Co., 1930. p. { Burgess, W. Randolph The Wages of Unskilled Labor in the Manu;acturing Industries in the United States 1926. 162 p. “Index Numbers for the Wages of Common Labor.” 101-103. { Douglas, Paul H 177. § Hurlin, Ralph G. Quoted by Douglas in Real Wages in the United States, p school employees. The index for 1930 shows that the cost of a given amount and quality of the services of school employees was 86 percent vear than in 1914. In other words, $1.00 would have gone as far in 1914 as did $1.86 in 1930, toward paying for the higher in that services of the 1930 staff of school employees, and the same services for which the schools paid 1,492 million dollars in 1930 could have been obtained in 1914 with a payment of a little more than 802 million dollars in 1914. The dif- ference between these two sums is 691 million dollars. This amount, or approximately 62 per- cent of the total gain of 1,119 million dollars in the salaries and wages of school employees, between 1914 and 1930, was caused by a de- clining school dollar. Textbooks The amount paid for teachers’ salaries con- stitutes the great part of the cost of instruction in the public schools, but teachers are also sup- plied with certain materials to aid them in the New York: National Industrial Conference Journal of the Boston: Houghton Mifflin 175. { Coombs, Whitney Columbia University imerican Real Wages in the United States. New York: Press, 8 The basic series and computations used in obtaining these indexes are set forth in the Appendix of this bulletin TABLE 4.—INDEX OF EDUCATION COSTS AND OF THE PURCHASING POWER OF THE SCHOOL EXPENDITURE DOLLAR, 1914 to = 100.0) (1914 1930° School build- ings Salaries and wages Text- books School Equip- Opera- grounds ment _ tion Year Sup- plies wt. 3.28% wt. wt. wt. wt. 59.14 1.13 2.11% 9.45% 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 wt. 4.05° wt. 2.68° 100.0 100.0 100 99 101.3 100 140 119.7 100 162 147.1 100 1 3 100 100 104.2 116 135 146 171.5 182 181 184 182 185. 188 185 .: 182 180 179 100 100 100 100. 100. 107. 122 153. 165. 160. 159. 160. 162. 164. 165 163. 163. 164. 175 164. 100 197. 191. 100 279. 250.9 100 173 187.8 100 155. 183.4 100 171. 204.2 100 157 202.1 100 175 204.3 100 167. 207.5 100 204.0 203.8 206.5 203 .6 158 154 152 148 100 100 100 100. 4 MWOONDEWUWPWOURIO CNeMMDOOwWRrAIBMNADHLOSCS)!) WUNANMMNABNANOCAKAS tenance Index of the purchasing power of the school dollar Total combined index of public school costs Health, libraries, and other auxiliary activities Interest Trans- and porta- fixed tion charges Main- wt. 2.85% wt. 10.53° Wt. 4.09 wt. 0.69% 9 10 11 12 13 } 100 100 100 91 100 107 100 116 100 125 100 132 100 151 100 131 100 112 100 101 100 96 100. 99 100 100 100 92 100 91 100 93 100 87.: = 100 100 101 102 106 112 119 131 138 165 .§ 155 .§ 183 181 204 174 164 167 161 167 174 170 174 172 167 175 179 174 180 173 181 174 184 173 170 100 101.3 119 147 164 191 250 187 183 204 202 204 207 204 203 206 203 owe a1 CW aw] nor we Aanuw o ~sw AUSBOUWRK Ne @ |NN COACH ADS * Sources and methods used in arriving at the figures of this table are described in the Appendix. > The weights used in this table are based upon the percentage distribution of the cost of the 1930 school program in 1914 [ 147 ] classroom. Important among these educational supplies are textbooks. While not all schools, even now, furnish textbooks to pupils free of charge, the expenditure for free textbooks rose from 3.5 million dollars in 1914 to over 25 million dollars in 1930. A part of this rise in expenditures was due not to the increase in the number of schools providing free textbooks but to the increased cost of the textbooks them- selves. To determine the amount of this cost, the Research Division of the National Educa- tion Association obtained prices of standard textbooks from three school publishing com- panies. The figures furnished by each company will be found in the Appendix of this bulletin. Each of the publishing companies was re- quested to list, for each year between 1914 and 1930, the prices of one first-year reader, one third- and fourth-grade arithmetic, one junior high-school science, one high-school history (American), and the first volume of one two- volume speller. As far as possible each publisher selected his “‘best-seller” in each of the cur- riculum fields and listed prices of this same book thruout the 1914-30 period, but when one book dropped out of use, it was considered permissible to substitute another in the same field. Since there is no way of determining the relative importance of the various books for which prices were quoted in total textbook sales to schools thruout the nation, simple aver- ages have been taken of the listed prices and index numbers constructed on the basis of these averages with the average price in 1914 equal to 100. This series of index numbers is shown in column 3 of Table 4. School textbook prices in general, on the basis of this index, were almost 65 percent higher in 1930 than in 1914. In other words, each dollar’s worth of 1930 textbooks could have been purchased for only 61 cents in 1914. Applying this index to the 1930 expenditure for free textbooks, it is discovered that the cost of the textbooks purchased for 25 million dollars in 1930 would have been only 15 million dol- lars in 1914. The difference of almost 10 mil- lion dollars between this amount and that actually spent in 1930 represents that part of the increased expenditure for school textbooks between 1914 and 1930, which was due to the lower value of the school dollar. Instructional Supplies In 1914 slightly more than 8.36 ny dollars was spent by the schools for ji: tional supplies other than textbooks. T} penditure had risen by 1930 to over 42 n dollars. In order to ascertain what part ot ; increased expenditure was caused by | prices, or by the decrease in the value of th; dollar used to purchase school supplies necessary to determine yearly changes | price of the supplies purchased in 1930. U, fortunately, information is not available on th amounts and kinds of school supplies purchase; in 1930. The only comprehensive study wh provides the information needed for any \ is one by Anderson, Fowlkes, and Jones’ fo; 1927. The calculations in this bulletin of changes in the cost of school supplies betwee; 1914 and 1930 are, therefore, necessarily based upon the assumption that the same items were contained in the school supply budget of 193) as in that of 1927 as shown by the Anderso: Fowlkes, and Jones study, and that the relatio which the expenditure for each item bore 1 the total expenditure for school supplies was the same in both years. ‘The study by Anderso: Fowlkes, and Jones lists, for each school grade, articles of school supplies purchased in 43 cities, their quantities, unit costs, and costs per pupil in average daily attendance. Some 150 or more school supply items are included. To deter mine unit price changes for each of these items for each year between 1914 and 1930 would be impracticable. By a process of selection and classification, however, it is possible to compile a much shorter list of school supply items, or group of items, which are responsible for so great a proportion of all school supply expendi tures as to control very largely, thru their price changes, the general movement of schoo! supply prices from year to year. Such a list is shown below. The eleven items which are in cluded in this list account for over 88 percent of the average per pupil cost of all school supplies in all school grades according to the Anderson, Fowlkes, and Jones study. An index of changes in the combined prices of these eleven items can probably be taken as also indicative of changes in school supply prices in general. The percent 1 which each of these items represents of tli ® Anderson, C. J.; Fowlkes, John Guy; and Jones, L. F. Study of Budgeting and Allotment of School Supplies. Madison, \\'s University of Wisconsin, 1929. 43 p. [ 148 J € on the irchased nes” letin of Tor bet wee! ly ba sed ns were 1930 ot idersor relatior bore + 1€S Was iderson l grade, 3 cities, >r pup 1 } yr more ) dete se items would ion and compile ems, Or for so xpendi- u their sche 01 a list is are in- ‘cent of upplies derson, hanges ms can hanges yercent «} ot t Yi on, Wis | expenditure for all eleven items is given the right. Percent of total expenditures Item for eleven items 38 14 02 19 82 64 91 .24 13 69 84 Paper 6 Cotton goods Paint Lumber Linoleum Pencils Chalk Blackboard erasers 4. Pens Scissors 11. Wax > ee RK KS WDD Ww Ww crayons 100.00 The next step is to determine the movement of the prices of these eleven school supply items vetween 1914 and 1930. This information is available from two sources. In the first place, items 1 thru 4 listed above represent broad classes of school supplies which include many individual items. For instance, under the head of item 1 are included 43 different types and sizes of paper used in the schools. It seems rea- sonable to suppose that relative changes from vear to year in the combined prices of these kinds of paper would correspond approximately with the index of wholesale prices of paper compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor. This index has been used to measure changes in prices of paper used as school supplies in con- nection with the construction of the general index of changes in the cost of school supplies shown in column 4 of Table 4. In the same way the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ index of the wholesale prices of cotton goods has been used to measure changes in the prices of school supplies made of cotton cloth. Indexes of the wholesale prices of lumber, paint, and paint materials compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics have been changes in unit costs of paint and lumber used also used to indicate in connection with instruction in the schools. Indexes of wholesale prices compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics are not available for the other seven items of school supplies listed above. These unit prices for each year (1914 to 1930) have been obtained directly from various school supply houses. The basic figures on prices of individual school supply items as reported to the Research Division of 1” United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Handbook of Labor Statistics 1936. p. 616. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, the National indexes of changes in prices built thereon, t the Education Association and gether with the indexes of wholesale prices of paper, cotton goods, paint, and lumber men tioned above, are shown in the Appendix. of obtained are combined into a series of weighted The eleven series index numbers thus index numbers of school supply prices by mul tiplying them by the corresponding percentage figures listed above. This series of weighted index numbers is shown in column 4 of Table 4. They show that on the whole the cost of kinds of instructional supplies purchased by the schools in any one the same amount and year increased 179 percent between 1914 and 1920, but that by 1930 it had fallen to a level slightly more than 48 percent above that of 1914. On this basis the same instructional sup- plies purchased for 42 million dollars in 1930 would have cost about 28 million dollars in 1914. This represents an increase of something less than 14 million dollars, or approximately 42 percent of the total increase of over 33 million dollars, which was due to increased prices, or the decline in buying power of the dollar used to purchase school supplies. Construction of School Buildings Expenditures for the erection of new school buildings were over 261 million dollars in 1930 as compared with less than 70 million dollars in 1914. This was an increase of over 191 million dollars, or 378 percent. The cost of new buildings varies from year to year in direct accordance with changes in the prices of materials and labor that go into their construction. A composite index of whole- sale prices of materials used in non-residential buildings is compiled for each year by the Bu- reau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor. Principally these ma- terials include brick and tile, cement, lumber, paint and paint materials, plumbing and heat- ing equipment, and structural steel. The Bu- reau of Labor Statistics also publishes indexes of the wage rates of union labor employed in the building trades. When these two series of indexes are weighted by 64.3 percent and 35.7 percent, respectively—that is, in proportion to the relative importance of materials and labor in the total cost of non-residential building con- struction'°—and combined, the result is the 1936 edition. Bulletin No 221 [ 149 } series of indexes contained in Table 4, column 5. Strictly speaking, this series measures changes in the cost of all non-residential building con- struction rather than the cost of construction of school buildings. While school building costs may not have varied in the years 1914 to 1930 precisely as did the cost of non-residential build- ing in general, there is no reason to suppose any wide divergence between these two trends. It is probable, therefore, that the indexes of column 3 form a fairly accurate measure of changes in school building costs. Applying the index for the purchasing power of the dollar in the year 1930 to the actual 1930 expenditure for the construction of school buildings, as shown in Table 3, we find that the comparative cost of the same buildings in 1914 would have been about 128 million dol- lars—less than half the amount of their 1930 cost. On this basis over two-thirds of the total increase in expenditures for school building construction between 1914 and 1930 was due to a decrease in the power of the dollar to pur- chase building materials and labor. According to these indexes, school building prices more than doubled between 1914 and 1930, and the power of the dollar to buy new school buildings declined to less than 50 cents. School Building Sites In 1930 almost 45 million dollars was spent for the purchase of land upon which to erect school buildings. In 1914 expenditures for this purpose totaled less than 11 million dollars. Doubtless the price which schoolboards had to pay per square foot for the acquisition of this land also increased between 1914 and 1930. There does not appear to be, however, any in- formation which will furnish a reliable index of this increase in price. For this reason the indexes of column 6, Table 4, have been held constant at 100 thruout the 1914-30 period. It is common knowledge that land values rose between 1914 and 1930, and that, as a result, the value of the dollar used for the purchase of school sites declined. It should be noted that the necessary omission of a measure of this change in value, from the calculations con- tained in this bulletin, has the effect of mini- mizing the influence of changes in the pur- chasing power of the school dollar in increas- ing total school expenditures. School Building Equipment The permanent equipment of a school build ing consists very largely of furniture. In 193 65 million dollars was spent for this equipmen: or 54 million dollars more than in 1914. Coy parative prices of the same amount and quality of school furnishings are not available over , period of years for the nation as a whole, no; has it been possible to obtain information as » changes in unit prices of furnishings of nop residential buildings between 1914 and 193) The Bureau of Labor Statistics, compiles an index of the cost of house fy; nishings on a 1913 base as a part of its ge eral cost of living index. The list of articles priced in connection with this index is giver in the Appendix. A glance at this list wil] show that the index is heavily weighted with furniture prices. While the articles of furni ture priced in connection with the house fur- nishings index are for the most part different from those ordinarily purchased by the schools it seems probable that the combined prices of articles furnished in the two lists would fol low the same general trend. The index of house furnishings compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics is, therefore, used in column 7 of Table 4 to measure changes in prices of school equipment between 1914 and 1930. The figures of Table 4, column 7, indicate that the permanent equipment purchased fo: the schools in 1930 at 65 million dollars would have cost about 36 million dollars in 19/4. This is an increase of almost 25 million dollars Almost half, then, of the total increase of 54 million dollars in expenditures for school equip ment between 1914 and 1930 was the result ot the decreased value of the school dollar. The 1914 dollar as related to the purchase of equip ment for the public schools was equal to less than 56 cents in 1930. Operation of School Plants how ever The expense of operating a school building ——that is, keeping it clean, lighted, and warm and otherwise ready for use—consists princi pally of (1) payments for the services of engineers and janitors, and (2) the cost of fuel and light. The federal Office of Education, in the “Statistics of State School Systems” con- tained in their Biennial Surveys of Education reports all operating expense under one or the other of these two heads. As already stated the wages paid janitors and engineers have been [150] ol | uild In 193 uipment 4. Com 1 quality C Over a ole, nor ION as to of non id 193/) loOWwever use fur articles is given list will ed with f furni- use fur- lifferent schools. yrices ot uld fol ndex of Ireau of column rices of 930). indicate ised for s would n 1914, dollars e of 54 1 equip esult of ir. The f equip to less yuilding warm princi- ices of of fuel tion, in - con- ication, or the ted the ‘e been deducted from operating expenses in 1914 and 1930 as shown in Tables 2 and 3, item 5, and ‘included with other salary and wage payments under item 1 in each of these tables.*? An index of the cost of the services of all public school employees, including the janitorial and engi- neering staffs, is already included in column 2 of Table 4. The remaining problem, therefore, is to find some measure of changes between 1914 and subsequent years up to 1930 in the cost of the other principal item of operation costs, fuel and light. Such a measure is available in the index of the cost of fuel and light compiled by the Bu- reau of Labor Statistics as a part of its general cost of living index and shown in column 8 of Table 4. According to this index it would have cost less than 56 million dollars in 1914 to purchase the same amounts and kinds of fuel and light used in the operation of the schools in 1930. The actual amount paid by the schools for fuel and light in 1930 was 99 million dol- lars or almost 44 million dollars higher than it would have been if the value of the dollar had remained at its 1914 level. The total in- crease in school expenditures for fuel and light between 1914 and 1930 was about 66 million dollars. Very nearly two-thirds of this total increase was the inevitable result of the lower buying power oi the dollar. Maintenance of School Plants This item of school expenditure includes re- painting, reroofing, refinishing, and otherwise repairing school property. The goods and serv- ices involved in these processes do not differ to any great extent from those involved in new building construction. There is reason to be- lieve, therefore, that the index of the cost of school building construction included in column 5 of Table 4 is also a reliable measure of changes in the cost of maintaining school build- ings in good repair. Accordingly, this index is included in Table 4, column 9, as well as in column 5. Since the index number in this series for 1930 is 104 percent higher than that for 1914, and the purchasing power of the dollar was less than half as great, it follows that the schools would have had to pay less than 39 million dollars in 1914 for the same repairs which actually cost about 79 million dollars in 1930. Almost 65 percent of the total increase See pages 140 and 141. in expenditure for the maintenance of school plans between 1914 and 1930 was caused by the decline in the buying power of the dollar. Interest on Indebtedness and Fixed Charges Tables 2 and 3 show that the sum of interest paid on school indebtedness and certain fixed charges such as rent and insurance rose from nearly 19 million dollars in 1914 to almost 143 million dollars in 1930. This was an increase of approximately 124 million dollars in these ex penditures. Because there seems to be no reli able measure of the extent to which the changing value of the dollar was responsible for this increase, the index numbers of ‘Table 4, column 10, have been held constant at 100, the 1914 level of such expenditures. Indexes of current interest rates on commer cial loans are available, it is true, but these do not reflect satisfactorily the movement of the average rate of interest paid yearly thruout the nation on the long-term indebtedness of school districts. Rates of insurance on a school build- ing are affected by conditions prevailing locally, such as the type of the structure itself, its state of repair, the degree to which it is protected against fire hazard, and the characteristics of the community in which it is located. As these circumstances change, rates are revised. School systems may be able to trace the trend of this cost locally, but average figures are not avail able for the nation as a whole. Transportation of Pupils Many school districts provide for the trans portation between school and home at public expense of children living more than a stated distance from the nearest school. The expendi- ture for this purpose in 1930 was over 48 mil- lion dollars as compared with an estimated 7 million dollars in 1914. These figures as shown in Tables 3 and 2, respectively, are exclusive of the wages paid to drivers of school buses. As stated in an earlier section of this bulletin, the amount of wages paid bus drivers is in- cluded with other salaries and wages under item 1 in Tables 2 and 3. The problem of measuring changes in the remaining cost of pupil transportation then is largely one of de- termining changes in the cost of the buses in which the children ride and in the cost of op- erating these buses. [151] A measure of the changing cost of school buses is available in the index of wholesale prices compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statis- tics. While this index reflects changes in the price of all motor vehicles, it is safe to assume that prices of school buses alone would follow approximately the same trend. ‘Two separate indexes in combination are used to measure changes in the cost of operat- ing school buses: (1) the index of wholesale prices of tires and tubes compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics; and (2) an index of prices of gasoline at filling stations supplied by the American Petroleum Institute for the years 1918 thru 1936 and extended back to 1914 on the basis of the assumption that relative changes in filling station prices between 1914 and 1918 were the same as the relative changes in tank- wagon prices of gasoline in those years. Based on figures published in a recent study of the cost of automobile operation and the as- sumption that pupil transportation costs, ex- clusive of salaries paid bus drivers, are distributed in approximately the same manner as automobile operation costs, in general the relative importance of the following three fac- tors in the total cost of pupil transportation in 1928 was as follows :'? . 41.6 percent 19.2 percent 39.2 percent School buses Tires and tubes Gasoline When these percentages are used to weight the corresponding series of index numbers de- scribed above, the result is the new series of weighted indexes of the cost between 1914 and 1930 of pupil transportation services shown in Table 4, column 11. According to these figures the cost of transporting the same number of pupils over the same number of miles of road in the same number of buses was less in 1930 than in 1914. If the pupil transportation serv- ices provided in 1930 at a cost of over 48 mil- lion dollars had been available in 1914, they would have cost more than 55 million dollars. Actual expenditures by the schools for the transportation of pupils in 1914 amounted to about 7 million dollars. No part of the increase of over 41 million dollars in expenditures for school buses and their operation, therefor: be ascribed to the changed buying power « dollar used to pay for pupil transportatio; fact, if the power of the dollar to pur transportation services had remained at its level instead of rising to almost $1.15 in 193 the schools would have had to pay 7 mi dollars more in that year than was act spent for these services. Coordinate Activities and Services Other Than Transportation In addition to providing for the transport tion of pupils, the schools engage in certa other activities which are not, strictly speaki: a part of the educational process. They maintai; school libraries, take measures to promote bet ter health conditions, and provide lunches fo; undernourished children. As with pupil trans portation, the amounts expended for these pu: poses as shown in Tables 2 and 3 (item || exclusive of salaries and wages which are cluded in each table under item 1. The remai: ing expense for these coordinate activities a: services, after deducting salary and wage pay ments, rose from an estimated 3.5 million do! lars to over 16 million dollars in 1918. Exact information as to the proportionate distribution of the expenditure of over 16 mil lion dollars among the various services provided in 1930 is not available. It is estimated, how- ever, on the basis of more detailed data for late: years that at least 1.5 million dollars of the to- tal amount was spent for school libraries, while over 2 million dollars consisted of payments for health services. The remainder of more than 14 million dollars was used to provide school lunches and a wide variety of miscel- laneous articles and services. As no factual basis is known for dividing this 14 million dollar total among the various objects of expenditure, it is arbitrarily assumed here that equal parts of this amount were used to provide school lunches, to purchase books for school libraries, and to purchase medical, dental, and optical supplies needed in connection with school health services. On this basis the distribution of expenditures 12 Bulletin No. 91 of Iowa State College (by T. R. Agg and H. S. Carter, and quoted by the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce in Facts and Figures in the Automobile Industry, 1929, p. 74) shows depreciation and the cost of tires and tu! and gasoline as representing 52 percent of total automobile operation costs. Raising the percentages of the total cost represen! od by each of these factors so that they will add to 100, the percentages listed on this page are obtained. The first of the above listed items is really “depreciation of school buses.’’ Since depreciation represents a percentage of the purchase price, it is assumed here that the average cost of depreciation per motor vehicle changed in proportion to the change in the average pri motor vehicles. e ot {152 ] Other Nsporta certalr ' yeaking naintair ote bet thes fo: l trans ese pur l | ) are are in- remain les and £e pay on dol- ‘tionate 16 mil rovided |, how- IT later the to- ) while yments - more provide miscel- il basis dollar diture, | parts school raries, yptical health litures ~hamber id tubes resented ‘or auxiliary or coordinate activities and sery ices in 1930 was assumed to be as follows: Item Percent School library books 38.4 Food for school lunches 29.4 Health supplies 32.2 100.0 An index of the combined price trends of these items has been calculated by weighting, in accordance with the above percentages, three separate series of index numbers as follows: 1. For school library books, the index of school textbook prices contained in Table 4, column 3. 2. For food for school lunches, the index of retail prices of food compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 3. For school health supplies, the index of the cost of miscellaneous items, also compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as a part of its general cost of living index and consisting largely of medical, optical, dental, and other health supplies. The resulting weighted index of changes in the cost of auxiliary and coordinate activities of the schools is contained in Table 4, column 12. According to the figures of column 12 of Table 4, the same goods and services provided in connection with the auxiliary and coordinate activities of the schools in 1930 would have cost, exclusive of the salary and wage payments involved, about 9 million dollars in 1914. This is almost 7 million dollars less than the actual 1930 expenditure. As already stated, however, the total rise in expenditures for these activities and services between 1914 and 1930 amounted to over 12 million dollars. The decline in pur- chasing power of the dollar is thus responsible for 58 percent of this increase. Index of the Total Cost of Schooling Preceding paragraphs have described the sources and preparation of indexes of the cost of eleven separate parts of the school program corresponding to the eleven items of expendi- ture in the school budget. These indexes, which cover the period from 1914 to 1930, are presented in columns 2-12 of ‘Table 4. In column 13 of the same table is a series of index numbers which measure yearly changes in the cost of the entire school program. The figures of column 13 are the weighted averages of the indexes for the same years in columns 2 to 12. The weights applied to these several indexes are shown at the top of the columns. These are not the same proportions of the total school budget as those devoted to these items in either 1914 or 1930. Instead they rep resent the percents of the total cost of the 1930 school program which would have been re quired for these separate items if that program had been purchased in 1914. Column 14 of Table 4 contains indexes of the purchasing power of the school dollar for the years 1914 to 1930. These are the reciprocals of the indexes of column 13. When the reciprocal of the index number shown for any year, in column 13, that is, the index of the purchasing power of the dollar, is applied to the expenditure for public schools for that year, the resulting figure represents the amount which schools would have cost in 1914 if there had been no change in the value of the school dollar in the intervening years subsequent to 1914. For example, the index number for 1930, in column 13, is 170.7. Mul tiplying the amount spent for schools in 1930 —2,317 million dollars—by 58.6, the recipro cal of 170.7, we find that the cost of the 1930 school program would have been approximately 1,357 million dollars in 1914 if the dollars used to pay for this program had possessed the same buying power in both of the years 1914 and 1930. This cost would be 960 million dollars less than the 1930 cost of the same school pro gram. Actually, school expenditures rose 1,762 million dollars between 1914 and 1930. About 960 million dollars then, or about 55 percent of this total increase in school expenditures be tween 1914 and 1930 was caused by the rising prices of the goods and services purchased by the schools—in other words, by the decrease in the power of the school expenditure dollar to purchase these goods and services. Figure V1] depicts this fact graphically. (See page 164.) In this connection, it is interesting to com- pare the indexes of column 13, Table 4, with the cost of living indexes compiled by the Bu- reau of Labor Statistics for the same years. Indexes of these two series for the years 1914 and 1930 are shown below. While the cost of maintaining the same standard of living in- creased 66 percent between 1914 and 1930, the cost of providing the same standard of school- ing increased 71 percent during the same period. These figures indicate that, if it could be assumed that the combined cost of items in- [ 153 ] cluded in the school budget changed between 1914 and 1930 in exact proportion to changes in the cost of items which make up the family living budget, the cost of the 1930 school pro- gram would have been 1,396 million dollars in 1914, or 40 million dollars more than the 1914 cost of that program when measured by the index developed in this bulletin. This difference of 40 million dollars between the re- sults obtained by the use of the two indexes is not a large one, in relation to the total increase of school expenditures between 1914 and 1930. However, because this difference is relatively small, with respect to the increase in school costs between 1914 and 1930, it does not necessarily follow that it will be equally negli- gible when the two indexes are applied to measure changing school costs over a different period of years. The cost of the 1930 school program in 1918 would have been’ 143 mil- lion dollars less, as measured by the cost of living index, than that same cost as measured by the index of the cost of schooling, shown in column 13 of Table 4. The difference in the cost of the 1930 school program in 1928, as measured by the two indexes, is about 95 ;)] lion dollars. Also there is a considerable dij ference in the results obtained from these ty, measures when applied to changing school cos between 1930 and 1936, as will be shown j; a later section of this bulletin. Index of t} cost of sch 100.0 170.7 Index of the cost of living 100.0 165.8 Year 1914 1930 It should be noted that this part of the tora! 1,762 million dollar increase in school expend; tures between 1914 and 1930 was entirely be yond the control of school administrators. |; was the inevitable result of economic conditions. With 960 million dollars of the rise in school expenditures between 1914 and 1930 attrib utable to the decrease in buying power of the school dollar, there still remains an increase of 802 million dollars to be accounted for. The reasons for this further rise in the cost of public schools beyond that resulting from the decline in value of the school dollar will be discussed in the following pages. le dif- ese two ol COsts OWN in I ie tota and ning the WV the began ndary -hools head- rebra, story. ed in d the s ef yn of with jects ‘ition nrol lined dded adily ig on enter y the tions As a rcial ivate 1uM- Elementary schools—The elementary-school subjects, at least in the lower grades, changed less between 1914 and 1930 than the cur- riculum of the secondary school. The rudi mentary subjects, such as the Three R’s, con- tinued to constitute the necessary components of elementary education. According to Mann’s study, the amounts and percentages of time allotted to the Three R’s (reading, writing, arithmetic, language, and spelling), to the con- tent subjects (geography, history, citizenship and civics, social science, and nature study or elementary science), and to the special sub- jects (art and drawing, music, household and manual arts, handwork, health education, physical training, recess, opening exercises, projects and activities, supervised study, un assigned and free time, and miscellaneous sub- jects) changed in proportion.* The Three R’s, however, still occupied almost half of an ele- mentary pupil’s time in 1926, the year nearest to 1930 for which information is available. In 1914 the Three R’s consumed 55.3 percent of the total time in Grades I to VI; in 1926 they required 48.9 percent. In 1914 the content sub jects occupied 12.9 percent and the special subjects, 31.8 percent of the total time. By 1926 the proportion for content subjects was 7.3 per 13.8 percent and for special subjects, 3 cent. During this period there was a marked enrichment of the instructional program in the upper grades. Such subjects as foreign lan guage, home economics, combination mathe matics, algebra, and social science appeared as parts of the upper grade curriculum in a num ber of school systems. This expansion of the curriculum, combined with methods based upon studies of adolescence, led to a gradual detachment of the upper from the lower grades and gravitation toward the secondary school. A new administrative unit arose, the junior high school, which experimented with new sub jects and with types of social, recreational, and health training formerly not recognized as parts of a school program. Authorities agree that this reorganization of the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades was prompted by improved teaching of the lower grades and a substantial increase in the length of the school year and in the average number of days of attendance of individual pupils. When as much could be accomplished in the first six grades as had been Mann, Carleton R. How Schools Spend Their Time. Contributions to Education, No. 333. New York: Teache Columbia University, 1928. p. 45. TABLE 6.—PERCENTAGE OF PUPILS IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS ENROLLED IN VARIOUS SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION, 1915 AND 1928 1915 1928 2 Rhetoric 58 . English literature ite ae 55.82 . American history P . English history oe 50 . Ancient history ac rar . Medieval and modern history... . : . Algebra gisele aceite 48.8 37. oa. 26.55 is 24.3 84 . Drawing and art F ; 22.87 8.58 . Civil government............ . 15.72 65 . Physical geography oan Sas 14.58 72 . Physics dna - 85 . Home economics j 12.8 48 - Manual training ‘a 2.49 . Physiology 8 2.68 59 ‘ 02 . Chemistry - 35 07 . Agriculture ete 3.66 ba 90 13.57 . Bookkeeping ame 3.42 10.67 CONAN Ewne 1915 1928 6 . Zoology 77 Spanish 7 9.44 Trigonometry : 1.96 Psychology 7 1.02 b Geology i 09 . Greek 05 . Astronomy . Hygiene and sanitation. . 7.84 . General science . Principles of teaching 36 . World history . Community civic . Soc iology §. Economics. . . Problems of de . Arithmetic . Shorthand . Typewriting 43. Commercia! arithmetic 44. Commercial law 45. Commercial geography 46. Commercial history 47. Penmanship 48. Office practice and business training Source: U. S. Department of the Interior, Office of Education. Biennial Survey of Education: 1926-1928. Bulletin No. 16. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1930. p. 1057-58 [ 159 ] done formerly in eight, an enlarged and im- proved curriculum was possible.° Health education—No single indication of the trend toward the enlargement of the scope of school activities is more impressive than the provision for health care and health instruction as a part of public education. Charles H. Judd makes clear this situation in Recent Social Trends: Not many years ago the home was regarded as responsible for the child’s physical condition. Only contagion was thought of as concerning the school. Today the situation is changed. It is recognized that many parents must be supervised in the control of even the most rudimentary phases of children’s health such as their diet. It is further recognized that schools must interest themselves in the health of children if they are to accomplish what they are commissioned to accomplish in the way of intel- lectual training. In response to the demand for health education, courses in hygiene are increasingly administered as part of the regular curriculum; school luncheons are provided in many schools; nurses and visiting teachers are frequently employed as members of the regular staff; and psychiatrists are consulted in the best organized school systems in cases of mental abnormalities.” Recognition of individual differences—Sev- eral aspects of the school procedure pertain to a consideration of individual differences. ‘The growth in the use of mental tests and measure- ments, especially since the World War, may be interpreted as a recognition of differences in mental ability and other capacities. No direct evidence of the actual number of children tested is available, but the number of test blanks sold by a leading supplier show the trend: under 500,000 intelligence tests were sold in 1919-20, while in 1930-31 over 5,000,000 were sold. Sales of achievement tests increased 1300 per- cent from 1921-22 to 1930-31. In 1923, research departments which included testing in their work were reported in 45 school systems, while in 1931 there were 157 such bureaus.’ Tests and measurements were used to classify pupils into homogeneous or ability groupings which offered possibilities for more intelligent treatment, especially of the superior, gifted child at one extreme and the mentally retarded child at the other. Children suffering from mental or physical handicaps, delinquent children, and children in remote and isolated districts were all provided for as never before. The increas the number of some of the special types , schools between 1915 and 1927 is shown j; Table 7. In addition to these special schoo), in many cities of 10,000 and more the publi school systems by 1930 were providing spe education for crippled children, children with defective speech, malnourished and unde; weight children, children presenting peculia; behavior problems, and gifted children. TABLE 7—SCHOOLS FOR BLIND. DEAF, AND FEEBLE-MINDED AND SUBNORMAL CHILDREN, 1915 AND 1927 Kind of school 1 Schools for blind children 0 Schools for deaf children 150 168 Schools for feeble-minded and subnormal children 1172 303 Source: U. S. Department of the Interior, Office of Educa tion. Biennial Survey of Education: 1926-1928. Bulletin, | No. 16. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1 p. 1156, 1166, 1205. @ This figure for 1914. Teachers With an enlarged curriculum at all levels of public education and a changing point of view regarding the relative place of the teacher and the pupil in the classroom procedure, additional demands were made on teacher preparation between 1914 and 1930. Profes- sional standards were raised and more training was required. The World War had the immediate effect of retarding and in some cases setting back the forces which had been working for the improvement of the preparation of teachers. Certification standards were drastically low- ered in many states; teachers’ salaries were allowed to lag behind those paid other workers and to remain below the mounting costs of living; enrolments in courses for teachers decreased sharply; and teaching as an occu- pation lost caste. The end of the school year 1919-20, however, marked the beginning of a decade of progress in the development of the educational, social, economic, and professional 5 President's Research Committee on Social Trends. Recent Social Trends in the United States. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1933. p. 337. ® President's Research Committee on Social Trends, op. cit., p. 370. 7 President's Research Committee on Social Trends, op. cit., p. 780. [ 160 ] t cher lure, cher »fes- ning Hect yack the ers. ow- vere kers - of lers ‘cu- ear fa the nal -Hill status of public school teachers which probably has not been equaled in any other period of two or three times its length.® During this period the teachers college move ment made its greatest progress. “The number of normal schools reported in 1919-20 was 138, ind in 1929-30 it was 66. In the same decade the number of teachers colleges increased from 39 to 125. As further evidence of the upgrad- ing tendency in the education of teachers, there was the reduction of the number of county normal schools from 95 to 68 and the aban- donment by at least 12 states of their high- school training classes for teachers.® Other changes which tended to increase the amount of education considered desirable for teach- ers were: The centralization of certification au- thority; the decrease in the number of certificates issued as a result of examination; the rapid development of the materials in the field of educa- tion and psychology which required a longer period of preservice preparation if they were to be mas- tered without sacrificing time needed for the acquisition of subject matter; the rapid growth of local and national associations of teachers with their campaigns for increasing the professional status of public school teaching; and the increased competition for positions which appeared during the last part of this decade and which encouraged many prospective teachers to continue in college one or two years longer than the required minimum period in order to increase their chances of securing positions.” In 1918 a commission of the National Edu- cation Association stated that approximately half of the 600,000 teachers in the country had no more than four years’ education beyond the eighth grade.’! —The Research Division of the N. E. A. in 1923 issued a statement that more than half the teachers in the United States still had less preparation than graduation from a four-year high school plus graduation from a two-year normal school.’ In 1930 the average amount of preparation was about three years of college training, and state minimum certi- fication standards had improved markedly, as shown in Table 8. These standards applied both to elementary- and to secondary-school teachers. TABLE 8.—TRAINING PREREQUISITES FOR CERTIFICATING TEACHERS WITHOUT EXPERIENCE, TEM PORARY AND EMERGENCY CERTIF- ICATES NOT CONSIDERED Number of states Minimum prerequisites 1921 1930 3 High-school training High-school graduation and two training High-school grax tion and one year's training High-school graduat ing, but le han one year Four years scondary school (mz include professional training No definite requirement stipulated. . on and some advar Source: Adapted from U. S. Department of Office of Education f the Teachers. Vol. V, “Special Survey Studies.”’ Was! Government Printing Office, 1935. Table 6, p. 4 National Survey o Summer session enrolments increased from 118.307 in 1911 to 425,100 in 1931. In 1931, 273,148 summer session students, a numbe1 | ) her equivalent to 28.6 percent of the total num of teachers in the United States, were enrolled in courses in education."® Quantity of training in terms of time spent in school is not the same as quality of training or appropriateness or effectiveness of training. With the assurance, however, that amount of schooling does represent an exposure to addi- tional information and points of view, that it also provides greater opportunity to read sys tematically, and that a longer period of training results in greater maturity in new teachers, it is reasonable to suppose that the new teacher education requirements led to improved teach ing. Such training was an expense to the teacher. Thus, it would seem equally reason- able that schools should pay more for improved service. Instructional Methods and Materials Altho it still survived in some sections, the recitation method of teaching and learning was ®U. S. Department of the Interior, Office of Education. National Survey of the Education of Teachers. Vol. V1, ‘Summary and Interpretations.’’ Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1935. p ® National Survey of the Education of Teachers, op cit., Vol Vol. VI, p. 33-34 ; National Survey of the Education of Teachers, op. cit., VI, p. 33 11 National Education Association, Commission on the National Program in Education. Federal Appropriations Preparation of Public-School Teachers. Washington, D. C.: the Association, 1918. p. 4 44 National Education Association, Research Division. ‘‘Facts on State Educational Needs.” January 1923, 18 National Education Association, Research Division Education Association 20: 298; November 1931. Research Bulletin 1: 43; “Growth of Summer School Attendance.’’ Journal of the National [ 161 ] very generally recognized as inadequate by 1930. Laboratory experimentation was carried on on a large scale, especially in courses in the sciences. Shop exercises had been introduced in many schools. Radios and motion picture equip- ment were being provided for some of the larger school systems. Library reference work was becoming common even on the elementary- school level. Statistics show that in 1923 the number of schools with libraries of 3000 volumes or over (most of which were in secondary schools) was 947. In 1929 that number had increased to 1982—over 100 per- cent in six years.'* School libraries had moved from the small, dark rooms with a few shelves of musty, tattered, out-of-date books to well- lighted rooms, lined with standard library shelving and equipped with tables and chairs. Books were catalogued, and full-time teacher- librarians with special library training were in charge. In order to provide opportunity for a new type of intellectual guidance known as “super- vised study,” many schools had reconstructed their daily programs by 1930. Sometimes a separate period was set aside for consultations between pupils and teachers. Sometimes the class periods were lengthened from forty or forty-five minutes to sixty or ninety minutes and the teachers were directed to use the longer periods partly for discussion and partly for guided study. The development of more informal types of instruction was accompanied by a rapid growth of the “guidance movement”’—vocational guid- ance, educational guidance, social guidance, and personal guidance. The enlargement of the curriculum, which was designed to meet the varying tastes and capacities of individual pupils, and the fact that the school was placing greater responsibility on the pupil to plan his own education required as counterparts a greater attention to the needs of the individual and the devotion of much energy to the guid- ing of pupils. In many secondary schools coun- selors, or special officers known as deans of boys and deans of girls, were appointed and assigned the duty of studying the abilities and prospects of students and of giving them wise counsel in planning their futures. The movement for free textbooks for pub. lic school children gained impetus during the period under study. In 1915 there were 15 states with laws which required free textbooks and 17 other states with laws which authorized the establishment of free textbook systems. At the end of 1931 laws which required free text- books were found in 23 states and the District of Columbia, and 22 other states had laws which authorized local school corporations to establish free textbook systems.'® Such addi- tional services of the states to their public school children contributed to larger school budgets, School Buildings and Equipment We have already seen that expenditures for school buildings, sites, and equipment increased from 91 million dollars in 1914 to 371 million dollars in 1930. Some people have expressed the belief that the growth of such expendi- tures during this period was far in excess of needs. During the 1914-30 period, however, the conception of the ideal school plant and its purpose underwent a radical change. While formerly the school buildings were little more than shelters for children as they sat in their seats and received instruction, they are now increasingly planned to meet the environmental needs of the school program. By 1930 many larger school systems had special administrative divisions in charge of building plans and the smaller systems more frequently than formerly employed architects who recognized the prin- ciple that a school building is not proper!) planned unless full regard is given to the instructional purposes of the school. Charles H. Judd, in his chapter on “Edu- cation” in Recent Social Trends, lists the rooms included in a new junior high-school building erected in the early 1930's: Thirty regular classrooms An auditorium seating 728 persons and equipped with motion picture booth, stage, proscenium, ete. One boys’ gymnasium (60 by 90) equipped with lockers, showers, director’s office, etc. Two girls’ gymnasiums (60 by 54 and 60 by 44) equipped with lockers, showers, restrooms, and director’s office A corrective gymnasium A swimming pool A cafeteria seating 650 children at one time An administration suite for the principal and deans 14 U. S. Department of the Interior, Office of Education. Biennial Survey of Education, 1928-1930. Vol. I. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1932. p. 665. 4 Keesecker, Ward W. Textbooks for Public-School Children. Circular No. 60. Washington, D. C.: Office of Education, U. S. Dept. of the Interior, 1932. p. 1. (Mimeo.) [162] pub- ig the re 15 books rized is. At text- istrict laws Ns to addi- chool lvets, it Ss tor pased llion essed endi- ss of ever, d its vhile nore heir now ntal lany itive the erly rin- erly the du- the LOK i] ped etc. vith 44) and ans O ion, A library with an outside entrance so that it may be available for adult community use. A doctor’s, dentist’s, and nurse’s suite A civics room Four science rooms Four art rooms Two mechanical drawing rooms Two commercial rooms One typewriting room One band and orchestra room Two chorus rooms Two sewing rooms Two cooking rooms One wood shop One printing shop One general metal shop One home mechanics room One electric shop Special rooms for the janitorial and engineering force Special restrooms and workrooms for teachers.’ 8 Such a school would be artistically constructed and carefully planned with reference to light- ing, ventilation, and toilet facilities. It would be equipped with hygienic furnishings and adequate safety devices in case of fire or other dangerous emergency. The grounds would be landscaped and well kept. School grounds underwent expansion no less extensive than that which took place in build- ings. A report which may be cited as strong evidence in support of this statement contains the following account of the provisions made by law with regard to schoolyards: “Laws have been passed in eight states requiring that certain areas be provided for school play- grounds. Rules and regulations have been made by state boards of education in twenty states requiring certain areas for school sites. Definite areas have been suggested as standards by city and rural schools of various enrolments by thirty-six state departments of education.” The question arose as to whether the number and cost of improved school buildings con- structed during the years 1914-30 was greater than was justifiable. The Research Division of the National Education Association in 1935 ** sought to estimate the annual expenditures necessary between 1918 and 1934 to meet the nation’s school building needs. This estimate was based on (1) the conservative assumption that the average life of a school building is 16 President’s Research Committee on Social Trends. Recent Book Co., 1933. p. 359. 17 Ready, Marie M. School Playgrounds. Pamphlet No. 10. Interior, 1930. p. 39. 18 National Education Association, Research Division. ‘‘The Nation’s School January 1935. 1” Commission To Investigate County and Municipal Taxation and Expenditures Trenton, N. J.: the Commission, 1932. p. 99-100. 2 U. S. Department of the Interior, Office of Education. Biennial Survey of Education: 1928-1930 Vol 50 years, and (2) an average cost of new school building construction, sites, and equipment ot $400 per pupil to be housed, adjudged satisfac tory by a lay commission appointed in New Jersey for the purpose of investigating local government The Division found that only in the years 1926-30, inclusive, were expenditures sufficient to meet expenditures.” Research the need for new school buildings as estimated on the basis of these criteria. In spite of the improvement made during the decade from 1920 to 1930, a large number of unsafe, unsanitary, and generally unsuitable school buildings were still in use at the end of this period. In 1930 there were still in existence over 148,000 one-room rural schools, altho this number represented a decrease of almost 80 percent during the preceding decade.*° Extension of the School Organization Public schools entered increasingly into the field of adult education and preschool edu- cation during the 1914-30 period. Classes for illiterates and Americanization foreigners who were unacquainted with the English language and with American insti- tutions became common in all the larger cities. Vocational training for adults was provided by night schools, by various types of extension classes for courses, and by correspondence courses. The increase in night school attendance, as shown in Table 9, gives evidence of this trend. TABLE 9.—CITIES OF 10,000 POPULA- TION AND MORE REPORTING NIGHT SCHOOLS AND PERSONS ENROLLED IN NIGHT ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS, HIGH SCHOOLS, AND VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS, 1918 AND 1930 Item 1918 1930 1 2 3 Number of cities Number of persons enrolled: 338 451 Elementary schools 210,440 370,333 High schools 258,299 490,502 70,529 138,060 Vocational schools Source: U. S. Department of the Interior, Office of Educa- tion. Biennial Survey of Education: 1916-1918. Vol. Ill, p. 209, and 1928-1930, Vol. II, p. 20 “Includes persons in Americanization schools Social Trends in the United States. New York: McGraw-Hill Washington, D. C.: Office of Education, U. S. Dept. of the Building Needs.”’ Research Bulletin 13: 23; (Harley L. Lutz, director.) Report No. 8. II, p. 35 [ 163 | By 1930 twelve state departments of edu- cation reported projects in parent education, four of which had organized new units with trained experts in child development and parent education in charge of the work.*! Pre- school education for very young children was offered by public school systems thru 226 nursery schools in 1930; but four nursery schools were reported as organized in or before the year 1920.*? Parent education classes were conducted in conjunction with many of these nursery schools. Vacation schools, or summer schools, were commonly maintained by the school systems of the larger cities in 1930. Summer high schools offered courses for pupils who were behind in their credits or for pupils who wanted to graduate earlier than at the end of the usual four years. Some of the summer elementary schools were like the high schools in purpose ; others offered limited programs with chief emphasis on play and handwork. A few cities, including Newark, New Jersey, Nashville, Tennessee, and Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, were experimenting with all-year schools.”° Such vertical extension of public school pro- grams to include the education of the individual from shortly after birth on thru adult life is a tremendous undertaking. By 1930 this exten- sion was being accepted as permanent cational structure to meet the needs of mode; life. As in all enterprises, extended services be obtained only at greater cost. Trend of Increased Expenditures Caused by Added and Improved School Services Figure VII shows for the years 1914 and 1930 the amount of the total increase school expenditures over those of 1914, whic! was caused by each of the three following factors: (1) depreciation of the purchasi: value of the school dollar; (2) the increas in the amount of services demanded of ¢! schools; and (3) the cost of added and im. proved school services. The smallest secto: of the longer of the two bars shown represents the proportion of the total increase which was due to the last of these factors—about j5 pe: cent. In other words, thruout the whole period 1914-30 that increase in school costs which was subject to the control of school administrators was only a minor fraction of the total increase in school costs. The bulk of the rise in schoo expenditures over the entire period was the inevitable result of social and economic forces outside the school. *U. S. Department of the Interior, Office of Education. Biennial Survey of Education: 1928-1930. Vol. I, p. 447. 22 Jbid., p. 64. *3 President’s Research Committee on Social Trends, op. cit., p. 346. FIGURE VII 1914 5,077,000 1930 #555.077,000 996 0, 227, 443 ESTIMATED CAUSES OF INCREASE IN SCHOOL COSTS, 1914-1930 23,770 795 *278,999,555 Expended for public schools in 1914. Increase over 1914 chargeable to decrease in purchasing power of dellar. Increase over 1914 chargeable to increased attendance. Increase over 1914 chargeable to increased services. © Research Division, National Education Associatior [ 164] 193 193 193 and aused VI. Factors Affecting School Cost Trends, 1930 to 1936 The three preceding sections of this bulletin have been devoted to an analysis of school costs between 1914 and 1930. They have shown that the increase in the amount spent for schools during the accounted for on the basis of three factors: (1) change in the purchasing power of the school dollar; (2) change in the number of children enrolled in school and the number of days dur ing which they were in attendance; and (3) change in the quality and extent of the school program. Reasons for limiting this analysis to the period of rising costs from 1914 to 1930 have already been stated.' Eight years have now passed since the close of that period years in which the trend of school expenditures reversed its previous direction, held continu ously since 1880. What relation did the three above named factors bear to the decline in school expenditures following 1930? This ques- tion cannot be answered in detail on the basis of the incomplete information now available. It will be given brief and general consideration, however, in the following paragraphs. Purchasing Power of the School Dollar Table 10 presents indexes of the comparative cost of the 1930 school program in each of the years 1930, 1934, and 1936. Indexes of the purchasing power of the school dollar are shown for these years in column 4 of this table. All figures for 1936 are preliminary. Change in the purchasing power of the school dollar between 1930 and 1934—Accord- 1See page 140. 2See Table 1. TABLE 10.—CHANGES IN COST OF THE 1914-30 period can be ing to the indexes of Table 10, the power ot the dollar to purchase goods and services used in the public schools rose 24 percent between 1930 and 1934, from 59 cents to 73 cents on a 1914 base. This was a decline of slightly less than 20 percent in the cost of the 1930 school program. The total number of dollars actually spent for schools, however, dropped 26 pe: cent between the same two years. While the school program for which 2,317 million dollars was spent in 1930 could have been supported with an expenditure of, 1,862 million dollars in 1934, the actual amount spent for school support in that year was only 1,720 million dollars.” Change in the purchasing power of the school dollar between 1934 and 1936 Between 1934 and 1936 the value of the dollar to 64 cents, or about 12 percent. The amount spent for pub school again declined lic schools rose in slightly greater proportion, about 14 percent, but not sufficiently to make up for the loss suffered between 1930 and 1934. In 1936 school expenditures were still 15 pet cent below their 1930 level, while the 1930 school dollar was worth only $1.09. A pay ment of 2,120 million dollars would have been required in 1936 to support a school program equal to that provided in 1930, even if there had been no change in enrolments and attend ance between those two years. Actually, only 1,969 million dollars was spent for schools in 1936. Measured on the basis of the cost of living index compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statis- 1930 SCHOOL PROGRAM AND IN ACTUAL EXPENDITURES FOR PUBLIC ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS, 1930, 1934, AND 1936 Indexes (1930 = 100 Indexes (1914 = 100 Actual expendi- Cost of the Purchas- Actual Purchas- Year tures for public 1930 school — Cost of ing power po Cost of ing power schools program oe oat educa- of the expendi- educa- of the le tion school tures tion school tures dollar dollar 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 a ED Oe POE $2,316,790,384 $2,316,790,384 100.0 100.0 $1.00 417.4 170.7 $0.59 BGG acd neers 1,720,105 ,229 1,862,014, 231 74.2 80.4 1.24 309 .9 137.2 73 eT eee 1,968 ,898,198 2,120,481,827 85.0 91.5 1.09 354.7 156.2 64 Source: Based on figures on actual school expenditures reported by the U. S. Department of the Interior, and indexes of the cost of articles and services purchased by the schools obtained as d Office of Education, lescribed in Part III of this bulletin [ 165 ] tics, the cost of the 1930 school program in 1936 would have been 1,948 million dollars. The difference between this cost and the actual cost of the 1930 school program would be 171 million dollars less than that discovered on the basis of the index contained in columns 5 and 8 of Table 10. School Enrolments and Attendance There has been in recent years a tendency, already noted in this bulletin,®? for school enrolments to decline. This tendency, altho dis- cernible in elementary-school enrolments since 1930, did not result in a reduction of total school enrolments until after 1934. While elementary-school enrolments dropped about 2 percent between 1934 and 1936, the reduction in total enrolments in both elemen- tary and high schools amounted to less than 1 percent. During the whole period 1930 to 1936, while elementary enrolments fell off 4 percent, there was a net increase in total enrol- ments of 22 percent. Furthermore, enrolments in the more expensive secondary grades during that period rose 268 percent. Figures for 1930 and 1936 on the aggregate days of attendance in both elementary and high schools reveal an increase from 3,673 to 3,858 million days, or about 5 percent. Change in weighted days of attendance—As- suming that the aggregate attendance of pupils in the nation as a whole is distributed between elementary and high schools in the same pro- portion as in ten states, and weighting each day of high-school attendance by 2.5 and each day of elementary-school attendance by 1.0, in ac- See pages 136, 155-56. cordance with the procedure described op pages 156-57, a rise in weighted attendance in both elementary and high schools from 4,957 million days to 5,619 million days jx discovered to have taken place between |93\) and 1936. This is an increase of over |} percent. To have offered to each child jp attendance in 1936 the same quality of school- ing provided in 1930 would have called for a proportionate increase in school expendi- tures, from 2,317 million dollars to 2,626 mil lion dollars, if there had been no change ip the purchasing power of the school dollar between those two years. It is clear that no part of the reduction in public school support during the period 1930-36 can be accounted for on the basis of school enrolment and attend- ance trends. On the other hand, these trends would have nullified that part of the reduction in school expenditures which was proportionate to the changing value of the school dollar between those two years and called for a net increase of 86 million dollars,‘ if no other fac- tors had been operating. Table 11 gives figures for total attend- ance, aggregate attendance, and aggregate weighted days of attendance, in 1930 and 1936. Quality and Scope of the Educational Program Preceding paragraphs have shown that in spite of the rise in purchasing power of the school dollar, it would have cost 2,403 million dollars in 1936 to provide for the children then in attendance upon the public schools an educational program equal to that provided in * The difference between the actual cost of the 1930 school program and the cost of that program in 1936 raised 13 percent TABLE 11—CHANGE IN PUBLIC SCHOOL ATTENDANCE AND EXPENDITURES, 1930 TO 1936 Aggregate atten- School expenditure justi- fied by percentage change Actual school Year dance in public aa — in weighted attendance expenditures elementary and attendance * from 1930 secondary schools ¢ - —e Amount Index Amount Index 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 GUN avian cadken Estimated on the basis of the distribution between elementary and high schools of school enrolments and school attendance in 35 states. [ 166 ] the actl mil of t the: resi adn yea at t I imp sche less abo wot dwi had serv 7 alor und beer that serv was thou serv Nat min shov serv ance the and 6 Schoo -hool- d tor endi- 1 » mil lollar it no port inted rend- ‘ends ction nate ollar | net tac- end- gate 936. the lion ren the year 1930. This cost compares with an actual expenditure for schools in 1936 of 1,969 million dollars. While it is probable that some of the difference of 425 million dollars between these two amounts represents actual savings resulting from constructive economies in school administration effected during the depression vears, the great bulk of this saving was effected at the expense of school efficiency. Improvement of school services—The full impact of the depression was not felt by the schools until 1932 or 1933. Before that time less serious financial difficulties had brought about an effort to retrench along lines which would be least harmful. By 1933, however, dwindling tax revenues and slashed budgets had resulted in a general impairment of school services. This was not the history of the schools alone, during this period. All public services underwent a similar experience. It has already been shown, however, in Part I of this bulletin, that the schools suffered most. Important school services were dropped, the pupil-teacher ratio was increased, teachers were dismissed, and thousands of teachers were obliged to give their services for a return lower than that set up by National Recovery Administration codes as a minimum wage for unskilled labor. Table 12 shows the relation of this impairment of school services as well as that of the changes in attend- ance and in the value of the school dollar to the trend of school expenditures between 1930 and 1936. 5U. S. Department of the Interior, Office of Education School Graduation. Washington, D. C.: Minimum State Educational Requirements in Years above His the Office, December 1937 * Rural schools, nursery schools, continuation schools, school building projects, Civilian Conservation Corps Counteracting tendencies—During the de pression period, however, certain counter- tendencies gradually made their appearance. These had the effect of modifying somewhat the situation in which the schools found them- selves. School districts in some rural areas took advantage of the higher purchasing power of the expenditure dollar to improve the quality of their teaching service.° Certification stand- ards were raised. There is evidence that the general level of training of rural teachers was distinctly higher in 1936 than in 1930. Friends of education, aroused by the attacks made upon the schools, came to its defense pro- testing against further curtailment of school funds and This increased awareness of the schools as an es- sential public function and of the dangers lying in the neglect of this function. One of the results was aid from the federal government for certain special projects.® Another result was the somewhat more liberal state support pro- vided in 1935-36. Legislation enacted in 1937 indicates that this new rise in school income school services. aroused an continued thru the biennium 1936-38. Even if this rise becomes the beginning of a new long-time upward trend in school ex- penditures, it will be years before the schools in some areas of the country can make up for the losses suffered in the years 1930 to 1934. The problem of finding sufficient funds for the support of state functions which are of na- tionwide importance, either from state sources or thru federal assistance to the states, is one demanding early solution. h 4 p. (Mimeo.) ind loans TABLE 12.—FACTORS AFFECTING CHANGES IN SCHOOL COSTS 1930 TO 1936 Amount of change (-+- or ) chargeable to: Change ——-—--—— -—— - —— -- - Year Cost of (+ or —) from Change in value Change in at- Change in quality education 1930 of school dollar tendance and scope of school program 1 2 3 4 5 6 a ee $2,316,790,384 or ee - as om errr Ae See Pe 1,968 ,898,198 — $347 , 892,186 —$196 , 308,557 +$282,872,225 $434,455 ,854 [ 167 ] VII. Summary In 1870 public school expenditures amounted to 63 million dollars. In 1930 they were almost 2,317 million dollars. This is an increase of 2,253 million dollars. In 1936 school expenditures of 1,968 million dollars were about 26 percent below their 1930 level and 200 percent above their level of 555 mil- lion dollars in 1914. During the whole period from 1870 to 1936, the trend of school expenditures was almost continuously upward. Only during the four years beginning with 1875, and again in the four-year period following 1930, was there any decline. When studied, these two brief depression periods reveal certain points of similarity, in that they both occurred approximately a decade after the close of a war and each lasted four years before a new upward turn became evi- dent. However, the second of these periods was far more severe than the first. School costs declined 26 percent between 1930 and 1934, as compared with a drop of about 8 percent between 1875 and 1879. School costs and total population—The growth in school expenditures, between 1870 and 1936, was faster than the growth in gen- eral population, and also faster than the growth in school enrolments. The average annual cost of schools to each inhabitant of the United States rose from $1.64 in 1870 to $18.82 in 1930 and $15.33 in 1936. The cost of schools for each pupil enrolled was $9.23 in 1870, $90.22 in 1930, and $74.67 in 1936. School costs and national income—Increases in the national income have usually kept pace with the increase in school expenditures. In each of the years between 1914 and 1920 about 1.5 percent of the national income was used for the payment of school costs. This percent rose to 2.5 percent in 1921 and remained at about that same relative level thruout the period 1921-29. The proportion of national income represented by school costs increased to slightly more than 3 percent in 1930 and con- tinued to increase in the years following thru 1933, after which it dropped again to its 1930 level. School and other governmental costs—Since 1926 the schools have received a steadily [ 168 ] decreasing share of government costs. -\t time when expenditures for all types of , lic education were declining 26 percent, ¢| costs of other government services rose 1 than 32 percent. Purposes of school expenditures—Funds {0 the support of public schools are used to py; chase a wide variety of goods and services. }}) far the largest single item of expenditure j; the public school budget is for salaries a wages. The second largest expenditure is fo; capital outlays—that is, the purchase of schoo! sites, school buildings, and the permanent equipment of these buildings. Other items o/ less importance from a financial standpoint include fuel and light, textbooks and supplies maintenance of the school plant in good repai: interest, fixed charges, and certain coordinate or auxiliary activities. Changes in distribution of expenditures—\i school budgets for any two years are compare the reason for changes in total school costs bx tween these two years may be revealed as du to a disproportionate increase in the expendi tures for one or more of the items enumerated in the previous paragraph. However, a com parison of the school budgets of 1914 and 1930 indicates that the pattern of school spending was very little changed between these two years. The trend of school expenditures during this period, therefore, cannot be attributed t an overexpansion of any part of the school program. It is necessary, then, to look else- where for the reasons for the growth in schoo! expenditures. Increase arising from changing purchasing power, 1914-30—About 960 million dollars, or 55 percent, of the total increase in schoo! expenditures, between i914 and 1930, was caused by a decline in the purchasing power ot the school dollar. Prices of goods and services contained in the school program were 70.7 per- cent higher in 1914 than in 1930. It would have cost 1,357 million dollars in 1914 to support the same school program for which the schools paid 2,317 million dollars in 1930. Increases in costs and enrolments, 1914-30— Increased enrolments in the schools, especial!) in the more expensive high-school grades, ani the greater number of days attended by those enrol idde of scl resul in pu trione lars, Jolla and in sc can b entire trato! Ine 1914. 278 r incre accou chara ards In re needs of se] types The : clearl dolla Inc 1930- chasis ture ( base. could expen cent for tl srolled, in 1930 as compared with 1914, .dded another 524 million dollars to the cost { schools. The combined added cost of schools resulting from this cause and from the decrease purchasing power of the school dollar, men- tioned above, accounts for 1,484 million dol- lars, or 84 percent, of the total 1,762 million lollar rise in school expenditures between 1914 ind 1930. Thus 84 percent of the total increase n school expenditures between the two years can be attributed to social and economic trends entirely outside the control of school adminis- trators. Increases in costs and improved services, 1914-30—The preceding analysis leaves only 78 million dollars, or 16 percent, of the total ncrease in school expenditures still to be accounted for. The years 1914 to 1930 were characterized by rising living standards. Stand- ids of educating also rose during this period. In response to changing social and industrial needs, the schools began to perform new types of service. Improvements were made in those types of service already rendered by the schools. The addition of these new and added services clearly justified an increase of 278 million lollars in the cost of public schools. 93 Increases in costs and purchasing power, 1930-36—Between 1930 and 1936 the pur- chasing value of the public school expendi ture dollar rose from 59 to 64 cents, on a 1914 base. In other words, the 1930 school program could have been supported in 1936 with an expenditure of 2,120 million dollars, or 9 per- cent less than the 2,317 million dollars spent for that program in 1930. Actually, the school . ‘ , | expenditures of 1936 amounted to only 1,969 than million dollars, or 26 percent less 1930. Decreases in costs and enrolments, 1930-36 In spite of a decrease in elementary-school enrolments between 1930 and 1936, and in total enrolments between 1934 and 1936, the aggregate number of weighted days of pupil attendance in elementary and high schools increased 13 percent between 1930 and 1936. This would have called for an increase of 13 percent between these two years in the cost of any school program. In order, therefore, to make available an amount and quality of schooling equal to that provided in 1930 for each pupil in attendance in 1936, an expendi ture for schools of 2,394 million dollars would This 1936 have been necessary in the latter year. would be an increase over the actual expenditure for schools of 425 million dollars. Decreases in costs and services, 1930-36 According to these figures, 425 million dollars was saved in 1936 at the expense of an adequate and efficient school program. While it is pos sible that which did not lower the quality of school programs were re sponsible for a small part of this reduction in certain economies cost, there can be no serious question that school services suffered serious impairment, especially in the years 1933 and 1934. Expan sion of governmental functions, increasing tax federal government of the major part of the revenues available from fields formerly reserved to the states will make it difficult fo burdens, and the preemption by the certain tax the schools to recover from the losses suftered during the depression years. [ 169 ] school furnish 18 di Census portati school provid f Edt $3,043, manag it 50 b. shown Educa for the for scl by the School avera devote devote Bienn e. wage: of tot capita in 19 Educe wage: f schoo’ outlay 1921-; 1918-, APPENDIX A. DERIVATION OF FIGURES ON ELEVEN ITEMS OF SCHOOL EXPENDITURE CONTAINED IN TABLES 2 AND 3 1. Derivation of Figures on Eleven Items of School Expenditure in 1913-14 (Table 2) a. Salaries and wages. (Table 2, Item 1 Che total of $373,069,332, estimated to have been spent salaries and wages of all classes of school emplovees in 1913-14, is the sum of the following: (1) $323,610,915, salaries of teachers, principals, and superintendents, as shown in the Annual Report of th §. Commissioner of Education for 1916, Volume II, page 20; (2) $11,403,726, salaries of administrative { business employees of the public schools, estimated on the basis of the percent of expenditures fot eneral control used for the payment of these salaries in 1917-18, 1919-20, and 1921-22, according to the nnial Surveys of Education for 1916-18, 1918-20, and 1920-22, published by the U. S. Department of B t the Interior, Bureau of Education; (3) $30,971,931, salaries and wages estimated on the basis of the percent of the total expenditure for the operation of the school plant, used 1921-22, as reported in the Biennial Surveys »f building engineers and janitors, to pay such salaries and wages in 1917-18, 1919-20, and yf Education for 1916-18, 1918-20, and 1920-22; (4) $1,312,714, salaries of school librarians, estimated on the basis of the median percent (78.4) of total expenditures for school libraries in 37 cities, as reported in the Journal of the American Library Association for December 1934, December 1935, and February 1937; (5) $1,041,983, salaries of doctors, dentists, nurses, and other persons employed in connection with school health services, estimated on the basis of data reported by ten city school systems and information furnished by the National Organization of Public Health Nursing; (6) $660,737, wages paid to school is drivers, estimated on the basis of data reported by the U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, as to the percent (8.62) of total payments by school districts to contract carriers for pupil trans portation services, which was used to pay the wages of school bus drivers; (7) $1,024,049, salaries of school attendance officers, estimated on the basis of the percent of total school expenditures devoted to providing school attendance services in 1917-18, 1919-20, and 1921-22, as reported in the Biennial Surveys f Education of the federal Office of Education, for the years 1916-18, 1918-20, and 1920-22; and (8) $3,043,277, salaries and wages of persons engaged in connection with the provision of school lunches, management of school cafeterias, and other miscellaneous activities of the schools, estimated arbitrarily at 50 percent of total estimated expenditures for these activities. b. Construction of school buildings. (Table 2, Item 2). The total amount of capital outlays in 1913-14, shown in Table 2 (the sum of items 2, 3, and 4), is from the Annual Report of the U. 8. Commissioner of Education for 1916, Volume II, “Statistics of State School Systems,” page 20. The estimated expenditure for the construction of school buildings shown in Table 2 is based on the percent of total capital outlays spent for school buildings and sites in 1917-18, 1919-20, 1921-22, as reported in the Biennial Surveys of Education by the federal Office of Education for 1916-18, 1918-20, and 1920-22, and on an estimate by the Better Schools League, quoted by Fred Engelhardt in Planning School Building Programs (page 144), that an average of 12 percent of school bond issues and appropriations for school building construction is devoted to the purchase of school sites. c. School sites. (Table 2, Item 3). Estimated as described under d. School equipment. (Table 2, Item 4). Estimated on the basis of the percent of total capital outlays devoted to this purpose in 1917-18, 1919-20, and 1921-22, as reported in the federal Ofhce of Education’s Biennial Surveys of Education for 1916-18, 1918-20, and 1920-22. ? e. Operation of the school plant. (Table 2, Item 5). The figure shown in Table 2 is exclusive of wages and salaries paid to school janitors and engineers. It was estimated on the basis of the percent of total school expenditures, less expenditures for salaries of teachers, principals, and superintendents, capital outlays, and expenditures for textbooks and supplies, devoted to the operation of the school plant in 1917-18, 1919-20, and 1921-22, as reported in the federal Office of Education’s Biennial Surveys of Education for 1916-18, 1918-20, and 1920-22, and then deducting from the result the estimated amount of wages and salaries obtained as described under “a(3)” above. “b” above. 2 ). Estimated on the basis of the percent of total f. Maintenance of the school plant. (Table 2, Item 6 school expenditures, less expenditures for salaries of teachers, principals, and superintendents, capital outlays, and expenditures for textbooks and supplies, devoted to this purpose in 1917-18, 1919-20, and 1921-22, as reported in the federal Office of Education’s Biennial Surveys of Education for 1916-18, 1918-20, and 1920-22. L171 J -—_eem@e 4 ws se ~Trr rare wae es ee a g. Textbooks. (Table 2, Item 7). Estimated on the basis of the percent of the total expenditure ; textbooks and supplies devoted to the purchase of textbooks in 1917-18, 1919-20, and 1921-22. This pe: was applied to the total expenditures for textbooks and supplies as shown in the Annual Report U. 8S. Commissioner of Education for 1916, Volume II, page 34. h. Instructional supplies. (Table 2, Item 8). Estimated on the basis of the percent of total ex tures for textbooks and supplies devoted to the purchase of instructional supplies in 1917-18, 1919-2 1921-22. This percent was then applied to the total expenditure for textbooks and supplies in 1913-14 shown in the Annual Report of the U. 8S. Commissioner of Education for 1916, Volume II, page 34. i. Interest and fixed charges. (Table 2, Item 9). Estimated on the basis of the percent of total sc expenditures, less expenditures for salaries of teachers, principals, and superintendents, capital out|ay, and expenditures for textbooks and supplies devoted to meeting these charges in 1917-18, 1919-2 1921-22. j. Pupil transportation. (Table 2, Item 10). The figure shown in Table 2 is exclusive of wages py to drivers of school buses. It was estimated on the basis of the percent of total expenditures for auxilia, agencies devoted to this item in 1917-18, 1919-20, and 1921-22. This percent was then applied to the tory expenditure, for auxiliary agencies in 1913-14, estimated as described under “k’’ below, and from ¢| result was deducted the estimated amount of wages paid to drivers of school buses, obtained as descr under “a(6)” above. k. Auxiliary agencies and activities, other than pupil transportation. (Table 2, Item 11). The figu; shown here is exclusive of wages and salaries paid to persons employed in connection with these activities It was obtained by applying to total school expenditures in 1913-14, less expenditures for salaries teachers, principals, and superintendents, capital outlays, and textbooks and supplies, the percent of tota school expenditures, less these same items in 1917-18, 1919-20, and 1921-22 which was devoted to expend tures for auxiliary activities and agencies. To the resulting estimated expenditure for auxiliary actiyitie, and agencies in 1913-14 were applied the percentages which expenditures for school libraries, sch health services, and miscellaneous auxiliary activities and agencies represented of such expenditures | 1917-18, 1919-20, and 1921-22. From the resulting amounts were then subtracted the estimated salaries and wages obtained as described under ‘“a(4),” “a(5),” and “a(8),” respectively. 2. Derivation of Figures on Eleven Items of School Expenditure in 1929-30 (Table 3) All figures contained in Table 3 are as reported in the federal Office of Education’s Biennial Sur: of Education, 1928-30, “Statistics of State School Systems, 1929-30,” except items 1, 10, and 11. Item | total salaries and wages paid to all classes of school employees, includes, in addition to salaries of teachers principals, and supervisors as reported in Table 1, page 40, of the above cited volume: salaries of supe: intendents and their staffs and of business officials and employees, listed as “general control,” and wage of school janitors listed under “operation” in Table 24, pages 72-73; and also 78.4 percent of expenditures for school libraries (estimated total of salaries paid school librarians), 95.9 percent of school healt expenditures (estimated total salaries of persons employed in connection with school health services), ! percent of expenditures for school attendance supervision, 8.62 prcent of expenditures for pupil trans portation (estimated total of salaries paid drivers of school buses), and 50 percent of expenditures for miscellaneous activities and services (estimated expenditures of persons employed in connection wit! these services). Items 10 and 11 of Table 3 differ from the corresponding figures shown in Table 25 pages 74-75, of the Biennial Survey of Education, 1928-30, by the amounts of the estimated expenditures for salaries and wages which have been deducted. These estimates were derived in the same manner as the corresponding figures of Table 2, described above. Item 5, “operation of the school plant,” equals the total expenditure for “operation” listed in Table 24, pages 72-73, less wages of janitors and engineers [172] B. SC 1, Inc IND! (Us« 1918 1919 1920 1921 1923 1924 1925 1926 1928 1929 1930 931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 aC §20 to { figure: 10, $1 1901, $ 1892, $8 > Fr 1936, Te © Be 4 Fi ¢ Fi ‘Tl 1914-19, to $26.0 in obtair extended the Cont ised by back to $11.71; 1904, $9 $8.89; 1 9 Fi 30 back to 1890 by the same method as that used in obtaining the figures for the years 1914-19. The figures back to 1890 are 11.71; 1912, $11.22; 1911, $10.97; 1910, $10.91; 1909, $10.91; 1908, $10.61 3. SOURCES OF INDEXES OF THE COST OF SEPARATE ITEMS OF THE SCHOOL BUDGET, CONTAINED IN TABLE 4 |, Index of the Cost of Services of All Classes of School Employees (Table 4, column 2) INDEX OF AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGES OF UNSKILLED LABOR, 1914 TO 1936 (Used as a measure of changes in the cost of services of all classes of school employees, Table 4, column 2, and as a basis for tracing the trend of wages of unskilled labor, as shown by the dotted line curve in Figure IV) Average Average Index of weekly Index of weekly Weekly Index of weekly Year weekly wages, weekly wages, wages, 1914-20! wages, 1920-36: wages, wages, 1914-36« 1914-208 1920-36 (1920 = 100.00 (1920 = 100.00 1914-36! 1914= 100.00 l 2 3 4 5 6 7 14 $11.52 45.18 $11.77 100.00 15 11.94 46.82 12.20 103.65 16 13.08 51.29 13.37 113.59 17 15.72 61.65 16.07 136.53 18 21.54 84.47 2.01 187.00 19 23.76 93.18 24.28 206 .29 ”) 25.50 $26 .06 100.00 100.00 26.06 221.41 21 20.28 77.8 20.28 172.30 2 20.30 77.90 20.30 172.47 3 22.28 85.50 22.28 189.29 924 22.41 85.99 22.41 190.40 25 22.93 87.99 2? 93 194.81 26 23.21 89 06 23.21 197.20 27 23.54 90 33 23.54 200 00 8 23.89 91.67 23.89 102 .97 29 24.40 93.63 24.40 207 .31 130 21.90 84.04 21.90 186.07 931 19.18 73.60 19.18 162.96 132 14.48 55.56 14.48 123.02 133 14.91 §7.21 14.91 126.68 34 16.42 63 01 16.42 139.51 35 18.28 70.15 18.28 155.31 6 19 .74¢ po 19.74 167.71 “Compiled by Ralph G. Hurlin as part of a study of the movement of wages of unskilled laborers during the century 20 to 1920 and quoted by Paul H. Douglas in Real Wages in the United States, 1890-1926, p. 175. Hurlin carried his seri { figures back to 1820. They are quoted by Douglas as far back as 1890, as follows: 1913, $11.46; 1912, $10.98; 1911, $10.74; 10, $10.68; 1909, $10.68; 1908, $10.38; 1907, $10.44; 1906, $10.08; 1905, $9.78; 1904, $9.66; 1903, $9.60; 1902, $9.3¢ MM, $9.24; 1900, $8.94; 1899, $8.88; 1898, $8.82; 1897, $8.76; 1896, $8.76; 1895, $8.70; 1894, $8.96; 1893, $8.88 892, $8.88; 1891, $8.94; 1890, $8.82. > From National Industrial Conference Board 1936. Table 4, p. 52-55. ¢ Based on figures for five months only. 4 Figures of this column are the percents which the figures of column 2 are of $25.5 ¢ Figures of this column are the percents which the figures of column 3 are of $26.06 f The figures of this column for the years 1920-36, inclusive, are the same as those of 1914-19, inclusive, are based on the assumption that average wages in the years prior to 1920 bore the same percentage relationship t0 $26.06 as the figures of the Hurlin series for the years 1914-19, inclusive, bore to $25.50. This is the method used by Dougla n obtaining the series of figures published in Real Wages in the United States, 1890-1926, Table 59, p. 177, except that Douglas extended the Hurlin series forward to 1926 by means of the National Industrial Conference Board figures, instead of extending the Conference Board figures backward to 1914 by means of the Hurlin figures as is done here. The Conference Board figures a ised by Douglas have since been somewhat revised. For purposes of Figure IV, the series contained in column 6 was extended 191 Wages, Hours and Employment in the United States. New York: the Boaré column 3. The figures for the year 1907, $10.62; 1906, $10.30; 1905, $9.99 104, $9.87; 1903, $9.81; 1902, $9.56; 1901, $9.44; 1900, $9.14; 1899, $9.07; 1898, $9.01; 1897, $9.21; 1896, $9.21; 1895, $8.89; 1894, $8.95; 1893, $9.07; 1892, $9.07; 1891, $9.13; 1890, $9.01 * Figures of this column are the percents which the figures of column 6 are of $11.77 ASHHL ONIIGNVH SWAldA ARCHLO GNV SsllUrl AIGGIS Btw AS VSN eee awe eewv “ST whew ewe y ULIN[OD ‘py FIGeT ur uMoYS sattddng [ooYuIg Jo xapuy 94} Sur3nduioDd ul peasy seinsiy siseq ‘¢ } b Jo av | uluNn[od jo saan#y ayy Yoga sjuaoied ayy JUuasaidas ZZ UUIN[OD jo sainsig OZ pue ‘Ol ‘ZT ‘8 ‘pf SUUIN[OD UI paUTe}UOD sainSy ay) JO saseIaaw AjswaA AY} BIB [Z UWNIOD jo saInsig ‘Aja Anh yadsai “6I-LI pue “ST Il “tl-6 “L-¢ ig’ 4 suwny[oo jo SAABIGAR JIB 02 pue ‘OT ‘Tl ‘g “t suuinjoo jo Soins y sajuedwoo surystjqnd aaiq} Aq Ajje11p payi0dai said ule}UOD 6[-LT pue “SI-¢T ‘11-6 ‘L-S ‘¢-Z SUUINJOD Jo SaInBig /sarmog 9° SOL OOfI8 osle° oo¢e O07 OOTS 1 OOLF IT OOLF'T 006S'T OO7Z' 1 OOOZ'T OOOZ' T 0097 T OOSS’ OOLS* OO8t’ 0009° oost’ OOSt OOSF' 9F6I 9° SOL OOFTS” Osle oore” O07’ OOLF TI OOLF IT OOLP I OOLF 1 OO7Z T OOOZ' T OOOZ T OO9Z'T OOSS’ OOLS” OO8F” 0009" oost’ OOSt OOSh Sor 8 F9T 00608 OSLE oore OO07F OOLF I OOLF I OOLF I OOLF tL OOOZ TI OOOZ IT OOOZ T OOOZ'T OOSS’ 0OLS° OO8F 0009" oose’ OOSt OOSb F£6I 8 F9L 00608 OSle oore 0O7F OOLF Tt OOLF TI OOLF I OOLP tT 0007 T OOOZ' T OOOZ 1 OOOZ IT OOSS 00LS° OO8F © 0009" oose’ Oost’ OOS Fff6T 8 F9T 00608 OSLE oore” 007F OOLF T OOLF I OOLF I OOLF tT OOO7Z T OOOZ'T OOOT IT OOOZ I ODSS’ OOLS” OO8F” 0009" oost’ Oost’ OOSt ZE6T 8 F9T 00608 Osle O0¢¢E O07 OOLF T OOLE TL OOLF'T OOLP Tt OOOZT T OOOZ I OOOZ 1 OOOZ' IT OOSS" OOLS" Oost 0009" oost OOS OOSF Tor 8 $91 00608" oOsle° oO0ge’ OO7e =OOLE T OOLF TL OOLF T OOLF 1 0007 T OOOZ 1 OOOZ 1 OOOZ IT OOSS" OOLS* OO8F" 0009" oost Oost OOS OFf6r 7 e9t OOTOS” Os.e’ oo¢e’ OO7h =OOLE T OOLE T OOLF I OOLF 1 0007 T OOOZ' T OOOZ 1 OOOZ T OOTS’ OOLS” OO8F* OO8T* Oost’ OOS OOSF 6761 8 £91 OOFOS o06e° = O09E" OOtF = =OOLE LT OOLF TL OOLF T OOLF 1 0007 T OOOZ' 1 OOOZ T OOOZ TI OOIS 00LS° OO8t* 008° oost’ OOSt OOSh 8761 8 SOL OO0FO8 006¢° O09" 0O7e 3 OOLE T OOLF IT OOLF T OOLF Tt 0007 T OOOZ' T OOOZ 1 OOOZ T OOIS" OOLS” OO8F 00st oost’ OOSh OOSP LZ6I 0 91 O0OSOs8" OSsOb’ 006° OO7F OOLE'T OOLF TL OOLF T OOLF' T 0007 T OOOZ' T OOOZ 1 OOOZ IT O00S' o0ors* OO8t OO8F oost’ OOSt OOSP Y9Z6I 0°;Z791 OO0SO8" OsOt 006¢° OO7e OOLE 1 OOLF 1 OOLF TI OOLF' 1 0007 T OOOZ 1 O00Z' 1 0007 T O00S' o0ors” OO8F" O0O8F ooshe OOSb OOS SZ6I £091 OOL8L° OSOF’ 006° ooze’ OOSE'T OO67 T OOLF TI OOLF 1 0007 T OOOZ'T OOOZ 1 OOOZ IT ODDS’ o0ors* OO8t © O0O8t* oost’ OOSt OOSt F261 1 6st OOTS8L° Osob O006¢° OO7F’ OOSE'T OO6Z'T OOLF'T OOLF Tt OOLT'T 0007 T OOOZ T OOTT IT O00S" OOrS* O0O8F OO8t* oost’ OOSt OOS £Z6T L091 00681" OsOt O06£ OO7r = OOSE 1 OO6Z TT OOLF T OOLF' 1 OOLT LT 0007 T OOOZ 1 OOTT'T OOTS’ OOLS* OO8t* OO8F* OOsb OOTS’ OOS ZZ6T 8 SO OOFIS T OSEt OOSF ooz7e «6008S 1 «OO6ZT 1 = (OOLF IT OOLF 1 OOLT T OOOZ'T OOOZ T OOIT'T O06" o00¢9 0099" OO8F* osé6r OOFS OOS ITZ6I 7 ESt PSISL’ oor’ O06" oore’ LOPE T OOOTT OOLF TI OOLF Tt OOST'T OOFL'T 0007 IT OOTT'T Osos’ 00rs’ 0099 OOSt OO8F™ SL7e° 6OOSt’ OOS OZ6I OOLT OZ 1-067 1 008th O006¢° 009¢" 9°71 00709" OOTZ = O0TZ OO1Z’ OOLT T 0096 O97 I-€7 1 O06Z7'T OSL6° 0oso 1 0006° osse’ 006£ 009¢" oore” ooor’ O0OF' OOOE 6161 - oore” ~ O LOL #ES7ZS OSsst’ OOosT 0091" 0060°T 0006° 00871 0087 T 0008" 0008" L90¢° 000¢* oore’ 0087" OSLZ@ OOLZ OO8Z B8I6T ™ 8 OOL t8bor OOFl 0071 0091’ OSl6 OOSL* oh 0007 T 0008" 0008" L90¢° 000g" OOrE” 0087" $z7St@ OS7Z OO8t LI6T 0001 F806F OOF’ = O007T 009T" = OSL6" OOSL* 000Z' 1 0008" 0008" L987" 000¢* 0087" OO8Z" S7SZ@ OS7Z—s—« OOBZ™—is«éOML GL 0 001 = Ff806r OOF’ = O07T 0091" OSL6 OOS.” 0007 T O008° 0008" LO8TZ" 000¢* 0087" 0087" Sz7St@ =6OS7Z =: OOBZ—CsCSTG 0 001 = F806F OOF 0071 0091" OSL6 OOSL° 0007 T 0008" 0008" LO8T" 000¢° 0087" OO8Z° St7St@ OS7TZ”—s—s« OOBZ"—C‘éSAT'G zz 1z 0z 6I 8I LI oI SI tI eI ral It or 6 w L 9 s ¥ £ Z if (e# (Z# (I# (€# (Z% (Is (€# (Is sy00q Joyjeds §6(¢g (z7# (18 Asoysrq = Aued Sued Sued Sued Sued Aued onew sued (Z*% Sued -}X9} peyiode: 3238 Sued Aued = = PSI ¢ I x/ tl 7 sol 1 6 1 tt 1 7 S OF t ¢'9 ! F £92 8 $ 9] 0 OF 8 19% t ttl 9 LSI c'OLI 9 F OL 1 7st L zctl 6 16 1 sol t £6 b Le 0 OO 0 OOl 0 O01 0 OO 6! 8I LI oI 6R1'Z zere 1A LIO'TI TM ese eo 2139q T/A espoos = "3M -uIny yuIeg W009 ,ladeg sold o]esejoqymM jo xepuy 8 Sst O tl 0 001 0 001 s73°z IM purnejoul diysaieg $19 8 £81 g° ERI O91 ae | IM pSlasela pseog -4oRlg 0 O91 0 OO! | 0 OO 0 Ost S181 ¢ Lgl e* 267 0 O01 gS LSI 0 001 S LSI 0 ool c'Lsl 0° 001 S'L8sI S 81 3 | ae 2 | $791 ¢ 7el 0 Stl 0 Sél 0 0 0 0Ol 0° 001 0 OO! el rat L06°T sts > TMA ="}M) (969°F (a31ym) «= psu pyleyD -ABiId pSIOSSIIS xUM pajonb saod jo xepuy x (UM0I1G youl-OI-¢ ("pA "bs | ,umneyjourly drysolyeg t (uezop 1) q8iesele pivoq ~4ovIg oO so 0 so 0 So 0 $0 0 so 0 SO 0 so 0 so 0 sO 0 so 0 so 0 co 0 so 0 cso 0 so 0 so 0 0 so 0 0 so 0 te) so 0 o¢ so of 9 s ssoiz (xoq [) @suo (93mm) -ABio aMegd = XBM pez0onb sadug Os 8 g Os 8 Os & (ya10d dieys “qoul-¢) (wezop 1) q@S1OSSIIS¢ ASHHL 9€61 OL vI6I ‘SNALI ATddNS IOOHDS ITV AO LSOD GANIA -WOO BAHL AO XAAGNI GNV SWALI ATddNS IOOHDS AO SASSVID ANOA AO SAXAANI ADIAd AIVSAIOHM ‘SWALI ONIIGNVH SWAlda AHHLO GNV SHSNOH ATIddNS IOOHDS Ad GALONO SWALI ATddNS IOOHDS AO SADIAd y UUIN[OD ‘py xIqey utr uMOYGS sattddng [ooYy.g Jo xapuy xy} Sur3ndurod ut peasy seinSig siseq ‘¢ (Tahle 4. c= (flinad Danare _. ., sh OC fia Pees. Dn ie Bs oe: ee. SSS Oe e 3. Basic Figures Used in Computing the Index of School Supplies (Continued) WEIGHTED AVERAGE COST PER PUPIL IN AVERAGE DAILY ATTENDANCE op ELEVEN ARTICLES OR CLASSES OF ARTICLES OF INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPLigs Percent of total Item Cost« of eleven items’ 1 2 3 Paper. $1.795 63.383 Cotton goods 0.089 3.142 Se 0.312 11.017 Lumber 0.062 2.189 = ee 0.054 1.907 Scissors. . 0.133 4.696 Wax crayons 0.137 4.838 Blackboard erasers 0.035 1.236 ae 0.103 3.637 Pens..... 0.032 1.130 Battleship linoleum 0.080 2.825 Total. . $2.832 100.000 . * Figures of column 2 were obtained by adding the unit prices per pupil in average daily attendance of each of the « items reported for each grade in the Study of the Budgeting and Allotment of School Supplies, by C. J. Anderson, John G Fowlkes, and L. F. Jones, and then weighting the total cost of each item in each grade by pupil enrolments in the correspond: grade and dividing by total enrolments in all grades. The sum of these averages, $2.83, is 88.5 percent of a total average cost $3.20 per pupil in A. D. A. for all school supplies, reported in the above cited study, page 28, and obtained by the author of that study by means of the same procedure. ®’ The percentages of column 3 are based on the figures of column 2. These percentages are the weights used in ol the weighted index of the cost of school supplies contained in column 20 of the table shown just below. 4. Index of Non-Residential Building Costs (Table 4, column 5) The index numbers contained in Table 4, column 5, were obtained by weighting the indexes, published by the U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, for union wage rates per hour in th: building trades (Union Scale of Wages in the Building Trades, Bulletin No. 626, May 15, 1936, p. 5 and cost of building materials (Handbook of Labor Statistics, 1936 edition, p. 681), by 35.7 and 64.3 respectively. The weights were obtained from the statement on the distribution of non-residential building costs contained in the Handbook of Labor Statistics, 1936 edition, page 221. 5. Index of the Cost of School Building Sites (Table 4, column 6) Information as to changes in the market value of a given unit of land was not available for th nation as a whole. While information of this type could be obtained for a few counties and cities, it could not be assumed that changes in land values in these localities were typical of nationwide changes in land values. It was necessary, therefore, for purposes of the index contained in Table 4, column 13, to assume that land values did not change between 1914 and 1930 and between 1930 and 1936. To the extent that changes in land values did take place during these periods, the index contained in Table 4, column 13, is defective 6. Index of the Cost of School Building Equipment (Table 4, column 7) The figures of Table 4, column 7, are those of the index of the cost of “house-furnishings goods” com- piled by the U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and published in the Monthly Labor Review for September 1937, Table 4, column 7, page 683. The articles priced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in connection with this index include: wool rug, grass rug, linoleum, living-room chair, library or living-room table, dining table, kitchen table, sanitary couch or bed, dresser, chiffonier, buffet, bedstead bed spring, mattress, baby carriage, pillowcase, sheet, tablecloth, cotton towel, cotton blankets, woo! blankets, comfort, cook stove (coal, wood, gas, or oil), broom, sewing machine, refrigerator. 7. Index of the Cost of Operating the School Plant, Exclusive of Wages Paid to Engineers and Janitors (Table 4, column 8) The figures of Table 4, column 8, are those which form the index of the cost of fuel and light, compiled by the U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and published in the Monthly Labor Review for September 1937, Table 4, column 6, page 683. [176] 8, It 9, I and 0 It wa that ¢ ( Bulle {utot was ¢ \ssul consti weigl By m Labo! the it No. 6 trom by 39 this k per g for th in ga statio at fill to the Il. ] T deseri by th the ce 683) > 3) tl 1937, of La denta C. I Th Systet in cit schoo high- 3, Index of the Cost of Maintaining the School Plant in Good Repair (Table 4, nued ) column 9) -E OF LIES The index numbers contained in Table 4, column 9, are the same as those of Table 4, column 5. 9, Index of Changes in Rates of Interest on School Indebtedness, and in Fixed Charges (Table 4, column 10) No figures could be obtained which represented the movement of rates of interest on school indebtedness and of charges for rent, insurance, and certain other payments made by school districts thruout the nation. It was necessary, therefore, to hold this cost constant thruout the 1914-30 and 1930-36 periods. It is probable that data on changes in these costs can be obtained by individual school districts, locally. 10. Index of the Cost of Transporting Pupils between School and Home On the basis of a study made in the state of Iowa by T. R. Agg and H. S. Carter (Jowa State College Bulletin, No. 91, quoted by the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce in Facts and Figures of the futomobile Industry, 1929, page 74), more than half (52 percent) of the total cost of automobile operation was accounted for by: (1) depreciation; (2) the cost of motor fuel; and (3) the cost of tires and tubes. \ssuming that other factors in the total cost, such as license, interest, insurance, and garage, remained onstant, and raising the percent represented by each of the three first-named factors to add up to 100, the weights of 41.6, 39.2, and 19.2 were obtained for depreciation, gasoline, and tires and tubes, respectively. By multiplying the index of wholesale prices of motor vehicles (U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Handbook of Labor Statistics, 1936 edition, Bulletin No. 616, Table 3, page 679) by 41.6, the index of wholesale prices of tires and tubes (also published in Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin No. 616, Table 3) by 19.2, and an index of gasoline prices per gallon, built upon the percentage changes from 1914 in these prices (as furnished to the Research Division by the American Petroleum Institute), by 39.2, adding the resulting products, and dividing by 100, the index numbers of Table 4, column 11, of this bulletin were obtained. The American Petroleum Institute was able to give information on prices per gallon of gasoline at filling stations as far back as 1919. Tank-wagon prices were available, however, for the years 1914-18, inclusive. In order to obtain a complete series of index numbers measuring changes in gallonage prices of gasoline from 1914 to 1936, inclusive, it was assumed that gasoline prices at filling stations for each of the years 1914 thru 1918 bore the same relation to the price per gallon of gasoline at filling stations in 1919 as the tank-wagon price of gasoline in each of the years 1914 thru 1918 bore to the tank-wagon price of gasoline in 1919. 11. Index of the Combined Cost of School Health Services, School Libraries, and School Lunches and School Cafeterias, Exclusive of Salaries and Wages Paid in Connection with These Activities (Table 4, column 12) The index numbers contained in Table 4, column 12, were obtained by weighting and combining, as described in this bulletin, page 152: (1) the index of the cost of miscellaneous goods and services compiled by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, as a part of their index of the cost of living (published in the Monthly Labor Review for September 1937, Table 4, column 8, page 683); (2) the index of the cost of school textbooks (contained in Table 4, column 3, this bulletin) ; and 3) the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics’ index of the cost of food (Monthly Labor Review for September wy 1937, Table 4, column 3, page 683). More than half of the 43 items priced in connection with the Bureau = of Labor Statistics’ index of the cost of miscellaneous goods and services are in the nature of medical and dental services, medicine, and supplies and services connected with personal hygiene. cm Jf C. BASES OF ESTIMATES OF WEIGHTED AGGREGATE ATTENDANCE, aoor shes 1914, 1930, AND 1936 ne 1. Weighted Aggregate Attendance in 1913-14 eac wool The Annual Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Education for 1916, Vol. II, “Statistics of City School Systems,” Table 1, pages 47-48, gives the cost per pupil in average daily attendance in elementary schools in cities, 10,000 in population and over, as $37.05. The cost per pupil in average daily attendance in high | to schools in these cities was $92.99. On the basis of these figures the ratio of elementary-school costs to high-school costs in cities of this size is 1 to 2.5. viled New {177 ] PUBLICATIONS ON RELATED TOPICS... . In 1913-14, 6.4 percent of total enrolments was in high schools. Increasing this percent in the same proportion that the percent of enrolments in high school was to the percent of aggregate attendance which was in high schools in 1929-30, the estimated percent of the total aggregate attendance which was in high schools in 1913-14 is 8.7. The total aggregate days of attendance in 1913-14 was 2,255,657,142. Applying the above percent (8.7) to this figure the estimated number of days of aggregate attendance of high-school pupils in 1913-14 was 196,242,171. Weighting each of these days of high-school attendance by 2.5 in accordance with the cost ratio figures cited above, a total weighted aggregate attendance of 2,550,020,399 in 1913-14 is obtained. 2. Weighted Aggregate Attendance, 1929-30 The Biennial Survey of Education, 1928-30, “Statistics of State School Systems, 1929-30,’ Table 6, page 47, published by the U. S. Department of the Interior, Office of Education, gives figures on the aggregate days of attendance in elementary schools, and all types of schools above the elementary level, for thirty-five states. The figures are as follows: Aggregate number of days attended in: Elementary schools 2,007 ,727,498 All other types of schools oy 610,442,805 Total ..... cevaectesstase aie Percent of aggregate days of attendance in: Elementary schools .. eee 76.7 All other types of schools................ 23.3 100.0 The aggregate number of days attended by both elementary- and secondary-school pupils in the nation as a whole in 1929-30 was 3,672,765,005 (Biennial Survey of Education, 1928-30, p. 47). Applying to this figure the above percentage distribution, the following estimated aggregate attendance is obtained for (1) elementary schools and (2) for all other schools combined, in the nation as a whole. Aggregate days of attendance in: Elementary schools .............. 2,817,010,759 All other types of schools......... 855,754,246 eee ee 3,672,765,005 Weighting each day of elementary-school attendance by 1, and each day of high-school attendance by 2.5, as in 1914, the estimated weighted aggregate number of days attended in 1929-30, is 4,957,069,972. This is an increase of 94 percent in weighted aggregate attendance between 1914 and 1930. 3. Weighted Aggregate Attendance in 1935-36 Figures on aggregate days of attendance in different types of schools in 1935-36 have not yet been published. Using partial data on the aggregate days of attendance in ten states, the following percentage distribution is obtained: Percent of aggregate days attended in: Elementary schools ..................... 69.6 All other types of schools................ 30.4 100.0 The total aggregate number of days attended in 1935-36 was 3,857,686,691. Applying the above per- centages to this figure, the following estimated aggregate attendance in elementary and high schools, separately, is obtained. Aggregate days attended in: Elementary schools .............. 2,683,534,886 All other types of schools......... 1,174,151,805 _ a aera era 3,857,686,691 Weighting each day of elementary-school attendance by 1, and each day of secondary-school at- tendance by 2.5, as in 1914, an estimate of 5,618,914,399 weighted days of aggregate attendance is ob- tained. This is an increase of about 13 percent over the weighted aggregate attendance of 4,957,498,204 days in 1929-30. [178] PUBLICATIONS ON RELATED TOPICS . School Finance Systems. Summaries describing the plan of state support for schools in 46 states (issued in 1934 and 1935) $2. Revised School Finance Systems, covering 7 states (issued in June 1937) 35¢. Revised School Finance Systems, No. 2, covering 6 states (issued in January 1938) 30¢. Federal Support for Education; the Issues and the Facts. Research Bul- letin, Vol. 15, No. 4; September 1937. 32 p. 25¢. Financing Public Education. Research Bulletin, Vol. 15, No. 1; January 1937. 56 p. 50¢. The Efforts of the States To Support Education. Research Bulletin, Vol. 14, No. 3; May 1936. 64 p. 50¢. Five Years of State School Revenue Legislation, 1929-33. Research Bul- letin, Vol. 12, No. 1; January 1934. 40 p. 25¢. Report of National Conference on the Financing of Education. 78 p. 25¢. Schools and Taxes. June 1935. 16 p. 25¢. Finance and Business Administration. Review of Educational Research, Vol. 8, No. 2; April 1938. 112 p. $1. All orders for publications should be accompanied by funds in payment for same and must be so accompanied when orders for material amount to $1 or less. Orders not accom- panied by funds in payment are subject to transportation charges. Discounts on quantity orders of the same publication: 2-9 copies, 10 percent; 10-99 copies, 25 percent; 100 or more copies, 331% percent. Make checks or money orders payable to the National Educa- tion Association of the United States, 1201 Sixteenth Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. HE ideal of equality of opportunity through education has not yet been fully realized be- cause in many areas and at certain levels education is not effectively free. The realization of the ideal waits upon the removal of all barriers, whether economic or social, which result in a denial of edu- cational opportunity to those whose continued edu- cation is clearly indicated as desirable to society and to the individual on the basis of his ability, ambition, and character. Effectively free education involves, in addition to free tuition, the provision of books and educa- tional supplies; in many cases, of transportation ; and in some cases, of maintenance grants neces- sitated by the low income of the family group from which the pupil comes.—Educational Policies Com- mission, The Structure and Administration of Pub- lic Education in the United States. Sed eeu.