EDUCATION FUNDS.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20314, 13 August 1931, Page 14

EDUCATION FUNDS.

REDUCTIONS IN ESTIMATES. PROPOSALS ANALYSED. COST OK CONSOLIDATING SCHOOLS, Keduuoion ma.de in tine education estimates are closely examined in a , report, read by Mr S. 1-t. Evison at last i night's meeting oi' llio Canterbury School Committees' Association. Sir Evison was tlio Association's representative on a deputation, from New Zealand School Committees which waited on members of Parliament at Wellington on August Gtli, and his report embodies the points raised by him in addressing tho members as the Canterbury representative. ''Wo are told thab the national expenditure iu education last year totalled £4,51)0,000 as compared with £4,058,22 in 1929-1930," states the report. "One million of last year's expenditure is not accounted for in the Estimates, and as in past years this difference of a million pounds is presumably mado up in the expenditure on new buildings f school committees' subsidies, scholarships, and bursaries, university giants, and teachers' superannuation. Wo are still in the dark as to how *t i,j proposed to deal with these items in the currant year. We are assured that the reductions which are now before Parliament, if agreed to. will effect a serious cheek on tlio work of the schools. Social and Educational Agencies. "Thau portion of the anticipated expenditure on education which is scheduled in the Estimates for the year ending March 31st, 1932, totals £3,131,072 as compared with last year's expenditure of £3,469,122 —a reduction of £338,050 or 9.74 Tier cent. Last year's expenditure exceeded the vote by £12,532. "It includes sums required for what are classified as social agencies, viz.: The education of blind and deaf children, schools for feeble-minded children and the Child Welfare organisation. For these social agencies, £180,544: is provided, showing a reduction of only 1.78 per cent., and £103,074 of this total is chargeable to the Child Welfare Department, in which a merely nominal reduction. ( £1701) is made because of the increase in the number of children under the care of the State •'owing to the troublous times.' "Educational agencies, which aro the main objective of the Department, include elementary, secondary, and higher education, technical education, i the training of teachers, Native schools, school (maintenance as distinct from new buildings), furniture, and sites. The cost of these, together last year, totalled £3,208,030, as against the estimate for this year of £2,879.314, which shows a reduction of £325,710, or 10.21 ner cent. As summarised m the Estimates, the ■figures, giving thousands of pounds of actual expenditure in 1930-31, and of estimated expenditure for 1931-32, are . ■ • -1900-31. J931-82. Beduet. P.O. Blem'entary . . 2,173 1.04' i 285 30.83 Secondary . 370 834 22 0.01 Higher . . in r> 8 59.40 Technical . . 222 209 ;i.3 5.04 Training of teachers J IM. P.' 7,t>6 Native S4 7f» 5.74 School, /building*, . ■maintenance. furniture, etc. ' I'Gtf .137 3 a The Reductions Analysed. "Under elementary education, the reduction of £235.0i2 is found in salaries, £211,000, Education Boards' grants, which are reduced by £2775, and manual instruction, which shows a reduction foi'." £26.211, while under the heading of Conveyance, an increase of £6022 is . provided for, due to the increase in the number of children to be carried (extra expenditure which will be offset by some degree by the saving due to the closing of smaller schools under consolidation). "Last year's appropriation for conveyance (£81,780) was exceeded by nearly £12,000, and last year's appropriation for manual instruction (£92.900) was exceeded by £Olll. "For education, the reduction of £22;65Q is in, salaries and administration expenses... .(A note appended to. ther estimates explains that the number of pupils in the Secondary Department of ' District High Schools and the Manual Departments of Secondary Schools is increasing abnormally on account of the difficulty in finding employment for children who are ready to leave school.) "The reduction of £7779 in higher education is ill the grants to University Colleges and scholarships, while of the reduction for technical education £IO,OOO is taken from the administration and incidental expenses of conducting technical and continuation classes. The reduction of £ 12,560 for the training of teachers is nearly all found in allowances and advances . to students, and this also applies to the £.4834 reduction in the cost of native schools. "School Buildings (maintenance, etc.): In arriving at the reduction of £32,850 under this heading the Education Boards' grants have been reduced by £25,000 in addition to the reduction of £15,000 which was made last year. There is also a reduction of £SOOO hi the house allowances to teachers. Retaining the Essentials. "We all recognise that economies and reductions in the expenditures in all public services are urgently needed. Those of us who can take a cheerful view may hold that these economies and reductions- in the Education' vote should be regarded as temporary, but in view of the Prime Minister's announcement that an .Economy Commission is to be set up to report on the cost of national education we feel that reductions should bo withheld until the report of the Economy Committee is available. ! "We feel that no further reductions should be made until the report of the j Commission is available because tho j question of policy must be affected by that report and we realise that the ad- i justment of, the conclusions of that re- ; port to future policy in educational 1 matters will be a task of some magni- j tudo. i "We are not authorised to support any policy other than that of providing for our primary pupils a system that will, fit. them for their lives as adult New Zealanders. "We believe that in crises like the present the ballast should, bo discarded before the cargo is jettisoned and that if it becomes necessary to throw cargo overboard there should be careful discrimination. Each of the sections of the education system which are classified in the Estimates as educational agencies will probably regard each of the other educational agencies as carrying more ballast in proportion to cargo than itself. "We ask that the Commission to be

&ot up shall .iuuiudu representatives of each section together wit It a majority of representative practical economists and that its report shall bo referred as early as possible to a Board of educational authorities that "will be competent to relate the findings of the Commission to the national policy ■with the least possible loss of time. "In a vast and vital organisation such as the education, system stability and a clear objective arc essential; in fact as essential as economy; and we appeal to members of all Parties in the House To see that tbero shall be a, return to stability and a clear objective as early as possible. The Education Report. 4 • One of tlie shortcomings or* the Education Committee's report, viewed in tlie light of to-day, is that it did not state its reconiendations in terns of finance, alt bough it did contain several statements to tho effect that certain local bodiei were responsible for the waste that existed. "The restriction of finances since the Committee collected its evidence lias been such that tlie report, taken as a whole, is now generally regarded as impracticable. Taken section by section it should be possible to place some of tho recommendations in order oi : value and to adjust the policy so that those recommendations that * are judged of greatest importance shall be given effect to and those adjudged as of least importance definitely abandoned. Instead of a dead-weight of apparently impracticable ideals we shall the a have a few definite objectives brought within possibility oi attainment. ''Taking the Keport and. rho Estimates together our conclusions are:— "(1) That the cost ol ! education has increased because the policy of the centralised administration, as authorised by Parliament, has made the increase inevitable. "(2) That a isubstajitial reduction o" cost cannot bo effected without a reduction in overhead, that is in administration costs, and teaching staffs. (Last year salaries accounted for £2,501.,4-10, and ill-.' estimate for tho current year is Si 2,3.10,855.) "(3) That a reduction in administration costs and stall 1 involves, either, the closing down of certain branches, or of diminishing the efficiency of tho whole bv nnderstiiff.no; and with the withholding of necessities. "('4) That the first course—that is the closing down of certain branches —is inevitable if inefficiency is to be preserved in tho remaining branches... "(5.) That tlie cost of social aervir-.es .should not be elmrged to the cost of Education. Alarming Tendency. '•'Anyone who -endeavours l«> uncurtain the nolicy of the Department by a close scrutiny of the Estimates might judge that the Department is prepared to sacrifice the efficiency of the whole. "Two years ago the school committees of Canterbury and Vcstland raised £IO,OOO by voluntary efforts. With tlie best intentions it will be iinpoßsiMe to do anything like thut at the present time. "AVlieu the Education Committee vis itcd Christchurch in December, ll'iiK, the school commit tees of Canterbury and Westland were chiefly concerned to give voice to their conviction that the maintenance of existing schools was being sacrificed in the interests of specially-favoured schools. "The fact that the Estimates as they stand show a heavy reduction in the maintenance fund seems to indicate the same tendency, and is cause for some alarm. But the responsibility cannot be thrown on to the Department or even upon Ministers. ft is the members of • Parliament who liave authorised the Department's policy in the and members of Parliament will be justly blamed if a liasty search after economy cripples the system to which is entrusted the education of the children or Xew Zealand." Maintenance versus Consolidation. For the maiutemiiice of primary schools £117,000 had been spent iu 1929, and £102,000 in 1930, while £77,000 was the amount set aside this year, added Mr Evison, after reading, the report. , Besides this reduction of £40,000 for maintenance, there were the figures for of pupils to consolidated schools. For 1928-20 tho cost had been £67,500, for 1929-30 £80,500, and for 1930-31 £81,780. The estimate for 1931-315. was £99,650. The figures showed where consolidation was leading, as far as expenditure was concerned. Mr Evison continued that the provision for extra expenditure for conveyance as a result of consolidation should be particularly noted. The committees wero in favour of consolidation, but when that meant a reduction in tho sum allowed for maintenance, a close scrutiny was needed. An essential point was that maintenance charges ordinarily tended to increase, and the £40,000 decrease in the money provided for the purpose meant much rnofe than the figures showed. Such reductions coukl not go on indefinitely, and certain additional services would have to.be cut out. . In 1921-22 the cost per child of primary education was £l3 4s 4d, and in 1930-31 it was £l3. For secondary education the figures were'£26 9s 4d, and £26 15s 9d respectively. The increased cost, he thought, was due to extra overhead expenditure. Tho reductions were practically in effect at tho moment, and thev amounted to a starvation of the service, pending 1 a decision concerning what could be maintained.