Show H E T H ENC H ai ENT I 1 N SCHOOL E PE N SES 13 E 0 UPON farm bureau ta tax committee and commercial club committee meet see eye to eye and recommend a blanket cut of 10 per cent in all biffl branches of school efte r much has been said about the radical changes in schools that would be demanded by the farm bureau tax committee but if there are radicals in the farm bureau and these were looking for a great upheaval they will be disappointed as the farm bureau tax committee proved to be with no exception a sate safe sano haiir and reasonable body of 0 citizens with the good of the schools and the c community indu in general at heart when this committee met last saturday with a committee from tile the commercial club to discuss the possible reduction of taxes by retrenchment in the school expenditures there was not a shadow of radicalism appeared in tile the discussion this is shown by the fact that the most radical recommendation abat t on was that of P C of salina who expressed himself to the effect that lie he thought there was too rauch much rali rah rah business in the schools of today and lie he believed that several things introduced in the last ten years vears could be thrown out of tile the schools to advantage mentioning particularly music and domestic set ence and art this expression got no support but it drew forth a vigorous defense defens e of 0 these two subjects from D P jensen a member of both committees who declared these two subjects as the joy of life the meeting was altogether harmonious barmo mo nio and each committee seemed bent on safeguarding safe guarding the educational system consistent with a reduction of expenses the result was a h unanimous decision to recommend a r blanket cut of 10 per cent on all e pend tures es leaving the detail ss to r the boa board d in which body the committees expressed completo complete confidence when the meeting opened H N M hayes was named as chairman and yh 61 H petersen was made secretary mr hayes stated the object of the meeting to be as lie he understood it a discussion of school matters inasmuch as the time had arrived for the school board to determine expenditures for the coming year and the fixing of teachers salaries is among the questions to be settled by that body the richfield commercial club had named a committee to present to the school board recommendations as to school school expenditures and to endeavor to keep the of the schools up to their present level the tax committee from the farm bureau had a similar purpose in view and it atas as considered the best procedure to nave have these two committees meet together and reach an ail understanding if possible on recommendations to be made to the board of education tor for their guidance in fixing school C expenditures tures for next year mr hayes proceeded to read statistics of the cost per capita of school population in various districts in the state and sevier county is much ION lower than a majority of the districts he also presented figures 0 of f the V school population in sevier and the expenditures in maintaining tile the r e schools in this is included the teachers salary list two years ago a list was submitted by the teachers to the board of education w which aich was accepted basing the salaries of teachers on scholastic preparation and c experience in teaching this proposition offered a year tor for teachers with high school preparation and one year of normal work and rating on up to four years of pt training with a degree and the more years vears of teaching experience peri per lence ence the higher the salary went until a maximum was reached amounting to 1800 a year or more tile the teachers mr hayes said had voluntarily propose proposed d to tako take this sal ary list of 1920 skip over 1921 1901 when increases began and reduce the teachers salaries b by y a reduction of aioo each a total 0 of f for the district for next year P C of salina was glad to see the teachers tak take e the initiative in a reduction of salaries but lie he did not believe the proposed p fiction of fo tor r each teacher w wa altogether fair and thought the comm committees ittzes should recommend a percentage re r salary al as lie be thought an ail should not be reduced tile the same as a salary he deplored the i tact that men W who ho favored retrenchment in the schools were branded as enemies 3 to the schools he said that lie he had al always ways been a friend of aduca believed that the schools he f r tion but of 15 or 20 years ago were just as of today and efficient as the schools stuff in the schools there is a lot of st stuff in the schools there is a lot of st today can he be cu cut t out without injury of 0 there is too much rah rah stuff in the schools is at present and many of the subjects can be dropped without injury to the schools for ast instance ance music and domestic science and art can n be dropped without hurting the schools however lie he believed ahe committees should recommend a continued on aage six i N OUR SCHOOLS continued trout page one percentage cut for teachers at I 1 least east H H peterson opposed the percentage plan of cutting wages tile the te tea cheis xit without hout ex experience peri ence are the costliest cost liest teachers in the system and the teachers of experience are the desirable ones and the ones who give efficiency he believed the effort should be to increase tile the of the schools rather than a leduc i of taxes he ae believed the law compelling attendance of boys and girls who have no desire for education had worked a hardship to the schools as the tendency is to reduce the efficiency of the schools by spreading the feeling that learning is not desirable ile ho called attention to the need of mo more re building repairs and more school equipment he deplored the fact that out of date maps are in use because of lack of funds he pointed out that a one mill reduction of school tax levy would not make much difference to anyone in the county count except the three or tour four big corporations he pointed out that school matters were not in the class of road improvement roads may be let go for a year or two and then le te paired and made good as ever but school once inaugurated cannot be overcome william ogden called attention to the fact that no matter what reduction is made in salaries there can call be no reduction in the school levy owing to deficits that have accumulated sam jorgensen of salina feared there would be more stringent times to meet this next year unless radical changes are made he hoped these stringent times would not materialize he quoted figures on the raise of prices for farm products as compared with the raise in teachers salaries aries but colled attention to the fact that when the drop came the prices dropped lower than the original prices under these low prices the past year the salaried teachers tea cheis were iu in much the better position one half of the present assessed valuation in sevier county is situated outside of incorporated cities and towns which n means calls that one half of the taxes are P paid aid from real estate outside of cities and towns mr jorgensen favored a percentage cut in te teachers salaries A cut of 10 per cent would decrease school e expenses while a uniform cut would i reduce educe the etense for the year he also was pleased to know the teachers eie taking the initiative in reduction ol of salaries J H baker believed that all in favor of a saving in expenditure but whatever recommendations were made to the hoard board should be for real saving to tile thy district and cited several instances of apparent retrench merits ments that turned out to be expensive george christensen hoped that thai the farm bureau committee would be more fairly dealt with by the press than at a former meeting ile he declared that his committee was not antagonistic to the schools and he was not in favor of reducing the good teacher to the point where the district would lose such teachers the matter of poor maps was not the fault of the taxpayers and thought it was rather a reflection on oil someone he did not say whom that such conditions prevailed attention to the fact that no uniformity could le be reached in the state as some districts can afford better salaries and these can always command the services of the bet best teachers that has always been the case and the fact remains that teachers leave more than ga per cent of their earnings in the district each year mr hayes read part of a deseret news editorial urging that the schools should be the last institution to be approached in retrenchment he asked that some definite recommendations ions be decided upon to present to the board of education john webb of monroe ewas of the opinion that as there is much time lost in the school year that there be a shortening of the school year tear guy lewis suggested that it might be advisable if found necessary to drop some of the things now incorporated in tile the school curriculum tor for a few years and this could be picked up later all were convinced there should be retrenchment and the teachers had met the matter half way P C thought the school handling the schools and he believed the best recommendation to make to the board would be that the committee favors retrenchment and leave the working of the details to tile the board H C larsen favored recommending to the board that a ten per cent reduction lie he made in till nil lines 0 of tile the school ool system he was opposed to any attack on any part of the system he himself him could not even surmise surmise any objection could be raised to any part 0 of the system he made a motion that the committees should recommend to the board that a cut of ten tell per cent be ninde made on all departments of expenditures in the school system this was esconded scon ded P C favored the motion but lie he still belli eved that cei certain tain subjects might be eliminated and he wanted to go on oil record as being in ill favor favo r of tho the elimination of certain subjects that had boon been introduced the past ten years mr larsen insisted that lie he was not prepared pie pared to say where cuts could be made and lie he was in favor of letting the board wid and faculty settle the details of retrenchment D P jensen favored the motion but lid did not feel that this committee should essay to say where the cuts should be made lie he spoke strongly in tavor of music and domestic ence while some favored one subject others favored other subjects for himself lie he thought music and domestic science made life worth living however lie he favored leaving the matter up to the board who were splendid men and able to decide these matters the motion for a blanket cut of 10 per cent on all school expenditures was as unanimously adopted J E heppler suggested that there should be an agitation in favor of a uniform and equitable system of education tor lor the state and that a uniform amount per capita should be provided by the state for education and the bidding for teachers would bo be eliminated if the state was made a unit in education and eve every rv child should have an equal opportunity this should be crystallized into a law but the wealthy counties will r ight fight this matter there should be a law for an equitable distribution of educational cat ional funds this valuable piece of suggestion will be followed up by the reaper re aper in due time and with due vigor on motion of guy lewis a committee consisting of judge hayes ha yes H H peterson P C H C larsen sen and J I 11 PI II I payne was named to present the recommendation to the school board the committee met irth ith the school board secretary H H peterson so presented the committee followed by judge hayes hay es who presented the matter agreed upon that a 10 per cent reduction he be made in all branches of tile the school system he was followed by P C J L H payne and H C lorsen confirming tile the talk of judge haes ha es mr payne expressed himself that I 1 in tile the music work only y the larger towns were realizing reail zin any benefit berie fit from it last year lie he stated his community got some benefit from it but this year there is not so much because the teachers are not equipped for it he suggested that it if a teacher was secured for the school who understood der stood music then they would get much benefit from the music niora ork of the schools H H peterson stated that the reports that thai the farm bureau committee was opposed to schools were not true and the meeting of tile the commercial club committee and tile the farm bureau committee had resulted in an understanding that the two groups were working for the same object an system at tile the least possible expenditure of money mr staples of the school board expressed himself as pleased that these committees had considered chool matters and that they had reached an understanding as to how retrenchment might be made he appreciated this action he looked hopefully to the future for a better condition financially lewiss T envies jones followed in fit a similar vein and thanked tile the committees for their interest in the schools he was aware that the membership comprised men who constitute tile the backbone of the county and lie he deeply appreciated precia ted the work nork of these committees he was op opposed posed to radicalism and particularly at this time ile he was convinced that radicalism is not the solution of the problems mr of the board also expressed appreciation of the work of tile the committees and was glad they had gotten together he thought much good had been accomplished he also appreciated the work ork of the teachers and believed the majority were working Nork ilig tor for tile the good of 0 the schools supt bupt ashman assured the commit what mr said of tile the t teachers was true and the teachers I 1 association had gon on oil record as favoring retrenchment ile he believed he could assure the board and committees that a retrenchment of 10 11 per cent in 1 salaries could be accomplished complis hed he greatly appreciated the work of tile the committees president N J bates expressed himself at well pleased with the work of tile the committees he believed theat the action of the board in seeking assistance supported the theories of democracy the board had met conditions in the past in a way that they believed was right the members have had the problem of re and lie he doubted that this could be accomplished without impairing the ell chency of the system the expenditures of the hoard board are such that the board Is convinced it is receiving full value for every dollar expended ile he discussed the many difficulties that are encountered in ill the engaging of 0 teachers he had made extensive inquiry the last few months as to what part 0 of the school system should he be eliminated in retrenching and he be was not any wiser now than when he began beg an the inquiries some recommended this and others had other ideas and he had not gained an any definite idea as to what should bo be eliminated after all the board must meet the responsibility the committe comm ltee itee cepres representatives enta t ives retired leaving the question in the hands of tile the school board |