SCHOOL FINANCE

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1737, 30 April 1913, Page 5

SCHOOL FINANCE

A PRECARIOUS BUSINESS. PARSIMONIOUS GRANTS. A ."landing grievance of school committees is v.liat is described by them as Iho inadequacy of the capitation grant which is paid by the EducatU n Board in respect of such school charges ss cleaning, firing, lighting, stationery, etc.. Apropos of this, the Mount Cook School Committee—this committee controls three separate institutions—ventilated their dissatisfaction at tho annual meeting on Monday. "The, only source of revenue, outside of what may be raised by entertainments, is the capitation grant, and this amounted to .£157 for the past year," explained tho treasurer (Mr. W. E. Fuller). "The expenses of the schools amounted to .£l6B ss. lid., leaving a debt of <£11 ss. lid." Tk; amounts due for disbursements could not have been met, ha added, without tho aid of school concerts. This ever-recurring expenditure over and above its income was a source of anxieiy and worry to the committee, which considered that in the special case of the Mount Cook Schools—tlireo separate school buildings, should receive special consideration. Exploiting the Schools, The matter of organising 6chcol concerts wherewith to eke out the slender resources of the school treasurer was also, the subject of comment by the headmaster of the South Wellington School (Sir. G. rlux) at the annual meeting of householders last evening. "There is a tendency on the part of all sorts of outside bodies," he said, ''to exploit the schools for one purpose and another. Every year makes the work of the teacher more and more exacting—a little added hero and a little there—but the week still remains a' week. As I said at an annual meeting two or three 3'ears ago, many of these outside things are quite laudable in themselves, but the schools, with the demands at present made on them, are not tho places for their propagation. To say the least, they are distractions, wlen every minute is required, if we are not to resort to cram, or court failure by listening to tho demands made upon lis. This was the main reason why the Headmasters' Association set its face against school concerts, the preparation for which interfered with the work of the schools for weeks together. I wish all school committees could bo induced to do some hard blinking in this connection, and to believe that when teachers show a reluctance to fall into line with them over school concerts and the like, the reluctance is due to their anxiety for the welfare of their schools, and not to save themselves trouble.

"We are sometimes told," lie added, "that without assistance of this kind committees cannot pay their way. The answer to this if, that in no other Department of the Slate are employees expected to raise money to assist in carrying on their Departments. Tho remedy lies with tho Department, which should supply tho wherewithal to properly carry on the work of the schools." i