EDUCATION BILL

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2269, 1 October 1914, Page 7

EDUCATION BILL

AMENDMENTS BY COMMITTEE

POPULAR ELECTION OF BOARDS

ELIMINATED

COMMISSION TO DEFINE BOUNDARIES

The Education Bill, which has been Under the consideration of the Education Committee of the.House of Representatives for some weeks, was reported back to the House yesterday afternoon by the Chairman of the Committee (Mr. G. M. Thomson). The Committee, after', taking a great 'deal of evidence on the Bill; have made various amendments. Whilst some of these are important they do not affect the main principles of the measure. The proposal in the Bill to establish a general Council of Education consisting of-17 members with the Director of Education as chairman,' has been retained by the Committee, the only amendment in this respect being a proviso that the officer of the Education Department who is to bo appointed by the Minister as a member, shall bo an inspector. The Minister s proposal to. appoint district councils has also been approved, but in the Bill as amended, it is no longer necessary for the representative of the Education Board of the district to be a member of the Genoral Council. The most important suggestion made by the~""Gommittee deals with the Minister's proposal concerning tlio redefinition of the boundaries of educational . districts and the consequent reduction in the number of the education boards. Theoriginal schedule has been deleted by tl'e Committee, and it is now proposed that "there shall be eight or nine education districtsxvhich shall be determined by tlje Governor on the re-' port of a Commission to be set 'up on that behalf.". ... When the Bill was introduced there were numerous objections to the proposal to abolish various ..small boards and to disturb the boundaries' of others. The proposed subdivision of the Auckland district' and the constitution of a new district in the Waikato in particular mot' with strong opposition. The Committee was unable to settle this vexed question, and as the Minister had. already stated that the proposed boundaries were only of a tentative oliaraoter, the recommendation) for the appointment of a Royal Commission to deteiaiine the boundaries was decided upon as a way out of the . difficulty. The clauses dealing with the.constitution of boards have been. amended by tho Committee in one important respect. sub-clause (5) which provided for t'he election, of . Education Board members representing _ urban scihool district by- the municipal electors lias been struck out. This means that if the Bill is passed.as now amended tho boards will, continue to be elect-ed-by the. school committees. Provision has been made by the committee for-increasing the grants to small echcol committees without decreasing the amounts allowed to the larger com- . mittees. A new schedule (8a) ha 6 been . added, providing the following scale of . capitation for schools of different classes School with average attendonce Ito 20, 10s. per head of .tlie average attendance j' : schools' '3i>, £10, together with Bs. per head of the aver-age-attendance over 20; sohools 36 to 120, £16, together with , ss-,'por,-head , of the average attendance over 35;" schools 121 to 400, £38, together with ,4s. per head of the average attendance over 120 ;' schools over 400, £94, together with 3s. per head of the average attendance over 400.An important addition has been made by the committee to Clause 47, defining the powers and duties of committees. . A new; sub-clause gives power to committees consulting education boards, to allow as they may deem fit school buildings to be used for the purpose of moral and religious instruction outside of school ho.urs. This" amendment, which. will probably, give rise to some discussion, would, if carried,! evidently open the way, for the introduction, at i-he discretion of committees alone,' of the Nelson system of religious instruction in schools. The power given to the committees in this matter (in regard to moral and religious instruction) is, however, limited to times outside of school hours. . The committee has added to the Bill a new clause, empowering . secondary school boards to pay members reasonable travelling expenses. This is subject to a proviso which will prevent such members being' paid such travelling expenses if thoy receive payment in respect of the same travelling expenses from any other publio body. ' Provision is made for the election of two members of secondary school boards by'the parents of' pupils in cases in which the provision docs not exist at present. The clause empowering education boards to make regulations requiring attendance at continuation and technical classes is amended by the addition of the following 6ub-clause:— "Whera complaint is made to a Magistrate that any young person required by_ such regulation to attend, a technical school or a continuation class or classes has been guilty of gross misconduct or habitual disobedience the Magistrate may, after such inquiry. as he thinks fit, require any parent of the young person to enter into a recognisanco to the satisfaction of the Magistrate for the good behaviour of the young person for the remainder of the period during which he is required to attend as aforesaid." Tor the purposes of this sub-clause "young person" is defined as meaning a boy or girl over the age of 14 years, but not over the age of 17 years. A now sub-clause has .been addod to Clause 127 dealing with the classification and payment of inspectors. It is proposed that no inspector shall receive a salary lees than ho is now receiving, including tho average amount of fees received by him as examiner or supervisor for the Education Department for the three yoars immediately preceding. It is proposed that tho minimum and maximum salaries of inspectors shall bo as uuder:—Chief inspectors, £600 and £660; senior inspectors, £550 and £575; inspectors, £500 and £525; assistant inspectors, £420 and £480. . . " In Tega.rd to the schedule of,tho Bill which deals with the grading and stiffing of schools, it is now "recommended that certain of the assistants, both in mixed schools and separate schools, bo placed in a higher grade.