These facts are presented in graphs VII, VIII. Compensation. One of the fundamental principles in school administration is that school board members should not be paid for their services. With a few exceptions this principle has been adhered to by American cities. Two notable exceptions are San Francisco, Cal., and Rochester, N. Y. In the former city each school board member receives a salary of $3,000 a year; in the latter city, $1,200 a year. For the few other cities in which the members of the board of education are paid for their services, see Table 1, pages 23-27. Number 15 14 8 7 6 5 4 3 Standing committees.-Before the advent of professionally trained men and women for executive positions in school systems, standing committees no doubt had a place, but since school boards are employing experts in all departments a committee either has nothing to do or tries to do what the school board employs an expert to do. A business corporation or the board of directors of a city hospital would write ruin over their work if they parceled out matters of detail to standing committees to act upon themselves or to report upon to the board with or without recommendations. Clearly the functions of many school board committees, such as those on promotion of pupils, examinations, course of study, instruction, and teachers, must duplicate the functions of expert employees Length of term. of the board. A superintendent can make his recommendations to the entire board just as easily as he can to a committee, and every member of the board should know what the superintendent's recommendations are. If made to a committee, several plans may be discussed and only one reported upon to the entire board-the one adopted by the committee. If the superintendent makes recommendations to the entire board, each member is given an opportunity to consider the recommendations and to vote according to his own judgment. The board then legislates as a whole and not as a half dozen separate committees. This in substance is the generally accepted opinion of those who have made careful study of committee organizations of city school systems. 2 2 3 4 5 6 VII. Tenure of school board members in 43 cities of 100,000 population and over. Median, 4; mode, 4. In practice, however, nearly every school board has several standing committees. Only 3 cities of 100,000 or more population and Length of term. 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 VIII.-Tenure of school board members in 133 cities between 25,000 and 100,000 population. 6 Median, 3 years; mode, 3 years. only 13 cities of between 25,000 and 100,000 population report no standing committees of the board of education. In the former group of cities the number of standing committees ranges from 3 to 18, the median number being 5 and the mode 3; in the latter group the number ranges from 2 to 16, the median number being 5 and the mode 4. The number of members on the various committees ranges from 2 to 7. In both groups of cities the median number of members on each committee is 3 and the mode 3. It is the general practice for the school board to refer new items of business to a committee. This plan is followed by 37 of 39 cities of 100,000 or more population, and 104 of 121 cities of between 25,000 and 100,000 population. The standing committees report with recommendations in 27 of 40 of the former group and 84 of 112 of the latter group of cities. In nearly every city committees are sometimes given power to act; 37 of 40 of the largest cities, and 120 of 127 of the mediumsized cities, report to that effect. In practically every city the superintendent of schools is required to attend school board meetings, while only 10 of 36 school boards in cities of 100,000 or more population and 24 of 101 in cities having between 25,000 and 100,000 population reporting require the superintendent to attend committee IX.-Number of committees on school boards in 41 cities of 100,000 population and over. Median, 5; mode, 3. 1 Number of committees. meetings. It will be noted by referring to Table 2, page 28, that some of these cities that do not require the attendance of the superintendent at committee meetings permit the committees to report to the board with recommendations or them power to act. Clearly if the superintendent is the executive officer of the school board, he should be required to attend committee meetings, especially where the committees report to the board with recommendations. For tables presenting information regarding standing committees in each city reporting, see pages 28-31. The facts presented in these tables are illustrated by graphs IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV. Quorum. Should a majority vote of the board or a majority vote of a quorum be required to transact all business? If on a board of five members a majority vote of the broad is required, the vote of three members for or against a question is necessary, while if a Number of cities. 22 7 6 5 4 3 2 2 3 4 5 6 7 majority vote of a quorum is required, two members may decide a question. For all important business, as the election of a superintendent and financial transactions, it is thought that a vote of a majority of the board should be required. In practice, however, 16 of 41 cities of 100,000 or more population and 69 of 136 cities having between 25,000 and 100,000 population require only a majority of a quorum to transact all business.. For a list of cities requiring a majority of a quorum or a majority of the board to transact business, see pages 23-27. Relation to city government.-It is the general and growing opinion among students of school administration that the school board should be independent of the city council, not simply because city government has been notoriously bad in some instances, but because education is something more than merely a municipal function; because the schools are important enough to demand the attention of board directly responsible to the people; and because experience has demoncommittees in 38 cities of 100,000 strated that an adequate public-school system can best be developed by a school board not dependent upon a city council. If the schools are independent of the city council, the school issue may be presented squarely to the people as a separate issue and not be overshadowed by other issues of less importance. The trend of opinion is that city schools should be managed by a board in no way dependent upon the city council, by a board with large powers, with power to levy its own taxes or to prepare a budget within statutory limits the amount of which must be appropriated from the city funds, to expend its own funds for everything of an educational X. Number of members of standing or more population. Median, 3; Mode, 3. nature both for children and adults, libraries, playgrounds, continuation schools, social centers, etc. The tendency in progressive communities is to place more and more responsibility in the hands of the school board. Some city schools are still governed by special charter provision. The tendency is toward general State law, however, since it is now generally recognized that education is a State and not a municipal function. The opinion is often expressed that city officials should 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Number of committees. 15 16 8 9 10 11 12 XI. Number of standing committees of school boards in 132 cities from 25,000 to 100,000 population. Median, 5; Mode, 4. not be permitted to tinker with the schools every time a change is made in the city charter and that all provisions regarding the schools now carried in the city charter should be removed and the schools of all cities placed under a general State law, as in a number of States. In 57.5 per cent of the cities of 100,000 or more population the schools are governed entirely by general State law; in 25 per cent, by both State law and city charter; and in 17.5 per cent largely or entirely by special charter. |
