RECOMMENDATION II:

That state financial support programs recognize differences in costs for kindergarten, elementary and secondary general education programs, trade and technical education, and programs for handicapped* children; and that provisions for summer school, evening school, and other extension programs be on the same basis as for regular day school programs.

The sharp differences in cost between elementary and high school instruction, and the still greater costs of vocational and special education are revealed in Table 3 which summarizes the findings of the Research Council of the Great Cities Program for School Improvement: Revealing as these cost ratios are in themselves, their full significance cannot be understood until they are applied to school budgets.

As indicated by Table 3 the per pupil cost of the academic high school program is one-third more than the amount spent per elementary pupil. Vocational and technical programs cost 80% more per pupil than does elementary, while providing for the handicapped child is more than twice as expensive as for the regular elementary pupil.

*Handicapped includes all mentally retarded and physically handicapped pupils in special classes Recognition for support purposes should also be given for other handicapped children, such as socially maladjusted in those cities having such programs.

NOTE: Information in Table 3 includes all of the Great Cities except Washington, D. C.

Table 4 dramatically demonstrates that the higher cost of special and vocational education programs are largely concentrated in major cities. The average Great City has only 18.5% of the total state enrollment, yet is serving 27.2% of the handicapped, and 52.3% of the vocational, trade, and technical school enrollments of the state. This situation can be expected to persist. Automation and other technological developments are having major impacts in large urban centers and the large cities continue to attract thousands of in-migrants with many children who can only be effectively served by special education programs. Public schools will be compelled to expand and adapt their vocational, trade and technical programs at an even more rapid pace in the years ahead if the schools are to continue to serve their communities effectively. The greatest burden in this costly adjustment to modern technology will fall on the public schools of the nation's large cities, where the competition for tax dollars is becoming increasingly severe.

**1963-64

***Stacistics include handicapped pupil enrollment only for those pupils in ungraded classes.

RECOMMENDATION III:

That building aid be provided for all types of school districts, with full consideration given to variations in the cost of school sites and construction.

The cost of sites in large cities is many times that of sites in other districts. As shown in Table 5, the average cost for all school sites purchased over the five year period reported was $68,156 per acre for the Great Cities, in contrast to the $3,074 per acre average for the sample of other districts in the states represented. (Metropolitan, suburban, and rural school districts were included in the sample.)

Table 5

SCHOOL SITE COSTS PER ACRE FOR THE LAST 5 YEARS

*Average is for most recent 5 year period for which data is available.

4 year average

These substantial differences in school site costs between the large cities and other districts constitute a handicap in providing adequate facilities in the districts with higher costs.

Construction costs and restrictive municipal building codes are additional factors which contribute to the high cost of school plants in large cities and should be recognized in provisions for financial support.

Procedures for authorizing bond issues and expenditures for school construction should be simplified to eliminate unnecessary delays and obstacles. A simple majority of those voting should be sufficient to pass bond issues; fourteen states require more than this for approval. Bond issue defeats are highest in these states, according to a recent report by the U. S. Office of Education. The Research Council's publication FISCAL POLICIES TO MEET THE NEEDS OF THE GREAT CITY SCHOOL SYSTEMS IN AMERICA, states that "Local boards of education should be free from unreasonable restrictions in the administration of fiscal affairs . . . and from cumbersome legal procedures at state and local levels which thwart effective expression of citizens."

RECOMMENDATION IV:

That the local school tax base be expanded.

As mentioned earlier in this report, "Financial support for the public schools in the nation's major cities comes mainly from local property taxes." Over a five year period, the source of local property taxes, taxable assessed valuation, has actually decreased in some cities. Where there has been an increase in taxable assessed valuation, the percent of increase in the cities is less than that for the rest of the state. To state it another way, without exception, the tax base in the city has decreased in relation to the remainder of the state in which this city is located. This is not merely a change but a well defined trend.