Not only has the cost of Education increased enormously since 1913/14, but the Taxpayer, besides bearing his share of the increased cost, has had to shoulder a proportion of the burden which would have been borne by the Ratepayer if the grant system had not been modified between 1917 and 1919.

Out of the total Vote less than £1,000,000 is Administrative Expenditure of the Board. By far the greater part of the Vote of the Board of Education is dependent in one form or another upon expenditure incurred by Local Educational Authorities (of which there are no less than 317 in England and Wales) on a percentage grant basis, which, in our opinion, is a money-spending device, but not an economical system. The attached note on this subject from the Secretary to the Scottish Education Department, is most illuminating, and is given in Appendix (A).

The following table illustrates the change which has taken place in connection with expenditure on Education falling on Public Funds (England and Wales) :

1913/14 1914/15

1915/16

...

1916/17

1917/18

1918/19

·་་

1919/20

1920/21

14,370,000 950,000 15,320,000 16,190,000 31,510,000 15,100,000 Figures not available. 15,180,000 950,000 16,130,000 16,350,000 32,480,000 14,900,000 950,000 15,850,000 16,290,000 32,140,000 18,640,000 950,000 19,590,000 17,220,000 36,810,000 19,380,000 950,000 20,330,000 21,780,000 42,110,000 32,710,000 960,000 33,670,000 24,400,000 58,070,000 45,560,000 950,000 46,510,000 30,570,000 77,080,000 1921/22 (Estimate) 51,010,000 950,000 51,960.000 32,620,000 84,580,000 1922/23 (Provisional 50,600,000 950,000 51,550,000 38,300,000 89,850,000*

Estimate)

* If we add the £12,910,000 for Scotch Taxes and Rates and £1,120,000 grants to Universities and Colleges, this balances with the total of £103,880,000. We draw particular attention to the following salient points :Between 1913/14 and 1921/22

The expenses chargeable to rates increased by 101 per cent.
The expenses chargeable to taxes increased by 239 per cent.
The total expenditure increased by 168 per cent.
For every £ of total expenditure-

In 1913/14 the Taxpayer contributed 9s. 9d. and the
Ratepayer 10s. 3d.

In 1922/23 the Taxpayer will contribute 11s. 6d. and the
Ratepayer 8s. 6d.

NOTE.-Scotland is not dealt with in this report, as the assistance given to Scottish Education automatically follows the assistance given to Education in England and Wales.

Apart from the change in the proportions of expenditure, the two outstanding features in considering this Estimate are:(1.) The increase in teaching cost.

(2.) The increase in the number of pupils receiving secondary education.

2. Details of the Board's Estimate are as follows:

The Estimate submitted to us provides for a net decrease on the Vote of 0.8 per cent. only, but if the service arising out of the war, viz., higher education of ex-officers and men be omitted, the 1922/23 Estimate shows an increase of expenditure from £48,766,315 in the present year to £49,510,000 next year, i.e., an increase of 1.5 per cent.

Elementary Education represents over 70 per cent. of the whole estimate. The very complicated grant formula, introduced between 1917 and 1919, is explained with an illustrative example in Appendix (B). Its practical working has exhibited in a high degree the peculiar disadvantages attaching to the system of percentage grants to which we have drawn attention in the introduction to this part of the Report.

The net effect of the changes in the grant system is that the Taxpayer, through the Exchequer, is to-day paying 55 per cent. of the sums expended by local authorities on elementary education, as compared with 46 per cent. in 1913/14. If the Exchequer share were reduced to the statutory obligation of 50 per cent. the saving to the Taxpayer in 1922/23 would be over £3,000,000.

4. Cost per Child.

The expenditure on Elementary Education in terms of cost per child is shown in following table :

Cost per unit of average attendance.

The salary bill is directly affected by each of the following factors:

(1.) The number of children and the manner in which they are distributed among the school buildings of different sizes.

(2.) The size of classes.

(3.) The salary scales.

We suggest that economies should be effected under the above headings in the following directions:

:

(1). (a.) Raising of the Lower Age Limit.

It has been submitted to us that when children who had not begun their school training until six years of age attain the schoolleaving age they do not show any appreciable difference in their attainments or knowledge from those who went to school at an earlier age. As reduction in numbers is one effective means of reducing the cost of teaching, we recommend the raising of the lower age limit to six years. This should be made compulsory and not left to local option, as divergency of practice would lead to dissatisfaction; moreover, we understand that outside London the Local Authorities would have little financial inducement to make this economy, and in some cases, owing to the complication of the grant system, it might be to their interest to have the children at school.

The estimated saving to the Taxpayer through the Exchequer in 1922/23 is £1,785,000.

(1.) (b.) Closing of Small Schools.

Under the present conditions many small schools are being maintained at an unduly high cost per pupil, and we suggest that unless steps are taken to reduce the cost of Education in these schools powers should be taken to withhold the grant in cases where the children can equally well be educated at less cost elsewhere. We are informed that a saving of £60,000 can be effected by closing schools below 100 pupils in London, and that an additional saving of £142,500 in salaries might be made in urban areas outside London. The larger proportion of such schools are in rural areas and further savings should be possible there, but no attempt has been made to estimate such savings.

(2.) Revision of the Standard of Staffing.

On an average over the whole country there were in June 1921 324 children to each teacher, which compares with 329 children to a teacher in 1913/14, and by itself involves an additional cost of £630,000.

We are informed that if the standard of staffing were revised in urban areas so that there were in future one teacher to each fifty pupils, the saving would be £8,282,000, of which £4,853,000 would accrue to the Taxpayer.

We suggest that a revision in the standard of staffing should be effected as rapidly as circumstances permit. Country districts present special difficulties in this matter, but there is wide field for economy in urban areas, where the average is very little higher than for the country as a whole.

(3.) Teachers' Salary Scales.

We were informed that the present scales were framed by the Burnham Committee, formed of representatives of the local authorities and of the teachers. The conclusions of the Committee are of direct importance to the Taxpayer, who bears from 50 per cent. to 60 per cent. of the increased salaries granted, as well as the whole of any consequential increase in pension charges.

Subsequent to the report of the Committee, the President of the Board of Education announced that the Government would pay grant on the basis of these scales where they were adopted by local authorities. Certain relatively minor changes as to the period over which the introduction of the scales should extend were made at the instance of the Government. The latest scales subject to certain provisions spreading over two years their application to existing teachers became operative from the 1st April last, but 35 per cent. of the local authorities have not as yet adopted them. It is therefore important to note that they are not universal in application, were not imposed by the Government, and that the local authorities pay what they think fit, subject to their not receiving grants in respect of salaries beyond the scales.

The bill for teachers' salaries is now more than two and a half times the pre-war figure. The Burnham Report provides that if the official figure of the cost of living rises to a higher level than 170 per cent. above pre-war costs, and remains there for six months, the scales shall be open to increase. It omits, however, any mention of reduction when cost of living falls. The index number at the date of the Burnham Report (September 1920) was 161, whilst it is now 103. Reductions on the ground of the falling cost of living have been accepted recently by most classes of the community and this process is continuing.

We see no way of making the reductions necessary in national expenditure without, among economies in many other directions, reducing the expenditure on elementary education. This can

only be done by raising the lower age limit by putting more pupils under one teacher and paying the teachers less, and we think the teachers and Education Authorities should be asked to face this fact.

6. Summary Elementary Education.

Before completing our review of the Estimates for Elementary Education it is necessary to consider expenditure on it as a whole. The estimates of the Board under this heading, viz., £36,723,000, are based on an anticipated expenditure by Local Education Authorities of £66,875,000, details of which are as under

Having regard to our recommendations in the preceding section as to staffing, remuneration, raising the lower age limit and closing certain small schools, we consider that this item of expenditure can be kept within a figure of £36,000,000 instead of the £45,000,000 foreshadowed above.

Loan Charges.

No saving can be effected on Loan Charges. Special Services.

The expenditure per child has increased from 3s. 6d. in 1913/14 to 14s. 6d. as the forecast for 1922/23. The total expenditure grown in recent years as follows:

has