The Coral Gables Times

Suburbia Today ROUND TABLE 2

HOW TO S-T-R-E-T-C-H YOUR EDUCATION DOLLARS

Rising school costs needn't box you in. A survey of suburbs from coast to coast uncovers new ways to hold costs down and still give our children a good education Edited by GEORGE FIELDING ELIOT Flexible classroom with room dividers and a variety of equipment can be used by large or small study groups—so expensive space isn't wasted. THE BIG SQUEEZE has caught virtually every suburban school district from coast to coast: More and more pupils must be taken in. Demands are being made for faster and better education. On the other hand, taxpayers are faced with rising costs of everything, from pieces of chalk to teachers' salaries. Are there any ways out? What can be done to stretch education dollars—without impairing education itself? SUBURBIA TODAY put these questions to local newspaper editors—and, through them, to school-board members and administrators. We asked how their towns were coping with the squeeze. Before we report on their answers—unexpectedly encouraging they were, too—bear in mind that the flight from the cities goes on and on, and by 1965 suburban public schools will have to find room for an estimated 700,000 to 750,000 additional pupils every year. It's not just a problem of continuing to find enough money to build more schoolhouses. It's even more a problem of getting the utmost in efficient service out of every cubic yard of space in every school building, old and new, and out of every capable teacher, the number of which is still not increasing in proportion to the need. Now let's look at some of the answers our respondents have found, or are seeking. First, finding money for new school buildings. We'll have to face it, the taxpayers are not always willing to meet the needs as set forth by the educators. In many parts of the country, bond elections are being turned down by school-district voters; thus Redwood City, Cal., reports that school boards are trying to get more effective use out of existing buildings because of denial of new ones. In Fayetteville, N.Y., a proposed $360,000 auditorium in a new high school was submitted to the voters as a separate item. They authorized the school but turned down the auditorium on the ground that two others already exist in the district. Fayetteville is, however, one of a number of communities—North, South, Midwest, and West—to adopt a plan that seems well fitted to the exploding suburb: the buying of school sites in advance of need, before land values go up with expanding residential development. Raytown, Mo., estimates savings of $150,000 to $200,000 on such long-range land purchases. Bellevue, Wash., says this is "the one practice which has resulted in the greatest economy ... in (our) school-building program"—in many instances school sites have been bought three or four years ahead of the time they were needed, at savings of 50%. Another interesting economy plan has been evolved in Mesquite, Tex., where the school district "has participated with the city of Mesquite in joint planning, acquiring, and developing of school-park sites," reducing total acreage needed for schools and parks if these were acquired separately. "The joint location permits park facilities to be used by pupils and school facilities (e.g., parking areas, rest rooms with outside doors) to be used by both adults and children using park facilities and recreation fields." EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES LABORATORIES, established by the Ford Foundation, reports that joint planning is becoming more common. They cite Plainview, in Nassau County, N.Y., where a new junior high school is to be built in the middle of town. By 1965, this location will also include a senior high school and probably a public library; there will be an auditorium-theater to be used for a civic theatrical and concert series (as well as school purposes), a home economics room for Girl Scouts and the 4-H Club, an industrial arts area for Boy Scouts and Explorer Scouts, an art room for adult art classes, pool and gymnasium for year-round teen-age and adult-recrea- Continued on page 18 Suburbia Today, May 1962 17