In conclusion it may be said that despite certain defects, the new method of apportionment is not only much superior to the method Illinois has heretofore employed, but is so superior to the methods employed in the great majority of our states that the outcome will be watched with great interest by all students of school finance.

We have now concluded our description of the various sources from which Illinois derives the moneys for her common schools, and the manner in which she apportions these moneys. This concludes our description of her system of school finance. We are now ready to ask, what are the merits and what the defects of this system? The answer to these questions will be considered under three divisions: (1) the aim of public support of schools; (2) the results of the Illinois system of financing schools; (3) needs and recommendations. The consideration of these questions forms the content of the following chapter.

CHAPTER VI

RESULTS OF THE PRESENT SYSTEM

TENDENCIES INEQUALITIES-RECOMMENDATIONS

Growth in school costs.-One of the most commonly commented upon tendencies in connection with the financing of public schools today is the vast increase in school attendance and school costs. Illinois is no exception to the general rule. During the decade 1911-21, Illinois' elementary school enrollment increased only 12.61 per cent, but high school enrollment increased 111.92 per cent, and the per capita current cost for all public schools increased 102.08 per cent.1 If a longer period be considered, the increase in costs is even more impressive. As shown in Table XXVI, Illinois' total expenditure for public schools amounted to $11,645,126 in 1890; in 1920, to $69,358,022, an increase of 495 per cent. Expenditure per child in average daily attendance in the year 1890 amounted to $21.63; in 1920, to $72.54, an increase of 235.4 per cent. It must not be forgotten that these large increases in school costs in Illinois as well as in other states are, to a large extent, due to the decrease in the purchasing power of the dollar, and to this extent are apparent rather than real. In view of the consideration given elsewhere to this and to other causes of growth in school costs, it has seemed unnecessary to discuss them in the present account.

The most recent year for which data for all the states in the Union are available at the present writing (August, 1924) is the year 1920. Table XXVI shows the growth in the total and per child annual public school expenditures in Illinois, compared with that of the United States as a whole, throughout a period of thirty years, 1890-1920. Figure I presents the same facts graphically.

From Table XXVI we see that whereas Illinois' total expenditure for public schools increased approximately 500 per cent from 1890 to 1920, that of the United States as a whole increased 637 per cent. Again, whereas Illinois' expenditure per child in average daily attendance increased 235 per cent from 1890 to 1920, that of the United States as a whole increased approximately 273 per cent. These facts taken by themselves are very misleading, for, in 1890, Illinois was spending $4 and, in 1920, $8 more per child in average daily attendance than the United States as a whole. It must be borne in mind, however, that in computing the average for the

1 Illinois School Report, 1920-22, pp. 81-82.

2 For a discussion of causes of increase in school costs see F. H. Swift, Biennial Survey of Public School Finance in the United States, 1920-22, Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1923, No. 47; also, Research Bulletin of the National Education Association 1, No. 2.

United States as a whole, we are including 25 states whose estimated true wealth per child is less than $7000, whereas that of Illinois exceeds $10,000. It will be much more pertinent to the question before us to ascertain the character of the educational results which Illinois is achieving, and to compare her rank in expenditure with her rank in income and wealth.

TABLE XXVI

GROWTH IN ILLINOIS ANNUAL EXPENDITURE FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS COMPARED WITH THAT OF THE UNITED STATES AS A WHOLE, 1890-1920

II. TOTAL EXPENDITURE PER CHILD IN AVERAGE DAILY ATTENDANCE

637.44 495.6

Per Cent of

Increase 1920 Over 1890b

e Report of the Commissioner of Education, 1905, Vol. I, pp. 412, 414, 415.

a Ibid., 1889-90, Vol. I, p. 31, column 9.

• Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1922, No. 29, p. 42, column 6.

Ibid., p. 44.

Sum of columns 12 and 13.

In 1920, in Illinois, only 76 (75.8) children out of every 100 of school age (5 to 18 years) were attending school, and in this respect Illinois was out-ranked by twenty-eight states in the Union. In the same year, 59 per cent of the teachers in Illinois were without adequate training, and in this respect the state ranked twenty-fifth in the Union. The median salary of teachers in one-room schools was $781 and the state's rank twentyfourth. Contrast with these facts just presented two others, namely, that in 1920 the estimated true wealth back of each child of school age (5 to 20 years) in Illinois, was $10,319 and the income (1919) $2631 per child; that in the former respect Illinois ranked tenth and in the latter respect

& Research Bulletin of the National Education Association 1, No. 1, January, 1923, p. 17, Table 4.

Ibid., p. 35, Table 16. The actual per cent was 24.2.

Ibid., p. 43, Table 20.

Ibid., p. 45, Table 21.

3

ninth in the Union. In Chapter I, Table II, it was pointed out that Illinois is out-ranked by 22 states in expenditure per child enrolled, and by 35 states in expenditure for public schools on each $1000 of estimated true taxable wealth. Not only is Illinois failing in her expenditures for public schools to measure up to her ability, but the result of her present

INCREASE IN TOTAL PUBLIC SCHOOL EXPENDITURE IN ILLINOIS COMPARED WITH THAT OF THE UNITED STATES AS A WHOLE 1890-1920

INCREASE IN TOTAL PUBLIC SCHOOL EXPENDITURE PER CHILD
IN AVERAGE DAILY ATTENDANCE IN ILLINOIS

COMPARED WITH THAT OF THE UNITED STATES AS A WHOLE

1890-1920 $40

$28

$64

$73

United States

Figure 1

Illinois

system is the creation and perpetuation of flagrant and disastrous inequalities in educational opportunity. These inequalities in educational opportunity are exaggerated by a defective system of school support, which results in inequalities in the division of the school burden among school districts and inequalities in the aid received by such districts from the

state.

INEQUALITIES IN EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY

There are probably no better indices of the character of the educational opportunity being offered to the children of a state than the amount of schooling being received and the type of teacher employed. The saying, "As is the teacher so is the school," is as true as it is old. Admitting certain exceptions, we may nevertheless assert that, in general, the training and the efficiency of teachers employed will be directly proportional to the salaries paid. Again, if, taking the various counties of the state, we find wide variations in the average number of days each pupil attended school, it will be evident that the educational opportunities are proportionately unequal. Table XXVII shows for the year 1919-20 the range in the average annual salary, and in the average number of days each pupil attended school in the 102 counties of Illinois.

From Table XXVII we see that the average number of days each pupil attended school in the year 1920 varied all the way from 74 days in Hardin County to 169 in Putnam County. The median school year of attendance