"The 17th section of the amended charter of 1853 declares, that "the Board of Education shall submit all appropriations required by them to the Commissioners named in the preceeding section," as before enumerated. The Board of Commissioners regard this section as requiring from the Board of Education a statement of the appropriations needed to make up deficiencies in the expenditures of the year 1854, as well as for the current expenses of 1855. "The Board have been furnished with a printed statement of au application to the Common Council, by the Clerk, on a call from the Comptroller to know whether the estimate placed in his hands, to be laid before the Commissioners, embraced the deficiencies of 1854, as well as the sums required for 1855. To this the Clerk answered that it did not include a sum of $198,091 96, required to make up a deficiency in the expendi tures of 1854. "The Commissioners will consider the two statements as making up the appropriation which, by the charter, they are requir ed to take into consideration. "The estimated appropriation for the year 1855, as giveu in the report prepared for the Board of Supervisors, amounts to..... "The deficiency of 1854, as shown in the Report to the Common Čouncil, is. The total sum required, is . . . . $986,010 00 198,091 96 $1,184,101 96 "The Report of the Board of Education refers to several laws under which various sums were raised for school purposes, without a direct call from their Board; and it is added, that the sum of $131,808 48, is apportioned from the Common School Fund of the State, by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. It should not be overlooked, however, that the school fund, separate from the amount derived from a direct annual tax on property, yields to this city. only the sum of thirty-five thousand dollars. "In considering this question in regard to the connection with the taxation of the city, we cannot overlook the fact, that whilst the sum of $131,808 48, is apportioned to the city from the State Treasury, the city is called on annually for the sum of $225,000, which must be raised by tax, and paid over, before the city can have the benefit of the $131,808 48, referred to. This latter sum, it is true, is received by the Chamberlain from the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and paid over to the Board of Education; but the city pays in direct taxes to get this sum, ninety-three thousand dollars more than the Board of Education gets from the State, as the distributive share of the city. "In this view of the matter, the case stands thus:-According te the estimate of the Board of Education, there must be put in the tax levy of 1855, if we include the deficiency of 1854, and deduct $35,000 derived from the school fund proper, the total sum of..... $1,149,101 96 "If we take the estimate of the last year. $633,000, and deduct $35,000, it leaves... "Showing an increase in one year of.... 598,000 00 $551,101 96 "This is an increase, in a single year, of more than ninety-two per cent. The Board of Commissioners consider, that in returning this Report to the Board of Education, for their reconsideration, and for a reduction of this increase, they are doing an act of simple justice to the tax-payers, and recommending a measure not in-. consistent with the prosperity and permanent welfare of the Schools. "It is assumed that the deficiency for 1854, being for liabilities incurred, must be paid as soon as the forms of law will enable the agents of the city government to obtain the money. "The Board, therefore, have confined their objections to sundry items in the estimate of 1855, by which they suppose that the increase of $551,000 may be divided between the years 1855 and 1856, without material detriment to the cause of Common School Instruction. "The Board of Commissioners, for reasons before given, object to the following items: 1. The sum required for two sites for School-Houses.. $31,000 2. The item for two School-Houses; one in the 15th Ward, and the other in the 22d Ward, amounting to..... 60,000 3. The item of $35,000 for a School-House in the 8th Ward 35,000 4. The item of $20,000 for extending Primary Schools 5. The item of $60,000 for furnishing the above houses 20,000 60,000 6. The item of $42,000 for rebuilding house in Hous ton street.... 42,000 7. The item of 10,000 for putting an additional story on School-House No. 7, in the 10th Ward.... 8. The item of $14,000 for adding wings to houses in the 7th Ward... 10,000 14,000 Total. $272,000 "The Board of Commissioners do not interpose any objections to the various items amounting to an aggregate of $198,000, which was appropriated by the present Board, after the Common Council and the Legislature had acted on the estimate made for the year 1854, and had made provision for the whole sum which the Board of Education deemed necessary for the service of the year. But they most respectfully invite the consideration of the Board to the disappointments to individuals, and the embarrassments to the City Government, growing out of a departure from the necessary rule of confining the expendi tures of the year to the estimates and appropriations for that year. Extraordinary cases make an exception to all rules; but in ordinary cases, when it becomes necessary to increase salaries, or make other allowances affecting the interests of large num bers of individuals, it would be best for all concerned that the allowance should be made at a time when the appropriation and the payment can be simultaneous with the change. If the Trustees of the Wards, who fix the salaries of teachers, had made application to the Board of Education to add sixty thousand dollars to the estimate of 1853, and if authority had been obtained from the last Legislature to place that sum in the tax levy of 1854, the teachers would have been regularly paid, and they, as well as the public agents, would have been saved from disappointment on the one hand, and perplexity on the other. "All which is respectfully submitted— "A. C. FLAGG, Comptroller. the Board of Aldermen. E. J. BROWN, President of the "NEW YORK, Nov. 20, 1854." and to said communication, the Board of Education, on the 29th day of November, made the reply which constitutes No. 40 of the printed documents of the Board. All which is respectfully submitted. THIRTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF NEW YORK. FOR THE YEAR ENDING JANUARY 1, 1855. NEW YORK: WM. C. BRYANT & CO., PRINTERS, 41 NASSAU STREET, COR. LIBERTY. No. 49. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, STATE OF NEW YORK. BOARD OF EDUCATION. CITY OF NEW YORK, DECEMBER 29, 1854. MR. SWEENY presented (on behalf of the Chairman, who was absent on account of sickness,) the following Report of the Committee to prepare the Annual Report of the Board. Ordered: That said Report be adopted, and five thousand copies printed. ALBERT GILBERT, Clerk. TO THE BOARD OF EDUCATION: The Committee, whose duty it is as prescribed by the By-Laws, to prepare the Annual Report of the Board, submit the fol lowing for its consideration, and recommend that it be adopt ed, and copies thereof, duly authenticated, transmitted to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and to the Clerk of the City and County of New York. WILLIAM ROCKWELL, JAY JARVIS, WILLIAM P. COOLEDGE, SAMUEL A. HILLS, NEW YORK, Dec. 29, 1854. Committee. |