COST TO THE STATE FOR EDUCATION
VALUE OF THE PROPERTY USED FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE DEAF
The various provisions for the education of the deaf have now been
examined. There is to be considered but one question further. This is,
what is the cost of it all? In the present chapter we are to see if we
may not obtain some figures representing this cost to the state. First
we shall find what the plants, that is, the grounds and buildings in
actual use, are worth in dollars and cents.
Taking the nearest available statistics, which are those for the year
1912-1913, we have the plants of the institutions valued at
$16,856,338,[570] or, in round numbers, nearly seventeen million
dollars. In all the institutions there were in this year 11,894 pupils,
and we may thus calculate that there is property worth $1,414 for each
pupil. We do not know the full value of the property used in the day
schools and the denominational and private schools,[571] but this would
no doubt increase by some two million dollars the value of the property
employed in the instruction of the deaf. Hence we have something like
nineteen million dollars as the amount invested in plants for the
education of the deaf in the United States.
For new buildings, repairs, and general expenditures for lasting
improvements, so far as is reported, there was expended on institutions
$848,068 for the year 1912-1913, which may represent the yearly cost of
the upkeep of the institutions.[572] For the other schools we have few
figures, but they would add to this sum somewhat.
COST OF THE MAINTENANCE OF THE SCHOOLS
For the maintenance of the institutions for the year 1912-1913 there was
expended $3,297,440.[573] In forty-four, or about two-thirds, of the day
schools for the year 1911-1912 there was expended $182,710, and on the
basis of $120 as the average cost of the pupils in them, we have
$225,720 as the full cost of the support of the day schools. For five of
the private schools, the cost per pupil was $225, and assuming that this
will hold for all, we have $133,550 as the full cost of the support of
such schools, a part of course coming from tuition fees. Then our total
expenditures amount to $3,656,710,[574] or to over three and a half
million dollars, which represents the annual cost of the education of
the deaf in the United States.[575]
FORM OF PUBLIC APPROPRIATIONS
Save for certain endowment funds in a few institutions,[576] and for
limited donations in a small number of schools, all the means for the
support of the schools for the deaf, other than the private ones, come
from the public treasury. In some of the day schools there are municipal
subventions; in a few states the maintenance of certain pupils is paid
for by the counties from which they come;[577] and in the case of the
Columbia Institution at Washington support is received from the national
government.[578] With these exceptions, the entire maintenance of the
schools is undertaken by the legislatures of the respective states.[579]
Appropriations by the legislatures are usually made in lump sums.[580]
In the case of the semi-public institutions the allowances are upon a
_per capita_ basis, being from $260 to $357, but more often near $300.
In a few of the state schools appropriations are also based upon the
number of pupils, as in Alabama with $230 a year for each pupil, in
Kentucky with $150 a year, and in Iowa with $35 a quarter, the last two
states having additional annual grants. In the states in which pupils
are sent to schools outside, a sum of from $200 to $300 is allowed for
each pupil thus provided for. In a few cases funds are received from a
special tax assessment levied for the benefit of the school, as in
Colorado with a one-fifth mill tax on the assessed property valuation of
the state,[581] and in North Dakota with six per cent of one mill.
COST TO THE STATE FOR EACH PUPIL
The average cost for the support of the pupils in the institutions for
the year 1912-1913 was $277.23.[582] In few of the schools does the cost
go as low as $200, while in a number it is between $300 and $400. The
cost per pupil in the day schools averages, where known, $120.60;[583]
and in the private schools, where known, $225.33.[584] For pupils in the
common schools of the country, the average cost is $31.65.[585] Thus it
costs the state eight times as much to educate its deaf children in
institutions as it does its hearing children in the regular public
schools, and four times as much to educate them in day schools.
The education of the deaf, then, is not an inexpensive undertaking on
the part of the state. Because of the special arrangements necessary for
its accomplishment, it comes high, compared with the cost of education
in general. But considered merely as an investment, the outlay for this
instruction bears returns of a character surpassed in few other fields
of the state's endeavor.
FOOTNOTES:
[570] The figures in this chapter are for the most part from _Annals_
for January, 1914 (lix., pp. 26, 27), usually for the latest fiscal
year, these being supplemented in a few cases from the Report of the
United States Commissioner of Education for 1912 (ii., ch. xiii.). In
the institutions where there are departments both for the deaf and the
blind, we have ascertained the proportionate part for the deaf of the
entire institution. If no allowance is made for the blind in these, the
worth of all is $17,751,186, and the amount of property for each pupil
$1,492. For 1911-1912 the value of all was $16,454,798, or according to
the Report of the Commissioner of Education, $16,387,726. In this Report
the value of scientific apparatus, furniture, etc., is stated to be
$918,053.
[571] In most cases, as we have seen, the day schools are housed in
public school buildings, special establishments being provided only in a
few large cities. In the Report of the Commissioner of Education, the
property value of four day schools, two being large ones, is put at
$250,055, or $525 for each pupil; and if this be accepted as a measure,
the property value of all the day schools is $1,019,550. The property
value of seven denominational and private schools is likewise given as
$324,717, or $1,358 for each pupil; and if this is taken as a measure,
the property value of all is $865,404.
[572] In 1910-1911 this was $503,323, and in 1911-1912, $772,245. If
allowance be made for the dual schools, it is about ten per cent less.
In the Report of the United States Commissioner of Education it is
placed at $568,136 for 1911-1912.
[573] With no allowance for the dual schools, this is $3,423,126. In the
Report of the Commissioner of Education it is $3,285,099, for all but
six institutions.
[574] At the Conference of Charities and Corrections in 1906 this was
estimated to be $3,200,000. Proceedings, p. 249.
[575] For tables as to the cost of the support of the schools, see
Appendix B.
[576] These endowment funds are found for the most part only in certain
of the semi-public institutions, and in a few state schools which have
received land from the federal government. In the Report of the
Commissioner of Education the amount of productive funds in thirteen
states for 1911-1912 is given as $3,372,565, as follows: Maine, $2,000;
Massachusetts, $193,674 (in 1910-1911, $369,723); Connecticut, $403,000;
New York, $1,002,633; Pennsylvania, $373,758; Maryland, $4,500; District
of Columbia, $11,000; Kentucky, $9,000; North Dakota, $600,000; South
Dakota, $400,000; Montana, $160,000; Utah, $160,000; California,
$53,000. Thus practically two-fifths belongs in the states of
Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania, nearly one-third
being in New York alone; while a little under two-fifths belongs in
North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Utah.
[577] This is especially true of New York, where the counties pay the
entire amount up to the age of twelve, and after that the state.
[578] In this connection it may be noted that Congress has been asked to
grant $100,000 to "encourage the establishment of homes in the states
and territories for teaching articulate speech and vocal language to
deaf children before they are of school age". Teachers are to be trained
for this purpose, and pupils are to enter at two years of age and remain
till the regular school age. See Report of Pennsylvania Home for
Training in Speech of Deaf Children, 1904, p. 5; Proceedings of
Conference of National Association for the Study and Education of
Exceptional Children, 1911, p. 64.
[579] Charges for clothing and transportation of indigent pupils are as
a usual thing paid for by the county, though this is assumed by some
states. Often a given sum, as thirty dollars, is allowed for clothing,
or the actual cost thereof is collected from the county. This is done
through the proper administrative offices of the county, there being
also some judicial procedure, as where the county judge or similar
official certifies by proof. The school is then reimbursed for the
expenditures it may have made. Some such procedure is quite general,
especially in the South and West, though in a few states, as Vermont and
New Jersey, the town or township, where this is the political division,
plays a similar part. In Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, Louisiana,
California, Nevada, and possibly other states, these charges are paid by
the state. In Maryland they may be paid by the county, city or state.
[580] It happens sometimes that legislatures are inclined to reduce the
appropriations to as low a sum as possible, and superintendents may
receive commendation for efforts to cut down expenditures. There is
danger, however, that such a policy may be carried to a point where
efficiency is sacrificed to seeming economy. On the question of cost,
see Report of Mississippi School, 1909, p. 11; Iowa Bulletin of State
Institutions, June, 1907, ix., 3; Ohio Bulletin of Charities and
Corrections, Nov., 1907, xiii., 4.
[581] On the value of this tax, see Report of Colorado School, 1896, p.
22.
[582] In 1907-1908 this was $257.02; in 1909-1910, $253.92; in
1910-1911, $259.63; and in 1911-1912, $262.71. Without allowance for the
blind in the dual schools, the amount in 1912-1913 is $289.60. According
to the Report of the Commissioner of Education, the average cost is
$303.58. It may be noted in this connection that the _per capita_ cost
for the blind in schools is more than that for the deaf, being $359.
[583] In 1910-1911 this was $130.28.
[584] In 1910-1911 this was $264.06.
[585] Report of Commissioner of Education for 1909-1910. The figures for
subsequent years have reference rather to average attendance.