recommendations to Congress. All signs indicate that this treadmill of annual salary adjustments for teachers will continue.

In the Washington Metropolitan Area the District now ranks in fifth place for the 1967-68 school year. This is not an advantageous position for the District to be in if it is to abide by its salary policy.

B. Trends in major city school systems

The median starting salaries in 1967-68 for teachers in large city school systems (generally over 500,000 population) increased more than percent over the previous year. The average increase for these 20 cities (excluding the District of Columbia) was 9.1 percent for the 1967-68 school year over the previous year. It is interesting to note that fifteen of these school systems, or 75 percent, placed increases into effect in 1965–66, and eighteen of the same twenty, or 90 percent, raised teachers' salaries in 1966-67. The annual salary cycle noted in the local Metropolitan area is taking place in the city school systems which the District traditionally uses for comparative purposes.

A continued upward thrust in salary levels for teachers is quite predictable, especially in the light of increased activity in teacher unionization. As a result, teachers are more prone than in the past to take concerted action to press their demands. The catalyst for the exercise of increased organized pressure has been the receptivity of Boards of Education and public officials to determine wages through collective bargaining. This pressure is quite evident by the recent increases given teachers in New York and Detroit. Both contracts provide for increases over the next two school years.

At the present time, in comparison with the twenty other cities over 500,000 population, the District ranks in 15th place for beginning teachers. This is an extremely undesirable position to be in and it leaves little hope of recruiting the District's share of qualified teachers in this highly competitive labor market. The District will aso have a difficult time in meeting its second policy guide that the district should be in a favorable competitive position wth the 20 other cities over 500.000 population.

C. Trends in beginning salaries paid by private industry

Frank S. Endicott, in his 21st annual report entitled Trends in Employment of College and University Graduates in Business and Industry, notes that. in addition to federal, state, county, and local government needs for new college talent, there is very great demand in 1967 by private industry for new college graduates. This same market for women college graduates has increased 21 percent over 1966.

Table 2 indicates the average annual starting salaries for men and women graduates in various fields. It should be noted that some of these fields can and do attract graduates in education who qualify in chemistry, mathematics, and other technological subjects.

Based on "Trends in Employment of College and University Graduates in Business and Industry" by Frank S. Endicott, December 1966.

* Based on 1966 salaries since companies recruit women individually through direct application and projections cannot be made as in the case of men.

The College Placement Council (a highly computerized service) indicates even higher salary levels for these curriculum fields. The levels for all technical fields average 7.5 percent over 1966, while for all nontechnical fields they average 8.3 percent over 1966.

As can be seen from Table 2, private industry can be very attractive from a monetary standpoint to technically trained graduates who are also in a shortage category in the teaching field.

IV. PROPOSED SALARY ADJUSTMENT FOR DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA TEACHERS AND SCHOOL OFFICERS

A review of the information contained in the first part of this study indicates that the trend in teachers' salary levels has changed rather significantly in the surrounding school jurisdictions as well as in the other major cities over 500,000 populations. If the District is to abide by its salary policy, then a salary increase of approximately 8 percent seems justified and highly desirable.

The impact of this increase on the salaries of teachers and school officers is indicated below:

A. Salary increases for classroom teachers—salary class 15.

An increase of approximately 8 percent would change the current salary ranges for teachers in the following manner:

The most vigorous competition for the recruitment of new teachers and the retention of experienced teachers comes from the six surrounding school jurisdictions. The District, like many urban centers, must compete for teachers with its more affluent neighbors, who pay higher, or at least comparable salaries, have less difficult teaching problems, and generally have newer school buildings.

Although numbers and quality of teachers are particularly critical issues, their shortage can never be adequately alleviated if teaching continues to be an unattractive career for those individuals with the high qualities of mind and character needed in the profession.

Charts 1 and 2 illustrate graphically how the District competes with the surrounding school jurisdictions at the minimum and maximum salary levels for bachelor and master degrees. Without an increase for the 1967-68 school year, the District lost the favorable position it held during the 1966-67 school year, as illustrated in Table 3.

TABLE 3. RANKING OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA WITH 6 AREA SCHOOL SYSTEMS FOR MINIMUM SALARIES PAID CLASSROOM TEACHERS

Without a change, as indicated in Column 2 of Table 3, the District has lost its salary advantage and has gone into the 1967-68 school year in very poor competitive position. However, as shown in Column 3, the District would retain its first place position for the BA and MA minimum salaries paid teachers and be in 2nd place for MA plus 30 and MA plus 60 levels, respectively.

A comparison of the District's position at the maximum levels is indicated by Charts 1 and 2 and Table 4 below.

TABLE 4.-RANKING OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA WITH 6 AREA SCHOOL SYSTEMS FOR MAXIMUM SALARIES PAID

2. Salary comparisons-major city school systems. It has been the District Government's policy that District Public School teachers' salaries should be competitive with the 20 cities over 500,000 population. Charts 3A through 4B provide a comprehensive comparison with these 20 cities for both minimum and maximum salaries paid at the various academic preparation levels.

Table 5, below, summarizes the District's position, related on the basis of the 1967-68 school year salaries.

TABLE 5.-RANKING OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA WITH 20 CITIES OVER 500,000 POPULATION FOR MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM SALARIES PAID CLASSROOM TEACHERS, 1967-68

At the end of the 1966-67 school year, the relative position of the District was near the median or middle for many of the educational levels. However, as noted in columns (1) and (2) of Table 5, as the large city school systems adjust salaries, the District finds itself in an extremely disadvantageous position as it drops below the median, especially for minimum salaries paid.

Purely from a recruiting standpoint, the District cannot afford to be in a position as low as 15th place, since it is competing with many other school systems for a limited supply of quality college graduates. During the 1966-67 school year, D.C. Public School recruiting teams visited approximately 80 colleges and universities as far west as Lincoln, Nebraska. Many other school systems (including high-paying suburban systems) were also recruiting at the same time. A salary which is not fully competitive makes the job of recruiting even more difficult. Chart 5 illustrates the salaries offered June 1967 college graduates in selected jobs compared to the average starting salaries for teachers.

The graphic charts (3A through 4B) indicate that if salaries were adjusted as proposed, the District's competitive position, although good nationally, would generally be excellent with respect to the large cities on the east coast.

Therefore, the attached proposed legislation increasing teachers salaries 8.3 percent not only seems highly justified but also highly desirable.

B. Salary increases for school officers—salary classes 2 through 14

Accepted practice has been to develop the remainder of the salary schedule for school officers by establishing relationships between salaries of teachers and salaries of certain "benchmark positions" (i.e., key positions used for comparison purposes) which are found in school systems in other large cities. These ratio, or index, differentials form the basis for maintaining the proper class relationships. Table 6. below, indicates this relationship for certain selected key jobs in the school system.

TABLE 6.-INDEX RELATIONSHIP OF PROPOSED MAXIMUM SALARIES FOR KEY JOBS AS A PERCENTAGE OF SALARY STEP 13 FOR CLASSROOM TEACHERS WITH A MASTER'S DEGREE

Note: Since the establishment of the school officer levels is based on a rational index relationship above the teachers' level at class 15, it is recommended that the rates for such officers in the draft legislation be approved. Slightly more than 29 percent of school systems with enrollments of 100,000 or more derived their salary schedules on an index or ratio basis in 1966-67.

C. Salary for the Superintendent of Schools

For a number of years the Board of Commissioners has approved and supported higher salary levels for the Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent. In doing so, the Commissioners have recommended a salary level for the Superintendent higher than their own. Congress, however, has been reluctant to provide a higher salary for the Superintendent than that received by the Commissioners, and therefore, no salary increase was given either the Superintendent or Deputy Superintendent by Congress in 1966. The Superintendent's salary has not been adjusted since 1964.

I also take the position that the Superintendent's salary is too low in comparison with his responsibilities. I am informed that the salary presently authorized for the Superintendent of Schools of the District of Columbia ranks in a tie for 18th place with the 20 other cities over 500,000 population and fourth with the six other local school systems. This certainly does not correlate with either the size of the system or its problems. Accordingly, I vigorously support the $31,000 salary recommended in the draft legislation.

A survey recently conducted by the D.C. Personnel Office has disclosed that 14, or 70 percent, of the major cities pay the Superintendent of Schools a higher salary than they pay their mayor or city manager, as the case may be, which indicates that it is not unusual for the Superintendent to receive a higher salary than the top administrative position in a city (Reference Chart 6).

For the school year 1966-67 the average salary paid superintendents in systems with enrollments of 25,000 or more was $25,151. This indicates the need for a salary increase for the D.C. Superintendent of Schools when it is considered that the enrollment in the District is approximately 149,000. I find it of interest to note that the lowest salary paid a superintendent by any one of the 20 other cities over 500,000 population was the $25,000 paid by San Antonio and St. Louis whose enrollments are substantially below the District's (i.e., 76,000 and 115,000, respectively).

The proposed salary level of $31,000 for the Superintendent would rank the position in thirteenth place nationally and second place locally, but continue to be below the median of $32,500.

V. PROPOSED AMENDMENTS OTHER THAN SALARY

A. Removal of teacher-aide limitations

Section 202 (4) of Public Law 89-810, approved November 13, 1966, added a section 5(c) to the District of Columbia Teachers' Salary Act of 1955, authorizing the position of teacher-aide (noninstructional) to be established at a grade not higher than GS-4, requiring that the minimum qualification for appointment to this position shall be the successful completion of at least 60 semester hours from a recognized institution of higher learning, and providing that the number of teacher-aides shall at no time "exceed 5% of the number of classroom teachers in salary class 15" under the Teachers' Salary Act or any other act.

The proposed legislation amends such section 5(c) by allowing either 60 semester hours "or the equivalence thereof" as satisfaction of the educational requirement for teacher-aides. The National Education Association reports that approximately two-thirds of the systems using paid teacher-aides require at least a high school education, although some have no educational requirements, and

others require a college degree. Table 7 indicates educational requirements of teacher-aides in 217 systems with 12,000 or more enrollment.

TABLE 7.-EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR PAID TEACHER AIDES IN 217 SCHOOL SYSTEMS WITH 12,000 OR MORE ENROLLMENT, 1966-67

Currently, approximately 311 teacher-aides are employed in the D.C. Public School System. These individuals were employed prior to the passage of Public Law 89-810, and paid from funds authorized by other legislation. The requirement of 60 semester hours has necessitated the reduction in grade of teacheraides, who although having experience, do not have the educational attainment. The amendment would allow equivalent experience as qualifying in the same manner as other GS-4's qualify under the Classification Act.

The amendment in the proposed legislation would also eliminate the 5 percent limitation on the number of teacher-aide positions allowed to be established by the D.C. Public School System. This restriction has seriously curtailed the program, since funds from many sources such as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, are available and cannot be used. Table 8 provides a summary of fund sources for teacher-aide programs in other school systems. TABLE 8.-SOURCES OF FUNDS FOR TEACHER AIDE PROGRAMS, 1965-66, SCHOOL SYSTEMS ENROLLING 12,000 OR MORE PUPILS

The teacher-aide program can only be effective if it can give teachers more time for teaching. This concept has been well explained in the Title I Model School Proposal in the following manner:

Teachers who are overburdened with the extraordinary range of tasks demanded of them are not in a position to meet the many instructual and develpmental needs of deprived children. It is therefore essential to offer these teachers some help, so as to free them to use the talents and insights they possess. . . . If the children have the chance to relate to more than one adult in a classroom, and if they have available to them the attentions of more than one adult, it stands to reason that they will receive more highly individualized instruction.

I am informed that the proposed amendment of section 5(c) of the Teachers' Salary Act of 1955 will materially enhance the teacher-aide program in the D.C. Public School System.

B. Service step assignment

An amendment of section 7(a) of the Teachers' Salary Act of 1955 is being requested in order that those persons in positions in Class 15, appointed from outside the D.C. Public School System, such as librarians and counselors, can be given experience credit for educational experience other than as librarians or counselors.

There is already interchangeability within Class 15 positions for those appointed from within the D.C. Public School System.