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14
"That taking England and Wales together, the charge upon the
Ratepayers in respect of maintenance of Board Schools, i.e., salaries
of teachers, books, repairs of furniture and buildings, light and
warming, fell from 16s. 11¼d. per scholar in 1881 to 16s. 1d. in 1883.
The cost of School maintenance in the London Board Schools has, on
the contrary, increased, and is estimated for the year 1885 (after
allowing for School Fees, Government Grants, &c.) at £561,505 0s. 1d.
which, divided among the 312,671 scholars estimated to be in average
attendance, gives £1 15s. 11d. per scholar, or more than double the
average of all Board Schools in England and Wales (including
London). The question of the cost of sites and buildings does not enter
into consideration here, these figures relating to maintenance alone.
Ln 1883 the proportion of the cost of School maintenance borne by the
ratepayers of London was £1 10s. 7½d., while the ratepayers of
England outside London contributed 11s. 10d. only, or a little more
than one-third. The average of 16s. 1d. above given is thus largely
increased by the heavy expenditure in London.
"That according to the Report of the Committee of Council on
Education for the year 1883-4 the average expenditure for salaries
in Voluntary Schools for England and Wales was £1 7s. 3d., or
taking London alone, £1 10s. 2¾d. The expenditure for salaries in
Board Schools for the same period averaged £1 12s. 0½d. for the whole
of England and Wales, but reached £2 3s. 0¼d. in London. The
latter is nearly 13s. per scholar more than the expenditure in
Voluntary Schools in London, and represents an annual additional
charge upon the ratepayers of more than £200,000, or a rate of
nearly 1¾d. in the pound.
" That according to the published accounts of the Board for the two
half-years ended the 25th March and 29th September, 1873, the annual
cost of salaries of teachers was then at the rate of £1 4s. 3d. per
scholar. The estimates of the Board for 1885 place this charge at
£2 3s. per scholar for head and assistant teachers, and 3s. 1d. for
pupil teachers, making a total of £2 6s. 1d., or an increase of
£1 1s. 10d. per scholar under this head alone. Taking the number
of scholars to be provided for at 312,671, this increase in the cost of
the teaching staff represents an addition of £342,332 10s. 2d. to the
rates.