At the present time we are of course trying to attract capable young teachers to the elementary schools on the basis of a $1,900 minimum which has been boosted to $2,350 by a temporary increase, and of course we are not attracting them; so obviously this step is in the right direction in increasing that minimum salary.

It begins to approach the minimum salary for professional work in the Government which is $2,645. Naturally, on the other side, anything we do in this bill to retain the experienced teacher is going to offer more opportunity to the new teacher, and be an attraction to that teacher.

The Board of Education proposals also provide higher maximum salaries. Under the present salary schedule, including the temporary increase, the experienced teacher in the elementary school can reach a salary of $3,350 after 10 years of teaching. That means at the age of approximately 32.

The average college graduate is about 22 years old. So at 32 the teacher has reached a normal maximum under the present salary.

The teacher could then go into this supermaximum 1B classification and reach a salary of $3,750 at the age of about 36. Under the present bill the teacher would remain at this salary for 34 years until the compulsory retirement age is reached.

This is a hard thing for young women to face and particularly for young men to face. We, as a result, have only a handful of young men in our elementary schools. We have 9 in the divisions 1 to 9. That number out of 170 teachers.

Mr. BATES. How do you set it up for reference purposes?

Mr. TAYLOR. Divisions 0 to 9 are the white and 10 to 13 are the colored.

In the Division, we have approximately 870 teachers in the divisions 0 to 9, and of those 9 are men.

The normal expectancy of a salary to support dependents, have a home, and have a little money for future education, and perhaps a little for savings just is not there under the present salary schedule. We certainly recognize that our children need teachers that lead well-rounded lives, but our salary situation does not recognize this. His $1,088 proposes the teacher reach a maximum of $4,700 at the end of 22 years, during which time the teacher will acquire a master's degree, and be superior, and also over the period of 22 years, as has been brought out, pass an efficiency rating each year. This is an improvement, but it is a long grind from $4,500 to $4,700, in the course of 22 years.

Mr. BATES. Let me understand a little more clearly. Your elementary school teachers have four classifications. To qualify they must have a bachelor's degree, and then the 1B, bachelor of science and superior ability.

When do they get the benefit of that superior ability, at the end of the 10-year increment period?

Mr. TAYLOR. Under the new bill it would be 12 years. You would run from $2,500 to $3,700 as a 1A teacher and at that time you would submit your qualifications and go into the group B. Then you would go in through the four years of the group B and the conclusion of that the bill does provide you would jump C and go from B to D, providing you have the master's degree and qualify.

Mr. BATES. What do you mean by going through?

Mr. TAYLOR. You get the annual increments. Once you go into group B, you will get the thing. Then you would qualify for group D and go for four more increments to $4,700. That would require the master's degree to qualify for that latter qualification.

Mr. BATES. That would be 20 years before you reach $4,700 in the class 1D? That is if you jump class 1C?

Mr. TAYLOR. Yes, that is correct.

Mr. BATES. Twelve $100 increments, so that gives you 16 years? Mr. TAYLOR. I figure it works out more simply. You can only go in our school system at the rate of $100 a year. You must reach the maximum in one qualification before you can go to another. Therefore, from $2,500 to $4,700 will take you 22 years. You must serve 1 year at the minimum and then you have your 12 increments. It works out to 22 years.

Dr. CORNING. How do you get your 22?

Mr. TAYLOR. At $2,500, and going to $4,700.

Dr. CORNING. But if you get your master's degree earlier?

Mr. TAYLOR. You would have to get your master's degree within the first 5 years and the average teacher does not get the degree in less than 5 to 7 years. When you move over into another scale, it is not a promotion from 1A to 1C.

Mr. BATES. Do I understand from what you say, Mr. Taylor, to interject at this point, that a teacher who has a master's degree will have to wait until he has completed the 12 $100 increments?

Mr. TAYLOR. Your scales overlap to the extent that you can slide. In other words, a teacher with 7 years' experience and a bachelor's degree would earn $3,200. If she gets the master's degree, this master's degree qualification begins at $3,000, so all you do is slide over into that scale, and there is no provision for an increase in salary when you get the master's degree, it is an increase in attainable maximum, but not an increase immediately in salary.

You just slide over into a scale and keep on climbing at $100 a year. Mr. BATES. Have you any further explanation of that, Mr. Corning?

Dr. CORNING. The master's degree is recognized when it is attained, and at any point in the scale, wherever that teacher may happen to be, he would slide over, as Mr. Taylor expresses it, which is a good expression, into the master's degree scale.

I still cannot see the 22, or the 21 years that you have mentioned. Assuming that the teacher would continue to go on through into A with a bachelor's degree, it would take 12 years to get to the maximum of that group.

It would take 4 years to get to the maximum of the B group.

If at any point in that progress, the teacher got the master's degree, it would forthwith allow him to go to the master's degree scale which would cut down the number of years.

As Mr. Taylor indicated, he would not go into the new grade with loss of salary but if he is pretty high in the age scale, he would have fewer steps to do.

Mr. TAYLOR. That is correct; she would have fewer steps, but she would not be advanced any nearer to maximum by going over there. The maximum would be increased as the attainable maximum, but

you would not be any closer to it. The only thing you do by getting the master's degree is slide over onto a scale on which you could go

further.

We agree that that is a fine thing. We certainly agree, but I think Mr. Bates should understand that you cannot go at more than $100 a year from $2,500 to $4,700, and we are not proposing any increase in those increments at the time.

Mr. BATES. You agree, Mr. Corning, that you must go at $100 increments from $2,500, to $4,700, which is 22 years?

Dr. CORNING. No; I do not agree with that.

Mr. BATES. Let us have a little order here, please. I think we should have a clarification of that.

Mr. TAYLOR. If you did attain a master's degree within the first 5 years of your teaching you would slide over onto a scale at the minimum of $3.000. In other words, if you had been in 2 years and were earning $2,700 and got the master's degree, I assume you would go over to a 1C qualification, and pick up 3 years on the scale, but the average teacher does not get a master's degree in 2 years.

Dr. CORNING. I agree that your statement is right on that. Of course, I do not know who the average teacher is, but great numbers of them get their master's degree, be they average or otherwise. I should not be questioning this witness.

Mr. BATES. I think it is all right if we can understand what this

means.

Mr. HANSEN. It would be possible to get into this maximum class in 16 years, beginning at $3,000 now.

Mr. BATES. Let us set up a hypothetical case of a young man or young woman coming out of high school qualifying for the minimum salary of $2,500 and by industry and efficiency she acquires a master's degree in the very shortest period of time. What is the maximum number of years that she can possibly get the $1,700? There are 12 years of service involved there, of course?

Dr. CORNING. If she got the master's degree at the end of the first year, she would go immediately then to the $3,000. It would then take 16 years from that point to reach the top. It could take anywhere from 16 years to 22 years to do so.

Mr. TAYLOR. I would like to make this point, in view of that trend of thinking here, and that is in view of the first 5 years of teaching, I do not believe that the average teacher would carry the burden of teaching and the responsibility it entails to get a master's degree in a year.

That is a full year's work for a person who is not doing any job. Therefore, it usually spreads out. Naturally I do not know the average teacher, but I would say that the people who are in this room who have gotten master's degrees have gotten them over a period of years and certainly not within 1 or 2 years.

Mr. BATES. That may be the answer you have to that question, so it may develop, as you say, to 20 years, or 22 years.

Please proceed, Mr. Taylor. That is an interesting point.

Mr. TAYLOR. The other thing we are particularly interested in, is the fact that the proposal provides a $250 increase immediately. I believe that is the only aspect of the bill we could term that has any keeping with the cost-of-living increase. The other increases are permanent changes in the salary bill to better the status of the teacher.

The $450 increase in 1946 was temporary, but this increase was given at a time when all Federal employees and all District qualified employees and firemen and policemen received an increase, and it was recognized as a cost-of-living increase.

The present $250 additional increase does take cognizance of the fact that we were not in a very good position at that time.

The Board of Education proposals, fifthly, do provide placement credit for the teacher at the time of annual appointment. It is our belief that this provision is very wise, and we do have temporary teachers who have come in and stuck with the job over a period of years, but there is a certain element there that we are recognizing, the fact that we now have to encourage the teacher and retain her to fill the job of the permanent teacher that we could not retain.

We are only asking, of course, in all of this, for a sympathetic understanding of our problem, which seems to be one of wanting to teach children, prepared to teach them, and for many of us continually better preparing ourselves in spite of the fact that we have a salary schedule which has inequities, is not attracting teachers and fails to recognize the contribution we are making to education.

We feel that if these proposals are enacted many of these things will be taken care of. If we still fail to solve this problem, then we feel there are certain areas that need study, in the future, such areas as the increase and the increment and the addition of clarification and those things that have been brought up prior to this.

Mr. BATES. Thank you.

The next witness will be Mrs. Martha W. Scott, president of the Washington Junior High School Classroom Teachers' Association, divisions 10 to 13.

STATEMENT OF MRS. MARTHA W. SCOTT, PRESIDENT, WASHINGTON JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOM TEACHERS ASSOCIATION, DIVISIONS 10 TO 13

Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee, I am Mrs. Martha W. Scott, the president of the Washington Junior High School Classroom Teachers' Association of divisions 10-13 of the public schools of the District of Columbia.

This association has a membership of 230 teachers, and is a member of the Joint Legislative Council of Educational Organizations. Our association wishes to go on record as heartily endorsing the teachers' salary schedule which was presented by Superintendent Hobart M. Corning, and the members of the Board of Education to the joint committee, and which has been introduced as H. R. 2976 and S. 1088. Mr. BATES. Thank you very much.

The next witness will be Mrs. Anna B. Kenefick, president, Childhood Education Association.

STATEMENT OF MRS. ANNA B. KENEFICK, PRESIDENT,
CHILDHOOD EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

Mrs. KENEFICK. I did not come with a prepared report but I will read you a little bit, Congressman Bates, of the beginning of our organization.

At the time of the proposed salary legislation, due to the time element, it was impossible for us to hold a meeting so the best method we could follow was to have a poll of our executive board.

At that time, we polled the board and the majority of them approved of Dr. Cornings' proposed salary legislation with some qualifi

cations.

It was then decided we would poll our individual members, which we did, and in that poll, it showed a majority in favor of the proposed salary legislation which Dr. Corning had submitted.

Mr. BATES. Will you just give us a little history of the Childhood Education Association?

Mrrs. KENEFICK. Our Association for Childhood Education has really as its aim to promote good fellowship among all those interested in the education of children. That is international, too.

Therefore, of course perhaps a little money does help sometime with good fellowship, and that is why we are in on the legislative council, and as such we have representation to this organization.

We had 186 members. We now have an increased membership of 200. At that time, we had 186 members, and all were polled.

We had 115 returns, 55 approved unconditionally, and 48 approved with some qualifications. Three disapproved, and eight were confused in answering and those had to be thrown out from our poll, but we felt the majority had approved of Dr. Corning's proposal for salary legislation and adjustment.

Mr. BATES. Thank you, Mrs. Kenefick.

The next witness will be Miss Caroline B. Manns, president, Elementary Classroom Teachers Association, divisions 10 to 13.

STATEMENT OF MISS CAROLINE B. MANNS, PRESIDENT, ELEMENTARY CLASSROOM TEACHERS ASSOCIATION, DIVISIONS 10 TO 13

Miss MANNS. I am Miss Caroline B. Manns. My home address is 1119 Fairmont Street NW, Washington, D. C.

I am president of and am speaking for the Elementary Classroom Teachers Association, divisions 10 to 13, which has a membership of 580 teachers.

The association endorses the salary schedule submitted by the Board of Education to the House and Senate Committees on the District of Columbia now incorporated in H. R. 2976 and S. 1088.

I desire to direct the attention of the committee, first to the item in the bill providing for the single salary schedule; that is, equal pay for equal professional qualifications; for teachers in the elementary and secondary schools.

This provision, if established in law, will give recognition to the principle that teaching in elementary schools is of equal importance to teaching in secondary schools.

We, who are teaching in elementary schools, consider it manifestly unfair both to elementary teachers and to the children whom we teach that we should be discriminated against by being paid a lower salary simply because we teach the younger children, in spite of the fact that we possess professional qualifications equal to secondary school teachers.