Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 28 April 1939 — Page 7

"FRIDAY, APRIL 28 1089

TOLD TO WATCH U. S. BIRTH RATE

There Will Be Empty Rooms By 1955, Resources Committee Warns.

The Wational Resources Committee today warned Indianapolis and other cities against continuing present school building programs. The Federally sponsored agency predicted that the rapidly decreas ing birth rate will make many school buildings unnecessary within 10 or 15 years. Urging “more research on school needs in relation to population trends,” the ‘Committee said that the national birth rate has been declining steadily since immediately after the World War and that there are more than a million empty desks in elementary schools ‘this year. Population trends can give aid in shaping curricula and planning teacher training as well as in the development of school building programs, the agency reported.

Room for 600 More

At present Indianapolis has underway an estimated $1,250,000 building program which will increase the pupil capacity by more than 600. Four nhew grade schools and additions to Broad Ripple and Technical high schools are under construction. While the majority of the new buildings will be purely Treplacements of antiquated structures, the seating capacity will be increased to some extent, according to A. B. Good, school business director. “Indianapolis still has some portable schools that must be replaced,” he said. “If this prediction of the Committee is true, we may have empty rooms in some schools but not unnecessary buildings because our schools are not built too close together. With the exception of some South Side sections, almost all schools are a mile apart.” 298 Less in First Grade

The school-age population decrease already has been evidenced in Indianapolis. The January, 1939, report of the Public School system points out enrollment in the first grade dropped 298 pupils between 1925 and 1938, the second grade showed & 142 decrease, while the third grade gained slightly and the fourth grade reflected a drop. Mr. Good said that the Indianapolis school population had decreased about on an average of 10 pupils each for the 86 schools in the last several years. This would average, he said, about one pupil per grade. He pointed out that school populations fluctuate in about 30-year cycles. This postwar peak in the birth rate has completely destroyed the orderly ratio of pupils in the public schools, according to the Resources ‘Committee. The United States Bureau of Education estimates & peak high school enrollment of 6,135,000 for this and last year, then a steady decline up to and through the colleges and universities. Cleveland. another midwest city faced with the same problem, has already reduced its teaching staff by about 600 and elementary grade textbooks and other school supplies are in less demand than formerly.

Schools Overcrowded Now

While national population has been approximately stationary because as the birth rate has fallen the death rate has also fallen, the

future school needs become difficult to forecast. At present the children born in the peak birth rate years are overcrowding all the schools in the United States, including Indiana. The slump, sure to follow this student boom, is now responsible for our decline in elementary grades and the increase in college enrolltent, according to Government statistics. While the older age groups Will substitute for the number of persons lost through a diminishing birth rate and prevent any economic upset which might be caused by this unbalanced ratio, the school population has no such balancing factor.

Payments Over Long Term

The situation in 10 or 15 years will be emphasized because most of the unnecessary school buildings will not be completely paid for. Under the present plang used by the Indianapolis School Board, buildings are financed by School city bonds which are issued on & 20-year basis. If the amount of the bond issue totals $200,000, for instance, that sum will be paid back at the rate of $10,000 a year. If no more bonds are issued, Mr. Good said, all bonds now outstanding will mature by 1960. During 1939 and 1940, he stated, four and one-half million dollars worth of school bonds are to mature. If the committee's prediction is correct, he stated, that would mean Indianapolis schools would have empty rooms between 1955 and 1960.

HELD ON ROBBERY CHARGE CHICAGO, April 28 (U. P)— James Murray, Illindis mail robber, faced removal to Erie, Pa., today on a charge he participated in the $130,000 robbery of the People’s National Bank at Clintonville, Pa; Oct. 14, 1938.

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