ation that confronts it. The Newark Normal School is badly needed and its loss to the State would be a serious blow. Already signs of disintegration appear in the withdrawal of some of our best teachers under the belief that the school will close pursuant to the attitude taken by the city of Newark and that it would be well for them to obtain other employment at this time while the demand for teachers is so great as to enable them to get very desirable positions. I am told that there has never been a time in the history of the State when there was a greater demand for teachers than at present. Many of the schools were reported, on September 14, 1918, to be without teachers. We were thereby induced to modify our rules so that they would not only permit the securing of teachers from without the State, if that is possible, but also permit the employment of members of the senior classes in our normal schools prior to their graduation. While to some extent this should be deemed a war measure, our Board has known for some time that the normal school facilities of the State are inadequate and should be increased rather than diminished. It was because of these facts that we were able to induce the Legislature to appropriate money for a South Jersey normal school, for which we have purchased a site and on which a building will be constructed as soon as building construction again becomes possible at reasonable cost. Now, as to a solution of the Newark school problem, I wish to say that, as a representative of our State Board of Education, I have had a number of conferences with a representative of the Newark Board. I have learned that the city of Newark is not without appreciation of the value of the school and that to a considerable extent it may be said to serve especially the needs of that city. About one-fourth of the students in the school are residents of the city of Newark. At the same time it feels that inasmuch as the State has shown no evidence of intent to purchase the building under the favorable offer it made, it should, in justice to itself, regain possession of the building as against the time when it will be in sore need of such a building for high school or other purposes. The embarrassment of the State Board of Education is increased by the fact that hitherto its requests upon the Legislature have been unheeded and that it is without power to negotiate with any certainty that what it might promise would be fulfilled. I see no way in which this can be remedied at the present moment, since to alter the legal status of affairs will require action on the part of the Legislature, but I do suggest that inasmuch as the State is about to make up its budget for the year 1919-20, it should include an amount sufficient to cover at least two of the five annual instalments of $84,000 each and interest at 4 per centum on the sum of $420,000 since November 1, 1916. With such an item in the appropriation act of 1919, to which should be added the passage of a law that would authorize the State Board of Education to enter into a definite and binding contract for the purchase of the building and the payment of the remaining instalments, I believe the State could induce the Newark Board of Education to sell the building to the State. It is imperative that the ownership of this school be acquired by the State during the session of the Legislature of 1919 if it is pos sible to do so upon reasonable terms. If the school should revert to the City of Newark it would be necessary to build an additional State normal school in the metropolitan part of the State contiguous to New York City. To be sure, we have the State Normal School at Montclair. But this school is by no means adequate in its facilities to meet the demand and the need for normal school training in that populous part of the State. According to the State census of 1915 the pop ulation of the five counties in the northeastern section of the State was as follows: That is to say, 60.4 per cent of the population of New Jersey live in these five counties. What has this school done and what is it now doing for the training of teachers? How useful is the school to the State? From this school have been graduated in the past five years 1475 teachers who have entered the teaching service of the State. Not to exceed 37.2 per cent of this number have entered the Newark schools. From the Newark School 452 students were graduated in the February and June classes of 1918; from the Montclair and Trenton Normal Schools combined there were graduated 550 students. The graduates of the school in 1918 were as follows by counties: It is to be seen that these graduates were from 14 counties. Of this number, 164, or only 36.3 per cent, were from Essex County; of these, 144 were from Newark. Two hundred and eighty-eight, or 63.7 per cent, were from the other 13 counties rep Young women who entered business (government work)... Those who are teaching are in the following counties: 422 20 4 3 3 452 13 19 I 7 3 33 Of these graduates, 134, or 29.6 per cent, are teaching in Essex County, 79 of them in Newark. In the fall of 1918 there are enrolled at the Newark Normal School 726 students preparing to become teachers. These students are from the following counties: Of this number 263 came from Essex County, of whom 207 are from Newark. From these facts it is seen: (1) how much the normal school contributes to the schools of the City of Newark; (2) how much it contributes to the territory in the northeastern part of the State outside the City of Newark; (3) how necessary the school is for the supply of trained teachers. I have heard as an objection to the purchase of the Newark Normal School that if this school became a State school we should then have two normal schools in the same county. I am unable to see that this objection should be considered. What should determine the location of a normal school is convenience of access for the students in the territory it will serve. There should be no other consideration. The State of Massachusetts has two normal schools in a single county—a county only one-third the size of Essex. I have shown in previous reports that a normal school draws the great mass of its students from the immediate vicinity of the school. There is an abundance of figures which show how true this is. A school in the northeastern section of the State will not draw any considerable number of students from the southern part of the State. Conversely, the new normal school in the southern part of the State will not draw many students from the northern part of the State. The figures that I have quoted are illuminating on this point. It is absolutely imperative that there be an additional normal school in the northern part of the State where there is so large a population and where in consequence large numbers of trained teachers are required. This school is vitally necessary to the welfare of the elementary schools of New Jersey. I cannot say this with too much emphasis. A new school would cost much more than the amount for which this school can probably be purchased. There has been a feeling that the City of Newark would profit by the State purchase of this school. At the price at which the school could have been bought a year ago it was a bargain. It is to be hoped that the State Board of Education and the Newark Board may agree upon such a price for the purchase of this school that the Legislature will not long hesitate to provide the funds for its purchase. I will not present any argument as to the value of the trained teacher; that is a question out of the realm of debate among intelligent persons. The Legislature has recently appropriated money for the building of a normal school in South Jersey. The State, in common with other progressive states throughout the country, is committed to the policy of training teachers for its elementary schools. SALARIES OF TEACHERS The total amount of salaries paid day school teachers in the State, not including superintendents, assistant superintendents or evening school teachers of any kind, was $15,785,310.12, which was an increase of $1,335,895.31 over the preceding year. The average salary per year paid to all day school teachers in the State (16,646), not including superintendents, assistant superintendents or evening school teachers of any kind, was $948.29, an increase over the preceding year of $52.60. Corresponding averages for the past five years were as follows: 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 Average salary per year, day schools.. $851.42 $861.86 $872.34 $895.69 $948.29 These averages, of course, include the cities. Included also are the one-room schools, in which the average salaries by sexes are as follows: Men 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 $520.25 $522.72 $553.32 $552.02 $614.01 468.56 477.19 481.42 497.72 544.22 The average salaries paid to teachers in different kinds of schools were as follows: NUMBER OF TEACHERS RECEIVING LESS THAN $500 ANNUALLY FOR EACH OF THE PAST THREE YEARS, BY COUNTIES |