Article April 1, 1916 Issue

Doctor Robertson, city commissioner of health, wants to...

Daily News

Doctor Robertson, city commissioner of health, wants to put a physician and a nurse into every public school in the city, these nurses and doctors to be under the direction of the city health department, but their pay to come out of the school fund. The plan should be rejected by the board of education. It appears that the initial expense would be two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year, possibly rising to seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. It is reasonably clear that no part of this expense would be properly chargeable to the schools.

The schooling of the children of Chicago touches the life of the city at so many points that it is often hard to draw the line between projects which are a proper charge on the school fund and those which should rightly be financed out of the general revenues of the city. The scope of the schools is constantly widening. But in the present case the commissioner of health plainly regards the problem as part of the general municipal health problem, for his idea is that the work should be under the jurisdiction of the city health department, not that of the schools. All the schools will be asked to do is to furnish the money. "There is no hope for a appropriation from the city for this work," confesses Doctor Robertson, "as the health department's appropriation is not likely to be more than it was last year, when it was far below the amount the work deserves."

The legislature at its regular session gave the schools of Chicago a greatly increased revenue, and to the taxpayer in consequence a larger tax bill, but this action was taken solely on the plea that the absolute necessities of the schools could not be cared for without more money. This new revenue, no doubt, is looked at longingly by the heads of city departments, but it must be preserved for purposes that pertain strictly to education.

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