Seattle Schools Slash Budgets Amid Financial Panic
Facing high fuel costs and the economic strain of 1893, the school board cuts teacher salaries for sick leave and consolidates classes.
The question of obtaining fuel with which to keep the school children of Seattle warm during the coming winter was an important one before the school board last evening. The board received several bids from outside companies for supplying coal, but determined to test cheaper alternatives, including wood and coke. On motion of Mr. Prosch, the board decided that hereafter no allowance in salary would be made to any employee of the district on account of sickness. Heretofore it has been the custom to allow full salary to employees when sick, provided such disability was for a period of not more than twenty days each year. Furthermore, the office of vice principal was abolished, and a resolution was passed to consolidate classes to reduce the number of teachers employed, regardless of division boundaries.
“Resolved, That at the opening of the schools for the ensuing year the city superintendent shall assign such teachers as have been elected... to reduce the number of teachers to be employed.”
This 1893 board meeting reflects the austerity measures triggered by the Panic of 1893, which devastated Seattle's economy. Today, while the fiscal context has shifted, the tension between maintaining educational quality and managing district-wide budget deficits remains a recurring theme in Seattle public school debates.
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