The Price of Public Education
Facing a financial crisis, the Seattle School Board slashes teacher pay and cancels special programs in a contentious, late-night vote.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The board of education last evening adopted a schedule of salaries for the school year beginning September 1, which involves a reduction of nearly $10,000 in expenses compared with the present year. In addition, it is intended not to expend the $29,000 which the board is allowed for new buildings every year. The move came after a decidedly animated meeting where two plans were submitted. Mr. King argued that the rank and file teachers were being made to suffer out of proportion, while Mr. Spencer’s majority group countered that the cuts were necessary to avoid impairing the efficiency of the schools. The final vote mandates cuts ranging from 5 to 10 percent, while the supervisor roles for music, drawing, and physical culture were effectively dispensed with. Furthermore, the board passed a rule that any school employee who contributes money to election expenses for a board member shall be immediately discharged.
“If a person wanted a child taught English in Germany he would be told to go to America.”
This 1894 budget fight captures the perennial tension between austerity and education funding in Seattle. The board's attempt to use salary freezes and curriculum cuts to balance the books mirrors modern debates over levy failures and classroom staffing ratios.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.