The School Board's Secret Ledger
Taxpayers in Walla Walla are fighting for financial transparency as the local school board repeatedly ignores state law to hide its spending.
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.
Two weeks from next Saturday the electors of School District No. 1 will be called upon to choose three members of the board of education to succeed Gilbert Hunt, Dr. N. G. Blalock and Dr. B. Stewart. As the members to be elected will constitute a majority of the board for the next three years, this election is of more than ordinary importance. The Statesman has no particular interest in the election except to see directors chosen who will pledge themselves to comply with all provisions of the code of public instruction. It is provided in Section 92 of the school law that boards of directors in cities of ten thousand population or under shall make, as soon as possible after the close of the school year (June 30th), an annual printed report to the taxpayers of the district, showing in detail the receipts and disbursements of the school funds. This provision has been absolutely ignored by the board, although the Statesman has repeatedly called upon them to make the itemized statement required by law. The school board handles the money raised by a five-mill tax on an assessed valuation of over $4,000,000 in this district. Last year, the total expenditures of the board reached about $80,000, and this year, with the cost of the high school building included, the total disbursements may reach $150,000. It is of the highest importance that the people should know how and for what their money is being expended.
“The taxpayers will be justified in withholding their support from any candidate for director who refuses to pledge himself to obey this and other neglected provisions of the school law.”
Public accountability over school budgets remains a central civic tension in Walla Walla, echoing the 1903 struggle for transparency in school district spending and the oversight of massive infrastructure projects.
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