Walla Walla's School Board Election Turns on a Missing Financial Statement
Taxpayers want the annual accounting the law requires, as the district prepares to spend $156,000 this year.
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.
Today was the last opportunity but one for registration for the school election on Saturday, December 5th. On Friday, the 4th, the books at the school clerk's office in the city library will be opened again for the accommodation of any women who wish to vote and for any men who have failed to register at the city clerk's office this year.
At present there are no signs of a contest at the school election. But there is no telling what a day may bring forth. As three members, a majority of the board, are to be chosen for three-year terms, the election is of great importance.
Superintendent Burke this morning declared that he would not accept another term and this removes any cause for controversy on that question. The only issue of importance before the people is the demand on the part of taxpayers that the board make the annual financial statements required by law. A detailed statement of receipts and disbursements is required by law to be printed for the information of the taxpayers of the district. This mandate of the law has been disregarded in the past, and the people have been kept in ignorance of the expenditures made by the board.
Last year the board handled nearly $50,000, and this year, including the cost of the high school building, probably $156,000 will be disbursed. It is certainly of the highest importance to the taxpayers to know just how and for what this money is paid out, and that is the purpose of the annual statement required by law.
If the present members of the board will agree to make this annual statement in the future, they will have a good prospect for re-election, otherwise it would not be surprising if other candidates ready to make this pledge be brought out within the next ten days.
“It is certainly of the highest importance to the taxpayers to know just how and for what this money is paid out.”
A century later, school board meetings still turn on the same questions: who controls the budget, and how much the public gets to see. The 1903 demand for an annual statement echoes modern fights over transparency in school district spending and bond measures.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.