The High Price of Schooling
Aberdeen voters face a contentious ballot measure regarding an extra tax for schools, sparking a local debate on the limits of civic spending during an economic downturn.
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.
On next Saturday the voters of Aberdeen will be called upon to decide whether or not an additional tax for school purposes shall be levied. Any man who would advocate an additional tax at this time for any other purpose would be set down as a fool or an idiot, but so jealous have the American people become in regard to the education of their youth that they are reckless as to the expense, and resent any attempt at economy in that direction as an interference with their natural right. It is an easy matter to talk about education being the only thing most of us can give our children, which is true, and demand the best for them, but we are bound in reason to use a little judgment even on this proposition. Many are unable to pay their taxes this year, and how are they to pay as much another? If the city goes backward, as it surely will if taxes are not reduced, the result will be that it will take all of the revenue the district can raise to pay the interest on the debt and the insurance on the buildings, and there will be no school. We urge every voter who is not a taxpayer, and who has children he desires to educate, to weigh this matter carefully in his mind before he asks the taxpayers to continue the burden of heavy taxation.
“Any man who would advocate an additional tax at this time for any other purpose would be set down as a fool or an idiot, but so jealous have the American people become in regard to the education of their youth that they are reckless as to the expense.”
This 1894 debate echoes contemporary tensions in Washington, where property tax reliance to fund local schools frequently pits taxpayers against educators and families. Aberdeen’s struggle to balance fiscal survival with educational investment is a persistent theme in Pacific Northwest civic history.
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