The Schools Run Dry: Seattle’s 1877 Budget Crisis
With the city’s coffers emptied, Seattle's public schools were shuttered mid-semester, forcing teachers to pivot to private tuition just to keep the lights on.
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.
Directors of the School District met yesterday and, upon receiving the financial report, decided that the public schools of the city, on account of an empty exchequer, could be continued no longer than until Monday evening next. The Clerk was ordered to notify the teachers of the different schools to that effect. He was also instructed to tender to the teachers the free use of the several school buildings and furniture until they are again required for the use of the public schools. Accordingly, it is supposed the teachers will institute private schools immediately in place of the public ones, and continue along until the time of vacation in July. Of course, there will be some dropping off in the attendance, but it is to be hoped that this will be only small. There are now over three and one-half months between this and the usual time for the Summer vacation, and the loss of this much schooling would be quite an item to the scholars. The private schools will undoubtedly be conducted fully as well as if under the supervision of the directors, and every parent should cheerfully contribute his full quota to their maintenance. If they be willing to do this, the children will lose nothing by the discontinuance of the public schools.
“The public schools of the city, on account of an empty exchequer, could be continued no longer than until Monday evening next.”
The precarious nature of public education funding is a long-standing Seattle tradition. Just as in 1877, when parents were essentially asked to crowdfund their own schools to keep doors open, modern Seattle continues to grapple with the tension between public institutional reliance and the necessity of community-funded 'stop-gap' measures during budget shortfalls.
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