The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1896-04-23

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averaging Ssi7 rss;ls. which Will sousewaa.
relieve the strain Stili. owssg 20 the aon-
payment Of taxes and the legal permission,
10 pay one-haif only before June /. the
balances against the districts on july 1
VIII De larger than ever. though an IN
usual degree of care and economy mas
been exercised by ali. Hereafter. the
latter cause viii not operate. since each
school year Will bring the last half q the
prev'ous years tax AID the FIRST hAit Of
the current tax
A. present" says Superintendent Hit,
there seems to be rnuchn dissatisfaction
WITH the ineau.tles Of the law THE strong
counties demonstrate they are i-Ju-ei fer
the benefit Of the weaker ones while the
weak districts are injured 10 help the
stronger ores The former IS due 70 a
uniform tax upon the assessed valuation
distributed according 70 census returns
So Icing as the distribution of wealth and
children retain their preverbial inverse
ratio such az apportioHment OF school
FUNDS must result in aiding the weaker p0r-
tons OF the commonwealth Indeed. the
principle of the financially strong as
tricss helping the peorer ones is emsnsntiy
sound, and ought not 10 be called IN ques-
ton We certainly have passed the day
when It was considered wise TO selfishiy
forbid any expenditures which did not
bring direct return TO our own Golfers.
Ihat Is bad Political economy and too
provincial for American people Besides,
II has been demonstrated too often to
need repetition thar the success OF the
wealthy city is due largely 10 the brain
Drawn and resources IL draws from the
poorer country districts. and TO siarye the
life cut OF these districts is suicidal for
the city. No principle in modern school
legislation IS so persistentIy presenting il
self as Is this. and particularly in Massa-
chusetts and New York. whose schools
stand in the foremost rank of this nation
IS the most advanced stand taken for 1
uniform state tax sufficient to maintain
school in every district the legal number
OF weeks constituting the school year
II then the districts wish to maintain an
additional number of weeks they should be
encouraged by state aid to levy a special
tax therefor.
In 1894 OF the sixty counties IN New
York six paid more than they received aad
afty-four paid less. New York county
alone paid 81. Sis SO ard only received back
s64s,3s3 or 3s per cent. while many coua-
ties received again 30 per cent. and so
per cent, and Clinton county SIS per cent
Of what was paid. Perhaps Massachusetts
has. In recent years. more thoroughly
worked out the problem of rural schools
that any other state. BY the amended law
OF 1888 II pays 10 districts OF low valuation
5000 less $50 towards the expense Of
supervision and $500 for general teachers
salaries. The wisdom and necessity OF
close and skillful supervision of small
areas of country schools and the employ
nent OF specially trained teachers even
in rural schools. where three-fourths of
the children are today, Is obtaining gen.
eral recognition. But this costs money
and great deal of II. The larger the in
terests at stake the greater the necessity
that expenditures be wisely and economic
ally made. What enterprise In this state
public or private. but the educational one
has an invested capital of $500. AZ and
pays its 3,iss employees annually sl.sse.9os.
A system Of financing. therefore. which
tends 10 neutralize the efficiency OF the SER
vice must be unwise.
But the real objection to our present
school law is It's inequality of distribu-
ton. The argument invoked for the en-
actment OF the law has been nuliified by
the method of apportionment after 4,
reaches the counties By the former law
one-fourth OF the money was divided
equally among all districts having less
than 10i pupils; hence, the large majority
or districts, rich and poor. were on an
equality in this fund. The remaining
three-fourths was divided according 10
the census. This discrimination In favor
OF the weak districts was the essential
CURED three months school. When this
aid was removed by the barefoot law APP
porconing all funds solely according to the
census Of children 1t left districts having
less than twenty children unable 10 main
tain the required months of school with
out special tax. even IL all taxes were
collected But az only half is liable to be
collected annually only those having forty
pupils have a reasonable prospect of re-
ceiving from the state 500 stin not
enough for three months school Now
there are in this county nine districts
having fewer than twenty. thirty-one few
er than thirty and forty-five fewer than
forty children each. The average assessed
valuation OF the foregoing nine districts
Is but SIS. IA. so that mill special tax
with collections OF one-haif would give
each so. which added TO the average of
Si.3o from the state makes only sIi2 30
Tor the year. insufficient for a three
months school. II two-thirds OF the tax
Is collected eight DISTRICTS VIII get less
than s15 per annum from the state nine
teen less than 500 and thirty six-one-hals
OF all-less than $50.
As a proper method of apportionment
by which every child in the county would
be guaranteed by the state a fixed term I
suggest the following:
First-Dsvide one-hak of the funds 10
be apportioned among the districts in pro-
portion 10 their school census as now.
Second-Arrange the districts into four
classes according to their census the first
class having the largest school population
and the fourth class the least. PAY from
the remaining half to each district OF the
fourth class $3.50, TO each OF the third class
siS. TO each OF the second class sIeo and to
each OF the first class s7s
Third-Divide the remainder OF this half
among the districts IN such proportion as
their school tax bears to their total tax
levy.
II viii be noticed that the first and seq
ond steps in the distribution proceed in
Ferseiy TO each other. By the first the
largest district gets most and the small
est least; by the second the smallest gets
most and the larges; least They tend
20 equalize themselves. and the weakest
districts are given specific sI5a sufficient
In itself to enable them TO obey the law
BY the third an inducement il offered For
levying special taxes, since the more they
help themselves the more the state pavs
them Thus. suppose the total county
and state levy. including a general 3 mil
school. is Is mills Then a district lew
ing no special tar PAYS BIS or Is FOR school
purposes II a second district levies n
mill special It pays Sis or I-3 for school
purposes II third levies NILS special
Il PAYS SD or % for school Now. II the
above remaining sum Is divided among
TIE districts in proportion TO these frae-
tions. & IS evident the third district with
is mill special tax gets from the general
levy twice as much as the first district
which levies none. This encourages Dis
tricis 10 help themselves
The practical application Of this meth
Cd has been applied To the distribution %
the actual sum apportior~d to the dis
tricts Of this county last year for the
sake OF conf pairing results with that meth