The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1916-10-26
COMMITTEE OF nine TO ACT
Members Insist They Will Demand Full
Amount and Go to the People If Coun-
Gil Seeks to Take Away Powers of
Board to Handle School Tax.

The -Wilsonian Board of Education
of Kenosha is not too proud to fight
and at a special meeting of ten mem
bers of the board, held on Tuesday
evening it was voted unanimously to
go right ahead with the battle with
the council to secure the full budget
asked by the board for school expenses
in 1917 A committee of nine, COM
posed of the chairman of each commit
tee of the board, was named to go to it,
hire an attorney and find out just what
rights the board had and then enforce
them. This committee will meet with
in q few days and if the attorney it
selects holds that the Board of Educa-
tion has power to enforce its demands
for funds the courts will be appeal
ed to for action.
Harry S. Brown, a member of the
board from the first ward, has been the
moving spirit in the battle for the
rights of the board. "We are not
peeved or pernickety, = said Mr.. Brown
this morning in discussing the action
of the board. As far as we can learn
for the past forty years the Common
Council has been reducing the budgets
asked by the Board of Education We
are advised that the council has no
right to do this and we are going to
find out. IF the council has the right
to chop off the budget without rule or
reason then we want to know it in or
der that we may be meek and low1y
just as we should be. If the School
Board has the right to insist upon
fair budget for maintaining the schools
we want to know that and we will give
pledge to the people that their rights
will be protected even if we have to
go into court. All of the ten members
of the board present at the meeting on
Tuesday night believed that this ques-
ton should be settled once and for all
and settled right now. If the School
Board is to become a figure head dom
mated by some council committee, we
should know it now In the whole mat
ter we are simply seeking to bring the
right sort Of an understanding rather
than to enforce just this one budget
of the board
Mr.. Brown declared that the mem
bers of the School Board were not
scared bit by suggestions that the
charter would be changed and the
power of making the school levy taken
from the Board of Education He in
sisted that before this could be done
by the council demand would be made
that the matter be submitted to the
people for referendum and he de-
clared that he did not believe that the
people of Kenosha would be willing to
make any change in the time honored
custom of managing the schools and
turn them over to the Common Council.
There seems to be unanimous feeling
among the members of the board that
the matter should be fought out at this
time and there is plenty of time even
for court action previous to the time
the tax levy is made.
The form of the action would be a
writ of mandamus to force the council
to add the budget demanded by the
board to the tax levy to be made the
first Monday in December. 1t is said
that the special committee of the
School Board will have report ready
for the board at its regular meeting to
be held on the evening of the second
Tuesday in November.