Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1921-03-11
SCHOOL CODE
COMMISSIONS WORK
NOT A FAILURE
Public Schools Must Have Relief
Public interest Aroused Will Prob
ably Result in an Initiative Meas
IRE in 1922.


Public interest Aroused Will Prob
ably Result in an Initiative Meas
ure in 1922.
The school code commission re-
grets very much that the school code
bill failed of passage in the senate by
one vote, but 1t does not believe that
its work has been failure. On the
contrary, it believes that the contro-
versy over the revision of the school
code has Quickened the public inter-
est in the common school systems of
the state and will result in a care
full study and analysis of the findings
of the commission. Once the details
of the commissions plan are thor
oughly understood and the weak
nesses and inefficiency of the present
there can be no question regarding
It's acceptance. If the public school
system of Washington is to be saved
from bankruptcy and ruin, a COM
plete reorganization must be effect
led. The present defeat is but tenn
porary. The opportunity for reor-
ganization is crowded few months
into the future.
The commission approached its
task with a sincere desire to discover
the defects Of the present sytem and
to present to the legislature an effect
i've remedy. 1t discovered machinery
LOT administration in operation that
o. Hr- n0ndi-
tons that long since have ceased to
exist. 1t discovered also plan of
taxation, inherited from territorial
days, that admits OF gross inequali-
ties not alone from the standpoint Of
the taxpayers, but from the stand
point of the boys and girls who, by
the provision of the organic law Of
the state, are guaranteed equal edu-
cational opportunities. For more
than a generation the people of this
state have sidestepped a solemn obli-
cation and have imposed upon the
small districts the duty of providing
adequate educational facilities. The
burden has been too great, and many
school districts today are insolvenr
Several relief bills for individual
school districts are now pending In
the legislature. They are the strong
est possible argument in favor of the
adoption of the code. Even though
they are passed, the relief will be
only temporary No provision Is
beng made to prevent recurrence OF
the evil. Hundreds of other school
districts are in the same condition.
and succeeding legislatures will be
flooded with similar relief bills II an
obsolete, useless system does not give
way to q businesslike plan of admin
istration. The only effective means
of wiping out an epidemic is through
the adoption of adequate measures of
prevention.
Inequalities exist not only between,
counties, but between districts with
In the counties. Many districts are
paying 10 tines as much for poor
schools as others are paying for good
schools. Such conditions are intol-
cradle. Six hundred and forty-four
school districts in the state are today
financially embarrassed, while 279
are virtually bankrupt, levying up to
and beyond 20 mills. And this con-
dition obtains with the 2-10 plan of
taxation in full operation. A greater
assumption of the burden Of taxation
ON the part of the state is inevitable.
These many instances Of financial
distress, with the responsibility of ad-
mnistration SO widely scattered. have
resulted in inequality of opportunity,
Uncertainty of tenure and little or NO
supervision. Poor districts are forced
to employ unframed teachers. and
the results are anything but desirable
Rural school administration in Wash
iington is no farther advanced today
than it was 80 years ago.
From it's inception the school code
commission has met opposition from
the sources which should have been
most friendly. Nevertheless, it has
completed it's task in the spirit OF
fairness to the people of the state. II
believes that it has located the de-
fects of the present school system
and in it's published report the COM
mission offers a workable plan that
will insure equitable taxation, fair
distribution, efficient administration
and equal educational opportunities
Such a plan, it believes, is the very
essense of representative democracy
and the foundation upon which all
American institutions are built. II
Eventually enacted into law it will
CONSTITUTE the Magma Charta OF the
boys and girls of Washington.
The principles worked out by the
commission are so fundamentally
necessary to educational fair dealing,
and so fundamentally correct In ad-
administrative policy that the whole
matter will probably be brought to
the people through an initiative meas
ure in 1922.
w. J. SUTTON. Chairman.
Mrs. Minnie Reed died on Friday,
March 4, at Bakersfield, California,
according to a telegram sent by l..
A. Reed, her husband, to his father
in-law. Henry Whitaker of sos South