The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1922-06-21


''iia- the child who lives In n
poor district as much right 10 an
education A. the child who LIVES
la a rich district"
According 20 Ralph w. swetmar
field representative OF the State
Parent Teachers association and
Mothers Congress. and OF tho Wash
ington Educational association. that
Is tho whole question invoied In the
proposed s0.t0 initiative.
Enemies Of the plan" SWEET
man explains. ''arc raising false
issues. They say that th. SOLO
Initiative u q plot 60 Increase
taxes. and thai II would WRIST
control OF the schools from the
iosai districts.
ssThe~e are faliac,ou- arguments.
School expenditures rest solely with
the local boards. 20 nothing In ths
plan could increase expenses unless
the school directors ordered H. And
there In absolutely nothing In the In.
itiativs tina, affects the present sys.
tam of board control.
The initiative n simply a step
toward equalization that. and
nothing mote. School expenditures
would not necessarily be Increased a
penny under lt--and probably would
not be.
Tut the Initiative WOULD tend
TO spread the burden % education en-.
pensca more eQuitAbiy.
Here's the whole proposition;
Under existing conditions. sonsc
school districts arc 80 much poor
er than others thai. even by
using tho maximum district levy
allowed by law. they can keep
their schools oprn only ak
menfhs Of the yeAr--and their
standard during that six months.
even. ~ woefuily low. On tho
oihrr hand. other districts nre
30 rich that they do not n~d
more than q fertlsfh part af tho
maximum district lrvy. and thry
are Able 10 provide what amounts
10 an urban school sysfem for
their children.
This Il nnanifestiy unfair.
Because. II you believe In democ.
rsey. you must believe that
EVERY child II entitled 10 Me
same education. no matter where
he Iives.
Tho so.io plan IL az least q ster
toward this equality OF education
II doesn't 20 all the way. such mat
tiers must move siowiy. But Il Il
step IN the right direction.
The following figures show bss'
Just what the initiative IL. Cndei
the pre- ent plan OF school support
sss was spent Ia is30..i for ever,
census child I'm tho stats. OF this
the state contributed so per child
or 81 per cent: tho county 80. OF
fs per cent. and the various dis
tricts 50. or 50 per cent
with the same budgct-snd Their,
In every reason 20 believe that the
same budget would be retained
the tst would be raised a. follows
under the s0.i0 plan: From ths
stnte. $40. or ~ per cent. from ths
county. $40. or 10 per cent. and
from the districts ss4. or 81 pei
cent. In other words. ws would
simply transfer part of the Ia,
burden from the individual districts
to the state.
This t. all simply In tho iins
that has been followed ever sine,
the public school system came into
being In this country.
During the first quarter century
from fs2s 10 1850. the entire schoo
expense was borne by the ,ndivid
uai local districts. The inequality
Of this system wss soon realized
however. and tho trend since thai
time has been steadily towarc
equalization by means OF state ant
county aid.
In this state. for Instance. ",
first had the fo-io--or $40 from thu
state. 80 from tho county and ths
balance from tho local districts
Then we got tho 2o.io--and now the
1910 Is going. It's Just natura.
progress.
Tho 1910 initiative would
mean slight increase In tho
total tar levy In Seattle--fram
ono qnarter n ono half ~ n min
but the citizens Of this district
should be willing 10 bear this In
the interests Of better educa-