Page:History of Public School Education in Arizona.djvu/19

Rh It was further ordered that the county commissioners “shall be trustees of public schools and may appoint a suitable person to examine the course of instruction, discipline, and attendance of said schools, and the qualifications of the teachers, and report the same to them at their stated general meeting”; neither commissioners nor inspectors were to receive any pay for their work. From these statements it will be noted that the church school was devoted to the instruction of Mexican and Indian children, and that some of such private schools as existed were not taught in English.

To meet the requirements of these appropriations the sum of $1,500 was voted, but it does not appear that the conditions of the grants were complied with by the towns or that the money made available was used, for in his message to the legislature of 1867 Gov. R. C. McCormick says:

By 1865 interest in the schools had begun to wane. Although practically nothing had been done, Gov. McCormick then thought that “the existing provisions for schools” in the various parts of the Territory were sufficient; and, as usual, like governor, like legislature, no bill looking to the advancement of education was passed or even considered. Nor was anything done educationally in 1866. In 1867 Gov. McCormick had concluded that “in the opinion of many of the people the time has come for some definite and liberal provision for the establishment and maintenance of public schools in the Territory,” and an act on schools was passed in October, 1867.

The law of 1867 provided that the county board of supervisors should have power to establish school districts. Any settlement with a resident population of 100 persons might be set apart as a school district, and any number of legal voters might make application for a school in such district. The board of supervisors were then to levy a tax of not more than 5 mills on the assessed value of all taxable property within the limits of the district “as shown by the