Page:History of Public School Education in Arizona.djvu/58

52 a prosperity not shared in by the country as a whole. It was under such conditions that the legislative assembly convened in 1885. In its work for education no other assembly bears comparison with it except that of 1871, when the school system was brought into existence and given a definite form.

In his message to the assembly of that year, Gov. Tritle urged that the office of county superintendent be made distinct from that of probate judge; that the discretion of school trustees be limited and that some improvement be made in the levying of school taxes. He urged also that Congress grant authority to sell the sixteenth sections, but no authority to lease these lands was asked. McCrea has pointed out that a request for power to lease might have brought a favorable response and produced a handsome revenue for the schools. He remarks also that the assembly of 1885 made a larger appropriation for the work of the superintendent than had ever been made before. This was $6,700 for two years.

One marked characteristic of Arizona from 1871 to the time now under consideration was the evolutionary character of the school law. beginning with the law of 1871, there had been no sudden or violent change in the characteristics of the law. The first draft contained only the more essential elements of a school system. Then came revisions and extensions in 1873, 1875, 1879, 1883, and again in 1885. During all this period there was little deviation from the normal. The law was extended, developed, and revised to conform more nearly to new conditions. There was no violent change in the system. It can be accurately said that while more inclusive the law of 1885, and that of 1887, which appears as its final form, was only the act of 1871 writ large. The law of 1885 goes into great detail and defines with minute exactness the duties of the various branches of the school service; little was left to the imagination or to chance.

The main alterations and additions which differentiate the law of 1885 from earlier ones, together with the further perfected forms as seen in the law of 1887, are summarized in the section which follows.

Like the school law of 1883, that passed on March 12, 1885, has the merit of being a serious detailed codification and revisal of the body of the school law. It was rearranged, improved, pruned, and added to.

The power and duties of the Territorial board of education are defined; the old Territorial certificates were revoked; and under the new law “Territorial educational diplomas” were given only to those who had held a first-grade Territorial or county certificate for a year and had taught for at least 5 years, while the “life diploma” now required 10 years of teaching instead of 5.