Page:History of Public School Education in Arizona.djvu/64

58 Territory 10,219 children between 6 and 18 years, which was then the school age, and 4,502 between 8 and 14 years, the compulsory age. Of these, 4,974 attended school in 1884–85 and 6,072 in 1885–86. In 1885 there were in addition 1,024 children in private schools. It may be assumed that most of these were Catholic Church schools, as the Protestants generally either accepted the work of the public schools as sufficient or were too weak to organize schools for themselves. Based on the figures for 1884–85, it was thought that perhaps as many as 7,100 children were in school during 1885–86. The average attendance in the public schools was not so satisfactory; in 1884–85 it was 3,226, or 64.9 per cent of the enrollment; and in 1885–86, 3,507, or 57.7 per cent of enrollment.

Twenty-one new districts had been organized, and while some of the new buildings were erected to replace old ones, the majority were in districts where none had existed before. New buildings and their appurtenances cost about $48,000. The funds to meet these expenses were raised by special taxes and by bond issues. Thirteen primary schools had been evolved into grammar-grade schools, and while the whole number of schools in 1884 was 121, in 1886 it had grown to 150. Through purchase and donations 1,930 books had been secured for the public-school libraries in 1885–86, as against 1,171 volumes in 1884–85. Of the teachers, 86 had first-grade certificates, of whom 25 were employed in the grammar and high school grades, leaving 61 for the primary and grammar grades, showing that about one-half the schools were enjoying the services of first-grade teachers. At the end of his term the superintendent was able to say:

The law of 1885 reduced the Territorial tax to 3 cents on the hundred, and as a result, as Supt. Long says in his report: