Page:History of Public School Education in Arizona.djvu/81

Rh real organization of the system in 1885 was due. He had then been colaborer with William B. Horton in organizing the school system of the Territory. Before their day there had indeed been public schools in Arizona and even a Territorial superintendent, but there had been no real public school system. During the years between 1883 and 1887 it was the work of these two men to coordinate the independent and more or less disjointed units which had been growing up throughout the Territory and organize them into a single working whole. This was done by drafting a single body of school law applicable to the whole Territory, by preparing a course of study under which it was possible to grade the schools, and by laying the foundations for systematizing the work of teacher training by developing and leading the sentiment looking to the organization and endowment of the normal school at Tempe and the State university at Tucson; and now, after an interval of 12 years, Mr. Long came again into office to resume the interrupted thread of work.

In his report submitted in October, 1900, he mentions the organization of 13 new school districts during 1899 and 1900, and from this small number concludes that the smaller settlements then had school facilities “equal to those enjoyed by the more populous sections of the Territory.” This was approximately true. The schools had increased from 347 in 1898 to 399 in 1900, and 10 schools had been advanced from the rank of primary to that of the grammar grades. There were now 122 grammar schools, and 21 new school buildings had been erected. There was, however, as yet only one high school organized under the law of 1895. This was at Phoenix, in which three courses, Latin, English, and business, had been provided. The first two were four-year courses, the third a three-year course.

The poll tax was falling off, possibly because of the failure of collectors in enforcing the law. The situation of the county school superintendents was not satisfactory, for those in the larger counties—Yavapai, Maricopa, and Pima—while receiving $1,000 each for their services, were required to visit their schools twice a year and at the end had paid out three-fourths of their salary as traveling expenses, and so really received less than those in the more thinly settled counties, where the salary was $300 per year only.

For the first time in the history of Arizona the superintendent prints reports from the individual counties, so that we have detailed reviews of the working of the system in the smaller units, which show in general a steady development. Supt. Long now emphasized the work of the county institutes. The law required them to be held for three days only in the strongest counties, while the union of two or more counties was permitted in other cases. Institutes were held in all counties but four, and these were sparsely settled. As it was, some of the teachers traveled 100 miles to attend and in one instance