school population at that time. In 1914–15 and 1915–16 the figures were 7,246 and 2,814, or 13 per cent and 4.6 per cent entirely out of school.
The remarks of Mr. Long on the compulsory law in 1907–8 apparently serve as accurately for later dates. He then said:
The average daily attendance on the schools shows but little, if any, increase in percentage over preceding years. The compulsory attendance law, though but poorly enforced in many localities, has evidently brought into the schools a large number of children, but there seems to have been difficulty in keeping them in school, as shown by reports of the daily attendance. The law at present is only useful for its moral effect. Perhaps the best inducement, after all, for parents to send their children to school is to convince them that the schools are worth attending. When this has been done there will be no need of compulsory attendance laws, which, at best, are regarded by many as un-American.
The large increase in school population was creating a demand for more school buildings; 8 new ones were erected in 1907 and 29 in 1908. The aggregate cost of these 37 buildings was $184,000, most of it being expended in the growing cities of the Territory and much of it for high-school facilities. The reapportionment of school funds under the revised law of 1907 increased the school term from 128.4 days in 1907 to 135 days in 1908. This increase was entirely in the small country schools. The cities had already attained to terms of 9 and 10 months.
The city schools as covered in this report show steady development and progress. Most of them had now organized high schools to complete and round out their courses, and these high schools were becoming more and more complete in themselves, and the one in Prescott had been placed on the accredited lists of Michigan, California, and Vassar. Their course, however, had not yet been made uniform and, while they supplied the needs of the larger towns, they had not as yet, with two exceptions only attempted to cater to the more rural population and it was not till about 1914 that the distinctly rural high school appeared.
During this period there was no upheaval nor extensive change in the administration of the schools. No such violent change was needed or desired. Taken as a whole the schools continued their gradual evolution upward; changes were made here and there in the details of administration as necessity seemed to demand. The funds for the smaller county schools were increased to some extent by larger apportionments, and the increased length of term and better schools tended to induce a better attendance of pupils, the teachers were better paid, and perhaps in no other State was there as little trouble in raising the necessary funds as in Arizona. These seem to have been well expended, and the general progress was steadily upward.
