Arizona republican., 1913-04-27
SCHOOLS
 FOR MAR|C0PA
Very Successful Beginning Yesterday of Series of Conferences of County School Trustees, > Educa- tors and Patrons

l SurpaSSing expectation in the mat ! terS of both attendance and interest was the first conference of school trustees of the county which assembled at the domestic science building of the high school group yesterday afternoon. County Superintendent Higgins at whose instance the trustees had as | sembled called the meeting to order | and after explaining its purpose to be to bring about greater economy in the conduct of the schools without inn pairing their efficiency and to infuse a spirit of cooperation the program was announced.
 The first was a paper which had been prepared by President Wilde of the | university who was not present but the paper was read by Superinten- dent Loper of the grammar schools. The keynote of the paper was sounded in the opening paragraph: Education is a business and the better the busi- ness is done, the better and the greater the education will be. Public enter priSes rest on some kind of a financial foundation and derive much of their efficiency or lack of efficiency from it. Even if business is not the main pur- pose of education and of the schools, they cannot be administered without it. And so, it is most important that in all purchasing for the schools the right things be bought and that they be bought most efficiently and economic ally. Note that l say bought most ef- ficiently as well as most economically Cheap buying for schools may some times be economical, often it is not" Dr. Wilde believed that the best way was to get a good superintendent of schools who knows his business If | none is available get the advice of a nearby superintendent or apply to the university, for buying school supplies | is a part of the constant work of the business manager of the university. The purchase of durable things, san itary things, noiseless things and ar
 tistic things is recommended. Men, believed, pr Wilde cannot be relied upon in the last particular and here the woman should be called in. School trustees are warned against the trav- cling agents of supply houses but of houses whose reliability has been de- termined by inquiry. Competing bids. ! when possible are recommended and also the buying of d years supply at a time. It is also well for districts to ] join together in purchasing supplies. What is needed for a school should | be determined at the beginning of the l year. In a way, a budget should be made up. A saving and a great one
 may be effected by standardization. l It is not necessary to have all the diff 1 ferent kinds of pencils or pen holders that the various teachers prefer" Quite as important as proper meth | ods of buying is the accounting system of the trustees. If the whole board passes on the orders or the bills it is
 necessary that there shall be one who shall be peculiarly responsible for dis l patching lthe order, keeping the record of it and checking in the goods. There should be a simple but effective requi-
 stion system which shall provide du- 1 plicate forms, one to be sent to the | dealer and another exact in every de 1 tail for office reference" In concluding 1 pr. Wilde recommended a better ac- | quaintance of the public with the ] schools
 | The paper though it was received with applause provoked no discussion and Professor B. H. Scudder presented
 a paper on the consolidation of schools
 ] districts which he strongly advocated.
 i His own views were supplemented by
 | reports from various state school su-
 | perintendents of states where cOnsoli
 1 dation had been tried.
 1 This paper brought out considerable
 | discussion and no direct opposition
 One trustee inquiring regarding the
 expense of collecting and transporting
 the pupils to the central school suggest
 l ed that it was not fair to tax the man
 whose children were within walking
 distance of the school or who had no
 children for any part of the expense of