The Coconino sun., 1921-01-07


 of education were presented by Gov. ernor Campbell in an address before the Arizona Teachers association ir session at Phoenix last week. Il Two-thirds of every dollar raised from every form of taxation, declar. ed the governor, goes for education The total annual bill amounts to $6,- 754, ,S29.15, of which the common and high schools receive $6,147 ,675.15 Whats becomes of the money? What does Arizona secure in exchange? Is the money wisely expended? Is there room for improvement? Does Arizona need more money for schools or does lit need more efficient expenditure of | it's educational funds?
 These were the questions raised by the governors address and though he did not answer them categorically, the general impression left by his remarks was that Arizona has no educational system but rather an educational chaos.
 Only Half in School. Why is it that only half the children of school age are in school, as dis closed by average daily attendance I figures?
 Why is it that S2.3 per cent of the children do not finish the eighth grade?
 Why is it that only 2.4 per cent graduate from high school?
 These were some of the questions asked by the governor to show that despite the fact that Arizona schools are rated high by government educa- tional experts, there is nevertheless something sadly defective in the sys- tenn.
 If it costs $67 per r'child per year for the common schools of Douglas, why should the per capita cost be $l02 at Bisbee or $S5 per child at Tucson? Why should the common school ex- pense be $4l.S0 at Mesa and $101.35 at Globe?
 Wide Divergence. If the Tucson high school with an attendance of 416 has per capita cost of S126.S0, why should Phoenix high, with an attendance of 8S3 have per capita cost of $177.7S?
 Getting into the rural districts, why should there be such huge discrepan- cies in the per capita costs between the several districts of the same county?
 Lack of system is the answer, ac- cording to the governor, who made it clear that drastic reform must be un- dertaken at once if Arizona is to per feet it's educational program. Wheth- CT this would require more funds than are now being supplied the speaker left up to the educators, but he ad- vised them that if they had in mind any suggestions to or requests Of the legislature, they should be prepared to answer some of the questions put, be prepared to show the cause of the dis crepancies, and prepared to prove that any appropriations asked would be wise investment.
 "You will be dealing with hard headed bushes men," said the gov ernor, land they doubtless will want to know some of these things. After the legislature has passed upon your plans or suggestions as to what IS needed they will be laid before the executive department, and you can have my assurance that will lend ev- cry cooperation necessary to put over any program of proven necessity"
 County Unit Plan.
 A long step in the direction of ef- ficiency, the governor declared, was the county unit plan. It would at least eliminate great amount of overhead, and provide uniform schools with uniform advantages throughout the county, and do away with the poor struggling districts.
 Under the county unit plan the en- tire county would be made into dis trict excepting such territory as ln- cluded in city school districts. The people would elect county board of education to handle all school matters of the county outside the cities. This board would appoint the county super intendent, employ the teachers and fix their salaries, build and maintain school house, purchase supplies in wholesale quantities, and prepare budget of expenses for each year Tn advance. One of the chief advantages of the system would be to establish uniform school tax throughout the county.
 The governor also indicated that there should be some centralized state authority to supervise the expenditure of funds. Under the present system the state board of education has little to say concerning these matters, as most of the finacial matters are hand- led by each district. Under the coun, ty unit plan the rural school would become as efficient as the city schools, the governor declared. In this con. nection he called attention to the Tact that only per cent of the school at, tendance is included in the rural schools as against II per cent few wears ago. To his mind, he said, this was due to the fact that parents were taking their children out of the rural schools because of their shortcomings and placing them in the city schools.
 Some interesting figures on the TUT al schools were presented as follows: Average daily attendance one-room schools, 395O. Average daily attend ance two rooms and up 38,391. Per centage of attendance in rural schools to total 9 per cent, Maricopa having the lowest with 2 per cent, and Apache