The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-01-06
EXPANSION IN SIX
 YEARS STARTLING.
Registration In Jefferson Schools Has Increased
 1900 Per Cent

A county that spent more for . single school building in 1923 than all the school buildings in the coun- ty were worth in 1917. can lay claim to a record in educational progress That is what Jefferson county did And that building Is only one of the 66 erected in tho county within the past six years.
 More individual schooL>~building, for white children have been con. structed since 1917 than were to be found in tho county at that time There now are 6S school buildings in the county that have been con. structed within the past six years and only 67 buildings in use now that were in use when the new building and the expansion program began.
 There is only one explanation for buildings. and that is the growth in the number of boys and girls who are seeking to obtain an education. A campaign of education on tho need of better educational facilities has been carried on throughout the coun- sponded by providing better facili- ties. The pupils have shown their greater appreciation of them by at tending school in increasingly large numbers and staying in school, not just few years as in the past, but throughout the entire course, from Kindergarten through four years of 10 years since 1914, but in that time the high school registration has in- creased from 250 to 4,564, or more than. 1.soo per cent.
 Growth Is Constant.
 The growth has been constant, in- creasing by few hundred pupils ev- cry year. Beginning with 250 in 1914, the high school registration for the county totaled Al in 1915, 701 in 1916, 1.044 in 1918. 1,26S in 1920 2.440 in 1922 and 4,654 in 1923. It is of more than passing significance that the one-year increase between approximately 80 per cent. Each years graduating classes are now several times larger than the total high school registration a few years ago.
 More pupils enrolled have made additional teachers, and more than 100 extra teachers have been added within the past four years. The new additions to the teaching staffs of the schools are usually much better equipped for their work than were those of a few years ago; and many of those who have been in the county long time have taken advantage Of extension classes and special summer school courses. There has been . steady increase every year in the number of teachers holding first grade certificates. Dr. N. R. Baker, county superintendent of schools, is lending every encouragement to com mand better salaries by improving their intellectual equipment.
 O O O
 Salaries Are Advanced
 N1,N, kept pace with the demand for in structors; and the profession, while still not as well paid as some other professions, is as well paid in Jef- ferson county as in almost any other part of the south. In 1917 principals thought they were well paid if they received $100 a month, and a majority got much less, while the average sal ary of assistants was about $50 a month. Now principals salaries range from $100 to $200 a month and those of assistants average as high IS $13O the minimum being about $50.
 This great change in the educa- tiontal complexion of Jefferson coun- ty has been brought about largely through the efforts of Dr. Baker, who has been in charge of the county rural schools since 1917. Prior to that time, consolidated schools or any thing like an unified system of coun-
  Every community. large or small looked after it's own educational pro- bIems, raised among its own resi- dents the funds necessary for the construction and maintenance oi buildings and hired it's teachers as interested in getting them cheap enough to fit the annual budget than in getting them sufficiently well equipped to do their work properly The only outside aid communit! could expect was a maximum Of $2ot from the state. The idea of a mort wealthy community using a part o1 it's wealth to give better educationa advantages to a less fortunate neigh boring community was developed during the past six years and put into practice through statewide ane county wide educational systems.
 Perhaps the greatest example O the growth of the county education ally is to be seen in the recent! constructed school buildings. Within the past six years. 66 of them hav' been erected, and plans are being considered now for the expenditure of another million dollars or nor for still greater expansion. Many O the old buildings found in the count! when Dr. Baker took charge hav' been outgrown andAhave been re placed by modern structures Othe communities that had no schools a all have been given modern building and supplied with well-trainet teachers. Many of these are of tile brick and stone construction. The, have a total of 320 rooms, a tota pupil capacity of 14,S45. and cover with their grounds, 339 acres. Tn total cost is given at $1,326.596. Il addition to these, $S1,642 has bee spent on five negro schools.
 O O O
 Gives TheA High Rank.
 The average value of these 6 white schools is approximately $21, 900, giving them high rank amonl rural schools the country over Tn largest school in the county, at lone Valley. costing, with it's site an equipment, approximately $200 00( ranks third among all schools in un incorporated rural communities il the United States. This is a com btned high and elementary schoo having g rooms and a pupil capac ity of $50.
 The people of Jefferson have ha a taste of good schools and bette