Complying with your request for a general report of the public school interests of Bedford County, I beg leave to submit the following:

Libraries Bedford County has a good teachers' library with five or six hundred volumes of good books, which are fairly well read by our teachers. This library is to be supplemented very soon by the addition of a goodly number of first class books.

The county has three Public School Libraries with good substantial cases and a good selection of books. We hope to have several others established soon. There are a number of private school libraries in the county.

While considerable attention has been given to school improvement, and many school rooms are showing the results in their appearance, no school improvement associations have been organized.

Three thousand dollars have been spent this year for new houses, improvements on old ones, apparatus, etc. More must be spent before all our houses are comfortable.

In some sections of the county there is an imperative need of consolidation in order to make the schools more interesting and efficient. Better roads would add immensely to the welfare of our county schools.

No county high schools have been provided for. Bedford County has good city public schools and training schools at Shelbyville, Bell Buckle and Wartrace, with high grade secondary schools at Normandy, Unionville, Flat Creek, Hilltop, and other points. This supply of advanced schools seems to militate against the establishing of county high schools rather than in favor of it.

Our school tax, State and county, is 40 cents on the hundred dollars. No special tax has been levied for school purposes.

There has been an improvement in the daily attendance of many of our schools, but this improvement does not appear in others, and is not sufficiently marked in those where it exists. Sentiment for a mild compulsory law is growing in the county, and teachers who are certainly the best judges, are outspoken in their demands for relief from this annoying irregularity in attendance.

The County Board of Education has declared by resolution that the teachers' salary shall depend, in part, upon the general interest manifested in the cause of education as shown by attendance upon annual institutes, monthly teachers' meetings, etc., a record of which is required of the superintendent. This has a salutory influence in securing the attendance of lukewarm teachers.

COUNTY INSTITUTE.

FACULTY AND DIVISION Of Work.

W. E. Thompson, Conductor.

Teachers-Miss Maggie Campbell, T. A. Floyd, C. F. Shott, Miss Louise Goggins, Mrs. Cassie Gattis, T. J. Fariss, W. J. Mullins. Institute opened May 30, 1910, closed June 11, 1910. Number of days devoted to written examinations, 2.

As per your request I submit the following report of school progress in Benton County:

SCHOOL LIBRARIES.

One $60 school library has been established this year, receiving $20 from the State Library Fund. Interest has been aroused in the work which promises fair to result in several more libraries

soon.

SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT.

A strong county organization has been effected. Miss Moore started the work June 14th and almost every teacher in the

case.

county is now an active member of the County Association. Local associations have been organized in a number of communities and have resulted in an increased school interest in every One splendid rural school house has been built, painted, and equipped mainly through the efforts of a local S. I. A., and the library mentioned above was secured through the same agency. The Camden local association is planning a campaign for a new brick school building in the near future. Grounds have been improved, buildings repaired, pictures hung and sanitary conditions generally improved throughout the county by the efforts of the associations.

MATERIAL, EQUIPMENT, HOUSES, ETC.

Three new houses were built the past year and one is now in process of erection. The County Board of Education purchased desks for each house in the county last year.

Some few globes, charts, and blackboards have been added. Efforts are being made to consolidate schools where possible and build good houses. The school patrons are asked to assist in the erection of houses so as to take less public money and give a longer school term. They have responded liberally in almost every case.

COUNTY HIGH SCHOOLS.

There is a growing sentiment in favor of a County High School, though as yet nothing definite has been accomplished.

LOCAL TAXATION.

The county tax rate now is twenty-five cents on the hundred dollars, property, and one dollar poll. This on the assessed valuation does not yield sufficient revenue for an adequate term.

ATTENDANCE.

This is our greatest problem in the rural schools. Much has been done through the School Improvement Association and through the individual efforts of the teachers to better conditions along this line. It has been a topic in every teachers' meeting this year and plans are discussed relative to the subject in order to help the teacher with the problem. A compulsory law would possibly be the key to the situation.

There is a growing demand in the county for better trained

teachers, comfortable school houses, and adequate equipment and grounds which will surely result in better conditions in the rural schools of the future.

COUNTY INSTITUTE.

FACULTY AND DIVISION OF WORK.

M. L. Hardin, Conductor.

Andrew McClellan, Mrs. M. L. Hardin, B. D. Johnson.

Institute opened May 23, 1910.

Institute closed June 18, 1910.

Number of days devoted to written examinations, 3.