February 1929, Merrill was asked to begin the process of closing all of the remaining schools. Despite the onset of the Great Depression, Merrill was able to successfully negotiate with the Utah State Legislature to ensure the successful transfer of Weber, Snow and Dixie Colleges from the LDS Church to Utah. In Arizona, Gila College was also transferred to the state and was later renamed Eastern Arizona College. When the Idaho legislature rejected an offer to take control of Ricks College, Merrill worked to ensure its survival as a private school, despite seriously diminished funding. Merrill also worked with other church leaders to keep BYU under church control. He felt that maintaining one university was vital for the future training of seminary teachers. He saw the value in maintaining a corps of trained scholars who were well versed in the teachings of the church. In addition, he felt that a church university would be a light to the world, functioning as a showcase for the academic achievements of church members. In 1930, state high school inspector I. L. Williamson issued a highly critical report on the relationships between LDS seminaries and public high schools in Utah. Influenced by this report, the Utah State Board of Education moved to suspend released time privileges statewide. Merrill worked to ensure the continuation of released time, speaking before the State Board to in an attempt to convince them of the benefits and legality of seminary. When the Board voted on the issue in 1931, both released time and credit for Bible study were retained. With most of the LDS Church-run schools eliminated by this point, Merrill's action ensured the survival of what would become the dominant form of religious education for the church in Utah. Merrill also dealt with the effects of the Great Depression, cutting costs in education. Rather than laying off employees, Merrill asked all members of church education to take pay cuts. During his service, church spending on education was cut nearly in half. Despite the hard times he saw during his tenure as commissioner, Merrill took great joy in his work. Upon his call as commissioner he said: Again may I say that I believe there is no kind of education in the world that is so fine and so elevating and so good and so important as religious education. And I believe that nowhere in the world is there