The action by the House of Representatives on May 9, 1941, in adopting H. R. 4545 providing for any Federal financial assistance the States may require for increased educational facilities due to national-defense projects places S. 1313 in the class of a nondefense appropriation bill and since the President has urged Congress to keep all nondefense appropriations to a minimum, this bill should be rejected by the Committee on Education and Labor. We further recommend that the Congress name a special committee to investigate and study the alleged inability of the various States to provide required finances for their own educational systems. Such a committee, we believe, should be composed of not more than five Members of each House of Congress, not more than three Members of each House to be of the same political party. Such investigation and study should include proper provision for open hearings for the benefit of the public and should reveal the need, if any, for Federal financial assistance to State and local educational systems. If such need should be established, it should be provided in the form of loans to the States from the Federal Treasury with the specific provision that such loans are to be repaid the Federal Treasury, within a definite period, from the proceeds of special taxes to be levied by the States for the retirement of such loans. MEMORANDUM ON S. 1313, BY BOLIVAR PAGÁN, RESIDENT COMMISSIONER FROM PUERTO RICO I consider S. 1313 an excellent measure. As applicable to Puerto Rico, it will give a most favorable encouragement and needed aid to public education there. Since the establishment of the American regime in Puerto Rico 43 years ago, the island has shown great progress in education. The largest item, more than one-third, of our yearly insular budget has been devoted for public education, but there is a need of expending three or four times more than the amount now appropriated to meet a desirable goal. Puerto Rico is overcrowded with a population of nearly 2,000,000 inhabitants, over 500 square mile. The percentage of children under 20 years, about 50 percent of our population, is increasing considerably every year. The economic conditions of the island do not allow to do all we need for educational facilities. Approximately 300,000 children remain out of school, due to lack of funds for buildings, equipment, and teachers. The Puerto Rico has very rapidly assimilated the American civilization. Puerto Ricans are intelligent and alert, aiming to live and think on the common American standards of living, hoping to remain always an American community. The help provided in S. 1313 will be greatly beneficial and encouraging. On behalf of the nearly 2,000,000 loyal American citizens of Puerto Rico, earnestly request and hope that the Senate Committee on Education and Labor will give a favorable report to said bill. STATEMENT OF THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR ON S. 1313 The American Federation of Labor first approved the principle of Federal grants-in-aid to State educational programs in connection with vocational education. We officially began working for vocational education in 1907 and were one of the chief sponsors of the Smith-Hughes Act enacted in 1917. The Federation in 1918 approved the principle of Federal leadership in education and endorsed legislative proposals to create a Federal Department of Education headed by a secretary who should be a member of the President's Cabinet. The decisions of our annual conventions have approved the principle of Federal grants to States for education, first as an emergency measure and secondly, as a way to further our permanent program. In 1934 we urged Federal emergency aid for public schools and for special educational programs. In 1937 we urged Federal grants for education to be allocated in the various States, and we have continued to urge this method as the practical way to provide equal educational opportunities for all. We believe that Federal aid is necessary to maintain equal educational opportunities in this defense emergency, and urge legislation to safeguard our public school system and to provide for the children of those parents who have gone into areas of defense production where educational facilities do not exist or are overtaxed. However, we believe that the provision to meet emergency needs should not be the basis for a permanent program, and we respectfully submit that this bill should be limited to emergency purposes only. The provisions of the bill are obviously drawn to meet emergency needs. For example, the Board of Apportionment is given only a few vague suggestions as guidance for apportioning money to the States instead of a specific formula: The provisions allowing 53 percent of allotments to be used for other purposes than actual instruction of pupils might be permissible during an emergency but not desirable as a permanent provision. It would, of course, be difficult to prescribe standards for the emergency problem of extending educational opportunity for the increased population in localities of military training centers and new and expanded defense production centers, but with respect to permanent education provisions definite and objective methods of measuring equality of opportunity can be devised. We believe the bill is defective in not including qualifications and term of office for the Board of Apportionment. The term “national defense" is so vague and may be so all-inclusive that we believe such emergency appropriation should be reconsidered each year in the light of developments and changing needs. MEMORANDUM BY FORREST B. SPAULDING, LIBRARIAN OF THE DES MOINES PUBLIC LIBRARY AND CHAIRMAN OF THE FEDERAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION The American Library Association, which I represent, is a national, professional organization with a membership of over 15,000 in the United States alone which represents practically all of the important library interests in the country. Through action of its council and executive board taken in May 1936 and reaffirmed in December 1940 its Federal relations committee is authorized to seek Federal aid for library extension through legislation and otherwise. The American Library Association was one of the first organizations to approve the recommendations of the Reeves report and has through its Federal relations committee, and through individual members, actively supported the HarrisonThomas bills for Federal aid to education in both the Seventy-fifth and Seventysixth Congresses. Although our particular interest has been in the provision for rural library services such as were included in title 3 of the bill S. 1305 in the Seventy-sixth Congress, we nevertheless, reaffirm our interest in and support of the present measure, S. 1313. Statements made by Mr. Carl H. Milam, secretary, American Library Association, and myself at hearings, before a subcommittee of the Committee on Education and Labor, United States Senate, Seventy-sixth Congress, on S. 1305 (March 3, 1939) are on record, (pp. 162–168) and are reaffirmed at this time. Mr. Milam and I both regret our inability to be present at the hearings scheduled for April 28, 29, 30, 1941. BOARD OF EDUCATION, DUCHESNE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, Hon. ELBERT D. THOMAS, United States Senator, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR THOMAS: Today I received a copy of your Senate bill, S. 1313, which aims to strengthen the national defense and promote the general welfare through the appropriation of funds to assist the States and Territories in meeting financial emergencies in education and in reducing inequalities of educational opportunities. What can school men do to help promote the passage of such a worthy piece of legislation? Was it your intention that the bill should include financial help to school districts who have Indian children attending school and where Indian lands do not pay any taxes for the support of public education? The Duchesne County Board of Education wishes to congratulate you on your work for the advancement of education to every corner of America. Sincerely yours, W. J. BOND, Superintendent. Hon. ELBERT D. THOMAS, PROVO CITY SCHOOLS. Provo, Utah, April 18, 1941. United States Senator, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR THOMAS: I am taking this means of expressing to you my appreciation for your having sent to me the bill S. 1313, together with your speech of April 7, delivered in the Senate of the United States. I have been greatly interested in this whole problem of Federal aid to education during the years that it has been discussed. I have read the bill very carefully and concur wholeheartedly with its content. I am anxious that you should know that the teachers, principals, and administrative officers of Provo concur wholeheartedly in the necessity of such a bill being passed by the Government. I am likewise sure that every educator of Utah must feel kindly toward this bill and your efforts in working for Federal aid to education. Should there be anything that I can do to assist you in any way from the Utah point of view in education, I shall be most happy to do so. Respectfully, J. C. MOFFITT, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, Mansfield, Pa., April 21, 1941. Hon. ELBERT D. THOMAS, United States Senator from Utah, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR THOMAS: This morning in the mail I received a copy of the Congressional Record carrying your speech under date of April 14 relative to the Educational Finance Act of 1941 and also a copy of Senate bill No. 1313 which you introduced for yourself and Senator Harrison. I am Thank you very much for the courtesy of sending on this literature. greatly pleased to know of your special interest in this bill. As a former superintendent of public instruction in Pennsylvania, I was personally very much disappointed when the preceding bills died in committee. We were very much encouraged when the Congress moved those bills along and they were up to the 10-year line and ready for action, but apparently our leaders did not want them to go through. I am very much pleased with the adequate provision in the E. G. A. of 1941 for rural education, minority groups, and vocational education. I am disappointed in the new bill because the library program is not emphasized as much as it was in the preceding bills. There is great need in American education, (1) for research, (2) for the elementary program including the kindergarten and nursery school movement, and (3) teacher education. Would it be possible to add a paragraph for each of the following topics: 1. Library. 2. Teacher education. 3. Kindergarten and nursery education. 4. Educational research. Equal educational opportunity is a need in America at the present time. I am glad that you have had the courage to say that there is not the faintest hope of any fair degree of educational opportunity unless there is substantial Federal assistance which your bill provides. Please convey my kindest personal regards to Senator Harrison. Thank you again for your enthusiastic interest and support of education and in return accept my very best wishes for the fulfillment of your hopes and plans for the future. With cordial regard and deep appreciation, I am Sincerely yours, LESTER K. ADE, President. Hon. ELBERT D. THOMAS, STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, Pierre, S. Dak., April 21, 1941. Chairman, Committee on Education and Labor, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. THOMAS: South Dakota is keenly interested in Senate bill 1313 and we are hopeful that you may be successful in enacting it into law. There is a great deal of inequality in educational opportunities for South Dakota children. While our conditions have greatly improved since the Federal Emergency Relief Administration program assisted us in 1933-35, we have many schools that cannot offer even a minimum program on their present income. Federal aid, if permitted on an equalization basis, could remedy this and the need is vital. There is great need for vocational work on a nonreimbursable basis in schools that are financially unable to meet the requirements of the present Federal plans for vocational education. Children living in the less favorable areas need this instruction more than those who live in the districts able to carry local costs. We also need funds to carry forward defense education, to provide for physically handicapped children, to assist the children of Federal employees, and to carry a fair part of the supervisory costs of the additional work caused by the new duties placed in this office by virtue of the defense program. I shall be very glad to furnish specific data on any of these points. Be assured that any assistance we can give you is yours for the asking. Yours very truly, J. F. HINES, Superintendent of Public Instruction. SOUTH DAKOTA EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, Hon. ELBERT D. THOMAS, Chairman, Senate Committee on Education and Labor, United States Capitol, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR THOMAS: We have copy of your new Federal-aid bill, S. 1313 and we urge its favorable consideration by your Senate committee. Of the five proposals contained in the bill with regard to education, only the first, namely, equalizing the educational opportunities in elementary and secondary schools, is of particular interest to us here in South Dakota. While the other provisions undoubtedly apply to other sections of the United States, the one mentioned above is of such importance to us here that we urgently solicit favorable consideration of the entire bill. Our problem in South Dakota stems from the rural problem and the inequalities in tax bases. An indication of this is that the salaries of rural teachers in South Dakota average $540 per year, for other elementary school teachers $943, and for high-school teachers $1,138, bringing the composite average salary to $807 per year for 1940--41. The rural problem in South Dakota is augmented by the division between the western range and the eastern agricultural sections. During recent years we have had a movement to put more and more western farm land back into grazing. But the population has not shifted according to the ability of the country to support it. Our inadequate tax base limits the levy for school purposes in rural districts to 15 mills and to 25 mills within towns and cities. The levies are inadequate and local units have to inflate their assessed valuations to bring in larger revenues, particularly for schools. Even then it is impossible to raise sufficient money to maintain even such standards of education as we have here. Added to these rural problems is that of school transportation. We are getting a fine system of Federal, State, and county highways in South Dakota, but so far we have had little opportunity to use it in connection with our educational program. Assistance for transportation would help materially in blotting out the inequalities between the rural child and the town pupil. High-school tuition is paid also by the common-school (rural) district. This charge fluctuates violently with the result that even in the better sections of the State many local school districts are driven to desperation in trying to provide for the education of their children. And since they have no control over the tuition problem, the rural schools suffer for both. In many rural communities the school serves as more than an institution for youth. Many rural people have lost their farms and their means of livelihood; and it seems that in these areas they take greater pains about providing the necessities of education for their children at the expense of other needs. In some of our larger towns, people in the lower-income brackets have found that local taxes have made living costs prohibi.ive and they are compelled to move into areas just outside the city limits. Some of our school districts have been unwilling to take these areas into the school organization and the law permits them to make this choice. Everyone of these areas is a problem area as far as public schools are concerned and the problem is always a financial one. The State has assumed a part of the cost of education out of State resources, but this amount has tapered off in recent years due to increasing demands from bond holders, and for highways, for new enterprises, and for reduction in taxes. The result is that our public schools are between 80 and 90 percent dependent upon local sources of revenue. The State has set up a fund for the aid of distressed schools but the annual appropriation has been cut nearly in half and this meager assistance goes only to such schools that are unable to get sufficient cash for even a part of their current expenses or are actually going behind on their bond and warrant payments. Yet many schools in the State have been kept open because of this $150,000 State appropriation per year. For some of our schools, the future plans under State and local support seem hopeless. In one school district the tax valuation has tapered down to $60,000, and there is a $40,000 warrant indebtedness, with its warrants drawing 6 percent interest. In most of these districts teachers and warrant holders have to take a discount on warrants up to and as high as 40 percent, and many warrants cannot be sold at all. The State has been trying to solve this problem for nearly 10 years, and, while many districts are in much better circumstances than they were 10 years ago, the problem is largely unsolved. We trust it will be possible to get a bill enacted into law which will permit the Federal Government to contribute to the support of elementary and secondary education without taking the control away from the local units. We shall appreciate all support that you give to S. 1313. Sincerely yours, S. B. NISSEN, Executive Secretary. WEST VIRGINIA STATE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, Hon. ELBERT D. THOMAS, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR THOMAS: Because of our sincere interest in the conditions modifying public education in the United States, and because of the fact that Senate bill 1313 proposes Federal aid in support of the public-school systems in States ranking low in ability to provide adequate school facilities, and because the program of national defense is suddenly creating difficult school problems through segregating_population in defense areas, and for other reasons equally obvious and sound, I write to solicit the sympathetic and understanding support of the members of your important committee in behalf of Senate bill 1313. In the State of West Virginia we are immediately faced with critical schoolbuilding needs in South Charleston, Morgantown, and Point Pleasant. Industrial expansion in the Fairmont area will, in all probability, increase beyond existing school-building capacities the number of children to be educated in the free-school system. At South Charleston capital investment reported to exceed $50,000,000 will be spent in expanding the United States Ordnance Plant. A recent survey conducted jointly by the United States Office of Education and the Kanawha County Board of Education indicates that when this great plant reaches a stage of normal operation it may be expected that school-building facilities will be entirely inadequate to take care of the increase in school attendance. At Morgantown there is at this time in process of construction an ammonia plant which will perhaps in the first days of its operation require from 400 to 600 workmen and which because of probable expansion within the next 2 years may employ many more than 600 persons. This means, as will be true in South Charleston, that additional school facilities must be had if the children of the workers are to have |