1 19 (2) The term "elementary school" means a day or 2 residential school which provides elementary education, as 3 determined under State law; and the term "secondary 4 school" means a day or residential school which provides 5 secondary education, as determined under State law, except 6 that it does not include any education provided beyond 7 grade 12. 8 14 (3) The term "equipment" includes machinery, utilities, 9 and built-in equipment and any necessary enclosures or struc10 tures to house them, and includes all other items necessary 11 for the provision of education services, such as instructional 12 equipment and necessary furniture, printed, published, and 13 audiovisual instructional materials and other related material. (4) The term "local educational agency" means a pub15 lic board of education or other public authority legally con16 stituted within a State for either administrative control or 17 direction of, or to perform a service function for, public 18 elementary or secondary schools in a city, county, township, 19 school district, or other political subdivision of a State, or 20 such combination of school districts or counties as are recog21 nized in a State as an administrative agency for its public 22 elementary or secondary schools. Such term also includes 23 any other public institution or agency having administrative 24 control and direction of public elementary or secondary 25 schools. 1 20 (5) The term "nonprofit” as applied to a school means 2 a school owned and operated by one or more nonprofit cor 3 porations or associations no part of the net earnings of which 4 inures, or may lawfully inure, to the benefit of any private 5 shareholder or individual. 6 (6) The term "State" means the fifty States, the Dis7 trict of Columbia, and, except for purposes of sections 102 8 (b) and 203 (b), Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the 9 Virgin Islands, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific 10 Islands. 11 (7) The term "State educational agency" means the 12 State board of education or other agency or officer primarily 13 responsible for the State supervision of public elementary 14 and secondary schools. "School Finance Act of 1977" H.R. 1138 has two purposes: to provide general aid to local school districts to insure programs of high quality, and to assist States in equalizing educational opportunity. Toward the first purpose, the bill authorizes basic grants to be made to local educational agencies in an amount equal to $100 for every child in average daily membership in that district, reduced by the percentage that the district's non-Federal per pupil expenditure exceeds 115% of the State average per pupil expenditure. Local educational agencies applying for basic grants must submit to the State educational agency an application which assesses the educational needs of the children in its schools, sets forth a plan for meeting these needs, provides for evaluation of programs funded under the bill, makes provision for services to non-public schoolchildren, and assures that the funds will be used to supplement funds from non-Federal sources. The bill also authorizes equalization grants to be made to States which have submitted and had approved by the Commissioner of Education a State plan to achieve equalization of resources for elementary and secondary education within the State. The State plan must guarantee that: 1) the State wealth, rather than the wealth of the local district, will be the basis for the quality of education provided each child in the State; 2) after five years' participation in the program, the per pupil expenditure of any local district will not vary by more than 10% from that of any other district in the State; 3) greater amounts will be expended on children with greater educational needs and on dis-: tricts with greater educational costs, and 4) provision will be made for participation of non-public schoolchildren. A State's equalization grant will be in the amount of $200 for every pupil in average daily membership for the first fiscal year the State participates, $300 per pupil for the second year, $400 for the third, $500 for the fourth, and $600 for the fifth and succeeding fiscal years. No funds are authorized to carry out the provisions of the bill until the appropriation for Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act equals or exceeds $3 billion. For both the basic grant and equalization grant programs, up to 2% of funds appropriated are reserved for the outlying areas, and up to 1% of a State's total grant is reserved for State administration. Mr. MoTTL. The subcommittee will come to order. If we could have Dr. Alexander, Mr. Odden, Mr. Hodge and Mr. Long at the front table here. The Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education is conducting hearings today and tomorrow on H.R. 1138, a bill to provide general aid to school districts and to assist States in equalization of educational resources. These hearings will also address the general subject of equalization of educational resources. The situation of unequal resources, I believe, lies at the root of most of the problems we face in education today. I feel it important and appropriate that the subcommittee address this problem at the same time we think about ways to amend all of the major elementary and secondary education programs next year. In the chairman's State of Kentucky, for example, the richest school district spends about three times as much to educate its youngsters as does the poorest school district. We can add Federal categorical program after program on top of basic educational programs, but the simple fact will remain that in Kentucky the rich will have three times as much for their children's basic education as will the poor. Except for a small program to aid States in developing equalization plans, the Federal Government has not provided funds to remedy this situation. Following the Serrano v. Priest decision a couple of States initiated efforts to revamp their school finance systems on a more equalized basis. To my way of thinking, only the Federal Government possesses the full financial capability to bring about substantial change in this area. States are already providing 43.6 percent of the total elementary and secondary school funds, which marks a steady increase in the State's share over the past several years. Local districts provide 48.6 percent of these funds, and the Federal Government only 7.8 percent. This Federal share has remained fairly constant during the past decade. If funds are not forthcoming for a multi-billion dollar program of the type proposed in H.R. 1138, I am strongly convinced that the responsibility rests with the Federal Government to take some action to do away with the vast inequities that still exist in school financing. For that reason, I am pleased that we have such a distinguished panel of school finance experts here today. I hope that the witnesses today and tomorrow will be able to tell us first what is the status of equalization efforts throughout the country and second, what measures the Federal Government might undertake on a grand scale or on a more modest scale to further the goal of equalization. Our distinguished panel here this morning is Dr. Kern Alexander, Director, Institute for Educational Finance, University of Florida, Gainesville; Mr. Allan Odden, Director, Education Finance Center, Education Commission of the States; Mr. Michael V. Hodge, Director, School Finance Reform Project, National Urban Coalition; and Mr. David Long, Director, School Finance Reform Project, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. We will hear first of all from Dr. Kern Alexander. Dr. Alexander, may I suggest to all of you, you either can read your statement or summarize it for the record. It is my understanding there will be a Democratic Caucus at 9:00. We might be a little rushed this morning. All of your statements will be submitted in the record in their entirety. Without objection, they will be so admitted. STATEMENT OF KERN ALEXANDER, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATIONAL FINANCE, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA, GAINESVILLE [The statement of Dr. Alexander follows:] FEDERAL GENERAL AID TO EDUCATION: COMMENTS ON H.R. 1138 by Kern Alexander* General aid to elementary and secondary education is long Only a few years later, under the Roosevelt Administration, a report by the United States Advisory Committee on Education *Dr. Alexander is Professor of Educational Administration and Director of the Institute for Educational Finance, University of Florida, Gainesville. |