for the next 3 years and slightly over 100, 4 years hence, if all freshmen complete the elementary curriculum.* The Virginia Education Association has long been on record as favoring Federal aid to the States to equalize educational opportunity. In 1943 it adopted the following statement of principles of Federal aid which were reaffirmed by the delegate assembly at its annual meeting November 29, 1944, in a call for increased Federal aid: "1. All Federal aid or grants for such programs within the States should be distributed to the States through the United States Office of Education. "2. The United States Office of Education should deal directly with the regularly constituted State education authorities and not with local governmental agencies within the State. "3. The Federal Government should provide consultative services and determine whether the Federal funds are being expended according to the declared purposes of the law establishing the appropriation but should not exercise any supervision or control over any school or State educational agency with respect to which any funds are expended pursuant to such law, nor should any term or condition of any agreement under such law relating to any contribution made to or on behalf of any school or State educational agency authorize any agency or officer of the United States to control the administration, personnel, curriculum, instruction, methods of instruction, or materials of instruction. "4. The management and control of such programs within the State should be definitely assigned to the regularly constituted State educational authorities, since control of education is a State responsibility. "5. A substantial part of any Federal funds made available to the States for education should be apportioned on an equalization basis in such a way as to effectively equalize educational opportunities among the States." Respectfully yours, FRANCIS S. CHASE, Senator JOHNSTON. Anyone else? STATEMENT OF J. HAROLD SAXON, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, GEORGIA EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, ATLANTA, GA. Mr. SAXON. I would like to file a communication from his Excellency, Hon. Ellis Arnall, Governor of the State of Georgia, and a paper by Mr. John Paschall, editor and publisher of the Atlanta Journal. (The papers referred to are as follows:) Hon. J. HAROLD SAXON, STATE OF GEORGIA EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, Executive Secretary, Georgia Education Association, Atlanta, Ga. DEAR MR. SAXON: I understand that you and a committee of educators will go to Washington, D. C., next week in behalf of legislation for Federal aid to education. I have read rather carefully S. 181, introduced by Senators Thomas and Hill, and I am in position to endorse without equivocation the contents of this bill. In my campaign for the governorship of Georgia I sponsored Federal aid for education as a part of my platform. The State Democratic convention in 1942 included this provision as a part of its platform. The people of Georgia, in my opinion, are enthusiastically in favor of Federal aid for general education administered through the State and local administrative agencies. The National Democratic Convention in Chicago very wisely, in my opinion, included a provision for Federal aid to education without Federal control. Meeting the Teacher Shortage, by G. Tyler Miller, Virginia Journal of Education for January 1945. It would seem to me that the Nation is committed to a program of Federal support for general education. I hope that the Thomas-Hill bill will receive ⚫ favorable action by the Congress. With highest regards and best wishes, I am ELLIS ARNALE, Governor. [From WSB's "Views of the News"] FEDERAL AID FOR EDUCATION (By John Paschall, editor, Atlanta Journal) A distinguished English woman, speaking in Atlanta recently, was asked about the effect of the bombings on the people of England. To the amazement of her audience, she replied that the spirit of the people had been lifted by the ordeals through which they had lived and that they had somehow managed to get a new sense of values that they had never had before. "Of course, I pray that America will be spared this devastation," she said, "yet I am convinced that we in England have received something of great price that we could not otherwise have achieved for ourselves without those long soul-testing days and nights." NEW SENSE OF VALUES When this terrible war is over and our soldiers return from half a hundred battle fronts, we may be sure that they, too, will have a new sense of value. They know what they are fighting for, if some of us still almost untouched by the war are living in a fool's paradise. One thing, we may be sure, they will expect adequate educational opportunities for their children and their children's children. This they do not now have in Georgia and some 40 other of the 48 States of the Union, if, indeed, they have these privileges in full measure anywhere. It is estimated that some 200.000 physically fit boys have been rejected by the armed services because of insufficient education. That surely is a "blot on the 'scutcheon" of American democracy. Ten million one hundred and four thousand six hundred and twelve adult citizens in the United States over 25 years of age have completed not more than 4 years of schooling, and 461,871 of these are in the Empire State of Georgia. We may win the right to the "four freedoms"freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear but we cannot truly have them or know what to do with them, or hope to preserve them without education. FEDERAL AID All of which is by way of calling attention to the Federal aid for education bill now pending in both Houses of Congress. This bill, known as Senate bill 637 and House bill 2849, identical in purpose, except for a word or two in language, authorizes the appropriation of funds to assist the States and Territories in more adequately financing their systems of public education during the emergency, and in reducing the inequalities of educational opportunities through public elementary and secondary schools. The bill provides for two distinct types of appropriations. The first authorization is for an appropriation of $200,000,000 annually to the States for adjusting teachers' salaries to meet the current deplorable situation. These funds are to be distributed to the States on the basis of average daily school attendance, and on this basis the State of George would receive $5,319,600 annually during any year in which Congress finds the need therefor. The second authorization is a permanent one, and provides for an annual appropriation of $100,000,000 for the purpose of more nearly equalizing educational opportunities in and among the States. The basis of this authorization is need, as evidenced by the States' economic ability and the number of schoolage children. Georgia's share in this appropriation would be $5,145,880. Georgia's total from the two appropriations would be $10.465,580, so long as Congress continues the emergency appropriation, and approximately half this amount when the emergency ceases. No matching funds are required, as in the usual Federal aid bills. Thus the poorer States will benefit equally with the more economically fortunate. 73384-45-pt. 1-15 CONTROL SAFEGUARDED The first section of this bill is an important one and would seem to be a complete answer to those who fear Federal aid to schools might be the beginning of Federal control of education. Let me read this section: "SECTION 1. No department, agency, or officer of the United States shall exercise any supervision or control over any school or State educational agency with respect to which any funds are expended pursuant to this act, nor shall any term or condition of any agreement under this act relating to any contribution made under this act to or on behalf of any school or State educational agency, authorize any agency or officer of the United States to control the administration, personnel, curriculum, instruction, methods of instruction, or materials of instruction." This provisions seems to be complete, definite and understandable, and should allay the fears of the most timorous about Federal control of education. There is another provision in this bill that will be particularly reassuring to the South. Section 6A, subtitle f, requires, in States where separate public schools are maintained for separate races, that there must be “a just and equitable apportionment of such funds for the benefit of public schools maintained for minority races, without reduction of the proportion of State and local moneys expended for educational purposes during the fiscal year ended in 1942 for public schools for minority races." The States are not asked to raise additional funds of their own for minority race education. They are only stopped from reducing these expenditures. No good citizen will object to a just and equitable apportionment of the Federal funds provided in this bill. EMERGENCY There seems to be no shadow of doubt that an emergency in education now confronts the Nation. Tragic to relate, this is not a new situation. The last World War' saw our public schools depleted to a dangerous point of inefficiency, and even in 1933-35 the schools attended by one-eighth of all the children of the Nation were closed short of a normal term because of lack of funds to pay teachers' salaries. Indeed, the Federal Government found it necessary to pay the salaries of 100,000 public school teachers in order to keep the schools open. Thus teachers were technically placed on relief, and in excess of $21,000,000 was spent for this purpose. During the school year 1942-43 there were over 189,000 public school teachers new to their positions, as contrasted with the turn-over in normal years of 93,000. This turn-over ran as high as 40 percent in 5 States, and 25 percent in 27 States. The States in which the turn-over is greatest now pay, and have paid for years, the lowest salaries to teachers, and have the least taxpaying ability to support schools. During the school year just closed there were 13,000 vacant positions in the elementary and secondary schools of the Nation. A total of 65,000 teachers actually left the teaching field during the year. To replace these qualified teachers, the States issued a total of 37,000 emergency certificates to persons lacking the training or other qualifications requisite to only type of license issued under the standard requirements established under State law. Literally hundreds of thousands of children never know from day to day who their teachers will be when they arrive at school. PUPILS WITHOUT TEACHERS It is estimated that no less than 75,000 teaching positions will be vacant this coming school year unless the situation with respect to financing of the schools is improved. One witness before the Senate committee, considering the bill, testified that 150,000 pupils in his State would be without a qualified teacher next year. This leaving and tranferring of teachers threatens the serious crippling, if not the collapse, of large numbers of our schools and weakens the effectiveness of the vital war services expected of the schools. Admittedly, the chief factor in the loss of teachers to the public schools is the inadequacies of the salaries. While the armed services took 39,000 teachers from their positions last year, many of these, especially women, in addition to patriotic motives, were undoubtedly attracted by the higher rates of pay to be obtained in the services. High salaries in war industries, private employment, and Federal service are known to have induced 37,000 additional teachers to give up their profession. The present disparity is illustrated by the disgraceful fact that 40 teachers out of every 100 are paid less than $1,200 annually, and about 8 in every 100 less than $600 annually. COMPARISONS It is said that at least 10,000 teachers in the United States receive less than $300 annually. The average annual salary of all teachers, principals, and supervisors in our public schools in 1942 was $1,500, while for rural teachers the average was only about $900. Compare these salaries with the average salaries of Federal Government employees, excluding the military personnel, $1,926; employees in manufacturing industries, including wage earners and salaried workers, $2,043. For several years the minimum annual salary of a beginning professional employee of the Federal Government has been $2,000, and the annual wage of the lowest classification $1,200. Recently Congress provided for an approximate increase of 20 percent in these amounts. While the cost of living in the period between 1938 and 1942 increased about 21 percent in urban areas and 34 percent in rural areas, teachers' salaries increased on the average less than 7 percent. The heaviest increases in the cost of living have occurred where the teachers' salaries have been the lowest (rural teachers $900, urban teachers $2,000). In 1938 the average salary of teachers was $125 above the annual wage of factory employees; but in 1942 it was $626 less. For the most part, the increases in wages of factory workers has been underwritten by the Federal Government, since most industries are engaged in war production. The school teachers are the largest class of employees engaged in an enterprise that is essential to the winning of the war and the peace to follow for whom the Federal Government has done nothing to adjust their salaries to meet the current cost of living. STATES FINANCIALLY CRIPPLED There seems to be no doubt that the financial ability of the States to meet the current crises in the support of education is being rapidly reduced by the expansion of Federal taxation. The necessary program for winning the war and its resultant economic effects have already curtailed the amount of State funds available for education. In general, the poorer States depend most heavily upon various types of sales taxes for their revenue. Already all States are experiencing material losses in revenue from gasoline and motor-vehicle taxes because of the ban on automobile production and the rationing of gasoline and tires. Price control and rationing of other types of taxable goods will further curtail revenues from sales taxes. Prudent administrators are standing firm against an increase in State, county, and municipal taxes. There seems to be no new source of revenue to which the States can look for funds to meet the school emergency. There are, of course, wide differences in educational opportunity in the 48 States. Some States are worse off than Georgia, but not many. To be perfectly frank about it, Georgia as a State is doing just about all for education that it can afford to do. Unless the pending Federal aid bill becomes a law and provides badly needed additional money, there is little hope for an adequately financed school system in this State. This is not reckless speculation, but the informed opinion of no less an authority than Mr. B. E. Thrasher, Jr., the State's able auditor, who has served under several administrations. Mr. Thrasher has authorized me to quote him. FACE THE TRUTH This year the State of Georgia is spending $19,000,000 on education, and the cities, counties, and local communities are spending an additional eight millions, or a total of $27,000,000. The estimated income of the State for the current year is $52,000,000. In other words, the State of Georgia is already appropriating 37 percent of its total income for education. Georgia is doing the best it can, but its best is not enough to give our boys and girls the kind of education that they are entitled to. It is high time for us to face the truth. In 1940 the number of persons of school age in Georgia, that is 5 to 17 years old, was 837,995, but only 582,654 of this group were in school. During the same period for every 1,000 persons in Georgia between 14 and 17 years of age, only 488 were enrolled in high school, against 952 in the State of Washington. In 1940 Georgia was spending $42.71 per pupil, while New York spent $160.24, and the national average was $92.38. The average salary of all teachers, supervisors, and principals for the years 1940-41 was $753 in Georgia, while in New York it was $2,591, and in the United States it was $1.470. In Georgia 15,400 teachers, or 70 percent of them, are receiving less than $1,200 annual salary, and 3,300 teachers, or 15 percent, are receiving less than $600 per year. WHICH WILL YOU CHOOSE? These are the disheartening facts. They sound disgraceful, yet Georgia is spending 37 percent of its total income from all sources for education. Our school facilities are inadequate and our teachers are underpaid and quitting their positions to go where they can earn a living. At least 1,600 emergency certificates will be issued during the current year to teachers who lack the standard qualifications. What are we going to do about it? What can we do about it? State Auditor Thrasher says that it would require a sales tax of 2 percent to provide the funds needed to bring Georgia's school facilities and teaching personnel up to the national average. The Federal aid bill now pending will provide these funds without an additional penny from the State. Which will you choose? Let your children be your guide. Senator JOHNSTON. Anyone else? STATEMENT OF DR. RICHARD E. JAGGERS, CHIEF OF THE BUREAU OF INSTRUCTION, STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, FRANKFORT, KY. Dr. JAGGERS. I desire, Mr. Chairman, to file a statement to the chairman of this committee in the form of a letter from our superintendent of public instruction. He asked me to say in filing this that the Kentucky school forces and the people of our State subscribe to the principles in this bill which is before the Congress now. We believe, and have always believed, that control of the schools should be as close to the people as they can be operated efficiently, but that the unit of support must be large enough to support the program. Senator JOHNSTON. There being no objection, it may be filed. (The paper referred to is as follows:) Hon. JAMES E. MURRAY, COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, Chairman, Senate Committee on Education and Labor, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR MURRAY: Senate bill 131, now pending, is one of the most significant bills which has been introduced into the United States Senate, since it provides Federal aid for public elementary and secondary schools on the basis of a sound principle of Federal-State relationships in matters of education. It is important legislation because it provides for Federal aid upon two fundamental bases. First, it will help every State in the Union to improve its opportunities in maintaining an effective teaching staff, since it will help each State to raise teachers' salaries more nearly to the level of salaries received by other people engaged in public services. Second, it will enable a large group of States in the less favored areas of the United States to finance their basic school programs. There are many areas in the United States in which even in peacetime a recognized minimum school program can never be provided for the young people without Federal aid. In these areas the people are making a greater effort to support their educational program than the people are making in the more favored areas. Throughout the years in which there was no war, this has been true. The war has accentuated the difficulties. Congress has recognized over and over again certain functions of Government essential to the welfare of the United States. The Congress has appropriated funds for roads because roads are national assets, and has provided many other services for all of the States which were considered to be of national instead of local concern. The war has abundantly proved that education is a national necessity, that even victory on the battle fronts is dependent upon welltrained technicians to operate the machines of war. Education, therefore, has become a problem of national defense and can no longer be treated by the Federal Government as a problem of no concern to it. |