Mr. LANDIS. It would be interesting to know about the compulsory school laws in every State. Of course you have to have the facilities and the number of teachers.

Mr. BATTLE. Yes; well, it is all interrelated, and bound up, too, with your municipalities and the people, younger children having to go out and work and that sort of thing. I think anything we can do to have greater school attendance is all for the good.

Mr. KENNEDY. I would like to ask one question. I think the disturbance in the District over the lecture given by this Russian lady on education in the Soviet Union is something to be carefully considered. I personally feel that if a Russian girl is invited to speak on education in the Soviet Union, inevitably something favorable is coming out about the Soviet Union, and if our education in this country has become so restricted that we cannot hear the opposition side, then I think our education is just as limited as that of the Soviet Union. Do you not think that if Federal money is going into schools in the 48 States, and if something is taught which some Congressman on this hill feels is un-American or subversive, that it will be a short step before a limitation is put on the right of those schools to perhaps teach that particular subject, or hear a lecture on that particular subject? Do you not think this is a danger if Federal aid becomes a law? How are we going to protect ourselves against this danger?

Mr. BATTLE. I don't believe in these bills where the Federal Government has that much control and I don't think we would want to limit education. I don't think our educators by and large would want to limit it just to one side. I certainly think that both sides of the picture should be given. I believe that every American who studies specifically and carefully the political and industrial situation in Russia and compares it with the United States will love this country more when he gets through.

Mr. KENNEDY. We are going to have two congressional investigations of this lady's remarks. It seems to me we must be suffering from an inferiority complex if we cannot compare the two systems and come out with the conclusion that ours is better. Investigations are being made and American flags are going to be given out on the steps of the Capitol this afternoon to four of the students who walked out. If you invite a Russian girl in to talk about Russian education, you are going to hear something favorable about it. It should come as no surprise, and yet Congress has gotten all aroused. What is going to happen when something like this occurs in Massachusetts or Mississippi or Alabama? A lecturer or a teacher may say something that a Congressman thinks is subversive. And he may stand up in the House and say: "Is this what we are spending our Federal funds on? It must be stopped." Don't you think that may be a danger of Federal control along these lines if Federal aid is granted?

Mr. BATTLE. Actually I don't think that would happen in Massachusetts, Alabama, or any State. I think this incident has been seized upon as an opportunity to demonstrate. But I don't think we have to worry about that happening all over the country. I hope not.

Mr. LANDIS. One solution would be without any control. If you give so much money to each teacher that was underpaid, that money would go to the State. It would not have to be any Federal control. There would be so much per teacher to go into these poor school dis

tricts and that money goes to the State to be distributed and there would be no control on that at all.

Mr. BATTLE. I agree with you, gentlemen, anything we can do to strengthen the bill by doing away with Federal control, or anything we could do to eliminate the Federal control part of the bill, I am for.

Mr. LESINSKI. Take our district where the amount of people in the territory is very small. Take a Negro district, there is no school or anything. Those children do not attend any school at all.

What difference would there be if the Government were to pay for rental of a certain church that is only in that district and that is all they have. Pay that teacher for education of those children. Would that not be doing something for the underprivileged?

Mr. BATTLE. It certainly would.

Mr. LESINSKI. Yet, 99 percent of the teachers are against that. That is something I do not understand.

Mr. BATTLE. It seems to me that we should have some kind of an over-all system. If you are going to turn it over to the States and earmark it specifically and tell the educators in the States how they are going to use it-if you want to go that far with Federal control, you will run into real difficulty. I think it would be a better system in that case to leave it to the States and try to get them to use their initiative.

Mr. LESINSKI. It is not a question of Alabama, Mississippi, or Massachusetts, or any other States. Every State has a community that is underprivileged, and there is no school building there. I think that is where you ought to start first, and bring those children and give them some type of education. You have them in New York in the upper section.

Mr. BATTLE. I think you have a good point.

Mr. McCowEN. In conclusion I might make this observation: I noticed that you emphasized that there are very poorly paid teachers in many of the wealthier States. Of course I know that is true in Ohio, and since we do have these poor sections, it is right that the wealthier States should get some money back to equalize their own opportunities within their boundaries.

Further, teachers are leaving the profession and have left by the thousands. A very much smaller number is entering the training institutions and all of those things contribute to the crisis.

On behalf of the committee I thank you for your very splendid

statement.

Mr. GWINN. This is a very splendid witness we have.

Mr. BATTLE. I agree with your statement that we don't want to aim at mediocrity. This is a very minimum and urgent necessity we are setting, $40 per child for a year. If we can go above that I am for it. I appreciate the opportunity of being here.

(The witness was excused.)

Mr. McCOWEN. Congressman Allen.

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN J. ALLEN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

Mr. ALLEN. The name is John J. Allen, Jr., a Congressman from the Seventh District of California.

My bill is H. R. 3104. This bill was sent to me, with a request that I introduce it, from a Mr. Rex Turner, who is in the Oakland school

department of California, sending it as the chairman of the legislative committee of the bay section council of the California Teachers Association, representing some 11,000 teachers in 13 counties in the neighborhood of that part of California in which my district is located.

That was preceded in December by a visit from a committee of the teachers, who had requested that when I got to Washington I lend support to the successor of S. 181 of the Seventy-ninth Congress.

Accordingly, when this draft was received I compared it with S. 472, which is the current version, in order to find exactly what changes, if any, there were, and inasmuch as the bills that have been under discussion are similar to that, I will point out those differences. In section 4, this bill raises the floor minimum of education from $40 to $50. Á similar change in section 7 is made. In section 4 it changes the 1.1 percent to 1.2 percent, which would be the factor needed to raise $50 rather than $40, and in section 6 (b) it eliminates a part of the provision which modifies the keeping of the funds within public agencies and expenditure under public control.

(H. R. 3104 is as follows:)

[H. R. 3104, 80th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To authorize the appropriation of funds to assist the States and Territories in financing a minimum foundation school program of elementary and secondary schools which are both tax-supported and publicly controlled, and in reducing the inequalities of educational opportunities through public elementary and public secondary schools, for the general welfare, and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Educational Finance Act of 1947".

SEC. 2. No department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States shall exercise any direction, supervision or control over, or prescribe any requirements with respect to any school, or any State educational institution or agency, with respect to which any funds have been or may be made available or expended pursuant to this act, nor shall any term or condition of any agreement or any other action taken under this act, whether by agreement or otherwise, relating to any contribution made under this Act to or on behalf of any school, or any State educational institution or agency, or any limitation or provision in any appropriation made pursuant to this Act, seek to control in any manner, or prescribe requirements with respect to, or authorize any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to direct, supervise, or control in any manner, or prescribe any requirements with respect to, the administration, the personnel, the curriculum, the instruction, the methods of instruction, or the materials of instruction, nor shall any provision of this Act be interpreted or construed to imply or require any change in any State constitution prerequisite to any State sharing the benefits of this Act.

APPROPRIATION AUTHORIZED

SEC. 3. For the purpose of more nearly equalizing public elementary-school and public secondary-school opportunities among and within the States, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1948, the sum of $150,000,000; for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1949, the sum of $200,000,000; for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1950, and for each fiscal year thereafter, the sum of $250,000,000 to be apportioned to the States as hereinafter provided.

APPORTIONMENT

SEC. 4. Ninety-eight per centum of the funds appropriated under section 3 of this Act shall be apportioned to the respective States, excluding those enumerated in subsection (G) of this section, in the following manner:

(A) Multiply (a) the number of children from five to seventeen years of age, inclusive, in each State, as determined by the Department of Commerce, for the third year next preceding the year for which the computation is made by (b) $50. (B) Multiply (a) the average of the annual income payments for each State,

as determined by the Department of Commerce, for five years including the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh years next preceding the year for which the computation is made by (b) 1.2 per centum.

(C) If, for any State, the amount calculated under (A) exceeds the amount calculated under (B), the difference shall be the amount of Federal aid due each such State.

(D) Determine the percentage ratio of (a) the amount spent in each State from local and State revenues for current expenditurs (excluding interest, debt service, and capital outlay) for public elementary-school and public secondaryschool education for the third year next preceding the year for which the computation is made, to (b) the average of the annual income payments for each State, as determined by the Department of Commerce, for five years, including the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh years next preceding the year for which the computation is made.

When the percentage ratio thus determined in (D) for any State is less than 2.5, the amount of Federal aid due each such State, as computed under (C), shall be proportionately reduced.

(E) Determine the percentage ratio of (a) the estimated current expenditures (excluding interest, debt service, and capital outlay) in each State from local and State revenues for public elementary-school and public secondary-school education for the year for which the computation is made, to (b) the average of the annual income payments for each State, as determined by the Department of Commerce, for the most recent three years, for which annual income data are available in the year next preceding the year for which the computation is made. When for any year the percentage ratio thus determined for any State, after the fourth year of the operation of this Act, is less than 2.2, such State shall be ineligible to receive any part of the funds authorized in section 3 of this Act for the year for which the computation is made, and shall remain ineligible for that year until such time as revised estimates of expenditures, as determined in the preceding paragraph of this subsection, produce a percentage ratio equal to or greater than 2.2.

(F) In the event 98 per centum of the funds authorized for any fiscal year in section 3 of this Act are insufficient to pay to all eligible States the full amount of Federal aid due each such State, as computed in subsections (A), (B), (C), and (D) of this section, the amount of Federal aid paid to each eligible State shall bear the same ratio to the amount of Federal aid due each such State as the total amount of Federal aid paid to all eligible States bears to the total amount of Federal aid due all eligible States.

(G) From not to exceed 2 per centum of the funds appropriated under section 3 such sums as may be necessary shall be apportioned by the Commissioner to Alaska, Hawaii, the Canal Zone, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, and Guam according to their respective needs for additional funds for public elementary and public secondary schools upon the basis of joint agreements made with their respective State educational authorities.

CERTIFICATION AND PAYMENT

SEC. 5. The United States Commissioner of Education shall certify regularly the amounts allotted under this Act to each State that has accepted the provisions of this Act to the Secretary of the Treasury, who shall, through he Division of Disbursement of the Treasury Department and prior to audit or settlement by the General Accounting Office, pay to the treasurer or corresponding official of such State the amount certified for each fiscal year in four equal installments, as soon after the first day of each quarter as may be feasible, beginning with the first quarter of the fiscal year for which appropriations made under the authorization of this Act are available. Each such treasurer shall account for the moneys received, and shall pay out of such funds only on the requisition of the State educational authority.

AVAILABILITY OF APPROPRIATIONS

SEC. 6. (A) In order more nearly to equalize educational opportunities, the funds paid to a State from the funds appropriated under section 3 of this Act shall be available for disbursement by that State to local public school jurisdictions, or other State public education agencies, for all types of current expenditures (excluding interest, debt service, and capital outlay) for public elementaryschool and public secondary-school education.

(B) No provision of this Act shall be construed to delimit a State in its definition of its program of public education: Provided, That the funds paid to a State under this Act shall be expended only by public agencies and under public control.

STATE ACCEPTANCE PROVISIONS

SEC. 7. (A) In order to qualify for receiving funds appropriated under this Act a State

(1) through its legislature, shall (a) accept the provisions of this Act and provide for the administration of funds to be received; (b) provide that the State treasurer, or corresponding official in the State, shall receive the funds paid to that State under this Act and shall be required to report to Congress through the United States Commissioner of Education, on or before the 1st day of November of each year, a detailed statement of the amount so received and of its disbursement; (c) provide that its State educational authority shall represent the State in the administration of funds received; (d) provide for an audit by the State educational authority of the expenditure of funds received and apportioned to local school jurisictions, or other State public educational agencies, and for a system of reports from local school jurisdictions and other public educational agencies of the State to such authority; (e) provide that the State educational authority shall make reports to the Commissioner with respect to the progress of education on forms to be provided by the Commissioner, which reports said Commissioner shall convey to the Congress with recommendations for such revisions of this Act as in his judgment the Congress should consider, with particular reference to recommendation arising from changing conditions in our national economy; (f) in States where separate public schools are maintained for separate races, provide for 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 1947 for public schools for minority races: Provided, That in any State in which the legislature has not taken the action specified in this section, the chief executive of such State, may, until such action has been taken or until six months after the adjournment of the first regular session of the legislature in such State following the date of the enactment of this Act, whichever first occurs, take such action for such period as is required by this Act to be taken by legislative enactment;

(2) either through its legislature, or through its State educational authority, if the legislature so directs, provide in such manner as to comply with the provisions of section 6 of this Act a plan of apportioning the funds authorized in section 3 of this Act that will make available, not later than the fourth year of the operation of this Act and each year thereafter, from all sources to all local school jurisdictions not less than $50 per annum per pupil in average daily attendance for current expenditures (excluding interest, debt service, and capital outlay) for the maintenance of a program of elementary- and secondary-school education. The plan shall provide that in local school jurisdictions where separate schools are maintained for separate races current expenditures (excluding interest, debt service, and capital outlay) for the schools maintained for each separate racial group shall be not less than $50 per annum per pupil in average daily attendance; and

(3) shall transmit through its State educational authority to the United States Commissioner of Education official notice of acceptance and certified copies of the legislative enactments and the official regulations that may be issued by the State educational authority in connection with such funds. Any amendment of such enactments and revisions of official regulations shall in like manner be transmitted to said Commissioner. (B) The funds appropriated under the authorization of this Act shall be allotted only to those States which, during the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year for which the apportionment is made, have provided from State revenues for all public elementary-school and public secondary-school purposes not less than either the total amount, or the amount per pupil in average daily attendance, actually spent for such purposes in the fiscal year ended in 1947. The funds allotted to any State from the funds appropriated under section 3 of this Act shall be paid by the State authority only to those local school jurisdictions that from State and local funds (which shall not be interpreted to include funds made

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