Mr. LINK. (Presiding) Mr. Gude?

Mr. GUDE. No questions.

Mr. LINK. There being no further questions, unless someone has a specific point that he wishes to make, the Committee will consider recessing until tomorrow. It is in the hope that those who were not able to testify today may be here tomorrow.

I would want to make this observation and recommend to the Staf that we impress upon the other members of the Committee the urgency and the importance of this Subcommittee meeting, since we are hearing one of the most important issues for the Congress to hear. Based on the testimony that comes before this Committee, we have to reeommend to the other members of the Congress what we think should be done for the schools of the District of Columbia.

Mr. Shorter, will you be able to be here tomorrow? And Mr. Simons, will you be able to come back, and I am not sure if there are others who have indicated a desire to also testify.

Mr. SHORTER. Yes, sir.

Mr. LINK. Mr. Shorter's prepared statement will be included in the record at this point.

(The statement referred to follows:)

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MR. RANSELLEAR F. SHORTER, SPECIAL ASSISTANT FOR MANAGEMENT SERVICES, ON H.R. 15965

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee: As Special Assistant for Management Services for the District of Columbia Public Schools, I appreciate the opportunity to testify on H.R. 15965, a bill to amend the District of Columbia Teachers' Salary Act of 1955 to increase salaries, to provide certain revisions in the retirement benefits of public school teachers, and for other purposes.

There now exists a serious inequity, in terms of compensation, between our employees, exempt from controls, and those not yet exempt. Our classified employ ees have received increases totaling 17.7 percent since 1970. Our wage grade employees have received increases totaling 19.2 percent since 1970. Our employees covered under the Teachers' Salary Act have received no increase since September 1. 1969. Also, it should be recognized that the cost of living in the District of Columbia has increased 11.04 percent since the Teachers' Salary Act was adjusted in September 1969.

The salary increases proposed in H.R. 15965 will, in part, correct this inequity. In addition to a salary adjustment there exists the need for additional changes in the Teachers' Salary Act legislation (Title 31, D. C. Code). Briefly summarizing the highlights, the proposed changes recommended for adoption are:

1. Provide for the establishment of the position of Vice Superintendent. 2. In the case of school officers in TSA classes 3 through 6, provide for placement of a new appointee at higher level-up to Step 3 of his salary class. (Present law requires placement at Step 1 of his salary class. Teachers may be placed up to Step 9 of their salary class.)

3. Provide for elimination of the present four levels of principals in salary class 6; the 1,000 point factoring system, and the requirement for three consecutive annual evaluation of levels in order for a principal to move to the next higher salary level. This procedure creates inequities in compensation of principals. Our proposal would require that the principal's job be defined and allocated to a proper salary class. Many school systems allocate principals to salary classes or grades based upon a student enrollment range or a range of teaching staff assigned to a school. Our proposal provides for flexibility in determining salary classification of principal positions.

4. Provide for payment of extra duty pay at the end of the activity rather than in pro-rated amounts at each pay period. (The present system is administratively inefficient, costly and results in many delayed payments.)

5. Eliminate the option on the part of teachers for 20 or 24 pay periods and place all employees on a uniform 24 pay period. (With a uniform pay period, many payroll problems could be eliminated, the system simplified, and employee morale improved.)

6. Provide for authorization by the Board to correct retroactively administrative errors in promotion placement for compensation purposes. (At present time many employees have suffered a loss in compensation because D.C. Finance has ruled that the Board does not have this authority-only the D.C. Finance has the authority to make the determination. D.C. Finance is far removed from the internal administration of the D.C. School System and is not knowledgeable about the complexities of the teacher certification process.)

7. Provide for payment of one-half pay to school officers granted sabbatical leave. The present law states that they can only receive one-half the maximum salary provided class 15 teachers. (This is not equity of treatment. Assuming that we limited the number of school officers receiving educational leave with pay in any one year to five, our increased cost, which should be budgeted, would approximate $10.000.)

We believe that enactment of this legislation will be beneficial to education and to educational personnel. It will enable us to remain competitive with school systems in the Washington Metropolitan Area as well as with those cities having a population over 500,000 such as Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and New York. It will also assist in providing a reasonable alignment with salaries paid to classified employees of the Federal and District Governments whose positions entail comparable duties and responsibilities or require similar qualifications. We, therefore, urge swift passage of this bill.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify on this bill.

Mr. SIMONS. I will certainly come back.
Mrs. GREEN. IS Mr. Scott going to be here?

Mr. LINK. I do not think so.

Mrs. GREEN. I think Mr. Scott should be here.

Mrs. TAYLOR. The Superintendent is on leave. He had applied for and received a granting of leave from the Board back in June, to be on leave during this period, and he returns back about mid-August. Mrs. MCKENZIE. He returns back on Monday.

Mrs. TAYLOR. He returns on Monday.

Mrs. GREEN. Perhaps we should take up with the Chairman the question of possible postponement of our meetings until Monday. Mr. Scott ought to be here?

Mr. GUDE. Yes.

Mr. LINK. That is a matter that we will have to discuss with the Chairman.

Unless there is further notice, it was the desire of the Chairman that the meeting recess until 10:00 o'clock tomorrow. If there is a further recess, I am sure notice will be put out.

The meeting will stand adjourned until 10:00 o'clock tomorrow morning.

(Whereupon, at 12:20 p.m., the Subcommittee adjourned, to reconvene at 10:00 a.m., on Friday, August 4, 1972.)

(Subsequently, the following materials were received for the record :)

[Public Schools of the District of Columbia]

A SUMMARY OF CLASS SIZE AND NON-STANDARD CLASSROOMS IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AS OF OCTOBER 1971-ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

(Prepared by Department of Automated Information Systems, Statistical Office March 22, 1972)

INDEX

A Summary of Class Size and Non-Standard Classrooms in the Public Schools of the District of Columbia as of October 1971:

All Elementary Schools:

Pre-Kindergarten.

Kindergarten.

Grades 1-6.

Regular Elementary Schools:

Pre-Kindergarten.

Kindergarten.

Grades 1-6.

Model Schools:

Pre-Kindergarten.
Kindergarten.
Grades 1-6.

Anacostia Project:
Pre-Kindergarten.
Kindergarten.
Grades 1-6.
Community Schools:
Pre-Kindergarten.
Kindergarten.
Grades 1-6.

Footnotes.

Total

programs
with 3
or more
teachers

Total

Total

classes teacher teachers teacher teachers teacher teachers teacher teachers teacher teachers teacher teachers