TESTIMONY TO THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

JUNE 23, 1977

FROM:

ANTILLES CONSOLIDATED EDUCATION ASSOCIATION AS REPRESENTED
BY LINN A. WALLACE

I represent the Antilles Consolidated Education Association, exclusive representative for all teachers and other professional employees of the Antilles Consolidated School System (ACSS) in Puerto Rico. The school system was established by the Commissioner of Education under Section 6 of Public Law 874 of the 81st Congress; it encompasses 7 schools at 4 locations in Puerto Rico; and employs 208 classroom teachers, serving 3,300 dependent children of employees from over fifty federal agencies. ACSS is the only publicly-supported Englishlanguage school system in Puerto Rico. As such, the system is unique among Section 6 schools and provides an irreplacable service for the large number of native speakers of English assigned to live and work in Puerto Rico by the federal government.

During the course of the last school year, our school system has experienced one severe alteration in the chain of command, the insertion of the Commander of U. S. Naval Forces, Caribbean, into the power structure between the superintendent and a civilian educator in the Office of the Chief of Naval Education and Training in Pensacola, Florida. This commander has been designated "the school board." This change converts the education of 3,300 school children to a minor collateral duty for an extremely busy man whose chance to familiarize himself with the educational scene is perfunctory at best. How much more desirable it would be to have a person of

already exist.

lesser stature but with sole responsibility of operating schools. We believe that such a man need not be created for he does in fact Prior to the revision of CNETINST 1755.3, he performed such duties. He and his staff are charged with the operation of DODDS schools in the Atlantic area.

Under the aegis of the U. S. Office of Education, which has initiated numerous innovative programs throughout the nation, the Antilles System should be a model for others to follow. Instead, we find ourselves in educational shambles. One school, the Antilles Middle School, has been evicted from its deteriorating plant by the Army, and the children are being farmed out to run-down Army buildings which pose even more serious health and safety hazards; the move will result in the elimination of the school media center, the industrial arts program, reduction in nursing services, and other basic services.. Despite the fact that our enrollment remains stable, teaching positions and educational services are being eliminated arbitrarily throughout the system. The school system's curriculum has been removed from educators and turned into an instrument for special interests. As a result, ACSS has no system-wide programs for specific learning disabilities, career education, or bilingual education.

The root cause for the serious problems itemized above is that
Section 6 of PL 874, as currently written, invites abuse by

(A)

allowing the operating agency (U.S. Navy) effective control
over funds for which it is not accountable to Congress,

(B)

allowing for the appointment by the operating agency of a one

man Board of Education with all the powers of elected multi-
person Board in local districts throughout the U. S.

(C) not specifying personnel policies and practices, including

especially the determination of salary, in sufficient detail.
The current law issues a virtual "blank check" to the operating
agency in regard to such vital matters as leave, performance
ratings, reduction in force procedures, adverse action, and
salary. These omissions promote continuing fears for job security
among employees and serious labor-management relations crises.

In view of the above, ACEA recommends revision in the current law as follows:

(A)

(B)

(C)

The law should require that the agency to whom Congress appropriates funds for the establishment of schools will be the agency which operates these schools.

The ACEA endorses the concept of a federally-supervised election
of a multi-member Board of Education by an electorate composed
of all parents of children attending the schools. This Board
will be empowered to oversee school expenditures and operations,
but its decision will be subject to regular audit by the
funding agency, and the requirements of law.

In instances where the funding agency determines that an elected school board is not feasible, educational program will be the responsibility of professional educators up to the level of the

(D) The law must spell out personnel policies and practices in greater detail, especially in regard to salary and leave. ACEA strongly urges language providing for clear and unequivocal alignment with the District of Columbia public schools, something that is only implied ambiguously in the current Section 6 language. In particular, we recommend

that salaries at ACSS in Puerto Rico be made identical to the salaries of their counterparts in Washington, D. C.

Respectfully submitted,

By the direction of the Antilles Consolidated Education Association,

Linn A. Wallace

The purpose of this issue of Notebook is to present a comparison of the laws governing ACSS and DODDS. This report was researched and written by Bob Savage (RRHS).

Since Puerto Rico is "overseas and ACSS schools are located on mil-
itary bases, many people assume our school system functions under the
same laws and regulations as those governing the Department of Defense
Dependents Schools (DODDS). In fact, the two systems are governed by
separate laws, with the result that personnel policies and practices
are sharply divergent This paper will examine ways in which the two
systems differ in the areas of leave, performance rating, reduction
in force, adverse actions, salary, and military influence.

It is true that both DODDS and ACSS educators are classified as
"Excepted Service" employees of the Federal Government. However, the
extent to which an excepted employee is covered by or excluded from
Federal personnel regulations apparently depends on the law or laws
establishing the employee's position in the federal service. DODDS
is governed by Public Law 86-91, the Defense Department Overseas
Teachers Fay and Fersonnel Fractices Act. Department of Defense
Directive number 1400.13 implements F.L. 86-91. It specifically
excludes Fuerto Rico and other overseas territories under U.S. flag
from DODDS jurisdiction. ACSS, therefore, had to be established under
section six of Public Law 874 (81st Congress). This law provides
federal support to local school districts heavily impacted with
dependents of federal government employees. Section Six'grants the
Commissioner of Education (who heads the Office of Education in H.E.W.)
power to establish federal schools in areas where the local district
lacks the capacity to provide education to federal dependents. In
terms of personnel policies and practices, the most important differ-
ence between the two laws is that DODDS law unequivocally spells out
the conditions of employment for educators, whereas the Section Six
law excludes employees from coverage under most existing federal
regulations without providing any clear-cut substitute measures.
Because of the special nature of the school year, both DODDS and
Section Six educators have been excluded from federal regulations
regarding leave. P.L. 86091, however, provides substitute leave
regulations for DODDS employees, something that Section Six does
not do for ACSS employees. The DODDS regulations grant each employee