REMARKS BY PRESIDENT JOHNSON UPON SIGNING THE EDUCATION BILL

Johnson City, Texas, April 11, 1965

I have chosen this time and this place for two reasons.

First, I do not wish to delay by a single day the program to strengthen this Nation's elementary and secondary schools. I devoutly hope that my sense of urgency will be communicated to Secretary Celebrezze, Commissioner Keppel and the other education officers throughout the country who will be responsible for carrying out this program.

Second, I felt a very strong desire to go back to the beginnings of my own education--to be reminded and to remind others of that magic time when the world of learning began to open before our eyes. In this one-room school house Miss Katie Deadrich taught eight grades at one and the same time.

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From the very beginnings as a Nation, we have felt a fierce commitment to the ideal of education for everyone. It fixed itself into our democratic creed. ....Yet, for too long children suffered while jarring interests caused stalemate in the efforts to improve our schools. Since 1946, Congress tried repeatedly, and failed repeatedly, to enact measures for elementary and secondary education.

Now, within the past three weeks, the House of Representatives, by a vote of 263 to 153, and the Senate, by vote of 73 to 18, have passed the most sweeping educational bill ever to come before Congress. It represents a major new commitment of the Federal government to quality and equality in the schooling that we offer our young people.....

By passing this bill, we bridge the gap between helplessness and hope for more than five million educationally deprived children in America.

We put into the hands of our youth more than thirty million new books, and into many of our schools their first libraries.

We reduce the terrible time lag in bringing new teaching techniques into the Nation's classrooms.
We strengthen state and local agencies which bear the burden and the challenge of better education.
And we rekindle the revolution--the revolution of the spirit against the tyranny of ignorance.

As a son of a tenant farmer, I know that education is the only valid passport from poverty.

As a former teacher--and, I hope, a future one--I have great expectations of what this law will mean for all of our young people.

As President of the United States, I believe deeply no law I have signed or will ever sign means more to the future of America.

To each and everyone who contributed to this day, the Nation is indebted.

Let me urge, as Thomas Jefferson urged his fellow countrymen one time to..."Preach, my dear sir, a crusade against ignorance; establish and improve the law for educating the common people...."

We have established the law. Let us not delay in putting it to work.

Passage of President Johnson's education program has brought our Nation to the threshold of

a new era--an era in which the light of learning will shine more brightly than ever before, giving new inspiration to all of our young people and reaching into thousands upon thousands of American homes now darkened by poverty.

I am grateful to the many individuals and organizations that played an important part in the enactment of this landmark legislation.

Anthony J. Celebrezze

Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare

Educational Research and Training (Title IV)

Under this title, the Cooperative Research Act (P.L. 83-531) has been expanded to broaden support of research and development programs aimed at improving the quality of education. Eligibility for these research funds has been extended to private nonuniversity research organizations and professional associations. For the first time funds will be made available under the program for construction of research facilities and for purchase of research equipment, and the establishment of a series of national and regional educational laboratories is authorized. A total of $100 million over a five-year period has been budgeted for construction grants, and $22.5 million for expanded research activities in the first year of operation.

Grants to Strengthen the State Departments of Education (Title V)

A five-year grant program, with $25 million earmarked for the first year, will stimulate and assist States in strengthening State educational agencies for their leadership role in identifying and meeting educational needs.

General Provisions (Title VI)

Under this title, Federal control over educational programs, curriculum, administration, personnel, or selection of textbooks or other teaching tools is prohibited. In addition, Title VI specifies that no payments under the Act may be used for religious worship or instruction.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF THE BILL

In his State of the Union Message sent to the Congress on January 4, 1965, President Johnson said that "Every child must have the best education our Nation can provide." He stated that he would "recommend a new program for schools and students, with a first year authorization of $1,500 million" ($1,250 million for elementary and secondary education; $250 million for higher education).

The President's Education Message followed, on January 12, emphasizing four major educational tasks confronting us

"to bring better education to millions of disadvantaged
youth who need it most;

"to put the best educational equipment and ideas and
innovations within reach of all students;

"to advance the technology of teaching and the training
of teachers; and

"to provide incentives for those who wish to learn at
every stage along the road to learning."

On the same day, January 12, companion bills--H.R. 2362 and S. 370-providing for sweeping new educational programs were introduced in the Congress.

Congressman Carl D. Perkins of Kentucky, Chairman of the General Education Subcommittee of the House Education and Labor Committee, introduced the House bill. The Subcommittee opened hearings with testimony by Secretary Celebrezze, Assistant Secretary Cohen, and Commissioner Keppel (U.S. Office of Education). After ten full days of hearings, the Subcommittee reported out the bill March 2. The Education and Labor Committee, under Chairman Adam Clayton Powell of New York, reported the bill on March 8. The Rules Committee granted a rule for full House debate on the bill to begin on March 24. The House passed the bill on March 26 by a vote of 263-153.

Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon, Chairman of the Education Subcommittee of the Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee, joined by 37 additional Senators, introduced the companion bill in the Senate. The Subcommittee reported the bill on April 1, after seven days of extensive hearings. The Labor and Public Welfare Committee, under Chairman Lister Hill of Alabama, reported the bill by unanimous vote on April 6. After three days of debate, the bill passed the Senate on April 9 by vote of 73-18. It was signed by the President, becoming Public Law 89-10, on April 11, 1965.

MAJOR PROVISIONS OF THE LAW

Broadening and Strengthening Elementary and Secondary School Programs (Title I)

As a matter of first priority, the new legislation focuses on improving elementary and secondary education of children from low-income families. Title I, which is specifically directed toward this goal, accounts for four-fifths of the $1.3 billion authorized for the first year's operation. under the Act (Table 1).

3/ Basic

Distribution based on estimates of current expenditures by State per pupil in average daily attendance (1963-64), and the child population (age 5-17) in families with annual incomes of less than $2,000 (1959) including children in families receiving $2,000 or more per year in payments under the program of Aid to Families with Dependent Children. 2/ Allotment for the 50 States and the District of Columbia on the basis of public and private elementary and secondary enrollment, fall 1964. allotment of $200,000 for the 50 States and the District of Columbia, with the balance distributed on the basis of estimated July 1, 1963, populations, one-half ($43.9 million) each, of the 5-17 population, and of the total resident population. 4/ Basic allotment of $100,000 for the 50 States and the District of Columbia; balance distributed on the basis of public elementary and secondary school enrollment, fall 1964. Two percent of the authorized allotment is reserved for distribution to

the outlying areas, which are American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, and Trust Territories of the Pacific. 6/Eighty-five percent of the authorized amount ($25 million) distributed; 15 percent reserved for distribution by the Commissioner of Education to individual State agencies to pay part of the cost of experimental projects for the benefit of some or all States.

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