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As with my previous special revenue sharing proposals, Education Revenue Sharing would preserve all existing safeguards against infringements of civil rights by assuring that these funds would be subject to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Non-public schools bear a significant share of the cost and effort of providing education for our children today. Federal aid to education should take this fully into account. This proposal would do that. by considerably broadening the authority for extending aid to students in non-public schools. Non-public school students would be counted in the reckoning of population for purposes of allocation, and all forms of educational services would be available to them.

As an important precondition to the receipt of Federal funds for education of the disadvantaged, I propose a requirement for States to certify that services provided in all schools within a given school district from State and local funds must be fully comparable. This is a considerable improvement over the present law. It would assure that Federal funds for compensatory education programs would actually be spent on services beyond those provided for all children, and thus for the first time would truly guarantee that these funds would be used to help equalize learning opportunity for the disadvantaged.

The Federal Role in Education

The proposal I am putting forward today reflects what this administration considers to be the appropriate Federal role in elementary and secondary education. This Federal role is threefold: (1) the allocation of financial resources on a broad and continuing basis to help States and local school districts meet their responsibilities, (2) the provision of national leadership to help reform and renew our schools to improve performance, and (3) the concentration of resources to meet urgent national problems during the period when they are most intense.

Education Revenue Sharing would strengthen the first by providing a new and expanded system of Federal aid to our schools. It should be noted in this connection that my proposals for general revenue sharing and welfare reform would also both provide and free additional fiscal resources which States and localities could devote to the rising costs of education. At the present time, State and local governments spend forty percent of their revenues for educa

tion. Under general revenue sharing, which would distribute a fixed portion of the Federal tax base to the States and localities to use as they determine, education would most certainly be a major beneficiary. These funds would total $5 billion in the first full year of operation. Similarly, the administration's proposals to reform the Nation's failing welfare system would free the States of a significant portion of fast-growing welfare costs at the same time that it would provide a better and more stable home and environment for millions of children. To strengthen the Federal leadership role in reforming and renewing our Nation's schools, I proposed a year ago the creation of a National Institute of Education to bring to education the intensity and quality of research and experimentation which the Federal Government has, for example, devoted to agricultural and medical research. The National Institute of Education would serve as a focal point for identifying educational problems, developing new ways to alleviate these problems, and helping school systems to put the results of educational research and experimentation into practice.

As an example of the concentration of Federal resources to meet urgent national problems during a period of intense need, I proposed in May 1970 an Emergency School Aid Act to provide $1.5 billion over a two-year period to help meet the special problems of desegregating our Nation's schools. Progress in school desegregation has been accelerating. The Emergency School Aid Act would help local communities expedite and adjust to this change, while maintaining and improving the quality of education in affected schools.

Taken together, the National Institute, the Emergency School Aid Act and Education Revenue Sharing represent a bold new approach to fulfilling the Federal role in education and to meeting the educational needs of the 1970s.

Conclusion

The education of our children transcends partisan politics. No one benefits from failures in our system of education, and no one can fail to benefit from improvements in the means by which education in America is given all the assistance proper at the Federal level. The effort to provide that proper assistance, the effort to encourage reform where reform is needed, and the effort to extend to all American children the advantage of equal educational opportunity have all been a concern of this administration as, indeed, they have been of other administrations. These efforts continue.

I believe we must recognize that the Federal Government cannot substitute its good intentions for the local understanding of local problems, for local energy in attacking these problems, and for local initiatives in improving the quality of education in America. We must also recognize that State and local authorities need Federal resources if they are to meet their obligations and if they are to use the peculiar advantages of State and local knowledge, responsibility, and authority to their fullest potential. Education Revenue Sharing accommodates the Federal role in national education to both these realities, and it lays the foundation for a new and more productive Federal-State relationship in this area of vital national concern, just as the previous revenue sharing proposals have afforded similar possibilities in their areas of specific concern.

I consider each of these proposals vitally important in and of itself. But in the aggregate, the importance of revenue sharing is greater than the sum of the parts which comprise this series of legislative proposals. For we are seeking nothing less than a new definition of the relationship between Federal Government and State and local governments-one which answers the needs of the present and anticipates the needs of the future.

RICHARD NIXON

THE WHITE HOUSE,
April 6, 1971

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Education of the Handicapped: Programs and projects at the preschool or any other educational level designed to meet the

special educational needs of handicapped children.

Assistance to Schools in Areas Affected by Federal Activities: Provision of

Vocational Education:

financial assistance for those local educa-
tional agencies upon which the United States
has placed financial burdens by reason of the
fact that (a) such agencies provide education
for children residing on Federal property, or
(b) such agencies provide education for children
whose parents are employed on Federal property.

Assistance to States for vocational education activities.

Supporting Materials and Services:

Allotment and Use of Shared Revenues

Such materials and services as the purchase
of school textbooks, library resources, and
educational equipment; the provision of
supplementary educational centers and services,
of school pupil personnel services, of adult
education, and of school meals; the training or
retraining of teachers, teacher aides, and
other school personnel; the strengthening of
State or local educational agency capabilities
and of educational planning at the State or
local level; the support of the State advisory
council; and the administration at the State
level of the program carried out under the Act.

Each State would be eligible to receive a grant equal to:

1. 60% of the average per pupil expenditure in the United States multiplied by the number of pupils in average daily attendance residing with a parent on Federal property in such State; and

2. Its relative share of the total amount appropriated (after deduction of the "a" category SAFA entitlements as noted above), based on:

(a) 1.0 multiplied by the number of children aged 5 to 17, inclusive, in such State who are in low-income families;

(b) .6 multiplied by the number of children in average daily attendance in the public elementary or secondary schools of such State during such fiscal year who (i) resided on other than Federal property with a parent employed on Federal property, or (ii) had a parent on active duty in the uniformed services; and

(c) .1 multiplied by the number of children aged 5 to 17, inclusive, in the State.

2

Allotment and Use of Shared Revenues (continued)

That portion of a State's allotment attributable to the presence of low-income children shall be available only for programs and projects designed to meet

the special educational needs of educationally disadvantaged children who reside in school attendance areas having high concentrations of low-income families, who are migratory children of migratory agricultural workers, or who are neglected or delinquent children for whose education the State is directly responsible.

That portion of a State's allotment attributable to the presence of Federally connected children shall be available for any educational activity.

One-sixth of that portion of a State's allotment based on children 5-17 in the State shall be available for education of the handicapped; one-third shall be available for vocational education; and one-half shall be available for supporting materials and services.

Distribution of Shared Revenues within Each State

Each State would pass through to local educational agencies (1) the funds attributable to the presence of pupils residing with a parent on Federal property and (2) the funds attributable to the presence of children from low-income families in such agencies (less any amount determined by the State to be necessary for programs for neglected or delinquent children for whose education the State is responsible), but only if:

(a) such amount is at least $10,000, and

(b) the services provided in each of the schools of such agency with funds other than funds received under this Act have been determined to be comparable, by the State administering agency, with the services so provided in all of the other schools of such local educational agency.

The remainder of the State's funds would-

(1) be retained at the State level for operation of State-wide programs, and (2) be distributed among local educational agencies according to relative needs for the types of assistance available.

Transfers among Areas of Assistance

The State would be permitted to transfer up to 30% of the funds attributable to any one area of use to any other such area, except that no transfers of funds from the area of the disadvantaged would be allowed.

Additional transfers above the statutory limit would be permitted if the State demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Secretary that such action will achieve more effectively the purposes of the Act.

Operation of the Program

The chief executive officer of each State which desires to participate under the Act shall designate a State agency to administer the program.

The designated agency shall, for each fiscal year, develop and publish a plan for the distribution and expenditure of funds under the Act. Such plan shall be developed in consultation with the State advisory council, shall not be finally adopted until a reasonable opportunity has been given to interested persons for comment thereon, and shall be made available to the Secretary.

The chief executive officer of each State would also appoint a State advisory council broadly representative of the education community in the State and of the public, including representatives of public and nonprofit private schools, representatives of the populations in the State affected by activities under the Act; persons with special competence in the planning, evaluation, and assessment of education programs; and persons with special competence in the education of the disadvantaged, the handicapped, and vocational education.

Special Payments

From the sums appropriated, the Secretary may reserve up to 10% for making payments to any State to assist it in carrying out activities under the Act which are designed to further achievement of national policy objectives in education.

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