FOREWORD

Education is the bulwark of our Great Society.

It is not surprising, therefore, that President Johnson, upon delivering his state of the Union message at the beginning of the 89th Congress, stressed the unique role that education must play if we are to achieve our goals of liberty, equality, and union.

The committee print here presented will serve as a basis for the consideration of the President's request for legislation in education. Except for title VII in H.R. 2361 which I introduced, the bills included in this document represent the recommendations of the administration. In January of 1962, I published a committee print entitled "New Image in Education" in which I recommended the establishment of a Department of Education which would coordinate all of the Federal Government's efforts and responsibilities in education. After a thorough study, we noted that more than 40 governmental agencies were involved in education. Such facts give further evidence that a Secretary of Education is desirable. For this reason I have added this item as a separate title to the administration's bill. Considerations and background materials regarding all levels (elementary, secondary, and higher education) are included. We believe such information will be of tremendous assistance to all concerned with education legislation. ADAM C. POWELL, Chairman, Committee on Education and Labor.

V

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE ON EDUCATION

TOWARD FULL EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY

To the Congress of the United States:

In 1787, the Continental Congress declared in the Northwest Ordinance:

Schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.

America is strong and prosperous and free because for 178 years we have honored that commitment.

In the United States today

One-quarter of all Americans are in the Nation's classrooms. High school attendance has grown eighteenfold since the turn of the century; six times as fast as the population.

College enrollment has advanced eightyfold. Americans today support a fourth of the world's institutions of higher learning and a third of its professors and college students.

In the life of the individual, education is always an unfinished task. And in the life of this Nation, the advancement of education is a continuing challenge.

There is a darker side to education in America:

One student out of every three now in the fifth grade will drop out before finishing high school if the present rate continues. Almost a million young people will continue to quit school each year if our schools fail to stimulate their desire to learn.

Over 100,000 of our brightest high school graduates each year will not go to college, and many others will leave college, if the opportunity for higher education is not expanded.

The cost of this neglect runs high, both for the youth and the Nation. Unemployment of young people with an eighth grade education or less is four times the national average.

Jobs filled by high school graduates rose by 40 percent in the last 10 years. Jobs for those with less schooling decreased by nearly 10 percent.

We can measure the cost in even starker terms. We now spend about $450 a year per child in our public schools. But we spend $1,800 a year to keep a delinquent youth in a detention home, $2,500 a year for a family on relief, $3,500 a year for a criminal in State prison.

The growing numbers of young people reaching school age demand that we move swiftly even to stand still.

Attendance in elementary and secondary schools will increase by 4 million in the next 5 years; 400,000 new classrooms will be needed to meet this growth. But over 112 million of the Nation's existing classrooms are already more than 30 years old.

The post-World War II boom in babies has now reached college age. And by 1970, our colleges must be prepared to add 50 percent more enrollment to their presently overcrowded facilities. In the past, Congress has supported an increased commitment to

education in America. Last year, I signed historic measures passed by the 88th Congress to provide

Facilities badly needed by universities, colleges, and community colleges;

Major new resources for vocational training;

More loans and fellowships for students enrolled in higher education;

Enlarged and improved training for physicians, dentists, and

nurses.

I propose that the 89th Congress join me in extending the commitment still further. I propose that we declare a national goal of full educational opportunity.

Every child must be encouraged to get as much education as he has the ability to take.

We want this not only for his sake but for the Nation's sake.

Nothing matters more to the future of our country: not our military preparedness for armed might is worthless if we lack the brain power to build a world of peace; not our productive economy-for we cannot sustain growth without trained manpower; not our democratic system of government-for freedom is fragile if citizens are ignorant.

We must demand that our schools increase not only the quantity but the quality of America's education. For we recognize that nuclear age problems cannot be solved with horse-and-buggy learning. The three R's of our school system must be supported by the three T's-teachers who are superior, techniques of instruction that are modern, and thinking about education which places it first in all our plans and hopes. Specifically, four major tasks confront 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;

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

Our program must match the magnitude of these tasks. The budget on education which I request for fiscal year 1966 will contain a total of $4.1 billion. This includes $1.1 billion to finance programs established by the 88th Congress. I will submit a request for $1.5 billion in new obligational authority to finance the programs described in this message. This expenditure is a small price to pay for developing our Nation's most priceless resource.

In all that we do, we mean to strengthen our State and community education system. Federal assistance does not mean Federal control as past programs have proven. The late Senator Robert Taft declared:

Education is primarily a State function, but in the field of education, as in the fields of health, relief, and medical care, the Federal Government has a secondary obligation to see that there is a basic floor under those essential services for all adults and children in the United States.

In this spirit, I urge that we now push ahead with the No. 1 business of the American people, the education of our youth in preschools, elementary and secondary schools, and in the colleges and universities.

I. PRESCHOOL PROGRAM

My budget will include up to $150 million for preschool projects under the community action program of the Economic Opportunity

Act.

Education must begin with the very young. The child from the urban or rural slum frequently misses his chance even before he begins school. Tests show that he is usually a year behind in academic attainment by the time he reaches third grade, and up to 3 years behind if he reaches the eighth grade. By then the handicap has grown too great for many children. Their horizons have narrowed; their prospects for lifetimes of failure have hardened. A large percentage of our young people whose family incomes are less than $2,000 do not go beyond the eighth grade.

Preschool programs have demonstrated marked success in overcoming this initial handicap:

In New York City, children from slum neighborhoods who attended nursery school have performed better when tested in the third and fourth grades than those who did not attend.

In Baltimore, children with language and cultural handicaps are being helped greatly by a preschool program. According to preliminary reports, two-thirds of them are in the top 50 percent of their kindergarten and first grade classes on a citywide measure; one-sixth of them are in the top quarter.

But today, almost half of our school districts conduct no kindergarten classes. Public nursery schools are found in only about 100 of our 26,000 school districts. We must expand our preschool program in order to reach disadvantaged children early.

Action on a wide front will begin this summer through a special head start program for children who are scheduled to begin school next fall. In addition, funds for low-income schools, regional education laboratories, and supplementary educational centers and services (recommended below) will be devoted to these vital preschool programs.

II. ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Elementary and secondary schools are the foundation of our education system.

Forty-eight million students are now in our grade and high schools.

Seventy-one percent of the Nation's expenditures for education are spent on elementary and secondary schooling.

If these schools are to do their job properly, they need help and they need it now. I propose that we give first priority to a program of:

A. AID TO LOW-INCOME SCHOOL DISTRICTS

I recommend that legislation be enacted to authorize a major program of assistance to public elementary and secondary schools serving children of low-income families. My budget for fiscal year 1966 will request $1 billion for this new program.

One hundred years ago, a man with 6 or 7 years of schooling stood well above the average. His chances to get ahead were as good as the