STATEMENT BY SENATOR HUBERT H. HUMPHREY TO THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON EDUCATION OF THE COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND PUBLIC WELFARE

This 86th Congress has a pressing responsibility to raise the quality of ed-ucation for our young people. There is no lack of testimony on the need for Federal assistance in school construction and in raising teachers' salaries.. Ten years ago, as chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on School Construction, I learned a great deal about the nature of our classroom shortage, and the passing of time has not solved this problem. Indeed, action is needed now more urgently than ever before.

I wish to call to the attention of this subcommittee my proposal for Federal assistance in school construction, S. 1088. This measure, the School Construction Act of 1959, is similar to bills I introduced in the 84th and 85th Congresses. It is the result of extensive hearings in the Senate and the House during the past several years. (See S. 1088, p. 472.)

My proposal would provide general authorization for Federal financial assistance to the States to help build schools and additional classrooms. Enactment of my bill would put the stamp of approval by Congress on the principle of Federal financial aid in this crucial area.

I would like to make it clear that my proposal is in no way intended to divert attention from the excellent, sound legislation sponsored by Senator Murray, with whom I have joined in sponsoring S. 2, the School Support Act. However, I believe this subcommittee is well aware that the approach to the classroom shortage presented in S. 1088 goes back to an older formula for distribution of Federal financial assistance for classroom construction.

The Murray-Metcalf bill would authorize appropriation in the fiscal year be ginning July 1, 1959, at $25 for each school age child in every State, increasing. to $50 the second year, $75 the third year, and $100 in the fourth and following years.

In my proposal, the amount of Federal funds to be spent is left unspecified. This amount would be determined by Congress. The funds made available by Congress would be distributed to the States according to the ratio of school children 5 to 17 years of age in each State to the school age population of all the States. The States and local school districts would be required to match the Federal funds dollar for dollar.

In order to make certain that Federal funds will not be substituted for State and local funds that otherwise would be spent for school construction, my bill provides that each State educational agency would be required to submit a State plan of operation. This State plan would describe the program developed in each State and would provide for reports to the Commissioner of Education on how the Federal funds have been spent.

The most important aspect of the State plan required by my bill would be the necessity for each State to set forth principles for determining the relative priority of school construction projects, taking into account the relative financial resources of local school districts, the relative local efforts made to meet school needs out of State and local funds, and the relative urgency of local school facility needs in the light of overcrowding and use of unsafe and obsolete facilities.

Both the Murray-Metcalf bill and my proposal contain specific prohibitions against any kind of Federal control in the administration of Federal financial assistance. Last July, independent testimony before this subcommittee showed conclusively that there has been no Federal control in the administration of Federal aid to federally impacted areas under Public Law 874 and Public Law 815 of the 81st Congress. Testimony also showed that local citizens in school districts receiving Federal aid have maintained or increased their own financial efforts for their schools.

In spite of valiant efforts to meet the pressure of rising enrollments and aging facilities, our State and local communities by themselves simply cannot cope with their needs. Thousands of local school districts have reached the end of their taxing resources. Only the Federal Government has the ability and wealth to correct this situation. I hope this Congress will take action soon to provide long overdue assistance to our Nation's schools, the seedbed of our democracy.

Text of S. 1088 and the report of the Bureau of the Budget follow:

[S. 1088, 86th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To authorize Federal payments to the States to assist in constructing schools

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SHORT TITLE

SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the "School Construction Act of 1959".

FINDINGS AND PURPOSE OF ACT

SEC. 2. The Congress finds that in spite of sustained and vigorous efforts by the States and local communities to provide classrooms needed for free public education, the number of classrooms now available falls far short of the number needed. While the Congress recognizes that responsibility for educating our children lies primarily with the States and local communities, the current shortage of classrooms results from abnormal conditions which have existed throughout the United States during the past twenty-five years, and constitutes a threat to the security and welfare of the Nation as a whole. The national interest requires that the Federal Government join with State and local governments in solving this pressing problem. It is the purpose of this Act to provide for Federed payments to State educational agencies to enable the States and local communities to expand their school construction programs to the extent necessary to provide school facilities adequate to their needs.

DEFINITIONS

SEC. 3. For the purposes of this Act

(1) The term "Commissioner" means the United States Commissioner of Education.

(2) The terms "construction" and "constructing" mean the preparation of drawings and specifications for school facilities; erecting; building, acquiring, altering, remodeling, improving, or extending school facilities; and the inspection and supervision of the construction of school facilities.

(3) The term "school facilities" means classrooms and related facilities, and initial equipment, machinery, and utilities necessary or appropriate for school purposes; the term does not include (a) interests in land, (b) off-site improvements, (c) athletic stadia, (d) structures or facilities intended primarily for athletic exhibitions, contests, or games or other events for which admission is to be charged to the general public, or (e) structures or facilities designed to be used exclusively for special activities, such as single-purpose auditoriums or gymnasiums.

(4) The term "State" means a State, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Canal Zone.

(5) The term "school agency" means a board of education or other regularly constituted local school authority having administrative control and direction of public schools in a county, township, independent, or other school district located within a State; and includes any State agency which directly operates and maintains public schools or which has responsibility for the provision of school facilities.

(6) The term "State agency" means the statewide public educational agency charged under State law with supervisory or other control functions over its system of schools or, if there is no such agency, any statewide educational agency within the State designated by or under State law, or in the absence thereof by the Governor, to be the single State educational agency responsible for developing and submitting a State plan for approval under section 6 and for administering the approved plan; in the case of the Virgin Islands, the term "State agency" means the Governor.

AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS

SEC. 4. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1960, and for the five succeeding fiscal years, such amounts as may be necessary to make payments to State agencies to accomplish the purpose of this Act.

ALLOTMENTS TO STATES

SEC. 5. (a) From the total funds appropriated for any fiscal year for making payments under this Act, the Commissioner shall allot to each State an amount which bears the same ratio to the total funds so appropriated as the school-age population of the State bears to the total of the school-age populations of all the States. As used in this subsection, the term "school-age population" means that part of the population which is between the ages of five and seventeen, both inclusive, as determined on the basis of the most recent estimates certified by the Secretary of Commerce.

(b) After the State plan has been approved under section 6, payments out of the State's allotment shall be made in accordance with section 7.

STATE PLANS

SEC. 6. (a) Any State which desires to accept the benefits of this Act shall submit to the Commissioner, through its State agency, a State plan which shall—

(1) designate the State agency through which the plan is submitted as the sole agency responsible for administering the plan throughout the State; (2) contain satisfactory evidence that the State agency will have authority to carry out the plan in conformity with this Act;

(3) set forth a program under which funds paid to the State under this Act will be expended solely for projects, to be approved by the State agency, for construction of school facilities for tax-supported elementary and secondary schools which are under public supervision and control;

(4) set forth principles for determining the relative priority of school facility construction projects, which shall take into account the relative financial resources of the several local school agencies in the State; the relative efforts which have been and are being made to meet their needs for school facilities out of State and local funds; and the relative urgency of their needs for school facilities, determined according to relative conditions of overcrowding or lack of facilities and relative extent to which unsafe and obsolete facilities are in use;

(5) provide for such fiscal control and fund accounting procedures (for the State agency and for local school agencies undertaking approved projects) as may be necessary to assure proper disbursement and accounting for Federal funds paid to the State under this Act;

(6) provide an opportunity for a hearing before the State agency to each local school agency within the State which applies for approval of a construction project under this Act;

(7) provide for the establishment of standards on a State level for planning and constructing school facilities;

(8) provide that the State agency will make such reports to the Commissioner in such form and containing such information as is reasonably necessary to enable the Commissioner to perform his duties under this Act; and

(9) provide that all laborers and mechanics employed by contractors or subcontractors on construction work performed on school facilities projects approved under the plan shall be paid wages at rates not less than those prevailing on similar construction in the locality as determined by the Secretary of Labor in accordance with the Davis-Bacon Act, as amended (40 U.S.C., secs. 276a-276a-5), and that every such employee shall receive compensation at a rate not less than one and one-half times his basic rate of pay for all hours worked in any workweek in excess of eight hours in any workday or forty hours in the workweek, as the case may be. The Secretary of Labor shall have, with respect to the labor standards specified in paragraph (10), the authority and functions set forth in Reorganization Plan Numbered 14 of 1950 (15 F.R. 3176; 64 Stat. 1267), and section 2 of the Act of June 13, 1934, as amended (40 U.S.C. 276c).

(b) The Commissioner shall approve any State plan and any modification thereof which complies with the provisions of subsection (a), but shall not finally disapprove any State plan or modification thereof without first affording to the State agency reasonable notice and opportunity for a hearing.

(c) Whenever the Commissioner, after reasonable notice and opportunity for hearing to the State agency, finds that

(1) the State plan submitted through the agency and approved under this section has been so changed that it no longer complies with the provisions of subsection (a), or

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(2) in the administration of the plan there is a failure to comply substantially with any such provision,

he shall make no further reservations under section 7(a) for projects in the State, and no further payments for any project designated by him as directly affected by such failure, until he is satisfied that there is no longer any such failure to comply, or, if compliance is impossible, until the State repays or arranges for the repayment of Federal funds which have been diverted or improperly expended. After notice as provided in this subsection to any State, the Commissioner may suspend further reservations of funds under section 7(a) for projects in the State, pending the making of findings under this subsection.

PAYMENTS TO STATES

SEC. 7. (a) Payments under this Act shall be made to those State agencies which administer plans approved under section 6 and which furnish statements to the Commissioner in accordance with this section. Each such statement shall set forth one or more projects approved by the State agency under the plan, the estimated cost of each such project, and the amount which the State agency desires to be paid for each project out of the State's allotment.

(b) Except as provided in section 8, the Commissioner shall issue, to each State agency furnishing a statement in accordance with subsection (a), a commitment reserving, out of the State's allotment, for each project included in the statement, the amount requested by the State agency for that project. The Commissioner shall change any amount so reserved upon request of the State agency and receipt of an amended statement from the State agency, but only to the extent the change is not inconsistent with the other provisions of this Act. The Commissioner shall pay the amount reserved to the State agency, through the disbursing facilities of the Department of the Treasury, at such times and in such installments (in advance of the incurring of cost or otherwise) as he may determine. Funds so paid shall be used exclusively to meet the cost of constructing the project for which the amount was reserved.

(c) If any project for which one or more payments have been made under this section is abandoned, or is not completed within a reasonable period determined under regulations of the Commissioner, the State to which such payments were made shall repay to the United States, for deposit in the Treasury of the United States as miscellaneous receipts, the amount of such payments or such lesser amounts as the Commissioner deems reasonable.

MATCHING BY STATES AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES

SEC. 8. The Commissioner may issue or modify a commitment under section 7 only if the amount to be reserved under the commitment, plus any amounts paid or to be paid under other commitments previously issued under this Act to the same State agency for the same fiscal year, does not exceed one-half of the sum of (1) the cost of constructing the project in question and (2) the total cost of constructing the projects for which such other commitments have been issued.

JUDICIAL REVIEW

SEC. 9 (a) If any State is dissatisfied with the Commissioner's final action under section 6, such State may appeal to the United States district court for the district in which the capital of the State is located. The summons and notice of appeal may be served at any place in the United States. The Commissioner shall forthwith certify and file in the court the transcript of the proceedings and the record on which he based his action.

(b) The findings of fact by the Commissioner, unless substantially contrary to the weight of the evidence, shall be conclusive; but the court, for good cause shown, may remand the case to the Commissioner to take further evidence, and the Commissioner may thereupon make new or modified findings of fact and may modify his previous action, and shall certify to the court the transcript and record of the further proceedings. Such new or modified findings of fact shall likewise be conclusive unless substantially contrary to the weight of the evidence. (c) The court shall have jurisdiction to affirm the action of the Commissioner or to set it aside, in whole or in part. The judgment of the court shall be subject to review by the appropriate United States court of appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States, as provided in sections 1291 and 1254 of title 28 of the United States Code.

ASSURANCE AGAINST FEDERAL INTERFERENCE IN SCHOOLS

SEC. 10. In the administration of this Act, no department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States shall exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the personnel, curriculum, or program of instruction of any school or school system of any school agency.

DELEGATION OF FUNCTIONS

SEC. 11. The Commissioner may delegate to any officer or employee of the Office of Education, any of his functions under this Act except the making of regulations.

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT,

BUREAU OF THE BUDGET, Washington, D.C., March 20, 1959.

Hon. LISTER HILL,

Chairman, Committee on Labor and Public Welfare,
U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.

MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This is in reply to your letter of February 20, 1959, requesting the views of the Bureau of the Budget on S. 1088, a bill to authorize Federal payments to the States to assist in constructing schools.

S. 1088 would authorize to be appropriated for fiscal year 1960 and for the 5 succeeding years such amounts as may be necessary for grants to the States to pay one-half of the cost of constructing public elementary and secondary school facilities.

The bill provides that the appropriation would be allocated among the States on the basis of relative school-age population. The administration proposal for Federal aid for public elementary and secondary school construction, which was submitted on February 9, 1959, to the Congress for its consideration, is designed, as contrasted with S. 1088, so that Federal assistance would be allocated among the States on the basis of a formula which takes into account each State's income per school-age child and its financial effort as well as its school-age population. We believe it essential that the factors of relative financial ability and effort of the States be included in the method of allocation. Further, the absence in S. 1088 of both a specific maximum appropriation authorization and a requirement that the Federal grant be matched with State funds, as opposed to local funds, might interfere with achievement of the objectives of the bill. Without a measure of Federal assistance and encouragement of increased State support of school construction, the bill, in our view, lacks an effective definition of the nature and extent of the responsibility of the Federal Government vis-a-vis the States and local school districts. Consequently, under the terms of S. 1088 there would be a strong possibility of diminished State and local expenditures for public school construction and of Federal financial participation tending toward 50 percent of total outlays for this purpose. This result would, in our opinion, be undesirable. It should be pointed out that the administration proposal would establish a maximum Federal participation and would require a State commitment equivalent to that of the Federal Government in connection with payment of debt service on bonds issued by local school districts for construction of school facilities.

We believe that the administration proposal, embodied in S. 1016, which is now before your committee, represents the most effective method, consistent with objectives which the administration deems essential to the well-being of the Nation, of providing Federal aid to school districts most in need of financial assistance.

Therefore, we strongly recommend enactment of S. 1016 and recommend against favorable consideration of S. 1088.

Sincerely yours,

PHILLIP S. HUGHES, Assistant Director for Legislative Reference.