with certainty a continuous improvement in its school personnel and educational programs.

It would remove the economic hazard which has kept out of the teaching profession the very persons the Nation should have in its schools. Only if adequate compensation is provided can the citizens of this Nation be assured of having competent, well-qualified, professional teachers for the instruction of their youth.

I should like to point out the provisions in the bill which set up safeguards. The interest of the Federal Government is protected by the provision which states

the receipt of funds by a State shall not be used as a basis for the reduction of the annual rate of salary paid for any teaching position in its public schools below the rate in effect for such positon on July 1, 1947.

The interests of the States and localities are protected through the provision for safeguards which prevent Federal control in the administration of the provisions of the bill.

The bill would be, or is to be, administered by the United States Commissioner of Education.

In order to point out what this bill would mean in terms of its application to a State, I shall use my own State of Montana as an example.

The United States Office of Education reports that the average annual salary of teachers in the public schools of Montana for the year 1940-41 was $1,190. On the basis of the best estimates available for the current year, 1946-47, the average salary would approximate $1,700. There are approximately 5,000 teachers in Montana, 1,300 of whom hold positions for which certification requirements call for 4 years of college work. The remaining 3,700 teaching positions do not carry this requirement.

For the 5,000 teachers the cost of living would increase, or the costof-living increase would add $800 to the 1941 salary. For the average teacher this would bring the salary from an average $1,190 in 1941 to an average $1,990 for the year 1947-48. Since State and local funds are providing $1,700 for the average teacher's salary, the difference of $290 would be provided through Federal funds. For the 500 teachers this would amount to $1,450,000.

Since the 3,700 teachers would already be receiving more than the minimum $1,800 salary, they would receive no further increase. But the 1,300 teachers would be entitled to a minimum salary of $2,400. For each of these on the average, an additional $410 would be provided through Federal funds, an amount totaling $563,000. The sum of $1,450,000 and $563,000, or $2,130,000, would be the rough estimate of Federal funds for the State of Montana to carry out the provisions of S. 1157.

This crisis in American public education is not just a local or a State problem. It is a national hazard. Unless the Federal Government assists States to provide more adequate salaries for their school teachers, disastrous social and educational consequences will be inevitable.

Mr. Chairman, that completes my statement.

(The brief submitted by Senator Murray is as follows:)

BRIEF OF THE HON. JAMES E. MURRAY, A UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF MONTANA

During the past few years we have been witnessing, without fully realizing it, the rapid deterioration of our great American public school system. Suddenly the effects are appallingly visible. Educators and laymen everywhere are alarmed over the crisis in public elementary and secondary education in this country. Our national neglect of education threatens to bring a serious break-down in our public-school system-and this at a time when we can clearly see that education was never more indispensible to the Nation's progress and to its very survival. The exodus of teachers from the public schools since 1940 has been without parallel in American history. Between the years 1940-41 and 1944-45, 350,000 teachers in addition to the normal turn-over of 10 percent left the public schools. Most of these teachers took better paying jobs in industry or business and recent surveys indicate that few of those former teachers have any inclination to return to the classroom under present conditions. More than 50 percent of the teachers in the schools in 1941 are no longer there. Nor is this teacher shortage restricted to a few areas. Every State lacks qualified teachers.

In the struggle to keep the schools of the Nation open during recent years, State and local school authorities have been forced to adopt drastic measures. Class size in many school systems has been increased so that teachers have to work with 50 or 60 children instead of 25 or 30.

States have been compelled to issue emergency teaching permits in order to recruit teachers. Such permits have been provided to men and women who are not qualified to meet the regular professional standards. Today, according to the United States Office of Education, at least 110,000 teachers, one out of every eight, holds this type of substandard certificate, and the number continues to grow.

In many areas these substandard certificates have been issued to young men and women who have had only a high school education, or even to those with less than a high school education. In fact, according to recent survey by the New York Times one-third of the teachers with temporary certificates have no more than a high school education.

In spite of this drastic lowering of education standards it has been impossible to keep all of the nations schools open. Sixty-one thousand children are being denied an education because of closed schools and lack of teachers, according to a report by the National Educational Association. Several million other children will receive impaired educations because of unqualified teachers.

worse.

The present critical situation cannot improve unless drastic changes are made, and made at once. All indications point to conditions becoming progressively One has but to look at the college enrollments to get a preview of how few young people are going into teaching. The best qualified young men and women are no longer attracted to the teaching profession. Here are the figures: From 1920 to 1943 there were approximtaely 90.000 students enrolled each year in Teachers Colleges. Then the trend started precipitously downward. By 1945 this number had dropped to 13,000. Seventy-seven thousand fewer students training to be teachers!

Last fall the United States Office of Education conducted a survey to find if and where there were any student vacancies in colleges. The results of this survey were startling. They revealed that there were long waiting lists of students for the professions of medicine, law, engineering and others, at the colleges and universities. In fact, all professional schools were jammed-all except one typeteachers colleges. There were thousands of vacancies for students in the teachers colleges of the nation. During the year 1946 with the unprecedented increase of veterans, there were but 7 percent of our college students in Teachers Colleges. Local surveys of veterans indicate that less than 1 percent of them are now interested in teaching as a profession. This indicates a striking difference from the year 1920 when Teachers Colleges claimed 22 percent of the students.

It takes years of training to make a good teacher, just as it does to make any professional worker. For that reason we cannot expect to undo overnight the damage that has been done to our schools during the past years. But we can take immediate steps to reverse the present trend.

The underlying cause for this condition is that teachers' salaries have always been grossly inadequate. Thus the skyrocketing cost of living has produced a crisis in education. The vast majority of our teachers are paid less for educating our children than street cleaners receive for sweeping the streets, or garbage collectors for disposing of our trash! In certain areas domestics and charwomen receive higher wages than our teachers! An example of a salary schedule of one city which has a relatively high standard for teachers provides this illuminating data: The beginning salary for rat exterminators is $3,052; prison cook $2,736; dog catcher $2,485; school teacher $2,095.

The national average for teachers salaries is $40 per week. And let me point out that this figure includes the salaries of superintendents, principals, and supervisors, all of whom are higher in the salary brackets than the classroom teacher and this brings the average up. But even if this were the average salary of the teacher, then approximately half of our teachers are paid less than that amount. Some of them receive pitiful salaries. As an illustration, last year 21,000 teachers received $12 or less per week, while 200,000 received $25 or less per week. Can this Nation afford to leave the transmission of American civilization and culture to teachers who are secured on the basis of such wages?

Of course inflation has made it difficult for everyone, but it has all but wrecked the teaching profession. The study made by the National Education Association throws some light on this situation. This study shows that the average salary of all employed persons outside the field of education increased 79 percent between 1939 and 1945, while that of the teacher increased only 31 percent during that period. At the same time the cost of living has skyrocketed at least 55 percent since 1941.

As a result of these circumstances we have recently witnessed in this country an epidemic of teacher strikes. Never before has the teachers morale been at such a low ebb. A teachers' strike was almost unheard of a decade ago. It takes a tremendously impelling force for conditions to become so serious that teachers would even consider striking.

It is held by many Americans that teachers should not strike. In fact, the teaching profession itself is opposed to strikes. Then, does there not rest upon those individuals elected by the people and responsible for the teachers a solemn obligation and grave responsibility to see that fair compensation is provided for teachers?

Thus far in my discussion I have pointed out that the existing crisis in American public education is reflected in a rapid exodus of qualified teachers from the classroom and that youth of high caliber shun the profession. The present outlook for the teaching profession is bleak. Briefly: Shamefully low salaries, with no adequate pay adjustment to offset the increased cost of living, has made it utterly impossible for our teachers to maintain even a half way decent standard of living. I wish to point out at this time how S. 1157 meets directly the basic issues involved, which other measures that have been proposed meet only indirectly. General Federal aid is imperative, but it does not meet this issue directly.

S. 1157 provides for a cost of living increase for teachers on a nation-wide basis. The amount of this increase is designed to compensate for the difference in the cost of living between January 1, 1941 and July 1, 1947 and would produce an aggregate annual salary from local, State, and Federal funds which exceeds by $800 the amount of the salary received on January 1, 1941.

I believe that the teachers of the Nation are just as entitled to receive a cost of living increase as workers in industry or the professions. Furthermore I am convinced that such a step by the Federal Government would produce immediate and favorable effects on our system of public education and would reverse the migration of teachers from the classroom.

The second major provision of S. 1157 would establish a minimum wage for teachers in public schools throughout the Nation. This minimum wage would be $2,400 per year in the case of a teacher occupying a position for which the satisfactory completion of a course of 4 years or more at an accredited college or university is a qualifying requirement, or $1,800 in the case of a teacher occupying a position for which the satisfactory completion of such a course is not a qualifying requirement.

This provision would serve as a shot of adrenalin to our imperiled public educational system. It would at once place the teaching of our youth on a sounder professional basis and America might expect with certainty a continuous improvement in its school personnel and educational programs.

It would remove the economic hazard which has kept out of the teaching profession the very persons the Nation should have in its schools. Only if adequate compensation is provided can the citizens of this Nation be assured of having competent, well qualified, professional teachers for the instruction of their youth.

I should like to point out the provisions in the bill which set up safeguards. The interest of the Federal Government is protected by the provision which states "the receipt of funds by a State shall not be used as a basis for the reduction of the annual rate of salary paid for any teaching position in its public schools below the rate in effect for such position on July 1, 1947."

The interests of the States and localities are protected through the provision for safeguards which prevent Federal control in the administration of the provisions of the bill.

The bill is to be administered by the United States Commissioner of Education. In order to point out what this bill would mean in terms of its application to a State, I shall use my own State of Montana as an example.

The United States Office of Education reports that the average annual salary of teachers in the public schools of Montana for the year 1940-41 was $1,190. On the basis of the best estimates available for the current year 1946-47 the average salary should approximate $1,700. There are approximately 5,000 teachers in Montana, 1,300 of whom hold positions for which certification requirements call for 4 years of college work, the remaining 3,700 teaching positions do not carry this requirement.

For the 5,000 teachers the cost of living increase would add $800 to the 1941 salary. For the average teacher this would bring the salary from an average $1,190 in 1941 to an average $1,990 for the year 1947-48. Since State and local funds are providing $1,700 for the average teachers salary, the difference of $290 would be provided through Federal funds. For the 500 teachers this would amount to $1,450,000.

Since the 3,700 teachers would already be receiving more than the minimum $1,800 salary, they would receive no further increase. But the 1,300 teachers would be entitled to a minimum salary of $2,400. For each of these on the average, an additional $410 would be provided through Federal funds, an amount totaling $563,000. The sum of $1,450,000 and $563,000 or $2,130,000 would be through estimate of Federal funds for the State of Montana to carry out the provisions of S. 1157.

This crisis in American public education is not just a local or a State problem. It is a national hazard. Unless the Federal Government assists States provide more adequate salaries for their school teachers, disastrous social and educational consequences will be inevitable.

Senator AIKEN. Thank you, Senator Murray.

Now, the committee has six more witnesses to be heard this morning. The Chair thinks it is possible to complete all of them.

If there is any of the testimony submitted which the witnesses can condense in any way or summarize, they may do so with the assurance that their complete statements will be incorporated in the record.

The next witness has been carried over from last Friday. We appreciate his willingness to wait while the two Senators have testified' and we now call upon Leslie S. Perry, administrative assistant, National Association for Advancement of Colored People.

Mr. Perry.

STATEMENT OF LESLIE S. PERRY, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE

Mr. PERRY. I appear on behalf of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in support of the principle of Federal aid to education. The association has 1497 branches, youth councils, and college chapters in 43 States with a paid membership of 535,000.

For a number of years our membership has manifested deep concern over the status of public education in the Nation which, in certain areas, is so markedly inadequate as to fall considerably short of the minimum requirements necessary to achieve a wholesome and functioning democratic state; and, I might add, far below the level that a rich and powerful country like the United States can easily afford. According to the census of 1940, 1.3 percent of all white persons over

25 years of age in the United States and 10 percent of Negroes had completed no school years: 51.8 percent of the whites and 72.4 percent of Negroes succeeded in completing only the eighth grade, or less.

The abysmally low standard of educational opportunity in Southern States reflects itself in the national average I have cited. By and large, these States have the largest number of children per thousand population, while at the same time they have the lowest per capita income in the Nation. Thus we are confronted with the situation whereby New Jersey, by allocating merely 1 percent of its annual taxable income for public education, is able to expend an average of $198 annually per child in daily school attendance while, on the other hand, Mississippi which appropriated 1.64 percent can expend only an average of $44.80 per child.

The Federal Government must take immediate steps to assure that a child will not begin life with the severe handicap of a second-class system of public schools simply by sheer accident of having been born in a Southern State or rural area.

The broad gap which currently obtains between the educational opportunities among and within States will be successfully bridged only when the Federal Government itself provides substantial financial assistance to the educational systems of the more impoverished States. Because more than three-fourths of the Negro population of the United States resides in the South, I want to talk very briefly of some of the serious problems they encounter in attempting to secure an education in the public schools there. The educational system in the South is substandard for white children, but for the Negro child and teacher conditions are intolerable. Not only are the Negro children subjected to the usual and patent disadvantages peculiar to the entire school population of that section but they are also the victims of most brazen practices of unequal and discriminatory distribution of State educational funds. Figures compiled by the United States Office of Education for the year 1943-44 show that in 10 Southern States the per capita expenditures for a white pupil averaged $77.83 as compared with $40.56 for a Negro child. Stated in other words, 164 percent more money was spent on a white pupil than on a colored pupil. Mississippi is by far the worst offender. It spends only $11.96 a year on a Negro child whereas a white pupil in Mississippi has $71.96, or 499 percent more spent on him or her.

Current expense per pupil in average daily attendance, Negro schools in 11 States

Derived from Statistics of Education of Negroes, 1941-42 and 1934 44, U. S. Office of Education.