I want to say that for the first time in 12 years the House Education Committee has passed a bill, H.R. 6649, which will include the District of Columbia under the impacted aid provisions, and I hope that if the bill comes over here intact as it is, that you will act favorably upon it. Senator CLARK. It will get my vote, I assure you of that. Mr. RICH. One important thing about 874 and 815 is this: that they do provide moneys directly to the schools, which is an important thing. Now I want to say something about your section 701 (c) which says "The term "interstate' shall include the District of Columbia," and I want to remark about that to say that I am very happy to have the District of Columbia included in this bill, and contained therein as a State. We feel here in the District sometimes that we would like to attend a dinner, but we are without the ticket, and apparently the ticket in many instances is the right to vote, and as you know we don't have this right to vote. Our political power is somewhat, shall I say, negated by the fact that we do not have self-government here. In this regard I would like to say, Mr. Chairman, that just recently at a national convention of the Congress of Parents and Teachers in Miami, the national congress went on record as seeking aid for the District of Columbia, and I would like to have incorporated into the record an article from the Post dated May 24, 1963, "PTA To Seek U.S. Aid for District Schools." I think this will demonstrate the fact that we have 12 million votes. Senator CLARK. That will be done. (The article referred to follows:) [From the Washington Post, May 24, 1963] P-TA TO SEEK U.S. AID FOR DISTRICT SCHOOLS MIAMI BEACH, May 23 (AP).-America's "public schools without a public”— those in Washington, D.C., and those operated by the Defense Department abroad-have a new champion in the National Congress of Parents and Teachers. The congress has made greater Federal support of these school systems its top priority legislative project for this year. "The overseas dependents schools, like those in the District of Columbia, are wholly dependent on Congress, and Congress has been reluctant to support them,” said Mrs. Fred L. Bull, of Baltimore, chairman of the legislative committee. "These are our highest priority projects, these are the things we are going to push." Delegates to the National P-TA's 67th annual convention, which ended last night, were told that the District of Columbia is virtually helpless in trying to improve its schools. A statement circulated here said "the current appropriation bill for fiscal 1964 provides only $700,000 out of $20 million needed for new school construc tion *** and although nearly 5,000 more pupils are expected to enroll in the public schools next fall, not a single new teaching position is provided." DISTRICT EXPENDITURE FOR CHILDREN OF FOREIGN PARENTS Senator CLARK. I notice here there has been handed me by your staff a table showing the cost of the District of Columbia public schools for educating children of foreign parentage, which is quite substantial, and I will ask that that be put in the record. TABLE 1.-Cost to the District of Columbia public schools for educating children of foreign parentage Mr. RICH. There is another clipping I would like to have incorporated in the record, an article from the Star, May 1, 1963, "Trade Board Urges Aid to Schools," stating in effect they want the District. of Columbia included under impacted aid provisions for the first time. I will ask that this too be incorporated in the record. (The article referred to follows:) [From the Washington Star, May 1, 1963] TRADE BOARD URGES AID TO SCHOOLS The board of directors of the Metropolitan Washington Board of Trade has asked that the District be included in the program for financial aid to federally impacted school areas. "In our judgment, the District of Columbia clearly qualifies for payment ***" the board said in a letter to Representative Powell, chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. The District would receive between $4 and $5 million a year. The District has been excluded since the program was begun in 1950, while the Washington suburban areas in Maryland and Virginia have been getting about $16 million a year. The District has been excluded primarily on the grounds that it gets Federal assistance of about $30 million a year for general operations. President Kennedy, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and local government officials have asked that the District be included in the impacted aid program. "The District *** has great difficulty meeting school needs because of the significant increases in school population which have taken place and which are projected for the future," the letter to Mr. Powell said. The letter, signed by Charles E. Phillips, president of the Board of Trade, pointed out that the District shares in the benefits of Federal vocational education programs, the School Lunch Act, and the National Defense Education Act and receives Federal grants for highway and public welfare programs. "In all of these cases and many others the District of Columbia is treated as a State," the letter said, urging that it be treated likewise for the impacted school program. The chairman of the House subcommittee, Representative Dent, Democrat, of Pennsylvania, has stated publicly he is against including the District at this time. Senator CLARK. Thank you very much. Mr. RICH. There is one other thing I would like to have incorporated, and that is an editorial from the Star dated Sunday, May 26, 1963, an editorial entitled "Our Impacted City." Senator CLARK. That will be done. (The editorial follows:) [From the Washington Star, May 26, 1963] OUR IMPACTED CITY Twice in past years the Senate has voted to include the District of Columbia in the program of school aid to Federally impacted areas, only to lose its battles in the House. Now, for the first time, the House Education Committee has joined the campaign to correct this long injustice as a part of its bill to extend the national program for another year. Exclusion of the District in the past has been defended largely on the point that Congress already contributes to the Nation's Capital through its annual Federal payment. But this contention ignores the fact that the District participates fully in any number of other programs of Federal aid, on the same basis as if it were a State. To imply, moreover, as these arguments do, that the Federal payment reflects a fair and proper share of the Federal interest in Washington is wholly false. Indeed, the occasions when Congress has appropriated even the inadequate amounts of the Federal payment authorized by law have been as rare as snow in June. The main reason for elation at the action of the House Education Committee, however, is that the needs of the District school system are so desperately urgent at this very moment. The roughly $4.5 million that would accrue to the school system through impacted-area funds would be a tremendous boon-enough, for example, if equal amounts of aid should be forthcoming over the years, to amortize the debt on a substantial long-range loan program. No doubt all of these considerations influenced the action of the House committee. Strong support for its position may be anticipated once again in the Senate, and we hope that the House as a whole will take a favorable look this year at the merits of the question. We think there may be valid grounds for a gradual reduction in this form of Federal subsidy throughout the country, as Presidents Kennedy and Eisenhower both have proposed. But as long as the program continues on a national basis, there is no reasonable cause to exclude the District from its fair share of assistance. Mr. RICH. One other thing. Last session this particular Congress took care of the animals in the zoo by providing a nice home for them. This particular session the Congress has taken care of, shall I say, the fish of the District of Columbia. Now, I just wonder is it not time that these others, not the finny friends or the four-legged furred friends but the children of the District of Columbia, now be given an opportunity to share in some of the moneys to which we feel we are justly entitled, and I feel as Commissioner Keppel does about the urgency of this matter. I also speak not only for the District of Columbia. I feel that certainly if the children are neglected in education, then I think that it will be unfortunate for tomorrow. Senator CLARK. Thank you very much. Our next witness is Mrs. Walter B. Stults, legislative chairman, Ben W. Murch Home and School Association of Washington, D.C. Mrs. Stults, will you come forward and take your seat in front of the microphone. We will ask to have your prepared statement printed in full in the record at this point, and I note the different District of Columbia schools on whose behalf you are appearing. If you have anything you would like to add to your prepared statement, we will STATEMENT OF MRS. WALTER B. STULTS, LEGISLATIVE CHAIRMAN, BEN W. MURCH HOME AND SCHOOL ASSOCIATION, WASHINGTON, D.C. (The prepared statement of Mrs. Stults follows:) PREPARED STATEMENT BY MRS. WALTER B. STULTS, CHAIRMAN, LEGISTATIVE COM MITTEE, BEN W. MURCH HOME AND SCHOOL ASSOCIATION Mr. Stults is appearing on behalf of the following District of Columbia schools 1. Brightwood Elementary, 13th and Nicholson Streets, N.W. 2. Hyde Elementary, O Street, between 32d and 33d Streets, N.W. 3. Lafayette Elementary, Northampton Street and Broad Branch Road, N.W. 4. Murch Elementary, 36th and Ellicott Streets, N.W. 5. Deal Junior High, Fort Drive and Nebraska Avenue, N.W. 6. Eliot Junior High, 18th and Constiution Avenues, N.E. 7. Paul Junior High, Eighth and Oglethorpe Streets, N.W. 8. Coolidge Senior High, Fifth and Tuckerman Streets, N.W. 9. Phelps Vocational High, 24th Street and Benning Road, N.E. 10. Roosevelt High, 13th and Upshur Streets, N.W. 11. Spingarn High, 24th Street and Benning Road, N.E. 12. Western High, 35th and R Streets, N.W. 13. Wilson High, Nebraska Avenue and Chesapeake Street, N.W. 14. Dunbar High, First and N Streets, N.W. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, the home and school associations I represent today urge you and the members of your committee to consider favorably those portions of sections 461 and 462 of S. 580 which would make it possible for the District of Columbia to participate in Federal impacted area aid funds for schools. It seems hardly necessary to mention that within the District of Columbia 30 percent of the school children are federally connected as defined under Public Law 874, 81st Congress. We find it hard to understand why the District has been excluded from this program in the past, since it is eligible for Federal highway, welfare and other funds. The metropolitan area schools benefited from this program in 1962, in amounts varying from $706,425 in Alexander to $3,997,987 in Fairfax County. It should be emphasized that the annual Federal payment to the District of Columbia general fund is not in any sense a substitute for school aid. No part of this payment is earmarked for schools, and in any event, the entire amount is too small to compensate for the District's tremendous loss of tax revenue because of Federal installations. In the fiscal 1964 budget, within existing revenues, the District government is requesting for the school administration an operating fund of $611⁄2 million, an increase of $4.4 million over 1963. We would like to point out that this increase is largely accounted for by an increase in salary scale for teachers and other school personnel, and an increase in the student enrollment of 6,000 in the last year. The pupil-teacher ratio will not be reduced. There will still be over 700 on a waiting list for kindergarten. There will be no beginning of an elementary school library program. There will be no increase in counseling services at any level. There will be no increase in the number of basic and social adjustment class teachers. The public schools of the District of Colorado are suffering from lack of funds. Almost daily the local newspapers describe their pathetic condition. We come to you seeking more than sympathy. What we need is help, and the way our local government is set up, the United States Congress is the authority that can help. Thank you. Mrs. STULTS. No. I simply want to include the statement, and let you know we support the stand expressed by the legislative chairman from the PTA. I think almost 100 percent of the parents of the District of Columbia schoolchildren would like to see this subcommittee consider favorably those portions of sections 461 and 462 of S. 580 which would make it Senator CLARK. Thank you very much. Mr. RICH. There is one other thing I would like to have incorporated, and that is an editorial from the Star dated Sunday, May 26, 1963, an editorial entitled "Our Impacted City." Senator CLARK. That will be done. (The editorial follows:) [From the Washington Star, May 26, 1963] OUR IMPACTED CITY Twice in past years the Senate has voted to include the District of Columbia in the program of school aid to Federally impacted areas, only to lose its battles in the House. Now, for the first time, the House Education Committee has joined the campaign to correct this long injustice as a part of its bill to extend the national program for another year. Exclusion of the District in the past has been defended largely on the point that Congress already contributes to the Nation's Capital through its annual Federal payment. But this contention ignores the fact that the District participates fully in any number of other programs of Federal aid, on the same basis as if it were a State. To imply, moreover, as these arguments do, that the Federal payment reflects a fair and proper share of the Federal interest in Washington is wholly false. Indeed, the occasions when Congress has appropriated even the inadequate amounts of the Federal payment authorized by law have been as rare as snow in June. The main reason for elation at the action of the House Education Committee, however, is that the needs of the District school system are so desperately urgent at this very moment. The roughly $4.5 million that would accrue to the school system through impacted-area funds would be a tremendous boon-enough, for example, if equal amounts of aid should be forthcoming over the years, to amortize the debt on a substantial long-range loan program. No doubt all of these considerations influenced the action of the House committee. Strong support for its position may be anticipated once again in the Senate, and we hope that the House as a whole will take a favorable look this year at the merits of the question. We think there may be valid grounds for a gradual reduction in this form of Federal subsidy throughout the country, as Presidents Kennedy and Eisenhower both have proposed. But as long as the program continues on a national basis, there is no reasonable cause to exclude the District from its fair share of assistance. Mr. RICH. One other thing. Last session this particular Congress took care of the animals in the zoo by providing a nice home for them. This particular session the Congress has taken care of, shall I say, the fish of the District of Columbia. Now, I just wonder is it not time that these others, not the finny friends or the four-legged furred friends but the children of the District of Columbia, now be given an opportunity to share in some of the moneys to which we feel we are justly entitled, and I feel as Commissioner Keppel does about the urgency of this matter. I also speak not only for the District of Columbia. I feel that certainly if the children are neglected in education, then I think that it will be unfortunate for tomorrow. Senator CLARK. Thank you very much. Our next witness is Mrs. Walter B. Stults, legislative chairman, Ben W. Murch Home and School Association of Washington, D.C. Mrs. Stults, will you come forward and take your seat in front of the microphone. We will ask to have your prepared statement printed in full in the record at this point, and I note the different District of Columbia schools on whose behalf you are appearing. If you have anything you would like to add to your prepared statement, we will |