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Additional information-Continued

Communications-Continued

Pullen, Thomas G., Jr., of Maryland, to Edgar Fuller_-_

Putnam, Rex, State Superintendent of public instruction in

Oregon, to Edgar Fuller, executive secretary, Council of Chief

State School Officers

Schweickhard, Dean M., State Commissioner of Education of

Minnesota, to Edgar Fuller, executive secretary, Council of

Chief State School Officers__

Stough, Mrs. Ada Barnett, executive director, the American
Parents Committee, Inc., to Chairman, February 24, 1955----

Swan, Ralph C., deputy superintendent, department of public

instruction, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to Hon. S. M.

Brownell, Commissioner of Education, February 3, 1955...

Swan, Ralph C., State superintendent of public instruction of

Pennsylvania, to Edgar Fuller, executive secretary, Council of

Chief State School Officers--

Tavlor, Clair M., State superintendent of Michigan, to Edgar

Fuller, executive secretary, Council of Chief State School

Officers..

Throckmorton, Adel F., superintendent of public instruction,

Topeka, Kans., to Edgar Fuller, executive, executive secretary,

Council of Chief State School Officers.

Tubb, J. M., Mississippi State superintendent of education, to

Edgar Fuller, executive secretary, Council of Chief State School

Officers

Walsh, Michael F., State commissioner of education of Rhode

Island, to Edgar Fuller, executive secretary, Council of Chief

State School Officers

Wanamaker, Pearl A, State superintendent of public instruction

of Washington, to Edgar Fuller, executive secretary, Council of

Chief State School Officers-

Watson, George E., State superintendent of public instruction of

Wisconsin, to Edgar Fuller, executive secretary, Council of

Chief State School Officers..

387

118

160

155

Ratio of assessed value to full value of farm and real estate, by States,
1940, 1945, and 1950, table_

47

School systems in Georgia in which schools have been built, or are
under construction by the State school building authority.

State school building aid in California_

121

Study of distribution of funds made by the Council of Chief State
School Officers..

229

Tax rates of American cities for 1953, table.

48

FEDERAL ASSISTANCE TO INCREASE PUBLIC

SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1955

UNITED STATES SENATE,

COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND PUBLIC WELFARE,

Washington, D. C.

The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10 a. m., in the Old Supreme Court Chamber, United States Capitol Building, Senator Lister Hill (chairman) presiding.

Present: Senators Hill, Neely, Douglas, Lehman, McNamara, Smith of New Jersey, Ives, Purtell, and Bender.

Also present: Stewart E. McClure, staff director; Roy E. James, minority staff director; William G. Reidy, and John S. Forsythe, professional staff members.

Chairman HILL. The committee will kindly come to order.

We have with us this morning Mrs. Hobby, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, and other witnesses from the Department; and, Mrs. Hobby, I believe, has other witnesses with her.

You were with us last session, Mrs. Hobby

Secretary HOBBY. Yes, sir.

Chairman HILL (Continuing). At which time you brought us most interesting information, charts, material and data showing the very great need for school construction throughout the United States.

We had other witnesses at the last session who also brought us the picture of this very great need for school construction.

At this session of Congress we have had hearings and witnesses who have brought that data up to this time, showing just how great is the need and how compelling is the emergency.

We hope this morning you are going to bring us a message that will be helpful to us, and that you will tell us how we may begin to bring about the construction of school buildings at the earliest possible time. We are glad to have you here.

(The bill, S. 968, the message of the President of the United States, and the reports of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and Bureau of the Budget are as follows:

[S. 968, 84th Cong., 1st sess.].

A BILL To authorize Federal assistance to States and communities to enable them to increase public elementary and secondary school construction

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "School Construction Assistance Act of 1955".

FINDINGS AND DECLARATION OF PURPOSE

SEC. 2. (a) The Congress hereby finds and declares that

(1) free public education is of fundamental importance to the self-governing citizens of a free democracy;

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(2) in the United States of America, public education has been from the earliest times the right and the responsibility of the States and communities; (3) the growth of our population and the enforced curtailment of construction during the years of war and defense mobilization and other factors have combined to cause a serious shortage of public elementary and secondary school facilities;

(4) despite the efforts of local communities, which have increased current school construction to an unprecedented level, there is still a serious national shortage of public school facilities;

(5) the local communities are often, in their efforts to expand school construction to the extent required, confronted with obstacles in applying their potential resources to their needs, including an inability to borrow the necessary funds at reasonable rates, restrictive debt and tax limits, uneconomical school districting and similar matters; and

(6) while overcoming these obstacles is primarily the responsibility of the States and communities, the Federal Government, recognizing the Nation's interest in our public school system, can and should take all appropriate steps, consonant with State and local responsibility, to help the States and communities meet their emergency school construction needs.

(b) It is, therefore, the purpose of this Act to provide assistance of a substantial and effective nature to States and communities which are handicapped by the shortage of public school facilities, through—

(1) purchase by the Federal Government of obligations issued by local educational agencies to finance school construction where such obligations cannot otherwise be marketed at reasonable rates of interest;

(2) support by the Federal Government, with the participation of the States, of the obligations issued by State school building agencies established to finance the construction of school facilities for rental to and eventual ownership by local educational agencies;

(3) Federal grants to the States to assist them in helping local educational agencies, economically unable to qualify for the assistance described above, to obtain urgently needed school facilities; and

(4) Federal grants to the States to assist them in meeting the administrative costs of developing and initiating programs designed to overcome obstacles to local financing of school construction.

TITLE 1-FEDERAL PURCHASE OF OBLIGATIONS OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS WITH MARGINAL CREDIT

PURPOSE

SEC. 101. For the purpose of assisting local communities to construct public elementary or secondary school facilities, the Commissioner of Education (hereinafter in this Act referred to as the "Commissioner") may purchase obligations of local education agencies, as hereinafter provided, to aid in financing the construction of such facilities by such agencies.

AMOUNT OF OBLIGATIONS PURCHASED

SEC. 102. The total of the obligations of a local educational agency purchased under this title with respect to any school facilities may not exceed the Federal percentage, determined under the succeeding sentence, of the cost of constructing such facilities. The Federal percentage for any local educational agency in a State shall be 100 per centum minus that percentage which bears the same ratio to 40 per centum as the per capita income of the State bears to the per capita income of the continental United States (excluding Alaska), except that (1) the Federal percentage shall in no case be more than 80 per centum or less than 50 per centum, and (2) the Federal percentage in Hawaii and Alaska shall be 60 per centum, and in Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands shall be 80 per centum. Such Federal percentages shall be promulgated by the Commissioner as soon as possible after the date of enactment of this Act on the basis of the average of the per capita incomes of the States and of the continental United States for the three most recent years for which satisfactory data are available from the Department of Commerce, and the percentages so promulgated shall be conclusive for purposes of this title.

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