Page images
PDF
EPUB

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

26

(8) title III of the National Defense Education

Act of 1958 (20 U.S.C. 441-455);

(9) subpart 2 of part B of title V of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1108-1110c); and

(10) the Vocational Education Act of 1963 (20 U.S.C. 1241-1391).

(b) Effective with respect to appropriations for fiscal years beginning after June 30, 1972, the Adult Education

Act is amended by

(1) striking out "reserved in section 304 (a) for the purposes of this section" in section 309 (a) and inserting in lieu thereof "appropriated pursuant to section 312(a)"; and

(2) striking out sections 304, 305, 306, 307, 308,

and 310, and subsection (b) of section 312.

(c) Public Law 81-815 (20 U.S.C. 631-647) is 17 amen led by inserting "(a)" immediately after "Section 1."

[blocks in formation]

and by adding at the end of such section the following:

"(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act,

appropriations under this Act for fiscal years beginning after

June 30, 1972, shall be available only for carrying out the

provisions of sections 9, 10, 14, and 16.".

(d) Effective with respect to appropriations for fiscal years beginning after June 30, 1972, the Child Nutrition

Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771-1785) is amended by

69-927 0723

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

27

(1) striking out sections 5 and 7;

(2) striking out "through 7" in section 6 and in

serting “and 4" in lieu thereof;

(3) striking out "through 5" in section 11 and inserting "and 4" in lieu thereof; and

(4) striking out "section 4" in section 4 (b) and inserting "section 11" in lieu thereof.

(e) Effective with resp. to appropriations for fiscal years beginning after June 30, 1972, the National School

10 Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751-1761) is amended by

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

(1) striking out sections 4, 5, 7, 8, and 10;

(2) (A) striking out "the amount apportioned by him pursuant to sections 4 and 5 of this Act and" in paragraph (2) of section 6 and (B) by striking out in such paragraph "sections 4, 5, and 7” and inserting in lieu thereof "section 4";

(3) striking out "section 10" in the last sentence of section 9 and inserting "section 11" in lieu thereof; (4) striking out subsection (d) of section 11 and inserting in lieu thereof the following: "(d) The Secretary shall certify to the Secretary of the Treasury from

time to time the amounts to be paid to any State under

this section and the time or times such amounts are to

be paid; and the Secretary of the Treasury shall pay

28

1 to the State at the time or times fixed by the Secretary

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

the amounts so certified."

(5) striking out in paragraph (g) of section 11

", including those applicable to funds apportioned or paid pursuant to section 4 or 5 but excluding the provisions of section 7 relating to matching,”;

(6) striking out in section 11 (h) (1) "to extend the school lunch program under this Act to every school within the State, and (C)"; and

(7) striking out paragraphs (4), (5), and (6)

of section 12 (d) and renumbering paragraph (7) as paragraph (4).

Senator PELL. I now call upon our first witness, Elliot L. Richardson.

STATEMENT OF HON. ELLIOT L. RICHARDSON, SECRETARY OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE, ACCOMPANIED BY STEPHEN KURZMAN, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR LEGISLATION; CHRISTOPHER CROSS, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR LEGISLATION (EDUCATION); AND PROFESSIONAL STAFF MEMBERS; AND STATEMENT OF HON. SIDNEY P. MARLAND, JR., U.S. COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION

Secretary RICHARDSON. Thank you.

Commissioner Marland and myself and our aides are pleased to be here today to testify on this bill. I am accompanied by Commissioner Sidney P. Marland, Jr.; Mr. Stephen Kurzman, Assistant Secretary for Legislation, and Mr. Christopher Cross, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Legislation (Education).

I would like, with the permission of the committee, Mr. Chairman, to ask to have inserted at this point in the record preceding my prepared statement the introductory remarks of the late ranking Republican on the subcommittee, Senator Winston Prouty, on the introduction of S. 1669, including the President's message on the bill, the bill itself, and a section-by-section analysis of the bill with a fact sheet. Senator PELL. And with a sense of great honor and respect to our colleague, too.

Secretary RICHARDSON. It is a feeling we fully share. We certainly greatly miss his participation in these deliberations.

Senator PELL. Without objection, it is so ordered. (The information referred to follows:)

[From the Congressional Record-Senate, Apr. 29, 1971]

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS OF HON. WINSTON L. PROUTY, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF VERMONT

EDUCATION REVENUE SHARING ACT OF 1971

Mr. PROUTY. Mr. President, on behalf of myself and Senators BAKER of Tennessee, BENNETT of Utah, BROCK of Tennessee, BUCKLEY of New York, DOMINICK of Colorado, FONG of Hawaii, GRIFFIN of Michigan, PERCY of Illinois, SCHWEIKER of Pennsylvania, SCOTT of Pennsylvania, TAFT of Ohio, and TOWER of Texas, 1 am introducing today, for the President, the President's proposed Education Revenue Sharing Act. I ask unanimous consent that a copy of the bill, a sectionby-section analysis of the bill, and a summary of the bill be printed in the RECORD at the conclusion of my remarks.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. PROUTY. As the ranking Republican on the Education Subcommittee of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, I am particularly concerned that the well-intentioned efforts of Congress in recent years have resulted in a maze of elementary and secondary education programs, which while noble in their intent are cumbersome in their implementation.

In his April 6 message on education revenue sharing, President Nixon depicted the problem by pointing out that "Under the present piecemeal system of Federal aid, education grants are available to local schools under 38 separate authorizations for 'instruction,' 37 separate authorizations for low-income students, and 22 separate authorizations for reading instruction."

I am sure each Senator has on many occasions sought to guide his constituent school districts through this maze.

Some school districts have felt compelled to hire experts in grantsmanship, full-time Federal aid coordinators.

Is is clear that the burdens placed on State and local educational agencies, which wish to implement these various education programs, is often intolerable. Guidelines, regulations, matching fund requirements ensnarl the educator in time-consuming trivia which is counterproductive to the educator's primary role-education.

For the small school districts in my State of Vermont inflexible guidelines and regulations often preclude Federal assistance, which Congress clearly intended to be available to all districts.

Clearly, remedial action is necessary to make Federal aid to education more responsive and less cumbersome.

If we review the history of our education programs, we see that, as each problem area was discerned and defined, we responded with a separate education program responsive to the particular problem. We in Congress moved rapidly in the 1960's to respond to a multitude of education problems. At the outset, categorical programs were necessary to precisely target Federal aid.

However, now that Federal support for elementary and secondary education is well established, it is time to move from categorization to consolidation in such a way that the goals of educational quality and opportunity are met.

Mr. President, this bill responds to the need for consolidation and streamlining of our Federal educational programs in a responsive way.

It is a good, but not perfect, bill and I must, in all candor, say that I find several problems in the measure as it is now drafted.

But I do recommend the bill to Senators as excellent in its basic concept and direction.

The Education Revenue Sharing Act would make funds available to States and local educational agencies in five areas of our longstanding concern—education of the disadvantaged, education of the handicapped, vocational education, education of federally connected children, and supporting materials and services. Funds would flow to States and localities on the basis of an automatic formula. The bill authorizes advanced funding so that local officials would know in advance the amount they could expect to receive and, thereby, plan ahead. Funds derived from the presence in a school district of children whose parents live on Federal property and children from low-income families would be passed through by the State directly to the school district. Other Federal funds would be distributed among local educational agencies by the State administering agency, on the basis of their relative needs for assistance in the areas of education of the handicapped, vocational education, and supporting materials and services. The State administering agency would be given the flexibility to transfer up to 30 percent of the funds from any one category to any other category, with the exception of those funds passed through to local educational agencies. This could mean, for example, that additional funds could be made available for education of the handicapped if the State felt that this was of high priority. The State's plan for distribution of Federal funds would be developed in consultation with a State advisory council appointed by the Governor, broadly representative of public and private educational interests and members of the public. In addition, the State's plan would be published and interested persons would be given an opportunity for comment. However, no Federal approval of the plan would be required. This is a major change from present law. It means that a State will be able to plan for its own needs, rather than trying to adapt to some preset Federal format.

As the President noted in his message: "Non-public schools bear a significant share of the cost and effort of providing education for our children today. Federal aid to education should take this fully into account."

Education revenue sharing expands the opportunities available to children in nonpublic schools by requiring that they be allowed to participate on an equitable basis in public school programs of education for the disadvantaged, education of the handicapped, vocational education, and supporting materials and services. The act provides that, in cases where State law prohibits such participation, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare shall provide similar services to nonpublic schoolchildren and shall pay the costs out of the State's allotment.

Education revenue sharing would offer State and local education officials far greater flexibility in making program decisions responsive to the needs of their students. Funds could be allotted among areas of use and among local educational agencies according to their specific needs, rather than according to some rigid Federal mandate. As the President said:

« PreviousContinue »