which have large numbers of school children who reside on Federal property. Such districts are chiefly those that educate children residing on tax-exempt Indian lands in the Western States. A total of 940 federally affected school districts qualified for approximately $392,500,000 of Federal funds as authorized by the original legislation in Public Law 815. Congress appropriated sufficient funds prior to July 1952 to allocate $293,804,178 to 740 districts having the higher priorities. In May 1954 Congress appropriated an additional $55,000,000 to apply on unpaid entitlements. Due to the lack of sufficient appropriations, a priority system was required and the projects approved were limited to funds required to provide minimum facilities for 90 percent of the unhoused children, although the law authorized complete school facilities. All eligible districts which had unhoused pupils according to the formula received Federal funds. Under the new title III of Public Law 815, applications have been received pursuant to 2 authorizations, Public Law 246 and Public Law 731, both Eighty-third Congress. A total of 778 school districts made application under the Public Law 246 authorization which expired June 30, 1954, and 529 were eligible for Federal funds. As of January 1, 1956, a total of 759 school districts had made application under the Public Law 731 authorization which expires June 30, 1956, and 456 have been found eligible. A 5-year summary of disbursements for the construction of school facilities under these authorizations is presented in table 13. Table 14 gives the number of projects in the States and Territories for which Federal funds were reserved by August 31, Table 13.-FEDERAL ASSISTANCE FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOL FACILITIES IN FEDERALLY AFFECTED SCHOOL DISTRICTS AND ON FEDERAL PROPERTIES AND TEMPORARY BUILDINGS IN CERTAIN SCHOOL DISTRICTS: 1950-51 TO 1954-55 Table 14.-FEDERAL FUNDS RESERVED FOR THE STATES AND TERRITORIES AS OF AUGUST 31, 1955, FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOL FACILITIES IN FEDERALLY AFFECTED SCHOOL DISTRICTS, AND FUNDS DISBURSED: 1950-51 TO 1954-55 Total 2,723 $520,500,210 $392,452,239 $164,712,085 $104,972,732 $122,767,422 1955, for the construction of school facilities in federally affected school districts. Also given, are the amounts disbursed during the first 3 years of operation, as well as the amounts disbursed during the 1953-54 and 1954-55 school years. The table indicates that 2,723 school construction projects have been included in this program and that these projects for federally affected school districts are located in all the 48 States and 3 of the outlying parts of the United States. State-by-State disbursements for the 195455 school year are listed in column 5 of the summary table 4. Some of the funds authorized by Public Laws 815 and 246 are not allocated to school districts but, under sections 204 and 310, are used for the construction of school facilities on Federal bases where no local educational agency can accept responsibility for the education of pupils residing on these bases. Another section of the law provides for the construction of temporary school facilities for children whose attendance in the schools of the district will be of temporary duration. A summary of Federal funds reserved for these construction projects on Federal properties and for temporary facilities in certain school districts from the beginning of the program in 1951 to August 31, 1955, is given in table 15. As indicated in column 2 of the table, funds were reserved for a total of 175 projects of these kinds to be constructed entirely with Federal funds. Table 15.-FEDERAL FUNDS RESERVED FOR THE STATES AND TERRITORIES BY AUGUST 31, 1955, FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOL FACILITIES ON FED. ERAL PROPERTIES AND FOR TEMPORARY BUILDINGS IN CERTAIN SCHOOL DISTRICTS Tables 13, 14, and 15 provide information concerning funds reserved and funds disbursed. Both kinds of information are essential in view of the length of time required to meet the Federal obligations on the projects. After a construction project is approved and the funds reserved, payments are made as the construction progresses. Reports on progress which permit partial Federal payments are made by the engineering staff of the Housing and Home Finance Agency. This gradual release of Federal funds as the construction progresses will explain why the disbursements are less than the amount reserved. SCHOOL FACILITIES SURVEY By 1945, school districts in many States were experiencing emergency conditions in housing their children. The situation was due to a combination of factors, such as deferred school construction during the depression and war periods, short supply of building materials, high construction costs, school district reorganization, inadequate methods of financing construction, population mobility, and especially the unprecedented increase in the school-age population. In response to this critical situation and the conviction that conditions would become more acute through the 1950's, Public Law 815 (81st Cong.) was approved on September 23, 1950. Title I of this law authorized the appropriation of $3,000,000 to ... assist the several States to inventory existing school facilities, to survey the need for the construction of additional facilities in relation to the distribution of school population to develop State plans for school construction programs, and to study the adequacy of State and local resources available to meet school facilities requirements. Under this legislation, the Office of Education was authorized to use the appropriation "for making payments to the States whose applications for funds for carrying out such purposes have been approved." The act defined a "State" to include the units listed in column 1 of table 16. Allotments to the States were made in proportion to their school-age populations; and, within these allotments, each State was entitled to receive no more than 50 percent of its expenditures in making a school facilities survey pursuant to the act. The survey programs within the States were State surveys, planned and conducted by the State school officials in cooperation with the Office of Education. To facilitate the gathering of information from the States, the survey was divided into two phases: (1) The first or status phase, and (2) the second or long-range planning phase. |