OFFICE OF EDUCATION APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 1971 HEARINGS BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE NINETY-FIRST CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON H.R. 16916 AN ACT MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE OFFICE 43-952 O Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1970 15953 SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS WARREN G. MAGNUSON, Washington, Chairman RICHARD B. RUSSELL, Georgia JOHN STENNIS, Mississippi ALAN BIBLE, Nevada ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia SPESSARD L. HOLLAND, Florida NORRIS COTTON, New Hampshire J. CALEB BOGGS, Delaware PROFESSIONAL STAFF HERMAN E. DOWNEY WM. J. KENNEDY (II) The subcommittee met at 11 a.m., in room 1114, New Senate Office Building, Hon. Warren G. Magnuson (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Magnuson, Cotton, and Boggs. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION NONDEPARTMENTAL WITNESSES SUBCOMMITTEE PROCEDURE Senator MAGNUSON. The subcommittee will come to order. The chairman first of all will apologize for being late. I had a difficult problem to take care of this morning and I just got in on an airplane, the "Red Eye Special," we call it, from home, which is literally true. This is the first hearing on the Office of Education appropriation bill for 1971 in the second session of the 91st Congress. The subcommittee will consider administration budget requests, the action taken by the House in passing H.R. 16916, and the opinions of those persons who are deeply interested in the very best educational system possible within the available resources. This committee is aware of the budget estimates and the House action. In the hearings today and tomorrow, we will be interested in hearing from the nongovernment sector of this country and will pay careful attention to the testimony as to where the disagreements and agreements may be in properly placing Federal funds in various educational programs. After this set of hearings, we will turn to the Office of Education witnesses and to Secretary Finch for their budget presentation and appeal on the action of the House. I am hopeful that the testimony presented today and tomorrow will reveal some of the shortcomings of this budget and the bill in its present form and provide the committee with information to which we will ask the Department to respond. This is the principal reason for hearing public witnesses ahead of departmental witnesses this year. EARLY APPROPRIATIONS Until now, the appropriations for the Federal aid programs administered by the Office of Education have been included in the annual appropriation bill for the Departments of Labor and Health, Education, and Welfare, and related agencies. This year for the first time, the House and Senate will pass a separate appropriation bill for the Office of Education, in the hope that the bill will be enacted early in the session so that school districts, State departments of education, colleges, and others who are involved in the Nation's educational system will be able to make more orderly plans for the next school year. HEARING SCHEDULE ON LABOR, HEALTH, AND WELFARE AND RELATED AGENCIES BILL Upon completion of the committee action on this education bill, we will proceed with our work on the other programs remaining in the regular Labor-HEW appropriation, hopefully before the end of May. SUMMARY OF HOUSE ACTION ON BUDGET ESTIMATES The House, in passing the Office of Education bill, recommended an appropriation of $4,127,114.000, a decrease of $594,460,000 under the budget estimate and $312,959,350 over available 1970 appropriations. MAJOR INCREASES IN THE HOUSE BILL The sum of $161 million for title I, ESEA: $52 million for NDEA loan; $50 million for vocational education basic State grants; $20 million for equipment and minor remodeling; $17 million for guidance, counseling, and testing; and $15 million for Public Law 815 impacted aid construction. PRINCIPAL DECREASES IN THE HOUSE BILL The sum of $18 million in educational opportunity grants; $18 million in research; $5 million against vocational research and innovation; $7 million in dropout prevention; and $1 million in evaluation. The House also made it clear that, with early action on a separate education bill, it felt it unnecessary to include advance funding under title I, ESEA. EDUCATION REFORM AND PROPER FUNDING In the past several months, the President has proposed much in educational reform and reorganization. In doing so, he has stated: No qualified student who wants to go to college should be barred by lack of money. That has long been a great American goal; I propose that we achieve it now. The chairman does not disagree with the President in this respect. I support this statement. This was the intention of the Congress last year. However, we did have a misunderstanding with the President |