Dr. SIMMONS. Dr. Tobin, would you present the Boston situation? STATEMENT OF DR. JAMES TOBIN, ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT, BOSTON, MASS.

Dr. TOBIN. My name is James Tobin, assistant superintendent, Boston Public Schools. Boston faces exactly the same problem the other great cities of this country face. In fact, in one area, we have a far greater problem than any one of the 14 top cities. Boston receives 8 percent State aid, which is the lowest State aid paid to any one of the 14 great cities.

The taxpayers of the city of Boston are forced to pay almost a $100 tax rate on their property and, out of this, the schools receive approximately 22 percent. From the Federal Government, we receive less than half of 1 percent of our budget. For these programs that are so vitally necessary on our part, if we are to properly educate the children, we must have extra help. We are more than likely going to get extra help on the State level this year. We hope to get it on the Federal level. We absolutely need it; we are desperate for it.

The difference between a poor school and a good school can often be measured in terms of the variety of supplemental services that are offered by that school system. To really educate all the children of all the people, we have to offer a great many supplemental services, especially in the disadvantaged areas.

We must given them special instruction in science, in languages, music and the arts, counseling and guidance, health and social work, and we must provide access to such resources as museums, institutes, and all of the many places of interest that we have in Boston. Science specialists, for instance, agree that modern science cannot be taught properly unless both teacher and pupil have a chance for experimentation.

In the present setup in Boston, we have not been able to afford one single science laboratory, as such, in one single elementary school. In the junior high schools, we have science laboratories on a very limited basis. These are vitally necessary. We cannot afford them alone. We must have your help.

Language laboratories have proven their worth. We are unable to afford them. We have 1 at the junior high school level, out of 17 junior high schools. We have 2 at the high school level, out of 16 high schools. We have a definite shortage here. These things are vitally necessary in the world of education, today, but Boston can't afford to do it alone. We recognize the need for more guidance personnel. We have not had the money. We have guidance in the high school level, but the caseload of these guidance counselors is so heavy it now does not meet the national standards. We do not have and cannot afford one single guidance adviser or counselor in an elementary district.

Adjustment counselors are absolutely necessary. We have 32 of them for the entire city of Boston, not because we do not want them: it is because we can't afford them.

Educational television: A school in our city is fortunate to have either one or two TV sets for the entire building. Every classroom should have a TV set.

With the wide differences in attitudes and abilities that are apparent in the children attending Boston kindergartens, we have recognized this and have a pilot program of four classes. We must get these people ready for the formal education they are going to have. We have started a program called junior grade 1, because in these disadvantaged areas, these children coming from these homes are not ready for the formal reading program of grade 1, so we have a stepping stone between kindergarten and grade 1. We need these prekindergarten classes.

If Federal funds are allotted to us, we would use them to establish pilot projects, establishment and operation of programs offering a diverse range of educational experience to children and adults of various talents and needs. We are embarking right now on an exciting program with the Harvard Graduate School of Education which is to be called the Boston-Harvard program. They are coming into one of our disadvantaged areas with a pilot program in research and develoment and with the findings we get there, we hope to extend it to many of the fine universities around Boston, such as Boston College, Boston University, Northern, State College, and so forth. We are working in a very cooperative manner with them for the betterment of the education of all our children.

These programs that we have to offer in the disadvantaged areas cost a great deal of money. In one pilot program in a disadvantaged area in Roxbury, which is a poor section of our city, we are spending, on the average, $100 more per pupil than in the average section of Boston. The city of Boston has extended this program, but it can't extend it any further under the limit of financial resources that I have outlined to you.

We can make plans so the children attending nonpublic as well as public schools will have the opportunity to receive the services, participate in many of these educational and cultural activities that we plan under these programs. We expect no problem there. We have worked in close cooperation with the parochial schools of Boston. They have approximately 43,000 children in them. We have approximately 95,000 in our public schools. Many of the things we have worked with them on over the years we could very easily extend much further. We have had no problem about church-state separation.

If we are going to add to the total strength of education, we must add many of these supplementary services that I have named here. Now, the great cities face a problem, a challenge that is unmatched by any problem in our time. We accepted and we face these challenges in Boston. We have the know-how, we have the programs, and we have the dedicated personnel to succeed. We are ready and willing to make a massive effort to raise the level of each child for the advancement of the level of all. The city alone cannot face this challenge. If we are to implement these farsighted programs, we must have extra help. We must have a larger share of the total tax dollar if every child is to get the best education our Nation can provide. And part of the portion of that tax dollar now collected at the Federal level is desperately needed at the local level.

Thank you, very much.

(The prepared statement of Dr. William H. Ohrenberger, superintendent of schools, Boston, Mass., follows:)

PREPARED STATEMENT OF DR. WILLIAM H. OHRENBERGER, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, BOSTON, MASS.

President Johnson on January 12 of this year said, "Every child must have the best education our Nation can provide." We agree most heartily with this and pledge the utmost effort on our part for the fulfillment of this worthy goal. We recognize our responsibility to provide for the education of all the children of all the people regardless of the economic situation of the parents and their large or small, direct or indirect, payment of property taxes.

The large cities, however, are faced with many problems that are perhaps more unique with them than with the smaller communities.

Four great factors are contributing to the problems in the great cities; the tremendous mobility of our people, the growing urbanization of our country, the technological advances, and present-day world tensions.

Suburbia has attracted many of the people most highly urbanized, while large numbers of families with no experience in urban living have been attracted to the cities. Within the city itself and especially in those sections that are low on the economic scale, we find from our records an almost unbelievable movement from one poor section to another. I can name one elementary school district in Boston with an enrollment of 1,260 during the course of 1 school year discharged to other schools 594 of the original enrollment and admitted 445 who had moved into this district.

In 18 of our elementary districts which are in the lowest economic area of the city, the number of pupils belonging in September 1963 was 19,463. During the school year 1963-64, 5,088 of the above number moved and were discharged from the parent school to another school while 4,724 were admitted during that school year. It is safe to say that most of the children discharged from one school in this low economic area moved to another school district within the same economic area.

These are the people that the schools must help if we are to ever break the cycle of poverty.

Data supplied by the welfare department of the city of Boston indicates that approximately 24,000 children belong to families receiving assistance under the AFDC program. Many of these families live in public housing, from which the city receives little or no revenue.

Ninety-one percent of the financial support for the public schools of Boston comes from the property tax. Boston receives a much smaller proportion of State and Federal support than other school districts in Massachusetts.

State aid to Boston amounts to approximately 8 percent of the total school budget while Federal aid is less than 1 percent. The average State aid to the cities and towns in our State is about 24 percent while the average Federal aid to our cities and towns is close to 4 percent. It is very easy to see from these figures that the taxpayers of Boston are more heavily burdened for school costs than the other communities in Massachusetts.

Programs for vocational education are more costly and are a greater burden financially for the large cities. While Boston has between 10 and 11 percent of the total enrollment of pupils in Massachusetts, it is providing vocational education for 22.2 percent of the pupils in Massachusetts enrolled in vocational

courses.

We must expand and adapt our vocational, trade, and technical programs at a rapid pace in the years ahead if we are to effectively prepare the children of today for the automated world of tomorrow.

Boston has not been blind to the plight and educational needs of its schoolchildren. We have inaugurated special programs especially at the elementary level.

A program, Operation Counterpoise, was introduced on a pilot basis in the Henry L. Higginson district in September 1963 to provide compensatory education for children of various social and ethnic origins. Some of these children stem from native Bostonian families while others are from inmigrant families of fairly recent arrival. Many of them lack aspiration and motivation for education beyond the compulsory age limit.

In September of 1964, the program was expanded to provide this compensatory education for 8,800 of the 10,455 children in 24 school buildings of 12 school

districts. Due to the lack of funds we were unable to inaugurate the program in the 8 remaining buildings of these 12 districts-1,654 pupils in these districts are presently not having the advantages of Operation Counterpoise.

Counterpoise is planned to serve children who are demonstrating undesirable attitudes toward school, who are underachievers, and who have low aspirational levels. These children of limited background, lack the out-of-school experiences so necessary for inschool success.

Poor attendance, truancy, misbehavior, and indifference to schoolwork are evident to a marked degree in many of these children.

Counterpoise aims to help children in culturally different and economically depressed areas of Boston to achieve now in spite of environmental handicaps. By providing a warm and stimulating atmosphere and by tailoring the curriculum to meet their needs, the school can help these children overcome their deficiencies. The major emphasis of this compensatory program is focused on the primary and elementary grades. We are attempting to develop desirable attitudes and behavior, to create a positive self-image; to raise aspirational levels; to develop latent abilities and talents; to enrich backgrounds through field trips and assembly programs; and to place heavy emphasis on the language arts and arithmetic programs.

The basic educational design of Counterpoise features team teaching. Classes are grouped in teams and master teachers serve as team leaders and direct, coordinate, and supervise the program. Master teachers teach reading and arithmetic to their own homeroom class. Master teachers take an active part in the orientation and training of new teachers. Each team of teachers meet weekly for the purpose of upgrading instruction through discussion and prep: ration.

The master teachers help children toward a more rewarding school experience by systematically checking attendance, punctuality, appearance, health habits, attitudes, and behavioral patterns.

Many special services such as testing, counseling, etc., are available within the district so that maladjusted pupils can be checked before their problems become acute.

The master teacher also has much closer contact with the home and this leader arranges conferences whenever necessary.

Strong emphasis is placed on the phonetic approach to the teaching of reading. A remedial reading teacher on the staff serves as a consultant and also directs the remedial reading program.

A junior grade I had been established as a steppingstone from kindergarten to grade I for those children too immature and not ready for the formal reading program of grade I. A junior grade IV is in operation for those children not quite ready for the content subjects of grade IV and a special reading program has been prepared for them. Class size has been cut and we endeavor to have a maximum of 25 pupils per class.

The additional teachers, the special services, and the many other extras in carrying on Counterpoise are costly. In the calendar year 1963 the per pupil cost in the Henry L. Higginson district was $287.70. This cost per pupil rose to $403.06 for the year 1964. This represents an increase of over $115 spent on each pupil in the pilot district.

We now have extended this program to 11 other districts and to effectively educate the children of Boston we should have this program in 32 districts.

Boston alone cannot afford this extension. We must have financial help and we are looking to you for part of it.

The Boston schools have been concerned about the dropout problem and a program called Operation Second Chance was designed as a preventive program to spot the potential dropout at an early age and, by gearing a program to his needs and capabitlities, save him from later failure not only in school, but in life. An opportunity in vocational areas is offered to boys of normal mental capacity who are considered to be potential dropouts because of advanced chronological age and a lack of basic fundamental skills. The causes of such cases are many but the more prevalent are an indifferent atmosphere at home, a lack of social development and acceptance by their fellow students, no regard for any form of authority, and academically speaking, a severe reading deficiency that contributed greatly to school failure.

The primary objective in Operation Second Chance is to instill in each one the idea that success can be attained, that each one can be as good as he desires to be, and that a failure large or small in any undertaking, is not the end nor is it an excuse for anyone to give up.