ÀҾ˹éÒ˹ѧÊ×Í
PDF
ePub

Some children are finding in racial issues methods of gaining attention. Many have cultivated a complete disregard for the rights and property of others. In their minds, if unconformity to law is sanctioned in one instance, it is morally right in another. Therefore, we are witnessing a carry-over of disrespect for authority of all kinds."

State educational leaders have worked quietly in many States to help local school boards find the best solution to their problems. In both Oklahoma and Kentucky they have improved their school systems by pressing for the elimination of small substandard and expensive Negro schools.

The Kentucky State Board of Education has recently down-graded 44 small high schools because of small enrollment, inadequate programs, and substandard buildings and equipment. Nine of the 44 schools are Negro. Educators predicted this will result in an increase in school consolidations and integration next year."

Although political leadership supporting educational leadership is not generally considered newsworthy, it is not and has not been absent in the past five years. Many superintendents at the Commission's Nashville Conference told of the strong support from State and local officials. However, leadership in places where it has been

absent is needed for future progress."

• Statement of R. G. Crossno, member of Anderson County, Tennessee, Board of Education, to Commission.

S.S.N., April 1959, p. 11.

Nashville Conference, pp. 17, 35, 54, 90, 100, 105, 141, 159, 183.

See Hearings on Pending Civil Rights Bills Before a Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 86th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 273 (testimony of Roy Wilkins, 1959, Executive Secretary, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People); p. 1433 (testimony of the Hon. Arthur S. Flemming, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, points 1 and 3).

CHAPTER X. FEDERAL FUNDS FOR EDUCATION

FEDERAL ACTIVITIES IN EDUCATION

The activities of the Federal government in the field of education are manifold. Its direct activities in education include the establishment and operation of schools, colleges and special educational programs for Federal employees, military personnel and their dependent children, Indians, inmates of Federal institutions, foreign nationals, and employees of State and local governments. Indirectly, the Federal government by means of financial assistance supports institutions owned and operated by others and educational and research programs conducted therein. In addition, it supports individual education in certain special fields by grants and fellowships. The activities of the Federal government in the area of education are so widespread and diverse that limitations of time and staff have not permitted a detailed study for this report. The most recent report covering all Federal funds for and in support of education includes 137 programs costing a total of $1,997,825,000. sum was expended for the following purposes: 2

(1) Elementary and Secondary education....

(2) Higher education___

(3) Adult education____

(4) In-service training of civilian personnel_

(5) Education of Merchant Marine and Military Personnel_.
(6) Research in Educational Institutions___.
(7) International education..........

Total

This total

$656, 632, 000 1,032, 524, 000

87,220,000 3,485,000 34, 497, 000

133, 328,000 50, 139, 000

1, 997, 825,000

The figures given above are for the fiscal year 1956-57. The National Defense Education Act of 1958 provides several new programs that must be added thereto. The appropriations under this Act for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1959, total $115,300,000. A breakdown as between elementary and secondary education and higher and adult education is not possible from the reports at hand. The National purposes of these expenditures are basically three-fold:

(1) to contribute to or provide for education where there is a Federal responsibility or obligation;

1U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Federal Funds for Education, 1956-57 and 1957-58, pp. 5 and 17.

a Id. at 17, 19.

'Public Law 864, 85th Congress, 2d Session.

Information supplied by Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives, 86th Congress. Authorized 1960, $222,450,000.

(2) to maintain and increase the effectiveness of governmental services; and

(3) to promote the national welfare and security domestically and internationally."

FEDERALLY OPERATED EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND PROGRAMS

Items Nos. 4, 5 and 7 above totalling $88,121,000 appear to include most of the expenditures for schools, colleges and special educational programs directly operated by the Federal government. It appears that Federal agencies responsible for the above operations have adhered faithfully to the well-established Federal policy of nondiscrimination by reason of color, race, religion, or national origin. Only one problem in this area has been brought to the attention of the Commission.

Indian education

For some years it has been the policy of the Federal Government to place Indian children in local public schools insofar as possible. In the school year 1957-58, more than half (55.7 percent) of the Indian children of school age attended public schools. However, the Department of Interior reports some difficulty in enrolling Indian children in public schools on a nondiscriminatory basis in the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, and North Carolina.

8

In Louisiana, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has had to maintain a small school for Chitamacha children because parish officials are unwilling to take them into white schools.

In North Carolina 89 Indian children were enrolled in white public schools in 1957-58, but most of the Cherokee children are enrolled in schools on the reservation.

In Mississippi fewer than 25 Indian children attend public schools in the larger cities. In the rural districts Indian children are not admitted to white schools and will not attend Negro schools. To meet the educational needs of the Mississippi Choctaw children, the Bureau operates Indian schools in Mississippi and enrolls some in Federal boarding schools in other States.

The Department reports that schools maintained by the Bureau in States other than those mentioned above (with the possible exception of a few isolated situations) are required by the absence of public school facilities and not because of racial discrimination.

$ See note 1 supra, at 8.

U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Fiscal Year 1958, Statistics Concerning Indian Education, p. 2.

" Id. at 1.

Information here and in the ensuing four paragraphs is from Department of Interior reply to Commission Questionnaire dated December 22, 1958.

FEDERALLY ASSISTED EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

By far the largest Federal expenditures in the field of education are in grants for assistance rather than direct operation of schools or programs. Items Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 6 totalling $1,909,704,000 seem to include principally financial support to institutions owned and operated by others and educational programs and research conducted therein. They also include individual grants and fellowships for graduate study and research in certain special fields.

DIRECT AID TO PUBLIC ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS

The only instance of Federal aid disbursed directly to public school systems pursuant to statutory authority seems to be that paid to federally affected areas under Public Laws 874 and 815. Under these laws school districts burdened by reductions in taxable valuations due to Federal ownership of property and by increased enrollment arising from Federal activities have received direct Federal aid for school construction and operation continuously since the fiscal year 1951. Basically, this Federal legislation has recognized three categories of children for whom the Federal government assumes partial responsibility by providing funds for educational purposes:

A. Children whose parents live and work on Federal property. B. Children whose parents live or work on Federal property. C. Children whose parents have moved into an area because of Federal activity but who do not either work or live on Federal property.

The law provides specific formulas for the determination of the amount to be paid for each child in each of the three categories.

In the fiscal year 1958 payments were made under Public Law 874 on the basis of 4,590 10 Federal properties located in all States, the Territory of Guam, and the District of Columbia, in a total amount of $117,279,723.11

In addition to the above payments under Public Law 874 as amended, a total of $5,670,761 was paid in the fiscal year 1958 to Federal agencies and local educational agencies for free public education of children residing on Federal property.12

Federal aid for school house construction in federally-affected school districts follows the same general pattern of requirements for eligibility and criteria for determining Federal allocations as is contained in Public Law 874. Under Public Law 815 Federal funds

20 U.S.C. sec. 13-14, as amended, 72 Stat. 548 (1958).

10 Eighth Annual Report of the U.S. Commissioner of Education, June 30, 1958, p. 14. 11 Id. at 10.

12 Ibid.

reserved for construction of school facilities for the fiscal years 1951 to 1958 inclusive for all States and Territories total $718,436,673.13

The 17 States in which segregation was required by law in all public schools have received the following financial support from the Federal government for the period indicated in each case.

[blocks in formation]

1 Eighth Annual Report, U.S. Commissioner of Education, June 30, 1958, pp. 79, 81-82, 141.

The Commission directed an inquiry to the Department of Health, Education and Welfare with regard to its policy concerning disbursements under these laws to school districts maintaining segregation. In reply it is stated:

The Act put the Federal Government-with respect to public school purposessomewhat in the position of a local property owner who must pay taxes for the purposes of school support. These payments, therefore, are not the usual type of grants-in-aid. They are in the nature of payments in lieu of taxes on account of the existence of Federally-owned property which, if privately owned, would be taxable to the school districts.

Broadly, within the provisions of these Acts, these Federal payments are treated as local taxes for use by local educational agencies in accordance with the laws of the State. Both Acts contain specific prohibitions against Federal direction, supervision, or control of the school program.

As may be inferred from the general policy stated previously, it is our view that to withhold these payments from an otherwise eligible school district because of the existence of a pattern of racial segregation in the schools

13 Id. at 141.

« ¡è͹˹éÒ´Óà¹Ô¹¡ÒõèÍ
 »