Thus, the national inventory indicates that the need figures previously reported by the States to the Office of Education are on the conservative side. However, the State estimates have been very useful in showing the general magnitude of the total additional classrooms needed. In short, we feel that if State and local officials report this much need year after year, a serious national problem does exis and that educational opportunity and quality are being limited S. 580, therefore, proposes a 4-year program of matching grants to the States, based upon State estimates of their own need, to aid in the construction of elementary and secondary facilities which ar "urgently needed to relieve or prevent double-shifts, serious overcrowding or school housing conditions which are unsafe or otherwise seriously harmful to health." This title of the bill also proposes to make further progress in the improvement of elementary and secondary education by reserving a portion-from 10 to 20 percent-of the Federal aid to be used by the States and localities for especially promising projects. We must ever be mindful of the special educational needs of deprived children, for example, in the slums or depressed rural areas. We must help by giv ing more aid to the mentally retarded child, by coping more forcefully with the school dropout problem, which is a warning of possible future delinquency and crime, and by improving the effectiveness of school facilities through experiments with construction, design, and location. These important matters are basically the concern of the cities and States, and each State should determine its own priorities. But the Federal Government can and, as an interested partner, should give vigorous encouragement and leadership. It is my belief, Mr. Chairman, that the Federal Government has a responsibility to appraise the entire educational program of this Nation and, where deficiency is apparent, to assist local and State agencies and other educational institutions in devising an effective remedy. There are two points that I hope will perhaps be of particular interest to the committee. Just before closing, may I speak for a moment on the objectives that title V-B of S. 580, with regard to the education of handicapped children, which of course has long engaged the sympathetic interest of the Congress. Naturally, we were highly gratified by the overwhelming approval of these provisions by the Senate on May 27, when it passed S. 1576, the mental retardation facilities program. We hope for a similar display of acceptance on other parts of the program, naturally, and may I also bring to your attention the provi sion of the general university extension education, which is titled VI-A of S. 580. These, Mr. Chairman, are virtually identical to those that were contained in S. 3477 of the 87th Congress. This legislation which was introduced, as you know, by the distinguished chairman of the committee, Mr. Morse, was passed by the Senate last October 2, and very care fully studied by the staff in my Department. Subsequently, we were pleased to recommend its inclusion in the National Education Im Each part of the proposed program in S. 580 has been prepared on the basis of a careful assessment of our national educational needs. S. 580 does not offer a solution to all of our educational defects. It contains, rather, selected programs designed to attack acute problems at each of our levels of schooling. It is, in large part, a program with focus on the individual. It would expand his educational opportunities by extending him the financial assistance he may need to meet rising school costs. It would provide him with the support necessary to encourage him to seek a career as a school or college teacher or to enter certain other professional fields where national needs are pressing. It would improve the quality of his education by raising the competence of his teachers and strengthening the institutions he attends. It is also a program to strengthen our Nation. At the base of our economic growth, our domestic welfare, our national security must be the sound educational system that assures an informed and intelligent citizenry. This is a proper and a vital concern of the one government all Americans have in common-the Federal Government. Mr. Chairman, with great confidence in the desire of this committee to share with the administration the strengthening of American educational quality and in the expansion of educational opportunity for all of our people, I ask your prompt and sympathetic consideration of the proposals contained in S. 580, the National Education Improvement Act of 1963. D EXHIBITS 1. Statement of the Commissioner on Vocational Education-Title V-A, National Education Improvement Act of 1963.......... 2. Statement of the Commissioner on Adult Basic Education-Title VI-B, National Education Improvement Act of 1963... 3. "Limited Educational Attainment," reprint from Department of Health, Education, and Welfare Indicators with accompanying table-Number of persons 25 years old and over with less than 5 years of school completed, by color: 1960... 4 and 5. Graph and table: Estimated costs for tuition and required fees and total costs of attending college, per student, 1930–31 through 1980-81, by control. Page 2371 2378 2384 2393, 2394 6. Graph: Percent of high school seniors not entering college by scholastic aptitude and income-Project Talent. 7. Tables: National Defense Education Act student loan programsSome basic facts; 123 institutions requesting $250,000 and over, 1963-64. 8. Tables: Federal support of graduate study: Number of participants in Federal fellowship, traineeship, and training grant programs, fiscal years 1963 and 1964; National Defense Education Act, title IV, graduate fellowship program statistics- 9. Map: Percentage of national total doctoral degrees awarded and National Defense Education Act, title IV, fellowships, by State -10. Tables: National Defense Education Act, title VI, modern foreign language fellowships and area centers statistics_ 11. Graph and table: Total fall college enrollment, actual 1961-62 and projected 1963-75.--. 12. Graphs and tables: Annual need for physical plant expenditures, higher education, by function, 1960–75; cumulative need for physical plant higher education, 1963-75-. 13 and 14. "Library Services," reprint from Department of Health, Education, and Welfare Indicators and statement of the Commissioner on Library Services-Title VI-C, National Education Improvement Act.. 2395 2396 2399 2407 2406 2411 2413 2416, 2429 15. Table: Estimates of costs for elementary and secondary school teacher 17. Letter from Hon. Anthony J. Celebrezze, Secretary, Department of 2435 2436 2440 2443 2446 2448 21. Title II-Expansion and improvement of higher education... 22. Title III.-Improvement of educational quality. 2448 2449 23. Title IV.-Strengthening elementary and secondary education_ 2449 24. Expansion and improvement of special education (title V-B, S. 580) 2450 25. Statement of Commissioner on School Assistance in Federally Impacted Areas, Title IV-D... 2450 26. "School Assistance in Federally Impacted Areas," report from Depart- 2455 2458 28. Estimated distribution of amounts (fiscal year 1964) for grants to States and work-study program of proposed Vocational Education Act of 1963 (title V-A, amendment to S. 580) - - 2463 29. Text of proposed amendment in the nature of a substitute for title V-A of S. 580. 2464 30. Title VI-A and VI-C, expansion of continuing education. 2477 |