cation requires higher expenditure levels. Not only is the high school population growing, but vocational training should be serving more adults as well as more in-school youth. There is continuing need for upgrading and refresher course opportunities in a wide variety of occupations, if people are going to be able to hold their jobs.

This need is recognized in the provisions of the Area Redevelopment Act of 1961 and the Manpower Development and Training Act of 1962, which are attempting to alleviate high unemployment appearing concurrently with increased demands for skilled workers. Vocational education was given a lift by these two acts, which added about $25 million in Federal funds in fiscal 1963 to other vocational education moneys. The established programs authorized by section 7 of the George-Barden Act which permits training of unemployed and underemployed people had given vocational education authorities the experience that enabled them to swing into Area Redevelopment Act and Military Defense Training Act training.

It must be recognized, though, that the rising costs of public educa tion have tended to hamper the growth of vocational education in recent years. Since the immediate postwar period, when Congress enacted the second major vocational education act, Federal expendi tures have risen from $21 million in 1946 to $51 million in 1962-about 150 percent. Yet, during the same period, teachers' salaries in public schools rose 200 percent from about $2,000 yearly to $6,000. School construction costs-capital outlay-increased in the 10 years between 1950 and 1960 by 160 percent, from $1,014 to $2,662 million; but the need for more schools offering vocational-technical opportunities has grown even faster.

The problem of financing, then, is central in any effort to expand vocational education services to levels that will be realistic in terms of population growth and consistent with our economic expansion goals.

About 10.3 million children were enrolled in the public secondary schools in 1962. Less than 2 million were enrolled in federally reimbursed vocational education programs, chiefly in grades 9-12. Thus, vocational education enrollments at the preparatory level constitute only about 20 percent of total public high school enrollments, in spite of the fact that a much greater number of these students should be learning an occupational skill.

Adults in virtually every walk of life are increasingly in need of special upgrading and refresher courses to keep abreast of job changes. Vocational education programs are now serving more than 2 million such adults—but this amounts to only about 1 in every 35 employed workers in the country. It would seem obvious that the growth in our total population, which is reflected in the growth in our work force, calls for further growth in our vocational education programs.

The most dramatic increases in vocational education opportunity have occurred in the last 5 years in programs for highly skilled techni cians. These programs are offered in vocational high schools, area Vocational-technical schools, public junior colleges, technical insti tutes, and municipal colleges. Here again, vocational education services in the States are limited by the high cost of financing them. They are at present enrolling more than 148,000 people; about 95,000 are employed adults taking upgrading and refresher courses and the

funds for construction, the technical education program has great potential. The proposals in title V-A would help realize that potential, I am convinced.

Permit me, finally, to summarize the main provisions of title V-A and present my interpretation of them. The proposal would replace the George-Barden Act in a period of 2 years and would authorize appropriations of $73 million for the fiscal year 1964-a net increase of $23 million over present appropriations for vocational education. It s would provide, further, for subsequent appropriations during the succeeding four years in such amounts as Congress would determine, thus providing for adjustment after appraisal of the 1964 accomplishments.

Title V-A would remove the requirement that Federal matching grants be applied to specific occupational categories. It would permit the States to determine just what portion of their respective Federal allotments would be assigned to which types of programs. Thus, the States would be able to put more realistic proportions of their funds into preparing people for occupations in which the greatest number of job opportunities exist.

A State's allotment could be used in accordance with an approved State plan to provide vocational education for youth attending high school; for those who have completed or left high school and who are available for full-time study in preparation for entering the labor market; for persons who need vocational training to learn new jobs or to advance in their present jobs; and for persons who need special attention because of inability to succeed in regular vocational education programs. Federal funds could also be used for the construction of area vocational schools, for teacher training and supervision, for experimental programs, for State administration, and for other auxiliary services. Thus, the emphasis is upon the kinds of people who need to be served and the special facilities and services needed to do the job.

Fifty percent of each year's appropriation would be allotted among the States on the basis of their relative populations aged 15 to 19 inclusive, and their per capita incomes; 20 percent on the basis of their populations aged 20 to 24 inclusive, and their per capita incomes; 15 percent on the basis of their populations aged 25 to 65 inclusive, and their per capita incomes; and 10 percent on the basis of the relative amounts received pursuant to the foregoing formulas. Notwithstanding the results of these allotment formulas, a minimum allotment would be assured to each State equal to the amount of Federal funds received under the Vocational Education Act of 1946 for the fiscal year 1963.

A new feature introduced by this proposal would permit Federal funds to be used for construction of area vocational-technical schools, that is, schools that enroll students from an entire city or from several neighboring school districts. Every State has plans for expansion of such area schools and many of them have constructed new facilities in the past few years, but the greatest construction needs in vocational education remain for area schools that cross district lines, serving large numbers of people and offering a range of curriculum that reaches out to adults as well as youth.

Technical education would continue to grow under title V-A.

grams of construction of area schools, or for persons who have completed or left high school and who are available for full-time study in preparation for entering the labor market. Programs for highly skilled technicians are currently being offered in about 630 public institutions around the country. Fifteen million dollars in Federal funds has been appropriated for fiscal 1963 under title VIII of the National Defense Education Act. Although title VIII of the National Defense Education Act would be allowed to expire under the present proposals, the additional funds from the proposed increased appropriations would be sufficient to carry on, at an expanding rate, the type of training now supported under that title.

The multiple problems of big-city vocational programs can also be alleviated, in part at least, under H.R. 3000. Five percent of the Federal appropriation would be set aside for special demonstration and experimental projects aimed particularly at problems of out-ofschool, unemployed youth in large cities, and youth with academic and other handicaps that prevent them from succeeding in regular vocational programs.

There is also ample leeway for the States to expand adult services to people who are employed or who are about to enter employment and who need special skill-training to learn new jobs or advance in present jobs. The bill would further earmark 3 percent of Federal funds for such urgently needed services as teacher-training, research, special training projects, etc. Taken together, then, the provisions of title V-A of the National Education Improvement Act of 1963 can give new directions to vocational education and help it to provide vastly improved educational services.

Mr. Chairman, I conclude by urging the General Subcommittee on Education to report favorably upon the vocational education provisions as set forth in title V-A of H.R. 3000 and identical bills.

EXHIBIT 2

STATEMENT OF FRANCIS KEPPEL, U.S. COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE, ON "TITLE VI-B: ADULT BASIC EDUCATION," IN H.R. 3000, NATIONAL EDUCATION IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 1963, BEFORE THE GENERAL SUBCOMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, HOUSE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR, MAY 17, 1963, 9:30 A.M., E.D.T.

Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, I am delighted to have this opportunity to discuss with you the extremely important provisions of title VI-B of H.R. 3000 and of H.R. 5542 introduced by your colleague, Mr. Brown.

Adult basic education is the foundation upon which any program to train and retrain large groups of unemployed adults must be built. It is both the door to vocational training and the path away from chronic social dependency, unemployment, and personal deprivation. Like all education, basic education provides an opportunity for the citizen to engage in those fundamental cultural activities and creative endeavors which enrich life and which make it possible to function adequately in today's often frighteningly complex world.

At the outset and before we turn in detail to this area of truly

1

quantitative and qualitative achievements in education are generally worthy of our pride and satisfaction. Any number of statistics could be offered to show the American people's continuing and increasing concern with fine schooling for our children. We know, for example, that the holding power of our schools has greatly increased since, say, 1932, when about 70 percent of our students entering the fifth grade failed subsequently to graduate from high school; now the comparable figure is approximately 38-40 percent. We know, too, that between 1939 and 1961 our 18- to 21-year-old population group increased only 4.1 percent while college enrollment rose 182 percent.

Yet, as the President noted in his message to the Congress of January 29, in a world in which advanced education is the indispensable ingredient of any recipe for economic growth and national strength, we still have almost a million "dropouts" from our elementary and secondary schools each year; 250,000 youths each year fail to complete even elementary school. Only 43 percent of our adults have completed high school and only 8 percent have completed college. Most shameful of all, I believe, is the fact that over 23 million Americans 18 years of age and older have completed less than 8 of schooling. Included in this figure are some 8 million adults aged 25 and older who have completed less than 5 years of schooling. May I repeat those figures, Mr. Chairman? Over 23 million Americans 18 years of age and older have completed less than 8 years of schooling. Included in this figure are some 8 million adults aged 25 and older who have completed less than 5 years of schooling.

Gentlemen, the fact is that most of the 8 million persons with less than a fifth-grade education-and many of those with less than an eighth-grade education-lack a solid foundation of basic educationthe ability to read, write, and do simple arithmetic. Surely, most of those who have not completed an elementary education cannot be considered truly "functionally literate" in a world of swift-moving technological, economic, and social change.

As I hope to show this morning, the cost to the Nation of this lack of basic educational skills among so large a group of our fellow Americans is staggering. Here we find the "hard core" of our unemployed, supported by mounting public welfare funds. Here are people willing but usually unable to benefit from vocational training programs simply because they lack the basic educational tools which are a prerequisite to training and subsequent employment. The problem of limited educational attainment is not confined to any particular area or population group. It is nationwide. In New York State the number of adults over age 25 with less than 8 years of schooling is nearly 2 million; in Illinois, California, Pennsylvania, and Texas it ranges from 1 to 11⁄2 million. Thirteen other States-Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia-each have more than half a million such adults. May I request permission, Mr. Chairman, to have the record carry a brief Department of Health, Education, and Welfare study of limited educational attainment which includes (see p. 2391) a State breakdown of educational achievement.

I should add, Mr. Chairman, that this study, a copy of which has been made available to each member, was very largely developed in

ary of 1962. The findings of these hearings, we believe, have in no way been changed. If anything, the dramatic need for coping with the problems of our undereducated adult population should be all the more apparent as we scan the monthly reports of unemployment and welfare costs.

I would like to cite one example from the experience of the city of Chicago. The much-discussed Woodlawn project in Cook County Ill., clearly shows the relationship between educational deficiencies and the incidence of people on relief. A study conducted under the direction of Raymond M. Hilliard, director of the Cook County Department of Public Aid, shows that 50.7 percent of Chicago's able-bodied relief recipients cannot pass fifth-grade reading and vocabulary tests. More than one-half of those receiving relief-which costs Cook County the striking figure of $16.5 million a month-are functional illiterates, men and women over age 18 who cannot read or write on the fifth-grade level. Seven and a half percent of Cook County's total population-269,000 people are living on welfare funds. In a society increasingly inhospitable to those who cannot perform elementary tasks requiring some degree of proficiency in language and arithmetic skills, is it any wonder that undereducation. unemployment, and mounting welfare costs all go hand in hand?

Contrary to popular opinion, those who live on relief money in Cook County were not found to be primarily in-migrants, people who have moved there recently from foreign countries, rural areas, or from the South. Most of them are long-time residents of the area and many are second and third generation relief recipients whose parents and grandparents lived on welfare funds. Many have never known a way of life in which an individual lives on income earned by his own efforts.

Mr. Hilliard concluded:

Obviously, if the staggering burden of relief today is to be reduced, it is essential that the educational level of these persons be upgraded. This is an age of crash programs; but if ever a crash program was needed, it is now. Otherwise we will have a growing population transmitting from generation to generation a sense of despair and resignation over their inability to be functioning members of society. Society can no longer afford this waste of our human resources, nor can it let this explosive situation continue its rapid growth.

Current programs in Cook County, however, touch only a fraction of those needing help. At present, 7,600 adults are enrolled in classes. Of these, 5,400 are in elementary and secondary classes, and the remainder in vocational training activities. This, of course. represents progress, but there are over 50,000 persons on waiting lists who cannot receive training because of the lack of funds necessary to establish additional classes. Tens of thousands of additional persons could, we believe, be recruited for literacy training if classes were available to accommodate them.

A study, conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Family Services in late 1961, reveals a similar connection between low educational attainment and dependency. Based upon a nationwide survey of 910,000 family units then receiving assistance under legislation for aid to families with dependent children (AFDC), the study revealed these preliminary findings:

Sixty-two percent of the jobless aid to families with dependent