Comparison of House and Senate Bills on Higher Education Subject Title Public policy Grants for academic facilities H. R. 8900 College Academic Facilities Act, Authorizes assistance to public and other nonprofit institutions of higher education for construction, rehabilitation or improvement of needed academic and related facilities. Federal aid to colleges is essential to the security and welfare of the nation. Need is so urgent that the nation must help the institutions of higher education by providing classrooms and other academic facilities. 1. Authorizes to be appropriated each year for 5 years $180 million or a total of $900 million. 2. Distribution of the funds to be made to states according to a formula including (1) number of college students enrolled, and (2) number of students in grades 9-12 in both public and private schools. 3. Federal share of development costs (including acquisition of land and necessary site improvements) would not exceed onethird of cost of the project. 4. Distribution of funds would be through a state agency, provided the state plan meets specifications in the bill. 5. The grants are available to both public and church-related junior and senior colleges. 6. The public purpose of the grant shall be considered as completed after 20 years and no recovery of payment can be obtained after that period. The authority to waive recovery of payment shall not apply to any case in which the facility is used for sectarian S. 1241 College Academic Facilities and Scholarship Act. Same purpose as H.R. 8900, plus undergraduate scholarships and financial aid to states to construct public community (junior) colleges. Same as H. R. 8900, except that it adds language dealing with scholarships and with public community colleges. There is no provision for grants in the Senate bill. Loans for academic facilities Interest rate Loans authorized Senate bill has same definition and restrictions. In both bills the term "school or department of divinity" means an institution or division whose program is specifically for education of students to prepare them to become ministers of religion or to enter upon some other religious vocation or to prepare them to teach theological subjects. Both bills authorize the Commissioner of Education to make loans to The interest rate shall not be $600 million over a five-year The loan will bear interest at a $1,500 million over a five-year Scholar There is no provision for scholar-Authorizes for appropriation $17.5 million for fiscal year ending June 30, 1963; $26,250,000 for fiscal year ending June 30, 1964; and $35 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1965, and for each of the two succeeding years for scholarships to college students. Not to exceed $1,000 per academic year for a student, based on his financial need. Scholarships are for the four undergraduate years. The student may use his scholarship in any institution of higher education which admits him. To help the school offset the cost of educating the students with scholarships, $350 will be paid to the institution for each recipient attending during the major portion of each academic year. Authorizes $250 million in a five-year program to share with the states in the cost of constructing public community college facilities (defined as junior colleges). States or local communities shall match Federal funds by a prescribed formula, except that in no case will the state matching payment be more than twice the Federal allotment Provides review of the state claims arising under the scholarship title or the public community college title. At least the following church-state problems appear in the above bills on higher education: 1. No distinction is made between public and church-related schools in the definitions of schools of higher education and in the provisions to assist such schools. 2. An effort is made to distinguish between aid to religion and aid to education by forbidding public assistance for facilities used for sectarian instruction or as a place for religious worship or which are used primarily for any part of a program of a school of divinity. 3. The interest rate on loans is subject to study to determine whether or not they are "subsidized" loans for church schools. 4. The House bill provides both loans and grants to public and private schools. 5. Scholarships can be used in any recognized school (either public or church-related) that will admit the student. 6. The cost of education allowance to colleges is a direct contribution of the government to the school. 7. Some states may be allowed by their constitutions to participate in plans for public aid to church schools, while other states may be forbidden by their constitutions to engage in such practice. 8. The provisions for judicial review are rather innocuous. Ostensibly they are designed to facilitate passage of the legislation as well as to establish interpretations by the courts, but their enactment would not assure a court ruling on a church-state issue. The Supreme Court does not give standing in the court to a taxpayer in cases involving the use of his taxes, because his contribution to the whole is so infinitesimal that it shall not be considered. Hence, in spite of any provision passed by Congress, a taxpayer might carry his case through the lower courts but be turned back at the Supreme Court. In that event, the ruling of the lower courts would become the established precedents in interpreting future cases involving public aid to church schools. Presumably the disapproval of a state plan could be connected with some churchstate features in that plan, but this would be conjecture only. 174 INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT IN A WELFARE STATE The Crisis in Church-State Relations By John Lee Eighmy* For five consecutive years representatives from all the major Baptist denominations in America have assembled in Washington, D. C. to study current aspects of the problem of religious liberty. The conferees have included top executives from almost every Baptist agency and institution along with pastors and teachers. Several hundred leaders, in all, have participated in one or all of these study sessions. The purpose of these discussions has been to examine the Baptist position on religious freedom in the face of the growing number of governmental activities which involve some form of assistance to churches or their agencies and institutions. Governmental aid to church-related institutions such as hospitals, orphanages, and schools represents a rather recent departure from church-state patterns in this country. Baptists are especially concerned because of their traditional belief that church and state must remain separate in their spheres of activity. When tax money is used to aid an institution of religion, Baptists have argued, the government thereby forces all taxpayers to support religion which conflicts with freedom of conscience. The sponsoring agency for the series of studies on religious liberty has been the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs which has its headquarters in Washington and is supported by the various Baptist groups in the nation. It was created during the New Deal days and was expanded after World War II. Its purpose is to keep Baptists informed about developments in the field of church-state relations with special attention to the preservation of religious liberty. * Dr. Eighmy is a professor of history at Oklahoma Baptist University, Shawnee, Oklahoma. |