2. Election Dates.-The bill provides that the first election shall be held in April, 1968, and subsequent elections in November of odd-numbered years. Neighbors, Inc. suggests that the first election be held in November, 1968, and subsequent elections in November of odd-numbered years, beginning in 1971. As the bill now stands half of the first school board would serve for little more than a year; the five members drawing the short term, and wishing to run again, would start their campaigning shortly after their election. The disadvantages of this procedure are obvious. It is our position that the concern on the part of some persons about non-partisan school board elections accompanying partisan elections in November, 1968, are not pertinent to the District of Columbia since the only partisan election in which District voters will participate is that for President and Vice President, and there should be little confusion between the two elections. With the change of the first election date to November, 1968, Neighbors, Inc. suggests that the terms of five of the members should be for three years, that is until the election of 1971, and that the terms of the other six be for five years, until the election of 1973. This timing will provide stability and continuity to the school board, qualities very much needed in the years ahead. 3. Filing Fee.-H.R. 13042 provides that candidates must pay a filing fee of $100 in order to run for the school board. It is our contention that this requirement may prohibit some qualified candidates from running, and we suggest that there be no filing fee. If the purpose of the fee is to prevent frivolous candidacies, the nomination petition requirements, with which Neighbors agrees, would serve this purpose. 4. Compensation of Board Members.-The bill provides that Board members be reimbursed for expenses up to $100 in a given month, upon the submission of vouchers. We believe that Board members should be recompensed a flat $2400 a year and that they should in addition receive per diem for travel outside the Washington metropolitan area. We believe that with the increasing demands on Board members' time, $2400 a year is a fair sum to cover out-of-pocket expenses, and, by making it a flat compensation, both the Board members and the school administration would be saved the administrative tasks of processing numerous vouchers for petty expenses. 5. Executive Sessions of the Board.-H.R. 13042 provides that "All meetings of the Board of Education shall be open to the public, except committee meetings dealing with the appointment of teachers." Neighbors, Inc. feels that this provision is too restrictive on the Board. While we support the policy of open meetings by public bodies, we recognize that there may at times be a need for closed deliberative sessions. We suggest, therefore, that the bill be changed to read, "All meetings of the Board of Education shall be open to the public. At any regular or special meeting, the Board may proceed in executive session, but no final policy decision shall be made by the Board while in executive session." None of these suggested changes affects the heart of the bill-providing the District with an elected Board of Education. The changes will, we feel, help make the Board more representative, more stable, and better equipped to meet its responsibilities. To conclude, we ask your favorable consideration of these changes and urge your speedy recommendation of the bill to the Senate floor. We thank you for this opportunity to present our views. Senator MORSE. We thank you very much, Mrs. Simmons. Your testimony has been very, very helpful. Are there any questions, Senator Dominick? Senator DOMINICK. Have you had a chance to determine about the financial independence of the school board? Mrs. SIMMONS. I can answer that only personally, and informally, and not as a representative at this point. If you are interested in my personal consideration, I shall be glad to give it. Senator DOMINICK. I will be glad to hear it. Mrs. SIMMONS. In that limited status only; yes. I have been quite concerned about the fact that you have an elected school board, the members of which must be responsive to the citizenry, which is indeed something which we should not have, and that we should provide a new kind of financial formula, whereby the Congress would not serve as a super board of education, which it does as it is, give a very unfair, prohibitive, restrictive situation which rests upon the Board. Because, whatever the program would or may be, we all know that program in the final analysis is effectuated in terms of the price attached to it. If it comes up with the best program in the country, and then the Congress says, "You know, you do not have the money for it," the Board member finds himself-and I think this is not good-in a most unfortunate position, one which I am not sure that citizenry has a right to continue to hold him responsible for. I would like to have an independent system of finance for the District of Columbia, but before doing that, it concerns me that some 42 percent of the property in the city is tax free, or that they pay in lieu of taxes a very minimal amount of money. Now then, every organization--and this is the Nation's Capitalnow can put up tremendous things in this District, and then in lieu of taxes, someone produces a bili which give them the right to be tax free-the very tax base the revenue base of this community is thereby being totally stripped. I think this is unfair to a citizenry that has no resources, not even a voice or a vote, to be able to say, "Please Mr. Senator, you are taking our tax base from us-do not do that. Let that organization pay their fair share of the real estate taxes." So I think that all of these ramifications must be considered seriously before we engage in an exercise of futility toward what I hope will be done. Senator DOMINICK. Thank you. Senator MORSE. Thank you, Mrs. Simmons. The Chair will ask the official reporter to insert into the record the statement of Mr. Ronald Smith, of the Northwest Youth Advisory Council; the statement of Mrs. Evelyn Rosemond, chairman of the Education Committee of the Community Urban Action Council; the statement of Mrs. Lyle M. Hansen, chairman of the Education Committee, Board of League of Women Voters; and the statement of Ruth Mackell, Southwest Community Neighborhood, Washington, D.C. (The documents above referred to follow :) STATEMENT OF MRS. RONALD SMITH, REPRESENTING NORTHWEST YOUTH ADVISORY COUNCIL STATEMENT ON ELECTED SCHOOL BOARD BILL We, the Neighborhood Youth Advisory Council, support, in principle, the bill presently pending before the District Senate Committee which provides for an elected school board for the District of Columbia. The youth of the lower Cardoza Area recommend, however, that a clarification of stipulation in the board composition segment of the bill be given because as it stands, officials of church committees who are elected would be ineligible for seats on the board. The second and final part of our recommendation speaks to the question of filing fees. To us, the fee presents a gigantic obstacle. For people of low means, it does in fact lend greatly to the elimination of poor folk from participating in the operation of the proposed school board. Consequently, we feel that there should be no filing fee whatever in order to allow citizens, irregardless of their income, ample opportunity to be elected to the school board. Thank you. STATEMENT OF THE CURAC EDUCATION COMMITTEE (MRS. EVELYN ROSEMOND, CHAIRMAN) ON THE ELECTED SCHOOL BOARD BILL Mr. Chairman, the Education Committee of the Community Urban Renewal Action Council in the Shaw area makes the following recommendations for revisions in the Elected School Board Bill-HR 13042: First, there should be no filing fee of any kind. In the division of the city into 8 districts, there will be large numbers of poor but extremely concerned citizens who will want to participate. Any amount of money which is not guaranteed to be returned if one loses is too much to have lost. There is no evidence to support the idea that a filing fee helps to encourage only "serious" candidates. To say that it does is to eliminate poor people further from involvement in a decision about their lives and to perpetuate the kind of chaos that the schools are now in because of lack of meaningful participation of parents and the community. Second, registration hours should be changed so as to best fit the available time of all citizens. Since this action will change the destiny of thousands of lives, the involvement of as many people as possible ought to be sought. A mother working daily in the Maryland suburbs finds it very hard to meet a 9-5 P.M. deadline for registration. Evenings and some weekends can be used for registration with local people certified and employed to de the registration; registrationmobiles can be put on the streets as well as the various community registration centers used. Third, we need to understand what is meant by the statement that Board Members can hold no other elective office. What constitutes an elective office? Does this mean parents cannot hold office in the PTA's? Fourth, Board of Education members should be reimbursed a flat sum for their expenses-$3500. This makes sense to us as the travelling, deliberations, meetings, and public meetings necessary for all Board meetings involve as many hours as some full-time jobs and will mean in some cases babysitting fees, etc. That amount is just at the poverty level so nobody is trying to rob Congress. We hope to see these revisions in your version of the Bill. Thank you. LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA STATEMENT BEFORE SUBCOMMITTEE ON PUBLIC HEALTH, EDUCATION, WELFARE AND SAFETY OF THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA-PRESENTED BY MRS. LYLE M. HANSEN, CHAIRMAN OF EDUCATION COMMITTEE I am Mrs. Lyle M. Hansen, Member of the Board of the League of Women Voters and Chairman of its Education Committee speaking for the League which is made up of about 850 citizens of the District. The League of Women Voters of the District of Columbia welcomes this opportunity to appear before this Committee today. Our membership, after extensive study of the issues involved, strongly supports the principle of an elected school board for the District of Columbia at this time. Education is a crucial area, affecting almost every family in the District. The future of the city in large measure depends on how well our school system does its job. It is therefore essential for the people of the city to have a voice, through an elected school board, in how the school system is operated. We believe the citizens of the District will welcome the opportunity to participate in this area of their city government, and that an elected school board will strengthen communication between citizens and school administration to the advantage of both groups. The League of Women Voters feels that two areas of the proposed bill may need further study and possible amendment, perhaps at a later date. We feel that a clarification of legislative intent is needed in the interpretation of the section dealing with open and closed sessions of the proposed elected school board. We believe the Congress should make clear whether "teachers" (as stated in the bill-"All meetings of the board of education shall be open to the public, except committee meetings dealing with the appointment of teachers") does in fact include other school personnel as well. The other area concerns the reimbursement provisions in the bill. However, the bill, H.R. 13042 as passed by the House, is felt by the League of Women Voters of the District of Columbia to be acceptable at this time, with the possible exception of the timing of the first election. An April voting date would be necessitate undue haste both in establishing school election wards and allowing for voter registration. We would like to see the first election set some months later, possibly at the time of the regular November ballot. Thank you for the opportunity to speak before this Committee. TESTIMONY FOR ELECTED SCHOOL BOARD BILL Mr. Chairman, committee members we of the Southwest Community are in favor of the elected school board bill. We feel that it will enhance the possibilities of attaining the kind of quality leadership and education that the D.C. school system is so badly in need of. The ramifications heretofore have been above the heads of the community people the people have not had say in board policies but with this process the people will have a chance to vote for the kind of leadership that they will feel is the best possible kind to bring about decisive changes in the system. While we strongly advocate this bill we do not adhere to the hours in which the people will be able to register. We feel that the registration should be held not only during working hours but in the evenings and all day Saturday. We feel that with this extension of hours and days there would be a much better ratio of voters which in turn will make the voices of the people heard. We also feel that a filing fee of $100.00 is outrageous. Why should people be made to pay a $100.00 filing fee unless this is the administrations way of making certain that only the select people will be in the position to have a voice. Thank you. Miss RUTH MACKELL, SOUTHWEST COMMUNITY NEIGHBORHOOD, Senator MORSE. The Chair adjourns the public hearing on the bills that are under consideration this morning, and asks the staff forthwith to get the memorandum that the Chair has indicated he would like to have action on. We will have a meeting of the subcommittee soon, so that it can be presented in its marked up form to the full committee sometime next week. We stand adjourned. (Whereupon, at 11:30 a.m., the subcommittee adjourned.) (The following was received for the hearing record:) Hon. WAYNE MORSE, Senate District Committee, Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.: WASHINGTON, D.C., November 30, 1967. The National Capital Voters Association, Incorporated, wishes the record to show that it unanimously opposes holding the first election for school board members in the District of Columbia in any election where partisan politics are played-such as the May primaries or the general election in November. We believe that the House bill which sets the election in April is a much better time for D.C. amateur voters to choose their school board. Only the professional politician wanted at other times. We therefore urge the Senate District Committee to keep the first election free from partisan politics by concurring with the House on the April date. The members of the Washington branch, American Association of University Women support S. 2317 and urge its enactment. To vote for members of a school board would be an important first step toward full home rule for the District of Columbia. ELIZABETH O'HEARN, President. TO PROVIDE FOR THE REGULATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA S. 2590 TO PROVIDE MAXIMUM FINANCE AND OTHER CHARGES IN CONNECTION S. 2592 TO AMEND SECTION 521 OF THE ACT APPROVED MARCH 3, 1901, SO AS DECEMBER 5, 12, 13, 1967; JANUARY 30, 31, AND FEBRUARY 1, 1968 Printed for the use of the Committee on the District of Columbia 88-648 U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1968 DEPOSITED BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERIC |