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Hon. CLEVELAND BAILEY,
U.S. Representative,
Washington, D.C.

WICHITA FEDERATION OF TEACHERS,

WICHITA PUBLIC SCHOOLS,
Wichita, Kans., August 2, 1959.

HON. CLEVELAND BAILEY AND REPRESENTATIVES: Education is the first and only solution to the U.S. national defense program, H.R. 7140 bill will be a bomb that will kill American school budgets if you let it pass, reducing Federal aid to impacted areas.

Public Law 815 and Public Law 874 will carry the same stigma for the loss of Federal revenue. Why not consider these bills as history printed in the minds of the American youth with education by training for the "know-how" and "can do"? This is the kind of defense America wants and needs. Thank you so much for your consideration. I am, Sincerely and fraternally,

DON GOODEN, President.

Mr. BAILEY. The subcommittee will resume its hearings on Wednesday next.

The committee will stand in recess.

(Thereupon, at 11:45 a.m., the committee recessed, to reconvene at 10 a.m., Wednesday, August 12, 1959.)

PUBLIC LAWS 815 AND 874, 81ST CONGRESS (ADMINISTRATION'S PROPOSAL FOR MODIFYING EXISTING LEGISLATION)

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 1959

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON GENERAL EDUCATION OF THE

COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR,

Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10 a.m., in the caucus room, Old House Office Building, the Honorable Cleveland M. Bailey (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Mr. BAILEY. The subcommittee will be in order.

The committee, which has been in recess since our hearings of last week, is reassembled this morning for the purpose of continuing to take testimony to ascertain if there is any sentiment among the Members of Congress and among the impacted school districts for the further consideration of the proposal made by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare that Public Laws 815 and 874 be drastically changed.

Some 10 years ago, when I sponsored Public Laws 815 and 874, only one district in the State of West Virginia was drawing payments under this program. There have been some changes in our State, until now we have as many as four school districts which can qualify under the construction and maintenance and operation programs. Since most of them are in the district of my colleague, Mr. Staggers, and he is here, I shall ask him to take 2 or 3 minutes to let us know how the folks back n West Virginia feel about this program.

STATEMENT OF HON. HARLEY O. STAGGERS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA

Mr. STAGGERS. Mr. Chairman, my name is Congressman Harley O. Staggers, representing the Second Congressional District of West Virginia.

Mr. Chairman, I appear in opposition to any proposal to reduce the ppropriations for Federal assistance to schools under Public Laws 15 and 874, as amended.

I ask permission to insert a statement and telegram in the record.

221

(The statement and telegram referred to follow :)

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, D.C., August 11, 1959.

MEMORANDUM

To: Hon. Cleveland M. Bailey, Chairman, Subcommittee on General Education, House Education and Labor Committee.

From: Representative Harley O. Staggers, Second District, West Virginia. Subject: Opposition to any proposal to reduce the appropriation for Federal assistance to schools under Public Law 815 and 874, as amended.

Four counties in my congressional district of West Virginia are now receiv ing Federal assistance for current expenditures in federally affected areas under Public Laws 815 and 874, as amended. This assistance means so much to the boards of education of Berkeley, Jefferson, Monongalia, and Morgan Counties. The school officials have contacted me, urging the continuation of this aid. I. too, am indeed aware of its importance to the school systems of our State. Attached is telegram received from T. A. Lowery, superintndent of schools for Jefferson County, Charles Town, W. Va., which I desire made a part of the record.

Most of our State of West Virginia is now considered a depressed area, with particular stress placed on Monogalia County which includes the city of Morgantown. A cut now in aid under Public Law 874, as amended, would certainly "add insult to injury."

With the construction of a Federal project at Sugar Grove, W. Va., the Pendleton County Board of Education has made application for assistance under the law. This aid is desperately needed in that area to help make the necessary changes and additions in school facilities.

I respectfully request that every effort be made by the committee to reject any proposed cut in the necessary appropriation for carrying out the provisions of Public Laws 815 and 874, as amended.

CHARLES TOWN, W. Va., August 7, 1959.

HARLEY O. STAGGERS,

House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.:

Seek to have Federal aid under Public Law 874 held where it is and not reduced. Please get this in hands of subcommittee on August 11 and 12.

T. A. LOWERY,

Superintendent, Jefferson County Schools.

Mr. STAGGERS. The reason I am appearing is that we have in my district four of these impacted areas. One of them is located in a distressed labor area, and to cut off funds at this time would just be adding insult to injury, because they are having a hard time now getting along in their school system. That is in Morgantown, W. Va. Three other counties which would be affected are Jefferson County, Morgan County, and Pendleton County. Although Pendleton has not received aid as of yesterday, it has applied for aid under this public law because there is being constructed there one large research laboratory, which is being constructed in the interest of our safety and in defense of the Nation.

Consequently, all of the school people, the boards of education, and school superintendents, are very anxiously concerned about what the committee does. They certainly are against any proposal to cut or reduce the appropriations for carrying out the provisions of Public Laws 815 and 874, as amended.

I urge the committee to reject any such proposals.

Mr. BAILEY. Thank you, Mr. Staggers. We are glad to know that people over in West Virginia are interested in this program, and I

am sure we will give due consideration to your request that the program be not molested. Again I thank you.

Mr. STAGGERS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. BAILEY. We have at present, from our list of prospective witnesses, the Honorable E. Y. Berry of North Dakota. Is he here? (No response.)

The Honorable Daniel B. Brewster. Come forward, Mr. Brewster, and further identify yourself and proceed with the presentation of your testimony.

STATEMENT OF HON. DANIEL B. BREWSTER, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MARYLAND

Mr. BREWSTER. Mr. Chairman, I am Daniel Brewster, a Member of Congress from the Second District of Maryland.

I should like to thank you, sir, for the opportunity to appear before this subcommittee. I appear here to oppose H.R. 7140, which is designed to curtail payments to school districts which receive financial assistance under the provisions of Federal Laws 815 and 874.

The passage of this bill would seriously affect the public education system in two of the counties in my district, namely, Baltimore and Harford Counties.

I would like to address this statement particularly and specifically to Harford County to give the committee an example of what it would mean.

The passage of this bill would cost Harford County approximately $80,000 at a time when we are trying to improve our schools and raise additional funds to meet the matching provisions of the National Defense Education Act.

Public Laws 815 and 874 were originally designed to assist school districts where Federal installations had caused a strain on school facilities and where local resources were not available for meeting this strain.

In proportion to its size and population, Harford County probably has one of the greatest Federal impact areas. The Aberdeen Proving Grounds and the Army Chemical Center lie wholly within the boundaries of Harford County, contain 39,726 acres, and comprise 13.82 percent of its total land area. At the close of school this past June, 5,644 children, or 38 percent of the total enrollment of 14,000, were what is termed federally connected. This means that they either live on Federal property or that their parents work on Federal property. We can only have a sound economic base for local government when we can collect taxes for both where a person lives and where he works. In this particular case it is impossible to tax the Federal installations where our citizens work, and Public Laws 815 and 874 were designed to correct this inequity. H.R. 7140 would destroy this balance.

Secretary Flemming, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, testified before the subcommittee in support of this legislation. In his testimony the Secretary justified his position on a payment-inlieu-of-taxes basis. The philosophy behind this legislation has always been one of impact and the best possible method of alleviating the impact, and not one of payments in lieu of taxes.

Harford County would be very glad to play the Secretary's game of payments in lieu of taxes, since the combined evaluation of the

Aberdeen Proving Grounds and the Army Chemical Center has been certified by those authorities to be approximately $189 million. This would be more than double the entire taxable basis of the county, and of course would be very acceptable to the county as a basis on which to operate their schools. Many other school districts in other counties have similar needs.

Public Laws 815 and 874 are fulfilling the function for which they were designed, and should not be tampered with at this time. Thirteen Maryland counties other than Harford, or a total of 14, receive assistance for operating their schools under these two laws. The passage of H.R. 7140 would directly affect the financing of schools in these 14 Maryland counties and would curtail the educational program, in one degree or another, of 330,000 of the 550,000 children enrolled in Maryland schools.

I respectfully request that the committee consider these arguments and not report the bill favorably.

I further respectfully request permission to file with the committee a letter addressed to me from Mr. Charles Willis, the superintendent of schools of Harford County, and also chairman of superintendents in defense areas.

Mr. BAILEY. Without objection, the additional data will be accepted for admission in the printed record.

(The letter referred to follows:)

BOARD OF EDUCATION OF HARFORD COUNTY,

Congressman DANIEL B. BREWSTER,

House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.

Bel Air, Md., August 10, 1959.

DEAR REPRESENTATIVE BREWSTER: I would appreciate your support in opposing H.R. 7140, which is designed to curtail payments to school districts that receive financial assistance under the provisions of Federal Laws 815 and 874. The passage of this bill will cost Harford County approximately $80,000 at a time when we are trying to improve our schools and raise additional funds to meet the matching provisions of the National Defense Education Act.

Public Laws 815 and 874 were originally designed to assist school districts where Federal installations had caused a strain on school facilities, and where local resources were not available for meeting this strain. In proportion to its size and population, Harford County has probably had the greatest Federal impact of any Maryland county. The Aberdeen Proving Grounds and the Army Chemical Center lie wholly within the boundaries of Harford County, contain 39,726 acres, and comprise 13.82 percent of its total land area. At the close of school this past June, 5,644 children, or 38.5 percent of our total enrollment of 14,648 were what is termed federally connected. This means that they either live on Federal property or that their parents work on Federal property.

We can only have a sound economic base for local government when we can collect taxes for both where a person lives and where he works. In our case it is impossible to tax the Federal installations where our citizens work, and Public Laws 815 and 874 were designed to correct this inequity. H.R. 7140 would destroy this balance.

I was present on June 9, 1959, when Secretary Arthur S. Flemming, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, testified before the subcommittee in support of this legislation. In one place in his testimony Secretary Flemming justified his position on a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes basis. The philosophy behind this legislation has always been one of impact and the best possible methods of alle viating the impact, and not one of payments in lieu of taxes. Harford County would be very glad to play the Secretary's game of payments in lieu of taxes, since the combined evaluation of the Aberdeen Proving Grounds and the Army Chemical Center has been certified by those authorities to be approximately $189 million. This would more than double our taxable basis and give us a very acceptable basis from which to operate our schools and all other local governmental functions. Many other school districts in the county who have needs

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