you will bring them forward, Mr. Riley, we shall be glad to hear tell us about the situation in South Carolina. Please come forI and join the Congressman at the table. . RILEY. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, first I to thank you for giving us this opportunity to appear before in behalf of the retention of Public Laws 874 and 815 in their ent form. e are particularly grateful to you, Mr. Chairman, for your very ssful leadership in providing legislation and funds for the chilof our Federal employees, and particularly our military perel. ost of the installations in our area in the South are located in areas where the income is small and the burden of taxes is dy high. brought out by the previous speaker, a great deal of property been taken off the taxbooks which formerly provided a local ne. We are glad to have these people. Don't misunderstand We have increased our expenditures many times to take care hese children and to give them an opportunity to get an ation. e do need this additional Federal assistance in order to provide uate educational facilities and teaching staffs. want to call your attention to the fact that most of these people temporary residents. They contribute very little to our local me from the tax standpoint, from which we get our school revebut all of them do pay income taxes to the Federal GovernE. So in that way they are able to share to this extent. hould Federal aid be curtailed, I believe that the first curtailment come in the faculties of the schools, because that is the quickest in which to cut down expenditures. The buildings are already tructed. The classrooms are already there. f course, the higher priced and more efficient teachers would be the to go, particularly those who teach science, mathematics, physics, subjects of that nature on which we are so dependent in this new ut of the 30 impacted areas in the State of South Carolina, 13 are e district which I represent. o give you some idea of the property which has been taken from axbooks and to show you the curtailed income, it includes some 00 acres in Fort Jackson, some 240,000 acres in the Savannah -r project, which is one of the great atomic energy installations, some 3,500 acres in Shaw Air Force Base. There are other ler installations in addition, such as auxiliary fields, and things at nature. r. E. L. Wright, who represents the schools of the State as a whole, re with most of the detailed information, and I am glad at this time resent to you Dr. Wright who has made a thorough study and who e representative of all the school people in my State. hank you very much for this opportunity. r. BAILEY. Thank you, Congressman Riley. r. Wright, you may proceed with your testimony. STATEMENT OF EDWARD L. WRIGHT, SUPERINTENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT 2 OF RICHLAND COUNTY, COLUMBIA, S.C. Mr. WRIGHT. Thank you very much, Mr. Riley. Mr. Chairman, and members of the subcommittee, after such an able presentation by the Honorable John J. Riley, of Congressional District 2 in South Carolina-and incidentally while not an old college mate of mine we graduated from the same school and felt close to each other through the years-it is certainly a task to take up and carry on. As Mr. Riley has told you, I am Edward L. Wright, superintendent of the school district 2 of Richland County, S.C. I appreciate the opportunity to present for your consideration testimony in opposition to the proposals for amending Public Law 815 and Public Law 874 as embodied in H.R. 7140, introduced by Mr. Kearns on May 14, 1959. Over the past 6 years the school district 2 of Richland County has had an increase in enrollment of 76.6 percent. Figures released by the South Carolina Educational Finance Commission for the school year 1958-59 indicate that our district had an increase in enrollment of 14.8 percent and currently lists the school district 2 as the fastest growing district among the 107 school districts in South Carolina during the past school year. Under these circumstances, it is obvious that we are faced with the following problems: 1. Building and maintaining adequate facilities to house the children that are coming in increasing numbers to our schools. 2. Providing the financial support necessary to maintain a good educational program of instruction. Our trustees have been realistic in stretching the construction dollar to the limit and they have practiced every sound economy commensurate with maintaining a good educational program of instruction. That all of the high schools in the districts are fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools is an indication that the board has been diligent in its efforts to maintain the high standards of this agency. This has not only taxed the resourcefulness of the district administration but has called for the wholehearted cooperation of our many friends on the National, State, county, and local levels. For the efforts of these friends who have joined us in this endeavor we are truly grateful. The following information indicates the sources of revenue for construction, equipment and utilities. ESTIMATED AVAILABLE REVENUE FOR BUILDING NEEDS, 1959-60 Estimated available entitlement, State educational finance commis sion__. Applications on file under Public Law 815---- Total_ District bond issue_.. Total_-_-_ $128, 790.00 165, 172.00 293, 962.00 20,000.00 313, 962. 00 We have allowed ourselves up to 15 percent of our assessed valuation. I have made out the $309,000 by a $20,000 bond issue. Our county alone, with several others in South Carolina, by special law, have been brought up to 15 percent. We have an estimated maintenance and operation budget for the 1959-60 school year of $729,000 with an anticipated revenue of $738,000 for these expenses. You will note that there is less than a $10,000 margin between anticipated revenue and estimated expenditures. We have estimated $91,500 in this tight current expense budget from Public Law 874 and we will lose an estimated $12,009.65 of this amount under the revision as proposed under H.R. 7140. To replace this loss in revenue would require an additional district property levy of 52 mills. District 2 is distinctly a suburban and ural area and the assessed valuation is mainly residential, which accounts for the seemingly small return on our special district levy. We will need any revenue received from a property tax increase from his source or from our 15 mill countywide levy to take care of our rapid enrollment. I might say at this point we have 33 mills of our 4512 county millage for education. We have an 8-mill special district levy on an assessed valuation of about $2,300,000. We have a 15-mill countywide levy in which we participate Mr. WRIGHT. For the county 452. Thirty-three of that is for chool purposes. Mr. BAILEY. That is $45 on the thousand. Mr. WRIGHT. We have a 10-mill levy for debt service, an 8-mill pecial district levy, and then the county of Richland has three school listricts. In districts 1, 2, and 5, in those districts as a whole the ounty will have about 70,000 and 74,000 mills of assessed valuation, which is a 15-mill county wide level. We participate in that on an ADA basis which brings us to $26. We have about a 3,200 average daily attendance in my district. The total levy in my district is 4512. In district 1 it is 63. In istrict 5 it is 46. As the chairman of the Federal Relations Committee of the South Carolina Education Association I have been asked to establish the osition of the 30 impacted districts in the State receiving assistance nder Public Law 815 and Public Law 874. These districts had a total current expense of $37,099,347 in 1957-58. Revenue to cover this expense included approximately $2,163,000 rom Public Law 874. That was a tentative allocation submitted at the first of the year. Of course, that is subject to audit. These 30 districts are mainly suburban and rural with few industrial properties, thereby limiting the assessed valuation. Currently their estimated revenue from Public Law 874 is $2,691,424 and under the proposed estimated entitlement from H.R. 7140 this would be $1,941,446, a percentage reduction of 27.9. Mr. BAILEY. Speaking of the State as a whole? Mr. WRIGHT. Yes. We would lose about $749,000 under the provisions of 7140 if it were passed. It would be very difficult for these districts to increase millage on residential property sufficient to take care of this loss in revenue. You will find attached statements from some of these district superintendents and other State leaders showing the excessive increased millage that would be necessary in their respective districts. It is obvious that they are opposed to any change which would reduce the assistance under these acts. This is one of the most serious problems that we have faced in the administration of public school affairs and we need your help as never before. May I say to you, that we, the administrators of the public schools on behalf of the patrons and students of our State express our deep gratitude for the wholehearted cooperation given to us over the years by your committee. Before closing, Mr. Chairman, as well as I can estimate it in these 30 districts, the federally impacted children are somewhere between 17 and 20 percent of the total average daily attendance. On the basis of the 1957-58 figures, Public Law 874 contributed only about 5.8 percent of that $37 million current expense budget which those 30 districts had. As I previously stated, it is very difficult in these districts made up mainly of rural and suburban areas to increase the millage sufficiently to take care of any loss in revenue, and we respectfully request that this subcommittee do everything it can to keep 874 and 815 as they currently are. Certainly we are not in favor of seeing these bills curtailed. Thank you very much. Mr. BAILEY. Thank you, Dr. Wright, for a presentation not only of your own district but for the entire impacted area of South Carolina. The committee is glad to get these statistics. I am sure they will be helpful in our making a determination of whether it would be advisable to go along with the idea of curtailing this program or maintaining it on its present level. Mr. RILEY. Might I add again, Mr. Chairman, that most of the people affected are temporary residents. The Government puts many of its military installations in the South because they find they can operate there much more economically than they can in other areas. Of course, they have to locate them in more or less rural areas in order to get the vast acreage they need for the operation of these installations. These people have access to commissaries, PX's, and things of that kind. A great deal of our school tax comes from our sales tax, which is a statewide proposition, and contributes largely to the operation of our schools both in the construction and operation. nsequently, I think the Federal Government has a very strong ity in helping these schools maintain a high standard so that the ren of these people who work for the Government and who serve litary installations will not be deprived of the education to which are entitled. -. BAILEY. We appreciate your appearance here, Congressman annot be quite as severe in my criticism of you as I was with the eman from Virginia. RILEY. You go ahead and ask your question. I will answer it. ·. BAILEY. I still would like to have a little better cooperation. ank you very much. . WRIGHT. Might I present some communications from several intendents, Mr. Chairman, and also a table showing the perge of pupil growth? . BAILEY. Without objection, all the detail you are submitting be accepted for inclusion in the record. The statements and table referred to follow :) The 10 fastest growing South Carolina school districts, 1952-58 AR JOHN: It has just been brought to my attention that some Members of ress are again trying to reduce the aid to school districts under Public 815 and 874 and I just wanted to drop you this note and tell you that any tion in the aid given school districts will certainly play havoc with the Is in your congressional district. receive around $30,000 for the Barnwell School District from this source. ston and Blackville likewise receive certain aid under these laws. The counties in your district receive certain aid under the same law and ently we are all in the same boat. |