April 9, 1965
PAGE 7711
PASSAGE OF H.R.2362, THE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, it is with deep gratification that I prepare to vote in support of H.R. 2362, the Elementary-Secondary Education Act of 1965. For many years, during my entire service in the Senate and as Governor of the State of Maine, I have shared with my colleagues and with concerned citizens in my State and others the objective of enacting a meaningful Federal program of assistance to the States for elementary and secondary education.
The bill before us is not a perfect bill. Several amendments have been proposed in both Houses which I could have supported. Undoubtedly others could have been devised to improve the bill.
I share with several of my colleagues an interest in improving the formula for distribution of funds.
I share the concern of many of my colleagues over the question of judicial review of the church-state question.
I have voted against amendments, however, because I consider it to be our principal objective to enact this legislation, to place it on the books so that we could begin this long-overdue task. To do this meant that we must avoid any diversions which might jeopardize that objective, whether the amendments were intended as diversions or not.
For these reasons I voted to support the legislation as it reached us. Once it is on the books, once we have had an opportunity to examine it in action, we can consider improvements in it.
Having said this -- having raised questions about certain specifics in the bill -- I want to emphasize that I consider this a landmark bill. It is a very great and very positive contribution to our objective of providing equal opportunity for education for all our children, whatever their circumstances. It is with great pride, satisfaction and gratitude to those who have drafted this legislation and pushed it forward that I cast my vote in support of H.R. 2362.
In closing I wish to comment on the basic provision of the bill: I have long felt that the definition of "Federal impact" and eligibility under Public Laws 81-815 and 81-874 has been too narrowly interpreted. This interpretation has, in effect, contributed to educational inequities among States and school districts. I see in title I of H.R. 2362 corrective legislation to help eliminate such inequities. The more realistic concept of "Federal impact" inherent in H.R. 2362 would enable Public Law 874 to function in a broader national interest.
Under title I, major financial support will be given where it is most needed at the elementary and secondary levels, with special emphasis in areas of low economic ability and deprived cultural opportunity.
Title I proposes that the concept of "national impact" be broadened to include the problems caused by the presence of large numbers of children from low income families -- those with $2,000 or less per year. Maine school districts would receive $3.9 million under this provision. I support this expansion to provide channeling of Federal funds to school districts impacted by national circumstances beyond local and State control, with the administration of such funds remaining with State and local education agencies.
Title II, which provides for a 5-year program to make available for the use of all schoolchildren school library resources and other printed and published instructional materials including textbooks, is, in my view, absolutely essential to the improved educational quality of the Nation. Under title II, Maine school districts would be allotted $525,829 for purchase of these educational materials.
As President Johnson stated in his special message on education -- "Toward Full Educational Opportunity":
Just as ignorance breeds poverty, poverty all too often breeds ignorance in the next generation. . . . This is a national problem. Federal action is needed to assist the States and localities in bringing the full benefits of education to children of low income families.
Title III, which provides for "supplementary educational centers and services," represents an imaginative step toward the goal of improving elementary and secondary level education in certain poverty areas. I agree that the supplementary education centers must be available to public and nonpublic school students alike.
I enthusiastically applaud the fundamental theory of the legislation in concentrating the new Federal aid on the students from the poor family, who need it most, and making benefits broadly available to all such students, regardless of their attendance at public or private schools.
The supplementary education centers hold great promise for improving education, especially in the cities of our Nation, such as Portland, located in my State of Maine. Such supplementary centers could furnish special courses in science, foreign languages, and the arts. They could provide special classes for economically and culturally deprived children and special instruction for gifted students.
I believe that the provisions of both titles II and III will be sufficiently under public control, and contain sufficient safeguards and restraints to assure a strengthening of the quality of American education.
With regard to the provisions of title IV -- amendments to the Cooperative Research Act of 1954 -- it should be pointed out that the 1954 act gave the Office of Education jurisdiction over a program which would permit the Commissioner of Education to enter into contracts or jointly financed cooperative arrangements with universities, colleges, and State education agencies for the conduct of educational research, surveys, and demonstrations.
The research program which has emerged from this decade of experience has facilitated significant progress in educational research, particularly in such areas as curriculum improvement and improved teaching techniques. I am particularly pleased that under the amendments proposed by title IV, authority would be granted to utilize the competence of research organizations not now eligible to contribute to the program, such as private non-collegiate research organizations and professional associations.
I view the Cooperative Research Act as an outstanding example of Federal aid to education and I support without reservation the amendments offered under title IV of H.R. 2362.
Finally, with regard to title V, strengthening State departments of education, I have during my 7 years in the Senate and 4 years as Governor of the State of Maine maintained that American education must be kept strong and decentralized. The Federal grant program offered under title V of H.R. 2362 would provide a minimal but significant breakthrough in aiding State education agencies in expanding their staffs and strengthening their services to the local school districts. Therefore, this proposal has my full support.
In conclusion, I am very pleased to give my personal endorsement to the "Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965." I feel it represents one of the strongest commitments to meeting the urgent needs of the public schools ever to be presented to Congress. The legislation, if enacted, will do much to help meet the educational requirements of the State of Maine and the Nation.
In my judgment, the provisions of H.R. 2362 -- with a first year authorization for the State of Maine of more than $5.25 million -- will do much to help strengthen education in my State. It will help elevate the standards of teachers to the levels the importance of their job demands; it will help pay teachers the salaries which the required skills warrant; it will help cut the student-to-teacher ratio to the point good sense requires; it will help build the classrooms which are needed; and it will help give every child in the country the educational opportunity -- from kindergarten through college -- which too few have today.
The people of Maine, the people of the entire Nation for that matter, want and deserve the best public schools and the best public education that can be provided for our youth.
I hope that the imaginative provisions contained in H.R. 2362 will evoke on the part of the U.S. Senate a willingness to move forward and make the education of our youth, as President Johnson has said, "the No. 1 business of the American people.”