humble opinion it would be a more beneficial function of government to help check the erosion of public opinion throughout our Nation by assisting every State and Territory to provide adequate educational facilities. I believe that an educated citizenship will pay for itself from an economic standpoint. I believe that citizens who have economic resources above the average will gladly advance the funds called for by the Harrison-Black-Fletcher bill with full assurance that it will return tenfold, for they know that the funds will be spent for the. advancement of knowledge and the promotion of health, vocational, and character education. In this great country of ours we are all endowed with the same sentiment of loyalty to our Government. We love our country and her institutions. We cherish the memory of those who gave their lives that this Nation might live. I would not exchange my American citizenship for citizenship of any nation, empire, kingdom, province, or principality. America is my home and I love it. I would help maintain those basic principles of freedom and justice upon which our glorious Republic was founded by providing educational guidance to train the minds, the hearts, the heads, the hands, the souls of every precious American youth. Our forefathers had a vision of a new Nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are endowed with certain inalienable rights. Without an army, they fought the greatest of world empires that they might realize that vision. They won their independence and established a Government dedicated to justice and equality of opportunity. The little log church and the little red schoolhouse were recognized as indispensible institutions in the building of our Union. If our early American patriots sacrificed their lives and their fortunes that this Nation might live and prosper, we must sacrifice our efforts to the end that adequate opportunities shall be guaranteed the future citizenship of our glorious Republic. The American public school, with academically and professionally trained teachers imparting a vital curriculum, must stand at the threshold of opportunity and benefit for all youth and serve as a beacon light to develop, provide, and maintain social, civic, and economic standards, and thereby safeguard the health, the happiness, and the welfare of all the people. STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY JOHN I. HILLMAN, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, IDAHO EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, REPRESENTING THE IDAHO EDUCATION ASSOCIATION IDAHO'S NEED OF FEDERAL AID Idaho derives most of its wealth and income from agriculture, and consequently her schools are supported in large measure from agricultural income. This is particularly true in about one-third of her counties, which derive almost all of their income from agriculture and stock raising. In these counties the situation with regard to providing school revenues is still acute and will remain so for a number of years to come. SOURCE OF SCHOOL REVENUES For the next school year revenues will be derived about as follows: Percent From the State (endowment income, chain-store, beer tax, hard-liquor revenue), about___. From county property levies, about_ 8.3 27.06 64. 64 Total 100. 00 It will be observed that 91.7 percent of school revenues comes from property levies. This places an immense burden on those counties which have little or no mining, lumbering, and public utilities, yet do have a great many children to educate. The total county and district school levies in these counties for a minimum program which provides only $1,080 for each elementary classroom unit and $1,440 for each high-school classroom unit-including funds received from State sources-is so heavy that many farmers find it difficult or impossible to pay taxes in full, hence there is much delinquency, and school terms are necessarily shortened. Examples of the county and school district levies for such schools in some districts in various poor counties will illustrate the point. EXAMPLES OF COMBINED DISTRICT AND COUNTY SCHOOL LEVIES With the amount of money now available from State sources, the levies necessary next year to provide the same program as for the present year will be about as shown below in certain districts chosen. Average salaries of teachers are listed to show that there is no extravagance in paying teachers. Hundreds of schools will show similarly heavy levies. The point is that rural property cannot reasonably be expected to continue to bear such burdens. Some of the property cannot pay these taxes, even though the school program is so meagre that living wages are not paid to teachers. STATUS OF TEACHERS' SALARIES The median salary for elementary teachers in Idaho during the last complete school year was only $819.17. Fifteen hundred teachers received less than $700. The median salary for high school teachers was only $1,210.92. ASSESSED VALUATION OF IDAHO The present assessed valuation of Idaho is only $385,495,260.26. DISTRIBUTION OF FEDERAL MONEY Since Idaho distributes its school funds on an equalization basis; that is, on the basis of the wealth of the school district-according to need-the nearly $400,000 that would accrue to Idaho the first year if the Harrison-Fletcher bill is passed would help the poorer districts very materially. STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY WILLIAM W. GARTIN, ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, BOISE, IDAHO, REPRESENTING THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION It has come to my attention that the Harrison-Black-Fletcher bill which would provide Federal support for the educational program is now before Congress for consideration. To those of us who have studied the financial basis of our educational program, this hope of Federal aid is indeed encouraging. Fundamentally, the responsibility for providing the funds to support a publiceducation program has been left too long with the local school districts, whose ability to pay is very meagre indeed. The tax base for securing funds to develop the educational program must be broadened to include much more territory and many more sources than the local property tax. Then, too, during times of crisis, the borrowing power of the small school district is so much less stable and so much more costly than that of the National Government. It is no doubt evident to those of you who have studied the ability of the various States to support education, that some of the States have an abundance of wealth for educational purposes as compared to others who are very poor. It seems to me that our democratic Government, which depends so much for its continuance upon the continuing education and re-education of its people, should assume this responsibility. There are many other problems, such as transient populations, the new trailer-house problem, and others, which broadens the educational needs of many communities beyond their ability to pay. The Western States have had this brought to their attention forcibly during the past few years when so many families have come to us from the drought-stricken States. May I ask your favorable consideration of this measure, which will be of considerable assistance to all of the school children in the State of Idaho? STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY W. D. VINCENT, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, BOISE, IDAHO, REPRESENTING THE IDAHO EDUCATION ASSOCIATION Speaking from the standpoint of director of the National Education Association for the State of Idaho, I wish to explain in brief the needs of our State in connection with the Harrison-Black-Fletcher bill now pending before Congress. A recent survey of the State discloses the fact that many of the schools are now voting up to the maximum levy permitted under the law and find themselves still unable to provide 9 months of school for the children. During the last few years valuations have gone down and down, due to the fact that agricultural land has not been producing sufficient to pay taxes and the expense of farming it. The county has taken over many pieces of property on tax. There has been a reduction of the area under the marginal land provisions, thus reducing the valuation in counties and school districts to such a low ebb that it is impossible to raise sufficient funds to carry on a decent educational program. And even in the districts where there remains a sufficient valuation the tax burden has become unbearable due to the above-mentioned conditions. We of Idaho earnestly urge the passage of the Harrison-Black-Fletcher bill and promise our earnest support in this connection. We are vitally interested in Federal aid to education. Due to distance, Idaho will be unable to send a delegate to the hearing set for this week; therefore this statement. STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY R. C. MOORE, SECRETARY, ILLINOIS STATE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION, REPRESENTING THE ILLINOIS STATE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION Practically all the great statesmen of America, from George Washington to Franklin D. Roosevelt, have been emphatic in their statements that a high level of trained intelligence generally diffused among the people is absolutely necessary for the preservation and perpetuation of our form of government; that a democracy can survive and solve intricate and difficult problems by the ability of the people to read, to think, to reason, to understand, and to see the proper relations of things; and these abilities can exist only through education. A government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" can survive only through the trained intelligence of the people. The social, economic, industrial, and political problems of America are becoming more and more intricate and difficult. It follows that education of the people must continuously be made more general, more advanced, and more complete. Our great statesmen have agreed also that the responsibility for such education is a public responsibility and that the large sums of money necessary for carrying out such responsibility must be raised by public taxation. However, in the past the Federal Government has assumed very little of the responsibility for paying the cost of the common schools. Such cost has been met by the respective States for the children of those States. Several of the States shifted the responsibility most largely to small local communities or districts. But now we find that the children to be educated and the wealth to educate them are not grouped together in communities and that there are tremendous inequalities in the financial ability, even of different States, to support proper schools for their children. Some communities have enormous aggregations of taxable wealth and comparatively few children. Other communities have enormous number of children and almost no taxable wealth. This causes wide extremes in both taxation and educational opportunities. Many communities of low ability tax themselves to the limit and still receive much less money than is necessary to support an efficient school. Many wealthy communities have very low tax rates and still have the excellent schools they want and need. To some degree the same comparison of ability to support schools, educational opportunity, and taxation could be made in regard to the different States. Illinois is a rather extreme example of the local inequalities just described. We have the most extreme differences in ability to support education. But Illinois is a comparatively wealthy State and makes large contributions of revenue to the Federal Government. This year Federal revenue derived from Illinois will probably amount to about $325,000,000. Many people in Illinois, realizing the injustice done the children in the poorer communities, and realizing also the dangers to the State and Nation of the ignorance, and also of the sense of injustice in the young people in the poorer communities, have been earnestly endeavoring to induce the State to contribute much more largely to the support of the schools. At the present time over 90 percent of the cost of the common schools in Illinois is borne by local district property tax and less than 10 percent is borne by the State. However, our State officials and legislature are very reluctant to increase the appropriation of State revenues to the support of schools. They explain that additional State revenue can be obtained only with extreme difficulty and that the main difficulty is that the Federal Government is using the more prolific sources of revenue. In Illinois we have repeatedly tried to enact legislation or obtain a constitutional amendment that would permit the use by Illinois of a graduated income tax. Probably the most potent argument against such legislation or amendment has been that the Federal Government is using the graduated income tax almost to the limit, will continue to do so, and will probably increase it. Practically the same argument is used when the Illinois authorities are considering increased taxes on alcoholic liquors, tobacco, and some other excise taxes. Now, since the education of the people is not only a matter of local concern but of vital importance to both State and Nation, since the National Government has absorbed most of the prolific sources of public revenue, since the Federal Government is most effective in levying and collecting large amounts of revenue, and since the enormous inequalities in taxation and educational opportunity can be limited only by Federal support, we are most vigorously advocating the enactment of the Harrison-Black-Fletcher bill. EXCERPT FROM LETTER TO BROOKS FLETCHER FROM FRED D. CRAM, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, IOWA STATE TEACHERS COLLEGE, CEDAR FALLS, IOWA, REPRESENTING THE IOWA STATE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION Due to the sessions of our own general assembly, it may be impossible for Iowa to be represented at the hearings this week. Will you please accept this letter as a statement from the Iowa director of the National Education Association that Iowa education is solidly back of this bill? STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY DR. R. E. JAGGERS, STATE DIRECTOR OF TEACHER TRAINING, STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, FRANKFORT, KY., REPRESENTING THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION I shall speak briefly in favor of the bill now under consideration by your committee I am thinking of more than half the children in this country of ours who are now denied and who have always been denied an adequate educational opportunity. I am thinking of more than one-third of the Nation's child population who are now denied and who have always been denied what we recognize as a desirable minimum educational opportunity. I am thinking of the children living in rural areas who are served by rural schools, although there are many urban areas where children are denied a minimum program. I shall point out to you evidence which will support the view that rural children will have a better chance with the passage of this bill than they now have. 1. Nearly 140,000 rural elementary schools are housed in one-room buildings, a pattern of the school as it was conceived more than 200 years ago. The rural high school, a comparatively recent extension of our educational program, has never been large enough to house enough pupils to justify an effective program except in a few instances. 2. A small school must necessarily house a limited program. The small elementary school can teach only the three R's or fundamental tool subjects. Music, art, and other educational activities can have no room in schools of this size. The small rural high school, in the main, offers only the traditional college-entrance program. Agriculture, homemaking, commerce, industrial, and practical arts, music, art, and the like, can find no place as these schools are now housed, equipped, and staffed. 3. For the most part the smaller the school the poorer the pay, and it follows that the training of the teacher is less adequate and tenure less secure. Last year there were a quarter of a million teachers, in charge of 7,000,000 children, who drew less than $62.50 a month. Most of these were in rural areas. Only about one-third of the rural elementary teachers in the small rural schools had completed as much as 2 years of college, and two out of five changed jobs each year. 4. Little or no provision is made to meet the needs of children who, due to physical or mental handicaps, are unable to attend the regular public school. Why is the rural school in the main a little enterprise under the leadership of a teacher with little training, little salary, little equipment, who teaches the little children through a little curriculum for only a little while? The answer in part is due to the fact that there are not enough physical resources to support a desirable minimum program. 1. There are fewer adults in rural areas to produce wealth with which to provide education than in urban centers. 2. There is not enough property from which to collect taxes to support schools. Other tax resources are drained by the Federal Government. A recent study shows that while the farmer receives only one-tenth of the national income he was then paying one-fifth of the Nation's tax bill. For the most part the boy or girl born and reared in the country must remain in the role of the educationally underprivileged. If we continue to practice what we have been doing, it is highly probable that the child today who is born in the country will continue to attend a school with a short term, in an inadequate building, poorly equipped, with a limited curriculum, and under the leadership of poorly paid and poorly trained teachers. We have housed the homeless; we have fed the hungry and have clothed those who have needed it. This is commendable and what we should do. This is social relief and we must meet such things when they come. We are now taking other necessary steps; namely, improvement of conditions of child labor, unemployment insurance, old-age insurance, and the like. No nation should fail to do this. Another necessary step in making this Nation socially secure is to provide facilities where young people may train themselves for the work for which they are best fitted. A constructive program of education will reduce expensive programs of social reconstruction. I desire to point out that inadequate educational programs are found in all areas, both rural and urban, but at this time the inadequacy is more patent in rural areas. We have built our harbors, drained our rivers, constructed roads, thereby making America a great community. Education is a national social asset just as are harbors. rivers, and roads and should be looked upon with as much concern. STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY BERTRAM E. PACKARD, STATE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION, AUGUSTA, MAINE THE DESIRABILITY AND NEED OF FEDERAL AID FOR EDUCATION IN THE STATE OF MAINE AS EMBODIED IN THE HARRISON-BLACK-FLETCHER BILL The State of Maine particularly needs Federal aid for public education. It is a State of large area and sparsely settled and would probably be rated by all standards as the poorest State in the New England group. Public education in Maine is dependent in large measure for its support upon the property tax, and during the past 5 years this type of tax has broken down in many communities and as a result education is receiving a very meager type of support. Because of the steadily increased burden of taxation imposed upon the several States through activities of the Federal Government it seems impossible from local tax sources to find sufficient funds to sustain a reasonable program of educational opportunity for our youth. Through its tax power it seems entirely logical for the Federal Government to levy taxes to assist in establishing a minimum program of educational opportunity in the several States. To my |