Atlanta Daily World

Anti-Segregation Not Mentioned

Ike Asks Quick Action On School Building Program

WASHINGTON (INS) President Eisenhower asked Congress Monday to provide more than two billion dollars for a four-year school construction program which he said is urgently needed to alleviate a "most critical" situation.

The Chief Executive declared in a special message that the Senate and House should "act quickly upon this pressing problem."

Mr. Eisenhower did not mention the anti-segregation amendment which doomed his aid to education program last year.

Rep. Adam Clayton Powell (D) N. Y., has served notice that he will again fight for the controversial hold federal funds from any school district refusing to comply with the Supreme Court decision barring racially segregated schools.

Sen. H. Alexander Smith (R) N. J., announced he will introduce Tuesday a bill to carry out the President's recommendations. But Senate Labor and Education Committee chairman Lister Hill (D) Ala., indicated he will wait for House action before taking up school-aid legislation.

HE RECOMMENDS

The President recommended:

1. "Federal grants to the states for school construction, at the rate of $325,000,000 a year for four years, a total of $1,300,000,000"

2. "The authorization of $750,000,000 over the four-year period for federal purchase of local school construction bonds when school districts cannot market them at reasonable interest rates."

3. "Advances to help provide reserves for bonds issued by state school-financing agencies."

4. "The expenditure of $20,000,000 in matching grants to states for planning to strengthen state and local school construction programs."

Mr. Eisenhower proposed that federal funds be allocated on a basis of need, with a larger share going to the states least able to finance needed construction.

This clashes with the Democratic measure sponsored by Rep. Augustine B. Kelley, Pa., which would allocate $3,600,000,000 in direct federal population basis.

ALL-OUT DRIVE

House Republican leader Joseph W. Martin Jr., Mass., promised an all-out drive in behalf of the President's recommendations.

Martin said: "The education of American children is the nation's greatest asset. Six million new pupils will enter presently overcrowded schools in the next five years. It is our duty to assist the states to provide adequate modern classrooms for them."

Mr. Eisenhower said his program "is designed to accomplish in four years what last year's proposal would have done in five, since one year has already been lost."

UNPRECEDENTED

The President declared that the nation's educational task is "unprecedented in its sheer magnitude." He pointed out that "there are enrolled in our public schools about two and one-quarter million... (Continued on Page 3 Column 3)
Ike Asks
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lion children in excess of the normal capacity of the buildings in use."

The Chief Executive added: "These children are forced to prepare for the future under the handicap of half-day sessions, makeshift facilities, or grossly overcrowded conditions. Further, many classrooms which may not be overcrowded are too old or otherwise inadequate. They should be promptly replaced."

STATE TASK

Mr. Eisenhower said the educational task is "basically a state and local responsibility," but, he declared: "It cannot now be said - realistically -- that the states and communities will meet the need."

He said: "The rate of state and local construction is spotty, with noticeable lags in areas where needs are expanding most rapidly."

The President also made these points:

Teachers -- "Far more needs to be done in our various communities to enhance the status of the teacher -- in salary, in community esteem and support -- and thereby attract more people to the profession and equally important, retain those who bear so well the trust of instructing our youth."

Office of education -- Mr. Eisenhower said he is asking increased funds for the agency's activities "because they hold such promise for real progress toward solving some of the basic and long-standing problems in education."

Higher education -- the President called attention to the report of his committee on education beyond the high school, which urged "much more planning" at the state level to meet current and future needs for college-trained men and women. He asked Congress to authorize grants to the states of $2,500,000 a year for three years for this purpose.