Mr. ROSE. It leaves me in a bad position, Mr. Chairman. (The prepared statement submitted by Mr. Rose is as follows:) OUTLINE OF STATEMENT SUPPORTING FEDERAL AID FOR SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION IN MIDWEST CITY, OKLA., AND OTHER AREAS AFFECTED BY FEDERAL ACTIVITY (SENATE BILL No. 287) I. Federal activities: 1. Name and number of employees. II. Effect on local school district: 1. Increase in school attendance. 2. Increase in assessment rolls and decrease in wealth per pupil. 3. School-building condition and need. 4. Hazards of present building conditions. 5. Fiscal economy thrown out of balance. III. Local effort: IV. 1. Increase in valuations and levies. 2. Local revenues used for building purposes. 1. Federal Government an "industrialist". V. Concluding statement: Oscar V. Rose, superintendent. Approved by board of education. T. M. TOWNSEND, Clerk. To the Congress of the United States: This statement is submitted in support of Senate bill No. 287 to provide for grants to assist the States, Territories, and dependencies in the construction of elementary and secondary schools. I. FEDERAL ACTIVITIES Midwest City, as well as its school system, has been a direct outgrowth of the war and defense effort resulting in Federal activities being located wholly within the boundaries of the school district. During the war period, both the Douglas Aircraft plant and the Oklahoma City air-material area, including Tinker Field, operated with employment rolls exceeding 40,000 civilian and military personnel. Since the close of the war, the Oklahoma City Air Technical Service Command, including Tinker Field, has been established on a permanent basis and at the present time has over 13,000 employees. II. EFFECT ON LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT The school attendance grew from 104 pupils in the original rural school to 1,198 at the close of the war and has continued to grow until at the present time there are 2,648 pupils in active attendance on 7 different school sites within the school district. This continued growth is a result of permanent employees changing from commuters to local residents which improves their value as employees. During the war period, approximately 100 percent of our scholastics came from families employed in the Federal installations. At the present time, approximately 70 percent of our pupils are from families so employed. Housing for these Federal employees, located in the Midwest City School District, has been provided through private construction financed by Federal Housing Authority loans and either sold or rented at privately owned levels. These homes and the necessary public-service investments have been the only increase in tax valuations experienced. All of this property has been placed on the tax rolls at equal or above the assessments of similar property in this area. Due to the increase in number of scholastics occasioned by the increase of nontaxable (federally owned) investments, the taxable wealth per child has been reduced from a prewar level of $5,763 to $1,410. While the average total tax rate for school purposes for the 3 years prior to the war impact was only $1.12, it has been raised by the vote of the local citizens to $2.87. Of this total, prior to the war impact only 12 cents was needed for schoolhouse construction compared to 86 cents at the present time. During the last normal year, the 104 pupils in average daily attendance were housed in 4 permanent modern brick classrooms of the highest quality. At the close of the war, over 50 percent of the 1,198 children were housed in temporary prefabricated plywood classrooms of the worst kind. They are highly combustible, very poorly lighted and heated, and have no modern toilet facilities. They in no way meet the criteria for classrooms. At the present time, 2,648 pupils are in approximately 25 percent overcrowded buildings as follows: 1,135 or 43 percent in permanent classrooms on normal school sites. 663 or 25 percent in temporary classrooms 2 in abandoned building on Tinker These temporary buildings, in which 57 percent of the present scholastics are required to attend class, certainly place a tremendous responsibility on those charged with providing educational facilities here at Midwest City. Fire, storms, eyestrain, and sanitary conditions affecting the general health of these children, all provide hazards which can, at any time, create a catastrophe greater than that experienced through the burning of a hospital recently. At the present time, 62 classrooms are needed at a cost of $682,000. Twenty more classrooms will be needed for the 500-pupil increase expected during the next school year at a cost of $220,000. Other normal facilities such as cafeterias, auditoriums, and playrooms are needed at an estimated cost of $350,000 to bring the school facilities up to standard. Thus, the total need to June 30, 1950, is approximately $1,250,000. The fiscal economy of the Midwest City School District is thrown completely out of balance through the large percentage of federally owned, tax-exempt property located within the district. The tax pattern for Oklahoma, as for most States, provides revenue for schoolhouse construction wholly from an ad valorem tax, levied on the assessed valuation of the property within the school district. In areas of heavy industrial activity which necessitates a large number of families to meet the employment needs, the industrial property provides the major part of the assessed valuation for levying the tax for building revenues. III. LOCAL EFFORT The citizens of Midwest City School District have voted the maximum school bonds allowed under the Oklahoma Constitution. They have continued, as assessed valuations increased, to vote additional bonds up to the limit, and during the present month are voting an additional bond of $60,000, which is all that is allowed under the present valuations. They have also voted the annual 5-mill building levy allowable under the State law. These are the only two local sources of revenue assistance for schoolhouse construction in Oklahoma. That the maximum local effort has been made is evidenced by the following facts: 1. Assessed valuations increased from $599,378 to $3,808,306. 2. Building levy increased from 12 cents to 86 cents." 3. Total school levy increased from $1.12 to $2.87. 4. Local tax moneys used for buildings, $289,832. 5. Moneys available through June 30, 1950, $122,500. It can be safely said that no other school district in Oklahoma has made a greater effort. It also is true that the present need for school facilities at Midwest City is far greater than at any school in Oklahoma. IV. FEDERAL RESPONSIBILITY We are appealing to the Federal Government, which is the employer of the parents of 70 percent of the pupils at the Midwest city schools, to meet its share of this joint responsibility. This can be done by enacting S. 287 into law. 1 These buildings consist of both plywood sectional construction and rooms constructed by moving temporary barracks from abandoned army camps. 2 We were able to meet the school-housing need of our more than 800-pupil increase during the present school year by obtaining the use of an abandoned temporary building on Tinker Field, and are transporting 663 pupils to this site at the present time. This building has a ceiling height of only 7 feet, is of very temporary construction with windows which are only 40 inches by 40 inches. The area surrounding it for playground use is less than one-half acre, and it fronts the four-lane highway carrying the heaviest traffic in the Our lease on this building expires June 30, 1949; and, unless it can be extended, over one-half of the pupils in the Midwest City school system will have to be placed on half-day sessions for their educational program next year. Its continued use under any circumstance cannot be justified for any other reason than to meet the greatest emergency. area. In justifying the request that the Federal Government assist in providing the school facilities needed in the Midwest City School District, attention is called to the following points: 1. The Federal Government is the employer of a large segment of the adult population of the Midwest City School District and, as such, it becomes an industrialist and affects the community in the same manner and in the same proportion as a private industrialist does. The children of these employees require and should have normal school facilities. 2. National defense is maintained by both private industry and federally owned industry. The Federal taxpayer supports both, insofar as they contribute to the national defense. Federally owned and operated industry makes no contribution, through the normal tax pattern, to the local school district in which it is located and for which it creates tremendous problems which cannot be met by that pattern. 3. The Federal Government does pay an indirect tax to construct school buildings far removed from the area which is called upon to provide educational facilities for the children of its employees. Through the procurement of many and varied supplies, services, equipment, spare parts, etc., necessary in the operation of such an industry, the tax item of cost to the supplying private sources is paid by the Federal Government. That some of this tax supports the local school where the private industry is located is shown by the following example. The Oklahoma City Air Technical Service Command purchases approximately $425,000 worth of electric current from the Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co. annually. The records of this company show that 21.5 cents of each revenue dollar is used to pay taxes. The plant which generates the current is located about 8 miles from Midwest City in another school district. It is assessed for $3,413,325, which is 65 percent of the total assessment of the school district. Thus, we find this private industry paying 65 percent of any building revenue levied in this district. This company has 143 employees at this plant, and the school district has 419 pupils in average daily attendance. Under the normal tax pattern, this company can provide $290,000 for school buildings over a period of 5 years. This amount would be $2,028 per employee, or $692 per school child. That this company has made liberal tax payments for this purpose is evidenced by the fact that the facilities of this school district are the best in this county if not in the entire State of Oklahoma. With this help of the private inudstry located in this school district the local taxpayer is now paying a levy of only 4 cents per $100 for building purposes compared to the 86 cents tax levy paid by citizens of the Midwest City School District. Yet, 57 percent of the children at Midwest City are required to attend classes in temporary classrooms with no other school facilities. This same condition exists at Port Arthur, Tex., where the Gulf Refining Co., which furnishes $2,000,000 worth of 100-octane gasoline annually, is located. We find the same circumstances at Phillips, Tex., where the Phillips Refinery, which furnishes the 91-octane gasoline, is located. A very striking example of this inequity is found when we consider the epochal flight of Lucky Lady II. This ship was built by Boeing Aircraft at Seattle, Wash. It was readied for the flight at the Oklahoma City Air Technical Service Command and returned here for thorough study following that flight. The Boeing Aircraft Co. employs 22,000 people at this plant and pays $585,273 in ad valorem taxes annually to the local community. The Oklahoma City Air Technical Service Command employs 13,000 people and pays no taxes to the community where it is located. Yet the Federal tax dollar pays for operating both installations, and both make comparative demands for school services. V. CONCLUDING STATEMENT In calling these conditions to the attention of the Congress, there is no intent to criticize. They are mentioned only as information leading toward the solution of a grave and serious problem growing out of our war and defense effort. It, perhaps, is a comparatively small problem at the congressional level. It is the biggest one with which the local school district has to deal. It is so serious that unless we can cooperate in reaching the solution, I fear a complete break-down in the educational program at the schools in which large federally owned industry is located. We are perfectly willing to continue to make maximum tax payments, but sincerely believe that, when we have done this, the 2,500 or 3,000 children here have a right to have a standard educational program housed in safe and satisfactory buildings. Respectfully submitted. OSCAR V. ROSE, Superintendent, Midwest City Schools, Midwest City, Okla. Senator MORSE. First, Mr. Rose, will you give your full name and title to the reporter so that we may have you properly identified in the record. STATEMENT OF OSCAR V. ROSE, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, MIDWEST CITY, OKLA. Mr. ROSE. I am Oscar V. Rose, superintendent of schools, Midwest City. However, I am speaking for the general over-all national needs. The old proverb, "Necessity is the mother of invention," fittingly describes the attitude of those who are scheduled to present testimony before your subcommittee this morning. The "need" for school facilities for half million children motivates our interest here today. The parents of these children came from every community in our Nation to furnish the manpower for our industrial and military might which won World War II and preserved our democratic way of life against foreign ideologies and aggressors. With them came their children. To the little school in the community where it seemed wise for our Government to locate great war plants, camps, airfields, and other installations, came hordes of these dislocated children as a result of this all-out effort. Since their employer was Uncle Sam, all of the wealth necessary to create the job for the parents of these children was tax-exempt. Since the tax pattern for raising revenues for school building construction in every State and local school in the Nation is principally based on ad valorem tax, such a change did not fit into this pattern. At the close of the war, and at the present time, we find many school districts still affected by the war and defense effort as well as other Federal activities. The problems created in such school districts are a result of one or a combination of two or more of the following conditions: 1. The location of federally owned, nontaxable industrial or military property either operated by the Federal Government or private owners. 2. An unusually increased school attendance resulting from the need for employees at these industries. 3. Federally owned public housing, trailer settlements, and low cost privately owned homes to provide housing for these employees, and which makes no contribution or a very small contribution toward financing the needed school building construction. 4. The removal of land and other property from the tax rolls by Federal acquisition, thus reducing the normal tax base which determines the revenue for constructing school facilities. Because of the problems created, and their resultant effect on the community and Federal operation during the war period, some Federal assistance was provided under the Lanham Act administered by the Federal Works Agency. Due to War Production Board restrictions, only the greatest emergency building needs were considered and then only on a temporary and double-session basis on the theory that after the war period, population shifts would reduce the need to the facilities provided. This reduction, however, did not follow the close of actual hostilities, but in many cases further increases were experienced because of the necessity of continuing large defense appropriations as a security against aggressor nations. The extent to which double sessions still prevail is illustrated by the following quotation from the case of Willowbrook School District in California: May I say in passing that our entire sixth grade for this year will be moving over to junior high without ever having had one day of regular school session. Since the increase of scholastics is the direct and immediate cause for the problem and since these children are still present in equal or greater numbers, the problem still maintains, and should no longer be thought of in a temporary makeshift fashion. Here I want to mention the fact that I use two figures as far as population is concerned, approximately 500,000 children, and a million children. The 500,000 children is the increase, and the million children are already there, so the whole group is affected. The children of these Federal employees, and those other pupils affected by their presence, are entitled to normal school facilities. On the contrary, in the schools affected by Federal activity pupils are required to attend classes in badly overcrowded classrooms, basements, hallways, storerooms, moved in Army barracks and other buildings wholly unsuited for school use. The use of such buildings certainly places a grave responsibility on those units of Government with any responsibility in maintaining the use of such school facilities. There I want to comment that the school district recognizes it. The administrators recognize their responsibility in treating children in this fashion. The States we hope will recognize a part of it, and then we ask the Federal Government as another unit of Government to recognize its responsibility in bringing the children into a community where the only way we can handle them from an educational viewpoint is to put them into these type of buildings. Fire, storms, eyestrain, and sanitary conditions affecting the general health of these children, all provide hazards which can, at any timeI don't think this is pessimism-create a catastrophe greater than that experienced recently through the burning of a hospital. With reference to nontaxable federally owned property and its failure to assist in providing school facilities under the normal tax pattern in the school district in which it is located, your attention is called to the following points in justification of assistance under special legislation such as provided by the amendment to S. 287. 1. The Federal Government is the employer of a large segment of the adult population in these school districts and, as such, it becomes an "industrialist" and affects the community in the same manner and in the same proportion as a private industrialist does. The children of these employees require and should have normal school facilities. 2. National defense is maintained by both private industry and federally owned industry. The Federal taxpayer supports both insofar as they contribute to the national defense. Federally owned and operated industry makes no contribution, through the normal tax pattern, to the local school district in which it is located and in which it creates tremendous problems which cannot be met under that pattern. |