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Mr. JAEGER. Well, we have been able to keep the teachers that we attract, but each year we feel we are going to have more difficulty getting new teachers to come in. We still have the original teacher that started in the fall of 1933. So that those arguments just do not help us a great deal, but I think we have done a good job with the facilities we have.

Senator MORSE. I think they help you a great deal. I think they show the great effort you have been making under the very unfavorable conditions to have been of the greatest possible service to these youngsters. You point out also that it is an exceedingly heavy drain upon you to do this in these crowded conditions, and it is not to be expected that that can go on indefinitely, particularly if school facilities and. opportunities in other parts of your State improve.

Mr. JAEGER. We find it very hard, the fact that the Federal Government helps right across the river, and the children there, of course, are very much restricted because the Government has a restricted housing area there, and most of that population is outside of that restricted housing area. So all the colored children and all the children whose parents cannot get them into the restricted housing area are in our schools, and therefore, it makes it harder, the fact that the Federal Government helps one district within 3 miles of another district. That is the point that we have been trying to get across a long time. That is what we are trying to get across. I do think the bill like the one we have will help districts like ours.

Senator MORSE. And the type of discrimination to which you have just testified is particularly unjustified, particularly when we keep in mind the fact that the Federal Government is primarily responsible for the creation of the problem and because of the fact that it flows from these large Federal projects, and the Federal Government knew that wherever it put its projects that the very placement of the projects would carry along with the placement these special school problems, and therefore should not consider itself justified in shifting that responsibility onto the local community in which it locates one of the projects.

Well, thank you very much, Mr. Jaeger.

Mr. JAEGER. Thank you, Senator.

(The letter submitted by Mr. Jaeger, addressed to Senator Magnuson, is as follows:)

United States Senator WARREN G. MAGNUSON,

APRIL 22, 1949.

Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR MAGNUSON: Thank you for your letters of March 5 and April 11, 1949. Also thank you for giving our school building needs your consideration. In your letter of April 11, 1949, you said that after talking to Mr. McFadden of Moses Lake School District you concluded that you may not have at hand all pertinent data on Grand Coulee School District as compared to Coulee Dam School District. Our last attempt to give you that information was through Mr. Bell of Ephrata. He had a complete brief of our situation which he told us he presented to you and to the congressional Committee before which Superintendent Stansfield of Coulee Dam appeared.

The Grand Coulee School Board and I feel that there is a misunderstanding in Congress regarding the two school districts that serve the Grand Coulee Dam. Both Grand Coulee and Coulee Dam School Districts are regularly constituted State school districts operating under the laws of the State of Washington. We both receive State funds for most of our current operations. The Federal Government, in both districts, owns over 98 percent of the property.

There are two differences between Coulee Dam School District and the Grand Coulee School District. The first difference is: Grand Coulee School District has an assessed valuation of $857,000, and the Coulee Dam School District has an assessed valuation of $200,000. These are both very low valuations and, therefore, make a very poor base on which to raise building funds. Coulee Dam has not had any special levy for building purposes. Grand Coulee School District has

voted in the last 3 years a total of 60 extra mills for school construction. The second difference between the Coulee Dam and Grand Coulee School Districts is that the buildings in the Grand Coulee School District are owned by the school district and are maintained and operated by the school district. The buildings in the Coulee Dam School District are owned and operated by the United States Bureau of Reclamation. This gives Coulee Dam an advantage of thousands of dollars per year, yet both serve the children of parents who are directly or indirectly dependent on the Grand Coulee Dam project. Both districts will get along well for current operation if Public Law No. 835 is put in effect.

From information that you have sent us, we understand that the Coulee Dam school district will receive $325,000 for school construction. We, here in the Grand Coulee school district, cannot understand why Grand Coulee school district should not receive an equal appropriation for its school buildings. The school buildings now being used in Coulee Dam are the envy of the children, teachers, and parents of the Grand Coulee school district. Yet, they are to receive $325,000 to build additional buildings when our buildings are much worse and serve a larger number of children. The argument that Coulee Dam is a Federal district is not sound because, as I said before, we are both State school districts with very low valuations and we both serve the Grand Coulee Dam project.

I have also enclosed clippings from the Spokesman Review showing that the Atomic Energy Commission, a Federal agency, has granted the Sunnyside school district $130,000 for school-building construction. If one Federal agency has the power to grant building funds to a State school district, then certainly another should have the same privilege. I have included several other clippings that may give you a better picture of the situation.

In your letter of March 5 you mention that the Bureau has estimated that we would have a thousand students for which we would receive $250 per year. If that money should be paid for the first-year students, the figure would be closer to 200 pupils than 1,000 pupils, because Grand Coulee has been serving these children since the beginning of the project in 1933. Again let me emphasize that the only reason that the Grand Coulee school district is in existence is to serve the Grand Coulee Dam project.

E. Roy Mundy, chairman of the Fourth Congressional Council, told me that he had written you regarding our situation in Grand Coulee school district recommending a definite proposal to you regarding our building needs. Mr. Mundy certainly understands our problem, and whatever he proposes is being done with a complete understanding of our needs.

I have enclosed copies of three letters which were presented to Mr. Banks regarding our problem. I hope they will help you understand our building needs. In short, Senator Magnuson, we need Federal funds to replace three hazardous, poorly constructed, grade-school buildings, and we will appreciate anything you can do to get these funds for Grand Coulee school district.

It is really going to be hard to explain to the people of our school district why Coulee Dam school district, which serves the same project, receives Federal funds when our district does not. Both districts need buildings. However, the buildings in Grand Coulee's district are much more hazardous than those in the Coulee Dam district.

Yours very sincerely,

HERMAN F. JAEGER, Superintendent, Grand Coulee Schools.

Senator MORSE. The hearings will resume at 10 a. m. tomorrow in room G-48 in the Capitol Building. Any further testimony will be heard at that time.

(Whereupon, at 3:05 p. m., the subcommittee recessed, to reconvene at 10 a. m., Wednesday, June 15, 1949, in room G-48 in the Capitol Building.)

FEDERAL ASSISTANCE FOR CONSTRUCTION OF

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 1949

UNITED STATES SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON
LABOR AND PUBLIC WELFARE,
Washington, D. C.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to adjournment, at 10 a. m., in room G-48, the Capitol, Senator Hubert H. Humphrey (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Present: Senator Humphrey (presiding).

Senator HUMPHREY. Continuing our hearings this morning, we have a number of communications with reference to the bills under consideration which I will ask the clerk to identify and put into the record at this point.

Mr. WIXCEY. A letter from Senator Russell, enclosing a statement from Mr. W. P. Sprayberry, superintendent of the Cobb County schools, Marietta, Ga.

(The documents referred to are as follows')

Hon. EARL B. WIXCEY,

UNITED STATES SENATE,
COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS,
May 31, 1949.

Clerk, Labor and Public Welfare Committee,

United States Senate.

DEAR MR. WIXCEY: Permit me to bring to your attention the enclosed statement received from Mr. W. P. Sprayberry, superintendent of the Cobb County schools, in Marietta, Ga., concerning the construction needs of his schools.

I will appreciate your having this information incorporated in the record of the hearings if at all possible.

Cordially yours,

COBB COUNTY SCHOOL SYSTEM

RICHARD B. RUSSELL.

The major war industry affecting the Cobb County school system was the Bell Aircraft Corp. This industry was erected by the United States Government in 1943 at a cost of approximately $75,000,000. This Government installation removed more than 3,000 acres of the most valuable land with improvements that we had in Cobb County. Other industrial establishments that effected the population growth and contributed to the war effort are located at Acworth, Austell, Clarkdale, and Marietta. These industries included cotton textile, forge and foundry shops. Of course there were many hundreds of people that found residence during the war in Cobb County and worked in Atlanta.

At the close of the war it was felt there would be a decline in population due to the war impact, but time has proven this to be false. The population has continued to grow every year as the people who were employed on wartime contracts found their employment to be needed for peacetime production. Our war cause population is residual. It is about 66% percent above our normal peacetime

92679 49 -22

population. The transition from war to peacetime conditions continues to be as serious to the Cobb County school system as during the days of the war.

At the present time the Bell Aircraft Corp. is under the direction of the United States Army. It is being used on a "stand-by basis." However, the Government is using a large amount of space for reconditioning war equipment, thereby employing several thousand people. The office space used by the Bell Aircraft Corp. is occupied by the fifth division of the Veterans' Administration which employs approximately 2,500 to 3,000 people. The best information we have at this time is that the Bell Aircraft installation will continue to be used by the Federal Government for a long period of time.

Allatoona Dam.-According to information received in this office the Federal Government will remove from the tax roll of Cobb County approximately 4,000 acres of land as a result of the construction of the Allatoona Dam which will be completed during 1949.

Kennesaw Mountain Park.-The Federal Government some 6 or 8 years ago removed 3,000 acres of land with all improvements in setting up the Kennesaw Mountain Park. In all of these Government activities the Federal Government has not given any more for taxes or in lieu of taxes.

TAX RATE

In 1942-43 the Cobb County Board of Education had a school tax rate of 5 mills. Today the school tax rate is 15 mills, or an increase of 200 percent.

I wish further to call your attention to the fact that the Cobb County school system receives no money for taxes in any form from the Government installation. The following table reveals the tremendous increase in the school population from the beginning of World War II until the present, also table showing the population growth:

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1949 based on estimates of chamber of commerce and post office... 65,000 One of the most acute problems facing the Cobb County school system is the need of school buildings. We have 3,000 students housed in flimsy plywood classrooms, and abandoned spaces such as auditoriums, storage rooms, etc. The temporary building we are now using cannot be used more than another year. According to a building survey made by Dr. N. E. Viles of the United States Office of Education the Cobb County school system is in desperate need of 110 to 125 new classrooms.

The citizens of Cobb County feel the Federal Government should share in the construction of these buildings. The citizens of Cobb County feel that the Federal Government should share in the construction of additional classrooms that are so sorely needed by the Cobb County school system at this time. This feeling is based on the following facts:

1. The removal of approximately 12,000 acres of land from the tax rolls of the Cobb County school system.

2. The impact of more than 2,300 students in average daily attendance on the Cobb County school system without any additional revenue from the Federal Government.

3. The feeling on the part of the citizens that this school population burden is the direct result of Government installations and should be borne, certainly in part, if not all, for additional construction of classrooms by the Federal Government.

The following reveals very clearly our present school construction needs:

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