Federal Assistance for Construction of Public Schools

Therefore, and until the constitution of Indiana is changed, there is simply no way in which this school district can proceed. Senator HUMPHREY. That is a bit of a difficult job. Senator CAPEHART. It is quite a difficult job.

Now the situation was brought on by, of course, the Federal Government moving in and building the powder plant, condemning and taking over a third of the township, and building X number of houses there for the employees of the powder plant. We have had a housing shortage, and those houses are all filled. They are quite desirable houses, and it is near enough to Lewisville and Jeffersonville and New Albany where there is plenty of employment. And I rather suspect the people are going to continue to live there indefinitely.

If the Army goes through with their cancellation of the lease, frankly, I do not know what the school board is going to do next September when the times comes for the school to open.

It is impossible under any legislation that you may be considering here, even though it is passed by the Congress, to appropriate money and build a school building and get it finished by September. That is out of the question.

I presume the quickest we could build a school building under any Federal funds would be within a year. Therefore, it seems as though we are going to have to work out some arrangements with the War Department to use the facilities they have been using, and in that instance someone is going to have to pay the War Department approximately $100,000, unless they are willing to waive it. Therefore, I am hopeful that the legislation that you approve here and report favorably to the floor of the Senate will include not only funds for building school buildings under such conditions as I have just described, but likewise funds for operating in temporary buildings until such time as new facilities can be constructed.

I gathered from listening to Senator Magnuson that he has many similar problems in the State of Washington.

We have two other similar situations in Indiana. One is at the Pillsbury plant up in La Porte County where the Government built a powder plant, but that is not nearly as critical as the one at Charlestown.

We have another similar situation in a township in Martin County, which is the township in which the Federal Government built what is known as the Crane Navy Depot. Neither one of those two are as critical as the one at Charlestown.

Outside of those three I do not believe there is any other situation in Indiana that requires the sort of help that the proposed bills cover. I may well be wrong in that, and I do not want to be held to it because I do know of the three. One of them is most critical.

And at the moment I am frank to tell you that we do not know how we are going to handle the Charlestown situation. There is always a way where there is a will, and I presume we will find some way of handling it. But I strongly recommend legislation and appropriations to cover just such situations as I have described at Charlestown, at the other two points in Indiana, and at any other points in any of the other 48 States that have situations which have been brought about entirely as a result of the war and by our own Government having placed the local school authorities in a position where through no fault of their own they are simply unable to give the same

type and kind of service to students in their locality as other school districts of Indiana or any other State are able to give, just simply because they were unfortunate enough that the Government happened to pick out their particular town and their section to condemn the land and build powder plants and other war facilities.

I believe, Mr. Chairman, that is the end of my statement.
Senator HUMPHREY. Thank you very much, Senator.

Senator CAPEHART. Those are our recommendations and our problem in Indiana. I have no specific suggestion as to which bill should be reported other than that any bill that is reported should cover the two contingencies I have just described.

Senator HUMPHREY. The clerk of the committee has just informed me that on June 14 our tentative schedule provides for the appearance of a group of superintendents of school districts especially affected by war and Federal activities.

Senator CAPEHART. And we are asking the superintendent of the Charlestown, Ind., School District to appear as a witness.

Senator HUMPHREY. This problem is rather universal throughout the country, and that shall give us an opportunity to view the problem as a total picture.

We are appreciative of your testimony and your helpfulness.
Senator CAPEHART. Thank you very much.

Senator HUMPHREY. We are happy to have Congressman Patten from Arizona, and we are ready and willing and able now to hear your testimony, so just go right ahead.

STATEMENT OF HON. HAROLD A. PATTEN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ARIZONA

Mr. PATTEN. I represent the second district of Arizona, and we are vitally interested in the fact that, since the Lanham Act funds. have been eliminated, some of the schools, particularly which had a wartime impact, in Arizona are worrying about this bill before you.

We in Arizona have a peculiar economy. Cotton, for instance, is a new product, and we are facing the possibility of a 32-percent cut in our quota under certain bills that are now before the Congress. I think you can see if you lived in a community you would be reluctant to commit yourself to building an adequate school system you did not know what your economy was going to be.

We are worrying about the water. The water table in Arizona has dropped over the State about 100 feet, and it gets to the point where it is impracticable to pump water for cotton. And other crops are affected the same way. You can see what that will do to schools.

We have a migratory school enrollment. The children in most of the areas affected are children of migratory families and we cannot possibly vote to build a school. We could vote bonds, but if we did nobody would buy them because of the unstable nature of things.

We have four schools in my district which are practically destitute. They have as much as 470 increase in students over what they normally would have, and some of them go as high as 633 percent. I think that is the highest percentage of increase. And unless they get some help they just cannot operate. The teachers will not stay because they do not know whether they are going to get paid next month or not.

Senator HUMPHREY. Senator Capehart was here just before you and was referring to the problem, it seems from the nature of your discussion, very similar to what you are now portraying. Are you asking that there be funds established for emergency operation of these schools?

Mr. PATTEN. Both, the emergency

Senator HUMPHREY. And also for long-range construction?

Mr. PATTEN. Yes. I think they ask help in obtaining sites, and buildings, and equipment. That is what the hearings are; is it not? Senator HUMPHREY. That is correct.

Senator Capehart also mentioned the desirability of inclusion in any type of school-construction bill the amount of money of Federal assistance for direct financial aid to conduct the actual operation of the schools in these areas that are vitally affected by war activities or Federal activities.

Mr. PATTEN. That is true, and that hits us.

In my home town of Tucson, Ariz., two schools are vitally affected by the Davis-Monthan Air Field established during the war-Sunnyside School and Amphitheater School, which is a combination elementary and junior high school. Most of the people who attend those schools are connected with the Army installation which is there because of the war impact.

The Davis-Monthan base is not established as a permanent base, and unless it is it leaves the community in an unstable and unsettled situation, because if they move the air activity out, the personnel on the field will be moved and the schools then will not have the problem. they have now.

I have a letter from the assistant superintendent of public instructin in which he estimates that the total immediate need in the State of Arizona is $54,170,118,89. That is figuring it a little fine. Senator HUMPHREY. He really got that down.

Mr. PATTEN. He says that there is no question in the mind of anyone affected in the department that the figure should be doubled to meet the needs for our children in the future.

I am not completely familiar with your bill and what it plans to do, except I do know that the situation exists and anything that can be done to help those people has got to be done.

Senator HUMPHREY. We have a series of bills here. I think we have at least seven bills, and one of the bills that was presented by Senator Magnuson, of Washington, Senator Neely, and others, is S. 287 and includes within it a provision for the schools such as you have mentioned that have had rapid increased enrollment because of the Federal Government activities, or defense, or war activities. And Senator Magnuson testified on that, so your testimony this morning is pertinent particularly to that bill, S. 287 as amended on May 6.

Mr. PATTEN. There are nine schools apparently listed by the department of public instruction that are vitally in need of aid. Only four of them are in my district, but the need is similar.

I am wondering if you would like this information, this table. Senator HUMPHREY. We would be very glad to have it incorporated in the record.

Mr. PATTEN. Isaac School is one that has the 470 percent. Washington School has 187 percent increase in students in the years 1942-49. Creighton School has 126 percent; Wilson School, 56 percent; Tolleson

School, 60 percent; Mesa School, 66 percent; Chandler School, 32 percent; Sunnyside School, 342 percent increase in students, and Amphitheater School District, 170 percent. That makes the figure I gave you a minute ago of 633 percent an incorrect figure. That is the increase in bonded indebtedness. The schools have increased their bonded indebtedness by 633 percent, so they are probably as far as they can go in bonded indebtedness until something happens. I think that pretty generally is the situation.

Senator HUMPHREY. The table submitted will be inserted at this point in the record. (Tables were submitted as follows:)