Chairman PERKINS. I will call on Congressman Vanik at this time to come forward and introduce Dr. Paul Briggs of the Cleveland City Schools.

STATEMENT OF HON. CHARLES A. VANIK, A MEMBER OF CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF OHIO

Mr. VANIK. I want to introduce Dr. Paul Briggs, superintendent of the Cleveland public school system, who has been here many, many times. I again want to point out to this committee that Dr. Briggs has brought about a turnaround in the Cleveland school system.

He has utilized every Federal resource that has been developed in this committee. I think he will have a worthy report to make as to how these programs have affected Cleveland. We certainly need these programs. They have brought new light to our Cleveland problems.

I am sure Dr. Briggs will present fine testimony before this committee. I am anxious to hear his testimony along with that of the other superintendents.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Chairman PERKINS. Dr. Briggs, Congressman Vanik, as you know, has been one of our most ardent supporters of all educational programs that have come on the floor of the House for many years. I am glad he was here to introduce you. Again let me welcome you before the committee this morning.

You may proceed.

STATEMENT OF DR. PAUL BRIGGS, SUPERINTENDENT, CLEVELAND PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM

Mr. BRIGGS. I might say that we superintendents enjoy the oppor tunity of coming to Washington, Mr. Chairman and Members, to come and testify before this committee, particularly when our Congressmen are present for introducing us to the committee. We don't always get

these introductions at home.

It is nice to come to Washington and hear these nice things said about superintendents.

I am very happy to appear before this committee and to speak briefly about the needs, the programs, and the progress that is being made in the Cleveland public schools. I am especially appreciative of the efforts of this committee, which have been consistently made to improve the quality of education in our great urban centers of America. I would like first to acknowledge briefly the benefits that we have already derived from the provisions of the Federal education laws. Second, to react to the Elementary and Secondary Education Amendments of 1967 and, three, to bring to the attention of the committee certain problems that we face in education in the city of Cleveland.

Since I last appeared here, much progress has been made in the quality and in the quantity of educational offerings in the city of Cleveland. The voters of Cleveland last November dramatically supported the largest financial issue that our Cleveland public schools have ever placed on the ballot.

They approved increasing the bondage indebtedness of our Cleveland school system by 110 percent, and at the same time increased by 20 percent the local taxes for the operation of our schools. This voter support came at a time when other Ohio districts were rejecting school issues, and when the city of Cleveland placed nine money issues on the ballot and the people turned five of those money issues down.

At this time, the people of Cleveland with a 70-percent plurality vote, approved the money issues for the Cleveland public schools. I might say in Cleveland we raised 80 percent of all the funds used for education. The city overburden in Cleveland is a big one. I might add that in the most distressed areas of our city, areas where a few years ago we were constructing schools behind barbed wire with 24 hour armed guards, that section of town approved our issue with a 90-percent plurality vote.

Now I would like to recount some of the benefits that we have recently derived from Federal legislation supporting education in Cleve

land. I feel that a new optimism prevails in Cleveland today. Much of this optimism is a result of the various educational programs developed under the provisions of Federal legislation supporting education. Many of the Cleveland success stories are resulting from the Federal programs, to include, first, the opening of the supplementary education

center.

This first center in the Nation was opened in a warehouse, a fivestory warehouse, in downtown Cleveland, and on urban renewal property, in October 1966.

The initial funding of this center came from a grant from the Educational Facilities Laboratory prior to the passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and provided for planning and consultants. Later the center was funded under title III.

Between October 1966 and February 1967 of this year nearly 19,000 different individual Cleveland children from public and nonpublic schools attended the center, in groups of 300 per day, for specially enriched instruction in science, music, art, and in the heritage of Cleveland, the kinds of programs that we cannot provide in the neighborhood school.

Each group includes children from all sections of the city who spend a day studying in an exciting new kind of educational facility. Helping in the school system plan has been the long list of distinguished consultants and continuing local communities representing the various cultural, educational, and scientific efforts of the city of Cleveland. This is a real success story, and this is the first supplementary education center established under title III. In the second place, I would point to the job placement of inner city high school graduates which is another success story.

As you know, in the city of Cleveland, unemployment is heavy, particularly among youth. However, in this new service headed by a full-time individual, Mr. Joseph Flemming, who is recognized as the dean of Cleveland industrial personnel officers, was successful in placing 88 percent of our January 1967 graduates in inner city high schools who desired jobs.

In two of our six inner city high schools, West High School and East High School, every male who graduated in January was placed on a job. Others are being placed every day. Mr. Flemming is conducting extensive conferences with large numbers of business and industrial firms and providing new entry jobs for Cleveland's inner city high school graduates.

During each of the past 2 years, vocational offerings of the Cleveland high schools have been doubled; 3 years ago vocational education was offered in two schools. Today there are vocational courses in every high school. More than 75 additional programs have been established. The program involving large numbers of vocational advisory committees has been expanded.

Six hundred and fifty businessmen now consult regularly with Cleveland public schools. The boards of education will soon open a new girls vocational high school; it has authorized the drawing of plans for a new and unique kind of opportunity school for potential dropouts. This present school in its 27th year of history providing job training has yet to receive $1 of Federal funding.

Both of these schools are being built with matcing funds made possible by the vocational Education Act of 1963. During the past year. the administration of the Cleveland public high schools has strenuously protested to the Ohio State Vocational Education Department plan to allocate Federal vocational funds for the construction of five segregated area high schools, each located in a Cleveland suburb outside the areas of heavy youth unemployment.

The proposal of these five segregated schools would be under a program utilization with the utilization of Federal funding.

New guidelines for teachers of disadvantaged children: this year 162 teachers work in a special inservice project developing 25 new curriculum guidebooks aimed at improving instruction for Cleveland students. These guidebooks cover more than 2,300 pages.

They guide teachers in the selection and use of textbooks and other teaching materials in order to deal more effectively with the racial problems that we have in the big cities. All new curriculum materials developed by the Cleveland public schools have emphasized the cultural and racial plurality of the American society. Massive increases are in summer programs. Enrollment in Cleveland public school summer activities, exclusive of recreation, for the summer of 1966 involved over 50,000 children.

This is one-third of our enrollment. This was a 600-percent increase over the past 3 years. This could not have been done without Federal assistance. Several suburban school districts joined Cleveland and in the development of programs located outside of the Cleveland school district, again with Federal funds.

Other programs were developed at Oberlin College, Western Reserve Academy, and several eastern colleges and universities where we house some of our students from the inner city.

In camping, approximately 4,000 boys and girls from inner city schools attended camp during the period from May to November of 1966. Approximately 1,800 attended 5-day overnight camps and 2,250) attended day camps.

These experiences resulted in biracial contacts for over 3,000 chil dren from public as well as nonpublic schools. Nearly all of this program was financed by Federal funds.

Prekindergarten and child development centers: Since 1965, I might point out that we have had over 10,500 children of preschool age involved in various Headstart programs under the direction of the Cleveland public schools. At the present time we have 1,308 inner city children 4 years of age who are getting a Headstart program in 40 child development centers operated throughout this year.

Observers who are nationally outstanding in the field of various fields of education have been highly complimentary of this program in Cleveland, which is made possible with Federal assistance.

On the lunch program, using Federal funds we are now equipping 16 inner city elementary schools so that we shall soon be able to offer hot lunch programs in these schools. The regular Federal hot lunch program has been expanded from servicing 6,000 children daily 3 years ago to over 14,000 now, and it will soon be 20,000 per day. At the same time, the price of lunches in Cleveland has decreased from an average of 60 cents 3 years ago to 35 cents today.

On elementary school libraries, the Cleveland school system 3 years ago had no libraries in its elementary schools. Now it has libraries open and serving children in 120 of its 138 elementary schools.

Under title II, new moneys were made available for the purchase of library material. This money was used to supplement a local effort which may well have been the Nation's largest single library project. Last year $300,000 was donated by individuals in Cleveland to open libraries to Cleveland children.

Last year over 800,000 volumes were withdrawn in the elementary school libraries. This year the circulation will exceed 1 million volumes. Three years ago there were none.

Supplementing and supporting this program have been the services of more than 2,000 volunteers who daily come into the inner city and serve the children in the library program.

A reaction to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act amendments as proposed for 1967: On the whole, we endorse these amendments and urge their favorable consideration by this committee and by the Congress.

The National Teacher Corps: In Cleveland we have four teams of 20 members, five to a team, all located in the inner city schools under the direction of a university in Akron. This program, on the whole, is a good program and is an important program.

We have as many problems in staffing Cleveland schools as probably any city. I our number of professional staff members per thousand students were brought to the average of the metropolitan area of Cleveland, we would need to expend this year $13 million more on staffing than what we are now spending just to come to the average. We have only 37 professionals per thousand students. The median for our country is 50. It costs us $1 million for the addition of each professional per 1,000 students.

We have several Teacher Corps teams functioning in some of our schools in the most disadvantaged sections of the city. This program, on the whole, is most satisfactory. We are worried about its funding, continued funding.

In the field of comprehensive educational planning, the need for comprehensive educational planning is great if we are to carry out more effectively the necessary coordinated system in attacking the problems of education in our urban centers.

Innovations in vocational education: We like what the amendments say in the area of vocational education in the great urban centers, stricken as they are with massive youth unemployment and despair. They feel keenly the need for developing new methods of vocational opportunities.

We must prepare youth not only for the jobs presently available, but the rapidly changing labor demands resulting from the rapid technological advances.

On handicapped children: The handicapped children in the cities such as Cleveland often have their difficulties from physical and emotional handicaps compounded by intense poverty and other social and economic problems.

We have today in Cleveland an outstanding program for handicapped children, but its expansion to meet the needs of the city are hampered because of poorly prepared personnel, inadequate personnel,