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Michigan Association of School Boards and Michigan Association of School Administrators, Detroit, MI, September 16, 1965
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4525864
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Michigan Association of School Boards and Michigan Association of School Administrators, Detroit, MI, September 16, 1965
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Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers
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The original documents are located in Box D18, folder "Michigan Association of School
Boards and Michigan Association of School Administrators, Detroit, MI, September 16,
1965" of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R.
Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Digitized from Box D18 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
ADDRESS BY REPRESENTATIVE GERALD R. FORD, REPUBLICAN FLOOR LEADER, U. S.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, BEFORE MICHIGAN ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL
BOARDS AND MICHIGAN ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS,
DETROIT, MICHIGAN, SEPTEMBER 16, 1965
I am pleased to be able to discuss "Education -- Whose Responsibility?"
with a group of Michigan citizens whose task it is to formulate basic educational
policies for our state.
Before I discuss the issues and comment on action by the Congress in
this session, I want to lay before you my biases and prejudices. They would
soon be evident anyway, and I want to tell you frankly that I am biased and
prejudiced.
I am biased to the proposition that our schools are the primary interest
and responsibility of the people of the local community and that they belong
primarily to the folks they serve.
My prejudices tell me that the more local interest and control we have,
the better off we are.
This means the right to experiment with radical new ideas. It also
means the right to run an old-fashioned school with the major emphasis on the
three R's. It includes the right to be different and the right to make mistakes.
GERALD
LIBRARY
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I am prejudiced in favor of folks like the Amish who can be different
in an age of conformity, and I'd let them live in peace in our state.
I am prejudiced against complete control of education by educationalists
-- especially the educationalists in the enormous federal bureaucracy.
I am prejudiced against dictation from Washington on state and local
educational policies and on the massive, lump-sum use of funds for education.
I am addicted to the view that the basic task of the school is to
teach, that the primary responsibility of education is to educate. I want
my youngsters to learn and to learn from competent, responsible teachers who
respect the mores of the community they serve.
I have a bias in favor of my country, of the people of America, of
the virtues of patriotism old-fashioned patriotism if you will. I am
prejudiced against bearded beatniks, student revolutionaries, and school
officials who knuckle down to their demands.
I have a bias in favor of law and order, of respect for authority,
and of due process of law. I have a prejudice against the theory that I need
to obey only those laws which I think are just.
FORD is LIBRARY GERALD r
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Now that I have confessed my prejudices and biases, I want to discuss
briefly the two major education bills considered by the House of Representatives
this year. The first one I voted against. The second I supported.
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, which became law
on April 11, authorizes more than $1.5 billion in federal school aid. I opposed
the bill because it was riddled with deficiencies.
We were told that the bill was to broaden and strengthen "public
school programs in the schools where there are concentrations of educationally
disadvantaged children." This is a worthy thought.
Ignored by sponsors of the bill were the mechanics for spreading the
public money among school districts.
Distribution of funds under the program will be extremely wasteful
and inequitable. The wealthiest counties will receive millions of dollars
in federal aid. Some of the poorest areas will receive relatively little
assistance.
GERALD'S
Westchester County, New York, is rich. More than 36 per cent of the
families there have incomes higher than $10,000. Less than 8 per cent receive
under $3,000 a year. Only 3 per cent, or 6,210 of all school-age children
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come from families having an income of $2,000, or less.
At the other end of the economic line is Sunflower County, Mississippi.
That southern community has almost as many families as does Westchester County,
New York, with less than $2,000 income. Yet, this group has 42 per cent of all
school-age children. Furthermore, more than 68 per cent of Sunflower County's
families have an income of less than $3,000 a year.
How does the new federal aid to education law affect wealthy Westchester
and impoverished Sunflower?
Prosperous Westchester gets more than $2 million. Poor Sunflower
receives only $745,173.
Nationally, the effect of the school aid law is even more tilted in
the wrong direction.
Under the formula, the 10 wealthiest counties in America receive more
than $8.9 million during the first year. The 10 poorest counties get only
$4.5 million.
State officials are helpless to correct the situation under the terms
FORD
of the law. They have no authority to funnel more funds into the areas of
1017
their states where there is the greatest need to help educationally disadvantaged
children.
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Your experience in education has demonstrated, I'm sure, that it is
extremely difficult to make up for a pre-school deficiency.
If this legislation were truly to aid "disadvantaged children", it
should have included help in this area.
Yet, the new federal aid law fails to include pre-school training
among its provisions.
The law ignores thousands of children living in economically-distressed
and socially-deprived areas where studies show that irreparable damage of
pre-school retardation is extremely acute.
Among other deficiencies and weaknesses in the law are very dangerous
provisions opening the way to direct and far-reaching intrusion of federal
authority in local school systems.
The law permits the U.S. Commissioner of Education to establish
so-called joint federal and local schools and facilities using all federal
funds without the approval of a state education agency. This revolutionary
procedure (the iron fist of Washington bureaucracy, if you will) by-passes
state authorities and puts the federal officials directly in the local
superintendent's office.
GERALD FORD
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- 6 -
Under this law federal educational authorities stretch their tenacles
into the area of purchasing textbooks and library materials. No language in
the law guards against subsequent federal controls on what should be a local
responsibility and right.
Unfortunately, this law will provide millions of dollars in federal
aid without regard to the real need and to where it actually exists.
It seems to me that this law will radically change our historic
structure of education by stealthily shifting power to the federal level.
Some of us in the Congress had proposed and endorsed a responsible
and workable alternative to the bill which became law.
It was a fair and equitable plan to help all who bear the costs of
education.
This bill authorized $300 million for use by the states to improve
education of children 3 to 7 years old from families with incomes of less
than $3,000. States would have used most of the money in areas having most
eligible children.
A tax-credit provision was a major part of the bill. Anyone, including
renters, paying federal income taxes would have been given a credit up
LIBRARY 07-139 8
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one-half of any state or local school taxes he paid with a ceiling credit of
$100. This plan would ease the burden of school property taxes, and would also
include that portion of sales taxes going for schools.
Or, if the individual wished, he could take a tax credit of $50 for
each student listed as a dependent up to a total of $200.
Also under the alternative proposal which I endorsed, a person paying
college expenses for himself or a dependent could have received a tax credit
up to $325 for each student for the cost of tuition, books, and other expenses.
To remove any basis for the allegation that this tax credit plan favors
those in the higher income brackets, the bill provided that if the tax credit
of a given person is greater than his tax, he would receive a payment from the
Treasury equal to the difference between his federal income tax and his tax
credit.
All of this points up what all of us know to be a major issue in
education today: Who pays? Who foots the bill? And more specifically, who
determines what money shall be available in each local community or throughout
the state for our educational program?
FORD is LIBRARY FERALD
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In Michigan, education is supported primarily through the local property
tax and the state sales tax. If we transfer the cost of education to the
federal level, the cost will be met primarily through the graduated income
tax. I am not at this point making any comments on or reference to the question
of whether Michigan should adopt a state income tax. But I do want to point
out certain factors relative to the local property tax and the federal income
tax as they bear upon a local educational program.
I hold no special brief for the property tax. I know that it can be
unfair and often work a hardship on certain individuals. There is little
connection today between the property tax and the individual's ability to pay.
But this much can be said in support of property tax: The individual taxpayers
in the local community know what they are paying and what they are getting.
When you call for a special vote in your district on a bond issue or on
operating funds, each taxpayer who goes to the polls will know how much more
he is going to have to pay and what he can expect to get. He then can make
a sound and personal decision in the voting place. If he votes "yes" and the
issue passes, he knows that the community is going to have a new building, or
that additional teachers will be hired, but he also knows that his tax
GER bill GERALD LIBRARY
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will be higher. As he hands over his money to the treasurer, he is personally
involved.
If, on the other hand, these additional funds can be obtained from
the federal treasury, collected through the graduated income tax, it is
impossible for the individual taxpayer to see the connection between what he
pays and what he gets. In fact, in many instances if his income is lowered,
he may pay less taxes although his school district may get more money from
the federal treasury. There is no personal involvement; there is no direct
connection between what he pays and what he gets.
It is much easier to do it this way, but I raise a more fundamental
question: Is this the better way? I think that if the schools are really to
belong to the people they serve, there must be a cost-benefit relationship
which can be noted and felt.
Now because we recognize fully the high cost of modern education and
the limitation of the personal property tax, it seems to me that the alternative
plan which I described above involving tax credits is a happy solution to the
immediate problem. We maintain the cost-benefit relationship and keep local
is LIBRARY GERALD
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control, and at the same time give tax relief to those who bear the burdens
of educational expenses.
Turning now to August 26th of this year, I recall that the House
of Representatives overwhelmingly and in a bi-partisan atmosphere approved
legislation to assist higher education. I voted in favor of that bill.
The major purpose of this legislation is to overcome, or at least
to help solve, some of the problems linked with the incredible growth of
the American college population.
As existing higher education facilities have become over-crowded,
and as new institutions have mushroomed across the country, academic quality
has often been sacrificed for the sake of growth.
The bill is designed to:
* Encourage institutions of higher learning to help solve urban
and suburban problems by establishing a program of federal support
for college and university community service projects.
* Upgrade college libraries through grants.
* Improve library services in general by establishing research
and training programs.
BERALD FORD (BRAR)
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* Assist struggling colleges by financing cooperative programs.
* Establish a national teaching fellowship program to attract
outstanding young scholars to pursue their education.
*
Provide educational opportunity grants to exceptionally needy
students by offering reduced-interest loans, and extending and
liberalizing the college work-study program, and to
* Ease the pressure of over-crowded facilities.
There is a basic and important difference between providing federal
aid to elementary and secondary schools and assisting higher education to
meet its growing responsibilities.
The difference is an ominous sounding phrase -- "federal control at
the local level."
Unlike secondary schools, institutions of higher education generally
enroll students from widely-scattered areas of the country. They represent
national, rather than local, interests.
Also, the facts are that a larger proportion of our young people is
going to colleges and universities, and this places a special burden on higher
education facilities which calls for more than local or state action.
GERALD
ABRARY
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Federal aid to higher education emphasizes the development of these
facilities both in size and in quality. And, I stress the word "quality".
I believe we can agree that higher education is no longer a luxury --
only for the rich but rather is a necessity, not to provide degrees, but to
develop well-prepared men and women to serve our nation and its people.
By providing federal assistance to higher education, we give thousands
of young men and young women the opportunity to develop their talents, skills,
and aptitudes fully. Our communities, our country, and the free world will be
the beneficiaries.
In a concluding footnote, I want to discuss briefly another important
role for strengthening our educational efforts.
First, let me say that the growing lack of respect for law and due
process, and the unwillingness of many to resolve differences by established
legal means is disquieting.
We are aware of the symptoms, some of which are found among the younger
members of our society.
I speak of one symptom which unfortunately has displayed itself on a
very small number of college and university campuses. It is the growing
GERA R. use FORD LIBRARY
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of coercion in forms ranging from demonstrations to sit-ins and mobs carrying
irresponsible messages on placards. These methods have been used as a means
of asserting rights or political views.
The same spirit has invaded certain high schools and even elementary
schools. A couple of weeks ago there was a picture on the front page of the
WASHINGTON POST showing a group of high school youngsters with placards
protesting the high school rules concerning boys' hairdos. My immediate reaction
was rather than feature these boys on the front page of a great metropolitan
newspaper, someone should have taken them to the proverbial woodshed for the
proverbial purpose. But, I suppose we can say these youngsters were simply
aping others in exercising their "rights" and the methods which go along with
the self-asserted rights.
Although many who use such methods may do so sincerely and in the name
of morality and justice, there is one common denominator. This is a disregard
of the orderly means of exercising rights, attaining goals, or influencing
decisions.
It is frightening when these attitudes and techniques tend to escalate
GERAL
ABRARY
spreading geographically and in number.
(more)
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Now, we all recognize that the right of dissent is a vital part of our
American heritage. So too are the rights to assemble, to protest, to petition,
and to test the validity of challenged laws or regulations. But law-abiding
citizens also have a right to peace and stability. Properly designated officials
have the right to exercise lawful and reasonable authority.
An orderly society cannot exist if every man may determine which laws
he will obey, and if the techniques of coercion supplant due process in the
courts and in the legislative halls.
Among the responsibilities of education, it seems to me, is the indoctri-
nation of students with the concept of responsible dissent, with the meaning of
responsible citizenship, with a respect for constructive and lawful means for
the redress of wrongs.
Our homes, schools, and colleges have the task of helping to produce an
earnest, honest, patriotic, kind-spirited multitude for today. Herein lies our
hopes to prevent the fanatical, threatening, lawless mob of tomorrow.
Speaking to audiences in more than 35 states since the past January,
I have visited college and university campuses. Everywhere I have found among
faculties a dedication to high professional standards, a recognition
GERA of public (BRART
responsibility, and a deep pride in the teaching profession.
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I also have found, with only rare exceptions, students seeking to
fulfill their capacities for intellectual and personal development with
enthusiasm, dedication, mental and moral courage.
Such fulfillment returns an untold contribution to our society in
economic, scientific, cultural, and social benefits.
As Benjamin Franklin so well said long ago, "an investment in
knowledge pays the best interest."
I am proud of Michigan's schools and colleges. I think the school
systems which you folks represent and operate are excelled by none in our
country. I want to maintain that record. We have achieved this degree of
excellence through the cooperative efforts of our citizens, our boards of
education, our school administrators, and classroom teachers. We can continue,
and we can improve our system without further federal interference by showing
that initiative, ingenuity, and determination of which we in Michigan are
capable.
The very nature of federal aid must mean federal control. If we are
to be free to operate our schools in our own way, we must look to ourselves
GERALD LIGARAY
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and to a fair system of tax credits which will ease the burden of the local
taxpayer. This will produce the greatest degree of local autonomy while
maintaining financial stability and effecting a fair distribution of the
tax burden. It will save us from the fatal illness of Potomac Paternalism.
& LIBRARY GERALD