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House Will Act Soon on Bill Continuing Urban School Aid A bill extending for five years the most important federal program for urban schools -- the Elementary and Secondary Education Act -- is ready for debate in the House. ·The Education and Labor Committee of the House approved the bill (HR 514) March 18. The cities look to Title I of the Act for money to support compensatory programs for their disadvantaged children. Title I distributes federal appropriations directly to school districts that have large numbers of children from low-income families, urban and rural. In reporting the bill to the House the Education Committee over rode the request of HEW Secretary Robert H. Finch for only a twoyear extension of the Act. He said the Nixon Administration needed time to study proposed changes in the Act and in the meantime, a two-year extension through June 1972 would provide adequate continuity for present programs. Most committee Republicans supported Finch's request and promised to fight the fiveyear extension when the bill is debated in the House. Two changes affecting urban schools were recommended by the committee. One would make about $ 300 million more a yea r available to school districts in which there is considerable public housing. The other amendment calls for participation by pa r ents and communi ty groups in the planning of Title I school projects. I nad equate Fund ing Throu ghout the commit tee hearings on HR 514, the bi ll ' s spons o r, Commi t t e e Cha irman Car l D. Perkins (D Ky.), pointed out the n eed f o r l arge r a p p r o pri a t ions for Title I of the Act . Hi s c omContinue d on Pa g e 2 ACTION COUNCIL LETTER LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN OF THE URBAN COALITION ACTION COUNCIL March 25, 1969 -- Vol. I, No. 3 States Hold Back Anti-Crime Funds from Cities, Report Says Where are crime problems the most serious? Under the Omnibus Crime Control Act of 1968, American Samoa gets $3.54 per capita and Vermont 31¢ per capita, while New York and California receive 7¢ per citizen. Similarly, a rural Georgia county gets 14¢ per capita while the metropolitan Atlanta region receives less than 3¢. These are figures produced in a study of the Crime Control Act in operation, released by the National League of Cities March 18. When Cong r e ss pass e d the Ac t last year, it directed that most of the funds go to the states in block grants, to be distributed according to plans drawn up by a state agency. Urban groups urged in vain that most of the money go directl y to the 370 cities with population ove r 50 , 000 , where c r ime is t he most prev ale n t . The League of Cities r epo rt say s that i n s t ead of focu s ing dollars on t h e prob l e ms o f crime i n the s t reets , pla nn i ng f u nd s a r e thi n l y spread a mo n g r ural a nd urb a n a r eas and "di ss ipated" among t hre e levels o f b u r e aucr a cy. The Action Council Letter reports legislative developments 1n the urban field . It is published by the Urban Coa lition Action Council, which seeks needed urban legislation . �Continued from Page 1 mittee is responsible for authorizing the education programs, but the amount of money that actually goes out to the schools is determined primarily by the separate Appropriations Committees of the House and Senate. Under the present law about $2.5 billion a year is authorized for Title I grants but Congress has appropriated only $1.1 billion. In fact, last year's appropriation was $68 million less than the previous year's, while the number of children eligible for the programs was increasing, and so were education costs. Rep. Perkins has pointe d out that in the f irst three years of Title I, the appropriations per child have decreased from $210 to $170. Some school superintendents told the House committee that an effective, comprehensive program for disadvantaged children would need $600 per child. A new federal program to help local school districts prevent teenagers from dropping out of school has proved popular. In fact, 356 proposals h ave been submitted t o the Off ice o f Education, of which only 5 can be funded. There is $30 million authorized for drop-out prevention programs, but Congress has appropriated only $5 million. The f unds will be granted for innovative plans that show unusual promise of success in pre venting drop-outs. The budget submitted by Pres ident Johnson before leaving office proposes $24 million for the program in the nex t fiscal year. The 356 proposals submitted to the Office of Education would cost $68 million. HEW estimates that of children who entered 9th grade in 1967, 23%, or 900,000, will drop out before graduating from high school. Rep. Ca rl D. Perkins (D Ky.) and his Education and La_bor Comm ittee are moving ahead with elementary educat ion, school lunch and poverty leg islation. Bill to Improve School Lunch Program Is Passed by House For the second year in a row, the House is trying to increase the number of needy children who get free or reduced-price lunches through the school lunch program . As it did last year, the House passed without opposition March 20 a bill (HR 515) to require all states to put some of their tax money into school lunches . Presently, some states contribute nothing to the program, requiring the children and local schools to put up all of the money needed to match federal funds on a 3 to 1 basis. Last year, spurred by publication of a report by the private Committee on School Lunch Participation showing that less than 2 million of some 6 million needy school children got reduced - price lunches (see chart), the House �Free School Lunches Free lunches I ( doily a ve rage) Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Ka nsas Kentuck.y Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana 3 Neb raska Neva da New Hampshire Ne w Je rsey New Me xico New York North Caroli na North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Ore gon Pe nnsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyomi ng Total 77,000 7,000 25,423 70,2 13 0 13,533 4 ,9 14 2, 180 16,759 117,550 107,847 4 ,752 1,880 29,285 15,939 8,656 8,564 80,00 69,260 6 ,480 10 ,294 24 ,911 60,000 10,000 34 ,671 30,000 (3) Needy childre n 2 not rece iving free lu nch 165,5 22 976 39,348 146,219 0 51 ,833 34, 129 4,368 0 105,249 230,273 9,583 12,764 230,757 134,061 113,650 85,640 __2-_Ql , 9 45 13 1,830 38,520 44,711 52,581 129,900 124 ,111 220 ,232 95,159 '(3) 8, 180 1,750 3,245 7,010 32,432 400,000 163,607 3, 185 33,486 25,000 3 ,61 4 8 ,781 3,488 117,38 2 7,200 71 ,100 88,000 14,641 2,600 6 ,787 10 ,000 30,525 11 ,000 752 54,456 4,750 4 ,969 52,835 30,281 200,000 324,068 22,901 9 1,571 72,779 42,714 247,491 16,886 179, 174 25,656 154, 129 3 15,2 16 3 ,559 12,696 182,213 40,000 72,547 11 4,922 5,3 17 1,890,876 4,674,491 I Numb er of free or reduci'd· price lu nches. 2 Need., chddren were those of O#"·" 5 to 17. from hnm e.-. wit h les,fi than °J.000 annual 111com P. .1 No figure" were a vailable from stal e ,o;chool lunc·h authnrit1 e.-.. whn !;upplied information for the surney. Howet:er, a citiuns Committee on School lunch Partici{XJt1011 April 16 r eport Pd that M ontana had J6.9iH ...dwnl-aJ.fP ch ildren from familie.,; earnin,: $2,()(J() a \'ear or r P<·eiuinµ welfare aid. f Jnl ,· 6, /60 reu•if.Jed free or redu<.·ed -pr,ce lunch e.-. SOURCE : House Education a nd Labor Committee survey (H Rept 1590), June 26 , 1968 . passed a bill similar to HR 515. More importan tly, the House also passed a bi ll to add $ 1 00 million a year for meals for nee dy ch i ldr en. The Senate p a ssed neit her bill, but it d id agree t o app r o priate an extr a $ 45 million for free lunches. This year, the House Educat i on and Labor Commi ttee, which sen t HR 51 5 to the House floor , a l s o expec ts to approv e a gain the $ 100 mi ll ion free -lunch bill (HR 51 6). Wh a t wi ll b e d o ne by t he Senate Agriculture Committee, which h as jurisdiction over the schoo l lun ch pro gram, remains to be seen. Congressional Hearings Poverty -- The House Educ atio n and Labor Commi ttee has begun hearings on the Office of Economic Opportunity and its antipoverty programs. Chairman Carl D. Perkins (D Ky. ) has introduced HR 513, to extend the programs f o r five years and authorize $ 2,18 0 , 0 00,000 for the m in the fiscal y ear that begins July 1 . For the c u rre nt y ear Congress a ppropriate d $1 ,9 4 8,000,000. Ho s pitals -- Hearings on the Hill -Burton Act , held by the Publ ic Hea lth Subcommittee of the House I nter state a nd Fo re i gn Commerce Committee, are b egin ning . Two main bills are b e fo re the Sub c ommittee . HR 6797, introduced by Committee Chairman Ha r ley O. Staggers (D W.Va. ) , propo ses ma j or i nc reas e s in fund s f or h ospital con- �struction and modernization, with priority to be given, in part, to outpatient facilities in low-income metropolitan areas. The other bill, HR 7059, sponsored by high-ranking members of the Health Subcommittee, authorizes less money than Staggers' bill and does not single out urban medical needs. Medicaid, WIN Regulations Chairman Russell B. Long (D La.) of the Senate Finance Committee has said his committee intends to take "a good hard look" at regulations issued in January concerning Medicaid, welfare eligibility, the work incentive program (WIN) and others. Some of these, Long said, "run counter to Congressional intent." No plans for hearings have been announced. The regulations were issued by the Administrator of HEW's Social and Rehabilitation Serv ice, Mary E. Switzer. Long made his statement in introducing a bill to make the ne x t Administrator's appointment subject to confirmation by the Senat e . The Senate passed the bill (S 1022) March 4 and sent it to the House Ways and Means Committee. Minority Business Enterprise Coordination Is Estab lished President Nixon signed an e x ecutive order March 5 that established an Office of Minority Business Enterprise in the Department of Commerce. The office is to stimulate business ownership by minority groups and coordinate -- but not take over -- existing government programs. Secretary of Commerce Maurice H. Stans estimated there were 116 programs in 20 government agencies concerned in one way or another with helping minority enterprise. Directors of the new office were named March 13. The director is Thomas F. Roeser, who has been director of public affairs for the Quaker Oats Co. and before that, press secretary for Rep. Albert H. Quie (R Minn.). The deputy director is Abraham S. Venable, a graduate of Howard University and formerly a conciliation specialist in black-white relations for the Community Relations Service, which was a Commerce Department agency until moved to the Justice Department. In announcing the new office, Hearings Available -President Ni xon said: "Black, Congressional hearings on Mex ican-American, Puerto Ricans , t wo subjects of growing importance Indians and others must be increasingly encouraged to ente r the i n the urba n field -- income main~e na~ce ~nd the r ol e of financial field of business , both in the institu tions -:-=--w_ere _held-l at.e- in ---~ re as-whe-re they now l i v e- a nd i.n the last session of Con g r ess . the larger commercial community -Summar ies of these hea r ings , a s and not only as workers but also well as the Action Council ' s pamas managers and owne r s " ph let briefly rev iewing Urban Af · 1 fa i rs Legislation i n the 90th The Urban Coalition Action Counci l Co ngre s s , a r e a v a ilable without charge to anyone who wi shes to 1819 H St., N.W. write f o r t h em t o the Ac t ion Washingto n, D.C. 20006 Counci l . Tel : 202 293-1 530 The s umma r iz e d h e arings are: Chairman : Jahn W. Gardn er Financial Institution s and Co-Cha irmen , An drew Heiskel l A. Phil ip Ra nd olph the Urban Cri s i s . He arin gs by the Exec utive Di re ctor , Lo we ll R. Beck Senate Banking and Curr e ncy ComLegis lative Assoc iates: Joh n P. Lagomarcino Ro nald J . James mittee. Assi stant for Legis lat ive Information , Income Mainte nanc e . He a rings · Georgianna F. Rathbun by the Joint Economic Committee. ~ 31 �