Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-06
$182 Million
Outlay Covers
New Teachers
BY DON S. WARREN

Dy OON .. WAhhEN
House and Senate conferees
are expected to meet within the
next few days to iron out diff
ferences between the House and
Senate over the big 1857 District
Appropriations bill. The Senate
version calls for an outlay Of
nearly $182 million for the year
beginning July /. afs
Major disagreements between
the two bodies-which Sh01ld
not take too long to solyesLcon-
Germ the critical public school
situation.
The Senate bill calls for funds
for the provision of 100 new ele-
Imentary teachers, with no
Ichargeoff against funds for
junior and senior high school
pupils. fl
1t also calls for use of con-
gressional funds to finance a
comprehensive survey of the
space, teacher and other prob
lens of the public school system.
After the measure was swept
to Senate passage, the Senate
voted to insist on its amend
ments and asked that the House
name conferees to meet with the
Senate managers.
| Only one change was made by
the Senate in the bill as it came
from the Senate Appropriations
Committee. This was an amend
ment offered by Senator Dirk
sen, Republican of Illinois. It
added $5,440 to funds for the
regulatory agencies. taf
Senator Dirksen said the S.
$40 would provide for employ
Iment of a technical co-ordinator
on the staff of the coming COM
mission. ~a
The amendment was accepted
by Senator Stennis, Democrat of
Mississippi, chairman of the APP
preparations Subcommittee in
charge of the District supply
bill. 1t then was adopted by the
Senate without a question.
/ Only a formal explanation Of
the bill was made by Senator
Stennis. He quoted various sec
lions from the official report
adopted by the Senate Appro-
Ipriations Committee.
ClassrOOms Needs Cited
These sections stressed the
acute classroom needs of the
school system and emphasized
! the need for more elementary
school teachers than had been
recommended by the Commits
sioners or approved by the House.
The House provided for en-
Iployment of rs additional ele-
mentary teachers to take care Of
an increase in school poplila-
ton and to reduce some ofAthe
iovercrowded conditions in many
of the schools. The House also
directed that funds for so junior
and senior high school teachers
be transferred to elementary
needs so as to provide an overall
total of 125 more teachers for
the primary schools.
Originally. the Commissioners
said the District budget would
stand no more than 40 addi-
Itional elementary teachers.
4 The Senate adopted the STEM
mis- subcommittee position, re-
jected the idea of transferring
funds for secondary schools to
the elementaries and provided
funds for 1870 new elementary,
teachers.
Cites Indignation Impact
I Because of conflict and con-
fusion on the whole issue, the
Stennis subcommittee recon-
mended and the Senate yester-
day approved a comprehensive
survey of the school problem by
ian individual or organization in
dependent of both school au-
liberties and District officials.
Senator Stennis told the Senate
this would include the problem
of school space as we'll as other
needs" H
Another provision of the bill
as passed by the Senate is $75.-
900 for a complete school census.
The bill provides for a Federal
payment of $50 million. the same
as allowed by the House. Sena-
tor Stennis emphasized, however.
that since Congress earlier this
year had passed a new revenue
law after the submission of
budget estimates, the Commits
sioners were expected to submit
supplemental appropriation re-
quests including a call for So
million more on the Federal
share.
! Cautions on Apparent Surplus
j Senator Stennis brought out
that under the bill as passed yes
terday it would appear there
would be a surplus on June 80,
1857, of little more than $40
million. But he cautioned that
with the delayed submission Of a
public works supplemental bill
the District faced the problem
Of meeting additional obligations
of about SIP million.
To meet this, he said, the
Commissioners would ask for the
full $23 million Federal payment
and increase the real estate tax
rate from 1920 to $3.50 per 500
of assessed valuation.
One Of the more important
differences between the Senate
and House bills is that the Sem
ate provided 1928 million for
operating expenses of the public
schools, or S459,950 more than
the House.
The Senate bill also author
ICES a Federal appropriation Of
$350.00O to cover estimated cost
Of construction Of a fishway lad