Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-03-04

Provision for such use of pu
Education Commission proposals
grafton in public schools.
The first constitutional con-
Vention since World War II will
meet in the historic hall of the
House Of Delegates, now used
mostly as shrine. in the State
Capitol.
Some little furry over the
seating OF one delegate appears
likely, and there may be some
debate over whether to make the
proposed change a matter Of
local option. But few persons
doubt the ultimate outcome of
the conventions deliberations: It
will change the Constitution as
recommended by the Gray Com
mission.
Virtually all the delegates
campaigned for election to the
convention on the basis Of sup
porting the proposed change.
The Gray Plan
The Gray Commission, after
Is months of mulling over the
subject in secret gatherings,
came up with a program for
avoiding integration in the
schools that had two main
points. One is the recommended
ton that pupils be assigned for
reasons other than race, such
as aptitude. location and schol-
arship. Changes in the law to
effect this can be made by the
Legislature.
The other recommendation
was for private schooling-with
State funds-if this becomes
necessary to avoid mixing of the
races and some parents object
to indignation. This requires a
change in Section 141 of the
State Constitution as a result
of a Virginia Supreme Court
opinion last fall.
That opinion came in a case
testing the legality of the States
practice of paying toward the
schooling in private schools of
certain war orphans. The court
ruled State funds could not be
used.
Referendum in January
BY vote of more than 2 to
on January 8 Virginia voters au-
thorized the calling Of Mondays
convention. The State wide vote
was heavy and followed an in
tense campaign on both sides
of the question, opponents ar
guing such change would en-
danger the existence of the free
public school system.
The convention will have the
authority to revise Section 141
ito permit the General Assembly
and the governing bodies of the
several counties, cities and towns
to appropriate funds for educa-
tional purposes which may be ex-
pended in furtherance of ele-I
mentary, secondary, collegiate
and graduate education of Vir-
ginia students in public and non
sectarian private schools and in
situations of learning in addition
to those owned or exclusively
controlled by the State or any
such county, city or town"
Since the ''nonsectarian" pro.E
vision is there and elsewhere in
the Constitution, it appears some
phases of the already-existing
programs of aid cannot be re-
stored, even after the Constitu-
ton is changed. The program
most seriously affected will be
teacher scholarships.
State Department of Educa-
ton officials say about 400
scholarships (about one-third of
the totsD have been awarded to
students attending sectarian
schools. These officials have not
decided what to do about that
situation.
Recently some of the urgency
for enactment of the Gray plan
has been lacking among organi-
cation leaders in the General
Assembly. A resolution intro
duced by House Speaker E.
Blackburn Moore and passed by
the House last week would delay
augmentation of the Gray
plan and put the Assembly on
record as favoring segregation
for the next school year.
The Gray plan emissions the