Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-27
Congress OKs
District Budget
|OfS1SO Million
BillGoes to President;
100 More Teachers
included in Measure
BY DON S. WARREN

1
The House and Senate today
approved conference report on
the regular District budget for
the year beginning July /, pro-
viding for the employment OF
100 more teachers in the ele-
mentary schools.
The measure now goes to the
White House. calling for an out
lay of $181.612.49O, a compro-
mise between the original House
and Senate figures.
The compromise deal, adopted
overnight, was passed quickly in
the House at the opening of its
session and was approved a little
later in the Senate without any
argument or objection.
This is a major victory for
parents and teachers and school
officials who insisted that at
least that many more were
needed for their elementary
schools and there should be no
taking of teacher funds from
junior and senior high schools.
1t also is a victory for the
Senate Appropriations Subcom-
mittee in charge Of the bill,
headed by Senator Stennis, Dem
ocrat of Mississippi. The Sem
ate committee rejected the idea
of taking funds from the secon-
dairy schools in order to finance
the cost of hiring more for the
primary schools.
The conference agreement, as
passed by the House, calls for a
spending program in the year
beginning July of $181, 612,490,
a compromise between the origi-
nal House and Senate figures.
The Senate yielded on it's call
for an expenditure Of $4,000 to
make a complete census of the
school population. This means
that the District viii stay on its
present program of making spot
checks to gauge school popula-
ton, instead of doing it all at
once.
To finance the extra school
teachers and for repairs to
school buildings and certain
other operations, the Senate had
proposed that the District be
directed to take 100000 from
the Motor Vehicle Parking Fund
The House objected to this. In
the conference between the
House and the Senate. this went
out. The extra teachers provided
for under the conference agree
ment will come from direct APP
preparations.
The Commissioners originally
had agreed to the employment
lof only 40 more elementary
teachers. They later revised
their estimates because of re.
ports of increased enrolment
beginning next September. The
House provided funds for the
employment of rs more elemen-
ltary teachers but added a pro-
vision that SO more might be
provided by transfer of funds
flor teachers salaries from sec.
ondary schools to the elemen-
Itary schools. That philosophy
was rejected by the Senate APP
preparations Committee.
House Yields
The Senate provided for 13C
more elementary teachers with
out any transfer of funds from
secondary to primary schools
1t won that argument, for spokes-
men for both the House and
Senate said the House had yielded
on that point.
House and Senate arrived al
compromises on oother items as
expected.
An important matter is yet
to be settled. This is what
Congress will do with the supple
mental district appropriation
bill, providing for many public
Improvements that could not be
included in the regular appro-
lpriation bill because when il
was submitted last January the
District did not then have the
money to finance them.
The supplemental bill also in
cludes a proposal to raise the
Districts Federal payment from
1920 million to $23 million. There
are some reports that key men,
bers of the House will not &c
along with this increase although
it was authorized earlier this
year when Congress adopted q
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