Evening star., 1961-01-12
Fight Pledged
On Broad Aid
To Education

Representative Frelinghuy-
sen, Republican of New Jersey.
yesterday promised President
elect Kennedy a stiff fight II
he tries to get Congress to pass
a broad" Federal aid-to-edu-
cation bill.
The New Jersey legislator, a
veteran member Of the House
Committee on Education and
Labor. referred to a report sub
mitted recently to Mr.. Kennedy
by a task force study group
which calls for Federal aid at
the local school level.
The report, in general. says
use Of the Federal funds, -
whether for increasing teach
ers' salaries or for school con-
struction-should be left for the
most part in the hands Of the
States and localities.
Addressing a session Of the
three-day regional meeting Of
the College Entrance Examina-
ton Board at Georgetown Uni
versity, Mr.. Frelinghuysen said
the task force report is "a straw
in the wind" and "disappoint-
ing because it goes back to the
theory that the expenditure Of
X-number Of dollars on the
school situation will solve all
the evils"
No Guarantee
"It would inject the Federal
Government into the education
field on the basis Of dollars
without guaranteeing improve
ment in certain basic areas"
he added. He indicated that
an example might be school
construction, where a lack Of
classrooms is affecting educa-
ton throughout the Nation.
The Government. therefore.
should make sure that some
of the Federal money Is spent
on construction.
Mr.. Frelinghuysen also
scored the report for failure to
provide q college scholarship
plan. A scholarship plan was
cut from early legislation which
led to the passage in 1858 Of
the National Defense Education
Act. Under the NDEA, some
students and schools can OBJ
tain loans from the Govern
ment, but no grants or scholar
ships.
Not only should new legisla-
ton include a scholarship pro-
gram but the broadening Of
the NDEA loan program az
well. Mr.. Frelinghuysen said.
Referring to the difficulty in
obtaining passage Of aid-to-ed-
ucation legislation, Mr.. Freling-
huysen said Congress refuses to
provide the necessary leader
ship. He charged this to -
lack Of concern on the part Of
the public"
Though he criticized the
Kennedy task force report, he
told the gathering Of high
school counselors and college
admissions officials in the uni
versity's Foreign Service School
building that leadership in the
field Of aid to education "has
to come from the President. In
that connection he cited NDEA,
which was proposed by Presi.
dent Eisenhower.
Supporting Mr.. Frelinghuy-
sens belief that Congress
should pass a Federal scholar
ship plan was DR.. Homer D.
Babbidge, jr.. commissioner and
director OF the Division Of
Higher Education, United
States Office of Education.
There Is abundant support
for the idea Of a Federal schol-
arship fund" DR.. Babbidge de-
clared, but there is wide dis
agreement on exactly what pur-
poses 1t should serve-whether
the scholarships should be
given to financially needy stu
dents only, to students who
make high grades but are not
financially needy or both"
It is safe to say, DR.. Bab-
bidge added, that within the
foreseeable future, the Federal
Government will give direct
monetary assistance to colleges
and universities" and probably
to individual students as well.