Dr. NORTON. In the percentage of children in school and the way in which they attend; yes. Senator JOHNSTON. As an actual thing you will find the average attendance down where you find education has been carried along on a cheap basis? CHART 3 - DISTRIBUTION OF CLASSROOM UNITS ACCORDING TO LEVELS OF EXPENDITURE 100% MISSISSIPPI CURRENT EXPENDITURE PER CLASSROOM UNIT $500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 5,000 5,500 6,000 PERCENTAGE OF CLASSROOM UNITS $500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 5,000 5,500 6,000 Dr. NORTON. That is right. I would like to pause at this moment to say something about the question that was raised a moment ago, as to the cost of educating children in different areas or different parts of the country. We made some study, not a thorough study, of that factor in this investigation, but enough to justify this conclusion, that it is true that there is some difference in what a dollar will buy in education in some territories and areas of the country as opposed to others, but it can also be said that there is a general tendency to overestimate the importance of this factor. We went into the cost-of-living studies made by the Federal Government with reference to their employees. We studied the data of the Federal census with reference to amounts paid in different sections for various types of workers and laborers, all the way from the professional worker down to the common laborer. Our conclusion can be summed up something like this; that at the extremes the difference is not 2 to 1 or 3 to 1 or 4 to 1, or anything like that, as to what a dollar will buy in terms of education in a highexpenditure State as compared with a low-cost State. What a dollar will buy in education in a low-expenditure State is some 20 or 30 percent more than in a high-cost-of-living State, rather than two, three, or four times as much. At that point we did not go further with our study of the factor of purchasing power of the dollar, of cost of living, as it bears on this study, for the reason that the extremes in the level of educational support of 60 to 1 are so great, and there are so many school districts that are so pitifully low in the amount available to support them, that differences such as 1 to 1.3, due to the factor of cost of living are relatively unimportant. It may be that 20 or 30 years from now, when we will do much better than we do now for our children in seeing that all of them have an educational opportunity that is reasonably commensurate with American ideals, that the costof-living factor will be an important one to take account of in comparing school costs. At the present time we think that this is a relatively unimportant factor. Select, for example, any figure you would like to, and ask, even in the communities where the cost of living is low, what is the minimum amount that would be necessary to educate a child? Some of you might say $1,500; even in rural low-cost areas there ought to be at least $1,500 back of every classroom. Or take $1,000 or even $600. It matters not where you place the figure, there are still millions of children, literally millions of children below any reasonable minimum you might select. Until we take care of these educational slums, where the cost is so pitifully low that adequate educational provision cannot be made, the factor of cost of living as it affects school costs may be disregarded. Now, going further, we will present charts for some of the other States. Chart 4 is for California, a wealthy State, which makes substantial provision for the support of its schools. Here you have the Los Angeles area [indicating] at the $3,900 level. The lowest level of support per classroom is above $1,200, and the highest going up to $6,000 and above. Senator HILL. Doctor, before you leave California, I imagine somewhere in your charts and I do not want to interrupt your logical presentation of the subject-you will give the relative position of the State with reference to the education of their children. For instance, the State of California has, in proportion to its population, the smallest number of children of any other State in the Union. Dr. NORTON. I have a chart which I will present later, showing proportion of children to population by States. In chart 5, for Alabama, we find a very thin financial foundation upon which education_rests in that State. Compare California, chart 4, with a substantial financial foundation for education. One State begins practically where the other leaves off. In Alabama very few school districts have as much as PERCENTAGE OF CLASSROOM UNITS FEDERAL AID FOR EDUCATION CHART 5-DISTRIBUTION OF CLASSROOM UNITS ACCORDING TO LEVELS OF EXPENDITURE ALABAMA CURRENT EXPENDITURE PER CLASSROOM UNIT $580 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 5,000 5,500 6,000 100 90 70 60 64.85 1400-1599 1.814 85 .34 60.34 1300-1399 5.027 206 84 60.00 1200-1299 42.152 1,794 7.29 59.10 WHITE 1100-1199 26.144 1.115 4.53 51.87 1000-1099 14,312 29 2.56 47.34 NEGRO 900-999 27,624 1,172 4.77 44.78 800-899 1.471 3,111 12.65 40.01 700-199 135.989 5,934 24.12 27.36 600-699 16,232 703 2.86 3.24 .05 35.12 30 500- 599 232 33.408 1.359 5.52 35.07 400-499 10.946 525 2.14 29.55 300-399 55.456 2,490 10.12 27.41 200-299 65.556 2.968 12.07 17.29 29.152 1,284 195,197 8,640 5.22 5.22 35.15 20 10 $500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 5,000 5,500 6,000 $1,700 per classroom unit, which is only just above the national median of $1,600. In this State (California) all except a small fraction down here [indicating] are above the national median of $1,600. Chart 6 is for the State of North Dakota, a northern State. It shows rather meager provision for education; a thin profile as compared with the State of California, for example. Illinois, chart 7, shows a State in which average support is at a fairly good figure, but the extremes are very good. Some of the more favored districts in the Chicago region go up to $6,000 a classroom as compared with some in southern Illinois, where the glacier did not go far enough to make good soil, which are financed at less than $500 per classroom. Here is Chicago, the long vertical line near the top, financed at $3,200 per classroom unit. PERCENTAGE OF CLASSROOM UNITS CHART 4 - 100% 90 80 70 60 DISTRIBUTION OF CLASSROOM UNITS ACCORDING TO LEVELS OF EXPENDITURE CALIFORNIA CURRENT EXPENDITURE PER CLASSROOM UNIT $500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 5,000 5,500 6,000 $500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 5,000 5,500 6,000 I will not take time to present the charts for the other States. The charts for the other States are being given to the reporter with the request that they be reproduced in the report of this hearing at this point, as charts 8 to 50 inclusive. Senator MORSE. May I ask about the District of Columbia? Dr. NORTON. Yes, the median support per classroom unit, as defined in this study, is $3,200 in the District of Columbia. In chart 51 we summarize the picture with reference to the median level of support in the various States. New York, $4,100; California, $3,500; New Jersey and the District of Columbia, $3,200; Connecticut, $2,500; Massachusetts, $2,400 and so on down until at the bottom of the chart we have $400, $500, $700 for Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky and Alabama, respectively. DISTRIBUTION OF CLASSROOM UNITS ACCORDING TO LEVELS OF EXPENDITURE NORTH DAKOTA CURRENT EXPENDITURE PER CLASSROOM UNIT 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 5,000 5,500 6,000 $500 100% 90 80 70 60 50 TOTAL 50 30 20 10 0 $500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 5,000 5,500 6,000 Senator GUFFEY. Will you show me where Pennsylvania comes in there? Dr. NORTON. Pennsylvania is here at $2,000. Is there any other States any of you would like to have information on? The extremes are $400 to $4,100, or a 10 to 1 difference. Senator JOHNSTON. What year was that chart based on? Dr. NORTON. All of these figures are based on the school year 1939-40. We chose the school year 1939-40 in order to have a year that would be after the full effects of the depression were over and one that would represent data before the inflationary effects of the war period had come. I might say, however, that in terms of adequacy to maintain education the money now available in most States is less adequate than it was in 1939-40. The rise in the price |