Federal Aid to Education

Report Outline
Proposal for Federal Aid to Schools
Public Education: Needs and Resources
Questions Raised by Federal Aid Proposals

Proposal for Federal Aid to Schools

Educational opportunities for children throughout the United States will be brought up to a minimum standard if the 81st Congress enacts legislation similar to the Educational Finance bill which passed the Senate in April 1948. President Truman has repeatedly urged adoption of such a law. The 1948 Democratic platform said:

We advocate federal aid for education administered by and under the control of the states. We vigorously support the authorization which was so shockingly ignored by the Republican 80th Congress for the appropriation of $300,000,000 as a beginning of federal aid to the states to assist them in meeting the present education needs. We insist upon the right of every American child to obtain a good education.

Sen. Aiken (R., Vt.), chairman of the subcommittee which handled the Senate bill, assured Truman after the election that he could count on the support of liberal Republicans for federal aid to education. Sen. Morse (R., Ore.) told the 1948 convention of the National Education Association that in his opinion the Republican plank declaring support for “equality of educational opportunty for all and the promotion of education and educational facilities” meant that the G.O.P. favors aid to elementary and secondary education by the national government.