Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2—MARCH, 1965—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
ALABAMA
State Board Delays Pledge But
Wallace Addresses Alabama Legislature
‘Bureaucratic cannibalism.'
(Continued from Page 1)
County systems—Autauga, Barbour,
Blount, Bullock, Butler, Calhoun,
Chambers, Cherokee, Chilton, Choctaw,
Clarke, Clay, Cleburne, Coffee, Colbert,
Coosa, Covington, Cullman, Dale, Dal
las, DeKalb, Elmore, Escambia, Etowah,
Fayette, Franklin, Geneva, Greene,
Hale, Henry, Houston, Jackson, Jeffer
son, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence,
Lee, Limestone. Lowndes, Macon,
Madison, Marion, Marshall, Mobile,
Monroe. Montgomery, Morgan, Perry,
Pike, Randolph, Russell, St. Clair,
Shelby, Sumter, Tallapoosa, Talladega,
Tuscaloosa, Walker, Washington, Win
ston.
City systems—Alexander City, Anda
lusia, Anniston, Athens. Admore, At-
talla, Auburn, Birmingham, Brewton,
Carbon Hill, Cullman, Daleville, De
catur, Dothan, Elba, Enterprise, Eu-
faula, Fairfield, Florence, Fort Payne,
Gadsden, Huntsville, Jacksonville,
Jasper, Lanett, Linden, Muscle Shoals,
Oneonta, Opelika, Opp. Ozark, Phenix
City, Piedmont, Roanoke, Russellville,
Scottsboro, Selma, Sheffield, Sylacauga,
Talladega, Tallassee, Thomasville, Troy,
Tuscaloosa, Tuscumbia and Windfield.
As of March 4, according to Meadows,
pledges had not been received from
the following county boards: Baldwin,
Bibb, Conecuh, Crenshaw, Marengo
and Wilcox. Among cities not reported
as having signed by March 4 were
Bessemer (see below), Demopolis,
Florala, Mountain Brook and Tarrant.
Meadows announced two junior col
leges which have signed: Northwest
Alabama Junior College and Brewton
State Junior College.
Trade schools listed included Ala
bama Institute of Aviation and Tech
nology, Alabama School of Trades,
Hamilton Trade School. Mobile Trade
School, Montgomery Trade School,
Tennessee Valley State Vocational
Trade School, Shelton State Vocational
Trade School, Manpower Training
Center (Jefferson County) and Mc
Kenzie College at Huntsville.
Denounced Requirement
Gov. George C. Wallace denounced
the HEW requirement in his address to
a special session of the Alabama legis
lature Feb. 16. He told the legislators,
called to pass on greatly expanded
appropriations for schools, that the
pledge was “bureaucratic cannibalism.”
While indicating that Alabama would
obey the law, he applauded the Besse
mer move and later called for other
states to join in challenging the HEW
Schoolmen
The Huntsville City Board of Educa
tion, while not signing the federal com
pliance form, agreed Feb. 2 to abide by
the court-approved plan of desegrega
tion under which it is now operating.
Huntsville initiated desegregation in
the fall of 1963 and has expanded it
since. The board unanimously adopted
a resolution pledging assurance that the
board will comply with the court order
and any modifications that might be
directed. The board also directed that
a certified copy of the court order be
sent to federal officials.
Joe Payne, board attorney, said: “The
board has agreed to follow the order,
so this is nothing new other than just
telling them we are and will continue
to comply with the (court) order.”
In the eight districts already desegre
gated in Alabama, there were 94 Negro
students in previously all-white schools
as the 1964-65 year began.
★ ★ ★
Slate Fund Distribution
On Racial Basis Halted
The Alabama State Board of Educa
tion has notified local school districts
that state funds no longer will be dis
tributed on a racial basis. The decision,
said State Supt. of Education Austin R.
Meadows, was made by the state board
in an effort to “proceed with deliberate
speed in bringing about the elimination
of racial discrimination in the public
schools of Alabama.”
A three-judge federal court ruled
last July (SSN, August) that the state
board had exercised general control
over local school systems, particularly
in the allocation and distribution of
funds. The cou.t urged state officials
to “promote and encourage” desegre
gation. The court warned that it might
later invalidate the distribution of state
funds to segregated systems.
requirement. (See What They Say.)
On Feb. 24, the state Department of
Pensions and Security, through its
board, voted not to sign the form pend
ing the outcome of the Bessemer test
case. School officials throughout the
state, waiting for some advice on the
controversial form, seemed to regard
this as the official policy of the state.
Some school districts, notably those
receiving impacted-areas assistance,
would be severely hampered by a fed
eral fund cutoff. State Supt. of Educa
tion Austin R. Meadows said in Jan
uary (SSN, February) that the loss of
federal funds would be crippling.
About 10 Per Cent
Overall, about 10 per cent of the
state’s school money comes from the
federal government under various pro
grams. The proportion varies widely
between districts. Even more was at
stake in the case of Pensions and Se
curity, with about 80 per cent of its
School officials, the court said,
“should now proceed to formulate and
place into effect plans designed to make
the distribution of public funds to the
various schools throughout the state
. . . only to those schools that have
proceeded with ‘deliberate speed’ in the
desegregation of their schools ... as
required by Brown v. Board of Educa
tion.”
The federal court order affecting state
funds and the federal requirement on
government funds left Alabama school
officials in a double bind.
Educators Quoted
The Anniston Star, Feb. 14, quoted
the attitude of Calhoun County educa
tors. One said: “It’s not a question of
signing or not signing the compliance
form. It is a question of whether or
not we want to lose the federal money.”
Other comments were:
“We wouldn’t have enough money to
keep the boilers hot.”
“We couldn’t operate our schools a
month on local funds alone.”
Asked whether signing wholesale de
segregation would result from signing
the HEW forms, educators had com
ments varying from “It’s a ticklish
question” to “Absolutely not.” Their
general attitude was that only a small
number of Negroes would express any
desire to attend white schools.
Asked how schools in the area came
to rely heavily on local funds, one
educator said: “We were not influenced
in any way to accept federal aid. In
fact, we tried to get it wherever avail
able in an attempt to improve our
schools.
Calhoun County receives about $1,-
009,000 in federal funds, part of it due
to the proximity of Fort McClellan and
the Anniston Army Depot. The An
niston Chamber of Commerce expressed
support of schools boards in Calhoun
County in the “difficult decision” to sign
the compliance pledge.
funds coming from the federal govern
ment.
To sign the assurance of compliance,
the Bessemer school board said, could
mean “virtual abdication over our
schools to Washington bureacuracy.”
Taking the position that the compli
ance pledge is unconstitutionally vague,
the board pointed out that the U.S. Su
preme Court struck down an act of
Congress which sought to have com
munists sign a loyalty oath.
There are three large high schools in
Bessemer and six elementary schools.
The system receives about $50,000 a
year—2.5 per cent of its budget—in
federal assistance chiefly for lunch
rooms and teacher aids. (Federal aid
for lunches is excluded from coverage
of title VI of the rights law.)
The board made it clear that a re
fusal to sign the pledge did not free
it from requirements of the Civil Rights
Act. Board members said they re
garded the compliance form as a slap
in the face—“asking us to swear we
will uphold the law which we have
already sworn to do.” They noted that
others receiving federal aid—farmers,
for instance-—are not required to sign
a statement that they will obey the
law.
“We have no assurance,” a board
spokesman said, “that signing this
vague ‘compliance’ form will end when
the objectives of the Civil Rights Act
have been obtained. This could mean
the virtual abdication over our schools
to Washington bureaucracy—we can
find nothing in the form that puts any
kind of limit on controls.
“We have no way of knowing what
form any future rules and regulations
may take—they could well include
textbooks to be taught in the class
rooms. From past experience in other
phases of our lives, we know we can
expect ever-increasing control from
Washington bureaus, and we consider
this ‘assurance of compliance’ form to
be pretty much of a blank check to the
HEW to go ahead with their controls.
If this is not the case, we would be
happy to hear it.”
Lawyers Employed
The board employed the Birmingham
law firm of Lange, Simpson, Robinson
and Summerville to determine if sign
ing the compliance form is a legal pre
requisite to obtaining federal aid for
schools.
On Feb. 22, Negroes in Bessemer
responded with a petition asking that
the board be ordered to sign the form
and calling for school desegregation.
(Bessemer has no school desegrega
tion.)
The petition was addressed to Presi
dent Johnson, Vice President Humph
rey, Attorney General Nicholas Katzen-
bach, HEW Secretary Anthony Cele-
brezze and LeRoy Collins, chairman of
the U.S. Community Relations Service.
Signed by leaders of 10 organizations,
purporting to represent “the great ma
jority” of Bessemer Negroes, the peti
tion charged that the Bessemer board
has “not taken the first step” to de
segregate schools and that the an
nounced refusal to sign the form was
another effort to “avoid complying with
the law of the land.”
The Negro petition asks that the
board be ordered to sign or that federal
funds be cut off. Further, the petition
Huntsville Renews Assurance
It Will Follow Court Order
Superintendent Sign^
requested, the Board of Education and
all other boards in Bessemer should be
required to end racial segregation “in
any manner or form”:
. . If the Bessemer school board
would permit itself to be used as a tool
to show defiance of the Supreme Court
of the U.S. as well as the U.S. Congress
which enacted the Civil Rights Act of
1964, (the government) must let the
school board know that it cannot vio
late the law with impunity.”
The school population of Bessemer is
55 per cent Negro.
★ ★ ★
Praising the Bessemer board’s chal
lenge (see What They Say), Gov.
George Wallace requested the state
Board of Pensions and Security, which
handles Alabama’s welfare program, to
refuse to sign the form until the courts
rule on the requirement. The board
voted not to sign. Pensions and Secur
ity receives 80 per cent of its funds
from the federal government.
In all, nearly 30 per cent of funds
of all kinds spent by the state comes
from federal programs.
Speculation was that, because of ad
ministrative delays, Alabama would
have time to test the law before funds
were withdrawn.
Approximately $32,000,000 in federal
school assistance is earmarked for Ala
bama next year, plus whatever addi
tional appropriations are made under
President Johnson’s proposed new as
sistance to education. Alabama’s share
of the proposal would be another $30,-
000,000.
Many of the larger school systems—
Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile,
Gadsden, Huntsville and Madison
County—already have begun desegre
gation and are under court orders to
expand it. They, plus Macon and Bul
lock counties, which have also already
made a start, would presumably be im
mune to cutoff.
About half of the school systems in
the state receive impacted aid in vary
ing amounts. Other moneys are re
ceived for vocational education, re
habilitation, etc., and under the defense
education act.
Legal Action
Desegregation Plans
And Pace Continue
To Be Court Issues
Controversy over the form and pace
of school desegregation continued in
the courts as to systems in Montgomery,
Mobile and Bullock Counties.
The desegregation plans offered in
January (SSN, February) by Mont
gomery and Bullock counties were at
tacked in the U.S. District Court in
Montgomery. Plaintiffs, with the United
States as amicus curiae, contended in
February that the plans offered by both
systems, under orders from Judge
Alabama Highlights
The Alabama State Board of E(j u ]
cation voted unanimously March ;
not to sign a “Statement of Comph
ance” with the Civil Rights Act 0 f ’
1964. But on March 5, State Supt of
Education Austin R. Meadows said
he had signed the pledge to prevent
the loss of federal aid.
Also on March 5, Supt. Meadow,
reported that 106 city and county
school systems had agreed to complv
with the new regulations of the US
Department of Health, Education and
Welfare.
The Bessemer school board an
nounced it would not sign a com-
pliance form and moved toward a
court test of its legality.
Gov. George C. Wallace, in a Feb.
16 address to a special session of the
legislature called to consider a huge
appropriation for schools, called the
HEW requirement “bureaucratic
cannibalism.”
At the request of Gov. George Wal
lace, the state Department of Pen
sions and Security announced it
would not sign the HEW form, pend
ing the outcome of the Bessemer !
test. There were indications that |
some school boards might do like
wise. ,
Gov. Wallace called on other (
states to join his challenge to legal
ity of the compliance requirement.
Bessemer Negroes answered the
board’s action with a desegregation s
request and a demand that the board
be forced to sign.
Legal disputes continued on future s
desegregation plans in Montgomery, j £
Bullock and Mobile counties. t
Frank M. Johnson Jr. to expand the a
desegregation begun last fall, are pri- _
marily transfer plans, which place the
burden on Negro parents rather than ‘
school boards. I e
Plaintiffs also protested gradual de- n
segregation, and demanded immediate
action affecting all grades. No date was ^
set by Judge Johnson for a hearing or- ^
the objections. a
Montgomery’s plan calls for desegre c
gation of public schools over a five- ^
year period, beginning with grades nine *
and two next September. Grades M, p
and 12 and the first grade were e | n
segregated last fall. The Montgomery y
proposal provides only for considers 0
of transfer requests by pupils and doe : j,
not provide, plaintiffs said, for remo' a y
of “factors that promote and pen* (j
tuate segregation.” y
Among the factors listed 5
gated pre-school clinics,
schools operated on a racial ba slS ; ,
gregated teaching and professio
(See ALABAMA, Page 3) a
What They Say
Governor
Requiring
Denounces Regulation
Compliance Pledges
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Addressing a special session of the
Alabama legislature, called Feb. 16 to
consider his program of expanded edu
cation appropriations, Gov. George C.
Wallace denounced HEW’s assurance-
of-compliance forms. He said:
“This is an example of a sort of a
federal bureaucratic cannibalism. Con
gress creates an agency for a good pur
pose. The agency feeds upon the power
creating it and begins a voracious quest
for more power. Finally, it asserts more
power than Congress itself and asserts
itself free from all limitations imposed
by the executive, legislative and judi
cial branches of government by the
Constitution itself.”
Noting that the Bessemer school
board had moved to challenge the le
gality of the pledge (see Schoolmen),
the governor said:
“This is not to say that the Bessemer
board or any other board that joins
with them in this suit intends to dis
obey the law. Congress has passed the
law and we have to obey it. But we
don’t have to like it.”
On Feb. 19, Wallace urged the gov
ernors of all the former Confederate
states to join him testing the compliance
form. His telegram to them read:
“Such a requirement is repugnant to
the American system and is doubly of
fensive since it disallows the presump
tion that elected officers will obey any
valid law and thus impose c
not required even of known c ^ ^
ists as a condition to participa e
granting of federal funds.
this suit-
is a good chance to win
★ ★ ★
Barnett Says Anglo'S®*®
Want to Retain Identity
I,
gar
Former Mississippi Gov.
nett, speaking before the Da
Citizens Council Feb. 22, sa ur id® 5 ' cl
Saxons “don’t want to change ^ ^ ^
tity any more than the JaP
to change theirs.” .. a dd^: k
In his Selma speech, B a ] nac ‘ r eifl a ' it]
“Have we not the righ „ u rp a?: .
what we are? . . . The sec ^lpo*
of our enemies is to cll ^ US f gra de ^
confuse our minds and ma y r- 1 '
character as people, that ^-ileS £
be able to stand agains rrlU ]tit l ‘ t '
the devil and so will j°W _ .
to do evil the more rea i > i s ewb eI !
“Here in Selma, and ® da rkf:
throughout the nation, u 1 poW er l
hours, envy and hatred &
forces against us, instead ^ r eat en
it against the enemies t a ,
destroy our great repu 1 •
Barnett said Gov. Walla
make a great President-