Education Case Study
Compelling Policy Question: Should the Federal Government in have a role Education Policies?
Policy Case Study:
S. 371 "A Bill to aid in the establishment and temporary support of common schools" (modified/original )
Every year the Treasury will provide money to secure the benefits of common-school education to all the children living in the United States.
Sec. 2. This money shall be divided among the States in proportion to the number of persons over the age of ten who can not write.
Sec. 4. No money shall be paid to any State or Territory that does not provide free schools for all of its children, without distinction of race or color. Separate schools for white and colored children shall not be considered a violation of this rule.
Sec. 6. The instruction in the schools must include reading, writing and speaking the English language, arithmetic, geography, history of the United States. Copies of all schoolbooks used in the schools must be approved by the Secretary of the Interior.
Sec. 8. This act is not establishing a new independent system of schools, it is aiding in the development and maintenance of existing school systems. States will only be given an amount of money equal to the amount they pay on their own.
Sec. 11. Moneys distributed under this act may not be used for religious schools.
Historical Context:
When our country was founded, many of the Founding Fathers (and mothers), made comments about how the success of our Republic would rely on having an educated population. They believed schools were important if our country would be successful.
Here are a few examples:
Thomas Jefferson in a letter to George Wythe, 1786:
"I think by far the most important bill in our whole code is that for the diffusion of knowlege among the people. No other sure foundation can be devised for the preservation of freedom, and happiness."
Abigail Adams in a letter to her husband John Adams, 1776
"I most sincerely wish that some more liberal plan might be laid and executed for the Benefit of the rising Generation, and that our new constitution may be distinguished for Learning and Virtue. If we mean to have Heroes, Statesmen and Philosophers, we should have learned women... If much depends as is allowed upon the early Education of youth and the first principals which are instilld take the deepest root, great benifit must arise from litirary accomplishments in women."
One of the biggest debates in Education Policy has been over who should make the decisions for how students should be educated. For the most part, education policy decisions have been made on the local level.
A push for more involvement of the National Government in Education came during the Civil War. , as a result of a belief in the importance of educating the freeman. In 1866, a the Freedman’s Bureau Act is passed. It includes a section to create a fund to support the education of the Freedman
In 1866, James Garfield of Ohio introduces “A bill to establish a National Bureau of Education", giving the Government the right to collect statistics about the conditions of schools throughout the country. In 1867 instead of a Bureau of Education, the Department of Education is created.
In 1870, George Hoar of Massachusetts introduces H.R. 1326 “A Bill to Establish a System of National Education”. Through the creation of State-level School Superintendents- the Federal Government would be given more influence in local schools. If a state did not establish a satisfactory school system the Federal Government can create one for them. H.R. 1326 did not become law.
In 1872, Legrand Perce of Mississippi introduced H.R. 1043 "to establish an, and to apply the proceeds of the public lands to the education of the people" it suggested using money from the sales of public land to create a fund for education. Money would be divided between the states that provided free education to all children between the ages of six and sixteen. The bill did not become a law.
In 1881, Senator Henry Blair first introduces Senate bill 151 “To aid in the establishment and temporary support of common schools”. It passes Senate, but is not voted on in the house. In 1884 and 1886, the bill is brought forth again under different names, but both fail in the House. In 1888 S. 371 is introduced, and is debated one last time in 1890.
Section One - Guiding Question: Why do people believe the Federal Government should play a role in education policy decisions?
During a speech to the United States Senate in 1882, Republican Senator Henry William Blair, from New Hampshire, said,
The Government has the power and the duty to educate the people so they can perform their duties as citizens. The republican form of government cannot exist unless the people are educated.
Congress has express power “to provide for the general welfare of the United States”. This is best done by the spread of knowledge to the people through government schools.
One in five voters cannot write his name. He does not know who he is voting for, but he holds the political balance of power.
Millions of children in this country don’t know the alphabet. Ignorance and its consequences will ruin the Republic.
The nation has abolished slavery as a legal institution; but ignorance is slavery, so slavery will continue until schools spread.
Illiteracy is the disease, the nation must distribute its money based on ignorance. The safety of each State is endangered by the ignorance of any other State.
These schools will give every child in the country a fair chance in life, so far as school can give it.
Not funding schools is death to the Republic. Education must become universal or the form of our government must be changed.
Table No. 4- Illiteracy in the United States (census of 1880)
The below table, prepared at the request of Hon. H. W. BLAIR, chairman of the Senate Committee on Education, is respectfully submitted to the Superintendent of the Census, with the statement that while its figures are believed to be in most instances correct, they are entirely preliminary, and therefore subject to such changes as may result from the final revision. w
Henry Randall Waite Special Agent Statistics of Education, Illiteracy, Libraries, Museums, and Religious Organizations.
link to full table and other data tables for S.371
President James Garfield's inaugural address, 1881 (modified/link to original text)
Image of James Garfield taking the oath of office before becoming president. Garfield's biography
The danger which arises from ignorance in the voter can not be denied. It is a danger that lurks and hides in the sources and fountains of power in every State. We have no standard by which to measure the disaster that may be brought upon us by ignorance and vice in the citizens.
The voters of the Union who make and unmake constitutions, and who control the destinies of our governments, can transmit their supreme authority to no successors save the coming generation of voters, who are the sole heirs of government power. If that generation comes to its inheritance blinded by ignorance, the fall of the Republic will be certain.
The census has already sounded the alarm in the appalling figures which mark how dangerously high the tide of illiteracy has risen among our voters and their children.
To the South this question is of supreme importance. But the responsibility for slavery did not rest upon the South alone. The nation itself is responsible for the extension of the suffrage. It now has an obligation to aid in removing the illiteracy which it has added to the voting population. For the North and South alike there is but one remedy. All the constitutional power of the nation and of the States and all the people should be surrendered to meet this danger by the savory influence of universal education.
Professor Alexander Hogg, Interview in Boston Globe, 1887
(modified/link to original text) Hogg was superintendent of schools in Fort Worth Texas
The nation must help us develop a fair school system. People who understand the Blair Federal Aid Bill are for it. People in education— who know the needs of the schools — favor it.
If universal suffrage is based upon universal education, upon intelligence, upon the ability of the voter to read the name of his choice upon the voting ballot, there is a great necessity for national relief. It must be given at once.
If the South cannot educate twice the number of children then they could in 1860 who should? I answer, the general government. The 14th and 15th amendments gave over 6,000,000 negroes the highest and most responsible political right- the vote. It is the duty of the government to educate all the enfranchised citizens of this free republic, regardless of color or previous condition.
The Blair bill is constitutional. Can liberty be preserved when the ballot is in the hands of an illiterate majority? Universal suffrage must rest upon universal education, or Thomas Jefferson's republic is a failure.
Still others talk about the "centralization" of the government extending so far as " to the selection of teachers and textbooks." The Blair bill is not establishing any new system at all, nor to control in any shape the existing systems. We hear a great deal about the violence this bill would do to Jeffersonian Democracy; but Jefferson was for universal education.
In some of the States there is a dangerous amount of illiteracy. Much of that illiteracy is found in the colored race of the South, who came out of slavery. This fact appeals strongly to the philanthropy and patriotism of the people to help end this inherited ignorance.
This legislation was made so the bulk of the money would go to the South. No one said it would be fair. It was designed to help the colored race. Since the war they have faced cruelties, and a repression of rights never found in history. The only way to help them gain equal rights as a citizen in the South is education.
The perfect relation between the races of the South will be attained when every man, black and white, has equal civil rights, and when every child, black and white, has an equal education.
I know the colored man’s eagerness to be taught; and his need is too serious and too important to be used for legislative tricks.
I suggest we divide this fund and give the colored child more money. If the State distributes $1 for every child, we come in and give $3 more, $2 of it to the colored child, and$1 to the white child.
To give any child less than an equal education is an injustice.
I admit that I have had great trouble with some parts of this bill. I will consider any amendment that will improve it.
If we follow this plan, we will have entered upon a magnificent solution of the gravest problem that confronts us today.
This bill is constitutional. The Constitution gives Congress the power to make taxes to provide for general welfare of the Union. It did not say money could not be used on purposes not in the Constitution. Every Congress has passed bills spending money on things that are not named in the Constitution. We have the power to devote money to help the general welfare, such as education.
In many of the States there is an excessive proportion of people and of children who are ignorant, and those States do not have enough resources to provide for this emergency. The common treasure of all the people should be devoted to end this.
That being so, we want to do it fairly, we want to do it under such safeguards to make sure the money is used as intended.
Many States educate white children and the colored children in different schools, which this bill would allow to continue. The money of the United States will go to aid and encourage this discrimination. States could spend this money, almost entirely to the whites and not to the colored.
Senator William Henry Blair (in response): If we change the bill to not allow for separate education, this bill will not be able to pass.
National Educational Association Committee Message to Congress on Aid to Public-Schools, 1882
(modified/link to original text) The NEA was made up of superintendents, principals, and educators.
We respectfully suggest:
1. The help should be so given that it will stimulate rather than replace the need for State effort.
2. It should be help for the common schools ; temporary aid in the training of teachers, but mainly in giving them opportunity to teach. "The safety of the Republic is the supreme law of the land." This is the idea not only justifies but demands action on the part of the General Government.
3. The help should be immediate and widespread. The war and the Amendments have made citizens of a large mass of ignorant men, whose votes are to shape the future of our country. Education alone can convert this mass of ignorance and element of danger into one of enlightened strength and safety.
The educational work in the South for the negro race will be impossible without the General Government’s help.
In the name of the millions of Christian citizens whom we represent we urge Congress to help qualify the ignorant voters for the duties with which they have been given, believing the power to do this goes along with the power that enfranchised them.
George W. Cable, The Nation and illiteracy in the South, Independent XLI, 1889 (modified/link to original)
George W. Cable is an author from the South, who even though he served in the Confederate Army, he is critical of some of the issues in Southern society. He wrote The Silent South and The Negro Question . bio
The constitutionality of national aid to education is not the first question. The nation should first ask itself, "Do we owe a national debt?" The answer is, yes we do. The educational problem in the South is the result of African slavery. It was a National crime.
Removing Southern illiteracy is the Nation’s obligation, and it cannot be met without the action of the National Government.
Let the nation pay its debt of public education to Southern illiteracy in one generation of school children.
Hundreds of thousands of children, white and black, are the innocent victims of this nation’s crime. To argue against national aid based on the complaints of one State here and there, we might ask one question: Which is worse, the tens of thousands who have received Northern aid in the South, or those who have grown up in ignorance without it ?
I do not consider the education a cure for all the problems of Southern society, but I fail to see how they can be cured without it.
Let us be constitutional; but I think no reasonable person will doubt that when the nation recognizes this matter as a national debt, it will find or will make a constitutional way to mend it.
Senator Joseph E. Brown, Speech to Congress on S. 371, 1888 (modified/link to original) A Democrat from Georgia, Brown was the Governor of Georgia during the Civil War bio.
While the Southern States have made progress in education, there is still a great need in the South for common-school education for both races. The defeat of the bill would be received with great regret throughout that whole section of country.
Most of the attacks made upon the bill have said that the Constitution does not give us the power to create this bill. This is an error. The Constitution gives Congress the power to collect taxes to provide for the general welfare of the United States. This bill is for the general welfare of the United States.
From the administration of Washington to today we have used this power. We gave seeds to the farmers who lost their crops to locusts. We helped the victims of the Mississippi flood. You got the authority to do this from the power to provide for national welfare.
Where does the Senator from Missouri get the power to send books from the Agricultural Department to his constituents? It is because it is for the general welfare, to educate the human mind.
This last year, Congress voted to educate the Indian children at Carlisle. The white child is in this bill; as well as the dark. Do you care more for the Indian than the white child of the South?
I am for a strict interpretation of the Constitution, using it in order to accomplish the great ends for which it was created.
Debate between George Frisbie Hoar (R) Massachusetts and John A. Logan (R) Illinois over the “Allison Amendment to S.371” (modified/original) 1886 (The Allison Amendment was not added to S.371)
The “Allison Amendment by” William Boyd Allison, (R) Iowa
“and in each state in which there shall be separate schools for white and colored children the money paid in such state shall be apportioned and paid out for the support of such white and colored schools in the proportion that the illiteracy of the white and colored persons shown by said census”
Mr. HOAR. I ask the Senator whether he desires a school system in which one child shall have an advantage over another in education:
Mr. LOGAN. I desire this fund be used to benefit the people who the citizens of the country understand need help- according to the ratio of illiterates between the whites and the blacks.
Mr. HOAR. If this is done the black children shall have three times more money than white children.
Mr. LOGAN. The States do not have to take this money unless they choose to do so. There is no force, nothing impairing their rights. He asks me if I wish to see a school system that will gives more to the colored population than the white. I say yes, they need the money. The whites do not need it. The people of this country have sympathy for the poor colored man who has been a slave for two centuries, who has built up fortunes for other people, who has lived under a law preventing him from obtaining an education. Having liberating them and making them equal citizens as white men, we feel it is our duty to elevate them by education.
In either 1870 or 1871, artist James C. Beard created, "The Fifteenth Amendment. Celebrated May 19, 1870." (detail below of the lower left corner "Education Will Prove the Equality of the Races.") Source
In 1866, illustrator James E. Taylor created, "The Misses Cooke's school room, Freedman's Bureau, Richmond, Va.",
Source: Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 1866
African American students in classroom with teachers. Also includes: portraits of Elizabeth Crocker Bowers and Frank Pigeon. source
Section Two - Guiding Question, Why do people oppose the Federal Government involving itself in education policy?
If this bill passes the North is taking blame for crimes on the South it did not commit. The Southern states are protesting against this, it gives them money they say they do not need, or want.
The bill was created for education of the blacks. But the money will not go to the blacks. Most of the illiterates blacks are former slaves who are too old for school. Two-thirds of this money will go to educate white children. Nothing is owed to the whites, and if they are illiterate, it is because of they were unwilling to be properly taxed for educational purposes.
This bill gives Alabama nearly $6,000,000 and Kansas less than $500,000. Alabama gives one-fourth of what Kansas gives schools. We will tax the people of Kansas to educate the white children of Alabama. This bill taxes the willing and the patriotic for the benefit of the slothful, the unwilling.
Does the National Government know more about educating the children of a State than their own people? Should local government be replaced by a central government? If the bill becomes law education will be dominated by the Government.
Let education be solved by the States. They can do more to remove illiteracy there than we can. They will make self respecting and self-dependent American citizens of the rising generation.
A bill has been brought forward in Congress to spend millions of dollars for education, to be distributed only to the States showing the greatest percentage of illiteracy. While the object of funding education is good, it is so unjust and unequal that it would be better not to give Government aid than to give it this way.
The states with the highest percentages of illiteracy are mostly Southern States. Most of their illiterates are the former slaves who were prohibited from obtaining an education. The illiteracy of the colored population of these States is their own fault.
But it is also because of an unwillingness of the people of those States to tax themselves as much as other states do to maintain public schools. These States either neglect or do not appreciate education. For the Government now to help these States would not only be unjust, but would appear to reward those who are unwilling to help themselves.
I believe it will be a wise policy on the part of the General Government to grant aid to the States for their common schools, but I believe such aid should be distributed to all states equally. This can be done by distributing the money in proportion to population.
In 1890, the magazine The Nation, in an article titled "Promoting Mendicancy, wrote,
The renewed attempt by Senator Blair to pass the bill for Federal aid to education in the South requires a renewal of efforts against this destructive plan by all friends of public-schools.
Eight years ago the Blair bill was introduced. They said the South was "impoverished by the war," and they would not be able to improve their schools without aid from Washington.
Eight years have passed, and it has been shown that there was no need for the passage of such a bill. The South now spends millions more on schools than they did eight years ago.
Even the educators devoted to helping the negro. Some who supported the Blair bill, now oppose it because the South no longer needs the aid, and now it would do more harm than good.
The passage of the Blair bill now would simply promote mendicancy. The Southern people are proud of their schools.
The unavoidable effect of receiving aid from Washington temporarily would be to make them feel that they must have such aid permanently. They would find it to be impossible to get along without Government crutches. We will have this mendicant policy of education fastened upon the country for eighty years or for ever.
Let not the Congress of the United States any longer put such obstacles in the way of Southern schools.
The Blair Educational Bill, Chicago Tribune, March 22, 1884 (modified/link to original)
Senator Blair, the author of the bill, is fully warranted in demanding the Republican Senators make their past education promises good. At the same time his bill is open to many objections.
The wisdom may also be questioned of distributing the fund in proportion to the percent of illiteracy in each State and Territory. States who maintain adequate schools will be taxed for the benefit of other States which do not. In other words, the progressive States will bear a double burden-first, by supporting their own public schools, and, secondly, by contributing largely to the support of the public schools in the illiterate States. This inequity would be avoided by a distribution of the national fund on the basis of population. Each State would get a fair share of the money.
Distribution according to illiteracy may also be an incentive to certain States to limit their own support of public schools, because the illiterate population will give them to a larger share of the National fund.
John H. Reagan, Speech on S. 371, 1888
Any measure to promote education which does not violate the Constitution would have my support. My opposition to this bill is based on the absence of power in Congress to make such a law.
This bill would make the Government of the United States the supreme judge of what is needful for the welfare of the people. It would treat the States and the people as dependents.
Do Senators feel prepared to pass this bill in assuming that the “general welfare” clause of the Constitution is a grant of power, and in centralizing the powers of this Government, in destroying the rights of the States under the Constitution, in changing the nature of our Government, and in sacrificing the liberties of the people?
The men who fought the Revolution and wrote our Constitution did not have free public schools, yet our people did not go into barbarism and our Government did not perish.
The bill says that no money shall be paid to any State that does not have provide free common schools for all of its children without distinction of race or color. I will not comment on this section.
Mr. BLAIR. Are you saying this interferes with a State’s Rights?
Mr. REAGAN. Yes, sir. It also mandates what shall be taught in State schools. And it demands the inspection of our school-books.
I recognize education’s importance, but we are not in so great danger on account of illiteracy as some Senators think.
What did Policy Makers decide to do?
S.371, also known as the “Blair Education Bill” was never voted into law.
Despite the creation of the Federal Department of Education in 1867, most people still believed School policies should be decided on the local level. People opposed the Blair bill for a number of reasons, including general fear of Federal involvement in what they considered a local issue, along with the debate over the bill’s allowing of segregation in school.
One of the biggest moves for the Federal Government in relation to Education policy happened in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). ESEA doubled the amount of money the Federal Government spends to help States with education. The best known part of ESEA is Title 1, a system aimed to distribute money to schools with high levels of students living in poverty.
The largest modern change in Federal Education Policy happened in 2001 when President George W. Bush signed No Child Left Behind Act into law. NCLB called for schools to improve student scores in math and reading. The law increased the use of standardized tests to measure whether or not students were improving in those areas.