BUILDING FOR SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY - Kennedy Bibliothek

for 1974-75 reveal that revenue from Federal sources provides nine per cent
of the total cost for public elementary and secondary education, and State
funding provides 52.2 per cent.(l)
14. A further partial subdivision of responsibilities within school districts
has occurred in some of the country's large cities in recent years.
Local parent groups within the sub-districts now exercise some policymaking
and administrative powers and responsibilities within guidelines
developed by the city's school board. This allows for greater flexibility
in developing programs designed to meet the more specific needs of
each local neighborhood or district area within a large metropolitan community.
In cities where different ethnic groups live predominately in
separate areas, this is particularly important..
15. The decentralized control of American education is clearly observed
by the variations in per pupil spending within States and between States.
From State to State the average expenditures per pupil varied by $1,000
according to-1973-1974 estimates. This is the result of differences between
States in taxable wealth and tax rate on one hand and local and/or
State priorities on the other hand.
16. The Federal role in education and the responsibilities of the U.S.
Office of Education have expanded rapidly in recent years. The Office of
Education was created by an Act of Congress on March 2, 1867. Its initial
mandate was "to collect statistics and facts showing the condition and
progress of education in the several States and Territories, and to diffuse
such information respecting the organization and management of schools
and school systems, and methods of teaching, as shall aid the people of
the United States in the establishment and maintenance of efficient school
systems, and otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the
country."
17. Around the time of World War I Federal funds were made available to
the States to improve vocational education and homemaking through the
development of new programs, but this assistance remained on a very small
scale. The 1950's saw new responsibilities being gradually added to the
Office of Education. The launching of Sputnik in 1957 accelerated the
Federal role in education and financial assistance to certain, specified
fields became a national priority. A nationwide discussion began which
focused on the quality of mathematics and science education and the
1) Department of Health, Education and Welfare, National Center for
Education Statistics, Revenue and Expenditures for Public Elementary
and Secondary Education, 1974-1975, (in press).
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