Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 84 Part 1.djvu/245

 84 STAT. ]

PUBLIC LAW 91-230-APR. 13, 1970

193

ADVISORY COUNCIT. ON RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

SEC. 808. Section 2 of the Cooperative Research Act of 1954 is ^/^^^l^'^^"^' amended by adding the following new subsection at the end thereof: 20 USC 331a. "(e)(1) The Commissioner shall establish in the Office of Education an Advisory Council on Research and Development, consisting of fifteen members appointed, without regard to the civil service laws, by the Commissioner with the approval of the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. The Commissioner shall appoint one such member as Chairman. Such members shall include persons recognized as authorities in the field of educational research and development or in related fields. "(2) The Advisory Council shall advise the Commissioner with respect to matters of general policy arising in the administration of this Act.-' R E S E A R C H O N P R O B L E M S O F FINANCING ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY

EDUCATION

SEC. 809. fa) The Congress finds that— (1) insufficient national concern has been focused upon the escalating operating expenses and construction costs faced by school districts, including serious inequities within and among States in financial support of elementary and secondary education; (2) taxpayer resistance to the existing tax structure is growing and school bond issues and budget requests are being rejected; (3) school districts are facing serious fiscal crises as they approach or exceed statutory limits on taxing and bonding authority; and (4) there is a need for additional knowledge to solve these problems. (b) I t is the purpose of this section— (1) to provide for research and reports on such problems under the Cooperative Research Act; and 20 USC 331 (2) to provide for a National Commission on School Finance to study such problems and report to the Commissioner and the Report to Congress within two years. Congress. (c) Section 2(a) of the Cooperative Research Act is amended by 20 USC 331a. inserting at the end thereof the following: "(3) The Commissioner shall, pursuant to his authority under this Act, provide for research regarding the problems of financing elementary and secondary education. Such research shall include, but not be 1 imited to, recommendations concerning— " (A) an appropriate division of responsibility among local. State, and the Federal Government in financing elementary and secondary education; " (B) an appropriate balance of categorical aid, general aid, and school construction aid in the total Federal responsibility for financing elementary and secondary education; " (C) new approaches to relieve the fiscal crisis now facing the schools; " (D) the use of Federal revenue sharing for supporting elementary and secondary education; and " (E) methods to minimize variations within and among States in per pupil expenditures for elementary and secondary education. The Commissioner shall make a preliminary report to the Congress Report to Congress. not later than one hundred and twenty days after the date of enactment of the Elementary and Secondary Education Amendments of 1969 identifying all existing federally financed research in this area (whether authorized under this or any other Act) and the current status of such research. Thereafter, the Commissioner shall report the

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