Big Spenders

President Nixon's budget cutters plan to slash federal aid to education by about 10% (TIME, Jan. 15). This week, after three years of research and testimony, the Senate's Select Committee on Equal Educational Opportunity is demanding a different course of action. It says that federal spending on public elementary and secondary schools--now $3.5 billion a year-should be increased to $7.2 billion.

During Nixon's first Administration, said the committee, the federal share in operating public schools actually declined to 8%. The committee called for Congress to appropriate $1.5 billion a year to pay for remedial reading and math courses. It recommended another $5 billion for general aid to schools. This aid, the committee said, should reward states that reform their school finances, so that they no longer have to depend so heavily upon discriminatory property taxes.

Despite a current wave of doubts about the ability of the schools to improve racial and economic inequality, the committee reaffirmed the value of integrated education as "a fundamental test of our national character."

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