Statement by the President Concerning Community and State Conferences on Education.

MR. NEIL H. McELROY, Chairman of the Committee for the White House Conference on Education, and I discussed with the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, the Commissioner of Education, and Mr. Roy Larsen the State Conferences to be held in the forty-eight states, the four Territories, and the District of Columbia prior to the White House Conference to be held this November in Washington.

Tens of thousands of our citizens will participate in these State Conferences. They seek to develop improved measures for the provision of adequate classrooms and teachers, the effective and economical organization of our school systems, and the increase of public interest in education.

These conferences will, I know, make a vital contribution to the welfare of all our people by developing programs of action to improve education.

I am particularly glad to hear that the National School Boards Association and the National Citizens Commission for the Public Schools, both of them private, nongovernmental organizations, have been encouraging additional community conferences on education. Both of these groups, as well as the Advertising Council, which is assisting them, are to be congratulated on this important effort.

I hope that every community will hold such a conference. The community, State, and White House conferences--taken together--will strengthen the continuing public interest in education which is the cornerstone of our free society.