Lyndon B. Johnson photo

Message to the Congress Transmitting First Report of the National Advisory Council on the Education of Disadvantaged Children.

May 09, 1966

To the Congress of the United States:

Seven months ago, Public Law 89-10, providing massive aid to improve elementary and secondary education, went into effect. At that time we called upon leaders of education in States and local school districts to translate this financial assistance into educational services for the millions of disadvantaged children in our schools: the children who desperately need additional attention if they are to overcome the handicaps of poverty.

I am happy to transmit to you the first report of the National Advisory Council on the Education of Disadvantaged Children. Their comments on the progress which has been achieved by States and local schools reveal that educators from all levels of Government are working together to provide equal educational opportunities for all.

I am particularly encouraged by the major focus of activities identified in the report: to improve language skills in the early years. Nothing could be more fundamental than this work in assisting children who have been denied normal educational opportunities through poverty or neglect.

The commission members have not failed to point out areas in the program that need additional attention. I have pledged that every effort will be made to meet these problems--and I am confident that the Congress will join in these efforts.

We have begun a major campaign to solve a long-standing problem. The first year of this work has proved that we are on the right road, but we still have far to go.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

The White House

May 9, 1966

Note: The 33-page report (processed) was dated March 31, 1966.

The National Advisory Council on the Education of Disadvantaged Children was established by title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (79 Stat. 831). For the President's statement upon signing the act, see 1965 volume, this series, Book I, Item 181.

Dr. O. Meredith Wilson, president of the University of Minnesota, served as chairman of the Council, and the staff director was Thomas W. Carr. The other members of the Council follow: Louis Bruno, superintendent of public instruction, State of Washington; John H. Fischer, president of Teachers College, Columbia University; Edward B. Hanify, Ropes, Gray, Best, Coolidge & Rugg, Boston, Mass.; Frank E. Karelsen, Karelsen, Karelsen, Lawrence & Nathan, New York, N.Y.; Elizabeth D. Koontz, president, Department of Classroom Teachers, National Education Association; Mildred L. Lillie, Justice, District Court of Appeals, Los Angeles, Calif.; Sidney P. Marland, Jr., superintendent of schools, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Victor G. Reuther, director of education programs, United Automobile Workers; Joseph Rosen, principal, George Howland Elementary School, Chicago, Ill.; Terry Sanford, Raleigh, N.C.; and Ralph W. Tyler, director, Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, Calif.
The message was released at San Antonio, Texas.

Lyndon B. Johnson, Message to the Congress Transmitting First Report of the National Advisory Council on the Education of Disadvantaged Children. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/239117

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