Letters
To the Editor:
In his recent letter to the editor, Patrick Groff starts with a mistake ( "Homage to Howe: 'Overly Generous,'" Letters, Feb. 23, 2000). I was not "instrumental in getting [the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act] passed in 1965." That was achieved by U.S. Commissioner of Education Francis Keppel, who found the way to win the political squabbles over religion and civil rights that had stymied for years any efforts to get help from Uncle Sam for America's public schools. I became responsible for launching the program in early 1966. Contrary to Mr. Groff's interpretation, I tried to arrange reasonable local control for Title I recipients, but I was defeated by insistence from the Congress that every nickel should be accountable. Hence, the early years of the ESEA were more concerned with keeping the books than with educational improvements. Mr. Groff goes on to say, "Mr. Howe was in command of implementing the ESEA to enforce integration." In fact, the ESEA legislation never mentioned racial balancing in schools. My work on integration was based on the unanimous action of the U.S. Supreme Court in the Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954. Although Mr. Groff is right that school desegregation has declined, he fails to understand that progress has been made through the Brown decision and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Today, no public agency can force segregation, and no federal money can go to activities involving racial, cultural, or sexual discrimination. With the resegregation that is slowly growing for African-Americans, Latinos, and others, we are now struggling for opportunities for young Americans to know and understand one another.
Another comment by Mr. Groff: "He ironically assumes that federal control can be exercised without being intrusive." Here are a few examples of federal funds with minimal intrusion from Uncle Sam....
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