OVERSEAS TEACHERS PAY

TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 1965

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMPENSATION OF THE

COMMITTEE ON POST OFFICE AND CIVIL SERVICE,

Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 11 a.m., in room 219, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Morris K. Udall (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

(H.R. 6845 follows:)

[H. R. 6845, 89th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To correct inequities with respect to the basic compensation of teachers and teaching positions under the Defense Department Overseas Teachers Pay and Personnel Practices Act

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That (a) section 4(a) (2) of the Defense Department Overseas Teachers Pay and Personnel Practices Act (73 Stat. 214; Public Law 86-91; 5 U.S.C. 2352(a)(2)) is amended to read as follows:

"(2) the fixing of the rates of basic compensation for teaching positions at the rates of basic compensation for similar positions of a comparable level of duties and responsibilities under the municipal government of the District of Columbia;".

(b) Section 5(c) of such Act (73 Stat. 214; Public Law 86-91; 5 U.S.C. 2353(c)) is amended to read as follows:

"(c) The Secretary of each military department shall fix the rates of basic compensation of teachers and teaching positions in his military department at the rates of basic compensation for similar positions of a comparable level of duties and responsibilities under the municipal government of the District of Columbia.".

SEC. 2. The amendments made by this Act shall become effective at the beginning of the first school year which begins after the date of enactment of this Act. Mr. UDALL. The subcommittee will come to order.

This is, in a sense, a historic occasion. The Post Office and Civil Service Committee, prior to this year, has not had standing subcommittees with legislative jurisdiction. By action of the committee, the Subcommittee on Compensation, which I have the honor to Chair, was created and this is the first hearing of this subcommittee on any legislative matter.

I might say that we have scheduled this special hearing today on the bill, H.R. 6845, in order to accommodate two representatives of the overseas dependent school system who would not be able to appear later in person without considerable expense. It is the custom and practice of the congressional committees, ordinarily, to hold hearings only after the executive departments and agencies concerned have had an opportunity to study the legislative proposals, and to submit. official comments on those proposals. We are not in a position to hold the full-scale hearings because we have not yet received official administrative reports on this bill.

However, representatives of the Overseas Education Association were in town today on some other business and, solely and strictly as an accommodation to them, I took the liberty of scheduling this brief hearing this morning at which we will receive their testimony. plan to announce some time in the next few weeks, and I would hope early in May, that we have the administrative reports, and that we will schedule further hearings to hear all those who wish to be heard.

We have had a number of requests from groups and organizations and individuals who want to be heard, but the hearings this morning, for the reasons I have indicated, will be limited entirely to the representatives of the Overseas Education Association here in Washington today.

H.R. 6845 is designed to correct inequities with respect to the compensation of these teachers, who are employed by the military departments under the Defense Department Overseas Teachers Pay and Personnel Practices Act, Public Law 86-91.

Public Law 86-91 was developed on the basis of extensive hearings held by our Civil Service Subcommittee in the European theater during the 84th Congress. It was intended to correct serious deficiencies in the operation of schools which had been set up by the Defense Establishment to provide adequate educational facilities for dependents of Government personnel, both military and civilian, engaged in our Government's foreign programs.

Like many of our best intentions, however, Public Law 86-91 simply has not worked out at all as either our committee or the teachers had expected. The overseas hearings, as well as our committee deliberations at the time, demonstrated that many of the usual civil service employment policies-and the Classification Act of 1949, in particular were entirely unsuitable for the overseas dependents' school system, although up to that time they were being applied. Accordingly, the teachers were removed from the Classification Act coverage and from certain other customary civil service employment requirements.

In effect, broad administrative discretion was vested in the Department of Defense to set up an employment and pay system for these teachers which would be consistent with modern school practices in the United States. As to compensation, the only limitation was that salary rates should not exceed those paid in the District of Columbia school system.

As matters have worked out, it now appears clear that operations under this legislation have been to the serious disadvantage of our overseas teachers, and very probably to the effectiveness of the overseas school program, rather than to the advantage of both as was the intention. The teachers have been denied the very material benefits and improvements which have been brought about in the Classification Act pay system since the 86th Congress.

Failure to receive any consideration for major advances, such as the "comparability principle" adopted in Public Law 87-793, has been especially adverse to the interests and the morale of the teachers and probably to the maintenance of the educational standards which dependents of our overseas personnel should have.

The subcommittee plans to schedule regular public hearings on H.R. 6845 after the Easter recess, with representatives of the U.S. Civil Service Commission, the Department of Defense, and possibly

other agencies to present the administration's views. Representatives of employee organizations concerned also will be given an opportunity to testify at the hearings.

Our witnesses this morning on behalf of the Overseas Education Association are Mr. Joseph B. Crawford, president, Mr. Cecil Driver, executive secretary, and Mr. Earl C. Berger, legal counsel.

Gentlemen, the subcommittee has been presented with a prepared statement which runs some 14 pages, and it is in front of every member. I assume that one of you will present the testimony, and be backed up on questions by the other representatives.

Now, let me say to you that we only have about 55 minutes for this hearing this morning. Most of that, I suspect, will be occupied if the statements were read in full.. I in no way wish to influence your presentation, but I would suggest to you that if you wish to do so, you could simply have the statement inserted in the record as though it had been read in full, and then highlight or summarize the statement as you wish. This would leave a little more time for the questions that my colleagues on the committee might have, and the chairman himself might have. I am not demanding this or insisting on this. I am simply suggesting this as a way that might be more meaningful and helpful to the committee. We now recognize you, Mr. Crawford, to make whatever presentation you desire.

Mr. CRAWFORD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

STATEMENT OF JOSEPH B. CRAWFORD, PRESIDENT, OVERSEAS EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

Mr. CRAWFORD. I am the president of the Overseas Education Association. On my left is Mr. Driver, the executive secretary, Mr. Berger, our legal counsel, who is an attorney working in Europe, in Paris, and to my right is Mr. William Beebe, of the Washington firm of William & Glassie, who is also part of our group.

Mr. UDALL. We welcome all of you gentlemen and we are happy to have you with us.

Mr. CRAWFORD. Thank you. We accept your suggestion, and we ask that the prepared statements be entered in the record.

Mr. UDALL. Without objection, the statement of the Overseas Education Association, which consists of 14 pages, will appear in the record at this point as though it were read in full.

Mr. CRAWFORD. We also ask, Mr. Chairman, that the statement submitted by Dr. Davis of the National Education Association be inserted in the record.

Mr. UDALL. Without objection, the statement, consisting of some seven pages with various exhibits of the National Education Association, will be printed in the record in full, following the statement of the Overseas Education Association.

Mr. KREBS. I reserve the right to object to that. I think in fairness to all parties, we ought to agree on a common time for all the other organizations. The purpose in hearing the Overseas group is because of the difficulty in their getting back to testify at another time.

Mr. UDALL. The gentleman understands, of course, that the National Educational Association had no intention of testifying this morning. I indicated to them that we didn't have time, but on the gentlemen's suggestion, we will reserve that matter and take it up

later. The statement will either be inserted in the published hearings or we will call the NEA people to testify after we hear the other witnesses.

Mr. CRAWFORD. The reason we asked that the NEA testimony be inserted is because of the enlightening exhibits therein.

Mr. UDALL. I am sure that they will appear in the record at some point.

Mr. CRAWFORD. I also have a statement which is not in complete form, and I request that the committee accept this for inclusion in the record from Mr. Berger.

Mr. UDALL. Without objection, Mr. Berger's statement will appear in the record.

Mr. CRAWFORD. Thank you, sir.

STATEMENT OF EARL C. BERGER, LEGAL COUNSEL FOR THE OVERSEAS EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

Mr. BERGER. I am counsel for the Overseas Education Association, the professional organization of the majority of teachers employed by the Department of Defense in the overseas dependents schools, the overseas affiliate of the National Education Association. OEA is not a labor union. It is a professional organization of professional persons who wish to maintain high educational standards.

Your direction and order to the Department of Defense to pay these teachers basic compensation in relation to that paid stateside teachers has been disregarded by the Department of Defense for almost 6 years.

You entrust to the Department of Defense the responsibility of paying just compensation to the builders of Polaris submarines, missiles, and similar complicated tools. Yet the Department of Defense has been unable to ascertain or pay basic compensation for school teachers. More than that, it has directly questioned their right to be paid according to your formula in Public Law 86-91, and has allowed but one $100 increase in 6 years, for schools years 1963-64, while at the same time it has paid all other Department of Defense employees the four increases you ordered for all other civilian employees including themselves, and including the teachers' supervisors, school clerical help, school janitors, but not school teachers.

law

There can be but one conclusion. The administrators of your have a mental block or prejudice against schoolteachers. Why? The fact is, the net result is, that the Department of Defense has repealed Public Law 86-91. My high school civics teacher told me that laws can only be made and repealed by Congress. Only the Supreme Court can challenge any law you make on the ground that it offends the Constitution; it cannot say you set salary schedules too high or too low. The Department of Defense seems to be supreme beyond the powers of the Supreme Court.

The teachers have been back and forth for 6 years, trying to reason with the Department of Defense, but without avail. You have made it known that if the Department of Defense would request a specific line item for teachers' salaries you would give any such specific budget request sympathetic consideration; but the Department of Defense declines to submit any such request.

Accordingly, the Department of Defense ought to be relieved of the responsibility for carrying out Public Law 86-91, and this chronic