THE BATTALION Page 5A
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 1976
arely done More school funding A g§ ie scooter gets second
enefits not raised by penny on dollar
Associated Press
SHINGTON — School de-
irds DM§ ation ' n Corpus Christi, Tex.,
to a “grueling legal battle”
I . it resulted in virtually no violence
Johnp'flsiuption, according to the U.S.
tion i Commission.
I) In a report issued Tuesday, the
Dr E |W llliss ' on concluded that in the
^vid \|l Coast cit y a recalcitrant school
lam J inistration an< ^ lack of' strong
Hj" adership at the community level
1 M pB severe ly restricted the benefits
•segregated education.”
Iu Tfe report, whose general find-
I J were critical of President Ford
n y ’■members of Congress for at-
Jt man)
lo witli
lation J
forgmcl
egesa«|
ssing."
assistedl
te deaal
mpting to curb court-ordered bus-
grewout of a 10-month study of
pi desegregation throughout the
entsand
>f the oi
ipelining coal may aid rail labor
gal efforts to desegregate public
Is in Corpus Christi date back
K" S and the school system has
■ |it) under federal court desegrega-
'•orders since 1971. Up to now
Wl '^desegregation measures have
i only partially implemented.
Jhroughout the entire legal pro-
ieassuajj n gs up to the present, the
‘prorllifBiQj administration has opposed
leJcgregation,” the civil rights
i
^^BhOUSTON — U.S. Rep. Bob
i ■Rhardt said Tuesday he believes
I I ailroad labor has been misinformed
Bit lurry pipelines.
■he Houston Democrat said rail-
Bs oppose granting eminent do-
nai" powers to such pipelines be-
ause railroads hold a near monopoly
n ransporting coal,
iftdually, the pipelines would in-
erndy railroad labor for the short
jls to and from the slurry lines,”
jhardt said. And they boost em-
ilo\ ment in steel manufacturing and
fall ruction crafts.”
commission report said.
It noted that this opposition ex
tended to efforts to block the com
mission from obtaining information
about desegregation progress in the
school system.
“The superintendent refused to
permit commission staff to interview
administrators or teachers,” the re
port said, adding that the superin
tendent also refused to testify or
allow his staff to testify at an open
meeting of the commission’s Texas
advisory committee.
However, the report said that
“despite the negative quality of Cor
pus Christi’s educational leadership,
there has been almost total absence
of violence or disorder during the
district’s limited desegregation ef
forts.”
It said this was “due, in large part,
to the efforts of the business and reli
gious community in Corpus Christi.
The media also played an important
role in keeping the community in
formed. The local newspaper, the
Corpus Christi Caller-Times, pro
vided excellent coverage.”
According to the report, the
school system’s current partial de
segregation plan involves busing
about 5,000 students, with more
than 2,300 being bused specifically
for desegregation purposes. By con
trast, a 1971 court order had esti
mated that effective desegregation of
the Corpus Christi schools would
require busing about 15,000 stu
dents.
As of December 1975, the report
said, the district’s student enroll
ment was 57 per cent Mexican-
American, 6 per cent black and 37
per cent white.
The breakdown for the city’s
over-all population of some 25,000 is
41 per cent Mexican-American, 5
per cent black and 53 per cent white.
The commission said the Corpus
Christi schools face a “critical short
age” of minority faculty members.
While two-thirds of the district’s en
rollment is of minority background,
minorities comprise less than one-
third of its teachers, the report said.
Also, the commission found that
the system lacks adequate programs
for bilingual and bicultural instruc
tion to handle the needs of its large
number of Spanish-speaking stu
dents.
Associated Press
AUSTIN — A penny per dollar
increase in the sales tax is most often
suggested as the way to finance big
ger state spending on public schools,
the chairman of a House committee
said Tuesday.
Rep. Tom Massey, D-San Angelo,
said such an increase — unaccept
able under Gov. Dolph Briscoe’s no
new taxes edict — would raise $945
million over the next two state fiscal
years.
Massey told his House Committee
on Alternatives to Public School
Financing that the next most fre
quently suggested tax possibility is a
penny increase in the four per cent
motor vehicle sales tax, good for
$145 million per biennium.
The committee is seeking alterna
tives to the present school finance
system that relies heavily on local
property taxes plus state aid.
Massey and other committee
members have indicated they favor
full state financing, with mandatory
reductions in local property taxes.
Prospects for a major increase in
state funding, however, would dim if
the legislature adopts Briscoe’s plan
to increase highway spending by
$825 million.
Public schools, Massey said,
“have just as much claim on those
funds in the treasury as anyone else.
It is the bill that gets passed first that
will get the funds. I’m not saying
there will be a big contest for the
funds, but all the leadership is con
cerned with more funds for public
education, and that’s as high a prior
ity as we have in state government.”
Texas A&M students as a design
team won second place honors in a
national competition sponsored by
the American Society for Engineer
ing Education.
The competition was a summer
event at the University of Tennes
see.
On the A&M team were Dawn
Wakefield, William B. Ledbetter
and Prasart Hothamrat of College
Station; Robert G. Campos, El Paso;
DanC. Sicking, Muenster; David C.
Thomas, Brenham, and George A.
Turk Jr., Lufkin.
Wakefield and Ledbetter cap
tained the team on design of an as
tronaut mobility unit. They call it the
“Aggie scooter.”
Designed as a team project for
Engineering Design Graphics 106,
the Aggie scooter is a device to pro
vide for astronaut maneuverability
on extra-vehicular activities during
space shuttle experiments. The
scooter would operate much like a
“flying chair.”
Each member of the design team
will receive second-place certificates
from the ASEE contest committee.
Faculty sponsor of the team was
Dr. Robert A. Wilke of the En
gineering Design Graphics Depart
ment.
Two other Texas A&M student
teams received honorable mentions
in the competition.
Eckhardt was the keynote speaker
at the first annual meeting of the
Slurry Transport Association and
told the group he believes an emi
nent domain bill he is sponsoring
will be approved by the end of the
first half of the next Congress.
“The bill was tabled by a 19-21
committee vote this year but I be
lieve we will get it through next
time, he said.
At least five slurry pipelines have
been proposed for movement of coal
from western states to utilities in the
south, southwest, and Pacific north
west.
“But railroads crisscross the coun
try like cobwebs,” Eckhardt said.
“Slurry lines must cross the railroads
but can’t do so without the power of
eminent domain.”
Eckhardt said the use of natural
gas to fuel utility plant boilers must
be phased out because gas supplies
are dwindling. He said there will be
less gas in the future for intrastate
consumption and that top priority for
such supplies will go to residences
and petrochemical plants.
“There is plenty of coal to be
hauled both by rail and by slurry
pipeline.”
jrpJi
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