Executive Order 11513—Establishing the President's Commission on School Finance

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and statutes of the United States, and as President of the United States, it is ordered as follows:

SECTION 1. Establishment of the Commission. (a) There is hereby established the President's Commission on School Finance (hereinafter referred to as "the Commission").

(b) The Commission shall be composed of not more than sixteen members to be appointed by the President. The Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Commission shall be designated by the President from among the members.

(c) Members of the Commission who are otherwise compensated by the United States for full-time service shall serve without compensation in addition to that received for their full-time service; but they shall be allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, as authorized by law. Other members of the Commission shall receive compensation at the rate of $100 per diem when engaged in the actual performance of duties vested in the Commission, and they shall be allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 5703, for persons in the Government service employed intermittently.

SEC. 2. Functions of the Commission. It shall be the function of the Commission to study, and report to the President on, future revenue needs and resources of the Nation's public and non-public elementary and secondary schools. Such study and report shall include:

(1) The implications of the leveling-off in school enrollments for fiscal and educational planning on all levels of government and for non-public schools.

(2) The fiscal status of non-public elementary and secondary schools, and attendant implications for public schools and public policy.

(3) The probable rate of growth in per-pupil expenditures in the coming decades and its consequences for tax policy, for educational finance, and for educational quality.

(4) A review of the financial structure of elementary and secondary education and an assessment of future trends in the public and private sectors.

(5) The adequacy of the existing tax base and structure for the support of public schools, and possible alternatives.

(6) An assessment of the potential of non-public schools to contribute more effectively to the nation's educational progress, of the present and future needs and problems of non-public schools, and of ways and means by which non-public schools can be assisted, within the limits of the law, in carrying out their educational responsibilities.

(7) An assessment of present public programs which aid non-public schools and comparison with programs aiding public schools.

(8) Recommendations for achieving greater cooperation between public and non-public schools in furthering the education of all children.

(9) Possible inequities and disparities in educational expenditures among States and between urban, suburban, and rural systems; and the effects of Federal and State aid programs on such disparities.

(10) Recent proposals by State and local governments to revise the organizational and financial structure of their school systems and the need for complementary changes in Federal programs and organization.

(11) The implications of Federal revenue sharing for the financing of public and non-public education.

(12) The implications of possible changes in the public welfare system and in the program of aid to Federally impacted areas for school services and for the financing of public and non-public education.

(13) The ways to achieve possible efficiencies in the use of educational facilities and personnel.

(14) The advantages and disadvantages of changing the organization of public education on the State and local level and of consolidating some districts and decentralizing others.

(15) Ways of altering the distribution of Federal education funds so as to simplify and improve their usefulness for State, local and non-public education agencies.

(16) The adequacy of present data concerning the distribution of Federal, State, and local education funds among States, communities, neighborhoods, and individual schools within districts, and ways of improving the collection and use of such data.

(17) Existing measures of the results of schooling, possible improvements in helping local schools make such measurements, and ways to enable schools to compare their results with schools in similar circumstances.

(18) Such other matters as the Commission finds it necessary to study in order to treat adequately those mentioned above.

SEC. 3. Assistance to the Commission. (a) The Commission is authorized to appoint such personnel as it deems necessary, to fix their compensation in accordance with law, to obtain services in accordance with the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 3109, and to enter into contracts for the conduct of studies necessary to the performance of its functions.

(b) In compliance with the provisions of applicable law, and as necessary to serve the purposes of this order, (1) the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare shall provide or arrange for necessary administrative and staff services, support, and facilities for the Commission, and (2) each executive department or agency shall furnish the Commission such information and other assistance as may be available.

SEC. 4. Reports and Termination. The Commission shall present such interim reports to the President as the President or the Commission shall deem appropriate. The Commission shall present its final report not later than two years from the date of this order. The Commission shall terminate thirty days following the submission of its final report.

RICHARD NIXON

The White House

March 3, 1970