THE COORDINATING COUNCIL ON EDUCATION FOR THE DISADVANTAGED

WHEREAS, the American trade union movement, for more than one hundred years, has been in the forefront of the struggle to achieve quality education to assure that young people have the maximum opportunity to attain a better life; and

WHEREAS, the success of this century-long struggle appears to be nearer at hand with the passage of President Johnson's broad federal aid to education program; and

WHEREAS, outstanding representatives of the civil rights movement, community organizations and educators have established the Coordinating Council on Education for the Disadvantaged in order to help upgrade our educational system so that each American child, regardless of ethnic, religious or economic circumstances would have the opportunity for adequate education:

RESOLVED, that this Convention of the American Federation of Teachers go on record as giving its wholehearted support to the Coordinating Council on Education for the Disadvantaged in pursuit of the goal which it has set for itself in helping upgrade the quality of education and its availability to all children, but particularly children of the poor; and

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers offer its services to the Coordinating Council on Education for the Disadvantaged in its task of educating the American public to the point where they are willing to see greater investments made now in our educational systems to help each child develop his maximum capabilities, so that, in time, these investments in education will make possible a reduction in the heavy economic and social burden involved in providing marginal subsistence allowances to the people on public assistance; and

RESOLVED, that this Convention call on all Local Unions in the American Federation of Teachers to render all possible assistance to the Coordinating Council on Education for the Disadvantaged so that, together, we can provide the leadership and stimulate the community action that is necessary to help break the vicious circle of poverty and ignorance which for too long has enslaved many of our fellow Americans.