Needle for Nebraska

Nebraskans went for Nixon, but they are mighty proud of Kennedy's young man: Theodore C. Sorensen, 33, the sharp Nebraska lawyer who is the President's close adviser. Last week, at a dinner in McCook honoring the late Republican Senator George W. Norris, Sorensen returned the compliment with a stinging lecture. Subject: Nebraska as an "educationally depressed area."

"Here in Norris' own state," said Sorensen, "where the pioneers once vowed that every child should go to the common school, where the proportion of high school graduates has long ranked high and illiteracy low among all the states of the Union--education is no longer a prime concern. Budgets are cut. Federal aid is opposed. Teachers and faculties are harassed and underpaid." The result is "a steady exodus of young people." Nebraska is "old, outmoded, a place to come from or a place to die.

"I ask you: Why should Nebraska, with its traditions of greatness, its pride in education, its diversity of resources, have to rank among the educationally depressed areas of the country--where too many bright students do not go on to college, where too many teachers have no degree, and where too many school districts dissipate local funds and receive practically no state funds whatsoever?"

Nebraskans were quick to retort. "Nebraska has some of the finest schools in the nation," said State Education Commissioner Freeman Decker. Sorensen's speech was "the most disparaging, untrue statement that I've ever heard," said Mrs. Fred Walker, chairman of the education committee of the Omaha chapter of the American Association of University Women. "It's extremely bad for a Nebraskan to come into his own state, without figures and statistics, to make such a statement."

The statistics did not seem to overly damage Sorensen's brief. The last stronghold of the one-room schoolhouse, Nebraska has more school systems than any other state--3,722, including 495 with no pupils at all and 1,823 with schools of 15 pupils or less. Nebraska believes in local control and local financing of schools; 91.4% of school revenue comes from local governments, and state aid is sparse. No state depends more on local financing; only Massachusetts spends less per capita on state aid to public education. While Nebraska is 25th in per capita personal income, it is 37th in spending per pupil. The average U.S. classroom teacher earns $5,215 a year; in Nebraska she earns $3,990. Said Democratic Governor Frank Morrison, who figured that Speechwriter Sorensen knew his statistics: "We must do better."

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