Where the Dollars Were

THE dispute between Capitol Hill and the White House over education and health spending involved an assortment of programs varying in size and purpose. Items: IMPACT AID. The largest addition to the President's budget was made here. Begun in 1950, the impact aid program was designed to relieve the burden school districts bear when they must serve large numbers of children of federal employees. There are two classes of such aid: one for children whose parents--typically military families--live and work on a federal base and thus pay no local school taxes, another for children whose parents live in the community but work at a nontaxable installation. Nixon had asked $202 million. Congress voted $398 million more. There is little equity in the program; it pours $5,800,000 into the nation's richest county. Maryland's Montgomery County, and allots only $3,000,000 for the 100 poorest counties. Of the 435 congressional districts, 385 receive impact aid, which explains why Congress voted almost three times the requested amount.

ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION. Nixon challenged the $170 million added to Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which provides aid to schools serving children from poor families. Special services financed under Title I include remedial reading, teacher aides, school health care and preschool training. Congress added money to other programs funded under this act, including $50 million for libraries, $48 million for supplementary educational centers, $17 million for guidance counseling, $30 million for school equipment.

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. Congress added $209.5 million to the President's request, most of which is used for grants to states where matching funds must be provided. This money pays for salaries, building construction, school equipment and other items in state vocational programs. Smaller additions were made by Congress to adult-education programs and education for the handicapped.

AIR POLLUTION. Nixon had trimmed some $13.5 million from the 1969 level of spending for public-health services, but Congress added $13 million to the consumer-protection and environmental-health budget alone. The environmental program was aimed at fighting air pollution with research on the desulfurization of fuels.

HEALTH MANPOWER AND RESEARCH. The National Institutes of Health got an extra $98 million from Congress. Sixteen million dollars of that was earmarked for programs to increase the supply of doctors, nurses and medical technicians; $56 million was tacked on to the NIH budget for medical research.

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