The Junction School

Lyndon Baines Johnson first came to this school as a four-year-old and, among 30 students across seven grades, received his first formal education. He attended for only a few months, but its crowded classroom, simple style, and sparse supplies remained for him a symbol of the hardships of education in America. A half century later, with his first teacher, Miss Kate Deadrich, beside him, President Johnson returned there to sign the Elementary and Secondary Education Act into law. On April 11, 1965, he signed a bill that redefined the Federal government’s relationship with America’s schools and committed more than $1.5 billion in Federal funds to them; it was one of more than 60 education bills he signed during his presidency. Johnson said that no law he had signed or would ever sign meant more to the future of America.

Texas · United States