Editing Lyndon B. Johnson (section)

===Federal funding for education===
{{See also|Elementary and Secondary Education Act}}
{{further|Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson#Education}}
[[File:Lady Bird Johnson Visiting a Classroom for Project Head Start 1966.gif|thumbnail|First Lady [[Lady Bird Johnson]] visits a [[Head Start (program)|Head Start]] class, 1966.]]

Johnson, whose own ticket out of poverty was a public education in Texas, believed that education was an essential component of the [[American dream]], especially for minorities.<ref>{{harvp|Bernstein|1996|pp=183–213}}</ref> He made education the top priority of the Great Society agenda, with an emphasis on helping poor children. Buoyed by his landslide victory in the 1964 election, in early 1965 Johnson proposed the [[Elementary and Secondary Education Act]] (ESEA), which would double federal spending on education from $4 billion to $8 billion.<ref>Dallek (1998), pp. 195–198.</ref> The bill quickly passed both houses of Congress by wide margins.<ref>Dallek (1998), pp. 200–201.</ref> ESEA increased funding to all school districts, but directed more money going to districts that had large proportions of students from poor families.<ref>Bernstein (1996), p. 195.</ref>

Although ESEA solidified Johnson's support among K–12 teachers' unions, neither the Higher Education Act nor the new endowments mollified the college professors and students growing increasingly uneasy with the war in Vietnam.<ref>{{harvp|Woods|2006|pp=563–568}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Dallek|1998|pp=196–202}}</ref> Johnson's second major education program was the [[Higher Education Act of 1965]], which increased federal money given to universities, created scholarships, gave low-interest loans to students, and established a [[Teacher Corps]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Higher Education Act |url=https://www.lbjlibrary.org/news-and-press/media-kits/higher-education-act |website=LBJ Presidential Library}}{{PD-notice}}</ref> Johnson also established [[Head Start (program)|Head Start]], an [[early education]] program to help prepare children from disadvantaged families for success in public schools.<ref>Zelizer (2015), p. 184.</ref> In 1967, Johnson signed the [[Public Broadcasting Act of 1967|Public Broadcasting Act]] to create educational television programs to supplement broadcast networks.<ref name="clarkcq1">{{cite news|last1=Clark|first1=Charles S.|title=Public Broadcasting: Will political attacks and new technologies force big changes?|url=http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1992091800|access-date=August 24, 2016|issue=35|publisher=CQ Press|date=September 18, 1992}}</ref>

In 1965, Johnson set up the [[National Endowment for the Humanities]] and the [[National Endowment for the Arts]], to support the study of literature, history, and law, and arts such as music, painting, and sculpture.<ref>{{cite web |title=National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965, 20 US Code § 952 |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/20/952|website=Cornell University Law School Legal Information Institute|access-date=February 18, 2017}}</ref>