[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 162 (Tuesday, November 16, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2392-E2393]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   GAO REPORT URGES IMPROVEMENTS OF FEDERAL PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN OF 
                          MIGRANT FARM WORKERS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 16, 1999

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call to the attention of my 
colleagues of a

[[Page E2393]]

General Accounting Office (GAO) report which I requested. The report--
entitled ``Migrant Children: Education and HHS Need to Improve the 
Exchange of Participant Information''--has just been released. The GAO 
study reports problems with federal education programs which have been 
established to help children of migrant farm worker families. The two 
largest federal education programs, Migrant Education and Migrant Head 
Start, help over 660,000 migrant children overcome educational 
hardships. The report concludes that federal education programs created 
to help children of migrant farm worker families, could better serve 
migrant children.
  Mr. Speaker, migrant children routinely suffer poverty, inadequate 
housing, social isolation, pesticide exposure, and disrupted schooling 
as their families move from place to place and from state to state in 
search of work. The fresh produce and rich variety of canned and frozen 
foods on our American tables would not be available without the labor 
of migrant farm worker families, but migrant children, many of whom 
labor in the fields along side their parents, frequently do not share 
in this bounty. We need effective programs which can help these 
children.
  According to the GAO report, migrant workers are diverse, young, and 
mobile. Although most are Mexican and Mexican-American, there has been 
an influx of workers from Central America. At the same time, a 
substantial portion of the migrant labor force includes English-
speaking, white U.S. families; Bengali-speaking workers harvesting 
grapes and fruit in California; Russian-speaking workers fishing and 
logging in the Northwest; and Gullah-speaking, African-American 
families shrimping in Georgia. Over the years, the workforce has become 
younger, and today most migrant farm workers are under 35. In 
particular, the number of teenage boys who migrate without their 
families--many as young as 13 years of age--continues to increase.
  Mr. Speaker, about half of all migrant workers travel with their 
families. Most migrant farm worker families live in two or more 
locations per year, disrupting the education and preschool experience 
of children. This not only disrupts regular education, it can also 
disrupt special services available to migrant children. In part this is 
because children who may be eligible for special education services in 
one location are not eligible when they move to another location and in 
part because critical information, such as immunization records and 
special education needs assessments, are not transmitted or are not 
accepted at the new school. Because children of migrant farm families 
are in an area for a relatively short time, they may not receive the 
services they need and they may receive unnecessary immunizations or 
diagnostic assessments. An additional problem for older children is 
satisfying the courses requirements for high school graduation. 
Requirements differ from school district to school district and records 
of courses completed must be transmitted to the new school district, 
and frequently this does not happen or it happens only with 
considerable delay.
  Mr. Speaker, the GAO recommends that to help all migrant infant and 
preschoolers get the services they need, the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services expand its definition of eligible agricultural 
occupations available for Migrant Head Start (MHS) programs to 
harmonize with those listed under Migrant Educational Program (MEP). 
Currently, only children of crop workers are eligible for MHS, whereas 
those eligible for MEP include children of dairy workers and fishers, 
as well as crop workers. As a result of MHS' narrower eligibility 
requirements, fewer infants and preschool migrant children are eligible 
for MHS than for MEP.
  The GAO's second recommendation, to make sure that critical 
information is transmitted to the receiving school or center when it is 
needed. In order to assure that this is done, GAO recommends that the 
Secretaries of Education and of Health and Human Services to develop an 
electronic nationwide system that would allow schools and MHS centers 
to readily access or request educational and health information migrant 
children. Currently, the absence of a national system often results in 
inappropriate classroom placements, delays in receiving services, 
repeated immunizations, or failures to complete high school graduation 
requirements.
  GAO's third recommendation is that the two cabinet Secretaries 
include in their respective research and evaluation plans studies that 
measure the outcomes of MEP and MHS and the extent to which programs 
are meeting their goals. It is important that we know if migrant 
education and head start programs are working. Although both Education 
and HHS collect substantial amounts of program data, none of the 
current data enables either department to evaluate how much their 
programs are helping migrant children.
  Mr. Speaker, copies of this important report are available. I urge my 
colleagues to read the GAO's important new report on migrant children 
and join me in working to implement these important recommendations.

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