Mr. President. a number of schools similar to those described are just now beginning to spring up in several States across the country. and last year at least four States took encouraging official action to promote the education of the migrant children. In Oregon. $50.000 was appropriated to set up a pilot program for the education of such children. Ohio passed permanent legislation to establish standards and regulations for educating migrant children and appropriated $175.000 to reimburse the local school boards for the cost of providing this education for the next 2 years. New York put its heretofore experimental summer school program for migrant children on a permanent basis and appropriated additional funds. And. in my own State of New Jersey $25.000 was included in the budget of the migrant labor board for the States migrant education program. In addition. a number of valuable studies are under way to determine the best methods for dealing with the special educational problems borne by these children as they follow the crops from State to State. Colorado has a 3year study under way. financed In part by the U.S. Office of Education. There is also an interesting TexasWisconsin study project in progress to find a feasible way of determining the educational needs of each child while the child is still in his home district. and transmitting that information to another State. so that the schools in Wisconsin. for example. can have a suitable educational program ready when the child arrives. I would also like to mention a special migrant education demonstration program that has been stared in New Jersey by the National Child Labor Committee. in conjunction with the department of labor and industry. This program was initiated in January of last year to develop methods for providing the best schooling possible for the migrant children which would also serve as a model and stimulus to other States with the same problem. A survey is being conducted to determine vital statistics on such matters as the number of schoolage migrant children who are actually enrolled. the total number of migrant children or potential enrollment. their location. the degree of educational lag and nature of their educational needs. the local schools affected. and the prevailing enrollment and attendance practices in the State. There is an auspicious note in the fact that the advisory committee that has been established for the project. represents 18 educational. grower. labor. religious. social welfare. civic. and governmental groups. It will be extremely helpful to have specific illustrative facts on these migrant children to complement the generalized information now available. For example. the National Child Labor Committee has found that more than 50 percent of the estimated 100.000 schoolage migrant children are from 1 to 4 years behind in school by the time they reach the age of 14. Testimony received from the hearings held so far show how serious the problem is. both with respect to actual attendance and the degree of grade retardation. A study of migrant workers in Oregon in 1958. for instance. found that of about 800 children under 12 who accompanied their parents. 27 percent were working rather than going to school. Among the 14- and 15yearolds. the percentage jumped to 40. A ninecounty survey in Ohio found that 51 percent of the migrant children attending school were in grades below normal for their ages. The National Council of Agricultural Life and Labor conducted field research in four areas in Florida. Virginia. Illinois. and Texas. and found that oneeighth of the migrant children did not enter school until after their eighth birthday. Onethird more did not enter school until they were 9 years old or over. The degree of backwardness for 75 percent of the children after their ninth year in school was from 1 to 5 years.