I rise in support of the amendment. I would like to state that. while it may be true that other services should be continued beyond September 30. 1977. it is certainly true that the facilities for education should be continued. Education is. without doubt. the one most esential service to be provided if we are going to properly assimilate these new refugees into our society. The committee has stated in its report that: The Committee anticipates that HEW will develop procedures to insure that local communities will not be adversely affected by the resettlement of refugees. What local communities need to know. and as soon as possible. is what their plans and policies will be. In particular. school systemswhich must hire bilingual teachers and aides. provide instructional materials. and do many other thingsneed to know what funds will be available to them. and when they will be available. In the committee report an HEW official is said to have stated that: If there are only a couple or 10 children In one school system. we do not feel that that would require a special per pupil impact aid provision. Regardless of the size of the school system. the point is that someone must pay the cost of educating these refugee children. The impact of 10 children on a small school district could cause a serious difficulty for that district. and the question is whether the Federal Government is going to pay it. or whether the local school systems will be forced to assume the cost. School budgets are relatively fixed. and in most cases the school systems have no means of obtaining additional funds to meet unexpected needs and extra costs such as those imposed by the refugee children. The Federal Government is imposing these children upon the local education agencies. and the Federal Government should pay the costs. certainly for the first year. and thereafter until the refugees have been assimilated into our society and the parents have found jobs and have begun paying taxes. It is granted that at this point no one knows how many refugees there will be In any one State or locality. or what their language and education status is. or how long they will need help. or many other of the variables. What we are asking is that just as soon as some of these factors are known. the administration come up with a definite plan as to how it will reimburse local school systems for the costs of educating refugee children. That plan zhould be submitted in writing to the Congress. so we can study it and evaluate its effects on our local areas. and propose such changes as we think may be in order. It has been implied that local schools can simply assimilate the refugee children and that there will be no substantial added costs. This overlooks the fact that class sizes throughout the country are fixed. frequently by State law or municipal ordinance. or by the availability of facilities and teaching staff. aides. and by teacher union agreements. When additional children are to be accommodated. there are definite additional costs which must be paid. on a perpupil basis. the system does not permit us to add more children without paying additional costs.
Keywords matched
refugee refugees