Speech #980141039

I strongly suspect that this reductioninforce and reorganization was undertaken in large measure as a means to cripple programs which this administration does not support but which the Congress continues to fund and to believe in. Three aspects of the reorganization. which were highlighted in the hearings. are particularly troubling to me. First. the reorganization downgraded the migrant education programs from an office reporting directly to the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education to a division within the Office of Compensatory Education. In addition to signaling a lower priority attached to migrant education. the subordination of the migrant education programs to the chapter 1 compensatory education program is also illadvised from the point of view of educational policy. The chapter 1 migrant education program is administered at the level of the State education agency. Because of the interstate mobility and special needs of the migrant population this program is national in scope. and it requires strong Federal leadership to encourage interstate coordination of services to migrant students. In addition to the chapter 1 migrant education program. the Office of Migrant Education also administered the high school equivalency program and the college assistance migrant program. commonly known as HEP/CAMP. These programs also have delivery systems that are designed to meet the unique needs of students from migrant families who are attempting to gain a high school equivalency or begin a college education. In contrast. the chapter 1 compensatory education program is focused at the level of the local educational agency. and it is primarily a flowthrough program with a more limited Federal leadership role. Consolidating these two programs administratively is highly inappropriate in light of the different delivery systems and the different needs of the populations served. The migrant education programs should be handled in the same manner as the programs for education of the handicapped. The chapter 1 programs for handicapped children are administered by the Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitation Services. These programs are not in the same unit which administers the chapter 1 compensatory education programs. The chapter 1 programs for migratory children also should not be in the same unit which administers the chapter 1 compensatory education programs. This separate unit would insure the continued existence of a comprehensive education delivery system targeted on migrant youth. This unit should continue to include both the chapter 1 programs for migratory children as well as HEP/ CAMP. In my view. it was clearly the intent of Congress in adopting the Department of Education Organization Act that there be a single office to administer all migrant education programs and that this office not be subordinated to the chapter 1 compensatory education program. Therefore. the reorganization of the migrant education programs is bad education policy. it ignores the appropriate model provided by the administrative structure for handicapped education and it violates the spirit of the Department of Education Organization Act. The second area in which the Department of Education reorganization is seriously flawed is its treatment of the Womens Educational Equity Act program. The reorganization downgraded the Womens Educational Equity Act program from an office reporting directly to the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education to a section under the Discretionary Programs Branch under