Speech #980227841

Mr. President. is simple. Should we expect local communities. many of which are in desperate financial straits. to take on additional costs resulting from inadequate Federal immigration controls? Or should the Federal Government shoulder a portion of its responsibility and supplement the communitys educational efforts? The answer to this question is obvious. it is the failure of Federal immigration policy that has created the massive immigration of illegal alien families. and it is therefore the Federal Governments responsibility to extend sufficient support to the States and school districts to mitigate some of the additional fiscal burden. The bill I introduce today reauthorizes emergency immigrant assistance for 5 years at a level of $150 million for fiscal year 1985. with increments of $5M per annum through 1989. Like the current program. allocations are based on a Federal per pupil expenditure of $500. This level of support represents about 20 percent of the cost of educating a student in Texas today. To qualify for participation in the program. a school district must demonstrate that it has at least 500 immigrant students enrolled. or that 3 percent of its total enrollment is comprised of immigrant children. Funds may be used for capital and/or programmatic expenses at the discretion of school officials. Clearly supplemental Federal funding to support the efforts of school districts should be a priority for the Congress.