Speech #1000110509

Madam President. this amendment will restore vitally needed education funds to Texas school districts faced with the responsibility of educating large numbers of immigrant children due to Federal immigration policies. Due to a series of administrative mistakes and miscommunications. 29 local educational agencies in Texas are in danger of receiving no funding at all for fiscal year 1988 under the Emergency Immigrant Education Program. As a result of those administrative mistakes and miscommunications. the number of eligible students in Texas was underreported by 18.599. and the Texas school districts stand to lose approximately $1.3 million. Mr. President. this is clearly a tragic turn of events. These Texas school districts are precisely the types of districts that Congress sought to assist when it created the Emergency Immigrant Education Program. For example. the Brownsville Independent School District is located right across the border from Mexico. has a large number of immigrant students and. given the difficult economic situation in that area. is in particularly dire need of these funds. Since learning of this administrative situation and the impact it would have on crucial education services in Brownsville and elsewhere in Texas. I have worked with my colleagues here in Congress together with officials at the Department of Education to find a way to continue funding this important program in these needy districts. I am pleased to report that a painless way to accomplish that objective has been unearthed. The Department of Education has informed me that funds previously earmarked for training and technical assistance under the bilingual education program are available for transfer to the Emergency Immigrant Education Program. and obligation to the Texas districts. We are not talking about a situation where we are taking money out of one program to fund another. we are talking about a reappropriation of previously unused bilingual education funds. And we are providing valuable funding to educational programs of critical importance. and to districts that clearly belong to the group of intended beneficiaries of the statute of creating the program.