Because Local Family Information Centers can be funded only if funds for the parent centers are over $50 million. the Bingaman amendment enables the local centers to receive funding for the first time ever. The $5 million that the amendment provides for the Local Family Information Centers is an important step in involving parents in their childrens education. and is especially important for parents of Englishlanguagelearners who may need more assistance in navigating the school system. The amendment also benefits the 750.000 children of migrant farmworkers. by providing an additional $9 million for the Migrant Education Program. These children face many obstacles to their education. including dire poverty. geographic and cultural isolation. and outright bigotry. The Migrant Education Program was created in 1966 to reduce these obstacles. coordinate educational services to migrant children. and lay the foundation for them to succeed in school and in life. This amendment will provide a range of supplemental support services to migrant students. including the assurance that their school records will follow them from school to school as their families relocate to new areas of the region of the Nation. The Bingaman amendment will also help migrant students go to college and complete college. by investing an additional $5 million in the High School Equivalency Program and the College Assistance Migrant Program. These two programs are lifelines of college opportunity for migrant students. They use proven strategies to help migrant students complete high school and graduate from college. They provide instruction and counseling for those who have dropped out of school to get back on track. and they provide valuable guidance to migrant high school graduates in their first year of college. By contrast. the bill before us freezes funding for these two programs at this years levels of $18.7 million for the high school program and $15.5 million for the freshman college program. It carries forward a cut of $4.4 million from last year. which resulted in the elimination of five parts of the high school program. We need to do more. not less. to help migrant students succeed in school and college. Reductions in these valuable programs should be unacceptable to us all. Finally. the Bingaman amendment provides an additional $9.9 million to support the nearly 250 colleges and universities across the country designated as Hispanic Serving Institutions.
Keywords matched
Migrant migrant