data is never released to anyone other than the school where the child is enrolled. A copy of both the health and academic record is to be given to the student if possible to be checked for accuracy. The designers of the automated Migrant Student Record Transfer System were very mindful to design and develop a total system that would assure privacy of migrant students' data. The System, as it was designed, has met all standards as established by the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights chaired by Senator Sam Erwin of North Carolina. It has been established by the Office of Privacy that this System is not a federal system of records. MSRTS POTENTIAL It is my understanding that our national population is 1/3 mobile annually. This means there is a need for such a system to serve all other mobile populations that move from school to school. The MSRTS has the potential to expand to serve any part or all of this record transferal requirement. Also, its potential for providing detailed data for school personnel and in providing management data for state and federal governments will be limited only by our imaginations, cooperation of the states, and availability of operational funds. A functional System now exists and the states are now making progress in utilizing the System. We believe the federal government cannot renege on its commitment to the most deserving and disadvantaged group of children in this nation. The support of Congress for the continuation of this vital effort is urgently and sincerely solicited. The greatest immediate potential of the MSRTS is in the skill information applications under development. These skill information systems will provide the capabilities of: 1. Making possible, for the first time, continuous and effective programs in reading and math for individual migrant students. 2. 3. A readily usable source of data for unbiased evaluation and accountability of reading and math programs at the local, state, and national levels. An economical and comprehensive source of needs assessment data in reading and math. FUNDING FOR MIGRANT EDUCATION PROGRAMS Funding for the educational programs for migrant children has been a part of the total Elementary and Secondary Education Allocation which is made up of the Local Education Agency (LEA) programs and the State Education Agency (SEA) programs. The SEA programs consist of Migrant, Neglected and Delinguent, Handicapped, and Indian. Distribution of the ESEA-I funds has been made on a formula basis with the priority that all SEA programs would be funded at full entitlement. The formula for the migrant program according to P.L. 89-750 Section 103 was 1/2 the national per pupil expenditure or 1/2 the state per pupil expenditure whichever is greater multiplied by the U.S. Commissioner's estimate of migrant children residing in the states full time and the full time equivalent of those residing part time in the states. P.L. 93-380 changed the funding as described under Section 122 (b). PRESENTLY USED FORMULA FACTORS Presently, through P.L. 93-380, the Commissioner of Education is using statistics made available by the Migrant Student Record Transfer System. Through the use use of statistics that are made available by the Migrant Student Record Transfer System, the states are encouraged to recruit and identify the eligible migrant children as quickly as possible which enables their state to accumulate the much needed funds to serve migrant children. The Migrant Student Record Transfer System runs a data processing program at the end of each calendar year that provides the total F.T.E. for each state. This places the funds in the state where children are being served and leaves no doubt concerning which children have been identified as migrants. One F.T.E. equals 365 days. Usually on the average it takes two children to It becomes readily apparent that increases in schools and students with no increase in allocations or an apparent reduction in funds will create a dilemma in migrant program operations. With a continuous increase in student enrollments, any reduction in funds would geometrically dilute available per pupil funds. It was anticipated that student enrollment would level off by the end of FY72. The monthly rate of growth up to that time was an average of 9,600. However, after P.L. 93-380 was put into effect, the System has grown to 519,363 in September, 1977. If this rate of growth continues in the future, we will in all probability, be serving 750,000 migrant children. that reflects the growth rate. Reference Attachment A for graph It is most important that other schools and all migrant children be included in special school programs but it is a fact of life that services can be so limited for each student that little, if any, positive behavioral changes occur. RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Migrant student needs in reading, math, oral language, early 2. 3. 4. 5. childhood, and career education be explicitly defined in terms of skill lists developed by the migrant education state directors, I further recommend that any reference to coordination of I further recommend that pre-school and early childhood needs I further recommend that the word area for serving of migrant a state operated program. There are others who believe differently. I further recommend that any future language relative to the use of statistics of the Migrant Student Record Transfer System |