CONTENTS Bell, Hon. Terrel H., Commissioner of Education; accompanied by Dr. Lee E. Wickline, Director, Refugee Assistance Task Force, Office of Education; Richard A. Hastings, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Legislation (Education); and Ms. Julia Vadala Taft, Director, In- Cronin, Joseph M., State superintendent of education, Illinois Office McKinley, Dr. Donald, chief deputy superintendent, California State Department of Education; accompanied by Don White, deputy superintendent for congressional relations; and David W. Gordon, executive assistant to chief deputy superintendent_. Steinhilber, Dr. August, assistant executive director, Office of Federal Bell, Hon. Terrel H., Commissioner of Education, Department of 19 Dunham, Dr. George E., superintendent, Placer Hills Union School District, Meadow Vista, Calif., letter to Chairman Perkins, dated Elseroad, Homer O., director, elementary/secondary education serv- ices, Education Commission of the States, Denver, Colo., letter to Chairman Perkins, dated October 30, 1975---- Frinks, Marshall L., Federal relations director, State of Florida, De- partment of Education, Tallahassee, letter to Chairman Perkins, Grognet, Allene Guss, coordinator, National Indochinese Clearing- house, Center for Applied Linguistics, Arlington, Va., letter to John Jennings, dated November 12, 1975-- Hannaford, Hon. Mark W., a Representative in Congress from the State of California, prepared statement of---. Johnson, Hon. Harold T. (Bizz), a Representative in Congress from the State of California, statement of---. Ketchum, Hon. William M., a Representative in Congress from the State of California, prepared statement of-- Kirkpatrick, James R., associate secretary, American Association of School Administration, prepared statement of.. Lamborn, Robert L., executive director, Council for American Private Education, Washington, D.C., letter to Chairman Perkins, dated McElligott, Joseph P., director, Division of Education, California McKinley, Donald R., chief deputy superintendent of public instruc- Mineta, Hon. Norman, a Representative in Congress from the State 54 33 Murdick, Rev. Msgr. Olin J., secretary for education, United States Catholic Conference, Washington, D.C., letter to Chairman Perkins, dated November 5, 1975__ "Resolution X," submitted by D. Casavant, Vermont delegation__Roybal, Hon. Edward R., a Representative in Congress from the State of California, prepared statement of-- Stark, Hon. Fortney H., a Representative in Congress from the State Steinhilber, Dr. August, assistant executive director, Office of Federal Taft, Julia Vadala, Director, Interagency Task Force for Indochina, Won Pat, Hon. Antonio B., a Representative in Congress from the Territory of Guam, letter to Chairman Perkins, dated November 4, 1975_ Page 83 86 80 87 80 35 23 84 TO AUTHORIZE FUNDS FOR ASSISTANCE TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES FOR THE EDUCATION OF CAMBODIAN AND VIETNAMESE REFUGEES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1975 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ELEMENTARY, SECONDARY, AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR, The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 o'clock a.m., in room 2257, the Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Carl D. Perkins (chairman), presiding. Members present: Representatives Perkins, Ford, Miller, Mottl, Quie, Bell, and Goodling. Staff members present: John F. Jennings, counsel for the majority, and Yvonne Franklin, minority legislative associate. Chairman PERKINS. A quorum is present and we will begin. The Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary and Vocational Education, is conducting a hearing today on H.R. 7897, and related bills. These bills provide temporary assistance to local educational agencies for the purpose of educating Cambodian and Vietnamese refugee children and adults. Within the past year there has been an immigration into the country of over 125,000 refugees from Southeast Asia. It is estimated that nearly half of these refugees are children under the age of 18. Congress and the administration recognized the problems involved in settling these refugees through enactment of the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975. Under the authority of that act, approximately $405 million has been appropriated for the purpose of assisting in the resettling of those refugees. Of this amount, $5 million has been made available to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare for adult education programs, and approximately $15 million has been made available to local school districts to educate refugee children. Payments for these children are limited to $300 a child or, if a school district has 100 such students or such students equal at least 1% of its total enrollment, then payments are $600 a child. The bills before us today, and the Senate-passed bill, S. 2145, propose a temporary program to pay school districts for the full basic costs of educating these children. They also authorize payments for supplemental educational services for these children. Several of these bills also propose an adult education program for Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees. The major issue before us today is whether the committee should adopt temporary legislation which would reimburse school districts for the full basic cost of educating refugee children, or whether we should simply follow the administration's approach of limiting aid to relatively small 1-year grants for these children and thereby require school districts and the States to pay for most of the basic cost of their education. I, myself, believe that we should enact a temporary program to reimburse school districts for the basic costs of educating these children. These refugees are in the country as a direct result of a national policy of welcoming these people to our shores. And, to my way of thinking, it is only fair then that the Federal Government ought to pay-for a limited period of time-for part of the cost of educating these children. I know that our witnesses today will offer varying views on this subject and I look forward to hearing those views. Then, the committee will be given the opportunity to work its will. [A copy of H.R. 7897 follows:] [H.R. 7897, 94th Cong., 1st sess.] A BILL To authorize funds for assistance to local educational agencies for the education of Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. (a) There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary, not to exceed $102,920,000 for the year ending September 30, 1976, $51,460,000 for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1977, and $24,800,000 for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1978, for payments to local educational agencies under subsection (b), and there shall be authorized to be appropriated such additional sums as will assure at least the same level of funding under this Act in such year for Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. The grant which a local educational agency in Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands is eligible to receive shall be determined pursuant to such criteria as the Commissioner of Education (hereinafter in this Act referred to as the "Commissioner") determines will best carry out the purposes of this Act. (b) (1) In any case in which the Commissioner determines that satisfactory data for that purpose are available, the grant which a local educational agency in a State shall be eligible to receive under this paragraph for the fiscal years ending September 30, 1976 shall (except as provided in subsection (c)) be determined by multiplying the number of children counted under section 3 by 100 per centum of the average per pupil expenditure in the State, as defined by section 403 (16) of Public Law 81-874, except that, in addition to such costs, there shall be included remedial and bilingual educational services, and for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1977, shall (except as provided in subsection (c)) be determined by multiplying the number of children counted under section 3 by 50 per centum of the average per pupil expenditure in the State. In any case in which such data are not available, subject to subsection (c), the grant for any local educational agency in a State shall be determined on the basis of the aggregate amount of such grants for all such agencies in the county or counties in which the school district of the particular agent is located, which aggregate amount shall be equal to the aggregate amount determined under the two preceding sentences for such county or counties, and shall be allocated among those agencies upon such equitable basis as may be de termined by the State educational agency in accordance with basic criteria prescribed by the Commissioner. (2) In any case in which the Commissioner determines that satisfactory data for that purpose are available, the grant which a local educational agency in a State shall be eligible to receive under this subsection for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1978, shall (except as provided in subsection (c)) be the amount f attributable by such local educational agency as the incremental cost of providing the children counted under subsection (d) with such vocational, remedial, and bilingual educational services as may be necessary. In any case in which such data are not available, subject to subsection (c), the grant for any local educational agency in a State shall be determined on the basis of the aggregate amount of such grants for all such agencies in the county or counties in which the school district of the particular agent is located, which aggregate amount shall be equal to the aggregate amount determined under the preceding senence for such county or counties, and shall be allocated among those agencies upon such equitable basis as may be determined by the State educational agency in accordance with basic criteria prescribed by the Commissioner. (c) Upon determination by the State educational agency that a local educational agency in the State is unable or unwilling to provide for the special educational needs of children described in subsection (d), the State educational agency shall, if it assumes responsibility for the special educational needs of such local educational agency which is attributable to such children, be eligible to receive the grant which such agency would otherwise be eligible to receive, but if the State educational agency does not assume such responsibility, any other State or local public agency, as determined by regulations established by the Commissioner, which does assume such responsibility shall be eligible to receive such grant. In the case of local educational agencies which serve in whole or in part the same geographical area, and in the case of a local educational agency which provides free public education for a substantial number of children who reside in the school district of another local educational agency, the State educational agency may allocate the amount of the grants for those agencies among them in such manner as it determines will best carry out the purposes of this title. (d) The number of children to be counted for the purposes of this section is the number of children aged five to ninteen, inclusive, in the school district of a local educational agency who are refugees within the meaning of that term as defined in section 3 of the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975. SEC. 2. (a) There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary not to exceed $72,440,000 for the year ending September 30, 1976, $36,220,000 for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1977, and $18,110,000 for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1978, for payments to local educational agencies of the cost of providing basic adult education and occupational training and retraining to those persons residing within the school districts of such local educational agencies who are refugees within the meaning of that term as defined in section 3 of the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975. (b) Payments to local educational agencies pursuant to subsection (a) shall not exceed the amounts specified in the following schedule: (1) for the year ending September 30, 1976 (A) $980 per refugee for basic adult education; (B) $1,600 per refugee for occupational training and retraining; (2) for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1977— (A) $490 per refugee for basic adult education; (B) $800 per refugee for occupational training and retraining; and (3) for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1978 (A) $245 per refugee for basic adult education; and (B) $400 per refugee for occupational training and retraining. (c) No funds appropriated pursuant to this section shall be made available to any local educational agency except pursuant to such regulations, and upon the submission of such applications and records of expenses, as the Secretary may prescribe. SEC. 3. The Commissioner shall enter into such cooperative agreements with the Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act. SEC. 4. At its option, a State education agency may submit to the Commission a proposal to administer this program within that State. Such proposal shall include appropriate assurances as to administration, technical assistance to local education agencies, and other assurances as the Commissioner may direct. Upon approval by the Commissioner of each such proposal, and from time to time thereafter, the Commissioner may pay to that agency the funds to which the local education agencies within that State are entitled, for transmission to local education agencies. The State agency may reserve up to 1 per centum of the |