This is our report on the Migrant Student Record Transfer System which is funded under title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended. Title I is administered by the Office of Education, Departme of Health, Education, and Welfare.

The report was prepared pursuant to your request of August 1, 1974. Informal comments were obtained from agency officials and incorporated herein. Copies of the report will be provided to the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare 2 days after the date of the report.

DIGEST

CHAPTER

1

2

ADEQUACY OF THE SYSTEM FOR ALLOCATION
PURPOSES

Estimates using Labor data
Validation study

Migrant program allocation subsystem
Conclusions

3

FISCAL YEAR 1975 MIGRANT PROGRAM ALLOCA

TIONS

State allocations

12

Formerly migratory children

223

Migratory children of migratory fisher

II

GAO

HEW

5

OE

Principal officials of the Department of
Health, Education, and Welfare responsi-
ble for the activities discussed in
this report

ABBREVIATIONS

General Accounting Office

Department of Health, Education, and
Welfare

Office of Education

COMPTROLLER GENERAL'S
REPORT TO THE

HONORABLE ALBERT H. QUIE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

EVALUATION OF THE MIGRANT
STUDENT RECORD TRANSFER
SYSTEM

Office of Education
Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare

DIGEST

GAO evaluated the adequacy of the Migrant
Student Record Transfer System as a basis
for allocating migrant program funds under
title I of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965. The Arkansas State
Department of Education operates the sys-
tem under contract with HEW's Office of
Education. (See p. 1.)

The Education Amendments of 1974 provide
that, in determining the number of
migrant children on which allocations to
States are based, the Office of Educa-
tion should use statistics generated by
the system or another more reliable
method.

In November 1974 it approved the use of
the system, primarily because:

--Department of Labor data, which had been
used in the past, was not accurate.
(See p. 4.)

--A validation study of the system, com-
pleted in March 1974, indicated that
it was more accurate. (See p. 5.)

Comparing the methodology used to derive
estimates from Labor's data with that used
for the system, GAO found the latter
provides a more reliable basis for estimat-
ing migrant program allocations. The ac-
curacy of the system, however, has not
been established because the validation
study did not provide an adequate basis
for assessing it.

Allocations for title I migrant programs
for fiscal year 1975 totaled about $92
million. Using the system data resulted

Tear Sheet. Upon removal, the report cover date should be noted hereon.

i

MWD-76-21

in 15 States receiving about $13 million more than they would have received had Labor's data been used. (See p. 12.)

The Education Amendments of 1974 provide that, in determining title I migrant allocations, the Office is to count migratory children of migratory fishermen and formerly migratory children. The latter are children who have ceased migrating but who, with the concurrence of their parents, are still eligible for program benefits up to 5 years.

According to the Office, migratory children of migratory fishermen and formerly migratory children were not counted for fiscal year 1975 because accurate

estimates of their numbers and locations were not available.

The Office did have current estimates, however, which officials believed were conservative. These estimates showed a total of 275,000 formerly migratory children and 12,000 migratory children of migratory fishermen. (See pp. 13 and 15.)

GAO concluded that the Office should have included some estimate of the number of these migrants in the funding base for fiscal year 1975. For the fiscal year 1976 migrant program allocations, the Office did provide an estimate.

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

At the request of Congressman Albert H. Quie, we have reviewed selected aspects of the Migrant Student Record Transfer System. Mr. Quie asked us to determine the system's accuracy and efficiency, the degree of participation in the system, and other relevant information.

We particularly looked into the use of the system for determining the number of migratory children upon which fund allocations to the States and the District of Columbia 1/ are based under title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (20 U.S.C. 241b). Under title I, grants are made to the States for programs and projects to meet the special educational needs of migratory children of migratory agricultural workers and migratory fishermen.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SYSTEM

The Migrant Student Record Transfer System is a national automated telecommunication system which provides academic and other information on migrant children to participating schools on request. The system was developed to satisfy the need for providing timely academic and health information on migrant children to schools the children enter as they migrate. Previously, the school and health records of migrant children often arrived too late to be of any use to teachers and school nurses in the placement and health care of these children.

In fiscal year 1975, about 8,800 schools in 48 States had access to the national data bank through 140 computer terminals strategically located throughout the country. The data bank--which has on file the records of more than 500,000 migrant students--is located in Little Rock, Arkansas, where the system is maintained and operated by the Arkansas State Department of Education under contract to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare's (HEW's) Office of Education (OE).

Essentially the system works as follows:

The State or local education agency recruits and
enrolls a child in a local migrant education
program.

1/For allocation purposes the District of Columbia is treated as a State.