OVERSIGHT ON TEXAS BILINGUAL EDUCATION AUDITS THURSDAY, JULY 29, 1982 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ELEMENTARY, SECONDARY, AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION, COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR, Washington, D.C. The_subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 9:40 a.m., in room 2175, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Carl D. Perkins (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Members present: Representatives Perkins and Kildee. Staff present: John F. Jennings, counsel; Nancy L. Kober, legislative specialist; and Richard DiEugenio, minority senior legislative associate. Chairman PERKINS. The Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education is conducting an oversight hearing today on the bilingual education program audits performed by the department of education in the State of Texas. Last year, the Office of the Inspector General in the U.S. Department of Education conducted audits of the Federal title VII bilingual education programs in several Texas local educational agencies and the Texas State educational agency. Earlier this year, the Inspector General's Office completed their audit reports, citing audit exceptions in six local educational agencies and the State educational agency. These audit reports recommend that these agencies refund a total of $5.8 million to the Federal Government. The State and school districts have raised concerns about the procedures by which the audits were conducted and have defended their title VII programs and policies. This situation was called to my attention by 18 members of the Texas congressional delegation. I would like to commend these Texas Representatives and Senators for their leadership in requesting this hearing be scheduled and for their continued interest in the needs of Texas school children. This morning, we will hear from Inspector General James Thomas of the U.S. Department of Education. But first, we have scheduled a panel consisting of Deputy Commissioner Dr. William N. Kirby of the Texas education agency and representatives of the affected local school districts. I know that we all realize that the regulations for programs are in some cases interpreted in a way that is contrary to what we ever (1) intended. In many cases these audit exceptions should be wiped out when people act in good faith. I am delighted to welcome here this morning my colleagues, Congressman Gonzalez and Congressman de la Garza, chairman of the Agriculture Committee. I understand that Congressman de la Garza needs to leave in order to conduct some hearings this morning. We will also hear from Congressman Kazen, Congressman Frost, and Congressman Pickle. All these gentlemen are outstanding Members of Congress. None of them want to defraud the Government out of 1 penny, but when the Government undertakes to charge local school communities when the local schools have all acted in good faith, then I think it is the duty of the Congress of the United States to take some action. We are delighted that this Texas group is here this morning. I will call on you first, Mr. de la Garza, to introduce your group and make your statement. Then I will call on the other members. Go ahead. STATEMENT OF HON. E de la GARZA, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TEXAS Mr. DE LA GARZA. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate your courtesy and your understanding of my problem this morning, and I apologize to my colleagues for having to do this to them, but they understand also the process. Mr. Chairman, permit me to present to you Mr. Rudy Lopez, assistant superintendent of the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District in Pharr, Tex., accompanied by Mr. Flores and Mr. Oscar Cardenas, as well as Jim Cherry, director, planning and program development, division of region one Education Service Center in Edinburg, Tex., who represents Dr. Lauro Guerra, executive director of the Center who could not attend. These gentlemen are here to ask that a concerted effort be made to review the policies and practices used by the Office of Inspector General in auditing bilingual education programs in their school districts and I support their request. Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District and the region 1 Education Service Center are in the process of attempting to resolve significant financial disputes with the U.S. Department of Education as a result of recent audit findings by the Inspector General's Office, alleging improper use of Federal bilingual education funds under title VII. These gentlemen are educators, Mr. Chairman. They are not trying to outwit the Government. Chairman Perkins has indicated in a letter to those members concerned about this matter, the CRS American Law Division, has compiled a report on the audit process which indicates that the Office of Inspector General's legal interpretation and assertions appear to be overshadowed and overstated and overboard and lack understanding of the mandates of the Bilingual Education Act. I repeat, Mr. Chairman, these gentlemen are educators, dedicated professionals, with no other thought but to educate children. I thank you for your courtesy and they will appear later to present their statements which I support 100 percent, Mr. Chairman. Chairman PERKINS. Thank you very much, Mr. de la Garza. Next, Congressman Kazen. STATEMENT OF HON. ABRAHAM KAZEN, JR., A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TEXAS Mr. KAZEN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Before I start my statement, Mr. Chairman, let me, on behalf of the schools in south Texas, and those that are involved in this controversy, thank you publicly for holding these hearings. We have always respected your expertise in the education field. You have been very, very helpful in the past. You cut through the clouds and the smoke and all of the environmental obstacles and get right down to the heart of the matter and I am sure that you have done it this time. We very respectfully ask you, Mr. Chairman, to listen to these people that are here today. They are educators. They have absolutely no ulterior motive in coming before you except to straighten out their position, to let this committee know that they have followed regulations to the best of their ability. That if there is any misunderstanding, they should know. And up until now, just recently since you have just given us a copy of the report they did not know what it was that they were doing wrong. And, Mr. Chairman, as they proceed to testify this morning, you will understand what their plight is and the reason that they are so anxious to get this matter behind them. As I said, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate this committee's prompt response on the problems of several of our Texas school districts which are experiencing difficulties relating to the Department of Education's audits of the bilingual education program. Two of these, Mr. Chairman, the Edgewood Independent School District and the San Antonio Independent School District, serve part of my congressional districts. Those districts are shared with my colleague, Congressman Gonzalez, and he will more amply speak to their position. As you may know, the auditors' recommendations for these Texas school districts to return millions of dollars in Federal funds have seriously disrupted title VII projects and have placed the future of these districts under a very serious financial cloud. The goal of Congress to provide the best education possible for students with a limited English proficiency has, at best, been placed on hold. The $1 million claim against Edgewood, the district with the poorest financial base in Texas, threatens to bankrupt it at the expense of the children it serves. And let me parenthetically, Mr. Chairman, state that very, very recently, this district had to close its junior high school, one of the oldest in the city, partly because of their financial situation. The many thousands of dollars already spent by Edgewood in attempting to straighten out this audit question could have better been used for the education of young people, but the district has no choice but to fight this battle. The school administrators raise some very serious questions concerning the circumstances surrounding the audit process, as well as the results arrived at by the Office of Inspector General. It may well be that legislative changes are in order to avoid this in the future and to you, Mr. Chairman, I pledge my cooperation in achieving this goal if necessary. Among the specific questions that I hope will be examined in this hearing are these. Are our school districts being given conflicting interpretations of Federal law by the Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Language Affairs and the Office of Inspector General? There appears to be evidence that this is the case and that Washington is responsible for the confusion. Just exactly what was the basis of the auditors' finding? Our school officials asked for an explanation of the charges that the "intent" of title VII has been violated, but it is my understanding that they are still waiting for a response. Unfortunately, regardless of the decision of Secretary Bell on the merits of the audits, serious damage has been done. Edgewood, for example, has suspended its title VII programs for the remaining year of the funding cycle because of the unresolved audit recommendations. If this is a situation of bureaucratic misinterpretation or careless disregard for the consequences, I am sure that we will all want the facts out so that Congress and the Department can take corrective actions. I congratulate the school district officials for uniting as they have to present their case, not only to the recommendations of the auditors, but in response to apparent problems in the auditing system itself. Again, Mr. Chairman, I thank you and the committee for taking the time to hold this important hearing. Chairman PERKINS. Thank you very much, Congressman Kazen. Now, do we have Congressman Frost? I have not seen him in the room. Is he here? I wonder if Congressman Pickle will be in. Mr. Gonzalez, you go ahead. STATEMENT OF HON. HENRY B. GONZALEZ, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TEXAS Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman PERKINS. Thank you very much. You should have brought those grandchildren with you today. Mr. GONZALEZ. They are here in the back. Mr. GONZALEZ. Let me repeat what my two colleagues that preceded me have said, and that is to express our deepest appreciation. But I want to take this opportunity to give you my personal thanks through the years, over 20 years, that I have been here, that you have constantly been very responsive to those very sensi tive areas of need and I want to give witness to that fact because there is one more witness that you have really gone out of your way, as I realized when I initiated what turned out to be the request for hearings in this respect. It just seems to me that the record ought to reflect your long period of sensitivity and responsiveness to these needs. And I think that you are also well aware of the fact that I have joined from the very beginning all of the basic innovative, national-level educational programs that have come into being since you forged leadership in this very important committee on the House side and I mean going back to the Elementary and Secondary School Act and those other programs that followed, such as the bilingual program. I think you realize that we are identified together in those pioneering periods. We have supported the beginning of the Federal efforts that are intended to bring about reasonable opportunities for children who are poor, who have special needs or who have handicaps of one kind or another. And I have been very proud of that leadership that you have afforded us and given us an outlet for those that have been similarly minded. Bilingual education is a difficult concept. It is controversial. Even so, the principle is simple: We need to find and put into practice ways that effectively reach children who come to school without any or little knowledge of the English language. Unless those children get special help, a great many never progress. The language barrier is formidable, even for children who are young, flexible, and anxious to learn. The persistent failure of our schools to overcome that barrier made clear the need for bilingual programs, as you will remember, in the middle 1960's. <Even though there is still controversy about those programs, this is one inescapable fact: Since the advent of these programs, the dropout rate in districts like mine, for example, has gone down dramatically. Kids are staying in school longer, they are learning more, and they are earning more when they finish school. More are going on to a higher education. This is a story of success, not failure. Now we are confronted with a series of audits by the Office of Inspector General. Every one of these audits claims gross neglect, demands that funds already used be paid back, and demands changes that confound school districts that thought they had a clear understanding of what Federal requirements have been. Let me confess to my own dilemma in that respect. I have followed very closely the local efforts in this respect and have been in very intimate contact with the officials and I will introduce those that are here in prominent positions of leadership when I finish. I failed to explain the actions of the Inspector General as manifested in their selective approach other than ascribed political motives, to speak bluntly. There is no other conclusion I have been able to reach. In other words, there is a total absence of good faith in the selectivity, in the method and the approach and the decisions made so arbitrarily other than ascribing the motives of a base nature essentially political. DBS |