SUBJECT: Migrant Education Program (MEP) Funds for 2002 Summer Projects

This letter is addressed to superintendents of districts receiving Title I, Part C Migrant Education Program funds. Title I Part C Migrant Funds will soon be made available to school districts for the implementation of FY2002 distance-learning summer programs through Project SMART, the Binational Teacher Exchange and other migrant-funded summer programs. In early March we will provide more information regarding time lines and specific schedule(s) to be used for amending your FY2002 Migrant SAS application. Funds are made available to migrant-funded districts to supplement monies set aside for summer on Schedule 3A, line 3 in the SAS-A478-02.

You will be pleased to know that, in Texas alone, Project SMART served over 46,000 migrant students last summer. Here are just a few reasons that students, educators, and parents are excited about SMART:

· It is broadcast nationally via satellite, our children can access it here in Texas or anywhere in the country-schools, churches, community-centers, migrant labor camps, health clinics, etc.;
· Interactive multimedia television and video streaming are the state-of-the-art media for reaching today's children;
· It is extremely cost effective and flexible-it can help all children, not just migrant students;
· It meets unique student needs with high quality instruction at extremely low cost-it levels the playing field for districts with limited summer funds, or those that are remote and cannot attract qualified summer teachers; and
· It accommodates schedules and programming to the needs of the students and the resources of the school.

In addition to its impact on student achievement, summer enrollments affect funding for the state and for your district. Clearly, so that both the student and the district win, you are encouraged to have all of your migrant students participate in a migrant-funded summer program.

For more information regarding the Binational Teacher Exchange Program, please refer to the letter to the administrator addressed dated December 10, 2001, from Nora Ibañez Hancock, Associate Commissioner for the Education of Special Populations. Should you desire further information regarding migrant summer program opportunities, call the Division of Migrant Education at (512) 463-9067.

Sincerely,

Nora Ibañez Hancock, Ed. D.
Associate Commissioner
for the Education of Special Populations

cc: ESC Executive Directors
ECS Migrant Contacts
ESC Field Agents