Center for Migrant Education awarded $725,000

SAN MARCOS – The Center for Migrant Education, under the College of Applied Arts at Texas State University-San Marcos, has been awarded $725,000 by the the U.S. Department of Education.

The award is a modification to the current contract between the Center and the USDE. The purpose of the new funds is to continue assisting the USDE, Office of Migrant Education (OME) in the support and improvement of interstate and intrastate coordination of activities, programs, and agencies concerned with the education, health and welfare of migrant children.

The Center was initially awarded $538,746 for the first year of the contract, which runs through Sept. 2005. With the additional funds, total money awarded for year one now amounts to $1,263,746.

Under the contract, the Center deals with a wide range of issues relating to migrant education, said Frank Contreras, Director of the Center for Migrant Education. While the Center has always been active in many of these areas--including facilitating meetings on policy matters, developing materials and working to ensure quality education opportunities for “binational children” of migrant workers--those activities have taken on a national scope. The Center works closely with education officials from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and Mexico.

The Center also provides support services to assist state migrant education programs strengthen coordination with the Binational Migrant Education Program, which includes a teacher exchange program. This activity continues the work that the Center is doing with various states in Mexico, as well as with Mexico’s Ministry of Public Education and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Center plans meetings to enhance parent participation in the migrant program at the national level.

The current contract has placed the Center--as well as Texas State University--in the national and international limelight. The new award is an affirmation that the Center’s work meets high standards and has earned the approval of the migrant education community at the state and national level. The assistance received from departments and offices within the University is outstanding; especially the Grants Administration Office, the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research, the Travel Office and the Accounting Office.