School Readiness Act of 2005

SCHOOL READINESS ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - September 22, 2005)

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Mr. CUELLAR. Mr. Chairman, I want to focus on the extra provisions dealing with the Migrant and Seasonal Head Start programs. These programs are among the most essential, providing comprehensive education, health care, child care services to the families who often have literally nowhere else to go. I am familiar with this, working with the Texas Migrant Council in my district, Laredo, Texas.

This year we are breaking new ground by mandating at least 5 percent of the Head Start budget to go to migrant and seasonal programs. I want to thank the chairman and the members of the committee for this. This increase even by 1 percent means a lot, going from 4 to 5 percent. It would permit Migrant and Seasonal Head Start to serve as many as 10,000 additional children. This is a case where a small increase in funding can make a big difference to a lot of children, changing the path they are on.

I want to emphasize that this program is extremely important. I know that for the migrant farm worker population facing a unique set of challenges, working on a seasonal basis, migrant families often have to move from State to State during the year, making it extremely difficult for the children to get in and remain in high-quality educational programs. When they are in the fields, parents often work 12 hours a day or more, making it very difficult for child care. This is why this provision is extremely important.

This program is important, and I know because I am also the son of migrant workers. I want to thank the chairman and the ranking member (Ms. Woolsey) for the work, and the committee members for this new additional funding for the seasonal migrant workers.

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