SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today announced 23 grantees will receive $5.4 million in Migrant Education Even Start (MEES) grants. For the list of grantees, please visit Funding Results: Migrant Education Even Start (Link no longer active. For more information, please contact the Funding Master Plan at fmp@cde.ca.gov or 916-323-1544.).

"Children of migrant families face a number of challenges and disruptions in their education because of frequent moves,” said O'Connell. "These grants help regional migrant education offices develop strategies addressing the needs of these students and their families and providing them with opportunities that will assist them in achieving educational success."

A child is considered a "migrant" if the parent or guardian has moved during the past three years mostly to follow seasonal work in the agricultural, dairy, lumber, or fishing industries. MEES is a federal grant authorized under the No Child Left Behind Act that was modeled after the William F. Goodling Even Start Family Literacy programs.  That program was named in honor of its original Congressional sponsor and advocate, William F. Goodling. 

The MEES program is a statewide, home-based and school-based family literacy education model.  Local projects funded by MEES are administered by 23 migrant education regions at 332 sites statewide.  Migrant parents may receive services to enhance literacy levels, expand parenting skills, and learn English-as-a-second language. Their migrant children aged from newborn to 7 years old may receive early childhood and preschool services. In fiscal year 2004-05, the last year for which data is available, about 11,967 parents and 11,135 children were enrolled in the program.

In this round of grants, local education agencies with established regional migrant education offices already funded through the California Department of Education were eligible to receive continued MEES funding. Allocations were based on the number of sites, parents, children served, and the number of identified migrant children, 3 to 7 years old.  For more information on the Migrant Education Even Start grant, please visit Funding Profile (ID 862): Migrant Education Even Start (Link no longer active. For more information, please contact the Funding Master Plan at fmp@cde.ca.gov or 916-323-1544.).