Arkansas Gets Money For No Child Left Behind

The federal Education Department today announced $120,000 for Arkansas` migrant education program. The money was issued through the No Child Left Behind Act. It will help Arkansas train teachers and link its student records with other states where migrant families work and enroll their children in public schools. State migrant education director William Cosme says the mostly Spanish-speaking children constantly move around the country while their parents take seasonal jobs in agriculture and food processing. If they are not citizens they are even more susceptible to record-keeping problems and, therefore, to dropping out of school. Cosme says his office receives $5 million a year, but funding hasn`t risen to meet demand as Arkansas` migrant student population has risen to 12,500. A spokesman for Democrat John Kerry`s presidential campaign said today that`s part of No Child Left Behind`s $120 million unfunded mandate in Arkansas and blamed the Bush administration. But Kathleen Leos from the U.S. Education Department said it`s states that haven`t used all of the money they`ve been given. She said Arkansas has until the end of September to use about half a million dollars of federal money it`s failed to allocate.