Specifications include, but are not limited to: The Migrant Education Program (MEP) was established by the United State Department of Education in 1966. The program is part of Title I Part C of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 and most recently reauthorized by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015. It was established to meet the unique educational and social needs of migratory children between the ages of 3 to 22 years old. The program celebrates and exercises its legacy of civil rights by ensuring equal access to a high-quality education for all migrant children. Program funds support high quality education programs for migratory children and help ensure that migratory children who move among the states are not penalized in any manner by disparities among states in curriculum, graduation requirements, or state academic content and student academic achievement standards. Funds also ensure that migratory children not only are provided with appropriate education services (including supportive services) that address their special needs but also that such children receive full and appropriate opportunities to meet the same challenging state academic content and student academic achievement standards that all children are expected to meet. Federal funds are allocated by formula to State Education Agencies (SEAs), based on each state’s per pupil expenditure for education and counts of eligible migratory children, age 3 through 21, residing within the state.
