Identification and Recruitment of Migratory Children

The purpose of this letter is to emphasize and remind local educational agencies (LEAs) of the requirement under federal law for the identification and recruitment (ID&R) of every eligible migratory student residing in Texas. TEA requests the assistance of all LEAs in the state to help meet this requirement, and most importantly, to ensure the benefits of the Migrant Education Program (MEP) are made accessible to the intended recipients. 

Identification and Recruitment (ID&R)

Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), funding to an LEA operating a Migrant Education Program (MEP) is based, in part, on the number of migratory children identified. Migratory children are children ages 0 – 21 whose parents or guardians have, or the youth themselves have: 

1. Made a qualifying move in the preceding 36 months to engage in migratory agricultural or fishing work. 
2. Moved across school district boundaries and lived away from their home district while engaging in work.   
3. Moved due to economic necessity. 

Identification means determining the presence and location of migratory children. Recruitment means actively contacting migratory families, describing the benefits of the MEP to the child and his or her family, obtaining the necessary information to document the child’s eligibility, and enrolling the child in the MEP. 

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has assured the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Migrant Education, that identification and recruitment of all eligible migratory students, including out-of-school youth (OSY) and preschool migratory children residing in every LEA, would be conducted on a year-round basis.   

For the purposes of the MEP, an OSY is defined as a high school-age youth through age 21 who is not currently enrolled in a K-12 institution. The youth may have dropped out of school, may be working on a high school equivalency program outside of a K-12 institution, or may be “here-to-work” only. 

For this process to be effective, ID&R should be conducted year-round from September through August. It must include balanced efforts to identify and recruit all migratory children who reside within the school district’s boundaries. Access or connection to a variety of resources, including the LEA, local community, and local employers, must be a part of such efforts. 

LEA Responsibility

LEAs that apply for and receive Title I, Part C (Migrant) funds through the 2024-2025 ESSA Consolidated Federal Grant are required to conduct their own ID&R activities as outlined in the MEP Texas Manual for the Identification and Recruitment of Migratory Children. TEA highly encourages all migrant-funded LEAs to work cooperatively with their regional ESC to ensure that the MEP reaches all eligible migratory children and that these children are properly encoded in the Texas-New Generation System (TX-NGS) database. 

Each LEA serving eligible migratory children should document their ID&R process in the LEA’s Identification and Recruitment Plan as well as in the District Improvement Plan.  

ESC Responsibility and Resources

TEA provides each regional education service center (ESC) with funding to provide required professional development opportunities and technical assistance to their respective LEAs on the ID&R process. 

For those LEAs that were eligible but elected not to apply for and receive Title I, Part C (Migrant) funds through the 2024-2025 ESSA Consolidated Federal Grant, the regional ESC has been provided funding to assist TEA with the mandated identification and recruitment activities of all migratory children, including OSY and preschool children. TEA requests that these LEAs work collaboratively with their regional ESCs to ensure these students are provided eligible services and that these children’s demographic data are properly encoded in the TX-NGS database. 

In addition, TEA provides each ESC with funding to assist in the identification and recruitment of OSY. At a minimum, the ESC will be responsible for determining the individual academic and support needs of each OSY. The ESC’s responsibility is to ensure that the OSY have access to services to successfully transition to postsecondary education or employment. TEA requests that LEAs work collaboratively with their ESCs in these efforts by providing them with requested academic records to ensure the success of these OSY. 

Services Provided through the MEP

Children who qualify for the MEP may receive instructional and support services provided by the LEA.  The availability of these services is determined by:  

• Funding to the LEA 
• Individual student needs 
• Services offered through other funding sources.

Instructional Services provided by LEA may include: 

• Tutoring 
• Summer Programs 
• Early childhood opportunities 
• State assessment preparation

Support Services may include: 

• Clothing 
• Health visits 
• School supplies or access to homework tools 
• MEP support, advocacy, and coordination in working with school personnel

For Further Information

As always, thank you for your assistance and support of Texas migratory students. For information regarding the MEP program, please visit the Texas Migrant Education Program (TMEP) web portal. 

If you have questions regarding the Identification and Recruitment of migratory children, please contact your regional ESC or TEA MEP team at migrant.ed@tea.texas.gov.