The children of seasonal farmworkers often pull extra shifts outside of school. They work on farms with their parents, babysit, cook, clean and more to help their families. If their parents are migrant seasonal workers, they could frequently move between schools.
Yet Washington doesn’t have many resources targeted at this demographic, despite having the second-largest number of these students in the U.S.
Students, parents and educators might find federal and state programs unclear on what extra resources children of seasonal farmworkers qualify for.
And Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self, D-Mukilteo, sees a lack of state policy addressed to support their academic needs. She is sponsoring House Bill 1866 to collect data on the educational gaps and current needs of children of seasonal farmworkers. Thirty representatives have sponsored this bill.
“These are students that can become multilingual students, who can give back to our communities in so many ways and there’s such a need for that,” Ortiz-Self said.
The study was proposed by the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to ensure that additional dollars requested in future sessions could be backed up by data. It is unclear how much the study would cost.
OSPI wants to eventually expand existing programs or start new ones, but needs data to guide those funding decisions. The study would also provide a benchmark to measure the results of those programs against.
“We want to make sure that we are very thoughtful and intentional on identifying the needs of the students,” said Veronica Gallardo, assistant superintendent of System and School Improvement at OSPI.
If passed, the results of the study wouldn’t be seen until June 1, 2025, when OSPI would be required to share the results to the Legislature. However, this issue may not be addressed until after the 2026 legislative cycle.
Children of seasonal farmworkers usually fall into two different categories, migratory children and nonmigratory.
A migratory child may move every couple of months because their parents may move to find work in different fields according to the season. The child could switch between three and four schools per school year.
“Socially, it’s really hard for some of these students,” said Delores Gonzalez, a migrant advocate for Grandview High School in Yakima County. “They’re falling behind and trying to catch up.”
Nonmigratory children rarely move and attend the same school. However, their parents might be frequently moving back and forth for work. In many cases, they’re left with a family member who doesn’t know how to access extra educational resources.
“It’s really hard for them to belong because they can’t join extracurricular activities,” Gonzalez said. “They have other responsibilities at home.”
Many of these children are English-language learners, coming from low-income households and face not only educational challenges but challenges accessing health care, nutritious meals and technology.
“There’s too much of a need for our migrant farm-working families and our numbers keep growing,” Gonzalez said, adding that the Yakima Valley contains a large portion of these students.
In a short legislative cycle, like the one this year, bringing up this issue through a bill proposing a study gives it a higher likelihood of passing and provides the information necessary to tackle it in a longer session, according to Ortiz-Self.
The bill has not yet had a committee hearing. If it does not receive a hearing by Jan. 31, the bill will die.
If the bill does not pass, it could potentially be added into the budget as a proviso to fund the study, according to Ortiz-Self.
“Migrant students — we also have a dream, we also want to become teachers, go to a higher level of education,” said Jazmin Corona, a former student farmworker who now works as a migrant advocate with Gonzalez. “We need people who are in charge of making laws to advocate for us and for our dreams.”
