Poverty, lack of education or training, and unemployment are related events. According to a report from the Department for Adult Education and Literacy in the Workforce Development Cabinet,

There are numerous educational, vocational, and literacy programs targeted in some way to poor youth and adults in Kentucky. The vast majority and most significant of the programs which address pre-elementary, elementary, secondary and postsecondary vocational students are federal initiatives, dependent almost entirely upon Congressional funding. Adult programs are a mixed bag, some relying upon federal moneys, others upon state appropriations.

The programs dealing with pre-school and student age youth, other than those who are college bound, and educationally deprived adults, are dealt with in this chapter. Chapter VIII discusses the programs which address higher education enrollees, or those aspiring to a college or university education.

Originally created by the Office of Economic Opportunity in 1965, Head Start is a federally-funded preschool program for children from low-income families. Currently, it is run by the Administration for Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF) in the Department of Health and Human Services. The ACYF gives grants to local non-profit organizations which operate this program on the community level. Head Start's purpose is to curb the intergenerational transmission of poverty by providing poor children with a comprehensive program to meet their emotional, social, health, nutritional, and psychological needs. Among other things, these children participate in various educational activities, receive free medical and dental care, and are served healthy meals and snacks.

Sixty-six percent of families participating in Head Start on the national level have incomes of less than $9,000 per year, and 83 percent have yearly incomes of less than $12,000. Kentucky's Head Start budget for FY 95 was approximately $54.3 million. These funds enabled local agencies to serve 14,071 children. According to Kurt Walker, Head Start Program Coordinator, this program may not be able to serve as many children in the near future if Congress approves proposals to reduce Head Start funding for FY 96.

Originally established in 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty, Congress reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 as the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994. Under Title I - Helping Disadvantaged Children Meet High Standards (formerly known as Chapter I), the federal government allocates funds to assist low-income schools in meeting the needs of educationally deprived students at the preschool, elementary, and secondary levels. The purpose of Title I is to help eligible children and youth achieve success according to the same standards used for assessing all students. A variety of programs are utilized, including: (1) supplementary instruction in basic and advanced skills; (2) preschool programs; (3) summer school programs; and (4) professional development for teachers. Other, more specialized programs target adjudicated/incarcerated youth and young adults (to age 21) housed in detention centers and prisons. Additionally, the Improving America's Schools Act allows for coordination between these and other programs, such as Head Start, special education, and bilingual education programs, which address the needs of educationally deprived children.

States may issue two types of grants under Part A of Title I. A local educational agency or LEA is eligible for a basic grant if there at least 10 students whose families live in poverty and who currently reside in the school district, or the number of poor students is greater than 2 percent of the district's total population aged 5 to 17 years. According to the Division of Program Resources in the Kentucky Department Concentration grants ant of Education, all 176 school districts in Kentucky are eligible for basic grants are given to LEAs if at least 6500 poor students reside in their respective districts, or 15 percent or more of the total population of students aged 5-17 live in poor families. The Kentucky Department of Education monitors school districts receiving Title I grants in order to ensure compliance with federal spending guidelines.

After a school district is determined to be eligible for Title I funds, the individual schools in the district are ranked according to their level of poverty as determined by the free and reduced-price meals they serve. An income level of $19,695 for a family of four establishes eligibility for free meals and an income level of $28,028 establishes eligibility for reduced-price meals. Based on these criteria, there were 1059 schools that received Title I money (979 public and 80 non-public) in 1994-95. A total number of 115,136 children were served by this program in the same year (112,023 public, 1,721 non-public, and 1,392 in neglected/delinquent programs).

An important aspect of Title I is the concern for the psychological well-being of poor children. Traditionally, these students are stigmatized because of their clothing and general appearance. School counselors and consultants assist these students in a discreet manner so as not to bring attention to them, according to the Director of the Division of Program Resources in the Kentucky Department of Education. He also testified that poor students more readily "blend in" to the mainstream after receiving clothing and medical assistance from these counselors.

Most Kentucky school districts have applied for and received Title I funds in recent years. In 1993-94, Title I programs were available in 175 of 176 districts. In terms of overall funding, schools receiving basic and/or concentration grants were given $104,991,466 in 1993-94. This amount increased to $115,497,320 in the 1994-95 school year. Joe Clark also testified that counties with high poverty rates are applying for and utilizing Title I funds.

Federal funds are also made available to states through Title II of the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994. Also known as the Eisenhower Professional Development Program, Title II grants money for use in professional development activities for teachers and other educators. States must allocate approximately 84 percent of Title II money to local school districts for development activities in English, Civics and government, Foreign languages, Arts, Geography, History, Economics, and especially Mathematics and Science. The remaining 16 percent is given to state agencies responsible for higher education.

The Eisenhower Program suggest that states target historically underrepresented groups in operating this program. It recommends that each state

According to recent figures, all 176 school districts in Kentucky received some form of an Eisenhower grant in 1993-94, and most grants ranged from $100 to $25,000. Overall, local grants totaled approximately $2.7 million in 1994-95. These grants benefited 1131 elementary schools (945 public and 186 private/non-profit) and 270 secondary schools during the same period (233 public and 37 private/non-profit).

Another section of the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994 relevant to the Commission's concerns is Title VI - Innovative Education Program Strategies. Title VI is targeted to economically disadvantaged students and students living in sparsely populated areas. Under this legislation, Congress allocates moneys to state education agencies with the requirement that the state pass this money through to local schools. The funding helps these schools in developing new programs, purchasing equipment, training teachers, and other activities designed to enhance the educational opportunities for economically disadvantaged students in preschool through high school.

In 1993-94, Title VI funding enabled public and private schools to serve 46,641 students in preschool through high school. The majority of students were in public elementary (20,715) and public secondary (25,009) schools. A total of 179 LEAs participated in this program -- 109 of which received funding because of the greater proportion of poor students in their districts. Overall, Kentucky received approximately $5.3 million in Title VI funds in FY 95, according to the Division of Program Resources in the Kentucky Department of Education.

There are an estimated 45,000 homeless people in Kentucky and almost 6,000 are children and teenagers. Approximately 3,500 of the estimated 6,000 homeless young people live "doubled-up" with friends and relatives. The remainder live in urban and rural areas in public or private shelters, runaway shelters, spouse abuse or domestic violence shelters, subsidized hotels or motels, and substandard, dilapidated housing units.

Research has shown that homeless students, among others, are most likely to fail or drop out of school. The Stewart McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1994 is part of an effort to improve the education given to homeless students by attempting "... to ensure that all homeless children and youth have equal access to the same free, appropriate public education, including public preschool education, provided to other children and youth." Under Title VII Subtitle B - The Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program, states receive funds with which to give grants to LEAs. In 1994-95, grants to LEAs ranged in size from $10,000 to $60,000.

The number of students served by the McKinney Act has increased steadily over the last three years. LEAs that received funding served 2,650 and 3,000 students, respectively, in 1993-94 and 1994-95. According to projections for the current school year 1995-96, 4,000 homeless students will be served. Students in both urban and rural areas benefit from the McKinney Act. In 1994-95, LEAs in Jefferson, Fayette, and Kenton Counties received grants along with LEAs in Christian, Fulton, Greenup, Letcher, McCreary, Daviess, Rowan and Warren Counties. Kentucky's share of federal funding under the McKinney Act has increased over the last few years (from $364,465 in 1993-94 to $512,739 in 1995-96).

Table 7.1 summarizes the goals of the education programs reviewed in this section.

[Insert Table 7.1 - Summary of Selected Federally-Funded Education Programs Targeted to the Economically Disadvantaged]

The Commission considers the Head Start Program to be one of the most valuable programs utilized by the Commonwealth to address the needs of the state's economically disadvantaged students. The Commission believes to be valid the proposition that students beginning their formal education deprived of experiences or exposure to information equal to that of their peers may never achieve their full learning potential. The Head Start Program attempts to compensate for these deficiencies.

In recognition of the potential for reduced federal funding for the Head Start Program, the Commission recommends the maintenance of current service levels either through increased state or local funding, or increased administrative efficiency, or through a combination of those means.

This legislation, reauthorized in 1990, has provided secondary, postsecondary, and adult vocational programs in Kentucky with federal assistance since 1991. The focus is on program improvement and "special populations," including the poor, the disabled, foster children, and those with limited English proficiency. Under Title II, the Perkins Act allocates money in the form of basic state grants to support secondary, postsecondary, and adult vocational programs. The High-Schools-That-Work program (discussed below) also receives funding under the Act. Title III earmarks funding for "special programs" such as Consumer and Homemaking Education, Career Guidance and Counseling, and others including Tech Prep Education (discussed below). Assistance with dependent care, transportation, and tuition are also provided by this legislation.

During 1994-95, approximately 260,000 course hours were offered to students in secondary vocational and high schools through vocational-technical programs supported by Perkins funding. An additional 29,000 students participated in postsecondary vocational education programs funded by the Perkins Act in 1994-95. Continuing Education programs served 78,000 students during the same year. Kentucky's share of 1995-96 Perkins funding is approximately $19.1 million, according to the Director of the Division of Federal Programs and Support Services in the Workforce Development Cabinet.

Each program under Titles II and III of the Perkins Act serves some segment of the population in poverty. The preparatory services program for single parents, homemakers, displaced homemakers, and single pregnant women had the highest percentage of poor participants with 70 percent meeting federal poverty guidelines in FFY 1994.

According to the Workforce Development Cabinet, the Perkins Act will expire in June 1996 and, as of this writing, there was no movement in Congress to reauthorize this legislation as a categorical program.

Congress amended this legislation in 1992 in order to improve the services delivered to economically disadvantaged individuals. Title II of JTPA covers three major programs: the Adult Training Program, the Summer Youth Employment and Training Program, and the Youth Training Program. The goal of the Adult Training Program is to prepare adults for participation in the labor force by increasing their occupational and educational skills, resulting in improved long-term employability, increased employment and earnings, and reduced welfare dependency. Individuals are eligible for this program if they are 22 years old or older and economically disadvantaged. This program contains a provision targeting services to "hard-to-serve individuals" who fall into one or more of the following categories: basic skills deficient, school dropouts, recipients of cash welfare payments, criminal offenders, disabled, or homeless. In 1994-95, the Adult Training Program had a budget of approximately $16.6 million and served nearly 6,000 Kentuckians, according to the Program Advisor and the Executive Director of the Office of Training and Reemployment in the Workforce Development Cabinet.

The Summer Youth Employment and Training Program provides funding for qualifying state and local programs. The program's goals are: (1) to enhance the basic educational skills of youth; (2) to encourage school completion or enrollment in supplementary or alternative school programs; (3) to provide youths with exposure to the world of work; and (4) to enhance citizenship skills. Young people are eligible for this program if they are between the ages of 14 and 21 (inclusive) and are economically disadvantaged. According to the Workforce Development Cabinet, this program had a budget of approximately $9 million in FY 95, and 9,095 youth across Kentucky were served between October 1993 and October 1994.

The Youth Training Program is designed to: (1) improve the long-term employability of young people; (2) enhance their educational, occupational, and citizenship skills; (3) encourage school completion or enrollment in alternative school programs; (4) increase their employment and earnings; (5) reduce welfare dependency; and (6) assist them in addressing problems that impair their ability to make successful transitions from school to work, an apprenticeship, the military, or postsecondary education and training. The Youth Training Program focuses on four particular groups, each having separate eligibility requirements.

The first group is made up of "in-school youth" who may participate in this program if they are between 16 and 21-years old (inclusive) and are economically disadvantaged. "Hard-to-serve individuals who are in-school youth" are eligible for the Youth Training Program if they fall into one or more of the following categories: (1) are basic skills deficient; (2) are currently in a grade level that is one or more levels below the grade level appropriate to their age; (3) are pregnant or parenting; (4) are disabled (including learning disabled); (5) are homeless or runaways; or (6) are criminal offenders. The third group is comprised of "out-of-school youth" who are eligible if they are between 16 and 21-years old (inclusive) and are economically disadvantaged. Lastly, "hard-to-serve individuals who are out-of-school youth" are eligible if they fall into one of the categories associated with the second group and are obviously out of school. According to the Workforce Development Cabinet, close to 5,000 young people participated in the Youth Training Program in 1994-95. The program had a budget of approximately $10 million during the same year.

The Executive Director of Office of Training and Reemployment in the Workforce Development Cabinet explained that JTPA is administered through local service delivery areas with the Workforce Development Cabinet serving as a liaison to the Kentucky Department of Education. In Kentucky, a governing council exists in each service delivery area. Termed "private industry councils", the majority of their membership is made up of representatives of private industry, but public officials also belong to the councils. According to a representative of the Workforce Development Cabinet, "... the local private industry councils (are) in a unique position to evaluate what is needed in the local area to serve the targeted individuals" living there.

School-to-Work is a statewide system designed to establish a community partnership driven system of education and skill development which ensures that all individuals can successfully compete in a global economy as lifelong learners and workers. It will provide all students with information or experience about careers which they may wish to pursue while raising academic standards for all students. The system's chief goal is to prepare all students for a broad array of career options through high academics and applied learning opportunities. In pursuit of this objective, students in kindergarten through the postsecondary level are exposed to three core components of the School-to-Work "System": school-based learning, work-based learning, and connecting activities.

School-based learning includes career awareness, career exploration, counseling, and a coherent multi-year sequence of instruction beginning no later than the eleventh grade and ending after at least one year of postsecondary education. Created in 1990 under the Perkins Act (reviewed earlier), the Tech Prep Program is an example of school-based learning. It allows students to blend the last two years of high school with the first two years of postsecondary education into a coherent program of study, providing a common core of proficiency in mathematics, science, communications, and technology. Students completing Tech Prep receive an associate degree or certificate in a career field and may choose to continue their education by pursuing a bachelor's degree. The program had a budget of $1.96 million for 1994-95 and served approximately 14,000 students in 1993-94.

Work-based learning involves work experience, structured training, and mentoring at job sites. It provides students with a planned program of job training and experiences relevant to a student's career, and leads to the reward of a skill certificate, paid work experience, workplace mentoring, and instruction in general workplace competencies.

The final core component involves connecting activities, activities linking work-based and school-based learning. Examples include: teachers meeting directly with participating businesses; staff development for teachers; and assistance to students who have completed the program in finding appropriate employment.

State officials have divided the state into 22 labor markets in order to successfully implement the School-to-Work System. Each market area is responsible for developing a partnership council composed of representatives from business and industry, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, adult and postsecondary schools, community-based organizations, and parents and students. These councils must apply for "capacity-building grants" from the state in order to facilitate the development of preliminary stages of the School-to-Work System. "Implementation grants" allow councils to actually begin the initiative in their areas.

Kentucky was one of eight states chosen to participate in School-to-Work and has been granted $24 million in federal funds to implement the program over a five-year period, according to the System Coordinator of the Kentucky School-to-Work Program. An additional 19 states will begin implementing this program in the 1995-96 school year. The Director of Secondary Vocational Education in the Kentucky Department of Education, testified that over half of all school systems in Kentucky will be participating in the School-to-Work System by 1996. Also, he stated that 22 partnership councils have formed, and 18 of them are receiving implementation grants. In terms of labor-market-area participation, four areas are in capacity building. The Executive Director of School-to-Work testified that Area 5 (Henderson, Union, and Webster Counties), Area 17 (Bell, Clay, Knox, Laurel, McCreary, and Whitley Counties), and Area 20 (Fleming, Lewis, and Mason Counties) are receiving capacity-building grants and are not prepared to fully implement the system. She maintained that Areas 17 and 20, in particular, badly need to implement the School-to-Work System in order to assist the high percentage of poor students living there. According to the System Coordinator, schools in these areas are in the process of familiarizing teachers with School-to-Work and will implement the system by October 1, 1996.

Created by the Southern Regional Education Board, High-Schools-That-Work is a program designed to strengthen the curricula of vocational schools around the nation. Specifically, it blends academic courses and modern vocational studies in order to raise the achievement of career-bound high school students. Another goal of High-Schools-That-Work is to combine the basic content of traditional college preparatory English, mathematics, and science courses with vocational studies, thereby creating a curriculum that more fully prepares career-bound students for the workforce. As stated earlier, this program is funded by the Perkins Act and has a budget of $131,500 for 1995-96, according to the Branch Manager in the Division of Secondary Education in the Kentucky Department of Education. Approximately 15,000 students participated in this program in the 1994-95 school year. Officials anticipate serving 25,000 students in 1995-96.

School-to-Work, Tech Prep, and High-Schools-That-Work are closely related in that all three integrate academic and occupational learning, and involve career exploration and the development of career plans. The curriculum for each program includes such workplace competencies as critical thinking, problem-solving and team work. Although these programs share substantial similarities, there are a couple of major differences. First, work-based learning is required in the School-to-Work Program, while it is only recommended and encouraged in the Tech Prep and High-Schools-That-Work programs.

Second, the High-Schools-That-Work Program only operates in 19 states, while School-to-Work will be implemented in all 50 states within the next several years. While some overlap exists between these programs and Tech Prep, it is minimized due to coordination among officials representing all three. Also, any overlap is not likely to last very long. The federal government will cease to fund School-to-Work in five years. After this time, program officials hope that it will be a common element of the public elementary and secondary school curricula such that continued funding will no longer be necessary.

Table 7.2 lists the vocational programs reviewed in this section, together with a summary of their purpose.

[Insert Table 7.2 - Summary of Selected Federally-Funded Vocational Programs Targeted to the Economically Disadvantaged]

The Commission was disappointed to learn that just more than half of Kentucky's school districts will have implemented the School-to-Work System by 1996, and that several school districts with a high percentage of economically disadvantaged students are unprepared to participate in the System. The Commission believes that the School-to-Work System reaches a sizable group of students, both poor and nonpoor, who otherwise would be effectively ignored in more formal academic pursuits.

Gateway Grants are competitive 2-year grants to public housing authorities for adult education and literacy programs. Each year $150,000 is set aside for Gateway Grants under regulations set forth by the National Literacy Act (1991); grantees agree to educate participants 16 years or older who are enrolled in a regular secondary school program and who have not earned a high school or equivalent diploma. Participants who have a high school credential, but who score below 11.9 on the Test of Adult Basic Education, may receive remedial academic instruction as well. Currently, housing authorities in the following cities are receiving Gateway Grants: Frankfort, Georgetown, Lexington, London, Owingsville, Russell, and Russellville.

Kentucky housing authorities received $166,426 from the Kentucky Department of Adult Education and Literacy in FY 1995, but grantees spent only $114,400 of this amount, according to the Coordinator of the Kentucky Gateway Grants Program. The seven housing authorities mentioned previously served 151 persons in FY 1995. According to the Program Coordinator, educational providers in Lexington and Russellville have recently voluntarily withdrawn from the program for various reasons. Further, he stated that the Kentucky Department of Adult Education and Literacy has awarded $91,027 for FY 1996 and that the remaining providers anticipate serving 200 students in the coming year.

Technically speaking, the Parent and Child Education Program (PACE) is not targeted to economically disadvantaged persons, it focuses upon those who need reading and writing instruction and includes parents lacking a high school credential or functioning below the eleventh grade level. It is included here because of its potential to benefit poor parents in Kentucky. PACE is one of several family literacy programs operated by the Kentucky Department for Adult Education and Literacy within the Workforce Development Cabinet. It is supported by state funds and is the only statutory family literacy program within the department. This program provides academic and life skills instruction for parents and also offers preschool instruction for children who have not yet entered a formal school. Eligibility for PACE is determined by the parent's education level, not by income. Each year, approximately 500 families participate in this program which had a budget of $1.7 million for 1994-95.

According to the Commissioner for the Department of Adult Education and Literacy, it is crucial that education and literacy programs provide instruction to parents and their children. People often cite the lack of funds for at-risk student programs as a major explanation for the significant number of students who drop out of high school. The Commissioner stated that, in fact, the educational level of the parent is largely responsible for this occurrence. Parents with few reading and writing skills are more likely to place less emphasis (or no emphasis) on education for their children. Consequently, their children are more likely to quit high school. According to the Commissioner, the key to breaking the cycle of illiteracy and poverty is to provide basic instruction for these parents.

During her testimony, the Commissioner also described the link between antipoverty programs and literacy programs. She testified that people with lower literacy skills are more likely to live in poverty and are less likely to have full-time jobs. Most of these people are not aware that they lack the skills needed to compete in today's job market. Adult education programs are primarily concerned with an adult's ability to be self-sufficient not simply helping someone to obtain a General Educational Development Diploma.

The Commissioner highlighted a couple of problems encountered in the area of adult literacy. Kentucky's literacy programs serve approximately 5 percent of the population in need of educational assistance. This figure is only based on the number of adults without a high school diploma, and not on the number of adults who have a high school diploma but no basic skills. According to the Commissioner, Kentucky is not adequately serving the people who need help the most due to inadequate program funding. The department has contracted with the University of Kentucky to perform a statewide literacy survey to gain a better estimate of the persons in need of educational assistance. Results from this survey will be available in January 1996.

The Commissioner also testified that the Department of Adult Education and Literacy's budget is approximately $19 million -- a little less than one-fourth of which consists of federal (JTPA) and federal and state (JOBS) funds. She warned that the agency's budget will suffer a significant cut if the federal government reduces JTPA or JOBS spending on adult basic education in the coming months.

The Commission subscribes to the theory that the educational level of the parent is a major factor in determining the level of educational attainment of the children. Adult literacy programs, then, will have a two-fold impact: An improved quality of life for the adult and a higher level of educational expectation and aspiration for the child.

Few would dispute that child care is often a barrier to participation in secondary, postsecondary, adult education, and higher education programs in Kentucky. According to the Division of Secondary Vocational Education in the Kentucky Department of Education, there are 30 secondary schools across the state that offer Teenage Parent Programs. The programs provide care for the children of students while the students attend high school classes, some of which include courses on parenting and life skills. It is not known how many postsecondary, adult education, and higher education programs provide child care for students with dependents. According to the Family Literacy Branch Manager in the Department for Adult Education and Literacy, child care is not a service provided by her department and, consequently, no one tracks the number of child care services in adult education programs. She noted that some programs may make arrangements for this service without the department's awareness.

The School-to-Work Program (discussed earlier) provides an opportunity for students to participate in work-based learning. As part of this experience, they participate in "workplace mentoring" by working closely with individuals employed in occupations in which the students have an interest. Teachers assist in job mentoring as well by following student progress in the workplace through discussion with the students' employers.

The Southern Regional Education Board offers anecdotal evidence supporting the positive effect of teacher mentoring on student performance. For example, teachers and administrators at the Jonesboro Area Vocational-Technical High School in Arkansas monitor the performance of at-risk students each year. Although students are initially unaware that someone is serving as their mentor, they notice the attention being given to them and become more interested in their studies. During one year in which 50 at-risk students were monitored, there were no dropouts.

The mentoring referred to in the above recommendation would be performed by teachers, who would monitor the academic or work-related performance of a block of students. The assignment of a student to a teacher for academic mentoring purposes would be for the entirety of the student's secondary education.

The Commission discovered that many businesses in Kentucky are unable to find workers with enough skills and education to function in certain clerical and technical jobs. A typical example involves the Scott Paper Company and its attempt to hire workers for a new plant in Owensboro.

Recently, the company announced that it would accept applications for 174 positions and, as a result, thousands applied. Officials administered a standardized high school math and English test to some 10,000 applicants, and 4,000 failed the exam. This and other examples led the Commission to conclude that at least some Kentucky high schools are failing to educate students in basic subjects such as mathematics and English, and are failing to prepare them for some entry-level clerical and technical positions.

Throughout its work, the Commission on Poverty observed that a number of the problems associated with poverty resulted from a lack of self-worth and self-discipline among the youth of the Commonwealth. It became apparent that any strategy calculated to increase self-respect and respect for others, honesty, and good citizenship would pay substantial dividends.

The Commission became aware of the efforts of the Kentucky State Board for Elementary and Secondary Education to introduce character education in Kentucky's schools. A document entitled Character and Value Education Teaching Strategies was developed and distributed to local school districts in 1989, and revised under the title Character Education Teaching Strategies in 1994. The revision was accomplished by a Character Education Task Force, made up of a group of Kentucky educators and interested citizens, meeting under the auspices of the Kentucky Department of Education.

Character Education Teaching Strategies is not a mandatory course, but is intended as an instructional tool for teachers to be used in conjunction with their existing curriculum. The Commission considers instruction in human values to be of the utmost importance, and encourages the use of Character Education Teaching Strategies in Kentucky's elementary and secondary schools.

As noted in Chapter 5, Congress recently considered the possibility of funding different programs in the form of block grants. In fact, the Senate passed a welfare bill on September 19th that would fund welfare, child care, foster care, school nutrition and child nutrition programs in this manner. The Commission considers the subsidized meal programs to be of such importance to the general well-being of students, and to have such a significant impact upon their disposition to learn, that it recommends that the program be given first priority in the allocation of applicable block grant funds.