The Office of Migrant Education (OME) administers programs for migratory children authorized under Parts C and B of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended; the High School Equivalency Program (HEP) and the College Assistance and Migrant Program (CAMP) authorized under Title IV, Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended: and Section 418A, Special Educational Programs for migrants and other seasonal farm workers. These programs provide financial assistance to State educational agencies, institutions of higher education, or other institutions serving migratory children of migratory agricultural workers and migratory fishers and, with respect to HEP and CAMP, seasonal farm workers. Programs under these authorities are designed to meet the special educational needs of such children whose schooling is disrupted by moving, and to aid in their continued development to full potential. OME is headed by a Director who reports to the Assistant Secretary and who advises the Assistant Secretary on matters related to the programs administered by OME.
Key Responsibilities
- Administer formula and discretionary grant programs;
- Develop program requirements and contribute to the development of Department policy through drafting of necessary program documents;
- Ensure consistency with Federal requirements and fiduciary accountability;
- Provide the Federal requirements and fiduciary accountability content of technical assistance and support to grantees;
- Serve as the project managers for formula and discretionary grants and cooperative and interagency agreements, which includes managing the grants through all cycles of the grants process, which includes all pre-award (planning), award, post-award, and close-out activities all cycles of the grants process;
- Manage and conduct grants monitoring for Federal requirements and fiduciary accountability;
- Review, analyze, and communicate with grantees about data (e.g., EDFacts, CSPR, and APR) for Federal requirements and fiduciary accountability, including risk management;
- Provide general and targeted technical assistance to grantees for Federal requirements and fiduciary accountability;
- Identify, analyze, and present policy questions;
- Work collaboratively with the Evidence-Based Practices and State and Grantee Relations to identify and share trends and recommendations on programmatic and grantee policy needs and technical assistance related trends and concerns;
- Draft all program policies and documents (e.g., notice inviting applications (NIA) and other notices; and regulatory and non-regulatory guidance documents), working with the EPT, which includes facilitating the clearance of such documents;
- Engage intentionally with key internal and external stakeholders to gain relevant and practical understanding of the issues, challenges, and opportunities that program policies must address;
- Partner with Evidence-Based Practices to develop and implement program-wide technical assistance strategies that facilitate the identification and achievement of program goals;
- Improve operational efficiency and effectiveness;
- Manage information technology systems and other program specific contracts associated with certain grant programs (e.g., Impact Aid and Migrant Education);
- Adhere to established guidelines and procedures for grants administration, technical assistance, and monitoring functions that span the grants and contracts life-cycles to include all pre-award (planning), award, post-award, and close-out activities;
- Use cross-program knowledge and developing lines of communication across the organization to better support the efficient management of grant funds and grantee support; and
- Optimize the stewardship of taxpayer dollars by creating processes for continuous program improvement; and serving as the primary point of contact for grantees related to Federal requirements and fiduciary accountability, compliance, and oversight.