the disadvantaged on the basis of their presence in the poverty population does not accurately or fairly represent their proportion among poor children.

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TRIO PROGRAMS

The Trio Programs (Upward Bound, Talent Search, Special Services) are one of the few programs under HEW that are awarded as direct grants to proposing agencies and are not made as formula grants through the State Department of Education.

The Trio Programs nationwide have proposed to assist disadvantaged students in preparing to attend college and once they have been accepted.

The distinction of these programs being direct grants and not formula grants is important because it allows for a closer evaluation of the discrimination that is inherent in HEW when American Indians are to be served.

For fiscal year 72/73 approximately 5.1/2 million dollars were allocated in Region IX for the Trio Programs. Approximately 50,965 disadvantaged students were served Regionwide. The average expenditure per student being about $107.00

Regionwide.

Of the total number of students served, 2,603 were reported to be American Indians. This figure multiplied by the average expenditure is $278,521. This indicates that Regionwide the American Indian received $278,521 as direct service from the Trio Programs out of a total allocation of $5 1/2 million dollars.

These figures are much higher than the honest figure would be. The reported number of Indians served is much higher than the actual numbers served. Telephone calls to the University of California at San Diego which reported 322 Indians served, and Humboldt State College Upward Bound which-reported 30 Indians served indicated that the actual number of Indians served was much lower.

A further indication of the discrimination involved is that almost half of the total Indians served were from four programs especially designed to help Indians. The remaining programs out of a total of 63 programs serviced the other half of the Indians reported.

These preliminary figures clearly indicate total discrimination against American Indians in the Trio Programs. Further planned inquiries should indicate more discrimination than the preliminary figures show.

As stated earlier, the Trio Programs are an indication of the discrimination that is inherent in HEW in regards to American Indians. It is obvious that present methods used in allocating funds are discriminatory towards American Indians.

The Bilingual Education Program is designed to develop bilingual

education programs to meet the special needs of children 3 to 18 years of age who have limited English speaking ability; who come from environments where the dominant language is not English; and who come from families whose earnings

are below the poverty line.

Grantees are primarily local educational agencies,

but a non-profit institution or organization of an Indian tribe may be eligible when it operates a school on a reservation.

The Office of Education estimates that there are five million children

in the United States who are eligible for Bilingual Education. In FY 72, 164 projects were funded for $35 million. Based on the figure (provided by Title VII) that the program is costing over $700 per child (not including the cost of development of new teaching materials), this would provide bilingual education for approximately 50,000 children. (No definitive figure on the number of

children served by Title VII was available.)