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California Assemby Joint Resolution 26

When President Bush eliminated funding for Upward Bound, Educational Talent Search, and Gear Up, WESTOP leaders Samual Blanco II and Ron Muriera facilitated with Assembly Member Judy Chu's office, this joint resolution. It was passed in the Assembly and Senate, filed with the Secretary of the State of California on September 19, 2005, and forwarded to President Bush and Congress.

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 26

RESOLUTION CHAPTER 144

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 26—Relative to the continued existence and funding of the federal TRIO programs, Upward Bound and Talent Search.

[Filed with Secreatary of State September 19, 2005.]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AJR 26, Chu. Federal TRIO programs: Upward Bound and Talent Search.

This measure would memorialize the President and the Congress to remove from the President’s 2006 budget proposal the recommendation that would eliminate the federal TRIO programs, Upward Bound and Talent Search. The measure would also request that the federal TRIO programs, Upward Bound and Talent Search, continue to be funded.

WHEREAS, The 2006 budget proposal of the President of the United States requests the nationwide elimination of the federal TRIO programs, Upward Bound and Talent Search; and

WHEREAS, The federal TRIO programs, Upward Bound and Talent Search, were authorized under the Higher Education Act of 1965, continuing President Lyndon B. Johnson’s declaration of “War on Poverty”; and

WHEREAS, The federal TRIO programs, Upward Bound and Talent Search, are educational opportunity outreach programs designed to assist and prepare low-income, first generation college students, and veterans of the military to continue their studies from high school to postbaccalaureate programs; and

WHEREAS, The federal TRIO programs, Upward Bound and Talent Search, put into practice the cornerstone concept that the federal government can reduce poverty within the United States by increasing the number of low-income students that receive a postsecondary education; and

WHEREAS, The federal TRIO programs, Upward Bound and Talent Search, foster skills and motivation among low-income, first generation college students necessary to increase the rates of their enrollment in and graduation from institutions of postsecondary education; and

WHEREAS, The federal TRIO programs, Upward Bound and Talent Search, annually serve over 450,000 students nationwide, 47,000 of them in California; and

WHEREAS, The federal government currently allocates $460 million nationwide to implement the federal TRIO programs, Upward Bound and Talent Search, with $45 million of the total going to California programs; and

WHEREAS, The federal TRIO programs, Upward Bound and Talent Search, provide disadvantaged California students with essential services such as instruction in a core curriculum subject, academic advising, tutorial services, mentoring programs, assistance in completing college and financial aid applications, and support in preparing for college entrance exams; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of California, jointly, That, because the federal government can continue to employ the cornerstone concept of reducing poverty by increasing the number of disadvantaged students who receive a postsecondary education, the Legislature respectfully memorializes the President and the Congress to remove the recommendation in the President’s 2006 budget proposal calling for the elimination of the federal TRIO programs, Upward Bound and Talent Search; and be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature calls upon the President and Congress to continue to fund the federal TRIO programs, Upward Bound and Talent Search, that have helped countless numbers of Californians overcome the class, social, academic, and cultural barriers that often come between them and their academic goals; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Majority Leader of the Senate, and each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.

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