Bills fuel dreams of migrants' kids
By Christine Stapleton, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 12, 2004
PAHOKEE -- Four years of hard work in the medical magnet program at Pahokee Middle/Senior High school,
a solid 3.1 GPA and ROTC got Maria Calvillo a job at a Family Dollar store.
This is the American dream if you're a hard-working kid with parents who aren't U.S. citizens but whom the government
has allowed to come here to do the jobs that American citizens won't.
This is about the best you can hope for, unless you can come up with enough money to pay out-of-state tuition at a
Florida college -- even if, like Calvillo, you've lived in Florida most of your life.
"I was kind of shocked and sad," said Calvillo, who planned to enroll in Palm Beach Community College to become
a dental hygienist. "All my friends were going to make it."
State colleges charge out-of-state tuition to students who can't meet complex residency requirements. Exemptions
are granted to students whose parents hold certain types of visas.
No one knows how many children of noncitizens are prohibited from going to college because they would have
to pay out-of-state tuition, which is about four times the cost of in-state tuition.
But two bills proposed by Florida lawmakers and a federal measure, the DREAM Act, could change the lives of
these students, many of whom are the children of migrant workers.
If passed, the laws would enable such students to pay in-state tuition to attend Florida colleges and make them
eligible for state and federal scholarship money.
Critics argue that the children of out-of-state residents who are citizens don't get any breaks, so why should the
children of people who have broken the law?
But Rep. Juan Zapata, R-Miami-Dade, sponsor of one of the bills, says, "Who wants to be held accountable for their
parents' actions? If the parents did something wrong, they should be held accountable, not their children."
With the support of the agricultural industry, the Florida bills could become law in July.
"The idea came from the ag community itself," said Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, the sponsor of the other Florida bill.
"The Ag Coalition was interested in supporting something positive for migrant farmworkers."
Supporting college education for the children of migrants is a logical progression for the industry, said Ray Gilmer,
spokesman for the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association.
For decades, growers have supported day-care centers for the children of migrant workers, Gilmer said. Offering
support for college makes sense.
"If there's a way we can convince the legislature that this is an investment in Florida's future, we will," Gilmer said.
Galvano's bill provides an exemption from out-of-state tuition for the children, such as Calvillo, of migrant farmworkers
who have legal status. To be eligible, a student must have attended a Florida high school for at least three months
per school year for two years. Students whose parents work here illegally would not be eligible.
Zapata's bill goes further. It permits in-state tuition for students who aren't citizens but who attended a Florida high school
for at least three years and who sign affidavits vowing to file for residency as soon as possible.
To Zapata, who failed to pass a similar bill last year, it's an issue of fairness, not immigration.
"People get caught up in other issues," said Zapata, who was born in Colombia. "These kids got here on their own
merits. They earned it."
Calvillo came to the United States illegally from Mexico with her mother and younger twin brothers in 1993. They joined
their father, who had obtained a work permit and got a job driving a truck for U.S. Sugar.
Calvillo, then 10, and her brothers enrolled in elementary school. She has never been back to Mexico.
In May 2001, her parents, who never went beyond the sixth grade in Mexico, watched their firstborn walk across the
stage in a cap and gown. They threw a party. Calvillo's diploma, along with her tassel, is framed in her bedroom.
Then came the bad news. Although her parents both now have work permits and own their home, Calvillo would have to
pay out-of-state tuition at PBCC.
Instead of $55 per credit hour, she would have to pay $208. Unable to afford it, she got a work permit and a job.
The Rev. John Mericantante of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Pahokee has watched as the family worked their way up.
He remembers walking into the Family Dollar store and seeing Calvillo.
"I thought, 'What a loss,' " Mericantante said. "I know the potential she has."
For many migrant families, education is a priority.
"Many came here just because they wanted the opportunity to go to school, to college," said Jaime Zapata,
a guidance counselor for the multicultural education department in the Palm Beach County School District.
"That's their life, and they're truly and deeply frustrated."
What's especially tough is getting these kids to take the SAT college entrance exams, said Zapata, who is no relation
to the lawmaker. Once they realize they can't afford to go to college, they see little reason to study.
"Imagine you're 16 or 17 and you've studied hard, only to learn you can't go to college," Zapata said. "They realize that
their alternative is to be a laborer or a clerical worker."
Younger brothers and sisters see the frustration, and "you end up raising a generation of people with no perspective,"
Zapata said. "That's why we have a lot of dropouts."
The high school dropout rate for migrant students in the United States is about 50 percent.
If either of the Florida bills becomes law, Calvillo, 20, would be among an estimated 2,000 migrant graduates in Florida
who could become eligible for in-state tuition.
Today, she works seven days a week, putting in about 30 hours at an accounting firm and another 40 hours at the
Family Dollar. She brings home about $550 a week.
Her goal is to start school in the fall.
"I'm trying not to disappoint my parents," Calvillo said. "They told me to keep on trying and trying."