Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974
Congress passed the EEOA as a house bill amending the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. The only legislative history available for reference is from a similar bill passed in 1972. The House Committee on Education and Labor noted that the bill was significant in that it contained the first "illustrative definition of a denial of equal educational opportunity", and that this lent clarity to schools, governmental authorities, and students as to what, precisely, their rights were.
Migrant education
In 1965, as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's "War on Poverty", Title I of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was framed to help support economically disadvantaged students within the United States. However, this act failed to address the specific non-economic barriers faced by migrant workers and their families so it was amended in 1966 to include the Migrant Education Program (MEP). MEP provides support for children of migrant workers through educational services such as extended school days, summer programs, ESL classes, etc. Eligibility requirements are solely based on the mobility of children and not on their economic or cultural struggles as migrants. This was because Title I already focuses on economically disadvantaged children, so it was assumed that children who qualify for MEP would be receiving benefits from those pre-existing anti-poverty programs. To be included in the Migrant Education Program, children must have had moved school districts for temporary or seasonal agricultural work within the past 3 years. The definition of who qualifies has changed several times since 1966. In 1974, the MEP expanded in scope by including migratory fishing, meat-packing, and other agriculture-related jobs into the categories of eligibility. This was also the year that the period of eligibility was increased from 3 years to 6 years after relocating school districts; however, in 1994 with the passage of the Improving America's Schools Act, it was returned to 3 years. In 1994, the definition of who qualified for MEP was further limited to those children who moved school districts for agriculture-related work that represented their family's "principle means of livelihood."