Tracking Citizenship Funds

The state education department has funneled federal funds for the past few years to the Latino rights organization Hermandad Mexicana Nacional for such activities as English-language classes. Now, the department wants more than $4 million returned, on the ground that Hermandad has not accounted properly for the money.

The department contends that for four years Hermandad failed to provide necessary proof that it was giving English and citizenship classes in adult education programs. The department is right to demand proof that taxpayer money is spent as intended, but it should have acted sooner to get explanations from Hermandad, which is based in Santa Ana and Los Angeles.

Hermandad asserts that it has done nothing wrong and that it has supplied all the documentation the department required. It has until July 31 to appeal the state action and provide further documentation.

Whatever the outcome of Hermandad’s quarrel with the education department, somebody needs to be providing language and citizenship lessons for adults in their newly adopted land. The federal government recognized the need when it began the adult education program four years ago. But now there are federal and state inquiries into how the involved community organizations, including Hermandad, used the funds. In addition to being told to return money, Hermandad has been denied new funding for this year, as have four other immigrant education groups in California. Also, this week a state Legislature committee launched an investigation into how the education department administers its adult education programs.

Hermandad became a focus of public attention last year when some of its students were accused of voting or registering to vote before becoming citizens. The alleged illegal votes became an issue after Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) defeated incumbent Robert K. Dornan by 984 votes in 1996, though no evidence was produced that illegal votes in that race were very numerous.

Groups that help new citizens have an obligation to provide all the necessary documentation to the education department. The state must do its part to ensure that its expectations for record-keeping are clear and can be met reasonably. Other organizations can benefit from the reminder that government-mandated paperwork can be voluminous and onerous but that the rules have to be followed so taxpayers can see they are getting what they pay for.