| Education: A Three Part Series Report (Part
Two) The following report was written, revised and submitted
by: Manuel Hernández, Erika Robles and Burt Posner to the
National Hispanic/ Latino American and Migrant Agenda
This report is the culmination of numerous hours of hard
work by the
members of the committee. After a series of regional meetings
and a
national conference, which was held in Chicago last June,
the report was
voted on and approved by the Summit participants. Recommendations
are
made at the end of the report. The report will be included
in its
entirety.
Part Two:
The reauthorization of child nutrition programs which includes
the
National School Lunch Program is a top priority for Hispanic/Latinos
in
this country. Some of these programs are the only meals that
millions of
children depend on to eat during the day. The present proposals
seek to
greatly undermine this program by imposing new needs criteria
that will
result in a substantial decrease of children who need this
program for
their sustenance.
Education funding in the past year has seen a decrease that
does not
take into account the severe ramifications such level of spending
has on
the increased enrollment of Hispanic/Latino students. The
No Child Left
Behind Act has drastically changed the federal bilingual program
from a
competitive to a state formula which is assumed to reach an
increased
amount of needy schools that use English language learners
program (ELL).
There has been a tremendous amount of disconcertion regarding
the
present level of federal funding committed to this program
and it is
recommended that the bill be revisited and scrutinized for
a possible
funding formula increase.
No program sets the life theme for education for young children
of
disadvantaged Hispanic/Latino families as the Federal Head
Start program.
Unfortunately, the lack of funding for this program in migrant
workers’
communities has impacted very unfavorably on the pre-school
children of
this important constituency of the Hispanic/Latino community.
Furthermore, there has been an insidious attempt to disqualify
large
number of pre- school students from this program by imposing
arduous and
unreasonable testing standards.
School vouchers which will permit parents to apply for annual
grants
which will allow them to send their children to a school of
their choice
is very popular among Hispanic/Latino parents but not among
those
involved in school administration.
It is a subject that carries merit on both sides of the fence
since we
need to insure that public education does not suffer due to
the
filtering away of much needed funds especially to underserved
school
districts. However, the tilt toward the acceptance of school
vouchers
lies in the indisputable fact that no parent should be forced
to allow
their children to be used in a failed experiment that will
impact
profoundly on their children’s future. Until and when the
public
education system cleans their house, Hispanic/Latino Americans
and
migrant parents overwhelmingly support school choice voucher
programs.
Nonetheless, acceptable formulas which would make refunding
for school
vouchers contingent upon the failing school districts ability
to redeem
themselves should be explored and if possible implemented.
We recommend
that the present formula be further improved by establishing
criteria
for proportional spending allocations and refunds to schools
that
improve their educational performances
|
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