Politicians eager to gain or retain the trust of Hispanic voters should focus on education and put particular emphasis on expanding school choice, suggests Julio Fuentes, president of the Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options, in an op-ed in today's South Florida Sun Sentinel.  Here's a snippet:

We know that education reform and school choice are top issues for Latinos, second only to jobs and the economy, based on the HCREO/AFC poll released this past summer of voters in five key battleground states including Florida. The poll found that education is a top-tier issue for battleground voters and Latinos – even more important than immigration, in some cases. The poll found that Latino voters in Florida, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and New Jersey are more likely than voters overall to cite improving education and increasing education options as core priorities.

Both presidential candidates stressed on election night that those in office must now work jointly and in a non-partisan way to address the great civil justice issues of our time. These issues include immigration, reducing the gap in quality educational opportunities for minorities, expanding school choice options so that all students regardless of zip code or socioeconomic background have a chance to excel. According to national data from the Pew Hispanic Center, only about 13 percent of Hispanic 25- to 29-year-olds complete at least a bachelor's degree, compared with 39 percent for whites in the same age group and 53 percent for Asians. This gap cannot persist.

(Full disclosure: Fuentes is a member of the board of directors for Step Up For Students, which co-hosts this blog.)

Editor's note: Julio Fuentes, president of the Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options, sent this email blast out earlier today.

Governor Rick Scott made the right call in declaring "unacceptable" the race-based achievement goals outlined in the Florida Board of Education's recently released five-year strategic plan.

The Hispanic Council for Reform and Education Options (HCREO) believes that the Board's plan is not merely unacceptable; it is insulting and counterproductive to the education needs of all Florida children. Just as politics should not drive our education system, race and ethnicity should not determine the expectations we set for our students. Education reform - including the choices we give to students and their parents - is about the capacity of our youth to achieve when given the proper classroom tools and instruction.

The state's plan outlines that by 2018, 90 percent of Asian students, 88 percent of white students, 81 percent of Hispanic students and 74 percent of black students should be reading at or above grade level. For math, the goals are set at having proficiency levels of 92 percent for Asian students, 86 percent for white students, 80 percent for Hispanic students, and 74 percent for black students.

To set these different bars for students is to say, effectively, that we believe one group is capable of achieving more simply because of their skin color and ethnic background. That approach might have reigned back in the days of segregated classrooms, but it has no place in today's classrooms.

In case the Board of Education isn't aware: We are living in 2012. The nation's first black President is running for re-election. Louisiana's governor is Indian. The mayor of San Antonio, Texas made history this summer when he became the first Hispanic to give the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. These successful leaders did not achieve because of, or in spite of, the skin color and families into which they were born. They succeeded because they had education and support from teachers and others who believed in their abilities.

Every student in every Florida classroom today deserves the same. (more…)

by Gloria Romero

Diane Ravitch, are you listening?

This is former state Sen. Gloria Romero calling.

I am the author of California’s first Parent Trigger law, the first parent trigger law in the nation. Since I first wrote that law, some 15 other states have seen some version of the law introduced in their states.
I wanted to reach out to you since we have never met, and I look forward to meeting you so we can one day talk directly with each other. Woman to woman.

In one of your recent blog posts on Education Week, you wrote that the parent trigger came from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). On the blogosphere, I now read many claims that ALEC wrote the law. This is completely false, and I ask you to correct this.

Please, stop saying that some organization I had never met until just this year gave me the idea and somehow, miraculously, turned it into law without me not knowing about it. ALEC happens to like the law and encourages other states to write similar laws. That is true. But that does not mean it developed either the idea or the law. That’s preposterous!  Quite frankly, it’s also a bit sexist and ethnocentric to assert my work actually came from someone else - that somehow the Latina senator from East Los Angeles couldn’t think on my own, or figure out how to write a bill and turn it into law.

To be fair, you are not alone in failing to acknowledge my role, or the role of other strong individuals (mostly women of color) in getting the bill passed. I always recognize Ben Austin from Parent Revolution for suggesting the idea. Unfortunately, the materials Parent Revolution distributes make it sound as if parents cascaded on the state Capitol and forced this into law. It seldom concedes in its materials that someone actually had to write a bill and argue and negotiate for its enactment. While it sounds romantic to say parents demanded this and descended on the Capitol to force this into law, that is too much Hollywood.  In fact, we did have parents in Sacramento. But many of them were from organizations that were not affiliated with Parent Revolution, and they are seldom acknowledged.

One day I will write the full story of how the Parent Empowerment Act (its official title) became law. In the meantime, let it suffice to say that both you and Parent Revolution and anyone else who writes about the law should know that once the idea was discussed with me, I chose to expand and develop it in a bill. I developed a strategy. I worked with my legislative staff to write language. I assembled a “rag tag” army of civil rights activists who understood that this was our moment to enact the change in which I so strongly believed. And I never saw an ALEC representative. (more…)

Washington D.C.: The Obama administration relents on funding for the D.C. voucher program and okays a deal that will allow a small expansion. (Washington Post)

New Hampshire: Gov. John Lynch (pictured here) vetoes a legislative proposal for tax credit scholarships, but some expect an override. (Concord Monitor)

Florida: Former Gov. Jeb Bush stresses school choice, accountability and common ground in a speech to Latino officials. (Associated Press)

North Carolina: A legislative proposal for tax credits scholarships has been rolled into a broader education reform bill in the state House. (Associated Press)

Pennsylvania: A proposed state budget would expand the tax credit scholarship program from $75 million to $150 million a year at the same time public school funding levels are kept the same. (Associated Press) The state senate passes a bill that would make it easier for traditional public schools to be converted into charter schools in financially troubled districts. (Bloomberg)

Colorado: Debate arises over the validity of a survey that finds a lack of support for the Douglas County School District's voucher program. (Education News Colorado) (more…)