Fuentes

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…)