Policy Statement: Hispanic Education

The education of Hispanic children is at a serious crossroads.  Hispanics are the fastest growing minority population in the United States today, yet Hispanics lag behind the rest of the population in the area of education.  One of the prominent reasons for this disparity has to do with economics.  Along the Texas-Mexico border 77% of the student population is Hispanic, and many live at or below the poverty level.  Sadly, this low socio-economic status is representative in the school districts operating budgets.  Many of these districts survive on a shoestring budget.  This level of financial burden imposed upon these districts strains every facet of the district’s responsibilities from teacher pay to school equipment.  Many Border students are English Second Language students and therefore require bilingual teachers as well as culturally sensitive courses.

In order for the Border Hispanic students to have the opportunity of academic success, they must be given the resources that are necessary.  Among these resources are Hispanic teachers who can serve as role models for their student as well as having a better understanding of the culture.  When students have high standards of education imposed on them they are also more apt to succeed.  The state of Texas needs to invest heavily in the education of Hispanic students.  With the continued growth of Hispanics in this state, the economic survival of this state demands that this issue of economic school segregation desists.  If this level of educational disparity is allowed to continue, this state will soon have a large population of under-educated adults thereby polarizing the state into a population of haves and have-nots.  We have a responsibility to ensure that this does not happen.  We must elect officials that are willing to invest in our Border students and we must hire teachers that will implement plans that ensure Border students’ academic success.  In order for Texas to alleviate the financial hardships that are placed upon low-income school districts, Texas needs to implement a statewide sin tax.  This additional tax on items such as cigarettes and alcohol can be evenly accumulated throughout the state.  This additional tax money can then be distributed among the low economic school districts as an additional fund to help bring the school budgets up to a more even level with other more prosperous school districts.  This sin tax would benefit the citizenship of the state two-fold, besides adding to the school district money base, those who would rebuke the tax by purchasing less of these taxable products, would do so at a risk of possibly improving their health by limiting their use of these items.