June 18, 2015 - SENATE MUST INCLUDE CIVIL RIGHTS PROTECTIONS IN EDUCATION BILL

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JUNE 18, 2015

SENATE MUST INCLUDE CIVIL RIGHTS PROTECTIONS IN EDUCATION BILL
NHLA recommends fixes to bill to ensure Latino students can thrive

Washington, D.C. –The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), a coalition of 39 of the nation’s preeminent Latino advocacy organizations, wrote to U.S. Senators today calling for the inclusion of critical civil rights protections in the Every Child Achieves Act (ECAA), a bill approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which sets federal education policy for the nation’s public schools. ECAA remains to be considered by the full Senate.

As the NHLA letter argues, ESEA has been a civil rights law since first enacted in 1965 to ensure that all children have access to a quality education regardless of race or economic status. Passage of ECAA without civil rights protections would be a step backward, especially for Latino youth, who represent twenty-five percent of students in public schools.

“Our nation’s future depends on making every effort to ensure the educational success of today’s Latino youth. The Senate should not go in the opposite direction by abandoning the civil rights mission of the ESEA but instead update it to meet the needs of America’s new demographic landscape,“ said Hector Sanchez, NHLA Chair and Executive Director of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement.

“As Latinos become a greater and greater proportion of public school students nationwide, we cannot allow the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to convert from its 50-year ongoing history as a federal civil rights law into a bill that simply transfers money to states to use as they choose in education,” stated Thomas A. Saenz, NHLA Vice Chair and President and General Counsel of MALDEF. “Yet, unless amended in critical respects, that is precisely what the current Senate bill would do.”

“Hispanic-Serving School Districts (HSSDs) enroll nearly two-thirds of Hispanic students, which are 28 percent of the more than 55 million U.S. K-12 pupils, and a majority of all students across the nation. HSSDs should be recognized and supported in the amendments to the ESEA to increase collaboration with Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) that educate and train the overwhelming majority of Hispanics in college as well as other needy students. The nation’s workforce needs depend heavily on HSSDs and HSIs; the ESEA should support them,” said Antonio R. Flores, President & CEO of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities and Co-Chair of NHLA’s Education Policy Committee.

The full text of NHLA letter to U.S. Senators on the need for including civil rights protections in ECAA can be found at here.

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Established in 1991, the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA) brings together Hispanic leaders to establish policy priorities that address, and raise public awareness of, the major issues affecting the Latino community and the nation as a whole. In 2013, NHLA launched the Latinos United for Immigration Reform campaign. For more information, please visit www.nationalhispanicleadership.org and follow @NHLAgenda.

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