{"id":13349,"date":"2023-08-08T15:27:23","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T15:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/?p=13349"},"modified":"2023-08-10T19:29:09","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T19:29:09","slug":"education-critical-area-for-latino-voters-to-exert-influence-as-immigration-furor-fuels-newfound-political-activism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/?p=13349","title":{"rendered":"Education Critical Area for Latino Voters to Exert Influence as Immigration Furor Fuels Newfound Political Activism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Esmeralda Fabi\u00e1n Romero<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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As immigration issues drive more Latinos into political activism, education is a ripe opportunity for Latino parents to wield considerable influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A panel of education experts at a national convention last weekend in Miami agreed that Latino parents have catapulted this year from being mostly silent on political issues to becoming a significant voice in the political scene because of what they see as hostile immigration policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But they have yet to flex their muscle as a voting bloc in the area of education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Latino vote was not a determining factor in the last presidential election and most likely won\u2019t be in this November\u2019s midterm elections, one panelist said. But education, another panelist said, is an area where Latinos can step up and have a big impact in their local communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who leads the nation\u2019s fourth-largest school system, which is predominantly Latino, lamented that education isn\u2019t talked about by President Donald Trump nor addressed as a fundamental right in this country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s shameful that education, for the first time in decades, didn\u2019t factor as a memorable issue in the last election. I am hopeful that local activism will inspire people to advance the notion that public education and policy are part of the same coin. One suffers when the other doesn\u2019t perform,\u201d Carvalho said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carvalho was one of three panelists discussing \u201cThe Power of Education Reform as a Political Issue in 2018, 2020, and Beyond\u201d at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists\u2019 annual convention. The panel was sponsored by the Walton Family Foundation and moderated by Kathy Moore, executive editor of The 74.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he feels disappointed that the national conversation has shifted from the inhumane separation of families at the border and unaccompanied minors to the political furor over Trump and Russia, which \u201cprevents the conversation from really being about the issues that impact kids particularly across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Latino families are now stepping up to influence education, the panelists agreed. And they are not just active as volunteers in their classrooms but are becoming involved in the process of improving their kids\u2019 education and their schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not enough just to be active at your child\u2019s school site. Now you have to go to board meetings and fight for your school choice, talk to your superintendent. \u2026 We are seeing Latino communities take on that challenge and rise to the occasion. These are just the first steps,\u201d said Yannell Selman, founder and executive director of P.S. 305<\/a>, a nonprofit based in Miami that organizes families to engage in their children\u2019s education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow, because of the hostile climate, staying silent is not an option,\u201d said Selman, explaining that culturally Latinos, particularly parents, used to remain silent because they felt safe if they weren\u2019t visible. But after feeling threatened by Trump\u2019s immigration policies, \u201cIt went from, \u2018It\u2019s not safe to say something,\u2019 to \u2018It\u2019s not safe not to say anything,\u2019 \u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carvalho pointed out that the role of the federal government remains very important and that states should be under \u201cthe watchful eye\u201d of the federal authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople think the bus [the federal government] is broken. The bus isn\u2019t broken; the driver is broken,\u201d he said, in a clear reference to the Trump administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another panelist, Evy Valencia Jackson, an education advocate and policy expert based in Denver, said that despite the low numbers of Latinos participating at the polls, their political participation could significantly improve education for Latinos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important who\u2019s elected and who\u2019s not, who we hold accountable for [Latino] students having the opportunity to go to college,\u201d Valencia Jackson said. \u201cParents have to wake up and be politically active and say this has to change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the number of Latinos nationally who are going to college is slowly increasing<\/a>, they are still not graduating from college at the same rate as their peers. In 2016, 47 percent of Latino high school graduates<\/a> ages 18 to 24 were enrolled in college, but just 15 percent graduated from college, according to the Pew Research Center<\/a>. In comparison, about 41 percent<\/a> of whites completed college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latinos\u2019 high school dropout rates are also higher, at 10 percent in 2016, compared with 6 percent for all students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The panelists agreed that Latino representation among educators should be a key aspect in the education reform conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPredominantly in Latino communities, still the leadership is not representative of classroom teachers and students and the representation at all levels, and that has a tremendous social impact on the child,\u201d Carvalho said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the Miami-Dade public schools system doesn\u2019t have that problem because almost half its teachers are Latino. About 20,000 Latino teachers serve the district\u2019s 354,000 students, of whom more than 70 percent are Latino. He said other districts with the same demographics should be as active as his Miami-Dade has been in recruiting Latinos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Valencia Jackson said in some parts of the country, like Denver, that\u2019s not an easy task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult for Latinos to enter the teaching profession in the first place, because it is not a fairly paid profession,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I said to my parents I wanted to become a teacher, my father told me that the only way I could have a better life was by making more money as a lawyer or a doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selman said, \u201cI\u2019m excited and encouraged by efforts, at a national level, from education leaders and organizations that are exclusively focused on elevating blacks\u2019 and Latinos\u2019 educational opportunities and having more Latinos in leadership positions. The question is how do we make this systemically, not only anecdotally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carvalho argued that \u201ca lot of what\u2019s heard on education reform is driven by well-funded, value-specific foundations that are often advancing an education reform not based on the basis of research here or in other countries, but based on their own beliefs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a huge difference between using words to advance education reform and actually teaching kids,\u201d he said. \u201cDespite the elections, there should be a forum nationally to really tackle what does the research indicate, what is working, where is it working, is it replicable \u2014 particularly in demographically similar parts of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The panelists also agreed that more accountability is needed for charter schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have experience with charters in Florida and Northern California, two very different systems, but oftentimes I see something is missing on the part of accountability for charter schools,\u201d Selman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChoice has been proven to be good. Choice is good; a reasonable, accountable choice is better,\u201d Carvalho said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Miami-Dade public schools district was the first to have a district-managed charter school system, which is overseen by the district\u2019s school board. Currently, there are 130 charter schools<\/a> in the district, serving over 64,000 students in grades K-12, representing over 18 percent of the district\u2019s enrollment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe idea of innovation of charter schools is really powerful. I think they have created a healthy competition. Nothing is ever perfect, but I do believe that\u2019s why you have state and local officials to regulate the schools,\u201d Valencia Jackson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said her husband and her husband\u2019s mother attended the same failing traditional public school in southwest Denver and that if it hadn\u2019t been for a charter school that opened in the neighborhood, her nephew, the family\u2019s third generation, would have had to attend the same failing school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe fact that there are quality options in that neighborhood is critical, and if it happens to be a charter, great,\u201d she said. \u201cHopefully, there will be other good quality options that will follow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Esmeralda Fabi\u00e1n Romero is a senior reporter at LA School Report.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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