New census milestone: Hispanics to hit 50 million

Discussion in 'Politics' started by Banjo, Mar 24, 2011.

  1. Banjo

    Banjo

  2. cstfx

    cstfx

    Hispanics now majority in Texas public schools

    AUSTIN, Texas — Hispanic students for the first time make up the majority of students enrolled in Texas public schools.

    The Texas Education Agency reports Hispanic students this school year account for 50.2 percent of the state's 4.9 million children enrolled in public schools, including pre-kindergarten and early childhood education. Hispanics last year made up nearly 49 percent of the students.

    "This is a continuation of a trend that's been developing for a number of years," Texas Education Agency spokeswoman Debbie Ratcliffe told the El Paso Times. "Our Hispanic population is our fastest-growing group of students."

    Currently, there are an estimated 2.48 million Hispanics students in Texas public schools.

    With Texas lawmakers dealing with a projected $15 billion budget shortfall in the next two-year spending period, funding cuts for public education have been discussed.

    Steve Murdock, a former U.S. Census Bureau director and past state demographer, has said that if the state does nothing to change the education system, the average Texas household in 2040 will be at least $6,500 poorer than it was in 2000 and about 30 percent of workers will not have a high-school diploma.

    According to the data, two of every three public school children in Texas are minorities.

    "The future of Texas, for anyone looking at this, is tied to our minority population and our young population, and how well they do is really how well Texas is going to do," Murdock recently told lawmakers about the demographic changes the state faces.

    State Sen. Jose Rodríguez, a Democrat from El Paso, said that Texas will have to invest in education in order to compete.

    "The greatest challenge (is) how do we provide the educational opportunities for these Hispanic students, the future labor force of the state," he said.

    Hispanics have historically lagged in high-school and college graduation rates. In December, U.S. Census data showed that counties on the Texas-Mexico border, which have mostly Hispanic populations, had high-school graduation rates behind the rest of the state and nation.

    Of the nation's 3,147 counties, the three least-educated counties were the Texas border counties of Starr, Presidio and Maverick.

    "The rapid growth of Hispanic families should be a catalyst for serious reform in Texas' education system," said Salvador Balcorta, CEO of Centro de Salud La Fe, which runs La Fe Preparatory School in the Segundo Barrio.

    "For too long, the funding needs of our teachers, aging schools and students in low-income areas have been neglected," Balcorta said in a statement. "Hispanics have become the first in our nation to drop out and the last to head to college."

    Balcorta said Texas must work to eliminate the economic, language and technology-access barriers for Hispanic children.

    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7487709.html
     
  3. pspr

    pspr

    U.S.A. renamed Mexico North.
     
  4. I've never been a big fan of dining out at a mexican resturaunt because tacos and beens to me isn't something I feel the need to pay restaurant prices for.
     
  5. Consequence of not sealing our Southern border...