Special Feature: Addressing Educational Policies in the U.S.
Latina elected officials are at the forefront of education policy at all levels of governance throughout the country. They are creating solutions and addressing challenges that affect all students, and Latino students in particular. Our nation’s economic downturn has had a significant impact on the resources available to school districts, and Latina elected officials are wrestling with tough choices for education budgets. Three Latina elected officials in three of the largest states - Florida, California and Texas - are working to ensure the educational success of all children in the districts they serve. Florida Representative Anitere Flores has sponsored several pieces of legislation aimed at expanding access to higher education. Los Angeles Unified School Board President Mónica García has focused her efforts on achieving a 100 percent graduation rate and changing district practices to improve outcomes. In Texas, Aldine Independent School Board President Viola Garcia has spent the past 17 years working to expand early childhood education and create programs to reduce the high school dropout rate.
Anitere Flores, Florida
State Representative, District 114 Representative Flores currently serves on the committees in the Florida State House of Representatives with responsibility over education policy and appropriations, and she is chair of the Pre K -12 appropriations committee. First elected in 2004, Flores has always made education a focus of her policy work and advocacy. “Education affects the day to day lives of essentially every person in this nation, ” she said. “As a Latina, it’s even more important that we should be able to take advantage of an equal educational opportunity, regardless of our economic background.” Representative Flores sponsored and passed legislation creating a program where the legislature matches funding provided by private donors for financial aid to students who are the first in their family to attend higher education and attend Florida’s four year public universities and community colleges. Representative Flores remarked on how this program is of particular importance to the Latino community, because “many Latinos are the first in their family to attend college. This has nothing to do with a lack of desire; for Latinos, the need to provide for their families often comes first.”
As a legislator, Representative Flores says her role is to “provide the best education for every child. I believe in local control of education. Families are extremely important, because they are the foundation of your educational experience. The State has an obligation to ensure all students meet basic standards, but the family needs to be involved.”
Anitere Flores
As for the future of education, Representative Flores believes that as the economy becomes increasingly global, students should be prepared to compete with their counterparts all over the world. “I will continue to work on improving standards at the state level to ensure that our schools are preparing students for these challenges, ” she states.
Mónica García
Mónica García, Board President, Los Angeles Unified School District, California Los Angeles Unified School District Board President Mónica García was elected in 2006, and is the third Latina to serve on the Board in its 155-year history. Board President García came to work on education policy through her previous career as a guidance counselor. As she counseled students on college preparedness, she began to realize how few Latinos were provided access to higher education. As Chief of Staff to former Board Member José Huizar, Board President García helped gain support for a resolution requiring the high school curriculum to match the courses necessary to enter the public university system. “I believe that children of color and children of poverty can reach a 100 percent graduation rate; by demanding better schooling we can strengthen the movement to achieve this goal.” One example of the District’s innovation is the Belmont Zone of Choice which allows downtown-area families to choose from a network of schools based on students’ interests. These schools have smaller student populations and are given greater autonomy in making choices about curriculum, staffing, budget and school governance.
As part of the efforts to achieve education reform, Board President García worked to pass Measure Q, a $7 billion construction bond to improve existing schools. The goal will be to allow more students to attend schools in their neighborhoods that are also smaller, include career and technical educational opportunities and have a traditional school year calendar by 2012.
Board President García serves together with two other Latina Board Members, Yolie Flores Aguilar and Nury Martinez, which can make a big difference in a district that is 73 percent Latino. The budget difficulties created by current economic conditions are the biggest challenges faced by Board Members in their efforts to pursue better educational outcomes and improve graduation rates. Board President Garcia concluded, “The Latino community has to be at the forefront of making schools work for kids and communities. Things have to change and I expect that Latino voices will continue to call for change and be part of the solution.”
Dr. Viola Garcia, Board President, Aldine Independent School District, Texas Dr. Garcia became involved in local education governance through her experience as the parent of three girls attending the district. She was active in the Parent Teacher Association, and the local schools recommended her appointment to the school board when an unexpired term needed to be filled. Since then, she has been elected to the office, and has served for the past 16 years. Over this time, Dr. Garcia has seen several changes in the makeup of the District, and has worked to expand the services provided by the District to address emerging needs of students and parents.
Aldine Independent School District (Aldine ISD) has been providing early childhood education, even prior to the time when state and federal funding was available for these programs. The district currently has seven early childhood centers. Likewise, the District’s early college program was created out of need to assist students and parents with the difficulties of accessing higher education. This program allows high school students to take college-level classes for credit at a community-college campus, and graduate with both an Associate of Arts degree and a high school diploma.
Dr. Viola Garcia
In 2001, 9th grade centers were developed to provide more support during this critical first year of high school, when the dropout rate is the highest. These centers provide for a smaller student-to-teacher ratio and additional counselors. As school starts this fall, Dr. Garcia will again participate in the District’s Dropout Recovery program which gathers school staff, school board members, parents and community volunteers for a one-day effort to knock on doors and speak individually with students who have not attended school and their parents. Participants hope to gain information about each student’s individual situation, and to see if there is a way to re-enroll the student in school.
When reflecting about her experience on the board, Dr. Garcia says, “It’s been a wonderful experience and overall the District employees and administration have done a phenomenal job of utilizing the funds available to them; I continue to find joy in dedicating my time to children.”
The NALEO Educational Fund’s Educational Leadership Initiative The NALEO Educational Fund’s Education Leadership Initiative (NELI) empowers the nation’s Latino elected and appointed officials with technical assistance, governance training, and networking opportunities designed to increase their effectiveness as education policymakers and advocates. Since its inception in 2001, NELI has provided comprehensive leadership development training and resources to over 2,000 Latino school board members, community college trustees, and state legislators. On September 28-30, the 5th Annual NALEO National Summit on the State of Latino Education convened in Washington, DC, bringing together elected officials, leading education experts and federal officials, such as Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. For more information about the NALEO Educational Fund and our P-20 education portfolio, please contact Dr. Joseph Bishop, Deputy Director of Constituency Services at (213) 747-7606, ext. 4433 or via email at jbishop@naleo.org.
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