In the Headlines

The speakers will include a panel of experts, a panel of parents and a panel of government officials and representatives. The experts will include Hon. Eugene Hickok, former Deputy Secretary of Education; Maite Arce, vice president, Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options; Harrison Blackmond Jr., president and CEO, Detroit Chapter, Black Alliance for Educational Options; Derrell Bradford, deputy director, Excellent Education for Everyone; and Joel Packer, director, Education Policy and Practice Department, National Education Association.

Cambio, Acción, Educación—Spanish for Change, Action, Education —was launched in 2005 by the Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options. The Washington-based group, known as Hispanic CREO, advocates for public and private school choice, as well as gets Hispanic parents more involved in their current schools.

Seizing on a perceived opportunity created by the No Child Left Behind law, advocates for school vouchers are once again making the case for government funding of private education. Under the sweeping federal law, schools that fail to make what the government considers "adequate yearly progress" for two years running are categorized as "schools in need of improvement."

In the same way that buying a car or investing in a home requires that you pay attention to every detail, choosing the school that best suits your child’s needs demands all your attention so that your child can perform to his/her maximum potential. The type of school, the environment, the relationship with the teachers, the distance from your home and the programs offered are just a few of the factors that often go unnoticed when, in fact, play an important roleset his/her own goals.

The creation of a national Hispanic group that advocates school choice for minority students was announced recently with the release of a study that indicates serious deficiencies in education for Hispanics. The report, "No Exit: Lack of Educational Choice Shortchanges Hispanic Students," was released by the nonprofit Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options. The Hispanic Council is modeled after the Children's Educational Opportunity Foundation in San Antonio, and the report underscored a need for school choices for Hispanics nationally.

A terrible truth surfaced last week at meetings of Hispanic and African-American organizations: Education has not budged from the 20th to the 21st century as a pivotal civil rights battleground for people of color. In two years the nation will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Brown v. Topeka Board of Education ruling, outlawing legal segregation. Yet studies show that minority children in urban schools are gripped even more tightly today in a vise of segregation and poverty.

The formation of a Hispanic group that advocates school choice for minority students, and modeled after a San Antonio program, was announced Thursday with the release of a study that points to an educational crisis in the Latino community. The report titled, "No Exit: Lack of Educational Choice Shortchanges Hispanic Students," was released by the non-profit Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options.

A new advocacy group declared Thursday that Hispanic education is in crisis. The group's solution: Allow students to pick their schools - and use vouchers. "We believe that a clear and daring national Latino voice must speak out in favor of our largest minority group, which is the most uneducated and the most undereducated population in our country today," said Robert Aguirre, chair of the Hispanic Council for Reform and Education Options.

Veronica Rivera is a foot soldier in the movement to spread the gospel about free tutoring to public school parents. In the morning, she serves as a translator and advocate for a Latina mother meeting with a Camden, N.J., principal. In the afternoon, she leads an intensive training session for Hispanic parents at an adult education center. Just before dinner, she stops off to visit a Latino family for a one-on-one chat. At night, Ms. Rivera is the featured speaker at a church. Her audience: parents who often have never heard of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, and know nothing of their children's right to receive free tutoring under the law's "supplemental educational services" provisions.

In the Chicano movement of the 1960s and early 1970s, it was Latino parents - especially mothers - who drove education reform. They tangled with teachers, administrators, school boards and other interests that liked things the way they were. Concerned that their sons and daughters were being cheated out of a quality education, they protested in the streets, organized student "walkouts" and kept the pressure on lawmakers to pass laws that would hold schools accountable.

Gov. Rick Perry said Saturday he expects to call another special session but has not yet determined when. "I don't ever say guaranteed slam dunk it will be a (special) session," Perry said after speaking at the Texas Asian-American Business Symposium here. "But my instincts are that we'll be back and be working on it. I'm optimistic that we'll find agreement ... regardless of how long it takes."

Established as a nation dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, the United States of America has been a magnet for immigrants seeking to better their lives and provide their children with their own shot at the American Dream. But many of today’s immigrants-particularly Latinos--are finding the urban public schools their children attend leave them woefully unprepared for life and work in a competitive economy.

It's difficult to find a word that describes a warrior for education. I usually call that person a "Ninja parent." That's someone who is committed to improving the quality and equity of education. One who is willing to learn and understand the educational system, one whose only mission is to have his or her children succeed.

The growth of the Hispanic population in the Pikes Peak region is swamping a resource center. Los padres Educational Resource Center helps 300 Hispanic families, but another 200 are on a waiting list. Volunteers say they can’t keep up with the demand. Los Padres organizers hope their new partnership with a national association will help.

I work directly with thousands of "ninja parents," parents who place their children first. I am very proud and happy to see so many families receiving information about their children's education and their parental rights under the No Child Left Behind law. The moment of truth is here. How has the Dallas Independent School District fared? In Dallas, 14 high schools failed to show "adequate yearly progress" under No Child Left Behind. All the Oak Cliff high schools failed.

Also at Hialeah High, the Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options has invited students in the dance program to perform at its national conference, whose theme is ``Activate the Latino Voice: Empower, Advocate, Unite.''

Catholic schools in Dallas will shut down for an extra day in February so students and teachers can participate in a rally at the state Capitol supporting school vouchers, a diocese official said.

The Dallas Diocese canceled classes for the Feb. 7 rally, which will lobby state lawmakers to support policies allowing public school dollars to pay for students to attend private and religious schools.

Like generations of civil rights leaders before her, Rebeca  Nieves Huffman is fighting hard to expand opportunities for minorities, especially educational opportunities. But as I listened to the president of the Washington, D.C.-based Hispanic CREO — Council for Reform and Educational Options — outline her  objectives to the Tribune Editorial Board last week, it struck me how dramatically the civil rights movement has changed in 40 years. 

In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a split decision on the use of affirmative action in university admissions, finding some forms unconstitutional, and providing for the use of other forms for a limited period into the future. The heated debate surrounding affirmative action fails to address a much bigger issue: the poor quality of education received by many minority students at many kindergarten through-12th-grade public schools.

The Austin-based Coalition for Public Schools, which opposes vouchers, said the Houston Independent School District could lose $200 million and North Forest could lose $9 million in the next two years. However, a Legislative Budget Board report estimates the school districts affected by the program would lose a total of about $69 million per year.

"This poll unequivocally verifies what we have known for a long time: Hispanic parents, particularly those in Texas' largest, inner-city school districts, understand school choice offers their children a better future," said Rebeca Nieves Huffman, president and CEO of the Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options, the group that sponsored the poll.

Unconscionable. Unprecedented.

They are the two best words to describe asking the Arizona Supreme Court to overturn a plan supported by Gov. Janet Napolitano and the state Legislature to assist the special educational needs of disabled and foster children.

More than 70 percent of Bexar County Hispanic voters surveyed in a recent poll favor a pilot school choice program that would allow students to transfer to private schools using taxpayer-funded vouchers. Voucher supporters say the poll results are a battle cry from frustrated parents to legislators that they want more options when it comes to their children's education.

All three of the state’s highest leaders endorsed school vouchers on Tuesday in front of hundreds of Spanish-speaking participants at a Capitol rally. But civil-rights groups representing minorities criticized the vouchers, and said organizers of the rally misled participants to get them to come by telling them they were advocating improved schools, not vouchers.

Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick appeared at a Capitol rally Tuesday to promote allowing students to use public money to attend private schools.

"People come here out of their own free-will because they believe in this," HCREO CEO Rebeca Nieves Huffman said. Quinterro said what she believes in most is a better education for her child. "To have the option of scholarships ... to have scholarships so that our kids can have a better education," Quinterro said.

Two of the bills being debated in the House Education Committee target San Antonio school districts specifically, including San Antonio, South San Antonio, Edgewood and Northside. The third bill would make every public school student in the state eligible for a voucher that could be used for private-school tuition.

Polling results released Wednesday by the Washington, D.C.-based Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options show clear majorities of Arizona Hispanics who were surveyed not only place education as their top priority for state government, but favor more school choice.

Poor Kids Desesperately Need Choice

Program Aims to get them Involved

Immigrant's Son Emerges as Rising Star

School Choice Aids Hispanics

Voucher Proposal is Smart, Not Racist, Tax Credits Could Aid English Learners

Florida Voucher Ruling Puts Programs at Risk

Governor Not Ready to End Fight for Vouchers

Latinos Must Speak Out for equal Education

Students and Parents Rally to Save Cuts in Education

Study Details Challenges for Hispanics...

4,000 Rally to Support Schoo Vouchers...

Redefining School Choice

Hispanics Urged to Play Active Role in Kids Schooling

Latinos Find Friends in GOP

Vote Violates Senator's Principles

Expanding Freedom

Lack of Communication Results in Lack of Education

Thousands of Latino Parents

The America's Opportunity Scholarships for Kids Act is a proactive measure taken by the United States Department of Education that would provide 23,000 scholarships for low income students...

For many years, the disparities in public education between wealthy and poor districts in New Jersey have been a glaring sign of the state's failure to serve its minority populations. The state has made efforts to turn the situation around, but nothing has changed in the past 30 years. Latinos continue to be the largest growing population in major cities like Newark and Camden. In Camden, 40 percent of females and 60 percent of males drop out high school.

Summit gathers school choice advocates

In 2003, the Camden school board reported 1,028 incidents of violence. The following year, the number of reported violence cases dropped to 234 and continued to steadily decline. That's a rate of improvement unparalleled anywhere in the state.

The emotional debate over whether to spend tax dollars on private school vouchers shouldn't distract state lawmakers from giving Texas children more options for escaping failing schools, school choice advocates said at a Senate Education Committee hearing on Friday.