MAS Texas Talk

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www.MAStexas.org

www.LIbrotraficante.com

Submitted by Tony Diaz

Updated November 23, 2013

Submitted at Texas State Board of Education Hearing Wednesday November 20, 2013.

Audio of testimony forthcoming.

On behalf of The Librotraficantes, who are part of a state-wide and nation-wide network of scholars, professionals, parents, activists, and concerned citizens, we assert the following points because:

Latinos are the fastest growing demographic in Texas to such a degree that in such places as Houston, Texas, Latinos are over 40% of the population, but moreover every 1 in 4 inhabitants of Houston is either Mexican or Mexican American;

Latinos comprise the majority population of so many school districts to such an extent that the Houston Independent School District, which consists of over 200,000 and over 50% or 100,000 are Latino, and in other school districts such as Aldine School District Latinos comprise over 80% of the student population;

Hispanics constitute over 50% of 4.9 million students in Texas public schools;

Latinos continue to be underserved in the areas of family engagement;

There is not a representative amount of Latinos in top positions-such as superintendent-and most upper administrative positions in school districts across Texas;

There are not enough culturally relevant courses for Latinos;

These factors result in Latino youth forming a large part of the dropout rate;

The Mexican American Studies program at Tucson Unified School District resulted in a 93% graduation rate;

Under Texas HB5, school districts beginning in October of 2015 will be given letter grades based on such things as graduation rates and also family engagement, areas where the needs of Latino youth are not fully understood or catered to;

As I said to the New York Times, the LA TIMES, and the Huffington post, and other media outlets, the UT Young Conservatives “Catch an Illegal Immigrant” game was proof that Texas needs Mexican American Studies.  That was a great example of how a life can be changed by taking a Mexican American Studies course or two;

Also, Mexican American Studies would help all students learn how to thrive in a multimedia and multicultural world;

We urge a Texas State Board of Representative to include the following points in writing, and we urge the entire Texas State Board of Education to not let politics shut down Mexican American Studies and to not let politics get in the way of the success of our youth and to vote to approve the following:

1.    We demand that TX SBOE members add Mexican American Studies to courses that fulfill dual credit for the English IV option, Special Topics in Social Studies, and Independent Study in English. This includes Mexican American Studies as an Advanced Course.

2.    We demand that MAS courses that meet the criteria be added to the Arts and Humanities endorsement. (This does not have to be dual credit.)

3.    We demand that History be added to the Arts and Humanities endorsement. Mexican American History must listed for the History component.

4.    Mexican American Studies should be explicitly listed as a Cultural and Linguistic Topic which falls under Language Other Than English.

Mexican American Courses as endorsed by the Texas State Board of Education the above manner would address many of the overlooked and neglected factors that Texas school districts have not been able to address for decades and which school districts shall not be able to address within one year, when they will be graded upon such things as the dropout rate of our youth and the engagement of Latino Families.

Note, per the kind letter I received from TX SBOE Cargill, I was not inquiring if Mexican American Studies courses can be taught in high school, I was pointing out that an administrator must be part lawyer, and part activist to implement Mexican American Courses to successfully institute Mexican American Studies. We know of at least 4 high schools in San Antonio that have expressed interest in instituting Mexican American Courses as Dual Credit but who have not been able to do so because of many barriers that would be immediately remedied by the actions we proposed above.

Note, to representative Donna Bahoric, thank you for looking into whether or not Introduction to Mexican American Literature is as academically rigorous as British Literature-which is named as an Advanced Course.  Dr. Mindiola and Professor Lorenzo Cano from the University of Houston Center for Mexican American Studies Program are ready to provide you with that information as well as Dr. Aranda from Rice University. They are ready to meet with you at the place of your choosing at your convenience.  We urge you to meet with them as soon as possible.

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Hispanics are over 51% of almost 5 million Texas students. (Texas uses the term "Hispanics" to quantify our community.)

Of course, when the Librotraficantes attended public hearings Wednesday November 20 at the Texas Education Agency in Austin, Texas to discuss the new education bill HB5-Latinos were not 51% of those testifying.

We were possibly 6 of 89-maybe 7% of the folks in attendance to testify. The majority of people were business folk, representing the interests of their industries.

Many of of these business people made it clear that they were worried about a shortage or workers that will simply get worse, especially with the number of tradesman and professionals who will retire in the next 5 years.

Of course, Latinos were never addressed directly, but every conversation walked around the notion of how our young shall be educated for work. Our contingent was the only group actively championing the intellectual life of our young, pushing for classes other than the work courses, such as Data Management, mandated by HB5.

The other alarming number is the official drop out rate for our community. The TEA lists the drop out rate for Hispanics as 12.8%, which we then know means it is higher than that. So if we are over 50% of 4.9 million students, a 12.8% drop out rate means that over 313,000 students will drop out.

The TEA must act now to change this. January 20 The TX State Board of Education must endorse Mexican American Literature and Mexican American History for high schools. Mexican American Studies courses have been proven to increase graduation rates in Tucson Unified School District to 93% and 98%.

We will be providing updates soon. Next update will consist of the testimony we submitted.

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