Bush Task Force to Address Latinos’ School Problems

President Bush, dealing with one of the knottiest problems of American schools, on Wednesday announced formation of a task force on Latino education, but Latino leaders said they had asked for more help in the battle against high illiteracy and dropout rates.

Bush assigned the task force three responsibilities: to suggest goals and strategies for reducing illiteracy and the dropout rate and increasing enrollment in higher education, to assess the number of Latinos taking part in federal education programs and to identify any barriers that limit Latinos in these programs.

“We hope that they are not just recreating the wheel,” said Martha Jimenez, staff attorney of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. “We hope it will not be a study to study the studies of what we already know.”

Although clearly disappointed, Latino leaders hailed the task force as an important step forward. “The Bush Administration is to be commended for acknowledging the government’s responsibility to ensure that Hispanics are equitably served by federal education programs,” said Raul Yzaguirre, the president of the National Council of La Raza.

“This historic initiative shows that, indeed, there is a new wind blowing in Washington.” But he, too, expressed concern about the limits of the initial stride.

In a public memorandum to Secretary of Education Lauro F. Cavazos, who will head the task force, President Bush said: “Sadly, Hispanic Americans are especially undereducated. As Hispanics become the largest minority group in the United States early in the next century, it becomes more and more important to overcome the crisis in Hispanic education.”

The President cited some depressing statistics to bolster the need for a task force. “Among Hispanics over the age of 25,” the presidential memorandum said, “an alarming 52% have not completed high school. . . .

“Every major report on adult illiteracy,” the memorandum went on, “has found that the rate for Hispanics is much higher than the rate for the non-Hispanic population.”

According to officials of the National Council of La Raza, Latino leaders had asked the White House to issue an executive order on Latino education directing all federal departments and agencies, first, to set goals for improving Latino education and, second, to identify and break down the barriers to Latino participation in federal education programs.

When the White House refused, the Latino leaders then proposed that Bush issue a lengthy memorandum to all members of the Cabinet and agency heads, asking them to do much the same as the executive order. The Latino organizations, according to Denise de la Rosa, education policy analyst of the National Council of La Raza, had not asked for a task force, not believing it to be necessary. Officials evidently believed that the problems of Latino education had been studied long enough, that the time for action was at hand.

Instead, Bush issued what De la Rosa described as a “watered-down” memorandum that went only to Cavazos and did little more than instruct him to organize the task force.

“This task force,” Jimenez said, “doesn’t have to put out any report. It does not have any deadlines. There are no standards.”

Nevertheless, Jimenez said: “We don’t want to appear pessimistic. This is definitely a breakthrough.”

Cavazos, the first Latino ever appointed to a presidential Cabinet, was directed to form the task force out of a group of high-level Administration officials. In addition, Bush, noting that Cavazos will soon appoint a special adviser on dropouts, asked that this adviser work closely with representatives of the Latino community.