Funds for Bush Order on Latino Students at Issue

Although Latino advocacy groups welcomed President Bush’s recent signing of an executive order aimed at improving the educational achievement of Latinos, they believe that the biggest hurdle is still ahead--getting funds to implement the objectives.

Getting the executive order “took two years. It was a long process,” said Denise de la Rosa, the education policy analyst for the National Council of La Raza, a Latino civil rights group. “We think it’s a good start.”

But NCLR and other Latino groups expressed disappointment at the order’s lack of specifics, including funding sources.

“Unless you assign some big dollars to education, you’re not going to relieve the hemorrhaging that is occurring right now in our educational system,” said Mario Moreno, director of the office here of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Despite general concern that the order falls far short of addressing the problems that have resulted in a 45% Latino dropout rate and 12% illiteracy rate, the groups said that the order was significant in that it brings attention to the problem.

The order will:

--Establish a presidentially appointed Latino advisory commission in the Education Department to increase parental involvement in student education, to promote early childhood education by “removing barriers to their success in education and work and help students achieve higher potential at all educational levels.”

--Create a unit called the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence to support the commission.

--Direct Cabinet agencies to be involved in advancing “educational opportunities” for Latinos.

The executive order came after public hearings by the Presidential Task Force on Hispanic Education in five U.S. cities, including one in Los Angeles last June. Secretary of Education Lauro F. Cavazos, who headed the task force, presented its recommendations to the White House’s Domestic Policy Council, which in turn drew up the executive order for the President.

A suggested order drawn up by Latino organizations would have required all federal agencies to assess the level and equity of Latino participation in federal programs related to education--something that Bush’s order does only in the Department of Education.

Leticia Quezada, the only Latino school board member of the Los Angeles Unified School District, said that she is pleased with the signing of the order but believes that “there’s nothing here that’s concrete.”

“I want to be able to have a program. I want to have a date for some initiative,” Quezada said.

Raul Yzaguirre, president of NCLR, said that his organization understands “the political realities--given the budget deficit--that the possibility of getting additional financial resources were very remote in the short term.”

Nonetheless, Yzaguirre said the order is “one of the most important events in terms of policy so far.”

Mary Anne Perez contributed to this story from Los Angeles.