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Saturday, December 05, 2009

Lawmakers Question Education Act

By Heather Clark
Associated Press
          Some legislators are asking where the money will come from for a Hispanic Education Act proposed by Gov. Bill Richardson this week and why the measure is necessary.
        Public Education Secretary Veronica Garcia said the proposed act is needed to close an achievement gap for Hispanic students, who score lower in reading and math than their white and Asian counterparts. Hispanic students' graduation rate is about 56 percent, compared with 71 percent for non-Hispanic white students.
        State Sen. Vernon Asbill, R-Carlsbad, and ranking member of the Senate Education Committee, said he believes the PED already has the authority to focus on Hispanic students, so a separate act is unnecessary.
        Rep. Dennis Roch, a Tucumcari Republican who is the assistant superintendent of Tucumcari Public Schools, said that the proposed act is grounded in a good idea, but that carrying it out could be problematic.
        Roch said that, when administrators concentrate on one ethnic group, other groups stagnate, which would close the achievement gap, but wouldn't be in the best interest of all students.
        Roch said much of what is proposed is already being done by schools.
        School districts have programs to help English-language learners, many of whom are Hispanic. Also, bilingual teachers are taking Hispanic culture into the schools through stories, folklore and other means to make education more accessible to Hispanics, he said.
        Lawmakers from both parties questioned where the money would come from to carry out the proposed act, particularly if new resources and personnel are needed.
        Sen. John Arthur Smith, a Deming Democrat and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said that, with the state's budget crisis, any new programs will be heavily scrutinized this year.
        "We're having a tough time holding the ground for programs we've already established," Smith said.
       

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