IDRA established the José A. Cárdenas School Finance Fellows Program in 2013 to honor the memory of IDRA founder, Dr. José Angel Cárdenas. The goal of the program is to engage the nation’s most promising researchers in investigating school finance solutions that secure equity and excellence for all public school students. Three fellows studied funding for bilingual education, school facilities and college readiness.

  • Examining School Funding and Academic Achievement for Secondary English Language Learners in Texas, by Dr. Oscar Jimenez-Castellanos, 2015
  • What about the Schools? – Factors Contributing to Expanded State Investment in School Facilities, by Dr. Marialena Rivera, presented at AERA, 2017 (includes case study state highlights for Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio Texas and Wyoming)
  • Texas is Not Financing College Readiness – Wealth and Inequities Highlighted by the Civil Rights Data Collection, by Dr. Cristóbal Rodríguez, 2021

Coming soon!

Virtual Symposium Featuring Research by Two Fellows: April 19, 2023

  • Vanessa Sansone, University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) assistant professor, conducting a comparative case study analysis of CARES Act spending patterns among selected Hispanic serving institutions (HSIs) within Texas.
  • David Martínez, University of South Carolina assistant professor, analyzing South Carolina school finance priorities in high proportion Latino districts during COVID-19.

Advisory Committee Members 2021-2023

    • Jaime Chahin, Ph.D., Texas State University, Professor and Dean, College of Applied Arts
    • Albert Cortez, Ph.D., Retired IDRA Director of Policy
    • Edward García Fierros, Ph.D., Villanova University, Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
    • Albert Kauffman, J.D., St. Mary’s University, Professor of Law
    • María “Cuca” Robledo Montecel, Ph.D., IDRA President Emerita

[©2023, IDRA. This article originally appeared in the March 2023 IDRA Newsletter by the Intercultural Development Research Association. Permission to reproduce this article is granted provided the article is reprinted in its entirety and proper credit is given to IDRA and the author.]

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