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• IDRA Newsletter • February 2004 •

More than 200 members of the Mexican American School Board Members Association met at a reception in January to recognize the Intercultural Development Research Association’s 30th anniversary. The reception was held during MASBA’s annual conference in San Antonio. MASBA president, Viola García praised IDRA’s commitment to children and its partnership with school and community organizations. In the early 1970s, IDRA helped found MASBA.

Receiving the anniversary acknowledgment on behalf of IDRA was Dr. María “Cuca” Robledo Montecel, IDRA’s executive director. She thanked MASBA members for their past collaboration and pointed to the future, stating that these and other groups must continue to work together to assure that children have access to quality teaching in equitably funded schools that hold children through to graduation and that prepare them for success in college.

She said: “We must continue to say it is not ok to change the current equitable school finance system into a so-called adequate one. It is not ok to turn our public schools into poorly funded schools, because public schools belong to all of us. It is not ok to turn our public schools into private schools, accountable to private boards, because public schools are accountable to all of us.”

The reception marked the first public unveiling of the new Texans for Fair Funding web site. The site is sponsored by the Texas Latino Education Coalition, of which both IDRA and MASBA are members.

Headquartered in San Antonio, MASBA’s mission is to help attain educational and cultural needs, and opportunities in the public school system for Mexican American students and other historically underserved or disadvantaged students. MASBA’s activities comprise leadership development, public policy analysis, political awareness, parent education and involvement, and community empowerment.

2012 Note: The Texan for Fair Funding website has been integrated with IDRA’s Education Policy website.

Comments and questions may be directed to IDRA via e-mail at feedback@idra.org.

[©2004, IDRA. This article originally appeared in the February 2004 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.]