• IDRA Newsletter • November- December 2005

altThis lack of school holding power affects every Texan.

IDRA research shows that during the last two decades, 2.2 million secondary students have been lost from public school enrollment in the state, costing the state over $500 billion in foregone income, lost tax revenues, and increased job training, welfare, unemployment and criminal justice costs.

The cost in economic productivity is dwarfed by the cost in life choices for so many Texans.

“Most dropout prevention programs fail either because they are too narrow or because they blame students and parents for the problem. What we know, though, is that schools as systems themselves must change to increase their ability to engage and educate students through to graduation.”
– Dr. María “Cuca” Robledo Montecel, IDRA executive director

Parents and communities have played vital roles in every school reform effort – from fighting for fair funding to making sure that students are not ignored or punished because of the language they speak.

To support and catalyze community-school partnerships and leadership that guarantee graduation and student success, the Intercultural Development Research Association and the League of United Latin American Citizens ask you to join our statewide call to increase school holding power. This call was launched at an event at the University of Texas at San Antonio in November 2005. Other partners in the event were the Texas Business and Education Coalition, Texas Alliance of Black School Educators, Texas Latino Education Coalition, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and Mexican American School Board Members Association.

“We must challenge the country to secure the future of our young people and of the United States. The goal of this summit is to gather a strong basis of best practices to increase the much-needed improvement for our Texas schools and spread the anticipated success of the summit to the rest of the nation.”
– Hector Flores, LULAC national president

Communities and their neighborhood public schools can turn the tide. Together we can and must guarantee that every child graduates from high school!


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


[©2005, IDRA. This article originally appeared in the Novmeber- December 2005 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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