LULAC Sends Joint Letter to House and Senate Leadership on Impact of Sequestration on Hispanic Students
On behalf of the Hispanic Education Coalition (HEC), LULAC and MALDEF issued a joint letter to the House and Senate leadership urging for a bipartisan solution that staves off the Budget Control Act's automatic sequestration provision.
Online, March 4, 2013 (Newswire.com) - On behalf of the Hispanic Education Coalition (HEC), the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the Mexican American Legal Defense Education Fund (MALDEF) issued a joint letter to the House and Senate leadership urging for a bipartisan solution that staves off the Budget Control Act's automatic sequestration provision. Both LULAC and MALDEF are co-chairs of the HEC which also includes 20 organizations focused on improving educational opportunities and outcomes for more than the 54 million Hispanics living in the United States and Puerto Rico.
The letter specifically highlighted the negative impacts the sequestration cuts would likely have on federal education programs which serve thousands of Latino students. For example, education programs will be uniquely affected since school districts must make budget decisions today for the 2013-2014 school year and the sequestration cuts will go into effect in the fall of 2013.
"The programs that will see the most cuts are critical to increasing graduation rates and reducing the drop-out rates among Hispanic students across the country," said LULAC National President Margaret Moran. "We will continue to urge Congress to find alternative solutions to our country's budget problems."
The cuts will be made to federal programs that help ensure educational access and support for Latino students. A copy of the letter to the Senate leadership can be found here, and a copy of the letter to the House leadership can be found here.
"The cuts to ESEA, ELL and Head Start will have significant consequences on the Hispanic student population since the majority of the students who are served from these critical programs are Hispanic," said LULAC National Executive Director, Brent Wilkes. "We hope to see a consensus before these cuts to our nation's federal education programs cause irreparable harm to students who are working hard and need these programs the most."