Leaders From New Mexico's Hispanic Business, Civic and Education Organizations Encourage New Mexico's House and Senate Education Committee to Support Education Options

SANTE FE, NM, March 06, 2011 (Press-News.org) Leaders from New Mexico's Hispanic business, civic and education organizations encourage New Mexico's House and Senate Education Committee to support education options.

The Hispano Roundtable of New Mexico (HRTNM) that represents over 50 Hispanic organizations throughout the state with over 50,000 members statewide is leading a call-to-action in support of students throughout New Mexico. The HRTNM has partnered with other prominent Hispanic organizations such as the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) that has 50 councils and more than 4,000 members across the state. MANA de Albuquerque, a chapter of MANA, A National Latina Organization representing women and families in New Mexico for over 30 years also joined the effort in support of educational option.

"We want to work with the leaders of our state to enhance learning opportunities for our children and that is why collectively, we strongly support the Scholarship Act (HB 510 and HB 427)," said Ralph Arellanes, Chairman of the HRTNM. "We must give our special needs kids and lower-income students a chance at success. Now as citizens of this state we don't have to stand by and watch the dropout rate get worse. We can do something about it. We can help provide a scholarship for a kid and help them succeed, and we can do it without spending any state money now going to the public schools. That makes sense to us."

Over the past decade, New Mexicans have been subjected to endless news reports about our dangerously high dropout rate and not been able to do much about it. The dropout rate has become an epidemic. Our dropout rate has risen to 44% statewide, and APS, for instance, graduated only 37% of Hispanic students in four years. The low graduation rates are causing an endless cycle of poverty and family destruction. While the public at large has seen this trend continue, it has not had the tools to change things. Now, however, two bills in the legislature could change all that and give our citizens a chance to make a real difference in reducing the dropout rate.

The HRT New Mexico and its partner organizations have been working closely with the Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options (Hispanic CREO), a national organization that speaks of behalf of Hispanic families in support of education options. Julio Fuentes, President and CEO of Hispanic CREO said, "New Mexico has the highest drop-out rate in the country and more than 57% of the student population in New Mexico are Latino. Our students deserve schools that work with them to ensure success and that they achieve the highest levels of performance possible. Parents play a vital role in their child's education and Hispanic CREO is here to empower New Mexico's Hispanic families."

The Hispanic Roundtable of New Mexico, LULAC New Mexico, MANA de Albuquerque, Hispanic CREO, and the more than 50,000 Latinos we represent wish to acknowledge the many legislators that have shown leadership to advance the education opportunities on our community.

Hispanic CREO's mission is to improve educational outcomes for Hispanic children by empowering families through parental choice in education. Please visit us at: http://www.hcreo.com.

Contact: Ralph Arellanes
505.688.2973