Thread: Clinton commits to Hispanics

www.miami.com

Posted on Tue, Jul. 19, 2005


EDUCATION
Clinton commits to Hispanics
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton promised to help Hispanics achieve the American dream by improving their educational opportunities.
BY EUNICE MOSCOSO
Cox News Service

PHILADELPHIA - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., pledged Monday to help reduce high school drop-out rates among Hispanics, make it easier for children of illegal immigrants to go to college and improve healthcare for the nation's fastest growing minority group.

In a speech to an influential Hispanic group, Clinton, who some expect to run for president in 2008, said the government is not doing enough to help Hispanics reach their goals.

The audience at the National Council of La Raza's annual convention embraced the senator with loud applause and several standing ovations. The council is a civil rights organization with 300 affiliated groups nationwide.

`AMERICAN DREAM'

''Since our country's founding, Hispanic Americans -- from missionaries to admirals to Nobel laureates and astronauts -- have not only been seeking the American dream for themselves, but helping to preserve it and expand it for others,'' Clinton said.

She also touched on several education issues, including her support of legislation known as the Dream Act, which would allow illegal-immigrant children who finish high school in the United States to avoid deportation, earn a path to citizenship and possibly receive in-state college tuition rates.

''We want to make it possible for the 65,000 undocumented young people who graduate from our high schools each year to receive in-state tuition rates and pursue their own dreams,'' she said. ``I hope, with your help, we will make that Dream Act a reality this year.''

SPELLINGS SPEAKS

Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings also addressed the convention Monday, touting the ''No Child Left Behind Act,'' a major Bush administration initiative to boost the performance of poor and minority children and punish schools that don't show positive results.

Spellings said that a national assessment of test scores released last week was ''very encouraging'' and proved that the program is working.

SCORES IMPROVE

It showed that reading scores for 9-year-olds across the nation have improved more over the past 5 years than they had from 1971 to 1999. Among Hispanics, the scores increased by 12 points over the past five years, she said.

In addition, she said the average Hispanic 9-year-old math score increased 17 points over the past five years.

Spellings and Clinton both said more needs to be done to address the high school drop-out rate among Hispanics, which is four times higher than the drop-out rate for white students.

Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said Clinton is the clear front-runner for the Democratic nomination and is increasingly framing a national agenda.

www.washingtonpost.com

Spellings, Clinton Disagree on Hispanics

By ERIN TEXEIRA
The Associated Press
Monday, July 18, 2005; 8:58 PM



PHILADELPHIA -- U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said Monday the "achievement gap is beginning to close" between Hispanic and white students, while Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton countered that she's not convinced the federal government is doing enough to help Hispanic youth get through school.

Spellings and Clinton each spoke at the convention of the National Council of La Raza, a four-day event that ends Tuesday.

The two did not dispute statistics that show Latino students have the nation's highest high school dropout rate and the lowest college enrollment rate, but diverged on whether the government is fixing the problem.

Praising No Child Left Behind, the education law President Bush signed in January 2002, Spellings pointed to National Assessment of Educational Progress scores released Thursday that show 9-year-olds, including Hispanics, have improved their reading and math scores.

"These results did not come out of thin air," Spellings said. "They came from a commitment to doing something that's never been done before, a commitment to giving every child a quality education."

"The achievement gap is beginning to close," she said.

But minutes later, Clinton told the same group: "You are doing your part, but I don't know that your government is doing its part right now."

Clinton stressed that, though younger students' scores have improved, 17-year-olds have made virtually no gains since the tests first started being given 30 years ago.

"I'm not sure that we are doing everything we should to make your job easier, to make sure that the opportunity society is alive and well for everyone," she said.

Linda L. Silva, a Democratic organizer and advocate for Latinos in Delaware County, Pa., stood with hundreds of others to applaud Clinton, particularly when the senator called for policy changes that would allow undocumented immigrant students to receive college aid. Silva said she hopes to see Clinton enter the race for president in 2008. "There's no one else in America who has more integrity today," she said.

The welcome for Spellings was more muted.

Washington-based La Raza was founded in Phoenix in 1968 as a Mexican-American civil rights group and now is the nation's largest advocacy group for Hispanics. It represents 4 million members in 300 affiliates across the country.

Minutes after the speeches ended, eight people who said they want tighter controls on immigration walked into the Pennsylvania Convention Center where the meeting is being held wearing T-shirts and caps saying "U.S. Border Patrol," said Cecilia Munoz, vice president of La Raza. They were escorted from the building without incident, Munoz said.

Silva said she hopes to see Clinton enter the race for president in 2008. "There's no one else in America who has more integrity today," she said.

I hope Hillary does run for president--of Mexico. She might be qualified to run that dump. Ms. Silva has no clue.

Silva said she hopes to see Clinton enter the race for president in 2008. "There's no one else in America who has more integrity today," she said.

Seriously, Define I N T E G R I T Y.

Seriously, Define I N T E G R I T Y.

Integrity is not this woman!