http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercuryn ... 174658.htm

Posted on Tue, Aug. 01, 2006

Education Department may end program for Hispanic students


By Michelle Mittelstadt

The Dallas Morning News

(MCT)

WASHINGTON - A multimillion-dollar federal grant for a program that steers low-income Hispanic students in Dallas and 16 other cities toward college is on the verge of termination, the League of United Latin American Citizens announced Tuesday.

Nearly 2,500 students in the Dallas area have come through the doors of the LULAC National Educational Service Center in Oak Cliff, Texas, during the past four years, getting academic counseling and advice about selecting a college, and filling out applications and financial aid forms.

Similar centers in seven other states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have helped 52,542 students over the past four years, LULAC says.

The counseling and other programs at the centers - including English-language courses for parents, computer classes and student leadership training - are in jeopardy as a result of the Education Department's apparent decision to cease its 27-year relationship with LULAC, the organization's officials said.

"They are getting a great bargain by contracting with us. We are just flabbergasted that they are thinking about not funding us," said Rey de los Santos, director of the Oak Cliff center.

The Education Department wouldn't confirm that it is ending its $3.4 million annual grant to LULAC - the largest recipient of Talent Search Program funding. Official notification of the grant awards isn't expected until later this week, said Education Department spokesman Jim Bradshaw, who declined to discuss LULAC's status.

But Matthew Looney, national development coordinator for the LULAC centers, said organization officials have been unofficially notified that their funding is being terminated for the upcoming four-year grant cycle. And with the Education Department's grant accounting for two-thirds of the program's budget, it will be very hard to replace that money, he said.

"We are currently exploring ways to downsize each of the centers and see over the next 30, 60, 90 days what kind of operations we can maintain," Looney said. "Certainly, some of the markets will close outright. And some that are able to secure funds at the local level and the national level will be able to remain open in some form - but they will not be able to serve a fraction of the students they are currently serving."

The centers do what many school districts can't, de los Santos and other LULAC officials said. "It's not their fault. It's just that they can't get to everybody," he said.

LULAC is making a last-ditch effort to restore the grant.

"We are working with congressional allies and anybody, really, who is willing to listen to us and see how we can attempt to reverse this process," Looney said.