Thread: LULAC says it supports HISD bond measure

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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5175379.html

Sept. 29, 2007, 8:53PM
LULAC says it supports HISD bond measure
It is the second endorsement from a Hispanic group


By MIKE SNYDER and JENNIFER RADCLIFFE



The League of United Latin American Citizens announced Saturday that it will support the Houston school district's $805 million bond measure to build and repair schools — the second endorsement in as many days from an area Latino organization.

The board of LULAC's District 8, which covers the Houston area, voted 8-1 with two abstentions to support the Nov. 6 bond proposal despite a laundry list of concerns that included everything from the district's high dropout rate to the lack of bilingual administrators.

"We need to do it for the kids," said board member Phillipa Young, a retired school administrator.

LULAC's support comes on the heels of Friday's endorsement from the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, giving bond supporters hope that public sentiment is making a favorable shift.

Several black leaders have criticized the plan to build 24 new schools and renovate 134 others, saying it shortchanges their communities.

The endorsement from the Hispanic groups is very important, said Rick Jaramillo, co-chairman of Parents & Teachers for Our Public Schools, a political action committee supporting the bond.

"It shows a lot of unity within a certain segment of the community, and I think this is a big step in providing unity citywide."

LULAC board member Wallace Herrera, who cast the only vote against endorsing the bond issue, said HISD didn't make a strong enough commitment to increase the number of Hispanic administrators. Hispanics account for nearly 60 percent of HISD's 200,000 students.

Houston City Councilman Adrian Garcia, who spoke to the LULAC board before it began its Saturday meeting, said the focus should be on students' needs for better facilities and instruction.

"We need to see (the bond issue) pass, but we also need to commit ourselves to these issues of lack of communication and transparency and accountability," Garcia said.

HISD school board President Manuel Rodriguez Jr. said he thinks LULAC's endorsement will go far in letting the district keep its promise to complete its three-phase construction plan.

"I'm overjoyed," he said of the endorsement. "This will start some momentum."

mike.snyder@chron.com

jennifer.radcliffe@chron.com

$805 million........the biggest part of which will be spent on new schools to house illegals???? Outrageous!

Really...I live in Houston and this is the third bloody bond in ten years...Luckily the blacks are the one bucking this! They know what colonization feels like and they want to see the money in their neighborhood. I wrote in to my neighborhood paper and told all voters to say "no" to the bond in a stinging little essay. I mentioned that while our men are being used as cannon fodder in the middle east the colonizers are raping and pillaging us and stealing away their homeland.I told all taxpayers to vote "no" to the colonization of their nation they have already blown so much money and then asked for doorknockers to rouse the dropouts back to school within the invader community.

"It shows a lot of unity within a certain segment of the community, and I think this is a big step in providing unity citywide."

"It shows alot of unity within a certain segment of the community". Whose unity? The hispanics? What about the rest of the population?

of course they're behind it! they aren't footing the bill and they will benefit the most from it!