School Vouchers(4A)

RESOLUTION 4A: School Vouchers

WHEREAS THE LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS (LULAC) supports the purpose of fostering and enlarging the opportunities for training, education, civil rights, job opportunities, housing, economic development, and welfare of all Hispanics in the United States; and,

WHEREAS, a private school voucher system that transfers scarce public tax dollars to private schools will not solve the real problems facing Hispanic schoolchildren in Texas such as a shortage of qualified bilingual education teachers, poor facilities, and crowded classrooms, and;

WHEREAS, traditional voucher proponents who have been unsuccessful in obtaining public subsidies for private schools have adopted a new strategy that includes exploiting Hispanics' friendly sentiments towards Catholic schools and their frustration over the pace of reforms within the public school system, and;

WHEREAS, Hispanics now represent a majority of Texas schoolchildren in the early grade levels and account for rapid student growth that creates upward pressure on education funding needs, and;

WHEREAS, elite private schools are not willing to accept all at-risk Hispanic children, and;

WHEREAS, privatization the public school system may attract some unscrupulous, for profit companies wishing to capitalize on a $20 billion public school industry, and;

WHEREAS, private schools may legally discriminate on the basis of academic performance and disciplinary background and most private schools do not serve students with disabilities, and;

WHEREAS, private schools are not accountable to the voters as are school districts through their elected school board members, and;

WHEREAS, a system of private school vouchers would further segregate society along religious, political, ethnic, and economic lines, and;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the 1998 National Assembly convened in Dallas, Texas on the 4th day of July, 1998, strongly opposes state and federal legislation to establish any school finance system, voucher or otherwise, that transfers to private schools public tax funds, which should instead be used to reduce class size, hire qualified bilingual education teachers, and pay for adequate classroom facilities.

Approved this 4th day of July, 1998.

Rick Dovalina
LULAC National President