Queridos Amigos,

We have kicked off a new webinar series on the challenge of tackling the “Lies of Texas,” the three decades of deception that have resulted from Texas’ unwillingness to provide an equitable education to all students. Last week, we discussed the challenges faced by TASA/TASB Officer districts. 

Spread the word and join us at noon CST today for our examination of how the districts of the Officers of the Texas Association of Latino Administrators & Superintendents (TALAS) and the Mexican American School Boards Association (MASBA) are tackling academic achievement gaps! This perhaps-controversial look at academic performance in certain school districts will focus on straightforward, factual analysis that confirms the failure of the State of Texas to meet its obligations to close academic achievement gaps for disadvantaged students. 

The following sets of bar charts, for instance, shows the academic achievement gap for 6th-grade math between students of various races/ethnicities in the districts of TALAS and MASBA Officers. To summarize: Only a single TALAS/MASBA Officer district was able to get a majority of African-American sixth-grade students to grade level in math—before the COVID-19 pandemic, and only two TALAS/MASBA Officer districts were able to get a majority of Latinx sixth-grade students to grade level in math. The glaring grey area of each bar represents the deception perpetrated by the State of Texas, which considers itself as meeting its constitutional, statutory and moral obligation of providing an equitable education to students if it can get students to “approach” grade level—which means correctly answering only 37% of the questions to “pass” this test!

The State of Texas classifies certain students as “at-risk.” The following sets of bar charts shares the academic achievement gap for at-risk students in 6th-grade math. Here we see that only two of ten TALAS/MASBA Officer districts are able to get more than a third of at-risk sixth-grade students to grade level in math. The gaps between not-at-risk and at-risk students are sobering. 

The results for 6th-grade reading are even more alarming, with no TALAS/MASBA district able to get more than 22% of at-risk sixth-grade students to grade level in reading. As a result, we push students into higher education, and they drop out at alarmingly-high rates, with college debt and no degree, as the dark grey area of the following bar chart for TALAS/MASBA Officers districts suggests.

The Texas Latino School Boards Association is profoundly grateful to the Texas Association of Latino Administrators & Superintendents and the Mexican American School Boards Association, two organizations that might be tremendous allies in the fight for the right of our Latinx students to one day receive an equitable education in Texas. In many cases, the officers of these organizations are longtime advocates and champions for public education, working alongside other longtime leaders in their local districts. Indeed, the TLSBA salutes the longtime service of these leaders at the local and state levels—and their patience in weathering the many critiques they receive as local and state leaders.

Notwithstanding, this monograph and today’s webinar highlight the challenges faced by underfunded public schools in Texas, which struggle to get students to grade level in all subjects. Texas’ failure to invest in public education and to bring all students to grade level will have a devastating effect on the future economy of the state. Indeed, the Texas Latino School Boards Association looks forward to working with TALAS, MASBA and the districts of their officers to improve the situation of our students and those who serve them. 

Now, fifty years after Judge William Wayne Justice’s mandate in Civil Order 5281 to compensate “minority-group” children for past racial and ethnic isolation, and three decades after the establishment of a testing and accountability system that was meant to close academic achievement gaps, state leaders must ask themselves: “If not us, who? If not here, where? If not now, when? If not for the sake of the children we serve, why?”

As today’s monograph and webinar make clear, a far worse pandemic than COVID-19 rages, and it is long past time for state education leaders to join hands and demand that the State of Texas honor its constitutional, statutory and moral obligation to provide an equitable education to all Texas students.

Please spread the word and join us at noon!

Adelante marchemos unidos,

Dr. Jayme Mathias

TLSBA Executive Director 

Be Part of our
TLSBA Board of Advisors!

Apply today to be part of our inaugural TLSBA Board of Advisors! The TLSBA seeks representatives of the top 20 Latinx-serving districts in Texas and of the 20 Education Service Centers throughout the state. Our Board of Advisors will discuss issues of race and inequity, help to shape our TLSBA research agenda, and preview the data on their districts before publication. Additional perquisites of advisory service include the opportunity to network with other education leaders throughout the state, free individual TLSBA membership, and first access to all TLSBA books and research. Apply today!

Join the TLSBA!

Attention school board members, superintendents, educational leaders & allies: Join with others who share your passion for closing gaps for the 2.9 million Latinx students in our Texas public schools! The TLSBA is a TEA-certified provider of continuing education credits for school board members—so the TLSBA is the best possible deal for continuing education credits for trustees. You can join the TLSBA as an individual member, or you can join as a district member, with membership covering up to 20 trustees and administrators. 

Sponsor the TLSBA’s Mission
of Closing Gaps!

Are you a supporter of our Texas public schools looking to meet school board members and educational leaders? Contact us today to discuss the values of TLSBA sponsorship! At present, we’re looking for sponsors for our inaugural webinar series, our monograph series on Texas’ failure to provide school districts the necessary resources to provide an equitable education to Latinx students, and other organizational aspirations. For the sake of the students we together serve, we’d love to count on your support!