How is the education of Latino students affected by the immigration debate?
The immigration debate is preventing us from realizing that Latino and ELL students are going to play such an important role in our future. We now have large numbers of Latino students all over the nation, but we have not been willing to invest in them or their future yet — even though it is our future, and our economic well-being will depend on their success. Another challenge is that as schools look at their budget shortfalls, how we will become a voice at the table, especially in districts where there is strong anti-immigrant sentiment? In a time of economic hardship, how do we make sure we are investing in our future when people are trying to stay afloat? These questions are tough. The next census is going to be really important, because it has the potential to show just how much the Latino population has grown. Even in the past 8 years, the growth has been tremendous, but Latinos are undercounted. There are huge blocks of Latino communities in areas we hadn’t thought of, like in N
