by Emily Ruíz

A new survey shows that the “No Child Left Behind Act” is not adequately serving the needs of Latino and immigrant communities, indicating flaws in NCLB’s assessment testing of English Language Learners (ELL) students.

According to the report, released on Feb. 14 by the University of Texas-Austin and Rice University, Texas public schools lose at least 135,000 students a year – 80 percent of them learning English as a second language, and 75 percent Latino.

“While we work on reauthorizing NCLB, we must keep in mind the civil rights of all students,” said Victor Goode, assistant general counsel of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Signed in 2002 by President Bush, the NCLB requires states to test students, including ELLs, annually and demonstrate progress toward having all students reach high proficiency levels on tests by 2014.

States must also measure students’ English language proficiency.

The law is up for renewal this year.

“A big problem for ELLs is that often an exam will test their English ability when it’s not supposed, like a math test with a big word problem. You’re testing math and English proficiency at the same time, but you’re only trying to test math, said Peter Zamora, Washington, D.C. regional counsel of MALDEF.

Some recommendations from the Campaign for Higher Education for the reauthorization of NCLB include requiring data collecting of students to be broken down into racial and ethnic backgrounds, and holding high schools accountable for increasing graduation rates with higher quality testing and assessment.

The Campaign also wants more qualified teachers and more parental involvement s students have a strong support system a home and in the classroom.

“Many of these children are trying to learn a new language at the same time as learning a new subject.

Their success needs t be defined by academic achievement, no English language proficiency alone,” said Phitsamay Uy, board chair for the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center.

The Campaign for Higher Education held a policy briefi ng on the reauthorization of NCLB Feb. 28 on Capitol Hill. Two of the four speakers represented the Latino community, Peter Zamora of MALDEF and Brent Wilkes of LULAC.

Campaign members represent ten national organizations that advocate for the communities most affected by NCLB assessments. Four out of the ten are Latino based organizations, including MALDEF, LULAC, NCLR and the National Association of Elected and Appointed Education Fund.

To obtain additional information on the Campaign for Higher Education visit: www.highschoolequity.org. Hispanic Link Weekly Report.

by the El Reportero news services

Protesting cuts to public health San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi (white shirt) marches on March 15 with SEIU Health members and employees of San Francisco General Hospital against health cuts. (Photo by INDYBABY)

Nurses won’t be making home visits to their homebound patients anymore, and operating rooms at San Francisco General Hospital will be closed eight hours a day. Those are just two effects of the city Health Commission’s Tuesday night budget slashing, described by the Department of Public Health as the deepest cuts officials have ever seen.

Newsom has asked the department – which accounts for one-fifth of the city’s $6 billion annual budget – to cut $28.1 million to help the city bridge a $251 million budget gap for the 2008-09 fiscal year.

With medical costs rocketing every year, the department has to cut about $50 million to hit the mayor’s benchmark. On Tuesday, the commission approved about half of the $33 million in cuts the director of the department proposed, meaning more will be coming unless officials find a way to increase revenue.

Cuts that will take place April 15 include eliminating Health at Home, a program in which public health nurses visit chronically ill, homebound people; closing Buster’s Place, a 24-hour drop-in center for homeless people who are looking for shelter or a hot shower; closing a workers’ compensation clinic at San Francisco General Hospital; reducing mental health services; and reducing hours for the hospital’s oral surgery clinic and operating rooms.

Cuts approved by the commission for the next fiscal year include closing a wing at Laguna Honda Hospital, limiting services for sex workers and reducing funding for residential treatment for gunshot victims.

Unlike the cuts happening in April, those cuts will need approval from the Board of Supervisors.

Critics say the budget decisions contradict the city’s bold new initiative to provide universal health care to its residents because many uninsured people use the programs suffering because of the budget deficit.

They also say the city will save money in the short-term, but eventually cost more be­cause fewer preventative care options will lead to more emergency room visits.

But Newsom has said that if certain public health programs are spared, other cuts will have to be made elsewhere. In addition to the $251 million budget gap for the next fi scal year, a $40 million shortfall in state money is expected as California struggles with its own budget crisis.

The mayor’s office says the budget shortfall stems from the addition of hundreds of new positions to the city payroll, big raises negotiated by labor groups, and several new spending requirements approved by voters. By Pravda Ru.com.

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by BBC News

Television pictured Colombia’s Alvaro Uribe (left), Dominican Republic’s Leonel Fernández (centre) and Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez easing tentions.

The handshakes were broadcast live by regional TV channels Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has said the “happy” end to the regional crisis with Colombia should boost unity in Latin America.

“This summit was a gift from God,” he was quoted by Reuters as saying after shaking hands with his Colombian and Ecuadorean counterparts at a summit.

The crisis began after Colombian troops killed Raul Reyes – the FARC rebels’ second most important man – in Ecuador.

It has now emerged that four Mexicans may have been killed in the raid.

Mexico has ordered an investigation, and Ecuador has yet to confirm the identity of those killed last Saturday.

A fifth member of the Mexican group – who were all students – is recovering in a hospital in Ecuador’s capital, Quito.

Colombia’s government has also announced that another commander of the FARC left-wing rebels has been killed.

Ivan Rios – the youngest in the seven-member FARC secretariat – was killed by his own men in the province of Caldas, said Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos. It was not clear why he was killed.

Verbal sparring

There were heated exchanges at the Rio Group summit of Latin American leaders in Dominican Republic that had originally been planned to discuss energy and other issues.

But the crisis became the worst political spat in the region for years.

Venezuela and Ecuador cut diplomatic ties with Bogotá and sent troops to their borders after the Colombian operation which left 20 FARC rebels dead.

Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega, who had also broken off diplomatic ties with Colombia, said they would be re-established after the presidents shook hands.

The handshakes were broadcast live on television across Latin America in response to a special request from the summit’s host, Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernández.

“We are all happy,” Mr. Chávez said afterwards.

“Peace! We must unite and integrate.”

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa and his Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe had clashed at the opening of the summit.

Mr. Correa condemned Colombia’s “aggression”, while Mr.. Uribe accused his opposite number of having links with the FARC rebels.

The Colombian president said he had not warned Ecuador before the raid because Mr. Correa had not co-operated in the fight against terrorism.

He also claimed material seized in the operation proved links between Mr. Correa’s government and the rebels. Mr. Correa rejected the claims, saying his hands were not “stained with blood”.

He admitted there had been communications with FARC, but only because his government was trying to secure the release of hostages held by the rebels, including former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt.

But before shaking hands, to applause from the summit delegates, Mr. Correa said:

“With the commitment of never attacking a brother country again and by asking forgiveness, we can consider this very serious incident resolved.”

The BBC’s Jeremy McDermott says President Uribe’s huge gamble in ordering the air strike that killed Reyes appears to have paid off.

He said Mr. Uribe knew it would lead to a diplomatic incident with Ecuador, but perhaps did not realize that Venezuela and Nicaragua would also break off diplomatic relations.

by Emily C. Ruíz

Juan José Gutiérrez

Pro-immigrant groups across the country are preparing to stage a series of marches May 1, pressing the White House and its Homeland Security Department to halt immigration raids and move forward on comprehensive immigration reform.

“Change is in the air,” Juan José Gutiérrez, director of Los Angeles based Latino Movement USA, promises. “My vision is that this is going to be very positive.

This year marks the third grassroots-organized May Day event with two unique factors:

1. The marches are being guided by a national coordinating committee – The First Parliament of Mexican Migrant Leaders Living in the USA.
2. This is the first time the marches will be held during a presidential election year.

Pro-immigrant groups from throughout the United States met in Mexico City in November to form the First Parliament of Mexican Migrants Leaders Living in the USA. Attracting minimal press attention, they formed the first national coordinating committee for the May Day marches. The initiating body consists of 46 members representing 23 states.

“The idea is that every single state and territory in the union where we have Latinos living and working should have representation,” says Gutiérrez.

National political analysts have been in open agreement for months that the outcome of the 2008 presidential election will depend heavily on the Latino and immigrant vote.

Where the experts part ways is in assessing the impact national demonstrations will have on other voters. Even among Latinos opinions range widely.

National Council of La Raza president Janet Murguía handles the subject with cautious concern.

“Marches visually demonstrate to each of us that we are not alone, but this year there is only one march that will truly empower our community and demonstrate our clout. Our next march must be to the voting booth this November.”

Elena Ríos, president of the National Hispanic Medical Association, counters, “If the marches are anything like they have been in the last few years, where more of our community are showing their pride 1and commitment to their fellow Latinos, whether they’re documented or not, I think it’s fantastic. I hope it gets media attention — and more than just Univisión and Telemundo. I hope we get on CNN and mainstream English media talking about the importance of the Latino vote in this election year. It will have an impact.”

Chicago Sun Times columnist Esther Cepeda has doubts: “The marches have become unproductive. They cause a yawn among news editors and reporters and create a backlash from anti-Hispanic forces. I don’t think the mass demonstrations get people who otherwise aren’t energized about the upcoming presidential elections to g out and get registered to vote. Is there even enough time left? There certainly isn’t to get citizenship.”

Gutiérrez bristles at those who insist that immigration reform can’t happen in an election year. “They say everyone should wait until sometime after the November elections. I disagree. Nothing can hurt the pro-immigration rights movement more than doing nothing.”

He offers as evidence: “Never before have the candidates had to deal with the issue of immigration in a very direct way.”

José Garza of Dallas, executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens’ National Housing Commission sees it, “We need to take whatever action is necessary to get this Congress, the future Congress and the future president to really deal with the issues of the immigrant worker. What we are asking for is fairness and equity.

When it’s time to mobilize, we can do it correctly.”

The turnout of marchers has decreased nationally since 2.5 million participated in 2006.

Gutiérrez blames “the lack of nerve on the part of significant members of the Spanish-speaking media who have helped persuade the community not to continue to participate in the mobilization.”

But, he contends, “That slogan ‘Hoy marchamos, mañana votamos’ — today we march, tomorrow we vote — has crystallized the movement.

People are beginning to feel their power, both when we take to the streets and when we go to the ballot box.”
Hispanic Link.

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