Boston, MA – Latinos for Education, the nation’s first Latino-founded organization focused on elevating the voice and representation of Latinos within the education sector and pushing for educational equity for Latino families, issued the following statement on President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better framework:

The Build Back Better framework prioritizes the types of investment that Latino children and families need to finally achieve educational equity; and get the type of educational opportunities they deserve. 

The $400 billion investment for child care and universal pre-K programs would finally allow us to tackle the fact that too many Latino families don’t have access to high-quality, affordable child care and early learning programs. This funding will allow Latino children to get a head start on their educational journey, and benefit from all the positive outcomes associated with early childhood education.

The investment in educator development is necessary if we are going to build back an education system that has teachers and school leaders that look like and come from similar backgrounds as our nation’s Latino students. While Latino students will soon represent 30 percent of all students in our public schools, Latino educators only make up 9 percent of all teachers. It is critical that we close this representation gap, because we know Latino students succeed when they have teachers in the classroom that understand and validate their identities.

The framework rightly prioritizes funding for higher education systems that serve Latino and immigrant students, since we know that these students will enroll and succeed in college if it remains affordable, has a welcoming campus environment, and they receive the academic and social support they need to finish college.

As we look to rebuild from the COVID-19 pandemic, this is the perfect time to set forth a bold vision to reimagine our education system and invest in the students that have been historically marginalized and underserved, including Latino students.

Latinos for Education commends President Biden and the White House for putting forth such a bold and transformative vision that we know will help many generations of Latino children achieve their full potential from cradle to career.

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Anthony Perez
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