Secretary of Education Lauro F. Cavazos last week announced plans to hold five public forums on Hispanic education.
Mr. Cavazos seeks “to gather information about special problems that students of Hispanic background face in the nation’s schools and to identify steps to improve Hispanic students’ access to educational opportunities,” according to a notice in the March 20 Federal Register.
The Secretary “encourages the widest possible participation in the forums,” including comments from parents, educators, students, and community leaders, the notice says.
Mr. Cavazos will lead three of the meetings; Undersecretary Ted Sanders will lead the other two.
Mahlon Anderson, a spokesman for Mr. Cavazos, said the forums are a ''personal initiative” of the Secretary’s. But, he said, a primary purpose of the sessions is to gather information to present to the Task Force on Hispanic Education formed by President Bush in December.
The group is to present a report to the President with recommendations for federal action. (See Education Week, Dec. 13, 1989.)
Mr. Cavazos is the chairman of the task force, a unit within the President’s Working Group on Education, which the Secretary also chairs. The working group, in turn, is a subset of the Domestic Policy Council, which consists of Cabinet officers and other high-ranking Administration officials.
In a memorandum, Mr. Bush charged the task force with assessing the participation of Hispanics in federal education programs and identifying barriers that may limit participation.
The forums, however, will address Hispanic education more broadly, not just the participation of Hispanics in federal programs.
The forums are scheduled for April 10 in San Antonio, April 26 in Boston, May 11 in Chicago, May 18 in Miami, and June 5 in Los Angeles.
