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Hispanics filling minority schools

Fernando Quintero, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 31, 2007 at midnight

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Colorado nearly tops the nation in the increase of Hispanic students attending public schools where most of the students are minorities, according to a new report.

"The Changing Racial and Ethnic Composition of U.S. Public Schools" found a "powerful demographic shift" has occurred since 1993-94 - "an increase of more than 55 percent in the Hispanic slice of the public school population."

One result: minority students are increasingly isolated from whites while white students in public schools have become less isolated from minorities - a trend with significant educational impacts.

The study was released Thursday by the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research organization based in Washington, D.C. Colorado went from zero percent of Hispanic students in nearly all-minority public schools in 1993-94 to 10 percent in 2005-2006.

Only Maryland experienced a larger increase: from 7 percent of Hispanics educated in nearly all-minority schools to 21 percent.

"It's not surprising what has happened with public schools in Colorado, given parents' wide choices of where to send their kids," said Alan Gottlieb, vice president for policy at the Public Education and Business Coalition, a non-profit partnership of business and education leaders working to strengthen Colorado's public schools.

"Federal policies for integrating schools, for all intents and purposes, ended 10 years ago. In Denver, court-ordered busing ended in 1996," said Van Schoales, urban education officer for the Denver-based Piton Foundation, which develops education and anti-poverty programs. "Unless there are more incentives to transplant students to other schools, it's going to be a challenge to change this continuing trend."

Both Schoales and Gottlieb agreed school boards need to be smarter about where they locate schools, and in the programs they offer, to stem the tide of resegregation.

For example, locating a top- rated magnet school in a low-income area would coax middle to upper-income students there. And dual language schools would benefit all students.