The HEA Title V program is not the association’s only 2009 budget priority, however. HACU is seeking $20 million from a Farm Bill currently under debate in Congress. A U.S. Department of Agriculture official told attendees that his agency is providing educational grants to HSIs that improve colleges’ expertise in areas such as food science, biotechnology and water resource studies.
With the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act up for renewal this year, HACU also is seeking $50 million in new funds to help HSIs expand their teacher education programs. Member colleges also are asking for a separate $50 million program to develop more culturally and linguistically prepared teachers.
Hispanic-serving colleges should not discount the importance of NCLB, said Dr. Sharon Robinson, chief executive officer of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. The fate of this law is closely tied to Higher Education Act, the government’s main post-high school program that also is up for renewal this year.
“These two acts are definitely related,” Robinson told the HACU audience. Both Hispanics and African-Americans have much lower completion rates for college prep math courses, she said. One answer, she said, is the development of a more diverse teaching force that is “well prepared to teach culturally and linguistically diverse students.”
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