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Three weeks ago, Linda Chavez-Thompson -- who is running for Lieutenant Governor against incumbent Republican David Dewhurst -- was featured as a guest blogger for the popular Latino blog "La Plaza." Her post, titled, “What it means when the last bookstore closes…” is one I've wanted to highlight ever since, and have been working on building extra context for. It's an incredible piece about an incredibly important issue for the future of education in Texas. From her piece, “What it means when the last bookstore closes…” Laredo, Texas, with a population of 250,000 now has the distinction of being the largest city in the nation without a bookstore. B. Dalton’s bookstore shut its doors for good on January 16th. Put another tombstone in the predominantly Hispanic south side of San Antonio now that Waldenbooks has left, leaving no bookstore for miles. We’re not looking for pity here in Texas, but we are waiting for Republican leaders to recognize that this is an economic crisis of our own making. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, by the year 2014, 2 million jobs will be created in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. A bookstore would sure come in handy.
Her column is a phenomenal wake-up call to Texas politicians who rarely pay attention to such simple yet incredibly important matters. She cites a recent story from Parenting Magazine titled "The Early Literacy Crisis" and an absolutely terrifying statistic: While a child growing up in a middle-class neighborhood will own an average of 13 books at any given time, low-income communities average about one book for every 300 children, according to University of Michigan professor Susan Neuman, Ed.D., author of Changing the Odds for Children at Risk.
One book for every 300 children. One book. 300 children. I...I keep looking at that statistic, I keep thinking about what that means, and I get angrier and angier about the way Texas Republicans like David Dewhurst have done nothing more than play games with our state's education system. As Chavez-Thompson continues in her post: But despite the bragging of Governor Rick Perry and Lt. Governor David Dewhurst that Texas is creating jobs, the reality is one out of three students are walking out of our high schools without a diploma. Among Latinos, it’s one out of two. [...]
By the way, not only do Hispanics now make up over 50% of public school students from kindergarten through second grade in Texas, but one out of every two Hispanic children lives in poverty.
I've met Linda on numerous occassions, and child literacy rates and improving education are going to be issues she talks about every day from now until November. And thank goodness, because we need our state leaders to focus on something other than how to cut state services more and more while ignoring the problems facing Texas' families and Texas' children. Contribute to Linda Chavez-Thompson today. Help make a difference now.
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