Strengthening America’s education pipeline

For centuries now, people from around the world have come to the United States seeking opportunity and prosperity. While folks find a variety of ways to achieve their goals here, earning an education is the surest path to success. College degrees open doors to steady careers, higher incomes and financial security. 

Latinos understand the importance of education, and we value it tremendously. In a recent Pew Research Center survey, 83 percent of Latino voters said education is “very important” to their vote in the 2016 presidential election. 

{mosads}Though statistics concerning Latinos’ performance in school don’t reflect the priority our community places on academics, there are steps we can take throughout our kids’ lives to help them go further in their educations and ultimately find greater professional success. 

We can start early by enrolling our youngest learners in pre-K programs. Studies show that people who complete high-quality early education have better educational and career outcomes. Currently, Latino children entering kindergarten are significantly less likely than their white peers to be able to count to 20, recognize all 26 letters of the alphabet or write their names. Increasing our kids’ pre-K participation will help close that school-readiness gap and put Latino students on equal footing with their classmates at the outset of their academic lives.   

Earlier this year, I co-founded the first-ever Congressional Pre-K Caucus. We’re a group of 32 Democrats and Republicans who aim to highlight the benefits of early childhood education and promote policy recommendations to expand high-quality pre-K access in the United States. I’ve also introduced a bill, inspired by the Pre-K 4 SA initiative in my hometown San Antonio, called the Pre-K for USA Act. The legislation creates new pre-K development grants and provides school districts and local entities with a direct line to federal funding, eliminating their reliance on states to access federal pre-K dollars. By expanding the availability of early education programs, we’ll increase the odds Latino students enroll and gain the foundation of learning they need to excel in grade school and beyond.    

There are some notable bright spots in Latino education that we should be proud of. Our high school dropout rate has declined significantly — from 32 percent in 2000 down to 12 percent in 2014. And the rate of Latino college enrollment is up — from 22 percent of Latinos ages 18 to 24 in 1993 to 35 percent of that same demographic in 2014.

But while more Latinos may be enrolling in college than ever before, our students still fall behind other groups when it comes to graduating from four-year institutions. Data from 2014 show that just 15 percent of Latinos ages 25 to 29 had a bachelor’s degree, compared to 63 percent of their Asian, 41 percent of their white and 22 percent of their African-American peers. We can do better. 

Too many of our high school students don’t have the resources — particularly access to knowledgeable guidance counselors — they need to navigate the college application process. The national average student-to-counselor ratio in U.S. schools is 470-to-1. The recommended ratio is 250-to-1. For Latino students from- families in which the parents didn’t go to college and didn’t experience the admissions process first-hand, these advisers provide invaluable expertise. 

By increasing the number of guidance counselors in our schools, Latino students improve their chances of tapping into available financial aid and finding a school that’s a good academic fit. When students aren’t saddled with the time commitment and stress of a 20-hour-plus job in addition to their classes, they can focus on their coursework, make the grades needed to graduate and not drop out of school.    

Of course, we should also strive to make college more affordable. Higher education in America shouldn’t be prohibitively expensive. 

Shoring up the entire educational pipeline for Latinos in the United States — from pre-K all the way to college completion — will help our community make gains in so many areas. 

But improving Latino educational outcomes isn’t just good for our community; it’s in the whole nation’s best interests. Today, roughly 1 in every 4 children in the United States is Latino. By 2050, that number is expected to grow to 1 in 3. Our success will significantly affect the success of the entire nation. Our kids are the workforce of tomorrow, and we need to make sure they’re prepared to succeed — not just for their own wellbeing but for the sake of America’s economy and competitiveness. 

Global leadership requires talent and determination. The United States didn’t become a beacon of opportunity by coincidence. Generations before us made sacrifices and endured struggles to build up an infrastructure of opportunity that we today can tap into to find success. Equipping Latino young people with a strong education will perpetuate America’s greatness and help ensure that the hard work of our foremothers and fathers was not in vain. 

Castro represents Texas’s 20th Congressional District and serves on the Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees.