Chair: Congressman Rubén Hinojosa
Vice Chair:  Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva
Members: Representatives Joe Baca, Henry Cuellar, Silvestre Reyes, Ciro D. Rodriguez, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Hilda L. Solis, Nydia M. Velázquez

I. Early Childhood Education

Reauthorize the Head Start Program to expand and improve access to high quality preschool for Latino families, including:

• Maintaining Head Start as a national program

• Putting Head Start on a path to full funding
• Strengthening the educational component of Head Start, particularly with respect to limited English proficient (LEP) children
• Strengthening Head Start accountability for serving Hispanic and LEP children and families—ensuring that the National Reporting System is based on assessment tools that evaluate the full range of Head Start services and are valid and reliable for all children, especially LEP children

• Increasing access to Head Start for children of migrant and seasonal farmworkers

• Expanding Early Head Start
• Increasing the number of highly qualified bilingual Head Start teachers.

II. Elementary and Secondary Education

A.        Reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act to improve the following:

• Full participation of English Language learners and Hispanics students in the entire curriculum
• Implementation of the Title III state grants for English language acquisition
• Implementation of electronic system of transferring migrant student records within and across states
• Progress on school accountability for Hispanic students, with emphasis on high school completion
• Implementation of the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) measures in the No Child Left Behind Act, especially with respect to LEP children
• Valid and reliable assessments of state content standards for LEP students
• High school outcomes and opportunities for Latino students
• Healthy school climate (no bullying, no gangs, mental health support)
• Preparation, training, and number of high quality teachers in schools serving large populations of Hispanic and LEP students
• Parental involvement

B.         Efforts to improve technology in the classroom are critical and must:

• Maintain a strong E-rate program, and support and develop efforts to improve the use of technological resources in schools with large minority and low-income student populations.
• Strengthen the education technology programs in the No Child Left Behind Act

III. Higher Education

A.        Reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA) to accomplish the following:

• Increase Pell grants and Federal Work-Study
• De-mystify and simplify the student aid application process
• Reduce the debt burden
• Enact the provisions of the Next Generation Hispanic-Serving Institutions Act
• Recruit more minority teachers through graduate-level financial assistance, including loan forgiveness
• Re-establish graduate fellowships in bilingual education
• Strengthen and increase funding for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) and TRIO

• Increased federal support for 1st year student retention and success programs
• Increased federal support for K-16 vertical alignment

• Ensure that veterans have full access to both the Montgomery GI bill and HEA education programs

B.         Secure passage of legislation, such as the Student Adjustment Act/DREAM Act, to provide access to post-secondary education to undocumented youth who have graduated from U.S. schools.

IV. Adult Education

Reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) to:

• Expand access to Adult English as a Second Language (ESL) and Adult Basic Education programs for Hispanic and LEP populations
• Authorize the ESL/Civics program
• Expand family literacy programs and support the Families Learning and Understanding English Together (FLUEnT) Act
• Enhance the dropout prevention program for farmworker youth
• Ensure that community-based organizations have full access to WIA resources

V.        Competitiveness through Education

• Support an innovation agenda that works for our communities by structuring federal programs promoting STEM education and innovation in such a way that they focus resources on Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs)
• Increase number of highly qualified Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) teachers in under-served Hispanic communities through incentives like loan forgiveness and through programs at universities that integrate academic departments with colleges of education, school districts, and business
• Support the Partnerships for Access to Laboratory Science Act to build on the National Science Foundation (NSF) project on re-tooling high school laboratories
• Increase math and science resources directed to Hispanic communities through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, Department of Defense, and Department of Education
• Support partnership initiatives, such as the Hispanic Engineering, Science, and Technology (HESTEC) Initiative
• Develop recommendations for the reauthorization of NSF
• Strengthen the academic pipeline inscientific and medical education in order to improve the representation of Hispanics in the health professions.

VI. Increase investment in the Hispanic Education Action Plan (HEAP) programs:

• Adult Education (English Literacy and Civics)
• Bilingual Education
• Even Start
• GEAR-UP
• High School Equivalency Program (HEP) and The College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP)
• Hispanic-Serving Institutions
• Local Family Information Centers
• Migrant Education (ESEA Title I, Part C)
• Title I (ESEA) Grants to LEAs
• TRIO