The Growning Need for Mi Escuelita
While Mi Escuelita serves children of all cultures, the majority of its students are Hispanic (89%). This reflects the growing Hispanic population in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. A recent study for The Dallas Morning News reports that Dallas-Fort Worth area has the second highest rate of recent population growth for metropolitan areas in the nation with the Hispanic population accounting for virtually all of Dallas County's growth. By 2013 it projects that 1 million of the county's projected population of 2.5 million will be Hispanic. This growth will compound the two major problems that schools in Dallas County are facing - students with limited English skills and high drop out rates. In Dallas 53% of children speak a language other than English at home and 42% live in a household where the household head is a high school dropout (The Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count 2008).
The tie between language proficiency and high drop out rates is clear. The Dallas Morning News reported on data indicating that 47% of first graders in the Dallas Independent School District had limited English proficiency. The Pew Hispanic Center Report on Hispanic Youth Dropping Out of U.S. Schools (6/12/03) notes that a lack of English-language ability is a prime characteristic of Latino dropouts and that the 14% of Hispanic youth ages 16 to 19 who have poor English language skills have a drop out rate of 59%. The Alliance for Excellent Education (2/08) reports that in Texas only 16% of Hispanic students in the 8th grade have reading scores at or above grade level and that the high school graduation rate for Hispanic students in Texas is 58%. The Alliance also reports that the cost in economic terms of each high school dropout is $260,000 in wasted human potential and productivity.
In Texas nearly 1 in 7 seniors in the Class of 2008 cannot pass all the sections of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) a number that includes 20% of Hispanic students (Dallas Morning News 5/31/08). The broader implications of this issue are highlighted in the Bizjournal report that Dallas-Fort Worth ranks 72nd out of 100 in a rating of 'brainpower' in metropolitan areas with just 21.1% of residents holding a bachelor's degree and 9.3% holding a graduate or professional degree. The movie 2 Million Minutes documents how American students are falling behind in the international arena while America's future depends on an educated, literate work force.
Mi Escuelita's Class of 2008 of 207 five year olds are entering the school system with a higher than average English oral vocabulary and the ability to participate fully in classes taught in English. The economic impact of these children graduating from high school represents millions of dollars in savings in crime related and uninsured health care costs as well as their higher average annual income and tax payments. In 2005 the average annual income of a high school graduate was $9,634 more than a high school dropout. The cost for a child to attend Mi Escuelita Preschool is $6,800 a year or $13,600 to attend Mi Escuelita for two years - an amount that will be covered by their increased earnings as high school graduates after 17 months.
