Hilda L. Solis: “I am also here to support the motion to go to conference on the education bill. However, I have to tell you that today I…”

“I am also here to support the motion to go to conference on the education bill. However, I have to tell you that today I am saddened because I am reading today in the Los Angeles Times that one of my feeder schools in East Los Angeles, Garfield High School, which was known for the movie ``Stand And Deliver,'' where Latino students able to excell and rise to the occasion, is now found to be failing. It is one of the schools that is failing in my district. I would ask the conferees as they begin their discussions on education to remember those low income students, the new face of California and the country. Those students are in need of support because they come from different backgrounds or speak different languages, that we not forget those children. We also need to do as much as we can to help provide prevention funding for dropouts. Because in the Latino community right now we are finding the average number of students that come into the system are leaving at a 50 percent rate. That is disgusting. We need to do more to make sure that our students stay in school, that we have better equipped and credentialed teachers in our school. In my district alone we have an overabundance of teachers who do not have credentials. They do not have credentials because we do not have the funding and support to help provide them that incentive to go on and get those credentials.”