A federal program that supports colleges and universities with high numbers of Latino students could be shut down after the federal government said late last week it will not defend the program against a lawsuit.
In Arizona, 20 schools that earn the designation of Hispanic-Serving Institution — including the University of Arizona, Pima Community College and Cochise College — could lose possible grant money.
A Hispanic-Serving Institution, or HSI, is a school where at least 25% of full-time undergraduates are Hispanic. About 63% of the nation’s Latino students were enrolled at HSIs in the 2022-23 school year, according to the Postsecondary National Policy Institute. As of the 2023-24 school year, there were 615 HSIs nationally.
In fall 2023, Pima’s enrollment was 50% Latino, according to its online demographics page. The UA is listed at 25.3% for the same year, according to federal data. The UA has a Hispanic-Serving Institution Initiatives team with eight employees, according to its website.
In an emailed statement to Arizona Luminaria about the HSI grant program, UA spokesman Mitch Zak said, “We are aware of the Justice Department’s announcement and continue to monitor the legal process.”
The HSI designation was created in 1992 by Congress through the Higher Education Act, because of concern that higher-education Latino students attended schools that did not have much government funding to support them.
About 60% of Latino students are the first in their family to graduate from college, according to data from First Generation Forward, a national organization of higher education institutions, supporting first-generation college students.
Last year, the federal government earmarked about $229 million for Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Two Arizona schools — Northern Arizona University and Mohave College in Bullhead City — were among the 49 applicants that shared $28 million in grant money.
The HSI grant program was challenged in federal court in Tennessee over the summer. Students for Fair Admissions — the conservative group that persuaded the Supreme Court to ban race-based college admissions — said using 25% Hispanic enrollment as a benchmark is illegal.
“This unjust effort to end the HSI grant program will disproportionately harm all students attending these colleges and universities and their communities,” said David Mendez, Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities interim chief executive officer. “Ending HSI program grants supporting institutions would cut off vital resources, not only for HSIs but for other programs that serve a large proportion of first-generation, low-income, and other historically underrepresented college students.”
Read the whiteboard
Following the Trump administration’s approach that English is the “official language” of the U.S., the White House removed the 2015 official guidance for English learners, leaving 5 million school children who are not fluent in English potentially without educational rights.
In the Tucson Unified School District, about 5,000 students are identified as English Language Learners, with just under 100 languages represented in the state’s third-largest district with about 40,000 students.
“Even as federal structures are reduced, we believe it is both possible and necessary to sustain a strong framework locally,” TUSD spokeswoman Karla Escamilla told Arizona Luminaria. “TUSD’s commitment is clear: English language learners are not an afterthought, they are central to the future of our schools and our community.”
The guidance, an official 40-page letter, says schools should help eliminate barriers so English-learners can learn. But advocates worry schools could stop offering assistance to these students if the federal government will not enforce the laws that require it.
Since March, the Education Department has laid off nearly all workers in its Office of English Language Acquisition and has asked Congress to terminate funding for the federal program that helps pay for educating English-language learners, the Washington Post reports.
According to the Migration Policy Institute, Arizona had almost 94,000 English language students in 2022, the 13th-highest total in the country.
“While federal decisions regarding funding and guidance for English Language Learners (ELLs) certainly have an impact on schools nationwide, Tucson Unified School District remains firmly committed to supporting our multilingual students and their families,” Escamilla said. “These students bring tremendous linguistic and cultural assets to our classrooms. Our responsibility, as outlined by both state and federal law, and as part of our district’s mission to provide equitable access to a high-quality education, does not diminish even when national guidance diminishes.”
Three questions with Maggie Shafer: A teacher who helps create new teachers
This time of year, educator Maggie Shafer sees only the possibilities: eager faces and classrooms buzzing with anticipation.
As the University of Arizona’s director of field experience – teaching, learning and sociocultural studies, Shafer molds and mentors teachers.
Shafer, 66, will retire after this school year, ending a career in education that included teaching, serving as an administrator in the Amphitheater Public Schools and TUSD, and spending the last 13 years at the UA.
We caught up with the teacher who instructs the next generation of educators.
“I always felt like a teacher,” she said. “The thing that excited me the most about the fall is that everyone is enthusiastic and everyone is happy and ready to learn. If we are doing right by the students in the classroom, it benefits our student teachers.”
Three questions with Shafer as she begins her final year at UA.
What do you most look forward to as the school year begins? “It’s a joy of mine to teach students their first real education course — Classroom processes and instruction. I have 38 students this fall and they are very excited to learn. I am teaching strategies and classroom management techniques, psychology theories, what motivates students. The thing that excites me the most about the fall is that everyone is enthusiastic and everyone is happy and wants to learn.”
What do you hope to pass along to students? “I love my work so much. It is one of the greatest gifts of my life. That quote: “Happy is the man whose line between work and play is gray,” that has been me.”
What will you miss most? It saddens me to think about seeing those school buses, because I won’t be playing a role. I know I’ll be doing something. There may be opportunities. I have been working nonstop since I was 14 years old. It’s time to stop doing something full time.”
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🍎 FREE English classes for parents and caregivers: Bring your diverse background and educational experience to English classes at two sites this fall, sponsored by TUSD and Literacy Connects. Sign up now and get free transportation. Classes at Catalina Family Resource Center, 3645 E. Pima St. will be Mondays and Thursdays from 9-10:30 a.m., Sept. 22 to Nov. 20. Call 520-232-8684. Classes at Southwest Family Resource Center, 6855 S. Mark Road are Mondays and Wednesdays from 10-11:30 a.m. from Sept. 22 to Nov. 19. Call 520-908-3980.
💵 Arizona’s sex-ed curriculum money threatened: Arizona is among 40 states the Trump administration says must remove references to what it calls “gender ideology” from federally funded sex education programs or risk losing funding. More on the $3 million on the line for Arizona here. Check out TUSD’s family-life curriculum here.
🛼 Walk ‘N’ Roll on tap: Get ready to move your bod as Pima County’s Walk ’N’ Roll to school registration is open. Sign your school up for a speaker, maybe some free swag and skate, ride, walk, run, bear crawl or just move without a car to school in October.
📣 Education news for YOU: If you are connected to the education system — student, parent, teacher, administrator — tell us what’s working, what’s not and what/who matters to you.
👩🏽🔬Last call to register for Arizona STEM adventure: Applications close Friday, Sept. 5, for November’s free event featuring 2,400 fourth through eighth-grade students from across the state. Students can do hands-on activities and interact with community scientists and engineers, while teachers get two hours of professional development training and $100 in free materials. Schools need only to provide transportation to the event. Scholarships are available.
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