Long Commute

nate66, when yopu say try, I'll assume your generalization is solely for El Paso.

I can actually see two opposite sides of this issue, coming from a background in education and having taught in Texas many years before moving into higher education here in Wisconsin.
Point 1: This feels racist to many because Latino children from Mexico are being specifically targeted. I'll admit that standing on the bridge may not have been the best way to deal with the situation. Invasive home visits where people have to prove a child lives there by showing bedding and toys doesn't sound fair either. I understand this is a highly Latino school district but this smacks of racial profiling. Are whites being treated the same way from other areas? It may only be 10% white but you have to present this as fairly as possible and that means investigating all children who go to the school, not just a segment of Latino kids. I absolutely understand why some parents in Mexico want their kids educated in the US. They know that learning English and getting an education are of primary importance for their children to have a better life than what they've had. I think we all want that for our kids.
Point 2: Having said that, I have to put on my educator hat. I know how school districts work. More importantly, I know how funding works. School districts are, in the main, funded by local property tax revenues, then they receive state aid, and a small (7% or so) pot of federal dollars for Title programs (these are also allocated by the state). Students who do not reside in the school district and do not pay school fees in order to go to that school district (or have that money transferred under an open enrollment rule from another school district) contribute nothing financially to the operating cost of the district. Homeowners pay property taxes. Those who live in apartments contribute to the landlords, who pay property taxes. Businesses pay property taxes. The state usually contributes a per-student expenditure (not sure what it is in Texas because I left there 13 years ago and the funding formula has changed). The point is, if students do not live in the district their families are contributing nothing to the equation and yet they are sharing in the resources of the district. This may have reached a breaking point in Del Rio. So it may seem unfair but the district officials may simply be trying to preserve the education of students who live in the district by making sure the limited resources they have go to them. They may not have gone about it in the most positive way possible but I'm not exactly sure how I would have gone about it either.

Thank God someone has finally put poor American kids first. How can our leadrers worry more about illegals than American kids? This should be done everywhere, it is time we put American children first in our schools period.

I am not ignornat and I don't appreciate you implying that I am BugsyParis. Everyone has gotten way off track about this article. The fact remains that the law states you must reside in Del Rio to go to Del Rio schools. That is pretty cut and dry, plain and simple.
hlgns my great grandparents on my mom's side were immigrants but they came here legally and became citizens and were happy to learn English and spoke it quite well according to my mother. My dad's ancestors came to the US back in the 1700's (I have a great aunt who has done extensive geneology research on our family) and they came from England so they already knew English. If you don't live in a border town, as I do (I live in Del Rio) then you have no idea what goes on down here. Most of them who come across from Acuna do not try to better themselves. I know people who have family who live over there by choice, they don't want to move from Mexico but they want all the "free" that they can get over here on this side of the border...it goes on day in and day out here.
But again, bottom line is that if these parents want to go to school here they have to live in Del Rio, unless of course they want to send their children to one of the private schools here in Del Rio and pay tuition because the private schools are not going to allow them to attend for free.

jala3, after reading your comments, I notice you seem a little perturbed by these developments. If I were you, which I'm not, I would learn their language and try to understand why they do that. But then again, I'm not you, I'm not particularly known for being especially with people from other cultures, but then again, I'm originally from NYC. I just happen to be learning French for 5 years, even though it is not anywhere near my native tongue, just so I can engage the Haitian community in South Florida in the future. I come to realize how some of us really don't want to learn. How some of us are afraid of what we do not know. Around where I am, they are called illegals, where you are, they may be you. We are all insecure, what divides us is how we treat that insecurity socially.

We can dance around this all we want... Simple it comes down to either them or us.
If you don't belong here...You should not be here. It's that simple.
Many don't want the United States to be overrun by poor, uneducated Mexicans. Why can't people just say that outloud? Racist? Please,how many of you live in a muti-neighborhood? (by choice)?
Would you want your school to be taken over by a group of people who don't even try to learn English?
If you want to see what the United States is going to be like in 2030-Just look at California...Today.
Sad, huh?

These kids are obviously not coming to this country unlawfully, if not Homeland Security at the border would detain them on a daily basis. I think what has some people mad is the fact that there are children across the border that make an effort to come to school in a different country , when they cannot get there American children off their XBOX's or quit texting long enough to pay attention in school and take advantage the system that they pay taxes to upkeep. I would rather have my tax money spent on education for a willing child than having my hard earned tax money given to corrupt banks and fortune 500 crooks.
Keller, TX

Posted By: fonzgarcia @ 10/08/2009 1:56:42 PM
These kids are obviously not coming to this country unlawfully, if not Homeland Security at the border would detain them on a daily basis. I think what has some people mad is the fact that there are children across the border that make an effort to come to school in a different country , when they cannot get there American children off their XBOX's or quit texting long enough to pay attention in school and take advantage the system that they pay taxes to upkeep. I would rather have my tax money spent on education for a willing child than having my hard earned tax money given to corrupt banks and fortune 500 crooks.
Keller, TX

You are wrong about them being detained at the border. You can go to the Walmart or HEB here any day of the week and see dozens of cars that are from Mexico, they come here to shop on a daily basis. What makes you think they couldn't bring their kids over to go to school? Have you ever lived in a border town? Have you ever lived in Del Rio?

Okay, why isn't INS sitting at the schools picking up these kids as they are dropped off and taking them across the border and dropping them back off in Mexico? I am SO tired of all illegals mooching off our taxpery dollars. We pay the money in and THEY should NOT benefit. If they want their kids to have an american education they need to become naturalized, leran English and pay taxes. NO MORE FREE RIDES!!!

Of course they are human, NOBODY has said they are not. But what we are saying is let them either move here legally and become residents of the school district or pay an out of district fee. That is not unreasonable. As someoneelse pointed out, we are not repsonsible for everyone. There are plenty of kids who DO live in this town that need our help first.

You don't live in this town, I do! And I can tell you that it has NOTHING to do with them being Mexican, what it has to do with is them NOT living in the school district where they want to send their kids. Why is that so hard to understand?
The people born in this country are NOT immigrants, we are the ancestors of immigrants. I was born here therefore I am NOT an immigrant. I don't care if the people who want to send their kids herer are born here or if they are immigrants, just so long as they can proove they live in the Del Rio School District!

The school district we live in will not accept students unless they live within the district. There is no room or money for children outside the district. This happens all over the United States in very state. I see nothing wrong with this, especially when I pay my property taxes and see the three special taxes for schools combined with land and building tax. But this article seems to imply that we should worry about this because it is children from another Country not children from another County.

I live in the DFW area in Texas, Keller to be exact and every year we have to verify residency. You must submit a water bill, electricity, or voters registration card here as well. People dont' complain about it, it's just part of registering your kids for school. Sounds like the people that have a problem with it are breaking the rules. This is nationwide. School districts don't have budget and have to do everything they can to ensure the students they are educating and feeding live in their district. That's all Del Rio is doing too.

Well if most of the girls in your high school were white it would make sense that most of the pregnant girls were white. Here in Del Rio most of the pregnant girls are Mexican because most of the students are Mexican, that is a no brainer. This is not about the kids being Mexican or white or black, it is about them NOT LIVING IN THE SCHOOL DISTRICT! What part of that don't you understand WhatIsAmerican? Do you live here in Del Rio; my guess is that you do not. You seem to be ignoring the basis of the whole article. Just proove your kids live in the school district, a very simple task! Why don't you move down here to Del Rio and take in all these kids that you feel obligated to nuture, feed them, clothe them, house them and then they will be living in the Del Rio school district and their problem is solved and you will feel so much better for having helped out with this situation. As for me I choose to help the less fortunate children that live right here in Del Rio who people like you seem to think should be ingnored in favor of helping the ones on the other side of the border.

Get it through your head fonzgarcia, nobody is saying they shouldn't get an education. Just proove you live in the school district if you want to go the public schools here. If they want to go to one of the private schools here, that is fine too, they might not have to proove residency but they will have to pay tution. I suppose you probably think they should go to one of the private schools for free just because they want an education.

Fonzgarcia, clearly many Amricans take it for granted that they can go to a public school and that is a shame. On the other hand it is paid for by Americans for American children or legal alien residents who live in the district. Educating the next generation of the underpriviledged in another country would help them help themselves but American schools districts barely have the resources to educate the students who live in the districts. Lines have to be drawn somewhere in order to be realistic about the educational resources. It sucks but it's reality.